'TKK changes shows' times and lengths

By Carol Beggy & Mark Shanahan, Globe Staff  |  January 3, 2007

Come Monday, there will be less Don Imus, and Bill O'Reilly will be pulling night duty when FM talk station WTKK moves to an all-local weekday lineup. The changes, which will be officially announced today, include two more hours of Margery Eagan and Jim Braude and an hour less of Mike Barnicle and Michael Graham. Graham also moves to Barnicle's current mid-morning spot. Imus will still start the day off for the station beginning at 5:30 a.m., cutting back an hour so that Barnicle and his crew -- Dan Shaughnessy, Hank Morse, and Bob Lobel -- can start at 9 a.m. Barnicle's show becomes only one hour, but will be rebroadcast at midnight with a two-hour "best of" show running on weekends. Graham is up next for two hours. Then Eagan and Braude expand to a three-hour show starting at their regular noon slot, but staying on through the afternoon slot that is now O'Reilly's syndicated "Radio Factor" show. Rounding out the daytime programming is Jay Severin, who recently returned to Boston to broadcast his show; he will continue to air from 3 to 7 p.m. At night, the station shifts back to a national focus with O'Reilly on for two hours before Laura Ingraham closes out the night. "The future of terrestrial radio is about local content that you can't get anywhere else," said Phil Redo, market manager for Greater Media, TKK's parent company. For those of you just tuning in, "terrestrial radio" is traditional land-based radio, not satellite radio.

For Simon, QVC is the right thing to do

You gotta do what you gotta do to promote your new CD, we guess, even if you're a legend. Carly Simon will be hawking her just-released recording "Into White" on QVC, the cable home shopping channel. The 61-year-old singer will perform with her son and daughter, Ben and Sally Taylor, during a 30-minute segment on Friday at 7 p.m. Simon, who promotes the shopping channel appearance on her website, also is making the rounds on "Good Morning America" and "Live with Regis and Kelly" in the next couple of weeks. And Simon has a sit-down with Oprah Winfrey scheduled for Jan. 16. "Into White," which was released yesterday, is a mixture of new material and well-known tracks, including "Scarborough Fair," "Over the Rainbow," and "You Are My Sunshine."

Less success is OK with Moore

After four years of focusing on her acting career and with seven film projects in the works, Mandy Moore's carving out time to return to her music roots. "It means a lot to me to make something that's mine," the Nashua, N.H., native told Billboard.com about her CD "Wild Hope" that is due out later this year. "It's a passion project. It won't matter if it doesn't sell tons or have this high level of success." For her new release, the singer of the hit song "Candy," is collaborating with several acts, including Stoughton singer-songwriter Lori McKenna ("Most of Me"), the Weepies (on "Extraordinary" and "All Good Things," which Billboard described as a "pop hit-in-waiting"), and Chantal Kreviazuk ("Gardenia").

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay is taking the theme of its Jan. 20 gala, "Back to the Prom," seriously. Event chairs Jim Pallotta and Joe Ayoub have signed up Daryl Hall and John Oates and the Bangles for the event soiree at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston. And as they've done in the past, the organization has tapped several area chefs and restaurateurs to help design the evening's menu. Participating are: Seth and Angela Raynor, Michael Schlow, Pino Maffeo, and Ming Tsai.

Tone Loc wowed them at the nightclub Rain in Malden when he took the stage early on New Year's Day.

Boston Kabalist Mike "Zappy" Zapolin tells us that "being Jewish it's always key to get a fun invite for Christmas, otherwise it's Chinese food takeout." But not much could prepare him for spending this Christmas with Stevie Wonder. "It was inspirational to spend time with Stevie," Zapolin said. And we bet the holiday caroling was pretty special, too.

Joey Cerato, 12, and his team are reportedly on track to hit their $25,000 goal to support Camp Sunshine by participating in the New Year's Day harbor plunge with the L Street Brownies. . . . Jazz pianist Lisa Hilton -- of the family famed for its hotels and for being famous -- will return next week to Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown to teach a master class and give a concert. Hilton's family foundation has supported the school and other programs for young people who are blind. . . . WBOS-FM has named Dana Marshall as its music director. Marshall, previously program director for WXRV-FM, replaces David Ginsburg, who was promoted to program director.