Kurt Hanson
GO>>>
From the L.A. Times: "Radio stations, Webcasters and record labels are appealing an arbitration panel's proposed royalties for online radio services, arguing over rates that some say would kill most free Web broadcasts...

"Webcasters said the fees would consume most if not all of their dwindling advertising income. David Landis [right], founder of the Los Angeles-based station Ultimate80s, said his royalties would be $3,000 to $4,000 a month, which would increase his expenses by about 50%. But the record companies' trade group, the Recording Industry Assn. of America, says the proposed rates are too low. The rates should be closer to the deals negotiated between the RIAA and more than two dozen companies, RIAA attorney Steve Marks [below left] said, even though many of those companies are no longer Webcasting or even in business...

"In particular, both sides contend that the panel put far too much weight on a deal the RIAA negotiated with Yahoo Inc., which mainly retransmits over-the-air broadcasts. Ken Steinthal, an attorney representing the Digital Media Assn., said the rates should reflect what the music publishers collect, which is about 85% less than the proposed royalty. But Marks said the publishers' fees aren't relevant because the two markets are so different.

"The Webcasters also want the option of paying the labels and artists a percentage of the revenue generated by their online broadcasts. The RIAA initially proposed collecting 15% of the Webcasters' revenue, but both the RIAA and the arbitrators cooled on the idea because it's hard to define what revenue should be covered.

"Landis, who is helping to organize a protest by small independent Webcasters, wants to pay 2% of revenue or $1,000 a year, whichever is greater."

This story is from the LA Times. Click here to read the entire article. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000017145mar08.story

KFMB-AM Firings (Mar 8, 2002)

Morning: Ted Leitner 6-10
Bill Holland 10-12 noon
Sean Hannity 12-3pm
Rick Roberts 3-7 pm
Laura Ingraham 7-10pm
Past 10 Clark Howard; and Mike Cook.

From the 'net: "Who is Sean Hannity? Sean Hannity is an up and coming conservative talk show host that is taking America by storm. His powerful radio show on New York's 77 WABC is addictive. Sean also co-hosts the Hannity & Colmes show on the Fox News Network." Sean's show will be live on KFMB. Laura Ingraham: "Her talk show is from the Westwood One Radio Netowork. Her web site says she's "Irreverent, fast-paced, witty, and substantive. The show takes listeners on a wild ride through the colliding worlds of politics, the news media, and Hollywood. Laura infuses her program with a level of energy and commitment to conservative principles that grabs hold and won't let go." Her show is tape delayed; as it is live from 4 to 7 p.m.

News Wires (Mar 8, 2002)

In an exclusive, multiyear deal, E! Networks has licensed the entire library of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," most of which has been based at Comedy Central for more than a decade.

The pact, which insiders said is worth in the $50 million range, represents one of -- if not the -- largest, priciest acquisitions in E!'s history. All told it will involve some 625 episodes of the late-night comedy showcase. The entertainment cable channel will use "SNL" as a marquee primetime series.

The agreement marks the second big pact between NBC and E! in recent weeks; NBC and E! Entertainment Television also made a groundbreaking deal last month for a same-day second window airing of NBC's new late-night interview show "Last Call With Carson Daly."

Beginning in September, E! will begin airing episodes from the current 2001-02 season of "SNL"; every fall thereafter, net will get the previous season to air.

The remaining library of "SNL" episodes from the 1975-76 through 2000-01 seasons come to E! by January 2004, with the deal extending through 2008.

Until the end of 2003, Comedy Central, which has been airing repeat episodes of "SNL" since the network's inception, will maintain the rights to air "SNL" episodes from the 1980-81 through 2000-01 TV seasons. Sources said the incumbent network deemed the "SNL" price tag too high to renew its deal, particularly at a time when the network's own original programming has taken off.

In addition, E! has struck a separate deal with Michaels' Broadway Video to bring the first five seasons of "SNL" (1975-76 through 1979-80) to the network beginning April 1 (Broadway Video controls the rights to the first five seasons through the end of 2003).

