The Wires (Sep 16, 2006)

NY Times: While more than 9 out of 10 Americans still listen to traditional radio each week, they are listening less. And the industry is having to confront many challenges like those that have enticed Mr. Costa, including streaming audio, podcasting, iPods and Howard Stern on satellite radio. As a result, the prospects of radio companies have dimmed significantly since the late 1990’s, when broadcast barons were tripping over themselves to buy more stations (read more - Richard Siklos-NY Times).

Did The FCC Kill A Study On Localism?. A 2004 study on localism was reportedly ended because it conflicted with plans for media consolidation.

Air America Rep: No Bankruptcy. NEW YORK—September 15: A representative for Air America Radio confirmed this afternoon to Radio Ink that Air America Radio will not be declaring bankruptcy and explained that the layoffs at the network had to do with the move of Air America to a new flagship in New York.

Air America Says No To Bankruptcy, But Franken’s Check Is Late. NEW YORK—September 15: Air America admitted yesterday – after Al Franken said that his paycheck had stopped coming – that it has recently had some cash flow problems and had made some layoffs, but insisted there were no plans to declare bankruptcy.

The Wires (Sep 15, 2006)

Al Franken: Midday host Al Franken told Radar that while he didn't know about bankruptcy, "There have been cash-flow problems. I haven't been paid in a while - like, no cash is flowing to me" (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

Think Progress: Air America Radio will announce a major restructuring on Friday, which is expected to include a bankruptcy filing, three independent sources have told ThinkProgress. Air America could remain on the air under the deal, but significant personnel changes are already in the works.

Randy Dotinga. Longtime night-side KSON disc jockey Deb Spring is out. KSON brass decided to follow the lead of KyXy and bring in a nationally syndicated host to fill the late evening hours + Ex-91X DJ Hilary, who left the station a few months ago is back on Star 94.1 (read more - Randy Dotinga-NC Times)

Hear 2.0: "Standard." That's the key word. Not "Option." It comes with the new car - no choice on your part at all. It's the dream fulfilled, both for satellite radio and for HD radio ... If satellite radio becomes "standard" on every car, satellite radio wins.

Windy City Times: A coalition composed of members of Sankofa Way Spiritual Services; Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Allies for Equality, and the Gay Liberation Network staged a protest Sept. 6 at 233 N. Michigan, where Clear Channel’s Chicago radio stations are run. Prior to the protest, the group issued a press release in which it listed acts and statements from various Clear Channel radio personalities and stations ... the statement mentioned Michael Savage (who said that Islam is a religion based on child sexual rape, according to the article) and Jeff Katz ( who offered free Taco Bell meals for running over illegal immigrants).

Howard Stern: Howard Stern Claims To Be "Victim Of A Smear Campaign". Howard Stern stated today that he is "the victim of a smear campaign" by terrestrial radio that is trying to "discredit" his Sirius Satellite Radio gig.

Star Sues Clear Channel.

UPN and The WB Sign Off (Sep 15, 2006)

The DuMont Television Network was the world's first officially licensed commercial television network, beginning operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont Laboratories, a television equipment and set manufacturer. Despite several innovations in broadcasting and creating one of television's biggest stars of the 1950s, the network never found itself on solid ground financially and signed off for good on August 6, 1956. But, according to Wikipedia, television historian Clarke Ingram claims that Fox is a direct descendant, if not a revival, of DuMont, due to a series of company name conversions and acquisitions from the days Metropolitian Broadcasting Corporation rose from the ashes of DuMont. Metropolitian, later known as Metro Media, bought KTTV from the L.A. Times in 1963, establishing a television production center, and owning a production and distribution company. In 1986, when Kluge sold Metromedia's television stations and the production company to Rupert Murdoch, most of the former Metromedia stations formed the nucleus of the current Fox Broadcasting Company.

