RadioInsight

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Forever Gets Happy In Cumberland

Posted: 08 Mar 2016 06:00 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headli...in-cumberland/

Forever Media continues the restructuring of its recently acquired cluster
in Cumberland MD. The most recent change is AC 105.7 The River 1450
WTBO/105.7 W289BR Cumberland MD relaunching as CHR Happy 105.7. The station
is now carrying the WNCI Columbus based syndicated Dave Jimmy morning show
and programming from Westwood One including WWKL Harrisburgs Venetia in
middays, WZNS Fort Walton Beachs Hayden in afternoons and Zach Sang The
Gang at night. WTBO is the third change that has taken place since Forever
closed on the purchase of the cluster from Dix Communications. Classic Rock
Go 106.1 WKGO rebranded as Rocky 106 WRQE in early January and then Country
105.3 WFRB-FM rebranded as Big Froggy 105.3 in February. Only News/Talk 560
WFRB has remained unchanged.

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Midwest Family Buys & Donates In Eau Claire

Posted: 08 Mar 2016 05:11 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headli...in-eau-claire/

Midwest Family Broadcasting is purchasing Hot AC Mix 98.1 WISM-FM
Altoona/Eau Claire WI from iHeartMedias Aloha Stations Trust for $970,000.
In order to stay under the ownership limits in the Eau Claire market,
Midwest Family is concurrently donating Classic Hits Greatest Hits 99.9
WDRK Cornell to University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundations BluGold
Radio LLC. The donee will convert WDRK to non-commercial status upon
closing of the deal. Midwest Family intends to move WDRKs current Classic
Hits format to 98.1 when the deals close. That move will take WISM-FM out
of direct format competition with soon-to-be sister I94 94.1 WIAL. The 99.9
signal will be utilized to carry some of Wisconsin Public Radios News and
Classical Network, student programming, and UW-Eau Claires sports. Upon the
closings of the deals Midwest Family Broadcasting will operate WISM-FM,
Active Rock 92.9 The X WECL, Hot AC I94 94.1 WIAL, Country 104.5 WIXX,
Talk/Sports 790 WAYY, and Oldies 1150 WEAQ in the Eau Claire market. The
gift of a radio station from Mid-West Family Broadcasting, Eau Claire to
the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Foundation will mean expanded
educational opportunities for UW-Eau Claire students and new avenues for
university outreach to a wider audience. Mid-West Family Broadcasting and
the UW-Eau Claire Foundation announced the gift March 8. The gift includes
the radio license, transmitter, tower and related equipment for operation
of the commercial station 99.9 WDRK-FM. The approximate value of the gift
is $1 million. As a part of the community, Mid-West Family Broadcasting is
honored to work with the UW-Eau Claire Foundation to further the
universitys mission to foster students active citizenship and lifelong
inquiry, said Lynn Bieritz, general manager of Mid-West Family
Broadcasting, Eau Claire. We are very excited to see students develop their
talents and possibly enter the vibrant broadcast industry in the future. At
the same time, we are excited to announce that Mid-West Family now owns a
new radio station, 98.1 WISM. We are excited about what lies ahead — for
UW-Eau Claire, for our listeners in this market and for the future of
radio. Mid-West Family Broadcastings recent acquisition of 98.1 WISM-FM
resulted in the opportunity to transfer ownership of 99.9 WDRK-FM, ensuring
the company stays within its federally mandated limit on stations it can
own in a single market. Mid-West Family Broadcasting, Eau Claire also owns
104.5 WAXX-FM, 94.1 WIAL-FM, 92.9 WECL-FM, 790 WAYY-AM and 1150 WEAQ-AM.
The 99.9 WDRK-FM tower and transmitter are located near Bloomer. When we
were approached about this gift, we took a close look to determine how this
asset could provide value to UW-Eau Claire students and the university as a
whole, said Kimera Way, UW-Eau Claire Foundation president. We are excited
to be a part of this because the radio capacity will enable the university
to offer another avenue for student engagement and learning as well as
provide a venue where we can better tell the Blugold story. Im pleased to
be able to facilitate the addition of another resource for the universitys
benefit. When we were approached about this gift, we took a close look to
determine how this asset could provide value to UW-Eau Claire students and
the university as a whole, said Kimera Way, UW-Eau Claire Foundation
president. We are excited to be a part of this because the radio capacity
will enable the university to offer another avenue for student engagement
and learning as well as provide a venue where we can better tell the
Blugold story. Im pleased to be able to facilitate the addition of another
resource for the universitys benefit. The radio station will be owned and
operated by Blugold Radio LLC, a subsidiary of the UW-Eau Claire
Foundation. The process of transferring the station ownership to Blugold
Radio, which includes obtaining Federal Communications Commission
approvals, is expected to be completed by July 1. While 99.9 WDRK is
currently under a commercial license, Blugold Radio is applying for a
noncommercial license that will help maximize benefits from key
partnerships with UW-Eau Claire, Blugold athletics and Wisconsin Public
Radio at the outset, Way said. Way added that Blugold Radio is now working
