Indiana RadioWatch: July 29, 2000

Northeast

Longtime sports talk show personality Art Saltsberg has hung up the headphones of the popular "Sports Talk with Art & Dean" show, that he hosted with WPTA-TV Sports Director Dean Pantazi. Saltsberg and Pantazi have hosted the show since November 4, 1985. Before "Sports Talk", Saltsberg had worked at WOWO in the 1970's, first as a news person, then as News Director from 1977-1979. Saltsberg continues in his sales position for WOWO and sister Sports/WONO (1380am, Fort Wayne).

Since the departure of Lana Conroy from CHR/WMEE (97.3fm, Fort Wayne), there have been some changes. New to mornings is Rick Dees, syndicated out of KIIS in Los Angeles, CA. This is Dees' first Indiana market and his 5th, nationwide, by our count.

Here's the new lineup:

6am - 10am Rick Dees
10am - 2pm John O'Rourke (OM)
2pm - 6pm Charly Butcher (from mornings)
6pm - 10pm Boomer
10pm - 2am John Mathews

Condolences to the family of former radio musician Guy Fitzsimmons, Jr. Fitzsimmons, 87, played saxophone and clarinet live on "The Little Red Barn", broadcast on WOWO (1190am, Fort Wayne).

Where are they now? Former Country/WBTU (93.3fm, Kendallville) PD Dane Daniels is now the PD at WRKG in the Gainesville, FL area.

Northcentral

More information has surfaced regarding the AC/WLRX (95.7fm, Nappanee) sale. An unconfirmed yet reliable source tells IRW that one of John Dille's children is the owner. Dille is the owner of Pathfinder Communications and owns several stations in the South Bend metro area. Our source also says that once the sale is complete, expect a format change to sports and soft AC (!)

Northwest

In early June, we were made aware of the death of Warren Freiberg. IRW recognized the name, but wasn't aware of any Indiana connection. Through several readers (among them, The Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder), we were made aware that Freiberg does indeed have an Indiana connection. First of all, Freiberg, 60, died on June 2. After working in Michigan and Illinois, he began a lengthy career at WWCA (1270am, East Chicago). Known as "The Dean of Northwest Indiana Talk Shows", Freiberg was appointed VP/GM at WLTH (1370am, Gary) in 1969. In 1985, he started the "Freedom Network" on WWJY (103.9fm, Crown Point) and a Chicago station. Until his death, he has his wife, Libby, broadcast a daily simulcast on the St. George stations: WJOB (1230am, Hammond) and WIMS (1420am, Michigan City). Freiberg is survived by his wife, Libby, and a son, Warren, Jr.

Oldies/WASK(AM) & FM (1450am, 98.7fm; AM: Lafayette, FM: Battle Ground) has a new PD: Randy Jones. Jones replaces 17 year veteran Don Riley. Jones will continue as afternoon personality at the station. Taking over Don Riley's morning shift is Bryan McGarvey. McGarvey had been working part-time at AC/WGLM (106.7fm, Lafayette)

Central

The FCC has slapped a $7,000 fine on ARS Broadcasting Corp., the former owners of WOOO(AM) (1520am, Shelbyville). The FCC says they violated the rules by having their antenna gates unlocked.

Shakeup at CHR/WNOU: PD Scrap Jackson departs. Jana Sutter moves from weekends to middays. Also, J.D. Redman moves from middays to late nights (10pm - 2am). Finally, Jill Savage exits for mornings at AAA/WTTS (92.3fm, Bloomington). Want a schedule?

5:30am - 10am - Marty McKnight ("Marty in the Morning")
10am - 2pm - Jana Sutter (MD)
2pm - 6pm - Chris Ott (APD)
6pm - 10pm - Doc Miller & Tommy Thompson
10pm - 2am - J.D. Redman

IRW learned that WMMS (Cleveland, Ohio) Production Director Matt Anthony was to be the next Production Director at WNDE(AM), WFBQ and WRZX in Indianapolis. Anthony has decided to stay in Cleveland. If you're interested in applying for the gig, e-mail us and we'll give you the details.

Night guy Tommy Mason moves to mornings at Alternative/WEDJ (107.1fm, Danville). PD Tom Posz is now offair (which is good since he'll be busy finding a new night jock!) Also, Stacy Brier, Promotions Director, exits.

Bob & Tom add KMOM in Colorado Springs, CO to their list of affiliates.

Westcentral

What's going on at Rock/WZZQ (107.5fm, Terre Haute)? A new PD arrives: J. Jay King (from WCIL in Carbondale, Illinois).

Southcentral

A correction: WYGB-CP is at 102.9fm, not 102.3fm.

Scott Michaels, PD at Country/WKKG (101.5fm, Columbus) exits for the APD job at WJYE in Buffalo, New York.

Southwest

MD & night guy Scott Evans departs at CHR/WSTO (96.1fm, Owensboro, Kentucky). Former night guy Cat Michaels moves from middays to nights and PD Dave Michaels takes Evans' midday airshift, as well as MD responsibilities. Evans takes weekends and his Internet company is handling the Internet presence at all of the Brill Media stations (WBKR, WKDQ, WOMI, WSTO, and WVJS.)

Otherness

We've been working on updates to the Indiana Radio Archive (http://www.well.com/~irw/archiveintro.html) If you've found an error, please let us know. We've learned a lot of new things the past few weeks. If you submitted a correction to us and don't see it reflected on the Archive yet, know that we have a small stack of corrections to make (we'll start on 'em once this is done).

That's it for this issue! See you in two weeks...

Blaine Thompson
Indiana RadioWatch

Back to the Archive Index

All pages Copyright Blaine Thompson. Articles, photos, corrections, and other contributions should be e-mailed to the editors.