Friday catch-all

Just a round-up of the latest happenings, including a few things I didn't get around to posting. Enjoy.

Montel producer named

Here's the whole press release, so I don't leave anything out:

Air America Media has named radio veteran Mike Opelka executive producer of "Montel Across America," debuting next Monday, April 6. In this role, Mike will oversee the overall structure and content of the show, and will assist in booking guests.

"Mike’s the perfect guy to join with Montel in creating this exciting new radio program", said Bill Hess, senior vice president of programming for Air America Media. "We’re thrilled he’s joined us."

"I’m looking forward to working with Montel and the entire Air America team to launch this one-of-a-kind radio show," said Opelka. "As preparations are well underway, I’m excited to be a part of bringing Montel’s passion and talent to Air America’s listeners."

Opelka is a media veteran with more than 20 years of experience in radio, network and cable television, internet production, management and publishing. Most recently he was executive producer of CBS Radio’s syndicated "Opie & Anthony" show. Prior, he was producer and director for the launch of Premiere Radio Network’s "Wake Up with Whoopi," starring Whoopi Goldberg. Additionally, he’s served as executive producer of WKTU’s "Baltazar & Goumba Johnny Morning Show," and assistant program director of the station. From 1988-1998, Opelka was a producer for Z-100’s "Morning Zoo" with Scott Shannon, Ross Brittain, Gary Bryan and Adam Curry.

In addition to his radio credits, Opelka produced shows and projects for Fox Television, including "Fox After Breakfast" and original programming for the launch of the FX Network.

"Montel Across America," hosted by Montel Williams, will air weekdays from 9A-12P ET on radio stations across the country, and streamed live online at airamerica.com.

WINZ flips tonight

Progressive talk fans in Miami should enjoy the last few hours if they can. The worst kept radio secret of the year, the long-rumored format switch at WINZ (940AM) to sports talk will finally happen tonight (Friday) at 6P.

The new station will feature all nationally syndicated hosts from FOX Sports Radio, which is owned by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel, owner of WINZ. The only local presence on the station will be Miami Heat basketball. Also Florida Gators football and basketball, if you consider that local.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel sez:

"We also intend to pick up as much play-by-play (of various sports) as we can," program director Ken Charles said.

WINZ will become the sixth all-sports radio station in South Florida, an area that has shown it can support only one, if that.

No word on whether another area station will pick up the deposed progressive talk format, which garnered pretty decent ratings in its almost five year run. Perhaps one of the other five sports talk stations will consider.

Ironically, progressive talk replaced... (drum roll)... FOX SPORTS(!!!) back in July 2004. And we all know what the definition of insanity is, right?

The last terrestrial domino falls

Remember a few weeks back when I mentioned the fading of CBS' old "Hot Talk" push? The company flipped their New York and L.A. stations to top 40 and completely torpedoed guy talk. Coinciding with that, the syndicated shows of testosterone-fueled talkers Adam Carolla and Tom Leykis effectively ended. And now, Opie and Anthony have officially gasped their last terrestrial breath, as their final affiliate has thrown in the towel.

A couple days ago, their sole remaining affiliate, WROX in Norfolk dropped the delayed weekday airing of their show (in addition to the just plain awful Mancow show). The duo, however, can still be heard (and uncut, at that) via Sirius XM.

'Guiding Light' gets turned off

Never thought I'd be writing about a soap opera, but this one is pretty historic. After all, how many shows are still around that go back 72 years?

After this unlikely long run, CBS is pulling the plug on "Guiding Light", which will broadcast its final episode on Friday, September 18, 2009 after a whopping total 15,700 (now try buying the complete set on DVD!).

The show is older than commercial TV itself, as NBC Radio launched the 15-minute serial "The Guiding Light" on January 25, 1937. The show moved to television, on CBS, on June 30, 1952 (though the radio version continued until 1956). In 1967, the show switched to color and expanded from 15 minutes to a half-hour. The expansion to an hour happened in 1977.

In recent years, to cut costs in an era where seemingly nobody but retirees watch soap operas, they started taping the show outdoors with camcorders, in order to cut costs and give it that hip "YouTube" look. That didn't fly, and the ratings still tanked.

The show will likely be replaced by yet another talk show or perhaps yet another courtroom offering moderated by a sassy judge (I made up that last part).

For the die-hards, there is talk of some other entity continuing the "Guiding Light" saga, so, stay tuned.

From anal cysts to anal poisoning

Okay, sorry for being so nasty. But considering this last item was broadcast live on Rush Limbaugh's show to millions of people across the country, well, it is indeed worth mentioning. Some people just don't know when to shut up before they say something really, really dumb. Take, for instance, the GOP's current great white hope, certainly no stranger to saying utterly stupid stuff.

HuffPo sez:

...Limbaugh went waaaaaay over the top in insulting Gordon Brown with a mental image that one must work at to un-think about, warning that if the British Prime Minister keeps "slobbering" over President Barack Obama, he'll "come down with anal poisoning and may die from it."

Naturally, how Limbaugh gained such innovative insight into the epidemiological vectors of saliva-borne ass toxins remains an open question.

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.

After all, who better an expert on assholes than America's biggest asshole? Perhaps Rush should have issued this warning to his fave brown-noser, Brian Maloney...

HuffPo and blatherWatch have the audio of this rather sordid soundbyte.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go hurl.

WINZ flip coming mid-April, to become 6th area sports talk station

There has been no real official statement, but the pending switch of Clear Channel's WINZ (940AM) in Miami to an all-sports talk has been a poorly kept secret, especially coming on the wresting of the FOX Sports Radio affiliation from another area station and the recent dropping of Don Imus' morning show for four replays of Rachel Maddow's one-hour show.

And now, it looks like WINZ will become the sixth sports talk-formatted station in South Florida.

From the Miami Herald:

WQAM general manager Joe Bell cracks that "we're not going to rest until there are more sports stations than gas stations" in South Florida.

It's certainly headed that way.

When WINZ-940 switches to an all-sports format by mid-April, South Florida will have more sports radio stations than pro teams -- six if you include West Palm Beach, as well as Miami and Fort Lauderdale; and five if you include the stations that can be heard throughout Broward County and at least part of Miami-Dade.

Can that many stations survive in a reeling economy? And why would a few of these stations even try?

"Of course it's too many," said Howard Davis, station manager of 790 The Ticket. "In my mind, there are two sports stations in this market -- us and WQAM. I don't consider syndicated [programs] local radio."

For the record, the other sports stations include locally-oriented stalwart WQAM (560AM); WAXY (790AM), which also carries a large amount of local programming; WFTL (640AM), which lost the FOX Sports affiliation to WINZ and recently picked up another syndicated service, Sporting News Radio; WFTL's sister station, WFLL (1400AM).

The real irony? Over the past year, WINZ's liberal talk format bested the area's top sports talker, WQAM, in the overall ratings.

Is South Florida really that sports-crazy, or is it just radio station owners that are crazy?

WINZ of change?

It's already been a month since credible rumors began to surface regarding the fate of Miami progressive talker WINZ (940AM). Word is that Clear Channel is ramping up a flip to the company's FOX Sports Radio, possibly by early March.

March is now here, and there's still no official word from Clear Channel on the flip to sports. In fact, the station has made one change, ditching the syndicated Don Imus for the morning Air America feed of Rachel Maddow's show. Never mind that it's only an hour long. WINZ is currently airing the entire four hour repeat feed.

