North East RadioWatch: January 1, 1999

Standards Die, Standards Live

by Scott Fybush

• NEW YORK's WQEW shut down its standards format right on schedule at midnight Dec. 27 with little fanfare. After a rebroadcast of their tribute to the late Nancy LaMott, WQEW closed things out with "Stardust" and a one-minute message from Stan Martin, then dumped into Radio Disney with a Randy Newman tune. (Hanson, thankfully, didn't play until later in the hour!) The Disney automation crashed briefly about 15 minutes later while trying to play the legal ID.

  With Disney on 1560, Long Island's WGSM (740) was released from its contract with the Mouse and promptly went to a simulcast of co-owned standards station WHLI (1100 Hempstead). The two are now claiming "35,000 Watts" of power -- too bad the math doesn't really work that way.

• Meanwhile in MASSACHUSETTS, standards returned to the airwaves with the surprise format change at WPLM (99.1/1390) in Plymouth that dumped the smooth jazz of "Jazzy 99.1" for a female-oriented AC/standards blend as "Easy 99.1." The AM still splits from the simulcast in mornings for business talk. Also flipping to standards was WNBP (1450 Newburyport), which unveiled its new "Legends 1450" identity Christmas day.

• Up in MAINE, we're told WJJB (900 Brunswick) is simulcasting sister FM WCLZ (98.9) for the moment. And we hear that WAYD (105.5 Islesboro) will be on the air by month's end as adult standards "The Bay," serving communities up and down the Maine coast from Camden north to Mount Desert Island. It's co-owned with WQSS (102.5 Camden) and will operate from WQSS's facilities.

• One gleaning from the FCC this week in NEW HAMPSHIRE: Saga has allowed the CP for translator W243AH (96.5 Laconia) to expire and be deleted. NERW can't help but wonder if this has anything at all to do with Saga's 1997 purchase of WOXF (now WQLL) in the Manchester market, a former competitor that just happens to operate on, yes, 96.5 MHz...

• CONNECTICUT's first TV station marked its 50th anniversary six months late, with an anniversary special this week. If you missed it, WTNH (Channel 8) and WTNH-DT (Channel 10) will rebroadcast it January 3 at 11:30 PM.

• Tonight we're gonna party like it's...1983 all over again? That's what the airwaves sounded like New Year's Eve, as stations that would ordinarily never play the Artist formerly known as Prince gave "1999" a spin to usher in the New Year. Our Boston-area listeners heard the Purple One on WEGQ, WJMN, WBCN, WXLO, and WMJX (which broke format in a big way to play it!). Rhode Island and southeastern Mass. heard it on WRIU, WPRO-FM, WBRU, and WFHN at midnight. WBMX, WROR, and WXKS-FM all hit it a few minutes after midnight. In northern New York, Mike Roach reports hearing it in full on CKKL Ottawa and in part on WYSX Ogdensburg -- but U2's "New Year's Day" was more popular, being heard on Ottawa's CHEZ and CKQB and on Brockville's CHXL (and on Boston's WBOS and WXRV, too.) Here in Rochester, we caught it on WZNE and WPXY. Just after the New Year rang in, we also caught a new TV spot for "The Nerve" (WNVE 95.1) promising a big expansion of the station's playlist. Formerly a straight-ahead modern rocker, the Jacor station is adding 70s and 80s hard rock like AC/DC and Aerosmith to its mix. An attempt to inflict further damage on CBS rocker WCMF (96.5)? Sure sounds that way...

On to the Year in Review, part 2.