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Saying that it will "reinvent" the telecommunications sector and "leapfrog" past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday unveiled a new mobile phone - the iPhone -  that downloads and plays music as well as a set-top box that allows people to stream video from their computers to their televisions  (learn/view/read more - Apple) (read more - PC Magazine)   (view the presentation-MacWorld)  (read more - NY Times)

In March Westwood One will launch The Dennis Miller Show. In the 3 hour talk show Dennis Miller will offer his take on the day’s topics with comedy and satire with Miller taking listener calls, as well as interviewing high-profile special guests

Doug Stephan, host of Doug Stephan's Good Day, Good Day Weekend, and Talk Radio Countdown adds new affiliates --  WRKO AM in Boston, KHTY AM in Bakersfield, WEEV AM in Albany

Insure.com, Inc. today announced that it signed a new sponsorship agreement with Rush Limbaugh, the nation's #1 rated talk radio host. Limbaugh will voice Insure.com radio spots on his nationally syndicated talk radio show (read more - Insurance News Net)

Larry King has said he'd like to re-up when his current contract expires in 2009. "I will have been with the network for 24 years," said King, who will celebrate his 50th year in broadcasting with a weeklong series of shows in late April. "If they want me, I'll stay. I have no inclination to leave." (read more - Mike McDaniel -Houston Chronicle)

Bride-to-be Heather Cole says the Bubba the Love Sponge Clem she knows is dependable and a good father (read more - Eric Deggans-Tampa-St Petersburg Times)

Charley Lake has been tapped as program director of Greater Media's WMGK-FM in Philadelphia. He will begin his new position on February 1st

CNN Radio chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta discusses one disease that touches everyone in some way: cancer. “Saving Your Life” will be available to affiliates on Thursday, Jan. 11

Glenn Beck has joined ABC News as a contributor to "Good Morning America." In his role as a contributor, Beck will provide commentary on various cultural stories that impact the country today

According to Bill O'Reilly's Jewish World Review Web site column, everybody in the media is a leftist liberal Commie no-goodnik. "The media define American culture," writes O'Reilly, "and those doing the defining are almost all liberal or far-left individuals" (read more - Dan Marsh-Arkadelphia Daily Siftings-Herald)

Com One, the European technology company providing a wide range of Bluetooth solutions from a single source, launches its first Wi-Fi-based solution with The Phoenix IP Radio. It’s fully portable so you can carry it from room to room. It’s lightweight (less than two pounds) and has integrated stereo speakers. (Photo courtesy Com One) The Phoenix allows you to listen to any Internet-based audio source, and requires only a broadband connection and a Wi-Fi gateway for easy mobility in home or office (read more - Business Wire) (see Phoenix IP Radio details)

Houston's KSEV conservative radio host Dan Patrick didn't have much luck on his first day as a state senator (read more- KXAN TV)

Carl E. Hirsch, co-founder and executive chairman of NextMedia, has resigned his position as an officer and director of the company and sold his interest in the company  to explore new opportunities and participate in the formation of new ventures in radio, television and other media sectors (read more - Business Wire)

Tuesday January 9, 2006

Howard Stern, who today marks his first anniversary on satellite radio, wasted little time over that period before setting off on an expedition deep into the wild, forested territories of a medium patrolled by neither the Federal Communications Commission nor, apparently, his own employer (read more - Jacques Steinberg-NY Times)

Emmis Communications announced results for its third fiscal quarter ended Nov. 30, 2006. "While we have been disappointed with the continued softness in our New York and Los Angeles markets, we are beginning to see signs that the worst is behind us. I'm confident that programming and management actions taken in recent months are beginning to deliver and point to better results in 2007," Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said (read more - Emmis)

Rick Jakle, who's been running his namesake radio station for more than 40 years, is parting with WJKL-FM (94.3) + Even if you can't win a ticket to the 15th anniversary celebration of sports/talk WSCR-AM (670), you'll still be able to hear and see every minute of it + It's official: Trish Biondo has been hired as midday personality at CBS Radio country WUSN-FM (99.5) (read more - Feder of Chicago)

After being nominated for induction two years in a row, Sirius Radio performer Flash, with his former group the Furious Five, will be officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 12 in a ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

Jack, a radio station that made New York mayor Michael Bloomberg so angry he literally swore he would never listen to it is launching in the UK in March (read more - BBC News U.K.)

Radio observers were surprised to learn that WBEB 101-FM morning personality Chris McCoy was released from the station Friday. “B-101,” one of the top rated music stations for years, placed third behind WDAS 105.3-FM and KYW 1060-AM with a 6.1 share of the audience for listeners 12 and over in the most recent Arbitron ratings. However, it dropped from a 7.0 share in the summer (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

Sirius Satellite Radio says that it exceeded pre-Howard Stern subscriber estimates for the year ended 2006 by over two million subscribers. Based on the company's subscriber count on December 31, 2006, and pursuant to the October 2004 agreement with Stern, today Sirius delivered to affiliates of Stern 22,058,824 million shares of common stock, valued at approximately $82.9 million (read more - Sirius)

Hate radio is alive and well in Tampa Bay, Florida. The station is 88.5 WMNF. The show is ‘True Talk’ with Ahmed Bedier and Samar Jarrah, two supporters of and apologists for radical Islam. The themes of the show usually center around denouncement of American foreign and domestic policy, with regard to the issue of terrorism (read more - Joe Kaufman-Frontpage Magazine)

If XM and Sirius are truly serious about exploring a merger, you can be sure they'll cite the burgeoning HD Radio market as one of the reasons why antitrust concerns shouldn't pose a hurdle to a possible deal. What needs to happen for HD Radio to truly break out into the mainstream? "It's not rocket science," iBiquity's Bob Struble says. "We need more products at lower price points in the right retail markets" (read more - Forbes)

From Rush Limbaugh's Transcript -- RUSH: I had a great weekend, folks, but, I'll tell you what: I went out and did some television Saturday in Los Angeles. There's a new show that probably will air soon, I'm not sure when, but it's called The Half Hour NewsHour." That's the working title of it now. I guess that's subject to change. Well, actually it's not, because if it changes I gotta go back out there, but nevertheless it's a parody newscast, takeoff on liberal media newscasts, and I play the president of the United States in the opening segments of this program. I went out and shot three takes. Ann Coulter is the vice president. (laughing) It's hilarious. The whole thing is hilarious. I went out there and shot three opening segments (read more - Rush Limbaugh)

She was the first woman to host a television show in Cleveland, and is known as a broadcast pioneer across the country. The daughter of Alice Weston tells Channel 3 News her mother is "gravely ill". Weston, who hosted numerous talk shows on every local t-v station, turns ninety-six this year (read more - WKYC TV)

Should pundits be punished over Iraq? Put another way, why should we listen to those who were wrong about the war? I would suggest that a little humility is in order here. Lots of media people, liberal as well as conservative, were wrong about the war, just as they've been wrong about all kinds of other issues (read more - Howard Kurtz-Washington Post)

“We’re back for three more years!” With that announcement by Nick Taylor at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, “The Z Morning Zoo” returned to WNVZ-FM (104.5) following a contract impasse that began last Wednesday (read more - Larry Bonko-Virginian Pilot)

Dave Graveline and the Into Tomorrow team are webcasting live from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (visit www.graveline.com)

ABC Radio Networks announced that 18 new affiliates have committed to running The Mark Levin Show putting the affiliate count at 91

From The Radio Babe -- Better invest in high-power antennas, tune in on MSNBC television or log in for live streams online at a station that carries the "I-Man." WHNZ's impetus for dumping Imus was twofold, according to program director John Volmar. After carrying "Imus in the Morning" for just a year, Volmar said Imus' ratings were disappointing. Plus, they'd received complaints about the obviously "rascally" content (despite a significant behavioral change, Imus is an originator of "shock" radio) (read more - Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe)

Envision Radio’s Pump Audio Network adds 105.5 KQXX-FM/ McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen as the newest affiliate

Syndicated radio host and author, Mike Schiano, was featured on Monday's edition of the Geraldo At Large television show in a story about avoiding and managing credit card debt

WSSP-AM (1250) named Doug Russell, who most recently worked for a Sporting News Radio affiliate, as the new host of its morning show (read more - Milwaukee Biz Journal)  (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

From Happy Hare -- Where I left off last week, we were about to begin a tour of Vizcaya, the home of the late James Deering that had become a magnificent Italian Renaissance style museum with a commanding view of Biscayne Bay in Miami. She had chosen Vizcaya as our meeting place because it was public and, I guess she thought, there was no chance that I would sweep her up and hold on tightly if things went badly.. She was wrong, and it would have taken the Fire Department to rush in with the jaws of life to make me let go (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Emerson Radio has been granted a non-exclusive technology license from iBiquity Digital Corporation to produce and sell HD Radio digital audio receivers for the North American consumer electronics market (read more - Market Wire)

SMG-owned Virgin Radio's chief executive Fru Hazlitt has resigned from the company with immediate effect. Hazlitt joined the Scottish Media Group in August 2005 as chief executive of radio, from Yahoo! UK and Ireland, where she was managing director (read more - Digital Spy U.K.)

WINT-AM (1560) has changed its tune. Gone are the American Standards by artists such as Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams. In its place are oldies -- but nothing from the '70s and '80s (read more - Florida Today)

One of the best known names in broadcasting, Larry Gogan, is to leave weekday radio after 45 years, it was revealed today. The DJ, who has interviewed some of the biggest stars in the music business over his lengthy career, has announced his decision to move to work weekends on RTÉ’s 2FM (read more - Irish Examiner U.K.)

ABC Radio Networks announced the national syndication of The Ric Edelman Show (read more - News Release Wire)

Mediabase, the airplay monitoring and research division of Premiere Radio Networks, will be the exclusive provider of music monitoring information to all Cumulus-owned music formatted radio stations nationwide, effective immediately. In addition, all music formatted Cumulus stations will begin reporting weekly playlist adds exclusively to Mediabase

Monday January 8, 2006

A felony conviction probably won’t hurt former House speaker Thomas Finneran’s chances of landing a plum gig hosting the morning drive-time slot on Boston talk station WRKO.  Finneran, who is being hotly pursued by WRKO-AM (680), would join a long list of high-profile personalities that leveraged their checkered pasts into talk radio jobs. Take, for example, Peter Blute, who had a show on WRKO and still broadcasts on WCRN-AM (830) after getting tossed as head of Massport when the Herald caught him taking a booze cruise on the taxpayers’ dime ... Then there’s Roger Hedgecock, the former mayor of San Diego, who once faced numerous felony charges and now has a high-rated show on KOGO in California (read more - Jesse Noyes-Boston Herald)

"City Political" magazine has released its Best of Charlotte 2006 list and WBTs Jeff Katz has been named as Best Media Personality of the Year (read more - WBT)

At the International Consumer Electronics Show 2007 today, Microsoft  and Clear Channel Radio announced that they have carried out a joint agreement to build a nationwide data delivery service using HD Radio technology, providing personalized and localized content to a variety of HD Radio receivers. Field tests of the service will be conducted with the support of iBiquity Digital Corporation

When CBS Primetime's "Armed and Famous" with Erik Estrada debuts this Wednesday January 10 at 8 pm EDST, that's Voicemeister Jeff Davis you'll be hearing as the show's announcer

Earth-bound radio's biggest mistake this past year, then, says Robert Unmacht of iN3 Partners, was failing to take steps that could secure its unique place in that exploding media landscape. "What radio stations do best is be local," he says. "But this year, in New York and other cities, stations fired local deejays and replaced them with syndicated hosts or voice-tracking. "What radio should have done in response to satellite and Stern is become more local. Instead, it went the other way" (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Regent's WEEV or EVE 1300 AM is an affiliate of GreenStone Media, the network founded by a group of high-powered women including Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and former FCC commissioner Susan Ness.  GreenStone has cited a survey by PhiPower Communications, which found that while 43 percent of women listened regularly or occasionally to talk radio, 74 percent said they would listen regularly to talk radio for women (read more - Albany Biz Journal)

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, DirecTV will unveil the Sat-Go, a mobile satellite and television system weighing about 25 pounds that will sell for $1,000 to $1,300 that goes on sale this spring (read more - Lorne Manly-NY Times)

From Bob Schieffer-CBS Face the Nation -- "This our first broadcast of the year, and, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm compelled to give you a list of things you probably won't be hearing from me. First, from the culture front: I'll continue to have no interest in whether Donald Trump did the right thing when he allowed Miss USA to keep her crown. Nor will I lose much sleep wondering if Britney Spears ever found comfortable underwear, nor why Paris Hilton lost her spokesperson job ..." (read more - Bob Schieffer-Face the Nation)

