AC WLTJ/Pittsburgh has fired its entire airstaff and relaunched as Q92.9, The Best Music Mix, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Among those exiting are longtime morning hosts Gary Love and Beth Bershok and afternoon guy John Gallagher. WLTJ PD Chuck Stevens explains, “Although it's still an AC format, the playlist is being tweaked to create a more contemporary sound. The playlist spans the '70s through today, but the emphasis will be more on the '90s and beyond. WLTJ's former "Lite FM" identity "had been around a long, long time. We felt it was time to bring it into the new millennium." The station will run jockless for the time being.
Teddy P joins American General Media Top 40/Rhythmic KDLW (Wild 97.7)/Albuquerque as MD/nights.
Summit City Rhythmic Top 40 WNHT (Wild 96.3)/Ft. Wayne PD/morning co-host Vince "Mojo" Wilson exits.
CHR WWXM/Myrtle Beach AMD/night host Larry Knight exits.
Chandler Bigelow, Tribune Company VP/Treasurer, is promoted to CFO. Bigelow will take over for Don Grenesko, who is retiring after twenty-eight years with Tribune.
Cox Radio, Inc.-Miami Dance-Station, Party 93.1 FM, is now broadcasting digitally in HD Radio on the expanded FM dial at 93.1 HD2. Phil Michaels-Trueba, who designed the original Party 93.1, will orchestrate the new HD Radio version. The station has also set up a MySpace profile at http://www.myspace.com/party93hd2.
WJSJ & WSJF/Jacksonville waves goodbye to Smooth Jazz and says hello to Rhythmic AC as The New Coast 105.3 & 105.5.
Arbitron announces it has upgraded its diary processing center with a new, state of the art facility, combining several Arbitron businesses under one roof.
To celebrate the start of baseball season, XM launches Play Ball!, which will air on XM ch. 200 beginning this week. The channel, curated by Lou Brutus, will combine baseball-themed songs, classic audio from games, "Who's On First?" and much more.
Clear Channel inks a deal with Thumbplay for customized mobile content stores on over 650 CC stations' Web sites, allowing listeners to purchase songs as ringtones directly from station sites.
