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RDN Central Archives I (Search Tip ...
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From Emily Wilson -- "A lot of people are threatened by funny women," Judy Gold says. "Women are just not socialized to use comedy as power. We're socialized to play nice. It seems weird that comedy should be so subversive in these times, but it still really is" (read more - AlterNet) From Lisa Sokolowski -- WVIA is creating the area’s first high-definition television and radio studio/theater, and even though the hallway leading to the studio is still begging for a final paint job, it will be ready for its Sept. 27 unveiling (read more - NE PA Times Leader) From Chris Zelkovich -- "There were many days I came in wondering if I'd have a job by the end of the day. So to be where we are today is very gratifying." Where the FAN 590 is today is at the top of its game. It celebrates its 15th anniversary as one of the five top-rated sports talk stations in North America and is enjoying its highest profits ever (read more - Toronto Star) Country music star T.G. Sheppard takes over the airwaves as he guest DJs In The Roadhouse, channel 62, on SIRIUS Satellite September 7th at 2 pm ET Marshall Chess hosts a special Chess Records Hour on SIRIUS Blues. Rolling Stones, welcomes fellow Rolling Stones manager and producer, Andrew Loog Oldham Longtime STLRadio personality Jonnie King celebrates his 40th anniversary and has launched www.thewwbc.net Monday September 3, 2007 From Ian Thompson -- Apple is expected to launch a new range of iPods this week designed to receive digital radio (read more - VNUNET U.K.) From Michael Klein -- Frank Sinatra's voice is coming out of the radio at WHAT (1340). The station, which on Jan. 19 abandoned its longtime urban-talk format in favor of a youth-oriented music called Skin Radio, on Friday flipped to contemporary standards aimed at boomers - "Martini Lounge Radio" (read more - Philly Enquirer) The Lighthouse Christian Radio station in Belize braces for Hurricane Felix (read more - Journal Chretien) "Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline" begins its next several Remote Broadcasts from around the world. This week and next, they're in Berlin, Germany for IFA - one of the world's largest Consumer Electronics Fairs. Then Dave and his team fly straight to Denver for the CEDIA Expo, covering Home Theater & Automation, on to the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco the following week, followed by ShowStoppers for the Digital Holidays and DigitalLife in New York then - the next day - on to Tokyo for their broadcasts again this year from CEATEC Japan. And that's all in just one month (visit www.Graveline.com) From Lynn Hirschberg -- The mighty music business is in free fall — it has lost control of radio; retail outlets like Tower Records have shut down; MTV rarely broadcasts music videos; and the once lucrative album market has been overshadowed by downloaded singles, which mainly benefits Apple. "The music business, as a whole, has lost its faith in content," David Geffen, the legendary music mogul, told me recently. "Only 10 years ago, companies wanted to make records, presumably good records, and see if they sold. But panic has set in, and now it's no longer about making music, it's all about how to sell music. And there's no clear answer about how to fix that problem. But I still believe that the top priority at any record company has to be coming up with great music. And for that reason, Sony was very smart to hire Rick Rubin" (read more - NY Times) From
Joseph Gidjunis
-- Delmarva's public radio listeners are up for grabs as a new
Baltimore-based player squeezes the nonprofit airwaves later this
month, and possibly From Wayne Slater -- Hugh Hewitt is on the air, channeling Texas Republicanism to the world. At least to his world, which is a loyal confederacy of several hundred thousand red-meat conservatives nationwide who read his blog on Townhall.com and listen to his daily radio talk show. His radio employer, Salem, owns 104 radio stations and the Hugh Hewitt Show has an estimated weekly audience of 700,000 (read more - Dallas News) (read more - Star Telegram) From
Claude Hall --
Jack Lee, director of Integrated Media in Saga (Milwaukee), in
regards to the photo in Commentary last week: "I was part of the old
WOKY air staff From David Hinckley -- WNNJ (1360 AM) in northwest New Jersey has switched from oldies to "timeless favorites" + Holiday programming on Sirius Satellite Radio includes 27 college football games and a Jerry Lewis-and-Dean Martin marathon on "Radioclassics" (read more - NY Daily News) From
Tommy Kramer --
One of the things we all try to get our Air Talents to do is be more
LOCAL on the air. Recently, as I talked about this with one of the
members of a Morning Team, he had a reaction that really made me
think. He
said
From Rich Spapiro -- Emmy-Award winning journalist Rita Cosby is perhaps best known for her deep and raspy voice. But it was her ability to land exclusive interviews with the most sought-after figures of the moment that catapulted her to stardom (read more - NY Daily News) From Brad Kava -- It's pretty hard to have only hard feelings for Clear Channel if you have been watching what it has been doing with its Bay Area liberal outpost, KQKE-AM (960), which, as of Monday, became KKGN, "Green 960." The lineup of Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Rachel Maddow, Bill Press, Mike Malloy, Jon Elliot and Randi Rhodes is a liberal dream team, intelligent and entertaining. It is virtually tied in the ratings with conservative talker and sister station KNEW-FM (910), both down in the lower 20s for Bay Area audiences over 12. And it just added a locally produced afternoon show at 3 p.m. daily called "Green Seed Radio," a primer for people who want to live with more concern for the environment (read more - Inside Bay Area) From
Jimmy Rabbitt --
On this day in Rock 'n Roll history, Cheap Trick made their
Billboard Hot 100 debut in 1978 when “Surrender” peaked at #62.
The track was from their 3rd.
From
Art Vuolo --
Spartan football fans have the 50,000 watts of WJR still on their
side with George Blaha at the microphone
+ I don’t want to seem
like I’m beating a dead horse, but I found this analysis of HD Radio
by one of radio’s better-known consultants, Joel Raab, real
interesting. He observed that, based on the focus groups and
research he’s seen, listeners do understand the promos about HD2
providing “the stations between the stations.” From Jake Thompson -- Most cell phone owners are locked into two-year service contracts and face charges of up to $250 to get out of their contracts early. The Federal Communications Commission says complaints are on the rise. The cell phone industry ranked No. 1 nationally as the most complained-about industry at the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which tracks criticism about termination fees, billing and service, said Sheila Atkins, an associate director of the council. Cell companies defend termination fees as necessary to recover the expense of costly phones that they deeply discount, and for other service costs (read more - Omaha World-Herald) From John Ford -- “The McCormack Files,” hosted by radio personality John McCormack, was taken off the air Wednesday morning, the host said, due to a production dispute. The show aired on KQYS-AM at 10:30 a.m. weekdays (read more - Neosho Daily News) ARBitron numbers for West Palm Beach, Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville and NC Huntsville (read 'em) Hey!
This is TEXAS! The Texas Radio Hall of
Westwood One says it is continuing to negotiate with CBS Radio and work towards finalizing definitive documentation regarding the modification and extension through 2017 of its various agreements with CBS Radio WSMB-AM 680 in Memphis is the newest affiliate of the Fox Sports network DailyTech: Compared to the old royalty rates, how will the new CRB rates affect Proton radio? Wohlstadter: If things go sour and Proton gets targeted -- which may very well happen -- our goal is to have contracts in place with the 3,000 or 4,000 or so labels that are played on our station so that we can work deals directly with them rather than deal with 3rd parties such as ASCAP, BMI and SoundExchange. And if things get really bad we'll just stop broadcasting, and instead offer our music On Demand only or at the very least from labels that we have deals with (read more - Daily Tech) Friday August 31, 2007 From David Barron -- Jack FM makes its Houston debut at 10:37 a.m. (today) Friday at 103.7 FM. The Cumulus Media station, now known as KIOL or Rock 103.7 FM, will be reformatted as KHJK, said Pat Fant, Cumulus' Houston market manager (read more - Houston Chronicle) From Robert Feder -- From "Kukla Fran & Ollie" to "Ding Dong School," some of television's best children's programming once emanated from Chicago. Fifty years later, Chicago again is making meaningful television for its youngest viewers + As a Labor Day treat, it'll be "Dialing for Dilation" during Kathy O'Malley and Judy Markey's midday show Monday on Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720). They'll try to have a listener who's going into labor deliver on the air (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From Tim Cuprisin -- Smooth jazz WJZX-FM (106.9) has picked up Traci Northrop as its new general sales manager. She had most recently held the same post at the old WJZI (read more - Milwaukee JS) The Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on Tuesday, September 25th at the studios of WNED-TV in Buffalo (read more - Buffalo Broadcasters) From George Alexander -- XM and Sirius have both been strong presenters of diverse programming, a major factor the NAACP cites in supporting the proposed merger (read more - Black Enterprise) ARBitron numbers for Des Moines, Shreveport, Little Rock, Grand Rapids, Austin, TX; Orlando, Albuquerque, Bakersfield, El Paso, Jacksonville, Baton Rouge, Colorado Springs, Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol and Gainesville-Ocala (read 'em) C-SPAN is telecasting talk show hosts this week and will offer a national simulcast of the entire three hours of Air America Radio's “The Thom Hartmann Program,” 12-3pm ET, today, Friday, August 31. Earlier, Jack Rice and Neal Boortz were featured From Mark Ramsey -- Mercury Radio Research looked at several months of PPM ratings across both Houston and Philadelphia with specific attention focused on what stations did from a marketing and programming standpoint, whether or not it worked, and how it worked (read more - Hear 2.0) From Brooks Barnes -- NBC Universal has decided not to renew its contract to sell digital downloads of television shows on Apple's iTunes (read more - NY Times) From Laura Nachman -- Sports Radio 950's Jody McDonald has been pinch-hitting on “Phillies Post Game Live” during the New York Mets series. Besides his regular job on 950, McDonald hosts a show on ESPN 1050-AM in New York during the weekend (read more - Philly Burbs) From
Kent Burkhart --
As mentioned in my column last week I was wishing and hoping that
Frank Boyle would fax me the column he wrote which was published in
the Radio
Final
nominees for the nation's top Country radio stations and broadcast
personalities were announced today.
The announcements were
carried live to Country radio stations by CMA's official radio
partner Premiere Radio Networks. From Ben Fenton -- Paul Jackson, chief executive of Virgin Radio, unexpectedly quit the company on Friday to join rival GCap (read more - FT) ‘The Entertainment Edge’ with Ryan Seacrest launches on London’s Capital 95.8 on Saturday September 15 and on the One Network’s 42 stations on Sunday September 16 (read more - Creative Match U.K.) From Jay Posner -- There soon could be another sports-talk radio station in San Diego. Or not. That just about sums up the numerous conversations I had with people in the local media business this week about the rumors Clear Channel will convert KLSD's “Progressive Talk” format to sports talk (read more - San Diego Union-Tribune) From Ray Routhier -- After three months of uncertainty, fans of Portland radio station WCLZ (98.9 FM) can breathe a little easier, now that the station's prospective owners have vowed to keep its eclectic music format (read more - Portland) Univisión's Republican presidential debate has been called off after only one contender, Senator John McCain, agreed to participate. The debate for Democrats is still on for Sept. 9 From Kevin D. Thompson -- The PBS folks are giving its affiliates a "clean" version of The War in which the F-word and S-word are edited out in episodes two and five. It's up to the individual stations to decide which version they want to air. Those stations airing the unedited version, however, run the risk of hefty FCC fines (read more - Palm Beach Post) From
Lee Abrams --
Loved the Simpson’s episode last weekend. It’s where Kent Brockman
gets fired. The whole show is about a Fox show bad rapping Fox. So
honest and real. Hilarious. I love Fox. I think a lot of their shows
are cheesy and as a hard core Independent, the news is a little
From Jacobs Media -- One of the more interesting findings from the Arbitron/Jacobs "Bedroom Study" was the realization that video gamers aren't just kids sitting in their basements by themselves. Like TV viewing, gaming is becoming a social activity (read more - Jacobs Media) The Sirius Radio 2007 NFL regular season kicks off at 8:30 pm ET on Thursday, September 6, with the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts hosting the New Orleans Saints at the RCA Dome Dan Zanes is doing a radio concert from his living room this weekend for XM Satellite Radio's XMKiDS channel, a "kindie rock" format -- a mix of new independent artists, along with traditional music, for younger listeners (read more - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) WJZX Milwaukee is the newest member of the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler and this week marks the debut of “Cookin’ with (Dave) Koz” on the Smooth Jazz Network The University of Arkansas will begin a Spanish radio network for its football season (read more - Sporting News) Thursday August 30, 2007 U.S. Internet advertising spending is poised to overtake radio advertising for the first time, providing a reminder that broadcasters need to be more aggressive in their embrace of online opportunities. Consumers are spending less time listening to radio than they do surfing the Web or watching TV (read more - Forbes) (read more - Business Wire) From Quan Truong -- Local Hispanics demanded Wednesday that media giant Clear Channel suspend its local market manager, Chuck Fredrick, for two weeks without pay because of offensive billboards and radio spots by WLW-AM (700) (read more - Cincy Enquirer) Paragon Media Strategies new “PPM Rulebook,” an industry-wide resource to the radio industry, has grown to 13 rules with the addition of three new rules. Industry professionals have submitted the new rules to evolve the PPM Rulebook with the most up-to-date thinking from all corners of the radio industry. Paragon’s PPM Rulebook is available at www.ppmrulebook.com From Randy Dotinga -- In its three years of existence ---- never mind the promos that still say the station is "new" ---- KLSD's ratings have been neither great nor horrible, about in the middle of the 40-odd stations that reach San Diego. Meanwhile, two other talk stations do very well. KOGO is often No. 1 or close to it, while KFMB-AM hangs around in the top 10. Both those stations ---- along with KCBQ, KPRZ and the new San Diego 1700 ---- offer conservative talk programming ... Hardly anybody can hear KLSD. KLSD's signal is a lowly 5,000 watts, and it has to cut that to 1,000 at night (read more - NC Times) ARBitron numbers for Chattanooga, Charleston, SC; Columbia, SC; Knoxville and Raleigh-Durham (read 'em) From Howard Kurtz -- The kind of dilemma facing the Idaho Statesman has played out repeatedly in recent years as news organizations have grappled with secondhand accounts about political figures and questionable sexual conduct. Among the issues: What is an adequate level of proof? Are affairs or the hiring of prostitutes, even if documented, fit to print? Or do they require an element of public hypocrisy, such as gay sex involving a lawmaker who holds forth on the sanctity of marriage? (read more - Washington Post) From WAPT 16 -- Vandals have hit radio talk show host Charles Evers twice over the last week. Someone broke out the front glass door at his nightclub, E and E's Lounge, on Tuesday night. On Sunday, Evers' tires were slashed (read more - WAPT) Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today called on Tucker Carlson, NBC News and MSNBC to apologize for remarks made on Tuesday night that appear to condone violent assault. On "MSNBC Live" during a discussion with MSNBC honcho Dan Abrams and Joe Scarborough about Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-ID) arrest for “lewd conduct” and eventual guilty plea, MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson described his own assault on a man who he said "bothered" him in a Washington, D.C., public restroom when he was in high school (read more - EDGE Boston) (read more - NY Post) From Bill Virgin -- Like many media entities, National Public Radio is scrambling to figure out how to get its programming on new digital delivery channels and to recruit younger listeners. But NPR isn't planning to leave terrestrial radio behind. "We're still looking to invest the vast majority of our assets in radio," says NPR Chief Executive Ken Stern during a visit to Seattle last week (read more - Seattle PI) From Robert Feder -- Mike Ditka, who's been a key player for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 during football season, is switching sides + Ron Baker Jr. is out as host of the gospel music show from 8 a.m. to noon Sundays on Clear Channel Radio urban adult-contemporary WVAZ-FM (102.7) + Emmis Broadcasting classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9) signed Lance Briggs, the Bears linebacker, to talk football at 4:30 p.m. Fridays, starting Sept. 14 (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From John Gorman -- B.D. – Before deregulation, the most opportune time to downsize was that week between Christmas and New Year. It was assumed that everyone was on auto pilot and surviving employees were least likely to miss the small things come every first of the year -- like a smaller airstaff, sales management, general management, promotion and marketing and so forth. It seems improbable that there was a time in the not too distant past when radio and TV would not fire - er - terminate anyone between Thanksgiving and Christmas, regardless of cause. Axing employees during the holiday season was downright Scrooge-ish. No more. Today, it’s any time, any place, any date. When you’re out, you’re out (read more - John Gorman) From Erika Engle -- The call letters for a station heard 'round the nation have been changed. KUNT is no longer the call sign for an unbuilt, low-power digital TV station in Wailuku -- and a sister-station in Flagstaff, Arizona is no longer KWTF -- the last three letters of which are shorthand for a coarse version of the phrase, "what the heck" (read more - Honolulu Star-Bulletin) From
