That Was Now, This Is K-Twin

As 2012 debuted, so did another radio station in the Twin Cities.  KTWN (96.3 FM) moved from being a hits-driven station for teenagers to a hits-driven station for their parents.

The station, previously known as KHTC, failed twice to put a dent in contemporary hits behemoth KDWB's (101.3 FM) numbers.  First they were KTTB (B96), the Twin Cities' first full-time hip hop station.  Then, when the Pohlad family's Northern Lights Broadcasting took over, it became 96.3 Now, a more dance-oriented version of what KDWB had been playing.

It's just another notch on the belt for Clear Channel-owned KDWB, which has been in the Top 40 business since going on the air in 1959 at AM 630 (now WREY).  They've vanquished many a competitor over the years, including WDGY (1130), WYOO (whose FM signal KDWB took over when the station was sold in the 1970s), KSTP-AM and WLOL-FM.  Now they have the format to themselves once more.

The new K-Twin, whose name was previously used for a well-remembered (but low-rated) soft jazz station at 107.9 FM (now KQQL), plays tunes from the likes of Adele, Maroon 5 and Rob Thomas that sounds more like Cities 97 than KS95.  K-Twin's tagline is "Your Town, Your Friends, Your Hits", as if it's a shot at the corporate-owned competitors across the dial taking their cues from New York or Atlanta.

KTWN is also providing a second source of income for KARE (Channel 11) weekend news anchor Eric Perkins, who's co-hosting morning drive with Tony Fly.  Apparently, the NBC affiliate's owner Gannett's been cutting salaries, which explains why fellow KARE anchor Mike Pomeranz is moonlighting as a host on Fox Sports North.  Which makes you wonder what Julie Nelson does in her spare time.

One wonders how long the new K-Twin format will last, given these factors:  (A) They don't have much of a signal, which means it can't be heard in some parts of the metro.  (B) The perception in radioland that the Pohlads might sell KTWN, or use it to bring family-owned Minnesota Twins games to the station in 2013.  (C)  How long they can keep up the playlist without sounding like everybody else.  Or maybe they've lost that battle already.  At least until the next format change.

2012: The Beginning of The End?

Image by kymioflario via FlickrWelcome to 2012.  If the Mayan Calendar is to be believed, this may be the last year of our lives.

If all comes to pass on Wednesday, December 12, something--we don't know what--will destroy the planet we live on.  If you've seen "2012" and "The Day After Tomorrow", don't say you weren't warned.

How you react to this event varies, depending on your situation.  If you're graduating from high school or college, plan on getting married, have a new job, starting a family or win the lottery, then this is not what you want to hear.  Conversely, if you are unemployed, are not in good health, are forced to live out of your car, and your significant other has run off with the hedge fund manager, then the apocalypse can't come soon enough.

There's also the possibility that the disaster of 12/12/12 could just be a false alarm.  Remember Harold Camping, the Christian radio host who predicted the end of the world last year--twice?  This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the United States and the Soviet Union nearly came to nuclear blows over missiles in Castro-land.  Oh, and it's been ten years since the September 11, 2001 attacks.  It only seemed like the end of the world back then.

But to hear Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy talk about the looming apocalypse as the big ball dropped on New York's Times Square, and Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin suggesting that we might want to go out laughing as they promote NBC's Thursday comedy lineup during "Sunday Night Football" . . . Well, that kind of sets the tone for what 2012 will be all about, doesn't it?

As December 12 approaches, there's not much you can do in preparing to meet your doom.  All the fallout shelters in the world have been turned into overpriced, underground condos (and even if they still exist, they wouldn't do you much good anyway).  Just go about your business, think about what you've accomplished in life, and say your goodbyes when the time comes.

Of course, if we're all still here on December 13, then so much the better.  They'll just pick another date for the world to end.  Hopefully not any time soon.

Lessons Learned In 2011

Image via WikipediaIn 2011, we learned that . . .

