Bonnie Newman, the expected replacement for Judd Gregg (R-NH) when he makes his equally expected move to the Obama cabinet as Secretary of Commerce, will bring in a legislator with a broadcasting past. It’s not just that Newman was a Director of New Hampshire Public Television – her roots are much stronger. She was the founder and former owner of Coastal Broadcasting Corporation, licensee of WZEA-FM radio. The station lives on today in the Citadel Broadcasting portfolio as WSAK-FM Hampton NH, part of a station cluster in the Portsmouth-Dover-Rochester NH Arbitron market.
RBR/TVBR observation: It is very helpful to have a legislator who is intimately familiar with the day-to-day problems faced by broadcasters on hand when pertinent legislation is on the table. Unfortunately, Gregg was not on the Senate Commerce Committee, and we imagine it is highly doubtful Newman will be either.
