The Wires (Oct 21, 2006)

Study: FCC Ownership Rule Changes Will Harm Localism. Media and Democracy Coalition releases findings on potential harmful effects of further media consolidation.

Is Radio Coming to iPods?

The Wires (Oct 20, 2006)

Daily News: Country has found a trail back to local radio in LA. In a surprise move, Mount Wilson Broadcasting this week abandoned pop standards on its 540 AM signal and began spinning contemporary country music instead. The format flip comes two months after the city's last full-time country outlet, KZLA-FM (93.9), lost faith in Faith Hill and booted the music off the air.

Commentary: The Summer Arbitron (Oct 18, 2006)

You see, back in my day, all I had 25 years ago was AM/FM radio, cassettes, LPs, and a fading 8-track format for music. That was it. If you wanted to hear what was new in music, you had to tune in the AM/FM radio, or the then-new MTV cable network, or watch American Bandstand and Solid Gold on TV for the pop music hits of the day. Casey Kasem from radio's AT40 even had a half-hour America's Top 10 show for television back then. With no other competetion on the horizon back then, the youngsters as well as the elders listened to the music from the same kinds of media.

Nowadays, the young adults and teenagers of today take it for granted that they're enjoying all of the new music from outlets that didn't exist back then. AM/FM radio is taking a hit with the younger demographics, which should sound an alarm for all of the general managers and radio station owners as a Red Alert. It's time to pay attention to the younger demos, but at the same time, not to program material that turns off the older demos, the ones with all of the spending money, with objectionable material such as rap or hard rock that turns the elders off.

What are the musical trends that the younger demos are listening to? I'm not sure, but it's time for the radio station people to realize that as more younger demos eschew radio for portable downloaded music on players and other media, the less likely that they will develop a habit for listening to the radio if radio isn't courting them with relevant programming in the first place.

It's time for the radio folks to do some reasearch on a serious level, trying to understand what kinds of music the teens and young adults are downloading (legally or illegally) and listening to on their music player devices. There's Windows Media Player, MP3, and AAC formatted music playing on iPods, CD-MP3 players, even USB flash memory sticks, as well as coming soon, car radios with a built-in iPod holder or whatever it's called so they can plug in the iPod into the radio and play it without the need for an adapter.

The elders can get the older music if they wish on many other sources that they can afford such as satellite and Internet radio, as well as their own CD collections, so that even if stations that were playing 50s-70s era music disappearred from the local airwaves, they can get them commercial-free on XM anyway. But what most of radio doesn't understand still is that the elders can enjoy good new music as long as it's in good taste and is relevant to their preferred genres of music. Playing hard noise full of whiners and minor chords and a Goth theme is a big turn-off for many, and underground hip hop is a also a turn-off. Unfortunately, stations are driving themselves out of business with formats that are not bringing in the younger listeners who don't care for the older music that the elders like to hear on occasion (and I do emphasize occasion as old songs can get old very fast to those who heard them all the time decades ago.)

Radio is a great way to get new music out for the masses first, and no computer device is necessary to listen to the radio. Radio needs to get some team of music researchers going and discover all of the new kinds of material that they can be airing on their stations, most of which are free downloads, so there's nothing for them to lose. Take notes on the kinds of bands and genres that the younger demos are listening to and sharing with their friends, and put the kind of music that they like that also appeals to the elders onto the broadcast airwaves. This is a great way to reach a broad audience, as radio has to cater to a broad audience, by programming music in ways so that you get an intended target, but bring in listeners from an unintended target.

Example: smooth jazz KIFM, a/c KYXY, country KSON, plays music for the elder demos, but the younger listeners, who are not the targeted demos, can enjoy those kind of formats and grow into them. These stations cater generally to the 25-54 demos, the ones that are most likely to have money that the advertisers want to reach. Younger listeners do listen to these stations, but they are few and far between for now, and they can listen to the kinds of ads that they will be future customers of someday after they begin to make enough money to afford them.

On the other hand, there are stations like ipartyradio.com that cater mostly to the young adult, but the music can be enjoyed by the elders, although the format isn't aimed at demos older than 34.

But here in the real world, we have floundering concepts like KGB-FM which appeals to a demographic so old that to the ages 34 and younger, the music is completely irrelevant to their lifestyle. KGB basically appeals to the AARP-eligible listener, a demo that advertisers just don't care to reach at all, and even those listeners don't care to hear the same 500 songs everyday anymore. All KGB is doing with this obsolete classic rock format is to drive the ratings into the ground, as more listeners die off, the lower the ratings will be, until it's no longer feasable to program such a fomrat anymore.

