Idaho Radio News Etc.

KKGL/96.9 The Eagle has re-imaged itself as 96.9 The Bronco. The station’s liners, sweepers and overall presentation has been reworked to include “The Bronco.” The station also registered 96-9thebronco.com and reworked the site to match.

Meanwhile, KKGL is on its backup transmitter… and the signal is pretty muddy.

Update: This transformation is just temporary…

KAYN/100.7 FM has ended its Christmas music stunt – and is now programming an oldies format. The change happened at midnight yesterday.

The FM Idaho outlet joins a flood of oldies outlets in the Valley – KTHI/107.1 K-Hits, KGEM/1140 AM and KDJQ/890 AM are all programming some flavor of oldies. Three of the stations – KGEM, KDJQ and KAYN have stepped in to the void left by KLTB/Kool Oldies 104.3 last year, when Clear Channel flipped the station to country.

KAYN is running without jocks and liners from my listen.

The station’s former “Canyon Country” format lives on — but only in the Magic Valley portion of its listening area. The station is now KUYN/106.7 The Canyon – broadcasting from a new location closer to Twin Falls. The signal does not reach Boise — though, if you’re keeping track, FM Idaho has moved KSRV-FM to Deer Point, programming country for the Treasure Valley. I think I have that all straight…

Boise radio pioneer James Edwards died Tuesday. He was 49.

Edward spent time at KFXD/KF95 and KCIX/K-106, and his obituary notes his influence on area radio:

A visionary, like his mother, he was instrumental as a local radio disc jockey and music director, being amongst the first to bring R&B and Jazz programming to Idaho with his show Quiet Storm.

Visitation will be held today from 6-8pm, his funeral is set for tomorrow at 1pm at Calvary Chapel near the mall.

(Thanks Larry for the tip)

KAYN/100.7 FM is still playing Christmas music, as of late this evening.

Both KTPZ and KAYN had an awful sounding hiccup (sounded like a digital hit) every few seconds during my tune-in around 10pm.

The Boise-area media is set to besiege the city of Phoenix for one of the biggest out-of-market stories in history.

KTIK will have Jeff Caves on hand all this week, broadcasting Idaho Sports Talk live from the “Upper Deck” sports club. KBOI’s Paul J. Schneider will also be in town – and he and Caves will have the game call on Monday.

Journal Broadcast Group will send Joe from KJOT’s morning show, and Big J from KQXR – both will broadcast throughout the week.

The Boise State University Arbiter is making a big commitment – sending a swat team of EIGHT folks down to file reports in print and on the web at arbiteronline.com.

The Idaho Press Tribune will send a record four reporters to cover the festivities.

KIVI-TV began coverage last night, with sports director Joe Hughes. He will be joined by anchor Michelle Edmonds.

The KTVB News Group has David Augusto and John Miller in place – they will be joined by Mark Johnson, Maggie O’Mara and Tom Scott. They will bring coverage on KTVB, KTVB.COM and 24/7.

The Idaho Statesman and KBCI’s plans are not clear.

Frank Stanton – who spent 25 years as president of the CBS television network died this Christmas weekend.

Stanton rose to prominence after he helpd turn around the then-struggling CBS Radio division. How? He invented the first radio audience counting device – a precursor to that people meter that Arbitron employs. That invention gave CBS an edge over competitors when the science of counting audience was almost non-existant.

Also, perhaps of greater note – Stanton stood up to the government on a key principle: free speech. From the NYTimes obit:

“In 1971 Dr. Stanton was threatened with jail over his defense of his news division. CBS had broadcast an hourlong investigative report called ‘The Selling of the Pentagon,’ about a $30 million campaign by the Defense Department to improve its image, and the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee demanded that he hand over material that had been cut from the program. It wanted to see if CBS had demonstrated bias by deliberately not using material that would have been favorable to the Pentagon.

Handed a subpoena for the material at his office, Dr. Stanton refused to comply and was called before the committee. He argued that the committee was infringing on the rights of free speech and freedom of the press under the First Amendment.

‘If newsmen are told their notes, films and tapes will be subject to compulsory process so that the government can determine whether the news has been satisfactorily edited,’ he said, ‘the scope, nature, and vigor of their news reporting will be inevitably curtailed.’

The committee voted to cite him for contempt. But after an emotional floor debate, the full House rejected the committee’s citation.”

Also: Someone wants to know why I DID post this, but did NOT post about James Brown. This isn’t CNN – and while Brown was instrumental in the music business, you have to be under a rock to not know he died.

