Radio Dots & Dashes (Nov. 22 Edition)

Fledgling Bay Area progressive talker KQKE/960 ("The Quake") is expected to announce shortly that it will shake up its morning show,
giving the job to comedian Will Durst (photo, right) and former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, who will be joined by longtime local radio hero Paul Wells (a/k/a "Lobster").

The live program will replace the syndicated Jerry Springer morning program on The Quake the first week of January 2006.

BRUNO BACK ON TICKET ... ER, "KNBR/1050" — After some clamoring from listeners, KNBR/1050 (legally KTCT in San Mateo, as if that makes any difference any more) has brought back Tony Bruno via satellite for mornings. Formerly with Fox Sports Radio, Bruno is the linchpin of the morning show at The Ticket 1540 (KMPC) in Los Angeles, which is syndicated nationwide by Sporting News Radio.

Bruno will also continue to appear regularly with Gary Radnich on big sister KNBR/680.

DOGHOUSE HEADING TO BIG APPLE? — Unconfirmed by CBS/Infinity, but sounding like it's a done deal, serial rumor-mongers J.V. and Elvis (a/k/a "The Doghouse") announced to their 106.9 Free FM (KIFR) audience that they're on the way to WXRK/New York (K-Rock), which will also become a "Free FM" once Howard Stern vacates the premises.

The Dogs have been keeping Adam Carolla's seat warm temporarily — at least in San Francisco — until the former "Man Show" host debuts on a handful of West Coast stations after the new year. Formerly with Wild 94.9 (KYLD) here before being famously fired, J.V. and Elvis will allegedly take over the midday gig, following David Lee Roth, at K-Rock, according to a report in Radio & Records.

WHO, WHAT AND WHERE — The fabled KJAZ call letters, once signifying the illustrious Alameda jazz station founded by Pat Henry, which ran from 1959 until 1995, now belong to a country station — that's right, a country music station called KJAZ — in Thorndale, Texas. Whatever. ... Beloved radio god and talented cartoonist Bobby Ocean (ex-KKIS, KFRC and K-101 locally) is plying the satellite skywaves on XM Radio's "The 70s" (XM 7). Osh can also be heard as the imaging voice on countless stations across this great nation...

Mike Amatori, superstar production director at KGO/810 and KSFO/560, has added a Crystal Award Of Excellence in the Communicator Awards audio competition for his "Gene and The Jackass" promo. He also picked up an honorable mention for a piece entitled "Gene and Emeril," promoting the Gene Burns "Dining Around" program on KGO. By unofficial count, that's five Addys, one National IBOC promo win, two Silver Mics and one Communicator for the talented Mr. Mike...

Apropos of nothing, the U.S. Postal Service is raising the price of a First Class postage stamp to 39 cents in January, and who better to honor with a commemorative stamp of that denomination than the man who made being 39 years old trendy -- Jack Benny. An online petition is being circulated on the International Jack Benny Fan Club website.

With Kevin The Rat (nom de radieux of Kevin Radich) moving on from the Rise Guys morning show on KHTK/1140 in Sacramento, an opportunity has opened up for former A's and Giants scrub and KNBR fill-in guy F.P. Santangelo, who has signed a two-year pact with the capitol city's mighty sports flamethrower. Look for Radich to rebound in the Bay Area, where he has extensive roots.

Another New 50,000 Watt Bay Area AM Station

According to today's Daily Digest, the FCC has approved KNTS/1220's construction permit to boost its power to 50,000 watts day and night:

KNTS Construction Permit Authorization

The transmitter site will be near the end of West Winton Avenue in Hayward, along the Bay shore north of the San Mateo Bridge approach. (This site is also listed in the construction permit for KFAX/1100's new site; KFAX and KNTS are co-owned by Salem.)

The new KNTS site is north of KFAX's current transmitter site, and south of KTCT/1050's current site, which are both referenced in the new construction permit:

Prior to construction of the tower authorized herein, permittee shall notify AM Station KTCT and KFAX so that, if necessary that AM station: may determine operating power by a method described in Section 73.51(a)(1) or (d), and/or request temporary authority from the Commission in Washington, D.C. to operate with parameters at variance in order to maintain monitoring point field strengths within authorized limits. Permittee shall be responsible for installation and continued maintenance of detuning apparatus necessary to prevent adverse effects upon the radiation pattern of the AM station.

KNTS began its life in 1949 as the 250-watt Palo Alto daytimer known as KIBE. It became KDFC in 1984, KBPA in 1997, KBZS in 1999, KSFB in 2001 and KNTS in 2004. It currently broadcasts with 5000 watts during daytime and a mighty 147 watts at night, and will remain licensed to Palo Alto despite its new transmitter plant on the eastern shore.