Even worse, KGB plays songs that are generally in the range from 1964-1982, a year range so out of the mainstream that younger listeners just don't have a clue what this format is about, can't get educated about the culture behind the 500 songs that are representing it, and is clearly not appealling to both groups: the younger listners and the advertisers. So for all practical purposes, KGB is in a wheelchair living in a rest home waiting for the touch of death to turn the frequency of 101.5 into something new like a Spanish-language reggaeton format or whatever appeals to the younger listeners nowadays.

KGB could have kept with the times by playing newer rock recordings as they came and went, and could be sounding something like 94/9 or 91X today only without the rap or goth music. For a better example of what KGB could have become, tune in to KPRI 102.1 for adult rock and roll music that is appealling to the 25-54 demos, but the younger listeners can enjoy this as well. KGB is dead, Jim.

On the other end of the non-appealling spectrum, we have teenage-aimed stations that just have no elder appeal at all such as Blazin, Z, and Channel, all fighting for the same younger listeners, who are also listening to portable music machines. There is a difference between ipartyradio.com and Blazin' 98.9. The former has broad appeal, the latter doesn't.

Stations like 91X and 94/9 are barely appealling to the elder listeners 34 and up. Stations like Magic and My get mostly the older females, but can't get the males, but can get the younger females though not targeted. Stations like Jack are trying to appeal to everybody, but are playing a lot of obscure older music that even I are no longer familiar with and cannot name anymore, so this Jack concept doesn't seem to have appeal to anybody in particular.

The Tower Records chain that is going out of business, like KGB, never adapted to become relevant. For example, why is the second word "Records?" The younger demos just don't have a clue what a record is and for all practical purposes, don't care for cassettes, or even CDs either. If they changed their name to "Tower MP3s", then I would have bet the farm that the younger demos would have come in, paid to download some songs form a kiosk into an iPod or USB flash memory drive, then leave while the store and the music made some money. A music store can store just so many CDs, carry just so many artists, and just so many titles in a given amount of space. Putting out a few dozen kiosks would have greatly expanded the selection to the whole world, with visitors searching for music by query or genre, or even the latest recordings. On Amazon.com, I can purchase many albums I heard on Dr. Demento, some of which were carried at Tower, but Tower, unlike Amazon, didn't discount the prices of the recordings, and didn't carry artists like Throwing Toasters, or Carla Ulbrich that I wanted to buy that I heard on the Internet, but couldn't find at Tower, which is another reason why Tower has lost so much business. I didn't even visit Tower last Christmas to search for some obscure funny or weird holiday music like I did every year.

Even worse for the state of store-bought music is that the only titles that are being found on mainstream stores like Best Buy, Wal Mart, and Target, are those that are being played on the radio stations. Where's the funny music recordings? The independent recordings? The local recordings? You could have found them at Tower, but bought them elsewhere on the Internet for less, but you won't find them at the mainstream stores.

I generally don't buy CDs in the stores anymore, preferring to buy them on the Internet since I don't waste some $10 in gas going from store to store in vain for a title or artist that nobody cares to carry.

Needless to say, illegal and legal music downloads are the preferred choice to attain new music, while record stores continue to falter, and only popular music will be seen at your local mainstream store.

With that, Tower Records, like the Wherehouse, Licorice Pizza, Sam Goody, Music Plus, and the like are going the way of classic rock on the radio...extinct. The irrelevant will fade away sooner or later, and thanks to the Internet, their extinction rate has been hastned exponentially.

So with music downloads being the main way to get new music, wouldn't it make sense for the local radio stations to do likewise and hire some music directors who really know how to listen to the music and watch the trends?

The Wires (Oct 19, 2006)

Tape This! Radio hosts Bob & Tom's first television special “Bob & Tom Radio: The Comedy Tour” will re-air on Comedy Central on Friday, October 20th at 10PM Eastern/Pacific and 9 PM Central. A special edition DVD has been released in conjunction with the comedy program and is available in stores nationwide

Bobby Rich: Like so many others, I started by hanging out at a radio station and doing anything they would let me do: Haul equipment to remotes, clean the storage room, hang banners and wash the station van. And if I was lucky — really lucky — dub some tapes or board op the Sunday morning Public Affairs block. Maybe even get to crack the mic for a legal ID or a live PSA. There's been a lot of concern lately for the lack of those "do anything to get a foot in the door" people. It is a fact. The biz has lost much of what made us desire being a part of it. Sad. And frightening, really...

Where Did All The Children Go? Where did all the under-25's go? The New York Times shines a light on radio's erosion in time spent listening among persons under age 25 over the past few years. Edison's Larry Rosin notes a couple reasons: The oft-mentioned proliferation of radio alternatives and "radio’s unwillingness to target listeners in the 12-to-24-year-old demographic." But wait. Before we point the finger of blame at ourselves let's think about this (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0).

