Thursday January 31, 2008

From Matthew Flamm -- Westwood One Chief Executive Thomas Beusse plans to rebuild the company's sales forces, recruit new programmers and make the most of new distribution platforms. Radio, like print, is a content provider facing tough times because of changes in technology (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

From Bill Virgin -- For those who grew up with radio in the 1930s and 1940s, that was when radio was at its best, with such dramas as "The Shadow" and comedians such as Jack Benny. Not so for those who came of age listening to radio in the 1960s, when top 40 ruled AM radio with the booming voices of legendary disc jockeys such as Seattle's own Pat O'Day. But that style of radio was hopelessly outdated for radio listeners of the 1980s, when personality-driven shows such as Robin & Maynard in Seattle helped FM take over music radio (read more - Seattle PI)

From Robert Feder -- Roe Conn, afternoon personality on Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890), will join an all-star panel of political pundits during Super Tuesday primary coverage on NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5. Moderated by news anchor Bob Sirott, the panel also will feature Walter Jacobson, Joel Weisman, Cliff Kelley and Jacky Grimshaw (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)0

From Robert Wilonsky -- J.D. Freeman, Dallas-Fort Worth's market manager for Clear Channel Radio, says that as of today, local radio legend Redbeard is no longer the station's 2-7 p.m. host + The station's ad-free concept, hailed as revolutionary upon its announcement in April '07, is pretty much a thing of the past (read more - Dallas Observer)

From John Gorman -- A camel is a horse designed by committee. Question - How many people does it take to write a John Hogan memo? Matthew Karnitschnig, a Wall Street Journal blogger, revealed that last Friday’s John Hogan “I-can’t-believe-he-wrote-this” memo was essentially penned by a committee of “experts” dispatched to San Antonio from the Boston headquarters of Bain Capital (read more - John Gorman)

Alycia Lane, 35, will sue KYW-TV over her Jan. 7 dismissal, filing papers in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court (read more - Newsday)

From David Hinckley -- This week's sudden flurry of programming changes in urban and hip-hop radio produced a surprise side effect yesterday: Helen Little, program director of Power-105, next week will become midday host on Lite-FM + Cadillac Jack, a former WHTZ jock who for seven years has programmed Clear Channel's Jam'N 94.5 and Kiss 108 in Boston, will also take on WWPR (105.1 FM) (read more - NY Daily News)

From Mark Ramsey -- What Radio Group Head said this? We need to be everywhere. Our challenge - is to effectively monetize [our distribution ventures] so that we do not end up trading analog dollars for digital pennies. This is the No. 1 challenge for everyone in this industry today. Following that, the industry's next biggest challenge is to work with our advertising clients to create the next-generation advertising model (read more - Hear 2.0)

From Tim Cuprisin -- Mike Wallace, the veteran CBS Newser who turns 90 in May, reportedly is up and walking after triple bypass surgery last week.  (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From Fred Jacobs -- Most definitely, the Wall Streetization of our business has taken its toll. Clear Channel's history as the biggest company in radio has been very checkered, and without a doubt, they have been tarred by a brush often of their own making. While the famous "Minot Incident" was probably blown out of proportion, becoming an industry urban legend, the fact is that Clear Channel became known for its voicetracking, the canard called "Less Is More," collective contesting, and other "innovations" that have not enhanced our business (read more - Jacobs Media)

The winners of the first annual Best of Broadband (BOB) Advertising Awards have been announced (read more - view the winners - Always One)

From Andy Sennitt -- "The power of radio to mobilise people in Africa is almost beyond comprehension to a Western mind. What many people hear on the radio they take as gospel truth, they think their actions are officially sanctioned, that they are justified. It happened in Rwanda, and now in Kenya we have broadcasts galvanising ethnic feelings which have led to an escalation of the violence we are seeing today"  (read more - Radio Netherlands)

The 30 year old live-in girlfriend of 70-year-old former "Beverly Hillbillies" star Max Baer Jr. (Jethro Bodine) apparently shot herself and died several days later, authorities said Wednesday (read more - NY Daily News)

From Randy Dotinga -- Of all the radio pioneers in history, a Midwestern doctor named John Brinkley certainly had the most testicular fortitude. As head of a questionable medical empire in Kansas, Brinkley started a small radio station in the 1920s and used it to spread his messages about health.
When the feds came calling, Brinkley began broadcasting from a transmitter in Mexico. On the face of it, it's not a terribly fascinating story. But let's look deeper (read more- San Diego NC Times)

From Jay Marvin -- One friend of mine said to me "radio is like crack. No matter how much you know you should put the glass pipe down you can't make yourself do it." If only many of us could find something else to fall in love with. If only we could get a date. If only. . .if only the big boys who own this biz could fall in love with it instead of falling in love solely with a dollar bill. If only. Not likely to happen anytime soon (read more - Pattern Change)

From David Weiss -- A man was spared from jail time for trying to have sex with a 14-year-old girl after concerns surfaced about the way he was arrested. Matthew Dale, 21, of Bear Creek, was arrested during an Internet sting set up by police and WBRE-TV to nab people trying to use the Internet to hook up with minors. That, Dale’s attorney, John Pike, said, created concerns because it turned out to be more of a media event than a police investigation. “That made it more of a sensational type of arrest, which could jeopardize the rights of the accused,” Pike said Wednesday. (read more - Wilkes-Barre Times Leader)

Spanish Broadcasting System revealed that the Cuban refugees seeking asylum in Mexico under the Law of Political Protection, were released from the Mexican prison, Chetumal in Quintana Roo. Throughout their ordeal, which included a hunger strike in protest of their imprisonment, Javier Ceriani, the host of SBS’ WCMQ-FM Clásica 92.3’s morning show “Zona Cero,” and his crew vigorously campaigned for the release of the detained group on the air and in front of Mexican authorities

ARBitron numbers for Houston PPM, Philadelphia PPM, Cedar Rapids, Florence SC, Hilton Head SC, Las Cruces NM  and Myrtle Beach SC (read 'em)

From Murphy Martin -- The waning days of George W. Bush brings to mind how past presidents had their legacies indelibly affected by WARS! Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson are two I discussed the subject of war with after they finished their time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - The last time I saw Mr. Johnson he had retired to his beloved ranch in the Texas Hill Country. I was working with Ross Perot on a POW project we had started at WFAA-TV in Dallas before Ross embraced it with all his heart and soul. Tom Johnson was Mr. Johnson's press aide and Tom had called me and said Mr. Johnson would like to visit with Ross and me at his ranch. We chartered a small plane and flew to the ranch where LBJ was waiting in one of his big Lincoln convertibles. We touched down about 10AM and for the next six hours he took us all over the ranch  (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

From Mel Phillips -- Today is D-day for the wireless spectrum auction unless bids for the "C block" of spectrum in the 700 megahertz range reaches $4.6 billion, the FCC's minimum price to trigger "open-access" bidding conditions. The gap is about a half billion short of that amount (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- I was surprised to find many young people enthusiastic about the prospect of paying $5 for a CD. I'm sure the record business is not. I can hear them right now: "We can't make money on $5 CDs" -- like they can make money on free downloading, right? I put the question to students in my USC class "Music, Broadcasting & the Mobile Future". About 75% of them -- a surprising number -- said they would buy CDs or multiple CDs -- a significant increase over their current spending -- if the labels charged a flat $5 for the CD. Only one condition: they also want a high fidelity digital version for purchasing the plastic (read more - Inside Music Media)

SIRIUS OutQ, the nation’s only 24/7 LGBT radio channel, will host its first ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender presidential caucus today - January 31 from 3:00 – 5:00 pm ET on The Michelangelo Signorile Show SIRIUS OutQ channel 109

From Kelly Young -- The odds of winning a nationwide sweepstakes are astronomical. Some people enter them for years without payday ever coming. But the long odds paid off recently for Kelley Clement of Rusk, who learned this month that she has won the grand prize in XM Radio’s Wild Ride Sweepstakes — a brand new car and a year of free XM Radio (read more - Jacksonville Texas Daily Progress)

Universal Records South will host the first annual Country Radio Broadcasters' Country Music DJ and Radio Hall of Fame post induction party on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008. The party will celebrate Hall of Fame inductees, present and past, and will be held at Nashville's Union Station Hotel

Premiere Radio Networks has renewed its long-term contract with Take On The Day LLC to continue providing ad sales and satellite distribution of The Dr. Laura Program (read more - CNN Money)

Air America's The Thom Hartmann Program has named longtime radio pro Shawn Taylor as Executive Producer. For the last decade, she was the Executive Producer of Lars Larson's radio show and has an extensive on-air and media background

Spanish Broadcasting System has hired Salvador Hasbún as the new Vice President of Sales for SBS Puerto Rico

Wednesday January 30, 2008

From David Hinckley -- 'Without beating my own chest," says Vinny Brown, "not a lot of program directors have had the run I've been fortunate enough to have in New York." He's right, which is why the liveliest discussion sparked by Brown's unexpected departure this week from WBLS (107.5 FM) is where he will go next. WRKS' parent Emmis announced that Ebro Darden, program director of Emmis' WQHT (97.1 FM), will double up and also program WRKS + Mario Bosquez, former anchor and reporter at Ch. 2 and Ch. 5, has been named host of "Living Today," a lifestyle talk show on Martha Stewart's Sirius Ch. 112 (read more - NY Daily News)

From Bob King -- Rush Limbaugh said on his talk show Tuesday afternoon that he was trying to vote in Florida’s primary when the screen seemed to freeze or “stick” on the list of presidential candidates (read more - Palm Beach Post)

Bob & Tom welcomed music artist Kid Rock on Monday as they broadcasted live from their Indianapolis recording studio, “The Static Shack.” Kid visited with the radio hosts for two hours and performed four songs with a full band and back up singers (Photo Source: Premiere Radio)

From Robert Feder -- Allison Payne, the veteran news anchor at WGN-Channel 9, is battling back from a series of ministrokes that has kept her off the air for more than three weeks + It's official: Joaquin "El Chulo" Garza, morning personality at KHHL-FM in Austin, Texas, has signed on to host mornings at WLEY-FM (107.9), the Spanish Broadcasting System regional Mexican outlet (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

Georgetown Partners L.L.C. has submitted to the FCC an ex parte filing in response to the January 22, 2008 joint filing with the FCC by Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. charging that Sirius-XM's so-called "A La Carte" proposal is nothing more than a "fairytale" with the potential of a very unhappy ending for consumers (read more - Charlotte Observer)

From Tim Cuprisin -- Harry Smith interviewed Sen. Edward Kennedy on CBS' "Early Show" about his endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. "When you see that enthusiasm, though, and when you see the generational change that seems to be taking place before our eyes, does it make you at all fearful?" "Well, not really," said Kennedy. Then Smith asked it again: "What I was trying to say is, sometimes agents of change end up being targets, as you well know, and that was why I was asking if you were at all fearful of that." Of course, Kennedy well knows what Smith was talking about (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From Mark Ramsey -- I have avoided commenting on the recent moves by Clear Channel to "tighten their belts" prior to the hoped-for closing of their buyout largely because the whole thing strikes me as so very sad. Sad because eliminating new hires (including sellers), failing to replace those who leave, stopping all investment in the future, and halting all advertising and research is the equivalent of saying that necessity requires us to strangle the goose that lays the golden eggs, even as the goose is up for sale. It's one thing to institute cuts. It's another to cut off oxygen (read more - Hear 2.0)

From John Rook -- The struggle to unload a desperate Clear Channel to a private equity group without a reduced price per share, or before the deal falls apart totally, has the Mays family in a sweat to cut expenses & improve the bottom line, but no word on discontinuing the use of their private corporate jet. Meanwhile as news of the cuts reached Wall Street, stock took a major tumble, the exact opposite of what Clear Channel had hoped for. Also in the doldrums is Citadel (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- There was another abortion in the music industry this week. QTrax, the startup that promised free music from the four major labels, and a number of indies launched without the music of the four major labels. This is an advertiser supported project that had been at least a year in the making -- not unique -- just another whack at trying to offer music to the next generation for free. Unfortunately, either QTrax or the labels scotched the much ballyhooed launch (read more - Inside Music Media)

Veteran CBS Washington anchor Bob Schieffer of "Face the Nation" said Tuesday he plans to step down from the show (read more - 1010 WINS-AP)

For the 8th year, Fox Sports Radio will be broadcasting live from the Super Bowl, this year in Phoenix, to it 300 + affiliates

From Fred Jacobs -- In early '08, you can clearly see the profound conflicts that are facing our business. To a great degree, we're at a crossroads, as cost cutting and garnering ratings clash with brand building and investment. Consider this: PPM will grow and expand in more markets this year, and programmers will be faced with the task of harnessing talk and other non-music content that leads to tune-out (read more - Jacobs Media)

From John Gorman -- The $17.1 billion acquisition of Harrah’s Entertainment by TPG and Apollo Globe – done. Alliance Data Systems and Blackstone – undone. SLM, Harmon, United Rentals – un-done. There’s no assurance of private equity deals reaching closure. So what soured the Clear Channel buyout deal, you ask? Where would you like to begin? Cash, where is thy flow? There’s nothing left over to cut from the operating budget. They’ve done everything but turn the oxygen off (read more - John Gorman)

From Dave Kohl -- Over the past 20 years, the amount of time spent on pre and post-game shows have varied and been reduced in many instances. Sometimes the flagship station of a team's broadcast network will add one or more additional pre and/or post-game shows. What the Phillies are doing might be the first time that this type of audience data will be explored specific to a team's broadcasts. Starting times for games now vary more than ever (read more - Dave Kohl)

The National Association of Broadcasters – together with Radio Advertising Bureau, HD Digital Radio Alliance and others – has launched Radio 2020, a far-reaching campaign designed to reintroduce radio to listeners, consumers, and advertisers (visit Radio 2020)

ARBitron numbers for Albuquerque, Asheville, Charlotte SC, Des Moines, El Paso, Jackson M,S Madison and Spokane (read 'em)

From Jerry Fink -- His voice is gravelly after spending more than five hours on satellite radio chatting it up with Howard Stern and his cadre of characters. Artie Lange has a Jersey accent and that street-smart way of saying things. Since joining the Stern menagerie seven years ago he has gone from a nickel-and-dime world of small comedy clubs and failed movies and TV shows to being a highly paid stand-up comedian who can get deals done. And he does it without worrying about tarnishing his image (read more - Las Vegas Sun)

From Mel Phillips -- Those sponsors who were hoping to get a bargain deal on a Super Bowl time buy, can forget it. Too late. The Super Bowl is sold out. Of the 63 national spots sold at prices of $2.7 million to $3 milllion, the big boys are back for the ultimate ride (read more - Mel Phillips)

Syndicated Solution's Peter Greenberg show has blossomed to more than 140 affiliates.  Peter's on YouTube now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbP6Hw-WqMk

Beasley Broadcast Group’s six-station radio group in Eastern North Carolina will commence a “Rock the Vote” campaign designed to sign up thousands of new voters and encourage all voters to exercise their right to vote

Fox is hoping to break Super Bowl viewing records this Sunday (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

CRB has designated Friday, March 7, Radio Sales Day at CRS-39. Participants will be able to learn about important topics that affect the Country format such as PPM and how to increase sales

The concept of equal time for politicians is alive and well on Doc and Grace in the Morning on Country station K92FM. On Tuesday, the morning of Florida’s Republican Primary, Doc and Grace had all 5 candidates on the air

The Television Broadcasting Awards will be presented on Friday, February 1, 2008 at the Tribeca Rooftop, a new and spectacular 15,000 square foot Penthouse which features panoramic views of the Hudson River, the Empire State Building, fashionable SOHO and downtown Tribeca (read more - Design Taxi)

From John Plunkett -- It is time for commercial radio types to wake up and smell the coffee, a new report says today. Digital audio broadcasting, the shiny bright new platform better known as DAB, is in trouble. Deal with it - or face the consequences. The conclusions from Enders Analysis makes gloomy reading, drawing uncomfortable comparisons with ITV Digital and - even more depressingly - the decline of AM at the fag end of the last century (read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

99.1 WPLR Connecticut’s Chaz & AJ hosted “Eat the Meat 2” Back to the Bone, Wing Eating Competition in New Haven with listeners winning $1,000

From Dylan Welch -- The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has confirmed they plan to toss out the famous squiggle logo that has seen them through more than 40 years of broadcasting. The removal of the television graphic - officially known as a Lissajous curve - will be the centrepiece of the biggest rebranding in the history of the public broadcaster (read more - Sydney Morning Herald AU)

From Eric Boehlert -- Fox News is in for a very rough 2008. And the umbrella reason for that is quite simple: Eight years ago the all-news cable channel went all-in on the presidency of George Bush and became a broadcast partner with the White House - The most obvious signs of Fox News' downturn have been the cable ratings for the big primary and caucus votes this year, as well as the high-profile debates - No wonder CNN's so giddy these days (read more - Media Matters)

From David Nicholson -- Cox Communications and WGH-FM, "The Eagle," are teaming up to offer viewers a weekly cable show featuring the top 20 country music songs of the week (read more - Newport News Daily Press)

From Pamela Appea -- New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes on Tuesday inked a deal to become the new spokesman for Workblast.com, a Phoenix-based video resume company.  Tynes recently catapulted to stardom as the foot behind the 47-yard field goal that won the Giants their ticket to the Super Bowl in overtime on a Jan 20 game against the Green Bay Packers (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

The Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Team has signed a multi-year contract for ARBitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) custom radio ratings services

Paul Webster Feinstein, 24, has been charged with second-degree felony arson for the Jan. 5 fire that caused $300,000 damage to the studios of 91.7 FM KOOP. He faces from two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted. Feinstein told investigators that he was "very unhappy" about the changes to his playlist (read more - Houston Chronicle)

From Brent Johnson -- After 11 years on the air, Scott Lowe said he can't fathom watching Bridgewater College athletics "from the outside looking in." There's a chance he might not have to. VerStandig Broadcasting dumped Lowe - effective Feb. 29 - after 17 years with the company, leading to assumptions that his longtime stint as color commentator for BC football and basketball radio broadcasts would end. General manager Susanne Myers said Lowe was let go because of budget cutbacks (read more - Harrisonburg Daily News Record)

Tuesday January 29, 2008

From Robert Feder -- Another installment of cards and letters across the television/radio desk: Mike Slachetka: Randy Michaels is back? Oh, no! Sam Zell has actually hired this creep to run the world famous WGN television and radio? I wonder what low-down stunt he is going to pull off to alienate Chicago's most loyal television and radio audiences + G. Davis: Your column exemplifies typical ingrained racism. A black news anchor, Diann Burns, is labeled a "news reader." A white, Anna Davlantes, is referred to as a "knockout weekend news anchor." Will this type of racism ever stop? (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From David Hinckley -- Vinny Brown, the veteran programmer who over the last decade took WBLS (107.5 FM) to No. 1 in radio's "money demographic," said Monday he is leaving the station. "After 10 years, I can only be thankful for such an unprecedented opportunity," said Brown. "I'm pleased I'm able to leave the station more competitively rated than prior to my arrival" (read more - NY Daily News)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- Tom Taylor broke the news of John Hogan's "draconian" first quarter contingency plan in his Taylor on Radio-Info publication Monday. It's bad -- all bad. Hundreds of additional jobs are in jeopardy -- this from the industry leader that has been cutting jobs at a record pace in preparation for what they hope will be the completed sale of Clear Channel to Bain Capital and Thomas Lee Partners within a few months. Clear Channel has a problem. It isn't making budget for the first quarter and revenues are down (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Michael Klein -- Q102 morning man Chris Booker yesterday shot down a New York Post item that said he's considering "two lucrative radio deals and a major TV gig" in New York. Booker, under contract here till May 2009, told me that he believes that the Post blurb, attributed to "industry sources," was inspired by an anonymous posting on a blog. (The Internet is an industry, right?) (read more - Philly Inquirer)

5 Dayton radio stations owned by Clear Channel can be transferred to investors that are converting the company to private ownership in a $19.5 billion transaction, under a deal with federal regulators (read more - Dayton Daily News)

From Peter Gunther -- The humble opinion of this writer is that in the case of a merger, XM may have slightly more upside, but overall, with risk management in mind (which we’ve all been studying up on) Sirius wins out. With the merger Sirius enjoys the cost cutting benefits of overlapping business and without the merger Sirius continues to ride its recent wave of momentum to become the marquee player in the industry while XM stock explores the downside. Sirius tips the scales in their favor with two heavyweights Howard Stern and Martha Stewart (read more - Seeking Alpha)

From John Gorman -- Destination: San Antonio. We’ve turned back the clock to this past Friday, the 25th. Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan is tidying up the loose ends of a memo he’s about to send out to his subordinates – just in time to wreck their weekend. This one heralds the new rules and regulations – effective immediately –for Clear Channel managers. No one ever went broke trying to underestimate Clear Channel’s knack to screw up the entire radio industry. The proposed LBO with BainCapital and Thomas H. Lee is just the latest in a series to stop their hemorrhaging (read more - John Gorman)

From David Bauder -- John McCain heads into Tuesday's Florida primary facing resistance from not only his fellow candidates, but also from the leaders of conservative talk radio, who some suggest have put their reputations on the line, as well. Talk radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh said that if McCain or Mike Huckabee are nominated, "it's going to destroy the Republican Party." Mark Levin calls the senator "John McLame." On Monday, Laura Ingraham said she was "concerned about the mental stability of the McCain campaign" and had cuckoo-clock sound effects accompany his words (read more - AP)

From Richard Roeper -- Working under the most trying conditions, the CBS2 on-air and production teams put together a classy and touching tribute to Randy Salerno, who was a solid journalist, a terrific dry wit and by all accounts a dedicated family man (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Phil Rosenthal -- The death in a snowmobile accident late Thursday of WBBM-Ch. 2 morning anchor Randy Salerno, 45, husband and a father of three, left all his friends reeling -- even those he never met but who felt they had developed a bond (read more - Chicago Tribune)

RAB's Radio Forum is March 11 in New York City at the Grand Hyatt (read more - RAB)

ARBitron numbers for Chattanooga, Clarksville-Hopkinsville, TN-KY, Columbia SC, Cookville TN, Greenville-Spartanburg, Huntsville, Kalamazoo, Little Rock, Muskegon, Omaha-Council Bluffs, Shreveport and Wichita (read 'em)

From Ed Gordon -- Questions have arisen as to how the rebroadcast of KSRY serves the city of license — Tehachapi. There is no physical presence here by anyone from KSRY. There is no local news. There is no ability to inform the local citizens of a local emergency through the Emergency Action System (EAS) — as required by law. When an emergency occurs, radio signal is historically the one media that is sustained, without electricity; TV and Internet may not be available. How can this be allowed to happen? (read more - Tehachapi News )

Modern Rock radio station, 100.3 The Edge (KDJE-FM) in Little Rock is sponsoring an online auction of Rock memorabilia and other items on eBay to benefit the station’s scholarship fund (view the list of items - KDJE FM)

From Nigel Bunyan -- A radio presenter has recalled her terror at having a gun pointed at her as she made a film about the dangers of walking Britain's streets at night. Shelagh Fogarty, from BBC Radio 5, was off-camera at the time the incident happened in her home city of Liverpool. "We were in this road when a car suddenly slowed right down as it passed us," she said. "A window opened and a gun came out and pointed directly at me" (read more - The Telegraph U.K.)

From David Hinckley -- The other night, my wife caught the Subway ad in which a guy suggests that in lieu of a receipt for a hamburger meal, he could just "photocopy my butt." A lot of folks think the ad is funny. My wife, who has a sense of humor, didn't pursue it that far. She heard "photocopy my butt," saw the guy display his nondescript, fully clothed posterior, made a face and walked out. I suspect others have done the same. The ad isn't indecent or shocking; it's just something we wouldn't have seen a few years ago (read more - NY Daily News)

From Happy Hare -- In 2000, I was doing a Saturday and Sunday mid-day show on Pop Standards KPOP in San Diego just playing the vanilla early and mid 50’s songs that Clear Channel mistook for a music list, when I looked up from my board, and saw gazing in at me through the large show window,. a radiantly smiling John McCain. It took me several moments to focus in on what I was seeing. Not a large poster of McCain, but McCain himself. I could tell because I waved, and he waved back. How often have you told yourself, “There are no coincidences?.” Probably like me, not a lot. But, this is a sure fire example of predestination  (read more -www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Salem Communications is selling its contemporary Christian music station WFZH-FM 105.3 in Milwaukee, known as "The Fish" (read more - LA Biz Journal)

From Fred Jacobs -- Whenever I hear people in Radio take the newspaper industry to task for their falling circulation numbers, I can't help but think those print guys know something that we don't about the digital space. In fact, they are a couple of years further down this difficult road. This is why you're seeing some definitive innovation and "new thinking" coming out of the newspaper biz (read more - Jacobs Media)

Westwood One's all-star broadcast team for Super Bowl XLII will feature Marv Albert, Boomer Esiason, John Dockery, Kevin Kiley, Jim Gray and Tommy Tighe (read more - Westwood One)

From Jimmy Rabbitt -- This week in Rock 'n Roll History, Forty-six major American artists recorded “We Are the World” this week in 1985. It was their turn, after the Brits had huge success with "Do They Know It's Christmas" + The Beatles performed for the last time on this date in 1969. The 42 minute rooftop concert took place above Apple Corps headquarters. It had been just 2½ years since they played Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on August 29th, 1966 (read more - www.TheRabbittReport.com)

In honor of New England's perfect football season, The Loren & Wally Morning Show's Tom Doyle has written a song, entitled "Patriots are 16 & 0." Hear the song at http://www.wror.com 

TheRadio.Com has launched The Jammin' Channel, a contemporary music channel with a playlist that features music to get funky and boogie down to, with all fun, upbeat, soul oldies from the ‘80s, ‘70s and ‘60s (visit TheRadio.com)

From Steve Young -- "Grab some popcorn, kids! This is going to be the most entertaining edition of 'Republicans Eating Their Own' I've ever seen!" Jones Radio's syndicated talk show host and super model, Stephanie Miller. Whatever is brewing on conservative talk radio, it smells more like surrender than victory. There's some shots being fired from the right side of the talk radio dial and for the first time since Rush Limbaugh took dead aim on the young Bill Clinton, it isn't directed at their customary enemy - the Democrats. For now, it seems, the right has met the enemy and it is U.S. war veteran, John McCain (read more - OpEd News)

From NAB chief David Rehr -- Dear Majority Leader Reid: On behalf of the approximately 8,300 local radio and television stations and the networks in the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) membership, I am writing to express support for bringing S. 2035, the “Free Flow of Information Act,” before the full Senate for a vote. This legislation will help ensure the flow of important information to all Americans by allowing journalists to protect the identity of their confidential sources (read more - NAB)

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will hold its first ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender presidential caucus on January 31 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm ET on The Michelangelo Signorile Show on SIRIUS OutQ, the nation's only 24/7 LGBT radio channel. Representatives and supporters for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards will share their candidates' platforms and views, take questions from callers, and engage in an open dialogue with SIRIUS' national audience (read more - CNN Money)

From Mel Phillips -- The best thing about the interim agreement to allow the 50th Grammy Awards to proceed February 10th sans pickets is that all the stars will attend. The show will go on without disruptions and there will be no adverse effect on record sales following the event. It is said that the Dixie Chicks sold 100,000 additional albums last year after winning in that category. The last thing we need now is worse record sales than we already have (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Mark Buttler and Keith Moor -- AFL legend Wayne Carey has been axed from a radio commentary job and replaced with Nathan Buckley, as footage emerged of the star in handcuffs. Melbourne radio station 3AW has cut ties with Carey and recruited former Collingwood star Buckley, station chief Graham Mott today confirmed (read more - Adelaide Advertiser-Sunday Mail AU)

From Olga Kharif -- Now that various players have had four days to place bids for various chunks of airwaves that the FCC made available in Auction 73, it appears this auction isn’t going according to FCC’s plan (read more - BusinessWeek)

UTV-owned Wish FM has launched the search for a new breakfast show co-host to sit alongside Chris Milow from 6 am every weekday morning. “We’re looking for someone with a great personality who can bring energy to the airwaves" (read more - How Do U.K.)

