Activity Stream

From Radio Insight: Townsquare Media relaunched Classic Hits 98.7 WFGR Grand Rapids MI as “98.7 The Grand“. Now focusing on Rock leaning artists from the 1970s and 80s, the station is positioning as “Timeless Hits of the 70s, 80s and More.” Core artists are noted as including Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, The Eagles, John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Steely Dan, REO Speedwagon, the Steve Miller Band and Tom Petty. Townsquare Media Michigan VP/Content Eric Meier will host middays on the station. Cluster Production Director and Rock 97.9 WGRD midday host Janna Hoke will follow in afternoons. The station’s morning show will be jockless outside of news and weather updates from WXMI-TV. WFGR ranked ninth in the Grand Rapids market with a 3.2 share in May 2024 Nielsen Audio ratings where it trailed iHeartMedia’s Oldies “101.3 Big-FM” WBFX’s 4.5 share. more

From Radio Insight: The on-air staff cuts across Alpha Media reached Anchorage AK today. While not a near-complete purge like we have seen in other markets. a number of staffers have exited the cluster including the entire staff of “Classic Country 100.9” KAYO Wasilla. The company will also close its offices in Wasilla that housed KAYO and consolidate all operations into its Anchorage facility. Among the staffers exiting are: Kathy Mitchell, morning host at KAYO and midday host at Country “K-Bear 104.1” KBRJ. Mitchell joined KAYO in 2009 after two long stints at sister Rock 106.5 KWHL where she was also Music Director. Steve ‘DJ Lefty’ Franklin, APD/afternoon host at KBRJ and cluster Production Director. He previously has worked in the market at “Movin 105.7” KMVN. Eric Price departs as afternoon host at Classic Hits “Kool 97.3” KEAG and midday host at KWHL where he used the on-air name ‘Generic Eric’. Norman Bouchard is out as midday host at KAYO after less than a year. Bouchard joined the station in August 2023 after retiring from his 29 year career as a high school teacher and coach. Roxi Lennox exits as Brand Manager and afternoon host at KAYO. She previously also hosted middays on KEAG during her most recent stint with the company. Lennox also spent four years in sales and co-hosting mornings at iHeartMedia Country 107.5 KASH-FM from 2010 to 2014 and served as PD/morning co-host at Morris Communications (now Alpha) Hot AC “Mix 103” KMXS from 1997 to 2008. more

From Radio Insight: As part of cutbacks last week, Paramount Global deleted the digital archives of MTV News, CMT, Comedy Central and many other cable networks. Gone are over two and half decades of news stories about artists, clips of historical significance from The Daily Show and Colbert Report, and even things like lists of the Greatest Country Albums of All Time. The archives include years or decades of work of writers and hosts that are now mostly gone (Archive.org has archived over 460,000 stories from MTV News at least). When a host or show are let go from a radio station, the first thing most do is delete their entire existence from their digital platforms. Blog posts, podcasts, anything that shows the content they created for the station. And the same goes for internal archives. When a format changes, there goes everything that existed on the frequency previously. How many stations still have any audio recorded on analog devices that have to be digitized or even have archives of any sort for their station’s legacy? And that doesn’t include how many assets of a station have been lost in studio moves and downsizing. Now what happens when the guy who hosted weekend shifts in college becomes the next Ryan Seacrest and you have nothing to show for it? Or when the local kid who sang on your morning show becomes a #1 artist a decade later? Who will have the archives? How many on-air talents are allowed to take their content archives with them when they get caught in a layoff? We can’t rely on just Art Vuolo or one of the few remaining vocal aircheck collectors out there to provide any content forever. A couple of years ago I was visiting a station and noticed a computer with a bumper sticker for a defunct brand in the engineering room. The engineer goes, “Oh this is all that remains of that. Last week we cleaned out our storage area and threw out all remaining materials for it”. Not even six weeks later that brand was resurrected. While it may be hard to consider at the time, I bet there were super-fans of the defunct brand who would’ve loved to have come by to get some mementos from their station, or if the leftovers were put up for sale on eBay to raise money for charity? There are stations that do consider how much their brand assets matter. And because of that their brand legacies are enhanced. Some like Ryman Hospitality’s WSM Nashville have decades of success behind it. As WSM prepares its move into their new studio location at the Acuff House later this month, Chief Engineer Jason Cooper recently spotlighted the almost completed construction with a station museum in the lobby. During a recent trip to St. Louis, we visited Gateway Creative Broadcasting’s “99.1 Joy-FM” KLJY and “Boost Radio“. Despite not existing until after the turn of the century, the organization has built such a loyal following that the lobby of their studios features a massive retail store and occasional pop-ups across the market. The brand equity in having archived content and materials is not something that will make a real impact to a station’s bottom-line, but fanaticism for a brand is the difference between a station that has a few core listeners and one that your audience will dedicate their dollars to support. “99X” Atlanta and “Live 105” San Francisco were able to return and become even bigger ratings successes because they were stations that had personality archives and legacy to build off of. more

