After the abrupt cleaning job at K-Hits last week, it seems the St. Louis radio landscape.  Here’s a purposely vague  summary of what we are hearing:

1. It’s been about a year that this much talked about station has launched, what contracts will failed to be renewed?

2. Could there be a shake up in the mornings for a station down the hall from item #1?  We doubt it but contract negotiations aren’t starting off well.

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Yesterday was a big St. Louis sporting news day!  Tony LaRussa made his decision to return to manage the Cardinals for at least 2010 official and confirmed the rumor that Mark McGwire would be on board as the team’s new hitting coach!

This is a major local news story that broke through the bounds of St. Louis and got national coverage.  Obviously the network synonymous with sports, ESPN, picked up and story and when they needed that local view they turned to the obvious radio station choice…KMOX?!?!

First off, let me do a little finger wagging at 101 ESPN for not including the mighty Punching Kitty on their press release list.

Secondly, here’s their new publicity stunt.  Its so obviously as stunt we normally wouldn’t report on it, but we really like Randy Karraker around here, so what the hell…

Here’s the part the matters:

WXOS-FM’s Randy Karraker announced that he is stepping up to the plate in a bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams NFL franchise.  Karraker made this announcement on the air this afternoon at 5:05pm on 101 ESPN.

Saw this little note over on fellow gossip maven site STLMedia:

Even though they are both owned by Bonneville, on-air folks at WIL make much more money than those at #1 WARH.

Maybe AFTRA affiliation is good for something, but you can bet there’s some chafing at WARH.

So maybe this is surprising to some people, it wasn’t here.  Yes, its true our fair editor has a connection to radio parent company Bonneville as he was previously an employee, but that doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t take much thought to figure out that 92.3 WIL is a personality driven station, just look at the marketing.  106.5 the Arch however is just the opposite.  Sure they have great talent on there, but its not the focus, the music is.  The Arch didn’t get to #1 by pimping Van and Rick or Michelle Steele, they did it by creating a station you turn on when you get to your office and leave it on all day.  It’s background music.

After years and years of broadcasting classical music to St. Louis, KFUO-FM 99.1 has been sold and will transition to “JoyFM” to play the worst music ever: “Christian contemporary music”

From STLToday:

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod will sell its 61-year-old classical music station, KFUO-99.1 FM, to Gateway Creative Broadcasting, the LCMS and Gateway announced today, for $18 million plus $8 million in interest over a 10-year term.

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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…

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!

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.

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