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The Wires (Feb 2003)

  • Wired: Telecoms Say 10 Digits Isn't Enough - The body that regulates telephone number distribution in North America has been informed by three "Baby Bells" that we're headed for a phone number shortage due to the growth of "Voice Over Internet Protocol." Telecoms are urging a move to 12 digit numbers, at a cost of an estimated $150 Billion!
  • AnyServiceMember.org - Send a letter of encouragement to the men and women serving the country overseas by clicking on the link.
  • From Hip Hop to Country Hop? - Music promoters need to aggressively infiltrate mainstream American pop culture if they want to convert the Eminem generation into country music listeners, researchers told attendees at the Country Radio Seminar
  • Clear Channel's Anti-Mp3 Spots Fall on Deaf Ears - Online swapping of songs is growing at a crippling rate, forcing almost every corner of the music industry to try to divine exactly what role, if any, the CD will play in a future dominated by Internet delivery and competition from popular new technologies like the DVD
  • Not the Same Old... - Al Brumley: Folks who complain about hearing the same old stuff on the radio might want to tune in to Dallas-Fort Worth morning drive, where two new shows have recently set up shop - Steve Harvey and "The Misfits," comedian Sheryl Underwood, Hollywood and Jack Hines, former news director at KRLD-AM (1080)
  • Nigerian Slain Over E-Mail Scam - A Czech distraught over financial losses in the notorious Nigerian 419 e-mail scam kills a diplomat at the Nigerian Embassy in Prague. By Michelle Delio.
  • What the FCC vote means: - Internet service consumers face the prospect of only two primary providers of high-speed Internet access: the cable company and the phone company.
  • The rescheduled TURN OFF THE RADIO RALLY is going down on Wednesday February 26, 7PM Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn. A lot of Hip Hop and R&B is fully dedicated and so real that radio wont play it, because when you're really bringing it real you don't get radio rotation
  • Wired: Summit: DMCA Blocks Tech Progress - Silicon Valley executives and other insiders meet with lawmakers to discuss how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act adversely impacts technology innovation -- and what they can do about it. Katie Dean reports from Santa Clara, California.
  • Salon: Clear Channel's big, stinking deregulation mess - Sixth in a series on the consolidation of power and ownership in the media landscape. By Eric Boehlert.
  • Fortune: CLEAR CHANNEL Not the Bad Boys of Radio - Lowry Mays and sons made enemies building Clear Channel into an empire.
  • "Sabrina" Returns to ABC For Wedding - ABC to Shoot Melissa Joan Hart Wedding. "ABC, I think is going to do a TV show based on (the wedding)," Hart said. "I actually asked for it because I thought it would be cool to have professionals really shooting the bachelorette party and the bachelor party and the engagement party and the bridal shower and going with me to try on my dress. And I'll have it all on video. I'm going to produce it so I'll have total control. " Read more. SIDE NOTE: "Sabrina" moves to Thursday nights at 8pm BEGINNING Thursday Feb 27 (Monthly "Weird Al" Yankovic" Day). The last Friday "Sabrina" for now airs Feb 21 at 8:30pm.
  • Joe Millionaire Helps Fox Dominate Like Never Before - why?
  • From Pagesix: Dr. Phil on Letterman 2-17-03 - Self-help guru Dr. Phil proved to David Letterman that he can dish it as well as take it
  • From Allhiphop.com: Radio Boycott Movement? - Rappers, Activists lead 'Turn Off The Radio' Campaign
  • USA Today: Two Bucks For Every Gal - The price of gasoline is going up up and away over the $2 mark.
  • Wired: Out of Phone Numbers? Add Digits - North American telephone numbers might grow by two digits as early as 2005. Old-school telcos blame voiceover IP services for using up more than their share of 10-digit combinations. By Patrick Di Justo.
  • Wired: Ricochet Wireless Rides Again - Ricochet's wireless Internet service is slow, and only available in two metro areas. But company execs hope everyone from geeks to cops will sign up for the service, which claims greater coverage than Wi-Fi. Randy Dotinga reports from San Diego.
  • Expresion, a New TV Spanish Network, To Launch - Read more about it. Excerpt: "Come this spring, the major Hispanic-targeted broadcast networks Univision and Telemundo, along with upstarts and offshoots including TV Azteca and Telefutura, could get a run for their money as a scrappy newcomer, Expresion, enters the fray. Aimed at what it calls the "new Hispanic generation," Expresion's lineup will differ markedly from the mix of novelas and news, talk and variety shows that are the hallmark of the established players. For starters, Expresion, catering to younger, bilingual Hispanics, will offer programming in both Spanish and English. Among the original programs it has in the works: Lincoln Park, a cross between Friends and The Real World exploring the lives of six Latinos from different walks of life living under the same roof in Chicago, and Al Cine, a movie review show that critiques both Spanish- and English-language films of interest to Hispanics. "
  • Lung Disease Means Goodbye, Dolly - The cloned sheep that stunned the world in 1996 was euthanized Friday, a victim of premature aging and an undisclosed lung ailment. Dolly's death continues the ethical debate around trying to artificially create life. (well, there goes D.T.'s hopes of having a cloned Cindy Crawford)
  • Time to Rework 1996 Telco Law? - Industry officials and regulators are debating whether to revamp the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which made sweeping changes designed, among other things, to open telephone networks to greater competition. By Elisa Batista.
  • Broadband Over Power Lines? - High-speed Internet access may soon be coming to an electrical outlet near you. Federal regulators are in favor of a plug-and-play technology, which could effectively lower prices and bridge the digital divide in rural areas.
  • The San Antonio Express takes notice of Clear Channel - While ad revenues are tepid and stock prices are down, Clear Channel is poised to strike when the economy regains its footing. Outside, however, a growing number of people are worried about how the company exerts power over the radio and music industries.
  • CC Too Big??? - Barry Willis: Clear Channel Communications, the radio industry's 900-lb gorilla, may be getting too big for its britches (read)
  • For a Good Laugh... - American radio is stronger than ever, is meeting listeners' needs, and is in touch with the diverse demands of local communities, Clear Channel Communications Chairman and CEO Lowry Mays told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation.