Murphy Martin --
Katie Couric and Paula Zahn, two of the best known television news
anchors in America were portrayed in most uncomplimentary ways this
week. In a
From Glenn Beck -- You come on my program, say I'm poor, I am a law-abiding citizen, I don't have a record, blah, blah, blah, I'll match you with a donor that will buy a gun -- you've got to go buy it the right way. You've got to do it all legally. You can't be a crazy person. That person will donate enough money so you can go out and buy a gun and protect your family. It's the wild west in New Orleans, and until the Government gets serious on protecting the people, maybe the people need to protect themselves (read more - Glenn Beck) From Keith Olbermann -- MSNBC's Keith Olbermann says that Glenn Beck's offer to help provide guns to New Orleans citizens could be, in essence, a "straw purchase", prohibited by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco and Firearms, if the person lies about eligibility. If convicted, the fine could be up to $250,000, 3 years of supervised release and 5 years in jail (view the "Worst Person in the World" video - MSNBC) From Holly M. Sanders -- After five months of waiting, media giants NBC Universal and News Corp. announced the name of their much anticipated foray into online video: Hulu. "Huh?" you might ask (read more - NY Post) Wi-Fi
will start replacing wired Ethernet within the next two to three
years as users and applications go mobile, an IT analyst group has
claimed
(read more
- ZD Net) From Jacobs Media -- As TNS Media Intelligence President-CEO Steven Fredericks notes, traditional radio "remains one of the most used and highly valued media in the country." But the new reality is their finding that "content is defined not by its old media name, but by its core property: text, video, and audio. All content, clarified and freed, can be distributed via any converged technology." As a result, MediaVest's approach to audio planning is described as an industry movement that considers content over distribution outlet (read more - Jacobs Media) From David Hinckley -- At least three countdowns and a lot of mixing will enliven the Labor Day weekend radio airwaves. But there will be considerably less broadcast coverage this year of one traditional New York event: Monday's West Indian Day parade on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn (read more - NY Daily News) From Thomas Stinson -- Larry Munson's part of a dwindling band of college football radio legends working in a television age. With a huge influx of new small-town radio stations after World War II, it was not uncommon to find six or more stations broadcasting any given game to any given backwater town. That gave Lindsey Nelson, then the sports information officer at Tennessee, an idea. In 1948, UT became the first school to create its own exclusive network. The school, and not the stations, would market the games on one originating feed throughout the state with one hand-picked announcer –Nelson – who would incite the masses. Texaco leaped to sponsor the Vol Network and went about setting up similar syndicates in the region. Suddenly, everyone heard the same identifiable broadcast and everyone in Tennessee knew Lindsey Nelson (read more - Atlanta JC) Amid today’s marketplace woes and uncertainties, CNN’s senior business correspondent Ali Velshi and CNN Radio offers affiliates “Making Sense of the Markets,” a frank, straight-to-the-point discussion of the stock market and the mortgage crisis. This hour-long program, produced by CNN Radio supervising producer Sherri Maksin, will be available to affiliates on Friday, Aug. 31 From Lynn Woolley -- As a kid in elementary and junior high school, I had several radio heroes – among them a young Hispanic announcer named David Garcia. David’s exquisite voice was made for radio and he possessed a natural gift for on-air chat. I never failed to listen to him on “The Original Nite Flite” on KTEM and followed him as he went to WFAA in Dallas and then to ABC where he covered the White House and Watergate. I saved the tape of a beautiful report he did from the Johnson ranch on the occasion of LBJ’s death. And now David is gone at the too-early age of 63. “He personified credibility with his voice,” said Alex Nogales of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Indeed he did, but David’s talent went beyond his physical capabilities – he was so warm and natural in front of a mic that the words just seemed to flow. David Garcia was unique – a trailblazer – and I wish I’d known him better Portland radio station WCLZ (98.9 FM) is being purchased by Saga Communications, and company officials say they will keep the station's eclectic adult alternative music format (read more - Portland Press-Herald) The Broadcasting Council has suspended Capital Radio presenter Gaetano Kaggwa and programme controller George Manyali for "allowing foul language" in their breakfast show last Wednesday. Council secretary Kagole Kivumbi said in the meantime the council is to establish if the men could have stopped a woman calling herself a lesbian from using "vulgar" language on the show that runs from 8:00am to 10:00am (read more - All Africa) A radio station in Hungary fired two staffers after a gay government official was depicted on its Web site standing outside the Auschwitz concentration camp wearing a pink triangle, the symbol used by the Nazis to label homosexual men (read more - Internat'l Herald Tribune) Wednesday August 29, 2007 Dow Jones & Co. and News Corp. said Tuesday that the Federal Trade Commission has given antitrust clearance for News Corp.'s $5 billion acquisition of The Wall Street Journal's publisher (read more - Yahoo! Biz) From David Hinckley -- Forty-nine years ago tomorrow, Mitch Lebe, a 16-year-old radio fanatic who caught the ear of WINS program director Mel Leeds, started his radio career as "The Teenage Disk Jockey" at WINS (1010 AM), which on Aug. 30, 1958, was a rock 'n' roll station. His fellow jock Murray the K was "a fun guy," he says, and so was a new fellow named Bruce Morrow who landed the 4 p.m. Sunday shift right after Lebe (read more - NY Daily News) From Richard Roeper -- Will Chicago care when Imus returns? Doubtful. His radio show had no outlet here at the time of his dismissal, and the Chicago numbers for the cable simulcast amounted to less than the average attendance at a Chicago Rush game. Why has Imus never connected with Chicagoans? Maybe we just never found him to be very funny. To me he always sounded like a second-rate Larry Lujack (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From Tim Cuprisin -- Lauri Jones, operations manager at WJMR-FM (98.3), has added smooth jazz WJZX-FM (106.9), also a Saga station, to her duties + WMIL-FM (106.1)'s Scott Dolphin reports that the country station's listeners contributed $272,562 to the Child Abuse Prevention Fund during a weekend on-air fund raiser (read more - Milwaukee JS) David Lee Bunce, known on the air as Dave Lee, was on WKRC Radio as midday host during some of the station's most successful years in the 70's and 80's, died Sunday (read more - Fox 19 Cincy) From Leslie Turk and R. Reese Fuller -- Mornings are mild at Acadiana country radio station KXKC. Last Thursday, Aug. 23, the flakes — along with 20-something-year-old morning show producer and Erath’s Miss 4th of July DeLannie Langlinais (a self-professed “Festival Queen”) — enraged local listeners who were left wondering if they’d stumbled across shock jock Howard Stern’s satellite radio show (read more - The Independent Weekly) From Ruffin Prevost -- As radio host Christopher Turner gets set to broadcast his 100th "Comfort Food Radio" show in Cody, Wyoming, which is broadcast by the Big Horn Radio Network on KODI 1400 am and KZMQ 1140 am from 9-10am Saturday mornings, he's preparing to join Jack Benny, Barbara Stanwyck and Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Broadcast live from the Irma Hotel, "Comfort Food" has become one of the Bighorn Basin's top venues featuring local actors and musicians (read more - Billings Gazette) From Eric Wolff -- By 7:45 Monday morning, the parking lot in front of the Clear Channel Building in Serra Mesa was chock-full of hundreds of hippies—bearded hippies, floppy-hat hippies, tie-dye hippies, rich hippies, poor hippies, thin hippies, fat hippies, pregnant hippies and, most of all, angry hippies. Very angry hippies. Angry because Clear Channel, owner of their beloved KLSD 1360-AM, is threatening to abandon the progressive talk-radio format. Declining ratings and a dearth of advertising dollars have sent top station execs scurrying for strategies to pull the station out of the red, including a change to all sports talk (read more - San Diego City Beat) ARBitron numbers for San Antonio, Albany-Schenectady, Nashville, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Fresno, Charlotte-Gastonia and Birmingham (read 'em) Citadel Broadcasting appointed John Rosso to Senior Vice President in charge of all Citadel Interactive platforms including those of ABC Radio Networks From Mark Ramsey -- It seems to me that one of the challenges of satellite radio (and HD likewise) is that it's in the "radio" category. And the "radio" category is, to many listeners, a part of their ambient environment. Nothing they seek out, because it's always there. And nothing they pay for, because it's always free. Is "radio" the wrong name for a subscription service when a free version is ubiquitous and satisfies the needs for a large fraction of its audience? Maybe (read more - Hear 2.0) From Robert Feder -- Fans of "The Sopranos" will see James Gandolfini in a new light when he profiles Sgt. Bryan Anderson and nine other soldiers injured in Iraq as host and executive producer of "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq," an hourlong HBO documentary to debut Sept. 9 + If radio gave out awards for valor, Big John Howell and Cisco Cotto would deserve one + Sam Sylk, former afternoon star on Clear Channel Radio urban contemporary WGCI-FM (107.5), is out after one year as morning host at WUSL-FM in Philadelphia (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From Kevin J. O'Brien -- Several European phone companies plan to announce significant expansions of Internet protocol television, or IPTV, this week, led by Deutsche Telekom, which is spending 3 billion euros and has linked about 4 in 10 German households to broadband TV. The moves will put Europe, which some analysts say already is the leader in Internet TV, further ahead of the United States and Asia (read more - NY Times) From
Sonny Melendrez
-- When you stop to think about it, all the ingredients for success
are still with us: personalities who care about their audience,
sponsors who need listeners to buy their products, and most
importantly, radio. So why
XM Satellite Radio will be moving into the Sommet Center in Nashville, having outgrown its space in the Country Music Hall of Fame (read more - Nashville Biz Journal) (read more - Todd Pack - The Tennessean) From Dave Kohl -- Ever since the departure of John Rooney following the 2005 World Series Championship season, the radio broadcasts have gone the way of the team's performance on the field, even if it is a coincidence. It's the unfortunate trend of putting inexperienced former players into a play-by-play situation story all over again, and in this instance, it's on radio (read more - Dave Kohl) ABC Radio Networks veteran, TJ Lambert, has been promoted to Sr. Vice President, Affiliate Relations with responsibility for the distribution and affiliation of all network programs and services From Tracy Harmon -- KRLN 1400 got a 60th birthday present, the return of its sister station, KSTY FM 104.5, which had been leased to a Denver-based broadcasting company for two years (read more - Pueblo Chieftain) ABC News Radio will offer three one-hour specials for use over the Labor Day Holiday Weekend: “Your Money, Your Country,” “ABC News Radio/Consumer Reports Back to School Survival Guide 2007,” and “Enough! -- A John Stossel Special” David Garcia, 63, the veteran television news reporter whose focus on environmental issues earned him the nickname "Earthman" and nudged other news outlets to increase their coverage of the environment, died of liver failure Tuesday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert. He began his career at a local radio station in Temple, Texas and was soon invited to join the ABC television/radio affiliate in Dallas. Two years later, he was hired by the ABC radio network in New York, then moved to ABC television (read more - Jocelyn Y. Stewart-LA Times) (read more - ABC News) SIRIUS Satellite Radio launches the Grateful Dead Channel on September 7 (read more - CNN Money) XM and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will introduce a national radio series called "The Big Read," named after the NEA's national reading program, which celebrates great books and their place in American life “The Breeze” at the Jersey Shore, WWZY-FM (107.1) Long Branch and WBHX-FM (99.7) in Tuckerton recently hosted an on-air reunion and it was all caught on tape. Read more about it at www.breezeradio.com The DVD can be ordered by going to www.vuolovideo.com and clicking on “reunions.” From Rick Bird -- The new HD radio technology is making for some strange broadcast bedfellows. Starting Monday, news/talk public station WVXU-FM (91.7) began carrying WOXY.com., the legendary alternative rock station, now an Internet-only feed, on its terrestrial multicast (read more - Cincy Post) Tuesday August 28, 2007 From FT -- The two main regulatory approvals needed to clear the XM Satellite Radio Holdings and SIRIUS Satellite Radio merger are believed to be in their final phase, it is understood. It is also understood, however, that the process could still take several months (read more - Financial Times) (read more - NAB) From David Hinckley -- WCBS-AM (880) will spend today celebrating its 40th anniversary as an all-news station, with a returning parade of reporters and anchors from over those years + Lynn White and Ellis Henican of WOR (710 AM) will broadcast live tomorrow from New Orleans, 4-6 p.m., for the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (read more - NY Daily News) From Robert Feder -- Emmis Broadcasting is the latest company to save money by eliminating live personalities from the overnight shifts on its local stations in favor of "music-intensive programming." Forced out from Monday-through-Saturday overnights on classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9) was Ray "Crazy Ray" Styles, Don Nelson is expected to shift duties. On alternative rock WKQX-FM (101.1), Ryan Manno will host from 7 p.m. to midnight, and his brother, Kevin Manno, will host from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Emmis also axed three jobs in the sales departments of the Loop and Q101 (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From
Peter Lauria --
Mel Karmazin
taught Farid Suleman well - so well, in fact, that the Citadel
Communications From Tim Cuprisin -- Chip Reid is moving from NBC to CBS, where he'll continue to cover Congress + Oprah Winfrey devotes her Wednesday show to the 2nd anniversary of Katrina + ABC's Bob Woodruff, who battled back from a head wound suffered in a bombing in Iraq, has talked to Sen. Tim Johnson about his recovery from a brain hemorrhage in December (read more - Milwaukee JS) Tom Joyner announced this morning that the scheduled Tuesday morning radio interview with Michael Vick was off (read more - Virginian Pilot) AFTRA, one of the TV industry's biggest unions is launching its own investigation of the controversial CBS reality series "Kid Nation" (read more - NY Post) TargetSpot is set to open its streaming radio ad serving technology and online marketplace to advertisers. It has already signed WarpRadio.com, CBS Radio, and Entercom Communications to its network (read more - ClickZ) From Terry Bell -- It started 33 years ago when San Diego radio station KGB-FM hired him at $2 an hour to dress up as a chicken and hand out candy to kids at the San Diego Zoo. Now, after thousands of ballparks, a performance at the White House, a dust-up with Lou Piniella and a memorable night when he made Elvis Presley stop singing in the middle of a song, Ted Giannoulas will be doing his chicken act at Nat Bailey Stadium tonight (read more - The Province CA) Over 1,100 people have signed a petition calling on Clear Channel to keep KLSD’s progressive format since word of the planned format change leaked out late last week (read mroe - Brad Blog) From Paul Bedard -- After just five months on the air, Dennis Miller's Westwood One show has spread to 119 markets with his mix of Tinseltown tips, sports, and Cuisinart blend of politics that verges on libertarianism. For example, he's against abortion but doesn't preach. "Who am I to tell strangers about conceiving life?" Miller says he jumped when the show was offered but then had to figure out a game plan (read more - CBS News) From Jane Schulze -- John Singleton and Macquarie Radio Network's star presenter Alan Jones will remain significant owners of Sydney's leading AM radio station 2GB after it was yesterday taken off the market (read more - The Australian AU)
American Media Services-Internet President and CEO Reed Bunzel has
appointed Scott Johnson to the position of Director of Programming,
overseeing all of the company’s Internet and HD Radio content.
