» Valley George: Former Clear Channel/San Antonio OM and Country KAJA PD George King has been named to the newly created position of Station/Operations Manager for Citadel's Country-AC combo WCTO & WLEV/Allentown. He will also program WCTO and report to Bob Adams, Market Manager for the company's Allentown and Harrisburg cluster. In the Allentown roles, King succeeds Shelly Easton, who was named PD of Beasley's WXTU/Philadelphia in December (BN 12/03). King started his new job yesterday and can be contacted here.

» The West (And Southwest) Of The Story: Big Machine Southwest Promotion & Marketing Rep Mandy McCormack has been upped to Sr. West Coast rep and former Columbia/Nashville Southwest regional Alex Valentine has joined the label as Southwest rep. McCormack takes the region previously manned by Larry Hughes, who left the company last month (CAT 12/8). Valentine left Columbia Dec. 14 (CAT 12/2) and had previously worked at Arista/Nashville in addition to his 15 years in radio. Of McCormack, whose prior stops include After MidNite and KZLA/Los Angeles, VP Jack Purcell says, "Utilizing her already existing relationships, this move takes her back to her stomping grounds and to the front line of radio airplay … the West." And of Valentine, he adds, "When talent the likes of Alex Valentine becomes available there’s only one thing to do. You hire him."

» Nick At Height: Citadel's WTNR/Grand Rapids APD/PM driver Nick Alan has been named PD for sister KATC/Colorado Springs. He replaces Jim West, who exited the station last month (CAT 12/8). Alan, who will also handle an undetermined airshift, starts Jan. 11. Back in Michigan, Citadel Regional Mgr./Country Programming and WTNR PD Steve Stewart is seeking Alan's replacement. Send airchecks and resumes here.

» One Giant Leap For Frog Kind:  CBS Radio's KFRG (K-Frog)/Riverside morning co-host Scott "Frogman" Ward has been named MD, picking up the role previously handled by PD Lee Douglas. Ward has served on the Frogmen In The Morning wakeup team for 15 years with previous stops at KEAN/Abilene, TX and KRYS/Corpus Christi, TX. He can be reached at 909-433-3022 or here.

» Double Becker: Oasis/Ft. Wayne, IN Dir./Programming Phil Becker has assumed OM duties for the three-station cluster, which includes Country WBTU. He will also handle programming of 'BTU following Dave Steele's exit yesterday (1/4). Reach Becker here. In addition, sister Top 40 WJFX fill-in jock Carrie West is now handling Steele's midday shift. Steele tells CA that he will remain in Ft. Wayne and concentrate on his 10-year-old voice-over/station imaging business, which now boasts 45 clients. Hear his work at steeleimaging.com; reach him here.

» Natural Born Miller: Former WKSJ/Mobile PM driver Rick Miller has returned to the station for the same airshift, replacing Jason Taylor, who moved to sister WTNT-FM/Tallahassee, FL in November (CAT 11/20). Miller was replaced by Taylor five years ago, and in the intervening years has stopped at WDAF/Kansas City, WDTW/Detroit and, most recently, WUSD/Dothan, AL.

» I'm With The Bend: Former WMIL/Milwaukee PM driver Mark Richards has joined Country WBWI and Classic Country WBKV-AM/West Bend, WI as News Dir. He replaces Mark Morris, who is no longer with the company.

» Finalist Final List: The finalists for the 2010 CRB-Country Aircheck Awards were announced in last night's Country Aircheck Weekly (downloadable in the archives here). You can now vote for the industry's best in 28 radio and record categories at CRBAwards.com. One change from last night's list of finalists: The KIZN/Boise morning team of Kevin & Brenda, Mee In The Morning was inadvertently placed in the Small Market category. They now become the sixth entry in the Medium Market category. The new finalist for Small Market Personality of the Year is WFYR/Peoria, IL wake-up specialist Rick Stephenson. 

» Au Bond Pain: Regent Communications, which owns 10 Country stations among its 62 radio properties, has reported to the SEC that it didn't make a scheduled interest and principal payment Dec. 31 to its lenders, a $1.269 million payment on interest rate swap agreements, and certain professional fees. RGCI stock was down 36% today to 19 cents.

