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The world's largest Christian broadcasting network wants a former employee jailed or fined because he violated a court order barring him from talking about a homosexual encounter he says he had with its founder. Trinity Broadcasting Network is asking an Orange County, Calif., judge to hold Enoch Lonnie Ford in contempt of court (read more - NBC 4)

Wal-Mart canceled an order for a best-selling book by Jon Stewart and the writers of "The Daily Show" after executives learned that it contained a photo of nine naked, aged bodies, each with the superimposed head of a Supreme Court justice. "America (The Book)," a mock school text that lampoons the American government in much the same way the Comedy Central show spoofs the news, includes cutouts of the justices' robes and a caption asking readers to "restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe." (read more - Washington Post)

Lawyers for John A. "Junior" Gotti want a radio host to stop trashing him on a drive-time morning show. The host, Curtis Sliwa, once was the target of a failed hit allegedly arranged by the son of late mob boss John Gotti. On Wednesday, defense attorneys told a federal judge that Sliwa's on-air rants against their client could poison a jury in his racketeering case. Each day, Sliwa "denigrates Mr. Gotti," attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said at a pretrial hearing in Manhattan. "He discusses the facts of the case in a highly inflammatory way." (read more - Miami Herald)

Add effective that day the end of a quarter-century tie between KQV-AM 1410 and CBS, in favor of Associated Press Radio's all-news service. Some CBS affiliates reevaluated ties over "60 Minutes'" use of allegedly forged memos about President Bush's National Guard status. AM 1410 gives a different reason. "It's a business decision," KQV News Director Frank Gottlieb said (read more - The Daily News)

No, WTMJ-AM (620) news folks are not reading ads pushing the re-election of President George W. Bush. But it's no surprise that listeners might have thought that was the case because of the role that an outfit called Metro Networks plays in traffic reports. A Bush ad was read Tuesday during a traffic report at the end of the 6 p.m. newscast. That traffic reporter works for Metro Networks. In an e-mail sent to one listener, WTMJ news director Dan Shelley said this: "Since our long-standing policy is not to broadcast any political advertising within the confines of our newscasts, regardless of who the candidate is, we immediately called Metro Networks and asked its personnel to cease reading the Bush-Cheney '04 commercial." (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

Drivers in Ohio and other battleground states are hearing live radio traffic reports sponsored by the Bush-Cheney campaign, apparently the first presidential ticket to adopt an approach typically favored by car dealerships. The ads are bracketed around regular traffic reports. An announcer reads "this traffic report is paid for by Bush-Cheney '04" and then launches into the traffic update. At the end of the report, the announcer reads a brief campaign message (read more - WCPO TV)

Filmmaker Michael Moore brought his Bush-bashing to conservative Utah Wednesday, saying he felt perfectly safe and was proud of student organizers who held firm against attempts to bar him from the Republican bastion. Student government leaders organizing the speech, who face a recall petition, said the money was spent properly and that Moore's appearance reflected freedom of expression. Because it received so many complaints, the school brought in conservative talk show host Sean Hannity to speak last week to balance Moore's perspective (read more - NY Post)

In a development that brings hope to the 40-something stations slated to lose Stern to Sirius in 15 months, KIOZ rebounded from a 16th place tie in the spring to rank top 5 in the summer with a 3.6. Meanwhile, top 40 sister KHTS (4.8-5.0) no longer shares 1st place with Jefferson Pilot smooth jazz KIFM, which slipped to 4th (4.8-4.3) (read more - Paul Heine-Billboard)

A psychotherapist years ago introduced me to the term "bear hug." I'm not sure anymore exactly how she defined it (and I don't think she originated it), but I've used it ever since to describe those situations where you are powerless to get out of someone's grip, causing anger and often rage. This, I think, helps explain the sexual harassment suit leveled against Bill O'Reilly. If the allegations are true, there is no excusing O'Reilly. He would not only be a sexual harasser but an old goat drunk with power. Still, she did not fear him so much that, after she had left O'Reilly's Fox News Channel show and gone to work at CNN, she would not go to dinner with him (read more - Richard Cohen-NY Daily News)

J.F.K. had to fight the anti-papist expectation that his Oval Office would take orders from heaven. For W., it's a selling point. Some right-wing Catholics want John Kerry excommunicated, while evangelicals call the president a messenger of God. "God's blessing is on him," the TV evangelist Pat Robertson says, adding, "It's the blessing of heaven on the emperor." Mr. Bush has shown all the evangelical voters who didn't like his daddy that he gets, as Mr. Robertson puts it, "his direction from the Lord." (read more - Maureen Dowd) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Hawaii will soon get 10 more FM radio stations, the first new signals in several years, and the bidding to build them is set for next month. The rights to construct the stations will go up for grabs in a Nov. 3 Federal Communications Commission auction that has been delayed since 1997. The FCC has been snarled in controversy over deregulation, consolidation, media ownership limits and other issues since that time (read more - Erika Engle - Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

The new facility that MSNBC anchors were reporting from, NBC's Democracy Plaza, includes public displays with information about elections, along with studios for WNBC/Ch. 4, NBC News and Telemundo. The trouble for MSNBC is that its broadcasting site at the complex is the only one without a glass enclosure. That left the anchors exposed to the weather and New York City (read more - Richard Huff- NY Daily News)

Poor Lenny Bruce, he was born too early. Bob Dylan said that eloquently in a song he succinctly titled, "Lenny Bruce." Dylan wrote: "Lenny Bruce is dead but he didn't commit any crime; He just had the insight to rip off the lid before its time." Boy, he sure did do that. Bruce used language in his shows that were routinely used by people on the street. He was a regular guy, using regular words, poking fun at the world and himself. How dare he! Not only that, he had the nerve to talk about black people, and homosexual people, and Jewish people, and sex, sex, sex. He was jailed in 1961 on obscenity charges, and banned from performing in Britain and Australia. Now we've got Howard Stern on his morning show graphically detailing the sex he had with his girlfriend the night before (read more - Shrewsbury Chronicle)

SIRIUS announced that its newest channel, Shade 45, will debut Thursday, October 28 at 8pm ET with a live and exclusive broadcast of the Shady National Convention from Roseland Ballroom, New York City, including a live performance by Eminem and other special guests (visit Sirius)

In an era of talk radio defined by the loudest, most outrageous voices, businessman-philanthropist Howard Jonas is betting on the notion that there is a space on the airwaves for a more thoughtful approach to conservative ideas. Jonas, chairman and founder of IDT Corporation, unveiled his vision for a more polite brand of talk radio last month on WMET, 1160 AM in Washington. Owned by Jonas's company, the station boasts a full roster of right-leaning pundits and is serving as a launching pad for his dream of building a national network of conservative radio stations (read more - Forward Newspaper)

KRKO-AM (1380), a commercial station, has signed a one-year deal with renewal options to carry all 76 home and away AquaSox games next year. Pat Dillon will continue to do the play-by-play. The games had been carried on KSER-FM (90.7). Station manager Ed Bremer said he's disappointed to lose the games (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)

ARBitrends for Baltimore, Cleveland, Fredericksburg, Providence, Springfield, St. Louis and DC (read 'em)

Dallas-based Belo Corp., reeling from a costly newspaper circulation scandal, is closing the longtime Austin bureau for its flagship television station, WFAA/Channel 8. Austin Bureau Chief Shelley Kofler confirmed late Tuesday that she and the bureau's photographer/editor Paula McCarter, a 20-year Belo veteran, were told they had been laid off.  "Yes, it's true," she said. She declined to elaborate (read more - Star-Telegram)

Starting in November, Donald Trump’s international radio reach grows to include Australia and New Zealand. Trumped! will have national clearance on the Australian Radio Network and the Radio Network New Zealand. These new affiliates join an already hefty list of nearly 400 affiliates in the U.S. and Canada. Trumped! launched in Canada on 42 stations via Sound Source Networks when the 90-second feature debuted in June (visit Trump On Air)

Internet radio, IPods, music downloads, and Howard Stern's move to satellite--the negative buzz on broadcast radio has reached new heights. Will radio be the first casualty of the new media technologies? Radio industry pioneer Ralph Guild, CEO of Interep, the largest independent radio marketing firm in the country, says, "No Way!"  Radio is getting a sour deal, says Guild. In recent weeks, media analysts at competing financial houses have been downgrading radio's outlook in what appears to be a race for the lowest forecast (read more - Business Wire)

After years of listening to monologues from right wing radio ideologues, Sheldon Drobny had enough. He decided the public airwaves needed balance, and that the way to get that balance was by starting his own full time, liberal radio network--what would become Air America Radio. Drobny has written a book, "Road to Air America," and tells the story of the obstacles he and his wife Anita faced as they tried to make their concept for a progressive radio network a reality (visit Barnes and Noble)

Alexandria, Va.-based Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the commission’s Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on violent television programming and its impact on children. The SBCA commended the FCC for publicly addressing such an important yet sensitive topic and urged the FCC to consider technical, jurisdictional, and constitutional issues before taking regulatory action to address the matter (read more - TelecomWeb)

Bill O'Reilly accuser turned down $2 million to make her sexual harassment complaint disappear, sources told the Daily News.
Lawyers for Fox News had proposed the $2 million settlement to Andrea Mackris and her lawyer Benedict Morelli, sources at Fox told The NY Daily News. The negotiations took place days before Mackris filed her suit. But Mackris and Morelli thumbed their noses at the money, the sources said, and suggested that $60 million was a more appropriate starting point. "When Benedict Morelli demanded $60 million, that was the end of any discussion, period and absolutely," said a Fox spokesman. Morelli said he had two weeks of discussions with Fox's legal team before the lawsuit was filed. "There were numbers that we talked about, but $2 million was never an offer," Morelli said. He has always said that he considered the talks confidential - but he contends that the $60 million represents how much O'Reilly is worth to Fox, and not how much he was seeking A Fox News Channel producer Andrea Mackris filed new accusations Tuesday, alleging she has lost her job because she complained to Fox about her alleged mistreatment. A lawyer for O'Reilly and Fox denied that Andrea Mackris has been fired or retaliated against in any way. Mackris, 33, said that by Sept. 29 she had told top executives of News Corp., parent company of the Fox News Channel, about the alleged harassment and hostile work environment to which she was subjected while working for O'Reilly's show, "The O'Reilly Factor." (read more - Lloyd Grove/Adam Nichols-NY Daily News) (read more - NY Post)

From Chuck Blore's "OK, OK, I Wrote the Book" ---  So, how am I gonna make this into a best seller? I mean, if you’re gonna write a book, you want it to be a best seller, right? Absolutely. But it has to have some kind of fresh twist or trick, some inventive gimmick. Ah, I got it. Truth. Sometimes truth can be the best trick of all. So, here goes. I know a lot of this success, probably most of it, had to do with that being in the right place at the right time thing, but today, proud to say, I’m in two different broadcasting Halls Of Fame. I have been given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Broadcast Promotion Industry, two Professional Achievement Awards from the radio industry, I’ve spoken to advertising and/or broadcast groups in every English speaking country in the world where there is commercial broadcasting, I’ve taught at UCLA and I’m quoted in several other college textbooks, there have been feature articles about me and my company in every major broadcasting and advertising publication I can think of and, The National Association of Broadcasters has recently, designated me, a legend. All from just doing what seemed like a good thing to do. And of course, that right place at the right time thing. Looking back at it, the only problem is that I’m looking back at it. So, I guess it’s time to write the book. Damn ... (read excerpt #1 of Chuck Blore's book)

Buoyed by a jump in the summer ratings, WCBS-FM (101.1) is convinced that its new, tighter mix of '60s and '70s oldies is the way to go. "As we've said all along, we don't feel WCBS-FM needs drastic changes," says vice president Chad Brown. "We have a large core of listeners, and we feel that with our minor adjustments, we're giving them what they want." (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Because radio in the Washington area isn't dry enough, Bonneville International Corp. plans to flip its newest acquisition, WPLC-AM (1050) to a new format: Round-the-clock news and information for federal government employees (read more Chris Baker-Washington Times)

Suzie Humphreys will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  This is the last call for you to get your tickets for just $50 each. Do it today!  Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com Suzie's background is as varied as her audiences...from administrative secretary to Television Talk Show Host at WFAA-TV, to 20 years in radio at KVIL 103.7. (click here to hear a brief aircheck of Suzie reporting on the Ron Chapman morning show at KVIL) She has hobnobbed with movie stars and politicians, interviewed the great and the "near" great. She has made hundreds of commercials, done musical comedy and motion pictures. She has been fired, been broke, been disappointed, been a petrified expectant mother at 40 years old and lived her life with a passion for learning not only how to be better, but to see things differently. Today, Suzie is a motivational humorist who crisscrosses the country speaking to Hospitals, Corporations, Conventions and even the Central Intelligence Agency (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)

Piranha Man would be proud: Robin Baumgarten, who began on the cast of characters of Jonathon Brandmeier's old WLUP-FM (97.9) morning show, has been named a full-fledged morning news anchor at WGN-Channel 9 + WLEY-FM (107.9), Spanish Broadcasting System's regional Mexican music station known as "La Ley," shook up its morning and midday programming lineups this week in the face of steadily falling ratings + Scott Tyler, who was forced to resign after two years as afternoon personality at WKSC-FM (103.5), has landed as nighttime jock at Clear Channel Radio sister station KDWB-FM in Minneapolis. No word yet on a replacement for him at "Kiss FM" and more (read Feder of Chicago)

So you thought country music was too utterly ’80s, a relic of the line-dance, “Urban Cowboy” era? If you thought that, better check the latest rankings of Detroit radio stations from Arbitron. Arbitron’s summer 2004 ratings book shows just how strong a surge country music is making both locally and nationally. Detroit listeners always love their soulful R&B, and adult urban contemporary WMXD-FM (92.3) has taken over the overall No. 1 slot among listeners aged 12 and older from news-talk WJR-AM (760), moving from No. 4 in the spring book to first overall (read more - Detroit News)

Radio One announced that it has consummated the acquisition of the stock of New Mableton Broadcasting Corporation, the majority shareholder of which is an entity controlled by Alfred C. Liggins, III, Chief Executive Officer of Radio One. The purchase price was approximately $35.0 million. NMBC owns radio station WAMJ-FM, located in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. Radio One has operated the station under a local management agreement since August, 2001 (read more - Business Wire)

KUVO is the first FM broadcaster in Colorado to broadcast HD Radio. They turned on the digital signal Aug. 1. As a stand-alone public radio station with a full-time classic jazz format, KUVO 89.3 FM has always tried to be on the forefront of technology (read more - Mi2n)

Donald Trump yesterday sent a note to Cuban, owner of basketball's Dallas Mavericks; the letter, in which Trump poked fun at "The Benefactor," was also obtained by The NY Daily News. "I am truly sorry to hear that your show has been canceled for lack of ratings," Trump wrote in the fax - ironically sent to ­Cuban at the Trump International. "When I initially called you to congratulate you on 'The Benefactor' - little did you or I realize how disastrous and embarrassing it would turn out to be for you," Trump wrote. Last week, ABC cut short the run of "The Benefactor," in which Cuban was putting a group of people through a series of tasks with the goal of winning $1 million. The program will air for the last time on Monday (read more - NY Daily News)

CNN's Tucker Carlson is still swatting at "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart in the wake of their angry on-air clash on "Crossfire" Friday night. The conservative commentator yesterday described Stewart's behavior as "bizarre" on the program — during which a stone-cold serious Stewart bashed "Crossfire," called Carlson a "d- -k" and made fun of his trademark bow tie. What's more, Stewart stayed an hour and a half after taping ended to continue haranguing Carlson and co-host Paul Begala. Eventually, a CNN director said Stewart had to leave the set, which was to be used for a taping of "Anderson Cooper 360." (read more - NY Post-Page Six)

Bowling and Rock ’n’ Roll — now there’s a combination. But for those of you who listen to WLUP-FM, 97.9 out of Chicago (better known as “The Loop”), the Friday morning show brought those two entities together, with Stardust Bowl II in Hobart as the backdrop. The morning tandem of Dobie Maxwell and Spike Manton brought their brand of classic and hard-rock music, mixed in with a little craziness, to the center on U.S. 30 for the third in a series of bowling outings (read more - NW Indiana Post-Tribune)

Seven Madison radio stations are moving into a new 36,000-square-foot building on Madison's West Side. The stations, owned by Midwest Family Broadcast Group, will begin moving into the building on Rayovac Drive next month. Sales and administrative staff members already have relocated (read more - Wisconsin State Journal)

Salem Communications, announced that Dr. Laura Schlessinger's talk show program returned to the New York airwaves on WMCA-AM (970) on October 18, from 2PM until 4PM (read more - Business Wire)

Sinclair flip-flops on anti-Kerry program -- In a statement, Sinclair said, "In order to minimize the interruption of normally scheduled programming in those markets where Sinclair owns and/or programs more than one television station, the news special will be broadcast on only one of those stations." Oh, and it's no longer called "The Point Special Edition: Stolen Honor," using the title of the film that criticizes Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities. It's now "NewsCentral Presents: A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media." "Contrary to numerous inaccurate political and press accounts, the Sinclair stations will not be airing the documentary 'Stolen Honor' in its entirety," the Sinclair statement says (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) (read more - NY Times)

Songwriter, musician, recording artist, actor, former MTV host, anti-censorship activist and rock radio DJ Mojo Nixon brings his bodacious and outrageous personality, twisted sense of humor and love of rebel music to SIRIUS Satellite Radio, when he joins the commercial-free Outlaw Country channel as an afternoon on-air host, starting on Monday, Oct. 25 (visit Sirius Radio)

Bob Schieffer on his role at the Presidential Debates -- I wanted voters to come away from them with a better understanding of exactly who these men are and what they stand for. In that sense, I feel very good about how this debate came out. But I also realize that you can never please all of the people any of the time. And some critics have scolded me for asking the candidates what they learned from the strong women in their lives. These critics said I wasted valuable time just to get a Hallmark-card moment. Well, they caught me, and I plead guilty. As our campaigns have become nastier and nastier, I think we all deserve a Hallmark moment from time to time. I hope the candidates give us a few more down the line. We know for sure there'll be no shortage of that other stuff (read more - CBS News)

Toni Cook and more than 150 people filled seats and stood inside a convention room at Imperial's Hotel Tuesday night for three showings of "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal."  The 45-minute film includes interviews from American prisoners of war who denounce Kerry's Congressional testimony regarding American soldiers' conduct in Vietnam. A group of Pennsylvania veterans funded the film, and three members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were on hand to support the screening. WMEL 920-AM talk radio host Andrea Shea King said she and co-host Mark Vance obtained a DVD copy of the film Monday and arranged its showing. "People are asking us when we're going to show it again," King said (read more - Florida Today)

ARBitrends for Akron, Allentown, Boston, Detroit, Hartford, Philadelphia, Riverside and San Diego (read 'em)

Before the days of video games, MTV and the Internet, families used to gather around the radio to listen to old radio shows. But when the era of television arrived, many of those old radio shows went off the air. Now you can hear all those great old radio programs again on www.RadioLovers.com. The site collects hundreds of old-time radio broadcasts that date so far back that many of their copyrights have expired. There are the old comedies such as the "Abbott and Costello" show and their infamous "Who's on First?" routine. "Amos and Andy" broadcasts featured here date back to 1928. There are also dramas such as "The Avenger" and westerns such as "Hopalong Cassidy," "Gene Autry" and "Death Valley Days." Even "Batman" was around way back then (read more - WISN 2)

Who's on KABC's McIntyre in the Morning on Wednesday live via telephone? Former President Jimmy Carter, former Vermont Governor, Howard Dean and former White House Press Secretary, Dee Dee Meyers (visit KABC)

XM Satellite Radio is close to taking the wraps off a deal with Major League Baseball that would be the largest in the brief history of satellite radio. Sources say the 10-year deal -- expected to be unveiled sometime before the first game of the World Series this Saturday -- is worth as much as $650M in cash and stock.. They added that the agreement won't begin until 2006 (read more - Washington Biz Journal)

The CIA is withholding a damning report that points at senior officials. It is shocking: The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the election, and this one names names. Although the report by the inspector general's office of the CIA was completed in June, it has not been made available to the congressional intelligence committees that mandated the study almost two years ago. "The agency directorate is basically sitting on the report until after the election," the official continued. "No previous director of CIA has ever tried to stop the inspector general from releasing a report to the Congress, in this case a report requested by Congress." (read more - LA Times) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

From the Rush Limbaugh Show Transcript-October 18 -- LIMBAUGH: "So anyway, anyway -- I haven't forgotten my place even though I've ravaged by the common cold virus and a little bitty fever -- Bush is in New Jersey today and here's Edwards making a speech in Fort Myers, and get what Edwards says. This is to precede Bush in New Jersey. Edwards says, "'George Bush is exploiting a national tragedy for personal gain,' in a blistering speech preceding Bush's own address about terrorism in a state in the shadow of September 11th, 2001. Accusing the president of using scare tactics, Edwards charged George Bush is playing on people's deepest fears. 'He's exploiting a national tragedy for personal gain. It's the lowest kind of politics.'" Hey, Johnny? Eat it! You know, you got nothing to say, pal, coming off your comment with all these quadra- and paraplegics out there in wheelchairs last week in Iowa and what you said. Talk about exploiting! Look at some of your jury summations..." (visit RushLimbaugh.com)

ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning show was presented with the “Broadcast – Human Interest” award from the New York State Association for Retarded Children (NYSARC) for a May 25, 2004 interview with Special Olympian Fred Siegel and NFL Hall-of-Famer and former Buffalo Bill Joe DeLamielleure (visit ESPN Radio)

Scandal-hit Bill O'Reilly's accuser had a crush on the talk show host and voluntarily engaged in "intimate" phone talks with him, according to a former friend of the woman, restaurateur Matthew Paratore . Andrea Mackris' lawyer, Benedict Morelli, slammed Paratore's claim as "garbage" and called him a "spurned potential lover." Porn queen Savanna Samson — who was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly just hours before he allegedly called his producer, Andrea Mackris, and "launched into a vile and degrading monologue about sex" — says she wishes the Fox News Channel star had phoned her that night instead. "He should have called me," Samson told us yesterday. "I would have given him phone sex for a lot less than $60 million" ... Samson isn't taking sides in the case, but she can't help but wonder if she and Adams overstimulated O'Reilly while discussing their book, "How to Have a XXX Sex Life."  There may be some confirmation about O'Reilly's sexual tastes in an old interview with Stuff magazine. Mackris alleges that O'Reilly bragged to her about romping with two "Scandinavian" women in a car and described women he had bedded in Bangkok. Back in 2002, O'Reilly told Stuff: "The most beautiful women in the world are located in two countries: Norway and Thailand. No question. It's just a matter of genetics. You have Norwegians: They are blond and blue-eyed. They are healthy. They are tall and Viking-esque. In Thailand, it's just a very elegant look. Beautiful women." O'Reilly added, "The most unattractive women in the world are probably in the Muslim countries. You can't see them. So you are assuming that if they're dressed head-to-toe in black and I can only see eyebrows, there's something going on. I could be wrong." (read more - NY Post-Page Six) (read more - Ethan Sacks and Adam Nichols-NY Daily News) (read more - Daily Dish-NY Daily News)

Almost everyone was happy yesterday at Emmis, which owns WRKS (98.7 FM) and WQHT (97.1 FM). They're tied with WSKQ (97.9 FM) for No. 2 in the summer Arbitron ratings. WRKS has been on a roll for a year, pulling ahead of rival WBLS (107.5 FM) with adult-oriented music plus strong shows in the morning with Jeff Foxx's Wake-Up Club and in the afternoon with relationships talker Michael Baisden. Replacing the popular syndicated Tom Joyner show with the local Foxx show now looks like "a perfect move," says WRKS programming consultant Tony Gray. Foxx is No. 5 in the city in that highly competitive time slot (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

The Cubs have disappointed their fans, but they again proved a godsend to WGN in the latest Arbitron audience survey. The other big Arbitron winner came in the Spanish-language arena, where Univision Radio's WOJO posted its highest share ever. WLS showed an ominous decline in mornings, however, with Don Wade and Roma off the air for several weeks during the summer ratings period -- and gone entirely since Sept. 14 when their contract extension expired. If the husband-and-wife team isn't brought back very soon, Monday's ratings suggest, the results could be disastrous. Speaking of renewals, Emmis Communications reupped morning franchise Mancow Muller just in time to save alternative rock WKQX from humiliation by Disney/ABC modern rock WZZN  (read more - Feder of Chicago)

  Skipper Lee Frazier will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  There are only a few days left to get your tickets for just $50 each. Do it today!  Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com He began his radio career in 1957 at KYOK working weekends playing gospel music. Next, at KCOH for 22 years, he came to use the "Mountain of Soul" as his trademark and had an affect on the lives of millions. (click here to listen to a brief aircheck of Skipper Lee) Skipper Lee MC'd and promoted shows for James Brown, B.B. King, Wes Montgomery, the O'Jays and the Kool Jazz Festival in addition to holding talent shows for Houston artists.  He successfully managed two groups, the TSU Tornadoes and Archie Bell and the Drells, who had the #1 song, "Tighten Up," in the mid-sixties. Skipper Lee wrote his autobiography. He and his sons operate the Skipper Lee and Sons Eternal Rest Funeral Home. Each day, he is heard from 2-3 pm as a gospel disc jockey on KWWJ 1360 in Houston, broadcasting live from the second floor of the funeral home  (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)

Famed shareholder attorney William S. Lerach will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. today to discuss insider self-dealing by officers of Sinclair Broadcasting, the Baltimore-based television chain that is forcing its affiliates to show a propaganda film that attacks presidential candidate John Kerry. He will release a set of demands aimed at making Sinclair executives disgorge millions of dollars in unjustified profits taken out of the firm when stock prices were high during the past 12 months. Yesterday the company's stock fell a further 8 percent after being down more than 50 percent from the year's beginning, as advertisers pulled back to avoid the station's self-generated political controversy (read more - US Newswire)

Critics said it wouldn't happen — but all-liberal WLIB is seriously challenging talk-radio rivals WABC and WOR. According to Arbitron ratings released yesterday, WLIB thrashed WOR and nipped at the heels of top-dog WABC among the 25- to 54-year-old listeners advertisers chase. "The elections are giving them an added boost in a largely liberal town, [and] they're benefiting from the whole Bush-Kerry thing," said Mark Lefkowitz of the Furman Roth ad agency (read more - John Mainelli-NY Post)

Warning that the burgeoning internet pharmacy trade threatens Canada's supply of medications, a group called the Best Medicines Coalition appealed to the federal government on Monday to stop it. Canada's controlled drug price regime, combined with a favourable exchange rate on the dollar, has been attracting increasing numbers of U.S. citizens who want to fill their prescriptions for less money. U.S. patients who don't live near a Canadian border have discovered they can order their prescriptions from pharmacies here over the internet and have them shipped across the border (read more CBC Canada)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Old-fashioned journalism will not become obsolete in the Internet age, but newspapers themselves will have to change or might not fare as well, a panel of United States media experts said on Saturday. "At some point in the current generation, more people will get their news from the Internet than from newspapers," said SW Papert III, chairperson and chief executive officer of Belden Associates, a newspaper research and consulting firm in Dallas (read more - IOL)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost his appeal of a 25-point penalty and $10,000 fine for using a vulgarity during a post-race TV interview. Instead of leading the Nextel Cup standings with five races to go, Earnhardt trails Kurt Busch by 24 points. Meanwhile, the Parents Television Council filed a complaint with the FCC asking it to fine every NBC station that aired the program (read more - Indy Star)

The debate on Sinclair Broadcasting's plans to air an anti-John Kerry documentary on its 62 stations underscores the need for new national safeguards for the electronic media in the U.S. Policies that ensure that digital media – including cable, satellite, and the broadband Internet – have an obligation to provide diverse viewpoints are more necessary than ever. While we must address the issue of bias in broadcasting, the principle at stake is bigger and has more far-reaching implications (read more - AlterNet)

Arbitron Inc. announced results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2004. For the third quarter 2004, the Company reported revenue of $82.0 million, an increase of 8.8% over revenue of $75.3 million during the third quarter of 2003 (read more - Arbitron)

How's this for a feud that straddles the line between politics and entertainment: CNN's bow-tied conservative Tucker Carlson vs. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart. Carlson on Monday fanned embers still hot from their "Crossfire" confrontation, saying Stewart looked ridiculous during his CNN appearance and was a sellout for publicly backing Democrat John Kerry for president. Stewart, appearing on the debate show Friday, angered Carlson by saying "Crossfire" is "partisan hackery" that does little to advance the cause of democracy. And that was the mild stuff (read more - MyWay)

SIRIUS today announced that it has surpassed 700,000 subscribers, and remains on track to achieve one million subscribers by the end of the year. SIRIUS passed the 700,000 mark on October 18, helped by its best month ever on record in September with over 69,000 subscribers (visit Sirius Radio)  (read more - Forbes)

A duel of words is set to take place Friday between nationally syndicated radio personality Michael Gallagher and filmmaker Michael Moore. Gallagher, host of the Michael Gallagher Show, a conservative talk radio show, is visiting University Park in response to Moore's visit. He has challenged Moore to a public debate on student operated radio station WKPS-FM (90.7), The Lion. According to Joey Hudson, the executive director of Gallagher's Army, a non-profit charity organization, Moore has not returned Gallagher's messages thus far. "We've been e-mailing him and we haven't heard anything back from him," Hudson said. "We're hoping that he'll respond positively to our challenge." (read more - Penn State-Digital Collegian)

It was F. Scott Fitzgerald who famously said, "There are no second acts in American lives." He obviously spoke too soon. Rush Limbaugh proved him wrong. So did Bill Bennett. And bet your OxyContin and the vibrator that Bill O'Reilly will, too. Welcome to Trash Nation, where shamelessness triumphs over shame. Not only do the mighty who fall get a second act, it often pays better than the first! O'Reilly certainly qualifies (read more Michael Goodwin-NY Daily News)  (read more - Eric Deggans-St. Pete Times)

Here's a two-word programming update for conservative talk radio between now and the election: "Vote fraud!" Listen to Rush Limbaugh or his local lieutenants Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling, and that's the rant that's scheduled between now and the time that we know for sure who the next president is - whenever that may be. And if their guy doesn't win, expect it to be a mantra for months. Since this is a fair and balanced programming update, if you're listening to fledgling liberal talk radio on the Internet or satellite radio, the words are slightly different: "Voter suppression!" (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

Satellite radio-bound Howard Stern soared to his highest ratings since early 2000 in the summer Arbitron ratings released yesterday.
The quarterly figures also smiled on R&B/soul WRKS (98.7 FM), which is challenging WLTW for the No. 1 position among adult listeners; hip-hop WQHT (97.1 FM), which opened up a little distance over still-strong rival WWPR (105.1 FM), and news/talk WABC (770 AM), which rode a surge of election-year interest to its highest ratings in almost a decade. Oldies WCBS-FM (101.1), which had hit a slump, rebounded into the top 10, and all-news WCBS-AM (880), which has revamped its sound and carries Yankees games, grew from 2.4% of the audience to 2.9% (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

ARBitrends for Chicago, NYC, LA, Middlesex, Nassau, Westchester and the Hamptons-Riverhead (read 'em)

From TVSpy.com -- "Let's be realistic. Politicians, news people, clergy all have images and all depend on the trust of the public to succeed ... You do something like (Bosley), although it's not illegal, it embarrasses your employer because your employer operates on credibility." - FOX's BILL O'REILLY to Fordham journalism professor Paul Levinson. O'Reilly and Levinson sparred on 'The Factor' in January while talking about Catherine Bosley, a anchor in Youngstown, Ohio. While on vacation in Florida with her husband, Bosley took part in a wet T-shirt contest, pictures of her surfaced on the Internet, and she was forced to resign.

The ratings needle may have been moving in the right direction at WBZ-TV (Ch.4), but apparently not fast enough for station owner Viacom Inc., which replaced longtime CBS 4 General Manager Ed Goldman yesterday with a Viacom insider and veteran of the local broadcast scene. Julio Marenghi, 48, a Watertown native who started his broadcast career in 1978 in WBZ's mail room, took over yesterday as president and GM of WBZ, along with UPN sister stations WSBK-TV (Ch. 38) and WLWC-TV in Providence. Goldman left to pursue other interests (read more Greg Gatlin-Boston Herald)

Viacom officers and directors have resigned from the Blockbuster board of directors as part of the spin-off agreement, the companies said Monday. The resignations, effective Oct. 16, are from Sumner M. Redstone, chairman and CEO of Viacom; Richard J. Bressler, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of Viacom; Philippe P. Dauman, member of Viacom's board; and Michael D. Fricklas, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Viacom (read more - Dallas Biz Journal)

The Washington bureau chief for Sinclair Broadcast Group is out of a job. Jon Leiberman said he was fired for criticizing the company's plans to produce a news program based on a documentary that's critical of John Kerry's Vietnam-era anti-war activities. Leiberman said he was told he'd violated company policy by revealing information from a staff meeting to The Baltimore Sun (read more WISC TV-Madison)The Washington bureau chief for Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group's news division angrily denounced his employer last night for plans to air an hourlong program that is to include incendiary allegations against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for his anti-war activism three decades ago. "It's biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election," said Jon Leiberman, Sinclair's lead political reporter for more than a year. "For me, it's not about right or left -- it's about what's right or wrong in news coverage this close to an election." (read more - Baltimore Sun)

Just as they fed on sex allegations against President Clinton, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson, so too are reporters feasting on sexual harassment charges lodged against O'Reilly by producer Andrea Mackris.  "We're all over this story," says Bonnie Fuller, editorial director of American Media, which publishes tabloids including Star and The National Enquirer. "This is not going to go away." Depending on to whom you talk, such intense focus on the conservative commentator reflects well or poorly on the media. Already, lines have been drawn (read more - Peter Johnson-USA Today)

A lone gunman shot dead radio commentator Eldy Sablas here around 10 a.m. Tuesday, police said. Investigators quoted witnesses as saying that Sablas, whose real name was Eldy Gabinales, was on a “trisikad (motorized tricycle)” from the Ultra department store here, when an unidentified man shot him from behind three times in the head and in the body. Investigators said the suspect casually walked away after shooting the victim (read more - INQ7)

We the people own the broadcast-media airwaves, allegedly -- that's why licenses and governmental review are required. Those licenses require that the owner serve the public impartially -- again, allegedly -- because in 1987, President Reagan ditched the Fairness Doctrine (in place for four decades), which guaranteed television and radio news be presented with balanced objectivity. Since then, those with the most money bought up stations, programming their political and moral views directly through the airwaves. And in only 17 years since the doctrine fell, Sinclair grew into one of the larger TV chains, reaching 24 percent of United States' homes -- 14 of its stations in key voting states (including Tampa's WTTA "WB 38") (read more-Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe)

The Fort Worth Brahmas have found their radio home for the 2004-2005 season. Twenty Brahmas road games will be broadcast on KTFW 1460 AM, a station owned and operated by Cleburne based M&M Broadcasting

Alain Menargues, head of news at the state-owned Radio France International, resigned from his post Monday after he was accused of anti-Israeli bias. Promoting his new book "Sharon's Wall" on the wall being built to separate Israel from Palestinian centres of population, Menargues more than once described Israel as racist, earning condemnation from the government as well as RFI journalists and Jewish groups (read more - The Tocqueville Connection)

Nielsen Media Research's local people meters just got another high-profile backer: Kweisi Mfume, CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Mr. Mfume described the electronic ratings-measurement system as a "more accurate and reliable way of tracking household viewing habits" in local markets around the country and said they would be an "effective tool in promoting greater diversity" in programming (read more -  Crain's NY Business)

Ford Motor Co. said that it will begin offering Sirius Satellite Radio as a dealer-installed option in four more vehicles by year's end and is targeting up to 20 vehicle lines for factory installation for the 2006 and 2007 model years. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury now offer Sirius as a dealer-installed option on nine models. In the coming months it also will be available on the Ford Escape and Crown Victoria and Mercury's Grand Marquis and Mariner (read more - Miami Herald)

Election 2004 Reuters/Zogby Daily Tracking Poll: Bush and Kerry, Back in Dead-Heat Race at 45%; Kerry Now Leads among Catholics; Bush and Kerry Tied On Personal Favorability, New Reuters/Zogby Poll Reveals (read more - Zogby Poll)

What is it with married men and hotel rooms? Bill Clinton in Arkansas. Kobe Bryant in Colorado. And now, Bill O'Reilly, the conservative commentator, who is being sued by a Fox News producer for alleged sexual harassment. O'Reilly claims the whole thing is a publicity stunt, an attempt to embarrass Fox News while it's at the top of its game. On the "Live with Regis and Kelly" show, O'Reilly said, "I'm a big mouth.... But I'm a person who will say 'Enough.' " Had enough? Good. Now forget all charges and countercharges and consider this: O'Reilly, who has made enough people mad in America to expect slings and arrows, admitted something in his lawsuit. And that's where the married men and hotel rooms come into play. He acknowledged having cocktails with Mackris and watching a presidential news conference alone with her in his hotel room. He denied engaging in physical or sexual assaults. He denied that any "offensive touching" took place. But he didn't deny having sex. He didn't deny talking with Mackris about vibrators and phone sex and engaging in stuff that people usually use pay-per-view to watch. He didn't even deny exchanging tales of his sexual prowess, something that guys sometimes do with other guys or women they think they know. He didn't deny any of the behavior that Mackris alleges in her suit (read more - Rochelle Riley-Detroit Freep)

Music publishers and U.S. commercial radio station owners said on Monday they had agreed to a new $1.7 billion deal to cover licensing rights for music played over radio airwaves or via radio station Web sites. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), representing over 190,000 members, and the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC), representing most of the nearly 12,000 U.S. commercial radio stations, said it was the largest single licensing deal in the history of American radio. The settlement, which was approved by U.S. District Court Judge William Conner in New York on Oct. 15, provides stations with the right to perform ASCAP music over the air and as part of a simultaneous stream on radio Web sites, the parties said (read more - Reuters)

From ClaudeHallOnline.com -- e-mail from Jay West: "Your idea of creating a book involving not ONLY big time radio jocks...but also lesser known DJs of the past, struck me as a genius idea. I consider myself one of the 'lesser knowns' (but a legend in my own mind) and would like to be considered (or mentioned) in your publication, if you  ever partake in completing the idea + e-mail from Frank Absher: "I can really empathize with your desire to create a 'who's who', and you were one of the few in the earlier days who had a nationwide forum to which all of us in the hinterlands could turn for info on all the other djs + e-mail from Jack Gale:  "Just read your stuff on Radio Daily News. I am quite honored to be in the same paragraph with such names as Gary Owens and the other legends + more (read it all at www.claudehallonline.com)

EchoStar Communications Corporation announced today that its DISH Network satellite TV service is teaming with six networks to create unique coverage of the upcoming U.S. elections. Viewers will be able to watch national and state election coverage simultaneously from the six networks on a single TV screen. They also can easily select an individual network and view its coverage in full-screen format (read more - TMC Net)

Ron Rogers will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  There are only a few days left to get your tickets for just $50 each. Do it today!  Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com  Ron Rogers began his career in broadcasting by driving the first mobile news unit in Austin for the LBJ-owned KTBC AM/FM/TV stations in 1956, while attending the University of Texas. In 1964, Ron became one of the youngest General Managers in a large market as he guided a daytime station, KOKE in Austin, to number one in the ratings by changing the format to country music. This later resulted in Radio and Records and other publications calling him the "Father of Modern Country Music Radio." For 24 years, he served as President and General Manager of KVET AM/FM, KASE in Austin. He was the very first President of the Austin Association of Broadcasters. Rogers was the first winner of the Country Music Association's General Manager of the Year award. And, KASE won CMA Station of the Year four times. Ron Rogers served as President of the Texas Association of Broadcasters, and was given that organization's Broadcaster of the Year award and the TAB's highest honor, Pioneer Broadcaster of the Year for lifetime achievement to the industry in 2003 (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)

Just once. It's Monday morning, and thinking back on almost every Sunday news-talk show I've ever seen, I would have liked just once to hear a host or reporter say to a guest: "But you didn't answer my question. What's the answer to my question?" It happens every day, every week to the best TV interrogators, including bulldogs such as NBC's Tim Russert on "Meet the Press." This is a nonpartisan complaint. Republicans as well as Democrats are equal-opportunity offenders when it comes to dodging questions. They never fail to take the chance to show up on these programs, because they have learned the fine art of totally ignoring the question asked and spouting the spiel they came to proclaim. The Sunday talk shows have largely become pipelines for political-party PR statements. Why don't the hosts nail their guests with tough follow-up questions? (read more - Tom Dorsey-Courier Journal) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Jack Benny, Ed Sullivan and . . . Jeff Smulyan? The three don't seem to go together. But they will next month when Smulyan, chief executive of Indianapolis-based media company Emmis Communications, is welcomed into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. Smulyan, one of 10 inductees announced last week by Broadcasting & Cable magazine, will join a list that runs from Guglielmo Marconi to Lorne Michaels. The ceremony is Nov. 8 at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The magazine lauded Smulyan as an industry innovator (read more - Indy Star)

One shock jock jumping to satellite radio does not a new entertainment medium make, unless you look to the past. Milton Berle (remember him, old-timers?) was the first star of any consequence to move from radio to TV. He switched in the late 1940s, when TV was a low-rent version of radio. Soon he became "Mr. Television," compelling millions of Americans to buy their first TV set just to watch him. By the early 1950s, most other big radio stars (Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, Edward R. Murrow, etc.) switched to TV. In the 1960s, radio listeners discovered the better sound and better music on FM, making AM a secondary medium until talk radio found its niche there. In the 1960s, teens who wanted their MTV forced their parents to get a cable box. Who would have thought people would pay for what they were getting for free? Today, almost 70 percent of America has cable, and half buy the premium pay channels. Now we have Stern threatening to drive broadcast radio down by drawing new audiences to satellite. Broadcast radio deserves its troubles. It's boring! (read more - Accent-Republican American)

Sinclair Broadcasting Group has ordered all of its 62 TV stations to pre-empt prime-time programming on Oct. 22 and show the film Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal. The Web site for the film bills it as a "documentary exposing John Kerry's record of betrayal." The film's producer is Carlton Sherwood, a Vietnam vet and personal friend of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge who was hired by the Bush administration to create a government Web site for first responders. Sinclair, you may recall, was the broadcasting group that ordered its ABC affiliates not to air Ted Koppel's Nightline show in which the names of the U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq were read as their photographs were shown on the screen. Talk about stealing honor (read more - Editorial Press and Sun Bulletin-Binghamton)  (read more - NY Times)  (read more - NY Post Editorial) (read more - Robert Philpot-Star-Telegram)

Just days before one of the closest and most contentious presidential elections in history, Dr. James Dobson will call on every pro-family American to cast his or her vote on November 2nd. This call to Christian duty will air in two special broadcasts on his nationally-syndicated "Focus on the Family" radio program on October 25th and 26th. The  two-day broadcast will feature a speech recently delivered to thousands in Rapid City, South Dakota by Focus on the Family founder and chairman Dr. James Dobson. Before a packed house in Rapid City's Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Dobson outlined the critical themes of the election, including same-sex marriage and judicial tyranny, and implored attendees to make their voices heard come November 2nd. "We have sat here, many of us, for 35 years," he said, "while the family has been battered and bruised and broken. And ... many of us have just let it happen. But I'm telling you, now's the time to say, 'Enough is enough.'" (read more PR Newswire)

I'm no fan of Howard Stern's vulgar humor on his radio talk show. But I cheered when he lifted a virtual middle finger to his current employer, signing a deal to take his program to satellite radio. It's almost beside the point whether Stern will justify his extravagant new financial arrangement, which will reportedly pay him $100 million a year starting in 2006. Something bigger is afoot -- an overdue shakeup of the medium itself. Radio today has sunk into stagnant mediocrity. It's not all a wasteland, but genuine choices have narrowed amid corporate homogenization and government censorship. Technology and creative thinking have come to our rescue (read more - Dan Gillmor-Mercury News)  (read more John Helyar-Fortune) (read more - The Herald)

Kidd Kraddick, who is celebrating his 20th anniversary in Fort Worth-Dallas radio, will be with Clear Channel Radio for 3 more years. Kraddick signed a contract extension last week; his show, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, airs in 28 markets and has been on KHKS/106.1 FM "KISS-FM" since 1993. Before that, he was at KEGL/97.1 "The Eagle" during its Top 40 days (read more - Robert Philpot-Star-Telegram)

"That went great." That's how fake news anchor Jon Stewart wrapped up a visit to CNN's "Crossfire" Friday afternoon. And that was the funniest part of his appearance. He had come on to explain his frequent criticisms of the show and spoke directly to the day's hosts, liberal Paul Begala and conservative Tucker Carlson. "It's not so much that it's bad, as it's hurting America," he said of the show. "So I wanted to come here today and say . . . stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America." "You're doing theater when you should be doing debate," he continued. "What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery." Stewart directed his wrath at both hosts, but reserved most of his barbs for Carlson, known for his bow ties and frat boy sarcasm. "I thought you were going to be funny," he said to Stewart. "C'mon, be funny." "No," he answered. I'm not going to be your monkey." He later called Carlson a word that you won't find in the newspaper. If you missed it, the video is posted at www.mediamatters.org (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Radio hooked Jared Mims on the sidelines of a high school football game back in 1998. ''I was an intern,'' Mims said. ''I was extremely nervous. Once I started talking and realized what I was doing, I caught the bug. That was the end of that.'' Mims was an intern for AM/FM Radio then. Mims returned to Clear Channel Jackson after working at Thomas Media for about four and a half years. Roger Vestal, general manager for Clear Channel Jackson, said he was eager to get Mims back on the air at his stations. ''It's great,'' Vestal said (read more - Jackson Sun)

If Osama bin Laden ever buys a rap album, he'll probably start with a CD by KRS-One. The hip-hop anarchist has declared his solidarity with al-Qaida by asserting that he and other African-Americans "cheered when 9-11 happened," reports the New York Daily News. The rapper, real name Kris Parker, defiled the memory of those who died in the terrorist attacks as he spouted off at a recent New Yorker Festival panel discussion. "I say that proudly," the Boogie Down Productions founder went on, insisting that, before the attack, security guards kept Blacks out of the World Trade Center "because of the way we talk and dress. "So when the planes hit the building, we were like, 'Mmmm - justice.' " The atrocity of 9-11 "doesn't affect us the hip-hop community," he said (read more - Arizona Central)

My journey into the "no spin zone" was brief, only a few meaningless moments. I'm not sure what I learned from the experience. Probably nothing, except that I stink on TV. O'Reilly ranted and raved. The segment, he said, was all about "holding people accountable." Since that close encounter three years ago, O'Reilly has gone on to even further fame and especially fortune, supplementing his TV tough-guy act with a series of thin books including, "The O'Reilly Factor For Kids, A Survival Guide for America's Families." It's filled with the predictable wisdom of a man who settles most disputes by telling people to "shut up" ...  the book's release happened just as a $60 million sexual harassment lawsuit was filed by Andrea Mackris, a 33-year-old former producer and O'Reilly employee, who alleged that over a period of two years O'Reilly waged a lewd campaign to get her to engage in phone sex with him. He denied that he touched Mackris in any way, though none of her allegations mentioned physical contact. In his lawsuit, O'Reilly said the charges brought against him were "motivated by greed" and also by the "political connections" of Mackris' lawyer, Benedict P. Morelli, whom O'Reilly said was a contributor to Democratic candidates. I wonder what the Clintons and all those hedonists up in Chappaqua must be thinking. They must feel O'Reilly's pain (read more - Phil Reisman-Westchester Journal News)

Netflix warned investors this week that it is taking drastic steps to prepare for a new era of competition from Amazon.com Inc. Netflix already has new competition in the form of Blockbuster Inc., the nation's largest movie rental retailer. Earlier this year, Netflix increased its monthly fees to $22 despite Blockbuster's entry into the market with an offer of $19.99 a month. Netflix reversed course on Thursday and said it would cut the fee to $18 a month in response to the possible arrival of Amazon. Blockbuster soon followed suit and said yesterday it would cut its monthly fee from $19.99 to $17.49 (read more - Washington Post)

Radio listeners in Northeast Georgia are outraged that a popular news-talk station abruptly switched to a Spanish music format, taking even the station's employees by surprise. The Helen station, formerly known as WHEL-FM 105.1, is owned by Clear Channel. It had been simulcasting talk programs, such as Rush Limbaugh, with Atlanta's WGST-AM 640. But at 10 a.m. on Sept. 15, Clear Channel transformed the station into WVWA and began simulcasting contemporary Spanish music with Atlanta's WWVA-FM 105.3 (read more - Gainesville Times)

Too much turkey led Swanson to invent TV Dinner ...Two ill-fated versions of the idea, the Frigi-Dinner and One-Eye Eskimo, already had been attempted. Gerry Thomas perfected an aluminum compartmentalized container with turkey, cornbread dressing and peas, which could be retailed for 98 cents. Because the box design resembled a rectangular television screen, the product was dubbed the TV Dinner. Unsure of the salability, 5,000 were produced and instantly sold in the first year, 1952. The second year, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce were added and an astounding 10,000,000 were sold (read more - Lincoln Journal-Star)

"Each emerging technology needs stars (in order) to move from being an early-adopter curiosity to mainstream media," DeMers says. "If you look back a few decades, no one was buying TVs until Uncle Miltie (Milton Berle) came along. Breakthroughs like MTV certainly helped grow cable TV."  One week after Howard Stern's headline-grabbing Sirius Satellite Radio announcement, terrestrial broadcasters were looking for the upside to the shock jock's latest bombshell.  "It's going to force terrestrial radio to find and develop talent in a big way," Jeff Pollack tells Billboard. "Everything from voice-tracking to syndicated shows has impeded the progress of finding new talent." For Jacobs Media president Fred Jacobs, Stern's defection underscores how important it is that local radio be truly local. The threat: Traditional radio stations make money by selling advertisements. If listeners have the option of commercial-free music, the stations could take a financial hit, experts say. Take Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio station owner. Its New York pop music station Z-100, one night last week played eight commercials in the nearly six minutes between the No. 2 hit song of the night and the No. 1 hit song of the night (read more - Reuters) (read more - Asbury Park Press)

For someone who had got off the red-eye from New York just a few hours earlier, Pamela Thomas-Graham seemed surprisingly bubbly and energetic when I met her recently. The 40-year-old chief executive of CNBC was in London for just a day - welcoming her new European chief, Mick Buckley - before heading off to inspect another part of her global business TV empire. She showed no sign of jetlag or airport fatigue. But then I remembered reading that she was one of those infuriating people, like Napoleon and Baroness Thatcher, who could exist, indeed thrive, on just a few hours sleep a night. That ability must be one of the reasons for the achievements she has chalked up in her remarkable professional career (read more - The Observer U.K.)

