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Anything is possible now that the National Association of Broadcasters has discovered indecency on the airwaves. The NAB has been shocked, shocked, to learn that the potty-mouth Howard Stern is talking about sex, poop and body parts on satellite radio, and says that's a good enough reason for the government to block the merger of XM and Sirius. If you're wondering how many times the NAB labeled (Howard) Stern's show offensive when it aired on broadcast radio, here's a clue: The answer lies somewhere between zero and zip, nothing and nada (read more - Glenn Garvin-Miami Herald)

Mike Love, who was one-half of the top-rated evening duo known as "The Bad Boyz," is out after 10 years at Clear Channel Radio urban contemporary WGCI-FM (107.5) + Dick Biondi, nighttime legend at ABC-owned "True Oldies" WZZN-FM (94.7), will broadcast his show tonight from Italian Village Restaurant (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Even though he does six hours of live talk radio every day, Thom Hartmann is not among those who count on Hillary Clinton to provide hosts with a steady stream of material.
"My take on this is different from most hosts," says Hartmann who can now be heard in New York on WWRL (1600 AM), where Hartmann has stepped into the noon-3 p.m. Air America slot vacated by Al Franken (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

The new semi-annual study from Bridge Ratings & Research indicates the number of monthly Internet radio* listeners nationwide has jumped 26% over last year and has increased to 72 million monthly listeners from 45 million at the end of 2005. In 2005, weekly Internet radio listening was at 15% of the U.S. population 12 and over (read more - Bridge Ratings)

Now that Al Franken has decided to find out if talking about and making fun of politicians translates into being a politician, stations carrying Air America and similar programming are having to adjust their schedules and figure out what's next for their brand of talk radio. In the case of Seattle-based KPTK-AM (1090), that's meant moving around some hosts already known to and popular with the local audience, rather than extensively overhauling the lineup and bringing in new voices (read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI)

The iPod did start a revolution, one that is only now starting to plateau. Sirius and XM had their hearts set on creating a radio revolution in the late 1990s. Coincidentally enough, they launched at about the same time Apple was working on the first iPod (read more - Mathew Ingram -The Globe and Mail CA)

Shares of XM Satellite Radio Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. headed lower Wednesday amid worries that their proposed merger may not get approval from regulators (read more - David B. Wilkerson-MarketWatch)

Federal Communications Commission staffers agreed to examine the $13 billion merger of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., though a key agency official acknowledges that it will be a difficult review (read more - Ron Orol and Chris Nolter-The Deal-Law.com)

Sportscaster Jim Lampley pleaded no contest Wednesday to one misdemeanor charge of violating a restraining order and a judge sentenced the 57-year-old to three years of probation. Candice Sanders, the 2003 Miss California USA, said that Lampley threw her against a door and two walls of her Encinitas apartment on the night of New Year's Eve. She claimed Lampley was drunk and high on marijuana when the incident took place (read more - NBC San Diego)

Walter Cronkite sported sunglasses and a hard hat when he showed journalists how to dig up dirt Wednesday. Cronkite buried a golden-plated shovel into the earth at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Channel Eight KAET, which is set to open in August of 2008 (read more - Kyle Snow-ASU Web Devil)

Two new radio stations have recently joined the DFW airwaves - KXEB 910 AM (Now KATH 910 AM) and KJON 850 AM. These radio stations are joining a revolution of Catholic media in response to Pope John Paul II's call to evangelize (read more - D. Johnson, K. Cosgrove-University of Dallas News)

Ald. Michael McGee frequently says outrageous and inflammatory things. But his comments weren't nearly as outrageous as Charlie Sykes claimed Wednesday on his annual "Insight 2007" broadcast on WTMJ-AM (620). Playing a tape of a McGee news conference about recall efforts against him, Sykes claimed that the alderman was blaming "Jew cops" for being part of the attempts to remove him from office. What McGee actually said was "Jude cops," referring to police accused of beating Frank Jude Jr. in 2004. WTMJ general manager Jon Schweitzer admitted that Sykes had screwed up (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

Radio One said it may need to restate financial results going back to 1999 to record additional compensation expenses, as the company reviews its stock-option granting practices (read more - Yahoo Finance)

Recent comments by retired basketball star Tim (“I hate gay people”) Hardaway did serious damage to his image and career but also unwittingly raised serious cultural issues about sexuality and gender --- Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn’t welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they’d welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women. I specify unattractive females because if a young lady is attractive (or, even better, downright “hot”) most guys, very much including the notorious love machines of the National Basketball Association, would probably welcome her joining their showers (read more - Michael Medved-Townhall)

The Beat will no longer broadcast at 104.3 FM starting Monday. The station, KXBT, and its tower have been sold by Entercom Austin to Univisión Communications, which will re-brand the station as "La Que Buena" (read more - Omar L. Gallaga-Austin American-Statesman)

The latest victims of restructuring ---- or right-sizing or whatever you want to call it ---- appear to be talk-show hosts "Dangerous Dick & Skibba" of 103.7 Free FM + Remember Robin Roth? The black-clothed, Goth-esque disc jockey spent years spinning CDs at 91X, always sounding cool, collected and deliciously detached. In a world of sound-alike DJs, she was something unique ---- until the bosses sacked her a couple of years ago. Now she's back (read more - Randy Dotinga-San Diego NC Times)

Premiere Radio Networks' Mediabase is partnering with BigChampagne online media measurement. Mediabase will provide airplay information to be included in BigChampagne’s new daily chart offerings. Together, Mediabase and BigChampagne will provide the radio and recording industries with integrated tools for exploring the relationship between online music and traditional airplay daily

Last week, Jody Dean, KLUV-FM (98.7) morning drive ace, launched a fund-raising campaign to buy a new van for the Marine Corps League. One anonymous donor wrote a check for $30,000 (read more - Alan Peppard-Dallas News)

One day in the year 1900 a man dashed into a small New Haven luncheonette and asked for a quick meal that he

could eat on the run. Louis Lassen, the establishment's owner, hurriedly sandwiched a broiled beef patty between two slices of bread and sent the customer on his way, so the story goes, with America's first hamburger (visit Louis Lunch) (read more - Ken Hoffman-Houston Chronicle)

Ever heard of Jennifer Strange? If you live in Boston and get your news from the local media, probably not. On January 12, Strange, a 28-year-old Californian, died of water poisoning after participating in an on-air contest staged by KDND Radio (107.9 FM). Whatever’s to blame, it’s unfortunate that Boston’s press has kept quiet. There’s a host of stories to be done here, from Entercom’s corporate culture to what Strange’s death says about the state of radio today (read more - Adam Reilly-The Boston Phoenix)

Rory Kennedy's new documentary, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib," makes me sick - and that's probably what she had in mind. "Ghosts," premiering tonight at 9:30 ET on HBO, is framed with footage from a famous Yale University experiment from the early 1960s, in which volunteers were ordered to administer increasingly painful doses of electricity to people strapped into contraptions in the next room. Though the screams kept getting worse, the volunteers, sometimes after vehement protest, pressed on, bowing to authority, absolving themselves of responsibility (read more - David Bianculli-NY Daily News)

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox will not take up a job at the helm of U.S. broadcaster Univision, his wife said on Wednesday following a media report that he could be in the running (read more - CNN Money)

The showdown between the Federal Communications Commission and TV stations on permitted language in prime time may come down to "The War." In Ken Burns' epic 14 1/2-hour film for PBS about World War II this fall, three words banned by the FCC will be uttered -- one starting with "s," spoken by a veteran, and two with "f," used by narrator Keith David when explaining the origin of two expressions used in the era, SNAFU and FUBAR (read more - Roger Catlin-Hartford Courant)

From Murphy Martin -- The late Larry Grove, a former Dallas news man who first suggested I write a book, which I did 20-years later, once wrote: "The greatest task of a President is

not that of Commander-In-Chief or party leader or legislative leader or director of foreign policy or chief of the executive branch or head of state. Each of these is important of course, but if a President is to be a great leader of a morally great nation, he must do something that transcends these jobs. He must speak TO the United States as well as FOR it." As we wrote in our book "Front Row Seat", we wholeheartedly concur with this assessment (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

93.3 WMMR in Philly's 1st Rock Station’s bi-annual Day Off on the Slopes happens March 2nd at Jack Frost Mountain in the Poconos. Pierre Robert and morning guys, Preston & Steve will lead thousands of loyal listeners through a crazy day of skiing and risk-taking, culminating in the world famous MMR Happy Hour in the E 2000 lounge

iBiquity Digital has launched a new incentive program that will give broadcast groups an opportunity to cap license fees for HD Radio station conversions at $10K (license fees will increase to $15K in July 2007 and $25K in July 2008) (read more about becoming a HD Broadcaster - iBiquity)

Less than 48 hours after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Daytona 500, Kevin Harvick visited ESPN Radio studios in Bristol, CT to appear on the Dan Patrick Show (Photo courtesy ESPN)

Entravision's KDLD-FM and KDLE-FM Indie 103.1 announced today that Max Tolkoff has been appointed Program Director, effective April 1st

ESPN Radio will begin its 10th season of Major League Baseball broadcasts on Sunday, April 1, at 7:35 pm ET when the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals host the New York Mets

Federal approval of the proposed $11.4 billion merger of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. will hinge on how regulators define the companies' market.
If Justice Department antitrust enforcers find a distinct market for satellite radio, the deal could be dead, because it would create a monopoly. But if the market instead includes the traditional radio industry, iPods and Internet radio, as the companies argue, the deal could win approval, though not without conditions (read more - Wall Street Journal - Subscription Required)

Mel Karmazin, the chief executive of Sirius Satellite Radio, made a lot of phone calls seeking advice before he entered into a merger deal with XM Satellite Radio on Monday. Maybe he should have called Charles W. Ergen, the founder and chairman of EchoStar Communications. Mr. Ergen could have given Mr. Karmazin an earful about his failed effort to merge EchoStar with DirecTV four years ago, a deal that seems eerily similar to the one Sirius and XM have proposed. Will the government see things differently this time? (read more - Andrew Ross Sorkin-NY Times)

If this merger goes through -- and understand, it has some high, high hurdles to clear and precedent is strongly against it -- I worry that, as an XM subscriber, I'll lose channels I like and get channels I don't. After all, satellite spectrum is limited. It's not like a combined company could suddenly put up 300 channels. There's one thing I'd like out of satellite radio: The ability to TiVo it, record it and share it with friends (read more - Frank Ahrens-Washington Post) (read more - David Lazarus-SF Chronicle) (read more - USA Today)

Indeed, in a world where media moguls have forever declared that content is king, the notion of paying for radio has proven for perhaps the first time that the king can be trumped. Badly. Technology, folks, has felled the mighty this time around. Sure, satellite radio can offer tons of channels—130, in fact, on Sirius and 170 on XM. You want easy jazz, rough talk, music from the '60s or '70s, even sportswriter Tony Kornheiser, it's all there for the taking. But it is being delivered to me when XM or Sirius would like me to have it, on their schedule, with their editors doing the selections. For a generation that has grown to rely on MySpace, MyTV, MyEverything, what satellite is offering is your programming (read more - Ron Grover-Business Week)

If the (XM-Sirius) deal goes through, the competitive landscape changes dramatically. Bye-bye bidding wars -- in fact, there's not much need to pay for more programming in the near term -- and no more price-cutting to sign distribution deals with big retailers, automakers and others. One other key positive, unchanged by the deal, is that satellite radio appears to be a fabulous product, getting better almost every day. I'm sure there are people who dislike the service, but I've never met anyone who didn't rave about it, regardless of which company they're working with (read more - Chuck Jaffe-MarketWatch) (read more - Alex Barker-Financial Times)

From John Rook -- A promotional genius, Mel had the leaders of AM/FM actually promoting satellite radio as they continued to glance over their shoulder expressing concern about any merger that could put satellite radio on a par with their thousands of FM/AM stations. As noted on this site week’s ago, the two satellite networks have signaled their intention to merge with Karmazin in the driver’s seat. If anyone can sell the idea to regulatory agencies, it’ll be Mel (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

The marriage of satellite radio giants XM and Sirius is being touted as a friendly merger of equals in the U.S., but the situation looks much different in Canada, where the two companies disagree over whose operation is worth more (read more - Grant Robertson-The Globe and Mail CA)

Mark Ramsey interviewed Softwave Media's Bill Figenshu on the fallout following the merger announcement by XM and Sirius Satellite Radio (listen here - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

The months ahead will test the NAB's Washington clout, which is considerable, but this will be just one of many dramas swirling around this proposal. One reason it was advanced now is that satellite people feel Republicans will be more sympathetic to a merger than Democrats, many of whom think there's been too much media consolidation already (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

What effect will the $13 billion merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have on the local economy and the Big Three automakers? General Motors Corp. has a lucrative deal with XM to put radios in most GM vehicles. Sirius is partnered with both DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford Motor Co. Troy-based Delphi Corp. will be affected if the merger goes through, because most XM radios in the marketplace today are made by Delphi (read more - Art Vuolo-Michiguide)

The Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio said the group "is ready to oppose the merger and fight for consumer choice and public interest" (read more - PR Newswire)

The prototypical talk radio station today is WABC (770 AM), whose daytime lineup of John Gambling, Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin is purebred wall-to-wall conservative. "This is what most listeners want," says WABC program director Phil Boyce. "We didn't set out to ram a point of view down anyone's throat. This is what works for WABC." Air America suggested others wanted something else (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Management representatives of KDKA met with local religious leaders to discuss the case of a pastor who committed suicide after the station ran promos promising to expose scandalous behavior on his part (read more - Ann Rodgers-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

The promotion of Jerry Schnacke to vice president and market manager at Bonneville International completed the restructuring of the company's Chicago management Tuesday + Although Mike North still has 18 months to go on his contract as morning personality at sports/talk WSCR-AM (670), his station's management already is beginning to look past him -- and his underperforming ratings (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Spanish-language media circles have been rife with speculation about which executives might be in the running for the top slot as Univision CEO, with a roster of rumored candidates ranging from former Mexican President Vicente Fox to Jim McNamara, former CEO of Univision rival Telemundo, which is owned by General Electric's NBC (read more - Zachery Kouwe and Janet Whitman-NY Post)

