January 2005 News Archive
January 31, 2005
The two stations that Infinity switched to FM Hot Talk in July 2004 have both now reverted to their previous identities. After "The Coyote 104.3" in Austin switched back to "The Beat 104.3" last week, Fresno's KKDG "105.9 The Edge" today returned to its "Viva 106" Spanish music presentation. However, as in the Austin situation, KKDG will be retaining the Howard Stern show from 3-11 AM PST. Radio & Records reports that KKDG "will continue to carry The Howard Stern Show for a couple of weeks, due to legal considerations." However, FMQB and Viva106.com both say that Stern will remain on the station, with no indication of any sort of early end date (prior to the end of Stern's deal with Infinity). The format change knocks Don & Mike, Tom Leykis and John & Jeff out of the Fresno market.
January 28, 2005
As predicted, WXYV (Live 105.7) Baltimore has changed its call letters to WHFS. The old WHFS on the 99.1 signal (El Zol 99.1) is now WZLL.
According to FMQB, Tom Leykis is launching a new two-hour show on Saturdays called The Tasting Room. It will begin locally in Los Angeles on KLSX tomorrow (1/29/2005) from 3-5 PM PST, but it will eventually be syndicated via Westwood One (the same company that syndicates Leykis' weekday afternoon/evening talk program).
January 27, 2004
Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin is predicting in public that many of the main advertisers of the Howard Stern show will follow him to Sirius. According to the New York Daily News, Karmazin intends to make Sirius much more aggressive on the advertising side of things so that when Stern debuts, Sirius will already have a working relationship in place with his traditional advertisers. Also, Karmazin has openly denied rumors that Sirius and XM are in merger talks.
Word out of Washington, DC is that El Zol 99.1 (WHFS) will change its call letters to WZLL, further fueling speculation that the WHFS calls will be transferred to WXYV (Live 105.7) in Baltimore. Also, in a correction from earlier speculation, The Junkies will NOT have their midday show from WJFK-FM simulcast on WXYV... at least for now. With the Junkies stymied on their Baltimore clearance, and Out To Lunch (aka Steve & Miles) headed to nights at KQBZ Seattle from middays on WXYV, there's no word on what will be filling the after Stern-3 PM slot.
January 25, 2004
Phil Hendrie is about to lose his live clearance in Seattle. Entercom's KQBZ (100.7 The Buzz) is bringing in Steve & Miles from Baltimore's WXYV (Live 105.7) effective 2/7/2005 to fill the 7-11 PM timeslot, replacing Hendrie. This was one of those rare situations where Tom Leykis and Hendrie were carried back-to-back live, but now KQBZ will be live and local at night. Hendrie won't even get a tape-delayed clearance on the station, as KQBZ will follow Steve & Miles with All Comedy Radio from 11 PM-5 AM.
January 24, 2004
Infinity hot talk KOYT "The Coyote 104.3" has flipped formats, returning to the hip hop format it previously held as "The Beat 104.3" (with new calls KXBT). The station retains Howard Stern for mornings -- it was his expansion in mid-2004 which lead to the demise of the old KQBT incarnation of The Beat, as Infinity flipped the station to hot talk, only to see the numbers fall hard. This ends the experiment of Russ Martin being in another market (he's based in Dallas) as well as the Austin clearance of Tom Leykis (who aired live there) and Don & Mike (who aired on a tape delay from 10 PM-2 AM). Look for Stern to remain on there through the duration of his time with Infinity, giving KXBT plenty of time to line up a new morning show.
January 21, 2004
Federal Communications Commission Preisdent Michael Powell has turned in his resignation, effective March 4, 2005. His successor has not yet been named. It's believed that Powell's decision to leave is due to disagreements with the Bush administration over the telecom industry. Powell has faced widespread attack over the FCC's crackdown on edgy content in the past 12 months, but don't expect major changes in that regard -- especially with Michael Copps still on board with the FCC.
WXYV is adding WHFS music programming to its lineup (and it wouldn't surprise me to see the call letters migrate there eventually), knocking out Ron & Fez and shifting Tom Leykis to the graveyard 3-6 AM shift. The WHFS modern rock music will run from 7 PM-3 AM weekdays, and then all day on weekends. It should be somewhat similar to the music mixed in on weekends on WTKS-FM in Orlando. As for Ron & Fez, they still air in DC and Tampa for the moment, but I imagine they'll get the afternoon drive slot when/if Don & Mike move to mornings.
January 20, 2004
Not again! Howard Stern has lost another affiliate, this time WLXO in the Lexington market, which replaced Stern with Don Imus. The station, branded as "Super Talk 96.1", has mostly political programs (G. Gordon Liddy, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, etc.) FMQB reports that WLXO's contract with Stern was scheduled to expire next month. By my math, Stern's market count is now down to 39...
