The Wires (June 7, 2008)

Inside Radio: Attracting teens; Still a problem for radio. In a series of telephone surveys for its CHR clients, Coleman Insights has seen a shift. In one top 20 market study, 84% of 14- to 17-year-olds reported listening to music on a computer, iPod or MP3 player every day compared to just 78% for radio. Jon Coleman says it's the first time they've seen new technologies beat radio.

Ashampoo StartUp Tuner: Ashampoo StartUp Tuner is a free program that helps users weed out superfluous apps that autostart on boot up, shaving valuable seconds off start up time. License: Free. OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

SOSD: Jay Posner - Sports Media. C'mon, you can take Berman for two days. This might not be what some people want to read, but Chris Berman is thrilled to be the voice of the U.S. Open for ESPN. And ESPN and the USGA are thrilled to have him. “It's an event that I love,” Berman said. “I really look forward to this. It's a treat that we have it.” Some of Berman's critics – and I have been one – might term it a cruel trick rather than a tantalizing treat. If they hear one more nickname or fake Scottish “Monty,” they might throw a Footjoy through their plasma screen. Read more at the link.

Randy Dotina: 52 Reasons To Forget The Lyrics. Stalking. Abortion. Incest. Death. What do these things have in common? No, they aren't part of the platform of any political party, no matter what you may have heard from certain right-wing talk-show hosts. Instead, these are among the themes of the most nausea-inducing love songs of all time, according to a new book that explains what exactly is going on in those lyrics you never listen to. "You're Having My Baby" by Paul Anka? It includes a reference to his lover's choice to avoid doing away with the fetus. Melissa Etheridge's "Come to My Window" includes references to blood, hell and seeping blackness. (Seriously.) And George Michael's "Father Figure" is all about, well, jailbait. Not that the singers necessarily wanted to make creep people out, said Tom Reynolds, author of "Touch Me, I'm Sick: The 52 Creepiest Love Songs You've Ever Heard." "In almost every case, the songwriter was not trying to be creepy or depressing," Reynolds said. "They were trying to be cathartic, emotional and stimulating, trying as hard as they could to reach the listener and move them." Read the rest at the link.

John Maffei: TV COMMENTARY: A new challenge: ESPN's Sutcliffe faces a daunting foe in colon cancer Also: The Chargers have added KLAC (570 AM) to their radio network for the 2008 season. KLAC is the flagship station of the Los Angeles Lakers, L.A. Kings, L.A. Avengers and UCLA. Josh Lewin and Hank Bauer will continue to call the action. "Saturday Football on ABC" kicks off its third season on Aug. 30 with Alabama facing Clemson. The Sept. 6 game is Miami-Florida.

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- Leave it to the Federal Communications Commission to come up with a way to control the free Internet. It is proposing giving away broadband Internet for free in exchange for their right to control it. There is an upcoming airwaves auction and if the FCC has its way the winner would be offering free wireless Internet to most consumers – perhaps in less than five years. That is, if anyone takes the bait

NY Post: From Page Six -- Ed McMahon's years of boozing are partly to blame for his going broke. Johnny Carson's famed sidekick - who once had real-estate holdings of more than $200 million - is in danger of losing his Beverly Hills home in a foreclosure

Wall Street Journal: Clear Channel Demands More Cost Control. An internal corporate memo from CFO RANDALL MAYS to top executives, sent a couple weeks ago, demanded that management do everything they can to cut costs before the deal closes. The reason, as reported by THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, is that if enough shareholders demand cash from the transaction, the powers-that-be would have to roll over their shares into stub equity for a privatized CLEAR CHANNEL. Doing so would cut into the money the corporate hierarchy would make from the deal. Thus, the need to accumulate more cash on hand before closing "There is a certain level of cash which we will need to have at closing in order to insure that no one has to do anything that is not of their choosing," MAYS wrote in the memo. "The board would prefer that rolling stock into stub equity remain an option rather than a requirement." Needless to say, CLEAR CHANNEL personnel will need extremely solid reasons for accruing new expenses, as corporate accountants will be "extremely judicious in any capital spend of any type. We also are going to be very closely monitoring cash generation and balances." This memo comes on the heels of a JANUARY memo from CCR CEO JOHN HOGAN, who ordered an end to non-essential spending. Whether this new dictate will solely freeze additional spending -- and not result in more layoffs and staff consolidation -- remains to be seen. Read the entire memo at the link.

Funds Raised From Not Buying the 75 Cent Union-Tribune (June 7, 2008)

Tally at the end of June 7: $6.00.

Savings for not purchasing the Monday through Saturday editions: $4.50.

Wow! That's enough in savings for me to purchase a whole gallon of gasoline! Not buying the overpriced dinky San Diego Union-Tribune has helped me pay for a gallon of gasoline.

The buffoons at the paper should have lowered their price since we're getting far less news and features than we used to be getting ten years ago. 35 cents would have been the right price to pay for what little news that's printed in the paper.

The Wires (June 6, 2008)

Motley Fool: From Rick Aristotle Munarriz -- Has it really been nearly 16 months since XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio announced their plans to merge? Are we still waiting on the Federal Communications Commission to approve or dismiss the pairing? Yes, unfortunately. It's difficult to fathom why the decision has taken this long

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- On May 31st 2008, I read an obituary for radio. No, I didn’t write it because I believe that there is life after terrestrial radio towers and transmitters and that radio can still be a good free cash flow business for many more years. But operators need to do a better job programming to the available audience (baby boomers while they last and older Gen Xers). The next generation is lost.

All Access reports that Cindy Spice Girl, er, I mean Spicer, is returning to US 95.7 to resume her midday shift on July 1st and take over the music director duties shortly thereafter.

The Wires (June 5, 2008)

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- As my old friend, the late program director Julian Breen used to say on his “Magic 103” WMGK in Philadelphia, the magic is the music. And that’s it. The labels are too concerned with CDs - not nearly as interested in selling what they used to call “singles” or as they are known today - downloads. Their obsession with driving album sales is terminal. Even when they admit that they can’t sell albums as they have in the past, they try damn hard to do so anyway. Too obsessed with the medium and not the music

Jay Marvin: Consolidation his hurt radio like a race horse with a broken leg. Even if you're a free market person you have to admit lack of regulation is killing radio. Now don't give me the free speech/free market stuff. Keep your powder dry and think about this: are you, in radio, better off now then say eleven years ago? If you answer yes you're one of the few

Union-Tribune Missed Issues (June 4, 2008)

Top stories range from the stupid annual Fair to complaining about the weather to stories about Sex and the City, a movie nobody with testicles would bother with, except gay or whipped males. Even William Shatner and Jay Leno didn't bother to watch this chick fest from hell. Good for them.

Just five years ago when Star Wars III came out, we had geeks waiting in line. Last Friday's Sex movie rivaled it, except it was all chicks or men tied up in handcuffs and dragged by a leash by their wives. Unbelievable.

The number of stories in the San Diego paper pale when compared to what you would get at the Los Angeles Times for 25 cents less, or USA Today for the same price. At 75 cents, you get more stories with USA Today than you would with the San Diego paper.

There used to be a San Diego edition of the Los Angeles Times from circa 1978 until about 1992 when newspapers were beginning to scale back. Maybe the San Diego paper could use a takeover by the L.A. Times, just so we wouldn't see so many fluff pieces like we see gracing the San Diego Union-Tribune front page.

Tomorrow, I won't buy the 6/4 issue. Thursday, I won't buy the 6/5 issue. I might buy the 6/6 issue only because of the TV/Radio sports columnist Nick Canepa. I won't bother with the 6/7 issue either. I might get the Sunday paper, but at $2.00, it's pricey and I throw away half of the useless paper content such as homes and travel. If the San Diego paper had freelance radio columnist Randy Dotinga aboard, it might be worth picking up an issue.

The Wires (June 4, 2008)

Inside Music Media: From Jerry Del Colliano -- Gen Y won’t pay for anything that they think should be free, either. That’s why they steal music - after all, those evil record labels don’t really pay the artists very much anyway, they argue. Why they begrudgingly pay iTunes 99 cents until they get to Limewire and other access points to download the same songs at no cost to them. Apple CEO Steve Jobs knows this is true which is one reason why he is introducing what will be a long line of even lighter and brighter laptops that will eventually make the next generation’s TV ultra portable

Happy Hare: George Orwell’s prediction has come to fruition. Words, as we were raised to understand them. have lost meaning, but I may have a counter to the pervasive ugliness and hatred. Some years ago when I was on the air, doing a morning radio show in Cleveland with Specs Howard we came up with a lapel button designed to ward off bores. It was a lapel button reading “I’m Tired of Heating About it.”

SDN, Because the San Diego Union Tribune Is Too Freakin' Expensive!

Ballot Endorsements

The Wires (Jun 3, 2008)

San Diego Metro: Local News Moves Slowly To High Def. Excerpt: KFMB-TV Channel 8 first launched its local news broadcasts in high definition in January 2007 — a week before the Super Bowl. Nearly 18 months later, the CBS affiliate remains the only San Diego broadcast channel to offer newscasts in HD, but that’s about to change. Patrick Givans, director of technology for ABC affiliate KGTV-Channel 10, says the station will start broadcasting local news in HD before September. “It hasn’t been cheap,” says Givans. “We’re spending nearly $5 million for the conversion. Competitively we have to do it.” Read the rest at the link.

Sosd: From Brad Melekian -- Sunday morning surf checks in San Diego recently got their own soundtrack. At 8 a.m. every Sunday on XTRA Sports 1360, Surfer Magazine Online Editor Scott Bass and co-worker Marty Thomas, a former World Championship Tour surfer, broadcast the “Down the Line” surf talk radio show, which they brand as “an irreverent and sometimes irrelevant look into the world of surfing each week”

Ryan Seacrest Joins KMYI Ryan Seacrest. The syndicated "ON-AIR WITH RYAN SEACREST" debuts on JUNE 16th, and one of the first stations to sign up is CLEAR CHANNEL Hot AC KMYI (STAR 94.1)/SAN DIEGO. He replaces HILARY CHAMBERS, who left last week (NET NEWS 5/30).

The Best of Everything Radio: DARK HORSE PRODUCTIONS, LTD. has announced a partnership with NEW YORK-based JETCAST INTERNET STREAMING to launch "The Best of Everything," a new, original, free music channel available online. "The Best of Everything" is a variety-driven ‘master blend’ of music showcasing familiar songs and artists from the past and present, targeting mature consumers. The continuous programming is available worldwide, 24/7 at www.TheBestofEverything.net.

Top 5 Headlines Of The Week (May 26-Jun 1, 2008)

4. No Number 4. Editor busy listening to tons of free music on the Internet.

3. Lakers Meet Boston in NBA Finals. Go Lakers!

2. Union-Tribune Raises Daily to 75 Cents...Readers Revolt!

1. Million Dollar Password Premiered on CBS

The Wires (June 1, 2008)

Unready For DTV: Ten million homes are considered "completely unready" for the DTV transition while 25 million homes have at least one TV set that will stop working post transition.