Now, this strange move could, in fact, mean that a change is coming. It is quite likely that Imus was dropped (at the beginning of the month, no less) because of a potential flip, and the Maddow marathon is essentially a placeholder. Likely, the dropping of Imus could be some kind of contractual issue. The switch to sports could happen this month.

Again, no word yet on when (and/or if) this will happen. And certainly no affirmation that sports talk will be more successful on WINZ than their current format. In the overall ratings for Fall, WINZ topped the top sports station in the market, WQAM, 1.5 to 1.4. Granted, sports talk-formatted stations tend to rely more on much narrower demographics. But needless to say, with several other sports stations in the market already, and the fact that WINZ has built up a rather solid audience over the past several years, isn't this wholesale move to canned network sports talk a little half-baked?

Former station engineer starts campaign to save WINZ

As rumors persist that WINZ (940AM) in Miami is secretly getting ready to flip to sports talk, at least one person has gotten the ball rolling in an attempt to make management reconsider.

World Net Daily (yes, WORLD NET DAILY) says that the individual, who identifies himself as a former engineer for WINZ, is circulating an e-mail stating the station is going to switch from a "progressive honest talk format to right-wing greedy bastards format."

He urges people to contact station manager Ken Charles to compel him to reconsider the switch. Closing out the message, he states, "It could not hurt to not mention that you are not in Miami."

A spokeswoman for WINZ's owner, Clear Channel Communications, would not comment on the station's fate, but told World News Daily that "Clear Channel has more progressive talk stations than any other radio broadcaster in America."

The rumors swelled further earlier this week when FOX Sports Radio affiliate WFTL was notified that the network's programming would move to another area station in March.

Black Monday continued: WINZ flipping to sports?

There have been quite a few rumors as of late regarding the fate of popular Miami progressive talk station WINZ (940AM). And now, the rumors are heating up even further.

Last week, I mentioned that quite a few Clear Channel outlets are flipping to FOX Sports-fed sports outlets. WINZ was mentioned by several sources as a possibility. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that the current FOX Sports outlet for South Florida, WFTL (640AM), was informed that FSR struck a deal with another local station to pick up the affiliation. The move is likely to go down in March.

WINZ's format switch means the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market will have five all-sports stations, including WQAM and 790 The Ticket.

The station currently enjoys decent ratings, typically maintaining a 1.5 overall share in the Arbitron ratings. That makes it the 4th most popular AM station in the market.

A potpourri of Tuesday goodness

Not feeling the desire to do a long diatribe-style entry for today. And while the tighty righties are making a big stink about the whole Obama/Limbaugh thing (which just plain reeks of faux outrage), and with a bunch of little things going on, here's yet another one of those catch-all entries:

You've got four more months

Okay, so you've been procrastinating and haven't sent away for the DTV converter coupons yet. Well, it looks like you got lucky. Yesterday, the Senate voted to delay the much-ballyhooed analog-to-digital television conversion until June.

The reason for the delay is that the $1.5 billion government program designed to send out the coupons ran dry of funding and is awaiting a fix to get it all taken care of. Currently, an estimated 6-8% of homes nationwide would be left in the dark come February 17 as it now stands.

Obama himself called for a postponement of the switchover date, in order to satisfy demand for the converter box vouchers. The extra money is due to come from President Obama's proposed $825 billion dollar stimulus package.

Again, if you have an older TV and get your signals via an antenna on the top of your set or on your roof, you may just need that converter box. If you already have cable, satellite or the equivalent, you need do nothing. If you currently have a newer TV set that can obtain digital signals, you should be in the clear, but should also check and make sure.

If you realize that yes, indeed you do need a DTV converter box, well, get off your dead ass and apply for one (or two, if needed). Stop procrastinating!

You can find out more here or here. And here's a few common questions answered in this USA Today column.

Status quo at Marti

Right-wingers can bitch all they want about the Obama Administration's desire to spend money on stuff like (gasp!) health care. But I rarely see a peep out of them about ridiculous government sinkholes that they support. Like Radio Marti.

I caught a little blurb yesterday on AllAccess about the station, who's sole reason for being is to pump propaganda into Cuba. Nevermind that Cuba jams the signal, making it all a lost cause. But Pedro Roig, the Director of the U.S. Office Of Cuba Broadcasting, which operates Radio and TV Marti, has been asked to stay on by the Obama Administration at least temporarily.

Radio and TV Marti have both long been criticized. Aside from reception issues in Cuba, Cuban exiles and dissidents have complained that the stations do not bash the Cuban government enough over suppression and assorted human rights abuses. Many also don't see the whole excercise as being worth its $250 million spent on the operation over the past decade. Hey, the Pentagon can get a toilet seat for that!

In the future, all radio will be sports

As Super Bowl week has arrived, sports is a big story in the radio industry as well. Clear Channel always has some sort of uninspired gimmick up their sleeves, and now, it appears to be their FOX Sports division (Clear Channel's syndication arm, Premiere Networks, owns it, but licenses the name from you-know-who). Last week, they flipped former progressive talker KLSD in San Diego to an almost wall-to-wall feed of the network. Stations in Los Angeles and Detroit basically got the same treatment.

And now, another former progressive talker, WYTS in Columbus (formerly WTPG), has dropped their right-wing talk format and flipped to wall-to-wall FSR. And there have also been rumors that a future prospect for an automated FOX Sports outlet is another liberal talker, WINZ (940AM) in Miami. But so far, it's all rumor, and most of it is FSL-type message board cranks that like to pull rumors out of their asses. So, best to not bet the farm on this until you hear it from a better source.

In the meantime, sure wouldn't hurt to let station management know you're listening. Or at the very least let their advertisers know.

Oh yeah, that Obama/Limbuagh thing

I really didn't feel the need to spill anymore electrons over this. Am I really the only person who doesn't think it's a big deal? And I typed out a couple paragraphs on this so-called 'controversy' only to have my browser crash and erase it all. An omen, perhaps?

It started innocently enough. President Obama invited some top Republican lawmakers to the White House, to try and sell his stimulus package. Now that in itself is notable, since the previous president, while enjoying a majority in Congress, would merely tell Democrats to go pound sand and just deal with it. At least Obama is listening to his opponents.

The whole thing started innocently enough. He even got off a rather funny line. "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told them. In other words, it's time to get beyond partisan sniping. Of course, invoking the name of His Tubbiness is enough to stir up a virtual shitstorm of fabricated outrage. Sure enough, faster than Brian Maloney can affix his lips to Limbaugh's ass, two of the biggest purveyors of phony hostility, the Drudge Report and the New York Post, went nuclear, and turned what appears to be a molehill into Mount Vesuvius.

Of course, much of it is coming from Rush Lowbrow himself. He thinks it's all about him. And, in what appears to be the beginning stages of an all-out meltdown, is going out of his way to start some kind of high-level fued with the president. That attitude, coupled with comments such as "I hope he fails," is making him look even more like a complete fool. Especially when he claimed that it is Obama that wants Limbaugh to fail. Is this yet another shark jumping moment for the Round Mound of Obnoxious Sound? Are people finally rolling their eyes at this reclusive, drugged-up, loud-mouthed millionaire former disc jockey and his neverending attempts at playing the victim?

Thankfully, Obama isn't taking the bait. He's ignoring Limbaugh, as he should. Obama's the big gun now. Limbaugh's small potatoes. Let him implode on his own.