Arbitron is announcing today that Cox Radio has agreed to encode its four radio stations in Houston for the Arbitron Portable People Meter radio ratings service (www.arbitron.com)

I never knew that Palm Beach vagabonds Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter were funny. I thought they were simply unintentionally funny, the kind of folks who get laughs while trying to be serious. But now, suddenly, we have the birth of something new: the comedy stylings of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. Playing it for laughs in sketch comedy. In case you missed it, Limbaugh and Coulter teamed up for a "humorous" skit to open Sunday night's Fox News program, The 1/2 Hour News Hour (read more - Frank Cerabino-Palm Beach Post)

Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan, the dean of West Point, decided that he needed to do something to end the horror of Americans torturing prisoners. So he gathered three of the top military and FBI interrogation experts, and they headed for the airport. Did they fly to Abu Ghraib? No. Guantanamo? No. One of those secret prisons where the CIA allegedly tortures terror suspects? Nope. Finnegan and his experts flew to Hollywood to meet the producers of the TV show 24, so Finnegan could urge them to stop the actors who play American agents from pretending to torture the actors who play terrorists in the show (read more - Peter Carlson-Washington Post)

With credit and collections representing one of the best ways to optimize advertising sales results, Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association and its Broadcast Cable Credit and collections subsidiary, will share “The Secrets to Effective Collections Calls” in the Association’s February Distance Learning Seminar, scheduled for Tuesday, February 27 (read more - BCFM)

"In 1997 Jimmy called me (Coleman Sisson) about helping him with an idea he had for buying an AM radio station in Key West. I told him we should just create our own station on the Internet, and that's how Radio Margaritaville happened. I manage the station for Jimmy. In 2005 we got our own channel on Sirius Satellite Radio and now have over 1 million listeners" (read more - Ken Hoffman-Houston Chronicle)

Mark Belling of WISN-AM (1130) is #83. Talkers magazine's annual "Heavy Hundred" lists Rush Limbaugh, followed by Sean Hannity and Michael Savage in the 1-2-3 spots. Howard Stern, now on satellite radio, is in 12th place (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

Emmis Communications has signed a definitive agreement to sell CBS affiliate KGMB-TV in Honolulu to HITV Operating Co., Inc., for $40 million in cash

Blair Garner visited Big Machine recording artist Taylor Swift before her recent appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Garner helped “touch up” Swift’s makeup before she hit the stage (visit BlairGarner.com)

RDN Publisher's Point of View (originally published January 19) -- The first thing to usually do when confronted with a situation/question/problem in Washington is to look for a way to avoid responsibility or come up with a law or rule that was passed to justify your answer. The second thing to do is to CYA by letting others come up with a game plan so you can say something like "It's not my plan, but their plan might work!" That's probably the direction we're headed in with the XM and Sirius merger. We're talking not only about the egos of the CEO's and programmers and staff, and the future of each company, but also the money that GM, Chrysler, Honda, BMW and others have put into the satellite radio business. And they've got high paid lobbyists who are all dressed up and likely kicking the tires and making the rounds in the showrooms of Capitol Hill right now. What would a merger take? Technically, you just modify and marry the similar channels and satellcast the same programs and channels over both XM and Sirius radio sets. The rest is just a matter of doing the paperwork. No need to make any changes in the satellites or build new XM or Sirius radio sets. Use 'em both for a few years until a new generation of sets is built that will receive either existing satellite's signal. The answers do not dwell on Wall Street but you will find them on K Street and where Independence and Pennsylvania Avenues meet. So, if the CEO's and parties, and their lawyers (Sirius and XM) can come up with a game plan so that the 1997 FCC rule can be replaced to allow a merger, the FCC just might shuffle their feet and then go along with it. Hey! It's Washington. It's the land of wiggle room. Give all of the parties enough wiggle room and they'll be happy. What more does one need to say? Rules and laws were written to be reviewed, modified and quantified to meet the times and needs. Prohibition was passed and repealed, wasn't it? If the Bush administration can change their game plans on the War on Terror and phone tapping a couple or a half dozen times, what makes you think that the FCC can't modify or revise its rules? After all, we're just talking about people here, aren't we? Show them the way and they will follow. That way, everybody who's had an opinion about the success of satellite radio can say, "I told you so!" and be right. Everybody wins. Larry Shannon, Publisher, RadioDailyNew.com (Your comments? e-mail ls@radiodailynews.com)

Let XM and Sirius merge -- The FCC shouldn't stop the nation's two providers of satellite radio from joining forces, because they would be only one of many in the audio entertainment business (read more - LA Times Editorial)

XM has far better reception, and stations that are an oasis in the desert, programmed by people who inspire trust and confidence. But Sirius buys XM. Make me puke. So, you’ve got the Wall Street pundits saying this is good for the listener.
Hogwash. Sure, now you can get Howard Stern and baseball for the same price, but there’s no competition for talent, no drive towards innovation. And probably, tight playlists with lame tracks, just like we presently have on Sirius. Hell, they’re buying XM, AREN’T THEY? The dream is over. Fumbled by two inept companies. Yes, Sirius is inept too. It didn’t realize that satellite radio was eclipsed by the iPod and Internet radio in the consumer’s mind. Sirius was fighting XM, and ignorant as to its bad value proposition (read more - Bob Lefsetz Letter)

He's the biggest personality at one of the biggest radio stations playing rap music in the Tampa Bay area. But after nearly two hours discussing the violence, misogyny and materialism that fills so much hip-hop culture today, Wild 98.7 morning man Orlando Davis came to a pointed conclusion. "It's like a cancer, or like crack going into neighborhoods . . . Gangsta rap has been destructive as the Klan (to black culture)," said Davis (read more - Eric Deggans-St Petersburg Times)

It's been a year since country-music upstart KWLI 92.5-FM ("The Wolf") challenged perennial ratings leader KYGO 98.5-FM (read more - Dick Kreck-Denver Post)

Advocates from a wide spectrum of causes are expected to turn out in force Friday to tell the FCC commissioners that the current media ownership rules are draining the broadcasting industry of diversity and competition (read more - Barry Fox-Patriot News)

Bonneville Executive Vice President Drew Horowitz made the announcement this morning that Jerry Schnacke has been promoted to the position of Vice President & Market Manager for the Chicago Radio Group, including WTMX, WILV, and WDRV (visit Bonneville)

As devotees of Fox News know, O'Reilly, a former reporter-anchor on Denver's 7, is the golden boy of the network's schedule, since The O'Reilly Factor continues to be the most watched cable "news" programming. But during the past year, Olbermann's Countdown series has gradually gained audience ratings and water-cooler conversation, especially among those highly-prized viewers in the 18-49 demographic (read more - Dusty Saunders-Rocky Mountain News)

From the TV newsroom perspective, cyber stings are lovely things. The hero/villain factor is only too obvious. Also consider the potential for hot video: footage of actual busts, some featuring attempts at escape; the satisfying expressions of shock and dismay crossing the faces of the wannabe child molesters. It's all very raw and real. And you can schedule it in advance for maximum newsroom convenience. The viewer, on the other hand, confronts a more complex set of feelings. On the one hand the aspiring molesters are up to horrible, horrible things. They should be stopped, exposed, possibly beaten with sticks. On the other hand, there's something grotesque about seeing this vile display proffered as sweeps month entertainment (read more - Peter Ames Carlin-The Oregonian)

Protesters say they plan to gather this weekend near the K-Country 103.1 FM Radio station, just off U.S. 17 Bypass, and petitions are circulating to show their continued unhappiness with the firing of afternoon disc jockey Rick Roberts (read more - Kelly Marshall Fuller-Myrtle Beach Sun)

Jesus "El Peladillo" Garcia, former afternoon host at KLAX-FM in Los Angeles, signed on Monday as morning personality alongside Claudia "La Concha" Ramirez on Spanish Broadcasting System's regional Mexican WLEY-FM (107.9) + News of the proposed merger Monday of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio was greeted with enthusiasm at Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Radio (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Baltimore radio vet Jason Kidd, who recently programmed WWMX (MIX 106.5), and was formerly at XM Satellite Radio, rejoins CBS RADIO Baltimore as Program Director of Adult Hits 102.7 JACK FM, and Mainstream Top 40 MIX 106.5’s HD-2 channel

Ask Doctor Law -- Q: Our company owns and operates AM radio stations. During the week before the recent Super Bow XLI, one of our morning drive disc jockeys in South Florida decided to have some fun by conducting a fictitious contest offering game tickets to whoever was caller No. 41. We didn't authorize this. We found out about it later when the winning caller complained to us he didn't get the tickets. We settled with him to avoid a lawsuit. Would he have won if he had sued us? (read the answer - Miami Herald)

Tune into WWOZ live at http://wwoz-wm.streamguys.com/wwoz for the sounds of Mardi Gras being broadcast live from Frenchman Street in the French Quarter in New Orleans

The jokes on Fox News Channel’s new un-Daily Show, “The Half Hour News Hour,” don’t just “tilt” right—they plummet.

Arbitron has named New York based Jeanette Schaller as its first customer service representative for its National Radio Services team, which provides listening information on radio networks, radio syndicators, public radio and satellite radio

Detroit had arguably the two best “love songs” DJs in America up against each other with Alan Almond on soft rock WNIC-FM (100.3) and Johnny Williams on soft pop WMGC-FM (105.1). Now, Magic 105.1 decided to take their night shift in “another direction” by dropping Williams and replacing him with the nationally syndicated “John Tesh Show” (read more - Art Vuolo-Michiguide)

Digital technology is turning commercial broadcasting upside down. But the fightback has begun. Radio stations are trying something new - and firing some of their disc jockeys. Now the idea is crossing the Atlantic (read more - Nigel Cassidy-BBC News U.K.)

Here's a call to all persons who have radio running through their blood. I'm speaking to the thousands who either sit behind a microphone or hit the streets selling the programs that those sitting behind the microphone create. The reason why this is directed at these two groups is simple; trying to reach radio industry executives is futile. Execs don't/won't/can't listen to anything that's not generated by corporate HQ if they want to hold onto their jobs (read more - Audio Graphics)

From Happy Hare -- Al Franken was a hilarious skit talent on Saturday Night Live, as well as a master “stand-up,” but he was no “stand up guy” for Air America. His Air America humor was not the hard-edged stuff of his renowned Emmy and Grammy award winning political satire, but mostly consisted of amusing witticisms, if at all.. On his final show last week, he made a number of what should have been telling points, but delivered without the inflection natural to a good radio talker. Listeners were frustrated with him. They were Franken fans who wanted to be able to say, “Did you hear what Al Franken said today?” He provided few of those moments (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

In a front page story in The Washington Post on Sunday, reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull exposed dreadful conditions at the supposed "crown jewel of military medicine"-- Walter Reed Army Medical Center. On Monday, the paper carried Part II by the same reporters, titled: "Inside Mologne House, the Survivors of War Wrestle With Military Bureaucracy and Personal Demons". Today, there is part 3 of the series (read more - Editor & Publisher)

This week, Dixie Chicks music fans get to relive the dramatic back story that triggered the controversy and this crop of music with the aptly timed DVD release of the documentary "Shut Up & Sing" (read more - Jonathan Takiff-Philly News)

His voice is unmistakable and his name is synonymous with country music. He has never topped the charts though he lets the world know who has each week on more than 300 radio stations. Bob Kingsley has been a part of, and promoted, country music for close to 30 years. Weekly host of Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40, he is in the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame and a two-time recipient of the CMA National Broadcast Personality of the Year Award. But aside from being the voice that speaks to millions worldwide, Kingsley has a passion for horses and the “cowboy” way of life (read more - Melissa Winn-Weatherford Telegram)

ReachMD www.reachmd.com, an innovative health media company, announced it is creating a 24/7 national radio channel designed to meet the needs of busy healthcare professionals. The channel is scheduled to launch in the spring and will be available exclusively on XM (read more - PR Newswire)

Chicago Tribune Co., the unit of media conglomerate Tribune Co. that publishes this newspaper as well as its--yep--RedEye edition, has filed a federal trademark infringement suit because News Corp.'s Fox News Channel had a new late-night show called "Red Eye" (read more - Phil Rosenthal-Chicago Tribune)

Satellite radio operators Sirius and XM are expected to announce their long-awaited merger today, according to a source familiar with the deal. According to the source, XM Chairman Gary Parsons will retain that title in the combined entity, with Karmazin likely taking the CEO role. It is unclear what role, if any, XM CEO Hugh Panero will play (read more - Peter Lauria-NY Post)

Every time the Dixie Chicks thrust a Grammy trophy into the air last week, it was a symbolic poke in the eye to all those who tried to silence their voices and destroy their careers ... But country radio stations were wrong to ban the Chicks' music, and regulations should be imposed to ensure that nothing like this happens again. It is eminently reasonable for a station to decline to play a record if it doesn't "test" well with listeners; but it is outrageous to blacklist a performer's entire catalog simply because it doesn't like his or her politics (read more - Edward Morris-The Tennessean Editorial)

When executives at Spanish Broadcasting System asked Gloria B. to move from WSKQ (97.9 FM) to WPAT-FM (93.1) three years ago, she admits she was hesitant (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

The Steve and DC Radio Show has been around the dial a few times in St. Louis, and it's due to spin back up on KRFT-AM (1190, Talk Monster) beginning at 5 a.m. March 5 (read more - Deb Peterson-St Louis Post-Dispatch)

Bill O'Reilly had Billboard Deputy Editor Bill Werde on his radio program to discuss the Dixie Chicks sweep at the Grammys last week, framing the wins as the result of politics and sympathy rather than an acknowledgment of powerful and well-crafted art. When Werde questioned O'Reilly's journalistic standards, O'Reilly cut off Werde's mic and called him a "snide SOB" (listen to and watch the YouTube video-NewsHounds)

From Claude Hall -- Rob Mineo writes: "Greetings from one of your old SUNY Brockport students. I'm glad I "Googled" Claude Hall and found your website. I'm really enjoying it. It would have been very easy for me to thank you 20 years ago while sitting in one of your classes, but the fact that I am still compelled to thank you almost 20 years later should be a testament as to what an outstanding teacher you were + I've written about the Cream before. But the truth is that I haven't written enough. Let me make this statement at the start: I believe that the Cream was - and still is - the best rock 'n' roll group that has ever existed. Three men, Eric Clapton, guitar and vocals; Ginger Baker, drums; Jack Bruce, bass and vocals. Absolutely astonishing music! Without peer! Listening now, after all of these years, to "Sunshine of Your Love," I start to cry (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

