Pappas Adds Savage, Flips Modesto AM To "Patriot" Talk

Unfortunately, it looks like Pappas Radio's attempt at a hybrid Adult Standards and Infomercials format on KMPH/840 in Modesto has ended. It was fun while it lasted — the music more so than the long-form ads for colon cleansers — but the sound was incongruous in Modesto, which is still very much a farm town (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Of course, I still think that they should have (1) kept the transplanted KTRB/860 call letters in Modesto, where they mean something, and (2) at least tried the Adult Standards on 860 in San Francisco, rather than fifth-rate talk. I reserve the right to repeat this line over and over again, if only because I believe I'm right.

I'm still hearing that Oakland A's baseball will be moving to 50,000-watt KTRB in 2009 after one more season on KFRC/106.9 and KYCY/1550.

KMPH is being repositioned with conservative talk as "The Patriot," starting this Monday (March 10). Here's the press release from Pappas, issued this afternoon:

New Talk Radio Station To Debut In Modesto
Michael Savage Returns To The Airwaves!

March 7, 2008—(Modesto, California) KMPH-AM 840, which went on the air on July 24, 2006 as the successor station to Modesto’s first radio station, KTRB-AM 860 (now in San Francisco) changes format to bring The Michael Savage Show and other great talk programs to the Modesto, Merced, and Stockton area starting on March 10, 2008.

Among its shows, the station will feature the fiery Laura Ingraham every weekday morning, nononsense personal advice from Dr. Laura, the passionate intellect of Michael Savage, and a unique mix of commentary with satire and comedy on The Phil Hendrie Show. Plus, AM 840 KMPH The Patriot features Modesto’s only talk show that focuses exclusively on local issues, The Morning Mayor with former Modesto Mayor Carmen Sabatino, traffic updates during the morning commute, and local news with Modesto’s most experienced radio news man, Tim St. Martin.

The Michael Savage Show is now the third largest radio talk show, according to TALKERS Magazine, and airs on well over 300 stations nationwide. Michael Savage is the author of four best selling books: The Savage Nation, The Enemy Within, and Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.

His most recent book is the irreverent Political Zoo. He attacks big government and liberal media bias, but champions the environment and animal rights. Trained as a scientist, he holds Master's degrees in medical botany and medical anthropology and earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Epidemiology and Nutrition Science.

Jim P. Pappas, General Manager of AM 840 KMPH The Patriot said, “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to give Modesto area listeners a real choice with a Talk Radio station that is anchored by popular hosts like Michael Savage, Dr. Laura, Laura Ingraham, Jerry Doyle, Phil Hendrie, and successful weekend talkers like Bob Brinker, Clark Howard, Leo Laporte, and Bill Handel, not to mention great sports programming with Fox Sports Radio.”

AM 840 KMPH The Patriot is owned and operated by Pappas Radio of Modesto, LLC, and represents a Modesto broadcast tradition dating back to 1953.

KTRB Puts Lieberman "On The Beat"

This press release is just in from the friendly confines of KTRB at 1700 Montgomery Street in the City By The Bay:

RADIO STATION GOES BIG - “BIG VINNY,” THAT IS!

Rich “Big Vinny” Lieberman to Become AM 860 KTRB’s “Man On The Beat”

San Francisco (November 14, 2007) -- Starting this week, “KTRB’s Man On The Beat, Rich ‘Big Vinny’ Lieberman,” is going to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public via a series of weekly updated radio features that take a satirical and irreverent look at Bay Area life.

Rich Lieberman is a veteran of the Bay Area media scene, having worked at K-101 Radio in the 1980s as Sports Director, covering local sports and events including 3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series, and the 1984 Democratic National Convention. He then worked as a San Francisco correspondent for ABC radio, and spent 3 years doing work for the “Larry King Show” on Mutual Radio. Rich also achieved notoriety by playing the “Big Vinny” character in a prominent series of TV commercials from 2001 - 2003.

