WERG mic flag

90.5 WERG, the Gannon University FM and internet station, will be the center of attention as they provide the coverage of the opening rounds of the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball tournament, Atlantic Division.

The Number One ranked Lady Knights host No. 8 Fairmont State at 6:00 PM tonight to begin the Atlantic Regional. If they win, they’ll play the winner of tonight’s nightcap between Seton Hill and Fayetteville State tomorrow night.

Veteran sportscaster and Gannon alum Steve Bohen provides the play-by play, with help from WERG student Sports Director Caitie Ryan. If Cleve Wright’s Golden Knights continue to the semi’s, the broadcast crew will be Bohen and Beth Gaertner, the station’s Promotion Director.

Faculty Operations Director Chet LaPrice is tickled pink to have his live stream and student broadcasters in the spotlight. “We are just thrilled for the women’s basketball team. It is truly a historical moment for Gannon and we are just glad to be along for the ride.”

LaPrice said that the WERG team was especially excited to be able to bring this unprecedented event to Gannon alumni via their webcast, available at wergfm.com, along with the strong signal of 90.5.

Good luck to all of the Gannon community!

Last night on WJET/WFXP, John Treanor reported a package on Jones where they showed that he continues to operate the station with a computer, some microphones and a transmitter connected to a small mast at the top of a building in Erie’s Little Italy neighborhood. Despite the possiblity of major penalties, Treanor reports that Jones is determined to continue with 90.1 The Movement:

But Jones, a former Super Soul Saturday DJ, tells us he can’t stop – if he’s not on air, a whole genre would disappear in the city.

“The question always remained, why don’t we have this 24 hours a day, what do we have to do to do it and basically I went ahead and said let’s see what happens, you know what I mean,” says Jones…

…Jones is staying on air as long as he can before getting fined – his dream is to make the movement legal.

“I have to I have to go forward and see what it is that has to be done to make this happen,” Jones says.

This morning (Thursday), David Bruce continues his reporting on the pirate radio stations in the Times-News, complete with pictures of Jones’s operation. Bruce describes the chain of events leading to the sign-on:

A club disc jockey and former announcer at Gannon University’s WERG-FM, Jones said that he started broadcasting in October because there wasn’t enough urban music being played in Erie.

“Blacks, whites, Hispanics all had a major concern about the type of music played in Erie 24/7,” Jones said. “It was my mission to get this station up and running.”

Jones said that he started broadcasting at the low-frequency limits, then increased power.

“The response from people was so strong that I just turned it up,” Jones said. “Then someone ratted me out to the FCC.”

One problem was that Jones’ signal was intruding on the signals of other, licensed, radio stations, said A.J. Miceli, who oversees WERG as Gannon University’s chairman of theater, communications and fine arts.

• 89.5 – issued to Shawn McKines
• 90.1 – issued to Marshall Jones

The notices indicated that the operators had to cease operation immediately and that such violation of Federal law…

could subject the operator to severe penalties, including, but not limited to, substantial monetary fines, in rem arrest action against the offending radio equipment, and criminal sanctions including imprisonment.

All of the rationalizations and justifications tend to fade away in the clarity of the FCC seal and citing of United States Code.

The Fall 2009 Arbitron ratings released Friday afternoon confirms the amazingly strong hold that the Connoisseur Media cluster has over Erie radio listeners. Although it’s lead 12+ has softened, WRTS/Star 104 continues as Erie’s most listened to broadcast radio station. Meanwhile the flagship station for the Citadel group in Erie, WXKC/Classy 100 has continued its slide in share of audience over at least five books to be ranked fourth.

The big winner of the Fall was WTWF/93.9 The Wolf who garnered their best book ever, good for second place. Rounding out Connie Media’s top stations was WXBB/Bob FM, who scored their best book since they debuted in 2007.

Been a long time since we rock and rolled the ratings. WRKT/Rocket 101 and WQHZ/Z-102.3 have taken what was 17 shares of listenership two years ago and grinded it down to 11. It looks like Rocket especially hasn’t put the jets onto expanding its base.

As far as AM goes…simply, nothing to see here. While AM stations crush their competition in the markets surrounding us in ratings and billing, our offerings have received no investment from their owner companies and so they got what they paid for.

