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Can't Escape Clear Channel (July 24, 2004)http://www.howardstern.com/Maggie, a caller from Washington State called in to complain that she cannot escape Clear Channel in her home town. She said almost every single station is owned by them and although she had been trying incredibly hard to avoid Clear Channel concerts, she went to one that was advertised as a VH1 concert only to learn when she got there that it was a Clear Channel concert. Howard said Clear Channel is so hated that they have to change advertise it as CC or other names to fool people into going to their concerts. Howard also blasted FCC Chairman Michael Powell for making it to an industry speaking engagement last week, but then failing to appear at a public forum he put together to talk to the people. This is the second one he blew off this year. Howard can't believe he doesn't get more heat for this.
FMQB: LPFM to Crowd The Dial (July 24, 2004)(Low) Power To The People... The Senate Commerce Committee has approved a measure that would spur the licensing of more LPFM stations -- primarily in larger markets -- by eliminating the third adjacent channel protection standard that is now afforded full power stations.The decision to eliminate the protection is based on a study commissioned by the FCC that showed that full power stations would suffer no significant interference from LPFMs if the standards were relaxed. An amendment to the bill that would have commissioned an economic impact study was proposed by Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT), a former broadcaster, but the amendment was voted down. The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration. The NAB has opposed relaxing the rules, and NAB President/CEO Eddie Fritts said, "Low Power FM stations have been and continue to be accommodated but not at the expense of subjecting millions of Americans to aggravating interference. It's unfortunate that local radio listeners will be the unintended victims of the inevitable interference that would result from shoehorning more stations onto an already overcrowded radio dial." Stern Contract Details Revealed (July 24, 2004)From FMQBIf Howard Stern's contract with KIOZ/San Diego is representative of his deal with other affiliates, the King Of All Media may be in for some hefty bonus checks. Stern's five-year deal with KIOZ, signed in February '02, called for ratings-based bonuses on an escalating scale. For each Spring, Winter and Fall Arbitron, Stern would receive an "additional license fee" when his 12+ share exceeded 6.0. Year-one called for an $850,000 bonus for each share above 6.0, year-two $875,000. Stern came close to making his San Diego bonus last summer, when he notched a 6.9. Since then, the indecency firestorm has sent his ratings in multiple markets into the stratosphere, potentially triggering lucrative bonuses. Even without bonuses, Clear Channel agreed to pay Stern $4.5 million over five years to carry his show in San Diego. Stern's five-year deals with his other former Clear Channel affiliates were also revealed by The Smoking Gun: Pittsburgh ($3.91 million), Orlando ($3.87 million), Miami ($3.35 million), Louisville ($2.2 million) and Rochester ($1.68 million). Stern's contracts also require affiliates to pay insurance premiums, satellite transmission fees, and expenses for toll-free numbers into his studios. Rumor: KPOP to...Air America? (11:40pm, July 23, 2004)From RRonline.comStreet Talk hears it's a done deal: Sources all across the San Diego grapevine say that Air America Radio may wind up replacing the Adult Standards and Talk programming presently on Clear Channel's KPOP. An early-August programming change may be in the works, and the move would give CC a liberal flanker to market-leading KOGO, which has a conservative tone. CC recently returned the WINZ calls to WRFX/Miami by taking that station to a liberal Talk presentation, thus giving it a companion offering to conservative-leaning WIOD/Miami. Howard Stern Claififies The Clear Channel Lawsuit (July 23, 2004)http://www.howardstern.com/Clear Channel is counter suing Howard Stern. That was the big news last night and Howard started off the show by mocking the lawsuit. Clear Channel says the reason for the lawsuit is because Howard broadcast indecent material and wouldn't work with them when they asked him to tone down his show. Howard said first of all, he didn't broadcast anything. No one had a gun to Clear Channel's head making them broadcast his show. They chose to broadcast his show and had been broadcasting it for the past ten years. But it wasn't until Janet Jackson and when Howard started bad mouthing President Bush that they fired him. Howard said that Clear Channel also did not ask him to do anything. In fact, after they suspended him they wouldn't return any phone calls. Howard said the best part of all of this is that Lowry Mays will now have to give a deposition, meaning Howard can ask Mays whatever he wants and Mays has to answer under oath. Howard can't wait, he said that is worth $3 million alone. Howard knows he is allowed to video tape the deposition, but isn't sure if he can broadcast it, but he hopes so. Howard played a bunch of