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5.18.2013 KSHB is shifting its anchor lineup. Reporter Lindsay Shively will anchor weekend mornings. Amy Hawley will anchor weekend evenings solo. Cynthia Newsome will anchor the 11:00 a.m. news. 5.15.2013 An update to the news below, former Royals broadcaster Fred White died today of melanoma complications. His health had deteriorated sharply over the last few weeks. The Royals announced White's official retirement from the club yesterday. 5.14.2013 Longtime announcer Fred White is retiring from the Royals organization for health reasons. I have heard his health problems are urgent. White has been a part of the club for 40 years, mostly as color commentator and sometimes play-by-play announcer with Denny Matthews. White also had a long career doing play-by-play for Big 8/Big 12 basketball games. He hasn't been on the air for a few years, but participated in other Royals functions. White also worked with WIBW-TV in Topeka and broadcasted Kansas State University athletics prior to joining the Royals. 5.1.2013 As expected, KANR in Wichita flipped to an adult contemporary format as "Lite FM." The new call letters are KHLT. 4.19.2013 KCPT is diving into the radio business. The public television station is buying NPR/AAA station KTBG from the University of Central Missouri. KTBG will drop NPR shows in favor of full-time AAA music and other fine arts programming. KTBG will also move its physical studio to Kansas City. >>Link 4.8.2013 In Wichita, it appears Air Capital Media will flip KANR from its leased Spanish-Language format to adult contemporary on May 1. RadioInsight reports on the domains recently registered. >>Link 4.8.2013 Starting Tuesday, Danny Parkins and Carrington Harrison move from the midday slot at sports station KCSP to afternoon drive. Henry Lake and Jay Binkley will take over middays. Lake comes to Kansas City from KFAN in Minneapolis. 4.7.2013 More from KSHB-- the station has hired Jadiann Thompson as evening anchor and reporter to replace Elizabeth Alex. Thompson is currently a multimedia journalist (mostly reporting, sometimes anchoring) at KPHO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Phoenix. Thompson will co-anchor the 6:00 news, and report for other newscasts, much the same way as WDAF-TV uses Abby Eden to co-anchor one newscast and report for others. When KSHB starts its 4:00 p.m. news Monday, Christa Dubill and Mark clegg will co-anchor. In addition, weekend morning anchor Najahe Sherman has exited the station. 4.2.2013 Changes continue at KSHB, where Curtis Jay is officially out as morning anchor. The job had been open on the Scripps website for months, so KSHB is probably close to hiring a replacement. Site Update I am beginning to add Joplin's market to this site. As of now, I have the station page for Joplin, but not Pittsburg. I have only completed the television station history pages in that market. 4.1.2013 COZI TV should be debuting today on KSHB's subchannel, in place of weather. 3.30.2013 If you follow television nationally, you probably noticed Sinclair Broadcasting buying a lot of small market stations. Among the groups Sinclair is buying is Barrington Broadcasting. Barrington owns CBS affiliate KRCG-TV in Jefferson City. 3.24.2013 Longtime Kansas City broadcaster Walt Bodine died today at age 92. Bodine worked in mass media for 70 years, beginning in 1940. Bodine worked at WDAF radio and television, WHB, KMBC-TV, and KCUR. He also taught communications at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Bodine scaled back his schedule a few years ago, but had worked sporadically at KCUR until last April. >>Link 3.22.2013 Local TV, LLC. is putting all of its stations up for sale, which includes WDAF-TV in Kansas City and KTVI in St. Louis. Local TV came into existence five years ago, financed by Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity group. WDAF was sold in December 2007, and the sale closed in the summer of 2008. 3.21.2013 Lost in the shuffle this week, KCTV filled its weekend morning meteorologist opening. Hallie Shulman announced the news on her Facebook page Monday. She's currently the morning meteorologist at KAKE in Wichita. Shulman replaces Iris Hermosillo, who left for KNXV in Phoenix last year. 3.20.2013 KSHB is expanding its 4:30 p.m. newscast to 4:00, beginning April 8. Jeopardy will move to 3:00 and 3:30 for the moment, with the cancellation of the Jeff Probst Show. KSHB has also reportedly hired Kalee Dionne as a weekend meteorologist, replacing George Waldenberger. She currently works for WIAT, the CBS affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama. 3.6.2013 Daniel Smith is selling KANR ("Fiesta 99.7") in Wichita to Air Capital Media Group for $2 million. The Spanish-language station was on 92.7 for many years before changing frequencies in 2011. Their LMA begins May 1, with future plans for the station unclear. 3.6.2013 East of Kansas City, a small religious station, KYRV (88.1), will temporarily go silent. The Concordia station's owner is searching for a new tower site after the rent increased 100% on the old site. KYRV also has a CP to move to 88.7 mHz 3.1.2013 On April 1st, KSHB will replace its weather subchannel with COZI TV. COZI is a new vintage television network launched by NBC Universal. 2.27.2013 Former WDAF-TV News Director Bryan McGruder has landed in Nashville as the News Director at WZTV. WZTV is a Sinclair-owned FOX affiliate. 2.20.2013 KMBC has hired Matt Flener as a morning anchor and reporter. Flener will co-anchor 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. on KCWE. Flener currently works at KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver. 2.19.2013 Brittany Pieper will join KOMU in Columbia as an evening co-anchor. Pieper has been anchoring and reporting at KSLA in Shreveport, Louisiana. 2.14.2013 Cumulus has named Dan McClintock as the next program director of KCFX, KCMO and K273BZ. McClintock has been programming in Toledo since 2004 and worked for Cumulus for the last 14 years. He replaces Chris Hoffman, who is leaving for San Francisco this month. 2.14.2013 Johnson County Community College is acquiring the digital files from the old KXTR/Radio Bach library, with the intent of starting an online classical music station. There is no timetable for launching this initiative yet. Kansas Public Radio acquired the CDs and records from Radio Bach when it shut down last year. 2.14.2013 Bob Davis is stepping down from Kansas City Royals broadcasts, but will continue to do University of Kansas sports. Davis wants to spend more time at home; his wife suffers from Parkinson's Disease. 2.11.2013 KSHB has now filled its News Director position, hiring Carrie Hofmann for the job. Hofmann was most recently the Assistant News Director at WCNC, the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. She replaces Peggy Phillip, who left last summer. This will be the first ND job for Hofmann. 2.8.2013 WDAF-TV has named Tracy Brogden-Miller as its new News Director. If the name sounds familiar, it's because she spent two years as the News Director at KCTV, from 2007 to 2009. Brogden-Miller has been a consultant the past few years, still living in the Kansas City area. She replaces Bryan McGruder, who exited in late October. 2.8.2013 KZSN in Wichita rebranded today as 102.1 The Bull, with a focus on newer country music. KZSN had been "Kissin' 102" since Valentine's Day 1986. In the most recent 12+ ratings, KZSN ranked fourth out of the four major country music stations in Wichita. The syndicated Bobby Bones morning show, which is becoming a country music-based show, is also moving to the station from KZCH. 2.1.2013 Chris Hoffman, program director of Cumulus' KCFX and KCMO, along with the new 102.5 the Fan, is leaving later this month. Calvary Bible College will sell KLJC (88.5) to Northwestern College of Minnesota. KLJC has been running religious programming for 43 years. Northwestern College also operates Christian radio stations, most notably KTIS in Minneapolis. 1.23.2013 In Wichita, KWCH News Director John Soares is leaving after just four months on the job. 1.22.2013 Monday, Cumulus launched 94.7 Nash FM in New York, which will likely be the flagship station for a national country music radio brand. Cumulus owns 83 country stations, including KTOP-FM in Topeka and KZJF in Jefferson City. I consider it highly likely both of those stations will incorporate the Nash FM branding, if not a complete national feed itself, in the future. 1.21.2013 Cumulus quickly moved its new KCJK midday host Jenn Ryan into the Jack FM morning slot, with another guy nicknamed the Tall Guy. Today it sounded like recorded drop-ins. As of now, it appears midday will be jockless. 1.21.2013 34-year KFDI veteran Dan Dillon is leaving the Wichita station for a job outside of broadcasting. >>Article Site Update The Wichita dial of this site is now active. As always, corrections and multimedia is needed. 1.17.2013 Longtime KSHB anchor Elizabeth Alex, who recently reduced her schedule to 6:00 p.m. news only, will sign off February 27th to concentrate on her full-time non-profit work. >>Article 1.9.2013 Florida-based Media Vista LLC. is buying Univision affiliate KUKC-LP here in Kansas City. 1.2.2013 Christina Frank is joining Kansas First News (KSNT, KTKA, KTMJ) in Topeka as the primary evening anchor. She had been the morning anchor at WBNG in Binghamton, New York. 1.2.2013 At midnight last night, K273BZ in Kansas City, KTOP in Topeka and KBBM in Jefferson City all made the flip to CBS Sports Radio. 12.28.2012 KSHB is advertising for a morning anchor, a good indication one of the current anchors has either been reassigned or is leaving the station. 12.26.2012 Over in Salina, Rocking M's KVOB is rockin'. KVOB flipped formats from the satellite-fed Jack FM to rock as "95.5 The Rock." 12.24.2012 Be on the lookout for a potential change in Columbia/Jefferson City as well. Jim Rome's station list for his CBS Sports Radio show includes KBBM (100.1 the Buzz), which currently runs a hard rock format. CBS Sports Radio debuts January 2. 12.14.2012 The first format change of 2013 will take place January 2. Cumulus will put CBS Sports Radio on the 102.5 translator currently airing comedy radio "Funny 102.5," relayed from KCMO-FM HD2. 102.5 The Fan will carry the entire CBS national lineup, which is interesting considering Jim Rome recently landed on 1510 KCTE. Funny has actually been somewhat popular, ranking well above sister talk radio station KCMO, which is also simulcasted on an FM translator. It's not known if comedy programming will appear elsewhere. 12.13.2012 Former KCTV chief meteorologist Katie Horner is getting back into weather. Horner will appear on KMOV in St. Louis, doing weather at noon and 5:00. It's unclear if this is a permanent position, or if Horner is just a per diem employee. >>Link 12.11.2012 KCCV's new translator at 101.5 mHz signed on today. The call sign is still K209EC, but will eventually change to a K268 call sign. The translator rebroadcasts KCCV on 760 kHz. KCCV's other FM signals are programmed separately. 12.11.2012 A couple of KSHB moves to report: KSHB reporter Beth Vaughn is moving up within Scripps, taking a morning anchor position at WRTV, the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis. Weekend meteorologist George Waldenberger is moving to the same weekend position at ABC affiliate WFTV in Orlando, Florida. 12.10.2012 KCSP has named John Hanson as its new program director. Hanson comes to Kansas City from his on-air position at KSTP-TV in St. Paul/Minneapolis. However, Hanson also has several years of experience as a radio program director in other markets. He replaces Ryan Maguire. 12.10.2012 Meredith is promoting from within the company to fill the vacant general manager position at KCTV and KSMO. Darrin McDonald will move to the Kansas City duopoly from KVVU, the FOX affiliate in Las Vegas. McDonald had been the GM at KVVU for the last four years. 12.6.2012 Jay Wachs is no longer the general manager for Great Plains Media's KKSW/KMXN/KLWN. It's unclear why Wachs left after just one year, but he oversaw the transition of KLZR from the longtime "Lazer" name to "Kiss FM." The KLZR call letters are now attached to a station in Colorado, by the way. Wachs is also a consultant with something called the Briarcliff Group. 11.30.2012 A familiar news name in Kansas City will be the next general manager at KSHB/KMCI. Scripps has lured Brian Bracco away from Hearst, where Bracco was the corporate vice president for news. Bracco previously spent 13 years as KMBC's News Director before moving to the corporate level. He starts at KSHB and KMCI next month. >>Link 11.27.2012 Bryan Truta is no longer doing morning drive on KCJK. With the departure of his co-host earlier this year, the mornings are currently jockless on Jack. 11.26.2012 A translator is on the move. K209EC, which had been licensed to 92.9 mHz to rebroadcast Christian KCCV, will sign on at 101.5 mHz next month. Bott Radio is also celebrating 50 years on the air this year. >>Article 11.24.2012 Former KSHB News Director Peggy Phillip has landed in Miami. Phillip will be the morning show executive producer at ABC affiliate WPLG. I would expect some movement on the KSHB side soon, as the job listing doesn't appear on the Scripps website anymore. 11.23.2012 Add KKJO in St. Joseph to the list of Christmas music stations. 11.20.2012 KFKF flipped to its Christmas playlist today. This marks the second consecutive year for Christmas music on KFKF. KMAJ-FM in Topeka has already switched over to Christmas music for the season-- I think it happened last week. 11.19.2012 KTOP (1490 kHz) in Topeka has switched from ESPN Sports to FOX Sports, and added Jim Rome to the lineup. Cumulus is preparing to launch CBS Sports Radio on several of its stations come January, and that could happen for KTOP as well. Rome's show is part of that initial CBS Radio lineup. 