The Wires (Jul 26, 2008)

FCC Approves XM and Sirius Merger. Federal regulators formally approved the merger of the nation's only two satellite radio operators Friday, ending a 16-month-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street.

Mel Phillips: I’ve read a lot of comments about what the merger of XM and Sirius will mean to terrestrial radio and for those that see the demise of free-radio post-merger, you’re dead wrong. You may find this hard to believe but radio will survive. To begin with, the real competition for terrestrial radio is not satellite radio. There are many threats. Where do I begin? (read more - Mel Phillips)

FMQB: Organization Claims XM-Sirius Merger Is Unconstitutional

The Wires (Jul 25, 2008)

Wall Street Journal: Sirius and XM merger language is being worked out. Agreement in principle has been reached says FCC chief Kevin Martin. In the deal, XM and Sirius customers could get fewer channels for $9.95, pay $1 less if they don't want Howard Stern and the racier channels like unrestricted comedy channels or pay $16.95 to get more channels (read more - Sarah McBride - Wall Street Journal)

Market Watch: Clear Channel Communications announced today that, based on a preliminary vote count, Clear Channel shareholders approved the adoption of the merger agreement with a group led by Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.

Seattle PI: Who would go to a nightclub to watch some guy play CDs and videos and talk about them? Fans of Barry Hansen would, that's who - and will, at The Triple Door in Seattle on Aug. 1. Of course, it's not exactly Hansen they're going to see. Instead the draw is Hansen's radio alter ego, Dr. Demento, who for more than three decades has been playing comedy, novelty and just plain odd songs (read more - Bill Virgin - Seattle PI)

Randy Dotinga: The public airwaves - they don't include cable TV or satellite radio - supposedly belong to the public. So the FCC sets rules about what broadcasters can and can't do. That seems reasonable. But it makes no sense that a radio station could be bankrupted when someone spouts a dirty word during a live interview. Or when the person manning the "bleep button" is asleep at the switch. There's got to be a better way (read more - Randy Dotinga - NC Times)

The Wires (Jul 24, 2008)

PortFolio: Satellite radio has a lot of happy customers, but even today it's not even remotely the only way to pipe music and news into your car. Besides regular radio and possible coming digital radio broadcasts, let's take a scenario that's taking form today. Already, owners of the new 3G iPhone are discovering the Internet radio - especially the Pandora service - work great on the device

Which way will Deborah Taylor Tate go? Find out today in the wires.

Annual Alex's Lemonade Stand Broadcast (Jul 23, 2008)

Hilary (10am - 2pm) and Boomer (2pm - 6pm) will be broadcasting live all day. If you come by the Miller's Lemonade Stand and donate between $25 and $50, we'll hook you up with an article of clothing from Rusty, if you donate $51 or more, we'll hook you up with a Four-Pack of tickets to LEGOLAND® California Resort's newest attraction, Sea Life Aquarium. Sea Life opens on Monday, August 11th and you'll be one of the first people to check out San Diego's premiere family destination. (Quick Disclaimer: These incentives are limited and while supplies last.)

The Miller's home is located at 3206 Redwood Street, which is the corner of 32nd and Redwood. Also, Worthy Gubbins (10am - noon), Janu and The Whalesharks (noon - 2pm), Wrong Trousers (2pm - 4pm) and The Blackout Party (4pm - 6pm) will be swinging by the Lemonade Stand to busk and play their tunes throughout the day.

Come join us, say "hi," grab a glass of lemonade and help support a great cause on Saturday.

Sincerely,

Owen - FM 94/9 Promotions

The Wires (Jul 23, 2008)

MSNBC: Conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage’s outrageous claims on autism have unleashed a fury of attacks from Hollywood. “Now you want me to tell you my opinion on autism since I’m not talking about autism - a fraud, a racket,” Michael Savage said last week on his radio show, “The Savage Nation.” The shock jock went on to say, “What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them don’t act like a moron, you’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up! Act like a man! Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot’” (read more - MSNBC)

Autism flap costs Savage network. TRN's Michael Savage has been pulled off the seven-station "Super Talk Mississippi" network over his controversial comments made about autism. Telesouth Communications CEO Steve Davenport says the comments were "beyond inexcusable and are unacceptable." He says they heard from "many" listeners, including a number who have autistic children. One advertiser, Aflac, has also pulled their spots from "The Savage Nation."

Entertainment Weekly: In this era of iPod proliferation, have any of you discovered any songs on the radio recently, and if so, what were they? Or am I the only one who fiddles with the antiquated AM/FM dial anymore?

