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Calling on ALL media outlets including radio and TV stations, personalities, sales reps, office folk around the country, VARTV is on Facebook and LinkedIn, and follow us on Twitter.VARTV at facebook.com/VARTV, linkedin.com/VARTV and twitter.com/vartv!
For the latest official media Press Releases, visit the VARTV Press Room...
Facebook's "Bring Back Jon Cash" fan page has over 4,100 likes... (9/2/2010)
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| Thursday, September 2, 2010Jon Cash says he'll provide additional details on Tuesday Sep. 7 about his firing from WAVY-TV, Channel 10's weather team. The information will be posted on his Web site, , Cash said on Thursday. (read more - Daily Press)
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Web traffic on VARTV is up over 100% the past two days because of... the Jon Cash firing... (9/2/2010) | back to top |
| Thursday, September 2, 2010Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association Inc (WHRO) will get a new signal on the Eastern Shore. Positive Alternative Radio (PAR) has agreed to sell Christian Comtemporary "Spirit FM" (WRXT/90.3 Roanoke) WJCN/90.1 Nassawadox and low-power translator W261CN/100.1 Williamsburg to WHRO for $237,000.
WJCN has filed an application to change the station from a Class A to Class B, essentially covering the entire Virginia portion of the Eastern Shore. It's our guess that WJCN will rebroacast News/Public Affairs/NPR WHRV/89.5 Norfolk and a new set of call letters have been requested.
WHRO will lease the low power station back to PAR for $1 for the next year and $250/mo the following five years. The translator has filed an application with the FCC to more than double its power from 80 watts to 190 watts.
In addition to WJCN, WHRO will soon sign on two brand new stations -- WHRX/89.9 Gloucester Courthouse (simulcast of WHRO/90.3) and WHRG/88.5 Gloucester Point (simulcast of WHRV/89.5).
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Local TV LLC "NewsChannel 3" WTKR (CBS) Norfolk reporter Bob Matthews is out after 18+ years with the station. He has joined Sinclair Communictions Norfolk (WNOB/93.7, WROX/96.1, WUSH/106.1, WNIS/790, WTAR/850) as an account executive... (9/1/2010) | back to top |
| Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Local TV LLC's "NewsChannel 3" WTKR (CBS) Norfolk has named mornings/noon meteorologist Patrick Rockey as the station's new Chief Meteorologist. He started evenings/nights yesterday.
Rockey, who has been with Channel 3 for 8 years, replaces Chief Meteorologist Mike Harvey who will exit Fridayfor a similar position at Hearst Television's WTAE 4/ABC Pittsburgh.
Replacing Rockey, who was doing weather and co-anchoring, is the recent new hire (June 2010) Myles Henderson for weather and Blaine Stewart will be co-anchoring now with Laila Muhammad. Vanessa Murdock continues her part-time weather duties on the weekend.
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All area markets are up
| Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Nielsen Media Research just announced a new list of Designated Market Area (DMA®) TV rankings for the 2010-2011 television season.The research company says the total number of TV households in the U.S. will climb to 115.9 million (115,905,450), an increase of one million homes (+0.9%) from last year.
- Washington DC is still at #9 with 2,389,710 TV homes, an increase of 2.34%
- Hampton Roads is unchanged at #43; 716,050 TV homes (0.87%)
- Richmond up one notch at #57; 558,500 TV homes (0.82%)
- Roanoke-Lynchburg jumps one slot to #66; 464,480 TV homes (0.71%)
- Tri-Cities TN-VA (Bristol) leaps two to #91; 337,610 TV homes (0.89%)
- Greenville-New Bern-Washington NC jumps two spots to #101; 294,550 (1.47%)
- Salisbury MD inches up one to #143; 159,630 TV homes (0.81%)
- Harrisonburg up one to #177; 94,670 TV homes (1.36%)
- Charlottesville remains at #183; 76,700 TV homes (1.03%)
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| Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Meteorologist Jon Cash's bio and weather blogs have been wiped clean from the LIN Media websites of WAVY (10/NBC Portsmouth) and WVBT (43/FOX Virginia Beach).Cash states on his Ministries website that indeed he was fired from Channel 10 at 1:30 in the afternoon. He was with the station for 21 years.