Daniel Roberts won't stop making pirate radio broadcasts. The FCC won't stop telling him to stop. This has been going on since Roberts, 25, was a teenager growing up in Los Gatos.  Since then his Pirate Cat Radio (87.9 FM) -- now out of San Francisco -- has developed a reputation as one of the most sophisticated pirate broadcasts in the country. He even has a novel idea as to why the FCC might be letting him get away with it: the war on terror (read more - Brad Kava-Mercury News)

Voiceover artiste Eye Lipson proposed to Nancy Friedland on New Year's Eve and they'll be getting married sometime soon

Bud Andrews, general manager and morning DK at KDAV in Lubbock, hadn’t planned on a career in radio. After all, he was making music, not playing it. One night I asked this friend of mine — his name was Charlie Stewart of KSEL radio station — I said, ‘This looks pretty easy to me what you’re doing.’ “He said, ‘I don’t know how easy it is, but I’ll let you sit in.’ “I said, ‘I believe I’ll try that.’ ” That was 47 years ago, and Andrews has been on the radio ever since (read more - Allen Holder-KC Star)

Either there is something big brewing at talk WKRK-FM (97.1) or they intend on burning out hosts Jay Towers and Bill McAllister with their current time slot of 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Six hours is a long time to host a free-flowing talk program like “Motor City Middays,” not to mention all the time that must go in to preparing for such a long show (read more - Mike Austerman-Michiguide)

Star of "Star and Buc Wild" fame is mercifully gone from radio, but his outrageous mouth is louder than ever - with the axed Power 105.1 deejay gleefully ripping civil rights icons Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr. as big phonies in his jolting new autobiography (read more - Page Six)

101.1 WRIF’s HD side channel, Riff 2 invades the airwaves on the weekend of January 20-21. The “Riff 2 Weekend” gives listeners a taste of what RIFF2 has to offer, including an eclectic mix of local artists, alternative, hip-hop, punk and indie-rock. In addition, listeners will hear Riff 2’s on-air staff, including Suzy Cole, Mark Pennington, Trey and Hightower (visit www.rif2.com)

"The experience and the education that I received was priceless," Stan Wall said of a job as general manager at WTRA. He (Al Calisti) told me of a license that was available in the Scottdale-Connellsville area," Wall said. "But I told him, 'Nobody listens to FM.' And he told he to 'just do it,' so in 1968 I applied for the frequency." On Dec. 6, 1971, the world was introduced to radio station WLSW, which stands for Ludwig Stan Wall ... Wall is the sole owner of the station, WLSW-FM 103.9, a 3,000-watt station that simulcasts with its sister station, WQTW-AM in Latrobe (read more - Marilyn Forbes-Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

If I were the mainstream media czar, I'd shut the mainstream media down for a month. That ought to take care of most political bloggers on the Web and most of the radio talk show hosts. They'd be gone in two weeks. Of course, there is no mainstream media czar, no matter what those in the blogosphere say. And there is no "drive by media" as Rush Limbaugh proclaims (read more - Dave Peyton-Charleston Daily Mail)

Just before 10 a.m. on a recent day at the Glendale studios of La Nueva, KSCA-FM (101.9). Piolín, the former undocumented alien who helped rally last spring's massive immigration marches, is almost six hours into his marathon daily shift. He has an hour left to go but shows no sign of waning. Though his program is often frantic and noisy, he takes on the soothing voice of father/confessor to delicately reassure the caller, using Spanish terms of endearment that melt with avuncular compassion (read more - Agustin Gurza-LA Times)

From Claude Hall -- Michael Hagerty, KAZT televsion, Phoenix: "Imagine my surprise to find my name in your past two columns!  While I've never met Kent Burkhart (though I certainly know who he is), you and I met a few times and spoke by telephone every few weeks or so as I was getting my start in radio programming at my hometown station, KIBS, in Bishop, California, between 1971 and 1974. I'll never forget the kindness you showed and the time you spent answering my questions on a couple of visits I made to you in the Billboard offices as a 17-year-old baby PD (and later, after I moved on to be the MD at KSLY, San Luis Obispo, PD at KUKI, Ukiah and assistant PD and MD at KOLO, Reno) + I was pleased recently to receive a Christmas gift of, essentially, two LPs digitally re-mastered and released on a CD in England. The stereo CD features two musical periods in the life of Bobby Vee (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

More than the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys or the endless investment bank conferences and guru gatherings where media honchos strut, C.E.S., as the event is known, has quickly emerged in the last few years as the Super Bowl of cluster-huddles. Over the next few days, 150,000 people will jam convention center floors in the Nevada desert (read more - Richard Siklos-NY Times)

From Tommy Kramer -- If you want to talk about something that isn’t local, unless it’s a giant national headline, it’s likely that you’ll get a “who cares?” reaction in the mind of the Listener. Whenever I hear a Talent struggle with this, I ask, “How do I get there from here?” Usually, this is because the Talent is staring through “the wrong end of the binoculars” and looking to find things that are “interesting,” instead of things that are RELEVANT.  But suppose you have chosen something relevant, but it’s just not local. Here’s how you get there from here ... (read more - www.TommyKramer.net) 

Investors and technogeeks will be closely watching Apple/iPod chief Steve Jobs on Tuesday, as he is expected to announce the launch of several new products, including its first cell phone (read more - Zachery Kouwe-NY Post)

This year carries with it the promise of change and challenges for the Central Florida media industry as it grapples with issues of technology, revenue and ownership. At the forefront of the industry's issues will be the typical odd-year advertising issues -- without elections, lucrative political advertising is always tough to replace (read more - Tim Barker-Orlando Sentinel)

Tim Grunhard has always wondered what it would be like to truly have a solo radio show. Now he’ll get that chance. Grunhard’s on-air partner in the midmorning on KCSP (610 AM), Doug Franz, left the show recently to take a position as a morning show host in Phoenix (read more - Jeffrey Flanagan-KC Star)

Larry King is either deaf or just doesn't listen, according to our favorite comic, Kathy Griffin. During her two-hour set for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center on Thursday, Griffin quipped, "[King] doesn't listen to a word you say. It's unbelievable  (read more - Keith Kelly-NY Post)

On Sundays, Charlie Lockard is "Goodtime Charlie," the disc jockey on "Goodtime Charlie's Got the Blues" on WQSU-FM. On February 3, he'll receive the Keeping the Blues Alive Award from the Blues Foundation during the International Blues Challenge in Memphis (read more - G. Wayne Laepple-The Sunbury Daily Item)

Eric Braate, formerly the Fox station's morning weather guy, has finally landed a gig, starting over the weekend at Houston's NBC station, KPRC-TV. Braate followed Scott Steele in the morning weather job. And, of course, Steele's dog, Spunky, was the weather dog for Milwaukee's Fox affiliate. For the record, neither Steele nor Spunky are currently in the TV weather biz (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

Predictions for 2007 -- To challenge locally owned WGH-FM (97.3) for the ears of the country music crowd, one of the market's broadcasting behemoths (Clear Channel, Entercom or Saga Communications) will convert an FM station to country. Eagle 97 has had the boots-and-saddles bunch pretty much to itself since WKCK-FM (106.1) ditched country in February 2005 (read more - Larry Bonko-Virginian Pilot)

Gospel station WMBM is a finalist for the 2006 Stellar Radio Station of the Year Award, large market category (read more - Miami Herald)

Snickers, a mixed-breed cat whose love of '80s music inspired a worldwide craze, has died of natural causes. Two years ago, the grayish-brown feline's reaction to the musical stylings of Eddie Money inspired record company executive Adrian Martinez to experiment with playing tunes for his cats and dogs. They seemed to relax when he cranked up disco and pop music, so he created the online radio station DogCatRadio.com (read more - Brent Hopkins-LA Daily News)

The "Ladies of LARP Calendar 2007" is now available to download. at www.laradio.com.  K-MOZART and Country 540 and 1260 have underwritten the cost of the calendar as a gift to all LARadio.com readers

A no-compete clause will keep the Quad-Cities' top-rated morning radio show off local airwaves for the next six months. Greg Dwyer and Bill Michaels will be heard on Cumulus Media's Cedar Rapids station KRNA, 94.1 FM, before returning to the Quad-Cities to begin their morning show on Cumulus' WXLP-FM, 97 Rock (read more - Matt Veto-Moline Dispatch)

Youngstown radio listeners who make WRBP 101.9-FM a regular stop on their dial have by now made the transition to some of the new formats the station now offers (read more - E Brown-Vindy News)

WJOX AM and FM will give Birmingham two 24-hour sports stations instead of one, and some longtime WJOX teammates will have to compete against each other for listeners and ratings (read more - Bob Carlton-Birmingham News)

Hank Williams died in the backseat of his car 54 years ago last weekend. But 4 CD's with dozens of songs he sang on a radio show sponsored by Mother's Best Flour in 1951-52 will be released, the first of which could be out this year (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Good and bad: If you're a fan of S.A. radio personality Jim Conlee, you'll be glad to hear he's been reassigned to the all-important morning drive shift on KQXT-FM. However, fans of the station's former morning host, Diane Travis, won't be happy with this news. She was let go, said program director George King, as part of the "freshening up" of the adult contemporary music station (read more - Jeanne Jakle-San Antonio Express-News)

The East Valley Radio Network debuts this week with veteran radio talk show host Scott Anderson's show on Monday on Mesa-based KAZG-AM (1440) (read more - Carl Holcombe-Arizona Republic)

Jodi Jones, a former co-anchorwoman at KCBA Fox 35, has sued Clear Channel Broadcasting for allegedly paying her half as much as her male counterpart and threatening to fire her when she demanded equal pay (read more - Virginia Hennessey-Monterey Herald)

They’re coming from the left and the right. And they’re taking aim at Clear Channel Radio over planned changes for two of its central Ohio stations. Liberals are upset that the media company on Monday will drop leftleaning Air America programming on WYTS (1230 AM), formerly known as WTPG. Conservatives are annoyed that on Saturday it will replace right-leaning talk-show host Glenn Beck on WTVN (610 AM). Both groups plan rallies in support of their causes (read more - Tim Feran-Columbus Dispatch)

KDAY 93.5 and The Steve Harvey Morning Show, kick off the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend with a night filled with superstars and music hosted by Steve Harvey. The KDAY King Holiday concert kicks off at 6:00PM on January 14th from the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Citywalk

United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) will launch a DAB radio station in January 15, making it a first for Christian digital radio in London (read more - Christian Today.)

XM will be displaying their pimped-out show vehicle at CES 2007, that will be packed to the gills with current and concept systems from XM's arsenal. This year the concept vehicle is called the XM "Infotainment" Vehicle, which is only a slight improvement to last year's super-sexy XM Advanced Services Vehicle namesake. Forgetting the name though, it's the vehicle that is drool inducing (read more - OrbitCast)

WRKO owner Entercom Communications plans to move forward with talks to sign former House speaker Thomas Finneran to a morning talk radio host deal, despite Finneran’s reported plans to plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges, an outside spokesman for the radio station operator told the Herald (read more - Greg Gatlin and Jesse Noyes-Boston Herald)

After almost 22 years at WTCR, country music DJ Jesse James is hanging up his microphone (read more - WOWK TV)

A former local Kansas City DJ has been indicted by a federal grand jury on child pornography charges. Gregory D. Sage, 24, of Lee’s Summit, a radio DJ at Mix 93.3 FM until November 2006, was charged in a five-count indictment that was unsealed Friday after Sage's arrest and initial court appearance (read more - KMBC TV)

Rush Limbaugh on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: "Why, she can multitask. She can breastfeed, she can clip her toenails, she can direct the House" (read more - Media Matters)

Andrew Bunker has been named Director of Internet Technology and Brian Hoopes has been named Web / Systems Developer for Bonneville International. Bonneville Vice President for New Media Russell Banz said the appointments are part of the company’s ongoing development of and commitment to its New Media initiatives

Bob Costas' guests this weekend include Jeremy Schaap and Bill Scheft on Costas on the Radio this weekend.  The program is nationally syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks on 120 stations

You can learn a lot about branding – good and bad – from the auto industry, and Charlie Hughes should know. He’s the founder and former CEO of Range Rover of North America. Given the importance of a vital auto industry to the health of the radio industry, Charlie’s got a message for us all (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

Tom Kennington and Russ Oasis would like to organize a reunion hopefully to be held in April of 2007. If you worked at WFUN, or know someone who did, please send a note with  email addresses to Tom Kennington TKennin267@AOL.com  or Russ Oasis  RussOasis@AOL.com + Stu Elliott and other 96X alumni are planning a reunion, too  (read more - Radio Pages)