Citadel's chief financial officer, Robert G. Freedline, will resign on Jan. 31 and Randy L. Taylor will become senior vice president and acting chief financial officer, effective February 1 (read more - CNN Money)

Brian Hill, news director of CKNL and CHRX of Fort St. John, B.C. was killed Sunday in a traffic accident (read more - Canadian Press CA)

Microsoft won't launch an iPhone rival.  Instead, Bill Gates says, they'll focus on mobile software (read more - DevSource)

Monday January 28, 2008

From Maria Saporta -- Less than three weeks ago, my son David put a 99X sticker on his car. Little did we know that the radio station that we had known and loved since 1992 would disappear from Atlanta's airwaves before the month was over. Friday was 99X's last day on the FM dial. You see, for my family, 99X wasn't just a radio station. It was a lifestyle. It was the "play" in our live-work-play community. And it was a station that connected my daughter, Carmen, David and me (read more - Atlanta JC)

From Dan Rozek -- A suggestion by Drew Peterson and his lawyer that the ex-Bolingbrook cop look for dates on a popular Chicago radio program (Steve Dahl) irritated relatives of Peterson's missing wife and some listeners. But an e-mail response by Peterson's lawyer, Joel Brodsky, really ticked off one already angry listener. "This is not a joke, idiots. Someone is still missing," Deborah Valure wrote in a blistering e-mail to Brodsky -- whom she also called a "pig" -- after she heard the Chicago attorney and Peterson bantering on-air Wednesday morning with DJ Steve Dahl (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Barooosk -- Bernie Ward and some of his supporters are beginning to fight back. The recently fired KGO Radio talk show host, known as the "lion of the left" told a reporter for KNTV-TV, Channel 11, the Bay Area’s NBC station, that he and his agent are negotiating a new contract and hope he will eventually return to the air. He told blogger Mark Crispan Miller that [his listeners] need to hear that the feds don't always win, that I'm innocent until proven guilty, and that it's imperative for me to be back on the air now as the primaries are at a crucial stage, and my voice is something you miss and want to hear" (read more - Talking Radio)

From Eric Deggans -- Despite recent polls showing Rudolph Giuliani with serious challenges in the Sunshine State, former CBS anchor Dan Rather said he's going to resist the urge to make many poll-driven predictions when he brings his reporting on the Florida primary to St. Petersburg Tuesday with a live broadcast on HD.net (read more - St Petersburg Times)

Don Corey, one of the earliest DJ's on legendary KSHE/FM95 in St Louis, suffered a fatal heart attack in October.  His book "Are You Talking To Me?" has now been published (read more - get the book - Don Corey Productions)

From David Hinckley -- Until he returned Jan. 17 to "El Vacilon De La Manana" on WSKQ (97.9 FM), Ramon "Moonshadow" Broussard had spent the last year being just a plain shadow. Since his partner Luis Jimenez left "El Vacilon" at the end of December 2006, no one knew for sure whether Moon would stay at La Mega or jump to WCAA (105.9), where Jimenez went on the air Jan. 17 (read more - NY Daily News)

PepsiCo's Super Bowl pregame advertisement features a joke that originates from the deaf community and will play out on screen over 60 seconds of total silence, a veritable eternity when it comes to the noisiness of Super Bowl ads (read more - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

From Tim Cuprisin -- From Rush Limbaugh on the national level to Limbaugh's local lieutenants - Mark Belling on WISN-AM (1130) and Charlie Sykes on WTMJ-AM (620) - John McCain has been a target for years. Huckabee has been on the radar screen only since his recent rise from a large pack. In the black-and-white world of talk radio, politicians are either heroes or villains. There's no middle ground (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From Barry Fox -- Steve Van Zandt's cash is tied up in "Little Steven's Underground Garage" radio show, his Wicked Cool Records label, the nonprofit Rock and Roll Forever Foundation and the development of "Little Steven's Rock and Roll High School," a music curriculum for middle and high schools. His radio show, which debuted in April 2002, is now heard by more than a million listeners each week in more than 200 markets - "The ratings on the radio show continue to go up and we're expanding into Europe," Van Zandt said (read more - Patriot News)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- The HD Radio Alliance has gone and done it. It has officially opposed the merger of XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. That tells me enough that if I'm at the DOJ, I'm going to approve the merger immediately -- which they're likely to do anyway (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Page Six -- DJ Chris Booker may be headed back to New York - with his girlfriend, fired Philadelphia news anchor Alycia Lane, in tow. Industry sources tell Page Six the former K-Rock personality, who does mornings on Philly's Q102, is mulling two lucrative radio deals and a major TV gig, all in Manhattan (read more - NY Post)

ESPN Radio’s Super Week 2008 in Arizona will include: daily simulcasts of The Mike Tirico Show on ESPN2; first-time Sunday airings of weekday’s Mike & Mike in the Morning and The Herd with Colin Cowherd programs; on-site broadcasts of regularly scheduled weekday programming; special shows and reports from team headquarters and Media Day; and comprehensive post-game interviews and analysis + As a special for Internet users, www.espnradio.com  will offer live webstreaming throughout Super Bowl Week

SIRIUS NFL Radio, SIRIUS' Martha Stewart Living Radio, Maxim Radio, Jimmy Buffett's Radio Margaritaville, Raw Dog Comedy, Scott Ferrall and others offer range of fun programming choices for the year's biggest sporting event, the Super Bowl (read more - CNN Money)

The Golden Mike Awards have been presented in Los Angeles (read the list of winners)

From Art Vuolo -- Good grief, what is happening to my favorite medium? Personally, I’m getting mad at the insanity of the radio industry, and I’m bothered by the double standard between radio and television. Did you see how fast the recent utterance of the F-word live on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” was dropped from the front page and how there was no mention of a fine for ABC or any of the hundreds of affiliates that carried the show? Yet, when a radio station lets less-offensive words slip on the air, it gets blasted with fines of more than $300,000 (read more - MichiGuide)

From Claude Hall -- e-mail from Rob Davis, Iraq: "I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you I ran across your website sort of randomly. I was reading some old 'history of Dallas radio' stories online and Gordon McLendon's name came up + e-mail from John Lund, Lund Consultants, Burlingame, CA: "Claude - I just now discovered your website and delighted in your stories about my mentor, Jack G. Thayer, and of course Don Imus, and our adventures in Sacramento, Cleveland, and NYC (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

Internet radio pioneer RadioIO in Tampa is rapidly launching new, proprietary multi-format music channels to increase its selection from 28 to 60 by February 1 (visit RadioIO)  (read more - CNN Money)

From Debora Rubi -- It's clear that at times this political institution of ours is more of a media endeavor than a truly democratic process. As we turn to our media to inform us on the issues most important to us, it becomes necessary for us to insist on the information we need. What are the candidates offering? That is the ultimate question. Not their religion. Not their marital status, sex or race, but what have they done, and what can they do, for me? Everyone is looking for something different in their candidates. This uniform coverage- blanket yet superficial- makes this democratic process seem obsolete (read more - Miami Hurricane)

From Robert Blaszkiewicz -- Torey Malatia believes there are voices in Northwest Indiana and Chicago waiting to be heard. His public radio organization is nearing a deal that would boost its power to broadcast those voices to the entire region. The president of WBEZ Alliance, Malatia has been trying for a year and a half to locate a new radio tower in the town of Porter to carry the signal of WBEW 89.5 FM. The station now broadcasts a 7,000-watt signal from Michigan City that gets very choppy toward Lake County (read more - NW Indiana Times)

From Jimmy Norris -- When the Titan system goes online in mid-February, AFN will be able to broadcast locally-produced command information commercials on six satellite channels. For the most part, AFN Direct-to-Home satellite viewers can’t see local command information messages, and off-post cable viewers can see it on only one channel — AFN Prime Pacific — said AFN Korea commander Lt. Col. Mike Lawhorn (read more - Stars and Stripes)

Chicago's CBS 2 morning anchor Randy Salerno was killed late Thursday night in a snowmobiling accident--and now criminal charges have been filed against the snowmobile's driver, Salerno's childhood friend, Scott Hirschey (read more - CBS 2 Chicago)

From Media Matters -- On MSNBC's Morning Joe, Craig Crawford stated: "I really think the evidence-free bias against the Clintons in the media borders on mental illness." Crawford went on to assert, "I mean, we've gotten into a situation where if you try to be fair to the Clintons, if you try to be objective, if you try to say, 'Well, where's the evidence of racism in the Clinton campaign?' you're accused of being a naïve shill for the Clintons." He later added: "I really think it's a problem" (read more - Media Matters)

From Garren Stauffer  -- More than any other form of media, community radio can be virtually anything that the listeners want it to be. The dedicated group of people that keep community radio going in Laramie gathered, on Saturday, to celebrate five years of that kind of diverse broadcasting, from the Lincoln Center on the west side of Laramie (read more - Laramie Boomerang)

From Jeff Bounds -- Mark Cuban's HD network has settled a lawsuit with DirecTV (read more - Dallas Biz Journal)

The radio stick, pole or fixed-mast antenna, mounted on the fender of nearly every vehicle two decades ago, is now on about half of all new models, and its ranks are dwindling. Its vanishing act is notable on many new vehicles, some of which are on display at the North American International Auto Show (read more - Omaha World-Herald)

From Tommy Kramer -- This may seem obvious. I wish it were. But apparently it’s not, from what I hear flipping around the dial and working with Talents who tell me, “Yeah, I meant to do something on that, but I forgot.” I look at some content like it’s perishable food. Use it quickly, or else it’ll go bad (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

From Fred Jacobs -- Our industry's lobbyists are correct when they tell Washington that there's no substitute for the news and information provided by local broadcasters. But being local shouldn't stop there. With virtually every station everywhere available online, what makes your station any different? At the end of the day, it's your ability to connect with the locals on their home turf - a quality that new media will never have (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Mel Phillips -- For a guy who spent a lifetime in radio and records, the industries, not the trade publication, there is nothing more exciting to me today than watching technology develop at warp speed. Speed was not much of a factor in either radio or records. It's like comparing snail mail to e-mail, baseball to football (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Katie Maurer -- After changing formats and staff, the former Z-93 sees a boost in ratings (read more - Dayton Biz Journal)

From Michael Fitzgerald -- Devices that incorporate speech recognition are starting to hit the mass market thanks to entrepreneurs like Mike Phillips who is selling services to cellular carriers and other software companies that want to give their customers the ability to let their mouths do the walking — and the searching (read more - NY Times)

From Juliet Garside -- The company which owns half of Britain's radio and TV masts is offering to slash its prices in a move that could secure regulatory approval for its £2.5bn merger with rival National Grid Wireless and provide a major fillip to Britain's troubled commercial radio industry (read more - The Telegraph U.K.)

From David Torbert -- After years of service in the news business, local Tri States Public Radio host Don Johnson hung up his headphones last week after two decades in the radio booth (read more - Peoria Journal-Star)

From John Gorman -- The radical changes and challenges happening in popular music in the early 1980s hit 1983 with full force. Certainly, 1983 was when a number of musical genres clashed and mutated into a unique mixture. Rock and rhythm and blues collided with Prince and the Revolution and Purple Rain – the movie and soundtrack. Those fortunate to be at the U2 concert at the Music Hall in May witnessed a maturing band crossing over from cult status and superstardom (read more - John Gorman)

From Stephen F. Hayes -- John McCain spoke through gritted teeth. "I respect Rush Limbaugh," he said, days after America's most influential talk radio host proclaimed that his nomination would ruin the Republican party. Straight talk? For two weeks, as the Republican presidential race moved south and he notched important victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina, John McCain has been subject to a series of withering attacks from the stars of talk radio and other prominent conservatives (read more - Weekly Standard)

ESPN and XM Satellite Radio will add a new slate of ESPN programs to its line up starting February 4 featuring a new ESPN Radio-dedicated channel.  Programs include the Michael Kay Show, Max Kellerman Show, Randy Galloway and Company, and Bill Simmons, a.k.a. "The Sports Guy  (read more - XM Radio)

From Edmund Labar -- Approximately a year ago, WSBG Radio had a case giveaway of $93 to listening at work to their station - My name was called and I called them within the allotted time to claim my prize. I was told I would receive a check for $93 but it might take 12 weeks or so. Not to think they forgot about it. After about six months, I called WSBG and after my third or forth call, they told me they have no record of my winning (read more - Pocono Record)

From Marian Gail Brown  -- Former WICC radio personality John LaBarca will return to the airwaves Sunday on WDJZ (1530 AM), but whether his broadcast will bear the "Italian House Party" name is unclear. That's because Cumulus Media, Inc. is threatening to sue LaBarca if he calls his Sunday broadcast "Italian House Party" or utters those three words in connection with any other broadcast or Internet activities (read more - Connecticut Post)

From David Hinckley -- Fans of the old WABC and other golden age top 40 stations have voted for their 10th annual top 77 hits of all time, through radiomax.com and elsewhere, and the winners go like this: (read the list and more - NY Daily News)

ARBitron numbers for Fayetteville NC, Ft Walton Beach, Grand Rapids, Jackson TN, Johnson City-Kingsport, Knoxville, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Pensacola and Wilmington NC (read 'em)

From Mark Ramsey -- Is Steve Jobs talking about the radio industry? Is this how your station and group operate? Listen for yourself. And have your group-head listen, too (read more - listen - Hear 2.0)

From Carlo Dellaverson -- Jim Cramer recommended Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio on Speculation Friday, saying he bets the government will soon be forced to stop stalling and allow Sirius to merge with XM, a deal nearly a year in the making (read more - CNBC)

From Ben Fong-Torres --  In my last column, I had a question about the indictment of Bernie Ward, the KGO talk-show host, on two federal counts of Internet child pornography, alleging that he possessed and distributed images from his computer. Ward has maintained that his accessing several images, in 2004, was for research on a book about hypocrisy in America - or, as his lawyer, Doron Weinberg, put it, "in the right wing's 'family values' America." My question was simple: If Ward was working on a book, why hasn't he offered any evidence? Research notes? Proposals to publishers? An outline? Anyone working on a book idea would have such materials on hand. I got an answer, from Ward himself. "I did have notes," he wrote in an e-mail (read more - SF Chronicle)

From Donald E. Wildmon of AFA -- "ESPN and its parent company, ABC, have refused to take any action against ESPN anchorwoman Dana Jacobson for her hateful, slurring remarks against Jesus, saying "F-- -- Jesus." Catholic League president Bill Donohue spoke with ESPN about the attack and received an e-mail from Jacobson which basically treated the incident as a non-event." Donald E. Wildmon of the American Family Association has issued an "Action Alert"and is asking recipients to send an e-mail to "ESPN asking that Jacobson be fired for her hateful comments" (read more - AFA)

The FCC plans to fine Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network $1.4 million for airing an episode of "NYPD Blue" in 2003 that showed a woman's nude buttocks (read more - LA Times)

From Ira Teinowitz -- There may be ads for beer, cars and computers on the Super Bowl, but there won’t be any for presidential candidates (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

A week after the passing of Rick and Sherrie Burgess' youngest son Bronner, Rick will be returning on Monday morning to the Rick & Bubba Show - Rick and Bubba now have 50 affiliates

Judith Regan has settled her $100 million lawsuit with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.  -- equitably and confidentially, with no admission of liability by any party -- after being fired regarding her efforts to release O.J. Simpson's hypothetical ''confession'' (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

It was an encore appearance for Boston's 96.9 FM WTKK’s Michael Graham who was a guest on the Imus in the Morning show today, Monday

Lou Faust, longtime radio executive, has died in Boise.  A memorial will be held in March.

ABC News White House Correspondent Ann Compton will conduct the only on-the-record, interview with President George W. Bush on Monday, January 28 in the Oval Office just hours before the President is to deliver the final State of the Union address of his Presidency

Friday January 25, 2008

The FCC has voted to approve the buyout of Clear Channel by Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC. The buyout still needs approval from the Justice Department (read more - AP) (read more - Reuters)  (read more - San Antonio Biz Journal)  (read more - Pravda RU)

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

Don Imus and his former employer, CBS Radio, are being sued by a book publisher for $4 million +, saying Imus insulted the book he was paid to promote (read more - Reuters)

From Robert Feder -- Mike Fowler was named president and general manager of WZZN-FM (94.7), the "True Oldies" station owned by Citadel Broadcasting. He succeeds John Gallagher, who doubled as boss of WZZN and news/talk WLS-AM (890). Gallagher will continue at WLS (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Bill Stewart -- Paul W. Smith told me he's very much looking forward to doing his WJR morning show from the UT Student Union on Feb. 1. Paul Smith is trying to help the university's efforts to recruit students from Southeast Michigan via getting the word out on his highly rated morning show. Smith, a University of Michigan grad, said he never really lost touch with Toledo since leaving this radio market back in the 1980s. He said he still frequents the Beirut Restaurant on Monroe Street in Toledo and commented, “I've been blessed by being able to travel all over the world, but the Beirut Restaurant in Toledo is one of my favorite restaurants in the entire world” (read more - Toledo Free Press)

From Jack Broom -- Listen to the urgency in newscaster Jim Harrison's voice and you might think a war had begun: "Scores of persons living in the North End were late to work today," he reported, announcing that a car had hit part of the Aurora Bridge. No one was hurt, but get this: "Cars piled up behind the damaged machine for blocks!" If that riveting traffic report from the 1950s doesn't get your blood pumping, maybe you'd prefer another clip from the same era: Seattle radio legend Pat O'Day announcing a KAYO cash giveaway of — fasten your seat belts — a whopping $9! Two veterans of Seattle radio, John Maynard and Pat O'Day, both donated recordings to the station (read more - Seattle Times)

Sony Ericsson has announced the launch of two new mobile phones, the R300i Radio and R306i Radio, both designed to deliver a "credible" radio-listening experience (read more - Sky News U.K.)

From Brian Garrity -- Strong demand for flashy multipurpose smart phones like Apple's iPhone, Samsung's Blackjack II and RIM's BlackBerry helped AT&T add wireless subscribers at a record pace (read more - NY Post)

From Jeanné McCartin -- After two broadcasts, a liberal political show created by four Seacoast residents has been cut by an XM Satellite Radio station. The show, called "Wake Up AMerica" was eliminated by "POTUS '08" - David Butler, XM Satellite Radio's senior director of corporate affairs, told the Herald that while the company enjoyed working with the hosts, "It just wasn't the right fit. ...; The problem is not with the views represented, but the style and format" (read more - Seacoast Online - Portsmouth Herald)

A battle is brewing to become the top-rated morning show in the nation's most lucrative market - and you have to understand Spanish to listen (read more - Lakeland Ledger)

Governor Brad Henry will declare Friday as "Ronnie Kaye Day in Oklahoma" in honor of the longtime KOMA radio personality (read more - KSWO 7 TV)

From John Smyntek -- Drew Lane, away from his highly rated WRIF-FM (101.1) morning show on a personal leave since late September, said Thursday that if he was on the air, he’d have noted that “the joke about ‘if a lawyer’s lips are moving he’s lying’ needs to be changed for the mayor. ‘If he’s in a waking state, he’s lying’ (read more - Detroit Free Press)

In Inside Indiana's Executive Conversation, Emmis Communications CEO Jeff Smulyan will be in studio to discuss changes at the company and how they plan to combat the challenging radio industry (read more - Inside Indiana - WISH TV 8)

From Kent Burkhart -- Uggghhhh!!!! I read in this week's e-trades that in December ’07 radio revenue took it on the chin again. Local down 4 percent, and national down 12 percent. However, non-traditional radio was up considerably (concerts, on-line marketing and promotions, etc). I suppose this downward trend was in the major and medium size markets. Although I haven’t talked to any small market owners/managers in January ’08 our revenue was up considerably not only for December but for the year of ’07 (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

From Phil Rosenthal -- Sun-Times Media, which owns the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of area publications, is making reductions at all its area outlets in all departments, including advertising. It's closing some papers. The good news, such as it is, is that the final number of newsroom employees let loose was about 10 percent below the paper's original projections (read more - Chicago Tribune)

From Kelly Kincaid -- Fox News' John Gibson makes distasteful comments about Heath Ledger's death: Shouldn't the media know better by now? (read more - AC Media)

From Fred Jacobs -- Rick Balis sent me a couple of promos that promote their new online "Museum." It's all about "stories." As Seth Godin says in his new book (Meatball Sundae), "Stories spread, not facts. More than almost any other company, Disney was built on a story. What's the story of your next film? Is it authentic, or did your marketing folks dream it up after the project was finished?" (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Mark Ramsey -- The average radio station does a very poor job of connecting with its audience off the air, except for those all-too-routine weekly "email blasts." What if your station had a way to reach out directly to your audience with many more - and shorter - messages that were aimed at people who actually wanted to hear them? Well this is a lot easier than you think (read more - Mark Ramsey)

From Tom Ramstack -- The D.C. government yesterday gave developers of a new home for the nation's largest black-owned radio company the agreement they needed to begin work on the project in the Shaw neighborhood. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty signed a Land Disposition Agreement with Broadcast Center One Partners to return Radio One to the District (read more - Washington Times)

The KVIL 2008 Reunion is only 3 months away on Saturday evening April 19 in Dallas.  But, that's no reason for current and ex KVIL employees to delay getting their tickets.  Event info is online at www.KVILReunion.com 

From Lee Abrams -- I was going through some notes - old notes - scribbled stuff on legal pads. I wrote out the "notes" seen below in 1998 in preparation for joining XM. I also remember talking to other “programmers” from other National media to get some feedback. The only thing is, none of them were really programmers. They were “deal guys” who SIGNED stuff but rarely created anything. Often Smart guys, but it quickly became apparent that we were on our own when putting a staff together for XM. Law degrees and track records weren’t really going to move the needle. There was really no staffing model. Or any kind of model. We had to find people to CREATE more than aggregate content (read more - Lee Abrams)

From Page Six -- WKTU after noon jock Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton tells the Hudson Reporter: "So Imus got slapped a little bit for saying things - What is he, in his 90s now? + Erin Burnett has a potty mouth. The CNBC hottie reported Wednesday that Apple shares were down, and noted, "It was the It Stock of '07, and it is apparently the s - - t stock of 2008 (read more - NY Post)

From Mark Washburn -- While Steve Harvey's syndicated morning show has carried WBAV FM to its fourth consecutive No. 1 finish in the radio ratings, it is Beatrice Thompson who brings the show home. "You've got to have some connection to the community to make it work," says Thompson, the station's news and public affairs director (read more - Charlotte Observer)

From Greg Sargent -- CNN has told top Dem strategists James Carville, Paul Begala, and Robert Zimmerman -- who are CNN mainstays but are all Hillary supporters -- that they will not be doing any more political analysis on the network until the Democratic primary has reached a conclusion (read more - TPM)

From Tim Cuprisin -- It's far too early to talk about "American Idol" as a fading network television phenomenon. It continues to average more than 30 million viewers, millions more than any other regular weekly television show. But the numbers have been slipping noticeably from last year's ratings + Longtime MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing has been named an NBC News correspondent based in Burbank (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From James Macintyre -- The BBC fell into further introspection and controversy last night after an internal report revealed a member of staff posed as a competition winner and another entrant's name was invented on radio shows presented by Russell Brand and Jo Whiley (read more - The Independent U.K.)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- There is quite a controversy building around whether CBS-owned Last.fm is an eventual replacement for terrestrial radio. The Motley Fool investors publication says Last.fm could mean the end of radio. Kurt Hanson, who I respect more on these issues, says wait one minute -- Last.fm isn't even radio. It's an interesting prospect either way (read more - Inside Music Media)

From David Barron -- Longtime Clear Channel Radio sports hand Robert Henslee is moving next Friday to KILT (610 AM), where he will compile afternoon drive news updates and coordinate news coverage as the station's sports director. Also, former KILT producer Chance McClain has joined KGOW (1560 AM) as a contributor in programming, promotions, marketing, Web site issues and sales (read more - Houston Chronicle)

From John Gorman -- Radio stocks were plummeting long before fears of a recession. At last the radio industry is first in something again – first to be worst. A couple of weeks back I listed devalued radio stocks. It’s only gotten worse.
That 90 percent-plus club keeps growing: Spanish Broadcasting, Radio One, Emmis, Citadel, Regent. 90-percent. That’s the value they’ve lost. Let’s take a quick trip to Los Angeles – the number one radio market in America (read more - John Gorman)

On February 1, Kerry Tucker joins CBS Radio as Vice President, Strategic Sales. She's been at the Radio Advertising Bureau

From Mel Phillips -- Even the government is asking "What's the frequency Kenneth?" to the rather meek bidding in the second round of the sell-off of valuable wireless spectrum in the 700MHz band. The FCC was hoping for a $10 billion pay day but after two rounds, they've only received $2 billion in bids (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Greg Jackson -- Rush Limbaugh couldn't be clearer - supporting former Governor Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign is a really bad idea if you are a true Reagan Republican. In his opinion, Huckabee's nomination would mark the end of the Republican Party as he knows it. And Limbaugh isn't alone: Fellow talking head Sean Hannity and a whole host of conservative talk radio hosts love to pummel Huckabee and fellow candidate John McCain. The hate formerly reserved for Democrats Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and Howard Dean is now directed at Republicans like Huckabee and McCain (read more - Real Clear Politics)

From Doug Ferguson -- Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman returned to work with an apology and an audio glitch. Tilghman was suspended for two weeks after saying during the season-opening tournament that young challengers to Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley" (read more - AP)

From Laura Nachman -- According to industry sources, beginning next week, Philly NBC10 weekend evening anchor Dawn Timmeney will move to the weekday 5 p.m. news to co-anchor with Vince DeMentri. Aditi Roy will move from weekend mornings to weekend evenings, and newcomer Lynn Berry will co-anchor weekend mornings with John Blunt (read more - Laura Nachman)

Dave Graveline and the "Into Tomorrow" team have been covering the International CES, the Consumer Electronics Show and this weekend they will have Part 3 of their CES specials (visit www.graveline.com)

From Jeanne Jakle -- Who'll be part of Ryan Seacrest's entertainment segments on Super Sunday's pre-game show — from 1 to 5 p.m. on Fox? Paula Abdul, who'll tape a dance number with Randy Jackson to celebrate her new single; Alicia Keys; Willie Nelson and Sara Evans, who'll sing a duet; and Jordin Sparks, who'll sing the national anthem (read more - SA Express-News)

From Matthew Santoni -- WAMD, the flagship station of the Aberdeen Ironbirds and one of only two remaining AM stations in Harford, has been sold to Christian broadcasting group Salem Communications (read more - Washington Examiner)

MotorNet is seeking airchecks of the "The McDonald's (formerly SKOAL) MotorSports Report" for their archives as they continue with their efforts to find partners for their future projects (visit www.motorsportsreport.com)

Bob Costas on the Radio this weekend interviews Boomer Esiason - Former NFL quarterback, host of Boomer & Carton on WFAN-AM/New York, and studio analyst for CBS’ The NFL Today + Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson - Former football player and professional wrestler turned actor + Allie Sherman - Former New York Giants head coach who led the team to three divisional titles

From Richard Huff -- Is WNYW/Ch. 5 selling out Toni Senecal to advertisers? It sure seems so, at least to one client, Tourism Quebec. The deal raises the question of whether it's okay for someone who's part of a TV news division, and appears on regular newscasts, to also appear in commercials (read more - NY Daily News)

The radio space globally is experiencing a major shift in how audio content is consumed, sold and transmitted to consumers, creating significant growth in the adoption of satellite and HD radio over the next five years, according research company Parks Associates’ Music to Consumers’ Ears: Next Generation Radio (read more - Indian Television)

