National Radio Wires (12-7-02)

Kurt Hanson
New plan, old passion make time right for Grooveradio relaunch

From the Orange County Weekly: "It should have felt like a lead-packed sucker punch, but Swedish Egil didn't yelp. He was too muchLink: Groove Radio of a gentleman to make a big fuss about it.

"Radio behemoth Clear Channel had just pulled the plug on his dream gig: running Internet radio station grooveradio.com...But he'll be taking his chances again when he re-launches grooveradio.com this December. Why?

"'I'm not sitting down, trying to do some frickin' research to see how I can make the most amount of money and toPhoto: Swedish Egil see where I can get the biggest audience...That would be some form of adult contemporary, and I'm not interested in that. It's not about the money.'..

"Though Egil is supporting his new grooveradio.com with sponsorships, ads and his own cash, his strongest card may be his pugnacious faith in dance music, which is rooted in having one of his first ideas for a dance-music show torpedoed in the mid-1970s. Egil had raised the roof at a rock club by playing what is now called urban music. He asked his boss, a DJ named Eric Chase, why they couldn't play that music more often. Chase said the format would never work.

"'And because he said it would never work, it became my mission to prove him wrong,' Egil remembers. 'I still talk to himLink: OC Weekly story today.' Oh, yeah? And what does Chase do now? 'He's my voice-over guy for grooveradio.com,' Egil says with a grin."

Read this entire story in the Orange County Weekly here. The photo of Swedish Egil is from that publication.

San Diego Radio Wires 12-07-02

Mike Cook's sneaks in some questions for his Hooked on Trivia Show. If you want to be spoiled, go to sdradio.net.

San Diego Radio Wires 12-07-02

John Maffei - North County Times TV/Sports
There is a good chance some of the people caught in the merger between XTRA Radio (690) and KXTA (1150) will be brought back ---- at least on a part-time basis. John Kentera is at the top of the list of people XTRA management would like to retain.

A lightning strike last Friday knocked all the Clear Channel stations in San Diego off the air for more than an hour. It also knocked out most of the computers in Clear Channel's building near Qualcomm Stadium. Editor's note: the transmitters run by Clear Channel were still broadcasting, but dead air, due to the fact that there was no signal via microwave or phone line coming from the CCSD building to the transmitters scattered all over the San Diego Outland and Tijuana (except for 91X and 92.5).

Lee Hamilton and Kentera, who are on the road with the San Diego State football team, will do their XTRA shows tonight from the team hotel in Hawaii.

Ben Higgins of KOGO Radio (600) has been filling in at Channel 10. He was excellent last Saturday. With Jeff Cawley and Julie Browman scheduled for vacations in December, Higgins will get more air time at Channel 10.

Kevin Harlan, Randy Cross and Beasley Reece will work Sunday's Raiders-Chargers game for CBS. Marcus Allen will have a feature on the Chargers on the CBS pregame show that kicks off at 9 a.m. The game will also be carried on radio nationally, with Dave Sims and Jack Ham calling the action on KNX (1070). Kickoff is 1 p.m.

San Diego State's final football game of the season will be carried on Fox Sports Net 2, which isn't available in most parts of San Diego. So XTRA (690) will be the only way to track the action. Kickoff is 8 p.m.

Jay Posner - TV/Radio Sports - The San Diego Union
Football fever... Finally, I thought, this would be the Sunday we could watch Michael Vick on TV. Surely XETV Channel 6 would air the showdown between possibly the two best teams in the league, Atlanta and Tampa Bay. . . Then again . . . Would you believe San Francisco vs. Dallas? (say what?) "It was a tough call," said Richard Doutre Jones, vice president and general manager of Bay City Television, which operates XETV Channel 6. "But we get more feedback about the Niners than we do about Atlanta and Tampa. "There is a connection with Vick; he could have been (the Chargers') quarterback . . . I don't know if it's the right call, but it seemed like it." There's no way to quantify whether Jones' call is the right one, although I get the feeling curiosity about Vick is very high right now. Higher than interest in the 49ers-Cowboys.

XTRA uncertainty... Considering everyone's operating under the assumption the "new" XTRA will debut Dec. 16, details regarding the merger remain remarkably scarce. And not just any details, either. There still has been no official word on the launch date, the lineup, the station name . . . that kind of "minor" stuff.

