Idaho Radio News Etc.

This escaped my notice: KFXD-AM is now licensed to the city of Boise, while KIDO-AM is licensed to the city of Nampa. KFXD has long been licensed to Nampa, while KIDO was a Boise station (KIDO’s one-time sister television station KTVB is also licensed to Boise).

In essence, 580 AM returns to its Nampa roots, while 630 does the same in Boise. Clear Channel flipped the frequencies for KFXD and KIDO in 2002.

I checked the calendar… and it’s not April First… but KTIK & J Bates are reporting that the Humanitarian Bowl will be renamed the Roady’s Truck Stops Humanitarian Bowl.

The Boise radio stations located on Park Blvd. early this month (it was cloudy then):

The Boise radio stations located on Park Blvd. today (a much sunnier day):

Interpret how you will. Oh, and yes… it’s the same rock.

(weirdest… headline… ever)

If you’ve read this little blog at all over the last four years or so, you’ve probably figured out that I don’t listen to a ton of country music. I’m a Rascal Flatts fan, and have picked up on some of Matty’s favorite Dirty Little Roddie’s tunes… but I don’t go out of my way.

The past few days, I’ve listened exclusively to KTMY/WOW Country 104.3. It seems that every time I tune in, Brad Paisley’s “Ticks” is on. Probably the funniest, classiest lyrics I’ve heard:

In the small there of your back
Your jeans are playing peekaboo
I’d like to see the other half of your butterfly tattoo.

Hey that gives me an idea
Let’s get out of this bar
Drive out into the country
And find a place to park.

‘Cause I’d like to see you out in the moonlight
I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I’d like to check you for ticks.

KTMY spun the song 60 times over the past week (it was #1). KIZN rolled the song 23 times (#13), KQFC played it 40 times (#3)

Peak Broadcasting and Citadel Communications agreed to have their pending litigation assigned to a US Magistrate Judge. The parties both signed off on the agreement last week, and it was filed in court Friday.

Next, a scheduling confernece will be held with the judge and both parties present… Stay tuned.

Following up on our note from last week, Larry Lujack will do the afternoon shift on Chicago talker WLS tomorrow. The station is flipping back to rock for a single day – and featuring some of its signature hosts from years past.

If you’ve been reading the comments here – you’ve learned the legendary Lujack has several ties to Idaho Radio:
- His career started at KCID-AM in Caldwell in 1958
- He spent time at KGEM-AM in Boise, before leaving the market for Spokane… from there, he worked his way around the country before beginning a string of jobs in the Chicago market starting in 1967
- Lujack’s daughter Linda Lujack Shirley lives here in the Valley, and her dad still spends time here
- Former KTVB weekend meteorologist and current Idaho Dept. of Water Resources spokesperson Bob Anthony McLaughlin (a radio vet himself) is Larry’s nephew.

You can hear WLS live online here (Lujack’s show airs from 5-8am mountain time)

KQFC has snagged a program director to replace either Rick Sutherlin or Kevin Anderson… depending on how you look at it.

Anyway, Wes McShay hits Boise from KRMD in Bossier City/Shreveport, LA. He spent just about a year with the station, but has a healthy resume, including as PD of stations in Nashville and Kansas City – and as operations manager of the Clear Channel cluster in Huntsville, AL. Idaho is “home” to McShay.

The station is also sporting a new logo on its temporary placeholder website:

I’ve spent a good chunk of time over the past few days listening to KTMY/WOW Country 104.3. The station’s imaging is tight, evocative and well packaged.

Robin Scott is no longer on the station as a DJ, but her voice is heard at the end of just about every song – with WOW’s “song tag” feature. While the idea isn’t exactly new… it is new around here. In the era of iPods and MP3s on the computer, it’s nice to know the name of the song. It doesn’t get in the way, is simple – and works well. Jack Murphy’s voice seems well-suited to the WOW theme – and the bumpers are energetic.

It is nice to hear live and local jocks. I’ve heard a couple of odd breaks (calling the Cannes Film Festival “canes” – rhymes with Hanes was funny), but it’s a far cry from the station-on-autopilot that KTMY was before.

I was ready for really long spot breaks… but never heard more than five commercials in a row. We’ll see how the station stacks up in six weeks.

KTMY/WOW Country 104.3 clearly has about the most misleading gimmick in town at the moment. They say “playing 104 in a row” repeatedly. Liners even say we’re “lining up 104 in a row!” I’ve never heard anyone say they are lining up minutes… but I digress.