11.17.2012 KCTV weekend morning meteorologist Iris Hermosillo is leaving the station for a yet-to-be-announced job in Phoenix. A quick check of openings revealed only a weekend meteorologist position at independent station KTVK. 11.15.2012 KCTE has reportedly added Jim Rome's national show to its lineup. I'll try to listen over the next couple of days for the exact time, but I think it's just two of the three hours. Rome's show had previously been heard on WHB and KCSP, but hasn't been in the market for a while. 11.14.2012 Longtime KMBC anchor Larry Moore announced, not surprisingly, that he is scaling back his schedule. Moore will anchor the 6:00 p.m. show only beginning December 3rd. Apart from three years at WLS-TV in Chicago and KPIX-TV in San Francisco, Moore has spent more than four decades at KMBC. It is presumed Len Jennings will take anchor 10:00 co-anchor duties. >>Link 11.9.2012 Jurors convicted a man in the assault of station employees at WIBW-TV. >>Article 11.1.2012 KCSP Program Director Ryan Maguire is leaving the station to take the same job at KDKA-FM in Pittsburgh later this month. 10.31.2012 It might seem incredible three Kansas City television stations have some void in leadership during a ratings period, but that is the case now. KCTV General Manager Bobby Totsch has exited the station. Totsch had been with the station since 2009. 10.22.2012 Changes are coming to the WDAF-TV newsroom. News Director Bryan McGruder has exited the station, effective immediately. No reason was given. 10.22.2012 KMAJ-FM has dropped those syndicated Rick Dees drop-ins from the midday slot. 10.19.2012 The FCC has denied KSQA's attempt to force Cox Cable in Topeka to carry the station on channel 12, instead of channel 22. >>Link 10.15.2012 Today, LIN Media officially closed on its deal to buy New Vision Television's stations, which includes KSNT and KTMJ in Topeka, and KSNW in Wichita. 10.14.2012 KSJI (91.1) in St. Joseph has dropped its feed of contemporary Christian Air 1. The station is running a Christian music loop, with a tease promising a new, community-minded station with more music. Judging by the tease, it sounds like KSJI will continue to program contemporary Christian, either locally or with a different provider. 10.14.2012 If you're wondering about former WDAF'ers Stefan Chase and Terra Hall, both are now freelance reporters at KTLA in Los Angeles. KTLA is a Tribune-owned CW affiliate. 10.6.2012 KMBC is reportedly moving Diane Cho off the morning anchor desk, to evening reporting. >>Article 10.5.2012 WIBW-TV weekend anchor Suzie Gilbert is leaving the station to work in the Topeka city communications department. Gilbert has been with WIBW for a couple of years. 9.29.2012 Jeff Andrews is joining KCHZ as program director and afternoon drive host, replacing Maurice DeVoe. Andrews currently works at Cumulus' WLS-FM in Chicago. 9.26.2012 Cumulus is moving two of its stations, KCHZ and KMJK, out of a holding company, and back into the company fold. As part of Cumulus' purchase of Citadel, the company moved KCHZ and KMJK into a trust called Volt Media, then later into a holding company called A.R. Holdings. Cumulus continued to operate the stations, and had always intended to buy them back. >>Article 9.24.2012 You can see the 2012 Mid-America Emmy winner list here. >>Link 9.14.2012 Longtime KMBC reporter and anchor Maria Antonia is leaving the station after 28 years. Antonia will work for the Bishop sullivan Center, which provides emergency assistance like low interest loans, a community kitchen, and Project ElderCool. Antonia was also part of an age discrimination lawsuit filed by three KMBC employees; she and the others eventually settled the dispute out of court. Site Update Click the stations link on the left to see if the navigation works for you. 9.9.2012 In addition to KCFX, all Chiefs home games will be broadcast in Spanish on 1340 KDTD. 9.4.2012 Longtime television writer Aaron Barnhart has officially resigned from the Kansas City Star, following several months of treatment for hairy cell leukemia and a fungal infection. >>Link 8.30.2012 WDAF-TV has hired former KCTV morning/weekend anchor Matt Stewart as a morning reporter. KCTV let Stewart go earlier this summer. 8.29.2012 KCJK morning co-host Nycki Pace is jumping over to Entercom, for the midday shift at KZPT. Pace starts at the Point on Tuesday. 8.28.2012 Better Kansas City debuts next week, and KCTV has added former KSHB sports reporter Lisa Holbrook to the show. Holbrook will co-anchor with Kelly Jones. In the meantime, the Star published an article on the trend Scripps and Meredith Broadcasting have joined in producing local, advertiser-driven lifestyle shows. >>Article Site Update I am slowly expanding the website's sphere of influence. Because no one else does it, I will re-add the radio dials for various regional markets in Kansas and Missouri. Manhattan and Salina will be first. As usual, the multimedia depends just as much on you as it does me. Feel free to submit memories and media from your favorite Kansas or Missouri station as those sections are added. 8.24.2012 Former WDAF radio personality Dale "Truckin' Bozo" Sommers passed away at the age of 68. >>Article 8.16.2012 Longtime air personality Tanna Guthrie has left KZPT after a year-and-a-half at the station. 8.16.2012 Word out of KSHB is that Scripps let go News Director Peggy Phillip today. This is unusual, since KSHB doesn't have a General Manager right now, and KSHB has been posting decent numbers, especially at 5pm and 6pm. I'm speculating KSHB has a new General Manager in mind, who wants to bring his or her own person on board as News Director. 8.9.2012 WDAF-TV has hired Michelle Bogowith as its new meteorologist. Bogowith last worked at KOMU in Columbia. She'll take over the 9:00 a.m. and noon shows, while Karli Ritter takes over the morning show meteorologist slot permanently. FOX 4 has been working with three meteorologists since the suicide of Don Harman last November. Bogowith starts September 10th. 8.3.2012 KSHB should be debuting its new graphics package tonight, or this weekend. The Scripps look has changed from the orange-gold-brown motif to a more standard blue-red design. 7.31.2012 The Mid-America Emmy chapter announced the 2012 Emmy nominations tonight. See the nominees at the link below. >>Link 7.26.2012 Time Warner granted an extension to Meredith television stations, as the two sides negotiate a new retransmission agreement. This signals a deal is close, otherwise KCTV and KSMO would have left the Time Warner lineup at midnight. 7.26.2012 Longtime reporter Chris Hernandez is leaving KSHB to work in public relations and marketing. Hernandez has been at KSHB for eight years, and previously worked at WDAF. 7.25.2012 News-Press & Gazette Co. is buying KMIZ-TV and KFQX-TV in Columbia. JW Broadcasting currently owns KMIZ. NPG owns the newspaper in St. Joseph, along with the new FOX affiliate in St. Joseph, KNPN. 7.20.2012 The return of K.C. Live begins next Monday on KSHB at 10:00, bumping the fourth hour of the Today Show down to 1:00 p.m.. 7.20.2012 Last night Hearst and Time Warner reached an agreement in their retransmission dispute. KMBC and KCWE returned to the TWC lineup. Viacom and DirecTV have also reached an agreement to end their impasse. Meanwhile, Time Warner is preparing for a standoff with Meredith Broadcasting's KCTV and KSMO in Kansas City. Their retransmission agreement expires July 25, and no deal has been reached. 7.18.2012 Hearst has named Steve Serrano and Nikki Vivas as co-hosts for programming on KCWE-TV. Serrano is also the nighttime air personality and music director at CHR station KMXV. Vivas is also a radio veteran, working at Cumulus' Kansas City office in the promotions department. 7.18.2012 KSHB-KMCI General Manager Mike Vrabac has announced his retirement. Vrabac joined the duopoly in 2010 from another Scripps station, KJRH in Tulsa. Vrabac has been in the business 40 years. However, Scripps recently added advisory duties to other general managers, allowing the GM at WXYZ-TV in Detroit to oversee Vrabac, as Scripps corporate brass molded the company's recently-acquired McGraw-Hill stations. 7.18.2012 It's 106 degrees today, and the weather shows no signs of relenting. Why not listen to Christmas music? KCXL (1140 kHz and 102.9 mHz) will spin Christmas oldies on Friday and Saturday nights this week. KANU (Kansas Public Radio) plans to play Christmas music on July 25th. 7.12.2012 KCHZ PD Maurice DeVoe is on his way to Dallas to program another Cumulus CHR-- KLIF-FM. 7.10.2012 Negotiations for a retransmission agreement between Hearst TV stations and Time Warner Cable failed. Therefore, Time Warner removed both KMBC and KCWE from the lineup for the moment. Hallmark Movie Channel and Great American Country have taken the places of those two stations. 7.4.2012 WDAF-TV has chosen Kim Byrnes to be the station's 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. co-anchor, replacing Stefan Chase. Katie Ferrell will take over the weekend morning anchor slot currently occupied by Byrnes. 7.4.2012 KCTV's morning show shakeup continues. Matt Stewart is out. Dave Hall, from Meredith-owned KVVU in las Vegas, is reportedly in. Hall would join Alexis Del Cid, who arrives from Portland, Oregon later this summer. Del Cid is replacing Kelly Jones, who will anchor a local version of the syndicated Better program. >>Article 7.4.2012 Morning drive host Shortly is reportedly out at KCKC "Alice 102." 7.1.2012 The strange story of KSQA continues. KSQA, channel 12 in Topeka, petitioned directly to the FCC last month for carriage on Cox Cable in Topeka. As you know, Cox is angry at KSQA for the interference it causes to WIBW-TV's cable position. KSQA wants a spot on cable channel 12 (WIBW). Cox has offered channel 22. KSQA has been on and off the air over the last several months, showing African-American programming, but also the Country Network on a subchannel. >>Document link 6.26.2012 Earlier this year I noted K.C. Live would return to KSHB in some form. The sales-driven show, set for later this summer, now has some hosts. KSHB announced Michael Mackie and Michelle Davidson as the show's co-hosts. Both have TV experience in the region, but have been working outside the business recently. This version of K.C. Live may have a different name, but it will essentially be the same lifestyle show KSHB canceled a few years ago. This is also part of Scripps' strategy of less reliance on syndicated programming, and more local and corporate-produced programs. 6.21.2012 I don't know whether to call it CHR or Hot AC, but "The Grenade" has migrated from KAOL and a 101.3 translator in Carrollton, Mo., to 103.9 KRLI, displacing the adult standards format in that area. KAOL and the translator have switched to classic country. 6.19.2012 On Wednesday the 20th, KCTV will host CBS anchor Dan Rather, who is on a book tour. KCTV originally stated that Rather would anchor part of the 5:00 p.m. newscast, but now it only states Rather will appear on the 4:00 show for the interview about his book.br> 6.7.2012 KCSP is hiring Josh Vernier, Jay Binkley, and Jayice Pearson as a three-man afternoon show to replace Nick Wright. Vernier comes from Milwaukee. Binkley once hosted a podcast picked up by WHB. Pearson is a former Kansas City Chiefs player. >>Article 6.2.2012 WDAF-TV will be using a freelance meteorologist to substitute for vacationing staff during the summer. You'll see Mark Geldmeier mostly on the weekends. He previously worked at KTVI in St. Louis. 6.1.2012 Even though St. Joseph's new FOX affiliate doesn't officially launch until tomorrow, Suddenlink has already deleted WDAF-TV from its cable lineup in St. Joseph. We're hearing DirecTV customers are affected too. 5.23.2012 A knife-wielding man broke into WIBW-TV this morning, stabbing two employees. Other workers tackled the assailant. >>WIBW article 5.22.2012 Former KCTV/KSMO general manager Kirk Black has resigned his GM position at WGCL in Atlanta. 5.18.2012 In an update on WIBW's programming changes, Megan Mosack is leaving the station, and the talk show "On The Other Hand" will not return. WIBW will air Dave Ramsey's syndicated show in place of On The Other Hand. 5.18.2012 St. Joseph's new FOX station will call itself FOX 26 KNPN, with a tentative launch scheduled for June 2. KNPN will displace WDAF on Suddenlink cable in St. Joseph. KNPN is a News Press & Gazette property. KNPN will originate from low power 15kw station K26LV. 5.17.2012 Nico Leone is the new general manager at public radio station KCUR-FM. Leone joins KCUR from KDHX in St. Louis. >>Article 5.15.2012 WDAF-TV has hired Rob Collins as a weekend co-anchor. Collins will arrive this summer from WCIA in Champaign, Illinois, where he was the morning anchor. He'll work both the weekend morning shows with Kim Byrnes, and the weekend evening shows with Mary Pulley. 5.10.2012 It's official now. KCSP's Nick Wright will join sports talk KILT in Houston to co-host morning drive. >>Article 5.7.2012 New Vision Television announced it will sell its stations to LIN TV for $330 million. That includes KSNT and KTMJ in Topeka. Those two stations, along with KTKA, operate as a single entity called Kansas First News. The deal will close late this year. LIN will continue the shared services agreement. New Vision bought KSNT in 2007. 