Post-holiday scribblings (travel edition)

With the nation's 232nd birthday firmly in the rearview mirror, this is a good opportunity to catch up with a few happenings that we missed. And seeing as the Fourth of July weekend is a heavy travel weekend, and ridiculously high gas prices have likely kept many motorists closer to home, we here have decided to do the traveling for you.

Get your kicks on Route 66

From the 'blink and miss it' file comes word of what is arguably the most obscure liberal talk station in the country. KSZL (1230AM) is a little AM station smack dab in the middle of the Mojave Desert. I'm sure most people claimed the best thing coming out of Barstow was Route 66, in either direction. Well, supposedly, KSZL has been a pass-through outlet for Air America Radio programming since it adopted the format three years ago. For all we know, this station may still be running Air America, but nobody, not even a simple Wikipedia editor, has stepped forward to verify this. The only thing I've really found regarding current programming is that they carry Paul Harvey. Then again, is Paul Harvey still broadcasting?

Nonetheless, KSZL and its three sister stations have been sold by Roland Ulloa’s Dos Costas Communications, according to Tom Taylor at Radio-Info. The buyer is Dex Allen-run California Communications of Barstow, a.k.a. Dallas-based First Broadcasting Investment Partners. The selling price is $4.3 million. First Broadcasting specializes in upgrades and move-ins of existing stations. No word on the fate of their new acquisitions. Hell, I don't even know if KSZL's still running progressive talk (my guess is not). If there's anyone reading this that is in the know, drop a line, okay? After all, Google Analytics tells me that this here blog has gotten traffic from 53 countries around the world, in places like China, Australia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya (lions and tigers!) and even Norway (crabs!). Certainly someone reading this must live in or has been to the California desert. Hell, even I've been there!

Northern Exposure

From the Mojave Desert, we now travel to the Alaskan coast, more specifically the remote state capital of Juneau. KXLJ (1330AM) is a fairly new sign-on, and allegedly, they are indeed carrying a straight feed of Air America Radio. This was one of the stations announced last fall by the network as a new affiliate, and supposedly, they signed on in February. To the best of my knowledge, they did just that, and to prove it, they even offer two streams (!!!) for their on-air signal.

The station's owner, Ketchikan Television, also owns the local CBS television affiliate, and once owned WKIZ, a former Air America affiliate in Key West, Florida.

Not quite the Great White North

And now we travel to Minneapolis, home to several of Minnesota's 10,000-plus lakes. A couple weeks ago, Minneapolis played host to the annual Conclave, a major industry convention where radio people gather to talk shop, listen to speeches, get drunk and pass around tapes and resumes. On Friday, Fargo, North Dakota's own Ed Schultz delivered the afternoon keynote address.

According to accounts by AllAccess and Radio & Records, Schultz doled out advice for aspiring radio professionals and managers alike, talking about his love of challenges and dealing with naysayers like the manager he said signed his release from his local Fargo contract in 2004 to allow him to go into syndication. The manager then crumpled it into a ball and threw it at Schultz, asserting, "You'll never make it."

The talker's pep talk also exhorted managers to encourage risk-taking and new ideas. "You want dreamers," he said. "You want believers. You want passion."

Schultz, who told the audience that he taped a television pilot sitting in the late Tim Russert's chair in Washington the previous day, joked, "How come this didn't happen to me when I was 40?" but answered, "I wasn't ready."

"You’ve gotta keep believing in yourself," Schultz said, tailoring his remarks to younger talents for the Conclave. He said, “I’ve got the best black Lab in the world” and says his dog “goes after rabbits (at his rural North Dakota lakeside home) the way I go after a radio show.” That is, with passion and fire in the belly. “Your reputation in this business is so vital, and I made mistakes that have come back to bite me.” He also dispensed more wise advice: “You don’t know who you’re going to be working with” in the future – so think before you talk and act.

In closing, he said "be willing to bet on yourself." After Schultz went into syndication, he had to pass up multiple opportunities to appear on cable talk shows because nobody in Fargo had a video uplink. So he and his wife sucked it up and invested $150,000 to get one. It paid off.

Head for the Rockies

Congratulations to KKZN morning host Jay Marvin, who was named Best Talk Show Host by both readers and editors of the print edition of 5280 Magazine in the publication's annual "Top Of The Town" issue, spotlighting the best of Denver.

The magazine noted that Marvin is among the few talk show hosts truly interested in having conversations with the listeners instead of yelling at them.

