Scott Rose's "Folk U" Video (Jan 12, 2008)

Cheers and Jeers (Jan 12, 2008)

Cheers to 91X for playing a cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' 1974 hit "Band on the Run." You can download it at 91x.com for a few days.

The Wires (Jan 12, 2008)

KC Star: From Hearne Christopher, Jr -- KC's Classic rock radio station 99.7 KY is on its last legs and will change formats today. Entercom KY’s on-air staff was released Thursday ahead of the change. Fired staffers include veteran announcers Max Floyd, Tanna Guthrie and Slacker.

Entercom flips Classic Rock KYYS/Kansas City to "99.7 The Boulevard," with more of a Classic Hits/Triple A direction. The new format kicks off with 5,000 songs in a row, and a new air staff to follow. "We created The Boulevard to fill a void that has existed far too long in this market. So many stations play the same music. This new product will bring to Kansas City listeners music they simply cannot get anywhere else," said Dave Alpert, VP/Market Manager of Entercom-Kansas City. The entire former air staff of KYYS has exited. Also Steve Stone signs on as the voice of "The Boulevard."

As speculated earlier, Entercom classic rock KYYS has flipped to a triple A-type format dubbed "99-7 the Boulevard." It is being touted as "Kansas City's Quality Rock." The switch occurred at 1 p.m. central time on Friday (Jan. 11). After a silence of about 30 seconds, the new format launched with the expected Jackson Browne song, "Boulevard," followed by U2's "It's A Beautiful Day" and Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen."

Gary Lycan: Taking temporary work has its advantages. Reba Toney filled in on the KFSH/95.9 FM morning show and got the permanent wake-up call. Now, Diana Steele has followed the same path, getting the permanent job as 5-9 a.m. weekday co-host with Cliff Winston on V-100 KRBV 100.3 FM + Leslie Marshall joins the lineup at KGIL and Spanish station KLVE is the top-rated local broadcaster.

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- You read the headlines. You know that the radio industry is posting declining revenues. Most analysts say the best radio could hope for in 2008 is a flat year. Not exactly a climate that will attract investment capital. How would you like to be Lee and Bain? If you believe they will actually close on the purchase to take Clear Channel private, they are guaranteeing shareholders $39 a share. CCU closed at $35 yesterday. The buyers are overpaying.

Sirius went from 600,000 to 8.3 million listeners in the two years that Howard Stern has been doing his morning radio show on Sirius.

The Wires (Jan 11, 2008)

FMQB: Clear Channel Sold? The FCC is expected to officially announce its approval of the sale of Clear Channel to Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, as reports say that all five Commissioners have approved the deal. In an investment note today (January 10), Bear Stearns media analyst Victor Miller revealed that Commissioner Michael Copps agreed to vote Yes on the matter on Wednesday, which puts all five Commissioners in favor of the sale. Communication Daily and Dow Jones also report that their sources say the FCC has approved the deal, and that an official statement from the Commission is expected in the near future.

InsideRadio: According to multiple insiders, the FCC has given its approval to Bain Capital and THL Partner's $19.5 billion acquisition of Clear Channel. The fifth and final "yes" vote comes from commissioner Michael Copps, who insiders say was threatening to vote against the go-private deal. The FCC is expected to release its decision in the coming week. The private equity firms still need DOJ approval.

Feedback (Jan 11, 2008)

From Matt: [I] enjoyed reading the info about Blu-Ray and HD-DVD while back, thought I'd share this with you. I've been a fan of the Blu-Ray as soon as I heard about it and to tell the truth, it was a no-brainer from the get go; you get more space from the Blu-Ray Discs. Here's a little pie chart that kind of points to where things are going. Good to see that we won't have to wait much longer for this thing to end, since the consumer basically greeted the whole Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD with a collective yawn.
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-vs-blu-ray-battle-over-warner-switches-to-blu-ray/

The Wires (Jan 10, 2008)