From Sam Stein -- At least four major firms have pulled advertising from Michael Savage's nationally syndicated radio show following a campaign highlighting his inflammatory rhetoric. One other company, Geico insurance, is expected to follow suit (read more - Huffington Post)

Mike & Mike in the Morning will broadcast live on ESPN, 6 am - 10 am ET Friday, Feb. 22, from the 38th Bassmaster Classic launch site at Portman Marina on South Carolina's Lake Hartwell

Today’s Bits adds KARN-FM Little Rock as its newest affiliate to the service

Envision Radio Networks’ AudioBitXchange adds WWDE-FM Norfolk, VA and KXNA-FM Fayetteville, AR as the newest affiliates to the audio prep and production library network

Mike Pons has been named vice president and general manager of The Weather Channel Radio Network and The Weather Channel has launched a new mobile Web site

Thursday January 24, 2008

From David Hinckley -- Jim Ryan, who over the last decade turned WLTW (106.7 FM) into America's most successful radio station, announced Wednesday he will step down as program director as of May 22. "I think 11-1/2 years is probably long enough for anyone to program any station," Ryan said yesterday (read more - NY Daily News)

From Todd Wenning -- "There has been more material progress in the United States in the 20th century than there was in the entire world in all the previous centuries combined." -- Stephen Moore and Julian Simon, Cato Institute, December 1999 . Given the success of the 20th century, those of us living in the 21st century have come to expect constant improvements in technology. We expect to upgrade to a high-definition TV within a few years. We expect that our cell phones will soon also be our cameras, personal organizers, and portable music players (read more - Motley Fool)

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

Drew Peterson, whose fourth wife has been missing for months, will have to look elsewhere for a date after management at a Chicago radio station pulled the plug on a proposed "Win A Date With Drew" contest. Peterson had agreed to participate in the dating game segment while appearing today on legendary radio talker Steve Dahl's morning show. Dahl has been lampooning Peterson for months and the former suburban police sergeant called into the show on 104.3 JACK-FM this morning. For Peterson, it's just the latest spectacle in the media circus surrounding the former Bolingbrook police sergeant since his fourth wife vanished Oct. 28 (read more - CBS 2 Chicago) (read more - Phil Rosenthal - Chicago Tribune)

From 790 KABC's Al Rantel -- I have learned that I have a highly treatable form of lymphoma. I wanted to share this with you – my listeners – directly, as so many of you have been not only loyal but have truly become members of my "family" (read more - send a get well e-mail to Al)

From Robert Feder -- Drew Peterson calls in to a morning radio show to line up dates. How sick is that? + Morning changes are in the air at WLEY-FM (107.9), the Spanish Broadcasting System regional Mexican outlet + While the deaths this week of three former TV stars barely rated a mention on most stations, leave it to Chicago's home for classic television to do the right thing. Suzanne Pleshette, Allan Melvin and Lois Nettleton will be honored this weekend with marathons (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Eric Deggans -- The deluge of spotty reporting in the wake of Ledger's surprise demise - even the New York Police Department spokesman was passing along spurious tales of the actor dying in an apartment owned by Mary-Kate Olsen, which was later dismissed - highlights the dangers from the immediate demand for salacious details in the 24-hour news cycle (read more - St Petersburg Times)

From Jim Reeves -- In pointing the finger of blame, which is what talk radio often does best, a particular Dallas Cowboys player, an African-American, was singled out for his lack of stellar play during one segment. "He ought to be shot" was how a fellow guest summed up his feelings. He meant figuratively, of course, and there were probably many fans listening who agreed, but my fellow panelist immediately regretted his choice of words and said so when the show continued after a break (read more - Star-Telegram)

From Cristina Kinon -- Who knew? Ryan Seacrest once played football. Indeed, hard-core sports fans who may have been upset at the news that "American Idol" host and "E! News Live" anchor Ryan Seacrest would be hosting Fox's live pregame Super Bowl XLII coverage Feb. 3 may feel better learning he's no newcomer to the sport (read more - NY Daily News)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- The post Christmas radio ratings are in for the two People Meter markets -- Philadelphia and Houston -- and you should not be surprised to observe that the two bellwether Christmas stations lost half of their huge ratings gains acquired in December. Jerry Lee's WBEB (B-101), Philadelphia slid from a 29.6 share in women 18+ during the week December 20-26 to 12.8 when the station reverted to its adult music format. In Houston, Clear Channel's KODA lost 47% of its women compared to those listening during Christmas week. (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Fred Jacobs -- Ask Gen-Y how they get their news and information, last night's scores, or the latest music. Many laugh at the quaint suggestion that they might want someone on a bicycle to deliver a daily printout that's hours old. Or that they'd wait through 5 minutes of commercials and 5 bad songs. (Tom) Brokaw didn't say there wouldn't still be a need for news journalists, but that there may not be much of a need for newspaper (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Mark Ramsey -- Our youth are being raised on a diet of media control and extreme customization. The consequences for how we program and market to this demo today - and as they mature - are profound. As every smoker knows, lifetime habits are shaped during your youth. We can't prevent a generation of listeners from embracing mp3 players, but we most definitely can make sure we're embracing the listeners who are doing the embracing. We can make sure we're a part of their iPods and a part of their lives (read more - Hear 2.0)

From Tim Cuprisin -- Craig Karmazin's Good Karma takes over operations at WRRD on Feb. 7, with the sports programming likely launching around the middle of February. A management agreement will cover the station until the sale goes through. Like all such transactions, it will need Federal Communications Commission approval. So what happens to WAUK? (read more - Milwaukee JS)

Cox Radio's David DuBose, Vice President and Market Manager of Cox Radio’s Birmingham, AL cluster, and Tony Kidd, General Manager of Cox Radio’s urban AC station and rhythmic CHR station in Atlanta, were named honorees at the 2008 Urban Knight Awards hosted by American Urban Radio Networks

From John Gorman -- Radio was the original social network. Back in the fifties and sixties when Tommy dedicated a song to Debbie on top 40 radio – that was social networking. As music got more defined with FM radio – those listening to the same niche formats experienced social networking. I’m not trying to discourage fresh thought and innovation but it would be nice to return to reality for the moment. Maybe it’s just me. But if you’re trying to combine social networking with radio – why are your playlists hopelessly out of sync with popular culture? (read more - John Gorman)

From Pete Bishop -- If it is possible to be sleepy and upbeat at the same time, that’s Mandy Connell at 5:25 a.m. The host of WINK News Radio’s “Daybreak,” Connell is watching Fox News on a small television set and surfing the Internet in preparation for her top-rated early morning show (read more - Naples-Bonita News)

From Bill Virgin -- Riding the popularity of its annual Thanksgiving-week-to-Christmas all-holiday-music format, KRWM-FM/106.9 topped the rankings of radio stations in the Seattle-Tacoma market in the fall ratings period, as it did a year ago. Among the trends to watch in the winter quarter are whether stations heavy on political talk make a rebound in an election year (especially with their recent shake-ups and schedule shifts involving local and national hosts), and what sort of reaction KQMV-FM (Movin 92.5) receives for its new morning team of Monti and Brooke Fox (read more - Seattle PI)

From Dave Kohl -- ATLANTA - Cox Radio is expected to continue WRFC 960 AM sports radio between Atlanta and Greenville. The station is part of a 5 station purchase giving Cox a strong presence "in between" the two cities where it already holds several properties. ORLANDO: The recent demise of 740 AM from sports to Spanish now signals the end of "Jerry O'Neill & The Shot Doctor" (read more - Dave Kohl)

From Randy Dotinga -- The mailbag has been pretty full lately here at the Static radio column - Actually, the mail usually comes with a less-than-heart-warming message along the lines of this: "You, sir (and I use that term loosely), are a moron. And your mother dresses you funny." Nice to hear from you, too. Here are a few excerpts from some of the missives that have arrived in recent weeks. The first is from a woman who thinks I've missed the boat on the vast right-wing conspiracy to deprive San Diego of progressive talk (read more - San Diego NC Times)

Thrice married and divorced radio personality Rush Limbaugh has reportedly been dating a 31-year-old Florida woman, Kathryn Rogers, for the past six months. "Rush is an incredibly great guy. Very different from what people think," Rogers told the Palm Beach Post (read more - UPI)

From Rick Aristotle Munarriz -- The good news is that it may get a whole lot easier to get the merger between the two companies approved, after this morning's announcement that online radio service Last.fm will offer free streaming music from all four major labels and countless indies. A program is also in place to monetize uploads from unsigned artists. The bad news? I just told you. Last.fm, bought by CBS in a $280 million deal last year, is providing on-demand delivery of its growing digital library for free. Naturally, this is also bad news for other companies selling digital tracks, like Apple (read more - Motley Fool)

As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website www.last.fm (read more - Last.FM)  (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

From Mel Phillips -- I tested Last.fm this morning by typing Alicia Keys name and instantaneously, there was a track from the number one album in the country - This is a good idea but it needs tweaking. Instead of offering more listens per subscription, why not just include ownership of the music for the subscription price? (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Diana Schwaeble -- Recently, WKTU FM's Hollywood Hamilton took some time out of his busy schedule to discuss what it's like to work in radio and to share some highlights of his career: DS: Do you miss being able to pick songs? HH: Yeah; I mean, if you were to ask any radio personality or DJ, they would say of course yeah. But I trust Rob Miller. He's our program director. He's taken this station from a mid-performing radio station to the top in one year. DS: What is so appealing about radio? HH: Well, the great thing about radio is that it's instant (read more - The Hudson Reporter)

From Murphy Martin -- I first met Dr. King as he was leading efforts to integrate the previously all-white beaches in St. Augustine, Florida. As usual the Ku Klux Klan was trying to dissuade those trying to make this happen. In his news conferences and also when he led the marchers on the beach Dr. King spoke of "non-violent" ways this should be done. The Klan spokesmen for the most part was one Hoss Manucy who uttered vile threats filled with the "n" word and what would happen to those who tried to use "our white beaches". The prolonged efforts to thwart Dr. King's efforts failed as Manucy's threats aimed at Dr. King and "white -----Yankee newsmen" could not deter the non-violent efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

From Courtney Kitchens -- On Jan. 25, 2008, Atlanta will lose an alternative FM rock station that has been around since Oct. 1992. It has been announced that Q100, or 100.5, will be moving to frequency 99.7 to allow the station to reach a wider audience through a stronger radio signal. This is disappointing news to the fans that have remained loyal listeners of 99X throughout the years (read more - The West Georgian)

From Natasha Singer -- The success of “How Not to Look Old” comes on the heels of disparaging comments about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made by the radio provocateur Rush Limbaugh, who last month said: “Will Americans want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis? And that woman, by the way, is not going to want to look like she’s getting older, because it will impact poll numbers.” Although Mr. Limbaugh’s comments drew widespread criticism, they underscored the idea that older women in the work force are vulnerable to age prejudice (read more - NY Times)

From Deborah Sengupta Stith -- 91.7 KOOP Radio will return to the airwaves Friday morning at 9 a.m. after being off the air since a fire took down the station’s Airport Boulevard studio on the weekend of Jan. 5 (read more - Austin American-Statesman)

Musicologist Bud Buschardt is the in-studio guest of the Hi-Fi Club this Sunday night, January 27. He'll reprise his original tribute to "The Day The Music Died" as he played it on his "57 Nostalgia Place" on WFAA-AM in 1974 on KMNY-1360 AM Sunday night, 6-9 pm CST, or via the live streaming at www.thehificlub.net

Tuesday "The Ellen Show" featured Kidd Kraddick in the Morning sidekick Jose “J-Si” Chavez with the Jonas Brothers as they danced with a contest winner on the roof of the Nokia Theatre in Dallas (Photo source: KiddLive.com)

Envision Radio Networks’ weekly one hour program, The Business Shrink with Peter Morris, adds affiliate WLKF-AM/ Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL

The Conclave has released a unique, track-oriented agenda for the upcoming Learning Conference 08: At the Crossroads scheduled for June 26-28 in Minneapolis

XM and Sirius stock climbed Wednesday on speculation that U.S. regulators are very close to granting approval to the merger of the two satellite radio broadcasters (read more - Scott Moritz-The Street)

Wednesday January 23, 2008

From David Hinckley -- "We made lemonade out of a lemon," said WABC program director Phil Boyce.  Boyce, who defended R&R publisher Erica Farber by saying "I don't think she had much to do with the decision," said he doesn't know yet whether he will attend the March R&R convention at which (Bob) Grant was to have been honored. "It will be interesting to see if attendance there is affected," said Boyce. Tom Tradup, vice president of news and talk programming for the religious Salem Radio Network, said R&R's action "looks worse in the rearview mirror than it did when it happened -- because they've pulled a Nixon White House. They won't even talk about it or explain it" + WAWZ (99.1 FM) has been named radio station of the year by the National Religious Broadcasters Association, for the second consecutive year (read more - NY Daily News)

From Hearne Christopher Jr -- Entercom tried to mitigate the disappointment of 99.7 KY fans before changing formats. “We invited Max and Tanna back to record farewell announcements,” says Entercom KC head Dave Alpert. “We thought that would have been great. Tanna said she’d think about it, but they opted not to” (read more - KC Star)

From Erika Engle -- KSSK is still on top. A tenth-of-a-point dip in its overall share belies gains the FM and AM stations made in the key, 18-to-34-year-old demographic. There was also a stunning rise for KHUI-FM 99.5 from almost nowhere to No. 3 overall and a huge jump to No. 3 in the morning for all-sports KKEA-AM 1420, most unusual for a niche format (read more - Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

Jim Ryan, Lite FM program director has stepped down (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

Entercom Communications has signed a multi-year contract for ARBitron Portable People Meter radio ratings services(read more - ARBitron)

From Jim Doyle -- Bernie Ward has been fired from his job as a talk show host on KGO-AM Radio, but his fans are lobbying for his return to the air. Ward, a former Catholic priest, was yanked from the airwaves soon after his indictment in December by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on two counts of child pornography using the Internet (read more - San Francisco Chronicle)

From Robert Feder -- Fresh from his coverage Tuesday of the Academy Award nominations, Roger Ebert is headed for Houston to undergo yet another surgery + Viewers watched in amazement as WMAQ TV 3 news anchors Rob Stafford and Marion Brooks struggled to deal with one mishap after another. Some stories aired without sound. In place of audio for the lead about a family fleeing a house fire, all that could be heard was sports anchor Bruce Wolf chattering off camera (unaware that his microphone was on)

From Bill Vidonic -- John Duffy, a former news anchor for Pittsburgh’s ESPN Radio affiliate was sentenced Tuesday to little more than four years in federal prison for child pornography  (read more - Beaver County and Allegheny Times)

From Jose Lambiet -- Conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh's got a new sweetheart - and she's nearly half his age. Limbaugh, who turned 57 Jan. 12, told Page Two he's been dating West Palm Beach resident Kathryn Rogers for the past six months. Driver license records show she is 31. "So much for me being a recluse," Limbaugh said, mocking news reports claiming he rarely leaves his Palm Beach compound (read more - Palm Beach Post)

From Mark Ramsey -- Why Radio is slow to embrace change
No sooner had it begun, MGM chief Louis B. Mayer had had enough of this cartoon. "Pregnant women go to see MGM films, and women are terrified of mice," he exclaimed. "Especially a mouse ten feet tall on the motion picture screen." With that, Mayer stormed out of the screening room, slamming the door behind him, and leaving the cartoon's creator humiliated. And so it was that MGM declined the rights to distribute what would soon become the unprecedented pop culture phenomenon of Mickey Mouse from a tiny startup called the Walt Disney Company (read more - Hear 2.0)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- The radio industry actually started its "recession" early. After spending record amounts of their investors' money to put together groups of radio stations -- allowed for the first time by their friends in Congress -- it wasn't too long ago that stock prices of radio issues began their eventual steep decline. A friend put together this list of key radio companies before yesterday's roller coaster ride on the Dow. Look how well they have built shareholder value for their investors (read the list and more - Inside Music Media)

From Brendan I. Koerner -- Unless you enjoy hearing the same insipid Fergie song a dozen times a day, chances are you loathe mainstream radio. And for good reason: The FM band between 92.1 and 107.9, where commercial stations reign, is mostly a desert of robo-DJs and pop pabulum - So bored consumers are just tuning out. Listenership among 18- to 24-year-olds is down 20 percent over the past decade - One bright spot: The inevitable shift to digital radio could create more room for more types of content (read more - Wired)

From Eric Boehlert -- When Chris Matthews' long-winded monologue at the opening of the January 17 Hardball program eventually touched down with an apology to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) for the way the cable talker had been treating the candidate on the air, the moment represented an unmistakable victory for the liberal blogosphere. By not only getting Matthews to apologize, but by also forcing the rest of the press -- post-New Hampshire -- to back off its, at-times, overtly sexist coverage of a prominent Democratic contender, the blogs have already had more impact on how the traditional press covers this presidential campaign than they did during the entire 2004 White House run (read more - Media Matters)

From Matt Krantz -- As CEO of Entravision Communications, a Spanish-language media company that owns 51 television and 47 radio stations across the country, Ulloa is widely associated with genres of Latin music ranging from tropical to Tejano and grupero. Yet, he's also the person who has kept Steve Jones, guitarist for the Sex Pistols - perhaps the quintessential punk band - as the featured DJ with complete freedom over what to play or say at Entravision's 103.1 radio station in Los Angeles. "I didn't know a lot about that format," admits Ulloa, 59, in a tidy suit and dark glasses (read more - Desert Sun)

Craig Karmazin's Good Karma Broadcasting bought its second Milwaukee AM radio station. That means that Milwaukee's ESPN Radio, which had been broadcasting on WAUK (1510 AM) during the day and WMCS (1290 AM) at night, will become 540 ESPN (read more - Milwaukee Biz Journal) (read more - On Milwaukee)

Country Radio Broadcasters revealed the talent line-up for the 2008 Country Radio Seminar (CRS-39) luncheons. Performers on Wednesday are Ashley Gearing and Rodney Atkins (Curb/Asylum); while on Thursday Keith Anderson and Montgomery Gentry (Sony BMG) take the stage. Closing the series of luncheons are Capitol's Lady Antebellum and newcomer Emily West on Friday

From John Rook -- Local radio in the medium to small markets continue awash in a sea of syndicated sameness featuring a glut of national talk radio hosts attempting to out rush Rush with a constant diatribe of conservative vs. liberal political banter - “Texas Overnight” with Charley Jones on KRLD is such a refreshing change from the constant confrontation of most talk show hosts. He's a great source for the day’s top issues offered in a easy to take manner (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

ARBitron numbers for Birmingham, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Las Vegas (read 'em)

From Mel Phillips -- The media has been so Super Bowl giddy that you would think that the Giants are favored by two touchdowns instead of the Patriots. The Giant players are spouting off about how they'll beat the Pats too. That's what teams that aren't used to reaching the big game do. Meanwhile Bill Belichick, owner of a perfect record and 3 Super Bowl rings studies his film without saying a word (read more - Mel Phillips)

From John Gorman -- Mike Trivisonno is a radio personality in Cleveland. He owns afternoon drive. A few years back I did a satirical piece for a local paper on WTAM – the station he’s on. In it, I made mention of someone (not Trivisonno) fabricating an interview with a national political candidate. The actual interview was real but done in another market with different host and edited to create the semblance that it was done locally. He was outed by a sloppy edit (read more - John Gorman)

Heath Ledger’s death quickly circulated around the globe, his family in Australia almost seemed to be the last to find out, only hearing about their son’s death when they switched on the radio this morning (read more -TV 3 New Zealand NZ )

Lou Palmer, whose rich, stirring voice was heard over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network for more than 30 years, died Jan. 19 in Indianapolis (read more - Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

From Media Matters -- On the January 22 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, discussing the January 21 CNN Democratic presidential candidates debate during which Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY), Sen. Barack Obama (IL), and former Sen. John Edwards (NC) sat in chairs for the latter part of the debate, Rush Limbaugh said of Clinton, "She was the only one sitting there who could not cross her legs." Limbaugh prefaced his comment by saying, "I'm gonna pay for this. See, this is the kind of thing that you're not supposed to say. That when you say this, all it does is drive people to Hillary. Women, especially" - Later, Limbaugh called his remark a "questionable taste comment," adding that he had "quasi-apologized, but not really" (read more - listen to the audio - Media Matters)

From Jay Marvin -- I want to say something now. Bob's politics are not my politics. OK I said it. Even though it's so Bob Grant is a great talk show host. Many of us learned how to do a combative style of talk that was big in the 70's into the 90's from him, and then went on to find our own voices. Bob was funny. Bob was clever, Bob broke the rules, and when you listen to Bob you came away with all kinds of "oh wow" moments. The exact thing you don't get today with talk radio. Bob never carried water for anyone but himself. The current crap he's a racist is BS. Bob went after everyone. He was so good at it he made other hosts pale in comparison. The only host I can think of as good as Bob (in a different way) is Neil Rogers (read more - Pattern Change)

ABC News Radio Entertainment Correspondent David Blaustein will now also handle movie reviews and also be offering his opinion on the latest movies and cinema blockbusters for ABC News Radio

American Country Countdown host and Country music's Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn is heading overseas to the Persian Gulf Region to visit with U.S. service members. Brooks will perform and meet with the troops to offer appreciation for their efforts as part of a USO/MNC-I entertainment tour

Univision Communications says that Mónica Talán, who will be based in New York, has joined Univision as Vice President of Corporate Communications and will be responsible for managing the Company’s strategic communications and media relations efforts and promoting Univision’s suite of market-leading assets (read more - Business Wire)

Beasley Broadcast Group revealed that the legendary 96.1 K-ROCK is now multicasting unique programming on its sister station, Haney’s Big House 96.1 HD2 in Southwest Florida

The Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM) Thursday, January 24 seminar at the ABC/Disney Studios in Burbank will focus on the trends in mobile and personalized media, the opportunities and the people leveraging them for new dollars. The trend is clearly toward personalized media. This means that electronic media companies have numerous opportunities to develop new businesses and to tap new revenue streams (read more - BCFM)

Tuesday January 22, 2008

A New York radio station, Q 104.3, want Giants fans to help throw Patriots quarterback Tom Brady off his game by reminding him of his ex-girlfriend and mother of his son, Bridget Moynahan (read more - Boston Channel)

From Robert Feder -- Airing from 6 to 7 p.m. weekdays on Clear Channel Radio WGRB-AM (1390), Donnie McClurkin's syndicated show is heard in more than 40 cities nationwide + Carol Marin, the columnist for the Sun-Times and political editor for NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, was lunching at Boardman's in NBC Tower with Channel 5 reporter Mary Ann Ahern and producer Don Moseley when Ahern began pointing to her throat, indicating that she was choking on a bite of food. Seconds later, witnesses said, Marin performed the Heimlich maneuver (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Andrew Malcomb -- Good news for Rush-haters. Not only has the controversial conservative radio talk-show host got a sore throat, but he's anguishing over the inadequacy he sees in the current field of Republican presidential candidates. You can actually hear the pain, the mounting impatience, the frustration in his voice. It's kinda sad, if you believe in talk-radio. Monday on-the-air he'd had enough of these impure candidates and enough of all these questions about his endorsement and when it would come and how he'd make his decision and he just blurted out to Jim in Kansas City and a few million others listening in: "I can see possibly not supporting a Republican nominee." WHAT?! (read more - LA Times)

From Louis Hau -- Departing Los Angeles Times Editor James O'Shea's blistering attack Monday on Tribune's spending priorities served as a blunt reminder, if any were needed, that Sam Zell's charismatic presence at the helm won't magically wave away the severe financial challenges faced by his newly acquired newspapers. In an e-mail to employees Monday, O'Shea confirmed reports that he had been ousted from his job due to a budget dispute with Times Publisher David Hiller (read more - Forbes)

From Stephen Labaton -- The auction for rights to a highly valuable swath of the nation’s airwaves will begin Thursday and is expected to include multibillion-dollar bids from the nation’s two biggest wireless phone companies, Verizon and AT&T, as well as Google (read more - NY Times)

From Randy Baron -- Owner Cumulus Media is replacing 99X with Top 40 station Q100 - Working at 99X was an amazing privilege, and we were always aware of it. Yet even with all the perks, the best thing about being part of 99X — and in my case "The Morning X" — was knowing how you affected people's lives (read more - Atlanta JC)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- Broadcasters do what they have always done -- broadcast. When radio programming got more specific in the 70's we used the term narrowcasting to reflect how the broadcasting service had adapted. But one thing never changed -- broadcasters made all the content decisions. Radio may have flirted with research and focus groups but in the end a PD made the call (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Michael Medved -- For more than a month, the leading conservative talkers in the country have broadcast identical messages in an effort to demonize Mike Huckabee and John McCain. If you’ve tuned in at all to Rush, Sean, Savage, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager, and two dozen others you’ve heard a consistent drum beat of hostility toward Mac and Huck. As always, led by Rush Limbaugh (who because of talent and seniority continues to dominate the medium) the talk radio herd has ridden in precisely the same direction, insisting that McCain and Huckabee deserve no support because they’re not “real conservatives” - The talk radio jihad against Mac and Huck hasn’t destroyed or even visibly damaged those candidates. But it has damaged, and may help destroy, talk radio (read more - Michael Medved)

From Mel Phillips -- The King of Beers is the King of Super Bowl advertisers once again this year. Every year, Anheuser-Busch shoots a bunch of commercials and chooses about 10 to air for the biggest TV event of the year. The emphasis is on their Bud Light brand, the best-selling beer in the U.S.  (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Fred Jacobs -- A funny thing happened while I was reading the latest USA Today/Gallup poll. Just like always, Gallup interviewed a representative poll of about 2,000 adults in order to determine American attitudes about the candidates and the country. But in a small box, Gallup explained that for the first time, they are now integrating "Cell Phone Onlies" into their national samples. In fact, for every 1,000 interviews, there are now 130 CPOs in the sample (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Jimmy Rabbitt -- This week in Rock 'n Roll Radio History: Robin Hood Brians and his Mom "Mrs. B" (studio manager) were throwing a big bash. That indoor Bar-B-Que was held "open house style" at the sprawling Robin Hood Studios, and Texas History shows us: That was the last time such an event was ever held there under those spreading Pecan trees, there on that shady East Texas Blvd. The exclusive guest list included: Texas Rock Royalty, Big-Time Texas DJs, the well-kept wives and exwives of the owners of those big cars parked up and down Sunnybrook, a few AA sponsors looking for their sloppy- slippers, High Dollar Record Executives from both coasts, a few drunken Cajuns and me! That's right kids...I know cause I was there and I have pictures. (read more - www.TheRabbittReport.com)

The  RAB December -07 vs December 06 radio revenue numbers are out -- Local Revenue All Markets -4%; National Revenue All Markets -12%; Local & Nat'l Revenue All Markets -6%; Non-Spot Revenue All Markets 12%; Grand Total Revenue All Markets -5% (read more - RAB)

From Todd Gitlin -- I ranted to a "60 Minutes" producer that the campaign coverage was shallow, trivial, preoccupied with the evanescent ups and the electrifying downs, the insiders' moods, the rumors and gaffes, and incurious about the candidates' records, and the weight or weightlessness of their arguments, the truth and untruth of their claims, and seemingly indifferent to the stakes of the most consequential election on earth. "I know, I know," he said. "We talk constantly about how to do it better next time." That was in 1980. Seven presidentiads later, the horse race is still in play (read more - TPM Cafe)

At its recent December 2007 meeting, the Network Radio Research Council (NRRC) selected Len Klatt, Senior Vice President/Director of Research at Premiere Radio Networks, as Chair and Pamela Foster, Vice President/Director of Research at Crystal Media Networks, as Vice Chair. The NRRC was created in 2001 to promote valid, reliable and effective national radio audience measurement research