Speaking of Denver, the Colorado city will take center stage come late August as the Democratic National Convention will roll into town. And nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama announced yesterday that he will accept the nomination and close out the convention not in the Pepsi Center but down the street at Invesco Field, the 75,000 seat home of the Denver Broncos. Naturally, the news media is bitching about the logistics of covering two places at once, but seeing as they can immediately dispatch helicopters in the air to cover even the most mundane car chases and stake out camera crews outside of L.A. County Jail at the last minute to watch Paris Hilton walk out of lockup, I'm sure they should have no problem with getting a seven week heads-up to put a few cameras and microphones in an NFL football stadium.

Way down yonder down in N'awlins

Some snide jokesters are claiming that, like Obama, even Republicans can pack stadiums. Speaking of New Orleans, remember WSMB? The Entercom-owned station was formerly a progressive talk outlet. Following Katrina, the station flipped to a time-shifted simulcast of talk outlet WWL. With that idea not working out at all, and the flip of a local sports talk station to gospel music, the station spins the format wheel once again, this time picking up the ESPN affiliation and going all-sports. Okay, it's not all sports. The station will still continue to air Tom Fitzmorris' long-running "The Food Show." In afternoon drive. Must be a New Orleans thing.

How Swede it is

Sirius is evidently giving even more people a reason to subscribe to satellite radio. Yesterday, they launched a groundbreaking channel designed to attract even more subscribers. This thing could be even bigger than Howard Stern! So, what is this monumental moment in broadcasting? Well, they're devoting a whole channel to the music of (drumroll)... ABBA. Yes, ABBA. It's a movie tie-in, naturally, for this summer's scariest horror flick movie musical, Mama Mia! which could likely rival both Moulin Rouge! and The Blair Witch Project as the most irritatingly awful film of the past decade.

In what could provoke international outrage, Sirius' satellites do travel an orbit that can easily hit Guantanamo Bay, leading human rights observers to worry about cruel and inhumane torture techniques that could be carried out upon al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners being held there.

Nonetheless, pain aficionados can find ABBA Radio on Sirius channel 3. Hey, you know you want to listen...

Across America in a few keystrokes

And finally, you may have noticed a few minor changes to this blog. First, most of the major blog graphics have been moved to Google image servers (a.k.a. Picasa). That should speed up loading time somewhat. In addition, there is a slew of new stations added to the listings at right. Many of these new additions may carry only one or two liberal shows, such as Ed Schultz or Stephanie Miller. They were added in order to inform readers of stations in their home towns or whatnot that may be carrying these shows. For scheduling, please refer to the individual station websites (if they have one). Did you know that you can listen to Schultz in red states such as Oklahoma or Alabama? You can. Or that you can tune into the top 40 hits station in State College, PA to hear Miller in the late evening hours? Yep.

Be sure to check out the list (which should be somewhat accurate). Of course, many of the small town stations listed may also carry stuff like Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, but hey - at least they carry some liberal talk. And that's getting somewhere, right?

And for those of you who like keeping up with comments (and that means you too, Mensa Man!), a widget on the left side of the page lists the five most recent ones. You can also subscribe to the comments feed by clicking here.

Happy traveling!

Air America 2.0: But will it float?

Over the last week or so, there's been a lot of talk about the 'new and improved' Air America Radio. With a new web presence, new personalities and shows, and a new lineup, they obviously expect great thing to come of it.

Yesterday was a good start, as they launched the new website and logo with a press release, and even featured an in-studio chat between New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former rival Mark Green, now president of Air America. The meeting of the former political foes was packed with New York-area reporters, and will air sometime next week.

But the question lingers in the back of everyones' minds: Is this whole 2.0 thing really going to work?

Lionel was the first addition, and a very controversial one at that. After a fairly successful run at late night radio syndication via WOR Networks, he moved his show over to Air America and late mornings. The goal obviously was to help the network gain new affiliates, or even bump time slot rival Stephanie Miller from a few. Less than a week into it, the results have been disappointing. Not only has Lionel not gained many fresh affiliates, he lost roughly a half dozen that carried Seder on delay. The only station he seems to have been added to is WINZ in Miami, on delay from 6-9P ET. Lots of stations still list him on their website schedules for his former show, but it is unknown if they are still running his new Air America show in those time slots. And judging by the response on various blogs, message boards and even Air America's own site, listeners are very vocal about "The Lionel Show."

Of course, time will tell if the show will grow and expand, and its up to Scott Ellberg and David Bernstein to make this happen. Particularly since predecessor Sam Seder actually improved his ratings on flagship station WWRL in the most recent Arbitron book.

