(home)

(Search Tip ... Click EDIT, then FIND in browser menu above to search this page) 
(Note: Links to other sites were reliable when posted.  If a link doesn't work, it is because those Web pages have been removed from their Web site's server)

LA Radio dot com's Don Barrett reports that his popular Web site is down after a computer hard drive crash.  Don expects to be up and running ASAP (visit LARadio.com)

The largest radio station owner in the Buffalo market reported record revenues for the fourth quarter though profits dropped nearly 12 percent. Entercom Communications Corp. said net revenues reached $110.2 million, a 5 percent jump from the previous year's $104.6 million (read more - Buffalo Biz Journal)

WEEI scheduled a conference call and was expected to introduce the station's new midday host. Jason Wolfe, recently promoted to director of sports programming for Entercom radio, will make the announcement. All indications are that former Globe columnist Michael Holley will become the third man to serve as cohost with Dale Arnold (read more - Boston Globe)

The battle for control of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. is a study in contrasting strategies.  The young and nimble challenger, Internet services company Livedoor Co., has staked all on a blitzkrieg assault to outflank its entrenched opponent, Fuji Television Network Inc., and win control of radio broadcaster Nippon Broadcasting. Though much smaller in scale, Nippon Broadcasting is the leading shareholder in Fuji TV. With that beachhead secured, Livedoor will then have the muscle to come knocking on the door of Fuji Television Network Inc. itself (read more - Asahi)

Young Broadcasting announced results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2004. Vincent Young, Chairman of Young Broadcasting, stated, "As pleased as we are with the strong fourth quarter results, our confidence in the long term prosperity of commercial broadcasting, in general, and our Company, in particular, has never been greater.  (read more - Business Wire)

A new radio station in the works at the Children's Museum may not be active and well-known yet, but the museum hopes that will change this spring. The museum's Executive Director Marlene Brown is working with Regent Broadcasting to build Children's Museum Live (WCML), a station inside the museum that not only will broadcast a signal, but also teach children the history of radio (read more - Utica Online)

A former consultant for Fox Cable Networks was acquitted of charges that he made pirated movies and software available for downloading through the company's computer network.   Kevin Sarna was one of six people charged by federal prosecutors with illegally operating a computer server that authorities say contained illegal copies of such films as Daddy Day Care, X2: X-Men United and The Matrix Reloaded (read more - USA Today)

Woodruff Sweitzer announced Tuesday the launch of a strategic media buying company, True Media. The company will concentrate on media purchasing, planning, placement and analysis. Jack Miller, former marketing manager for Cumulus-owned radio stations in Columbia, is president and co-owner of True Media. Jim Hall, former national and regional sales manager for KMIZ/Channel 17, is True Media’s general manager (read more - Missourian)

Radio 1 breakfast show host Chris Moyles is going to take over the airwaves in Cambridge. Chris and his team are heading to the BBC radio station in Cambridge to broadcast their hugely popular breakfast show as part of their Red Nose Day Rally (read more - Cambridge News)

Univision Communications announced that Bert Medina has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Operating Manager of the TeleFutura Network, effective immediately (read more - Hispanic PR Wire)

According to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 2,867 children - an average of eight each day - were killed by gunfire in 2002. Now teens are standing up and saying enough is enough: students from Suncoast Community High School in Riviera Beach, Fla. have formed a group called Alter8tion (http://www.alter8tion.com) and recorded "Stop the Violence," an album speaking out against gun violence. And they're challenging radio stations and schools across the country to unite against gun violence by playing the album's first track, "Touch Your Mind," at noon on March 15, 2005 (read more - PR Newswire)

The consortium bidding for Virgin Radio has held talks with the Wireless Group, owner of the TalkSport station, about merging their advertising sales operation if its takeover bid succeeds. Lord Alli, the media executive leading the bid for Virgin, has discussed combining the station's sales unit with TalkSport's. Both stations own national licences and would save costs by bringing together their national sales teams. The talks are conditional on a number of factors (read more - The Guardian U.K.)

A federal appeals court on Tuesday sharply questioned whether the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to ban certain types of digital TV receivers, including peripheral cards, starting in July. Two of the three judges on the District of Columbia Circuit panel said the FCC never received permission from Congress to undertake such a sweeping regulation, which is intended to encourage the purchase of digital TV receivers that curb Internet distribution of over-the-air broadcasts of programming such as movies and sports (read more - CNET News)

Under siege from the "indecency" legislation rumbling through Washington these days, broadcasters are trying to come up with a "self-regulation" plan that might make the government feel less need for punitive measures. But at least one broadcaster thinks his colleagues should stiffen their resistance. According to Philip Lombardo, joint chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), "Responsible self-regulation is what we're about ..." (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)  

Neither executives nor employees of Sirius received subpoenas.  But, a regular guest on Howard Stern's syndicated radio show said he would testify tomorrow as part of an investigation into trading of Sirius Satellite Radio shares, which surged last fall when Mr. Stern announced that he was moving his program to the company. Chauncé Hayden, who writes gossip and other celebrity news for Steppin' Out magazine, received a subpoena last week ordering him to appear before Securities and Exchange Commission investigators in New York to discuss trading in Sirius securities (read more - NY Times)  (read more - LA Times)

Program director positions in a market as big as Chicago tend to be more stable than those of disc jockeys and talk show hosts. By and large, it's nice work if you can get it. Today, however, no fewer than five local stations are undergoing changes in the lineups of their top programmers. In each case, they face unique challenges (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Seeking to force federal regulators to more clearly define indecency violations, broadcasters are expected to bring a legal test case as early as next month, according to industry officials (read more - Jube Shriver Jr-LA Times)  (read more - MLive)

The First Rule of Techno-Pop: Any popular, free medium will eventually be ruined by ads, repetition and lowest-common-denominator junk. It happened to network TV, it happened to the Web and it certainly happened to radio. The Second Rule: Any free medium that has been ruined by ads will eventually encounter competition from a not-free alternative. It happened with cable TV and, more recently, satellite radio (read more - NY Times)

An Augusta-area radio personality was arrested during the weekend in Columbia County on a felony charge of commercial gambling. Mr. Brown is host of the sports talk show AB's Sportsline on WRDW 1630, which includes a segment called Break the Bookie. He also writes a sports column as a correspondent for The Columbia County News-Times, which is affiliated with The Augusta Chronicle (read more - Augusta Chronicle)

KGO Newstalk AM 810’s Afternoon News Anchor and veteran War Correspondent, Greg Jarrett, is being sent to Fallujah, Iraq to bring the full story home to the Bay Area. Jarrett will once again be embedded with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, flying with the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364, nicknamed “Purple Foxes” (read more - KGO AM 810)

Cumulus Media reported financial results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2004. Lew Dickey, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Q4 was a solid quarter that capped a strong year marked by substantial EBITDA and free cash flow growth." (read more - Cumulus)

Radio's 'Rick and Bubba' are appearing at a church in Tifton.  Mayor Paul O. Johnson is hosting the event. He is Bubba’s cousin and said Monday that he grew up next to his mother and they were like “brother and sister.”  “Rick and Bubba’s show brings a wholesome and simplistic perspective to today’s complex issues,” Johnson said. “They are clean and funny and it is all about everyday living.”  (read more - Tifton Gazette)