Finally, the third biggest jump up came from my alma mater WCTL, who scored their best book in memory and is knocking on the door of once-prominent WXTA/Country 98.

You can see all the hard numbers at AllAccess.com (registration required).

FCC Shield

Turns out that Erie pirates are easier to catch than the Somali kind.

An agent from the Federal Communications Commission’s field office in Buffalo came to Erie Wednesday, located and ordered the shut down of two pirate FM radio stations that were operating within the city limits.

According to a very reliable source who spoke with the agent while he was in town, the agent found a signal at 89.5 emanating from a retail business on lower Parade Street. My source said that the signal which played urban and hip-hop music had been broadcasting for more than a year on the frequency.

The other pirate broadcasted gospel music at 90.1 FM and was found in the Little Italy section of the city near Walnut Street.

The operators of both stations were given verbal warning to immediately cease transmission, with official Notices of Violation to follow. According to my source, no fine will be issued unless the operators fail to comply with the shut-down. If they were to resist the FCC, fines can amount up to $10,000 for illegal transmission of an unlicensed station.

Hats off the prudent P&T commenters for actually instigating the FCC visit to our fine city!

That’s how indelible that particular Christmas is in the memories of the people of Erie. So I bring you my classic remembrance, original posted on my Radio Free JoJo blog in 2007.

WJET 1400 Stereo

During Tom Atkins weather forecast last night on Jet TV, he had a trivia question about which Christmas had 20″ of snow and wind chills of 40-50 below. “Of course,” I told my wife, “it was the Christmas of 1983.”

That year I was two months into a very part time job working as an air personality at WJET 1400 AM in Erie. My assignment for Christmas was to play the tapes of the full-time jocks playing their favorite Christmas songs throughout the early morning. The forecast for Christmas was dire, even for those days. Basically, a blizzard was in store. I was without wheels back then, being a lowly college student, and my father didn’t want me driving the only family car to inevitably get stuck. So we made a plan that my dad would drive me to the station during Christmas Eve before the storm hit, and I would stay there overnight and take a cab home the next day.

So there I was, sleeping on the floor of our Program Director Ken Tyler’s office on Christmas morning. I was awakened about 5:30 AM by Mark Priscaro, who was finishing up the overnight shift, and I was going to be on through the morning to play the tapes.

The airshift went on without a hitch. I remember several of the jocks playing “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” as that was the big novelty song that year. Meanwhile, outside the Erie area was getting crushed by an historical snowfall for Christmas. Somehow, the fellow who was to relieve me made it to the station (I think he had a big ‘ol 4-wheeler), and I had arranged for a cab to take me home.

The taxi pulled up on time, and as I enter I find the driver dressed in a Santa suit, with his cab’s interior decorated with ornaments and lights. It is the most memorable taxi ride of my life. He drove his cab as if it was Santa’s sleigh, bounding through the snow on Erie’s Ash Street, north to 12th. He really didn’t turn left onto 12th but more like whipped the cab’s rear end around with a jerk to be facing west. We plowed snow and he did the same maneuver to turn left onto Sassafras and continued south to my block on 18th. People that know Erie will recognize that he took the long way to 18th & Sass. but on that day, he went the only way he could considering the snow. I paid my fare and gave him a big tip. He dropped me at the corner and with a hardy “Merry Christmas,” he went on his way.

I walked the half-block to my house, glad to be home even as the whole city was shut down. I thought to myself that I’d always remember where I was on the Christmas of 1983.

Now from my laptop to yours…Merry Christmas!

CITADEL BROADCASTING, the nation’s third biggest radio broadcaster has indeed filed for bankruptcy in NEW YORK on SUNDAY (12/20), by filing a voluntary petition with the bankruptcy court.

The bankruptcy filing, as ALL ACCESS first reported earlier this month (NET NEWS 12/10), is a pre-arranged deal with lenders to swap debt for equity and will reduce CITADEL’s debt load to about $762.5 million.

The filing lists assets of $1.4 billion weighed down under $2.5 billion in debt. A huge, unserviceable debt and interest payment was due on JANUARY 15, 2010, which forced the Chapter 11 filing.

Citadel owns WXKC (Classy 100), WXTA (Country 98), WQHZ (Z-102), and WRIE (ESPN Radio) in Erie.