The deal adds "Hot" to an already significant Citadel presence in the Ocean State: talk WPRO (630 Providence), sports WSKO (790 Providence) and WSKO-FM (99.7 Wakefield-Peace Dale), CHR WPRO-FM (92.3 Providence), AC WWLI (105.1), as well as the adjacent New Bedford cluster of news-talk WBSM (1420), CHR WFHN (107.1 Fairhaven) and rocker WKKB (100.3 Middletown RI).
For the $16 million purchase price, Citadel also gets to add one more station to its regional cluster: WMOS (104.7 Montauk NY), the Long Island station that markets to southeastern Connecticut from its studios at the Mohegan Sun casino in Ledyard, Connecticut. More on this deal next week...
So much for "Star 93.3" -- Clear Channel is now calling WSNE-FM (93.3 Taunton MA) "The New 93.3," having decided not to fight Entercom's complaint that the Providence-market AC station was courting confusion with "Star 93.7" (WQSX Lawrence) in the Boston market.
(One bit of Nutmeg State TV news: David Nelson is departing WFSB in Hartford, where he was the morning anchor, to become the lead anchor at WAVY in Portsmouth, Virginia.)
Over in Worcester, WWFX (100.1 Southbridge) shook things up a little last week, adding current active rock tracks to its classic rock lineup and ditching syndicated morning hosts Bob and Tom. PD Chris Engle is doing mornings there now, and he's eagerly seeking a co-host.
One bit of Boston news: WBPS (890 Dedham) is airing something called the "Sports Terminal Radio Network" overnight now, though we hear it's turned out to be just dead air for at least a few nights...
Out on Cape Cod, WCDJ (102.3 Truro) is nearing the end of the one year of silence it's allowed before the license disappears Feb. 1 -- could this be the reason some DXers on the Cape are hearing music in mono with no IDs on that frequency?
Down the coast, Gannett's WCSH (Channel 6) from Portland and WLBZ (Channel 2) from Bangor are opening a joint mid-coast news bureau this summer. To be staffed by Don Carrigan, who spent more than two decades with both stations before joining Maine Public Broadcasting in 1994, the new bureau will make it easier for the stations to cover the region from Ellsworth to Bath during the busy summer months, when traffic can make it hard to get stories back to home base otherwise.
When Clear Channel flips WNSX (97.7 Winter Harbor) to sports next month, the station will still be carrying Bob and Tom in the morning, the last relic of its current simulcast with WFZX (101.7 Searsport). The rest of the day on WNSX will include Jim Rome and a heavy dose of Fox Sports Radio; Fox will also go 24/7 at WRKD (1450 Rockland), which now mixes ESPN and Fox. And while we're in the neighborhood, we note that WBYA (105.5 Islesboro) has changed hands to Mariner; it's now running Jones' "Music of Your Life", still as "the Bay".
Upstate, Ted Baker is the new program director for the Finger Lakes News Network (WGVA 1240 Geneva, WCGR 1550 Canandaigua, WSFW 1110 Seneca Falls and WAUB 1590 Auburn); he's the former PD at WHMP in Northampton, Mass.
In Syracuse, Steve Medicis tells us W249BC (97.7) has switched simulcasts, returning to "K-Rock" WKRL (100.9 North Syracuse) from WZUN (102.1 Phoenix) in apparent reaction to Clear Channel's new "Dog" WWDG (105.1 DeRuyter) and its weak downtown signal.
A few shakeups along the Rochester TV dial: veteran WROC-TV (Channel 8) anchor Jerry Fiore left the CBS affiliate after the New Year. Fiore, who had a long track record in Syracuse and Utica before coming to Rochester, says he wants to stay in the area, but he says the contract offer WROC made him wasn't acceptable. Fiore had been anchoring the morning show with Melissa Long; he'll be replaced by Cathy Orosz there, and Long will anchor the noon newscast solo. WROC also lost meteorologist James Monroe last week.
Across town at WHEC-TV (Channel 10), meteorologist Richard McCollough didn't have his contract renewed; chief meteorologist Kevin Williams will add the 11 PM show to his 5 and 6 PM duties. And the rumors are growing that Sinclair's Fox affiliate, WUHF (Channel 31), will move production of its 10 PM newscast to Sinclair's central news hub in Maryland later this year. WUHF already let its local weather staff (including chief meteorologist Michael Gouldrick) go late last year, replacing them with weather from Maryland.
On the radio side, Gina Jones, formerly of WYJB (95.5 Albany), comes to Crawford's contemporary Christian WDCZ (102.7 Rochester) for morning drive; Ben Martin moves to middays at "the Light".
Up in Watertown, WLOT-LP (Channel 66) has been spotted on eBay, of all places! The little LPTV, which lost its UPN affiliation last year and vanished from cable when its owner declined to keep paying for the privilege, can be yours for $950,000; the wags over at Newsblues.com calculated that as $85 per viewer!
And over in Buffalo, we noticed crews at work last week taking down a Western New York TV landmark: the old channel 4 tower in Colden. Built in 1952 for what was then WBEN-TV, it was by far the tallest structure in the region; it's since been supplanted by a new tower next door that holds WIVB-TV/DT and WTSS (102.5).
The CRTC gave CITY-TV (Channel 57) in Toronto the go-ahead to become Canada's first DTV broadcaster. CITY has been testing on channel 66, but will use channel 53 for its DTV transmissions from the CN Tower, with 6 kW of power. Expect to see CITY-DT on cable before it shows up on the air, we're told....
In Ottawa, Newcap is testing its new dance station on 89.9; expect "the Planet" on the air for real in a few weeks.
CFAN-FM (99.3 Miramichi-Newcastle NB) signed on Friday; "99.3 the River" is being simulcast on CFAN (790) for 90 days, until the AM goes dark for good.
Way out in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, CJFX will soon be leaving the AM dial. The station has already been simulcasting its 580 AM signal on 2750-watt CJFX-FM (98.9); now the CRTC has granted permission to make the FM the only signal there, with a power boost to 75.39 kW. The move comes over opposition from the CBC, which had hoped to use 98.9 over in Prince Edward Island to relay its Radio-Canada premiere chaine service. (The CRTC says the CBC has plenty of alternate channels to pick there.)