On Thursday, February 24, Coast to Coast AM weekend Host, Art Bell, can be seen lending his UFO expertise to ABC’s primetime special, “Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs – Seeing is Believing.” The program will feature interviews with Art Bell along with other experts and witnesses on topics covering “…the entire scope of the UFO experience – from the first famous sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day.” The primetime special will air from 8-10 p.m. EST (visit Coast to Coast)

More than a month after it went off the air, the former Mix 102.9 is still a radio station without a home, and it's unclear when the Cumulus Group can begin airing it on a new frequency, a company manager said Monday. "We're still waiting on word from the FCC, and we have not received that yet," said C.J. Jones, market general manager for Cumulus of Shreveport (read more - Shreveport Times)

It's been more than a year now since a certain performer let fly a certain body part at a certain football game. And yet, we're still dealing with its repercussions, manifested in the Federal Communications Commission's threats and various letter-writing organizations' knee-jerk reactions to every slightly objectionable reference on the airwaves. The climate's effect on the Public Broadcasting Service may be the most detrimental of all. What began with the bleeping of three expletives in its presentation of "Cop Shop" last fall continues with the "Frontline" broadcast of "A Company of Soldiers"   (read more - Seattle PI)  (read more - Naples News)  (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS_

Dear Radio Babe, In (the) Feb. 8 Herald-Tribune, I read an obit about Karl Haas passing away at age 91. That article brought back a flood of memories to me. I grew up in Detroit, and my mother listened to WJR-AM all the time. Karl Haas was a favorite of hers, and I certainly learned a lot about classical music from his programs (read more - Dawn Scire - Radio Babe)

Hunter S. Thompson died on Sunday, alone with a gun in his kitchen in Woody Creek, Colo. In doing so, he added heft to a legend that came to obscure his gifts as one of journalism's most influential practitioners. Somewhere beneath the cartoon - he was Uncle Duke in the Doonesbury strip, of course, but Bill Murray inked him well in the 1980 film "Where the Buffalo Roam" - and a lifestyle dominated by a long and sophisticated romance with drugs, Mr. Thompson managed to change the course of American journalism (read more - David Carr-NY Times)  (read more - Newsday)

Dave Jarrott Observes -- There was an interesting article in the paper yesterday about “ego-casting” and those personal music devices (Dell DJs, Ipods). Some “think tank” types say they are ruining our chances of ever being “surprised” by giving us “the illusion of perfect control.” As the father of a grown son (once a teenager) and three other children, all of whom are now teenagers, I can confidently tell you that “perfect control” is definitely an illusion. But, I digress. This is an interesting argument that Christine Rosen, of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, makes: the listeners of personal music devices shutting out the world around them, web surfers filtering out news of a different viewpoint than their own, television viewers watching only channels that reinforce their views. Actually, I think we’ve been doing that all along. As a teenager, didn’t you shut out your parents’ world? And as a disc jockey, didn’t you love it when people listened only to you? (Talk about “ego-casting”!) Do you routinely sit down to watch opera on PBS instead of flipping over to NASCAR, just so you’ll expose yourself to something different? And haven’t the big monopolies already narrowed our listening choices on the radio anyway? It’s really not a matter of whether we’re trying to order and control our lives, but to what extent we’re able to. And we’ve got a lot more choices to help us do that. Given the world we live in, it’s probably good to have those choices (visit Jarrott Media)

WIRED Magazine, long the barometer for what's next in culture, technology and industry, today announced the winners of its sixth annual WIRED Rave Awards, which recognize and celebrate "The People Changing Your Mind" in 14 categories. This year's top Rave award, "WIRED Renegade," goes to Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media." Stern's battle with the FCC and upcoming move to Sirius Satellite Radio is reshaping the future of radio as we know it (read more - PR Newswire)

Charlie Riggs (Charlie Scott) lost his battle with Brain and Lung Cancer Sunday February 20th 2005, a few days short of his 72nd Birthday. Charlie's Resume : Husband, Father, Grandfather, Little League Coach, Mentor, Ham Radio Operator, Golfer, Magician ( a GOOD one), Computer Geek, Antenna Designer (Ham radio), Buffalo Bills Fan HE ALSO DID SOME RADIO AND TV in Buffalo, New York and California (read more)

From Laura Nachman -- Washington Crossing native and former Philadelphia radio and television personality John Ziegler seems to be thriving in Los Angeles.  He was promoted to the 7 p.m. shift on KFI 610-AM radio and his first book “The Death of Free Speech” is due in June.  His show can be heard online at www.kfi640.com

Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sumner M. Redstone and Viacom Television Stations Group President and Chief Executive Officer Fred Reynolds will participate in a question and answer session at the Bear Stearns 18th Annual Media Conference on Monday, February 28, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. EST. Infinity Broadcasting Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joel Hollander will also participate in a question and answer session on February 28 at 6:00 p.m. EST. Audio webcasts of both sessions will be open to the general public through Viacom's corporate website at www.viacom.com. Replays of the audio webcasts will be available in the speeches section of Viacom's corporate website

95.9 The Fish will once again feature The StarFish Award at the annual FISH FEST Christian music festival, Saturday, April 16 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. This “American Idol” meets Contemporary Christian Music award will land one lucky winner a performance slot on the Main Stage at FISH FEST as well as a review/critique of their CD by independent label, INO Records (visit The Fish)

Local and national news outlets quickly broadcast details about the unusual plea bargain --- the first known criminal case in Georgia in which a woman agreed to undergo sterilization to avoid prison ... national radio and television personality Bill O'Reilly has repeatedly criticized Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard's handling of the case.  O'Reilly's Web site encourages people to protest the plea bargain by e-mailing Howard's spokesman, Erik Friedly.  "We've received a lot of e-mails --- a lot," Friedly said. "Many contained racial epithets and foul language. I quit looking at them. And I've gotten racial, foul, angry phone calls." What the public didn't know is that the lead detective and a Fulton County medical examiner had their doubts 5-week-old Destiny was murdered. Conflicting opinions on whether Ashe killed her child surfaced as early as the autopsy and still linger (read more - Atlanta JC)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Steve Jones' five-day-a-week gig as a DJ at Indie 103, a Clear Channel-backed station in Los Angeles, is not a sign that he has pathetically sold out his youthful beliefs. "FCC no!" he says, dropping into his customary off-air vocabulary. "I'm out of here if they tell me what to FCCing play - that's it, mate," says the Sex Pistols guitarist. And the music on his two-hour show bears out his claim (read more - Wired News)

Univision Communications announced that Alina Falcón has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Operating Manager of the Univision Network (read more - Hispanic Wire)

Since the 1996 Telecommunications Act, long-distance giants have been duking it out with Baby Bells over the residential phone market. Now the Bells have vanquished both Ma Bell -- their former corporate parent -- and former upstart MCI Inc. But as that era fades, another is dawning. Competition in residential broadband will become even more vital as the telecoms and cable operators plan to sell more services on top of that basic fast Web link. Both want to move up the food chain to reap more revenues per subscriber, potentially putting them in conflict with others that need access to the same broadband pipes. Vonage Holdings Corp., for instance, is selling voice-over-Internet phone service over cable just as cable operators are entering that business, too (read more - Businessweek)