This site has added the Star & Buc Wild morning show to the list. While it is an urban-oriented show, it is without question a program that falls under the "hot talk" category. The program airs on Clear Channel stations in a few markets (including New York City and Philadelphia), but it is slated for national penetration via Music Choice (not to mention further distribution within Clear Channel and eventual syndication). This article from the Hartford Advocate explains a bit about the edgy nature of the show. Ironically, their affiliate in Hartford, Power 104.1, used to be an affiliate of Bubba The Love Sponge.
Mancow has made his interview with Talkers Magazine available as a free .pdf download on his website. Click here to read it.
January 18, 2004
There's a very interesting article about the state of the Hot Talk industry available here from Billboard Radio Monitor. Perhaps the most intriguing revelation in the article is that Infinity is considering Chris Rock, Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla as a replacement for Howard Stern. Kimmel seems highly doubtful considering his gig on ABC (which the article addresses); my money is on Carolla at this point.
Also, Talk Radio Network's Mark Masters (the CEO of the company), who is marketing Mancow, claims that he received 39 "unsolicited inquiries", with a near equal number from Stern affiliates and non-Stern stations. Masters predicted Mancow would clear the majority of the Top 10 markets (meaning he'd need 5 more for a majority of 6; he's based out of Chicago) and that Mancow would eventually have "triple the number of Stern affiliates", meaning Mancow would need to reach more than 120 markets.
What is also interesting is that the article claims that Premiere is shopping Bob & Tom as an option. The article cites Bob & Tom being tied with Stern in Men 18-34 in Cincinnati. It overlooks situations where Stern smokes B&T in that demo, like West Palm Beach and Ft. Myers (at least from the books that I saw from there back when Bubba The Love Sponge was in syndication). The article even briefly addresses Opie & Anthony and their experimental use in mornings in Syracuse. Conspicuous by their absense are Lex & Terry, who are not addressed at all in the article.
January 17, 2004
The Junkies are set to return to WJFK-FM tomorrow, January 18, where they will take over the midday timeslot (after Howard Stern-2 PM). The show, which once aired at nights on WJFK-FM, most recently was the morning drive show on WHFS (which flipped to Spanish last week and is NOT coming back in a modern rock incarnation). Moreover, with Baltimore's Live 105.7 (WXYV) about to lose its midday show, Out To Lunch, to KQBZ Seattle, it is quite possible that the Junkies could air in both DC and Baltimore, a la Ron & Fez.
Lex & Terry have taken their website "dark" for a week and encouraged their listeners to instead donate to the victims of last month's deadly tsunami in southeast Asia.
January 13, 2004
I didn't note this yesterday, but the 1/12/2005 flip of WHFS (licensed to Annapolis, MD, but reaching both DC and Baltimore) from modern rock to Spanish is yet another legacy rock station that has been blown up in favor of Spanish. This would seem to save WWDC-FM (DC101) from that fate, as had been rumored.
I mention this because there are rumors that Infinity is not finished shuffling the deck in DC. I'm told that none of the HFS staff has been fired, and this is notable mostly because of the morning show, The Sports Junkies. That show formerly aired on WJFK-FM, and it's possible that it could be shifted back to the FM talker when the long-rumored Don & Mike move to mornings happens. There's also been talk of WHFS' modern rock format moving to 106.7 and WJFK-FM moving to 94.7 (killing off The Arrow, Infinity's struggling classic rocker), but that is merely speculation. But it's not without base; WHFS dropped all references to Baltimore in the past month or so, which would lead one to believe that it could return as a DC-only station. The 99.1 signal is the only one on FM that reaches both DC and Baltimore, and it makes sense that Infinity would want to put the Spanish format there to give it penetration into both markets.
January 12, 2004
Tom Leykis is getting into the TV game, as the Los Angeles-based radio host has signed on for co-hosting duties on the GSN cable network show Poker Royale: Battle of the Sexes. He will host the show with former MTV VJ Kennedy (you might remember her from Alternative Nation from the mid-to-late 90s, or from CBS' inexplicable decision to have her as a reporter at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan).
Two new affiliates have signed on with Bob & Tom. They are NextMedia's classic rocker WRXQ (which covers Morris, IL and the southern part of Joliet, IL -- as a rimshot it reaches the southwestern fringe of the Chicago suburbs) and Mountain Wireless' classic hits WCTB in Fairfield, ME. This makes the second market in Maine for Bob & Tom (the other being Bangor).
