Boycotting Dr. Demento In The Works? (September 26, 2007)

Talk in the USENET newsgroup rec.music.dementia is brimming with some recent reports of a radio station pulling the show outright if they can't stream the program to their Internet listeners.

Two of the few remaining radio stations still streming the Dr. Demento Show have apparently stopped this past weekend according to two posts on the newsgroup.

Says Jim Waters, "It seems that Talonian has gotten to WLVQ too as they're airing some filler music in their stream at the time Dr. D. is supposed to be streaming." Another poster replied that it could be that the station didn't get the show in time.

Radio stations such as WLUP in Chicago still carry Dr. Demento's show, but they stopped streaming the station a year or two before Talonian told their streaming affilliates to no longer stream the show on their streams.

Gary Flynn reported that he's received a notice from radio station KRDE saying that they have been asked to stop streaming Dr. Demento in order to continue to carry the show. The station said they are not set up to black out streaming audio which is expensive to set up and they believe it is not fair. They are asking Dr. Demento Show listeners who listen to KRDE to e-mail Dr. Demento at the usual drdemento@drdemento.com e-mail address asking that KRDE continue to be allowed to stream Dr. Demento.

According to BS, "They just said on KRDE that they were told not to stream the Dr. Demento show. They stated they refuse to uphold an internet blackout. They asked that all listeners email the Dr.'s website and register a complaint. We'll see in a few minutes if they play the Dr.'s show." This was posted on September 23rd minutes before the station was scheduled to play the show. Ten minutes after the hour, the station just played country music instead of airing the Dr. Demento Show. KRDE does not have the means to black out streaming audio, so they simply did not air the show.

Register your complaints by going to http://www.drdemento.com

Gary Flynn posted this, but did not mention the name of the radio station that sent out this e-mail:

"Dr. Demento fans, the syndicator of the show has informed us that we must discontinue streaming the show or face losing the right to air it each week. We refuse to let an outsider mandate a web "Black-out" of our programming. This is both unfair to you and costly for us to implement. If you agree, send the doctor a message to cure this problem. Send an e-mail telling them you want the Dr. D show to continue on both FM & on the web. Direct your e-mails to: DrDemento@DrDemento.com."

For most listeners, there is no radio station streaming the Dr. Demento Show, so the only way they can get the weekly shows is for them to seek them out in the underground where some people post the shows on a few USENET binary groups.

For Phil, "KRDE was the last hope of hearing the program. If it remains off KRDE, then that's the end of my listening (and Dr. D now has a very angry former fan). My budget doesn't allow a regular purchase of the show from the official web site. This could be it for me. How unnecessary and sad."

Tim replies, "I completely understand. Short wav radio fidelity for a $2 stream is not worth it. $14.95 per month makes the cost of new shows almost $4 per show (or view it as per week). While older shows can be ordered up during your month, there still is a limit to those, and the library of older shows had no new additions for over a year now."

Grave Batista agrees with Phil, "That pretty much wraps it up for me. KRDE was the only way I could listen in at dial up speed. That means no more doctor at my house. I've been a fan for 20+ years and I knew market forces would eventually bring this situation about. Over air broadcast disappeared long ago in Canada, it was on CHUM-FM Toronto in the 80s. CHUM also recently stopped broadcastings their Sunday Funnies program. The absence of the Doctors weekly presciption will certainly make a difference to me. Can we call on the US Surgeon General? Certainly a large number of people all going off their medication at the same time should be a concern to someone!"

KEGR, an affilliate of Dr. Demento, replayed the September 25, 2005 airing over the weekend.

the great Luke Ski, who's been one of the more popular funny music artists, posts a plea for readers to request another one of his songs for airplay on the Dr. Demento Show, which is going down to so few listeners without the radio stations streaming the show that the readers are just saying ho-hum to the plea.

Says BS, "Hey Luke, I ain't gonna be requesting doodley squat if I can't listen to the Dr. Demento Show. Since it's not on the radio in my area, the only way I have to hear it is the stations that stream his show. Since he's now stopped the last station I know from doing that, you're audience just got a lot smaller. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."