Sandler out at WINZ

A major shakeup occurred late last week at progressive talker WINZ in Miami, as morning host Nicole Sandler has left the station due to contractual issues.

Sandler has hosted the show solo since September 2007 and produced and co-hosted the show alongside Jim DeFede in 2006-07. She also served as Promotion Director at the station.

The departure is a bit surprising, as Sandler's ratings have been very good. In the most recent Arbitron ratings survey, WINZ's morning show topped conservative talk rival WIOD in the same time slot among the core talk radio demographic of men 25-54, and just a tenth of a point behind them 25-54 overall, 1.3-1.4.

Sandler is currently shopping for a new job. And judging from the emails sent to yours truly, her fans aren't too happy. WINZ has picked up ABC Radio Networks' Don Imus to replace Sandler.

Meanwhile, Sandler's predecessor DeFede has apparently left his most recent afternoon gig at WFTL in Ft. Lauderdale. "Unfortunately I never meshed with the rest of the station so rather than continue working there, I asked them to buy me out of the remaining 14 months of my contract," said DeFede. "We were able to reach a deal this week and my time at WFTL is now over."

Weekly update: Pigskin, primadonnas, parting ways and popularity

And here it is, once again, this week's catch-all entry, for all the stuff I haven't already mentioned.

First off, a venture off topic to do a little ranting. And I'll start with a question: Am I the only person in Wisconsin who isn't kissing Brett Favre's ass?

In case you've been living under a rock recently, the Packers finally parted ways with their primadonna pain-in-the-ass quarterback, dumping him on the hapless New York Jets late last night for a conditional draft pick. Of course, Packers fans in the Badger State are mixed, with way too many misguided souls actually condemning team management for cutting him loose. The way I see it, they had no other choice.

Here's the background: Last spring, amongst a heavy amount of hoopla, Favre finally announced his retirement after three previous seasons of hemming and hawing. At the time I thought it was an effective way to make a classy exit from the game, just as Troy Aikman, John Elway and Jerome Bettis had done in recent years. The Packers made plans to retire his number during the opening game of the season against their heated rival the Minnesota Vikings. And they moved on with Favre's understudy Aaron Rogers behind center, as had been their plan for the past three years. It was all supposed to be so seamless, and it appeared that way.

Then, about a month ago, the oft-indecisive Favre created a P.R. shitstorm when he changed his mind. He toyed with the idea of coming back. Now, of course, the Packers look like the bad guy when they don't coddle the guy, even though Favre should know by now that the team has to move on, and already had. If he didn't realize that this is what happens in the NFL (or any other team sport), then he's been sniffing too many fumes from his tractor. So what happens next? A long drawn-out ordeal where Favre issues an ultimatum: Either he gets his starting position back from the Packers, or he gets released or traded. To add insult to injury, the Vikings were reportedly at the top of his list. Finally, Packers GM Ted Thompson drew a line in the sand, saying that the team had moved on, and Favre was not part of the game plan. Hey, welcome to the NFL. Yesterday, they turned him back from training camp as soon as he arrived. And later that night, they struck a deal with the Jets.

What do I think? Thompson and company made the right decision. They had to. Sure, the suck-up media in Wisconsin will pillory them for having the audacity to trade The Messiah for a conditional draft pick, but Favre and his minions have to realize that the world does not revolve around him. The team will likely still be around long after he's dead. And the naïve souls who claim they will no longer support the team without Favre are delusional. Favre went back on his word.

For the past decade and a half, Favre has been living in a bubble. The Wisconsin sports press has constantly kissed his ass over that period of time. But Wisconsinites have long put Packers quarterbacks on a pedestal. Hey, wasn't Don Majkowski supposed to be the second coming? Now that Favre is headed for a rather vicious media market (then again, all of the media markets outside of Wisconsin are rather blunt toward professional athletes), perhaps he will finally experience a good healthy dose of reality. He's no longer living in a protective bubble.

Paris burns

Okay, now that that's all done and you have all indulged my little sports rant, it's time to get down to the business at hand. Let's start with another primadonna, this one named named Paris Hilton. Now, a few weeks ago, the increasingly desperate presidential campaign of John McCain went all-out in the name of pure insanity. Now, we all know that since Republicans typically don't have any good ideas, the only other alternatives are pseudo-patriotic jingoism and, if that doesn't work, childish name-calling matches. And that's about the best they can do against challenger Barack Obama. One of their most recent ads, approved by the McCain camp, tries to draw an association between Obama's popularity and that of overexposed media tarts like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Now, the ad is stupid even among typical GOP ads. Just moronic. So much that even the Obama campaign is laughing at them. Hilton's people even demanded depictions of her be removed from the ad, citing unauthorized use.

And on Tuesday, Paris bit back. Granted, most people could likely care less what the hell Paris Hilton thinks about anything (hopefully). But hey, she was dissed by a presidential candidate, so I guess she has every right to release her own YouTube rebuttal. Fair enough.

In the past day or so, over four million people saw this:

"Hey, America, I am Paris Hilton and I am a celebrity, too," says Hilton, dressed in an over-the-top, skimpy leopard-print swimsuit. "Only I am not from the olden days and I am not promising change like that other guy. I am just hot."

(snip)

It begins with a narrator intoning that McCain is "like, super old. Old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket." Images of Larry King, "Star Wars" Yoda and the "Golden Girls" flash on screen.

"But is he ready to lead?" asked the narrator, stealing a line from McCain's own hit on Obama.

Hilton, reclining poolside while reading a copy of Conde Nast traveler, then appears on screen and slams McCain "as that wrinkly white haired guy (who) used me in his campaign ad."

"Which I guess means I am running for president - so thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude," chirps Paris. "And I want America to know that I am, like, totally ready to lead."

In case you're interested, she already has an energy policy, though space restrictions (and general disinterest) obviously keeps me from going into detail about it here. As much as I could care less about Paris Hilton (trust fund babies-turned amateur porn stars bore me), it was a pretty funny response, and one just deserved. The perfect response to the idiotic state of attack politics nowadays.

Megamedia paring down

Following the recent consummation of the Clear Channel sale to a pair of venture capital firms, the company's new owners are looking to trim a little fat. So far, 55 radio stations will be spun off into a transitional group called “Aloha Trust,” to satisfy federal regulations and to trim a little fat. So far, markets such as San Jose, Cleveland, Austin, Long Island and various small markets will bid 'aloha' and are on the selling block. There are no progressive talk stations on the list of stations (the KABQ in Albuquerque that is listed is the FM sister of the popular AM progressive talk station).

Meanwhile, CBS, the second biggest radio owner, is also looking to scale down. President/CEO Leslie Moonves announced last week that the company is looking at selling off roughly 50 stations in various mid-sized markets, in order to concentrate on their bigger market clusters and most reliable cash cows. There is no specific list of stations to be cast off, but markets such as Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and others could be affected. One company rumored to be a buyer is Saga Communications, who's CEO, Ed Christian is interested. "There is some tremendous inventory going on the market," he said. For those of you keeping score at home, Saga is a fairly loyal backer of the progressive talk format, and carries it on seven of their stations. Earlier this year, they flipped KBAI in Oregon to the format, and are satisfied with the format's performance on their other stations. However, not a whole lot should be read into any of this, as there are only rumors about Saga's possible interest in some of the stations, and CBS hasn't even released an official list.

