John Ostlund has purchased KYNO, AM 1300. Ostlund, who owns and operates KJWL, FM 99.2, plans to drop the Spanish-language Catholic format and go to a talk/news format on Sept. 2.
He bought the station for $1.6 million, according to the filing with the Federal Communications Commission."When I moved here in 1974, I had the chance to go to work for KYNO. I never would have imagined owning it. I feel like the luckiest guy in town," Ostlund says.The decision to change formats makes sense. As Ostlund puts it, the station ranks 32nd out of 32 radio stations in the Fresno market."The only way to go is up," Ostlund says.The KYNO talk lineup will include the talk shows hosted by Dennis Miller, Don Imus, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Bill O'Reilly and Larry King. Ostlund will schedule these nationally syndicated talk shows to air live locally. He wants listeners here to be able to call in to the programs to share their opinions.There also is a plan to have a local talk show as part of the new KYNO schedule. But Ostlund will not reveal until Sept. 1 who the host will be.This is not the first radio station to try to crack the news/talk format that KMJ has dominated for so many years. Some of you might remember the failed Air America experiment. But to me, this feels different. Air America had internal problems. Ostlund is his own boss. He is going to be willing to stick with the format a lot longer.And even if you hate Miller or O'Reilly, they at least will be another voice for the central San Joaquin Valley radio market. Yes, these are still conservative voices. But any additional viewpoints are a victory for radio listeners.Fond memoriesChester Smith, former owner of KNSO, Channel 51, died Friday. He had been out of the local TV business since 2002, when Telemundo pur- chased his Modesto-based station.Smith got into radio and television almost 45 years ago after establishing a successful singing career. Besides opera- ting his own stations, Smith was a mentor to Fresno television station owner Gary Cocola.I talked with Smith a num- ber of times. He always was a true gentleman.Other newsOne more time: Visalia's Stan Carrizosa lives to sing another day. He is one of the eight finalists on the ABC summer reality show "High School Musical: Get in the Picture." The 17-year-old who attended El Diamante High School survived Monday night's elimination round that sent Anthony Acito from Quincy, Mass., and Ether Saure from Lincoln, Neb., "to the chorus."Carrizosa stays in the running to win a chance to be in a music video shown in the end credits of the feature film Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year." The film will open this fall.The winner also gets a recording contract for two singles with Walt Disney Records.The competition airs at 8 p.m. Mondays on KFSN, Channel 30.On the air: Radio Bilingüe's "Hacia el Voto 2008" will present live coverage of the upcoming national presi- dential nominating conventions Aug. 25-28 and Sept. 1-4. The coverage will include two-hour live broadcasts of each nominee's acceptance speech translated into Spanish on the final evening of each convention. Radio Bilingüe is heard locally on KSJV, FM 91.5.In town: Huell Howser, host of the PBS series "California Gold," was in Old Town Clovis on Aug. 4. He was here as part of a new public television series launched by the California Redevelopment Associates.Old Town Clovis was chosen from more than 50 applicants to be on the program. The segment is expected to air in October or November.Artworks: KNXT, Channel 49, will feature the art of local artist Corky Normart on "Yesterday, Today, and Forever" hosted by Jim Grant. It will air at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. Aug. 21 and 6 p.m. Aug. 24.