In regard to the other changes, so far the only one that seems to be working is the move of Jon Elliott to three hours later. This was one move that made sense on paper, since it carves out a new shift for the network (Midnight-3A), gets him out of the way of Mike Malloy's 9-Midnight show, and many of Elliott's affiliates delay him to a later time slot anyway. In essence, Elliott's new shift is nearly competition-free, since Lionel is now gone from late nights and FOX News Radio's Alan Colmes wraps up his show an hour into Elliott's.

As a result, Elliott's flagship station, KLSD in San Diego, will now carry his entire show live, immediately following Malloy's, which gets a full three hour clearance starting Monday. Elliott has also been picked up by KQKE in San Francisco, KKZN in Denver, KPHX in Phoenix (ironically), KPTK in Seattle, KPOJ in Portland, KRXA in Monterey/Santa Cruz (which carries the straight Air America feed in overnights anyway), and other stations.

"The Air Americans" is the other new show coming to Air America. Basically, the Mark Riley-anchored show is a hodge-podge of various hosts at the station, including correspondents Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, David Bender and Laura Flanders. The four hour show essentially replaces two cancelled ones: "Politically Direct" (who's host Bender stays with the new show) and "EcoTalk" (which was going to die anyway). Thus far, no affiliate has announced their intentions of picking up "The Air Americans" and rumor has it not many people in the building are optimistic about its chances. Furthermore, there's a chance that WWRL may not even carry it, which in effect would kill the show, given that Air America all too often seems to be a bit too New Yorkish. Buzz about "The Air Americans" is not good. Nonetheless, they will promote the hell out of it, and even have some strong guests lined up.

For the weekends, the network has said very little about the changes and new shows that will debut. The only one we've really heard anything about is Seder's new Sunday show, but that's due to obvious reasons.

So, will Air America 2.0 be a success, or will it be yet another bit of bad luck for the much-beleaguered network? Only time will tell. Should be an interesting few weeks, so stay tuned.

Ratings Roundup Winter 2007: Part 3

And now we come to part three.

Today, Arbitron released ratings books for more markets, including five that have liberal talk radio stations.

In Minneapolis/St. Paul (#16), 1000 watt independently-owned suburban blaster KTNF drops a bit, from its highest-ever 1.7 to 1.1 for the Winter book. This is a tenth of a point higher than their position a year ago. They are clustered in a pack with three other talk stations: Conservotalk FM'er KTLK-FM, which rises just over a full point, Salem's WWTC and female-oriented FM talker WFMP, which they are tied with. Last fall, the station actually bested KTLK in several daypart and demographic breakdowns, particularly with Ed Schultz' show. Since then, the station moved Schultz to his new time slot, three hours earlier.

There's some interesting stuff going on in Buffalo (#52), as WWKB almost triples its ratings in one book, leaping from 0.6 to 1.7, good for 16th place in the market. They are helped somewhat by a change of formats at WHLD, which previously carried Air America Radio programming, prior to their current gospel music format (which has thus far failed to chart). Since the flip, WWKB has picked up Randi Rhodes and reorganized their schedule, to what appears to be greater success. They are also up nearly half a point from a year ago.

WPTT in Pittsburgh (#24), which carries Air America's Thom Hartmann, local talker Lynn Cullen and even FOX Noise suck-up Alan Colmes drops only a tenth of a point, from 1.2 to 1.1, the same point where they were a year ago.

Market #22 Denver's KKZN slides as well, from 1.9 to 1.3, close to where they were last winter and spring. They are still neck-and-neck with Salem conservotalker KNUS.

And finally, in the Queen City of Cincinnati (#28), WSAI, which ditched liberal talk around the beginning of the year for some weird form of Neal Boortz-anchored 'lifestyle talk' has dropped off the ratings charts. They are non-existent. Hope the Clear Channel braintrusts there who were adamant about wiping progressive talk off the local airwaves are satisfied with this little account executive throw-in special they've created.

Coming up on Friday, books for Miami, Seattle, Columbus and others will be released. Portland and Phoenix are set for Monday. I'll likely combine both days into one report, on Monday afternoon.

Ratings Roundup: Phase 2 Winter trend, part 2

Yesterday, you saw some of the early results of the second of the Winter 2006 Arbitron ratings trend reports. And today, some results from a few other markets.

This rolling trend report survey period covers this past December, January and February, and is the run-up to the official Winter ratings books, which will be released starting later this month.

