The Wires (Dec 27, 2008)

Jay Posner: KFMB Channel 8 can't be happy but the rest of us should be thrilled that the NFL gave Chargers-Broncos to NBC. If the game stayed at 1:15 p.m., the NFL's moronic TV policies would have restricted San Diego to just that game at that time. But now we get Dolphins-Jets on CBS and Cowboys-Eagles on Fox. That follows a morning doubleheader with Patriots-Bills on CBS and Giants-Vikings on Fox.

If you want something other than bowl games on Jan. 1, MLB Network launches at 3 p.m. that day with a re-air of Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Also, NBC presents its second “NHL Winter Classic,” with Chicago and Detroit playing at 10 a.m. at Wrigley Field. Let it snow.

Bill Werndl and Joe Tutino are gone for good at XX Sports Radio – really. A new lineup will debut Jan. 5.

John Maffei: The Lakers signed a five-year deal with L.A.'s ESPN (710) and will switch radio stations next season, leaving long-time partner KLAC (570). Spero Dedes and Mychal Thompson will continue to call the games.

No Buffalo at Denver in San Diego? (Dec 26, 2008)

At stake was the hopes that Buffalo would beat Denver (which they did) so that the San Diego Chargers' hopes of winning the AFC West division would still be alive, and this Sunday night's game (at 5:15pm on NBC) would decide who wins the division (Broncos at Chargers).

The problem? CBS 8 couldn't carry the game.

Reason? Ironicaly, CBS 8 was contractually obligated to carry the Chargers at Buccaneers game at 10am, and it was Fox's turn to have a doubleheader for the week, so CBS 8 couldn't carry the later game at all. It was out of luck.

If there was the second most interesting game of last week, it was the Buffalo at Denver game in which all Charger fans were rooting for the Bills to beat the Broncos so that the latter would be prevented from clinching the AFC West title.

I tried to find the game on the radio on some of the stations on 570, 1090, and 1360, but none of the Westwood One or Sports USA NFL game broadcast affilliates were carrying that game at all.

I had to rely on flipping from one station to another to get a late update on the game as time went.

The only way to watch the game was if you erected a satellite dish to get the NFL pay package on a certain satellite TV provider that I won't name here. You could have listened to the play by play on Sirius satellite.

I'm not sure how well the games on Fox and the radio stations did, but those games didn't have a direct interest to San Diego. None of the other games were bad, but the NFL needs to consider coming up with a way to show the game on another station in town that wants to air it since the Fox affilliate isn't going to just put a NFL game with CBS's name on its broadcast signal.

KGTV 10 that Sunday was showing nothing but informercials. What a waste of broadcast time. Surely the NFL could have gotten KGTV interested in airing an NFL game like Bills at Broncos that day. KGTV's time would have been better spent running a Hannah Montana marathon instead of informercials.

CBS 8 was commited to running another sports special at 2pm.

The Wires (Dec 26, 2008)

Motley Fool: Between its present liquidity and its authorization to have as many as 8 billion shares outstanding, Sirius XM has enough ammo to get through February. Now it needs to clear the May and December hurdles.

Randy Dotinga: The financial crisis of the past few months has hit hard at nonprofit charities, including public radio. Earlier this month, National Public Radio laid off 7 percent of its staff and cut two shows, including "Day to Day," heard weekdays on KPBS. Locally, KPBS is trying to save hundreds of thousands of dollars through cutbacks.

Seattle PI: So what do you do, if you're a radio station, with that week between Christmas and New Year's Day? "The Little Drummer Boy" gets put away for another year. Most of the regular hosts are taking time off. So are many of the regular listeners. Here's a time-honored tradition that many stations are rolling out: the end-of-the-year musical countdown.

The Wires (Dec 25, 2008)

Sirius XM's tough New Year’s resolution. Nearly $1 billion of Sirius XM Radio’s $3.3 billion total debt comes due next year. Moody’s analysts say the timing couldn’t be worse. They say the current credit crunch and the company’s “poor liquidity situation” means CEO Mel Karmazin will likely be unable to repay or refinance with cutting a deal.

St. Louis Examiner: "The O'Reilly Radio Factor" will cease broadcasting on Friday, February 27 and Fred Thompson's two-hour show will pick right up on Monday, March 2 (read more - Paula Cee - St Louis Examiner)

Ad Age: Consumers mostly are spending their windfall from falling gas prices --but on groceries rather than gifts (read more - Jack Neff - Ad Age)

The Wires (Dec 24, 2008)

TV Tech: Now Just 6.8 Percent Completely Unprepared. That’s still more than 7 million households.

