Don Imus’ 16-month exile from Tucson’s radio airwaves ends Sept. 2. The Jolt KJLL 1330-AM last week signed a deal to begin carrying the nationally-syndicated program but you’re going to have to be an early riser to hear it. Kimberley Kelly, station manager for the Jolt, says it will air live from New York, from 3 a.m. - 6 a.m. Tucson time.

"We think it’s very important to have our shows live; it makes for better interaction with the audience," Kelly said. "About 90 percent of our schedule is live."

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment Ryan Recker, left, sports director at KVOA 4, and news anchors Kristi Tedesco and Tom McNamara anchor “The Olympic Zone” in the half-hour preceding NBC’s prime time coverage of the summer games from China. ADVERTISEMENT

Imus’ show will shift to an hour later as of Nov. 3 when the rest of the country ends Daylight Saving Time.

The Jolt had been Tucson’s home for Imus for nine years until CBS Radio fired him April 12, 2007, in the wake of a firestorm from a now infamous on-air exchange in which he referred to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

Kelly said she had listened to Imus’ new program from time-to-time and called it a "changed program." In particular, she noted the new dynamics created with the inclusion of Karith Foster, a black female comic, and Tony Powell, who calls himself a cross between "the charisma of Eddie Murphy, the irreverence of Chris Rock, and the Old School charm of Bernie Mack." Imus’ show also continues to feature comedian Rob Bartlett and newsman Charles McCord.

One thing that has not changed, Kelly says, is Imus’ ability to attract big, important guests, especially political figures.

Kelly admits she was surprised her locally-owned station was able to land Imus’ show, especially in light of the fact that it’s being syndicated by the same company that owns five other radio stations in Tucson.

"They (the syndicator) called me, I couldn’t believe it, they left a voice message," she said. "When I called them back they asked if I was interested in having Imus return to his Tucson home. I said, ‘OK, who is this really?’"

For those who want to hear Imus at other times, Kelly said the Jolt will soon make podcasts available via its website: www.tucsonsjolt.com.

Keeping up with the Olympics

The Summer Olympics now underway in China are being covered on American TV like no games before them - 3,600 hours on TV and online. Compare that to the total of 2,652 hours for all previous Summer Olympics combined.

Local NBC affiliate KVOA 4 is producing a nightly half-hour program, "The Olympic Zone," that will highlight the nearly 40 Southern Arizona athletes in the competition. The show will also have some behind-the-scenes features and other updates. And, as another draw, they’re running a daily "Let the Contest Begin" promotion.

"The Olympic Zone" airs at 6:30 p.m. weeknights on KVOA 4.

The heart of the Olympics coverage will be shown on KVOA 4, but NBC will also have coverage on its various other networks: CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, USA, Telemundo, Universal HD and two special high-definition channels.

Finding all of the channels can be a challenge, even for the best remote operators, but Comcast’s digital subscribers are getting help: In addition to their normal locations on the cable company’s lineup, the channels carrying Olympics coverage are also being grouped together on channels 880-890. Nice.

Quick takes

• The Diane Rehm Show was added last week to the lineup on KUAZ 89.1-FM/1550-AM. The show interviewing high-profile political and cultural figures originates from the NPR station at American University in Washington, D.C., and airs in Tucson weekdays from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. Jack Gibson, general manager of the UA’s Arizona Public Media, says Rehm’s show had been among the most often requested by listeners. To make way for Rehm, KUAZ has dropped a repeat hour of "Morning Edition" and moved "Fresh Air" to 1 p.m., where it replaced "Here & Now," which is no longer on the schedule. By the way, for those of us who had never heard Rehm before and noticed her unusual speech pattern, she has spasmodic dysphonia, a voice disorder characterized by involuntary movements of muscles of the larynx.

• The Arizona Cardinals football games this season are being broadcast on The Source KCUB 1290-AM. The first game was the Aug. 7 exhibition game against New Orleans. The next game will be 5 p.m. Aug. 16 when the Cardinals play the Chiefs in Kansas City.

• Historic Arizona newspapers published from 1880-1912 are being digitized by the Arizona State Library and Archives through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The newspapers to be digitized include The Arizonian, a Tubac newspaper that in 1859 was the first published in Arizona (and led editor Sylvester Mowry to a duel after publishing just 20 issues), the Arizona Citizen forerunner of the Tucson Citizen started in 1870, the Sentinel started in Yuma in 1878, the famous Tombstone Epitaph started in 1880, the Arizona Gazette started in Phoenix in 1880, the Arizona Enterprise started in Florence in 1881, the Arizona Champion started in Flagstaff in 1882 and the Prescott Morning Courier, also started in 1882. Once the digitizing project is complete the results will be posted on the Arizona State Library’s Arizona Memory Project website - http://azmemory.lib.az.us/ - and the Library of Congress’ National Digital Newspapers website. Arizona is the sixth state to have its historic newspapers digitized through the national endowment program.

• Brown Publishing Co., based in Blue Ash, Ohio, has acquired Metro Publications, publisher of an annual Tucson Relocation Guide, which is distributed through chambers of commerce, real estate agents and by some employers. Metro Publications, based in Scottsdale, had been owned by Bob Mahan since 1999. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Brown Publishing was founded in 1920 and now has 15 daily and 62 weekly newspapers in Ohio, along with business publications in Colorado, Iowa, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming.