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WKVE operations temporary; may return with next storm
Pittsburgh:For those who heard WKVE Mt Pleasant (103.1) operating over the weekend may be surprised to learn that the move was only temporary. Station owner, Bob Stevens of Broadcast Communications, Inc., made the decision to put the station on the air after most of the Waynesburg area lost power due to the snow storm. "I made the decision to put the Mt. Pleasant site on because it still covers Greene and Fayette Counties and we could broadcast emergency information for those regions," Stevens said.
The Mt. Pleasant station was back off the air this morning despite the fact that power has not returned to WANB's tower. Stevens added, "We may turn the Mt. Pleasant site on again depending on the outcome of the predicted snow storm due in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."
Stevens went on to say that he expects to turn the new WKVE on by late February or the beginning of March. "The first indication listeners will have is when we start running announcements for WANB listeners to tune their FM dials to 105.1 and stay tuned for a new format on 103.1 coming soon," he said. And by soon, Stevens means a few weeks.
DISCLAIMER: If you haven't heard by now, this editor works part time for Broadcast Communications Inc.
WGSM officially WHJB
Pittsburgh:A few Westmoreland listeners have pointed it out, but today marks the official change in callsign for WHJB-FM (107.1) in Greensburg. Renda Broadcasting wing, St. Pier Group, owns and operates the station and applied for the letters back in October, 2009. With the announcement of the new ID, Tony Renda, President of Renda Broadcasting said, "I am very excited that we were able to bring the WHJB call letters back to Greensburg and Westmoreland County. It returns a heritage that goes back to the beginning of radio."
The WHJB call letters graced Greensburg's only AM station (620, now WKHB) from 1934 - 1999. The callsign when to 1600 AM in Bedford PA where they were recently dropped.
The new WHJB is known as "Classic Hits 107.1 WHJB".
A new website appears to be in the works at www.whjbfm.com
Wild weather weekend brings problems and solutions
Pittsburgh:Fybush.com reports that two stations were knocked off the air over the weekend as a result of the storm. WJAS (1320) and WBGG (970) were off the air for quite some time as a result of power outages and heavy winds. Yet WKVE-FM (103.1) managed to go on the air with its new Mt. Pleasant transmitter airing a loop of emergency information for Greene and Fayette Counties.
KDKA-FM announces line up.
Pittsburgh:CBS Radio Pittsburgh announced today the lineup for the debut of the market's first FM sports radio station signing on the morning of February 15 as SPORTSRADIO 93.7 The Fan. The station is expected to be local sports programming 24/7 and will be available on the air, online at www.937thefan.com and streamed to mobile devices including iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry.
Programming the station will be Terry Foxx who has served as PD for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. The weekday programming schedule will be as follows:
6-10 a.m. - Paul Alexander, Jon Burton and Jim Colony
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. - Vinnie Richichi & Ron Cook
2-6 p.m. - John Seibel & Joe Starkey
6-10 p.m. - Gregg Giannotti
Paul Alexander has been with FSN Pittsburgh since 2006 and has worked at KDKA-TV/KDKA-AM and WTAJ-TV in Altoona. Jon Burton worked at WTAE-TV until 2009 and is also an ameteur athlete and avid sports fan. Jim Colony will not only serve as morning co-host, but as sports anchor and reporter. He has worked at WTAE-TV and ESPN Radio 1250 (WEAE).
Midday co-host Vinnie Richichi worked at Seattle's Newsradio 710 KIRO and "Q13 Fox Ten O'Clock News. His partner is Ron Cook who is also a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Afternoon host John Seibel previously hosted the ESPN Radio show "Sports Nation" and has contributed to ESPNEWS and ESPN Radio. Joe Starkey is a former sportswriter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and has also contributed to ESPN.com and ESPN Radio 1250.
Finally, Gregg Giannotti comes to Pittsburgh from WFAN in New York where he started as an intern and moved up to producer of the midday show with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts.
As previously announced, KDKA-AM Sports Director Jeff Hathhorn will assume the same position for the FM and will provide updates and reports from the field alon with Kalena Bell and Jim Colony. Personalities for the remaining two time slots (10 p.m. - 2 a.m. and 2-6 a.m.) will be announced later. Many of the station's personalities will be heard on the weekends in addition to their weekday positions.