Emmis Communications Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smulyan has filed paperwork and deposited a $100,000 fee with Major League Baseball seeking ownership of the new Washington Nationals franchise. Jeff Smulyan knows baseball well. He owned the Seattle Mariners for three years in the late '80s and early '90s.  Smulyan says the baseball ownership model is much improved now (read more - Inside Indiana Business)  (read more - WTHR) 

An unattended candle may have sparked the fire that destroyed the home of former Atlanta radio personality Porsche Foxx, authorities said Monday. The Sunday night fire gutted the second floor of the two-story house on Carriage Gate Trail in the Regency, a neighborhood of half-million-dollar homes off Campbellton Road. Part of the roof caved in, and the room where the candle was burning collapsed onto the first floor, officials said (read more - Atlanta JC)

Earlier this month, Bill Burkett, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Texas Air National Guard and the man who provided CBS producers with the controversial documents at the heart of the "60 Minutes Wednesday" segment, fired off his response to the panel's investigation. In a 2,600-word letter, obtained by Salon, Burkett charged that the report, through inaccuracies and "selective recall" among the key players, "exacerbated the defamation of character that CBS obviously committed when they laid the blame for the collapse of this story at my feet." The center of Burkett's claim is that in giving CBS the documents, he expected the network to authenticate them (read more - Salon)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

After a long run of modest hits and disappointing flops, ABC stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising, syndication and DVD revenue from "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," two of this season's top-rated programs. The shows are the work of Touchstone Television, Disney's TV studio, and are its first hits since "Home Improvement" in 1991 (read more - Delaware Online)

Donald Fagen of Steely Dan wrote a lovely farewell to Mort Fega, the jazz host who died Jan. 21, age 84 + Miss Info (Minya Oh), the only member of the WQHT (97.1 FM) morning team who objected to the now-infamous "Tsunami Song," and who thus was not suspended or fired, still is finding it difficult to get back on the air. She and Hot-97 both say they want her back on. But there are two problems (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

A popular conservative radio station and Web site is set to launch an all out a blitz against Cox and members of the Friendswood City Council. Edd Hendee is a Houston restaurateur and host of a morning talk show on KSEV-AM. He is also head of the group Citizens Lowering Our Unfair Taxes, or CLOUT (read more - Galveston County Daily News)

Livedoor Co. has increased its stake in Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. to more than 40 percent in terms of voting rights, officials of the Internet services provider said Monday, stepping up the pressure on Fuji Television Network Inc. in a high-profile acquisition battle (read more - Japan Times)

The Conclave has announced its 2005 Rockwell Award recipient: Dave “Your Duke” Sholin! Dave has been a Conclave fixture for more than 20 years as a radio programmer, trade journalist, and label executive. Dave will receive the Rockwell – the Conclave’s lifetime achievement award - during the 30th Anniversary Conclave Learning Conference, July 21-24, at the Marriott City Center in Minneapolis. “This is a humbling moment for me as Executive Director of the Conclave, to see Dave win the Rockwell Award. This is someone who has truly been a trailblazer, mentor and a friend!” Stated Conclave Executive Director Tom Kay (visit The Conclave)

A New Jersey-based gossip columnist and frequent guest on the Howard Stern radio show has been subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning insider trading in shares of Sirius Satellite Radio. Chaunce Hayden, a gossip columnist for Steppin' Out Magazine and a regular on Stern's radio program, told CNN he received a subpoena on Friday from the SEC asking him to call the regulator's New York office to answer a question concerning insider trading of Sirius' (Research) shares. When Hayden called the SEC last Friday, he said, an SEC lawyer asked him who was present in Howard Stern's studio at the WXRK Infinity station on Oct. 6, 2004, when Stern made the on-air announcement that he would be leaving Viacom's Infinity Radio Network for Sirius (read more - CNN Money)

Happy Presidents Day. Too bad 2005 is starting to feel an awful lot like 1955. Of the 19 members of the House of Representatives from Illinois, only Jan Schakowsky stood strong for free speech last week. The other 18 voted in favor of the government taking even more control of our lives. By a frighteningly huge margin, the House has voted to approve the Broadcast Decency Act, which would give federal regulators the authority to levy massive fines against radio and TV stations for broadcasting indecent material, whatever that means (read more - Richard Roeper-Chicago Sun-Times)

Brian Olson is the new market manager for the eight Cumulus-owned radio stations in the area, including top-rated WKKO-FM (99.9) and WRQN-FM (93.5). He replaces Kathy Stinehour, who resigned in December (read more - Russ Lemmon-Toledo Blade)

Hunter S. Thompson, the unflinching gonzo journalist who threw objectivity out the window in books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67. Thompson was known for a style that he described as "gonzo journalism," a form of "new journalism." It was rooted in the idea that absolute fidelity to the indisputably factual and provable did not always provide the best avenue to truth (read more - Rocky Mountain News)  (read more - USA Today)  (read more - NY Times)

From Claude Hall - A lot of things are gone from my youth. Some I miss muchly and some I don't miss very much. But I do miss the Thursday and Saturday late evening live  broadcasts from Cain's Academy over KVOO. Johnnie Lee Wills.  Younger brother of Bob Wills, who was already a legend in music by this time and had moved to the West Coast. Johnnie and his band played two or three hours for
dancing + e-mail from Louis P. Kasman, CMC, APR, CBC Media//Management Consultant, Ann Arbor, MI, "Hope you and yours are well. Dan Ingram worked the format like a maestro. While at WABC in the 60s as Rick Sklar's assistant (gopher) I had the chance to work around Dan and when he sat behind the mike a different Dan Ingram appeared. I think his love of Jazz helped  make his timing what it was. He produced my first audition tape!" (read more www.claudehallonline.com)

After the huge response abc13.com received from its tech story, KLOL fans rock the web to get station back, the Houston TV station has an update. The former rock station morning show, Walton and Johnson, will hit the Houston airwaves once again on the new Rock 97.5 February 22nd. Michael McGuff caught up with John Walton of the morning duo over email to talk with him about life in the past few months and what's ahead for the future (read more - ABC 13 Houston)

Despite the radio industry’s efforts in the last year to clean up its act—through new research and marketing, clutter reduction and advancement of electronic data interchange initiatives—advertisers and agencies still say the medium doesn’t measure up against its rivals (read more - Katy Bachman-MediaWeek)

For years, Hollywood's elite has come to Evans' intimate master suite to seek his counsel. With today's premiere of "In Bed With Robert Evans," a two-hour weekly talk show on Sirius Satellite Radio, Evans is inviting the world to do the same. The pillow talk begins at 3 p.m. PST with a topic that will surprise many: the "brilliance" of Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner (read more - LA Times)

