June 2005 News Archive
June 2, 2005
Phil Hendrie has landed a major FM clearance in Houston, with brand new FM news/talker FM News Channel 97.5 (KFNC) putting Hendrie on from 7-10 PM Central (tape delayed from the day before).
June 14, 2005
The Tom Leykis page is updated to reflect that KQBZ in Seattle (which carries his show live) now streams online. The station also has a number of local hot talk shows, so if you want to hear what they have to offer, now you can.
There haven't been many updates on here as of late, but that's because there haven't been many moves made as of late in the Hot Talk biz. Both Mancow and Lex & Terry have advertised hard in the trades, but I can tell you first-hand just how hard it is to sell syndicated morning radio. My take is that most stations are waiting to see what happens when Howard Stern goes to Sirius Satellite Radio at the end of 2005.
June 15, 2005
1450 WKXL in Concord, NH has dropped Don & Mike, pushing the show to below 30 affiliates, according to our records.
June 16, 2005
Star & Buc Wild have landed a new market, as the New York based duo are replacing mix show experts The Baka Boyz in morning drive on 103.5 The Beat (WMIB) in Miami effective June 27.
Good news for Don & Mike fans, as the show is slated to begin streaming online on Tuesday, June 21. Of course, savvy readers of this website have known about alternate ways to hear their broadcasts through renegade affiliates that have streamed it online (and still do), but an official, Infinity/WW1 approved stream will be good news for all involved. It's possible that streaming might be a go for Ron & Fez as well, though from all indications those two are XM-bound as soon as they are contractually able to go there.
Self-promotion time: I redesigned the Bubba The Love Sponge official website, which is at BTLS.com. Go check it out; it's worth your time to give it a once-over. If you've never heard the Bubba vs. Warren Sapp telephone call, you really should give that a listen (there's a link to it from the main page at the bottom).
For what it's worth, it's because of this webpage (back when it was merely a subpage on LouPickney.com) that Bubba initially found me in 2002 and ultimately hired me in 2003, initially as his affiliate relations director/head of syndication (pick whatever title you want). When the show went on hiatus, my role changed, and now I'm a producer/webmaster/merchandise coordinator for the show.
June 20, 2005
The Bob & Tom page has been updated to reflect that WPFX-FM (107.7 The Fox) in Findlay, OH has dropped the show. As you might have noticed, it's been slim pickings for syndicated shows being picked up anywhere, even for a show as widespread as Bob & Tom with the backing of Premiere. Times are tough in this era of FCC bully tactics and radio stations having (understandable) paranoia.
The latest about the webstreaming from WJFK-FM is that it will include Don & Mike and The Junkies, but not Ron & Fez. However, I haven't heard that definitively, so I suppose we'll find out for sure tomorrow, when the webstreaming is slated to begin.
June 22, 2005
Infinity Broadcasting has begun streaming for many of its Hot Talk stations, which are streaming at certain times of the day. You won't get to hear Howard Stern online, but Steve Dahl now streams from WCKG's website, for example. Perhaps the biggest one is WJFK-FM, which now streams The Junkies, Don & Mike and Ron & Fez.
Speaking of WCKG, the station has added John & Jeff from 1-4 AM Central, which is a major coup for the Los Angeles-based duo.
Howard Stern and E! Television will end their 11 year run of producing new television shows as of July 1. Stern announced the news on his show this week, and the various trades have backed that up. FMQB reports that the entire 15 person crew that produces the E! show will be let go in the move. The final original Stern E! show will air on July 8, though Stern indicated on the air that E! will continue to air reruns through the end of the year. Stern indicated that he owns the rights to the E! shows, unlike his old WWOR-TV shows from the early 90s (which have earned legendary status through the years, with tape traders paying big money for videotapes of the old shows). Stern hinted that he will make an announcement about a new television deal (presumably for when he moves to Sirius in 2006) in the next couple of weeks, but he is holding off for now until his run with E! reaches a conclusion. Despite airing in a late-night timeslot, Stern regularly has the highest ratings of any program that airs on E!
June 26, 2005
Tom Leykis has lost his only affiliate in New Mexico, 1050 KTBL in Albuquerque.
June 27, 2005
Today's Wall Street Journal has this interesting article about what stations that currently carry the Howard Stern show are going to do about their morning drive positions once Stern leaves for Sirius satellite radio at the end of the year. There are some major distortions about Mancow in there: he doesn't have 18 affiliates; he has 10. And he hasn't doubled his affiliates since joining with TRN-FM; in fact, since joining with TRN-FM, Mancow hasn't landed a single new FM affiliate (though he did land a major affiliate in KLAC Los Angeles). Don't take this as an attack on Mancow (that's not the purpose of this site), but if misinformation is going to be given out to major publications of record and be published as provided, I'm going to correct it on here.
June 30, 2005
Bob & Tom have landed a new affiliate: the brand new 94.9 The Zoo (KTZU) in the Minot, ND market. The station just signed on the air on June 23.
Lex & Terry are gone from Corpus Christi, as 107.3 The X (KRPX) flipped formats from Active Rock to Classic Hits as 107.3 Jake FM.
Full News Archive
May 2005 News/July 2005 News
This site is owned and maintained by Lou Pickney. E-mail LouPickney@gmail.com with any corrections or updates.
|
