The Wires (Feb 9, 2008)

TV Technology: Cable Sues Over Analog Must-Carry. Programmers say requiring analog carriage of local broadcasters could force channels off the analog menu, depriving them of their First Amendment rights to speak to audiences that may value their programming.

TV Technology: Cable Pushes Back on Martin Proposal for Low-Power Must-Carry. “How low power stations are viewed over-the-air after the digital transition is easily addressed by communicating the availability of converter boxes that will ‘pass-through’ the analog signal,” said NCTA Vice President of Communications Brian Dietz.

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- Move over, Sheryl Crow -- the first cut is not the deepest. The worst is and it's happening right now. The other shoe has now dropped as many of the major consolidators have followed their leader -- Clear Channel -- with layoffs, firings and cost-savings caused by bad business and bad strategy. We're now seeing CBS with program directors overseeing two separate cities. That will really work now, won't it?

Reminders....

Top 5 Stories of the Week (Feb 4-10, 2008)

4. Nobody wins $1,000,000 in the 10-suitcase edition of "Deal or No Deal." Next week, nobody will will it when there are 11 suitcases on Monday.

3. Super Tuesday falls on Fat Tuesday making it Super Fat Tuesday.

2. Misinterpretation of Ash Wednesday leads to marathon DVD watching of "Pokemon!"

1. It's unofficial...326 days belong to the year...the rest are LENT!

The Wires (Feb 8, 2008)

Lee Abrams: Time for re-thinking. A lot of people call wondering about the best course to take to be a DJ or a Program Director. I tell them to consider re-thinking. Unless they have spectacular talent or a new and realistic programming concept, it doesn’t look too good. That’s the reality. In the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s, those were very real career choices, but today, not as much. There are still opportunities for talented people with new ideas---but times have changed from those crazy days a decade or three ago. But -- I continue to think that Information is the new Rock n Roll. And the World needs good creative minds to balance out the technocrats, bureaucrats, fast buck guys and the power point army. It’s a time to be POSITIVE! But positive through “re-think” rather than dwelling on the crumbling of old institutions

Happy Hare: If Rush is smart – and he is – If McCain wins the General Election, Rush should show his flexibility by getting on “Dancing with the Stars” and doing “The Limbaugh Rock”. McCain is the most electable candidate against Hillary or Obama. The only thing that interests many of the professionals, not McCain’s credo or lack of it. The only big negative: He is 71, with a history of melanoma. For this reason, I am sure that the people who run things may have arranged for conservative Mike Huckabee to opt out of the election, take the numbers he has garnered in this election, and cut and paste them to McCain as his running mate. The scenario is almost Old Testament. It goes like this. McCain is elected with Huckabee chosen as his Vice President. Then, God smites McCain leaving the Evangelical on the throne

Charlie Tuna Joins K-Earth. CBS Oldies KRTH (K-EARTH 101)/LOS ANGELES morning man GARY BRYAN welcomed legendary L.A. radio personality CHARLIE TUNA at 8a TODAY as a new member of the K-EARTH 101 family. K-EARTH 101 listeners can now hear CHARLIE TUNA weekends from 9a-2 p on SATURDAY and 10a-3p on SUNDAY on K-EARTH 101.1 FM. TUNA will fill-in for all the regular announcers when they're on vacation -- starting next week he will fill in for JOSHUA ESCANDON, weekdays from 1-4p.

Another Bad Mariah Carey Imitator (Feb 8, 2008)

I thought this song sounded like a remake of one of Mariah Carey songs.

Alicia Key's latest song "No One" is a rather bad imitation of Mariah. Alicia's voice is too harsh for me to stand. She may be hot, but her songs are not in my music world.

I'll take chubby Mariah over slender Alicia anyday!

The Wires (Feb 7, 2008)

San Diego combo inks PPM deal. Arbitron doesn't expect to launch electronic measurement in San Diego until Spring 2009, but Midwest TV's "Jack FM" KFMB-FM and news/talk KFMB aren't waiting until the last minute. The companies announce a multi-year contract for PPM has been signed.

