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WCYJ reportedly broadcasting on 99.5
Pittsburgh:Waynesburg College's student station WCYJ has operated at 6 watts on 88.7, but has been off the air for some time. One observer reports that it resurfaced on 99.5 FM with a 7 watt signal. The FCC query shows that 99.5 is a Construction Permit granted in early August.
The 88.7 license was granted in 1981.
1540 becomes "The Farm"
Youngstown:
On August 18th,
Beacon Broadcasting sold 1570 WANR in Warren, and 1540 WRTK, in Niles, to
Whiplash Radio LLC. New owners Chris
and Kathy Lash are currently operating the stations on a time brokerage
agreement, until the FCC approves the sale.
The Lashes currently operate 89.3 WYNS radio in Waynesville, OH and have owned and built stations in PA, Tennessee and Florida. Chris Lash is a 32 year veteran broadcaster, and will be the General Manager of the two new properties. Other current staff members will stay in place at the stations. 1570 WANR will remain Fox Sports Radio 1570 and continue its rich tradition of local high school sports.
On Wednesday, September 1st,
Lash debuted a new format on WRTK. The
new 1540 The Farm features classic country favorites from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. “My family are all farmers in and around
Pittsburgh, so the format and name came from my many days working along side my
cousins, and uncles, while listening to the radio in the barn” said Lash. Currently there are no stations in there
Youngstown-Warren radio market with the format.
The new 1540 The Farm will also feature live web streaming 24/7 of the format at www.youngstownscountrylegends.com. WRTK is a daytime only station, signing on at sunrise, and off at sunset. The 24/7 streaming will allow listeners to enjoy the format, even when the station is off air. Lash will serve as the station’s morning man, and more local talent will be added shortly. The Lashes renovated the old WRTK studios in Mineral Ridge, and will move both stations to that location shortly. “These stations have a rich radio history. And it is my goal to return them to their former glory. It's what I do, it's what I’ve done in my career.” added Lash. The two new Whiplash Radio stations are the only independent stations in the Youngstown-Warren market.
Baker in charge of Beck site
National News:Tom Taylor reports in his email blast today that national talker and recent honor restoration host, Glenn Beck has a new news and opinion website. TheBlaze.com is intended to be different from the host's main website and, according to Taylor, appears to be taking on a similarity to the Huffington Post. (Obviously not the same viewpoint...)
The managing editor for the website is former WTAE-TV (4) anchor, Scott Baker. Baker was let go from channel 4 in 2006. In 2007 he became co-founder, co-editor and Chief Operating Officer of Breitbart.tv until recently. Baker is still a principal at Hot Metal Media here in Pittsburgh where he co-hosts and produces The B-Cast with Liz Stephan.
WASP off the air
Pittsburgh: One of PBRTV's observers notes that WASP-AM (1130 Brownsville) has been off the air for the last several days. Oddly enough though, our observer also noticed that WCVI-AM (1340 Connellsville) was back on the other day. Hmmmmm....Daniels fulfills a dream
Pittsburgh:Veteran western Pennsylvania radio personality Michael J. Daniels has "fulfilled a dream of a lifetime." Daniels recently added fill-in host on the Pirates Radio Network's "Extra Innings" show to his list of accomplishments during his long and storied career. The show follows the team's games and the at stadium post game show. "Pirates Extra Innings" includes game highlights, insightful commentary and analysis and calls from listeners as well interviews with players and team broadcasters. The show originates from flagship station Newstalk 1047 at Clear Channel's studios in Pittsburgh. Additionally, it can be heard on several of the Network's nearly 40 affiliates in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland.
Daniels recently hosted after a midweek game versus the Florida Marlins. The show is regularly hosted by Rocco DeMaro throughout the baseball season. Daniels "tips his cap" to WPGB Program Director Jay Bohannon for giving him the opportunity to be a part of the highly-rated program. Meanwhile, Daniels also continues in his role in charge of operations at Broadcast Communications, Inc. North Versailles location as well as assistant program director for two of that company's stations, 620 KHB and 770 KFB.
Consol Center gets FiOS; Emmys announced
Pittsburgh:Verizon's FiOS service has been installed in the new Consol Energy Center, even though the service hasn't yet been offered to Downtown area residents. In part, that is due to the Gate sponsorship the company has at the northeast entrance of the new arena. VZ is also in charge of the more than 800 high-def screens in the center and the interactive touch screens displaying the Stanley Cup. Indoor antennas are also being installed to boost coverage so that servers aren't bogged down by smart phone activity. However, you better be a Verizon customer to expect the trouble-free service at the arena. According to the Post-Gazette article, no other service will be boosted there.
