DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ENDS. MERGE LEFT (Oct 28, 2006)

Sunday morning at 1:59:59am, Daylight time ends and Standard time returns when the clock when one second ticks afterward and it becomes 1:00:00am Standard Time.

This Sunday morning is the last time we set our clocks back one hour on the last Sunday in October. Next year, Daylight Saving Time ends on the first Sunday in November, making possible a longer Halloween night ball when that holiday falls on a Saturday in 2009.

Beginning next year, Daylight Saving Time in the United States begins on the second Sunday in March (March 11 in 2007) instead of the first Sunday in April, the first time the start of DST has been changed since 1987, which is coincidentally, the date the Fox Network first broadcasted Married with Children and the Tracey Ullman show to kick off their prime-time network schedule.

When the clock ticks one second past 1:59:59am Standard Time during the day we step into Daylight Saving (not Savings) Time, it becomes 3:00:00am Daylight Time.

Before the start of Daylight Saving Time was moved in 1987, DST began on the last Sunday in April, causing the sun to rise just after 6am instead of 5am on the day before DST began.

There were two other times that the start of DST was changed. The first was January 6, 1974, when the oil embargo caused President Nixon to put the nation on a year-round Daylight Saving Time, but after complaints that it was dark and cold at 7am during the winter months, President Ford overrode Nixon's act (Nixon resigned in August) and the end of DST occurred on the last Sunday in October, the usual time. In 1975, DST resumed on the last Sunday in February, but the start returned to the last Sunday in April in 1976.

On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.

For the U.S. and its territories, Daylight Saving Time is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Arizona. The Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy, even in Arizona, due to its large size and location in three states.

Remember, if you don't set your clocks back one hour before DST ends, you will end up in...

THE WRONG TIME ZONE!

The Wires (Oct 28, 2006)

Clear Channel to Sell Everything, or will it go private? Unbelievable news. First, Genie Francis comes out of retirement to do General Hospital and now this? Pinch me. Must be some kind of dream. Insideradio reports that Clear Channel advisor Goldman Sachs wants bids submitted by November 10. The Wall Street Journal reports the Friday, November 10 deadline - and one dealmaker tells Inside Radio that's so soon that Goldman may be asked to extend it. Some private equity groups - the consortium including KKR, Blackstone and Providence Equity Partners - have had several months to do their due diligence. Others joined the hunt only this weeek, when Clear Channel announced it was open to "strategic alternatives" for the company and its collection of media assets in radio, TV and outdoor. Yea, and the Detriot Tigers will win game five of the World Series. Right. Cards win the series four games to one.

From radioandrecords: In a move that could bust up the nation's largest radio group, Clear Channel announced late Wednesday (Oct. 25) it had retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. to “evaluate various strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.” The news follows reports that surfaced earlier this week that the San Antonio-based group might be in talks with private equity firms about going private. Clear Channel said in a release "there could be no assurance that this process will result in any specific transaction. The company does not intend to comment further publicly with respect to the exploration of strategic alternatives unless a specific transaction is approved by its Board.”

FMQB: Clear Channel "Considering Strategic Alternatives". Company confirms some truth behind recent talk of a buyout.

The Wires (Oct 27, 2006)

fmqb reports that it looks like the mystery surrounding Britney Spears' second child has been cleared up, as the baby's birth certificate was made public this week. Originally, media reports said that her son was named Sutton Pierce, but the official certificate revealed the child's name as Jayden James Federline.

Baltimore Sun: Citing widespread interference on broadcast frequencies used by its member stations, National Public Radio has asked the Federal Communications Commission to order recalls of millions of FM modulators that drivers use to play satellite radios and iPods through their car stereos (read more - Frank D. Roylance-Baltimore Sun).

NY Daily News: When radio people discuss "caps" - the limit on how many stations anyone can own in a single market - they usually mean giants like Clear Channel, which owns five FMs in New York, or CBS, which owns three AMs and three FMs. But as the FCC begins reexamining its "cap" rules, one of the strongest calls for relaxation of the limits is coming from the classic "little guy" - Arthur Liu, whose Multicultural Broadcasting buys small AMs and leases the airtime for ethnic programming (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News) (SDN Editorial: Oh, shut up, Arthur you loon!)

