The Wires (Sep 30, 2006)

From Inside Radio: Bad news ahead about satellite subscriber trends? Though terrestrial radio certainly won't view it as bad news. Bank of America's Jonathan Jacoby says "poor retail trends and Big Three auto production cuts" mean it'll be tough for the car companies to "bail out" XM and Sirius from what look to be weakening subscriber add numbers. Jacoby also says the numbers of receivers being sold at retailers "may peak" this year.

HD Radio Information To Be Collected By Arbitron. Some folks call 'em multicasts, some call 'em side channels or secret stations.

Dalet 5.1, Radio Suite Support Hd Radio, Podcasting. Dalet Digital Media Systems says it has enhanced support for HD Radio and podcast distribution.

All Access: The FCC nails a pirate operator in SAN DIEGO with a $500 fine, reducing the fine from $10,000. JONI K. CRAIG argued that she played only a passive role in the operation of a pirate at 106.9 FM broadcasting from her garage, that she tried to have the station shut down, and that she cannot afford to pay the proposed fine. The Commission rejected the first two arguments but reduced the fine based on financial hardship.

The Wires (Sep 29, 2006)

Yellow Alert for HD Radio? A radio industry analyst is declaring a "yellow alert" for the attempt by broadcasters to launch the new HD radio format. Mark Kassof, whose Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Mark Kassof & Co. has been doing audience research for radio stations for more than two decades, says his recent survey of radio listeners in 48 states showed that 5% thought they were already listening to high-definition radio, although they hadn't bought the radios needed to pick up the format (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS).

XM Goes Back in Time: This Friday, for one day only, between 3 and 8 p.m. CDST, XM Satellite Radio's 60's on 6 channel will travel back in time and land its dial on 610 KILT-AM. Not the sports-talk station it is now but the hard-rocking, bubblegum-popping, supremely influential Top 40 hit station that KILT was back in the '60s — before FM took over, before corporations bought every station in town, before rap and country and Latin music took over. The day will be Sept. 29, 1966 (read more - Ken Hoffman-Houston Chronicle).

Seattle PI: One of the region's longest-running regularly scheduled radio programs gets its final airing this Saturday. "Music With Moskowitz," which featured "weird and wacky" comedy and novelty songs, has been running "best of" programs in the weeks following the death of the program's founder and host, Robert Baron + Matt Case, who had been evening host on the now-departed KLSY-FM, has been named producer of the "Fitz in the Morning" show on KKWF-FM (read more - Bill Virgin - Seattle PI).

Hear 2.0 Choice is good and more choice is even better, right? It’s one of the founding principles of satellite radio and HD radio. And it's wrong. Some choice is better than none, says Barry Schwartz, a Professor in the Psychology Department at Swarthmore College and the author of an incredible book called The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. But it does not follow that more choice is better than some choice (read more - Mark Ramsey - Hear 2.0).

The members of AFTRA and SAG have approved the two-year extension to their contract for advertising, which covers radio, TV, the Web and other forms of new media. The contract extension begins on October 30 and runs until 2008.

XM To Carry Farm Aid. XM SATELLITE RADIO will be carrying this weekend's FARM AID 2006, live on their AMERICANA CHANNEL - XM 12. RAY KNIGHT and JESSIE SCOTT will co-host the coverage, beginning at 3:30 (ET), this SATURDAY (9/30). FARM AID will feature performances by WILLIE NELSON, NEIL YOUNG, JOHN MELLENCAMP, DAVE MATTHEWS and many more.

D.T.'s Pizza Favorite (Sep 28, 2006)

This free plug is an example how advertising works for you on San Diego Radio News. Buy a banner and next time, your company will be mentioned on this website. If you're not a favorite food place, radio station, or business, you won't get mentioned for free here. D.T. is underpaid and underappreciated in this culturally-challenged city called San Diego.

You can tell that I'm P.O.'d. I'm not buying a cell phone because their service sucks and I'm not getting paid enough to afford service for it anyway.

And if you're in Kearny Mesa, be sure to go to Cheetah's on 8105 Claremont Mesa Blvd. where you won't see a bigoted stripper at another business I won't mention be a reverse racist at a white person.

Cox High Speed Cable Goes Out (Sep 28, 2006)

This is Cox, an overpriced cable and high speed company that's raising its rates to some $47 a month and it can't get their high speed Internet back up and running in a timely manner. What are the guys at Cox smoking? Are they too stoned to respond to outages? Some competetion we're having, isn't it? Why isn't the price down to $20 a month for 6mbps service by now?