A war between old and new media has begun. After peaceably co-existing for years, the analog and digital media worlds have swapped the first salvos over content in what could be a very messy - and costly - battle (read more - Peter Lauria and Holly M. Sanders - NY Post)

Spanish Broadcasting System, parent of WSKQ (97.9 FM), has sued former "El Vacilon" host Luis Jimenez, who left the station last month, charging he is still trying to illegally cash in on the "El Vacilon" name. Jimenez immediately countersued (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

It's been slow but steady going for WUNC's "The Story With Dick Gordon" since it launched nationally in January, with at least one major development. As of March 1 -- a tentative date, says Chris Kohtz of American Public Media -- Dick Gordon's hourlong interview show will be carried nationwide by XM Satellite Radio (read more - Danny Hooley-Charlotte News and Observer)

People magazine, Vanity Fair, The Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, E! and many others have dedicated sections of their Web sites to all things Oscar. Harnessing themselves to such blockbuster events marks yet another step in the integration of old media like magazines, newspapers and television into the online world (read more - Katharine Q. Seelye-NY Times)

Tavis Smiley, a radio and television commentator, rushed to a small library in Mount Zion Baptist Church yesterday. Television reporters quickly grabbed their microphones for interviews when they heard him approaching (read more - Titan Barksdale-Winston Salem Journal)

The expansion of the online marketplace, coupled with ever-worsening CD sales, is now all but forcing the music companies to tread on ground they once viewed as off limits (read more - Jeff Leeds-NY Times)

Responding to a request from lawmakers, the Federal Communications Commission has drafted a report outlining what Congress might do to curb excessively violent programs. The government shouldn't be making these calls; parents should (read more - LA Times Editorial)

Daytona International Speedway marked the inaugural race broadcasts beamed to listeners by Sirius Satellite Radio, the latest company to hitch a business model to the rising popularity of stock-car racing. Sirius will pay NASCAR $107 million over five years for the right to air race broadcasts, but the company's deep dive into the sport means two things (read more - Alan Schmadtke-Orlando Sentinel)

From Tommy Kramer -- People usually try to do too much with promos, especially morning show promos. They get too

complicated and full of "marketing your aspirations." The promos should be very simple, the "free sample" type. So use this template:
1. Short open: "Mornings with Ted and Tracy....."
2. Audio clip from the show
3. Short tag: "Ted and Tracy, weekday mornings 6 to 10, on 102.9, The Frog." (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

The Federal Communications Commission will hold its third public hearing on media ownership Friday in Harrisburg. The commission is reconsidering all its rules as part of a quadrennial review required by Congress, but what has sparked the most interest is its look at its media ownership rules, including the limits on the number of television and radio stations a firm can own in one area and the prohibition on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership (read more - Barry Fox-Pennsylvania Patriot News)

Despite KMOX's dearth of play-by-play for teams other than Missouri football and basketball, the station that for decades had a stranglehold on broadcast rights to all the major area sports teams remains the ratings leader in the market (read more - Dan Caesar-St Louis Post Dispatch)

Michael Irvin, an ESPN NFL studio analyst since 2003, won't return next season. Irvin, the ex-Dallas Cowboy recently elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was briefly suspended by ESPN after a misdemeanor arrest for possession of drug paraphernalia (read more - Michael Hiestand-USA Today)

A large increase in the number of complaints made to the BBC has left the corporation's complaints unit struggling to cope. Last year the corporation received 150,000 complaints - up 13,000 on the previous year (read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

The Conclave Learning Conference has named Jeff Kleinbaum to the newly created position of sponsorship & fundraising coordinator (visit www.TheConclave.com)

Media Audit/Ipsos says it's testing a new electronic radio ratings measurement system designed to compete with long-dominant Arbitron (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Paragon Media Strategies has acquired Bob Harper’s Keystone Focus Research. Harper joins Paragon as a Senior Vice President

Former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway apologized again Sunday for his anti-gay remarks, saying that he didn't mean to say what he said in a South Florida radio interview last week (read more - USA Today)

By 2012, local video advertising on the web will reach $5 billion and account for more than one-third of all local online advertising. That's local online advertising. "Local" is the pool radio draws so heavily from. So, in other words, going video isn't just a cool luxury, it will be an economic necessity for local radio in the years to come (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

"You can't take any of this stuff to Circuit City, or buy it there for that matter," Mike Urban said. "But old radios are a hot collectible; there are 6,000 or so related items for sale a week on eBay and other Web sites. And when people buy antique radios, they want to be able to listen to them." That must have been the pitch that Mike Urban, who earned an electronics engineering degree in 1979 and worked in the computer industry for 20 years, gave to his wife Suzanne eight years ago. She went along with the career change (read more - Frank Juliano-Connecticut Post)

Al Franken's time slot on Air America might be in even better hands now, a local station executive says. Thom Hartmann's three-hour program had been syndicated by Air America in Franken's old 9 a.m. to noon window (read more - Steve Carney-LA Times)

Marv Dyson is a pioneer in Chicago radio. He has been in the broadcast industry for more than 40 years. More than half of that time was spent at urban powerhouse WGCI, where Dyson was president and general manager. AS CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, his desire for excellence has no end (read more - CBS 2 Chicago

CNBC's Money Honey Maria Bartiromo has been under fire since her close friendship and globetrotting trip on the corporate jet with Citigroup's now fired global asset management head Todd Thomson first came to light. But she is still keeping her day job and her easy money side jobs as a magazine columnist for Business Week and Reader's Digest - where she is estimated to be pulling in another six figures in pocket change (read more - Keith J. Kelly-NY Post)

Sunday dozens of East Texans gathered at radio station KRBA in downtown Lufkin with radio host Anthony Erwin. His gospel music show is celebrating 13 years (read more - KTRE 9)

Veteran WNBC/Channel 4 reporter and anchorman Ralph Penza died yesterday at a local hospital after a long illness. He was 74 (read more - Richard Huff-NY Daily News)

The William Morris Agency tried to play hardball with the Fox News Channel, but it struck out big time - with its client, news cutie Kiran Chetry, getting cut from the network (read more - Page Six)

Peter Muscanelli, a local radio talk show host has purchased the former JL Ward's Tavern in Schenectady, and has a very different use in mind (read more - Albany Biz Review)

WiFi is coming to an entire city near you. When every spot is a hotspot every Internet receiver becomes a radio. And radio's competition explodes. Are you set to compete in that world? Do you have the plan? The tools? (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

C-SPAN has been informed by SIRIUS Satellite Radio that C-SPAN Radio will no longer be part of their programming line-up. Although we were a charter programming service with SIRIUS since its launch, we were unable to reach agreement with them for a new contract because they demanded rights for extensive pre-emption of our channel in order to carry sports programming, which we contend affects the integrity of our public affairs event coverage (read more - C-SPAN)

Entercom sold KKSN to Salem Communications. It is not yet clear what the station's new format will be. It is simulcasting the talk programming of KTRO (read more - Salem Statesman-Journal)

Rush Limbaugh read several paragraphs of my column as one of many news items about severe cold in the United States in February. His overall point was that global warming hysteria is misplaced and that the media as a whole use short-term warm spells as evidence of global warming but do not question global warming when we have cold snaps. Reading the transcript Friday, I was relieved he didn't say I was making a statement on global warming, because I didn't. I merely wrote that February has been unusually cold in Roanoke. That's a fact (read more - Kevin Myatt-Roanoke Times)

The fifth annual Texas Radio 98.7 Mardi Gras & Gumbo Cook-off begins at noon on Saturday at Schroeder Hall in Goliad County (read more - Victoria Advocate)

The scope of sports talk radio in Jacksonville is about to change. The First Coast will have a 50,000-watt radio station with a 24- 7 all-sports talk format beginning in April (read more - Jeff Elliott-Red Orbit)

A pub named after radio legend John Peel has been opened in the Wirral town where he was born. The broadcaster, who died in 2004, was born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft in 1939 (read more - BBC UK)

A day after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its credit assessment of Univision debt as a result of the leveraged buyout of the Spanish-language broadcaster, the entity formed to conduct the LBO announced it will offer $1.5 billion of new notes to help finance the deal (read more - HispanicBusiness.com)

Former morning man Gary LaPierre returned to WBZ News Radio 1030 yesterday - the first of the station’s legendary broadcasters to be inducted into the WBZ Hall of Fame. When LaPierre retired in December, WBZ news director Peter Casey wanted to come up with a way to honor LaPierre, who had worked at the station for 44 years (read more - Boston Herald)

Sirius Satellite Radio may not be all it's cracked up to be when it comes to serving the Far North. Inuvik customer Ray Suchodolski says as soon as he started driving up the Dempster Highway toward the Arctic Circle, the signal started cutting out. By the time he reached Inuvik, he was only getting reception about 30 per cent of the time (read more - CBC CA)

Bob Costas on his Costas on the Radio this weekend will be joined by William Daro “Billy” Bean - Former MLB player and author of “Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life in and Out of Major League Baseball.” Bean, who came out in 1999, will discuss the recent negative comments made by former NBA player Tim Hardaway regarding gay teammates and the recent admission of retired NBA veteran John Amaechi + Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner who will discuss the state of the league The Bob Costas show is carried on more than 120 station from Premiere Radio Networks

Just because the Dixie Chicks won five Grammys this week for their "Taking the Long Way" CD, don't expect to hear any music from that album on Madison country radio. But unlike radio stations in other markets, that's not because WWQM/FM 105.9 ("Q106") or WMAD/FM 96.3 ("Star Country") have any beef with the outspoken trio. In fact, Madison stations are among the few left in the country that still play the Dixie Chicks. But they focus on the trio's earlier, bigger hits, not the songs off the new CD (read more - Rob Thomas-Madison Capital Times)

Barbara Walters will host an exclusive live call-in special on its Sirius Stars channel 192, airing Monday February 19, Presidents Day, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm ET

The sale of Air America Radio for $4.25 million to SL Green Realty Corp. founder Stephen Green has been approved by a federal judge (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

ABC News Radio is offering special programming for Presidents’ Day Holiday Weekend. The radio programming will include two one-hour specials: “Race and Sex: What We Think, But Can’t Say – An ABC John Stossel Special” and “Go Wireless! Get Connected: ABC’s Technology Survival Guide”

Clear Channel's buyout proposal may be one of the biggest in history, but several shareholders are saying it's not good for them. So far, at least 10 complaints about the deal are pending in federal and Bexar County district courts (read more - Meena ThiruvengadamSan Antonio Express-News)

The Thin Man Returns. Jay Marvin is a new man, or part of one. The 6-10 a.m. talk-show host on KKZN 760-AM is down 60 pounds, headed for 225. He owes it all to gastric-bypass surgery and a new outlook on life (read more - Dick Kreck-Denver Post)

Aaron "Cappy" Cappotelli, producer and co-host of the DFW morning show on KDMX/102.9 FM "Mix 102.9" has been let go by the station, a victim of the dreaded "different direction" in which Clear Channel wants to take the morning show (read more - Star-Telegram)

Sunday night's debut of Fox News Channel's "1/2 Hour News Hour" opens with a bit imagining a President Rush Limbaugh with Ann Coulter as his Dick Cheney. It's a reminder that satire is not a novelty for conservative pundits like Limbaugh + "With my Democratic opponent, Howard Dean, finally getting the medical treatment he desperately needed for so long," President Limbaugh promises "four years — or more — of commander-in-chief excellence". A key difference between "Daily Show" and "Half Hour News Hour": Where "The Daily Show" is rooted in joking reactions to actual sound bites, "News Hour" relies on making wisecracks from concocted stories (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS) (read more - Mike McDaniel-Houston Chronicle) (read more - Rob Owen-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Arbitron today took the wraps off a collection of Web-based resources designed to assist minority and first-time buyers of radio stations. “Nearly 500 radio stations are being placed on the market by Clear Channel as part of the company’s impending sale to private equity,” said Carol Hanley, senior vice president, Sales, Arbitron Inc. “This is a tremendous opportunity for minority and first-time buyers of radio stations, but these aspiring bidders need information to help build a business plan and raise capital. The new Arbitron Web site contains information on the value of radio and the state of the industry to help those seeking equity to make the case for investing in radio”

Bear Stearns is out with an interesting note, saying that they think both XM Satellite and Sirius believe a proposed merger could likely pass the regulatory hurdles, which they think would push them to attempt a merger (read more - Seeking Alpha)

Melissa Forman, former morning personality at adult contemporary WLIT-FM (93.9), returns next week to the Clear Channel Radio station, where she'll be heard from 2 to 7 p.m., replacing Coco Cortez, who was forced out after eight months (read more - Feder of Chicago)

A new draft report from the Federal Communications Commission suggests the government may be able to limit violence on TV in a way that does not violate the Constitution (read more - SF Chronicle)

MSNBC’s “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann and NBC News agreed to an extension of his contract through 2011. Olbermann's new contract also gives the opinionated TV host a presence on NBC (read more - MSNBC) (read more - Marisa Guthrie-NY Daily News)

Michael Savage has found a new home on the Toledo radio dial + Skip Schmidt replaced Chris Taylor as market manager at Cumulus last week (read more - Ron Musselman-Toledo Blade)

Tony Kornheiser's new radio show, originating from Washington Post Radio (WTWP) in Washington, D.C., will air from coast to coast on XM's sports talk radio channel XM Sports Nation (XM Channel 144) Monday through Friday from 9 am to 11 am ET (read more - PR Newswire)

Radio: On-Air, On-Line & On-Site, the second annual one-day advertising forum presented by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), the Advertising Club of New York, and Adweek Magazines, takes place Thursday, March 15, 8 am-2pm at the Westin New York, Times Square (read more - RAB)

A federal court cleared the way for TV bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman to be extradited to face charges in Mexico, court officials said Thursday (read more - Canton Repository)

A controversial article in Discover magazine states: "Heroic measures may be yielding unprecedented survival rates, but they also carry a grim consequence: No other war has created so many seriously disabled veterans." Roadside bombs are causing record numbers of traumatic brain injuries, "the signature injury of the Iraq War," the mag says (read more - Page Six)