Editor's note: People continue to comment on Cash's firing at The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press. Facebook's "Bring Back Jon Cash" fan page has over 3,200 likes... (8/31/2010)
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| Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Due to "budgetary constraints," Centennial Broadcasting laid-off the entire on-air staff at its Active Rock "97.9 The Planet" WZZU (and WZZI/106.9) (yesterday). The station will go jockless for its entire on-air line-up. | back to top |
| Monday, August 30, 2010
Just like Cox Radio Richmond did earlier this year with two back-to-back format changes, a second East Carolina Radio station spins the format wheel today (see below for the other one). Active Rock "98OBX" WOBX/98.1 Manteo/Outer Banks is blown up after six years for classic hits dubbed "Nick Radio."After the track "Goodbye" (by Theory Of A Deadman) played, "Nick Radio" debuted with Freddy Fender's "Before The Next Teardrop Falls." More to come... (8/30/2010)
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With more 80's tracks included in its playlist, Main Line Broadcasting's "Big Oldies 107-3" WBBT-FM Powhatan/Richmond (and WARV/100.3 Petersburg) recently ditched "Greatest Hits of The 60s and 70s" in favor of "Richmond's Greatest Hits..." (8/30/2010) | back to top |
State Supreme Court throws out case of man who sent naked pictures to news anchor
| Monday, August 30, 2010
Kevin Lamont Newby sent 15 pictures of himself in various stages of undress to a news anchor in late 2007.
Newby, of Surry, included a full frontal nude shot of himself. He added that he played varsity basketball in high school. And he told the anchor — Regina Mobley of WVEC TV-13 — to write him back "if she liked what she saw." (read more - Daily Press)
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| Monday, August 30, 2010On the air for nearly four years, East Carolina Radio has dumped Bustos Media's syndicated Regional Mexican "Gran D - La Mas Mexicana" format for Classic Country on its duocast WCNC/1240 Elizabeth City and WZBO/1260 Edenton. The first track just after midnight this moring was John Denver's "Thank God I'm A Country Boy." More to come...
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| Sunday, August 29, 2010
Star Radio Group picks Derry London to do afternoons (and Imaging) on its Rhythmic "99-3 The Vibe" WVBX Fredericksburg. London comes to Vibe from Dick Broadcasting's CHR "107-5 KZL" WKZL Winston-Salem/Greensboro where he was doing weekends. He replaces Tony B who left in July.London starts his new gig on Tuesday, September 7.
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| Saturday, August 27, 2010Saturday Morning Anchor Andy Fox on LIN Media's WAVY (10/NBC) Portsmouth announced at the end of the newscast, he'll no longer be anchoring weekends after doing it on and off for 15 years. Fox said he's "taking on an important weekday role as a leader in our "10 On Your Side" investigative unit."
Fox starts his new role at the duopoly on Monday, August 30.
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| Friday, August 27, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Cville’s #1 Hit Music Station, Hot 101.9 is excited to announce the hiring of Pauly Madison for middays on the station. Madison is no stranger to Charlottesville, or to WHTE/Hot 101.9 for that matter. He served as the initial PD when the station originally launched in 2001, and he remained there until 2003.The hire seems like a no-brainer according to current PD, PJ Styles. “Pauly was at the helm when Hot first launched, and I was right there beside him. We helped grow the station together, and this may sound goofy, but Pauly and I have always “gotten each other.” I’m truly excited to team up again and see how far we can take the station…the future at Hot 101.9 and Monticello Media is definitely bright.” Madison shares the same sentiments. “Talk about putting the band back together! To come back to Cville with Steve Gaines back at the helm and to support PJ’s vision for the station is a real gift…and to do it without the restrictions of corporate radio can’t be anything short of a blast!”
Madison will take to the airwaves officially on September 1st, replacing current midday man, Erik Murphy, who is vacating the chair after five years with the station.
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| Thursday, August 26, 2010Clear Channel Top 40 WZEE (Z104)/Madison, WI night jock Tyler Kruze heads south for afternoon-drive duties at Clear Channel Top 40 WJJS-WJJX (Jammin' JJS)/Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA, where he'll co-host with Nicky. (read more - Allccess)
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| Thursday, August 26, 2010
Studio Center Total Production announces the acquisition of Santa Monica sound studio “The Mix”. Studio Center / LA, formerly “The Mix”, is a boutique audio and video Post Studio located in the center of Santa Monica’s editorial and film community. “The Mix” created in 2008 was a new studio born of the original “Latte Mix”. (read more - Studio Center Santa Monica) | back to top |
| Thursday, August 26, 2010One of my musical heroes, Billy Joel, once lyricized, "Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes."
It's a minimal statement that I've shrugged off all these years. But now that it's time to say goodbye... (read more - Richmond Times-Dispatch)
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| Tuesday, August 24, 2010How do the 288,945 most heavily trafficked sites on the internet stack up against each other? (read more - Gizmodo)
Editor's note: VARTV is in the Top 300,000! Can you find our icon?
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| Tuesday, August 24, 2010Hindlin Broadcasting has been running a Spanish format on WVXX-AM Norfolk VA since 11/1/05. Now, with the exercise of a purchase option, it will move to outright ownership of the facility. (read more - RBR.com)
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Tennessee-Virginia border well-kept Appalachian secret
| Tuesday, August 24, 2010Longevity and continuity go a long way in the so-called Tri-Cities market along the Tennessee-Virginia border. WCYB’s morning man Johnny Wood, who General Manager Jim McKernan describes as “Elvis Presley in the marketplace,” has been on for 42 years. (read more - Broadcasting & Cable)
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| Monday, August 23, 2010
Oren Liebermann will join CBS 3 (KYW-TV) and The CW Philly’s (WPSG-TV) Eyewitness News team as a general assignment reporter beginning September 27th, Vice President and News Director Susan Schiller has announced.
