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."

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:

"Commander" Scott Lander, until recently of Clear Channel's The Brew (105.9 KFBW), will become an evening DJ on Alpha Broadcasting's KUPL (98.7) this Saturday, he tells OMC.

Lander, who has been in the radio business for 23 years, may be best known in Portland for his ten years at Z100 (KKRZ) and his three at Rosie 105 (KRSK), which is now The Buzz. His resume includes an alphabet soup of additional call letters: KZMG-FM Boise; KALZ-FM Fresno; KSTJ-FM and KVEG-FM Las Vegas; KUBE-FM Seattle; and KBBT-FM, KOTK-AM, KWJJ-FM, KXJM-FM, KXL-AM and KXYQ-FM in Portland.

"I've done nights, afternoons, mornings and hosted a talk show," he says. "Though the business has become smaller and the number of jobs has shrunk, I am grateful to be in it."

Lander surprised some commenters earlier this week when he wrote on his public Facebook page that he would be doing his "first live show in Portland in 5 years."

"Dude... really? You've never been live?" wrote one. The Brew is an automated and voice-tracked station. Alpha frequently promotes the live and local aspect of its programming, with the exception of its syndicated talk lineup on Freedom 970 (KCMD).

Curiously, however, Alpha has not announced Lander's arrival, and has so far declined to comment on the move. Last year, KUPL brought on two other local radio personalities, Marconi and Dr. Doug, for stints that turned out to be temporary. Marconi was later hired by sister station KUFO.

Lander says he's working part-time and without a contract, but that he is "not (to the best of my knowledge) trying out for any specific position."

Just don't take the 11:35 slot, Lander.

Hear Scott Lander this Saturday from 7 pm to midnight on 98.7 KUPL.

UPDATE (1/15, 6:37 pm): An Alpha spokesperson confirms that Lander will be hosting Saturday nights, and that it is not an audition.

Sportswriter and columnist Dwight Jaynes, 25-year veteran of The Oregonian and the Oregon Journal, is joining The Game (95.5 KXTG), the station has announced.

Jaynes, who, after The Oregonian, edited The Portland Tribune until 2008 and hosted a talk show on KPAM, is joining Gavin Dawson and Chad Doing as co-host of The Morning Sports Page. He's already been making regular appearances on the station, where he's known as "The Godfather."

The Game hired current Oregonian sportswriter Jason Quick as a contributor in September. Oregonian sports columnist John Canzano hosts afternoons, and Brian Wheeler, play-by-play voice of Blazers, hosts middays with Kenny Vance and Jay Allen.

The station, which has yet to have its second birthday, is the home of the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, Seattle Seahawks and Portland Timbers. Along with KXL (750), it was sold last year by Blazers owner Paul Allen as one of the first two stations of Alpha Broadcasting.

"The opportunity to get back into sports radio is a dream come true," Jaynes said in a statement. "Gavin and Chad are incredibly generous to share what was already a winning show with me."

In an interview on KINK's Sunday morning public affairs show, Speaking Freely, Alpha Broadcasting President Larry Wilson talks to KINK's Sheila Hamilton about taxes and Portland tax measures 66 and 67, as well as radio topics such as the importance of being local.

Also in the interview, which was posted to KINK's website on Christmas Eve, Wilson made what appear to be his first public remarks on the bankruptcy of Citadel Broadcasting, the company he founded and led until 2002.

He said that selling Citadel for $2.1 billion in 2001, nearly at the peak of radio station valuations, was more luck than genius. As for what led to the company's Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month, he notes the corporate culture imposed after his departure, but points chiefly to the $2.7 billion ABC Radio deal that Citadel made in 2006-2007. "That acquisition was their undoing," he says.

"It's the same with most of the radio companies out there today," Wilson explains. "They have too much debt. It's not their fault. They were on a spree and the game changed in the sixth inning and they didn't see it coming. Nobody really saw it coming. And so here they are, they had been paying these huge prices, which I had been doing the same. The only difference is, I got out when the getting was good, and they stayed in."

Following the Telecommunications Act of 1996, station groups exploded in size through newly possible mergers and acquisitions, consolidating into a shrinking number of giant companies like Citadel, Clear Channel and Cumulus. In a sign of the times, CBS Radio renamed itself Infinity after a 1997 merger.

But the debt that was taken on in those transactions has become a threat to radio conglomerates following the recent credit crunch and advertising recession, which have significantly devalued assets. For example, Wilson purchased KXL and KXTG for $11 million last year. But in 1998, Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen purchased KXL alone for a reported $42 million.

"It's a real tragedy," Wilson says of Citadel's bankruptcy. And, though he no longer has a stake in the company, Wilson tells KINK that "it's a personal tragedy for me."