Friday January 5, 2006

It's a bit of an unusual position for a Leroy Sievers, a 51-year-old veteran journalist who has spent decades covering war behind the television camera, never in front of it. Now, the former executive producer of ABC's "Nightline" records podcasts once a week, appears on NPR news shows and writes in a blog, all about one topic ---- "My Cancer" (read more - Randy Dotinga-NC Times)

XM announced it added more than 1.695 million new subscribers in 2006, ending the year with more than 7.625 million subscribers. Based on preliminary results, XM achieved positive cash flow from operations during the fourth quarter of 2006 (read more - XM Radio)

WLIE sells + BusinessTalkRadio.net Inc. has agreed to acquire three radio stations from The Morey Organization, including WLIR-FM, call letters that have a long history in the New York area (read more - Long Island Business News)

KDKA-AM (1020) continues to make staff changes, this time in its news department. The station has hired Paul Rasmussen to co-anchor the new 5 and 6 p.m. "Total News Hour" programs with Rose Ryan-Douglas. Rasmussen comes from WQIK-FM in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was morning news anchor.
Rob Milford has been sidelined by laryngitis recently and is on vacation this week. He'll return as a street reporter, starting next week, said KDKA news and program director Marshall Adams (read more - Adrian McCoy-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Andy Furman launches a new radio show Monday that instantly raises the profile of the area's fledgling FM talk outlet, gives the fired sports talk veteran a fresh start and breaks the near monopoly on sport talk shows enjoyed by area Clear Channel stations - WLW-AM (700) and WCKY-AM (1530) (read more - Rick Bird-Cincy Post)

Radio One will encode its radio stations for the PPM radio ratings service in Philadelphia and Los Angeles

Hit the pause button, drop the remote and turn your radio down. It's time for another installment of cards and letters across the television/radio desk: Pat Szpekowski: I congratulate ABC 7 for adding more diversity to Chicago TV news with the addition of Ravi Baichwal to their anchor team. However, something has been bothering me my entire life about Chicago TV: Why hasn't there ever been an effort to obtain more visible newspeople of Polish descent? (read more - Feder of Chicago)

A new morning show is in the works at sports/talker WSSP-AM (1250) after the Entercom-owned station dumped host Chuck Garbedian and producer Conor O'Shea on Thursday. Co-host Steve "Sparky" Fifer is sticking around as interim morning host (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

ABC Radio Networks has hired Neil Barry as Senior Director of New Media. Barry will oversee sales for the company’s 9 websites. He joins ABC from WNEW-FM where he was Director of Business Development

Denver's AM 760's Jay Marvin is a happier and healthier 15 pounds lighter in just over a week since undergoing gastro-intestinal  bypass surgery last week (visit Jay Marvin's Web site) (send Jay a get better e-mail message)

From Kent Burkhart -- My friends thought I was crazy to decline dinner invitations on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to watch the American Idol competition. I know because I WAS THERE watching the telecasts as they laughed at me. Are you kidding??? I liked the concept from the very first broadcast. I knew it was commercial, commercial, commercial!!! My friends were wrong!!!! The ratings and popularity of the American Idol program is evidence enough!!! I started thinking about the previous winners and non-winners of American Idol. How are they doing professionally today??? (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

From The Radio Babe -- Dear Readers: Radio Babe asks the questions this time ... Let's begin What has radio done for you lately? That's right, what has it done for you? When was the last time you enjoyed an engaging personality, heard a motivating musical repertoire and/or laughed aloud or had another emotion evoked? If you can't remember, why are you still listening? Are you content not being entertained? (read more - Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe)

From Lee Abrams -- My New Years wish to the programming staff is better use of the XM Logo. Throughout the holidays I was in a lot of stores and restaurants and damn, if that five note “audio signature” didn’t cut right through. Without it, I would have had no idea that it was XM being piped in ... New Years Eve brings back memories. One that is especially prominent is New Years 1969 going into 1970. I was involved at WQAM in Miami at the time. WQAM was among the Nations most influential Top 40 stations. As a result, many of us got invited to a party at Jerry Wexler’s house in Miami Beach (read more - Lee Abrams Blog)

NRG Media's 84 stations in seven states has successfully implemented the license acquired from Litera Consulting for EEO1Source, a portal designed specifically to assist broadcasters with Equal Opportunity Employment compliance for FCC reporting

Most syndicated talk shows had ratings that were flat to down in the last week before Christmas (read more - John Eggerton-Broadcasting & Cable)

710 ESPN adds sports broadcast veteran Kevin Kiley to its weekday on-air lineup, teaming him up with D’Marco Farr for a daily 1pm-3pm show beginning Tuesday, January 16

Gary Williams is now Program Director of 97.3 FM The Coast, serving the Miami market.

Sports announcer Jim Lampley denied wrongdoing Thursday after being arrested for investigation of felony domestic violence (read more - Sun Herald)

Dave Graveline and the Into Tomorrow Team are celebrating the 12th year of the show and are traveling to Las Vegas to the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show to report on the latest and greatest gadgets (visit www.graveline.com)

Daria O'Neill is getting her own radio show on 105.1 The Buzz, the Portland top-40 station where she has co-anchored a drive-time show for several years (read more - Michelle Theriault-Statesman Journal)

This Saturday, Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound is staging a re-creation of the radio version of "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Carlson Theater on the Bellevue Community College campus. The headliner of the cast is Karolyn Grimes, who did some work in radio but is best known for playing Zuzu, George Bailey's daughter, in the Frank Capra film version of "It's a Wonderful Life" (read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI)

A fifteen-person HD radio street team will fan out in orange jump suits and hats to hand out HD Radio lanyards and VIP cards in Detroit. VIP card recipients will then go to www.HDRadio.com and register for a chance to win an HD Radio converter that will turn any AM/FM car radio into an HD digital radio

A radio news show produced in the Middle East will begin airing Sunday on WTTT-AM, a local station featuring mostly conservative talk. “MidEast Sunday,” a one-hour news program dedicated to coverage of the Middle East, will run from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on WTTT-AM (1150) every Sunday (read more - Jesse Noyes-Boston Herald)

Thursday January 4, 2006

The three members of "The Z Morning Zoo," heard weekday mornings on WNVZ-FM 104.5, appeared twice on television Wednesday night, but it's unlikely that Nick Taylor, Tricia Harris and Brandon "Shaggy" Stokes will be heard on the radio soon. "This impasse is not about money," Stokes said. "It's about us wanting to play more music. We don't see eye to eye with management about that." (read more - Larry Bonko-Virginian Pilot)

In two months, John Mainelli has turned WFNY (Free-FM, 92.3 FM) into what he half-jokingly calls "a station for me." Fifteen years ago, Mainelli was building WABC (770 AM) into the political talk-radio giant it remains today. But now, as program director of Free-FM, political talk is the last thing he wants (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Sean Hannity adds another shift to his schedule this weekend with the launch of "Hannity's America" on the Fox News Channel airing Sundays at 8pm CDST. His first show will feature a face-to-face with anti-Iraq war activist Cindy Sheehan in his new "Hot Seat" segment (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

In 2005, the motivation was tsunami relief in Asia. In 2006, it was hurricane relief in the Gulf Coast. And in 2007, WXRT-FM (93.1) has taken up a cause closer to home for its daylong fund-raiser + In a first for Chicago radio, CBS Radio Top 40 WBBM-FM (96.3) has launched a separate Web site intended exclusively for listeners 21 and older (read more - Feder of Chicago)

From Greater Media's President and CEO Peter Smyth -- "In the past three years, more that 100 million dollars of radio advertising revenue has disappeared from our Greater Media markets. These dollars, which were once used to fund ad messages to broad audiences, are being redeployed to the internet in more personal, one-to-one marketing efforts. Advertisers are rethinking their approach to media marketing and are questioning their media mix. They have every right to do so, as they look to maximize their return on their advertising investments ..." (read more - Peter Smyth-Greater Media)

Critical Mass Media today announced that the company will broadly offer personal marketing and research products to the entire media industry. Having provided research and marketing services to the radio industry since 1981, the company is reaching beyond radio stations with new products and services beneficial to other media including television and Internet, as well as record labels (visit Critical Mass Media)

Jamie White's nearly nine-year run as a morning host at KYSR-FM Star 98.7 came to an end Wednesday with the announcement that the "Jamie, Jack and Stench" show would not be returning (read more - Lee Margulies-LA Times)

Arbitron announced that WCRB-FM, Boston’s heritage classical radio station at 99.5 FM recently acquired by Nassau Broadcasting Partners, L.P., has entered into a multi-year agreement for Arbitron’s radio ratings services that include Portable People Meter audience measurement services when deployed in Boston

Radio revenue increased 3 percent in grand total combined spot and non-spot dollars during the month of November 2006 compared to the same month from 2005. Total combined local and national spot revenue for November 2006 was also up 3 percent over November 2005 (read more - RAB)

Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly are set to return to the Rio Grande Valley on the KURV airwaves in spring after the conservative radio personalities lost their spots to Spanish oldies music (read more - Kyle Arnold-The Monitor)

National Public Radio said Wednesday that it was developing a new news and information program to compete with … "Morning Edition"  (read more - Lee Margulies-LA Times)

Tavis Smiley, 42, celebrated 15 years in broadcasting, wrote a memoir focused on his childhood and education and was the force behind another book, "The Covenant with Black America," an examination of black social and political concerns (read more - Dayton Beach News)

Another radio station is powering up for a launch. Newcap's 90.3 fm has solidified its "dream team" of announcers for all day parts.  The flagship morning show at the station, currently billed as Cafe 90, will feature the duo of veteran broadcasters BJ Wilson and Frazier (read more - Chris Gerritsen-Calgary Sun CA)

Veteran sportscaster Jim Lampley was arrested outside of San Diego, CA on felony charges of domestic abuse (read more - TMZ) (read more - LA Times)

Spanish-language radio host Renan Almendarez Coello, known as "El Cucuy," was booked Wednesday for investigation of making criminal threats during a New Year's Day dispute at his home (read more - LA Times)

Radio One has purchased Giant Magazine (read more - Washington Biz Journal)

From Murphy Martin -- In October of 1973, Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned amidst allegations of extortion and bribery. Two months later Gerald Ford became the first person to be appointed Vice-President. Soon after he moved into that office in the Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, we did a half-hour interview with the Vice-President for our WFAA-TV weekly Face-To-Face program. We asked Mr. Ford who had been the most influential person in his life (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

From George Mair -- We begin new year with observations of life by some people *****First one: Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian, “When I look at my children, I say to myself "Lillian, you should have remained a virgin."**** Eleanor Roosevelt had a rose named after her described as, "No good in a bed, but fine against a wall." Mark Twain cautions against reading health books. You may die of a typo (read more - George Mair's LA LA Land)

A court hearing to determine if probation will be revoked for former KSEV 700 radio talk show host Jon Matthews was rescheduled for next month.  The Texas Attorney General's Office found that Matthews had been viewing obscene material over the Internet and participated in an Internet fantasy message exchange in which he described sex acts performed on a 3-year-old boy (read more - Eric Hanson-Houston Chronicle)

Beasley Broadcast Group's 106.5, 99.5 “THE X”, V103.3 WMGV, 101.9 KISS FM, 107.9 WNCT and Talk 1070, announced today the initiation of Operation “Keeping You Close,” a new program designed to enable the thousands of troops stationed overseas to communicate with their loved ones

From Mark Ramsey -- Fasten your seatbelt. Because the driving experience will never be the same again. With Autonet Mobile, the first ever, always-on mobile broadband network, you and your passengers can now enjoy internet services and Wi-Fi connectivity whenever you want to by turning your car into a Wi-Fi hotspot on wheels. IM, chat, stream media, email, games, on-line listen to music and more (read more- Mark Ramsey - Hear 2.0)

XM will display a concept vehicle with XM's latest technology at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show January 8 through 11 in Las Vegas. The XM vehicle will feature the first personal weather tracking system for GPS navigation. The system tracks specific, real-time weather conditions between your current location and your final destination. Plus, it provides the near-term weather forecast for your personal path (read more - XM Radio)

The Arbitron Advertiser/Agency Advisory Council, today announced a resolution regarding the introduction of the Portable People Meter and the participation of radio stations in the encoding process saying "We encourage all broadcasters in each upcoming PPM market to step forward and embrace the future and electronic measurement by beginning to encode immediately ... "

Listeners of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's weekly radio show won't have to switch the dial after WCCO-AM won the right to air it for at least two more years (read more - Twin Cities Pioneer Press)

Delphi Corp. has just sold its 13- millionth satellite radio receiver, setting a new milestone, Delphi officials said today at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (read more - PR Newswire)