Beginning April 1, E! will air the 102 classic episodes of "SNL," featuring such original and early cast members as Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, Monday-Friday at 7 p.m.

"Saturday Night Live," which premiered October 11, 1975, is broadcast live from NBC's famed Studio 8H in New York City's Rockefeller Center.

Colin Quinn has to prove himself fast

Comic and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Colin Quinn is applying baseball rules to his new series for NBC - specifically, the three-strikes-and-you're-out rule.

"If we can't make the show good in three episodes, then I guess I don't deserve it," Quinn joked yesterday about the "Colin Quinn Show," which launches Monday at 9:30 p.m.

In an unusual step, NBC has ordered only three live, half-hour installments of the "Colin Quinn Show."

It will originate from "SNL's" studio 8H in Rockefeller Center.

Lorne Michaels, creator of NBC's "SNL," is producing the show, which will blend comedy monologues with sketch comedy, short films and guest appearances.

Fellow ex-"SNL" cast member Cheri Oteri will have a recurring role as a foil in Quinn's skits that involve couples.

Quinn's not expected to stray too far from the topical comedy that made him a fixture on the "Weekend Update" desk for two of his five years with "SNL" (1995-2000).

"We'll be relevant to current events and talk about things in contemporary life, from the war to the media," he added. "Comedy means that you talk about the right and the left. Everyone is a target."

ABC in for a Bad Spell

For the first time ever, even during the days when the old Dumont network once existed in the 1950's, the ABC-TV network is facing a possbility that it could finish fourth in total viewers as well as fourth in the coveted 18-49 year old demographic that advertisers crave the most says analysts.

A strong performance from the Academy Awards March 24 could save the network the embarrassment of finishing so low overall. Such a finish would be another twist in what has been a tumultuous period for ABC, and there doesn't seem to be a savior in sight.

ABC, which was once the darling of baby boomers in the 60's and 70's, never regained the peak it once had, losing viewers to cable as many popular veteran shows were gone one by one since 1981.

CBS and NBC also lost viewers to cable, but both networks, for the first time since the early days of TV, had the top 27 slots on last week's Nielsen ratings all to themselves.

The Disney-owned network, since 1995, had been losing viewers at a more alarming rate since Disney took over the programming reins that year, artificially propped by 3-4 airings of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire in 2000 for a year, but once that show ebbed, what's left are basically no new hits during the time Millionaire airings were in the top ten ratings for the longest time.

The hemmoraging was more pronounced when ABC lost four decent-rated series due to age, Home Improvement, Coach, and Roseanne, and one to WB, Sabrina the Teenage Witch for Viacom TV's fears that it would be cancelled if ABC decided to dump the low-rated TGIF lineup for the fall of 2000.

Now, ABC is facing the same problem with its aging series, but the ratings are slipping. NYPD Blue, Spin City, Drew Carey, and Monday Night Football are sagging, none of the new comedies are sticking with the fans, a trashy reality series "The Chair" was mercilly cancelled, its Saturday night lineups never were contenders like the other networks opposite it that night, Nightline is a distant third to Leno and Letterman, its veteran daytime soap opera lineup is losing viewers faster than CBS's, and Politically Incorrect may be cancelled.

"There are some obvious problems with the prime-time schedule, and some inadvertent, or plain dumb, management issues," said an executive at an ad-buying firm who requested anonymity. "They have fallen off the map in prime time."

Rival network executives are getting some perverse pleasure out of watching ABC squirm because they've all been there before.

But what makes this different, some say, is that much of the quagmire ABC is in was created in-house and not by a stronger competitor.

ABC's prime-time fortunes have sagged in the last year. At this time last year, ABC was No. 1 in total viewers and tops with the 18-49 crowd.

Clearly, network programmers relied on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" long after analysts suggested they were making a mistake. And they have failed to generate new hits, though they have come up with some marginal performers, such as "Alias" and "According to Jim."

Executive changes have already begun. Susan Lyne was recently promoted from head of movies to entertainment president. Stu Bloomberg, formerly co-chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group, was pushed aside. And there's a rumor a day about more shakeups coming at the highest levels of the network.

