Weird Al Debuts Strong (Oct 7, 2006)

Only one radio station in San Diego has been playing songs from Weird Al Yankovic's latest CD and that's of course our own dfsxradio.com streaming Internet channel.

Weird Al's latest album, "Straight Outta Lynwood" debut on the Billboard charts at #10, making it Al's very first Top 10 album ever.

Al's single "White & Nerdy" is the Hot Shot Debut (the highest charting debut single of the week) on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It enters at #28... which already makes it Al's highest charting single in over 22 years.

How's that for putting the fun in music! DFSX doesn't monkey around with songs that don't stand the test of fun.

The Wires (Oct 7, 2006)

XM's got 800 terrestrial repeaters - and it says 221 of them are operating over-power. It also tells the FCC that 19 antennas are at sites not yet authorized by the Commission. The Washington Post reports the filing and quotes Wireless Communications Association International attorney Paul Sinderbrand - "XM certainly seems to have a corporate inability to comply with the FCC's rules." XM's Chance Patterson says "this is not an interference issue" and says they're cleaning everything up.

Kurt Hanson: A new report warns that AM/FM stations may lose TSL, particularly among younger demographics, as cars increasingly feature built-in support for iPods and similar digital music players, a development that could begin to impact broadcasters as early as 2007. Read more about the developments that one analyst says could fragment radio's audience even further, in today's issue of "RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter," online now at http://www.kurthanson.com .

Bridge: Satellite Radio Renewal Rate Drops Below 50%. According to an ongoing study of satellite radio consumers by Bridge Ratings, those whose subscriptions were part of the acquisition of a new vehicle are more likely to let their subscriptions lapse at the end of the term.

Get on Satellite? Can I have my own satellite radio show, too? Maybe. Both Sirius and XM accept unsolicited pitches for shows and channels, although the odds of actually getting on the air are slim if your idea comes in over the transom (read more - Doree Shafrir-Slate). Maybe. Both Sirius and XM accept unsolicited pitches for shows and channels, although the odds of actually getting on the air are slim if your idea comes in over the transom. If you're not a celebrity, you're more likely to succeed if you have broadcast experience, a strong pitch for a show, and a demo tape. XM accepts brief e-mail pitches at programming@xmradio.com, and Sirius suggests sending your show idea to the programming department by U.S. mail.

The Wires (Oct 6, 2006)

Is the non-com band being "overtaken" by big national religious operators? A college radio broadcaster from UC-Davis made the trip to Tuesday's FCC Field Hearing to share something he's discovered - that the national satellite-delivered religious broadcasters are very aggressively seeking opportunities all over the dial. He says they're often crowding out college and other non-commercial operators who can't always pay as much or move as fast - for both LPFMs and full-power stations.

HD Radio hits a milestone - 1,000 stations are now broadcasting in digital. In fact iBiquity counts 1,001 HD stations on the air as of today. There's still plenty of room to grow, because four states - Hawaii, Mississippi and both Dakotas - have no HD signals at all. Even so - more than 500 stations are also broadcasting an HD-2 signal.

All 24 episodes of Bob Dylan's show Theme Time Radio Hour will air back-to-back beginning 12 midnight ET on Wednesday, Oct. 11, on XM's dedicated folk channel, The Village.

The percentage of interesting music on the "free" airwaves is increasingly thin these days, which makes Jay Butler's new show "Jay's Place," airing live from 9 p.m. to midnight Saturday nights on WDET-FM (101.9) and online at wdetfm.org, all the more refreshing (read more - Susan Whitall-Detroit News)

Friday from 1pm-6pm, "The 60's on 6" channel on XM Radio salutes KCBQ 1170. Terry The Motormouth Young transforms the 60's on 6 into KCBQ from sometime in the 60s.

ESPN 800 Woes (Oct 5, 2006)

The good news? ESPN 800 is broadcasting most of the baseball playoffs.

The bad news? ESPN 800 is broadcasting most of the baseball playoffs.

The problem with AM 800 is that it's a weak and wimpy 1000 watts coming 30-60 miles from out of Tijuana, Mexico, a signal suitable only for within a ten mile radius.