Among the small struggling AM stations reported to soon be cast off include WJFK in Baltimore, WFNZ in Charlotte, KXNT in Las Vegas, KCMD in Portland, KHTK in Sacramento (a good market for progressive talk). Shockingly, there are some big signals that may make the list, such as KDKA in Pittsburgh and KMOX in St. Louis. Again, it's all speculation at this point, and a lot of grasping at straws, but it deserves to be put out there.

Ratings roundup

As has been the case for awhile, there really isn't a whole lot of movement in local ratings for progressive talk stations. No dramatic ups-and-downs, and for some of the more recent converts, such as KMNY in Dallas, it's too soon to tell. One of the most notable results so far is in Columbus, where WVKO slightly topped the former progressive talker in the market, WYTS (formerly WTPG) by a mere tenth of a share. Considering that WVKO is a pretty small-time operation, while WYTS is part of the Clear Channel empire, it's still somewhat of an accomplishment.

And I received this from a reader, who also happens to work for WINZ in Miami:

...In the newly issued Miami ARB, Nicole's morning show has topped sister conservative talk WIOD's morning drive in the core talk demo of 25-54 men, and was just behind them 25-54-WINZ scored a 1.3 in that demo, while WIOD, which has traditionally been Miami's leading English language news-talker, scored a 1.4.

As one who contributes to the show, and who has filled in for Nicole when she's been away, I can assure you that this is an especially noteworthy achievement because Nicole does it all herself--hosts, produces, everything. She has a call screener for help and that's it. This ratings win also came with virtually no outside promotion. Meanwhile, WIOD has a heavily staffed morning show with a ton of news and services. Not bad. Congrats to Nicole, Jim and the rest of the gang at WINZ for what looks like a really good ratings book.

And finally...

Air America mid-morning host Lionel has his first book being published this week: "Everyone's Crazy Except You and Me ... and I'm Not So Sure About You."

And how about closing with a football-related item? Liberal talker WLBY, located in Ann Arbor, hotbed of University of Michigan Wolverines, will carry football games from their heated rival, the Michigan state University Spartans. The station will carry all 12 games from the Spartan Radio Network.

DeFede done at WINZ

Casually surfing past the website of WINZ (940AM) Miami yesterday, I noticed something missing. Namely, any mention whatsoever of morning host Jim DeFede.

Today, Bob Norman reported that DeFede has left WINZ after a year-long stint. No word on why exactly, but his contract expired, and rumors are circulating that he's going to another station.

Speaking with DeFede, Norman said he was mum on what happened, but he did at least hint at a continued future in radio.

"I had a great time at WINZ and I look forward to being on the air again at another station very soon," he said. "You can expect an announcement in the coming days."

In typical fashion, Clear Channel removed his name from the station's website, pulled down Defede's site (which it evidently hosted) and took his name off the schedule.

For the time being, show producer/news reader/sidekick Nicole Sandler is hosting the show. Nothing permanent has been announced as of yet.

Air America 2.0: But will it float?

Over the last week or so, there's been a lot of talk about the 'new and improved' Air America Radio. With a new web presence, new personalities and shows, and a new lineup, they obviously expect great thing to come of it.

Yesterday was a good start, as they launched the new website and logo with a press release, and even featured an in-studio chat between New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former rival Mark Green, now president of Air America. The meeting of the former political foes was packed with New York-area reporters, and will air sometime next week.

But the question lingers in the back of everyones' minds: Is this whole 2.0 thing really going to work?

Lionel was the first addition, and a very controversial one at that. After a fairly successful run at late night radio syndication via WOR Networks, he moved his show over to Air America and late mornings. The goal obviously was to help the network gain new affiliates, or even bump time slot rival Stephanie Miller from a few. Less than a week into it, the results have been disappointing. Not only has Lionel not gained many fresh affiliates, he lost roughly a half dozen that carried Seder on delay. The only station he seems to have been added to is WINZ in Miami, on delay from 6-9P ET. Lots of stations still list him on their website schedules for his former show, but it is unknown if they are still running his new Air America show in those time slots. And judging by the response on various blogs, message boards and even Air America's own site, listeners are very vocal about "The Lionel Show."

Of course, time will tell if the show will grow and expand, and its up to Scott Ellberg and David Bernstein to make this happen. Particularly since predecessor Sam Seder actually improved his ratings on flagship station WWRL in the most recent Arbitron book.

In regard to the other changes, so far the only one that seems to be working is the move of Jon Elliott to three hours later. This was one move that made sense on paper, since it carves out a new shift for the network (Midnight-3A), gets him out of the way of Mike Malloy's 9-Midnight show, and many of Elliott's affiliates delay him to a later time slot anyway. In essence, Elliott's new shift is nearly competition-free, since Lionel is now gone from late nights and FOX News Radio's Alan Colmes wraps up his show an hour into Elliott's.

As a result, Elliott's flagship station, KLSD in San Diego, will now carry his entire show live, immediately following Malloy's, which gets a full three hour clearance starting Monday. Elliott has also been picked up by KQKE in San Francisco, KKZN in Denver, KPHX in Phoenix (ironically), KPTK in Seattle, KPOJ in Portland, KRXA in Monterey/Santa Cruz (which carries the straight Air America feed in overnights anyway), and other stations.

"The Air Americans" is the other new show coming to Air America. Basically, the Mark Riley-anchored show is a hodge-podge of various hosts at the station, including correspondents Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, David Bender and Laura Flanders. The four hour show essentially replaces two cancelled ones: "Politically Direct" (who's host Bender stays with the new show) and "EcoTalk" (which was going to die anyway). Thus far, no affiliate has announced their intentions of picking up "The Air Americans" and rumor has it not many people in the building are optimistic about its chances. Furthermore, there's a chance that WWRL may not even carry it, which in effect would kill the show, given that Air America all too often seems to be a bit too New Yorkish. Buzz about "The Air Americans" is not good. Nonetheless, they will promote the hell out of it, and even have some strong guests lined up.

For the weekends, the network has said very little about the changes and new shows that will debut. The only one we've really heard anything about is Seder's new Sunday show, but that's due to obvious reasons.

So, will Air America 2.0 be a success, or will it be yet another bit of bad luck for the much-beleaguered network? Only time will tell. Should be an interesting few weeks, so stay tuned.

The post-Franken shuffle, Part 2

Though yesterday was the last day of "The Al Franken Show," his individual affiliates are still adjusting their on-air rosters as they carry on toward the future.

Last week, a few stations announced their intentions as to what they would carry. Today, there's a few more.

Two stations that will not be a part of the future of liberal talk include KCTC in Sacramento, which has officially announced their pending flip to sports effective February 26. As reported earlier, KFPT in Fresno will be sold, and will likely be flipped to sports once the sale is approved in early Spring. In the interim, they will likely fill their schedule with whatever Air America Radio is offering in the time slot, which starting Monday will be Thom Hartmann.

In Rochester, WROC moves Ed Schultz and Randi Rhodes into live afternoon slots, followed by a simulcast of WROC-TV's evening news (WROC-TV is seperately owned), followed by Rachel Maddow until 8PM. The station adds Democracy Now from 8-9PM, followed by two hours of Lionel and a simulcast of WROC-TV's late news. Lionel gets a replay for the late-night hours.

Air America gains a new affiliate as WWKB in Buffalo gives Rhodes a live clearance for her afternoon show, following Schultz. Miller's morning show gets an evening replay. The station's schedule is still in a state of flux, as they seem to have four hours of airtime (currently devoted to replays) to fill. Look for more additions (hopefully) soon. Local (or at least somewhat local) talker Leslie Marshall is no longer there, due to budget cuts, and is currently exploring other opportunities.