I've even gotten a couple of e-mails complaining that they couldn't listen to Sunday night's Dementia Top 20 radio show because their internet connection was out. I spent the time burning a couple of CD-Rs and mailing them and letting them double their vote without needing a password.

Cox's service remains below "C" level. Get it up, Cox!

We Deserve Cable Choice (Sep 28, 2006)

Monopoly cable television has clearly not worked for America. Rates are too high. Customer service quality is too low. And programming just isn't what it could be. Why is Cox taking away analog channels and raising the prices? I have a VCR and TV set that can get 125 cable channels, yet Cox, which used to program some 81 channels, now programs less than 70, and the rates get higher. This isn't fair.

Sign the C4CC pledge now right here...

Click Here to Sign Pledge

...to bring control over cable programming and costs back to the people who truly deserve it: the consumers.

There is only one thing that will get cable companies to change their ways: competition. You may have heard a lot lately about a bill in Congress that would create competition in the cable industry. Unfortunately, this bill is now stalled in the U.S. Senate. Some people say there's no hope for getting it passed this year. They say Congress is too distracted by the upcoming election and that the proposed law is just too complicated.

We think they're wrong.

Consumers for Cable Choice (C4CC) is on a mission to get the Senate to focus on giving consumers what they need: more cable television providers in the marketplace. If you're like us, and are tired of excuses and of the limited choices of cable providers available to you, we need your help. Please join in the fight by reading the information over the next few weeks, pledging your support for cable competition, and getting the word out to your friends and family.

Because when cable companies compete for customers, customers win.

Let's f--- Cox and Time Warner and get some real competetion going here!

Magic 92.5 Goes The Wrong Way (Sep 28, 2006)

Maybe 92.5 should take my advice, chuck the pop oldies, and play today's dance pop hit makers such as Scissor Sisters seen at Myspace here:

http://myspace.com/scissorsisters

Their latest hit single "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" reminds me of the Bee Gees the way lead singer Jake Shears hits the high notes. 92.5 plays the Bee Gees old disco stuff. Why can't they play the new disco stuff? I hear them on XM 81, ipartyradio.com, and other outlets.

Another song, "Take Your Mama", has lead singer Shears doing an Elton John impression.

Wonder when he'll get to impersonating Boy George. Just don't do George Michael if you know what I mean.

Wi-Fi Beats HD and Satellite (Sep 28, 2006)

Find out why the study predicts that satellite and HD radio won't be able to keep up with Net radio's coming growth, in today's issue of "RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter," online now at http://www.kurthanson.com/.

Excerpts:

From Bridge Ratings: "The advent of HD radio and increasing growth of Internet radio will slow original growth projections for satellite radio. Internet radioBridge Ratings will greatly benefit from pervasive Wi-Max or Wide Area Wireless Access which will bring Internet Radio to portable devices, including car radios by 2008.

"Internet radio streaming is already the source of preference among young Americans WiMax for supplemental audio entertainment and is continuing its growth as broadband technology penetration rapidly improves through the U.S...

"While the wireless solution for in-car Internet radio still needs to be determined, its potential for use by the public at large is far greater than the current impressive growth projections for satellite radio. The question that begs to be answered is: 'As Internet radio use accelerates both in and out of home, how will satellite radio's profitability model survive?'

Internet radio is quickly becoming the preferred medium over satellite radio and, traditional radio among 15-30 year old early adopters. The lackluster projected growth of HD terrestrial radio suggests by current research that unless additional interactive technology is added HD Radioand programming and technical problems improve, HD's free channels will do little to fend off other digital audio alternatives to terrestrial radio...

"According to this updated data, the entire spectrum of digital audio alternatives, and especially Internet radio and its wireless distribution continue to represent the biggest challenge to traditional radio."

Read the rest at the link above.

The Wires (Sep 28, 2006)

Randy Dotinga: Air America hits turbulence once again. By: RANDY DOTINGA - For the North County Times. By many accounts, the Air America liberal talk-show network ---- heard locally on "progressive talk" station KLSD ---- should be off the air by now.

ESPN MNF Breaks Own Record Again (Sep 27, 2006)

The Saints' 23-3 win over Atlanta in the first game in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina 13 months ago drew a rating just below a 12 and over ten million homes.

Another main reason why football and baseball are so interesting is that for the first time since I was a child, there are generally no prime-time non-sports network shows for me to watch anymore (save for the Fox Sunday night cartoon comedies.)

ABC is nothing but a ghost town. Nothing but serial dramas, reality shows, sitcoms featuring pussy-whipped males, and Disney Channel-inspired teen girl shows. All that's left are the Saturday College Football doubleheaders. After that's over, might as well deprogram KGTV the ABC affilliate from my presets since there's nothing on the station for me anymore.

