Radio Out and About

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

2 hours 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.

 

WJPT is the biggest non-FMBC/Sun station at #3. Once they take control of it, the biggest non-FMBC/Sun station would be #7. Jesus.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

101.1 WKQX Chicago is in rare feat by now being in the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

 

https://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n47837

[MD TV 390]

Longtime WTOP business reporter Jeff Claybaugh succumbed to cancer Thursday night at the age of 63:

 

 

https://wtop.com/inside-wtop/2025/09/business-reporter-jeff-clabaugh-dies-at-63-after-delivering-dc-money-news-on-wtop-for-30-years/

 

Plenty of tributes here:

 

https://wtop.com/inside-wtop/2025/09/wtop-reflections-staffers-and-listeners-look-back-on-the-work-of-jeff-clabaugh/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Cumulus has taken four silent AMs off the air for good.

 

One of them was 1320 WISW Columbia. If the call letters sound familiar to you, its because from 1995 to 2014, it was known as WIS Radio, the news/talker named after former sister station WIS-TV 10.

 

That was the second WIS-branded station as the original WIS, on AM 560, lasted from 1930-1986. Today, that station is iHeart's 560 WVOC, ironically enough, a news/talker for the market.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/309379/cumulus-surrenders-four-silent-ams/

[Georgie56 3661]

Bonneville will exit the Bay Area. They have sold that cluster to Connoisseur.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

4 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

Bonneville will exit the Bay Area. They have sold that cluster to Connoisseur.

 

And they just completed their merger with Alpha Media, so Connoisseur is growing quickly.

[MD TV 390]

16 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

And they just completed their merger with Alpha Media, so Connoisseur is growing quickly.

Considering where they were prior to the Alpha Media acquisition tthat is really rapid growth. Prior to that the only stations they had left were in Connecticut and on Long Island.

[tyrannical bastard 4678]

Ideastream in Northeast Ohio is taking heat for taking over Cleveland State University's 89.3 WCSB-FM

https://www.insideradio.com/free/decision-to-transfer-wcsb-operations-to-ideastream-draws-protest/article_2d281a5d-a852-45b3-8a45-c243bf4ff616.html

 

Ideastream is PBS station WVIZ, classical station WCLV 90.3 (the old WCPN and NPR member station for Cleveland), NPR station 89.7 WKSU and associated repeaters (owned by Kent State University and formerly a stand-alone NPR station) as well as 104.9 WCPN, once the relocated home of WCLV and their classical format and now a repeater for WKSU.

 

Ideastream is taking over the largely student-run station to put a jazz format in it's place...it was the longtime format of 90.3 WCPN before they merged with WVIZ to form Ideastream.

The station pumps out a mere 630 watts, so it's more of a loss for the students and community who listen to the station's alternative format.

 

It's almost like we have a PBS/NPR Nexstar-like broadcaster take over, but in this day and age with no more federal funding and CPB, it was a certainty...

 

I hope the University of Akron's WZIP-FM stays out of Ideastream's hands....or they don't get any more ideas.....

At least Western Reserve PBS is still around....for now....

Edited October 9, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Two sports-related nuggets that are related to radio...

 

1) 106.7 WJFK-FM is the new flagship for the Washington Wizards. WTEM and WDCH will continue to carry Wizards games when WJFK can't do so with the Capitals as priority.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/312651/audacy-washington-extends-rights-deal-with-monumentals-sports-entertainment/

 

2) 97.3 The Game is no more in Milwaukee. Instead, its... B97.3. Sounds familiar? That's because it takes over from WLDB B93.3 as that signal is being sold to EMF. This also means that Packers games in Milwaukee are being moved to 95.7 WRIT-FM.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/312732/the-game-gives-way-to-b97-3-in-milwaukee/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Starting November 1st, BIN, iHeart's Black Information Network, will no longer be exclusive to iHeart.

 

They're syndicating its service to other interested companies. They can either only air its TOH newscasts, run it during certain dayparts, or just air it 24/7.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/313404/iheartmedia-to-syndicate-black-information-network/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Another rebrand for what used to be CBS Sports Radio.

 

With Westwood One taking over programming and distribution, the service will be rebranded as Westwood One Sports, effective December 29th.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/314577/infinity-sports-network-to-be-rebranded-as-westwood-one-sports-as-cumulus-media-takes-over-operations/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Take this with a little grain of salt since Audacy owns the majority of this country's all-news radio stations, and they did their own in-house report, but they did release a report saying that All-News Radio has regained trust with radio audiences nationwide, and ratings are growing too.