Liebermann was most recently a reporter for WAVY-TV, the NBC station in Norfolk, Virginia... (read more - LauraNachman.net)
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Includes WRLH/35 Richmond and WTVZ/33 Norfolk
| Monday, August 23, 2010
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the nation's largest television groups, and The Country Network (TCN), a country music video television network located on Music Row in Nashville, TN, have entered into an agreement to launch TCN's star-hosted music video programming on the broadcast digital tier in most of Sinclair's markets. (read more - PR Newswire) | back to top |
| Thursday, August 19, 2010
Virginia Tech Foundation (VTF) recently turned on W223AZ/Richmond (92.5 FM). VTF purchased the low powered translator station (doing just 10 watts) last year for $55,000. VTF is airing its Radio IQ format (BBC News/NPR Talk) from WVTW/88.5 Charlottesville on the new signal.By the way, the closer you are to Lakeside the better the chance of picking them up.
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| Thursday, August 19, 2010Millard S. Younts, Managing Member of EnVest Media, has been ordered by the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to take over WDRL-DT Channel 24 Danville VA, serving the Roanoke-Lynchburg DMA. Younts will also try to find a buyer for the property. (read more - TVBR.com)
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| Thursday, August 19, 2010Sinclair (Communications) Broadcasting Country (US106) WUSH/(Poquoson) Norfolk, VA MD/afternoon personality Brandon O’Brien has been upped to PD. (read more - AllAccess)
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| Wednesday, August 18, 2010Two prominent Richmond Times-Dispatch writers are taking newspaper jobs elsewhere.
Reporter David Ress, who wrote business and investigative stories, has left to become local news editor at the News Leader, a daily serving Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County.
Pop-music critic Melissa Ruggieri will join the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (read more - Style Weekly)
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Local TV LLC's "NewsChannel 3" WTKR (CBS) Norfolk will move the highly visable "The Ellen Degeneres Show" from 9 a.m. to the 3 p.m. timeslot on Tuesday, September 7... (8/18/2010) | back to top |
| Monday, August 16, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... CBS 6 News in Richmond, VA is now broadcasting in high definition.The multi-million dollar upgrade makes CBS 6 the only television station in Central Virginia to provide high definition video in the field, in addition to its HD studio cameras and HD weathercasts. (read more - CBS6, WTVR-TV)
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Over a half dozen new classified ads have been placed on VARTV this month! Click "Classified Ads" on the left navigation panel for complete details.If your station/organization has any positions available (media oriented), get them on VARTV! You would be surprised who's reading..... (8/16/2010)
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| Sunday, August 15, 2010Three Richmond Times-Dispatch editors have been promoted as part of a new organizational structure for the newspaper emphasizing investigative, enterprise and multimedia news reporting. (read more - Richmond Times-Dispatch)
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| Friday, August 13, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... WVEC 13 News, Hampton Roads Local News Leader will launch the region’s only local 4:30am newscast beginning Monday August 30th.WVEC 13 News has always been on the forefront of providing viewers in Hampton Roads with the highest quality local news. (read more - 13NEWS, WVEC)
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| Friday, August 13, 2010
CBS Radio has been a long term supporter of digital radio as it is one of the three original companies who funded the development of the HD Radio system and has supported improvements to the system that improve reception and functionality. (read more - Radio Business Report) | back to top |
| Thursday, August 12, 2010FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Get your game face on as FOX43 and the most successful start up college football program in NCAA history team up to debut The Old Dominion Football Show with Bruce Rader and Coach Bobby Wilder, on Friday September 10th. Sponsored in its entirety by Priority Automotive, the weekly show will be broadcast every Friday night at 10:45 pm... (read more - FOX43, WVBT)
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| Wednesday, August 11, 2010Local TV LLC's "CBS6" WTVR Richmond is now doing HD news. This includes the studio cameras and in-the-field shots. Channel 6 joins Raycom Media's "NBC12" WWBT doing HD newscasts though Channel 12 only does hi-def from it's studio cameras.
