Idaho Radio News Etc.

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.

Peak SVP Kevin Godwin helped shed a little light on Lisa Adams and her new duties with Peak – and what it will mean for other stations in the cluster.

Adams will take on on-air shift at KXLT/107.9 Lite FM – but they have not decided where she will land quite yet. She interviewed for the KAWO/WOW Country 104.3 job when it was posted, and Godwin says it made sense to give her oversight for Lite too.

Jason Wilmot will still be in the mix for Lite – and keep his other duties.

“This gives Jason more time to concentrate on the KIDO and KCIX brands and work with the talent on each station,” Godwin said. “Jason will work with Lisa more as an OM on KXLT, and focus on the KIDO, KCIX, the BSU brand and our talent, which he is terrific at.”

Does this mean Lite will be movin’ toward Movin’ – or something else? No.

“Lisa was hired because she is a talented broadcaster that has a winning track record,” he said. “Great PD’s can win in any format. We have no plans to change formats.”

The flurry of news releases from Peak Broadcasting lately continues – with today’s news of the pickup of Lisa Adams.

• Adams has been looking for work for the last year – something she chronicled on her Twitter page: “Got to keep the faith…it will all workout soon!” and “It’s been a nice 365 day vacation but I’m ready to get back to work! I hate moving….”
• Her last gig was a two year stop at CBS Radio in Portland. She appears to be the Northwest’s “Movin’” expert – she oversaw KQMV/Movin’ 92.5 in Seattle before she landed at KVMX/Movin’ 107.5 in the Rose City.
• Adams’ gig seems to be a fusion of two announced positions. Peak posted a KAWO PD job – then a KXLT/KCIX program director spot. Does this leave Jason Wilmot in charge of KCIX? I’ve got some questions out on this looking for answers.
• What does Peak plan to do with Lite? The station has been jockless for a while now – and its ratings haven’t been lighting up the charts. I’m guessing nothing would change before the end of the Christmas music season… but is there change in the wind?
• Kevin Godwin at Peak has been very good about sending out news releases of late. This makes my journalist heart happy – but it’s smart. I can’t think of the last time I saw a news release from another group. KTVB picked up the Austin Hill/Glenn Beck story – and I happened to notice that it was at the top of KTVB.COM’s most read stories box that day (wink wink). People seem interested in radio stories. (In case I’m being too coy: Bob Rosenthal, Don Morin and Darrell Calton should send out more news releases… hint hint).

Peak has hired Lisa Adams to helm KXLT/107.9 Lite FM and KAWO/Wow Country 104.3. More on this later – find the Peak news release after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

A former Boise radio operations manager once told me the story of a morning host who walked into a meeting, threw a fork down on the table and said “stick a fork in me, I’m done.”  That was his classy way of announcing his resignation.

In the days leading up to the spring book’s release, there had been lots of chatter about a station finally throwing down the fork and flipping formats.

The suspects: KAWO/Wow Country 104.3, KXLT/107.9 Lite FM, KZMG/Magic 93.1 and KJOT/J-105.

But all of those stations seemed to have done just well enough to earn them a reprieve.

KJOT pulled up its numbers substantially. It is still the #2 pure-play classic rock station (behind KKGL), but among adults 25-54, it is beating stablemate KQXR (to say nothing of KRVB).

KZMG continued to see audience erosion just about everywhere – but as I noted here, it looks like Citadel is giving the station one more shot before making a drastic change. Also of note – Citadel has not flipped one single station in the Boise market since it acquired these properties.  The most drastic “makeover” was the rebranding of KTIK to add “The Ticket” to its name upon acuisition, and some slight changes to KQFC’s branding.

KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 is still the #3 country station in the market – but saw improvement in all the timeslots and most key demos. While it is not the station’s best book (that was spring of 2008) – it did show signs of life after a very poor fall 2008 book).

KXLT/107.9 Lite FM may be the closest to the guilatine – its numbers fell from the fall book in many places.  When you take the 12+ view however, KXLT is tied with KCIX/Mix 106 at the moment.  But when you dig into the demos, Mix has a clear advantage.  The one upside at the moment for Lite: zero personell costs.  The station is now completely jock-free — and the only “talent” on the station right now is Delilah.  Peak’s running the frequency cheaply – and always sees a boost from its Christmas music stunt in the fall.

So what does that leave us? KRVB? KQLZ? Journal has indicated that it likes what is happening on KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River – and the station seems to be able to deliver for advertisers, despite its continually low ratings. The station in its previous incarnation – as KFXJ/KF-95 had a similar problem – but The River has been at the bottom of the ratings heap for quite some time now.

KQLZ/99.1 Idaho’s True Oldies Channel is probably safe for now – since Impact has some success in KWYD and KSRV to talk about.

