Syracuse

The vicious wind storms that left more than 140,000 Central New Yorkers without power also took WSEN off the air for roughly 12 hours Monday.

Citadel Broadcasting is the latest radio conglomerate facing a possible de-listing from a major trading market – in this case, the New York Stock Exchange.

Citadel’s Syracuse cluster briefly had 2 openings for PDs, but they’re back to just one opening, after hiring a new skipper for active rocker 95X (WAQX).

Rich Lauber, Operations Manager at Clear Channel Syracuse, is one of 17 people to be honored with the company’s “2008 Performance Excellence Awards.”

We’re no broadcast lawyers or engineers, but documents recently filed on the FCC website seem to indicate Clear Channel wants to change the “community of license” for Power 106.9 (WPHR) from Auburn to Solvay.

It’s another trip back in time for this installment of the Picture of the Week.  Can you tell who those two guys are?  Here’s a hint… it’s a photo from the front page of the “Stars” section from the Syracuse Herald-American from 1985.

Lite Rock 105.9 (WLTI) morning host and program director Dave Allen has exited the station, and Citadel has started the search for a replacement.  (Updated at 5:10pm with confirmation from Citadel management.)

Public television and radio talk show host Tavis Smiley will be offering a free lecture at Syracuse University later this month.  His syndicated radio show is heard on public radio stations in the Ithaca-Cortland and Watertown markets.

Syracuse’s B104.7 (WBBS) has been nominated in both of the broadcast award categories for the 2008 Country Music Awards.  The station is up for one award, and morning co-hosts Ron Bee and Becky Palmer are up for their own award.

The office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is reportedly opening an investigation into the methodology behind Arbitron’s Portable People Meter (PPM) system.  The probe will focus on whether the PPM puts minority-oriented stations at a disadvantage.  (Updated 12:30pm with Arbitron response.)