August 2004 News Archive

August 31, 2004
Clear Channel is flipping several of its underperforming stations to liberal talk (with Air America and other programming), but it appears that their inclusion of Phil Hendrie with that was a one-off deal in Denver, as so far there's been no indication from the other markets (Columbus, OH; Philadelphia; etc.) that they will be bringing Hendrie on board.

It's been a quiet week for Hot Talkers (after a real frenzy of activity there for awhile). Howard Stern is on vacation all this week, which happens to coincide with the Republican National Convention taking place in New York City. Lex & Terry threw out the first pitch at last Friday's Marlins/Rockies game in Miami (which is a smart promotional tie-in since they are on WZTA in the South Florida area). And finally, Bubba The Love Sponge found out that his opponent for the November 2 Pinellas County, FL Sheriff election will be Jim Coats, who won his primary election yesterday (Bubba ran unopposed on the Democratic side, so he automatically advanced to the general election).

August 30, 2004
He didn't stay gone for long -- Phil Hendrie is back in Denver, as KKZN has flipped to liberal talk as "AM 760, Boulder's Progressive Talk" using a mix of Air America programming along with Hendrie's show in the 8-11 PM Mountain Time Zone slot. The station is streaming online, which is good for people wanting to catch Hendrie online.

August 28, 2004
Phil Hendrie said on his syndicated show that he would soon be on the "Air America station in Denver", which leads me to believe that he will soon be on what is now KKZN in the Denver market (which is currently stunting with President Bush speaking errors).

August 27, 2004
Bob & Tom have lost their Pensacola, FL clearance, as Cumulus has flipped WRRX (Rock 106) to an Urban AC format as Magic 106. The station previously served as Pensacola's home of the Lex & Terry show before L&T moved to crosstown WTKX-FM (which ultimately lead to a huge rift between the show and Cumulus, the owner of WRRX).

As mentioned before, Lex & Terry are finished in Wilmington, NC as of today due to NextMedia's decision to replace the show on WSFM with the Mad Max morning show.

In Houston, Don & Mike have been airing from 4-6 PM only... but that will soon change. Word out of Houston is that KIKK will drop the business talk currently airing from 2-4 PM and begin airing the show in its entirety from 2-6 PM Central beginning on September 29 (mid-week seems like an odd time to make that change, but that's what I'm told).

August 26, 2004
Fame sometimes comes with a price. Tom Leykis claims to have been assaulted outside of a bar in Seattle early Monday morning. According to the Seattle Times, Leykis said, "I was minding my own business. It was a person who knew who I was from the radio." Police reports reveal that Leykis says he was approached by three men, one of whom was angry over a name Leykis had called him on his syndicated radio show. A second man allegedly kicked Leykis in the face, knocking him down. Leykis says he needed 17 stitches from the attack; he's asking anyone with information about the attackers to call his office at (310) 840-4444.

Phil Hendrie has lost his Denver affiliate, as a shift at KHOW moves Dr. Laura into the 7-10 PM Mountain timeslot that Hendrie previously filled. However, this might be a temporary market loss, as Clear Channel says that it plans to add the liberal Air America Network to two top 25 markets (Denver falls into that category), filling the schedule with a mix of AA programming and some Premiere offerings... including Hendrie. Denver's KKZN draws anemic numbers (0.5 12+ in the Spring 2004 book) for Clear Channel and could be a likely candidate for a flip... so we'll see how it plays out.

August 25, 2004
It's been rather quiet in the world of Hot Talk as of late. The first numbers for the new Howard Stern stations have started rolling out in the Arbitron Summer 2004 Phase 1; some markets of particular interest include Orlando (where Stern was a dominant #1 on WTKS-FM; he's now on WOCL) and his two new large markets on the AM side, Tampa (WBZZ) and Houston (KIKK).

Opie & Anthony are going on a promotional tour in preparation of their debut on XM Channel 202, which is slated for October 4, 2004. They'll be visiting cities where their syndicated show previously aired. The first stop is this Saturday in Philadelphia, where the crew will greet fans at Dave & Busters from 1-3 PM. Philly was picked as the first stop because, according to an official release, "you bastards made us #1 as our first syndicated market!"

August 20, 2004
Howard Stern may be making a difference in the U.S. Presidential race. All Access reports that the latest Franklin & Marshall/CNN Keyshall Poll reveals that John Kerry holds a 48-42% lead on George W. Bush in Pennsylvania. The poll asked respondents if they listen to Stern (whose show airs in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and York), and 8% said yes. Of those, more than a quarter say Stern's support for Kerry makes them more likely to support his run for president. Both Stern and Bubba The Love Sponge have railed against President Bush for allowing the FCC crackdown on radio (though, it should be noted, the FCC is made up of both Democrats and Republicans and that Michael Copps, one of the most outspoken critics of alleged "indecent" broadcasts, is a Democrat).