Earlier this week, the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy nominations were announced and Pittsburgh has 44 this year. That's up from 25 last year. WPXI, WTAE and KDKA entered as organizations this year but WQED held back due to financial constraints, but allowed employees to enter on their own. Totals for each station are WQED - 16 nods; KDKA - 14 nods; WPXI - 8 nods; and WTAE - 6 nods. Complete list here.
Lash purchases former Beacon stations
Youngstown:Chris Lash and his wife, Kathy, have purchased WARN-AM (1570) Warren, Ohio and sister station WRTK-AM (1540) Niles, Ohio under the name of Whiplash Radio, LLC. Until the sale, the stations were owned by Beacon Broadcasting which was owned by the estate of the late Harold Glunt who was a steel supply magnate in Warren. Glunt passed away suddenly in January 2010 and his son made the immediate decision to sell the stations. Beacon owns three other stations on the Pennsylvania side of the line, WGRP-AM (940) Greenville, WEXC-FM (107.1) Greenville and WLOA-AM (1470) Farrell. Pittsburgh broker Ray Rosenblum handled the sale.
Currently WANR is a Fox Sports affiliate and WRTK is a simulcast.
Lash is currently morning show host of WYNS-FM (89.3), a station he calles "Hybrid FM" in Waynesville, Ohio - a community station owned by Spryex Communications. He has also worked at several stations in the Pittsburgh region including owning and building WFSJ-FM (103.7) in Indiana PA from the ground up.
Meanwhile, Rosenblum says the 3 remaining Beacon stations are under negotiation with a potential buyer.
Editor's Note: Chris Lash once served as a correspondent for PBRTV.com covering the Central Pennsylvania region.
KDKA-AM to 5th!
Pittsburgh:The July PPM numbers for Pittsburgh came in on Thursday with some interesting new results KDKA-AM (1020) fell to 5th place just above FM competitor WPGB-FM (104.7) which seems to be holding steady. WDVE-FM (102.5) still ranks in 1st followed by two of its sister stations - WKST-FM (96.1) and WWSW-FM (94.5). That puts 4 out of 5 Clear Channel FMs in the top 10, and 3 in the top 5. WDSY-FM (107.9) holds 4th place.
A complete list - including "Callsigns That Aren't There Anymore" at radio-info.com.
Nellie King dies at 82
Pittsburgh:Nelson "Nellie" King, the former pitcher and broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Pirates has died after a battle with colon cancer and pneumonia. He was 82. King pitched for the Pirates in the 50s, but is perhaps best known for his broadcast career which began in the 1960s at stations in Latrobe, Kittanning and Greensburg where he covered high school sports. It was in 1967 that he joined Bob Prince and Jim Woods announcing Pirate games when Don Hoak moved back to the dugout as coach. That position lasted until 1975 but King returned during the final season at Three Rivers Stadium as color commentator for one game.
It was in 1975 that Mr. King took a job at Duquesne University where he served as sports information director, publicity director for the Eastern Eight (now Atlantic 10) Conference and coached the school's men's golf team. He still got behind the microphone as the color commentator for Duquesne's men's basketbal games for two decades. King retired in 1992.
Just last year, King's book titled, "Happiness is Like a Cur Dog: The Thirty-Year Journey of a Major Leage Baseball Pitcher and Broadcaster" was released.
Source: PG
Northwestern Region stations filing to change COL
Misc. Pennsylvania:Scott Fybush reports this week that Family Life Radio, the company in the process of buying Clarendon-licensed WNAE-FM (102.7), has already filed to relocate the Community of License to Wattsburg on the New York/Pennsylvania border. The new site would boast a 3.5 kW signal from a new tower located just far enough to be properly spaced from Erie's WQHZ-FM (102.3).
Meanwhile, down in Mercer County, Cumulus has long been attempting to move Mercer-licensed WWIZ-FM (103.9) closer to Youngstown. The latest attempt was in 2007 when they applied to change the CoL from Mercer to West Middlesex. But the application was against FCC rules barring CoL changes for clusters grandfathered over ownership limits. But in 2008, with the help of DC communications lawyers, Cumulus redrew the boundaries of the Youngstown market leaving out several outlying stations. A two-year waiting period went into effect and in January of this year, the company reapplied for a CoL change to West Middlesex. The move was granted last week. The studios will not be moving, but Fybush expects an application to be filed to move the transmitter across the Ohio/Pennsylvania line.
