Lexington, KY. ratings and updates

from Kentucky.com
January 21, 2005

HOWARD STERN IS OFF THE AIR IN CENTRAL KENTUCKY AFTER WLXO-96.1 DUMPS HIM

The Howard Stern Show was dumped from the 6-to-11 a.m. slot on WLXO-96.1 FM, the all-talk station based in Stamping Ground.

Adding to the indignity, from 6 to 9 a.m., Stern has been replaced by his arch-foe Don Imus, whose Imus in the Morning focuses more on politics and less on the sex tales Stern often features.

Imus is being followed by conservative talkers Laura Ingraham from 9 to 10 a.m. and Neal Boortz from 10 a.m. to noon.

WLXO's contract to carry Stern expires at the beginning of April, said Jim MacFarlane, market manager for LM Communications, the station's local sales arm. (WLXO is owned by Clarity Communications in Charleston, S.C.)

There seemed little point in renewing the contract, MacFarlane said. Next January, Stern makes his much-publicized jump to satellite radio, where the Federal Communications Commission won't have the authority to gag him.

"This was strictly a business decision by Clarity," MacFarlane said. "It's hard to build a morning show on the radio when your host won't be around much longer."

Ironically, when WLXO switched formats in 2002 from oldies music to talk, it began by broadcasting The Howard Stern Show 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Until recently, it still filled its weekend schedule with Stern reruns.

Imus in the Morning will continue at its old Lexington home, WLXG-1300 AM, for another week, but a new morning show will debut on the AM station after that, MacFarlane said.

from fmqb.com
January 20, 2005

Stern Targets Interviews, Loses Lexington

--snips--

from the Lexington Herald-Leader
May 31, 2002

All radio hell breaks loose

I go out of town for a week, and -- jeesh -- they kill Mark Harmon off The West Wing, they kill Kiefer Sutherland's wife off 24, Vecepia wins Survivor and Fox gears up for its latest puke-inducing offense: Bachelorettes in Alaska. But none of that compares with what's been going on in Lexington. Let's just call it ...

All radio hell breaks loose.

In the past week or so, the local radio dial has undergone format changes out the wazoo.

A recaplette:

-- The once-modern-rock Z-103 is now Z-Rock -- "pure rock" -- which means more Puddle of Mudd, Papa Roach and System of a Down mixed with Ozzy, Aerosmith and Kiss. This means less (or nothing) from poppier modern rockers like Weezer, Beck and Smashmouth. Also gone are most of the station's on-air personalities, including longtime, popular morning show hosts Freakdaddy and Sticky.

-- One of Lexington's three oldies stations, WLXO (96.1), is in the middle of a format change. Right now, it's billing itself as an "all-Howard Stern" station.

Many wonder: Is that for real?

-- Nope. It's a stunt to generate interest in the new format, which won't be revealed for another week or two. The station is owned by the Charleston, S.C.-based Clarity Communications; Lexington's LM Communications is the station's "sales arm."

Neither company is talking yet, but that won't stop me from sharing my best guess: If they're using Howard Stern as a stunt shock jock, that leads me to guess it could switch to the new FM "hot talk" format, which aims for a young, male demographic.

-- Groovin' 102.5 lost its groove and picked up an old-timey twang. The waning funk-oldies format has been dumped in favor of the burgeoning classic country format.

Let's review: the Lexington market now has three country stations (K-93, The Bull and now the classic country WLTO) and three rock stations (Double Q, Arrow 101.5 and the new Z-Rock).

Isn't this a little too much repetition? While some listeners say yes, the folks pushing the new formats say no, no, no.

Cumulus Broadcasting, which owns both Z-103 and WLTO (the former Groovin' 102.5), decided that in Lexington, it wanted to concentrate on the "meat and potatoes" of rock, talk and country, operations manager Lee Reynolds said. Cumulus already has the classic rock Arrow and the current country of The Bull, so it wanted to fill in the gaps.

Reynolds calls the stuff on Z-103 "real rock."

"We felt that (rival station) Double Q has become a classic rock station," Reynolds said. "Maybe they play a new (song) every couple of hours, but there was a massive hole. We don't go for long sets of classic rock."

That's what their promos spout. One targets Double Q by saying: "1975 called, and they want their music back."

But, as listener Rob Sarver observed: "They follow that up with Black Dog." (The Led Zeppelin classic was on the charts in 1972.)

Sarver confesses that he thinks much of the new format "sounds good," but adds, "to be honest, if I wanted to listen to Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, et al., I would switch over to Double Q or 101.5 FM."

It's a familiar refrain to the old Z morning host.

"The thing that I've heard time and time again in e-mails -- 'If we wanted to listen to Double Q, we would've,'" says Freakdaddy, whose real name is Leo Brown. "People are equating it with another station that already exists, but (the station is) trying to position themselves like they're something new. ...