Hear 2.0: If all technology is transitional, then even radio is transitional. To date, we have exclusively owned the audio entertainment and information pipes into the homes, workplaces, and cars of listeners. Yes, they could listen to cd's, but cd's are what you already own, not what you haven't discovered yet. And cd's contain nothing "between the songs" - a big reason why radio has listeners at all. The pipes were all ours. That exclusivity has made radio largely immune from transition - in the same way a population of animals survives on an island because competitor species can't reach the island. In biology it's called "geographic isolation," and the radio industry has been likewise holed up on an island big enough to be populated by 800 million radios in the U.S. alone. All well and good. But the party's over (read more - Mark Ramsey-Hear 2.0).

Whitney Launched: Dial Global Launches “The Big Time With Whitney Allen”. Dial Global Programming has announced that “The Big Time with Whitney Allen” will launch on January 8th, as a live, five-hour weeknight show.

A San Diego Rap Internet Channel (Oct 27, 2006)

Says Rob, "Now that 98.9 is going more commercial, DagoSD.com is the only place to hear up and coming local rap acts. These are the people doing it every day, laying down tracks and putting on shows. We want to work with everyone who is interested in the local rap radio community to make DagoSD.com a destination in the continuing radio revolution."

An HD Radio Commercial We'd Like To Hear (Oct 26, 2006)

Paul: Say, John, I got me a rad new kind of radio that can get super secret radio stations that are in between the stations older radios can't tune in.

John: What's it called?

Paul: It's called HD Radio. Just listen to what's on.

John: All 80's music. New contemporary country. New head banging rock. Repeats of some three-person morning show all day. Nothing interesting about HD Radio here.

Paul: But the programming is free, and you can't beat that price.

John: You get what you paid for. Corporate-programmed crap.

Paul: Oh really, what do you have that's better?

John: I pay for high speed wireless Internet, and with that, I can use my web browser and several streaming radio players to tune in millions of streaming Internet radio stations. Here, Paul. I'll tune in dfsxradio.com for you on my laptop computer connected to the wireless Internet.

dfsxradio plays Lemon Demon's hit "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny."

Paul: Wow! I never heard that on any of the digital HD channels.

John: That's because the corporate radio owners are desparate for listeners because they know that satellite and Internet radio provides far better diversity than five stations run by Clear Channel in Los Angeles could ever provide in 100 years.

Paul: How's so?

John: HD Radio and corporate radio are endless pushing HD Radio as the ultimate alternative to paying for satellite radio and wireless Internet access. They can't wean me away from my laptop computer that can tune in to genres that radio just won't provide for free, not even on the hidden channels.

Paul: Interesting. What else can you tune in your wireless Internet radio unit?

John: Good one, Paul. My laptop also regularily tunes in ipartyradio.com and I can listen to BPM XM 81 on the Internet so I can listen to the dance pop hits that Lazin' 98.9 or Snooze 90 don't want to play. No wonder these two stations are still stuck in 1992.

Paul: Even if HD Radio tuners were cheap and plentiful, commercial radio still won't bother programming more diverse formats for us to listen to?

John: You can't trust commercial radio these days. They're pushing HD Radio like it's the second coming of Jesus Christ, when the anticipated convergence of wireless and portable Internet radio is really the Holy Grail of genre diversity.

Paul: But you still have to pay a lot of money for Internet access?

John: That's true, but as competetion increases, the costs will have to go down to a point where the monthly cost of wireless Internet access for streaming radio will be lower than the average hourly wage of an entry level Clear Channel intern.

Paul: Holy, shit, John. You're right. HD Radio is nothing but hype for the broadcasters.

John: Exactly, and until we get hundreds of multicasted subchannels in San Diego broadcasting as many genres as I can get on Internet, HD Radio subchannels might as well remain unlistened to until the broadcasters get their act right.

Paul: HD Radio. Phooey!

The Wires (Oct 26, 2006)

Limbaugh Feels Michael J. Fox Is “Shilling” In Political Ad. PALM BEACH—October 25: On his radio show this week, Rush Limbaugh criticized actor Michael J. Fox – who suffers from Parkinson's Disease – over a political ad in which Fox shows signs of Parkinson’s while speaking about stem cell research.

Randy Dotinga: On radio, golden oldies are history. These days, Saul Levine is quite a sorry character. Even so, the station dumped Sinatra, Streisand and Connick Jr. and is replacing them with the likes of Cash and Twain. Why make the change? AM 540 ---- known as "Unforgettable" ---- actually was doing fairly well in the ratings in San Diego. According to Levine, the reason for the switch is simple: money.