 

https://news.radio-online.com/articles/n48070/All-News-Radio-Sees-Surge-in-Trust-and-Audience-Growth

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

iHeartRadio will soon be the audio home for NBC's coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics as well.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/316100/iheartmedia-wins-audio-rights-to-2026-winter-olympics/

[MD TV 390]

The legendary Pierre Robert, who was with Philly's WMMR since 1981, has passed away at 70:

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/316174/radio-remembers-pierre-robert/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Radio is once again the focus of CBS, this time on Saturday Morning, trying to focus on the revelancy of the medium.

 

 

[ScottSchell 423]

News in the radio side of Tulsa and that is Dr. Robert Zollener (Zollener Media Group) that bought the COX-Tulsa radio stations has not renewed Dan Potter’s contract he was the host of the KRMG Morning News after Joe Kelly left. He was with the station for 18 years. I also was laid off from my radio/digital media position from SMG-Tulsa after 4 1/2 years back in September.

Edited November 20, 2025 by ScottSchell

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Delilah (Rene) has been featured on Top Story for four decades of broadcasting. If you've never seen her face before, you can now put a face with her radio career.

 

 

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

It looks like 1070 KNX/97.1 KNX-FM and 740 KCBS/106.9 KFRC-FM have started to share overnight programming from 12 Midnight to 5 a.m. I'm not sure how reliable this source is, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

https://ayodaradio.blogspot.com/2025/12/an-la-sf-simulcast-remembering-melinda.html

[LTSC1980 130]

Urban One is shifting stations in Queen City. From Thursday:

WBT-FM (News/Talk) will be moving from 99.3 to 107.9 FM, which was originally known as WBT-FM from 1962 to 1978.

WLNK (AC) will be move to 100.9, what is now WPZS/Gospel, and also in 99.3 FM.

WPZS will be move to 610AM and 102.5 FM, replacing the Block.

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/324334/radio-one-confirms-four-station-charlotte-format-shuffle-as-wbt-moves-to-107-9/

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

This news is HUGE, especially for the Cuban exiles who live in my market.

 

WAQI 710 Radio Mambí is ending its legendary news/talk format at 11:59 p.m. TONIGHT after a 40-year run serving the South Florida community, especially targeting Cuban exiles and Spanish conservative voices.

 

The format will be replaced by archived shows, music, and Spanish broadcasts of the Heat (NBA) and Marlins (MLB) in the interim.

 

The rumors here are that Latino Media Network are preparing to sell WAQI and WQBA to new owners who requested to halt all operations of both stations.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/327206/710-radio-mambi-to-cease-operations/

[MediaZone4K 2664]

Former WANF morning anchor Lana J Harris will now be a radio host at New York City's Hot 97 (WQHT-FM) per her IG. The station is not specifying what role Lana and some other new cohosts will take. It's widely presumed they will helm a replacement for the canceled Ebro in the Morning.

 

Legendary long time DJ Funk flex is hosting a temporary replacement for the show. He also confusingly announced that he will eventually take over the morning slot in 2029.

 

There is still no public explanation as to why Ebro was canceled. This leaves (WWPR-FM) Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club with no major competition in the hip-hop morning drive radio market. Ebro Darden was very critical of the TBC. His show's cancellation comes as Netflix announced it will stream video content from TBC, and Charlemagne tha God reportedly signing a $250 million content creation deal with iHeartMedia.

 

Edited December 20, 2025 by MediaZone4K

[TVLurker 389]

The people running WQHT (Standard General) are just as incompetent as management at their former sister station KPWR

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

It looks like the CBS World News Roundup Late Edition had its final edition.

 

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=25482782941382313&id=100002318713622

[ScottSchell 423]

News out of Tulsa radio again. Griffin Media announced that the call letters KVOO and KXBL will flip stations starting next Monday. KVOO originally started on AM 1170 (Big Country 1170) before moving over to the FM side. This was a being down for KVOO’s 100th anniversary on air. So Monday KXBL will now be 98.5 The Bull while KVOO will be Big Country 99.5.

Edited December 30, 2025 by ScottSchell

[SFTV 567]

After serving the San Diego airwaves for nearly 3 decades (1988-2015),

Jerry Cesak also known as Jer from “The Jeff and Jer Showgram,” has passed away.