Idaho Radio News Etc.

The Best of Weekly rolled out its annual Best of Boise reader’s picks this week. This summer, we got the chain newspaper’s chain survey (mmm…. McDonald’s french fries!) – and now we get the local newspaper’s local survey!

See, Boise Weekly (mostly) limits its winners to locally-established businesses and people.

Just like last year, we’re honoring only locally owned and operated businesses that meet our local-business criteria because, let’s face it, this is about honoring the best of Boise, not the best of (insert random U.S. city here)

So. Um. Most media companies aren’t locally owned (shh, don’t tell anyone). In fact, other than the Boise Weekly itself and Impact Radio – Boise has no major commercial media outlets that are actually… local.

Editor Rachel Daigle told me the media carousel presents a unique challenge.

“It’s the one category we have such an issue with year after year,” she said by e-mail. “There are so few of we media people who work for truly independent companies in town.”

But a local DID win the “best radio station” category – albeit one owned by the State of Idaho. KBSX/Boise State Radio News 91 grabbed the top honor.

We like to think BW’s audience is NPR/Boise State Radio’s audience. Why? Plain and simple: Professionally, we respect the hell out of what 91.5 delivers; personally, we’re big listeners ourselves.

Second place was KRVB/94.9 The River – with KSRV/96.1 Bob FM snagging third.

The best DJ category went to a pair of familiar names: Ken & Tim:

Rock test! Name the reigning champions of Best of Boise’s best DJ category. Here’s a hint: There are two of them. Is it A: Bill and Ted, B: Amos and Andy or C: Ken and Tim? Here’s another hint: Their names are in bold nine lines above. Ken Bass and Tim Johnstone, The River’s dynamic morning duo, have been claiming numero uno in this category for so long that we can appropriately refer to them as “The Reigning Champions”

The dynamic river duo also won this award in 2008. And 2007. And ought-six. They didn’t win waaaay back in 2005… but that might be because they didn’t work together then. Just a hunch.

KCIX/Mix 106 morning hosts Mike & Kate got second place this year – with KSAS/103.3 Kiss FM host KeKe Luve grabbing third.

Congrats to all the winners!

What goes around…. usually comes around. In this case, it’s the KF-95 boombox – which has found another life in the hands of a completely different radio station.

This once-blue trailer dressed up like a boombox started life at KFXD/KF-95, at a time in its life when pop music was all the rage, and KZMG/Magic 93.1 hadn’t yet gone pop. The mobile studio allowed talent to broadcast live, and had working speakers mounted in the side. (I used it as a place to change into the KF-95 dragon costume a time or two. I still haven’t wiped off all the germs.)

But now the boombox is in the hands of KWYD/Wild 101. Journal acquired the trailer along with the other KFXJ assets. After sitting behind the old Cassia building for a while – it was painted red and retooled for KQXR/100.3 The X.

So did Journal sell it to Impact? Not really. I’m told the Impact folks purchased it from a guy who bought it from JBG. They then went about making it a little big more modern (really, when was the last time you even saw a good ghettoblaster?). A fresh coat of paint and graphics – as well as an iPod center piece help launch the boombox into its third decade.

Party on Wayne.

Buzz on the street is that KIDO/580 AM’s new afternoon host is not broadcasting from Boise.

That buzz is – mostly – true. Peak SVP Kevin Godwin confirms to IdahoRadioNews.com that Hill’s show started originating from Phoenix on Monday. Hill was in the Peak building last week for his first two broadcasts – but will broadcast for the most part from Arizona.

Hill will make some appearances in Boise, and will move here full-time in February, according to Godwin.

“I think he would move here now, but he is in the middle of co-authoring his second book and I think his publishing company needed him in Phoenix to finish the project,” Godwin said. “His family is terrific, and are all looking forward to making Boise their home. “

KQFC/97.9 Idaho Country nuked its syndicated evening show – and has gone local instead. KTIK’s John Patrick is now holding down the fort. His show is called “Idaho Country Night,” and it airs from 7-midnight.

