New in our jobs forum:

• KGW in Portland seeks a news reporter for "gathering, investigating, logging and writing news stories for television as well as the website" and "working on special reports and series." (Our understanding is that this position replaces Teresa Yuan, who's moving to KING.)
• KGW also seeks a news photographer to "shoot and edit video for news and feature stories as assigned. Responsibilities include live truck operation; working independently or with reporters."
• Finally, KGW seeks an assignment editor for "making news assignments and dispatching news crews ... coordinating interaction with field crews/station, and overseeing crew logistics." (Our understanding is that this is a weekend position.)
• Comcast SportsNet Northwest in Portland seeks a director of technical operations to "oversee studio operations and studio crew, master control, editing and graphics" and "live remote program operations." The position is full-time.
• KOIN in Portland seeks a morning newscast producer with "the content skills to select the fresh news morning viewers want, the writing skills to help our anchors connect in a conversational way and the production background that adds energy and zip to our look."
• KEHK/Cumulus in Eugene seeks an on-air host/music director with a "high-energy, Bright AC-style delivery" who can "fully produce commercials for station imaging," coordinate music and attend concerts and industry events.
• And Clear Channel in Portland seeks street team members for "setup and execution of station events & remotes, vehicle upkeep, and some light office work." These positions are part-time.

The Columbian in Vancouver today announced that it has emerged from bankruptcy. It's the paper's lead story online.

Bank of America gets ownership of the six-story building constructed for the paper by the publisher's own company, Downtown Vitality Partners. The Columbian moved into the building in early 2008 but decided within the year to return to its previous location in a cost-saving move. The paper went on to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of last year.

Publisher Scott Campbell told employees this morning, "This county deserves to have a locally owned newspaper."

The Campbell family has owned The Columbian since 1921.

In eight days, over half a million Oregon and Southwest Washington residents will be subscribers to something they've never heard of before: Xfinity. Comcast's residential television, internet and voice products will bear that new name in eleven markets, including Portland and the entire stretch of service from Longview, Washington to Eugene. The rest of the country will make the switch over the coming year.

Portland was the first market where Comcast converted to digital service, and the Xfinity name is intended to communicate that difference and more, said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts on yesterday's earnings call. "I think we are giving a better and better service experience," he said.

The renaming also introduces a new brand between consumers and Comcast, with Comcast remaining the name at the top of customers' bills. Comcast's beleaguered brand placed second in Consumerist's Worst Company in America surveys in 2008 and 2009, surpassed only by economic disasters AIG and Countrywide Financial, which have also rebranded. Comcast didn't mention any negative associations with its brand in its earnings call.

The Xfinity name will also be added to Fancast, the company's online video service. Comcast customers will retain their existing comcast.net email addresses.

The Oregonian's first A1 ad

The Oregonian has placed an ad on page A1 for the first time in its modern publication. Taking three column inches in the lower-right corner, the display ad promotes the Clam Cannery Hotel in Port Townsend, Washington. The words "paid advertisement" appear above the ad while a black border separates it from its surroundings.

A more prominent form of advertising, the spadea, has been wrapping front pages since last August. But while that format obscures half of the front page, then-Executive Editor Peter Bhatia pointed out upon its introduction that those ads have "no impact on the amount of news in the paper or the amount of space devoted to news."

American newspapers are increasingly placing paid ads on page one. Among the top five newspapers by circulation, only the Washington Post abstains from A1 advertising. The New York Times began the practice last year.

Amid a nationwide advertising recession and after repeated buyout offers, The Oregonian recently warned of its first newsroom layoffs. New publisher Chris Anderson recently said that the paper is "adjusting our expenses to match up with our revenue."

A casual reader could have missed the announcement, which didn't even make the lead item in the publisher's note. Under the subheading "Beware the ides of March," Publisher Cornelius Swart wrote that there is likely only one more issue left in the life of The Sentinel, a monthly newspaper with a circulation of 27,000 in North, Northeast and outer Northwest Portland. The Sentinel began publishing as The St. Johns Sentinel in 2001.

From this issue's publisher's note:

I regret to announce that the March Street Edition of The Sentinel will most likely be our last. It’s an awkward way to announce this sort of thing. As publisher, there are thousands of readers, hundreds of businesses, scores of writers, activists and dear friends to consider. How does one impart this kind of news to everyone in a way that is fair? This is what I’ve come up with:

Last year was trying for most North Portland businesses. But for the past two years, The Sentinel has seen a steady decline in advertising revenue. This decline represents both the impact of the recession and the challenges of running an advertising-driven business in today's media-saturated environment. At present The Sentinel is 100% print advertising-driven, and it is now clear that we can no longer provide services to our readers and advertisers at our current level of quality. I hope I speak for all Sentinel contributors when I say we have worked exhaustively to provide the community with accurate, high-quality, professional news in a multi-media, interactive format. We hope that this paper served as a useful provider of information, an engaging tool for public discussion and a source for amusement and insight.