Johnson’s primary responsibility will be to fine-tune the 50-plus
formats already available, and to develop new formats to offer to
radio stations and other businesses and organizations
(visit AMS Internet) Sirius Satellite Radio host Bubba the Love Sponge was by his close friend Hulk Hogan's side at the hospital where Nick Hogan was taken following a very serious car crash in Clearwater, Florida on Sunday, August 26, and following Nick's release. Firsthand news updates are on his blog - www.btls.com and on Sirius channel 'Howard 101' ARBitron numbers for Dayton, Honolulu, Phoenix, New Orleans, Tucson, Las Vegas, Omaha-Council Bluffs and Indianapolis (read 'em) From
Happy Hare -- I
sat down with Al Heacock, and told him right off that we were out of
a gig, then took a breath and told him that the Bartells had heard
from Bill Kaland the guru of Westinghouse Broadcasting asking if Al
was
Premiere Radio's Whoopi Goldberg will host Paul McCartney: Music and Conversation, a one-hour special that will air on radio stations nationwide from Aug 27 - Sept 5 BDSradio.com adds contemporary Christian radio station KTIS-FM Minneapolis to its music monitoring service Envision Radio Networks adds WRZI-FM Elizabethtown, KY as the newest affiliate of Paul Shaffer’s Day in Rock KCRW celebrates 30 years of its flagship Morning Becomes Eclectic show (read more - LA Times) CBS News and The Washington Post have forged an alliance to share news resources for their online outlets during the 2008 presidential campaign (read more - Forbes) G105, a Clear Channel-owned station that plays top 40 pop music, surged to the top spot with a 7.7 share, up from a 5.8 share in the preceding quarter. Local radio insiders attribute at least part of G105's rise to controversial morning show host Bob Dumas' well-publicized surgery to remove a brain tumor (read more - Triangle Biz Journal) Monday August 27, 2007 From David Hinckley -- Disgraced NFL star Michael Vick apparently will go to black radio tomorrow for his first interview about the dog-fighting case that's sending him to prison on Tom Joyner's nationally syndicated radio show + WCBS-AM (880) marks its 40th anniversary as an all-news station tomorrow + Radio guy Terry Morgan notes this weekend marked the 20th anniversary of NBC selling its radio network to Westwood One. Westwood One has had tough financial times lately and may sell itself intact or piecemeal (read more - NY Daily News) From Wes Phillips -- SoundExchange and DiMA are going to sit down and discuss the issues before them rather than battle via press release. They don't have an impressive record at that whole negotiation thing as of yet. So, what does this really mean? Some reporters have trumpeted that "Webcasters got exactly what they asked for". Well, not quite. There are many issues still to be worked out (read more - Stereophile) For the first time in nearly 15 years, an American DJ will be syndicated throughout the U.K. and on London radio. Premiere Radio Networks and GCap's One Network announced today the launch of The Entertainment Edge with Ryan Seacrest on U.K. radio waves (read more - CNN Money) From ABC News -- U.S. television and radio broadcasters are elated at the prospect of billions more in advertising dollars from the 2008 presidential campaigns (read more - ABC News) From Ben Fong-Torres -- Ron Lyons was a Top 40 DJ on KEWB when the station called its announcers "Good Guys." After a battle with cancer, Lyons, 69, died Aug. 3 at a hospital in Medford, Oregon + KFRC (now at 106.9 FM) has hired Sue Hall to work middays (10 a.m.-3 p.m.) (read more - SF Chronicle)
12
Reasons Why You Should Attend the Texas Radio Hall of
From Jacobs Media -- This must be "Bite The Hand That Feeds You Month." Recently, the musicFirst coalition used that inane "study" by a university professor in Texas to make the claim that radio airplay hurts record sales. Then, Cox's Bob Neil was attacked for claiming that many Oldies artists' careers were made by radio airplay. And if that wasn't enough, now Deep Purple front man Ian Gillan now insists that Classic Rock radio stations are a "death sentence" for older bands because they just play vintage material rather than new music. He has got to be kidding, very uninformed, or simply delusional (read more - Jacobs Media) From Gary Lycan -- There is life after local radio. Just ask Jennifer York, who has been co-hosting the 5-10 a.m. weekday show on contemporary Christian station "The Fish" (KFSH/95.9 FM). Aug. 27 is her last day (read more - OC Register) From David Martin -- All of the discussion about Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) initiative seems to suggest the subject matter deserves a dedicated blog. The objective will be to share news, comments and provide links to other writings about PPM. Disclosures: I'm on the record as a supporter of PPM. This should not be understood to mean I will only support Arbitron's PPM (read more - PPM News Blog) Greater Media adds The Phil Hendrie Show to the 96.9 FM TALK line-up debuting on Monday, September 10 From Nick Madigan -- With all these new gadgets for listening to music -- from MP3s to state-of-the-art cell phones and laptops, not to mention satellite radio -- it's a wonder anyone is listening to good old-fashioned terrestrial radio. One theory says that so many listeners are spending money on newfangled technology that the ones left tuning in to terrestrial radio are doing so only because they can't afford the new toys (read more - Baltimore Sun) From
Linda Rush -- In
an age where most FM radio stations
From John Drinnan -- The Radio Network is rebranding Viva as Easy Mix as its rival The Breeze tries for a bigger foothold in the Auckland easy-listening market (read more - New Zealand Herald NZ) From Will Youmans -- Complaining about bias in the media is one thing. Having the proof to take to program directors, advertisers, and the audience is another thing. Before there is action, there must be information. It is just as important for activists to name the wrongdoers and to target them. Colorado Media Matters, and others around the nation, have identified Clear Channel Communications (630 KHOW-AM's “The Peter Boyles Show” and Newsradio 850 KOA's "The Gunny Bob Show") as a significant source for hate speech on the radio. As Bill Menezes said in the letter, “a significant amount of (anti-Muslim rhetoric) is occurring on Denver-based stations owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications” (read more - Arab American News) From
Jimmy Rabbitt --
On this day in Rock n' Roll History, The Beatles and Brian Epstein
had their only face-to-face
From Mike Austerman -- This past Thursday, Dana Masucci was unceremoniously dumped from the lineup at Oldies WOMC-FM (104.3) before her midday air shift as the station decided “to go in another direction.” Now word on the street is that Force, who has kept his free-agent status since his firing, might be under consideration by station management to retake his spot behind the ’OMC midday mic (read more - Michiguide) From Meg James -- After decades of being shunted to the sidelines, Spanish-language media outlets have now joined the big leagues of TV research. Ratings giant Nielsen Media Research today plans to pull the plug on a separate service that it created 15 years ago to measure the size of Latino TV audiences. Latinos are now so important to the overall TV ratings picture that it would be misleading to relegate them to a separate system (read more - LA Times) Britain's Channel 4 is axing Celebrity Big Brother after a row over allegedly racist bullying on the show which led to a record 54,000 complaints (read more - Sydney Morning Herald AU) From
Claude Hall --
Ken Schuster writes: "I just happened upon your column, and have
read as much as I could in an
From Jose Martinez -- Newswoman Paula Zahn sued her soon-to-be ex Richard Cohen yesterday, demanding to know what the megabucks developer did with more than $25 million she invested with him (read more - NY Daily News) From The Pocono Record -- There was a time when cars came equipped with AM-only radios. The AM signal was king. People were not convinced that consumers would spend money to get FM receivers. Why should they when perfectly good AM radio was already in homes and cars? In 1952, a German company called Blaupunkt was the first to make FM receivers for cars. Until the 1970s it was not assumed that FM would be found in a new car. Once FM was commonly installed in autos, its popularity took off. Today's satellite services have tried to win acceptance by working with car companies -- It is a tougher sell because of the monthly fee, but they have the right idea. Get in to America's cars, and the product becomes the norm. So what ever happened to AM radio? (read more - Pocono Record) WEEI (850 AM): Sports yakkers John Dennis and Gerry Callahan were indefinitely banned from the air Aug. 13 as contract talks hit a wall. The morning-drive duo lost a big bargaining chip Aug. 16 when Entercom Communications Corp., owner of WEEI, anounced it was partnering with Nassau Broadcasting to syndicate its programming on nearly a dozen New England stations (read more - Boston Herald) (read more - Union-Leader) From
Tommy Kramer --
Think about this. I'm tuning in NOW. I didn't HEAR what you did a
minute and a half ago. So if
From Joe Garofoli -- Public television stations can't wait to air Ken Burns' newest documentary, "The War," next month as the 14-hour World War II series promises to be a ratings bonanza for the ratings-challenged outlets. But some member stations, including San Francisco's KQED, are also scared to air Burns' original version in prime time because it contains four words: two are f-; one is s-; and the fourth is -hole (read more - San Francisco Chronicle) From George Mair's LA LA Land -- Horror writer Stephen King was mistaken for a vandal during a surprise book-signing session in an Australian bookshop. The novelist popped into the Alice Springs store unannounced and signed copies of his new book before leaving. Some customers thought he was defacing the books. Store manager Bev Ellis who tracked him to a nearby supermarket, where she recognized him and thanked him for autographing his latest work, “Lisey's Story” *****Victoria Beckham, wife of soccer star David Beckham claims his infidelities strengthen their marriage. It probably gives a new meaning to “scoring” (read more - LA LA Land) Motorsports Authentics and SIRIUS Satellite Radio, the Official Satellite Radio Partner of NASCAR, announced today the creation of NASCAR Collector, a new one-hour weekly radio show that will focus on the NASCAR collector and fans with special interests in racing memorabilia From Deb Peterson -- It seems fitting that a family with the last name of Hearst was a leader in print media, and that there’s a local media mogul with the same last name. This one is Jon Hearst -- Ladue Horton Watkins High, class of ‘85 -- who launched the RiverfrontRadio.com Entertainment Network. Hearst says the company has created an online community that is poised to compete with myspace.com and other members-only sites. RiverfrontRadio stated out in the basement of Hearst’s home in 2004 and he says the site is now averaging 50,000 hits a day (read more - St Louis Post-Dispatch) From John Colson -- KSNO-FM, which was started as an AM station in the early 1960s by former Aspen Times publisher Bil Dunaway, is in the process of being taken over by the Colorado West Broadcasting Co. Colorado West owns KMTS-FM, a 30-year-old country-and-western station in Glenwood Springs that also was started by Dunaway in the 1970s (read more - Aspen Times) From John Kiesewetter -- WKRC-TV (Channel 12) General Manager Chris Sehring resigned Friday, about two months before Clear Channel is set to sell its television division to Providence Equity Partners (read more - Cincy Enquirer) From Glenn Frankel -- The 40th anniversary of the release of the Beatles' masterpiece album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in June set off a predictable round of appreciation of the Beatles, their art and legacy. But few will linger over another milestone tomorrow -- the 40th anniversary of Brian Epstein's death, three weeks before he would have turned 33, from what a coroner's inquest ruled was an accidental overdose of barbiturates. "I think Brian's one of the forgotten people," Cynthia Lennon, John's first wife, told me when we met last year. "It's almost as if he's been written out of the story. I don't think they'd have got anywhere without Brian" (read more - Washington Post) From Elizabeth Goodman -- Renegade right-winger Ted Nugent recently went on a vicious onstage rant in which he threatened the lives of Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Decked out in full-on camouflage hunting gear, Nugent wielded two machine guns while raging, “Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary,” he continued. “You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.” Nugent summed up his eloquent speech by screaming “freedom!” (read more - Rolling Stone) From Brent Baker -- “I think the secret weapon for Senator Clinton, if she is the Democratic nominee, is not simply Rudy's shortcomings, the perceived shortcomings of her opponent, I think you'll see on the part of right-wing radio -- conservative talk, however you want to call it -- such overkill that it will make her, transform her into a figure of sympathy by a majority of people,” said columnist Mark Shields. NPR's Nina Totenberg then chimed in: “That happened in her first Senate run” (read more - NewsBusters) From Anne Wilson -- Meet Bob Eberth of Salt Lake City, who hosts shows on British radio stations on the Internet. Here's what he told us about his hobby: "I've been a radio presenter for almost four years on two British Internet radio stations. I'm presently heard in the Intermountain area on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 7 till 9 at www.offthechartradio.co.uk "I do a show called "Weekends From Jupiter Hollow," one of the longest continually running shows on the station (read more - Salt Lake Tribune) From Meena Thiruvengadam -- The nation's largest radio broadcaster is having trouble unloading some of the nearly 400 stations it has made deals to sell. Less than a month after terminating an agreement to sell 46 stations to a Chicago buyer, Clear Channel Communications Inc. is in Bexar County District Court suing another would-be buyer (read more - San Antonio Express-News) From Bud Walters -- Imagine turning on your home or car radio to your favorite channel on the FM dial only to find fuzz or interference. Radio is reliable — fuzz or interference is not supposed to happen, and there is good reason it usually doesn't. The Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates radio stations, has protections in place to prevent interference on FM channels. But believe it or not, some in Congress are challenging these protections and advocating for their erosion (read more - The Tennessean) From Mark Ramsey -- Why must your station's message be simple? Why should you stand out from the crowd? Why should the differences between your station and your competition be dramatic, not subtle? Why do the vast majority of radio station messages fall on deaf ears? (read more - Hear 2.0) From STL Media -- Former KTRS'er George Woods has restarted Radio George, but this time with a twist. He's using the facilities of FineTune (as has Randy Railey on his blog) to develop a half-dozen music stations in formats George has found lacking in Kansas City From Rajesh S Kurup & Leslie D'Monte -- Google, the nearly $13.5 billion search engine major, is believed to be a fortnight away from the worldwide launch of its much-awaited Google Phone(Gphone) and has started talks with service providers in India for an exclusive launch on one of their networks (read more - India Business Standard) From Linda Rosencrance -- SoundExchange has reached an agreement with the Digital Media Association whose members include large music webcasters, to cap royalty fees at $50,000 per webcaster per year. The groups are still negotiating to set the rates for each play of a song, the two groups said. The new rates were set by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) of the Library of Congress in early March and went into effect May 1, retroactive to the start of last year. The first payments under the new rates were due July 15 (read more - Computer World) From Gary Allyn -- Programming has sacrificed much over the years with shorter promos, condensed liners, shorter newscasts(even NO newscasts), fewer DJs and air talent, no jingles, and smaller budgets. Now it’s the Sales Department’s turn. This should have happened long ago when individual music selections got longer. It’s the old management quandary. How to meet the annual budget and make a profit, while satisfying the listener’s desires for fewer commercial interruptions (read more - Gary Allyn) ARBitron numbers for Atlanta, Seattle, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Tampa-St Pete, Miami and Columbus OH (read 'em) Costas on the Radio is now heard on over 160 stations via Premiere Radio. This weekend you can hear an interview with comedian/actor/writer/producer Billy Crystal and Costas will also discuss the price of NFL glory, including the risks professional football players take by stepping on the field and whether the union is abandoning its retired players in need. Plus, he’ll look back at a memorable interview with beloved Yankees Announcer Phil Rizzuto, who passed away last week at age 89 Saturday Birthdays -- Game show host Monty Hall - 86, actor Sean Connery is 77. Talk show-game show host Regis Philbin is 76 The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has called a halt to all TV and radio programs on plastic surgery or sex-change operations. The administration issued a notice on Thursday that forbids programs with such "indecent themes and bloody and explicit scenes" (read more - China Daily CN) From Claudine Beaumont -- Radio listening figures are on the up, according to Rajar, the radio industry analysts. Almost 600,000 more people tuned in between April and June this year than for the same period last year. But that's not the most interesting statistic: for the first time, listening habits were broken down to reveal how many people still tuned in to The Archers on their wireless, and how many were sampling the delights of both mainstream and little-known radio stations via digital radio (DAB) or through their mobile phones (read more - The Telegraph U.K.) From Nicole Martin -- Jeremy Paxman said working with the BBC was like living in Stalin's Russia last night as he launched a scathing attack on his employer. In Full: Jeremy Paxman's MacTaggart Lecture. The Newsnight presenter accused the corporation of staking its future on "one five-year plan, one resoundingly empty slogan after another" (read more - The Telegraph U.K.) Friday August 24, 2007 SoundExchange, the Webcasters royalties collector for artists and record labels, says it would limit fees - at $50,000 a year - for online radio station companies that offer more than 100 channels to customers (read more - International Herald Tribune) (read more - Business Week) (read more - NY Post) From Robert Feder -- OK, I'll admit it: The dog days of August typically are the slowest time of the year on the broadcast beat -- and this year's been no exception. But it was a totally different story 20 years ago, with such big events as the launch of Chicago's fifth television news operation and its first "New Age" format radio station competing for headlines with the early retirement of a legendary "Superjock" and the death of the Fairness Doctrine (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From Virginia Rohan -- When you do five hours of live, limit-pushing comedy and commentary Monday through Friday -- segueing, three hours in, from terrestrial to satellite radio -- every day is a potentially crazy one. But this particular morning was especially so for radio bad boys Opie and Anthony. Toward the end of the WXRK-FM portion of their "Opie & Anthony Show" -- just before they were to start their usual on-air "walk-over" to the studio where they do their XM Satellite Radio show -- one of their interns put a big staple into his head. Deliberately (read more - North Jersey Media) From John Kozioll -- WEMJ Radio 1490 AM is undergoing its third format change in the past two years. Last week, Nassau Broadcasting, which owns WEMJ and locally also operates FM radio stations 98.3 WLNH, 93.3 The Wolf, Oldies 104.9, and 102.3/101.5 The Hawk, announced that it had signed a letter of intent for 11 Nassau Broadcasting stations to carry the programming content of Entercom Boston's WEEI Sports Radio (read more - Laconia Citizen) From M. Junaid Alam -- A judge dismissed former Clear Channel radio jock Troi Torain's $55 million defamation suit against City Councilman John Liu Friday, but the councilman himself is not ready to dismiss Torain's own inflammatory comments any time soon (read more - Times Ledger) From Luke DuBois -- As a fan of the hip-hop culture the editorial addresses, I can say that responsibility for the graphic nature of the content in mainstream culture is to be placed on the shoulders of more than just those who produce the music. The real issue isn't who produces the music. It's who controls broadcasting and promotions to the masses. Follow the paper trail, and it leads to the executive decision. Media consolidation has run rampant over the past decade, resulting in a music industry that caters to the directions of "mostly white executives" (read more - Portland Press Herald) From Rafer Guzman -- Hip-hop radio station Power 105 withdrew its sponsorship of Saturday's Reggae Carifest because two artists on the bill have used anti-gay language in their songs (read more - Newsday)
Radiosophy, manufacturer of
HD digital radios today
From Lynn Arave -- Hear" today and gone tomorrow. That's probably an accurate adage for disc jockeys, whose jobs can be very limited at a single station. The cleanout of DJs at KOSY (FM-106.5) last week is the latest evidence. Gone is the morning show, Kelly Monson and Erica Hansen, and perhaps others. For Monson, this departure was expected (read more - Salt Lake City Deseret News) From Bill Turque -- Tensions between Fairfax and Prince William counties over illegal immigration spilled over to local talk radio yesterday when Fairfax Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly's office was peppered by calls from listeners of WMAL (630 AM) midmorning host Chris Core (read more - Washington Post) From
KTRH 740 --
"For the past ten years, you've been waking up with
From Jacobs Media -- Now that everyone's firmly focused on Internet revenue, and specifically, station websites, I wanted to give you some of my perspective. As we know, radio station Web sites are often a work in progress, and redesigns are ongoing. We have conducted a number of "usability studies" over the past few years, so when a new Poynter Institute Eye Track study was released - or at least a few bite-size chunks - it caught my attention. The preliminary results are in from their latest EyeTrack study, which measures eyeball movement on websites to see where people are really looking when they load a page (read more - Jacobs Media) From J. Gregory Sidak and Hal J. Singer -- Merger opponents argue that this deal is a merger to monopoly and should therefore be denied. In response, XM and Sirius argue that satellite radio consumers will be protected from harm due to the alleged competition they face from alternative providers in what they call the "audio entertainment" market, including mobile phone providers, iPods/MP3 players, mobile Internet radio and terrestrial radio. Of course, if they truly believed this argument, XM and Sirius would not need to offer to freeze their prices. Competition would keep those prices at competitive levels (read more - Washington Times) From John Gorman -- Memo to Clear Channel: Will you please stop your whining. Take the haircut. Agree to your revised deal with Frequency License LLC. $350 mil may be 23 percent less than the original $452.1 million offer – but, come on, you’re still getting a good – albeit more pragmatic – deal. Just cut your losses and get the hell outta Dodge. Now! (read more - John Gorman) From David Martin -- A friend who works at Arbitron once said "When the phone rings it's never good news. No one ever calls us to say 'you guys rock' this book got it right, my station is #1 and we thank you." Seems to me the conversation is too frequently moved by the losers, those deprived of the higher ranker positions needed to generate the instant rainfall of "push print and buy" orders, the related waves of cash and the adulation of an industry (read more - David Martin) ARBitron numbers for Dallas-Fort Worth, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Denver and Minneapolis (read 'em) Premiere Radio's “MicroJams provides radio the opportunity to really brand itself with the music it plays, which is especially important in a PPM world," says producer Dave Kampel. "These tracks and vocals are produced like songs, not jingles, and until now there’s never been anything like it available” From
David Barron --
Jim Rome has made his bones in sports radio and TV over the last
decade by his constant ability to lock onto the hottest of
hot-button issues, from O.J. Simpson to Ray Lewis to Kobe Bryant and
beyond. From Tim Cuprisin -- TV loves anniversaries, especially cable TV, which is always searching for something to plug into the schedule. With two big ones next week, we're already bracing for a weekend of special programs marking the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death and the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (read more - Milwaukee JS) From
Kent Burkhart --
As I was looking at the recent Nielson ratings this week I couldn’t
help but smile. At one time not too long ago (was it over a
decade??) when the Fox
From Laura Nachman -- MSNBC's Keith Olbermann makes his debut on the NBC “Sunday Night Football” team during the Eagles-Steelers game this week. This will be Olbermann's first sports assignment in six years. Al Michaels, John Madden and Andrea Kremer return for NBC's second year with the Sunday night package. Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth and Jerome Bettis return for halftime. Sterling Sharpe will not be back this year. He was replaced by Tiki Barber (read more - Philly Burbs) Nexstar Broadcasting, which owns KNWA, the Northwest Arkansas NBC affiliate, seeks a preliminary injunction to stop Bo Mattingly from working as a radio show host for one year. It claims he violated a clause that prohibits him from performing on the air elsewhere within the television station’s market area within a year of ending his contract (read more - NW Arkansas News) From Janice Hayes-Williams -- Between Hoppy Adams and our much younger Jeff Brown, there were two DJ's who rocked the Annapolis airways during the latter half of the 1960's and the 1970's. They were both local and hell bent on using their voices. Have you seen the new movie "Talk to Me" about controversial radio talk show host and ex-convict Petey Greene? His story is centered on WOL, the local radio station in the nation's capital. Go see the movie, it's pretty good but they left out the names of two of our locals who microphoned with Petey Greene as WOL disk jockeys (read more - Annapolis Capital) From
Lee Abrams --
Hugh Panero came from the cable side. About a month into XM (then
AMRC) he asked if I could introduce him to people in the music
Industry. So, we went to LA and I took him around to meet various
people. He
From David Hinckley -- WABC (770 AM) program director Phil Boyce was already excited about the 2008 presidential election season. Adding Bob Grant to his lineup, 8-10 p.m. starting today, only makes Boyce happier. "With Rush Limbaugh [noon-3 p.m.], Sean Hannity [3-6 p.m.], Mark Levin [6-8 p.m.] and now Bob, this is just a killer lineup," says Boyce. "It's a murderers' row." It's certainly a buffet for red-meat conservatives, although Grant cautions that doesn't mean the job is easy (read more - NY Daily News) From Michael A. Lindenberger -- Clear Channel Communications has erected 76 digital billboards so far this year, including a network in El Paso that debuted on city streets in July. Scenic America, arguably the most influential anti-billboard group in the country, has been watching the Texas changes carefully. Billboards along urban stretches of major highways could soon be converted to digital signs that are able to flash vivid new color images every eight seconds (read more - Dallas News) Westwood One presents the “Kenny Chesney: Country’s Hardest Working Man” special, part of Westwood One’s Country Six Pack series, which will air Saturday, September 1 to Monday, September 3, 2007, hosted by Dallas McCade of WYAY Atlanta Dave Graveline and the Into Tomorrow team broadcast the latest news and information on computer and online technology this Sunday (visit www.graveline.com) To many, the Apple iPhone is the ultimate wireless device — a seductive blend of technology, function and dead-on cool, all wrapped into a sleek package. To others, it's a glaring example of what's wrong with the U.S. wireless industry in general. Josh Silver, co-founder of Free Press, a consumer advocacy group whose latest campaign — "Free the iPhone" — promotes an open Internet and consumer-friendly public policies for mobile devices. The website www.freetheiphone.org has resulted in "tens of thousands of supporting petitions," he says (read more - USA Today) Thursday August 23, 2007 From Robert Feder -- Starting Sept. 3, Midway Broadcasting will transform WRLL-AM (1450) into "Radio Latino," featuring a combination of locally programmed and time-brokered Spanish talk and music + Two familiar disc jockeys from the rock 'n' roll era of WLS-AM (890) will be filling in as talk show hosts this weekend and next; Turi Ryder and John Records Landecker (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From David Hinckley -- WABC program director Phil Boyce confirmed yesterday that Sharp-tongued radio host Bob Grant is returning to WABC (770 AM), the station that kicked him to the curb a dozen years ago (read more - NY Daily News) From Dominic White -- Commercial television broadcasters are facing further pressure on revenues after news that almost eight out of 10 people with a digital video recorder use it to skip through the adverts. The revelation is included in Ofcom's second annual report into electronic communications (read more - The Telegraph U.K.) From Bridge Ratings -- A just-released Bridge Ratings study of the media habits of Baby Boomers - or those consumers born between 1946 and 1964 - reveals how important traditional radio remains with this group and their remarkable ability to adopt new media into their busy lives (read more) From ARBitron -- Weeklies data will be released on Thursday, August 23 at 12 Noon CT. For those of you who subscribe to the PPM Weeklies service, the data can be downloaded from your Tapmedia Weeklies library – www.tapmedia.com From Rachel Sklar -- We hear that "Hardball" exec producer Tammy Haddad, formerly with Larry King Live and the Today Show, and 3 years at MSNBC, is officially out thanks to Chris Matthews becoming the lowest-rated host on MSNBC primetime -- Haddad caught, er, heck from Matthews last month when he unwittingly dropped an "s-bomb" on the air when he didn't know he was being broadcast (read more - Huffington Post) From Tim Cuprisin -- Mike McGee's WNOV-AM (860) radio show has been renamed "The Butt Naked Truth," with former co-host Rob Hardy hosting + WUWM-FM (89.7) general manager Dave Edwards says his station's signal problems over the past couple days have been due to atmospheric conditions (read more - Milwaukee JS) From Joseph Torres -- Runaway consolidation has virtually wiped out local music, culture and news on the radio dial. Companies like Clear Channel and Cumulus have swallowed up thousands of stations and piped in cookie-cutter content and canned playlists. Fewer stations employ reporters to cover local news, and fewer local artists are making it on the air. That's the bad news. The good news is that we have an opportunity to reclaim a portion of the radio airwaves for local communities (read more - The Tennessean) From Jacobs Media -- Investors Business Daily recently set up a comparative analysis between satellite and HD radio in a recent web article. While subjective, it sheds light on the dilemmas that each of these new technologies faces moving forward (read more - Jacobs Media) From Mark Ramsey -- More evidence of how the proliferation of home-based broadband is changing the media landscape: Pew says that 57 million Americans watch online video content every day. That's 19% of American adult Internet users. Americans between ages 18-29 are the most video-voracious; 31% of them watch online videos every day (read more - Hear 2.0) Large
Internet radio operators and the music industry are expected to head
to the negotiating table today in search of harmony on music
streaming royalty rates.