The station, as you can tell – is only doing the long stopsets three times per day – during the work day. The rub is that they continue to harp on the 104 in a row theme throughout the rest of the day. “104 in a row” is at least misleading. An accurate positioner would be “104 minutes of music in a row three times per day!”… but that’s not as sexy, is it?

Stations are required to have their annual EEO reports posted to each stations website by this coming Thursday. We’ll take a look and see what each has to say later this week.

The folks at Bronco Country are talking about KTIK’s “major announcement” that The Ram is launching a beer named after Jeff Caves.

Wait wait wait… I know… you have a million one-liners. Let’s get through the details first: The Ram is doing a contest to name the concoction… you get a “VIP table” at the keg tapping event, plus some Ram food and your own frosty mug of Jeff Caves’ drink.

KTIK.com is displaying some of the suggestions.
Ohhhh boy.

Now that KTMY is up and live in its new country incarnation – what is Peak Broadcasting planning to do with its (ahem) highest-rated country station, KFXD 630 AM?

Rumors of a format change have been rolling around town for weeks. There’s also been lots of chatter about Jon Duane and Chris Kelly returning to the airwaves. At least one person thinks those two items may be connected – and another source thinks a talk station is on the way. How that mixes with KIDO right now is the big question.

Some of the people who know are giving me polite “no comments” right now.

And there’s this: next week’s History of Idaho Radio foundation meeting (to be held at Peak Broadcasting Boise) has an intriguing topic…

KFXD-AM and its new format.

The (quick) history lesson: the KFXD call letters are the state’s oldest – having started in Logan, Utah in 1922. That station moved to Jerome in 1926, then Nampa in 1929 – where it is still licensed. KIDO began as a project of Boise High School with the calls KFAU, also in 1922. Check out my write-up on the KIDO/KFXD origins.

As I noted earlier, I’m not in listening range to hear the new KTMY/Wow Country 104.3.

But something caught my eye on the yes.com feed for the station: it aired an ad right before 10:50pm tonight, and another right before 11:40pm. The station played nine songs in that 50 minute period. As has been pointed out, “104 in a row” probably means minutes… but in this one case at least, the station didn’t attain either measure.

(PS: I’m watching KQFC’s “98 in a row” claim as well, but so far I haven’t seen them dip under the 98 minute mark. That doesn’t mean they haven’t – I just haven’t see in it.)

The History of Idaho Broadcasting foundation will hold its May meeting Thursday May 31st. The group will meet at Peak Broadcasting’s Boise headquarters in the Morrison Foundation building on Park Blvd. from 7pm – 9pm.

KIRQ and KTPZ (the Twin Falls version) have applied for licenses from the FCC, as of May 15th. Also, not wasting any time, owner Locally Owned Radio/FM Idaho is asking to move KIRQ’s city of license to Kimberly, and upgrade the station from a class two to class three – and boost power from 5.2kw to 23kw. (Thanks, Oldtimer!)

It’s just for a single day – but WLS/Chicago is dumping its news/talk format for the “Big 89 Rewind” on Memorial Day. The station will even feature its radio jocks of old – including the legendary Larry Lujack. Details here

Wendell Starke’s FM Idaho is quickly becoming an even more powerful force in the Idaho radio industry.

FMI signed a deal to purchase KMCL-FM/McCall from Brundage Mountain Air, Inc. The deal, worth $900,000, isn’t to give FM Idaho a presence in the McCall/Donnelly/Cascade area – but rather to give it another signal in the Treasure Valley.

Last week, the FCC agreed to allow KMCL to move from McCall to Parma. The construction permit calls for a full Class C station, with a booming signal, covering areas from Idaho City to Vale, OR in its primary signal area (Map here). The station broadcasts at 101.1 FM – right next door to FMI’s KAYN/Boomer 100.7.

This move would give FMI/Tester Broadcasting four FM stations with Boise coverage with sisters KAYN, KTPD and KSRV.

KMCL-AM is not part of the deal, and will be retained by Brundage Mountain Air. The KMCL-FM move is part of relaxed FCC rules allowing for station City of License changes. KMCL’s new signal will no longer have a quality signal in the city of McCall.

(Big thanks to our FCC guru Oldtimer…)

Those Journal website revamps are coming very soon I’m told – with XRock.com (the home of KQXR) coming first, followed by sites for KJOT/J105, KTHI/107.1 K-Hits and KRVB/94.9 The River.

Journal hired some folks to manage the radio sites and newsidaho6.com, um… 6OnYourSide.com, er Todays6.com, I mean KIVITV.com. I know… I’m a bully… or something.