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| Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Cox Communications Inc.'s customers will see their monthly rates rise almost 6 percent next week for the most-popular cable television package.The cost for Cox's standard package, now called TV Essential, will climb from $51.95 a month to $54.99 as of Aug. 16. (read more - The Virginian-Pilot) (read more - Daily Press)
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| Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Norfolk Admirals and Red Zebra Broadcasting have reached an agreement that will see the Admirals partner with WXTG Radio (102.1FM/1490AM). With the agreement, "The Game" 102.1 FM and 1490 AM will become the flagship stations for Norfolk Admirals hockey through the 2012-13 season... (read more - Norfolk Admirals) | back to top |
| Friday, August 6, 2010Joan Meltzer blazed inroads for women during the '60s and '70s in the male-dominated worlds of professional songwriting and underground DJing.
When she joined Norfolk's Hot 103 WOWI-FM in the mid-'80s, she was one of few, perhaps the only, white female on-air personalities at a major urban contemporary station. (read more - The Virginian-Pilot)
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Six new classified ads have been placed on VARTV the past seven days! Click "Classified Ads" on the left navigation panel for complete details.If your station/organization has any positions available (media oriented), get them on VARTV! You would be surprised who's reading..... (8/6/2010)
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Hampton Roads is included
| Thursday, August 5, 2010
Sezmi, a highly acclaimed new personalized television service that combines live TV, on-demand movies, Internet video, and DVR capabilities in one seamless experience, today announced its Sezmi Select service package is immediately available in a total of 36 markets across the United States for only $4.99 per month. (read more - BusinessWire) | back to top |
| Thursday, August 5, 2010FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... From the home of founding fathers’ Thomas Jefferson and James Madison comes another duo determined to reset the concept of; “We, the People” into its proper place in our lives. (read more - Afternoon Constitutional)
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| Thursday, August 5, 2010FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... The Apprentice School Athletic Department, in conjunction with Newport News Public Schools Television Channel 47, is proud to announce that the 2010 Apprentice School Football home opener on September 18 with Greensboro College will be televised through tape-delay on Newport News Cox Channel 47 and Verizon FiOS Channel 17. (read more - NNPSTV)
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| Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Entercom's Urban AC "95-7 R&B" WVKL is again the most listened to radio station (persons 12+) in Hampton Roads. This is according to latest Arbitron ratings for the market that covered the April 1 thru June 23 time period. Second is Urban "103JAMZ" WOWI/102.9, third is Entercom Rhythmic "Z104" WNVZ/104.5, fourth is Country "97-3 The Eagle" WGH and Sinclair's News/Talk WNIS/790 in fifth.Editor's note: Saga Communications (WNOR/98.7, WAFX/106.9, WJOI/1230), Willis Broadcasting (WGPL/1350, WPCE/1400, WCPK/1600) and Red Zebra (WXTG/1490, WXTG-FM/102.1) do not subscribe to Arbitron so the ratings are withheld from the public...
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| Wednesday, August 4, 2010Folks lucky enough to gaze back on a 50-year career typically reminisce about achievements, awards, beloved co-workers.
Legendary local (Hampton Roads) disc jockey Joe Hoppel looks back that far and wonders why Mr. T didn't want to put him in a headlock. (read more - Daily Press)
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Yet another new classified ad has been placed on VARTV! Click "Classified Ads" on the left navigation panel for complete details.If your station/organization has any positions available (media oriented), get them on VARTV! You would be surprised who's reading..... (8/4/2010)
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| Wednesday, August 4, 2010FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... ESPN 950 AM is proud to announce that Greg Burton was voted Best Local Sports Radio Host by readers of Richmond Magazine. This was the 23rd year of the readers’ survey and the third year in a row the ESPN 950 AM’s Local Sports Show won the “Best Of” vote. (read more - ESPN 950, WXGI)
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| Wednesday, August 4, 2010Taylor Elliott Irving, Jr., 62, of Farmville, passed away Saturday, July 31, 2010 at his residence. He was born September 11, 1947 in Farmville, a son of the late Taylor Elliott Irving Sr. and Pearle Dunn Irving of Cartersville. (read more - The Farmville Herald)
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$33 million earmarked for upgrades
| Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Shenandoah Telecommunications said it has completed its acquisition of Jet Broadband's cable operations for $148 million. (read more - Multichannel News) | back to top |
| Monday, August 2, 2010Rick Gever's weekly newsletter says that Waterman Broadcasting "NBC29" WVIR Charlottesville News Director Neal Bennett is leaving the station to become the Assistant News Director at Scripp's "NewsChannel 5" WPTV (NBC) West Palm Beach FL. Bennett was with Channel 29 for six years.
NBC29 is actively seeking a new News Director.
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| Friday, July 30, 2010WVTW-FM, the Roanoke-based news and talk station Radio IQ, has expanded its broadcast area to Richmond this month.A Radio IQ antenna in downtown Richmond will receive signals from a transmitter in Charlottesville and will broadcast the station on 92.5 FM. (read more - The Roanoke Times)
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| Friday, July 30, 2010Twenty year radio sales vet Karen Cote has resigned her position as General Sales Manager at Monticello Media/Charlottesville, VA. (read more - AllAccess)
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