'Classic AT40' replaces 'Saturday Night Oldies Style' on SE93
Erie-Meadville: SE93 in nearby Jamestown, New York has replaced Bill Dorrion's "Saturday Night Oldies Style" with classic versions of Casey Kasem's "American Top 40." Bill left Media One after problems he encountered with the station owners. You can hear Casey's AT40 70's version from 5-8pm followed by the 80's from 8pm-Midnite. Oldies fans in Jamestown & Warren now only have WRRN "92 Gold" at 92.3. The station is pretty much satellite fed, but wouldn't it be great to hear Bill's program go full circle & move back to where it all started at WRRN in 1985. It would definitely be something for Iorio Broadcasting to consider. If you feel the same way, please fire off an e-mail to station owner Frank Iorio. His address is iorio@wbvp-wmba.com. The address has the call letters of two other stations he owns near Pittsburgh.K-105, WKBN dominate spring book
Youngstown: K-105 is tops again in the Mahoning Valley. The country powerhouse has a very slight edge over news talk WKBN 570 in the Spring book. Not too much regarding the rock wars as Y-103 is still strong in 3rd while 93.3 "The Wolf" still holds down 8th place and Real Rock 104 is a dud. There isn't really anything surprising about the Top 40 battle as Hot 101 takes 4th while 95.9 Kiss FM hangs on to 10th. A far cry from Spring of '06 when Kiss led Hot. Let's not forget 102 Jamz getting a younger sound towards more hip hop, could factor in Kiss's drop. Big 106 is also holding it's place in 5th and overtakes sister station Mix 98.9. 1390 WNIO drops slightly to 9th but is just above sister station, Kiss FM. Other notables include WSOM 600. The station would be a good fit to flip from nostalgia to 50's & 60's oldies or Scott Shannon's "True Oldies Channel" service. Froggy 95 pretty much focuses on the Pennsylvania side of the border. They could have a bigger impact on Youngstown by dropping the "Froggy" moniker & going younger than K-105. Maybe "Coyote 95" since "The Wolf" is already taken. Thoughts? Feel free to drop us a line here.WYTV sold to Parkin Television
Youngstown: The FCC has given it's thumbs up regarding the sale of WYTV 33 (DT 33-1) to Parkin Television for $15.5 million. Ohio Media Watch reports that the sale went through despite a request by the NABET union to block the sale. Parkin will oversee operations for WYTV, MyYTV (DT 33-2), Weather (DT 33.3), as well as New Vision stations WKBN 27 (DT 27-1), WYFX 62 & WFXI 17 (DT 27-2.) Parkin owner Todd Parkin promises that WYTV & WKBN will have separate newsrooms. Yeah, and the Pirates' are a safe bet to win the World Series.New set alert?
Pittsburgh: PBRTV wonders if we should set off the "new news set alert" for WTAE-TV. Our suspicion is that the newscasts have been coming from the newsroom desk over the last couple of days. Stay tuned...Spring Ratings
Pittsburgh: The ratings book for Spring 2007 is looking good for at least one station. WWSW's current format helped the station hit fourth place this time around. Of course, the top 3 are still the same, although it looks like KDKA might be working toward regaining its top spot having gained nearly a point since Winter. Should CBS regret the format change at 93.7? (I mean the first one in 2004.) The April 2, 2007 format change doesn't seem to have made much of a positive effect on the station's ratings. In fact, it sits at a 1.0 just above KQV. Complete numbers at R&R.KDKA-TV reports Cannon was 'ill'
Pittsburgh: KDKA-TV (2) weekend anchor Don Cannon appeared "disheveled" and disoriented during Saturday's 6 p.m. broadcast, reports the Post-Gazette, and it's not clear when the veteran newsman will return to work.
In a prepared statement, General Manager Chris Pike told the P-G's Rob Owen that Cannon became "ill" and was excused from later broadcasts. Cannon had reportedly been off for several weeks before Saturday's telecast.
The incident has fired up the broadcasting rumor-mill in Pittsburgh. While at WTAE-TV (4) in the 1990s, Cannon, now 67, was involved in two well-publicized and embarrassing incidents, including a drunken-driving arrest in 1993. He has since gone public to openly discuss his battles with depression and alcoholism.
