LEE BANKRUPTCY PLAN APPROVED; STOCKHOLDERS REJOICE
Lee Enterprises stock jolted significantly higher following news that the struggling publishing company, which owns the Arizona Daily Star, received approval for its bankruptcy plan, which took effect Jan. 30.
Lee hopes the new arrangement—which involves a series of loans that stretch into 2017 and interest rates from just less than 7 percent to more than 15 percent—will give the company what CEO Mary Junck refers to as “a runway” to transition into a new business plan led by technological options that have otherwise gutted the traditional newspaper industry.
Lee has a debt-service load of about $112 million in 2012 alone, but most analysts believe the company has enough cash on hand to make the required payments.
Lee stock sold in the neighborhood of 75 cents on Jan. 19, continuing a long string below the New York Stock Exchange’s required $1 threshold, but since the announcement, the stock has doubled into the $1.50 neighborhood.
If, for some reason, Lee is more cash-strapped than it anticipates, perhaps it can borrow some more time by getting a sweet price for its Tucson.com domain, which for the last few months has shown viewers this Mission Impossible-inspired message: “Much of Tucson.com is going on hiatus. You will be redirected to Southern Arizona’s largest news site, azstarnet.com, in 5 seconds.”
As it stands, it’s a shame that a Web address as potentially beneficial as Tucson.com transfers readers to what is not only Southern Arizona’s largest news site, but also its most cumbersome and confusing.
LOCALS LIKELY TO ESCAPE GANNETT FURLOUGHS
Toward the end of 2011, the powers-that-be at Gannett announced that company minions would be forced to take another unpaid furlough week before March 31, 2012.
However, it appears that local Gannett employees—the few who remain after Gannett’s closure of the Tucson Citizen newspaper—will not have to participate.
Mark Evans, who oversees tucsoncitizen.com, says he didn’t have to take last year’s furlough. Evans is one of three people who are Gannett-only employees. Non-news employees at the Star are technically half-Lee and half-Gannett.
John Humenik, the president and publisher of the Arizona Daily Star, himself a half-Lee, half-Gannett employee, said via email that decisions such as who is furloughed “are made locally under my direction.”
THE STATION AT 1330 TAKES NEW CALL LETTERS
Remember KJLL, aka The Jolt, the bizarre little radio station with studios on Broadway Boulevard that jettisoned most of its staff when Dawn Avalon took the reins a few months back? Well, that bizarre little radio station has ditched its longtime moniker in favor of KWFM AM 1330, aka The Star.
What is KWFM, The Star? So far, it’s The Jolt with new call letters. The syndicated lineup—with a fraction of the local programming the station once had—remains the same. Even the website is the same. However, it took the skeleton crew at Hudson Communications little time to apparently update the KWFM page on Wikipedia.
The KWFM call letters are familiar to longtime Tucson radiophiles. That used to be the station at 92.9 FM, which experienced its best days as a rock format before transitioning to oldies. In 2001, management of what is now Clear Channel made a fateful strategic error by flipping the format to KOYT, the so-called Coyote Country. The hope was that Coyote Country would take enough of KIIM FM 99.5‘s country audience away to give Top 40 station KRQQ FM 93.7 the best ratings in the market. This is bonehead, but pervasive, radio logic. (Citadel, which owned KIIM, attempted the same strategy with a Top 40 go on 97.5 FM.) Coyote Country lasted about a year and a half.
Even with its 100,000-watt signal, the station at 92.9 has never delivered the numbers it enjoyed during the KWFM days. It flipped to The Mountain and recently KMIY—with a format of hits of the ’80s, ’90s and today—late last year.
KWFM languished at 97.1 FM, and then was banished to 1450 AM, until Clear Channel decided to abandon the oldies format in favor of a comedy experiment that lasted all of seven months. The station at 1450 currently has a Spanish-music format. As a result, Clear Channel no longer needed the call letters—and Hudson snagged them last week.
R.I.P., OLD BELO STUDIOS
I sat in with tucsoncitizen.com sports editor (and apparent Gannett-furlough-avoider) Anthony Gimino and host David Kelly last Sunday, Jan. 29, on KMSB Channel 11‘s final Sunday Sports Force broadcast from the Belo facility.
