WVKO is gone

Columbus progressive talker WVKO (1580AM) is no more, as the owner of the station has sold the frequency to a religious group, according to Ohio Media Watch and the station's website.

The talk format left the air at midnight this morning, but will continue via the station's website for now. The new programming comes via St. Gabriel Radio, which owns two other stations outside of Columbus.

Currently, Cowtown Communications, which had leased the station from outgoing owner Bernard Radio, is shopping for another signal in the market, but that may be a bit difficult. The radio industry is currently suffering due to low ad revenue and Cowtown Communications ran WVKO on a "below shoestring" budget. They are, however, eyeing another WVKO - the FM operation at 103.1, also owned by Barnard, which puts a rather poor rimshot signal into Columbus. However, FM signals, bad signals or not, are typically more desirable than AM, so this may be out of monetary range. We shall see...

In the meantime, WVKO is still operating their webstream, albiet with syndicated programming replacing local shows. Thom Hartmann will replace Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes' show has been added, in addition to web-only shows The Young Turks and Sam Seder/Marc Maron.

WVKO had recently celebrated its first anniversary.

Friday this n' that

A couple small items to fill y'all in on...

First up, as Ron Kuby prepares to begin his career as Air America Radio's new afternoon host, it appears he'll have one less station carrying him. WXXM (92.1FM) in Madison has opted to pick up a delay of Thom Hartmann's show to fill the 2-5P CT slot.

So far, Kuby's new program will be on WWRL in New York and WVKO in Columbus. His predecessor, Randi Rhodes, who jumped to rival Nova M Radio in April to continue her show, has held on to most of her affiliates in the time slot.

Speaking of Rhodes, she is one of the first confirmed additions for Dallas' new progressive talker, KMNY, which expands the format to full-time on July 1.

And speaking of WVKO, they need money. About $50 grand. Running an independent radio station in a big market like Columbus is hard work, especially when doing battle with the Citadels and Clear Channels of the world. They have a donation link on their site. More importantly, they need sales professionals. They do have some good clients, and also make some money carrying local sports broadcasts. But they need salespeople, and past experience with progressive talk stations such as KOMY in Santa Cruz and KSAC in Sacramento proves that stations don't make money if they don't even bother to hire account executives to bring in new advertisers. The management staff of WVKO, who actually seem to have their act together, should be commended for making the effort to do something about this obvious dilemma, rather than just expect advertisers to hunt them down, which is what killed weaker small operations in the past.

So, if you live in the Columbus area (or are relocating there), have sales experience (radio preferred, but not a deal breaker) and love progressive talk, then contact them here.

Finally (unless something else happens today), the kind folks at Air America have forwarded this link. It's from Aaron Barnhart at the Kansas City Star, and it's a recorded interview with Rachel Maddow. In the clip, Rachel addresses Aaron’s question of whether, in her opinion, Barack Obama would help increase the presence of left wing talk radio, if elected President. You can find the clip here.

Ogdensburg ain't happenin' and other station news

Back in October, Air America Radio announced the signing of 11 new affiliates, in places such as Tampa Bay, Washington, DC, Tuscon, Astoria, OR and other places. So far, only one station has since backed out.

WBDB (92.7FM) in Ogdensburg, NY was one of the stations slated to pick up at least some Air America programming. Since then, they changed their plans and while they flipped to talk last week, the on-air lineup is as un-Air America as one gets, with names such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Don Imus now part of the new WQTK.

Basically, the station took on the talk format of sister station WSLB, as that station flipped to 24/7 sports.

So, scratch this one off the list.

Of the other stations mentioned, all but three have already added Air America programming. New station KXLJ (1330AM) in Juneau, AK has yet to sign on the air, but will carry the network's programming. Not much is known as of yet about WVPO (840AM) and WPLY (960AM) in the Pennsylvania Poconos. And a previously unannounced station, WVKO (1580AM) in Columbus, OH launched a progressive talk format earlier this week. The most recent change at WVKO was the addition of Thom Hartmann's show from 8-11PM, instead of the previously announced Lionel.

In other station news, as previously announced, KRFT (1190AM) in St. Louis, which carries a mix of liberal and conservative talk, including Randi Rhodes, will officially flip to sports on January 1, 2008.

Baton Rouge lost its progressive talk station earlier this week, as little daytimer WPYR (1380AM) flipped to gospel music. Owner Clear Channel evidently remembered that they actually owned this station, as they failed in their attempts to sell it earlier this year. No surprise here. This was one of the most neglected progressive talk stations in the country. How neglected? According to their website, you can still hear Jerry Springer and Al Franken weekdays. Yeah, the website's still up (surprise, surprise).

WTAA (1490AM) in Atlantic City is still an Air America affiliate, but the station has added the newly re-syndicated Don Imus in mornings, becoming the latest in the roster of the usual peashooter stations that typically carry his show.

