XPost: alt.radio.broadcasting

RadioInsight

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WBUF Becomes Buffalo's Real Rock

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 12:56 PM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/228205/wbuf-becomes-buffalos-real-rock/



Townsquare Media shifted 92.9 WBUF Buffalo NY from Classic Rock to Active
Rock this morning.

The move comes with the addition of currents to the stations playlist, a positioning change to Buffalos Real Rock, and some on-air lineup changes. Townsquares Compass Media syndicated Free Beer Hot Wings remain in
mornings as does Brand Manager Nik Rivers in afternoons. Rivers joined WBUF
in October 2021 after previously programming Audacy Alternative 107.7 Alternative Buffalo WLKK. WGRD Grand Rapids Production Director/middayer
Jenna Hoke adds middays at WBUF replacing Townsquares national Classic Rock tracker Jen Austin. The company also adds Compass Loudwire Nights with Toni Gonzalez for nights in place of Dean The Dean of Rock Sarago. Sarago
remains as Marketing Director for Townsquare Buffalo.

The shift repositions WBUF directly between Cumulus Medias combo of Classic Rock 97 Rock 96.9 WGRF and Alternative 103.3 The Edge WEDG. WGRF is
currently fourth in the Buffalo market with a 7.0 share and WEDG eleventh
with a 3.3. WBUF sits in fourteenth place with a 1.6 share.

The 1pm hour of the revamped WBUF today featured:

Foo Fighters Big Me
Nirvana The Man Who Sold The World
AC/DC You Shook Me All Night Long
Jack White Taking Me Back
Radiohead Creep
Guns N Roses Mr. Brownstone
Foo Fighters Times Like These
Eve 6 Inside Out
Ghost Call Me Little Sunshine
Breaking Benjamin The Diary of Jane
Stone Temple Pilots Creep
Led Zeppelin The Ocean
Metallica Fuel



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Amaturo Sonoma Media Group Acquires KZST & KWVF

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 12:30 PM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/227443/amaturo-sonoma-media-group-acquires-kzst-kwvf/



Amaturo Sonoma Media will pay $6 million for AC 100.1 KZST Santa Rosa and Classic Hits 102.7 The Wolf KWVF Guerneville as well as 99.1 K256DA Santa
Rosa and 102.5 K273CU Petaluma. K256DA currently operates as
Standards/Smooth Jazz Jazzy 99.1 fed by Redwood Empire Stereocasters 93.7 KBBL-HD2, while K273CU is leased to California Broadcasting Company
Regional Mexican La Z 1490 KZNB Petaluma.

Original Report 6/2: A deal between two established operators in Santa Rosa
CA will see Amaturo Sonoma Media acquire AC 100.1 KZST Santa Rosa and
Classic Hits 102.7 The Wolf KWVF Guerneville from Redwood Empire
Stereocasters for an undisclosed amount.

The Lawrence Amaturo and Michael OShea led company will add the two
stations to a cluster that includes Country Froggy 92.9 KFGY, Classic Rock
97.7 The River KVRV, CHR Hot 101.7 KHTH, Classic Hits 107.9 K-Hits K300AO,
and News/Talk 1350 KSRO/96.9 K245DJ/103.5 K278CD. An LMA will take effect before closing. Amaturo Sonoma Media sold 104.9 KDHT to Northern California Public Media last year.

The deal will leave Gordon Zlots company with Country 93.7 The Bull KBBL
and Standards Jazzy 99.1 K256DA. The company also owns 106.3 KJZY, which
was leased to Educational Media Foundation in March.

Amaturo Sonoma Media Group (“ASMG”) and Redwood Empire Stereocasters (“RES”) announced today that ASMG will acquire two RES stations, KZST-FM and KWVF-FM, and other assets, in a sale expected to close in 3rd Quarter
of this year. A Local Market Agreement (LMA), effective June 2, 2022, will permit ASMG to begin the operational obligations prior to FCC approval and closing.

Redwood Empire Stereocasters will continue to own and operate their
stations KJZY, 106.3 FM and KBBL, 93.7 FM.

Lawrence Amaturo, co-founder and member manager of ASMG, LLC, commented: “With incredible care, Gordon Zlot created and developed KZST over 50 years ago and made it THE most listened-to station in Sonoma County. It remains
just that even today. I am beyond thrilled that we can be the next
torch-bearer for this great community gift.”

Gordon Zlot, founder and 50-year patriarch of KZST and the RES stations,
said: “This was an agonizing decision, with over a half century of creating and maintaining KZST with rating superiority in Sonoma County, but in my decision to step-back in pace and work-life, I could not have found a
better next-level operator-team than Lawrence Amaturo and Michael O’Shea. I will still be associated with all the stations, offering engineering and programming consultation, and pulling for them to the next level of
success.”