    National Radio Wires 2-28-03!

    Inside Radio
    Clear Channel says its playlists offer more choices than four years ago... CC's Mark Mays tells the FCC public hearing in Richmond that "Since 1999 the number of unique songs and artists we play increased by 30%, reflecting the fact that Clear Channel radio stations are actually playing a greater variety of music every year." (what they don't tell you is that CC offers more choices of unique aimed at teens and women and less choices aimed at males over 25.)

    San Diego Radio Wires 2-27-03!

    North County Times - Randy Dotinga
    AM 1450 presents....FOX! (no, not THAT fox! It's a new handle to replace the low-rated classical station). See the websites for more information.

    Clear Channel San Diego Radio held its Children's Hospital 2nd Annual Radiothon last weekend. This year's totals for the Children's Hospital radiothon came to $657,640!!

    KHTS THIS WEEK'S PARODY SONG CHALLENGE: Click Here Hula's topic: "Sandwiches", Song: "Eyes Closed Tight" by VI3, Parody
    Click Here Jesse's Topic: "Hula-the Stunt Guy", Song: "Superman" by Eminem, Parody

    also see pictures of the Radiothon at their website.

    The San Diego Reader Blurt
    "Nine Wherehouse stores will close all because people are downloading the music off the Internet." Wrong, Wherehouse, sez D.T. It's because you're pushing a lot of music that stinks instead of trying to hype the music that's good such as those that appeal to the money-rich over-35 demographics; they don't care about Ja-Rule or 50 cent, acts kids can only afford to download for free.

    Also: a blurt about the new "Go Loco" on 92.1, which re-premiered this past February 16.

    KFMB-AM New schedule: Mon-Fri: Bill Holland 5am, Rick Roberts 6am, Bill O'Reilly 10am, Sean Hannity 12pm, Rick Roberts Replay 3pm (coming soon to that time period: Michael Savage once KSDO releases him), Alan Colmes 7pm, Laura Ingraham 10pm, Clark Howard 1am, and The Diner Show 2am.

    XETRA-FM It's golfing with 91X and some of your favorite 91X artists including members of Green Day, Lit, Social Distortion, Long Beach Dub All-Stars, and many, many more on Friday, February 28th. Tune into Brand X Morning Radio or see their website for the details.

    KBZT Desert Island Discs with Anya...... If you had to pick three CDs to be stuck with...what would they be? Email your choices to Anya from their website, and she'll pick a track from each one and play 'em back to back for you in the 8:00pm hour, Monday through Friday.

