Idaho Radio News Etc.

We’ll be wrapping up here late next week. I’ve got a bunch of fun posts ready to go after the Fiesta Bowl

Journal Broadcast Group put together a lively TV spot wishing the audience of KIVI and KNIN a happy holiday season. The spot featured KIVI morning anchors Lincoln Graves and Michell Starke, plus the KQXR morning team and KJOT afternoon team passing a present.

Pete and Joe apparently like to spend time in the bathroom together… and trade gifts in the john as well.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Former KQXR/100.3 The X mid-day host is undertaking a massive new venture – launching a music festival. The Promenade Music Festival is set for October 7, 8 and 9, 2010 – and will take place all over downtown Boise – and it’s the brainchild and project of Jaclyn Brandt and her Underground Uncovered Productions.

The idea is to set up a walkabout-style festival with great bands – both from in and out of Boise. You can learn all about the festival at PromenadeBoise.com (a DayPower Media site… by way of disclosure).

I JUST found out my old station in Spokane got fined 4000 by the FCC for a stunt I did in 2006 ! What do they say about carma ??

That’s @LuckyThaDJ on Twitter earlier this month. Sure enough, ‘Lucky’ – then known as Dick on the Radio – caused former employer KQQB some trouble, after annoying a prominent Spokane hotel.

Lucky told listeners that 50 Cent was staying at the Davenport Hotel, and asked them to call the hotel and get him on the line. The Spokesman-Review reported that about 40 people jammed the phone lines, and another 20-or-so people showed up in the lobby looking for the rap star.

Nothing so far is illegal. But the Davenport found a way to get KQQB on a bit of a technicality with what happened next:

A Davenport representative called the DJ and asked him to stop – and had no idea the call was being recorded. The DJ then played the call over the air, which is a no-no.

Of course, anyone who calls up a top 40 radio station and later claims they “had no idea the call was being recorded” is at best naive – but that doesn’t mean the FCC rules are any different. That manager – Matt S. Jensen – complained to the government, and won: The FCC strapped the station with a whopping $4,000 fine.

Station managers say they didn’t condone Lucky’s actions.

KQQB has had a bit of trouble since Lucky and cohort Keke Luv left town. They used to broadcast from a local coffee shop as “Live 104.5,” but on top of the big fine, KQQB went silent in June 2008, telling the FCC that they had equipment problems. The station was off the air for quite some time before being sold off, and later relaunched this fall as Cube 104.5.

Let’s pretend you bought stock in the three major Boise radio companies when this site started in September 2003.

Citadel. Clear Channel. Journal. Which one would be worth the most money?

Citadel was worth $18.85 per share. A share of Clear Channel stock went for $17.93. Journal stood at $16.45.

Today? Citadel: one cent. Journal $4.09. Clear Channel: $39.48.

Journal’s dropped by nearly two-thirds. Citadel’s stock is worthless. But Clear Channel? You would have more than doubled your money.

Go figure.

Here’s another one from the vault. Shannon Ellis was nice enough to share this audio file with me… three years ago. I forgot about it until now.

This is a little trick KCIX/then-K-106 liked to play when it was trying to take on KZMG/then-Magic 93.1 about ten years ago.

Listen here.

At today’s best music mix, K-106, we know radio stations need to play commercials. I mean that’s how they pay their bills.

But geez, enough is enough already. Here at K-106, we never stop the music for commercials more than twice an hour during the work day. But the guys at 93 must be getting rich at your expense. They stop for commercials three, even four times an hour.

In fact, I bet they’re playing a commercial right now. I bet they are. Go on. Go check. We’ll wait. (Jeopardy music).

Hey, we’ve all got to pay the bills, but at K-106, your favorite songs come first. So, back to what we do best. Today’s best music mix… K… 106.

We’ve talked about the KWYD/Wild 101 boombox a few times here — including showing how it looks now — how it looked when owned by KF-95 as “The Legend.” Here’s one more picture, courtesy Dave Arthur — when the boombox still had the handle on top, and its original look and feel…

It’s not just IRN going bye-bye as the new decades opens… Michael Deeds reports KJOT/J-105 won’t publish its annual “girlie” calendar. Deeds says the move is a cost-cutting one at Journal Boise.

Speaking of which… I’m now traveling to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl for KTVB. That means my last day as a news person will be January 4th… so we’ll extend this site’s life for just a few more days to dovetail with that. I’m working on several wrap-up stories that we’ll publish next week.

I was looking through an issue of The Blue magazine tonight – the publication dedicated to Boise State sports. KBOI had a full page ad with a large football – and three simple copy points: “Live. Local. Legendary.”

