Talk Show Host Heads Out West
After 17 years in South Florida radio, WFTL talk show host Al Rantel is leaving for Las Vegas. Rantel's attorney, Norm Kent, said Wednesday that the issue-oriented talk host will submit his resignation to Paxson Communications-owned WFTL (1400-AM) on Friday. Rantel is expected to begin at KXNT (840-AM) in Las Vegas on May 26, where he will work a 6 to 9 a.m. talk shift, Kent said. Rantel moved to WFTL (1400-AM) in 1991, after a stint at the now-defunct WNWS (790-AM). Attempts to reach Rantel, who airs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., were unsuccessful. Kent said Rantel is leaving WFTL to ''expand his horizons'' at the 50,000-watt KXNT. ''He will be heard in more than one state'' _ including popular Southern California _ ''and there are syndication possibilities,'' Kent said. ''We knew he was looking at a very good offer,'' said Paxson's Miami president Ronna Woulfe, who said the company had not yet made a decision concerning Rantel's last day on the air.
Ethnic shows squeezed
The recent sale of two stations that sell air time has put a programming squeeze on mom-and-pop shows that cater to the area's non-Hispanic ethnic communities. Paxson Communications has sold WSRF (1580-AM), one of South Florida's oldest stations, to Entertainment Radio Systems, which went on the air today with locally produced programming geared to television, movies, concerts, restaurants and other leisure pursuits. WKAT (1360-AM), home of Haitian public affairs programming and the Peppy Fields House Party, was sold to RCN/Radio Klaridad and will become a Spanish-language station.
Paxson gave its WRSF buy-timers 30 days to find another station. Two long-running WSRF shows that cater to Italian- and German-speaking locals _ Radio Ciao and Florida's Deutsche-Welle _ have moved to WRHC (1560-AM) in Miami.
Ursula Rudin, host of Deutsche-Welle (''German Wave'') since 1982, airs news from Europe, bulletins on local events, tips for tourists and music from 2 to 3 p.m. each Sunday. She was paying $ 175 an hour at WSRF, but now pays about $ 200 at WRHC, where she has a three-month contract.
''I do it more out of patriotism than to make money,'' Rudin said.
''I want to preserve the German language, so I have to move to a smaller station.''
Radio Ciao host Joe Castelli will precede Udin from noon to 2 p.m.
at WRHC. Castelli had to cut three hours from his show, which for the past
13 years has broadcast soccer matches, news, talk and music from Italy. WEAT ratings soar
Adult contemporary WEAT (104.3-FM) scored a 10.0 share to top format competitor WRMF (97.9-FM) among persons 25-54 in the Palm Beach County winter '97 Arbitron ratings released this week. WRMF had an 8.7 share, followed by country station WIRK (107.9-FM) at 8.1 and rock player WKGR
(98.7-FM) at 7.0.
WIRK ranked first among listeners 18-34 with a 9.7 share, followed by alternative station The Buzz (103.1-FM) at 9.5. WRLX (92.1-FM), third in the 12-plus ratings, has changed formats from instrumental fluff to vocal fluff (Whitney Houston, Lionel Ritchie, etc.).
WLRN (91.3-FM) fell about $ 10,000 short of its pledge drive goal of $ 300,000, but station general manager Joe Cooper said the public signal is ''on track to maintain services.'' WLRN is conducting focus groups with listeners, though Cooper said no radical changes are planned. This column appears every two weeks. Write to Jeff Rusnak, Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301.
