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Erie TV update
Erie-Meadville: As we stated before, WICU DT 12 would be adding sub channels. They recently added the CW affiliate "WBEP" which is now on 12-2 as well as 35-3 on WSEE's sub channels from DT 16. It would have been better if the station added something other than what's already available. "My Network TV" or "This TV" would be a couple of options to choose from giving OTA viewers more choices. Speaking of choice, WLEP LP 9 has recently signed on and is currently showing a slate for "RTV" formerly "RTN" (Retro Television Network) which will be good news for those near the transmitter of the low powered translator that does not reach much of Erie county with its 0.1kw signal. However, Hapa Media Properties who owns the station also has a construction permit for a low powered digital translator for LD 43 (that will remap to 9-1) and 15kw which will cover most of Erie county according to the map on the FCC website.Updates
Pittsburgh:Here's some scoop from Pat Cloonan of the McKeesport Daily News (portion not offered online):
- Renda's WGSM Greensburg (107.1) is morphing from "Sam-FM" into "G-107". The Sam format, launched in January 2006, has been an "anything we want" style format a la "Jack" and/or "Bob-FM." The station is slowly going to a classic hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Station manager Tony Michaels told Cloonan, "Renda Broadcasting is solidly committed to Westmoreland County," adding that the new afternoon news by Hank Baughman has been positive and complimentary to Brent Whigham's morning news. Baughman adds these new duties to his role at Renda Broadcasting. A Westmoreland resident, he has been the morning news anchor on sister station WSHH-FM (99.7) for over 20 years recently adding similar duties on AM sister WJAS (1320).
- Over the air TV viewers will have noticed WBGN's presence at "virtual" 59.1 while airing from 16. WBGN has three subchannels in addition to its main channel. PBRTV has been particularly intrigued with the 3rd channel called "Stuff" which carries local ads and public service.
- Country-wide top-40 expert Casey Kasem is giving up his host duties for American Top-20 and AT-10. This weekend will be his final program which will allow him the opportunity to do voiceover jobs he's had to turn down more recently. No one carries AT20 or 10 in this market that we are aware, but older programs can be found on Satellite Radio.
WAMO-FM gets one more ratings boost
Pittsburgh: The March-April-May trends are out and it seems that stations are on a roller coaster. WDVE continues an upward trend remaining in first place. KDKA has fallen two whole points since the Winter book. Perhaps the biggest surprise is WAMO-FM's rise to 5th place garnering a 5.6 in the trend. WAMO was at 4.5 during the Winter book. Interesting...Bob-a-loo your Westinghouse Laundromat
Monday Morning Nostalgia Fix:Via Mark Evanier's News From Me:
It's a never-broadcast promotional film for Desilu Studios, from back in the days when Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball owned half the television industry. Westinghouse was one of their biggest sponsors so Desi and Lucy starred in this tour of their operation that was designed to show appliance dealers how Westinghouse was going to be selling washing machines like crazy. I think this was done in early 1958 and it runs a little less than half an hour. It's been posted to YouTube in three parts and they should play, one after the other, in the window I've embedded below.
McKees Rocks native Mays found dead
National News:CNN reports that OxiClean (and other products) pitchman Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa, Florida home Sunday morning. He was 50. The cause of death is unknown at this time. Mays was on board a USAirways jet from Philadelphia to Tampa on Saturday. The plane had a rough landing in Tampa after its front tires blew out upon landing. Mays reportedly told a Tampa TV station that as a result of the tire blowout, the landing was rough and things began falling from overhead. "...all the things from the ceiling started dropping," he said, "It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head." An autopsy will be performed by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner.
Meanwhile, Mays' wife Deborah released a statement saying, "Although Billy lived a public life, we don't anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times."
Mays was born in McKees Rocks in 1958 and developed his pitchman style on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. He became the pitchman for Orange Glo International after meeting its founder, Max Appel, at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show in the mid-1990s.
Radio responds to Jackson's death
Pittsburgh: The unexpected death of pop icon Michael Jackson is being reflected in local radio programming. It's hard to find a commercial station that isn't playing some Jackson records today, no matter what their usual format.At Washington County oldies station WJPA-FM (95.3), reports Scott Beveridge of the Observer-Reporter, requests for Jackson's hits began at 5:05 a.m. this morning and never quit.
"It's really been something," morning drive host and program director Pete Povich tells the newspaper. Despite Jackson's odd personality and behavior, Povich says, "you cannot take away how gifted he was."
. . .
Jim Merkel's morning show on "3WS" WWSW-FM (94.5) had plenty of Jackson airplay today, too, ranging from the powerful title track off the "Thriller" LP to the 1987 ballad "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," done with Siedah Garrett.
According to Yes.com, which tracks radio airplay, more than half of the songs played by Sheri Van Dyke during the WWSW's noon hour were either solo Jackson hits, or songs done with the Jackson 5.
. . .