It occurred to me that the station never stopped being the Broncos station. Two years ago, Peak Broadcasting got organized — and paid big — to swipe the rights to broadcast games from KBOI, moving them to KIDO.

But after KBOI accepted defeat – it set its sights on two things: keeping the Broncos as part of its brand, and getting the team back on its airwaves.

KBOI set up shop before each football game at a less-than-glamorous location: Baja Fresh. But they continued to crank out pre and post game shows, and had a big advantage: Paul J. Schneider. The long-time announcer of football and basketball was swept aside as part of the transition, but still was a very strong presence in the mind of fans. He continued to anchor the station’s morning show – and is arguably the best-known personality in Boise radio.

Meanwhile, the station kept its rather large news staff, and as Peak cut KIDO to the bone – KBOI grew. It picked up Rush Limbaugh, strengthened its news team, and kept hammering away on Broncos news. The games might not have aired on the station, but it was very much part of the scene.

Now KBOI gets the games back – and will likely bring Bob Behler on board as well. While Paul J. won’t be behind the play-by-play mic, he’ll continue to be part of the news coverage, and Citadel will likely find creative ways to wrap itself around the Broncos brand even better than it had before.

Citadel Communications, which owns six Boise radio stations, has declared bankruptcy.

The pre-negotiated filing allows the company to rework its debt and stay afloat. The company didn’t make any noise that it was going to shed assets.

“Citadel, like many radio, television and newspaper companies, has seen its revenue and profitability decline due to the downturn in advertising spending by companies particularly in the auto, banking and restaurant sector,” CFO Randy Taylor said.

Peak Broadcasting is out with a Fiesta Bowl song – featuring Jodi Stewart’s vocals, a Kevin Miller show listener’s lyrics and the play-by-play calling of Bob Behler.

Hear it here.

(Photo taken today, 12/19/2009. Duane & Kelly were let go by Peak more than a year ago.)

Here’s a January, 2009 item (second story on page) from the NPR Ombudsman that involves KBYI, the university station for BYU-Idaho. It is, as you would imagine, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ for Later-Day Saints.

My question involves the amount of public funding, if any, for the public radio station in Rexburg Idaho run by BYU-Idaho. The reason is, it is the first public station I have heard that is at least 40% filled with religious items. In this case Mormon religious programming. Seems to me that if public funding is involved, then is that right? Thanks Lynn Houdyshell

As the NPR Ombudsman points out, KBYI is not an NPR member station (like Boise State Radio and many others), but does pay to air some NPR programming.

NPR sells its programming to KBYI, even though it is not a member station, because it was determined that KBYI’s overall programming is devoted to “programming of good quality for a general audience which serves demonstrated community needs,” according to NPR’s guidelines.

Public Radio stations can get government funding, of course – but they do so through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The relationship between NPR and CPB (or on the TV side, PBS and CPB) might seem symbiotic, but it’s not. Funding from CPB can be used to buy NPR programming, or for any of a variety of other things. In KBYI’s case, the station does not take government funding.

I’m digging through the files – and have found a few photo gems.  Someone sent me this a few months ago… now you get to Name That Personality! (We’re going to play this at least once more before closing time on the 31st…)

Your only hint: They are still heard on the airwaves today. (I’ll keep all comments in moderation on this post until Sunday afternoon to give everyone a fair shot.)

Bonus points if you can identify where this personality is standing…

The New York Times has a great story on the impact portable people meters are having on radio ratings.  Turns out, 10% fewer people listen to classical stations – 3% fewer to soft jazz, and 2.6% to talk radio.  Yep – when PPMs are in use, the actual listening patterns are different than what people write in diaries.

“Yes, I really listen to classical radio a lot! Yes, I listen to Rush EVERY DAY!”

No, you don’t. But thanks for playing.  What does better? Oldies, news and country.  Seems people don’t admit to listening to country — but do more often than they report.

KGEM/1140 AM Salt & Light Catholic Radio has launched a seprate website for its Spanish station – KCID/1490 AM. See it at salyluzradio.com

Today is KTSY Cares Day – and the station is helping raise donations for the Boise Rescue Mission and Salvation Army.  The station set up shop in Meridian, Nampa and Ontario to take donations.  The station is also sponsoring the Christmas Wish program.

The Impact stations did a joint event on November 24th  called “What Do You Need, What Can You Give.”  KWYD/Wild 101, KQLZ/99.1 The Virus, KPDA/La Poderosa 100.7 and KSRV/96.1 Bob FM brought in more than 75 turkeys, and filled a semi-truck FULL of food.  Check out pictures from the event here

KIZN/Kissin’ 92 is holding its annual Keep Kids Warm auction on-air this week. They are also selling $10 Kissin’ frogs to help the cause.  The program started with Rivers & Valley way back in 1996 when a kid called in trying to win a contest. That one call has led to more than $650,000 in donations over the years. See the auction items and get more details here.