Michael O’Shea, President of ASMG added: “I’m truly in awe of these great stations and the position they occupy in the hearts and ears of Sonoma
County, and the brilliant leadership Gordon and his team have brought them, making radio so vital in the Northbay. I’m humbled at the thought of operating this combined great enterprise.”


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Tom Calococci Returns To Beasley To Program Sunny 106.3 Fort Myers

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 12:11 PM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/228201/tom-calococci-returns-to-beasley-to-program-sunny-106-3-fort-myers/



Beasley Media Group has appointed Tom Calococci as Program Director for AC Sunny 106.3 WJPT Fort Myers.

This marks the third stint at Beasley for Calococci, who previously
programmed Rhythmic CHR Power 96 WPOW-FM Miami for the company from
2006-2011 and Adult RB Jammin 105.7 KOAS Las Vegas from April to September 2021. He has also programmed KJMZ Dallas, WERQ Baltimore, WILD Boston, KZZP Phoenix, KBXX Houston, KKBT Los Angeles and WFLC Miami during his career.

Beasley Media Group announces Tom Calococci has been named Program Director
of Beasley Media Group’s WJPT-FM/Sunny 106.3 in Fort Myers. He officially began his new position on Monday, June 6, 2022.

Calococci most recently served as the Program Director of Beasley Media Group’s KOAS/Jammin 105.7 in Las Vegas. Previously, he spent 4 years as the Affiliate Relations and Content Creator for Sheet Happens Prep, an industry radio show preparation resource.

“Tom has a successful history with Beasley, much of that time programming
in South Florida,” said Beasley Media Group Chief Content Officer Justin Chase. “He’s highly creative, strategic, forward-thinking and a respected leader in our business. We’re very happy to welcome Tom back to Beasley!”

“Tom has a great history of success with Beasley in some of our other markets,” said Vice President and Market Manager AJ Lurie. “We are excited for him to bring that winning spirit to Southwest Florida.”

“I cant wait to get back to work for this incredible company and the great team that Beasley has in Fort Myers,” said Calococci. “I want to thank AJ Lurie, Adam Star, Justin Chase and Brian Beasley for their support. I am so happy to be back in South Florida!”


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In Search of Big Hit Energy

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 12:00 PM PDT https://radioinsight.com/blogs/227226/in-search-of-big-hit-energy/



I started Big Hit Energy just over a year ago as a playlist called Summer Energy 2021. It was meant to showcase the Song of Summer candidates, but
also as an experiment in music discovery. With “Adore You” and “Blinding Lights” barely out of power after 18 months, were there really no
worthwhile new songs out there? Or were Top 40’s product issues more a function of how radio found and used new music? As it turned out, the
challenge wasn’t finding songs I wanted to share, it was editing the
playlist down to a manageable number of songs.

I had a few groups of people in mind when I started the playlist. One was
those Ross on Radio industry readers who are still passionate about new
music and willing to consider new-music enterprise, but without the time to aggressively look beyond the shrinking menu of those songs officially
worked to pop radio. The others were older peers, in Classic Hits radio,
and outside the business, who didn’t want to give up on current music, but who haven’t been hearing as much they like since the DJ had them falling in love with late-’00s/early-’10s “turbopop.”

Over the year, reader response to the playlist has grown, if modestly.
There are at least a few occasions of songs winding up on the radio because they were heard here. My favorite has been Flo Rida’s “Wait,” which was found here by WIXX Green Bay, Wis., then spread to crosstown WKSZ, and is
now on two other medium-market CHRs in the region, even without being on a label or having been serviced. “Breaking a record outright” is a tough job for anybody these days — including TikTok. If a local hit can still exist
in 2022, I’m pretty happy about that, too. 

I’ve managed to find at least 5-6 new songs every week for BHE. I’ve tried to keep the playlist at about 50 songs — similar to Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits, but it usually ends up being more like 60-65. I have time blocked out over the weekends to hear all the songs that are charting at our major
formats. How often I add to it beyond that depends a lot on what I hear
during the week, and what comes out on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Looking at the songs on this week’s playlist, about a quarter are
mainstream hits being worked to CHR radio. An equal number are songs from
other charts, particularly Alternative and Dance, but potentially from everywhere. Another 25% came from international CHR listening. It’s harder
to find hits that way when songs are released everywhere at once, but I can still stumble upon the right station where I hear three new songs I love in
an hour’s time.

