96.7 The Wave Portsmouth, NH flips to Talk

Clear Channel has flipped Oldies “96.7 The Wave” WQSO Rochester/Portsmouth, NH to News/Talk while keeping the “Wave” moniker. Also staying are Imus in the Morning and Boston Red Sox play-by-play. Joining the station are Glenn Beck for 9am to Noon, Rush Limbaugh from 12pm to 3pm, Sean Hannity from 3pm to 6pm, Michael Savage from 6pm to 10pm, and Coast to Coast with George Noory overnights. All of those programs had recently aired in the Portsmouth area on 1540 WGIP, which was spun-off from Clear Channel in March and flipped to local Talk as WXEX.

Woody Show Out At Live 105 San Francisco

CBS continues its run of eliminating some of the higher profile morning shows brought in to replace Howard Stern as The Woody Show was dropped from Alternative KITS “Live 105” San Francisco joining the likes of Adam Carolla and Opie & Anthony as former CBS employees. Woody, Tony, and Ravey were brought in from afternoons at Q101 in Chicago to replace Stern on KITS.

“Fresh 102.7″ KFRH Las Vegas Becomes CHR “102.7 Now”

Update 7:35pm: The flip to CHR occurred at 4:33pm PDT as KFRH became “102.7 Now” with Akon’s “Right Now (Na Na Na)”. The station is taking a page out of CBS’ own playbook in New York and Los Angeles by going right after CBS’ 98.5 KLUC and Kemp Broadcasting’s “Hot 97.5” KVEG. Sean Lynch stays on as 102.7’s PD, while Bill Tanner and RadioCrunch are consulting with the launch.

Listen to the debut of “102.7 Now” at FormatChange.com NOW.

Update 4/1/09 6:00pm: KFRH confirms that it will indeed flip to CHR as “102.7 Now”. The station has been interspersing songs that include “When” in the title such as Prince & The Revolution “When Doves Cry”, Janet Jackson “When I Think Of You”, Green Day “When I Come Around”, and Linda Ronstadt “When Will I Be Loved” over the past few hours. Listen to the stunting here and we will have the launch on the Format Change Archive later tonight.

Beasley Broadcasting’s AC “Fresh 102.7” KFRH Las Vegas is currently stunting with a loop of voices asking “When?” with the occasional “Soon”.

The end result looks to be a flip to CHR as “Radio Now” as 1027RadioNow.com was registered by Beasley on March 19. This looks to be the real deal and not an April Fools Stunt. We’ll have more later today on this one.

Hudson Valley Trio To Flip To Talk

Pamal Broadcasting is flipping its three Hudson Valley, NY AM stations from Oldies to Talk on Monday, April 6 as “Hudson Valley Talk Radio“. 1260 WBNR Beacon, 1420 WLNA Peekskill, and 920 WGHQ Kingston will continue to air Bruce Owens’ “Good Morning Hudson Valley” in mornings. The remainder of the programming will consist of the syndicated Dave Ramsey, Dr. Laura, and Fox Sports Radio. The trio are also air Army Football and Hudson Valley Renegades minor league baseball.

KIRO Seattle completes move to 97.3 FM

Bonneville has completed the shift of News/Talk KIRO from 710 AM to 97.3 FM. The stations had been simulcasting since November. 710 is currently airing a loop directing listeners to 97.3 in anticipation of its flip to sports as “710 ESPN Seattle” on Monday.

True Oldies 790 WPRV Providence to go Business

After just a 13 month run as “True Oldies 790″, Citadel Broadcasting is preparing to flip WPRV to Business Talk according to the East Providence Post. The new lineup is projected to include holdover Imus in the Morning in addition to Joe Scarborough, Bloomberg Radio, and brokered programming.

West Palm Beach Move-In Launches

Glades Media has completed its move-in of 99.5 WAFC-FM from Clewiston to Palm Beach Gardens, FL debuting as Regional Mexican “La Ley 99.5“.

Grupo Radio Centro to LMA “Movin 93.9″ KMVN Los Angeles from Emmis

Update 4/4/09: When Grupo Radio Centro takes over on April 15, expect the new station to be named “Exitos 93.9″ based on the registration of exitos939.com by the company.

Original Report 4/3/09: Grupo Radio Centro, a Mexico based operator has announced it has agreed to LMA Rhythmic AC “Movin 93.9” KMVN Los Angeles from Emmis Broadcasting as of April 15.

GRC will pay Emmis $7 Million a year with an option to purchase the station at any time over the next 7 years for $110 Million. If they cannot purchase the station due to the current law prohibiting internationally based companies from owning U.S. broadcast licenses, they may assign the option to buy to another company. Grupo Radio Centro operates 14 stations in Mexico, 11 of which are in the Mexico City market.

Emmis will continue to operate Urban KPWR “Power 106” in Los Angeles.

Instant Insight: This is the first of many deals of this nature in the coming months and years. While our radio groups are struggling to maximize revenues, International groups can find niches and markets where they can position themselves and make an inroads into the American media landscape.

Additionally, does this mean the end of Rick Dees career in Los Angeles? He’s already been paid to leave Clear Channel while CBS and Citadel have been eliminating higher priced personalities nationwide. Unless Mt. Wilson Broadcasting’s “Go Country 105” KKGO or Bonneville’s AAA “100.3 The Sound” see Rick worth the money to boost their profile in the market there doesn’t seem to be a place for Dees in Hollywood anymore.

Clear Channel Preparing Memphis Move-In

Clear Channel has been granted a Construction Permit to move CHR “101.9 Kiss-FM” KIYS Jonesboro, AR to Crawfordsville, AR with full coverage of the Memphis market. To make the move possible, KIYS will downgrade from a Class C with 100kw at 1030 feet to a C1 with 11.5kw at 489 feet. KIYS has been operated by Bobby Caldwell’s East Arkansas Broadcasters, Inc under and LMA since January 2007, when Caldwell purchased the remainder of Clear Channel’s Jonesboro cluster.

KIYS will join 6 other stations in Clear Channel’s Memphis cluster when the move is complete: News/Talk 600 WREC, Urban AC 1070 WDIA, Gospel “Hallelujah 95.7” WHAL, Urban “K97.1” WHRK-FM, Urban AC “V101.1” KJMS-FM, and Classic Rock “Rock 103” 102.7 WEGR.

94.7 Fresh FM Washington, D.C. Debuts

As announced last Monday, CBS Radio has flipped Classic Rock 94.7 WTGB Washington, D.C. to AC as “94.7 Fresh-FM” at midnight. Greg Dunkin, who developed the Fresh format as a consultant, will program the station. The first three songs played were Pink “Get The Party Started”, Corrine Bailey Rae “Put Your Records On”, and Jason Mraz “I’m Yours”.

Original Post 3/30: “Classic Rock 94.7” WTGB Washington, DC is promoting the debut of AC “94.7 Fresh FM” at Noon on Monday, April 6.

Next Page »