news clips about the lawsuit, including one from FOX News’ Neil Cavuto, who inaccurately reported that Clear Channel kicked Howard off of 16 markets, when it was actually 6. Fox News - getting it right once again. They are definitely the network to trust. The F word got out on NBC the other day. During a live broadcast of NASCAR, someone with a mike on screamed out F**K and it came across very clear. The broadcasters even apologized right after it happened. Howard wants to see the FCC fine NBC now at least $500,000 since they fined CBS that much for the Janet Jackson incident and this happened after that! So everyone, go to the FCC link on the site and send in a complaint to the FCC about this. Read these and more of the daily recaps of the Howard Stern show at his website listed above. The Wires - Nationwide (July 23, 2004)New Radio StarAll Comedy Radio continues to grow (except in San Diego)... All Comedy Radio announced this morning that they've been added to the programming for four Infinity stations carrying the Howard Stern morning show. Two of the four are featuring ACR’s stream of comedy programming immediately following Howard, the other two are using ACR as the lead-in for the morning show. KIKK-AM, Houston; WQYK-AM, Tampa; KOYT-FM, Austin and KKDG-FM, Fresno will feature ACR’s combination of standup comedy routines, comedian interviews, news and sports parodies and radio comedy “bits”...America’s first full-format offering of comedy on radio. The Houston and Fresno stations will carry ACR’s programming immediately following the Howard Stern show each weekday and selected dayparts on weekends. The Tampa and Austin stations will feature ACR as a lead-in to Howard and selected weekend dayparts. A total of 135 hours of All Comedy Radio programming will air each week on these four new Infinity affiliates combined.
rronline Additional info from All Access: Of the ruling, NAB Pres. and CEO EDDIE FRITTS stated, "Low Power FM stations have been and continue to be accommodated but not at the expense of subjecting millions of AMERICANS to aggravating interference. Hundreds of LPFMs are broadcasting and hundreds more are awaiting final authorization without rolling back needed interference protections. It's unfortunate that local radio listeners will be the unintended victims of the inevitable interference that would result from shoehorning more stations onto an already overcrowded radio dial."
All Access (registration required)
All Access (registration required) Hundreds of media watchers and consumer advocates turned up the volume Wednesday, telling members of the Federal Communications Commission they are not doing enough to protect local radio and television stations from corporate takeovers. The meeting was the only West Coast hearing in a six-part series convened by FCC Chairman Michael Powell after the commission voted 3-2 last year to adopt a landmark set of rule changes that critics contended would have concentrated media ownership into even fewer hands. It was a bad night for Big Media at Wednesday's Federal Communications Commission hearing in Monterey, as two commissioners and a crowd of hundreds excoriated broadcasters for being generally unresponsive to local issues. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein sounded alarms over the increasing consolidation of broadcast outlets by large corporations whose first priority is the bottom line. Calling democracy "the ultimate reality show," their comments garnered sustained rounds of applause from over 300 people attending the hearing at the Monterey Conference Center (read more Jonathan Segal - Monterey Herald) (read NBC 11) Clear Channel is signing on to the new liberal radio network Air America, which airs Al O'Franken's program, among others. Clear Channel is putting Air America on one of its Miami talk stations. Currently, Clear Channel broadcasts Rush and Hannity on its main talk station, WIOD-610 AM. Now Clear Channel is dumping its sports programming on the new WINZ-940 AM station in favor of Air America (read NewsMax)
Forum Talk: KQER Eye For The Radio Guy? (July 22, 2004)The RI-SD forum reported that there is yet another radio pirate on the airwaves in San Diego.KQER 98.5 broadcasts from 3pm until 2am with non-stop dance mixes, and no sweepers or commercials. There was a station ID for KQER Queer and a slogan about San Diego's pride once an hour. My guess is that it's coming out of the Hillcrest area. KQER, a service of Quear Channel Worldwide, or something like it. The Wires - San Diego (11:27pm, July 21, 2004)North County Times - Randy DotingaKSDS jazzes up its style... For decades, jazz station KSDS has been an underappreciated gem, hidden at the far side of the FM dial, waiting to be found by fans of artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis. Read more at his website. Quickies: Clear Channel, which runs more than a dozen stations heard in San Diego, is doing something about the commercial glut on the airwaves. As of Jan. 1, the company will drastically reduce the number of ads on its stations. On some country stations, the hourly commercial load during the morning commute will drop from a height of 18-24 minutes to no more than 12, according to The New York Times.
