3WTanked

As of this morning, the short-lived Washington, DC talk trimulcast known as 3WT (107.7FM, 1500AM and 820AM) has started its eventual fade into the radio dustbin.

Bonneville International, owner of the stations, is in the process of shifting a few of their local properties in a somewhat confusing chess game. As a result, all-news WTOP will has begun simulcasting via 107.7FM in morning drive (they already do via 103.5FM in the city and 103.9 FM in Frederick, MD), and WFED (Federal News Radio), an all-news format at low-powered 1050AM that is geared toward government employees, will eventually take over 820AM and 1500AM. The shifting of programming is expected to be gradual, as the station's syndication deals wind down. By September 15, the transformations should be completed.

With the shakeups, Dial Global's Stephanie Miller will soon lose her Washington, DC-area affiliates, and Nova M Radio's Randi Rhodes will no longer be on 820AM. Also soon to be gone from the DC airwaves are Bill O'Reilly, Neal Boortz, Glenn Beck and Phil Hendrie. Local hosts, including Tony Kornheiser, have already departed Bonneville (though Kornheiser had recently taken a leave of absence to co-host ESPN's Monday Night Football).

The 3WT trimulcast is also the radio home to several local sports franchises, including baseball's Washington Nationals, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, Naval Academy athletics, and George Washington University’s men’s basketball. They will remain on the former 3WT signals for the time being.

The talk radio shakeup in the market could generate a ripple effect, as Red Zebra had recently acquired three AM signals from Clear Channel - sports talker WTEM, conservative talker WTNT and liberal talker WWRC. Kornheiser and the sports franchises are probably most appealing to Red Zebra, which as of late has been aggressively building its local and regional sports talk properties. But the availability of some notable syndicated talk show programming could also be enticing for the company's two new talk properties.

As has been mentioned here before, talk radio is a tough nut to crack in the nation's capitol. There are far too many talk stations and not enough demand for them (particularly in a market where roughly half the population is African-American or non-white). 3WT was never a ratings powerhouse in it's one year on the air, though talk is a slow-grow format. Evidently, Bonneville didn't have the patience for the "left, right and whatever" format, and wanted to circle the wagons around its highly popular all-news format of WTOP and try to grow Federal News Radio.

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.

Station breaks

It's Wednesday afternoon, and I've got a few small updates. I may even add more throughout the day.

First up, I know I promised something about KLSD in San Diego, and their oft-threatened flip to sports. That's on the way, but I'm still seeking out information and working out a few things. I should have it soon.

Second, I've gotten a few emails from Washington, DC-area listeners, wondering why they were hearing Lionel this morning on WWRC (1260AM), rather than Stephanie Miller. As you read here a short while back, new talk station 3WT (1500AM, 107.7FM and 820AM, wherever you happen to be) has picked up her show, starting tonight at 7P. The good news is that each of the three signals that carry the "Left, Right and Whatever We Want" format is pretty strong (as opposed to the weak one of WWRC). The bad news is that Miller will be aired on a delay, from 7-9P weeknights. And Miller will only air when the Washington Capitals NHL team aren't playing at the time. Yes, her show will occasionally be preempted.

Meanwhile, over at WWRC, Lionel fills the late morning slot, and according to the schedule on the station's website, you'll be hearing quite a bit of him. His show also reruns from 7-10P and 3-6A (though I can't imagine this being permanent). So if you like Lionel and just can't get enough of him (and I know how much you all love the guy!), tune to WWRC. Chances are, you'll catch his show.

On the other side of the map, KKEE (1230AM) in Astoria, OR, one of the new Air America Radio affiliates announced a few weeks back, flipped to the format on Monday. And believe it or not, it's full-time progressive talker (almost). The new format displaces sports talk, and shows on the schedule include Miller, Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes and Alan Colmes airing live, with Oregonian Thom Hartmann airing on delay in afternoon drive. The obviously non-political Dr. Dean Edell serves as 6-7P filler.

Meanwhile, at those other new Air America affiliates, WTAN (1340AM) and WDCF (1350AM) have already added Lionel, and should be adding Rhodes sometime soon. The rest of the roster is a hodgepodge of 'Music of Your Life,' brokered programming and whatever else they air. Also, KXLJ (1330AM) in Juneau, AK should be signing on in the near future.

As for the other three stations announced, nothing is known as of yet about WBDB in Ogdensburg, NY and the two Poconos stations (WVPO and WPLY).

And good news for fans of the old "Will and Willie" show, formerly on KQKE (now KKGN) in San Francisco and starring Will Durst and Willie Brown, is relaunching. This time, it won't be on radio, but rather in cyberspace. The show, also featuring producer Paul "Lobster" Wells, is available as either an audio or video podcast, and can be found at their site. Speaking of Green 960, the local eco-show "Green Seed Radio," which formerly aired on the station, has relaunched on another local talk station, KTRB (860AM). The show will now air on Saturday from 10A-noon PT.

