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  :// DISH subscribers may lose access to WAVY-TV and FOX43 on March 4, 2011  | Monday, February 28, 2011  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... WAVY-TV and FOX43 announced today that DISH subscribers may lose access to their favorite local news, lifestyle and sports programs, as well as NBC’s and FOX’s top-rated prime time and syndicated programming, if LIN Media does not reach a retransmission consent agreement with DISH Network. (read more - WAVY, FOX43 WVBT)
| Monday, February 28, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... 97.3 The Eagle (WGH-FM) seeks a three-peat as they have been named a finalist for the Country Radio Broadcasters (CRB) Radio Humanitarian Award for the third straight year in a row. Still celebrating a recent win for “Radio Station of the Year-Large Market” by the Academy of Country Music, The Eagle is experiencing a banner year. (read more - 97-3 The Eagle, WGH)
| Monday, February 28, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Former WXEZ “Star 94.1” afternoon radio personality Dale Murray has officially launched “Dale Murray Productions,” a full service production company specializing in radio consulting, spot and imaging production, and the development and distribution of nationally syndicated programming. (read more - Dale Murray Productions)
| Monday, February 28, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... ESPN Radio 94.1 will have live play-by-play coverage of the CAA basketball tournament from Richmond... We will carry all ODU basketball games, all JMU basketball games and the CAA championship game regardless who is in the game... (read more - ESPN Radio 94.1, WVSP)
| Monday, February 28, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Donations are being accepted to assist the Richmond Hospital Education Program during the Walkin to Richmond Campaign! WXGM radio morning personality Neal Steele will be walking from the Gloucester, Virginia radio station to Children’s Hospital in Richmond to support raising monies for the Hospital Education Program. (read more - XTRA 99.1, WXGM)
| Monday, February 28, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... ESPN 950 WXGI announced today that for the seventh consecutive year it will provide radio coverage of all eleven games at the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Tournament, March 4th through 7th, from the Richmond Coliseum. (read more - ESPN 950, WXGI)
| Monday, February 28, 2011 We hear that reporter Patrick Terpstra with Belo's WVEC (13/ABC) Hampton-Norfolk is exiting the station for a new gig in his native Washington DC. Terpstra is headed for DC-based Capitol News Connection which bills itself as "(an) independent and innovative multimedia news service that brings politics home to Americans wherever they live..." He started his career as a studio assistant in the senators' private Capitol production facilities for the US Senate TV studio and followed that up with a stint at CNN Washington as a researcher, floor director and personal assistant to Wolf Blitzer. After 4½ years at Channel 13, Terpstra exits the "first part of April."
 50+ year radio and television vet Bob West passed away on February 1... (2/28/2011)
| Friday, February 25, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RRELEASE... Magic 105-3 is bringing back a familiar voice to Hampton Roads’ airwaves! Tommy Griffiths a 20-year icon is coming back! He’s currently based at sister station BIG 100.3 in Washington D.C. and will broadcast his show to Hampton Roads from there. (read more - Magic 105.3, WVMA)
| Friday, February 25, 2011... via a simulcast to Clear Channel 60s-70s Hits "Magic 105.3" WVMA Norfolk. Griffiths currently does mornings for Clear Channel Classic Hits WBIG/100.3 Washington DC. Starting Tuesday March 1, Griffiths will also be heard on Magic 105.3. More at MyMagic1053.com.
