RadioWatcher: Along I-90, Buffalo to Rochester

I'm normally based in Boston, I know...but sometimes I make the trek along
the Mass Pike and the NY State Thruway (I-90) to my ancestral home of
Rochester NY. Here's what I encountered along the drive last weekend:

WEBSTER MA: Look for WXXW-FM, a class A on 98.9, to take the
airwaves soon. The format will be adult contemporary via satellite,
and the station will serve the Worcester market (which already has
local soft rockers WXLO 104.5 and WSRS 96.1, plus Boston's WMJX,
WSSH, and WBMX). The transmitter is in place, and the single FM
bay goes up within the next week on the AM stick of sister WGFP-940.
WXXW is listed on the Don and Mike list; they're not confirming
that that's true, though.

SOUTHBRIDGE MA: WESO-970 and WQVR-100.1 are moving from their
cramped studios on Hamilton Street to a more spacious location
nearby in the next couple of weeks.

SPRINGFIELD MA: WSPR-1270 is back on air after two years dark, with
a Spanish format. Class D WNEK is no longer on 97.5, but is not
yet on air on its new freq of 99.7.

ALBANY NY: WROW-FM 95.5 is no more. WROW and sister WROW-590 have
finally been sold to Albany Broadcasting Co., owners of
crosstown WPTR-1540 and WFLY-92.3. At the dawn of the new year,
WROW-FM became WYJB-"B 95.5". Format is essentially unchanged;
soft rock. WROW-590 is now simulcasting all-news (mostly CNN HN)
WPTR. Expect the all-news format to move to 590 this month, with
WPTR to take on a new talk format. WROW/WYJB will likely
be shoehorned into WPTR/WFLY's cramped studios behind Rt. 5
between Albany and Schenectady. That means an end to 4 decades
of WROW sharing space with WTEN-TV 10. WTEN began as WROW-TV 41
in the early '50s. The station became WCDB-TV 41, co-owned with
WCDA-29 Hagaman NY and WCDC-19 North Adams MA. In 1959, Cap
Cities won a VHF allocation (against the wishes of WHEC-10
Rochester and WJAR-10 Providence) on channel 10. WCDA-29
left the air. WCDB-41 became WTEN-10. Cap Cities sold the
stations in the 80s.

SCHENECTADY NY: Stopped in to visit WGY. The station is in
very funky, old-fashioned studios built by GE to house the GY
stations and WRGB-TV. The walls are lined with historic
photos. Although the radio and TV have been separately owned
since 1982, they still share the building...no locked doors,
and the WGY-FM studio has a window that looks down into the
TV news studio! WRGB-TV has 3 enormous studios...the Golden
Age of TV lives! Videos on request...

UTICA/ROME NY: The duopoly with 1350/102.5 Rome and 1480/93.5
Remsen has shaken out like this:

1350-WRNY and 1480-WADR now simulcast...satellite music of
your life most of the day, with few IDs. The top-hour
legal did not fire the hour I heard them...yes I have it on
tape! In PM drive, they run a really bad talk show. The
host never ID'd the station, had zero phone callers in
the hour I listened, and did 3-minute live spots for
both advertisers. Yawwwnnnn... Meanwhile, the duopoly
flopped calls and formats on the former WUUU-102.5 and
WKDY-93.5. WUUU's oldies moved to class A 93.5, WKDY's
country to class B 102.5.

Meanwhile, WFRG-1450/96.1 "Frog Country" is now WODZ-AM/FM,
"Oldies 96". The Big Frog has hopped to a new home on
100kw FM 104.3 Utica, historically WKGW, and for the last
few months WKFM, "Kix" classic rock (the format and calls
formerly heard on 104.7 Fulton-Syracuse).

SYRACUSE: The late WEZG 100.9/WNSS 1200 are back on after
a few months of darkness, now as WKRL AM-FM, "K-Rock".
They simulcast WKLL Frankfort-Utica 94.9 and its hard-
rock format. The 100.9 signal, a weak class A, holds up
going east just to the point where 94.9 gets strong...so
a good duopoly.

Class A drop-in WTKW 99.5 Bridgeport-Syracuse has dumped
satellite country for live classic rock.

Despite plans and a CP to move to 90.9, Baldwinsville
High School's WBXL-FM is still on 90.5, where I heard
a surprisingly professional-sounding female jock one
afternoon. Must have a good training program there...

ROCHESTER: The big news is the on-air debut in December
of WEZO-FM 93.3. This is the CP that belonged to WYSL-1030
in Avon NY, south of Rochester. It was to have been WYNQ,
and signed on simulcasting WYSL for one month in Dec.

Then owner Bob Savage entered into an LMA-to-buy with
Lincoln Group, owners of WHAM/WVOR/WHTK Rochester...
and the station became automated EZ, under the
historic WEZO calls. WEZO was Rochester's monster
EZ on 101.3 from 1971 until 1987, when the station
became WRMM, "Warm". This move brings the historic
EZO calls back to the market, and with the old 101.3
morning host Jerry Warner no less!

The new WEZO has a so-so signal, a class A from Rts. 5/20 and
Oaks Opening Road in West Bloomfield, about 15 miles S
of Rochester. It's OK south of the city, less so
in the northern 'burbs.

Oh yeah...historically this is revenge. See, the
original WEZO made its mark by stealing the
entire WVOR 100.5 audience. WVOR was the original
EZ listening station...but in July 1971, it was
knocked off the air by a fire. While VOR stayed
off for weeks, country WNYR-FM 101.3 quietly changed
format to EZ and calls to WEZO, and took over the EZ
franchise in town. When VOR came back on the air,
its audience had already defected! And who's
behind the new WEZO 93.3? The Lincoln Group, owners
of WHAM and... WVOR! I wonder if anyone there gets
the irony of it all?

Meanwhile WIRQ, the first noncomm FM in Monroe County
(circa 1959), plugs along with its 30 watts on 94.3,
its third frequency (original was 90.9, then 93.3, then
the move to 94.3 when the WYNQ/WEZO CP was issued).
Now they have to move again...and this time may have to
go dark. A new CP has been issued for Brighton on
94.1 (can you say OVERBUILT MARKET? knew you could...),
and now there may be nowhere to go for poor WIRQ.
I'm rooting for them to bump W238AR off its 95.5
channel in Rochester. W238AR is a translator designed to
help rimshotter WRQI-95.1 "Rock-It 95" S. Bristol get
into Rochester...but translators CAN be bumped by
class D noncomms...so stay tuned!

On the AM side, the former WPXY-AM 1280 is now
"Hot Talk 1280", WHTK...being sold by Pyramid
to Lincoln Group (WHAM/WVOR/WEZO). The format includes
Imus in the Morning, Liddy, Gene Burns, Don and Mike,
and Dr. Joy Browne.

And that's the buzz from my old hometown.

One New England note: WKBR-1250 in Manchester NH is
coming back on the air. It's been testing with dead
carrier on both day and night pattern...look for it!
Sid Whitaker (s...@acs.bu.edu) was up there for one of
the tests...maybe he'll write about it!

Oh yes...I have tapes of ALL of this...just ask!

Your friendly itinerant Radio Watcher,

-=Scott Fybush - fyb...@world.std.com=-
Sacramento Union R I P -- 1851-1/14/94