TV People News
Longtime news anchor Bill Jartz has announced plans to retire from Gray ABC affiliate WBAY-TV/2.1 (Green Bay) on May 23. Jartz first joined the station as a sports reporter in 1983 and, after a few years outside of TV, returned as sports anchor in 1993 and moved to the news anchor chair in 1998. Jartz plans to continue his role announcing Green Bay Packers home games at Lambeau Field. He is also on the Packers Board of Directors.
Sinclair FOX affiliate WLUK/11.1 (Green Bay) announced that Juli Buehler will retire after more than 30 years with the station. Buehler oversaw the launch of a morning newscast and lifestyle programs and coverage of Super Bowls and political conventions. She also helped create FOX 11 Packers Family Night and the FOX 11 Field House near Lambeau Field.
Sinclair has named Joseph Tracy the vice president and general manager of CBS/FOX affiliate KGAN (Cedar Rapids) and FOX affiliate KDSM (Des Moines).
Following his semi-retirement from KSTP-TV, longtime news director Kirk Varner has launched TVND.com with commentary on the TV news business.
Radio People News
UPDATE: After initially reporting that he had been let go, BringMeTheNews reports that evening host Henry Lake and producer Chris Tubbs have been brought back to Audacy’s WCCO/830 (Minneapolis).
RadioInsight reports that Twin Cities morning co-hosts Brian Zepp of KQRS/92.5 and Andrew Wappel of 93X (KXXR/93.7) have lost their jobs amid cuts at Cumulus Media.
Cumulus named Adam Dobbins the new vice president/market manager for its five-station Des Moines group. Dobbins, who grew up in Des Moines, was most recently director of sales at Walnut Radio in Omaha.
Hubbard Broadcasting’s WJJY/106.7 (Brainerd) received the Crystal Heritage Award, recognizing its previous five Crystal Radio Awards, during this year’s National Association of Broadcasters State Leadership Conference. Only 12 other radio stations have received the honor. Gopher Communications’ KROX/1260 (Crookston) was among this year’s ten Crystal Radio Award winners.
Programming
The new Busted network launched on March 1, with the network’s website listing affiliates including KPXR/48.6 (Cedar Rapids), KFPX/39.6 (Newton-Des Moines), KPXM/41.7 (St. Cloud-Minneapolis), WPXE/55.6 (Kenosha-Milwaukee), WACY/32.5 (Appleton-Green Bay), and WTPX/46.7 (Antigo-Wausau).
Sinclair announced that TBD TV will change its name to ROAR on April 28, reflecting the network’s transition to a comedy lineup with programs such as “Saturday Night Live” and “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”
A notice from Spectrum Cable says Quest/KARE-DT4 will no longer be available on or after May 7.
Gray Media announced plans to carry at least ten St. Louis Cardinals games on stations in 14 markets this year, including Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Ottumwa, Sioux City, and Rochester (MN). The exact channels that will air the games were not immediately announced.
The Timberjay reports that WELY/1450 and WELY-FM/94.5 (Ely) have been on the air at times as their pending buyers, Civic Media, work to return the stations to the air permanently. An official launch is planned for late spring or early summer.
If you’ve never sampled the wide variety of BBC domestic radio programming via the BBC Sounds app, time is running out: The BBC has announced that international access to Sounds will be cut off this spring. The app allows on-demand listening of all programming from BBC’s national and local services over the past month. The exact date of the cutoff was not announced. Non-music services BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 will continue to be available outside the U.K. on a different BBC app.
In case you missed it here:
- Minnesota Radio Group Owner Killed in Alaska Avalanche
- Townsquare Takes Quad Cities AM, FM Translator Off Air
- FCC Monitor: Milwaukee FM Translator Sale Closes
News tips? Press releases? Please send them to jonellis@northpine.com!
Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.