Articles about radio
Ben And Skin Coming Back to the Radio on Monday
After waiting out a non-compete with former employers ESPN, Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade will bring their show to the 2-6 p.m. slot on The Fan, starting Monday.
Who Else Listens to National Public Radio?
Have you seen the branding campaign for KERA-FM that plays up the station’s well-rounded listeners? On billboards and inside DART trains (and probably some other outlets I haven’t spotted yet), these ads simply say that “[ing verb] [plural noun] listen to NPR.” Off the top of my head, I can recall seeing ones that mentioned “sudoku-playing linebackers,” “skydiving librarians,” and “opera-singing truck drivers.” I invite you to channel your inner Mad Man and come up with some more theoretical NPR listeners in the comments.
The Video Teaser That Doesn’t Announce Who’s Playing KXT Summer Cut
In the video above, you’ll recognize some of the faces (Hi Dirk!), maybe a voice (that’s Sean Bass?), and put faces to some of the bylines you see in the local music press. But what you won’t get is any info about who’s playing the next KXT Summer Cut concert. That’s the joke, of course. It’s cute. D’s music guru Christopher Mosley has the best line in the whole thing.
Gene and Julie Start Cooking, KKDA Lost Soul and Ron Chapman Goes Strokin’
Ron Chapman
Dallas radio started 2013 with changes to the neighborhood. KVIL’s morning team, Gene and Julie, are off the air and putting their noggins together for a new restaurant (Nancy will no doubt have deets in the days ahead).
KKDA’s R&B sound and Willis Johnson have been replaced by a Korean-format, thanks to the sale of the station. Soul 730 is more Seoul-oriented.
And former KVIL godfather-of-morning-drive Ron Chapman admitted that he stroked his way into the holidays in a hospital bed. It evidently didn’t affect his sense of humor at all.
The Texas Twang is Fixin’ to Slip Away, Y’all
Ick ick ick, I can’t believe I just typed those. The price we pay for our work.
It’s not that I’m above regional accents; far from it. I keep the New York in me mostly hidden, unless bourbon and the wrong side of midnight are involved, which now that I think about it isn’t that rare. BUT even then it’s mostly relegated to a few cauuuufees and I’m on my way. It’s an accent I pick back up every holiday season in Poughkeepsie, when my grandmother asks when I’ll be home again and I get sad and I’m forced to hang out with people named Pizzarelli and Lomuscio at local bars.
That said, KUT, Austin’s NPR station, thinks the Texas twang is on its way out:
KDGE-FM Lays Off Program Director Josh Venable
I guess I should say, KDGE-FM lays off Josh Venable again, part of a nationwide culling of staff at Clear Channel.
After Josh was laid off five years ago, he went to L.A., where he worked for another Clear Channel station, 98.7 FM, working afternoon drive. Eventually, as music director, he helped 98.7 regularly beat the venerable KROQ in the ratings. That brought him back to Dallas — to the station at which he started when he was 19 years old — in July 2011, where he took over as program director. But now he’s out (again), as the radio business continues to shrink. (I should point out that Josh is my oldest and best friend, so drawing me offsides in the comments won’t take much work.)
Cross-Dressing Ticket Host Video Bombs Gospel Group Performance On WFAA’s Daybreak
Craig Miller said he would dress as a woman for a show if the Texas Rangers ended up coughing up the division. They did, and so he did this morning. Since The Ticket’s new HQ is right across Victory Plaza from WFAA’s studio, that led to what you see below which, while almost certainly in poor taste given the nature of the group he video bombs (first appearance is around the 50 second mark), still made me laugh. I’m sorry.
Goodnight and Goodbye, Alex Burton
Before there was a Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart, Dallas had Canadian transplant Alex Burton reporting the news at midnight on then WBAP, known today as KXAS. Instead of a desk and showy set, he sat in a chair alongside a plant that he called Arthur and read from wire service copy. Sometimes he liked what he read, but we all loved the ones that didn’t meet with his approval. Those got tossed to the floor in disgust.