WMVP-AM 1000 sportscaster Chet Coppock was nursing a shiner on his right eye after an incident outside Rosemont's Allstate Arena following Wednesday night's DePaul-Marquette basketball game (read more - Phil Rosenthal-Chicago Tribune)

Anyone tuning into 87.9 FM, a noncommercial radio frequency used by churches and schools, may instead get a sermon from Howard Stern's X-rated Sirius Satellite radio program (read more - Mark Krzos-Naples News-Press)

NOW reports Friday evening on new evidence suggesting the existence of a secret government program that intercepts millions of private e-mails each day in the name of terrorist surveillance (visit NOW-PBS)

Former NBA player John Amaechi, who announced he is gay while promoting his upcoming book "Man in the Middle,” was a guest on ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike In the Morning today. He reacted to comments made by retired Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway on Miami’s 790-AM The Ticket Wednesday: "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people."
Q: “What thought did you give to the negative reaction that you had to know was out there?”
Amaechi: "I think one of the important things is that -- I'm not naïve, I'm quite pragmatic about this situation -- I think people look through rose-tinted glasses when we start talking about bigotry, racism, sexism and homophobia. The number one thing that people say is ‘It's 2007, these things don't exist anymore.’ So, in a way, although, every comment that he (Hardaway) made is laden with hate, and Tim Hardaway’s retraction is more legal than anything else I would imagine (listen to podcast - Mike and Mike-ESPN Radio)

It's still going to be legal in Arizona for trucks to have splash guards with racist terms and silhouettes of naked women (read more - MSNBC)

FOX Sports Radio will broadcast live today from Daytona International Speedway as NASCAR’s Race to the Chase begins with the 49th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 18

From Kent Burkhart -- I have heard many glowing reports about the just ended annual Radio Advertising Bureau

teaching seminar. Reports over the weekend from Dallas said it was their best ever sales seminar!!! + Google "the Hit Parade Hall of Fame". John Rook, a wonderful broadcaster, and Gil Bateman, his associate, formed this organization to give applause to wonderful artists that should be acknowledged for their many, many, many hits (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

WIP 610-AM evening host Glen Macnow will be off the air for about a month after he undergoes double-knee replacement surgery in two weeks (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

A bill that would bar satellite radio from airing local programming that differs between markets was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (read more - Washington Times)

Fox continues to use the newsroom at its Dallas affiliate, KDFW-TV (Channel 4), as a farm club for parts on the show Prison Break. During Monday night's episode, Fox 4's 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. news anchor, Baron James, will make an appearance (read more - Alan Peppard-Dallas News)

From Lee Abrams -- I often get asked “Do you ever talk to Kent Burkhart”? Kent was my partner for years and years at our consultancy Burkhart/Abrams. I DO talk to Kent but not as much as I’d like. I have this vision of him, sitting on the beach in Key Biscayne, pipe in one hand with his yellow can of Balkan Sobranie tobacco, cell phone in another hand, nursing a Margarita…doing a deal. Kent was the consummate deal maker, and again that ying yang thing that made our Company so successful. Talk about complete opposites. Kent would get front row seats to see Paul Anka in Vegas while I’d go watch Yes perform 80 minute epics (read more - Lee Abrams Blog)

The CRTC will allow Cogeco Cable, Canada’s fourth largest cable operator, to distribute Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Radio subscription radio services on digital cable (read more - Digital Home CA)

Joe Fredrick has been promoted to director of sales for Clear Channel Radio Cincinnati (read more - Cincy Enquirer)

From Mr. KABC -- "KABC's decision based on network pressure to carry the second hour of Mark Levin would have pushed my show an hour later. Since I didn't think that was good for my family, advertisers or you the listener, I made the decision to leave the station ..." (read more - Mr. KABC)

Mitch Elliott, the new co-host of 105.1's The Buzz's "Daria and Mitch Show" in Portland did the unthinkable. He told listeners he was gay. By confirming that yes, he has a boyfriend, Elliott did the one thing no one else has ever dared do in a top radio market (read more - Byron Beck-Williamette Weekly)

American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest has hit a milestone of more than 400 radio stations worldwide and the show #1 in New York and Los Angeles with his target demo of Adults 18-34, according to ARBitron

WUSN-FM announced the addition of live motorsports programming to the lineup of its HD 2 channel, Chicago’s Future Country, beginning with the NASCAR Gatorade Duels from Daytona International Speedway today

The self-proclaimed "Two Dorks" of Quad City radio will now inhabit the role of jock to play hardball with their old boss - Clear Channel. In court documents filed Monday Clear Channel says Dwyer and Michaels violated their non-compete contracts by broadcasting their radio show out of Cumulus Media's Davenport studio and onto KRNA Cedar Rapids (read more - Courtney Brennan-WQAD TV) (read more - Brian Krans-Quad Cities Online)

Air America affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Miami have already pledged to air "The Thom Hartmann Show," boosting his total to around 3 million listeners. "Everybody does different shows," Hartmann said. "People have really bonded with Al Franken's show -- he had a lot of loyal listeners. I will do my best for them" (read more - Seattle PI)

It only took moments Wednesday evening for former Miami Heat star Tim Hardaway to tarnish his reputation on a live radio show. (Hear Tim Hardaway's Remarks) Hardaway was talking to 790 The Ticket host Dan LeBatard when he made homophobic remarks towards a former Orlando Magic player who recently announced his homosexuality (read more - Fox Reno)

February 23 is the deadline set by Clear Channel for bids for the radio assets it has put up for sale (read more - Reuters)

Nancy Sinatra thinks satellite radio is one of the ways America can save its own music. The Sinatra family has just jumped from XM to Sirius, where the new "Siriusly Sinatra" channel will play the Great American Songbook - including, prominently, Frank Sinatra tunes (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Robert Vaughn, the actor best known as "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," will reprise his HBO and stage role as Franklin D. Roosevelt when Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications inducts the former president in the Radio Hall of Fame + Phyllis Stark, former senior radio editor of Billboard magazine, has been named executive editor of Radio-Info.com, an industry Web site operated by Chicago-based in3media (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Protesters gathered their resources to ask for the return of fired longtime K-County 103.1 FM Radio disc jockey Rick Roberts, who was also the station's program director (read more - Kelly Marshall Fuller-Myrtle Beach Sun)

Years before she transformed herself into CNBC's "Money Honey" and got caught up in the recent Citigroup jet-travel mess, Maria Bartiromo was a big-haired, boy-teasing, high-school honey who cheated on her squeeze and nearly caused a Brooklyn gang rumble (read more - Page Six)

XM Satellite Radio agreed to sell its newest orbiting satellite, raising $288.5 million. XM's cash has dwindled by almost 60 per cent over the past nine months as the company spent on programming and to attract subscribers (read more - Ottawa Citizen CA)

Friendly Advice for Tom Finneran, new morning talk show personality at WRKO -- Dear Tom, Starting a new job is never easy. But judging from your first two days as a WRKO-AM talking head, your adjustment could be more challenging than most. Don’t despair, however; as soon as you’ve kicked a few nasty little habits, you’ll be a whole lot easier on the ears. My suggestions: (read more - Adam Reilly-The Phoenix)

One of the songs on the Dixie Chicks' recently released, Grammy Award-winning album "Taking the Long Way" is a not-so-veiled retort to the group's critics titled "Not Ready To Make Nice." Apparently country radio, for which the Dixie Chicks were once a headline act, has much the same sentiment toward the vocal group. Although the Dixie Chicks took home five awards from the Grammys, they did so with little recent support or airplay from country-music radio (read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI)

From Murphy Martin -- This week brought an indelible reminder how fighting in Iraq is vastly different than fighting we did in Southeast Asia. For openers, battle lines prevailed

in Southeast Asia. Such is not the case in Iraq. In Southeast Asia we attacked the enemy along and behind their lines. We could attack and fall back and attack again. We knew where the enemy was located. Not in Iraq, where cars driving alongside on a Baghdad street or parked nearby while allowing a military convoy to pass could be a suicide bomber ready to strike. Hundreds of Iraqis die almost daily from this unconventional war style. A small number of Americans pay the supreme price also. They are two different wars! (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

To borrow a phrase from last year's Oscars, it's hard out there for a classical music lover. First, classy classical station KFSD-FM vanished back in the 1990s. Then Bach, Beethoven & Co. came back on a lower-powered FM frequency, but it didn't take long for the revamped KFSD to get shuffled off to the AM dial. And now, classical music on KFSD is history (read more - Randy Dotinga-NC Times)

Sirius Satellite Radio announced that it will be celebrating the music of The Howard Stern Show by opening up the archives and highlighting the most memorable musical performances from the past 25 years

Creditors owed by Air America Radio sue, saying they are the victims of a "bait and switch" (read more - NY Post)

And so it comes to this: America, the reviled. Once Middle Easterners, Russians, Eastern Europeans and the Brits took turns playing the bad guys in entertainment, now it's time for Americans to twirl their evil-tinged mustaches in BBC America's "The State Within", airing Saturday and Sunday on BBC America, an engrossing thriller that would seem preposterous if not for recent history with regards to the non-existent Weapons on Mass Destruction that led to the Iraq War (read more - Rob Owen-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

The sale of 18 radio stations in Montana and Eastern Washington helped Fisher Communications in the fourth quarter, with the communications company reporting net income of $17 million (read more - Biz Journals)

As for new media, I couldn't be more impressed with my XM satellite radio. I've found the missing rivet in satellite radio's otherwise impenetrable armor. In 2004, XM launched a series of traffic and weather stations. At first listen, we fully enjoyed XM Traffic and Weather, until, that is, we noticed what was missing: a local voice. The morning traffic monitors' pronunciations of local roads, towns and exits were so far off the mark, we soon found ourselves tuning in just to hear what words these out-of-towners mangled each morning (read more - Mike Seate-Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

The Hispanic community is buzzing about the recent string of home invasions targeting Latinos . One Spanish language radio station is doing its part to get the word out to the community and urge people to stay safe. People in the Hispanic community are scared and unsure why they are being targeted in a string of 11 home invasions (read more - WKRN TV)

Sirius Canada has signed an exclusive, multi-year agreement that will see its satellite radio receivers available as a factory-installed option in Mazda vehicles (read more - Market News Daily CA)

"RAB/BMI FastStart to Radio Sales Success" will select 25 minority students to attend the Gary Fries Radio Advertising Bureau Radio Training Academy in Dallas, TX or the Academy Off-Campus Extension Program this year (read more - RAB)

Impersonator Rich Little will host Oscar Guide 2007, part of ABC News Radio’s coverage of the 79th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 25

Whereas video was once said to have killed the radio star — according to the pop song by the Buggles that was the first video shown on MTV in 1981 — it is now emerging as an unlikely savior for an industry facing an array of challenges. In the age of YouTube and the radio talk show hosts Howard Stern and Don Imus as television stalwarts, this might not seem all that remarkable, except that the radio industry has been singularly tardy in embracing the interactive age ... The nation’s commercial radio stations have seen the future, and it is in, of all things, video (read more - Richard Siklos-NY Times)

Because WLUP-FM 97.9 and WKQX-FM 101.1 want to be on the cutting edge rather than shredded by it, their heads of programming were cut loose Tuesday. "Twenty years ago, the Loop owned `Stairway to Heaven,'" Marv Nyren said. "Today, I can list 25 places I can go to hear `Stairway to Heaven.' But, thank God, I've got [morning man Jonathon] Brandmeier, I've got a heritage station, I've got events [others] can't duplicate, and I've got Web sites they can't duplicate. Those are becoming my points of differentiation, and I need someone who's not a typical program director to manage all those things" (read more - Phil Rosenthal-Chicago Tribune)

The snow didn't stop Emmis Communications from holding its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday. But only a few people showed up to hear Chief Executive Jeff Smulyan's prognosis for his troubled radio company. At Tuesday's meeting, shareholders rejected a proposal to eliminate a special class of stock that gives Smulyan most of the voting power even though he owns less than 20 percent of Emmis' shares (read more - Erika D. Smith-Indy Star)

The HD Digital Radio Alliance announced the launch of a major, 85-market radio advertising campaign highlighting BMW’s in-car HD Radio offering. BMW recently became the first automotive manufacturer to offer factory-installed HD digital radio receivers as an option across all its 2007 models The spots can be heard online at www.hdradioalliance.com

Six months after she was fired to make room for Whoopi Goldberg's syndicated morning show, Melissa Forman is on her way back to WLIT-FM (93.9) + at Emmis Communications' classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9) and alternative rock WKQX-FM (101.1), fired were Mike Stern as vice president of programming (with responsibility over both stations), and Tim Dukes as program director of the Loop (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Could the thrill be gone? DFW NBC5's rapid-fire, consultant-driven, ooh-scary, low-brow 10 p.m. newscasts might finally be heading for a fall after a victory string that stretches back to February 2002. Belo8's fourth straight late night win Monday put the ABC station in a first-place tie with the Peacock after eight weeknights of the latest 20-night sweeps period (read more - Ed Bark)

Doing something he swore he'd never do, last night shock radio pioneer Howard Stern proposed to his long-time model girlfriend Beth Ostrosky, he announced this morning on his radio show (read more - -LAist)

Dick Purtan’s 20th annual radiothon to benefit The Salvation Army’s Bed and Bread Clubw ill be at the center court of Oakland Mall from 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Feb. 23, and once again it’ll feature a who’s who of Detroit personalities, along with many other fun features. It’ll all be aired live on classic Top 40 WOMC-FM (104.3), Purtan’s radio home since 1996 (read more - Mike Austerman-Michiguide)

Fun and sexy Valentine’s Day specials; interviews with Felicity Huffman and Hilary Duff; Get in the Mood music; and much more will be featured on Sirius Cosmo Channel 111 during Valentine's Day and week

Cousin Bruce Morrow will take money tomorrow in exchange for playing certain records on the radio. He's doing it for a good cause: Variety the Children's Charity, whose annual radiothon he's hosting, 5 a.m.-6 p.m., on WOR (710 AM) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Beginning February 23, the Bubba the Love Sponge Show will broadcast live Friday mornings on Howard 101. The Howard Stern Show airs mornings exclusively on Howard 100. Howard Stern programs both of his Sirius channels, Howard 100 and Howard 101

