North East RadioWatch: March 26, 1998

New CHR on the Cape

by Scott Fybush

• There's a new CHR on Cape Cod. The former WJCO (93.5) in Harwich Port slipped away to an all-Chumbawamba stunt format over the weekend before resurfacing Monday morning as WYST, "Star 93." Chris Boles is PD for Ernie Boch's station, which goes up against established CHR WRZE (96.3) Nantucket.

  Other news from MASSACHUSETTS: Boston's WBZ (1030) is making good on its claim of "news all day, every day" next month by dropping its "Sports Saturday" and "Sports Sunday" shows in favor of all news. BZ's specialty sports shows, "Calling all Sports," "Upton Bell and Bob Lobel," and "The McDonoughs on Sports" will continue.

  Congratulations to Ted O'Brien. The WABU (Channel 68) news director has been named associate director of Washington's Pew Center for Civic Journalism. And congratulations as well to the Deane brothers of WJDF (97.3) in Orange. Jay, Donn, and Fred Deane won the Citizen of the Month award for their little station's contribution to civic life in Orange.

  Where are they now?: Charles ("Call me Chuck") Adler dropped NERW a line to let us know he's doing middays at Toronto's CFRB (1010) -- and getting back to some of his old WRKO listeners via CFRB's RealAudio feed (not to mention a few of us who can hear CFRB directly :-)

  Then there's Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, who'll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next Thursday along with several other top '60s jocks.

  W267AI, the Hancock Tower translator of modern rocker WFNX (101.7 Lynn), has been granted a power boost...increasing from a massive 3 watts to a blistering, um, 4 watts. No word on how owner Steve Mindich will be able to afford the increased power bill...

• Moving along to RHODE ISLAND, we find two call letter changes this week. In Providence, Portuguese WRCP (1290) will change to WRNI when Boston's WBUR-FM (90.9) takes over operation of the station this spring. And in West Warwick, the venerable WHIM calls have been pulled from AM 1450 for WDYZ -- for Radio Disney, of course. NERW wonders if WDYZ owner Hibernia will be applying for new calls for its WPZE (1260 Boston) and WRDM (1550 Bloomfield CT) as well.

• Up in NEW HAMPSHIRE, there are still more dismissals to report -- but this time, they don't involve Capstar. At Garrison City's WBYY (98.7 Somersworth), Tom Larson is out as PD. Jack Casey joins the company as operations manager for WBYY and sister station WTSN (1270 Dover). Just down Back Road, Ted Garland is out as morning-drive cohost at Fuller-Jeffrey's WOKQ (97.5 Dover). Also leaving WOKQ is news director Roger Wood; he retires in June after 18 years at the country giant.

  In Manchester, Robin Bonneau retires from WGIR on Friday after 44 years in Granite State radio. Bonneau got his start at WKXL in Concord in 1954, moving to WTSV AM-FM in Claremont later that same year. When Norman Knight bought WTSV in 1959, Bonneau became general manager, adding co-owned WTSL Lebanon seven years later. Bonneau moved to WGIR AM-FM as GM in 1973. He's been doing sales there in recent years. By the way, one of our NERW readers did some checking around -- and we can tell you that (at least so far) Knight's sale of WGIR to Capstar did not include the station's land or building, valued at over $600,000. Knight is also still listed as the owner of the WGIR transmitting facilities on Uncanoonuc Mountain in Goffstown.

  And why have some Milford-area listeners been hearing WATD (95.9 Marshfield MA) on 94.3? NERW suspects the input antenna at translator W232AJ Greenville, which normally listens to the 95.9 signal from W240AM West Keene, got misaligned somehow...

• There's a new old callsign in VERMONT -- at the 101.5 construction permit in Brandon. WADT has changed calls to WEXP...which should sound familiar to Burlington-area listeners. The WEXP calls graced 105.1 in Plattsburgh NY for a year or so, with a well-executed AAA format that was replaced, sadly, with automated oldies when Hall Broadcasting bought the station in 1995.