Computer on -- check. Microphone plugged in -- check. Lava lamp going -- check. East Detroit Radio is on the air, with Craig Plesco podcasting from his "treehouse bedroom" in St. Clair Shores. A voice heavy with reverb intones: "Hello, this is Spiderman ... when I'm not off saving the world, I listen to East Detroit Radio ... " After a funky instrumental intro, Plesco plays a song by indie rockers Thirteen Black that you'll never hear on commercial radio. This is podcasting, the ultimate peer-to-peer, democratic expression. There's no FCC regulation, no station manager, no ads and no paychecks. It isn't broadcasting but narrowcasting to those who choose to download the audio file from the Internet onto their iPods. It may sound like a fringe, geek hobby, but podcasting is actually the latest way entertainment is morphing into an on-demand, Tivo style of delivery (read more - Susan Whitall-Detroit News)

You want the traffic report? Real-time traffic -- accurate, up-to-the-minute information about how fast (or slow) traffic is moving -- is here. It's seen and heard in cars, on radio, on your personal computer and right in your mobile phone. And the stage is set for rapid growth of this useful technology. How many commuters would like to dodge the grind of gridlock they face from accidents and construction on the freeway? Real-time traffic is faster, more comprehensive and more personalized than the every-10-minute radio reports heard on local radio. It can pinpoint the traffic picture for the individual route drivers want to take (read more - Mercury News)

I couldn't believe that the FCC - laughingly known as the Federal Comatose Commission by those who've wanted it to do something all these years about diversity, quality and overcommercialization by the corporate entertainment nexus controlling our airwaves - suddenly woke up and noticed that indecency is a danger to the republic. There is no doubt that there is indecency on the airwaves. May I be indecent enough to suggest that the public likes indecency? And Chairman Powell and other champions of the free market must realize that the media barons are only doing their job of giving the public what it wants (read more - Marvin Kitman-Newsday)  (read more - DelcoTimes)

From Bill Mack -- While I was writing my autobiography, BILL MACK’S MEMORIES FROM THE TRENCHES OF BROADCASTING, there was that constant feeling of inferiority. I developed a serious doubt while seated at the keyboard of my computer. When I took on the assignment of writing about myself, it was similar to staring in the mirror and noticing deformities. A tiny mole suddenly appeared larger than normal! It’s a mole that’s been near my chin since I was born, but, overnight, it became more noticeable. It appeared to be a big, ugly skin cancer! I knew it wasn’t cancerous. I’ve asked various physicians about it for years, and they all said it was a “benign mole, nothing to be concerned about.” A girl I used to date when I was in my mid-teens even went so far as to say it was a cute little mole! She loved it! (read more from www.BillMackCountry.com)

Among Achievement in Radio honors to be handed out this week will be a "Lifetime Achievement" award to the late WEMP-AM. After almost 70 years in use, the venerable call letters died when the station became sports-talk WSSP-AM (1250) + Nancy Grace is ready to tell us what she thinks. Starting tonight, she'll have a new venue for those opinions as CNN's Headline News channel launches a couple of non-headline programs, including a legal show bearing her name at 7 p.m. weeknights (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

Ron Jacobs is selling the KHJ 40th Anniversary Print for $193 plus $7 S&H. Click here to see the print online and click here to e-mail Ron for more details

It started out as a little local variety show on Minnesota public radio 30 years ago. Last week marked the 26th anniversary of its first national broadcast on Feb. 17, 1979.  “A Prairie Home Companion” is set in illusory Lake Wobegon (pronounced woe be gone), in made-up Mist County, Minn., where creator Garrison Keillor regularly assures us that: All the women are strong, All the men are good-looking and All the children are above average (read more - Fond Du Lac Reporter)  (read more - Chicago Daily Herald)

For 60 hours during the week, Ron Kelly, 43, operates a garbage truck in Paterson. But every Sunday, from 8 to 9 a.m., he is the host of "The R. Kelly Show," broadcast on William Paterson University's station, WPSC at 88.7 FM. The show gives his estimated 30,000 listeners a raw take on what is going on in the streets and the larger world (read more - North Jersey Herald News)

As George W. Bush was first moving onto the national political stage, he often turned for advice to an old friend who secretly taped some of their private conversations, creating a rare record of the future president as a politician and a personality. In the last several weeks, that friend, Doug Wead, an author and former aide to Mr. Bush's father, disclosed the tapes' existence to a reporter and played about a dozen of them. Variously earnest, confident or prickly in those conversations, Mr. Bush weighs the political risks and benefits of his religious faith, discusses campaign strategy and comments on rivals. John McCain "will wear thin," he predicted. John Ashcroft, he confided, would be a "very good Supreme Court pick" or a "fabulous" vice president. And in exchanges about his handling of questions from the news media about his past, Mr. Bush appears to have acknowledged trying marijuana (read more - NY Times)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Dave Jarrott Observes -- Presidents’ Day combines two former observances, George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays, into one Super Sized Monday Federal Holiday and Mall Shopping Adventure. The images of Washington and Lincoln are everywhere, hawking everything from mattresses to Japanese imported autos in an attempt to get us to part with more…Washingtons and Lincolns. The president I am most familiar with is Lyndon B. Johnson, having worked at KTBC-AM-FM-TV on two different occasions in the 60s and 70s. At the KTBC building in downtown Austin, there was a penthouse apartment where the Johnson family stayed when they were in town. Jack Wallace, who later became “Packer Jack,” a crusty lumberjack-type character on KTBC’s “Uncle Jay [Kiddie] Show,” first came to KTBC radio to do an overnight beautiful music program on KTBC AM. Jack was possessed of a beautifully mellifluent voice, pipes anyone in the business would have taken a first lien on his soul for. Having been at KTBC for only a short time, Jack was on the air one night when the request line rang and the caller requested that he play “The Yellow Rose of Texas” for his wife, Lady Bird. Jack said he couldn’t play that song, and the caller said, “You don’t understand. This is the Vice President of the United States calling.” Whereupon Jack said, “Yeah, and I’m the King of Siam,” and slammed the phone down. A few minutes later, a bathrobed LBJ opened the door of the control room and strode in, his left hand outstretched. As Jack’s mouth proceeded to hit the floor, his nocturnal visitor said, “Hello, I’m Lyndon Johnson; I just wanted to meet the King of Siam.” (visit Jarrott Media)

At least two TV stations will show an uncensored documentary about soldiers in Iraq, despite a warning from PBS that it can't ensure stations against FCC fines stemming from bad language. The public broadcaster is distributing "clean" and "raw" versions of next Tuesday's "Frontline" documentary about the Iraq war, titled "A Company of Soldiers." It's an example of the television industry's continued uncertainty about Federal Communications Commission standards for language and content, and a real-life echo of last fall's decision by 66 ABC affiliates not to air the movie "Saving Private Ryan." (read more - Newsday) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Rupert Murdoch is about to launch a joint venture with China Central Television, the broadcasting arm of the Communist Party's propaganda department, according to reports from the Far East. It would be the national state broadcaster's first foreign joint production venture, under rules allowing overseas players into the market announced last year (read more - The Telegraph U.K.)