Steve Hartman and Bill Werndl were told this week what everyone assumed all along: They will host the noon-3 p.m. show. But they weren't told the identity of their producer, when the new time slot will take effect or even how long they'll be allowed to do the show from San Diego.

Hartman-Werndl and Lee Hamilton (3-7 p.m.) will be the only non-syndicated shows on the new station. Tony Bruno (5-9 a.m.) and Jim Rome (9-noon) will start the day, and JT the Brick (7-11 p.m.) will lead into overnight programming from Fox Sports Radio.

Most of XTRA's other employees remain in limbo, uncertain when their tenures will end. It's probably too much to hope that KFMB-AM would pick up one of them to replace the amateurish Kyle Kraska on "Chargers Insider."

The Jingle Ball auction raised over 152,000 dollars this week. The proceeds will go to Becky's House, a domestic shelter that Jeff and Jer started in 1999 with the proceeds from Jingle Ball concerts.

KyXy Auction: Money Raised to Date: $30,933 with 684 auctioned items!

Los Angeles Radio Wires 12-07-02

"The Egil Has Landed. Swedish Egil wants to put dance back on the air." More at http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/03/12/music-asch.php . A poster on the SC groove bb linked to this.

"Meet the new boss. Little Steven takes quality radio personally. IT'S RADIO the way it used to be -- varied playlists, knowledgable DJs and a presentation that doesn't hurt your head." More at READ. Fred Shuster is their music (and co-radio) writer so you might want to search for and read all his stuff. Editor: Take note of that, Clear Channel San Diego!

Don Barrett - Los Angeles Radio People
Headlines only (sorry, his stories are in another realm, as in pay): Bill Handel and Howard Stern battle for LARadio.com reader ears. Tree man barks up wrong morning show with Jamie & Danny. Should Saul Levine flip KMZT to Dance format and put Classical on 1260AM?. Repetition repetition is good - Essay by Mark Ramsey. Update on the 690/1150 Super Sports Stations. 17 Bowl Games set for KSPN.

rronline
L.A. Street Honors The Late Chick Hearn... The legendary Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster, who died in August, was further memorialized on Tuesday when two blocks of 11th Street adjacent to Staples Center were renamed Chick Hearn Court. Hearn had been the only radio/TV play-by-play announcer for the NBA Lakers, who now play at Staples, from the team's move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960 until his death on Aug. 5 at age 85 from head injuries suffered in a fall. Last month President Bush signed a resolution designating a post office near Hearn's home in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley as the Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn Post Office.

Radio Wires 12-04-02

Hey, Hey, My, My...... KOGO-FM 94.5 FM flipped to KMYT last week. The station relays My94.1 from San Diego ... Kevin McCarthy told SDR yesterday that the station was doing well, but the move was in part because of the influence of KFI from la LA. "KFI is entrenched in that area, and we ended up competiting with ourselves," Kevin said. He also indicated that Padre baseball games will be a "bridge that is crossed very soon." The last two seasons, the Padres baseball games were heard on the station. The 94.5 signal from Temecula is heard in most parts of North County north of the 78 corridor. Stay Tuned.....

Editor's Comment: what's with the boneheads at Clear Channel San Diego? KOGO-FM relaying KOGO's 600 signal is what the area needed, but did the area's residents care for it? There's already a 100,000 watt signal from 60 miles south on 94.1 piping in the A/C music. Why duplicate it on 94.5 up there?

KPRZ-AM 1210, and KCBQ-AM 1170 is teaming with the Armed Services YMCA and Feed the Children to make it a brighter holiday for 800 military families. On Tuesday, Feed the Children will deliver boxes of food and other items as a holiday gift to San Diego's military. KPRZ asks for your help "Show your support and appreciation to our military families by making a donation to Feed the Children. Call 800-742-8833." KCBQ-AM is the radio home of the University of San Diego Toreros. The play-by-play action is handled by Jerry Gross.....