What are two long-distance friends to do? When Heidi Hanzel and Lara Dyan met in 1996, while working in separate offices of one telecommunications firm, the answer seemed to be talk often. Only, let others join in the conversation. For Hanzel, who lives in Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and Bostonian Dyan, that conversation became "ChickChat," now heard weekdays on Brockton's WXBR-AM (1460) , 8-10 p.m.; Fridays, 4-5 p.m. on XM satellite radio; and streaming and through podcasts on chickchatradio.com (read more - Clea Simon-Boston Globe)

Longtime television newsman Doug Krile has left his post as corporate director of news and public relations at Equity Broadcasting Corp. of Little Rock for a "non-media related" position (read more - Nate Hinkel-Arkansas Business)

KTCU FM 88.7 in Fort Worth will be featuring the music of the Grammy Award winning Dixie Chicks CD “Taking the Long Way” this Friday on “New CD Friday”, a weekly program. Says station manager Russell Scott, "It is all about the music here on The Choice, we’re not trying to step on toes, and we’re not trying to make a political statement" (visit and listen live online - KTCU FM)

The Conclave Learning Conference announced today that Radio & Records President and Publisher, Erica Farber, will be this year’s recipient of the 2007 Rockwell Award to be presented at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center on Saturday, June 30 during “Conclave 007: For Your Ears Only.” The Rockwell Award, first awarded in 1989, is a lifetime achievement tribute to those who have contributed to the radio and record industry through achievement, inspiration and mentoring

The FCC will investigate allegations that CBS Television is seeking to consolidate newsrooms, a congressman, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. says (read more - UPI)

Michael Thompson, 1050 ESPN Radio Program Director says that Andrew Marchand, who has spent the past nine years as a reporter for the New York Post covering a wide range of sports, has joined 1050 ESPN Radio in New York as its first-ever managing editor. Beginning March 5, Marchand will provide on-air reports to each of 1050 ESPN Radio’s programs and will also contribute extensively to the station’s web site, www.1050espnradio.com

From John Rook -- The Dixie Chicks may have lined the nest with a bunch of Grammy’s but chances are they’ll continue to lay eggs with the fans of country music. Radio programmers recognize the vote that gave the “chicks” five Grammy’s wasn’t about their music as much as it was about their politics and that of the Recording Academy. Past winners of a Grammy land slide like that given the Dixie Chicks could count on a silver lined career but theirs will probably have just the opposite effect in sparking even more of a back lash against the "outlaw" group (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

Westwood One's Metro Networks has launched online traffic reporter blogs and video traffic reporting services for media affiliates with a network of more than 1,800 traffic reporters in the U.S.. The new services also feature visitor feedback forums, which provide for greater interactivity and communication among commuters and traffic reporters

Although the technology has been slow in taking off since its launch in 2003, its backers still hope America (and Brazil) will catch HD Radio fever. You could start receiving it by upgrading your stereo with an HD Radio-capable model or installing an add-on, such as the $200 Directed Electronics DMHD-1000, announced yesterday in conjunction with Crutchfield (read more - Eliot Van Buskirk-Wired News)

As part of her endorsement agreement with The Home Depot, Delilah is making regular appearances at their "Do it Herself" clinics nationwide

The Dixie Chicks won five Grammy's, but were their wins about the music, or about sending a message? Very few country radio executives wanted to talk on camera Monday. They said the Dixie Chicks are so divisive, that they don't want to be tied in any way to the group. News 2 did talk to Nashville's most popular country radio personality Gerry House on Monday. He and others said it's highly unlikely country radio will add the Chicks back to play-lists. "Most country stations aren't playing the Chicks, and they aren't going to start now," said Jim Jacobs, owner of WTDR-FM, a country radio station in Talladega, Ala ( read more - WKRN TV) (read more - AP) (read more - Jon Bream-Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

An aviation consultant testified Monday that the midair collision that killed WGN AM radio star Bob Collins and two other people most likely would have been averted if Collins hadn't misreported his position a little more than two minutes before the two aircraft crashed (read more - Matt O'Connor-Chicago Tribune)

Elkhart investor Frank Martin still wants to knock Jeff Smulyan off his perch atop Emmis Communications. He just won't do it today at the Emmis annual meeting. Officially, spokeswoman Kate Snedeker said Emmis "would welcome his attendance," but you know Smulyan would relish pressing his home-court advantage if he could (read more - John Ketzenberger-Indy Star)

Adam Cook, former program director at XL 106.7 Orlando, arrested during a child sex sting last year, will not be going to jail. He pleaded no contest to charges earlier this month (read more - News 13)

That the coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's life and death has reached the point where shows are now bickering over who's paying for what seems appropriate. Her life story had a tinge of sleaze, and now that she's dead, the story's become even sleazier. Think about it: Anna Nicole Smith's body is on ice in a Florida morgue and Howard K. Stern is worrying about doing interviews. How nice (read more - Richard Huff-NY Daily News)

Tonight at 8 pm ET on HD.net TV, Dan Rather returns from Afghanistan with footage from his exclusive interview with President Hamid Karzai in which Karzai discusses the resurgence of the Taliban fighters who promise a bloody spring offensive to topple the government (visit Dan Rather - HD.net)

Tommy Edwards would succeed John Monds at WILV FM. Monds left last month to host afternoons at KRBV-FM in Los Angeles + Andy Masur has been hired as a radio announcer for the San Diego Padres. "It says a lot about Andy's talent that calling a half-inning for the Cubs has positioned him for a prominent role with the Padres broadcast team," said Bob Shomper, program director of WGN (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Arbitron announced that CBS Radio is the first broadcaster to be assigned a dedicated in-house Arbitron Portable People Meter trainer to educate advertising executives on use of PPM data for their sales efforts. Arbitron’s Jon Miller has been promoted to the newly created position of CBS Radio PPM Account Manager and, along with a five-person PPM Implementation team, will provide extensive hands-on PPM training to CBS Radio advertising executives

From Scott Collins -- Those of us who get a kick out of watching Tim Russert every Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" are feeling a little hangdog these days. We always thought Big Russ Jr. was tough on the powerful. Now we learn that to some Washington media types on both the right and the left, he's just a tool for the powerful (read more - Scott Collins - LA Times)

PBS' "Frontline" begins a four-part investigation tonight that dares to examine a subject the media rarely explore, much less so comprehensively as correspondent Lowell Bergman's challenging study. The subject: the news business itself (read more - David Bianculli-NY Daily News)

From Happy Hare -- Three Dimensional Radio changes lives, and empowers every day people who feel they have been disenfranchised. It’s the wave of the future. Not just talking to the audience, but interacting physically with them, and taking that next step, the way Roger Hedgecock is doing it, raising an army of listeners to “hold their feet to the fire” as he puts it. Legislators have thick hides. They are accustomed to hearing a radio talker raise hell with them for a few days, knowing that it will blow over if they just ride it out. Hedgecock organizes posses and chases them down (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Rush Limbaugh's grandfather will have a courthouse named after him in Cape Girardeau (read more - Centre Daily)

"Chef and the Fatman” show creators announced that their weekly live radio cooking show, the only one in the country, was picked up by three additional local radio stations—WLSB-1400 AM, WYHG-770 AM and WALH-1340 AM (read more - Norcross Weekly)

Almost three weeks since their highly publicized arrest, DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon made their return to radio this past weekend on Atlanta's Hot 107.9 (read more - SOHH)

Penn State graduate, Erica Grow, is the newest member of the “Action News” weather team. Grow, who debuted this weekend will work the weekend morning shift, and Adam Joseph will move to weekend evenings ... Grow fills the vacancy left by Sally Ann Mosey, who took a job with WNBC in New York City in 2006 (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

Dr. Laura is turning 60 and is having a California Beach Party on Saturday evening March 3 (read more - Dr Laura)

The Tampa Bay Advertising Federation has named Tampa Bay radio and television personality Jack Harris its 2007 Silver Medal Award winner (read more - Tampa Bay Biz Journal)

Univision Communications posted fourth quarter adjusted net income of $111.8 million or $0.33 per share compared to $84.0 million or $0.25 per share in the year-ago quarter (read more - Trading Markets)

Regent Ducas has been named vice president of news for KTVT-TV (CBS 11) and KTXA-TV (TXA 21) in Dallas-Fort Worth, replacing Tom Doerr (read more - Dallas Biz Journal)

At a gathering here Saturday of roughly 10,000 people who came for a conversation concerning the problems confronting blacks, Tom Joyner, the conference co-host, told the audience he had been “ready to be angry” as he took a tour about the Jamestown settlement nearby and thought of slave ships. What he experienced instead, he said, was not anger but something akin to his feelings about mainstream media coverage of blacks: a story certainly not from a black perspective (read more - Felicia R. Lee-NY Times)

Chris Krok arrived on WSB-AM from Minneapolis a year ago Tuesday and handled late-night duties. The station hopes he eventually can take over one of the daytime slots (read more - Peach Buzz-Atlanta JC)

It's rare to find serious, in-depth reporting about journalism on television. Actually, it's pretty rare to find serious, in-depth journalism about anything on TV. On Tuesday, PBS's "Frontline" starts a four-part look at some of the potent forces changing news organizations in America (read more - Rick Kishman-Sacramento Bee)

BDSradio.com adds WBFZ-FM/ Montgomery, AL, WLCC-AM/ Tampa, FL, and WOVO-FM/ Bowling Green, KY as new subscribers to its performance monitoring service

KFTY TV’s switch is an ambitious experiment in “citizen journalism,” the mainstream media’s equivalent of user-generated content at YouTube and MySpace.com. South Korean Internet newspaper OhmyNews enlists thousands of citizen reporters, and U.S. news outlets ranging from CNN to San Francisco Bay Area NBC affiliate KNTV get content from viewers’ camera-equipped cell phones and home video cameras (read more - Napa Valley Register)

Salem Communications Corporation recently acquired Christian Music Planet from the Educational Media Foundation, a California based Christian radio broadcaster (read more - Kevin Jackson-Christian Post)

CBS Corporation announced today the creation of a new cross-platform unit that bridges its radio, internet, outdoor and television sales operations. "CBS RIOT will combine the assets of CBS Radio’s 147 stations, CBS Interactive’s local websites, CBS Outdoor’s millions of billboards and display faces, and the 39 owned and operated CBS Television Stations to give advertisers unsurpassed reach on a local scale"

The Dixie Chicks won all five awards they were nominated for, sweet vindication after the superstars' lives were threatened and sales plummeted when Maines criticized President Bush on the eve of the Iraq war in 2003. Almost overnight, one of the most successful groups of any genre was boycotted by Nashville and disappeared from country radio (read more - Ken Barnes-USA Today) (read more - 13 News) (read more - Monterey Herald) (read more - NY Times)

With Clear Channel's sale of nearly 500 radio and television stations gathering steam, potential buyers are expressing interest in snapping up the radio assets as a whole and buying individual radio stations, said a source familiar with the situation (read more - Reuters)

The sale of bankrupt Air America Radio is giving the left-leaning talk network (KKZN 760-AM) a new lease and has Kris Olinger, director of AM programming for Clear Channel-Denver, thinking local. "It's obviously too soon to tell what they'll do with new shows, but only 40 percent of our product is Air America. We would like to add another local talent." (Send those audition tapes to her at Clear Channel, 4695 S. Monaco St., Denver, CO 80237) (read more - Dick Kreck-Denver Post)

Kathryn Jamboretz and Vic Porcelli were to hit the air waves today as the new morning drive-time team for KTRS-AM (550), replacing George Woods and Dana Daniels (read more - Deb Peterson-St Louis Post-Dispatch)

Pressures by media companies to generate ever-greater profits are threatening the very freedom the nation was built upon, former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite warned last week (read more - Anick Jesdanun-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

"It's the next evolution," said Ron Roy, local market manager for Clear Channel Radio, which owns WRVV "The River" 97.3 FM. "It's bringing a whole new digital age to an old technology." WRVV is the market's first station to be using HD2 (read more Barry Fox-Patriot News)

Bob Shannon will join The Breeze (99.7 FM, 107.1 FM) at the Jersey Shore, starting next weekend + Terrie Carr, formerly of WDHA (105.5 FM), is the new program director of WHTG (106.3 FM) and WBBO (106.5 FM) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

The Beasley Broadcast Group reported profits of $3 million, or 13 cents a share, for the three months ended Dec. 31 (read more - SW Florida News Press)

Former House Speaker Thomas Finneran began his new career as a WRKO radio talk show host this morning by promising to discuss everything from Middle East politics to Anna Nicole Smith to his own recent guilty plea in federal court. "Good morning. That's right. It's neither a dream nor a nightmare," were his first words (read more - Worcester Telegram)

Radio stations throughout the country have donated millions of dollars in advertising time for the Ad Council’s Generous Nation campaign, which is designed to encourage listeners to help those in need (read more - RAB)

Socializing with sources is a long journalistic tradition, especially for television personalities whose renown often allows them to travel in the same elite circles as their subjects. But for Maria Bartiromo, her ability to gain entree into the exclusive and mostly male world of chief executives and financial titans has made her a valuable commodity to CNBC (read more - Wilmington Star News) (read more - NY Times)

Before becoming a Disney employee (ABC is owned by Disney), Jimmy Kimmel was fired from approximately 300 radio jobs and earned an Emmy Award for his work as co-host of the droll game show "Win Ben Stein's Money" (1997-20001) (read more - Eirik Knutzen-Canton Repository)

Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly, who comes to FNC from the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., are the co-anchors of today's newly launched two-hour news show "America's Newsroom" (read more - Marisa Guthrie-NY Dail News)

Andy Masur's workload increased significantly Friday when the WGN-AM broadcaster jumped from the Cubs' radio booth to San Diego (read more - Paul Sullivan-Chicago Tribune)

Just as their counterparts in television and print are evolving to meet consumer demands and produce a profitable business model in the digital age, radio stations are changing the way they do business. "The radio business is changing dramatically," said Michael Doyle, vice president and general manager of Entercom Rochester (read more - Mary Chao-Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Dayton's WHIO-FM (95.7), which simulcasts WHIO-AM (1290) talk shows, wants to move to Sharonville + Cincinnati-based WOXY.com has been nominated for best music Web site in the 10th annual South by Southwest Music Festival People's Choice Web Awards (read more - John Kiesewetter-Cincy Enquirer)