Laura Returns Tomorrow! (Oct 25, 2006)

Do we really need the sweeps anymore? Just put on programming people want to watch that's entertaining in the first place and ditch the sweeps stunt periods. Who wants to pay a premium for an ad during the Christmas and New Years weeks when fewer people are watching TV while your high-priced ads are playing to a whopping five percent of the TV audience tuned in?

Thanks to VCRs (yup, I still haven't taken the digital recording plunge yet, not yet until I can get a HDTV compliant video recorder that tapes HDTV signals instead of the fake one for $199 I saw at Fry's), I can skip through not only the commercials, but also the irrelevant storylines in order to get to the good stuff.

Maybe they should consider returning the soaps back to half-an-hour apiece and bring back the game shows for the rest of the timeslots made available. Who has five hours a week to spend on a show anymore? Times have changed since 1981. Just ask the geniusses at My Network TV and ask them why just one percent of the audience cares about Telenovelas?

Mad Music Show Free To Broadcasters (Oct 25, 2006)

Dr. Demento's distributor, Talonian Productions, has dealt a severe blow to the legendary novelty and comedy show by forcing its radio station affilliates to stop streaming their show on the Internet and charging more money to carry the commercial-free show.

With Dr. Demento slowly committing radio suicide by its own hand, radio stations are hungry for a new alternative to the longtime comedy music show.

Enter Captain Wayne!

Who?

Captain Wayne is celebrating the first year of his free weekly comedy and demented music show he calls "The Mad Music Show" this week with some Halloween dementia.

"The Mad Music Show", available at The Mad Music Archive website, has made his show available to anyone who wants to listen to Wayne hosting hours of demented and comedy selections, as well as to radio stations who wants to carry a show full of funny music and can not only stream it for no additional charge, the shows are offered for free.

How can Captain Wayne do that? I'm not sure.

Wayne announced that "radio station, KFKX-FM in Hastings, Nebraska has picked up The Mad Music Show! The show will be broadcast Mondays and Thursdays from 4:00pm-6:00pm - what a great timeslot - during the evening rush!" he says in a press release.

He also has a second affilliate, 979-FM in Melbourne, Australia, carrying his weekly does of dementia and comedy.

The show is FREE to any and all radio stations, as well as to the listeners.

Says Wayne in the press release, "This week also marks our 50th Mad Music Show and its 1st Anniversary!!!

"Yes, the show went online one year ago as a weekly 1-hour podcast. Now, 50 shows later, it has grown to a 2-hour show and currently has over 1,200 online listeners, 2 radio stations and has made available over 1,400 songs and 90 hours of Mad Music and Silly Stuff and (unlike some similar shows) is still absolutely FREE and you can listen anytime!!!

"We look forward to another year of bringing you the best of new music and your old favorites too! We also have a new feature called "New & Notable with Jukebox Jake" where Jake Waters (formerly of "Freakin' Funny Music") brings us new songs, new artists and the occasional interview!

"Be sure to check out our latest show which is the first of two Halloween specials! And remember to call in your requests to our Toll-Free Request Line: 1-800-689-8312.

"Episode 50: Halloween & Our 1st Anniversary"

Artists include "Weird Al" Yankovic, Allan Sherman, The Bonzo Dog Band, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, Barnes & Barnes and many more!

It's hard to believe that the once mighty and popular Dr. Demento show has spiraled downward so fast since Talonian decided to make its show so rare that nobody outside of their market that has a station carrying the show can listen to it on another station on the Internet. Some readers in the newsgroups and forums are turned off so much by the actions of Talonian that they aren't bothering to ask their stations to carry the Demento show anymore, or pay money for the privilege to listen to a crappy quality stream of the show.

Demento's new music selection has been dismal as many songs that debuted on his show have failed to catch on, not making the Funny Five, and being dropped within weeks of being introduced on the dfsxradio.com playlist as listeners voted the songs down.

The alternatives to listening to Dr. Demento are so great nowadays that anybody can just go to myspace.com and search for a demented music artist, find their Myspace page, and listen and download some of the novelty songs.

A google search turns up dozens of dozens of websites devoted to demented musicians, bypassing the need for Tower Records, which is going out of business, as well as carrying albums not even Amazon.com can carry.

