New England RadioWatch: February 17, 1996

WBPS reborn, WZLX subs

by Scott Fybush

• To paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of the demise of sports on WBPS (AM 890 Dedham-Boston) appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Station owner Douglas Broadcasting has pulled back from its plans to take the signal to leased-time ethnic or religious in the wake of the end of a full-time lease to Prime Sports Radio. For the last week or so, we've been treated to nonstop music (well, they break for PSA's once an hour), ranging from blues to disco to oldies. Now it appears that veteran Boston sports voice Jimmy Myers (ex-WEEI, ex-WBZ, ex-WFXT-TV, ex-WWOR New York, etc.) will take over morning drive on 890 starting March 4. The Boston Herald's Jim Baker (probably the most accurate radio writer in town) says local lawyer Mark Miliotis will pony up the $4,000 a week for the airtime. Meantime, Douglas has struck a separate deal to bring former umpire Dave Pallone to WBPS from noon till 3 daily. Anyone else wanting to lease time on WBPS has to track them down first -- the station's 617-242-0890 main number is disconnected, and the promised wbps.com website never materialized. To be continued, no doubt.

• Infinity's classic rocker, WZLX 100.7, is trying a new tack to fill the morning shift when George Taylor Morgan goes on vacation next week. They're bringing in local celebrities to co-host with sidekick Debbie Enblom (misspelled as "Emblom" in the station's own news release!). The lineup includes:

  Monday 2/19:

  Steve Morse (Boston Globe music writer), Dean Johnson (Herald music critic and radio writer)

  Tuesday 2/20:

  Attorneys Harry Castleman and Paul Ayoub, Senator John Kerry and WLVI-TV/WBZ radio political analyst Jon Keller

  Weds. 2/21:

  Chamber of Commerce president Flash Wiley, Crimestoppers spokeswoman Sgt. Margo Hill, Monica Collins (Boston Herald TV critic), and Collins' boss, Herald publisher Pat Purcell

  Thurs. 2/22:

  Fleet Center president Larry Moulter, State Treasurer Joe Malone

  Fri. 2/23:

  Mass. Film Office head Robin Dawson (who also produces Calling All Sports on WBZ radio), WLVI-TV's Jeff Barnd and Michael Barkann.

  It's a little change from the usual, and should be fun for a week.

• Boston's broadcasters are moving north in droves. Network affiliates WBZ-TV, WCVB-TV, and WHDH-TV are all doing their news from Manchester until primary day next Tuesday. WCVB is leasing space from fellow ABC affiliate WMUR-TV; the others had to find their own offices. Boston University's WABU-TV (which is reportedly up for sale to the right buyer) has been originating town meetings from NH, along with media partners WBUR-FM and the Boston Globe. And now radio's up there as well; several of WRKO's talk shows are broadcasting from Manchester, and WBZ's morning newscasts will come from Manchester next Monday and Tuesday. And on Wednesday, Don Imus (heard locally on WEEI 850, and in NH on WNHI 93.3 Belmont/ WRCI 107.7 Hillsboro) will broadcast from Manchester. Those outside New England can see Imus's show, as well as WMUR's nightly newscasts, on C-SPAN.

• North Shore classical outlet WBOQ 104.9 Gloucester MA is applying to boost its power. The station now runs 1530 watts from a 446' AAT antenna in Gloucester, some 30 miles north of Boston. "W-Bach" has applied for 3400 watts, a move that should increase its coverage at the expense of Northeastern University's WRBB Boston, all of 18.5 watts on 104.9.

• The "splat" is gone: Boston's WJMN, "Jam'n 94.5," has apparently returned to its normal antenna, putting an end to the incredible splattering that obliterated everything from 93.9 to 95.1 for several weeks. At almost the same time, Providence's WHJY 94.1 fixed *its* antenna problems, returning to full 50kw strength. Still missing in action are the tower lights on the tall FM tower at the WMEX-1150 transmitter site in Lexington MA. Two of the three shorter AM towers remain lit, but being one of the tallest points for miles around, I'd think the FM tower (former home to WCOP-FM 100.7) should be lit. It's been dark since before New Year's Day. (This seems especially relevant after the news in Inside Radio -- hi Tom! -- that a plane hit the unlit WIPI/WODE tower in Easton PA this past week. WIPI/WODE had notified the FAA; I wonder if WMEX has done the same?)

• Moving ever closer to CHR?: American Radio Systems' WBMX, "Mix 98.5," bills itself as a hot AC, but between the addition of John Lander (ex-Z100) in mornings last week, and the 80s CHR show they're running every Friday night, and the playlist that's edging out as far as Gin Blossoms and Alanis Morrissette, it's looking more and more as though ARS wants to use Mix as a blunt weapon against Evergreen's sagging CHR, Kiss-108 (WXKS 107.9).

• Moving ever closer to oblivion?: Last weekend, I had the opportunity to drive up to the Littleton NH-St. Johnsbury VT area, some 60 miles south of the Canadian border and more than three hours north of Boston. Here's what I heard:
  • 1340 WSTJ St. Johnsbury: satellite oldies (not a soul in site at the studios when I stopped by)
  • 1400 WLTN Littleton: satellite talk
  • 91.5 WWLR Lyndonville VT: rock, with a live DJ, from Lyndon State College
  • 96.7 WLTN Lisbon NH: satellite oldies
  • 98.3 WGMT Lyndon VT: satellite AC
  • 101.3 WYKR Haverhill NH (//1100 WYKR Wells River VT): satellite country
  • 105.5 WNKV St. Johnsbury: satellite country (co-owned with WSTJ)
  • 106.3 WMTK Littleton: satellite rock
  See a pattern here? The most interesting things on the dial, besides little WWLR, were the French stations from Sherbrooke and Montreal. I'm told there's a bit more live presence on weekdays on WLTN-AM and WMTK, but it still seemed incredibly sterile and depressing. One wonders whether all the ad revenue in the market combined would be enough to sustain just one station doing real local programming that spoke to the real local issues that really concern the real local people who really live way up there.

• And finally, speaking of ad revenue, the Boston Herald today reports Duncan's American Radio's estimates of total revenue for the market in 1995. Among individual stations, top billers were modern rock WBCN with $19.5 million, closely trailed by all-news WBZ and sports WEEI. Among groups, American Radio Systems (WRKO/WBMX/WEEI/WEGQ) dominated, pulling in more than 25 percent of all the market's revenue. Still, it's got to beat Cincinnati, where Duncan says Jacor controls almost 62 percent of the market's revenue. Something deep inside me says this just can't possibly be healthy.