But it could be years before things turn in ABC's favor. Indeed, it took Leslie Moonves about five years to get CBS into a winning position. Of course, he had help from a show called "Survivor."

"One really big breakout hit can always make a tremendous amount of difference," said the advertising executive. "But ABC has got some issues that are going to take a couple seasons to fix."

From: "Artie"
Newsgroups: alt.gossip.celebrities

I'm surprised ABC hasn't thrown in the towel already. All three of the major networks are rapidly losing market share/viewers to cable and satellite programming. With the possible exception of 60 Minutes, none of the "Big Three" networks can appoach the news departments of Fox News, CNN, or the BBC. Peter Jennings has turned into an extraneous, over-priced gas-bag who adds absolutely nothing to ABCs bottom line.

If it weren't for NYPD Blue, I wouldn't watch ABC at all, and that show is getting pretty weak too.

Prediction: ABC, CBS, and NBC will be absorbed by other media and will cease to exist within 5 years.

Artie

CBS Offers Letterman $31.5M

CBS has offered David Letterman $31.5 million a year to stay on as ``Late Show'' host, upping an offer ABC has reportedly made to get him to defect, a network source said.

Letterman, whose contract with CBS expires this year, would also receive performance bonuses and additional salary increases in future years, said the source, who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

Letterman reportedly earns $30 million a year for CBS, and ABC's offer is for $31 million. ABC also has offered Letterman his own studio in the network's Times Square complex in New York, according to Entertainment Weekly magazine. Word of the offer came to light last week.

Letterman, who has long been No. 2 behind NBC's Jay Leno in the late-night comic wars, has been unhappy with CBS' older prime-time audience and the weak local news programs on CBS affiliates leading in to his show. He has been at CBS since 1993.

In addition to his salary, Letterman reportedly receives substantial licensing fees, which offset production costs, under his current deal with CBS. The network also refurbished Times Square's Ed Sullivan Theater for him when he left NBC's ``Late Night'' to move to CBS.

The Letterman battle has put the fate of ABC's 22-year-old news show ``Nightline'' in doubt and drawn angry criticism from its host, Ted Koppel.

``Nightline'' began as a regular show in 1980 as an outgrowth of ABC's Iranian hostage crisis news coverage. Although it still regularly outdraws Letterman's ``Late Show,'' ABC executives are concerned ``Nightline'' doesn't reach the young viewers favored by advertisers.

According to The New York Times, Robert Iger, president of ABC's parent Walt Disney Co., told Koppel in a meeting Monday that if the network fails to win Letterman, ABC would move ``Nightline'' only for a top quality show.

Radio Wires (Mar 8, 2002)

Throughout its top-40 history, KHJ (930 AM) promised "you say it, we play it," in reference to the fact that listeners could actually call in, talk with the DJs, and get their requests on the air. When the old KRLA (now KSPN, 1110 AM) studios were in Pasadena, people could literally walk up to the glass booth and watch their favorite disc jockeys spin the tunes.

Nowadays, at least in many cases, you're lucky if there is anyone even in the building.

See his website for the article. Someday the fools who follow Prophet will find that their fortune is truly fool's gold.

News Wires (Mar 7, 2002)

Electronic Media:
GO>>
ABC folds 'The Chair'... ABC is canceling "The Chair." The ratings-challenged game show, hosted by former tennis star John McEnroe, debuted Jan. 15 to modest initial returns and sank to a personal-low 2.1 rating/5 share last Monday among adults 18 to 49. Its Monday airing attracted 4.8 million total viewers-making it ABC's least-viewed 9 p.m.-to-10 p.m. Monday hour since the 1987 advent of Nielsen Media Research people meters. ABC plans to execute the final episode of "The Chair" on March 18 and will then insert an unnamed reality series to take its time slot on March 25, an ABC spokesman said. Just prior to the premiere of "The Chair," ABC filed a copyright infringement lawsuit over Fox's similar extreme game show concept, "The Chamber," which was pulled last January by Fox after several airings due to lackluster ratings.