Jones Radio Network, has huge hits on its hands with Ed Schultz, the converted Republican with a steak-and-potatoes approach out of South Dakota, and Stephanie Miller, whose show is produced in the same L.A. studio as Harrison’s and which is the second-highest rated morning show in L.A. and O.C. after KFI’s right-of-center Bill Handel. A new liberal syndicator, Nova M, was launched in October out of Phoenix by Mike Malloy (read more - Dean Kuipers-LA City Beat)

Tom Haymond, a former market manager for the Cumulus stations in town, never minced words when expressing his opinion of Arbitron and its method of assessing the market. The system is flawed, he said. And the overall 12-plus demographic, he and other broadcasters have said, are meaningful only to the media. The overall 12-plus numbers are the top-line ratings in Arbitron’s twice-a-year overview of the metro. Those figures represent a wide-angle view of how stations perform in a market, allowing them to be ranked by share. This creates “a currency for advertisers,” according to Jessica Benbow of The Arbitron Co (read more - Michael Futch-Fayetteville Observer)

From Tommy Kramer -- It makes me cringe to hear someone taking way too long to set up something on the air. If it doesn't affect you the same way, it should. Weak "setup" skills are like those people that prattle on telling overly long "shaggy

dog" jokes at a party--sooner or later, you just want to find an excuse to join a different conversation, to avoid the five minute setup to a lame punch line (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

Fidelity owns about 11 percent of the San Antonio-based Clear Channel. Two private equity firms teamed up with the founding Mays family to put together an $18.7 billion deal in November. The offer was a 10 percent premium over the price Clear Channel's stock sold for the day before. That's better than the average return cited in the Weil Gotshal study, but that doesn't mean it's a good deal for Clear Channel shareholders (read more - Loren Steffy-Houston Chronicle)

A big get-well-soon to Hoyt Smith, who's recovering from open-heart surgery and expects to be back on the air at KDFC. The versatile Smith logged time on KYUU, KIOI and KKSF before going classical + KFRC has a live morning show now, with Baltazar and Maria Todd. Baltazar comes in from New York, where he was doing mornings at dance station WKTU until it decided to switch to Whoopi Goldberg's syndicated show. Todd was most recently in Houston, at KRBE + As hinted here a few weeks back, Sue Hall, formerly of KFRC, has landed at KMAX (read more - Ben Fong-Torres - SF Chronicle)

Advertising revenue for metropolitan commercial radio stations was $41.9 million in January, up 4.6 per cent on the same month last year. The result was underpinned by 4.7 per cent growth in the Sydney market, which contributes almost two-fifths of the national total, to $15.07 million (read more - Sally Jackson-The Australian AU)

Steve Spendlove realizes that after last month's layoffs of most of the news-gathering staff at tiny KFTY-TV in Santa Rosa there will be less local coverage. The Clear Channel executive overseeing the station knows there won't be reporters to investigate local scandals, let alone do those fluffy woman-turns-100 features that make TV anchors cock their heads and smile at the end of a newscast (read more - Joe Garofoli-SF Chronicle)

From Claude Hall -- In reference to the Jerry Naylor note last week, this from Robert B. McEntire at KILT in Houston: "Hope you told your friend the significance to Texans of the March 2nd date. Maybe it will be good luck for him. I can't find a single school district letting kids out for Texas Independence Day or San Jacinto Day, April 21st. They sure give a lot of other holidays + Joey Reynolds emailed me about the death Jan. 30 of Perry Allen. Joey: "He was a great morning DJ on the first WKBW programmed by Dick Lawrence." Joey heard from Don Berns who got the message via Bob Skurzewski and others via Perry's son Lee (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

A former Missouri radio reporter, James Keown, who is accused of killing his wife by spiking her Gatorade with antifreeze will go on trial in November in Massachusetts (read more - KC Star)

Viacom could lay off as many as 500 people from its MTV Networks division next week as part of a $250 million cost-cutting move, according to three sources close to the company (read more - Peter Lauria-NY Post)

An aviation consultant testified Friday that an air-traffic controller's fatigue was a contributing factor in the midair collision that killed WGN AM 720 radio star Bob Collins and two others seven years ago (read more - Matt O'Connor-Chicago Sun-Times)

Oldies 700 in Alabama will hit the airwaves March 1. Jay Braswell as our National Sales Manager, Jack Gale will do mornings, Kevin Larkin mid-days and Chris Morgan afternoon
drive (visit www.oldies700.net)

After a year, the fate of Gaffney radio station, WAGI-FM, with its down home programming, is unclear. And an application filed on Feb. 1 to have the station licensed elsewhere has prompted a crop of concern among dedicated listeners. Fred Gossett, town administrator in Cowpens, said he opposes a move by the popular radio station with a country and gospel format. "It's un-American," Gossett said (read more - Spartanburg Herald-Journal)

Maria Bartiromo has some punk-rock roots - she used to privately advise Joey Ramone on how to manage his finances. The much-in-the-news CNBC "Money Honey" tells the March/April issue of Executive Travel magazine: "Most people don't know this, but he was an avid investor. He used to call me up, e-mail me and ask me detailed questions about his portfolio" (read more - Page Six)

The head of the Cartoon Network, Jim Samples, resigned Friday over a publicity stunt that caused a terrorism scare in Boston (read more - Deseret News)

Microsoft is building a demonstration device to help it and five other technology companies, including Google, lobby the government to open up television airwaves for wireless Internet access (read more - Seattle Times)

The founders of dMarc Broadcasting Inc., who sold their automated radio ads company to Google Inc. for $102 million a year ago, have left. There are indications that Google Audio, as the company’s foray into radio advertising is known, has hit some snags (read more - San Jose-Silicone Valley Biz Journals) (read more - Miguel Helft-NY Times)

Christine Brodie is the new Vice President of Affiliate Relations for Smooth Jazz Network

Over the next five years, the number of households around the world with high-definition television (HDTV) will triple (read more - Reuters)

Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays says the intention is to keep the company headquartered in San Antonio. But there are uncertainties (read more - San Antonio Biz Journal)

Ann Nicole Smith and her foibles were a meal ticket for the syndicated entertainment shows, which fed off every crisis - and repeatedly put her on even though she was a wreck. Now, the autopsy results, the paternity suit and the questions about the fight over her long-dead husband's millions will keep this story going for days, or weeks. Why? Perhaps it's because Anna Nicole Smith made us feel better about ourselves. She may have had the enviable enormous breasts, a pretty face and a whiff of money, but the minute she opened her mouth we realized, hey, maybe we're better off less fortunate (read more - Richard Huff-NY Daily News)

Four Ann Arbor radio stations formerly owned by Clear Channel Communications are under new ownership (read more - Ann Arbor News)

Bob Costas on his Costas on the Radio this weekend was joined by John Mellencamp and Tommie Smith, former Olympic athlete. Costas show is carried on more than 120 station from Premiere Radio Networks

A man was arrested after he attempted to appear on a radio call-in show and claimed he sent at least one of a spate of letter bombs at British companies linked to traffic enforcement (read more - Edmonton Sun CA)

Anyone who remembers how WQHT (97.1 FM) got roasted two years ago for its "Slapfest" contest had to be amused to see that one Budweiser's Super Bowl ads featured a bunch of people slapping each other (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

XM Satellite Radio is negotiating a sale and leaseback deal for its XM-4 satellite that could yield up to $300 million in cash for the company, according to UBS analyst Lucas Binder (read more - Tech Trader)

BBC Radio 4’s programme Out on Air, part of The Archive Hour series and to be transmitted tomorrow (February 10 at 8pm), is well timed to coincide with this month’s LGBT History Month. The programme will explore the rise and fall of gay radio – how homosexuality on the airwaves went from taboo to mainstream in the space of a decade (read more- UK Gay News)

According to just-released research from the Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab, recall of advertising is dramatically enhanced when a mix of Radio and Internet ads is used together compared to website ads alone. Conducted by Harris Interactive Inc., the new study was released this morning at RAB’07, the Radio Advertising Bureau’s (RAB) Management & Leadership Conference taking place in Dallas (read more - RAB)

Ready or not, today marks the debut of "The Bill Leff Show: The Shortest Show on Radio." It's actually a one-minute weekly segment that will air during the 5 p.m. hour of Roe Conn's afternoon show on ABC-owned news/talk WLS-AM (890) + WFLD-Channel 32 confirmed the hiring Thursday of Mike Barz as host of "Fox News in the Morning" (read more - Feder of Chicago)

The News Corporation will start a long-awaited business news channel in the fourth quarter of this year. In doing so, he also took a shot at CNBC, the leading television business news outlet, vowing that the new channel would be friendlier to corporations (read more - Edward Wyatt-NY Times) (read more - Paul D. Colford -NY Post)

As tough as the past few weeks have been on Tom Finneran, they’ve been even rougher on the man the disgraced former House Speaker is replacing on WRKO starting Monday morning. “I’ve worked really hard on not pitying myself,” said Scott Allen Miller, who signs off from WRKO (680 AM) for the last time today, with no new job in sight. But those close to Miller, 36, say the transition has been hard on him (read more - Jessica Heslam-Boston Herald)

KTNF-AM Minneapolis is the latest affiliate to join the Nova M Radio Network, adding the syndicated Mike Malloy evening program. Since joining Nova M in October 2006, Malloy has quickly added new affiliates and is also heard on WINZ-AM Miami, KQKE-AM San Francisco, KLSD-AM San Diego, KPTK-AM Seattle, KPHX-AM Phoenix, KSAC-AM Sacramento and others

Building a new case for Radio, Jeff Haley, president and chief executive officer of the Radio Advertising Bureau delivered his first state of the industry speech today in Dallas at RAB2007. Related to the RAB’s advertiser-focused mission, Haley defined Radio as sponsored audio content and cited current misperceptions as the only obstacle to the medium’s growth (read more - RAB)

This Air Pelosi story is gaining altitude. Conservative blogs and radio talkers are having a grand time painting her as a pampered princess. "On a day when the federal deficit and the Iraq war were the official business, Washington found itself caught up again in the question of whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should fly home to San Francisco in a big plane or a little one" (read more - Howard Kurtz-Media Notes-Washington Post)

James Harvey “Chef Eddy” McCormick, who had one of the most distinct radio voices in the Arkansas area, died Tuesday in Fort Smith (read more - NW Arkansas Times Record)

Banished from country radio for nearly four years after popping off about President Bush (and, later, about country fans and artists), the Dixie Chicks are by far the most-nominated "country" act at the Grammys this year, with five nods including top album (read more - Peter Cooper-The Tennessean)

Denver's KXPK has now risen to No. 1 in that market for adults, 25-54 and also 18-49. So how is Salt Lake Spanish radio doing? KDUT (FM-102.3), Salt Lake's leading Spanish station, is now tied for 15th place locally among listeners ages 12-plus, with a 2.4 percent audience share (read more - Lynn Arave-Deseret News)

XM Satellite Radio needs an exterminator - pronto. Its Washington, D.C., headquarters are so infested with rats, they're disabling the equipment (read more - Page Six)

From W W Wimbish -- Their white and gleaming teeth all crowned and capped, the TV vultures from the gossip channels have descended upon Hollywood, Florida to pick at the bones of Anna Nicole Smith. In hot pursuit are MSNBC, Fox News Channel and CNN. Do we really need 24 hour, wall-to-wall live reports on this lady from Mexia, Texas? Do you really want to know about her childhood, her marriages, her found and lost loves? Does your breakfast and lunch taste better because you hear that ANS choked on her own vomit? Is it essential to the nation that TV anchors breathlessly tell you that they are anticipating another news conference in Florida? Probably not. But, for the next few days you'll be force-fed these tantalizing tidbits in torrid TV "news" casts (read more - W W Wimbish)

Management at ESPN 1310 is less than thrilled about John Castleberry's new position with The Game, a property acquired by Red Zebra Broadcasting, owned by Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. "I'm not pleased with having a direct competitor appearing on our air," said Eric Mastel, president of radio for Max Media, which owns the AM sports talker. "I've told our partners that" (read more - Bob Molinaro-Virginian Pilot)

"The Internet has confused what is journalism and what is not. Though they are reachable the same way, the Courier Times’ Web site and the Eagles’ Web site are not equivalent. The shame is that people may now think they are." WIP 610-AM host Glen Macnow, who teaches journalism at Saint Joseph’s University, also did not criticize the Eagles (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

A group representing the major Christian denominations in southwestern Pennsylvania has filed a public complaint against KDKA television and radio for news promotions that led to the suicide of the targeted pastor, and has arranged a meeting with station executives (read more - Ann Rodgers-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

On a day when his "World News" would open with new findings on the prevalence of autism in this country rather than the death of model/litigant Anna Nicole Smith, ABC anchor Charles Gibson was thinking aloud. Now that people get what they want the way they want on the Internet, where does that leave those mainstream media outlets that, in traditional fashion, pair the news people want with the news it is thought they need? (read more - Phil Rosenthal-Chicago Tribune)

Cell phone pervasiveness continues to be a significant threat to traditional media by cell phone use in vehicles. Top line findings of our national study conducted between August 2006 and January 2007 estimates that in the United States, 75% of the population owned a cell phone in 2006. At the time of the study, U.S. population was estimated at at 300 million, with 225 million cell phone users. In fact, today cell phone technology is the only audio technology that could approach traditional radio's market penetration (currently at 93% or 276 million Americans who listen to terrestrial radio at least once a week) (read more - Bridge Ratings)

From Kent Burkhart -- A lot of radio listeners vacation in south Florida each year - hundreds of thousands of them. They

represent almost every state. They are mostly having a stress free happy vacation. I talk to a lot of them about what is happening in their state (or city) - current events, political thoughts and about their radio listening habits - as I watch them sip on a soft drink or something stronger. I call this “beach reach” research - very unscientific, but very massive in body count. I know because I live in south Florida - and I WAS THERE talking to them - live!!!! (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

David Lubars, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of BBDO North America, will serve as Chief Judge for the 2007 Radio-Mercury Awards (read more - RAB)

Tavis Smiley will moderate two live presidential forums, a Democratic forum on June 28 at Howard University in Washington and a Republican forum on Sept. 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore (read more - WTOP)