Some small From Bill Virgin -- The tradition of Scandinavian broadcasting is continued to this day by "The Scandinavian Hour," heard Saturdays on KKNW-AM (1150), likely the longest-running local show on Seattle radio + A longtime announcer, reporter and producer for KUOW-FM (94.9), Ken Vincent, has left the station, citing differences with management. (read more - Seattle PI) ARBitron numbers for Washington, DC; Baltimore, San Francisco, San Jose, St Louis and Monterey-Salinas (read 'em) From Randy Dotinga -- KGB and its call letters were created back in 1922, but there's a debate over the origins of the call letters. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Scott Rice, an engineer and radio history buff at the Clear Channel stations, said he thinks it was named after George Bowles, general manager of the station. But Valley Center's Robert Lerner, a former editor with a media trade journal, has found evidence that it was actually named after the owner's wife, Gladys Barnes (read more - NC Times) From
Murphy Martin --
In early June we did a column on the many "firsts" that could evolve
during the 2008 Presidential election. The next week we did our
column on who the final candidates might be for the Republican and
Documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald and independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders announced an "online viral video campaign" Wednesday calling on television news organizations "not to follow Fox down the road to war again" (read more - AP)
Country artist Dierks Bentley was on
The Big D and Bubba
From Eric Boehlert -- MSNBC host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough caused a media stir last week when he claimed that on-the-clock MSNBC newsroom employees brazenly jeered President Bush while watching his 2003 State of the Union Address. Personally, I don't buy it. At least not the way Scarborough described it: that news producers in charge of coverage (note the plural) openly booed Bush from the beginning of the State of the Union until it ended nearly 60 minutes later. There are just way too many gaps in the story, not the least of which is that during the winter of 2003, MSNBC distinguished itself as one of the most gung-ho war cheerleaders on the television dial. (Just ask Phil Donahue.) (read more - Media Matters) Portland-based radio host-author Thom Hartmann, on-air live on KPTK-AM (1090) from 9 am to noon, appears in "The 11th Hour," an environmental documentary narrated and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (read more - Seattle PI) Improved advertising conditions and a solid performance by its radio businesses have helped Southern Cross Broadcasting post a 20.5 per cent increase in full-year profits (read more - ABC News AU) Google aims to make YouTube profitable with ads (read more - NY Times) With news of the pending Van Halen reunion tour (of sorts) The Rockin’ ‘80s celebrates the band from Pasadena, California, and their evolution through the decade of the 80's with a free two-hour radio special Wednesday August 22, 2007 From
Jeanne Jakle --
Earlier this year, the comeback of Carl Wiglesworth and Eliza
Sonneland on KAHL-AM (1310) was relatively short-lived when the
station was turned into a nostalgia music station. Sonny Melendrez,
another iconic name associated with S.A. music radio, lost his
hosting gig mornings on KAHL.
He
(Sonnyradio.com), Hernandez
and The local Hispanic community says it’s done trying to negotiate with Clear Channel. The media giant must fix the problem that resulted in a second instance of what Hispanics say was blatant racial discrimination against them on WLW-AM (700). The league was outraged last week after WLW aired a promotion spot called “Speaking to An Illegal Alien,” which featured translations of various Spanish phrases such as, “Be careful with those hedge clippers around the garden.” “The spot in question was an old spot that aired in error,” Fredrick said later. In a meeting Tuesday, the League of United Latin American Citizens said it gave Clear Channel’s market manager Chuck Fredrick an ultimatum (read more - Cincy Enquirer) From David Hinckley -- The pop music world doesn't seem to produce as many songs about summer as it did back in the days of "Summertime," "V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N," "Summer in the City," "My Summer Love," "Summer Girls," "Summer Rain," "Wildwood Days," almost every Beach Boys song or Alice Cooper's immortal "School's Out." This summer, muses midday host Shelley Wade of WHTZ (100.3 FM), "Justin Timberlake's 'Summer Love' is about the only song that has the word in the title" (read more - NY Daily News) From John Smyntek -- While WRIF-FM morning giants Drew and Mike continue to lead the morning race, their ratings dropped a bit from their stellar second quarter score. Among all listeners, D&M went from a 9.9 to an 8.7% slice and in the age 25-54 demographic dropped from 14.6 to 12.9 (read more - Detroit Free Press) Radio
station Talksport has been censured after two presenters made
derogatory comments about gay people. From Robert Feder -- After tonight, Jerry Agar will give up his second job as evening host on WABC-AM in New York and work full-time as midday host on news/talk WLS-AM (890) + The release of Arbitrends this week for the first phase of the summer quarter provided more ammunition in the war of words between Spanish-language radio stations and Arbitron (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) Radio-industry insiders say a bidding war has broken out for the services of shock-jock Don Imus now that his lawsuit against CBS has settled (read more - Xinhuanet - China View CN) Radio One said Tuesday it has agreed to sell its radio stations in Augusta, Ga., to Perry Broadcasting for about $3.1 million (read more - Houston Chronicle) From ARBitron's Thom Mocarsky -- Re: Data processing error impacts sample report and weekly cume estimates in Houston PPM Weekly report for July 26 through August 1, 2007. There was no precipitous decline in panelist cooperation in Houston for the week of July 26 through August 1, 2007. The file used to process the weekly cume estimates (the unified weekly sample) was incompletely loaded from the data warehouse to the production system. It appears that exposure records for almost 200 panelists who were in-tab 6 of 7 days were not included in that file transfer. This is why the average (unified) weekly in-tab appears to be abnormally low. No exposure records have been lost. The error affected the calculation of weekly cumes. We need to find out what caused the processing error. We need to correct the file and reprocess the PPM weekly data. Please note: The average quarter hour estimates and the daily cume estimates are NOT likely to change. These estimates are based on the average daily in-tab sample which appear to be correctly reported on the Sample Composition. ARBitron numbers for Boston, Detroit, San Diego, Arkon, Hartford and Riverside-San Bernadino (read 'em) From
John Rook -- This
year the Society of Singers has selected Gladys Knight to be the
recipient of the prestigious From Mark Ramsey -- Many if not most radio stations are still working with a web-based handicap. They lack an Internet strategy and the resources to realize a strategy (by the way, lacking an Internet strategy will always mean you lack the resources to realize one). This smart piece talks about the coming era of the "cut and paste" web (read more - Hear 2.0) From Kasha Stoll -- "We just open it up and let everybody call and talk about whatever they want to,” said Jim Cates, morning radio talk show host for AM-1440 KMAJ. “Makes no difference to me. I think it makes it more fun, the spontaneity.” Cates, who has been doing talk radio for 10 years, seems as comfortable on air as cats are sleeping just about anywhere. Nothing fazes him. I joined him on air one morning earlier this year, just to watch him in action (read more - Topeka Capital Journal) From
Sonny Melendrez
-- While some may argue that today's kids have got it made, in
reality, they may be missing out on one of
From Jacobs Media -- In one of those recent marketing - media posts, there was an interesting essay imploring tech professionals to stop calling people "users" (which has been the official/unofficial jargon for many years) and start thinking about them as "consumers." Even though the latter is a rather generic term, the idea of "users" seems to connote a special, narrow group of people. Yet, these days, the stats show that almost 80% of the American population is on a computer (read more - Jacobs Media) From Peter Ames Carlin -- "Anchorwoman" set at KYTX in Tyler, Texas, pop. 101,000, is only the most recent low point in TV news' ongoing race to the bottom of the journalistic barrel. The ways and means of entertainment define so much of TV (and, let's face it, print) journalism these days that turning one station's news programming into a set for a cheesy reality show hardly seems out of place (read more - The Oregonian) From Broadcast Buyer -- Broadcast Electronics is reporting new trends in HD Radio adoption leading up to the NAB Radio Show, from HD2 channels for niche markets to small-market radio positioning for digital broadcasting. "We're seeing a high level of interest from the smaller market segment especially, and we're making an effort at this year's NAB Radio Show to address the individualized needs of these broadcasters," said Neil Glassman (read more - Broadcast Buyer) Actress-comedian-Air America-ex Janeane Garofalo is joining the cast of the Fox TV drama "24" (read more - NY Post) Tribune Co. shareholders approved the $8.2 billion buyout of the media conglomerate Tuesday, but the transaction still needs financing and rule waivers from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (read more - International Herald Tribune)
Bob & Tom welcomed
Indianapolis Colts Quarterback and Super Bowl XLI MVP Peyton Manning
to the studio Tuesday
From Dave Van Dyke -- It has become clear in our studies at Bridge Ratings that there is considerable consumer confusion in the U.S. about HD radio and its benefits. Three quarters of the U.S. population has heard of "HD Radio". Less than 5% really want it. So, the Brits and their Digital Radio Development Bureau are taking the U.S. broadcasters to school about digital radio (read more - Dave Van Dyke) From Larry Stewart -- In the pre-David Beckham era, preempting a Dodgers or Angels radio broadcast for soccer -- even on Spanish-language radio -- would have been unthinkable. But not now, as the landscape of the Southern California sports scene continues to change. The Dodgers announced Tuesday a three-year deal that will put their games on Spanish-language KHJ 930 beginning next season, thus ending a long relationship with KWKW 1330 (read more - LA Times) Texas entrepreneur and philanthropist, and co-founder of Clear Channel, Red McCombs, adds another project with Faithvine.com, a Christian collaboration website that blends content with community (read more - Christian News Wire) A former Louisville radio personality, Todd Smith, who went by Todd Kelly on the air, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he used a radio show to bilk listeners out of donations by falsely claiming he had terminal illnesses (read more - Lexington Herald Leader) From
Jimmy Rabbitt --
On this day in music history, Virginia Patterson Hensley aka Patsy
Cline recorded the classic
Sackoman News Audio Headlines: Dr. Ken Kronhaus has joined Doug Stephan as co-host of Good Day Health, a weekend medical and wellness news program with 120 affiliates RealNetworks, MTV Networks, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone are teaming to create a single, integrated digital music experience that consumers can access via their PC, portable music device or mobile phone (read more - PR Newswire) (read more - Seattle PI) From John Smyntek -- What if you tallied up a month’s worth of radio ratings and nothing had changed very much? Then you’d have Tuesday’s Arbitrend radio ratings report for May, June and July. Relatively little changed in a ratings report from the second quarter report and given the summer book is usually the quarter taken least seriously, ho-hums probably were heard in general managers’ offices across the metro area (read more - Detroit Free Press) Tuesday August 21, 2007 From John Gorman -- Is it true that lenders will now only deal with those that are real broadcasters? Does this mean that business plans that read; “Buy them now and figure out what to do with them later” are no longer acceptable? Does that also mean that those who’ve done a less than desirable job at running properties acquired over the past decade will have a difficult time raising money for any further radio deals? (read more - John Gorman) From Robert Feder -- For a Chicago radio guy whose career seemed to be washed up not too long ago, George Willborn has come a lot further than even he could have imagined. The once-struggling local comic, who spent 10 years as a third banana on Clear Channel Radio urban adult-contemporary WVAZ-FM (102.7), is living what he calls "a dream come true" + Cisco Cotto, who co-hosts mornings with Big John Howell on Salem Communications' news/talk WIND-AM (560), will be filling in Thursday and Friday for nationally syndicated talk show host Dennis Miller (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From GQ Magazine -- Glenn Beck, 42, is one of the fastest-rising talk-radio stars in recent years (he trails only Limbaugh and Hannity among young listeners), but it’s his crossover to TV that has put him on the left’s hit list. On his nightly hour-long show on Headline News, Beck peddles a rightward mix of monologue and interviews while lurching between serious and jokey, maudlin and sarcastic. But his success owes more to how he breaks from tradition. In truth, he is less partisan soldier than channeler of regular-guy id (insofar as someone who wears Etro shirts and Vuitton loafers, knows nothing about sports, and describes Yankee scented candles as “quite possibly the greatest invention ever” qualifies as a regular guy). While he is broadly School of Limbaugh, Beck differs in striking ways. Where Limbaugh speaks of his “talent on loan from God,” Beck regularly calls himself an “alcoholic rodeo clown” (read more - GQ Magazine) From David Hinckley -- An almost-forgotten format, popular standards, is actually growing at one of its last outposts on terrestrial radio: Jonathan Schwartz's show, Saturdays and Sundays, noon-4 p.m. on WNYC (93.9 FM). Schwartz also programs the full-time High Standards channel on XM Satellite Radio, and Sirius has a full-time standards channels called Siriusly Sinatra (read more - NY Daily News) From Page Six -- Dan Rather says he was perplexed that Katie Couric's staffers were reduced to dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at a bizarre CBS Evening News pep rally held by executive producer Rick Kaplan last week (read more - NY Post) From Chris Tryhorn -- Commercial radio revenues rose slightly to almost £150m in the second quarter of the year, trade body the Radio Centre said today (read more - The Guardian U.K.) ABC News Radio has launched ABC FM News in afternoon drive. ABC FM News targets FM music listeners seeking a highly relevant and up to the minute news broadcast outside of the AM radio dial. Among the affiliates is WPLJ 95.5 FM New York. WPLJ and over 80 affiliates including WDRQ (Detroit), WRQX (Washington, DC), and KUFX (San Jose) currently carrying ABC FM News From Laura Nachman -- A couple of former television industry professionals aren’t impressed with the premise of Fox’s new reality show where former bikini model and "Price is Right" "Barker's Beauty," Lauren Jones attempts to become a news anchor in Tyler, Texas in “Anchorwoman,” premiering tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 8 p.m. on Fox. Former Fox news anchor Jill Chernekoff wrote in an email, “Sad to see another local newsroom sell its integrity for ratings (read more - Philly Burbs)
From Richard Huff
-- Ryan
Seacrest is going from the red carpet at the Primetime Emmy
Awards to the main stage.