DOTS & DASHES — Hopefully unrelated, Part One: the Oakland A's are still looking for a warm body to fill the second seat alongside newly-minted #1 voice Ken Korach. Part Two: the St. Louis Cardinals have dismissed the underwhelming Wayne Hagin as their #1 radio voice, meaning he'll be sending out his tape to prospective employers. Note to the A's: you could do no better than giving Doug Greenwald (son of Hank) his first big-league job...

Here's another clue for you all: in the guessing game about where the A's radiocasts will be heard next season, my $1 bet has been on CBS/Infinity's KYCY/1550, perhaps in combination with co-owned KIFR/106.9. Making me feel better about going so far out on a limb with my hard-earned cash is the announcement that Marty Lurie will be hosting "Inside Baseball: The Winter Edition" on KYCY beginning next Friday (Nov. 25). Lurie, who had previously hosted "Right Off The Bat" and "Memories Of The Game" before A's broadcasts on dearly departed 610/KFRC, will have both Korach and Shooty Babbitt as regular guests on the new show...

Ralph Edwards, who began his radio career at Oakland's KROW in 1929 when he was only 16 years old, died on November 16 in West Hollywood at the age of 92. Mr. Edwards returned to KROW after graduating from Cal and went on to work as an announcer, writer and producer at KFRC in San Francisco. In a broadcasting career that spanned seventy years, he became a network radio announcer for both NBC and CBS in New York, and created the landmark game show "Truth or Consequences" in 1940. The program, which began on radio and later migrated successfully to television, was the first in a string of popular shows Mr. Edwards launched, including "This Is Your Life," "Name That Tune," "Superior Court" and "The People's Court."

Radio Dots & Dashes (Nov. 10 Edition)

NEW LIVE 105 MORNING TEAM — Robert Feder, famed media columnist of the Chicago Sun-Times, noted in today's edition that Jeff "Woody" Fife, Tony Mott and Renae Ravey, the former afternoon trio at alternative rocker WKQX-FM in the Windy City will replace Howard Stern's morning show on Live 105 (KITS/105.3). Radio & Records adds that the new team will debut at Live 105 on January 2, 2006.

This puts a small (but not fatal) dent in the rumor that The Doghouse might shift to co-owned Alice@97.3 (KLLC) from newbie Talker 106.9 FreeFM (KIFR), where they have been on a test drive, with current Alice morning duo Sarah & No Name moving to Live 105.

One more added ingredient in the equation: Chris Mays, who was rumored to be heading from Adult Rock KMTT/Seattle ("The Mountain") to become program director at Alice, has reportedly now accepted the position and will begin remodeling the the old girl post haste. She started as program director at KMTT in May 1990, and rose to station manager, vice president/general manager and director of operations during her tenure in Coffeetown...

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES — Ron Reynolds, recently retired after fifty years in local radio (KEWB, KNEW, KNBR, KCBS), and his wife, psychotherapist Denny Reynolds, are completing work on their second book together, "The Art of Relationship: The New Perspective," the follow-up to their "The New Perspective: Ten Tools for Self-Transformation," currently available from Amazon.com. Book number three is already in the works...

I WANNA BE ELECTED — Among the candidates that emerged victorious in the November 8 elections: KCBS/740 news reporter Ron Naso, who won one of three seats on the Kentfield Fire Protection District board. Naso finished third in the voting with 19.16% of the votes cast to gain the seat...

IN SPORTS... — The Oakland A's have signed Ken Korach as their #1 play-by-play guy, following the death of Bill King. Korach, entering his eleventh season in the A's broadcast booth, gets a four-year deal. No word yet on who will replace Korach in the second seat (along with analyst Ray Fosse) or what Bay Area station will be the flagship for the A's radio network in 2006. (You want my guess? I'll give it to you anyway: KYCY/1550 and KIFR/106.9 in tandem. Great way for CBS/Infinity to attract listeners to these fledgling stations.)

Speaking of which: ISP Sports and KYCY/1550 (KYOUradio) have announced a one-year agreement to air University of California men's basketball on the 10,000-watt CBS station this season. Roxy Bernstein will handle play-by-play and host a twenty-minute pregame show, working his ninth season as the voice of Cal Bears men's hoops. A half-hour postgame show will be hosted by Dave Rosselli. The first Cal broadcast on KYCY, which has been known more recently for its All Podcasts format, will be the team's NCAA season opener on Friday, November 18, at Eastern Michigan...

Kevin Radich, known around these parts as "Kevin The Rat," had been part of the "Rise Guys" morning team at Sacramento's KHTK/1140 for the past few years, but will work his last shift there on Friday (Nov. 11). He's decided to give it up to find a job in the Bay Area, where his wife, Kim Wonderley, is the morning traffic anchor at KCBS/740. Radich broke into radio here a decade ago by winning an on-air audition to work with M. Dung at KFOG (not KRQR as I mistakenly wrote earlier).