| Thursday, February 24, 2011 “We wouldn’t just throw something willy-nilly on the air,” WTVR reporter Greg McQuade said recently, defending the CBS-affiliate’s decision to air controversial video footage recorded inside a Richmond Planned Parenthood facility... (read more - TVSpy)
| Monday, February 21, 2011Changes are underway at the Mel Wheeler cluster in Roanoke, VA. Kevin Scott, PD of Top 40 WXLK (K92) has been given the programming reins at sister AC WLSQ (Q99) and N/T WFIR-A, replacing outgoing PD Jim Murphy... (read more - AllAccess)
| Monday, February 21, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... WHKT 1650 and The Brier Group are proud to announce that veteran talk host Brian Holland is returning to the station's lineup on Tuesday, March 1. Brian will be hosting "Face to Face", an interview program that will air Monday through Friday evenings from 9:00 pm until 11:00 pm. (read more - Conservative Talk Radio 1650, WHKT)
Richmond’s Country Station celebrated over 20 years of commitment to St. Jude | Sunday, February 20, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... WKHK/K95 held the 21st annual “K95 Country Cares for St. Jude Kid’s Radiothon” February 10th and 11th. K95 raised $186,386 in donations during the two day Radiothon. In the past 20 years, K95 has raised over 4 million dollars. (read more - K95, WKHK)
| Tuesday, February 15, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... 97.3 The Eagle (WGH-FM) has been awarded the prestigious “Radio Station of the Year” award for Large Market in the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. 97.3 The Eagle was in competition with heritage country music stations across the United States... (read more - 97-3 The Eagle, WGH)
| Friday, February 11, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Cox Media Group – Richmond (WKHK K95, WKLR 96.5, WHTI Hot 100.9, WURV 103.7 The River) is proud to announce the nomination of WKHK – FM (K95) for the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Award. K95 is one of five finalists in the running for Radio Station of the Year – Medium Market. (read more - K95, WKHK)
| Friday, February 11, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Hot 100.5 (WVHT-FM) has enhanced their longstanding partnership with AirKast, Inc. to continue to stream their on-air product to mobile phones including the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry. Within the past two weeks, Hot 100.5 has launched mobile streaming on the Android Market. (read more - Hot 100.5, WVHT)
| Friday, February 11, 2011Who are the hotties and hunks of local television news? I (Larry Bonko) nominate Kristen Crowley, Vanessa Coria, Juliet Bickford, Eric Harryman, Myles Henderson and David Alan. (read more - VEER Magazine)
| Wednesday, February 9, 2011A former local (Winchester) TV reporter pleaded guilty Tuesday to enticing a 14-year-old girl he met online to have sex, taking indecent liberties with a minor and possessing child pornography in 2009. (read more - The Northern Virginia Daily)
| Tuesday, February 8, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Sports Highlights, a Sports Interview Cable TV Show, will celebrate its 200th episode with the February-2011 edition.Sports Highlights is hosted by Newport News native, Greg Bicouvaris, who also is a radio host for 102.1 FM & 1490 AM The Game, in Virginia Beach... (read more - NNPS TV)
| Tuesday, February 8, 2011On February 5, Another View celebrated its two-year anniversary as it entered its third season. The program, hosted and produced by the personable Barbara Hamm Lee, airs Friday nights at 9 PM on public television station WHRO and brings issues in Hampton Roads’ African American community to light. (read more - VEER Magazine)
| Tuesday, February 8, 2011FOR RELEASE... CBS 6 in Richmond, VA will begin broadcasting a new religious program presented by The Richmond Outreach Center (The ROC). (read more - CBS6, WTVR)
| Thursday, February 3, 2011Kudos to Belo WVEC/13 ABC Hampton/Norfolk reporter Karen Hopkins. It REALLY appeared she was about to toss her cookies on a LIVE shot during the station's 5 p.m. newscast. She stumbled during the LIVE shot taking several pauses/swallow. She jumped into interviewing a Coast Guard spokesperson without telling "us" who he was. Things "looked" much better for Hopkins at 6 p.m.
| Thursday, February 3, 2011 Liberty University has filed paperwork wih the FCC to increase the power of its (low power) translator W249BK/98.3 Virginia Beach. Liberty says it wants to increase the power to 250 watts from an antenna located on top of the Westin Hotel in Virginia Beach's Town Center.Right now the station is licensed to 97.7 at just 2 watts. It does have a CP (construction permit) to move to 98.3 at 13 watts. Also in the FCC filing, Liberty wants to use the translator as a fill-in to WHRO-HD2/90.3 Norfolk. WHRO-HD2 is doing Alternative Classical Music "Connoisseur Classics." Editor's note: We don't think Liberty paid 10's of thousands of dollars for this translator to rebroadcast Alternative Classical Music (no offense to the folks at WHRO). Our best guess is that if the FCC approves the power increase, Liberty will rebroadcast Contemporary Christian WVRL/88.3 Elizabeth City which rebroadcasts WRVL/88.3 Roanoke. The new translator will provide a listenable signal to almost all of Northern Virginia Beach, all of Norfolk and Portsmouth and the highly poulated areas of Chesapeake -- all areas where the Elizabeth City signal starts to fade off...
| Wednesday, February 2, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Richmond, Virginia based Lockwood Broadcast Group announced today that it has signed an agreement with ACME Communications to acquire WBXX-TV of Knoxville, Tennessee (DMA #59) for an undisclosed purchase price. (read more - Lockwood Broadcast Group)
| Tuesday, February 1, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Monticello Media is proud to announce that News/Talk WCHV can now be heard on full power FM radio station 107.5 FM, now WCHV-FM. WCHV, Charlottesville’s legendary News Talk station can still be heard on 1260 AM and streaming at WCHV.com. (read more - News Talk 107.5, WCHV)
| Tuesday, February 1, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Radio station Generations 102.3 has added translator signal 94.1. Generations 102.3 and 94.1 plays music for the Baby Boomer generation... (read more - Generations 102.3, WZGN)
| Tuesday, February 1, 2011“The Music Place” WVMP (101.5) has the motto of serving those who support the "cultural arts and the community advocacy organizations within greater Roanoke.” (read more - Radio-Info)
| Monday, January 31, 2011Earlier this month, Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association (WHRO) shuffled the call letters of several of its new radio stations not yet on the air. To simulcast Classical WHRO/90.3, 89.9/Gloucester Courthouse is now WHRJ (was WHRX). To simulcast News/Public Affairs/NPR WHRV/89.5, 91.9/Eastville is now WHRE (was WHRJ) and 90.1/Nassawadox is now WHRX (was WHRE).