In Denver and Pittsburgh, nothing exciting to note about any of the liberal talk stations there. KKZN slides a bit, and WPTT, which carries only Thom Hartmann from the Air America lineup and is as close to liberal talk as the market really gets (save for tiny WURP), drops slightly as well. However, one station makes a very impressive leap this time around. WWKB in Buffalo/Niagara Falls (#52), which recently lost a competitor when Air America-formatted WHLD flipped to gospel music, moves from a 0.6 in the Fall book, to a 1.1 in the last trend, and now to a 1.6 share, good for 15th place in the overall rankings. Like the situation in Monterey/Santa Cruz discussed yesterday, one station seemed to benefit when a rival switched formats. WWKB has also recently shuffled its schedule.

In Minneapolis/St. Paul (market #16), KTNF slides a few tenths of a point to 1.3 after their spectacular Fall book. The 1,000 watt station in the western suburb of Eden Prarie holds its own in a very heavy talk radio market that is also home to legendary top-rated middle-of-the-road talker WCCO, reformed conservotalker KSTP, underperforming 100,000 FM conservotalker KTLK-FM, female-oriented FM talker WFMP, Salem's pair of conservotalkers, and, of course, highly-rated Minnesota Public Radio flagship KNOW.

Finally, we conclude with Cincinnati, OH (#28), where WSAI is nowhere to be found after ditching liberal talk for some weird hodgepodge of lifestyle and how-to programming and lower-tier conservotalk shows. Gee, smart move, Clear Channel. Hey, at least liberal talk got ratings!

More trend reports for other markets are on the way next week. If you want to see the overall (12+) numbers for yourself, you can check them out at Radio and Records or StationRatings.com.

The post-Franken shuffle, Part 2

Though yesterday was the last day of "The Al Franken Show," his individual affiliates are still adjusting their on-air rosters as they carry on toward the future.

Last week, a few stations announced their intentions as to what they would carry. Today, there's a few more.

Two stations that will not be a part of the future of liberal talk include KCTC in Sacramento, which has officially announced their pending flip to sports effective February 26. As reported earlier, KFPT in Fresno will be sold, and will likely be flipped to sports once the sale is approved in early Spring. In the interim, they will likely fill their schedule with whatever Air America Radio is offering in the time slot, which starting Monday will be Thom Hartmann.

In Rochester, WROC moves Ed Schultz and Randi Rhodes into live afternoon slots, followed by a simulcast of WROC-TV's evening news (WROC-TV is seperately owned), followed by Rachel Maddow until 8PM. The station adds Democracy Now from 8-9PM, followed by two hours of Lionel and a simulcast of WROC-TV's late news. Lionel gets a replay for the late-night hours.

Air America gains a new affiliate as WWKB in Buffalo gives Rhodes a live clearance for her afternoon show, following Schultz. Miller's morning show gets an evening replay. The station's schedule is still in a state of flux, as they seem to have four hours of airtime (currently devoted to replays) to fill. Look for more additions (hopefully) soon. Local (or at least somewhat local) talker Leslie Marshall is no longer there, due to budget cuts, and is currently exploring other opportunities.

At KPOJ in Portland, Sam Seder fans will be elated to find out that his show is added from 9AM-noon (which will likely piss off Ed Schultz, who is still on a delay from noon-3PM). Not only that, but Seder also gets a weeknight replay, from 6-9PM. This move sounds very temporary, and they're promising more changes to come. The station has been rumored to be working on a deal to pick up Mike Malloy's show, possibly for the evening timeslot.

WCHL in Chapel Hill, NC moves Schultz live to the 12-3PM shift, followed by Randi Rhodes live.

Hartmann will get a few new affiliates, as he is added to San Diego's KLSD, Denver's KKZN, Los Angeles' KTLK and WNYY in Ithaca, NY live effective today. He'll also be on Washington, DC's WWRC. KABQ in Albuquerque, and Miami's WINZ on delay, following Ed Schultz. WPEK in Asheville, NC will also add Hartmann, starting next week.

WXXM in Madison is going live with much of their new schedule. Schultz gets a live clearance, followed by Rhodes and Maddow live. Hartmann is added for nights.

Quite a few stations have not announced what they are doing, either over the air or on their websites. Actually, it looks like some stations have forgotten they even have websites, as they are horribly outdated. Unless Jerry Springer is still doing a radio show and we just don't know about it.

Finally, Armed Forces Radio will replace Franken's show with that of even more inoffensive Alan Colmes. They also air Schultz' show, or at least an hour of it (as they tend to do with most talk programming). Which begs the question - why does AFN carry talk shows in the first place? Quite frankly, if I were currently serving in the military overseas, I'd rather listen to music. But I guess that's just me.