Randy Dotinga: All The News That's Fit To Hear. For several months, the San Diego Union-Tribune has been experimenting with an online radio station, trying to woo Internet listeners with an odd mix of reporters, columnists and grizzled veterans of the local radio scene. Now, a decision by the Federal Communications Commission is opening the door for the largest newspaper in the region to bring its leading lights to old-fashioned radios. But the Union-Tribune appears to be betting that the future of radio is online, not in the familiar world of AM and FM. "The worth of terrestrial stations will be dramatically diminished because folks will be getting audio and video by way of the Internet for the most part," predicted Ron James, head of content for the Union-Tribune's Web site. The newspaper's main online station offers entertainment from veteran radio personalities along with specialized shows hosted by its stable of reporters and columnists. Read the rest at the link.

Course of Nature "Anger Cage" Video (Jan 9, 2008)

Their friends at purevolume.com have the exclusive video premiere of Anger Cage.

Follow this link:
http://www.purevolume.com/videos/courseofnature/angercage
or just go to purevolume.com & click on the banner in the upper right corner.

The Wires (Jan 9, 2008)

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- Radio's best and only candidate for change is Steve Jobs. I know many of you hate him but I'm not talking about his personality now, I'm talking about his ability to offer hope. Jobs is the Barack Obama of entertainment. He offers us hope that old baby boomers who run media companies can know what 18-24 year old consumers really want. And what does the next generation want? Mobile phones with music on them. Texting ability, of course. No radio, but they're open to podcasting if the agents of status quo can ever work out the royalty issues

Happy Hare: My favored Starbucks displays CD’s by the cash register as last minute impulse items and also, in rotary racks throughout the store. Any spare square footage, it seems, is occupied by a CD rack. There is a mega-Target near me that sells 4,000 CDs a week. Music is their highest grossing item. This is all ground breaking, right? “WRONG!” as Dennis Hopper would dissonantly intone. Don’t tell that to Herb Siegel, the mega media man. He originated this concept over fifty years ago. “A story goes with it,” as Damon Runyon used to write...

The Wires (Jan 8, 2008)

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- The radio industry is setting itself -- and its advertisers -- up for yet another in a long sustained series of disappointments by speculating that Apple's rumored decision to inject its cool into a very uncool device will jump start HD Radio. If Jobs, at the MacWorld Convention in a few weeks, unveils HD on-board boom boxes with iPod docking stations, it will wind up meaning nothing to the radio industry

FMQB: Hot AC/Triple A Hybrid KSCF (Sophie 103.7) San Diego taps Charese Fruge as its new PD.

Radio Ink: More than five years after Napster Inc. closed its doors as an MP3-trading peer-to-peer, the Napster subscription service is moving all its music sales to the unprotected MP3 format.

Anniversaries (Jan 7, 2008)

1958: Elvis is inducted into the Army, Westerns rule the only three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC), and David Seville introduces his Chipmunks.

1968: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In premiered, 2001: A Space Odyssey was released, the Beatles' White Album was released, and The Archies cartoon band premiered.

1973: American Graffiti was released in theaters, Match Game '73 premiered, the entire fall network season of 1973 was proved to be a dud, and "Dead Skunk" by Loudon Wainwright III was released.

1978: Dallas premiered, National Lampoon's Animal House was released, Taxi premiered, and Steve Martin releases "King Tut" as a single.

1983: M*A*S*H had its series finale, Michael Jackson moonwalks into domination, Return of the Jedi was released, and the Disney Channel premiered.

1988: Public Enemy and NWA made the growing rap scene, China Beach premiered, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released, and Fox debuts C*O*P*S.

1998: Seinfeld ended its eight year run, Groove Radio was purchased by Jacor, who in turn flipped it to AAA, Charmed and That 70's Show premiered, Star 100.7 ran its infamous two-month roller coaster ride, El Nino pummled San Diego, and Titanic dominated the movie scene.