Chris Bennett weathers financial downturn, KMCQ silenced by heavy snows

Items from the Seattle P-I radio columnist Bill Virgin–

January 15, 2009 -Chris Bennett’s newspapers and radio stations are scrambling to keep ad revenues coming in the door. Bennett also figures the African-American media will get a hearing from the new (Obama) administration, especially with Obama’s roots in Chicago, a city with a long heritage of a black-owned press.
In the meantime, Bennett is seeing the effects of the ad slump. Survival might mean some long-term repositioning and downsizing of the radio stations. Currently, the Seattle-market stations are KRIZ-AM/1420, featuring rhythm & blues oldies; KZIZ-AM/1560, which plays gospel music; and KZIZ-AM/1620, which plays R&B and hip-hop.

KMCQ-FM/104.5 has been off the air for several weeks. Neil Read of First Broadcasting Capital Partners, the station’s owner, says the transmitter in a remote area near Enumclaw is powered by a propane-fueled generator, and the huge snowfalls of late December prevented deliveries to the site. He said with a delivery of fuel this week, he’s hoping the station will be back on the air as soon as Thursday.
In the meantime, First Broadcasting is still working on its proposal to move the transmitter to Cougar Mountain, he added.

January 22, 2009 – KJR-AM, the long-running Seattle sports talk station, will add Fox Sports programming overnight, holidays and weekends.
Some of those KJR hosts will start showing up on Tacoma-based KHHO as well. KHHO has added KJR morning host Mitch Levy 6-9 a.m., Dave Grosby and Mike Gastineau 3-5 p.m. and Gastineau 5-7 p.m. Sandwiched around those will be nationally syndicated Jim Rome 9 a.m.-noon, Dan Patrick noon-3 p.m. and Tony Bruno 7-10 p.m. KHHO, which will be marketed as South Sound Sports 850, also will continue to be affiliated with Washington State sports and the Tacoma Rainiers.
A new competitor in Seattle sports talk – KIRO-AM/ 710, plans to drop its news-talk format this spring. KIRO is picking up ESPN programs and adding the ESPN name to its brand in addition to its broadcasts of Mariners and Seahawks games (so far the only local host it has announced is Kevin Calabro), so KJR is ditching the ESPN affiliation now.

March 12, 2009

-Mike Jones cut from the Bob Rivers morning show on KZOK 102.5 due to budget issues.