"I hope that they're
saying the show went well, the show was fun, it was clearly
spontaneous and unscripted," he says. "You just hope you don't
see the you-sucked headline"
(read more - NY
Daily News)
From The Radio Babe
-- Don Imus' comment was vulgar and unnecessary; Rutger's
basketball player Kia Vaughn's lawsuit is based on contemporary
backward thinking: Let's
Bud
Buschardt's ABC Radio retirement party on Saturday
ARBitron numbers for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Nassau-Suffolk-Long Island and Middlesex-Somerset-Union NJ (read 'em) From
Happy Hare --
I spent a year trying to reconnect with a gig in Hollywood and
failed. KLAC had been sold and the new owner, Mort Hall, imperiously
informed me he was not
So far, Michael Medved has interviewed 8 presidential candidates. Today, Michael goes for #9 with former Senator Mike Gravel on from 5-6 pm EDST From Dave Carpenter -- Tribune Co. shareholders were poised to sign off Tuesday on the $8.2 billion buyout of the media conglomerate, although questions remain (read more - San Jose Mercury News) From Brooks Barnes -- Hollywood’s squabble over which of two technologies (Blu-ray or HD DVD) will replace standard DVDs reignited Monday with two studios throwing their weight behind one format and several rivals ramping up support for the other (read more - NY Times) From Tim Cuprisin -- There's nothing official and news director Bill Berra isn't talking, but it looks like Channel 4 has picked up anchor George Mallet from Philadelphia's Fox station, WTXF-TV, to fill the chair resulting from Mike Jacobs' move into Mike Gousha's slot last year (read more - Milwaukee JS) MSNBC's “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” the highly rated cable news program, will be shown on network television on Sunday before a preseason NBC football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers (read more - NY Times) From Nic Fildes -- Richard Huntingford, the former head of Chrysalis Radio, will lead the impending flotation of Virgin Radio after being appointed as the radio company's new chairman yesterday (read more - The Independent U.K.) From Mark Ramsey -- You're not in the "Radio Business," you're in the business of hand-delivering leads (read more - Hear 2.0) Twenty-two year ESPN veteran Mo Davenport has been named senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Radio, and Tim McCarthy and Jim Pastor have been appointed to the newly created regional general manager positions designed to better coordinate ESPN Radio’s five owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Pittsburgh Miniature radio ads, spanning just a few seconds in length, are a hit in Hollywood, says Clear Channel which launched the spots known as blinks and adlets last year (read more - Sue Zeidler-Reuters) (read more - LA Times) From Carolyn Curiel -- There’s never been a speechwriter tell-all quite like the one in the current issue of The Atlantic. In 10 pages of grievances he might as well have nailed to the White House door, Matthew Scully, one of President Bush’s former speechwriters, seeks to set right the doling out of credit for the president’s speeches. His displeasure centers on the attention given to Michael Gerson, who was chief speechwriter before becoming a policy adviser and then a magazine columnist. “Mike’s conduct is just the most familiar and depressing of Washington stories — a history of self-seeking and media manipulation,” Mr. Scully wrote (read more - NY Times) From Alan Peppard -- Texas Radio Hall of Famer and Dallas sportsradioster Norm Hitzges was at the Stadium Club Monday afternoon hawking the book he has penned about the Dallas Cowboys in collaboration with photographer Ron St. Angelo, titled Greatest Team Ever (read more - Dallas News) Monday August 20, 2007 From David Saltonstall -- It's no secret that Sean Hannity, the conservative Fox News commentator, has helped to raise Rudy Giuliani's profile - but now he's helped the former mayor raise money, too. In a little noticed event this month, Hannity introduced the Republican front-runner at a closed-door, $250-per-head fund-raiser Aug. 9 in Cincinnati, campaign officials acknowledge. In so doing, some believe that Hannity - while clearly a commentator paid to express his opinions - crossed the line from punditry into financial rainmaking for a presidential candidate whose bottom line is now better for it (read more - NY Daily News) From Mike Allen -- Opposition from key talk radio and cable TV hosts helped kill the immigration bill in Congress, a study out today concludes. Conservative hosts touched off a brushfire in the Republican base that President Bush and other party leaders were helpless to contain. According to PEJ’s analysis, Lou Dobbs devoted a full 27 percent of the airtime on his nightly show to immigration during the second quarter of 2007, with much of that coverage highly critical of the measure (read more - Politico) From Art Vuolo -- I just flew to Chicago for the Morning Show Boot Camp, another one of a multitude of radio conventions that I attend each year. This custom confab caters primarily to high-profile (that means they make the most money) morning personalities from stations nationwide and even a few international attendees. If I can say this without sounding like a prude, and considering the new guidelines set by the FCC, I was amazed at the proliferation of profanity by the men and women. That damn convention had a hell of a lot of swearing (read more - Michiguide) From Jim Wolf -- U.S. media reporting of the war in Iraq fell by roughly one third in the second quarter of 2007, largely due to a drop in coverage of the Washington-based policy debate, a study released Monday said (read more - Reuters) CNN’s Roland Martin tackles the issue of some of society's insatiable appetites for money, lust and power in an hour-long special airing at 8 p.m. (ET) on Monday, Aug. 20, “God, Sex and Greed” leading up to the premiere of CNN’s God’s Warriors airing Tuesday, Aug. 22 through Thursday Aug. 24 from 9 p.m. to 11p.m. (ET) (read more - NY Post) From David Hinckley -- Thanks to WKCR (89.9 FM), the breathtaking scope of the late jazz drummer Max Roach's legacy will run continuously on New York radio through Wednesday night at 9 + One-time WWPR (105.1 FM) morning host Star says he will appeal Friday's dismissal of the lawsuit he filed against City Councilman John Liu for calling him a "pedophile" + Bob Grant sits in for John Gambling today and tomorrow on WABC (read more - NY Daily News) From Carrie Lukas -- Last Friday, GreenStone Media signed off for good. Why did this effort fail? After all, the programming carefully was designed by feminist experts to appeal to female tastes. According to Gloria Steinem, "women are more and more turned off by the hostility and argumentative nature of AM talk radio" (read more - NY Post) From Terry McMoore -- Some people believe that gangster rappers control the distribution and air play of their music and videos, but that is not true. Major corporations are responsible for the shoving down our throats of images that promote sex, drugs, black-on-black crime, and have blocked some of the other forms of rap such as Christian, political, educational, rock, gospel and the 100 other forms of rap not getting equal air play. Ever wonder why you never hear politicians today coming forward against gangster rap like they did in the ’80s? (read more - Clarksville Online) YouTube is becoming a vehicle for breaking into ad work (read more - Boston Biz Journal) Auto manufacturers are entering the Internet radio race (read more - Reuters) From Page Six -- Walter Cronkite, 90, is in no hurry to marry his brainy and beautiful galpal, Joanne Simon, 66 - and some speculate it's because his four children are urging him not to (read more- NY Post) From Bill Sherman -- America's invasion of Iraq was a mistake, according to Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of CBN's "The 700 Club." "I had strong misgivings about this war. I said so publicly," Robertson said (read more - Tulsa World) From Jacobs Media -- It is indeed amazing how in this sea of new technology, the TV and cable networks keep coming up with programming that is the nexus for social interaction and discourse - even among young viewers. A research company called Youth Trends found that amidst all the iPods and MySpace profiles, TV viewing has increased from year to year (read more - Jacobs Media) From Robert Scoble -- Hard to believe that only 10 or 15 years ago we interacted with coworkers and colleagues with memos and phone calls. Email and instant messaging changed all that. Now there's a new communications revolution coming. These services mix contacts, instant messaging, blogging, and texting, and they're poised to make email feel as antiquated as the mimeograph. The best known of the new services is Twitter. Since its debut last spring, it has been one of the fastest-growing apps in the history of the Internet (read more - Fast Company) From
Beth Brelje -- If
you are an out-of-touch geezer looking to connect with a spry young
teenager, get up-to-date in the afternoon by tuning in to the Sunday
top 40 with Rick Dees. From Mark Ramsey -- Loyalty. We ask listeners for it. We ask them to join our "loyal" listener club - and in too many cases we actually call it that. But that isn't how loyalty works. Your dog isn't loyal because you ask her for loyalty. She's not loyal because you enter her into a contest where she has a one-in-a-thousand chance of a doggie treat. Yes, she'll jump through hoops for you, but she doesn't do it because you demand loyalty. She does it because she loves you. Loyalty, in other words, is earned. It's not solicited (read more - Hear 2.0) From Dirk Averesch -- Somedays it seems broadcast radio's options range from bad to worse. But there is hope as thousands of radio stations are available on the internet and accessible via your computer or a special receiver. Audio adapters are one way of accessing internet radio. Philips has a Wireless Music Adapter SLA5520 while Pinnacle has a SoundBridge HomeMusic (read more - Bangkok Post) The Conclave is seeking a knowledgeable, creative fundraiser immediately From
Claude Hall --
Chuck Blore, Hollywood writes: "You can add my name to your
illustrious list, Claude, I've written a book, about to be
published. It's all about when I was Program Director of the
highest-rated radio station the nation has ever known, KFWB in
Hollywood, circa 1958-64.
From Edward Wyatt -- To at least one parent of a participant of “Kid Nation” - a new reality show coming to CBS next month - who wrote a letter of complaint to New Mexico state officials after the show had completed production, the experience bordered on abuse and neglect. Several children required medical attention after drinking bleach that had been left in an unmarked soda bottle, according to both the parent and CBS. One 11-year-old girl burned her face with splattered grease while cooking (read more - NY Times) From Rev. Al Sharpton -- If Imus wants to get back in front of the microphone, there are five steps that he should take to prove that he has learned from the experience — and not simply waited for the furor to die down (read more - NY Daily News) From Megan Davies -- Upcoming deals such as Sirius Satellite Radio's planned takeover of XM Satellite Radio could be helped by a court decision in favor of a takeover deal between two organic food retailers (read more - Reuters) From Douglas McIntyre -- Reuters is floating the theory that the apparent success of the grocery store merger may make it easier for Sirius to merge with rival satellite company XM. The concept is full of holes. Sirius and XM are a de facto duopoly and, merged, would be a monopoly. Their ability to send satellite signals with radio content to receivers is not a business that any other company can enter. That is not really a bit like the Whole Foods situation (read more - Blogging Stocks) Howard Stern has become obsessed with CNN anchor Lou Dobbs. The shock jock said on his Sirius radio show that while waiting in his dark-tinted limo for an appointment, he spotted Dobbs outside Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle chain-smoking five cigarettes and couldn't take his eyes off him (read more - NY Post) From
Tommy Kramer
-- In a previous
tip, we discussed the fact that your "Listener" doesn't really
LISTEN very much. He/she uses radio as a mood service appliance, an
Information source, or (hopefully) an Entertainment
From Phil Vinter -- Answering phones and making the tea is the best many youngsters can expect from a period of work experience, but one talented teenager had other ideas. Noel Phillips, from Kingstanding, so impressed bosses at radio station New Style 98.7 FM during his two weeks unpaid work they decided to offer him a job presenting his own show (read more - Birmingham Mail U.K.) From Keith J. Kelly -- While a $1 million advance is considered nirvana for most authors, the reported offer for former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld pales sharply with the reported $5 million advance that retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks snagged from HarperCollins for his book "American Soldier," which came out in 2004 when the Iraq War was still perceived positively by the masses -- Rumsfeld is believed to have held exploratory talks with three publishers over the summer, said a source, who said publishers were skeptical of a book that simply served as a justification for the Iraq War (read more - NY Post) Mobile phones are a potential gold mine for advertisers, the most personal and intimate way to communicate and engage with subscribers _ more than 2 billion of them and counting worldwide. Yet the advertisers' two-liner text pitches have largely fueled a growing hate club, with recipients quickly equating the messages with spam they abhor on desktops (read more - Washington Post) From Vicki Gilhula -- Dave Mayes is returning to radio and will join Carrie Ann Tantalo in the morning on Big Daddy 103.9 FM (read more - Northern Life CA) From Malungelo Booi -- A former Unitra Community Radio news presenter has laid a charge of sexual harassment against one of the station’s senior managers. Police spokesperson Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela confirmed that 22-year-old Nthabiseng Mokane opened the case at the Mthatha Central Police Station yesterday (read more - Zaire Dispatch) From John Rosenthal -- Amp'd, the sequel that couldn't miss, was pitched to draw 18- to 25- year-olds who wanted to use their phones as entertainment devices. Amp'd invested heavily in original content and contracted with Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) to operate over its broadband network. The startup promised to bring "a more relevant, personal experience to the wireless lifestyle with unique music, video, community, entertainment, sports, and gaming offerings." Amp'd quickly became a darling of the venture-capital set. So, when Amp'd filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 1, one could be forgiven for wondering, What happened? How could a company with so much going for it burn through such a huge sum in less than two years? (read more - Fast Company) From Andrew T. Durham -- The very idea that talk radio – simply because it exists – must be correct is just an idiotic premise. Some of it – most of it – is pop music, as opposed to classical. Rush Limbaugh is an uneducated shill for the Republican Party. If you listen, all you hear is the Liberals are always wrong, and the Republicans are always right. This is the same with Sean Hannity, who is probably a nice guy who just has the depth of a foot bath. We do not, my friends, need cheerleaders at this point in history. We are at war, not just with terrorists who want to destroy the very fabric of this still-young culture of ours, but also with forces within who feel the Constitution is but a quaint document, written by ancients who weren’t that far from the trees (read more - American Chronicle) From Chris Welch -- Rick Brown, general manager of the Clear Channel stations in Huntsville, was pleased to see three of his stations in the top four, especially the rise of WTAK and new WQRV (read more - Huntsville Times) From Jay Ambrose -- Kia Vaughn says Don Imus ruined her reputation when he called members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos,” but it’s something else entirely that stands to hurt her name: a lawsuit she’s filed seeking money from the shock jock (read more - Boston Herald) ABC News' Rick Klein Reports that former Sen. John Edwards on Friday fired the latest round in his ongoing verbal feud with Ann Coulter, calling her a "she-devil" at a public event before quickly adding that he shouldn't engage in name-calling. Edwards, D-N.C., was railing against the right-wing media -- including Fox News and Rush Limbaugh -- when he reminded a crowd in Burlington, Iowa, that his wife stood up to Coulter in a public spat earlier this summer. "They attacked Elizabeth personally, because she stood up to that she-devil Ann Coulter. … I should not have name-called. But the truth is -- forget the names -- people like Ann Coulter, they engage in hateful language" (read more - ABC News) From David Hinckley -- WFUV (90.7 FM) is creating an HD channel to play contemporary alternative music. The station itself will continue its triple-A format, but the new alternative format will be available on an HD channel and online starting in the fall of 2008 (read more - NY Daily News) Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has asked U.S. regulators to look into whether Rush Limbaugh and other radio hosts are receiving payment or gifts from General Motors in exchange for praising the company on air. FCC rules require broadcasters to say if content has been aired in exchange for money or other considerations (read more - Tampa Tribune) Clear Channel Radio has launched their new online consumer/dealer automotive solution, DFWAutoplex.com, the first local automotive lead generation website launched by a radio group News Talk 820 WBAP celebrates 85 years of broadcasting in the Fort Worth-Dallas market this year and honors its birthday by going “live” with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, and Mark Davis starting an hour early at 8 am with Hal Jay and the morning team. Says WBAP Operations Manager, Tyler Cox, "We think it’s fitting that our lineup adjustments on WBAP 820 occur on August 20th, which is 8/20!” Clifford Sanderson, 46, of The Eye, a former radio presenter from Leicestershire has pleaded not guilty to making indecent photographs of children (read more - BBC U.K.) From Patricia Sullivan -- Dave von Sothen, who worked for WRC radio and television for 20 years as a news writer and host of programs such as "Four Corners News" and "Dimension Washington, and won two local Emmy Awards for a documentary about Griffith Stadium, died Aug. 12 (read more - Washington Post) "Tucker Tuesday" begins live on Bubba the Love Sponge Show on August 28th. The pundit, dancer and now game show host (and Nicorette gum addict) MSNBC's Tucker Carlson rejoins Bubba the Love Sponge Show as a weekly guest, every Tuesday at 4 pm ET. All Bubba the Love Sponge radio broadcasts can only be heard on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 101, one of Howard Stern's two Sirius channels) Friday August 17, 1007 Shares of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. rose Friday, after an analyst said a cleared hurdle for a proposed transaction in another industry bodes well for a merger of the satellite radio operators (read more - Forbes) From
Adam Sherwin --
Britain has discovered life beyond the FM dial, with millions of
listeners tuning in to digital-only radio stations.
Adaptations of Dickens, Latin jazz and celebrity gossip are thriving
in a listening environment where mobile phones and computers are
challenging analogue radios.
