I understand that there was a major “changing of the guard” in the area?

I understand that there was a major “changing of the guard” involving several key radio stations in the area. I don’t remember all of the call letters for these stations but one station was KOOI, which we listen to here in Tyler.

How does a deal like this change and affect our market? Do you think that there will be format changes for these stations?

Also – I understand that your company had been interested in a share of that deal… is that true?

Thanks for your time

ANSWER
Yes, some changes in ownership have recently taken place in the Tyler-Longview market.

Waller Broadcasting sold several of its radio stations to a company called Access.1 Communications. Access.1 is headquarted in New York and they own stations in several other markets in addition to Tyler-Longview.

The stations that Mr. Waller sold include: KOOI 106.5 FM, KKUS 104.1 FM, KYKX 105.7 FM, KOYE 96.7 FM and KFRO 1370 AM.

It is impossible to know what, if anything, Access.1 will do with respect to changing the formats of any of these stations. That will depend on their best judgment as to the value of the respective assets in their current setup vs. what they believe they might do to enhance the value of the assets by doing something else.

And yes, Gleiser Communications, LLC very vigorously pursued purchasing many of these stations when Mr. Waller offered them for sale. Ultimately, we were not able to come to terms that made sense for us and Access.1 was able to make a deal that made sense to them.

For our part, we continue to believe in radio as a great medium for both listeners and advertisers. And believing that, we also believe that strong operators in our market serve to drive all of us to do a better job.

Toward that end, we wish Access.1 well and we welcome them to East Texas.

Thank you for your input.

Paul L. Gleiser
President

TVCC Cuts Ties With Arrested Coach

KTBB sports has learned that suspended Trinity Valley Women’s basketball coach Bill Damuth will not be returning to his position at the school. Damuth had been on indefinite suspension after being charged with resisting arrest following a game at Blinn Junior College on February 10th.

Assistant Coach Elena Lovato will now coach the nationally-ranked Lady Cardinals on an interim basis for the remainder of the season. The team is currently 24-5 overall on the year and 15-2 in conference play.

TVCC will close out the regular season Wednesday at Kilgore and will be the number one seed in next week’s Region 14 tournament.

NFL Unveils Logo For 2011 Super Bowl

The North Texas Super Bowl Committee and the NFL unveiled the logo for Super Bowl XLV on Thursday morning, displaying Cowboys Stadium in the background with the Vince Lombardi Trophy sitting on top of the Roman numerals for the game.

There is a new logo for every Super Bowl, but starting with the 2011 Super Bowl, the theme of the logo will basically remain the same. The only differences from year to year are the stadium backdrop and the Roman numerals for the game.

NFL officials looked at eight designs before recently finalizing their choice. The NFL didn’t present it to North Texas officials until last week.

“It’s a unique mixture of icons that represents what this whole thing is all about. It’s well done,” said Bill Lively, the president and CEO of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host committee. “We’ve approached our mission not just for 45 but for many, many [Super Bowl] games to come.”

The NFL also announced it’s changing its postseason logo system and trophies.

The AFC and NFC Championship Game trophies will change from a brown base with an ‘A’ or ‘N’ on top of it surrounded by players layered on a wall, to silver trophies in the make of a football.

Playoff logos also will change to reflect the football as a trophy.

All of the new logos and trophies will take effect starting with the 2010 season.

“We feel that 45 is a special year,” said Mark Waller, chairman of marketing for the NFL. “It feels like it’s the perfect time to launch it.”