At KPOJ in Portland, Sam Seder fans will be elated to find out that his show is added from 9AM-noon (which will likely piss off Ed Schultz, who is still on a delay from noon-3PM). Not only that, but Seder also gets a weeknight replay, from 6-9PM. This move sounds very temporary, and they're promising more changes to come. The station has been rumored to be working on a deal to pick up Mike Malloy's show, possibly for the evening timeslot.

WCHL in Chapel Hill, NC moves Schultz live to the 12-3PM shift, followed by Randi Rhodes live.

Hartmann will get a few new affiliates, as he is added to San Diego's KLSD, Denver's KKZN, Los Angeles' KTLK and WNYY in Ithaca, NY live effective today. He'll also be on Washington, DC's WWRC. KABQ in Albuquerque, and Miami's WINZ on delay, following Ed Schultz. WPEK in Asheville, NC will also add Hartmann, starting next week.

WXXM in Madison is going live with much of their new schedule. Schultz gets a live clearance, followed by Rhodes and Maddow live. Hartmann is added for nights.

Quite a few stations have not announced what they are doing, either over the air or on their websites. Actually, it looks like some stations have forgotten they even have websites, as they are horribly outdated. Unless Jerry Springer is still doing a radio show and we just don't know about it.

Finally, Armed Forces Radio will replace Franken's show with that of even more inoffensive Alan Colmes. They also air Schultz' show, or at least an hour of it (as they tend to do with most talk programming). Which begs the question - why does AFN carry talk shows in the first place? Quite frankly, if I were currently serving in the military overseas, I'd rather listen to music. But I guess that's just me.

Ratings Roundup Fall 2006: Part 4

For the fourth part of LTR's Arbitron ratings analysis of the liberal talk format across the USA, we take a trip down to red state country (though they are turning a rather bright shade of purple at this point). Yes, we're going down south!

And what better place to start than the southernmost commercial liberal talk station in the country? WINZ in Miami (market #12) has been relatively successful since they signed on to the format two and a half years ago. For this past fall, they have held on to their listener base and maintained a 1.5 share, similar to what they've gotten in the past year's ratings books. This puts them just a fifth of a share behind all-sports WQAM, a station that features their own liberal talker, Neil Rogers. Due to the racial and ethnic makeup of the market, The top talk station in the market is Spanish-language WAQI. Second place belongs to WIOD, the Limbaugh/Hannity station (every market has one), which finished with a 2.5 share. There is another sports station in the market, WAXY, at a 1.0, and finishing dead last is Fort Lauderdale's WFTL, which carries the likes of O'Reilly, Savage and Ingraham. They eke out a 0.3 share. WINZ has gotten more aggressive in their scheduling in the past few months, as they've dropped Al Franken, moved Ed Schultz to a live slot and began airing South Florida's own Randi Rhodes in a live afternoon slot. Mike Malloy was recently added for nights.

Up the coast in West Palm Beach (#46), Rhodes' original flagship station, WJNO, aka "The Palm Beaches' Home for Rush Limbaugh & Randi Rhodes," holds on to its top five ranking, jumping half a point to a 3.8 share. Granted, this is not an all-liberal talk station, as they do carry Glen Beck and Limbaugh in middays, but they do air Rhodes and a delay of Schultz' show in late afternoons and early evenings respectively. Rhodes has historically outdrawn Limbaugh in regard to number of listeners. The other talk stations are farther down the list, including WZZR, an FM 'hot talk' station. WINZ, WIOD and WFTL are all tied at a 1.9 share. In the fall book, WINZ more than doubled their ratings since last summer for this market.

Up the coast in Daytona Beach (#89), independently-owned WPUL is a station that carries all the Jones Radio syndicated talkers (Bill Press, Stephanie Miller and Schultz), Al Franken, and evening sports show ("2 Live Stews"), Lionel and conservotalker Rollye James in overnights. They are basically a hybrid station that airs a combination of liberal talk and African-American talk. They carry no Air America Radio product. WPUL is fighting an uphill battle, as they are hampered by little promotion and a very weak 1000 watt daytime signal (32 watts at night). They are dead last in the book (as far as rated stations go) with a 0.4 share.

In Asheville, NC (#161), WPEK ("880 The Revolution") is the little station that could. They put out some pretty strong daytime power, as 5,000 watts goes a long way at 880AM. However, they are a daytimer, meaning that they must sign off the air from sunset to sunrise. Nonetheless, they're doing quite well, as they maintain a 2.6 share, good for 9th place. Ratings have improved over the past year. Local Clear Channel management have been pretty aggresive in building this station, as they carry local programming, offer podcasts and seem to do some promotion of the station around town. See what happens when management actually does something with a station besides ignore it?

Across the state, WCHL in Chapel Hill perhaps fits in best with the Raleigh/Durham market (#43). The station, which carries Miller, Schultz and (for now) Franken, in addition to lots of local shows, sports programming and Air America's weekend and overnight slate of programming, superserves the Chapel Hill area, due to its limited signal that realistically only covers the western half of the market. The station's owners, Vilcom Interactive Media, have wisely chosen to target the affluent Chapel Hill area as a local station rather than trying to fight it out with the Raleigh stations. In short, they are a no-show in the marketwide ratings book, and it doesn't really matter. WCHL is one of those stations that doesn't really cater to ratings.

In Memphis (#49), Entercom-owned WWTQ has recently taken on the call letters from its New Orleans sister station, WSMB. Unfortunately, they did not take this opportunity to update (or even clean up) their outrageously ugly and outdated website. I mean, just look at that hideous logo! And I'm sure their on-air presentation isn't too impressive either. It's a shame, since this station really puts out some serious power, with a 10,000 watt daytime signal that reaches parts of six states (not that tough in Memphis, however) and as far as Little Rock and Tupelo. Unfortunately, it's a neglected station. While they did at one time put up a few billboards and even make a few bumper stickers, the station has obviously been neglected as of late. WSMB comes in with a 0.5 share, tied with something called "Family Values Radio" (if you consider Neal Boortz, Bill Bennett and a bunch of advice shows to be 'family values'). Ironically, they are both tied for #2 in the market as far as talk radio is concerned. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. As for other stations in the market, the most successful ones are targeted toward African-Americans, which make up almost half the market population. Hopefully, Entercom gets their act together and gives this station the attention it deserves. Then again, the same company did do a half-assed job with the original WSMB, and is horribly neglecting WWKB in Buffalo. On the other hand, they're not doing too bad with KCTC in Sacramento or WROC in Rochester.

In the West Virginia/Kentucky border market of Huntington/Ashland (#156), WCMI, which assumed the liberal talk format of sister station WRVC a few months ago and expanded on it, enjoyed an actual presence in the fall ratings book, going from virtually no listeners under its previous sports format to a 0.9, edging out WRVC, which holds at a 0.6. This station flip seems to have worked, as it seperates the sports programming of the two low-powered AM stations and gives a 24/7 clearance to liberal talk in the market. So far, it seems to be paying off.

In the next and last installment of this series of reports, we'll take a look at the upper East Coast and the Northeastern United States, from Pennsylvania to Main. Look for that tomorrow.

Playing catch-up

Well, the chaos of the holiday season is now behind us, and it's time to get back to the everyday grind and start 2007 off right.