Buy a LG 225 at TracFone and get double minutes for the life of the phone! News audiences are ditching television and newspapers and using the Internet as their main source of information, in a trend that could eventually see the demise of local papers, according to a new study, "Creative Destruction: An Exploratory Look and News on the Internet", released on Wednesday. "As online use has increased, the audiences of older media have declined," Harvard University professor Thomas Patterson said in a report on the year-long study issued by Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. "In the past year alone... newspaper circulation has fallen by three percent, broadcast news has lost a million viewers," said the study, entitled (read more - Breitbart) From Robert Feder -- Time for another installment of cards and letters across the television/radio desk: Janet Muhammad: In your article about WVON, there was no mention of Santita Jackson as one of the hosts. Some listeners have referred to her as the Oprah Winfrey of the radio. I feel you should take notice and let your readers be aware. Elaine Hicks: How many women are left in Chicago's rock 'n' roll radio scene? First Kitty Loewy is gone, and now Christine Moran is gone too. Tell us what is happening to women on drive time -- not about how great Bobby Skafish is (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From Gary Lycan -- KLSX/97.1 FM appears to be on a winning path with its decision to bring back psychic Linda Salvin starting Aug. 19 + After a successful career in rock radio, Imus never caught fire again in Southern California as a talk host. Is he boring or irrelevant? I think he's both at this point in his career. Maybe he could become one of those "whisperers" and retire to his ranch in the Southwest (read more - Orange County Register) Citadel Broadcasting has signed a seven-year contract for Portable People Meter radio ratings services when the new audience ratings technology is commercialized in 14 of the markets encompassed in Arbitron’s previously announced PPM rollout plan: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, Detroit, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Providence, Nashville, New Orleans and Memphis From John Smyntek -- The trade journal Automotive News reported Wednesday that General Motors has recruited several prominent radio personalities — many on a national scale but also in local markets — by providing the hosts with new cars and trucks to drive free for two weeks each month. The disclosure raises anew the controversial issue of how electronic media figures are compensated. The deal also includes trips to Detroit to meet with GM executives and see the company's facilities. Among the hosts taking advantage of the deal are some of the biggest names in talk radio and a few who double on TV. Among them: Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Hannity, Ryan Seacrest, Glenn Beck, Michael Baisden, former Detroiter George Noory, Delilah, Laura Ingraham, Jim Rome, John Tesh, and Big Tigger, a former WJLB-FM (97.9, Detroit) morning host. Local hosts in Dallas were also mentioned in the story (read more - Detroit News) The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters says that the first Arbitron PPM data from Philadelphia raises serious questions about the PPM methodology and how that data should be interpreted and used (read more - Black PR Wire) From Larry Stewart -- KSPN found out just how popular Dan Patrick's show is on Wednesday when the station preempted it for a new local show. The station was hit with complaints, and program director Larry Gifford, responding to e-mails, acknowledged it was a mistake and apologized (read more - LA Times) From David Barron -- Richard Topper and his colleagues at KGOW (1560 AM) are dashing about merrily, preparing for an open house tonight for advertisers in advance of the station's launch of its all-sports format Monday morning + There are about 1,900 PPMs in circulation in Houston, and Arbitron's target for the daily sample is 1,361. The March average was 85 below that goal, and the July average was 193 below (read more - Houston Chronicle) From Peter Smyth -- Who Declared Open Season on Radio?It seems these days that lots of people with personal agendas have decided to pick on American radio. Radio's ongoing symbiotic love/hate relationship with the music industry has turned confrontational. First, the CRB decision on internet royalty rates has provoked a face-off about the proper formula and dollar value of performance rights for internet streaming. Now, the Music First Coalition has raised the volume on their demand that radio pay a performance tax on every song we play on the air (read more - Greater Media) From
Kent Burkhart --
According to new RAB figures radio markets that are 76th and higher
had revenue increases in June of 6 percent -- while those in the top
24 decreased 4
Jay Marvin sits in on the radio for Alan Colmes tonight From Jacobs Media -- There's been this unbelievable noise coming from my teenage daughter's bedroom this week. Defying all press reports and conventional wisdom, she's actually listening to the radio. And amazingly, she's listening to AM radio. No, she hasn't gone political on me and is listening to Rush Limbaugh or Air America. She's listening to Radio Disney, because they've made listening to the radio fun again for young people (read more - Jacobs Media) A 70-year-old Nevada radio commentator who goes by the on-air name Travus T. Hipp and describes himself as the "poor hippie's Paul Harvey" was arrested Thursday on weapon and drug charges (read more - Las Vegas Sun) Reality TV star Heidi Montag is seething after Ryan Seacrest played a spoof version of her debut single on his Los Angeles radio show on KIIS-FM (read more - Contact Music) A singing contest launched by Chongqing Television Station, mimicking pop shows such as "Super Girl" and "Happy Boy," has been told to cease production by the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film and Television because of its vulgar taste and low quality -- At first the producers cooked-up that the director of the show was seriously ill, which was soon proved to be untrue. Subsequently news was released that the show's gay director was using it as a way to engage in illicit activities with participants (read more - Xinhua News Agency) From
Lee Abrams -- The
American public is hip to the politicians -- but still enamored with
celebrity. THAT is the problem with our culture—revering people who
are mentally unstable. I’m not kidding—it’s poison.
I’m NOT referring to the brilliant creative artists that live in the
deep
From Bill Stewart -- Kim Devlin of Toledo was only “the fifth person with a disability to participate in a sport in the state of Ohio.” Now a member of the Cumualus Media staff in Toledo, Devlin produces radio shows, operates the board, and has done on-air traffic reports for stations such as SuperTalk WTOD and 93.5 WRQN (read more - Toledo Blade) From Laura Nachman -- Former WIP 610-AM host Craig Carton will join Boomer Esiason on the WFAN 660-AM morning show beginning Sept. 4 + Word is that WPEN 950-AM is keeping Glenn Foley, whose contract is set to expire this month. Foley is fine as an announcer except for one minor flaw: He can't speak (read more - Philly Burbs) From Scott Soshnick -- Imus apologized to the Rutgers team in person. Face-to-face. Coach Vivian Stringer, in turn, said she and her players accepted his apology. Apparently, for the 20-year-old Kia Vaughn, though, sorry wasn't enough. Humiliation wasn't enough. She wants dollars, too. Vaughn, you see, filed a lawsuit against Imus and his former employers, CBS Radio and the MSNBC cable channel, claiming the shock jock's racially charged comments about the team damaged her reputation (read more - Bloomberg) Entercom Communications, the parent corporation for WEEI sports radio, has cut a syndication deal to place its sports content on 11 Nassau Broadcasting radio stations around New England and is buying 50 percent of a 12th station, WCRB, a classical music station owned by Nassau that was said to be in negotiations with WEEI’s premier sports talk hosts, John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, who have been off the air in a contract dispute with WEEI. Under that possible deal, WCRB would have switched to a sports format (read more - Boston Globe) (read more - Jessica Heslam -Boston Herald) Costas on the Radio is now heard on over 160 stations via Premiere Radio. Costas this weekend interviews Frank Caliendo – Comedian and member of the FOX NFL Sunday pregame show. Caliendo will host his own sketch show on TBS this fall, The Frank Show and Robert Wuhl – Comedian-actor-writer currently starring in Assume the Position 201 on HBO From Brooks Boliek -- Sam Moore and Judy Collins want the law changed so performers will get paid when their songs are played on radio. Artists and the labels aren't paid when radio airs their songs -- After Moore's testimony, Cox Radio CEO Robert Neil criticized their performance. "I saw the testimony yesterday, and the reality is a lot of those people would be sitting in a shack somewhere in a small town if it wasn't for the fact that radio supported their music when it was coming up," Neil reportedly said during an investor call. It was at best an impolitic thing to say -- Moore, who wants an apology, told me he didn't think that Neil was being racist. "If anything, he's just arrogant and doesn't know what he's talking about," Moore said. Cox didn't return my phone calls, but the broadcast industry contends that the promotional value still counts. Broadcasters hate it when people like Moore and Collins put a human face on this issue (read more - Hollywood Reporter) From Darragh Doiron -- Local Beaumont-Port Arthur radio legend Gordon Baxter will be posthumously inducted into Texas Radio Hall of Fame (read more - Port Arthur News) Regent Communications has appointed Larry Downes to the newly created position of Vice President - Technology and Digital Media Clear Channel Radio station WIKX KIX Country plans an Oct. 21 concert at Charlotte County Airport. "It will be like a bookend to our Country Fest in April," said Mike Moody, vice president and general manager of Clear Channel's Port Charlotte operation, which runs five stations (read more - Charlotte Sun-Herald) The Chop Shop Radio Show has four free radio specials that are available as a package or individually and will celebrate Labor Day Weekend and the reunion of America’s rock and roll ambassadors of party rock and good times with The Chop Shop Van Halen Special Former Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, who was released from federal custody last month after serving more than four years for corruption, will return to WPRO-AM in Providence next month as a talk-show host (read more - Forbes) Thursday August 16, 2007 From Stan Berenshteyn -- Why the NAB is malicious in its attack is obvious -- it is precisely because of the threat satellite radio poses to its terrestrial counterparts that the NAB is fighting tooth-and-nail to defeat this merger. Yet, in a twist of logic, and in light of the competitive threat to its core business, the NAB is claiming that the Sirius/XM merger is a monopoly. How can that be? After all, a monopoly is defined as an "exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices." As a consumer of both terrestrial, and more recently, satellite radio, I can state from first-hand experience that there is no exclusive control of a service. The reason I decided to upgrade to a paying radio service from something that is free was not coercion, but an option of gaining more music variety that was commercial-free (read more - Seeking Alpha) From Bill Virgin -- GreenStone Media debuted with a splash a year and a half ago, with ambitious plans to target what was perceived to be a potentially huge market -- talk radio for women -- and high-powered financial backers. The ending will be considerably quieter. Unless executives of GreenStone can cobble together a last-minute financial rescue, the network will sign off Friday (read more - Seattle PI) From Javier Erik Olvera -- About 60 people Wednesday gathered outside the San Francisco radio station, KNEW 910, that broadcasts radio host Michael Savage's talk show to call for his immediate termination. The demonstration was prompted by a show last month in which Savage said Latino college students should "starve to death" after they fasted to call attention to a proposed law that would provide a path to citizenship for children illegally brought to the United States by their parents (read more - Mercury News) From Robert Feder -- Nate Clay thought he was joking when he offered $1,000 to the first listener who'd call in with the name of the writer of a Sam Cooke song. That joke cost Clay a two-week suspension as weekend overnight host on Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM 890 + Mark Zander, former Chicago rock jock on a variety of stations and host of "The Rockin' '80s," has added program director duties at KKZQ-FM to his role as afternoon personality and program director at KLKX-FM in Palmdale/Lancaster, California (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From the BBC -- Six million people are listening to the radio digitally - a massive rise since 2003, new figures have revealed. Twelve per cent of listeners tune in regularly using digital radio, TV and the internet, while 25% of regular analogue users have also tried digital (read more - BBC U.K.) From
Rick Aristotle Munarriz
-- In short, Imus was built for satellite radio. There really are
just two questions getting in the way of that inevitable sonic
resting place. Will Imus consider satellite radio? And can satellite
radio pay him? The media-buying community had mixed reactions to the notion of a return to the airwaves by controversial radio talk-show host Don Imus (read more - Andrew Hammp - Crain's NY Biz) (read more - David Kiley - Business Week) London's Heart and Magic radio stations have cemented their lead over rival Capital with new audience figures showing them to be the most listened to radio stations in the capital. Heart, which was recently sold by Chrysalis to a vehicle chaired by Charles Allen, had a 6.2 per cent share of the audience in the second-quarter of the year, according to figures from Rajar, the radio audience body. Magic, owned by Emap, increased its share of the London audience from 5.9 per cent to 6.2 per cent over the quarter. The share of the audience held by Capital 95.8, GCap Media's flagship station, slipped from 4.6 per cent to 4.1 per cent (read more - Joe Bolger - The Times U.K.) (read more - The Guardian U.K.) From Roger Friedman -- NBC senior vice president Phil Griffin, sources close to the action insist, pushed Don Imus into high-profile interviews on the "Today" show and elsewhere. Griffin, they say, threatened Imus with canceling his MSNBC TV simulcast if he didn’t do the big interviews. The result was that he fueled the fire instead of putting it out. “He didn’t care about Imus,” says a source, “only NBC. He told Don he would lose the MSNBC show if he didn’t do the interviews. And then NBC canceled the show anyway” (read more - Fox News) From
Andrea Peyser --
Don Imus is a toxic buffoon who has no business showing his craggy
face, or airing his gutter voice, in polite company.
And yet, he
is now undeservedly destined to become a bigger star than he ever
dreamed. From John Kiesewetter -- Sportscaster Dan Patrick knew it was time to go when he realized ESPN had become his sole identity. "I was recognized as the 'SportsCenter' guy. "Everywhere I looked, ESPN was this thing in my life, defining me. I began to think the 'P' in ESPN was for Patrick," says the 1974 Mason High School graduate who quits ESPN Friday to launch a syndicated radio show (read more - Cincy Enquirer) Lawyers for Melinda Duckett's estate want more time to argue their case against CNN talk-show host Nancy Grace because burglars broke into their offices in North Palm Beach, stole computers and left the office in disarray. The lawyers were required to respond this week to a motion from the cable giant and Grace, who asked a federal judge to throw out the wrongful-death lawsuit that accuses them of pushing the mother of missing toddler Trenton Duckett to suicide last year (read more - Orlando-Sentinel) From Bridge Ratings -- Twice a year Bridge Ratings re-forecasts its growth projections for traditional radio and its direct audio competitors from Internet Radio to Podcasting. In this just-released update, Bridge sees traditional AM/FM radio attrition slowing and growth projections for HD radio revised down – again. “Among 12-24 year olds, we’re finding that the usage paths of traditional radio and MP3 players become parallel and not divergent over time,” explains Bridge Ratings President Dave Van Dyke. “’iPod fatigue’ does exist and most users have a point in time when they become bored with either the downloading and transfer process or the content discovery process. When that happens, they tend to go to radio to help with the decision stress and let radio filter much of the content for them.” HD radio, on the other hand, is projected to have fewer than 1 million listeners by the start of 2009, a reduction in Bridge Ratings’ previous estimate of 1.07 million. Why isn't HD radio catching on? The number one response from those who have "little or no interest in HD radio at this time" continues to be "Don't see a need" followed by "Not aware of its benefits" (read more - Bridge Ratings) From Jacobs Media -- Remember sitting around the conference table, listening to the rationale for not targeting teens? The conventional wisdom was, "They'll find radio when they're in their 20's. We just can't afford to target them because we can't sell them." That was then. This is now (read more - Jacobs Media) ARBitron's PPM Houston and Philadelphia (read 'em) From Randy Dotinga -- Let's take a quick spin through the call letters of some San Diego radio stations. KIOZ, KIFM, KBZT, KCBQ. Detect any pattern? Well, here's one: they're boring. And they've got plenty of company on the local dial. Long gone are such memorable station call letters as KOW (Escondido ---- mooo!) and KAVO (Fallbrook, of course ---- the "avo" stood for the town's famous crop). Out in Julian, a station was even called KBNN, or "Cabin." Sadly, no local stations have nifty call letters anymore, although there are a few that actually mean something, such as KCEO (chief executive officer) and KLSD (liberal San Diego) (read more - NC Times) From Richard L. Eldredge -- Atlanta media women lent their names to support the "Keep a Breast" Susan G. Komen for the Cure fund-raiser Oct. 18 at LUXE-Atlanta boutique downtown event with many even lending their chests and torsos to be casted for charity. The casts are slated to be painted, displayed and auctioned off for the breast cancer non-profit. When CNN folks saw Nicole Lapin's name attached to the event, somebody's push-up bra pushed back (read more - Atlanta JC) From Mike Glenn -- A volunteer radio host who was nearly struck by a bullet that crashed through the front window of KPFT's Montrose studio early Monday said the incident will not stop her from sharing her love of zydeco music with listeners (read more - Houston Chronicle) From the KC Star -- Jerry Green, the man who made sports-talk radio important in Kansas City died Wednesday morning. Years ago we had an interest in changing local sports-talk radio. The medium here was stale, lazy and neglected. There was basically one show, and it was hosted by a man with virtually no insight into the local teams or national sports scene. We thought Kansas City could do better; we thought Kansas City should be riding the sports-talk wave like a major city. Chad Boeger convinced Green to join him in his dream of purchasing a tiny daytime signal (1510 AM) and launching a legitimate all-sports station. Green’s pursuit of fun in business ranged far and wide before he gained his highest public profile as majority owner of scrappy sports talk radio station WHB (810 AM). “I can’t imagine what sports radio would be like in Kansas City if it hadn’t been for him,” said WHB sports talk host Kevin Kietzman, who is also an investor in the station (read more - Jason Whitlock - KC Star) (read more - Dan Margolies and Jeffrey Flanagan - KC Star) From
David Martin --
One issue I have with the majority of consultants, researchers,
program directors, corporate staff and others with the power to say
no - they lack any real empathy with talent, lack a true working
understanding and in some cases any appreciation of the creative
process. What
they lack most is the much needed respect of creative From Michael Senft -- "You have this thing called classic rock radio over here," says singer Ian Gillan of Deep Purple in a recent phone call. "It's been a death sentence for all sorts of older bands. They don't play anything of ours other than Smoke on the Water and Highway Star. " Gillan even addresses the problem with a song on Rapture of the Deep, called MTV. The song was inspired by a real-life incident in Buffalo, NY (read more - Arizona Central) From
John Gorman --
There’s money in chaos. That’s what the Record Industry Association
of America (RIAA) is counting on. Here’s a quick explanation for
those not in the business.