In Dallas, KJKK Middays Producer, Ryan Cox is leaving CBS to head crosstown to Salem to produce "NightLight with Andi Jaxson" on KLTY

With his smooth, rich voice and upbeat charm, it's no wonder Bill Hopkins has been drawing audiences from across the country to listen to his radio programs for the past 60 years. His influence hasn't gone unnoticed. Hopkins has recently been inducted into the St. Louis Radio Hall of Fame (read more - Emily Pollack-Pocono Record)

First, it seemed WCBS Ch. 2 correspondents were told to walk toward the camera in every shot. Now, they're all trying to fill the frame. Watch for a bit and you'll see the reporters walk right up to the camera, or walk in from the side of the shot to fill the frame, like they've stumbled on the camera. I'm sure this approach is exactly the kind of thing that will have a dramatic change in the ratings (read more - Richard Huff-NY Daily News)

WJOL morning man Scott Slocum wants back on the village board and to get there has promised not to discuss his campaign on the radio (read more - The Herald News)

Rick Dees has got his radio groove back. The legendary morning personality is jumping out of bed at 3:45 a.m. these days to prep for his new drivetime show at Los Angeles' KMVN-FM "Movin' 93.9" (read more - Michael Schneider-Variety)

From Lee Abrams -- My Blackberry had officially crapped out. Reason is too many undeleted E-mails. So I went back and started deleting. You find some crazy stuff. This was a memo to the staff---or the staff that was actually on board at this early date. Six years ago today.
2001 is the beginning of the future of radio.......it's just a matter of AFDI.
Remember:
In terrestrial radio you gotta "get special permission" to do something new, different and unusual
At XM, you gotta get "special permission" to do anything normal and accepted
Remember: If WE don't do it....it ain't going to happen......WE are the Army that can liberate and CHANGE the sound of radio (read more - Lee Abrams Blog)

ABC News Radio will offer its annual Tax Tips feature series beginning Monday

Dave Graveline and the Into Tomorrow team bring you the latest in techno gadgets, gizmos and gab this Sunday afternoon (visit www.graveline.com)

Retired Orange County Register Columnist Steve Bisheff has been hired as an Insider for 710 ESPN, the all sports station

Controversial gabster John DePetro blew it in Boston but has landed a new job at WPRO-AM in Providence. Boston’s WRKO-AM axed DePetro in November after he called gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross a “fat lesbian” on the air (read more - Jessica Heslam-Boston Herald)

Howard Stern isn’t the only star getting paid big bucks to gab. In the course of a single year, the 10 talking heads on our list pulled down some $731 million combined, according to Forbes' annual listing of the World’s Most Powerful Celebrities (read more - Lacey Rose - Forbes)

WFAN (660 AM) and MSNBC dodged an F-bullet yesterday when "Hardball" host Chris Matthews blurted out the word while talking to Don Imus during a simulcast (read more - David Hinckley-NY Post)

Tom Waddle has been hired at ABC-owned sports/talk WMVP-AM (1000). His new deal, via agent Steve Mandell, was signed Wednesday + Drew Walker broadcasts his afternoon show on CBS Radio country WUSN-FM (99.5) today from the lobby of the Chicago Theatre to promote tonight's Keith Urban concert (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Stephen L. Green has offered $4.25 million for the assets of Air America Radio, the liberal talk-radio network, setting up an auction for the company, court documents show. The offer is considered the “stalking horse” or lead bid under bankruptcy court rules, the documents said. A rival must pay at least $4.6 million to succeed (read more - NY Times)

Ryan Hermes joins Chicago’s Talk Station, WLS 890AM as a reporter/anchor. Hermes comes to WLS from the Illinois Radio Network where heserved as Capitol Bureau Chief

Fresh 102.7 has picked another fresh voice as its midday host.
Heather Walters, who has been doing middays on KHPT in Houston, will start Feb. 19 as the 10 a.m.-3 p.m. daily host on WWFS (102.7 FM) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Dail News)

Clear Channel Radio Hawaii has appointed Jamie Hyatt to director of programming for all seven of the group's Honolulu radio stations (read more - Pacific Biz News)

Another important trend relates to what's happening with miniaturization in electronic components. If you look at Moore's Law, there are likely to be five more doublings of capability and halvings of cost. That means in ten years you'll have an iPod the size of a pencil eraser and costing about seven or eight dollars. Why wouldn't someone at that time consider just embedding it inside themselves? We embed chips in our pets already (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

From the moment he hobbled into the wood-paneled courtroom on a single crutch from an ankle injury, Tim Russert seemed very different from the familiar television figure of Sunday morning combat. He was careful, sober and subdued. He spoke in a flat monotone. He offered responses such as "I don't recall saying that specifically, but I may have," and "You'll have to refresh my recollection on that." Gone was Russert's usual bombast and showmanship (read more - Howard Kurtz-Washington Post)

The title of Sean Ross' column this week for Edison Media Research is "The Most Intriguing Radio Stations of 2006," and one of his picks is WRIF-HD-2 (Riff 2) , the high-definition station that Greater Media Detroit launched a year and a half ago (read more - Susan Whitall-Detroit News)

An air-traffic controller admitted Tuesday that he had no idea of a Cessna's location when he instructed its pilot to turn, a maneuver that less than two minutes later resulted in a midair collision that killed WGN 720 AM radio star Bob Collins and two others (read more - Matt O'Connor-Chicago Tribune)

XM Satellite Radio, as part of a weekly tribute to 1960s radio stations, will honor Fort Worth's classic KFJZ 1270 as one of the most influential stations of that time. From 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, XM's '60s channel will present radio station jingles, sound checks and local color about Fort Worth-area high schools, restaurants, people and so forth. The show is free to non-subscribers via a free, three-day trial of XM Satellite Radio, available online at www.listen.xmradio.com (read more - Star-Telegram)

In the quarterly ratings battle among radio stations in the Seattle-Tacoma market, the contestants for the top spot are usually the country, soft rock, urban contemporary and news-talk stations. And public radio. That non-commercial stations are major players in the local radio market, and claim a sizable portion of listeners, was a point reinforced by the latest data from Arbitron Inc. and the Radio Research Consortium for the fall-quarter survey (read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI)

Can you use the F-word on the air? If it's used in a sexual context, forget it. But it might be OK if it's just an expletive. Good luck making the right call. What about the word that's been described as a barnyard epithet? If it appears in a news program, it may be all right, but if a morning host uses it, a station could find itself facing a $325,000 fine. And then there's the lowly word for breasts that rhymes with "bits." (read more - Randy Dotinga-NC Times)

ABC Radio Networks has appointed John Rosso to take on the additional role of heading up its rapidly expanding Digital Media division. Jim Robinson, President, ABC Radio Networks says, “John's mission will be to enhance our existing on-line product offerings and to create revenue opportunities through development of new interactive content” + in addition to his regular duties, TJ Lambert will now be in charge of leading affiliation efforts for all ABC Radio Networks general market programs and services as well as oversight of the Commercial Clearance Department

From Murphy Martin -- Individuals who coach professional sports teams generally come in all shapes and sizes. Their personalities range from ranting and raving, cursing, brow-

beating demanding egotists to the low-key, seemingly always in control Mr. Cool, whose job it is to contend with the antics of maybe the most pampered people on the planet. All the while coaches must be modest enough to project the belief that it is the players and not the coaches who are responsible for the outcomes of the games. The victorious coach in Super Bowl XLI, Tony Dungy, does not fit any of the descriptions mentioned above. Dungy does not curse or shout at players. Never has-never will! (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

Henry Cisneros, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1993-1997 during the Clinton administration, will deliver a keynote address to Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference in San Antonio on May 22 (read more - Radio Ink)

Beto Duran has been promoted to be a 710 ESPN reporter who will cover and report on local sporting events on-air for 710 ESPN and for the station’s internet Podcasts

Skip Joeckel's Talk Shows USA syndicated shows Heart Talk Live adds KVON AM 1440 Napa, CA, The Cigar Dave Show signs up WFLN AM 1480 Arcadia, FL and WGST AM 640 Atlanta, GA and Gun Talk is being heard on KWOC AM 930 Poplar Bluff, MO and XM Satellite Radio Channel 166

When Tony, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Pulitzer winner Marvin Hamlisch hit town to perform at last weekend's Rotary Gala, classical music doyenne Laurel Ornish cornered him for an interview for her Classical Texas Web broadcast + Monday, the Lizzie McGuire TV alum, Hilary Duff, was up and at 'em with the "Kiss FM" KHKS-FM (106.1) morning crew of Kidd Kraddick, Kellie Rasberry and "Big" Al Mack (read more - Alan Peppard-Dallas News)

Windows Vista software that retails at $400 for the premium version is selling as pirate software at Latin American street vendors for under $10 (read more - USA Today)

The FCC has issued a $10,000 fine against Infinity Broadcasting Corp. of Florida, the licensee of WQYK-FM, and $25,000 against Entravision Holdings LLC, licensee of Univision television affiliate WVEA-Channel 62, for not properly informing visitors to Park Tower's rooftop that the broadcast towers there exceed the maximum permissible exposure of radio frequency radiation (read more - Tampa Bay Biz Journal)

CBS Radio will be implementing new digital inventory management systems. Through the use of ad operations software and trafficking services provided by Operative, CBS RADIO stations will be able to seamlessly orchestrate proposals, insertion orders, inventory management, and finance reconciliation

Leonard William Thomas Sr., 97, an electrical engineer whose expertise in radio helped solve electronic interference problems for the U.S. military during World War II and who worked as an engineer with CBS radio station WJSV, died (read more - Joe Holley-Washington Post)

Arbitron has unveiled a custom sports study that profiles how adults aged 18 and older in Indianapolis and Chicago listened to and watched Super Bowl XLI on radio and television. While the Super Bowl is a quintessential media event across the country, in the hometowns of the AFC and NFC contenders, Indianapolis fans bested their Chicago rivals in interest, attention and share of media coverage (visit ARBitron)

Clear Channel Radio changed the content of WAVZ-AM (1300) this week, from the likes of Al Franken and "The Voice" progressive talk to Dan Patrick and ESPN Radio sports talk. And some listeners are expressing dismay that the format was changed without on-air notice (read more - Joe Amarante-New Haven Register)

If you're looking for the perfect all-"news" channel story, watch the unfolding saga of Lisa Nowak. Just before live pictures of Nowak's afternoon arraignment aired on CNN, Headline News, MSNBC and Fox News, MSNBC's daytime smarty-pants Tucker Carlson was touting "the most twisted love story in the history of the space program." Expect this to play on for days, or even weeks. And the made-for-Lifetime movie is just over the horizon (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

The problem with HD radio isn't tuning hassles, but the incredible sameness of the stations. The people programming them aren't taking any chances, and the results sound distressingly like existing FM stations. Only one station, 103.5 KTU, gives us a format we don't already have (country; imagine that). There's a lot of promise in HD radio, but not if programmers stay with the tired and familiar (read more - Troy Dreier-NJ Journal)

Emmis Communications in New York promoted Ebro Darden Program Director at the HOT 97 WQHT-FM. "Ebro's involvement has been fundamental to the success of HOT 97," Emmis - New York Market Manager Dan Halyburton said. Hot-97 has had both good and bad news lately (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily news) (read more - PR Newswire)

Just days after Viacom demanded YouTube take down all its content, Jeff Zucker, the newly appointed head of NBC Universal, seized the opportunity to criticize the popular video-sharing site (read more - Holly M. Sanders-NY Post)

Michael Copps, FCC Commish, says that the FCC is unlikely to charge the maximum fine on smaller broadcast stations that violate federal decency standards (read more - Kennth Li-Reuters)

Chicago's progressive talk station has unveiled its new daytime lineup. Starting Feb. 19, Randi Rhodes will air live from 2 to 5 p.m. weekdays on Newsweb Corp.'s WCPT-AM (850) + Steve Fisher has resigned after 18 months as morning personality at "Nine FM" (read more - Feder of Chicago)

From John Rook -- Millions tune in to hear him preach a doctrine even more conservative and strident than that of El Rushero. Michael Savage minces few words and leaves no doubt the San Francisco based blowtorch has no patience for spineless politicians who excuse themselves from entering his oven. With four best selling books to his credit, Savage’s predictable unpredictability has sent a shiver through the GOP by signaling he is considering entering the presidential sweepstakes (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

The Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab unveils the second study in its new series, "Radio and the Consumer's Mind: How Radio Works" on Friday. This just completed national research takes a first-ever look at how ad campaigns that use Radio and the Internet together compare to campaigns that only use the Internet and summarizes other sources of research about how Radio and the Internet compare and contrast as advertising vehicles (read more - RAB)

Shreveport public radio station KDAQ hopes to have its 21-year-old analog transmitter replaced by Friday with a new digital transmitter that will give a stronger, clearer signal to Longview listeners, said Kermit Poling, general manager (read more - Dayna Worchel-Longview News Journal)

Walt Crowley is a Seattle radio host who is about to lose the ability to speak. Crowley has throat cancer, and will have to speak through an electronic voice box after an operation this week (read more - listen - NPR)

WNBC TV hosted more than 130 bloggers at an evening event last week at NBC headquarters and ended up alienating most of them by begging them to e-mail in scoops. "NBC - a huge media giant, owned by an even bigger conglomerate - wants our help?" attendee Sherry Mazzocchi carped on BlogChelsea (read more - Janet Whitman-NY Post)

Sirius announced a partnership with Frank Sinatra Enterprises to create a new, exclusive radio channel, Siriusly Sinatra, dedicated to the music, time and spirit of Frank Sinatra (read more - PR Newswire)

The national president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, John P. Connolly, will step down in March to become the national executive director of Actors’ Equity Association (read more - NY Times)

Disgraced ex-House Speaker Thomas Finneran - the former top lobbyist for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council - said in a gushing goodbye letter to the council that he hopes to use his WRKO radio show to advocate for the biotech industry (read more - Jessica Heslam-Boston Herald)

