95.5 The Game Update

Awhile back I mentioned a story of Alpha Broadcasting in Portland registering websites to suggest that 95.5 The Game might change formats. It is now final, on Wednesday KXL 101.1/750will move exclusively to 101.1, and 95.5 The Game will move to 750AM. It is unown what 95.5's new format will be

KALW IBOC off?

KKUP is now being heard clearly again in San Francisco, which probably means that KALW has its IBOC shut off. KALW was one of the first stations in the Bay Area to start running HD (If I'm not mistaken, the first was KFOG) It is unknown if this is a equitment failure, or if its off for good to save on the power bill. Many AMs in SF have had their IBOC going on and off, and KGO quietly turned their's off for good last year. KCBS's HD signal is pretty consistant, but KNEW and KKGN's IBOC goes off and on.

Video-KIXE Redding

A short documentary on KIXE Redding

Talk 1200 Boston now simulcasting on an HD2

Talk 1200 in Boston is now simulcasting on Kiss 108 HD2, I guess the next best thing to an FM Simulcast. Talk 1200 proves my point that an AM format has to be well esablished to do well in the ratings. Basically, any AM station thats format is less than 15 years old will not pull much more than a 1 share in the ratings, even if they have all the big name talkers, and a local morning guy

Team 1010 Palm Springs Sold

Team 1010 (sports) in Palm Springs has been sold for 250,000 dollars to CRC MEDIA WEST, LLC. It is unknown if there will be a format change, or what the new format will be

Update-NYC 106.3 Translator shut down for now

A few weeks ago I posted about an FM Translator/HD2 combo in New York City. The station was supposed to stunt until May 12 and then start its new format, instead it is now silent. Thunder 106 in New Jersey complainedof interference, so the translator has been shut down for now

Station of the Week 5/9/11-KNews 94.3FM Palm Springs

This week I'd like to Highlight K-News in the High Desert. K-News has an hour of local news in the morning, and three hours of local talk in the afternoon, great for such a small market. Keep up the good work, K-News!

New PD at KXNT-AM/FM Las Vegas

Andrew Paul comes in at KXNT Las Vegas. His experence includes 670 KBOI News/Talk and 93.1 The Ticket Sports in Boise. He was also the PD at 610 The Sports Animal and KKOB 770 in New Mexico. He replaces Bob Agnew, former Program Director of KNBR 680.

Jason Barrett New PD at SportsRadio 95.7

Jason Barrett has been named the new PD of SportsRadio 95.7, His experience includes 101 ESPN in Saint Louis (at 101.1FM) and SportsRadio 950 WPEN-AM in Philadelphia.

On another note, I've noticed that SportsRadio 95.7 still has the same placeholder website they've had since the day of the format change, click here to see it.

Don Geronimo named PD at KHTK

Yesterday Don Geronimo announced that he is the new PD of KHTK, I'm curious to see if there are any programming changes on the horizon, and It'll be interesting to see if Entercom Flips 106.5 to an FM Simulcast of ESPN 1320

Changes at Live 105

Mega Tanner has exited the Live 105 Midday slot, and two people come in to replace him. Menace will be coming in 10am-noon, and APD/MD Aaron Axelson noon-3pm

KSTN Pirate heard last night

Last night I heard a pirate on 104.9FM, it was playing oldies with jocks. They played old Bill Drake jingles, and IDed as KSTN. I really liked it, they had a great variety of oldies and the DJs were great as well. I've heard this station a few times, but the last time I heard it with jocks was over New Years. The station was gone by this morning.

KBBF Santa Rosa back on the air

89.1 KBBF is back on the air after a lighting strike took them off the air. They signed back on on May 5. Finally, something is going right for a station that has had a lot go wrong. I really think the folks at KBBF and KRCB should consider swapping frequencies, so KBBF would have a smaller, more manageable station, and KRCB would get a signal that covers the whole North Bay

EMF Picks up another signal

KCGC 94.5 Coarsegold (In Central California, near Fresno) has been sold to EMF for 260,000 dollars. This means that K-Love or Air1 will get another signal in an area where they already have many overlaping signals.

KRJY Sold

KRJY 1240 in Sacramento has been sold to RADIO SANTISIMO SACRAMENTO, INC. for 1.39 Million dollars. It will be run by the Diocese of Sacramento as a EWTN Spanish affilate. This will fill in the Spanish Christian format hole left when Radio Luz 105.5 flipped to FM Business Talk as Money 105.5. EWTN English can already be heard in Sacramento on 1620 AM

25,000 fine for San Jose Pirate

Gabriel Garcia, operator of 92.9 San Jose pirate, which operated under the fake calls 'KNRG'. Garcia, according to an FCC agent, threatened him saying quote "Do you want to get shot?"

