North East RadioWatch: November 26, 1998

WQEW Getting Mouse Ears?

by Scott Fybush

• As we sit down for our Thanksgiving turkey (or head over to the radio to roll tape as the local AOR station plays "Alice's Restaurant,") change is afoot on New York City's AM dial. The New York Daily News reports today that ABC is close to making a deal with the New York Times to buy WQEW (1560) for $40 million. The deal would bring an end to the adult standards format that ran for decades on WNEW (1130) before moving to WQEW in 1992. Instead, New Yorkers would hear Radio Disney on WQEW's 50,000 watt signal, which would join WABC (770), WPLJ (95.5), and WABC-TV (Channel 7) in the ABC New York cluster.

  It's not clear which, if any, New York station might pick up standards if WQEW drops the format. Several suburban stations, including WVNJ (1160 Oakland NJ) and WHLI (1100 Huntington LI), run standards, but none has the signal WQEW enjoys. Could WEVD (1050) drop much or all of its leased-time schedule to go standards? We're, um, all ears.

• At the other end of NEW YORK comes news that's just as devastating in its own way. Irv Weinstein, who started on Buffalo radio at the old WKBW (1520) way back in 1958, announced last Friday night that he'll retire at the end of the year from his anchor spot at WKBW-TV (Channel 7), where he's worked since 1964. The last remaining member of Channel 7's classic "Eyewitness News" team, weatherman Tom Jolls, has also said he'll be retiring soon.

  Here in Rochester, we hit the scan button Wednesday afternoon only to find a change of simulcast for one of Jacor's local outlets. At 5 PM, WYSY (106.7 Irondequoit), switched from soft AC "Sunny 106" to a simulcast of dance-CHR WMAX-FM (107.3 Honeoye Falls, but already using the CP city of license South Bristol). Not entirely unexpected, since the 107.3 signal will disappear from most Rochester dials when it moves up to Bristol Mountain -- but here's the kicker: the "Sunny" format lives on at WISY (102.3 Canandaigua), which is STILL calling itself "Sunny 106," at least in the obviously-canned voice tracks running today. This'll be fun when WYSY's listeners get in their cars Friday morning to listen to the "12 Hours of Holiday Music" the station had been promoting all week...

  The program director of Syracuse's WSYR (570) and WHEN (620) is moving to Atlanta to hold down the same position at WGST (640/105.7). It's a nice jump in market size for Ken Charles, and he'll be competing against his current employer, since WSYR/WHEN owner Cox also owns WSB (750) in Atlanta.

  Also in Syracuse: Pax TV's WSPX (Channel 56) fired up the transmitter on Tuesday, and is now beaming 5 megawatts of family programming to central New York. And WSIV (1540 East Syracuse) has been granted 57 watts at night.

  Further north, we neglected to note last week that WXQZ (101.5 Canton) has dropped its own country programming to begin simulcasting nearby WNCQ (102.9 Morristown), also country.

  Five of Binghamton's biggest stations are falling into Citadel hands as part of the $77 million sale of Wicks Broadcasting to Citadel. Included in the deal are news-talk WNBF (1290), standards WKOP (1360), dominant country WHWK (98.1), classic rock WAAL (99.1), and oldies WYOS (104.1 Chenango Bridge). "No format changes are planned," says the Citadel release.

  And downstate, Montgomery NYC Broadcasting has applied for another small FM in the northern suburbs of New York, this time 88.3 in Beekman NY, in Dutchess County just north of I-84.

• There's change in the airwaves in MASSACHUSETTS as well, most notably in morning drive on CBS oldies station WODS (103.3 Boston). Program director John Morgan arrived a few months ago from WWBB ("B101") in Providence, and now he's bringing some of B101's talent north with him. Ousted this week were morning host John Potter, who was called in from vacation to get the pink slip, and newsman Dave Faneuf, who was laid off but quickly rehired two years ago this month. Inbound are Paul Perry, who makes a return to the Soldiers Field Road building where he worked for WBZ years ago, and Michele Hughes. They start Dec. 7. Returning to WODS after several years is Little Walter, whose Sunday night "time machine" now airs from 6 till 10 PM.

  Also shuffling air talent is WEGQ (93.7 Lawrence), now under the guidance of WAAF GM Bruce Mittman. Steve York has moved from nights to middays, Dave Breen comes over from 'AAF to do nights, Karen Blake takes over afternoons, and Stella Mars and Jay Michaels end up with fill-in gigs.

  Out along the Connecticut River, there's a new signal coming from WPVQ (93.9 Turners Falls). Bob Shotwell checked in to tell us he's added RDS encoding to the signal -- and at least two listeners called the station to report they were picking up RDS text.

  And over at Springfield's WHYN (560), this Saturday night marks the annual Sock Hop Reunion, as DJs from WHYN's music past appear for a live remote from Westover Air Force Base. It'll also be available on Real Audio at www.whyn.com.

• A retirement is making news in CONNECTICUT as well: After 24 years at WFSB (Channel 3), Hilton Kaderli signed off for the last time on Wednesday to head for retirement out in Oklahoma. Hartford's mayor declared "Hilton Kaderli Day" in the city to mark the occasion. Joining WFSB's weather team for weekends is Scot Haney, who comes from News 12 Westchester.

  WFSB is also promoting its helicopter, "Sky 3," to compete with WTNH's chopper down in New Haven.

• A sad passing to report in rural MAINE; the WDME "train" has pulled out of the station for good. FM 103.1 in Dover-Foxcroft moved into an old Gulf Stream sleeper-lounger car parked along Route 15 back in the early 1980s, and for many years made the train a regular part of its IDs and sign-offs. But new owner Richard Thau wanted more space than the little train cars would provide, so he's moved WDME into a former bank building in Union Square, Dover-Foxcroft. The rail cars have been sold and moved to Sebec, Maine.

  WMSJ (89.3 Freeport) has been granted an increase in power from 5000 to 7500 watts.

• WNBX (1480) in Springfield, VERMONT has been sold by Robert and Shirley Wolf to Spirit Broadcasting.

  Want to see how to beat the FCC simply by declaring you've won? Check out <http://www.sover.net/~rfv> and see if you can understand any of it...

• A RHODE ISLAND station was poised for a format change this week, only to change course at the last minute. Staffers at WXEX (99.7 Wakefield-Peace Dale) were told by Citadel that Wednesday would be their last day as a modern rocker, to be replaced by a simulcast of classic rock WHKK (100.3 Middletown). But as jocks and programmers began sending out demo tapes and resumes, Citadel changed its mind and decided to leave the low-rated modern rock format in place until year's end.

  WQRI (88.3 Bristol) can now be heard on-line at <http://wqri.rwu.edu>.

And that's it for two weeks, as NERW heads off to the wilds of Ohio and Indiana. We'll be back with our next regular edition December 11, with updates before that as news warrants.

Happy Thanksgiving, and remember..."You can get anything you want, at..."