Like it or loathe it, Ibiquity's "HD Radio" system now has the official blessing of the FCC (all day for FM, daytime only for AM) -- and New York's WOR (710) couldn't wait to be first in the country to sign on with the system.
FCC approval came Thursday, October 10, and when the sun rose over New Jersey the next morning, "WOR-HD" was on the air, to decidedly mixed reviews. Since receivers for the digital system aren't yet available, the initial reaction came from analog listeners. At least among the trained ears of the medium-wave DX community, the initial reports suggested that WOR's analog audio, constrained by the bandwidth requirements of the digital signal, sounded much thinner than usual. And since the "in-band, on-channel" system actually utilizes bandwidth from adjacent channels as well, there were immediate reports of significant digital hash as far down the dial as 690 kHz and as far up as 730 kHz.
We'll have more thoughts in the weeks to come about the viability of the "HD Radio" system for AM, in particular where night service is concerned...stay tuned.
Disney made it official last week, filing with the FCC to convert its LMA of WEVD (1050 New York) into a $78 million purchase from the Forward Association.
Way up north, "New York Educational Broadcasters" was granted its long-pending application for 88.7 in Rouses Point, just a hair to the south of the Quebec border. The new station will run 3.4 kW with a directional antenna from 45 meters above average terrain -- but if the goal is to serve Montreal, we don't think NYEB will get what it wants; in the eight years since the application was first filed, the CBC signed on CBME on 88.5 with its Radio One service from the heart of downtown Montreal, which will keep that 88.7 from being heard anywhere near the big city.
The folks behind Ithaca's even longer-running channel 52 construction permit are trying once more to get the station built before the CP finally expires on December 7: they've now asked the FCC for permission to sign the station on with just 26 kW visual from 94 meters below average terrain, from the tower near Ithaca College. That would be an interim operation while the station tries to negotiate a deal with Syracuse's W51BA, which won Class A status while channel 52 wasn't looking, thus protecting it from being bumped by 52, which hopes to serve the Syracuse market from the vacant tower next door to WSYT (Channel 68) and WNYS (Channel 43) near Otisco.
Speaking of WSYT, it was admonished by the FCC this week for delays in building WSYT-DT (Channel 19); owner Sinclair hopes to move the DT operation from WSYT's current tower to the nearly-completed new WSTM tower at Sentinel Heights south of Syracuse.
Here in Rochester, a judge has ruled that a $17 million lawsuit against WCMF (96.5) morning host Alan "Brother Wease" Levin can proceed; he's being sued by former sidekick Cindy Pierce for breach of contract for saying nasty things on the air about Pierce after reaching a settlement two years ago in Pierce's initial sexual harassment suit against Wease and the station.
Suppose anyone else besides your editor and another local TV DXer have noticed the absence from the airwaves of W47BM (aka WROH-LP), the home shopping LPTV on channel 47 in Rochester? It's been gone for more than a week now....
And down in Jamestown, the FCC has approved one more LPFM application for processing: the Lighthouse Baptist Church wants 105.9 there.
The real "more power" winner this week was WAMO-FM (106.7 Beaver Falls), which left behind its old tower overlooking Beaver Falls (still in use by former sister station WBVP 1230) in favor of a new site in Wexford, along I-79 north of target market Pittsburgh. WAMO lost some Pittsburgh audience a few years back when it traded away its huge signal on 105.9 to Clear Channel (it's now modern rock WXDX) in exchange for the Beaver Falls stick, which served Youngstown better than Pittsburgh most days; this move will help the urban station get its signal back to the neighborhoods it's targeting anyway.
And speaking of Pittsburgh, Keymarket's "Froggy 104," WOGF (104.3 East Liverpool OH) filed this week to move its transmitter from East Liverpool itself across the state line. The new facility, with 13 kW directional at 219 meters, would be south of Georgetown, Pennsylvania, quite a bit closer to the Steel City. (One final Keymarket-related note from Da Burgh: the He's Alive folks returned their license for translator W253AD in Glenshaw, which had to leave the air when "Froggy" WOGI 98.3 moved in from Charleroi to Duquesne.)
Across the state in Chambersburg, Four Rivers Community Broadcasting (the folks behind contemporary Christian WBYO 88.9 and its relays) have a new CP: WZZQ on 88.3 will run 140 directional watts when it signs on.
