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April Ratings
Pittsburgh: The Arbitron ratings for Clear Channel, CBS, Steel City Media and local public stations were released today. The rest of the station groups do not subscribe to the monthly books and therefore are embargoed for the second month. Leading the pack is WKST (96.1) with sisters WDVE (102.5) and WWSW (94.5) right behind. All Access has the susinct numbers (excluding all of the embargoed listings) while Radio-Info includes the entire list with embargoed information... well... embargoed.DeCarlo to Sidewalk Records
National News: Former WDSY-FM (107.9) (among others) jock Chris DeCarlo is headed to Curb Records new imprint Sidewalk Records. There she will be a part of the new promotions team beginning May 21. Most recently DeCarlo worked at R&J Records. (All Access)Broadcast Communications buying Western Maryland stations
Misc. Pennsylvania:Tom Taylor reported this morning that Broadcast Communications, Inc. is in a deal to purchase three Western Maryland stations from the former WMD Radiowerks one year after the company went into receivership. Those stations are WKHJ-FM - Mountain Lake Park; WWHC-FM - Oakland; and WMSG-AM - Oakland. Ray Rosenblum is the broker handling the sale.
Full disclosure: This editor works part-time for Broadcast Communications, Inc.
A few notes...
Musings From Eric:- Susan Koeppen will be back at the 6:00 p.m. anchor desk of KDKA-TV (2) come Monday. It's the second return for Koeppen who collapsed while running in November due to a congenital heart problem. She underwent bypass surgery after the life-threatening run and returned to the anchor desk in January for about six weeks. In early March she underwent surgery to repair a heart valve and has been off since. She will return to both the 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. newscasts on May 28. (PG)
- The KDKA-AM (1020) jingles have become more "authentic". That is to say that they actually sing, "K-D-K-A PITTS-burgh!" once again. It's not the original package from the 70s, but it sounds like it's an update to the package that has been used for the last several years.
- Our "wandering eye" has been keeping tabs on Paul Mahwinney's record collection once known as "Record Rama". The collection had remained stored in the last location in of the store for some years after its closing. The collection has been sold... and this is what's left...
New Vision stations to LIN Television
Youngstown:Youngstown television properties WKBN-TV, WYTV-TV and WYFX-TV are under agreement to be purchased by LIN Television Corporation. Current owner, New Vision Television, is selling its 17 television stations in 8 markets for a total of $330.4 million and the assumption of a $12 million debt. In addition to Youngstown, other markets include Portland, Birmingham, Honolulu, Wichita, Savannah, Topeka and Mason City.
The sale agreement includes a clause to retain 100 percent of all employees at all stations.
New Vision CEO Jason Elkin calls the move "a bittersweet development". "The decision to sell to LIN Media was not an easy one, but we negotiated a fair price and so decided that now is the right time for me and others at New Vision to begin to look at new opportunities," he said.
LIN Media operates or services 32 network affiliates, over 50 TV and niche websites. LIN CEO Vincent Sadusky calls the purchase an opportunity to strengthen the company's mid-size market portfolio.
Dish to drop AMC channels
National News:Bloomberg reported Friday that Dish Network is planning to drop AMC Network channels AMC, WEtv, IFC and Sundance citing high renewal costs versus low viewership. Meanwhile AMC is claiming that the move is in response to a court ruling last month in which Dish was denied the right to appeal a lawsuit dating back to 2008. The suit filed by AMC as part of Cablevision Systems, was a breach-of-contract against Dish over the collapse of Voom, a set of hi-definition stations.
Brinkman Home
National News:We've received word that former KQV-AM (1410) DJ Chuck Brinkman is now home 140 days after being involved in a serious auto accident in Texas. Brinkman's daughter, Christene who has been keeping a blog about recovery process said, "Yes, you can picture dad sliding down a brontosaurus tail, jumping in his car, and going home!!!!" However, she said the process to get into the car might be a little more conservative than that.