Air America inks 11 new affiliates

NOTE: This entry will be updated as necessary.

They say it wouldn't happen. Evidently, all those affirmations and violated voodoo dolls must have convinced them that Air America Radio was dead.

Ehhh... not so fast.

Sure, it's been an uphill climb for Air America. It still is. Helping to build a new talk radio format practically from scratch is not a task for the timid. But rumors of the network's demise are currently unfounded. In fact, they issued a press release today announcing eleven new affiliates, in areas such as Washington, DC, Tampa, Tuscon, the Pennsylvania Poconos and even the capital of Alaska.

Granted, they're not all flamethrowers. Some of these stations are located in the middle of nowhere or broadcast with less power than a vacuum cleaner. But let's be real here - most of the big 50,000 watt big city torches are already doing well, and have no incentive to change their programming. It's likely that some of these new affiliates may only carry one or two shows. But the signing of these new affiliates does get their product on more stations, and that's never a bad thing. And after losing one station (KOKE in Austin was sold to a Spanish-language broadcaster who installed his own format) and soon to lose two more (KLSD in San Diego and KRFT in St. Louis, a mixed-bag talk station that will flip to sports in January), they could use a few in the plus column.

A few of the listed stations are already airing programming from the network. KJLL (1330AM) in Tucson, Arizona has carried Stephanie Miller for awhile, recently added Ed Schultz and are now airing Randi Rhodes at night. They also carry Dr. Laura, Tammy Bruce, Alan Colmes and infomercials.

The new 3WT is a three-station simulcast in the Washington, DC area. The station broadcasts via three signals, in Washington (1500AM), Warrentown, Virginia (107.7FM) and Frederick, Maryland (820AM). The new talk format launched late last month, and the programming covers the whole ideological spectrum. Rhodes holds down afternoon drive, and Bill O'Reilly and Neal Boortz are on as well. 3WT will soon grab Jones MediaAmerica's Stephanie Miller from weak-powered rival WWRC, which as of late has been more keen on adding brokered financial-related shows to the roster.

The other new additions include:

WTAN (1340AM), located in Clearwater, Florida and WDCF (1350AM), located northeast of Tampa. Both are locally co-owned, and supposedly heavy on paid programming. There is a third signal that was part of the simulcast, WZHR (1400AM), which overlaps with WDCF, but whether they are still part of this arrangement is unknown. On Monday, Tampa native Lionel was added on delay from 9PM to midnight weekdays, and they are negotiating to add Randi Rhodes' show in November. Other Air America programming could be used as filler for time slots that haven't been brokered out. These stations are not highly regarded in the Tampa Bay area, and it almost seems like yet another example of an eccentric local owner who relies mostly on brokered airtime and quick fix formats. The Gulf Coast of Florida is full of stations such as this, and they often tend not to be the most reliable affiliates. They also pull in very little as far as ratings are concerned. We shall see...

Incidentally, one reader claims that the Tampa Bay combo actually airs a fitness show that broadcasts live from a nudist resort. Not sure how that plays on radio, but hey, at least it's different.

KXLJ (1330AM) is a new sign-on in Juneau, Alaska, pumping out 10,000 watts across the tundra. The resident caribou and moose were obviously tired of sports talk. How much Air America figures into the station's programming is unknown.

Ditto for KKEE (1230AM) in Astoria, Oregon, located northwest of Portland. As of today, they are currently running a sports talk format, though this will obviously change.

WBDB (92.7FM) is licensed to Ogdensburg, New York. Air America claims the station serves Watertown, but it really doesn't. As of late, the station has been simulcasting a Top 40 sister that actually is in Watertown. No idea what they plan on doing with the Air America programming.

WVPO (840AM) Stroudsburg and WPLY (960AM) Mount Pocono are both in Pennsylvania. Like many radio concerns, Air America stretched the truth a bit about what market these stations serve. They claim that they're in the Philadelphia market, but that's wishful thinking. Both cover the Poconos, which is roughly 60 miles north of Philly, and these stations have a much greater chance of reaching Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and northern New Jersey. Both of these stations, which simulcast and run a syndicated talk format, are owned by Nassau Broadcasting, which dropped progressive talk from WLVP in Portland, Maine in June, switching to sports talk. Incidentally, WLVP could possibly return to something similar to their previous format when their ESPN Radio contract expires next summer, since Nassau plans to switch two other signals in the market to simulcast Boston sports talker WEEI.

Keep in mind that any station that carries any Air America programming is considered an 'affiliate.' This is common practice in the industry. ESPN Radio, FOX Sports and others do this too. Initially, the idea was to persuade affiliates to take the whole lineup. When they realized that very few stations were willing to do that, they began offering shows ala carte, which is the method most syndicators use.

As for what shows these stations will carry, or when they will add Air America programming, that is not known, save for KJLL and 3WT. The stations that do have websites do not seem to update them. If there are any listeners in these areas that know what's going on, drop an email and let us know. I'll pass it along.

Stuff I missed while sleeping

Been a while, huh?

