Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 27

.1 I III i oxe5ty les Broadcast News 96X strikes bade after WNOR rocks their boat 'ROX-FM (96.1) has struck back at rock competitor WNOR-FM (98.7), which is trying to block WROX'S FCC W(D)IDl(DleF i I 1 i fflT 1 r-i 'At the Hop" was released in 1957 and the song sold 2.5 million copies and was No. 1 pn the music charts for seven Artie Singerwas the man behind Danny and the Juniors, weeks. KRT application for an additional transmitter. Since it went on the air in October of last year, WROX has been competing with WNOR for young listeners. The new station calls itself the "modern-rock" alternative, while WNOR plays more mainstream rock 'n' roll.

WROX broadcasts out of the Dominion Tower building in downtown Norfolk, says owner Bob Sinclair, but its transmitter is located in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. Because of interference from five other radio towers in downtown Norfolk, he says, listeners in downtown Norfolk and Portsmouth have trouble picking up the station. As a result, WROX sought permission to erect a low-power translator, in effect a booster transmitter, in downtown Norfolk. WNOR filed an objection. Last week, WROX took its case to the airwaves with a station promotion that began: "Why do the corporate boys want to pick on the little guy?" The station called WNOR the "corporate jurassic rock station" that plays "your father's tired old rock 'n' roll." WNOR program director Harvey Kojan refused any comment on the dispute.

WNOR's objection, according to Sinclair, is that WROX cannot claim South Hampton Roads as part of its coverage area because its transmitter is located on the Eastern Shore. Sinclair is predicting victory, though it could take six months or longer before the dispute is resolved. PEN-TV. Lockwood Broadcasting, owner of WBH-TV, Channel 51, out of Gloucester, is expanding its Peninsula coverage. The Hampton-based company recently purchased a Peninsula low-power television station, W68BI, known as Channel 68.

The company plans to simulcast programming on both stations under the new name, PEN-TV. "Now we'll have 100 percent coverage on the Peninsula," says business development manager Jennifer Sanford. PEN-TV will begin testing next month and hopes to be up and running for the Hampton Bay Days weekend in early September, she says. Channel 51 now operates 24 hours a day, says Sanford. Its mix of locally originated and syndicated programming features a news-talk program hosted by Tom Bradshaw, a country line-dance show and Baltimore Orioles baseball.

New syndicated programming will be coming in the fall, she says. In addition to antenna reception, PEN-TV will be available on cable systems in Newport News and in James City, York, Gloucester and Mathews counties. The company is talking to officials at Warner Cable in Hampton, says Sanford, and eventually hopes to be included on its system. BIG-BAND BOOM. Fans of big-band music fondly remember radio announcer Roger Clark, who died in August 1990.

Clark's long-running programs of music of the 1930s and '40s aired Saturday nights on WFOG-FM (92.9) and on the former WGH-FM (97.3). Clark spun his tunes from a vast record collection that has since been donated to WFOS-FM (88.7) by the late announcer's son, Roger Clark Jr. The collection features 2,700 45-rpm records, 6,000 LPs and 1,500 78-rpm records, plus rare 16-inch "electrical transcription" records used in the 1950s before the advent of recording tape. WFOS is operated by the Chesapeake school system. Summer-school students at the station are cataloguing the records, says Chief Engineer David Desler, so that the collection can be put to use in the fall.

Artie Singer is no longer 'At the Hop'; he's at temple Recall God's plea to help the poor. -Guest Column, The Rev. Martin. Discussions on homosexuality, abortion can't be swept under desk. On Religion, Clark Morphew.

Religion calendar. D5-6. By Ralph Vlgoda By then, the late 1950s, Singer was well-established in the Philadelphia area as a musician and voice teacher. "I was born in Toronto. I was raised in Brooklyn," he said.

JMy dad was sought after as a cantor and we moved frequently. We got to Philadelphia around 1936, and I said, 'This is it for me. Singer found work as a bass player. And it was shortly after arriving that he met Bernie Lowe, a talented pianist. The two began appearing in bands under the direction of Howard Lanin and Meyer Davis.

Singer also landed a steady job in radio station orchestras, first at WCAU, then at WIP, playing for names like Frank Sinatra, Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason. "I worked with Danny Kaye for three weeks, and he wanted me to become one of his musicians," Singer said. But Singer stayed in Philadelphia. Around 1946, after getting out of the Please see Slnger02 That's because, as many of the Beth El congregants know, Artie Singer, a part-time cantor on both sides of the Delaware River, is the man responsible for one of the most recognizable rock 'n' roll songs of all time. A record that, 37 years after its release, is still making money for Singer and the surviving Southwest Philly guys who were members of the original group.