From Radio Insight: University of Northwestern – St. Paul’s Northwester Media has announced a number of promotions at its stations in Kansas City and Omaha. The moves start with “Life 88.5” KJNW Kansas City General Manager Dave Gordon and “Life 100.7” KGBI-FM Omaha Station Manager Suzanne Happs rising to Senior Directors of Media Markets for the company. Gordon has led KJNW since 2013 after previous stints as Executive Director for Bethesda Christian Broadcasting and APD/afternoon host of KXOJ Tulsa. Happs joined KGBI in 2018 after roles as Assistant Operations Director and afternoon co-host at WCIC Peoria IL, Operations Director at WPFF Sturgeon Bay WI, and Station Manager of WMSJ Freeport ME. Succeeding Gordon at KJNW is Adam Hannan in the role of Station Manager. Hannan joined KJNW last October as Operations Director after previously serving has Station Manager for “Life 101.9” KNWS Waterloo IA. In Omaha, Operations Director/Program Director Jeremy Tracey rises to Station Manager and APD Lindsay Martin rises to Program Director. Underwriting Director Nick Kalina has been named Assistant Program Director. more

From Radio Insight: iHeartMedia Hot AC “Mix 96.9” KMXP Phoenix has made a noticeable music shift over the past couple of weeks into a much more Pop/Alternative lean. The move give more musical separation between KMXP and co-owned AC “99.9 KEZ” KESZ and CHR “104.7 Kiss-FM” KZZP, while more directly targeting Hubbard Alternative “Alt AZ 93.3” KDKB. The move sees the station drop artists such as Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake and add currents from Zach Bryan, Good Neighbors, Royel Otis, and Mark Ambor. The 5pm hour on Tuesday, July 2 featured: Luke Combs – Fast Car Green Day – Holiday Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone – Fortnight Blues Traveler – Run Around Eddie Vedder – Save It For Later Jimmy Eat World – The Middle Zach Bryan ft. Kasey Musgraves – I Remember Fall Out Boy – Uma Thurman Benson Boone – Slow It Down Sublime – Santeria Post Malone ft. Morgan Wallen – I Had Some Help O.A.R. – Shattered (Turn The Car Around) Rosa Linn – Snap INSTANT INSIGHT: KMXP ranked fifteenth in the Phoenix market with a 2.6 share in the May 2024 Nielsen Audio ratings. It was the only iHeartMedia station not to place in the top five in Women 25-54 as it was sixth. The aforementioned KDKB was third. more

From Radio Insight: The first of two possible format changes in Asheville NC took place this morning as Saga Communications flipped ?Pure Oldies 97.3? W247BV/96.5 WOXL-HD3 Asheville to Spanish CHR “La Pantera 97.3“. The station is utilizing the branding and programming designed by Spanish language programming consultant Gerardo Lopez with a mix of Regional Mexican and Spanish pop music. Lopez also is President of Programming for Costa Media with the brand heard on stations in markets including Boston, San Antonio, and Washington DC as well as Dick Broadcasting stations in New Bern NC and Hilton Head SC. Lopez stated, “I’m very excited for La Pantera radio network to continue to grow now in Asheville. We are grateful for our partnership with Asheville Media Group to give us the opportunity to serve our growing Hispanic community.? Saga Asheville Market Manager Tom Davis commented, ?Our team felt it was time to launch Asheville?s first Spanish language radio station and mentioned the idea to friends at Hola Carolina. Hola Carolina builds bridges between cultures and embraces the diversity of our community. They were excited to hear our vision for this brand and offered valuable insight and advice. t?s been hard to keep this exciting news to ourselves, but we?ve had overwhelming support from clients who will have an opportunity to reach a portion of the population they have been unable to reach until now. We?re thrilled that La Pantera 97.3 is on the air in western North Carolina.? Local programming will be added in the near future. more

From Radio Insight: Following his exit from Alpha Media in May, Bob Fisher is joining Coloff Media’s “98.7 Kiss Country” KSMA-FM Osage and Classic Rock “Fox 103.7” KLKK Clear Lake IA as News and Sports Director. Fisher served as News Director for Alpha’s Mason City cluster until being part of the company’s on-going talent purge. He will begin his duties with Coloff Media’s Mason City duo in August interviewing local newsmakers for on-air and online reports and serving as play-by-play voice for Clear Lake High School sports on KLKK. Jim Coloff stated, “For years I have admired Bob and the work he did covering news and sports in North Iowa. With Bob on our team, we are going to fill the void of local news in Mason City and the surrounding area. With our other local news stations in Forest City, Charles City and New Hampton, we plan to be the trusted source of local news and information for years to come.? Fisher added, “I?m thrilled with the opportunity to work with Coloff Media on a new venture of providing local news and sports for their Mason City stations. Coloff Media?s stations here and in other communities throughout Iowa are known for a strong commitment to providing quality local programming to their listeners.? more