News and rumor roundup

Some of this is old news, gathered from my DU posting:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x13938

* KQKE (960) in San Francisco went on the air 9/28.

* Boston got liberal talk on Monday 10/4 when WKOX-AM (1200) and WXKS-AM (1430) pick up Clear Channel's 'progressive talk' format. As for the signal reach, 1430 has a good signal in the city proper, while 1200 hits the outside areas of the city better, reaching as far as Providence, but is not very audible in the city itself. 1200 does have a construction permit to move its tower and boost its signal to cover all of the Boston area, but they are having problems building the tower. It's new city of licence, Newton, is not allowing the tower to be built in their city, and the massive road construction in the area is also slowing things down. Looks like this will be a while, hence the two signals. Here's the site: http://www.bostonsnewtalk.com/

* KSNB-AM is the new affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul as of Friday 10/1. The station, Straight Talk Radio, was originally on 1330 and 1530 under a local marketing agreement (LMA). 1330 was sold a few months ago to Starboard, and the station picked up WMIN-AM 740, a low-powered AM daytimer out of Hudson, WI as a simulcast. The owners of Straight Talk Radio recenty purchased 950 from Infinity, and officially take over the 24-hour frequency, dropping 740 and (allegedly) 1530. I'm not sure of 950's new schedule, but they are keeping the sports play-by-play contracts from the previous ownership, and may keep a few hosts.

This is the new schedule for 950:

Temporary Monday-Friday lineup:

9:00-11:00am Wendy Wilde
11:00- 1:00pm Al Franken
1:00- 4:00pm Ruth Koscielak
4:00-5:00pm Al Franken
5:00- 8:00pm Ed Schultz

The station is still officially owned by Infinity Broadcasting, and operated under an LMA until the FCC approves the sale to the new owners, likely in a few weeks. Due to a contractual agreement (and really messy lawsuit with Infinty's WCCO radio), Ruth Koscielak's show is required to be carried. Hence, Franken's show is temporarily broken up for really boring coffee talk for middle-aged soccer moms. Ed Schultz's show is bumped a couple hours, and the rest of the schedule looks to be AAR programming, though no Malloy, Rhodes or 'Unfiltered'.

Once the sale is official, Ruth is back to her network of suburban rimshot stations.

AFFILIATE NEWS

* Upstate in Minnesota, according to AAR's site, WWWI-AM (1270) in Brainerd is now an affiliate. I'm not sure if this is legit, though, as WWWI's site still shows 'liberal talkers' such as, umm... Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura. Likely, they will pick up one or two AAR shows, perhaps Franken, and tape delay.

* Speaking of affiliates that pick up only a show or two, there is one AAR affiliate that is not mentioned on their site. WQNX-AM (1350) in Aberdeen, NC airs one show. Actually they air one hour of one show, Morning Sedition from 8-9AM:

Topical information presented in a humorous fashion with a slant to the left. It's a peek inside the Dem's camp.

Uhhh...yeah sure.

So, AAR welcomes Aberdeen, NC. Kinda. Other stations do serious cherrypicking as well. KCAA in Riverside seems to run just Randi Rhodes and Al Franken, and surround the shows with the likes of G. Gordon Liddy and Don Imus. And the South Lake Tahoe, CA affiliate buries Franken in the overnight hours. Not exactly a true AAR affiliate as we are familiar with.* There was a bit of turmoil involving the Sacramento, CA affiliate. KSQR-AM (1240) has recently been sold, and it looks like AAR's programming is there to stay for the immediate future. AAR still leases time on KSQR, but does not lease the entire station. KSQR still airs alternate programming overnight and on weekends (often soul music). Not sure how long this arrangement will last, as I imagine AAR will pull out if another station in the market decides to pick up the programming.


RUMORS AND SPECULATION

* Al Franken let slip that a Washington, DC affiliate is in the works. No concrete plans have been announced, but DCRTV.com thinks it may be Clear Channel's WWRC-AM (1260), which currently programs a poorly-rated syndicated sports format (FOX Sports).

