North East RadioWatch: January 15, 1999

Still Snowbound...and the First Fall Books

by Scott Fybush

Fresh from a morning of doing live shots in the snow ("It's still snowing out here...drive carefully!"), we turn our attention to the radio dial and find there's not much going on out there. Here's what passes for this week's highlights:

• No more local programming at the adult-standards outlet in Springfield, MASSACHUSETTS. As of the first of the year, WMAS (1450) has switched from ABC/SMN's "Stardust" to Jones' "Music of Your Life" satellite service. In the process, WMAS also dismissed morning guy George Murphy, whose show was the last vestige of local radio on the AM side at WMAS.

  A few new pirates on the air in the Hub: We're hearing reports of foreign-language stations on 102.1 and 102.9...more details to come.

• A RHODE ISLAND morning team was suspended for a day after a too-successful hoax Thursday morning. WWBB (101.5 Providence) morning team Daria Bruno and Tiffany Hill told listeners that the state's "Department of Outdated Decorations" would begin imposing $25 fines on anyone who didn't remove their Christmas decorations by noon. Gullible listeners hauled out the ladders and began pulling down their lights; some apparently stayed home from work to get the job done, according to newspaper reports. "B101" program director Al Brock went on the air to apologize mid-morning. NERW notes that this stunt, at least, didn't bring the Secret Service calling -- unlike two stations down South whose morning jocks claimed they had scanned and printed phony $1 bills and were using them in the station vending machines.

• A veteran CONNECTICUT newscaster is calling it quits in April. Ten years to the day after launching the 10 PM newscast at WTIC-TV (Channel 61) in Hartford, Pat Sheehan will sign off on April 10. Sheehan already had 24 years in the business when he joined the "News at Ten" in 1989, with stints at WFSB, WTNH, WHCT, CPTV, and at several Nutmeg State radio stations. He'll continue his day job as a broker at A.G. Edwards in Hartford, and he's not ruling out a return to the airwaves sometime soon. Speaking of WHCT (Channel 18), it has switched from the Shop at Home network to ValueVision, which we're sure will help the station better serve the ol' "public interest, convenience, and necessity"...

• An upstate NEW YORK cluster could be broken up soon. The FCC wants to take a closer look at the Binghamton stations being sold by Wicks to Citadel. The cluster of news-talk WNBF (1290), standards WKOP (1360), country WHWK (98.1), rock WAAL (99.1), and oldies WYOS (104.1 Chenango Bridge) pulls in 63% of the market's ad revenue, according to BIA, which is far above the informal 40% standard the FCC and Justice Department seem to be using. Don't look to the market's other big owner, Majac, to be able to pick up anything spun off from this deal -- its cluster of sports WENE (1430 Endicott), rock WKGB (92.5 Susquehanna PA), AC WMXW (103.3 Vestal), and CHR WMRV (105.7 Endicott) is already bringing home just about all the rest of the market's radio dollars.

  The FCC has approved another ill-conceived translator in Central New York. Syracuse Community Radio now holds a CP for W210BJ (89.9) in Truxton, just south of the Onondaga-Cortland county line, to go with its existing CP for W210BH on the same channel in Fenner, Madison County. Why "ill-conceived"? For starters, each translator will sit on the same tower where SCR already holds a full-power station license or CP. In Fenner, that's WXXE (90.5), which signed on last month. In Truxton it's WXXC (88.7), which has yet to take to the air. And more to the point, 89.9 is already an occupied frequency in Central New York, home to full-power public radio WRVO Oswego. The 89.9 translator apps are reportedly SCR's way of expressing a grudge against WRVO for filing against several of its applications. If the 89.9 translators are ever built, it's listeners who will be the losers. Then again, WXXE could soon have even more problems reaching Syracuse listeners; the Syracuse papers reported this week that WRVO is finally getting ready to put WRVD (90.3 Syracuse) on the air sometime this year from a transmitter atop the SUNY Health Sciences Center.

  Syracuse University sports fans may have to twirl the dial to find Orange sports next season. SU has decided to end a broadcast relationship with WSYR (570) that dates back to the days when WSYR shared the channel with SU's own WSYU. Starting next season, SU sports rights will be held by Missouri-based Learfield Communications, which operates many statewide sports and news networks in the Midwest. WSYR officials tell the Syracuse Post-Standard that they declined Learfield's offer to pick up SU games, because Learfield insisted on keeping all ad revenue and total control over the choice of broadcasters. Instead, Orange sports will reportedly land on WAQX (95.7 Manlius) next year). They'll continue to be heard on SU's WAER (88.3), which does its own non-commercial broadcasts with SU students producing.