WEDO off market
Pittsburgh: A report in the McKeesport Daily News (not online) says that WEDO-AM (810) is no longer for sale. Manager John James says the station is going through "program transitioning". The station had been been put up for sale in June, 2008 through a Chicago broker for $1.75 million.WWVA Operating at 12.5kw
West Virginia: After last week's storm that breezed through Ohio and West Virginia knocked down the three-tower array of Wheeling's WWVA-AM (1170), the station is back on the air at a reduced power. According to the FCC Special Temporary Authority application, 40 to 50 feet of each tower remain standing and the damaged sections have been removed. A long wire has been attached to the eastern-most tower in the array with a 12,500 watt signal.WQED's On-Q changes
Pittsburgh:WQED-TV (13) is replacing "On-Q" after 10 years of production with a series of 30-minute programs each evening at 7:30. Along with the change comes the cancellation of the long-running "Black Horizons" which has been on the air since 1968.
Beginning November 1, each evening's program will have a different theme. Mondays: "Experience" wil be a regional version of PBS' "American Experience. Tuesdays: "Horizons" replaces "Black Horizons" and will cover issues surrounding all of the ethnic and cultural groups in the region. Wednesday: "It's Pittsburgh and a Lot of Other Stuff" hosted by Rick Sebak. Thursday: "Pittsburgh 360" will study health, science, education, etc. Friday: "4802" will feature journalists and newsmakers talking about the issues of the day. 4802 is the street number for WQED on Fifth Avenue.
On Saturdays at 10:00 p.m., a 60-minute program called "Filmmakers' Corner" will air to showcase independent films by area filmmakers.
Chris Moore, Michael Bartley and Tonia Caruso will still be a part of some of the programs. Moore will host "Horizons" while Bartley and Caruso will host "Pittsburgh 360". All three will moderate the "4802" program.
The end of "Black Horizons" is the end of an era locally and nationally. The program went on the air in 1968 as what could have been the first public affairs program devoted to the African-American issues. WQED is changing the program to fit the times and to encompass more cultural traditions. Meanwhile, the station is seeking ways to archive past episodes of the program for on-demand and online viewing.
"It's Pittsburgh and a Lot of Other Stuff" is an opportunity for Sebak to be able to tell more stories about the region in a shorter format than the normal documentaries he has produced.
"One thing audiences have asked for is more long-form storytelling and segments," said Darryl Ford Williams to the Post-Gazette, "We never had the structure or resources to do half-hour documentaries with the frequency we do now."
Thoughts inspired by you...
Musings From Eric:Every now and again, I speak to people in this biz who have thoughts about what's going on. Some people ask me questions - some of which I can and others of which I cannot answer. Some people put little bugs in my ears suggesting that certain things might happen... or not. People with scoop usually say, "You didn't hear this from me..." Then I take these things and keep them bottled up. Well it's time to share some of them. And if you told me that I didn't hear it from you, well, be prepared not to receive any credit for it!
This is where you click "MORE" to read more...
(more)1170 on and off
West Virginia:WWVA-AM (1170) is back on the air at a very reduced power as of 10:30 Thursday evening. Unfortunately something failed with the signal a few hours later and the station is back on the air. Again this morning, 1170's programming is being heard via WBBD-AM 1400
Meanwhile, the winds that took all three towers down reportedly averaged 70 mph and perhaps as high as 100 mph near the top of the towers which rose 400 feet in the air.
Video Tour of WWVA Tower site
West Virginia:WEGW-FM (107.5) afternoon drive host, Chad Tyson, takes everyone on a raw, uncut video tour of the aftermath at the sister station WWVA-AM (1170) tower site.
WWVA Towers destroyed in storm
West Virginia:
WWVA-AM 1170 in Wheeling is off the air after severe weather in the form of a "downburst" knocked over the 3 tower array used to transmit the air signal. The tower site is located in St. Clairsville, Ohio. According to the WWVA website, the engineer crews are working to get a temporary facility built as soon as possible. WWVA's programming is moving over to sister WBBD-AM (1400) as of 6:00 a.m. Thursday.
