New England RadioWatch: August 9, 1996

I-90, Boston to Buffalo

by Scott Fybush

Before I launch into a quick look at what's happening along I-90 for about 400 miles west of here, a few brief news items from New England:

• WRCZ (101.7) in Pittsfield MA has returned to its original calls of WBRK-FM, and is using ABC's syndicated AC "Star" format as "Star 101.7." "FMedia!" reports "Z101" was the lowest-rated FM in Berkshire County.

• After about 2 years as morning host of Boston's WMJX "Magic 106.7," Gary Dickson is headed off to Houston's oldies KLDE (94.5). The move brings Dickson back to his old employer, Entercom, for whom he had worked in Pittsburgh before coming to Boston as Tom Bergeron's replacement on Magic. Mike Addams moves across the hall from WMJX's sister station WBCS "Country 96.9" to handle morning duties on Magic, and Addams' former co-host, Tom Doyle, will keep things going on WBCS while Greater Media figures out how it's going to drop country from either WBCS or newly-purchased WKLB (105.7), probably within a month.

• It looks as though WXTK (94.9 West Yarmouth MA) plans to build a new tower as part of its plan to move to 95.1 with 50kw DA from 262' AAT. The application includes a "new transmitter location," which turns out to be just a few feet north of the existing tower on South Sea Avenue in West Yarmouth.

• And now, on to a quick look at what I heard and saw as I drove across upstate New York last weekend, starting with the Albany market, where not much had changed since my last visit a few months back. The former oldies WXXO (96.7 Clifton Park) has flipped to religious WDCD-FM, simulcasting WDCD 1540 Albany (ex-WPTR). The new CP for 89.9 Rensselaerville is not yet on the air. Public radio WAMC's hourly station ID keeps getting longer -- it now includes seven primaries and three translators! I meant to check out WMVI (1160 Mechanicsville) to see whether it had fixed the transmitter problems it was having last March, but I never quite got around to doing so...so it will be checked in August.

• Down the road 70 miles or so in greater Utica, the NERW-mobile turned off the Thruway to check out the nifty cluster of towers atop Smith Hill, including studios of WKTV-2 and WUTR-20, and transmitters for those two, along with WRCK 107.3, WUNY 89.5 (on the channel 2 tower, I think), WLZW 98.7, and WOUR 96.9. Back on the air after a long absence was WNRS 1420 Herkimer, running satellite sports talk.

• There were plenty of changes to hear in Syracuse, where the market has essentially consolidated under two ownership groups plus a handful of smaller stations. Here's how it shakes out: Cox bought sports-talk WHEN (620) and country WHEN-FM (107.9) from Park Communications this spring. When Cox then bought NewCity, adding news-talk WSYR (570), AC WYYY (94.5, "Y94"), and country WBBS (104.7 Fulton, "B104.7") to the mix, WHEN-FM was sacrificed, becoming (very briefly) "Quick 108" before turning up as CHR "Hot 107.9," WWHT. There are "Hot 107.9" billboards up all over town -- every mile or so along I-690 as you drive through the city, including one just east of downtown that's back to back with a board for CHR rival WNTQ (93.1, "93Q"). WNTQ is now owned by Pilot Broadcasting, along with former Osborn sister station WNSS 1260. "W-News" is the former country WNDR, now reincarnated as an all-news signal, at least some of which seemed to originate locally. Also in the Pilot family is rocker WAQX (95.7 Manlius, "95X"). The Radio Corporation has standards WTLA (1200, now also heard on WSGO 1440 Oswego, and at least partially simulcast with WTLB 1310 Utica), modern-rocker WKRL (100.9 N. Syracuse, simulcast with WKLL 94.9 Frankfort-Utica as "K-Rock"), and classic-rock WTKW (99.5 Bridgeport, now also heard on WTKV 105.5 Oswego, and simulcast with WRCK 107.3 Utica). And WOLF 1490 is back on the air as a talker (I heard Don and Mike in PM drive), now co-owned with SW Smooth FM affiliate WXCD (105.9). Not yet on were WNDR-FM (103.9 Mexico) or WKRH (105.9 Minetta), two more CPs due on in the Salt City. Also not yet on was WRVD (90.3), the new Syracuse outlet in the SUNY-Oswego/WRVO public radio chain.

