Airwaves: October 28
On Replacing Stern ...
Since Howard Stern made the announcement that he was leaving traditional
radio for the fun-filled (and uncensored) world of Sirius Satellite Radio,
speculation has centered on who would replace him on his current stations.
Which to me was always an odd question, considering the fact that Stern is syndicated
to individual stations rather than being part of a network. And it is Stern himself
who is syndicated, not the actual morning show. So a "replacement" is
little more than wishful thinking for Stern syndicator Infinity Broadcasting,
other than in areas where Infinity owns the station currently carrying Stern
and can force the programmer to accept whatever replacement they have in mind.
That being said, Infinity has announced that Stern's replacement will be ... Adam
Carolla and David Lee Roth. And others.
But not together.
According to AllAccess.com, former Van Halen leader Roth will be
heard in New York, Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and West
Palm Beach. Carolla will be found on KLSX (97.1 FM) as well as stations
in San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Portland, ad Las Vegas.
Interestingly, the current station carrying Stern in San Francisco isn't the
station that will air Carolla. "Live 105" has decided to move to a
music-intensive morning show, and Carolla will air on a new FM talker, KIFR.
Other current Stern stations will be offering a variety of replacements once
Stern leaves.
Stern's last live show for Infinity will be December 16th; Carolla and Roth will
begin their on-air duties January 3rd.
In a related move, Infinity has rebranded their FM talk format stations effective
immediately. KLSX will henceforth be known as Free FM, and the same moniker
can be found in San Francisco, Dallas, San Diego, Chicago, Washington, Detroit,
and Philadelphia. The San Diego station was formerly known as "The Planet" KPLN (103.9
FM), and moved from classic rock to an all-talk format beginning October 25th.
All Springsteen All the Time
In other Sirius news, the satcaster has announced plans for the launch of "E
Street Radio" on November 1st, an all-Bruce Springsteen channel.
The launch coincides with the 30th anniversary of Springsteen's classic album, Born
to Run, which I understand is in the process of being remastered and reissued.
The channel will feature album discussions, behind the scenes information, conversations
with band members, and rare recordings dating back to 1973.
The channel is set to run through January 31st, 2006.
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Copyright © 2005 Richard Wagoner and The Copley Press.
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