Hollywood Reporter:
GO>>
Fox prepping to work late shift... As all eyes are focused on the late-night duel going on between ABC and CBS over David Letterman, Fox Broadcasting Co. has quietly been putting out feelers to comics in the hopes of grooming its own late-night franchise. Among the candidates Fox has met with in recent weeks are D.L. Hughley, Orlando Jones and Tom Green. And network brass pursued the possibility of signing Conan O'Brien before he re-upped with NBC last month. But sources said Fox also is leaning toward taking a low-key approach to launching a new late-night show and might focus on grooming a lesser-known personality. The goal is to avoid the pressure to galvanize all of the network's efforts on a make-or-break debut in the high-profile and intensely competitive late-night arena. There's talk of using the Fox O&Os, the FX cable network or the post-"Mad TV" slot on Saturdays as a testing ground for personalities and formats that could eventually go the distance to a networkwide late-night launch. (Cynthia Littleton and Nellie Andreeva) Full story

TV Barn:
GO>>
Ask TV Barn March 6, 2002...

*** The Letterman story

	Q: So who's really responsible for leaking the shocking news
	that ABC wants to sign David Letterman? Cindy Adams said it
	was someone at CBS.

	A: All week I've been convinced that Cindy Adams got it wrong.
	But the more I chew on it, the more I have to concede she's
	probably right. My leading suspect was the Letterman camp --
	and specifically, former "Late Show" showrunner and current
	"Ed" co-runner Rob Burnett, whose fingerprints are all over
	this Howard Kurtz follow-up story in Saturday's Washington
	Post:

	http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26238-2002Mar1.html

The story quotes a "Letterman source" that blamed CBS for
	the contract impasse with Dave: "'They thought there was
	nothing we could do,' the source said. 'Incompetence and
	arrogance -- a lethal mix.'" Kurtz, who doesn't cover the
	late-night scene regularly, quotes his Letterman source
	twice more in the story, apparently unaware how plain-as-day
	obvious it is that it's Burnett talking. Burnett is one of
	the very few people authorized to speak for Letterman, on or
	off the record, and the only one who talks this way.

	But was it Letterman's camp that started this snowballing
	story on its path of destruction? It's true that there would
	be some upside to Dave's camp revealing the news of its
	secret talks with ABC. Disney executives had said privately
	that, no matter what, they're getting rid of Ted Koppel;
	taking that pledge public would allow Letterman to see
	whether they really meant that (they do). Also, leaking the
	story would trial-balloon the idea of Dave displacing a
	broadcaster he and millions of viewers deeply admire. If the
	idea proved wildly unpopular (it hasn't), Letterman could
	walk away from the talks. One last supporting proof: The
	initial story did not cast CBS executives in the most
	favorable light, since they had seemingly blown the chance
	to sign one of their top stars during their exclusive
	negotiating window. Why would prickly CBS chief Les Moonves
	want that leaked?

	Well, because Moonves knew it would (a) force Letterman into
	the awkward position of plotting to oust an iconic and still
	popular newscaster, regardless of how his people and Disney
	spun it, thereby (b) bringing the contract talks to a
	swifter conclusion, and likely more favorable to CBS, since
	(c) leaking the story would likely induce chaos in both the
	Disney and Letterman camps, further confounding any possible
	deal (not to mention giving Moonves a rare chuckle at Dave's
	expense). Finally, recalling the old axiom that information
	is power, the Koppelg?nger story represents a simple
	jungle assertion of superiority by Moonves, who sees better
	than anyone the ridiculousness of Letterman trying to use
	his leverage, such as it is, to play hardball with CBS. And
	both men know it. Deep down, you have to believe Dave
	respects Moonves more today than he did a week ago.

News From ZENtertainment(tm)

Visit their website at http://www.ZENtertainment.com/

Copyright and Credit: All Contents Copyright 1995-2001 ZENtertainment. All Rights Reserved. ZENtertainment is a Trademark of Sean Jordan. Excerpts Used with Permission by the List Owner. These twice-weekly reports run about 40-50,000 bytes long covering TV, Movies, Books, and others.