KTHI/107.1 K-Hits will throw another birthday party for itself this year – June 8th at the Taco Bell Arena. The concert features Dr. Hook and the Grass Roots. The station turns the big FIVE this year – and will give away all tickets to the show on air.

I’m far far from Idaho this week, but word is that KTMY/WOW Country 104.3 is off the ground in B-town.

Here’s what I wrote a month ago on the change. Also, as I alluded to, the station is tagging each song with its name (from “Wendy the Song Tag Girl”).

Check out the soft-launched website.

UPDATE: “Busted if…” points us to the logo for KATC (the Citadel station in Colorado Springs, CO). That yellow “104 IN A ROW” with the red/black swooshy line under it is awfully similar to KATC’s yellow “95 in a Row!” with the red/black swooshy line under it.

Editor’s note: for the purpose of clarity and simplicity, all references to “Peak” or “Peak Broadcasting” refer to the group of defendants in the lawsuit, including Peak Broadcasting LLC, Kevin Godwin, Rick Sutherlin, Mike Sutton, Mike Owens and Todd Lawley — unless I note otherwise.

Earlier this week, I outlined Citadel Broadcasting’s charges against Peak Broadcasting – a long tale that I’m sure many inside Peak (and Citadel) would rather have not been discovered.

But it has. The great thing about this country, is that if one party sues another party — everyone else gets to know the nitty gritty details.

Peak begins by denying Citadel’s charge that it is based in San Francisco, CA – instead asserting that it is a Fresno-based entity. Sort of a minor correction in the grand scheme – but it’s just the tip of the ice burg.

Peak admits the basics: that it owns stations in Idaho, that it employs Todd Lawley, Kevin Godwin, Rick Sutherlin, Mike Sutton and Mike Owens – and that it is a legal entity based in Delaware. Other than that – Peak’s filing admits little else.

As you might expect, Peak denies virtually every charge – even refusing to directly admit Citadel’s assertion that Boise is a competitive place to own radio stations: “Defendants lack knowledge, or information sufficient to form a belief as to admit or deny whether competition in this market is keen, and on that basis deny the remaining allegation in Paragraph 18 of the Complaint.”

Peak says, though – by their own admittance – Lawley was Citadel’s “number three man,” that he did not have “day to day” oversight of the Boise stations. They also deny that Kevin Godwin had operational responsibility for the Boise cluster after his departure for Colorado Springs last summer.

Peak is ambiguous in its reply to Citadel’s charge that Lawley had access to “virtually all of Citadel Broadcasting’s proprietary and trade secret data.” Peak says it lacks “knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to admit or deny these allegations.”

Peak says it denies the charge that Lawley tried to recruit Citadel regional president Kevin LeGrett nearly four months before he left Citadel for Peak.

Peak admits that Lawley participated in conversations with Citadel CEO Farid Suleman about Citadel’s bid to buy CBS Radio’s stations in Fresno, CA. Peak, however denies that Lawley “sought out” Suleman.

Peak also denies that Lawley openly used information from his time at Citadel in a presentation to potential investors.

Peak admits that Godwin knew of company COO Ellis’ vacation plans when he announced his immediate resignation the day before she was to leave the country. Peak says Ellis accepted Godwin’s resignation.

Peak denies that Godwin deleted Citadel data from his lap top, but do admit he tried to delete “information he believed to be personal.”

Peak says Godwin did not “improperly disclose” Citadel’s information, and he did not try to recruit Citadel employees. One point I left out of the original story was that Citadel charges that Godwin tried to recruit Citadel AEs to join him at Peak – while still employed with Citadel. Peak denies this.

Peak admits Citadel tried to offer raises to Sutton and Owens, but say the pair did not accept the offer, and says that Owens and Sutton were a package deal – and that “wherever they worked, they would stay together.”

Peak admits that a Citadel IT employee was asked to make a DVD backup of Owens’ computer – but deny that Owens ever “accessed, used or copied the backup disk.”

Peak admits that Sutherlin was given access to KQFC’s Selector database – and that he “proposed” new jingles for KQFC. They are somewhat ambiguous in their claims about Sutherlin’s employment status with Citadel, but do say he traveled to Fresno to meet with Lawley during the week prior to Sutton and Owens’ resignation.