“Big Vinny” haunts the cool clubs within the San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas scenes, and has the inside on Larry King's favorite breakfast hangout, “Nate and Al” in Beverly Hills. His little black book reads like a Who’s Who of Bay Area entertainers, athletes, media people, and politicians.

Rich “Big Vinny” Lieberman will be KTRB’s local “Man On The Beat” and will report all of the good local gossip when it comes to the hot clubs, the singles scene, and the latest Pam Dawber sightings, not to mention deliver a healthy dose of politically incorrect opinions!

Rich “Big Vinny” Lieberman said, “I believe that in order to make your case, you have to be passionate about what you believe in. I have some strong opinions and ideas that won't always be popular, but most definitely will strike a chord in your consciousness.”

KTRB Program Director Kevin Barrett said, “Rich is a throwback. He appreciates the greats like Herb Caen and Mike Royko. San Francisco is his beat, and we’re excited to have him on KTRB.”

Jim P. Pappas, KTRB Vice President and General Manager said, “Rich bleeds creative energy. He is a Bay Area native with a definite feel for what’s hot and what’s not. His feature will add to the entertainment value and diversity of our program line-up.”

"San Francisco Soundz" Back On KTRB/860

Pappas Radio's KTRB (860 AM), which moved into the Bay Area from Modesto earlier this year, is bringing back its "San Francisco Soundz" program, playing music by local bands from the mid-1960s into the ealy 1970s, just in time for the fortieth anniversary of the so-called "Summer of Love."

The program will air Saturday and Sunday nights from 7 p.m. to midnight beginning tomorrow night (May 26).

I know that Lee Baby Simms was discussed as a possible host of the show, but the press release (copy below, with corrected misspellings) from the station doesn't mention who'll be playing the phonograph records...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“SAN FRANCISCO SOUNDZ” RETURNS TO KTRB AM
860 WEEKEND NIGHTS

San Francisco, California (May 25, 2007) -- KTRB AM 860 today announced the return of its popular “San Francisco Soundz” program on Saturday, May 26th. “San Francisco Soundz” features the music of home-grown Bay Area bands from the mid-sixties, including such artists as Janis Joplin, Sons of Champlin, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, Creedence Clearwater, and Jefferson Airplane.

The concept for “San Francisco Soundz” was originated earlier this year by KTRB’s Program Director, Kevin Barrett, as a tribute to classic San Francisco music in honor of KTRB’s debut in its new Bay Area home.

The response from listeners was so overwhelming that Barrett and KTRB’s General Manager, Jim Pappas, decided to revive the program in order to better serve the station’s audience. “San Francisco Soundz” will air every Saturday and Sunday evening from 7:00 p.m. to Midnight.

Listeners may e-mail suggestions and comments to listen@ktrb860.com.

KTRB/860 Makes Bay Area Bow

The transplanted heart of KTRB/860, formerly of Modesto, began beating as a San Francisco station at the stroke of midnight this morning with the first two lines of the Grateful Dead's "The Music Never Stopped":

There's mosquitoes on the river
Fish are rising up like birds.

It was a curious, if not fitting, start for the Pappas Radio station which signed off from its longtime home in the Central Valley and, after clearing several engineering and bureaucratic hurdles, began life anew early Thursday from studios at 1700 Montgomery Street in San Francisco — previously home to KNBR and KYUU several years ago — and a transmitter site in the rural hills above Livermore.

According to a KTRB press release issued on Wednesday (a full copy of which follows this posting), the station would fire up its transmitter and sign on at midnight, then would segue into a continuous format of music reprising "The San Francisco Sound" beginning at 6 a.m.

The music programming, featuring bands with a local heritage, including the Beau Brummels, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Journey — along with other special "stunting" planned in the next week or two — with will continue until KTRB's permanent format commences on March 1. Not by coincidence, 2007 marks the fortieth anniversary of the "Summer of Love," during which San Francisco's musical and cultural influences received worldwide attention.