The Treasure Valley is a beautiful place. Lush trees, a meandering river, relatively low pollution and pristine foothills.

Many local radio stations talk about the quality of life here – in promos, in job ads and in their overall imaging. But most of those same stations think it is OK to junk up the environment with their roll-a-sign banners. Here’s an example from today:

Both KSRV/96.1 Bob FM and KAWO/WOW Country 104.3 left a few segments of those cheap plastic banners hanging on some poles near Bronco Stadium. In this case, there was no active remote going on nearby… in fact — there wasn’t any activity whatsoever.

While this example uses these two stations – they are not alone — it’s something you see all the time.

While I may personally consider this to be unsightly – it’s more than that. It’s a violation of Boise City Code:

No person shall post, paint or attach in any way any sign as defined in this Code on any curbstone, telephone pole, telegraph pole, electric light or power pole, wall, hydrant, bridge or tree on a
public street, sidewalk or on a public property except as provided in Section 4-7-14.

No person shall paint, paste or attach any sign whether or not defined in this Code on any building, structure, sidewalk, street or property of Boise City except as provided in Section 4-7-14.

PS: Section 4-7-14 (referred to twice above) gives “Municipal, County, State and Federal government and special nonprofit” groups some outs to that clause — but there is no special carve out for radio stations.

Not so long ago, banners were an expensive and prized material. The vinyl signs were carefully collected after each remote or event and reused time and again. The 1990s advent of the cheap plastic roll signs changed that practice – and made it easy for stations to leave behind their banners long after they have packed up the station van and headed back to the studio.

Perhaps station personnel think they’ll get some boost in the ratings numbers if they “forget” to take down their signs. Maybe. But I guess I wish they would respect the beauty of our area by collecting their visual collateral rather than leaving it behind.

UPDATE: As of 6:30pm Sunday night, the signs are gone.

On July 10th, CountryAircheck.com’s e-mail newsletter featured a “gig alert” – with a posting for a program director at KAWO. It said Kevin Godwin “is seeking a PD/personality for the position vacated in March by Rick Stewart.”

One strange thing here – Rick Stewart told IdahoRadioNews.com at the time that he “fell victim to the almighty budget cuts” – a declaration no one at Peak seemed to indicate was untrue. Why is Peak staffing up WOW with an additional position, after cutting utility player Tom Collins earlier this week at KCIX?

Here’s the CountryAircheck.com posting — tapes are due today.

While it is hard to get a full fix on the state of Peak Broadcasting — we have little ways to judge the health of the company. Things like employee morale, programming — and usually the most telling aspect: staffing.

In March, 2005 – just before Peak took over the operations of six Boise Clear Channel stations, I noted here how many on-air staffers each station in the group. CC had been derided for its staffing practices in markets like Boise. Stations that used to be live 24/7 had been cut, cut and cut again. Across the group, just nine shifts had live and local talent.

Here’s how it broke down:

KCIX: Two shifts, three personalities
KSAS: Two shifts, three personalities
KTMY (now KAWO): One shift, one personality
KXLT: Three shifts, four personalities
KFXD: One shift, one personality *
KIDO: One shift, three personalities

That’s fourteen staffers total (KFXD laid off Mitch Pruitte just before Peak took over and switched the shift to a VTer).

The picture now?

KCIX: One shift, two personalities (-1)
KSAS: Three shifts, four personalities (+1)
KAWO: Four shifts, four personalities (+3)
KXLT: One shift, one personality (-3)
KFXD: None. (-1)
KIDO: One shift, two personalities (-1)

Old total – 14. New total – 13. Neither total includes part-timers, news anchors or production personnel who don’t hold air shifts.

Just about everyone is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. Some of my favorite “tweets” (aka Twitter posts) from the past few days:

@1071KHits: quote of the AM “The young naked man approached her with this poodle, and she immediately realized something peculiar.” http://bit.ly/yofWp

@kekeluv: Just woke up! Now, I can’t sleep! Welcome to my world ever since last april! Eating cereal, working on Taylor Swift promo, headed 2 work!

@580KIDO: Who is the sexiest cartoon character of all time? Dave and Brian will let you know what America decided just after 8am.

@donjarrett: has exceeded the maximum attention span of a 6 year old….and the drama begins in 5…4…3…2…1….duck & cover!

@kissin92: Billy Currington joins Cody Alan on CMT Radio Live 7pm – 12m on Kissin’ 92. Catch him tonight! www.kizn.com for everything Kissin92!

@miggy05: Ordering Twilight on PPV Iam Scured !!! hahahah

@DJDickman: @luckythadj get off the railing. Safety first!