Peak denies all eight counts levied against it by Citadel. They also provided nineteen so-called “affirmative defenses,” including that:
- Citadel has failed to mitigate damages, and that it did not work to dodge “avoidable consequences.”
- Citadel did not deal in good faith with the employees named in the action.
- The defendants did not conspire or agree to do anything illegal
- Citadel’s “trade secret data” is in the public domain and is readily accessible
- The information Citadel calls “trade secrets” don’t qualify as such under Idaho law
- Citadel hasn’t tried to protect that information
- Damage done to Citadel were caused by the company’s own negligence
- Peak does not have any money or profit that belong to Citadel
- Lawley, Godwin, Owens and Sutton were all at-will employees – and owed nothing to Citadel after they terminated their employment
- Sutherlin received an employment offer – but was never compensated or technically employed by Citadel

Now we watch, and wait.

I’m working on a little project, and I’m casting about for good local blogs. They need to be focused on Idaho topics. Know of a site I’m missing?

REVISED: Here’s the current list (we’re up to 34 sites!) Thanks for all the suggestions. Have more? Keep ‘em coming.

NEWS
> Boise Guardian
> Boise Weekly BW Beat
> Boisee
> Caldwell Guardian
> Eye on Boise
> Ridenbaugh Press

OPINION
> 43rd State Blues
> Adam’s Blog
> Dennis Mansfield
> Idaho Statesman opinion
> Idaho Rocks
> Idahoan
> Mountain Goat Report
> New West Boise
> Red State Rebels
> The Sniff Test

BUSINESS
> BlueLine Grass Roots Marketing
> Boise Bus Blog
> IBR BizBlog
> Idaho Ad Agencies
> Idaho Radio News
> TechBoise
> Treasure Valley Consultants Network
> Sun Valley Idaho blog

REAL ESTATE
> Building Credibility
> FizboMap
> Boise Real Estate Blog

DIVERSIONS
> Huckelberries Online
> Idaho Gardener
> Idaho Outdoors

SPORTS
> Spokesman Review Vandals blog
> Idaho Press Tribune Broncos blog
> Idaho Prep Report
> KTVB Scott Slant

Today’s Idaho Statesman simply scratched the surface of a long and complicated lawsuit laid forth by Citadel Broadcasting. Idaho Radio News has obtained a copy of the lawsuit, and response to it by Peak Broadcasting.

Citadel spins a rich narrative, that alleges Peak CEO Todd Lawley set forth a grand plan to defraud Citadel, and raid many top employees. It’s a fascinating look inside the two radio companies, and their business dealings.

In setting up the story, Citadel notes that “competition in this market is keen,” referring to the Boise metro area radio industry.

Citadel notes that Lawley was the third highest ranking executive in the company, inferior only to the company’s CEO Farid Suleman and COO Judith Ellis. The company says Lawley had access to “virtually all of Citadel Broadcasting’s confidential, proprietary and trade secret data.”

In July of 2006, four months before he left the company, Citadel alleges Lawley tried to recruit company regional president Kevin LeGrett, but that LeGrett declined the offer.

Citadel says that it too made a bid for CBS Radio’s cluster of stations in Fresno, CA. The company says Lawley took part in discussions relating to the negotiations between Citadel and CBSR. The suit further alleges Lawley sought out Suleman and “probed (him) for information relating to Citadel Broadcasting’s bid for the Fresno cluster, including but not limited to the ‘book’ provided by CBS to Citadel Broadcasting in connection with the sale of the Fresno cluster.”

The book is the bundle of documents provided by a seller to interested parties.

Lawley left Citadel on November 13, 2006 – and a week later – joined his newly formed company “Peak Broadcasting.” Idaho Radio News has confirmed that Peak Broadcasting LLC was formally incorporated in the State of Delaware on November 9, 2006 – the announcement by CBSR of its Fresno sale to Peak came on November 16, 2006. Joe Mauk of Fresno, CA purchased the domain name “peakbroadcasting.com” on November 8, 2006. Mauk is listed as chief engineer for the Fresno Cluster of stations now owned by Peak Broadcasting.

That timeline again:
November 8, 2006 – Mauk purchases PeakBroadcasting.com
November 9, 2006 – Lawley and his agents incorporate Peak Broadcasting LLC
November 13, 2006 – Lawley resigns from Citadel
November 16, 2006 – Peak announces deal to buy CBSR’s Fresno properties

Fast forward to March of this year: Citadel says Lawley made a presentation to potential investors in Peak Broadcasting. Citadel says Lawley openly showed the group “proprietary, confidential and and trade secret information,” that came from his time at Citadel. The suit alleges Lawley did not try to hide the fact that the data came from Citadel.

