October 2004 News Archive
October 29, 2004
Bob & Tom have lost their San Jose clearance, as KSJO (a 36 year heritage rock station) flipped to Spanish oldies at 7 PM Pacific time last night. The writing was on the wall as of last month, when former simulcast partner KFJO (which covered an area northeast of San Francisco) flipped to standards. Bob & Tom debuted on KSJO in May, when The Mikey Show (which formerly filled mornings on the station) moved to KIOZ in San Diego, filling the spot vacated by Clear Channel's removal of Howard Stern from the morning slot there.
October 27, 2004
I've transcribed the entire Howard Stern vs. Michael Powell from the Ronn Owens show on KGO in San Francisco. Click here to read the full transcript of the 12:50 segment.
October 26, 2004
Infinity is now using its delay feature for more than just potential indecency complaints against Howard Stern; now the company is cutting out all references to "Sirius" by Stern at the source of show, his flagship station WXRK, by using the delay button.
Speaking of Stern, he and FCC Commissioner Michael Powell had a one-on-one verbal confrontation on San Francisco's KGO this morning. FMQB has a recap of the broadcast here. Stern made some excellent points, including calling out Powell on the hypocrisy that exists within the FCC and the inspired line: "I think it is a sad day though when the marketplace no longer determines what is indecent."
October 21, 2004
Howard Stern announced on his show this morning that his affiliate in Atlantic City, WJSE, has renewed his show for the remaining time he has left on his deal with Infinity (the station's five-year deal with Stern recently expired).
It's worth noting for Don & Mike and Tom Leykis fans that the shows can still be heard online via WURP (their Pittsburgh affiliates), though the server fills up quickly...
Bob & Tom have corrected their website to reflect that they picked up WBWR along with WBRW in the Blacksburg/Roanoke, VA market.
October 18, 2004
Bob & Tom have signed another two affiliates. The latest are KXRR (X106) in Monroe, LA and WBRW (105.3 The Bear) in Roanoke, VA, which used to be a Lex & Terry affiliate before Cumulus purchased the station earlier this year. Information on WBRW is tough to come by, but according to the FCC's website, WBWR (the station's former simulcast partner) is now "Licensed and Silent".
October 15, 2004
Howard Stern is now banning talk of Sirius and satellite radio in general from his program, thanks to the backlash from affiliates and programmers who are none too pleased about Stern's impending departure to Sirius and about him using airtime on his current syndicated program to discuss the issue. Stern has even been cutting off callers who bring up the subject, and he has retracted his prediction that "AM and FM radio are dead." At least for now.
Don & Mike made some public comments on their show yesterday (and Wednesday for that matter) concerning the firing of "Big" Don O'Brien from WQSR in Baltimore. This lead to their Baltimore affiliate, Live 105.7 (WXYV), cutting out from the show to air a promo and then a commercial break versus allowing D&M to call for one of its sister stations to rehire a recently dismissed employee. There are "fake feuds" in radio from time to time, but I get every impression that this was a 100% shoot.
October 14, 2004
FMQB's website has a nice collection of quotes from program directors and managers from the radio biz concerning the issue of Infinity allowing Howard Stern to serve out the final 14½ months of his contract with the company. I think the most interesting quote comes from the PD of KPNT, Stern's affiliate in St. Louis (owned by Emmis), who doesn't want "an infomercial for Sirius for the next 15 months."
October 13, 2004
Salt Lake City's KALL has flipped to sports. That brings an end to Clear Channel's only affiliate to carry the Tom Leykis show, and also ends online streaming for both Leykis and Don & Mike (who also lost their Salt Lake City clearance in the move).
In the debut of the Radio Hot Talk mailbag, I answer a question regarding the possibility of Lex & Terry catching Bob & Tom in the category of total number of affiliates.
October 12, 2004
Radio-Info.com has debuted a Hot Talk message board. I've been named the moderator of that board, and you can look for some co-promotion between there and RadioHotTalk.com.
October 11, 2004
Howard Stern has toned down his references to Sirius (where he will broadcast on beginning in January 2006), instead referring to it more as "satellite" radio.
In the trades, Lex & Terry have been playing up that KOOJ (Baton Rouge market) is their first Citadel-owned affiliate to sign with. That actually has some potential for them, as Citadel has already expressed public displeasure with Stern's discussions about Sirius. Moreover, Citadel has stations in former L&T markets (New Orleans and Nashville, for example) that could make for some interesting partnerships.