• just because the economy is improving, it doesn't mean you are.
• Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gadhafi and Kim Jong-il may be gone.  But American citizens can still be poked, prodded and sent away to prison in the name of defending the "homeland".
• in the spirit of Howard Beale, people around the world are taking to the streets and shouting "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more!" at governments and the economies that run them.
• Washington (and some state capitals) has become a "no compromise" zone.
• women politicians are just as capable of losing their jobs due to alleged sexual shenanigans as their male counterparts are, and have more to lose because of it.
• being the beneficiary of a controversial jury verdict doesn't mean you can be allowed to live in peace.
• one man can have an effect on his company, and leave behind a legacy of products people never knew they wanted.
• no secret is safe, now that even classified documents can be put online.
• for all their rantings about being part of the 99%, some liberal commentators take home salaries worthy of the 1%.
• tactics used by some British tabloids make the American media's methods of getting the story seem tame by comparison.
• we didn't know who Kate Middleton was before she married a king in waiting, and we still don't.
• the world's climate may be changing, but the debate about it isn't.
• what didn't kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords only made her stronger.
• the space shuttle entered the final frontier--history.
• Minnesota can still produce politicians that make Jesse Ventura look good.
• Sarah Palin and Donald Trump didn't run for President.  But the Republicans had plenty of characters who did.
• Russia's Vladimir Putin is not a lock to win another presidential term.
• Neither is President Barack Obama.
• the use of technology behind the wheel can be just as deadly as getting drunk.
• wars end when you least expect them to.
• in Japan, disaster came in threes.

Class resumes January 1, 2012.

Minnesota's GOP: Pot, Meet Kettle

Image via WikipediaOne year ago, Minnesota Republicans were riding on a national wave of electoral triumphs, promising tax cuts and shrinking the federal deficit in a faltering economy.  They captured both houses of the state Legislature, and would have had Tom Emmer as its Governor if Democrat Mark Dayton hadn't won the recount.

Now the Minnesota GOP is a party in shambles.  In the waning days of the regular Legislative session, they dithered with things like the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage instead of working on the state's massive budget deficit, which eventually led to last summer's government shutdown.  The party is a million dollars in debt after its bombastic chairman Tony Sutton resigned.  Currently, there is no credible Republican challenger for Democrat Amy Klobuchar's U.S. Senate seat.  And Emmer, who currently co-hosts a morning drive talk show on KTCN (AM 1130), was recently turned down for a teaching position by Hamline University.

What is most surprising (and a bit disturbing) is the sudden fall of State Senator Amy Koch of Buffalo.  She had to resign her position as Senate Majority Leader because of what is termed as an "inappropriate relationship" with a fellow staffer.  Michael Brodkorb, who was on Koch's staff, was also fired.

What is meant by "inappropriate relationship" has so far been shrouded in secrecy and legal mumbo-jumbo by those in the know, pending an ethics investigation.  One figures either the state GOP doesn't want the public to know how bad it really is, or they're just plain embarrassed.  Respecting people's privacy is one thing.  Obfuscating the truth is quite another.

Koch, who still plans to serve out her term and is not running for re-election, has publicly apologized for her actions.  She still has a lot of explaining to do with her family (she's married with a daughter) and her colleagues.  If she chooses to share her predicament with the public at some point, then that's her (and her attorney's) call.

These developments have made Republicans look like hypocrites going into the 2012 elections.  All that talk about lower taxes, ethical government and family values tends to blow up in their faces when something like this happens.  But this isn't really news to anyone who follows politics at the state and national levels.  It is also true that all this might be forgotten by the time November rolls around.  Remember, power is an aphrodisiac.  You can get burned if you get too much of it.

Country Gives Lite FM The Boot

Image via WikipediaSanta's leaving a late Christmas present for Twin Cities country music fans.  On December 26, WLTE  is replacing its annual holiday music marathon with Buzz'n @102.9, providing competition for K102 (102.1 FM), which is now the top-rated radio station in town.

A new staff for Buz'n will soon be hired, which means that those who worked for WLTE will soon be joining the multitudes at the unemployment line.  Just in time for Christmas.

WLTE, owned by CBS Radio, had been a light rock station for three decades, playing the hits of Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and Phil Collins.  Then it went from music for the dentist's office to music that more resembled a Top 40 station--Neil and Barbra, meet Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.  Ratings suffered.

For months there was speculation on what direction WLTE would take.  Would it stay adult contemporary?  Would it start simulcasting with WCCO-AM (830)?  Or would it be something else?

Ultimately, the choice was country, which was no doubt influenced by the presence of Mick Anselmo.  He's a local CBS Radio executive who used to run K102 as one of the premiere country stations in America, before owner Clear Channel let him go.  Now Anselmo's competing against himself.

As further proof that this is not your grandparents' country music, both Buzz'n @102.9 and K102 are going for the same audience:   Young women who love Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert, and Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum.

CBS is not planning a call letter change for WLTE at this time.  But it should be noted that the handle for K102--KEEY--has been in use since the 1970s, when it was a beautiful-music station.