Andrea Mackris, the Fox News Channel producer who is in a legal tussle with Bill O'Reilly over sexual harassment allegations, is a St. Louis native who graduated from Westminster Christian Academy in 1989. Jim Marsh, head of the small private day school, said that Mackris was editor of the Ambassador, the student newspaper. Marsh added: "She was a very good student, a very good writer." (read more - Deb Peterson-St. Louis Post Dispatch)

Radio listeners within earshot of Omaha airwaves have likely heard of Otis 12. The deep-voiced, often zany man behind the mike recently traded in his on-air persona for country living and tending to another of his talents. Doug Wesselman, aka Otis 12, lives with wife, Debbie, and daughter, Hannah, in Walnut. He was recently named a winner in the John Templeton Foundation's Power of Purpose essay-writing contest. Wesselman received a $10,000 prize, a big payout for a fairly new writer (read more - Daily Nonpareil)

A Sacramento radio station is facing a $55,000 fine for two episodes that the Federal Communications Commission considers indecent. The proposed fine against Sacramento's 98 Rock, KRXQ, and its Pennsylvania-based parent company, Entercom Communications Corp., is the maximum allowed under FCC guidelines. The fine, announced Friday, is over two separate segments that aired about two years ago on 98 Rock's "Rob, Arnie and Dawn" morning show (read more - San Jose Mercury News) (read more - J. Freedom du Lac-SacBee)

When my boyfriend bought XM Satellite Radio, I freaked. And not in the good way. "You're going to pay for radio?" I asked, outraged that he'd been swayed, like most men, by the latest electronic gadget. "It's free. We listen to NPR and ABC News, it's right there in our cars." "Give it a try," he said calmly, tuning to the comedy channel he'd discovered was part of his $9.99 a month basic package. In two minutes, I was slapping the dashboard and gasping for breath over the unedited routines of Chris Rock, Bobby Collins and Doug Stanhope. This was better than Comedy Central, I thought, because the network still bleeps the harshest swear words on comedians. He spun the dial to the 1990s music station, where I heard songs I hadn't heard for years -- one after another after another. No stupid ads for Coke. No Ryan Seacrest bleating about cell phones. No five repeats in one hour of Outkast's "Hey Ya." And if I got bored by that station's choices, there were at least 20 others offering something totally different. By the end of my weekend visit, I was begging him to turn it on every time we got in the car. By Christmas, I had my own XM and Jason and I were on the "family plan," which took us down to a whopping $6.99 a month. Reluctantly, but happily, I became the newest member of the XM Nation. And you know what? I am never going back to commercial radio (read more - Lara Brenckle-Centre Daily Times)

Radio Ink polled its radio biz readers, and they say Sean Hannity has the best syndicated political talk show in the country. They give Hannity's fellow WABC host Rush Limbaugh an honorable mention. For general talk, there was a tie among Imus, Tom Joyner and Howard Stern. For health/relationships, Dr. Laura Schlessinger was the winner, with Dr. Dean Edell and Dr. Joy Browne getting honorable mentions. Kim Komando won for best computer/technology show (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

The Mighty AM-1530 in Jacksonville, Florida, is adding Dan Conry's  weekend Saturday program from 3-5 PM to the station.  Beginning in early November. “Holding Court With Dan Conry” will debut on Jacksonville’s newest talk station. Conry is a former NYPD narcotics detective who made the transition into a talk radio personality when he spent almost two years with KSTP Radio in Minneapolis, and another year hosting a program at WMEL Radio in Melbourne, Florida

Radio pioneer Gary O'Callaghan was honoured for three decades of unequalled popularity with admission to the Hall of Fame at the Commercial Radio Awards on the Gold Coast. The cheerful breakfast voice of 2UE who shared the airwaves with feathered offsider, Sammy Sparrow, was celebrated as the most successful radio broadcaster in Australia (read more - The Australian)

"Fox is between a rock and a hard place," said Ken Marlin, of Marlin & Associates, an investment banking house that specializes in the media industry. "Fox is in a position of having to defend itself." "The CBS situation was worse only because it was an allegation of a failure by the news organization to vet a news story," Marlin said. "This allegation is personal to Bill O'Reilly. However, if Fox winds up having to part ways with O'Reilly, the impact will be worse for Fox than it has been for CBS." The news value of the charges is higher than it otherwise might be because of the O'Reilly factor. A nationally known tough-talking commentator and best-selling author, O'Reilly is the news personality who has been Fox's public face for several years. "O'Reilly is in some ways the brand for Fox News, as Dan Rather is for CBS and Tom Brokaw is for NBC," Marlin said. "This, without question, tarnishes the brand." (read more - CBS MarketWatch)

Tim Bull, head of Saga Radio, the over-50s network which launched in Glasgow last month and has bid for the Edinburgh licence, is preparing an assault on the UK market which could see it triple in size within two years. According to Bull, strong early indications from Saga in Glasgow and the prospect of profits elsewhere would give the company confidence to bid for eight of the 30-40 licences which the regulator Ofcom is expected to issue over the next few years. Saga has set a target of 190,000 listeners, around 10% of the adult population of Greater Glasgow, which it hopes to reach by September next year (read more - The Scotsman)

Walking through the WMBS office on South Mount Vernon Avenue, in Uniontown, is to hear the disembodied voices, conversations filtered out from the closed doors. Today and Yesterday together: An eight-foot-tall cabinet of digital satellite receivers sits in the in a hallway that creaks slightly as you walk down it. The "ON AIR" sign glows red above a closed door. The place seems to resonate with the ghosts of all the radio broadcasts that have taken place from the station's 1937 inception. Brian Mroziak is the general manager of the station (read more - Dan DiPaolo-Daily Courier)

Sinclair Communications started hearing from listeners about the Kerry show this week, after national media began reporting on Sinclair Broadcast’s plans. Right name. Wrong company. Since early this week, Norfolk-based Sinclair Communications has been barraged with telephone calls and e-mails over plans to air a program critical of Sen. John F. Kerry before the Nov. 2 election (read more - Virginian Pilot)

It's described as "the third wire," a third way to get broadband Internet into your home besides cable and telephone DSL lines. This one, approved last week by the Federal Communications Commission, uses the power lines that run past your house from your local electric utility company to beam an Internet signal to your computer. In Michigan, Consumers Energy plans the first pilot program for about 10,000 customers in Grand Ledge in Eaton County, probably by year's end (read more - Mike Wendland-Detroit Free Press)

"I was anchoring on Crossfire earlier this week because poor Bob Novak broke his hip, and Paul Begala introduced me as 'ex-N.C. State football star,'" J.D. Hayworth said. "I said, 'Whoa, Paul, let me stop you. For the purposes of full disclosure, I have to let everybody know I was one of the biggest washouts in Wolfpack history. I started out at right tackle and ended up as left out.' He began helping Wally Ausley and Garry Dornburg on Wolfpack radio broadcasts. " ... there's a lesson there, and it's one I hope the team remembers this week as it tries to get over the loss to Carolina. Whenever one door closes, another one opens. That's been the story of my life."  (read more - Winston-Salem Journal)

Leon Gray ended his talk show Thursday night with his weekly health segment. Moments later, he was handed a letter by the program director telling him he had been fired. For almost three decades, Gray has been associated with WLOK-AM 1340, the long-standing gospel music station owned by Gilliam Communications (read more - The Memphis Flyer)

Sports radio talk show host Bruce Drennan is no longer on the air in Cleveland, reported NewsChannel5.  The program director's office at WKNR told NewsChannel5 that Drennan is taking personal leave. Drennan is under federal investigation for his alleged involvement in illegal gambling operations (read more - NewNet 5)

A band of car and computer hobbyists has reconnected the XM Radio broadcasts to PCs, after the satellite radio company discontinued hardware that was being used to copy and archive digital music from the service. The XM satellite radio service is used largely through dedicated hardware, but until last month could be heard on a computer by using hardware that plugged directly into the PC. The company phased that PC link out, in part citing slow demand, after a Canadian programmer wrote software that allowed listeners to record and archive individual songs on a computer as MP3s. Now a small Florida company that makes in-car computer systems has re-created its own version of the hardware, saying its customers want a way to hook their onboard PCs to an XM system (read more - CNET News)

After Rush Limbaugh, who acknowledged an addiction to painkillers, and William Bennett, who admitted he had a gambling habit, O'Reilly -- a television and radio host and best-selling author -- is the latest high-profile conservative commentator to face humiliating allegations. "He's this guy who set himself up as the bastion of moral taste," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television. "A story like this would help Paris Hilton's career. This is so totally against what his identity is about. The question is going to be how much traction this is going to get." The battle between Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and the woman who has accused him of sexual harassment escalated Thursday on several fronts, from courthouses to the network morning shows. In a phone interview, O'Reilly would not say whether he had sexually explicit phone conversations with Mackris, as she charged in her lawsuit. "My lawyers have said to me I can't talk about anything remotely associated with their case because of the severity of our lawsuit," he said. "There are a whole bunch of legal things that are in play here, and they don't want to have any kind of interference, and I understand it." Mackris' attorney, Benedict Morelli refused to confirm whether he had tape recordings, saying only, "We have concrete and unrefutable evidence that [O'Reilly] did it." Fox News declined to comment on the suits Thursday. However, some former colleagues said there was no evidence of inappropriate behavior by O'Reilly in the past. The scandal apparently has had no effect on O'Reilly's syndicated newspaper column, featured in 300 publications, including the Daily News. None had canceled by last night, said the syndicate's president, Rick Newcombe. And O'Reilly said his program was being broadcast every weeknight as usual. Vanity Fair critic James Wolcott, who writes about O'Reilly in his new book "Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants," said the host could become late-night comedic fodder. "If she's got the documentary goods, he's in real trouble," Wolcott said. "His only defense would be the Marion Barry defense," that he was set up by a scheming woman. "What will hurt him is there's so many weird and bizarre details, and weird details stick in people's minds, like Monica's blue dress."  (read more - Howard Kurtz-Media Notes) (read more - NY Daily News) (read more - Mark Jurkowitz-Boston Globe)  (read more - Newsday)  (read more - ABC News)  (read more - USA Today)

From Kent Burkhart's "I Was There" series -- The annual RADIO SHOW sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters was held last week (10-6th-8th) in San Diego. I know because I WAS THERE!!! For those of you who have not attended an NAB convention it is full of friendships, business, and surprises!!! And there are always hotel lobby whispers of supposedly secret dealings of some sort. The number one topic of conversation was Stern to Sirius!!! What does it mean to terrestrial radio? That was the question of day one. Also, in the world of financing radio stations the hedge fund people were there for the first time along with traditional lenders. The hedge pitch was to prospective buyers suggesting they could do major financing….with a much better deal than the traditional guys. Their projections caught a lot of broadcasters attention…including mine!!! This was also a major discussion point on day one (read it all at www.kentburkhart.com)

Michael Spears will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  There are only a few days left to get your tickets, just $50 each.  They're selling quickly! This will be the third straight sold-out event. Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com. Michael Spears (Hal Martin) is a 40 year media veteran. In radio, he owned, programmed and performed on-air broadcasts in North America's top markets: Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Tampa, and even Canada! He has consulted over 30 radio stations and groups in 5 different formats from rock to R&B to all news radio. He is the winner of Billboard Magazine's Programmer of the Year and Station of the Year 3 times in multiple formats -- more than any other broadcaster. He has been associated with great Texas radio stations including KLIF 1190, KRLD 1080 and K-104 FM. His latest venture is The Beam, a diversified media company headquartered in Dallas syndicating, consulting and producing national radio and television programs (click here to listen to Michael in a brief audio clip as "Hal Martin" on KLIF 1190 and CKLW-The Big 8, courtesy of ReelRadio.com) (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)

Wally Phillips, one of Chicago's most popular and influential radio personalities of all time, is about to be immortalized with a street named in his honor. The city's official recognition of the Radio Hall of Famer and longtime WGN-AM (720) icon comes at a poignant time. Phillips, 79, recently disclosed that he is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (read more - Feder of Chicago)

WHJJ-AM is moving sharply to the left. Starting this morning, the news/talk station at 920 AM will be airing a five-hour block of Air America in the 10 a.m.-to-3 p.m. time slot, formerly the home of John DePetro. Now Rhode Island can choose from Air America's leading personality, Al Franken, or conservative icon Rush Limbaugh, who airs on rival WPRO. Both will be on from noon to 3 p.m. "'PRO has the right wing locked up with Mr. Limbaugh. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Al Franken to beat him in the ratings," said Jim Corwin, market manager for the four Clear Channel stations in Rhode Island, including WHJJ. "I doubt it's going to take very long." (read more - Providence Journal)

Clearing the way for homes and businesses to receive high-speed Internet services through their electrical outlets, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules on Thursday that would enable the utility companies to offer an alternative to the broadband communications services now provided by cable and phone companies. Known as broadband over power lines, or B.P.L., the technology uses a special modem that plugs into electrical outlets. So far, it has been offered at speeds of 1 to 3 megabits a second, which is comparable to broadband service over cable modems or conventional phone lines (read more - NY Times)

A California religious broadcaster has bought Miami radio station WKAT-AM 1360 for $10 million, a deal that could again leave South Florida without classical music on its airwaves. WKAT General Manager Andrew Korge said the station had been struggling for some time after failing to muster interest from advertisers, arts benefactors and banks. He and his two partners in the ownership group, Classical 1360, brother Christopher Korge and Spanish-language sportscaster Andrés Cantor, were forced to sell the station in order to make a $5 million payment on it by the year's end (read more - Miami Herald)

It's not about the sex. OK, it is about the sex. The late comedian Bill Hicks once observed that anybody who made a huge public stink about their own public morals, or about somebody else's lack of them, was almost inevitably hiding something in their own past or present. Hicks died in 1994, thus missing his theory, already affirmed by the falls of the Jim Bakers and Jimmy Swaggarts of this world, being publicly applied to Bill Bennett and Rush Limbaugh— although he pretty much forecast Limbaugh's embarrassment. Dear old Hicks completely missed Bill O'Reilly.  He would've enjoyed this, as he enjoyed seeing any moralizing knuckle-rapper hoist, as my Grandmother liked to say, on his own petard (read more - Keith Olbermann's Blog - MSNBC- Bloggermann)

Alhurra, a network with 150 reporters based in Springfield, is the U.S. government's largest and most expensive effort to sway foreign opinion over the airwaves since the creation of Voice of America in 1942. The 24-hour channel, which started operating in February, airs two daily hour-long newscasts, and sports, cooking, fashion, technology and entertainment programs, including a version of "Inside the Actors Studio" dubbed in Arabic (read more - Washington Post)

WCCO-AM general manager Dick Carlson, who worked at some of the nation's largest radio stations, died at his home Thursday, 10 days after heart surgery, WCCO said. He was 60. Carlson was senior vice president of Infinity Broadcasting Minneapolis and oversaw the operations of WCCO, WLTE-FM and WXPT-FM ('80s station Mix 104). He came to Minneapolis in 2001 from Seattle, where he oversaw a group of radio stations including KIRO. A Chicago native, Carlson worked at several big stations, including WCCO, WGN in Chicago, KOA in Denver and WLW in Cincinnati (read more - Star-Tribune)

Do any current Philladelphia Eagles have what it takes to make a transition to television broadcaster? According to WCAU's Vai Sikahema and KYW's Beasley Reece, both of whom made the transition from NFL player to television broadcaster, defensive end Hugh Douglas, quarterback Donovan McNabb, linebacker Ike Reese and safety Brian Dawkins do (read more - Laura Nachman)

Satellite radio is making a lot of noise within the radio industry, on Wall Street and elsewhere. Love-him-or-hate-him, take-him-or-leave-him radio star Howard Stern recently signed a $500 million, multi-year contract with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and pundits began clanging the death-knell for terrestrial, traditional AM-FM radio. But local radio stations have nothing to fear, for now, since neither Sirius nor bigger dog XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. are permitted by the Federal Communications Commission to beam themselves down here (read more Erika Engle-Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

Clear Channel Communications, Inc.confirmed that it will release third quarter 2004 financial results before the market open on Friday, October 29, 2004 at approximately 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The Company will also host a teleconference to discuss its results on October 29th at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call number is 800-283-6901 and the pass code is 971641. Please call ten minutes in advance to ensure that you are connected prior to the presentation (read more - Business Wire)

“We put ‘em in shock and it helped our sales, morale and enthusiasm.” …Larry Todd, former News Director, KHFI, Austin -- In September of 1966, I joined the nearly new KHFI AM, FM and TV as its second News Director. It was a challenge and more so that I ever dreamed. Not only was I young and inexperienced, as were most small market TV journalist during that time, but also the wife of the President of the United States ran the competition. Lady Bird Johnson owed KTBC AM and TV. My decision to leave my weekday morning and noon and Saturday 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. reporter/anchor slot at KFDA TV in Amarillo wasn’t easy. However, I needed to learn the Legislature and be around a more active news town. Austin was it. Especially, with LBJ in office and his home nearby, it all added up to some great experience. I loaded the family in my un-air-conditioned 1958 Plymouth station wagon and headed down to Austin (read more at www.larrytodd.com)

I was laid off in April 2002 for financial reasons. Q-13 was actually the last station to lay people off, but stations all over the country and in the Northwest had been taking some huge financial hits from the recession of 2000-2001 and then the 9/11 attacks. I felt confident I had a wealth of knowledge and skills, that I could go someplace else and do the job, but I had no luck despite hundreds of resumes. Television news departments all over the country cut back or shut down (read more - Bellingham Herald)

Last month, Henry LaRocca and his son drove all the way from Beaumont to Houston. Henry has been tugging and pulling to try and get me to return to Beaumont so we could do a Deejay team morning radio show. Henry knows full-well that I am quite interested in returning to the airwaves. We had such a fun time 27 years ago at KTRM when HENRY did weekend swing as a high school student. Henry was quite proud of his new satellite radio. He kept punching buttons like he was playing an accordian. He said over and over, "Listen to this! Ain't it great?" By the time we rolled back into Houston 12 hours later, I was sold. Yes, satellite radio is great! But, I'm remaining in Houston (read more - Jim Rose Remembers)

Sirius announced that Shade 45, the new uncensored hip-hop radio channel created by Eminem, Shady Records, Interscope Records and SIRIUS, will debut on Thursday, October 28. Shade 45 will be heard on SIRIUS channel 45 and will hit the air with a live broadcast of the Shady National Convention from New York's Roseland Ballroom. Shade 45 will feature a full lineup of on-air hosts and mixers, including Eminem's DJ, Green Lantern (visit Sirius Radio)

From Lynn Woolley --- We have a right to freedom of speech in this country that allows Dan Rather to broadcast his partisan story through all the CBS outlets.  No one is telling Michael Moore that he can't screen his movie in any theatre that will take it, or that Wal-Mart can't put it up for sale just days away from the election. So what is it with the political Left?  They screamed "foul" when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth exercised their right to freedom of speech with a series of TV commercials and tried to get them pulled.  And now, they want the Sinclair folks - who have invited Kerry to come on the program - to be forced to cancel their show (read it all - Lynn Woolley)

WGME's plan to air a documentary critical of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry prompted three Maine companies Thursday to pull their advertising from the Portland TV station (read more - Portland Press-Herald)

The rapidly growing audience for satellite radio is spawning an effort by traditional AM and FM radio broadcasters to greatly improve their signal quality through HD, or high-definition radio technology. On Monday, iBiquity, the developer of HD radio, will announce that three more Detroit FM stations have embraced the format. WCSX-FM (94.7) is now "lit up" with HD signals. WDET-FM (101.9) and WRIF-FM (101.1) will begin digital HD broadcasts later this year. That will give Detroit 16 AM and FM stations broadcasting in the greatly enhanced format (read more - Mike Wendland-Detroit Freep)

Clear Channel plans to close its office in Covington, probably by the end of the year. About 25 jobs -- all that remain from a corporate office that once had about 60 employees -- will be moving to Cincinnati, according to Dave Crowl, senior vice president of radio for the Midwest division of Clear Channel Communications, which is based in San Antonio (read more - Cincy Post)

Kris Stevens Enterprises, producers of quality Christmas Programming for Radio stations for over 20 years, has unveiled their new Christmas Radio Specials for the holiday season. Kris Erik Stevens said: "We’ve added this year’s latest Christmas Hits, as well as updated many of the features and vignettes." Our Christmas Specials are heard annually around the world on the Voice Of America and leading Radio Stations worldwide. There are 4 Holiday Specials, The Magic of Christmas, The 12 Hours of Christmas, Christmas in the Country and Christmas in the Air. All are all 12 to 24 Hours in length, delivered on CD, and compliment every radio format (visit www.KrisStevens.com and click on the "Christmas" item on the menu to hear a demo)

HDNet Chairman and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley will be the keynote speakers for the first annual Billboard Digital Entertainment Conference & Awards. The two-day event will bring together the biggest names in the entertainment and technology industries. Mark Cuban, who in 1999 sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo, is the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Cuban chairs HDNet, which operates two 24/7 all-high definition networks (read more - Business Wire)

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said Thursday the agency can't prevent the airing of a controversial documentary about presidential candidate John Kerry's antiwar activities three decades ago, nor should it. "There's no rule to allow the Commission, nor would it be prudent, to prevent the airing of the program," Powell told reporters following an FCC meeting.  Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (SBGI) has said it will run on its 62 stations - many of which are in swing states - parts of a documentary called "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal." The film chronicles presidential candidate Kerry's role as an antiwar protester (read more - KRON) (read more -IWON)

Ty "The Handy Guy" Pennington wants the Women’s Show to pay an outstanding $18,000 debt contracted for his appearance at the 2003 event. Engel booked Pennington for the 2003 show because she thought his image and popularity would draw large crowds. The attendance was low, though, drawing 875 patrons, she said (read more - McAllen Monitor)

A guest host for a radio sports talk show says he has been fired because he discussed the arrests of two Marshall football players on the air. J.J. Hester said he has been notified he was "released'' from the Insider Sportsline-Statewide show produced by Kindred Communications. "That's absolutely why, because of that show,'' he said (read more - Charleston Daily Mail)

Fox News Channel traded accusations Wednesday with one of the producers of Bill O'Reilly's show, with the woman alleging that the commentator had phone sex with her against her wishes three times. Fox in a claim of its own dismissed the sexual harassment complaint as a politically motivated extortion attempt. The woman, Andrea Mackris, is an associate producer on "The O'Reilly Factor," a job she returned to in July after a short stint at CNN.  During a phone conversation this August, Mackris, 33, said O'Reilly suggested she buy a vibrator and was clearly excited. Before hanging up, she said, O'Reilly told her: "I appreciate the fun phone call."  She contended he made a similar call Sept. 21, ending that one by saying: "Next time you'll come up to my hotel room and we'll make this happen." She said O'Reilly told her: "If any woman ever breathed a word I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. I'll rake her through the mud, bring up things in her life and make her so miserable that she'll be destroyed." On his show Wednesday, O'Reilly said, "Obviously, I can't get into specifics as the litigation is in motion, but I do respect my audience and feel you should know exactly what's going on." He called the case "the single most evil thing I have ever experienced, and I've seen a lot. But these people picked the wrong guy."  Bill O'Reilly filed suit in Nassau County Supreme Court against a Manhattan attorney, his law firm, Morelli & Associates, and the FOX News employee for attempting to extort $60 million dollars from Mr. O'Reilly (read the full text of the Andrea Mackris September 28th, 2004 lawsuit on Smoking Gun)  (read more - NY Daily News) (read more - NY Post) (read more - CBS News)  (read more - ABC News) (read Talking Points memo at O'Reilly.com) (read more-Business Wire) Fox News Channel producer Andrea Mackris and her lawyer Benedict Morelli talk with "Today" show anchor Lester Holt about a lawsuit she is filing against Bill O'Reilly, accusing him of sexual harassment (click here to view it)

For at least one night, the Regular Guys are back together. Tonight at Buckhead's Andrews Upstairs, the once-popular 96rock morning show duo of Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler will make their first public appearance since they got fired for accidentally airing porn talk over the FM airwaves in March. This will be part of Von Haessler's third "Politically Incorrect"-style "Mad Pundit" panel. "He asked me to do it and it sounds like fun," Wachs told Buzz. "Free liquor doesn't hurt either." (Clarification: that's free liquor for the panelists, not the audience.) 96rock owner Clear Channel is still paying the guys through the end of the year, when their contracts run out (read more - Peach Buzz)

Four months after Zemira Jones left as president and general manager for a top operations post at Radio One, ABC this week named John Gallagher, a 19-year ABC veteran, as his successor. Gallagher, who most recently was director of sales at WJR-AM in Detroit, also will head Radio Disney's WRDZ-AM (1300). Gallagher inherits a station that has been without its morning-drive franchise since Sept. 14, when the Wades' last contract extension expired.
Long-stalled negotiations with WLS are getting under way in earnest just as a new suitor has entered the picture. Salem Communications, which is about to acquire WIND-AM (560) in a swap with Univision Radio and transform the Spanish-language station into a general market news/talk outlet, is believed to be a serious alternative for the Wades (read more - Feder of Chicago)

On four mornings a week at 11:30 a.m., "The Most Trusted Man in News," Jon Stewart meets in his office with his production team at The Daily Show, the Comedy Central news-parody program that emanates, Monday through Thursday nights, from a down-at-heels brick building on the far fringes of Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan. Stewart, a man whose face somehow blends the hangdog Jewish sadness of a Woody Allen with the blue-eyed handsomeness of a potential movie star, sits behind a cluttered desk heaped with books and newspapers. Onscreen, Stewart is the sober-suited, Windsor-knotted fake anchorman. Offscreen, he's all about casual (read more - Rolling Stone)

Hurry!  Just a few days remain to get your tickets to the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration in San Antonio on Saturday evening October 30th. (click here for ticket info, a list of this year's inductees and previous inductees) Many say that Texas is the birthplace of modern radio programming, its top personalities and players ... Find out for yourself when you meet some of the legends who were and are a part of it!  Last year, in addition to the introductions and acceptance remarks of the honored inductees, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration included video and audio moments that were unforgettable.  Among them was the "TRHoF Countdown" video.  To get an idea of what you'll experience in San Antonio on October 30th at the TRHoF 2004 Induction Celebration at the Radisson Hill Country Resort and Spa, click here to listen to the Real Audio from the dynamic "TRHoF Countdown" video that opened the evening's activities!  (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)

From Frank Rich -- Once Woodward and Bernstein did start investigating Watergate, Nixon plotted to take economic revenge by siccing the Federal Communications Commission on TV stations owned by The Washington Post's parent company. The current White House has been practicing pre-emptive media intimidation to match its policy of pre-emptive war. Its F.C.C. chairman, using Janet Jackson's breast and Howard Stern's mouth as pretexts, has sufficiently rattled Viacom, which broadcast both of these entertainers' infractions against "decency," that its chairman, the self-described "liberal Democrat" Sumner Redstone, abruptly announced his support for the re-election of George W. Bush last month. "I vote for what's good for Viacom," he explained, and he meant it. He took this loyalty oath just days after the "60 Minutes" fiasco prompted a full-fledged political witch hunt on Viacom's CBS News, another Republican target since the Nixon years. Representative Joe Barton, Republican of Texas, has threatened to seek Congressional "safeguards" regulating TV news content and, depending what happens Nov. 2, he may well have the political means to do it (read more - Frank Rich-NY Times) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Liberal talk radio has come to eastern Massachusetts - just in time to add its volume to what is shaping up as the loudest presidential campaign in history. Air America, the network that debuted in March calling itself the progressive alternative to a medium long dominated by conservatives, was slow to find an outlet here in what should be fertile ground for its liberal message. It has now found its voice on AM 1200, Framingham's WKOX, and AM 1430, WXKS in Medford (read more - Winchester Star)

Longtime Milwaukee broadcasting personality Lee Rothman - veteran of the early days of rock 'n' roll on the old WRIT-AM and host of "The Bowling Game" well into the 1990s - will be remembered at a memorial service at 6 tonight at Congregation Shalom, 7630 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Fox Point. He died this week of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 77 (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

On their first XM show, O & A called Howard Stern a “whining hypocrite,” claiming that Infinity wanted them to sign a contract that fined them $100,000 apiece if they mentioned Stern's name on their show. They also made comments about Stern's teenage daughter's physical assets. What a difference a day and a half made. The festivities came to a sudden halt, and no one's talking Opie & Anthony anymore. Late Tuesday evening, Stern made the startling revelation that he would be leaving Infinity when his contract's up in January 2006. On the same day as O & A's XM debut, Stern signed a deal worth an estimated $100 million a year, plus stock, for five years with rival Sirius satellite radio. Stern's announcement painted a lethal borderline that clearly separates satellite radio from the abortuary of free terrestrial radio. There's a thin line between love and hate, and the willingness to commit murder and the willingness to commit suicide. Terrestrial radio managed to do it all (read more - John Gorman-Cleveland Free Times)

Officials of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors have strongly defended Arabic-language Radio Sawa against criticisms contained in a draft report by the State Department inspector general. Board Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson and board member Norman Pattiz wrote employees Wednesday that Radio Sawa has achieved "some of the most important accomplishments in the history of international broadcasting." They said the two-year-old station has established "unprecedented credibility with Middle East audiences." The draft report questioned the station's compliance with Voice of America charter mandates that U.S. policies be presented "clearly and effectively" in "responsible discussions." (read more - VOA News)

Clear Channel Communications Inc. announced a series of ongoing initiatives that support the democratic process, culmination with the election this November. The company is enacting a variety of strategic initiatives across its divisions and in some instances in partnership with independent organizations (read more - Reuters)  (read more-Business Wire)

From music formats you've never heard of to personalities you have, the selection seems endless. Jazz, rock, pop, and talk, all with crystal-clear reception. NPR discusses satellite radio -- how good is it now, and where is it headed? Hear NPR's Neal Conan and guests including Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia of The Opie and Anthony Show; Richard Martin, contributing editor to Wired magazine; Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and John Crigler, communications attorney for the firm Garvey, Schubert and Barer (read and listen at NPR)  Sirius closes on $230 Million notes, raising $321 Million (read Dow Jones)

Not near a television set when your favorite program comes on? Not a problem -- simply program the VCR or TiVo to capture the show so you can watch it at your leisure. Not near a radio when your favorite show is on? Big problem. Some stations such as KUOW-FM and KEXP-FM, actually archive programming on their Web sites (www.kuow.org; www.kexp.org) for online listening after they've been broadcast. So do some syndicated shows, and some hosts may store interviews, songs or comedy bits. For the most part, though, radio is an ephemeral medium for listeners: When it's gone, it's gone for good (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)

Camarillo-based Salem Communications Corp. is buying WKAT-AM (1360 AM) in Miami from Classical 1360 LLC for $10 million.   After closing on the Miami station, Salem will own 101 radio stations, including 62 stations in 23 of the top 25 markets. This will be the company's entrance into the Miami market (read more - LA Biz Journal)

The Oscars are long past, and the fashions of the 2004 Emmy ceremony have already been forgotten, at least until someone at the dentist's office picks up an old issue of People magazine in the waiting room. But the year's not over, and there's still time to give out a few trophies. Yes, ladies and gentlemen (and Michael Jackson), it's time once again to hand out the highly coveted SCARs, the Static Column Awards for Radio. Here they are: Howard Stern gets the "smut's the limit" ---- um, I mean "sky's the limit" ---- award for embracing the uncensored and uncertain world of satellite radio (read more - Randy Dotinga-North County Times)

I've grown to enjoy being on the radio. I spent some time in college as a deejay (mostly late at night when the only people listening were kids stuck cramming for the next day's test) and been a guest frequently throughout my career as an editor. On Thursday, I was a guest on Billy Long's morning radio show on KWTO to talk about what is going on in and around Rogersville and Webster County.  I didn't think we'd run out of things to talk about. It turned out that the show's callers wanted to talk about several other things as well (read more Ozarks Newsstand)

All Comedy Radio, the Hollywood-based radio network, announced today that radio veteran Vickie Jenkins joins ACR as affiliate marketing specialist. Jenkins was part of the top-rated morning shows at NBC owned and operated station KYUU-FM and Bonneville-owned KOIT AM/FM, San Francisco  (visit All Comedy Radio)

Jim Weaver returns to Texarkana Radio as Operations Manager over BOB FM - KBYB 101.7 FM, Border Country 107.1 FM - KFYX, News/Talk 940 AM - KTFS, and ESPN Radio 740 AM - KCMC.  He was at ABC Radio "Coast to Coast" during the past 3 years (visit TexArkAna Radio)

Bill Cosby thinks Milwaukee will be "delicious." That's what he told me during a phone call last week after the famous entertainer/social critic spent 90 minutes fielding calls from listeners to a local black radio station. Cosby called into WMCS-AM's (1290) "Morning Magazine" program to discuss his Oct. 20 appearance at North Division High School for a community-oriented forum that will focus on education and other issues of importance to African-Americans. He was supposed to spend a half-hour talking with WMCS. He ended up staying way over because he was intrigued by the discussion (read more - Eugene Kane-Journal Sentinel)

Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.  Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected. The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at Democrats. The focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.
The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations (read more/view video - KLAS-TV Las Vegas) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

If you ever wondered about the motivation of those who would go to great lengths of complain about your radio show, those questions are about to be definitively answered. Chicago native David Edward Smith turned a sincere avocation - to do something to take what he considers to be indecent programming off the air - into a regular gig for a family values group. Over the past four years, his barrage of complaints about Mancow Muller's show on WKQX Chicago led to a series of fines and an eventual consent decree between Emmis and the FCC. Even so, he's still not satisfied with the consent decree, let alone TV and radio programming. In an exclusive interview, Smith puts his perspective on broadcast indecency in full view. Find out who you may be up against in the very near future (read it all at MusicBiz)

Signs at the bank, the café and the Bottlinger Grain bins all declare Crawford - the proud home of the president's ranch - as "Bush Country." So when the Lone Star Iconoclast, a tiny weekly that bills itself as Bush's hometown paper, endorsed Democrat John Kerry, there was hell to pay. Local businesses pulled their ads and banned the paper from their stores. "We felt a little betrayed," said Larry Nelson, manager of the Crawford Country Style, a downtown shop that sells "Luvya Dubya" trinkets and other Bush memorabilia (read more - Arizona Daily Star)

Nationally syndicated radio talk show host, Glenn Beck, will kick off his “Real American Christmas Tour” in Fort Wayne, Indiana on November 30. Hosting the event is Beck’s affiliate, WOWO-AM. The live stage show was created to entertain and inspire people, and is a mixture of politically incorrect stand up comedy and sincere, heartfelt story-telling. The Tour will travel to seven other cities before Christmas (visit GlennBeck.com)

Cumulus Media Inc. will host a conference call on Thursday, November 4, 2004 at 10 a.m. ET to review the Company's third quarter 2004 financial results, together with an update of financial and operational developments. The call will be open to the general public on a listen only basis. A press release summary of the Company's third quarter 2004 financial results will be issued before market open on November 4, 2004 (visit Cumulus)

Nothing in life is free, including Sean Hannity. Though the conservative talk show host waived his $100,000 speaking fee to speak at Utah Valley State College Monday night, his travel expenses rival the total cost of bringing "Fahrenheit 9/11" director Michael Moore to the Orem campus Oct. 20, documents obtained by the Deseret Morning News reveal. According to a travel invoice sent to the state school from Premiere Speakers Bureau, UVSC was billed $35,000 for private Hawker jet service, which shuttled Hannity from New York to Utah and on to Arizona, where he'll broadcast his show during tonight's presidential debate there. While Hannity's visit generated $15,000 in donor contributions, Moore has generated just $1,500 from local donors — leaving UVSC with a $25,000 bill to pay, as opposed to Hannity's $8,900 tab  (read more - Deseret News)

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday proposed a record-setting $1.2 million fine against 169 Fox television stations for an April 2003 broadcast of "Married by America" that featured whipped-cream-covered strippers and digitally obscured nudity. It is the agency's most recent ruling in its stepped-up effort to police radio and television. Complaints to the FCC are at an all-time high as viewers and lawmakers object to the increasing raunchiness of over-the-air radio and television, and broadcasters compete to keep pace with edgier cable programming. Yesterday's action against Fox and its affiliates was the largest for indecency on television (read more - Frank Ahrens/Lisa de Moraes-Washington Post)  (read more - NY Post)

Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Michael J. Copps released a statement Tuesday criticizing the Sinclair Broadcast Group for its decision to air what he sees as a blatantly political program in the days before the election, calling it an "abuse of public trust." Regular programming on 60 local stations nationwide owned will be preempted for the airing of Carlton Sherwood's "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal," an anti-John Kerry documentary about American POWs in Vietnam. "This is the same corporation that refused to air Nightline's reading of our war dead in Iraq," Copps said (read more - CNS News)

A former U.S. think tank employee has pleaded guilty to harassing an ex-boyfriend, former Vancouver radio personality Michael Morgan. The judge gave Rachel Marsden a conditional discharge with one year of probation, meaning she can avoid having a criminal record if she has no other run-ins with the law over the next 12 months (read more - CBS 2 New York)

A Time reporter will argue Wednesday that he shouldn't be jailed for refusing to name his sources, part of a legal drama that pits news media and law enforcement interests against each other. Matt Cooper will appear before U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas Hogan, who already has threatened to jail him and last week sentenced New York Times reporter Judith Miller to imprisonment, for refusing to identify sources in an inquiry into the release of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity (read more - Peter Johnson-USA Today)

A hospital radio service has welcomed a new presenter to its team - blind DJ Adam Firth. The 18-year-old is a student at Henshaws College in Harrogate and already has his own DJ company, which he hires out for weddings and parties. He joined Harrogate Hospital Radio six months ago on work experience and has become totally hooked. He has now been given the chance to try presenting and has all the song lists and instructions written out in Braille, which he learned at the age of six (read more - The Northern Echo)

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but if you're in the midst of a heated political debate, that might be a gross undercount. Recall a pale and sweating Richard Nixon; a watch-watching George H. W. Bush; a sighing Al Gore; a scowling George W. Bush. How they must have wished they were heard but never seen. That was the privilege of Illinois senatorial candidates Alan Keyes and Barack Obama in Tuesday evening's debate, their words echoing live across the radio waves but not to be found on television. Analysts have pointed out that there are major advantages to the radio format. "The radio removes an element of preparation," said David Romanelli, director of debate for the Loyola University Chicago school of communication. "It allows the candidates a lesser degree of worry." (read more - NW Indiana Times)

President Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry remain deadlocked in the White House race going into their final debate, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday. Bush and Kerry held steady at 45 percent each in the latest three-day tracking poll, raising the stakes for Wednesday night's pivotal final debate in Tempe, Arizona (read more - Reuters)

Superstar chef Rocco DiSpirito is back, only this time he's out of the frying pan and into — radio. DiSpirito, whose now-defunct Rocco's restauranton 22nd St. was the focus of NBC's reality show "The Restaurant," has taken over the WOR "Food Talk" hour formerly hosted by Arthur Schwartz (read more - John Mainelli-NY Post)

WUWM-FM (89.7) airs a two-hour radio version of PBS' "Frontline" biographies of George W. Bush and John Kerry at 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday. . . . Until WEMP-AM (1250) goes all sports, probably next month, a temporary tropical music show, "Sabado con Sabor" (Saturday With Flavor), airs from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. . . . The WLZR-FM (102.9) morning show with Brian Nelson and Bob Madden has picked up a new state affiliate, signing on last week at WKQH-FM (104.9) in Stevens Point (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Saga Communications, Inc. announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of 3 radio stations in Charlottesville, VA from Eure Communications, Inc. The stations are WWWV-FM, WINA-AM and WQMZ-FM. Saga expects to close the transaction, subject to the approval of the  Federal Communications Commission, during the 1st quarter of 2005 (read more - PR Newswire)

The pressure is on for Bob Schieffer. While most of the coverage has focused on how Bush and Kerry will perform during tonight's Tempest at Tempe, or whatever they're calling it, the moderator will play a key role as the spotlight shifts to domestic issues. How he frames his queries about taxes, health care and education--and what subjects he chooses to include--will have a major impact on the outcome (read more - Howard Kurtz-Washington Post) (read more - Maria Recio-Star-Telegram)

Radio talk show host Kidd Kraddick is reaching out to college students in his new competition "Pimp Your Dorm Room." The competition, which ends Oct. 20, will choose one student's room to be "pimped out," based on a paragraph written by the student to Kraddick explaining why his or her room should receive the makeover and also a picture of his or her dorm room. "We are looking for pathetic-looking dorm rooms. We want the bad and the ugly," Julie Garcia, Kidd Kraddick's assistant, said (read more - LSU Reveille)

A conservative Christian group will be permitted to advertise an anti-gay conference on signs at Pinellas County bus shelters under a settlement reached in a federal lawsuit, the group said Tuesday. Under the settlement, the bus system and sign contractor Clear Channel Outdoor refined its policies to allow the signs when the seminar comes to the area again sometime next year, said Mathew D. Staver, the attorney who handled the case for Focus on the Family (read more - Miami Herald)

XM Satellite Radio is now available through Microsoft's Windows Media Player 10 and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. XM is offering its new premium Internet radio service XM Radio Online through Microsoft's Windows Media Player 10 and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Microsoft users can choose XM Radio Online simply by clicking on the Windows Media Player 10 Digital Media Mall or through the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Online Spotlight (read more - XM Radio)

Florida's 4th District Court of Appeal ruled last week that its state's attorney did not violate medical privacy rights when seizing talk-show host Rush Limbaugh's medical records from four of his doctors. It's too bad Rush can't tie the SA's pill shopping investigation against him to abortion. Then legal authorities would consider his records off limits, even in the face of murder (of born people) (read more - Jill Stanek-WorldNetDaily Commentary)

John Edwards has a theory about what was hidden underneath an unusual wrinkle that appeared on the back of President Bush's suit jacket during his first debate with John Kerry. "I think it was his battery," a grinning Edwards told Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" on Tuesday. "I think tomorrow, before the debate, John Kerry ought to pat him down," Edwards said, referring to the final Bush-Kerry matchup, scheduled for Wednesday in Arizona. The Democratic vice presidential nominee, making his second appearance on the comedian's stage this year, was in turns silly and serious while chatting about issues from Iraq to chubby Secret Service agents (read more - NY Post)

The campaign to expand Indian gambling is taking radio stations to task for what it considers misstatements about its measure. Jamie Fisfis, spokesman for Yes on Proposition 70, said the campaign is focused on broadcast advertisements. In addition to contacting individual stations, the campaign also asked the California Broadcasters Association to alert its members to the issues in a radio ad by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Committee for Fair Share Gaming Agreements, which opposes Proposition 70 (read more - Reno Gazette Journal)

Radio Sawa, an Arab-language pop music and news station funded by the U.S. government and touted by the Bush administration as a success in reaching out to the Arab world, has failed to meet its mandate of promoting democracy and pro-American attitudes, according to a draft report prepared by the State Department's inspector general. The report credited Radio Sawa with attracting a large audience in key Middle East countries but said the station, which has an annual budget of $22 million, has been so preoccupied with building an audience through its music that it has failed to adequately measure whether it is influencing minds (read more - Washington Post) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Veteran news pro Rob Milford has left KTRH Houston and is looking for the next radio news opportunity (milfordnews@hotmail.com)

At least since the mid-'70s, Top 40 radio has been wary of what we will here call "quasi-acoustic rocklike songs." This is as it should be, since there are other places where one can enjoy that kind of thing--such as purgatory. If only Top 40 radio were even warier of quasi-acoustic rocklike songs, few of us would have been subjected to Extreme's "More Than Words" or Jewel's "Who Will Save Your Soul" or the Goo Goo Dolls' "Name." Then again, my late teen years were modestly enriched by Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," which charmingly answered the question, "What would 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' sound like if it were written by morons?" (read more - City Pages-Twin Cities)