Salt & Light Radio, Inc. has completed its purchase of KGEM/1140 AM and KCID/1490 AM from Journal Communications.

The stations have already flipped, and 1140 AM is running an English-language service – here’s the program lineup.

KGEM had been airing oldies, while KCID was playing original hits. With the recent changes, Boise no longer has a strict oldies station. KQLZ/99.1 The Virus also jettisoned its oldies music format recently.

Journal still owns four radio and two television stations in the Boise market – including KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River, KJOT/J-105, KQXR/100.3 The X and KTHI/107.1 K-Hits.

Check out this creative TV spot:

Surprised… aren’t ya? Now if only I could get that installed in my car…

KIDO/580 debuted the Austin Hill Show Thursday, part of a large schedule shift. I was only able to catch the final two segments, so it’s hard to fully gauge the show. During the brief time I listened, Hill made a number of references to “Barack Hussein Obama” and “Dear Leader Barack Obama” – and both segments were focused on national issues.

The station put out a Q&A on why they made these changes:

This page is set up to answer some simple questions of why 580 and 63 KIDO have made some line up changes. If you have any additional question or concerns, please feel free to Email me and I will try to get back to you as quickly as possible…

jason.wilmot@peakbroadcasting.com

Q; Why did you move Glenn Beck?
A; Moving Glenn Beck, allows you to hear the show closer to his actual air time. Glenn does his show from 7a-10a (Mountain). You no longer have to wait hours to get the show you have come to love

Q; What happened to Dennis Miller?
A; Dennis Miller has moved to AM 630 KIDO and can now be heard from 10a-1p. We have not dropped the show, just adjusted the time to fit into the new line up

Q; Who Is Austin Hill?
A; Austin is one of the top talk show hosts in the country. He will deliver great content that will be local and national. He will be a great champion for the state of Idaho

Q; Why so many changes lately?
A; As with most business, it is important to change to meet the needs of a growing audience. The addition of Kevin Miller, Austin Hill as well as moving Glenn Beck and Dennis Miller have KIDO poised to be the market leader for years to come.

Q; Do we need more “local” shows?
A; Local shows have always been important for any radio station. Between Kevin Miller, Austin Hill and the Boise State Bronco’s [sic], KIDO is now leading the charge with the most local programming in the area.

Q; Are you crazy or Have you lost your mind?
A; The answer is “no” to both. Very few stations make major changes to make things worse. KIDO is at a point where these are the natural steps to the station’s evolution. It’s time for KIDO to raise the bar again, and that is a challenge that the station excepts [sic].

Joining a raft of Boise radio personalities on the weight-loss train, KIDO/580 AM morning host Kevin Miller wants to lose weight. Seems in high school he was a body builder… but today he’s 5′ 8″ tall and weighs 304 pounds. That would give him a body mass index of 46.2.

Miller promises to update kidoam.com each week with is progress – and here’s video number one:

Jim Garchow died this week. He was 72.

Garchow could easily be called a broadcast pioneer: he helmed KUPI country radio for three decades. He could be called a sports icon: he was the voice of the Idaho Falls Chukars for as long as anyone could remember. He could be called a medical miracle: he was one of the first people ever to receive a heart transplant. You might even call him the world’s oldest high schooler: he did play-by-play for Skyline high school… football and basketball.

Whatever label you hang on Garchow, he’s been a big part of Idaho radio for a long time. He died Sunday of complications of leukemia after a long battle.

Jim got a couple of bonus decades — after a heart attack twenty years ago, he got one of the first heart transplants ever performed.

He kept going right until the end. He called the Cukars game on September 7th – 13 days before his death. He had the longest affiliation with any minor league baseball team in the country, according to KIFI.

One of his daughters talked to KIFI Local News 8:

KIDO/580 AM is adding a new afternoon drive talk show. Starting Thursday, Austin Hill will join the station for a 3pm-6pm local talk show — and is doubling down on syndicated personality Glenn Beck.

