Columbia, SC Frequency Swap
March 31, 2008
Citadel Broadcasting has swapped the frequencies of a pair of its stations in Columbia, SC. Urban AC “Kiss 98.5” WLXC shifts to 103.1, while “Oldies 103.1” WOMG shifts to 98.5 with a new name: Magic 98.5.
M99.5 Palm Springs Goes Classic Rock
March 31, 2008
Mitchell Media’s Modern Rocker “M99.5” KMRJ Palm Springs has shifted its format to Classic Rock as “99.5 The Heat“. The station will retain the Adam Corolla morning show. Why the change? Here’s the explanation from m995.com:
You are hearing all this legendary rock. Why? What happened?. Well simply put, the Alternative Rock listening audience is just too small a community here in the desert to sustain a commercial radio station.
Nextmedia Wilmington/Jacksonville NC Shakeup
March 31, 2008
Nextmedia has completed a shakeup of its stations in Southeastern North Carolina.
Variety Hits WILT “Will-FM” moves from 98.7 Jacksonville to 104.5 Wilmington, giving it a better signal in the Wilmington market, while taking the WSSM calls from 105.1 Havelock.
The aforementioned 105.1 picks up 104.5’s old WRQR calls, but keeps its Adult Standards format for now.
98.7 changes its calls to WLGD and has flipped to Spanish Contemporary as “La Gran D”.
KLAA Los Angeles To Go Sports
March 31, 2008
830 KLAA Orange, CA is in the process of dropping its mix of syndicated talk and brokered programming to become the Los Angeles market’s third all-sports radio station. Dave Smith and Roger Lodge will host mornings from 6 to 9am, while Tony Bruno will host a new syndicated program from 9am to noon.
The station, owned by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, has become the flagship station for the team after a five year run on 710 KSPN as well as Anaheim Ducks hockey.
2008 MLB Radio Flagships
March 31, 2008
With the 2008 season upon us here’s our list of flagship and other notable stations airing Major League Baseball this season.
Arizona Diamondbacks - 620 KTAR, 1400 KSUN (Spanish)
Atlanta Braves - 640 WGST/94.9 WUBL, 105.7 WWVA-FM (Spanish airs 51 Games)
Baltimore Orioles - 105.7 WHFS
Boston Red Sox - 680 WRKO (Weekday Afternoon games on 850 WEEI). All Games also air on 50kw 1080 WTIC Hartford. 950 WROL (Spanish)
Chicago Cubs - 720 WGN
Chicago White Sox - 670 WSCR, 1200 WRTO (Spanish airs 35 games)
Cincinnati Reds - 700 WLW
Cleveland Indians - 1100 WTAM (some games on 100.7 WMMS)
Colorado Rockies - 850 KOA
Detroit Tigers - 1270/97.1 WXYT
Florida Marlins - 790 WAXY, 1140 WQBA (Spanish)
Houston Astros - 740 KTRH, 1010 KLAT (Spanish)
Kansas City Royals - 610 KCSP
Los Angeles Angels - 830 KLAA, 1330 KWKW (Spanish)
Los Angeles Dodgers - 790 KABC, 930 KHJ (Spanish)
Milwaukee Brewers - 620 WTMJ
Minnesota Twins - 1500 KSTP, 1400 KMNV/1470 KMNQ (Spanish airs 26 games)
New York Mets - 660 WFAN, 1280 WADO (Spanish)
New York Yankees - 880 WCBS, 1430 WNSW (Spanish)
Oakland Athletics - 1550 KYCY/106.9 KFRC
Philadelphia Phillies - 1210 WPHT (Friday games 610 WIP), 1480 WUBA (Spanish)
Pittsburgh Pirates - 104.7 WPGB
San Diego Padres - 1090/105.7 XEPRS, 860 XEMO (Spanish)
San Francisco Giants - 680 KNBR, 1170 KLOK (Spanish)
Seattle Mariners - 1000 KOMO
St. Louis Cardinals - 550 KTRS
Tampa Bay Rays - 1250 WHNZ, 680 WGES (Spanish)
Texas Rangers - 1080 KRLD, 1270 KFLC (Spanish)
Toronto Blue Jays - 590 CJCL (some games on 610 CKTB)
Washington Nationals - 1500/107.7 WWWT
Flagships By Owner - CBS 8 (Athletics, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Rangers, Tigers, White Sox, Yankees), Clear Channel 7 (Astros, Braves, Indians, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Rockies), Team Owned Station 4 (Angels, Cardinals, Cubs, Blue Jays), Entercom 2 (Red Sox, Royals), Bonneville 2 (Diamondbacks, Nationals), Citadel 1 (Dodgers), Cumulus 1 (Giants), Journal 1 (Brewers), Lincoln Financial 1 (Marlins), Hubbard 1 (Twins), Broadcast Company of Americas 1 (Padres), Fisher 1 (Mariners)
FM Flagships - 6
Teams Airing All Games in Spanish - 12
Big Earl 96.3 Edmonton Becomes Capital-FM
March 31, 2008
On Friday, March 28, at 3pm, “Big Earl 96.3″ CKRA Edmonton dropped Country for Classic Hits as “96.3 Capital-FM“.
