August 29

Radio AM to FM: August 29, 2003

A Funny Thing

Something funny in the air ... The founders of All Comedy Radio have spent the last four years building up a library of recordings, acquiring broadcast rights, and in general fine-tuning a concept that they hope will take the country by storm: all comedy, all the time.

Certainly it's not the first time the concept has been tried on radio. KMDY in Thousand Oaks tried it in the past, as did a few other local stations scattered throughout the country. But this is the first time the idea has moved out of the planning stages and into the area of actually signing on local affiliates for a national network of stations running the format, at least on a part time basis. ACR allows stations to pick and choose when they want to run the programming: all day, weekends only, or just an hour here and there.

The founders of All Comedy Radio include Michael O'Shea (CEO), who was once Vice President of Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters; Kent Emmons (Chairman), cofounder of the former Comedy World internet comedy venture; John Storer (Executive VP), who was in sales for cable's Comedy Central; Howard Levine (Executive VP), who has been developing the business plan for ACR since 1999; and Ric Lippencott (VP), former programmer of WLS/Chicago, KYUU/San Francisco and KHTZ (now KLSX) in Los Angeles.

Instead of disc jockeys, ACR has Comedy Jocks, who will spin the CDs and do the interviews. All Comedy Radio calls it "a morning show in every daypart."

So far, three stations -- KXL/Portland, Oregon, WTTB/Vero Beach, Florida, and KLFJ/Springfield, Missouri -- have signed on; an announcement of a local Los Angeles is affiliate is expected soon ... as soon as the ink is on the paper.

Power Play

Radio Disney affiliate KDIS (1110 AM) has announced local venues for the Power Play Power Jam Concert Tour starring LaLaine.
If you are under the age of 14, LaLaine is the actress who plays Miranda on the ABC Kids/Disney Channel TV show, Lizzie McGuire (and I thought Jack LaLane was making a comeback).

Here's the schedule (all shows begin at 1 PM):

Saturday, September 6th, Westfield Shoppingtown MainPlace, 2800 North Main Street, Santa Ana.

Saturday, September 13th, Westfield Shoppingtown, 112 Plaza Drive, West Covina.

Saturday, September 20th, Westfield Shoppingtown, 6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Canoga Park.

Sunday, September 21st, Westfield Shoppingtown, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Century City.

Saturday, September 27th, Westfield Shoppingtown, 14006 Riverside Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Admission is free; for more information click over to www.radiodisney.com/kdisam1110.

More Music

Mike Dangott of Orange County wrote in to followup last week's letter regarding the (lack of) internet audio streaming of K-SURF (1260 AM): "For your reader in Mission Viejo, Music of Your Life is steaming at www.musicofyourlife.com."

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