Top 100 of 2002 Countdown Repeated Today 1-4-03

But there are some folks in the San Diego Outland that stand for the funnier side of music. Well, KKSM's 1320 Zeb Navarro hosts a weekly (except January 5th) Sunday night show from 4-7pm showcasing "Oldies and Oddities" novelty and nostalgia music. And there's David Tanny, very much a newcomer to the comedy broadcasting networks, but with 25 years of experience as a fan of funny music (as of August 20, 2003).

Tanny is hosting a weekly showcase of comedy music starting January 13th, and he will be premiering some new music that day, but for the best 100 songs of last year, most of which you've never heard on local radio, you can listen to the fourth replay of the DFSX Top 100 of 2002 Countdown...if you get up early at 5am January 4th, and will end at about 1:35pm, in time for you to enjoy the NFL Wild Card playoffs over on ABC and ESPN Radio.

The DFSX Top 100 Novelty Songs of 2002 Countdown commences today at 5am Pacific Time exclusively on DFSX Comedy Radio playing fun songs you won't hear on commercial radio. Hear the stars from 2002 such as Cletus T. Judd, Throwing Toasters, Worm Quartet, and dozens more singers and comedians that made their mark in the past year. Who had the #1 song of 2002? Listen to the DFSX Top 100 of 2002 Countdown today and tomorrow!

Visit the DFSX Home Page http://www.dfsxradio.com/ for the live listen link (I am prohibited from posting it on Tripod so you have to go there for the live link.)

You can't hear Dr. Demento on the Internet Saturday mornings anymore (due to royalty and money issues). You can't hear the 27th replay of the same old DSC show on KGB either on the Internet. So, the only choice for dementia Saturday mornings is from DFSX!

Los Angeles Radio Wires 1-4-03

Inside Radio
The FCC okays Infinity's trust arrangement for KFWB, Los Angeles... Bill Clark will hold the license in an independent trust -- while Viacom works to change the FCC rules to let it keep all-newser KFWB (980).

San Diego Radio Wires 1-3-03

In the uncomfortable interim between the demise of XTRA Sports (690 AM) and the merger with Los Angeles' KXTA (1150 AM), San Diego listeners were treated to a combination of KXTA and Fox Sports Radio programming.

What listeners in San Diego got this week was a great big pile of dog poop. The main reason XTRA and KXTA are merging is that KXTA stinks.

In L.A., listeners are used to that. In San Diego, listeners found out why sports-talk radio in L.A. has failed.

Tony Bruno, who will be the morning guy on the new merged station, was on vacation, so we got Mike Lamb and Andrew Siciliano. They made you crave the Vast Morning Wasteland.

Meanwhile, Jim Rome touted his year-in-review show. How do I put this? It sucked.

More about it on his website.

Local notes

The brain surgeons at XTRA forgot San Diego State was playing men's basketball Monday and carried the NFL game. So the Aztecs were bumped to KPOP (1360 AM).

In defense of management at Clear Channel, most employees who were let go in the merger were rewarded with decent severance packages. And two board operators were brought back, but for only two months or until The Loose Cannons ---- Steve Hartman and Bill Werndl ---- relocate their show to L.A.

One rumor making the rounds of the chat rooms is that John Kentera and The Vast Morning Wasteland ---- Billy Ray Smith and Scott Kaplan ---- will surface at KFMB (760 AM). Don't believe it.

Another rumor has Smith and Kaplan surfacing at The Planet (103.7 FM) later this month.

Jay Posner - TV/Radio Sports - The San Diego Union
His contract expired with the beginning of the new year, but Hank Bauer was on the air last night at KFMB Channel 8 while negotiations on a new deal proceed. "No contract's been signed - yet - but I plan on continuing to do Local 8 News," Bauer said. "We're working out the details, but I'm on the air in good faith until the contract is signed." Bauer also said he has "reached an agreement in principle" to continue as the color analyst on Chargers radio broadcasts for the next two seasons.

Looks as if maybe Fouts and Miller weren't the problem on "MNF." The average rating for this season's 17 games was 11.4, down 1 percent from 11.5 for last season's 15 Monday night games (two games were on Saturday). It didn't help, of course, that the average game was decided by 15 points and that the final game, San Francisco vs. St. Louis, meant absolutely nothing to either team and attracted a record-low 8.7 rating.

The moment we've all been waiting for arrives Monday with the official launch of the XTRA "superstation." At least that's the rumor. As of yesterday afternoon, XTRA 690's Web site was promoting its old lineup, consisting mostly of people it recently fired, and also the upcoming "Aztecs at Falcons" game, presumably referring to the SDSU-Air Force football game six weeks ago. The way Clear Channel has handled this merger, it makes you wonder how anything ever gets on the air.

San Diego Radio Wires 1-2 1/2-03

You've read my sixth annual state of San Diego radio address. Now, here are my predictions as to what could and should happen in San Diego radio. This is not a wish list:

Premium Radio 92.1 - decides that after this experiment with rock noise, the best format for them is classical. Go Loco moves over to 94.9 in San Diego.

Channel 933 - based on their success in consolidating XTRA 690 into KXTA 1150, Clear Channel will do the same thing with KHTS as they gut the entire staff and becomes a translator of KIIS-FM 102.7 Los Angeles. By the time this happens, American Idol's Ryan Seacrest will be the new San Diego and Los Angeles Outland morning show host, displacing the longtime morning host (the Waltons were still on CBS when that happened) Rick Dees to KOST 103.5 in L.A.

