Elvis Duran has been herding the "morning zoo" on New York's Z100 (WHTZ) for 14 years, and he'll soon be heard on Eugene's KEHK ("Star" 102.3). The show was renamed as "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show" in 2008 for syndication, and KEHK will be its first West Coast affiliate.

Duran replaces local DJ Justin Phillips in the morning. Phillips tells OMC he'll focus on his other role as production director for the local Cumulus station cluster.

KEHK's new show launches Monday, March 15. You can listen to it here.

KEHK's press release is after the jump.

When the ax falls on KOHD tomorrow, the once booming city of Bend will be reduced to having only one full-time TV news station. Employees at the ABC affiliate were informed this morning that the station will become a Bend bureau for KEZI, Chambers Communications' sister station in Eugene. Bend employees will then create local packages for KEZI-produced Bend cut-ins.

Executives at KOHD and KEZI aren't yet talking, but information that we've learned, some from sources who were specifically instructed not to talk to blogs about this news, is that there will be three "one-man bands" in Bend and an anchor/producer hosting KOHD cut-ins from Eugene. We hope to have more information after laid-off employees cash their severance checks tomorrow.

KOHD launched as the United States' first HD television station to be built from the ground up in September 2007. Chambers paid an ambitious $8.5 million at auction for the station's FCC license in 2006. Their 11,000 square foot facility will now be used as KEZI's Bend bureau a facility for filing Bend stories off to Eugene for production, if not also a shrine to media industry and Bend industry hopes during the city's population boom and before the advertising recession.

KOHD cut its weekend newscasts in a major reshuffling last summer and rearranged its evening news lineup as recently as a month ago. At the station's last Christmas party, employees were told that Chambers was committed to maintaining KOHD's news operations without cuts through 2010. KOHD equipment will now be moved to Eugene, which may enable KEZI to become that market's first station to produce newscasts in HD.

The Bend TV news market is also served by NBC affiliate KTVZ, which airs morning, evening and late newscasts each weekday, as well as half-hour shows at 6 and 11 pm on weekends. The station also produces a weekday half-hour at 10 pm on Fox affiliate and sister station KFXO. CBS affiliate KBNZ simulcasts Portland sister station KOIN's newscasts with one-minute local cut-ins.

In addition to KOHD and KEZI, Eugene-based Chambers Communications also owns KDRV in Medford and its semi-satellite KDKF in Klamath Falls, as well as Chambers Productions in Eugene and Chambers Cable in Sunriver.

KOHD's last locally produced newscast will air tomorrow at 11 pm.

UPDATE (3/6, 7:03 am): In the absence of further communication from Chambers Communications, we're unsure to handle KOHD News Director Jerry Upham's email opposing the term "bureau." Since we haven't received an alternative to this word used by employees for the new relationship between KOHD and KEZI, we'll simply say that, to our understanding, KOHD will operate as a facility that three people will file stories out of. Those stories will then be sent to Eugene for production and anchoring, and will appear on KOHD as news updates. If anyone would like to help us fill in the details, please contact oregonmediagmail [dot] com. Thank you.

While The Oregonian was cutting jobs yesterday, so was The Register-Guard.

Nine full-time employees and five part-time workers were laid off, and five open positions were "frozen," according to an article on the paper's website. Affected jobs were in "all operating departments," primarily circulation and human resources, the paper says. A total headcount of 286 workers is reported.

Last August, The Register-Guard laid off 16.

Retail, automotive, real estate and employment are the four ad sectors publisher Tony Baker points to as the sources of declining revenue at the Eugene publication. But when those sectors rebound, he tells the paper, "we must be positioned to take advantage of the opportunities they present."

In a blog post on KVAL's site, News Director Jenny Kuglin discusses negative feedback and an increase in the number of angry emails and online comments the station has received recently.

"People are being mean in greater numbers than I’ve ever experienced before," she says. "I’ve also been personally screamed at, called names, and hung up on countless times. So have other members of my staff. I’ve talked to other people in the news business, and they are reporting the same trend."

She goes on to cite specific examples from recent emails and voicemails, including:

• "I hate the media, and you are the reason women shouldn’t be in charge!"
• "(anchor name deleted) is an anorexic, incompetent, unprofessional, moron and should be fired. period," and
• "(anchor name deleted) is probably an illegal immigrant. Did you even check her papers? No- because you are the liberal media."
Are you also seeing an increase in negative comments like these? If so, do you think it's due to the economy? Could it be the current political climate? Or are we just being too sensitive?

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 following release was written and provided to us by Kathy Cullis' husband, Rick:

Kathleen I. (Randall) Cullis of Bend passed away on Jan. 4th, 2010 after a valiant three-year battle with cancer. She was 57 years young.