As an extension of Morning Show Boot Camp's highly popular "Battle of The Bits," where attendees battle for prizes with ideas, beginning this year, they've added the 1st Annual MSBC Entertainment Awards.* It's set for Saturday afternoon, August 6th, the last day and event of the weekend. The major difference here is that competition is no longer limited to those in attendance (read more - MorningShowBootCamp.com)

A local radio station that hosts Mayor Jerry Jennings' weekly hourlong radio show faces a choice: pull the mayor's program off the air or offer the same forum to the man who wants to unseat him (read more - Times Union)

"Do you like being handcuffed or tied up? How long do you have to know a guy before you let him experience that hot body of yours?" It's standard morning-radio sex chat. Howard Stern 101. Except this is the Cleveland jock who could be the next Stern. On the air, he's "Rover" the sex-obsessed glib gabber. Off the air, he's Shane French, likable, funny, smart. On the air, he hosts "Rover's Morning Glory" on WXTM FM/92.3, describing his date-seeking guest's attributes as "34-C creamers." And does he even have a chance in the Replacing Stern Sweepstakes? Yes. And yes (read more - Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The home of former Atlanta radio personality Porsche Foxx was heavily damaged by fire Sunday night. The large home, on Carriage Gate Trail in the Regency, a neighborhood of half-million-dollar homes off Campbellton Road, caught fire around 11:40 p.m., according to Fulton County fire dispatchers (read more - Atlanta JC)

ABC News says it didn't pay for interviews on this week's Michael Jackson special -- but some of the subjects were paid nonetheless. The news program "Michael Jackson's Secret World" contained interviews conducted for a British documentary on Jackson that aired in that country earlier this year (read more - Herald Tribune)

From George Mair -- Has not been a great time for Britney what with the Chihuahuas wars between her and Paris Hilton. Britney claims her three, - Bit Bit, Lacy Loo and Lucky, are better dressed tan Paris' Tinkerbell. You can see why Hollywood  stars are prepared to cope with the major social issues of our society*****On other major issue facing mankind, so to speak, Robert De Niro has turned down an offer to promote a certain type of male enhancing product proclaiming he is Italian and doesn't need that sort of thing (read more - George Mair's LALA Land)

It was not so long ago that reporters were seen in a more heroic light - consider the Watergate era, when two Washington Post reporters uncovered a scandal that led to a president's resignation and were portrayed in a movie by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. It was also not so long ago that reporters could sometimes find a friend in the courts, one media lawyer said. "From the public's perspective and also from a judicial perspective, there has been a backlash against the media," said Reid Cox, general counsel for the Center for Individual Freedom, an advocacy group that promotes free press issues. "In the courts now, there's any number of decisions where the media has actually lost rights that it previously had."  Over the past two decades, Cox contends, the courts have compromised the ability of journalists to do their jobs, awarding greater protections for public figures in libel cases and making it easier for plaintiffs to win invasion-of-privacy suits against news outlets (read more - Baltimore Sun)

They were on the air for 12 hours Sunday, playing Gospel music, and sending out a special message to their listeners.  Anthony Erwin of KRBA Radio in Lufkin said, "empower the Afro-American entrepreneur to encourage them that may want to go into business." (read more - Chris Cato-KTRE TV)

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an insider-trading probe of shock jock Howard Stern's deal to join Sirius Satellite Radio. In the two weeks running up to the blockbuster announcement last October, Sirius stock soared nearly 40 percent. Even though there had been some speculation in the press that Stern might jump to satellite radio, the feds want to determine if someone who knew the deal was coming started buying up stock in anticipation of shares skyrocketing when the news got out (read more MSNBC)

One day last week, radio reporter Fran Schneidau toted her cassette tape recorder and circa-1978 microphone to Roxbury Elementary School to capture for listeners the story of head custodian John Cleri. Cleri, 43, is studying to be a teacher and Schneidau -- whose voice has filtered into tri-state cars and homes for more than a quarter century on WCBS NewsRadio 880 -- chatted with him like a friend. What did he want listeners to know about his quest? "I truly believe that teachers are the sculptors of the future," Cleri told her (read more - Stamford Advocate)

Premio Lo Nuestro, the glittery celebrity parade and music awards show that is one of the jewels in Spanish language network Univision's crown, has a new producer, a new and larger venue -- AmericanAirlines Arena -- and a people's choice style voting format. The show, which will be broadcast live on Univision from the AA Arena Thursday night, even bows towards new music with the first time inclusion of reggaeton, the hot Latin urban music (read more - Miami Herald)

Unsuspecting cellphone users may find themselves saying that more often now that cellphone jammers — illegal gizmos that interfere with signals and cut off reception — are selling like hotcakes on the streets of New York. "I use it on the bus all the time. I always zap the idiots who discuss what they want from the Chinese restaurant so that everyone can hear them. Why is that necessary?" "One time I followed this guy around for 20 minutes," he said. "I kept zapping him and zapping him, until finally he threw the phone on the floor. I couldn't stop laughing. It was so cool."  But don't expect to find jammers at the local Radio Shack — they're against Federal Communications Commission regulations because they interfere with emergency calls and the public airwaves. They are illegal to buy, sell, use, import or advertise (read more - NY Post)

A new chapter is opening for one of Minnesota's quirkier radio stations. WELY is known as End of the Road Radio, serving the small town of Ely, at the edge of the Boundary Waters. WELY was owned a few years ago by Charles Kuralt, and it's soon to be owned by a local band of Ojibwe Indians. Band officials say they'll keep the station pretty much as it is (read more - Minnesota Public Radio)

Paul Shulins turned up the radio in his Toyota sport utility vehicle and the raspy voice of Neil Young never sounded so clear. "This is digital," said Shulins, director of technical operations for five Boston radio stations owned by Greater Media Inc. All of them, including classic-hits station WROR and WBOS, which plays adult album alternative music, are among the first in the nation to use a technology called HD radio (read more - Hiawatha Bray-Boston Globe)

It was the sweltering summer of '80 when the car stereo ate my Frampton Comes Alive! eight-track and I was forced to listen to the radio. That was when I discovered the voice of KVIL-FM's boss female jock Lynne Haley. In addition to her on-air gig, she produced Ron Chapman's morning show from '94 to '99. In the last few years she's been pursuing ventures outside of radio. But to paraphrase Jimmy Fallon's Saturday Night Live DJ Joey Mack, "She's BACKKK!!!" "Lynne was eager to get back into radio, and I was eager to give her the opportunity," says KVIL program director Smokey Rivers. "She's very skilled and certainly someone who has a lot of passion." You can catch her on Sundays from 3 to 7 p.m. and doing fill-in work at other times. "I'm also helping out with the morning show," she says (read more - Alan Peppard-Dallas Morning News)

It was the middle of the 1970s. NBC lay in ruins -- sort of like now. Because NBC executives were so busy patching up cracks and potholes in the prime-time schedule, they barely noticed a freaky, feisty little show that premiered on their own network on Saturday, Oct. 11, 1975, at 11:30 p.m. And the rest is . . . gossip. Plus some history. For 30 years, but for the occasional year-long lull or two, "Saturday Night Live" has satisfied America's lust for ridicule, satire, topical and political humor, and sophisticated sophomoric jokes (read more - Tom Shales-Washington Post)