August 19, 2004
There's bad news today for Lex & Terry fans in Wilmington, North Carolina. All Access reports that NextMedia, which recently acquired L&T affiliate WSFM (Surf 107.5), is jettisoning Lex & Terry in favor of the Mad Max morning show, which the company already airs on stations in Myrtle Beach, SC and Jacksonville, NC. WSFM is also moving dial positions from 107.5 to 98.3. This is just bad luck for Lex & Terry and not necessarily an indication of how they're doing in the market. When Bubba The Love Sponge was in terrestrial syndication (and my job with the show was handling syndication duties and recruiting new affiliates), I approached the two stations that carried Mad Max with a deal that called for dumping Mad Max and bringing Bubba's show in instead. There were some within NextMedia that saw how brilliant that would've been and pushed for my plan, but unfortunately the people with the power in the company wanted Mad Max and decided to keep him long-term. This time around, it's Lex & Terry who suffer as a result. On their official site, L&T are asking their listeners to contact other stations in the market to ask them to pick up the show.

Cable's Spike TV plans to produce a 13 episode animated series called Howard Stern: The High School Years. The show is scheduled to air in Summer 2005; Howard Stern will be the show's Executive Producer.

August 18, 2004
There are already grumblings out of the Howard Stern camp about the delays being put on the show by brand new affiliate WQAM Miami. Also, Stern apologized this morning for his show running excessively long yesterday; he made sure to be done with the program before 11 AM Eastern today.

August 17, 2004
Bubba The Love Sponge has finished a mini-TV tour in New York City. He taped an interview for Inside Edition yesterday, then appeared live on MSNBC's Deborah Norville Live last night before doing a live interview on ESPN2's Cold Pizza this morning.

Lex & Terry affiliate KRPX is back on the air (as of 8/13, according to All Access) following a tower fire that temporarily silenced the station.

August 16, 2004
Luckily Hurricane Charley missed us here in Tampa... but unfortunately other parts of the state were not as lucky. Parts north of Ft. Myers were hit very hard, and even Orlando took some damage from the storm. In other Florida news, Howard Stern debuted today on WQAM Miami.

Bob & Tom have gained another affiliate -- WIOL in Columbus, GA. That moves their total number of affiliates (by my count) to a whopping 145.

August 13, 2004
Hurricane Charley is heading right for where I live in Tampa, FL, so please be patient as far as updates go. I'm one of the lucky ones not in an evacuation zone, but electricity could be a very iffy thing come later on today (and beyond). My scheduled morning flight to Nashville was canceled (as were all Tampa/Nashville flight for today), so I'm stuck here for the duration.

For what it's worth, here's how radio stations in the Tampa/Sarasota area with Hot Talk handled the hurricane situation... WHPT pre-empted Lex & Terry for Hurricane Charley coverage. WXTB had the Monsters of the Morning, though with them being based in Orlando they based a great deal of their show on the Hurricane situation (Orlando isn't directly threatened, but there are people from all over Tampa Bay who were evacuated from their homes as of 6 AM, and many of them headed toward safer ground in Orlando). WBZZ ran Howard Stern and WTBT ran Bob & Tom as regularly scheduled. Local TV here has been going wall-to-wall with coverage of it (and it's been very demanding for those involved from what I've heard from friends who work at various stations in the area).

August 12, 2004
The FCC extortion of radio station ownership groups continues. Multiple media sources report that Emmis Communications has signed a consent decree with the FCC. Emmis will pay $300,000 to the U.S. Treasury and admit that some of the material it has broadcast in the past was "indecent". In exchange, the FCC drops all pending notices of apparent liability against Emmis (all of which involved Mancow) and dismisses all indecency-related investigations and complaints against Emmis. This presumably gets Emmis off the hook for the April 9, 2003 broadcast of the Howard Stern show that the FCC found objectionable (which aired on St. Louis' KPNT, Emmis' only station which airs Stern).

August 10, 2004
All Access reports that Lex & Terry's only Texas affiliate, Corpus Christi's KRPX, has been off the air since Friday evening due to a tower fire. The station (along with two others which use the same tower) will be off the air until Thursday at the earliest.

1330 KFH Wichita is moving down the dial, switching places with 1240 KNSS as of August 30. KFH carries Don & Mike, Phil Hendrie, and (on weekends) Tom Leykis. The move to 1240 is actually a downgrade for the station (1330 is a 5,000 watt Class B, while 1240 is a 630 watt Class C). However, 1240 has full Wichita market coverage, and moreover the station is simulcast in Wichita on 98.7 KFH-FM (which is a rimshot FM licensed to Clearwater, KS).

Finally, Active Rock WMMS in Cleveland has filled its vacant morning slot with a local morning show, so forget about any syndicated morning shows being brought in there anytime soon.