on creating the programming format and partnerships that will allow the
station to establish a specific brand early on in its operations. The
Mid-West Family Broadcasting gift will increase options for students
through UW-Eau Claires department of communication and journalism, further
expanding the departments long tradition of providing students with
hands-on learning opportunities through class projects, student media work
experiences and internships. This gift will enable us to provide additional
high-impact applied learning for students in the journalism and integrated
strategic communication majors and minors, and our multimedia minor, said
Dr. Mary Hoffman, professor and chair of the communication and journalism
department. Students will have the opportunity to produce a wide variety of
programming, serve the community by reporting on community news and
interests, and assemble extensive portfolios to use as they seek employment
following graduation. We are most grateful for the opportunities presented
by this gift. It is Blugold Radios intent for 99.9 WDRK-FM to be the
official radio presence for Blugold athletics, Way said. Dan Schumacher,
UW-Eau Claire athletics director, said the radio station will provide an
opportunity for Blugold athletics to merge academic experiential learning
in broadcast journalism and greater coverage of NCAA Division III college
athletics. The 99.9 WDRK-FM signal will give Blugold athletics a large
radio reach in the Chippewa Valley and a great enhancement to the Blugold
sports network of digital, web, radio and TV media platforms, Schumacher
said. UW-Eau Claires current partnership with Wisconsin Public Radio, which
includes student-produced programming on 89.7 WUEC-FM, also will be
expanded as Blugold Radio takes ownership of 99.9 WDRK-FM. WPR is proposing
a plan to provide programming from its News and Classical Network for
periods of the day on 99.9 WDRK, said Dean Kallenbach, senior regional
manager for Wisconsin Public Radio who also has worked for more than a
decade with UW-Eau Claire student programmers on 89.7 WUEC-FM. Adding WDRK
as a News and Classical Network affiliate would help us fill a gap on the
signal of that network that weve been seeking to fill for two decades in
Barron County and southern Washburn County, Kallenbach said. Were very
excited at the prospect of finally providing both the News and Classical
Network and the issues-talk Ideas Network (through 88.3 WHWC-Menomonie/Eau
Claire) to listeners in Rice Lake, Chetek, Barron and other communities in
that area. Im a native of Barron County, and I know a lot of folks in that
area who will be thrilled to finally get Wisconsins version of the NPR
newsmagazines Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as midday
classical music hosted from WPR. The gift Midwest Family Broadcasting made
to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation is truly generous, Kallenbach added. It
will have the effect of being a gift to the Chippewa Valley community as a
whole, providing more options for in-depth news, cultural programming and
university outreach, while giving students the option to venture into new
areas of broadcasting. We at WPR are excited to be invited to be a
significant part of the UW-Eau Claire Foundations development of WDRK.
Mid-West Family Broadcasting, the owner of 790 WAYY and its five sister
stations, has announced it is donating one of its radio stations, 99.9
WDRK-FM, to the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Foundation. The
foundation made the announcement at a press conference this morning. The
gift is valued at about $1 million. Lynn Bieritz, general manager of
Mid-West Family Broadcasting Eau Claire, said the gift is intended to help
UWEC students and the broadcast industry itself. “As a part of the
community, we are honored to work with the University of Wisconsin, Eau
Claire to further their mission of students’ active citizenship and
lifelong inquiry. And we are very excited to see students develop their
talents, and possibly enter the vibrant broadcast industry in the future,�
Bieritz said in a written statement. The station will be owned by Blugold
Radio. Programming will be provided through a partnership between UW-Eau
Claire, Blugold Athletics, and Wisconsin Public Radio. In addition to the
gift to the foundation, Mid-West Family Broadcasting is buying another
radio station in Eau Claire, 98.1 WISM-FM, which is currently operated by
iHeart Media. That station will carry the Greatest Hits programming that is
currently heard on 99.9. Mid-West has also announced that its two
AMstations WEAQ 1150 and 790 WAYY, will soon be heard on the FM dial as
well. 790 WAYY will simulcast its sports and information programming at
105.1 FM. WEAQ (Oldies 1150) which currently only broadcasts during daytime
hours at 1150 AM, will be heard 24 hours a day at 95.9 FM. “I am excited
about what lays ahead for UWEC, our stations’ listeners, and for the
future of radio, Bieritz said. The exchange needs approval from the FCC.
The transaction is expected to be completed sometime this summer. Mid-West
Family, Eau Claire owns WAXX 104.5, I94, 92.9 The X, Greatest Hits, WAYY,
and WEAQ. Mid-West Family Broadcasting is a group of 5 separate broadcast
companies operating 43 radio stations in 8 radio markets. Each company is
locally owned by shareholder employees. This structure enables each company
to best serve its individual communities through local control and decision
making.