More on Hill in a second — but first, KIDO said in a news release today that it plans to revamp its daytime lineup, and will move Glenn Beck to the 9am-noon timeslot. That change will put Beck’s popular show up against Rush Limbaugh on KBOI from 10am-noon.

Dennis Miller, which is currently heard from 9am-noon on KIDO/580 will move the KFXD/63 KIDO. “First Team with Steve Czaban” finds itself without a Boise home in the moves.

Hill has worked in DC, Chicago, LA — and comes to Boise from Phoenix where he was last heard in the afternoon on KTAR-FM.

“KIDO will continue to lead in the acquisition and development of premium LOCAL programming to our area,” Peak SVP Kevin Godwin said in a prepared statement (which you can red in full after the jump).

Read the rest of this entry »

- Bumper on the KCIX/Mix 106 morning show featuring the ‘head’ of the fast food chain

KQXR/100.3 The X is allowing listeners to sign up at xrock.com to have The Reverend Ian stalk hang out with them. Here’s how it works: Go here, put in your details – and Ian will … quoting here… “swing by your work, home or where you hang out” and “bring the X Van and some cool stuff with him.”

Longtime former KIDO/580 AM producer Ray Amaya pulled a “Tom Collins.”

Tom Collins (to’m kol’enz)
1) adjective – To be unceremoniously dumped by Peak Broadcasting for reasons only clear to management – only to quickly snag a job with rival Citadel Communications days later
2) noun – A tall iced drink made with liquor, such as gin, and lemon or lime juice

No, he didn’t morph into a nice summer drink — he quickly transitioned to KBOI after KIDO let him go just a few weeks ago. Amaya is being heard all over the airwaves doing news and more for Boise’s only remaining news radio station.

And, in a modified-reverse Collins, Melissa Dawn is back at Peak. “Modified,” because she left Citadel on her own accord, and “reverse” because she went from Citadel to Peak. Dawn took over Claire Day’s morning traffic duties for the cluster more than a month ago.

One other side-note – am I the only that finds LiteOnline.com’s blank staff lineup page ironic — or maybe just appropriate?

Citadel might not have the rights to the Broncos any more, but that doesn’t mean its stations don’t have the right to have fun… with the Broncos.

KKGL/96.9 The Eagle has been cranking out parody songs this season – so far they’ve had one for each game, starting with “el Ducko,” (“quacking and flapping their wings and their jaws/Revenge for a cheap shot is driving their passion/helmet to helmet is against the law” and “they traveled to Boise to play on the blue turf, they’ll lose again and they won’t know why//the Ducks will fly over the blue turf of Boise, dive into the blue and the ducks, they will… die).

There’s another ditty about Miami of Ohio (“change the f to an r and it’d be much better”) that is kinda… lame.

But the third effort – titled “Rock ‘n’ roll Fu Manchu” knocks it out of the park (to mix sports metaphors).

Coach Pat Hill Can’t Win the WAC
Fresno fans need to cut him some slack
They play anyone any time anywhere
What really rocks is his facial hair

He’s got a… rock/and/roll Fu Mancu (rock and roll Fu Manchu)
Another loss to BSU (BSU)

Played the dogs last year and we blew them out
61-10’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout
Coach Hill’s job might go out with the trash
Pro-wrestlin’s next with that pro-wrestlin’ ’stache

He’s got a… rock/and/roll Fu Mancu (rock and roll Fu Manchu)
Another loss to BSU (BSU)

Can Coach Pete Shave it if they looooose?

Rock ‘n’ roll Fu Manchu

The national recognition for KIZN/Kissin 92 continues to roll in. Last week, we noted that mid-day host Spencer Burke’s nomination for induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Now, morning hosts Kevin & Brenda Mee are up for a Country Music Association award. The CMAs are presented each fall on ABC – and include all the big awards like artist of the year, song of the year, etc. – sortof a Grammy awards for country music.

