Clear Channel Goes for the Jug, Pt. II

In an earlier post, I explained how Clear Channel flipped 96.1 KSLY FM from Young Adult to Country format last Friday night at 5 p.m. The move is partly to revive the declining ratings at KSLY (now "Cat County 96"), but also to directly challenge the long time dominance of KJUG which has been the county's solo country radio station for years.

Now comes word that underscores how serious Clear Channel may be. A few years ago, the KJUG morning duo of Chad Stevens and Andy Morris and their Goodtime Gang were the ratings leader. Clear Channel snatched Morris away two years ago to host mornings on their popular KSTT-FM, a gig he now co-hosts with Jennifer J, producing solid ratings. But last Friday, Chad Stevens gave notice at KJUG and walked out the front door (Note to local radio stations: Why don't you have your on-air people under contract?????) and came over to Clear Channel. Morris is being taken off KSTT and he and Chad Stevens will be reunited to do mornings on the new Clear Channel country station. A replacement for Morris on KSTT will be announced shortly.

And all this on only Day #2 on the new ratings book. A ballsy move. Let's see if it pays off for Clear Channel.

Clear Channel Radio Goes for the Jug

KSLY radio (96.1 FM) has been a local broadcasting icon for decades, the second oldest radio station in the county (behind KVEC 920 AM). Currently owned by Clear Channel, the once dominant rock station has floundered in the ratings of late, experimenting with different deejays and music playlists, trying everything to attract a younger, hipper audience.

So imagine SLY listeners' surprise when they flipped on 96.1 last Friday at 5 p.m. (Sept, 23) and heard . . . .country! Yep, park that pickup truck and polish up your shotgun because KSLY's format has been flipped by Clear Channel to something called "the new flag-waving, hell-raising, Cat Country 96." The Clear Channel boys have decided to take a run at the dominant local country station KJUG. Can the market support two country music stations?

Why the hell not? Later this week, I'll post some more information about how this move affects other local radio stations, especially now that a new ratings period is underway.

Speaking of changes, check out the new byline at The Tribune. Sally Connell has joined the paper to cover Education. Sally formerly was a stringer for the Los Angeles Times, covering the Central Coast. Sally replaces veteran education writer Jeff Ballinger, who must truly be burned out after all these years on the beat. Jeff is moving over to do webmaster work for the Trib and rumor has it he's being groomed for some kind of editor position in the newsroom. It's about time that Jeff get a little recognition.

Is President Bush Drinking Again?

This is from Capitol Hill Blue. Check it out and decide for yourselves.

Dangers of a Drunk Dubya
By DOUG THOMPSON
Sep 23, 2005,

According to the National Enquirer, President George W. Bush, an alcoholic, is drinking again.

In normal times, such a story in a tabloid like the Enquirer would be dismissed as just another fantasy for the newspaper that normally devotes its front page to gossip about celebrity divorces. But an America with Bush as President is anything but normal and too many warning signs point to the sad fact that Dubya the drunk is back on the bottle. Plus we reported the same thing in a story about Bush’s temper tirades on August 25.

Like the President, I’m a recovering alcoholic. Unlike him, I’ve been sober for 11 years, three months and 16 days. Bush says he quit drinking without help from any organized program. I had a lot of help – from family, friends and Alcoholics Anonymous. As an alcoholic, I can say without hesitation that available evidence tells me that Bush is drinking and drinking heavily.

The signs have been there for too long. Bush fell off a couch after, his aides say, “falling asleep.” He has appeared in public with bruises on his face, the kind of injuries a person would suffer from falling in alcohol-impaired conditions. He disappears from public view for extended periods, takes more vacations than other Presidents, has trouble forming words, appears disinterested in public and mangles his sentences. In other appearances he rambles and appears unable to focus. During the Katrina crisis he displayed little emotion or compassion when confronted with the horrors along the Gulf Coast.

This web site reported last year that the White House physician had placed the President on anti-depressants. If Bush is mixing alcohol and anti-depressant drugs his judgment – which is already suspect – is impaired even more.

“The President all too often is out of control,” a White House source tells me. “People are afraid to risk his anger by telling him things he does not want to hear. Newsweek magazine reported the same thing last week in their story: “How Bush Blew It.”

The Enquirer interviewed Dr. Justin Frank, a Washington D.C. psychiatrist and author of Bush On The Couch: Inside The Mind Of The President.

“I do think that Bush is drinking again,” Frank said. “Alcoholics who are not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when stress gets to be great. I think it's a concern that Bush disappears during times of stress. He spends so much time on his ranch. It's very frightening.”

Dr. Frank is a highly-respected psychiatrist at George Washington University and his book about the President’s problems has been praised by other psychiatric experts. We interviewed him last year for the stories about the President’s deteriorating mental state and his conclusions confirm Bush is losing it.

