“Platinum 96.7″ KPMZ Dallas Signs Off; WBAP Simulcast Coming

Update 5:40pm: The Ronald Reagan speeches will continue throughout the weekend, at which time KPMZ will become WBAP-FM. The FM side will be a full simulcast of 820 WBAP’s programming.

Original Entry 3/12/10 2:10pm: At 12:00pm Citadel Broadcasting’s Soft Oldies “Platinum 96.7” KPMZ Dallas went silent. The station then reverted to its former “Texas Twister” country format for an hour. This was followed an hour later with “Reagan Radio” carrying speeches from Ronald Reagan’s Presidency.

WNCB Birmingham Relaunches as “97.3 The Buck”

Cox Media has relaunched “New Country 97.3” WNCB Birmingham, AL as “97.3 The Buck“. The station will continue to be current intensive focusing on “Nashville’s biggest country hits and coolest new country songs”. The station will also add an afternoon rebroadcast of the syndicated “Rick & Bubba” morning show based out of sister Country 104.7 WZZK.

KJOY Long Island Adds Eastern Simulcast

Barnstable Broadcasting has flipped AC “Love 96.1″ WLVG Center Moriches, NY to a simulcast of sister AC “K-Joy” 98.3 WKJY Hempstead, NY. While WKJY covers Nassau County and portions of New York City, the new WKJI covers much of Suffolk County giving the combined stations better coverage of the entire island to compete with Clear Channel AC powerhouse 97.5 WALK.

Mega 95.5 Chicago Shoots Down Format Rumors

Update 3/10/10: It’s not every day that a station registers a domain to shoot down a format change rumor, but that is what appears to be the case with the aforementioned ElPatron955.com. A visit to the site brings up the following image before directing the user to Mega’s website.

This translates to: “Don’t Believe The Rumors. Mega Is Here To Stay! The Only Boss In The City of Chicago Is Mega 95.5″.

Original Report 3/1/10: Since its flip from Smooth Jazz to Spanish CHR last May, “Mega 95.5” WNUA Chicago has been unable to gain any traction against a pair of Regional Mexican formatted stations: Univision’s “La Que Buena 105.1” WOJO and SBS’ “La Ley 107.9” WLEY. Clear Channel appears ready to take the “If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em Approach” as it is on the verge of rebranding the station as “El Patron 95.5” based on a domain registration made last week. The “El Patron” branding is already used by Clear Channel’s Regional Mexican station in Atlanta.

KKNG Oklahoma City Moves To 97.3

Tyler Media moved Country “King Country 93.3” KKNG Oklahoma City to 97.3, the former home of “Jack-FM” KOJK at 2:00pm today. The shift slides KKNG from the 100kw Class C signal to a weaker 1kw Class A rimshot. All air personalities at KKNG are out as well including morning hosts Bill Thomas and K.C. Shepherd. KKNG has also removed all currents and recurrents from the music mix and gone completely Classic Country.

As far as 93.3 goes, it appears the Variety Hits format formerly on 97.3 will return in a new form. Tyler Media registered 933TimFM.com and TimFM933.com last week via a subsidiary.

We wonder how the “Tim-FM” moniker will go over in Oklahoma City given the connection the 1995 bombing by Timothy McVeigh.

Thanks to Kent Ahrens and Rob Zerwehk in putting together this story.

ESPN Radio Changes in NYC, LA, and Nationally

On April 5, ESPN Radio will trim an hour off of middayer Colin Cowherd’s program to give him more time to prepare for his ESPN2 “SportsNation” program. “The Herd”, which currently runs from 10am to 2pm Eastern, will now end at 1:00. The lost hour will be transferred to Scott Van Pelt, who will now run from 1pm to 4pm.

This shift, along with the addition of more local programming will lead to lineup revamps at the ESPN O&O’s in New York and Los Angeles.

At New York’s “1050 ESPN“, the lineup change will concur with the launch of ESPNNewYork.com on Opening Day of the Baseball season. The station adds “The Leadoff Spot” hosted by Ryan Ruocco from 5am to 6am leading into Mike & Mike from 6am to 10am. Seth Everett moves from nights to a 10am to 11am slot. Colin Cowherd’s national show airs from 11am to 1pm. Current 10am to 12pm host Brandon Tierney moves to 1pm to 3pm where he will be joined by Jody MacDonald. The Michael Kay Show drops an hour to run from 3 to 7pm, with the final hour keeping its “New York Baseball Tonight” theme. Bill Daughtry will host from 7pm to Midnight.

In Los Angeles, the national lineup of Mike & Mike followed by Colin Cowherd remain from 3 to 10am. The dropped hour from Cowherd leads to middayers Mychel Thompson and Andrew Siciliano sliding up an hour to air from 10am to 2pm. Steve Mason and John Ireland also slide up to run from 2pm to 6pm. A new night show, hosted at the Los Angeles ESPN Zone resturant, hosted by Brian Long and A. Martinez (no relation to the actor of the same name) will run from 6pm to 9pm.

Modern Rock Returns To Sacramento

At 12pm today Entercom flipped Smooth Jazz 94.7 KSSJ to Modern Rock as “Radio 94.7“. It was less than a year ago that Entercom flipped longtime Modern Rocker 106.5 KWOD to 90’s “106.5 The Buzz” last Memorial Day weekend. The station has applied for new KFMS calls pending FCC approval. The station’s first hour:

Smashing Pumpkins – Today
Kings Of Leon – Sex On Fire
Dave Matthews Band – Crash Into Me
Weezer – Say It Ain’t So
311 – Lovesong
The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
Third Eye Blind – Jumper
Anberlin – The Feel Good Drag
Alice In Chains – Down In A Hole
Green Day – Holiday
Better Than Ezra – Desperately Wanting
Muse – Uprising
Sponge – Plowed
Days Of The New – Touch, Peel & Stand
Pearl Jam – Alive
The Breeders – Cannonball

Rush Radio 1200 Boston Launch Moved To Monday 3/8

Update 3/2 6:00pm: With the Limbaugh move official, Clear Channel has moved up the launch of the new talk lineup from April 1 to next Monday, March 8. The 1200 lineup will consist of:

6am to 9am: To Be Announced
9am to 12pm: Glenn Beck
12pm to 3pm: Rush Limbaugh
3pm to 6pm: Sean Hannity
6pm to 9pm: Jason Lewis
9pm to 12am: Mark Levin
12am to 6am: Coast to Coast with George Noory

Update 3/2 12:15am: BostonRadioWatch.com is reporting that Limbaugh’s final airing on WRKO will be this Friday, March 5. Charlie Manning, a local consultant for the Republican party will debut on Monday, March 12 in the 12pm to 3pm time slot.

Original Report 3/1: Since the announcement in early January that Clear Channel would flip 1200 WXKS Boston from Spanish AC to News/Talk, we’ve been waiting to see whether Clear Channel’s Premiere Radio Networks would shift Rush Limbaugh from his longtime Boston home Entercom’s 680 WRKO to the soon to launch “Rush Radio 1200“. Clear Channel has yet to announce Limbaugh as a part of the launch lineup at WXKS, however the logo that arrived today clearly indicates he will join Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Jason Lewis, and George Noory when the station debuts on April 1.