Says Phil, "Ditto for me (KRDE just halted its web broadcast). I live in New England = no radio stations broadcasting Dr D = no listening for me = no chance of requesting your stuff (which is very good, by the way). There are a lot of us out here. Maybe you should bring this up with Dr D himself, since he is about to kill all the nice exposure you get on his program due to his distributor's stupid rules."

From Peter: "I agree. I stopped almost all requests because I can't listen to the show. I will only do it as a personal favor.

From the great Luke Ski, "Um, you guys are aware that you can listen to his show by getting the episodes streaming from his website, right? Yes, I know you have to pay for them. But it's only $2.00. Two dollars to get over 90 solid minutes of awesome music from your favorite DJ. And you can listen to it when it's convenient for you, not when whatever station is streaming it. Back in the 80's and early 90's when I lived in an area that didn't have the Dr. Demento Show, if I had been given the opportunity to hear the show for the price of $2 a week, I would have gladly paid for it like the squeeing fanboy I was (and still is. Am. Whatever.) And when it comes down to it, it's his show, not mine. I really don't have any influence over his business decisions. If you feel strongly about it, write / email him and let him know how you feel. I feel for you guys, and I hope you can get to hear the show again. I also hope the Dr. Demento Show stays on the air for another 37 years or more."

Reply from Peter: "Yes I am aware of that. I believe the worst thing about it is not being able to download it to my iPod. I really do miss listening to Dr. Demento, but this is not a good alternative. So I will listen to your music in various other podcasts and of course at the FuMP."

Reply from Phil: "Yes, I've expressed myself directly to Dr D. I'll be interested to see the reply. I am aware of the $2 per streaming downloaded show, but frankly the 40 kbps version you get for your $2 is kind of like listening to shortwave radio fidelity; i.e. pretty cruddy. You can get something better (96 kbps) but only if you pay what works out to $180/year, and I'm told they restrict how many shows you can listen to per month and the back archives are not that complete. And these shows are streaming, meaning you get one shot and that's it. If your net connection dies in the middle (as can happen).. sorry. It's just too much for too little. I'll try to keep listening to you and other artists directly through your web sites, but if things don't change at Dr D, I guess I'll have to do my own compilations. Keep up the good work, though!"

Reply from Joe: "I'd love to help you out by requesting your stuff, but like the others, I don't see the point if no one can hear the show any more. $2 per week for 90 minutes may not sound like a lot, but that's more than I pay for my satellite radio which brings in many stations around the clock. Also, in a given show, at least half of the stuff will be things that he's played (and I've heard) before. That's okay because a lot of the stuff is good, but it effectively doubles the price for the new stuff. I used the show is a way of finding out about new things I could support by buying the CDs from the artist. Without being able to hear the new stuff, I won't be buying any more CDs from you or others making funny music. I did write in to voice my concern but I don't expect to hear back, nor do I expect anything to come of it. If anyone in a broadcast area is interested in parking a little Windows machine I've got with an FM radio card in it on their network, drop me a note. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas for how to get access to the show. $2 for about 45 minutes of new (or at least new to me) stuff each week is not a bargain. Keep doing what you're doing. It's good stuff. If you can get some air play on an XM station of a radio station in the Boston area, I'll be happy to hear what you're up to."

Reply from some knucklehead named David Tanny: "Most any demented music podcast is available on RSS feeds nowadays. Talonian should have partnered with Mad Music Archive instead of screwing with Wayne. Maybe that's why I no longer bother any of the radio stations to pick up the Dr. Demento Show anymore. A radio station has nothing in it for them if they are not allowed to stream the show to their listeners and pick up the listeners from out of their markets. Let KGB play reruns of DSC on weekends to millions of listeners for free instead of carrying a show that they have to black out for two friggin hours because some moron syndicator acts like a crybaby if their show is streamed to expose the artists to millions of potential listeners. Talonian lives in 1992. The company can't seem to get radio right. Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks can do a better job syndicating than the bozos at Talonian. Talonian might as well sell their company or fold. They ain't got a clue how to be in the radio bidness. No offense to anybody, but I'm using my resources to request songs Dr. Demento never played on his show (I can't request my own songs). TV's Kyle got played over the weekend. I'm not sure if it's the result of my request since I never listen to most of the Dr. D shows downloaded from a USENET group nowdays."