White House aides tell me rumors about the President’s drinking began circulating last year in the West Wing along with questions about possible abuse of prescription drugs. They report wide mood swings, cancelled meetings and an ever-decreasing number of aides with direct access to Bush.

“Two questions that the press seems particularly determined to ignore have hung silently in the air since before Bush took office,” Dr. Frank told us in August. “Is he still drinking? And if not, is he impaired by all the years he did spend drinking? Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment of his psychological state.”

It’s scary enough to have a nutcase in the White House. It’s even scarier to think that nutcase may be drunk.

New Times Shreds KSBY

It's clear from the current issue of New Times that bad blood continues between our local weekly alternative newspaper and the TV station on the hill.

For the newbies in town, the feud dates back to early 2002 when New Times published a controversial story about KSBY's then beloved superstar Sharon Graves' husband Kevin. There were allegations of public indecency by Kevin at a Cal Poly basketball game and the story quickly turned sordid and dirty. Sharon quit her job on the spot, packed the car and hurried back to the Midwest before copies of New Times could hit the streets. There was a public uproar (Jim Dee of the Palm Theatre, for example, cancelled his advertising, which is why you don't see the Palm listed in NT today), but publisher Steve Moss (rightly, I believe) stood behind the story and took some considerable heat.

So today you have a better chance of seeing pigs fly than you do seeing KSBY and New Times being nice to one another. Was it mere coincidence that the entire KSBY on-air staff snubbed Steve Moss' memorial service last spring? Me thinks not.

So check out this tasty morsel from the Shredder in the current New Times:

"More at 11

New Times got wind that the cast and crew of VH1's "The Surreal Life" would produce KSBY's Action News at 6:30 on Sept. 22. The players this time around include a Playboy TV cover girl, the guy who played George Jefferson, the lead singer of Smashmouth, and Mrs. Brady herself, Florence Henderson. In other words, the broadcast will feature a bunch of semi-celebrities who don't know a thing about the area trying to present the news.

Regular KSBY viewers shouldn't notice much of a difference."

Ouch!

By the way, speaking of KSBY, what's the deal with sportscaster Dave Ailes being shifted over to co-anchor the 11 p.m. news? Does Kimberly Romo need support that badly? Should Tony be getting nervous? Curious minds would like to know.

Stay tuned!

SLO County ACLU to close down!

Although there are about 800 members of the ACLU residing in SLO County, we have not been able to elicit the kind of enthusiasm, support and on-going commitment that a volunteer organization needs in order to survive. Consequently, the board has voted to discontinue operations as a chapter. We are sorry to see this happen, of course, but simply seem to have fallen below the critical mass required to sustain the organization.

Thanks and best regards,

ACLU/SLO Board of Directors
by Ty Griffin, President

Radio Show to Make Case for Bush Impeachment

San Luis Obispo activist Bob Sachs is scheduled to appear on the "Dave Congalton Show" next Thursday, Sept. 15, to make the case for the impeachment of President Bush over his controversial handling of the response to Hurricane Katrina. The segment is scheduled to air from 4:05 to 5:30 on News/Talk 920 KVEC and your phone calls will be welcome. Tune in! Call in!

The Last Time an American City was Destroyed

Let's begin by giving credit where credit is due. I found this on Daily Kos and want to share it with the intelligent readers of CCNM. Here's a timeline of government reaction the last time an American city was destroyed -- San Francisco, April 18, 1906.

The earthquake struck at 5:13 AM.
By 7 AM federal troops had reported to the mayor.

By 8 AM they were patrolling the entire downtown area and searching for survivors.

The second quake struck at 8:14 AM.

By 10:05 AM the USS Chicago was on its way from San Diego to San Francisco; by 10:30 the USS Preble had landed a medical team and set up an emergency hospital.

By 11 AM large parts of the city were on fire; troops continued to arrive throughout the day, evacuating people from the areas threatened by fire to emergency shelters and Golden Gate Park.

St. Mary's hospital was destroyed by the fire at 1 PM, with no loss of life, the staff and patients having already been evacuated across the bay to Oakland.

By 3 PM troops had shot several looters, and dynamited buildings to make a firebreak; by five they had buried dozens of corpses, the morgue and the police pistol range being unable to hold any more.

At 8:40 PM General Funston requested emergency housing - tents and shelters - from the War Department in Washington; all of the tents in the U.S. Army were on their way to San Francisco by 4:55 AM the next morning.

Prisoners were evacuated to Alcatraz, and by April 20 (two days after the earthquake) the USS Chicago had reached San Francisco, where it evacuated 20,000 refugees.

Of course, the technology of the day was fairly primitive, and the U.S. was a much poorer country. No doubt we could move more quickly today.