The remaining quarter is heavily populated by left-field songs that got a promotional e-mail blast, but aren’t getting a concerted radio push. A few are bringbacks that have gained new relevance from TV or movie syncs. Only
a few are from TikTok, in part because other people are actively looking
for those songs already, and not all of them fill the “uptempo hit” need. But Nicky Youre’s “Sunroof” did fit that description, and it’s been on and
off the playlist a few times now. 

I don’t get around to as many entire albums as I’d like to, or as I wish other programmers did. A programmer did recommend Ed Sheeran’s “2Step” to me last fall, and that was the song that went on to the playlist rather
than “Overpass Graffiti,” Spotify’s pick from the album. But the revelatory
Harry Styles song on Harry’s House was a ballad, “Matilda,” a rare case of
my gravitating to the “song that brings the radio to a halt.” Its not for Big Hits Energy, but it is one of four Styles songs in the Top 10 of the
Hot 100. Styles hardly needs a career song at this moment, but if Matilda continues to touch listeners this way, I can hear it as a song were hearing
on Lite FM in 15 years.

Do I think all forty-five of the other outlier songs here are hits? I’m not making that claim, although since so many of them will never get their test
at radio, nobody will prove that they aren’t either.  I’m not saying that anything on the list is an overlooked potential power; some are briefly
held whims. But maybe it’s something to bring into the music meeting, if
you still have music meetings. Maybe it’s inventory — one of the songs that allows you to play a few reasonably fresh and interesting songs for
listeners. If you’re still using the “No. 1 for Music Discovery” sweeper, it’s a chance at an actual radio discovery.

My viable broadcast CHR would probably play about 28 true currents now, although that’s still a lot these days. I’ve noticed recently that even Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits is relying more on year-old songs to fill 50 slots. During radio’s great periods, like 1983-85, it has about 40 songs worth playing.

The Top 40 miracle in spring 1984 was driven by Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, and Footloose, but also by Slade’s “Run Runaway,” which only had to sound great on the radio for a month until the next turntable hit came along. (I was considering making “White Horse” by Laid Back my example, but that song would be a streaming monster now.) The
best periods of hit music have always been defined by both the superstars
and the secondaries: especially when the secondaries give you the feeling
that there are lots of really good records in the wings behind the great records.

Top 40’s inventory problem manifests itself now as too few songs for power rotation and too few secondaries. The problem used to be programmers
unwilling to look beyond anything brought to them by the labels. So now,
labels are bringing fewer songs to radio. We can be gratified that when
they have a “Driver’s License” or “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” that they
want radio as the finisher, even after those songs reach No. 1 on
Billboard’s Hot 100. But being only the finisher is limiting, and
guarantees that only TikTok will generate the passionate shared experience
that Top 40 once did.

I’m still in love with finding songs, and when I find them on radio, I’m even happier. So here are some songs to listen to. I’m looking forward to hearing what you’ve got, too.


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KTCK Adds Dave Lane To The Hardline

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 08:48 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/228175/ktck-adds-dave-lane-to-the-hardline/



Cumulus Media Sports The Ticket 1310 KTCK Dallas/96.7 KTCK-FM Flower Mound
TX has announced a series of staff moves led by the addition of Gen X Davey Lane as third co-host of their afternoon Hardline alongside Corby Davidson
and Bob Sturm.

Lane has been a weekend and fill-in host at KTCK since 1995. His addition
to the afternoon show comes after the recent resignation of producer/contributor Danny Balis.

KTCK also announced the realignment of a number of producer and update
anchor roles stemming from Balis and midday show producer Mike Sirois
departing the station. Board operator David Mino moves up to producer of
The Hardline, while Matt Bermingham shifts from host of the 7-9pm Ticket
Top 10 to board op from 12-6pm. Morning show update anchor Sean Bass moves
to producer of the 9am-12pm Norm And D Invasion hosted by Norm Hitzges and Donovan Lewis. Midday anchor DJ Ringgenberg will take over the morning show tickers with Ty Walker expanding his shift from afternoons to cover middays too.


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Former Cox CEO Kim Guthrie Joins iHeartMedia As Florida Division President

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 08:36 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/228176/former-cox-ceo-kim-guthrie-joins-iheartmedia-as-florida-division-president/



Former Cox Media Group CEO Kim Guthrie is joining iHeartMedia as Division President for iHeartMedia Florida succeeding the retiring Linda Byrd on
July 15.

Guthrie first joined Cox in 1998 as General Manager of WBAB/WBLI Long
Island. She later rose to EVP/Radio for the company and then EVP/National
Ad Platforms overseeing CoxReps and Gamut. She was promoted to President of
the company at the end of 2016 and added the CEO title following the acquisition of the company by Apollo Global Management in 2019. She
departed Cox in May 2020.

iHeartMedia announced today that Kim Guthrie has been named Division
President for iHeartMedia Florida, replacing Linda Byrd who enters her retirement effective July 15th.