@LuckyThaDJ: @miggy05 your down for shots ? Lol no friggin way ! Have a good night man

@Wild101: Thank You Everyone For The Love And Thank You For Keeping It Locked On Wild 101 Idaho’s Party Station!!!

@frosticles: The president giggling on 60 Minutes didn’t bother me. I figured the laugh meant, “Look how much work I have to do.”

Peak Broadcasting

Rick says he’s thankful to Peak managers for the chance to work at Wow – and names Todd Lawley, Kevin Godwin and Bill Figenshu. You can reach Rick at rick@therickstewart.com, and read his full message after the jump.

Since the first of November, Peak has cut at least seven full-time programming-side staff positions by my unofficial count.

Read the rest of this entry »

The small, privately funded Peak Broadcasting is not immune to the economic storm. The company, which owns radio stations in Boise and Fresno has steadily cut back in 2008, after staffing up in 2007.

Idaho Radio News has learned that plans for a new, local afternoon show on KIDO have been scrapped. Jon & Chris Show producer Jim Kimball – who was to be involved in the effort – has been let go.

Also, KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 morning host Amber Lee has been let go – leaving a solo morning show. Of Peak’s six Boise stations, one has no local morning show of its own, and two are hosted by solo acts (KXLT and KAWO). The group has also cut several other staff positions – and is now at about the same staffing level on the talent side as when it took over for Clear Channel.

Here’s our annual roundup of some of the great things stations are doing for the community.

• KTSY’s Christmas Wish program is underway. From home repair to a new pair of glasses, the station is looking to find people who need a hand – and will connect as many of them as possible to help.
• KIZN/Kissin 92.3 rolls into another year of the outstanding Keep Kids Warm.  The program started 12 years ago with a call to “Rivers and Valley” – the station’s morning show at the time. A young girl called and asked if there was any way her family could get some heating oil for the holiday – because the wanted to be warm for Christmas.  That year, listeners chipped in $17,000 for that girl and many others – and overall the program has racked up a stunning $650,000. This year’s on-air auction will be held December 15-19.
• KRVB/94.9 The River will hold its previously mentioned Concert for Cause later this month, and is also helping collect items for Toys for Tots.
• KSRV/96.1 Bob FM is directing people to the Boise Rescue Mission to make donations for the season.
• KKGL/96.9 The Eagle is also running a Christmas Wish program, this time in connection with the Idaho Youth Ranch. The station is helping collect a wide range of items for teens who are staying at the ranch – everything from cowboy boots to the Twilight book series.
• Starting Monday, the KQFC/Idaho Country 98 will travel the Treasure Valley stopping at five different Walmart locations – each day focusing on a different family that listeners can adopt. Each family has a different story and a different set of needs – and morning hosts Cory and Debi will introduce listeners to the family in need, and provide them with ways to help.
• KQLZ/99.1 Idaho’s True Oldies Channel just wrapped up a turkey drive – and raised $1380 in cash, plus 118 turkeys for the Idaho Food Bank. They are also pointing people to the Boise Rescue Mission.
• KQXR/100.3 The X is collecting toys for Toys for Tots.
• KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 is collecting toys for Toys for Tots.
• KJOT/J-105 is collecting toys for Toys for Tots.
• KCIX/Mix 106 is stuffing the semi for the Idaho Foodbank
• KTHI/107.1 K-Hits is collecting toys for Toys for Tots.
• KXLT/107.9 Lite FM continues its long Christmas Wish program with Home Federal – which has granted hundreds of wishes over the years and continues to find creative ways to help pepole out. You can nominate someone deserving at liteonline.com.
• KBOI/News Talk 670 is giving a boost to the Make a Wish Stories of Light campaign – helping fund wishes for several local kids with severe medical conditions.

Over the past two decades or so, there are several instances where an upstart station bested the heritage player in the category. KZMG/Magic 93.1 destroyed KFXD/KF-95… KTHI/107.1 K-Hits beat out KLTB/Kool Oldies 104.3 and a few other scattered instances.

KAWO/WOW Country 104.3 hopes it is on that kind of meteoric rise. But for every Magic beating KF-95 there’s a mis-fire (K-106 taking on KZMG anyone?). When Clear Channel launched KTMY/My Country 104.3, it didn’t offer anything better than KIZN. Sure it played country music, but just spinning similar tunes to KIZN or KQFC isn’t enough. When Peak came in, they dumped the lame My Country presentation and started over by putting together a team of people hell-bent on winning, and dropped the money they needed to do it. The station is well-packaged and put together – and frankly makes KIZN and KQFC work harder to earn their place in the market.

Who wins? The listener. Country listeners have three solid options, with three different approaches to the market and different sets of talent. You’ll have your Mee in the Morning die-hards, KQFC loyalists and WOW fanbase.