Happy Hare: Hit the theme. Applause! Applause! Applause! Cue the announcer. A voice in the booth, over the scurrying theme, proclaims the “Hittin’ Home” show, starring Chuck Woolery and Nancy Glass. They appear on camera as they are introduced. The announcer billboards the big name guests slated for the show. Woolery is an imposing man with a thick mane of dark brown hair and dancing blue eyes, a great laugh (a reason Krauss hired him) and a Middle America sincerity to go with the package. Glass, a gorgeous taffy blonde, will move off to the side, coming on later with Art Linkletter, and his bright kids. Producer Michael Krauss has assigned me the opening slot (read more -www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Kurt Hanson: With the iPhone's Internet radio applications comes added opportunities for advertisers, says Steve Rubel in an AdAge column. He envisions advertisers targeting consumers based on criteria such as music tastes or GPS-based location. "This maybe one of the most promising mobile ad formats and is a space to watch," he states.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) today announced preliminary results for the second quarter of 2008. XM added 322,000 new net subscribers in the second quarter of 2008 for a total of 9,653,000 subscribers, a 17 percent increase in subscribers since the end of the second quarter of 2007. Total gross additions for the quarter were 1,081,000, including a record 857,000 OEM gross additions, the fifth consecutive quarter of record OEM gross additions, and 224,000 retail gross additions.

Copps votes against XM-Sirius. FCC Democrat Michael Copps has cast a vote against the proposed satellite merger according to the Wall Street Journal. His "no vote" was expected, considering Copps long history of opposing media mergers. The tally now stands at two in favor, one against - with Republican Deborah Taylor Tate and Democrat Jonathan Adelstein yet to vote.

Jay Leno's Last Day (July 22, 2008)

Conan O'Brien, currently hosting "Late Night", will take over as host of The Tonight Show on June 1. Conan's last day hosting "Late Night" is reportedly in late March so he could have time to move from New York to Los Angeles and put together a new studio for his show.

Where will Leno appear after the end of the year 2009 is anybody's guess. If Leno pops up on ABC or Fox, he'll still be opposite Letterman on CBS, but he will be opposing Conan.

Jimmy Fallon is poised to take over "Late Night" after Conan leaves.

If Leno pops up on ABC, that will surely spell the end of Nightline, and Kimmel's late night show could follow Leno.

If Leno pops up on Fox or even the CW, then it would make it a four-way race for late night once again for the first time since about 1988 when Fox abdicated the late night time period due to Carson's dominance on NBC while Fox and the other two networks struggled.

Court Tosses FCC 'Wardrobe Malfunction' Fine (July 22, 2008)

A panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the FCC had "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" when issuing a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the unexpected live nude exposure of one of Janet Jackson's breasts during the big football game in 2004. The image lasted about a second.

As singer Justin Timberlake belted out the lyrics to one of his hit songs that have been forgotten by now, "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song," he reached for Jackson's bustier and pulled out too much of Janet's wardrobe.

The Court says the FCC "departed" from prior policy. CBS calls it an "important win" for all broadcasters.

It was the breast that shocked the TV and radio industry so hard that Clear Channel dropped the Infinity-syndicated Howard Stern radio show from its six owned and operated stations. Later during 2004, Stern announced that he was moving his show to Sirius satellite radio at the end of 2005. His last show aired mostly on CBS/Infinity owned radio stations in mid December of 2005. Since being dropped from Clear Channel, Stern has picked on the company for its pussified action.

What's so bad about a nipple? Mothers use it to breast feed their children, but these same mothers are outraged when someone else's nipples are seen on broadcast TV. This is ridiculous.

Smell ShoeBox's nipple and win a prize. You didn't get your prize? Let the lawyers at the office of Legal Dementia Associates sue ShoeBox and you'll get your prize.

Oz Comes to KPRI (July 22, 2008)

KPRI vice president and station manager Bob Burch says, “The purpose of these changes is to make KPRI a better radio station. We’re delighted to add Oz to our staff. Because of his years with 91X/San Diego and then KBCO/Denver, he has a base of experience that is both rich and deep in presenting the KPRI format to a discerning audience.”

Movie Awards For 2008 Already Settled (July 22, 2008)

Best Picture: The Dark Knight.

Best Actor: Christian Bale.

Best Actress: Maggie Gyllenhaal

No sense of nominating any other movie or actor this year. This movie literally overpowered everything. It's going to be a boring Academy Awards if none of these are nominated in January.

Top 5 Headlines Of The Week (Jul 14-20, 2008)

4. All Star Game Shows How Little New York Has To Offer.

3. No number 3. Author complaining to FX after they cancelled reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

2. Gay! Gay! Gay! Everywhere is Gay!

1. The Dark Knight Opens

The Wires (July 22, 2008)

Washington Times: More than a year later, Internet radio broadcasters are still lobbying against the royalty rates imposed on them in March 2007. SaveNetRadio is hosting a visit Tuesday by New Orleans jazz legend Michael White to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers on the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would nullify a decision by the Copyright Royalty Board last year to increase the payments that webcasters make to artists and record labels (read more - Kara Rowland - Washington Times)

Al.com: It's easy to bash radio conglomerates like Clear Channel and Cumulus for their cookie-cutter programming, but Cumulus and WZYP-FM 104.3 deserve kudos for their latest move. Bill West, general manager of Cumulus of North Alabama, says WZYP has replaced the syndicated "American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest" with "Tennessee Valley Hometown Countdown" in an effort to connect with local audiences (read more - Chris Welch - Huntsville Times)