KOLD Channel 13 was slated to start broadcasting Fox 11’s news product—including a new local morning show and the continuation of KMSB’s 9 p.m. nightly newscast—from KOLD on Feb. 1.
It should not take long for viewers to see a dramatic improvement in overall production quality and clarity, but the switch means the end of an era at the Belo studio. It was little more than a dilapidated warehouse that seemed more suited for one of those children’s shows from the ’60s and ’70s, like Bozo or Wallace and Ladmo, than for a newscast that an under-resourced news crew attempted to put together for an hour every night.
Given the tools with which they had to work—combined with the frustration and morale drain of going to work every day and looking at a studio center with modernized equipment that was off-limits to personnel for the better part of the last two years—it’s remarkable that KMSB staffers got anything coherent accomplished.
KOLD, meanwhile, is experiencing a slight snag. Its master-control facility is not entirely functional. As a result, it is microwaving a signal to Belo for a few weeks, which has put a damper on the high-definition launch. KOLD is broadcasting in 16-by-9-inch standard-definition for the first couple of weeks, but expects to be up to speed and ready to go in high-definition on KMSB by Feb. 16.
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
1330 KJLL or KWFM or what ever, that radio station is about the biggest epic failure this town has ever had to endure. Is this Dawn Avalon the same woman who moved in on the owners husband once the wife died of cancer? Nice work! Now they trying to erase their black cloud of a past by taking on new calls. Sorry jolt. Tucson isn’t that dumb.
and to top it off, the jolt is off the air more than it’s on, last time I tried to listen to Ed Shultz it was dead air for 4 hours. 4 hours!!!! Do the sydicators and companies they are contracted to play, know they are welching on their end of the deal?
They answer it on their face book page by making jokes. Just complete and total failures. Please, will the GM and the wanna-be radio staff please just turn the power off and let that comatose radio station die already. And Dawn, goto the hospital and find some other rich guys ailing wife, maybe he owns a TV Network! woohoo!
This station needs to establish a schedule, put the word out (advertise) and stick to it. Personally, I like Stephanie Miller and I really like the Ed Shultz show. I don’t understand the criticism of the comedy line-up…I enjoyed it. My recommendation:
5-6 a.m. Give the airtime to a Tucson based independent business owner to chat about their business. 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Stephanie Miller, 9 a.m. to noon Ed Shultz, noon to 4 p.m. let the comedians have at it. 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. (the drive time hour) belongs to prominent Tucsonans that have a vision of what our community should look like in 10 years. Between 6 p.m. I wouldn’t mind a reply on the Ed Schultz show.
We definately need a Progressive Radio station in Tucson and the JOLT or now STAR has pretty much provided that venue. I enjoy the newest addition — Dr. Joy Browne — she gets a little redundent on a callers topic but is in my opinion a bit more thoughtful to callers problems than Dr. Laura (when she held the afternoon slot on JOLT). The only program currently on the schedule that I don’t care for is Phil Hendrie show — it is fun for awhile but gets old after you figure out Phil is the entire show – caller and host!!! Thom Hartman – great – needs to stay – Leslie Marshall – Alan Colmes (I think he is still early AM), they need to stay. Michael Smerconish and Don Imus are pretty good as far as moderate to right side of the coin. I always enjoyed the weekend “old time radio” format and wish that would fill instead of the weird music format – 4 to 6AM on Sunday and the Midnight to 2 Twilite Zone is not enough for me!! (Oh, Kevin Trudeau can go to the Phil Hendrie time slot!! He get boring after awhile!!)
yea……. thats if they actually stay on long enough for you to hear them. I agree about the dead air. I find that I change the channel in frustration instead of try to wait for them to fix what ever problem they seem to be having THIS time. I just listen to all my favorit shows on the internet now. That way I dont have to deal with the constant problems and static filled dead air 1330 am is filled with. bad bad station, sorry 🙁
The stephanie miller, ed shultz line up is great. Smerconish is OK. Joy brown is horrible. They really need to move Thom Hartmann to the Joy brown spot. He’s on much too late.
What we really need is a station where people talk about things at length, even if they don’t know much about the subject. The best-case scenario would be if somebody took an ounce of facts and then spent two to three hours grinding it into several pounds of opinion. Now that’s good radio! And it is what we need to make sure we are thinking with our brains real good and smart-like.