Comic and V-103 regular Wanda Smith got a surprise birthday present Monday -- the "Frank Ski Morning Show" has changed its name to "Frank and Wanda in the Morning." "When he did that promo over the weekend about some big change happening, I thought he was going to leave us," Smith said. Ski's show was No. 1 this spring in key demographics but has slipped the past couple of years against Ryan Cameron at Hot 107.9. Ski relies heavily on Smith's sassy humor and bubbly energy (read more - Peach Buzz)

John Pearson, chief executive of Virgin Radio, will step down from the company in April 2005. The shock resignation, which was announced to Virgin staff at lunchtime today, is believed to be for family reasons. Pearson’s decision to quit will come as a body blow to parent company Scottish Media Group, which has had to field reports in recent weeks of interest in Virgin Radio from the agent of former owner Chris Evans. Speculation has also been increasing in recent weeks over the fate of a number of leading radio brands following the recent GWR-Capital merger (read more - Media Week UK)

On October 24 and 25, 100 radio stations will broadcast live from the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from noon to 4 p.m. PT, at Premiere Radio’s “Megablast,” the biggest radio event of the year and prelude to the Radio Music Awards on NBC-TV. Performing artists and celebrities from all walks of entertainment, who appear on the televised Radio Music Awards as nominees, winners, presenters, performers, or guests, take the opportunity to reach out to their fans through live radio interviews at “Megablast.” (visit Premiere Radio)

In a radio version of the old Politically Incorrect show, Liberty Broadcasting's syndicated talk show host Jeff Katz will be joined by former Congressman Bob Barr, vacuum maven David Oreck and legendary singer and author Kinky Friedman on his October 13 show. The Jeff Katz Show airs from 5PM-7PM eastern. (visit www.radiokatz.com)

Frequent listeners to public radio stations in Pittsburgh might be frustrated with the ubiquitous fund-raising drives that have taken over WDUQ, the local National Public Radio affiliate, and WYEP, an independent community radio station, in the past month. Flipping off of their regularly programmed buttons, they perhaps got a whiff of advertising-laden commercial radio, with its flashy commercials and gimmicks, and gave up on the airwaves until they could return to radio, commercial-free. In her new book "Radio Active: Advertising and Consumer Activism, 1935-1947," Carnegie Mellon's Kathy Newman looks back to the days when commercials and radio were inextricably intertwined, when working class listeners were grateful for whatever programming they could get for free (read more Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Steve Hicks will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  Tickets are only $50 each but are selling quickly! This will be the third straight sold-out event. Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com. Steve Hicks is a 33-year veteran of the radio broadcasting industry, including 20 as a station owner. Steve was Vice Chairman of AMFM Inc., the nation's largest owner and operator of radio stations, with over 450 radio stations in markets across the USA. In August 1999 Capstar Broadcasting merged with Dallas-based Chancellor Media Corporation, in a transaction valued at $4.1 billion to create AMFM Inc. In addition to serving AMFM as Vice Chairman, Steve was President of its New Media division. Clear Channel Communications, Inc acquired AMFM for $23 billion in 2000. Today, Steve Hicks is the Chairman of Capstar Partners, LLC. (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)

Wes McKane returns to WXSS-FM (103.7) Oct. 25 to do mornings with Rahny Taylor from WMYX-FM (99.1) as the Entercom stations keep shuffling voices. McKane left Kiss FM's afternoon shift in early 2003 for KDWB-FM in the Twin Cities. Van McNeil returns to afternoons and Tony Zamboni goes back to production duties, according to program director Brian Kelly (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Few Americans have heard of David D. Smith, a low-key Baltimore businessman with a million-dollar salary. Or, for that matter, of his three brothers, Frederick, Robert and J. Duncan. But the four men, while shunning the media spotlight, have assembled the nation's largest collection of television stations, a family-run operation that reflects their conservative views and time and again has sided with President Bush. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Smiths' company, Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc., ordered its local anchors to read editorials backing the administration against al Qaeda. Earlier this year, Sinclair sent a vice president who has called John F. Kerry a liar to Iraq to find good news stories that it said were being overlooked by the biased liberal press (read more - Howard Kurtz/Frank Ahrens-Washington Post)  (read more - Washington Dispatch)

Phil Harper died early yesterday. He was 64. Cause of death was not immediately available. Harper would have been well-known for no other reason than the length and breadth of his career locally. At the time of his death, he was juggling a regular weekday afternoon shift as "Buffalo Phil" on KYCW-AM, a classic country station, being the promotional "voice" of jazz station KPLU-FM and performing the role of Harry Nile in the long-running series of radio dramas  (read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle P-I)

In the latest move in the file-sharing wars, the movie and music industries have filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court decision that favored Grokster and StreamCast Networks, the makers of software that allow users to trade copyrighted files. That decision upheld the notion that makers of a technology with legal uses cannot be held liable simply because some - or even most - of its users deploy it to violate a copyright (read more - NY Times)

Some years ago, Jim Ryan recalls, he was program director of a radio station in Portland, Ore., and the station ran a contest offering listeners a chance to see a little-known teenage singer from Canada named Celine Dion. The contest winners were invited to a lunch where Dion sang live to a taped musical track. Only trouble was, a lot of the contest winners didn't bother to show up. "At that time, they probably just didn't know who she was," says Ryan (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Elic Thomas was named the grand prize winner in the Radio Comedy Competition Friday at the NAB Radio Show in San Diego. Thomas claims a $10,000 cash award. He was evening personality on country formatted WXBQ-FM, Bristol, Virginia when he entered his parody of GM’s Onstar commercial, called Blondestar,  which can be heard at www.radiocomedycompetition.com (visit www.allcomedyradio.com)

Kim King, one of Georgia Tech's best quarterbacks and a beloved radio color analyst for Georgia Tech sports, has died. He was 59. King died Tuesday after a battle with leukemia (read more - WXIA TV 11)

A lifetime of frugal living, radio repairs and inherited stock shares helped Joe Lyman Pryor save up to give listeners in the Panhandle a stronger signal for public radio. The new 43,000-watt station will be renamed KJJP in his honor and will expand the reach of public radio to nearly 300,000 people within a 50-mile radius of Amarillo when it begins operating on 105.7 FM later this week (read more - Amarillo Globe News)

Someone phoned in to a northeastern Pennsylvania country radio station Monday morning and dedicated Toby Keith's song American Soldier to Army Sgt. Andrew W. Brown. Residents of Pleasant Mount on Monday were mourning the death of Army Sgt. Brown. Brown, 22, a 2000 honors graduate of Forest City Regional High School, died Friday in Iraq of injuries sustained when his vehicle was bombed. In Brown's high-school yearbook, his stated goal in life was to become an Army Ranger. His "Last Words" quote in the yearbook: "Look unimportant, the enemy might be low on ammo." "Isn't that devastating to read that now? Now that he's gone?" Mary Ann Burleigh said  (read more - Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

The Federal Communications Commission is said to be preparing to levy a fine of $1 million or more against Fox Broadcasting Co. and its affiliates for running afoul of indecency regulations in April 2003 with an episode of the reality show "Married by America," sources said.  The impending action, first reported in Monday's edition of Television Week, is expected to be announced by the commission as early as this week (read more - Washington Post)

Since the day Guglielmo Marconi got his first patent in 1897, radio has been radio. Whether FM or AM, you turned on your radio and out came music, news, sports and traffic, "The Lone Ranger," "The Shadow" and "Fibber McGee and Molly." It was all available on any radio, whether at home or in your car or at the beach, and all for free. Now, it's all changing (read more - Robert P. Laurence-San Diego Union-Tribune)  (read more - Tom Hespos-MediaPost)

Clint O'Neil, whose Sounds of the Caribbean radio program brought reggae music to overnight listeners for two decades, died Sunday of colon and lung cancer. He was 60. Known as the ''godfather'' of reggae this side of Kingston, Jamaica, O'Neil was widely credited with introducing the genre to South Florida during his 1 to 5 a.m. slot on WLRN-FM (91.3) (read more - Miami Herald)

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe and DNC Legal Counsel Joe Sandler will host a conference call today at 1:30 PM ET to announce the DNC's decision to file an FEC complaint against Sinclair Broadcasting for what they call an illegal in-kind contribution to the Bush-Cheney campaign (read more LA Times)

Pennsylvania State Representative Angel Cruz of Philadelphia is furious over the WCAU firing of reporter and anchor Joe Vazquez for allegedly acting inappropriately in front of an intern.  Last Friday, Vazquez was fired and a photographer suspended by the station. In an email, Rep. Cruz wrote, "Firing a person on hearsay…that's unacceptable in a court of law.  You need concrete evidence to find someone guilty. I think that this station has shown that they're anti-Hispanic.  Why should we tolerate this behavior and indulge it?   I'll be informing the viewers in Pennsylvania to watch other stations where there is a Hispanic anchorperson who can and will be sensitive to the needs of Hispanic viewers." (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

A new product promises to allow you to shift time, recording a radio program for later playback. At other times, you can use it to just listen to what's on the air, using your computer. The product is the $69.99 radioShark from Griffin Technology (read more - Washington Times)

National polls were split on Monday over who was leading the US presidential race, but Democrat John Kerry showed signs of making headway against President George W. Bush in the decisive state-by-state battle. A Washington Post/ABC News tracking poll three weeks before the November 2 ballot put Bush on top 51 to 46 percent and a survey by the Rasmussen organisation gave the Republican a four-point margin at 49.5 to 45.5 percent. But a tracking poll by the Zogby International group showed Kerry, the four-term senator from Massachusetts, with a three-point edge at 47-44 percent heading into the final stretch of an acrimonious, marathon campaign. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll gave Kerry a 49 to 48 percent lead over Bush among likely voters, while a poll in mid-September had given Bush a 54 to 40 percent edge (read more - iAfrica.com)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Southwest Florida's first official low power FM radio station, WSLR 96.5 FM, is looking for symbols. The new, not yet publicly operational LPFM station at Sarasota's New College of Florida campus, needs artwork to help it raise cash + "Free Talk Live," a little 'ol talk program on Sarasota's independent WIBQ (1220 AM) now is a bonafide syndicate (read more - The Radio Babe-Dawn Scire)

XM Satellite Radio launched its premium Internet radio service XM Radio Online. XM Radio Online delivers XM's 24-hour, commercial-free music channels and other exclusive XM programs, including "The Bob Edwards Show," the XM Comedy channel, and, for a limited time, "Opie & Anthony" on the Internet for one monthly fee of $7.99.  XM Satellite Radio subscribers receive a discounted rate for XM Radio Online of $3.99 a month (read more - PR Newswire)

On October 14, Mike Schiano talks to the MSNBC's Joe Scarborough of Scarborough  Country about his new book "Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day." InCharge Radio's Mike Schiano is heard live from 7 - 10 pm ET(visit Mike Schiano)

Charlie Payne will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  Tickets are selling quickly and it's going to be the third straight sold-out event. Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com. Charlie Payne was born in Texas. The management and, later, ownership of radio stations took him from Dallas to San Francisco, New York, Virginia Beach and back to Dallas. When he was visiting WHO in Des Moines, he received a phone call from Gordon McLendon who hired him to bring the KIXL sound to San Francisco and KABL radio. In 1964, Gordon McLendon brought him home to KLIF. 1010 WINS in New York was in trouble and Group W hired Charlie to do something about it. "All News - All the Time" became profitable and 1010 WINS topped WOR in morning drive. Charlie then took the chance of a lifetime and purchased WCPK in Chesapeake, Virginia. Charlie increased WCPK's power from 1000 to 5000 watts and put a 50,000 watt FM on the air.  He sold them both and now lives in Dallas. Charlie has written a book, Feedback: Echoes from My Life in Radio. (click here for information about the book)  (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas) 

The conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days before the Nov. 2 election to air a film that attacks Sen. John F. Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War, network and station executives familiar with the plan said Friday. Sinclair's programming plan, communicated to executives in recent days and coming in the thick of a close and intense presidential race, is highly unusual even in a political season that has been marked by media controversies (read more - Washington Post)  (read more - Arizona Daily Star)  (read more - Chicago Tribune)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Who will win Howard Stern's "star search?" The shock jock is taking more than just his bad-boy self to satellite radio in 15 months. He'll occupy most of one channel but also has to find enough like-minded rowdies, rebels and wackos to fill up two other R- or X-rated channels as part of a $500 million five-year deal signed last week. "I already talked to my new bosses [at Sirius Satellite Radio] and started work yesterday on two new channels," Stern told listeners Friday. "I've already picked a name for the channels," he said, without revealing the monikers. "I've already hired people. That's how fast I'm moving on this stuff." Stern isn't talking about who he hired or wants to hire, but he's famously loyal and has a relatively small family of regulars on his radio show — some of whom will no doubt be considered for slots on Sirius (read more - John Mainelli-NY Post)  (read more - Richard Roeper-Chicago Sun Times)

The legendary consumer electronics salesman Crazy Eddie is no longer around. But the job of hawking televisions has been taken over in recent weeks by a new TV personality: Michael K. Powell, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Some of his critics are arguing that Mr. Powell and the F.C.C. have no place spending tax dollars promoting $2,000 consumer electronics devices (read more - Matt Richtel-NY Times)

RealNetworks will air the Vote for Change finale  http://www.vfcfinale.org, concert performance live tonight, Monday, Oct. 11 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, on http://www.realguide.com.  The finale
concert -- only available live -- promises to be one of the most compelling live Web concert broadcasts yet (read more - PR Newswire)

No longer in the mix: Jim Hooley and Tuna gone from KIMN 100.3-FM ("Mix 100"). Both left "to pursue other interests." VP Drew Hilles says only that "you're always trying to make yourself better."  Marcia Neville has covered high school sports for KCNC-Channel 4 since 1983, spending her nights riding a helicopter over prep football games or shouting over the din in gyms, all over Colorado. She can't imagine doing anything else (read more - Dick Kreck-Denver Post)

From Claude Hall Online -- Another project I desperately wanted to do was a Who's Who of Radio. Not just the big ones.  Everyone that I could find anything about.  An impossible chore, of course, but I've had this in my mind since my early days on Billboard magazine in the 1960s.  Music came and music went.  But the disc jockey was there.  Like concrete to hold the music together.  The community together.  The world together.  He was more important in the way things were and the way things got done than anyone realized...even more than he realized. For often, the disc jockey was having too much fun or otherwise working too damned hard, to comprehend his role in the pattern of life. Some are still around. Don Imus, Joey Reynolds, Sonny Melendrez, Gary Owens, Jack Gale. Jimmy Rabbitt.  Some, in spite of this enormous talent, disappeared and no one remembers much about them today. No one at all remembers Bob Fasse. Few remember Horse Allen. The memories of Georgie Woods, Joe Smith, Reggie Lavong and countless  others seems to be fading fast. A part of the disappearing history of radio. How I wish that I could have written that book of bios of disc jockies so that, today, I could look back and remember them all (read more at www.claudehallonline.com)

Decades from now, will people point to the day Howard Stern left FM for satellite radio as the moment when a new medium changed from a curiosity into the big leagues? Radio megastar Stern became the latest high-profile terrestrial-radio defectors last week when he said he would sign on with Sirius Satellite Radio beginning in early 2006.  Sirius executives noted that during Howard Stern's long career in radio, he has shepherded thousands of people from his fan base of more than 12 million regular listeners to movie theaters, bookstores, cable shows, pay-per-view broadcasts and certain politicians. He is even credited with helping Snapple become a powerhouse brand in the 1980's. "Howard is an artist first, but we know how enthusiastic he can be when he gets behind something,'' said Scott Greenstein, the president of entertainment and sports for Sirius (read more - Bill Carter-Natives-NY Times) (read more - Detroit Freep)

Wachovia Securities cut its third-quarter forecast for radio and handed out downgrades. Morgan Stanley made a similar move. The Stanford Group Co. downgraded all of its radio stocks. And those moves came before Howard Stern decided to jump from Infinity Broadcasting to Sirius Satellite Radio. Last week's news only added more fuel to analysts' radio roast. Times have changed. Wall Street toasted radio during the go-go 1990s, as large public companies swallowed stations by the hundreds--providing fat fees to financial firms--and coronated radio titans like Mel Karmazin. Now, Mr. Karmazin is out of work and analysts are castigating the industry for its stagnant growth rate. The departure of the "King of All Media" further damages the medium's reputation (read more - Crain's New York Business)

It didn't take long for Ellen Stout to find a new full-time radio gig after losing her morning slot in last month's format change that turned soft rock WLTQ-FM (97.3) into an '80s station. The Milwaukee radio mainstay signs on at 10 this morning for the midday job at WJZI-FM (93.3), and general manager Bill Hurwitz is quick to say that her arrival doesn't signal any format change at her new station (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

It brings back a lot of memories," said Aguilar, who was one of about 1,000 people who attended the Steve Crosno Hop Reunion at the Speaking Rock Events Center. "I walked out of the bathroom and saw all this crowd and I felt like I was 16 again." Mariachis played as the crowd waited for El Paso radio legend Steve Crosno to take the stage and resurrect the atmosphere of his popular 1960s dance show patterned after Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" -- the "Crosno Hop." "We came to reminisce about the old times," said Cindy Valenzuela, who attended with her husband of 32 years, but never made it to Crosno's original hops (read more - El Paso Times)

Syndicated Lex & Terry debuted in Baton Rouge, LA today on Citadel's KOOJ-FM (Rock 93.7).  This marks the first Citadel station addition to the L&T family (visit LexandTerry.com)

Cellphones and TVs made the switch to digital years ago. Now, broadcast radio finally is joining the parade. After a number of delays — partly because of technology hurdles, partly because of cost concerns — more radio stations are beginning to roll out digital programming. A big reason for the change: better sound quality. A digital FM station has a crisper, cleaner sound approaching that of a compact disc. When digitized, even AM radio, which is prone to signal interference, sounds as good as a conventional FM station does today. Nearly 140 stations in the U.S. are broadcasting digital radio, and that number is rising every month (read more - Boulder Daily Camera)

NPR's Scott Simon talks to radio deejay Adrian Cronaur about technological changes in the medium, from satellite radio to digital audio and the role of the Internet. As an Air Force sergeant, Cronaur's broadcasts from Vietnam were legendary and provided the basis for the Robin Williams film Good Morning Vietnam (read and listen at NPR)

Rush Limbaugh's attorney argued that prosecutors should have used a subpoena, rather than a search warrant, to obtain the records. The court majority, however, noted that seeking subpoenas actually offers less privacy protection.  Mr. Limbaugh's name came up during an investigation into the widespread illegal sale of prescription drugs in the county. Using a warrant wasn't reckless; it was — to use one of Mr. Limbaugh's favorite words — conservative. Said the judges: "... the greater showing required by search warrants — probable cause and relevancy — exceeds that which subpoena statutes require." Moreover, the judges pointed out that "nothing in any statute purports to limit the use of search warrants in regard to medical records." (read more - Randy Schultz-Palm Beach Post)

What you need to realize, says Dan Tooker, KFDI's new morning personality, is that he's not a disc jockey. "I'm a horrible DJ -- and you can quote me. I don't have the fake radio voice. I'm extremely normal," says Tooker (rhymes with "looker"). His daily show runs from 5:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. "But," he teases, "I look at things a little differently." For example, he says, he came up with the term "table vultures" for people waiting in line for a restaurant table who give dirty looks to those already seated, trying to hurry them up (read more - Wichita Eagle)

When shock jocks Opie and Anthony considered their next career move after two firings in four years, the twisted twosome was ready to feign rehabilitation. Or at least that was the plan when they sat down with satellite radio executives. "After two years of being 'the other,' satellite radio is developing its own content," said Sean Ross of Edison Media Research, which conducts surveys for a number of media outlets. "This certainly could drive traffic to satellite radio." (read more - Newsday)  (read more - Diane Toroian Keaggy-St. Louis Post-Dispatch)  (read more - Joanne Ostrow-Denver Post)

Tim Closson, WUBE-FM operations manager and program director since the early '90s, is no longer with the station. The Infinity Broadcasting station bought out the last 60 days of his contract last week and sent him on his way. WYGY-FM did its share of housecleaning, too. The morning team of Mike Stiles and Dana Race is gone. So is afternoon guy Marshall Zerb (read more - Cincy Enquirer)

Think of it as Wi-Fi on steroids. The idea is to make it possible to do things like stream high-definition television signals throughout the home, send video shot on a digital recorder live across the internet, and even connect a digital music player to a car's stereo system -- all with a wireless connection. On its way to U.S. living rooms and maybe even automobiles is a new type of high-speed wireless connection that promises downloaded data rates of up to 1 gigabit per second -- roughly 18.5 times the speed of Wi-Fi -- to personal computers and other devices. The technology would also enable wireless USB 2.0 or FireWire connections, which transmit data at about 440 megabits per second. This would allow consumers to download photos, music, video and other data-rich tasks without having to plug the devices into their personal computers (read more - Wired)

I’m prone to making unusual comparisons, but this one takes the cake. What do Howard Stern and the Federal Communications Commission have in common? Answer: They both believe they can artificially accelerate a market transition. In that regard, only Stern is connected to reality. The FCC’s folly involves our tax dollars at work, or more appropriately, at waste. When it isn’t attempting to silence shock jocks such as Stern, the FCC has been busy promoting the virtues of digital television. Its latest effort entails a marketing campaign employing the slogan “DTV: Get It!” Government forays into marketing invariably make me cringe (read more - Tony Paradiso-Nashua Telegraph)

As the Bulls and White Sox radio rights come up for bid, team and radio sources say the biggest question facing WMVP is whether Jerry Reinsdorf can live in the same station as his archnemesis Jay Mariotti, whom he called a "pissant" during an interview on "Chicago Tonight" this year. An exclusive window during which the White Sox and Bulls could negotiate only with WMVP has closed with no new deal. Executives from the White Sox and Bulls are said to be planning talks with MVP competitor WSCR-AM 670 and, possibly, other stations (read more - Jim Kirk-Chicago Tribune)

Rush Limbaugh has claimed that the attempt to examine his medical records is all about him. In fact, it's all about trying to enforce Florida law, and the 4th District Court of Appeal agrees. Mr. Limbaugh will appeal, either for a rehearing or to the Florida Supreme Court. He will continue to claim that it's all political, but the court has noted the essence of the case: No one should be able to use medical privacy to conceal what may be evidence of a crime (read more - Palm Beach Post Editorial)  (read more - EOnline)

From Chicago Ed Schwartz -- Rush Limbaugh's fabulous wealth and influence have kept him out of a courtroom. This is a case where thousands of doses of narcotic drugs and large amounts of money changed hands. At some point Limbaugh and his legal eagles will run out of challenges and the truth will come out. Limbaugh will no longer be able to play the victim. The man who claims to posses "talent on loan from God" will need that heavenly connection he claims to have.  I checked him out this past Friday but I bailed when he suggested that Senator John Kerry was a Communist sympathizer. The karma train is coming, it's just around the bend and Limbaugh is on the tracks and it's heading right for him (read more - www.chicagoed.com)

Matt Botwin figures that he spends at least $250 a month on his subscription services. Satellite radio. Cell phone. High-speed Internet service. Matt Botwin, a Washington consultant, has it all -- and the bills that go with his growing bundle of technology.  "I'm not happy about it. It's a lot," Botwin said. But he also feels that his digital devices and services are necessities. The Sirius satellite radio is indispensable for his frequent drives to New York and Philadelphia. "It's like any luxury. I didn't think I needed a microwave [oven], but I'm sure glad I have it now." (read more - Washington Post)

Work has started on a new Fiji Broadcasting Law covering television and radio, infoNET, the quarterly newsletter of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Media Relations says ...a transparent system for licensing of broadcasters along with ensuring they operate in the public interest is being developed." InfoNET said broadcasters in Fiji operated either through licenses or in some cases agreements (read more Fiji Times)

Welcome to Camelot, Jimmy Dean style. The 76-year-old Texas-born businessman and entertainer entertains himself quite well, thank you very much, right here in the commonwealth. "There's something about this damn place," Dean says. What a story Dean has. Quickly, by the bootstraps he rose from grinding poverty in West Texas to a career on television, in music, on the silver screen and in the boardroom. He's befriended presidents and paupers, maids and millionaires. Read all about Dean in "Thirty Years of Sausage, Fifty Years of Ham: Jimmy Dean's Own Story" (Berkley, $22.95), an autobiography co-written with his wife of nearly 13 years, Donna Meade Dean (read more - Richmond Times-Dispatch)

O'ahu's radio landscape continues to change. At noon yesterday, 104.4 XME (KXME FM), dropped its contemporary urban format and launched an edgier sound embracing hip-hop and rhythm 'n' blues. Essentially, the station is rebranding its image and its name and now is called Power 104.3 (read more - Honolulu Advertiser)

Imagine a radio station where students could design and run their own programs. Local youth could play their own music, talk about subjects relevant to them and broadcast information important to students in the area, all the while learning the skills of operating a radio station. Such a radio station existed not long ago in Watsonville. Radio Watson was a low-wattage pirate station, illegal under the old laws of the Federal Communication Commission (read more - Curt Gabrielson-Register-Pajoronian)

Star Wars, Ray Charles, sun-dried tomatoes. What do they have in common? I discovered each long after it was hip to know. Which brings me to the blog. A "blog" - the shortened version of "Weblog" - is not, as I first thought, green crud clinging to 3-week-old refrigerator leftovers. The blog is changing your world, rocking your vote and basically making a mess of the establishment media. President Bush has a blog, and so does John Kerry. Do a Google search on "blog," and 57.5 million results come up. A blog is a real-time, online gold mine of buzz, the op-ed page's cool cousin: publicly dissed as irresponsible, but privately envied for choosing freedom instead of a paycheck from the Man (read more - John McDonald-Arizona Republic)

Before you start putting on your rainwear to avoid the flying bits of obliterated watermelon, it's not that Gallagher. It's radio host Mike Gallagher, whose syndicated conservative talk show moves to KRLD/1080 AM, making the station the flagship affiliate for the Salem Radio Network-owned show. In addition to two hours of the national show, Gallagher will do a live, KRLD-only hour as well (read more - Star-Telegram)

Daniel Frishberg, known as "The Money Man" to the Houston audience of his former investment-oriented radio show, is launching a new radio station where listeners might also end up as owners. The new radio station, K-BIZ, will debut in Houston, probably in January, according to Frishberg (read more - MSNBC)

A TV show, ESPN's SportsCenter, and ten prominent industry execs will be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in November, the authoritative trade publication reports in this week's edition. B&C will announce this year's Hall of Fame inductees in its next edition  (read more - PR Newswire)

West Michigan's radio shakeup continued Friday as WFGR-FM (98.7) abruptly switched from a classical-music format to oldies (read more - Grand Rapids Press)

What was that bulge in the back of President Bush's suit jacket at the presidential debate in Miami last week? According to rumors racing across the Internet this week, the rectangular bulge visible between Mr. Bush's shoulder blades was a radio receiver, getting answers from an offstage counselor into a hidden presidential earpiece. The prime suspect was Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's powerful political adviser. President Bush's tailor pooh-poohed all the talk Friday. Georges de Paris, who made the suit Bush wore, said the bulge was nothing more than a pucker along the jacket's back seam, accentuated when the president crossed his arms and leaned forward on the lectern. Salon.com writer Dave Lindorff, who suggested in an online article Friday that Rove might have been feeding Bush answers through some electronic gizmo with an earpiece buried in his ear canal, wasn't convinced. ``There's definitely something under there pushing up through the suit,'' Lindorff said (read more Mercury News)  (read more - NY Times)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Saturday Night Live alum-turned-radio show host Al Franken brought his liberal satire to Miramar Friday, to drum up interest in his new talk show and to take potshots at the White House.  Air America on WINZ AM 940 started broadcasting within the last two months. It is part of a growing trend of ''progressive radio,'' which aims to do for political liberals what Rush Limbaugh did for conservatives. Franken's show runs in 36 markets (read more - Miami Herald)

Shock jock Howard Stern is dumping traditional radio for satellite. Should you? The question is on millions of listeners' minds after Stern stunned the radio world this week by announcing that he would stop broadcasting over the air to 46 markets across America, effectively ending his 20-year reign as the king of terrestrial radio. It is an incredible gamble (read more - Times Argus) (read more - Chicago Tribune)

Wires, batteries, plastic containers, cardboard boxes, drills, glue guns, a single-watt FM transmitter, perhaps a toy truck or a stuffed rabbit -- put these together and you have a personal radio station that could start a public revolution. At least that's the idea behind Radio Re-Volt: One Person .00One Watt, a project by Minneapolis' Walker Art Center that intends to open the radio airwaves to the general public, one small radio station at a time. Today's the Day. The Walker Art Center is sponsoring Radio Re-Volt workshops all over Minneapolis through the month of October. At the workshops, people are given free radio-transmitter kits and are taught how to build their own mobile radio station and how to broadcast with it (read more - Wired)

The Bush twins won't be the next reality TV stars. First Lady Laura Bush tells TV Guide that two production houses made offers to Barbara and Jenna (above), 22, for their own show. "The girls wouldn't come to me and say, 'Can I have your blessing?' " she tells the mag. "They would say, 'We definitely do not want to do this.' " (read more - NY Post-Page Six)

Tune in to WEEI Sports Radio 850 any weekday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and you'll likely hear Dale Arnold speaking about the Boston Red Sox, or New England Patriots, or Bruins, or Celtics, or any of the big sports topics of the week. There's also a good chance you'll hear him talking about Maine. "It's my home," said Arnold. "My family's there, my heart's there." (read more - Mike Lowe-Portland Press)

A runaway boom truck caused WMSK's tower to collapse, knocking the AM and FM radio station off the air. A utility company boom truck had been left at a repair shop on a hill over looking the station during the day Thursday, said Don Sheridan, the station's program director. A brake that was set on the truck apparently failed (read more - Lexington Herald-Leader)

From Sonny Melendrez -- I have been very busy exploring the possibilities of a new home for our program, format, and music. While this music is being played on many stations across the country, it is not being presented in quite the same setting as we have enjoyed it on our program. Keep in mind that the underlying attitude of the show is: Kindness. The music, the lyrics, the features, the fun, and most especially you, the listener, are a part of that kindness. Many people don't understand that. However, in this day and age, down deep inside, most of us long for the comfort of how well we can treat each other if we really try. Sounds corny, but as a friend said to me recently, "Life is corny." (read more - Sonny Melendrez at SanAntonioLightning.com)

Ellen Stout has landed a full-time midday slot at WJZI-FM (93.3) just a couple weeks after being canned by WLTQ-FM (97.1) when it dropped its light rock format. Stout will be spinning those smooth jazz platters from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays starting Monday morning (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

For four years now the neon glow of KRQZ-FM91.5 has peeked out from the front of Trinity Church of the Nazarene. For four years the station has defied the trends of commercial mainstream radio and preconceived notions of what Christian radio should sound like. As Brad Clark, the Youth Pastor at Trinity and a KRQZ disc jockey puts it, "How many churches have a radio station, a teen-age radio station?" (read more - Lompoc Record)

Michael Moore is in negotiations to screen his George Bush-bashing documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," on television the night before the presidential election (read more - NY Post-Page Six)

Fax machines around the country observed a moment of silence this week after a federal court issued an order Tuesday against the nation's most notorious junk-fax blaster, Fax.com, prohibiting the company and its surrogates from spamming fax machines across the country (read more - Wired)

Sean Hannity takes his "Hannitization Tour 2004" to the Dallas-Fort Worth area at the Gaylord Texan on Friday October 22. Tickets are $20 + a service charge (WBAP 820 has details, details)

Long-time W-B-U-R general manager Jane Christo has resigned. The Boston University-owned public radio station made the announcement on its air today. Christo will step down effective October 15th, with the university to appoint a new interim general manager. The move comes amid reports that B-U was investigating possible wrongdoing at the station. The school released a statement last week saying it had received "anonymous allegations with regard to administrative practices" at W-B-U-R (read more - ABC 6)

Just two days after the New York pay radio shop signed the Long Island shock jock to a $500 million, five-year deal, Sirius moved quickly to silence critics who questioned the company's ability to pay for the pricey deal. Sirius said Friday that it would sell $290 million worth of stock and convertible debt to improve its finances. The company's return to the capital market reignited a fiery debate on Wall Street between believers in the satellite radio duopoly of Sirius and XM Satellite and its scores of doubters. Sirius fell 6% on the move, while XM rose 1%. The stock, which jumped 28% at one point Wednesday on word of the Stern deal, has now dropped 11% from that high. Sirius shares dropped a quarter to $3.75 in midday trading Friday (read more - Scott Moritz-The Street)

The 'Don't Vote' billboards that raised hackles around the Twins Cities aren't some sinister plot after all. The billboards that went up last week were the first phase of a campaign for a morning radio show. At least one of the 15 billboards was updated Friday in downtown Minneapolis. It now says, "Don't Vote for Dave," a reference to morning radio host Dave Ryan of KDWB-FM. The sign tells viewers to "Make your vote count!" next to a photo of Ryan, wearing an Uncle Sam outfit and giving the thumbs up (read more - Duluth News Tribune)

The fate of Northern Michigan University's public radio and television stations were put on hold - again. At Friday's meeting, NMU's board of trustees asked for more information about the educational benefits students receive from WNMU-TV and W-NMU-FM radio. The information is to be presented at the board's December meeting. "I'm inclined to say lets shut it down now unless I could see more information showing there is educational support," Finance Committee Chairman Sam Benedict said (read more - Marquette Mining Journal)

“It’s ironic” is a common refrain on Rush Limbaugh’s broadcasts. But don’t expect him to see the irony in his own legal troubles. If it were possible, though, to have Rush look honestly at himself, then “Honest Rush” might have this to say about Radio Rush: “When a tireless advocate of the Patriot Act complains that he’s the victim of improperly seized evidence, that, my friends, is the very epitome of irony.”  Ironically, prosecutors looking to press a case against Limbaugh for alleged drug-related offenses would not have needed to go to court to defend their actions if they had only used the Patriot Act and searched his records looking for any information related to terrorism. They would have been able to seize all of Limbaugh’s medical and financial records and then use it all against him, even though the records have nothing to do with terrorism (read more - Bob Underwood-Washington Dispatch)

Gary Owens will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  Tickets are selling quickly and it's going to be the third straight sold-out event. Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com. Gary Owens really did begin his radio career at KORN in South Dakota.  He worked at KILT in Houston and KTSA in San Antonio in the 1950's before moving to California. Famous for his trademark hand–over–the–ear delivery on TV's Rowan and Martin's “Laugh – In”, Gary has lent his voice to over 3,000 cartoons and is currently heard on such animated adventures as “Space Ghost” and “Ren & Stimpy”. (click here to listen to a 30 second KFWB aircheck of Gary, courtesy of ReelRadio.com) Gary was recently voted LA’s favorite radio personality of the 20th century. He's the former afternoon disc jockey at KMPC/Los Angeles, where he remained for 20 years. He's reached national audiences with a series of syndicated comedy and music programs, including Soundtrack of the Sixties, Superfun, and Gary Owens’ Weekend Spectacular over the last 30 years.  Today, Gary is in LA at KLAC 570  (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas) 

Howard Stern hinted broadly yesterday that he might continue his involvement with Viacom after he switches to censor-free satellite radio in 15 months. Radio's frequently-fined bad boy even went so far as to imply that Viacom could buy Sirius, the smaller of the two "satcasters" that Stern will join on Jan. 1, 2006. "I said maybe this isn't the end of us working together," Stern told listeners yesterday, reporting on a conversation he had Wednesday with Joel Hollander, the president and COO of Viacom's radio station unit, Infinity Broadcasting (read more - John Mainelli-NY Post)

The winners of the 2004 National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Radio Awards were announced at the annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show. The event was held in conjunction with The NAB Radio Show (click here to read the complete list)  (click here to read Eddie Fritts opening remarks)

From Kent Burkhart's "I Was There" -- At the NAB Radio Show in San Diego I hope to shake hands with an old friend. His name is Howard Kalmenson. Howard is president (and owns the majority of the stock) in Lotus Communications. Howard headquarters and lives in the Los Angeles area. I am quite familiar with Lotus because our consulting firm advised them for more than a decade in the 80’s. Specifically we were involved with some of his stations in Las Vegas, Tucson, and Reno. Howard and I discovered that we have a lot of things in common regarding operating a group and family values. I distinctly remember a three hour luncheon about ten years ago at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills discussing varied subjects ... (read more at www.kentburkhart.com)

DJ Mike Marrone gave up on "terrestrial" radio in 1995, when a big conglomerate bought his 100,000-watt radio station in New Mexico and slashed his play-list by two-thirds. Now Marrone, 48, programs an eclectic mix of soft alternative rock for The Loft, a channel offered by XM Satellite Radio, one of two satellite services that are reshaping the industry (read more - Kevin Diaz-Star-Tribune)  (read/listen more - NPR)

The John and Ken Show held a "political human sacrifice' of Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, at Ontario Mills Thursday to ridicule the Democratic Congressman for being lenient on illegal immigration. Swarms of dedicated listeners of the KFI-AM (640) show came to Dave & Buster's in the mall to see John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou speak on the radio (read more - SGV Tribune)

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. is planning to raise about $290 million from a sale of common stock and convertible notes (read more - LA Times)

RDN Special Contributor Chuck Blore remembers the early days and late nights of Talk Radio's Michael Jackson -- Here's an interesting parallel to the Machado talk-radio story you printed a couple of weeks back.  Years ago, after the remarkable success of KFWB in Los Angeles, we brought Color Radio to San Francisco. We had a remarkable deejay line-up, beginning with Don MacKinnon in the morning and ending with Michael Jackson doing all night.  Back then, the FCC carried a very big stick and a station presenting a certain amount of "conversation" while not actually required was looked upon by the commission in a very positive light ... (read the rest from Chuck Blore)

Is Howard Stern worth $12.95 a month? Fans told the Daily News yesterday they aren't sure they're ready to fork over cash for a daily dose of sex jokes and stripper interviews. "He's funny, but I wouldn't pay for him," said Ansley Tolleson, 28, from Nashville, who was admiring a storefront window she designed in midtown. "If it were a nickel a month, I'd get it." "Absolutely, I'm going to pay," said Peter Petrou, 47, a jeweler from Paramus, N.J. "He makes me happy in the morning. He makes your mood change when he says, 'Baba Booey, Baba Booey.'"
"Absolutely, I'm going to pay," said Peter Petrou, 47, a jeweler from Paramus, N.J. "He makes me happy in the morning. He makes your mood change when he says, 'Baba Booey, Baba Booey.'" (read more - David Epstein-NY Post)

Miller Brewing Co. and Univision Communications Inc. have signed a $100 million cross-platform advertising and marketing deal (read more - LA Biz Journal)

Bush's Isolation From Reporters Could Be a Hindrance. Several Bush advisers said the president may well pay a price for his decision to remain isolated from tough or unexpected questions when he faces Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), whose events are notably less scripted, in a town-hall-style debate tonight at Washington University in St. Louis. The questions are likely to be tougher than those he faced when he taped an interview about parenting for the "Dr. Phil" show this summer (read more - Washington Post) (click here to read latest polls)

Lawmakers last night derailed legislation that would have substantially increased the amount the Federal Communications Commission can fine broadcasters for airing indecent material, giving media companies at least a temporary reprieve after months of scrutiny and public outrage. A partisan struggle removed language from a bill that would have allowed the FCC to raise fines from the current $32,500 to as much as $275,000 for each incident of indecent content aired, confirmed Brian Hart, spokesman for Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who sponsored legislation to increase the fines (read more - Frank Ahrens-Washington Post)

There's more at stake in Howard Stern's flight from the FM dial to a cutting-edge satellite broadcaster than fuddy-duddy programming restrictions: The shock jock's high-tech leap underscores a widening digital divide between the old world of radio and the new. The rise of the iPod, digital television, TiVo and other high-tech entertainment devices has made it painfully clear to many that traditional radio's continued reliance on analog transmissions is outdated and has to go. Now radio is facing a technological transformation from both above and below, as stations begin to move from analog transmissions toward the new digital medium, and as companies and consumers apply high-tech tools to capture broadcasts in their current nondigital form (read more - John Borland/Evan Hansen-CNET)

WIP 610-AM morning show host Angelo Cataldi and ESPN national correspondent Sal Paolantonio aren't pals anymore. The former Philadelphia Inquirer reporters haven't talked since Paolantonio left Cataldi's show for the competing "Michael Smerconish Show" on WPHT 1210-AM in the summer of 2003. According to Paolantonio, there was no "falling out." "It was strictly a business decision ... " (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

Robert W. Nelson, a longtime broadcaster in the Manatee/Sarasota area, died Wednesday at the age of 57. Mr. Nelson, of St. Armands Key, helped found, with his parents, WBRD-AM, WDUV-FM and ABC Channel 40, which is now ABC Channel 7. His career started in Bradenton, according to his father, Robert R. Nelson (read more - Bradenton Herald)

A former BBC head blamed women executives for making the television service "dumb, dumb, dumb" and said they had dragged down the public broadcaster's quality, in comments published today in The Times newspaper. Alasdair Milne, who ran the BBC as director general from 1982 to 1987, told the daily: "It just seems to me that the television service has largely been run by women for the last four to five years and they don't seem to have done a great job of work." He described a discussion over lunch with new BBC chair Michael Grade: "I told him I thought the programs were terrible." "There was no innovation; constant make overs and far too many cookery and gardening programs. Dumb, dumb, dumb," he said. "I think the BBC has to pull its socks up quite considerably." (read more - ABC News-Australia)

Turn on the radio while driving through West Virginia, Iowa or Oregon -- or just about any other competitive state in the presidential race -- and you'll be far more likely to hear ads by President Bush than by John Kerry. The president and the Republican National Committee have spent about $10 million on radio ads during the general election campaign so far, outpacing Kerry, his party and allied groups roughly 3-to-1 (read more - Newsday)

A former Cincinnati television reporter accused of sexually abusing teenage boys reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Thursday. Stephen Hill, 45, a former investigative reporter at WCPO-TV, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual battery and was sentenced to five years in prison, WLKY NewsChannel 32 reported (read more - 32 WLKY) (read and view video at NBC 5 Cincinnati)

Radio station 91.1 FM in Sun Valley has been upgraded to a full-power radio station, KBSS. The station upgrade is the latest in a series of radio stations that carry the National Public Radio News 91 signal to cities throughout western, southern and central Idaho. NPR News 91 has been in the Sun Valley area since 1990, operating on a low-power, 8-watt translator. The new station on Seattle Ridge operates with 700 watts and a new, optimized antenna, Boise State Radio said this week (read more - Times News-Twin Falls)

Though Howard Stern's defection from broadcast to satellite radio is still 16 months off, the industry is already trying to figure out what will fill the crater in ad revenue and listenership that he is expected to leave behind. "What did it mean to late-night TV when Johnny Carson left?" said David J. Field, chief executive of Entercom Communications Corp., which owns 100 radio stations. "The reality is, that was not the demise of late-night TV."  (read more - Frank Ahrens-Washington Post)

File this one under “rumor” for right now, but we just got a tip that XM Satellite Radio and Delphi are going to introduce a wearable satellite radio very soon. Supposedly it’ll be called “MyFI” (to go along with Delphi’s line of SkyFI receivers) (read more - EnGadget)

The BBC licence fee should be replaced by subscription, the author of a study of the corporation's finances said yesterday. Prof Sir Alan Peacock, who led a government inquiry into the funding of the broadcasting industry in 1986, said the time was now right to consider the radical proposals he made at the time (read more - Telegraph U.K.)