After a few postings, Tim replys to Luke with a possible suggestion that the artists should put up a united front against Dr. Demento's syndicators: "We were Holding Out For A Hero, someone to plead the cause, someone it takes who will lose more than just listeners...someone who will lose their fanboys and fangirls. If the artists can't put on the pressure to make sure there are hundreds and hundreds of listeners across the internet, instead of the four or five out of that group that will go to listen by paying, then they deserve the shrunken audience. Artists and audience need to raise there voices and concerns."

Another Dr. Demento View: Jason of WQMA (September 26, 2007)

"I can answer that Dr. D is not offering this as an option. They just want stations not to stream the show, *period*, end of discussion.

"To my knowledge, Dr. Demento is the only music based program in radio syndication to forbid it's affiliates to stream. Our station has aired dozens of syndicated programs and never faced such restrictions.

"VERY few radio programs have such regulations. Most of the other shows we carry encourage stations to rebroadcast the show to gain wider audience. Our syndicated morning team, Steve & DC, has worked with us in the past to better our streaming to accomodate listeners to their show in areas where they are no longer heard. In fact, I'm familiar with only one other radio show thats brought up this issue in a negative way. When Howard Stern was on AM/FM radio, his contract forbid stations from streaming the show, but that was also CBS/Infinity's policy toward all Internet radio at the time (they forbid their own stations to stream anything seeing no economic benefit to it). But it wasn't enforced as heavily as Dr. D's seems to be as I frequently would listen to Howard online out-of-market. Dr. D's syndicators contact stations via phone when they are made aware of them streaming and tell them to stop or they will stop receiving shows.

"Internet simulcasts of AM/FM stations are a big part of the future of radio. If it was a bad idea for the show, huge corporations like CBS Radio, ABC Radio, Premiere/Clear Channel and others would forbid online streaming of their programming. They don't because most companies realize letting someone listen to a current program at a certain time for free online is the same as letting them listen to a current program on their AM/FM radio dial locally. By not getting the program out on as many distribution platforms as possible, the simple fact is that less people will hear it, and NO new listeners will discover it.

"I can't imagine any station providing such simulcast being happy with an arrangement where they can't air the programming online as it's a part of the radio station. It's very old-fashioned thinking on the part of the syndicator and restrictive. If they want to try to create a new stream of income online, they should, as many other radio shows are doing, but charge for previous shows from the library, or provide some kind of on-demand service that complements the stations. But don't try to restrict broadcast of the current shows and compete with AM/FM stations online efforts and hurt the shows fans. I would guess that the amount of money they are making charging fans to hear the show from the website is not nearly enough to offset the badwill to fans and station affiliates from these restrictive policies.

"About the fees for airing the program: Yes, there is a fee involved for stations in airing the program now but stations can still only air it over AM/FM and not Internet by any means. We tried to make that work at WQMA for a couple months but we just frustrated everyone including local listeners by not streaming the show (our mp3PRO stream sounds better than AM) and we couldn't afford the payments or find any sponsors. I hope in the future Dr. D becomes more station friendly and we can work together again. I am a huge supporter of quality national weekend programming.

"At our station, we discovered that a lot of our donators to the streaming were dedicated Dr. D listeners (we still never profited from Internet broadcasting; in our best month, we just broke even). We couldn't afford the Internet streaming after you all left, so we unfortunately pulled the whole online streaming for all of our shows for now which resulted in a number of people without ability to hear our wide variety of top national weekend programming. I am still getting disappointment filled emails from people all over the world (some from US soldiers in Iraq and a fan of Casey Kasem that lives in Germany!). We are working on alternatives to offer streaming again sometime in the future."

Jason
http://www.q1520radio.com