  Over in Buffalo, Sinclair has scrapped plans to build a new facility for its radio and TV stations on the waterfront. Instead, the stations will begin moving into existing downtown office space this summer. First to go is likely to be WBEN (930)/WMJQ (102.5), whose lease in the WIVB-TV (Channel 4) building on Elmwood Avenue expires in July, ending 50 years of occupancy in the facility designed to hold WBEN AM-FM-TV. Later on, WGR (550), WWWS (1400), WWKB (1520), and WKSE (98.5 Niagara Falls) will move down from their current Delaware Avenue digs. WUTV (Channel 29) may stay put at the Grand Island transmitter site for a while; the Buffalo News says plans to move the Fox station into vacant space at public broadcaster WNED's palace of a studio at Horizons Plaza have been scrapped because WNED felt having a commercial broadcaster in the facility would be "inappropriate." NERW's gotta wonder here...why, then, IS it appropriate for WNED to sell one of its two TV facilities (WNEQ Channel 23) to a commercial operator? Just curious...

  One more Buffalo note: the "Antenna Only" footnote that accompanies listings for WNYO (Channel 49) in Canadian papers may finally be coming off. Cable companies in southern Ontario have asked the CRTC for permission to add the WB affiliate to their lineups. Most of the systems already get WB programs from Chicago's WGN and Los Angeles' KTLA, anyway.

  Just outside the region: Keep a close ear on 1680 kHz over the next few months. WTTM (1680 Princeton NJ) has already been heard testing at least once with a dead carrier, and All Access reports it will sign on for real in the spring with an all-sports format. Dave McKay, PD of sister station WPST (97.5 Princeton), will handle PD duties for this one as well. WTTM is the X-band counterpart of WHWH (1350 Princeton), which will apparently keep its current programming. And the WTTM calls are heritage ones in the Trenton market, having spent years on Trenton's AM 920 before it became WCHR this time last year. In the meantime, we'll keep enjoying the hip-hop from WJNZ (1680 Ada MI), one of the VERY few X-band stations doing anything but satellite programming on the upper reaches of the dial.

• Ratings time: The Fall Arbitrons are coming out, and here's the first batch of 12+ results:
  • NEW YORK - Spanish-language radio ceded its top spot this book, with WSKQ (97.9) dropping from first place to third. Regaining its crown is AC WLTW, followed by rhythmic CHR WQHT. Oldies WCBS-FM was a strong fourth. Outlying markets looked like this: NASSAU/SUFFOLK's top station was WALK-FM again, followed by New York's WHTZ, WXRK, WCBS-FM, and WLTW. The next L.I. station to place was WBLI (106.1) in sixth. POUGHKEEPSIE's WSPK was down a bit but still in first. Rocker WBWZ nearly doubled its ratings to land in second, classic rock WPDH was down but still third, country WRWD was way off to land in fourth, followed by oldies WCZX, AC WRNQ, and standards WEOK. In NEWBURGH/MIDDLETOWN, WSPK was again first, followed by AC WHUD, WPDH, and New York's WABC.

  • CONNECTICUT - HARTFORD's top station was again AC WRCH, again followed by news-talk WTIC(AM). CHR WKSS, hot AC WTIC-FM, and country WWYZ followed, all of them up from summer. Standards WDRC(AM) was way up to land in sixth, followed by flat WCCC AM-FM, a down book for oldies WDRC-FM and modern rock WMRQ, and flat performances (despite recent format changes) for rockers WZMX and WHCN. WATERBURY was a good market for WKSS, which borrowed the top spot from WWYZ for a change. WRCH was third, followed by local full-service WATR and WDRC-FM. In DANBURY, CHR WDAQ gained more than four points for a solid first-place finish, followed by Bridgeport hot AC WEZN and rocker WRKI. Local full-service WLAD added Rush Limbaugh but dropped two points anyway, followed by New York AMs WCBS, WFAN, and WOR. BRIDGEPORT's ratings found AC WEBE moving from third to first, up almost three points. News-talk WICC was second and flat, followed by WEZN, New York's WFAN, New Haven's WPLR, and New York's WQHT. And in STAMFORD, WCBS(AM) was a strong first, followed by Big Apple classical outlet WQXR, which went from nowhere to second (does that Stamford translator help THAT much?), WEBE, WHTZ, and WEZN.

  • RHODE ISLAND - AC WWLI was off a bit but still in first place in PROVIDENCE, followed by the usual WPRO-FM, WHJY, and WWBB. Rhythmic CHR WWKX/WAKX had a strong book, followed by flat performances for WSNE, WCTK, and WPRO. In its last book as a modern rocker, WXEX barely broke a one share.

  • MASSACHUSETTS - Another strong BOSTON book for WBZ, still firmly in first place. Down a bit but still second was WJMN, followed by WMJX, WBCN, WXKS, and WRKO, all dropping from summer. Further down, we find gains for WKLB-FM and WAAF, attributable in part to the new larger survey area for the market, which picks up a chunk of Worcester County for the first time (which is why WSRS and WXLO also show down at the bottom of the page...) Speaking of WORCESTER, WSRS led the market with a strong Fall book, almost doubling the numbers of the nearest 12+ competitor, WXLO. WAAF was off a bit, as was WTAG. Strongest Boston stations in the book were WJMN, WCRB, and WKLB-FM. And in NEW BEDFORD, WFHN continued to own the market, but sister AM WBSM turned in a very strong second-place, followed by Providence-market WWBB, WCTK, and WHJY.

  Next week, we'll have numbers from Cape Cod, Manchester, New Haven, New London, Springfield, and Buffalo...stay tuned!