5.4.2012 Afternoon host Nick Wright is leaving KCSP, if you believe the talk on Twitter. It appears Wright will work temporarily with FOX Sports Radio, but may not have a permanent position in place. Wright joined KCSP in 2007 and moved to the afternoon drive slot in 2010. He is a Kansas City native and a graduate of Barstow School. Wright's tenure is not without controversy, as he sometimes scorned his main competition, Kevin Keitzman, on the air. After a peak last year during Royals season, Wright and the rest of KCSP's overall 12+ ratings settled into the middle of the pack in 2012. There is discussion, though, that this may have been a Twitter prank for ratings sake. We shall see. >>Article 5.4.2012 KCTV will have a new morning co-anchor in August. Alexis del Cid is joining the station from KOIN in Portland, Oregon. Del Cid will replace Kelly Jones, who will anchor a new lifestyle show "Better Kansas City" at 9:00 a.m. in the fall. I linked some video of Del Cid below. >>Package >>Package 4.30.2012 Cumulus has broken the Dam on 103.7 mHz in favor of a simulcast of AM talk station KCMO. The Dam existed for two years, fed from an HD subchannel of KCFX, and operated purely to help KCFX beat KQRC in the ratings. The addition of an FM simulcast means some schedule changes for KCMO as well. Mike Huckabee joins the midday slot. Dave Ramsey moves to 9:00 in the morning, and 10:00 at night. Laura Ingraham moves to 8:00 p.m., and John Batchelor is out. If anyone with an HD radio can help me sort out any switches on the subchannels, that would be great. 4.25.2012 Jonathan Weir will replace Chris Merrill on KMBZ's mid-morning slot, starting Monday. Weir comes to Kansas City from Gainesville, Florida. Merrill has been doing double duty, with his new show in San Diego, and his departing show in KC. 4.25.2012 Over in Topeka, Raubin Pierce recently left WIBW to take over station operations at Manhattan Broadcasting. Pierce had been at WIBW for nearly a decade, the last several years doing afternoon drive. Megan Mosack continues On The Other Hand solo for now. WIBW is also adding Mike Huckabee to replace Glenn Beck, and expanding local programming by two hours in the morning. 4.16.2012 WDAF-TV 9:00 a.m. and noon anchor Stefan Chase has exited the station. 4.16.2012 Walt Bodine, who reduced his broadcasting duties a few years ago, will officially retire from KCUR this Friday. Bodine began his radio career in 1940. Bodine is 91 years old. The Star cataloged Bodine's career over the weekend. >>Article 4.1.2012 Check the date. It's April Fool's Day. The temperature could reach 90 degrees. And KCXL (1140 kHz and 102.9 mHz) will be playing Christmas music from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. today. Let me know if I missed any other April Fool's Day pranks. 3.22.2012 K229AU has completed its move from 93.7 to 107.9. The station, "The Fountain," originates on KCFX-HD3. The translator ran into interference complaints from a station from Paola also on 93.7. 3.22.2012 KSHB and KMCI will have a bit more oversight than usual. Scripps has assigned three of its general managers to oversee other general managers in the group. The GM for WXYZ-TV in Detroit will oversee KSHB and KMCI. I'm not sure if these other GMs will only provide advice and guidance, or participate in daily operations. I'm also debating whether Scripps is preparing for some cuts by testing whether a General Manager in another market can oversee his or her own station, plus several others. 3.20.2012 NPG, owner of the St. Joseph News-Press, plans to launch an over-the-air TV station in St. Joseph offering primary FOX affiliation service, along with Telemundo and CW service, presumably on subchannels. NPG is also reacquiring News 3 Now, a cable news service. NPG doesn't have any applications on file, though there are low power applications filed by an entity called DTV America Corporation, for channels 14 and 30, along with licensed low-powered stations on channels 16 and 26. I don't know if either are actually on the air. But it appears NPG will use either the 16 or 26 for the station. NPG owns television stations in other small markets. Nexstar owns KQTV, the only commercial station currently in the St. Joseph market. St. Joseph is otherwise served by Kansas City stations. 3.15.2012 Starting Monday, KCSP will expand its local programming. The sports station is removing Jim Rome's syndicated show from the midday slot. Morning man Bob Fescoe will expand by an hour, and early midday host Danny Parkins will expand by two hours. 3.14.2012 KMBC has hired Len Jennings as a co-anchor with Kelly Eckerman for the 5:00 news, and the 9:00 news on KCWE. Jennings currently works at NBC affiliate WBBH in Fort Myers, Florida. Jennings is staying in Florida through May sweeps. I linked a WBBH promo below. >>Video 3.8.2012 Cumulus has severed ties with the Billy Bush syndicated program nationwide. KCHZ aired the program in the Kansas City market. 3.8.2012 Forget Mike Shanin. Krista Klaus will host a midday show on the new KMBZ Business Channel. Klaus, a former KCTV and KMBC reporter, has been reporting for the Kansas City Business Journal. The FCC has approved a translator move for Bott. K209EC at 89.7 will move to 92.9 and adjust power to 99 watts. The translator rebroadcasts KCCV. Bott will eventually launch a new repeater on 89.7 in Knob Noster. A religious station in Paola also signed on at 89.7 with the past few years. 3.5.2012 WDAF's Al Wallace returned to sports anchoring this week after six weeks off for prostate cancer surgery. 3.5.2012 Cumulus will launch a new traffic service called "Right Now Traffic" for its stations in the top 75 markets. That includes Kansas City, of course. 3.1.2012 As expected, KUDL flipped from classical to business talk at 11:00 a.m. today. I attached the format flip below. KUDL is also identifying its FM simulcast as KMBZ-HD2, rather than KRBZ. >>Download 2.27.2012 Long rumored on the message boards, but now close to reality, Bloomberg business talk will replace classical music on 1660 kHz. Entercom will brand the station the "KMBZ Business Channel." Former KMBZ host Mike Shanin will host a midday show starting March 5 (with a possible soft launch this week), but otherwise the programming comes from Bloomberg Radio. This will mark the second death for the station formerly known as KXTR, which left the FM dial August 17, 2000. It's unclear if classical music will continue on KRBZ-HD2, but considering Entercom is donating the CDs to Kansas Public Radio, I'm guessing it won't. >>Bottom Line Communications article 2.27.2012 You may notice some billboards in Kansas City advertising Family Life Radio at 88.1 mHz. That's for Topeka station KJTY, which is undergoing a major upgrade. Although still listed as a CP, it appears KJTY has increased its power from the previous 35kw to 100kw. KJTY broadcasted from a tower southwest of Lawrence, but the new location appears to be on KLZR's tower to the northwest of Lawrence. 2.27.2012 Another change at KCMO: Mark Levin's syndicated show replaces Michael Savage. Also, Coast to Coast AM has moved to KMBZ's overnight schedule, replacing a Rush Limbaugh replay. 2.23.2012 Cumulus is removing Coast to Coast AM in several markets, including Kansas City's KCMO, in favor of its own Red Eye Radio show. 2.20.2012 KMBZ mid-morning host Chris Merrill is moving to San Diego for a late afternoon slot on KOGO. 2.10.2012 The return of the 41 is not the only change at KSHB. I'm hearing KSHB intends to restart Kansas City Live, a lifestyle program canceled in 2008. The time slot is not definite, but unless the show airs on KMCI, KSHB would not have many choices anyway. There is no start date yet. Scripps continues to advertise for part-time air talent and a producer for the show. Also, investigative reporter Russ Ptacek is leaving for a similar position at Gannett-owned WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. 2.8.2012 The KLZR call letters are out there for anyone who wants them. Great Plains Media changed the call letters to KKSW, to match the Kiss FM moniker. 105.9 had used the KLZR call letters since the summer of 1979. 2.5.2012 On a night with a lot of post-Super Bowl viewers, KSHB rebranded itself as 41 Action News. KSHB had disregarded its analog channel number for several years. It seems unusual to go back to the "41" brand now, with the digital channel technically on 42, and a variety of cable lineup positions. 2.3.2012 WDAF-TV sports director Al Wallace is on medical leave following prostate cancer surgery earlier this week. Much like anchor John Holt's diagnosis, doctors caught it early. Jason Lamb will anchor sports Wednesday through Sunday. Other anchors and reporters will read sports on Mondays and Tuesdays. 1.27.2012 Entercom names Jack Landreth program director of KMBZ. Landreth apparently last worked at the CBS cluster in Las Vegas. But there is a year-and-a-half gap in his LinkedIn profile. Landreth replaces Neil Larrimore. 1.20.2012 KLZR stunted for a few hours with Lady Gaga music, claiming the station had been taken hostage. At 3:00 KLZR rebranded as Kiss FM, a name used in the Kansas City market twice before. Kidd Kraddick's syndicated show remains, although a Facebook post indicates that might not be the case for much longer. Afternoon drive will be voice tracked from another market. All Access reports the heritage KLZR call letters will disappear too. At least KLZR had some fun with it, as noted by the video below. >>KLZR video 1.18.2012 Judging by a now-deleted Facebook page, there is speculation KLZR is preparing to rebrand itself as "105.9 Kiss FM." KLZR has been swinging between Hot AC and CHR over the last 12 years, all while keeping the Lazer name from the 1990s modern rock format. A Facebook page appeared in the last few days, and it included some photos of Lawrence, Baldwin City and Topeka. A logo mimicked the Clear Channel Kiss FM logo. But the page disappeared today. Great Plains Media recently hired a new general manager. If the page was a ruse, it seems like an odd one to craft. 1.17.2012 This afternoon KMBZ announced KCTV reporter Dana Wright will join the station for afternoon drive duties with Scott Parks. The new drive time show begins later this month. Mike Shanin is leaving the Shanin and Parks program after five years. Wright has substituted on KMBZ before. She will continue to work on special projects for KCTV, at least through 2012. It is interesting that Entercom made this move without a program director for KMBZ. Neil Larrimore left last year, and has since landed in Phoenix. 1.17.2012 Radioinsight is reporting that translator K229AU (93.7 the Fountain) will apply to move to 107.9 mHz. Another station, KPIO-FM (93.7 mHz) in Pleasanton, Kan., is alleging interference from the translator. Pleasanton is 70 miles south of the Kansas City metro. KPIO-FM signed on in 2009 with programming from the Catholic Radio Network. K229AU leases space on KCFX-HD3 to rebroadcast its contemporary Christian programming on the 93.7 translator. 1.10.2012 Former Kansas City TV host "Uncle" Ed Muscare died over the weekend at age 79. Muscare had been imprisoned in Florida for a probation violation, related to his status as a sex offender. Muscare hosted kids programs and a late night horror movie feature on the old KBMA, later KSHB, in the 1970s and early 1980s. 1.5.2012 WIBW's old building on the former Menninger Campus burned today. WIBW moved out of that building several years ago. It has been vacant since that time. >>Link 1.2.2012 Last week KCTV quietly dropped its 7:00 a.m. newscast from KSMO. Paid programming replaces the newscast. Typically, those newscasts away from the main channel receive a 1.0 rating or less. KCTV news on KSMO at 7:00 in the morning barely registered ratings at all. Note Merry Christmas from some Zerwekhs, Happy Hanukkah from other Zerwekhs, and as Don Harman liked to tell us, "let's try to suck less next time!" We will certainly try to suck less in 2012. Cheers! 12.18.2011 Jay Wachs is the new general manager at KLZR, KLWN and KMXN in Lawrence. Wachs last worked in Austin, Texas. 12.16.2011 Following chemotherapy, KSHB weekend anchor Cynthia Newsome returns to the air January 1. 11.30.2011 As some of you know, I work at WDAF-TV. This has been an exceptionally difficult couple of days with the passing of morning meteorologist Don Harman, who had worked at FOX 4 for 12 years. I personally worked on the morning show for three years, going bowling with him on Friday afternoons, playing softball on the weekends, enjoying cookouts and beer, and his sharp sense of humor. We could not publicize the death until noon today because of the time it took to inform his father of the matter. I will not address any circumstances surrounding his death, and I can't bring myself to read the message boards or articles yet. Just know we miss him dearly. Direct your thoughts and support to his wife Monica, and two-and-a-half year-old girl Avery, who will grow up without her father. >>Memorial piece >>Share your memories >>Real Men Of Genius >>Don and some frisky dogs 11.25.2011 At midnight, KFKF switched to Christmas music. KFKF will return to country music on December 26. Early Friday, KKJO in St. Joseph and KMAJ-FM in Topeka also switched to Christmas music. KCMO-FM has set aside the '70s at 7:00 p.m. for "Santa at 7:00." 11.18.2011 Cumulus has been bringing the Cumulus Media Partners (mostly Susquehanna) stations into the regular company, in addition to the purchase of Citadel Broadcasting. However, Cumulus left a few of those stations in the Media Partners portfolio for a bankruptcy filing to allow for debt restructuring. Radio-Info.com reports KCHZ and KMJK are two of the stations included in the filing. The Cumulus Media Partner entity is now AR Broadcasting. Cumulus continues to operate the stations of course, and will likely merge them into the fold next year when the bankruptcy period ends. AR Broadcasting is a collection of equity groups, and it could sell the stations to someone else, but it seems highly unlikely. 11.16.2011 Entercom recently let KMBZ program director Neil Larrimore go. Larrimore had been at the station for several years. Despite adding a full-powered FM simulcast, KMBZ's ratings have not improved. 11.3.2011 One week into sweeps, and on a usually strong night for CBS programming, KCTV debuted its new chief meteorologist, Chris Suchan. Suchan replaces Katie Horner. KCTV produced a recorded tribute to Horner, which aired last night during Horner's final show. >>Horner says goodbye >>Chris Suchan says hello 10.28.2011 Tony Lorino takes over as program director at KZPT, replacing Mark Edwards. Lorino is also the music director. 