November's another biggie this year in Houston. Barry Mailow's  mashing Toyota Center Thursday November 4. Tuesday, November 16, carves another notch in my long string of hits and misses on God's green earth. Always been partial to redheads. Bette Midler's loud and lively frolic moves to Toyota Center November 19. That little redhead really knocks me out (read more - Jim Rose Remembers)

Howard Stern's leaving Infinity brings up an issue that Les Moonves understands could determine his future. Sumner Redstone, who will  step down as CEO in 2006, said that he will choose his successor -  Moonves or Tom Freston, ex-cable chief and co-president. Redstone has said that Moonves' radio division performance will be a key test of his leadership skills — and an opportunity (read more - LA Times)

For the last six years, WNBP has been owned by old-school radio giant Bob Fuller, who grew up on Newbury's Sunny Ridge Farm and made a fortune owning stations coast to coast, and eventually selling his company Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting Companies Inc. in 1999 for $65 million. Fuller made a lifetime career out of radio - a career that had bumps in the road, but more ups than downs. The station's first studio was in an old gas station at the Newburyport traffic circle (read more - Merrimack River Current)

A federal judge ordered that New York Times reporter Judith Miller be jailed for refusing to reveal how she learned the identity of Valerie Plame, the CIA operative whose name became public after her husband criticized the Bush administration for relying on discredited evidence to justify the Iraqi war. The order was stayed, pending appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals, which is slated for early November (read more - Crain's NY)

How do the analysts see Infinity? Howard Stern leaves Infinity Broadcasting as a different company than when he first joined it almost 20 years ago. The Viacom-owned radio company began as a small, then fast growing station group in a wide-open industry. Infinity chief Mel Karmazin transformed Infinity into a powerhouse (read more - Hollywood Reporter)

A stunned hairdresser has been told she has been breaking the law for 35 years - by playing a radio in her own salon. Mary Methven’s radio has provided the soundtrack to her daily working life since the Beatles and Rolling Stones were in the charts with Get Back and Jumping Jack Flash. So she was flabbergasted when the Performing Rights Society (PRS) contacted her and demanded £65 a year for the privilege. Mrs Methven, who owns the A&M Methven salon in Sighthill, is one of 7000 Scottish firms being targeted in a new crackdown by the PRS. The society exists to enforce copyright laws on behalf of songwriters, and says even a background radio playing in a shop counts as a "public broadcast" requiring a licence (read more - The Scotsman)

Univision Communications Inc. announced that the Univision Network's Adult 18-49 audience grew an extraordinary 23% during the competitive primetime novela block over the course of the 2004 third quarter. In addition, Univision's third quarter primetime novela block audience was 150% larger than Telemundo's primetime novela audience (read more - BusinessWire)

At the Capitol Civic Centre, Masquers is staging the nostalgic musical “The 1940’s Radio Hour.” For people of a certain age it is like gathering around the Zenith once again to listen to big band sounds, swing music, comic routines, catchy advertising jingles, and colorful radio personalities. Only this time, we get to see it all as part of Station WOV’s studio audience in New York (read more - Herald Times Reporter)

Salem Radio Network, a division of Salem Communications Corporation and Bill Gaither, Gospel Music legend, announce the launch of "Bill Gaither's Homecoming Radio." Following the extremely successful "Homecoming" concert - tv/video series, Gaither created and is hosting this weekly radio show. The one-hour program features performances recorded "live" by the "Homecoming" artists on stage at the concert venues and presented in the "down-home" flavor that is unique to his style (read more-BusinessWire)

Radio listenership is down, revenue growth is anemic, and complaints about programming are omnipresent. But the radio industry, said Stephen Soboroff, owner of KCJJ-AM 1630, a 10,000-watt independent station in Iowa City, has only itself to blame for its many troubles. "Consolidation killed local radio, it dumbed down content, stripped news departments and eliminated the diversity that once made it such an enjoyable medium," Soboroff said. "Big Radio has made it worse." When Soboroff talks about Big Radio, he's referring to the handful of companies that purchased hundreds of stations following passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. That landmark law eliminated caps on the number of stations a company could own in a single market (read more - Leon Lazaroff and Maureen Ryan-Chicago Tribune)

Palm Beach County prosecutors didn't violate Rush Limbaugh's privacy rights when they seized his medical records late last year as part of an investigation into the conservative radio host's prescription drug use, an appeals court ruled Wednesday. The ruling by a three-judge panel technically clears the way for prosecutors to resume their investigation, stalled since December. Limbaugh has repeatedly flogged State Attorney Barry Krischer on the airwaves.  Krischer answered Wednesday in a prepared statement. "This office did not violate any of Mr. Limbaugh's rights, constitutional or statutory, but to the contrary acted in accord with Florida law. . . . Mr. Limbaugh's rights have been and will continue to be scrupulously protected, as are the rights of all individuals investigated by my office," he said. Krischer declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation. Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, held a news conference later in the afternoon at a private club overlooking Miami's Biscayne Bay. Black scoffed at Krischer's use of the word "scrupulously."  (read more - Peter Franceschina and Missy Stoddard-Sun Sentinel)  (read more - Susan Spencer-Wendel-Palm Beach Post) (read Roy Black/Rush Limbaugh News Release)

In a statement, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said good riddance to Stern. ''The FCC ... has stopped me from doing business,'' Stern said during his on-air announcement. ''Clear Channel, you (expletives), I will bury you.'' The news that shock jock Howard Stern is jumping from free AM/FM radio to pay satellite radio has brought instant attention to the young medium. Experts say the business is simply an evolution of the radio industry, the way FM grew from AM. The challenge, however, is for the money-losing start-ups to persuade consumers to pay for radio. But skeptics point out satellite radio does not offer local stations with local traffic or news — staples of free broadcasting. "When people get up in the morning they want to know the local traffic, the local news and did the world blow up," says Joel Hollander, president of traditional station owner Infinity Broadcasting, which has Stern until 2005 (read more-Michael McCarthy-USA Today)  (read more - Peter Johnson, David Lieberman and Mike McCarthy-USA Today) (read more - Peter Johnson-USA Today)  (read more - Jackson Sun News)

The King of All Media is moving to satellite radio — putting "Wheel of Sex," "Lesbian Dating Game" and the rest of his raunchy comedy shtick beyond the reach of government regulators (read more - John Mainelli-NY Post)

If you can judge a man by his enemies, Tom Barberi, who was fired Tuesday from his talk show after 34 years, should be content.
The iconoclastic talk jock on KALL-AM radio regularly lambasted Utah's dominant religion, its dominant political party and just about anything else that sought to dominate (read more - Salt Lake Trib)

Howard Stern's program is No. 1 in its time period in New York and No. 1 in Los Angeles among English language stations, according to Infinity spokeswoman Karen Mateo. In a telephone interview, Stern said his current predicament made it necessary to take a big risk. "I got into the medium to change things, to be different, to be funny. And increasingly what's happened is that material I want to do on the air, I can't do. ... The rules are changing so rapidly and are so restrictive, especially for me." While Stern for some time has mused on-air about the allure of satellite radio, the timing of the deal took fans and industry observers by surprise, given that Stern still has more than 14 months left on his current contract.  Signing a household name like Stern could be a game-changer for satellite radio, luring millions of new subscribers and spiking ad revenues. (While the music channels on Sirius and XM are commercial-free, the talk, sports and news channels often are not. "It validates satellite radio as an industry,'' said analyst April Horace of Janco Partners Inc., a Colorado investment banking firm.  (read more - Scott Collins-LA Times) (read more - Benny Evangelista-San Francisco Chronicle)

Clint Formby will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  Tickets are selling quickly and it's going to be the third straight sold-out event. Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com. Clint Formby is the president of KPAN AM-FM and Hereford Cablevision Company in Hereford. He is a former member and Chairman of the Board of Regents of Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University (Past-National/ Health Sciences Center (12-year member of Board), a former Chairman of the Radio Board of Directors of National State Association of Broadcasters. He has been inducted into the Texas Tech Mass Communications Hall of Fame and Texas Panhandle Broadcaster Hall of Fame. He also was named the Texas Association of Broadcasters (TBEF) Broadcaster of the Year  (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas) 

RDN COMMENTARY FLASHBACK - AUGUST 20, 2003 --- With the "Technologies of the 2000’s" we use FM modulators and portable XM and Sirius Satellite receivers to listen to crystal clear, static-free music, news, sports, talk and information beamed down to earth from nearly 25,000 miles away. Given this track record of technological advances, do you think that time will now stand still and there will be no further advances in radio programming distribution? Did the quest for the technology to distribute music, news and talk programming suddenly end with the invention of radio transmitter towers? Hardly. I have a feeling that, in time – and I don’t know how long a time it will be - AM and FM radio receivers, as we know them, will become antiques, and radio-TV towers will become nothing more than junk metal that will be sold by the pound. These things are inevitable. They will happen. Are you embracing the new "Technologies of the 2000’s" or are you allowing the new technologies to swallow you up and spit you out? Are you still investing your time, energy and attention in the old technologies of the 60’s? (read more - Shannon's Corner-RDN)

KABC is inviting you to join in the fun at Ken Minyard’s final broadcast and send off party beginning at 5AM Friday, October 15 at the luxurious Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey, 4375 Admiralty Way.  Doug McIntyre, host of Red Eye Radio on TalkRadio 790 KABC will move to mornings as he replaces the newly retired Ken Minyard (read more - KABC)

This year, fresh off the publication of several best-selling books, Al  Franken came very close to making a deadly career move. He joined fledgling Air America network last spring and watched helplessly as it promptly began to drown in a sea of mismanagement and financial problems. The network, a response to the domination of the airwaves by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, nearly tanked. Franken himself gave up his salary. Then along came Portland (the one in Oregon, not the one in Maine). Air America debuted there and socked its competitors in the ratings. The radio industry noticed, and the network quickly expanded to not-so-liberal places such as San Diego, where it bumped the golden oldies of KPOP off the air and debuted on a newly renamed KLSD (read more - Randy Dotinga-North County times)  (read more - Capital Times-Madison)

Howard Stern has long had two words for the Federal Communications Commission--and in 15 months, he can finally utter them on the air. Howard Stern's move to Sirius Satellite Radio will unlock the one key regulatory advantage possessed by the satellite radio industry: Stern can finally say exactly what he wants on the air.  The Stern move may expose traditional radio's Achilles' heel: Stations' free use of the airwaves makes them subject to unique content regulations by the Federal Communications Commission. Sirius Satellite Radio's $500 million deal to land shock jock Howard Stern was seen yesterday as a coup that could do for satellite radio what ``The Sopranos'' did for HBO and cable TV. That's got traditional radio stations worried, observers said. ``Howard will not be subject to the same constraints that he is . . . on terrestrial stations,'' said Jack Casey, general manager of WERS-FM (88.9) (read more - Greg Gatlin-Boston Herald) (read more - Forbes)  (read more - Middletown Journal)  (read more - Bruce Westbrook-Houston Chronicle)

The number of digital radios in the UK will jump to 13 million by 2008 from fewer than 1 million now, according to forecasts from the industry body. The rapid expansion will put digital radio into the homes of 29% of Britons and create an industry worth £500m a year. It is expected to be driven largely by falling prices and better sets with memory cards that allow listeners to pause, rewind and record live radio. At present, just 4pc of households have digital radios, although more can listen via digital TV (read more - The Telegraph U.K.)

The letters that arrive at the three-room studio of Radio Karabagh are small works of folk art. They come on elaborate stationery, covered with glitter applied by hand, pictures cut from newspapers, and small bits of metal foil applied like gold-leaf in patterns. A flower seller named Shahrwani, who implores the station to play a song from a cassette he has included, has covered the back of his letter with 15 red, plastic daisies, surrounded by hand-drawn hearts. More important for Radio Karabagh, a tiny provincial station north of Kabul, are the envelopes the letters arrive in. Sold for four Afghanis -- about 10 cents -- the envelopes are a fundraising tool for the station (read more - Washington Post)

In an unscientific poll conducted online yesterday by www.newsday.com, 58.2 percent of the 837 respondents said they would be willing to subscribe to Sirius to hear Mr. Stern's show, according to the Long Island-based Web site. The bigger question, though, for radio purists, is what kind of show Mr. Stern will bring to satellite. Sirius' announcement calls it "the most important deal in radio history." That's an exaggeration, but only a slight one. Satellite radio signed on three years ago. Charles Segrest, who installs the systems for clients, says once his clients experience satellite radio, many wish they had subscribed to it sooner. So, does hundreds of digital music and talk channels... many without commercial interruption, mean that traditional FM and AM stations are on their way out? Satellite radio may be making great strides in programming and customers, but for those in broadcast radio, they see it as a challenge that raises the bar for broadcast stations (read more - Christian Toto-Washington Times) (read more - Stuart Burson-KTRE 9) (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Longtime Philadelphia radio personality Mark "The Shark" Drucker of KYW 1060-AM is being treated for cancer at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Huntington Valley, PA. Through a friend, Drucker, 48, said that he is "fighting hard and keeping his spirits up." Drucker does the entertainment report "The Buzz" on KYW. In the 80's, he was part of the extremely popular "Morning Zoo" on WMMR 93.3-FM (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

Howard Stern plans to be on the airwaves after 2005, but if his fans want to hear him they'll need a new type of radio. He has signed a five-year contract to jump to satellite radio service Sirius as of Jan. 1, 2006. Stern won't come cheap. Sirius says it expects to spend $100 million a year for the show's cast and staff, overhead, programming costs and construction of a special studio for the show. But Sirius says the contract will be paid for if Stern brings in "a small fraction of his weekly audience." Even neutral observers tended to agree with that assertion yesterday. Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers magazine, a leading radio trade publication that is based in Springfield, said Stern's move will "act as a catalyst to satellite radio getting bigger faster." Adam Jacobson, radio editor for Radio & Records, a Los Angeles-based trade publication, said the deal "will singlehandedly propel satellite radio onto an equal level with both AM and FM" and will "give large radio companies in the US pause as far as understanding how far satellite radio has come and what a threat it is to them from now on."  (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)  (read more - Don Aucoin and Clea Simon-Boston Globe)  (read more - MetroMix)

Michael Moore has cancelled his speech  in St. Louis Thursday due to a bout with pneumonia, said Student Union President David Ader. The Campus Programming Council is working in conjunction with Moore and the Pageant to reschedule the filmmaker's talk (read more - Washington University-Student Life)  (click here for related story about Sean Hannity's cancellation)

With Howard Stern looking forward to unbridled free speech when he jumps to Sirius Satellite Radio from Infinity in 2006, industry experts say his home base of WXRK-FM could be forced into making a format change (read more - Crain's NY Biz)

What did he do, exactly? That's the question making the rounds in WCAU's newsroom as shocked troops try to make sense of Friday's firing of respected reporter-anchor Joe Vazquez. Officially, Channel 10's mantra is that Vazquez's departure was a mutual decision. Unofficially, he was fired. He's negotiating for a settlement of his contract, which expires in mid-March. This much is beyond dispute: Vazquez and his cameraman, regular freelancer Joe Stroup, got into hot water for using graphic language off-camera while covering a story involving an alleged rape at La Salle University (read more - Gail Shister-Philly Inquirer)

Chinese authorities have attempted to obtain radio broadcast licenses in Taiwan and to purchase local radio stations, Government Information Office (GIO) Director-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Lin revealed during an question and answer session at the legislature yesterday that intelligence information indicated that these applications were submitted on the Chinese government's behalf by nominally unaffiliated organizations for the purpose of furthering China's nationalistic message  (read more - Taipei Times)

Radio Ink magazine publisher B. Eric Rhoads has announced Radio Ink's second annual Forecast 2005 event, to be held December 6-7 at the Harvard Club in New York City during the week known as Media Week. This two-day conference has become the premiere forecasting event in the radio industry and includes a laser-focused agenda designed to help analysts and broadcasters determine the direction of the radio broadcasting industry for the coming year. Attendees will receive an invitation to Radio Ink's annual "40 Most Powerful People in Radio" event, which last December attracted a who's who in the radio industry (read more - Radio Ink)

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced today that two Detroit morning radio hosts have pledged to donate $10,000 to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Through the "Support MI Troops" campaign, kicked off yesterday by Governor Jennifer Granholm, Attorney General Mike Cox and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce Foundation, businesses and individuals can make tax deductible donations to purchase gifts for  Michigan troops overseas. This morning, while the Attorney General was appearing on the "Drew and Mike" Show on WRIF 101.1 to promote the initiative, the hosts revealed that they would be donating the money (read more - PR Newswire)

On ABC NightLine -- Some wounds will heal. Some wounds are obvious. But estimates are that 60 percent of the wounded from Iraq are also suffering from brain injuries. And their fight for recovery is much tougher than most of us can imagine (visit ABC NightLine)

The staff of a popular Peruvian TV news magazine program has resigned after fallout from an on-air confrontation between the presenter and President Alejandro Toledo over the broadcast of a video touted as supporting allegations Toledo registered his political party with fake signatures (read more - CNN)

News weathercaster Adrian Gibson has a broadcast career that spans more than five decades. December 1st, 2004 will be Adrian’s last day on the air. Adrian has announced his retirement and the end of his distinguished half-century radio and television dynasty (read more - WAAY 31 News)

A state appeals court ruled Wednesday that Rush Limbaugh's medical records were properly seized by investigators seeking information on alleged illegal drug use. Investigators raided the offices of Limbaugh's doctors seeking information on whether the conservative commentator illegally tried to buy prescription painkillers. Limbaugh, 53, has not been charged with a crime and the investigation had been at a standstill pending a decision on the medical records. "We hold that the constitutional right of privacy in medical records is not implicated by the State's seizure and review of medical records under a valid search warrant without prior notice or hearing," the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled. Chief Judge Gary M. Farmer wrote the opinion (read more - CNN) (read more - ABC News) (read more - CNS News) (read more - Palm Beach Post) (read ruling - RushLimbaugh.com)  (click here to listen to Rush Limbaugh comments on his radio program)

Howard Stern, one of the most popular U.S. entertainment personalities, said Wednesday that he is leaving Infinity Broadcasting and will take his show to subscription-based Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) beginning in January 2006. Sirius stocked jumped on the news. "I've decided what my future is," Stern told his millions of listeners in a live announcement of his five-year, multimillion dollar contract. "It's not this kind of radio any more." (read more - USA Today)  (read more - MSNBC) (read more - Reuters) (read Sirius News Release) (read more - NY Times)

Since he can't fly in style, Sean Hannity says he won't come to St. Louis at all. After promising to counter Michael Moore's speech this Friday, the conservative commentator pulled out of the deal less than a week before his scheduled appearance-but reportedly asked that the media not be informed of his motivations for the decision. Hannity cited personal reasons for his cancellation, said law student Ruth Hollander after speaking with the right-wing pundit over the phone yesterday. Hannity, Hollander said, requested a private jet to fly him to St. Louis for the speech, but then rejected "several" different jets offered by a private donor. He told Hollander about a "bad experience" with the prominent company that had manufactured all the jets offered for his trip (read more - Washington University-Student Life)

Frank Fallon will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  Tickets are selling quickly and it's going to be the third straight sold-out event. Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com.  Frank Fallon served as General Manager of KWTX radio for almost three decades. There, and later as an instructor at Baylor, Fallon helped launch the careers of hundreds of other young broadcasters. For two decades he was the public address announcer for the NCAA Final Four and he also did television play-by-play of Southwest Conference basketball games for NBC and ESPN. He died in May 2004 after a long illness  (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)  (click here to hear Frank Fallon with the  play-by-by call of an interception and a touchdown during the 1989 Baylor-Texas football game)

Afternoon and late-night playoff games have much of Red Sox Nation grumbling, but not WEEI-AM (850). The sports radio station likes 4 p.m. start times just fine, says Julie Kahn, vice president for Entercom's Boston stations, including WEEI. Red Sox fans who can't watch afternoon games on TV at work or stuck in rush hour traffic listen on the radio. ``The 4 o'clock game is such an advantage for advertisers,'' Kahn said (read more - Greg Gatlin-Boston Herald)

Al Franken is arguably the most visible leftie in the country today. With a best-selling book ("Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them") and the primo midday slot on the Air America radio network, which is expanding into half a dozen new markets in the coming months, the demand for Franken's surly humor and knowledge of current events is growing by the day. "At least it's only an eight-city tour, not an eight-month tour," he says, distractedly shuffling printouts of the news stories that provided background for his just-concluded live broadcast (read more - Jane Ganahl-San Francisco Chronicle)

dMarc Broadcasting, Inc., a newly formed media and technology firm, today announced it has acquired market-leading radio automation and digital systems vendors Scott Studios and Computer Concepts, as well as the broadcast assets of dMarc Networks, the leader in broadcast data services. The integrated company will boast the largest installed  customer base for radio automation and digital systems, with more than 4,600 radio station clients and over 1,800 stations in Arbitron-rated US markets (read more - PR Newswire)

Cincinnati Infinity broadcast officials are offering no explanation of why the market's longest running program director -- and one of the most successful country radio PDs in the country -- has been fired. Tim Closson, for 14 years the program director at top-rated country station WUBE-FM (B-105), was let go last Friday. Jim Bryant, Infinity vice president and market manager, refused any comment on the reason behind Closson's dismissal. He said assistant program director Kat O'Connor has been named the acting PD (read more - Cincy Post)

The best TV moment came when the vice president pummeled Edwards for his attendance record in the U.S. Senate, presided over by Cheney. "The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight," he told Edwards. That's the clip you're likely to see on newscasts today, sure to be followed by investigative reports on whether the two had actually ever met before. What the vice presidential debate had over last Thursday's presidential session was that there was full-body-contact between the debaters (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Early polls indicated differing reactions to Tuesday night's debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards. An ABC News snap poll showed Cheney the winner, aided by a more-Republican audience, while a CBS News poll among undecided voters showed the opposite (read more - CNN)

Martha Stewart will get her first taste of prison life with a humiliating strip search — including a nude squat-and-cough in front of a female guard, jailhouse sources said. All new inmates to the Alderson, W. Va., prison known as Camp Cupcake get the same exam, done by a guard wearing latex gloves. To prove they're not hiding contraband, the jailbirds must lift their breasts, crouch low with their legs spread and cough (read more - NY Post)

Rejecting a defense lawyer's argument that his client now prefers writing children's books to extortion and racketeering, a federal judge denied bail yesterday for John A. Gotti, the prince of the Gambino crime family, who is accused of trying to murder Curtis Sliwa, the sharp-tongued New York radio talk show host, 12 years ago (read more - NY Times)

A Central Texas radio station says it will end its affiliation with C-B-S in response to the recent flap over President Bush's military records. Bryan-College Station radio station W-T-A-W had been affiliated with C-B-S since the mid-1980s. Station manager Ben Downs says the station -- which has a news-talk format -- will switch its affiliation to A-B-C within 90 days (read more - KLTV)

The CMA Awards will be presented in New York City at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2005, marking the first time the gala event will be held outside Nashville and the first major event that NYC Big Events has successfully brought to the Big Apple. The CMA Awards will be televised live on their traditional broadcast home -- the CBS Television Network (read more)

It's good to know there are no security privileges for celebs at Dodger Stadium. On Sunday, Mary Hart and her husband, Bert Sugarman, were stopped by guards because his bag was bigger than stadium rules allow. Sugarman grumbled to the unimpressed guards, "My wife is singing the National Anthem today," adding, "I'm sitting next to [Dodgers owner] Frank McCourt." After supervisors reiterated the policy to him, Sugarman took the bag back to his car (read more - NY Post)

XM Satellite Radio announced it will broadcast live the finale of the Vote For Change concerts -- presented by MoveOn PAC to benefit America Coming Together (ACT) -- on October 11, starting at 7:00 pm (ET). All of the 13 artists participating in this fall's 33 city Vote For Change tour, including Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews will be performing at Washington, D.C.'s MCI Center and heard live on XM. A team of XM on-air personalities will be reporting before, during and after this landmark concert (read more - XM)

Naughty boys Opie and Anthony resurfaced, this time in the no-rules world of satellite radio, and they likely astonished some critics by not immediately turning the airwaves blue. But the hot-talk hosts, off the air since they were kicked to the curb by WNEW in August 2002 for saying that two of their listeners were having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral, were not reluctant to flex the freedom they now have on XM Satellite Radio. Four-letter expletives flowed freely in recorded bits and calls from listeners, who far more than the hosts seem to love hearing dirty words. The show started with a rapid-fire recorded recitation of George Carlin's famous "seven words you can't say on the radio." (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Each day, Carole Marks is introduced to thousands of listeners as "one of the leading experts on issues involving the graying of America," as well as one of the nation's "most active foes against ageism."  Her popular radio show, "A Touch of Grey," heard on more than 50 stations across the country, is one of the few nationally syndicated radio talk shows targeting the 50-plus demographic (read more - Hartford Courant)

Mark Mays will be a featured speaker at this year’s "must see" Group Executive Super Session at the NAB Radio Show on Thursday, October 7, 1:30-2:45 p.m. Expect Mark to comment on the overall health of the sector, and to present his ideas for resolving some of the industry’s most challenging issues (visit NAB Radio Show schedule)

You may start seeing fewer of those ubiquitous ads for CortiSlim, now that the diet supplement is under fire from the government.  The Federal Trade Commission says CortiSlim and a sister product called CortiStress have been promoted with false and unsubstantiated claims.  The assertions made about CortiSlim "fly in the face of reality," Lydia B. Parnes, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "No pill can replace a healthy program of diet and exercise." Marc Ullman, an attorney for Window Rock, said the company had signed an agreement with the FTC to stop any "offensive advertising." He said the marketing claims that prompted the agency to file suit resulted from overenthusiasm. The F-T-C also accuses the marketers of using a deceptive format in at least two of their infomercials to make them look like independent T-V programs and not paid advertising (read more - LA Times)

In victory lane that Sunday afternoon Earnhardt was asked about his fifth restrictor plate victory at Talladega and the very excited driver replied "it don't mean s- - t right now, daddy's won here ten times." Two days later we found out about the current price of s- -t when NASCAR announced they were fining Earnhardt $10,000 and docking him 25 driver’s points. That loss of points comes at a crucial time when Earnhardt is a heavy favorite to win the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship. Dale Earnhardt Inc, who fields Junior's Budweiser Chevrolets, announced plans to appeal the decision but don't expect anything to come from it (read more - Racing West)   (read more - Sports Canada)

Manhattan-based television company Young Broadcasting Inc. sold a Chicago-area ABC affiliate for $20.8 million, one year after splitting the station into digital and analog outlets in a practice called “multiplexing (read more - Crain's NY Business)

The creator of "60 Minutes," Don Hewitt, said Thursday he would not have done the story on President Bush's National Guard service that got CBS anchor Dan Rather in so much hot water. Speaking on a South Dakota Public Broadcasting radio show, Hewitt said the story was an old one that had already been dealt with in the 2000 presidential campaign (read more - Newsday)

XM Satellite Radio, the nation's leading satellite radio provider, and Starbucks Coffee Company today announced the debut of the Starbucks "Hear Music" channel featuring music programming from Hear Music, the voice of music at Starbucks. The 24-hour Starbucks "Hear Music" channel, on XM 75, offers customers an ever-changing mix of the best new music and essential recordings from all kinds of genres (read more)

A Saudi truck driver who was kidnapped and released by a militant Iraqi group in June has sued Al-Jazeera television for “moral” damages and is demanding compensation, a lawyer told AFP yesterday. Saydan Saadun Saydan charged before Kuwait’s lower court that a cameraman from the television station shot a video of him while reading a statement during captivity, Al-Jazeera’s lawyer in Kuwait, Ali al-Nimesh, told reporters (read more - Arab News)

On October 12, the Matthew Shepard Foundation and Sirius Satellite Radio will host the premiere of a music video for the Randi Driscoll single "What Matters," commemorating the sixth anniversary of Matthew Shepard's violent death. The screening will take place at Sirius's New York City studios, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, from 6 p.m. to 9 pm (read more - Daily News-Advocate)

NBC Nightly News Monday displayed the words "ILIE" for 16 seconds next to President Bush's face in a graphic of Bush at a campaign stop in Iowa earlier that day while NBC anchor Tom Brokaw introduced a story, a media watchdog group said Tuesday. The letters came from the words "TAX RELIEF FOR WORKING FAMILIES," which was shown as a backdrop during the campaign stop, where Bush signed a bill which extends the $1,000 child tax credit and marriage tax penalty relief, among other tax breaks for working families (read more - CNS News Services)

Entravision Communciations' KLYY-FM and Fútbol de Primera have announced KLYY will be the official radio station of the Mexican National Team. KLYY will broadcast World Cup qualifying, friendly matches and the prestigious 2006 FIFA World Cup Game. It is the only radio station serving the Los Angeles market to broadcast the Mexican National Team. The first broadcast will be the World Cup qualifying match between the Mexican National Team and St. Vincent on Wednesday, October 6, 2004 at 2:30 p.m. PDT (visit KLYY)

The CBS independent investigation into Dan Rather's report critical of President Bush's National Guard service should probably wait until after Election Day to announce its findings, Viacom co-president Leslie Moonves said Tuesday. "Obviously, it should be done probably after the election is over so it doesn't affect what is going on," Moonves, who oversees CBS, said in response to a question at a Goldman Sachs investment conference in Manhattan. Some media analysts and conservative critics challenged that view, asking why such a delay would be necessary (read more - AJC)

John Hogan joins the "Keeping the Audience/Keeping the Advertiser: The Manager’s Tightrope" panel on Wednesday, October 6, 2:15-3:30 p.m. John will update the audience on CCR’s initiative for clearing through the clutter—Less is More. John will also be presenting an award to an industry leader at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show on Thursday, October 7, 6:00-9:30 p.m. (visit NAB Radio Show schedule)

Laura Morris will be among those honored with induction in San Antonio on October 30th at the 2004 Texas Radio Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.  Tickets are selling quickly and it's going to be the third straight sold-out event. Don't delay! Full details are at www.trhof.com. Laura Morris joined KTRH in 1981 as Executive Producer for talk programming and was the Director of News & Programming from 1983 until being named VP/GM in 1988. In August 2000, she became Senior Vice President & Market General Manager with Infinity Radio and oversees all aspects of operations for Country 100.3 KILT-FM, Smooth Jazz 95.7 KHJZ-FM The Wave, SportsRadio 610 (KILT-AM), BusinessRadio 650 (KIKK-AM) and the Houston Texans Radio Network.  In 2004, she launched Houston’s newest radio station, Smooth Jazz 95.7 KHJZ-FM The Wave, taking it from 17th to 4th in just 2 Arbitron ratings books. She was named to Radio Ink’s list of “Best of Managers in Radio” in the Major Market category in 2003. She was honored as Radio General Manager of the Year when she received the 2004 Houston Star Award from American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT) and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential Women in Radio” in the 2003 and again in 2004 (visit www.texasradiohalloffame.com for more information about the induction celebration of "The National Radio Hall of Fame of Texas)

It was just about a year ago that Capitol Records released what it called the "Naked" version of the Beatles' 1970 "Let It Be" album. With several songs returned to their original stripped-down form, this release was a big event for Beatles fans, and to help promote it, Capitol made a deal to premiere the record exclusively on Infinity radio stations, including WCBS-FM in New York. That didn't score big with Scott Muni over at rival WAXQ. Going back to the '60s, Muni's radio friends say, nothing bothered him more than getting "beaten" to a new record. He hated it on WABC, he hated it at WNEW-FM, and now he hated it at Q. So he flexed his 45 years of musicbusiness contacts to get a copy of "Let It Be...Naked" himself and play it before 'CBS-FM. It was his last major scoop and, for a guy who wouldn't even hold a discussion on whether any band could be better than the Beatles, a fitting finale (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Scott Muni was remembered Monday. The 74-year-old, gravelly-voiced disc jockey, died last week almost 10 months after suffering a stroke. His funeral was at 10 a.m. at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan (read more - WNBC TV)  (read more - NY Newsday)  (read more - 1010 WINS)

Salem Communications Corporation announced today a radio station exchange with Univision Communications. Salem Communications, through certain of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, is exchanging two radio stations, WZFS-FM (106.7 FM) in Des Plaines, IL (Chicago market), and KSFB-FM (100.7 FM) in San Raphael, CA (San Francisco market), for four radio stations, WIND-AM (560 AM) in Chicago, IL, KOBT-FM (100.7 FM) in Winnie, TX (Houston market), KHCK-AM (1480 AM) in Dallas, TX, and KOSL-FM (94.3 FM) in Jackson, CA (Sacramento market) (read more)

State Republicans filed a complaint against Democratic congressional candidate Dave Ross, his campaign and KIRO-AM Radio on Monday, accusing the former radio talk show host of violating federal election law by staying on the air for about two months after announcing his plans to run. In a complaint filed with the Federal Elections Commission, the state GOP accused Ross and KIRO Radio of illegally using the "Dave Ross Show" to promote his candidacy (read more - Seattle P-I)

Senator John Kerry came out of the first presidential debate having reassured many Americans of his ability to handle an international crisis or a terrorist attack and with a generally more favorable image, but he failed to shake the perception that he panders to voters in search of support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll (read more - NY Times)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Unless you've turned your radio on in Williston, N.D.; Stephenville, Texas; or Kennewick, Wash., it's unlikely you've heard a station owned by Cherry Creek Radio. CCR quietly mines the hinterlands, picking up small-market stations by the handful. On Tuesday, it adds KKXK-FM, KUBC-AM and KBNG-FM in Montrose to its stable, giving it 32 stations in 12 Western markets. CCR, with offices in colorful downtown Glendale, not far from Shotgun Willie's Emporium of the Dance, is happy to work the radio fringes + Greg Thunder is leaving the "Greg and Shea" morning show on KALC 105.9-FM on Oct. 22 to go to Minneapolis  (read more - Dick Kreck-Denver Post)

The growing popularity of satellite radio is not a new-age business opportunity for Networx Corp. in Perinton. The company launched Companion Radio 11 years ago and two years later started broadcasting pre-1960s-era music into nursing homes via satellite. Two years ago, it launched Golden Age Entertainment, a service for senior centers. “The whole idea was to take people back into their 20s and 30s, when they were having families and life was really good for them,” said Ken Unger, president of Networx Corp. The company — owned by Tom Golisano, Paychex Inc. founder, chairman and chief executive — would not disclose sales but said they are growing 20 to 25 percent annually (read more - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Thousands attended a rally in western Iowa to hear Christian psychologist James Dobson condemn gay marriage. During the "Take a Stand for Marriage" rally yesterday (Sunday), Dobson talked about same-sex marriage and judicial activism. A national radio host and founder of the group Focus on the Family, Dobson says the attack on marriage underway in the United States has prompted him to tour the nation for a variety of speaking engagements (read more - WHO-TV) (read more - Sioux City Journal)

Motorists in Metro Detroit are just a click away on the radio dial from up to date traffic conditions, thanks to new travel information signs strategically placed along area freeways. The new signs detail radio stations that provide traffic information 24 hours a day. "Michigan is the first state in the country to include satellite radio frequencies along with our standard over-the-air stations," said Metro Region Traffic and Safety Engineer Gregory Krueger. "These stations are selected because they provide traffic information around-the-clock, seven days a week." Eleven signs recently were installed along freeways in Detroit's tri-county area. The traffic information signs advise motorists to tune in AM 950 (WWJ Radio in Southfield), AM 760 (WJR Radio in Detroit), SR 155 (Sirius satellite radio) or XM 261 (XM satellite radio)

Chicago media mavens were thrown for a loop Monday with news that one of the market's most famous rock radio stations was changing hands. WLUP-FM (97.9), the heritage classic rock station with roots in the 1970s, is being acquired by Emmis Communications, parent company of alternative rocker WKQX-FM (101.1). In a second blockbuster transaction Monday, the owners of Spanish-language WIND-AM (560) agreed to swap frequencies with the owners of WZFS-FM (106.7), effective Nov. 1 +  If you think commercials are too long and too boring, you're not alone. So does the country's No. 1 radio operator. As part of its drive to reduce advertising clutter on its 1,200 stations nationwide, Clear Channel Radio announced plans to encourage clients to cut their messages from 60 seconds to 30 seconds and to use the ad time they buy more creatively (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Linda Nunez returns to KNX after 12 weeks on the injured reserve list and partners with former partner Tom Haule + Part II of Jay Stevens Radio Journey (read more - LARadio.com)

In the midst of the Presidential debate season, NPR's Justice Talking will host top representatives from the Democratic and Republican Parties as they go head to head about how new voting methods, changed balloting practices, and greater scrutiny of voter rolls will affect the 2004 elections. NPR's Margot Adler will moderate the political face-off between DNC General Counsel Joseph Sandler and Benjamin Ginsberg, who has served as national  counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaigns and played a central role in the 2000 Florida recount. The rescheduled program, originally set for September 28th, will be taped October 6th before a live studio audience at George Washington University (read more) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Sonata Stanton loves music, but she doesn’t love commercials. So when her friends told her about XM Satellite Radio last year, she gave it a listen. “They just raved and raved about it,” she said. ”I listened to it at their house and loved it, too.” Stanton, a business recruiter for the state of Tennessee, began subscribing to XM last June. She tunes into its CNN radio stream in the morning and jazz, ’40s and eclectic music channels at other times. ”I love it because there’s no commercials,” she said. ”I’m hearing better music than I hear on the radio -- really fresh stuff mixed with old vintage stuff.” Tom Anderson had a different reason for subscribing (read more - Detroit News-Jeanne Anne Naujeck)

Radio advertising clutter got you dial-hopping?  Clear Channel Communications, the giant radio operator with more than 1,200 stations, is trying to minimize the constant commercial interruption that drives many listeners away by asking advertisers to run shorter ads (read more - Greg Gatlin-Boston Herald)

U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell plans to recommend Cingular Wireless receive approval to purchase AT&T Wireless Services with some divestitures, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.  Some of the proposed conditions would likely force the companies to sell assets in some rural areas where the number of competitors to the new company will dwindle to one or two, the sources said (read more - Reuters)

If you hum along to show tunes, turn your dial to WFYI (90.1-FM) starting Wednesday for "Broadway Memories: The Music and the Stars"  (read more - Indy Star-Peter Szatmary)

Hosted from Los Angeles by public radio veterans Barbara Bogaev and Bill Radke, Weekend America, a live two-hour radio magazine designed for the weekend state of mind, will be launched on public radio stations across the country on Saturday, Oct. 9. Weekend America is a major addition to the public radio lineup (read more)

Officials with WGBH and the Foundation for Ocean State Public Radio plan to meet Thursday to discuss the future of the public radio stations in Rhode Island that had been put up for sale by Boston University (read more - Mark Jurkowitz-Boston Globe)

A small, entrepreneurial record producer won a trademark victory for his music products against opposition by the giant Univision Hispanic media company in a decision rendered by the United States Trademark Trial & Appeal Board. Univision's Fonovisa Records had tried to prevent registration of the trademark "Puros Corridos Malandrines" by family owned AJR Discos, a small Los Angeles producer of Spanish language music, owned by Aaron Lopez Valdovinos. The English translation for the trademark is "Truly Scandalous Ballads." (read more-Hispanic Newswire)

In June 2003, WMHT radio (89.1 FM) converted the majority of its musical programming to network-provided material and fired four longtime on-air hosts. Sixteen months after their dismissal, the quartet provides vivid evidence of the scarcity of disc jockey jobs in today's classical-broadcasting marketplace -- and the difficulty of restarting a career at middle age (read more - Albany Times Union)

For those who knew Bruce Gordon when he was growing up in Warminster, PA, it's no surprise that today he is an Emmy award-winning reporter in his eighth year on WTXF +  Former WTXF news anchor Rich Noonan is beginning a two-month anchoring stint at CBS affiliate WGCL (www.cbs46.com) in Atlanta, Georgia (read more - Laura Nachman - Philly Burbs)

Compared with television commercials, radio ads seem to drag on forever. That's one reason radio giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. set out earlier this year to persuade advertisers to cut their standard 60-second spots in half. But with the plan already meeting some resistance, Clear Channel now is launching a new program to help radio advertisers spice up their abbreviated messages.
The minute-long format lets radio advertisers drone on about their car dealerships, their mattresses and their electronics stores. Clear Channel thinks these verbose, sometimes amateurish messages prompt some listeners to change stations (read more - Wall Street Journal-Cincy Post)

Coconut Grove-based Spanish Broadcasting System said it has joined with Viacom to more effectively target Hispanic consumers through a multimedia platform that will include radio, television and outdoor advertising nationwide (read more - PR Newswire) (read more - South Florida Biz Journal)

Cindy Rakowitz will be launching the first Radio Show ever dedicated to the public relations business. "STARS OF PR (with Cindy R)" will debut on November 4th, 2004 on Internet radio station VoiceAmerica (http://www.voiceamerica.com/). VoiceAmerica is a division of SurfNet Media Group, Inc, a leading Internet broadcast media company (read more - PR Newswire)

This year I made what is perhaps my greatest acquisition since I got a complete set of Nike Slingshot irons: a Sirius satellite radio. At $10 a month, it's cheaper than having a satellite dish installed. I've found that following football on the radio is more difficult than I thought. My generation grew up in the cable era, so we never had to rely on radio as our sole connection to our team. I had no Jack Brickhouse, no Ernie Harwell (read more - Sports Illustrated - Lang Whitaker)

Emmis Communications Corporation announced that the company has signed a letter of intent with Bonneville International Corporation to swap three Phoenix radio stations – KTAR-AM, KMVP-AM and KKLT-FM – in exchange for WLUP-FM (The Loop) in Chicago and $70 million in cash, which Emmis will use to pay down debt. Emmis has owned WKQX-FM (Q101) in Chicago since 1988 (read more - Inside Indiana Business)

Congratulations to LIBERTY BROADCASTING syndicated talker JEFF KATZ and his wife HEIDI on the addition of what JEFF tells ALL ACCESS is his "newest affiliate," JOSEPH JAILLET KATZ, born Friday (10/1) at 1:10p ET, weighing in at 8lb 14oz. Less than four hours later, Dad was back on the job and live on the air (visit Radio Katz)

On ABC NightLine -- Just days to go and it and now it is the turn of Dick Cheney and John Edwards to do their part for the team. While usually the Vice Presidential debate doesn't sway many voters, after last Thursday's Presidential debate there is a heightened sense of attention to this one (visit ABC NightLine)

The Federal Communications Commission launched a drive Monday to help consumers figure out what kind of HDTV to purchase. With sales of "high-def" sets rapidly increasing and more shows available, agency officials believe the new television technology is set to enter the mainstream and want to give it a push. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said the switch to HDTV is similar to the move from black-and-white to color television sets in the late 1960s (read more - CBS MarketWatch)

Ed Krampf, a major domo at Clear Channel, wants to make 1,229 things clear. That's how many radio stations the San Antonio-based corporation owns, and that number is one reason the company is the target of brickbats from virtually every corner of the entertainment industry and from the media. The basic song goes: Clear Channel is radio's big bully, the brutish product of consolidation following the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It's the reason radio sounds so homogenized, with dull DJs playing the same old songs. To cut costs, Clear Channel employs disc jockeys who voice-track (prerecord) DJ patter, producing full four- or five-hour shows in less than an hour and sending them to other Clear Channel stations, cutting down job opportunities in those markets (read more - San Francisco Chronicle)

The ChickChat Radio Program has been named one of Talk Radio's Rising Stars of 2004. The September 17th issue of Radio and Records Magazine (R&R) highlighted ChickChat and its co-hosts, Heidi Hanzel and Lara Dyan, in the News-Talk-Sports section. ChickChat was chosen as one of the format's "up-and-comers," citing that "smart radio people are always looking for tomorrow's big names" (visit Chick Chat Radio)

A voice from the past greeted participants in this year's Christopher Robinson Memorial AIDS Walk, which began and ended Sunday at Public Square. It was the voice of Christopher Robinson, himself, the young man from Mountain Top who at age 13 went public with his story of having AIDS. He died five years later, in 2000, after working bravely to promote AIDS awareness in the Wyoming Valley. Before the walk, Doc and Selena of Froggy 101.3 FM played a 1996 radio interview Christopher had with WKRZ 98.5 FM's Rocky and Sue. The stations are owned by Entercom Communications, a company that sponsored the walk with WNEP-TV and Edward Mitchell Communications (read more - Times Leader)

Lucky for her, Kris Olinger wasn't in the radio business in 1934.  Olinger, director of AM programming for Clear Channel Denver, is the most powerful woman in local radio and one of a handful of high-level female radio executives across the country. But there was a day when women in radio were viewed as fit only to portray wives and mothers on soap operas and weekly comedies (read more - Dick Kreck-Denver Post)

Bob Edwards, the radio host whose silky voice meant morning to millions of listeners across the country, was scheduled to begin broadcasting again this morning from a Washington, D.C., studio located an eighth of a mile from his former employer, National Public Radio. Just hours before, in a New York studio, the irreverent radio duo, Opie and Anthony, were due to start a new show, their first since 2002, when they were forced from their WNEW-FM program in New York City, after they broadcast a producer's live account, delivered via cellphone, of a couple who were purported to be having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral (read more - NY Times)

Arbitron Inc. announced today the release of its September 2004 RADAR radio network audience reports (RADAR 82) covering the period June 26, 2003 – June 23, 2004. Sporting News Radio Network has been added to the roster of RADAR-rated radio networks, bringing the total number of measured networks to 47 (read more at Arbitron)

VOICE ONE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO: And I’m Steve Ember. Today we present the second part of our report about the American media.
(MUSIC) VOICE ONE: The media in the United States have changed in recent years. For example, in nineteen eighty-four, about fifty companies owned or operated thousands of North American media. They included daily newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations and book publishers. In two thousand-two, only six companies owned about the same number of these media. Companies with large media holdings include the Walt Disney Company, Viacom, Time Warner, General Electric and News CorporationThe chance to choose among more media pleases many Americans. They enjoy the Internet and cable and satellite. But others protest that some material presented by the media can seem too similar.
VOICE TWO: Last year, the Federal Communications Commission voted to loosen restrictions on media owners  (read it all - VOA)

From ClaudeHallOnline.com -- You know who used to pull out a clipping from Vox Jox to show me something I'd said about him? Bill Drake. Of course, in those days it was quite often negative. Not easy to face a man when you've written something negative about him + I suppose I should update my poem "Gone..." one of these days. Scott Muni just died; he was a legend on WNEW-FM, New York, a great deal of his career. Prior to Scott's death, Bill Ballance, San Diego. Bill gained considerable renown on KGBS in Los Angeles for his double entendres, a show actually contrived, if I may use that word in a broader sense, by Chuck Blore.  Bill became a master of the genre; he could walk right up to the edge of insult and lawsuit better than anyone I ever heard on the air + e-mails from Kent Burkhart, DJ Fraiser, Mike Milner and more (read it all at www.claudehallonline.com)

In an apparent concession it went too far too fast in "modernizing," oldies station WCBS-FM is bringing back legendary DJ Harry Harrison.  "The Morning Mayor" voluntarily left his weekday wakeup show 18 months ago, complaining that all the changes took the "fun" out of the oldies station. He'll be back — albeit for Saturday mornings only — with a "Beatles for Breakfast" show starting next weekend (read more - John Mainelli - NY Post) (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Clear Channel Radio today announced the next step in its broad initiative to improve the overall quality of radio to listeners and value to advertisers with the creation of the Clear Channel Radio Creative Resource Group. The group, which officially launches this fall, will be a resource to advertising agencies and local stations, assisting them in creating engaging and memorable radio ads, offering creative coaching, online toolkits and ongoing direction in the creation, writing and production of compelling ad spots. The group will also conduct comprehensive training of Clear Channel Radio station professionals to ensure that sales and creative staffers are indispensable resources in the quest for more compelling content. "Reducing the number of ads and promotional clutter is only part of the answer," said John Hogan, chief executive officer of Clear Channel Radio. "We, as an industry, must also do a better job of using the power of our medium to engage and enchant listeners with better creative." (read more - Clear Channel)

With summer now officially o-v-e-r, inquiring minds want to know: What happened to KMBC-TV's two-year-plus deal to morph news personalities like Kris Ketz, Lara Moritz and Jim Flink into talk show hosts on Hot Talk 1510 AM? Hot Talk's “Kansas City Today” show featuring Channel 9 stationalities took a bullet last July. “It's actually a real mess over there,” says one Channel 9-er who asked not to be named. “They have no ratings, and it's all they can do to pay the bills.” Hot Talk's lackluster ratings are all too obvious (read more - Kansas City Star)

Fox News, which proclaims itself the “fair and balanced” news network, posted a made-up story on its Web site, complete with fabricated quotes from Sen. John Kerry in which he fake-proclaimed himself a “metrosexual” with a fine manicure and President Bush an unpolished “cowboy.” This came Friday, after Thursday night’s first presidential debate, which most pundits said Kerry won handily. Carl Cameron, Fox News’ chief political correspondent, wrote the fake news article. So far I haven’t heard anyone screaming for Cameron to be fired. While the Internet is still buzzing with conservatives screaming for CBS to ax Dan Rather over the National Guard story nearly a month ago — and for which both the network and the anchor have apologized for not authenticating certain memos — cyberspace has been eerily silent about Fox News and Cameron (read more - USA Today) (read more - Diane Holloway-Austin American-Statesman)  (read Fox News)  (read Talking Points Memo-Josh Marshall)

The Broadcasting Council (BC) has squeezed a sh1.8m fine from a popular Luganda FM, Radio Simba, as a penalty for hosting a group of homosexuals in a live talk-show. Radio Simba was also ordered to make a public apology, “regretting having offended a wide section of the public,” by hosting the homosexuals in the Olutindo programme (read more - BBC)  (read more - Uganda New Vision)  (read more - Kenya Broadcasting Corporation)

It's tough these days to take a news anchor at face value. We're always reading hidden meanings into their expressions and inflections, into the things they say and the things they don't. The general idea still holds, though, that a news anchor should do everything he or she can to maintain the appearance of objectivity. So when a news anchor does something that shows a personality side you don't necessarily see on the air, you look at the person a little differently. Jody Dean, the 4 p.m. co-anchor (and sometimes reporter) for KTVT/Channel 11, is aware of this -- and yet there was a side of him that he couldn't keep silent. So Dean recently wrote and published Finding God in the Evening News (Revell, $14.99), an unabashedly Christian book about finding the bright spots in dark times (read more - Robert Philpot/Star-Telegram)

Dear Readers, Tsk, tsk, some of you have gotten all into a twist. Radio Babe's ears burned from comments spinning through airwaves and letters arriving at R.B.-central. Let's view a sampling, shall we? M.W. said, "I… wish to commend KIX Country for the wonderful job that they have done in keeping the community informed during our recent outbreaks of hurricanes. "During Charlie, they were the only source of information that we had 'til the power was restored, they went above and beyond broadcasting without a roof, and around the clock… the only way I knew where the comfort stations were, were through the radio." (read more - Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe)

Paul Harvey has three out of the top ten programs in Network Radio. Paul Harvey’s programs rank second, third, tenth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, respectively, according to RADAR 82. In addition, ABC Radio Networks has eight out of the Top 10 programs and 15 out of the Top 25 programs in Network Radio (visit Paul Harvey News)

John Cerutti, a popular Toronto Blue Jays television analyst and former Jays pitcher, was found dead in his SkyDome hotel room yesterday.  The 44-year-old Cerutti, who recorded the first win at the SkyDome on June 7, 1989, was believed to have died of natural causes and that no foul play was suspected, the club said in a release (read more - The Globe and Mail)