In addition to his work at KDKA and WTAE, Cannon has hosted a talk show on WBBM radio in Chicago and anchored the evening news at KYW-TV, Philadelphia, and WFLD-TV, Chicago. He has three children and three grandchildren.
Can KRAP be far behind?
National News: Get grandma out of the room before you read this, and all of you easily offended types should go read Tower Site of the Week and skip this item.For the rest of you, read on, if you dare ... (more)
Buy Sam a drink
Pittsburgh: Mike Lange will be back this year on Penguins' radio play-by-play for his 32nd season with the team, reports the Post-Gazette.Phil Bourque returns as Lange's color commentator. Fox Sports Pittsburgh replaced Lange on the TV broadcasts last year with Paul Steigerwald.
WPXI: Studios almost ready
Pittsburgh: Just a little over a month to go before WPXI-TV (11) officially moves into its new Summer Hill home. Drivers along I-279 at the McKnight Road exit have probably noticed the familiar "11" logo and the NBC peacock recently installed on the building's town-hall type structure. The station spent $29.7 million converting the once-vacant lot into a state-of-the-art broadcast facility.
In order to be a good neighbor, the station opted to keep its present 800-foot antenna tower in operation at Fineview. If the station had moved the tower, it would have had to build a 900-foot tower to compensate the same signal quality. Another tower in the area did not sit well with residents who already contend with WPGH-TV's and KDKA-TV's towers nearby. Although the tower (which also holds antennas for WSHH-FM and WWSW-FM) and a few small service buildings will definitely remain at "Television Hill", some speculate that the current WPXI studios, in service since sign-on in 1957, will be demolished.
Another issue that didn't sit well with the "new neighbors" were arrivals and departures of the stations helicopter, "Chopper 11". That was later quelled when WPXI announced that the chopper was in the air usually less than one hour a day and that it is kept safely in a hangar at the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin.
If all goes well, the first official broadcast from the new studios will take place at 6:30 PM on Labor Day following the annual Jerry Lewis telethon.
Full details in the Tribune-Review.
WQED changes lives, logos
Pittsburgh: WQED-TV (13) and its affiliates yesterday unveiled a new logo and slogan, "WQED changes lives." The new "Q" in the logo includes what appear to be three rivers or hills and is the product of a "rebranding process" that began in May 2006, according to a press release.
"In doing research for this changeover, time and again people told us how WQED helped make their lives better, how it provided information and resources to help them learn and, more importantly, to help them think," said George L. Miles, Jr., president and chief executive officer of WQED, in a prepared statement. "We were told how we continue to stand out and inspire people in an otherwise vast wasteland of media choices. We came to the conclusion that WQED does in fact change lives for the better."
The station is now offering 1,500 hours of local and national programming on its website, he said.
New theme music will also be heard during station promos, IDs and bumpers; it was written by composer and pianist Michael Moricz, a native of Moon Township who once worked as music director for "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
In addition to its flagship TV station, WQED operates classic music station WQED-FM (89.3) in Pittsburgh and WQEJ-FM (89.7) in Johnstown and publishes Pittsburgh magazine. The station also owns another former public TV outlet, WQEX-TV (16), which was once noncommercial but is now leased to a home-shopping channel run by NBC.
(Tip o'the PBRTV propeller-hat: The Burgh Blog.)
WEAE reporter/anchor arrested
Pittsburgh: An announcer at Pittsburgh's ESPN Radio affiliate has been charged with possession of child pornography. John Duffy, a reporter and weekend anchor at WEAE (1250), was arraigned yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Reynolds Hay. Duffy pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.According to the Post-Gazette, a state trooper investigating a file sharing ring saw one computer offering files that he believed were child pornography. Two of the files were traced to Duffy's computer, police allege. In requesting a search warrant for Duffy's home in Carnegie, police sought computers, software and chat logs.
Duffy, 46, has also worked as an announcer for Pitt football and women's basketball, and has done press-box work at Steelers and Penguins home games.
His attorney declined comment to the P-G. The Tribune-Review and Beaver County Times also have coverage: 1, 2.
It's hard out there for a pig
Pittsburgh, National News: Has "banned in Pittsburgh" replaced "banned in Boston" as the new mark of pop-culture prudery?Maybe not, but executives at Pittsburgh's "Big 3" network affiliates did reject a series of ads from the Trojan condom people that depicts literal "male chauvinist pigs" trying to pick up women in a bar. (When one of the pigs buys a condom, he instantly turns into a human being.)