When Ray Rodríguez got a long-in-coming promotion to president and chief operating officer of Univisión Communications two weeks ago, congratulations poured in.  Wall Street applauded the news. Colleagues said it was well deserved. Industry peers noted the move finally formalized a role the 54-year-old Rodríguez, as president of Univisión's TV networks, in effect had played for years. But back in Univisión's Los Angeles boardroom, the appointment of the limelight-shunning Coral Gables resident ripped off the scab in a long festering feud among the three billionaires vying for control of the country's largest Spanish-language media company (read more - Miami Herald)

Damani Bediako has no idea of the troubles at KBEM-FM, 88.5. He has troubles of his own. Leaning his mouth close to the microphone, the 16-year-old stumbles syllable by syllable through a list of songs that just aired. Ted Allison, the station's promotions director, is shaking his head as he enters the booth. "It's Me-THEE-ny, not METH-eny," Allison says. "I've got to get you to pre-read these to me." (read more - St Paul Pioneer Press)

 Satellite radio broadcasters are paying top dollar to attract new customers. So are investors in these fledgling companies, if their stock valuations are any indication. The most optimistic forecasts call for the industry to boost subscribers as much as tenfold in the next five years. But those projections, which are largely based on estimates of how many satellite radios will be installed in new cars, could be much too rosy. The industry is new, and demand is difficult to gauge, some analysts say (read more - Reuters)

ITV is expected to rebuff Lord Alli’s attempts to persuade the commercial TV company to get involved in a break-up of SMG. The Labour peer, who is bidding to take over SMG’s Virgin Radio Group, will meet ITV, SMG’s largest shareholder, within days, to try to persuade it to sell the radio group. Alli, along with venture capitalist group 3i, had a £100m bid for the group turned down last month and is now talking to shareholders in the group to persuade them that Virgin has been under-performing in SMG’s hands (read more - The Scotsman)

When nonprofit radio station WMNF, 88.5 FM, began broadcasting 26 years ago from a house in Hyde Park, space was so tight that records were stored in a bathtub. The station's new 12,000-square- foot home is a sharp contrast from the cramped former house that served as its base since the late 1980s. The new office and studio facility, built next to the station's old headquarters, features six studios, spacious meeting and office space, and room for its burgeoning record and compact disc library (read more - Tampa Tribune)

From a chenille-slipcovered sofa in the basement of their friend Dave's mom's house at the edge of a snow-covered field, Brad and Other Brad, sock-footed pioneers in the latest technology revolution, are recording "Why Fish," their weekly show. Clutching a microphone and leaning over a laptop on the coffee table, they praise the beauty of the Red River, now frozen on the edge of town, and plug an upcoming interview with a top-ranked professional walleye fisherman. Then they sign off. Their show, mostly ad-libbed, is a podcast, a kind of recording that, thanks to a technology barely six months old, anyone can make on a computer and then post to a Web site, where it can be downloaded to an iPod or any MP3 player to be played at the listener's leisure. Some popular podcasters say they get thousands of downloads a day (read more - NY Times)

The Walt Disney Co. bought ABC so it could profit from both making and broadcasting the network's hits. Nine years later, the deal is finally paying off (read more - LA Daily News)

Karl Rove took a victory lap at an SRO lunch at the Conservative Political Action Committee meeting at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington on Thursday. So when Jeff Gannon, White House "reporter" for Talon "News," was unmasked last week, the leap to a possible Rove connection was unavoidable. Gannon says that he met Rove only once, at a White House Christmas party, and Gannon is kind of small potatoes for Rove at this point in his career (read more - Dotty Lynch-CBS News) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

The satellite radio industry, with commercial free music, pro football and baseball -- and soon, shock jock Howard Stern -- has achieved startling subscriber growth in the four years since it was launched. The hype surrounding the new subscription medium is reminiscent of the kind of euphoria that surrounded dot-coms in the late 1990s, with cadres of ferociously loyal admirers, growth projections of several hundred percent and volatile share prices on heavy volume. But some observers are beginning to wonder whether there really is that much long-term upside (read more - David B. Wilkerson-Investor's Business Daily)

An award-winning Florida TV weatherman has been sentenced to five years in prison for using the Internet to set up a sexual liaison with a 14-year-old boy. The supposed teenager turned out to be a federal agent, who arrested Bill Kamal, the Emmy-winning chief meteorologist at W-S-V-N in Fort Lauderdale. He described himself as "a cool dude who works in the media and has to be very discreet." (read more - WPVI 6)

KCBI’s Sunday Morning Host of Sounds of Sonshine, Charlie Campbell, has been selected to be inducted into the Texas Gospel Music Hall of Fame in July. Charlie has been at KCBI Radio for 25 years (visit KCBI)

Radio Free Nashville (WRFN) is a new100-watt low power FM (LPFM) community radio station that is about to become a reality with its newly acquired FCC license (read more - Tennessee Independent Media Center)

Television is responsible for the deaths of 20,000 Germans a year, according to a professor of psychiatry. Professor Manfred Spitzer, a neuroscientist at the University of Ulm, says he has found a direct correlation between watching excessive amounts of television and death caused by obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and diabetes (read more - The Telegraph U.K.)

One week it was there--a small logo in the corner of the masthead reading "Lerner Newspapers"--and the next week, with no fanfare or notice, it was gone. In April 2000, Lerner Communications was purchased by Hollinger International Inc., the company that owns the Sun-Times as well as the south suburban Star Publications and the 64-paper Pioneer Press chain. The only tangible loss in the switch has been the news-commentary column of former Chicago radio star Ed Schwartz, discontinued last month after a five-year run for not being "intensely local" enough, according to new editor John Ambrosia (read more - Eric Zorn - Chicago Tribune)

Liberal radio talk show host Al Franken has visited the troops.  Now conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is expected to visit Afghanistan with the top U.S. aid official to spotlight America's aid work there, officials said on Thursday. Political commentator Mary Matalin, a former White House aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, will also be on the trip. She said she was not being paid to go and would pay her own way to Dubai but she believed the U.S. government would cover the cost of her visit to Afghanistan from there. The Bush administration has come under sharp criticism for the Education Department's payment of $240,000 to conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to tout President George W. Bush's education plan (read more - Reuters)

From Kent Burkhart -- The annual John Bayliss Roast will be held in New York on March 16th. The roastee (if there is such a word) this year is Clarke Brown who is retiring as President of Jefferson Pilot. The purpose of the annual roast is to assemble broadcasters and those who have contributed to the John Bayliss Broadcasting Foundation…..and the purpose of the Foundation is to present collegiate scholarships to those who want to become broadcasters. It is very successful (read more - www.kentburkhart.com)

The program director of gospel radio station WGRB-AM (1390) was fired Thursday after her bosses uncovered evidence of a payola scheme. Sandra Robinson, who doubled as program director and afternoon talk show host at "Gospel Radio 1390" was dismissed after six years at the Clear Channel Radio station (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Radio was off to brisk start in 2005 with a 3% increase in grand total revenue in January over January of 2004. National spot dollars started the year vigorously with a 6% climb in the month compared to January of last year. Local ad sales were also healthy with a 2% jump this January over last January. The combined total local and national ad figures were up 3% for the first month of this year compared to the same month from last year. Radio's newest measured category, non-spot revenue, increased 2% this January over January of 2004 (visit RAB)