The married Mees are up for “Broadcaster of the Year” in the small market division. The Mees are up against three Tennessee shows and a team out of Eugene. Here’s the list:

Small Market

– “Barrett, Fox & Berry” (BILL BARRETT, TIM FOX, TRACY BERRY) – KKNU/EUGENE, OR
– “Bearman and Ken in the Morning” (BENNY “BEARMAN” MARTIN, KEN HICKS) – WUSY/CHATTANOOGA
– “Gator & The StyckMan” (GATOR HARRISON, GREG “STYCKMAN” OWENS) – WGSQ/COOKEVILLE, TN
– “Mee in the Morning” (KEVIN MEE, BRENDA MEE) – KIZN/BOISE
– “Middays with Philip Gibbons” (PHILIP GIBBONS) – WGSQ, COOKEVILLE, TN

The award-winners will be notified next month, and will be acknowledge on the national broadcast. To enter, personalities have to be CMA members – and are “judged by a panel of distinguished broadcast professionals, representing
all market sizes and regions.”

Congratulations!

If this award sounds familiar – it should. Former KZMG/Magic 93.1 morning host Dan Tooker won the honor in the medium market division.

Michael Deeds, in today’s IdahoStatesman, jabs at KQLZ/99.1 The Virus. Repeatedly. (Bold emphasis is mine)

The temporary cowpoke radio gag may have been amusing, but it felt like a spur in the ear to potential Virus listeners.

When I explained to Statesman sports columnist Brian Murphy that 99.1 wasn’t a country station after all, he wondered why Impact would spend days building up hype to a format change, then confuse us for the first few hours: “Seems brilliant,” Murphy remarked. “I just wiped it off my dial.”

Reception can be iffy in certain parts of Boise.

(W)hat exactly does “alternative” even mean these days?

“Linkin Park,” Fuentes adds, “you’re going to hear on this radio station a lot.”

True, unfortunately. And it feels a little odd to hear Linkin Park back to back with R.E.M. Or within a few songs of the White Stripes.

All that’s left to do is sit back, sample The Virus, and hope for pleasant symptoms of infection. Just be sure it’s not swine flu.

There is a shot at KQXR in the piece – but it’s quickly backed up with a defense.

“There are a lot of radio stations that call themselves alternative. This is not the radio station where you’re going to hear AC/DC,” (Fuentes said).

Zing! The X plays AC/DC. Not so long ago, The X was considered alternative. Nowadays, it’s evolved (or, devolved, depending on your perspective) into what’s known as an active rock format. “We stopped playing that stuff for a reason,” Nicolato says.

If The Virus decides to “come over and twiddle in our territory a little bit, then so be it,” Nicolato adds, before jabbing: “We’ll just have to kick their ass.”

Gotta love it.

There’s been lots of speculation about KQLZ’s The Virus moniker and its similarity to the XM channel. (troublemaking tweeps on Twitter, commentors here, and a national radio news site)

We checked with Impact’s GM about the similar names… Darrell Calton says “we do not consider it a problem.”

After a record week of comments, I thought this would be a good time to relaunch the system. We will be using the Disqus system for comments (you may remember I tried this out about six months ago, but it wasn’t fully ready).

This allows some new functionality:
- Sign-in using your Twitter account
- Set up an account with Disqus
- Set an Avatar for yourself
- Reply to existing comments in-line (instead of only at the bottom of the comments thread)
- Ability to change sorting of comments

I would suggest setting up a Disqus profile with your preferred username.

I had to manually move a few comments over on the KQLZ post below – and lost at least one. But we should be back on the rails now. Let me know if you have any issues.

Soon, I hope to allow commenting by signing in with your Facebook account. For now, comment moderation remains in place (meaning I have to approve all comments before they appear), and the rules of the road don’t change:

- Don’t defame or libel another person. Keep it civil
- Avoid profanity
- Use your real name. If you don’t these rules will be more strongly enforced upon you
- Do not change your nickname. You risk being called out if I catch you
- Comments are moderated. Most are approved in 24 hours

Photo courtesy Engadget.com

But here’s the killer app for this audience: It will have an FM tuner. The 16 GB model will set you back $179 – but you’ll get an iPod, video camera, pedometer… and a radio. Not bad…

This escaped my notice, and probably yours too: Statesman columnist Tim Woodward wrote up last month’s History of Idaho Broadcasting Foundation meeting – and the tribute to Del Chapman. There’s an interesting side story about Woodward, Chapman and the Beatles… Read here.