KBOI/News Talk 670 is featuring a Make-a-Wish child each week throughout the month, and helping raise money to make those wishes come true. It’s a really neat, personal way to do it – and you can read the stories and see the pictures of the kids here.

KCIX/Mix 106 hosts Mike & Kate are selling a cookbook featuring listener and celebrity recipes. Each copy goes for $10, with proceeds benefiting the Idaho Foodbank. Buy one here.

KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 morning host Don Jarret has been parked out at the Wal-Mart on Fairview near Eagle since midnight Sunday – and plans to stay there until 8am 12/18 – 104 in a row (hours, not minutes).  They are taking donations as part of “Hope for the Holidays,” benefiting the Boise Rescue Mission.  Fiberpipe has the live webcam up here

KSAS/103.3 Kiss FM and its team are broadcasting live from Krispy Kreme for Hooker’s House for the Holidays.  They hope to raise enough cash to feed 1,033 people for the holidays. A meal costs $12.50, so the station is aiming for $12,912.50.  As of about 5pm this evening, they had made it more than a quarter of the way to their goal. Online donations here

KXLT/107.9 Lite FM has the latest edition of Christmas Wish up and going. The decades-old program started on sister station KCIX/then-K106 and is an annual tradition.  The station takes nominations, and grants a wide variety of wishes, including heating oil and other simple life needs.

The Journal stations are going all out this year for Toys for Tots – the annual program of the US Marine Corps.  The two television and four radio outlets are all helping get the word out and bring in toy donations.

Also:

KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River is hosting the annual “Concert for Cause” concert at the Knitting Factory tonight. John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting is performing to benefit the Canyon County Community Clinic. A live & silent auction is also being held

KJOT/J-105 hosted a Hell’s Belles show on the 11th, and a portion of proceeds went to Boise Rock School

KTHI/107.1 K-Hits is auctioning off a Fiesta Bowl football to benefit Make-A-Wish.

The always excellent “Regret the Error” blog has its roundup of best/funniest/most interesting newspaper corrections of the year.  Most respectable newspapers explain the error they are correcting (our local paper just writes something generic about the error, making you go back to find out what was wrong in the first place).

There are several funny errors – but this one stands out (from the New York Times):

An article on Aug. 2 about older alumni who have been helped by university career counselors referred imprecisely to comments by a 1990 graduate of Lehigh University who lost his job in February when his company was downsized, and a correction in this space last Sunday misspelled his surname. As the article correctly noted, he is David Monson, not Munson, and he was speaking generally — not about himself — when he said that newly unemployed people sometimes mope around the house in sweatpants.

And there’s this famous set of corrections about a story on the death of CBS legend Walter Cronkite… a man known for his accuracy (also from the NY Times):

An appraisal on Saturday about Walter Cronkite’s career included a number of errors. In some copies, it misstated the date that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed and referred incorrectly to Mr. Cronkite’s coverage of D-Day. Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968, not April 30. Mr. Cronkite covered the D-Day landing from a warplane; he did not storm the beaches. In addition, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, not July 26. “The CBS Evening News” overtook “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” on NBC in the ratings during the 1967-68 television season, not after Chet Huntley retired in 1970. A communications satellite used to relay correspondents’ reports from around the world was Telstar, not Telestar. Howard K. Smith was not one of the CBS correspondents Mr. Cronkite would turn to for reports from the field after he became anchor of “The CBS Evening News” in 1962; he left CBS before Mr. Cronkite was the anchor. Because of an editing error, the appraisal also misstated the name of the news agency for which Mr. Cronkite was Moscow bureau chief after World War II. At that time it was United Press, not United Press International.

Which was later followed by:

An appraisal on July 18 about Walter Cronkite’s career misstated the name of the ABC evening news broadcast. While the program was called “World News Tonight” when Charles Gibson became anchor in May 2006, it is now “World News With Charles Gibson,” not “World News Tonight With Charles Gibson.”

Peak Broadcasting GM Kevin Godwin issued a statement today on the loss of the rights to Boise State sports to Citadel and KBOI/KKGL.  Godwin says – in a nutshell – that there was no way to make money, and that picking up the rights would have cost jobs and more. He also says current play-by-play man Bob Behler is under contract to Peak until July – and “any mention of his future employment outside of Peak Broadcasting is premature.”

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