The Wires (Dec 8, 2006)

Satcasters Considering Price Hike. XM and Sirius both look to the future of satellite radio at investor conferences. Meanwhile, radio owners says they are uninterested in CC stations.

Sad State of Alternative Rock Radio (Dec 7, 2006)

The grunge era is long gone, as well as the forgettable post-grunge movement that was the staple of the late 90s, yet alternative rock stations locally are still overplaying the same old stuff from a decade ago to death.

91X has a bigger playlist, no argument about that, including a vast library of alternative and modern rock songs dating back to the days when it was launched in 1983, and before that. FM 94/9 just celebrated its fourth year topping 91X in the ratings for most of its existance, yet seems to have a smaller playlist and not as extensive library as 91X.

So why is 91X still getting less ratings that 94/9 a year since 91X was spun off from the programming and marketing corporation of Clear Channel last year? Marco Collins was brought in as music director in the fall of last year and made some movement by introducing the short-lived Friday night alternative rock mashups and introduced some new acts for a while, but had to leave for personal reasons. What is 91X doing wrong?

It's not bad enough that FM 94.9 kept taunting 91X in its station ID spots by telling their listeners that they won't be seen in the same building with Clear Channel, in reference to the fact that 91X's operator, the locally-based Finest City Broadcasting, and Texas-based Clear Channel, both occupy a splitly-divided building owned by an independent leaser to both parties. Perhaps Finest City should think about moving their operations to a cluster of buildings along the lines of 5735 Kearny Villa Road, which is the location several Clear Channel (and Par and Jacor) stations used to occupy before they moved to their present location just south of Aero Drive. Then FM 94/9 won't have anything to talk trash about 91X anymore. It's amazing how deceptive radio bumpers can be when they talk about a station that is not owned or operated by Clear Channel sharing the same building with them and leading their listeners to falsely conclude that 91X is still being run by Clear Channel. Let's also point out that FM 94/9 is owned by an outside company, Lincoln Financial Corporation, and whether their playlist is consulted by suits or not remains in question.

Both 91X and 94/9 have a few things in common: they play the same forgettable 90s songs too much, they pick the new songs that are generally either forgettable or unlistenable, they play groups that sound like U2, they generally avoid playing upbeat synth-based rock and dance mixes of alternative rock, they don't put enough variety in their genre range, they can't capture the free-spirited days of 80s alternative rock radio when I used to hear even Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen on 91X back in the day, they're resorting to playing that awful rap genre from the 90s, and otherwise playing the same old songs everyday like KGB does until people are sick of hearing them and are moving on to other sources of music.

Today's alternative radio as we know it is basically unlistenable for people over the age of 34, with the new songs leaning too immature and ignoring the new songs that have a mature angle. If alternative radio is to remain vital, then it needs to reinvent itself, ridding itself of unlistenable junk that drives away listeners or puts them into a comatose state. Instead of playing all the crap and old songs, they need to find a music director with an ear for innovation and enjoyment of upbeat fun music with a beat that both the young and the not-so-old can embrace and enjoy.

One notable source of new music can be found on myspace.com where millions of unsigned acts have been posting some songs submitted for approval by their listeners. Some of them may be good enough to get played on alternative radio if the music directors can find them.

So what do you think alternative radio should sound like?

The Wires (Dec 6-7, 2006)

Radio, TV and newspaper operators nudge the FCC on relaxing the ownership rules. Their joint letter pleads that because of the "explosion of outlets and new technologies", broadcasters are "experiencing unprecedented challenges" - and should be entitled to looser rules for local radio, radio/TV and newspaper/broadcasting cross-ownership. Among the signers of today's letter - Bonneville, CBS, Citadel, Clear Channel and Entercom, plus a host of TV operators. The lobbying comes ahead of next Monday's all-day FCC Field Hearing in Nashville.

Chicago Tribune: Can two satellite radio services stay aloft, or will they fall from orbit like so much space junk? Ten days shy of a year since Howard Stern's historic final broadcast on good old-fashioned, over-the-air broadcast radio en route to Sirius Satellite Radio, it's still unclear whether the market can sustain both Sirius and rival XM Satellite Radio subscription services.

John Rook: One must wonder just how many hearings it will take for the public to be heard by FCC chairman Kevin Martin. Even with his inability to find the time in a busy schedule to attend most of them thus far, surely word must have reached him concerning the outspoken criticism voiced by speaker after speaker at previous forums. Inviting public comment sounds good, but if Martin and his two republican rubber stamps at the FCC are in the pocket of those who lobby for a bigger slice of the media pie, additional input from the public is wasted effort (read more - www.JohnRook.com).