Kathy was born on Jan. 23, 1952 in Portland, the daughter of William and Illaine Randall. Her sister is Robin Bailey (Jim), who lives in Portland. When Kathy was five she moved with her family to Salem. As a child, Kathy was creative and imaginative, inventing puppet shows for family and friends to enjoy. This talent led her into high school choir and drama where her love of performing truly emerged when she got her first leading role as Eliza Doolittle in the South Salem High School production of My Fair Lady.

Kathy received a B.A. Degree in Theater at the University of Oregon. In 1997 she married her husband Rick on April 19th at the Woodland Chapel Church of Religious Science in Salem and later moved from Eugene to the Big Island of Hawaii where she worked for Dolphin Quest Hawaii, Kona Association for the Performing Arts and KISS-FM as a morning radio news anchor.

After moving back to Oregon in 2003 she worked as a morning news anchor for KBND 1110 Radio. There, she produced “Heart of the Arts”, a weekly 5-minute feature series.

Earlier in her career she worked in television for KFXO-TV (Bend), KMTR-TV (Eugene), KOMO-TV (Seattle), KEZI-TV (Eugene) and KOLD-TV (Tucson). While in Tucson she co-hosted the Easter Seal Telethon with Pat Boone for two years. She also acted in dramatic film and television including Praying Mantis (USA Network) with Jane Seymour, Baywatch Hawaii, and independent films. She was a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

It was the theater that Kathy loved the most and while living in Hawaii she was nominated for the island wide 2001 Po’okela Award as “Leading Female in a Musical” for Mame produced by the Kona Assoc. for the Performing Arts. In 2002, she was nominated again for the Po’okela Award for “Leading Female in a Play” for Night of the Iguana. In Bend she acted in local community theater, including Taming of the Shrew and Chicago for the Cascade Theatrical Co. She also starred in Lettuce and Lovage in Portland while a member of Equity Actors. While a student at the University of Oregon, Kathy starred as Sally Boles in a Eugene production of Cabaret.

Kathy is survived by her husband Rick, her mother, sister, brother-in-law, two cats and six llamas.

A private gathering and celebration of Kathy’s life will take place for family and friends in Bend, Portland and on the Big Island. Her final resting place will be in Hawaii, where her ashes will be scattered in the blue waters off the Kohala coast.

Any donations can be made in lieu of flowers to: Partners In Care (Hospice House) at 2075 NE Wyatt Ct., Bend, OR 97701

Rick also encourages supporting local theater in Kathy's memory. "It is what Kathy loved," he says.

(Thank you to Al Peterson for posting this news in our forums.)

The only Spanish-language radio station in Eugene, as well as four other television and radio stations in the Willamette Valley, fell silent at the end of the year as Churchill Media ended business and sought to liquidate its assets, blaming the economy for a drop in ad revenue.

Churchill owned talk and music station "La X" KXOR 660 Eugene and Portland-area sister station KXPD 1040; low-power Azteca América TV affiliates KXOR 36 Eugene and Salem-area KXPD 52; and Eugene-area KLZS 1450, which switched from Spanish-language sports to smooth jazz in November.

The Register-Guard says 17 people lost their jobs in Eugene and Wilsonville, down from 45 employees in 2008.

The Eugene-area Spanish-speaking market is also served by the bilingual monthly newspaper Adelante Latino.

Pasadena is the temporary capital of Oregon sports media as numerous reporters, photographers and additional crew assemble in California for the Oregon-Ohio State Rose Bowl.

KATU sports Director Katy Brown says nine people from her station are in Pasadena, including herself, Steve Dunn and Anna Song on air, plus three photogs, two live truck operators and a field producer. "Needless to say, it's a big deal," she says, "especially since the game is on our network." Song says she's "doing the fan angle the whole time I'm here — the fun stuff." Sports reporter Craig Birnbach will anchor Friday's 11 pm sportscast, he tells OMC.

KVAL Eugene Sports Director Tom Ward says, "We were the first TV station from Oregon down here last Saturday, and have been going strong since we hit the ground."

"Since we’ve been here," he says, "we covered the team at Disneyland, have gone to several practices, and saw them put away large quantities of beef at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills. We’ve done some sort of 'look live' or live report every day we've been here. [On Tuesday], our sister station from Portland, KATU, arrived en masse and helped out a great deal with live coverage."

The Register-Guard's George Schroeder is in LA, he says, along with UO beat writers Rob Moseley and Adam Jude, additional sports reporters Steve Mims and Chris Hansen, reporter Mark Baker and two photographers.

The University of Oregon's main student newspaper is also devoting special coverage to the game. Daily Emerald sports reporter Lucas Clark says he and fellow sports team members Ben Schorzman and Robert Husseman are in LA with a photographer, updating their website and preparing for Monday's print edition.

Over at KPTV, reporter Mark Ross says, "The Ducks playing in the Rose Bowl is one of the biggest stories the state has seen in the last decade." He won't be part of Fox 12's LA crew, "but come New Year's Day," he says, "I'm at least going to LISTEN to the game, being a huge sports fan, even if we're driving off to some crime story!"

