Idaho Radio News Etc.

KIZN/Kissin 92.3 and KZMG/Magic 93.1 are asking listeners to use a little TLC and make valentines for Idaho troops serving overseas.  The stations are asking listeners to make valentines and send them to the station by the end of this week.  The packages will be shipper overseas in time for Cupid’s favorite day.  KIZN’s done this before and is hoping to expand the effort this year.

KWYD/Wild 101 is hold the first ever Stripper Bowl this Sunday.  But the strippers won’t be the type found at the Speramint Rhino or Night Moves… instead, Wild is teaming up with downtown bar Liquid for an evening of manicures, massages and… “men in tight tight uniforms.”

Listeners can win their way in this week by listening to the station.

Peak Broadcasting has removed all of its part-timers from the payroll – the latest in a series of cuts.

Peak managers cut Jon Duane, Chris Kelly, Jim Kimball, Amber Lee and several back office staffers in past months.

Bob Behler will have a new partner in year two of KIDO’s broadcasts of Boise State University Football.  Jadon Daley has left Peak Broadcasting Boise.  Multiple sources (basically anyone I’ve asked) say he liked doing the play-by-play but was frustrated with the other parts of the gig – selling ad time for Peak.

Art and the History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation gang will meet this Friday at the KBCI studios to celebrate the station’s 55th anniversary.  The meeting is this Friday – but an RSVP is required by Thursday so the folks at KBCI can get a headcount for lunch on them.  Details below.

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Story on the “day job” website

OK. Not really. Not at all.  But I kinda enjoy folding laundry and listening to The Other Studio with Deeds and Johnstone. Two weeks ago they played all local acts for an hour… and this week they’re recapping some top ‘08 single picks. Right now they’re playing Christina Aguilera’s techno remix of Genie in a Bottle.  The River has become more mainstream over they years (remember the launch promise of genres like “blues”and  “reggae”? Yeah… not much anymore).  BUT: The Other Studio has no rules – and makes for exceptional radio.

Random fun fact from this week: Tim Johnstone “kinda likes” Put A Ring On It by Beyonce.

Don’t really need to comment much on this.  Clear Channel will cut about 7% of its workforce…. roll tape:

On the radio side, the company is likely to eliminate chunks of local programming and replace it with national programming, much as it has brought Ryan Seacrest’s Los Angeles-based radio show to other markets in recent months. If a local show seems successful, the company will try to syndicate it faster than it might have in the past, a person familiar with the situation said.

It has been a brutal six months in Boise radio – with many stations facing the sharp blade of a flagging economy.

• KTSY/89.5’s Jerry Woods left the station. As yet, no replacement has been announced
• KIZN/Kissin’ 92.3 night guy Rattlesnake Jake was moved to KQFC. He was replaced by a voicetracked shift
• KZMG/Magic 93.1 cut high-dollar talent Dan Tooker and his EP – and replaced those two positions with a more affordable two-person show
• KKGL/96.9 The Eagle remains unchanged
• KQFC/Idaho Country 97.9 cut mid-day talent PJ Stover, with KIZN’s “Rattlesnake” Jake Austin filling the timeslot. The station now fills nights with a syndicated program
• KQXR/100.3 The X cut its full-time night position – laying host Ian off, then rehiring him for mid-days when Jac left for other ventures
• KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 cut its morning show back to a solo act
• KJOT/J-105 cut program director Dave Sparks, with KTHI morning producer CB taking over the timeslot
• KXLT/109.9 Lite FM cut its entire daytime staff just more than a year ago  – and this year cut its morning show back to a solo act
• KFXD/63 KFXD cut local hosts Jon & Chris
• KTIK cut a producer/host position

KRVB, KCIX, KSAS, KTHI, KQLZ and KBOI have not had any changes so far. KWYD has added talent and KSRV-FM is jock free.

KCIX/Mix 106 has been turning on the time machine for a Saturday night trip of late. Station APD “Lucas” hosts Saturday Night 80s. The show is a updated throwback of sorts — since Mix once was home to 70s Saturday Night for several years – before the show was moved to Lite 108 – and eventually canceled.

KWYD/Wild 101.1 was off the air again today — at least the fourth time I’ve tuned into hear static over the past two months. Proof I suppose that putting a new station on the air isn’t the easiest engineering task there is…

KSAS/103.3 Kiss FM will be making the move to 103.5 FM soon – part of that major multi-state deck shuffling that will move scores of frequencies to new homes across the state. KSAS will land at 103.5 after the switch. Looking at the new coverage map, it appears that the station will cover a smaller geographic area than it does now – though the bulk of the metro area is still within its local signal pattern.

UPDATE: I was looking at the aux. coverage map and comparing it to the full-power map… which is my error. The 103.5 signal will be the same as the 103.3 version.

Bumper on KSRV/96.1 Bob FM:

“Bob and Boise both start with B… pretty cool. 96.1, Bob FM”

They also both start with B-O… I’ll let you fill in the punch line here.