Kathy Dore, President of Canwest Broadcasting, announced today the new senior organizational structure for the company, following last week's CRTC approval of Canwest's acquisition of the broadcasting assets of Alliance Atlantis (read more - NewsWire CA)

From Happy Hare -- Mark Ramsey, the Oracle du jour in matters high tech, appeared on my SignOnRadio.com Internet radio show last week and proclaimed that everyone’s beginning to register impatience with what they are beginning to condemn as the “glacial speed” of information retrieval. In his own words, “When we train people not to have to wait, they end up not wanting to wait” (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

From David Hinckley -- Most of the 93.15 million people who watched the Super Bowl last February couldn't remember five Super Bowl games if they had to, and there's no reason they should. Unlike regular football games, this one isn't designed for people who like football. It's designed for people who want an excuse to gather around a TV set for a party in the middle of winter. It's a TV event in which football has a supporting role. Much like, say, that plate of hot wings (read more - NY Daily News)

From Tim Cuprisin -- Amy Taylor, formerly of Channel 4's morning news and WKTI-FM (94.5)'s old morning show, popped up Monday on Channel 4's hybrid talk show-infomercial "Morning Blend," filling in for vacationing Alison de Castro and under-the-weather Molly Fay. Her first guest: Gene Mueller, her former radio co-star, to talk about Sunday's Packers' loss (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From John Gorman -- Excerpt from The Buzzard: Long before non-traditional revenue was a buzzword – WMMS was reaping profit on its merchandising campaign, which included the sale of everything from T-shirts and jerseys to roach clips, scarves, jeans, and posters. And we donated the profits to regional charities. Bumper stickers were printed in the hundreds of thousands and distributed free. Costs were covered by couponing the backs of stickers (read more - John Gorman)

From Ed Bark -- Two new reporters will join Belo8's Dallas-Fort Worth news team in March, making the station "fully staffed" again, says news director Mike Valentine.  Jason Whitely is from KHOU-TV in Houston and Jonathan Betz arrives from WWL-TV in New Orleans (read more - Uncle Barky)

From Direct Streaming Digest -- The underlying themes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month were digital, mobile, wireless, and small. That’s where the electronics revolution is headed, and that’s
what was on display in aisle after aisle of exhibits on the floor.  In keeping with the mobile theme, this month we take a look at wireless technology, WiFi radios, cellular technology, and portable HD receivers -- as well as a host of other issues of critical importance in the digital media universe (read more - Direct Streaming Digest - PDF)

Envision Radio Networks adds KWDQ-FM Woodward, OK as the newest affiliate of Paul Shaffer’s Day in Rock

Panos South Asia is organising a five-day South Asian regional ‘Online Radio Broadcasting Training Workshop’ for media and other communication practitioners in South Asia, from March 17-21, 2008 at its Media Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal (read more - Media for Freedom)

The Grand Ole Opry has inducted country star Charlie Daniels as a member (read more - Nashville Biz Journal)  (read more - The Tennessean)

Monday January 21, 2008

From Susan Tarr -- I first began to smell a rat last fall, when all of a sudden, favorite radio personalities completely disappeared. Instead, all I heard was “Coming soon, the New Majic!” (Spelled with a “j.”) I mistakenly believed all my old friends would be back, and business would continue as usual with only a few minor changes. I was never more wrong, or more disappointed. On that infamous morning, what I heard was a “canned” announcer welcoming me to the New Majic. Huh? Where was Marty's Wake Up Party, and everyone and everything else familiar that I enjoyed? On the weekend, it was exactly the same. No Kasey Kasem. All the music, all the programming I knew, anticipated and expected each morning and throughout the day and night - GONE! (read more - Titusville Herald)

Rick and Sherri Burgess (The Rick and Bubba Show)  lost their three year old son Bronner Saturday evening in an accidental drowning in the family pool. Rick was away in Tennessee speaking at a teen retreat/seminar when he received the news and immediately returned home. Bronner is the youngest of Rick’s five children  (read more - Huntsville Times)  (e-mail condolences to Rick and his family at rickandbubba@syndicatedsolutions.com)

From Mark Ramsey -- FlyTunes: The thing you guys need to understand is that just as music has been untethered from CD's, radio will be untethered from radio stations. This is the most important lesson I can give you. And once you break radio away from radio towers and the stations that serve them, almost anybody can build a "station" and almost anybody can be a radio industry competitor - especially if music is primarily what you're about. All you need is distribution (and perhaps a touch more simplicity) (read more - Hear 2.0)

From John Christofferson -- Ratings soared when WZMX-FM Hot 93.7 switched from "dancing oldies" to an edgier hip hop, but behind the on-air banter racial tensions were rising among the stars at the Farmington radio station. Wendell "JD" Houston, the show's black host, says a figure depicting the lynching of a black man was left dangling from his microphone and racist posters were hung at the station (read more - Newsday)

From Tom Dorsey -- Bill O'Reilly, Larry King and Lou Dobbs are household names these days. In some cable households anyway. On the other hand, if you look at the top-10 most-watched cable shows week after week, you would see that a lot more people are watching "Hannah Montana" or "SpongeBob SquarePants" than O'Reilly, whose program heads the list of the most popular news and comment shows on cable. The top-10 cable networks for 2007 were Disney, USA, TNT, ESPN, TBS, Lifetime, Fox News, A&E, Cartoon Network and Nick at Nite, according to The Hollywood Reporter (read more - Louisville Courier-Journal)

From Mike Austerman -- Among men, ages 25-54, WXYT finished a strong second overall. The move to FM seems to have paid off with many new listeners at least sampling the offering — the question now is will those listeners stick around? New operations manager Tom Bigby will be tasked with keeping those ears — and he has at least one fan in town. Former rock W4 program director Donald Schuster writes, “Tom, in my opinion, was one of the best disc jockeys ever in Detroit. He was here in the WXYZ 1270 Radio 1970’s era which (also) included Dick Purtan, Johnny Randall and Joe Sasso. I remember him well as one of my favorites” (read more - MichiGuide)

From W. Scott Bailey -- BMP Radio cut its teeth as a Houston-based company. Late last year, it named Jeff Hinson CEO. And while the company is now technically based out of Dallas, San Antonio is its largest broadcast market and key to some of its big-picture plans. "This company is expanding rapidly," says Mark Landis, director of English stations for BMP Radio San Antonio. "It's going to be huge" (read more - San Antonio Biz Journal)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- Today is the commemoration of Martin Luther King's birthday. In our lifetime we can count on the fingers of only one hand those who have meant more to our society. Yet we feel it more appropriate to honor such icons with a day off and 50% off sales at the mall. In the radio industry, we suffer from a similar abuse. While some stations commit themselves to add meaning to the King holiday, it's often no more than another day for an industry that would be better off if it actually translated King's message to help a troubled industry. How so? (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Layron Livingston -- Tyler's Caldwell Auditorium was completely sold out, Sunday night, as fans squeezed in to see Nephew Tommy from the Steve Harvey Morning Show perform (read more - KLTV 7)

From Howard Kurtz -- Every presidential campaign is constantly calculating whether journalists are potential allies or incorrigible foes. The media are a great -- and dirt-cheap -- vehicle for carrying a candidate's message, but submitting to questioning also carries the risk of being thrown on the defensive, as Mitt Romney learned in a tense exchange with Associated Press veteran Glen Johnson last week over the role of lobbyists in his campaign (read more - Washington Post)

From Washington PA Observer-Reporter -- WSHH is the winner of radio's 2007 Christmas music marathon. The station landed in a third-place tie (with WDSY) in the fall Arbitron rating, thanks largely to its all-Christmas format in November-December. Pittsburgh's other all-Christmas formatted station, WJAS, was sixth, but had about two thirds of the audience of its competitor (read more)

From Nathaniel Shockey -- Michael Savage, the occasionally loud, usually offensive radio personality who is deliberately ignored by every major media outlet in America, is the sort of person you’d be better off knowing about. Michael Savage has found an incredibly unlikely and probably impermanent niche in American political discussion. For one, the mainstream media completely ignores him. Even Fox News wants nothing to do with Savage or his paltry 10-million-listeners-per-week radio show. Hannity, O’Reilly and Limbaugh all leave him alone because they’re afraid to mess with their shared audience (read more - North Star Writers Group)

From Fred Jacobs -- “If it's the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?” - Robin Williams -- Arbitron is probably asking the same question, as it is becoming more and more difficult to track Americans on their phones in a rapidly changing telecommunications environment (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Rush & Molloy -- Not everybody is happy that Oprah Winfrey has given Rabbi Shmuley Boteach his own show on her XM radio channel, Oprah and Friends, starting Jan. 28. They question how Oprah, Barack Obama's most famous backer, could give the coveted slot to Rabbi Shmuley, a Rudolph Giuliani booster (read more - NY Daily News)

From Steve Tarter -- The leader in the fall book is country station WXCL-FM 104.9, known as the Wolf. Testimony once again to the appeal of country music in these parts (the format fills two of the top five spots in the rating book). Heavy promotion and steady growth appear to have paid off for this pack (read more - Peoria Journal-Star)

From Claude Hall -- I consider myself very lucky. For I have lived out most of my daydreams. Most people never get the
chance. Especially old boys born in a town like Brady, Texas, and raised in a town like Winters, Texas + e-mail from Jim Hampton: I convinced Ken Draper to sit down and do a 3-hour recorded interview the other day. We talked about his days in Davenport, then the Cleveland era with Westinghouse, then the Chicago days and WCFL (chickenman, barney pip, rob britain, stagg, sebastian, lujack), the KFWB years, and the consulting years. I plan on turning this into a 3-part program interspersed with airchecks, jingles and comments from the many who worked with him. I would like to run this on reelradio.com and possibly NPR +   (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

From Mel Phillips -- We lost some good people before their time over the weekend. In sports, Ernie Holmes of the Pittsburgh Steelers and St. Louis Rams owner Georgia Frontiere. In Show Business, Suzanne Pleshette of TV's "Newhart Show" and veteran actor ('The Phil Silvers Show', 'All In The Family' and 'The Brady Bunch') Allan Melvin (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Chris Welch -- WHRP-FM 93.3 changed to The WOLF 93.3 FM, a country station that's stepped up to try and challenge country giant 102.1 WDRM-FM, which has dominated this radio market since 1987 (read more - Huntsville Times)

From Page Six -- Former CBS "Early Show" host Mark McEwen minces no words in his new memoir about the massive stroke he suffered in 2005. "When I woke up from a coma days later, the room was filled with next of kin . . . gathered to say goodbye," McEwen writes in "Change in the Weather," out in May. "I couldn't walk or swallow. I could hardly speak. I could hardly move" (read more - NY Post)

From Keith Barnes -- Before the puck is ever dropped on a hockey night in Pittsburgh, Penguins radio play-by-play man Mike Lange goes through a lengthy routine that includes going to the morning skate and a thorough review of the notes handed out by every team. It might seem like a lot of preparation for a three-hour broadcast, but most fans of Lange's effortless delivery would agree it's worth it (read more - Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

From Tommy Kramer -- The most important decision a movie director makes when he’s about to film a scene is where to put the camera. The placement of the camera decides how the story will be told. If you and I are talking, does the director show both of us? Or just me, making my point? Or just you, reacting to what you hear me say, but I’m not in the frame? Great air talents get beyond all the formatic stuff. They become proficient at delivering the station’s name, vary their energy level according to the music being played, plan a show to be interesting, entertaining, and balanced in terms of information and other content, etc (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

From John Plunkett -- Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac has landed her first daytime slot on the station, taking over Sara Cox's weekend afternoon show while Cox is on maternity leave(read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

From Boston Globe -- It's a pain managing a list of Internet radio stations on a PC, as if they were tracks in an iTunes library. Enter the Daisy, from Intempo www.intempodigital.com a sleek-looking Internet radio equipped with a WiFi chip and a microprocessor from a company called CSR www.csr.com (read more)

A raging fire Sunday morning destroyed the building housing the TV studios of KREX-TV and KFQX-TV, knocking CBS and Fox signals off the air (read more - Rocky Mountain News)  (read more - Denver Post)

From Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points" -- (Update on O'Reilly's statement that there are no homeless veterans in America) -- If you earn less than $10,000, you are poor. If a family of four earns less than $21,000, they are poor. Yet according to the government census, poor households in America have lots of stuff. Ninety-seven percent have a color TV, 78 percent a DVD player, 80 percent an air conditioner, 73 percent a car or truck, 63 percent cable or satellite TV, and 43 percent of poor households in the USA own the home they are living in. So if the poor are not destitute in America, and they obviously are not, why are so many veterans sleeping under bridges, John Edwards? The answer again is they're mostly addicted or mentally ill. It has nothing to do with the economy (read more - Fox News)

From Bi Mingxin -- More than 3,000 advertisements judged to be sexually suggestive or plain false had been revised or removed from television and radio broadcast across China by the end of last year, the broadcasting watchdog said on Friday (read more - China View CN)

B97.1-FM has added Jason King to afternoon drive beginning Monday (read more - Huntington WV Herald-Dispatch)

From Don Kaplan -- Dr. Phil, who is reportedly under investigation by the California Board of Psychology for practicing without a license in Britney Spears' latest flipout, may be off the hook - McGraw is also not licensed to practice psychology in Texas, his home state, because of disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists in 1989. A former therapy client had filed a complaint against him, claiming their relationship was inappropriate. He later admitted giving her a job but denied touching her (read more - NY Post)

From Lenny Ann Low -- The beginning of radio's first 2008 ratings period last week heralded one of the most sweeping presenter reshuffles in recent times. In the morning and breakfast shifts alone, former Herald journalist Deborah Cameron replaced Virginia Trioli on 702 ABC's morning show while, at 2UE, Steve Price took over John Laws's esteemed slot and Sandy Aloisi filled Peter FitzSimons's seat opposite Mike Carlton. Former Triple J presenter Myf Warhurst joined Peter Helliar at Triple M, Logie-winning soapie star Kate Ritchie took Sami Lukis's place on Merrick and Rosso's breakfast show on Nova and show business and television personalities Sonia Kruger and Todd McKenney replaced Sammy Power and Subby Valentine as Mix 106.5's breakfast team (read more - Sydney Morning Herald AU)

Ken Merson - The Merson Person - has launched "Merson Person Voice Tracks" with charter clients Entercom's Classic Hits WOLX in Madison and sister station Rhythmic AC SNAP 94.1 in Memphis (visit Merson Person Voice Tracks)

From Mark Washburn -- When Boomer Von Cannon launched his "WBT Time Machine" show Dec. 29, he wasn't expecting much in the way of response. WBT-AM (1110) abandoned music years ago in favor of talk radio, and the widely held industry view is that oldies music is a dead format. But no oldies show is right without inviting listeners to call in with requests and dedications, so he gave it a spin. He quickly found out that within the reach of WBT's 50,000-watt signal, audible from Montreal to Miami, there are plenty of people who would disagree with the industry's conventional wisdom. (read more - Charlotte Observer)

From Russ Corey -- Despite the growing popularity of the Internet as a means of distributing recorded music, radio still plays a major role in helping listeners discover new artists. Radio is no different from many businesses that are experiencing changes in the digital age, said Brian Rickman, programming director for URBan Radio Group in Tuscumbia (read more -Muscle Shoals-Florence Times Daily)

WCBS-FM (101.1) launched "Saturday Night '70s Show" hosted by "Brooklyn's Own" Joe Causi. It runs 7-midnight and features the range of music of that often-maligned decade, from disco to Billy Joel to country-rock (read more - NY Daily News)

From Mark Ramsey -- One of the lessons of Arbitron's PPM, some broadcasters tell me, is that we should strip away the positioning lines from our stations. Presumably, this is not because we have spent decades lacing our programming with phrases that are trite and meaningless - or even redundant. Although we have. Rather, the argument goes, it is because the PPM shows very little tolerance for non-music content on any stations which are all about music, so cut-cut and snip-snip (read more - Hear 2.0)

From Robert Morast -- As South Dakota prepares for the death of analog television signals - for those counting down, they die Feb. 17, 2009 - another old guard form of media is getting fitted for the digital age. Later this spring, South Dakota Public Broadcasting will install its first HD or digital radio signal in Sioux Falls when the 90.9 KCSD affiliate upgrades its tower (read more - Sioux Falls Argus Leader)

From Holly Meyer -- Nicole Churchill will find out Monday whether her dream of having her father and stepfather walk her down the aisle on her wedding day will come true. After St. Louis radio station Y98 calls the winning couple, they will have five hours to claim their mega-wedding (read more - Belleville News-Democrat)

From William Wright -- Steve Hartline became the new owner of WCLE 104.01 FM and WCLE 1570 AM , making him that rare exception of a locally owned and operated station (read more - Cleveland Daily Banner)

WFAN's Craig Carton lost a bet on the Dallas Cowboys - NY Giants game to Boomer Esiason and had to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge wearing a Speedo (Photo source: WFAN) (view more photos - WFAN)  (read more - Christina Boyle - NY Daily News)

ARBitron numbers for Seattle-Tacoma   Portland OR   Puerto Rico   Colorado Springs   Denver-Boulder   Columbus OH   Fresno  (read 'em)

Radio broadcasters are hustling for a bigger piece of the record $3 billion pot of political campaign dollars. Mike Walsh, the president of Interep Radio Sales, a national ad sales company representing about 1,200 stations, said his firm is for the first time aligning itself with political consultants who shape media strategies for candidates (read more - CNN Money)

Macon city officials are putting their 6-month-old AM radio station on the market to recoup part of the $120,000 spent on the project (read more - Macon Telegraph)

Talk show host Ed Shultz will be a keynote speaker at The Conclave's 2008 Learning Conference June 26-28 in Minneapolis

Kaki Hinton, Executive Vice President, Managing Director at MPG, will deliver the Katz Media Group luncheon keynote, Motivating Today’s Retail Consumer, on Tuesday, February 12 during RAB2008 at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta (read more - RAB)

NPR Health Policy Correspondent Julie Rovner is this year's featured speaker for West Virginia Public Broadcasting's annual dinner, 6 p.m. on February 7 at Embassy Suites in Charleston (read more - Herald Dispatch)

From Katie Maurer -- Paul Maassen resigns as GM of WYSO-FM 91.3 after accepting a GM position with WWNO-FM 89.9, a public radio station in New Orleans (read more - Dayton Biz Journal)

Greater Media Philadelphia names Don Gosselin as Program Director at Adult Hits WBEN-FM

Friday January 18, 2008

From Jerry Del Colliano -- There is a controversy brewing in the industry and on the major boards such as Radio-Info about how the R&R Talk Conference has rescinded its planned Lifetime Achievement Award to Bob Grant -- the always and still equal opportunity offender that he is. In the interest of full disclosure, I know Bob Grant from his Philly talker days and I've always liked him as a person. I never let his views affect me for one minute on that. R&R is feeling the heat from minority interests who consider Grant a racist. I feel their pain (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Page Six -- Bob Grant is getting the last laugh on the pantywaists at the trade magazine Radio & Records who withdrew a lifetime achievement award they'd planned to give him, saying incendiary comments he'd made on the air over the years "contradict our values." The award will now be bestowed on the 78-year-old talk-show legend by WABC, which airs his show (read more - NY Post)

From Howard Kurtz -- Under pressure from feminist groups and his own bosses at MSNBC, Chris Matthews apologized yesterday for remarks about Hillary Clinton that he now admits sounded "nasty." For 10 days, the "Hardball" host had doggedly insisted he was just reciting a bit of history when he said on the air that "the reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around" (read more - Washington Post)

From Paul R. La Monica -- Investors were betting at the end of last year that a deal would be approved, but as each day goes by without any news from Washington, doubts grow about whether Sirius and XM will be allowed to merge. To be sure, the uncertainty in Washington is not the only thing weighing on the shares of the two companies. Bleak economic readings have sparked recession fears. And since both companies depend heavily on auto sales for new subscribers, it stands to reason that a pullback in consumer spending could curb growth for Sirius and XM. But as I wrote late last year, I still think the deal will probably go through (read more - CNN Money)

From Rick Aristotle Munarriz -- XM and Sirius are waiting on more than just the FCC. The deal also has to get the Justice Department's blessing. That may actually be the trickier part of the approval process, because many watchers believe that (Kevin) Martin began warming up to the deal after XM and Sirius agreed to introduce lower-priced a la carte programming to subscribers. I have always felt that the snail-like pace of regulation works in the deal's best interest. A year ago, XM and Sirius may have seemed like a duopoly trying to become a monopoly. That's laughable today, with more automakers installing iPod jacks, HD Radio receivers, and even hard drives that store MP3s in new models (read more - Motley Fool)

ARBitron numbers for Atlanta, Charlotte-Gastonia, Gainesville-Ocala, Killeen-Temple, Miami-Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, Sarasota-Braden, Tyler-Longview  and West Palm Beach-Boca Raton (read 'em)

From Gary Lycan -- After 20 years on local radio, it seems as if they have always been on a first-name basis with us. Like them or hate them, their activist-style afternoon drive radio program perfectly mirrors the KFI/640 AM vision of "more stimulating talk radio" (read more - Orange County Register)

From Robert Feder -- To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Joel Weisman show on WTTW-Channel 11, the Window to the World Communications station will air a one-hour special at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Michael Levenson --  In the wide-open Republican presidential contest, Mitt Romney boasts an influential fan who has the ear of millions of voters. Rush Limbaugh, the cigar-chomping conservative stalwart, has been on a tear over the last few weeks, talking up Romney and taking whacks at John McCain and Mike Huckabee. And in a race where no candidate has been able to unify the base of the Republican Party, Limbaugh's chatter matters (read more - Boston Globe)

From Richard Huff -- It's bad news for WCBS/Channel 2 anchor Steve Bartelstein - he's just finished four rounds of butt-kicking chemotherapy to learn the treatment has not helped in his battle with testicular cancer (read more - NY Daily News)

From Barbara Shecter -- Mid-sized media companies and those hoping to sell shares to the public are likely to take the hardest hits from new regulations unveiled this week by The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that limit media consolidation and cross-ownership of TV, radio and newspapers (read more - Financial Post CA)

From Kent Burkhart -- One of the fun characters I have met during my career is Rex Rand. Rex owned two radio stations - WINZ (by the sea) in Miami - and WINQ in Tampa (which I believe was a daytimer). I had heard of the flamboyant life style of Rex for many years before we were introduced. He was a very sophisticated, well dressed person. He grew up in the United Kingdom and all of the normal English polish was very much in his smiling personality. During World War Two he was a pilot for the RAF in England - (decorated I heard). After the War he moved to the US and settled in south Florida - with not much money in his pocket. As the story goes he met a woman who owned WINZ. He charmed her into letting him become General Manager of the station (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

From Lee Abrams -- There has always been music - but in 1955, it all changed, there was ROCK N ROLL which went far beyond “music”. AND here in 2008,—there has always been news/information and some form of technology, but the opportunity is to do to information and technology what Rock n Roll did to Music is what's moving the meter. It's all been happening for awhile now. But from a brainpower and innovation viewpoint, Rock n Roll looks backwards. The vision is on information and technology. And it's probable that Rock n Roll’s inventive/world changing days are behind. NOW---That doesn't mean its dead—in fact it’s very much alive, but I think the magic of Rock n Roll in the 21st century is all about immersing ourselves in its deep and unbelievably rich history (read more - Lee Abrams)

TheRadio.Com launches "Get My Party Started", a contemporary music channel with a playlist that features the party hits from the '60s to the '80s

From Rem Rieder -- The media's addiction to polls and to predicting the future is obviously not new. Critics have railed against it for years. The compulsion to be ahead of the game even caused the television networks to make the wrong call on the 2000 presidential election (see "How They Blew It," January/February 2001). You'd think that humiliation was so huge that it would serve as a cautionary whale (hat tip to "Juno" for that great line) as well as a cautionary tale for the political punditocracy. But no. The media's New Hampshire fiasco was more, much more, than yet another major embarrassment (read more - American Journalism Review)

From Brett Grassmuck -- Hawaii native and WhoDaGuyHawaii.com's Ron Jacobs might not know exactly where he’ll end up, but you can rest assured that each and every Sunday he will be somewhere that will allow him to follow the Rams as he has for the past 40 years (read more - St Louis Rams)

Tom Chiusano of K-Rock 92.3 FM will be stepping down from his position as Vice President and General Manager of New York’s leading rock station at the end of January but will continue to work for the station in a consultancy role. Some observers believe that Tom Chiusano's departure can be considered one more casualty of Howard Stern's defection to satellite radio at the end of 2005 (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

From John Gorman -- I propose we hire a guardian to protect Merchant of Doom Peter “Sgt. Bilk-o” Ferrara from himself. The poor guy needs it. He’s not only doing permanent damage to his own reputation, he’s damaging an entire industry. His HD Radio Alliance spread the rumor – why I don’t know when he had to know it would have an extremely short shelf life – that Steve Jobs approved the manufacturing of an Apple boom box, which would include an HD Radio (read more - John Gorman)

From NY Daily News -- Wall Street's five biggest firms are paying a record $39 billion in bonuses for 2007. It was a year when three of the firms suffered their worst quarterly losses in history and shareholders lost over $80 billion. The firms have said they are eliminating at least 6,200 jobs amid mounting losses from the subprime mortgage mess.  "To many people, it will be shocking and questionable," said Jeanne Branthover, managing director of Boyden Global Executive Search in New York (read more - NY Daily News)

Steve Warren, CEO of Music 1, says the company has released "the next evolution of the company’s music scheduling software." Music 1 version 6 includes its own built-in audio player function. In addition to allowing a music director to click and hear any song in the library at any time, the new Music 1 can also “play the hooks” of the songs (read more - view the video demos)

Spanish Broadcasting System reveals that El Gangster and Funky Joe are revolutionizing radio programming with a new multimedia experience; “El Circo”. The new radio show experience is staged within a TV Studio and features high definition cameras, streaming video and audio live - via the Internet will air Monday through Friday on WMEG-FM and WEGM-FM - LA MEGA 106.9 FM in the metro area and 95.1 FM in Mayagüez

The Wendy Williams Experience, a daily four-hour Westwood One syndicated program hosted by the “Queen of Urban Radio”, Wendy Williams, debuts February 4th, airing on KDAY-FM for the first time in Los Angeles

The Conclave is kicking-off the 2008 scholarship application drive for the broadcast scholarships & music business scholarship given annually to three nationally recognized educational institutions, offering scholarships valued at more than $61,000

ABC Radio Networks En Español today announced that Tu Vida Es Mi Vida (My Life is Your Life), hosted by motivational speaker and writer Maria Marin, will add Spanish Broadcasting Systems’ WPAT-FM 93.1 in New York to its growing list of syndicated affiliates. The show will launch in New York on January 20 and air Sundays from 9-11 p.m. ET

From David Barron -- Jim Nantz has been named for the third time as national sportscaster of the year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Nantz also won the award in 1998 and 2005 (read more - Houston Chronicle)

Fox Sports Radio Network has a couple of new affiliates: News-Talk KHBZ-AM 990 in Honolulu, Hawaii and KEZX-AM 730 in Medford, Oregon

From Jacobs Media -- In a televised special last year, Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels said, “If you’re not about what people are thinking about that week, then I think you don’t have any relevance.” Our friends at Nielsen recently released their year-end look at the top trends in the U.S., I thought I’d highlight a few to illustrate what Americans were about last year, while giving us clues to ’08 trends (read more - Jacobs Media)

This weekend, Bob Costas interviews Cris Collinsworth - NBC’s Sunday Night Football studio analyst, HBO’s Inside the NFL host and NFL Network analyst and Selena Roberts - Sports Illustrated senior writer, former New York Times sports columnist on his Costas on the Radio show

From Mel Phillips -- At first sight of the Time Warner Cable "testing" headline, I said, "whoa, what's going on here?" and for sure I wasn't alone. If you're one of 7.4 million TWC subscribers you had the same reaction. Under the second quarter experiment to be conducted in Beaumont, Texas (do they have cable there? They still sell 8-tracks in Texas) TWC will offer customers tier service based on users' downloaded data per month (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Brian Steinberg and Jean Halliday  -- Hyundai has decided to run ads in the Super Bowl, backtracking from an earlier report it would not (read more - Ad Age)

