Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Bonneville International Corp. will end its slate of talk shows on radio station WWWT, and will expand all-news WTOP and government-news station WFED to new frequencies.

WWWT, which replaced Washington Post Radio last year, carried syndicated political talk shows hosted by Bill O'Reilly and Stephanie Miller, among others; it was home to Tony Kornheiser's morning radio program. The format, however, fared poorly in the local ratings: WWWT finished in a tie for No. 22 among all stations, with an average audience share of just 0.6 percent during the spring quarter.

Bonneville declined to renew Kornheiser's contract after his program's ratings declined substantially this spring. The former Post sports columnist is preparing for another season as an analyst on ESPN's "Monday Night Football" and had been expected to resume his radio program on the station in January.

WWWT's morning program, headed by David Burd and Jessica Doyle, also will disband. Bonneville said Doyle will become a fill-in anchor at WTOP and Burd will be a reporter on the same station.

Bonneville said it has moved WTOP onto WWWT's former FM frequency (107.7), giving WTOP three signals. WTOP's two other dial positions are 103.5 and 103.9 FM.

WFED, which broadcasts news about the federal bureaucracy for managers, contractors and government employees, will get an even bigger boost. It moves to WWWT's old 820 AM signal and its powerful 1500 AM frequency, which can be heard all along the East Coast at night (Bonneville probably will sell the station's current frequency, 1050 AM).

The station is getting the upgrade in anticipation of a change in administrations, said Bonneville executive Joel Oxley. In addition to airing a new daily three-hour government program, WFED will carry syndicated shows hosted by Jim Bohannon and Phil Hendrie.

-- Paul Farhi