Adult Contemporary

IT'S goodbye B-104, hello Variety 104.3.WBSB, which as B-104 was a Top 40 institution in the Baltimore radio market for the past dozen years, today changed its format to modern adult contemporary, and began promoting itself as Variety 104.3.It promised to play "Today's Hits, Yesterday's Favorites."In a message to listeners broadcast at 9 a.m., general manager Jim Fox said the station would play a "blend of top hits and favorites from the past few years.""We want to make sure Variety 104.3 is your favorite radio station."

AM stations WCAO 600 Gospel music. WCBM 680 News, talk, information, business, sports. WBMD 750 Religious programming. WYRE 810 Classic country. WBGR 860 Gospel music. WAMD 970 Oldies rock, adult contemporary. WOLB 1010 Talk, information, news. WBAL 1090 News, talk, personalities, Orioles games and University of Maryland sports events. WBIS 1190 Financial news. WITH 1230 Religious programming. WJFK 1300 Personality talk, weekend sports. WJSS 1330 Gospel, religious programming.

AM stations WCAO 600 Gospel music. WCBM 680 News, talk, information, business, sports. WBMD 750 Religious programming. WYRE 810 Classic country. WBGR 860 Gospel music. WAMD 970 Oldies rock, adult contemporary. WOLB 1010 Talk, information, news. WBAL 1090 News, talk, personalities, Orioles games and University of Maryland sports events. WBIS 1190 Financial news. WITH 1230 Religious programming. WJFK 1300 Personality talk, weekend sports. WJSS 1330 Gospel, religious programming.

Will Downing admits that it isn't easy to put a name to the kind of music he makes. "It's kind of hard to classify," says the singer over the phone from a rehearsal hall in New Jersey. "I'm certainly not jazz in the traditional sense of the word. Adult contemporary listeners view me as an adult contemporary artist. But the way I classify my music is, R&B music with jazz overtones."So the same way that you would categorize someone like an Anita Baker, throw me in that same circle."That's pretty good company to be in, though Downing admits that their careers aren't quite as similar as their sounds.

WLIF-FM (Lite 102) fired veteran news director Dave Humphrey yesterday, replacing him with afternoon announcer Sloane Brown.The moves mean the light adult contemporary station will have just one full-time news announcer and will offer no newscasts after 8:30 weekday mornings. Previously, the station eliminated its weekend news broadcasts."People are not coming to A.C. [adult contemporary] stations for the news," said program director Gary Balaban, who added that the station would continue to air afternoon traffic and stock reports.

WLIF-FM (Lite 102) fired veteran news director Dave Humphrey yesterday, replacing him with afternoon announcer Sloane Brown.The moves mean the light adult contemporary station will have just one full-time news announcer and will offer no newscasts after 8:30 weekday mornings. Previously, the station eliminated its weekend news broadcasts."People are not coming to A.C. [adult contemporary] stations for the news," said program director Gary Balaban, who added that the station would continue to air afternoon traffic and stock reports.

Will Downing admits that it isn't easy to put a name to the kind of music he makes. "It's kind of hard to classify," says the singer over the phone from a rehearsal hall in New Jersey. "I'm certainly not jazz in the traditional sense of the word. Adult contemporary listeners view me as an adult contemporary artist. But the way I classify my music is, R&B music with jazz overtones."So the same way that you would categorize someone like an Anita Baker, throw me in that same circle."That's pretty good company to be in, though Downing admits that their careers aren't quite as similar as their sounds.

Country music continued to rule Baltimore radio last fall, as WPOC-FM (93.1) earned its highest ratings ever in the quarterly Arbitron audience measurements.The station marked an overall 10.9 share among listeners 12 and older from October to December, up from an 8.3 figure. That was well ahead of second-place WBAL-AM (1090). The news/talk station suffered from the lack of postseason major-league baseball, slipping from an 8.0 share to 7.4. (Each share represents about 3,600 listeners in an average quarter hour.

Tip your Stetson and pop the top on a can of Lone Star beer. For the first time in its 18-year history, country station WPOC-FM (93.1) is the No. 1-ranked radio outlet in the Baltimore market.WPOC got an 8.9 share of listeners aged 12 and over in the Arbitron ratings for the winter, which were released yesterday, putting it comfortably ahead of second-place news/talk WBAL-AM (1090), which finished with a 7.2 share.WPOC's winter audience showed a significant increase over last fall, when it finished in third place with a 6.9 share and an even greater increase over the winter 1991 ratings, when it registered a 5.8 share.

Baltimore radio station WVRT-FM, recognized by jingle listeners as Variety 104, is up for sale along with four other stations around the nation owned by the Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co."Radio has been a very small component of our broadcast business," said Lawrence A. Leser, president and chief executive of both the E. W. Scripps Co. and its broadcast subsidiary."Following a review of our broadcast properties, we decided to focus our attention on what we know best -- television."E. W. Scripps said its radio operations generated $12.5 million last year, or about 1 percent of the company's revenue.