COACHELLA 2002 Update
-
Artists who've joined the 2002 COACHELLA Festival 
mentioned in the last ZEN include The STROKES, 
CHARLATANS UK, CAKE, The BETA BAND, CORNERSHOP, 
FOLK IMPLOSION, PHARCYDE, FOREST FOR THE TREES, 
Pete Yorn, Mos Def, BT, Saul Williams, G LOVE 
AND SPECIAL SAUCE, Jack Johnson, and ZERO 7.
The two-day celebration takes place in Indio, 
CA on April 27th & 28th.
http://www.coachella.com


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TV - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Letterman on ABC? NIGHTLINE in Danger?
-
According to The NEW YORK TIMES, ABC is in talks to lure 
latenight talkshow host David Letterman to their network.
It's reported that the network is looking to drop NIGHTLINE 
from its latenight lineup regardless of the move, though 
it's unknown if POLITICALLY INCORRECT would stick around 
to follow Letterman's new show. Letterman's contract with 
CBS expires this August, and contract renegotiations with 
the network are reportedly not going well.
If Letterman does leave CBS, it's rumored his 
LATE SHOW job might go to DAILY SHOW host John Stewart, 
who hosts SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE for NBC this weekend.
In related news, Conan O'Brien has signed a new 4-year 
contract to remain the host of NBC's LATE NIGHT.
http://www.nytimes.com


New STAR WARS Trailer Premieres Sunday
-
FOX will premiere a 2 1/2-minute trailer for STAR WARS 
II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES this Sunday, right around 9pm, 
between MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE and THE X-FILES.
The trailer will also air in front of ICE AGE in theaters 
starting next Friday.
http://www.starwars.com
http://www.fox.com


Leary's JOB to Air on Cable
-
COMEDY CENTRAL will broadcast the first six episodes 
of Denis Leary's ABC series THE JOB this week, with 
episodes airing through Thursday, at 11:30 each 
night, and this Sunday from 8-10pm.
http://www.comedycentral.com


Headaches Result in Less MALCOLM
-
FOX has cut back its 24-episode order of MALCOLM IN 
THE MIDDLE episodes this season by one or two, as a 
result of the recurring migraine headaches which have 
been keeping star Jane Kaczmarek from the set.
As with the last time Kaczmarek fell ill, the producers 
are allegedly saying she may actually be faking it so 
as to renegotiate her contract.

News Wires (Mar 7, 2002)

It's Official: DOJ To Oversee All Media Mergers... Currently, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission share jurisdiction over all mergers, with individual deals assigned to the agency viewed as having more expertise. Assistant Attorney General Charles James and FTC Chairman Timothy Muris said they signed the agreement yesterday in order to speed up the clearance dispute process and to allow agencies to allocate resources in a more efficient manner. Initially scheduled to be signed in mid-January, the overhaul plan was put on hold for six weeks by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Fritz Hollings and some Democrats within the FTC who were angry they were not consulted or notified about the impending change. "I believe this is in violation of appropriations law, which states that we be consulted," Hollings says. "For some reason, this administration doesn't like government. We were in the middle of discussions on how to proceed, and they just moved forward on their own. It's a tricky way to forego consultation. We have our tricks, too."

Kurt Hanson
GO>>>
Kurt Hanson Launches Site To Save 'Net Radio... The publisher of RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter says that Save Internet Radio.org was designed to help the Internet-radio industry coordinate its response to the U.S. Copyright Office Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel's proposed performance royalties of .14 cents per performance for Internet-only radio stations and .07 cents per performance for AM and FM streams. The site, which is now available as a link from www.kurthanson.com and which should be at www.saveinternetradio.org by the end of the week, says its purpose is "to help concerned individuals have a voice in trying to encourage the U.S. Copyright Office to reject the CARP recommendation - or Congress to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - in time to prevent the [webcasting] industry from being effectively shut down." The Copyright Office must accept, reject or amend the CARP rates by May 21. (tip from rronline.com)