A record called "At the Hop," by Danny and the Juniors. Which raises a pertinent question: How, despite his background in liturgical music, despite a reputation as one of the premier bass players in some of the best-known big bands in Philadelphia, did Singer get tied up with music that sent teen-agers into a frenzy and parents running for cover? "It's a good story," says Singer. It's a story, in fact, with names out of Philadelphia's musical past popping up all over, from band leader Paul Whiteman to legendary disc jockey Bob Knight-Ridder Newspapers PHILADELPHIA hen the regular cantor at Beth El Synagogue in Margate, 17 WW N.J., is on vacation, Artie Singer usually fills in, chant Horn to Chubby Checker. Singer, though, does not dwell on that past. He gives his age as "over 60." He retired three years ago from the voice school he ran for more than 40 years with his brother in Philadelphia.

And he still played his beloved bass professionally until a New Year's Eve bash in 1990, his last engagement. But nothing he has done has left as big a mark as the rousing two minutes, 31 seconds of teen-age dance music that flew to the top of the charts when rock 'n' roll was in its infancy. ing the plaintive Hebrew melodies as he leads Sabbath services. He will not sing doo-wop. Although, if he stood in front of the worshippers and began belting out some good-feelin', old-time rock 'n' roll, people would probably understand.

Liberia represents land of the liberated JCC resident travels to place where forefathers found their freedom By Richard Stradllng Daily Press His descendant preached at that sam6 church during his 12-day visit. He brought the Liberian congregation a flag from Charles City, and a greeting from county officials. Cary met two Careys in Liberia, people he believes might be distant relatives. The Liberian Careys picked up an in their name, creating a mystery Cary would like to solve someday. Liberia is split "by factional fighting the remnants of a civil war that began in 1990.

Cary says the skirmishes that occasionally flare up in the JAMES CITY pip pnen ine Kev. rsea ary jr. visu-f I ed Liberia recently, he carried a legacy of freedom along with the usual to the nation that was estab The Rev. Ned Cary, great-qreat-great-grandson of former Charles fV the Rev. Lott cary, recently returned from a Vi-m mm hj lrj Iff uf trip to Liberia, the petait Africian nation his ancestor helped found.

AT THE MOVIES. I lished as a settlement for former slaves. Cary's great-great-great-grandfather, the Rev. Lott Cary, was a former Charles City County slave who became the first black American missionary to Africa and helped Liberia become established in the early 1820s. Located on the Atlantic coast just north of the Equator, Liberia is a lush, tropical country.

It became a land of hope for freed U.S. slaves seeking to form their own country. Ned Cary, who lives countryside kept him in and around Monrovia, which is protected by the peace-keep: ing forces of other West African nations. He had hoped to visit the town of Careysburg, named for Lott Cary, but was told it was too dangerous. "Things were still kind of unsettled," he says.

"They were worried about my safety." Signs of the war were everywhere. Cary's hotel in Monrovia had running water only a few hours a day and relied on generators for electric Green-faced Car jrZ Mauritania VA' 'Sfe. Senegal Mali yZ ta gamako fX i r--i Burkina rey unstoppable in The Mask Guinea "Black Beau--- lens siory oi irusi, 1 I ssau c5 Iworv 1 I Deirayai. Coast oouia nap pen to Leone You, but probably won't D2-3. Gambia I GontMky Daily Press ll iJJJNKillS ity.

"You could see that their minds were totally devastated by the war. They've always been living in a land of plenty," Cary says. "That's what they kept saving, 'You should have been here before the 923-1111(800)931-6500 in James City County and preaches at Morning Star Baptist Church in Grove, went to Liberia to learn about his ancestor and give Iiberians a sense of where Lott Cary came from. Lott Cary established several schools in Liberia, as well as the country's first Baptist church, Providence Baptist. Entertainment news41 11.

Top: The Rev. Ned Cary left, explains the legend of the Charles City County flag to Libert-an resident Amos Sawyer during his recent trip to Liberia Above: Cary travels through the streets of Liberia on foot He went to Liberia to learn about his ancestors. Pnrtos from The h. nm cary Jr. Please see Liberia.

D2 RoWn McCormlck. Features Editor 247-4735.