Last week, we told you how Bob Vinikoor had won his New Hampshire Supreme Court battle to build four 266-foot towers in Lebanon for his new WQTH (720 Hanover).
This week, we can tell you that Vinikoor has some big plans for his other New Hampshire AM station as well. WNTK (1020 Newport) is currently a 10 kW daytimer, playing Americana music along with some talk programming -- but Vinikoor applied last week to move the station down the dial to 1010 kHz, retaining the 10 kilowatt power by day and during critical hours (when WNTK currently reduces its power on 1020) and adding 37 watts of night service. Vinikoor's application notes that the move will reduce interference between WNTK and Boston's WBZ (1030).
Those with long memories may recall that WNTK is the descendant of WCNL in Newport -- which began its life as a daytimer on 1010. Back then, 1010 was limited to 250 watts by day; Vinikoor can thank the disappearance of the old WHWB (1000) in Rutland, Vermont for at least part of the change on the dial that allows for higher power on 1010 these days.
And we have no idea what to make of the headline that
appeared last week in the
The article, by a Meggan Clark, says Vinikoor is planning to build six towers in North Charlestown, N.H. for what she (and the screaming headline) describe as a "500,000-watt" radio station!
Assuming the ghost of W8XO isn't returning to haunt the
Upper Valley airwaves, we think the plan in question is really an
alternate proposal for the yet-unbuilt WQTH; the article claims
Vinikoor "has already received Federal Communications Commission
(sic) to build a 500,000-watt AM frequency tower," but we
certainly can't find any CP like that in the database. (And you
thought the
Tony Bristol, PD of sister CHR WPRO-FM (92.3 Providence), is handling programming duties for WWLI for now; no word yet on how Lite is filling Holt's old midday air shift....
Back in September, he headed over to the nearby Hanover Mall one evening to check out a report he heard on the police scanner about an incident in the mall parking lot. When he got there, he did what any good reporter would, taking out his tape recorder and notebook and asking questions.
The
It took a few months, but all the charges (resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, trespassing and interfering with a police officer) have finally been dismissed, and now Perry is considering a civil suit against the mall.
(NERW comments: Anyone who ever wondered why WATD is such a consistent winner of RTNDA and AP awards shouldn't have any question, now....)
On the TV side, WLVI (Channel 56) has a new news director, as Tribune moves Pamela Johnston up from assistant ND to replace Greg Caputo as the head of the WB affiliate's news operation.
LATE UPDATE: The purchase of WSRO (1470 Marlborough) by Multicultural Broadcasting has brought a call change with it; 1470 is now "WAZN," with the WSRO calls moving down the dial to Alex Langer's 650 in Ashland, ex-WJLT. And who'll be the first Boston broadcaster to notice that the "WCOZ" calls that once graced 94.5 are once again available, having been dropped from AM 1300 in St. Albans, West Virginia?
And a correction to the December 3 NERW: WBUR (90.9 Boston) is not going non-directional; it's altering its directional pattern.
J.R. Reid III began his broadcast career in Buffalo at the old WXRA (1080) when he was still a teenager; he moved to Lockport in 1964 to work at what was then WUSJ (1340) before shifting his attention to law enforcement.
But after a career as a Niagara County sheriff's deputy, the call of the airwaves again beckoned (he had been doing a weekend oldies show even while wearing the badge), and a few years ago, Reid returned to 1340 -- now WLVL -- to do morning drive and sales. Reid was also serving as vice president of the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers. Now he's headed into retirement (his last show was Dec. 13), and heading down to Cape Coral, Florida...but you can expect to still see him around Lockport, where one of his kids is buying his house!
(Another bit of WLVL news: it's losing the overnight Joey Reynolds show early next year, as the show moves to the big signal of WWKB 1520 in Buffalo. The move puts Reynolds back on the very station that made him famous -- it was WKBW then, of course -- and there are rumors afoot that other old 'KB personalities could be headed back to 1520 as well if the station flips to an oldies format in 2003. Stay tuned!)
Here in Rochester, construction wrapped up over the weekend on the new American Tower tower on Pinnacle Hill, and there's already a UHF antenna in place at the top of the stick. NERW suspects WUHF-DT (Channel 28) will soon be applying for Special Temporary Authority and signing on from the new tower....
Meanwhile, Family Life Radio has dropped its plans to build a translator on 105.1 in Greece; the network already has a Greece-licensed signal (W220DE 91.9) on the west side of Rochester, and the 105.1 would have interfered with the east side translator (W286AE Fairport) of Greece community station WGMC (90.1) to boot.
In Syracuse, Clear Channel flipped WXBB (105.1 DeRuyter) from a country simulcast with WBBS (104.7 Fulton) to Christmas music last week; we'll keep you posted on what happens next with "Sleigh 105-1."
In Albany, Clear Channel made it official by announcing that Scott Allen Miller is the permanent afternoon host at WGY (810 Schenectady), leaving J.R. Gach without a job. Gach left WGY's airwaves last August under mysterious circumstances, revealing later that he was suffering from severe mental illness.
Gach tells the
Moving down to New York City, Judy Ellis has a new job lined up for March 2003, when she leaves her longtime VP/GM position at the Emmis cluster (WQHT 97.1, WRKS 98.7 and WQCD 101.9). The Big Apple radio veteran will join Citadel as its chief operating officer; her old job at Emmis, meanwhile, will be filled by veteran programmer Barry Mayo.