CBS still has the fading Late Show with David Letterman, as well as NFL and College Football.

Fox has the NFL and the playoffs for baseball.

NBC has Sunday night football, something that's long been needed on free television, though available on TNT, then ESPN on cable since who knows when. Saturday Night Live is nothing without Robert Smiegel's TV Funhouse cartoons.

The CW doesn't have Hee Haw, Dukes of Hazzard, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Nashville Palace, and Fandango. Not even Reba or Blue Collar TV. That's what we could have used. A Country Western television network for the American heartland. That's what CW really stands for, as in CW McCall? All we get is the boring 7th Heavin, the chick-treat Smellville, and the chick drama Gilbore Girls. The CW is as insipid as a name alone as The OC. What's with all the THE words placed next to letters? Will Chris Carmichael nickname himself "The CC?"

My Network TV and the syndicated shows around it has nothing in it for me either. Most of the syndicated crap is basically for homebodied women and senior citizens. I'd rather get a root canal work than to watch The View or Divorce Court. Except for the South Park reruns, nothing interests me. My is the stupidest name for a station since My 94.1.

KUSI is worthless without sports broadcasts. KUSI used to have Padres broadcasts. Nowadays, San Diego's Cable 4 has all of the local sports, though many of it really belongs on free independent broadcast television such as Padre away games and high school sports. I never tune in KUSI anymore. Nothing's on anymore.

This is why more men are thinking that broadcast television has turned into chick television for the most part. Broadcast TV has become a ghost town for the red blooded male.

The Wires (Sep 27, 2006)

Do I believe HD radio should be free? Yes. But by free I mean" standard." Everywhere. Replacing the radios you use now without you having to do the replacing yourself. This happens because broadcasters (i.e., the folks who will benefit from HD Radio) pay the makers of radios to make only the new standard (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0)

Happy Hare: After my return from WADO in New York, I thought the WNEW offer was my one and only shot at immortality. It was the fantasy gig of all jocks. However, my then-wife was having none of returning to New York. In a vain attempt to salvage the marriage, I passed on WNEW, but she still booted me (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Arbitron announced today that effective with the release of the Fall 2006 survey reports, public and non-commercial radio stations will be eligible for reporting in the company’s local market ratings reports. The company is also deferring its previously discussed plans to report individual satellite radio channels in order to further refine rules for crediting satellite radio entries, including the rules for handling diary entries that could be assigned to either satellite or over-the-air stations

Sirius Introduces Live Portable Radio. The Stiletto 100 can store music and has WiFi capability. SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO has launched a small yet powerful new receiver dubbed the STILETTO 100. The new radio - the first SIRIUS unit to allow for live portable listening - is capable of recording 100 hours of programming, has WIFI capability to allow listening via the Internet instead of satellite, and interfaces with YAHOO! MUISIC JUKEBOX to allow listeners to purchase bookmarked songs. The STILETTO 100 can also be set to record programs up to six hours in length for later playback. Users can also save up to ten hours of individual songs by pressing the "love" button, and also store and manage their own mp3/WMA files via the included MY SIRIUS STUDIO software for PCs, making the STILETTO 100 compatible with most music download and subscription services on the Internet.

Howard Stern Calls Adam Carolla on Monday

Study: HD Stil Confusing Listeners

Limewire Sues the RIAA. Limewire Countersues RIAA; Charges Major Labels With "Modern Conspiracy To Destroy All Innovation". After being sued for copyright infringement in AUGUST (see NET NEWS 8/4), P2P network operator LIMEWIRE has countersued the RIAA, charging the recording industry with an attempt "to destroy any online music distribution service they did not own or control, or force such services to do business with them on exclusive and/or other anticompetitive terms so as to limit and ultimately control the distribution and pricing of digital music, all to the detriment of consumers." In the countersuit, LIMEWIRE alleges that the RIAA's original infringement suit against them is "but one part of a much larger modern conspiracy to destroy all innovation that content owners cannot control and that disrupts their historical business models."

Kurt Hanson: Never failing to provide webcast dramatics of the highest order, news broke early Tuesday morning that recently defunct webcast WOXY will resume operations within the coming weeks with the help of another well-funded and established online music partner. Read more about the surprising development, including which music service head swooped in to give WOXY a hand, in today's issue of "RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter," online now at http://www.kurthanson.com .

