Idaho Radio News Etc.

Maybe it was Boise State Football’s undefeated regular season. Maybe it was some extra caffiene in Jeff Caves’ afternoon coffee… and maybe it was a fluke.

Whatever the reason, KTIK/ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK The Ticket saw a big drop in its spring numbers. Everywhere you look, KTIK saw massive drops from fall to spring — though it is basically right on the nose year-to-year.

And by massive, we’re talking about falling from a 4.1 to a 1.8 – more than two points (persons 12+).

Here’s the thing — this is the third book in a row where we’ve had a station jump from middle of the pack to top of the heap.  In spring 2008, it was KKGL – which saw the best Boise-market ratings of any station in more than four years at the time. It then fell back to its normal ratings range.

In fall 2008 we saw KTIK jump up – and now fall.

This time it is KSRV/96.1 Bob FM, which popped from a 2.9 to a 4.9 — and notched even greater demo growth.

In all three cases, the stations did not make any massive alterations – no staff changes, no major music changes – just a ratings period of staying the course. Will this be a pattern of for Bob – or will it hold on to the numbers?

Former voice of the Idaho Steelheads Joe O’Donnell is enjoying his stint in Houston, TX with the Aeros, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I didn’t want to leave Boise for the sake of leaving Boise,” he told the paper. “I wanted to be sure it was the right job with an organization that is well-run in a city that you want to spend time.” O’Donnell, 29, says his goal is to announce for an NHL team.

1T – KIDO (up more than 2 points from fall 07)
1T – KIZN (down from fall 07)
1T – KSAS (up from fall 07)
2T – KQXR
2T – KTIK

A couple of interesting notes here – there’s a three way tie at the top, with KIDO seeing a big number, likely partially fueled by BSU football – though the station’s last book with Rush Limbaugh drew a very large share.  Some salce for KIDO: Glenn Beck outrated even Rush.  KSAS shows continued strong results – though the station was down a bit from spring. Lucky has a double-digit share at night, and Keke Luv’s afternoon show grew as well  KIZN is still strong despite falling from last year and last spring.

KQXR saw an improvement though it’s still well of the spring 2007 numbers.  The big surprise is KTIK – which saw very very strong numbers – especially in the afternoon, home to Idaho Sports Talk with Caves and Prater.

As we reported last week, Dan Tooker isn’t alone after being cut from KZMG/Magic 93.1.

KTIK’s J Bates tells Idaho Radio News he will no longer handle anchoring duties for the station, but he’ll continue to be part of Bronco game day coverage on KBOI.

KZMG morning producer Casey Acevedo left the station – but was not let go.  She’s tells me she has moved to a producer job with Entercomm in Austin, TX.  She’ll work for the evening “Your Time with Kim Iverson” show.

PJ Stover tells Idaho Radio News that she’s also looking for a gig, after being let go from KQFC.

Rattlesnake Jake moves from KIZN nights to KQFC mid-days as “Jake Austin.”

The Idaho State Broadcasters’ Association honored the best of the best in radio and TV recently. The awards are open to entrants statewide, but only Treasure Valley stations took home awards at the annual Sun Valley ceremony.

NEWS

• Best Public Affairs – KBOI “Return of the Salmon,” Ken Weaver
• Best Agricultural Program – KIDO “Coyotes,” Sean Chaney
• Best Local Newscast – KIDO “KIDO News Team”
• Best News Story – KBOI “Democrats Caucus,” Melissa Dawn, Ken Weaver
• Best Sports Program – KTIK “Sports Talk with Caves and Prater”
• Best Sports Play-by-play – KBOI “3OT WAC Championship,” Paul J. Schneider & Todd Miles
• Best Investigative Report – KBOI “Shopping Quest Scam,” Brett Reckamp
• Best Spot News – KBOI “Super Tuesday,” Melissa Dawn, Jay Howell
• Best Feature News Story – KIDO “Pearl Harbor 66 Years Later”

COMMERCIALS

• Best Commercial Single – KSAS, “Ideal Image Code 7 Yetti,” Jodi Sali, Chris Adams, Robin Scott
• Best Commercial Series – KCIX “Escape the Crate Doggie Daycare,” Jodi Sali
• Best Commercial Copy – KXLT “Ideal Image You’re Right,” Jodi Sali
• Best Public Service of Public Affairs Announcement – KJOT “Idaho Transportation Department DUI Awarness,” Dave Sparks

ENTERTAINMENT

• Best Personality – KIZN Steve Shannon
• Best Morning Show – KJOT “Pete & Joe Show,” Pete Stauffer, Joe Weber

PROMOTION

• Best Audience Promotion, TV Using Radio – KIZN “Steve Shannon CMT,” Steve Shannon
• Best Audience Promotion, Radio Using Radio – KIZN “Kissin’ Gave ‘Em Away,” Rich Summers
• Special Projects – KSAS “Live for 175″

KTIK sports guru J Bates is taking up the reigns of KBCI’s sports operation:

I have a new job. Starting August 4th I will be the new Sports Director at KBCI Ch 2 here in Boise… I will continue here at KTIK/KBOI only with a few less hours. I’m still ironing out details, but things are going to be good at Ch 2 again, and I’m one step closer to my goal as King of all Boise Sports Media.