Ellen Stout is sleeping later these days, although it's not a schedule she was looking for. The former WLTQ-FM (97.3) morning voice had her routine abruptly changed a couple weeks back when the station dropped its soft rock format in favor of '80s music. It's not the first time that she's suffered a fate that's common in the cold, cruel radio biz. And at age 51, after nearly 30 years in broadcasting, she's hoping to get back into the game (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Sentinel Journal)

Here’s why this new industry of “Free To Air” TV and Stereo Radio via satellite will boom -- We are at the beginning edge of a new technological revolution. It’s called, “Free To Air” DVB Television. It won’t be long and there will be little dishes on the roof of every home and looking out the window or on the deck of condo’s and apartments. At the present time the entire system to pick up this new revolution only costs $200.00 ... So far there are about 1,700 broadcasters world-wide using this system and about 200 already serving North America. That’s why the FTA systems are so cheap already (read more - Chuck Harder)

Don, the general manager of KKEA 1420AM Sports And Talk Radio, and Scott are one of two widely recognized father-son broadcast teams that cover UH sports. The other duo consists of Jim Leahey, who handles most of the television coverage, and his son, Kanoa, who in July left his position as a sportscaster at KITV for the lead sports anchor and sports director position at top-rated KHON-TV. Jim and Kanoa also have a Tuesday night radio show on KKEA called "Leahey and Leahey." Don said there's always a concern about nepotism, especially in the broadcasting business, but that no one thinks twice about a father who hires a son to work in his hardware store (read more - Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

Public libraries and schools around the nation have suddenly stopped receiving any new grants from a federal program that is wrestling with new rules on how it spends $2.25 billion each year to provide high-speed Internet and telephone service. The moratorium at what is known as the E-Rate program began two months ago, with no notice, and may last for months, causing significant hardships at schools and libraries, say state officials and executives at the company that runs the program. The suspension came after the Federal Communications Commission, in consultation with the White House, imposed tighter spending rules that commission officials say will make it easier to detect fraud and waste in the program  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

During my years at WIND Radio, a Westinghouse station that carried the Chicago Bulls, we auditioned, chose, hired, and compensated all on-air talent. They answered only to the broadcasting company. Now the sports franchises have wrested control of the "freedom" of the broadcast booth from the radio and TV entities, and in many cases the "on air" guys self edit at the fans expense. Steve Stone's refusal to toe the company p.r. line and "tell it like it is" has gotten him in trouble more than once. Stone has a tremendous advantage as a broadcaster (read more - www.ChicagoEd.com)

Here's a question to ponder at the end of the major league baseball playoff races: When is a homer (in the broadcasting booth) not a homer? All home team broadcasters must have local perspectives - to a point. That's traditional. But looking at this season's Colorado Rockies coverage on TV, let's ask the question: Was the FSN crew too lenient when assessing manager Clint Hurdle's pitching decisions? (read more - Dusty Saunders - Rocky Mountain News)

The first Bush-Kerry debate gives hope to CBS's Bob Schieffer. This will be the first presidential moderating assignment for Schieffer, 67, also chief Washington correspondent. (Charlie Gibson of ABC's Good Morning America presides at Friday's town meeting in St. Louis.) Some critics argue that CBS should not be represented after Dan Rather's use of allegedly bogus documents in a 60 Minutes report about Bush's Vietnam-era Texas Air National Guard service. "I can handle the pressure," Schieffer says. "If I thought for a minute that either one of these men thought I couldn't be fair and square, I'd step aside. Both sides seem satisfied, and that's OK by me." When Schieffer got the call at home a month ago about the debate, "the first thing I did, stupidly, was ask my wife, 'Do we have anything on Oct. 13?' It was a reflex." (read more - Gail Shister)

Former KING Broadcasting president Ancil Payne has died. They say the most memorable thing about Ancil Payne was his jovial laugh, his backslapping, aw-shucks manner that charmed everyone and masked the tough businessman and political operator that he was. "He had a special charismatic gift for making people laugh, getting them to enjoy, but understanding at the same time that he was the boss of KING Broadcasting," said O. Casey Corr, author of a book on the Bullitt family and KING Broadcasting (read more - KING 5)

The Federal Communications Commission has just fined CBS half a mil for showing a nanosecond of Janet Jackson's breast on TV but cares not a whit for regulating media mega-monopolies. Yes, Go! says: Protect us from Janet's forbidden flesh -- and Howard Stern's tart tongue too! -- but make it A-OK for Rupert Murdoch and Clear Channel to rule the world. If this kind of thinking frosts you -- or even if you agree with it -- check out today's "brown bag" lunch/discussion with Frederick Schauer, the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Topic: "The FCC, Indecency, and the First Amendment." Starts at noon. Free (read more - Boston Globe)

Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Dave Matthews and others this weekend embarked on a Vote for Change tour, a 10-day series of shows featuring multiple concerts in multiple venues in the same state on the same night. For the first time, Springsteen is encouraging members of his vast audience to cast their votes for a particular candidate (in this case, John Kerry) on Nov. 2. The tour is emblematic of what may turn out to be the lasting legacy of the 2004 campaign: the year American activists returned to participatory democracy. For many voters, and particularly the young, there has been a fundamental distinction between "activism" and "politics." (read more - Bill Bradley commentary-USA Today)

The autographed guitars, photos with professional wrestlers and framed newspaper stories hanging on the walls of his home office all but scream it. Bubba the Love Sponge Clem was a star behind the microphone. There is even a framed, handwritten letter from the politician who was grateful for the opportunity to reach Clem's radio listeners in 1997. A few months later, Jeb Bush was elected to his first term as governor. "P.S. Please say hello to your mother," Bush wrote. Like him or not, Clem had an audience - about 130,000 weekly listeners in Tampa Bay last year. Then Clear Channel fired him for crossing the line into indecency. With the microphone gone, Bubba the Love Sponge is looking for his next role. Sheriff Bubba (read more - St. Pete Times)

The Bob Edwards Show - Premieres October 4th on XM Public Radio - XM 133. This week, guests include Walter Cronkite, author Joyce Carol Oates, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Arthur Schlesinger, writer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., folk music greats Peter, Paul and Mary, and legendary classical pianist Leon Fleisher, as well as regular contributors such as Washington Post columnist David Broder, Fox Sports analyst Tim Green, and writer Carl Hancock Rux. Weekdays on XM Public Radio - XM 133. During the first week, you can listen to each day's broadcast of The Bob Edwards Show online at http://publicradio.xmradio.com

If freedom of expression has limits in Canada, Jean-Francois Fillion is testing them as the radio shock jock federal regulators and Quebec separatists want to silence. On one of his recent early morning talk shows on the hard-rock station CHOI-FM, he intimated that "there is a lesbian in every woman." He suggested — half-jokingly, but without substantiation — that the mayor of Quebec City, Jean-Paul L'Allier, was "probably a drunk, and nobody is aware of this." (read more - Houston Chronicle)

Forecasting the future lineup and policy decisions of the Federal Communications Commission after the Nov. 2 presidential election right now is a job best done by observers with a lot of Washington experience, a crystal ball and a divining rod. Some insiders say they are sure Michael Powell will leave the chairmanship even if President Bush wins re-election (read more - Reuters)

During the early 1980s, a passionate and persevering group of radio enthusiasts set its hopes on creating the Lehigh Valley's first community radio station. Determined to air its music and opinions, the group began raising money to bring the Valley a public radio station it could call its own — a dream realized in 1995 when WDIY, its call letters standing for ''do it yourself,'' went live at 88.1 FM. Now, almost 10 years later, the WDIY board is set to vote Monday on whether to take the station in a radically new direction by merging with its bigger and more established public television counterpart, Channel 39 (read more - McCall Morning Call)

In a controversial arrangement, the company formed by the merger of Capital Radio and GWR will have both an executive chairman and a chief executive. Ralph Bernard insists to Martin Baker that he'll be boss. The agreed deal with Capital Radio, which is subject to the nod of both sets of shareholders and the competition authorities, will create a company with a market capitalisation of over £700m, combined revenues of £243m and pre-tax profits of over £40m. The new entity - the name is yet to be announced, but it probably won't be just Capital - will have more than 16 per cent of radio listening in the UK. The BBC has some 54 per cent of the market, and Bernard believes the merged group is the first of some serious challengers to the Beeb that will emerge from a commercial sector which is still relatively fragmented, being composed of lots of small companies (read more - Telegraph U.K.)

Thomas Friedman-NY Times --- We're in trouble in Iraq. I don't know what is salvageable there anymore. I hope it is something decent and I am certain we have to try our best to bring about elections and rebuild the Iraqi Army to give every chance for decency to emerge there. But here is the cold, hard truth: This war has been hugely mismanaged by this administration, in the face of clear advice to the contrary at every stage, and as a result the range of decent outcomes in Iraq has been narrowed and the tools we have to bring even those about are more limited than ever. What happened? The Bush team got its doctrines mixed up: it applied the Powell Doctrine to the campaign against John Kerry - "overwhelming force" without mercy, based on a strategy of shock and awe at the Republican convention, followed by a propaganda blitz that got its message across in every possible way, including through distortion. If only the Bush team had gone after the remnants of Saddam's army in the Sunni Triangle with the brutal efficiency it has gone after Senator Kerry in the Iowa-Ohio-Michigan triangle You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Former WQHT (97.1 FM) morning host Star can't return to New York radio before Jan. 15 under a settlement approved Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood. Star is on Clear Channel's WPHH in Hartford, and the company is expected to put him on Hot-97's rival WWPR (105.1 FM) here, as well. Emmis Radio, parent of WQHT, sued to keep him off any other New York station through March 6, when Emmis says his noncompete clause expires (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Supporters of Air America have won their battle to keep the liberal talk radio network on the air in Maine. Officials at Nassau Broadcasting reversed their decision to drop Air America from Portland station WLVP (870 AM) after about 150 people showed up at a public event Thursday evening (read more - Maine Press Herald)

RDN Quotes 'em -- "I had to wash myself using water from the toilet. I was afraid to take my suit off in case I got raped" - Paul McCartney in Uncut magazine, on being jailed after a 1980 drug arrest (source: NY Post-Page Six)

Free Radio Santa Cruz was warned to stop broadcasting at least four times before its equipment was seized this week, according to a federal court complaint released Friday. The Department of Justice civil forfeiture complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Northern District, led to Wednesday’s raid of Free Radio Santa Cruz by armed U.S. marshals and Federal Communications Commission officials (read more - Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Being dumped is part of the TV business, former WNYW/Channel 5 anchor Len Cannon told the Daily News yesterday. "I'm fine," Cannon said, a day after he and the station confirmed he was being dropped. "They're entitled to make changes. It's the nature of the business, and as the main anchor, it's the nature of the beast.  "They can go with who they feel is best," he added. "That's their prerogative." (read more - Richard Huff-NY Daily News)

As a result of the purchase of two radio stations by Copper Mountain Broadcasting, country station KDHI has become KXCM and alternative rock station KKJT has become KQCM. KXCM at 96.3 on the radio dial plays country music, while KCQM at 92.1 plays Top 40 hits. The new formats went on air this week (read more - Hi-Desert Star)

According to newsroom sources, reporter and weekend evening anchor Joe Vazquez was fired from WCAU Friday because a news intern complained about the reporter's behavior while on a story. Last week, Vazquez was covering a story at LaSalle University about the school basketball players who were accused of rape. While riding around campus, according to those familiar with the situation, Vazquez and a news photographer engaged in "locker room type banter" that offended the male intern (read more - Laura Nachman - Philly Notes)

Caught a glimpse of those "Don't Vote" billboards appearing across the Twin Cities this week? Does the request exactly one month before a highly anticipated Election Day make you want to say: "Huh? What's up with that?"  Lee Ann Muller, president of Clear Channel Outdoor, which is running the billboards, said the provocative message does not involve a political party nor is it a candidate's new slogan. "You can speculate all you want," she said coyly. "It's meant to draw attention, and it has. That's about all I can say." While keeping mum on the sponsor, Muller will admit that the signs are "teasers," which typically give bits of a promotion away. She said all will be revealed Oct. 11 (read more - Star-Tribune)

Boston University is investigating its university-owned public radio station, WBURFM. The Boston Globe reports that the school has recieved a number of anonymous allegations about administrative practices at the station. The school released a statement yesterday saying BU's general counsel's office and auditors who are — quote — "conducting an aggressive, thorough, and impartial inquiry." (read more CBS 6 Albany)

Opie and Anthony return to radio Monday, but good luck finding them on the public airwaves. To hear the bawdy duo, diehard fans must subscribe to satellite radio. XM Satellite Radio, a subscription-based broadcaster, signed up Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia this summer, two years after they were dumped by Viacom unit Infinity Broadcasting over a stunt in which they broadcast descriptions of listeners having sex in public places, including St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York (read more CNN Money)

John Kerry's biggest hurdle is the relentlessly negative press, which has pictured him as an equivocating loser, left behind as the popular—if sometimes seemingly befuddled—president draws further away. In fact, most polls—certainly those in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida—show the two men pretty close together. The news coverage is nearly hopeless. Last night networks showed a gaggle of screaming students mugging for the cameras. But TV did not show the hundreds of protesters outside and the parade of 76 flag-draped coffins, one for each soldier killed in the last month. To get news of that event, you had to search the Net until you eventually landed at the site for the Winnipeg Sun, the Canadian newspaper (read more - James Ridgeway)

XM Satellite Radio announced that it finished the third quarter 2004 with more than 2,500,000 subscribers. XM added more than 415,000 net new subscribers in the quarter and is on pace to exceed 3,100,000 subscribers by year's end. The XM subscriber gain during the quarter is 75% higher than the 237,000 net new subscribers added in the third quarter of 2003 (read more)

Dear Big Shot Program Director, Well, you've done it again. I had known since May that KRTS owner Mike Stude had sold the station to your Washington, D.C.-based radio megacorporation for $72.5 million, but nobody knew what your plans were for the station. This was Houston's last independent commercial FM station and the only full-time classical outlet in town, and I was sad to see it bite the dust, but I had pretty high hopes that something decent might take its place. So instead you give us KROI, "The New 92.1 KROI -- The '90s and Today." Which means lots of Sheryl Crow, Smash Mouth, Train and Red Hot Chili Peppers on the one hand, and Maroon 5's "This Love," Finger Eleven's "One Thing" and Bowling for Soup's "1985" approximately three times an hour -- each -- on the other (read more - John Lomax-Houston Press)

On October 4, 20-year broadcast veteran Van Earl Wright joins the FOX Sports Radio Network as host of The Morning Extravaganza, the Los Angeles-based national morning show that airs live from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. PT/8 a.m. to noon ET, Monday through Friday. He joins Co-host Andrew Siciliano and Sports Anchor Krystal Fernandez. Andrew Ashwood, VP/GM of FOX Sports Radio Network, stated “With his experience and energy, Van Earl is the perfect fit with our morning crew of Andrew, Krystal, our seven contributing NFL Head Coaches, and “The Insider” Pat O’Brien. Our listeners, affiliates, and advertisers are going to love the magic that this team is going to create everyday.” (visit Fox Sports Radio)

It didn’t take long for a common ground to emerge between advertising agencies, media buyers and the members of the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM) and its Broadcast Cable Credit Association (BCCA) subsidiary who participated in the Association’s 2004 regional seminar, Buying Time: Inside the Multimillion Dollar Media Buying Business, held in New York last week. Jean Bergantini Grillo, an independent writer following the media advertising industry, moderated the seminar, which identified a number of strategies and requirements for accelerating payments by advertisers and their media buyers (visit BCFM.com)

While indicators identify a healthy local marketplace on the horizon for local Radio, revenues remained depressed in August. Total combined local and national ad sales for the month declined 1% over August of 2003. Local sales figures came in flat for the month compared to last August. National ad dollars experienced a decline of 5% during August of 2004 compared to the same month from a year ago (read more-RAB)

Concerned Women for America (CWA) called for the Senate-House Conference Committee to use the Broadcast Decency language in the final Senate version of the Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization Bill. The conference committee is expected to vote at any time to resolve differences between the Senate and the House versions. The Senate version would allow the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to increase fines up to $275,000 for a first offense and $375,000 for a second offense, with a $3 million cap per day (read more)

Three post-debate polls suggested voters who watched the policy-driven confrontation Thursday night were impressed by Kerry. Most of those surveyed said he did better than Bush (read more - ABC News)

L. Lowry Mays is a Texan's Texan, rock-ribbed, 6 foot 2 and larger than life. He started out as an investment banker; in 1972, when a client he was advising backed out of a deal to buy an FM radio station in San Antonio, Tex., Mays partnered with a pal and did the deal himself, paying $125,000. In the three decades since, he has built one of the largest and most powerful media companies in the nation, Clear Channel, a much-maligned giant that, in the view of its enemies, is just too damned big for anyone else's good. Its tentacles stretch into myriad reaches of media and pop culture (read more - Forbes)

From Kent Burkhart's "I Was There" series -- In 1964 I was GM of WQXI in Atlanta. I was always looking for public service announcements or programs that made sense for our popular TOP 40 station. Bayard Walters entered my life at that time. Everyone calls him Bud. He was the information officer for the Air Force Reserve for the southeast ... I remember thinking two things…first, what a likeable guy…and second, this guy really enjoyed the tour and the radio talk. During his assignment in Atlanta we talked by phone quite a few times. Then, suddenly he was gone. I didn’t know where the heck the guy was until one day in the early 90’s the phone rang…and I heard a very familiar voice say, “Hi, I’m Bud Walters…remember me?” I responded, “I sure do…where are you and what have you been up to?” Bud said, “Well, you probably don’t know this, but I am owner of a group of radio stations called the Cromwell Group…mostly small market stations…although we do have a couple on the outskirts of Nashville.” He asked if I had time to fly to see him ... (read the rest of the story at www.kentburkhart.com)
 

Herb Humphries will be one of a number of radio people from across the USA who will be inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in San Antonio on October 30th. Tickets are quickly headed toward a sell-out at www.trhof.com. Herb began his radio career at KGVL Greenville.  He was a reporter at KNOW in Austin and WINS New York, and served as news director at KFWB Los Angeles. From 1974-1994 he was a reporter at KMOX TV in St. Louis.  He retired to Gladewater, Texas where he passed away in 2003 (click here to visit Herb's photo and bio page)  (click here to listen to a short audio clip of Herb talking about his early days in radio)

The potential of satellite radio, advertised as programming without commercials, is about to be realized said analysts Thursday when they upgraded two companies. Sanders Morris Harris analyst Steve Mather raised his rating of XM Satellite Radio to "strong buy" from "buy" and his price target on the stock to $37 from $32.  The next six months "will likely add further support to the notion that XM is on track to change the way we listen to radio, and in broader terms, shift the music industry," said Mather. J.P. Morgan raised its rating of XM competitor Sirius Satellite Radio(SIRI: news, chart, profile), to "overweight" from "neutral," though the firm was bullish on both companies. Shares of XM rose 41 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $30.71 and Sirius climbed 16 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $3.17 (read more CBS MarketWatch)

Scott Tyler is out after two years as afternoon personality at WKSC-FM (103.5). Program director Rod Phillips said Tyler resigned after violating company policy by sending an unauthorized message on the Top 40 outlet's digital readout system that was "damaging to our image as a radio station" + Carl Grapentine and Lisa Flynn premiere Monday as the new morning team on WFMT-FM (98.7) + Katey Kohn, director of marketing at WSCR-AM (670), has been named director of marketing at WFAN-AM in New York and even more (read Feder of Chicago)

"My mother is Dominican, so yeah, I know about platanos, pasteles, and codfish cakes. Just don't ask me to speak Spanish.
"Ah, very interesting," Muñoz said with a smile. "This is why I do the radio show, to connect the community." The area's pioneering Latin disc jockey shares that flavor across the airwaves from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays as host of "La Fiesta After Dark." The music and information show on Norfolk State University's WNSB-FM is one of the few lifelines that connect the small, but vibrant, Latino community (read more - Daily Press)

Sen. John Kerry fared better than President Bush in Thursday night's presidential debate, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 615 registered voters who watched the event. Most of those interviewed said Kerry did a better job than Bush, and nearly half said the debate made them feel more favorably toward Kerry. By narrow margins Bush came out better on believability, likability and toughness (read more CNN)

John Kerry regained the initiative in the US presidential race last night with a forceful performance in his first debate with George Bush, occasionally leaving the president scowling and at a loss for words. Instant-response polls by three major television networks all showed that a large majority of their viewers thought the challenger had won the 90-minute verbal contest at the University of Miami - the first of three debates in the last month of the campaign. Perhaps even more seriously for President Bush, the networks ignored broadcasting guidelines agreed beforehand and showed both candidates at the same time (read more - The Guardian U.K.) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Clear Channel Communications Inc. on Thursday forecast a "challenging" fourth quarter for radio as the nation's No. 1 radio station operator readies a plan to cut the share of commercial time on its broadcasts. Clear Channel Chief Financial Officer Randall Mays repeated the company's forecast from July that business would be flat in the current third quarter. "We believe that business will be essentially flat and we think that will hold up. The fourth quarter is going to be a challenging environment, more challenging," Mays said at a conference for investors in Pasadena, California sponsored by Merrill Lynch (read more - W Scott Bailey-SA Biz Journal) (read more - Reuters)

Glenn Macnow, WIP 610-AM host, is the co-author of a book for the Philadelphia sports fan for the second consecutive fall, "The Great Philadelphia Sports Debate," co-written by WIP's Angelo Cataldi + For listeners who have noticed that Garry Cobb has been on WIP more often, it's no coincidence. In an e-mail, Cobb wrote: "I'm on WIP more because [former program director] Tom Bigby is gone. Tom and I didn't have the best relationship. I'm happy to be working on WIP much more." (read more - Laura Nachman)

Dave Jarrott writes: Bill Noble (real name, Knobler) is a GM of a tv station in Waco these days. I don't think he ever worked at KHFI, but he did middays at KNOW in the mid 60s. When we had our KNOW reunion in 2002, I just had to shake Bill's hand + Bob Tomlinson says: Jim it was good to hear from Jeff McClain. Jeff might not remember me but he hired me at the country station in Bay City Texas. Jeff was the manager at the time (read more at Jim Rose Remembers)

Armed with a battering ram and three search warrants, U.S. Marshals and Federal Communication Commission agents - some with weapons drawn - Wednesday raided a local pirate radio station that's been on the air for nearly a decade. As nearly 20 agents confiscated box-loads of equipment, including the station's antenna, which they plucked from the rooftop of the Laurel Street residence Free Radio Santa Cruz had called home for the last six months, swarms of angry protestors taunted and jeered officials, chanting, "Shame! Shame!" (read more - Register Pajorian)

Salem Communications Corporation announced that it has completed the acquisition of WQBH-AM in Detroit, Michigan from Queen's Broadcasting Corporation. The station is being re-launched as WDTK-AM (1400 AM) in Salem Communications' syndicated News/Talk format immediately (read more)

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will honor legendary New York City radio personality Scott Muni on Friday, October 1 with all-day special programming by SIRIUS on-air hosts who have worked with the celebrated DJ. Muni passed away on Tuesday at age 74 following a 50-year career as a rock radio personality. The staff of SIRIUS commercial-free music channel Classic Vinyl - all of whom worked at the legendary WNEW-FM in New York alongside Muni - will anchor the special programming, including Dennis Elsas (between 7am-1pm ET), Pat St. John (1pm-7pm) and Carol Miller (7pm-Midnight). Other SIRIUS staff that worked with Muni, including Meg Griffin, Thom Morrera, Harris Allen, Paul Cavalconte, Vin Scelsa and Zach Martin, will share their remembrances (visit Sirius)

ABC Radio Networks and Mediaguide today announced a major marketing agreement that establishes ABC Radio Networks as the exclusive national sales agent to U.S. radio stations for Mediaguide’s StationMonitor™ music monitoring and reporting services (visit www.mediaguide.com)

Rupert Murdoch is causing a rethink in American media. Fox was created to answer a perceived imbalance to the Left; now the Left is answering back. Former vice-president Al Gore is backing moves to launch a liberal cable news outlet. A syndicated radio format, Air America, offers liberal viewpoints to counter the string of right-wing commentators personified by Rush Limbaugh and is growing slowly after a shaky start. Last week America's biggest radio group, Clear Channel, a Texas-based corporation with close ties to the Bush administration, programmed Air America on one of its San Francisco outlets. This caused some eyebrows to rise, but Clear Channel replied that it was merely a business decision. Senior vice-president Ed Kampf says: "We're capitalists. We put on what the audience wants."  (read more - Mark Day-The Australian)

John (Johnny Dark) Borders will be one of many radio people from across the USA who will be inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in San Antonio on October 30th. Tickets are quickly headed toward a sell-out at www.trhof.com.  John began his radio career in high school at KBEC in Waxahachie, went on to serve as PD at KLIF, KTSA, KQV, WNOR, KEYS and KFJZ. He and partner Don Turner formed Sunburst Media, which was sold to Clear Channel, Salem, Radio One and Entravision in 2000 and 2001 (click here to visit John's TRHoF bio and photo page)  (click here to listen to a short aircheck of Johnny Dark on KLIF 1190 in the mid-60's)

A year has passed since Rush Limbaugh's racially insensitive comments about Donovan McNabb led to a maelstrom McNabb neither asked for nor wanted. But as he has so many times before, McNabb has delivered a defiant answer to Limbaugh's assessment on ESPN's popular "Sunday NFL Countdown'' that the quarterback was a figment of a media "desirous that a black quarterback do well." "What happened last year was that Rush, quite frankly, took a two-game period and decided to make that, in his estimation, a culmination of what Donovan McNabb was about," said Tom Jackson, who was on the ESPN set with Limbaugh that day. "There was no place for it then, and that's the reason we have someone else on our show (read more - Phil Sheridan-Philly Inquirer)

After a long night at work as a radio DJ, Junko Suzuki likes to snuggle at bedtime _ and she says she's found the perfect partner: a man-shaped pillow. Linen maker Kameo Corp.'s new "Boyfriend's Arm Pillow" _ which consists of a headless torso and a stuffed arm that curls around the sleeper _ might make some people uneasy. But not Suzuki, or about 1,000 others in Japan who have bought the pillow, which Kameo says is the first of its kind. The product went on the market last December. "I like to sleep holding someone's hand," Suzuki, 34. "And this pillow makes me feel relaxed because I can hold the arm and feel something warm at my side." (read more - WINK News)

Bryon Mengle got his start in local radio in 1998 by picking up a notice on the internship board at Seattle Pacific University for a post at KBKS-FM. He worked with the Chris & Dana show as a producer; when that station went through a format and personnel switch, he moved to KLSY-FM (92.5) to work with the Murdock, Hunter & Alice morning team and then Mitch & Lisa. His last day with that show is tomorrow. Mengle was part of a trend, noted in a past edition of Radio Beat, of morning-show producers doing more than just lining up guests, but actually becoming an on-air cast member. Aside from the adventures jumping out of a plane and riding in a stock car, he has done entertainment reporting for the morning shows and woke up a contest winner with a marching band on the front lawn (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)

Sounds 24-7, Inc. has acquired exclusive rights to the name "Radio Station Library" both as a domain name and a company name. It will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Sounds 24-7 and will be the site to which recordings from the industry will be uploaded and from which radio stations and club DJs can download. Through Radio Station Library, independent artists, labels and distributors can get their music out to thousands of authorized radio stations and club DJs for air play (read more)

Three new affiliates will debut Monday on the nationally syndicated Kidd Kraddick in the Morning Show. The new affiliates are Clear Channel’s KSAS Boise and KNIN Wichita Falls, and Opus Media Partners’ KQLQ Monroe, LA. This brings to 28 the number of affiliates nationwide, making Kidd Kraddick in the Morning one of the largest female-based syndicated morning shows in the country. The show is heard weekday mornings from 5-10am central time (visit 'em online at www.kiddlive.com)

Beyond Scott Muni's memorable on-air personality, say people who worked with him at WNEW, he also fought well for radio's musical freedom. In 1965, Muni parted from WABC, arguably America's best deejay gig, because the playlists were too restrictive. He went to WOR-FM and did the same. So when he got to WNEW-FM in 1967 and became program director, he opened things up. "No higherups in radio would ever have played Jimi Hendrix in 1968," says Meg Griffin, now a Sirius Satellite Radio host. "Scott did. The reason it's 'classic rock' today is because he played it then. He was a rebel." "He was one of us," says Vin Scelsa (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Scott Muni, one of the legendary voices of New York radio, died Tuesday. He was 74. The cause of death was not immediately known. The popular disc jockey, who was an AM and FM star for nearly 50 years in the country's biggest radio market, suffered a stroke in January. It sidelined him from his last on-air job, a one-hour daily show at the New York classic rock station WAQX-FM (Q104.3). For many, gravel-voiced Muni -- known to fans as "Scottso" and, reflecting his musical erudition, "the Professor" -- was the embodiment of New York radio. He was one of the first major top 40 announcers to take his trade to the emerging free-form FM side of the dial in the 1960s (read more - Reuters)  (visit Q104.3 for the Scott Muni tribute page)  (read more - Rolling Stone)  (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

KSTM, 88.9 FM, "The New Storm Radio", has a batch of new voices as young disc jockeys take over this year. Sophomore Sarah Harriman, productions promotions manager, is excited about the new staff (read more - The Simpsonian)

The watershed event for CBS was Dan Rather's weekend meeting with retired National Guardsman Bill Burkett. During the meeting, Burkett said something that dislodged CBS from its death grip on the assertion that the story was true. CBS' about-face suggests that whatever Burkett conveyed to Rather that weekend was something wholly different from whatever he had originally presented to the network as a rational and consistent explanation of the memos' origin. This "something" suggested to the network that the creation of the memos might actually constitute a crime (read more - Fox News)

Salem Communications announced that Albert John Moll II and Jim Seemiller have joined 960 The Patriot KKNT (KKNT-AM 960) and KPXQ-AM (1360) as Senior Account Managers according to John Timm, General Manager of KKNT-AM and KPXQ-AM (read more)

John Eisenhower, son of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, says in a New Hampshire newspaper column that he will vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Nov. 2. "Recent developments indicate that the current Republican Party leadership has confused confident leadership with hubris and arrogance," Eisenhower wrote. The 700-word column assails Bush and the GOP for federal budget deficits, for invading Iraq "unilaterally" and for infringing on Americans' personal liberties. The Bush campaign did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment (read more - Union Leader-New Hampshire Sunday News) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Ernie Anastos might have counted his chickens before they hatched. The popular WCBS/Ch. 2 anchor leaked to the Daily News earlier this week that he was jumping to Fox/Ch. 5 for a whopping $10 million. But it turns out that Anastos overestimated his salary — and the Ch. 5 deal has not even been signed yet. "He jumped the gun," said a Ch. 2 insider  (read more - Page Six)

Guns drawn, agents of the U.S. Marshals Service served a warrant on a tiny Santa Cruz pirate radio station early Wednesday, rousting and frisking the pajama-clad residents of the co-op house from which the station had been broadcasting. No one was arrested. ``This is not a criminal action against people,'' said Supervising Deputy Cheryl Koel (read more - San Diego Mercury News)

When Dick Cheney and John Edwards debate in Cleveland that night, Bruce Springsteen will be barnstorming in another swing state, as the Vote for Change tour hits St. Paul. All that's needed to make the day complete is a smackdown between Kinky Friedman and Teresa Heinz Kerry on "Imus in the Morning." Of the many cultural grenades being tossed that day, though, the one must-see is "George W. Bush: Faith in the White House," a DVD that is being specifically marketed in "head to head" partisan opposition to "Fahrenheit 9/11." (read more - Frank Rich-NY times)

The festivities started early for Sirius on Wednesday, as the satellite radio broadcaster opened its investor-day gala with a retail push highlighted by an analyst upgrade. The company hopes to crank up even more buzz later Wednesday when it unveils an array of new radios, including one that will be sold at Wal-Mart (read more - Forbes)  (read more - The Street)

Delilah, the 44-year-old single mother of seven, who is heard 7 p.m.-midnight on 222 stations in all 50 states (here on KBAY-FM (94.5) seven nights a week), broadcasts from Seattle and makes her first-ever Bay Area appearance in San Jose on Saturday (read more - Brad Kava-San Jose Mercury News)

In his personal life, the late Bill Ballance had mixed luck with the ladies. His love life, like his age, was mysterious. But he did have two sons, and an obituary said he is survived by a female companion. He took at least one caller into his personal life: Laura Schlessinger, now better known as radio shrink "Dr. Laura." Ballance had a May-December affair with Schlessinger in the late 1970s when she was a nobody. Two decades later, he sold explicitly nude photos of her, which didn't take long to show up on the Internet. True to form, Schlessinger failed to take any responsibility and blamed the "morally reprehensible" shutterbug for the mess. Why did he do it? It apparently had had nothing to do with his need for money or the hypocrisy of her endless moralizing. Ballance, after all, was hardly a liberal. Instead, he may have simply held a grudge, exacerbated by Schlessinger's apparent snub of him during her rise to fame. "When he felt you crossed him, you knew it was going to be tough," Larson said. "He had a long memory." But Ballance had plenty of heart too (read more - Randy Dotinga-North County Times)

Recently I saw an amazing piece of political video. It was ten-year-old footage of George W. Bush, and it changed my mind about an important aspect of the upcoming campaign. Because the President so rarely exposes himself to live, unscripted questioning, and because he has expressed himself so poorly the few times he has risked such exposure this year, the political establishment assumes that John Kerry has a big advantage in this fall's debates. I'm not so sure (read more - James Fallows-Atlantic Monthly)

Dallas-based media conglomerate Belo Corp. said Wednesday that it would cut 250 jobs, mostly at its flagship newspaper The Dallas Morning News (read more - Dallas Biz Journal)

John Kerry, the Democratic nominee and windsurfing enthusiast says he picked up his brand-new glow at a football game last week in Massachusetts - just in time for tonight's first presidential debate.  But can a rain-drenched New Yorker get a Kerry glow in time for the debate? To find out, I tried the friendly folks at Hollywood Tans on 25th Street and Sixth Avenue. "I want to look like John Kerry," I announced. The staff at the front desk laughed (read more - Michael Kane-NY Post)

A US senator has called for an expansion in American radio and television broadcasts around the Muslim world to repair the country's 'image problem'. Senator Joe Biden on Wednesday said such broadcasts would help correct "a bastardisation of US views by Aljazeera and many other Arab networks" (read more - Al Jazeera)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Capital Radio and GWR's merger will not mean any standardisation of programming, the stations insist. Dave Ferguson, chairman of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, told BBC News Online the long-term prospects could be blander networked shows with no room for local talent, as the group tried to cut costs. "We don't welcome this. All the evidence that we see shows that merging of companies like this and consolidation generally in the radio sector leads to a decrease in diversity. "The way they save money is by centralising playlists and centralising programming." Mr. Ferguson said the example of the US, with giant groups such as Clear Channel, showed consolidation led eventually to the widespread used of networked programmes instead of distinct local content. "It is so vital that the BBC charter is renewed. It becomes the sole saviour of local diversity in a consolidated sector." (read more BBC News)

XM Satellite Radio is launching "XM Nation: Operation Helping Hand," a major effort to help support the American Red Cross disaster relief in the wake of four devastating hurricanes that have struck the U.S. in the last seven weeks. XM is broadcasting on-air appeals to rally its millions of listeners nationwide to make contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund through XM's Operation Helping Hand web site at http://www.xmradio.com/helpinghand or by calling 1-800-HELP-NOW (press "2" to participate in Helping Hand)

KTNV Channel 13 went without its usual morning newscast today as a result of a Tuesday morning evacuation of the station prompted by a suspicious powder in a hate letter. Jim Thomas, vice president of communications for the Journal Broadcast Group, which owns the station, said the substance had not been identified. He did not know when employees would be allowed to return to their offices at the ABC affiliate (read more - Las Vegas Sun)

Radio ratings giant Arbitron Inc. and VNU, which owns TV audience-monitoring firm Nielsen Media Research, are considering collaborating on a new service, which would track the impact of advertising and marketing on consumers' spending habits (read more - Crain's NY Business)

Disc jockey and radio personality Scott Muni has died. He was 74. The announcement was made by Clear Channel Radio, which owns Q104 FM, where Muni worked most recently (read more - WNBC TV) (read more - Crain's NY Business)

Capital Radio and GWR Group say they plan to merge in an all-share, nil-premium deal that would create the dominant company in the UK radio sector. The deal would combine London's most popular commercial radio station, Capital 95.8 FM, with GWR's nationwide Classic FM station, along with dozens of smaller local stations. The combined company would control about 40 percent of the 600 million pound per year UK radio advertising market (read more - Reuters) (read more - The Scotsman)

Reacting to growing public concerns about sex and violence in the media, Capitol Hill lawmakers turned up the pressure Tuesday on the entertainment industry to provide clearer information about the content of films and TV shows. At the same time, legislators signaled that stronger punishments are ahead for broadcasters airing shows with objectionable content. During a Senate Science, Technology and Space subcommittee hearing, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) blasted the movie and broadcast industries' separate rating systems. Brownback said they failed to help parents shield children from inappropriate content. "Many [parents] find the current rating system overwhelming and confusing," Brownback said. The hearing marked the first Capitol Hill appearance by Hollywood's new top lobbyist, Dan Glickman, who joined predecessor Jack Valenti in defending the film rating system that Valenti fathered more than 30 years ago.  (read more - LA Times)

Lee Abrams' office at XM headquarters in Washington, DC, is a mini-museum chronicling his role in rock history. On the walls: gold records, like the Stones' "Exile on Main Street" and "Smash" by the Offspring, framed LP covers (including prog-rock classics Fragile and Close to the Edge by Yes, a band whose career Abrams helped shape), photos with the great and near-great, and mounted magazine profiles of himself ... "He's one of those rare people who really lives and breathes music radio," says Hugh Panero, XM's CEO. "He has that booming voice that'll wake the dead. We'll be in a taxi, and he'll start grilling the cabbie: 'What station do you listen to? How come?' Whatever city we're in, he knows the history of the radio market intimately." (read more - Wired)

WKNR AM/850 program director Michael Luczak is non-committal on the future of Bruce Drennan at the sports station, following a gambling-related raid on the talk host's home. "Right now, we're just gathering all the facts," Luczak said. "Other than that, there's nothing else to say about [Drennan] for now." (read more - Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Comedian and political satirist Al Franken will take his radio show to Columbus during a tour along the campaign trail. "The Al Franken Show" will broadcast live across the country starting Thursday and ending Oct. 9, making stops in eight cities. When asked about Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly's recent interview on "60 Minutes," in which O'Reilly called Franken a "character assassin," the comedian said he wasn't surprised. And Franken says he'll pay O'Reilly $1 million if he can prove his blue-collar history of a childhood in Levittown, N.Y.. O'Reilly has defended his upbringing as being in a part of Levittown, but technically in the adjoining town of Westbury (read more - NBC 4i)  (read more 2)

Laura Hirsch , the morning co-host on southwest suburban WSSR-FM (96.7) turns her personal efforts to conceive through in vitro fertilization into a full-fledged ongoing radio bit +  "Java Joel" Murphy, evening personality at WKSC-FM (103.5), is putting it all on the line in challenging his counterparts at Top 40 rival WBBM-FM (96.3), Doug Stylz and Justin Roman. "If you can beat me in the first Chicago Radio Music Trivia Challenge, I will leave Chicago," Murphy wrote to Stylz and Roman. "If I beat you, you have to leave Chicago." (read more - Feder of Chicago)

One of KMOX radio's top personalities, John Carney, is off the air indefinitely after being accused by police of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident, the station's general manager said Monday. The incident, in which nobody was reported to be seriously hurt, came just days after the station completed a 10-part news series raising the question of whether Missouri is doing enough to combat drunks behind the wheel. "John Carney will not be on the air, pending further investigation," said Tom Langmyer, vice president and general manager of KMOX (read more - St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Roy Duncan of Canton writes: "I'm a little confused about CKWW. A couple weeks ago there was an article in the Free Press about Wayne Stevens retiring from broadcasting. Your article on Sept 13 said that he would be on from noon to 6 p.m. I hope that CKWW doesn't change its format as I enjoy the big bands that they play." + Salem Communications is skedded to take over WQBH-AM (1400) Friday, which will end its run as a blues/talk/gospel station (read more - John Smyntek - Detroit Freep)

Dino Costa, Director Of Programming with AM-1530 Radio in Jacksonville, in conjunction with Westwood One, and Premiere Radio, announced several new programming moves for radio station AM-1530 in Jacksonville, Florida. The station is undergoing significant changes involving new additions to its program lineup, including Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, and a revamping of its format. WYMM which has been re-cast as the "Mighty 1530", will be projecting a brand new format in mid-October of 2004 and will be only one of two 50 KW stations in Jacksonville (click here to e-mail Dino)

The newspaper in President George W. Bush's adopted hometown of Crawford threw its support on Tuesday behind Bush's Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry. The weekly Lone Star Iconoclast criticized Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and for turning budget surpluses into record deficits. The editorial also criticized Bush's proposals on Social Security and Medicare. "The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda," the newspaper said in its editorial. "Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry." It urged "Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country." (read more - Reuters)

XM Satellite Radio will air a recent, never-before-heard interview with Yusuf Islam, the singer/songwriter formerly known as Cat Stevens, this Thursday, September 30, at 8:00 am ET on XM Public Radio (visit XM Public Radio)

Baseball great Cal Ripken will be appearing on the ABC Radio show “Satellite Sisters” this weekend; among other topics, he will be discussing parents involvement in their children’s sporting events. Are some parents too involved? Cal Ripken and the Sisters will discuss what happens when a parent’s behavior becomes more disruptive than supportive (visit Satellite Sisters)

Debbie Durban, President of the Interep Marketing Group; Weezie Kramer, Regional Vice President of Entercom and Amy Rosenthal, President and General Manager for ABC Radio of Minneapolis have agreed to share their real-life stories of triumphs and struggles on a Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 90-minute conference call.  It begins at 2:00 pm ET and is the latest American Women in Radio and Television-coordinated Tele-Seminar series. Seminar moderator Jaye Albright, Partner in Albright & O’Malley consulting says that the tele-seminar is open to the public (read more at AWRT or read more at RadioMIW.com)

Emap's finance director, Gary Hughes, said yesterday that a tie-up between the media conglomerate and rival Scottish Radio Holdings would create "the strongest radio group in UK". But as Capital Radio and GWR attempt to put the finishing touches to their own merger, Mr Hughes said Emap, which currently owns just under 30pc of SRH, would not be rushed into any deal. He said any action would be taken "at the time of our own choosing". Mr Hughes said: "We accept that radio consolidation is necessary and inevitable. There are too many radio groups and consolidation would strengthen the sector (read more - Telegraph U.K.)