Here is what the lineup should look like:
5 a.m. to 7 a.m. — Katie McSnorkelsnap chats about celebrity cuddling
7 a.m. to 8 a.m. — Brian Buttdorker talks politics and gets real pissed off
8 a.m. to 9 a.m. — Fanny Funfockle fills the frequency with fervid fallaciousness
9 a.m. to 11 a.m. — Stuffy Heavershanks gives the blowhard perspective with Bonnie Buttkiss
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. — It’s the local news hour with 10 minutes of news and 50 minutes of promotional banter and inane traffic reporting
Noon to 3 p.m. — Time for some comedy! Sammy Scatological and Donnie Dickjoke spend three hours insinuating innuendos with a raucous rapport that is sure to tickle your funny bone and make you defecate bricks of massive mirth
3 p.m. to 5 p.m. — Daily news update from Polly Pudswanker who pulls no punches in the pursuit of non-partisan poop
5 p.m. to 6 p.m. — Internet Info-Stainment with Twatty Tweets from Tweakers, a fox-filled fix of Facebook Funbag-Flashers, Skypin’ Skanks, and Passed-Out Movie Star 911 Call of the Day
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. — Labor Report as Lily Longlabia lets listeners lap up the latest local layoffs
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. — Restaurant Review with Jammy Biggles, inhaling calorie-packed fixin’s from Karl’s Kankerous Bar-Be-Kue on Kolb to Suzie’s Septic Sonoran Surprises on Speedway, and all the buttery baked butt-blowing bigness in-between.
8 p.m. to 9 p.m. — Philosophy Hour with Goaty McChinscratcher. You can almost hear the vein popping out of his forehead as he ruminates randomly about the rotten repercussions of reflective reality.
9 p.m. to 10 p.m. — Party Zone with DJ Fevah Blistah, pumping the latest jams to make your booty bounce from the hipster zones of Congress Street to the glory holes of Oracle and the meningitis mudholes of Miracle Mile
10 p.m. to Midnight — Indie Rock and Free Jazz from some East Coast chick in horned-rim glasses and who has a trust fund and is on medication but really wants you to go to her poetry reading and get involved in the occupy movement but in a gentle way that bridges the chasms between the haves and the haven’ts and will change society with her plucky spirit of good cheer and ironic tomfoolery but only if you open your minds and hearts and toke up a little weed and call in to share your thoughts so we can all connect and communicate in a way that enhances our understanding of the myriad ways that we’re all bollixed.
am1330 = dead air 24/7. The FCC should check into them, I’m sure they have broken every radio guideline in the book.
lol. They did try, and they found that it was all made up by the new female GM, the one who took over and runs this sorry excuse for a radio station now.
Sad really. You’de think sleeping with the dead owners husband to get what you want would be enough, but I guess she was THAT incredibly horrendous in bed that she had to come up with something else.
Facts don’t lie: In a matter of 8 months that radio station lost over 12 longtime running local programs. Programs that paid the station to be on. And they packed up and ran. You can’t blame them. It’s almost as if you can smell death around that place. Turn 1330 over to clearchannel and let them make something outta that turd.
I’m amazed at the amount of posts on this edition of Media Watch, and all about that bizarre little radio station. Looks like one of the old jolters has a guilty conscience. I know all of you and I’m ashamed to read this. Aldona was good to you. She let you all get away with it. She knew you were stealing from her and using the station as you wished and she had a big enough heart to let it go and not put any of you in jail. Will that continue? If the public knew the truth, how you barely kept the radio station on the air while stealing all you could for yourselves and not paying the bills, they would be amazed, and ashamed of you as I am. I also think maybe the owner should go after you for robbing him and his wife. All you are doing here is admitting more and more of your guilt.
Re: “She knew you were stealing from her and using the station as you wished and she had a big enough heart to let it go and not put any of you in jail.”
Wait — is that evidence of a big heart, or a small spine?
I think it’s funny that people can just make claims and have absolutely no proof. I know one of the former employees. No one was stealing. Infact, John C Scott is the only reason that station is still in the Spreis hands. He and his staff took on the IRS, unpaid bills and the endless red tape to get the ship moving forward again. Then 1 day a snake walked into the life of Stan Sprei and wanted to get her hands on his money. She ousted the current crew and took on what was left. In a period of 1 year that radio station went from billing 40K to 8K. I got that number from one of the people who worked there until the end. And they had no reason to lie about it.
