Pending Flips In Charleston and Panama City

20 years of heritage comes to an end at 5:00pm today when “96 Wave” 96.1 WAVF Hanrahan/Charleston, SC drops Modern Rock for Variety Hits as “96.1 Chuck-FM”.

WAVF has a Construction Permit to move to 101.7 as part of a multifaceted swap involving stations in Columbia and Myrtle Beach.

Meanwhile in Panama City, 94.5 WFBX is stunting with All Bob & Tom and will relaunch as “94.5 WFLA” extending the branding currently used in Tampa, Orlando, and Tallahassee. Expect the WFLF-FM calls there.

What you may not remember is that we called this one way back on June 4th. Sometimes these things take awhile to become reality. Keep that in mind when some of the flips we’re predicting don’t come true right away.

My Time In Baltimore?

Another market to watch this Labor Day weekend for a possible format flip is Baltimore. Specifically, Smooth Jazz 104.3 WSMJ.

The Smooth Jazz format has been trending downward in the ratings in Baltimore over the past year, while there is a void in the market for Classic Hits/Oldies since CBS flipped 102.7 WQSR to Variety Hits “Jack” in 2005. With the recent changes at CBS since Dan Mason returned, we’ll speculate that this could be a race between the two companies to cover that niche.

Clear Channel registered My1043.com on Wednesday.

Update 12:30pm: We’ve also located two more domains registered to Clear Channel on Thursday: fresh1043.com and 1043fresh.com. The “Fresh” brand has done wonders in New York to hurt Clear Channel’s WLTW. Could we see the reverse on CBS’ WLIF?

Two In The Books

We’re two for two so far this week with our Net Gnome reports. On Sunday, we pondered whether Portland, OR would see the launch of Kool 105.9. At 1:05pm PDT, the change occurred as the station dropped Smooth Jazz for Classic Hits under the “Greatest Hits Of All Time” tagline.

Following Tom Grant’s “Change”, the station segued to the new format with Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll”. We should note that in its short 6 years on the air, this is the fourth format for the station following Hot AC “Star”, Classic Hits “River”, and Smooth Jazz.

Discuss the change at our Oregon board.

Meanwhile in Houston, we have confirmation that KIOL will become KHJK “103.7 Jack-FM” tomorrow at 10:37am CDT. More at the Houston Chronicle.

Discuss this at our Houston board.

Jack Taking Off in Houston

Update 8/30: Variety Hits reports that Cumulus parked the KHJK calls on a construction permit at 99.1 in Lennox, SD.

It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen a large market station go Variety Hits. The format has shown its staying power in some while fizzling in others. Regardless expect to see Jack debut in Houston in the VERY near future at the current location of 103.7 KIOL. The station has been in a state of flux since losing its morning team Walton & Johnson to Clear Channel’s 950 KPRC.

Cumulus has registered 10 domains for the new format: 1037jackfm.com, 1037jackfm.net, houstonsjack.com, houstonsjack.net, houstonsjackfm.com, houstonsjackfm.net, jack1037.com, jack1037.net, jackfmhouston.com, and jackfmhouston.net. All of which currently redirect to Cumulus’ corporate site.

Random Labor Day Ponderings

We’ve been sitting on a few of these domains wondering what use they may have. Maybe you can assist us:

We’ll start with an easy one. Cumulus has registered 971eagle.com. Currently pointing to the corporate site, we’ve also noticed that WRQQ Nashville’s site is “Under Construction”. Looks like an easy match.

What’s CBS Radio doing with hearphilly.com and herephilly.com?

Is Clear Channel planning something in Cincinnati? radio941.net is redirecting to WVMX’s website.

CC also has registered 925fmthebeat.com with a matching logo. The site currently doesn’t respond and we don’t know where this one could be headed.

Going to try something new on this post and the Houston one below, as we’re allowing comments here in addition to the boards.

Kooling Off In Portland

Update 8/29/07: Clear Channel’s IT department seems to be having fun with the audience on this one. Since our original report, there’s been a change in template to one used by the “La Preciosa” Spanish AC format used by the company elsewhere and now to a blank page with the following text “Hola! Go Away. I am very busy right now.”

As we approach the end of the summer, radio operators are beginning to ramp up their plans for the fall book. In Portland, Oregon, it looks as though Clear Channel will be launching a new format at 105.9 KIJZ. Currently Smooth Jazz, expect a flip to Classic Hits in the coming days.

Clear Channel has registered three domains for the new station: kool1059.com, koolportland.com, portlandkool.com. All are currently active pointing to a blank template at the moment and include some references to the KPKL-FM calls.

Our guess is a flip by the end of Labor Day weekend if not sooner.

Clear Channel Goes Green in Bay Area

Update 8/22: Clear Channel confirms our report and announces KQKE will become “Green 960″ on Monday, August 27. More at Liberal Talk Radio.

As many corporations find ways to become more environmentally friendly, it was only a matter of time for a radio station to take the presentation. And what better place than San Francisco, where Clear Channel liberal talker KQKE “The Quake” has changed its call letters to KKGN. Additionally, a number of domains along the lines of green960.com and 960green.com have been registered by Clear Channel this week.