Country music joins The Mix atop KC radio

And the hits just kept coming for KMXV-FM (93.3) as it won the Kansas City radio ratings derby for the second quarter in a row. "The Mix" finished No. 1 in the Arbitron summer book despite a strong challenge from album rocker KQRC-FM (98.9). "The Rock" was tops in the Monday-Friday ratings, but "The Mix" had strong weekend ratings and by far the highest cumulative audience. After Kansas City's country stations swooned in the spring quarter ratings, Bob Zuroweste, who manages eight stations for Entercom including "The Rock" and WDAF-AM (610), told this column that country would be back. Well, country is back, but perhaps not as Zuroweste might have hoped. "Young Country" KBEQ-FM (104.3), which like "The Mix" is owned by Entercom's chief rival CBS-Infinity, rocketed from 10th to third overall. Shotgun Jeff Jaxon's afternoon show leaped from ninth to second, and morning man Randy Miller upped his ratings from fifth to third. Meanwhile, WDAF remained in fourth place. But there was consolation for Entercom. After being knocked out of the top spot in mornings this spring for the first time in memory, WDAF's David Lawrence returned to No. 1, edging out "The Rock's" Johnny Dare and Murphy Wells. "The Mix's" Kelly Urich was No. 1 in afternoons. Overall, 31.7 percent of listeners were tuned to Entercom-owned stations, while 22.5 percent were listening to CBS-Infinity stations. Complete summer radio ratings are posted on www.tvbarn.com. The Bliss rules You have to wonder at the inconsistent standards that led CBS to discipline former WDAF, Channel 4 news anchor Katherine Bliss this week for appearing in a testimonial ad for a Kansas City eye clinic. The ad, which first appeared in the Oct. 17 Star, featured Bliss, now an anchor at the Windy City's CBS-owned station, and included quotes attributed to her that praised the clinic's laser surgery. Bliss, who says she didn't receive payment for the ad and did it as a favor to a friend here, violated CBS policy on anchor propriety. That's right. CBS - the same company that allows Charles Osgood to preside over its "Sunday Morning" news program, while he hawks everything from FloNase to anti-snoring aids on his radio show - has a rule against anchor testimonials. CBS also allows the anchors on its two all-news radio stations to read commercials but not its TV anchors. And apparently not even in a market where the anchor no longer works. WGN drops WB WGN, the Chicago superstation carried on Kansas City cable systems, stopped airing programs from the WB network earlier this month. This means Kansas City viewers will no longer have a fallback channel for those nights when the local WB affiliate, KSMO, Channel 62, pre-empts WB shows to carry University of Kansas basketball games. WGN is owned by the Tribune Co., which also has a share in the WB. Tribune Co. originally agreed to carry the WB network so that cities that didn't have a local WB affiliate would be able to see its shows (WGN is seen in 48 million homes outside the Chicago area.) But with WB affiliates now in nearly all the 100 largest markets, WGN has agreed to become an independent station again. The locally pre-empted WB programs will air instead the following Sunday afternoon on Channel 62, according to Stu Powell, the regional director for Sinclair Broadcast Group, which oversees KSMO. To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com