Another Radio Network Already? Air America Co-Founders Start New Liberal Talk Network. PHOENIX—October 18: Anita Drobny and Sheldon Drobny, co-founders of Air America Radio, along with partner Dr. Mike Newcomb, have formed a new Liberal Talk Radio network, Nova M Radio...

Christopher Glenn Obituary (was 68)

R&R: Kerri Kasem, daughter of Casey Kasem, has been hired to co-host mornings at KXNT-AM/Las Vegas alongside Alan Stock. She replaces Heidi Harris, who recently announced she was leaving after five years. Kerri will continue hosting the nationally syndicated Racing Rocks and National Lampoon's Comedy Countdown.

Greg Kihn To Launch Nationally Syndicated Radio Show. At the end of this year recording artist and CLEAR CHANNEL Classic Rock KFOX/SAN JOSE morning man GREG KIHN will debut the nationally syndicated "GREG KIHN's Big Rock Beat," which is described in a press release as "Behind The Music" meets "Spinal Tap." According to GREG, "It’s an amalgamation of rollicking interviews, never-heard stories, and jam sessions with iconic rock and roll personalities. The listener not only gets to be a fly on the wall but also a participant in conversations with legendary rockers in a loose, nonscripted setting, as if we were all at the bar reminiscing."

FM 94/9's 4th Anniversary Bash (Oct 18, 2006)

The station is inviting their listeners on their e-mail list to the FM 94/9 Miller Lite 4th Anniversary Bash on Saturday, November 11th at 4th & B. They have three great bands, OK Go, Sparta and The Hold Steady, to aid in the revelry. The station anticipates lots of consumption of libations so it should go without saying that this is a 21 and over event.

Tickets for the FM 94/9 Miller Lite 4th Anniversary Bash are just $10.00, which even includes $1.00 to their "About the Music" Fund. They go on-sale to the general public on Friday, October 20th at 10am.

Summer '06 Arbitron Ratings Released (Oct 18, 2006)

Free Fallin: KGB's fireworks and billboard stunts have bombed as the station charges downward at #14, the right-winger and left-winger stations, KOGO and KLSD, continue to lose listeners as people tire of political talk, and nothing else interests me. And that's the ratings.

The Wires (Oct 18, 2006)

HD Radio Breaks the 1,000 Station Mark

DELPHI announced that it will be launching its newest XM SATELLITE RADIO receiver shortly, the SKYFi3, which will be able to store up to 10 hours of programming in memory and will allow users to play MP3, WMA, and WAV files using micro SD cards. The new receiver is 65% smaller than its predecessors.

The Wires (Oct 17, 2006)

Sirius will tease two days of "free Howard Stern" to tout its new Internet strategy. And that strategy is to offer about 75 channels for $12.95 a month - and you don't have to be an existing Sirius satellite subscriber. Sirius plans to dangle access of Stern's show in front of potential subscribers to coax $12.95 out of them - the same fee Sirius charges its satellite radio users.

Country's coming back to L.A. - on Saul Levine's 540 AM frequency. Orange County Register columnist Gary Lycan reports Levine's plans over the weekend, and says Levine's working with syndicator Dial Global (which picked up the Westwood 24/7 formats). 540's flip from standards to country happens on October 28. "Los Angeles and Orange County listeners were pretty upset with the loss of country music on KZLA," Mt. Wilson president Saul Levine told the paper. "We received a lot of letters and e-mails saying, basically, you are the last independent radio owner in the market. Please help us." Former KZLA jocks Whitney Allen, Paul Freeman, Brian Douglas, and Tonya Campos will all segue to the new station, according to the story. Syndicator Dial Global will consult on music programming. Adult standards will remain on KKGO. LEVINE's Adult Standards format "Unforgettable" will still be heard on KKGO-A (1260). LEVINE explained, "We selected 540 AM in large part because it has a better reach into ORANGE COUNTY, which seems to be the center of Country music listening." A new site, www.540country.com, still linked to the Adult Standards simulcast at 540/1260, will eventally stream the new Country format 24/7, and according to DON BARRETT's LARadio.com, the Country format "will be simulcast on 105.1 FM Digital H2 with 100-mile coverage from LOS ANGELES."

Happy Hare: I was inducted into the Radio Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame of Ohio on October 9th. The setting was the plush Hilton Hotel in Akron where several hundred of Ohio’s media royalty gathered to celebrate my induction with 11 other honorees. Specs Howard should have been there with me, because he was my vital partner at KYW, but the Jewish High Holy Days conflicted, he had to bow out of being elected to the Hall of Fame. So there I was, standing alone on the stage, missing him, and speaking with a case of laryngitis.