"I understand that research shows that rock is appealing right now, but ... a lot of listeners are left out in the cold now. There's nowhere for them to go."

Freakdaddy noted that while a market this size can generally sustain two similarly formatted stations, it will rarely sustain three.

"I feel horrible for fans of the show," he continued. "I know we had an entertaining show, and there were legions of fans who were loyal to what we did. To throw that away is just a ridiculous mistake. But I know it's a business decision."

Freakdaddy, a Kentucky native, had been with Z-103 for nearly five years. He says he'd like to stay in the area. "Lexington has been my home since 1989, and I've been in Central Kentucky all my life."

So why did Cumulus ax two popular DJs? "They were two of the best people I've ever worked with," said Reynolds. "Unfortunately the style of their morning show was synonymous with the old Z-103. We have to make a clean break in our sound, our cadence and everything else about the station."

From 6 a.m. to midnight, Reynolds says, all the on-air talent will be live and Lexington-based. A few personalities from the old Z are staying with the station -- Suzy Boe will do middays, and Jill Jackson of the old morning show will do nights. New in the morning is Max Corona; Fish will do afternoons.

Reynolds promises that the station will remain as involved with the community -- fund-raisers, stunts and the like -- as it had been in the past. "We're not gonna give that kind of stuff up," he said.

As for giving the boot to the funk oldies of WLTO, Reynolds said: "I was really fond of that radio station. But when you think of the strategy of our five stations, it was just a matter of time before someone did classic country. Our older country listeners feel a little disenfranchised -- they weren't hearing Loretta Lynn, George Jones and Tom T. Hall on a regular basis."

--snips--

Thanks to RobK for sending these in...

evening - May 23, 2002
from allaccess.com

As hinted on ALL ACCESS, HOWARD STERN enters a new market with the addition of LM COMMUNICATIONS' WLXO (OLDIES 96.1)/LEXINGTON, KY, which is flipping from Oldies to Talk. The station is stunting with an all-STERN format until the rest of the schedule is in place. The flip is one of three in the market in a week- CUMULUS flipped WLTO from Urban Oldies to Classic Country as "U.S. 102.5" last THURSDAY and is adjusting WXZZ (Z103) from Alternative to Active Rock.

This was originally posted at http://www.wgks.com/WLXO/Index.htm on May 23, 2002.

ALL HOWARD RADIO DEBUTS IN LEXINGTON

CLARITY COMMUNICATIONS WHO OPERATES WLXO 96.1 FM IN LEXINGTON TODAY MADE WHAT IS BEING DESCRIBED AS "ONE OF THE BOLDEST MOVES IN RADIO" UNVEILED ALL HOWARD 96.1FM.  NATIONAL MEDIA STAR, HOWARD STERN WILL AIR HIS DAILY RADIO SHOW LIVE ON LEXINGTON’S 96.1FM, MONDAY - FRIDAY MORNINGS FROM 6AM - 11AM.  HOWARD 96.1FM WILL REBROADCAST THAT DAY’S SHOW ALONG WITH "BEST OF SEGMENTS" FROM THE PAST WEEK THROUGHOUT THE DAY MAKING 96.1 FM THE FIRST ALL HOWARD RADIO STATION IN THE WORLD.

ACCORDING TO CLARITY PRESIDENT CHARLES COHN "THE MOST FAMOUS RADIO PERSONALITY IN THE WORLD TODAY, HOWARD STERN CREATES A RADIO EXPERIENCE LIKE NO OTHER!"  "HOWARD DOESN’T HAVE LISTENERS, HE INSPIRES "STERN" FOLLOWERS.  HOWARD’S LEGIONS OF FANS RANGE FROM BANK PRESIDENTS TO HOURLY EMPLOYEES, FROM SURGEONS TO POLICEMEN.  STERN’S APPEAL KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES!"  COHN WENT ON TO SAY, "HOWARD STERN IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP IN THE EVOLUTION OF WLXO-FM WE HAVE MORE SURPRISES IN THE WORKS".

CLARITY WANTED WLXO-FM TO BE THE FIRST STATION IN THE NATION TO CREATE ALL HOWARD RADIO.  HOWARD IS THE ULTIMATE DEFINITION OF FOREGROUND RADIO.  WHEN HOWARD TALKS, MEN TURN OFF THEIR ELECTRIC RAZORS AND WOMEN STOP BLOW-DRYING THEIR HAIR.  HOWARD STERN IS RIVETING.  NOW HOWARD STERN CAN BE HEARD THROUGHOUT THE DAY ON 96.1 FM

 CLARITY HAS OWNED WLXO-FM SINCE IT WAS PURCHASED FROM BLUE CHIP BROADCASTING IN THE SUMMER OF 2001 AND IS THE ONLY STATION IT OWNS AND OPERATES IN THE LEXINGTON MARKET.

MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:  CHARLIE COHN (xxx) xxx-xxxx

Updated: 21-January-2005

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