New England RadioWatch: December 16, 1996

WBNW Vanishes... and a Mysterious Pirate

by Scott Fybush

• Boston's "Business 590," WBNW, ended a two and a half year broadcast run Sunday night at 11:57, in the most inconspicuous way possible. Just seconds into a Bloomberg network feature, the audio faded down and was replaced by the programming of Salem's WEZE (1260). To the strains of the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus is Just Alright," the new "Family 590" presented a short montage of its programming and a welcoming message from the program director.

  Once the simulcast between 1260 and 590 ends, and the WEZE calls officially shift to 590 (which is still legally WBNW for now), 1260 will become "Praise 1260," running Christian contemporary music.

• Ridgefield, Connecticut's WREF (850) is about to be sold. Owner Arthur Liu called a staff meeting last Friday to announce that the entire staff was being fired, and that starting December 30, WREF will be operating under an LMA with WLAD(AM)/WDAQ(FM) in neighboring Danbury. WLAD/WDAQ's owners, Berkshire Broadcasting, will eventually buy WREF from Liu. In the meantime, word has it WREF will be simulcasting WLAD's programming.

• An NERW excursion to Hartford, Connecticut over the weekend turned up a most unusual unlicensed operation. "Praise 105.3" is one of the slickest pirates we've ever heard, complete with professional-sounding liners and promos...and an all-gospel format! The signal strength seemed to place the station somewhere north of downtown, but obviously with at least several hundred watts of power, since its stereo signal could be heard throughout the metro area. We heard it east as far as Vernon, north to Windsor, and south to Newington. Anyone know who's behind this station? Also heard running unlicensed was an 87.9 in downtown Hartford, apparently running just a few watts and rebroadcasting home shopping television programming.

• One format change to report in Connecticut: WXZR (98.7) in East Lyme has ditched the soon-to-expire Z-Rock satellite format, and is now being programmed locally, still with hard rock, but now as "Z-98."

• An update to last issue's report on storm damage in Western Massachusetts: The folks at WPVQ (93.9 Turners Falls) checked in to tell us they were off the air for just a few minutes at the height of the storm....but when they returned, it was with reduced power, and that's why NERW's correspondent up in Brattleboro VT didn't hear them. WPVQ reports they ran a contest to see how far the signal was getting out, awarding prizes to the most distant listeners.

• The FM construction permit in tiny Dennysville, Maine has new call letters. The former WVZD on 102.9 is now WHRR, and might even be on the air soon. This is a full 100,000 watt license that will serve much of eastern Maine and parts of New Brunswick from a transmitter just south of Calais, Maine.

• Elmo Mania Grips Hub: That furry red giggling fellow is being auctioned by several Boston stations. WROR (105.7) already unloaded its Elmo, for $3000. WEGQ (93.7) auctioned an Elmo on the air last Friday morning. And over at WBZ-TV (Channel 4), there'll be an Elmo for auction during tomorrow night's Childrens Hospital Telethon, courtesy of sports guy Bob Lobel. Here at NERW, we much prefer the promotion being run by WXBB (105.3 Kittery, Maine). This station is inviting its listeners in the Portsmouth NH area to bring in their unwanted fruitcakes...and launch them into the air from a catapult! (or perhaps a "fruitcake-a-pult"?) Listeners will be judged on accuracy, distance, and style. Perhaps the logical conclusion of all this should be the "Elmo-pult"....

• Anybody home? NERW tuned to WKOX (1200 Framingham-Boston) Saturday morning... only to hear the sounds of an empty CBS Radio Networks satellite channel fill the air. Looks like the automation system fell asleep at the switch...

• And we'll close this NERW on a serious note. As many of you may already have heard, Bill Pfeiffer (the moderator of rec.radio.broadcasting on Usenet and the AIRWAVES Radio Journal) was the victim of a devastating fire in his home late last week. Bill was able to escape safely, and he rescued his elderly mother as well...but the fire destroyed everything he owned, and he has no insurance. I'm sure he'd appreciate any help NERW's readers could offer him at this holiday season. You can reach Bill at <wdp@airwaves.com>, or at:

  Bill Pfeiffer
  Post Office Box 8746
  Springfield MO 65801
  

  Without Bill, there would never have been an NERW in the first place, and our best wishes are going out to him as he recovers from this tragedy.