Before the paint hits the wall

As I continue to grind away at yet another spiffy makeover for this blog, I thought I’d catch up with some older news.

Adios, Air America in Atlantic City

We start this fun-filled episode with yet another small AM station spinning the format wheel, in hopes of seeing what sticks. WTAA, which began airing a progressive talk format in June 2007, went Spanish on September 18. They are now airing a syndicated format known as “La Gran D.”

La Gran D went on the air Sept. 18, becoming Atlantic and Cape May counties' only all-Spanish language, 24-hour radio station. The format replaced the political programming of Air America, which had been broadcast on the station.

Kelly said the format switch was made because the listenership for syndicated politically liberal-leaning format (featuring Air America and Don Imus) has been negligible for the 15 months it had been on the airwaves.

"We knew we wanted to do something to serve the Spanish-speaking community," said Kelly, who predicts the Spanish format will get better ratings.

Because of the increase in the number of Hispanics living in Atlantic County, it was likely someone would try a Spanish-language station. In Atlantic County, the U.S. Census Bureau counts 38,894 Hispanics out of a total population of 270,644, a 31. 8 percent increase since 2000.
The station was sold last May, and rumors of a pending flip have been ongoing since.

"Carol" sings a sour note

Okay, I got a lot of shit from the Free Republic crowd for dissing David Zucker's new right-wing 'comedy' flick "An American Carol." Well, perhaps they would have a stronger leg to stand on if it actually did well at the box office. For the past weekend, the film debuted at a tepid #9 overall, getting throttled by a kiddie flick about a talking chihuahua.

The film, which opened in 1,639 theaters, pulled in a weak $3,656,000. By comparison, the #10 movie, the Bill Maher documentary "Religulous," opened in only 502 theaters, but finished only $200,000 less than "Carol." Maher's film, made for a measly $2.5 million, has more or less made its investment back. The $20 million dollar "Carol" looks much iffier.

"Carol" was not screened in advance for film critics, usually a bad omen but typical for comedies that know they're going to get trashed by reviewers. Nonetheless, some reviewers actually did see it, and most thought it sucked. On Rotten Tomatoes, which tracks film reviews, the film got a 15 out of 100 on the Tomato Meter. Only one person, Kevin Ranson of MovieCrypt.com, actually liked it. And speaking of political satire...

Scranton, Wilmington get dissed by SNL

Okay, if you're like me, you've been enjoying "Saturday Night Live" this season, particularly for the hilarious Sarah Palin bits featuring Tina Fey (though they could have just aired tapes of the oft-ridiculous Palin and gotten much of the same reaction). Nonetheless, it's the best political impersonation on the show since Dana Carvey riffed on both George Bush and Ross Perot.

During last week's opening skit spoofing last week's VP debate on SNL, cast member Jason Sudeikis, playing Joe Biden, referred to Biden's hometown of Scranton, PA as a "genetic cesspool," among other things, and also disparaged Wilmingont, DE as being "not that much better."

According to AllAccess, two top 40 personalities, Ralphie Aversa, night jock on WBHT Scranton and Ricky Thomas, night guy on WSTW in Wilmington, aired calls and and hit the streets seeking listeners to rebut (or agree with) the accusations. You can hear the audio on the WBHT site here, or on the WSTW site here, if you're curious.

The Rest

* Rachel Maddow gets yet another writeup, this time in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

* As mentioned last week, you can hear "Maron Vs. Seder" weekdays at 3P ET at mvslive.com.

WWRC/DC may be sold to Daniel Snyder

The Washington Post is reporting that broadcast and dot-com mogul Daniel Snyder is getting closer to an agreement to buy three AM stations from Clear Channel Communications in a bid to expand his fledgling but problem-plagued radio operations, people familiar with the discussions said yesterday.

Included in a possible deal would be sports-formatted WTEM (980AM), conservotalker WTNT (570AM) and progressive talker WWRC (1260AM).

Snyder, who's Red Zebra Broadcasting programs a sports format via three low-power rimshot signals, in addition to several sports stations in Virginia, has been actively seeking other stations to expand his coverage of the Washington, DC market. The trimulcast acts as the flagship outlet for the NFL's Washington Redskins, which Snyder also owns. The acquisition of WTEM, the most desirable signal in this bunch, gives Snyder the full-power centrally-located sports station he has long desired, allows Red Zebra to dominate the local sports radio market and puts his football team on a better local signal.

As for WWRC and WTNT, there is no word yet on the fate of their formats, or the fate of the three sports signals Snyder currently owns. Snyder could elect to keep the present formats on the two talk stations, to provide some diverrsity to Red Zebra's broadcast offerings. Hard to imagine that many sports formats tripping over each other. Both WTNT and WWRC currently do lousy in the ratings, due in part to their mediocre signals and a very crowded and competitive talk radio market overall in the DC area.

The sale, if it goes through, could be announced by next week, with Red Zebra taking over operations of the three stations rather quickly via a lease agreement. The sale itself will likely be in limbo until Clear Channel sorts out their own sale to a pair of private equity firms.

Local media news site dcrtv.com has perhaps the best coverage of this deal.

Meanwhile, up the coast in Atlantic City, Access.1 communications has sold all their station in the market, including progressive talker WTAA (1490AM) to a local group, Atlantic Broadcasting. In addition to WTAA, other stations include WOND, WMGM-FM and WJSE-FM. Access.1 still owns WWRL in New York, which acts as the 'flagship' of the Air America Radio network.