The aforementioned website is will be in-depth where fans can access text, audio and video about their local sports teams and national storylines along with sports scores and schedules. It will also feature personality blogs, message boards and community groups.
WWSW tops numbers for the holidays
Pittsburgh:Christmas music was good for WWSW-FM (94.5) this past year. The format "switch" brought the station to the top of the 6+ category marking the first time in 43 years that KDKA or WDVE were not at the top of the list. Pittsburgh's other major Christmas station, WSHH-FM (99.7), came in 3rd under DVE and tied with KDKA. Wish's cume was much larger than KDKA.
Ratings all over the country have shown the trend toward "all-Christmas" to be beneficial for stations, particularly this year. Many all-Christmas stations went to the top of their ratings books.
Complete 'Holiday 2009' numbers are here.
Hartwell lands gig
Misc. Ohio: PBRTV hears that Johnny Hartwell, who was the odd man out at Star 100.7 (WZPT) with the recent air-staff changes, has landed himself a weekend gig. One he's hoping to turn into a full-time gig. Hartwell can be found doing weekends on Q92 - WDJQ in Canton, Ohio.WBGG adds morning show
Pittsburgh: The Post-Gazette reports the addition of a morning drive sports show on Fox Sports Radio 970 (WBGG). The show will be hosted by Greg Linelli Mondays-Fridays from 6-9 a.m. and cover local sports. Linelli has worked at the station as producer of the Joe Bendel show and a play-by-play announcer for Pitt women's basketball since 2004.KDKA names new weekday evening host
Pittsburgh:KDKA-AM (1020) announced today that Robert Mangino has been named weeknight talk host beginning Monday, February 15. Mangino is a resident of New Castle and is the current weekday morning host on WKBN-AM (570) in Youngstown where he's been since 1996. He has also hosted an afternoon talk show on WKST-AM (1200) in New Castle.
"As a teenager in New Castle, I would dream of what it would be like to work at KDKA in Pittsburgh," said Mangino. "Now - to be following the great talk show hosts like John Cigna and Fred Honsberger - and to work with Larry Richert, John Shumway, Marty Griffin and Mike Pintek - the dream has come true."
Mr Mangino will be on the air from 6-10 p.m. taking over for Mike Pintek who was named the new Noon - 3 p.m. host this week.
David & Peggy: 20 Years Together
Pittsburgh:WPXI-TV's (11) anchor team of David Johnson and Peggy Finnegan have been on the air together for 20 years. According to the Post-Gazette, it makes them the longest paired Pittsburgh TV news team and perhaps the most durable TV coupling in local TV history. The duo was paired in January of 1990 for the 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts before anchoring a new slot at 5:00 p.m. beginning later that year.
Finnegan admits that she didn't expect to be in Pittsburgh longer than five years, but calls her connection with Johnson a "natural fit". Johnson joined WPXI in 1985 and started anchoring the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts in 1989 after the station auditioned other candidates for the position - including Nick Clooney, father of actor George Clooney. Other women were considered for Finnegan's position including former Headline News anchor Lynne Russell.
The team recalled how they first learned that their newscast would expand to 90 minutes. "We found out about it from the Channel 11 magazine they mailed out to people," said Johnson who saw the finished magazine cover in the art department. It read "Join Peggy and David for 'First at 5' debuting in September."
Johnson, 52, and Finnegan who turns 50 this year, hope to work together for another 10 years. "...this isn't San Diego or Los Angeles where they're looking for the next 25-year-old," said Johnson. General Manager Ray Carter said there are no plans to disrupt the team. "The audience is just so comfortable watching the two of them together," he said.
Pintek officially moved to Noon - 3
Pittsburgh:For the last several weeks listeners to KDKA-AM (1020) have heard Mike Pintek filling the Noon - 3 p.m. daypart left empty by the late Fred Honsberger. Today, the station officially named Pintek to the time slot effective immediately. With the move, Pintek - who started at KDKA in 1982 as a news anchor/reporter - has now served in every daypart on the station.
For the last year, Pintek has been heard from 6 - 10 p.m. on "Pintek Tonight" - the position he took when he returned to the station after several years off the air at KDKA. The station will soon announce plans for the evening slot.
