Saturday was is D.T.'s Birthday 4-26-2003

Thanks to many e-mailers who wished me a happy birthday including Tazy, host of Go Loco on 92.1 Sundays at 6pm, Mike Howard, host of the Wayback Machine, Saturdays at 6am on 92.1, FM 94.9, Selim,

Also see:

Famous People with your Birthday
This Day in History
Today's Word Quiz
The Age Gauge

"I Still Q" Ends 4-26-2003

Radio Wires 4-26-2003

Excerpts: the biggest non-event in sports is this weekend...the NFL draft! ESPN TV will have the coverage. Radio coverage will be available at 8 a.m. on ESPN Radio 800 and at 9 a.m. on XPRS-AM and XTRA-AM; the latter two will be live through the end of the first round. XPRS (The Mighty 1090) will be stationed at Dave & Buster's in Mission Valley with John Fricke, Bill Werndl and John Kentera, plus reports from Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith from the Chargers' media trailer (not the "war room," as you might have heard on the promos).

On why XTRA 690/1150 didn't show up in the Los Angeles Arbitrons: XTRA's ratings in San Diego slipped about 23 percent, but its L.A. share rose 125 percent, but the increase didn't show up in the official ratings because of a technicality regarding simulcasting.

More TV/radio media sports at his column above.

John Maffei - North County Times TV/Sports
No show this day. Try again.

San Diego Radio Wires 4-25-03

San Diego Radio Wires 4-24-03!

Yahoo:Salem Communications' Tower Relocation Request Denied

CAMARILLO, Calif. (Dow Jones)--Salem Communications Corp. said its request to relocate its San Diego area radio towers has been denied by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

In a press release Wednesday, the religious radio broadcaster said it had made a request to relocate towers for KCBQ-AM, a news and talk station, to Muth Valley.

Salem didn't say why its request was denied or where the towers are currently located, and officials couldn't immediately be reached.

As a result of the county's decision, Salem will report a writeoff of about $ 1.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31. The writeoff will be included in broadcast operating expenses.

Company Web site: http://www.salemcommunications.com.

San Diego Winter 2003 Arbitrons Out 4-22-03!

Lowlights? As usual in San Diego, with the pickins so slim, listeners had to choose between talk programming, overly familiar all oldies programming, predictable homogenous hit machines such as Channel 933 and Z90, and overrelaxing soft music. Where's the music for the rest of us? Not in San Diego. All jazz? Where's the variety? All talk? Can't pay attention while we're working. Oldies? Too short selections. Hit music machines? You're not going to believe this, but with computerized melody analyzers predicting what songs should be hits or not, and San Diego's music directors using that as a basis of programming Channel 933, Z90, 91X, Rock 105.3, My 94.1, and Bob 99.3 instead of using their own brains and use their gut feelings to program the station, the CD music business is in even worse shape than we thought.

Read all about it at High tech answer to pop-music hit factory from Sign On San Diego. No wonder the guy who runs the L.A. Talk website isn't interested in music that's on the radio...or anyone else like him for that matter...there's no intelligent life amongst the music directors in those Clear Channel buildings anymore.

No wonder you're not hearing the latest songs from Carla Ulbrich or Raymond and Scum on the local airwaves... our San Diego radio folks are just plain wasted on watching too many hours of "American Idol."

Speaking of lowlights, the once-interesting XMORE-FM 98.9 playing Rock en Espanol seems to have run its course as it sinks to its lowest rating in recent memory. Their tired mix of alternative music in Spanish, 80's music on Saturdays, and the now-uninteresting Rewire dance mixes are all to blame for their listeners (including some who speak primarily English) fleeing from the station, causing the rating to sink over 50 percent. XHTY also lost more than half of its listeners. New formats should be the rule for these two stations, preferabbly programmed by John Lynch, who is said to be looking for some FM radio stations for his newly-formed Broadcast Company of the Americas, which launched its first station under the company, The Mighty 1090, last month. Could 99.7 be the new home for an alternative format that's an alternative to the two mainstream alternatives on 91.1 and 94.9 here? Some good advice: don't play any damn Linkin Park or Evanessense crap on the stations. Even Star is playing this crap and this music sucks donkeys! What's with these idiot music directors who keep on insisting that I want to listen to shit like these on the radio!