It is possible to get demented without Dr. Demento, more so than it was back in 1996 when Internet radio was just taking off, there was no myspace.com, amazon was still selling books, and the dinosaur Tower Records' ignorance in carrying new demented music was just beginning to be noticed.

The Wires (Oct 25, 2006)

Happy Hare: Howard and I could not have asked for more sincere support from ABC than we received when we embarked upon our WXYZ morning radio quest in Detroit. It was 1967 and Detroit was in the thrall of J.P. McCarthy, the morning giant at WJR. We had been briefed on J.P., before arriving. There is no way that he would have referred to John the Baptist as “Jack” the way some contemporary jocks would do. He had a silken baritone one-on-one delivery...

Los Angeles radio mainstay Rick Dees will be inducted into the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame at the NAB 2007 Radio Luncheon on April 17 in Las Vegas. Rick Dees has been one of America's most entertaining radio personalities for nearly three decades," said NAB President/CEO David Rehr. "NAB is proud to recognize him for his significant contributions to radio and American pop culture."

The NAB urges the FCC to consider "further liberalization" of radio ownership limits. And certainly (says its last-day filing in the ownership proceeding) the Commission shouldn't heed the calls to "cut back on existing ownership levels" in local radio markets. The trade group says radio's facing robust competition in the marketplace and is already doing well with issues like diversity and localism. The NAB calls the two cross-ownership bans (newspaper-broadcasting and radio-TV) anachronistic and asks the Commission to permit TV duopolies. Other groups filing today (like the Benton Foundation and Social Science Research Council) argue precisely the opposite - that consolidation's been bad for consumers and should be reined in.

XMOR/San Diego Repositioning; Programming Staff Exits (Oct 24, 2006)

From allaccess: Changes are underway at MEC NETWORK Top 40/Rhythmic XMOR (BLAZIN' 98-9 FM)/SAN DIEGO as the station repositions. PD/morning host DJ SEIZE exits, as does the entire airstaff. Retained by the station is midday talent VANYA, who will assist McVAY MEDIA as the station evolves from Hip-Hop to a more Hip-Hop & R&B format.

OM LEE CORNELL commented, "The radio station has to be broader and more mainstream if it is to accomplish its goals. We plan to be a thorn in the side of Z-90 [XHTZ] and CHANNEL 93-3 [KHTS]. We can't do that if we're a niche like Hip-Hop without the rest of the big hits."

FMQB reports that Blazin 98.9 will be evolving into a Hip Hop and R&B format.

D.T. Commentary: If 98.9 wishes to be more competetive, they should program dance rock and R&B remixes and cut back on the rap the other two stations are playing to death. 98.9 should consider being a thorn on the side of BPM XM 81.

Standards Formats Heading Towards Extinction (Oct 24, 2006)

Earlier yesterday, Tom Leykis made fun of the people in South Florida who were crying that they lost their pop standards format. Early yesterday, WMEN (W-MEN) 640 flipped a standards format to talk for men, with Mancow in the morning, and the last three hours of the Tom Leykis Show beginning at 7pm Eastern time.

During the show, Leykis played some selections from Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and Wayne Newton, then ended the song prematurely with a scratching of the record effect like that of somebody pushing the needle off of the record without lifting it up first.

Says Leykis in a jest, "If I'm in a golf cart ever listening to standards, you have my permission to put a handgun to my head and to pull the trigger."

One caller requested one of the standards and asked to be blown up. Leykis should have blown up the standards records up instead of scratching them off since nobody younger than 18 nowadays understands what a record once was and what that scratching sound effect was.

Leykis argues that standards music fits best in commercials and in movies where the music sets the stage for a time period scene. The few youngsters (younger than 60) who listen to this music on a regular basis are so few and far between that it is no longer feasable to program a format aimed at a generation too far removed from the original time period when they were once popular. Formats like pop standards, oldies, 60's decade, and classic rock are fast heading towards being niche formats that will be heard exclusively via satellite or Internet radio.

Hearing pop standards on 103.7 sounded strange. I imagine somebody tuning in to the 4pm hour of the Leykis show in the middle of Dean Martin, then either rejoicing that Free-FM flipped to a standards format nobody here is programming, or being totally pissed that Free-FM pussed out to low ratings and decided to serve the standards audience. A few seconds later, they would have heard Leykis doing an imitation of an old woman calling the station and telling Wink Martindale and Peter Marshall that they really love hearing Dean Martin and Wayne Newton all day long, etc. etc, and gotten either a sigh of relief or had a heart attack that it was Leykis making fun of the standards music all along.

