Remember when radio really mattered?  Yeah, I know its been a while.  Jog your memory with these old and cheese-tastic KSHE 95 tv ads!

After being kind of let go and then officially leaving St. Louis’ #2 country music station 93.7 The Bull, the former morning show host Craig Cornett has taken to Facebook to post photos and leave mysterious messages.

Early last Saturday morning Craig posted this to his wall:

I wish I could tell you all exactly what is going on… Let’s just say I shall return! mark your calendar and watch this page for a BIG announcement on: Feb 23, 2010! (That doesn’t mean you won’t hear from me sooner.) Just remember that date!!! You’re going to love it!

Hmmm…

Judging by the secrecy and imposed time limit of Feb 23rd, 2010, the words “No Compete” scream at you, but really who knows, and also, if its anything like the “super secret awesome plans” that former morning show hosts Steve and DC seemed to always have when they got fired, then I won’t hold my breath.

We mentioned this a while back, but now STLMedia.net is reporting its all official and junk.

Radio trades and Secret Squirrel seem to agree: Bull mid-dayer Jill Devine is now officially on mornings permanently and PD Billy Greenwood is moving from PM Drive to Mid-days.

We don’t listen to country music, but we do love Jill Devine and hope she does well in her new time slot!

That being said, this was yet another truly bizarre move by Clearchannel.

We know for a fact there have been talks about selling each of these stations before and we have have heard the continuing rumors since and we are hearing them again.  Both Simmons (who owns Team 1380) and Big League Broadcasting (who owns 590 The Fan) are rumored to be looking for buyers of their AM signal.

Of course both General Managers will tell you otherwise, the fact is the decision to sell isn’t up to them.

In a press release from Bonneville Radio (who locally owns 101 ESPN, WIL 92.3 and 106.5 The Arch), emphasis mine:

In response to sustained, slow economic indices and market conditions that are producing below-projected revenues industry-wide, Bonneville International today announced to its employees a series of cost-reducing measures designed to trim operating expenses while at the same time continuing to produce high-quality products for its audiences and clients.  Among those measures implemented are salary reductions for its higher-paid employees, adjustments to vacation accruals and carryovers, elimination of company-participation health club memberships, and a reduction of holiday remembrances for employees.

“Our corporate management team and market managers,” said Bruce Reese, Bonneville president and CEO, “have looked at this very carefully and thoughtfully. We believe these adjustments are reasonable and necessary to maintain the health of our company and its valued employees. “While we’re privately held,” he continued, “we’re not immune from today’s economic realities. Our ownership is not short-term in its approach to our business. I know that Bonneville continues to be a leader in this industry, especially in terms of the quality of the people who work here and the products they produce”

Radio is coughing up blood all over and this includes the privately held (Read: Mormon controlled) Bonneville.  There’s no doubt that inside Bonneville is touting one thing and one thing only for spin on this suck-fest:

“Hey, at least we aren’t ClearChannel.”

We completely agree that Bonneville is probably the best of the radio companies in terms of stability and continued benefits, but they would be smart to stop comparing themselves to other radio companies and start comparing themselves to companies in general.  No one wants to hear your the most stable radio company, they want to hear that you are stable…flat out, with no qualifications.  If you aren’t (and let’s be honest, if you are cutting people’s pay, you aren’t) then say you aren’t and follow it up with plans to get there, don’t just feed your people a load of crap about how your dying grass is still a little greener than the dump of a house next door.

To turn and often-used internet phrase, “Being the best radio company is like coming in first in the special olympics…you’re still retarded.”

Source: Radio News Daily via STLMedia

Real quick review for those that may have forgotten or never heard of it:

Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light.[1] Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space. Information is carried by systematically changing (modulating) some property of the radiated waves, such as amplitude, frequency, or phase. When radio waves pass an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. This can be detected and transformed into sound or other signals that carry information.

Good, we are all up to speed now.

Here are the overall St. Louis Radio ratings, provided by Arbitron, for Spring 2009:

Things of note:

- In the latest from the Battle of the Sports stations, 101 ESPN (WXOS) creeps up to a 1.4, which is low, but pretty high in compared to the other combatants.  590 The Fan (KFNS) comes in at a 0.6 and 1380 The Team (KSLG) right behind them with a 0.5.  These numbers make sense just based on range alone, but another thing to note is that the time to make the big numbers is the “Summer” book since that is when the two AM stations can have their signal be the strongest for the longest time.   Its also worthy of pointing out that WXOS needs the bigger numbers way more than the other two, since the little AM stations basically can run on the same amount of money Sally Struthers gives to those Ethiopians each day.

- KMOX is still a monster.

- Are the Cardinals playing?  Oh well then give KTRS their extra points.

- Kind of a big drop from the Arch (WARH): 6.0 to 4.8.  Weird.

- The Point (KPNT) is just hanging on in there.  Though I have no evidence, I just get the feeling the Point might not be long for this market.

Those that know more about this than I, or have particular feelings for any of these stations, feel free to weigh in in the comment section.

As always, if you have some information you want to share with me about any of these stations, you can do so anonymously, by emailing tips at PunchingKitty dot com, or by calling and leaving a message on the tip line: 314-266-TIPS