When you work inside a building just 30 miles from TJ, you just can't get AM 800 at all. No Dodgers vs. Mets. No Tigers vs. Yankees. No A's vs. Twins. But at least XX Sports 1090/105.7 gets to air the games involving the Padres so we can get at least one DS series at work.

Yesterday, AM 800's commercials were so loud that the sound was clipping and I had to switch over to LA's 710 (ESPN) to get away from the assault on my ears.

Good move on 800's part on switching from the A's/Twins game upon conclusion to the Dodgers/Mets game in progress. Wish that they would run a taped message saying "we're taking you to the Dodgers/Mets playoff game already in progress" so that we'll know what's going on when the station switches ESPN baseball playoff feeds.

At least it was better today than it was five years ago when the baseball playoffs were bounced around over several radio stations or not carried at all. The most notorious company, Clear Channel, wouldn't carry some of the baseball playoff games because of some idiot excuse on 9/11 bulletin coverage. Given that Clear Channel has billions of dollars in assets, it's a wonder that a giant company like that would puss out when it comes to sports. That's why ESPN 800 came online so at least it's better to deal with a wimpy signal coming from 30 miles out and trying to get some kind of listenable signal than to get no coverage from the big stations that don't have a clue what the listeners want as entertainment.

Go Padres. Go Dodgers. Die Yankees.

Net Neutrality Update (Oct 5, 2006)

In the battle of organized money vs. organized people, regular people just scored a huge victory.

Last Friday, after months of feeling the heat from constituents, the Senate adjourned without passing the horrible bill that would permanently kill Net Neutrality. Together, we dealt a blow to AT&T and Verizon's attempt to control the Internet, and we're well positioned to push a strong Internet freedom agenda in 2007.

But our job's not done. Net Neutrality opponents will try to kill Net Neutrality in the "lame duck" Congress—the period right after the 2006 elections when Congress is most unaccountable. We must act now to keep the pressure up during the election season, and one way is to register thousands of new "Internet freedom voters."

"Internet freedom voters" are people who care about Internet freeom and want their voices heard in the political process. We will keep tally of "Internet freedom voters" and ensure politicians and the media hear about it.

With Congress adjourned, AT&T and Verizon have already begun to take their campaign to the states. We need to keep the heat on politicians so they remember after Election Day that voters demand Net Neutrality—and nothing speaks louder than new voters marching to the polls.

Thanks for all you do as we fight to save the Internet.

Here's an easy-to-use voter registration link

Net Neutrality background document—for your friends

Find out where your members of Congress stand

Net Neutrality petition to Congress

The Wires (Oct 5, 2006)

Both satellite radio stocks are down on their latest subscriber numbers. It didn't help that XM also reported that another director is leaving. Wall Street glimpsed the latest quarterly numbers - 440,000 new subscribers for Sirius, 285,000 for XM - and wasn't encouraged. The total universe for claimed satellite radio subscribers is now 12.3 million - 5.1 million for Sirius, 7.2 million for XM. If they each hit year-end projections the total will be 14 million or so. Stocks for both "SIRI" and "XMSR" were off today - during another record day for the Dow.

Red Herring: If satellite radio subscriber numbers benchmark celebrity clout, then Sirius Satellite Radio shock jock Howard Stern has more pull than XM Satellite Radio’s Oprah Winfrey. Sirius on Wednesday reported subscriber numbers increased by 441,101 to 5,119,308 for the third quarter, a 23 percent year-over-year gain. Shock jock Howard Stern, whose daily radio programming runs on two Sirius channels, may claim part of the jolt in subscription numbers (read more - S Martin-Red Herring).

LA Times: Everyday workers, along with consumer advocates and local politicians told the FCC Tuesday that the growing consolidation of major broadcast companies was stifling competition, creativity and diversity. The result was fewer jobs, lower wages, bland programming and decisions made by a handful of conglomerates, not local operators.

Media Ownership Rules Under Attack At FCC L.A. Hearings. Wide variety of entertainment industry members speak up at public hearings in Los Angeles.