Former KDKA-TV Anchor/Reporter John Cater dies
National News:
Former KDKA-TV anchor/reporter John Cater passed away on Tuesday at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Cause of death was unknown. According to the AABJ (Atlanta Association of Black Journalists) Cater had freelanced at WSB-TV, WXIA-TV and WGCL-TV all of which came after working in Pittsburgh at KDKA until 2007. The AABJ noted that his body would be sent to his home state of Illinois today where a funeral would be held this weekend.
Hey, kids, guess what?
Pittsburgh:
CBS just made the official announcement, confirming the worst-kept secret in Pittsburgh radio: 93.7 is going all-sports as of Feb. 15.
Much of the music from the current "B-94" WBZW-FM will move to co-owned "Star 100.7" WZPT-FM (100.7, licensed to New Kensington) when KDKA-FM "The Fan" debuts just before the 2010 Winter Olympics.
(And PBRTV doffs its propeller-beanie and bows to the Post-Gazette's Bob Smizik, who had this thing nailed to the wall.)
. . .
"The Fan" will share resources with flagship AM news-talker KDKA (1020), including KDKA sports director Jeff Hathhorn, who will take over the same duties for the new FM outlet and provide field reporting with Kalena Bell, late of Oregon State, and Jim Colony, long a familiar voice to listeners of WTAE/WEAE.
The announcement was made by Michael Young, senior vice president and market manager of CBS Radio Pittsburgh, who said the station was being built for "Pittsburgh's sports fans, who are simply the best in the country."
Terry Foxx, former program director of ESPN Radio at the network's headquarters in Bristol, Conn., is coming to Pittsburgh to program KDKA-FM, Young said, along with Mark Mason, who helped create the country's first all-sports radio station, New York's WFAN (660), in 1987.
. . .
A complete on-air line-up will be announced before the station's official launch, but Young said the personalities would be "an array of opinionated, compelling and very talented local talk-show personalities."
"The on-air presentation will be unique to our market, and our presence will be felt on game days and at major sporting happenings all over town," Foxx said in a prepared statement.
. . .
Many of B-94's core artists are moving to Star effectively immediately, CBS, including Lady Gaga, Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson and the Black Eyed Peas, CBS said.
B-94 morning-show co-host Bubba will join the WZPT morning team along with current hosts J.R. Randall and Shelley Duffy, while B-94's Melanie Taylor will join Scott Alexander on WZPT middays.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a super pop music station," said Keith Clark, vice-president of programming for CBS Radio Pittsburgh, a prepared statement. "If you like B-94 and you like Star but flip back and forth, you will love this blended station."
Smizik: "Does CBS have the stomach to take on a full-throttle ratings battle with ESPN?"
Pittsburgh:In his blog this morning Bob Smizik looks at the work cut out for a new FM sports station. He mentioned that it has not been formally announced, but will be known as "The Fan 93.7" and could be on the air by the middle of next month.
But with the competition the new station would have, it will take time to garner some of that audience. Consider WEAE 1250's hold with ESPN and WXDX's Mark Madden getting some good ratings in afternoon drive. Of course there's also Joe Bendel on Fox Sports (WBGG 970) - the only locally produced show on the station. Smizik notes that when CBS tried "The Man Station" on 93.7 they pulled the plug within months. "If that's all the stomach it has for a fight with 1250 ESPN, it's not worth even starting," he said. Nonetheless it looks as though they're serious. Former WTAE sports anchor Jon Burton and longtime ESPN anchor/reporter Jim Colony are apparently a part of the new station. Plus there's the rumor of pulling in some out of market talent like Gregg Giannott, a producer and part-time air talent from sister station WFAN in New York.
All this combined with current efforts at the other two sports stations, Smizik says, "CBS looks like its ready for the long haul at 93.7. The competition should be keen and the prime beneficiary will be the listening public."
Baumann out at DVE
Pittsburgh:It appears that Randy Baumann has left the 'DVE morning show. The station's website has no mention or picture of him. But Tuesday morning some observers noticed that it's "Jim Krenn and the DVE Morning Show." Turns out that after a decade, Clear Channel opted not to renew Baumann's contract.
(UPDATE: 1/20/10) The Post-Gazette is reporting that neither party has offered an explaination as to why Baumann isn't on the air. Val Porter and Mike Prisuta have taken on further on-air roles with morning show banter.
Twittering away...
Musings From Eric:Remember PBRTV is on Twitter! Join the tweets. Currently the "@PBRTV" question is "What are your thoughts on the FM all sports idea?" So far some are for and others are against. "I think if they blow up B94, yet again, for a sports format that it will fail miserably... again." writes one poster.