Eventually, Alex moved onto other media outlets, but retained his curmudgeonly charm. In 2002 he was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and years later he was named a Living Legend of North Texas Journalism by the Dallas Press Club.
Today Alex died from prostate cancer at the age of 80.
Vote For the Best Sports, Arts, and Media in Dallas
Our Best of Big D Readers’ Choice: Culture voting has begun.
Who’s the best sports star in Dallas? Who’s the best TV broadcaster? What’s the best performing arts venue? What’s Dallas’ best local landmark? Weigh in on these and other questions once a day through May 6.
Best of Big D Readers’ Choice: Culture Voting Starts Monday, April 23
We’ve got a new addition to our annual Readers’ Choice poll. This year, we’re going to ask you to vote for your favorite notable locals from the realms of sports, the arts, and the media. As with our previous rounds, you’ll be able to participate once a day on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
The poll starts Monday and will run through May 6. We’ve nominated a list of finalists in each category, but write-ins will be welcome. The winners will be noted in the August 2012 issue of D Magazine.
To get started in planning your votes, take the jump to see the list of questions to be answered on the ballot.
Denton Singer Kristy Kruger Shares Story of Her Broken Heart on This American Life
Just happened to hear the beginning of This American Life on KERA on Saturday. And I was going to post this morning about how impressed I was that Kristy Kruger, a singer-songwriter who lives in Denton and went to high school at Dallas ISD’s Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, was willing to go on a national radio program and tell what would seem to be an embarrassing tale about what she did when she just couldn’t get over a boyfriend who’d broken up with her. From the episode’s transcript (Ira Glass is the host):
lra Glass
Including phone pranks. And so Kristy explained to me that as she would drive around the country from one music gig to the next, she tried to do something that she thought would talk to that part of his personality.
Kristy Kruger
I started writing his number on bathroom walls across the United States.
Houston Drivers Get to Enjoy Country Legends
During a weekend road trip to Houston, I discovered one area in which Sweat City beats Dallas hands down: They have a classic country radio station, and we don’t. The appropriately named “Country Legends” revels in the catalogues of Willie and Waylon, Kenny and Dolly, Hank and Dwight, and other artists we all know on a first-name basis. Why can’t we get a station like that? The powers-that-be at Cumulus Radio should remember this the next time they’re ready to change the format of 93.3 FM (tick tock, tick tock).
Once we get a classic country station, we can set our sights on a classic hip-hop station. How great would it be to have a channel that played vintage Public Enemy, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul? It sure would beat the noise they play on K104 and 97.9 The Beat.
105.3 The Fan Opens Restaurant on The Ticket’s Turf
Just as Cumulus gets ready to move four of its stations — The Ticket, KLIF, i93, and The Wolf — to Victory Plaza, 105.3 The Fan decides to open a restaurant right in The Ticket’s new backyard. The 8,000-square-foot Fan Sports Lounge, located on Olive Street in Victory Park, is having its grand opening tonight. When asked about this development, Ticket management told me they have no official comment.
My question: shouldn’t The Ticket have thought of this already? When they decided to move to Victory, why didn’t they create some sort of broadcast-studio-sports-bar hybrid, where you could have a beer before a game at the AAC and watch the Ticket hosts do their show — then do the same after the game? Oops.
A Look Back at How The Ticket Handled 9/11
I didn’t listen to The Ticket the morning of 9/11. Or at least, not when everything happened. I was still in bed when both planes hit, phone ringing like crazy, and woke up in time to see the towers fall. I heard a little bit of the audio this morning on my way into work, and then I noticed that Junior Miller had posted this story on his Twitter feed, by Super Awesome Good Analysis’ Eric Celeste. Give it a read.
IM Just Saying: KDGE-FM Program Director Josh Venable
Josh Venable was officially hired as the Edge’s PD today, 18 years after he started at the station as an intern. We have a brief chat about some of that after the jump. Don’t expect too much journalism. He’s my friend and I had two beers watching the U.S. beat France.
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