Hans is back!
After nearly 10 months, Hans Petersen, the former KISN-AM, KLCY and KALL radio personality, has returned to the Salt Lake airwaves. On June 16, he started at KUMT (alias "The Mountain," FM-105.7) doing the 6-10 a.m. weekday show."I think it's great," Tom Connelly, KUMT program director, said of hiring this unique Utah DJ. "Hans is a very bright man."
He believes Petersen's longtime fans will still enjoy him on "The Mountain," where he'll be doing some of the character voices that made his name in Utah radio.
Connelly said KUMT will remain music intensive, so Petersen won't be talking as much as he did on the AM dial, but he'll be doing some talk on political issues.
He also hopes that Petersen's presence will help win over some of his fans to KUMT's album rock format, which they might not otherwise be exposed to.
Petersen lost his on-air job at KISN-AM last August when the station switched to an all-sports format. He's been looking to get back into Utah radio ever since.
- KUMT also has another familiar personality doing the 3-7 p.m. weekday shift - Kelly Monson, formerly of KVRI, KLZX and KRSP. Monson started a few weeks ago on KUMT after leaving a programming job in Colorado.
Michael G. is doing the 10 a.m.3 p.m. shift on KUMT, in addition to to his "Sleepless in Salt Lake" evening shift on sister station KMXB.
Connelly also said KUMT's new lineup should convince skeptics that the station is here to stay.
"We're going forward," he said.
- KSL (AM-1160) will make several changes in programming next week. Starting Monday, June 27, the "KSL Morning News with Grant and Amanda" will begin at 5 a.m. each weekday instead of 5:30 a.m.
"Sports Central" with Kent Rupe will change from a 6:30 p.m. starting time to 6:15 p.m. each day. Rupe's show will still last until 8 p.m. each night.
According to Richard Mecham, vice present and general manager of KSL radio, the number of early morning radio listeners in Utah is growing, and KSL hopes to provide a jump-start to news reporting for the day with Utah's foremost radio news team.
The 15-minute expansion of "Sports Central" will give listeners a condensed, detailed wrap-up of the day's top sports news with a new "Sports Update" segment.
KSL sports already has live sports programming from CBS, ESPN, the NBA, the NCAA and BYU.
- KKAT - The biggest country music event in Utah - the fourth annual K-Kat Summer Music Festival - is Saturday, June 25, at the Utah State Fairpark. The gates open at 9 a.m., and entertainment begins at 10 a.m.
Admission is $5 per person and although past festivals have been free, KKAT general manager Bill Sauer said the rising cost of producing the show has forced a nominal admission charge.
"Country music is so popular today that artists are getting increased value for their per-for-mances," Sauer said. "Even with that, we worked hard to keep the price low."
The festival will be highlighted by seven new country acts - the Wiggins, James Nick and the Night Crew, David Ball, Mark Collie, Doug Supernaw, Neal McCoy and Mark Chesnutt. The show should end about 8 p.m.
In addition to the music, the festival will also feature a special children's area and plenty of con-ces-sions and vendor displays.
"We have been very fortunate for the past three years to have an event the entire family can attend and feel very strongly about maintaining that image," Sauer said.
- KTKK (alias "K-Talk," AM-630) - Donald Packard, alias "Golden Delicious," has returned to the station lineup, weeknights 8-10 p.m.
The station is currently advertising itself as "The Voice of Utah."
- KUER (FM-90.1) - The third installment of the new "Rabbit Ears Radio" family radio show, Sunday, June 26, 6 p.m., will feature the late John Candy telling the story of "Stormalong."
- The station raised more than $15,000 from its June 11 "Vintage Vinyl Used Record Sale." Hundreds of people purchased more than 8,000 used records, with the proceeds going to the operating expenses of KUER, a National Public Radio station with no commercial advertising.
- KBZN (alias "The Breeze," FM-97.9) is giving away tickets to a private screening of "I Love Trouble." Call 364-9836 or listen to the station for details.