For wall-to-wall MJ, it was hard to beat Steve Harvey's syndicated morning show, heard (at least pending the station's sale) on WAMO-FM (106.7). The hours between 7 and 10 a.m. were all Jackson and Jackson 5 records, as was the noon hour on WAMO.
Even WDVE-FM (102.5) --- whose rock jocks wouldn't usually touch a bubblegum record with a sequined glove --- found time for the Jackson 5's 1970 No. 1 smash "ABC" during the morning show with Randy Baumann and Jim Krenn, while over at KDKA (1020), morning hosts Larry Richert and John Shumway got reaction to Jackson's death from longtime Pittsburgh broadcaster Eddie Edwards. (more)
Conlee to "Q92.9" Middays
Pittsburgh:Scott Fybush reports that Jim Conlee has joined WLTJ-FM (92.9) as the new midday man. Conlee has spent the last several years in the Houston and San Antonio, Texas markets.
Celebrating Ukrainian heritage for six decades
Pittsburgh:
Former WPIT (730) general manager Michael Komichak has a broadcasting record most stations would envy. In 59 years on Pittsburgh radio, he's missed one show --- because he had to have his appendix out.
Komichak, who began hosting the "Ukrainian Hour" on WPIT during the summer of 1950, will turn 90 in October.
He tells Craig Smith of the Tribune-Review that he will continue doing the program --- heard at 1 p.m. Sundays --- as long as he's able. Mark Le Roi, a host at WPIT and sister station WORD-FM (101.5) who serves as Komichak's producer, calls him "one of the masters of radio."
Pittsburgh had a large population of Ukrainian immigrants during the 20th century, and Komichak still wields influence among their descendants. Several years ago, when Pitt's Cathedral of Learning needed to raise money for a Ukrainian "nationality room," he took to the air on Father's Day to demand listeners support the effort.
"You must make a contribution in honor of your dead fathers," Komichak told his listeners. He raised $18,000 in an hour.
Black radio history explored
Pittsburgh:
Above, Mary Dee, one of the nation's first black female disc jockeys, was in the air chair at a special Hill District studio for what was then known as WHOD (860) in Homestead. (Pittsburgh Courier archives)
. . .
One legendary Pittsburgh media outlet is taking an in-depth look at another one on the eve of the latter's apparent demise.
With WAMO-FM (106.7) and its AM sister stations likely to be sold and switch formats, The New Pittsburgh Courier this week began a series of articles on the history of black radio in the city.
"The sudden demise of WAMO radio may seem shocking to many, but the station's trials and tribulations stem from a decades-long struggle to maintain a strong community identity that at the same time would attract sufficient white listeners (and advertisers) to survive and grow," writes Larry Glasco, associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh.
He writes that WAMO was important to African-Americans and white residents alike because it was "capturing and reflecting the music and culture of its residents as well as providing a forum where they could discuss public affairs and rally for racial justice."
Glasco goes back to 860's origin as Homestead's multi-ethnic WHOD and also touches on the brief 1950s incarnation of WEEP (1080) as "WILY" (named for Wylie Avenue in the Hill District).
And he reminds readers that WAMO was briefly a country and western station!
Ultimately, Glasco argues, changing tastes, shifting music trends (including the rise of hip-hop) and the growth of coverage of black issues by traditionally all-white stations, beginning in the '60s, started eroding WAMO's influence.
Rocket 101 turns 20
Erie-Meadville: OK let's go back 20 years. It was June 1989 and I had just graduated from Fort LeBoeuf High School in Waterford, Pa. Between mid 1988 to 89, radio as we knew it then was starting to change. WRIE 1330 signed off in December of 1988 and was sold to Burbach Broadcasting who would move WEYZ from 1450 to 1330 a few months later. (1450 was donated to Penn State Behrend and would become then talk station WPSE.) A few months before that, a young man from Rochester named Richard Rambaldo purchased with various loans an AM/FM combo in North East called WHYP 1530 / 100.9. The AM/FM mono simulcast was the home of country music from legends like Hank Williams Sr., Kitty Wells, Bob Wills, etc. Once the purchase was complete in mid '88, the country legends gave way to the Beatles. Yes, Erie had its first ever "All Beatles" format 24/7 on vinyl just like the previous format did (one LP album side at a time.) The call letters were changed to WRKT, which reminded me of another AOR rock station with similar calls known as "95 K-Rock" WRKU out of Grove City, Pa. which had a following in the southern part of Erie county in those days. Rambaldo would start an overhaul on the not so powerful stations, focusing mostly on the FM side updating its sound quality. CDs' would replace vinyl albums and stereo sound would be added to the FM side. Once the work was completed, June 20th would be a huge day as classic rock leaning "Rocket 101" was born at noon that day from the former "One Broadcast Park". With no advertising budget early on, "word of mouth" promotion would be key to the station's early success and make "Jet FM 102" and "K-104" take notice. Both even tweaked their playlists at various times more AOR to steal some of Rocket's ever growing audience with little success. All of this with a somewhat weak signal at 100.9 from North East that would eventually get a power increase. Chris Earl Phillips would be the station's first morning show host in the early days with different hosts taking mornings after that before Mojo McKay & Natalie Massing would become the current hosts of Rocket's morning show. 20 years ago, a "Rocket" of a station made an impact on Erie listeners looking for a true rock choice.Layne to the state capitol