San Diego City Beat
Marconi Finalists List Released (11:12pm, July 21, 2004)The NAB Radio Show in San Diego in October will close with the Marconi Awards Dinner, honoring those people and stations the judges say are best...The list of nominees was released today... click here for the complete list PREMIERE morning team BOB AND TOM will host this year's MARCONI AWARDS Dinner and Show at the NAB RADIO SHOW in SAN DIEGO OCTOBER 7.Selected highlights
Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year:
Major Market Station of the Year: KPWR-FM Los Angeles, CA is among the nominees. Large Market Station of the Year: KIFM-FM San Diego, CA is among the nominees. Adult Standards Station of the Year: KLAC-AM Los Angeles, CA is among the nominees. CHR Station of the Year: KPWR-FM Los Angeles, CA is among the nominees. NAC/Jazz Station of the Year: KIFM-FM and KSDS-FM San Diego, CA are among the nominees. Oldies Station of the Year: KVEN-AM Ventura, CA is among the nominees. Rock Station of the Year: KBZT-FM San Diego, CA and KOZT-FM Fort Bragg, CA are among the nominees. KOZT airs the Dr. Demento show on the Internet Sunday nights at 9pm. Spanish Station of the Year: KLQV-FM San Diego, CA, KRCD/KRCV Los Angeles, CA, and KSSE-FM Los Angeles, CA are among the nominees.
KSON's 25th Annual Dance Under the Stars (11:00pm, July 21, 2004)KSON's 25th Annual Dance Under the Stars starring Chris Cagle is fast approaching but there's still time to pick up your advance tickets for this Saturday, July 24th at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds.San Diego's #1 Country Station, KSON-FM 97.3 and 92.1 is helping keep this show cheap for the whole family! Tickets are only $5 in advance wherever you find "Tiny" our KSON/San Diego County Chevy Dealers Monster Truck. Get your tickets NOW! Tickets will be $7.00 at the gate if you get them the day of the show! Tiny will be out in your area at these times and locations this week: Thursday, 7/22 - Wild Bills Emporium in El Cajon, 1235 Broadway, from 12pm to 1pm Thursday, 7/22 - S.D. Boat Show, Sheraton Harbor Island, 1380 Harbor Island Dr, 5-6pm Friday, 7/23 - Wal-Mart in Santee, 170 Town Center Parkway, from 5pm to 6pm Get your tickets now to reserve your space at "Dance Under the Stars" to see Chris Cagle, Hill Country and the KSON Roadshow, the Colgate Country Showdown, the Alpine Outlaws Gun Fighters and more. Plus, one lucky KSON listener will win "Tiny", the KSON/San Diego County Chevy Dealers Monster Truck! It'll be a great day of fun and entertainment brought to you by San Diego's #1 Country Station, KSON-FM 97.3 and 92.1. See you there! New Low Power Call Letter Change (July 22, 2004)The new LPFM station in Borrego Springs has call letters: KKJD-LP. It's allegedly going to be a religious station.CC Changes VP/Market Managers In San Diego, Las Vegas (July 21, 2004)rronlineTwenty-year company vet Glickenhaus exits... In an unexpected turn of events, Clear Channel/San Diego VP/Market Manager Mike Glickenhaus has left the company. R&R hears that Clear Channel's Las Vegas VP/Market Manager, Kelly Kibler, has been named to replace him and is already in the building in San Diego. Before taking the post in Las Vegas in June 2002, Kibler served as Director/Sales for Clear Channel's Dallas cluster. Moving up to the VP/Market Manager post for CC/Las Vegas is KWNR/Las Vegas GSM Brandy Newman. The Wires - Nationwide (11:11pm, July 21, 2004)Clear Channel Countersues Infinity... Without assurances that The Howard Stern Show would comply with indecency regulations, Clear Channel was put "in a box," the $3 million counterclaim alleges
rronline