| Saturday, January 29, 2011 Arbitron's "Holiday Book" was released yesterday afternoon and it showed how huge all-holiday music was for not one but two stations in the Hampton Roads market.Entercom Soft Rock "2WD" WWDE/101.3 soared during the ratings period which covered December 9 thru January 5 to at 12.0 in the 6+ demo. The station's cume (the number of different listeners to the station for at least five minutes during the ratings period) was over 58% higher than the number two station in cume -- Entercom's Rhythmic "Z104" WNVZ/104.5. Rounding out the Top 10 were Entercom Urban AC “95.7R&B” WVKL, CC Urban "103JAMZ" WOWI/102.9, "Z104," Sinclair Variety Hits "93-7 BOB FM" WNOB, and a three-way tie at sixth place -- Max Media AC "92.9 The Wave" WVBW, Saga Classic Hits "106.9 The Fox" WAFX and Max Media Country "97-3 The Eagle" WGH-F -- Saga Rock "FM99" WNOR/98.7 and then Max Media CHR "Hot 100.5" WVHT.  Other notables... Max Media's Inspirational Contemporary "Star 1310" WGH is doing quite well, ratings-wise anyways, since moving to the AM dial. It's actually the highest listened to AM station and places 11th overall in the market (6+ demo). EMF's non-commercial Christian Comtemporary "K-Love" WZLV/90.7 soared in December from nowhere but slipped just a bit in the holiday book. K-Love network switched to an all-Christmas format in late November. Not only were 2WD's over the air ratings great, the station's internet stream showed up doing a 0.5 with a small cume of 19K+ listeners. It appears that one person with a PPM visited the Raleigh/Durham area during the period. Four of their stations showed up in the Hampton Roads numbers...Check out Radio-Info.com for the entire 6+ radio ratings.
| Friday, January 28, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Hot 100.5 (WVHT-FM) is proud to announce the debut of Elevation, produced and hosted by Grammy nominated Ryan Farish. Elevation will air Saturday nights from 12:00 AM to 2:00 AM.Ryan Farish, a native of Norfolk, Virginia, is an American electronica songwriter, producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. (read more - Hot 100.5, WVHT)
I'm recovering from an appendectomy (appendix removal) AND cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal). Continue to send us news to get it on VARTV! (1/26/2011)
| Friday, January 21, 2011 From the ECSU (Elizabeth City State University) website:"ECSU extends sincere sympathy to the family of Greg "Sampson" Lange, who died January 19, 2011. Sampson worked as production director and interim program director for WRVS-FM 89.9. He was a long-time, afternoon on-air personality. He hosted shows such as "Motown Monday," "The PM Cruise," a series of gospel shows over the years, and an award-winning, public affairs show, "Issues and Answers." Sampson served as host and co-host for numerous special events at Elizabeth City State University. He assisted the Athletics Department with play-by-play action and halftime shows. He will be missed by many people in the community due to his numerous contributions to non-profit organizations, churches, businesses and schools. Sampson had been employed by the university since 1993."
New activity in the classified ads section 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..... (1/21/2011)
| Friday, January 21, 2011 Clear Channel Radio is getting back Soft AC "Sunny FM" WSNV/93.5 Salem/Roanoke back from Aloha Station Trust, LLC. That trust was setup to spin-off stations after Clear Channel's move to go private.Two years ago, three new stations were included in the Roanoke/Lynchburg radio market making ownership of WSNV allowable under FCC ownership market caps. WSNV simulcast partner WSNZ/101.7 Lynchburg stays with Aloha Station Trust.
| Wedenesday, January 19, 2011The purchase price is $505 million: Bruce Reese, Bonneville CEO tells RBR-TVBR the company is selling its radio stations in Chicago, Washington DC, St. Louis and Cincinnati to Hubbard Broadcasting. (read more - RBR.com)
| Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Baker Family Stations "Big Country 105.3" WBNN Dillwyn/Farmville is now simulcasting on 840AM WKTR Earlysville/Charlottesville. WKTR was "ESPN 840" until this past June 30th when it was flipped to southern gospel as part of the "Joy" network out of Winston-Salem.On January 1, it was flipped again to simulcast Big Country. WBNN is now branding as "Big Country 105.3 FM & AM 840" and is still streaming online at bigcountry1053.com.