Wednesday January 3, 2006

Another world ago, at the cultural junction where Eddie Fisher and Patti Page gave way to Little Richard and Elvis, Johnny Dark’s voice blanketed the night. He played phonograph records out of Baltimore’s WCAO, in a time when AM radio ruled the airwaves. Now it’s satellite radio making all the news, pulling listeners away from AM and FM. “Commercial radio today,” he says, “they’ve removed the personalities between the songs. There’s no compelling reason to listen to one music station instead of another. I remember the early ’70s, when station owners started bringing in kids who did nothing more than read material off a console. It was all about saving money.” But it was tearing down a medium (read more - Michael OIesker-Washington Examiner)

In the News Director position at WLS,  Jennifer Keiper succeeds Steve Scott, who resigned last fall to join WCBS-AM in New York + There'll be no singing the blues for fans of Steve Cushing despite the cancellation of his "Blues Before Sunrise" show after 27 years on WBEZ-FM (91.5) (read more - Feder of Chicago)

At 96.9FM TALK- WTKK in Boston on January 8 Mike Barnicle will lead off a new 9am-7pm local line-up that will now include former PM drive host Michael Graham who, since October, has been handling evenings. In addition, the new changes will feature extended hours for Margery Eagan & Jim Braude and the recently returned Jay Severin as a local personality from 3-7pm. Imus in the Morning will continue to start the broadcast day on the station and "The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly" will move to 7pm

As of 5 am yesterday, the format has changed again at 102.7 FM - and "Fresh 102.7," which plays "Today's Soft Music," is losing the classic WNEW call letters + Bob Shannon, formerly of WCBS-FM, guest-hosts today for Captain Jack on The Breeze (107.1 FM, 99.7 FM) at the Jersey Shore (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

WOKY resurrected its old "Mighty 92" persona from the 1960s heyday of Top-40 AM radio on Tuesday. The station's new/old format focuses on the Beatles era and stretches into the early 1970s. These old songs don't include anything from the 1950s, a decade that you won't find represented on Milwaukee radio (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

After seven years at Birmingham radio station Y 94.5 (WYSF-FM), Rick and Bubba -- Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey -- have signed a five-year contract with WZZK (104.7 FM) that is believed to be the most lucrative radio deal in the history of the state (read more - Bob Carlton-Birmingham News)

Bobby Bohn takes over as Sports Sales Manager for WSB-AM/Atlanta and the University of Georgia. Prior to joining
Cox Radio, Bohn has served as General Manager of sales and operations for the University of Central Florida athletics in Orlando, Florida

ARBitron numbers for Des Moines   Albuquerque   El Paso   Charleston SC   Jackson (read 'em)

Channel 10 got down on its knees yesterday and asked the public to forgive and forget its maiden coverage of Sydney's New Year's celebrations. Since January 1, talkback radio has been inundated with calls from viewers appalled at the network for broadcasting simulated sex and rotten language. It has also been criticised for a poor line-up of hosts and entertainers, which included a grab-bag of former Big Brother contestants (read more - Peter Gosnell and John Rolfe-The Daily Telegraph AU)

Radio One has completed the $30 million sale of its WKAF-FM radio station in Boston to Entercom Communications Corp (read more - Business Week)

Elvis Duran & The Morning Zoo join Ryan Seacrest, Mojo in the Morning, Bert Weiss, and other high profile morning shows that have made BitXchange their choice for their daily prep

In the top 10 Spanish-language radio markets, growth this year is expected to be a healthy 23 percent overall (read more - Hispanic Business)

Greg Dwyer and Bill Michaels, whose “Dwyer & Michaels” program has been on KCQQ-FM (Q-106.5) since September 1995, have left the station, said Larry Rosmilso, general manager of Clear Channel Communication’s Quad-City Radio Group (read more - Quad Cities Times)

Luis Jimenez, lead host of "El Vacilón de la Mañana" on WSKQ (97.9 FM), has left La Mega's parent Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) to sign with Hispanic multimedia giant Univision, which owns WCAA (105.9 FM) in New York (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Television can still rise to the occasion when the occasion warrants. Yesterday's coverage of the funeral of former president Gerald Ford found network correspondents and technicians on their best behavior for the most part, the solemn beauty of the ceremony at Washington National Cathedral virtually forcing them to exercise restraint and good taste (read more - Tom Shales-Washington Post)

More than a dozen Kansas radio stations remained unable to broadcast Tuesday after a winter storm coated western Kansas with snow and ice (read more - KC Star)

It used to be easy to define Radio: wireless transmission by modulating electromagnetic waves using the frequencies below those of visible light. Okay, well, maybe it’s not that easy to understand but at least we had something to set the standard. Radio and what we perceive as "Radio" has changed and will continue to change. It is a metamorphosis brought on by new technologies spawning a "new media" which is competing against the "old media" (read more - Corey Deitz-About)

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted Tuesday that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in “mass killing” late in 2007. Mr. Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place some time after September (read more - The Globe and Mail CA)  (read more - Bill Hutchinson-NY Daily News)

Popular Web sites like YouTube and MySpace have hired the equivalent of school hallway monitors to police what visitors to their sites can see and do by cracking down on piracy and depictions of nudity and violence. So where do the young thrill-seekers go? Increasingly, to new Web sites like Stickam.com, which is building a business by going where others fear to tread: into the realm of unfiltered live broadcasts from Web cameras (read more - Brad Stone-NY Times)

Allan Stagg, the legendary radio personality of Chicago, Portland, Denver and Detroit radio has died. Allan was the voice over talent for GM and other national brands. He was most recently the PD and morning personality of Clear Channel's Rock 104.9 WWKN in Battle Creek (read more - David Martin Blog)  (read more - CBS 2 Chicago)

Full results will be available on Friday, but SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that it ended 2006 with approximately 6,024,000 subscribers, an 82% increase over the company’s 2005 ending subscriber base of 3,316,560. SIRIUS added a record 2.7 million net subscribers in 2006. Based on preliminary financial data, SIRIUS achieved its first ever quarter of positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2006

Regent Communications launched a new format in Albany, EVE 1300AM. The all-female talk network is an affiliate of Greenstone Media, which was founded by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda.  The station will feature 6-9AM Radio Ritas, Lisa Birnbach, Rolanda Watts, Women Aloud, Dr. Joy Browne and  the Satellite Sisters

Dr. Juan Hernandez, former advisor to Mexican President Vicente Fox, makes a TV appearance Wednesday, Jan 3 at 8 am on Fox News Channel to discuss the need for immigration reform (visit www.juanhernandez.org)

Whatever else is uncertain, this much is clear about the future of media - and radio in particular: Consumers are in control. With this in mind, here are Bridge Ratings' 7 predictions for the media landscape for 2007 and beyond (read 'em - Bridge Ratings)

Washington Monthly on the Radio, the weekly one-hour talk show, adds its  newest affiliate “AM 540” KRXA-AM in Sand City, CA

Dr. Laura Schlessinger's latest book, published today, is The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage (visit Dr. Laura)

Tuesday January 2, 2007

Fresh 102.7, targeting women 25-44 and featuring today’s soft music, debuted this morning in New York, replacing WNEW FM and highlighting music from the 90s and today

The New Year brings some surprising changes to the landscape of Los Angeles radio. The dial has lost its longtime urban/hip hop station KBBT (100.3 The Beat), and will see the arrival of singer Brian McKnight to co-host the morning show at KTWV-FM (94.7 The Wave) (read more - EurWeb)

Donald Trump was named "Most Annoying Money Personality" in a poll of AOL's Money & Finance users, beating runners-up Suze Orman, Jim Cramer and Mark Cuban (read more - Page Six NY Post)

What To Watch For -- Power to the people meter: If all goes as planned, 2007 is the last year Arbitron will rely on its ancient paper-and-pencil diary system to measure radio listenership in the market + Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9 and news/talk WGN-AM (720) conceivably could wind up under new corporate banners (read more - Feder of Chicago)

A pair of U.K. companies think they have a handle on the next big thing in the audio consumer space: Wi-Fi-enabled Internet radio. Frontier Silicon Ltd. and Cambridge Consultants Ltd. intend to use the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week to make their case (read more - Peter Clarke-Dr Dobb's Portal)

The Project for Excellence in Journalism kicks off an ambitious weekly study of what stories almost three dozen media sources are reporting, what news they view as important and how reporting differs among outlets (read more - Peter Johnson-USA Today)

Six more people have been added to the roster of the St Louis Radio Hall of Fame. After being nominated by the board of directors, eligible members are then voted upon by 100 people in the local media community.  They are Donny Brooks, Jim Holder, William A. Hopkins, Anne Keefe, Ray Otis and Steven B. Stevens (read more - St Louis Radio Hall of Fame)

Ron Fineman, 54, a longtime California broadcast journalist died Saturday at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Santa Clarita after a lengthy battle with colon cancer (read more - Scott Martelle-LA Times)

Leon Wecker invented a radio that's probably in your house, but who is he?  After 24 years in the control room at CBS, he invented a type of radio that now sits in millions of homes, as well as the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. He still has the patent, but not the fame. Never the fame. Which is why you likely have never heard of Leon Wecker (read more - Tom Berg-OC Register)

Sharon Harrison passed away on Christmas eve after a long illness.  She was the wife of publisher Michael Harrison and helped to launch Talkers Magazine in 1990, serving as vice president of business for the magazine (read more - Talkers Magazine)

Noreen Welle, RTNDA’s vice president for communications, marketing and membership, died early Friday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, where she had been treated for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood (read more - RTNDA)

Iowa's first-ever public radio network launched with the start of the new year. Stations at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa united to carry the News and Information service of Iowa Public Radio (read more - KCRG TV)

Dana Marshall begins duties as Music Director at 92.9/WBOS-FM in Boston today

Domingo Carbonell, a pioneer of Spanish radio in Rochester has died. He worked on Spanish radio programs with WCMF and WROC in the 1970's (read more - WROC TV)

Sirius is now the Official Satellite Radio Partner of NASCAR and features a new 24/7 year-round radio channel dedicated to the sport (read more - NASCAR)

Howard Stern celebrates his first anniversary on Sirius satellite radio January 9 + According to published reports, NBC’s failure with syndicated programs to compete with shows like “Regis & Kelly,” is the reason why it may turn to “Today.” In Philadelphia, NBC10’s “10,” co-hosted by Bill Henley and Lori Wilson isn’t helping the cause (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

From Happy Hare -- I spirited Carol away to Cleveland with me to begin our new life together with me doing mornings at KYW with Specs Howard, and to await the “final” from California. Tectonic events, details of which are too convoluted to relay here, overtook us in Cleveland, ripping us apart. During those years of separation, Carol went to Miami and became the Administrative Aide to her Producer father, Ben Chapman, at the Ivan Tors Studio in Miami, which produced the “Flipper” TV series (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

The Media Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today made public Media Bureau staff reports and studies on media ownership and related issues in response to a request from Chairman Martin (read more - FCC)

Two southwestern Kansas radio stations, KJIL and KHYM were off the air after ice brought down the top 250 feet of a thousand-foot radio tower (read more - KAKE TV)

A radio tower on Notre Dame's campus fell during overnight storms. The 160-foot tower broadcasted the signal for ESPN Radio 1490 (read more - WNDU-TV)

If it's possible for radio waves to become part of the bloodstream, the late Harry Jacobs' veins coursed with music, news and talk. In four decades, Mr. Jacobs worked his way up from advertising sales to general manager of WMAQ-AM 670 and eventually co-owner of several stations in central Wisconsin, never losing his passion for the behind-the-scenes work that make broadcasts come alive (read more - Dan Gibbard-Chicago Tribune)

Monday January 1, 2007

The benefits of a merger between XM and Sirius have been promoted by the chief executive of Sirius, Mel Karmazin, for a number of months, and Sirius officials continue to say that a merger would be a good thing. XM has not commented on the possibility, and neither company has said whether they have actually discussed the issue (Eric A. Taub-NY Times)

Walter Edward "Eddie" Floyd, A former northern Nevada radio talk show host, has pleaded guilty to a federal money laundering charge, avoiding the possibility that his convicted son would testify against him on charges of growing and selling marijuana (read more - KTVN 2)

It really wasn't much of a feud, at least not by old-time radio standards. Some may even choose to argue that it wasn't a feud at all ... it involved Bill Handel being mad as you-know-what and he was not going to take it any more, especially if Jamie White of sister station KYSR- FM (98.7) was concerned - particularly because Jamie had chased his daughters out of her studio where they were searching for a lost ball (read more - Bob Sokolsky-Daily Bulletin)

We saw 2006 start out with a departure of Martin Bandyke at public WDET-FM (101.9) and Tic-Tak ousted, along with the eclectic Mr. Positive, at hits WKQI-FM (95.5). WWJ’s Sonny Eliot marked 60 years in local media, and Dick Kernen at Specs Howard hit 50 years in radio. Rachael Hunter and Steve Grunwald segued from WDRQ-FM (93.1), eventually to WYCD, while Jay Towers moved to WKRK (read more - Art Vuolo-Michiguide)

