The Boston Globe August 29, 1990, Wednesday, City Edition O'Connor makes waves at radio stations; By Susan Bickelhaupt, Globe Staff Apparently Sinead O'Connor's stand on the national anthem raises more hackles in the New York-New Jersey area than in Boston. Most radio stations surveyed here yesterday seemed ambivalent about all the fuss the Irish singer created when she refused to sing at the Garden State Arts Center last Friday if "The Star Spangled Banner" was sung. The show went on - without the national anthem - but the center said she wouldn't be invited back. Over the next few days, radio stations in that area have refused to play her music. But the issue hasn't reached fever pitch here, especially since the singer doesn't have a hit single on the current charts. So mostly it's been the fodder for conversation on morning shows on stations that would normally play her music, like WXKS-FM or WFNX-FM. An exception was at WZOU-FM (94.5), where Scott McKenzie, who does a morning show with Ron Engleman, said when he came on the air on Monday that he has no intention of playing her music. "It wasn't a planned thing, but was the obvious thing to do," he said. "Especially not right now, with the Mideast thing, we just don't need this. She has a point about censorship, but there are ways to show it without becoming a censor herself." Stella Denis, music director at WBOS-FM (92.9), agreed, but only to a point. "She thinks this is a censored country, but what she did is a form of censorship," said Denis. "But it's a free country, so we'll play her stuff." WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) lost another staffer yesterday, but this time, the station insists, it's of her own accord. Sasha Norkin, assistant news director, yesterday announced that she's leaving effective next week to devote more time to her family and to teaching at Boston University. As the Channel 7 staff enjoyed champagne and cake for Norkin's sendoff, the station insisted her departure had nothing to do with the recent layoffs of two other staffers, Jacqueline Comeau and Victor Lai. "They're not related at all," said Dick Weisberg, vice-president of marketing and creative services. "Sasha's leaving has been planned for awhile." He added, however, that the station "will continue streamlining" and will not move to replace Norkin, who had been at the station 11 years. Bart Feder, who has shared the job as assistant news director, will now do it alone. How many general managers can a radio station have? Well, one, usually, but apparently WRCA-AM (1330) thinks otherwise. Radio veteran Harold Bausemer (WDLW, WBZ, WITS, WMRE) was yesterday named GM at the station that went on the air last November. Ed Brown, who's had that title, said he'll become president and GM of the Boston Radio Group, which owns the station. Bausemer said yesterday that he'll focus on promotion, talent and sales, while Brown will concentrate on programming and the station's move to Kendall Square, targeted for October. The station with a so-called "show-biz" format of comedy, Broadway and old-time radio shows, hasn't made much inroads in Boston since going on the air. But Bausemer said he's optimistic. "The format is so unique, it takes a while to get to know," Bausemer said. "We received a letter from Arbitron rating service that said we just missed making the criterion for showing up in the recent ratings." Bausemer said he'll also be filling the shoes of general sales manager Tom Cabral, who left recently for WHDH-AM. "Heat," which National Public Radio touted as an innovative late-night radio program when it debutted last March, will end production in October, it was announced yesterday. The program, which featured John Hockenberry as host, was heard locally on both WBUR-FM and WGBH-FM, but apparently didn't garner enough listeners nationwide to have adequate underwriting.