August 7, 2004
Here's an interesting conspiracy theory concerning the recent-dropped lawsuit by Mancow against "community activist" David Smith. The Indiana Radio Watch reports that Smith is now challenging the license renewal of News/Talk WIBC Indianapolis. As a mainstream news/talker, content isn't the issue in question... but the IRW reports that Smith believes that Emmis backed Mancow's lawsuit against him, and thus in his mind that makes Emmis unfit to be a licensee. Now I try to keep things objective on here (the Lex & Terry listings should be proof of that), but as a former employee of Emmis I find that claim by Smith, if true, to be horribly off-base. Emmis is one of the great companies in the radio biz in my opinion, and I have the upmost respect for Jeff Smulyan (the man who founded Emmis and built it into the media success it is today).

August 6, 2004
KDJE Little Rock appears to be angling toward bringing in a local morning show according to the station's listing on All Access. With incumbent regionally syndicated show Corey & Jay moving to cross-town Magic 105, it appeared that a slot would be opening for a program like Bob & Tom (who are already on in Fayetteville and Fort Smith, AR), especially since KDJE is a Clear Channel owned station. But the All Access listing seems to indicate that KDJE is looking to keep it local with its morning show.

A few more details on Opie & Anthony... It's confirmed that they will be doing their show from XM's new studios in New York City. Ironically, they will be located two blocks down on the SAME STREET that both Howard Stern and WNEW's studios are located.

August 5, 2004
Opie & Anthony have signed a deal with XM Satellite Radio. The duo are slated to debut on XM on October 4 (three days after their non-compete with Infinity in New York City expires). They will be carried on a special premium channel that will be offered for an additional $1.99/month (on top of the $9.99/month price that XM charges for subscription service). At this point, there's no word of any other shows that will be joining O&A on that subscription-only channel. Click here to read the official press release (where XM's CEO draws comparisons with his company and HBO).

There has been much talk about the Defense spending bill and the amendment that Senator Sam Brownback tried to tack onto it in the Senate. But after looking closely at the final piece of legislation that President Bush signed into law today, I don't see anything regarding the FCC, indecency or anything along those lines. Thank god. Do a search in the document for "FCC" or "indecency" and nothing should come up.

Click here to read the text of the Defense spending bill in its entirety.

August 4, 2004
FMQB reports that sources close to Opie & Anthony have revealed to the publication that the duo will announce tomorrow that they have signed a deal with XM Satellite Radio. FMQB notes that it's a "curious coincidence" that Opie & Anthony are making their announcement at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York, which is right across the street from XM's NYC studios and offices. If the XM rumors are true, don't expect a start date prior to October 1 due to the non-compete that the duo have in New York City due to their contract with Infinity Broadcasting.

In other news, there's been a great deal of talk surrounding this memo, which was allegedly written by a Clear Channel Miami employee. I wasn't going to post anything on this, but I've received enough e-mail on it that I suppose it's worth addressing on here. The memo addresses how the CC sales staff plans to approach the impending debut of Howard Stern on WQAM. The memo is located on Neil Rogers' website; interestingly, WQAM now says that it will carry Stern's show in its entirety, even if it means delaying the start of Rogers' show (which it would on almost a daily basis, as Stern seldom finishes before 10 AM Eastern).

August 3, 2004
Radio Ink reports that Mancow has dropped his $3 million federal lawsuit against so-called "decency advocate" David Smith, who has filed numerous FCC complaints against the Chicago-based radio personality. The judge in the case claimed that the lawsuit was "frivolous and insubstantial" and remanded it to state court (which lead to Mancow dropping the suit).

New Phil Hendrie affiliate 730 WSCC is now being simulcast on 94.3 FM (WSSP) in the Charleston, SC market (under the leadership of PD Richard Bachschmidt, who recent came to the station from FM Talker WWTN in Nashville).

August 2, 2004
Opie & Anthony announced late tonight that they have a major event planned at the New York City Hard Rock Cafe this Thursday at Noon. O&A are hinting that they'll make a big announcement concerning their broadcasting future at the event. Click here to find out more.

The Phil Hendrie page has received a much-needed update. There are some affiliates without webpages, leaving me unable to verify if in fact the station still carries the show (and if so, what time). If you find any errors, please let me know.

August 1, 2004
The Tennessean reports that there's an interesting fight brewing in federal court between the Cromwell Group and Clear Channel over use of the name "The Buzz". Cromwell filed a federal trademark for the "Buzz" name in 2000; it rebranded Nashville's WZPC as "102-9 The Buzz" when it flipped from country to modern rock in April 1999 (the station at that point was notable as the only country-formatted station in the country that carried the Bob & Tom show, which it retained in the flip to modern rock). Clear Channel is challenging Cromwell's trademark, noting that other stations have used the name as early as 1993 (and it was nearly the name chosen for what became WTKS "Real Radio 104.1" in Orlando).

There are a number of stations across the country that use the "Buzz" name in modern times, with the most recent addition being Tampa's WBZZ (which debuted just last month).

Full News Archive
July 2004 News/September 2004 News

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