Top 40 station lands at 104.5

Spokane has a new Top 40 station: KQQB-FM (“Spokane’s 104.5”).

The station plays artists such as Eminem, Kelly Clarkson, Nickelback, Mariah Carey and the Black Eyed Peas.

“It’s basically what you’d see on MTV,” said operations manager Mark Shands, who recently moved to Spokane from L.A.

Shands said a niche opened up for a new Top 40 station in Spokane after KZZU-FM (The Zoo), the market’s longtime Top 40 leader, switched in October to a slightly different format it calls “ZZU Modern Hit Music.”

“It left an opening for a station for young adults and teens,” said Shands, who said his station is targeting listeners aged 12 to 34.

A morning team called Big Mama and the Wild Bunch (Big Mama being, oddly enough, a guy) has been hired from a station in Philadelphia. This team is currently on the air in the afternoons, but will soon move to mornings. All of the station’s on-air personalities will be local, said Shands.

KQQB was formerly a Newport, Wash.-based station, KMJY-FM, playing classic hits. Pro-Active Communications, headed by Jerry Clifton, purchased the station last year, moved the studio to downtown Spokane, acquired a transmitter near the airport and went on the air with the new format on Dec. 20.

The signal is not particularly muscular at this point, but it does cover most of the Spokane metro area (as well as Newport, from another transmitter). Shands said they are working on strengthening the signal so it covers the entire region.

Clifton was formerly a consultant for Spokane’s KYWL-FM, better known as the gone-but-not forgotten Wild 103.9.

KQQB-FM is Pro-Active Communications’ first and only station, but Shands said the company hopes to acquire another Spokane station soon.

“It’s a broadcasting company owned by a programmer, which is really cool,” he said. “We’re trying to make a great station and the sales will follow.”

50 Cent and Samuel L.?

More details are arriving about “Home of the Brave,” the Samuel L. Jackson movie that will film in Spokane beginning in March.

According to Variety magazine, hip-hop star 50 Cent (Curtis Johnson) is in “final negotiations” to appear in the movie.

Christina Ricci (“The Opposite of Sex,” “Ice Storm”) and Jessica Biel (“7th Heaven”) have already been cast, according to Variety. However, Eva Mendes is apparently no longer associated with the project.

This movie is directed by well-known Hollywood producer Irwin Winkler, with a screenplay by Mark Friedman. Jackson will play a doctor who has trouble readjusting after returning from service in Iraq.

Spotlight will provide updates as the filming dates approach.

Watch out, 50 Cent

In light of the above item, we were especially intrigued by a Samuel L. Jackson quote in the L.A. Times last week about rappers-turned-actors:

“I’ve been on sets where the hip-hop guys had a call for 6 a.m. and showed up at 10 a.m.,” Jackson said. “There wasn’t enough respect for what we’re doing, which is more than putting on a costume and opening your mouth.”

He wasn’t talking about 50 Cent, of course. But if 50 Cent ends up in this movie, he might want to make a point of showing up on time.

A title switch at the Civic

The Spokane Civic Theatre has dropped “The Philadelphia Story” from its Main Stage schedule next month and replaced it with “Private Lives,” by Noel Coward.

The reason? The Civic encountered what it calls “casting challenges” in “The Philadelphia Story,” which is based on the 1940 movie starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. It was particularly difficult to cast the male roles, according to Yvonne A.K. Johnson, executive artistic director.

So now the March 31-April 23 slot will be filled by “Private Lives,” a Coward comedy about a divorced British couple who show up at the same honeymoon resort with their new mates.

One other Civic note: The “Steam Heat!” variety show fund-raiser will be repeated Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. on the Main Stage. Tickets are $25, by calling 325-2507.

A revamped Interplayers season

Meanwhile, Interplayers, Spokane’s longtime professional theater, has changed the lineup for the remainder of the season.

First, Beth Henley’s “The Miss Firecracker Contest,” has been replaced by “Stepping Out,” the Richard Harris comedy about a classroom of amateurs trying to learn to tap-dance. “Stepping Out” will fill the March 9-26 slot.

“We’re interested in the long-term survival of the theater,” said Mary Ann McCurdy, executive director. “We felt that ‘Stepping Out’ would be better for the theater.”

She said it should attract bigger audiences and will also be less expensive to produce, partly because the theater won’t have to bring in actors from outside the area. Spokane’s Troy Nickerson will direct.

New titles were also announced for the last two slots of the season.

Neil Simon’s comedy about the early days of TV, “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” will fill the April 27-May 20 slot. Interplayers last produced this show in 1996.

A stage adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” will replace the previously announced “Romeo and Juliet” in the June 1-24 slot.

Interplayers has been without an artistic director since Niké Imoru resigned at the end of the year,

For more information, call the theater at 455-PLAY.

Onward and upwards with ballet

Two local dancers have gone on to bigger and better things in the world of ballet.

Emily Grizzell is a soloist with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She has had a number of lead roles and is touring with the troupe in the Midwest.

Giselle Doepker is a dancer with Ballet Arizona in Phoenix, where she has had several principal and soloist roles.

Both began their careers at a young age in Spokane and have thrived in this difficult and highly competitive art form.