Says Chris Carmichael on the radio-info board: "Flea FM has been a diaster since day one. Outside of Adam, it's non stop ... nothing. CBS should invest in a quality 1000 hertz tone -- it would get better ratings."

Back in the old days, in the 1970s, 103.7 used to be easy listening KJOY and I guess they played a lot of standards instrumentals, and perhaps some vocals.

Very few people nowadays care about standards, and very few stations will bother to program standards into their respective formats such as hot AC or smooth jazz, programming designed for the 25-54 set. Standards records from artists such as Rod Stewart might have gotten some airplay on an adult music format, but aside of the late Fabulous 570/690 and KPOP 1360, his standards music was nowhere to be found.

The problem with standards as a genre are compounded when artists such as David Lee Roth and Richard Cheese put out albums designed to be more like a joke than as a serious matter. Standards has become basically a novelty to the rock and hip hop music fan. None of the contemporary artists that are putting out standards albums are helping the cause as they're alienating the core fans who just don't care for the genre, and the elders who are fans don't know Richard Cheese from Richard Dawson.

If anything, the obnoxious Cheese could put out some hard rock and hip hop covers of some pop standards hits, but would the fans of rock and hip hop buy them? What if Dean Martin got down like Jay-Z or Wayne Newton belted out tunes like Robert Plant?

In any case, the standards format on terrestrial radio is fading away and fast.

By the way, does anybody know how Leykis is doing in San Diego in the key demographics? He hasn't been discussing the San Diego ratings for a while. Any ideas? Is he still beating the crap out of KGB in the male demos?

And in a related story, Mancow lost the Los Angeles affillate as Clear Channel-owned KLAC 570 drops his Chicago-based show this week. Mancow is Howard Stern's equilivant of the Evil Empire as I put it.

By the way: Included in WMEN's new lineup is Talk Radio Network's Mancow (6 a.m.-noon); Premiere Radio Networks' Jim Rome (noon-3 p.m.); Westwood One's Don and Mike (3-7 p.m.); and Tom Leykis (7-10 p.m.); and Talk Radio Network's Rusty Humphries (10 p.m.-1 a.m.) and Tammy Bruce (1-4 a.m.). Visit http://mantalk640.com/.

Howard Stern is Free For Two Days (Oct 24, 2006)

People around the globe can now easily sign up online to listen to Stern along with more than 75 channels of SIRIUS' premium content, including 100% commercial-free music, unique talk programming hosted by top political, cultural and entertainment figures, and hours of pro sports talk programs for the monthly subscription fee of $12.95.

"The two-day free trial of SIRIUS Internet Radio is a global event, featuring compelling, exclusive talk, music, and sports programming that exemplifies the depth and quality our current subscribers enjoy. Listeners who sign on will hear what has made SIRIUS the fastest growing company in satellite radio and the home of the most unique collection of entertainment ever put under one radio brand. The Best Radio on Radio is now The Best Radio on the Internet "said Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS President of Sports and Entertainment.

To participate in the free trial, visit http://www.sirius.com/howard or http://www.howardstern.com and register today. Listeners to the free SIR experience on the 25th and 26th will hear Stern and the other available channels.

Programming highlights from October 25th & 26th below (schedule and guests subject to change, and air dates and times updated throughout the week on http://www.sirius.com ):

HOWARD STERN

The Howard Stern Show with special guests including The Who's Pete Townshend, Sharon Osbourne, and Danny Bonaduce.

The Gary Dell'Abate Roast, when Colin Quinn, Reverend Bob Levy, Lisa Lampanelli, Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling and a cast of others will all roast "Baba Booey."

The Bitter Half, a radio drama about relationships, written and produced by Sam Simon, one of the original developers of The Simpsons. Howard 100 and Howard 101 breaks new ground with The Bitter Half, starring Howard Stern, Beth Ostrosky, John Stamos, Gilbert Gottfried, Robin Quivers, Fred Norris, Artie Lange, Andrew Dice Clay, George Takei, Gary Dell'Abate, Mary Dell'Abate, Allison Norris, Craig Gass and Ralph Cirella.

Scott Ferrall taking calls and keeping listeners on the edge of every sport from the NFL to the World Series and everything in between.

Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling is back on the Howard Stern channels with Jackie's Joke Hunt, laughing through the best comedy on radio.

Read the rest of the press release here!