For the third straight year, Clear Channel Entertainment couldn't make good on its promise in Cumberland County. County officials said Clear Channel owes $61,000 for only bringing in eight of the 15 shows it promised to book at the Crown Coliseum (read more - News 14 Carolina)

Radio humorist and author Garrison Keillor, who has helped raise money for Minnesota Democrats, is appearing next month at a fund-raiser for Joe Satrom, North Dakota's Democratic candidate for governor. The Oct. 9 reception at a Fargo hotel will follow the broadcast of Keillor's Saturday radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion" (read more - Miami Herald)

"I saw the impact of Fahrenheit 9/11, the impact it had on the public debate. It changed the dynamic of the debate ... although it was a political commercial disguised as a movie," "Celsius 41.11" executive producer David Bossie told Inside the Beltway before the premiere.  So, I decided somebody must take this on; somebody has to have a response to this. It's not right to let it sit out there by itself," he said of "Fahrenheit 9/11." "When lies are told consistently, over and over again, they become the truth in perception. I said 'enough is enough.' " Mr. Bossie, president of the grass-roots lobby Citizens United who previously headed the Center for Government Integrity, picked up the phone and called Hollywood heavyweight Lionel Chetwynd. He agreed to write and produce the film (read more - Washington Times)

Alaska Public Broadcasting, Inc. (APBI) has named Jamie Waste of Juneau as Executive Director. Waste, a veteran Alaska public broadcaster, will head the organization that provides leadership and support for Alaska’s public radio and television organizations (read more Capital Weekly)

Republican Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes, a conservative who opposes gay lifestyles, is refusing comment on an Internet rumor his daughter is gay. The outspoken conservative talk show host declined to answer questions on whether his 19-year-old daughter had posted details of her homosexual relationship with another young woman on her Web blog. Politics1, a political Web site, posted a story and a picture of Maya Keyes with a woman identified as her lesbian girlfriend. Keyes is staunchly anti-gay and told a New York radio talk show all gays were living in sin and were "selfish hedonists," including by definition Mary Cheney, the openly lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney (read more - WBBM 780) (read more - Washington Times) (read more - ChiIllinois Blogspot)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Martha Stewart has been ordered to serve her sentence at the federal prison in Alderson, W.Va., a source close to the case told NBC News on Wednesday. Stewart had asked to serve her five-month sentence at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut close to her home in Westport, or as a second choice at the federal prison in Coleman, Fla. But the federal Bureau of Prisons instead chose Alderson, a minimum-security women's prison that houses about 1,000 inmates (read more - News 4 New York - WNBC)

RDN TechFact --  161 million people had cellular phone service as of the end of 2003, up from 142 million in 2002, according to a recent Federal Communications Commission (read the study)

Michael Imperioli & Jim Breuer guest on SIRIUS' The Wiseguy Show Wednesday. Sept. 29. The show is hosted by actor Vinnie Pastore ("Big Pussy" Bonpensiero from HBO's The Sopranos) with regular co- hosts Vinny Vella, Cha-Cha ("The Mayor of Little Italy"),  Joe Regano and "Brooklyn" Joe Causi; executive produced by Steven Van Zandt (visit Sirius Raw Dog Comedy Channel 147)

SIRIUS announced that Sanyo has joined the roster of brands that manufacture SIRIUS satellite radios. The Sanyo CRSR-10 Plug & Play SIRIUS satellite radio system will arrive at Wal-Mart stores this month. The Sanyo CRSR-10 is the first SIRIUS Plug & Play satellite radio system to include both home and car kits in one package and sell for $149.99 (read more - DesignTechnica)

Ask Chance Patterson for evidence that satellite radio is turning a listless industry on its ear, and he’ll tell you a story about rocker Lenny Kravitz. “The other day,” says XM Satellite Radio’s vice president of programming, “Lenny called us because he wanted to come out and visit. That’s the kind of thing that’s happening. It’s just getting to be fun.”  In a mere three years, subscription-based radio has transformed itself from pie in the sky dream to an emerging broadcasting force. XM is on pace to top 3.1 million subscribers by year-end. Rival Sirius, which got a later start and has been playing catch-up, just signed its 600,000th subscriber and will likely hit 1 million by December (read more - Doug Bedell-Dallas News)

President George W. Bush fielded questions at his ranch in Crawford about family from popular TV psychologist Phil McGraw in a warm-and-fuzzy wooing of the coveted undecided woman's vote. The timing of the broadcast is great for the president, who needs to try to win over likely voters who have yet to make up their minds. Campaign officials, having seen former president Bill Clinton work the daytime-television trick like a charm, are convinced it can work (read more AFP)

A "boycott CBS" website says thousands of people have "inundated" the Commission on Presidential Debates with emails calling for CBS correspondent Bob Schieffer to be replaced as moderator for the third and final presidential debate on October 13. Boycott CBS.com is a project of the Framers Institute, Inc., a conservative public policy think tank. Co-founder Michael Paranzino launched BoycottCBS.com last fall, when the network tried to air a TV movie smearing Ronald and Nancy Reagan (read more - CNS)

Governor Rick Perry declares October to be "Texas Music Month" -- With a growing influence on the sound of contemporary music, the Lone Star State is home to more than 10,000 songwriters, 110,000 music business professionals, 800 annual music events and 7,500 music businesses.  These range from radio stations, booking agencies, and record labels to recording studios and music schools (visit Texas Music Office Web site)

Dan Rather, who'll anchor CBS' coverage this week of the first presidential debate, told USA TODAY that he respects both President Bush and his father and has no ideological ax to grind. He has long denied that either he or CBS lean left. CBS staffers defend the anchor and the network. Veteran White House correspondent Bill Plante says detractors are approaching with biases of their own: "If you're predisposed to believe that, then how am I going to convince you otherwise? It's like nailing Jell-O to a wall." Mike Wallace says that the liberal tag is bogus and that he has "nothing but professional respect" for Rather (read more - Peter Johnson-USA Today)

It didn't take long for Dan Rather's radio brethren in Chicago to break bad on him. Within hours of CBS News' backpedaling on its "60 Minutes" report about President Bush's National Guard service, the Infinity Broadcasting all-news station here dropped all station identifications featuring the star anchorman's voice. Until last week, WBBM-AM (780) had been airing one of four different station IDs and promos delivered by Rather at the top of the hour and during Bears pre-game and post-game broadcasts + Jack Diamond, morning personality at adult-contemporary WRQX-FM in Washington, will turn up as a talk show host alongside Teri O'Brien on news/talk WLS-AM (890), starting Wednesday. O'Brien has been filling in with Art Wallis since Don Wade and Roma signed off from the morning show when their contract extension expired Sept. 14 (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Clear Channel has its eye on Britain's radio stations. Its European chief tells Guy Dennis that Capital's merger with GWR is good for his business On page 227 of a little-known management book, which has yet to attract a single review on Amazon.co.uk, sit a few paragraphs highlighting the benefits of mergers. Their title: "Consolidation savings are real in radio." This is intriguing - not only because of what is going on in the UK radio industry, notably the proposed merger of Capital Radio Group and GWR that was announced last week, but because the author is Roger Parry (from his sententiously titled book Enterprise, the Leadership Role) (read more - The Telegraph U.K.)  (read more - Scotland Sunday) (read more London Times)

Willie Mae McIver, the national program director for ABC Radio Networks 24-Hour Music Format Rejoice! Musical Soul Food, was inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame September 25, 2004, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. With this distinguished honor, McIver joins such notable broadcasters as Tom Joyner, Mike Douglass, Phil Donahue, Dr. Bobby Jones and Rev. Rex Humbard (visit ABC Radio)

A new breed of TV -- featuring on-demand programs and choose-your-own music video channels -- is delivered over phones lines that are equipped with a high speed Internet connection. TV over phone lines, also known as TV over Internet protocol (TVIP), is already taking root in Europe, with offerings from France Telecom, Italy's FastWeb, Britain's HomeChoice and others. There are many more on the way, with Britain's top fixed-line phone company BT Group in talks with content companies as it prepares to launch its own service. In Washington, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said on Sept. 15 that almost every major U.S. phone company he has talked with is working to develop TVIP off (read more - Reuters)

Ratcheting up the pressure on Boston University after it announced its intention to sell public radio station WRNI-AM (1290) in Providence, Rhode Island.  Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch sent a letter yesterday asking the station to provide his office with financial documents including tax returns, contracts, financial statements, donor lists, business plans, and "any materials related to the sale of WRNI." (read more - Mark Jurkowitz-Boston Herald)

Comedian Al Franken is bringing his ambitious attempt to create a liberal talk radio network to the Bay Area's airwaves starting Tuesday. Air America, which got off to a rocky beginning after its start in April, will take over the slot now occupied by KABL on 960 AM. The new station will be called KQKE, "the Quake." KABL, which plays American standards from the 1940s and 1950s, will move to 92.1 FM, broadcasting out of Walnut Creek (read more - San Franciso Chronicle)

The twenty-first century has begun with the first media war in world history. Although tools of propaganda and use of the mass media to further political aims have been characteristic of previous conflicts, wars and political strategies, the case of Venezuela evidences the first time that the media, as a powerful, private actor, has waged war against the people in order to advance its own agenda. Public access to media and diversity of voices have been usurped by private media moguls in Venezuela propagating their own political and economic aims (read more - Venezuela Analysis)

In hopes of turning around its feeble morning-drive ratings, local country radio station WKQB is adding the syndicated ''Rick and Bubba Show'' to its lineup Monday morning. The program originates out of WYSF in Birmingham, Ala (read more - Fayetteville Online)

James C. Newton, 76, passed away. "Shootin' Jim Newton" began his career as a radio air personality in the 1950s and '60s at stations throughout Texas and Oklahoma, including Dallas radio stations WFAA and KPCN. He later operated his own advertising agency, Newton Advertising Agency, and in 1959 worked with University Advertising Company helping to get Dallas radio station KVIL on the air. His television career included two years in Hollywood (read more - Star-Telegram)

Three St. Louis-area companies that operate sports radio stations have agreed to pay $158,000 to settle federal charges that they aided in illegal gambling activities. The three companies - Missouri Sports Radio, Simulcast and All Sports Radio, operators of KFNS-AM, KFNS-FM and KRFT-AM - forfeited proceeds from the promotions of illegal gambling activities (read more - St Louis Biz Journal)

For 80 years, WCCO Radio has been the station Minnesota's kids and parents tune in to find out whether their school has been closed by a blizzard, to catch up on the news, or to follow a Twins or Gophers game. "We use the word `utility' - that WCCO is your information utility. And when you need to know, there's one place to go," says Dick Carlson, senior vice president/market manager for WCCO and its sister stations. But the "Good Neighbor to the Northwest," as WCCO (830 AM) bills itself, also has had to adjust to a declining audience and changing tastes (read more - Miami Herald)

Bill Ballance, a radio personality whose bold 1970s talk show tackled relationships and sex and helped pave the way for today's shock jocks, died Thursday, his son said. He was 85. Ballance's Feminine Forum became one of the most popular radio shows in Los Angeles within a year of its 1971 debut on KGBS-AM (read more - Canadian Press)

American Jewish Music From the Milken Archive With Leonard Nimoy" will explore scared and secular Jewish music from the Milken Archive of Jewish American Music during 13 two-hour episodes on WFMT Radio Network stations and XM Satellite Radio. The series will air beginning Sept. 30 (read more - Chronicle)

It has been a tough week to be a CBS executive. Two days after the news division admitted serious flaws in its blockbuster story about President Bush's National Guard service, the Tiffany network's parent company, Viacom, was hit with a $550,000 fine from government regulators over pop star Janet Jackson's breast-baring moment at the Super Bowl (read more - St Pete Times Editorial)

Premiere Radio Networks offers monthly subscriptions to its fleet of radio hosts, including Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Fans of Phil Hendrie, a Los Angeles-based personality, can pay $6.95 a month to stream his three-hour show live, download the complete show later in Real and Windows Media formats and have access to a 30-day archive of shows. For archived shows, Premiere Radio removes the commercials, cutting total listening time to around two hours. "This lets fans listen to their favourite hosts in the office or late at night when it's more convenient for them," said Brian Glicklich, vice-president of Interactive Services at Premiere Radio (read more - NY Times-The Globe and Mail)

TBN officials confirmed that Mrs. Jan Crouch, wife of Pastor Paul Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, has been admitted to an undisclosed California hospital, after being taken to the emergency room for severe abdominal pain. Mrs. Crouch has been diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and gall stones. There is no word on how long she will be in the hospital (read more)

From Kent Burkhart's "I Was There" series -- I have been asked many times about the differences in formats from the two guys who created the radio revolution called TOP 40. I worked for both Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon as a VERY young broadcaster. I was a disc jockey in Omaha and a program director in Miami for Storz. I was a disc jockey in Houston and New Orleans for McLendon. Both Storz and McLendon believed programming and promotion came first because it made the sales departments job easier when the big…and I mean super jumbo…ratings were published monthly. But they got at it differently. McLendon believed in local news and Storz hid the hourly newscasts at 5 of each hour. In the early days McLendon let the disc jockeys have their say with music played; whereas, the Storz music rotation and policy was tightly controlled ... (read it all at www.kentburkhart.com)

Listeners of Air America have persuaded a Portland radio station to continue airing the liberal talk network. But only for another month.  WLVP (870 AM) will continue to run Air America's nationally syndicated programming through the Nov. 2 elections, said Patrick Collins, who oversees the station for Nassau Broadcasting. Collins announced earlier this week that his station would stop running Air America on Oct. 4 and replace it with the ESPN Radio sports network (read more - Maine Today)

From Sonny Melendrez -- Want a multimedia shot in the arm that will remind you of why you got in this business to begin with?  Visit www.ChuckBlore.com.  It is a most impressive offering from one of the most creative human beings ever to come near a microphone. Chuck Blore has always been ahead of his time and a few steps ahead of mine.  You see, we were both program directors and on the air at KELP-El Paso and KTSA-San Antonio, some 20 years apart. In the 1970’s I had the good fortune to work for Chuck as his Program Director at KIIS in Los Angeles. It was the most enlightening year of my career.  This was the man who turned KFWB-Los Angeles into Color Channel 98 and made it the highest rated major market station ever in the 1960’s when radio was bigger than life. Chuck’s creative approach to radio has always been from a listener’s perspective.  As he puts it, “What’s in it for them?”  (read more - SonnyRadio.com)

It didn't take long for WLS-AM (890) to begin suffering the consequences of losing Don Wade and Roma, the popular husband-and-wife morning team who've been off the air since their contract extension expired. The Wades had been touted as the main draw for an overnighter this weekend with listeners at Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena. But when the Disney/ABC-owned news/talk station failed to renew the couple, the Wades and all but a handful of the fans who'd signed up for the weekend bailed out. So now WLS account executives are scrambling to get station staffers to fill up the rooms. But here's the catch: The employees are still being charged the full package price of $378 per couple for one night's stay (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Dan Rather's eyes welled up with tears when Barbara Walters praised "my wonderful colleague" and told him, "You have the support of all of us here." The crowd Wednesday night at ABC's Times Square Studios who honored Walters on her retirement from "20/20" after 25 years included bigwigs from all three networks, including Rather's boss, CBS News president Andrew Heyward +  Just when things couldn't get any worse for CBS News, along comes "Tick . . . Tick . . . Tick . . .: An Inside Account of '60 Minutes' " that reveals, for the first time, charges of sexual harassment leveled against the show's creator and executive producer, Don Hewitt (read more - Page Six)

It isn't often that a radio station survives 25 years with the same format. If it's a public radio station and a jazz format, and it's survived for 25 years, that's cause for celebration. WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM, broadcasting straight-ahead jazz since 1979 from its headquarters in Newark, will celebrate on Oct. 7 at The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Battery Park (read more -Worrall Community Papers)

In the lobby of Detroit radio station WQBH-AM (1400), the walls are lined with framed newspaper pages of articles about the late founder Martha Jean (the Queen) Steinberg. But in the conference room, the walls have been stripped of art, plaques and photographs and things are being packed. There is little left for the station's staff to discuss, because Sept. 30 will be their last day on the air. The new owners, California-based Salem Communications, will take over the suite of offices on the 20th floor of the Penobscot Building and introduce a new format on Oct. 1 (read more - Detroit Freep)

The Board of Directors of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) passed the following resolution during their semi-annual meeting, held in New York City earlier this week: The Board of Directors of the Radio Advertising Bureau recognizes the efforts of all Radio broadcasters employing IBOC high-definition Radio, technology that brings a new and improved digital sound to Radio stations nationwide (read more - RAB)

Storz, McClendon, Drake, Jacobs, Sklar. Each a major player in the drama of early Top 40 radio. In "Top 40 - The Fox and The Hedgehog" industry legend Bob Henabery tells the unvarnished story behind the story of the industry icons that first brought Top 40 to major market American radio (read David Martin's Blog)

The "Black Avenger" will sail the airwaves no more. Ken Hamblin, unabashed conservative talk-show host revered by his listeners (and, not incidentally, by himself) as "the black Rush Limbaugh," has retired after 22 years. "I was just tired of it." "My syndicated radio show," as he was fond of calling it in print, went silent on Aug. 20. At the end, he was carried by 39 stations nationwide, down from a high of 100 at its height in 1995. He also wrote a frequently controversial column in The Denver Post, dropped by editors in January (read more - Dick Kreck-Denver Post)

Air America – the politically liberal radio network that arrived in San Diego a month ago – couldn't have come at a better time.  Since Aug. 23, the Republican National Convention has come and gone, the 2004 presidential campaign has picked up speed, and the radio airwaves warfare between the political right and left has intensified. KLSD/AM 1360 (formerly KPOP) is the Clear Channel Communications outlet that carries Air America here. Kudos to Clear Channel, whose founders and top brass are Republicans, for bringing Air America to GOP registration-dominated San Diego County (read more - Preston Turegano-San Diego Union Tribune)

"Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline" is The Consumer Electronics and Technology Show on the air LIVE every Sunday from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. ET (11 a.m. - 2 p.m. PT).  The show airs on over 100 radio stations around the country and worldwide on the American Forces Networks. Dave Graveline is also heard on Sirius TalkCentral, Channel 148, XM Ask! Channel 165 and via our web site. In addition, we air 60-second technology features every weekday (visit www.graveline.com) 

Former WAAF-FM (107.7) bad boys Opie & Anthony are prepping for their Oct. 4, 6-10 a.m., debut on the XM satellite radio network with a meet-and-greet tonight from 5-7 p.m. at the Big Easy at 1 Boylston Place, and they both know that XM is their last chance in radio. ``This is the third stage of the Opie & Anthony era,'' Opie told the Herald (read more - Dean Johnson-Boston Herald)

In an unusual arrangement, two Treasure Coast radio stations said Thursday they will combine news operations to deliver official government information for Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties -- vital material some residents said was lacking during Hurricane Frances -- as Hurricane Jeanne threatens the region. "WQCS [88.9 FM] and WPSL [1590 AM] are partnering for coverage of this latest storm," said Adrienne Moore, spokeswoman for WQCS, the public radio station based in Fort Pierce (read more - Sun Sentinel)

From JimRoseOnline.com -- Jeff McClain writes: It's been sometime since I sat behind a mike as a jock. I left KENR in 81 for WNOE in New Orleans. I did mornings there for 4 years. It was a great job and I had a lot of fun. In May of 85 I was offered a PD/morning position at WYYN Jackson, MS. I took the job because I wanted to move into management, but little did I know how bad a decision it was. By Christmas I was on my way back to Texas. Moving from a major to a medium market at that stage of my career truly was a mistake. It was a one book a year market (April/May) and I took responsibility for a book that wasn't mine. Actually it was the best thing that could happen to me in the long run. I joined Royce Guinn at Video One (general video production business) and continued to work part-time in radio in Houston (KFMK) (read more at www.jimroseonline.com)

Rob Dibble, the former Reds pitcher who is Dan Patrick's sidekick on ESPN's popular weekday radio sports talk show (10 a.m.-1 p.m., KSPN 710 am), and pro wrestler Dallas Diamond Page went inside Iraq and hop-scotched to U.S. bases for meet-and-greets with American soldiers in places where the war is not an abstract on your TV screen or fodder for talk shows (read more - Press Telegram)

Jim Johnson wasn't away long. The easygoing and popular DJ - who has worked at WCRZ-FM (107.9), WWCK-FM (102.5), WFBE-FM (95.1) and Saginaw's WCEN and WGER - takes over as program director at WKQL-FM (100.5) in Saginaw on Thursday. Johnson left the market recently to manage two Chicago-area FM stations. But he left his heart, and family, in Flint. (read more - Doug Pullen-Flint Journal)

Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman walked out of the KUER radio studio in Salt Lake City during a live interview Wednesday morning after she became upset with the line of questioning.  Workman - who has been charged with two felonies but is continuing her re-election campaign - took issue with questions from RadioWest host Doug Fabrizio and left the show about 15 minutes into the program (read more - Salt Lake Tribune)

I believe we now have conclusive proof that: (1) Dan Rather is not an honest newsman who was simply duped by extremely clever forgeries; and (2) We could have won the Vietnam War. A basic canon of journalism is not to place all your faith in a lunatic stuck on something that happened years ago who hates the target of your story and has been babbling nonsense about him for years. And that's true even if you yourself are a lunatic stuck on something that happened years ago (an on-air paddling from Bush 41) who hates the target of your own story and has been babbling nonsense about him for years, Dan (read more - Ann Coulter-FrontPage)

Lawmakers are near a compromise on legislation that would significantly raise the penalties for television and radio broadcasters that violate decency standards, Sen. Sam Brownback said on Thursday. The Kansas Republican declined to detail how much the maximum fine could be but said the compromise was tracking a measure the Senate passed in June, a bill that would increase fines to as much as $275,000 for the first incident and up to $3 million a day.  The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to boost fines to as much as $500,000 per violation (read more - Reuters)

ARBitrends for Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Cincinnati, Minneapolis-St Paul, Monterey and Pittsburgh (read 'em)

From Lynn Woolley -- Imagine being in the broadcast booth next to a legendary play-by-play man and having the opportunity - and the challenge - of being his analyst on gameday.  That's the situation I found myself in several years ago when Frank Fallon asked me to be his broadcast partner. I had followed Frank's career for a long time before I ever had a chance to meet him. Frank, who passed away on April 30th, was the long- time voice of the Baylor Bears and had also been the voice of the Texas A&M Aggies (read more - Lynn Wooley)

Judy Ellis, COO of Citadel -- I happen to think our First Amendment rights are vital to freedom and everything we stand for, because the alternative is pretty scary. It's important to be persistent and fight for free speech. As I said previously, if you are not confronted from time to time with things that offend you, you're probably not living in a free society. Then, of course, there's always the issue of "If you don't like it, don't listen to it." Should there be rules on indecency? Hasn't the Constitution already dealt with this issue? If you think Howard Stern is indecent, are you telling me that the millions of people who listen each week are indecent? Should millions of listeners need to have their hands slapped? Are we in America? (read more - MusicBiz)

Brian Davidson was stunned when a cop fined him £30 — for playing his car radio too loudly. Brian was tuned in to dance music on Radio 1 when he passed a police car in his street. As he parked up the bobby booked him for “unnecessary noise”. Dad-of-four Brian had his driver’s window wound down when he was nabbed in Ashington, Northumberland (read more - The Sun)

A Virginia radio station has dumped C-B-S News following the "60 Minutes" report questioning President Bush's National Guard service.  Norfolk news-talk station W-N-I-S switched to ABC News, after at least a dozen years with CBS News. CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said the network has more than 1,000 radio affiliates nationwide and WNIS is the only one to drop CBS. None of the network's more than 200 television affiliates has done so.  Lisa Sinclair is general manager of Sinclair Communications, which owns W-N-I-S and four other stations in the Norfolk area. She says they made the change after getting many calls from listeners, some saying they wouldn't listen to C-B-S news any more. Many e-mailers offer the same message.  The e-mail campaign appears to originate from a blogger on the Web site www.Rathergate.com, who is forwarding e-mails to stations around the country (read more - Richmond Times Dispatch)  (read more - KBCI)

They’re your own personal Jesus, according to Depeche Mode. Televangelists, as they are loathe to be called, are spewing less and less scripture and more and more propaganda. They proselytize on your television screen on their own networks, which they had to create to disseminate their views, under the guise of God’s messengers. But no longer are their messages about salvation and Christian charity; they are of conservatism and political activism. Perhaps the two best known of these anointed apostles are Pat Robertson and Larry Flynt’s best friend, Jerry Falwell. For two ministers so committed to the word of God, their Web sites are noticeably focused on political views that are noticeably devoid of scriptural substantiation. Falwell’s site highlights his answers to the world situation. He states that television is becoming debased and immoral. While I can’t completely disagree with him, I can’t truly say that television is creating the problem rather than presenting an accurate image of it. The kicker, though, is Falwell’s good-old-days nostalgia of the black-and-white beginnings of television (read more - Richard McVay - Auburn Plainsman)

SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced that Jeremy Tepper has been named Format Manager for commercial-free music channel Outlaw Country. Tepper is responsible for managing the channel’s music and on-air staff. He coordinates these functions with SIRIUS Director of Country Programming Scott Lindy, and the channel’s executive producer, and creator of the format, Steven Van Zandt. The announcement was made to coincide with the 5th annual Americana Music Conference taking place in Nashville (visit Sirius)

Radio stations WMOO-FM and WIKE-AM in Derby Center and 17 others are being sold to a New Jersey company. Bill Macek, president and general manager of Northstar Media, which runs WMOO and WIKE, on Wednesday confirmed the pending sale to Nassau Broadcasting (read more - Caledonian Record)

ESPN Radio 710 will broadcast their 24-Hour Angels Pre-Game Marathon beginning today at 6:00PM live from “under the caps” at Angels Stadium in Anaheim.  The entire broadcast will be anchored by Steve Mason and John Ireland, hosts of KSPN’s The Big Show with Mason & Ireland, and will include numerous guest appearances (visit ESPN 710)

Pope will not be pogoing. Britain's BBC television said on Thursday it had scrapped plans to broadcast an animated series that depicts the Pope on a pogo stick in a fictional Vatican after complaints from outraged Catholics. "Despite all of the creative energy that has gone into this project and the best efforts of everyone involved, the comic impact of the delivered series does not outweigh the potential offence it will cause," BBC 3 Controller Stuart Murphy said (read more - Reuters)

My e-mail box began to fill up with dozens of messages last Friday morning, a full day after my weekly column appeared in this space. From all parts of the county came tirades calling me "judgmental," "irresponsible" and "despicable," not to mention incompetent. It turned out that the morning hosts of KGB and Channel 933 had just taken me to the woodshed for criticizing their decision to allow a suicidal man to speak on the airwaves. They stood by their actions. "My only thought from the moment I realized what was going on that morning was, 'How can we make this work out for the best?'" said Channel 933's A.J. Machado during his show (read more - Randy Dotinga-North County Times)

With the nation at war and a presidential election around the corner, you'd think that Chicago radio's flashiest news/talk station would be operating at peak form right now. But WLS-AM (890) begins the fall ratings period today with no morning show, half an afternoon show, and cobwebs collecting in the vacant office of the general manager.  These are tough times at the Disney/ABC-owned station -- made worse by absentee management that chooses to ignore how badly confidence and morale have eroded at one of the once-great 50,000-watt powerhouses in all of broadcasting + Linda Marshall, the former WLS news anchor who became a financial reporter at WCIU-Channel 26, will reunite with radio pals Tommy Edwards and Larry Lujack.  She'll fill in next week for news anchor Kathy Worthington on Edwards' WRLL-AM (1690) "Real Oldies" morning show, which features Lujack
 (read more - Feder of Chicago)

His first job was at a legendary radio station in Fort Worth that also produced other brilliant radio people like George Carlin, Chuck Dunaway, Rod Roddy, Joe Holstead, Paxton Mills, Jim Lowe, Mike Selden and programming giant, Kent Burkhart.  He's acted in movies and in TV series alongside actors Johnny Depp, Kevin Spacey, Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, James Arness, Michael J. Fox, Martin Laudau, Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker and Shelley Fabares.  Before there was a "Mr. Goodwrench," Norm Alden was "Lou the Mechanic" in AC Delco TV commercials. Before J.R. got shot, Norm played the cowboy badman who shot Matt Dillon in the back on a famous episode of Gunsmoke. His was the voice of Aquaman in the Saturday morning cartoon series "Superfriends."  RadioDailyNews.com welcomes Norm Alden as a special contributor -- soon -- You'll be reading about the people he's met, the places he's been and where this fascinating man is headed from here (visit www.normalden.com)

Pop singer Janet Jackson's bare breast flash earlier this year during the nationally televised Super Bowl football game will cost 20 CBS stations that aired it a combined $550,000 for violating indecency rules, U.S. communications regulators said on Wednesday. As expected, the Federal Communications Commission said it has officially voted to fine $27,500 each the 20 stations owned by the CBS television network, which is a unit of media conglomerate Viacom Inc (read more - Reuters)

This week's format change at WLTQ-FM (97.3) has produced a ton of e-mails and calls from listeners both angry and happy about the '80s rock that has replaced the more sedate music. The angry reaction - roughly two-thirds of the responses - falls into half a dozen categories + With WEMP-AM (1250) going all-sports in the weeks ahead, some of the weekend ethnic and specialty programming is heading elsewhere on the dial (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

The world's largest Christian broadcasting network responded Wednesday to recent news articles about its operations and once again denied a claim by a former employee that he had a homosexual affair with its founder. The Trinity Broadcasting Network issued a press release claiming that articles published by the Los Angeles Times over the past week failed to accurately depict the Costa Mesa-based organization in a fair light. "The newspaper's publisher has its own agenda," said TBN spokesperson Colby May. "Its reporting has been selective and subjective." The Times did not immediately provide a response late Wednesday night to the network's statements (read more - KFWB)

A Valley radio station is betting that some listeners are ready to move a little left of center, as liberal talk network Air America Radio arrives today. "I know Arizona has changed since 1964," says humorist and political commentator Al Franken, whose show is one of the network's flagships. "Phoenix has a lot of conservatives, but we find a lot of liberals in every place we air and that conservatives also tune us in."
Air America programming began airing at midnight on KXXT-AM (1010) (read more - Arizona Republic)

Star and Buc Wild may have moved one step closer to New York this week when Clear Channel said they'll do mornings at Philadelphia's WUSL (98.9 FM) in addition to Hartford's WPHH (104.1 FM).
It's widely felt that Channel next wants to put them on WWPR (105.1 FM) here. But nothing can happen at least until next week, because Emmis Radio, owner of rival WQHT (97.1 FM), last Friday secured a 10-day temporary restraining order from U.S. Southern District Judge Kimba Wood (read more - David Hinckley)

Reality TV host Charles Gant is in jail accused of pretending to be Osama bin Laden and threatening attacks on "Australian pigs". The threats were allegedly made this month in a series of bizarre calls from Mr Gant's mobile phone to media outlets and government offices.
He also claimed to be "the God of Islam", "al-Qaida" and "Allah", and warned of more Jakarta-style attacks on Australian embassies in Malaysia and Singapore, a Gold Coast court was told yesterday (read more - Herald Sun-Australia)

Remember low-power FM radio? You are forgiven for not recalling; deployment of the service has moved at a glacial speed. Low-power FM stations are what the name suggests -- limited-range, non-commercial broadcasters. LPFM was opposed by established broadcasters who said the dial was too crowded to accommodate new stations that likely would interfere with their own signals. LPFM advocates say the existing broadcasters simply didn't want the competition and that they'll provide the local content most radio stations have given up (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)

Sir Elton John warmed up his vocal chords for a concert Thursday in Taiwan by telling photographers they're a bunch of "rude, vile pigs."  The media ambushed the rock star after he arrived by private plane Thursday shortly after midnight at Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. John was angry that police allegedly did not properly restrain the pack and protect him "from the ensuing chaos," a statement issued by the singer said (read more - CTV)

Billionaire Mark Cuban has been beaten badly by his arch-rival Donald Trump — but he's not going away quietly. The brash young owner of the Dallas Mavericks told PAGE SIX's Fernando Gil that Trump isn't a very good businessman and that he's starring in "The Apprentice" because he needs the money. Trump started the hostilities last week on CNBC's "Squawk Box" when he trashed Cuban's very similar ABC show, "The Benefactor," which drew just 4.5 million viewers with its first episode. "The Apprentice" had 15.9 million viewers last week. "I saw 'The Benefactor,' " Trump said. "I thought it was absolutely terrible. I thought Mark was terrible . . . They really tanked, so I doubt they can finish out the season." (read more - NY Post)

Nearly two-thirds of parents in a new survey want the government to place tighter controls on sex and violence on television, researchers said Thursday. Federal law bars radio and non-cable television stations from airing references to sexual and excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. But that anti-indecency standard is only enforced when a complaint is filed with federal regulators, triggering a review and possible fines by the Federal Communications Commission. And the law doesn't address violence (read more - CBS News)

As a homegrown Santa Cruz County conservative, Brian Maloney was accustomed to occasionally ruffling some political feathers without backing down. He isn’t wavering now either, less than a week he was ousted as a talk show host from CBS Radio affiliate KIRO in Seattle. Maloney said he was fired Friday after saying CBS newsman Dan Rather should be fired, or forced to retire, over the credibility of memos regarding President George Bush’s National Guard service that were the basis of a "60 Minutes" news story. (Rather apologized this week.) Maloney believes that was the reason he was canned (read more - Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Kevin Cruise is returning to Triad Broadcasting, after being fired in January, as the afternoon disc jockey on 97.9, WCPR. After being fired by Triad Broadcasting in January after what was termed as "a professional disagreement," radio personality Kevin Cruise is returning to the company as an afternoon disc jockey on WCPR beginning Monday (read more - Biloxi Sun Herald)

Originally designed for drivers cruising down highways, satellite radio technology is now available in boom box-like devices that can be carried from room to room and taken outdoors to the back yard, the park and beyond. The PlayDockXM is a particularly grand way to go. Designed to work with Delphi's Roady XM Satellite Radio receivers, the Cambridge SoundWorks' portable amplified speaker system produces sounds that are far richer than those coming from a typical boom box. And because the system picks up satellite signals from XM Satellite Radio's 100-plus digital channels, the offerings are more diverse (read more - USA Today)

CBS News appointed former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press chief executive Louis Boccardi to investigate what went wrong with its story on President Bush's service in the National Guard. Thornburgh is a former two-term governor of Pennsylvania and served as attorney general in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Boccardi retired last year as president and chief executive officer for The Associated Press. He served on the panel that probed operations at The New York Times following the Jayson Blair scandal (read more - Twin Falls News)

Midcontinent Media announced it has sold all five of its radio stations in Sioux Falls, including the original KELO-AM to Backyard Broadcasting of Maryland. For many of the employees, today's announcement marks the end of an era. "It's an emotional decision as well as a business decision for our chairman, Larry Bentson and he shared that with staff today, this will be the first time that he's out of the broadcasting business since he was in the 7th grade," said Tom Simmons of Midcontinent Media (read more - Keloland TV)

ARBitrends for Baltimore, Fredericksburg VA, San Francisco, San Jose, Springfield MA, St. Louis and Washington DC (read 'em)

This past Saturday’s exclusive air talent seminar: The Conclave’s TalenTrak 2004, attracted top talent to the Holiday Inn Select/ City Centre Lakeshore in Cleveland where attendees learned valuable lessons on how to stand out from the crowd! The one-day event provided a peak into what attendees can expect when the Conclave Learning Conference convenes to celebrate 30 years at Conclave XXX: Hard Core Radio in Minneapolis from July 21-24, 2005 (visit the Conclave)

J Paul Slavens says Ten Hands worked because of his burgeoning music sophistication, the abilities of the countless young instrumentalists with whom he worked, and a man who, every weeknight on the local public radio station 90.1-FM/KERA, played weird music. DJ Chris Douridas was later lured to Santa Monica’s public station to enliven the influential “Morning Becomes Eclectic” format and then moved on to a series of corporate gigs with music and film companies. But during the 1980s, as KERA program director, Douridas taught the best kind of “Intro to Music” course from the studios in Dallas with the unlikeliest play list imaginable (read more - FW Weekly)

Jeffrey A. Citron, chairman and CEO of Vonage will be the guest speaker at the upcoming Museum of Television and Radio Boardroom Luncheon. Mr. Citron's address will highlight Vonage's growth and leadership in the broadband telephony industry and the Company's plans to remain competitive in light of RBOCs and MSOs entering the market (read more)

Has radio gone to hell in a handbasket? Find out on Oct. 28 at the Long Island Coalition for Fair Broadcasting's Connection Day, where popular New York radio personality Bob Buchmann will deliver a no-holds-barred luncheon address. Buchmann is program director and on-air personality at Q104.3, WAXQ, New York's only classic rock station (read more)

Salem Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:SALM), the leading radio broadcaster focused on religious and family themes programming, announced the appointment of Ron Walters to the position of Vice President, National Program Development and Ministry Relations.  Walters will have responsibility for managing Salem Communications' relationships with all its national ministry clients. A seasoned Salem Communications professional, Walters currently serves as Vice President of Church Relations (read more)

Longtime North Texas radio-TV personality "Shootin' Jim Newton" has died.  More details soon

It's like giving a baby a loaded gun, and former Boston shock jocks Opie (Gregg Hughes) and Anthony (Anthony Cumia) know it. They return to the airwaves Oct. 4 after a two-year suspension with a daily 6-10 a.m. show on XM Satellite Radio, and their new bosses told them to go crazy. ``We told them, `Do you really want to tell us that? Do you realize the damage we can do?' '' Opie said yesterday. The pair will celebrate their return to radio with a meet-and-greet at the Big Easy at 1 Boylston Place from 5-7 p.m. Friday. XM is offering a pre-order deal.  Order by September 30, 2004 and you'll get Opie & Anthony for all of October at no additional charge (read more - Dean Johnson-Boston Herald)

CBS News appointed former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press chief executive Louis Boccardi to investigate what went wrong with its story on President Bush's service in the National Guard.  Thornburgh is a former two-term governor of Pennsylvania and served as attorney general in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Boccardi retired last year as president and chief executive officer for The Associated Press. He served on the panel that probed operations at The New York Times following the Jayson Blair scandal (read more)

Sheila Stewart, one of the best-known personalities in Charlotte's urban radio universe, was fired Tuesday by Infinity Broadcasting after a decade as news and public affairs director for WPEG FM ("Power 98" 97.9). Stewart said she was told she had violated policy by sending a letter on company stationery about a high school dance she was organizing for her private Sheila Stewart Education Foundation (read more - Charlotte Observer)

A former Trinity Broadcasting Network employee who was paid $425,000 to keep quiet about his claims of a homosexual tryst with televangelist Paul Crouch has disclosed details of his complaint, saying that he had felt forced to engage in the alleged sexual acts to keep his job. Enoch Lonnie Ford, 41, said he was going public with his story because he believes TBN officials breached a confidentiality agreement that was part of a 1998 settlement that provided the payment to him. Network officials broke the agreement, he contends, by issuing a statement last week responding to a news account of the ministry's legal effort to silence him. TBN's statement described the circumstances of the settlement and highlighted Ford's criminal background (read more - LA Times)

Bobby Ocean adds KFRC to his station imaging list that includes  other recent additions of 93Q Syracuse, Magic 102.7 Miami, Oldies 107.5 Houston and Mega 97.9 Fresno (visit www.bobbyocean.com) 

John Farneda, music director at WXRT-FM (93.1), has been promoted to operations manager of the Infinity Broadcasting adult rocker + Dave Berner, who was an award-winning reporter and news anchor at WBBM-AM (780) and the former WMAQ, has joined the faculty of Columbia College's radio department (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Terry Gross remembers the time John Burnett, National Public Radio's Southwest correspondent, interviewed a Texas prison inmate with a swastika tattoo whose library included Aryan Brotherhood literature and a copy of "Mein Kampf." "You're from NPR?" the inmate said. "I like Terry Gross." Which goes to show, muses Gross - host of NPR's civilized afternoon program "Fresh Air" - "that with public radio, you never know who's listening." (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Public radio listeners, at least those familiar with Garrison Keillor's imaginary American Duct Tape Council, will find humor in the fact the indestructible tape kept Mississippi Public Broadcasting on the air in southern counties during Hurricane Ivan. When Mississippi was a likely target, MPB officials had to make a decision: Concentrate on the WMAH-19 TV antenna taken off the air two days earlier for repairs or shore up the 90.3 FM radio antenna on the same tower near McHenry (read more - Biloxi Sun Herald)

Dale Sommers, "The Truckin' Bozo," will host a new show exclusively on XM Satellite Radio. Sommers was set to appear solely on XM's trucker channel Open Road (XM Channel 171). The new show marks Sommers' long-awaited return to radio following a summer hiatus. XM's Open Road is an all-trucker radio station. In addition to Dale Sommers, Open Road carries well-known trucking industry broadcasters such as Bill Mack, Dave Nemo, and Steve Sommers, Dale's son (read more - ETrucker)

A war of words has erupted within the halls of "60 Minutes" following Dan Rather's admission that CBS News aired a report on President Bush using questionable documents. On one side of the battle is Steve Kroft, a veteran correspondent on the Sunday edition of "60 Minutes." On the other is Don Hewitt, founder of the pioneering newsmagazine (read more - Richard Huff - NY Daily News)

ARBitrends for Akron   Boston   Detroit   Hartford    Philadelphia   Riverside-San Bernadino   San Diego (read 'em)

Longtime Dallas-Fort Worth TV personality Scott Sams has left WFAA-TV.  Official words from station manager Kathy Klements: "We appreciate Scott's years of service to WFAA and wish him well. We decided to go in a different direction in the mornings – and therefore we met with Scott and mutually agreed that it's time we part ways" (visit WFAA)

Clear Channel Radio's online auction on www.StormAid.com, which featured 45 celebrity-signed guitars and 100% of the proceeds from the auction will be distributed to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, concluded on September 20th at 3:00 p.m. and raised $79,175. Combined with efforts by local Clear Channel stations, Clear Channel Radio has raised more than $740,000 through radiothons and fundraisers, which have gone directly the American Red Cross in support of disaster relief, which benefits the victims of hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan and thousand of other disaster victims across the country each year (visit www.stormaid.com)

The race for President of the United States continued to tighten during the last two weeks, as President Bush continued his long, hard slog back toward parity with Democratic challenger John Kerry, throwing the race into a virtual dead heat, the latest package of polls by Zogby Interactive shows. Based on individual polls conducted simultaneously Sept. 13-17 in 20 battleground states, neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Kerry holds a clear-cut lead in enough states to win the Electoral College votes required to capture the White House (read more - Zogby Poll)

The fallout from CBS's doomed story about President Bush's National Guard service most endangers a woman few viewers know but who played a key role in two of the biggest television stories of the year. Mary Mapes, a veteran producer at CBS News, reported most of the National Guard story, including obtaining the documents CBS now says it can't authenticate. She also passed on the phone number of her source, former Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, to the Kerry campaign. Mapes, 48, was described by colleagues on Tuesday as a dogged and talented journalist who made no secret of her liberal political beliefs. She's only a few months removed from a career-defining highlight. Mapes took a story that had received little attention _ the abuse of prisoners by American soldiers in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison _ and unearthed the photos that gave the story its visceral impact (read more - Rapid City Journal)  (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

"Country Music's Biggest Night(TM)" is getting bigger with the announcement today that seven-time CMA Awards nominee Alan Jackson will perform when "The 38th Annual CMA Awards" airs at 8:00 PM/EST, Tuesday, Nov. 9 on the CBS Television Network live from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn. Joining Jackson on the list of performers will be five-time nominees Kenny Chesney and Gretchen Wilson (read more)

The late Douglas Adams, creator of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, will be heard in the first new radio adaptation of his work in 25 years. He recorded the part of Agrajag in his home studio 18 months before he died in 2001, aged 49. Digital technology will be used to include his voice in a 14-part adaptation of the final three Hitchhiker books on BBC Radio 4 (read more - BBC)

A programmer who recently left WCBS-FM (101.1) says that despite changing demographics and growing competition, there's still a viable market for the long-running oldies station. Mel Phillips, who oversaw special programming at WCBS-FM for 6-1/2 years under Joe McCoy, was formerly program director at WXLO and WNBC. He left WCBS-FM after McCoy's departure this summer and says he's looking for another gig around the city, where his wife is a school principal (read more - David Hinckley)

Univision Radio announced the launch of "Tu Voz en Washington," a national weekly Sunday morning public affairs and open microphone program which will air LIVE starting this Sunday, September 26th from 11:00 AM to 12 Noon (ET) on RadioCadena Univision, Univision Radio's AM Network. "Tu Voz en Washington" will be moderated by veteran Univision Network News Washington Correspondent Lourdes Meluza and will originate from Univision Network's Washington News Bureau. RadioCadena Univision can be heard in ten markets including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Chicago and Las Vegas (read more)

Commercial radio executives have fired a shot across the bows of media regulator Ofcom with a staunch defence of their public service credentials in an industry survey. The amount of news on commercial radio had increased by 60% since a similar study four years ago, and regulators should take note of their commitment to public service, the broadcasters said. The study was carried out among 218 stations for up to six weeks. It was published yesterday ahead of an Ofcom review of analogue and digital radio in November. "It is too narrow to define public service broadcasting as that which television or just the BBC transmits. The value and importance of the work of 280 commercial radio stations across the UK is significant," said Paul Brown, chief execu tive of the Commercial Radio Companies Association (read more - The Guardian U.K.)

Ray Wilkinson, who worked for WRAL-TV and Capitol Broadcasting Company, received one of North Carolina's highest honors -- the Old North State Award for his service to the community (read more - WRAL)

Clear Channel, the US radio giant headed outside the US by Roger Parry, is closely monitoring the £700m merger talks between Capital Radio and GWR. Industry sources said Clear Channel could launch a bid for the enlarged group if the deal passes regulatory hurdles. Meanwhile, confirmation of the merger talks sent radio stocks higher as further consolidation in the sector was forecast (read more - The Independent U.K.)

