Inbound to 'PLR are "Chaz and AJ" from WRCN (103.9 Riverhead) on Long Island; they'll work with the rest of the Smith and Barber morning team when they start on WPLR in mid-February. Much more in next Monday's NERW....
As first confirmed right here at NERW last week, Entercom pulled the plug on the ratings-challenged business talk format that had been occupying the 50,000 watts of Buffalo's WWKB (1520), returning the erstwhile WKBW to the music that made it great -- the hits (don't call them "oldies" these days) of 1958 through 1973.
And what a way to do it -- complete with ads in the Buffalo News, a spiffy new Web site at www.kb1520.com, plenty of cross-promotion on Entercom sister stations WGR (550) and WBEN (930), including 90 minutes' worth of Friday's Sandy Beach (himself a 'KB alumnus) talk show on 'BEN, and a lineup of talent that Buffalo radio history buffs have long fantasized of reuniting at the top of the dial.
Anchoring the revitalized 'KB, as long rumored, is Danny Neaverth, a morning fixture on the original 'KB from 1963 until its 1988 demise -- and joining him on the 6-10 AM shift is Tom Donahue with "Pulse... Beat... NEWS". On afternoons is Hank Nevins, who followed Neaverth out the door at Citadel's oldies WHTT (104.1) last year, and holding down the 6-10 PM shift by voicetrack from his home base at WMQX (93.1 Winston-Salem NC) is none other than "Your LeeeeeeeeeeeeDER," the legendary Jackson Armstrong. Completing the initial lineup is Joey Reynolds' overnight talk show -- and Reynolds, who worked at 'KB in 1964-1965, will do his show live from Buffalo tonight.
It's an ambitious effort to breathe life into a signal that's been dormant for more than a decade, long enough for a new generation of Buffalo radio listeners to forget about all the magic that happened at 1520.
But Entercom has a few things going for it: the relatively stable population base in Buffalo means there are still hundreds of thousands of people in town who grew up with 'KB as a part of their lives and will at least sample the new version; the decline of Citadel's WHTT, which inexplicably let Neaverth go last year, opening the door to the possibility of a 'KB return; and of course the massive 1520 signal, still one of the very best in Buffalo (and Rochester) and of course still widely heard across the Northeast after dark, especially in New York City, where the old 'KB was the only source for rock and roll on Sunday nights well into the early seventies.
And how excited is Neaverth about the return? The oft-delayed morning man was not only on time for his debut show... we hear he showed up 20 minutes early! (The stories about Neaverth's morning tardiness rival those about Boston's WBZ and the late Carl deSuze, but we digress....)
We'll be watching (and listening to) 'KB closely over the next few months to see whether Entercom can sustain the initial buzz that surrounds the relaunch. Stay tuned!
WNEW's hot talk format has been on the endangered list, of course, since last summer's suspension of the station's flagship talk hosts, Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia. With the duo off the roster, WNEW has been limping along with syndicated talk, a deliberately weakened morning show (so as not to challenge Infinity sister WXRK and Howard Stern), Ron and Fez in the evening and plenty of infomercials. Monday morning at 1:00, though, that mess of a non-format was abruptly replaced by Jennifer Lopez' "Jenny from the Block" and an announcement (on the air and on the station's Web site) that a new station was on the way to 102.7.
That, in turn, is sparking a new round of rumors in the nation's biggest market -- will WNEW go to a female-leaning AAA-ish AC format, as message-board guru Allan Sniffen declared he'd been tipped last week? Will it fill the gaping hole in the country format? Or will Infinity shift 102.7 in some completely different direction? We'll have all the latest developments right here at NERW and fybush.com just as soon as anything happens -- which, given the history of the station, could be later tonight or six months from now....