Yeah, I took a little time off. A week to be exact. In doing a blog such as this, I feel it is a wise idea to back away from it once in a while and recharge my engines. I'll even go so far as to go out into the real world. So, please do not be alarmed if this place gets a little quiet once in a while. All in all, it makes for a much better reading experience overall.

And no, I wasn't sleeping, but I thought it would make for a cool article title.

So, in the meantime, Dan Rather grew a set and rightfully filed suit against his former bosses at CBS, Bill O'Reilly realized he couldn't make a go of radio, O.J. Simpson switched from knives to guns in his hunt for the real killers er his sports mementos, and Congressional Democrats wimped out and rolled over as the Republicans turned their war on free speech into a wedge issue in condemning the recent MoveOn.org criticism on General Petraeus. And in this little corner of the world...

First on the agenda is a big story/non-story from last week, this one concerning Cenk Uyger of Air America's The Young Turks (or is that The Young Turk, since everybody else left?). He claims Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert stole a joke from him and used it on The Colbert Report, and, just like O.J. Simpson bum-rushing a sports memorabilia swap meet with guns-a-blazin, he's out for blood. Well, okay, $65 million. I was really tempted to make mention of this last week, but it all reeks of a silly publicity stunt.

And what was the joke? Something about Klingons. Yes, you heard that right - Klingons! Sorry, but a Klingon joke isn't worth 65 cents, let alone $65 mil. Cenk's obviously a sharp guy, and I just wished he could come up with a better publicity stunt. Hiring Mike Stark was a cool move. This, unfortunately, is not.

Hey, people crib my shit all the time. All I ask is a return link and the whole 'fair use' thing. But if anyone wants to kick $65 mil my way, contact me and we'll talk.

Radio listeners in Washington, DC, saddled by the horrible signal and questionable programming moves of local progressive talker WWRC, now have another option. In this overcrowded talk radio market, the newly reformatted WWWT (3WT) is mixing it up a bit after ending its "Washington Post Radio" endeavor. This new talk station pledges to carry conservative, liberal, middle-of-the-road and nonpolitical talk. We already knew that Stephanie Miller's show, currently on WWRC, would be joining the station. Well, that's forthcoming. In the meantime, Air America's Randi Rhodes is part of the station's lineup in afternoon drive, 4-7P ET. WWRC does not currently carry her show, but does carry other programs from Air America. And ESPN's Tony Kornheiser, who hosts a pretty good nonpolitical show (when he's actually on, of course) that isn't really about sports, is on weekday mornings. Of course, tuning in for progressive talk options also means occasionally tuning in for the likes of Bill O'Reilly (until his show buys the farm), Neal Boortz and eventually Glen Beck. But hey, at least they have a great signal. And are on both AM and FM, on 50,000 watt 1500AM in Washington (with a signal reaching Baltimore), 107.7FM in Northeastern Virginia and 820AM in Fredrick, MD. Should be interesting to watch.

Many people have emailed me about the recent changes to Air America's schedule. As stated before, The Air Americans has crashed and burned. Replacing it is Richard Greene's "Every Breath You Take" er Clout. The show airs from 8-10P ET. Following it is now Jon Elliot's show, followed by a repeat of the previous day's Lionel show. But wait - wasn't Bree Walker supposed to get a show on Air America? Well, that was the original line. But evidently, that did not come to fruition, for reasons nobody really knows, including me. She still has her weekend show on KTLK (1150AM) in Los Angeles.

Progressive talk station KOKE (1600AM) in Austin will soon be under new ownership. The station, along with two other local AM stations owned by Border Media Properties, will be sold to Jose J. Garcia for $5.5 million. BMP will keep their five FM stations in the market. No word on what this means for the future of KOKE. It could be nothing.

And remember KOMY? That little AM station outside of Santa Cruz owned by the rather colorful Zwerling family? The same ones that added Air America programming to the station and spent more time trying to kill it and threaten to remove it than actually try to make it work? Well, the Zwerlings are hanging it up. Michael Zwerling announced that they're cashing in their chips and selling both KOMY (which now programs a golden oldies format) and conservotalk station KSCO.

I do have to confess. After writing the final "pulling the plug" article, Zwerling himself sent me an email, and actually had a good laugh as I ripped him a new one. I gotta say, I respect him for that. And in the day and age of bland, corporate radio, perhaps a few eccentric local broadcast owners, no matter how irritating they can be, is overall a good thing. Best of luck to Michael and his mother Kay in their future endeavors. It's been a ride, I'll say that much.

And as a change of pace, I will open up the comments below in this article to an open thread. Normally, a common pet peeve of mine is when posters go off topic on an article to post their own stuff (such as the cut-and-paste astroturf jobs by our resident freeper, raccoonradio). You know, stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the article. In this instance, and this instance only, post whatever you want in this article, and this thread only. Got a scoop? A rant? Whatever, just add a comment below. All I ask is no flame wars, no personal attacks, etc. Keep it rational, kids.