This fight isn’t likely to be the type that leaves a station on the chopping block like what Mike Kasper and the Magic team did to KF-95 15 years ago, but KIZN and KQFC have a real enemy to battle (other than each other… which we all know has been the weirdest competition in his market) – and they are both sharper and stronger for it.

KAWO’/WOW Country 104.3’s “Tarzan” (aka the non-Hardball-playing Chris Matthews) is getting hitched! He popped the question to girlfriend Rosey last week. Tarzan told listeners that she wouldn’t let him tape it for radio playback… but that didn’t stop him from doing a dramatic reenactment with one of Boise’s most well-known voices…

KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 is one of Boise’s top five radio stations – and beat long-time heritage station KQFC to take the silver medal in the country race. Despite all the good news, the station is still behind KIZN/Kissin’ 92.3 The station jumped 170% year-to-year – nearly tripling its audience from the final book as My Country 104.3.

The 5.4 number is also better than KLTB/Kool Oldies 104.3’s best number since 2003. There’s a funny paradox here: this validates Clear Channel’s decision to switch out oldies for country – but the formula the company and its manager came up with didn’t work… but Peak’s attempt certainly is.

Blogs blogs everywhere. Check out all the (mostly active) blogs from local radio folks:

• KRVB’s Morning blog
• KJOT’s Aftershow blog
• KCIX’s Mike & Kate blog
• Casey Acevedo’s “Master Cleanse” blog at DanTooker.com… proceed with caution.
• Brenda Mee’s Mrs. Idaho International blog
• KTHI’s Road to Recovery blog by Margo Vaughn on her fight against breast cancer
• Jerry & Michelle Radio Show blog from KTSY
• KAWO’s Tarzan Dan blog

From the studio that brought you Chained to Kate comes the sequel… Tied to Tarzan.

Five folks will get out the rope and stay ohsoclose to the KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 all next week to win Reba McEntire/Kelly Clarkson tickets. I could explain… but YouTube has so much more impact:

KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 has made some updates to its website – check it out here.

What happens when a radio listener wins a contest she doesn’t remember entering? Hilarity ensues…

So I got an e-mail telling me that KAWO/WOW Country 104.3 turned the radio station upside down for mother’s day — with a link to the station’s home page. I must have spent a full minute trying to figure out what I was missing…

The creative folks at KAWO/WOW Country 104.3 put their own spin on a new ad branding campaign by the Discovery Channel. The Discovery ads tag with “The World is Just Awesome” and stand out from the crowd. The WOW ads are similar in style and tag with “Idaho… it’s just awesome”

First the Discovery ad — then the KAWO spin.

So when KIZN/Kissin’ 92.3 host Steve Shannon was on CMT Insider a few weeks ago – did KAWO/WOW Country 104.3 go ahead and run its radio simulcast on Sunday morning at 6am?

Is KQFC/97.9 Idaho Country tinkering? This weekend, the station played nothing but gold cuts – chucking the Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts tunes for a heaping helping of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Willie Nelson and Clint Black. For now – the normal rotation is back in place.

KQFC has been the lost soul in the Citadel country coop in past years – sometimes mirroring big brother KIZN, and other times flipping back to an older appeal. With the former KFXD/Classic Country 630 out of the way – and new kid KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 muscling in on its turf, will KQFC try to skew even older than its current appeal?

The station is website users “Did you like the Solid Gold Weekend? Would you like us to do it again?” — right now the “yes” vote has 86% of the tally, but there’s no indication how many have voted in the poll.

So I’ve got a poll of my own…

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The spring ratings period is underway, and the usual array of promotions has started to unroll. A sampling:

- KQXR is giving away tickets/air/hotel to a music festival in Columbus in May.
- KTHI/107.1 K-Hits is helping the Warm Springs Counseling Center bring Tony Bennett to town – and is giving away tickets to the show next month.
- KZMG/Magic 93.1 is doing a flyaway to see Jordin Sparks and Alicia Keys in Las Vegas.
- KIZN/Kissin’ 92.3 has several irons in the fire. The station is giving away a trip to see Niagra Falls to see James Otto. It is also doing a “word of the day” contest that ties into its new online rewards program – giving away a share of more than $20k in prizes.
- KQFC/97.9 FM is giving away tickets and backstage passes to see Carrie Underwood when she hits town in May.
- KAWO/WOW Country 104.3 is also giving away tickets to see the hot Ms. Underwood – saying it is “giving away the most tickets.”
- KJOT/J-105 is blowing out tickets to this month’s Def Leppard show at the Idaho Center. It is also doing it’s annual Extreme Garage Makeover.