More lowlights: In sports talk news: XTRA 690/1150 isn't showing up in the Los Angeles arbs, but still does in the San Diego Arbs? Anyone know why? Also of note: The Mighty 1090 and ESPN Radio 800 seemed to have taken some of the audience from XTRA, but with ESPN 800, I guess it's less than a 0.05 rating for them if it's measurable. The tired dinosaurs KGB and The Planet sank a bit, proving that the days of classic rock as a format instead of a specialty program are stone cold. Rock 105.3 is still sinking as it sticks to its outdated formula of grunge and speed metal.

Some highlights: KCBQ AM is up. So is KPRI. KBZT alternative, as an alternative to 91X, is getting the highest numbers since the 1996 days of The Flash 92.5 when it was an alternative, while 91X is getting its lowest quarter ratings in six years.

XTRA Sports 690/1150 Gets Gooseegg Arbitron Rating 4-22-03!

So unnoticed that the station combo did not register even a 0.1 rating in the Winter 2003 Los Angeles Arbitron ratings service!

By comparison, ESPN Radio 710 (KSPN) is getting way over four times the ratings of XTRA 690/1150. KDL 103.1 is on the rise and closing in at the highest rating in five years since the old Groove 103.1 achieved a 0.9 rating when it was with different owners. The dimming Star 98.7 is getting tarred in the ratings and a format change should eventually be in order, something like taking on the #2 rated KROQ with something like 91X, or a format change to bring true AAA back to Los Angeles. The Wave 94.7 is receeding. Spanish KSSE moved from 97.5/103.1 to 107.1 and went up in ratings!

Read the ratings HERE!

Why Was Hooked On Trivia Cancelled? 4-22-03!

"Thank you for being a loyal listener to KFMB and Hooked On Trivia. After 7 plus years the decision was made to no longer carry Hooked On Trivia. The decision was based on several factors but simply said KFMB is a much different station than it was when we started our relationship with Hooked On Trivia and we for various reasons it was necessary to change. We wish Mike the best as he seeks a new home for Hooked On Trivia and hope that you'll continue find some informative and entertaining programming on KFMB."

San Diego Radio Wires (April 21, 2003)

Obituaries (U-T): Steve Irwin... Steve Irwin, 63; free-lance radio and TV voice-over specialist: For more than two decades, Steve Irwin's familiar voice resonated on San Diego airwaves in award-winning commercials and public-service announcements.
Lawrence Gross... Laurence Gross, 71; radio show host, TV critic For Laurence Gross, the transition from radio talk show host to television entertainment critic was as seamless as the dialogue in one of his favorite movie classics. Mr. Gross, who went into television in 1983 after eight years as a talk show host on San Diego radio, died Thursday at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa. He was 71. The cause of death was complications from congestive heart failure, which was diagnosed in 1995, said daughter Lauren Gross of San Diego. During his television career, historical commentaries spiced his reviews of current movies, earning him the nicknames "Mr. Video" and "Critic at Large." His honors included an Emmy for best writer in a news segment. Much of his media savvy stemmed from his father, Jack, who put San Diego's first television station, KFMB Channel 8, on the air May 16, 1949. Mr. Gross learned the radio business at KFMB and KSON, which his father purchased in 1957. He was born in Waco, Texas, and came to San Diego with his family after his father bought KFMB radio in 1943. After graduating from Point Loma High School, he earned a bachelor's degree in English at the University of Arizona. He entered the talk show format in Denver, hosting a radio show for six years and reviewing films for KGMC. He returned to San Diego in 1974, landing a talk show post on KITT-FM. A year later, he moved to KSDO, where his edgy but accommodating on-air style provided a forum for ordinary people to express their feelings. By 1981, he had shifted from nights to "Midday," a talkfest that originated before an audience in the disco room of the former Lehr's Greenhouse in Mission Valley. After leaving KSDO, he continued in radio at KPOP for a while in addition to working for Channel 39.