KTIK/ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK The Ticket has launched another season of its weekly golf show. Tee Time on The Ticket is hosted by KBOI’s Brett Reckamp and airs each Saturday morning at 9 a.m.

The show has a series of remote broadcasts lined up – starting with this past weekend’s show from Shadow Valley Golf Course.

96-9theeagle.com and KTIK.com are now on the Mediaspan platform, after launches by KQFC, KIZN, KZMG and KBOI.

The KTIK site might actually be the best of the bunch – with the national sports feeds — and the daily, very topical Scott Slant (which KTIK shares with KTVB.COM). J Bates also has a blog

For the past few weeks, a click on the Ticket Chicks link from KTIK.com takes you to a page that says “No web site is configured at this address.”

http://www.theticketchicks.com/

With Dan Patrick no longer part of the ESPN Radio lineup — he landed a job with an indepndent syndication company last fall — airing mostly on Clear Channel stations nationwide. Now Tester Broadcasting’s KTMB/99.1 The Man picked up the show — and slotted it in from 10am – 1pm weekdays. Patrick’s show used to air from 1pm – 4pm on KTIK. Now the program will take on Jim Rome head to head. DP replaces Fox Sports programming.

KTIK/ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK The Ticket morning update host J Bates is pulling multi-media double duty right now. Bates is filling in as weekend anchor/producer for KBCI-TV. Bates replaces Andrew Marden in the role at KTIK. I’m told the position is temporary – but there’s no posting for the sports job on Fisher’s website.

If you got a chance to listen to the H-Bowl national radio broadcast on KTIK/ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK The Ticket toady — you got quite an earful. The game call was handled by Alex Shelton and former Boise State QB Jared Zabransky (the daily paper said there would be another color commentator — but there wasn’t).

I tuned in at the beginning of the second half. Shelton had a bad bad case of mumble mouth – and his play-by-play was downright confusing. I couldn’t figure out why Fresno State was suddenly playing some team named “Geor-da Tech.” His mumbling made some funny moments when Geor-da Tech running back Mike Cox was on the field (seriously). Add that to Zabransky saying – “they got that receiver straight up the “A” hole” — and I thought I was going to drive off the road I was laughing so hard.

Shelton – of the Nevada Sports Network – even said “Here in Fresno” on at least two occasions. Somehow that was better than the continual “boy-zee.”

While trying to make small talk with Zabransky, Shelton talked about the Fiesta Bowl win last year, and said “after that pick six, some people were just like ‘well, that’s just Zabransky,’ what’s it like to be able to come back from that?” Long pause… pause… pause — then Z answered the question.

Here’s a look at what Boise-area stations are doing to help the community this year. The Idaho State Broadcasters Association notes that in 2005 (the most recent year available), Idaho radio stations took in $2.1 in fundraising donations (along with $20 million in PSA value).

KTSY – The station is holding a Christmas concert at the Nampa Civic Center on December 19th, featuring local artists. Admission is a new, unwrapped toy which will go to Nampa’s Salvation Army. Details

KIZN – The annual Keep Kids Warm event is taking several approaches to help pay for heating costs for area families. Schools are competing to raise funds – with the school that raises the most getting a concert with American Idol star Bucky Covington. The station is also teaming with Intermountain Gas, to make it easy for folks to add money to their bill to donate to those in need. The station will also host an on-air auction that will start December 17th. Last year, Keep Kids Warm raised $50,000. Details

KZMG – Magic 93.1 is taking part in Christmas in the Nighttime Sky (see KBOI)

KRVB – The River’s annual Concert for Cause was held Wednesday night, and featured an all-local bill headed by Curtis Stigers. The event moved to the Morrison Center and benefited the new Interfaith Sanctuary. Details. KRVB is also joining other Journal stations, KIVI, KTVB, KBCI and others in collecting toys for Toys for Tots.

KKGL – 96.9 The Eagle is helping collect gifts for children at the Idaho Youth Ranch. Details

KQFC – All this week, 97.9 KQFC’s Q Wakin’ Crew is helping collect donations for five families. Morning co-host Debi is on location at Wal-Mart and Albertsons locations around the Valley helping collect items for the families selected. Details

KWEI – The Spanish AM/FM combo is helping collect needed items for the Ronald McDonald House. The House – located near St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital – gives families of sick kids a place to stay. Details

KQXR – The X is helping collect Toys for Tots.

KSAS – Hooker in the Morning is taking Christmas wishes during the morning show and helping to fill the needs for a variety of listeners.

KAWO – WOW Country 104.3 is taking suggestions for folks who should get a free Christmas tree this holiday. Details. Also, the station is in the midst of its St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital drive.

KJOT – J-105 is helping collect Toys for Tots.

KCIX – Mix 106 is featuring twelve cute puppies and 12 kittens in need of a home for its “12 Strays of Christmas” promotion. Each of the animals is from the Canyon County Animal Shelter – and two of the ten animals featured so far have found a new home. Details

KTHI – 107.1 K-Hits is helping collect Toys for Tots.

