Radio Waves

WQED-TV (13) and its affiliates unveiled a new logo and slogan, "WQED changes lives." The new "Q" in the logo includes what appear to be three rivers or hills and is the product of a "rebranding process" that began in May 2006

WEAE reporter/anchor arrested

An announcer at Pittsburgh's ESPN Radio affiliate has been charged with possession of child pornography. John Duffy, a reporter and weekend anchor at WEAE (1250), was arraigned yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Reynolds Hay.

Duffy pleaded not guilty and is free on bond. According to the Post-Gazette, a state trooper investigating a file sharing ring saw one computer offering files that he believed were child pornography. Two of the files were traced to Duffy's computer, police allege. In requesting a search warrant for Duffy's home in Carnegie, police sought computers, software and chat logs. Duffy, 46, has also worked as an announcer for Pitt football and women's basketball, and has done press-box work at Steelers and Penguins home games.

Bob is getting old

The most recent Pittsburgh radio ratings trends are now in for "spring phase 2," covering the month of May. Observer-Reporter's radio-TV columnist thinks the bloom isoff the rose at "Bob FM" WRRK-FM (96.9).

"For about a year, it was the talk of the town. It had a playlist of thousands of songs. It would intentionally follow Madonna with Lynyrd Skynyrd or seque from the Backstreet Boys to Led Zeppelin. It had very little interference from disc jockeys," Hazlett says. "But eventually, it tightened its playlist --- and listeners noticed. Its first-person drop-in lines ('Bob is going out to buy some more CDs,') became annoying. And people began noticing there wasn't much of a Pittsburgh feel to the station."

You can look at the ratings trends for ages 12-and-up at Radio & Records' website. Anyone looking for big surprises will be disappointed; heritage rocker WDVE-FM (102.5) retains its death-grip on first place among all listeners, with news-talk KDKA (1020) in second and country "Y-108" WDSY-FM (107.9) in third. WWSW bounces up to fourth place, while "FM NewsTalk" WPGB-FM (104.7) drops to fifth.