Nothing earth-shattering happened over the holidays, save for the New Years Eve stroke-of-twelve Saddam drop that happened a few days early, and the ensuing bloodlust that followed as Drudge and his ilk raced to spread the snuff film footage across the tubes. Oh, and we lost much better men in James Brown and Gerald Ford over the holidays. Our condolences to them.

Obviously, we can't forget the 3,000th U.S. casualty lost in Iraq, which is very sad. Let's hope this new Congress coming in Thursday can bring the rest of them home. In one piece. Oh, and was that a giant "IMPEACH" sign at the Rose Parade? NBC cut away from that one pretty quick, didn't it? Perhaps the fans of Michigan's football team want to impeach their coach after USC handed them what's left of their asses in the Rose Bowl.

So, enough chit-chat, time to bring you all up to speed. And we start off with the flurry of grassroots efforts taking place in Columbus, Boston and the longer-running effort in Dallas, by listeners who want their progressive talk back. All efforts have petitions up and running, and have also been very agressive in their efforts.

Perhaps the most aggressive of the groups is the one in Columbus, where they currently have a petition with 1,600 signatures so far. One WTPG fan even called the Ed Schultz show, guest hosted by Norman Goldman, to promote the group's efforts. This prompted Schultz himself to immediately call in from his vacation time to give his encouragement to the effort.

Of course, WTPG's owners aren't balking yet, and in Columbus, account execs at WTPG are turning down advertising. At least advertising from Ohio Majority, who attempted to purchase ten 30-second spots to promote their cause. Management said no way. And disenfranchised advertisers are proceeding to purchase time further up I-71 in Akron, advertising on the webstream of co-owned WARF. Currently, the group wants to negotiate with WTPG management to give the format at least one more month. They also are planning a rally, or 'intervention', as they call it.

Aldous Tyler, a major figure in the effort to save WXXM in Madison, debuted a new website, NonStop Radio.com, devoted to promoting grassroots efforts to save progressive talk formats in a variety of markets. He also debuted a podcast as well. Tyler also reports that two markets could lose their progressive talk formats in the coming months. In Baton Rouge, Clear Channel is selling WPYR, and the sale could be sealed by April. And in Little Rock, station and facility issues at KXDE will likely prompt Nova M Radio, which has been leasing the station, to pull out of that situation. No exact reason is known, but the station has been having some technical issues as of late. Nova M is no longer promoting KXDE on their website.

As various groups try to save or bring back progressive talk to their towns, another group is still plugging away trying to bring it to theirs. Air America Milwaukee sent out a newsletter, which talks about the efforts in nearby Madison (which they supported) and similar efforts in Phoenix earlier this year:

This turn of events is being hailed as a national precedent, and a high-water mark for progressive talk radio in America. It's a success that should inspire our campaign to bring progressive talk to Milwaukee.

But there's one key difference between Milwaukee, Madison, and Phoenix. The other two cities already had a base of loyal listeners and advertisers, and organizers were able to build upon that. For us, it's more of an uphill battle. The majority of Milwaukeeans have never heard Air America, Nova M, Democracy Now!, or any of the rest.

That means it's up to US to spread the word, to share progressive radio with others – whether via internet streaming, podcasting, or satellite radio – and, most importantly, by getting involved with the Milwaukee Air Force. We have a number of exciting plans for the New Year. We'll be beefing up our web presence, and we hope to offer original local progressive talk programming there. Ultimately, our goal is to get progressive talk on an over-the-air station in the Milwaukee metropolitan radio market.

A tall order. Which is why we need your help. We need you to get the word out about progressive talk radio to your friends, family, and acquaintances. Just send them to our site at http://AirAmericaMilwaukee.com. Urge them to listen to a few shows, and encourage them sign up for our email list. Then tell them to spread the word. We need to steadily grow our movement, so that a multitude of Milwaukeeans will demand a sane radio alternative to radical rightwing rubbish.

Our core group of organizers will be meeting just after the first of the year to work out the next steps. We will keep you in the loop along the way and let you know when specific help from you is needed. You can continue to check for updates at http://AirAmericaMilwaukee.com for now. But also watch for our brand new site, coming soon. And in the meantime, spread the word about progressive talk radio to everyone in the Milwaukee area who will listen.

And, on an unrelated note, Mike Malloy has picked up a new radio affiliate. Effective last night, he will now be on WINZ in Miami. The station also picks up Lionel's show for a delayed airing in the overnight hours.

Stephanie Miller gains a new affiliate, as KTRC in Santa Fe, NM picks her up, displacing Sam Seder. Thom Hartmann will do middays and the rest of the schedule is straight Air America.

UPDATE: Malloy's joining Sirius Left

Good news for truthseekers, as it looks like the rumors I posted yesterday were correct.

Nova M host Mike Malloy announced on Alex Bennett's show this morning that he will be joining the Sirius Left roster starting next Monday December 18, live 9-Midnight ET.

In addition, KSAC in Sacramento picks up the show, as does KPTK in Seattle, albeit on a delay, from 11PM-2AM. Other stations have yet to be announced, though Miami's WINZ has claimed on their website that they will add the show as soon as they are able to:

11/27/06 UPDATE! It's going to happen. We just need to be patient. Latest word from the Drobny's and Dr. Newcomb is they are still a couple of weeks away from being able to distribute the program via satellite. The channel is set - it's just a matter of getting the show to the satellite. This would enable the show to be distributed to interested stations like AM940! At this point, we hate to pinpoint an exact date, but we're hoping for mid-December. We know this isn't the news Truth-seekers have been waiting for, but it's posiitve proof everyone is working hard to bring Mike Malloy back to South Florida radio. As Anita Drobny said "The world needs Mike Malloy." We're trying! Thanks for your patience.

This will be a third go-round for Malloy at Sirius. Sirius Left originally carried his show when they started, obtaining the majority of their programming from the now-defunct I.E. America Radio Network. Following that network's demise, Malloy, unable to self-syndicate or distribute his own show, sat in the wings until Air America Radio picked him up for nights in the fall of 2004. At the time, they were carried as a seperate channel by Sirius, until the network signed an exclusive deal with XM Radio. Now Malloy has come full-circle as he is back on Sirius Left.

To make room for Malloy, Stephanie Miller's delayed show will move up a few hours, airing from 6-9PM ET. The replay of Bill Press' morning show, which aired in the 6-9 ETslot following the departure of The Young Turks to Air America, will cease, though Press' show still airs live in the 6-9AM ET morning drive slot. A replay of Lynn Samuels' show will also air from 3-5AM ET early mornings.

____ ______ to be new Sirius Left night host

The rumor was hinted at a few weeks ago. Alex Bennett took a call on his late morning show regarding Sirius Left's replay of Bill Press in the 6-9PM slot (which belonged to The Young Turks prior to their signing with Air America this past September. Seems that an increasing number of listeners were a bit miffed hearing the same Bill Press show on the way home that they had listened to that morning. Bennett sympathized, and promised that a replacement for the evening replay was forthcoming, but he couldn't go into detail. All he said was that people would really be happy when they found out. Will weekend host Mike Feder take the timeslot? No, said Alex.

It was a rumor that slipped my mind after that. I really don't like jumping on every little piddly rumor like some other people. And I figured this would get a bit more hot n' heavy in the coming weeks. But the folks over at Sirius Backstage have been buzzing about it. And thanks to Aaron, who emailed me, jogged my memory and prodded my ass to actually make some sort of mention of this here. Remember, this is only a rumor. But as far as rumors go, this isn't bad. The truthseekers out there that visit this site will be happy to know that ____ ______ will take over nights at Sirius Left. Uhh, sorry. Can't say it yet.