As the Florida Division President for the iHeartMedia Markets Group,
Guthrie will oversee the operations of the Florida Division for
iHeartMedia. She will report directly to Hartley Adkins, President of iHeartMedia Markets Group.

“At iHeart we pride ourselves on being a ‘talent first’ company, and this decision reflects that commitment. It’s rewarding to find someone who both understands what our listeners need and how to operate in a multi-platform environment. Kim checks every box and more, we’re thrilled she chose to
bring her talents to iHeart,” said Adkins. “Her CEO experience at Cox Media Group makes her uniquely qualified for this position.

Guthrie comes to iHeart with over three decades of experience in the
industry. She most recently served as President/Chief Executive Officer of
Cox Media Group, a role she ascended to in late 2016. She was instrumental
in the evolution and growth of CMG since she first joined the company in
1998 as VP/General Manager for its Long Island, NY radio station group
before working her way up through the ranks. Before ascending to CEO,
Guthrie further expanded her skills by serving as Executive Vice President
of CMG’s National Ad Platforms, where she oversaw the country’s biggest television rep firm. As CEO of CMG, she had complete oversight of the
company, including nearly 100 broadcast TV and radio stations, dozens of digital assets and newspapers. She started her career in the midwest, where
she worked as a television news reporter and anchor for several ABC
affiliates.

Guthrie was awarded the 2020 Leadership Award by the Broadcasters
Foundation of America and is a multi-year honoree of Radio Ink Magazine’s “Most Powerful People in Radio” and “Most Influential Women in Radio.” She
also was named “Woman of Distinction” by the March of Dimes, “Humanitarian
of the Year” by the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the “Trailblazer Award”
by the Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio group (MIW) and was awarded
the “Women Who Lead” honor by the Alliance for Women in Media (AWM).

“I am very excited to announce my ‘un-retirement!’ iHeart has become a true
employment destination and I am thrilled to be part of America’s #1 audio company,” says Guthrie. “I greatly admire what Bob and Rich have done to transform and expand the company since they took over a decade ago.
iHeart’s leadership has built a culture of respect, transparency and innovation, and the entire team has made me feel like I can make a
difference here. iHeart’s leadership team and vision for the future are a great fit for me and where I feel I can bring the most value.”


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Lineup Changes At KPEK

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 08:04 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/228171/lineup-changes-at-kpek/



After nineteen years at iHeartMedia Hot AC 100.3 The Peak KPEK Albuquerque,
the Jackie, Tony Donnie morning show is now Jackie, Tony Ryan.

Donnie Chase departed KPEK in early May to become a teacher after receiving
his Masters Degree in Education. To fill his spot on the morning show,
Music Director/afternoon host Ryan Safford has moved to mornings alongside Jackie James and Tony Manero.

Chris OGorman, who hosts afternoons at Country 92.9 The Bull KHUD Tucson
AZ, will add those duties at KPEK as well. OGorman has also previously
hosted mornings and nights at the former Hot AC My 92.9 KMIY Tucson












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Station Sales Week Of 6/10

Posted: 10 Jun 2022 04:30 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/228119/station-sales-week-of-6-10/



Booth-Cobb Media sells Christian Preaching/Conservative Talk Freedom 1110
WKQA Norfolk VA to Delmarva Educational Association for $10,000. An LMA
took effect on May 27, while an STA filing notes that the station had been silent since March when Booth-Cobb dismantled WKQAs four tower array as it prepares to redevelop the site. As part of the deal the station has filed
an STA to operate with 100 watts daytime from a long-wire antenna at the
site of 1010 WHKT. Delmarva Educational Association also owns The Word In Praise 89.1 WWIP Cheriton VA, while co-owned Chesapeake-Portsmouth
Broadcasting owns Christian Preaching The Lighthouse 1010 WHKT Portsmouth
and 1270 WPMH Newport News and Gospel Praise 104.9 1650 WTJZ Portsmouth in
the Norfolk market.

The previously announced $10 sale of 105.9 WGWE Little Valley NY from Paul Izard Communications to Family Life Ministries was filed with the FCC. Translator Sales

FCR Broadcast sells 102.3 W272BZ Portage IN to Larry Langfords Langford Broadcast LLC for $5000. Langford owns MeTV-FM 910 WGTO Cassopolis MI/97.1 W246DV South Bend IN and 97.5 W248AP Valparaiso IN.

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