An American media giant has emerged as one of the bidders for a new radio licence in Manchester. Emmis Communications, which owns 26 radio stations in the US, has joined up with UK-based Atlantic Radio to bid against 18 other contenders (read more - Manchester U.K. Online)

Bob Neumeier’s exit from WEEI 850-AM after a monetary dispute has given rise to a picture of parent Entercom that you won’t find among the sports-gab station’s silly “No. 1 in the nation” rhetoric. Investors are turned off (as was Neumeier) because Entercom is not putting enough profits back into the product. Its stock price has fallen nearly 20 points and is hovering near a 12-month low at $32. Further, it’s anticipated that a big challenge will come not from WWZN, the troubled Sporting News station, but from Viacom, which is eying an all-sports start-up (read more - Jim Baker-Nashua Telegraph)

No sooner will Dan Rather bid viewers a final good night as anchor of the CBS Evening News than he will be back on the air to lead viewers through a retrospective of his 50 years in broadcast journalism. CBS News said on Thursday that an hour-long special, "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers," will be telecast on March 9, at 8 p.m. EST, within an hour of his stepping down as host and managing editor of the "Evening News." (read more - Reuters)

WXDX-AM -- now known as WDTW-AM -- is one of 22 stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. that have switched to a liberal talk format in the last year. This month, KTLK-AM in Los Angeles became the latest Clear Channel station to adopt the format (read more - Detroit Free Press)

Are people willing to pay to listen to your voice? Do total strangers call your answering machine over and over again just to hear you say you're not home? Then Maxim Radio wants you! Maxim Radio, heard exclusively on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, is holding simultaneous open casting calls in New York City and Los Angeles to find the "Sexiest Voice in America" on Wednesday, March 2nd at Sirius' studio in NYC or in LA at the House of Blues. One sultry woman's or smooth-talkin' man's voice will be featured on Maxim Radio promotional spots and IDs while taking home a cool $1,000.   (read more - Sirius Radio)

Mike de la Fuente, one of the true legends of Texas Longhorns Baseball and a multi-millionaire from radio-TV-cable holdings, died earlier this month at his home in Nogales, Mexico. He was 95. In 1948, while working for an oil company, he bought two radio stations in Nogales, Mexico. The move to the city across the border from Arizona was a passage that led him to great fame and immense fortune. It was there in 1954 that he pursued an idea called cable television. He wired a street in Nogales, and then another, and then another. Cable television was born in Latin America, and Mike was the proud father. By the mid-1990s, he and his company owned 14 cable systems in northern Sonora state, and his empire included a newspaper, television stations and real estate holdings as well. He also wrote two books (read more - Texas Sports)

Radio One, Inc. reported its operating and financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2004. Net broadcast revenue was approximately $79.5 million, an increase of 3% from the same period in 2003. Operating income was approximately $38.1 million, an increase of 14% from the same period in 2003 (visit Radio One)

The New York Times Company announced that it would acquire About Inc. and its Web site, About.com, from Primedia Inc. for $410 million. Times Company officials said the acquisition would add a fast-growing, highly profitable Web site to the company's portfolio and would increase the company's revenue from the expanding online advertising business (read more - NY Times)

Dave Jarrott Observes -- I had many exciting times while working as a news anchor at KTBC television back in the early 70s, under the aegis of my friend and mentor, the late Joe Roddy. What a great guy Joe was; I’ll share more stories of him down the line. One of the most memorable days during my tenure at KTBC was the day the President died, January 22nd, 1973. The word came to us less than an hour before our 6 pm news. Joe Roddy anchored that newscast, which I produced. He was immediately called upstairs to the General Manager’s office, which became “the command center” for the next week before and during the President’s funeral. I anchored the 6 pm that night in addition to my usual 10 pm duties, and for the next week. Many Central Texans heard about the death of Lyndon Johnson from me and it was an emotional (and somewhat ad libbed) newscast to say the least. If the newscast was emotional that night, the rest of the week was all that and more—not to say hectic. We became the activity center for many visiting news organizations, chiefly CBS as we were an affiliate of that network. We never realized how small our newsroom was until we had about 100 working newspeople in there. You didn’t want to leave your typewriter (yes, we used those back then), or someone would appropriate it. Along with the somber situations during that time, there were a few lighter moments. I remember seeing one veteran CBS news reporter doing his stand-up from our studio, pulling his rather shaggy hair back behind his neck and Scotch taping it to his neck so it wouldn’t show on camera! (visit Jarrott Media)

In many communities that have lost commercial classical music stations, public radio has picked up the slack. WXEL 90.7 FM, which has a news partnership with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, has some classical music programming, but its signal has poor reach south of central Broward County. WLRN 91.3 FM, Miami's public radio station, has a stronger signal, but no inclination to air classical music, for now. The problems with classical radio have reflected the funding struggles in South Florida's arts community, where the Florida Philharmonic and other groups have either gone under or struggled to survive. The same scenario has been repeated in much of the country. However, in promoting classical radio, Cleveland tried something different, something South Florida could learn from (read more - Sun Sentinel)

There's hardly a day which passes that Ed Miller, Joe Poovey, Bill Mack, Randy Ryder, Horace Logan and the others on KPCN's fine broadcast staff don't cross my mind. Too bad Horace and Joe are no longer with us, but their memory lingers on. Randy Ryder and I had a blast. Even after I went over to WFAA-820, Randy and I kept up our communication. There was this young lady by the name of Mary who called Randy and me every day at KPCN-730. Randy and I compared notes as to what she told each of us. Funny thing about ardent radio fans is they never know that we deejays share statements which they tell each of us. These wayward souls try and make us deejays think that we are the only ones they call. When, in effect, they call all of us (read more - Jim Rose Remembers)

The Sun-Times's Robert Feder reported on January 12 that Mary June Rose, program director of WGN radio, was resigning after more than eight years on the job. On February 1 Feder reported that Mark Krieschen, the same station's vice president and general manager, was on "indefinite leave" and not expected back. Feder said "insiders" were telling him that Krieschen was believed to be in trouble "because of allegations made against him by Mary June Rose." This was a big story. On February 15 he reported the sight of a help-wanted notice for Krieschen's old job in the Tribune's classified section. Noted Feder dryly, "It was the first time the Trib had mentioned any activity in WGN's front office." True enough: the Tribune still hadn't published a word (read more - Chicago Reader)

Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who has struggled with addiction to painkillers without feeling the need to defend his moral lapse, could not contain himself from ranting about how bad "Million Dollar Baby" is. He bashed the movie as the product of left-wing, secular thinking. Michael Medved, another right winger who seems to think Hollywood exists only to find ever more sleazy ways to corrupt the morals of the American public, has seethed about the movie as well. And the Web sites and blogs of pro-life groups across the country are teeming with gripes that Hollywood dare promote a pro-euthanasia movie for so many Oscars (read more - Newsweek)

More than three quarters (76 percent) of Americans rely on radio during and after storms, even though battery-powered televisions are available during blackouts, according to a study released by Arbitron. A live online presentation of “Riding Out the Storm,” a brand new report on the vital role radio plays in times of crisis is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1 at 9:30 AM (ET)...or...Tuesday, March 1 at 1:30 PM (ET) online.  It will be run by Bill Rose, senior vice president, Marketing, U.S. Media Services, Arbitron.  Log in to http://arbitron.colearn.com/register.asp, click on to your preferred date/time link on the front page, and complete the online registration form. After you register, you will receive confirmation e-mail with information on how to log-in.