10.28.2011 A new translator appears to be on the air. K257DZ on 99.3 mHz in Butler, Missouri is carrying K-Love's feed for now. Alpine Broadcasting (KCXL, KCTO) owns the translator. 99.3 may eventually repeat Spanish language KCTO. 10.23.2011 NATAS Mid-America handed out its annual regional Emmys last night. Among Kansas City stations, KSHB won the most awards. But many of the big awards, for newscasts, news excellence and on-air talent, went to the St. Louis stations. >>Link 10.13.2011 There had been rumblings as such, but Radio Info is reporting KFKF will indeed flip to Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving, and return to country music on December 26. But, will anyone else try to beat them without KUDL or KSRC in the mix anymore? >>Article 10.6.2011 KCTV's long search for a chief meteorologist is over. KCTV has hired Chris Suchan from WTSP in Tampa, Florida. Suchan will join the station in time for November sweeps. He replaces Katie Horner, who had been on the way out since public relations blog Bottom Line Communications posted news of KCTV running secret focus groups on both Horner and other meteorologists. 10.4.2011 Although I can't see it myself, I have been told KSQA is testing on channel 12 in Topeka, at a low power of 4.2kw. The transmitter is reportedly on one of the downtown buildings. WIBW-TV is complaining about interference on its cable TV position, which is channel 12. This is a strange story without a lot of solid answers. The majority owner is Barbara Wade of Chicago. The minority owners are the former majority owners-- some entity named Cooper Fowler Media. It doesn't appear either has any broadcasting background, but both seem to have interests in African American history. KSQA also has an application for a more powerful station on channel 22, which Washburn University filed to block. 10.3.2011 Of some interest locally, the E.W. Scripps Co. has agreed to purchase McGraw-Hill's television properties, including KGTV in San Diego, KMGH in Denver and WRTV in Indianapolis. Scripps already owns KSHB and KMCI in Kansas City. 9.28.2011 Cumulus has filed to bring KMJK back into the fold from trust company Volt Media, citing the addition of KWJP in Paola to the market. Cumulus says the non-commercial KWJP brings the number of stations in the Kansas City DMA to 45, qualifying it for the next tier of market size. Cumulus moved KMJK into the Volt Media shell company a few weeks ago upon closing its purchase of Citadel, citing market ownership caps. 9.27.2011 Longtime Kansas City radio and television broadcaster Dave Morton passed away this morning from cancer, according to a Facebook post from his daughter. Morton worked simultaneously teaching high school history and appearing on the air on KMBC-TV, KMBZ, KMBR, KCMO and WDAF in various news and weather roles. The link below contains some pictures from his broadcast days. >>Link 9.26.2011 WDAF-TV will expand its morning newscast to 4:30 in the morning, joining its competitors in that time slot. Mark Alford, Loren Halifax and Don Harman will be on the 4:30 show for now. The move expands WDAF's news time to five-and-a-half hours in the morning, ten hours on weekdays and 59.5 hours per week, the third most of any local TV station in the country. Andy Griffith replaces COPS at 3:30 and 4:00. 9.21.2011 KCUR-FM General Manager Patricia Cahill announced her retirement today, after nearly 25 years at the station. Cahill remains a vice-chair on the board for the Corporation For Public Broadcasting. 9.20.2011 Aaron Barnhart has written an article on the financial and sometimes dysfunctional state of public radio station KKFI. Click below. >>Article 9.16.2011 The Cumulus purchase of Citadel closed today. As part of the deal, Cumulus moved KMJK (107.3) into a shell company called Volt Media, LLC. 9.15.2011 Reporter Meredith Hoenes is leaving WDAF-TV for an anchor position at KMIZ in Columbia, Missouri. Hoenes has worked at both WDAF and KSHB in Kansas City. 9.15.2011 KCTV has named morning reporter Mark Boyle weekend morning anchor. They also expanded their 9:00 news on KSMO by 30 minutes, adding Johnathan Carter as an anchor there. 9.9.2011 KSHB has named JiaoJiao Shen its new morning anchor, replacing the promoted Christa Dubill. Shen recently joined KSHB as a reporter after a freelancing stint at WDAF. 9.4.2011 Instead of a KSHB subchannel, Scripps has added the Live Well Network to KMCI's subchannel. KMCI is also a new affiliate for the SEC football Game Of The Week. Meanwhile, WDAF is airing the ACC football Game Of The Week on Antenna TV 4.2. 8.24.2011 KMBC has hired Johnny Kane as the station's new sports director. Kane is currently the sports director for Kansas First News (KSNT, KTKA, KTMJ) in Topeka. Kane will replace Nick Griffith, who left for Denver earlier this summer. 8.20.2011 In time for fall sports, I reformatted and updated the sports page. Please email with any omissions. I also reformatted the radio syndication page, which was only two years out of date. I am working on a separate TV grid. 8.12.2011 An update to news below: KSHB's 4:30 p.m. newscast starts Monday, August 29th. 8.12.2011 Sarah Smith will take over as General Manager at KMBC, replacing the retired Wayne Godsey. Smith is currently the GM at Hearst's KETV in Omaha. 8.11.2011 For those wondering about former WDAF-TV anchor/reporter Stephanie Hockridge, she has accepted an weekend anchor/reporter position at KNXV, the ABC affiliate in Phoenix. 8.11.2011 KSMO will reportedly add a subchannel next month, when Bounce TV debuts September 26. Bounce TV will be an African American-targeted network, based in Atlanta. 7.29.2011 As expected after the closure of the sale, KSNT and KTKA are combining resources into one news operation, called Kansas First News. The same newscast will air at staggered times on KSNT, KTKA and KTMJ-CA. The operation will be based at KSNT's studios on U.S. Highway 24. The first newscast under the Kansas First News name airs at 6:00 p.m. July 30th on KSNT. 7.29.2011 As the fall lineups are announced, it has been noted KMCI will air a KSHB midday newscast, starting August 1. This is a repeat of the 11:00 a.m. news on KSHB, with the 11:00 time stamp. Earlier this year we reported Scripps would allow their contract with Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune to lapse. Now it appears KSHB will start a 4:30 p.m. newscast at some point, as has been widely speculated. Wheel doesn't leave KSHB until Fall 2012, though. 7.29.2011 My friends at RadioInsight have noted that Merlin Media registered variations of FMNewsKansasCity as new domains. However, Merlin did the same thing for most of the top 50 markets as a way to protect its brand name. Merlin is the company that flipped New York's WRXP and Chicago's WKQX to news/talk formats after buying them from Emmis. 7.27.2011 KMBC sports anchor Nick Griffith is moving to Denver, where he will be the sports director at KDVR and KWGN, the Local TV LLc./Tribune duopoly. The move is partly family-related, as Griffith's fiancee is from Colorado. 7.27.2011 KSHB weekend anchor Cynthia Newsome announced she is in the early stages of breast cancer. Newsome will be off the air for a while, as she udnergoes chemotherapy. 7.21.2011 Despite the objections of cable operators, the FCC approved the sale of KTKA to PBC Broadcasting. PBC will turn operational control of KTKA to its partner, New Vision Television, which already owns KSNT and KTMJ-CA in Topeka. The deal forms, in effect, a triopoly, something rarely seen in television ownership. 7.21.2011 For most of the the next three days, KCXL (1140 and 102.9) will be playing Christmas music in the July heat. Look for that starting at 10:00 friday night. 7.13.2011 The sale of KTKA to PBC Broadcasting remains in the regulatory process. Cable operators are pushing again to block the sale, asking Kansas Governor Sam Brownback to intervene. >>Letter to Governor 7.7.2011 No pants? No problem at KSHB. >>TVSpy link 7.1.2011 When KSHB begins airing the Live Well network soon, it appears Live Well will reside on PSIP 41.3, with the weather subchannel remaining on 41.2. KMBC recently dropped their weather subchannel in favor of Me TV. It should be noted some TVs are equipped to handle weather applications, making a weather loop unnecessary. 7.1.2011 KCTV issued a press release indicating chief meteorologist Katie Horner will leave the station this year. They did not give a date. Although the press release indicated Horner wanted to spend more time with her children, Bottom Line reported in May that KCTV had been staging focus groups with potential candidates. Horner started at KCTV in 1994, working as a morning meteorologist, and eventually swapping places with then-chief meteorologist Gary Amble. 6.21.2011 KMBC debuted Me TV earlier than expected on their digital subchannel. Me TV is one of a handful of networks showing old television shows and movies. KMBC is still repeating its 6:00 p.m. news on the subchannel as well. 6.17.2011 KSHB has promoted Christa Dubill to the 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. co-anchor slot. Dubill has been the station's morning co-anchor for four years. Dubill replaces Elizabeth Alex, who scaled back her anchoring duties to 6:00 p.m. only. 6.15.2011 KMBC-TV General Manager Wayne Godsey announced his retirement today. Godsey has been with KMBC for 12 years, and in the television business for 40 years. Test I have embedded three audio players on the 580 frequency page. They should all play the same file of WIBW's time share handoff to KKSU. I can test it all I want at home, but I would like to know which ones don't work well in the major browsers. I have a lot of issues getting embedded players to work on Chrome on my home computer. Thank you for your time. Test #2 I have tweaked the TV station page layouts. See if you can change the image in the right frame by clicking on the image link. 5.31.2011 WDAF-TV is losing a couple of on-air talents in short order. Weekend anchor Stephanie Hockridge is leaving the station in late June, after three years. This follows the May departure of reporter/substitute anchor Sharita Hutton, who will become a stay-at-home mom. 5.31.2011 Scripps has agreed to a contract with the Live Well Network, a health and consumer channel. KSHB will eventually carry the network as a digital subchannel. 5.28.2011 Tom Land, former KUDL PD, and formerly of KMXV, passed away recently from cancer, at age 51. At the time of his death, Land was working as a VP of Programming at Journal Broadcasting. 5.21.2011 This seems like end of days: CHR on AM radio? It's happening in Carrollton, Missouri, where KAOL (1430 kHz) flipped at some point from country/farm to CHR as "101.3 the Grenade." The 101.3 is a reference to FM translator K267BN, licensed to Bosworth, Missouri. Kanza, Inc., owners of KMZU and KNZA, also own KAOL and the translator. 5.21.2011 KKJO indeed followed through with their rapture stunt today, although they aren't making any reference to it. 5.19.2011 Only in an infinite news cylce can a solitary man's prediction of rapture continuously make headlines. KKJO is St. Joseph is reportedly going to feed that frenzy Friday or Saturday morning by playing R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" around the clock, until the "all clear" has been given. 5.15.2011 I forgot to mention last Friday, another translator, K275BQ, has signed on at 102.9 mHz. Licensed to Richmond, Missouri, this translator rebroadcasts KCXL (1140 kHz) from Liberty. 5.14.2011 KSHB and KCTV have entered into a helicopter sharing agreement. KSHB continues to lease the helicopter, with the provided pilot. In exchange for sharing content, KCTV will pick up some of the cost. KSHB has typically bought the most flight hours of any station in the market, and KCTV the least. 5.14.2011 Former KMJK music director Trey Michaels passed away at his home in California recently. Michaels had been out of radio for a couple of years. 4.23.2011 Cumulus market manager Donna Baker is leaving Kansas City to oversee part of Cumulus' cluster in Houston. Mark Sullivan takes her place in Kansas City. 4.19.2011 Remember I when wrote that Phil Witt would the anchor the FOX 4 10:00 p.m. show solo, "for now"? WDAF-TV is giving him a co-anchor-- Abby Eden. Eden joined the station last December as a multimedia journalist (what used to be called one-man band) and quickly began substituting for vacationing anchors. 4.12.2011 In an interesting filing with the FCC, Cumulus intends to transfer KMJK (107.3) to Volt Media, LLC. This is part of the filing on Cumulus' purchase of Citadel radio stations, even though Citadel has no stations in Kansas City. It's unclear if Volt Media is a company formed to operate stations for Cumulus, or if Volt Media is a company formed to sell stations to another party. 4.12.2011 WDAF-TV's news expansion continued last night with the launch of an hour-long 10:00 p.m. show. Phil Witt is anchoring the expanded 10:00 show solo for now. This pushes FOX 4 to 9.5 hours of news on weekdays and 56.5 hours of news during the week. 4.5.2011 In light of KMBZ's simulcast on FM, The Star printed an article on the future of AM radio. >>Article 4.5.2011 According to the Rabbit Ears website, KMBC will add ME TV to a digital subchannel soon. ME TV is another network of old TV shows and movies. 3.31.2011 Entercom isn't done making changes. KXTR moved its HD subchannel from 98.1 KHD2 to 96.5 HD2. Ironically, 96.5 was the home of the original KXTR for 47 years. KXTR is also calling itself Radio Bach, though radiobach.com isn't operational yet. Entercom moved KUDL's call letters to 1660 kHz as well. The KUDL and KRBZ-HD2 legal ID is very soft. 3.31.2011 Shan Shariff is leaving KCSP for a gig with KRLD in Dallas. Danny Parkins will replace Shariff. 3.30.2011 KMBZ joined the FM dial at 2:00 this afternoon. KUDL split from its KZPT simulcat, played a Bonnie Raitt song, and joined KMBZ's newscast. At KZPT, Tanna Guthrie (the final live jock on KUDL) became the first live air talent on the Point. 