The Houston Business Journal has posted a print edition Q & A with local Clear Channel GM Eddie Martiny that includes some interesting information. "As long as Houston continues to thrive, so will radio" says Martiny (read more - Blog Houston)

Technology will be the big story in media in 2007. Flat-panel TV screens, adapted for the coming digital broadcasting universe, are reaching the price level where they will be affordable to most consumers. Traditional-screen TVs will all but disappear from store shelves. In radio, digital broadcasts on side channels will increase (read more - Mark Washburn-Charlotte News and Observer)

Rhetoric, coupled with the stations' power to quickly rally their armed supporters in the streets, has led to fears that broadcasters could fan the flames into full-blown civil war. "If we wanted, we could burn down Gaza," said a smiling Ibrahim Daher, the director of Aqsa Radio, the Gaza voice of Islamic Hamas (read more - Winston-Salem Journal)

RadioUseOnly.com has added 28 new LPs and is offering duplicates for sale or trade.  New additions include vinyl radio compilations from KHJ in LA, KYA San Francisco and Buffalo's  WKBW Classics II (visit www.RadioUseOnly.com) 

Back in the 1980's, Dennis Miller turned what had begun as a sweetly goofy Saturday Night Live "news" segment into an exercise in mean-spiritedness. Then, on nine-eleven, Miller looked down at the wet spot on his pants and discovered not shame but salvation. He would cash in on the country's post-attack hysteria and proclaim himself a reformed liberal. Terrorism, you see, feeds on the muddle-headedness that is all things liberal. Miller's latest gig is a feature on Fox News Channel called "Real Free Speech" (read more - Charlie Reina-Huffington Post)

In what might be the start of an exciting technological future for cars and trucks, Ford Motor Co. and software giant Microsoft Corp. are expected to jointly announce soon that new Windows Automotive software soon will be available in Ford vehicles. The new technology -- dubbed "Sync" -- will finally bring together two industries that have long been expected to cross paths, allowing consumers to use their vehicles as computers in key ways, such as hands-free cell phone calls or downloading music or receiving e-mail (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

Y94's Rick Gary was among several disc jockeys who lost a home on Syracuse radio. With changes sweeping through most of the media, it's not surprising that some of the biggest broadcasting stories of the year involved transitions (read more - William LaRue-Syracuse Post-Standard)

HDNet will feature live, exclusive High Definition Coverage of the Funeral Service for Former President Gerald R. Ford, Tuesday, January 2nd (visit HD.Net)

It was a wreck of a year for CBS Radio. The company formerly known as Infinity had an infinite number of problems, beginning with the loss of Howard Stern to satellite radio + Satellite radio continued to grow at an impressive rate + Clear Channel, radio's 800-pound gorilla , continued to grow and prosper in a tough year for commercial radio, as listeners spent more time on their computers, cell phones, iPods, videogames or at the mall, and time spent listening dipped about 14 percent from last year (read more - Ben Fong-Torres - SF Chronicle)

From Claude Hall -- Claude and Barbara Hall wish you a phenomenal year ... There are quite a few people always welcome at the Hall Palatial Estate, Apricot Orchard, and Hummingbird Palace. Christmas Eve, George and Jackie Wilson came by. I was so excited about introducing this legend in radio to my three sons - John, Darryl, and Andy - that I forgot to take a picture of them with him. Mistake! But John enjoyed talking radio with George. Who wouldn't! Have you guys noticed that people like George Wilson and Lou Dorren and Kent Burkhart and a few others, hey, Ron Jacobs!...never get invited to speak these days at the major radio meetings? Fun-knee! (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

My background is radio, and I (Yvonne Sanders ) used to work for Cumulus Broadcasting. I worked for Cumulus in Kansas City and I asked for a transfer ...  There's just no job security at all. People were going syndicated with Tom Joyner Morning Show, Doug Banks and Howard Stern. Radio people are dropping like flies. So, I decided to get out of radio (read more - Michael McCollum-Columbis Commercial Dispatch)

From Tommy Kramer -- Think about how many Morning Teams you’ve heard that have a decent energy level, but they just don’t seem to move very efficiently. Frankly, in many situations, the decision to have a Team Show in the morning overrides whether or not a qualified team is available, or whether the PD has the proper techniques for coaching them. If you find yourself thinking, “They just take too long” or “They’re good, but they just talk too much,” here’s a tip to help coordinate them fast: When the subject changes, the person speaking changes (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

The American Radio Archives, in the works for at least six years, will eventually house the combined radio collections of the library and of Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, an organization of radio and television professionals that honors members and preserves the industry's history. A major concern is the condition and accessibility of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters' collection. It is stored in the club room in the basement of a Washington Mutual bank branch at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood (read more - John Mitchell-Ventura County Star)

Former Democratic congressman and 2002 Independence Party candidate for governor Tim Penny now has his own radio show in Waseca. "I try to ask the questions I've heard people asking around town," Penny said of his show, "It's Your Call" on KOWZ-AM (read more - WCCO TV 4)

ESPN Radio moves its local affiliation from Z-560 (KLZ-AM) to KEPN-AM (1600), formerly known as KCKK-AM, a traditional country music outlet. And Z-560, owned by Crawford Broadcasting, is picking up the Sporting News Radio network. KEPN and KKFN-AM (950-The Fan) are owned by Lincoln Financial Media. The result: three full-time sports radio outlets plus KOA's major schedule. This makes Denver, the 22nd-largest radio market (18th in television) the "sports radio" capital of the nation (read more - Dusty Saunders-Rocky Mountain News)

Information on the memorial plans for one of Cleveland radio's best knowns, Len "Boom" Goldberg, has been released (read more)   (click here to read and sign the guest book - Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Satellite stations drew big names in '06. The year in radio was punctuated by debuts, retreads, messy exits and cash flow problems (read more - Claudia Perry - NJ Star-Ledger)

Clear Channel, the owner of WTAG-AM and WSRS-FM, has agreed to be purchased by a pair of Boston equity firms. No immediate changes are foreseen for the two local stations (read more - Worcester Telegram and Gazette)

Edwin Slusarczyk, lifelong farm advocate, journalist and political force died Friday morning. Slusarczyk was president of the Utica-based Ag Radio Network Inc., which he founded 30 years ago (read more - Utica Observer-Dispatch)

Luis Jimenez, lead host of the city's top-rated radio show at WSKQ (97.9 FM), is reportedly jumping the fence (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Radio broadcasts on medium wave will end within a few years if a powerful coalition of commercial radio interests has its way. Ofcom, commercial radio's regulatory body, will launch a debate in the coming months on the future of radio. Many predict that it will result in the end of AM broadcasts as we have known them since the days of the Home Service and Light Programme (read more - David Sapsted-The Telegraph U.K.)

Gospel finally has its own 24-hour spot on the AM radio dial in Buffalo. WHLD-AM 1270, formerly home to a progressive talk format, has been converted into an "urban inspirational" station (read more - Jay Tokasz-Buffalo News)

ARBitron numbers for Omaha   Chattanooga   Columbia SC   Huntsville   Shreveport  (read 'em)

Larry Langford may live in Chicago, but his area radio station give him a strong tie to southwestern Michigan. Langford, a spokesperson for the Chicago Fire Department, is the owner of WGTO 910 AM in Cassopolis. On Thursday, he said he is close to closing the deal to purchase the WDOW 1440 AM studio in Dowagiac (read more - Michael C. Guilmette, Jr-Niles Star)

Friday December 29, 2006

A legendary voice in Texas radio is now silent. "Misty" died Wednesday in her Lubbock home. Her real name was Moda Fincher, and she worked for several area radio stations. "Misty" was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame earlier this year (read more - News 11 Lubbock)  (read obituary-Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

It was, by any measure, a dog of a year on the television - radio beat. No one symbolized that better than Shane "Rover" French, the mutt from Cleveland who soiled the airwaves here for seven months and managed to chase off every one of Howard Stern's listeners. Every. Single. One. If it wasn't one thing, it was another (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Forty years of Boston radio history come to an end (today) Friday morning when Gary LaPierrre delivers his final newscast on WBZ AM. He's bullish on radio in general these days, but is disturbed by trends in radio that include doing away with local staffers in favor of network feeds  (read more - WHDH-TV)

Within hours of James Brown's death on Christmas morning, both WBLS (107.5 FM) and WRKS (98.7 FM) were saluting the most influential of all R&B, soul and funk artists (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

There's nothing backwards about Aspen's newest radio station. But what's really not backwards about Radio Free Aspen, located at 100.5 on the FM dial, is that word forbidden by the Federal Communications Commission that its call letters spell, said owner Simon T. KCUF, he said, is the moniker for Keeping Colorado Uniquely Free (read more - Rick Carroll-Aspen Daily News)

From Kent Burkhart -- I WAS THERE… in Atlanta…when the news about James Brown was flashed on radio. He had died in a hospital only ten miles from my hotel. I stared at the radio…total disbelief. A quick memory flashback about James Brown … I was introduced to him at a party about two decades ago by the legendary music lady of Atlanta, Gwen Kessler. James stuck out his hand and said, “Glad to meet you. Gwen has told me that you play a lot of our music…thanks for that”. We will miss his creative music genius. I am still in a state of semi-shock (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

McClatchy, the US newspaper group, and Citadel Broadcasting, the radio station chain, have emerged as the worst performers among US companies that have made large domestic acquisitions this year, according to data collected by Dealogic. The figures offer an insight into the decline of traditional media companies, which have been suffering as advertising revenues have moved to the internet (read more - James Politi-Financial Times)

From Lee Abrams -- I wasn't going to blog this week. Not many people are around, so why bother. Then I thought what the hell. Though I'm working through the holidays, there’s a lot of down time, so I've been rediscovering my collection. Digging out vinyl (I still have a turntable), cassettes (Lots of demos, airchecks and strange stuff there), CD's, I-Pod and of course XM. I let my 8-Track rest in peace. The following are a few thoughts from my formulative years ... I continue to believe that you can't design the future without understanding the past...If you are old like me you'll remember this stuff...if you aren't old--check it out, it’s good for you (read more - Lee Abrams Blog)

iPods and iTunes gift cards overwhelmed Apple's iTunes music store over the holidays, prompting error messages and slowdowns of 20 minutes or more for downloads of a single song (read more - USA Today)

Laser Broadcasting, the local radio group run by one of the founders of Classic FM, is planning to launch an online radio station early in the new year to capitalise on the rapid growth of broadband internet access across the country. The company, which wants to list on Aim in 2007, owns Quay West in west Somerset and BCR FM in Bridgwater as well as Classic Hits in Hereford and Worcester and Sunshine Radio in Ludlow (read more - Richard Wray-The Guardian U.K.)

Carol Lin recently left the CNN anchor desk because they wanted to make her a roving national reporter. Lin is a single mom and doesn't want to spend life on the road (read more - Ken Hoffman-Houston Chronicle)

Dave Graveline and the Into Tomorrow team present their year end show this Sunday featuring "Morons of Technology" and MTV's "Pimp My Ride"  (visit www.graveline.com)

Some TV types say big-screen HDTV could lead to the end of the extreme close-up as we know it. Others predict hi-def fears could soon be reflected in artists' contracts (read more - Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn-The Tennessean)

Many Muslims complain that journalists get facts about Islam wrong. They say the media exaggerates the terror threat while giving less emphasis to their own concerns about the Iraq war and the reporting of events in the Middle East. One Muslim woman told me she does not watch mainstream news anymore because it "makes Islam look like a threat to the British way of life" (read more - Charlie Beckett-BBC U.K.)

