Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Winter(fest) warmth

I'm on The Linux Show right now, live, where host Jeff Gerhardt, out of the blue, just pointed to the RSS Winterfest page, and said many kind things about the event, and about Dave, who will open the show.

Bonus link: Yahoo tests RSS for MyYahoo.

Marc'ing time

It's Marc's Birthday. Have a happy one, big guy.

Here's his Birthday Wish List.

Reradiations

Big Rick reports that KPIG will simulcast on the Central Coast, over 94.9 FM out of Cambria, long the home of KOTR, "The Otter." The new call letters are KPYG.

On the upside, the PIG's owner, Mapleton, has proven to be an unsually hip local broadcasting chain. Fears that might have materialized after Mapleton bought KPIG in 2001 have long since dissipated. (Though I worry a bit since KPIG's local ratings have dropped, although they're still pretty strong.)

On the downside, The Otter was a distinctive station in its own right, broadcasting an unpredictable mix of rock, blues and other stuff for as long as I've been aware of them, going back to the mid-Eighties. When you drive down Big Sur on Highway 1 (the most beautiful highway on Earth, and subject of countless car ad settings), the signal on 94.9 is the only one you'll get when you hit SCAN. That's because it's the only station transmitting from a hill right out on the coast, rather than from atop an inland mountain. Ironically, the signal is second-tier in SLO, but listeners can be a determined bunch, and the ratings haven't been bad.

Still, if the Otter has to go, the Pig is a welcome substitute. It also means I'll be getting the Pig on drives up two stretches of 101: from Santa Maria to Atascadero, and from Greenfield to Morgan Hill. Nice.

Speaking of legendary stations going away, I heard on the Howard Stern show the other day that WLIR/92.7 in Long Island was going Spanish. 'LIR was a great music station in its day, and highly involved with the music industry, especially with artists. I have a recording around here somewhere of Bonnie Raitt, Lowell George and Little Feat doing a live appearance on the station back around 1980. Here's more from the NY Radio Message Board and the Long Island Radio Board.

While we're at it, sad to hear about the death of John A. Gambling. (More here in the NY Times.) My mother listened to Rambling With Gambling on WOR for the entire period she livedin New Jersey: from 1946-1974 — first with John B. Gambling, and then with John A. This was a radio dynasty the likes of which we'll never see again. And it's still strong: John A.'s son John R. Gambling carries on at WABC.

Here's a letter to listeners from The Morey Organization, which owned WLIR. The new owners of the frequency are Univsion Communications, one of the top Spanish broadcasting groups.

From what I gather here, the remains of WLIR are now shipping to listeners via The Box on 107.1. Both are small stations on short towers, with almost no signal overlap (here are 92.7 and 107.1); but it's better than a total loss, I suppose.