    KOCL The KOOL 95.7 "Silent Night 9-11"... You'll only hear this on KOOL 95.7-or here on the KOOL Website. (You may download it if you wish) Find the MP3 link from their website! The narrative written by Stacy Randall. The voice is Bob Holiday. The music-Mannheim Steamroller's "Silent Night". Also: Red Skelton's PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.

    Also on KOOL...6th The Annual SD Humane Society Pet Telethon Adopt-a-thon. Are you an animal lover? Looking for something fun and meaningful to do this Saturday? See their website for more.

    KSON-FM "Have You Forgotten" by Darryl Worley Listen to an excerpt of the hot new track from Darryl Worley. You can hear the entire song on Today's Best Country, 97.3 FM, KSON! See their website to read the lyrics to the song!

    KSON's St. Jude Radiothon Feb 27-28...click the link for details.

    KFMB-FM Supermouth continues...

    KPRI Vote for KPRI on their website. Look for the links on their home page.

    KPLN SPRINGSTEEN LIVE! Classic Rock 103.7 THE PLANET will give you the chance to hear Bruce Springsteen live! Listen this Friday at 9pm, presented by Big Bear Mountain Resorts and Classic Rock 103.7 THE PLANET! See their website for more.

    San Diego Radio Wires 2-27-03!

    North County Times - Randy Dotinga
    AM 1450 presents....FOX! (no, not THAT fox! It's a new handle to replace the low-rated classical station). See the websites for more information.

    Comments from the LA Forum
    Name: SuperRadioFan... Yep, can't wait to tune in hear such 70s classics as: Make It With you-Bread, Close To You-Carpenters, You've got a Friend-James Taylor, One Bad Apple-Osmonds (or The Osbornes), How Can You Mend a Broken Heart-BGs, Go Away Little Girl-Donny Osmond (!), Brand New Key- Melanie, The Candy Man-Sammy, Alone Again Naturally-Gilbert O'Sullivan, Ben-Michael Jackson, I Am Woman-Helen Reddy, My Love-McCartney&Wings, The Morning After- Maureen McGovern, Delta Dawn- Helen Reddy , We're An American Band-Grand Funk, HalfBreed-Cher, Top Of The World-Carpenters, Show & Tell-Al Wilson, Love's Theme-Love Unlimited Orch (Barry White), Hooked On A Feeling-Blue Swede, Rock the Boat-Hues Corp, Billy Don't Be A Hero-Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods (my personal ughhh favorite :>), Sunshine on My Shoulders-John Deutschendorf, The Night Chicago Died-Paper Lace (2nd ughh favorite), Rock Me Gently-Andy Kim, I Honestly Love You-Olivia NewtonJohn, ahhh here's one-Kung Foo Fighting-Carl Douglas, --- shall I go on? I don't think so -- I can't take it anymore. And those songs are all from 1970-74, the first half of the decade. Do any of them (if you know the songs) make you want to tune in?? BTW- What do ALL of the above songs have in common??? As far as rates go, I get almost as good rates from KPRI "Authentic Rock" 102.1 FM (AAA format). Astor's gonna have a hard sell, but I guess it won't be as hard as selling classical music on AM.

    Name: digitboy... Personally, I've never understood the appeal of any oldies format. I mean, if I really wanted to hear Stairway to Heaven AGAIN, I would have bought the album or CD by now. I've only had the last 30 years to do it!

    Name: Rod M... Radio fan is right...Its just Art doing a smoke and mirror trick... "The ALL NEW ______ 1450 AM!" ...Look up KRUD.com...It will make you laugh your ass off! Almost like Art took a page from their book...And as radio fan says KPRI is a better buy! I think FM 949 in SD would do the trick as well!

    Name: Mark... Who listens to music on AM that's under 50 or not rated by Arbitron? Enough said.

    National Radio Wires 2-26-03!

    Inside Radio
    Fox's next big radio project -- the "Fox News Radio Service."... Fox cuts loose from Westwood and goes it alone with a service that offers hourly newscasts from 6am to 10pm, starting April 1. First affiliates include KFI, Los Angeles, KPRC, Houston and KXL, Portland.

    Kurt Hanson
    "You Have The (Internet Radio) Numbers, Now Start Selling!" Hanson has the whole thing analyzed and detailed.

    Los Angeles Radio Wires 2-26-03!

    KLOS Rita Wilde turns "20". See their website for pictures and more.

