KOVO, one of the state's oldest radio stations, is back after a 17-year absence with a return to old-fashioned radio.
The call letters for KOVO - a pioneer Utah County radio station - were abandoned in 1976 to make way for KFMY. "KOVO was the first station to sign on in Utah County in September of 1939," said Jesse Clinton Veach Jr., KOVO general manager. "We were here first and, as far as I'm concerned, we're still first, and with KOVO back we plan to take the station to new heights."KOVO AM-960 is continuing to play the "Unforgettable" music format it started three months ago that features such artists as Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, Connie Francis and Glenn Miller.
"We have had a great amount of success with our current format," said Benjamin Reed, program director. "People were in dire starvation for this music, blended with live, local personalities. We're doing radio the old-fashioned way - the way it was meant to be, judging by the over 3,000 phone calls we've received in the past three months."
Bill Ruhlman hosts "Bill's Basement" midday, while Reed does the afternoon show and Dennis Kirkpatrick is the evening personality.
"Jukebox," the area's only live, big-band request show, begins every Saturday at 8 p.m.
Other programs, like "For the People" with Chuck Harder and "Backcountry Magazine," air on weekends.
The station also has an uplink with UPI Radio and airs two hours of news from 4-6 a.m. weekdays from the People's Radio Network. KOVO plans to add local news reports soon.
- KISN-AM - Big changes are coming by Aug. 30 for AM-570. The station may switch to all-sports programming - most of it local.
Randy Rogers, KISN general manager, couldn't comment on the rumors, but several sources said a big meeting between KISN and the Utah Jazz was scheduled today.
Not surprisingly, another part of the rumor is that Chris Tunis, who leaves KSL this week, will join the revised KISN-AM as program director. Tunis has said that he can't disclose which station his new three-year broadcasting contract is with until it is officially announced. His new contract wouldn't have a secrecy clause unless it was with a local station.
As the radio flagship of the Utah Jazz, KISN-AM has the foundation to be an all-sports station. It would also have the potential to grab a larger share of the radio market with an all-sports format than with its present format. (KISN-AM is in 19th place in the overall Arbitron ratings.) Crossovers with KJZZ, Ch. 14, would also be possible.
Of course, the downside to a KISN-AM all-sports conversion is that morning personality Hans Peterson would be left out in the cold for the second time in as many years. The switch would also affect KQOL, FM-106.5 - "The Score," the all-sports station in the market.
- In other sports news, KCNR (AM-1320), the CNN station, is launching "SportsCenter with Tim Lewis" Monday, Aug. 23, at 6:06 p.m. KCNR will also broadcast high school football games starting Aug. 27.
- KMXB (alias "The Mix," FM-107.5), KUMT (alias "The Mountain," FM-105.7) and KCPX (AM-1600) have a new general manager and vice president - Bill Struck. The Ohio native previously worked for the Park Lane Group in the San Francisco area that managed three radio stations. He also has 20 years' experience in the Denver/Colorado Springs area with KLZ, KSSS and other stations.
Struck replaces Dave Ferraro, although the sales manager for the three stations was the acting general manager during the interim.
KUMT is being revamped, and "what we're doing is fine tuning," Struck said. The changes on FM-105.7 will be designed for listeners who are tired of the same old stuff.
The station is converting to an exclusive, music-intensive format similar to stations like KFOG in San Francisco and stations in Denver and Seattle that play softer album cuts not heard on classic rock stations.
This means KUMT will feature more James Taylor, Steely Dan, Crosby, Stills and Nash and even some blues.
KUMT will use a Century system that allows stations to pre-record voice tracks by deejays to be sure songs are identified. Music will not be from satellite; it will be all locally selected, and Struck said KUMT may end up having the largest CD library in the state.
The former KBBX has also changed call letters to KCPX to secure those locally legendary letters while they were available. The AM-1600 station is no longer using gospel or Spanish programming but is a simulcast of KUMT. Struck said KCPX may eventually be a simulcast of KMXB.
In other changes, KUMT air personalities Robyn Wryght, Chuck McCartney and Bob Jennings have left the lineup; Rob Riesen (6-10 a.m.) and Michael G. Cananaugh remain. Karen Gallegos has replaced Loie Jones-Lowry as promotions director. Ed Nunn is another on-air voice.