Radio Business Report:
GO>>>
RAIN/Kurt Hanson launches "SaveInternetRadio.org"... Kurt Hanson, publisher of the Radio And Internet Newsletter (RAIN: www.kurthanson.com) has launched SaveInternetRadio.org to help the webcasting/radio industry coordinate a response to the recent CARP panel's (RBR 2/25, p.2) proposed performance royalties of .07 cents per performance for AM and FM streams and.14 cents per performance for web-only stations. The site's purpose is "to help concerned individuals have a voice in trying to encourage the U.S. Copyright Office to reject the CARP recommendation-or Congress to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act-in time to prevent the industry from being effectively shut down." This, after The Copyright Office's website has made it all but impossible to file comments in time for review (RBR.com 3-4). The US Copyright office is set to accept, reject or amend the CARP rate recommendations by 5/21. "If the Copyright Office adopts the CARP recommendations without modifications, Hanson says that he believes that the vast majority of Webcasters will be forced to shut down their operations sometime in May," the RAIN site read.

News Wires (Mar 2, 2002)

Radio Ink:
GO>>>
Randall Mays: Voicetracking Makes Economic, Ratings Sense.... Is voicetracking really as evil as the Los Angeles Times and a lot of radio industry veterans make it out to be? Not according to Clear Channel Exec. VP/CFO Randall Mays, who notes that both ratings and cash flow have increased in many markets where voicetracking has been implemented. "If we can provide a better product to the marketplace that can allow us to get better ratings, that has material impact on our top line through the cash flow of the company," he told Radio Ink today. "We've looked at it long and hard, but ultimately we believe that voicetracking allows us to put a better product, a more tailored product, and a higher quality product on the air - and that's the only reason we're doing it." "You always have people who find it difficult to accept change, and the radio industry is changing," Mays continued. "It's incumbent upon us to be at the forefront of that change and to make the industry better. That's what we're trying to do."

Radio Wires (Mar 7, 2002)

Radio Wires (Mar 7, 2002)

Online turns off-target

Excerpts:

Many sites violate many of the cardinal rules of design on the World Wide Web. They're ugly to look at, hard to navigate, and painfully slow to load.

The Web sites of local Clear Channel Corporation stations are clumsy and dominated by flashing and animated ads for grocery coupons, a debt consolidator and a DVD rental service.

"Most radio stations view Web sites as a way to make money instead of inform the listener," said Mike Halloran, program director of Premium 92.1, a North County alternative rock station.

Even when a radio Web site does take a stab at posting actual content, the material is often out of date. At magic925.com, for example, there are still many pictures of former morning co-host Chris Williams, who got sacked months ago. (The morning show's revised logo does reflect the change, sort of: It now says, "Greg, and Delana" ---- wayward comma included ---- instead of Greg, Delana & Chris.")

To make things worse on the online front, recent disputes have convinced dozens of stations (including several in San Diego) that it's not worth the hassle to simulcast their broadcasts on the Internet.

It's a big change from just a few years ago, when the radio industry considered the Internet to be an exciting place where money could be made, perhaps through partnerships with record companies.

As stations realized Web sites weren't fountains of money, some discovered they could simply live without them. For most of 2001, soft rock" station KyXy and its sister station, classic rocker 103.7 The Planet, kept their Web sites offline. Few people seemed to notice or care.

The Web sites of public stations like KPBS and KSDS post their extensive programming schedules. Rock stations Sets 102 and 91X post the title and artist of every song as it plays.

Other stations try to reach out to the community. Country station KSON, which has one of the classiest radio Web sites in town, is trying to become a "portal" where listeners can go for information about concerts and other local events.

Premium 92.1 does something even more unusual in online radioland: It allows listeners to post messages about virtually any topic.

More than 21,000 messages have appeared on the site since January, program director Halloran said. "People post to it every four to five minutes on average during the daytime."

Overexposure to Enya music has sent Randy Dotinga into a semicomatose state. E-mail him at NCTimesRadio@aol.com.

Radio Paradise:
Could CARP Killed the Radio Stars... "The US Copyright Office is in the final stages of approving a fee structure for Internet radio stations that could easily shut down many of the Internet's most-listened-to & most loved stations.