Next week will involve some schedule alignments over at Sirius Left. The Press replay from 6-9PM will be bumped for Stephanie Miller. Yesterday, Lynn Samuels announced her show will being replayed around 03:00am EDT starting that day.

So, that leaves the 9-Midnight shift. And likely, it won't be a replay of Bill Press. Most likely, it will be a live show. So, who's on at that hour? It likely won't be Bennett's friend Lionel, since his syndicated show doesn't start until 10PM. And it certainly won't be Jon Elliott, since Air America Radio is exclusive to XM. So... who else is left? Who's gonna rage a radio battle against the 'flying monkey right'?

Well, there is this guy in Atlanta who's upstart Phoenix-based network is close to getting satellite access (they've been negotiating with Westwood One). One who had a petition started to get him back on the radio, complete with roughly 18,000 signatures. Who could it possibly be?

Nobody's saying names at this point, but the most obvious guess is Mike Malloy. Oooops, did I say that?

Now, nothing is official yet, so don't take this as anything close to being 'the gospel'. I'm just passing on the vague rumors I've heard. And KPHX/Phoenix morning host Mike Newcomb lends credibility to the rumors, saying that Malloy will be on Sirius very soon. (mp3 link, 6 min. in)

Malloy's budding syndicator, Nova M Radio, has been in a bit of a holding pattern as of late. Without satellite access, the only way they were able to transmit programming was through land lines, or ISDN. This process is a real pain in the ass, and KQKE in San Francisco deserves credit for going to the trouble of carrying him live from the beginning. Reportedly, the satellite uplink is now working. WINZ in Miami has said they will carry the show, and KPTK in Seattle will air it on delay starting next week, from 11PM-2AM.

Nova M has been negotiating to get Malloy's show on a satellite service. Judging from the obvious number of emails that Sirius in particular have received, I'd be shocked if, given the opportunity to run Malloy, they'd pass on it. After all, Malloy obviously comes at a cheaper price tag than Howard Stern or NASCAR. I'd be surprised if carrying Malloy cost Sirius anything, for that matter, since Malloy, like most other syndicated talk shows, is available to radio affiliates on a barter basis. And Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin needs more subscribers to contribute to the bottom line, as the Stern well has likely been tapped dry by now. Adding Malloy certainly would not be a bad way to do it. Ironically, adding someone with the rabid following that he brings could actually make Wall Street happy. Who'da thunk?

And this would not be the first time Malloy's been on Sirius. He was one of the original voices on Sirius Left, prior to Air America, when the channel carried programming from the defunct I.E. America Network. And Sirius briefly carried Air America, until the network signed an exclusive deal with XM.

Again, this is all a vague rumor, albeit one that's growing longer and longer legs. For all we know, they could opt to air three hours of something else in that slot. But my money's on ____ ______. Again, this is strictly hush-hush, and you didn't read this here. Unless, of course, this is all legit.

Liberal talk radio stations shuffle lineups

UPDATED 9/18. All times local.

In response to recent lineup changes at Air America Radio, several affiliates have announced their own schedule changes.

First, Clear Channel-owned KTLK in Los Angeles has adjusted its on-air roster, picking up Rachel Maddow's new evening show for 6-8PM and picking up WOR Radio Network's Lionel for 10PM-1AM. Cary Harrison's local show moves up the schedule to the 8-10PM slot.

Further north, after conducting an online vote on their updated lineup, KQKE in San Francisco, also owned by Clear Channel, adds Stephanie Miller to weekdays, airing an hour of her show from 6-7AM, displacing the locally-produced "The Progressive News Hour". The Quake will air the last two hours of Al Franken's midday show from 10AM-12PM followed by Ed Schultz live, add "EcoTalk" in the 6-7PM slot. Thom Hartmann's show, which has experienced great success in West Coast markets, will air delayed from 7-10PM, and Lionel comes to the station for the 10PM-2AM shift, including a repeat of one hour of the three hour show. Mark Riley's one hour show will follow at 2AM, and Bill Press is added live 3-6AM. Air America's new morning show, The Young Turks, will not be picked up by the station.

Entercom-owned KCTC in Sacramento lists Peter Werbe in the live 7-9PM slot, followed by a replay of Franken's show from 9PM-12AM. Press will air live 3-5:30AM, followed by the local morning show, "The Morning Retort", hosted by Scott & Sims.

And CBS Radio's KPTK in Seattle also shuffles it's schedule, The new weekday lineup adds The Young Turks (who had been on weekends) to weekdays live 3-6AM PT and Rachel Maddow live 3-5PM. KPTK moves Al Franken's delayed show to 5-8PM and Randi Rhodes 8-11PM.

Dave McDonald, senior vice president and market manager for CBS Radio's Seattle stations, said he's pleased to be able to add Maddow's show to the lineup. The new lineup also helps KPTK shift more of its programming to live, he added.

KPTK listeners have also expressed their disappointment over the loss of Mike Malloy, whose show was dropped by Air America, McDonald said.

In Portland, KPOJ substitutes live airings of Riley and The Young Turks for the current Air America Mornings bloc from 2-6AM. Seder's new show will air on delay around the time of the Majority Report's former shift, from 6-9PM. And following the success of Hartmann's local morning show, KPOJ adds his national show to evenings, delayed to 9PM-12AM, and taking over Malloy's former shift. Maddow follows from 12-2AM.

Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, WINZ in Miami picks up Maddow for 9-11PM and moves Sam Seder from overnights to the 11PM-2AM shift. The rest of the schedule remains unchanged, except for the shortening of Rhodes' show.

At WXXM in Madison, Maddow, "Politically Direct" with David Bender, and "EcoTalk" with Betsy Rosenberg will be added, along with a few other changes.

KTNF in Minneapolis/St. Paul adds Press for mornings, following Riley. Hartmann's show is also added, airing from 6-9PM, bumping Rhodes to 9Pm-12AM. Seder's show airs on delay from 12-2AM. The station does seem to remain open to Malloy's return, if he indeed does.

KKZN in Denver/Boulder CO adds Maddow from 7-9PM, followed by EcoTalk 9-10PM, Politically Direct 10-11PM, Werbe 11-1AM, and a replay of Franken from 1-3AM. Riley airs live from 3-4AM and The Young Turks air 4-6AM, followed by local host Jay Marvin. The rest of the schedule remains the same.

As reported earlier, KRFT in St. Louis, currently airing Franken's show, adds Randi Rhodes to the 3-6PM shift. St. Louis listeners can see Franken as he does a live broadcast from St. Louis on Tuesday 9/19.

KLSD in San Diego updated their own schedule, picking up Maddow for 6-7PM, sending Jon Elliott back to weekends and airing Werbe evenings 7-9PM. A Franken replay airs from 9-10PM, followed by The Lionel Show. Mark Riley and The Young Turks air live during the early morning hours. Seder's show will air on weekends as 'best-of' programming.

In Columbus, WTPG picks up The Young Turks for mornings. Maddow gets the 6-8 shift, followed by Politically Direct and EcoTalk. Fans of Rhodes will be disappointed, as her show moves to overnight hours (3-5AM) in a surprise move.

WXKS/WKOX in Boston adds Riley and The Young Turks for mornings and EcoTalk from 9-10PM. The 10PM-12AM shift is undetermined, but for now, Werbe will have the shift.