Ratings Roundup Fall 2006: Part 3

Hello again! It's time for part 3 of the Ratings Roundup for this past fall's Arbitron ratings books. In the first two parts, we looked at the Midwest and the West Coast. Today, we'll look at how liberal talk fared in the mountain states and the south central part of the United States. The ratings cited, unless otherwise specified, are the overall numbers, reflecting all listeners ages 12 and older. These are the only ratings numbers released by Arbitron to the public. The more valuable numbers, the 'breakdowns' of daypart, gender, age and other demographics groups, are considered even more important, and are sold for rather large sums of money to subscribers.

Nova M Radio's KPHX is holding steady with a 0.7 in Phoenix (#15), a market filled with low-powered AM talk stations, in addition to a relatively new FM talker, KZON (Free FM) and a move of top-rated news station KTAR to FM. In Reno (#124), little 820 watt KJFK is doing well, holding at a 2.1 share, despite the lack of an online presence (the website's been under construction for over a year). They are currently the #2 overall talk station in the market, behind top-rated KKOH, the local Limbaugh/Hannity/Savage station, and ahead of sports talk KPLY, 'hot talk' sister KBZZ and FM conservotalker KKFT, which airs a FOX 'News'-branded format and the motto "Anybody But Hillary." They finish at the bottom of the ratings, ahead of only a couple little Spanish language stations. Nice. I could go on about how much of a colossal joke the FOX 'News' Radio network is, but I'll save it for another day, another article. Let's put it this way: The next time any nimble-minded wingnut ridicules Air America, you can easily shut them down by using these three words: FOX 'News' Radio. That should work.

In New Mexico, liberal talk is doing fairly well, with Albuquerque's (#70) KABQ jumps to a 1.8 for the fall book. And longtime liberal talk stalwart KTRC (which was an I.E. America affiliate years ago) has shown considerable growth as of late in Santa Fe (#236), rising to a 2.1 share, even without much promotion or a web presence. They have more than doubled their audience since last fall. Over the past few months, they have become more aggressive with their on-air lineup, recently adding Stephanie Miller's show to mornings, as angry Sam Seder fans furiously emailed LTR to voice their, umm, opinions.

KKZN is up in the Denver (#22) book with a 1.9, good for a tie for 16th place. In nearby Fort Collins (#124), the station is tied with conservative sister KHOW with a 1.2 share.

Down in Texas, liberal talk has struggled in the past six months, with stations in Dallas and San Antonio (actually, Victoria) either being sold or flipping to different formats. In El Paso (#76), a market who's residential makeup is roughly 81% Hispanic, Entravision-owned KHRO is hovering near the bottom of the ratings, with a 0.3 share. The station has virtually no local presence, and seems to just run the straight Air America Radio feed over it's expanded AM band signal (1630AM). Its website consists solely of a link to Air America Radio (hopefully they didn't pay a webmaster to do that). KCCT in Corpus Christi (#139) is dealing with many of the same issues. They are a no-show in the current book, have no internet presence, and don't really seem to care. Listeners have informed LTR that the station occasionally disrupts Air America programming to run a shopping show (or something loosely resembling a shopping show) during the weekday. To their credit, they do have a few local talkers, although they reportedly come off as a bit amateurish.

KOKE in Austin (#42) is a much better-run station, though its formerly three-station Texas Pro Radio network is no more, since KXEG in Dallas was sold off and KTXX-FM (which allegedly serves San Antonio but has a signal too far away to really make any kind of impression in the market) was flipped to a different format. The remaining station, KOKE, is holding steady at a 0.7, amid rumors of future changes, which reportedly will include more local liberal hosts being added to the schedule in place of Air America shows. A new website will debut soon in place of the one for the former Texas Pro Radio. Sister station KTXX, now carrying a Spanish-language music format, is a no-show in the San Antonio book, but the station's signal really doesn't hit the market well. It's more of a Victoria, TX station. In Houston, where there is no commercial liberal talk station, non-commercial Pacifica's KPFT registers a 0.5 share.

In New Orleans (#57), WSMB drops to a 0.5 share in a bratings period that saw a format change halfway through. In November, the station dropped progressive talk and became WWWL, currently airing reruns of shows from its sister station, the AM-FM simulcast of WWL.

Next time, we'll look at how liberal talk did south of the Mason-Dixon line, or what the Republicans call 'the base.' And we'll finish up with the upper East Coast and northeastern states.

Radical Russ is the next "Progressive Talk Radio Star"

Congratulations are in order for "Radical" Russ Belville of Portland, OR, who has won a national contest to find America's next Progressive Talk Radio Star.