91X - longtime programmers Bryan Schock and Muckley are hired away by Randy Michaels to work on programming a multiplex of alternative rock channels on XM Radio, where each channel sounds the same. After loosing too many points in ratings due to competetion from 94.9, Mike Halloran is rehired for millions of dollars to program 91X. 94.9 is taken in as a JSA by Clear Channel, then reassigned to HBC/Entravision who takes the format Spanish.

Magic 92.5 - to beef up the ratings, Clear Channel assigns Christan B of KISS's "Full Frequency" to program modern dance music to the high-wattage station.

My 94.1 - Jagger and Kristi get into a bitter divorce episode when Kristi finds out that Jagger has secretly been dating the lovely Coe Lewis who now works at Century 21.

94.9 - goes Spanish when Halloran is rehired at 91X and HBC takes over ownership of the station.

Hot Country/Bob/Whatever 99.3 - Entravision, who programs six stations of Super Estrella in Riverside and all over Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura, gets to put its format on this Tijuana frequency when Clear Channel sells them their programming and marketing rights to this XTRA Communicationes of Mexico owned station.

Star 100.7 - Jeff and Jer get their own daily talk show on KFMB 8 to beef up their afternoon ratings when Dr. Phil's audience eventually heads south.

101 KGB - the morning crew goes on strike after demanding more money from Clear Channel for rights to reair their shows 24 hours a day. Clear Channel says "Screw you" to them and replaces their morning shift with the cheaper synidcated "Bob & Tom" show. DSC moves to Planet 103.7 and takes in less money (Planet is not on the Internet).

Planet 103.7 - A new programmer is hired to replace Todd Little: David Tanny. He takes the station modern AAA rock and the station blows away its friendly North County competetor KPRI 102.1 in the ratings. He also hires an AAA music director from northern California. He puts his DFSX comedy radio on at nights to drive Rickards crazy.

KOGO 600 - Roger Hedgecock is given a tolerance level transplant and adjusts his tone from the stone age level of thinking to the modern age.

KFMB 760 - Ted Leitner decides to host more shows on KFMB to pay his high alimony payments to his ex's. Ratings tank. Ted is fired in 2004. Rick Roberts gets all of his shifts to program an all-child molester alert talk format.

KMJC 910 - we never talk about this station, but something is going to happen here. Their "Family Radio" format migrates back to Tijuana's AM 860 while the station resurrects its old adult contemporary oldies format.

ESPN 800 - boosts its signal to a supposedly 10,000 watts, but engineers jack it up to over 77,000 watts hoping nobody will notice.

KCEO 1000 - Art Astor pulls the plug on its money-losing nighttime programming and signs off at dusk like the station used to in the 70's, allowing San Diegans to listen to KOMO 1000 out of Seattle at night.

KSPA, K-Whatever 1450 - Art Astor moves the nostalgia format back to this frequency while moving the classical format back to 92.1

New Frequencies 1400, 1490 - the FCC makes these frequencies available in San Diego. Clear Channel can't snatch them up. Salem and Midwest Television take one of each. Both are based in North County.

New Tijuana Station at 101.7 is Launched! - Clear Channel is flabberghasted when the Mexican Government grants some new broadcasters in Tijuana rights to broadcast a new 100,000 watt station into San Diego, causing massive interference with 101.5 KGB! Rickards complains about it on his radio show everyday, to deaf ears since XHIPH Electronica 101.7 is blasting out loud, spilling over to KGB and KSCA out of L.A., and nobody can get KGB anymore. Clear Channel applies to the FCC to move its station to 101.3, but a broadcaster out of Hemet and Star 100.7 out of San Diego object. KGB's ratings go to 0.1 and Clear Channel is forced to sell the station for pennies on the dollar to a Spanish Language broadcaster.

XLNC 90.7 - the co-channel victim from Los Angeles, KPFK 90.7, finally buys programming rights to the Tijuana broadcaster and gets its signal available to San Diegans once again since 2000.

San Diego Radio Wires 1-2-03

North County Times - Randy Dotinga
KSDO to try a new path... KSDO, toward the right end of the AM dial, has more history than half the other radio operations in town put together. But it's struggled for years, and now a new owner has come in to try his luck.

But don't bet the rent that anything unusual will happen. It seems likely that KSDO will become a Spanish-language Christian station, adding even more religion to the local airwaves.

An industry trade journal reported KSDO's sale last week. The station sold for $10 million in cash to Hi-Favor Broadcasting, which owns three other stations, including a low-powered operation in Chula Vista.

KSDO had been owned by a small company called Chase Radio Partners and run through an agreement with Clear Channel. KSDO has gone through a few incarnations in recent years ---- it aired business talk for a while, then turned to political talk and simulcasts of programming on sister station KOGO during San Diego Padres games.

By contrast, the strangely named Hi-Favor specializes in religious programming for a Spanish-speaking audience. The president of the Bakersfield-based company, Roland S. Hinz, didn't return a phone call seeking comment.

Hinz is no stranger to the worship-my-way brand of religious broadcasting.

He's an executive board member of Salem Communications, the country's largest evangelical broadcaster. That company already owns two stations in San Diego ---- KPRZ (Christian talk) and KCBQ (conservative talk). Both are low rated; KCBQ is the home of talk-show host Mark Larson, a longtime fixture in San Diego radio.