Bonneville Trades S.F. Stations To Entercom

According to a breaking bulletin in Radio & Records, Bonneville International and Entercom have executed a multi-city, multi-station swap that will move KOIT-FM (96.5), KDFC (102.1) and KMAX (95.7) into Entercom's stable.

Bonneville will gain KIRO, KBSG and KTTH in Seattle and WKRQ, WSWD, WUBE and WYGY from Entercom in exchange for the San Francisco cluster, the report claims. R&R also notes that both ownership groups will be seeking a time brokerage pact (LMA) to operate their new stations by the end of this quarter, and are hoping to close on the deal by the end of 2007.

"We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of this terrific group of stations in San Francisco, one of America's greatest markets," Entercom president and CEO David J. Field said in a press release quoted by R&R. "[T]he opportunity to enter the fourth largest market with a station group led by KOIT, one of America's strongest radio brands, was incredibly compelling."

The press release also notes "KOIT is an award-winning Adult Contemporary station, a perennial market ratings leader and one of the nation's most respected radio brands. KDFC is one of the nation's leading Classical stations while KMAX is a newly formatted station that debuted an Eclectic Hits format in 2006."

ADDENDA: In the original bulletin from Radio & Records, no mention was made of Bonneville's KOIT/1260. The report was updated to include the following: "The company [Bonneville] will be keeping its KOIT-AM (1260), which is a simulcast of KOIT-FM. Not word yet on what will become of KOIT-AM's format."

RIP: KEWB's Mark Foster

All Access reported this morning that former KEWB/Channel 91 afternoon drive star Mark Foster has passed away from cancer in Kansas City. He was 80.

Mr. Foster had also worked on the air in Dallas, Boston, Atlanta and Kansas City, where he later founded Madison Group Audio-Visual Productions.

His family has requested memorial contributions in Mr. Foster's name to either St. Luke's Hospice, 3100 Broadway, Kansas City, MO 64111 or the Kansas City Cancer Society, 4320 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO 64111.

You may sign his memorial guestbook online at Legacy.com.

ERECTUS-FEST '07 -- The benefit concert to help raise funds to pay the medical bills of KOME's legendary Dennis Erectus will take place Friday night (January 12) at the Avalon nightclub, 777 Lawrence Expressway in Santa Clara.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.), and will feature the historic Southbay bands Syndicate of Sound ("Little Girl") and The Count Five ("Psychotic Reaction"), plus the AC/DC tribute band Long Time Bon and other local musicians. A silent auction, including wines and rock memorabilia, will be held concurrently with the concert.

Greg Kihn and Chris Jackson of 98.5/KFOX will emcee the event. Tickets are priced at $40, with every last penny going straight to assist the mighty Erectus.

If you can't attend, make out a check to Dennis Erectus for a few bucks and send it off to KBAY Radio, Attn: Jona Denz-Hamilton, 190 Park Center Plaza #200, San Jose, CA 95113.

More information is available at www.KOME.us.

Radio Legend Ron Lyons Ailing

Len Shapiro let me know this morning that Ron Lyons (KEWB, KNEW, KNBR, KCBS, etc.) is recovering from surgery after being diagnosed recently with cancer.

From the KCBS website:

Several weeks ago, long-time KCBS traffic anchor Ron Lyons was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent emergency surgery last week and is recovering well. The family says he is antsy to get out of his hospital room and return home.

Cards and letters to:

Ron Lyons
P.O. Box 296
Gold Beach, OR 97444

Ron's website is at RonLyonsRadio.com.

Photo: Ron Lyons at KNBR, 1965. (Courtesy of Ron Lyons.)

KNTS Towers On Shaky Landfill?

Matt O'Brien reports in this morning's gaggle of local ANG Newspapers (Hayward Daily Review, Fremont Argus, et al.) that a group of concerned citizens are raising a stink about Salem Communications' plan to plant four 200-foot transmitter towers on the site of the former Russell City trash dump in Hayward.

The dump, which was used from the 1930s through 1974 according to the article, is the planned site of a new transmitter plant for Salem's KNTS/1220, which has received the FCC's go-ahead to boost its power from 5,000 to 50,000 watts at the new location.

KNTS currently transmits its schedule of right-wing talk programs from a single tower in East Palo Alto, in the swamps near the Dumbarton Bridge. The present KNTS site dates back to the late 1940s, where it began life as the ancestral home of Millard Kibbe's KIBE.

The main concern with the new Hayward location is that the towers would stand on the old dump, which was capped with clay, and the construction of the towers could expose some of the long-buried waste material.

"I am really disturbed about it because it's on a landfill," Janice Delfino, a member of the citizens advisory committee to the Hayward Area Shoreline Planning Agency, told O'Brien. "I don't know how the city could even think of allowing this kind of operation."

Considering how many new homes have been built on landfill around the Bay over the last few years, and keeping in mind how much engineering goes into the construction of a radio antenna farm, I'm thinking that there are numerous more significant issues that the good people of Hayward should be concentrating their energies on instead of this.