From Kevin Ross -- Everybody is talking about Steve Harvey getting rid of that 1982 Helmet - He's featured on the cover - without hair - in this week's Jet magazine (read more - Radio Facts)

Graveline and the "Into Tomorrow" team are on location from the International CES, the BIG Consumer Electronics Show this weekend for Part 2 of 3 CES specials (visit www.graveline.com)

From Kurt Hanson -- The market size for both streaming audio and video advertising is estimated at $990.3 million in 2006, up 128% over $433 million billed in 2005 - The market is forecast to grow by 40% in 2007 to $1.38 billion - Internet radio gross ad billings are forecast to reach $66.4 million in 2007, up by 60% over 2006 (read more - RAIN)

From Jon Lafayette -- A day after NBC touted its NBC Everywhere place-based digital video capabilities to ad buyers, CBS has inked deals to expand out-of-home ad business (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

Thursday January 17, 2008

From David Hinckley -- Supporters of Bob Grant Wednesday expressed fury at the decision by trade magazine Radio & Records to withdraw a Lifetime Achievement Award it had planned to give the often-controversial talk host in March - R&R was blasted on the air by several hosts Wednesday, including Sean Hannity, and Phil Boyce said some radio colleagues had suggested a boycott of the R&R convention, set for mid-March in Washington (read more - NY Daily News)

From Bill Virgin -- Unfortunately, few people outside the FCC's five members know exactly what it was the commission approved Dec. 18 regarding local content and operation of radio and television stations. The FCC hasn't yet posted the findings of its report on localism or details of its proposed rule-making notice on its Web site; the only clues are in the FCC's own vague news release and the official statements from the commissioners themselves (read more - Seattle PI)

From Julio Ojeda-Zapata -- Radio has quietly gone digital as Twin Cities stations update their gear to transmit clear CD-like music, and even create secondary "channels" with fresh content. But consumers haven't exactly been stampeding to electronics stores for the new HD Radio sets that are required to tune in the digital signals. Can Apple Inc. and its much-ballyhooed "iPod halo effect" help goose radio sales? (read more - St Paul Pioneer Press)

From David Hinckley -- Luis Jiménez, who in 14 years as morning co-host at WSKQ (97.9 FM) helped make La Mega the city's defining Hispanic radio brand, cracks the morning mike today at rival WCAA (105.9 FM), which is paying him a reported $5 million a year to help break WSKQ's dominance (read more - NY Daily News)

From Robert Feder -- It's hard to believe eight years have passed since Eddie Webb last hosted afternoons on classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9). Now that he's back on the Loop, it's as if the veteran rock jock never left. If anything, he sounds happier than ever (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Tim Cuprisin -- Janet "Lady J" Gering, who hosted the "Blues Drive" program Thursdays on WMSE-FM (91.7) for nearly a dozen years, died over the weekend after a long battle with cancer. The 46-year-old Gering did her final show Dec. 20, when she told listeners she couldn't continue (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From Mark Ramsey -- Joseph Jaffe: "Only 30% of the US market have even heard of podcasting, but you know what? It’s a storm that is coming. Soon every single new car will have a neat little spot to plug in your iPod or your MP3 player, and those MP3 players will be WiFi-enabled. And suddenly people will be calling in live to podcasts as they’re being produced through the power of WiFi. And when that happens, the radio industry could lose. The radio industry could lose on so many different levels: On the level of content, on the level of commercials and clutter, on the level of control, on the level of community; I can keep going on and on and on. So my message to the radio industry is, “Get your head out of the sand and innovate or you will die” (read more - Hear 2.0)

HipCricket says that KNBC, WTMJ-AM, WTMJ-TV, and WKTI-FM have embraced their mobile marketing platform to deliver important and personalized information to their listeners and viewers (read more - BusinessWire)

Rush Limbaugh touts himself – mostly in jest – as having “talent on loan from God” and credits that talent for his huge listenership and dominant perch atop the world of talk radio in America, but an extensive five–month polling and research project by Zogby International and the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School shows his popularity may have more to do with pre–set beliefs in the minds of his listeners than with his presentation skills (read more - Cherry Creek News)

From Erika Engle -- KPOI-FM 105.9 afternoon drive DJ Dave Lawrence has left the building. He was not on the air yesterday and his image was removed from the station Web site. "He is no longer employed at KPOI or at Visionary Related Entertainment," said John Aeto, general manager of Visionary's Oahu stations (read more - Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

ARBitron numbers for Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis, Tampa-St Pete, Buffalo, Rochester, Beaumont-Port Arthur and Lima OH (read 'em) 

From Richard Huff -- Fox News' Shepard Smith is being added to Fox Broadcasting's Super Bowl pre-game lineup + WNYW/Ch. 5's Mike Woods and WWOR/Ch. 9's Mike Gilliam receive Excellence in Media Broadcast Awards today at the Annual Salute to Professional People of Color from the Professionals Network Organization (read more - NY Daily News)

From Rob Davis -- The San Diego Union-Tribune laid off 27 employees Tuesday afternoon, including at least five newsroom staffers, the latest cut in a company that has reduced its workforce by 10 percent in the past month (read more - Voice of San Diego)

In observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, SIRIUS Satellite Radio will broadcast special programming across talk and music channels to honor the legacy and contributions of Dr. King (read more - CNN Money)

From Matthew Flamm -- WKTU-FM's new morning show with New York radio veteran Paul "Cubby" Bryant debuted this week, and listeners could be forgiven if they got it confused with the show it replaced (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- A week or so ago I mentioned I had an idea for building a killer morning show. The theory being -- terrestrial radio is not likely to attract new young listeners but if it snags more listening from the available audience in the mornings then it will ring the cash register. Radio stations are fighting the first effects of a recession and fighting themselves at the same time. There is little they can do about the economic downturn, but there is a lot they can do about maximizing free cash flow (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Page Six -- Dick Cavett doesn't have much sympathy for today's coddled late-night talk-show hosts, who need teams of writers to be funny. At Julian Schnabel's show at the Sperone Westwater Gallery, Cavett told Webster Hall's Baird Jones, "Back in the day, we had real men who could do five 90-minute shows a week. I realized the other day that no one has done that in a very long time (read more - NY Post)

Harvey Nagler, Vice President, Radio, CBS News, says that, for the first time, CBS News will offer its affiliates continuous coverage of the latest news and results on Tuesday, Feb. 5, beginning at 8:00 PM, ET, through midnight

From Mel Phillips -- Should the 50th 'Grammy Awards' be cancelled on February 10th or should there be an inferior representation of artists or heaven forbid, a 'Globe Awards' like presentation of awards announced from a podium, the biggest loser will be the record industry. The awards are little more than a stroke for the artists but a cancelled or scaled-back awards show will impact record sales, something not needed in a dying industry (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Ed Bouchette -- Former Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope remains in a local hospital with little change in his condition or prognosis since he was admitted in late November. Cope, who turns 79 Jan. 23, has battled various health ailments the past year including recurring cases of pneumonia. He has been in the hospital's intensive care unit (read more - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

From Bill O'Reilly Transcripts -- BILL O'REILLY, HOST: We begin our special report this evening by welcoming Melanie Morgan, a conservative host on KSFO in San Francisco. All right, Melanie. What are the rules? Let's start with personal attacks on candidates. Legitimate in talk radio? MELANIE MORGAN, KSFO RADIO HOST: Well, I think that absolutely in talk radio personal attacks for one person is just a sharp division in comparison of positions for another. It's all in the eye of the beholder. O'REILLY: Well, let me shoot that down. Let me shoot that down. Hillary Clinton has been derided on some right-wing talk radio stations as being unattractive. They have made fun of her body, and I don't know how that could be legitimately considered anything other than a personal attack. Do you? MORGAN: It is a personal attack for some people. For instance...
O'REILLY: For some people, Melanie? Who wouldn't it be a personal attack for? MORGAN: Look, I've been attacked for my looks repeatedly on television. O'REILLY: But you're good looking
(read more - Fox News)

From Bill O'Reilly Transcripts -- BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Continuing now with this "Factor" special on how talk radio is handling the presidential race. Joining us now from Fargo, North Dakota, where the temperature is around zero, is syndicated liberal radio talk show guy Ed Schultz. All right, so you heard the conversation I had with Melanie, and I'm going to ask you the same question. Where's the line, or is there a line at all in your presentation, or does anything go? ED SCHULTZ, SYNDICATED RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, you know, I heard your discussion, Bill, and I think that you have to be sensitive to your listeners. And the debate in the country is they're sick and tired of the personal insults, at least my listeners are. You know, they want the facts, they want fairness, they want accuracy, and they want good discussion (read more - Fox News)

From Randy Dotinga -- Two decades after it first appeared on the radio dial, the idea of "smooth jazz" still makes some critics titter. The name makes them think of elevator music, Kenny G and hordes of zoned-out yuppies listening to New Age instrumental concerts. Don't laugh. After some tinkering over the years, smooth jazz is one of the strongest music formats in the radio world. And the highest-rated smooth-jazz station in the country is right here in San D (read more - NC Times)

From Keith Olbermann -- In a Fox News "Factor" segment with talk show host Ed Schultz, Bill O'Reilly denied that homeless veterans exist. "We're still looking for all the veterans sleeping under the bridges.  If you find one, you call me immediately and we'll make sure that veteran does not do that"(view the video - MSNBC)

From Murphy Martin -- The loss to the Giants did hurt. The Cowboys are a better team than they showed Sunday. And, we imagine there are days reporter-coaches write better stories than other days. And would-be Howard Cosell broadcasters will fall way short of Cosell's work- but they will keep trying with ranting controversy and calling someone "Doofus". And don't be surprised when Wade Phillips keeps on coaching - and winning!  (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

From NY Daily News -- Further leaving its alternative rock format in the dust, WLIR-FM 107.1 on Monday will begin broadcasting sport talk full time

From John Gorman -- There have been many legendary radio wars over the years but few had the intensity of the war between WMMS and WGCL in 1984.In most cities radio wars were anti-climatic; fought on the platform of who could give away the most money or cars – with scant attention paid to the programming quality of the radio stations. Cleveland was atypical. Our radio wars were fought with programming quality and cunning promotional maneuvers. The real winners were our listeners because they were got to hear and witness the end result (read more - John Gorman)  (read more - Carl E. Feather - Star-Beacon)

On Friday, Jan. 18 at 12:00 noon ET, Craig Carton, co-host of WFAN’s morning show,will carry out his end of a bargain made with radio partner, Boomer Esiason. Carton, who believed the Giants would lose to the Dallas Cowboys in their NFC Divisional Playoff game, offered to humiliate himself in front of listeners and passerby if the famed New York team won. The Giants thrilling win leaves Carton in the unfortunate position of walking across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan wearing nothing but a Giants jersey and a Speedo, holding a sign reading “Any Given Sunday”

NETIA says that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will be using the company's U-Share as a solution for streamlining distribution of non-same-day periodic content, and for the exchange of non-critical files for standard use at ABC Radio stations

Envision Radio Networks’ The Rockin’ ‘80s adds new affiliates KKRQ-FM Cedar Rapids, IA and KMGI-FM/ Idaho Falls, ID

From Mark Darden -- KCFR, Colorado Public Radio's news-and-information channel, is moving back to the high-fidelity FM band with the purchase of a new frequency for the station (read more - Denver Biz Journal)

From Robert Kahn -- In Broadway's "The Farnsworth Invention," broadcasting pioneer David Sarnoff is celebrated as the earliest and most fervent backer of a new technology: television. Long before popularizing the small screen, though, Sarnoff - who founded the National Broadcasting Company and headed its parent, RCA - brought radio to the masses, using Suffolk County as a hub for the world's most mammoth wireless network. This was when "wireless" was synonymous with radio, not cell phones or BlackBerries (read more - Newsday)

From Bill O'Reilly -- On my program "The Radio Factor" we do not endorse candidates, and we criticize all of them. Even when we disagree with candidates, we treat them fairly. You saw that last night when NBC News distorted Bill Clinton's "fairy tale" remark. We called them on it, even though Hillary Clinton is not exactly a big fan of mine. There is no question that President Bush benefited from talk radio, and Bill Clinton overcame talk radio in their presidential campaigns. So this year, anything could happen (read more - Fox News)

From Laura Nachman -- As Howard Stern celebrates his second year on Sirius satellite radio, WYSP 94.1-FM, the Philly station that fell apart after his departure continues to try to pick up the pieces as it announced more changes to its new all-rock lineup (read more - www.LauraNachman.net)

Wednesday January 16, 2008

From David Hinckley -- No station has been more wary of Arbitron's new Personal People Meter (PPM) audience measurement system than WBLS (107.5 FM), whose numbers plummeted in Arbitron's first New York PPM reports - But Deon Levingston, WBLS general manager, says no one is rooting harder for Arbitron "to get it right" with PPM (read more - NY Daily News)

From Hearne Christopher, Jr -- “The KY call letters will become KBLV on Jan. 18,” says owner and Entercom KC main man Dave Alpert. “We’re picking out the new air personalities right now, we’re listening to tapes. But we just want people to listen to the music for the rest of the month” (read more - KC Star)

From Barbara Shecter -- Canada's broadcast regulator has unveiled a new policy restricting private broadcasters from controlling more than two types of media in the same market - radio stations, television stations and newspapers (read more - Ottawa Citizen CA)

From Robert Feder -- Everything was warm and fuzzy at WBBM-Channel 2 Monday when Antonio Mora announced that he was leaving to join CBS-owned sister station WFOR-TV in Miami. But that's hardly been the case since Mora was demoted last June as Channel 2's main anchor (read the interview and more - Chicago Sun-Times)

Cox Radio has exercised its option to acquire five radio stations serving the Athens, Georgia market: WNGC-FM, WGMG-FM, WPUP-FM, WGAU-AM and WRFC-AM, currently owned by affiliated companies controlled by Paul Stone (read more - Cox Radio)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- The new Apple Air is as slim as you can make a computer with a full keyboard, iPhone touch technology so what's not to like. I've learned to watch Jobs very carefully. This new lightweight laptop is not just another product in his portable line of computers. He's making this move for a reason some in the media business may not fully appreciate (read more - Inside Music Media)

Popular radio host Gennady Bachinsky, 36, once known as "The Howard Stern of Russian radio", died when his car collided head-on with a minivan on the Kalyazin-Sergiyev Posad highway (read more - Moscow Times RU)

From Chris Haire -- Kelly Tilghman, a friend of Tiger Woods, has apologized to Tiger and to the public at large. Meanwhile the Golf Channel suspended the sportscaster for two weeks. But the Rev. Al Sharpton has also weighed in on the matter, calling for Tilghman's firing. What to do? What to do? After all, both Rush Limbaugh and Don Imus were fired for similar racially tinged comments. But then again, it appears that in the case of Tilghman this was a one-time affair; she's not a person who tosses out disparaging remarks about every minority group and calls it comedy gold like some folks. As far as we know, she doesn't have the same history of denigration and name-calling that Imus and Limbaugh have. That said, Tilghman should have been smart enough to know not to make the comment (read more - Charleston City Paper)

From William Triplett -- FCC chieftain Kevin Martin says the XM-Sirius merger decision is awaiting the DOJ review, that he was unaware of the F-word spoken on morning TV's GMA and that the FCC is functioning well despite the investigation of its practices by the Congress (read more - Variety)

From Owen Gibson -- Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, yesterday warned the government it would have to provide more money for public service broadcasting if it wanted the system to survive in the digital age (read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

Luis Jiménez returns tomorrow to New York radio. More specifically, to Univision’s WCAA (105.9 FM, La Kalle) (read more - David Hinckley - NY Daily News)  (read more - Ed Morales - NJ Star-Ledger)

From Mel Phillips -- CNET News reports that Stanford University researchers have found a way to give a conventional battery-powered laptop 40 hours of battery life, a huge improvement over the usual 4 hours  (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Mary Connelly -- Hyundai may pull out of the Super Bowl, blaming the economy and wondering if an ad buy is the "best thing to do" (read more - Ad Age)

From Jay Marvin -- How many of you wish the name calling would stop along with the political water carrying and let's get back to good entertaining radio where if you do name call it's done with a sense of humor not mean bitter hate. Then again it's like the feds lecturing you on debt and credit cards when they themselves can't control their own spending. Can you even imagine today's radio big boys lecturing air talent on content when they themselves don't seem to care about it. Listen to talk radio across the country. You'll hear what I mean (read more - Pattern Change)

From Barooosk -- When conservative host John Ziegler’s nightly talk show was cancelled two months ago we received a rather innocuous email claiming that the decision was "truly mutual" and that Ziegler was recently hired to produce a documentary "on a topic that I am sure you will be interested in." Ziegler signed off telling his fans that it would be "a waste of time" for them to complain to KFI and that he would "be in contact when I have something of importance to share." Well that "contact" has been made and the "important thing to share" has turned out to be stinging indictment of KFI’s program director, Robin Bertolucci, and several of talk station's marquee hosts including afternoon drive talkers "John (Kobylt) and Ken (Chiampou)" and KFI’s morning man, Bill Handel (read more - Talking Radio)

From John Kiesewetter -- Increasing popularity of country music WUBE-FM (B105), adult contemporary WRRM-FM (WARM98.5) and alternative rocker “The Sound” (WSWD-FM) are putting the heat on Clear Channel, Cincinnati’s largest radio operator with eight stations. Clear Channel’s WLW-AM (700) remains the No. 1 station for all listeners – as it has been for eight years -- in Arbitron’s fall quarter ratings released Tuesday (read more - Cincy Enquirer)

ARBitron numbers for Charlottesville VA, Cincinnati, Dayton, New Haven, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St Louis and Tucson (read 'em)

KMOX AM 1120 holds a national record of 130 consecutive ratings books as the highest- ranked radio station (12+ 6 a.m.-midnight) in the market. The streak began in Spring 1968

From John Rook -- From #1 ratings to what he calls “a virtual death march” that would lead to his departure from Clear Channel’s Los Angeles crown jewel, John Ziegler’s KFI expose is a must read for all of talk radio +  Besides being the top rated station in Chicago for decades, WGN radio was also the top revenue producer most years until 2007 when CBS’s WBBM was crowned king of the Windy City money makers with $47.5 million to WGN’s $43.6. WOW, maybe Benjamin Homel, alias Randy Michaels does indeed have his work cut out for him at WGN (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

K92FM will present their 13th Annual All-Star Acoustic Jam on Sunday January 20th to benefit the Ronald McDonald Houses of Florida. This year, the artist line-up is Jake Owen, Clay Walker, Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chesnutt, Joe Nichols, Heartland, Jim Van Fleet and the Reign and a secret guest star

From Mark Ramsey -- "Radio, get your head out of the sand" - an interview with marketing guru Joseph Jaffe (Part 1) (read and hear more - Hear 2.0)

1050 ESPN New York (WEPN-AM) has reached a multi-year local marketing agreement with The Morey Organization Inc., for its station WLIR-FM 107.1 licensed to Hampton Bays, NY and covering Suffolk County. Beginning this Monday, January 21 107.1 FM will broadcast 1050 ESPN New York's signal on a full-time basis

From Richard Huff -- Oprah Winfrey and the Discovery Networks are teaming up to turn the Discovery Health Network into OWN - the Oprah Winfrey Network, launching next year in about 70 million homes (read more - NY Daily News)

From Helen Carter -- BBC Radio 3 presenter Andy Kershaw has been jailed for three months after breaching a restraining order involving his former partner, the mother of his two children (read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

From Dave Kohl -- Boston sports talk continues strong. I suppose having a city filled with championship caliber teams will do that. WEEI 850 AM just came in 3rd in the market in the fall ratings book, the highest ranking of a sports radio station in a major market. KNBR San Francisco finished in the top 10 in the Bay Area, but WEEI scored big time (read more - Dave Kohl)

I’m not here to cheer or grieve the end of 99.7 KY. I know some of the folks who were made unrestricted free agents last week when Entercom dissolved the iconic rock station, and I feel genuinely bad for them. Otherwise, I’m neutral: I don’t spend much time with commercial radio (read more - KC Star)

George Noory - Coast to Coast AM - has renewed his long-term contract with Premiere Radio Networks

From Merry Media News -- The famous National Lottery "Voice of the Balls", Alan Dedicoat, will be helping BBC Radio Devon celebrate its 25th anniversary on Thursday (read more - Merry Media News U.K.)

KMA 960 Regional Radio in SW Iowa has changed its Web site from KMA960.com to KMALand.com

Annunciation Radio is now working with the Catholic Radio Network to bring a Catholic radio station to Denver (read more - Catholic News Agency)

Mitch Dolan, President of the Citadel O&O Radio Station Group has appointed a new management team for Citadel Dallas-Fort Worth's station portfolio. WBAP President and General Manager, Keri Korzeniewski, will be responsible for all operational facets of WBAP 820 and Victor Sansone will be returning to Arlington as President and General Manager of KSCS and KTYS

From Mike Farrell -- AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said that the anchor for the triple play bundle of the future will be wireless telephony, not wireline service (read more - MultiChannel News)

"Vampira" - Maila Nurmi - who hosted a KABC TV show in the 1950's and starred in "Revenge of the Zombies" and "Devil Bat's Daughter" - is dead at 85 (read more - Newsday)

From Edward C. Baig -- It's "the world's thinnest notebook," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the MacWorld Conference Tuesday morning. At about three-quarters of an inch thick, "the thickest part of the Macbook Air is still thinner than the thinnest" Sony laptop (read more - USA Today)  (Take the guided tour - Apple.com)

Tuesday January 15, 2008

Jesse Jackson met with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on December 9 about Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s planned purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., urging the FCC to require XM and Sirius to lease at least 20 percent of their channels to minority-controlled firms as a condition of the merger (read more - Chicago Daily Herald)   

Clear Channel Communications has filed for U.S. Department of Justice approval of its $20 billion buyout, pushing the deal one step closer to completion (read more - CNN Money)

From David Hinckley -- The minute they beat the Cowboys Sunday, the Giants engulfed New York sports radio, and their takeover again illustrated the difference between long-time leader WFAN (660 AM), a purely local station, and WEPN (1050 AM), the flagship of the ESPN machine (read more - NY Daily News)

ARBitron numbers for  Washington DC, Cleveland, Baltimore, Hartford, Stockton, Modesto and Akron (read 'em)

From Dave Walker -- It was a year and a few days ago when a reporter called C.J. Morgan to inquire about his abrupt removal from the top-rated morning show at WQUE FM-93.3.  that he was being replaced by the syndicated "Steve Harvey Morning Show".  "For me, (it came) completely out of the blue," Morgan said that day. On Nov. 1, Morgan resurfaced as the morning voice on WBOK AM-1230, a new news-talk station targeted at black listeners (read more - New Orleans Times-Picayune)

From Robert Feder -- The Bears lost the Super Bowl in 2007, but contributed to a victory of a different sort for their Chicago radio flagship. WBBM-AM (780), the CBS Radio all-news station, won the top spot in total revenue for the year, according to newly released figures compiled by the accounting firm of Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Jefferson Graham -- On Tuesday - today - at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, Apple will show its new wares, with expectations running high among bloggers, fan sites and Apple analysts that the company will unveil a subcompact notebook computer. "What will make this unique is its thinness, a good 50% thinner than existing Mac laptops," says Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. "Notebooks are the fastest-growing segment of the computer market. More people are bringing their computers everywhere with them" (read more - USA Today)

From Bill Iddings -- Bart Brandmiller, Clear Channel's regional director of sales for West Michigan, said WMHG (1600 AM) went silent Dec. 31, off the air because a Local Marketing Agreement, or LMA, had expired.  CC operates 11 stations in West Michigan, including four in Muskegon (read more - MLive - Muskegon Chronicle)

From Peter Smyth -- Like anyone, I'm sure you've had a déjà vu experience, the feeling that you've "been there, done that" before. I'm having a déjà vu as I follow the recent proceedings of the FCC in Washington. You may have missed the most recent chapter, since it was right before the holidays. Let me share it with you. Kevin Martin, chairman of the commission, and a one vote majority has pushed through a relaxation on the cross-ownership rules in the top 20 markets. This change essentially allows broadcasters and newspaper owners in those markets to consolidate. The second interesting development was the notice of proposed rulemaking that would reinstitute regulation of local content for radio stations (read more - Peter Smyth-Greater Media)

From John Gorman -- This morning, at the annual MacWorld Conference and Expo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will address the gathering. You’ll see it on all the news channels and networks tonight. It should be as upbeat at the Moscone Center as it is grim at the decaying Cobo. Apple uses its annual MacWorld convo to introduce its latest consumer goodies. Last year, one of the products unveiled was the iPhone. This time Steve Jobs is expected to debut a mini-Mac, a new PC to rival Sony’s Vaio, iPhone and iPod software upgrades, and announce deals with movie studios and TV networks to distribute content through iTunes (read more - John Gorman)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- The world is worried about whether Britney Spears is going to off herself eventually and Dr. Phil McGraw got himself in trouble for allegedly reaching out to Spears and her family for the purpose of furthering his top rated TV show. So who should the record industry call when they can't call ghostbusters? Dr. Phil, of course. The record industry is suicidal. Unsafe at any speed. It's long overdue for an intervention. Please, Dr. Phil --it needs your special brand of tough love. Let's look at how Britney and Unfitney (The Big Four Labels) are alike (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Mark Ramsey -- If radio and its broadcast brethren are all about "reach" but not at all about precise targeting (and no, I don't mean demos or "life-groups"), and if you can buy both reach and precise targeting another way, then what is the competitive advantage of radio to advertisers? And by pitching the newfound "reach" value proposition of radio (thanks to PPM), aren't we strutting proudly into a trap?(read more - Hear 2.0)

From Page Six -- Readers of Playboy were so disgusted by the idiotic rantings of MSNBC loudmouth Keith Olbermann in the October issue, editor Chip Rowe tried to balance their vitriol by getting the head of an Olbermann fan site to pen a gushing note to run along with all the negative opinions(read more - NY Post)

From Paul Farhi -- It was one of the most memorable Redskins seasons in years: Last-minute defeats and back-from-the-depths victories. The tragic death of Pro Bowl player Sean Taylor. A Cinderella run to the playoffs. And then the bombshell: the retirement of revered Coach Joe Gibbs. On local sports-talk radio, though, the whole thing rated a collective yawn (read more - Washington Post)

From Scott Maxwell -- CC says The Shot Doctor will co-host the show with producer/fill-in host Mike Tuck. A search for a new host is on -- though CC says no one, including current employees, are out of contention. Speaking of new lineups, Clear Channel says the lineup at WJRR is temporarily set: Crash in the morning and Launa doing middays. They're looking for something more permanent there as well (read more - Orlando Sentinel)

From Happy Hare -- I host an internet radio show called – ya ready?- The Happy Hare Show on SignOnRadio.com, a ground breaking internet radio operation launched by The San Diego Union-Tribune. It happens every Wednesday from 1p-3p Pacific Time. Last week, I had as my guest, the iconic Chuck Blore. Put all of the major radio icons into a room together and ask them to cast their vote for the all-time greatest radio programmer, besides themselves of course, and they would unanimously vote for Blore. A half hour is not enough time to give this man who commands a big bucks to speak at national radio and television conventions, but he gave us a fortune worth of insights out of generosity (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

From BBC -- Record label EMI says it will cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs worldwide as part of plans to reduce costs by £200m a year. The restructuring plans come from EMI's private equity owner Guy Hands, who bought the firm for £3.2bn last year.  The record industry has been trying to cut costs as it faces falling CD sales and a switch to internet downloads (read more - BBC News U.K.)

