North East RadioWatch: April 23, 1998

New TV in Maine

by Scott Fybush

• There will soon be a new commercial TV station in MAINE. A company called "Winstar" has settled with the other applicants for channel 23 in Waterville. The new station will broadcast from Danford Hill in Litchfield. NERW wonders: "WB23"?

  Elswehere in the Pine Tree State, Portland talker WGAN (560) has found a replacement for the soon-to-be-defunct Mary Matalin show in afternoons. John McDonald, who hosts the Saturday and Sunday morning shows on WGAN, will take the 3-6PM weekday slot, while giving up his Sunday morning program. McDonald has done weekends at WGAN since 1991; he's also a storyteller, newspaper columnist, and former correspondent for WMTW-TV -- which, by the way, has started broadcasting from a new set. And in Topsham, "Galaxy 95.5," WXGL, is being transferred from Liz and Stan Arno to Chris Outwin.

• On to MASSACHUSETTS, where the former WARA sheds the calls it's had since, well, forever -- and becomes WJYT. We don't know why, either, but we'd suspect its's part of the Attleboro 1320's transfer to ADD Media and format change to leased-time ethnic.

  We've been reporting rumored sales of WKOX (1200 Framingham) for as long as we've been putting this column out, but consider this: 'KOX is now the last station remaining in the Fairbanks Communications stable. The company is selling its hometown cluster in the West Palm Beach market (3 AMs and 3 FMs) to Clear Channel. How long will Fairbanks keep its one leased-time AM?

  The FCC has granted the sale of Worcester's WORC (1310) to Chowder Broadcasting.

  Congratulations to WHYN-FM (93.1 Springfield) morning team Dan Williams and Kim Zachary, who've been named "Personalities of the Year" by the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association...and condolences to the family of Victor Best, the former owner of the Northeast Broadcast School and former WBZ-TV newscaster. Best died April 5 in Florida at age 79.

  And if you're anxiously awaiting the debut of WCDJ (102.3) in Truro, keep waiting. The construction permit's owner has requested yet another extension. The original application for 102.3 went in way back in 1984.

• In RHODE ISLAND, we hear WBUR's new public radio outlet, WRNI (1290) will debut on May 1. The Boston Globe reports that Robert Ames (late of WBZ and the old WEEI) and Deborah Becker will be local hosts on 1290.

  Looking for the former DJs on the old WHIM (1450 West Warwick)? We're told three of them have landed on low-power TV WRIW-LP (Channel 23): former PD Danny Williams weeknights at 5, Charlie Huddle weeknights at 10, and Jeff Davis Sunday nights at 10.

• CONNECTICUT's NBC affiliate has a new on-air look. WVIT (Channel 30) in New Britain now goes by "NBC30" to go along with its new NBC network ownership. Monroe Board of Education's WGRS (91.5 Guilford) has applied for a power increase from 3300 watts to 6000 -- and for new translators on 89.7 in Avon and 91.9 in Huntington.

• VERMONT could soon have a new FM station. WWFY owner John Bulmer has applied to move his 93.7 CP from Hague NY to Addison VT as yet another Burlington-market drop-in.

• Moving along to NEW YORK, we'll begin with a correction. We speculated wrongly last week about the "5 kilowatt daytimer" for sale near Albany. It's WLAL (1190) in Cobleskill, and the station and 11 acres of land are being offered for $75,000.

  In the New York City market, WJDM(EB) (1660 Elizabeth NJ) has been sold to Catholic Radio Network as part of a ten-station, $57 million deal. Staying in Jersey for a moment, the FCC has approved the new transmitter site for funky freeform station WFMU (91.1 East Orange). And WNSR (105.1 New York) has been granted new calls of WBIX.

  WWXY (107.1 Briarcliff Manor), the northernmost part of the "Y107" country trimulcast, was off the air for part of Wednesday, apparently to install a new antenna for higher power.

  Up in the North Country, the tower of WXQZ (101.5 Canton) has been sold to SBA Towers of Florida for $25,000. It's on Waterman Hill near Canton. Ogdensburg's WZEA (98.7) has been silent for part of the week; no word why. In Watertown, WCIZ (93.5) has been granted its move to 93.3. It's also changed slogans to "All New Classic Hits 93-5 CIZ-FM," and hired Bonnie Petrie from the FSR network in Ogdensburg and Gouverneur.

  You might have seen the network video of a 1200-foot tower being demolished in the Utica area this week. It wasn't broadcast; it was a LORAN tower in the Utica area, no longer needed as the LORAN navigation system gets supplanted by GPS.

  Family Life Radio's WCOT (90.9 Jamestown) has applied for an 88.5 translator in Fredonia. NERW wonders whether adjacent-channel WBFO (88.7) in Buffalo will object...

• Finally this week, NERW salutes the folks at Toronto's CBC Broadcast Centre for an incredible open house last Sunday. The occasion was the move of CBC Radio One from CBL (740) to CBLA (99.1) -- but the CBC went far beyond the call of duty, with all-day live broadcasts from the atrium, an hour-long special at noon, and every staff member on hand to welcome visitors to all three radio floors of the Broadcast Centre building. We had a great time...and now we're really going to miss the programming when CBL leaves 740 kHz for good come October.

That's it for this week; see you next Thursday with much more fun and excitement from up and down the radio dials...