View 2. PBRTV Tower Site Map - Ohio Valley Region in a larger map
NFL Primetime to KDKA-FM
Pittsburgh:KDKA-FM (93.7) announced today that it will feature live broadcasts of the NFL games played on Sunday, Monday and Thursday evenings throughout the 2010-11 season. The coverage will be provided by Westwood One, the exclusive NFL network radio partner since 1987. The coverage includes 40 regular season games, playoffs and the Super Bowl and begins this Sunday, August 8, with the Hall of Fame game from Canton, Ohio between the Dallas Cowboys and the Cincinnati Bengals.
The station will also feature the weekly "NFL Preview Show" during the season. The 30-minute program hosted by Boomer Esiason will air on Sundays at 8:30 a.m. "NFL Network Now" will also air daily throughout the season beginning August 9 at 10:20 p.m. Both programs are fed from Westwood One.
KDKA-FM is known as Sportsradio 93.7 The Fan.
Cropper bumped (again); Morris headed out; Knowledge nutshell grows
Pittsburgh:- PBRTV let you know a week or two ago, that WTAE-TV (4) has hired meteorologist Mike Harvey from WTKR-TV on the Virginia shore. As a result, Stephen Cropper will be bumped to weekends come September. This is the second time Cropper has been pushed to weekends, the last time being when Don Schwenneker was the favored pick for weekdays. News Director Alex Bongiorno has named Mr. Harvey as the "new chief meteorologist". Mr. Cropper is taking the news rather well, telling the Post-Gazette, "I believe God opens and closes doors for a reason and I trust He will continue to guide and protect me and my family."
- Meanwhile KDKA-TV's Alison Morris is leaving the station in September. She will move closer to her home of Long Island, to work for Hartford's Fox affiliate (WTIC-TV). It just so happens that KDKA's former news director, Colleen Marren is news director there now. (Coincidence?)
- Dr. Knowledge (a.k.a. Charles Reichblum) is going national. The weekend, overnight KDKA-AM (1020) host is being syndicated by CBS Radio News Five 60-second "Knowledge in a Nutshell Minutes" will air throughout the week in about 30 markets. His program on KDKA has been on the air since 2004.
Dearborn begins show-prep blog
National News:Bob Dearborn, of WTAE Radio fame, recently began a morning show-prep blog - The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac. The site is free and is "meant to be a service for professional broadcasters who need an accurate and dependable source for this sort of information, another tool for the disc jockey's arsenal, an alternative to existing sources that [Dearborn has] found to be lacking in accuracy, inclusiveness and reliability."
"The inspiration for 'ODJ Almanac' was part boredom, part looking for something fun to do, part wanting to put to good use some of the information I've collected over the years," Dearborn told PBRTV. "Make no mistake, I'd rather be prepping a show for myself than disseminating stuff for others to use, but in today's youth-obsessed radio there aren't too many places that welcome someone of my age and appeal despite all the major-market experience and success I've enjoyed."
Dearborn has several databases full of interesting material which he figures somebody might as well get some use of. Despite being a free service, he does have a few ads on the site. "They pay pennies," he said, "but it's something." Nonetheless, money isn't the main issue right now and Dearborn is more interested in seeing how many repeat visitors there are after people take the first glance.
Depending on what needs to be done, Dearborn spends 20 minutes to 4 hours each day putting work into the Almanac. "[It] is put together in strips. The components are in their databases. Although they have to be monitored for changes (a celebrity dies, for instance), they are ready to be copied and pasted into the Almanac several days at a time," he said. "There's always a full week loaded with each day ready to update automatically at 4:00 a.m." Dearborn continues that there are about two weeks worth of drafts in different stages of readiness and each day is spent working on a particular section of each draft.
The prep information is lengthy, but Dearborn says it is meant to be "cherry-picked" to either be tied together or keyed off for songs and bits. In its first week, the blog enjoyed over 1000 hits from all over the world.
Bob Dearborn was on the air at WTAE-AM (1250) for a total of four years, but was only on premesis for about a year and a half when he hosted the afternoon drive from August 1977 to February 1979. The station carried his overnight RKO Network program, "Night Time America" for 2 1/2 years in the early 1980s after it was dropped by FM 97 (PBRTV guesses it was WFFM at the time...) when it changed format. "Add it all up and I'm proud to say that I was on the air in Pittsburgh for five-and-a-half years!" he said. Pittsburgh is also where Dearborn met his wife of 30 years and they return often to visit family. But, unless "some great radio opportunity elsewhere presents itself," the Dearborns plan on staying in southwestern Ontario where they have been for the last three years.