In addition to KTVB’s News at Five airing (live and repeated) on 630 KIDO – KIVI’s news is now simulcast on KGEM/1140 AM. KIVI’s morning news, 5pm, 6pm, 6:30pm and 10pm shows now air live.

EXCLUSIVE

Peak Broadcasting was not given the opportunity to renew its contract to carry the Rush Limbaugh Program on KIDO, according to Peak SVP Kevin Godwin. Peak acquired KIDO in 2007 after Clear Channel Communications decided to exit the Boise market.

In the end, another Clear Channel subsidiary – Premiere Radio Networks – gave its former corporate sister the short end of the stick when it comes to Rush.

With KIDO’s Limbaugh contract expiring at the end of 2008, Premiere informed Peak Broadcasting that the program was moving to Citadel-owned KBOI – end of story.

“The decision was made by two very big radio companies to pull the program from 580 KIDO and give it to a giant national radio company,” Godwin said. “We didn’t… get a chance to bid on the program contract and were told that even though we did an excellent job of promoting and broadcasting/streaming the program, that no amount of money could be spent by us to keep his show.”

Idaho Radio News attempted to contact Premiere Radio Networks on this topic – but a spokesperson for the syndicator didn’t answer direct questions on the matter.

Peak has a number of Premiere programs on its Boise stations – including Glenn Beck, Delilah and After Midnite with Blair Garner. Another Peak station – KMJ in Fresno – still carries Rush. Godwin says he isn’t worried about the other shows – for now.

“We have extended contracts on all of our other programs, and I believe they will be loyal,” he said. “However, the only way you can be 100% sure on keeping a product is if your company owns the program.

Limbaugh’s program has moved stations in a few other markets over the years – most recently in New Orleans, LA – but generally the switch is to a Clear Channel outlet. I couldn’t find another example of the show moving to a Citadel-owned outlet – though the two groups teamed last summer to co-syndicate Sean Hannity, another conservative talker.

Revenue across all media – heck… across all business – is going to have a tough time in ‘09. But it’s what radio companies do in the face of that revenue crunch that could define the future.

A sharp eyed reader points us to a piece by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Bill Virgin that sums up the potentially deadly feedback loop that could be upon us:

[R]adio… faces a long-term issue of retaining listeners those advertisers want to reach. While satellite and Internet radio have yet to prove themselves as substantial competitors, radio’s bigger problem is potential listeners who have dropped the habit of tuning in because of portable music players or the like, or who (in the case of younger consumers) never got started in the first place.

And that gets to the issue of how much money radio has to spend, and what it spends its revenue on. In times of tight budgets the temptation is to unload expensive locally based announcers and hosts and substitute automated or syndicated programming.

But the more stations do that… the greater the risk of a disconnect between stations and their audience. The one point of differentiation local radio has is local talent and personality.

The bottom line? Companies are going to start cutting talent. Part of it is necessity – part of it is trying to hit nearly-impossible revenue goals. The margin on a typical Boise station is much higher today than it was 15 years ago. Pre-deregulation, most of the stations were independent or just an AM/FM combo or duopoly. That isn’t to say they were all locally owned – but they all had a support staff, full sales staff – and still managed to find dollars to staff evenings and overnights. Today, stations are virtual jukeboxes for much or all of the day.

Someone recently boasted about how well their station was doing in a particular demo – but the share was just a 12… in a DEMO. Yes, it scored second place in that area – but the number of people listening is getting smaller and smaller. On an average day, the two big local websites in town connect with far more people than even the top-rated station.

For now, radio advertising is still particularly effective – which is what is keeping the medium going. But with more and more options and the rise of technology, radio could have a hard time keeping afloat in a crowded marketplace without points of differentiation – which rests primarily on localism.

Peak SVP Kevin Godwin confirmed the new lineups for KIDO/580 AM and KFXD/63 KIDO, starting Monday.

630
5:30-7am – AM Idaho with Holmes and Burnett
7am-10am – Dan Patrick
10am-1pm – The First Team with Steve Czaban
1pm-4pm – Todd Schnitt Show
4pm-5pm – Lars Larson
5pm-6pm – KTVB News at Five (live at 5, repeat at 5:30)
6pm-8pm – Lars Larson

580
5am-9am – AM Idaho with Holmes and Burnett
9am-Noon – Dennis Miller
Noon-3pm – Dr. Laura
3pm-6pm – Glenn Beck
6pm-9pm – Dave Ramsey

Several things to note. First – AM Idaho is contracting by an hour per day – now running four hours instead of five. Dr. Laura will now air for an extra hour each day. Dennis Miller was slated to launch on 630 – but is now set for 580. A source tells me the 580 frequency was going to have AM Idaho, followed by Beck, Dr. Laura and a local show – which would have put Beck and Rush head-to-head, but the economic pinch seems to have dictated these moves instead.