Idaho Radio News Etc.

Chained to Kate has been an impressive stunt. The Survivor-style contest has been all over town. Listeners can track the progress on online webcams, and vote off the loser (la-hoooo-huh-ser). The stunt has worked in all of KCIX’s normal promotions this week — and roped in several sponsors. Very very impressed by the work that the Mix staff and Casey Fischer put together.

Clear Channel is copying itself.

A promo on KSAS says “you’ve found the number one station for music during your work day. You might have to stop and spin around in your chair once in a while… but other wise, keep going. We’ll keep playing…”

That’s been a promo bumper on KCIX for months. I so don’t want to make the “McDonaldization of radio” point here… but come on! Recycling WITHIN the market? Yuck.

KSAS is also running promos targeting sister KXLT. I’m so confused.

Recieved an e-mail today about one local stations transmitter site being “unlocked,” with the front gate “wide open.”

Needless to say, I won’t point out exactly which station (it’s not any of the Deer Point folks) — but now might be the time to check the security on your transmitter site.

The Boise Community Radio Project (BCRP) is launching its campaign to launch a commercial-free station in Boise.

The idea’s been kicking around for quite a while, even seeing a write-up on ZIdaho.com just more than two years ago. However, today’s little blurb in the Statesman is the first I’ve heard of it.

The idea is to get something on the air in this area that isn’t corporate, not big media. Some would say “but we have BSU Radio.” Sadly, even BSU Radio is far from local. The BCRP says that BSUR is only 5% local. While that number seems a bit low — it illustrates the problem: even the “public” radio station isn’t that public.

The project claims to have secured a tower lease — and submitted documentation for translators in Boise and McCall.

Will the station get off the ground? Perhaps. Learn more at radioboise.org

KZMG-FM’s Big Boy is running for president.

The yard sign on the side of the road told me so.

Ever see that Headliners & Legends show on MSNBC? You know… the one that’s like A&E’s Biography, but skewing more towards newsmakers?

They repeat about 10 of them each weekend day — and Rush Limbaugh was on today’s menu. I’ve never been a big fan of Rush, but I respect what he’s been able to do.

The H&L episode was the usual cautionary tale — boy meets radio, boy meets girl, boy divorces girl… boy gets fired from radio. The first 20 minutes or so of the show were devoted to Rush’s many firings as a rock DJ. He was told he couldn’t cut it, would never make it… should move to sales if he wanted to stay in radio, etc.

Now look.

Rush caught fire as a talk radio host — went national, and the rest is history. He started in small markets, and moved up.

Now? The farm teams that were small market stations just don’t recruit like they used to. The last few months have been brutal in this market — with long-time personalities being let go, and stations cutting back already thin staffs.

Two examples: KSAS & KLTB. Both owned by Clear Channel, both seeing some rating erosion. From a business sense, CC probably did the right thing on both stations. On KISS, the group went back to what worked well for the station in the beginning: quality talent from out of market, VoiceTracking shows. A local morning and local evening show were dropped. The station may save a few bucks along the way, and can try to rebuid.

Kool 104.3 took the opposite approach. Instead of having 3 people in the morning and some VTed shifts, KLTB switched to a music-intensive morning show, and spread the other two members of the team to mid-days and afternoons.

Locally Owned Broadcasting takes a sort-of round robin approach to scheduling. The Twin Falls group has staffers track shifts on several properties. For example, KIKX morning man JR also does the evening shift at KTPZ and weekends at KTFI.

So what’s the trend? In a market without a single local owner (really) – will stations maintain their local voice, or slowly slip?

Smooch was doing the night shift at KSAS last night. Voice tracked, and no mention of the new guy.

I give up.

That didn’t last long.

KSAS-FM’s Smooch is no longer slamming nights at KISS-FM. In his stead you’ll find Aaron Traylor — from the mean streets of Spokanistan.

I’m light on details — but Google puts up some nuggets:

• Traylor has made stops in Missoula and Kalispell
• He stands 6′10″ tall, and calls himself “Tallest DJ” on the air; he’s 28
• While at Power 92 in the Flathead Valley this past spring, Traylor announced that Usher and Lil’ John at the Whitefish Mall. If you’ve been to Whitefish, you know the chances Usher would be there are pretty much non-existent. 400 people showed up anyway.
• 1033kissfm.com spells his name wrong on the bio page; Smooch and Mikey’s pic still shows up during the night shift on the home page.
• “I do all the things I do for one simple goal: to see people dance,” Traylor told a Missoula newspaper. “If I can see people enjoy the music I’m playing, my life is complete. I really wanna be able to bring the music and the delivery of music on a professional level to the clubs in this area.”
• Really. He said that.

His show sounds pretty VTed. Everything has that Prophet sound… who knows. The Kalispell station is not of the CC variety.

If he is VoiceTracked, that would leave KSAS without a scrap of local programming Monday-Friday. Sad.

KLTB-FM did more than I understood. Brian Michaels is out — Melissa Dawn is doing mid-days, Big Jack is on afternoons, and G-Dub is the new morning man.

KRVB-FM’s Other Studio with Michael Deeds and Tim Johnstone has moves to 9pm this week. Any frequent reader of this blog knows that Deeds gets on my nerves… and that I like the Other Studio. OK, so I’m random.

If you haven’t listened to OS because it’s just too late — give it a try in the new time slot. This week’s feature: ad rock.