And the deal to sell KOPT (1600AM) in Eugene, OR to Oregon Public Broadcasting for $500,000 should close within four weeks. Reportedly, talker Ed Schultz has been working with Oregon investors to put together a group to purchase the station, which became a financial drain when owner Churchill Media overextended themselves and spent a large sum of money in establishing a heavily local on-air presence. There is still hope for saving progressive talk in Eugene, as the group may bid for one of Churchill's two other AM stations in the market.

All you need to know about WVKO

If everything goes as planned, Columbus, OH's new progressive talk station, WVKO (1580AM) should be up and running come Monday morning (12/3) at 6AM with The Bill Press Show. That is, barring any complications, such as satellite uplink issues.

Progress Ohio made the official announcement yesterday, and I posted an advance rumor about it earlier in the day. The grassroots effort to return the format to local airwaves comes after a dedicated year-long effort and a petition drive that yielded over a thousand signatures.

So far, the only issues standing in the way of the launch are logistical ones, mostly dealing with engineering and the satellite uplink, since most of the programming will consist of nationally-syndicated shows. The station already has a web domain reserved, and will also stream its programming. The fully-functional website will also have a message board.

At this time, the on-air lineup has been partially set. Press will air mornings 6-9, followed by two other shows from Jones Radio Networks - Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz. Air America Radio's Randi Rhodes and Rachel Maddow will follow, creating a schedule consisting solely of live programming from 6A-8P. What follows after Maddow has yet to be determined, but it is expected that Lionel will be carried on delay. Overnights and weekends have yet to be determined.

"We're also doing a lot of local sports, although I'm not at liberty as yet to say what we'll have," WVKO General Manager and veteran radio executive Gary Richards told the Columbus Dispatch. "We're going to do a lot of news and local talk, too. Our studios are a block from the Statehouse. I'm always surprised there isn't more political talk on the radio locally."

Richards hopes listeners will tune in the new WVKO. "Especially with AM stations, you're kind of limited in what you can do," he said. "Music is a losing proposition on AM, and we had to find a niche, and we think there is one in political talk -- especially with 'something big' (the 2008 election) going on next year."

The station is currently owned by Dallas-based Bernard Ohio, LLC, which also purchased a few stations in Youngstown, OH earlier this year. Bernard purchased the broadcast license and resurrected the station earlier this year after the previous owner, who programmed various African-American-oriented formats over the years, took it off the air in May 2006 due to financial difficulties. Since it returned to the airwaves this past summer, WVKO has been testing its transmitter and most recently programmed a Spanish-language format. There were rumors that Bernard would air brokered programming on the signal.

The signal, at 3200 watts day/290 watts night, is not a very powerful one, but its centrally-located tower will cover the city of Columbus and most of Franklin County adequately (see graphic on right).

WVKO brings back a format previously carried by WTPG, a Clear Channel-owned station that sruprisingly dropped the format last December in the company's 'Ohio liberal talk purge' that also claimed company-owned stations in Cincinnati and Akron. WTPG became WYTS, carrying mostly conservative talk, and has since been struggling to match its predecessor's ratings. In the latest Arbitron unofficial trend report, they have completely dropped off the list and lost roughly 40% of its listening audience over the past few months (for those who put much faith in Arbitron's ratings methodology).

In short, wouldn't it be funny if the small, independently-owned WVKO punked WYTS in the ratings books? Past history would indicate that this is a strong possibility.

Rumormongering is fun

Here's an interesting rumor, courtesy of the ol' tip line. It involves a new progressive talk station that will possibly start up the format by next week.

I can't say too much about it, since this is an unconfirmed rumor, but I most certainly can tease the hell out of all of you about it. While I can't name names or divulge identities, I can drop a few hints:

1. It is in a market that once had a progressive talk station. The replacement format on that station has not lived up to expectations, and currently does not even show up in the ratings book.

2. Air America will be on the new station. So will Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller. Bill Press has said that he will be there. They will even carry Democracy Now. The station will also air some sports programming.

3. The new station has a domain name reserved for their website, which should launch soon. And no, I cannot divulge the URL yet. In due time.

4. The station will likely launch as early as next Monday or Tuesday.

5. It is bigger than a breadbox.

And that's about all I can say about it. I was asked to be discreet about it, so I am. But I will have more about it later, and possibly sooner than that.

In the meantime, this is off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.

UPDATE: Well, since everyone else and their mother are starting to hop on board, I'll spill the beans. The station is WVKO (1580AM) in Columbus, OH, a situation I posted a rumor about a few months back. Progress Ohio put something up about it. The station would replace the old WTPG, which flipped to an anemic general talk format that as of late has taken a dive in the ratings. The new format will hopefully debut as soon as Monday.