The contest was sponsored by Clear Channel Radio, The Center for American Progress Action Fund, Jones Radio Networks, and Media Syndication Services, Inc.

Belville, who won a local contest sponsored by Clear Channel progressive talker KPOJ (620AM) in Portland, went on to defeat Curtis Hannum of Boulder, Colo., in the finals of the contest, a two-hour broadcast in Washington, D.C. hosted by veteran television broadcaster and nationally syndicated radio host Bill Press.

Judges for the final broadcast included Product First syndicated talker Ed Schultz, Melody Barnes, executive VP for Policy at the Center for American Progress; Paul Woodhull, founder and president of Media Syndication Services; Jessica Sherman, VP of Affiliate Sales for Jones Radio Networks, and Bill Hess, program director for Clear Channel talk WWRC (1260AM) in Washington, DC.

As the winner, Belville will now get an opportunity to develop and host his own syndicated radio show in conjunction with the contest's sponsors.

Liberal talk radio stations shuffle lineups

UPDATED 9/18. All times local.

In response to recent lineup changes at Air America Radio, several affiliates have announced their own schedule changes.

First, Clear Channel-owned KTLK in Los Angeles has adjusted its on-air roster, picking up Rachel Maddow's new evening show for 6-8PM and picking up WOR Radio Network's Lionel for 10PM-1AM. Cary Harrison's local show moves up the schedule to the 8-10PM slot.

Further north, after conducting an online vote on their updated lineup, KQKE in San Francisco, also owned by Clear Channel, adds Stephanie Miller to weekdays, airing an hour of her show from 6-7AM, displacing the locally-produced "The Progressive News Hour". The Quake will air the last two hours of Al Franken's midday show from 10AM-12PM followed by Ed Schultz live, add "EcoTalk" in the 6-7PM slot. Thom Hartmann's show, which has experienced great success in West Coast markets, will air delayed from 7-10PM, and Lionel comes to the station for the 10PM-2AM shift, including a repeat of one hour of the three hour show. Mark Riley's one hour show will follow at 2AM, and Bill Press is added live 3-6AM. Air America's new morning show, The Young Turks, will not be picked up by the station.

Entercom-owned KCTC in Sacramento lists Peter Werbe in the live 7-9PM slot, followed by a replay of Franken's show from 9PM-12AM. Press will air live 3-5:30AM, followed by the local morning show, "The Morning Retort", hosted by Scott & Sims.

And CBS Radio's KPTK in Seattle also shuffles it's schedule, The new weekday lineup adds The Young Turks (who had been on weekends) to weekdays live 3-6AM PT and Rachel Maddow live 3-5PM. KPTK moves Al Franken's delayed show to 5-8PM and Randi Rhodes 8-11PM.

Dave McDonald, senior vice president and market manager for CBS Radio's Seattle stations, said he's pleased to be able to add Maddow's show to the lineup. The new lineup also helps KPTK shift more of its programming to live, he added.

KPTK listeners have also expressed their disappointment over the loss of Mike Malloy, whose show was dropped by Air America, McDonald said.

In Portland, KPOJ substitutes live airings of Riley and The Young Turks for the current Air America Mornings bloc from 2-6AM. Seder's new show will air on delay around the time of the Majority Report's former shift, from 6-9PM. And following the success of Hartmann's local morning show, KPOJ adds his national show to evenings, delayed to 9PM-12AM, and taking over Malloy's former shift. Maddow follows from 12-2AM.

Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, WINZ in Miami picks up Maddow for 9-11PM and moves Sam Seder from overnights to the 11PM-2AM shift. The rest of the schedule remains unchanged, except for the shortening of Rhodes' show.

At WXXM in Madison, Maddow, "Politically Direct" with David Bender, and "EcoTalk" with Betsy Rosenberg will be added, along with a few other changes.

KTNF in Minneapolis/St. Paul adds Press for mornings, following Riley. Hartmann's show is also added, airing from 6-9PM, bumping Rhodes to 9Pm-12AM. Seder's show airs on delay from 12-2AM. The station does seem to remain open to Malloy's return, if he indeed does.

KKZN in Denver/Boulder CO adds Maddow from 7-9PM, followed by EcoTalk 9-10PM, Politically Direct 10-11PM, Werbe 11-1AM, and a replay of Franken from 1-3AM. Riley airs live from 3-4AM and The Young Turks air 4-6AM, followed by local host Jay Marvin. The rest of the schedule remains the same.