In recent weeks, Brinkman has resumed doing a Saturday afternoon radio show on Greenville, Texas-licensed KGVL-AM/FM 1400/105.9.
Adams to Atlanta
Pittsburgh:From the complete speculation and nothing more (at this time) department: Cumulus has been looking to start an all-news FM in their hometown of Atlanta. However it hasn't been determined which of their FMs it will be; whether it will be all-news or have some talk, etc. Yet Tom Taylor on Radio-Info said Thursday that it was understood that many of the former CNNRadio talent have already been hired. Also, former KDKA-AM PD Marshall Adams' name is being bandied about as the program director.
AFTERNOON UPDATE: The announcement came this afternoon that Marshall Adams will be the station's new program director. More from NTS Media Online.
WPXI Weathermen switch; Burton leaving KDKA-FM
Pittsburgh:WPXI-TV (11) has reassigned Mike LaPoint to weekends. In turn, long-time weekend meteorologist Kevin Benson has moved to weekday mornings. The Post-Gazette reported Wednesday that the move was made last weekend. Benson has been with the station as weekend and fill-in meteorologist since the late 1980's. LaPoint joined the station as Chief Meteorologist before being reassigned to mornings with the re-arrival of Julie Bologna as chief prior to Stephen Cropper.
The PG also reports that Jon Burton will be leaving KDKA-FM (93.7) after May 3. He has been with the station since the format flip in 2010 and was at WTAE-TV for eight years prior. He is headed to WTVF-TV in Nashville.
Ratings look a bit different
Pittsburgh: Arbitron recently announced that they would no longer publish monthly numbers for stations who didn't subscribe to the reports. In Pittsburgh that leaves out several owners. Renda Broadcasting, Keymarket Communications, Salem Communications, Disney, Washington Broadcasting, Calvary Inc. Iorio Broadcasting and several others do not have their stations published in the March Book. The remaining stations - mostly Clear Channel- and CBS-owned - are HERE.Salamon pens a piece for PBRTV
Pittsburgh:Ed Salamon, most recently the author of Pittsburgh's Golden Age of Radio (Arcadia Publishing), recently sat down with Bob Mack to discuss Pittsburgh Oldies. Salamon says, "Bob Mack (McConnell) and "Mad Mike" Metrovich were two record collectors who took their passion for obscure rock and roll and rhythm and blues records to Pittsburgh radio in the sixties. Together, at their peak with Bob as entrepreneur and Mike as the front man, they helped to define a body of music known as Pittsburgh Oldies, songs well known to those who grew up in teh area, but still relatively unknown elsewhere." You can read Ed's entire article here.
20 years ago...
Pittsburgh: It's been 20 years since "the day the music died" on KDKA-AM (1020). According to the Youngstown Vindicator article of April 11, 1992, the news, talk and information format was to replace the music format that day. Larry Richert who worked as a disc jockey during that time, closed his show that Friday with Don McLean's "American Pie". The station was known for music for the nearly 72 years prior dating back to its 1920 beginnings.In Memory: Jimmy Psihoulis (AKA - "Jimmy Pol")
Pittsburgh:The Post-Gazette reports this morning that Jimmy Pol, who created and recorded "Pittsburgh Steelers Polka" in the 1970s, has died. Pol, whose real last name was Psihoulis, had been battling heart aiments and had undergone several surgeries. He was 84. Born in Athens, Greece, Mr. Psihoulis came to the United States in 1947 and opted to settle in McKeesport.
During the 1960s and early 70s, Mr. Psihoulis owned WZUM-AM (1590) in Carnegie where he hosted a morning polka program. Otherwise the station was a rock and roll station with hosts such as Mad Mike Metro who helped make the station a competitor with KDKA-AM and KQV-AM when they were still music stations. He also owned stations in Sharon, Pennsylvania and Niles, Ohio.