From Mike Anderson -- Don Corey's book published - Don, a former DJ for KSHE 95 in the '70's who passed away last October, wrote Are You Talking To Me? and it's now been published (read more - STLMedia)

From Fred Jacobs -- The way you win over fans, create and strengthen relationships, and generate buzz is to go retail. If Garth Brooks can spend a folksy hour with Country programmers and fans; if the biggest Detroit Tigers stars like Magglio Ordonez (making $15 million this year) can hang out with fans in January weather and help them dream about a World Series; if Dennis Miller can leave the celebrity trappings of Hollywood and television, and do basic Radio fundamentals - then you have to wonder why icons in the Rock Radio and Rock Music businesses haven't gotten the message (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Jimmy Rabbitt -- It was this week in 1970 that Diana Ross played her final concert as a member of The Supremes. Ms. Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson played The Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. They would continue with Jean Terrell replacing Ross. “Someday We’ll Be Together” was just starting it's move down the charts, having been on top a couple weeks before. It was their last #1 hit, and was also the final song to hit #1 in the 1960s (read more - www.TheRabbittReport.com)

From Laura Nachman -- Leave it to Philadelphia to provide “The Weirdest American Idol Audition Ever,” specifically from Bucks county musician Paul Marturano, who will be featured on the season premiere of “American Idol” Wednesdeay night at 8 pm EDT on Fox (read more - www.LauraNachman.net)

From Kurt Hanson -- There’s been a bubbling controversy going on over the past month or so in various radio industry publications and blogs over the new set of radio commercials commissioned by the HD Radio Alliance for their 2008 $280 million ad “buy” on broadcast radio in support of HD Radio (read more - RAIN)

From Mark Davis -- I've often said that I wish I could convey what it's like to travel during election years, doing talk shows from the primaries in the winter and from the conventions in the summer. I think the shows themselves emit a certain vibe that enables listeners to feel transported to Iowa for the caucuses and New Hampshire for the primary and to the convention cities, but I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some behind-the-scenes tidbits that I don't mention on the air much, if at all (read more - Mark Davis - WBAP 820)

From Mel Phillips -- While the consumer world waits for word of a new widget from Steven Jobs, along comes Toshiba to throw a monkey wrench into the Blu-ray/HD DVD war. Just when you thought it was safe to go into the Blu-ray water comes an offer you may not be able to refuse. Half price(read more - Mel Phillips)

The Wall Street Journal reports that Oprah Winfrey is forming a 50/50 joint venture with cable programmer Discovery Communications to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network

From Max Hackett -- Brewer Broadcasting of Chattanooga has sold three radio stations, WAYA-FM 93.9 and WXQK-AM 970, both licensed to Spring City, and WDNT-AM 1280 licensed to Dayton, to East Tennessee Radio Group III, LLP.  (read more - Rhea County Herald News)

From Michael Malone -- The face of local stations is changing dramatically, and the newsroom of 2008 is looking less and less like the newsroom of five years ago, or even one year ago (read more - Broadcasting and Cable)

Anderson Cooper will contribute each weekday to “CNN in: 60,” the radio network’s fast-paced, one-minute news update called “360 in: 60,” will air at 5:25pm (ET) Monday through Friday and highlight the latest news of the day

Florida's 580 WDBO fundraised over $200,000 in donations to benefit the Russell Home for Atypical Children raised 

Envision Radio Networks’ Jayne-FM, a syndicated daypart program hosted by voiceover talent Robin Marshall, adds “106.9 KZY” WKZY-FM Gainesville, FL with Zapoleon Media Strategies and Marshall Arts Communications joining forces to create the program

Humorist Garrison Keillor and his wife have filed a lawsuit intended to stop their next-door neighbor from building a two-story addition they say would block their access to light and air (read more - Boston Globe)

Lincoln Financial Media - WBT - afternoon talk host Jeff Katz has been appointed to the Board of Advisors for the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, based in Raleigh

Broadcast Architecture’s Smooth Jazz Network debuts “The Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler" on WJJZ-FM in Philadelphia Saturday, January 19th at 8:00am

WFOR-CBS 4 has hired a new male anchor, Antonio Mora, for its evening newscasts where he'll join Shannon Hori for the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts beginning Jan. 28 (read more - Miami Herald)

9x, Atlanta’s alternative and new rock radio station, will be moving their station to the web. Meanwhile, Q100 will be sliding down the radial dial to 99.7 for the higher frequency.
The Bert Show will air on 99.7 January 25. 99x is switching gears to an online radio format to reach a global audience (read more - Trans World)  (read more - Atlanta Biz Journal)

The Jim Rome Show adds KWWX-AM 1340 in Wenatchee, WA (effective February 14); and KMIS-AM 1050 in Portageville, MO to its list of more than 200 current affiliates

Monday January 14, 2008

From JP Hannan -- Calling Emmis "the canary in the coal mine" in his conference call after the release, CEO Jeff Smulyan fulfilled the markets low expectations for earnings, going as far to state that "this is the worst point in the history of the industry".  So why did Smulyan follow those comments with a statement that he was "surprisingly upbeat" about his company and the future of radio advertising? In short, he said "I think this is probably the bottom" and that his peers in the industry are "reinvigorated", a statement that some may interpret to mean that broadcasters are simply mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore (read more - Seeking Alpha)

From Hearne Christopher, Jr. -- The long strange trip known as KY102 (and later 99.7 KY) is history. “I don’t know what to say. I’m depressed as hell because that was my station,” says ardent KY listener Tony DiMaggio.  “Here’s my take on the whole deal,” he says. “I was always astounded that they had these huge ratings, because they always played crappy music, and everybody I knew hated them. ”From “Highway to Hell” to “Stairway to Heaven,” KY played the same songs over and over, Rick Dodderidge says. “When you hear a song all the time, it loses that specialness,” he says” (read more - KC Star )

From Tim Cuprisin -- The talk had been that the merger of Sirius and XM satellite radio systems would get federal approval by the end of 2007. As we enter the third week of 2008, there are fears that the U.S. Justice Department won't give its OK, along with an expected thumbs-up from the Federal Communications Commission. So far, they're just fears + There's talk of WRRD-AM (540), Salem Communication's Christian talk station, being sold in the next few weeks. So far, there's no word from Salem (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From David Hinckley -- It could have been awkward. In November, WKTU (103.5 FM) dropped Whoopi Goldberg's syndicated morning radio show, after about 16 months during which it never caught fire quite the way everyone hoped. Then, just a few weeks later, Goldberg's sidekick Paul (Cubby) Bryant was named the new WKTU morning host. So he left her show and he starts there today (read more - NY Daily News)

From Mark Ramsey -- The Radio industry is a hundred years old - it has functioned almost without change for the entire careers of most of us who work in it. Thus, when faced with lightning-fast change, the tendency is to deny. The tendency is towards paralysis. The tendency is to brush away these changes as a "hiccup," not a trend. The tendency is to wait out the storm. The tendency is to do what you've always done because anything else is scarier than doing nothing at all. But, my friends, this is a time for change. A time for action. The chaos you're seeing now is only the iceberg's tip (read more - Hear 2.0)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- Is it too late for radio? No. Yes. Can't say I'm not direct. I am asked this question constantly -- not by my young students but by people working in the media business. The students represent Gen Y and they really have no meaningful connection to terrestrial radio. They have their own means of finding, storing and listening to music and they don't care about news and talk on traditional stations (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Howard Kurtz -- In case anyone doubted that Bill Clinton still harbors considerable resentment toward the press, it bubbled to the surface last week. He was, quite understandably, promoting his wife's candidacy. His chief mission, therefore, was to rough up Barack Obama. But his decision to rip news organizations for not reporting on what he sees as inconsistencies in Obama's record on Iraq raises an intriguing question. Have the media failed to adequately scrutinize the Illinois senator's stance on Iraq? Or was the former president simply trying to prod the press into carrying the campaign's water on an argument that Hillary Clinton herself has not raised? (read more - Washington Post)

From Michael Corcoran -- “When We Were Weird” -- The timing was perfect for anarchy on the airwaves. In June 1995, Sinclair Broadcasting launched alternative rock station 101X and, wanting to make an instant splash, station manager Scott Gillmore and program director Sara Trexler looked for a local celebrity to helm the morning drive-time slot. Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes, the son of Dallas kiddie show host Mr. Peppermint, had always dreamed of having his own morning show. As he proved a couple months earlier, when he was the hilarious announcer at the SXSW softball tourament, the quick-witted Haynes was a natural, with a genius for the absurd (read more - Austin American-Statesman)

From Jeremy Mullman --  Recession Hits: What It Means for Ad Biz (read more - Ad Age)

From Norm Silverstein -- Commercial radio is changing in Rochester and nationwide, and not necessarily for the better. As fewer companies own more commercial radio stations in any given market (just two companies own the majority of stations in Rochester), competition and innovation tend to suffer. As we've seen recently, consolidation also can result in the dismissal of longtime announcers and personalities, as more stations are automated and formats merged. However, while consolidation is making headlines, one of the biggest stories in local radio is getting short shrift: how public radio stations have grown to fill the void in the Rochester market and elsewhere (read more - Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)

From Art Vuolo -- If you ever wondered where Simon & Garfunkel got the inspiration for their hit song “At The Zoo,” I can assure you it was probably at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I have been attending this event for nearly 30 years, but this one was different on a number of levels. After consulting with several attendees, I came away with a few observations - For someone like myself, with a profound love and passion for radio, the 2008 CES proved once again that our beloved medium is in very serious trouble (read more - MichiGuide)

From James Ashton -- Charles Allen’s Global Radio will undoubtedly make another attempt at buying the owner of Capital Radio and Classic FM. Allen, the former chief executive of ITV, is too experienced a dealmaker to lay out his best price first. At 190p, valuing Britain’s largest commercial radio broadcaster at £313m, shareholders are so far not biting (read more - The Times U.K.)

From Claude Hall -- An important facet of my life walked in the door of the Hall Palatial Estate, Apricot Orchard, and Hummingbird Palace this afternoon, Jan. 10, 2008. Joey Reynolds. We go back to the 60s + e-mail from Ron Fraiser: "Just wanted to say hello and let you know you can listen to our show streaming online. my partner is my former wabb mobile partner, shane mcbryde. we are with cumulus in macon at wmac 940.6 to 9 am. shane is pd and i'm also news director of the 8 station cluster as well as morning co-host. cumulus treats us like gold (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

From Andrew Bock -- The broad range of shows listed on the iTunes daily list of most popular podcasts is proof that the practice has morphed from geeksville to mainstream. It is not just switched-on IT folk listening to uber-cool, alternative Seattle community radio; now the audience comprises middle-aged gardeners listening to what they want while they pull their weeds (read more - Sydney Morning Herald AU)

From Jacobs Media -- We have decided to allow more stations to offer the annual Jacobs Tech Survey to their listeners. It’s not because we need a bigger sample. Last year, over 25,000 radio listeners took part (read more - Jacobs Media)

Harry Schultz of CC McCartney Voice Imaging had signed on as the image voice for the newstalk network for East Kentucky Broadcasting, WLSI and WPRT  Pikeville KY and CC McCartney has signed on as the voice of the Oldies Network, WPKE, WEKB and WBTH, for East Kentucky Broadcasting

From Tommy Kramer -- I’ve played guitar since I was 12 years old, and the process for learning a musical instrument is exactly the same as refining radio skills. First, it’s about learning technique. The proper technique--which fingering to use when playing chords and single notes, learning the scales, developing intonation, learning vibrato, etc.--gets you fast and accurate, and enables you to play whatever you hear, or read from music (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

The United Stations Radio Networks has extended its agreement with recording artist and radio host Ramsey Lewis to continue to produce and distribute The Legends of Jazz radio program

The Federal Communications Commission's December 18th vote to relax its newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule is a huge disappointment to all minority owned media, according to UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. A recent study released by Free Press, a national media policy organization, found that even though people of color comprise 33 percent of the U.S. population, they only account for 3.15 percent of commercial broadcast television station owners (read more - Urban Mecca)

Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM) kicks off a new year of educational activities with a Distance Learning Seminar devoted to sharing effective collections practices from its Broadcast Cable Association (BCCA) subsidiary. The “Secrets Revealed: Collections” teleconference will be held on Wednesday, January 23, from 4:00-5:15pm (ET)  (read more - BCFM)

He’s become the target for critics who think a backlash against the media played a part in Hillary Clinton’s surprise win in New Hampshire. Chris Matthews (MSNBC) laughs off that idea, and insists he has a lot of respect for her - "I do like the fact that ’Hardball’ is a heat-seeker," the rapid-fire political commentator told The Associated Press. "My job is to provide excitement and to bring it into the show and have people argue about things that they would normally argue about" (read more - Boston Herald)

From Mel Phillips -- Regardless of which two of the four NFL playoff contenders makes it to the Super Bowl on February 3rd, no team has come as far as the Amazon Bezos, who are guaranteed a spot at the highest rated TV show of the year. This time, instead of Pepsi tying in with Apple iTunes like they did four years ago, Pepsi will help Amazon take on iTunes, the biggest digital music store in creation. Despite the continuing decline in record sales, down 9.5% according to Nielsen SoundScan, the online digital business is - fine, thank you (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Dan Cooper -- Rupert Murdoch hired Roger Ailes to brainwash America into thinking right-wing ideology is actually the political center. And he did. And, I’m ashamed to tell you, I helped him. I made a lot of money that year: 1996. I owned and loved living in an elegant cooperative apartment building on Park Avenue in Manhattan, just a few blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. The hallways were floored with inlaid marble. You placed your garbage in custom designed mahogany chests outside your front door. The doormen called me mister. I was a Democrat (read more - Media Channel)

EMI could announce that it is cutting up to 2,000 jobs on Tuesday as part of a radical restructuring plan, several newspapers report. Jobs in sales, marketing, distribution and artist management among the group's overall 5,500 staff are likely to go (read more - BBC)

From E! News -- The writers' strike continues to take its toll on the ones who haven't yet made millions of dollars for their employers. On Friday, ABC Studios exercised its force majeure privilege and terminated the contracts of more than two dozen writing and non-writing producers who had development deals with the Walt Disney Co.-owned outfit, becoming the first major player to move out of the just-suspended stage and cut ties completely (read more - E! News)

Rick Dees says that RICK.COM has retained Ronning Lipset Radio as its exclusive online advertising representative. which will now take the reins for selling the audio and video ads that are inserted into RICK.COM's internet broadcast streams which include the three streaming versions of the RICK DEES WEEKLY TOP 40 and also the visual inventory found on the RICK.COM website (read more - EarthWire)

From Kevin Kemper -- WOSU radio station goes a little bit newsy and a little bit classical (read more - Columbus Biz Journal)

From Scott Sloan -- Lexington radio listeners may have noticed some of their favorite television personalities on different stations this month. On Jan. 1, CBS affiliate WKYT-27 and NBC station WLEX-18 swapped marketing partners - The most noticeable change may be the end of WKYT anchor Drew Deener's sports show on WVLK. Larry Glover is his permanent replacement, said Cumulus general manager Ken Fearnow (read more - Lexington Herald-Leader)

In 2008 the wireless Web is maturing like the finest cheese or the the tastiest wine. Ready to exploit the growing ubiquity of a Web without wires is Intempo, whose portable Wi-Fi radio is designed to be used on the move, obviously with the intention of being used near Wi-Fi hotspots. All very well in big US cities, but is it too early for the UK? (read more - CNET)

Anticipating a potential threat from Apple, online DVD rental service Netflix is lifting its limits on how long most subscribers can watch movies and television shows over high-speed Internet connections (read more - Houston Chronicle)

From Barbara Pinkney -- WRGB fears plan for new radio stations in Albany could degrade signal (read more - Albany Biz Review)

From Bob Campbell -- Clyde Butter attended the University of Houston, Tulane, Texas A&I and the University of Texas, spent a year in UT Law School and then made a career as a disc jockey, news director and executive at KTRH in Houston, KONO in San Antonio, KSIX in Corpus Christi and WJBW in New Orleans. Butter bought KRIG in Odessa, changed its call letters to KRIL and managed it for 12 years until selling it four years ago (read more - Midland Reporter-Telegram)

The radio ratings season began today with a host of new on-air talent fronting the microphones in Australia. The breakfast shift - 2007's most hotly contested time slot - will sound very different this year after a spate of resignations and appointments. In Sydney, last year's ratings winners, 2Day FM's Kyle and Jackie O, return to face off against some new high-profile competition (read more - The Australian AU)

From Hazlett -- I was listening to the new Buck Head and Bubba morning show on B94 last Thursday when I had an epiphany. Radio's got it all wrong. That startling realization didn't have much to do with the new show, which I was planning to review for this column. It had a lot more to do with the station's music selection, which bounced back and forth between rock and rap (read more - Washington PA Observer-Reporter)

Texas Radio Hall of Famer Bill Mercer was a guest Sunday evening when Mike Shannon, Chad Hoker and Ray Whitworth co-hosted "The Hi Fi Club" live on KMNY 1360 Fort Worth-Dallas and online (listen live - www.hificlub.net)

From Mark Ramsey -- Stars" are the equivalent of human "hits." Except they are much more scarce and precious. They can be owned by one station in one market exclusively and they have their own natural audience magnetism. And you can't create a thousand splintered versions of them on the Internet the way you can with a music radio station. You don't need to train a talent to be a "star" because stars are, for our purposes, already made, not born. Of course, they need to create a good show; that goes without saying. But celebrity opens the door and invites the audience inside. Only then does the good show keep them there.
What you need to do, however, is open the checkbook (read more - Hear 2.0)

From John Gorman -- The original WMMS studios and offices were located in the “Midtown” section of Cleveland at Euclid and East 50th. It was a dangerous and dismal part of town. Robberies were routine. An average one car per week was stolen our parking lot. You had to maneuver around the hookers and drug dealers working the street to enter the parking lot from Prospect Rd. A woman who ran a small snack stand directly across from the station entrance died behind the counter one evening and no one noticed or cared until the stench became unbearable (read more - John Gorman)

Ron Jacobs rounded up a few friends to reminisce about their times in California and Hawaii radio on www.whodaguyhawaii.com Playing chart hits and their Hawaiian cover versions and sharing memories are: Judy Ford (formerly Keala Kai, KKUA-Honolulu, now KFWB-LA), Charlie Tuna (KHJ), Ed Kanoi (KDEO, Drake-Chenault), Ken Levine, Tom Rounds (KPOI-Honolulu, Watermark) and Kevin Gershan (KMPC, now Entertainment Tonight) (visit and listen - www.whodaguyhawaii.com)

Two men and a woman were arrested by Polk County sheriff's undercover detectives, working with agents from the Federal Communications Commission and the State Attorney's Office, Friday on charges they operated an illegal radio station in Winter Haven (read more - Lakeland Ledger)

From Michael Klein -- Radio station WHAT (1340), known as Martini Lounge for its playlist of Rat Pack artists such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, changed formats in the middle of the night because of an electrical glitch and hard drive reboot (read more - Philly Inquirer)

ARBitron numbers for San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Boston, Ann Arbor, Monterey-Salinas and Palm Springs  (read 'em)

KNBC and KVEA in LA are now airing “Whipnotic”, a new weekly, half-hour show for car enthusiasts of all ages. “Whipnotic” is sleek, fast and covers everything cool, hot, hip, down and happening in the automotive world and features reviews and commentary by Steve Parker - "The Car Nut"

KATV-TV, Channel 7’s 2,000-ft. tower collapsed Friday during repairs about 20 miles south of Little Rock but Competing central Arkansas news stations are offering help to the ABC affiliate (read more - Arkansas Biz)  (read more - view the video - KHTV TV 11)

Leslie Marshall was on Fox News Channel's Your World with Neil Cavuto Friday debating Neil one-on-one about Hillary Clinton's campaign

From Ben Fong-Torres -- San Francisco is the third-best radio market in the country. That's the word from Edison Media Research. Sean Ross, VP of marketing and research, told me that he and Edison's co-founder, industry vet Larry Rosin, came up with the rankings and put them on the company's Web site, www.infinitedial.com + Since the first burst of news - and responses to the news - of the indictment of KGO's Bernie Ward on charges of downloading child pornography from the Internet, all has been quiet. Too quiet, for some people (read more - SF Chronicle)

From Keren Rivas -- If you received an e-mail recently alerting you that your much-guarded cell phone number is going to be shared with telemarketers “tomorrow,” don’t fret. The e-mail, which also states that “you will be charged for these calls,” is a hoax that has been circulating cyber space for quite a while (read more - The Times News)

The Conclave has added Jessica Frier as the new Fundraising Director for the organization. She joins the Conclave from her position as Corporate Account Manager for OfficeMax and has also worked as an account rep for Cumulus/Bismarck, and she’s a board member for the American Society for Training and Development

From Kurt Hanson -- There’s been a bubbling controversy going on over the past month or so in various radio industry publications and blogs over the new set of radio commercials commissioned by the HD Radio Alliance for their 2008 $280 million ad “buy” on broadcast radio in support of HD Radio (read more - Kurt Hanson)

Friday January 11, 2008

The FCC gives a thumbs up to Clear Channel's $19.5 billion deal that will take it private (read more - NY Times)

From Julian Sanchez -- Nearly a year after satellite radio giants Sirius and XM announced plans to synchronize their orbits, the proposed merger of the two firms remains in regulatory limbo, frustrating many who had been expecting a verdict from the Department of Justice by the end of 2007. And the uncertainty is starting to show up in the market: shares in the companies fell more than ten percent Wednesday, a drop analysts are attributing to fears the merger will not win approval (read more - Ars Technica)

From Hearne Christopher, Jr -- KC's Classic rock radio station 99.7 KY is on its last legs and will change formats today. Entercom KY’s on-air staff was released Thursday ahead of the change. Fired staffers include veteran announcers Max Floyd, Tanna Guthrie and Slacker(read more - KC Star)

From Pat McGonigle -- It's looking less and less like Brother Wease will return to the airwaves on 96.5 WCMF. Wease has been off the air since last month in a contract dispute with WCMF'S new owner, Entercom Communications (read more - WHEC TV 10 Rochester)

From Robert Feder -- Bruce Wolf, whose brief tenure at WMAQ-Channel 5 included stints as traffic reporter, morning show host and sports anchor, is being forced out of the NBC-owned station, the victim of ongoing budget cuts + Michael Wawrzyniak, part-time/weekend personality known on the air as "Radio Boy," was fired from Clear Channel Radio rhythmic Top 40 WKSC-FM (103.5) after he was charged with indecent solicitation of a child (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Brian Stelter -- CNN’s political fixation is paying off. The cable news network enjoyed a rare win over the normally first-place Fox News Channel for its New Hampshire primary coverage on Tuesday (read more - NY Times)

From Richard Sandomir -- It is one thing for network audio to capture Tiger Woods curse a bad shot, but another for a network announcer to say, as the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman did last Friday, that one way for young golfers to stop Woods is to “lynch him in a back alley.” Tilghman now belongs to a group of experienced broadcasters who have paid for their missteps about race, religion or gender, including Don Imus, Michael Irvin, Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder, Steve Lyons, Rush Limbaugh and Ben Wright (read more - NY Times)

From Gary Lycan -- Taking temporary work has its advantages. Reba Toney filled in on the KFSH/95.9 FM morning show and got the permanent wake-up call. Now, Diana Steele has followed the same path, getting the permanent job as 5-9 a.m. weekday co-host with Cliff Winston on V-100 KRBV 100.3 FM + Leslie Marshall joins the lineup at KGIL and Spanish station KLVE is the top-rated local broadcaster (read more - Orange County Register)

From Kent Burkhart --  I have recently noticed that the sensitivity of PPM audience increases is similar to the old C. E. Hooper ratings of the 50’s and 60’s - specifically when an event (my definition) was broadcast. An example of this is that Christmas music and/or on-air-sports accurately reflects an increased audience in the PPMs. This was true in the Hooper days when, for example, oldie weekends were first broadcast (the first one maybe was on KFWB in Los Angeles from PD Chuck Blore) -  the Monday through Friday TOP 40/CHR audience DOUBLED on the golden weekend!!!!! Thus - we know that in today’s world programming events work to increase audience; thus, programmers should think about programming event strategy as a big part of their programming pattern (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

ARBitron numbers for Detroit, Toledo, Peoria, York and Quad Cities (read 'em)

From Joe Conason -- Does anyone still doubt that many of the most influential members of the national press corps dislike Hillary Clinton and treat her accordingly? Certainly, in retrospect, the press did Hillary Clinton an enormous favor by emphasizing the imminence of her demise solely on the basis of those late polls. Pushing the narrative toward their desired conclusion, they unintentionally transformed her narrow win into a miraculous and historic resurrection. Late on primary night, retired NBC anchor Tom Brokaw gently scolded the press during an interview with Chris Matthews, the "Hardball" host who has never made a secret of his antipathy toward the Clintons. Brokaw warned his hotheaded host against "making judgments before the polls have closed and trying to stampede and affect the process." (read more - Salon)

From Dave Martin -- The Emmis earnings call yesterday was refreshing. Finally, someone had the courage to speak up and talk about reality as it is, not as it was or as some wish it to be. Bravos to Jeff Smulyan! (read more - Dave Martin)

From JP Hannan -- Media and entertainment investors should be extremely wary of companies that do not produce or control the content that they rely on, and should look for those companies with an opportunity to capitalize on the vast digital media landscape. Among these, one battered and beaten name stands out, Westwood One (WON), a venerable syndicator of radio, television and interactive content whose shares saw an incredible -78% drop during the last twelve months. It is currently trading at $1.53 per share as of the January 10th close - Westwood One, despite all of the trauma it has put investors holdings its shares though over the past year, seems like it has finally reached a point of inflection, and the shares should regain ground once they put these final issues related to their credit agreements to bed (read more - Seeking Alpha)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- You read the headlines. You know that the radio industry is posting declining revenues. Most analysts say the best radio could hope for in 2008 is a flat year. Not exactly a climate that will attract investment capital. How would you like to be Lee and Bain? If you believe they will actually close on the purchase to take Clear Channel private, they are guaranteeing shareholders $39 a share. CCU closed at $35 yesterday. The buyers are overpaying (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Lee Abrams -- Ever watch LINK TV? That is one weird channel. I think it’s about bringing cultures together. To me, it’s all about bringing another boring unrealistic channel to my TV set. OK—so much for my bad attitude about TV, I can always tune in TV Land to watch their great promos, or watch International news shows for the interesting production, or Fox News for the cute girls. The big opportunity for media in 08 is de-laming it while simultaneously growing the audience. Do-able (read more - Lee Abrams)

From Mark Ramsey -- Radio's next evolution is on a tabletop now - and it's not HD. Wow. It features regular analog AM/FM, WiFi, and direct access to a custom Web radio aggregation service [i.e., a way to make Internet radio easy] and to Slacker’s personalized Internet radio service. And you can buy one for as little as $99 (read more - Hear 2.0))

From Tim Cuprisin -- Two months of all-yule tunes on WMYX-FM (99.1) paid off, boosting the station's numbers dramatically in the latest radio ratings + WTMJ-AM (620) scored across the board. The growth was particularly noticeable in the key 25 to 54 measure, where WTMJ was first overall, up from fourth place (read more - Miwaukee JS)

From Jacobs Media -- No matter what business you're in, rapid technological and cultural changes are impacting how you market and distribute your product. Your choice in the matter is not whether to react, but how. As Radiohead just proved by debuting their new CD - previously free - at #1 on the sales chart, a good marketer fondly remembers the good old days; a great one wins today (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Steve Adubato -- There is something genuinely wrong with the way we are covering this (presidential) campaign. Covering the  campaign is one thing, but predicting the outcome with absolute certainty is another. Instead of helping voters better understand the issues, obstacles, and challenges at stake for the next president, we treat the campaign as nothing more than a sporting event where all that matters is handicapping: who is up and who is down, who is on the ropes, and who has the momentum  (read more - MSNBC)