From what I've heard, pirate radio in the Bay Area has been relatively quiet lately since Pirate Cat got shut down, I heard the Berkeley pirate on 104.1 FM on the air on a trip to SF two weeks ago, and I heard what sounded like a Spanish pirate in Daly City on the same trip on 102.5, so maybe Bay Area pirate radio is picking up again.

Vintage 920 now on FM!

Yet another AM finds its way to FM via an FM Translator, Vintage 920 is now on FM at 92.3 in South Modesto. This will certainly help that station with its nighttime coverage. However, on some of the new AM/FM translator combos the AM has perfect nighttime coverage in the area that the translator is meant to fill. As I'm writing this KEX Portland comes to mind, in that case the translator wasn't meant to fill a coverage gap, it was meant to put KEX on FM since KXL had just got an FM Home. Another example would be Detroit, where a company was able to pretty much start two brand new radio stations after leasing an HD2 and HD3. It definatly allows companies to evade ownership limits, but if It gives listeners more choices, I don't see a problem with it.

Station of the Week 5/2/11-NewsChannel 3 Eureka

This is a new feature I'm starting. I want to give credit to all the small market stations that go above and beyond. The station I'd like to feature this week is Eureka's NewsChannel 3. Just a short few years ago All three of the major network affilates (Execept Fox 28, who never had a newscast). But when KVIQ Action News Six became a Clear Channel property in 2002, they stopped local newscasts, Instead replaying newscasts from sister station KFTY in Santa Rosa, this ended in 2005. Today CBS 6 became CBS 17 after the DTV Transition, and has NO local news at all, instead they run syndicated shows in place of where a newscast would usually be. The other station in town that used to have local news was KAEF 23, now a virtual satelite of KRCR in Redding. KAEF still does a five minute local weather forecast (which I assume is produced in KRCR's studio) weeknights at 11pm. However, NewsChannel 3, the NBC affilate still maintains its commitment to local news, something very difficult in such a small market, even harder a bad economy. Keep up the good work NewsChannel 3!

KNBR 1050 picks up Stanford Sports/Programming Change at SportsRadio 95.7

The New SportsRadio 95.7 takes a hit as Stanford decides to go to KNBR 1050 instead of 95.7, two major factors probably were that KNBR 1050 has an esablished format (abeit low rated compared to its sister station at 680) Also, basketball was included in the deal, something that 95.7 was reluctant to pick up.

While were on the subject of SportsRadio 95.7, I thought I'd note that they've made a programming change, the Issac and Suke show from 10am to 1pm has been replaced by Scott Jackson.

Ratings Trends-Monterery/Salinas/Santa Cruz

Ratings for the Monterery/Salinas/Santa Cruz Market came out yesterday. Here our somethings I noticed in the ratings
-La Preciosa Continues its climb, up almost 3 shares from a year ago
-In the Regional Mexican war between Radio Tricolor 99.5, and Estreo Sol 98.9/99.1, 99.5 came in 0.1 shares higher than 99.1
-104.3 The Hippo is up slightly after adding a new morning show
-Recurdo 100.3 is down almost a share due to La Preciosa's climbing ratings
-KBach continues to climb
-K Ocean falls slightly due to Z-97.9's new Classic Hits format picking up steam (being a Buckely Station, KYZZ-FM is not in the ratings, along with sports sister station KIDD-AM "ESPN 630")
-KTOM continues to climb now that 95.5 Hank FM is gone
-The New Adult Hits Format on 95.5 ("95.5 Bob FM") is starting to pick up, coming in around a 1 share in its first book
-KION 1460 falls slightly

Not in this book-
AC Powerhouse KWAV-FM
Buckly Oldies KYZZ-FM
Buckly Sports KIDD-AM
News/Talk KSCO-AM
Adlt StandardsKOMY-AM
News/Talk KNRY-AM
Jazz/Blues KRML-AM/FM

NBC California Non-Stop

NBC Bay Area, NBC 4 Los Angeles, and NBC San Diego, are joining together to make a new DT multicast channel to provide News, Information, Entertainment, and Lifestyle programmming. Check out the full story here

CP Granted for 1030AM near Sacramento

The new station would operate with 50Kw Directional during the day, and 10Kw Directional at night with a transmitter near Galt, should cover the whole metro area all day. The CP has been assigned the calls KEGC. The CP is owned by KM COMMUNICATIONS, INC., the format will probably be Brokered Ethnic

KING/Seattle Transitions to Non-Com

Another Commericial Classical Station bites the dust, KING-FM 98.1 went Non-Com at midnight last night, becoming yet another Commericial Station to go away. However, unlike most of the others, KING got to keep its dial position.

I'm wondering if KDFC will find a South Bay Signal soon, I've listened to KDFC lately, and I'd say that besides the signal problems, Its a better station now.

I guess there's not much of a future for Commericial Classical Formats, exept in a select few markets. It seems like its still profitable for Non-Comm's though

The end of KNRY?