"WTAE will not accept or air advertising for Trojan or any other advertiser in the category," said Channel 4 in a written response to Trojan's parent company, Arm & Hammer (!) maker Church & Dwight. WPXI executives "don't feel comfortable" with the spot, says the VP and general manager of Channel 11. KDKA-TV (2) and its owners, CBS Corp., both rejected the ad. WPGH-TV (53) wasn't approached.
According to the New York Times, Pittsburgh and Seattle were the two local "test markets" for the commercials. All of the stations in Seattle that were approached have agreed to run the ads, which would seem to indicate that Pittsburgh failed the "test."
The ads will run nationally in prime-time on ABC and NBC, but not on CBS. Fox also rejected the ad, according to the New York Times, saying that it "objected to the message that condoms can prevent pregnancy." (Fox executives are found under cabbage leaves, which is why they have no idea where babies come from.)
The Fox network and its subsidiaries then returned to their regularly scheduled broadcasts of quality family-friendly entertainment, like
Sexy Cam, Trading Spouses, Shocking Behavior Caught On Tape, Strip Search, The Last Resort, Treasure Island, Looking For Love: Bachelorettes In Alaska, The Ultimate Love Test, Love Cruise, America's Trashiest Weddings, Extreme Dating, and For Love or Money.
Luckily, the contestants in those shows never engage in anything but good, clean fun. Also thankfully, no local stations have expressed any interest in rejecting ads for cosmetic enhancement surgery, get-rich-quick and get-thin-fast schemes, or late-night "chat" lines and "dating" services.
Pittsburgh is fortunate to have such thoughtful, caring TV executives watching out for our moral well-being!
KQV reporter to leave station
Pittsburgh:
KQV news reporter and fill-in anchor Will Seath will be leaving the station July 27th. Seath began his radio career as a news announcer on WSND-FM in South Bend, Indiana in 2003. He came to KQV in May, 2005.
Seath earned his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame and will be heading back to the Golden Dome to pursue a master's degree in Architecture. The Pittsburgh native plans to return to the KQV airwaves over the holidays, and whenever he can pull himself away from the drafting board.
The long Good-bye?
West Virginia, Youngstown, Misc. Ohio: The Mighty Blog of Fun (TM) known as Ohio Media Watch says that Dean Goodman is out at GoodRadio.tv, the company formed to acquire 452 Clear Channel stations, including WWVA (1170) and many small-market stations in Ohio.Citing a story in Radio Business Report as well as other sources, OMW says Jeff Warshaw of Connoisseur Radio, which once owned a number of stations in Youngstown, will take Goodman's place as the corporation's CEO.
Terry Hazlett breaks them down
Pittsburgh: The most recent Pittsburgh radio ratings trends, that is. The numbers are now in for "spring phase 2," covering the month of May, and the Observer-Reporter's intrepid radio-TV columnist thinks the bloom is well and finally off the rose at "Bob FM" WRRK-FM (96.9), licensed to Braddock.
"For about a year, it was the talk of the town. It had a playlist of thousands of songs. It would intentionally follow Madonna with Lynyrd Skynyrd or seque from the Backstreet Boys to Led Zeppelin. It had very little interference from disc jockeys," Hazlett says. "But eventually, it tightened its playlist --- and listeners noticed. Its first-person drop-in lines ('Bob is going out to buy some more CDs,') became annoying. And people began noticing there wasn't much of a Pittsburgh feel to the station."
Hazlett thinks the decision by "3-W-S" WWSW-FM (94.5) to add more '70s and '80s songs has won the station back some disaffected Bob listeners and reversed its recent ratings slide: "Would someone who liked the Beach Boys also listen to Huey Lewis? Turned out the answer was yes."
You can look at the ratings trends for ages 12-and-up at Radio & Records' website. Anyone looking for big surprises will be disappointed; heritage rocker WDVE-FM (102.5) retains its death-grip on first place among all listeners, with news-talk KDKA (1020) in second and country "Y-108" WDSY-FM (107.9) in third. WWSW bounces up to fourth place, while "FM NewsTalk" WPGB-FM (104.7) drops to fifth.
