KABL Returning On The Air, Everywhere?

The following was buried deep in a Contra Costa Times article on Sunday about KABL's "largely AARP-aged audience" — their quote, not mine — lamenting the loss of the station:

KABL has disappeared previously from the airwaves, only to resurface in a different location on the dial, and [former KABL program director Clark Reid] says the station is poised yet again to pull a similar phoenix act.

Details are still being worked out, and Reid declined to go into specifics until everything is official, but he said it looks like the KABL format will be broadcast for part of the day on a Bay Area-wide station, starting soon. The music will be back, but the DJs won't -- except (Jim) Lange, who will be earning money for his green fees by recording some of the "liners" played during breaks between songs.

In the meantime, the Internet savvy can still get the music at kablradio.com. The station is also making a foray into Web radio, gadgets that plug directly into the phone or DSL line, and will allow listeners to get KABL without a computer.

The devices are now used mostly to broadcast online church services to shut-ins and aren't available yet in stores, Reid said. But the station is negotiating with a Netherlands-based company to buy them in bulk and sell them to KABL listeners. They deliberately went for a simple, easy-to-use device to appeal to the tech-leery older generation, he said.

Radio Dots & Dashes — Alas, but KGO's Ronn Owens won't be among those inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame this year. Owens was nominated along with Scott Shannon, Ron Chapman and Marty Brennaman in the "Local or Regional - Active" category. Brennaman, the play-by-play voice of the Cincinnati Reds, received the honor, along with Abbott & Costello, Ann Compton, Myron Cope and Jean Shepherd. The induction ceremony will take place on November 5 at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel. Owens is undoubtedly a mortal lock to make the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, however...

The Radio Business Report notes in today's edition that Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin may be looking to peddle an edited version of the Howard Stern's daily program to terrestrial stations after King Of All Media moves to satellite. The so-called "Stern Lite" show, which would have most of the good parts surgically removed, might be offered as part of a Karmazin effort to acquire a group of land-based radio stations, or offered directly to individual stations in major markets.

Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller, 86, an Indiana farmboy who passed up getting an education in favor of turning pro at age 17, got himself into a Kruegeresque mess last week by claiming "a lot of these players coming from the Caribbean, they don't even know the rules" during a live interview on KFNS/Cleveland.

When asked to clarify his views, Feller — who is noted in a recent Sports Illustrated profile as being a devoted fan of radio comedian Rush Limbaugh — became agitated, telling interviewer Mike Claiborne, "Let me tell you something, if you don't be quiet I'm going to cut this off."

Claiborne responded, "You can cut it off right now, as far as I'm concerned, you racist," at which point Feller hung up.

Attempting to prove that he is not a racist, Feller used the offensive term "boy" in a follow-up newspaper interview, in which he also tried to soften the context of his original remarks.

"I said some of the boys from the Caribbean area don't know the rules quite so well," said Feller. "He said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'Well, they don't know the ground rules and they don't know some of the fundamentals, but they're learning them.' He kept harping about 'What rules don't they know?' And I said, 'The entire rule book is something that they just don't know, that they should know.'"