January 2005

B104.7 (WBBS) is once again the ratings king in Syracuse. By an almost 5 point margin, the Clear Channel country station came in way ahead of the pack with a 12.6 rating. Clear Channel stations overall did well, taking the top four slots in the rankings. It was a tough book for the Citadel group

Things got a little heated last week on 570 WSYR’s afternoon talk show hosted by Jim Reith. After Reith was critical of Stephanie Miner’s stance on the proposed downtown convention center hotel, the Syracuse Councilor-at-Large called in to explain her side. The discussion quickly turned heated with Reith yelling at Miner and calling her “a

Homegrown may be history. The local music show hosted by Eric Will and several different co-hosts during its 10-year run has been squeezed out of its slot on TK-99/105 (WTKW/WTKV) for economic reasons. Will, who started the show on WNDR AM in 1995, is looking for a deal with another station after learning that Galaxy

570 WSYR has hired Erica St. James as the newest addition to its news staff. St. James had been news director at Regent Communications’ WIBX AM 950 in Utica-Rome for just over a year. She moved to Central New York in 2003 from Wisconsin where she worked for a six-station cluster in Wausau/Stevens Point.

Is Rick Gary the Regis Philbin of Syracuse? Gary, a veteran radio and television broadcaster who holds down the fort each morning with Kathy Rowe on Y94FM (WYYY), is upping his television air time beginning this week. Bridge Street with Rick & Julie, a local talk show that Gary hosts with Julie Abbott on WIXT

Citing “inappropriate comments” made on the air last week by ‘Java Joel’ Murphy on Chicago’s 103.5 KISS (WKSC), Clear Channel Communications ousted the jock from his nighttime on-air duties as host of the ‘The Rubber Room.’ Murphy is a former Hot 107-9 (WWHT) jock.Source (link may no longer work): fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=61701

Peter Cavanaugh was a local DJ at WNDR nearly 50 years ago at the start of his radio career. He chronicles his time spent in Syracuse and in other markets in his book “Local DJ.” Through mid-February, Cavanaugh is reading the book in 28-minute segments Mondays through Fridays on WDET in Detroit. There’s no need

UTICA-ROME — On the heels of last month’s format switch at WUCL, comes word of several staffing changes at the Clear Channel cluster in Utica-Rome.

Syndicated radio host John Tesh is heading to Southeast Asia next week to help in tsunami relief efforts. Tesh, whose nightly radio show is heard on Y94FM (WYYY) in Syracuse, leaves for Sri Lanka on Saturday as part of “Operation Blessing” where he and his family will spend a week overseas. During his stay, Tesh

Northeast Public Radio is extending its affiliate network to the west into the Utica-Rome market. Regent Communications has sold WRUN for $275,000 to the Albany-based NPR cluster headed up by Alan Chartock. That brings to 13 the number of stations simulcasting programming from WAMC, the group’s flagship station in Albany.