New Women's Radio Networks Launched (Sep 26, 2006)

New All-Women Talk Radio Net Launched. GreenStone Media -- a radio company run by Susan Ness, the Clinton Administration's FCC commissioner, and founded by noted female activists, including Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda -- has launched a national all-woman talk network.

Oprah Launches Own Satellite Radio Channel

The questions: will women turn off daytime television to listen to radio aimed at them? Will men be able to stand listening to how women think when the chicks chat on the networks? The all-women's talk format was tried before in Los Angeles...back in 1996...and it failed. The Zone went into the twilight (get it?) within a year and replaced with Radio Disney in 1997.

Now it's ten years later. Has things changed enough for an all-women's talk format to succeed?

Most of the radio stations are already programmed for women: the KOSTs, the KYXYs, the Channels, the KIISs, the Stars, the KBIGs, the Magics, the Movins, you get the idea. Most every free broadcasting radio station is aimed at women, and even the so-called men's formats such as Free-FM, Rock, KROQ, ESPN, and XX Sports do attract women to a smaller degree so they can hear how men think. I don't think men will reciprocate and listen to Oprah or GreenStone Media's networks.

Without the men, who are the primary listeners of talk-based formats, listening to these women-based formats, surely these two concepts will fade away within a couple of years due to poor ratings.

The Oprah radio channel on XM was launched yesterday with a publicity blitz by the other media outlets, as well as promoted on some of XM's other channels such as Laugh Tracks. The problem with all-women's channels on satellite radio is that women are not the primary target audience for satellite radio, which belongs to men, who, ironically, use satellite radio to escape the boredom of free broadcast radio aimed at women.

Satellite radio has to aim at the male audience because they have the disposable income to pay the monthly subscription fees, and to do that, they have to put on programming that appeals to that gender such as MLB, NFL, college football, NHL, NBA, NASCAR, and Howard Stern (who abdicated free radio at the end of last year) so that the two services are more likely to turn a profit sooner or later.

Five years have lapsed and both XM and Sirius have yet to turn a profit. Will programming some channels to women be the answer? Yes and no. Yes because it will cause women to bother their male mates to buy them a radio and subscription to the services. No because there are not enough women that are interested in ditching free broadcast radio generally aimed at them in order to get only one or two more channels aimed at them, although plenty of music channels on XM and Sirius, such as love songs and soft pop, would appeal to women more than men.

How could XM and Sirius get into the black? How about programming for the geeks. Program a couple of Dr. Demento channels, put dfsxradio.com on XM, have George Carlin put Laugh.com on the birds, program an all geek music channel, even an all Comic Con style talk channel. Where can we find progamming aimed at myself? Nowhere, except the Internet.

The Wires (Sep 26, 2006)

Gary Lycan: Rick Dees says he can't wait to get "Movin'" when his 5-10 a.m. weekday show debuts on KMVN/95.9 FM today with special guest Jack Nicholson (read more - Gary Lycan-OC Register)

Hear 2.0: Where's the good argument for HD? I'm waiting for a solid argument that favors HD radio, but this one is anything but. Note the following comments from Bernie Sapienza, iBiquity's VP of Retail Business Development: We don't believe that there's an if HD Radio will survive; we believe there is a when it's going to be a popular every day product. The broadcaster conversion is well under way with roughly 1,000 stations already converted, and the broadcasters are spending $200 million to promote the technology this year (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0).

R&R Convention 2006/NAB Radio Show: FULL COVERAGE

Mediaweek: Listeners Stay For Commercials

Arbitron Announces Details On Additions To Ratings. Non-commercial stations to appear beginning with Fall 2006 book, while satellite radio and HD are still in the works.

Women Take to Airwaves. Women are growing tired of listening to men -- at least on talk radio. Much of the dial, media observers say, is a locker room full of sports chatter and us-versus-them political banter that leaves no room for conversation, let alone nuance.

Big Chill: How the FCC’s Indecency Decisions Stifle Free Expression, Threaten Quality Television, and Harm America’s Children. The Center for Creative Voices has released a new report, Big Chill: How the FCC's Indecency Decisions Stifle Free Expression, Threaten Quality Television, and Harm America's Children, which analyzes the FCC's campaign against broadcast indecency.

Pirate Radio Challenges Feds. Pirate radio draws loyal audiences in their communities but complaints from the larger, licensed public and private radio stations who say the microbroadcasters interrupt their signals.

The Wires (Sep 25, 2006)

Dees Starts Monday On LA’s Movin’ 93.9. LOS ANGELES—September 22: Rick Dees returns to Los Angeles radio on Monday, September 25th, at 5AM on Movin’ 93.9 (KMVN).