Erie-Meadville: It was announced during "Action News 24" at 6pm Friday that reporter Craig Layne is leaving "Jet TV" and "Fox 66" for a reporting opportunity in the state capitol. He will become a reporter for "Fox 43" WPMT in the Harrisburg, York, Lancaster area. Layne spent two years and his big break in the business at Jet & Fox. Craig will handle reporting duties for the morning and 10pm newscasts. It's good to see a reporter leave a station on his own free will for another great opportunity down state instead of being shown the door, which has happened way too often lately. Hopefully one of the former reporters at the now vacant 1220 Peach street studios will find an opportunity just south of I-90."Ross on Radio" takes one last listen to WAMO-FM
Pittsburgh: Radio-Info writer (Sean) Ross on Radio realized the other evening that he had not tuned in to WAMO-FM lately and decided to give the station one more listen. Ross said there were signs that the station is "on its way out here," saying the songs in the music image promo and stager were six months old. He called the "read" lower-key and the feel being an updated version of a two-voice production style used in the early '80s. "WAMO-FM never sounded like a pre-fabricated Hip-Hop station making its imminent departure that much more frustrating," he said.A sight to behold...
Musings From Eric:Over the last few years that both analog and digital TV signals were on the air together, at the top of each hour, one might see the Legal ID as, for instance, "WTAE-TV/DT Pittsburgh".
Last night for the first time in several years this viewer saw, "WTAE-TV Pittsburgh". Ah the days of one signal are back...and Digital is the norm...
KDKA-TV in HD
Pittsburgh: KDKA introduced its new High-Def news set at Noon. We have to agree with Rob Owen, the more one looks at it, the more one thinks "WTAE". The color scheme is a little more exciting than the old one and there is actually a weather center on set. Stage right is equiped with a multi-purpose center including a place for anchor stand-ups, public affairs programming and musical guests for Pittsburgh Today Live.WZUM sold
Pittsburgh:Sovereign City Radio Services LLC has filed with the FCC to sell WZUM-AM (1590) to Dr. Katrina L. Chase of Chesapeke, Virginia. Chase does business as Believe & Achieve Family Educational Center Inc. The deal was made for $800,000. The deal includes an LMA dated June 9 between the two companies to run gospel music.
According to Patrick Cloonan's McKeesport Daily News article (not online) Dr. Chase has a stake in three other stations in Virginia, Louisiana and South Carolina.
The last local owner of WZUM, Michael Horvath, sold the station to Starboard Media Foundation in 2005. It was Starboard who operated the Relevant Radio Catholic network and put it on the air at 1590. In October 2008, Sovereign City took the station over in a deal and resell it. Both Starboard and Sovereign City had been founded by Mark Follett.
The Relevant Radio format was taken off of WZUM in May 2009 and a deal was in the works with Delmarva Educational Foundation, but Delmarva pulled out. Enter Dr. Chase who apparently will continue with the gospel format.
Tidbits...
Pittsburgh:Some notes from Patrick Cloonan of the McKeesport Daily News (Not Online or Online only for Subscribers)
- John Rohm, who has been head of Clear Channel in Pittsburgh for over 10 years is now also overseeing Philadelphia's cluster. Rohm was the CEO at the Cincinnati cluster beginning in 1996 and over saw both Cinci and Pittsburgh for two years.
- Randy Tantlinger's sports talk programs are moving to WLFP-AM (1550) in Braddock and expects to have them on the air within a couple of weeks. The programs had been airing on WPYT-AM (660) in Wilkinsburg, but Tantlinger says attempts to renew the contract with Langer Broadcasting were unsuccessful.
Reminder: Tune in to The Netio Show
Pittsburgh: Just a humble reminder that PBRTV Editor and Owner, Eric O'Brien will be "OnLine with Bill Alexander: The Netio Show" Tonight at 10:06. Pick up the stream here.WDUQ ends June pledge on a high note
Pittsburgh:The following is from WDUQ-FM (90.5) Director and General Manager Scott Hanley:
"WDUQ just finished its rare June pledge drive to help close our shortfall for the fiscal year.
As we had done previously for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, we gave our listeners the option of forgoing a premium and instead send the 10% to a worthwhile non-profit. Since the majority of our members don't take a thank-you gift, we knew there was a likelihood that we'd leave money "on the table," but we thought the case was compelling.
We are giving the 10% to NPR.
This may not be something other stations feel they can do, but given the challenges and shortfalls suffered by our leading programming and membership organization, it didn't seem right to ask for extra support for just WDUQ."