* Howard Stern annouced he will jump to Sirius in January 2006. Not true liberal talk, per se, but he bashes Bush harder than anyone out there.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041006/nyw109_1.html

Howard Stern and SIRIUS Announce the Most Important Deal in Radio History
Wednesday October 6, 8:37 am ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- "King of All Media" Howard Stern and SIRIUS announced today an epic agreement whereby Stern will move to SIRIUS beginning January 1, 2006. SIRIUS is the premium satellite radio provider known for delivering the very best in commercial-free music and sports programming to cars and homes across the country.The world-renowned Stern is credited with revolutionizing the talk radio format. He is the No. 1 national radio host among males 18-49 years of age and ranks No. 1 in many of the 46 major markets where his show is broadcast, including New York and Los Angeles."It has been my dream to have the top-rated show in radio since I was five years old," said Stern. "SIRIUS -- the future of radio -- will take this dream to a whole new level as I bring my fans my show my way. It will be the best radio they will ever hear."

In the meantime, if you're within earshot of these stations, you can hear Stern here:

New York, N.Y. WXRK 92.3 FM
Philadelphia, PA. WYSP 94.1 FM
Washington D.C. WJFK 106.7 FM
Los Angeles, CA. KLSX 97.1 FM
Baltimore, MD. WXYV 105.7 FM
Cleveland, OH. WNCX 98.5 FM
Albany, N.Y. WQBK 103.9 FM
Las Vegas, NV. KXTE 107.5 FM
Boston, MA. WBCN 104.1 FM
Chicago, IL. WCKG 105.9 FM
York, PA. WQXA 105.7 FM
Hartford, CT. WCCC 106.9 FM & 1290 AM
Memphis, TN. WMFS 92.9 FM
yracuse, N.Y. WAQX 95.7 FM
Columbus, OH. WBZX 99.7 FM
Detroit, MI. WKRK 97.1 FM
Ft. Myers, FL. WRXK 96.1 FM
Portland, OR. KUFO 101.1 FM
Providence, RI. WWKX 106.3 FM & 102.7 FM
St. Louis, MO. KPNT 105.7 FM
Burlington, VT. WIZN 106.7 FM
San Francisco, CA. KITS 105.3 FM
Cape Cod, MA. WPXC 102.9 FM
Atlantic City, N.J. WJSE 102.7 FM
Dallas, TX. KLLI 105.3 FM
Cincinnati, OH. WAQZ 97.3 FM
Buffalo, NY. WBUF 92.9 FM
Reno, NV. KBZZ 1270 AM
Seattle, WA. KISW 99.9 FM
Sacramento, CA. KXOA 93.7 FM
Phoenix, AZ. KZON 101.5 FM
Charleston, S.C. WYBB 98.1 FM
Lexington, KY. WLXO 96.1 FM
Grand Rapids, MI. WBBL 1340 AM
Fall River, MA. WKKB 100.3 FM
Portland, ME. WHXR 106.7 FM & WHXQ 104.7 FM
Pittsburgh, PA. WRKZ 93.7 FM
West Palm Beach, FL. WPBZ 103.1 FM
San Diego, CA. KPLN 103.7 FM
Orlando, FL. WOCL 105.9 FM
Rochester, NY. WZNE 94.1 FM
Fresno, CA. KRNC 105.9 FM
Austin, TX. KQBT 104.3 FM
Tampa, FL. WBZZ 1010 AM
Houston, TX. KIKK 650 AM

* KQDS/1490 (Duluth, MN) has added the Ed Schultz show, replacing Dr. Laura in the 2-5 p.m. slot. (10/7/2004)Alan Colmes is also on this station, so Duluth/Superior at least gets something resembling liberal talk. There is always the possibility of more liberal talk added, since they really have nothing going on the rest of the day (Tony Snow, a simulcast of their FM sister's morning show, and Bruce Williams - in other words, pretty uninspiring). The ratings are pretty poor. Might they see the liberal light and pick up, perhaps, AAR?

And Dr. Laura loses another affiliate.

http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/index.html