Harford County (Feb. 7, 2002) -- The long-rumored "big change" at Landover's WHFS-FM (99.1) turned out to be more of a minor tweaking of the music, although some personnel moves were made.

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Gina Crash and Allen Scott are gone, and Neci is rumored to be on the way out. The new lineup has Graeme in the morning, Kathryn Lauren doing middays, Tim Virgin in afternoon drive time, and weekend jock Matty covering the overnights on an interim basis. Expect edgier music from the "new" 'HFS, designed to appeal more to male listeners. Meanwhile, program director Robert Benjamin received a 30-day contract extension through the first of March. How's that for job security?

Another change on the local radio scene also took place February 1st. WJHU-FM (88.1) became WYPR, as the sale of the NPR affiliate by Johns Hopkins University to the Tony Brandon/Marc Steiner group finally became official.

Evening jazz announcer Andy Bienstock takes over as program director from Terry Trouyet, who left last November to join Metro Networks in Baltimore. The Brandon/Steiner group recently changed from Maryland Public Radio to Your Public Radio, in order to avoid a potential legal challenge from Maryland Public Television over the name. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but it's generally believed that Hopkins received around $5 million for the station.

Steiner has promised more local programming, including news; however, the newly christened WYPR may have to pull a few rabbits out of its hat to make that happen. The former WJHU spent around a half million dollars per year for NPR programming. If WYPR management keeps the station's current lineup of NPR shows, as they've indicated they will, they're going to have to raise a ton of revenue, since most of the $5 million sale price - $4 million to be exact - was financed.

As a result, a majority of the members of the station's new board of directors are from Mercantile Bank. NPR affiliation requires stations to have a minimum of five full-time employees and carry at least 18 hours of NPR programming per day. If WYPR revenue falls below station operating costs, expect the financiers to get involved in programming decisions, and that could become disastrous.

Finally, congratulations to long time Baltimore radio personality Niles Seaberg. The Iowa native will receive a Golden Microphone award from the Golden Radio Buffs of Maryland at ceremonies coming up in May. Seaberg's radio stops have included WLIF-FM, WHLP-AM and WITH-AM since arriving on the local scene more than 30 years ago. One of the industry's truly nice guys, Niles has been with the combo of WCBM-AM and WWLG-AM since 1997.

Have a question or comment about this column or local media? Email me at gwhelton@yahoo.com.

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