But in the meantime, we read from wikipedia that Paramount, which was a partner in the DuMont Television Network, was going to launch a one night a week network in the Spring of 1978 with a revival of Star Trek called Star Trek: Phase II, followed by a Movie of the Week on Saturday nights. It would have launched, except that a decision had been made to transform Phase II into Star Trek: The Motion Picture released in 1979, plans for a new Paramount network were scrapped. Paramount, however, continued with the syndication market with repeats of some older series and first-run episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation in 1987 and The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989.

The United Paramount Network was launched on January 16, 1995, as a joint venture between Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, and gave us embarrassing shows like Desmond Pfeiffer and Homeboys In Outer Space, as well as, well, launching the network with a new Star Trek series called Voyager the day the network launched. Each company owned half of the network.

Things got messy in 2000 when Paramount's parent company, Viacom bought out Chris-Craft's half of the network. A few months before that, Viacom bought CBS Television, creating a company that had CBS-UPN duopolies in several markets. The merger also led to the death of the FCC's "no duopolies at all rule", paving the way for NBC to buy the Telemundo network, Univision to launch TeleFutura, and Fox to launch My Network TV.

Also getting messy is Chris-Craft selling its television station group that provided the home for UPN affilliates to competetor Fox Broadcasting, allowing Fox to have two stations in key markets. For years in some markets, a Viacon-owned network was shown on a Fox-owned station, creating an awkward arrangement. In 2005, Viacom was split and UPN became a unit of the CBS Corporation, owner of CBS-TV, television, and radio stations.

For the past two weeks, there are actually eight English-language commercial broadcast television networks running from September 5 when the dreaded My Network TV was launched generally on the former UPN stations to September 15 when UPN officially signs off after the airing of WWE Smackdown (which moves to the CW network next week when that network signs on this Monday.)

On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced plans to launch The CW on September 18, the day of the new fall season. This new joint venture network replaces and features programming from the best shows from both the former The WB and UPN broadcast networks.

The WB, like UPN, will cease operations as a network on Sunday night when it broadcasts a night of vintage WB programming with a lineup of Felicity, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dawson's Creek, shows popular in the late 90s-early 00s.

The following night, The CW is officially launched as a new network half owned by the CBS Corporation, owner of UPN and CBS TV, and half owned by Time Warner, owner of The WB. Generally speaking, most of the CW affilliates will be former WB affilliate stations and My Network TV gets many of the former UPN affilliates.

In San Diego, according to titantv, Friday Night Smackdown from UPN will be seen on XDTV 49 (My Network TV) Friday night at midnight. The following Friday, it will be on KSWB 5/69 at 8pm, the old time slot from the UPN days.

The Wires (Sep 14, 2006)

Randy Dotinga: Why songs are music to your brain You've had a long day at school, at work or at home. You plop yourself into a comfy chair, turn on the stereo and find a station playing your favorite music. (D.T. note: but not on a station in San Diego I must add.) Call it "musicotherapy." Or, as the author of a new book suggests, a prime example of the power of our mental buzz-boosters. "Music is clearly a means for improving people's moods. Now we think we know why," writes Toronto neuroscientist Daniel Levitin in "This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession." It turns out, according to Levitin, that music stimulates the parts of our brains that deal with emotion and make us feel good by tinkering with the levels of happy-time chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine. Kind of like ---- you guessed it ---- an antidepressant. "A lot of people do use music to self-medicate," Levitin said in an interview. "To get going in the morning, to motivate them to exercise or clean the house, to calm them at night or comfort them after a stressful or sad event."

One problem with this quote: "and if the music is quieter and more predictable ---- think about the "soft" tunes of KyXy and KIFM or FM 94/9's "Big Sonic Chill" ---- it can calm us too. And, of course, loud music often wakes us up." How can you call "Into The Groove" by Madonna a soft tune? What do they mean by that?

Reader Blurt: Could US 95.7 be out of business soon? D.T. adds: Could La Preciosa move to 95.7 when Clear Channel San Diego finally unloads XHOCL 99.3 as required by the U.S. Government? As of now, no formal announcement of the selling of the programming rights to the Mexican-owned station to another broadcaster has been in any of the big radio news wire sites.

