What’s new

Blaine’s super-fresh IDs earlier this week reminded me that I’ve got some fairly timely material in my pile here, too.

What’s new?

On my recent trip to Boston for WBZ’s 90th anniversary, I snagged a few newies: WEEI 850’s new FM simulcast on WMKK 93.7 in the week before the FM changed calls to WEEI-FM. (Sorry about the clipped audio on that one; I think Jeff or Garrett have better versions that might replace that one soon!) Then there’s the new simulcast of WCRB 99.5 on WJMF 88.7 in Rhode Island – and the leased-time (mostly Chinese-produced) programming on WILD 1090.

The WEEI-FM call swap produced another new callsign in Springfield, MA: what was WVEI-FM 105.5 there is now WWEI. (The WVEI-FM calls replaced WEEI-FM on 103.7 in Rhode Island, and I’m sure Jeff will have one of those any second now.)

In Albany NY, WKLI 100.9 dumped variety hits “The Bridge” for active rock, and we hear its ID a few weeks after the flip. We also have a rather substandard-sounding ID for the new Catholic station west of Albany, WOPG 89.9 in Esperance. I couldn’t resist putting this one up despite the noise – they actually ID the thing as “Channel 210!” – and I’ll get a better version in a few weeks.

Moving into central New York, we check in with the Geneva market to hear WFLK 101.7’s newish simulcast on WCGR 1550 Canandaigua…and more importantly, on WCGR’s 104.5 FM translator.

On the far fringes of what we call the Elmira market, in an area that should probably become a separate Hornell market one of these days, we hear the new WZHD 97.1 Canaseraga. (It was on the air at very low power a year ago, but just recently powered up to near-full class A status.)

WZHD’s owners, Equinox Broadcasting, recently put a new signal on the air in nearby Binghamton, too: WRRQ 106.7 upgraded to a new HD signal from Ingraham Hill in the heart of the market, allowing it to flip its translator at the same site, W296BS on 107.1, to a simulcast of one of WRRQ’s HD subchannels, “Sunny 107.” (There’ll be an HD4-on-translator simulcast there soon, too!)