Rover Out At WKRK Cleveland
February 19, 2008
Update 2/19/08: Ohio Media Watch reports that Clear Channel’s 100.7 WMMS has been notifying clients that Rover will debut on that station on April 1 following the expiration of his contract with CBS.
Original Report 2/18/08: The syndicated “Rover’s Morning Glory”, one of the primary replacements for Howard Stern when he left CBS for Sirius, has been dropped by flagship station WKRK “92.3 K-Rock” Cleveland after being unable to come to terms on a new contract. Opie & Anthony will move from tape-delayed afternoon drive to the live morning slot.
On Rover’s site he has posted a semi-cryptic haiku about the situation:
They’re bitter we found new friends,
Scared, they yanked us off.”
No word yet on how this effects Enterom’s 94.1 WZNE Rochester and 92.9 WMFS Memphis, which also airs the show.
96.5 WFAT Kalamazoo Becomes Country Y96.5 WYZO
February 18, 2008
Michiguide.com reports that Classic Rocker 96.5 WFAT Kalamazoo has flipped to Country as Y96.5 WYZO.
Myrtle Beach Changes
February 18, 2008
Update 2/18/08: WQSD completed its change to Urban AC today as Q107.1. The station is airing the syndicated Steve Harvey in mornings, Doug Banks in afternoons, and Keith Sweat at night.
Original Post 2/5/08: Qantum Communications has purchased Variety Hits “104.9 Bob-FM” WYNA Calabash, NC from Coastline Communications for $4 Million with an additional $1 Million if a proposed signal upgrade is approved. Qantum has already taken over the station via an LMA, which will lead to the format change at new sister 107.1 WQSD.
“107.1 The Sound” had evolved to Variety Hits in recent months to compete with WYNA, but will flip to Urban AC on February 18 with Premiere Radio Networks’ Steve Harvey in mornings and Keith Sweat at nights.
Qantum also owns CHR “Mix 97.7″ WWXM and Country “Gator 107.9″ WGTR in the Myrtle Beach market.
KBKO and KDFO Bakersfield Swap Frequencies
February 17, 2008
Update 2/17/08: As we reported on January 30, 96.5 KBKO and 98.5 KDFO swapped frequencies on Friday, February 15 at 7:00pm.
Original Net Gnome Report 1/30/08: As Clear Channel continues to prepare for its pending privatization it has done a number of programming swaps to keep the formats it wants on the stations it intends to keep. We’ve seen this occur recently in Roanoke and Jacksonville, and expect to see more (Hello Cleveland?) as some of these spinoffs are finalized.
Which leads us to Bakersfield, where Clear Channel has registered 965thefox.net. KDFO “The Fox” currently located at 98.5 is on the list of stations being sent into the Aloha Trust in order to be sold off. 96.5 is currently the home of Country KBKO, where we note the registration of KBKOnation.com as a new domain for that station when it is moved off 96.5. Clear Channel also owns Active Rock 106.1 KRAB, Spanish AC “La Preciosa” 800 KBFP/105.3 KBFP-FM, and Spanish Talk 970 KHTY in the Bakersfield market.
Where’s The Vertical Integration CBS?
February 15, 2008
Earlier this week CBS announced that its CSTV network would be rebranded as “CBS College Sports”. This follows up on last years rebranding of Sportsline.com as CBSSports.com. One thing seems to be missing from this picture. Where’s the radio integration?
ESPN, Fox Sports, and Sporting News promote their radio networks and personalities heavily on their sites. Sports Illustrated is integrating Dan Patrick’s program into its FanNation.com. However, a glance at CBSSports.com features nothing from any of CBS’ radio portfolio. And with the exception of a score ticker on a couple sites, there is no mention of CBSSports.com anywhere on these stations sites
CBS has nine all-sports stations covering many Major League markets, along with a few sports programs on other market programs? There’s no money to be made from a section on CBSSports.com featuring the content of WFAN’s Mike & The Mad Dog, WSCR’s Mike North, WJFK’s Junkies, WFNZ’s Mark Packer, and that doesn’t even mention the fanaticism of Philadelphia’s WIP.
Many of these stations have begun personality blogs and offering podcasts of segments of their shows online, wouldn’t a national repository of this content bring more eyes and ears to this content and potentially expose more listeners to these stations and more viewers to CBSSports.com? Seems like an easy piece of vertical integration between two divisions of one company.
Bob-FM Wichita Moves, Wolf Debuts
February 15, 2008
Connoisseur Media has shuffled its deck in Wichita, KS as Variety Hits “100.5 Bob-FM” KIBB has moved to the 97.1 move-in signal that had been simulcasting 100.5, while 100.5 relaunches as Country “100.5 The Wolf”, taking the KGGG calls that were located at 97.1.
This gives Wichita its 5th Country formatted FM, joining 92.3 KFTI, 101.3 KFDI, 102.1 KZSN, and 107.9 KWLS in a fierce battle.
DOJ Requires More Clear Channel Spinoffs
February 14, 2008
Update 2/14/08: Some reports on which stations must be spun-off. The Houston Chronicle states that 101.1 KLOL and either 94.5 KTBZ or 96.5 KHMX will be sold. John Kiesewetter of the the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the pair of 700 WLW and 107.1 WKFS or the pair of 92.5 WOFX and 94.1 WNNF will be sold in Cincinnati. We’ve also heard that 101.9 KWID will be the Las Vegas station, but nothing out of San Francisco that seems conclusive.
Original Post 2/13/08: Another step towards completion of the Clear Channel Privatization plan will require the company to spin-off stations in four additional markets. The Department of Justice announced that in order for them to approve the buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, Clear Channel must sell off stations in the San Francisco, Cincinnati, Houston, and Las Vegas markets. Bain and Lee hold shares in Cumulus Media and Lee holds a share in Univision, which operate stations in the aforementioned markets. The DOJ fears that the mutual ownership could lead to higher advertising rates due to lack of competition.
Clear Channel owns the following stations in the affected markets:
Read more
WXRK New York Rumor Killer
February 12, 2008
Despite what you may have read elsewhere, “92.3 K-Rock” WXRK has NOT dropped all of its currents. The music has been tweaked away from Alternative towards Active Rock, but not Classic Rock as a few other publications are reporting.
106.1 WNMX Charlotte Shifts To Oldies
February 12, 2008
Not a major shift as GHB Broadcasting’s 106.1 WNMX-FM segued from Adult Standards to Oldies at 10am today. Charlotte had been without an Oldies outlet since Clear Channel’s “Magic 96.1″ WWMG flipped to Rhythmic CHR “96.1 The Beat” WIBT in 2004.
New York Shuffle
February 10, 2008
Not since 1996 has there been a shakeup in New York City radio much like we’ve seen so far in 2008. New PD’s have been installed at WBLS, WLTW, WWPR, and WRKS. The PD’s at WXRK, WCBS, and WWFS have been let go with no replacements named as of yet. The GM of WXRK resigned. WKTU and WCAA have new morning shows. WQCD flipped. A Low-powered TV signal will debut as a full-fledged radio station this week with some well-known names in the market.
In 1996, the format changes at WAXQ, WPAT, and WYNY were brought on by station sales as consolidation took hold. Now, we’re seeing the effects of consolidation’s wrath. Having to answer to stockholders more than listeners as radio became big business, costs were cut. The days of one staff per station have given way to one person having duties at as many as 6 stations just in New York along with responsibilities elsewhere in the country. WWPR’s new Program Director, Cadillac Jack is also Operations Manager of Clear Channel’s Boston stations. How is that any way to focus attention on building and maintaining a station, er. “brand”.