When Arbitron goes live with its PPM service in Philadelphia on January 11, it is likely that nine stations in the market will not be included in the ratings service (read more - Media Buyer Planner)

CBC Toronto radio legend Bruce Smith, whose deep voice was heard on the city's airwaves for more than 30 years, has died (read more - CBC CA)

Word comes down from long-time WMMS programmer John Gorman that Len "Boom" Goldberg has passed away from undisclosed causes.  "Boom" was the one and only voice of the Buzzard and had one of - if not the - best known voice on Cleveland radio from the 1970's through the 1990's (read more - Art Vuolo Update)

Wayne Pederson, who brings with him more than three decades of broadcasting experience, says Christian radio can make an eternal difference in people's lives. But executives in the industry, he says, must be aware of the changes taking place in the medium. Consumers of information, entertainment, and inspiration, he notes, have so many choices these days (read more - WDC Media)

Jack Lee joins the company that owns Milwaukee's  WKLH-FM (96.5) and WHQG-FM (102.9) as director of integrated media (read more - Milwaukee Biz Journal)

On January 8th, The East Valley Radio Network debuts with 2 hours a day on KAZG-1440AM in Phoenix and webcast 24/7 at www.eastvalleyradionetwork.com featuring The Scott Anderson Show on KAZG from 3 pm - 5 pm Monday- Friday. EVRN CEO Anderson was last heard doing midday talk on Dallas/Ft. Worth's KLIF-570 AM before returning to the Phoenix area

ARBitron numbers for Nashville, Knoxville, Johnson City-Kingsport, Oklahoma City and Grand Rapids (read 'em)

The cohesive grass-roots organizing that reversed Clear Channel's decision certainly gives the activists and advertisers a reason to be proud. But what about the local shows? Clear Channel has yet to confirm that their decision includes them. If The Mic 92.1 FM stays on the air as progressive talk with just the national syndicates, we've far from accomplished our goal (read more - Julie Spears-Letter to the Editor-Capital Times)

Dave Palet and Jeff Dotseth are replacing the Los Angeles based show “Frosty, Heidi and Frank”. (Their show can be heard on 97.1 KLSX or on-line.) Program Director Jim Daniels is also rumored to be adding more local shows to the line-up at Free FM in San Diego (read more - SDRadio.net)

Thursday December 28, 2006

Rick Kaplan, the veteran network news exec who most recently ran MSNBC, is rumored to be coming to CBS News to help boost Katie Couric's ratings on the "Evening News"  (read more - Page Six NY Post)

The corporate transfer of four Clear Channel Madison radio stations -- WIBA-AM, WIBA-FM, WTSO- AM and WZEE-FM -- to BT Triple Crown Merger Co. doesn't mean the stations have been sold. It's part of the reorganization of Clear Channel after the company was sold to a pair of equity firms last month (read more - Marv Balousek -Wisconsin State Journal)

Radio shows and Radio stations are constantly conducting promotions, stunts, and hoaxes in the hopes of getting attention and raising ratings. This year, even an advertiser pushed the limits for attention, as you'll see. About's Corey Deitz provides a sampling of 2006's more interesting "high profile" moments (read more - Corey Deitz-About)

Powell Broadcasting of Sioux City Wednesday announced an agreement to purchase KKYY, commonly known as Y101, and KZSR, commonly known as Bob FM, from NRG Media of Cedar Rapids  (read more - Sioux City Journal)

From Randy Dotinga -- Let's look back at some of the best quotes that appeared in this space during the last 12 months:
"You're either Delilah (a sugary syndicated radio host) and you're pablum, or you're Dr. Laura and you're a beast." ---- Jack 100.7 morning host Monique Marvez, on the choices available for women who want to make it in radio + "In love with the smacking of their saliva." ---- Marvez on radio personalities who talk too much (read more - Randy Dotinga-NC Times)

Bruce Wolf, whose firing last winter after more than 18 years at WFLD-Channel 32 never made any sense at all, has triumphed over the Fox-owned station. An independent arbitrator ruled this week that Fox had "no reason to terminate" the veteran sportscaster and awarded Wolf full back pay and severance (read more - Feder of Chicago)

When satellite radio beamed into Canada a year ago, bullish industry analysts predicted conventional radio would soon be consigned to dusty museum shelves beside hand-cranked Victrolas and eight-track car stereos. But Canadian AM and FM radio stations are showing surprising resilience in the face of competition from satellite radio's giant new entries, Sirius and XM (read more - Shawn Ohler-CanWest News CA)

Russ Mitchell has replaced Rene Syler as the fourth member of CBS' The Early Show team. His main duties will be as news anchor, working with Harry Smith, Hannah Storm and Julie Chen (read more - Dusty Saunders-Rocky Mountain News)

Uncle Billy was an original and a pioneer. The host of a long-running Beaufort talk radio show on KBEU, William Duane Peters had opinions about everything, and he wasn't afraid to share them. Peters died Sunday (read more - Brandon Honig-Beaufort Gazette)

Listeners to Chass Offutt's WTBO morning show were shocked to suddenly hear dead air, an open microphone and a co-worker's plea for someone at the station to call 911.  Offutt died while on the air (read more - WBAL-TV)

Eminem will share and count down 25 of his favorite hip-hop tracks on SIRIUS Satellite Radio channel, Shade 45, on New Year’s Eve

The Worst Commercials on TV -- I had never heard of RLS before. But after watching the ad, I've of course convinced myself that I exhibit each one of its vaguely defined symptoms. "Strange sensations"? I get those! A "creepy crawly" feeling? Now that you've got me thinking about it … yes! Damn you, Requip! (And before I get angry mail: I'm sure there are many bona fide RLS victims. My heart goes out to you and your jittering limbs.) (read more - Seth Stevenson-Slate)

For radio listeners in the Seattle market in 2006, the biggest topics of conversation had more to do with what they weren't hearing than what was actually on the air. Listeners of KMTT-FM (103.7), for example, weren't hearing longtime Seattle radio veteran and morning co-host Mike West, who departed The Mountain as the station shuffled its lineup (read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI)

The airwaves were sort of boring without Howard Stern constantly baiting the Federal Communications Commission. Stern left a void on O-Rock 105.9-FM that was filled by none other than Drew Garabo. Snores persisted until Garabo was walloped on an Orlando nightclub stage by Carlos Navarro, aka Blackbean, of competing Monsters in the Morning on Real Radio 104.1-FM. Also during January, WFIT-FM (89.5) officially relented its title as Brevard County's official smooth jazz station. (That title is now owned by low-power station WGRV-FM.) (read more - Breuse Hickman-Florida Today)

Entercom has agreed to pay $4.25 million to end Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation payola (read more - Business Week)

From Murphy Martin -- Christmas morning arrived on schedule and we were blessed many times over with an outpouring of love from family and friends. After a special breakfast prepared by my loving wife of more than four decades and special cards and gifts we didn't deserve, we went to the computer and began clearing emails. And there was the caption: Why I feel So Much Better! The Democrats promise "A New Direction" for America! As we read this we remembered: The Dow Jones is at an all-time high and America's 401-K's are back. A new direction from that means what? Unemployment is at 25-year lows, a new direction from that means what? (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

WCTC-AM 1450 partnered with Operation Call Home to provide phone cards to our troops oversees so that they too may share the warmth of the holiday season with their loved ones. Operation Call Home was founded by Bill McGinnis in honor of his son, Sgt. Brian McGinnis, a Marine from New Jersey who was killed in the line of duty in Iraq in March 2003. Sgt. McGinnis did not have the means to call home prior to his death, and his father wanted to ensure that other troops would have the opportunity to call their friends and family (visit WCTC AM 1450)

KTNA, the public radio station broadcasting from downtown Talkeetna, is kicking off 2007 with a boosted signal, digital transmission, streaming audio, new studio space and at a new spot on the radio dial, 88.9 FM (read more - Anchorage Daily News)

ARBitron numbers for Albany, Memphis, Greenville-New Bern and Raleigh-Durham (read 'em)

Pictured are Dominica Harrell, KSCS Dallas, Wally Walker, KQRS Minneapolis, Rita Wilde, KLOS Los Angeles and Jake Edwards, WDVD Detroit on a break while hosting the 5th annual Christmas Around the World Live from the Walt Disney World Resort (photo courtesy ABC Radio)

Media giant Marmaduke Hussey has died at the age of 83. Lord Hussey was chairman of the BBC for ten years from 1986 - 1996 (read more - ITV-Channel 4 U.K.)  (read more - The Scotsman U.K.)

The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) has announced its support of the Ad Council PSA campaign, Generous Nation, and is urging Radio stations to participate. The campaign's message is simple: Don't almost give -- give (read more - RAB)

Wednesday December 27, 2006

It's a case that hits close to home at WSAZ. Detectives say a man claimed he worked at the station--and made several other false claims three different times in order to get a bank loan. Now, he's on the run. The Kanawha County Sheriff's Department has named Jacob Nathan Larese one of Charleston's Most Wanted (read more - WSAZ)

In a year of few heroes among all the bloated egos and self-serving phonies in the local media, here's a salute to some of the genuine class acts on the television/radio beat: Roe Conn, Earl Jones, Roz Varon, Ray Hofstetter and more (read more - Feder of Chicago)

High-profile morning shows dominated radio headlines again this year, with Luis Jimenez of WSKQ taking the city's No. 1 spot, Howard Stern heading off to satellite radio, Opie and Anthony replacing David Lee Roth at WFNY, Star getting fired by WWPR, Whoopi Goldberg moving in at WKTU, Steve Harvey scoring at WBLS, Ed Walsh leaving WOR and even WLTW replacing Bill Buchner with Karen Carson and Christine Nagy. But New York radio also spent much of 2006 wrestling with questions about its future (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Radio free brattleboro may be just a memory, but community radio is still alive and kicking with the debut of WVEW at 107.7 on the FM dial. Though it took Vermont Earth Works almost five years to get the license for its all-access radio station, Debra Forrett, a co-founder of VEW, said there was no doubt on the VEW board's part that the wait was worthwhile (read more - Bob Audette-Brattleboro Reformer)

Disk jockey Bill Moen, today the host of KXBX's "Moen in the Morning," was recently inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in recognition of his 33 years at KABL in San Francisco. The Berkeley event honored Moen and other DJ greats such as Frank Dill, Al Hart and Ken Ackerman. An audience of 125 well-wishers and radio personalities came to see the first class of 2006, which celebrated 37 legendary disc jockeys (read more - Elizabeth Wilson-Lake County Record Bee)

Sirius Satellite Radio will celebrate New Year's Eve with live concerts by the Beach Boys, Chris Isaak, Big and Rich, the Commodores, Patty Smith and more

Avista Capital Partners, a private-equity firm with holdings ranging from offshore drilling to medical waste removal, agreed Tuesday to buy the Star Tribune from McClatchy Co. for $530 million. If the newspaper industry feels a sudden chill from the north, it's that McClatchy estimates it paid $1.2 billion for the paper not quite nine years ago (read more - Phil Rosenthal-Chicago Tribune)

KYMC in the St Louis area, a music fixture in the community for 29 years, will go off the air, at least temporarily, in January. "Effective Jan. 1, the station will go dark," said Denise Glass, executive director of the West County Family YMCA (read more - Mary Shapiro-Suburban Journals)

Aaron Sandler, a television producer of "Hottest Moms in America," subscribes to Sirius satellite radio for NFL games and news. But his favorite thing about is discovering new music before the rest of the world. "My brother doesn't listen to Sirius and he'll point out a new song like "Mama's Room" by Under The Influence of Giants. I'll say, 'I've been listening to that for four months," Sandler. "I won't go back to terrestrial radio. Why would you ever?" (read more - Barbara Correa-LA Daily News)

Anyone tuning into WJER FM 101.7 will find a continuous loop of station staff urging listeners to tune to WJER AM 1450. As previously announced, the 101.7 FM frequency is moving to Canton (read more - Dover/New Philadelphia Times-Reporter)

From John Rook -- The birth of a new year always brings with it plans for a fresh outlook, a new beginning and an opportunity to rectify errors that cast a shadow over success. In recent months, by announcing the sell off of hundreds of facilities, radio’s two biggest companies, Clear Channel and CBS, recognized the demise of the industry, but are blind for the need to reverse the disastrous programming failures that brought them to their knees. Neither company demonstrated any real leadership in providing radio with the interesting, exciting and fun programming that gave greatness to its history (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

On the Friday before Christmas, Clear Channel gave Madison back its progressive talk radio format. In an age when big-media firms rarely respond to consumers, the Madison activists forced the biggest media firm on the radio dial to reverse course. It was a remarkable victory that has national implications. One of the arguments from the beginning of the media reform movement has been that the only way to fight organized corporate power is with organized people power (read more - Madison Capital Times Editorial)

Colorado Media Matters has documented how, during the past several months, 630 KHOW-AM host Peter Boyles repeatedly has invoked the names of persecuted Renaissance-era astronomers Galileo and Copernicus in attempting to defend charges that he and his guests made racist or bigoted remarks regarding illegal immigration (read more - Colorado Media Matters)

A trend in Milwaukee radio over the past year or so has been definite shifts in image that don't rise to the level of an old-fashioned format change. The changes are best defined as tweaks. WLUM-FM (102.1) did it after finally dumping the syndicated "Bob and Tom" morning show, and replacing that pair with local voices Brian Kramp and Jon Adler (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

KMTV Omaha (Cox Channel 5) is not renewing the contracts of primary news anchors Deborah Ward and Greg Peterson. Replacing Ward and Peterson are two journalists who are currently not primary anchors at their respective stations. Carol Wang comes to Omaha from KXAS (NBC) in Dallas/Fort Worth and Carlo Cecchetto is currently working as a general assignment reporter at KFMB (CBS) in San Diego (read more - NE State Paper)