As reported earlier, KRFT in St. Louis, currently airing Franken's show, adds Randi Rhodes to the 3-6PM shift. St. Louis listeners can see Franken as he does a live broadcast from St. Louis on Tuesday 9/19.

KLSD in San Diego updated their own schedule, picking up Maddow for 6-7PM, sending Jon Elliott back to weekends and airing Werbe evenings 7-9PM. A Franken replay airs from 9-10PM, followed by The Lionel Show. Mark Riley and The Young Turks air live during the early morning hours. Seder's show will air on weekends as 'best-of' programming.

In Columbus, WTPG picks up The Young Turks for mornings. Maddow gets the 6-8 shift, followed by Politically Direct and EcoTalk. Fans of Rhodes will be disappointed, as her show moves to overnight hours (3-5AM) in a surprise move.

WXKS/WKOX in Boston adds Riley and The Young Turks for mornings and EcoTalk from 9-10PM. The 10PM-12AM shift is undetermined, but for now, Werbe will have the shift.

The WHMP trimulcast in central Massachusetts is also altering its lineup, moving Maddow to evenings. Stephanie Miller debuts on the station and picks up Maddow's previous timeslot, 10AM-12PM.

KPHX in Phoenix will air the straight Air America feed live for much of the day, outside of Mike Newcomb's morning show. Hartmann will air from 9PM-12AM in delay.

In the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area, WHLD adds Seder to mornings and will also air Franken, Rhodes and one hour of Maddow live. Democracy Now follows at 7PM, followed by various non-commercial shows, including Flashpoints, Building Bridges, Uprising Radio, Counterspin and others on a daily rotating basis.

Chicago's WCPT switches out morning shows, adding Bill Press. Jerry Springer remains in his mid-morning shift. The station is a Class D AM station, meaning it signs off the air from sunset to sunrise.

WRVC in Huntington, WV adds a second Air America show to the lineup, as they bring in The Young Turks for morning drive. The station currently carries Franken, as well as Ed Schultz. The rest of the schedule is heavy with local programming and ESPN Radio and other sports programming.

And syndicated host Lionel picks up a few new affiliates, including the aforementioned KTLK and KQKE. He also lands on WKJK in Louisville KY, WWKB in Buffalo NY, WHNZ in Tampa FL and WCRN in Worcester MA weekdays and WOND in Atlantic City NJ, KTLK-FM in Minneapolis MN on weekends. It should be noted that WKJK, WHNZ, WCRN and KTLK-FM air predominantly conservative talk shows.

And what about Jerry Springer? The bankruptcy rumors this week claimed that Air America and Springer have parted ways. It looks like the previous story about Springer being taken off the main Air America feed and shuffled to their syndication arm is actually correct, at least according to Springer's Cincinnati sales team in The Cincinnati Post, who claim that almost all their 50-some affiliates are staying with the show, while Springer will be dropped at the New York affiliate in favor of Seder. Whether Springer actually has 50 affiliates (I count twenty or so at most, and this is a very old list) is probably something that can be debated. Nonetheless, Jerry is still out there, plugging away, and will likely stay at WSAI in Cincy.
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Jay Marvin gets the KKZN/Denver morning gig

Controversial talk-show host Jay Marvin will return to the Denver airwaves on Feb. 28, Clear Channel Communications announced today.

Marvin will host the 6-10 a.m. timeslot on KKZN (760-AM), the local outlet for the liberal Air America network.

Kris Olinger, director of AM programming for Clear Channel in Denver, said Marvin "will be his old self - loud and liberal and funny."

(snip)

He was released by Chicago's WLS-AM last month. The station declined to comment on Marvin's departure, but Marvin told The Post last month that "I was way too liberal for the station. It's become very right-wing."

Marvin was previously on KHOW in Denver, prior to going to WLS in 1999.

Jay Marvin to fill in on KKZN/Denver morning show. Will he get the job permanently?

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A familiar voice will be on the air in DENVER on FRIDAY, as former KHOW-A host JAY MARVIN, most recently on WLS-A/CHICAGO, hosts the 7-10a time slot on CLEAR CHANNEL Talk KKZN-A (AM 760, DENVER's PROGRESSIVE TALK). Could this be a precursor to something more permanent for JAY?

Talk Tidbits

* Cincinnati's WSAI (1530) will launch their new liberal talk format next Monday, January 17th. The call letters are rumored to be changing to WCKY. WWRC in Washington, DC will flip from FOX Sports to 'progressive talk' on Inauguration Day, January 20th. No word on another rumored flip, in Los Angeles. KXTA has been the subject of rabid speculation about flipping to talk, but Clear Channel is still dragging their heels. I'll believe that KXTA will flip to liberal talk when they actually do it, so there will be no more word on this until I hear actual substantial rumors.