There were no charges brought up on anyone because the entire story was trumped up by the new mistress/GM/Gold digger.
Even the Bill Randal is gone. Sad, he was the only thing left that was worth listening to.
1330 KJLL or KWFM is a huge success because they are not boring anymore. Since Dawn Avalon has taken over we can now enjoy the full Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz shows without the BORING interruptions of brokered shows by the losers that are now gone. Kudos to Avalon for having the guts to stand up to Scott and the rest. Scott had a boring show too. Dr. Browne is much better. Reminds me of Dr. Laura. Congrats!
“”””1330 KJLL or KWFM is a huge success because they are not boring anymore. Since Dawn Avalon has taken over we can now enjoy the full Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz shows without the BORING interruptions of brokered shows by the losers that are now gone. Kudos to Avalon for having the guts to stand up to Scott and the rest. Scott had a boring show too. Dr. Browne is much better. Reminds me of Dr. Laura. Congrats!””””
— Thanks for chiming in on the situation Dawn! LOL. So pathetic. You use the word “kudos” more than anyone I know, way to blow your cover. BTW, you didn’t stand up to John C Scott, infact you begged him not to leave. Once he left, 95% of the revenue left with him. Now KVOI is enjoying all that money while you play barter shows all day and night. You know what Barter means don’t cha? It means No $$$$. LOL. Best part about it is, you still can’t even play those shows right. Does Dial global and the others know you’re off the air more than 2 hours or more a day? You can’t even keep the signal on. I think they need to review their choice in stations. Kinda like the local rats did as they ran and dove off of your sinking ship. Better go back and bring the chapstick. I think you’re gonna need to work a little more money outta Stan to keep the lights on.
I LOL’d
“BTW, you didn’t stand up to John C Scott, infact you begged him not to leave.”
It was in the Weekly back in June that John C. Scott was escorted from the jolt studios by Avalon. So is that true or did she beg really him to stay? Which is it?
I remember calling the station after that article asking what was going on with the local shows and I was told by Ann, the front desk girl that John C was taking a break and he and his show will be back. Funny. That was a big break. Call up and ask Ann yourself. Unless her GM has ordered her to lie about it.
All eyes are on you Dawn. You have no money, you have no staff, you clearly have absolutely no experience… you have nothing. Except the miserable choices you have made. Everyone who surrounds you think you are a back stabbing failure. How can someone be expected to work at a radio station when the beast in charge could turn on you at any moment. Looks like we’ll just see everyone at KVOI!
It’s almost as if you can hear the panic and desperation in her text. Striking out blindly at whomever. What’s the matter Miss GM? Is it time to pay kharmas check and you’re not ready?
1330…hmmm. How about bringing back the KMOP call sign..and go back to being a daytime only station. You could schedule the dead air to nighttime. Go Green, too. Promote yourself as a solar powered station…
Couldn’t do much worse than it is right now…
To Toesuhus: John C. Scott and Nicole Cox (bookkeeper, former host) were the ones keeping that station alive, and it all went awry when Dawn Avalon started sleeping with the station owner and convinced him to make her the vice president of the parent company. Her first act was to fire Cox on Valentine’s Day, accusing her of theft and fraud on no basis whatsoever, an act she no doubt regrets due to the legal repercussions she and the station are now suffering. After 6 weeks of late/bouncing paychecks, other longtime employees were left or were fired after daring to try renegotiating their contracts, and the mass exodus of local shows began due to Avalon demanding more money for less service. Finally, she fired Scott in a rage only to beg him to stay when all his advertisers pulled their money.
The only reason that station is still on the air is because Dr. Sprei managed to pull off a land deal involving the land the antenna sits on and keeps writing checks from the money he made. Dawn Avalon must be good in bed, because her performance, by any objective standard, has driven one of the last independent radio stations in the southwest into a wall.
What is this all about? It sounds like all the comments from many of those with the comments sound like people with issues. Maybe those who left on less than stellar terms, regardless of the parting of the ways-it often happens in the radio/tv industry. More often than you realize-never said it was pretty-but you have to move on. If you are one of those who were released,pointing fingers is not a way to get another position in media.Sorry, things have changed in ALL careers. Never said it was fair, but times have dictated change.