The chairman of Cumulus Media Inc., Lewis Dickey, sold 500,000 shares of common stock on Friday (read more - Business Week)

ARBitron numbers for Austin, San Antonio, Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, Louisville, New Orleans and Tulsa (read 'em)

Tuesday December 26, 2006

The long-running showcase for world music on Chicago Public Radio WBEZ-FM (91.5) is turning to its listeners for a new name + John Monds, a 23-year veteran of Chicago radio, has resigned as morning personality at rhythmic oldies WILV-FM (100.3) + Mancow Muller, who hasn't been heard on Chicago radio since last July, fills in from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday on ABC's news/talk WLS-AM (890) (read more - Feder of Chicago)

If commercial radio across the country all sounds the same to you today, there is a reason: It is. "Virtually everyone in radio," Marc Fisher says, "believes the medium has become less fun, less creative and just plain less worth listening to than at any point since its birth" (read more - Roger K. Miller-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Isn't it the height of irony that Fox network, whose news department daily pontificates in favor of Christian Right agendas, was in federal court recently arguing for the right to say F_CK on the air? Maybe they were just being "'F'-air and Balanced" when it comes to F_CK. Fox can "K" word our "A" words. In that Fox case in court, there were actually federal judges on the bench saying F_CK. How weird is that? It can't be said by Cher on television without a societal crisis, but it can be said in federal court (read more - Fritz Alvarez-Heathen Middle)

WQXR's all-time classical countdown and WBGO's annual New Year's Eve ride through the jazz clubs of America are among the highlights of radio's weekend programs (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Jennifer Williams has been promoted to Interactive Marketing Director of Greater Media’s Detroit-based radio properties. Williams has been the Marketing Director for WCSX-FM for the past 10 years

The man who gave the world Rush Limbaugh is now in charge of the fate of Sacramento's public radio empire. It's true. Rick Eytcheson, named two weeks ago as the new president and general manager of Capital Public Radio, was the boss at commercial giant KFBK (1530 AM) in 1985 when Limbaugh first started his ascent from being a middling midday talking head to a hugely popular nationally syndicated talking head (read more - Sam McManis-Sacramento Bee)

Jim Mitchell, a long-time West Virginia radio personality and broadcast journalist, died Sunday night after a battle with cancer according to Larry Bevins, general manager of WVOW radio. He was 67 (read more - Charleston Gazette)

Dr. Frank Stanton, a central figure in the development of television broadcasting in the United States and the industry’s most articulate and persuasive spokesman during his nearly three decades as president of CBS, died Sunday afternoon at his home in Boston (read more- NY Times)  (read more - LA Times)

From Happy Hare -- Jimmy Hoffa simply disappeared.. No one knows what happened to him. It was as if that current amazing magician, Mind Freak, had walked into the Machus Red Fox Restaurant on the outskirts of Detroit and uttered a few soft spoken word and the next thing you knew, Hoffa was gone. That was in July of 1975. I saw him several times in the 60’s at the Fox, both his and our favorite eatery. “Our” being myself and Carol, my longtime love and new wife. The first time I saw him was shortly after Specs Howard and I had arrived in Detroit to launch the Martin and Howard Show on WXYZ. There has never been a more dramatic entrance than the one he made at the Fox, the first day I saw him (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

2006 has been a year full of important events which will shape Radio's future. Here - in Corey Deitz's opinion - are the 10 most important stories chronlogically by date (read the 10 - Corey Deitz-About)

The face of network advertising is changing. Firms target more buyers via internet and television than through the radio waves; Advertising growth via local radio stations declines every year. As Satellite radio becomes more prevalent in cars, homes, and offices, Radio One must adapt to the ever-changing media market by upgrading and synchronizing all their media assets to the future of digital media (read more - Seeking Alpha-Yahoo Finance)

Neville Willoughby, a Jamaican radio broadcaster known for his interviews with the reggae legend Bob Marley, died on Tuesday night in a car accident in Kingston. He was 69 (read more - NY Times)

Dave Daubenmire, known as "Coach," has a good track record of acting on his conservative beliefs. In 1999 he was sued by the ACLU for praying with his teams while coaching high school in Ohio. Now he's going up against several prominent conservative radio talk show hosts, saying, "With the exception of Michael Savage, all of them are nothing more than Republican shills." He calls the bulk of conservative talk radio "bilge." That's an overly harsh assessment, and talk radio has emerged as an important part of the "new media" which threaten liberal dominance. But one of the prominent conservative hosts, Rush Limbaugh, has made a fascinating admission (read more - Cliff Kincaid-Accuracy in Media)

Radio is infamous as a mercurial medium in which longtime formats can change without warning and jobs can come and go with such regularity that station call letters spill across DJ résumés like alphabet soup. So how to explain the stable of Southland morning hosts deep into their second decades, or longer, on the air? (read more - Steve Carney-LA Times)

Within hours of last week's column that provided the link to NBC10 news anchor Lori Delgado’s mistake on www.youtube.com it was taken off the web site. When asked if Channel 10 complained to youtube.com  NBC10 news director Chris Blackman wrote in an email, “I don’t know who was responsible for posting the video. I don’t know who was responsible for taking it down.” "You Tube" is full of vintage videos from local stations 3, 6, 10, 17, and 29 (read more- Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

Monday December 25, 2006

Since Arbitron doesn't measure radio listenership the last two weeks in December, many regular hosts take those two weeks off. That means the regulars get to spend the holidays with their families and listeners get to sample an often-interesting lineup of fill-ins, who range from amateurs to legends. This year's crop includes talk radio pioneer Barry Farber sitting in for Sean Hannity on WABC (770 AM) Friday and New Year's Day, 3-6 p.m. and fans of the old WCBS-FM can hear Bob Shannon next week, Jan. 3-5, filling in for Captain Jack, 2-7 p.m., on The Breeze (99.7 FM, 107.1 FM) at the Jersey Shore (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday in Atlanta. He was 73 (read more - Atlanta JC)  (read more-view the video - CNN)

With the exception of CKWW, all the radio holiday cheer will come to an abrupt end before you’re ready to head back to the stores early Tuesday morning. Another holiday tradition, and this one seems to be getting longer in duration every year, is the absence of high-profile morning and afternoon drive programs between Christmas and New Year’s Day (read more - Mike Austerman-Michiguide)

On this holiday weekend, change refuses to take a holiday: At least one top candidate has emerged for KPRC's (Ch. 2) sports opening, KFNC (97.5 FM) will begin a soft launch of its new ESPN Radio affiliation Wednesday and a former Houston broadcaster has a new job (read more - David Barron-Houston Chronicle)

It's probably not an exaggeration to call Clear Channel's decision not to drop liberal talk from Madison's WXXM-FM (92.1) a Christmas miracle. Miracles don't usually make business sense - except for that one on 34th St.. Soon after the initial announcement to drop Air America on The Mic 92.1 in Madison, Wisconsin was made on Nov. 7, a 28-year-old-student, Valerie Walasek, began an an online petition campaign that gathered more than 5,000 signatures and also organized a large rally. She said she was shocked at the outcome. “I’m still trying to get used to the idea of it, that it actually worked, that I got big business to change their mind,” she said (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)  (read more - Lia Miller-NY Times)

Those wacky celebrities say the darndest things. Here, for your reading pleasure on this Christmas day, are some of the better quotes: "How did Bob Dole's luggage get on my plane?" -- Rush Limbaugh on the Viagra prescribed to someone else found by customs officials. (June) + "Shut the (expletive) up! Shut up if you can't take a joke!" -- Barbra Streisand when a heckler wouldn't let up at her concert (October) (read more - Contra Costa Times)

In Iraq, American troops have many missions. At the American Forces Network headquarters in Baghdad's Green Zone, broadcasters and disc jockey soldiers are helping to keep America's 140,000 troops across Iraq informed and entertained over the radio (read more - Margaret Besheer -VOA)

From Tommy Kramer -- You hear often that someone is "funny." "He's so funny." "I love to listen to his show because it's funny." But is it "funny," or is it "fun" that we're talking about? There is a difference, from a performance and planning point of view. "Funny" is certainly "fun," but "fun" doesn't necessarily have to be "funny." The Andy Griffith Show was a great example of being both (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

Across the country this year, Clear Channel has slashed popular local programming in favor of cheaper, nationally syndicated shows hosted by celebrities with name recognition. Olivia Fox turned to her colleagues. "Somebody's about to be fired." The meeting, Fox said, couldn't have lasted more than a few minutes ... She said Clear Channel executives gave her the standard line about "a different direction." She thanked them for the opportunity to work there and left.  Within hours, promos were running for the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show. Fox's face and name disappeared from the station's Web site. She didn't get to tell listeners goodbye. Clear Channel would not say how many calls it received after Fox's show was taken off the air. But Fox received so many e-mails, she had to create a new folder to store them. Someone started an online petition, "Bring Back Olivia Fox" (read more - Rodney Thrash-St Petersburg Times)

From Claude Hall -- So, Andy Hall, the poet, comes home for the holidays and he has a copy of "Burn, Baby, Burn" by the
Magnificent Montague with Bob Baker that was published by the University of Illinois Press. "I read it in manuscript form," I told him + Earle, Bruce  Miller: "Dave Biondi in Houston operates a large radio-related bulletin board called broadcast.net. I do not post much, but I enjoy reading the daily postings under the broadcast-airchex section. Of late a thread was started about KHJ being one of the best stations to have ever come down the pike. Of course many who replied did not support that belief and left two or more cents behind as to why (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

Hi, Radio Babe: Thank you for all your efforts in locating terrestrial radio stations that are broadcasting Christmas music (not to mention your weekly informative columns, something that the St. Petersburg Times can't or won't do.) On the satellite side, you did mention Sirius; XM also has four channels of Christmas music (from country to pop to classical) and for the eight days of Hanukkah (had) a Hanukkah channel (read more - Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe)

Monie Love, the British rapper who last year joined the morning show on the Beat (100.3), is gone after contract talks stalled. Program director Colby Colb nonetheless wished her well  (read more - Michael Klein-Philly Inquirer)

A PBS special airing two days after Christmas with advice on how families can hold together during wartime separations is both a practical guide and window into a world that many Americans are unfamiliar with. The 30-minute show, "When Parents Are Deployed," premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday on PBS stations (check local listings). Cuba Gooding is host (read more - NY Post)

Microsoft is facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system as computer security researchers and hackers have begun to find potentially serious flaws in the system that was released to corporate customers late last month (read more - John Markoff-NY Times)

Fox News took another turn for the worst when it started airing a new show hosted by Erich "Mancow" Muller, a loud-mouth shock jock whose radio program was the subject of repeated indecency complaints to the Federal Communications Commission. Muller's employer admitted the essence of the charges, paid a substantial fine of $300,000, and let Muller go in 2005. Fox News has tried to make him a star (read more - Cliff Kincaid-Accuracy in Media)

Jamaica mourns the loss of one of its most accomplished and yet humble members of the broadcasting community, Neville Willoughby. The broadcaster, singer and songwriter, known to many simply as "Uncle Neville", will be deeply missed (read more - Debra Edwards-Jamaica Observer)

Art Astor calls it an obvious and logical decision. Nobody else is doing it, the president and CEO of the Astor Broadcasting Group says, so KSPA will. In a way, it already has. Its new contemporary adult standards format has been eased into place most of this month on Astor's KSPA-AM (1510) with an official unveiling scheduled Tuesday - the moment the last Christmas holiday tune vanishes (read more - Bob Sokolsky-San Bernadino Sun)

Dr. Eric Novack takes his conversations into areas where few willingly venture. Once a week, the Glendale orthopedic surgeon gets on the airwaves and talks about the critical, controversial and sometimes numbingly complex topic of health care policy. The doctor buys radio time at KKNT-AM (960) and discusses everything from Medicare to Canadian drugs to malpractice reform (read more - Jodie Snyder-Arizona Republic)

Bill Spry grew up grooving to the Beatles and the Guess Who. But in the past several years, the quintessential baby boomer who once ran his own landscaping business couldn't find his favorite classic rock songs on the radio. So he struggled through red tape with the Federal Communications Commission for 7½ years for permission to start his own radio station. In August, after countless headaches and spending about $70,000 of his own money, he won that right - WMWX-FM 88.9, on the Web at www.classxradio.com  (read more - Jennifer Baker-Cincy Enquirer)

When my wife and I conceived of the idea of forming a liberal radio network in 2001, we had no idea what was in our future ...  You can read about this in my non-best selling book: Road To Air America. Unfortunately, AAR reached a dead end as a result of cronyism and ego which is usually a disease suffered by many mega millionaires of either political persuasion. My next book, Defying The Distortion, has a final chapter still waiting to be written and will be published when the AAR final chapter is known (read more - Sheldon Drobny-Huffington Post)

After 30 years as volunteer broadcasters with the Minds Eye Information Service, a radio reading service for the blind, Alice and Zigmund "Zig" Konieczny are calling it quits (read more - Lisa P. White-Belleville News-Democrat)

When the Woman's Hour presenter, Jenni Murray, revealed on air that she had breast cancer, the response was overwhelming and universal, a wave of sympathy and support both from women and her devoted male listeners (read more - David Smith-The Observer U.K.)