Lincoln Financial closes the book on selling. After selling just one of its markets, Lincoln Financial CEO Dennis Glass says "Conditions are such that it is not in the best interest of our shareholders to move forward with outright sales." LF still owns four clusters, all of which brought in underwhelming offers.

The Globe and Mail: From Grant Robertson -- Oldies 960 was abandoning AM for the smoother-sounding - and far more profitable - FM dial. The station, owned by Corus Entertainment Inc., would remake itself as Lite 104.3 FM, and in January the AM station signed off for good, sinking into a static abyss. It is a growing reality in the radio industry these days as broadcasters seek regulatory permission to flip AM stations to FM, where profits and audiences are bigger and the signal is more reliable in urban centres

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- The recent and infamous John Hogan memo calling for deeper cutbacks ahead of the potential closing of the sale of Clear Channel to investment banks Lee & Bain was like asking a super model to not eat. Now Mark Mays emails his employees with a truly clueless "win one for the Gipper" essay. First of all, why is this man writing emails?

The Radio: TheRadio.Com has launched The Kool Oldies, "a throwback music channel with a playlist that brings back all the “oldies but goodies” you remember with this collection of Super Hits from the 60s & early 70s—all of which are guaranteed to put you in a good mood"

Oldies and Oddities Playlist (Feb 7, 2008)

Today's show: Saluting the Groundhog and other rodents of the Animal
Kingdom

~Playlist 01-30-08~

GROUNDHOG - Homer and Jethro
I'M THE GROUNDHOG AND IT'S MY DAY - The Happiest Guys in the World
PEPINO THE ITALIAN MOUSE - Lou Monte
SING A GOOFY SONG - Alvin and the Chipmunks
MR. TAMBOURINE MAN - Alvin and Chipmunks
DIAMOND DOLLS - Alvin and the Chipmunks
HEY SHIRLEY (IT'S SQUIRRELY) - Shirley and Squirrely
SQUIRRELS - The Beastlie Boys
THE GROUNDHOG JIG - Bill Buell and Ned Ginsburg
THERE ARE NO CATS IN AMERICA - "An American Tail" soundtrack
THE WORLD'S GREATEST CRIMINAL MIND (from "The Great Mouse
Detective") - Vincent Price
BEN (from "Willard") - Crispin Glover
ODE TO A RAT (from "Heidi's Song") - Sammy Davis Jr.
THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB MARCH - Julie London

We are pre-empted next week due to coverage of Palomar College
basketball. 

The Wires (Feb 6, 2008)

Kurt Hanson: Webcasters appealing the CRB royalty determination will file briefs with the court this month. Other than the Internet Radio Equality Act, the appeal is webcasters' last hope at government relief from royalty rates many say will bankrupt the industry. The New York Law Journal has published an excellent recap of the facts and developments in the story, and we've excerpted select points from it in today's issue of RAIN.

The Wires (Feb 5, 2008)

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- Constant denial -- that's what's killing radio. Last week we heard the same old song again at the Southern California Broadcasters Association gathering. I don't know about you but these guys are starting to scare me

Don't Vote For John McCain (Feb 4, 2008)

Tom found him to be a bastard and a son of a bitch and wouldn't vote for him in a million billion years.

Back when Tom was working at a radio station personality in Arizona, McCain was a congessman back then who tried to get Tom fired from his job. So anybody who likes the Tom Leykis Show better pick somebody else if you're a Republican.

He also said that Ron Paul is a loon.

He also said that Republicans are a bunch of lunatics, saying for one that Huckabee compared weapons of mass destruction with Easter eggs, won't vote for Obama because he's a Mormon, and says that Libertarians are too radical.

Top 5 Stories of the Week (Jan 28-Feb 3, 2008)

4. No number four. Writers still on strike.

3. Rain Rain Rain in San Diego!

2. XLNC tests on 104.9 FM

1. The Big Game: N.Y. Stuns the Patriots!

Obit: 2007 New England Patriots' Perfect Season (Feb 4, 2008)

The Patriots would have achieved a perfect regular and post season record of 19-0 if they had beaten the New York Giants by getting into the end zone in the closing seconds of the game.

The 2007 Patriots would have become only the second team in NFL history to achieve a perfect record for the regular and post season games in a season. The 1972 Miami Dophins, with a 17-0 record, only needed to play 14 regular season games, while the Patriots had to play 16 regular season games.

The 2007 Patriots' perfect season would have become a reality in the final ten seconds of regulation if QB Tom Brady, no relation to The Brady Bunch, connected for 80 yards with a wide receiver, who could have taken it into the end zone.

The 2007 Patriots' prefect season died of causes of imcomplete pass.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

The New York Giants beat the Patriots 17-14.

Radio Bits and Pieces (Feb 4, 2008)

Pirate 96.9 is apparently using a transmitter on 93.7 to broadcast its programming. The transmitter site is apparantely rebroadcasting the Internet feed of Pirate, complete with skips and buffering errors. They are not authorized to use that frequency, which has been allocated to become a translator of KPFK from Los Angeles.

The Super Bowl was broadcast on XETV 6, as well as XETV-TD 23. For those who wanted to watch the game in Spanish, it was broadcast on Mexican channels XEWT 12, 32TD and 45 (Televisa), and XHTIT channels 21 and 29TD (TV Azteca). Is seven Mexican channels broadcasting the Super Bowl enough?

TVRadioWorld.com has jettisoned its TV portion of its website. It now lists just the radio stations on its revamped website called radiostationworld.com The reason they removed the listings for TV stations is that information for the television listings were becoming out of date with all of the changes in the last several years.

AM 890 in Julian won't become a reality. Their construction permit to build a transmitter has been cancelled by the FCC due to oppostion by Multicultural Broadcasting, which operates AM 900 in nearby Los Angeles.

When XLNC moves to 104.9 FM later this month, the frequency of 90.7 will no longer be used as an allocation for Baja California North.

The new frequency, 104.9 FM, has a stronger signal ---- 7,500 watts instead of 1,500.

If Lincoln Financial Sold Their San Diego Stations... (Feb 4, 2008)

The stations in question are KSON 1240, KSON 97.3, KSOQ 92.1, KIFM 98.1, and KBZT 94.9.

If Finest City, operatior but not the owner of Z90.3, 91X, and Magic 92.5, bought two of the FMs, which two would they buy? If they bought KBZT, surely they would replace it with another format since they could effectively eliminate their competetion of 91X. In 1998, when Jacor, then operator of 91X, bought the operating rights of 92.5, which was playing alternative rock, Jacor moved the format of old school R&B from its 95.7 station to 92.5, but created a new format on 95.7. In 2003, when Astor sold 92.1 to then-owner of KBZT Jefferson Pilot, guess what they did? Right. They eliminated their competetion by turning 92.1 into a North County translator of KSON; ironically, 92.1 was once a country station.

Finest City could go for only two FM stations since it operates three serving the San Diego metro area. Would it go for KBZT and KIFM, or would it take KSON and KSOQ? Could it take KSON and KIFM, and leave the KSOQ translator for KSON to another buyer?

What about CBS Radio? They operate two stations. They could go for the three major local FMs outright, and leave 92.1 to another buyer, or they could leave KBZT for another buyer and take the other three.

Clear Channel cannot buy any of the stations in San Diego because they already own the maximum allowed.

Broadcast Company of the Americas, which operates AM 1090 and 1700, and FM 105.7, could absorb the entire local cluster of Lincoln Financial so they would have three AMs and five FMs. The bad part is that they might turn 92.1 into another translator for XX Sports 1090.

Other than that, I just don't see that many other local companies that could absorb all or parts of the five Lincoln Financial stations. Midwest TV, owner of KFMB TV, AM, and FM stations, doesn't seem to be interested in adding any additional stations to its company. It could absorb the entire local Lincoln Financial cluster.