The suits says Kevin Godwin notified the company that he would resign effective immediately on March 16, 2007. That notification was made to COO Ellis, who had plans to leave the country for vacation the next day. The suit says Ellis asked Godwin to stay on for an extra “week or so” to help the transition. Citadel says Godwin e-mailed Ellis the next day and noted that his resignation was effective immediately.

The suit says Godwin tried to delete data on his company-issued laptop. The suit says he “attempted to do so,” leaving some ambiguity over the efficacy of that attempt (simply deleting files on a Windows system doesn’t make them go away – it just deletes the “pointer” to the file. Disk recovery software would allow the data to be retrieved in many cases.)

Citadel said that it became concerned that Peak would try to “raid Citadel Broadcasting’s employees.” The company scrambled to lock down Owens and Sutton. It offered Owens a 29% pay bump, and Sutton a 36% increase. Citadel says Owens and Sutton said they were a “package deal.” Citadel says it reached a deal – but on Sunday March 18, the company told Ellis that they were resigning.

I first heard of the departures at 4:05pm that day, with several e-mails echoing the initial tip throughout the evening. I sat on the information pending official confirmation.

There has been lots of confusion concerning Rick Stewart/Sutherlin. The suit says Stewart was hired by Citadel on February 26h, just five days before this site broke news of the Peak Broadcasting purchase of Clear Channel’s Boise stations. Citadel says Stewart was set to start work as KQFC program director on March 19th, but instead began work on March 12th. In that time, he purchased a jingle package for KQFC, and looked at proprietary information regarding KQFC, according to the suit. The suit also says he flew to Fresno during that time to meet in secret with CEO Lawley.

Timeline:
February 26 – Owens hires Stewart as KQFC PD
March 3 – Word of Peak’s CC purchase released
March 12 – Stewart starts work
March 15 – Godwin resigns Citadel post
March 18 – Sutton and Owens resign
March 19 – Stewart fails to show up for duty at Citadel

On March 22nd, Lawely held an all staff meeting with the employees of Clear Channel Boise. Peak did not take control of the stations until April 1. Sources tell me that Lawley did not mention Godwin, Sutton or Owens by name.

Sources also tell me that Lawley brought up competitor Citadel during the meeting, specifically saying that Citadel would have to write a ‘very very large check’ if it wanted to hold on to the rights to Boise State University athletics, which are held by KBOI-AM.

Citadel alleges the following against Peak Broadcasting, Todd Lawley, Mike Owens, Mike Sutton, Rick Sutherlin and Kevin Godwin:

- Civil Conspiracy – Computer Crime
- Violation of Idaho Trade Secrets Act
- Unfair Competition
- Imposition of a Constructive Trust Upon Illegal Proceeds and Profits
- Trespass to Chattells/Conversion
- Breach of Fiduciary Duty – Loyalty (against Lawley, Owens, Sutton, Sutherlin and Godwin only)
- Breach of Fiduciary Duty – Confidentially (against Lawley, Owens, Sutton, Sutherlin and Godwin only)
- Violation of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (against Godwin and Owens)

COMING: Summary of Peak’s response to the suit.

Blockbuster news.

Here’s the story as laid out by the Idaho Statesman:

A lawsuit in Federal court alleges that Peak Broadcasting CEO Todd Lawley “initiated a scheme to raid the ranks of Citadel Broadcasting employees” – and engaged in practices to hurt Citadel.

The suit also says Peak used inside information to hurt Citadel in its bid for a group of Fresno, CA radio stations that Peak purchased from CBS Radio.

The suit also alleges:
- Kevin Godwin deleted data from a Citadel computer
- Mike Owens “left the company with” a disc full of proprietary information. Peak told the Statesman the disc contained “only Owens’ personal information.” Citadel says the disc had “market data, plans, projects, revenues, expenses and promotional materials as well as monthly sales goals, plans, projections and results,” according to the Statesman.
- Rick Sutherlin/Rick Stewart was hired Feb. 26 as PD for KQFC. The suit says he was set to start on March 19, but that Owens let him start a week early. Citadel says Sutherlin flew to California to “secretly meet” with Lawley. Sutherlin has been named program director at KTMY – soon to be “Wow Country 104.3″

What Citadel wants: a cash settlement, and an order to stop using any Citadel information.

NOTE: I will be watching the comments on this thread closely. Please remember that you may not libel or defame private citizens.

UPDATE: The Statesman inaccurately reported that “Peak also bought Clear Channel stations in Fresno that Citadel was vying for.” The stations were owned by CBS Radio – not Clear Channel.

ALSO: I’ve requested comment via e-mail from Peak CEO Todd Lawley.