From Philip Walzer -- Religious broadcaster (CBN) Pat Robertson, who has sharply criticized The Virginian-Pilot in the past, is considering making a bid to buy the newspaper, an associate said Thursday (read more - Virginian Pilot)

From Logan Murphy -- The topic of race has been a hot one the past few weeks and now it appears that veiled (or not so veiled) racial comments about Barack Obama will be an issue in the 2008 Democratic primary race. During this segment on "Tucker", the subject of racism came up and Tucker Carlson had the bad taste to frame it using this statement by NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, in regards to Obama: “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference” (read more - view the video - Crooks and Liars)

TheRadio.Com has signed a deal with Jones MediaAmerica, which will be handling all the national advertising sales of their new HD Radio programming network

Don't beat yourself for overeating and under-exercising in the first few days of 2008: Those great Hollywood bods you've been longing for didn't happen overnight. In fact, celebs have some crazy tricks up their sleeves. Cindy Crawford uses vinegar to kill her appetite before heading out to eat. Reese Witherspoon walks backward while carrying 5-pound weights to tone her calves. Jennifer Lopez sniffs grapefruit oil to reduce her appetite (read more - NY Daily News)

Steve Rouse, absent from Baltimore's airwaves since declining a pay cut at WLIF-FM (101.9) last month, will be back on the radio as the commercial voice and fill-in host at WBAL-AM (1090) (read more - Baltimore Sun)

WOCL-FM, now "Sunny 105.9," went live Thursday with a playlist of classic hits, mostly from the 1970s (read more - Daytona News-Journal)

Mike & Mike of Kiss 94.5 FM spent most of Thursday 32 feet off the ground raising money for a heating assistance fund to help needy neighbors (read more - Bangor Daily News)  (read more - view the video - WCSH 6 TV)

On his weekend show, Bob Costas will interview CBS News Senior Political Correspondent Jeff Greenfield, who will discuss the presidential campaign, politics, sports and more and Bill Scheft, author and Late Show with David Letterman writer

From Mel Phillips -- Being program director at WRKO had its perks, one of which was sitting in the press box at Boston Patriots games. I can thank News Director Roger Allan for pulling the strings on that one. I saw my first Patriots game over 40 years ago when the team had no home and would play games in a corner lot if it was available (read more - Mel Phillips)

San Francisco's KRON-TV may be sold for the second time in eight years (read more - SF Chronicle)

Word's in the air that AM 540 WRRD Salem in Milwaukee is being sold

Dave Graveline and the Into Tomorrow team are on location from the International CES, the BIG Consumer Electronics Show this weekend (visit www.Graveline.com)

Country Radio Broadcasters have added two research-focused panels to the agenda for CRS-39; The Great Research Debate and Research 101: Callout, Focus, Music Test

Thursday January 10, 2008

From Robert Feder -- Eight weeks of nonstop Christmas music brought holiday cheer to WLIT. The Clear Channel Radio adult contemporary station jumped from 15th place last summer to a tie for fourth in Arbitron ratings released Wednesday for the fall survey period. Most impressively, Lite FM practically tripled its cumulative weekly audience, attracting an all-time high 1.6 million listeners during December (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From J P Hannan -- Simply put, the broadcasting radio sector has seen better days. Just yesterday morning, Jeff Smulyan, Chairman & CEO of Emmis Communications stated in the opening comments of his fiscal Q3 quarterly conference call that "this is the worst point in the history of the industry". Emmis saw its stock drop an astounding -54% in 2007, but it was hardly alone. Last year, virtually every major radio broadcaster saw significant declines in share price (read more - Seeking Alpha)

From Bill Virgin -- On occasion, a station uncovers a new niche that has been overlooked by or isn't large enough to warrant the attention of the big stations. Such is the case with the growing presence of sports programming on KKNW-AM/1150, operated by Sandusky Radio (read more - Seattle PI)

From John Plunkett -- Virgin Radio is to launch a division dedicated to producing third-party podcasts and audio streams headed by a former executive from Global Radio. The branded content division will produce audio for third party clients as well as Virgin branded content featuring some of the station's best-known presenters (read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- Over four years ago when I first arrived on campus I quickly understood that something major was happening among the next generation and that folks in traditional media had no clue. I had no clue. Today I see things quite differently regarding the future of the music, record, radio, TV and mobile/Internet businesses. First look around and you'll see clues -- lessons (read more - Inside Music Media)

From Rob Pegoraro -- At iBiquity's booth (tucked away at the far end of the convention center's North Hall, next to dozens of car-audio vendors competing to see who can stuff more speakers into the backs of trucks and sports cars), 14 different tabletop (HD) radios were on display. And instead of the $200-and-up audiophile models that have dominated the market so far--such as the Boston Acoustics model I reviewed a couple of years ago--this selection starts at $79. That's not quite clock-radio pricing, but it's also not a level where you feel you need to give yourself special permission to buy (read more - Washington Post)

From Randy Dotinga -- "The worth of terrestrial stations will be dramatically diminished because folks will be getting audio and video by way of the Internet for the most part," predicted Ron James, head of content for the San Diego Union-Tribune's Web site. The newspaper's main online station offers entertainment from veteran radio personalities along with specialized shows hosted by its stable of reporters and columnists. Former local TV guy Clark Anthony and disc jockey Ken Copper, formerly of the defunct K-Best and other stations, host a weekday show. Dave Mason, a former DJ at Kool 99.3 and news anchor at KOGO, handles AM news duties, followed by "Charlie & Harrigan," a venerable team familiar to local listeners of KCBQ-AM. Happy Hare, a top-rated local disc jockey in the 1960s, is also on board (read more - North County Times)

ARBitron numbers for Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Milwaukee-Racine, Poughkeepsie and The Hamptons-Riverhead (read 'em)

From Howard Kurtz -- Not since the networks awarded Florida to Al Gore on Election Night 2000 has the collective media establishment so blatantly missed the boat. The reasons are legion: News outlets are serving up more analysis and blogs to remain relevant in a wired world. Many cash-strapped organizations are spending less on field reporting, and television tries to winnow a crowded field for the sake of a better narrative. Cable shows and Web sites provide a gaping maw to be filled with fresh speculation. Tracking polls fuel a conventional wisdom that feeds on itself. The length of today's campaigns provides more twists and turns long before most voters tune in. And there is a natural journalistic tendency to try to peer around the next corner (read more - Washington Post)

Beginning this Sunday, January 13, Andre Eggelletion  returns on News Talk 850 WFTL Miami from 3 pm -5 pm

Radio & Records partners with YANGAROO's DMDS for digital delivery (read more - CNW Group CA)

From Jose Martinez -- Bad news for CBS: Dan Rather will have his chance in court to give his former network a big black eye. A Manhattan judge tentatively gave the go-ahead Wednesday to Rather's explosive $70 million suit against CBS News (read more - NY Daily News)

From David Hinckley -- Joe Condon reports that longtime WABC morning man Herb Oscar Anderson is doing a two-hour syndicated daily music show from his home in Florida + The big faceoff next Thursday on Hispanic radio has taken an unexpected twist: Just as Luis Jimenez returns to the city on WCAA (La Kalle, 105.9 FM), his old partner, Moonshadow, will rejoin the morning team at WSKQ (La Mega, 97.9 FM) (read more - NY Daily News)

From CBS 2 LA -- Johnny Grant, Hollywood's honorary mayor, longtime producer of the Hollywood Christmas Parade and broadcasting pioneer, died Wednesday (read more - view the video - CBS 2 LA)

From Jay Marvin -- I love quoting polls. Many times it's all you have to go by. Just like so many other American institutions is another one (the idea of polling) now something neither you or I can trust? How about Arbitron? What's your trust level there? Do people tell the company what they think they want to hear or do they tell them the truth? Do many people really listen to NPR or do they claim they do because it makes them sound intellectual? (read more - Pattern Change)

From Page Six -- Maria Bartiromo's CNBC rival, Erin Burnett, is doing her share to roil the cable business network. Sources tell Page Six that Burnett, known as the "Street Sweetie," has network suits in an uproar over the narcissistic, money-grubbing feature she penned for Men's Health, titled "Eight Things That Would Impress Me" - with bosses worried it could hurt her and the station's serious news image (read more - NY Post)

From Rolling Stone and Talking Points Memo -- Chris Matthews revises his opinion overnight on Hillary Clinton’s Big Win.  Did Matthews flip-flop on January 9 after his comments on January 8? "Last night (Tuesday), Matthews said: "I give her a lot of personal credit; I will never underestimate Hillary Clinton again." But by this morning (Wednesday) Matthews had already forgotten his newfound respect for her. He said: "The reason she's a U.S. Senator, the reason she's a candidate for President, the reason she may be a front-runner, is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be Senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win it on the merits" (view the videos - Rolling Stone)  (read more - view video - Greg Sargent - Talking Points Memo)

From Murphy Martin -- Most all of the candidates, Democrats and Republicans, say they will now focus attention on the South Carolina Primary on January 19th. However, Rudolph Giuliani, says he will focus on the January 29th Florida Primary. South Carolina results may lead to some dropping out by those candidates not faring well at the polls thus far, although we would expect most of them to try to stay the course through the multi state voting on February 5th. It should be noted that John McCain lost a brutal campaign to George W. Bush in South Carolina. A presidential debate is scheduled for Myrtle Beach Thursday night (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

From Liz Cox Barrett -- Many of the network’s (MSNBC) familiar faces-with the exception of Chris Matthews-seemed to be doing some form of soul-searching for having, as Tom Brokaw put it, prematurely and sometimes excitedly “end[ed] the Clinton era,” for having been so sure of New Hampshire’s outcome hours or even days before the polls closed. (Sounds familiar, no?) Often, it seemed to be Brokaw gently apologizing for his onetime peers. (Maybe that’s what gravitas means) (Columbia Journalism Review)

From Tom Becka -- If people don’t stay away from TV during the writers’ strike, America is doomed to a world of reality TV and bad game shows. The medium that used to bring us classics like “Seinfeld,” “M*A*S*H,” “I Love Lucy,” and “Dallas” now fills the time with shows of fat people on diets, and has-been stars doing the cha cha. Even the game shows that used to challenge us with trivia questions now just ask us to pick a suitcase and hope that there’s a lot of money in it. What’s next? A televised version of Rock, Paper, Scissors? The public needs to demand more from the media. We need to demand better shows with quality writing. Shows that entertain us, challenge us and inspire us (read more - Omaha City Weekly)

From Mel Phillips -- Four or five years ago you were considering whether or not to give away Mp3s or iPods, today it's Blu-ray and HDTV. You would go around the room for pros and cons. Are you promoting the use of iPods or Mp3s and do you risk losing listeners by giving them away? Sure and sure, but there's a 'but' (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Clea Simon -- Will commercial classical radio survive in Boston, specifically on WCRB-FM (99.5)? (read more - Boston Globe)

From Jay Severin - 96.9 Talk -- Right up until today, I thought the scariest statistic in this country was that 16 percent of us believe Elvis is still alive. Much scarier: 50 percent of Americans believe Hillary Clinton’s tears were genuine and spontaneous. Team Clinton continues to rely on P.T. Barnum’s two life philosophies: “Nobody ever went broke (i.e. lost an election) underestimating the intelligence of the American people” and “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Of course, though, when Mitt Romney wept upon learning his church had extended full blessings to African-Americans, we are to summarily dismiss that as phony. Rest easy - the liberal monopoly on tears is intact (read more - Boston Herald)

From Jacobs Media -- Amidst all the gloom and doom PR about radio comes a piece from CNNMoney.com/Fortune's "Small Business." The headline? "Radio Is the Hot Tech Frontier." Now, that has to make you feel good - At least for a moment. It's an interesting twist on the Consumer Electronics Show that's happening this week in Vegas (read more - Jacobs Media)

From David Barron -- Ronnie Renfrow, the Houston bandleader and veteran radio host, said he is close to an agreement to return the "Music of Your Life" music format to a Houston radio station + The Countdown list of things that OlbermannWatch.com readers don't like about Keith Olbermann is (5) their belief his show excludes guests whose views disagree with his own, (4) their belief that he leans too heavily on politically liberal sources for his stories, (3) his use of Edward R. Murrow's sign-off "Good night, and good luck" to close his show and (2) what they describe as his "obsession" with Bill O'Reilly and Fox News Channel. And the No. 1 gripe, according to Cox? "Keith stole Ashleigh Banfield's glasses," Robert Cox, managing editor said (read more - Houston Chronicle)

From John Gorman -- We now turn our attention to the WMMS World Series of Rock concerts, which were small, intimate gatherings of 88,000-plus of our closest friends, and where we presented a full afternoon of artists in the small cosy setting of Cleveland Stadium. Though a number of concert performances at World Series of Rock concerts were filmed or videotaped, little, if any, have turned up for sale or on-line (read more - John Gorman)

From Richard Roeper -- My favorite part of Tuesday night's coverage was seeing the pollsters explain why they were so wrong in their predictions. "Women came out strong for Hillary - Independents voted heavily for Hillary - The turnout was huge -- " It's like when the weather forecaster explains why he didn't tell you it was going to snow. Gee thanks (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

Mideast Week is now airing Sunday mornings from 8 to 9 a.m. on WMET 1160 AM. The syndicated radio program is produced by the Mideast Bureau of The Media Line news agency

Envision Radio Networks’ The Tour Bus, a nationally syndicated radio show featuring party rock bands from the 80’s, 90’s and today, adds “Panama City’s Pure Classic Rock” WRBA-FM Panama City

Westwood One/Metro Networks and Maptuit Corporation announced have now deployed their online interactive traffic service, RealTraffic, on more than 200 local websites for leading radio, TV, newspaper affiliates and Department of Transportation clients nationwide

Yesterday, in response to RDN Publisher Larry Shannon's opinion piece, "That's Where America Talks", many comments were e-mailed:  RDN has selected few of them for you to read and continues to welcome your comments at comments@radiodailynews.com: "You have outlined a pet peeve of mine ever since the the debacle of deregulation and consolidation. America is just not informed anymore of issues only the tabloid, embellished opinion described as fact by talk show hosts. They, as you pointed out, are more interested in pushing their books, rather than giving what the public wants, a fully informational fact filled show that actually pertains to the average American's life, not a talk head pundits political agenda" (read more comments) 

Jimmy Schaeffler, Chairman & CSO for The Carmel Group; Alan Simkowski, Vice President, Entertainment, Vibes Media; and Milton Stumpus, Director of National Business Development for Cox Media, have joined the lineup of presenters for Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association’s seminar focusing on the trends in mobile and personalized media, the emerging market opportunities they are creating and the people who are leveraging them for new dollars (read more - BCFM.com)

Grammy Award Winning jazz legend, Ramsey Lewis, will begin hosting mornings from 6-10am on Philly's 97.5 WJJZ on Monday,  along with commentary from co-host Karen Williams

The CBS News union has reached a new contract with news writers, editors, production assistants and researchers, will getting a wage increase and a one-time signing bonus (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

Wednesday January 9, 2008

From Tom Spalding -- Emmis Communications today reported a net income of just $104,000 for its fiscal third quarter, citing advertising troubles in its largest radio markets. Profits dropped 96.7 percent from $3.19 million in the same period a year ago (read more - Indy Star)

Sirius chief Mel Karmazin told Citigroup Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications conference attendees in Phoenix that he remains confident that the merger with XM will go through although he's not officially heard from the Department of Justice (read more - Reuters) (read more - Paul Bond - Hollywood Reporter)

ARBitron numbers for New York, Allentown-Scranton, Nassau-Suffolk, Riverside-San Bernadino and Middlesex Wilkes-Barre (read 'em)

In the ratings rankings in New York, WSKQ-FM is back in second place among total listeners and urban station WBLS-FM is back in fifth place + After last summer's Arbitron ratings came out, recalls WLTW program director Jim Ryan, "A couple of trade publications were asking whether Lite-FM was over" + In the fall ratings released Tuesday, WWFS and WCBS-FM both seemed to have plateaued - which often happens with new formats after people have sampled them. Both are much stronger than a year ago, but neither has toppled Lite (read more - Crain's NY Biz) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)  (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Robert Feder -- Starting Monday, Doug Banks and co-host DeDe McGuire will be heard on V103 from 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays,  returning to the station that started it all for him here + NextMedia Group is looking to hire a new program director and a new afternoon host at WWYW-FM (103.9), the northwest suburban oldies station (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- How to Get a 29 Share in Radio: That's what Jerry Lee's WBEB-FM (B-101), Philadelphia got among women 18+ for the week of December 13-19. That's a 27 share adults 25-54. A 1.2 million cume and double the listeners of the number two station -- all news KYW. All this courtesy of the Arbitron People Meter (read more - Inside Music Media)

From John Rook -- With today’s radio management saturated by sales executive’s intent with nursing the bottom line, we are witnessing a continued slashing of programming budgets. Regardless of the format, the bean counting mentality continues ordering cuts of key on-air talent for even top rated revenue producing facilities. If music radio is to survive it has no alternative but to give the consumer what is in short supply elsewhere, local air talent and music excitement that was a major part of radio’s past success (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

Premiere Radio Networks says that beginning January 12, Radio with a Twist, a weekly syndicated program featuring such elements as the Big Gay 7 countdown, news, gossip, celebrities, dedications and advice, will be added to Clear Channel Radio’s Pride Radio USA Network www.prideradiousa.com. Pride Radio features programming for the gay and lesbian community, created by gay and lesbian development staff

Bernadette Duncan has been named to lead the production team on the network’s forthcoming Lou Dobbs Show and Bob LaGrega joins the network to lead the affiliation effort for the program which debuts in March

Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman has apologized after saying during Friday's telecast of the PGA Tour's opening event that today's young players should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley" (read more - Chicago Tribune)

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has launched a probe of the FCC to determine if the agency had been fair, open, efficient and transparent when crafting regulations (read more - Reuters)

FCC chief Kevin Martin says the FCC will investigate complaints that Comcast actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online (read more - NY Times)

Senior telecommunications company executives called for a radical overhaul of the FCC, saying the agency's focus is no longer relevant for the modern market (read more - CNN Money)

From Shira Ovide -- Radio has spent years of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars to move into digital broadcasting as HD Radio, but few have noticed as the medium has been overshadowed by satellite radio. That could change this year, its backers say, helped by several developments (read more - Wall Street Journal)

From Joanna Weiss -- Hillary Clinton's dramatic, surprise victory in the New Hampshire Democratic primary last night was tough enough for the Obama campaign. Imagine how the TV anchors felt. They spent most of the evening, live, trying to square the past week's soaring coverage about Barack Obama's campaign - the general predictions of a broad Obama victory - with the fact that Clinton led Obama at the polls throughout the night (read more - Boston Globe)

From Eric Deggans -- Bubba the Love Sponge Clem started his new morning radio show at 6 a.m. on WHPT-FM 102.5 in Tampa on Tuesday. He also hosts an explicit afternoon drive time show on Sirius Satellite Radio, making history as the first to have such a dual on-air personality (read more - view photos - St Petersburg Times)

Parks Associates finds that satellite radio subscribers will increase from 20.5 million in 2008 to 39 million by 2012. HD radio adoption will also increase, growing from 4.2 million in 2008 to 30 million by 2012 (read more - Reuters)

From Tim Cuprisin -- The Golden Globes mess is just one in a series of developments this week in a strike that seems endless. And the whole thing raises major questions about the fate of the Oscars telecast, scheduled for Feb. 24. Imagine if the strike's still going strong then +  (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From Page Six -- Sightings: Bill Maher getting several lap dances during a visit to Scores East - Mike Wallace aggressively shushing a patron for eating popcorn too loudly - but then proceeding to talk to his wife throughout a screening of "Charlie Wilson's War" at the cinema at Third Avenue at 72nd (read more - NY Post)

Westwood One's  Board of Directors has appointed Thomas Beusse as President and Chief Executive Officer of Westwood One and a member of the Westwood One Board of Directors (Photo Source: Westwood One)

Today marks the beginning of Howard Stern’s third year broadcasting exclusively on SIRIUS Satellite Radio

From Jacobs Media --  Right now, Radio is going through a truly transformational process, as we try to morph our business from the single platform (:30 and :60 spots) to multi-level campaigns that integrate other media (websites, texting, social networking, databases, etc.). One of the challenges is teaching Radio's veteran sales people how to sell and market these off-air digital offerings (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Dave Kohl -- Since I'm on some e-mail lists of several pro sports teams and venues, I have started checking to see if or how broadcasts of the games are promoted. And it looks like there are a few teams missing the boat. Just today, I received "The Flag Bearer" which is the e-mail Newsletter for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. The team comes off their best first half in its brief history, making for a very positive presentation. There are, of course, links to buy tickets and see the schedule, and the usual. However, unless I clicked a link to pursue it, there was nothing on the "page" about how I could hear or watch any of the upcoming games. In this instance, the blame should be placed on the radio station which broadcasts the games (read more - Dave Kohl)

Beasley Broadcast Group says that 1070 WNCT-AM is changing its on-air format from Talk to Contemporary Christian to be known as “New Christian Radio 1070 WNCT” featuring today’s Christian music

From Rob Pegoraro -- Late yesterday afternoon, I sat down with Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin to talk about a a couple of perennial CES topics -- the digital-TV transition and "openness," the idea that a product shouldn't be tied to any one company's service (read more - Washington Post)

No manufacturer has yet committed to bring the technology to market but a new technology unveiled Tuesday would show what's being said on the radio using a receiver with a screen that would scroll text much like closed captions roll by on TV (read more - AP)

The Federal Communications Commission was told by members of Congress to preserve electronic records for legislators investigating decision-making at the agency (read more - Chicago Tribune)

Glenn Beck announced that Christopher Balfe has been appointed President and COO of Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck’s multi-media production company. Balfe previously served as General Manager and COO and has spearheaded the company’s growth and expansion into television, book and magazine publishing, new media and live stage shows. Balfe first met Glenn in 1996 when Beck was doing Mornings as KC101 in New Haven

From Brent Bozell, III -- At what point, exactly, did we come to hate humans for having the arrogance to assume they are wiser than beasts? The "we" in that equation belongs squarely to the camp of the loony radical left, which now broadcasts that hatred for humans on the Air America radio network. How low can this disgraceful failure of a radio venture go? One of their newest hosts goes by the radio name "Lionel." (His real name is Michael LeBron.) "Lionel" unfurled a rather unique take on the tragic incident at the San Francisco Zoo, where a tiger mauled a teenager to death. He cheered for the tiger (read more - Brent Bozell, III - Newsbusters)

From RDN Publisher Larry Shannon -- That's Where America Talks: In the medium and small town check-out lanes of Home Depot, Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven, Kroger's, Albertson's, Hy-Vee, D'Agostino and hundreds of thousands of small retail stores across the United States; That's where America talks. There is a great frustration being felt across America that the media don't hear the regular folks because they spend their days in studios in New York and Washington and Atlanta talking among themselves and not "out there" where America talks. The young and old people in those check-out lanes are talking about the pains they face with their sons and daughters, grandchildren, nephews and nieces being buried in large and small home towns after spilling their blood on the foreign soils of Iraq and Afghanistan. They're talking about problems they have with health insurance they can't afford, with lay-offs, jobs being exported, corporate executives getting hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses after downsizing their companies and those damned high gas prices at the pump. But what do they hear when they turn on the TV or punch the button on their radio? Phoney issues, poll figures, quick quips meant to embarrass candidates, the phrase "In my new book I discuss -- ", the latest news of talk show hosts signing multi-million dollar contracts and the back-slapping and conversations from the cozy insider's club of the media. It's a different language and a different world that media people speak and live in. The regular folks must think "The rich media people are really different from you and me." Oprah makes headlines because she worries about her dogs while the news about a young mother who's just lost her husband in Iraq and has to worry about their two children that his death has made fatherless won't be read about in any headline. It's not a Britney Spears story or a "horse race" headline about an election, so it isn't reported. At which grocery store does Oprah shop in person? At which Home Depot does Joe Scarborough stand in line to buy supplies to repair his roof? At which True Value hardware store does Sean Hannity stand in line to get a spare key made for his SUV? At which 7-Eleven will Dennis Prager stand in line to buy a Slurpee today?  In which Wal-Mart check-out lane will Randi Rhodes stand in today to buy a six-pack of bottled water?  To re-phrase the old quote, "God gave you two ears and one mouth. He must have been telling you to listen twice as much as you talk." But, so many media people -- talk show hosts, cable news commentators, anchors and correspondents -- in the field have been talking among themselves, not to real people.  These real people are the "quiet Americans" who are never heard -- who don't call in to radio talk shows or hold up signs at political rallies. The media don't go where regular people go because they are too busy hawking their new book or rushing from one cable news studio to another to spend two minutes on the air spouting off and without seeming to catch their breath in-between appearances. The media seem to be only listening to what each other have to say, not taking the time to listen to the regular folks in the check-out lanes across America. That's where America talks. Yesterday was a day of reckoning, a day when talk show hosts, cable news commentators, anchors and correspondents in the field were all coming forth with cleverly crafted clichés about the outcome of New Hampshire. While the media and talk show hosts are famous for playing back edited sound and video clips of the candidates in which they made a mistake or gaffe, you probably won't see and hear them playing back today their own predictions and other utterances from yesterday that were just dead wrong about the outcome of the Republican and Democratic New Hampshire primary. The media today are blaming their mistakes on "the polls." The media have become lazy and smug.  They're lost touch with the real people "out there."  If there are any curious media left and if they really want to know what America is talking about, let them visit the check-out lanes of Home Depot, Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven, Kroger's, Albertson's, Hy-Vee, D'Agostino and hundreds of thousands of small retail stores today; That's where America talks but where the media just doesn't seem to be smart enough to go to listen and report (comments@radiodailynews.com)

Tuesday January 8, 2008

From Robert Feder -- Only four months after he was hired to push buttons as a lowly board operator, LaMont Watts is the man calling the programming shots at urban news/talk WVON-AM (1690) + Two of Chicago radio's distinctive voices were silenced during the week between Christmas and New Year's. Death came much, much too soon for Terry Armour, 46, the Chicago Tribune columnist and half of the midday duo of Stan & Terry on CBS Radio's former WCKG, and Mark Sullivan, 40, late-night personality on Bonneville International's rhythmic oldies WILV-FM (100.3) (read more - Chicago Sun-Times)

From Jonathan Blum -- Get ready for what has got to be the all-time greatest sleeper of a tech trend: Radios, I kid you not, are making a comeback in 2008. And we're not talking iPod-like portable thingies, but big, expensive desktop radios. Mark my words, they'll be downright cool in the coming year. Best of all, charting this new radio frontier is a fleet of innovative small businesses (read more - CNN Money)

From Michael Klein -- Alycia Lane, fired yesterday from CBS3, is likely to fire back in court. The anchor, accused of assaulting a plainclothes policewoman in a middle-of-the-night encounter three weeks ago on a New York City street, received no severance from the station, where she had co-anchored the 6 and 11 p.m. news since arriving from Miami in September 2003 (read more - Philly Inquirer)

From Mark Ramsey -- The Consumer Electronics Show has evolved into an event which seemingly rivals the Oscars and the Superbowl. And for good reason. Because it's not about the gadgetry. It's about the future of entertainment. What it is and how we consume it (read more - Hear 2.0)

From Jessica Heslam -- The 24-hour news cycle that has made presidential races an unavoidable spectacle has extended far beyond the mainstream media as hundreds of bloggers, YouTubers and “citizen journalists” have descended on the Granite State. Former CBS anchor Dan Rather, covering the primary for the high-definition cable channel HDNet, said the new media is a plus overall, but there are some negatives (read more - Boston Herald)

From Page Six -- Lou Dobbs has turned into a real prima donna. The CNN anchor was supposed to be a big part of the network's coverage of the Iowa caucus last Thursday - and was even prominently placed in the promos - but at the last minute pulled out after a fight with CNN president Jon Klein (read more - NY Post)