Veteran news anchor Paul Bottoms is out at Clear Channel Richmond that includes "NewsRadio 1140" WRVA... (1/17/2011)
| Friday, January 14, 2011Monticello Media Country WCYK/Charlottesville, VA PD Lisa Allen has exited after two years with the station. (read more - AllAccess)
Tom@107.5 ditched at 3 p.m. | Friday, January 14, 2011News Talk WCHV will now play on 107.5, a high powered FM station. It replaces the variety music station Tom at 107.5. Those involved say it will work to give better frequency to WCHV. (read more - Charlottesville NewsPlex)
| Thursday, January 13, 2011 We hear that in an email sent to employees after the 6:30 p.m. newscast yesterday on Belo's WVEC/13 (ABC) Hampton-Norfolk, a new on air anchor lineup would debut.At 5 p.m., an entirely new anchor team debuts -- Janet Roach and Lucy Bustamante (came to Channel 13 less than three months ago from sister station WWL/4 New Orleans). While Bustamante is promoted, Sandra Parker is shifted off the evening news... to the noon newscast with LaSalle Blanks (who was teamed with Roach). The new anchor team also knocks off Mobley at 5. The remaining schedule stays after that -- 5:30 p.m., David Alan and Roach with Alan and Mobley doing the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news. The new look starts Monday, January 17.
| Wednesday, January 12, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... Cox Media Group – Richmond (WKHK K95, WKLR 96.5, WHTI Hot 100.9, WURV 103.7 The River) and Virginia Blood Services joined forces for the Resolution Blood Drive 2011 on January 10th at the Sheraton Park South. This annual blood drive collected 207 pints of blood and over the past 3 years, the event has collected 971 pints of blood. (read more - Cox Media Richmond)
| Monday, January 10, 2011Educational Media Foundation, which has been racking up frequent buyer miles for years now, is getting another station. This time it’s an FM located in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, with plans to head a few miles inland. (read more - RBR.com)Editor's note: When the new WGTI is built, it'll be a good complement to WZLV/90.7 Cape Charles/Norfolk as far as coverage goes...
| Friday, January 7, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... In the mid-1970s, Steve King and Steve Leonard were young disc jockeys working at WHAP, a 1,000 watt AM station based in Hopewell, VA. Nearly 40 years later they have been reunited, along with former Virginia radio personality Bruce Wiseman, to launch iKCG Retro Classics Radio. (read more - iKCG, Retro Classics Radio)
| Friday, January 7, 2011 Antenna TV is a brand new digital multicast network featuring a combination of hit movies and classic television shows including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Nanny, Married with Children...(read more - WGNT)
| Tuesday, January 4, 2011 Cox Radio Alternative Hot AC "103.7 The River" WURV Richmond hires Kevin Begley as the station's new Music Director.Begley was most recently with Alternative WFNX Boston MA. Before that he was the producer for "The Jonesy Show" with Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols on Indie 103.1 in LA.
| Tuesday, January 4, 2011Jason Paige, part-time/fill-in with Cox Radio Country "K95" WKHK/95.3 Colonial Heights/Richmond, has resigned effective immediately. Paige will become Main Line Richmond's (WWLB/98.9, WARV/100.3, WBBT/107.3) new Production Director on Thursday.
| Tuesday, January 4, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... WBBC-WKLV Blackstone is sad to report the loss of our part-time Sports Director Cliff Gunn. He was with the station for 20 years and was always ready to cover Dixie Youth games and high school football. He was instrumental in the station’s winning three sports awards. Along with his sports, he was an educator. He was a legend in Southside Virginia and touched the lives of many young people and their families. He will be missed by all of us at Denbar Communications Inc.
| Tuesday, January 4, 2011LNC5, a joint television news venture linking Cox Communications Inc., The Virginian-Pilot and WVEC-TV (Channel 13), is over. The venture, forged in 1997, had featured "Pilot 13 News," a live 10 p.m. newscast on Cox's Channel 5, until it was discontinued in January 2009. (read more - The Virginian-Pilot)
| Monday, January 3, 2011 Community Newspaper Holdings is selling its four network affiliates to Thomas Henson for $24 million and the assumption of $50 million in long-term debt, according to an FCC filing seeking approval of the deal.The stations (and their affiliations): WXTX Columbus, Ga. (Fox); WSFX Wilmington, N.C. (Fox); WUPV Richmond, Va. (CW) and WFXG Augusta-Aiken, S.C. (Fox). (read more - TVNewsCheck)
| Monday, January 3, 2011Clear Channel's Capstar TX LLC has filed the paperwork to sell Silent WLVE-A/Winchester, VA to Winchester Radio Broadcasters, LLC for $5,000. The assignee is headed by veteran radio engineer Ted Schober... (read more - AllAccess)
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