D.C. Radio Watch / 9 January 1996
Max Cacas
(Belated) Happy New Year, Airwavers! Greetings from the snow-bound, Nation's
Capital, where the snow is deep (drifts up to my waist!), and more is expected
Friday! Herewith, the latest radio biz news:
Item First: You Can Come Home Again -- Tuesday's (Jan 9, 1996) Washington Post
"On the Dial" (radio) column reports that Robin Breeden, a very popular
personality with WPGC-FM (95.5) until 1992, is returning to the station, this
time to host morning's on sister station WPGC-AM (1580). She returns to the
D.C. area from KBXX/Houston, where she's been hosting mornings since her 1992
departure from WPGC-FM. The AM (which was home to a legacy Top 40 Format in
the late-50s, 60s and early 70s), now sports the "Flava 1580" format, a hybrid
of hip hop/rap introduced last year when Infinity dropped an all-business news
format heard on the station for the last few years.
Item Second: Movin' On Up the Road -- The Post also reports that T. Alan Hay, GM
of
alternative rocker WHFS-FM (99.1) in Annapolis for the past 7 years, is moving
on to Baltimore to be VP/GM of oldies formatted WQSR-FM (105.7) and religious
formatted sister station WBMD-AM (750). Hay's move comes on the heels of SFX
Broadcasting's purchase of 19 stations belonging to Liberty Broadcasting,
including WHFS-FM and 70's formatted "Xtra 104" (WXTR/WXVR). WXTR GM Bob Rich
will be 'HFS' acting GM.
Item Third: One More Reason *Not* to Listen -- CBS-owned Seventies-outlet
WARW-FM ("Arrow 94.7") dropped the airborne traffic reports of Walt Starling on
December 21st, in an effort to 'control expenses'. Starling, who had been one
of the last remaining traffic reporters working exclusively for one station from
a plane, has been replaced by the ubiquitous and generic Metro Traffic control.
He's told the Washington Post he's talking to a few stations in the market.
Could the pressure from the Westinghouse buyout already be trickling down to the
owned stations? (Author's note: This is the *same* station that brought in the
former morning man from a competing station to teach "Arrow" jocks about
presentation.
This station is a continual no-show in the ratings; could this station become
the prototype for the first CBS all-news FM radio station? Stay tuned.).
Item Fourth: Headlines from the Snowbanks -- As you might expect, the Blizzard
of '96 has had its effect on some radio station operations here in the Capital.
At country-formatted WMZQ AM-FM (1390/98.7), the morning team of Gary Murphy and
Jessica Cash were stuck in Memphis, prepping for the St. Jude's Children's
Hospital fundraiser next month. The Post reports Murphy and Cash phoned in
reports from their hotel, and their boss, GM Charlie Ochs, went back on the air
for the first time in years to host the morning show with a couple of
part-timers.
Over at hot-AC formatted WRQX-FM ("Mix 107.3"), morning man Jack Diamond, a
former TV weather guy, took to heart the early predictions of a monster storm,
and bought himself a Chevy Blazer last Friday. That's the good news. The bad
news is that he parked it in a place next to his house where the snow drifts
totally covered his new car! Result: no Jack. His partner, Bert Weiss, has
also been snowed in, so intrepid news anchor Barbara Britt has been hosting the
morning show solo, along with handling snow closing info updates in the
afternoons and evenings.
Item Fourth: The Year In Review Headlines -
FORMAT CHANGES:
- WXTR-FM drops 50s-60s oldies for pop-oriented 70s rock.
- The Washington Redskins did not renew with sports-talk WTEM-AM (570), and are
now heard on WJFK FM/AM (106.7 / 1300). WTEM begins jetisoning hosts, but picks
up the Washington Capitals (NHL) and Washington Bullets (NBA). WTEM also picks
up Ken Beatrice, who's popular sports-talk show was dropped by ABC o&o talker
WMAL-AM (630).
- Viacom drops CNN "Headline News" simulcast on WCPT-AM (730), switches to
simulcast of Bloomberg Business Radio from NY, and becomes WBZS.
- Greater Media, in one of the strangest format "changes" in this market, took
easy AC-formatted WGAY-FM (99.5), and switched to...well, AC "Star 99.5". After
an expensive ad campaign that ran for a month, "Star 98.3" in Southern Maryland
took exception to the pre-emption of its promotional slogan, and convinced a
judge that they were right. So, Greater Media said a loud "duhhh", and the
station was reborn as "Bright 99.5". (And, like the plethora of "alternative"
rockers in NY and Philly, D.C. had yet *another* AC station. Brilliant!).
BIG DEAL OF THE YEAR: That would have to be the $34million dollar purchase of
Albimar's WKYS-FM (93.3) by Kathy Hughes' Radio One (already the owner of
soul-oldies-AC WMMJ-FM [Magic 102.3] and talk-formatted WOL-AM [1450], along
with stations in Baltimore and Atlanta). Hughes proceeded to move WMMJ and WOL
from H St. in Northeast Washington to the more plush (and safer) environs of the
WKYS studios at the NBC complex in tony Northwest D.C. Hughes also proceeded to
clean house at WKYS, re-directing the Urban Contemp station toward a younger
audience with more hip-hop music and a new ad campaign. Speculation continues
that Radio One will swap frequencies with WMMJ and WKYS in an effort to broaden
the appeal (and the suburban reach) of the more mainstream WMMJ, and target WKYS
with a more city-oriented urban format.
NOTED IN PASSING: The legendry Wolfman Jack, who's career had just begun to
rebound at WXTR-FM (and the other great stations that had begun to pick up his
satellite-distributed Friday night show from Planet Hollywood in D.C.), passed
away on July 1st, collapsing upon arriving home after a grueling book promotion
tour for his autobiography. The outpouring of emotion for Wolfman here in
"Airwaves"/rec.radio/broadcasting was, to say the least, unprecedented.
In August, WGAY-FM's Bob Chandler, who wrote most of the book on programming
the now almost-extinct Beautiful Music format, died on his 61st birthday. In
October, long-time newsman Jamie Bragg from WTOP-AM (1500) died after a long
battle with prostate cancer.
And so it goes... more next week!
}+{ Max Cacas
}+{ Freelance Broadcast Journalist * Washington, D.C.
}+{ INTERNET: MaxNe...@cis.compuserve.com