    KCBS-FM Create Your Own Bob Dylan Album! See their website how.

    KIIS-FM Rick Dees Pays Your Bills! All month long, Rick Dees is going to help you out with your bills... car payment, phone bill, credit card... ANY bill! Just send 'em to KIIS! See their website for details.

    Los Angeles Radio Wires 2-26-03!

    (oops, I had the wrong date earlier)
    RadioDailyNews
    February 28 is the last broadcast day for KFSG, broadcasting Christian programming in Los Angeles since 1924. On that day, Steve Boalt introduces listeners to KKLA 99.5 FM's Warren Duffy via simulcast. MORE

    San Diego Radio Wires 2-25-03!

    In March: will it be one or two...format changes on the AM band that is. XPRS 1090 and KSDO 1130 will almost exchange languages within weeks of each other as 1090 may go English-language sports and 1130 may go Spanish-language talk or music, I'm not sure at this point. Any ideas? Send some e-mail and we'll discuss this.

    Arbitrons: San Diego
    Remember that is is a RESTRICTED survey, meaning, people like you and me can't vote for stations in this obsolete and flawed survey. One of these days, the votes for radio stations will be handled by the local government. Think of it. Why not give us something that we can all vote on such as the ability to vote out trash such as KGB and Jerry Springer from the airwaves!

    If you want to participate in a more open survey, join my non-award-winning Evalutrons and vote for the stations you like everyday. We lost a dozen voters in the past month (2 quit, 1 died, 8 were not submitting the votes daily as per rules, and one was found out to be working at a broadcasting outlet, against the rules) so drop me an e-mail and I'll set you up starting with the March survey.

    Early peek at the Evalutron ratings...a three way tie, with five days to go!

    The January Abritron survey (Winter period one) and this past January's Evalutron surveys had one thing in common: by coincidence, KIFM was the #1 rated station overall.

    See Evalutrons: You Rate the Stations and Arbitrons: San Diego to compare and contrast how the San Diego stations ranked.

    Power Boost for Channel 933? in several online forums, readers were posting that they can pick up KHTS 933 better than they did a week ago in outlying places such as Mira Mesa where 933 now causes noticable interference with Arrow 93.1 from Los Angeles. It's possible that 933's transmitter was moved close to where KGB-FM transmitter broadcasts from. It used to be hard to pick up 933 from even Point Loma only 15 miles away in some places; it may not be the case now. KHTS also has to protect another 93.3 FM broadcasting from Big Bear Lake, so they can't power the station too much to the north.

    Scott Riggs on 105.3 - Sunday nights at 9-10pm, Scott Riggs has a new show on KIOZ with a combination of music sounding like the mixing of the pre-2003 days of Go Loco and rock music not on the charts.

    Los Angeles Radio Wires 2-23-03!

    Gary Lycan - Orange County Register
    One more station, Christian 93.5, will flip to Spanish March 1. Spanish Broadcasting System, which operates KLAX/97.9 FM and KXOL/96.3 FM, is completing its $250 million purchase of 96.3 FM from Four Square. When SBS took over running 96.3, the deal allowed Four Square to move its religious programming to 93.5 FM. Now Four Square is pulling out, and we're waiting to see what Spanish-format SBS introduces on 93.5 FM next weekend. MORE

    Entravision has debuted "Oye 97.5 - La Cumbia Caliente" on KLYY/97.5 FM in Riverside. It's described as folkloric or dance music from Colombia. Entravision's English dance station "KDL" 103.1 FM is now running commercials, so we'll see how soon it will announce the DJ lineup.

    ex-KMET Raechel Donahue is heard on KQMT/99.5 FM in Denver, doing 7 p.m.-midnight. It's an eclectic classic rock station known as "The Mountain." The Web site is 995themountain.com.

    Don Barrett - Los Angeles Radio People
    Sam Rubin, a biased radio diversity report (in favor of those who have the Arbitron books instead of regular citizens like you and me), all HERE

    KLAC/570 AM all-nighter Dale "Truckin' Bozo" Sommers has a loyal group of callers, mostly truckers, and they have some creative handles: "Derailed," "Thunder Chicken from California" and "Dirty White Boy." Alan Colmes is starting a new syndicated radio show. The liberal talk host will not be heard in L.A. but will air 7-10 p.m. weekdays on KFMB/760 AM San Diego starting Monday, bumping Laura Ingraham, who is leaving the station.


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