Category: journal broadcast group

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IdahoRadioNews: It’s Christmas! …already?

Two Boise stations have flipped to the Christmas format for 2012. KXLT/107.9 Lite FM has flipped to its traditional menu of holiday standards as of November 10th.

But the surprise entrant in the space for this year is KJOT/Variety Rock 105.1. The station, which has been home to rock music for about 30 years, is instead playing Christmas music.  Owner Journal Broadcast Group has been playing musical chairs with its three rock stations (KQXR/100.3 The X and KRVB/94.9 The River being the others) for quite some time, and it seems KJOT is the odd one out.  The station has not seen success in quite some time, despite transitioning from heritage rocker J-105 to the current skew a few years ago.

I would say it is likely that Variety Rock has played its last rock hit. Something new in the new year? Already hearing rumors on what that format could be… time will tell.

Related: Journal hired Susan Groves to replace Dan McColly as operations manager for its Boise stations and as program director of KRVB. The news was announced on October 2nd – and on November 18th, she had been “let go.”

Standard disclosure: Don Day wrote the IdahoRadioNews.com blog for more than six years and currently manages digital sales & products for KTVB.

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After Appeal, Journal Can Pick Up KNIN

Reversing an earlier decision, the Federal Communications Commission has approved the sale of KNIN Channel 9 from Banks Broadcasting to Journal Broadcast Group, effectively allowing for a merger of KNIN with KIVI Channel 6.

From the story on KTVB’s website:

The FCC previously ruled that, while KNIN was losing money – it did not meet a specific accounting standard that involves how a station spends money on capital improvements for items like equipment.

KNIN and Journal argued that the capital expenses were actually for the continuation of “bare bones” operation of Channel 9, and only spent money on items essential to keeping the station on the air.

The FCC said that with the additional clarification, it finds that KNIN’s financial condition is “poor” and decided to issue the failing station waiver to allow the merger.

No word on when the transaction is expected to be complete.

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The 6 and the 9 shall remain apart

Okay, it’s a bad joke and a horribly inappropriate title, but then again, when have I been known to be politically correct…

A couple of weeks ago, Don broke the news on Idaho Radio News that KNIN will not become a part of Journal Broadcast Group:

The Federal Communications Commission turned down Banks Broadcasting’s request to declare KNIN as a “failing station.” This makes Journal Broadcast Group’s bid to buy the station and combine it with KIVI Channel 6 impossible. For that matter, it means KNIN won’t be merged into any other Boise TV station for the time being, either.

IRN provides much more detail about the FCC’s decision.

So what does it mean for agency folks? In a nutshell, it is, and is going to be business as usual for now. If you’re in the local media buying business, you’ll still have to buy KNIN apart from other stations. If you use local television stations for broadcast production, you’ve still got the same number of resources available to you.

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