Radio stations that play new and current music have only so many
slots open each week to add new music. From Gary Allyn -- What to do with these thirty-one days of Summer doldrums? Listen to the Radio? You must be kidding. There’s nothing on the air that would excite the senses. What happened to Dick Biondi, Tom Clay, Lee Baby Simms, Cousin Brucie, The Real Don Steel, Dr. Don Rose, The Weird Beard, Wolfman Jack, Wally Philips, Loman & Barkley, Jack The Bellboy, Doc Downey, Alan Freed, Happy Hare, Dusty Rhodes? What happened to the Summer songs? Where has the exciting contests such as: "Cash Call", "The Last Contest", "The Big Kahuna Beach Patrol", winning a Backyard Cookout, gone? Was it a dream, or did I imagine that Summer used to mean "fun" on the radio? Listening to radio programming today makes it seem that "fun" was so very long ago. AWW-GUST! (read more - Gary Allyn) Cedar Rapids-based NRG Media has agreed to buy a cluster of five radio stations in the Lincoln, Neb., area from Triad Broadcasting Co; KFGE, KBBK, KLNC, KLIN and KWBE - including three music-oriented FM stations and two AM stations with news and talk formats (read more - Forbes) From
Murphy Martin --
Most people call Karl Rove the "architect of George W. Bush's
success. That is also one of the things Bush calls him. But, the
President has some other
From Tim Cuprisin -- There's nothing official and news director Bill Berra isn't talking, but it looks like Channel 4 has picked up anchor George Mallet from Philadelphia's Fox station, WTXF-TV, to fill the chair resulting from Mike Jacobs' move into Mike Gousha's slot last year (read more - Milwaukee JS) On his radio show, Neal Boortz claimed that because "Muslims don't eat during the day during Ramadan" and "fast during the day and eat at night," they are "sort of like cockroaches." Immediately following the remark, Boortz said, "I did that for Media Myrmidons" -- his term for Media Matters for America (read more - Media Matters) Envision Radio Networks’ American Biker Minute daily radio vignette adds KSDL-FM Richmond, MO The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show adds new affiliates, KTRB AM in San Francisco, WGEN AM in Geneseo IL and KMJT FM in Calico Rock AR Wednesday August 15, 2007 Don Imus has reached a settlement with CBS over his multimillion-dollar contract and is said to be in negotiations with WABC radio to resume his broadcasting career there. Steve Borneman, president and general manager of WABC, said no one at WABC had spoken to Imus and that he was happy with "Curtis and Kuby." To cover Imus' cost, WABC might have to cut Ron Kuby, who helms the morning show with Curtis Sliwa, and John Gambling, the late-morning host. Two people familiar with his plans said that his next show, like his last one, would almost certainly feature Charles McCord but not Bernard McGuirk (read more - David Hinckley-Tracy Connor - NY Daily News) (read more - Janet Whitman, Kevin Fasick and Lukas I. Alpert - NY Post) (read more - NY Times) (read more - NY Post) (read more - MSNBC) (read more - Bloomberg) (read more - Washington Post) (read more - Rafer Guzman - Newsday) From David Hinckley -- It's unlikely we'll get a radically changed Imus. Yes, he will make it clear he knows why his reference was so deeply offensive. He won't get another chance in that area. But he still has to insult those who do deserve it. If he becomes Merv Griffin, he's over. One telling signal when he comes back will be his on-air team. If he doesn't bring back his producer, Bernard McGuirk, it really might be a different show (read more - NY Daily News) Don Imus is facing his first lawsuit from a player on the Rutgers Women's Basketball team for derogatory comments that cost him his job as a radio host in April, ABC News has learned. The suit names Imus individually, but it is also waged against MSNBC, NBC Universal, CBS Radio, CBS Corp., Viacom Inc., Westwood One Radio and Imus producer Bernard McGuirk (read more - ABC News) WFAN announced today that former NFL quarterback and veteran CBS SPORTS broadcaster Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton, host of the nation’s most listened to afternoon FM talk radio program, have been named as hosts of BOOMER AND CARTON IN THE MORNING, to be broadcast weekday mornings (6:00-10:00AM) on Sports Radio 66 WFAN and online at www.wfan.com Live on the radio airwaves Wednesday, August 15, at 1:06 p.m. ET, Karl Rove will be a guest on The Rush Limbaugh Show. This is the former Deputy Chief of Staff's first exclusive interview since his resignation from the Bush Administration Paris Hilton has abandoned longtime publicist Elliot Mintz for Michael Sitrick and his crisis management team, Sitrick & Company, who's handled Ryan Phillipe, Rush Limbaugh and Naomi Campbell during their own scandals (read more - NY Post) From Chrisena Coleman -- If Howard Stern does it and Imus is looking to do it again, then actor-comedian Steve Harvey wants to know, "Why not me?" Harvey, host to a top-rated national radio show heard in 50 markets, is itching to get his show simulcast on television (read more - NY Daily News) From Robert Feder -- After a year of growing pains, urban news/talk WVON-AM (1690) is ready to step up to the big time. While WVON continues to be anchored by Roland Martin in mornings, the Rev. Al Sharpton in middays and Clifford Kelley in afternoons, Carson said he's still evaluating the talent lineup (read more - Chicago Sun-Times) From Page Six -- Former staffers of Green Stone Media, the defunct women's radio network, are grumbling that its founders aren't living up to their feminist creds. Women's libbers Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda are "putting their own reputations above their female employees' finances" said one source (read more - NY Post) From
Sonny Melendrez
-- A media icon an fellow member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame is
celebrating 50 years on San
From Phil Rosenthal -- "The Half Hour News Hour," Fox News Channel's flattery of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," will not be renewed beyond its Sept. 16th episode (read more - Chicago Tribune) From Tim Cuprisin -- Mark Strachota is out as Channel 4's general manager, and Steve Wexler is returning to Milwaukee to take the job in a shake-up at very top of the NBC affiliate. Wexler's the former program director at sister station WTMJ-AM (620), where he played a major role in creating the modern version of the radio station (read more - Milwaukee JS) From Al Kamen -- Asked by our colleague, Peter Baker, if there is one, just one, thing he really, really regrets, Karl Rove said: "I regret accepting that invitation from CNN and going to that stupid dinner and getting turned into MC Rove" (read more - Washington Post) From Jayme Fraser - The Cody Enterprise -- It took only 2 years of comedy, music and commentary for Comfort Food Radio to earn a place in Wyoming history. Host Chris Turner received a letter from the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center on Aug. 3 wanting to document the local variety show. Comfort Food Radio is the first show to be archived at the Center. “I was just floored because it’s such a great honor,” Turner said, “Usually they take stuff when it’s over, but this is ongoing.” Turner credits the show’s success to his staff who he describes as “dedicated, loyal and talented.” Comfort Food began broadcasting live from the Irma Hotel nearly 3 years ago (visit Comfort Food Radio) From Tom Hawthorn -- Elvis Presley was not yet the King. He was Elvis the Pelvis, a truck driver from the South who was inexplicably sending the kids, especially girls, into a frenzy. In a few short months, he scored a handful of Top 10 hits. Fifty years ago this month, the Presley tornado was lured to British Columbia, thanks to the pleadings of a red-haired, teenaged disc jockey. "When Red Robinson promoted Elvis to Vancouver," Mr. Pringle said, "I hopped on the bandwagon"(read more - The Globe and Mail CA) From Arik Hesseldahl -- Sonos is adding Sirius Satellite Radio to its music lineup with a deal that could widen the appeal of Sonos music receivers while helping Sirius muster government support for a planned merger. Owners of the Sonos ZonePlayer are now able to download software that provides access to 80 Sirius channels, including marquee content like Howard Stern and NFL football. After a free 30-day trial, customers who are already Sirius subscribers will have to pay $2.99 a month, while those who are not yet Sirius subscribers will pay $12.95 a month (read more - Business Week) From Kimberly S. Johnson -- During a speech at the Aspen Institute, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin continued to lobby in favor of a la carte pay-TV programming here Tuesday as a way to help parents filter harmful or offensive content from children (read more - Denver Post) From Breuse Hickman -- Clear Channel's WMMB-AM 1240 fired morning host Scott Duncan, announcing Tuesday it wanted to go in a different direction, and Bill Mick, who hosted the same 6 to 9 a.m. weekday slot before leaving for California two years ago, is returning (read more - Florida Today) From Frank Absher -- Within weeks of each other, changes were announced at two St. Louis radio stations that will directly impact the area’s African-American listeners. WGNU, which provides several talk shows aimed at the minority audience, is being sold to BJD Enterprises, which also owns KXEN in St. Louis. WESL, which has served the minority audience for decades, has faded into the history books, with management renaming the station WFFX and plugging it in to the Fox Sports radio feed (read more - Frank Absher - St Louis Journalism Review) BDSradio.com adds WNWV-FM/ Cleveland to its music monitoring service Jim Harper & The Magic 105.1 Morning Show are honoring the women who make the Motor City run with three “Salute to Women in the Automotive Industry” live broadcasts From Jacobs Media -- Recent events have brought us three enormous sports stories. Michael Vick, Tim Donaghy, Barry Bonds. Each transcends sports – they’re cume stories, not just P1 news. And as we all know, scores of media outlets have jumped on each. However, not surprisingly, ESPN owns these stories and they’ll continue to do so (read more - Jacobs Media) Radio One on Tuesday reported revised results for its second quarter, with per-share loss 2 cents narrower than previously announced (read more - Yahoo! Finance) ESPN has launched a new, improved PodCenter which will serve as a new hub for all of ESPN’s enhanced audio and video podcasts will feature individual show pages, increased interactivity and more. PodCenter will feature a new iPhone-compatible player, giving users of the popular new device direct access to all the site’s multimedia content through a player tailored specifically for the iPhone’s Safari Internet browser. In recognition of the growing audience for podcasts, ESPN has integrated a player on the front page of ESPN.com CNN Radio was honored at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention. The network won the radio documentary category for John Lisk’s and Richard Benson’s “Katrina: A Return to the Gulf.” Additionally, CNN Worldwide was honored with NABJ’s Best Practices Award, recognizing the company for its commitment to diversity both on and off air The newly enhanced RIFF2.com, the website for 101 WRIF-FM's companion HD multicast channel, RIFF-HD2, has been re-launched in the Motor City Tuesday August 14, 2007 From Page Six -- Was MSNBC's Chris Matthews perving on CNBC hottie Erin Burnett on live TV the other night? It sure looked that way when, as Burnett discussed the nation's mortgage crisis, the "Hardball" host suddenly asked: "Could you get a little closer to the camera, come in closer . . . come in closer, really close." A baffled Burnett responded, "What are you. . ." to which Matthews cut in, "Ha! Ha! Just kidding! You look great!" (read more - NY Post) From Virginia Hennessey -- A Monterey judge has ruled that former KCBA Fox 35 news anchor Jodi Jones can move forward with her discrimination lawsuit against Clear Channel Broadcasting after finding that an arbitration agreement she was forced to sign was invalid (read more - Monterey Herald) From
Robert Feder --
Hermene Hartman debuted this week as a Monday-through-Friday
commentator on Clear Channel Radio's urban adult-contemporary WVAZ-FM
102.7 + In
the From Tim Cuprisin -- Milwaukee-based PBS documentary-maker Steve Boettcher talked to Merv Griffin for 90 minutes a few weeks ago for a four-part series he's putting together on the "Pioneers of Television," to air early in 2008. "He talked about [how] now, to get on a talk show you have to be promoting a book or a movie or promoting your next project," Boettcher said. "In that era of his show. . . you came on and you felt like, as an audience member, you were part of the conversation. You were sitting there, and you felt you were getting not a performance, but more of an intimated conversation" (read more - Milwaukee JS) XM and MySpace have launched "Show Us What Ya Got!," a coast-to-coast online search for the hottest unsigned hip-hop and R&B music talent From HD.net -- Tonight, Dan Rather Reports presents conclusive evidence of the failure of touch screen voting machines across the country. The episode, "The Trouble with Touch Screens", is an entire hour devoted to new information on this story. From scientists involved in testing the equipment, to manufacturers in third world countries who shipped these defective voting machines to the United States, Dan Rather Reports will present new information showing that these defective machines may have altered the outcome of multiple elections (read more - get a sneak peek - HD.net) From Mark Ramsey -- "Radio" is now "Audio" says the Ad Industry. The moment I have been predicting for the past three years has evidently finally come to pass: The advertising industry is about to do what the radio industry itself has not - redefine the very category of our industry (read more - Hear 2.0) From Steve Thompson -- Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator" series is taking heat. And so is the police chief of the Collin County town that hosted it eight months ago. The troubles stem from the show's visit to Murphy, where more than 20 people were arrested but escaped prosecution because of evidence problems. Also a former district attorney ensnared in the sting shot himself. A lengthy Esquire magazine account of the episode is to hit newsstands today (read more - Dallas News) From Laura Nachman -- With the recent retirement of overnight anchor Bill Shuster, KYW 1060-AM is tweaking its overnight presentation, which means less live voices, and more recorded material (read more - Philly Burbs) From Jacobs Media -- I remember being at client dinners where the GM would ask the waiter or waitress, "What's your favorite station?" There's just something about a focus group of one that seems meaningless, and frankly, I was embarrassed by having to sit through this little exercise. But every once in a while, this "research" technique would yield a sharp, intelligent, vivacious server who just loved the client's station. Oftentimes, he/she would rattle off all the reasons they loved the station, the morning show, the contests, and even those weekend themes (read more - Jacobs Media) From Ken Hoffman -- I used to work with Danny Bonaduce, the former Partridge Family child star who's now a professional substance abuser. He got his own series, Breaking Bonaduce (also on VH1), which chronicles his train wreck of a life. He didn't get a TV show because of his fine acting talent. Every time Bonaduce falls off the wagon, he gets more TV work. If he ever sobers up for good, he's out of show business. He'll have to get a real job (read more - Houston Chronicle) From
Jimmy Rabbitt --
On this day in Rock History, 30 year old Johnny Burnette drowns on
August 14th after being knocked unconscious by a cruiser's collision
with his fishing
From Dave Kohl -- It's coming up to that time of the year when the fans need a scorecard, not for the players, but for the radio stations in certain markets. In certain markets where one station dominates the local play-by-play scene, this is where the team with priority makes a difference. What makes it interesting is that in many instances, the radio station does not have the choice of featuring the game with the most interest to its audience. The best example this summer is probably Milwaukee, where WTMJ Radio continues to handle both the Brewers baseball and Packers football broadcasts (read more - Dave Kohl) From Bill Mercer
-- Excerpt 3 of 3
from Bill Mercer's new book, "Play by Play"
-- Americans bought or
built radio receivers as fast as producers could supply the parts.
In 1921, Julius
From NAB -- Press reports indicate that Microsoft and other high-tech companies plan to file a report today (Monday) with the FCC disputing the Commission's earlier finding that portable unlicensed devices proposed by the high-tech firms will result in interference to digital television reception. In response, NAB issued the following statement that can be attributed to Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of media relations: "The FCC performed rigorous tests on the Microsoft devices, and we are confident that its finding that these devices cause interference to television reception is accurate (read more - NAB) From Susan Bickelhaupt -- The big news at sports radio station WEEI this week was supposed to be its sixth Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon, run in conjunction with NESN Thursday and Friday. But that has been overshadowed by the fact that WEEI management is keeping morning hosts Gerry Callahan and John Dennis off the air this week (read more - Boston Globe) From Kevin Moran -- Nobody was hurt in the predawn gunfire of a drive-by shooting Monday which broke windows and damaged the control room at a Houston's KPFT-FM. The bullet blasted through a Plexiglas window, missing a woman's head by about 18 inches, said general manager Duane Bradley (read more - Houston Chronicle) From
Brian Heater
-- XM's newest radio, the XpressRC, debuted on Monday, sporting a
buffer to save songs, as well
From
Happy Hare -- No
one else knew it then, but here I am revealing it 36 years later,
that Buzz Bennett, the PD of rival KGB, was holding secret meetings
with Casper, telling him that he could bring in
five fine jocks for much less money than I wanted.