WISL (1480 Shamokin) will be back on the air November 1 under its new Basic Broadcasting ownership; new GM Sam Jordan (late of WAAT 750 in Olyphant) checked in with NERW to report he'll be running an oldies format on the station, and he's taking resumes from announcers and sales folks at 18 Rosecrans Lane, Loganton PA 17747-9811.
The Keystone State's LPFM applications are finally ready for FCC processing. The Commission released its list of grantable applications (non-mutually-exclusive and technically acceptable) last week, and it looks like this:
| Freq. | City | Applicant |
|---|---|---|
| 92.7 | Meadville | Meadville Educational Assn. |
| 92.9 | Cambridge | Springs Cambridge Community Radio Assn. |
| 92.9 | Gap | Octave Electroplex LLC |
| 94.7 | Marienville | (M.O.G.U.L.)/(M.O.G.L.E.) (whatever that is -- Ed.) |
| 94.9 | Warren | Calvary Chapel of Russell |
| 95.5 | Erie | EE Dept. of Gannon University |
| 95.9 | Erie | Erie Christian Broadcasting |
| 99.5 | Brookville | Brookville Area School District |
| 100.1 | Beaver Springs | Beaver Springs Faith Baptist Church |
| 100.3 | Carlisle | Fiat Educational Radio Assn. |
| 102.9 | Chambersburg | Dack, Inc. |
| 103.5 | La Plume | Keystone College |
| 103.7 | Indiana | Godstock Ministries |
| 104.5 | State College | Islamic Society of Central PA |
| 104.9 | Shawnee-on-Delaware | Shawnee Presbyterian Church |
| 107.3 | Plymouth | Abundant Life Ministries |
| 107.7 | Altoona | Lay Stewardship Educational Assn. |
| 107.9 | Girardville | Golden Age Communications |
Oh -- and one more LPFM app: 107.9 Lakewood, from the American Institute for Jewish Education.
Over in West Hartford, classical WTMI (1290) wants to go 24 hours; the former WCCC(AM) has applied to add 11 watts of night power to its current daytime 490-watt signal. (NERW looked at the application, and we note a complicated mess of post-sunset authorizations ranging from 75 down to 11 watts, not to mention 500 watts pre-sunrise!)
Sorry to report the passing (on October 16) of N. Thomas Eaton, who served as news director at WTIC (1080) and WTIC-TV (Channel 3, now WFSB) from 1941 until 1985. Eaton began at WTIC radio, covering World War II. After the war, the Hartford Courant reports, he helped to found the Radio News Directors Association (the ancestor of today's RTNDA). Eaton was the first news director of channel 3, and stayed with the TV side when it split from WTIC radio in 1974, retiring 11 years later. Eaton was 86; his survivors include son Robert Eaton, a senior vice president and managing editor at ESPN.
And say goodbye to WHTX-LP; the LPTV had its callsign deleted this week after failing to make the move from channel 10 (where it's being displaced by DTV) to channel 28.
New to the DTV scene: WSBK-DT (Channel 39) has taken to the air, nearly filling out the Boston DTV dial. On the next tower over in Newton, WBUR (90.9 Boston) was granted its application to modify its directional pattern; we suspect this has something to do with the WCNI move to 90.9, above....
Sorry to report that Peter George's license for translator W221AG (92.1 Wareham) has been cancelled; the little transmitter hasn't been on the air for a few years, and the FCC's finally catching up with some back business and cancelling long-dormant facilities such as this.
And we're hearing about a "Cape Ann 101" that's being listened to up Gloucester way. We think we may know who's behind it, and if we're right, that area's in for a treat at 101.3, license or no....
We're also sorry to report (via Wayne Harrett's On the Air in Atlantic Canada) the passing of Ken Packham, the former morning host at Halifax's CHFX (Country 101.9) and CFDR (Kixx 780). Packham died of a heart attack October 11.
Back in Ottawa, the CRTC has given two new stations extensions of time to take to the air: Aboriginal Voices Radio won't have to sign on at 95.7 until July 4, 2003, while the new ethnic station at 97.9 (a project of Toronto's CHIN) gets until April 4 to make its debut.
In Quebec, religious CION (90.9 Quebec City) has applied for an 11 kW relay in Saguenay (the former Chicoutimi) on 106.7.
And way out there on Prince Edward Island, viewers of the CBC's CBCT-TV (Channel 13) are saying so long to Roger Younker, who's left the station after 25 years as its evening news anchor, most recently on the cut-back Canada Now broadcast.