  Down the road in Brattleboro, WKVT-FM (92.7) adds the House of Blues Radio Hour on Sunday mornings at 9, followed by Doug Bassett from 10 till noon.

• The FCC has paid a visit to a MAINE radio station that was operating without a license. "I 97-3" was visited by an FCC agent last Tuesday night, with a promise of a formal letter from the FCC to follow. In a posting to a pirate radio newsgroup, the station's owner says he was running just half a watt -- and notes that the visit came just a few days after his station was mentioned here in NERW. The station remains on the air, reportedly running just a tenth of a watt for the moment.

  Up the coast in New Brunswick, there's been a change of plans at CHSJ (700) in Saint John. The station won't be leaving the air April 1 after all; it will remain on indefinitely, including a scheduled DX test in the early morning hours of April 6. Listen at 1:15 and 2:16 AM Eastern time to hear it for yourself. CHSJ has been simulcasting on its new 94.1 FM frequency for several months.

• Despite an FCC visit, an unlicensed station in CONNECTICUT remains on the air. NERW correspondents in the New Haven area say they're hearing "La Nueva Radio Musical" 12 miles away up I-91 in Wallingford.

  Hamden's WKCI (101.3) will have to wait a while longer for approval of its planned new tower. The zoning board in Hamden has postponed a planned hearing on the tower until April 16.

• In NEW YORK, we bid farewell to one noncommercial station. WOSS (91.1) in Ossining has returned its license to the FCC. No word on why the school-owned station is calling it quits.

  Staff changes at several upstate CHR outlets: at Syracuse's WWHT (107.9), PD Ed Lacomb is out; no replacement has been named yet. In the Utica area, WOWZ (97.9 Whitesboro)/WOWB (105.5 Little Falls), a.k.a. "Wow FM," is shuffling staff in the wake of the departure of middayer Pam Anderson. Donna Jeffries is taking midday duties temporarily, while part-timer "Kookinbocker" (we don't make these names up, really!) takes over afternoons under the air name "Rick Devoe." (Or perhaps that's "Kehoe" -- we've heard both versions) And in Rochester, overnighter Magic Man has resigned from WPXY (97.9). "Norm on the Barstool" extends his 10PM shift all the way to 3AM, while former morning sidekick Athena takes on 3 to 5:30 AM, followed by producing duties for Scott Spezzano's morning show. As for the rumors of a job out of town for 'PXY PD Clarke Ingram, word at press time is that he's about to sign a new deal to stay with ARS/CBS and 98PXY.

  There are new calls for Binghamton's soft AC outlet. The former WGRG (101.7 Owego) is now WLTB. NERW's still waiting to hear the modern rock format on its sister AM station, WEBO (1330). Rochester's "Sunny 106" is finally using its new calls on-air -- WYSY (106.7 Irondequoit) and WISY (102.3 Canandaigua) replace WMAX-FM and WMHX, respectively. The WMAX-FM calls migrate to the former WRCD (107.3 Honeoye Falls), where they're still hidden away as "WMAX-FM Honeoye Falls no longer lives...this is Jam'n 107."

  The country trimulcast on 107.1 surrounding New York City (WWXY Briarcliff Manor, WWVY Hampton Bays, and WWZY Long Branch NJ) is adding a fourth player. Big City Radio is buying WRNJ-FM (107.1 Belvidere NJ), which serves the Easton PA market. It's expected to join the "Y107" simulcast April 1.

  And the correct legal IDs are once again running on WPGL (90.7 Pattersonville) and WGKR (105.3 Grand Gorge)...but we're told they're running a partial translator ID with no calls given for W230AC (93.9 Troy), and the new W255AJ (98.9 Albany) identified as "Albany-Camp Pinnacle-Voorheesville."

That'll do it for this week, as NERW heads off to check out the radio dials of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Allentown, northern New Jersey, and the Big Apple. All the details next Thursday!