More: Meet KINK.fm's new owner — KINK

(Via the Portland Radio Message Board.)

Chris Patyk has returned to Tucson after two years as program director at KUFO and KCMD in Portland, All Access reports. As of this week, he's now PD at three of Clear Channel's Tucson stations: news/talk KNST-AM, oldies KWFM-AM, and adult alternative KWMT-FM, where he'll also co-host the morning show.

Patyk was booted from his two stations at Alpha Broadcasting shortly before Alpha relaunched hard rocker KUFO with a new lineup in October. He's now working in the same building as KRQQ, the station he worked at in 1993-94. He's also worked at KZON and KEDJ in Phoenix.

"It's great to see the sun again after a couple of years in Portland!" he says.

(Thank you to Cheryl Kanekoa for sending this in.)

The Oregonian's Peter Ames Carlin had a story on Larry Wilson yesterday, with a review of the changes at Wilson's six-station Alpha Broadcasting group. There's a lot of good background, including this incident from last year:

Blood everywhere. A doctor who happened to be at the gym was convinced Wilson had broken his neck.

"I asked him, 'Am I gonna die?' and he said, 'Well ...'" Wilson recalls.

Citadel Broadcasting, the company founded and helmed by Larry Wilson until 2002, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today.

The Las Vegas-based company reported $1.4 billion in assets, but $2.46 billion in debt in its filing. Chapter 11 allows a company to restructure debts in hopes of emerging as a viable business, but creditors and bondholders would typically then own the company, as the Securities and Exchange Commission explains.

Citadel owns 224 radio stations and syndicates programs such as Imus in the Morning and, in cooperation with Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show. The company also distributes ABC Radio News updates and sells advertising on ESPN Radio. Citadel does not own stations in Oregon or Washington.

Another radio company on bankruptcy watch is Clear Channel, which owns five stations in Portland. Standard & Poor's recently raised its rating on the company to CCC-plus, seven steps below investment grade, but said it remained "concerned about the longer-term viability of the capital structure" at the company.

Wilson, who sold Citadel in 2001 for $2.1 billion, stayed out of the radio business until buying stations in Portland to form Alpha Broadcasting this year.

Susan Reynolds

Susan Reynolds will become KINK's director of marketing and promotion on January 4, after holding the same position at KUFO since 1996, the station has announced.

"I have always loved KINK and wanted to work there for years," Reynolds tells OMC, "but the timing was never right and the opportunity had not presented itself until now. Though we are in the same group of stations, I've never had direct responsibility for KINK and am really excited to get hands on. It's a great station with a terrific team of people, most of whom I've known for a long time."

But will she still be known as Susan "Don't F With Me" Reynolds over at KINK? With a laugh, she says, "The nickname came from my very dear friend Rick Emerson and I think this might be an appropriate time to retire it."

The move to KINK wasn't prompted by Emerson and the rest of KUFO's morning and afternoon teams being fired from the station in October, however. "There's no question I was sad to see Rick and the others on the team leave KUFO," Reynolds says, "however we're still friends and the two things are unrelated. Like most things, this is about timing. This was a rare opening at a well respected station so I'm really glad that [KINK Program Director] Dennis Constantine has the confidence in me to lead the marketing and promotional charge...I know a lot of people expressed interest in the position."

Besides KUFO, Reynolds worked at WGN and WLS in Chicago; KSFO, KYA and KSOL in San Francisco; and KKCW ("K103") for five years in Portland.

Pacwest Center
(via pacwestcenter.com)

KINK is moving out of the KGW building and KXL will no longer be at the bottom of a hill as the six radio stations of Alpha Broadcasting are moving into a single space: the Pacwest Center in Downtown Portland.

Scheduled for May 1, the move will unite Alpha's corporate offices with its six studios and a street-level performance lounge. The studios will be on the sixth floor, with corporate offices one floor up. The Pacwest Center is at 1211 SW 5th Avenue.

"Getting all our employees into one location is key to our plan to achieve maximum efficiency in our operation," says Alpha Chairman and CEO Larry Wilson. "While KINK has had a live performance lounge for nine years, the new expanded lounge will be the live venue for all recording artists, sports figures, business dignitaries and political figures who visit Alpha headquarters. We also plan to host special events in the lounge for our largest advertisers."

KCMD, KUFO and KUPL currently share space at 2040 SW 1st Avenue. KINK's location in the KGW building at 1501 SW Jefferson is a legacy of the two stations' ownership by King Broadcasting in Seattle. KXL and what is now KXTG ("The Game") have been at 0234 SW Bancroft since 1996, when the stations were owned by Alexander Broadcasting.