The WHMP trimulcast in central Massachusetts is also altering its lineup, moving Maddow to evenings. Stephanie Miller debuts on the station and picks up Maddow's previous timeslot, 10AM-12PM.

KPHX in Phoenix will air the straight Air America feed live for much of the day, outside of Mike Newcomb's morning show. Hartmann will air from 9PM-12AM in delay.

In the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area, WHLD adds Seder to mornings and will also air Franken, Rhodes and one hour of Maddow live. Democracy Now follows at 7PM, followed by various non-commercial shows, including Flashpoints, Building Bridges, Uprising Radio, Counterspin and others on a daily rotating basis.

Chicago's WCPT switches out morning shows, adding Bill Press. Jerry Springer remains in his mid-morning shift. The station is a Class D AM station, meaning it signs off the air from sunset to sunrise.

WRVC in Huntington, WV adds a second Air America show to the lineup, as they bring in The Young Turks for morning drive. The station currently carries Franken, as well as Ed Schultz. The rest of the schedule is heavy with local programming and ESPN Radio and other sports programming.

And syndicated host Lionel picks up a few new affiliates, including the aforementioned KTLK and KQKE. He also lands on WKJK in Louisville KY, WWKB in Buffalo NY, WHNZ in Tampa FL and WCRN in Worcester MA weekdays and WOND in Atlantic City NJ, KTLK-FM in Minneapolis MN on weekends. It should be noted that WKJK, WHNZ, WCRN and KTLK-FM air predominantly conservative talk shows.

And what about Jerry Springer? The bankruptcy rumors this week claimed that Air America and Springer have parted ways. It looks like the previous story about Springer being taken off the main Air America feed and shuffled to their syndication arm is actually correct, at least according to Springer's Cincinnati sales team in The Cincinnati Post, who claim that almost all their 50-some affiliates are staying with the show, while Springer will be dropped at the New York affiliate in favor of Seder. Whether Springer actually has 50 affiliates (I count twenty or so at most, and this is a very old list) is probably something that can be debated. Nonetheless, Jerry is still out there, plugging away, and will likely stay at WSAI in Cincy.
be

No, Air America is NOT flipping to FM in Miami

WZTA (Zeta 94.9) made it's listeners scream "a la changala" when, instead of rock music and the 'Lex and Terry' morning show, it was broadcasting Air America.

Unfortunately, for fans of AAR, WZTA was stunting (teasing a new format). AAR gave way to sports talk before flipping to their new Spanish-language music format.

But fret not, since liberal talk can still be heard on 940 in Southern Florida.

Ratings Roundup

Just thought I'd catch up with some of the more recent Arbitron trend reports.

* In Denver, KKZN looks to be another success for the format. The station leaps from 0.5 in it's previous stint with a sports format in the Spring book, to 0.9 in the Summer, to 1.2 in last month's trend report to an impressive 1.7 overall for the newest trend, covering September, October and November. KKZN flipped to 'progressive talk' on August 30. KKZN also shows in the Colorado Springs market, showing up for the first time ever with a 0.5, which is not bad considering the signal only covers the northern end of the market.

* KPTK in Seattle has only been doing the format since late October, so it's rating of 0.8 (unchanged from it's previous classic country stint) is still unclear. Stay tuned.

* In Columbus, WTPG rises slightly, from a 0.9 in it's previous format in the Summer book, to 1.0 last month to the current 1.2.

* Miami's WINZ registered at 0.7 in the Summer, rose to 1.0 last month, and jumps up to 1.3 for the current period.

* KXXT in Phoenix, fighting a tough battle in an overcrowded talk market, first showed in the ratings last month with a 0.6. It rises slightly to a 0.7.

Ratings Roundup: The Fall '04 Phase 1 trend reports

®R&R - Radio & Records.

(Note: These are overall trend reports, courtesy of Arbitron. They are based on all listeners, ages 12 and up, and are not official Arbitron ratings period numbers. But they do give somewhat of a glance as far as upward or downward movement. So far, liberal talkers seem to be on the rise in several markets.

New York - WLIB climbs slightly to a 1.5 overall.
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood - WINZ makes a nice jump, from 0.7 to 1.0. Not bad so far.
San Diego - KLSD continues its rise, going from a 2.6 to 2.7.
Nassau-Suffolk - New York's WLIB inches to a 1.2 from 1.1 on Long Island.
Denver-Boulder - KKZN is doing well in its first few months, going from 0.5 as a sports station to 0.9 after a month with liberal talk. Now they sit at 1.2.
Columbus - New talker WTPG moves 0.1 to a 1.0 in its first partial report since changing formats.
Middlesex-Somerset-Union, NJ - WLIB holds steady at 0.4 in Northern New Jersey.

Keep in mind, this is only a partial report, and doesn't take into account brand new stations that haven't been surveyed with the new format yet, such as Boston and San Francisco/San Jose. Atlanta's WWAA just moved in closer to its market, allowing better reception there. In Minneapolis, Straight Talk Radio recently switched stations, so the ratings for all involved are a bit fuzzy. In Phoenix, KXXT is a new sign-on, and is saddled by a somewhat weak citywide signal in a market with many talk stations and not many people listening to them. Phoenix is not a big talk radio market. In markets like Philadelphia, Honolulu, West Palm Beach and Riverside/San Bernadino, stations there only carry a few AAR shows, so it's difficult to judge based on an overall rating covering all dayparts.

Ratings Roundup: Atlanta, Miami, Columbus

Not much to report here on three new progressive talkers.

Atlanta: WWAA (1690) hasn't showed up in the ratings yet, but this may be due to the late summer sign-on and a change of facilities location. The station was originally located far outside of the Atlanta market, and may have recently moved in to Atlanta. I have no confirmation on this, but if anyone has any information on this, let me know. The new signal covers the entire city, so we should be seeing some activity soon.

Miami: WINZ (940) is another new sign-on, switching to talk in late July. The station seems to be working hand-in-hand with it's West Palm Beach sister WJNO (1290), where they timeshift Randi Rhodes to run outside of her live show in WPB. Ed Schultz, who's timeshifted to evenings there is run live on 940. Confused? Anyhow, the station rises slightly in the ratings, and shows it's best overall ratings since last summer. We'll see how they do with talk.

Columbus: WTPG (1230) is brand new, coming on in early September. With only a few weeks in the ratings period, it's a bit too early to see significant ratings here, and the station holds steady with it's previous showing as an oldies station.

Again, no demographics breakdowns are available here, but if I run across them, I will share.

On Monday, look for the ratings book for Phoenix, among other markets. Keep in mind that KXXT changed to liberal talk on September 23, at the very end of the Summer book, therefore, KXXT's new format will not show here. Look for it in future monthly trend reports, though.

In other news...

*** The Randi Rhodes Show "Illegal" Archives has long listed KBME (790) in Houston as a future AAR affiliate. You can officially scratch it off the list, as they have officially announced a pending format change, only they're switching to sports as of January 1, 2005. No AAR coming to Houston at this time. Other 'coming soon' listings there are also fairly dated, such as

KBAC (610) Boulder, CO (AAR is actually now on 760)
KBZC (1300) Colorado Springs, CO (station flipped to sports instead)
WMQM (1600) Memphis, TN (this is an old rumor, and likely not happening)
WSNH (900) Nashua, NH (ditto)
KOOT (101.5) Santa Fe, NM (is actually KWRP, and programs a Spanish format. Cross this one off as well)