The April showers round of short takes


We shared earlier the end of “El Show de Omar y Argelia” on Univision’s KLVE (“K-Love 107.5, not to be confused with…ah, we’ve explained it before), with the couple fending off rumors the demise of the show was some indication about their status as a couple. Looks like all is well with Omar Velasco and Argelia Atilano, as the husband and wife team returned to morning drive up the dial on “Mega 96.3” KXOL. Spanish Broadcasting System will not only syndicate the show via their AIRE network, there will also be a podcast targeting Latinas hosted by the couple.


Scott Smith & Kelli Caldwell at the K-Love studios in Rocklin, CA

Speaking of the other “K-Love” (note the attempt at a clever segue…OK, I’ll stop), the contemporary Christian network heard locally on 100.3 FM, celebrates 40 years of operation. Originally located in Santa Rosa, the network now sends their programming to nearly 500 stations, to an audience estimated at 20 million listeners from their Rocklin studios, outside of Sacramento. The network plans to soon relocate to Nashville, considered the epicenter of contemporary Christian music (“CCM”). Of note, while terrestrial radio continues to decline, the network is in growth mode, claiming CCM is the second fastest growing format, just behind classic rock. The network is owned and operated by Educational Media Foundation, who own the Los Angeles station.



Good Karma Sports, now the owners of KSPN (710 / ESPN) have renewed their partnership with the Los Angeles Lakers to continue as the radio home of the local NBA team. The station is moving their transmitter to Irwindale with reduced power, causing speculation either the Lakers and the all-sports format would be moved to the co-owned AM 1110 frequency or the team would move elsewhere (currently the two frequencies simulcast, with Disney, owner of AM 1110, trying to sell the frequency). 

The station has been the Lakers flagship since 2009, with longtime station veteran John Ireland doing play-by-play and former Laker power forward Mychal Thompson providing commentary.


There was some controversy about Sheriff Alex Villanueva having a regular Sunday night talk show on KFI, as he is running for re-election in the June primary. One of his opponents, L.A. County Sheriff Commander Eli Vera argued for equal time. As of this weekend, Villanueva is not listed on the KFI schedule, his last broadcast being heard on March 20.


Courtesy of a disgruntled KROQ listener

We received several kind words about our story on what’s happening over at KROQ (thank you!). A possibly relevant change at Audacy, owners of KROQ, is the hiring of Brad Steiner as Regional Brand Manager working with three of the company’s modern rock stations, WNYL New York (“Alt 92.3”), WDZH Detroit (“Alt 98.7”), and WSFS Miami (“104.3 The Shark”). Relevant because the New York station is now being billed as the city’s “New Alternative.” Is this possibly the future of KROQ?

93khj.blogspot.com

One of my projects this summer – actually every summer (maybe it won’t happen until I retire) – is to digitize my collection of airchecks. My wife would be grateful to get rid of my boxes of cassettes scattered throughout our residence, but again I digress. One of my airchecks I found is a 1978 aircheck of “The True” Don Bleu during his brief stay at KHJ. Unfortunately, I’m still learning how to post airchecks (another one of my projects), but for now, enjoy this Vimeo about his career.

Want to be notified of blog updates? Please send your email address to ayodaradio@gmail.com. Your information is kept confidential and will never be sold.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breaking news: Don Barrett in his own words

Image
If you have not yet heard, LARadio.com , which stopped publishing new material but has continued to reprint stories from the archives, will go dark in a few days. In his own words, Don Barrett offered the following on social media: An amazing two loves for the founder of LARadio.com as an era comes to an end.  I discovered the writings of Joan Didion late in life. She coined the phrase, ordinary instant. Perhaps the phrase leaped off the page because death comes in such a rushing finality. She wrote: Life changes fast/Life changes in the instant/You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. Joan’s husband was robbed of 3,500 days. In an ordinary instant. For the past two months, I have been in constant pain. Doctors, hospitals and ERs. Yesterday I was in the San Luis Obispo ER for more tests. And there it was in an ordinary instant – advanced stages of liver cancer that had spread. The doctor was sorry to pass on the news and couldn’t hold back tears. Cherie and I looked at each
Read more

So what happened at KFI?

Image
  My mailbox has been full over the past few days. I first became aware of the controversy involving evening host Tim Conway Jr. and executive producer Sheron Bellio  via a May 14 article in AsAmNews , a publication that offers both original stories and aggregates news about the Asian American community (read it here ). Louis Chan, their national correspondent, wrote about a skit done during Conway’s May 3 program. Among the highlights from the story:   ·        When (listener) Keith Kawamoto heard a bit by Tim Conway Jr on KFI-AM 640 imitating a Japanese American woman, Kawamoto “couldn’t believe” they were doing that. The sketch on May 3 involved the long time Los Angeles radio host supposedly interviewing the wife of (KLAC-AM 570 LA Sports) sportscaster  Vic “the Brick” Jacobs , Yuko Sakamoto.   ·       “The imitation was so stereotypical with the character saying “Moshi-moshi” & “Ah-so” type comments in a sing-song voice interspersed with karate screams with gongs gonging
Read more

Bulletin: Layoffs at KNX

Image
We're hearing from "sources on the street" some veterans of Audacy's all-news outlet have been let go. Frank Mottek , business correspondent and Randy Kerdoon , morning sports anchor have exited KNX, along with Rich Hudson, a production coordinator. Mottek arrived at KNX from South Florida via WMJX ("96X") -- where he started when he was 16 years of age -- and then all-news WINZ. He was heard nationally along with CBS News correspondent Christopher Glenn  when they covered the Challenger explosion in 1986. For the past 29 years at KNX, Mottek has served as field reporter and news anchor, but is perhaps best known for his work reporting from the financial desk. He hosted a weekly program entitled "Mottek on Money" and previously anchored the daily "KNX Business Hour." Mottek was also seen on both TV on KTLA and KCBS-TV. When he arrived at KNX, one of his first field assignments was to cover the festivities at the West Hollywood Halloween c
Read more