Swart and other members of The Sentinel's all-freelance staff have been involved in forming the Portland Media Lab with the intent of creating a local nonprofit news center. That project is now raising funds to create an archive of The Sentinel.

KOHD in Bend this week has swapped its 6 pm newscast and its 5:30 airing of ABC World News, realizing an opportunity to become the only locally produced news in the 5:30 time slot, General Manager Jerry Upham tells OMC.

KTVZ runs NBC Nightly News at that time, while KBNZ simulcasts big-sister KOIN's Portland news.

KOHD has also moved its interview segment, "Direct Connect," featuring questions sent in by viewers, from 6:30 to 5:30, helping to emphasize that newscast's locality.

KXL (750) has found its replacement for Michael Savage: The "Larswich."

When KXL debuted their afternoon news block in December, that pushed Savage to evenings, where Program Director Brian Jennings says he knew the host would be unhappy. Savage soon left KXL for KPAM.

Now Jennings has replaced Savage with the final two hours of Lars Larson's national show, which move up from late night. Paired with Larson's Northwest show at noon and the first hour of his national program at 3, this forms two buns of what Jennings playfully calls "The Larswich." The afternoon news, presumably, is the meat of the operation.

Larson is then followed by new addition Jason Lewis, a national host out of Minneapolis who has filled in for Rush Limbaugh. Jennings says he still hopes to "grow locally at night." KXL's parent company, Alpha Broadcasting, has been emphasizing live and local programming since purchasing its first two stations — KXL and KXTG (95.5 "The Game") — last May. Both stations each have 10 hours of local weekday talk, plus sportscasts, under Jennings' direction.

As for the nickname, Lars says, "I kinda like it."

New in our jobs forum:

• The Register-Guard in Eugene seeks a sports copy editor to "edit copy of content and errors; design and lay out pages; select wire material; write headlines; use a computer to design, compose, proof and output final pages; write content from press releases and phone calls, etc., post news stories and updates to the Web and perform related duties as assigned."
• The East Oregonian in Pendleton seeks a general assignment reporter with experience in "computers and digital cameras ... online content and video/digital voice recording is a plus." The position is part-time.
• Bicoastal Media seeks a female morning show host for an unidentified Northwest station. Bicoastal owns Oregon stations in Eugene, Medford, Coos Bay, Albany/Corvallis and Hood River/The Dalles, as well as Washington stations in Centralia and Longview. Duties may include "promotions, news, music, production, or imaging."
• And KVAL in Eugene seeks a production technician to "floor direct, operate studio cameras and teleprompter. Assist with remote productions - camera and mic setup, pull cables, string power cords," etc. The position is part-time.

Portland radio ratings are in for the 13th month of 2009. Arbitron shaves a few days off of each month's reporting period in order to squeeze an extra year-end holiday report. "Holiday 2009" was from December 10 to January 6. K103 (KKCW) was already riding high after Portland's switch to Portable People Meters, but their all-Christmas format achieved even greater heights, reaching over 1 million unique listeners during the survey.

KUPL was another station with big year-end gains, climbing more than a full point in P6+. The station's new morning show, Simon & Sam, began on January 4, the end of the reporting period. Could listeners have tuned in for Lee and Alana's final shows, or is Keola's new afternoon program particularly popular?

KLTH, on the other hand, fell from 5.9 to 4.6. Did their listeners migrate to K103 for Christmas?

Keep in mind, however, that these ratings are for all listeners aged 6 and up, not a lucrative demographic for ad sales. If you have access to ratings for P25-54 or P18-49, please contact oregonmediagmail [dot] com, and we'll use them within Arbitron's publishing guidelines. Thank you!

Michael Savage is making a run for the border, immigrating from KXL (750) to KPAM (860), where he will air from 3 to 7 pm.

Savage objected to being bumped to 7 pm by KXL's new afternoon newscast, says Brian Jennings, KXL's program director.

This week in that slot, Jennings is testing PK, who most recently hosted The Playhouse, hip-hop station Jammin (95.5 KXJM)'s former morning show. PK has previously filled in for KXL's Lars Larson.

Jennings says that Savage officially leaves the station on February 5, but would not say what will air next week. As for what will ultimately replace Savage, he says, "I would like to be local; we'll see."

At KPAM, Savage will partially fill the holes left by Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, who were poached by KXL sister station Freedom 970 (KCMD). Freedom will begin airing those two shows in April.

Hear the rundown at the top of PK's show Monday: