The Wires (Jan 18, 2008)

Hear 2.0: From Mark Ramsey -- Joseph Jaffe: "Only 30% of the US market have even heard of podcasting, but you know what? It’s a storm that is coming. Soon every single new car will have a neat little spot to plug in your iPod or your MP3 player, and those MP3 players will be WiFi-enabled. And suddenly people will be calling in live to podcasts as they’re being produced through the power of WiFi. And when that happens, the radio industry could lose. The radio industry could lose on so many different levels: On the level of content, on the level of commercials and clutter, on the level of control, on the level of community; I can keep going on and on and on. So my message to the radio industry is, “Get your head out of the sand and innovate or you will die”

Diane Keaton Utters the F-Bomb (Jan 17, 2008)

Ooops! I guess the censors at ABC were asleep at the wheel.

Tuesday morning, Diane Keaton woke everybody up when she uttered the expletive live on the East Coast feed of the ABC morning show "Good Morning America."

She was promoting some movie as she was being interviewed by Diane Sawyer. When she was complementing Diane's lips and mused that if she had such lips, the would not have to work on her "f---ing personality."

The expletive aired live on the East Coast and was bleeped in other time zones.

The Wires (Jan 16, 2008)

CNN Money: Clear Channel Communications has filed for U.S. Department of Justice approval of its $20 billion buyout, pushing the deal one step closer to completion

Happy Hare: I host an internet radio show called – ya ready?- The Happy Hare Show on SignOnRadio.com, a ground breaking internet radio operation launched by The San Diego Union-Tribune. It happens every Wednesday from 1p-3p Pacific Time. Last week, I had as my guest, the iconic Chuck Blore. Put all of the major radio icons into a room together and ask them to cast their vote for the all-time greatest radio programmer, besides themselves of course, and they would unanimously vote for Blore. A half hour is not enough time to give this man who commands a big bucks to speak at national radio and television conventions, but he gave us a fortune worth of insights out of generosity

All Access: FINEST CITY BROADCASTING Alternative XTRA-F (91X)/SAN DIEGO announced expanded accessibility, new hosts and a new name for its long running music program "LOUDSPEAKER." The weekly SUNDAY night show has been renamed "LOUDSPEAKER SD." ANDREW ROWLEY and PRESTON ROESCHLEIN have been named the new hosts of the two-hour show that follows LOVELINE." Weekly episodes of "LOUDSPEAKER SD" will be available for download or stream "on demand" from www.91X.com. The move allows listeners the best offerings of SAN DIEGO artists at their convenience, with the stream available online 24 hours a day.

The Wires (Jan 15, 2008)

Inside Music Media: Is it too late for radio? No. Yes. Can't say I'm not direct. I am asked this question constantly -- not by my young students but by people working in the media business. The students represent Gen Y and they really have no meaningful connection to terrestrial radio. They have their own means of finding, storing and listening to music and they don't care about news and talk on traditional stations

Democrat and Chronicle: From Norm Silverstein -- Commercial radio is changing in Rochester and nationwide, and not necessarily for the better. As fewer companies own more commercial radio stations in any given market (just two companies own the majority of stations in Rochester), competition and innovation tend to suffer. As we've seen recently, consolidation also can result in the dismissal of longtime announcers and personalities, as more stations are automated and formats merged. However, while consolidation is making headlines, one of the biggest stories in local radio is getting short shrift: how public radio stations have grown to fill the void in the Rochester market and elsewhere

E! News: The writers' strike continues to take its toll on the ones who haven't yet made millions of dollars for their employers. On Friday, ABC Studios exercised its force majeure privilege and terminated the contracts of more than two dozen writing and non-writing producers who had development deals with the Walt Disney Co.-owned outfit, becoming the first major player to move out of the just-suspended stage and cut ties completely

Funny Movie Title (Jan 7, 2008)