The Sunday, June 26, "Musical Starstreams," 8-10 a.m., will feature Voice of Eye of "Vespers" album fame. Later in the day, "Jazz Trax," 7 p.m. to midnight, will have David Benoit with his new album "The Benoit/Freeman Project."
Here's a schedule for KBZN's "10 O'Clock CD" show next week: Monday, June 27: "3rd Force," by William Aura; Tuesday, June 28: "Shades of Shadow," by Quintana & Speer; Wednesday, June 29: "Soul Embrace," by Richard Elliot; Thursday, June 30: "Reflections of Passion," by Yanni; Friday, July 1: "Curves Ahead," by the Rippingtons.
- RADIO HAPPENINGS - "Crazy Dave" and Kelly Hammer have been filling in for Cano and McCormick on KUTQ this week. Cano is in serious condition at LDS Hospital from heart and respiratory failure caused by a bacterial infection. He's been off the air since early June. McCormick is on vacation. KUTQ referred to its traffic reporter as "Sky boy" Tuesday. He responded by describing the morning's slow freeway speeds as "White Bronco speed" in light of last Friday's O.J. Simpson chase by police in Los Angeles . . .
Tom Barberi on KALL-AM discussed the deep devotion that Rush Limbaugh inspires in some of his listeners Tuesday. The master of local talk radio also talked about the O.J. Simpson murder case and its hype because of the celebrity status . . . Hans Petersen had guest Randy Horiuchi Tuesday morning on KUMT. This newly returned DJ also continued the Mountain's "Blues for Breakfast" show . . .
KBER has a $101 "Song of the Day," and morning DJs Allen Handy and Michael Hayes discussed the Utah Arts Festival in detail Tuesday and gave away tickets to the new "Blown Away" movie . . . KLZX had a special rock 'n' roll night Wednesday at Rascals private club. "Jon and Dan" have been taking some time off the air this week, and Clyde Lewis has been doing the news . . . KLO's new nostalgic musical format is especially appropriate because the station has Len Allen, Utah's most veteran broadcaster, with 47 years on the air in Utah. He's the only DJ around who actually played some of the nostalgia format songs when they were new . . .
KKAT morning show director Rick Shane of "The Good Guys" gave away popsicles Tuesday to commemorate the first day of summer. KKAT also has a loyal listener card now available . . "Another hour of Utah's best country music with Country Joe" is KSOP's latest promotional slogan . . . Danielle Gray does the morning news on KWJJ . . . "Scott and Peggy" on KSFI don't talk a lot since music is the station's primary focus. However, they do their own traffic reports for listeners . . .
"Bill and Kerry" on KXRK took another "X-poll" Tuesday, this one on women and underwear. The station had some multiple concert trivia worth free concert tickets Wednesday . . . "Fisher and Todd" on KISN-FM had a "Handy Man Challenge" Tuesday and took listener horror stories on do-it-yourself repairs. On Wednesday, the DJs had a guest who talked about a diet plan on which participants smell food a lot in order to "feel" full and thus eat less and lose weight . . .
KRSP made a big announcement Wednesday, billing itself as Utah's Rolling Stones station. Not only does FM-103.5, alias "Arrow," play more Stones music than any other in the state, but it has prime seats to award to lucky listeners every Thursday this summer for the Oct. 19 Stones concert in Los Angeles . . . KODJ, "Oldies-94.1" is billing itself as having the most variety in oldies music in Utah . . .
"Mike and Mike" on KZHT did another phone prank Wednesday. They impersonated corporate sales managers trying to persuade a Salt Lake salesman to stop selling their product because of federal regulations. The callee believed the DJs until they confessed . . .
The climax to KVRI's "98 Keys" contest is today, when one of the key holders will discover he or she has the one that fits a new vehicle. "The Wakeup Club" gave away Lagoon Passports to a listener who won its Seventh-Grade Trivia game Tuesday.