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KKMG Adds Brooke & Jubal For Mornings

Posted: 08 Mar 2016 05:11 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headli...-for-mornings/

Cumulus Media CHR 98.9 Magic-FM KKMG Colorado Springs becomes the fourth
station to pick up the Brooke Jubal show for mornings. Debuting this
morning, KKMG joins show flagship Movin 92.5 KQMV Seattle and Alpha Medias
Energy 94.1 KTFM San Antonio and Live 95.5 KBFF Portland in airing the
program. Brooke Jubal will replace Bobby Adan, who had been handling
mornings solo since co-host Derreck D-Rock Rusch exited in December
following an incident with management caused by a payroll error. Cumulus
Media announces that it will bring burgeoning personality-driven morning
radio show “Brooke Jubal in the Morning� to KKMG-FM/98.9 Magic FM in
Colorado Springs. The show will air weekdays from 6:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. on
98.9 Magic FM beginning Tuesday, March 8. Bobby Irwin, Operations Manager
for Cumulus Media Colorado Springs said: To borrow from a few famous
candidates, this will be huuuuge for the radio landscape in our market!Â*
The success this show has recently seen in Seattle and Portland is
profound, and with the long Magic FM tradition of big entertainment each
morning, this should be a perfect fit. Jubal Flagg, co-host of “Brooke
Jubal in the Morning� said: We are thrilled to be adding 98.9 Magic FM as
our newest affiliate. We truly believe that Brooke and Jubal in the Morning
is one of the hardest working shows out there and cant wait to get to work
making Colorado Springs laugh. Id like to personally thank Magics Program
Director Nikki Landry and Cumulus Media for their support of our show and
look forward to many years of success working with them. Flagg is a standup
comedian, radio host, television personality and comedy writer. Jubal also
writes and produces comedy bits and daily topical jokes that are used by
radio stations nationwide. Brooke has worked in morning radio for over 12
years and hosted Top 40 radio’s first all female morning drive show. Team
member Jose opened a few comedy shows for Jubal before rounding out the
cast of “Brooke Jubal in the Morning�. The show airs in four U.S. markets
and is also featured on FOX TVs Dish Nation.