570 KLAC's Gary Owens book, "How to Make a Million Dollars With Your Voice (or Lose Your Tonsils Trying)" is on sale now.  So is his CD with Jonathan Winters.  Gary will be inducted along with others into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame on October 30th in San Antonio (click here to read more or buy the book) (click here to visit the Texas Radio Hall of Fame Web site for ticket info)
 

CBS arranged for a confidential source to talk with Joe Lockhart, a top aide to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, after the source provided the network with the now-disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard. At Burkett's request, we gave his (telephone) number to the campaign," said Betsy West, senior CBS News vice president  (read more - USA Today)

David Edward Smith Smith is now fighting the settlement that wiped Emmis' slate clean with the FCC in exchange for a $300,000 "voluntary payment." Smith is the Chicago-based crusader who filed dozens of complaints against Mancow Muller, morning host on Emmis-owned WKQX-FM (101.1) + Clancy Woods, former senior president of Infinity Broadcasting, has been named president of Sporting News Radio, the north suburban-based sports radio network. He succeeds Chris Brennan, who was forced out last June (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Repeat after me: The debates are crucial. But which debates? The three that Bush and Kerry just agreed to, beginning in nine days (whatever happened to the Bush camp's insistence that they'd only do two? Was that traded for making foreign policy the first subject?) The debate over Iraq? The debate over Dan Rather? The debate over whether the Democrats had anything to do with the "60 Minutes" story? The debate over Kerry's Purple Hearts vs. Bush's non-appearance at a Guard physical? (read more - Howard Kurtz-Washington Post) 

"It's that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions," the aging American journalist told the British television audience. In June 2002, Dan Rather looked old, defeated, making a confession he dare not speak on American TV about the deadly censorship -- and self-censorship -- which had seized U.S. newsrooms. After September 11, news on the U.S. tube was bound and gagged. Any reporter who stepped out of line, he said, would be professionally lynched as un-American. "It's an obscene comparison," he said, "but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be necklaced here. You will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck." No U.S. reporter who values his neck or career will "bore in on the tough questions." Dan said all these things to a British audience (read more - Guerilla News)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Some conservative radio talk-show hosts in Seattle are disputing the contention of fellow talker Brian Maloney, who claims he was fired by CBS-affiliate KIRO because of critical comments about network news anchor Dan Rather. David Boze of KTTH in Seattle asserted Maloney's version of events, as reported by WND Saturday, has "as many holes in it as Dan Rather's infamous memos." (read more - WorldNet Daily)  (read more - Jeanne Jakle/San Antonio Express-News)

ARBitrends for New York Los Angeles Chicago Nassau Middlesex Westchester (read 'em)

When classical music station KRTS-FM bit the dust last week, The Stevens and Cleverley Show also vanished. The Stevens and Cleverley Show was about restaurants, hotels, travel, theater and, ah, the good life. "Mark (Stevens) and I are committed to continuing the show on radio, and we're currently in talks," said Cleverley Stone. "Ironically there's a TV station in town that wants to put our show on the air. So you may see us before you hear us. Stay tuned; we'll be right back." (read more - Ken Hoffman/Houston Chronicle)

Milwaukee's radio dial picked up an '80s music format at 6 a.m. Monday when WLTQ-FM (97.3) began its new lineup with "You Can Still Rock in America" by Night Ranger. That was just the start of 10,000 commercial-free songs as the ratings-challenged "light" rock format transformed itself into "The Brew: Rock of '80s." (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

When he wasn’t preparing his own home and family for the seemingly constant onslaught of hurricanes over the past several weeks, Orlando based, syndicated evening talk host, Mike Schiano, was providing live updates around the clock as a guest on several radio shows across the country. Stations including KTSA, San Antonio, WIBC Indianapolis, KAHI, Sacramento, WWIB Chippewa Falls, KAKC Tulsa, and the Louisiana Radio network enhanced their coverage of the hurricanes by interviewing Mike. As a veteran journalist, Mike brought insight and facts on the economic and personal devastation that was taking place; as a resident of Central Florida, he brought the unique perspective of someone facing unprecedented natural disaster to the radio broadcasts (visit the Mike Schiano Show)

CBS News apologized Monday for a "mistake in judgment" in its story questioning President Bush's National Guard service. The network claimed it was misled by the source of documents that several experts have dismissed as fakes. CBS said it would appoint an independent panel to look at its reporting about the memos. The story has mushroomed into a major media scandal, threatening the reputations of CBS News and chief anchor Dan Rather (read more - Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Rush Limbaugh denounced the Travis County Democratic Party on Thursday in a broadcast implicating the organization in a case involving allegedly fraudulent National Guard memos undermining President Bush's service. TCDP issued a statement Friday denying Limbaugh's allegations. "I must say I had a good laugh," TCDP Chair Chris Elliott said in the statement. "I can state without hesitation that the Travis County Democratic Party played no role in the matter." Elliott said he thought Limbaugh's implications were "ridiculous." "I don't consider Rush Limbaugh to be a credible news source," Elliott said.  (read more - The Daily Texan)

Fans of the Seattle music pop station Kiss 106.1 FM usually have to sit through an array of disc-jockey antics and advertising between listening to favorite artists like Avril Levigne and Ashlee Simpson. But not anymore. As part of its much-touted new MSN Music offering, Microsoft Corp. is testing a Web-based radio service that mimics nearly 1,000 local radio stations, alllowing users to hear a version of their favorite radio station with far fewer interruptions. It's a move analysts say is annoying, but not seriously threatening, the stations (read more - Allison Linn/Seattle P-I)

The big news in yesterday's mea culpa by CBS News isn't that the network was "misled" about "documents whose authenticity is in doubt," as it was finally forced to concede. The story is the admission that the source Dan Rather trusted with CBS's reputation was none other than Bill Burkett, a noted antagonist of President Bush. Journalists--including us--use all manner of sources, of course, and many of them are partisans of one kind or another. But as much as possible we owe readers an indication of where those sources are coming from. And if those sources turn out to be wrong, as they sometimes are, then our obligation is to own up to the error as soon as possible (read more - Wall Street Journal)

Rush Limbaugh may have just ruined CNN for me. The conservative talk-show host is a fixture on the radio, not TV, but recent news about the combative commentator has colored the way I feel about the cable news network and one of its popular anchors, Daryn Kagan. It seems that the lovely Ms. Kagan, host of CNN Live Today, has been seen in the company of the bellicose Mr. Limbaugh, and a spokesman for the partisan pundit confirms that the twosome are, in fact, an item. I think I speak for a lot of American women when I say, "Ewwwwwww." Politics aside, I just can't seem to think of the irascible radio personality as dating material. This is, after all, a man who once opined that "feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream"  (read more - Kim Harwell-Dallas News)

The parking lot of Sam's Club in Bellevue was a beacon of hope for victims of Hurricane Ivan on Monday. Nashville Clear Channel radio stations have been collecting donations to send to the Gulf Coast throughout the day (read more - News 2 Nashville)

U.S. television broadcasters on Monday labeled as inadequate planned legislation to ensure millions of consumers can still watch television once broadcasters begin airing only in digital. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain plans to offer a bill on Tuesday that would require broadcasters to only air the new, crisp digital television signals by 2009 and would subsidize the cost for those consumers who rely on traditional television to see those signals (read more - Reuters)

Dear Radio Babe, In response to your Monday column about storm coverage on Sarasota radio… I think it's a serious issue that has been ignored for too long. No. 1 -- You were 1,000 percent on the money about 970 WFLA. They covered both Charley cleanup info and Frances info from Citrus County to Charlotte County and over to Hardee. They are the experts at this kind of coverage and the ONLY station I know in the entire area with back-up plans should they lose total power and a back-up broadcasting area should they have to leave the Gandy Boulevard building. They covered it all. If anyone didn't hear the area they live in, you can call and ask (read more - Dawn Scire - The Radio Babe)

A student disc jockey who was fired after celebrating Ronald Reagan's death on his radio show has his job back, and no regrets about his comments. Scott Hornyak was reinstated Monday as business manager of the University of Alaska Fairbanks radio station. According to the university, he's to be back on the air Tuesday morning. Hornyak, who is known as "Spider-Bui" to listeners of KSUA-FM, said on his June 6 radio show that he wanted to "walk over the newly laid dirt" on Reagan's grave and that he was sick of the media glorifying the ex-president (read more - NBC 4)

Davis will have a new local radio station on Friday, when KDRT (101.5 FM) signs on. The new signal is a "low-power" station that will operate under the umbrella of Davis Community Television. Broadcasting will begin on Friday at 6 p.m., when Mayor Ruth Asmundson throws a symbolic switch as the new station goes on the air (read more Davis Enterprise)

The AFLAC Duck has been inducted into the Advertising Walk of Fame in New York as one of America's favorite brand icons. The spokesduck is among five finalists chosen by online voters as one of the most beloved advertising symbols and will be honored with an image-enshrined sidewalk plaque at 50th Street and Madison Avenue in New York City (read more - Atlanta Biz Journal)

CBS News said Monday it cannot prove the authenticity of documents used in a 60 Minutes story about President Bush's National Guard service and that airing the story was a "mistake" that CBS regretted. CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, the reporter of the original story, apologized. CBS News claimed a source had misled the network on the documents' origins. The network pledged "an independent review of the process by which the report was prepared and broadcast to help determine what actions need to be taken." In a statement, CBS said former Texas Guard official Bill Burkett "has acknowledged that he provided the now-disputed documents" and "admits that he deliberately misled the CBS News producer working on the report, giving her a false account of the documents' origins to protect a promise of confidentiality to the actual source." (read more - CBS News)  (Statement of Dan Rather)  (read NY Times)

KIRO-AM's general manager yesterday disputed allegations that the weekly "Brian Maloney Show" was canceled because of comments Maloney made about CBS newsman Dan Rather.  Maloney said Saturday that he was fired for criticizing Rather's handling of challenges to the credibility of memos aired on "60 Minutes II" about President Bush's National Guard service. Station manager Ken Berry said that wasn't the issue (read more - Seattle P-I)  (read previous report - Seattle PI)

While a suspension keeps Howard Eskin from bothering people on his 610 WIP show, nothing stopped him from chewing the ears off Hollywood stars at an Emmy party in Beverly Hills. The other night at Spago, Eskin chatted withthe likes of Kim Cattrall, Anne Heche, Tony Shalhoub, Edie Falco, Bonnie Hunt, Jeffrey Tambor and West Catholic grad Peter Boyle. Eskin's old pal Steve Mosko, formerly of Fox 29 and WB-17, is to thank for the invitation (read more - Dan Gross-Philly Daily News)

Salem Radio Network, a division of Salem Communications  announced this morning that it has signed the 100th affiliate for Bill Bennett’s Morning in America, the network’s new nationally-syndicated morning show hosted by former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett. MIA hit the 100-affiliate mark in less than six months, making it one of the fastest-growing programs in national radio today. Cumulus-owned KRMD-AM in Shreveport, LA is Bennett’s 100th affiliate (visit Salem)

Bush Continues To Hold Slim Lead Over Kerry (46%-43%); President Widens the Gap In the War on Terrorism (75%-19%)- While Kerry Leads On Other Top Issues, New Zogby America Poll Reveals With just 44 days to go before voters cast their ballots, President George W. Bush continues to hold a slim lead over Senator John Kerry (46%-43%), according to a new Zogby America poll. The telephone poll of 1066 likely voters was conducted from Friday through Sunday (September 17-19, 2004). Overall results have a margin of sampling error of +/-3.1% (read more - Zogby Poll)    You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Commercial radio giants GWR and Capital Radio have confirmed they are in talks over a possible merger. A marriage between the two would create an enlarged group with a market value of around £710m, bringing Capital FM and Classic FM under the same roof.
The companies gave a joint statement after recent speculation in the press that a deal was imminent. "A further announcement will be made as appropriate in due course," the groups said on Sunday (read more - BBC)

Televangelist Paul Crouch often blames Satan for the difficulties he encountered building Trinity Broadcasting Network into the world's largest Christian broadcaster. But the most serious challenge TBN has faced was from an earthly source: the Federal Communications Commission. In 1995, the agency ruled that Crouch had created a "sham" minority company to circumvent limits on the number of television stations his network could own.  Crouch told viewers that the ruling, if allowed to stand, would prevent TBN from acquiring two new stations and, worse, would jeopardize the station licenses it already held (read more - LA Times)  (read more LA Times 2)

Like many others, Bob Frederick finds it extremely frustrating that there is no full-time commercial radio station serving this area's multimillion-member Caribbean community. Unlike most others, the 1ong-time WLIB veteran known as "Spice Man" was in a position to do something about it (read more - David Hinckley)

From thousands of independent media outlets during Walter Lippmann's heyday in the middle of the past century, media ownership dropped to only 50 companies by 1983. Today what was a concern has become a nightmare: The majority of our media are controlled by just five companies. Consider the frightening loss of diversity in media voices: • Less than 20 percent of our newspapers are independent and locally owned. • In just the past decade, the 10 largest owners of local television stations have tripled the number of stations they own. • About one-third of the population now listens to radio stations owned by a single company (read more -Frank A Blethen-Washington Post)

From Claude Hall Online -- After I got married and began work on Billboard, I got to know Greenwich Village quite well.  I loved the Cafe au Go Go.  Great music there.  And phenomenal ice cream.  One of best jars of ice cream ever compiled; four flavors (Barbara, a Woody Allen fan, remembers the ice cream, not the music).  No booze at the Cafe au Go Go.  Always enjoyed the performances of Richie Havens.  Fred Neil.  Paul Butterfield and his Blues Band (I think I caught them here; used to hear them frequently at the Town Hall in mid- town where I also caught the Weavers, Ian and Sylvia, etc.).  Here, I caught the Cream in their first performance in the United States.  Here I caught both versions of the Blood, Sweat and Tears...their initial unveilings by Al Kooper.  Here, I heard the Paupers, which never happened on disc, wipe out the Jefferson Airplane. Here, Al Grossman once sent a flunky over to tell me that I couldn't take a picture of him (I was shooting the crowd); I don't remember what I told the flunky, but I probably wouldn't print it here anyway + e-mails from Rick Frio, Katherine Josenhans, DJ Frasier, Pat Randle and more (read it all at  www.claudehallonline.com)

If a stopped clock is right twice a day, why shouldn't Bill O'Reilly be right at least once in a blue moon? When Fox News's most self-infatuated star attacked CNN for keeping James Carville and Paul Begala as hosts on "Crossfire" after they had joined the Kerry campaign, he fingered yet another symptom of the decline and fall of the American news culture. "In the wake of the vicious attacks on Fox News for allegedly being `G.O.P. TV,' I expected the media to brutally dismember CNN and the new boys on John Kerry's bus," Mr. O'Reilly wrote in his syndicated column. "But instead it's been the silence of the lambs from the press. Can you say media bias?" Yes, you can, though it must be said in the same breath that Mr. O'Reilly is only half-right. Fox News isn't "allegedly" G.O.P. TV — it is G.O.P. TV (read more - Frank Rich-NY Times)

Over the last 31 years, Paul Crouch and his wife, Jan, have parlayed their viewers' small expressions of faith into a worldwide broadcasting empire — and a life of luxury. The network, little known outside fundamentalist Christian circles, was buffeted by unwanted publicity last week, when The Times reported that Crouch had paid a former employee $425,000 to keep silent about an alleged homosexual tryst. In the U.S. alone, TBN is watched by more than 5 million households each week, more than its three main competitors combined. Its signature offering, "Praise the Lord," has as many prime-time viewers as Chris Matthews' "Hardball" on MSNBC — remarkable for a faith network. Televangelists who once dominated the field, such as Pat Robertson, now air their shows on TBN (read more - LA Times)

From Chicago Ed -- The lady with the strange first name blew into town in 85' to host a local morning TV show and in just under twenty years she has become a TV star, movie star, winner of numerous honors and awards, owner of a successful production company, the richest woman in the entertainment industry and the distinction of joining the Forbes list of billionaires. This sounds more like a movie than a real life. She joined me on my WGN radio show several times shortly after her arrival. She was warm, friendly and in love with her new city. I sensed a hard worker, but the richest woman in show biz someday? Oprah's 19th season on daytime television began with a show that was plugged, promoted and publicized like a second coming (read it all at www.chicagoed.com)

President Bush's mother defended her son's service in the Texas Air National Guard, saying "the truth was, he served." "That's really true," Barbara Bush said in an interview Saturday with The Dallas Morning News. "So, that doesn't bother me at all." Still, the former first lady said she was surprised at the harsh allegations hurled her son's way in his campaign for re-election against Democrat John Kerry. "It's nasty," she said. "It bothers me because good people aren't going to run." (read more - Dallas Morning News) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

From Larry Stoler -- On Friday September 10, 2004, I attended a four hour program at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York, City.  The participants were Max Kinkel along with special guests Dan Ingram and Joe Franklin. The program came about as the result of a Fourth of July broadcast which featured Max Kinkel AKA SuperMax on WODI in Brookneal, Virginia.  Tony DeNicola, one of the owners of the radio station, arranged for this broadcast to take place.  The show was a live six hour recreation of CKLW the Big 8 in Windsor, Ontario, complete with some of the original jingles from the days of the Drake format on that station (read more from Larry Stoler)

Laura Nachman is a "very Brady" lady. She runs an award-winning Web site -- www.bradyresidence.com -- devoted to the popular 1970s TV sitcom "The Brady Bunch," from her Delaware County home. Nachman has taken her love for TV and made it into a career. She writes a local TV column for the Bucks County Courier-Times and appears occasionally as a TV critic on the CN8 cable network’s "Your Morning Show." Her articles also run occasionally in the Delaware County Daily Times (read more - Delco Daily Times)

The owner of Rhode Island's 6-year-old public radio station plans to sell the station, angering donors and disappointing public radio listeners. Boston University announced Friday that WRNI-AM, which broadcasts at 1290 AM from Providence and 1230 AM from Westerly, will be up for sale. The general manager of WRNI's parent station, WBUR in Boston, said her hope is that a group of Rhode Islanders purchase the station and continue to offer National Public Radio programming (read more - SouthCoast Today)

During its early years, the former Trenton radio station WTTM seemed to attract on-air talent that belied its relatively small size and modest power. The station hired people (mostly men back then) who were reaching for stardom as their ultimate goal, and saw in the management and ownership a dedication to quality broadcasting, which was rarely found in the helter-skelter world of commercial AM broadcasting during the 1940s and '50s To this day, many Trenton area residents remember the clever fun favored by Ernie Kovacs; the serious, stentorian tones of John Scott who went on to fame at WOR in New York; and the light but intelligent chatter of Jack Barry, who disgraced himself and the industry when he rigged his huge TV hit "Twenty One." He was on his way up again when he dropped dead in Central Park while jogging (read more - The Times)

After years of wrangling, negotiation and setbacks, free over-the-air radio is slowly making the transition to in-band, on-channel technology (IBOC). Clear Channel plans to convert 1,000 of its 1,200 stations within three years, while third-ranked Cox Radio and fourth-place Entercom promise 80% of their stations will be digital within four years. (read more - Reuters)

The world's largest Christian broadcasting network denied a report that its founder has sought repeatedly to prevent a former male employee from going public with allegations of a sexual encounter between them in 1996. Paul Crouch, 70, president of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, reached a $425,000 settlement in 1998 with the former worker, Enoch Lonnie Ford, who contended that he had been unjustly fired from the network and threatened to sue. Crouch later won a closed-door arbitrator's ruling against Ford, 41, when he tried to violate a provision of the settlement that barred him from discussing the alleged encounter (read more - Washington Post)

For the Library of American Broadcasting’s (LAB) second annual “Giants” luncheon, a capacity crowd gathered at the Grand Hyatt in New York to honor broadcast pioneers Ralph Baruch, John R. Gambling, Don Hewitt, Ed McLaughlin, Pierre “Pepe” Sutton, Marlo Thomas and Mike Wallace, who were in attendance, and Merv Griffin who participated via videotape. As the “Giants of Broadcasting” were being honored by the LAB, host for the afternoon, Charles Osgood (CBS News Sunday Morning and The Osgood File) pointed out the import of the library noting that it “is the industry’s attic…where we store all things too precious to throw away...(and) it is the industry’s historian, keeping the record of everything that has happened to these two great media (radio and television) since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.” Broadcasting legends Roone Arledge, James Cox, Fred W. Friendly, John B. Gambling and John A. Gambling, Shari Lewis, Don McNeill, Jack Paar, Tony Randall, Todd Storz and Danny Thomas, who are no longer with us, were also honored (read more)

While the city doesn't have a full-time Caribbean radio station, producers and hosts at several stations are raising money for relief from the hurricanes that have battered the islands over the last month. Independent producers on WRTN (93.5 FM) are holding a "Hurricane Ivan Relief Radiothon" today, 11:30 a.m.-midnight, with a show from Cox Nissan at 4001 Boston Road, corner of Dyer Ave., in the Bronx (read more - David Hinckley)

A judge set court dates Friday for two radio personalities who face felony charges for allegedly distributing pornography to a 16-year-old boy during a June 27th gay pride parade. Phillip Beard and Christine Brown, of Little Rock, were charged with possessing and distributing pornographic materials (read more - KATV 7)

Jose Ramon likes to think he's extending a helping hand to the Latino community via the airwaves. Ramon, 32, is the morning show host at KBBX (97.7 FM), Omaha's only commercial Spanish-language radio station. It's a responsibility Ramon takes seriously (read more - Omaha World-Herald)

"Newstalk 950 WROC-AM changed its format to feature liberal talk show hosts. We want to make it clear to News 8 Now viewers that WROC-TV and WROC-AM are two separate entities," said WROC-TV. WROC-AM is owned by Entercom Radio (read more - WROC-TV)

Salem Communications has announced that Chuck Jewell has been named General Manager of stations KKHT-AM (1070 AM) and KTEK-AM (1110 AM) according to Rob Adair, Vice President of Operations (read more)

A liberal media watchdog group is accusing PBS of "pandering" to conservatives through its introduction of several new programs that feature conservative hosts, writers and editors. "Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered," which debuts Friday night and features conservative CNN pundit Tucker Carlson, "The Journal Editorial Report," which features writers and editors from the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and a planned program featuring conservative talk show host Michael Medved will be added to the Public Broadcasting Service's lineup. Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) complains that the shows are an attempt to balance out public television's "alleged liberal bias." (read more - CNS)

CC McCartney Voice Imaging of Nashville announces the signing of Texas Radio Hall of Fame member and Radio legend Barry Kaye to it's roster of imaging voices. Barry Kaye has a storied career including stints at KHJ Hollywood, KGB San Doego, and KILT Houston. Barry will be available for imaging in the Spring of 2005 (visit CC McCartney Voice Imaging)

Just as Jeremiah Trotter and Hugh Douglas returned to their former employer, the Eagles, after unsuccessful stints elsewhere, former WIP 610-AM host Mike Missanelli was back at his old station this week to substitute for former partner Howard Eskin, who was suspended as part of the Richard Sprague defamation lawsuit settlement. Missanelli left WIP in 2003 to become a rock disc jockey on WMMR 93.3-FM, but the sports-rock lasted only a year, before he was let go at the beginning of the summer. With former tough-guy program director Tom Bigby gone to a radio station in Dallas, would Missanelli be willing to pull a Trotter/Douglas permanently? "All I'm doing is filling in," said the Bristol native, who is also working Eagles pregame shows. "I am open to all options. I know there are no slots open at WIP." (read more - Laura Nachman)

Sirius Trucking Network debuted former trucker Tim Brady's new radio show last week during the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas. Brady's show, Driven 4 Profits, is based on his book of the same name and features discussion of business and financial issues that affect owner-operators and company drivers. Topics include taxes, accounting, business planning and preventive maintenance. The show is expected to begin at its regular time (8 p.m. to 10 p.m. CST) before the end of the year (read more - etrucker.com)

TBN President and founder Paul Crouch has emphatically denied the accusations leveled at him by former disgruntled TBN employee, Enoch Lonnie Ford. In a show of solidarity, Christian leaders from around the world have sent e-mails, faxes and have called in their support and prayers for Dr. Crouch, reports Susan Zahn, WDC Media, TBN's publicist. "This heartfelt outpouring of support has been nonstop from both ministry leaders and the public at large," announced Zahn "People see this for what it is, a malicious, false claim designed to harm Dr. Crouch and TBN with the intent to extract money. But the prayers of the TBN family are being answered," said Paul Crouch Jr (read more)

A suspicious package forced the evacuation of the offices of KTSA and its FM counterpart KSRX on Thursday after a man left a backpack and said that police would have fun looking through it. A police bomb squad unit used explosives to blow up the backpack. Inside the backpack, police found several objects but nothing dangerous (read more - San Antonio Express-News)

Michael D. Eisner may have quelled speculation about his future last week, but the board of Walt Disney will have to answer several tough questions about the company's future in the weeks and months to come. Directors will start to grapple with the immediate issues of succession when they meet in Burbank, Calif., on Sunday for the first time since Mr. Eisner announced that he would step down as chief executive when his contract expired in 2006 (read more - NY Times)

Willie Davis' 25 years of Milwaukee broadcasting will be marked with the unveiling of the "All-Pro Wall of Fame". It will be aired live on Davis' WMCS-AM (1290). . . . Cindy Zganjar McDowell, the market manager for Clear Channel Radio's six Milwaukee stations, was named Clear Channel executive of the year + more (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

Soldiers from a Fort Carson combat unit say they have been issued an ultimatum - re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq. Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last Thursday, said two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're getting out, you're not," he said. The brigade's presentation outraged many soldiers who are close to fulfilling their obligation and are looking forward to civilian life, the sergeant said. "We have a whole platoon who refuses to sign," he said (read more - Rocky Mountain News-Dick Foster)   You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Viva International announced that Legends Production Company  has signed a national and international radio syndication agreement with "Sports ByLine" radio network. Under the syndication agreement, twice weekly programming of "Legends on Sports and other stuff" radio talk-show will be broadcast to over 50 US station affiliates, in addition to Armed Forces Radio and "Sirius Satellite Radio" network as well as Sirius subscribers on EchoStar's "Dish Network."  (read more)

From KentBurkhart.com -- I was having lunch in Dallas last week with broadcasters Marty Greenburg, Michael Spears, and George G. Before we began our business conversation I mentioned that hurricane Ivan might be looking at Florida to join cousins Charley and Frances. Marty said, “I don’t know why anyone would live there…with that threat all the time”. And I responded, “Because the other 364 days of the year are so beautiful”. Since then I have had some time to think about both statements, and I have come to the conclusion that I must be crazy!!!!  (read more - www.kentburkhart.com)

Adelaide talkback radio host Leon Byner's failure to disclose personal sponsorship arrangements breached broadcasting laws, the Australian Broadcasting Authority said today. The ABA said it had found 15 breaches of the commercial radio standards involving popular 5AA announcer Mr Byner. They included 12 occasions between October 7 and December 18, 2003 when Mr Byner failed to make disclosure announcements when he interviewed his personal sponsors (read more - Adelaide Advertiser)

95.5 KLOS personalities Cynthia Fox and Joe Reiling will participate in the California Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 18 from 9AM-noon at Santa Monica Beach just north of the Pier. Coastal Cleanup Day is a nationally organized effort and is the premiere volunteer event focused on preserving the marine environment (visit KLOS)

From Sonny Melendrez -- Formats come and formats go.  Some say there is nothing new in radio.  I disagree.  What if you built a radio station that went against all the rules?  A station that presented the largest segment of the audience, Baby Boomers, with the greatest music of their generation.  And what if you appealed to their children and  their parents?  Imagine seniors enjoying the same songs as their grandchildren or 30 something's grooving to that music at the office.  And, visualize teenagers fascinated by the kind of radio they have never heard. That's right, at least 3 generations connected by good clean radio and the "greatest music of all-time."  What a concept. This is what I am proud to say we built on KLUP Radio in San Antonio (read more - Sonny Melendrez)

That radio restaurant show is back. And on Saturday, it's our show. Radio host Jim White of Dallas is in his 10th year talking about restaurants and wine on a weekly show, now on KLIF/570 AM. Each week, he devotes a segment to Star Time and the restaurant news from Fort Worth, Arlington and Tarrant County. But this week, he's away at a charity event. So Eats and Drinks With Jim White will become an Eats Beat talk show (read more - Bud Kennedy/Star-Telegram)

From JimRoseOnline.com -- Buddy Holly made such a tremendous mark in music in such a short 21 year time frame before his tragic plane crash during that bitter cold 1959 winter flight over North Dakota.  The bands were on their way to put on a performance. The bus was frozen over. BUDDY leased a small private airplane.  Buddy, the Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson and Richie Valens were the three chosen for that fatal flight. The Big Bopper was truly large. He was a Dee Jay at my alma mater in Beaumont, KTRM.  Waylon Jennings, a guitar pickin' member of the troupe, was a Lubbock Dee Jay (read more - JimRoseOnline.com)

A state appeals court Thursday ruled an out-of-work racetrack announcer who paid a radio station to let him host a talk show must repay unemployment benefits even though he was not paid for the air time. John Bothe lost his appeal of a state board's decision telling him to repay $605.50 in benefits paid between April and July while he hosted the weekly radio show for free (read more - The Buffalo News)

Ralph Wendel Wright, better known to many as Mike Rivers, Mike Donahue and Ed Richards has passed away.  He dominated the airwaves from 1967-1970 at The Big 8 CKLW Windsor-Detroit.  He worked at KVIL in Dallas-Fort Worth, as well as at stations in Austin, Oklahoma City and Philadelphia (read more from Art Vuolo)  (read more from Steve Eberhart)

A new talk radio station has opened in the Iraqi capital Baghdad that for the first time, lets callers vent their frustrations at government officials over everything from trash pick-up to the continuing violence. It is called Radio Dijla and it is making waves across the capital and beyond (read more - Voice of America)

Al Rantel talks with Kitty Kelley and Newt Gingrich on KABC 790 (visit KABC)

CBS curmudgeon Andy Rooney indicated yesterday he believes the controversial documents on President Bush's National Guard service are fake and said it could cost Dan Rather down the road.
"I'm surprised at their reluctance to concede they're wrong," Rooney said, referring to CBS brass. Despite praising Rather as "a good, honest newsman," Rooney added, "I'm unsure if they're whistling in the dark instead of apologizing." (read more - Paul D. Colford-NY Daily News)

Former WCBS/Ch. 2 anchor Gerry Grant this week was moved to a work-release center for sex-offender treatment after spending two years and a month in the Texas prison system. In August 2002, he was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty of possession of child porn. Meanwhile, one-time Ch. 2 weatherman David Rogers was released from prison after serving four months for a mowing down two highway workers while driving drunk in Cleveland. At the time of the July 2003 incident, he was still employed by Ch.2 (read more - Richard Huff - NY Daily News)

By now, most sports fans have seen footage of Wednesday's melee at Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland ... Jennifer Bueno stands dazed and bloodied after a chair hurled by Rangers reliever Frank Francisco hit her in the face. Thursday, her husband Craig Bueno and their lawyer joined Jeff Rickard on Sporting News Radio's The Jeff Rickard Show to discuss speculation that he and other fans crossed the line when heckling the Texas bullpen, something Bueno flatly denies (read more - Sporting News)

On Feb. 12, 1996, I picked up a phone at CBS News in New York and called Dan Rather, who was in Des Moines covering the Iowa caucuses. It was a call that I--then a CBS correspondent--wasn't anxious to make. I'd written an op-ed for this page about liberal bias in the news that was going to run the next day. I knew I had to give Dan a heads up. "I wrote a piece for the Journal, Dan, and my guess is you won't be ecstatic about it." (read more - Bernard Goldberg - Wall Street Journal)

Republican William Bennett and Democrat Howard Dean will debate opposing political ideologies and key issues that will determine the upcoming Presidential election on Thursday, September 30, in Portland, Maine. The titled "The Maine Event," begins at 1 p.m. at the Holiday Inn By the Bay. Bennett currently hosts a syndicated radio show, "Bill Bennett's Morning in America." (read more)

Denise Plante and Scott Patrick seem like nice people. Attractive, outgoing, play well together. They're co-hosts of "Colorado & Co.," KUSA-Channel 9's hour-long happy-talk infomercial that debuted Monday and airs at 10 a.m. weekdays. After watching the show, I feel like the three of us are buddies. Mind if I call you "Denny" and "Scotty"? (read more - Dick Kreck)

After trying out consultants for the era of digitalisation and migration from the present set-up, broadcast and cable regulator, Telecom Regulatory of Authority of India (Trai), now wants to engage consultants for satellite radio broadcast to advise it on a policy framework for the segment. Trai has invited expressions of interest from reputed consulting firms by 1 October, 2004. Presently, worldover, there are three satellite digital radio systems, which are in operation. These are World Space, XM Radio and Sirius Radio. The three systems are capable of individually providing about hundred radio channels of digital quality. World Space, through the western beam of its Asiastar satellite is providing about 40 radio channels over the Indian sub-continent. The satellite digital radio has great potential for India due to its large size, Trai feels (read more - Indian Television)

Boston Red Sox fans in the Ellsworth area have had to "get their Sox on" from another radio source for the last month with Ellsworth station WDEA (1370 AM) off the air. "We lost our main transmitter [at noon on Aug. 19] and at the same time, our backup failed," said WDEA general manager Tom Preble. "And because it's one of the best-sounding AM signals in the area, we didn't want to rush to replace it." (read more - Bangor Daily News)

HarperCollins Children’s Book Group, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, signed a two-book deal with news analyst Cokie Roberts. The first book will be a picture book for kids based on Ms. Roberts’ adult bestseller, “Founding Mothers: the Women who Raised our Nation” (read more - Crains NY)

Charter Communications announced the resignation of Margaret A. "Maggie" Bellville, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, effective September 30, 2004. "We have appreciated Maggie's positive contributions over the past two years, and respect her decision to depart the Company," said Carl Vogel, President and Chief Executive Officer (read more)

Clear Channel Communications Inc. moved to strengthen its hold in Hispanic broadcasting with a plan to convert up to 25 stations to Spanish-language programming in the next 12 to 18 months. "The Hispanic radio audience remains largely underserved, especially outside the largest markets," said John Hogan, chief executive officer of Clear Channel's radio division (read more - Reuters)

It's pop quiz time. Question: You're a radio morning host, and a guy calls the studio and says he's thinking about killing himself. Do you (a) Call the suicide prevention hotline; (b) Call the police; or (c) Talk to the man on the air. If you answered (a) or (b), well, you sure don't belong in broadcasting. Consider what happened Monday morning when a man named "Greg" called A.J. Machado, host of "A.J.'s Playhouse" on Channel 933, and said he wanted to kill himself by jumping off a bridge. Machado brought in Dave Rickards, co-host of KGB's "Dave, Shelly & Chainsaw," to help, and after about 30-45 minutes, Greg found himself live on the air, talking about his emotional breakdown after a run-in with an armed car burglar nearly cost him his life. "I've got that feeling again, Dave," the man said ominously at one point (read more - Randy Dotinga-North County Times)

Radio listeners looking for on-demand access to talk and music programs might want to consider a new Internet service that records radio shows. Like a kind of TiVo for Internet radio, AudioFeast can be set to save hundreds of shows, from "Washington Journal" to "Stamp Talk," and manage their transfer onto certain audio players. AudioFeast carries news, weather, business and entertainment programs from dozens of media partners, including National Public Radio, the Arts and Entertainment Network, and The Wall Street Journal (read more - NY Times)

U.S. broadcasters could do more in terms of election coverage as part of their public interest responsibilities, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said Wednesday. Citing a "public interest expectation" of political content in programming, Powell said in a press conference that "The question is: Do (broadcasters) do enough?" "We believe they could do a bit more," he added, noting that broadcasters are "potentially taking a pretty woeful step" (read more - Dow Jones)

Back in the '80s, Todd Pettengill is saying, "I remember people listening to the radio and saying, 'This music is so forgettable.' Now it's totally the opposite. People look back and say this music was amazing." He's got a point. No one beats up on the '80s they way they beat up on, say, the '70s. With Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, the Police, rap, new wave and punk, the decade in retrospect created some mighty lively radio.
That makes a new retro radio show called "Saturday Night at the '80s" a very logical thing, and Pettengill, who grew up in the '80s, a very logical host (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Tom Clendening returns to Entercom talk stations KIRO-AM and KTTH-AM today as program director with a big question mark in the middle of KIRO's schedule. With former morning host Dave Ross a primary winner in his race for Congress, Clendening will have to wait until November to see if Ross will be elected to office or return to the airwaves + KTTH-AM (770) has tweaked its schedule, carrying Michael Savage 3-6 p.m. weekdays and moving Bill O'Reilly to 6-8 p.m (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)

CBS anchor Dan Rather acknowledged for the first time yesterday that there are serious questions about the authenticity of the documents he used to question President Bush's National Guard record last week on "60 Minutes." "If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story," Rather said in an interview last night. "Any time I'm wrong, I want to be right out front and say, 'Folks, this is what went wrong and how it went wrong.' " Rather spoke after interviewing the secretary to Bush's former squadron commander, who told him that the memos attributed to her late boss are fake -- but that they reflect the commander's belief that Bush was receiving preferential treatment to escape some of his Guard commitments (read more - Howard Kurtz-Washington Post) (read more - NY Post)

The Armed Forces Radio Network, an online streaming radio station dedicated to providing broadcast quality radio and information to the personnel of all divisions of the armed forces, police, and firefighters at home and around the world, has decided to raise and distribute funds to help those families “torn apart to defend America”. The Armed Forces Radio Network will provide funding for Housing, Medical, Scholarships, and many other needs to the families of armed forces members who have been killed or critically injured in the line of duty, as well as for victims of crime, terrorism, fires, and accidental death (read more)

From CBS 60 Minutes Wednesday -- “Did or did not Lt. Bush take a physical as ordered by Col. Killian,” Dan Rather asked Killian's secretary, Marian Carr Knox. “The last time, no he didn’t,” says Knox. “It was a big no-no to not follow orders. And I can’t remember anyone refusing to. Now for instance, with the physical, every officer knew that before his birthday he was supposed to have that flying physical. Once in a while they might be late, but there would be a good excuse for it and let the commander know and try to set up a date for a make-up. If they did not take that physical, they were off flying status until they did.”  Did Knox ever hear Killian talk about this, or did he write memos about Bush not taking the physical?  “He was upset about it. That was one of the reasons why he wrote a memo directing him to go take the physical,” says Knox. “I’m going to say this, but it seems to me that Bush felt that he was above reproach.” (read more - CBS 60 Minutes Wednesday)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Agents from the Federal Communications Commission raided a pirate radio station Wednesday in Knoxville. The three FCC officials were accompanied by three U.S. marshals when they closed down the station called Knoxville First Amendment Radio and confiscated all its equipment (read more - WATE TV)

The last official day of broadcasting as the local radio station K-BUC was actually Saturday, September 11, but you may still find the sounds echoing on your radio at 95.7 FM. Now sold to Border Media Partners, the signal will soon be carrying Hispanic programming. BMP already owns a large number of South Texas radio station and includes larger stations in Austin and Laredo. One of the aims of the group is to become the largest Hispanic group of stations in the nation (read more - Pleasanton Express)

A group of the largest US email providers filed six joint lawsuits against hundreds of spammers yesterday in a rare moment of corporate cooperation. AOL, EarthLink, Microsoft, and Yahoo! filed the suits under the recently enacted Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003, accusing major spammers in California, Virginia, and Washington of misleading consumers and illegally sending unsolicited email (read more - Connected Home Magazine)

Renegade Talk Radio welcomes comedian and voice artist Jim Florentine on Thursday, September 16, 2004. Jim will be featured on Scotch & Water at 4 PM Pacific Standard Time. Call in live, toll-free at 866-473-2170 with questions, comments or opinions. The forum is open; callers can ask anything. On Renegade, nothing is taboo. Renegade Talk Radio (www.renegadetalkradio.com) continues to make a splash in cyberspace with their brand of true cybershock radio. Renegade Talk Radio has visitors from over 50 countries and the international audience is growing every day (read more)

A former Cleveland weatherman received shock probation Wednesday, and was released from prison after serving four months of a drunk driving sentence. David Rogers was sentenced in May to 10 months in prison for running down two construction workers and leaving the scene of an accident. Rogers admitted to driving drunk through a construction zone on Interstate 480 and the Jennings Freeway on July 10, 2003 (read more - News Net 5)

Documents allegedly written by a deceased officer that raised questions about President Bush's service with the Texas Air National Guard bore markings showing they had been faxed to CBS News from a Kinko's copy shop in Abilene, Tex., according to another former Guard officer who was shown the records by the network. The markings provide one piece of evidence suggesting a source for the documents, whose authenticity has been hotly disputed since CBS aired them in a "60 Minutes" broadcast Sept. 8 (read more - Washington Post)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Having trouble with viruses through your Microsoft Internet Explorer?  Try downloading and using the free Firefox browser.  Open-source browsers Mozilla and Firefox have won over a significant number of defectors from Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the past nine months, Web site metrics suggest.  The gains for Firefox, which was released in a version 1.0 preview on Tuesday, and for Mozilla are most noticeable at Web sites popular by geek-chic early adopters (read more - ZDNET)

The Wall Street Journal will begin publishing on Saturday (read more - Crains NY)

You couldn't visit a radio or internet-related web site Tuesday without seeing the headline "Yahoo Buys Musicmatch for $160 Million." Welcome to the new world of radio, even if it really isn't "radio" as you know it. Today the fight for the online music audience is wrapped up in four names: AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, and Apple. It's these four companies that will drain the at-work and at-home audience from local radio because they are becoming ingrained in the minds of 18-24 year olds as an alternative to the Clear Channels of the world. One reason the online crowd is moving toward these four online music sources is their ability to promote. Among them, they reach upwards of 85% of those who use the internet. It's time for radio groups to fight back using the same ability to spread the word, and by altering the typical broadcast radio mindset for using the internet (read more - Audio Graphics)

Johnny Ramone, guitarist and co-founder of the punk band The Ramones, has died. He was 55. He had battled prostate cancer for five years (read more - CBS News)

Tuesday, September 21 is "Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day," a HHS-ABC Radio Networks campaign recently announced by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. The campaign is designed to reduce health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities by encouraging individuals to go to a doctor or health professional for a health screening. Joining with Secretary Thompson to lead the effort for the third year is Chairperson Tom Joyner, nationally syndicated radio personality and host of the ABC Radio Network’s Tom Joyner Morning Show (visit Tom Joyner's Web site)

"Bush's Brain", the film from the book of the same name, debuts in selected theater on Friday, September 17.  From their movie's Web site:  "Many Washington insiders believe that the strength of the Bush machine lies not in its leader but in Karl Rove, the man who picked Bush to run for Governor of Texas, tutored him on the workings of government, and ran brilliant yet brutal campaigns that would eventually sweep Bush into the Presidency. In Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, readers will enter the powerful world of White House Senior Advisor Karl Rove and learn how this man created George W" (visit the Web site)  (click here to view the movie's trailer in QuickTime video) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Olin Terry (O.T.) a talented corporate meeting producer, mentor to many, and friend to all, recently passed away in his hotel room while on a show in Montreal.  Born an only child in Mineral Wells, Texas in 1929, on scholarship to SMU, received his Degree in Theology. While at SMU he, along with Aaron Spelling and others, founded KSMU, the campus radio station. Olin worked as program manager for radio stations in Detroit and Amarillo before taking a pay cut to switch to television and a job at Channel 11 in Dallas (read more-OlinTerry.com)

After more than a year of litigation, an arbitration panel has unanimously ruled that EchoStar Communications Corp. (DISH Network) violated its contract with direct broadcast satellite (DBS) licensee Dominion Video Satellite Inc., owner-operator of Sky Angel, the nation's only faith-based direct-to-home satellite television service and the country's oldest DBS company. The order will enable Dominion to move forward with plans to expand its multi-channel Sky Angel programming service into more U.S. homes and locations while laying the groundwork to deliver the service internationally. The 36-channel Sky Angel package is available nationwide for $11.99 per month or $119.90 per year through a small satellite dish and will work alongside or without another television service. A free information video is available at www.skyangel.com   (read more - Broadcast Newsroom)

CBS News' Bob Schieffer said Tuesday he hopes the network does more reporting to definitively prove the authenticity of memos 60 Minutes II received about President Bush's service in the Air National Guard. "I think we have to find some way to show our viewers they are not forgeries,'' Schieffer, CBS' chief Washington correspondent and host of the network's "Face the Nation,'' said at a news conference in Sioux City. "I don't know how we're going to do that without violating the confidentiality of sources'' (read more - Sioux City Journal)

If you think you've heard the last of David Edward Smith and his crusade to rid the airwaves of indecency, guess again. Ready or not, he's back. Before approving a consent decree last month that essentially wiped the slate clean for Emmis (and cleared the way for renewal of its station licenses), the FCC had been pursuing dozens of indecency complaints against Q-101 and "Mancow's Morning Madhouse" filed by Smith and his Chicago-based Citizens for Community Values. On Tuesday, Smith announced that he was challenging the legality of the settlement, arguing that the FCC had overstepped its authority (read more - Feder of Chicago)

XM Satellite Radio announced the introduction of XM Radio Online, a premium Internet music service to debut in early October. As part of the launch, eligible Dell customers who purchase Dell Inspiron notebook and Dimension desktop computers will receive a special trial offer for the commercial-free online music service (read more)

So there it is, exposed for all to see on the front page of yesterday's Washington Post. The total cost of Bush's proposals at the Republican convention -- permanent tax cuts, prescription drugs, rural health clinics, the whole shmear -- is "likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion over a decade." This from a guy who's been hammering Kerry for proposing a mere $2 trillion in programs (a figure Kerry denies, just as the Bush camp disputes the $3 trillion). So will this now become the subject of endless cable debates, blogosphere posts and newspaper investigations? The conservative president, the apostle of limited government, is revealed as a Big Spender? Nah. The chatter is still about IBM Selectrics and Kitty Kelley. Whether we spend ourselves into bankruptcy: Booorring. Whether the candidates are over promising: Yadda yadda yadda. After all, there are no secret sources, no coke-at-Camp-David allegations, no 1972 documents with a raised "th." That's what media people like to argue about. Maybe the campaign coverage will turn serious at some point (read more - Media Notes-Howard Kurtz) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Big changes are in store for the on-air shifts at WXKS-FM (107.9). Longtime DJs Artie the One Man Party and Ed McMann are out, and the new personalities include Deirdre Degata, who jumped from sister station WJMN-FM (94.5) to handle the 10 a.m.-3 p.m. shift, and Kory, a former New Haven DJ who will man the 7-11 p.m. shift. Current WXKS-FM personality Romeo will be the station's 3-7 p.m. personality (read more - Dean Johnson-Boston Herald)

Martha Stewart surrendered to start serving her prison sentence as soon as possible, in a move aimed at bringing some stability to her company (read more - Crains NY Business) (read more- Washington Post)

Election officials in Binghamton are hailing a local radio talk show host as a hero. They said it was Tony Russell's sharp knife that got things moving at a local polling place (read more Capital News)

NBC’s Tom Brokaw will deliver the keynote address at the Radio-Television News Directors Association’s Awards Dinner next month in New York. RTNDA will honor winners of the Edward R. Murrow Awards and the RTNDA/UNITY Awards on October 4 at the Grand Hyatt New York (read more - RTNDA)

Lex & Terry will debut in  Louisville, KY Monday, Sept 20th as the new morning show on WLRS, owned by Radio One (visit Lex and Terry)

The moving sign is up at Sinclair Communications, where two of its radio stations are scheduled to swap frequencies Sept. 23. The recently launched WPYA-FM, now heard on 106.1 Bob-FM, will move to 93.7. That frequency has been occupied by WKCK-FM or Kick FM, which in a previous incarnation was WKOC-FM, The Coast. Kick will take 106.1 (read more - Virginian Pilot)

MSNBC may be flagging in the cable news ratings war, but it does have a No. 1 ranking in Keith Olbermann. Playgirl magazine's tallies are in and it looks like the anchorman's robust campaigning has earned him the highly coveted sexiest male newscaster title. Winning nearly a quarter of the 50,000 votes cast, Olbermann beat Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity and CNN's Anderson Cooper, who placed second and third, respectively. Fox's Shepard Smith was fourth, and "60 Minutes's" Andy Rooney and CNN's Bill Hemmer tied for fifth place (read more - Reliable Source)

Several million Americans recently lost power when Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances came ashore in Florida. The refrigerator stopped working, the televisions went off, and air conditioning was no longer able to keep people cool from the summer heat. Unless you like to read books, you realize how few things there are to do without electricity.  However, Sirius Satellite Radio helped many find entertainment with their portable boombox. "They work GREAT!! I had no signal dropout, I had the tunes cranked sitting in garage, the neighbors came by just for some entertainment. One word of advice, fix the antenna well outside and buy a load of batteries" said one Sirius subscriber from Florida about how he dealt with the Hurricane Frances (read more)

Tribune Co. lowered its third-quarter earnings estimate Wednesday, saying publishing and broadcasting revenues were lower than anticipated (read more - Journal Gazette)

A man charged with raping and murdering a 12-year-old neighbor told two television stations that he would like to give the girl's father a chance to kill him. I did the wrong thing," John McGuckin told WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids on Monday. "I wish I could take it back, but I can't." (read more WAVE 3 TV)

"Enough is enough," Mark Greenberg says. "We keep waiting for the cash to come in. When it does, it seems they always have to make new growth acquisitions. And the real return to investors hasn't been that great." He's part of a growing army of disillusioned Wall Streeters hoping to force media giants, including Time Warner, Viacom and Comcast, to scale back the extravagant ambitions that for more than a decade made them so intriguing — but not lucrative for shareholders (read more - USA Today)

In the 8th district congressional race, radio talk-show host Ross outpaced Bellevue interior designer Heidi Behrens-Benedict and retired high-tech businessman Alex Alben. Ross credited hard-working volunteers and the appeal of his message, in addition to the fame he brought to the race (read more - Seattle Times)

An all-sports format is, indeed, coming to WEMP-AM (1250), but Entercom Milwaukee market manager Ray Quinn can't say just when + Audra Evans, late of WRIT-FM (95.7), has resurfaced doing part-time on-air work at smooth jazz WJZI-FM (93.3). She's filling in this week on the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. shift + more (read more Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest U.S. radio station chain, is expected to tap the corporate bond market with a $500 million debt sale as early as Wednesday, dealers said (read more - Reuters)

Moshannon Valley Broadcasting, owner of Philipsburg radio stations WPHB-AM and WUBZ-FM, has confirmed that both stations will be purchased for more than $2 million by Magnum Broadcasting of Warren. "It was an offer that we could not refuse," Laura S. Mack, co-owner of Moshannon Valley Broadcasting and manager of the stations, said Tuesday (read more - Centre Daily Times)

Can ABC trump Trump? That's the question as ABC News' revamped newsmagazine "Primetime Live" takes on "The Apprentice" star and business icon in his own time slot. "Primetime Live" kicks off its new season at 10 p.m. with a lengthy segment on Donald Trump. The piece promises to look behind the self-styled billionaire's finances and his life beyond his new TV career. ABC promotional materials say the show attempts to discover "the real deal" about Trump, with interviews with critics and his ex-wife Marla Maples. The "Primetime Live" piece hasn't thrilled the Donald, who thinks that ABC wants to ride the "Apprentice" wave (read more - Reuters)

Sirius Satellite Radio on-air host Grandmaster Flash, with his former group the Furious Five, are semifinalists in the nominations to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. They are the first rap artists to be nominated for inclusion. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were nominated along with U2, Randy Newman, Percy Sledge, The Pretenders, ABBA, Jeff Beck, The Harptones, The O'Jays, Kraftwerk, Ringo Starr, Buddy Guy, the late Conway Twitty and others (visit Sirius Radio)

This has been a busy year for Maria Shriver, the NBC News correspondent of Kennedy clan fame whose movie-idol husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was elected governor of California 11 months ago.  Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Shriver marks her return to television with an hour-long look at the recovery of Roy Horn, the Las Vegas performer who was mauled and nearly killed by one of his tigers last fall (read more Peter Johnson-USA Today)

Syndicated columnist Robert Novak apparently believes that the principle of not revealing confidential sources is rather flexible. The man who has stood on this principle for months, in deflecting calls for him to identify who in the Bush administration "outed" CIA operative Valerie Plame, said this weekend on national television that CBS should release the name of its source for the documents at the center of the dispute over its recent program on President Bush's National Guard service. On the CNN panel show, "Capital Gang," Novak expressed grave doubts about the CBS documents, then said: "I'd like CBS, at this point, to say where they got these documents from. They didn't get them from a CIA agent. I don't believe there was any laws involved. I don't think we'll have a special prosecutor, if they tell. I think they should say where they got these documents because I thought it was a very poor job of reporting by CBS ...." (read more - Editor and Publisher)

Millionaires — in some cases billionaires — all, men with enough money and clout to do whatever they wanted. They had gathered at a news conference in October 2003 to show their support for a foundation that was trying to buy KOCE-TV. With the support of these businessmen, raising funds for Orange County's PBS station seemed a cinch. But nearly a year later, the KOCE-TV Foundation still does not have the $7.9 million it needs to buy the station from the Coast Community College District (read more - LA Times)

ABC Radio Networks was recently recognized with eight awards by Radio Ink’s 2004 Reader’s Choice Awards for Network/Syndicated Programming. Each year, radio executives, managers, programmers, and marketing executives vote for their favorite personalities programs. Votes were submitted in thirteen categories, including Political Talk, Music, News and Sports (visit Radio Ink)

At the WBTM radio studios, Ned Richardson was the one constant. He was in the radio business for about 50 years - the past 48 at WBTM. Danville area residents have been buying and selling on his show “Trading Post” for 40 years. When the weather was too bad for him to drive to work, he walked. And in recent weeks, when his health was at its worse, he was still on the air. “That’s the kind of work ethic Ned always had,” WBTM program director Alex Vardavas said. “If he called in sick, you knew Ned was sick. That’s just the way he was.” Richardson, 77, died Sunday after a period of declining health (read more - Danville Register Bee)

On ABC NightLine: Today was one of the bloodiest days in Iraq in a long time. Almost 60 dead, well over a hundred injured. We see the pictures of fighting every day, tonight you'll hear from an ABC News producer who was embedded with the military during the worst of the Najaf fighting  (visit ABC NightLine)

ABC Radio will produce a special one-hour program celebrating television’s biggest night, the 2004 Emmy Awards, beginning Thursday September 16th. Hosted by Keith Carradine, star of the new fall ABC-TV comedy, “Complete Savages,” ABC News Radio’s Emmy Guide will be available for broadcast by affiliates all weekend, leading up to the awards show taking place live at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Sunday, September 19th (visit ABC Radio)

While the Christian community buzzed Monday about allegations that televangelist Paul Crouch had been involved in a homosexual tryst, Trinity Broadcasting Network officials said their leader would continue "God's call" as the network's president. They also said that Christian leaders from around the country offered private words of encouragement Monday for Crouch. He said the network received unsolicited backing from dozens of Christian leaders who called or e-mailed their support, including author Josh McDowell; Doug Wead, a onetime advisor to former President George H.W. Bush; and singers Pat Boone and Carman (read more - LA Times)

John Facenda Jr. has sued Campbell Soup Co. and an advertising firm over a Chunky Chili ad that allegedly misappropriates his late father's voice. Facenda charges in the federal court suit that the company spoke to him in May about using a "sound-alike" narrator in radio and television ads this NFL season, but later said they had were changing course. Campbell's spokesman John Faulkner said the commercial was voiced by a man with a similar - but "not a sound-alike" - voice. John Facenda Sr. was a prominent Philadelphia broadcaster who long served as the dramatic voice of NFL Films before his 1984 death (read more - Fort Wayne News-Sentinel)

Hard as it may be to believe, the Disney/ABC-owned news/talk station WLS could be on the verge of losing its morning-drive franchise --Don and Roma -- less than four months after its afternoon-drive duo imploded with the acrimonious exit of Garry Meier as Roe Conn's partner + Garry Lee Wright will be broadcasting his WGN-AM (720) weekend shows from Fort Collins, Colo., while his daughter, Amanda, remains hospitalized there. She was injured in an auto accident Aug. 26 in Laramie, Wyo (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Gospel and popular music have often had a wary relationship, despite their common roots and stylistic kinship. Not so at WRKS (98.7 FM), whose main musical turf is "old school and today's R&B," but which mixes daily gospel into a format that has lately become the hottest in New York. The most recent Arbitrend ratings put WRKS in second place with 5.1% of the audience, trailing only perennial leader WLTW (106.7 FM) at 5.6%. Back in early 2003, Kiss wasn't even in the top 10 (read more - David Hinckley)

You can forget about "Fahgeddaboutit!" as far as television catch phrases are concerned. According to a new list issued on Monday of top television buzzwords, the favourite expression from "The Sopranos" is so yesterday that it has been replaced by several new phrases this past TV season including Donald Trump's message to losers on "The Apprentice" -- "You're fired!" (read more - Reuters U.K.)

