Radio Dots & Dashes (June 20 Edition)

Prior to moving to its KPIG simulcast under new ownership, Piedmont's KMZT/1510 switched to a Sinatra-heavy — and I mean heavy — Adult Standards format on Saturday (June 18), mirroring outgoing owner Saul R. Levine's Southern California stations which also dropped Oldies. The guessers say the KPIG simulcast may start on July 1 ... Our old friend Alice@97.3 (KLLC) has gotten younger and hotter-sounding over the past week, leaving her Lilith-era sound a distant memory. The new sound, still aiming to be female-friendly, is emphasizing upbeat current hits with plenty of Gwen Stefani and Madonna. Word is that Infinity's corporate programmer from St. Louis is making the decisions for Alice right now. (A tip of the hat to atwaterkent for the info) ...

Viacom announced on June 14 that it will be splitting its company in two, bringing back the CBS corporate brand for its legacy broadcasting division, meaning that the Infinity name will be retired from the radio side of the business. The Viacom group of cable/satellite networks (including MTV and Nickolodeon) will retain the Viacom name as a separate entity ... Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper turned 55 on Sunday, and celebrated with cheesecake in the radio booth at Comerica Park in Detroit ... Speaking of KMZT/1510, which began life as KTIM in San Rafael back in 1946, the station has been through enough call letter changes in the last 20 years that it could fill a book, after being KTIM from 1946 to 1988:

* KCAF (July 1988)
* KTID (May 1989)
* KAPX (November 1990)
* KTID (again, November 1992)
* KKHI (October 1994, after Westinghouse bought 1550)
* KNOB (April 1995)
* KKHI (again, February 1997)
* KJQI (December 1998)
* KMZT (February 2000)
* KJQI (again, March 2001)
* KJAZ (March 2002)
* KTIM (again, August 2002)
* KMZT (again, August 2003)

That's 13 call letter changes, with recycling of KKHI, KJAZ, KTID, KMZT and KJQI -- plus their own original KTIM -- with another change coming when the station becomes KPIG-By-The-Bay.