(The first song played at 6 a.m. was "Piece Of My Heart" by Janis Joplin. The station also has begun identifying itself as "The Heavy 860," at least for the time being.)

"KTRB will bring a fresh sound to the Bay Area to add diversity to the choices available to the public," KTRB vice president and general manager Jim P. Pappas said in the press release. "KTRB will entertain and inform with fresh, lively content, the likes of which the public does not now have available."

The complete press release:

San Francisco’s Newest Radio Station, KTRB-AM 860, Hits the Airwaves with 50,000 Watts of Power

- 73-Year-Old Heritage Radio Station Moves from Modesto to San Francisco -

- Station Begins Final Phase of Testing at Alameda County Transmitter Site Thursday, February 1, 2007 -

- On-Air Testing Features a Tribute to“The San Francisco Sound” -

San Francisco, California (January 31, 2007) — Something old is new again, as one of Northern California’s pioneer radio stations, KTRB-AM 860, makes its historic Bay Area debut by bringing “The San Francisco Sound” back to the nation’s fourth-largest radio market beginning this Thursday, February 1, 2007.

KTRB-AM 860 will sign-on at midnight on February 1, and beginning at 6:00 a.m. that day, the station will play continuous music reprising the late 60s and early 70s heyday of “The San Francisco Sound.”

“The San Francisco Sound” refers to rock music performed live and recorded by San Francisco-based artists and groups from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. KTRB-AM 860 will showcase seminal Bay Area bands such as The Beau Brummels, The Syndicate of Sound, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother & The Holding Company, as well as Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Journey.

KTRB-AM 860 Vice President & General Manager Jim P. Pappas said, “Our sign-on in the Bay Area is the culmination of three decades of dreaming, planning, and hard work by the best and brightest from inside and outside our company. KTRB-AM 860 represents the genesis of our company’s more than 50-year California-based broadcast tradition. It was KTRB that inspired the three Pappas Brothers to become broadcasters. We are thrilled to own and operate a 50,000 Watt blowtorch that will serve the millions of residents in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and the entire Bay Area, just as KTRB-AM 860 has served generations of Californians since its founding in 1933.”

KTRB-AM 860’s permanent format will commence March 1, 2007. While plans have not been disclosed, Pappas said, “KTRB will bring a fresh sound to the Bay Area to add diversity to the choices available to the public. KTRB will entertain and inform with fresh, lively content, the likes of which the public does not now have available.”

About KTRB

KTRB-AM 860 is one of the oldest radio stations on the West Coast, having served the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas since the early days of the medium. Until recently, the station was licensed to Modesto, California. In 2003, the Federal Communications Commission authorized the relocation of KTRB's transmitter site to the Bay Area. On February 1, the station will return to the air licensed to San Francisco and serving the entire San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose radio market. Broadcasting on a Canadian Clear Channel frequency with 50,000 Watts of power day and night - the highest power allowed in the United States - KTRB has been engineered to cover a huge geographic area. San Francisco is the fourth-ranked radio market in the United States and the number-one AM radio market in the nation.

KTRB’s storied history began in 1933, when original owners T.R. McTammany and Bill Bates (the “TR” and “B” in KTRB) established the station as the first commercial broadcast outlet in Modesto. Through the years, KTRB has served as the launch pad for the careers of Country music notables such as The Maddox Brothers and Rose, and Chester Smith, and the station was the dominant radio voice in the San Joaquin Valley for decades. In 1973, brothers Pete, Mike, and Harry Pappas led a group of investors in purchasing KTRB from the Bates estate, and the station has remained under Pappas family ownership ever since.

KTRB’s studios are located at 1700 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, overlooking The Embarcadero. KTRB is owned by Pappas Radio of California, an affiliated company of Pappas Telecasting Companies, the largest privately-held, commercial television broadcaster in the United States.