October 8, 2004
Howard Stern (and more precisely, his crew) dropped the first hint this morning on who else might be joining him on Sirius. Stern alluded to one particular major talent, and Robin Quivers mentioned that he's "known to use a lot of carny." Artie Lange then said "Two words: Love Sponge." I'm close to the situation, so let me say this: Bubba has not yet signed anywhere, but he is now in *very* high demand with Stern shaking the radio world with his move to Sirius earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Stern might face problems from his discussions about Sirius on his current show. Citadel COO Judy Ellis mentioned during an NAB session yesterday that she plans to charge Stern for "all of the minutes he's spent outside of his allotted ad time talking about Sirius." Citadel airs Stern on WAQX (Syracuse, NY); WQXA-FM (York, PA); WKKB (New Beford, MA); and WBBL (Grand Rapids, MI). Stern is also feeling internal pressure at his flagship station, WXRK, to keep his talk about Sirius to a minimum.
The FCC indecency provisions have been stripped from the Defense Authorization Bill that is being negotiated by the House-Senate conferece committee. The main reason is because of a demand by some Senators that media-ownership limits be included with any indecency rule changes. This has nothing to do with Defense spending, of course, but this is how politics works in DC.
Lex & Terry have signed a contract extension with WRUF-FM, their affiliate in Gainesville, FL. Also, they've signed on with KOOJ in Baton Rouge, LA.
October 7, 2004
The news of Howard Stern migrating to Sirius satellite radio continues to make waves throughout the industry. In a prepared statement, Infinity expressed enjoyment for its years with Stern and said, "We wish [Stern] well in his new foray into the world of pay subscription radio, beginning in 2006." Now comes the tricky part for Infinity -- figuring out who will replace Stern on all of its O&O stations that currently carry him.
Also, you might notice that the Phil Hendrie page has finally been updated to reflect the fact that the show now runs live from 10 PM-1 AM Eastern time. The change happened in January 2004, but it wasn't exactly promoted very much and here in Tampa we had Devil Rays baseball pre-empting it all the time (until finally now). The reason for the switch is that KFI, Hendrie's flagship station, moved his show from 4-7 PM Pacific to 7-10 PM Pacific a couple of years back (the first hour of the feed is a "best of" hour), but with it being in syndication the powers that be kept it in tape delay for Los Angeles at first (which is an unusual situation). But with the switch, markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc. now get it live. The downside is that instead of a 3 hour delay like they used to have, markets that run it from 6-10 PM Eastern now have it on a 21 hour delay (not to mention XM 152, which is in the same situation). But such is life in the syndication game.
October 6, 2004
Howard Stern is heading to Sirius Satellite Radio as of January 1, 2006. He made the announcement on his show this morning. The move comes as a major blow to Infinity Broadcasting, which attempted to placate Stern by putting him on in several new markets this summer, including five of the six markets where Clear Channel had dropped him earlier this year.
As for now, Stern will continue to air on his current terrestrial affiliates, though it will be interesting to see how long that lasts. KHWD (Howard 93.7) in Sacramento based its entire imaging and name around having Stern in the morning, so clearly some things will be changing between now and the end of 2005.
Sirius is coughing up $500 million over five years to secure the rights to Stern. This link from the Smoking Gun provides the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Form 8-K report regarding the move.
October 5, 2004
Somebody at Premiere Radio is going to be earning a healthy bonus... Why? Because the Bob & Tom expansion continues at an incredibly rapid pace. The latest sign-ups: KHIP (covering Salinas, CA and the area south of San Jose); KSNQ in Twin Falls, Idaho; and KDEZ in Jonesboro, Arkansas (displacing John Boy & Billy). That moves Bob & Tom up to 150 affiliate nationwide.
October 4, 2004
Opie & Anthony debuted on XM Satellite Radio today with their premium "High Voltage" Channel 202. This article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer tells an interesting story about O&A, including their strong success in Cleveland from their Westwood One syndication days (July 2001-August 2002).
October 1, 2004
It's two days and two new Class A California affiliates for Bob & Tom, who are the new morning show for Classic Hits KHPO (Hippo 106.3) in Merced, CA. The station actually fills a coverage hole between KJFX in Fresno and KHKK in Modesto. And when you factor in KSJO (San Jose), Bob & Tom have that section of northern California blanketed.
Let freedom ring for Opie & Anthony, as their New York City non-compete with Infinity has officially expired. At 12:01 AM Eastern this morning, XM ran the recently recorded "Opie & Anthony Ungagged" special on some of its channels as a teaser/promotion for the show's forthcoming debut on "XM High Voltage (Channel 202)", which is set for Monday, October 4.
Full News Archive
September 2004 News/November 2004 News
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