ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 30, 1996 TAG: 9610010109
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: CHANNEL SURFING
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
WYYD (107.9 FM), the Roanoke-Lynchburg market's overall top-rated station, recently was named "1996 Station of the Year" by Billboard Magazine.
The award is given for "excellence in radio broadcasting." The station manager is Barbara Rexrode.
The station's program director/music director, Robynn Jaymes, won the magazine's "Program Director of the Year" award after only one year in that position.
Jaymes was honored by Billboard last year as "Local Air Personality of the Year." She also was named "Medium Market Music Director of the Year" for 1995 and 1996 by Gavin Magazine.
* * *
At K-92 (WXLK, 92.3 FM) last week, they let the cat out of the bag and admitted that popular morning co-hosts Monty Foster - known on the air as "Mofo" - and Sally Sevareid really are husband and wife.
"A lot of people who are close to them, or the station, knew - or put two-and-two together" to conclude the couple was married, said Sammy Simpson, K-92's operations manager.
"It was time to just let everybody know," Simpson said. The revelation gives the couple new material to work with, to "talk about being married and their habits at home. That's very relatable to the adults we target," in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic group, Simpson said.
The station was "swamped with phone calls" Thursday when the announcement was made, Simpson said. "They were always together, so people were guessing whether they were dating, or brother and sister."
The couple, both in their early 30s, will celebrate their second wedding anniversary in November.
* * *
At The Arrow (WPVR, 94.9 FM), there's been some shifting of the music mix and on-air personalities.
Lee Gillette has taken over as the morning personality from 5 until 9 a.m. Gillette most recently helped start up a radio station in the New River Valley - though he wouldn't say which one.
He said he has worked in a number of major markets around the country - Boston, Miami, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Detroit - in stations with "every format known to man."
Gillette said he was looking to get out of those big markets and move back into one "about the size of Roanoke" where the "hometown touch" was important to listeners.
Craig Wright, who had been on mornings, still has a talk show on sister station WFIR and is working in promotions for both stations with Bobby Crowder, known on the air between 9 and 11 as Bobby C.
And assistant program director Mike Knight is on the air from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Program director Bill Bratton said the station has also expanded its play list of songs beyond what had been just "rock and roll oldies."
Besides classic rock from the '60s, '70s and early '80s, the station will pick up some newer songs from the latter '80s and early '90s, Bratton said. He is now programming the music - instead of relying on an outside consultant - with an aim to add some "softer" rock and reduce repetition, he said.
"I'm open to listener suggestions on the music," he said.
* * *
The Arbitron Co., the nation's largest and oldest radio ratings service, recently completed its first-ever market report for the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford-Pulaski market.
The New River Valley market - ranked as the 206th largest of 263 Arbitron radio markets - was one of two recently established in the state. The other was Winchester.
Eagle Country 107.1 FM (WPSK) emerged as the New River market leader in the spring survey, which was conducted from March 28 to June 19. The station garnered a 17.1 rating among listeners 12 and older on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The station plays country music and airs numerous auto-racing events, including Winston Cup, Busch Grand National and New River Valley Speedway.
Other stations in the market and their ratings include: WRIQ-FM with a 4.8 rating, WBLB-AM at 2.4, WFNR-AM with a 2.0, WBNK-FM at 1.8, WRAD-AM at 1.6, and WVMJ-FM with a 1.0.
Ratings figures are used by radio stations to set advertising rates and sell advertising time. Ratings numbers indicate the percentage of all people who own a radio who listen to a particular station.
* * *
A Birmingham, Ala.,-based company is seeking permission to build a new television station to operate on Channel 60 in Roanoke.
In filing for a construction permit, Fant Broadcast Development first seeks a Federal Communications Commission waiver of a "freeze" on new stations in the market, even though the Channel 60 frequency has already been assigned to the city.
In its application, Fant asks the FCC to waive its rules on spacing between stations, designed to prevent interference with channels using nearby frequencies. In this case, those are UHF stations in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Lewisburg, W.Va.
Fant also says the "proposed new station is part of a larger plan to allow the development of The WB Television Network as a competitive fifth national network," competing with CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox.
WDRG-TV (Channel 24), based in Danville, already is affiliated with The WB and is carried on Cox Cable in Roanoke and considered part of the Roanoke-Lynchburg television market.
FCC consideration of such applications typically takes months.
* * *
Radio "shock jock" Howard Stern has died in Richmond.
Well, not literally, but his morning program was dropped by WVGO-FM last month, even though the station will have to pay the New York-based personality $250,000 a year for two more years based on its three-year contract with Stern.
According to Broadcasting and Cable magazine, ABS Communications, which bought Richmond's WVGO in July, figured it was cheaper to pay Stern off than continue to face the huge ad revenue and ratings losses the show created.
Station revenue fell 47 percent from the previous year and ratings for 18- to 34-year-old men during the Stern time slot were cut almost in half from a 21.0 rating to 11.0. Broadcasting and Cable reported that although the program could be picked up by another Richmond station after being off the air for a month, no takers were likely anytime soon.
Stern's contract was signed when the station was still owned by Benchmark Communications, the owners of WYYD and WROV-FM and AM in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market.
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines Type first letter of feature OR type help for list of commands FIND S-DB DB OPT SS WRD QUIT QUIT Save options? YES NO GROUP YOU'VE SELECTED: QUIT YES login: cby CNB