Radio Out and About

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

I think the radio side of this forum needs an Out and About section of its own, so I'm starting it now.

 

Starting Monday, March 24th, KMOX will gain a full-time signal on the FM dial at 104.1 WHHL, where they laid off the entire staff last week.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/296285/kmox-makes-addition-of-104-1-simulcast-official/

 

Also, the popular Los 40 brand is well known in Latin America but most popular in Spain, the original country where the brand was created. Its finally expanding to the U.S. While it has been in the states since last year (mainly as a digital platform), only now has the radio side expanded via distribution from Hispanic Radio Network.

 

https://los40.us/

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/296301/hispanic-radio-network-launches-pair-of-24-7-networks/

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

On 3/10/2025 at 5:20 PM, TheRolyPoly said:

I think the radio side of this forum needs an Out and About section of its own, so I'm starting it now.

 

Starting Monday, March 24th, KMOX will gain a full-time signal on the FM dial at 104.1 WHHL, where they laid off the entire staff last week.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/296285/kmox-makes-addition-of-104-1-simulcast-official/

 

Also, the popular Los 40 brand is well known in Latin America but most popular in Spain, the original country where the brand was created. Its finally expanding to the U.S. While it has been in the states since last year (mainly as a digital platform), only now has the radio side expanded via distribution from Hispanic Radio Network.

 

https://los40.us/

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/296301/hispanic-radio-network-launches-pair-of-24-7-networks/

AM Radio seems to be headed for extinction.  Lots of stations are turning in their licenses and broadcasting otherwise.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Larry Mendte is back in the limelight to do a morning show on 710 WOR Radio. The news was announced early last week.

 

https://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=c42466

[MediaZone4K 2661]

Speaking of out and back in....has anyone been following the awkwardness since Jess Hilarious returned to The Breakfast Club from maternity leave?

 

Jess was picked to replace Angela Yee as she was a popular social media comedian. Shortly after getting the job Jess announced her pregnancy and went on maternity leave. During Jess' time off, her fill in, producer Loren LaRosa (ex TMZ) outperformed her according to listener comments on all of their broadcast platforms. Since Just returned, Loren remains only during Jess' segments, and consistently fills in for her. This ultimately lead to Jess calling out the show's producers on social media, then an on air mediation of the situation. 

 

This dilemma reminds me of the Today transition from Deborah Norville to Katie Couric: tension between a new host and her sub following maternity leave. While I respect Jess Hilarious' feelings on this situation, I'm surprised this wasn't addressed behind the scenes in an HR meeting rather than on air.

 

Simple solution: bring Loren on as a fourth host. Several other radio shows like Steve Harvey have more than four hosts.

 

 

Edited March 28, 2025 by MediaZone4K

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

An iconic figure and titan pillar of Chicago journalism is finally retiring.

 

This Thursday is Walter Jacobson's last Perspective on 720 WGN Radio.

 

https://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n46809

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

I just found the first station to rebrand as Los 40 in the U.S.: 92.9 KWRH-LP St. Louis who is going by Los 40 St. Louis.

 

https://los40stl.godaddysites.com/

 

https://www.stlpr.org/economy-business/2025-03-14/st-louis-los-40-spanish-fm-radio-telemundo

[LTSC1980 130]

Another round of Cumulus AM radio stations shut down….

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/297717/cumulus-shutting-down-des-moines-flint-fort-walton-beach-ams/

 

for the record before that there are already 20 Townsquare and Cumulus stations shut off

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/296690/twenty-cumulus-townsquare-media-stations-cease-operations-with-more-to-come/

Edited March 29, 2025 by LTSC1980

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Aaron Wright

Denise Whittaker

Chris Nguyen

 

What do these three have incommon? All appeared on Seattle TV.

 

These same three will become the new anchors at KNWN Northwest Newsradio.

 

Aaron (formerly from KIRO-TV) is joining afternoons and Chris (formerly from KOMO-TV for like a brief 3 month stint?) will do mornings in the interim before Denise takes over once she leaves KOMO-TV in June.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/298384/northwest-news-radio-adds-three-seattle-tv-veterans-to-anchor-lineup/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Technically, 75 years was back on December 31st, 2024, but its a recent celebration for Tulsa's KRMG Radio as the Cox-owned outlet celebrates 75 years on the radio.

 

https://www.krmg.com/fp/celebrating-75-years-krmg-tulsa-radio/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

106.3 WUUB, the ESPN Radio station owned by Good Karma Brands in WPB, has changed its callsign to WESP. The request took place on April 11th, granted by the FCC on April 17th, and became effective on April 28th.

