More silliness from "Cheap" Channel

TMW reported last week on the flipping of KISS-fm to “The All New 105-7 Hit Music Now.’’ Local Clear Channel executive Kim Pyle also fed a load of bull to the News & Record on the format change:

“This is not a drop from Clear Channel on high,’’ said Kim Pyle, the vice president and market manager for the four stations. “This is being done locally so we can be nimble, agile and react to the needs of the listeners in the marketplace. This is for Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point.’’

If you believe that, I have a tunnel (complete with toll booths) to sell you.

Consider this...on the same day this happened here in Greensboro, in another larger urban market (Chicago...my hometown) where Cheap Channel...err, Clear Channel has a lock on the radio dial, long-time smooth jazz outlet WNUA folded after 22 years. The home of the locally-produced Ramsey Lewis morning show, Clear Channel fired Lewis and replaced the station's format with Spanish hot adult contemporary.

Chicago apparently went nuts over the weekend, primarily because of what CC did to destroy this station over the past few years. And they succeeded. I remember the day WNUA went on the air...I was in high school, during study hall and was fascinated at the music I heard through my "walkman" one day.

The interesting tidbit is this...a "low-powered" station picked up the former smooth jazz format way at the low end of the dial (87.7FM) and is rebroadcasting it under the "Smooth Jazz" network. The rebroadcast is being provided by Broadcast Architecture...which is owned by you guessed it...Clear Channel. (Hat-tip to Phil Rosenthal at the Chicago Tribune for the good blog coverage on this one...RadioInfo.com has also had a good conversation on this one, Chicago clearly does not trust CC...I can't blame them)

I mean, you just don't fire Ramsey Lewis and get away with it.

Back to the Triad...and another thing to chew on with this 105.7...WKZL also uses the "Hit Music Now" in some of their promos in between songs...I wonder when 105.7 will be forced to change the moniker because of this.

E.C. :)