Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993 TAG: 9305040399
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELANIE HATTER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WFIR (960 AM), Roanoke's all news and talk-show station, may have missed the wave, but its operations manager doesn't seem worried.
WROV (1240 AM), which airs satellite-delivered oldies music and sports programming, picked up the Larry King afternoon talk show, instead of WFIR. WROV-AM began airing King's program April 6 on weekdays from 3-6 p.m.
Mike Slenski, WROV's vice president and general manager, said that with the national success of Rush Limbaugh, his station decided to give the talk show format a try.
Slenski said there had been a drop in the AM's afternoon ratings, and that "maybe this is what the doctor ordered."
In February, David Weil, owner of WROV AM-FM, signed a contract to buy Lynchburg stations WXYU and WJJS (101.7 FM). WROV expects to have full control of the Lynchburg stations by mid-May, Slenski said. WXYU's (1320 AM) programming in Lynchburg has made changes to coincide with WROV-AM. WXYU started airing King's show April 5.
Bill Bratton, operations manager at WFIR, had said the station wanted to wait to see if King's new daytime show was a success before tuning him in.
After 15 years of overnight radio, King moved to days, hot on the heels of Limbaugh's success with his noon-to-3 p.m. show. King debuted in February with his afternoon show on more than 200 stations.
In other radio news:
Now that Limbaugh has reached a ratings peak, he wants to get paid, in cash, from stations airing his show. According to the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte's WBT (1110 AM) is paying $45,000 a year to keep him.
Bratton has no doubts that whatever his price to WFIR, "we're gonna keep Rush. He's obviously a major part of our format."
Instead of paying a flat fee, WFIR and the other 569 stations in Limbaugh's network give up about half of their advertising time so his show can sell to national sponsors.
The station's general manager, Terry Gibbons met with Lee Vanden-Handel, director of affiliates of EFM Media, which syndicates Limbaugh, but wouldn't say how much WFIR is paying.
"I got my deal and had to work it the way I worked it," Gibbons said. "I'll have Rush as long as Rush is on the air."
Listeners to WTOY (1480 AM) might be surprised to hear gospel music playing throughout weekday mornings.
The urban-contemporary station has been playing black-oriented gospel from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. since April 12, station manager Andrea Hicks said. This change in programming is at the request of listeners who had called the station asking for it, she said.
WTOY devoted Sundays and 1 1/2 hours beginning at 5:30 p.m. to gospel music, but for some listeners that wasn't enough.
Fans of WSAY's gospel and inspirational programming had few alternatives when WSAY changed its format to urban and switched its call letters to WTOY in April 1990. In TV news:
Many tears were shed and hugs given to Jim Dickey, production director at WSLS (Channel 10) last week. Dickey retired after 32 years with the TV station.
The Wytheville native leaves with "mixed thoughts. I had the greatest fun in the world," he said at his retirement party Friday. Working with young people and introducing them to the business has been the "greatest joy and thrill," said the father of six. Dickey came to Roanoke in 1951 and worked with then-WSLS Radio, now WSLC (610 AM). He then moved to WSLS-TV starting as an announcer.
He plans to continue his public-service work - he serves on various boards, including the March of Dimes, and volunteers with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. In 1983, he was guest conductor with the orchestra after being the highest bidder for the spot in a charity auction.
Cox Cable has added 11 new music channels to its Digital Cable Radio service that provides music with no commercials or announcements for $10.95 a month. Customers now have 30 channels to choose from at no extra cost, such as new age, blues, rap, traditional country and show tunes.
Digital Cable Radio plans to expand its service to include as many as 260 channels, according to its president, Dave Del Beccaro. The service, which has 58,000 subscribers nationally, will eventually include local sports coverage, news and information, and foreign language programming, he said.
by CNB