Channel Surfing
by Laura Nachman

Bucks County Courier Times
May 3, 2005

 

WPVI released a short explanation about the long absence of WPVI 5 p.m. anchor Monica Malpass, who was off the air for over a month.

The prepared statement said: “Monica Malpass returned to the 5 p.m. newscast last Thursday. Monica took a few weeks off to resolve some pending legal matters regarding her divorce. We welcome her back.”

 

Malpass was married to real estate developer David Cutler. They have a five-year-old son.

 

Not so coincidentally, Malpass returned in time for the first day of May sweeps.
 

This could be the week that Trevose native Anthony Fedorov gets eliminated on “American Idol” tonight at 8 p.m. on Fox.  Fedorov was in the bottom two last week, but survived again. 

 

This week’s general consensus is that Fedorov or Scott Savol will get the boot.  Bo Bice, Carrie Underwood, and Vonzell Solomon are the rest of the final five.

 

According to an industry source, the launch for the oft-delayed UPN 57 morning news show is getting pushed back again.  Most of the staff has been hired, but the show is still on hold due to technical problems  The only on-air hiring announced thus far is former Comcast SportsNet reporter Sean Murphy, who will do the traffic for the new show.

 

KYW 1060-AM is at the top of the radio Arbitron ratings.  The rest of the top 20 for listeners 12 and above is: WBEB 101.1-FM, WDAS 105.3-FM, WXTU 92.5-FM, WYSP 94.1-FM, WOGL 98.1-FM, newcomer WRNB 107.9-FM, WUSL 98.9-FM, WJJZ 106.1-FM, WIP 610-AM, WPHT 1210-AM, WIOQ 102.1-FM, WRDW 96.5-FM, WMGK 102.9-FM, WSNI 104.5-FM, WMMR 93.3-FM, WPHI 103.9-FM (recently changed to Gospel), WMWX 95.7 (recently changed to hodge-podge), WPST 97.5-FM, and WHTK 94.5-FM (the last two flip-flopped formats).

 

According to a court ruling, former Y-100 morning team of Preston and Steve do not have to sit out six-months of a no-complete clause from their former station, which means they’ll be heard on their new station WMMR 93.3-FM soon.

 

Observers don’t expect former WMMR “Philly Guy” Joe Conklin to finish his contract there. 

 

Hopefully, the new BEN 95.7-FM will attract an audience by continuing to play songs like “I Love Your Smile” by Shanice and “Turn Me Loose” by Loverboy that were heard this week.