Nashville Scene: Nashville could be a pivotal locale for anti-FCC ire because of its high concentration of artists experiencing firsthand the dearth of opportunities to get their art into the marketplace. Just think about the number of local artists you could hear on Nashville radio 10 years ago vs. today, and you have a good illustration of the way consolidation affects the livelihood of artists (read more - Lee Stabert-Nashville Scene).

Logan Whitehurst Passes Away (Dec 5, 2006)

I lost one of my favorite singers this past weekend.

Logan Whitehurst, who first gained fame on the original incarnation of mp3.com when he began posting some novelty and funny songs for others to download, has died at the age of 29.

Whitehurst first began sharing some of his works on the Internet in 1999 through the then San Diego-based mp3.com, and gained a small following, but it was the following year that he became more famous when the syndicated Dr. Demento Show began playing one of his first songs, "Monkeys are Bad People", and got further exposure for the radio listeners.

In recent years, Whitehurst had been battling inoperable brain cancer, and this past spring he thought that his cancer had been in remission with treatments, and began assembling tracks for what would be his final album, "Very Tiny Songs" that summer.

But over the next few months, he began having problems again and went to see his doctor for a brain and spine scan and was told that he had a recurrence of his brain cancer. His doctor in August told him that his cancer would kill him within the year.

Whitehurst released two albums before his death, and his Very Tiny Songs album will be released sometime in 2007. The first one, "How Does an Electrostatic Motor Work", in 2000, and his second one, the criticlaly acclaimed "Goodbye, My 4-Track" yielding a few hits on dfsx and Dr. Demento, in 2003.

Logan's younger sister, Emily, broke the news that he died on December 3rd in an official announcement on his myspace page http://myspace.com/loganwhitehurst.

Emily also wrote in his blog, "Not long ago, Logan told us that one of the most important things to him was playing his music for people. I'm pretty sure that right now he would thank you for being such an amazing audience. We are going to do our best to make sure his music continues to be available to everyone. Very Tiny Songs will be out soon, for which we are all extremely grateful. Grateful to have one last amazing work from the mind of Logan Whitehurst. Logan was, for many of us, the most unique and talented person we've ever known. Through his music and with your help, we will keep the memory of Logan alive. Thank you for all your support and kind words.

"To quote one of his songs,

"As I go to heaven in the back of my Luv-Machine, I can hear them say as I fly away, 'LIFE IS PEACHES AND CREAM'."

Logan's hits include "Happy Noodle vs. Sad Noodle", "Robot Cat", "Lizard and Fish", "Do The Confusion", and "Calculator Love."

From Wikipedia: Logan Whitehurst (November 15, 1977 - December 3, 2006), was the drummer for the Northern California band Little Tin Frog from 1995 until 2000. He also played keyboards on the Headboard CD "The End Is Near," and performed live with the group on numerous occasions from 1996 to 1997. In 2000, he continued on as a founding member of The Velvet Teen, for which he is best known.

In addition to drumming for The Velvet Teen, he has released a handful of self-recorded solo albums as Logan Whitehurst & the Junior Science Club.

The Wires (Dec 5, 2006)

PR Newswire: "We are updating our year-end 2006 subscriber guidance to between 5.9 million and 6.1 million. At the lower end of our range we will still add almost 20% more subscribers in 2006 than we did in 2005, a record year for SIRIUS," said Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS (read more - PR Newswire).

Audio Graphics: There's been a trend showing up on broadcast radio web sites that stream. It demonstrates how a portion of the radio industry - even after ten years - still isn't getting the message that consumers want control of their audio entertainment (read more - Audio Graphics).

Goodbye to formatted radio - it's time to give control back to music's true fans, says Nettwerk Music Group CEO Terry McBride. In what McBride calls the "we-pod" era thanks to the file-sharing benefits of digital technology, the fans are slowly but surely regaining control over the music industry, and hearing music the way people did 30 years ago - "purely by recommendation," said McBride (read more - Robyn Stubbs - 24 Hours CA)

XM Gets a Jewish Channel: Coinciding with the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, XM Satellite Radio will offer the first-ever national broadcast channel devoted exclusively to Jewish culture. "Radio Hanukkah" (XM 108), will feature a broad spectrum of Jewish music and conversation beginning Friday, December 15 (25th of Kislev) and running through December 23.

JERRY SPRINGER's radio show is history, according to the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER's JOHN KIESEWETTER, who reports that SPRINGER will pull the plug on the show on FRIDAY (12/8). SPRINGER's show, produced by CLEAR CHANNEL and distributed to some AIR AMERICA RADIO affiliates, will be in reruns for the rest of the week until the final airing on FRIDAY.