After Two Years At XM, Opie & Anthony Get The Virus. Today marks the two-year anniversary of Opie & Anthony's tenure at XM Satellite Radio, and their channel gets a name change to Virus.

The Wires (Oct 4, 2006)

John Rook: As expected, Clear Channel is quietly dumping radio stations the company considers non productive at “undisclosed” prices. It's good news for radio listeners as the seven station cluster of Clear Channel stations in Fargo/Moorhead has been sold to members of the Ingstad family, long time broadcasters in the Dakota’s who built their stations by providing “local” service to the market (read more - www.JohnRook.com).

Happy Hare: Specs Howard and I, when doing mornings on KYW in Cleveland, had ten thousand buttons made up, reading “I’m Tired of Hearing About It.” Our pitch was, “If you have a friend or loved one who constantly bores you with mindless chatter, don’t hurt their feelings. Just smile and gently display your ‘I’m Tired of Hearing About It’ button.” We underestimated its potency. People were “tired of hearing about” a lot more things than we imagined. We ordered 50,000 more of them. Maybe, it’s time for an “I’m Tired of Hearing About It” button revival. The American public is “tired of hearing about” more things than I can shoehorn into this piece. They are disillusioned, and want to understand better what is really going on (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

The Wires (Oct 3, 2006)

Hear 2.0: This is serious business. As in serious dollars and cents. I'm talking about Arbitron's rules on measuring audience for radio stations via online listening. According to those rules, if the station isn't 100% simulcast online and off - including all commercials - then it does not count as listening to that station. But because of antiquated AFTRA rules that charge high fees on repurposing these spots online, most stations don't run them (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0).

Columbia Journalism Review: Let's just say the original ''rumors'' of (Howard) Stern's fall from glory began in a magazine called Inside Radio. (They did.) Let's say that Inside Radio, a trade magazine not widely read by the general public, is published by M Street Corporation. (It is.) And, that Clear Channel Communications owns M Street Corporation. (It does.) That would be the same Clear Channel that fired Howard Stern from several stations a few years ago; the same company that has every reason to deter people from turning to satellite radio for entertainment.

(read more - Renee A. James - Allentown Morning Call)

NY Times: Chad Hurley effects a calm, almost detached demeanor, even as the Web site he runs, YouTube.com, has provoked a frenzy of consternation among executives of record labels, TV networks and movie studios. For millions of Internet users, the site that opened to the public less than a year ago provides a daily fix of odd and interesting video clips, from White House speeches to frat house pranks.

Commercial Radio Sucks: "Commercial radio sucks. Seriously. It genuinely stinks. It has been deteriorating since the 1980s and now is just dreadful ... the delivery mechanisms for podcasting, namely digital music players, are finding direct connections to the car radio. They thus bypass the radio itself for news, views, and information, all available from a huge palette of options. And many people who relish music programming have opted for satellite services such as XM Satellite or Sirius radio. Podcasting has not yet found a legal way to exploit music programming. When it does, the impact will hurt radio more than anything." (read more - John Dvorak-PC Magazine)

IEEE: “Radio will be digital. Full stop,” says Peter Senger, a longtime R&D man at Deutsche Welle and leader of the international Digital Radio Mondiale consortium. But for DRM to take hold, listeners will have to go out and buy new radios, and so far that’s put a full stop to DRM. Why would people throw out perfectly good radios and plunk down the equivalent of US $200 to buy supposedly better ones, considering they can already get all the content they want with their existing sets? Sony Corp. and Blaupunkt, both part of the DRM consortium, show no signs of putting a DRM-compatible radio on the market (photo: Morphy Richards) (read more - IEEE Spectrum U.K.).

Bridge Ratings: Satellite Radio Sales "Sluggish". Latest installment in ongoing study of satellite radio finds XM and Sirius "soft" at retail.

The FCC has announced more details about tomorrow's media ownership hearings in Los Angeles. The list of speakers has been released and includes a number of members of the television industry, but surprisingly little representation from radio. AFTRA President John Connolly and R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills are among those set to attend. More details can be found at the link.