News Archive: January 2007
January 2, 2007
As had been rumored, 106.9 Bob FM (KCTY-FM) in Omaha dropped Variety Hits at 3 PM Central on 12/29/2006 to become Rhythmic CHR as Power 106.9. The old Bob FM Omaha site claims that "Bob has retired."
As for the future of the format in Omaha, NRG Media VP of Programming Mark Todd reportedly said that the Bob format was not resonating well with listeners there. So, for now, Variety Hits is gone in Omaha.
January 8, 2007
Variety Hits is gone from Columbus, OH, as WTDA (Ted 103.9 FM) dropped the format following a 26 month run and flipped to Talk/Sports as 103.9 WTDA Talk FM. The station retained syndicated Bob & Tom for morning drive (with the curious segue of B&T into Glenn Beck.)
January 9, 2007
JACK-FM makes its debut in the United Kingdom in March in Oxford, according to this article from the BBC. The write-up talks at length about Jack in the United States, though strangely it ignores Canada. Jack FM will air on 106.8 and 106.4 (not a typo; for those not in the know, they allow even-numbered decimals on the FM dial in the UK.)
Variety Hits debuted last week (according to All Access) in Erie, PA, as Connoisseur Media's flipped Oldies-formatted Froggy 94.7 (WFGO) to VH as Bob 94.7 on January 5. In a trend that is becoming more and more prevalent nationwide, Oldies moved to AM 1330 WFNN, which had been sports as 1330 The Fan. That station is now known as Froggy 1330.
January 17, 2007
Congratulations to KCBS-FM/Los Angeles VP/Programming Kevin Weatherly, who signed a contract extension with CBS Radio, according to All Access.
January 18, 2007
Entercom and Bonneville announced today that they are performing a station swap involving stations in Seattle, Cincinnati, and San Francisco. One Variety Hits station involved is Bonneville's KMAX-FM, which Entercom is obtaining in the trade. Entercom has the Variety Hits format on in a few markets, including Boston, MA; Portland, OR; Madison, WI; Greensboro, NC; and Rochester, NY.
January 19, 2007
Marty Linck, formerly the Program Director at WVRV in St. Louis, has been named the new Program Director at WCJK/Nashville (96.3 Jack FM), effective 2/12/2007.
January 23, 2007
A major change has gone down in Washington, DC, where Bonneville classical music outlet 104.1 WGMS (and its simulcast on 103.9 WGYS) dropped the format to become Variety Hits as George 104 on Monday, 1/22/2007. The Classical format, which moved from its longtime home on 103.5 FM in DC in January 2006 to the 103.9/104.1 simulcast, re-emerged on 90.9 WETA, which will put the WGMS call letters on simulcast 89.1 WETH once the FCC processes the paperwork (104.1 FM will become WXGG.)
Joel Folger let me know that the flip of Froggy 94.7 (WXBB) to Bob 94.7 in Erie, PA happened at 5 PM on January 5, 2007. Joel, who is working as a consultant for the new Bob FM station, is one of the leading consultants in the genre, and he has been particularly active with many of the recent Bob FM sign-ons of the past year.
January 27, 2007
A new Bob FM flip that I missed during my recent trip to Los Angeles happened in Wichita Falls, TX, where Oldies 100.9 KIXC became KWFB (presumably standing for "Wichita Falls Bob") and went Variety Hits as 100.9 Bob FM on Friday, January 12, 2007. A source at the station tells me that it is heard on 105.5 FM in Wichita Falls and Lawton, OK by way of translators, with its main signal on 100.9 FM serving "Vernon, Altus, Childress, Seymour, Quanah and the surrounding areas."
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