SYRACUSE -- Nationally-known radio personality Kid Kelly will be the keynote speaker as the WJPZ Alumni Association hosts its 25th Annual Birthday Banquet this Saturday at the Syracuse University Sheraton. The station is expecting about 150 alumni and students in attendance for the event, which will include the second class to be inducted to the WJPZ Hall of Fame.
SYRACUSE -- Notice anything missing lately from the afternoon drive shift at MOViN 100.3/96.5 (WMVN)? Yo! Sunny Joe, one of the original members of the air staff when the station launched in 2007, has been told his services are no longer needed.
SYRACUSE -- After a full day of stunting with random classic television theme songs, the anticipated all-talk format is now in place on Citadel's WLTTI. "105.9 The Big Talker" debuted this morning with the syndicated Bob & Tom Show.
SYRACUSE -- Lite Rock 105.9 is out and "TV on the Radio" is in. WLTI is playing random classic TV theme songs, mostly from the 1970s and 1980s (at least during the half-hour or so your editor had the chance to listen). For now, the legal ID is still WLTI, though we were told last week the call letters would be changing as the station flips to talk sometime this week.
UTICA -- Lots of people in the Mohawk Valley are familiar with "Heart Weekend" but did you know it all started with a radiothon on WIBX almost four decades ago? The news/talker is getting ready to go live for its 39th year of raising money for the American Heart Association this Friday and Saturday.
SYRACUSE -- According to New Country WOLF 105.1's Facebook page, Chili Palmer has been hired for middays. The name was mentioned in a status update at about 8:00pm Monday, but no bio or other details have been posted on the station website as of this writing (8:10pm).
SYRACUSE -- We're a bit late on this one, but much credit is due to Brent Axe, host of On the Block on The Score 1260 (WSKO), Syracuse University, WCNY, and others who helped put together the "Cuse Cares Telethon to raise $42,000 for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti on Friday.
CINCINNATI -- Regent Communications, the parent company of four radio stations in the Utica-Rome market, has filed for a "prearranged" Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to eliminate $87 million in debt.
ITHACA/CORTLAND -- While it certainly wasn't the biggest or baddest snowstorm ever (we spotted one report hyping it as a "snow hurricane"), yesterday's snowstorm was the worst we've had so far this season. We challenged local radio folk to break out their cameras and show us how they're dealing with the snow.
SYRACUSE -- Longtime market fixture Tony Bombardo will be performing his very last traffic reports on radio and TV tomorrow (Friday) morning. Bombardo's decision to quit his reports comes after he and ABC affiliate NewsChannel 9 (WSYR-TV) failed to agree on a new contract for Bombardo's services.