TVN Entertainment, a leading provider of on demand television programming, management and delivery solutions, announced today that Sundance Channel will provide encore presentations of Air America  Radio's The Al Franken Show exclusively for the Video On Demand (VOD) platform via TVN's TVNow rapid turnaround service (read more)

Fangs are bared at WSM-FM 95.5, newly branded as ''The Wolf.'' The Nashville country station, which has consistently languished in its rating category, repositioned itself at noon yesterday with a new music mix and a vow to overtake its competition. That doesn't just mean Nashville's other two FM country stations — WKDF and WSIX, which traditionally swap the top slot and leave WSM in their dust, according to John Sebastian, the station's new programming director. Sebastian is aiming for WJXA-FM, the ''lite rock'' format station, which consistently tops every other Nashville radio station (read more - The Tennessean) (read more - Nashville City Paper)

Yahoo Inc. is buying online jukebox provider Musicmatch Inc. for $160 million in a deal designed to broaden the Internet giant's appeal with the growing audience of consumers who buy songs off the Web. The all-cash acquisition, announced Tuesday, gives Sunnyvale-based Yahoo a major drawing card as it competes against the likes of Apple Computer Inc., RealNetworks Inc. and Napster in the rapidly growing field of digital music management (read more - Contra Costa Times)

If ever there was a workaholic, it's Larry Greene. He gets up at 2 a.m. to do the morning news on Channel 4, then does the noon news, does weather updates, does spots on KYGO 98.5-FM, and does the 4 p.m. news on Channel 4 on Fridays. He's also a regular as an emcee on the fundraising rubber-chicken circuit. He loves it, and he's good at it. "I still do 90 events a year. I don't charge a dime for any of them. They're trying to raise money. How can you go to them and say, 'I want some of that'?" (read more - Dick Kreck - Denver Post)

NBC Universal Chairman Robert Wright joked after hearing the news that "it's Eisner's job that I'm after." Wright was kidding, but for plenty of other media heavyweights, Disney's bombshell that its longtime CEO Michael Eisner will retire when his contract expires in 2006 is serious business. The surprise announcement will make the Hollywood parlor game of "who's on the rise" a little more interesting than usual. Indeed, the news was barely out before the Tinseltown rumor mill started buzzing about who would be a good choice to run the $30 billion-a-year media giant (read more - Mac News World)

View the video interviews of "Today" host Matt Lauer profiling controversial author Kitty Kelley as her new book "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty," is released + Kitty Kelley discusses the alleged cocaine use at Camp David + Lauer interviews Sharon Bush (visit and click at NBC Today)  

Record companies don't normally contact the AJC Buzz Central to discuss songs they're not making a buck off. That's what made Atlantic Records' recent e-mail missive unique. The label was touting "Dry Your Eyes," the unexpected, suddenly hot radio single by the Streets and Coldplay vocalist/celebrity shutterbug punch-out artist Chris Martin on 99X (read more - Peach Buzz)

I don't know if anyone has been paying attention to what is supposed to be local radio during this storm emergency. Local radio stations are doing virtually nothing to keep residents that may have lost power, and those without TV, abreast of current conditions. Simulcasting Channel 40 TV and their constant "look at this video," "look at this radar image" does nothing for radio listeners (read more - Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe-Sarasota Herald Tribune)

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein -- I want to hear directly about your experience with television and radio. I want your perspective on how well broadcasters are meeting the needs of your community. Are they providing sufficient coverage of issues of local concern, including local elections? Do you have enough choice in news sources? Are broadcasters providing sufficient family friendly programming? Are you hearing local artists played on the radio? (read more - Detroit Free)

Memorial services for Audrey Jane Malkan, a radio pioneer whose holdings included three Corpus Christi radio stations, will be at 3 p.m. Friday at the Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center.  Malkan died Aug. 29 in Decorah, Iowa, after a battle with cancer. She was 75.  Malkan’s career in radio began in 1965 when she and her husband Arnold Malkan moved from New York, bought a Fort Worth radio station and jumpstarted the Texas State Network, a group of interconnected radio stations across the state. The Malkans had owned and operated more than a dozen radio stations in Texas, Virginia, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee and Indiana (read more - Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

A consortium led by the Sony Corporation of America reached a tentative agreement yesterday to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Hollywood studio famous for James Bond and the Pink Panther, for about $4.8 billion in cash, snatching it from Time Warner at the 11th hour. The deal, which ends an auction that was filled with behind-the-scenes machinations for months, included one last surprise twist: Comcast, the cable giant, joined Sony's consortium as a strategic partner and a possible investor (read more - NY Times)

Sirius announced that Monday Night Football analyst and legendary NFL head coach John Madden has signed on with SIRIUS NFL Radio, the first 24/7 year-round radio channel devoted entirely to the NFL. Madden will serve as commentator on SIRIUS NFL Radio's Sunday pre- game program, The Stadium Tailgate Show (read more)

The Brazilian government wants to set up a broadcasting and television bureau to regulate television, video and broadcasting. This proposition was met by criticism, and the Ministry of Culture was forced to make concessions. These media-restricting policies are most directly aimed at repeated media reports about increasing corruption, including things such as the ruling party's manipulation of campaign funds. This Brazilian story should sound familiar to Taiwan's journalists and the Taiwanese public (read more - Taipei Times)

The eighth installment of the almost annual alternative rock concert X-Fest is headed back to where it began — Centennial Park. The concert will be held Thursday, Oct. 21. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. The concert is sponsored by 99X WJBX 99.3 FM (read more - News-Press)

The escalating battle for the votes of U.S. armed forces personnel is stoking congressional Democrats’ efforts to end what they see as a right-wing tilt on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services (AFRTS). They are focusing on the broadcast of Rush Limbaugh’s popular daily talk show and say that its inclusion without a left-leaning counterweight violates Department of Defense (DoD) guidelines to provide balanced political programming to active-duty military personnel in 177 countries (read more - The Hill)

President Bush may have gotten a "bump' in support during the GOP convention, but it's already dissipated. Once again, he's tied with Democrat John Kerry. That's the evidence emerging from daily tracks by the Rasmussen poll. And focus groups in 17 battleground states conducted by Democratic consultant Bob Beckel also suggest that Bush failed to decisively convert undecided voters. Polling 1,000 voters a night, Rasmussen found that Bush went into the Republican convention with a one-point lead, 47 percent to 46 percent, and came out Sept. 4 with a lead of 4.4 points, 49.1 percent to 44.7 percent. By Sept. 7, however, the race had slipped back to 47-47 (read more - Mort Kondracke) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Now it can be told. There was an ineligible player on at least one of those KMEN softabll teams of the 1960s. He was a ringer, actually. A teenage kid from San Bernardino named Chuck Street and he used to haunt the station at its old cow pasture site because he loved the hard-edged music its deejays played. So they gave him a glove and put him in the lineup. Most of those jocks have long sine disperseed to all parts of the country -- in at least one case, the world. And KMEN itself is no more.  Street, now Commander Chuck Street, the veteran traffic reporter/helicopter pilot for KIIS (102.7 FM), has been in the process of recreating it at a hangar in Fullerton. And he plans to bring the finished product to San Bernardino Monday (read more - San Bernadino Living)

The 13th Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference of the National Association of Black Telecommunications Professionals (NABTP) - will be held in Washington, D.C., September 16-18. The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) will present an intensive seminar on the FCC auction process. In light of the high interest level among small and minority entrepreneurs in FM Auction 37 and Wireless Auction 58, the seminar will cover both wireless and broadcast auctions (details, details)

Analyst David Bank of RBC Capital Markets expects most of the US-based radio broadcasting companies to report their 3Q 2004 results in-line with or marginally short of expectations (read more - New Ratings)

Jeff Britton loves to throw in all the bells, whistles and sound effects. If he needs a bird call and doesn’t have the right one, he does it himself. “It’s awful,” Britton said of his bird imitations. But the sometimes humorous result only adds to the “goofy neighbor, over-the-fence feel” of “Nature Trust,” the weekly, three-minute program he produces for local public radio station WBOI, 89.1-FM (read more - News Sentinel)

Screaming "Let's Go Huskies, Let's Go," 26 students in Jeff Beechler's fifth-grade classroom seemed a formidable kickball force against Wallace and Steve O'Brien, the DJs from 93.9 The Song WISG-FM. The students' Orange Crush team gave it their best shot but came out a little slushy in the end, losing by three points. To prepare for the game, O'Brien said, the men decided to eat like fifth-graders. "We've been eating tater tots, Twinkies and Ding Dongs," he joked (read more - The Noblesville Ledger)

A bold stroke by a Houston-based company could establish the U.S. as the first nation with digital mobile TV broadcasting based on DVB-H, or Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld, a system originally developed in Europe. Crown Castle's spectrum coup comes as portable television, radio, broadcast multimedia and wireless Internet services are all vying to reach handheld terminals for content delivery. The industry is facing a number of technology choices including GPRS, 3G, Digital Mobile Broadcast and DVB-H — a variation on the terrestrial digital TV standard (read more - EE Times)

As if the 2004 campaign for the presidency has not been dirty enough -- get ready for a 700-page book by America's most famous tabloid biographer that alleges illegal drug use and other youthful misdeeds by President George W. Bush. More than 700,000 copies of Kitty Kelley's "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty" are set to hit bookstores on Tuesday with the 62-year-old Kelley launching into a series of television interviews starting with three days on NBC's "Today Show." Despite sensational allegations and the heavy duty publicity accompanying the book, the mainstream U.S. press has been reluctant to delve into the claims, partly because of doubts about Kelley's reporting and partly because the Republican party has labeled the book fiction. The White House spokesman has called it garbage (read more - Reuters)

On ABC NightLine: 50 days to go until Election Day and we are entering the homestretch. At the moment, the President is enjoying a post-convention bounce, which happens to coincide with the traditional Labor Day launch of the campaign. This is the time when people are supposedly really focusing on the election for the first time. And what are the candidates talking about? National security. And also tonight, what are the political cartoonists saying about this election? (visit ABC NightLine)

The founder of the world's largest Christian broadcasting network has sought repeatedly to prevent a former male employee from going public with allegations of a sexual encounter between them eight years ago, a newspaper reported today. Paul Crouch, 70, president of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, reached a $425,000 settlement in 1998 with the former worker who threatened to sue over claims he had been unjustly fired from the network, the Los Angeles Times said (read LA Times) (read more - Star-Tribune)

Could The Wolf be sniffing at doors of WSM-FM? That’s the rumor swirling around the radio station’s anticipated announcement today of a new sound and logo for the Nashville country station. Trying to turn the tide for Nashville’s third-rated country station, Cumulus Broadcasting Inc. of Atlanta will unveil a host of changes, including a new on-air line-up and branding campaign, starting at noon today. Radio wags and bloggers have been floating the idea that WSM-FM 95.5 will be known as The Wolf, particularly since Cumulus registered the domain name www.955thewolf.com on Aug. 4. The Wolf is used as a moniker for some other stations, including an Internet radio station in Nashville and KPLX-FM in Dallas, a country station that mixes in Texas-based music (read more - Nashville City Paper)

Kate Delaney, the former "Sports Princess" at KRLD/1080 AM, begins a morning show today on KMSR/990 AM "Main Street Radio." She'll take the place of the Don Imus Show, which will vanish from Fort Worth-Dallas airwaves once again. Her sidekicks, oddly enough, will include vice president of operations Dave Marcum and general manager Jerry Overton (another KRLD alum) +   Classic-rock fans, have you been checking out KZPS' "15 Years in 15 Days" stunt? It started Tuesday, with 1967, and ends next week with 1981. Each day, the station plays music exclusively from one year, and while that makes for some weirdness -- Sonny & Cher and Bobbie Gentry on KZPS, home of the never-ending Pink Floyd/Led Zeppelin/ZZ Top rotation? (read more - Robert Philpot-Star-Telegram)

Mike Missanelli and Steve Fredericks are going back to WIP-AM (610). For a week, anyway. Missanelli - a WIP-er from 1992 until 2003, when he quit for a morning stint that ran 13 months on WMMR-FM (93.3) - will cohost today's pre-Eagles broadcast from 1 to 4 p.m. with Angelo Cataldi and Rhea Hughes. Missanelli, last heard on the air on June 4, also will cohost WIP's afternoon show (3 to 7) all this week with his old on-air partner, Fredericks, who's been lured out of retirement. Fredericks' last shift after 14 years on WIP was April 16. The two are filling in for Howard Eskin, who on Thursday began a 30-day suspension as part of a lawsuit settlement. Eskin is due back Oct. 14 (read more - Michael Klein-Philly Inquirer)

Talk-show host Randi Rhodes joined a new liberal network hoping to advance her career while shaking up this election season. But things haven't worked out exactly as planned.  Randi Rhodes always gets stage fright before she goes on the air, even after 20-odd years in radio, but this is not her usual pre-show panic; this is different. This, she says, lighting her umpteenth Parliament Light, is "the tensest day of my entire adult life." She managed to sleep, for the first time in several nights, only because "somebody took pity on me and gave me an Ambien." (read more - Washington Post-Paula Span)

Infinity Broadcasting's WIP learned a costly lesson when it settled for "substantial compensation" a defamation suit filed by super-attorney Richard Sprague against perennial loudmouth Howard Eskin, but broadcasters doubt it will have a chilling effect on what Philadelphians hear on the radio. The settlement prohibits revealing the monetary award, but chatter around WIP (610 AM) is that the payout is "huge." One station source tells me he heard it was over $1 million, maybe well over. Someone familiar with Sprague and his attorneys, Shanin Specter and Tom Kline, describes them as "seven-figure lawyers. They wouldn't settle for less." Specter discussed the case with me, but not the cash (read more - Stu Bykofsky-Philly Daily News)

Talk about a stunner. KABC/790 AM's Ken Minyard caught listeners by surprise the other day when he announced on the air that he will be retiring Oct. 15 + KLSX/97.1 FM is running NFL games Sundays. KBIG/104.3 FM's Charlie Tuna hosts a three-day radiothon starting Saturday to benefit the Children's Miracle Network. Comedian Elayne Boosler appears with Duncan Strauss on "Talking Animals," 9-10 a.m. Monday on KUCI/88.9 FM. Boosler has her own animal-assistance foundation, Tails of Joy (read more - Gary Lycan-OC Register)

From ClaudeHallOnline.com -- I tapped into Chuck Blore's website at www.chuckblore.com.  Blore's interview with George Wilson is rather unique, as well as quite interesting.  It's a legend interviewing a legend + e-mails from Gary Allyn, Karin Moss, Bruce Goss, Garvin Rutherford, Duane Kirkland, Burt Sherwood, Dale Tucker and more (visit www.claudehallonline.com)

XM Satellite Radio announced that it has launched a new channel, XM Emergency Alert (XM Channel 247), dedicated to providing critical, updated information before, during and after natural disasters, weather emergencies and other hazardous incidents to listeners across the country (read more)

Nostalgia station CKWW-AM (580) is cutting its programming to the bone this week. Most music host shifts have been lengthened to 6 hours. Weekdays, it's Charlie O'Brien 6 a.m.-noon; Wayne Stevens noon-6 p.m. and Robb Duncan 6 p.m.-midnight with an interruption for the "When Radio Was" syndicated show at 10 p.m. Gone from weekends are the syndicated "Big Bands, Ballads & Blues" and "Broadway's Biggest Hits," a Saturday evening staple (read more Detroit Freep-John Smyntek)

Univision Radio, the largest Spanish-language radio broadcaster in the United States, is collaborating with Wal-Mart to host community-focused health fairs across the country. The effort is entitled "Pensando en su Salud", and is part of Univision's corporate health initiative, "Salud es Vida, Enterate!" Each health fair event will offer attendees the opportunity to receive free health screenings, and provide information/materials in a fun and family-oriented atmosphere on a variety of health topics affecting U.S. Hispanics. The fairs will be held at select Wal-Mart locations in eleven cities throughout the United States from September through November 2004 (read more)

From  Ken Hoffman: I am absolutely heartbroken that we are losing our only full-time classical music station (KRTS-FM). I can't believe that a city as large as Houston can't support one. And we really don't need another hip-hop, dance or R&B station. I am sick, I tell you, just sick. Laura K. Chapman, Houston --- There is a classic equivalent of a "goodbye" song. We may not have a symphonic arrangement of Goodbye to You by Scandal, but we do have stuff like March to the Scaffold or Death and Transfiguration , plus lots of requiems and famous dying scenes from operas. Madame Butterfly has a classy exit. Catherine Lu, Program Director, KRTS-FM (read more - Ken Hoffman-Houston Chronicle)

What it was like to be on the Radio September 11, 2001 -- There have been a handful of days where the medium I work in has been called to speak to all in a different voice. There have been just a few times when my mission was to be a messenger because I was the first to know something. I have broadcast during very adverse times. Early in my career, I stayed on the air 24 hours straight and broadcast during the worst blizzard in Ohio history. I was the messenger who said it was coming and during the darkest hours, when power was gone and people were scared, I was the lifeline of communication that gave solace and hope. When I worked on the Mississippi Gulf coast in Biloxi ... (read more - Corey Deitz)

Fox News' sometime war correspondent Geraldo Rivera has a battle to fight in his own backyard. Rivera is suing his co-op board in the Edgewater Colony, saying the directors wrongly kept a $10,000 deposit he made on a home he bought years ago and prevented him from buying another property that he wants to use as a guesthouse (read more - NY Daily News)

An Arab television journalist was killed and two other journalists were wounded Sunday when a U.S. helicopter opened fire to destroy a U.S. vehicle disabled by a car bomb, witnesses and their employers said.  Mazen al-Tumeizi, who was working for Al-Arabiya television, was taping a report when an explosion behind him caused him to double-over and scream "I'm dying, I'm dying." He died moments later, Al-Arabiya said after airing the video. An Iraqi working as a camera operator for Reuters Television was wounded and reported in stable condition, the agency said here. His name was withheld for security reasons (read more - KCRA Channel)

September 13, 2004, will mark the day for the launch of a new Internet radio rock show. Radio Warehouse will begin transmitting at 10:00 a.m. (CST) on Industrialinfo.com Radio and raise the bar for Internet radio shows. The show will feature the hottest songs of the past ten years, retro cuts from the 80's, tracks from emerging independent artists, and some of Houston's own local talent. Offering music from an array of genres and musicians, Radio Warehouse will transcend the blight pigeonholes of terrestrial radio stations, as well as be unhampered by corporate "suggested" play lists (read more)

Members of New Jersey's congressional delegation have asked federal regulators to examine whether plans to move much of WWOR-TV's operations back to New York violate a mandate to serve New Jersey. The request for a formal inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission was made by Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, and Reps. Robert Menendez, Bill Pascrell, Donald Payne, Steven Rothman, and Rush Holt, all D-N.J. (read more - Newsday)

They've always been there, it seems, telling us whether we can count on sunshine for that Saturday picnic or a breeze for our early-morning run. But only in the past month have the five chief meteorologists for Tampa Bay's TV stations become such fixtures in our daily lives. "Life and death decisions are made based on what we say," says Dick Fletcher, chief meteorologist for Tampa Bay's 10. We count on them so much, and yet we know little about them. Here's what they don't talk about when they're standing in front of their maps: their education and training, what they base their predictions on, and their own plans for hurricane preparation (read more - Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler-St. Pete Times)  (read more - Hernando Today)

Former Arizona Channel 3 weekend sports anchor and now CNN babe Daryn Kagan is dating former Royals publicist-turned-conservative radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh. There are some things you just can't explain (read more - Arizona Central)

Life without Monday Night Football? Unimaginable. Dastardly. Empty. And, just maybe, possible. According to a recent Los Angeles Times report, ABC is looking hard at its popular franchise as it loses $150-million annually. According to the Times, "Disney executives under pressure to prove to Wall Street that they can reverse the network's fortunes and turn a profit by next year ... must decide whether the benefits of Monday Night Football outweigh the financial losses." (read more - St. Pete Times)

A showdown is looming between cable and satellite TV in Hawai'i. Tim Batchler, operations manager of Microcom in Pearl Harbor, explains an order to customer Max Paguio, a Pearl City resident who signed up at the Navy Exchange for services by DISH Network. Microcom is the main installer for DISH Network in Hawai'i. For years, cable television has dominated the state. Satellite TV was seen as a poor second choice, mostly for people who could not get cable. Not anymore. For the first time since it was introduced nearly a decade ago, satellite TV has become a serious player in Hawai'i. With a recently expanded all-digital channel lineup, addition of local channels and free installation and equipment, they've been siphoning off customers from Oceanic Time Warner Cable, the state's lone cable TV company (read more - Honolulu Advertiser)

No matter how hard you look, you won't find much regarding technology mentioned in President Bush's recent convention speech. Bush didn't bring up Internet taxes, cheaper broadband, tax credits or a host of other topics he could have squeezed into his 62-minute speech in Madison Square Garden. The closest he came was a mention of his campaign Web site. So have the last four years been good or bad when viewed through the lens of what's best for tech? (read more - CNET)

Air America, the left-leaning national talk radio network, has landed a home on an Atlanta radio station — on the far right end of the AM dial. The voices of Chuck D., Randi Rhodes, Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo will be heard at AM 1690 sometime next week once technical issues are resolved, said Air America president Jon Sinton, who is based in Atlanta. The 1690 spot on the dial recently was running classic country music but is now playing nothing as station owner Intermart Broadcasting prepares for the Air America launch. Current call letters are WSWK-AM but Sinton said the owners plan to change that to WWAA-AM (read more - Atlanta Journal Constitution)

In a report on Friday night's "CBS News Evening News," Dan Rather reported that many of those raising questions about the documents have focused on something called superscript, a key that automatically types a raised "th." Critics claim typewriters didn't have that ability in the 1970s. But some models did, Rather reported. In fact, other Bush military records already released by the White House itself show the same superscript – including one from as far back as 1968. In a report on Friday night's "CBS News Evening News," Dan Rather reported that many of those raising questions about the documents have focused on something called superscript, a key that automatically types a raised "th." Critics claim typewriters didn't have that ability in the 1970s. But some models did, Rather reported. In fact, other Bush military records already released by the White House itself show the same superscript – including one from as far back as 1968 (read more - CBS News)  You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Disney announced Friday that Michael Eisner, chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Co., will leave the company in 2006. In a letter to the board, Eisner said he plans to retire effective Sept. 30, 2006 -- when his contract with the company ends. Without Michael D. Eisner at the helm of the Walt Disney Company, will Harvey Weinstein and Steven P. Jobs stay as partners? That is the question on the minds of analysts and Hollywood executives . The strain between Disney and its two prominent partners and executives, Mr. Weinstein of Miramax and Mr. Jobs of Pixar Animation Studios, have been attributed in part to clashes with Mr. Eisner (read more - LA Biz News)  (read more - NY Times)

Three years before the Great Depression started, L.R.B. Braun founded General Outdoor Advertising Co., establishing the billboard business at 511 Madison Ave. in Downtown Indianapolis.  Nearly 80 years later, Clear Channel Communications Inc., a broadcast and outdoor media company that operates three radio stations in Indianapolis, owns Braun's company. And the bulk of billboards it has had produced -- called "posters" for their small size -- are what Braun founded his business on (read more - Indy Star)

On Friday Rap artist MC Hammer was at the new bar Celebrities, to promote the new Citidel station 102.5 The Praise. Hammer, along with his many other talents, is now serving an alternate cause, promoting inspirational selections in the ministry. He feels with all the turmoil in the world, that Arkansas needs a station like the praise to lift spirits (read more - KATV)

Air America will soon be on the air in the Boston area, according to local radio sources, likely on some combination of local Clear Channel properties WKOX-AM (1200) in Framingham and WXKS-AM (1430) in Boston. Clear Channel managers were unavailable for comment, but Herald sources indicate both stations are expected to simulcast a mix of Air America shows along with programs by such syndicated liberal talkers as Ed Schultz (read more - Boston Herald-Dean Johnson)

Guy Sharpe studied to be a minister instead of a meteorologist, but his sunny, warm personality ensured his popularity as an Atlanta weather forecaster for almost 50 years. He reported on radio and for all three network television affiliates here, starting on ABC, moving to CBS and ending his television career on NBC's Channel 11. Sharpe, 75, died Friday at Crawford Long Hospital. A longtime heavy smoker, he died of congestive heart failure, emphysema and lung cancer (read more - AJC)

In a move that could eventually transform the radio industry, central Puget Sound stations are adopting a new technology that replaces static-filled broadcasts with crystal clear, CD-quality sound. The new configuration is called high-definition radio, or HD radio. Seattle is central to the nationwide HD radio movement because the Corporation for Public Broadcasting selected it as a test market for public radio stations (read more - Puget Sound Biz Journal)

Empower MediaMarketing has signed a 10-year lease for a 32,600-square-foot office building on St. Gregory Street, filling the void left by Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s relocation of its eight local radio stations to Kenwood earlier this year (read more - Cincinnati Biz Courier)

KRTR-FM 96.3 listeners will hear a new morning show with familiar voices starting Monday. Chris Reiser and "Sista" Sherry Clifton are joining the ranks of radio hosts who have to drag themselves out of bed at oh-dark-thirty to help listeners start their days entertained, informed and with a smile (read more - Erika Engle - Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

From Kent Burkhart's "I Was There" series -- Everyone needs a Texas brother-in-law named Bubba!!! Indeed, I have one. Bubba, whose real name is Edward Bates Tomlinson III, came into my life when he was ten. Bubba is a guy who wears many cowboy hats…that is, he has a lot of talents. On labor day weekend my wife and I were with Bubba to discuss….well, wait, hold on… I am getting ahead of myself….lets do some of Bubba’s life/ history first. While in high school he realized he had musical talent, and formed a TOP 40 band called the Galaxys. Bubba could sing, and still can. I thought the group was good, and arranged an audition with music publisher/record producer/concert promoter Bill Lowery. Bill liked the band and took them to a recording studio where they made a number of cuts….and would you believe that Mercury records bought their masters, released a single, and it made it to the 40 range in the Billboard popular charts ... (read it all at www.kentburkhart.com)

Local radio personality Steve "Rhino" Reinhardt was arrested early Thursday morning on felony stalking and burglary charges, said Lawrence County Sheriff Tim Sexton. Reinhardt, 50, is program director and morning drive personality for WRYV-FM, 101.5, The River. A Tri-State radio personality for a number of years, his current show is the "Rhino in the Morning Show" (read more - Herald Dispatch)

A decision is expected to be announced about the middle of next week on the replacement for Jay "Jammer" Scott on the early afternoon program on WGOW, Talk Radio 102.3. Bill Lockhart, WGOW program director, said he interviewed one finalist on Thursday and had appointments with four others today (read more - The Chattanoogan)

A start-up is bringing radio to portable MP3 players, betting that digital audio fans will want a diet beyond their own music collections. AudioFeast announced on Wednesday that it is creating a subscription service that offers downloadable radio shows for portable players--the first of its kind, the company said. It hopes to attract customers who are looking to fill their commute time with something other than songs downloaded from the Internet or ripped from a CD, executives said. Right now, the company is offering a smattering of broadcast talk shows, including programs from National Public Radio and the BBC, available only on the company's Web site (read more - ZD Net)

New research indicates that two radio ads released this week by Saudi Arabia in an effort to improve its image in the United States fell on deaf ears. The ads, which are part of a $1 million radio ad campaign, highlight the September 11 commission's finding that the Saudi Government was not involved in the terrorist attacks on the United States.  A study conducted today revealed that 78% of responders indicated that they believe the ads are directly related to the presidential election. 50% of responders believe the Saudi Government knowingly funds terrorist organizations  (read more)

Howard Eskin, the long-time sports-talk radio-show host, is off the radio airwaves for 30 days after 610 WIP-AM's owners suspended him for comments that caused a lawsuit. Eskin, who is also an NBC 10 sports anchor, was reached by NBC 10 but said he was unable to comment. A statement has been issued by 610 WIP-AM on behalf of its parent company, Infinity Broadcasting (read more - NBC 10)  (read more - Seattle P-I)

Attendees at next week’s TalenTrak – the Conclave’s exclusive air talent seminar being held on Saturday, September 18th in Cleveland – will have an opportunity to see history! Moonlight Groove Highway, a loyal Conclave supporter, will supply a limited number of entrance passes to registrants and faculty to visit the world-renowned Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum on Friday, September 17. Those who pre-register for TalenTrak 2004 and plan to arrive in Cleveland on Friday afternoon are invited to tour the museum between 6 PM and 9 PM. Details are available by calling the Conclave office at 952-927-4487 (visit The Conclave)

Media rating giant Arbitron Inc. announced that it may buy back up to $25 million worth of its common stock in a program recently authorized by its board of directors (read more - Crains NY Biz)

From JimRoseOnline.com -- Reading some of the remembrances of those who write to you causes me to think back on my "formative" years in radio. My first job was at KMAE in McKinney, owned by George Smith and his wife. Had it not been for the Smiths radio would have remained an elusive dream for me. I connected up with some of my early day mentors and encouragers, names of legendary status in Dallas radio. Ron Jenkins taught me how to write news and how to read it, Sam Pate showed me the early ropes of his being THE ACE mobil reporter in Dallas...the best ever....and Ron Rice encouraged me to pursue my dream of becoming a jock. Rice, in fact, gave me my first "big city" job, working all nights on weekends at KBOX when he was the PD. Ron knew Joe Walker, one time RCA promo man in Dallas, who by then was PD at KCAW in Port Arthur, Texas. Joe hired me on Ron's recommendation to be afternoon drive and I was finally in full time radio. A year later Jack Pieper, News Director of KAYC, hired me as his number two man and my education quadrupled (read more at www.JimRoseOnline.com)

WISN-AM (1130) program director Jerry Bott has invited yours truly (Tim Cuprisin) to sit in as a guest on the morning show alongside Jay Weber on Monday and Tuesday from 5:30 to 9 a.m. The show's co-host, Bob Dolan, is jetting off to Ireland for the week, and it'll be a chance to see another morning radio show from inside. With the shift starting before dawn, Mr. Dolan clearly gets the better part of this deal (read more - Tim Cuprisin)

XTRA was on the cutting edge when the all-sports radio format was born in the 1980s. Industry insiders say the station's run may end soon. Sources said that Clear Channel will move its sports talk format from XTRA (690/1150) to Los Angeles-based KLAC (570), with 690 taking the music-for-your-life format and 1150 going to a news-talk format. What does that mean for San Diego listeners? (read more - North County Times - John Maffei)

NPR's Ivan Watson in Baghdad reports on an American military radio station that broadcasts pop tunes, advice and good news to U.S. troops in Iraq (read and listen at NPR)

Talk radio's Ken Minyard is hanging up the microphone. The "Ken & Company" anchor told listeners to his KABC-AM (790) morning show he'll retire Oct. 15 after 35 years on local airwaves. Minyard broke new ground. He and former radio partner Bob Arthur were the first to take their ever-affable show outside the studio for live remotes, now standard practice for radio programs (read more - LA Daily News)

Larry Wert, the onetime Chicago radio executive who became president and general manager of WMAQ-Channel 5, is suing his former employer over a fortune in stock options + Amy Scott, the former Chicago radio personality who made a successful transition to television, is returning to the cable network that brought her national recognition. Scott has signed on with VH1 Classic as an on-air personality and program host (read more - Feder of Chicago)

The Radio-Mercury Awards presents its sixth Radio Creative Workshop, and the second to be held in New York City, on Wednesday, September 22nd from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Marriott Marquis. The Radio-Mercury Creative Workshop is part of the Radio Advertising Bureau’s (RAB) Focus On Radio Series held in conjunction with Advertising Week in NYC, September 20 to 24. It is designed exclusively to help agency creatives explore the essentials of developing great Radio commercials (read more - RAB)

Last month, the FCC said it will overhaul the Emergency Elert System and possibly expand it to include cell phones and the Internet. But critics say officials are neglecting the existing system. "Unfortunately, I think it will take a major catastrophe where hundreds of thousands of people are killed for people to understand what (we) have been saying," said Jim Gabbert, a former Northern California broadcaster who oversees the state's Emergency Elert System and serves on a national advisory committee that's been exploring alert issues for two years. Despite decades of technological advances, the Emergency Elert System ---- which lost its old name, the Emergency Broadcast System, in 1997 ---- is hardly a model of high technology in action. In fact, it's not much more advanced than it was back in the 1950s when the federal government worried about nuclear bombs, not dirty bombs (read more - Randy Dotinga-North County Times)

A radio station broadcasting group, which includes two Clinton stations, has been sold. WPW Broadcasting of DeKalb, Ill., announced Wednesday a transaction with Prairie Communications, LLP. The transaction includes KCLN-AM (1390) and KZEG-FM (94.7) in Clinton. Local station manager Chris Streets said "all personnel and programming will remain the same." (read more - Clinton Herald)

Jodi Applegate, once a red-hot star at NBC News, may be headed back to New York City. She is currently co-host of the morning news on WFXT-TV, Fox's station in Boston, where she has worked for four years. But that could change - soon. There's been speculation for weeks on TV Web sites that Applegate was looking for a move to Fox-owned WNYW/Ch. 5 (read more NY Daily News - Richard Huff)

Rush Limbaugh, the Will Rogers of our time, jokingly ran a tape of a surgeon of Mr. Clinton's announcing the former president was sedated but capable of "arousal." Rush ran the risible tape more than once and doubtless his audience got the joke. Mr. Clinton's two terms may not be remembered for thwarting terrorism or making any geopolitical leaps. But they will be remembered for transforming the White House into Animal House, just what one would expect from 1960s youth (read more - Washington Times - R. Emmett Tyrrell) You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

On ABC NightLine: New allegations about President Bush's service in the National Guard. Vice-President Cheney makes a statement that many in his own party consider over-the-top. Looking for the truth, but in politics these days, does the truth really matter? (visit ABC NightLine)

Sirius announced at the Custom Electronics Design Industry Association (CEDIA) Expo that it has joined forces with Monster Cable Products, Inc. (Brisbane, Calif.) to market and distribute SIRIUS branded accessories for the home and mobile entertainment markets (read more)

XM Satellite Radio announced the debut of its exclusive, original music series for the Fall 2004 season featuring many of the music industry's biggest stars.  XM's new season kicks off Sunday, September 12th at 8 PM ET with the one-on-one interview and performance series "Artist Confidential," this week featuring nine-time Grammy-winner Bonnie Raitt.  In the coming weeks music legends Tom Petty, Snoop Dogg, Quincy Jones and many others will deliver exclusive, original XM shows on a variety of XM channels for music fans nationwide (read more)

Hot 97 has gone to court to keep bad- boy DJ Star — whom it fired last year — from getting a new job in New York anytime soon. Hip-hop rival Power 105 has long been rumored to want Star. He is currently employed by a Hartford station that is owned by Clear Channel, the same company that owns Power 105. Star, aka Troi Torain, had killer ratings at Hot 97 until he was fired early last year for, among other things, allegedly threatening to "cut" the general manager (read more - John Mainelli - NY Post)

Six legendary figures in Chicago journalism -- including former WLS-Channel 7 news anchor John Drury and former WBBM-Channel 2 reporter John Drummond -- will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Chicago Headline Club + Chicago's seven Infinity Broadcasting stations will be among all of the company's 185 radio outlets to participate in a one-day nonpartisan voter registration event on Tuesday + Carl Jeffers has signed off as Saturday evening talk show host at WLS-AM (890) to take on two weekend shows at KIRO-AM in Seattle. Jeffers' former on-air partner, David Jennings, is expected to continue solo on WLS (read more - Feder of Chicago)

Howard Stern wants to expand his Web site to maintain access to his fans after he gets fired. "With the site, we won't have to rely on terrestrial radio when the FCC finagles a way to get us thrown off the air because they put too much pressure on Viacom and all the other companies we work for," Stern told his radio audience this week (read more - Investors Business Daily)

It's over for Ken Jennings . The software engineer from Salt Lake City who'd won 41 "Jeopardy" shows — and $1.4 million — as of last night has finally lost. The episode where Jennings was defeated won't air until the end of the month, and everyone at yesterday's taping signed a strict confidentiality agreement (read more - NY Post)

The much-loved Scott Muni, now at WAXQ (104.3 FM), is still recovering from a serious stroke, with no timetable for his return. Fans who would like to send him a get-well card or a note of appreciation can mail it to: The Dewitt, 211 E. 79th St., Room 1102, New York, NY 10021 + Scott Shannon says his True Oldies Channel, distributed by ABC Radio, is "a two-year project that's going great." Besides WREF (850 AM) in Danbury, Conn., it's on in Los Angeles, San Diego, Knoxville, Tenn., and other cities (read more - David Hinckley)

TalkRadio 790 KABC’s Ken Minyard, host of Ken & Company (5-9AM, M-F), announced today that he will retire after completing thirty-five years of broadcasting in Los Angeles. Minyard will broadcast his final show on KABC on October 15, 2004, marking his thirty-fifth anniversary on Los Angeles morning radio. “Its been a great run, but I need to get some sleep,” said Minyard on his show on KABC today. “I went to management a couple of weeks ago and told them that I’m going to retire. Its hard because its been a lot of fun, but it seems that all the stars are lined up properly and now is the right time to do this.” (visit KABC Ken and Company)

A new style of liberal talk radio is coming to Asheville next week, as daytime-only station WPEK/880-AM drops its "adult standards" music format and joins the edgy Air America network. The station, formerly known as "The Peak," will morph into "The Revolution." (read more - Asheville Citizen-Times)

Talk radio programs help Pennsylvania voters from across the entire political spectrum form opinions on current issues, according to a new survey by Arbitron Inc. A quarter of Pennsylvania voters who consider themselves Independents tell Arbitron that talk radio programs help them form opinions on current issues. This survey also shows that half of Republicans and nearly a third (30 percent) of Democrats in Pennsylvania also believe that talk radio programs influence their views on current issues (visit Arbitron)

WMMR (93.3 FM) announces the addition of Paul Jaxon to the WMMR air staff. "Jaxon" will be hosting the afternoon drive show (3pm to 7pm) show beginning this Thursday (read more)

KMPS-FM (94.1) recently billed a concert it sponsored at the Evergreen State Fair as marking its 30th anniversary, although program director Becky Brenner says she wasn't sure whether the country station was marking the start or the end of its 30th year with those call letters and that musical format (read more - Bill Virgin's Seattle Radio Beat)

U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell endorsed setting a 2009 deadline for U.S. television broadcasters such as Viacom's CBS to switch to digital signals (read more - Seattle Times)

A Columbus radio station is trading little ratings for Lil John. The station, WBFA-FM 101.3, hopes to usher in a new era with help from the likes of, well, Usher, and Lil John, OutKast and other rap and R&B acts. Gone is the name B101. Station owner Clear Channel is calling the new station "101.3 The Beat." "The concept is true hip-hop, rhythm & blues," said Wayne Bishop, director of sales for Clear Channel Columbus (read more - Ledger-Enquirer)

A month after leaving Canadian TV network Chum Ltd. as part of a management restructuring, veteran TV executive Stephen Tapp on Wednesday was named president and chief operating officer of Canadian Satellite Radio. Tapp will steer a bid in November by the Toronto company to secure a broadcast license to operate a subscription-based satellite radio service (read more - Hollywood Reporter)

Daniel Frishberg, radio host of "The MoneyMan" on KIKK-A Talk 650, is leaving the station effective Wednesday afternoon to start his own radio station called K-BIZ.  Frishberg is leaving what was formerly known as Business Radio 650 with plans to launch the new radio station in Houston in January (read more - Houston Biz Journal)

George W. Bush had just graduated from Yale, and faced the prospect of being drafted himself. But former Texas House Speaker and Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes says he helped keep that from happening. So what happened with Mr. Bush, the draft and the National Guard? And why is Barnes finally telling his story? Dan Rather has new information on the president’s military service – and the first-ever interview with the man who says he pulled strings to get young George W. Bush into the Texas Air National Guard (read the transcript of the Dan Rather-Ben Barnes 60 Minutes II interview)  (read the memo's, official Dept of Defense documents, etc)  (read more - NY Times) (read GOP-USA) (read Salon.com)   You'll find this and other "Talk Bites" like it at RDN's sister site, www.talkradiodailynews.com

Tribune Co. will ask the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to operate newspapers and television stations in the same markets, according to the company’s Washington lobbyist, Shaun Sheehan.  The Chicago-based media conglomerate suffered the latest in a string of frustrating setbacks last Friday, when a federal appeals court rejected Tribune’s request to lift the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) cross-ownership ban (read more - Chicago Business)

Happy music is back on the air weekday mornings on KULP, El Campo’s radio station. “What are you going to do? Polka music is happy music,” said KULP broadcasting director Stephen Zetsche. “I’ve never been to a polka dance where everybody wasn’t smiling.  
“Polka Time” made a surprise comeback at 8 a.m. Thursday morning after KULP general manager Jerry Aulds told listeners the station had a special guest to deliver a special message (read more - Wharton Journal-Spectator)

President Bush's former sister-in-law denied yesterday that she had given author Kitty Kelley any information about allegations of past drug use by Bush. Sharon Bush is quoted in Kelley's forthcoming book about the Bush family as making one of the allegations, and Kelley's editor said in an interview Tuesday that she had provided "confirmation" for the information. Publication day is set for Monday, when Kelley will begin three days of "Today" show interviews, but some of the allegations have already leaked to a British newspaper (read more - Washington Post - Howard Kurtz)

A federal appeals court ruled that rap artists should pay for every musical sample included in their work — even minor, unrecognizable snippets of music. Lower courts already had ruled that artists must pay when they sample other artists' work, but it has been legal to use musical snippets — a note here, a chord there — as long as it wasn't identifiable (read more - Washington Times)

The "Live 85" Hurricane Network continued a live simulcast for over 6 days, even when a few of the stations were forced off the air for a short period of time during the height of the storm. The station remained live and locally produced the entire time, using WFTL hosts and news people including Dave McBride, Neil Grant Trish Anderson and Andy Bass, most working double shifts. Air staffs from some of the other stations were called in for duty, too, including Don Agony and Joyce Kaufman from WJNA (visit Live85.com)

Viacom Inc. is trying to entice its shareholders the chance to swap some of their Viacom holdings for stock in Blockbuster Inc. by offering a ratio of 1-to-5.15 (read more - Crains NY Business)

The members of the Federal Communications Commission should be ashamed of themselves for continuing to capitulate to self-appointed moralists who believe the accidental flashing of one breast during the Super Bowl halftime show was a sign of the impending apocalypse (read more - Richard Roeper-Chicago Sun-Times)

In his first big move since taking on a wider role at media giant Viacom, CBS chief Les Moonves promoted several key network executives yesterday. The moves were made to shore up the network's executive ranks given that Moonves himself — while he retains the title of chairman of CBS — now has much broader responsibilities within Viacom (read more - NY Post - Tim Arango)

Letters to Feder -- Gary McLaughlin: Why do you waste ink on this crude, talentless, self-promoting hack? Mancow Muller is a stain on Chicago and his constantly changing network of cow town affiliates. Tim Murphy: Are you kidding? I listen to Don and Roma most mornings and consider myself more conservative than Don, but to say that WLS-AM (890) can "ill afford to lose the Wades" is poppycock. Don is insufferable at times because he can be so condescending and insolent. Roma just does not have a clue about real life. Lee Johnson: I'm no fan of Don Wade and Roma, but at least they do commit good radio. But that Teri O'Brien is the absolute worst: a shrill, one-note conservative who seems to get testy with the callers and rides the dump button a little too hard. But I could listen to Jay Marvin all day. I've long thought he was the best thing in local talk radio (read more - Feder of Chicago)