Here’s that KLQZ/99.1 The Virus launch audio I promised last week. Listen here. You’ll hear references to 99.1 The Bronco, and even “deleting” the oldies music.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time listening to the station in the past few days. The signal was strong on my car stereo from Nampa all the way to the Boise Stage Stop. I, however, don’t get a listenable signal inside the brick building of my Fairview Ave. employer.

Format-wise, the station isn’t a direct, or even indirect clone of KQXR/100.3 The X. I listened yesterday with my business partner Aletia while we cranked on some work – and we both repeatedly noted how we hadn’t heard a variety of cuts in a long time.

Jocks are in place – including live/local talent during the mid-day and afternoon drive periods. If you’ve been reading the comments, you know the syndicated Kevin & Bean team from KROQ are in place for mornings.

The station could steal a little audience from KRVB, a bit from KCIX, some from KSAS and KZMG and some folks listening to KJOT, KKGL or KSRV. Let’s pretend The Virus got .5 from each of those source, and chipped a full point off KQXR – that would be a 4.5 share. That might be generous, but not out of the question.

One other note – Impact GM Darrell Calton tells me that the station is going to keep the classic KQLZ calls. I joked that the group should get call letters for “The Virus Boise” — but I think someone else has those calls sewn up.

(Ya, my headlines are out of control).

Last week, GAP West dropped the alternative rock format on KEGE/92.1 The Edge. In its place, the group will simulcast KID-AM in its place. KID will now air on three signals – KID/590 AM, KWIK/1240 AM and now KEGE.

It has been a busy week for Wendell Starke’s Idaho radio properties. After his Impact Radio Group flipped KQLZ on Friday, his Twin Falls cluster dumped the classic rock format on KIKX and relaunched “104.7 Bob FM” on Monday.

You can listen live here.

Here’s the new logo for 99.1 The Virus.

I’m hoping to be able to share launch audio soon.

Earlier this week, more than 100 Idaho Radio News voters weighed in on the relaunch of KQLZ. In one poll, we asked what format everyone though WOULD launch – and country was the overwhelming answer.

Then for some reason we also asked what format you actually wanted to hear – and modern rock took the day. So I guess everyone gets some satisfaction.

After about three hours of “99.1 The Bronco,” Impact segued to The Virus – which surprised many, but in hindsight the group has a pattern of doing this… so maybe it should not have.

Let’s look at the potential impact of the move. The first and most obvious station in the cross-hairs is KQXR/100.3 The X – which is just up the dial and has similar (for now) call letters to The Virus. KQLZ is making noise about bringing alternative music “back” to the Treasure Valley. I could try and formulate a long in-depth look at the music – but KQLZ’s mix seems to be a bit less hard core. I’ll let you listen and decide for yourself beyond that.

The X has never really seen a serious threat – and with nearly 15 years playing some form of new rock, is the heritage player.

Impact also appears to be using The Virus to put pressure on other competitors to boost its other properties. While KQLZ has no overlap with KWYD/Wild 101 – it has quite a bit of overlap with KSAS/103.3 Kiss FM and KZMG/Magic 93.1. If The Virus can take even a small portion of audience from these stations, it could help increase Wild’s lead over the other pop stations.

The Virus also could take some listeners from KJOT and KKGL/96.9 The Eagle – and that might give KSRV/96.1 Bob FM better positioning among rock stations.

Will this work? Time will tell. The 99.1 frequency has been very unstable over the past decade and has seen very little success. The best number I have for 99.1 is fall 1998, when The Music Monster scored a 3.8 12+ rating, before quickly falling back to a 1.9. The frequency has not broken the 2.0 barrier since then.

The X has seen a general downward trend, with the days of 7.0+ ratings long gone. However, the latest series of moves on the station have moved the needle from a low of 3.1 back to a respectable 4.6 this spring.