Air America Headed For Bankruptcy?

Britney Spears welcomes second baby boy (Sep 13, 2006)

Yesterday, former pop princess (hard to believe so) Britney Spears gave birth to a second baby boy with no name for the newborn as of yet. The brother was born, just two days before her first child is to turn a year old.

Spears, 24, and her husband Kevin Federline, 28, together welcomed their new son into the world in Los Angeles in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, People magazine reported.

The couple already have a son, Sean Preston, who will turn one year old on Thursday.

ESPN Beats Everybody! (Sep 13, 2006)

Monday night, ESPN, the new home for Monday Night Football under the new contract because sibling ABC was too cheap to come up with the money, broadcasted its first regular season MNF franchise game, a doubleheader, and drew not only its highest rating ever, it also beat all of the broadcast network offerings including sibling ABC's dreaded 9/11 docudrama (which will air on KGTV on Saturday night as the station pre-empted the ABC programming to broadcast the MNF game on a home-team only basis because the Chargers were involved in the broadcast as the team beat the Raiders 27-0, a funny score.)

The first game between the Minnesota Vikings and Washington Redskins, won 19-16 by Minnesota, got almost a 10 rating, while the Charger game got halfway between an 8 and a 9 rating. ABC's part two of miniseries "The Path to 9/11" got just above an 8 rating, the highest rating for a broadcast network that night, second to ESPN.

An estimated 22.6 million viewers watched Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts beat younger brother Eli's New York Giants in NBC's prime-time game on Sunday night, also beating all other fare that evening.

This is the time of the year when sports broadcasting is the hottest, when the NFL and College Football seasons are starting, the Major League Baseball seasons are winding down with races to the pennant and the World Series, the NHL season just returning after a three-month offseason with pre-season games, and the NBA season just around the corner. Among those, the NFL is the king of all sports, with any soccer league not getting anywhere near the interest the rest of the world is giving the sport. With sports being this hot at the start of the fall season, would it make more sense to put more of the sports on free television instead of letting the cable networks get all of the lucrative male fans (who have the money the advertisers crave) because MNF and others are being shown on cable instead of local stations?

Looking through zap2it.com and titantv.com for TV listings, among the broadcast stations, XETV, KFMB, KGTV, KUSI, XDTV, KNSD, and KSWB, I can't find anything to watch anymore. I don't subscribe to TV Guide since they got rid of the late night listings two years ago, and last year when they went all national, dropping the local listings, TV Guide is as useful as bird cage lining.

Do you want to know when your sports games are on? Don't bother opening up a TV Guide because they're not there. Go to zap2it.com or titantv.com and do a search, or scan the listings by channel and day. I can do that with the TV Week that comes in Sunday's newspapers, which is the only thing that qualifies as a TV Guide that I find useful.

The Wires (Sep 13, 2006)

Hear 2.0: Radio has always been in the scarcity business. The spectrum is scarce, and places within that spectrum are precious. Not everyone or anyone can own one and, Lord knows, not everyone does. And then came satellite radio which introduced an all-new alternate spectrum, thus reducing the scarcity. And then came iPods and the like which functioned more like radios than CD players and reduced the scarcity more. And it's only a matter of time - a short time - before the Internet comes to your car and quite possibly eliminates musical scarcity altogether (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0).

Happy Hare: Fortunately, the song I wrote for Ronald Reagan urging him to run for President, a lame take-off on “Da Doo Ron Ron Ron” has long been tossed. It took Pete Wilson, on a chance meeting in L.A, to dredge up the memory of my performance of this timeless standard at the grand opening of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge in 1969. Pete impishly asked me if I still had the “Da Doo Run, Ron Ron” song I wrote when I emceed the dedication of the bridge in 1969.

Simpsons Bus Driver Detuned From Radio (Sep 12, 2006)

In the episode titled "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife, and Her Homer", the school bus driver was listening to one of his favorite songs when his cassette player broke after being dropped. He turns on the radio, and scans hopelessly from station to station finding nothing for him to listen to. There's nothing but smooth jazz, chick pop, hip hop, adult contemporary country, and hard alternative on the radio. It's kind of what it sounds like in San Diego. Matt, who was in San Diego during Comic Con this past July might have been trying to find something to listen to on local radio without any luck.

