James Hebl, owner of KCZQ/102.3 (Cresco, IA), has died at the age of 79. His obituary says Hebl worked at radio stations in Illinois and Michigan before buying KCHA AM-FM (Charles City) in 1986, later building KCZQ along with KCZE/95.1 (New Hampton) and KCZY (Osage, now KSMA-FM) to form the “Super C Radio” network. Hebl later sold all of the stations except KCZQ.
Allen Media CBS affiliate KIMT/3.1 (Mason City-Rochester) is now simulcasting mid-newscast segments of national news from sister NBC affiliate KWWL/7.1 (Waterloo-Cedar Rapids). The practice is the same as is already used by Allen’s four ABC affiliates in Wisconsin. With the change, KIMT has switched to the Quincy Media-era news graphics package used by KWWL, which was previously used by KTTC/10.1 (Rochester).
Alexis Rogers announced that she is out of a job amid cuts at Tegna. Rogers had been community relations manager and noon anchor at NBC affiliate KARE 11 (Minneapolis).
RadioInsight reports that Travis Justice has departed iHeart Sports outlet KXNO-FM/106.3 (Ankeny-Des Moines) to co-host a new streaming show with Ross Peterson, who the station let go last fall amid national layoffs.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Jack Mitchell, morning host at KLIN/1400 (Lincoln), is adding duties as host of the 5 p.m. hour. The newspaper notes that Mitchell will be the timeslot’s fourth host in the past several years.
The City of Monona’s WVMO-LP/98.7 (Monona) announced that Madison radio veteran Pat O’Neill will host a weekly hour dedicated to music from the 1970s, “We Had Joy, We Had Fun,” Saturdays at 8 p.m. starting Feb. 1. O’Neill previously hosted “The Weekend Concert” on WVMO.
Twin Cities PBS (KTCA/KTCI) recently announced the hiring of of Mary S. Jones as chief advancement officer and the election of Orson Ledezma Castro, Maria McKean and Eric Rucker to its board of trustees.
Free TV Networks has announced plans to launch a new broadcast network, Busted, on March 1. The new network will feature true crime programming geared towards men including “COPS Reloaded” and “World’s Wildest Police Videos.” Affiliates were not immediately announced but the news release says the network will reach 90% of U.S. households at launch.
The Jason Show, based at KMSP/9 (Minneapolis), is now being seen on sister FOX O&O KTBC/7 (Austin, TX). The Jason Show is syndicated to a number of Upper Midwest stations and has also had runs on several other stations around the country.
In case you missed it here:
- Twin Cities Suburb Gets LPFM Station — In Different City
- Update: Major Western Manitoba TV Signal Won’t Return
- UNI Shuts Down Student FM Station, Relaunches as Online Stream
- FCC Monitor: Twin Cities Suburb Tries to Fix LPFM Application Error
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Disclosure: Jon Ellis was an employee of Gray Media Group at the time this item was posted. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.