3.24.2011 And as mentioned yesterday, KMBZ will broadcast on both 980 kHz and 98.1 mHz in a week. They made the official announcement this afternoon. Entercom has applied for the call letters KMBZ-FM. KZPT will be the new call letters on 99.7. 3.24.2011 This morning WDAF-TV debuted their new 9:00 a.m. newscast, replacing the syndicated Swift Justice with Nancy Grace. Nick Vasos and Stefan Chase anchor, with Karli Ritter providing weather. 3.23.2011 Rumours had surfaced a month ago about Gen X Radio's demise. The numbers didn't look good. After seeing how stations' fortunes changed in other markets with simulcasts of AM News/Talk/Sports stations, I thought Gen X would bite the dust in 2011 in favor of a KMBZ or KCSP simulcast. Even I can be wrong sometimes (ha ha). At noon today, KGEX reverted back to Hot Adult Contemporary, but with a different name, "99-7 the Point." Kelly Urich and Tanna Guthrie will be a part of the station. But that's not all! As part of the ongoing changes, KUDL, which has broadcasted a Soft AC format for more than 30 years, will disappear next week. KUDL will simulcast The Point from March 28-30. The next format for KUDL appears to be that simulcast of KMBZ, according to domain name registrations reported by Radioinsight.com. KUDL already simulcasts KMBZ on an HD subchannel. And just to be sure Entercom's not fooling around, they laid off the morning show host from 106.5 the Wolf as well. 3.22.2011 KMBC has hired George Matz as Assistant News Director, replacing Gerry Roberts. Matz comes from Hearst's WMTW in Portland, Maine, where he was the News Director. 3.22.2011 Kansas Public Radio's Jim Seaver died recently at age 92. Seaver, a KU professor, hosted opera programming on KANU and later KPR for 58 years. "Opera Is My Hobby" was one of the longest-running, continuously hosted shows in the nation. 3.17.2011 The American Cable Association is petitioning the FCC to block the sale of KTKA to PBC Broadcasting, which operates some stations for New Vision Television (owner of KSNT and KTMJ in Topeka). The ACA says the combination of PBC and New Vision could hijack customers for higher cable retransmission fees, leaving cable customers with a mostly blacked out market if cable operators resisted. 3.15.2011 In a bit of a surprise, KMBZ moved the syndicated Glenn Beck show to a late night time slot, while adding a local personality, Chris Merrill, to the 9:00 a.m. slot. Most recently, Merrill worked at KLWN and KLZR in Lawrence. 3.13.2011 KFKF has let Mary McKenna and Dan Holliday go, while bringing Ed Walker over from KCKC to do afternoons. 3.9.2011 36-year Kansas City radio personality Mike Murphy passed away at his home this evening, following a stroke. I don't have an exact age, because Murphy rarely revealed it. Murphy retired several years ago from KCMO, where he won a Marconi award. Murphy was a longtime fixture of the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and the initiator of the Cattle Drive. Murphy's wife passed away a few months ago. 3.5.2011 Cumulus names Greg Knapp the new morning show host on KCMO. Knapp had been one of a few people rotating appearances in the time slot since the departure of Chris Stigall. 2.26.2011 Former Kansas City Chiefs broadcaster Bill Grigsby died today at age 89. Grigsby most recently provided sideline and pre-game reports for the Chiefs, but had been retired for a couple of years. Grigsby spent 62 years in various broadcasting roles. He joined the Chiefs radio broadcasts upon their arrival in the city, pairing with play-by-play announcer Tom Hedrick. Grigsby did play-by-play for the Chiefs' only two Super Bowl appearances. Grigsby also called games for the Kansas City A's and the Kansas Jayhawks. 2.26.2011 KMBC announced anchor Lara Moritz was on a personal leave of absence. They did not state when she would return. 2.26.2011 It appears the LMA transfer date for KCTO (1160 kHz) is March 1. Alpine Broadcasting agreed to an LMA with the Ramirez group, who will turn the station into a Spanish language station. 2.14.2011 As promised, Cumulus' KCMO-FM HD2 and 102.5 FM became Funny 102.5 this morning, with a comedy format. There is still talk that Funny 102.5 will be a stunt, but it certainly seems like the real thing so far. For those with HD radio, you might know that Entercom had been running a comedy format on KRBZ-HD2. As far as I know, that is still the case. 2.12.2011 Cumulus launched translator K273BZ today with a laugh track, and the promise to find out what's so funny at 10:25 a.m. Monday. The same laugh track is airing on KCMO-FM HD2. 2.12.2011 KMBC has hired Diane Cho from WJXT in Jacksonville as a morning anchor, replacing Dion Lim. 2.8.2011 WDAF-TV will begin airing Antenna TV on their digital subchannel Sunday, the 13th, at 9:00 in the morning. Also out of FOX 4, Stefan Chase will join the morning show as a third anchor. You might recall the FOX 4 morning show once had four anchors, but dropped the positions during budget cuts a couple of years ago. 2.5.2011 I'm catching up after a week of snow and illness. On Friday, the typical bad news announcement day, The World Company announced the intended sale of Topeka's KTKA to PBC Broadcasting. PBC, essentially, is New Vision TV, which owns KSNT and KTMJ in Topeka. New Vision and PBC use each other to finance acquisitions. Both went through the same bankruptcy reorganization a couple of years ago. It is highly likely the newsrooms will be combined, and many will lose their jobs. 2.5.2011 My friends at Radioinsight.com have reported the registration of a URL, funny1025.com, as a likely registration for a translator on 102.5 licensed to Bonner Springs. Cumulus is launching the translator, K273BZ, and although Funny 102.5 sounds like a Comedy format, radioinsight.com believes it will be a stunt before using the translator to rebroadcast KCMO (710 kHz). Presumably, the translator will be heard on an HD subchannel too. Link 2.5.2011 Cumulus has decided to directly buy the stations that it put into the Cumulus Media Partners trust, which was technically owned by private equity groups but operated by Cumulus. Many of those stations are former Susquehanna stations. 2.5.2011 Though delayed by weather, KCTO (1160 kHz) will flip from a mostly simulcast of KCXL to Spanish language programming as "La Supra X." Alpine Broadcasting entered an LMA with the Ramirez group, who had previously LMA'd KYYS (1250 kHz) from Entercom. KYYS is still calling itself "La X." 1.29.2011 A familiar voice will join KUDL. Entercom has signed Karen Barber for KUDL's midday shift. Barber has been out of radio for some time, working in real estate. 1.26.2011 KSHB anchor Elizabeth Alex is reducing role at the station. Instead of co-anchoring the 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 newscasts, Alex will only co-anchor the six. Alex has also taken a new position at an emergency shelter for abused and neglected children. 1.3.2011 After extending the Christmas music well beyond the holiday, and promising the "new sound of 102" at noon today, KCKC flipped from Star 102 to Alice 102, which sounds like a variety hits station in the style of Jack, Max or Gen X, with an alternative lean. The first song was "The One I Love" by R.E.M., and the last Christmas song, "Same Auld Lang Syne", tortured my brain. The end of Star 102 occurs just two days before its 12th birthday. As of now, the John Tesh syndicated show continues, probably because Wilks won't pay to end the contract early. 1.2.2011 Happy New Year, everyone. I apologize, but WDAF-TV has not set up Antenna TV on its subchannel yet, as other Local TV LLC and Tribune stations did this weekend. I don't know when we are putting Antenna on the air, but it appears we're waiting until February or March. 12.27.2010 Former WIBW-TV and radio sports anchor Ron Paradis died at his home today at age 66. Paradis spent nearly three decades at WIBW. 12.26.2010 My friends at Radioinsight.com noted multiple domain name registrations regarding the format adjustment at KCKC. Wilks registered Alice102.com, while a front company registered several variations of KC102. All indications seem to point to a "hits of the past" format in the style of Jack FM, Gen X Radio, and the former Max 97.3, though a refreshment of the AC format is not out of the question. By the way, we nearly had an "Alice" Modern AC station in 1997. Entercom was considering a format flip but CBS/Infinity beat them to it with 102.1 the Zone. The Zone died 16 months later, bringing us Star 102. 12.21.2010 You knew we needed something to talk about next year. In the middle of their Christmas music, KCKC (Star 102) is promoting the "new sound of 102" for January 3rd. The jaded part of my brain thinks "oh, of course, they're going back to regular Adult Contemporary programming around that time." Stay tuned. 12.18.2010 Yesterday WDAF-TV activated a subchannel for the first time. 4.2 currently carries the SD signal of FOX 4's programming. Next month 4.2 will be the home of Antenna TV, a network featuring classic TV. All Tribune and Local TV LLC. stations will carry Antenna TV. 12.11.2010 I've been hearing rumblings of a KSHB news expansion in the past few weeks, and it looks like it might happen soon. In Broadcasting and Cable, Scripps indicated it would not renew contracts with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. This matches the rumour I heard of a 4:30 p.m. newscast coming soon to KSHB. I don't know about the 6:30 slot. As I have mentioned before, the end of Oprah and high cost of syndicated shows could generate local news expansion around the country in the next two years. 12.5.2010 I apologize this took so long, but this is what happened with KYYS (1250 kHz). The previous managers fell behind on their financial obligations to Entercom. So, Entercom fired the staff and automated the station until a new set of managers could be found. That new set is Reyes Media. Some, but not all of the staff were rehired. 11.27.2010 KKJO in St. Joseph and KMAJ-FM in Topeka have also flipped to Christmas music, in case you could not get enough of it with KCKC and KUDL. 11.27.2010 There is some weirdness with KYYS (1250 kHz). Even though the FCC still shows Entercom as the owner, the station is under new management (Reyes Media). They are now calling themselves La X, instead of La Super X. The format has shifted to more Spanish-language classic hits. Furthermore, the station claimed to leave the air November 10th, but I still heard them pumping music in at least three checks between the 10th and the 19th. Maybe they meant the jocks had left the air, since it appears they laid off some staff. Considering this is a station that sould have gone off the air with KXTR's move to 1660 kHz, I don't know what to think about them anymore. 11.20.2010 Chris Stigall is leaving his morning show at KCMO for WPHT in Philadelphia. It remains unknown how Cumulus will fill the morning drive time at KCMO. 11.20.2010 KUDL switched to Christmas music on Friday at 5:00. 11.1.2010 I don't think it can happen any earlier, but KCKC transitioned to Christmas music this morning. KUDL set up an online stream, but will wait until after Thanksgiving to play Christmas music. 10.27.2010 KMBC Assistant News Director Gerry Roberts is retiring. Roberts spent numerous years with KMBC in two stints. 10.12.2010 WDAF-TV began broadcasting news in 720p high definition today, starting with the noon newscast. WDAF is the last station in the market to go HD. The HD transition meant a new set from Devlin Design and a new grpahics package. They have plans for a digital sub channel in the future, but the timetable is not public yet. 10.5.2010 I'm back online with a new computer, so hopefully updates will become more frequent. KANU will be off the air part of today and tomorrow for a paint job on the tower. 10.5.2010 We're much closer to the HD transition date at WDAF-TV. The rehearsals are underway on the new set. The main issue is getting the various new hardware and software to "talk" to each other properly (automation, VizRT, video servers, newsroom software). So the newscasts will probably be fairly basic once the switch takes place; I think we're all tired of broadcasting from the newsroom anyway. Fox 4 won't use the O&O graphic package anymore. 10.5.2010 KCXL started playing Christmas music at certain hours last Friday. 10.5.2010 WDAF-FM Program Director Dan Persigehl has left for Atlanta. He also oversaw KGEX. Across the hall, KUDL Program Director Mark Hamlin left the station late last month. 9.2.2010 KMBC will launch a 9:00 p.m. newscast on its sister station, KCWE on September 14th. This will be the third 9:00 newscast in the market. Don't be surprised if more newscasts pop up on all stations as expensive syndication contracts expire (or talk show hosts retire, like Oprah). Furthermore, KMBC will begin reairing some of its programs on the digital subchannel 9.2, newly branded as "More TV" (just as KCWE used to be branded). Weather will continue to occupy most of the hours on KMBC 9.2. 8.24.2010 KCTV is now rejoining the ultra-early newscast race. KCTV will push the start time of its morning news to 4:30 in the morning, joining KSHB and KMBC. 8.23.2010 Jason Ulanet is out at KRBZ. The midday and Resurrection Sunday host has been at the station for seven years. 8.20.2010 The pre-5:00 a.m. newscast is suddenly en vogue again. KSHB announced they would expand their morning news to 4:30 a.m. (along with expanded news on Saturday). This is KSHB's second attempt at news in that time period. One day after KSHB's announcement, KMBC announced they would move up their morning to 4:30 in the morning. Both newscasts start Monday. 8.18.2010 A year after accepting a buyout from WDAF-TV, former sports director Frank Boal is going to KSHB-TV for Kansas City Chiefs coverage. Boal will generally appear on Sundays at the station. 