What a statement that episode made about the homogenization of radio formats. With 91X and 94/9 straying from what was once called alternative music, their core genre sounds more like what KGB-FM would have sounded like if that station ever got out of its longtime classic rock rut. Seems that the two so-called modern rock stations are playing more unlistenable noise than they were recently and I'm often tuning them out in favor of listening to mp3s and talk radio in my car.

San Diego has too many rock stations, and it's only a matter of time before 91X or 94/9 decide to ditch the modern rock format in favor of something more interesting like real alternative music such as electronica, synth, dancable rock, and modern new wave and ditch the crap they're playing like Cake, Tool, Papa Roach, Evanessence, Linkin Park, and the like that's simply nothing but bad noise. Rock 105.3 already is dominating with noise like that, so their two other competetors are fighting for those few listeners.

9/11: Enough Already! (Sep 12, 2006)

I may also cite that Sunday's NFL on the NBC game beat out the 9/11 offerings on the two other networks, and I can bet that Monday's ESPN games will outdraw ABC's 9/11 coverage.

DFSX, also to blame for the reminder of 9/11, restricted itself to spending just one hour attacking Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban with comedy songs about them as an alternative.

Sunday's The Inside Track spent the second hour recalling 9/11, which I tuned out immediately. I agree with Leykis. What's the deal with all this 9/11 coverage in the first place? Aren't there any other dates of infamy to over remind us of?

I guess ABC, CBS, and even CNN are catering to the lowest common denominator by dwelling on tragedy instead of just giving us the facts about it in a 60-minute capsule just on one day and be done with it. Back in 2002, the local media was all over the death of a child Danielle Van Damm and over covering it. Good thing I got an MP3 player just before all this bullshit exploitation of a dead child began, as I listened to comedy music in my car for months on end instead of this.

The media is lost, finding a way to turn tragedy into an entertainment show. Get real, or make that, fantasy!

Slimmer Network Pickings (Sep 12, 2006)

All I can find to watch were Sunday's season premieres of The Simpsons, American Dad, and Family Guy, with King of the Hill coming later, and South Park coming in October, plus some selected comedy from Comedy Central, Adult Swim, and NFL football. Nothing else on prime-time interests me. I dropped a few shows I was not enjoying such as the overrated Deal of No Deal (have Cheech and Chong parody that into Dope Deal or No Dope Deal). All of the sitcoms are basically written by brain-dead writers and are basically the same episode rewritten over and over again, and there are just plain too many drama shows, which is ridiculous.

The My Network TV telenovela offerings are getting about half the rating of Passions, the lowest rated daytime serial, and a third of what UPN used to get in first runs, suggesting that TV stations such as XHDTV 49 have made a bad programming move. Why not get some sports programs on the station? How about getting the clueless Aztecs to sign up with a local station and have all of their games available on a local station (blackout restrictions applied when the games do not sell out), so that we won't have to deal with some noname upstart cable network not being carried by Cox and miss the games. How about importing the games from the Los Angeles Lakers on XHDTV? The Kings? The Dodgers? The Angels? The Ducks? We don't need any more soap operas on televison, we need games (as well as game shows) on the free TV airwaves.

XHDTV was better off burning off the final two weeks of UPN's existance instead of putting on this turkey upstart.

I give the dreaded My Network TV a year tops before it goes out of business due to poor ratings and revenue, and XHDTV is forced to come up with something else to program. What a waste of prime-time real estate. I'd rather watch the dreaded reruns of Gimme a Break instead of this!

The Wires (Sep 12, 2006)

Audio Graphics: Radio executives need to spend more time at their web sites. This observation is made after viewing station sites from the following radio groups: Clear Channel, Cumulus, Entercom, CBS Radio, Greater Media, Susquehanna, and Cox Radio (read more - Audio Graphics)