Headlines

Hubbard's WWFD (820-AM) "The Gamut" in Washington, DC has turned off its analog signal and is now all digital. The station has turned to a partnership with HD Radio to broadcast in digital (the format is a music station playing "A to Z and everything in between"). PD and station engineer Dave Kolesar says AM needs to start trending in this direction.

On Monday, Entercom relaunched Fresh 102.7 as NEW 102.7 FM in New York. The station (WNEW), will remain a Hot AC format. Additional announcements regarding the new programming lineup will be made shortly.

Listeners from Hubbard's “Real Rock Radio” KSHE-95 FM in St. Louis turned out in large numbers for one of the nation’s largest and longest running blood drives - the 34th Annual KSHE Summer Blood Drive, held July 6th and 7th. More than 2,000 donors participated in the two-day event, held in nine locations across the St. Louis metropolitan region.

Our thanks to Rod Schwartz for introducing us to Dr. James DeVleming, an optometrist in Pullman, WA. DeVleming has been doing a series of informational features called "Ask Dr. DeVleming" on a daily basis for over 20 years now. Those features have helped DeVleming establish himself as the eye care authority in town. As you can hear in this sample, he rarely says "Come see me." His approach to marketing is to: "Talk to your eye care professional," a very counter-intuitive, and effective, way to advertise. Our weekly advertiser success stories are sponsored by Sun & Fun Media.

(By Randy Lane) I was a new PD at Q101 in Chicago in the early ‘80s when I noticed a strange phenomenon. At 3 p.m. all of the radios in the offices switched over to (competitor) WLS-FM to hear Steve and Garry. What was going on with Steve Dahl and Garry Meir to attract so much attention?

(By John Garziglia) With a further relaxation of radio ownership rules, an existing local broadcaster will be put into the position of either being bought out by a large radio group, or watching as its competition is bought out and then competing against a national group that owns all of the other radio stations in the market. Unfettered ownership may help large radio groups compete with Google and Facebook, but to the extent smaller broadcasters do not sell out, it will decimate them.

(By Bob McCurdy) I was speaking last week with a client whom I had not previously met, and right after the introduction pleasantries, her first question was, “OK, so tell me something I don’t know.” We ended up having a productive conversation and I believe, at the end, she bought into the fact that she was not speaking with a chipmunk.

Federal judges in Los Angeles and New York have ruled that Ed Stolz, owner of KFRH-FM, KREV-FM, and KRCK-FM in California, must pay ASCAP $1.5 million in license fees, costs, attorneys’ fees and statutory damages. ASCAP says Stolz failed to pay ASCAP license fees over several years.

The third annual Hubbard Radio Talent Institute starts this afternoon at Central Washington University with Hubbard CEO Ginny Morris taking the opening session. “Compelling and relatable on-air talent is what separates local radio from all other audio entertainment services. Our investment in the National Radio Talent System at Central Washington University is an extension of Hubbard Radio’s commitment to do our part to nurture and grow the talent pipeline for the industry."

(By Ronald Robinson) Sometimes, especially when the whining from radio’s ownership and management cranks up an extra 10 dB while taking on the tonality of a horse dentist’s drill, radio’s workforce gets ever more agitated and twitchy. Some are slipping fast, going berserk on occasion — without notice.