While We Were Out
March 31, 2008
Here’s a quick rundown of the format flips to take place last week while we were away:
97.1 WRQQ Nashville segues from Classic Hits “97.1 The Tower” to Classic Rock as “97.1 RQQ“.
Jacksonville Smooth Jazz combo 105.3 WSJF and 105.5 WJSJ flips to Rhythmic AC as “Coast 105.3/105.5″. The Smooth Jazz format continues online at smoothjazz1053.com.
Vox Communications Classic Hits WBOP “Magic 95.5″ Staunton, VA shifts to Country as “Rebel 95.5” paired with sister Classic Country 96.9 WSIG.
107.5 KHYT Tucson makes the opposite shift as “Rock 107.5″ brings back its heritage “K-Hit 107.5” branding with its shift to Classic Hits.
KKSJ Lafayette, LA drops Smooth Jazz for Hot AC as KYMK “106.3 The Monkey”.
“X-Rock” 96.3 KXLW Anchorage, AK drops Classic Rock for a Country/Rock hybrid as “96.3 The Wolf“.
“US 92.5″ WUSV Fort Myers, FL drops its “Wide Open Country” branding to become “Oldies 92.5″. New calls of WNTY are pending.
Border Media Partners’ 94.1 KTFM San Antonio relaunches as Rhythmic AC with a focus on music from the 90’s and 2000’s.
1240 KSAC Sacramento drops Liberal Talk for Gospel.
1190 KFXR Dallas flips from Classic Country to CNN Radio.
92.9 WLTJ Pittsburgh Relaunches as Q92.9
March 23, 2008
Steel City Media AC “Lite Rock 92.9″ WLTJ Pittsburgh relaunched on Easter Sunday as “Q92.9“.
Game On In Portland?
March 21, 2008
Will Portland see an All-Sports FM? Rose City Radio could soon be shifting Rhythmic CHR “Jammin 95.5” KXJM in that direction.
Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, who owns Rose City Radio also owns the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, which would give instant content for the new station in tandem with sister News/Talk 750 KXL. The domain 955TheGame.com, was registered on Tuesday by KXL Sports Director Jay Allen. We’re not sure if there is any relation between Jay and Paul Allen.
Also curious is the timing of this registration following the incident on Friday, March 14, where a disgruntled KXJM listener drove his car in to the lobby of the station’s offices.
Macon Moves
March 21, 2008
Update 3/21/08: It took a little longer than we thought, but the Macon flip occurred earlier this week. “The Peach” AC format is now on the to be spun-off 102.5 frequency, while Country “The Bull” has relocated to 96.5.
Original Post 2/6/08: As we noted last week in our report about a pending frequency swap in Bakersfield, if Clear Channel is going to go through with its privatization plan there are going to be frequency swaps in order to keep the formats it wants in the markets it must spin-off some stations.
Next up seems to be Macon, GA where Clear Channel looks to be swapping Country WEBL “102.5 The Bull” to 96.5 and Classic Hits “Peach 96.5” WPCH to the 102.5 frequency it will be disposing of. Towards that goal, peach1025.com and 965thebull.com were registered this week.