 

Its the closest ESPN Radio station to Miami since Miami itself doesn't have an affiliate anymore (WQAM has Infinity Sports and WINZ has FOX Sports).

 

https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/views/public/fmDraftCopy?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff3961a34fd0196253ca8a808ec&id=25076ff3961a34fd0196253ca8a808ec&goBack=N

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Its one thing to be a legendary radio station. Its another thing to actually be recognized as such and enshrined in state history.

 

94.7 KSHE will soon be enshrined by Missouri State Law as Missouri's Rock Station.

 

The legislation, HCS SCS SB 348, was approved back on June 24th and will take effect on August 28th.

 

https://www.kshe95.com/real-rock-news/kshe-95-is-now-the-official-rock-radio-station-of-missouri/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

I read on RadioDiscussions that it seems like Cumulus is turning its sports radio stations in Alabama into a statewide network modeled after flagship 94.5 WJOX-FM Birmingham.

• 100.5 WJQX is now JOX Tuscaloosa.
• 730 WUMP in Huntsville is now JOX Huntsville.
• 660 WXQW in Mobile is now JOX Mobile.
• 740 WMSP in Montgomery is now JOX Montgomery.

It sounds like 690 WJOX will remain the same, which is currently 24/7 ESPN Radio.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Sun and FMBC are pretty much one company as a whole but split to avoid FCC regulatory issues.

 

Regardless, its about to get bigger by acquiring more stations from Beasley.

 

If this goes through, I think they'll own 18 stations across radio and TV (WINK, WXCW, WUVF/WLZF, WANA).

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/306407/beasley-media-group-announces-fort-myers-cluster-sale-in-q2-earnings-report/

[nathannah 2792]

On 8/19/2025 at 2:24 PM, TheRolyPoly said:

Sun and FMBC are pretty much one company as a whole but split to avoid FCC regulatory issues.

 

Regardless, its about to get bigger by acquiring more stations from Beasley.

This cluster is the most bonkers one I've seen; you're telling me they have a completely sober CBS affiliate (and the usual afterthought MNTV sub) and then a sub-company out of the same building (operating the CW, Estrella, and Univision network affiliates) that has brands such as "Right All Along" and "Trump Country" (formerly "Hell Yeah!" and hinting at wanting WF*K for a joke) owned by a literal GOP congressional candidate?

 

When Venta writes an essay about it, you know even he sees through the facade. Watch as they also make an overture to Scripps to give them WFTX for a pittance.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

3 hours ago, nathannah said:

This cluster is the most bonkers one I've seen; you're telling me they have a completely sober CBS affiliate (and the usual afterthought MNTV sub) and then a sub-company out of the same building (operating the CW, Estrella, and Univision network affiliates) that has brands such as "Right All Along" and "Trump Country" (formerly "Hell Yeah!" and hinting at wanting WF*K for a joke) owned by a literal GOP congressional candidate?

 

You are right. It is bonkers.

 

For the record...

• Sun Broadcasting owns:
  • 92.5 WFSX-FM (92.5 Right All Along)
  • 93.7 WHEL (93.7 Trump Country)
  • 94.1 W231DC/103.3 W277AP/105.9 W290DB (FOX Sports SWFL)
  • 94.5 WARO (94.5 The Arrow)
  • 98.5 WFFY (Fly 98.5)
  • WXCW Channel 46 (The CW; WINK CW)
    • 46.2 - Estrella TV
  • WUVF-LD Channel 2/WLZE Channel 51 (Univision Southwest Florida)
    • 2.2/51.2 - UniMas (UniMas Southwest Florida)
  • WANA-LD Channel 16 (I don't know what they air today, ever since Azteca shut down)
• Sun wants to own the following from Beasley:
  • 96.1 WRKX (96 K-Rock)
  • 96.5 W243BM/101.5 W268AH/105.1 W286AK (Podcast Radio)
  • 103.9 WXKB (B103.9)
• FMBC owns:
  • 95.7 W239CL/97.3 W247CR (Maxima 95.7/97.3)
  • 96.9 WINK-FM (96.9 WINK-FM)
  • 97.7 WTLQ (97.7 Latino)
  • 101.1 WAVV (Wave 101.1)
  • 107.9 W300EF (La Raza 107.9)
  • WINK-TV Channel 11 (CBS; WINK)
    • 11.2 - MNT/Antenna TV
• FMBC wants to own the following from Beasley:
  • 770 WBCN/98.1 W251AL/104.3 W282BY (ESPN Southwest Florida)
  • 99.3 WWCN (Playa 99.3)
  • 106.3 WJPT (Sunny 106.3)

I have to do it in a list because it would've been confusing otherwise, and its to put things into perspective.

