The new TV Guide hasn’t made many friends around here, I can tell you, if phone calls and e-mails are any indication.
Nobody asked them, but readers apparently wanted their program listings, not stories about “stars” who’ve lost weight or discovered yoga. Here’s reader Vicki Sullivan’s take:
“The new TV Guide format is basically worthless. With no local listings inside, the magazine has no value to us whatsoever.”
Worse, she couldn’t get anyone at the magazine to listen to her beef. “When I called the 800 number listed inside the new magazine to cancel my subscription, it was an automated system. The first voice that greeted me was (editor) Ian Birch with wishes that I enjoyed the new magazine as much as the company does.”
I’m thinking not.
KBNO rises to eighth
Spanish-language KBNO 1280-AM jumped to eighth place among Denver radio stations in the summer Arbitron ratings. It ranked 10th in the prior Arbitron.
The ratings that cover listeners ages 12 and up show perennial leader KYGO 98.5-FM, a country station, maintained its No.1 with a 6.9 share, almost identical to what it had in the previous rankings. A share is a percentage of the total audience.
The top 10 in the summer survey: KYGO, 6.9; KOA 850-AM, 5.9; KXKL 105.1-FM, 5.3; KQKS 107.5-FM, 5.2; KOSI 101.1-FM, 5.1; KBCO 97.3-FM, 4.7; KRFX 103.5-FM, 4.1; KBNO, 3.7; KXPK 96.5-FM, 3.3, and KPBI 106.7-FM, 3.2.
“Porgy” is turning 70
Both Porgy and Bess turn 70 this year.
George Gershwin’s 1935 folk opera “Porgy and Bess” gets the anniversary treatment with a live broadcast from the Washington National Opera on Nov. 12.
The first opera to be originated by NPR will be heard on 100 stations nationwide, including KVOD 90.1-FM in Denver at 11:30 a.m.
Gordon Hawkins stars as Porgy and Indira Mahajan is Bess in the love story of a disabled beggar and a beautiful young woman. The program includes an interview with the late Todd Duncan, who starred in the original Broadway production.
It also will be available live on NPR.org.
Around the dial
Referendums C and D get a four-day examination from “Colorado Matters,” hosted by Dan Meyers, who interviews Post reporter Mark Couch today (10 a.m. and 7 p.m., KCFR 1340-AM). … KMXA 1090-AM has switched its format to the intriguing and rather long “Jose: Toca lo que Quiere” (“He plays what he wants”), doing Spanish-language music aimed at adults 25-54. … Quotable: “There was not one straight floor from the foundation to the roof; the ceilings were so fantastically clouded by smoke and dust that old women might have told fortunes in them better than in grouts of tea.” – Charles Dickens.
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