Frankly, K102 needs a little competition.  It's been at least a decade since another major station took them on (and no, Bob 106.1 doesn't count).  The question that must be asked is:  Can the Twin Cities support more than one country music station?   We should know the answer in a few ratings books.

UPDATE:  Seems the folks at CBS couldn't wait to unwrap their new present.  Buz'n @102.9 took to the airwaves on Christmas night.  And it's just been announced that the new call letters are KMNB, which means that if some other station wants to go Lite, WLTE is there for the taking.

KIm Jong-il: The Not-So-Dearly-Departed Leader

Image via WikipediaKim Jong-il, the North Korean strongman who held power for nearly two decades, has died at 69.  The government, whose job it was to embellish the legacy and legend of the "Dear Leader", said he had a heart attack while traveling on a train.

As dictators go, Kim Jong-il was standard issue with a few wacky touches. While his citizens starved and dissidents were either tossed into prison or killed, Kim Jong-il lived a life of luxury.  He ate well, had an absurdly low round of golf, and loved Hollywood movies to the point where he had thousands of them on DVD.

There are two reasons why Kim Jong-il was taken seriously by the rest of the world:  (A)  North Korea lies in a dangerous part of the world where a state of war with South Korea still exists, even though there hasn't been fighting in almost 60 years.  The United States has thousands of soldiers along South Korea's side of the 38th parallel.  (B)  The possibility that North Korea has nuclear weapons.  Despite claims of using nuclear power for energy needs, suspicions remain that they've built a weapon or two to use on Seoul, Tokyo, or even an American west coast city.

Adding to it is the fact that North Korea and its government is so isolated and secretive, one never knows what's really going on.

Kim Jong-il's handpicked successor is his son Kim Jong-un (apparently, his other sons were not deemed worthy).  Not much is known about him, except that he's in his 20s and is rumored to be a bit of a hothead.  Remember that attack last year on a South Korean sub?  That was believed to be his doing.

Some world leaders have expressed hope that a more moderate North Korea might emerge under Kim Jong-un, while others are more cautious.  Because the New Leader is so young and inexperienced, he may be under pressure initially to keep things the way they are.

Since he's presumably going to lead North Korea for a long time to come, Kim Jong-un might develop a taste for wine, women and movies just like his old man did.  And he can also watch his country's population shrink as they slowly starve to death.

All-American Bigotry

Image via WikipediaSome of you may have noticed a new show on the TLC channel.  It's about families in a Detroit suburb trying to make their way through life as normally as possible, even though their religion and culture is quite different from ours.  It's called "All-American Muslim".

This show would have settled in quite nicely with the rest of TLC's reality lineup, which includes shows on families with multiple kids, children competing in beauty pageants, style-challenged women who get makeovers, and--oh yes--"Sarah Palin's Alaska".

But then came the Florida Family Association, another one of those conservative Christian groups who make names for themselves by attempting to dictate the morals of everyone else.  They have called for a boycott of of "All-American Muslim", because it dares to put a lifestyle on TV that they don't agree with.  (The group has also complained about the ABC sitcom "Modern Family" for similar reasons.)  It's not so much that FFA objects to seeing Muslims in a positive light after years of being portrayed in TV news reports as terrorist thugs.  Instead, it sounds like they don't want Muslims on TV, period.

So far, two companies have pulled their advertising from the show, which is due to resume in January:  home improvement superstore Lowe's and travel website Kayak.com.  Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has announced that he would buy whatever ad time the two companies gave up.

North Carolina-based Lowe's, the second-largest hardware chain in America behind The Home Depot, has more than 1700 stores nationwide, and has put its name on a speedway outside Charlotte that hosts two major NASCAR races a year.

Civil liberties groups have called for a boycott of Lowe's.  But is that really a good idea in this economy?  With so many people struggling to hang onto their jobs along with a terrible housing market, why should Lowe's employees pay for the stupidity of their corporate bosses?  Oh wait.  That's already happening every single day, which is the reason why we have Occupy Wall Street.

What the Florida Family Association has succeeded in doing (besides calling attention to themselves) is to turn "All-American Muslim", a show that some critics believe is mediocre, into a cultural phenomenon.  TLC couldn't have asked for better publicity than this, as they anticipate a big audience for the show's return in January.  Meanwhile, there are thousands of people of the Muslim faith who just want to go about their business and not be lumped in with the ones who gave them a bad name.  Good luck with that.