 

So, to put this for the record, that's two full-power TV stations, two low-power stations, six networks in all (CBS, CW, Univision, UniMas, Estrella, and MNT even though I know its not a "network" now these days), 12 full-power radio stations (one AM, eleven FM), and 11 radio translators (all on FM), if it all goes through.

[Recovering Producer 410]

1 hour ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

You are right. It is bonkers.

 

For the record...

• Sun Broadcasting owns:
  • 92.5 WFSX-FM (92.5 Right All Along)
  • 93.7 WHEL (93.7 Trump Country)
  • 94.1 W231DC/103.3 W277AP/105.9 W290DB (FOX Sports SWFL)
  • 94.5 WARO (94.5 The Arrow)
  • 98.5 WFFY (Fly 98.5)
  • WXCW Channel 46 (The CW; WINK CW)
    • 46.2 - Estrella TV
  • WUVF-LD Channel 2/WLZE Channel 51 (Univision Southwest Florida)
    • 2.2/51.2 - UniMas (UniMas Southwest Florida)
  • WANA-LD Channel 16 (I don't know what they air today, ever since Azteca shut down)
• Sun wants to own the following from Beasley:
  • 96.1 WRKX (96 K-Rock)
  • 96.5 W243BM/101.5 W268AH/105.1 W286AK (Podcast Radio)
  • 103.9 WXKB (B103.9)
• FMBC owns:
  • 95.7 W239CL/97.3 W247CR (Maxima 95.7/97.3)
  • 96.9 WINK-FM (96.9 WINK-FM)
  • 97.7 WTLQ (97.7 Latino)
  • 101.1 WAVV (Wave 101.1)
  • 107.9 W300EF (La Raza 107.9)
  • WINK-TV Channel 11 (CBS; WINK)
    • 11.2 - MNT/Antenna TV
• FMBC wants to own the following from Beasley:
  • 770 WBCN/98.1 W251AL/104.3 W282BY (ESPN Southwest Florida)
  • 99.3 WWCN (Playa 99.3)
  • 106.3 WJPT (Sunny 106.3)

I have to do it in a list because it would've been confusing otherwise, and its to put things into perspective.

 

So, to put this for the record, that's two full-power TV stations, two low-power stations, six networks in all (CBS, CW, Univision, UniMas, Estrella, and MNT even though I know its not a "network" now these days), 12 full-power radio stations (one AM, eleven FM), and 11 radio translators (all on FM), if it all goes through.

 

And a partridge in a pear tree… and Gulfshore Life Magazine, The Naples Press, and a few smaller one-off publications. 

 

Not to mention they are spending an obscene amount of money on an updated facility that was supposed to be done a year ago after their existing building got flooded by Hurricane Ian in 2022. ($18.5 mil alone for the building + renovation and equipment)

 

Without revealing too much about myself, I worked on the TV side as a first job a very long time ago. It was a great place to start, or at least that’s what I thought at the time. Going from a one off operation to a big group was a culture shock. 
 

Whenever one or both companies decide to sell, that’ll be a complicated transaction. But buying more radio properties makes me think they’re nowhere close to cashing out. (And if I was a betting man, won’t accept an offer that values WINK-TV for any less than the adjusted for inflation price of what WBBH sold to Hearst for.)

[MicFlag 33]

There is no way I would recommend in good conscience any organization accepting the donation of an AM broadcast license of any kind. Total waste of money. Better off starting a stream.

[Recovering Producer 410]

On 8/20/2025 at 4:40 PM, nathannah said:

Watch as they also make an overture to Scripps to give them WFTX for a pittance.

Rumor is that was they tried to do 20 years ago when Emmis was getting out of TV. No idea how close they got, but what is now WXCW was likely their plan B.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

On 8/13/2025 at 5:24 PM, TheRolyPoly said:

I read on RadioDiscussions that it seems like Cumulus is turning its sports radio stations in Alabama into a statewide network modeled after flagship 94.5 WJOX-FM Birmingham.

• 100.5 WJQX is now JOX Tuscaloosa.
• 730 WUMP in Huntsville is now JOX Huntsville.
• 660 WXQW in Mobile is now JOX Mobile.
• 740 WMSP in Montgomery is now JOX Montgomery.