8.14.2010 I've been on vacation, but I am also dealing with a fried laptop. I'm not sure how often I will be able to update the site. 8.14.2010 KPRS quietly dropped the syndicated Steve Harvey show while I was gone. KPRS' ratings dropped when the market converted from Arbitron diaries to PPMs. 8.14.2010 WDAF-TV moves its newscasts into the newsroom for the next two months as they build a new set and prepare for HD broadcasts. Like other FOX stations, WDAF-TV's news will be in 720p format. 7.27.2010 KMBZ named Lisa Carter its new News Director, replacing Nicole Teich. Carter has been with the radio station for several years as assistant news director. 7.27.2010 KMBC anchor/reporter Dion Lim is leaving the station for unspecified reasons, and for an unspecified job in the future. 7.24.2010 KTKA News Director Denise Eck is leaving the station to be an Assistant News Director at WCPO in Cincinnati. 7.23.2010 KCXL received approval for a translator on 102.9 mHz. K275BQ is licensed to Orrick, Missouri for now. Meanwhile, KCXL will play Christmas music this weekend, starting at 10:00 Friday night. The timing is well-placed, since some retail stores are doing a "Christmas in July" Black Friday sale this weekend. 7.21.2010 Nick Dutcher, KSHB's nightside assignment editor, was found dead in his Ruskin Heights home yesterday. Kansas City police are treating it as a homicide. Dutcher had also worked at KMBC in a similar capacity, and volunteered with Call For Action. 7.8.2010 WDAF-TV has hired Mary Pulley as a weekend anchor, replacing Dave Froehlich. Pulley is the weekend anchor at WHSV in Harrisonburg/Charlottesville, Virginia. 6.21.2010 Because of a lightning strike, KQTV in St. Joseph was unable to broadcast local news over the weekend. They could only do weather graphics with voiceovers (no cameras) through master control. 6.21.2010 For those traveling to the lakes this summer, there is a new radio station on the air. KXEA, licensed to Lowry City, MO, is broadcasting a classic hits format at 104.9 mHz. A CP for a religious station in Clinton at 90.5 mHz has taken the call letters KJGC. 6.13.2010 Longtime reporter Bev Chapman is leaving her KMBC reporter job this summer. However, she will occasionally freelance for the station. 6.9.2010 WDAF-TV anchor John Holt had prostate cancer surgery on Monday. He will be on medical leave for the next three to six weeks. 6.6.2010 Good News Ministries has signed on 91.1 KSJI in St. Joseph, with programming from the Air1 Network. Even at 14kw, I am able to pick up the station in Mission. 6.3.2010 "Gen X Radio" has changed call letters from KKSN to KGEX. The KKSN calls return to Portland, Oregon. 5.19.2010 KLZR replaced one syndicated morning show, Bob and Sheri, with another syndicated morning show, Kidd Kraddick. Kraddick most recently had a spot on KKSN in Kansas City. 5.4.2010 In a move that certainly surprises me, KUDL dropped the syndicated Delilah show, reverting to what is now an automated night shift. KUDL had been airing Delilah's show since 1998. KMAJ-FM in Topeka, KBLS in Manhattan and KPLA in Columbia also air the show. No explanation has surfaced. But it appears to be ratings-related. A Cincinnati station made the same decision. Read about that mishap here. >>Article 5.4.2010 KSHB hires Brett Akagi as their Assistant News Director. Akagi spent ten years at WDAF-TV as a photojournalist before leaving for Minneapolis. 4.21.2010 KCTV has hired Kelly Jones as a new morning anchor. Jones has been reporting at KFMB-TV in San Diego. She'll replace Dana Wright, who will move to a dayside reporting shift. KCTV will also promote Greg Adaline to the other morning anchor spot to replace Chris Pisano. 4.16.2010 Friday at 10:00 KKSN re-imaged itself as "Gen X Radio," a 1980s/90s hits station. Similar stations that have popped up around the country are more 1990s-focused, and I expect this will eventually be the case here. Syndicated Kidd Kraddick and Kim Iverson are out. Ryan Seacrest's show remains for now. As noted below, DJ Kirby starts soon for, presumably, nights. KKSN is still referring to itself as "Gen X Radio 99-7 Kiss FM" in some liners, and just "Gen X Radio" in others. 4.15.2010 KCWJ morning show host Paul Van Sickle heads for a similar position at Way FM in Denver. 4.15.2010 Former KMXV air talent DJ Kirby lands at KKSN according to a tweet from Kelly Urich. 4.15.2010 Longtime Star 102 personality Jeanne Ashley is leaving the station. It's not known what she'll do next. 4.15.2010 The owner of KCXL and KCTO is purchasing a currently silent translator, K279BE, on 102.5 in Richmond, Missouri. They hope to move it closer to Kansas City, but you probably won't see any programming on the translator until the end of the year. 4.6.2010 It had been rumoured, but never reported that when KSHB News Director Rick Iler resigned, it was because he was caught having an affair (on company time) with a married producer -- someone I know personally. Recently, a former KSHB reporter, Leeah Brennan, filed suit claiming Iler fired her in order to hire a reporter with whom he was having an affair. Ouch. Gawker.com is speculating about the identity of that other reporter, but their timeline doesn't match. Far below, you'll see I noted Iler's resignation on March 10, 2009. The reporter named by Gawker started months after Iler left the building. >>Article 4.5.2010 Nick Wright is moving to the afternoon drive slot on KCSP, where he will compete with the man he once interned for -- WHB's Kevin Kietzman. In somewhat WHB-related news, a new 810 Zone will open in about a month inside Harrah's casino, where Toby Keith's Bar currently sits. 4.5.2010 Pete Grigsby will return to KMBC on a temporary basis while meteorologist Erin Little goes on maternity leave. 3.29.2010 KMBZ finds itself in an interesting quandry over a political ad. >>Article 3.29.2010 The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is launching seven local journalism centers, including one in the area that will bring together KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, High Plains Public Radio and KBIA. >>Press Release 3.25.2010 KCTV has hired Michael Coleman as its first Sports Director in seven years. Michael Coleman comes to KCTV from News 12 Long Island. KCTV has implied that Coleman will be one man band sports team, shooting and editing much of his own material. KCTV dumped its own sports department in favor of a deal with Metro Sports in 2003, but that expired a couple of years ago. 3.25.2010 A new station southwest of Lawrence now has call letters to go with a construction permit. The CP for KAWR is licensed to Overbrook, Kansas, at 89.9 mHz. However, the contour for the 3,400 watt station reaches exactly zero cities beyond Overbrook. Lawrence Freenet, an internet provider, is the licensee. 3.18.2010 At 10:37 this morning, the Irish/Celtic music stopped and "103.7 the Dam" debuted on both KCFX-HD2 and the translator on 103.7, which now has an updated call sign K279BI. The Dam is a hard rock station competing with KQRC. The first song was "Fuel" by Metallica. >>Audio 3.15.2010 I apologize for being a little behind on this one. A translator, K225AW, originally on 92.9 licensed to Independence is now active on 103.7 mHz licsened to Kansas City. Cumulus owns the translator, and is currently playing Irish music. I can hear it in Mission, but more clearly in midtown KC. Here's the funny part: Radioinsight.com did a DNS search and found numerous combinations of damn1037.com pointing to Cumulus. Last year, we speculated Cumulus would either air KCFX-HD2 or KCMO (AM) on that translator. Currently, that Irish music is, in fact, on KCFX-HD2 3.13.2010 KCTV is looking for a new morning anchor. The station is letting Chris Pisano go, effective May 10. Pisano has been at KCTV for the last several years. 3.9.2010 Voiceover artist and broadcaster Dick Fatherley passed away yesterday after a brief illness. Fatherley's voice can be heard in the University of Kansas promos on both radio and TV, as well as many other area businesses. 3.8.2010 Former WDAF-TV and KSHB general manager Robert Wormington passed away over the weekend after suffering a stroke. 3.8.2010 WDAF-TV weekend anchor Dave Froehlich is returning to KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi, Texas, to anchor the morning show. 2.25.2010 KSHB/KMCI names a new General Manager. Mike Vrabac joins the station next month from KJRH in Tulsa. Vrabac has a long history in television and actually worked at KSHB previously... when it was known as KBMA in the 1970s. 2.24.2010 KMBC anchor/reporter Jim Flink is leaving the station after a 15 year run. Flink is going to Columbia to work for Newsy.com, which appears to be a journalism research group. 2.20.2010 On the cable side of the business, Metro Sports will expand its programming March 1. Metro Sports will offer two new channels, one featuring HD programming, and another devoted to repeats. 2.20.2010 Longtime Kansas City voice artist and broadcaster Dick Fatherley is seriously ill at the University of Kansas hospital. Fatherley programmed WHB briefly in the 1960s, but he much more known for his commercial voiceovers. 2.9.2010 KSHB/KMCI General Manager Craig Allison is retiring from the station. Allison has been with the stations for the last 15 years. At the same time, the Assistant News Director is leaving for Florida. 2.9.2010 Cowboy has left KCSP after some kind of meltdown that involved broken glass. He had been co-hosting afternoon drive. Jason Whitlock stated he would return to the station in some capacity. 2.3.2010 The Kansas City Chiefs announced a new partnership with KCFX and WHB. KCFX will continue to broadcast Chiefs games, but WHB will get exclusive rights to other Chiefs shows. >>Press release 1.31.2010 The CP for a small station on 89.7 in Paola, Kansas, has changed call letters to KWJP. Paola Assembly of God has also sold the station to Gospel To the Nations Ministries, with the condition the seller get guaranteed air time each week. If the 3kw station ever goes on the air, you won't hear it beyond Miami County. 1.27.2010 It's rare for me to promote my own employer, but the basketball gods smiled on Fox 4 this week. When we did the story about Joel Branstrom making a blindfolded half court shot, not only did we make him do it again (without the blindfold), but Rob Low tried his own half court shot -- backward. >>Video 1.27.2010 KCXL and KCTO are getting closer to upgrading their signals. They're still waiting on a parts replacement. 1.27.2010 The Max Floyd celebrity roast, featuring Shooting Star in concert, is this Saturday. Tickets are $25 in advance. Many former KYYS and other Kansas City radio personalities will be there. 1.21.2010 KSHB has hired Curtis Jay as its new morning anchor. Jay comes from WHBQ in Memphis. He replaces Jeff Vaughn, who left for KENS in San Antonio. They also have a new weekend morning anchor coming from Shreveport. 1.14.2010 KSHB hires George Waldenberger as its new weekend meteorologist. Waldenberger comes to Kansas City from another Scripps station, KJRH in Tulsa. 1.13.2010 KCTV announced their new News Director today. Blaise Labbe comes from KWTV in Oklahoma City, where he had also been News Director. He replaces Tracy Brogden-Miller, whom the new general manager fired last month. 1.4.2010 Wendall Asnchutz passed away early this morning after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 71 years old, and had been ill for the last few years, but only recently stopped treatment. I've changed the video on the side to show one of KCTV's old promos. Anschutz was a University of Kansas graduate who began at KCMO-TV in 1966 as a reporter, then anchor a few years later. He partnered with a very young Anne Peterson in 1979 for an anchor team that would last throughout the 1980s. Anschutz retired in 2001. 1.4.2010 Former KCTV anchor Wendall Anschutz, who has been battling throat cancer, is reportedly in sedation and discouraging further treatment of his cancer. Anschutz started at KCMO-TV in 1966 and retired in 2001. >>Link 1.2.2010 Welcome to the new year. Sports talker KCSP has replaced Roger Twibell with Bob Fescoe. Fescoe previously worked at WHB and had been working in St. Louis for the last few years. 12.22.2009 At age 86, veteran broadcaster Bill Grigsby says it's time to retire. Grigsby has been a part of sports broadcasts in Kansas City since 1947. Grigsby did play-by-play for the Kansas City A's. He has been on the Chiefs radio broadcasts in some fashion for 46 years, including color commentary at the first Super Bowl (which the Chiefs lost), and more recently, tailgate reports from the parking lot. Sunday marked Grigsby's last home game broadcast. Site Update Since the space I was using for the audio files is now a ringtone site, I've reuploaded some items to YouTube. I embedded a little player on the side for the featured video. I'll slowly re-add them to the station pages. If you want to see more files featured on the front page (down the left, across the top, or wherever), just let me know. 12.5.2009 I'm doing a little catching up today. To say it has been a rough week for KCTV is an understatement. The new general manager fired News Director Tracy Brogden-Miller on Friday. Earlier in the week, the new general manager dismantled the investigative unit and announced more reporters would be one man bands (backpack journalists, they call it these days). Last week, the station declined to renew the contract of weekend anchor Shaun Broyls. 11.17.2009 KSHB morning anchor Jeff Vaughn is leaving for an anchor gig at KENS-TV, the CBS affiliate in San Antonio. In fact, they've already put him on the station website. Meanwhile, weekend meteorologist Jeremy Nelson is also leaving KSHB for family reasons. Vaughn story link 11.6.2009 WDAF (106.5) has signed Blake Powers for mornings on the Wolf. Powers comes from Denver, where he was doing late afternoons on a CHR station there. 11.6.2009 KQTP (102.9) in Topeka will change call letters to KTOP-FM, bringing some heritage call letters back to the FM dial. Cumulus doesn't plan any format change, just the call letter change. 