The sample sizes for these ratings are small, so it's probably too soon to evaluate what impact, if any, 93.7's format switch from "K-Rock" to all-talk "The Man Station" had; but there's no appreciable change so far.
T.V. means "Tele-Verizon"
Pittsburgh: As first reported by PBRTV back in April (er, in a story quoting the Tribune-Review, that is), Verizon's cable TV service is closer to becoming a reality for thousands of Pittsburgh-area residents.
According to the Post-Gazette, the telephone giant is close to reaching franchise agreements with 19 boroughs and townships around Pittsburgh, including Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon, Shaler, McCandless and Ross. If the agreements are approved, Verizon might roll out cable TV over its fiber-optic network called "FiOS" by the end of this year, according to a spokesman. That would bring cable TV competition to about 100,000 people in the metropolitan area.
The service is already available in Philadelphia at a cost of $42.99 per month for 200 high-definition channels and on-demand features. Comcast's digital cable, by comparison, costs upwards of $50 per month.
Oh, yeah, and it's plus 20dB hot true QAM light spectrum or whatever the heck that nitwit says in those commercials.
"ESPN 1260 The Score" is now online
Erie-Meadville: Erie area sports fans can now check on local & national sports online. WRIE "ESPN 1260 The Score" is now online at http://www.am1260thescore.com. The station is not streaming it's signal online as of yet, but I suspect that will happen in the near future. However, you will not be able to hear the Cleveland Indians or Buffalo Bills games on the site for legal reasons.Potpourri
Pittsburgh:- PBRTV has heard that WLSW (Connellsville) and WQTW (Latrobe) owner Stan Wall has been hospitalized for the last few days. We wish him the best of health and hope for a speedy recovery.
- WTAE-TV day at Kennywood celebrated its 41st year yesterday. Meteorologists Stephen Cropper, Don Schweneker and Joe DeNardo all did live TV appearances from the park. (In fact we think we noticed WTAE "Super Fan" Mark Kuhns in the crowd behind Stephen and Joe during one of the segments!) The entire broadcast crew participated in an evening parade.
Dish offers regional sports networks in HD
Erie-Meadville, National News, Misc. Ohio:A news release from Dish Network (via OMW) reports that a couple of regional sports networks will now be available in HD. "OMW" had news about "Sports Time Ohio" going HD on Dish, but the news is also good for Pittsburgh sports fans. Dish has added both "STO" (channel 381) & "Fox Sports Pittsburgh" (channel 378) to it's HD tier.
NYC rewind
National News: Normally, PBRTV.com wouldn't care about format changes in Noo Yawk, Noo Yawk, but this one has a local connection. Scott Fybush at NorthEast Radio Watch reports that two years after a disastrous decision to convert its 101.1 MHz frequency to the variety hits "Jack FM" format, CBS Radio is restoring oldies to WCBS-FM, starting Thursday.The afternoon man will be none other than former WCBS-FM afternoon jock Bob Shannon, better remembered in Pittsburgh by his real name, Don Bombard. In the late '70s and early '80s, Bombard hosted one of the city's highest-rated radio shows, "The Sunday Night Oldies Party" on then-"13Q" WKTQ (1320).
Jet TV / Fox 66 seeks new sports talent
Erie-Meadville: Sunday's Erie Times-News classified section has an ad for weekend sports talent for Jet TV and Fox 66. The ad seeks experienced talent for the position. Is current weekend sports talent Bill Toth or sports director Luke Simmons headed for greener pastures in another market. Stay tuned for more information as it develops.Bob offers B-sides
Pittsburgh:
According to the Post-Gazette, WRRK (96.9) will be launching two HD channels this month. Beginning in the near future, those with HD receivers will be able to receive "BOB's B-Sides" on BOB HD2. B-Sides will have music ranging from the 60s to the present obviously playing a lot of B-sides and lesser known tracks.
On BOB HD3, local and unsigned bands will be featured. Expect a supply of brands like The Clarks and Donnie Iris. Local bands can send their recordings for consideration via an MP3 file at bobhd@bobfm969.com. Music with explicit lyrics will be rejected.
'KBN-TV vet slates presidential campaign
Youngstown: Ladles and jelly-spoons, the next President of the United States: Dr. Don Allen. Er ... how's that again?Allen, a Youngstown veterinarian known to viewers of the WKBN-TV (27) news for his weekly pet-talk segments, has decided to run for president after deciding that Americans had a "general dissatisfaction with our government."