The partners in Atlantic Broadcasting are local businessman Brett DeNafo, radio engineer Michael Ferriola, former WAYV-FM program director and on-air host Paul Kelly and on-air personality Joseph Borsello. The group will run the stations according to a lease-management arrangement until the Federal Communications Commission approves the sale.

There have been rumors that the new owner may not keep WTAA's format, though they maintain that there will be no immediate changes at the stations.

Atlantic Broadcasting can be reached via snail mail at 1601 New Road, Linwood, NJ.

Weekend quickies

A few items concerning a few stations. Much of it concerns what you'll be hearing come Monday.

1. 3WT shuffles Miller, Rhodes

Good news and bad news for liberal fans tuning in to the Washington, DC-area trimulcast that is WWWT (3WT, 1500AM, 107.7FM, 820AM). First, Randi Rhodes' show, which had aired on all three signals, is now only on one, as the station, for some strange reason, gives hemorrhoidal harpie Glenn Beck the time slot on 1500AM (Washington) and 107.7FM (Northern Virginia). Rhodes is still on 820AM, which is based in Frederick, MD and serves the area west of Baltimore. No explanation was given, though conspiracy theorists may try to make a connection between owner Bonneville International, which itself is owned by the LDS Church, and Beck, who in recent years has converted to the Mormon faith. But Bonneville has never been a company that attempted to rock the boat or get preachy on their stations. Their M.O. seems to be to please everyone. They're basically a bland, inoffensive company that programs bland, inoffensive formats. 3WT is actually one of their rare forays into partisan political talk, and the station carries talkers with multiple viewpoints.

Speaking of 3WT, there is some good news to report, as Stephanie Miller, who's show has aired on an evening delay whenever the Washington Capitals NHL team had the night off, moves to late mornings, 10A-12P, swapping places with pseudo-libertarian Neal Boortz. Meaning that the only way Boortz will be on the air more is if he suits up and hits the ice for the Capitals. The change takes place Monday. You'll notice that only two hours of her show will air. That's because local guy Tony Kornheiser returns that day from his Monday Night Football gig to take back the 8-10A shift. It's a good show, and Tony's pretty middle-of-the-road, politically.

2. If it ain't broke, keep fixing it

I got quite a few emails on this one, and many Bay Area progressive talk listeners are pretty steamed. KKGN (Green 960AM) in San Francisco is totally shuffling its lineup for the second time in less than a month. The most recent change saw local talker Peter B. Collins taking the live 3-6P shift on the station (Collins does his show from San Francisco and syndicates it to several stations out west), displacing program director John Scott's show. Well, Scott hits the air once again, as he will helm a new morning show starting Monday, and airing from 7-9A PT. obviously, this means that Miller's show will be reduced to only the first hour on the station, and it's a move that isn't sitting well with listeners. Some may think the recent oil spill off the San Francisco coast has rearranged a few brain cells over there...

Listeners so far are also not happy that Collins' show will now be bumped into the late night hours, airing from 12-3A weeknights. In the upheaval, Rachel Maddow gets a split shift and Randi Rhodes moves up to the late afternoon time slot.

3. Air America Atlantic City

Across the country to the East Coast, we check in with WTAA in Atlantic City, NJ. The low=powered station flipped to progressive talk late last summer. So far, according to the local Press, the change hasn't resulted in a ratings boost as of yet, but it may be soon to tell. Besides, it's not like that station ever showed up in the ratings before. Still, they're trying. They recently added Don Imus to mornings and a local host, Virginia McCabe, to the 3-6P drive time shift. Station management like the idea of counteracting the mostly conservative AM radio landscape, and plan to carry the format on WTAA at least through the elections.

4. Taylor movin' on up

Okay, so he moves up one hour. Stacy Taylor, of XEPE (1700AM) in San Diego is moving come Monday, as his show will air from 3-6P local time (6-9P ET, for you webcast listeners). The station is slowly balancing its on-air lineup, as it also adds Lionel on delay, from 1-4A PT. There may be another shift open, since Dennis Miller's show runs twice a day currently. Don't be surprised if something else interesting lands there. After all, consider that KLSD, with its all-progressive talk format, just bumped up almost half a ratings point in the most recent Arbitron survey, its last before flipping to sports. San Diego 1700, as perhaps the fourth of fifth conservotalk station in the market, was nowhere to be found. Do the math.

That's two, so far

Okay, so you all though it was bunk. I'll admit I was somewhat skeptical. But it looks like Air America Radio has picked up a couple affiliates.

The Atlantic City rumor seems to be reality, as WTAA (1490AM) has indeed flipped to liberal talk over the weekend. They're carrying Air America programming, but I have absolutely no clue as to what else, if anything, they're airing. Nonetheless, on your way to throw down the mortgage money on the craps table at one of the many casinos the town is noted for, you can listen to Air America on 1490AM.

Another new affiliate is an old affiliate. KSAC (1240AM) in Sacramento has picked up Randi Rhodes starting today, in addition to a few of the network's weekend shows. Rhodes will air live, replacing Dave Ramsey's financial advice show, and will shave an hour off local host Christine Craft's afternoon show, which will now air from 3-6PM. Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Mike Malloy, Joey Reynolds and Doug Stephan round out the rest of the weekday schedule.

You may recall that KSAC and Air America had a rather ugly divorce in late 2005, which saw Air America move their programming to rival KCTC. KSAC owner Paula Nelson was very bitter about the whole experience, but kept the progressive talk format, albeit with non-Air America shows. KCTC dropped progressive talk for sports a few months ago, and it now appears everything has come full-circle.