Meanwhile, the general manager of WNEW and sister WINS (1010 New York) has some additional duties: Scott Herman has been promoted to market manager for all of Infinity's New York properties, which puts him in charge of sports WFAN (660), all-news WCBS (880), Stern flagship WXRK (92.3) and is-it-still-oldies? WCBS-FM (101.1) as well. Nothing like a good challenge....
Congratulations to Ithaca's WHCU (870), which celebrated its 80th anniversary last week. The station started down the road in Elmira as WESG, owned jointly by Cornell University and the Elmira Star-Gazette; it moved to Ithaca under sole Cornell ownership in the thirties and didn't enter private hands until just a decade or so ago.
One more tiny Buffalo item: W15BH (Channel 15) changed calls last week to WBNF-CA; when last we checked, the station was still relaying the TCT religious programs of WNYB (Channel 26) from Jamestown.
New York was one of the few states where nobody could see the Super Bowl in digital form; amazingly, not one of the Empire State's ABC affiliates has its DTV signal on the air yet! Only a few viewers in the Albany area had a chance to see ABC's DTV presentation from San Diego, thanks to the signal of WCDC-DT (Channel 36) from Adams, Massachusetts, which beat its parent station (WTEN Albany) to the digital airwaves -- and which was picked up on Albany's cable system for game day.
And we're sorry to report the passing of Gene Collins, who spent twenty years at WTEN (Channel 10), moving all the way up from cameraman to station manager. Collins died January 18 at age 66; his son, Scott Collins, is an executive with Anastos Media's Albany-market stations (WABY, WUAM, WVKZ).
The move will require the construction of a fourth tower at WCRN's current site; we'll keep you posted as it makes its way through the FCC bureaucracy.
Over in Boston, WJMN (94.5) wants to make a minor change, switching antennas on the "FM 128" tower in Newton. The move 29 meters up the tower (to 353 meters above average terrain) will require a power drop from 11.5 kW to 9.3 kW.
And we're sorry to report the death on January 22 of Gary Marder, who had been general manager of Entravision's WUNI (Channel 27 Worcester), Boston's Univision affiliate.
Down the hallway at WHCN (105.9 Hartford), morning co-host Teresa Berry is leaving voluntarily -- she's rejoining former co-host Eddie Davis in mornings at WIXM (97.3 Millville) in southern NEW JERSEY beginning February 3.
Over in the Harrisburg market, oldies WHBO (92.7 Starview) wants to drop power but raise its antenna at its current site. From its current 1400 watts at 208 meters, WHBO would move to 281 meters with 750 watts, with hopes of putting more signal over the hills and into Harrisburg itself.
Way out in western Pennsylvania, the Cambridge Community Radio Association has been granted a 100-watt LPFM in Cambridge Springs, at 92.9 on the dial.
And Uniontown's WMBS (590) flipped this morning, ditching oldies for standards.
The CHUM-owned station won the FM frequency over the protests of the CBC, which has long had that channel on its long-term plan to bring Radio Two service to Brockville. The CRTC notes that several other frequencies are available for that purpose, and that Brockville already gets Radio Two service from Ottawa (CBOQ 103.3) and Kingston (CBBK 92.9 -- incorrectly identified in the CRTC release as "107.5," which is the CBC's Radio One frequency there.)
Speaking of Ottawa, NewCap is staffing up its new CIHT (89.9), which is already on the air testing and will soon inaugurate its dance/CHR format as "The Planet." In addition to PD Rob Mise, new staffers include morning team Carter Brown (an Ottawa veteran from the old CJSB 540), Sandra Plagakis (from Toronto's CFNY) and newsguy Andrew Boyle (from Halifax's Q104). Amy Ballard, who had been doing overnights at CJMJ (100.3), also joins the new station.
Down in the Toronto market, Kenny Caughlin's short-term contract to do afternoons at "Country 95.3" (CING 95.3 Hamilton) isn't being renewed, reports Milkman Unlimited.
And repeating the K-Big Story of the Moment: Buffalo's KB Radio is back on the air! (Sorry, we just couldn't resist....)