Radio Wires 12-04-02

Excerpts:

For weeks, alternative-rock station KBZT/FM 949 ---- formerly known as '80s station B 94.9 ---- has taken every opportunity to boast of its independence from evil corporate types. Every hour a promo announces that the station is "not owned by Clear Channel Communications. And it shows." Other promos also make the point that the station isn't preprogrammed or canned, a clear dig at Clear Channel, which perfected the art of non-local, non-live radio. And an ad during disc jockey Mike Halloran's weekday show suggests that he, not his boss, chooses the music he plays. But the big question remains: Do listeners have any interest in Clear Channel?

"We don't take shots at them just 'because,' " said morning co-host Keith "Madison" Miller of North County rock station KPRI. "Most listeners don't care about Clear Channel. They care about whether the songs are good or not. How many people care about who owns your newspaper? That doesn't make anyone read it." Not surprisingly, the gang at KBZT feels differently. After all, their bosses filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year, saying that rules need to be changed to prevent companies from running a zillion stations in border cities such as San Diego. By working out deals with Mexican stations, Clear Channel blew past the U.S. limit of eight stations per owner.

94.5 Temecula has flipped from one station to another. KOGO-FM is no longer simulcasting KOGO-AM 600's signal and has flipped stations to retransmit the powerful KMYI 94.1. Putting KOGO on 94.5 in Temecula filled in a signal null because KOGO's contour has to protect 590 AM from San Bernadino or else both stations would be unlistenable. AM 590's signal contour is considered to include Temecula. Will the Padres be on 94.1 or 103.3, Clear Channel's other Temecula station?

Editor's Comment: what's with the boneheads at Clear Channel San Diego? KOGO-FM relaying KOGO's 600 signal is what the area needed, but did the area's residents care for it? There's already a 100,000 watt signal from 60 miles south on 94.1 piping in the A/C music. Why duplicate it on 94.5 up there?

Carols by Campfire - Buck Howdy, Amazon
White Trash Christmas - Bob Rivers, Buy_it_from_Amazon. Forget KOOL's boring Xmas sleepy mix! Listen to fun holiday music for a change! Clear Channel is doing it all wrong!

Los Angeles Radio Wires 12-02-02

Gary Lycan - Orange County Register
KLAC CHANGES... Check out www.fabulous570.com if you want to preview KLAC's new adult- standards format debuting Dec. 12. The switch from talk to music is generating lots of buzz. Chuck Southcott, who runs competitor "Music of Your Life," admitted he's impressed by the planned presentation. Don McCulloch, program director of rival KSUR/1260 AM and 540 AM, said his station went on the air last March "with a hipper, more sophisticated approach. The Surf has appeared in the ratings books for the first time in years, and a large portion of the audience (about 40 percent) is in the 25-54-age demographic, quite an accomplishment for an AM music station."

TAZY GETS NEWSPRINT...Apologies if you faxed or e-mailed a note in the past few days and did not get a response. Service was disconnected accidentally but was to be restored this weekend. Tazy Phillips called to remind us that his show, "Go Local," is on 8 p.m.-midnight Sundays on "Cool Radio'' KMXN/94.3 FM.

Don Barrett - Los Angeles Radio People
O.C. FAN CHECKS IN: Bill Howes of Seal Beach was in Las Vegas over last weekend and listened to KQOL 93.1, a Clear Channel Oldies station. "On the way out of town on Monday morning, I turned the radio on and they had just come out of a record," wrote Howes. "The DJ started talking and a commercial started playing over him. At first my wife and I thought it was a 'bit' they were doing (morning drive), but we finally realized that the DJ had no clue the commercial was running. "The commercial finished just as the jock went to commercial and the commercial they then ran was for an appearance by Pat Boone at one of the hotels. Unfortunately, the appearance had been two days earlier. I would call that a bump on the Clear Channel road to world domination," wrote Howes.

Top Ten (November 25-December 1, 2002)

The DTV Ratings System has been replaced by the Top Ten TV rankings.

1. Bernie Mac (FOX)
2. South Park (COM)
3. The Simpsons (8pm) (FOX)
4. King of the Hill (8:30pm) (FOX)
5. Craig Kilborn (CBS)
6. Late Show with David Letterman (average for the week) (CBS)
7. Futurama (r) (FOX)
8. Jay Leno (average for the week) (NBC)
9. That 70's Show (FOX)
10. Malcolm in the Middle (9pm) (FOX)