David Lebow, the new CEO of Internet Broadcasting Systems Inc., believes that consumers want more than TV news on the Internet -- they want trends, fun facts, videos they create and the chance to give their opinion concerning the events of the day. If you give people what they want, when they want it, the profit will follow, even if it isn't apparent at the outset how a new product or service will make money, he says (read more - Rochester Post Bulletin) From
The Radio Babe --
Dear Readers: WHNZ announced that Joey Reynolds was back, if only
for the weekend. Well,
Clear Channel will hold a Special Meeting of its shareholders on September 25, 2007 at which the proposed merger with the group led by Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. will be considered. Clear Channel shareholders of record as of 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time on August 20, 2007, will be entitled to vote at the special meeting (read more - Clear Channel) The BBC has apologised for Sarah Kennedy's outburst last week in which Radio 2's famously flaky early morning host called the couple buying her home "thieves". She treated listeners to a lengthy rant about the purchasers of her house for allegedly refusing to pay her £250 to cover the cost of filling up the oil tank for the winter (read more - Daily Mail U.K.) From David Zurawik -- For all the talk of dinosaurs and audience erosion, major TV news programs - such as PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" and Tim Russert's "Meet the Press" on NBC - have found new life on computer screens, iPods and cell phones during the past year (read more - Baltimore Sun) Hand-held satellite TV units will debut at NFL football games (read more - Houston Biz Journal) From Michael Medved -- Why would Hollywood release a controversial feature film about alleged Mormon terrorists of 150 years ago while all but ignoring the dangerous Muslim terrorists of today? The movie industry has pointedly avoided harsh treatment of modern Islamic radicals, but September Dawn (to be released nationally Aug. 24) portrays the 19th century Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a deeply corrupt cult led by an all-powerful, blood-thirsty mass murderer. Jon Voight, the lead actor in the new film September Dawn, will appear on the Michael Medved Tuesday show (read more - USA Today) David Kirby has returned as Director of Marketing and Promotions, Jamie Marino has been promoted to Promotions Manager at Greater Media's WCTC-AM and WMGQ-FM and Alan David Stein has been named the new Afternoon Drive Talk Show Host at WCTC AM 1450 in New Brunswick, New Jersey From Evan S. Benn -- As Channel 7 anchor Charles Billi read the late newscast on Saturday, two burglars were ransacking his Miami Shores home. A police officer called and broke the news of the break-in right after the veteran WSVN-TV journalist got off the air read more - Miami Herald) Monday August 13, 2007 Four months after Don Imus' derogatory comments about the Rutgers' women's basketball team shocked America, ABC News has learned he's on the verge of a comeback deal (read more - ABC News) From Rachel McGrath -- He's known as "The Emperor" in the United Kingdom. In France, he's "Le President," in Germany "Kaiser" and in Argentina "El Presidente." In Thousand Oaks, where he lives, he's known simply as Mike. Mike Pasternak is famous outside the United States as a pioneering music disc jockey who helped revolutionize rock 'n' roll radio in Europe in the 1960s and early '70s (read more - Ventura County Star) From Jessica Heslam and Laurel J. Sweet -- Today’s long-anticipated on-air reunion of WEEI Sports Radio co-hosts John Dennis and Gerry Callahan has been scratched by the station, which has taken the pair off the air indefinitely amid unraveling contract talks and rumors of defection. The highly rated morning hosts say they’ve been locked out. The radio station calls it a chance to “reflect” (read more - Boston Herald) Merv Griffin is dead at the age of 82 (read more - CNN) (read more - David Zurawik-Baltimore Sun) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News) From
Tim Cuprisin --
Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown has been named Arizona State
University's first Walter Cronkite Professor of Journalism
+ After investing
years in "The War," which will debut Sept. 23 on PBS, Burns is
gung-ho on the From Ben Fong-Torres -- Clear Channel is turning all 10 of its local stations green. Kim Bryant, president and market manager, announced a plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and waste at its stations in San Francisco and San Jose + Dave Sholin of KFRC read my feature here in the Pink on singer Barbara Dane, which mentioned "I'm On My Way," a local hit in 1961. Sholin didn't remember it and sent the article to a buddy, Steve Rood, radio engineer and air-check collector. Within minutes, Rood e-mailed Sholin an MP3 of Casey Kasem, then a DJ on KEWB, shouting about "the blond bombshell" and spinning the tune (read more - SF Chronicle) From David Hinckley -- If Elvis didn't exactly live out the defiant boast of "My Way," his last gold single, a whole lot of fans still echo the wistful sentiments of a song he recorded in April 1957 for "Jailhouse Rock": "You will be forever young and beautiful to me." What does get harder as the years pass is finding Elvis' music on the radio, where for decades he was a foundation, first on the top-40 and then for oldies stations. His early rock 'n' roll hits are rarely heard on most stations today (read more - NY Daily News) From William Dietrich -- For two decades at the height of the baby boomer youth revolution — 1954 to 1974 — Seattle's Pat O'Day was the Pied Piper of Northwest rock. As the lead DJ at "KJR Seattle, Channel 95," a singsong known to every Puget boomer, he led a domination of the airwaves never equaled before or since: as much as 37 percent of the total listening audience in the 1960s -- Today, the 71-year-old is still Pied Piper to boomers, but this time around he's selling them real estate on San Juan Island and drying them out at Schick Shadel Hospital. O'Day defies the adage that there are no second acts to American life (read more - Seattle Times) From Jacobs Media -- 75% of McDonald's restaurants open by 5 AM daily. The other 25% were urged to fire up the griddle earlier at a recent franchisee meeting in Las Vegas. Why? Not unlike in the radio business, morning drive is proving lucrative, with McDonald's able to catch commuters on the go. In fact, McDonalds’ breakfast menu is being credited for much of the fast food chain’s recent growth – up an average 7.4% at each store this year (read more - Jacobs Media) From Howard Kurtz -- To a striking degree, the presidential candidates are picking their spots, carefully choosing which media operations they will court and which they will ignore. That leaves some of them preaching to the political choir, but also shields them from especially aggressive questioning. The new media order has been spawned by a 500-channel universe and a polarized climate in which news organizations are increasingly viewed, fairly or unfairly, as leaning to one side or the other. And with a cornucopia of choices, politicians tend to gravitate toward what they see as friendly arenas. "We've tried to get every one of them," says Bob Schieffer, host of CBS's "Face the Nation" (read more - Washington Post) ABC Good Morning America's Robin Roberts returned to work today, but she is just one of the many women fighting cancer and trying to maintain a normal life (read more - ABC News) The government had recently released a draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2007, and a so-called self-regulation content code for both TV and radio. The draft Bill is far more stringent than its 2006 predecessor and envisages a regulator to control content; the code is meant to be a set of in-house rules dictated by the information and broadcasting ministry on what broadcasters can and cannot air. In both, the government is far too eager to play Big Brother (read more - India Times) From
Claude Hall --
Fact or fiction, there's a need to capture radio for history.
George
Wilson should do a book.
Harry Martin is writing
one now with segments on the Internet; don't miss his website!
Ron Jacobs has captured a lot of
the KHJ, Los Angeles, during his tenure in book form.
Johnny Holliday
and
Pat O'Day and the
Magnificent Montague also
RDN's "She Said - He Said" -- CNBC's Erin Burnett on MSNBC Chris Matthews Hardball show: "Ya know, if China were to revalue it’s currency or China is to start making say, toys that don’t have lead in them or food that isn’t poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up and that means prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up too. So, I would say China is our greatest friend right now, they’re keeping prices low and they’re keeping the prices for mortgages low, too” (read more -view the video - Crooks and Liars) A battle is brewing over Nancy Grace's chair when the CNN "Headline News" host goes on maternity leave. Grace, 48, is carrying twins (read more - NY Post Page Six) From George Mair -- Should Imus and/or Rosie come back on the airwaves?*** Neither contributes much to the wisdom of the day and mainly tends to be the kind of persons our mothers taught us not to be******The famous Di Vinci painting is again the focus of mythical speculation after author Dan Brown based his "The Da Vinci Code" book around it. Now Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist says superimposing the "Last Supper" with its mirror-image throws up another picture with a figure who looks like a Templar Knight and another holding a small baby (read more - LA LA Land) A high school teacher who uses a wheelchair has resigned after winning a date with a porn star during a satellite radio contest on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show (read more - Forbes) From Steve Tarter -- The N.Y. throughway rolls on interminably, requiring a diversion, especially if you're driving alone. I turned to the radio, as I am wont to do. Running through the stations on the road is an exercise in rapid-fire judgment. You tune in for a listen, and if it's not a grabber, you move on. After skipping across the FM dial without success, I turned to the AM dial. I found a talk show that held my attention. I'm no right-wing talk show fan, but I have to tell you that I like Bob Lonsberry, whose show on WHAM in Rochester seems to go on for hours. This guy's vocal style is somewhere between Fred Rogers and comedian Jim Gaffigan with his inner-voice bits (read more - Peoria Journal Star) From
Tommy Kramer --
So much is the exact opposite of what its name implies. ("Military
Intelligence" comes to mind.) The people that use your station are
called
Barry Switzer will join XM Satellite Radio as a football analyst this fall, providing expert analysis and no-holds-barred commentary on the sports talk radio channel XM Sports Nation - XM Channel 144 (read more - CNN Money) Envision Radio Networks adds WKZB-FM Meridian, MS as the newest affiliate of Paul Shaffer’s Day in Rock The Indiana High School Athletic Association and Emmis Communications (Indianapolis) have announced a first-of-its-kind partnership and exclusive agreement to deliver complete coverage of Indiana high school sports through a ground-breaking new Web site: www.IHSAASports.org From Mike Austerman -- Rock WRIF-FM (101.1) will experiment with some sports broadcasting of its own Sept. 2 when it carries the action of the 2007 Detroit Indy Grand Prix + Steve Courtney will be back in his shorts no matter what the weather is on football Saturdays as he returns to hosting tailgate shows for WJR-AM (760) + Major kudos to soft rock WMGC-FM (105.1) and its listeners in showing tremendous support the station’s Breast Cancer 3-Day team (read more - Michiguide)
Coming tomorrow (Tuesday) from Bill Mercer in RDN
From Meg Kissinger -- Melodie Wilson, the former television news anchor (WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) news in the 1980s and early 1990s) who brought her battle with breast cancer to the public 14 years ago, is now fighting an incurable form of the disease (read more - Milwaukee JS) From Ralph Nader -- Automotive News (August 6, 2007), the leading trade journal for the industry, reports that GM is wooing the radio stars. Its article led with the headline: “Puff Piece. Rush Limbaugh is one of the radio personalities GM is working with to talk up its vehicles.” Reporter Mary Connelly writes that “GM says it doesn’t pay the stars directly for their endorsements, although it advertises on their shows. It gives them new GM cars and trucks to drive for two weeks each month. The company also invites the celebrities to Detroit for private meetings with top executives and VIP tours of GM facilities. The attention is paying off” (read more - MWC) Lisa Strickland joins ABC Radio Networks as Manager, Affiliate Relations, a position recently vacated by Wendy Duffy who joined Graham Entertainment KCRA and KQCA in California 'upgrade' their news staffs with new line producers (read more - Sacramento Biz Journal) From Michael Futch -- The Beasley Broadcast Group’s WZFX, perhaps best known as Foxy 99.1, is not just an attractive bet for listeners. Foxy has brawn (read more - Fayetteville Observer) From
James Fanelli --
Like many mornings before, Chauncey Bailey began Aug. 2 with a
15-minute walk to work along Oakland's Lake Merritt. Rush Limbaugh analyzes the stock market -- RUSH: I don't know why people ask me, but they ask, "What should I do in the market? What shouldn't I do?" I counsel patience. The fundamentals here are fine. But look at this. I was looking at U.S. Snooze and World Reports, the issue dated August 6, 2007, and on the cover of that issue is this blurb: "If you had invested $1000 with Warren Buffett at 1956, it would have grown to 27 million" today. Fifty years, a virtual lifetime of employment, $1,000 to $27 million. That's 27 thousand times your investment! "But, Rush! But, Rush! What's the point? I'm not Warren Buffett. What are you talking about?" (read more - RushLimbaugh.com) From Steve Metsch -- Thursday is the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death. But for some, Elvis has never left the building. Thankyouverymuch: Bryan has replicas of some of Elvis’ clothing as well as a replica of his Gibson guitar. He has been interviewed twice on Sirius’ Elvis station, which is broadcast from Graceland and his inspiration is an Elvis quote: “Ambition is a dream with a V-8 engine.” (read more - Chicago Daily Southtown) From South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board -- ISSUE: Is talk radio in mayor's future? When Fort Lauderdale's Jim Naugle, mayor of Broward's largest city, goes on his diatribes, he does a humiliating disservice to the city he claims he loves. The man loves publicity. He loves feeding his ego. If that was ever in doubt, just note that he co-hosted a South Florida radio talk show Friday morning. Fine, if Naugle wants to host a radio show, that's his right (read more - Sun-Sentinel) From Phil Rosenthal --- Steve Harvey is a top comedy draw. He has had two network sitcoms and hosted two other national TV programs. His radio show is heard in 50 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami and St. Louis. The Cleveland-born star even has "The Steve Harvey Collection," his own line of suits, shirts, ties, hats, accessories and shoes. And yet … (read more - Chicago Tribune) A group of broadcast news directors is calling on a government agency to stop its inquiry into the use of prepared video news releases, saying the probe infringes on news outlets' First Amendment rights and has a chilling effect on broadcasters. But a media criticism group that authored the study that prompted the Federal Communications Commission inquiry called the group's reaction "absurd," saying viewers deserve to know where their news comes from (read more - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press) From Mark Ramsey -- If you gather a hundred broadcasters in one room you'll get a slew of value propositions and a mess of confusion. In short, you'll get the public response to HD we're experiencing right now. Because, in fact, there IS NO SINGLE, clear value proposition, not one that compels anyway (read more - Hear 2.0) Television journalist Carly Flynn and radio host James Coleman will present TV3’s early morning show Sunrise when it launches in October (read more - TV 3 NZ) Peoria's Power 92.3 FM went off the air about 3 am Friday because of damage to the transmission line, the cable that connects the transmitter to the tower. The repair job had to be postponed Friday because it was too hot to have workers up in the tower (read more - Peoria Journal-Star) From Richard Huff -- Outside of Ch. 5, Jodi Applegate does radio spots on WABC (770 AM) with Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby. Those visits have gone so well, the station has asked her to sit-in on Aug. 23-24 for a vacationing John Gambling."I did a fair amount of talk radio in Boston," says Applegate, who worked in Beantown before Ch. 5 (read more - NY Daily News) Craig Ferguson, host of the CBS Late, Late Show will appear on RadioClassics on SIRIUS to host a weekend of his favorite classic radio programs such as Superman, Green Hornet, Gunsmoke, Martin & Lewis, and many others. Craig will share colorful commentary on these classic programs, providing intros and outros for each half-hour show and also inventing a few “classic” characters of his own all weekend long, starting Saturday, August 11th at 8 am ET
Tickets for the 2007 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Celebration Dinner
and Awards Program
are now on sale online.
The event
will be held on Saturday evening, October 27 at the
Chris Turner's Comfort Food Radio's weekly shows from the Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming will be archived at the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center, joining Jack Benny, Wiley Post, Barbara Stanwyck and VP Dick Cheney's repositories (listen to the announcement) From Brittany Lawonn and Dave Olson -- Security concerns and comments made on a Grand Forks, N.D., talk radio show have led a judge to move the second Moe Gibbs murder trial to Bismarck just over two months before its Oct. 22 scheduled start. Gary Hangsleben said he was listening to Talk Radio 1310/KNOX early this week when he heard Mike McNamara, host of the station’s “Mac Talk” show, talking about people taking justice into their own hands (read more - Fargo Forum) ESPN expands their service for the Hispanic community in the Dallas-Fort Worth Market with the launch of 1480 AM ESPN Deportes Radio, KNIT, on Wednesday, August 15, 2007. 1480AM ESPN Deportes Radio becomes the second station owned and operated by ESPN in the Dallas/Fort Worth Market, joining 103.3FM ESPN (KESN-FM), and with the launch, ESPN Deportes Radio now covers 45% of the U.S. Hispanic Market, and is now available in 12 of the top 25 Hispanic markets across the country ARBitron numbers for Albuquerque, Charleston, SC; Des Moines, El Paso, Jackson, MS; Madison and Spokane (read 'em) Costas on the Radio is now heard on over 160 stations via Premiere Radio. This weekend, hear Bob Costas discuss Barry Bonds hitting his 756th homerun and surpassing Hank Aaron’s record. Costas will also welcome Juan Williams, Emmy Award winning writer, NPR and FOX News correspondent, and author of Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America – and What We Can Do About It From
Mark Davis -- I
can’t overstate this: you simply have to be there for the August
14th Sean Hannity Freedom Concert
From Barry Horn -- Among radio listeners in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, The Ticket scored a 2.9 share to ESPN's 1.5. That ranked The Ticket tied for 10th overall and ESPN at No. 24. In 25-64, The Ticket (7.1 share) was No. 1 in Dallas-Fort Worth for the sixth consecutive ratings period. ESPN (2.9) was tied for eighth. In head-to-head matchups in the target demographic: Dunham & Miller posted an 8.3 to Mike & Mike's 4.1. From 9 a.m. to noon, the Dunham & Miller-Norm Hitzges tag team outscored Jennifer Engel, 7.5 to 3.0 (read more - Dallas News) On September 1, WMGW-AM 1490 in Meadville, WTIV-AM 1230 in Titusville, WFRA-AM 1450 in Franklin, and WOYL-AM 1340 in Oil City, all in Pennsylvania, will become affiliates of the FOX Sports Radio Network (read more - RDN CENTRAL ARCHIVES - Click here)
|
threatens the existence of reigning local stations.
The new player, 106.9 WYPO-FM, is a relay station in Ocean City
broadcasting content from its parent station 88.1 WYPR-FM, known as
Your Public Radio Corp
CEO's move to bring Don Imus back to the airwaves is torn straight
from the teacher's manual
free,
and if so, he wanted him to program WBZ in Boston. Kaland, hearing
me at WADO, wanted me in Cleveland to team with Specs Howard at KYW.
I am going to
continue Al’s allegory by turning you over to Dick Summer, a
distinguished broadcaster who did mornings at WNEW FM and worked for
Al at WBZ in Boston. Dick, a fine writer has strong feelings about
him. Reading about Al in my piece last week, Dick was moved to send
me the following essay about him at WBZ, that he had written some
time ago -- A LONG OVERDUE TRIBUTE TO AL HEACOCK: It wasn't called
"Classic Rock" all those years ago. It really didn't have a name at
first. But it was definitely a new kind of music
announced
that its board of directors has chosen William Graber to serve as
the company’s president and chief executive officer.
Radiosophy sells the HD100 digital HD Radio which has received a
series of positive reviews since its release in May, 2007. At
$99.95, it is the acknowledged low-cost leader in HD Radio
Tracee
Evans bringing you the very latest, breaking news before -- and
after -- dawn.
She's won countless
awards for her reporting and spot news coverage, and her love of
reading inspired her to start a blog on KTRH.com called 'Bookmark
This'. Tracee is leaving KTRH to finish pursuing a law degree ..."
Internet radio broadcasters are rejecting a new offer from a music
industry group to pay discounted royalty rates for streaming music
online through 2010
build me
into a "public figure" through a perceived injustice (since one
must have a recognizable persona before it can be defamed), then
sue the people I think perpetrated said injustice.
As for Imus, the
ever-controversial shock host is contract-free and may work (or
not) wherever he pleases, albeit with a non-disparagement clause
-- where neither party may "trash talk" the other. (Darn!)
night
might turn out to be the "media bash" of the year in Dallas.
The list of
those attending, those who Bud has known and worked with during
his 48 years in broadcasting, read like a who's who's in
Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasting from the past and present
Figures from Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), a listening
bureau, show that the number of people listening to digital-only
radio stations has soared from 905,000 in 2003 to 6 million today
latest Arbitron quarterly survey, Whoopi Goldberg's show ranked 15th
overall with a 2.3 percent audience share
as
a split screen.
Generally the
introduction of new satellite radio receivers hardly merit even a
blog post, but the XpressRC boats a few cool features worth
mentioning
project, which tells the story of America's war through the
inhabitants, living and dead, of four communities around the
country. "Have you seen a documentary that's both the European and
the Pacific front simultaneously?" he asks
-
If this were purely a musical event, it would be a knockout. But as
it happens, we will also feature one man running for President,
another who might run for President and a third whom many wish would
run for President -
Then we get to the radio
guys. Hannity will be great as he always is, and with Mark Levin in
the house, things will never get dull. Plenty of WBAP folks will be
on hand as well