It sounds like 690 WJOX will remain the same, which is currently 24/7 ESPN Radio.

In Mobile, that adds a third sports station to the area, after longtime local broadcaster 105.5 WNSP (which is regarded as the very first FM sports talk station in the nation)

and iHeart's Sports Talk 99.5 (a translator from WRKH 96.1 HD2) with some local hosts and mostly syndication.  On top of that, there's FM Talk 106.5 which runs Paul Finebaum's show daily.

 

The radio market here leaves a lot to be desired since it's mostly iHeart and Cumulus competing against each other with the same crappy formats.  The only unique operator is DotComPlus, who runs 92.1 WZEW and associated translators 96.5 the Crab (WZEW HD2) and 92.5 the Soul (WZEW HD3) along with WNSP.

 

And I don't know if other iHeart markets are like this, but the personalities on the stations are leveraged to the point of being literally sold out to their clients.  You know them more from their client's commercials from their actual radio gigs!

Edited August 23, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[nathannah 2792]

This is pretty well maddening; Times Shamrock is selling its Milwaukee stations, including WLUM and WLDB, to EMF

 

They are literally the last alternatives to iHeart and Audacy basically turning Milwaukee into a voicetracked music market, so suffice to say, nobody outside EMF will be happy with the loss of a locally-based voice.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

As a result of federal funding cuts, 89.3 WLRH Huntsville will soon go without NPR programming.

 

That'll happen on October 1st though the station will remain on the air as a non-comm public radio independent station.

 

https://www.wlrh.org/2025-09-05/programming-changes-at-wlrh-local-radio-station-returns-to-community-driven-focus

 

EDIT: I wanted to add this as well.

 

The iconic 102.5 WDVE sign outside of their former studios at Fleet Street in Green Tree, which has become a local iconic landmark while traveling through Pittsburgh on I-376, is being taken down, four years after leaving the building for newer studios at Abele Road in Bridgeville.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/pittsburgh/news/pittsburgh-wdve-sign-coming-down/

Edited September 6, 2025 by TheRolyPoly

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

WRUF Gainesville is now airing local sports programs from 12 Noon-6:00 p.m. Among them, the return of Sportscene with Steve Russell after an 8-month hiatus.

 

The new schedule also includes former ESPN Radio SportsCenter anchor Kevin Winter (who's also WRUF's brand manager) anchoring The Sports Lab with a rotation of UF sports students from 2-4 p.m. and The Tailgate from 4-6 p.m.

 

I used to live in Gainesville and listen to WRUF. Its not the same if Steve wasn't there so I'm glad to see that he's back on WRUF's airwaves.

 

https://www.wruf.com/headlines/2025/08/18/wruf-returns-to-local-programming-from-noon-to-6-p-m-starting-august-18/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

A story on 93.7 WHEL, otherwise known as Trump Country 93.7, from SAN: Straight Arrow News.

[GodfreyGR 812]

1 hour ago, TheRolyPoly said:

A story on 93.7 WHEL, otherwise known as Trump Country 93.7, from SAN: Straight Arrow News.

Indeed, when you look at the Neilsen Toplines (the data that is publicly available), WHEL has seen impressive gains even over the summer going up over a point, with a consistent trend putting them in a firm 2nd Place in the genre. Renda's WWGR and iHeart's WCKT have slid, albeit at a slower rate than WHEL's gain.

 

And hate it all you want- the Deportation A Day giveaway is creative (and apparently working) as opposed to the same $1,000 an hour keyword national contests. Bravo to their consultant on that one!

 

Ratings screenshot from Radio-Online.com, and current as of September 10, 2025.

[Recovering Producer 410]

2 minutes ago, GodfreyGR said:

Indeed, when you look at the Neilsen Toplines (the data that is publicly available), WHEL has seen impressive gains even over the summer going up over a point, with a consistent trend putting them in a firm 2nd Place in the genre. Renda's WWGR and iHeart's WCKT have slid, albeit at a slower rate than WHEL's gain.

 

And hate it all you want- the Deportation A Day giveaway is creative (and apparently working) as opposed to the same $1,000 an hour keyword national contests. Bravo to their consultant on that one!

 

Ratings screenshot from Radio-Online.com, and current as of September 10, 2025.

 

Easy listening and News/talk as 1 and 2 says you everything you need to know about the geriatric demographics of Lee and Collier Counties in Florida.