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.