WTNY

NEW YORK CITY – There are more names being tossed around as potential options for stations all over the country — including 2 in CNYRadio.com territory — that are in the process of finding replacements for the soon-to-be-departing-radio Bill O’Reilly.

Less than two weeks after Bill O’Reilly announced his plans to leave radio “sometime” in the first quarter of 2009, Fox News Radio is hoping his affiliates will sign up with another Fox News personality, John Gibson.

(UPDATED 1:15PM) NEW YORK CITY – Bill O’Reilly says he’s too busy to continue hosting “The Radio Factor,” despite being one of the most successful shows on the air right now.  That opens a 2-hour scheduling gap at hundreds of stations nationwide, including two in our area.

Talk show host Glenn Beck will be in the Syracuse suburb of DeWitt on November 15th, as part of his “Helicopter Tour” to visit 50 cities in six weeks.  He’ll be signing copies of his newest book, The Christmas Sweater.

Former San Diego mayor Roger Hedgecock, a frequent substitute for Rush Limbaugh, will have his own nationally-syndicated weekday talkshow starting just after the new year.

Glenn Beck’s familiar greeting, “hello…. ya sick, twisted freaks!” will soon be heard every morning in the Ithaca-Cortland market.  Saga news/talker WHCU 870 is adding the popular radio and TV host to its weekday lineup, effective September 2.

Watertown engineer Michael Ring, whose work on rebuilding the WTNY tower was featured in our most recent Picture of the Week, writes in with some important information to help fellow engineers using the new Broadcast Tools DSC20 dual satellite controller. 

Many folks in radio don’t get the 4th of July off, so we’re not taking it off either!  We’re going back 10 years for this Picture of the Week, the rebuilding of the WTNY/Watertown tower, after it was destroyed in an unforgettable ice storm earlier that year.

According to the Drudge Report, Premiere Radio Networks and Rush Limbaugh have signed a deal that will keep “America’s Anchorman” on the air through the year 2016, and “the package is valued north of $400 million, according to media insiders.”

Laura Ingraham’s syndicator, Talk Radio Network, tells affiliates she will be back on the air by Monday… after a long absence which — according to national radio columnist Tom Taylor — angered many affiliates.  Ingraham’s show is carried in Syracuse, Utica and Watertown.