Is this town big enough for two country music stations?WGRX-FM (100.7) sure hopes so. Just two weeks after abandoning its modern-rock format, the Westminster-based station has embraced country music and taken on local media giant WPOC-FM (93.1), consistently the market's No. 1 or No. 2 station.That might seem an odd move, given that WGRX swore off rock because it was never able to make headway against such entrenched competitors as WIYY-FM (97.9), WHFS-FM (99.1) and, to a lesser degree, WOCT-FM (104.

Country music continued to rule Baltimore radio last fall, as WPOC-FM (93.1) earned its highest ratings ever in the quarterly Arbitron audience measurements.The station marked an overall 10.9 share among listeners 12 and older from October to December, up from an 8.3 figure. That was well ahead of second-place WBAL-AM (1090). The news/talk station suffered from the lack of postseason major-league baseball, slipping from an 8.0 share to 7.4. (Each share represents about 3,600 listeners in an average quarter hour.

Baltimore radio station WVRT-FM, recognized by jingle listeners as Variety 104, is up for sale along with four other stations around the nation owned by the Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co."Radio has been a very small component of our broadcast business," said Lawrence A. Leser, president and chief executive of both the E. W. Scripps Co. and its broadcast subsidiary."Following a review of our broadcast properties, we decided to focus our attention on what we know best -- television."E. W. Scripps said its radio operations generated $12.5 million last year, or about 1 percent of the company's revenue.

Watch for Aircheck, a column of radio news and highlights, which will appear here every other week."The Alan Christian Show" can be heard from noon to 1 p.m. weekdays on WERQ-AM (1010), featuring the longtime talk-show personality who is returning to the market after legal difficulties encountered over his attempt to establish a Maryland talk radio network.In October 1990, Mr. Christian pleaded guilty to embezzlement and violating the Maryland Securities Act in connection with an effort to buy WITH-AM (1230)

While our Baltimore Orioles stay busy playing baseball, their wives stay busy raising money and awareness for that wonderful facility, the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.I had a nice chat with Jill Olson, wife of Orioles relief pitcher Greg, about an upcoming fund-raiser, the Orioles Wives Auction, on Thursday at Oriole Park.This is a great evening for sports fans and their families. The fun begins at 5:30 p.m. with live bands, clowns and a children's corner. Or you might want to play the piano that Tom Hanks danced on in the movie, "Big," or you can sing with the karaoke machine.

Tip your Stetson and pop the top on a can of Lone Star beer. For the first time in its 18-year history, country station WPOC-FM (93.1) is the No. 1-ranked radio outlet in the Baltimore market.WPOC got an 8.9 share of listeners aged 12 and over in the Arbitron ratings for the winter, which were released yesterday, putting it comfortably ahead of second-place news/talk WBAL-AM (1090), which finished with a 7.2 share.WPOC's winter audience showed a significant increase over last fall, when it finished in third place with a 6.9 share and an even greater increase over the winter 1991 ratings, when it registered a 5.8 share.

It's goodbye B-104, hello Variety 104.3.WBSB, which as B-104 was a Top 40 institution in the Baltimore radio market for the past dozen years, changed its format to modern adult contemporary yesterday and began promoting itself as Variety 104.3.The station promised to play "Today's Hits, Yesterday's Favorites."In a message to listeners broadcast at 9 yesterday morning, general manager Jim Fox said the station would play a "blend of top hits and favorites from the past few years.""We want to make sure Variety 104.3 is your favorite radio station," he added.

98 Rock fell like a stone in the Arbitron radio ratings for the fall released yesterday -- and WBSB-FM (B-104) dropped right along with it.Both stations changed their morning drive disc jockeys early in the ratings period, and both paid a steep price for the moves, registering the largest declines in listenership of any stations in the Top 10.WIYY-FM (98 Rock), which replaced its morning drive-time team of Chris Emry and Erika with program director Russ Mottla, dropped from a 6.5 share of listeners 12 and over in the summer to a 5.0 share for the fall in the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. time slot, a decline of 19 percent.

WLIF-FM (Lite 102) fired veteran news director Dave Humphrey yesterday, replacing him with afternoon announcer Sloane Brown.The moves mean the light adult contemporary station will have just one full-time news announcer and will offer no newscasts after 8:30 weekday mornings. Previously, the station eliminated its weekend news broadcasts."People are not coming to A.C. [adult contemporary] stations for the news," said program director Gary Balaban, who added that the station would continue to air afternoon traffic and stock reports.

WLIF-FM (Lite 102) fired veteran news director Dave Humphrey yesterday, replacing him with afternoon announcer Sloane Brown.The moves mean the light adult contemporary station will have just one full-time news announcer and will offer no newscasts after 8:30 weekday mornings. Previously, the station eliminated its weekend news broadcasts."People are not coming to A.C. [adult contemporary] stations for the news," said program director Gary Balaban, who added that the station would continue to air afternoon traffic and stock reports.