11.2.2009 Happy November! KCKC (Star 102) is already playing Christmas music. Some stations around the country started before Halloween this year. KUDL imported their Christmas playlist about 90 minutes after KCKC. 10.31.2009 You probably noticed KSHB using new graphics and music this week. Scripps went to a centralized graphics hub model, so the graphics will be uniform across their stations. These graphics are based on Scripps' Phoenix station, which is why you see so much orange and yellow. I anticipate they will be tweaked to match KSHB's set more closely. 10.23.2009 Longtime Kansas City radio personality Kelly Urich, who had been running his own internet radio station this year, will return to the FM band for the midday shift at KKSN. Urich would be the only local talent, as Kiss FM airs syndicated shows in the morning, afternoon drive and at night. 10.19.2009 I ran across an interesting story out of Michigan in which the Meredith-owned station in Saginaw is running its own obituary site, and running obituaries on the air for a fee. Meredith says they plan to roll out the same thing at their other stations, which would include KCTV. >>Link 10.15.2009 This week KCHZ began adding more mainstream pop hits to their playlist. They're also using the slogan "All the Hits," which has been the operating procedure for Cumulus CHR stations lately. There's no indication of changing names to match new Cumulus CHR stations i93.3 in Dallas and i106.7 in Nashville. Furthermore, the station dismissed morning show husband and wife team Shorty and Mike Savage. 10.8.2009 KMXN flipped to country "92.9 the Bull" at noon today. The syndicated Big D & Bubba show will air in the mornings. Topeka now has four country stations, all with different owners. 10.7.2009 Former KCMO and KMBZ host Russ Johnson passed away this week in suburban Denver. KC Confidential reports Johnson might've killed himself. 10.7.2009 Meredith Broadcasting has named Robert Totsch the new General Manager of KCTV and KSMO, replacing Kirk Black. Totsch has been at Belo's KMOV in St. Louis for 21 years; he's also the president of the CBS Sales Advisory Committee. 10.7.2009 KMXN (92.9) in Topeka is stunting with television theme songs. If a format change is occurring, it would be the fifth in the last six years. I heard a rumor about a flip to country a while back, but I was skeptical at the time. RadioInsight is now tweeting about Great Plains Media registering bull929.com back on September 18th, so perhaps Topeka is about to get its fourth country station. I've also heard the syndicated Big D and Bubba show might be signed up for morning drive. 10.6.2009 WDAF-TV celebrates 60 years on the air October 16th. That night former anchor Cynthia Smith will return to the station to anchor the 6:00 news with Phil Witt, and possibly the 10:00 show. A 9:30 retrospective will also air on Thursday the 15th. Friday's 10pm show is approximate, because I think the 16th is game 1 of the ALCS. The first pitch of the ALCS and World Series games have moved up to 6:57 Central time, but that doesn't mean the games won't run long. 10.4.2009 The Mid-America Regional Emmys took place in St. Louis Saturday night. These are the awards you generally see promoted on the air. Scanning the list, it appears the main four Kansas City TV stations each won in at least four categories, and almost every station in Missouri won something. However, KMBC did win for news excellence, best newscast and weather coverage. 10.1.2009 Paul Marshall (NeanderPaul) has left KQRC. A few days later, Jason Nivens returned to the station to take his spot. 9.24.2009 I've returned from vacation (and what the hell is going on with my Jayhawks??). Anyway, WDAF-TV reshuffled their weekend lineup, naming Kim Byrnes morning weekend anchor, and Stephanie Hockridge and Dave Froehlich evening weekend anchors. Previously, anchors like Tom Lawrence and Paul Herdtner were pulling the suicidal morning-evening shift all weekend. 9.24.2009 KLRQ in Clinton, which airs the K-Love network, has been off the air for much of the past month due to transmitter trouble. They anticipate returning to full power soon. 9.24.2009 KCXL and KCTO hope to have their upgraded transmitters in place by mid-October. 9.24.2009 Last week, Kansas City joined the list of markets using PPMs, or "people meters" to measure radio listening habits. The meters are not without controversy; minority broadcast groups believe it will hurt their ratings, and therefore their sales. One Spanish language radio group has challenged the PPMs in court. 9.8.2009 KCTO (1160 kHz) will reportedly start stunting with Christmas music in October 1st as they prepare for a new format separate from KCXL. Both stations were recently approved for facility upgrades. 9.6.2009 Cumulus is buying translator K225AW (originally licensed to 92.9 mHz, but moved to 92.7) from Horizon Christian Fellowship. K225AW is licensed to Independence. 8.31.2009 Perhaps you saw KMBC morning anchor Dion Lim's story about the mad dash for a wedding dress in Boston (for which she was a part). The Boston Herald captured a side of Lim not shown in her original story. FTVLive.com put it on their front page. >>Link 8.31.2009 This was the last day for SkyFox at WDAF-TV. Local TV LLC. ordered the grounding of the chopper, which will be stripped of its equipment. WDAF is working on alternative methods for covering breaking news from the air. 8.27.2009 KSFT has changed call letters to KESJ. 8.22.2009 Larry Moffitt is back on the air. He has an afternoon radio show on KDKD-FM (95.3) in Clinton, Missouri. KDKD is generally not receivable around the Kansas City area. 8.22.2009 Traffic reporter Rhiannon Ally is leaving KCTV to host a show for Meredith-owned Better TV, which is a TV version of the magazine Better Homes and Gardens. I believe Meredith produces Better TV in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, where Meredith-owned CBS affiliate WFSB is also located. In the meantime, Chuck Harmon (aka Chuck Nasty, aka Nine Finger Charlie), will give traffic reports until KCTV hires someone new. 8.19.2009 There will be a change at the top at KCTV. General Manager Kirk Black is leaving to take the same job with Meredith's WGCL in Atlanta. Black came to KCTV eight years ago, helping change the station's news philosophy and overseeing a huge turnover in the on-air staff. 8.18.2009 The FCC granted KCXL (1140 kHz) a construction permit to increase daytime power to 4kw. The station still needs to buy the equipment for the upgrade. After the power increase, it appears sister station KCTO (1160 kHz) will be programmed more independently, with the possibility of adult standards at least part of the time. 8.17.2009 KSFT in St. Joseph will flip from satellite-fed oldies to ESPN sports on August 25th. KSFT carries St. Louis Cardinals baseball and Missouri Tiger sports. 8.17.2009 KKSN has named Dan Persigehl as their new PD. He comes from Entercom's Portland cluster. 8.17.2009 KCTV's new weekend morning meteorologist made her debut this weekend. Iris Hermosillo comes from KSNF in Joplin. 8.5.2009 KCTV signed a one-year contract with radio station WHB to provide local sports segments for the TV station, though not the traditional nightly sports roundup. KCTV dropped its own sports department several years ago, previously outsourcing to Metro Sports. Metro Sports currently only provides a Chiefs pregame show. 8.5.2009 A judge ruled a lawsuit filed by three KMBC personalities is eligible for arbitration. That's a blow to Kelly Eckerman, Maria Antonia and Peggy Breit, who sought to bring their age discrimination lawsuit to trial. Earlier this summer, a judge removed KMBC General Manager Wayne Godsey from the list of defendants. 7.30.2009 Weekend anchor Paul Herdtner is leaving WDAF-TV to become the public relations director for the Mutual Fund Store in Overland Park. Herdtner originally arrived as a morning show anchor. 7.18.2009 Former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite passed away yesterday at the age of 92. His fading health had been speculated widely for the past month. Cronkite was born in St. Joseph. He also worked briefly as a sports reporter at KCMO in the 1930s. 7.14.2009 This is going to be a busy week for bankruptcy courts and the TV world. New Vision Television, owner of KSNT in Topeka and KSNW in Wichita, filed for Chapter 11 protection today. Sinclair Broadcasting, a one time owner in KC, is expected to be next after reporting $11 million in cash and $1.4 billion in debt. The courts also canceled the planned auction of Young Broadcasting, but it does not appear Local TV LLC., owner of WDAF-TV, will be taking over those assets (the hot rumour is HIG Capital of Miami taking over). 7.11.2009 Liana Joyce is leaving KCTV after 39 years in Kansas City media. Joyce started at KCMO radio in 1970. 7.7.2009 KSHB recently laid off sports reporter/anchor Leon Liebl. However, they have rehired Lisa Holbrook to cover sports on a per diem basis. You might've noticed her on the air tonight. 7.7.2009 President Obama has nominated KCUR General Manager Patricia Cahill to serve on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 6.29.2009 Local TV LLC. recently offered a second round of buyouts at Fox 4. Sports Director Frank Boal is one of the people taking a buyout. Boal started working at the station in 1981. His last day is June 30th. >>More information 6.29.2009 Former KCTV and radio traffic reporter Ally Francis received three months probation for pleading guilty to money laundering. Francis was part of a scheme to overbill a wholseale grocer for cleaning services. She pleaded guilty in exchange for testimony against other defendants. 6.23.2009 Silver Point Finance has taken over KUKC-LP, as Equity Media Holdings was unable to find a buyer. Silver Point was a major financer of Equity Media and pushed for liquidation after Equity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Equity put KUKC up for auction in April, but then withdrew it. 6.23.2009 KKSN's only local weekday host, Michelle Nichols, is leaving after three months on the midday shift. 6.14.2009 The FCC has approved KCTO's (1160 kHz) application to increase daytime power to 5kw. That would greatly improve coverage in Johnson and Jackson counties. KCXL (1140 kHz) will resubmit an application to increase daytime power to 4kw. 6.13.2009 The time has come and gone for the digital TV switch, and as far as I know, the sun came up behind those clouds. All Kansas City full powered stations dropped their analog signals at 9:00 a.m., with the exception of KMBC, which will run a DTV infomercial for the next month. KCWE and KTAJ had actually shut off their analog signals months ahead of schedule. Stations will have the option of using a TV or DT suffix, or no suffix at all if possible. I will work on updating those files when I have the chance. The tower heights will not be accurate since many stations have not removed their analog transmitters from the tops of towers yet. 6.10.2009 After four years with WDAF-TV, Anchor Shelli Lockhart is leaving to return to Boston. Her last day is June 19. 6.6.2009 According to the Pitch, a former KCTV Operations Manager is suing over a supposed hostile atmosphere at the station, generally running from 2002 to her termination in 2008. Why she is filing the lawsuit now is unclear. >>Article 5.26.2009 KSHB named Peggy Phillip the new News Director, replacing Rick Iler. Phillip spent the last year at co-owned WMAR in Baltimore. 5.14.2009 KCFX let morning host Doug Medlock go, reducing them to, at the moment, one live voice during the week. 5.12.2009 After a decade, program director Thom McGinty is out at KUDL. Mark Hamlin will be the new PD, coming from South Carolina. 5.1.2009 KLZR quietly signed a contract with the syndicated Bob and Sheri morning show; it started airing this week. 5.1.2009 With the failure of Equity Broadcasting, KUKC-LP, the Kansas City Univision affiliate, is up for sale. Other Equity stations have already been sold. 4.26.2009 Nivens is no longer at KQRC. You can watch a YouTube message from him below. >>Video 4.16.2009 The Jayhawk TV network will move to KSMO starting in this fall. That covers Kansas Jayhawk football and basketball coaches shows, plus some men's basketball games. That depends on how many games ESPN/ABC and CBS want, and ESPN takes a lot of them. KSMO had the network in the 1990s and early 2000s as well, before KMCI claimed it. 4.15.2009 KTAJ will shut off its analog signal Thursday, April 16th. 4.5.2009 The Kansas City Star ran an article chronicling the financial struggle of KKFI. Regardless of what one might think of the station's politics, it would be a shame to see another local voice silenced. >>Article 4.3.2009 KMXN is now airing the syndicated "Free Beer and Hot Wings" morning show, which is based out of WGRD in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They were unable to negotiate a new contract with the Bob and Tom show. 3.26.2009 Well, it appears Sound Lantern will cease to exist March 31. The sound files will obviously stop working for a while until I find another host. 3.24.2009 Cumulus laid off more people Monday at its Kansas City stations (mostly behind the scenes). Between here and Topeka there aren't many live voices left at its properties. 3.23.2009 Morris Communications employees will have wages cut between 5 and 10%. Morris is also reportedly shopping around WIBW and WIBW-FM. 3.16.2009 An update on KMBC - Len Dawson is not fully retiring. He is cutting back his schedule to vacation relief plus a regular Chiefs segments during the season on Sundays. 3.13.2009 KMBC is exepcted to announce a major retirement next week. The buzz is sports anchor Len Dawson will announce his departure, but so far, no confirmation. Promos are advertising a major announcement Monday night at 10:00. There had been rumours earlier in the year about KMBC negotiating a deal with Metro Sports, which recently parted ways with KCTV. It could also bring Dave Stewart back on the air at KMBC, where he once worked. 3.13.2009 Some of you wrote asking why WDAF-TV is not on Cox Cable in Topeka anymore. KTMJ/Topeka exercised their option to block us from cable systems in the Topeka market. Previously, NewsCorp negotiated deals to extend WDAF to cable systems outside its DMA. New owner Local TV LLC. is not doing that. 3.13.2009 A new translator, K273BF, signed on at 102.5 mHz in St. Joseph. It is retransmitting KGNM's programming. 3.10.2009 KSHB News Director Rick Iler resigned today over a personnel matter at the station. A producer was briefly suspended over the same matter. 3.8.2009 Voiceover artist Brian James died last week from a heart attack at age 48. He wasn't local, but you probably knew his voice. James provided voiceovers for 101 the Fox and previously 98.9 the Rock. KDWB in Minneapolis set up a tribute page with some of his work. >>Link 3.7.2009 Due to departures, Fox 4 is shuffling the deck again. Mark Alford and Loren Halifax will anchor the noon show in addition to the morning show. Paul Herdtner will solo anchor the weekends. Dave Froehlich, Stephanie Hockridge, Leslie Carto and Megan Cloherty are back in the reporting mix five days per week. 2.28.2009 KCPT names Kliff Kuehl its new president. Kuehl comes from KNPB in Reno, NV. 2.28.2009 ThisTV will actually debut March 3 on a KCWE subchannel. Thanks to Joey Phillips for the screencap. 