January 10, 2004
I've finally added a new mailbag entry, this one dealing with a question pertaining to Miami radio personality Neil Rogers. As I did a little research on the article, I noticed that the announcement of Rogers' contract extension and Beasley Broadcasting's decision to drop Howard Stern from WQAM came on the same day. Coincidence? Considering how outspoken Rogers was against Stern, and the myriad of other factors involved, I somehow think not.
January 7, 2004
Finally, some good news from the FCC. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said today at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show that the commission is not interested in imposing content-related restrictions on satellite radio.
Also from the CES comes another Howard Stern rumor, this one involving Infinity/Viacom receiving a Sirius stock payout in exchange for letting Stern out of his contract early. To his credit, Stern has been very consistent in saying that he intends to work out the remainder of his contract with Infinty.
January 6, 2005
In Congress, the anti-indecency types are hoping that their election year power play that put a freeze on anything remotely edgy in radio in 2004 will continue in 2005. Michigan House of Representatives member Fred Upton (R) announced that he plans to reintroduce his failed bill from last year that would boost the FCC's minimum fine amount from $32,500 to $500,000 and also allow individual performers and talents to be fined. In the Senate, Sam Brownback (R) of Kansas, who was re-elected this past November, said he has plans to put forth a similar bill. Upton's bill nearly made it through last year, though luckily it was dashed when it was removed from a defense spending bill (where it clearly had no business being included).
January 5, 2005
Bob & Tom have retained their clearance in Pittsburgh, as WRRK kept the show in mornings as it rebranded from "Channel 97" to "The New 97 RRK". The station remains a classic rocker, though it will now delve into deep cuts of classic rock artists.
January 4, 2005
It's been a tough week for Howard Stern affiliates. After the Citadel drop from yesterday, word came out today that WQAM Miami, which had carried the show only since August 16, 2004, would drop Stern as of January 10. WQAM appears to be reverting back toward being more sports-oriented; however, Beasley (owner of WQAM) is retaining Stern on WRXK-FM in Ft. Myers (which it also owns).
January 3, 2005
After nearly a year of a free-fall ratings drop, Tampa Bay's WXTB (98 Rock) has made a change with its morning show. The station, formerly the flagship for Bubba The Love Sponge until February 2004, has dropped the Orlando-based Monsters of the Morning in favor of a music-oriented morning show.
KSFN in Las Vegas, which has rebranded as "Spike 1140", has retained its national talk programs. After local mornings, Phil Hendrie still runs on a 14 hour delay from 9 AM-noon; Don & Mike are on live from noon-4 PM; Tom Leykis airs live from 4-7 PM; Phil Hendrie airs live from 7-10 PM (giving him a live clearance in the market); Loveline runs 10 PM-midnight. Sporting News Radio runs in overnights. So far this is the only station in Infinity/Viacom to use the "Spike" name (which has the same name and logo design as the Spike TV cable channel, also owned by Viacom), but it is possible that this sort of branding might spread to other stations, much like Infinity used the "Live" name with many of its FM talkers in the past couple of years.
It appears that the end is here for the tumultuous-at-best working relationship between Howard Stern and Citadel. The Citadel stations did not carry Stern's "best of" shows during the two-week Christmas vacation, and this morning they didn't have Stern on with his first new show of 2005. 95X (WAQX) in Syracuse appears to be continuing its run of the Opie & Anthony show from XM, edited for radio on a one-day delay. In response, Stern made fun of Citadel's CEO (Farid Suleman), saying that he was the person responsible for the direction taken by Stern's now-former Citadel affiliates.
January 1, 2005
Happy New Year to you all. 2004 was a tumultuous year for the Hot Talk industry, in large part due to the FCC crackdown on "indecent" broadcasts, and it will be very interesting to see how things play out in 2005. Many questions remain: when/if Don & Mike move to mornings on WJFK-FM, what other stations will bring them along for the ride? Will Howard Stern and Infinity last together through the year? Which satellite service will Bubba The Love Sponge sign with? Will Lex & Terry jump from Cox to Clear Channel, and if so how will their distribution be handled versus their chief competitor at this point, Bob & Tom (which is distributed by Premiere)? And will the Talk Radio Network be able to start the expansion of Mancow into new markets? I suppose only time will tell with many of these questions, but it should be fun to find out.
The start of a new year is often the time for a change to take place in radio. This year is no exception; KSFN (which carries both Don & Mike and Phil Hendrie) in Las Vegas has rebranded from "Hot Talk 1140" to "Spike 1140". The station has released one-half of its local morning show (radio veteran Jim Tofte) and will retain the other half, Ken Johnson, for a local morning show called The Big Johnson Show. The rest of the station's programming remains to be seen.
Full News Archive
December 2004 News/February 2005 News
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