The Associated Press reports owners Gladys and Robert Powell were in negotiations to sell the station, but after the deal fell apart decided to shutter WMOU rather than try to keep it afloat.
The closing of WMOU leaves the region north of Mount Washington with no really local radio voice. Berlin's other AM, WBRL (1400), went dark almost a decade ago. On the FM side, the erstwhile WMOU-FM (103.7) is now WPKQ, running the country format from WOKQ down in Dover (and soon to be relicensed to North Conway, anyway), while the other commercial station in town, WXLQ (107.1 Gorham), was sold to New Hampshire Public Radio this year to become noncommercial WEVC.
The Powells say they'll still seek a buyer in the twelve months remaining before WMOU's license would be revoked. NERW's hoping for the best (and thinking we'd best get up to Berlin to see the tower, just in case).
This time the challenger is Clear Channel, which turned off the classic rock at WXCR (102.3 Ballston Spa) Thursday night and began stunting with a loop that included the sounds of a "FLY"-swatter (cute!) and a voice crying "Help me!"
At 9 this morning (5/26), Albany bureau chief Gavin Burt reports the debut of "102.3 Kiss-FM," making Albany the latest market to get Clear Channel's prefab CHR format. If the experience of Rochester's Kiss (originally on 107.3 as WMAX-FM, now on 106.7 as WKGS) is any indication, folks along the Hudson should expect a few months of jockless music, followed by voicetracked jocks from markets like LA and Tampa. Local? Well, there might be a promotions van, some club remotes, and not much more...
NERW's Take: Clear Channel had to do something to break the logjam of rock stations in the market -- in addition to WXCR, CC also owns WRVE (the former WGFM) with a rock-AC mix (hmmm...could this become "Mix 99.5" one day soon?), modern rock WHRL (103.1), and AOR WPYX (106.5), while it's spinning active rock WQBK/WQBJ to Regent. We suppose CHR is a logical way to complement the mostly older-leaning formats at CC/Albany, but with a class A signal that favors the north side of the market, "Kiss FM" will have a hard time matching the WFLY blowtorch from up in the Helderberg Mountains, a signal that hits everything from Rutland down to Poughkeepsie. Still, we note that WKGS in Rochester, with a similar signal deficiency, has pulled to within a couple of points of market veteran WPXY-FM, so anything's possible...
One more Thing To Ponder: Could CC use any of its new Straus acquisitions down in the Hudson Valley to fill in the Kiss signal to the south? We wouldn't be surprised...
Staying in the Albany area for a moment: We hear WZEC (97.5 Hoosick Falls) has dropped the simulcast of WBEC-FM (105.5 Pittsfield MA) in favor of Tele-Media sister WCPT (100.9 Albany), "The Point."
As we get ready for Memorial Day, we hear the folks at WABC (770 New York) are once again ready to relive their glory days as "Musicradio 77." This year's "Rewind" event begins at 6 AM Monday (5/29), with historic airchecks playing until noon. That's when JAM's Jon Wolfert offers a half-hour montage of classic WABC PAMS jingles to lead into the Yankees game. After the game, the airchecks continue until 11, when the Musicradio days will be the topic of an hour-long talk show. We'll be rolling tape up here for the parts we can hear, but we'd love to hear more from those within groundwave listening distance...
Upstate, we note that the call changes have finally been granted on the two stations that have been calling themselves "WLLW" for the last couple of months. The 93.7 in Clyde now operated by Family Life Ministries officially becomes WCOV (replacing the WLLW calls that used to be there). The new home of the "Wall" nickname, 99.3 in Seneca Falls, officially becomes WLLW -- though it's been using those calls instead of the old WSFW-FM ever since changing formats in March.
Family Life has run into some opposition for its proposed 89.5 translator in "Cayuga Heights" (Ithaca, that is). The FCC reports 19 petitions to deny against the application, and we can't help but think that our friends at WEOS (89.7 Ithaca) have something to do with many of them, especially since WEOS is contemplating a move to 89.5 itself.
Mars Hill Network has been hit with one petition to deny against its proposal for a 90.3 translator in Oneonta.
One correction: The owners of WNGS (Channel 67) in Springville are Caroline Powley and Bill Smith, not the other way around. They're married, by the way.
Some changes are coming to Boston TV in the next few weeks: WLVI (Channel 56) rolls out its new morning show in early June, with Stephanie Leydon and Glenn Pearson in the anchor seats. Then on July 1, WHSH (Channel 66) in Marlborough is reborn as indie WHUB-TV. We hear cable operators are getting ready to move the Home Shopping Network programming now seen on WHSH to other positions (like the ones occupied currently by ValueVision) when WHUB launches.
Meanwhile, down the road in Windsor, an applicant for a low-power French-language community station is switching frequencies. "Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi Comte Johnson" originally wanted 35 watts on 92.9, but someone must have pointed out that Detroit, just across the river, is home to 50 kW WDRQ on 93.1. The new pick? 98.3, where Windsorites can now hear Monroe's WTWR, some 30 miles away.
That's it for this week; next week, we'll see if anyone applies for LPFMs in Rhode Island and Maine, where the window opens next Tuesday...