WTAE General Manager Michael Hayes and Allegheny County Labor Council President Jack Shea met January 31 where Shea made it clear that he was not there to negotiate for AFTRA. Instead, Shea made it known that the Allegheny County unions, made up of 150,000 members and retirees, were closely following the negotiations. 

The first negotiations since before the Christmas holiday were recently held with a federal mediator present. The next session is scheduled for March.

That same source happens to be Krenn's former partner, Scott Paulsen who announced on his Facebook page today that after more than a year of looking for work and being away from morning radio for 12 years, he will be returning to WDVE this Monday, January 23. He will serve as a writer and contributor to the morning show first and foremost and will make regular appearances each week. "My imprint will be all over it," he says. Paulsen will also fill in for Randy Bauman, Michelle Michaels and Sean McDowell when the need arises.

PG

First Channel owner, Richard Rambaldo tells the paper that the newly-proposed site would be just as effective as Zuck Park and that the tower atop the apartment building would look like a flag pole. "I'm being sensitive to the community. I'm not putting up and eyesore," he said. The site would also eliminate the need for guy wires, tower lights or approval from the FAA. 

Rambaldo had hoped to be on the air by the end of 2011, but now, pending FCC approval, hopes to be on the air by Christmas 2012.

As of midnight tonight, Dish Network subscribers will no longer be able to view WKBN, WYTV or Fox Youngstown without an OTA antenna hooked up to your digital TV or a converter box hooked to your analog TV unless an agreement can be reached between New Vision and Dish Network. Over the past several months, WKBN has entered into good faith negotiations with the Dish Network, as well as numerous other cable and satellite providers, to discuss terms for the continued carriage of the WKBN signal.

WKBN HAS REACHED AN AGREEMENT WITH ALL OTHER CABLE AND SATELLITE PROVIDERS EXCEPT DISH.

As of now, it appears that the Dish Network is unwilling to negotiate further to prevent the loss of WKBN from your channel line-up.

What has led to this issue?

To serve viewers such as yourself, WKBN negotiates agreements with cable and satellite companies like Dish Network that deliver our signal to your home. WKBN closely monitors these companies since they are taking a signal, which WKBN provides for free over the air, and they then sell that signal, along with other networks, to paying customers.

Since companies like Dish make a profit off of the WKBN signal, WKBN asks for a small amount of compensation in return. What is being asked of Dish is no more and no less than what has been asked of all other cable and satellite providers. All other cable and satellite companies have found this to be a fair and reasonable amount and have reached an agreement with WKBN. So far, Dish is the only provider that refuses to come to terms.

Dish says WKBN is asking for a 200% increase, is that true?

While we are not at liberty to discuss the actual figures, please remember that an increase from 1 penny to 3 pennies is a 200% increase. WKBN is asking for pennies on the dollar compared to what the Dish Network pays for the hundreds of other channels on your channel line-up.

The high cost of subscription services cannot be attributed to local channels, but from companies like Dish paying high dollar amounts for countless cable channels you may rarely watch.

Wouldn't it be nice to pick the channels you want to watch a-la-carte and only pay for those? Imagine how much less expensive your bill would be!

Dish says that they will have to raise the rate on my bill if they reach an agreement with you. Is this true?

We cannot speak for Dish, but if this were true, the inverse would be true as well. If WKBN is removed from their system on January 15, 2012, your monthly bill should go down. We feel it would be wrong for you to continue to pay for a channel which they no longer provide.

WKBN has reached a similar agreement with all other cable and satellite providers and to our knowledge, not a single one has publicly said they must raise their rates.

Who should I contact to voice my concerns about losing WKBN?

You can call the Dish Customer Service phone number: 1-800-894-9131

Let them know you do not want to lose WKBN! (Editors Note - The same message appears on the WKBN, WYTV and Fox Youngstown websites. I just posted the WKBN version here.)

WNEW will go up against all-news WTOP-FM (103.5 Washington, DC).

See record here.

In what has become a dubious New Year's radio tradition in Pittsburgh dating back nearly 10 years, WRCT's resident oldies guru, Jay Thurber, will again roll back the clock four decades. Unlike 1971 though, the program will be heard over 88.3 FM and online at www.wrct.org. WRCT's time-traveling sports car ( well, actually, it's a Dodge Dart Demon) will rev its slant-six-powered flux capacitor up to 88.3 MPH and head for Carnegie Mellon's old student union, Skibo Hall, in the era when the station was still at 900 kHz AM.

Thurber, WRCT's resident dinosaur and aspiring elderly crank, will count down the top songs of 1971, interspersed with news reports, commercials and other announcements from the Pittsburgh of that December 40 years ago.

"Even the audio - a glorious, low-fi mono - will sound like 1971! No HD, IBOC or 5.1-Channel Digital sound here, even though WRCT is based at one of the nation's leading research universities," says Thurber, "Please don't tell the National Science Foundation that we're setting back progress by 40 years!"

The "number one song of 1971" will be unveiled at 12 Midnight, but don't worry WRCT will tell you exactly when the New Year 1972... er, 2012... arrives.

Thurber (the nom de radio of a Carnegie Mellon grad and WRCT volunteer) hosts a weekly oldies show from 12:00 Noon - 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The oldies show also touts a Facebook page.