WZON Christmas Music

Is talk radio in trouble?  I dunno.  I don't listen to any of it! Might be why I'm still able to smile.  Maybe.  One of King's stations is switching for the Christmas season from progressive (liberal) talk radio to Christmas music and the promise of a "BIG surprise" after Christmas.

What's the big surprise?

This is from http://www.talkers.com/

Stephen King-Owned WZLO and WZON, Bangor Progressive Talk Simulcast Splits. “The Pulse” website states the stations have split their simulcast of progressive talk and are featuring Christmas music on the FM signal with a “BIG surprise” the station will reveal after Christmas. The stations have been a simulcast for the past 2 ½ years – first as a sports talk station, then as the progressive talk outlet. The FM side had been playing a triple A format prior to the simulcast. WZON at 620 AM continues to air a progressive talk format featuring a local morning show with Don Cookson, WYD Media’s Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Premiere Networks’ Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Cox Media’s Clark Howard and Leslie Marshall.

Bangor Audience Screens SURVIVOR TYPE

A Bangor audience was the first to see Billy Hanson’s Stephen King short, Survivor Type.  The story is about a man stranded on an island who is pressed to incredible lengths in order to survive.

Laura Roberts at wabi.tv writes, “Stephen King's WZON helped bring the film to the Penobscot Theatre for its world premiere on Sunday.” and “Actor Gideon Emery starred in the film and joined Hanson at the premiere in Bangor.”

So what did Stephen King think of the film?  Roberts says that the film has already received high praise from Stephen King.  Quoting Hanson, the article says,

He said that we did a great job with it and his exact quote was, 'It's next to brilliant," which I mean, I feel I can die a happy man now," said Hanson. 

The Full Article Is HERE.

King Makes Some Tough Decisions At WZON

Dale Duff
photo credit: Bangor Daily News

In a recent article dated May 31, 2012, Bangor Daily News Staff writer, Larry Mahoney, discusses King’s decision to terminate sportscasters Dale Duff and Clem Labree from the WZON staff.

King hired Duff 19 years ago tobe the sports director, and it was Stephen King himself who delivered the news Thursday to Duff and LaBree.  

The article quotes Duff,  “He said we were losing too much money. He said it didn’t have anything to do with broadcast quality.  He thanked us for our hard work.”  He also said that there wasn't another station in Maine that did what they did "sports-wise."  

Mahoney also notes that the 24 hour sports format was ditched recently in favor of a liberal talk show format in November 2010.  He gives these short headlines of recent news at WZON and other King stations:

The Zone Corp. has undergone a number of changes in recent years.
The 24-hour, all-sports format was ditched in favor of a progressive liberal talk show format in November 2010. 

Duff and LaBree had their 6-9 a.m. sports talk show shifted to 4-6 p.m.
The FM station, 103.1 The Pulse, has been simulcast with WZON-AM although sports broadcasts were carried exclusively on the AM station. 

Rock station WKIT-FM 100.3 also is part of the Zone Corp. 

In 2008, WZON lost the broadcast rights for University of Maine games to Clear Channel and Learfield Communications. 

King signed a three-year contract to broadcast Boston Red Sox games this past offseason, but that represents the only sports on the station. 

Duff and LaBree have broadcast a number of high school games in addition to Husson University contests up until Thursday. 

In fact, Duff, LaBree and Toby Nelson combined to do a pair of high school baseball games on Wednesday. 

“I can’t say I’m devastated. I don’t know how I feel,” said Duff, who was composed but obviously disappointed. 

WZON-AM was chosen by The Associated Press as the state’s best station on two occasions and won 135 awards. 

“I think we served the community well sportswise,” said Duff, who is president of Bangor East Side Little League. “It’s all about local sports now. When we were doing University of Maine games, we did 120 Maine games and 150 high school games in one year. We carried every [Boston] championship including two Boston Red Sox World Series championships, last year’s Bruins Stanley Cup title, the Celtics’ championship in 2008 and the Patriots’ [three] Super Bowl wins. 

“There isn’t a station in Maine that did what we did, sportswise,” he added.
The 54-year-old Duff, a Houlton native who has been a fixture in the Bangor media for 34 years including a stint as sports director/anchor at WLBZ-TV Channel 2, said he isn’t sure about his future but he would like to stay in sports. 

WZON-AM was chosen by The Associated Press as the state’s best station on two occasions and won 135 awards.

The full article is HERE.

King Comments On Caring For The Poor

Bangor Daily News has an article titled, "Maine’s poor take to stage in Bangor in effort to dispel myths." Pat LaMarche moderated the two hour event at Husson University Wednesday night.

(Full story HERE)

Sponsored by WKIT and WZON, Stephen and Tabitha King’s Bangor radio stations, Faces of the Poor featured people from the community who say they were hurt by the Maine Legislature’s final budget. 

“I grew up Methodist, and I remember a lot of those scriptural readings I heard in church,” Stephen King noted in a news item posted on his stations’ website. “One of them, from the book of Matthew, quotes Jesus: ‘Here is the truth: anything you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Or, from the book of Luke, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ 

“The poor are just as much a part of our community as the rich. They deserve bread for their tables, a roof over their heads, clothes to wear, and shoes to walk in. When we do for them, we do for ourselves,” King said. “It’s called sharing the love.”

That's awesome!  Hold on. . . let me think about this. . . as a preacher I've got to say : THAT'S AWESOME!  King is quite right, the Scriptures do command us to have a compassionate attitude toward the poor.  Something the conservative right would do well to remember.

King's note is evidence that he has not forgotten his childhood and the desperate measures his mother went to in order to make sure he  and his brother were okay.  It is also evidence that he remembers well the Scriptures he was taught, and in particular the words of Jesus.

King To Launch THE PULSE Radio Show

At a Press Conference today, Stephen King announced The Pulse Morning Show will now be airing on his WZON 103.1 FM throughout Maine.  The program will start September 12.

"We're going to try to be informative. We're going to be provocative. We're going to be amusing, and we're going to try to be a positive community force."

The show will be hosted by former Green party vice-presidential candidate Pat LaMarche and Don Cookson, a former reporter. 

Changes At WZON

Downeast.com notes the following about WZON:

Vacating the Zone: "WZON in Dover-Foxcroft (103.1 FM) has been airing progressive talk shows less than a month, but the Stephen King-owned station is already scrambling to make changes in its lineup. According to North East Radio Watch, WZON lost three daily shows distributed by the now-defunct Air America network – Ron Reagan, Montel Williams and "Clout." No word on what’s taking their place (the Web site hadn’t been updated as of late morning on January 25), although listeners closer to the source will probably find out shortly."

http://www.downeast.com/media-mutt/2010/january/journalism-relations

Air America and WZON

Al Diamon at downeast.com has the following note about Stephen King's radio station, WZON under the heading "A Zone of its own":

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Best-selling author Stephen King has switched formats at his Dover-Foxcroft station, WZON (FM 103.1), ending the simulcast of the “Sports Zone” programming of WZON (620 AM) in Bangor and replacing it with liberal-leaning talk shows from Air America and other sources.

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The station is now known as “The Pulse” and may add a local talk show in the near future.
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A similar progressive format failed in the Portland market in 2007 and was replaced, ironically enough, by syndicated sports shows. So, Air America’s prospects in the hard-core Republican heartland of Piscataquis County don’t seem bright. But King is not subject to the same financial pressures as other radio station owners and tends to air whatever pleases him, rather than what attracts the widest possible audience.

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http://www.downeast.com/media-mutt/2010/january/portland-heralds-amnesia-verrill