KKMV/Kat Kountry 106 is raising funds to help injured Idaho State Police Trooper Chris Glenn. The station is accepting donations to help Glenn and his family – after he was shot in the neck during a traffic stop near Twin Falls earlier this month.

Glenn remains in a Boise hospital.

KIZN/Kissin 92.3’s Keep Kids Warm auction netted a HUGE $50,000 dollars — all proceeds going towards giving kids and their families a warm winter.

The History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation has its latest meeting set for later this week.

The group will host a no host lunch and program at Smoky Mountain Pizza on ParkCenter this Thursday from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Cost is $12 for adults or $10 for seniors. Reservations at 853-7756.

Idaho State Senator Clint Stennet has agreed to sell his Sun Valley TV stations – KSVT & KSVX to Plum TV – owner of a number stations targeted at resort communities nationwide.

KSVT currently programs a range of local shows, mostly in advertorial form. It is also affiliated with the RSN network.

Plum’s stations feature the “MorningNoon&Night Show” – a locally produced program with news, events, weather, politics and sports. Check out the demo reel.

(This post composed on an Apple while eating an orange. No sour grapes).

Kool 104 is now long gone – but the station’s signature party is back.

Rockin’ New Years Eve will take over the Boise Center on the Grove on the 31st – featuring the Fabulous Chancellors and the Solution Brothers. Former KLTB program director Big Jack is heading up the effort to bring the party back.

Tickets are $20 at IdahoTickets.com

Also: Big Jack has offered some free tickets… details in comments below…

Taking some time off – then headed to Phoenix for that little football game. Posting here will likely be light, but whenever I say that, a flood of news seems to come crashing through the gates.

Hope you have a bright holiday.

–Don

KIZN/Kissin 92.3 is auctioning off a whole raft of items for their “Keep Kids Warm” event. The auction continues throughout this week. KIZN.com has a bunch more info.

I noticed an odd anomaly in the webstats of KTVB.COM. We had a BIG spike in the number to this story about Akiane – the 12-year-old painter whose art is currently on display at an 8th Street Marketplace gallery.

What I can’t figure out is why. The story is actually the most viewed story of the entire year on KTVB.COM – but why the spike yesterday, one month after we posted it?

TODAY there was a spike in the number of blogs using the keyword “Akiane” – according to Technorati. Most of the increased traffic is coming from Google searches – with phrases like “12-year-old painter,” “12-year-old prodigy,” “12-year-old Idaho,” etc.

Was the story talked about on the radio somewhere? NPR? Anyone have a clue? The hole I’ve scratched in my head thanks you in advance…

Update: “Has Been, Never Again” is the hero of the day — Akiane’s story was featured Friday on the Glenn Beck show on CNN Headline News.

EXCLUSIVE – Idaho Radio News has learned that KSRV/96.1 The Bull is now broadcasting from Deer Point, with a permit to pump out 47,000 watts, giving them a signal pattern similar to that of KJOT (map).

The FCC granted the station a construction permit in 2005. The transmitter replaces a stick in Ontario.

KSRV is using “Treasure Valley Country” as its positioner.

The move allows the station to continue to service the west end of the Valley, but now gives it greater coverage cross the entire area. This helps explain why KAYN/100.7 FM dropped country earlier this month in favor of Christmas tunes. The future of that signal is unclear.

FM Idaho/Locally Owned Radio now has three stations covering the Boise area – KTPZ/99.1 The Music Monster, KAYN and KSRV. The Boise Valley now has four full-power FM country outlets (KSRV, KQFC, KIZN and KTMY).

There are a couple more details to this story that I’m still trying to pin down — so if you know something, drop me a line.

Michael Deeds points out today that KRVB/94.9 The River began playing a cut from the Dixie Chicks’ latest album this week. “The Long Way Around” is playing in limited runs according to Deeds – including Tim Johnstone’s “River’s Edge” feature, and during New Music Monday.

The song is #105 for the past week according to YES.com data.

We first covered this story in June – generating a HUGE response, and spawning a column by Deeds. KTMY, KIZN and KQFC have continued to keep cuts from the album off their playlists all year.

For a time this summer, the CD was on the Record Exchange’s list of top sellers.

Plus: It’s a good PR day for the River folks – the Statesman also wrote up Concert for Cause, landing a top spot on the paper’s web page.

The Fall 2006 Arbitron ratings period ends today. Have fun with that last week of recall.

