The Radio Detective

‘Detective’ uncovers vast radio home
April 7th, 2009

It has been an interesting radio road for Jerry Pearce. He launched his “Radio Detective” on KFRE (AM 940) back in 1996. The show moved to KMPH (FM 107.9) and Modesto’s KTRB (AM 860) when KFRE was sold to Radio Unica in December 1999.

It looked like it was dead in 2000 when the KMPH radio station pulled the plug. But Pearce bounced back. He moved the show to television, on KGMC (Channel 43). The show returned to KMPH radio in 2003. A year later it was canceled.

Pearce was down again but not out. Three years later the radio show was back on the air. Pearce would drive to Los Angeles to do his program on KRLA (AM 870).

Now, the Fresno-based show can be heard through most of the central San Joaquin Valley, airing 10 p.m.- 2 a.m. weeknights on Fresno’s KFPT (AM 790) and Bakersfield’s KERN (AM 1180). This is part of the show’s national syndication through RD Media Ventures, LLC, and distributed by EarFul Entertainment Group, LLC.

KFPT General Manager Paul Swearengin says the bonus for local listeners is that while this show can be heard across the country, it is “virtually a local show to listen to and call nightly.”

Pearce uses his experience as a police officer and private investigator to discuss law enforcement.

Comings and goings

Steve Montgomery has been hired as the morning show personality for KHIT (FM 107.1). He previously worked as as the program director and afternoon host at KSKS (FM 93.7).

Montgomery can be heard 6-10 a.m. weekdays. The KHIT program director says that for right now Montgomery will be a solo act.

Rene Roberts, program director for Merced’s KUBB (FM 93.6) says Verna McKay is no longer part of the station’s “Young and Verna Show.” That decision was made by the satellite radio service that supplies the Los Angeles-based morning show.

“They just wanted to go in a different direction,” Roberts says.

The show is now being hosted only by Jeff Young.

Other news

More deals: Two more women from the Central San Joaquin Valley have made appearances on the syndicated version of the game show “Deal or No Deal.”

Fresno’s Beverly Tiftick, 76, won $15,000 on Monday’s program. Selma resident Manjit Batth was on Wednesday’s show. It aired after this column went to press.

The game show can be seen locally at 6:30 p.m. weekdays on KGPE (Channel 47).

Play ball: Digital channel RTN 7.2, a sister station to KAIL (Channel 53), will broadcast 21 San Francisco Giants baseball games this season. The schedule starts at 7 p.m. Friday. It is an exhibition game with the Oakland Athletics.

Besides being available on the digital channel 7.2, RTN can be seen on Comcast Channel 191, Northland Cable Channel 99 in Oakhurst and Channel 12 in Mariposa and Coarsegold.

Converter box reminder: Several people have called to say they are having problems attaching their converter boxes to portable television sets. The box is needed to allow analog television sets to pickup digital signals.

Many of these small TVs don’t have external antenna connections. Keep in mind that if there is no place to hook an antenna, a converter box won’t work. On June 12, that set just won’t be able to pick up all of the local high power stations that made the switch.

There are several local low-power television stations that will continue to broadcast analog signals. You can still watch those stations with your antennaless portable TVs.

TV and movie critic Rick Bentley can be reached at rbentley@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6355. Read his blog at fresnobeehive.com/author/rick_bentley.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 15:52 and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.