From Peter Smyth -- Can you hear it? Can you feel it? The media environment seems to be changing...again. The future of radio is not annihilation by satellite radio and the iPod after all. Internet radio is growing strongly... powered by local radio station streams, which are attracting listeners at quadruple the rate of internet-only stations. Satellite radio receiver sales for this holiday season were off dramatically. There were reports that some Google advertisers were disappointed by their investment in Google ads during the past holiday season. Radio is still second only to TV for time spent with the medium, and Americans still listen to radio 5 times more than the time they spend on the internet. Are people actually changing their behavior? Not really (read more - Peter Smyth's Corner Office - Greater Media)

The HD Digital Radio Alliance and Sharper Image announced the launch of HD digital radio products in over 188 Sharper Image stores nationwide, as well as online and on the cover of the company's celebrated catalogue (read more - PR Newswire)

Comfort Food Radio is hosted by Chris Turner and heard live on KODI 1400am and KZMQ 1140am from 9-10am Saturday mornings. It's Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes for Your Mind. The show is performed before a live audience at the world famous Irma Hotel in downtown Cody, Wyoming (visit Comfort Food Radio)

Mark Waters has been promoted to Senior Vice President/Market Manager of CBS Radio's three stations in Phoenix, KOOL-FM, KMLE-FM and KZON-FM

Ellen Rubin has been promoted to the position of Vice President and General Counsel of Greater Media

WUNC, the Triangle-based National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate, finalized plans to build a Greensboro news bureau on the third floor of the Triad Stage building by the end of 2007 (read more - Amy Kingsley-Yes Weekly)

Garrett Hart has joined Sirius as Format Manager. He'll be based in Ohio and will oversee the commercial-free music channels SIRIUS Gold (ch. 5) and '60s Vibrations (ch. 6), as well as SIRIUS' broadcasts from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in Cleveland, Ohio

iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer and licensor of digital HD Radio technology, today announced that it has licensed R.V.R. Elettronica S.p.A. to develop, manufacture and market HD Radio exciters for AM and FM broadcasters who are converting to digital broadcasting. R.V.R. is the first licensed HD Radio broadcast equipment manufacturer in Europe

"What happened to Bob?" That unanswered question was posed on the public blog section of the Web site for WSOX Oldies 96.1 last week. And the person behind the screen name "gottaloveit56" isn't alone in asking about popular radio personality Bob Rudy's absence from the airwaves (read more - Christina Kauffman-York Dispatch)

Houston was the first test market for the PPM, and it's now coming to NYC. Arbitron is recruiting 3,720 metro-area listeners, from a representative cross-section of ages, ethnic groups and so on, and starting with the ratings period of Nov. 15-Dec. 12, all New York Arbitrons will be PPM-generated (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Scott Springer, the devilishly clever WLW sports reporter for the past 18 years, returned to work Monday anchoring his morning sports reports + Meanwhile, some Clear Channel employees laid off in the November purge have been rehired (read more - Rick Bird-Cincy Post)

The new U.S. budget proposal would eliminate most Voice of America English broadcasts, as well as radio programs in 12 other languages. The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors said programs in some other languages would be expanded, and there would be an increase in total spending on international broadcasting in President Bush's 2008 budget plan (read more - VOA)

Hello Radio Babe: Terrestrial radio in the St. Petersburg - Tampa and Bradenton/Sarasota areas has done little to excite me, but did help me ... go to XM Satellite radio, which I listen to throughout the house, yard and in my car -- I certainly miss the days of local and regional ownership and really miss ... 930 (AM WKXY). ... Current notable exceptions are WUSF (89.7 FM), WCTQ (106.5 FM) and WSRZ (107.9 FM), which are live and local during the day (read more - Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe)

Bob Dunphy has joined First Broadcasting in the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Station Operations (read more - First Broadcasting)

Last month, National Public Radio acknowledged its extreme fogeyness factor and announced that it will introduce a news show aimed at 25-to-44-year-olds, scheduled to launch in September. Turns out, the same week that NPR announced its plan, Public Radio International debuted a daily one-hour show, "Fair Game From PRI With Faith Salie," which not only aims at younger audiences but scores a direct hit where they're most susceptible: the funny bone (read more - Sam McManis -Sacramento Bee)

The 2007 Super Bowl Bears didn't quite match up to the 1986 Super Bowl Bears in the local television ratings either + Univision Radio's WRTO-AM (1200), the Spanish-language news/talk station known as "La Tremenda," will be honored for its coverage of Hispanic community issues + Pat Hughes, who's gearing up for his 12th season as the voice of the Cubs on Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720), has been named 2006 Illinois Sportscaster of the Year (read more - Feder of Chicago)

A jury has found former Phoenix TV anchor and weathercaster Kim Dillon guilty on two counts of felony shoplifting. Dillon's legal team had said the former KTVK TV personality was medicated and not aware of her actions (read more - ABC 15 TV)

Lea Green, general manager of Rushmore Radio, has no problem with Universal Power Marketing of St. Cloud, Minn., selling $65 “Shopping Spree” coupon-style punch cards in Rapid City. However, Green has cried foul because the company, in its telemarketing and printed materials, has been pitching the punch cards as a product sponsored by COOL 98.7 FM (read more - Dan Daly-Rapid City Journal)

As Jeff Zucker prepares to be officially named the CEO of NBC Universal, it's unclear how much power he'll have in his new role (read more - Peter Lauria-NY Post)

Outspoken radio talk-show host Andrew Krystal is back on the air in the Maritimes. The 47-year-old is accused of assaulting a woman and damaging her property in what police have described as a domestic incident (read more - CNews-Halifax CA)

Paul Perry takes over afternoon drive on Greater Media's WROR-FM in Boston beginning on February 12. Perry spent five years at WODS in Boston, in morning drive at B101 in Providence and at WJMK in Chicago

Maria Bartiromo had a handle on dough long before she became CNBC's "Money Honey." A source tells us Bartiromo, who's been under fire for taking multiple flights on a private Citigroup jet, used to work as an assistant cashier at a now-defunct OTB parlor in Sheepshead Bay around 1990 (read more - Page Six)

Nearly seven years to the day after a midair collision killed WGN radio personality Bob Collins and two others, a trial opened in federal court Monday to decide who was at fault for the crash of the two small aircraft (read more - Matt O'Connor-Chicago Tribune)

President Bush is asking Congress for $313 million for the FCC (read more - UPI)

Tom Kelly, the president and general manager of the new alternative station, “Skin Radio” on 1340-AM answered some email questions. L.N. – Will you continue with Kelly Music Research? (A business that helps radio stations determine listeners’ music preferences.) Tom Kelly - Kelly Music Research is a family business and will continue under the direction of my brother and partner Paul Kelly. Paul has taken the reins and has been managing the company for the last couple of years while I pursued station ownership. There is no conflict of interest issue. L.N. – Will you eventually hire disc jockeys? (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

I knew the name Perry Allen from his early years in Buffalo and that it was most historically associated with WKBW Radio. He was the first morning man in 1958 when KB went Top 30! I was at J.R. Reid's house "studio" up in Lockport many years ago and he played me an aircheck of Perry from a west coast station. I asked for a copy and J.R. obliged. I then collected any airchecks of Perry that I could find. He was a funny, funny man (read more - Bob Skurzewski - Buffalo, New York and other stuff)

Radio talk hosts were grinding their 50,000-watt axes about an Edwards County sheriff's deputy in Rocksprings who shot at a fleeing suspect. Apparently that's OK in Texas, just as long as it's somebody from Mexico (read more - Bud Kennedy-Star Telegram)

Broadcast Architecture’s Smooth Jazz Network has expanded their overnight show, hosted by Billy Raven, into his 11th and 12th markets on 95.5 KYOT Phoenix and 104.3 WSMJ Baltimore

From Happy Hare -- This past week, Boston trembled with post traumatic schlock. Yet, it shouldn’t have happened. I sincerely wonder: Why didn’t someone in the media know this was a shtick? Maybe, not the major talkers, ignorant of youth-oriented TV, but a bright ambitious young intern, ensconced somewhere among the various staffs, who possibly might have blurted out, “They aren’t bombs. They’re promotional dolls.” A knowledgeable young 18-34 demo morning jock might have actually formed a small group and gone to collect one and exposed it as a hoax. He could have saved the city a lot of disruption, $750,000 in needless expenses, and vaulted himself into the Big League. It’s called “Three Dimensional Radio,” More on that next week. In 1960, the cleverest promotional TV campaign I know of happened in Cleveland. One morning, hundreds of Clevelanders awakened to find ... (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Ed Lover is returning to the morning show at WWPR (105.1 FM) and will join the current occupants of the morning show chairs, Egypt and Ashy (Donnell Rawlings), on March 1 (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Turns out KDKA only jumped the gun a little bit Sunday night when it appeared to pre-empt the conclusion of the post-Super Bowl episode of "Criminal Minds" with local news (read more - Rob Owen-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

The antique radios on display at the Alabama Historical Radio Society's new downtown museum look both curiously quaint and strikingly modern. A 1927 Superflex radio, manufactured in Birmingham's Norwood neighborhood, is etched to appear as if the curtains on a stage have parted to reveal the 20th century's new home for theater (read more - Thomas Spencer-Birmingham News)

On Friday Delilah will tour the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, The Mologne House and The Fisher House in Washington, D.C., to visit some of the soldiers she met abroad and spend time with injured troops returning from the front lines. Delilah recently spent two weeks traveling with “Operation Season’s Greetings,” an all-star tour sponsored by the Air Force Reserve Command to entertain American service men and women overseas. 97.1 WASH-FM has invited her to host their annual Valentine’s Ball at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington D.C., on February 10 (visit www.washfm.com)

Lesbian radio show host Romaine Patterson revealed on the air Friday that she and her partner are having a baby. Patterson, cohost of the Derek & Romaine Show on Sirius Satellite Radio's OutQ stream, will carry the baby, due in July (read more - The Advocate)

The Chop Shop Radio Show announced that James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett of Metallica are February’s inductees to the Guitar Hall of Fame

Almost from the beginning, owning a radio station was a mark of considerable prestige and people tried to work in their own distinguishing letters in their call letters, for instance, KUPR Omaha (Union Pacific Railroad), KMMJ Clay Center (M.M. Johnson), KOCH Omaha (Omaha Central High), and WOW Omaha (Woodmen Of the World) (read more - Walt Sehnert-McCook Daily Gazette)

Here’s Laura Nachman's “Super Bowl XLI” telecast report card -- Best commercials – Sprint Mobile’s “Connectile Dysfunction,” Bud Light’s “Wedding Auction,” Godaddy.com’s “Marketing Department,” Nationwide’s Kevin Federline (yes, Kevin Federline and best are in the same sentence) ad, Robert Goulet’s ad for Emerald mixed nuts. Worst commercial – The Snickers “Two mechanics almost kissing” ad (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

Wendy Walker, who lost her midday DJ job on WEBN-FM on Nov. 29 in a budget cut, has resumed her "Big Hair Wednesdays" on WEBN-FM (102.7) as part of her new position at Clear Channel. She replaces Holly O'Leary, who resigned (read more - John Kiesewetter-Cincy Enquirer)

Should the Washington Post be labeled clearly as a liberal paper? And the Wall Street Journal as conservative? Should viewers be told upfront that Fox represents a conservative slant, with the Big Three networks representing liberals? Perhaps it's time for viewers and readers to know just what they're getting. Perhaps it's time for a caveat-oriented Disclosure Doctrine to supplant the return of the politically motivated Fairness Doctrine (read more - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

Before Alan Berg, Mike Rosen and Peter Boyles there was Joe Finan. Finan was a daytime host on KTLN-AM (1280) at a time when local, controversial talk hosts exploded on the national scene (read more - Dusty Saunders - Rocky Mountain News)

Perry Allen, one of the original KRLA Pasadena "11-10 Men" in 1959, died of heart failure + It's been one year since "Fabulous Radio" vanished from AM radio in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Others have come forward to fill the void but Brad "Martini" Chambers is determined to keep his contemporary adult-standards format alive by celebrating it Feb. 18 with a "Sweetheart's Ball" at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach (read more - Gary Lycan-OC Register)

From Claude Hall -- Jerry Naylor wrote asking if I'd review his new book and I immediately said yes. I'm honored. This, from
Jerry: "Well, much is going on with our Rockabilly Legends documentary, book, DVDs and CDs project. PBS begins national broadcasts March 02, just over a month away" + This April 15th is the Thirty-Fifth Anniversary of your Billboard Magazine VOX JOX Column (April 15, 1972) that greatly helped our FM Radio Station KFMI-FM 96.3 Eureka, California (300,000 watts horiz. & vert.) get serviced with Progressive Rock albums to play for both hippies and loggers way up there (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

Vonage, SunRocket and Packet 8 have sprung up in recent years to battle the old Baby Bells for customers. All you need to make the switch to a Web-based phone service is a high-speed Internet connection. "I used to be paying $75 to $80 a month. Now, my average bill is about $20 ..." Once you sign up, you'll get an adapter that connects your phone to your Internet router (read more - Elizabeth Lazarowitz-NY Daily News)

Heart FM-owner Chrysalis has revealed it suffered a 10% drop in radio revenues in the last four months of 2006, as a report claims that it is considering quitting the radio market (read more - Brand Republic U.K.)

The powers that be at WTPA 93.5 FM admit it's the worst-kept secret in radio -- Coffey and the Jammer, with Amy Warner, will return to where it all began (read more - Barry Fox-Patriot News)

Ron Chatman at WYCDFM (99.5), one of the nicest guys in country radio, has been bumped up to director of digital media for the CBS station. He will oversee the HD-2 station known as “The Wolf,” available only on HD radios. Chatman has been at WYCD for seven years and pulls the evening shift (read more - Art Vuolo-Michiguide)

From Tommy Kramer -- "As you know if you have an on-air job opening, finding talent with real skills who can also be

adaptable and fit in is a huge challenge. With the best of intentions, I keep hearing the word “teachable” from Program Directors looking at candidates for job openings at their stations. While “Is he teachable?” may appear to be a prime component, it’s also coming from the wrong end of the binoculars, a template of the PD’s hopes that he or she lays over the process of considering someone. So here’s a suggestion. Let's replace the ..." (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

The last Rush Limbaugh Show aired Wednesday in Fargo so Rush Limbaugh’s Web site is directing fans to a “special Fargo Internet stream” while EIB looks for a new station to air the program (read more - Fargo Forum)