Clear Channel to Countersue Stern, Infinity -Source (July 21, 2004)From News YahooClear Channel Communications Inc. on Wednesday plans to file suit against Howard Stern and his distributor, Infinity Broadcasting, claiming the shock jock breached his contract by airing indecent programs, a source close to the company said. The source said Clear Channel will file a $3 million countersuit to a $10 million lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan by Stern's One Twelve company and Infinity. Stern and Infinity claimed Clear Channel had broken its contract with them when it dumped Stern's show from six stations it owns following fines against Stern by the Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites). Spokesmen for Clear Channel, Stern's company, and Infinity, a Viacom Inc unit, either were unavailable or declined comment. The ribald radio host has repeatedly accused Clear Channel of strong ties to the Bush administration, saying the company previously defended him against past indecency allegations until he became critical of President Bush. Read the rest at the link above. Also see FMQB
Clear Channel to Cut Commercial Clutter (July 21, 2004)From FMQB Taking concrete steps to address a growing issue largely ignored by the industry, Clear Channel announced this morning that it will "significantly lower" spotloads on all of its more than 1200 radio stations by January 1, 2005. Specific ceilings will vary by format and daypart, and will limit both the number of minutes per hour and the length of individual spotbreaks. The company is preparing to cut commercials by several minutes an hour. For example, its Country stations will be capped at 12 minutes an hour in morning drive, less in other dayparts. Compare that to the 18-24 minutes routinely heard on many stations in morning drive. Country spotbreaks won't exceed four minutes or six spots. Clear Channel will take the machete to station promos even sooner -- by October 1. The company will use proprietary technology to monitor and police stations. Bloated spotloads have long been identified as a major industry challenge, particularly in the face of commercial-free music offerings from satellite broadcasters. Blamed for contributing to radio's disturbing eleven-year time spent listening decline, excessive commercials threaten to dilute radio's very product. Last month, several investment banks downgraded some major owners and networks, including Clear Channel, Westwood One and Citadel. Wall Street isn't alone in its frustration. Advertisers, too, have complained about their message getting lost in a sea of endless ads. Read the rest at FMQBThe Wires - Nationwide (July 21, 2004)Don't feel sorry for Howard Stern. Sure, the veteran shock jock was yanked off six Clear Channel stations in February because of charges that his sexually explicit radio show was indecent. He feels so besieged by the Federal Communications Commission's crackdown that he says he is thinking of moving his show to satellite radio, which is not regulated by the government. His Web site keeps a running tally of the months, days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining in his contract with Infinity Broadcasting (it's about 18 months and counting). But the brouhaha may be the best thing that's happened to the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" in a long time. His ratings in most major cities are way up -- he is No. 1 among adults in Los Angeles for the first time in nearly 10 years, and No. 1 in New York, his home base, with his highest ratings in four years. He seems reinvigorated by his "free speech" crusade against the Bush administration, which he blames for instigating the FCC crackdown (read Houston Chronicle - Clifford Pugh)
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