Posts Tagged ‘WERG’

Get ready for Rocket 105

December 10th, 2011 joel

As noted in the Facebook group, “We rocked Erie in the 20th Century!”, on Tuesday, Connoisseur Media of Erie received a Construction Permit from the FCC for a Minor Change of facilities to move WRKT/North East (Rocket 101) from 100.9 to 104.9 FM. They will also put their antenna on the WRTS tower in Greene Township with a full Class B1 non-directional signal 15 miles closer to the city of Erie from their current tower site in Ripley, NY.

This huge move comes in the middle of a timeline of major changes to the landscape of the FM dial that began in late 2011 with the move-in of Family Life Network’s WCGM, with a Class A signal on 102.7 that moved from Clarendon to Wattsburg. They continue into the new year with the launch of First Channel Communications 92.7/Lawrence Park sometime in 2012. Finally, Family Life has a CP for Gannon WERG’s old 89.9 frequency, now permitted for Cambridge Springs, with a tower location in Edinboro.

Of course, with all but one of these new frequencies is the strong certainty of format. Rocket will be classic rock, and FLN will continue its light contemporary Christian and talk format. What we are  uncertain on but have a good hunch is the format for the 92.7 station. The lead format horse in that derby is a direct CHR/Top 40 competitor to Star 104.

We’ll keep listening for details on all these upcoming changes to a radio near you.

Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments »

Cambridge Springs to get new Family Life Network FM

July 22nd, 2010 joel
New Family Life Network station in Cambridge Springs, PA

New Family Life Network station in Cambridge Springs, PA

After a complicated and far-flung settlement agreement that stretched across nearly 100 miles of Lake Erie shoreline, the big winner of the October 2007 Non-Commercial/Educational filing window for our area appears to be Family Life Ministries of Bath NY.

The Christian broadcasting and arts ministry, which owns stations and translators across the “twin-tiers” of NY & PA from Erie to Binghamton, has applied for a 8,000 watt B1 on 89.9 FM, WERG/Gannon’s old frequency. In addition, as part of the settlement, FLN will get a new directional B1 in Silver Creek, NY on the Chautauqua/Erie County NY border to more effectively cover the Buffalo south towns.

Also clear from the settlement is that Erie will get a new NCE FM at 89.5. However we don’t know who will be victorious once the FCC works out the elaborate point system for the still mutually-exclusive stations.

The big local losers in this settlement, who would have shut out on points anyway, include LECOM, the Seventh Day Adventist church, Greg Schlueter’s Vision IDX Catholic programming, and Inspiration Time/WCTL. I’ll try to get reaction from the winners and losers of this highly competitive quest of spectrum in later posts.

You can read my original coverage of this filing window and download who the original filers were within 50 Km of Erie on my Radio Free JoJo blog.

Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments »

All ears tune to WERG to follow Lady Knights

March 12th, 2010 joel

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!

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Erie mainstream media shines spotlight on pirate radio operator

February 18th, 2010 joel

Now that the FCC has identified Marshall Jones as operating a radio station without a license, he is telling his story to Erie’s mainstream media.

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.
What’s a little frightening to me is that the FCC doesn’t need any more incentive to fine these guys; once they find a unlicensed station and cite it, the breaking of Federal law has already occurred. If you happen to have  a kindly Enforcement Agent who will write you a warning first, it’s wise to take that as a blessing and not push the issue. We’ll keep watching this unfold.
Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 8 Comments »

Press and Tower Podcast-Jan. 13, 2010

January 13th, 2010 joel

A.J. Miceli in the WERG Audio Production Studio

The significance of the tectonic change in the media landscape locally and nationally in the last decade has not been lost on AJ Miceli.

The chair of the Comm Arts department at Gannon University sounds off on the toll taken and opportunity embedded in the state of media today after such a period of change that we find ourselves in.  In our podcast, we discussed a broad range of topics, hopefully with a firm grasp of the tough reality that media organizations find themselves in. Thanks to AJ for taking the time with me and thanks to you for listening.

Download The Press and Tower Podcast for Jan. 13, 2010 or listen below.

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Posted in Podcasts Tags: , , 2 Comments »

Poll: will you participate in a media fundraiser?

November 10th, 2009 joel

We have our winner from our two-week long poll of the most listened to radio morning shows by our Press and Tower readers. It’s WQLN and Morning Edition, as 12% of our poll respondents said that they listened to most in the past week. Runners up included WERG, WXKC, and WJET all with 9% of the votes cast.

This is the time for bell ringing, non-perishable food item gathering, coat collecting, and turkey-dropping. The Erie media gets involved with helping our fellow man during the holidays, and we want to know if you will be getting into the spirit too.

Will you be participating in a media fundraiser during the holidays?

  • No (64%, 14 Votes)
  • Yes (27%, 6 Votes)
  • Maybe (9%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 22

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Posted in Polls Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment »

Radio passages: Cervi, Twomey mourned, Kasem retires

July 16th, 2009 joel

Over the past few weeks the radio community both locally and nationally has seen more losses.

The founder of WVCC, now WMVL/Linesville-Meadville, Art Cervi passed away on Sunday, June 14th at the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Erie. He was 89. According to the obituary in the Meadville Tribune, Cervi was a World War II veteran who went to work at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh after the war. It wasn’t until he was 50 years old when he went after his dream and began WVCC after receiving notoriety as a DJ of big band and pop music first in Pittsburgh then throughout the Meadville area. He operated WVCC for 33 years, selling it to Joe Vilkie in 2003. I remember Art as a very kind and generous gentleman who was in his element out in the public, holding court on “radio row” every year at the Crawford County Fair.
(more…)

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    Press and Tower is a web community for Erie Pennsylvania's producers and consumers of newspapers, radio and television stations, and new media outlets. We connect, celebrate, complain, and communicate about all aspects of media.

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