Power 105.1 hip-hop disc jockey Carl Blaze died Saturday in New York after being shot at least 13 times earlier this month, Blaze, born Carlos Rivera, was shot outside an apartment building near Manhattan's Inwood section on Dec. 7, and his jewelry was robbed (read more - WCBS TV)  (read more - SF Chronicle) 

Radio Paradise, the Internet radio station run by Bill and Rebecca Goldsmith from their home in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, could seem like a dinosaur — a throwback to FM radio's golden days of the 1970s, when the playlists were controlled by a select few disc jockeys, not corporate flunkies, and the audience had no choice but to trust the DJ. Yet the idea behind the station couldn't be more current (read more - Patrick Day-LA Times)

Davradio Productions will be producing the North Texas Sports Network with talk show host Dave Michaels and Tim Edwards broadcasting LIVE from the Omni Mandalay Hotel, in Las Colinas, Texas December 27th, thru January 1st, from 6PM until 8PM.  The Webcasts will feature interviews and discussions for the upcoming 71st annual AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic between the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers and University of Auburn Tigers

True to his character, Carl Marcocci died Thursday night after handing out Christmas bonuses and treating his radio staff to a steak dinner. Meanwhile, the radio world in Tampa Bay is mourning the loss of the 68-year-old radio mogul (read more - Kyle Martin-Hernando Today)

HD Radio technology heads into CES riding a wave of momentum following a year in which the number of HD Radio stations nearly doubled to more than 1,100, and HD2 multicasting emerged to deliver a flood of creative new programming and content (read more - PR Newswire)

JD and Big Ray from JAMZ 96.3's morning crew spent the day handing out thousands of donated toys at the Washington Avenue Armory (read more - Capital News 9 TV Albany)

KYMC-FM (89.7), an alternative-rock radio station that served a small swath of west St. Louis County, will sign off on New Year's Day. Its owner, the West County branch of the YMCA of Greater St. Louis, cannot afford needed upgrades for its studio, tower and antenna, executive director Denise Glass said (read more - Diane Toroian Keaggy-St Louis Post-Dispatch)

The FCC has defended its decision to fine 20 CBS TV stations $550,000 for airing a brief breast flash by pop singer Janet Jackson (read more - Reuters)

“Coming home for the holidays is all about my friends and family,” says Greg Welker, 28, a DJ who moved to Portland a year and a half ago. It has been several months since his last visit home, but Greg says coming back for Christmas now has more meaning (read more - Jeneé Osterheldt -KC Star)

The News Corporation, where Mr. Murdoch is chief executive, sealed a deal with John C. Malone’s Liberty Media yesterday, trading the News Corporation’s 38 percent stake in DirecTV and some other assets for Liberty’s large shareholding in Mr. Murdoch’s company (read more - Richard Siklos-NY Times)

Q: Rush Limbaugh often insults the people in the town of Rio Linda in California on his radio show. For example, when he mentioned a boa constrictor recently, he said something like: For those of you in Rio Linda, that’s a snake. Why does he dislike the people of this town? — K.B., Fayetteville
A: There are different stories (read more - Fayetteville Observer)

At KESZ-FM (99.9), the Valley's only all-holiday station, program director Kevin Gossett starts planning seasonal music in June, readying to go on air in mid-November. But he's not looking for new music as much as a good mix of what he's got (read more - Megan Finnerty-Arizona Republic)  (read more - Sam Mittlesteadt-East Valley Tribune)

The Spanish version of the classic holiday poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” which was translated and recorded by 12th-grade Spanish Club members at Coughlin High School, will stream over the airwaves at noon Christmas Eve during the show “Community” on 88.5 WRKC-FM, Radio King’s College (read more - Genelle Hoban-Wilkes-Barre Times Leader)

Listeners of the Christian music station WBVN FM-104.5 will soon be able to put a face to the voices, when the station moves into its new home on S. Market St. in Marion (read more - Cheri Flinn-Marion Daily Republican)

Dr. Joy Browne of WOR (710 AM) started a spontaneous gift drive Tuesday in which her listeners ended up rescuing Christmas for a South Carolina woman and her three young children (ages 7, 3 and 1) + Jim Woll, who is "Everybody's Uncle" on the radio, has left WMTR (1250 AM) and will be heard on WNYH (740 AM) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

SIRIUS Satellite Radio, the Official Satellite Radio Partner of NASCAR starting in 2007, announced recently that it will debut The Driver's Seat, an exclusive daily talk show hosted by veteran broadcaster John Kernan and a roster of current and former NASCAR drivers, on Jan. 1 (read more - Niles Daily Star)

Coeur d’Alene radio station KVNI announced Friday the expansion of its local news programming and hiring of several new on-air broadcasters (read more - KXLY TV)

ARBitron numbers for Birmingham Indianapolis Honolulu Las Vegas Salt Lake City-Ogden (read 'em)

Doug Pullen rewinds the year in local TV and radio (read more - Flint Journal)

Former KABC radio host and, most recently, KZLA radio personality, Peter Tilden, will return to 790 KABC next week when he teams up with stand up comic and author, Paula Poundstone to fill in on McIntyre in the Morning as Doug McIntyre while McIntyre is on vacation

Friday December 22, 2006

Clear Channel Radio says it will keep its Air America affiliate in Madison on the air instead of switching the progressive talk format to sports on Jan. 1. Citing the overwhelming negative reaction to the planned change, the nation's no. 1 operator of radio stations said it would keep The Mic 92.1 FM on the air as a progressive talk station (read more - Ryan J. Foley-Business Week)  (read The Mic 92.1 statement)

Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the first radio broadcast.  Not many heard it and most of those who did had no idea where it was coming from. But on Christmas Eve, 1906, a handful of coastguards and shipping wireless operators were privy to a little piece of history. Using an alternator-transmitter in his embryonic station at Brant Rock, Massachusetts, in the United States, Reginald Fessenden sent out the world's first radio broadcast (read more - Chris Bond-Yorkshire Post U.K.)

Barry James, vice president and general manager of rhythmic oldies WILV-FM (100.3) and a 13-year veteran of Bonneville International, has been named vice president of new media for Bonneville Chicago, effective Jan 1 + Chicago media personalities participate in Christmas specials (read more - Feder of Chicago)

KDKA Radio is parting ways with John McIntire. McIntire said he'll host The Flip Side -- an evening program -- for the last time Dec. 29 (read more - Justin Vellucci-Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Words of warning for those who think a zillion channels of anything - satellite, hd, or Internet radio stations - will give more people more of what they want and make them happier as a result. Too much choice is a turn-off (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

Radio talk show host Lynn Cullen spoke with the Post-Gazette Wednesday about her emotional broadcast last week on the death of her niece Leah Nuetzel's boyfriend, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Clark. When he had to inform the Army of who should be notified first, Ms. Cullen said he requested that the family priest be the initial recipient of the news. "He couldn't bear the thought of his mother finding out that her only child was dead from two Marines at her door," Ms. Cullen said (read more - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press on Thursday that Iraq is "worth the investment" in American lives and dollars (read more - Star-Telegram)

WMAQ President and General Manager Larry Wert compared "Barely Today," hosted by Bruce Wolf  program with MSNBC's simulcast of New York morning man Don Imus' radio program. "But instead of a radio show with a camera on it, this will be a TV show on the radio(WLUP-FM 97.9," Wert said (read more - Phil Rosenthal-Chicago Tribune)

A crowd estimated at 450 gathered to honor longtime radio personality and announcer Jerry William ``Jaybird'' Drennan, who died Sunday (read more - Tom Gaffney-Akron Beacon-Journal)

Beginning January 8, "Prime Time Sports with Andy Furman" will be heard live and local from 4-7 p.m. on WFTK-FM "Supertalk FM 96.5"  (read more - Cincy Business Courier)

Mac Greer: Seth, both XM and Sirius continue to lose money. What do you make of the marketing efforts of satellite radio these days?
Seth Godin: Well, I don't own any stock, and I don't think every day about stocks, but it is inconceivable to me that those two guys aren't going to merge. If there was ever a synergy in a merger, there it is, because then they don't have to keep fighting with each other for content and for subscribers (read more - The Motley Fool)

ARBitron numbers for Denver-Boulder, Seattle-Tacoma, Colorado Springs, Columbus OH and Fresno (read 'em)

Mediabase has released its year-end charts featuring the most played songs, artists and record labels of 2006. Listed are the winners at each radio format, along with the top 20 most played artists, and leading record labels, by format (read the Mediabase List)

(click here to view the 2005 Radio Person of the Year)

Eighty percent of Seattle's biggest radio stations are now owned by media companies outside the state. Only six of the top 30 remain locally owned. Two are Christian stations. Three, including KOMO-AM and KVI-AM, are held by Seattle-based Fisher Broadcasting. And KING-FM is owned by a trust to protect its classical-music format, a gift to the community from the Bullitt family, former owners of KING-TV. Excepting KING-FM, the days of local companies owning just one station are now gone. All 29 other stations in Seattle are owned by chains (read more - John Carlson-Seattle Times)

Steve Mark, a fixture on Houston television since 1984, said Friday he will leave KPRC (Channel 2), his employer since 1997, on Dec. 31 after his contract was not renewed (read more - David Barron-Houston Chronicle)

According to a survey by the state Civil Defense following the October 15th earthquakes in Hawaii, there was confusion among Civil Defense officials and among radio station operators over which stations were designated for emergency broadcasts on each island. KIPA on the Big island was still listed as a local primary station even though it has been off the air following its sale in 2003 (read more - Nelson Daranciang-Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

This week, the Rush Limbaugh show shifted from Talk Radio AM 950 KPRC to NewsRadio AM 740 KTRH. Ken Charles, regional vice president of programming for Clear Channel Houston, said moving Limbaugh to KTRH "makes the biggest spoken-word radio station in Houston even bigger" (read more - Bruce Westbrook-Houston Chronicle)

From Kent Burkhart -- I am in Atlanta again. When I was here a few weeks ago there was a format change of a major station (96 Rock to Project 9 6 1), and as I arrived this time I was greeted with the news of another surprise format change. THERE IS NOW A BULL IN TOWN!!! Yep, the Clear Channel station once known as beautiful music Peach, and more recently known as WLTM-Lite Rock, suddenly became the third Atlanta major signal playing country music (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

Wal-Mart is now struggling to straighten out its marketing strategy in the middle of the crucial holiday shopping season. The timing couldn't be worse for Wal-Mart, which has warned of sluggish December sales (read more - Holly M. Sanders-NY Post)

In an exclusive NOW on PBS report re-airing Friday, December 22 at 8:30 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), Larry Wilkerson, Powell's former chief-of-staff, claims he unwittingly participated in a "hoax on the American people" (read more -  NOW)

From Lee Abrams -- Well, Ahmet Ertegun passed away...a few months ago Arif Marden too. Who will carry on? Are guys like this just part of an era in music that'll go down as...an era? Is it too late? Will guys like this with Music in their genes re-emerge? At this very moment I tend to think that music guys REALLY controlling the music business are a thing of the past, and outside of the connected Hip Hop moguls, have been replaced by icy numbers guys controlling the rudder who will inevitably sap the lifeblood out of their companies (read more - Lee Abrams)

(click here to view the 2005 Top 10 Newsmakers)

David Leno, 17, the “Voice of Council Rock-South High School,” in Philly announces his school's basketball and football games and hopes to attend either Syracuse or Ithaca, schools known for their communications programs. Leno recently “shadowed” Comcast SportsNet anchor Neil Hartman for a day (read more - Laura Nachman-Bucks County Courier-Times)

Radio 4 Woman’s Hour presenter Jenni Murray stunned listeners yesterday by announcing she has breast cancer. But she said bravely: “Fingers crossed, everything should be all right” (read more - The Sun U.K.)

President Bush quietly appointed television sitcom producer Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting this week, overriding opposition from public broadcasting advocates who fear the outspoken conservative will politicize the post. Bell's nomination had been stalled since September because of concerns about his qualifications among several members of the Senate Commerce Committee. But Bush was able to circumvent the need for Senate approval by naming Bell to the board Wednesday evening as a recess appointee (read more - Matea Gold-LA Times)

(read more - RDN CENTRAL ARCHIVES - Click here)