KXLT – 107.9 Lite FM continues a tradition started long ago by KCIX/K-106 with the Home Federal Christmas Wish. Folks can stop into any Home Federal location, nominate a deserving family for a variety of needs – and Home Federal and KXLT will work to fill wishes each day through the holidays. Details

KBOI – KBOI is teaming up with several other Citadel stations for Christmas in the Nighttime Sky. The station is taking toy donations for Toys for Tots during the event this Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Garden City. The event will feature a fireworks show, hot foods for sale and more. Santa Claus will be on hand – and donations will go to the American Heart Association.

KTIK – KTIK is taking part in Christmas in the Nighttime Sky (see KBOI).

Others? Let me know…

The Idaho Daily Statesman is in a world of hurt. With its parent company losing big bucks due to the collapse of classified advertising, one of its top editors is taking heat for saying the University of Idaho should be bombed. Yikes.

The Boise Weekly picked up an earlier report from a Spokesman Review blog that had Mike Prater saying this of the UI on KTIK/ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK The Ticket (there’s your radio tie) last month:

They’re a horrible team, they’re a horrible program. the fans are horrible. The athletic director’s horrible, the president’s horrible. Everybody and everything associated with that program is horrible. They should take a bomb and blow it up and start all over again.

Here’s the audio.

The Weekly’s Shea Andersen also has a dynamite piece on the problems facing the Statesman and other newspapers in our state.

The paper’s owner, McClatchy lost $1.3 billion bucks in the most recent quarter. This is McClatchy’s two year stock chart:

Statesman editor Vicki Gowler: “this is the most challenging time I’ve seen as an editor.”

Boise Weekly: “Gowler said her paper’s circulation is either flat or up only slightly, depending on the edition.”

New Audit Bureau of Circulations figures that hit the street last month show that – despite an increase in population and big efforts by the paper to prop up circulation numbers… fewer and fewer people are getting the paper.

ABC numbers in June of 2006 show the Statesman selling 65,124 copies (link). The latest figure? 61,473 as of September 2007 – a decrease of six percent (link). Not surprisingly, the paper is still quoting the old numbers in its online customer service section.

For reference, Gowler told BW that the Statesman’s circulation is up or flat, depending on the edition. The Sunday edition also lost ground, 86,434 to 83,038.

The Statesman employs some fantastic, hard-working people – truly. I know several of them, and most of them even know how beleaguered their employer is.

UPDATE: Changed the headline from “Prater says UI should be bombed on KTIK” to “Prater says on KTIK that UI should be bombed” … for obvious reasons.

The Boise Community Radio Project has submitted its FCC application as previously noted, to broadcast on 89.9 FM. The city of license for the Boise project would be… Caldwell. Ahh the FCC.

BCRP was the only NCE application made in the Boise valley – though scores of applications were filed statewide (more on that later).

The 89.9 location would be very close to KTSY (89.5 FM) and KBSU (90.3 FM).

BCRP’s supporting documents (view here – PDF) say that current radio programming “fails to reflect the educational needs of our community,” and says there isn’t a whole lot on the air that can “assist citizens in discussing the implications of demographic transition.” Also, BCRP feels Boise’s radio programming “generally fails to examine issues affecting souther Idahoans.”

Currently, the Boise area offers a whopping 150.5 hours of locally produced public affairs, talk or music programming – that is an average of 21.5 hours per day. (See chart below).

Currently, BCRP’s online stream features 6.93 hours of local talk (of which more than half is repeats, boiling down to less than three hours of content), and about 61 hours of locally produced music shows (including about 50% repeated content, most shows do not feature local artists). This averages out to about nine hours per day. The amount of original content is about 30 hours – or 4 hours per day. It stands to reason that if BCRP were granted a license it would increase local content – if the group can find funding.

BCRP takes a stance that BSU Radio provides very little local content:

Community radio is not the same as National Public Radio (NPR). As an NPR affiliate, Boise State University offers syndicated national news, talk and classical music programs. Less than 5% of their [sic] schedule is locally programmed.

BSU Radio produces 47.5 hours of local programming per week (NOT including news), or 6.7 hours per day across its three Boise stations. Almost none of this is repeated. This totals 9.5% of total programming.

Edit: The list below shows the total number of hours per week that a local station airs (not including news updates, remotes or normal music-driven shifts).

KIDO: 33 (mornings, Monday sports show, weekend shows)
KFXD: 20 (mornings)
KBOI: 27 (mornings, Saturday morning shows)
KBSX: 2.5 (City Club, Dialogue, New Horizons [X2])
KBSU-FM: 15 (Laz Spectrum, Private Idaho, Jazz Straight Ahead, Arthur Balinger programming)
KBSU-AM: 30 (Saturday Spanish-language programs, Sunday University Pulse)
KRVB-FM: 1 (The Other Studio)
KQXR-FM: 1 (Xclusive)
KTMB-FM: 5 (Dzuback sports show)
KTIK: 15 (Caves & Prater)
KAYN: 1 (Divas for a Difference)