Scott Elberg has a new job: the former VP/GM of Clear Channel's WHTZ/WKTU is joining Hispanic Broadcasting as its VP of sales for WADO (1280) and WCAA (105.9 Newark NJ).
WPIX (Channel 11) has been granted an auxiliary facility at the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, N.J. (coincidentally, this week's Tower Site of the Week); the WB affiliate will be able to use Alpine with 24 kW at 244 meters, on an antenna to be shared with WABC-TV (Channel 7) and WNET (Channel 13).
Attention DXers: three major AM signals in the Big Apple will go silent for a few hours next weekend, giving New York listeners a chance to hear Toronto, Detroit and beyond. WBBR (1130) and WEVD (1050) will both go silent from 1-4 AM on Saturday (12/28) and Sunday (12/29), which means plenty of DXers will be staying up late Friday and Saturday nights. WWDJ (970 Hackensack) will also be silent for at least a portion of that time.
Out on Long Island, WGSM (740 Huntington) has been granted a power reduction from 25 kW to 20 kW; the power change comes with a big pattern change that will redirect WGSM's signal to head mostly west, toward the big Asian population in Queens.
"Best Media" was granted a license to cover for new translator W208AU (89.5 Massapequa) this week; the new signal should be relaying the Indian programming from WCNJ (89.3 Hazlet NJ) for owner Banad Viswanath. Best filed for dozens of translators back in 1999, many of them with impossibly-sloppy engineering (though not quite as bad as the applications the FCC dismissed this week for LPTVs on channel 37, which is reserved for radio astronomy and not available for broadcast); the Massapequa translator was originally proposed to relay WSHU in Stamford, Connecticut.
And WDRE (98.5 Westhampton) is now operating from its new site on the WRCN (103.9) tower, near the eastern end of the Long Island Expressway.
WSNJ (107.7 Bridgeton) has made no secret, ever since being sold last year, of its desire to move closer to Philadelphia. The station first proposed changing its allocation from a full 50 kilowatt B in Bridgeton to a 6000 watt class A on 107.9 in Elmer. That proposal was dismissed by the FCC last week, in favor of a second proposal submitted a few weeks later by WSNJ's new owners.
As we reported last spring (
Public comments on the proposal will be accepted by the FCC until February 10, with reply comments due February 25; we'll keep you posted on the outcome.
Meanwhile, the new 90.5 religious station in Medford Lakes has call letters: mark down WVBV(FM) for the station, which will be licensed to the Hope Christian Church of Marlton.
Just across the street from Channel 3, Roger LaMay handed in his resignation last week as general manager of Fox's WTXF (Channel 29). LaMay came to Channel 29 in 1985 (when it was still WTAF) to be the first news director at the independent station; he became GM in 1996.
Out in the Roxborough antenna farm, WOGL (98.1) has been granted a tower move; it's being forced off the WCAU-TV (Channel 10) tower to accommodate DTV. The Infinity oldies station will move to a newer tower (also home to WPPX-DT and WYBE) with 9.6 kW at 338 meters, a slight power drop and height increase from its current facility.
Up in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market, there's yet another call change at Citadel: this time the 95.7 facility in Olyphant flips from WEOZ (the calls that matched its old "Z-Talk" format) to WBHD, reflecting its new use as a simulcast of CHR WBHT (97.1 Mountain Top). The WBHD calls have been used before in the market, on the 94.3 Carbondale that's now WCWI; it too was a WBHT relay in a previous life. Meanwhile, Entercom country giant WGGY (101.3 Scranton) has been granted a Hazleton booster; WGGY-2 will run 35 watts on 101.3.
And while it's not yet on the air, WZZQ (88.3 Chambersburg) has already changed calls: it's now WZXQ.
CISD (107.7 Iroquois) signed on in 1999 from atop the Iroquois water tower, along the St. Lawrence Seaway south of Ottawa and east of Cornwall. We heard it in the summer of 2000, running automated with classic rock.
Licensed to the Seaway District High School in South Dundas, CISD lasted just two years in its first incarnation, signing off in 2001 to reorganize its operation.
Now it's back, as a community-run station; we're told it's testing right now and will be back on the air full-time at the beginning of January.
Over in Toronto, Craig's new "Toronto One" (Channel 52, with a low-power relay on 45 in Hamilton) has been granted an extension of time; it now has until next October 31 to sign on.
The CBC was granted three new Radio Two relays: 97.1 Owen Sound (17.5 kW), 90.7 Orillia (4.8 kW) and 104.7 Huntsville (70 kW) will all relay CBL-FM (94.1 Toronto).
In Ottawa, Rob Mise has been named operations manager for NewCap's new dance station on 89.9, to be called "The Planet"; Mise's resume includes stints in Calgary and Vancouver.
Out in Nova Scotia, CJLS (1340 Yarmouth) was granted its proposed move to FM; CJLS will go to 18 kW on 95.5, keeping its existing FM relays in Barrington and New Tusket on Nova Scotia's western shore. And over in Sydney, CKER (950) DJ Brian King was sentenced to six years in prison; he held up three Cape Breton Island gas stations with a gun.
And on that cheerful (?) note, we wish you a very happy holiday! We'll be back here December 30 with the first part of our 2002 Year in Review; stay tuned!