According to the Youngstown Vindicator, he wants to build a fence along the Mexican border; offer $1 billion to "whoever can find a way to make the United States independent of foreign oil within 10 years," and replace all taxes with a flat 18 percent sales tax on everything except food and medicine.
The 60-year-old Illinois native, who's had a practice in Youngstown for 15 years, is running as an independent and is sending petitions to veterinarians around the country asking them for help in getting on ballots in their states.
I'd say his campaign gives me paws, but that would be catty. Though Allen has an interesting tail to tell, he's got a fur way to go before he'll be able to collar the voters. He needs a rabid group of supporters first, and then, if he's lucky, the national media will start sniffing around.
Sorry, I'll stop now.
'We are ... blacked out!'
Johnstown-Altoona-State College, National News: Penn State fans who can't make it to Beaver Stadium this fall may have a hard time seeing the blue-and-white in action. The university and other members of the Big Ten athletic conference are launching their own TV network at a premium price.The right to carry the new "Big Ten Network," jointly owned by the conference and Fox, would cost Comcast $1.10 per household in Harrisburg, for instance. That's more than almost any other basic cable network charges for subscribers, according to David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
What's more, as the Centre Daily Times notes, the Big Ten wants its network to be carried as part of basic cable, not as an optional premium channel.
The biggest football games wouldn't be seen on the Big Ten Network --- ABC, ESPN and CBS have their choice of the best matchups each week --- and when football and basketball seasons are over, the channel's programming schedule would be filled with "non-revenue" collegiate sports, like swimming and volleyball.
The cable companies are balking. Comcast called the Big Ten Network a "niche sports channel" full of "second- and third-tier sporting events."
Penn State President Graham Spanier and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany went to Harrisburg last week to make their case to Pennsylvania news media, but it may be a hard sell. Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp says it's like "the last day of a big clothing sale. You're excited at the prospect of getting a deal, but you soon realize that your choices are leftovers."
And cable operators like Atlantic Broadband, which serves Altoona, say they've heard little demand for the Big Ten Network from customers. "We're not talking Steelers football here," David Dane, vice president of operations for Atlantic Broadband, told the Altoona Mirror.
WJAC-TV slates flood retrospective
Johnstown-Altoona-State College: The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat and WJAC-TV (6) are collaborating on a new documentary looking back at the 1977 flash floods that crippled the city's steel industry and killed more than 80 people.According to the newspaper, Looking Backward: The '77 Flood will debut July 20 on the city's NBC affiliate. The special will feature vintage TV clips, photos from the T-D, and interviews with survivors. DVDs will be sold later, with proceeds to benefit the local historical society.
Johnstown experienced the third catastrophic flood in its modern history on July 20, 1977, after severe thunderstorms dumped more than a foot of rain on central Pennsylvania. Several dams failed and streams came up over their banks. The following day, President Carter declared Cambria, Somerset, Indiana and neighboring counties a disaster area.
The T-D is also selling a special commemorative book on the disaster called Disasters Wake: A Retrospective of the 1977 Johnstown Flood. Priced at $19.77, it can be purchased in the lobby of the newspaper's office on Locust Street in Johnstown, or by calling (814) 532-5102.
TTFN, Trib TV tab
Pittsburgh: The Tribune-Review is the latest U.S. newspaper to discontinue its Sunday TV magazine. In a front page editor's note, the paper notes that the daily TV listings --- which previously appeared Monday through Saturday --- have been expanded to cover many more hours, and will now appear seven days per week.The crossword puzzle and David Inman's syndicated TV questions-and-answers column, which appeared in the TV magazine, will run Sundays in the paper's Living section on a new TV page.
With editions in Pittsburgh and Greensburg, the Tribune-Review had a combined Sunday circulation of 157,000 copies in May 2006.
Nationally, a number of Sunday newspapers, stung by falling ad revenue, have dropped their once-popular TV magazines, though the Post-Gazette (Sunday circulation 382,000) and several independent suburban papers continue to feature one.
In addition, the ever-proliferating number of cable TV outlets has made it difficult for printed listings to include all or even most of the available channels; TV Guide dropped its regional TV listings in October 2005 in favor of a single national magazine.
Printed TV schedules have also suffered by comparison to any of several websites that feature searchable listings.