KLSY-FM (92.5) has dropped one member of its morning show as it continues to look for a replacement for its long-running Murdock-Hunter-Alice a.m. team. Lisa Foster, who had been paired with Mitch Elliott as morning co-host, is no longer with the station (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)

Jay Marvin, former controversial talk show personality on KHOW- AM (630) Denver and WLS-AM 890 Chicago, will return to Denver radio Feb. 28 as local host on the liberal Air America network. Marvin's program, live from Boulder, will air from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays on KKZN-AM (760). A lightning-rod broadcaster on KHOW's 3 to 7 p.m. weekday slot for three years, Marvin left Denver in September 1999 to co-host a daytime talk show on WLS-AM in Chicago. Marvin, who has purchased a home in Boulder, said he "jumped at the chance" to come back to Colorado (read more - Dusty Saunders-Rocky Mountain News)

Emmis Communications voluntarily gave $1 million to tsunami relief efforts to apologize for its New York radio station's broadcast that made fun of tsunami victims and included racial slurs. The Indianapolis-based media company is unlikely to face federal penalties, despite Washington's heightened interest in holding broadcasters and entertainers to public decency limits (read more - Indy Star)

Hey, did you hear the one about the tsunami song? It's not so funny.  There's a storm brewing in the aftermath of the tsunami that left more than 300,000 dead or missing in South Asia. And in the eye of this maelstrom is an Asian-American woman who tried to do the right thing. The song, sung to the tune of "We Are the World," used cruel insults and racial slurs that were continued by disc jockeys in their on-air banter. During one broadcast, Miss Info, an Asian-American and the only non-black member of the morning show, said she found the song offensive. "Hot-97" co-hosts Miss Jones and Todd Lynn then reportedly launched into an abusive tirade. By saying three little words – "this is offensive" – Miss Info, whose real name is Minya Oh, not only stood up for herself, she galvanized Asian-Americans throughout the country.  (read more - Esther Wu-Dallas Morning News)

These days Radio and Records, a trade publication, doesn't just list what's hot on America's AM and FM stations. It also lists the Top 10 songs playing on Sirius satellite radio and the Top 10 downloads from the Internet music service iTunes.  "We have to adapt," says Roger Nadel, executive editor of the radio-industry publication in Los Angeles. "It's a significant part of the business." In fact, the radio business may be undergoing its biggest shakeup ever. So many new digital technologies are beckoning to its traditional listeners that it's hard to know what radio is anymore. It's no longer limited to the airwaves, thanks to cable TV's music offerings, the Internet, and one day, perhaps, cellphones. It's not strictly live because online "podcasters" and others let you download music to play at your convenience. About the only thing that really separates radio listening from, say, uploading music to an iPod is that on radio, someone else plays deejay (read more - Christian Science Monitor)

New Yorkers are again prominent on Talkers magazine's annual "Heavy Hundred" list of "the most important radio talk-show hosts in America." The criteria, says Talkers editor Michael Harrison, include "ratings, longevity, uniqueness, potential, social impact, service, industry recognition, recognition by other media, courage, effort and talent."
The biggest dogs are always here, while others shift on and off. The WRKS "Open Line" team of Bob Slade, James Mtume and Bob Pickett slipped off, for instance, as did WFAN's Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, WQHT's Lisa Evers and WOR's Joey Reynolds.  Satellite radio hosts are eligible, though no satellite-only hosts made it (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Hector Pastrama feels like he spends more time in his car than he does at home -- which can be torture without the right tunes. But last month, his trips across Maryland and Delaware taking supply orders from Hispanic-owned groceries became considerably more tolerable when 99.1 WHFS-FM ditched its alternative rock format to become "El Zol," the region's newest, most powerful Spanish-language radio station (read more - Kelly Brewington-Baltimore Sun)

Are oldies history? It's hard to imagine.  But oldies stations are dropping like panties at a Tom Jones concert. According to radio analyst Sean Ross, a "crisis" has struck oldies radio, leaving major cities such as Charlotte, N.C., Austin, Texas, and Jacksonville, Fla., without the format. Could San Diego be next? Oldies 99.3 is struggling, ranked at just 22 in the most recent ratings among listeners ages 12 and up. On average, the highest-rated music station, soft-rocker KyXy, has nearly three times as many listeners. What's going on? (read more - Randy Dotinga-North County Times)

Russia has delayed the launch of a Zenith-3SL rocket with the American-made XM3-Radio communications satellite by 24 hours, a spokesperson for the Russian mission control center's ballistic service told RIA Novosti.  XM-Radio satellites are designed to broadcast digital-music recordings every day from studios in Washington, New York and Nashville. They can relay up to 130 digital, commercial and state channels. More than 40 satellite channels broadcast sports news, talk shows, comedies, children's shows and weather forecasts (read more - Novosti)

On Jan. 10, when the 224-page report on the investigation into CBS News’ 60 Minutes Wednesday memo scandal arrived, CBS president Leslie Moonves issued a statement dwelling on the failures of the employees involved in producing the disputed segment. Five weeks later, the crisis is not yet behind Mr. Moonves. And far from resolving the problem of the network’s credibility, the independent report commissioned by CBS appears instead to be leading to a confrontation, with defenders of both the ousted CBS staffers involved in the debacle and top CBS management asserting two different truths from the same document (read more - Joe Hagan-NY Observer)

Nominations for the 2005 inductees of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame begin March 1st .  Charlie Payne, a 2004 inductee, is pictured here with his certificate of induction. (click photo for a larger view) Only inducted, instated and dues paying members of the TRHoF may nominate and vote for the 2005 inductees.  Membership details as well as lists of past inductees of "The National Hall of Fame of Texas" are online at  www.texasradiohalloffame.com 

I am very impressed with James Guckert, a k a Jeff Gannon. I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the "Barberini Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a second term by mining homophobia and preaching family values? At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed, even though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986, no one called me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer, he said he'd renew the pass - after a new Secret Service background check that would last several months. In an era when security concerns are paramount, what kind of Secret Service background check did James Guckert get so he could saunter into the West Wing every day under an assumed name while he was doing full-frontal advertising for stud services for $1,200 a weekend? He used a driver's license that said James Guckert to get into the White House, then, once inside, switched to his alter ego, asking questions as Jeff Gannon (read more - Maureen Dowd-NY Times)  (read more - The Nation)  (read more - Joe Conason) (read more - National Ledger)

Nationally Syndicated Radio Host, Mike Gallagher, asked his listeners to contribute to a fund to send Girl Scout Cookies to the troops abroad in honor of Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti. Gallagher was responding to the story of the two teenagers, who left cookies on their neighbors porch one night, who were told by a Colorado Magistrate to pay the neighbors $930.00 medical expenses (read more - eMediawire)

T