  » PPM Update: During a conference call today, Arbitron announced that New Orleans will continue to use diary methodology this year and until further notice. The Crescent City had been scheduled to shift to PPM commercialization in late 2010. The decision was made to allow additional time for broadcasters to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina.

 The 15 markets still scheduled to reach "currency" with PPM this year include 10 in September: Charlotte, Orlando, Columbus, Milwaukee, Austin, Indianapolis, Providence, Norfolk, Raleigh and Nashville, with Summer '10 as those metros' last diary survey. In December, Greensboro, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Memphis and Hartford achieve currency, with their last diary surveys this Fall. Arbitron's 33 PPM markets now represent 60% of the total estimated ad revenue from all Arbitron-measured markets. The total 12+ PPM sample will grow 10% by mid-2011, with an 8% increase in adults 18-54 scheduled by the end of 2010.

As part of enhancement initiatives to improve PPM panelist compliance, the company is breaking the US into six regions with dedicated local market coaches, panel relationship specialist supervisor and staff (including a new live chat tool), data analyst, PPM control team and flex staff. The regions are the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, West and Central.

 

» Life Is Good Today: Three-time nominees the Zac Brown Band have been added to the performance lineup of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards along with the Dave Matthews Band, Green Day, Lady Gaga and P!nk. They will join previously announced performers and fellow nominees Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas and Maxwell for the Jan. 31 show on CBS-TV. 

» Check Jager: Capitol's Eric Church will headline the 28-date Jagermeister Country Tour beginning Feb. 9 in Baltimore. Markets on the schedule include New York City, Boston, Knoxville, St. Louis, Tulsa and Minneapolis. Josh Thompson will open. Complete list of dates here.

» Bowl America: Stroudavarious' Darryl Worley will perform events leading up to Saturday's (1/9) 10th Annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Worley will play Thursday's (1/7) 10th Anniversary Celebration, Friday's (1/8) U.S. Army All-American Awards dinner and will sing "God Bless America" during the pre-game ceremony for the high school all-star game, which airs at 1pm ET Saturday (1/9) on NBC-TV.

» Country Aircheck Today Top 5: Here are the Top 5 songs for Jan. 4: 

1. REBA/Consider Me Gone (Starstruck/Valory) 2284 points
2. TIM MCGRAW/Southern Voice (Curb) 2119 points
3. DIERKS BENTLEY/I Wanna Make You Close Your... (Capitol) 2014 points
4. MIRANDA LAMBERT/White Liar (Columbia) 1899 points
   
5. JASON ALDEAN/The Truth (BBR) 1837 points

All daily airplay data is from Mediabase 24/7.

» Country Aircheck Today Top 5 Downloads: Here are Play MPE's Top 5 for Jan. 4: 

1. CRAIG MORGAN/This Ain't Nothin' (BNA)
2. JEWEL/Stay Here Forever (Valory)
3. MUSTANG CREEK/Love Makes The World Go Round (Cupit)
4. LADY ANTEBELLUM/American Honey (Capitol)
5. TAYLOR SWIFT/Fearless (Big Machine)

» Tomorrow's Birthdays (1/6): Baylie Brown, Earl Scruggs, Jett Williams, Tim Wall.

» Tube Check Tonight (1/5): Sugarland, Soundstage (re-air) (GAC). 

Tube Check Tomorrow (1/6): Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, 2010 People's Choice Awards (CBS). 

 

» The Hangover Ball: KOUL/Corpus Christi, TX OM/PD Clayton Allen (l) starts off the new year with Jack Ingram, who performed at the station's Hangover Ball Jan. 1.

» All Jacked Up: WIVK/Knoxville OM/PD Mike Hammond shares his prized Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Whiskey with Gretchen Wilson. The two toasted before her performance at a local night club.

» Jingle And Ready To Mingle: WPOR/Portland, ME PD Matty Jeff welcomes Blaine Larsen, Jason Crabb and local artist Don Campbell to the station's Jingle Jam 2009. Pictured (l-r) are Crabb's picker Caleb Davie, Crabb, Campbell, Jeff, Larsen and Larsen's guitar player Matt McAtee.