SYRACUSE -- Alan Furst, who once oversaw programming at Y94 (WYYY), 570 WSYR and B104.7 (WBBS) when the Clear Channel stations were owned by NewCity Communications, is on the move once again. After nearly three years in Indianapolis, Furst has lined up a new programming gig in Houston.
The Indianapolis Business Journal and various national radio industry trades reported that Furst has submitted his resignation at Emmis-owned Indianapolis news/talker WIBC-FM. The report says Furst is heading south to assume PD duties at Houston's News 92 FM, owned by Radio One.
Although the move represents a nice market jump for Furst (from Indianapolis #40 to Houston at #6), it's a bittersweet change; Emmis market manager Charlie Morgan told the journal one of the factors behind Furst's decision is that the new job will bring him closer to his father, whose health has been in decline. Furst was working in Austin, Texas prior to taking the Indianapolis job in 2010, according to the report.
In Syracuse, Alan Furst worked for NewCity Communications from 1993 to 1997. Under his oversight, WSYR, WBBS and WYYY (the only three stations in the Syracuse cluster at that time) appeared on the world wide web for the first time in 1995, each with their own pages on one central domain, sybercuse.com. On the rec.radio.broadcasting Usenet newsgroup, then-chief engineer Conrad Trautmann announced something we all take for granted today: "One feature we're proud of is the updating of local news and sports on the WSYR page, with information entered right from our own news room."
Years later, Alan Furst's footsteps would be followed by his son, Jason, who worked for the same group of stations -- under the Clear Channel banner -- from 2006 until just this past October. Jason Furst started out as programmer of the former Nova 105.1 (WWDG) and at one point or another, had been tasked with programming Hot 107.9 (WWHT), Sports Radio 620 WHEN, and News/Talk 106.9 and 570 WSYR. Near the end of his run, Jason Furst was also given responsibility for programming Rochester news/talker 1180 WHAM.