Just 113 days until the Treasure, Wood and Magic Valleys start the Spring 2007 book…

Following up on a story IdahoRadioNews.com first reported in August – it is official… the Arbitron spotlight is soon to shine on Twin Falls.

Don’t look now ladies and gents – the first monitoring period is Spring 2007. TF joins Aspen, CO, Grand Island, NE and Hot Springs, AR. The diaried market will officially be labeled as Twin Falls/Sun Valley.

Oh, and here’s a fun nugget from the Arbitron folks:

“The long-term trend among small-market broadcasters has been to work with Arbitron to create new, measured markets, even for towns in which the entire 12+ population could fit into the Rose Bowl with seats to spare,” Arbitron SVP Carol Hanley said.

The Rose Bowl seats 90,000 – while Aspen has about 55,000 folks. TF/SV checks in at 142,7000 people 12+.

So why Twin and not Pocatello/IF (yet)? That answer might lie in the markets rolling out – both Sun Valley and Aspen are now surveyed. It’s not a stretch to think that Arbitron picked its new markets based on affluence as much as population.

Read more in the Arbitron press release.

KIZN/Kissin’ 92.3 often features fun illustrations of its logo on its website.

The latest is a cool Bronco frog, all ready for the Fiesta Bowl (lower right corner). The person responsible for the illustrations over at Citadel tells me it’s “just a little Paint Shop Pro magic,” – but I think there’s more of an eye for art than a few clicks in a software person. Nevertheless, he’s asked not to be recognized, so I’ll honor that. Either way – these are a fun, exciting way to connect people with the Kissin’ brand.

KTSY told AllAccess that it raised more than $602,000 during its three day Sharathon event – including $25k for a backup generator for the studio. This year’s take is $160k more than last year.

While I continue to look for details on all the brewing changes at Locally Owned (that’s a tease) – here’s some more off-topic fun:

WKRP in Cincinnati will be released on DVD, according to the (appropriately named) TVShowsonDVD.com.

Release date for season one is April 2007. Hopefully sales will be strong so that subsequent seasons will be released. Much of the original music will be scrubbed, but the show’s creator told TVShowsonDVD.com that the studio did a “good job” patching things.

Update: Back in 2003, I posted an item about why many of the songs on the show had to be replaced. Here’s a refresher course.

KTMY/My Country 104.3 began the year with a promise: they’d play more country cuts than anyone else.

I haven’t done a spot check in nearly six month – but KTMY is still playing more music per hour than anyone else.

From 9am-5pm Friday , the station averaged 12.75 songs per hour, followed closely by KIZN’s 12.375 cuts. KSRV ran an average of 11.125 cuts an hour, and KQFC brings up the rear with an average of just 11 songs an hour. One note – KQFC played just eight cuts in the 9am hour, slashing its average. If you take this hour out of the calculations for all four frequencies, KQFC moves up to third place ahead of KSRV.

Over the course of the workday Friday, My Country listeners heard three more songs than they would have on KIZN, and fourteen more than on KQFC.

(Data from YES.com/MediaGuide)

KZMG/Magic 93.1 and KSAS/103.3 Kiss FM once seemed like a single station with two frequencies. Similar playlists, similar imaging (Boise’s #1 Hit Music Station/Channel)…

Now the two so-called CHR stations offer a somewhat more unique product. Of Magic’s top 10 singles (according to YES.com data), only one could be considered “urban” – #10 Beyonce/Irreplacable. Meanwhile Kiss is about as close to a Rhythmic CHR as Boise will ever get – with eight of the top ten songs in the urban category (All American Rejects/It Ends Tonight at #7 and Evanessence/Call Me When You’re Sober at #10 the exceptions).

Fifteen of KZMG’s top fifty cuts are rhythmic (30%), while 37 of KSAS’ hot 50 (74%) are in that category.

Oh Boise Towne Square Mall on a December weekend. Is there really anything like it?

I digress. Anyway, have you seen the flat screen display near the bottom of the escalator by the food court? It displays traditional video ads for a variety of sponsors. It has audio – but with the din of the crowd it’s nearly impossible to hear — so the ads rely on folks watching the visuals.

I saw an ad for KQXR/100.3 The X roll across the screen. I stopped for a moment and watched… thinking something was — odd. “It’s the old logo” I thought to myself. No… there’s something more. Oh yeah — it’s the ever present superimposed font: “Byl and Doug in the morning. New Rock all day long.”