Premiere Radio host Blair Garner kicked off the new year by welcoming Country music artist Joe Nichols to the After MidNite/Blair Garner Show last week (Photo source: Premiere Radio)

From Rick Merritt and Junko Yoshida -- A broad group of local television stations will start technical field trials of three competing mobile broadcasting technologies next month. But Hollywood executives said they will need to negotiate content rights before broadcasters turn on commercial systems that will serve cellphones and other mobile devices (read more - Information Week)

From J.P. Hannan -- Somehow in the business plans of many radio companies, this pervasive attitude of "We Suck Less", as Sirius Radio's Mel Karmazian once described it, has become standard operating procedure. Somehow many executives in this industry have grown complacent in their thinking that so long as their heads are still inches above the guy drowning next to them, they should declare victory. Ultimately, whether you fall off the cliff at the slower rate as the other guy makes no difference once you both hit the ground. This attitude is not solely limited to radio companies, though (read more - Seeking Alpha)

From David Hinckley -- Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show," returned to the air Monday night with the solemn declaration that until his writers return, his program will be retitled simply "A Daily Show." That foreshadowed a show that was largely about the Writer's Guild strike and largely sympathetic to the striking writers, who aren't all that happy about Stewart being back on the air without them (read more - NY Daily News)

From Jacobs Media -- One of the many promises that Arbitron has made about PPM is its ability to drill down into specific programming components to determine their true ratings value - or lack thereof. They call it "granularity" - which translates to being able to hyper-focus on specials, features, stunts, sporting events, and everything else we programmers cook up in order to generate ratings (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- Radio's best and only candidate for change is Steve Jobs. I know many of you hate him but I'm not talking about his personality now, I'm talking about his ability to offer hope. Jobs is the Barack Obama of entertainment. He offers us hope that old baby boomers who run media companies can know what 18-24 year old consumers really want. And what does the next generation want? Mobile phones with music on them. Texting ability, of course. No radio, but they're open to podcasting if the agents of status quo can ever work out the royalty issues (read more - Inside Music Media)

He shocked and entertained Bay Area radio listeners for years, and now Bubba the Love Sponge is back on terrestrial radio in Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. His new show on 102.5FM will be on two delays, and some of the content will be pre-approved by Cox Radio executives (read more - Fox 13 TV)  (read more - Tampa 10 TV)

From Kurt Cavin -- The former WIBC, now WFNI-1070 AM or "1070 The Fan," debuted its show with Eddie White and Bob Kravitz, The Star's sports columnist. Neither has previously held a full-time radio gig. Meanwhile, WNDE-1260 AM countered with mainstay John Michael Vincent, known as JMV, while Greg Rakestraw and Brad Wochomurka carried the load on WXLW-950 AM (read more - Indy Star)

Tracy Jones and Eddie Fingers will replace local broadcasting veteran Gary Burbank on WLW-AM 700 (read more -  Business Courier of Cincinnati)

XM and Starbucks have ended a marketing pact that included music promotions and CD's in Starbucks retail stores (read more - Seattle PI)  (read more - Tyler Savery - Seeking Alpha)

ABC News Radio Correspondent Aaron Katersky broadcasts from the Red Arrow Diner on Lowell Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. Katersky is speaking with Louisa, a local school teacher.  On Monday morning, he was on the phone with Don Imus from the Red Arrow Diner (Photo source: ABC News Radio)

The Jim Rome Show is kicking off 2008 with six new affiliates: WHOO ESPN 1080 in Orlando; WIXC ESPN 1060 in Melbourne, Florida (the station will simulcast ESPN 1080); WADB AM 310 in Monmouth; KSEK AM 1340 in Pittsburgh, Kansas; WDCO 1440 in Cochran, Georgia; and WCEH AM 610 in Hawkinsville, Georgia

From Lynn Woolley -- Wake up, America! Talk radio is in trouble. Your favorite hosts are coming under increasing fire from a political Left that wants to silence them. The worst-case scenario for talk radio would be the election of Hillary Clinton - As Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media (AIM) writes in our new book The Death of Talk Radio?, "In firing Imus, NBC News and CBS got rid of one of Hillary's major political enemies in the media. The campaign against Imus should be seen as a trial run for how the Fairness Doctrine might work in practice."  (read more - Accuracy in Media)

From John Plunkett -- Six years after they last presented the Big Breakfast together, Denise van Outen is set to be reunited with Johnny Vaughan on his Capital Radio breakfast show. Van Outen is being lined up to co-host the London breakfast slot, which Vaughan has presented since 2004  (read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

From John Gorman -- How about all that misinformation about HD Radio that was funneled out to the masses this past weekend? You know, the one about Steve Jobs’ Apple manufacturing an HD Radio/iPod hybrid boom box? It was hot news for a nanosecond on the pro-HD Radio trades and web sites (read more - John Gorman)

Longtime WBCK radio host Dave Eddy announced plans today to leave his popular daily morning show after 47 years on the air. Eddy’s decision, which he is calling a “semi- retirement,” was a long time in the making, WBCK program director Tim Collins said (read more - Battle Creek Enquirer)

From Juliette Garside -- Why did the merger fail? The coming together of Capital Radio and GWR in May 2005 failed to create a new superpower in British commercial radio. Joint profits of £40m have eroded to £16m and listeners have fallen by 3.7m to 18m. "GCap retained the worst qualities of both groups - the arrogance of Capital and the insularity of GWR," says an executive at a rival group (read more - The Telegraph U.K.)

From Happy Hare -- My favored Starbucks displays CD’s by the cash register as last minute impulse items and also, in rotary racks throughout the store. Any spare square footage, it seems, is occupied by a CD rack. There is a mega-Target near me that sells 4,000 CDs a week. Music is their highest grossing item. This is all ground breaking, right? “WRONG!” as Dennis Hopper would dissonantly intone. Don’t tell that to Herb Siegel, the mega media man. He originated this concept over fifty years ago. “A story goes with it,” as Damon Runyon used to write (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

From Matthew Flamm -- Political ads and the Olympics will drive ad spending up a 4.2% in U.S. -- The good news for the 2008 advertising market is that spending will rise, according to a forecast from TNS Media Intelligence. The bad news: It won't rise by much (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

From Mel Phillips -- I'm sure you know at least one person that's bought a flat screen TV within the last 10 days or so. Two of my friends have and there are others like myself waiting for prices to come down a bit before buying one. Make no mistake about it though, I will buy one. There's no consensus on which TV is best although people seem to be choosing a Japanese brand or one that at least sounds Japanese. A new announcement yesterday linking a TV manufacturer and Internet giant is guaranteed to whet your appetite if you too are fueled by flatness (read more - Mel Phillips)

From Laura Nachman -- CBS 3 (KYW-TV) in Philly has announced that news anchor Alycia Lane has been released from her contract effective immediately (read more - www.LauraNachman.net)

Citadel Broadcasting’s 790 KABC will broadcast “Real Sports Heroes with Ross Porter” Monday-Friday at 5:30pm during the Larry Elder Show. Veteran sports broadcaster Ross Porter will recognize men and women of the sports world who are true humanitarians by highlighting their efforts to make a worthwhile difference during the 90 second programming vignette. “Real Sports Heroes” will also be available for listeners to hear on www.realsportsheroes.com

The Country Radio Broadcasters said that Garth Brooks plans to appear at the opening session of this spring's Country Radio Seminar on March 5 (read more - Nashville Tennessean)

Westwood One says that The Dennis Miller Show is now airing on more than 150 stations across America, in all 10 of the top 10 markets

Ford will offer factory HD radio in 2009 (read more - Auto Week)

WTKK talk personality Michael Graham, who's been covering the New Hampshire primary, was on the Imus in the Morning Show today, Tuesday, January 8th, between 8:15am - 8:30am.  Boston's WTKK Talk 96.9 team will be broadcasting from New Hampshire, including 96.9 WTKK's Graham, Jim Braude, Margery Eagan, Jay Severin and Michele McPhee

Monday January 7, 2008

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly shoved an aide to Barack Obama during a campaign event Saturday morning in Nashua, prompting the Secret Service to intervene and instruct the TV personality to cool it. Bill O'Reilly, 6-foot-5-inches-tall, who was not part of the traveling press, threw some elbows and got into a shoving match with Barack Obama staffer Marvin Nicholson, 6-foot-8-inches tall, a personal aide always at Obama's side during rope line handshakes in New Hampshire. Nicholson said O'Reilly yelled at him to get out of the way of his cameraman's shot, called him "low class" and came around the waist-high barricade separating Obama from well-wishers.  Secret Service agents assigned to protect Obama ordered O'Reilly back behind the barricade. At that point Obama approached him and extended his hand. O'Reilly afterward told Fox News he tried "to gently remove" Nicholson from in front of Fox's camera. "We're sorry we had to have that little confrontation, but no one on this Earth is going to block a shot on The O'Reilly Factor ," O'Reilly said. When asked if O'Reilly used any profanity with Nicholson, O'Reilly said chuckling, "I might have called him an S.O.B. That's possible." When the popular Fox News entertainer arrived at the Obama event in Nashua, N.H., people turned to him but not always approvingly. A number of people shouted "falafel", the word O'Reilly used in a racy set of telephone conversations with a young woman he was trying to seduce as he described a shower they might take together. He meant loofa, which is not a Middle Eastern delicacy but a bath item. O'Reilly has promised video footage of his meeting with Obama on his "Factor" show on Monday night and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC will also have his own take of the confrontation on his show (read more - view the video - Huffington Post) (read more - view the video - Raw Story)  (read more - AP) (read more - John Dickerson-Slate) (read more - MSNBC)  (read more - Maria Gavrilovic -CBS News) (read more - Michael Saul-NY Daily News)

From Mark Levin -- HUMAN EVENTS confers on Rush Limbaugh its "2007 Man of the Year Award". Rush Limbaugh’s detractors never learn. They’ve tried everything to come between Rush and his more than 20 million listeners, intending to destroy his appeal and impact. But it’s a hopeless, almost laughable endeavor  (read more - Human Events)

From Matthew Daneman -- What makes good radio? Try the tale of a West Coast woman's arrest for pummeling her boyfriend over whether his dog should be in the bathroom while the couple showered together. "There's the attitude 'love me, love my pets,'" said Barry Beck of "Kimberly and Beck," the morning duo at WBZA-FM (98.9), as the two lobbed quips in a volley of verbal tennis (read more - Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)

After a 4-year absence from terrestrial radio at 6 am ET Tuesday - tomorrow - Bubba the Love Sponge will launch his new live morning radio program in Tampa and Jacksonville, on Cox Radio stations WHPT-FM Tampa and WFYV-FM Jacksonville

From Glenn Beck  -- "How it all ended with me in the hospital for 5 days and sent home with patches they give people (I found out later) who are at 'end of life' for pain is a journey I would like to forget, but know I won't anytime soon."  (Glenn talks about his experience in the hospital and what's coming up for Monday's program in a YouTube video) (view the video - GlennBeck.com)

From Tim Cuprisin -- Jon Stewart's"Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert's "Colbert Report" return with new episodes (but without their striking writers) at 10 tonight on Comedy Central + In a sad development for the bearded among us, the New York Daily News says David Letterman's strike beard will be shaved off in time for tonight's show at 10:35 (read more - Milwaukee JS)

From Mike Austerman -- A familiar voice will be returning to the airwaves of Detroit at Oldies WOMC-FM (104.3), starting Feb. 1 when former Big 8 CKLW-AM (800) jock Ted “The Bear” Richards takes over as ’OMC’s new afternoon drive jock (read more - Michiguide)

From Simon Thiel -- GCap Media Plc, the U.K's largest publicly traded radio company, rejected a 313 million-pound ($617 million) bid by Global Radio Holdings Ltd. and said it will outline strategic plans ``shortly'' (read more - Bloomberg)

iBiquity hopes to gain exposure for the concept at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where it plans to demonstrate new HD Radio features, including an "iTunes tagging" offering that it says will make it easier to purchase music, while unveiling chips and reference designs developed to let HD Radio go mobile in portable devices as well as car radio (read more - EE Times Asia)

TheRadio.Com has reached an agreement whereby Envision Radio Networks will serve as its affiliate relations partner, marketing The Company’s 100-plus formats to commercial and non-commercial radio stations. Currently over 1,600 U.S. radio stations have made the conversion to HD broadcasting, but almost half that number has yet to initiate an HD2 channel, as the new digital technology permits

From Jeffrey Flanagan -- Former KCSP talker Damon Amendolara appears close to landing a new gig with sports-talk station WQAM in Miami (read more - KC Star)

From Jerry Del Colliano -- The radio industry is setting itself -- and its advertisers -- up for yet another in a long sustained series of disappointments by speculating that Apple's rumored decision to inject its cool into a very uncool device will jump start HD Radio. If Jobs, at the MacWorld Convention in a few weeks, unveils HD on-board boom boxes with iPod docking stations, it will wind up meaning nothing to the radio industry (read more - Inside Music Media)

The Mentoring & Inspiring Women in Radio group has announced the mentees chosen to participate in the 2008 MILDRED CARTER MIW GROUP Mentoring Program. They are Leslie Fitzsimmons, Local Sales Manager/WASH-FM/Clear Channel/Rockville, Maryland; Lori I.Hall, Creative Marketing Director/Radio One/Atlanta, Georgia and Jennifer Quiroz, Marketing Manager/Premiere Radio Networks, Los Angeles, California.

This is the sixth year of the mentoring program, launched in 2002, which matches women in the radio industry with female professionals who are leaders in all aspects of radio. To date, the Program has successfully assisted a total of 14 mentees

In the 70s and 80s one radio station captured consistent national attention as well as the hearts of Atlanta radio listeners. Z93! If you were part of the historic Z93 CHR legacy, you're invited to the Staff reunion on October 4, 2008. Alumni from all over the country will meet to relive memories at the 2nd Annual Georgia Radio Hall of Fame Induction Dinner and Awards Program at the Marietta Conference Center & Resort. Reunion organizer John Young, a former Program Director of the station, is soliciting pictures and audio to be used for the event For more details go to www.grhof.com or email z93reunion@grhof.com

On January 7, Ron Jacobs and his Whodaguy Hawaii.com crew reached the six month mark, streaming Contemporary and Vintage Hawaiian music on the Internet. “In early 2006 I decided to revisit radio, incorporating the new technologies. Jacobs says, “While terrestrial radio loses its identity, profits and excitement, the mass of new media and online audio proliferates at a mind-boggling rate. “My passion has been to spread island music around the planet ..." (visit and listen at www.whodaguyhawaii.com)

From Dan McLean -- Seven Clear Channel radio frequencies -- including Star, The Zone and Champ -- will be sold to Vox Communications (read more - Burlington Free Press)

Buzz Casey has been named Director of Operations for Clear Channel's Indianapolis radio group, which includes radio stations WFBQ, WRZX and WNDE-AM. Casey will oversee marketing and programming for both on-air and on-line at WFBQ (Q95)

Beasley Broadcast Group has appointed Rob Keegan as General Sales Manager for Wired 96.5 WRDW-FM, in Philadelphia. Keegan replaces Jefferson Ward and will report to Lynn Bruder, the station’s Vice President and General Manager

Univision Communications has appointed Peter J. Lazarus to the position of Executive Vice President of Network Sales, effective immediately

FlyTunes' new digital music service for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and other portable media players and cell phones offers users a personalized radio-like experience, with thousands of channels of digital music that can be enjoyed anywhere they go, regardless of wireless connection. FlyTunes says it "outshines satellite radio in a number of ways" (read more - PR Newswire)

From Mark Ramsey -- From a technological and strategic standpoint (at least), radio in the UK is way ahead of our industry here in the US. The choices have been historically fewer, the investment in them (both financial and TLC) is greater, the brands are bigger, and the willingness to take risks hasn't withered in inverse proportion to the size of the industry. Because of those and other reasons, digital radio is way ahead there, too. And so is the realization that radio is not "radio," it's really a "multiplatform" experience (read more - Hear 2.0)

From Claude Hall -- I once sent a mail query in the early 70s out to 30 of the nation's leading program directors in Top 40
radio and 29 of them said Charlie Tuna was the No. 1 Top 40 radio personality. Heavy! Because I had mentioned no names in my query. And after I ran that interview with Tuna in Billboard magazine (which garnered maybe 200 letters of praise), maybe a year or so later, one radio personality told me he still carried a copy of that interview in his hip pocket to read now and then. I mean Dan Ingram was bigger for a while than you can possibly imagine, then it was Charlie Tuna + Charlie Tuna e-mails: "A few of those recent emails have sent me comments from your website, and, yes, Claude, it is true - thousands of emails, I've posted some of them on my website. Take a look for yourself and there's thousands more that I haven't put up, because of all the other content on my site, but after 40 years in L.A. Radio, I don't need to exaggerate. Link to some of the emails. http://charlietuna.com/talkback/index.php Your friend." (read more - www.ClaudeHallOnline.com)

From Jacobs Media -- It ain't the meat, it's The Motion." OK, maybe I'm one of the few who remember that song from Maria Maldaur from the early '70s. But as the CES is the big story of the week, those lyrics ring true. Of course, the CES is all about the newest gadgets...or is it? The more you talk to key players in the media/technology field, the more it continues to come back to software - content - programming - yes, the motion. It's not just about the toys - it's about what you do with them (read more - Jacobs Media)

From Alex Beam -- I saw my hero Kevin Martin on TV the other day. You may not even know who Kevin Martin is. He is the chairman of the FCC, and he looks to be about 12 years old. He is probably not your hero - But he's my hero. Like David Souter - a comparison neither man would relish - he is right on every issue that comes before him. Martin is right about indecency on cable television. He is right that we should be able to choose which cable channels we want to pay for, and he is right that the relaxation of the cross ownership rules won't contribute to media concentration (read more - Boston Globe)

Satellite Radio has unveiled for the CES in Las Vegas two new universal systems, the Audiovox XM Sound System and XM Compact Sound System, designed to deliver dynamic sound for listening to XM Radio in the home, office and other locations (read more - Reuters)

From Tommy Kramer -- Here’s something that you hear every day that is virtually MEANINGLESS to the Listener.
“That’s it for me. I’ve gotta get out of here. See you again tomorrow.” Who CARES? First of all, the focus is through the wrong end of the binoculars—on you, instead of the Listener (read more - www.TommyKramer.net)

From Dave LeBlanc -- Beautiful Music was a radio format born on the FM band. FM's birth owes a great deal to Beautiful Music. Edwin Armstrong created the high-fidelity band in the 1930s, but in the next decades very few people owned an FM receiver, and most signals were an AM station's simulcast. In Toronto, that began to change in 1957 with CHFI (the "HFI" stands for "hi-fi"), the country's first FM-only station (read more - Toronto Star CA)

From Sherry Stuart-Zuege -- 99 Country's Steve Davis has been in the radio business for about 14 years, but the one event that stands out in his mind is when he did the one-man wave at Lambeau Field. He sat down and stood up in every seat in the stadium as a fundraiser to bring awareness to and help combat gang violence. "People really talked about that and still do, which amazes me. I was really sore and sun burnt, said Davis (read more - Oshkosh Press-Gazette)

From Dennis McLellan -- Bill Idelson, an actor, television writer and producer who as a teenager played the son on the classic radio show "Vic and Sade" and later played the recurring role of Rose Marie's mother-dominated boyfriend, Herman Glimcher, on TV's "The Dick Van Dyke Show," has died (read more - LA Times)

From Mel Phillips -- Wikipedia launches their new search engine today. Wikia Search is the newest effort by Wikipedia, founded by Jimmy Wales in 2004 which adds another excellent source for data searches. I'm already jumping on the bandwagon although I was disappointed when I did a search for 'famous liars' and 'Roger Clemens' didn't come up(read more - Mel Phillips)

At the CES in Las Vegas, Audiovox is introducing the XM Direct2, the first "flashable" XM satellite radio Smart Digital Adapter (SDA), allowing users to listen to 170 channels of XM Radio through their satellite ready car stereo. It is the only "flashable" SDA in the market, which means it works with any satellite ready head unit, whether from Alpine, Clarion, Eclipse, Jensen, JVC, Kenwood, Panasonic or Sony, by just flashing software (read more - Reuters)

The NAB has been sporting a new logo and today filed comments with the FCC regarding certain private, market-based retransmission consent negotiations with cable operators and other multichannel video program distributors (read more - NAB)

From David Phelps -- Radio Magazine, the glossy, hip look at the Twin Cities radio industry, has apparently lost its signal since a short-lived inaugural run last fall. Only two issues of the free magazine have been printed, and none since the October edition (read more - Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

From John Plunkett -- Channel 4 has ditched its majority shareholding in Oneword, fuelling speculation that the national digital radio station is on the verge of closure. The station, which was touted as an alternative to BBC Radio 4 when it launched seven years ago, has suspended its normal programming (read more - Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

Clear Channel Radio’s Total Traffic Network will provide Volvo with subscription-free real time traffic data on select 2008 Volvo models equipped with factory-installed navigation systems. CCTTN’s real time traffic service will direct drivers to their destination and help them to avoid road congestion. BMW and MINI USA already have agreements with CCTTN

From David Hinckley -- Reese Hopkins, best known to New York radio listeners as "Crossover Negro Reese" from the Star and Buc Wild show, is now soloing on WRKO (680 AM) in Boston, where he's heard daily, 10 a.m.-noon (read more - NY Daily News)

From John Gorman -- Though there were many WMMS Tenth Anniversary concerts and events, the one that will always be first and foremost is Bruce Springsteen’s live concert broadcast at the Agora on Wednesday, August 9, 1978. For many Springsteen aficionados that show stands as Bruce and the Band’s all-time best live performance. I concur (read more - John Gorman)

Michael Stone, currently doing mornings in Northern Colorado at Regent Communications' TRI 102.5 and programming and mid-days on Oldies 102.9, is also a singer-songwriter, and has released a CD, "Inspired by a true story", original songs in a mix of acoustic - jazz - blues and rock genres with some tender AC ballads (visit Michael Stone Music)

From Harris Blackwood -- John Parks, whose baritone voice had been a mainstay on Gainesville radio for two decades, died Wednesday. Parks, 61, a Gainesville native, held a number of programming and news positions for WDUN, WGGA and WMJE-FM during a 14-year span (read more - Gainesville Times)

From Joseph P. Kahn -- Debuting on his new WRKO-AM talk show last month, Reese Hopkins wasted little time poking a stick into the beehive of Bay State politics. In his first day on the air, Hopkins declared "war" on Governor Deval Patrick, went after Mayor Thomas Menino and City Councilor Chuck Turner for their handling of the snowstorm that paralyzed Boston, and declared his support for Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 presidential race - after splicing Mitt Romney's voice into a comedy bit he called "Cry for the Negro" (read more - Boston Globe)

Manhattan Broadcasting Co. filed a complaint with the FCC contending that Morris Communications and Arbitron are working together to create a new Arbitron "Metro" market by combining Salina and Manhattan, which are 67 miles apart (read more - Topeka Capital-Journal)

From Brian Stelter -- In cubicles across the country, lunchtime has become the new prime time, as workers click aside their spreadsheets to watch videos on YouTube, news highlights on CNN.com or other Web offerings (read more - NY Times)

Cox Radio's Marc Morgan, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Neil Johnston, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be presenting at the 18th Annual Citigroup Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference being held January 8-10 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix

Melbourne's broadcasting community has been shocked by the sudden death of 3AW sports commentator Clinton Grybas who was found dead at his Southbank apartment when colleagues, who were worried he had not shown up for work, asked his building manager to check on him (read more - ABC News AU)  (read more - The Age AU)

David Page, a longtime writer, radio broadcaster and public-relations executive in the Seattle area has died. HIs first radio program was a Saturday-night feature broadcast from a booth at Burgermaster near University Village in Seattle. "People would come by and see him play records," Richmond says. That led to two more jazz-oriented programs, "Make Way For Music" and "KIRO Paging" (read more - Seattle Times)

From Michelle Kessler -- About 140,000 people are expected to converge on Las Vegas this weekend for the giant Consumer Electronics Show, the industry's biggest annual U.S. gathering. That's down slightly from 143,695 last year and likely to be the second year in a row that attendance has slipped (read more - USA Today)

From Cliff Kincaid -- If the liberal media have lost much of their influence, are the conservative media beginning to lose theirs? Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is on the defensive for attacking Mike Huckabee, the big winner in the Republican Iowa Caucuses, and Fox News is under fire for excluding Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter from its scheduled Sunday night debate (read more - Accuracy in Media)

From Brian Stelter -- Competition to publish the nastiest, most breathless and up-to-the-moment celebrity gossip has always been fierce, but the Internet has pushed it to a new level. Come Monday, “Access Hollywood” will introduce a revamped companion Web site, one that tries to borrow elements from the most successful celebrity site, TMZ.com, and marry them to an NBC News standard of journalism (read more - NY Times)

From Gregory Solman -- Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City has landed a yearlong creative project for the HD Radio Alliance with estimated media spending of $230 million, according to both client and agency (read more - Ad Week)

From Richard Price -- The news, when it came, was delivered in the gentlest of ways. Kevin Greening, the veteran pop DJ known to millions from his time as a star of Radio 1, had passed away "peacefully in his sleep" - In fact, Greening's death was anything but peaceful. It came after a dangerous sex game allegedly fuelled by large quantities of hard drugs, which is thought to have prompted a massive heart attack (read more - The Daily Mail U.K.)

From William J. Holstein -- Every phone call, fax and personal computer connection in North America depends on the services of a little-known company called NeuStar, based in Sterling, VA (read more - NY Tines)

From Barbara Shecter -- Canada's federal broadcast regulator is considering overhauling a 30-year-old rule that prohibits FM radio stations from playing too many hits (read more - The National Post CA)

From David Bauder -- Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has filed a complaint with the FCC after ABC News excluded him, fellow Democrat Mike Gravel and Republican Duncan Hunter from its prime-time Saturday debates (read more - AP)

From Dennis R. Israel -- "As an American Citizen/taxpayer and a professional international broadcaster, I think the time has come for Congress to question recent moves by The Broadcast Board of Governors, The Voice of America and The State Department on the many debilitating actions to overseas transmissions of America’s international broadcasting services" (read more)

Todd Feinberg will be in New Hampshire covering the primary this week and he's offering free reports to interested stations, including stations that don't carry his show (visit ToddTalk.com)

From Lee Arnold -- As a Radio Programmer, you never know where your programming epiphanies are going to come from. I've always tried to view all life experiences as applicable to my radio life. Sometimes this lead me to radio concepts. At other times it lead me to motivational tools to inspire my staff. This morning while reading the USA TODAY, I was reminded of an example of the latter (read more - Lee Arnold)

Emerson Radio Corp and ADCOM have reached an agreement in principle to form a joint venture for the primary purpose of manufacturing, selling, distributing and/or licensing audio and video equipment for the home and/or office

Radio One of Indiana has promoted WTLC-FM Assistant Program Director/Music Director “First Lady” Khris Raye to Program Director for sister-station, 1310 AM the Light. First Lady is also the midday personality on WTLC 106.7 from 10 am – 2 pm Monday through Friday

From the Rush Limbaugh Transcripts
SMITH: Rush, what I'm curious about is, we were talking about this in the commercial break, you've been very strong in your opinions on this and I wonder, "What does Rush Limbaugh do now?" Does Rush Limbaugh back off? Does Rush Limbaugh -- what is your thinking of what happened in the Republican Party, tonight?
LIMBAUGH: Actually, to me the big story is on the Democrat side. I don't think this is unexpected on the Republican side.
SMITH: I want to talk about this first, if we can.
LIMBAUGH: Sure, Shep, whatever you want. I don't think the Republican race is anywhere near over, as the Democrat race might be because of what happened tonight. But this, the Republican race has got a long, long, long way to go. Huckabee was perfectly positioned because of the makeup of the base in Iowa (read more - RushLimbaugh.com)