All-Christmas stations steady. There are 431 stations airing an all-holiday themed format this year, up slightly from last year's 427 tally, tying with the record set in 2006. There are 15 markets with three Christmas stations and six metros have four. Ft Wayne, Tulsa and Wilkes Barre-Scranton all have six stations airing holiday music

Outlook dims for Sirius XM. Moody's Investors Service is cutting its rating for the satellite radio operator saying it faces a difficult prospect with nearly $1 billion of debt coming due next year. The rating agency says Sirius XM may be unable to repay or refinance the debt without negotiating some sort of compromise.

Second down for NFL contract talks. As Inside Radio first reported three weeks ago, the NFL and Westwood One may part ways after a history dating back to 1967 when it aired its first Super Bowl. Now there’s word ESPN Radio is actively going after radio rights and the League is soliciting bids from other radio syndicators. The NFL also opens the door to splitting rights between more than one company.

Tom Taylor of radio-info.com: Westwood’s financial straits may be a problem for the NFL. How badly does Westwood want to keep the NFL? It’s offering $20 million a year, says the Sports Business Journal. (In fact, I hear it may be even more than that, more like $25 million for a global package.) But the league has so far chosen not to jump at that offer (for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons) and Westwood’s now past its exclusive negotiating window and it’s open season. So Westwood’s in competition with ESPN Radio and possibly other parties. T-R-I has speculated for months that the league might explore splitting up the rights between two or more players to wring more money out of radio. Sports Business Journal writer John Ourand says that proposal-letters outlining just such a deal went out last week to Westwood, ESPN, Sporting News Radio, Sports USA Radio and Chicago’s Content Factory. The Journal says ESPN seems most interested in Monday Night Football (to parallel its cable TV package) and post-season. That might leave Thursday, Saturday and Sunday night games (but not Sunday afternoon) for Westwood. Sirius XM has the satellite rights through 2010 and Sprint has the wireless rights, also through 2010. Writer Ourand quotes former CBS radio exec David Pearlman of Pearlman Advisors saying the NFL’s trying to get money from radio at a difficult moment.

The Wires (Dec 23, 2008)

Westwood One confirms the reports: it launches "The Fred Thompson Show" to fill the vacancy left by the departing Bill O'Reilly. Thompson will air a two-hour midday show based in Washington. Westwood One network president Gary Schonfeld calls the actor and former presidential candidate a "perfect fit" for radio.

From Kurt Hanson: Compared to satellite radio's subscription fees and HD's lack of variety, Internet radio is “the best of both worlds,” says an ABC News feature article. Webcasts hold an advantage over other radio services with “a virtually unlimited selection of genres , most of it delivered free of charge.” ABC News also notes that in a tough economy where consumers are "hungry for entertainment without a lot to spend on it, Internet radio can further stretch dollars being spent on broadband." Read more in today's issue of RAIN : Radio And Internet Newsletter, at http://www.kurthanson.com.

According to the RAB, November was the worst single month for radio since they started tracking revenues nearly 20 years ago. Local revenues fell 21% and national declined 24% as advertisers spooked by the stock market and awful economic news cancelled existing buys or turned account reps away empty-handed.

From Taylor on radio-info.com: Howard Stern’s back on terrestrial radio – doing a 90” commercial for Sirius XM. I’ll let the first few sentences of copy just roll here – “Hey. This is Howard Stern. I know you thought you’d never hear me again on regular radio, but I haven’t forgotten about you, and I hope you will join me over here at Sirius XM…” What’s especially provocative about the situation is that at least some CBS Radio-owned stations are taking the buy from their former star. It wasn’t that many years ago when David Field at Entercom and some other group heads vowed not to accept radio spots for Sirius or XM. And of course CBS actually sued Stern after he left. Now Sirius XM is back in the marketplace – using terrestrial radio to pitch Howard Stern and its other wares. Howard says “I’m finally uncensored, nobody bleeps me here” and he brags that “the show has never been better.” Unfortunately, car sales have never been worse – and that’s one reason why Sirius XM needs to promote.

Top 5 Headlines Of The Week (Dec 15-21, 2008)

5. Stacy Taylor Let Go From AM 1700. Future Bleak For Marc Larson and Dennis Miller.

4. No number 4. I just think that Spaff is a complete son of a bitch and a bastard!

3. Detroit Goes 0-15. Can They Go 0-16?

2. Broncos Lose to Buffalo! They Can't Clinch the AFC Wild Card West!

1. Chargers Win. They're Still In The Race!

Side note: NBC will be airing Denver at San Diego in prime time as it FLEXes its muscle to the max for the final Sunday Night Football telecast of the season.

Jimmy Valentine Sez... (Dec 22, 2008)

Snow was melting on the mountains in East County on the way out; Guess getting to Boulevard was not possible on Wednesday. Even the Imperial Valley had a lot of rainfall. Rain is a good thing.

Overnighted at an RV park outside of Tucson. Headed for our next stop in New Mexico and then on Saturday across the flat stretches of west Texas and up into Midland.

Gas prices are a blessing. Just filled up at 1.58 a gallon (regular) in a near vacant place called Vail, Arizona. Set us back about 50 bucks. More recently it would have been a hunnerd. Life is good.

Your America is still beautiful. Most of us live in highly populated areas but most of our country is wide open spaces. Good to be back home.

One way to tell you are back home is the sound of trains rolling thru the night. I miss that sound. Something reassuring and comforting about rail clacking and engine horn howls at the crossings.

Folks is dropping all over the place. First the Mayor of Dehesa Valley gets canned by Roger. Now Stacy Taylor is booted at some station on the AM dial at 1700 (my 88 Caddy won't dial up that far on the radio). Word is that Mark Larson may be head on the block. And then I get word that Bob Bollinger, one of the guys who fired me has gotten axed. (Yea I had to be fired twice….first by Roger and then by Clear Channel….there are special firing procedures for folks who hold high elective office). Bollinger a chief suit at Clear Channel in San Diego.

Roger is safe. He's mostly off the Clear Channel payroll with his national show. There was talk of doing a 6p – 7p local show following his national show but there is no money for that so that appears to be nixed.

As I put the ponder on it Roger's national show ends two decades of local radio for him. I named him the Radio Mayor of Southern California (tho he keeps wanting to give Susan Golding the credit…she put the title on a proclamation (that I wrote for her) honoring Roger before their political falling out….and since then he's decided Susan titled him). And it was so. Local pols mostly came and went but Roger was a constant observer, critic and supporter of citizen action.

San Diego County will miss Roger. He really did hold feet to the fire and provide insight and commentary and energy to matters of great local import. He really was the Radio Mayor. Yea he went off on personal interest tangents but on the hole he was every elected official's worst nightmare. Mostly cause he knew more about their job than they did.

A lot of the battles fought hereabouts might have been lost causes were it not for Roger. We've chronicled those efforts in these pages over the years. Not sure who steps forward then next time we have to stand the line for the Boy Scouts or Our Cross or Traditional Marriage. And we'll miss the continual support for such remarkable local institutions such as Escondido Charter High School and Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary.

Roger's national show won't allow or abide local stuff, unless Jerry Sander shoots Mike Aguirre or some other such thing happens here to make it a mass media story.

What happens to Homefront San Diego is a question mark as well. We kept it a San Diego County based effort because of the tremendous need of our Navy and Marine enlisted families. Roger's support on the local show has been vital to us. Some advisors suggest HFSD has no place on the national show. I've talked with folks at KOGO to gauge their support but I'm mostly in the crap house with them.

Roger is looking for a way to make a fit of HFSD and his national show or at least continue his support on KOGO. Watch this space.

The Dehesa Valley Gazette is coming to a web site near you. Likely sometime in January '09. The page is up and under development. You can click up and see….not much to see yet but we do have a "masthead," and a logo. Masthead courtesy of long time Gazette reader Lou and the logo from our bud Steve.

We used to post the Gazette on Roger's website (part of the reasoning behind my termination…some writings were not in total compliance if you get my drift) but that's obviously a goner. So we need a new avenue so that the insane can read the inane.

There are so many websites around that we're not sure a ton of folks will come over and visit but nothing ventured nothing gained. I'd like to make it interactive so that I don't have to cut and paste your responses to items and I'd like to share links and stuff you send along. We'll have a special Homefront section and a Stragglers section and a Jack Daniels section. I take a lot of digital pix and I'd to share them. And who knows. You got an idea, send it along. Be fun to have readers put the site together.

Check out the basics here: http://www.deshesavalleygazette.com