Thanks to David Jackson on the Radio Info Boards for the tip via board posting

Their getting ready to pull the plug

Here's the statement from there website:

PLEASE HELP SAVE 'HISTORIC' AM 1240 KNRY

Hello, my name is Jim Vossen, 'former' General Manager of Historic AM 1240 KNRY
and 'former' Host of the "Monterey Bay Morning Show", heard weekday mornings 7 to 9.

On or about, May 1st, 2011, Joe Rosa, DBA People's Radio Inc. and owner of AM 1240 KNRY,
gave a 30-day notice to vacate the KNRY studios at 651 Cannery Row in Monterey, California.

Mr. Rosa's plans are to 'shut down' Historic AM 1240 KNRY
and remove everything including the KNRY transmitter.

As it stands right now, about $500,000 is needed for the purchasing of KNRY.

About $200,000 maybe available so far by a few concerned participants.

Another $300,000 is needed to fulfill this goal of purchasing and saving KNRY!

Can you 'help' or know someone who can?

For more information contact Jim Vossen at (800) 477-2149
or email him at Jim@montereyradio.com

Or write to: Jim Vossen
PO BOX 2555
Monterey, CA. 93942

Game Over in Portland?

Alpha Broadcasting, owner of FM Sports Talker 95.5 The Game has registered some web domains over the past few days that indicate a format change. Here are the domains registered, and the format they suggest:

955TheSound.com (Classic Rock/AAA)
Rewind955.com (70's/80's music)
Vibe955.com (Dance/CHR)
750TheGame.com (Suggests that Sports Format may move to 750AM, putting sister station KXL exclusively on 101.1FM)
Live955.com (Alternative)
955Jack.com (Adult Hits)
955LaRaza.com (Regional Mexican)
Click955.com (Hot AC/AAA Hybrid)
MyAlice955.com (Hot AC)
MyPower955.com (CHR)
MyQ955.com (CHR)
Sam955.com (Adult Hits)

Monterey Radio

Just Spent a few days in the area, and had a chance to listen to some of the stations down there, thought I'd post my observations

92.7 KTOM (country)- Liked the music, but it seemed like it was hooked up to a canned I Heart Radio format for most of the day. I listened In during the midday slot, and the jock made no reference to the station, but plenty of references to iheartradio.com! Also liked the Foggy Mountain Classic Country HD2 Station. I was plesantly surprised to find HD reception consistant and strong all over the area (unlike the Bay Area)

93.5/93.7 (Spanish)- Not knowing Spanish, I couldn't tell if this station was good or bad. All I know is that it consisted of two signals, 93.5 in Felton and 93.7 in Holister. What I did notice was the signal overlap, and just about everywhere I went in the area the signal was about the same everywhere I went

94.7 KRML (Jazz)- I noticed that KRML is now on FM thanks to a translator, good for them!

95.5 Bob FM (Adlt Hits)-New station, recently flipped from Classic Country as Hank FM, I liked what I heard, It'll be interesting to see how it does

Soft Rock 96.9 K-Wave (AC)-I don't listen to AC that Much, all I noticed is that they changed the branding from 97 The Wave FM

Z-97.9 (Oldies)- Another relatively new station, flipped from Rythemic CHR as Jammin 97.9, some good local jocks.

La Preciosa 100.7 y 100.9 (Span. Adlt Hits) I noticed that this station has two FM Traslators on 100.9 in Holister and Greenfield. I think they should make both of tohse signals FM Boosters on 100.7, make one of the Translators silent (probably the Holister signal) and apply for a CP to move the other one to a different frequency and a different city (either Monterey, Salinas, Moss Landing, or Castroville) and boost the power (to either 99 watts or 200 to 250 watts) From there they could either plug the translator into AM Talk sister station KION 1460, giving it an FM Home and a pretty big advantage over KSCO 1080 and KNRY(nobody listens to KNRY anyway) or relay an HD2, pretty much giving them a new radio station

101.7 The Beach (Hot AC/Alternative)- Interesting mix of Hot AC and Alternative music, with mostly syndicated jocks

102.5 KDON (Rythemic CHR)- One of my favorite stations in the area, good local jocks and good music

103.9 K-Bach (Classical)-One of very few commercial classical stations left in the country, runs off the World Classical Network, has some local programming

104.3 The Hippo (Classic Rock)-Good Variety of Music, and the jocks were okay

105.1 K-Ocean (Urban AC)- Reminded me of Mega 100.1 in Stockton, sounded pretty good to me

Didn't get a chance to listen to any AM stations

New York's New Translator/HD2 Combo Stunting

The new 106.3 in Times Square (relaying WTLW HD2) is stunting, playing a different canned I Heart Radio format a day, the new format will be announced on May 12. So far all signs point to Smooth Jazz/AC. I find the whole HD2/FM Translator combo trend very interesting.

Hi Everyone

Welcome to my first blog post, I have a great love for all broadcasting and will write random tidbits and my thoughts here, stay tuned!