Another writes, "It has to work. You can't pick up 1250 or 970 on the other side of town." While we're pretty sure that the two signals are at opposite sides of town to begin with, we're not sure which end of town this poster is referring to, but the powerhouse that 93.7 is could certainly be a boost!
One more - "It could be a good idea if they can get one of the three sports teams broadcasts and get some well known sport talk show hosts." No disagreement here!
C'mon and join the fun on Twitter with PBRTV!
Rumors swirl about 93.7
Pittsburgh:The message boards have been swirling with rumors and Radio Insight reports that CBS Radio may be looking to add its All-Sports format here in Pittsburgh. Lance Venta notes that several domains - including 937thefan.com, Thefan937.com, TheFanofPittsburgh.com, 937thefanPGH.com, TheFanPGH.com and TheFanofPGH.com - have been registered within the last few weeks. He also notes that Clear Channel has the Play-By-Play rights to University of Pittsburgh, the Penguins and the Pirates. But it's possible that the Steelers are still open after the previous deal expired in 2005.
So will the aspects of B-94 (the second wave) be mixed in with Star 100.7, WZPT? That remains to be seen. Incidentally, our initial "little bird" had heard that WZPT would be blown up with those aspects being stirred into B-94.
(AFTERNOON UPDATE - 1/15 4:51p.m.) - Bob Smizik's blog says the possible new format could have a role for former WTAE-TV (4) sports anchor Jon Burton.
CPRTV getting much-needed updates
Johnstown-Altoona-State College:As of today, the CPRTV page is getting some much needed updates to the station listings. Mr. Doug Goffus has agreed to do whatever he can to make these updates possible with the understanding that it will not happen "overnight" but won't be drawn out over a period of time. Station personnel interesting in providing Doug with information about their station(s) should email him at dougthedj-at-gmail-dot-com. Please put something about "Central PA Radio/TV" in the Subject Line.
Doug has made it clear that he will not accept news items about stations and that those stories should still come to PBRTV@aol.com.
And lest you think we've forgotten your transmitter map, it is also a work in progress.
Thank you for your patience and any assistance you can provide.
Former KDKA News Director passes away
Pittsburgh: Gary Froseth - a one-time news director at KDKA radio (1020) - has died. According to DCRTV, Froseth was in Nicaragua as part of a delegation - including his wife - from his hometown of Gettysburg when his death occurred. A news anchor for WTOP radio in Washington, D.C. for the last 16 years, recent health problems affecting the voice kept Froseth off the air.New relationship for Velocity Radio Management
Pittsburgh:Tony Renda's Velocity Radio Management has opened a new relationship with a virtual radio production company to work with VRM clients to provide High-Quality and Cost-Effective Production Services. The company is vCreative out of Babson Park, Florida.
"When we analyze cluster performance of radio groups, we frequently see opportunities for improvements in the Production department," said Renda, VRM CEO. "After vCreative begins handling production, 3 things happen overnight: quality improves, output increases, and the cluster reduces expenses. They are a welcome addition to our lineup of expert partners."
Jinny Laderer, President of vCreative, Inc. said, "Radio groups have been forced to cut costs. This has greatly affected the quality of their in-hours production capabilities. vCreative provides a cost effective platform to increase local direct sales with cutting edge creative and production. We're looking forward to working with Velocity Radio Management and their clients to bring our service to new clients."
Ellis Cannon out at 104.7
Pittsburgh:Ellis Cannon has been "removed" from the airwaves of WPGB-FM (104.7) as of yesterday and replaced with more political talk. Cannon hosted the only sports program on the station from 6:00 - 8:00 each evening, but that ended last Friday. Instead, Michael Savage has been moved to the 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. slot followed by the new "Lost Hour of Glenn Beck".
Cannon is a former trial lawyer and a Midland (Beaver County) native who left his Downtown firm in 1996 to start a local sports publication company. He continues to publish "Pittsburgh Sports Report" and "KidSports Magazine". Two years after starting the publications he started a show on WEAE-AM (1250) moving to 104.7 when the station went News Talk in January 2004.
According to Chuck Finder in the Post-Gazette, the program was considered an Arbitron success by the station's owner, Clear Channel. He suggests that it may have been part of the reason why the company hired Mark Madden for afternoons at sister station WXDX (105.9).