Highlights from the author’s week of (always decidedly random) listening and the week’s radio headlines, ending January 25, 2012. Stations I’ve worked with recently in my Edison Research (or any other) capacity are asterisked.*

Station (FM)

KSBL (K-Lite) Santa Barbara, Calif. – They’re not owned by a major group. They recall, in texture, WLYF (Lite 101.5) Miami and the handful of other soft ACs that remain proudly soft. They also have the singer/songwriter, beach market feel that you would expect in Santa Barbara; (I first picked up the official RBAW column notepad when I heard them playing “Hands” by Jewel). And in the just-released fall Arbitron, they were No. 1 for the third consecutive book.

Station (International)

96-WEFM Port Of Spain, Trinidad – Carnival time is a month away in Trinidad and Tobago, which means that a Soca record or two might be on its way to the Northeast eventually. But there’s a steadier diet available at this Caribbean/Urban hybrid, which bills itself as “Trinidad & Tobago’s No. 1 Youth Station” and “Driven By Youth, Powered By Passion.” (It’s hard to imagine any U.S. station actually using the word “youth” in front of advertisers, but it remains a positive elsewhere in the world.) Tune in at 9 a.m. ET for the daily top six countdown.

Station (LPFM)

KDEE-LP Sacramento, Calif. – It wasn’t that long ago that Sacramento, Calif., had an Urban station, an Urban AC, a Jammin’ Oldies station, and a Smooth Jazz station, not to mention Rhythmic Top 40s that were effectively Urban. The Jammin’ Oldies station remains, but the others are gone, leaving the traditional Urban AC franchise to the California Black Chamber of Commerce whose calls stand for “Dedication To Economic Empowerment.” KDEE recently moved from 97.7 FM to 97.5, improving its signal.

Ratings Story

KTWV (The Wave) Los Angeles – Switching to Christmas music from anything other than Mainstream AC has been fraught with peril for stations. For AC listeners, it’s an extended theme weekend of passionately loved gold titles. For Country, Oldies and Smooth Jazz listeners, it’s losing something you liked, replaced by something that really isn’t the same for a month or two. KTWV was off 3.1–2.6 in December, prompting a local press story about whether the holiday gambit had failed, then it was up to 3.7 in the holiday book for its best ratings in more than 18 months. There’s probably still a discussion to be had about whether being off in not only November (like some Mainstream ACs) but December justifies the payoff, but it’s an interesting reversal of fortunes from last month.

WBEB (B101) Philadelphia – The heritage AC earns its nod from Radio-Info.com readers as the Best Major-Market Holiday AC Format of 2011 with a 15.3 share in Arbitron’s Holiday PPM ratings—the highest of the first-day markets.

Jock Lines

“You Had Me At ‘Do It.’” - John Landecker on his second night at WLS-FM Chicago, he successor to WLS-AM Chicago, where Landecker ruled the country’s nighttime airwaves in the ’70s.

“I’ll Give You A Prize If You Can Tell Me What Position They Were In” – Rhythmic Top 40 WRDW (Wired 96.5) Philadelphia morning co-host Shila starts with the story of the 15-year-old who called 911 because her mom was having sex and turns to the always reliable subject of interrupting your parents in the act.

Best Odd Ad Copy

“Watching the life drain from their little bodies … is what we live for.” – Australia’s Exodus Pest Control holds forth at great length about how much they enjoy killing vermin.

Worst Odd Ad Copy

“Move over texting, there’s a new oatmeal in town.” – From the first of a pair of back-to-back McDonalds spots that both referenced texting as if it was a new cultural phenomenon.

Website Content

“Sh!t Long Islanders Say.” – An inside job—from the morning team at Top 40 WBLI Long Island, N.Y.

Oh Wow Oldies

LeAnn Rimes, “Blue” – It fought an uphill battle at Country radio in 1996. It rarely gets played there now; (10 spins this week according to Nielsen BDS, not including Classic Country stations). So it was that much more surprising to encounter it on an AC station, in this case the supersoft AC of Sirius XM Love. It is sobering to note that “Blue” (and Rimes’ career) is now older than Rimes was at the time this song was released.

Pam Tillis, “Cleopatra, Queen Of Denial” – As heard on KXKZ (Z107.5) Ruston, La., Tillis, who recorded as a pop/rock artist in the mid-’80s before her Country breakthrough, spent several years in the spot now occupied by Miranda Lambert. The combined rock/Country pedigree (the latter from being the daughter of Mel Tillis) gave her more Country credibility than Rosanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter, etc., but still a license to go beyond the usual boundaries of the format. Like Carpenter, she’s now represented at Country radio mostly by one gold title—“Maybe It Was Memphis”—in this case, but she’ll be in Ruston tonight, so this was the song that went with the ticket giveaway.

Really Oh Wow Oldie

Carl Douglas, “Run Back” – After squandering his chance for a second U.S. hit with the sound-alike “Dance The Kung-Fu,” the voice of “Kung-Fu Fighting” managed one more U.K. chart record in late 1977/early 1978, as heard on Richard Todd’s “Classic Retro Countdown” last weekend. This bears a listen because: 1) It’s a surprisingly good record; (the b-side of “Kung-Fu Fighting,” the Elton John-like “Gambling Man,” has its fans as well); 2) It sounds a bit like Billy Ocean, by then the king of U.K. R&B, and 3) It sounds a lot like “Tragedy” by the Bee Gees, which didn’t come out for a year, but was probably being written sometime around now. (Listen to the first verse and pre-chorus between :29-:45 to hear what I’m talking about.)

Segue

Jason Mraz, “I Won’t Give Up” to 2pac & Dr. Dre, “California Love” – Top 40 WDJQ (Q92) Canton, Ohio, the first CHR to play the new Mraz ballad, returns to these pages for the first time in a while.

Out Of Office Message

“I am out of the office at the eye doctor. If my eyes are getting dilated, I will be out the morning and part of the afternoon.” – Cornerstone Research’s Geno Pearson, who might have thought of Puddle Of Mudd’s “Blurry” at least once on Tuesday.