KGW sports director Adam Bjaranson says he and Joe Donlon are on air from LA, joined by two photographers and their sports producer.

Dwight Jaynes says he's in LA to do shows with Comcast SportsNet today and tomorrow. He was on the Morning Sports Page on The Game (KXTG) in Portland this morning.

Steve Tanenbaum says he's broadcasting tomorrow morning for KUGN from Eugene sports bar Sam's Place, then handing coverage off to Jerry Allen, Mike Jorgensen and the Oregon Sports Network in Pasadena. Once the game's over, he'll "head back to Sam's for our post game show where I'll take calls to get the fans' input on the game. After that's done, considering I'll have been in a bar since 10 am, at a party, then back to a bar without having consumed a single drop of alcohol, it won't be safe to get between me and a J.D. on the rocks."

Hank Stern, managing news editor for Willamette Week, says he's flying down to LA today and writing a piece for next week's paper.

KVAL's Ward says, "It is exciting to finally cover a Rose Bowl. I’ve covered an Aloha Bowl, four Sun Bowls, three Holiday Bowls, two Vegas Bowls, two Insight Bowls, and seen way too many Oregon and OSU seasons that ended in disappointment. Now the Ducks just need to provide us with a happy ending."

UPDATE (12/31, 5:24 pm): KEZI anchor Brandi Smith adds: "KEZI 9 News has the largest crew of any Eugene station. Executive producer Sean Schoppe, news operations manager Kurt Richter, sports director Michelle Dapper and myself have been down here since Saturday night."

Chris McKee

Chris McKee, senior producer at KOHD in Bend, is leaving the station in January to become the Roseburg bureau reporter for Eugene's KMTR. He tells OMC:

It's going to be tough to leave KOHD for sure. I've worked with an awesome group of people who are totally dedicated and work incredibly hard. Having help start the station, I think I'll always feel like I'm a part of KOHD... even though I'm leaving. I've got nothing but support from my co-workers. I'm excited to move on to a different chapter in my career and working with the team at KMTR. It's going to be fun getting to know Roseburg and its surrounding communities. I'm excited to step out from the producing role, getting to tell stories as a reporter now.

Everything is going well at KOHD. The station hasn't made any new cuts since the major ones announced in April. Management has expressed the positive message that KOHD will definately survive the "tough economic times" and continue to make strides as a leader in the Central Oregon news scene and community. I would argue that KOHD has one of the most streamlined newsrooms in the state. Everyone there, literally everyone... from each production assistant to the news anchors know how to shoot, capture and edit video. Our assignment editor doubles as a producer, finding stories, setting them up, writing them, editing video for them. Meanwhile, some of our news staff doubles as assistant engineers, fixing computer network issues, video server problems that other stations reserve for a team of engineers. We make it work.

When I take a step back, and look at the product that we've achieved with so few people... it definitely makes me proud to work here. We keep up with what's happening in Central Oregon, we break stories and we compete, putting on 125 minutes of news during the weeknights, and 90 minutes during the weekday mornings. It has certainly been a challenge that none of us ever anticipated... but, when we continue to hear viewers saying, "I think you guys have really raised the bar for news coverage in Central Oregon," you know you're doing something right. We hope to keep those comments going, and I know all of the professionals at KOHD are more than qualified to do that.

Andrea Adams, associate producer and assignment editor at the station, will take McKee's position, a KOHD representative tells OMC. The AP/AE job listing is now posted on KOHD's website.

Adam Bjaranson

There was at least one casualty during last night's Civil War game in Eugene, but it wasn't from the battle on the field.

KGW sports anchor Adam Bjaranson was "writhing in pain" and unable to walk after reaching to place a headset on the ground during the 5:00 hour of the big Ducks-Beavers showdown. "My knee completely gave way and I just crumbled to the ground," he tells OMC. Bjaranson had exacerbated an existing right knee injury from playing basketball. A surgery was already scheduled for this afternoon.

After anchor Joe Donlon and columnist John Canzano helped him get ice taped to his knee, he rallied to get back on the air at 6. But just as Donlon tossed to him, "some 'whacko' girl came out of nowhere, and punched me square on my injured knee....then ran off."

"Not sure what I said to Donlon," he writes, "but I'm told I held it together fairly well given the circumstances. Honestly, it was one of the craziest things I've ever been through in TV. I woke up this morning still in disbelief."

While he says he's able to get around with "no problem" now, he also says he's still in some "crazy pain." He hopes the planned repair to his meniscus remains relatively simple, but moreso that the 3:30 operation just arrive already. "Surgery can't get here quick enough," he says.

In other news, the University of Oregon advanced to the Rose Bowl, 37-33.

UPDATE (12/4, 12:31 pm): Thanks to KGW's Frank Mungeam for posting the video: