The Wires (Nov 5a, 2008)

FCC backs new public access to airwaves. Over the objections of television broadcasters and other groups, federal regulators set aside a disputed slice of radio spectrum for public use yesterday, hoping it would lead to low-cost, high-speed Internet access and new wireless devices. The Federal Communications Commission voted 5-0 to approve the new use for the unlicensed frequencies, known as white spaces. A coalition of powerful groups, including broadcasters, Broadway theater producers and sports franchises, hoped to derail or delay the decision. They have argued that their own transmissions – whether from television signals or from wireless microphones used in live music performances – could face interference from new devices that use the white spaces. Read more at the link above.

The Wires (Nov 5, 2008)

Fox News: Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays said that the radio industry must embrace new methods of reaching listeners and yet the The No. 1 album is not being played on any radio stations - According to Fox’s Roger Friedman Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from Bruce Springsteen's “Magic.” But it's OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born to Run” and “Born in the USA”

From FMQB.com: Cutbacks at Finest City Broadcasting in San Diego: at Modern Rock XTRA (91X), midday host and station veteran Steve West is out, along with Promotion Coordinator Morgan McGuire. And at sister Rhythmic AC XHRM (Magic 92.5), MD/midday host Sherry Knight exits

Top 5 Headlines Of The Week (Oct 27-Nov 2, 2008)

4. Reggae Pirate Fires Up on 106.1 FM.

3. Jim Richards Quits.

2. Chargers Lose On Bye Week!

1. Phillies Won The World Series. Anybody Notice?

Steve West Gone From 91X (November 5, 2008)

Election Returns (November 4, 2008)

XETV-DT2 is broadcasting test programming. Gary Stigall writes on the hdtv.forsandiego.com messageboard "We're going to broadcast election returns on this channel. It will be a simulcast of our informal webcast Tuesday night. Check it out: First, no commercials when we're not simulcasting with the main channel 8PM till 10PM. Second, you get the up-to-the-minute tote numbers provided by a powerful data engine designed by one of our engineers. Third, it will be highly informal. Some analysis, some interviews, and possibly some periods of just numbers going by. I believe it starts at 7:30 Tuesday evening. " The webcast will be available at http://www.sandiego6.com/.

KGTV is broadcasting Azteca America on digital channel 10.15. Why not 10.2? My onboard computer card cannot tune in 10.15. Why .15? I have to tune in 1101 to get KGTV-DT on my computer. I can't tune in 11015 for 10.15. I could dial 1102 for 10.2 if that existed.

In other subchannels, KNSD-DT has Universal Sports on .3, and Weather Plus on .2. KPBS-DT has V-Me on .2.

The Wires (Nov 4, 2008)

NY Daily News: Much of commercial radio is working hard to keep up with the rapidly shifting technology curve, adding HD channels and streaming a growing amount of diverse content on the Internet. WLTW (106.7), for instance, is already streaming Christmas music. WWFS (102.7 FM) has a stream with the rock format of its predecessor, WNEW-FM. But in the bigger picture, says Erik Schwartz, radio is moving too slowly and too often in the wrong direction (read more - David Hinckley - NY Daily News).

USA Today: You've heard of Wi-Fi, WiMax and 3G wireless technologies. Add another (oddly named) wireless creation to the list: white space. Today (Tuesday) the FCC votes on a measure to free up white space for broadband use.

Happy Hare: All morning radio guys worth their salt are people collectors. I was especially fortunate in that some of the people I collected during my professional career turned out to be treasured friends, like Chuck Blore, Randy Michaels, Mike Stafford, Sam Hale, former CBS President Peter Lund, Mike Glickenhaus, Frank Sinatra, Lee Bartell, Al Heacock, Mel Hall, Page Jones, Specs Howard, Paul Weston, The don Sam Maceo, Tom and Nita Dawson. Regis Philbin and Roger Hedgecock.

Star-Telegram: Circuit City Stores said Monday it is pulling the plug on about 20 percent of its U.S. stores.

Inside Music Media: I often write about the shortsightedness of media executives as they try to make consumers experience media the way they did when they were young. The results are obvious. Record labels clueless about the future and sinking fast every six months as revenue tails off. Still their leaders can find no answers other than lawsuits, CD reclamation projects and fantasies of all-you-can-consume music for $14.99 a month. They clearly do not understand nor are they willing to accept the new influence of Gen Y.

Hip Hop replaces dance music on KNRJ 92.7/101.1 in Phoenix. With that, Phoenix becomes America's most unlivable city. Last year, 101.5 replaced Free-FM with Hip Hop.

CBS RADIO's WNEW.COM Triple A stream, which is also heard on the WWFS/NEW YORK HD-2 channel, will be bringing in some special, unique guests for its Election Day broadcast -- none other than CHEECH AND CHONG. The duo will offer the secrets and stories behind their favorite bits, skits, and songs -- and playing them all, too.

Reminders (November 3, 2008)

Valerie Bertinelli guests on "Boston Legal" on ABC at 10pm tonight. Susan Lucci is still in the running on "Dancing With The Stars" for probably the last time. I'd be surprised if she gets runner-up.

The Wires (Nov 3, 2008)

Gary Lycan: OCR... Heard Tom Leykis lately? He's into politics. Excerpts: Still, many listeners to his 3-8 p.m. weekday show kept asking, "Can Tom Leykis do some of the stuff he used to on AM radio?" CBS Vice President and KLSX Program Director Jack Silver, who has said KLSX overall is "hot" in Orange County, did listen and now is getting the word out – he e-mailed Don Barrett at www.laradio.comthat "thanks to the biggest presidential election in our lifetime, Tom is stretching his wings into areas he hasn't in years! Meaning politics, the economy and pop culture. And the shows sound amazing. And to make things even easier, I've cut the commercial breaks down and made them shorter." I asked Leykis for a comment and he responded with the announcement that he will be on all-night Tuesday election night. "It's hard to believe that it's been over 20 years since I first worked afternoon drive radio in Southern California. I am so excited that I will be doing my first Election Night broadcast since that first year, 1988! Word came down Oct. 29 of more layoffs – possibly two dozen – at CBS Radio stations located in "The Miracle Mile" building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Most were mid-level managers and support staffers, according to Don Barrett at www.LaRadio.com. The hit list may have also included the Tom Leykis program, which originates from the Paramount studios lot on Melrose. The layoffs come as CBS Radio is proposing to the AFTRA union that it wants to do all voice-tracking on its stations playing adult contemporary, smooth jazz, adult hits and urban adult contemporary, and to fill a percentage of airtime with voice-tracking on stations with other formats, such as news and talk. The upside for CBS: it saves money and one person can voice track for several stations. The downside: the possible replacement of popular on-air personalities. Read the whole report and more at Gary Lycan's page.

Starting Nov. 3, Michael Savage moves to 5-7 p.m. weekdays on KGIL 1260 and 540 AM. Monica Crowley debuts nightly, 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Larry King moves to 9 p.m. and Dr. Drew Pinsky to 10 p.m. in the revised lineup.

Live and Local Nights Disappearring? (Nov 3, 2008)

With ratings low after 7pm, it's cheaper to voice track or run syndicated programming in the post 7pm dayparts rather than to produce live shows few people are listening to.

After 7pm, people are basically doing things other than listening to the radio once they leave their cars.

There's far more distractions to local radio when you're home than there is when you're in the car. Video games, TV sets, Internet radio, and other similar hobbies dominate the time after 7pm while local radio languishes into the background with nothing interesting to listen to since they're repeating the same songs that they usually play earlier in the day.

Maybe it's better to run syndicated shows like Tom Leykis, Bob and Tom, or whoever after 7pm on the cheap than to pay someone more money to host a time period that doesn't interest the vast majority of the population.

Overnights are mostly voice-tracked or jock-less, with a local deejays few and far between. Most people are asleep then or watching Conan joking about a self-gratifying bear on TV, and don't care about radio during that time.