• In my hometown of Rochester, cool little AAA station WMAX (106.7 Irondequoit) has been doing some growing. They're now simulcast on the former WLKA, now WMHX 102.3 Canandaigua, and ID'ing as "WMAX 106-7 and 102-dot-3." Tom Sheridan, formerly of WZLX in Boston, is PD and morning host. Co-owned with WMAX is SW Smooth FM affiliate WRCD (107.3 Honeoye Falls), with a decent signal over the city. I stopped in to visit AIRWAVES reader Ellis B. Feaster on his last week on morning drive at WKLX (Oldies 98.9)...he's off to Salt Lake City's KBEE (98.7) next week to do mornings. Rochester's newest station, WAQB 94.1 Brighton, has reportedly been testing with country music. This new station will use a short tower adjacent to the big FM/TV sticks on Pinnacle Hill near downtown. No word on the fate of little class D noncomm WIRQ (94.3) at Irondequoit High School, which faces being bumped from a third frequency, after moving from 90.9 in the early 80s and then from 93.3 in the early 90s. No sign yet of WASB-FM (105.5) in Brockport. As for the biggies, it's all in the hands of just two big groups. American Radio Systems has news-talk WHAM (1180), hot talk WHTK (1280), sports-talk WCMF (990), rocker WCMF (96.5), CHR WPXY (97.9), AC WVOR (100.5), and AC WRMM (101.3), along with a sales agreement with modern rock WNVE (95.1 South Bristol and W238AR 95.5 Rochester). Heritage has market-leading country WBEE (92.5), oldies WKLX (98.9), and standards WBBF (950). There's also locally-owned urban WDKX (103.9) and jazz/variety WJZR (105.9).

• And that brings us to Buffalo, where your NERW enjoyed a pleasant day of driving around the hills south of the city visiting all the towers. WIVB-TV (4) and WKBW-TV (7) both had informative signs at the ends of their driveways with the tower heights listed -- very nice! The shared transmitter site of WWKB (1520) and WGR (550) in Hamburg NY still has the old "WKBW INC. / ABC" signs on the side of the very attractive transmitter building -- downright heartbreaking. Also nice was the WBEN (930) site on Grand Island -- a very attractive Art Deco building and two well-maintained towers. Your NERW found himself in a downtown hotel room facing the Rand Building just a few blocks away, with the 50kw transmitters of WBLK (93.7 Depew), WJYE (96.1) and WYRK (106.5) all pounding copious intermod into the airchecking equipment. A particularly bad mixing product of WBLK and WJYE wiped out WBNY (91.3) completely.

  On the air, Buffalo is largely controlled by three radio groups. ARS now holds adult-standards WECK (1230 Cheektowaga), smooth-jazz WSJZ (92.9), urban WBLK, AC WJYE, and country WYRK. Sinclair has sports-talk WGR (550), news-talk WBEN (930), leased-time WWWS (1400), satellite country WWKB (1520), CHR WKSE (98.5 Niagara Falls), and AC WMJQ (102.5). And Mercury Broadcasting has simulcast/leased-time WHTT (1120), rocker WGRF (96.9), modern rock WEDG (103.3), and oldies WHTT-FM (104.1). All that shuffling has meant a lot of moving for Buffalo's radio stations, and many are still in transition (the Sinclair stations are in four different locations around town, with the staff of WGR/WWKB/WKSE apparently split between studios at 695 Delaware Ave. and additional offices at 6 Fountain Plaza, adjacent to the hotel where I was staying. Mercury is consolidating at the old WGR studios at 464 Franklin, and all the ARS stations except WSJZ and WBLK are in the Rand Building).

  Canadian radio is also still a factor in the Buffalo market, with many Toronto stations audible, as well as rocker CHTZ (97.7), modern/dance CKEY (101.1 The Planet), and AC CHRE (105.7) among the strongest signals from just across the border. And little travelers-information CFLZ 91.9 Niagara Falls seems to be using a lot more than 8 watts -- I was getting it 45 miles outside Buffalo on the Thruway!

• We'll come back to New England next NERW...stay tuned!