The fees in question are royalties to the sound recording copyright owner - which have never been paid by broadcast radio, but are due in the case of digital transmissions under the terms of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). The stations in jeopardy are those run by individuals or small business, rather than large corporate interests.

Unfortunately, the CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Proceeding) that evaluated this issue has come up with a set of recommendations that are tailored to a marketplace that never came to be: one dominated by large webcast operations generating huge profits derived from advertising revenue. Instead, in 2002 we find that those revenue projections were (in retrospect) irrationally exuberant, and most of the large webcast firms are out of business. Webcasting is dominated instead by stations like ours: with rapidly growing, passionately enthusiastic audiences but very little revenue, supported in great part out of the owners' pockets and through listener contributions.

Read more at Radio Paradise http://www.radioparadise.com/?content=web_radio or Kurt Hanson's web site http://kurthanson.com

Internet Streaming

Here's what Zeb Navarro, PD of KKSM 1320 commented on the subject:

Soon my kiddies, soon. I do not recognize the authority of the any government agency when it comes to Internet streaming nor do I recognize the authority of the Digital Millenium Act. F*** the RIAA, U2, Metallica and the Grammy people. Internet streaming will survive! We already pay artists their royalty checks through ASCAP, BMI, and CESAC. They should be happy they're getting that much. I am in the process of banning all music by artists who do not support internet streaming. So now royalty checks for you! Ya hear that Bono? NO CHECK FOR YOU!

News Wires (Mar 4, 2002)

KMXN/94.3 FM Program Director Mike Halloran reports good audience reaction to the new alternative format and said he plans to debut some new local shows soon. We'll talk more with Halloran next week.

Web Chat...Here's what local personalities are saying and doing on Don Barrett's laradio.com Web site:

Bruce Barker, ex-AAHS Radio, sat in for Ted Ziegenbusch at KFSH/95.9 FM. "Just had to gush for a bit," e-mailed Bruce. "I had a WAY fun week filling in for Ted. Co-host Lauren Kitchens: What a pro. Program Director Chuck Tyler: Thanks. Wow, there still ain't NUTHIN' like live radio."

Ellen K, KIIS morning co-host, is expected to rejoin 102.7 FM's Rick Dees on March 18 from maternity leave. ... Former 94.3 FM mainstay Carrie Dunne is enjoying being home with her twins. ... Jose Moto was named color analyst for the Anaheim Angels' Spanish radio broadcasts on XPRS/1090 AM. Jose will work alongside Ivan Lara, who returns for his fifth season as the Angels' play-by- play announcer. ... Ex-KROQ'er Steve Dahl was in town to tape NBC's "The Weakest Link." ... The Friars Club will roast KABC's Larry Elder on March 15.

Lance Ballance worked at KOST and KBIG for the past 12 years. Recently he left the L.A. Clear Channel stations and headed for a position at KSFI in Salt Lake City. He checks in with comments: "In regards to the great voice tracking debate, I firmly believe that the audience can tell the difference if someone is live, or 'Memorex,' especially when broadcasters try to pull the wool over the listeners' eyes.

"I will be honest in telling you that, yes, we do some voice tracking here at KSFI. However, the people doing the tracking are OUR OWN ... IN HOUSE! Tracking is only done to supplement what we have on the air, perhaps to give me time to attend a meeting or deal with a pressing programming issue, etc. ... and NEVER to replace anyone.

"However, with Clear Channel controlling no less than 11 stations here in Salt Lake City ... obviously they are going to cut costs wherever they can. If they can pay $6,000 per year to import someone who may very well be in a smaller market, rather than pay $35,000 for a good jock locally, it will be done.

"Some people blame the voice- tracking Prophet System itself as the cause of the problem, but I beg to differ. Prophet, in all reality, is a wonderful storage and playback system. (I secretly wish we had it here). Voice tracking is not about 'high quality' and 'service to the audience.' ... It's about saving a buck.

"Clear Channel claims that they are trying to have the best quality personnel on the air for any given market. If that were truly the case, a true major market TALENT like Bryan Simmons would have never been replaced at KOST," he wrote.