WRCT makes it to the "finals" in competition
Pittsburgh:Carnegie-Mellon housed non-commercial WRCT-FM (88.3) has been competing against other non-comms in a "March Madness" type of competition held by Soundtap.com. Listeners have been invited to listen to WRCT through Soundtap's feed rather than the station's own feed in order to be counted as listening during the contest. Furthermore, listeners will have to click a button every 60 minutes to ensure that they are listening or their hour worth of listening won't be counted.
WRCT is now in the final round going head to head against University of Vermont station WRUV. Between now and 3:00 a.m. Thursday, the two stations will be in stiff competition as they seek the top spot in the contest. The station's website says, "Let's show those green mountain boys and girls what these kids from the three rivers are capable of."
Potpourri
Pittsburgh:McKeesport Daily News writer Patrick Cloonan is back as is his Radio/TV Notebook. (Yes... it's online!) Among his notes are:
- Radio Power, Inc. was granted permission from the FCC to move the 100.1 FM translator for WAMO-AM (660) from KDKA-TV's tower to the WKST-FM/WDDZ-AM tower in Baldwin.
- WMNY-AM (1360) has added Dennis Miller and Dave Ramsey to the lineup.
- Hank Baughman has returned to WHJB-FM (107.1) to do afternoon news.
Bormann to Cleveland
Erie-Meadville: Mike "Chico" Bormann will return to the airwaves via Cleveland's new sports-talk station WKRK-FM (92.3) which recently switched from alternative rock to "The Fan". Bormann resigned from Erie's WRIE-AM (1260) in January over a pay dispute. GoErie.com says his first day at The Fan will be April 8 where his show will air from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Still though, a final schedule for Bormann has yet to be worked out. The move is a "homecoming" of sorts since Bormann is a native of Cleveland.Gottlieb retires
Pittsburgh:It's been known for some weeks at KQV-AM (1410) that news director Frank Gottlieb was retiring. Friday, March 30 it all comes true. Gottlieb has been in the radio business for 46 years having started at WAMO-FM where he played the hits overnight. Then he went to the 16th PID in Vietnam and then KDKA-TV, WTAE-TV, WLWC/WCMH-TV (Columbus, Ohio), The Qube interactive cable system and KQV. "After working weekends, overnights, days, and elections since before the Nixon era it's time to step aside and allow the young folks to take over," he said in a Facebook message to friends.
Gottlieb will be far from bored though. He plans to get proper exercise, keep his yard weed free, and digitize photos and audio tapes from his decades-long career.
Will he miss this business? "Yes, when there's a big story."
New PD for KDKA-AM
Pittsburgh:The PG reports that effective immediately, Jim Graci is the new program director for KDKA-AM (1020). He returns to Pittsburgh after being at KLIF-AM, an all-news station in Dallas, Texas. Graci's last job in Pittsburgh was for ESPN-programmed WEAE-AM (1250) from 2004-2010 when the station went with the all-national ESPN feed before flipping to Radio Disney (WDDZ) in early 2011.
Additionally, P.J. Kumanchick will now serve as news director for the station. He previously served as assistant PD and executive producer.
On a related-but-seperate note, just after Noon today, KDKA host Mike Pintek announced that Joe DeStio has been hired as a full-time news anchor at the station. DeStio had been doing some work for the station in recent weeks.
Roach heading... somewhere...
Pittsburgh:Scott Tady of the Beaver County Times caught up with Jimmy Roach over the weekend to find out why he's off the air. Roach did in fact resign from the Froggy stations where he has been since the very late 1990s and is expected to return to the air via another Pittsburgh station. Speculation is that Roach will head back to WDSY-FM (107.9) where he was before heading to Froggy, but he tells Tady that he is not permitted by contract to discuss his new position.
Roach has been on the air in Pittsburgh for decades. He spent part of the 1980s at WDVE where he was paired with Steve Hansen in the mornings. The pair eventually found themselves at 96.9 during the "Magic 97" days before being let go in the early 1990s when Roach moved to the country format at WDSY.