* KABQ in Albuqueque, NM is doing very well in the Arbitron ratings so far. In the most recent trend report, they have risen from 1.1 to a 1.8. Sounds like another liberal talk success.

* Legendary Chicago AM talker WLS-AM (890) has released Jay Marvin, it's highest profile left-leaning host. "I was way too liberal for the station. It's become very right-wing," said Marvin. According to this article, he could land in Denver at KKZN-AM. Local talker Erin Hart is also rumored to be heading there.

Ratings Roundup

Just thought I'd catch up with some of the more recent Arbitron trend reports.

* In Denver, KKZN looks to be another success for the format. The station leaps from 0.5 in it's previous stint with a sports format in the Spring book, to 0.9 in the Summer, to 1.2 in last month's trend report to an impressive 1.7 overall for the newest trend, covering September, October and November. KKZN flipped to 'progressive talk' on August 30. KKZN also shows in the Colorado Springs market, showing up for the first time ever with a 0.5, which is not bad considering the signal only covers the northern end of the market.

* KPTK in Seattle has only been doing the format since late October, so it's rating of 0.8 (unchanged from it's previous classic country stint) is still unclear. Stay tuned.

* In Columbus, WTPG rises slightly, from a 0.9 in it's previous format in the Summer book, to 1.0 last month to the current 1.2.

* Miami's WINZ registered at 0.7 in the Summer, rose to 1.0 last month, and jumps up to 1.3 for the current period.

* KXXT in Phoenix, fighting a tough battle in an overcrowded talk market, first showed in the ratings last month with a 0.6. It rises slightly to a 0.7.

Ratings Roundup: The Fall '04 Phase 1 trend reports

®R&R - Radio & Records.

(Note: These are overall trend reports, courtesy of Arbitron. They are based on all listeners, ages 12 and up, and are not official Arbitron ratings period numbers. But they do give somewhat of a glance as far as upward or downward movement. So far, liberal talkers seem to be on the rise in several markets.

New York - WLIB climbs slightly to a 1.5 overall.
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood - WINZ makes a nice jump, from 0.7 to 1.0. Not bad so far.
San Diego - KLSD continues its rise, going from a 2.6 to 2.7.
Nassau-Suffolk - New York's WLIB inches to a 1.2 from 1.1 on Long Island.
Denver-Boulder - KKZN is doing well in its first few months, going from 0.5 as a sports station to 0.9 after a month with liberal talk. Now they sit at 1.2.
Columbus - New talker WTPG moves 0.1 to a 1.0 in its first partial report since changing formats.
Middlesex-Somerset-Union, NJ - WLIB holds steady at 0.4 in Northern New Jersey.

Keep in mind, this is only a partial report, and doesn't take into account brand new stations that haven't been surveyed with the new format yet, such as Boston and San Francisco/San Jose. Atlanta's WWAA just moved in closer to its market, allowing better reception there. In Minneapolis, Straight Talk Radio recently switched stations, so the ratings for all involved are a bit fuzzy. In Phoenix, KXXT is a new sign-on, and is saddled by a somewhat weak citywide signal in a market with many talk stations and not many people listening to them. Phoenix is not a big talk radio market. In markets like Philadelphia, Honolulu, West Palm Beach and Riverside/San Bernadino, stations there only carry a few AAR shows, so it's difficult to judge based on an overall rating covering all dayparts.

Ratings Roundup: Denver, Minneapolis

KKZN/Denver doubles it's overall rating. Nothing phenomenal, as it's still just under a full share. But only a few weeks of it's new liberal talk are included in this book (format changed August 30). It's still the highest the station has been in over a year. Future books and monthly trends will tell a different story. Stay tuned.

In Minneapolis, it's the first and last book for KSMM/WMIN, as the "Straight Talk Radio" format has moved off the suburban rimshot simulcast onto it's own centrally located 24-hour signal at 950AM. 1530 and 740 log in just under a full share, the first showing ever in the ratings for these two stations. Keep in mind, 740 goes off the air at sunset, and 1530 reduces coverage to just a few square miles in the west suburbs at that time. The next book will undoubtedly be higher.

Again, you can go to the usual trade industry sites (like Radio and Records) for exact overall numbers, which I'm not allowed to publish here. If I hear of demographic breakdowns, I'll let you know. Keep in mind, demographic and daypart results tend to be higher.

Tomorrow, look for ratings reports from Atlanta, Miami, and Columbus, among other places.