Steve Rhodes, of Virginia, will be the new afternoon personality on KMXB starting sometime in September.
- CLARIFICATION - Last week's "Radio Dial" incorrectly stated that Tom Connelly replaced Danny Jessop as program director at KMXB/KUMT. Jessop was the operations manager for both stations before moving to KSFI earlier this summer. Jessop hadn't been program director at KMXB since last September, when US Radio Corp. took over the station. Until Connelly was hired, KMXB/KUMT didn't have a local program director.
- KDYL (AM-1280) is hosting Utah's first-ever "Fabulous Fifty Plus Fair" Friday and Saturday in the grand ballroom of the Red Lion Hotel. The free, two-day show is dedicated to products and services available to the 50-plus adult.
It runs from 4-8 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, with health, fitness and travel tips, as well as financial and investment advice.
The Joe Muscolino Band, the Coppertones and the One-More Timers (both senior barbershop champions) will perform.
Mark Van Wagoner and Danny Kramer will broadcast live from the event, and Sen. Orrin Hatch is scheduled to speak at noon Saturday.
- MORNING RADIO HAPPENINGS - After taking lightning strike stories from listeners last week and talking with various fortune tellers in recent years, "Fisher and Todd" of KISN-FM must be in a disaster preparedness/prediction mode. On Monday they predicted a 4.0 earthquake or greater would strike here sometime within the next three weeks. They set the deadline for their forecast as Sept. 9. Also on Monday they had a member of the Humane Society as a guest . . .
"Dom and Bill" at KXRK spent about five minutes Monday morning discussing this segment of last week's Radio Dial article. They seemed to think the radio happenings mentioned were pretty boring, so here are the exciting things they did for the next 45 minutes after that discussion Monday: They joked about sacrificing a cat, a feat that would be sure to get some mention in this column; then they had "Jew Chat," with Hildy; played a few songs; discussed Barney the Dinosaur's sex and if it's a male or female and how can you tell; had a long string of commercials; played more music; briefly discussed some gossip about TV talk shows; played a couple of records and then had a cellular traffic report. On Tuesday, they gave away a 12-pack of Coke Classic to a listener who had the correct answer on what Dom likes to do off the air. The "Project X" team also kept stressing they're the morning team that "doesn't give a fat rat's . . . ." Finally, "Gumby" provided another update on what's happening in the morning at that "Z" radio station . . .
The "Ron and Allen" show on KBER Monday featured only Ron as just about everyone else, except Helmet, was off for the morning. KBER planned a special tug of war this week between several couples at Saltair to determine who was worthy to receive rock concert tickets. There was also a listener contest on whether Ron or Allen's team would win an upcoming softball game . . . KSOP hosted a "Garth Brooks Beach Bash" at Raging Waters Wednesday . . .
"Cano and Simmons" on KKAT were spotlighting Elvis Monday, with various trivia contests and a special guest - a guitar player who had worked with the legendary singer. Kevin Stanfield filled in for Ken Simmons part of last week. On Tuesday, the latest promotional slogan for the "Morning Guys" referred to them as "equal opportunity offenders," and they set out to prove it . . .
"Jon and Dan" of KLZX feature "Lex Reed," probably none other than Clyde Lewis, as a regular movie reviewer. He's no Chris Hicks, but he does a good impersonation of Rex Reed. The "Z-93" variation gives "bums up or down" instead of thumbs up or down. "Jon and Dan" also had a smelly sneakers call-in subject for listeners Monday, as well as a Red Baron plane contest and Van Halen ticket giveaways . . .
"McCormick and Scotty" on KUTQ had yet another "Hot Rod" Hundley spoof Tuesday that featured his vacation to Missouri. Later, "Laurie" correctly identified the language in question as Klingon on a "Q" contest . . . "Gary and Mick" on KVRI put together a fund-raiser for Red Cross this week and also took calls on what listeners thought the "ultimate romantic evening" would be . . . On the "Tom and Robin" show on KMXB Tuesday, "Doug" got two out of three "Flash or Trash" questions correct Tuesday.