2.26.2009 Steve Forman of KMAJ is the latest Cumulus casualty. The station will pipe in a syndicated show from Philadelphia in his place. Rumours are now circulating Cumulus will eliminate all of its Topeka on-air staff in favor of syndication and voice tracking from other markets. Site Update I changed the layout of the site. Hopefully there are no issues with the way it looks on your computer. I ditched the frames and the arduous mapping and created a simple new logo. The menu requires Javascript. The featured media will usually be in the green Sound Lantern player. I'm still working out some kinks and uploading sound files, so please be patient. 2.18.2009 WIBW-TV, KTWU and KTKA all ceased analog broadcasting yesterday. KSNT is acting as the Topeka market's "night light" station, continuing analog transmission until June 12. Remember that Topeka stations changed DTV allocations (now using their old analog assignments), so rescan the TV. And if you have a UHF-only setup, you will need to add a VHF antenna to receive WIBW and KTWU. 2.15.2009 KCWE will add ThisTV as a digital subchannel on March 1. ThisTV shows MGM and United Artist movies. 2.13.2009 Cumulus has been laying off a lot of people lately. KDVV's Derek Wolf, KMAJ-FM's Rose Diehl and KMAJ's Deb Goodrich are among the Topeka personalities let go. KMAJ will pick up Dave Ramsey's syndicated show. 2.12.2009 DTV update: All Kansas City stations have relented, and decided to keep their analog transmitters on to June 12. Topeka and Wichita were set for February 17. However, the FCC won't let everyone shut off early. KSNT drew the short straw in Topeka, and they will stay on until June 12. >>FCC list of station deadlines 2.4.2009 After 19 years, morning show host Dan Hurst is out at KUDL. 2.2.2009 This clip is from WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut. I think a graphic artist is looking for a new job. Site Update I'm shutting off my analog transmission too. No, not really, but I hope to ditch the current site design around February 17. Let's face it, I'm not a professional graphic designer for a reason. But I will eliminate the frames, and hopefully, make the site a little easier to read. As always, if you have something to contribute, contact me. So look for the new layout in a few weeks. 2.1.2009 Despite the likely delay in the DTV deadline, don't look for many, if any, Kansas City analog signals to stay on the air. Local TV, LLC. has told all their stations, including WDAF, that analog broadcasting will cease on Feb. 17 regardless of Congressional action. Stations are not budgeted for dual transmissions beyond that date. If you know of any stations that will potentially keep their analog signals on the air to June 12, let me know. 2.1.2009 Hearst-Argyle has reached a new deal with Sunflower Broadband, putting KMBC and KCWE back on the cable lineup. 1.26.2009 WDAF-TV's new website launched on Tuesday afternoon. The new URL is http://www.fox4kc.com. Fox 4 lost their old URL in the sale to Local TV, LLC., though it will continue to redirect for another three months. 1.26.2009 KCTV is losing most of their weekend morning show. Anchor/weekday reporter Surae Chinn and husband meteorologist Devon Lucie are leaving for Washington, D.C., where Chinn has landed a reporting job at Gannett-owned WUSA (hopefully they get the furloughs out of the way before she arrives). 1.20.2009 Along with a new program director arriving from Wisconsin, KCSP will reportedly make some on-air changes. Chris and the Cowboy move to morning drive. Dan Patrick's syndicated show will air from 9-11 in the morning. Roger Twibell moves to afternoon drive. Those changes take effect next month. 1.13.2009 99.7 the Boulevard reached a sudden dead end today, when Entercom flipped the station to Hot AC "99.7 Kiss FM." The Boulevard, which had morphed from something resembling adult alternative to your standard classic rock, lasted one year and two days. The new station is entirely syndicated at this point, with Kidd Kraddick in the morning, Ryan Seacrest during afternoon drive and Kim Iverson at night. The new call letters are KKSN. If you could hear the station (don't know the deal behind the audio problems over the last 36 hours), the format began at 3:00 with an hour of American Idol songs, leading up to Seacrest. 1.4.2009 Weekend anchor Jere Gish will leave KMBC; he is returning to his old station in Pennsylvania. Jim Flink will move back to weekends. Kris Ketz and Donna Pittman will alternate co-anchoring the last two hours of the morning show with Dion Lim. 1.1.2009 Time Warner and Viacom resolved their differences, but a few local channels did not. Sunflower Broadband dropped KMBC and KCWE from the lineup as compensation negotiations stalled. Dish Network dropped Topeka's KTKA for the same reason. 1.1.2009 On January 19th, KQTV in St. Joseph will lower their tower 200 feet and reduce analog power in preparation to move their digital signal to channel 7. 12.22.2008 You might've noticed the featured sound is being hosted by Sound Lantern. I hope to move some audio clips onto that site, which seems to maintain the sound quality much better than YouTube. You can see a couple of embedded sounds on the 104.3 page, 105.9 page and 106.5 page. 12.22.2008 With the demise of NBC Weather Plus, KSHB is transitioning to its own weather channel on its digital subchannel (42.2 digitally, 41.2 on your TV). 12.22.2008 Former KUDL and WHB morning co-host and longtime production man Chuck Hayes died earlier this month from cancer. 12.15.2008 As announced earlier, KCWE shut off its analog signal this morning. The switch occurred at the end of KMBC's morning newscast. KMBC will move its digital signal to channel 29, hence the need for an early shutdown at KCWE. 12.9.2008 Sports is not on a good streak in Kansas City. KCTV will drop Metro Sports from its nightly newscasts. Metro will continue to provide a Chiefs pregame and postgame show. KCTV does not have any plans to restart sports on their own. 12.9.2008 KMRN (1360 kHz) in Cameron, Missouri, has switched from talk to country. 12.3.2008 Longtime television news anchor Stan Carmack died last week at the age of 71. Carmack worked at KCMO-TV/KCTV for 21 years. He also had a four-year stint at KMBC, as seen in this video. >>Video 11.24.2008 The game is over for the 38 Sports Spot. KSHB and KMCI canceled the show after five years, citing economic reasons. 11.18.2008 KCWE won't wait until February. The CW affiliate will turn off its analog signal on December 15th, becoming the first DTV-only station in Kansas City (for a couple of months, anyway). 11.14.2008 27 years after the Christine Craft lawsuit, KMBC watches history repeat itself. Kelly Eckerman, Peggy Breit and Maria Antonia sued KMBC and Hearst-Argyle for age and gender discrimination. Eckerman is 48, Antonia is 49 and Breit is 54. They all cited changes to their schedules in deference to the younger females to the station, and different standards for the older males on the air. >>lawsuit (.pdf) 11.12.2008 Kelly Urich is leaving KMXV after more than ten years with the station. Urich will record a show for Sirius-XM satellite radio. 11.7.2008 Christmas music? You bet. KCKC and KUDL both flipped the switch within hours of each other. 11.7.2008 KTKA laid off several employees, including anchor Sophia (Wharton) Spencer. It appears they will cancel their morning and noon news. 11.3.2008 I updated KKWK's status to show they have changed from adult contemporary to classic hits. 10.27.2008 This is not the best time to be in radio. On the heels of Entercom's job cuts, Cumulus issued its own layoffs at the Kansas City and Topeka clusters recently. That includes Rich and Luann at KQTP, Chris Gallagher at KMAJ, Charlie Knight and Don Daniels from KCMO-FM, Moffitt and Frankie from KCFX and Dell Rice from KMJK. When Wilks Broadcasting took over the CBS/Infinity stations, they made some job cuts... could they do it again? In the newspaper world, KC Star reporters are very worried about their job security post-election. And in television, we're always worried! 10.27.2008 KMBC is broadcasting on a second digital subchannel now. The first one is weather. The second one appears to just show full screen versions of programming. 10.20.2008 KCTV transitioned to high definition newscasts this week. That leaves WDAF as the only newscast not in HD. 10.17.2008 Entercom swings the axe repeatedly at their Kansas City-area offices. Market Manager Herndon Hasty, PD Greg Bergen, sports reporter Rhonda Moss and several others are all out. The company also stopped matching 401(k) funds. 10.5.2008 Jim Welch passed away a couple of weeks ago in Phoenix. He worked in Kansas City under his real name at KMBR/KLTH, and earlier at WHB under the name Greg Austin. >>Article 10.5.2008 Admittedly, I whiffed on KSNT's owner buying KTMJ, the FOX affiliate in Topeka. That happened some time ago. Now the two stations have combined forces. KTMJ will begin a 7:00 a.m. newscast at the end of the month. Also in Topeka, KTKA has been up for sale since the summer, but so far, no buyer has come forward. 10.5.2008 I've already seen Christmas decorations sharing space with Halloween decorations. Not surprisingly, Christmas music is already on the air too. KCXL (1140 kHz) and KCTO (1160 kHz) are airing Christmas music on the weekends. KCTO also plays an hour of it at 11:00 in the morning during the week. 10.4.2008 One more change at Fox 4: Laura Thornquist has resigned. The morning-turned-weekend anchor leaves the station on October 17th. 9.30.2008 KCTV has moved to a temporary set while they install a new set for their HD broadcasts. 9.25.2008 There are changes afoot at Fox 4. Starting October 6, Mark Alford and Loren Halifax will anchor all four hours of the morning show. Paul Herdtner and Laura Thornquist move to all of the weekend shows. Dave Froehlich and Stephanie Hockridge team up to anchor the noon show. Rob Low and Heather Claybrook go back to full-time reporting. 9.22.2008 I'm experimenting with uploading clips from my aircheck collection to YouTube. Between Windows Movie Maker and YouTube itself, I'm not happy with the file compression and audio quality. But if there's interest, I'll upload more files. 9.19.2008 KCMO-FM signs up for the Tom Kent classic hits radio feed for weekends. 8.28.2008 KCTV secures the rights for the Plaza light ceremony over the next three years. 8.28.2008 KSHB's Keith King appears to be moving off the weekend anchor desk for investigative reporting duties during the week. 8.23.2008 As a journalist, you freak out momentarily when a competitor beats you to a story. I'm sure a lot of journalists felt that way as KMBC interrupted Oprah Friday afternoon to show us a Barack Obama/Evan Bayh bumper sticker printed in Lenexa. Drudge picked up on it. So did the L.A. Times. Unfortunately for KMBC, they didn't scoop the nation, instead receiving a vigorous wedgie once it became clear Joe Biden was the running mate. Remember, they interrupted a high profile program to bring us the story originally. Aaron Barnhardt had the best line: sticker shock. Around 5:00, we remembered John Kerry did the same thing in 2004. He printed stickers with multiple combinations, including Dick Gephardt. The New York Post got burned back then. We examined the font: it wasn't the same. Then medaline.com reported seeing Obama/Biden stickers in Springfield, Illinois. MSNBC started reporting Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh were out. By 6:30, the story had unraveled, and we were left with Laura Ingraham telling us the sticker looked like something a kid printed in his garage. I doubt anyone will lose their job over this, but credibility decreased dramatically. 8.17.2008 KCPT will discontinue its auctions, apparently for not generating enough revenue. The interim CEO of the public television station made this decision. 8.17.2008 As expected, both Afentra and Lazlo return to KRBZ for separate shows starting next week. 8.9.2008 KSHB debuted its new set after the Olympic opening ceremony last night. The set is from the FX group design team; it looks fairly sharp. I'm still not a fan of the thick block-lettered lower-thirds. In case you're wondering, my favorite set design is at WFXT in Boston. KCTV will reportedly start broadcasting its news in high definition in September, though these things have a way of getting pushed back into a sweeps period (November). With WDAF's new owner paying $66 million in interest each month as part of the loan they took out to buy all those FOX stations, don't look for HD anytime this decade. 7.26.2008 A new cp for 91.1 in St. Joseph takes the call letters KSJI. Good News Ministries, owner of KGNM (1270 kHz), owns this construction permit. |