RAIN: 2009 is Internet Radio's Year (Jan 22, 2009)

94/9 Goes Portable (Jan 22, 2009)

FM 94/9 is the first radio station in San Diego that has a full station stream on your iPhone. You can literally listen to FM 94/9 on your iPhone wherever you have internet connection.

To download the FREE app, simply search "FM 94/9" in your App Store on your iPhone. Download it and plug in your headphones.

The Wires (Jan 22, 2009)

L.A. Times: Judge Uses Barry Manilow as Punishment.

Inside Radio: Laura Ingraham rallies. Several stations appear to believe pundits who think conservative talk radio is poised to be re-energized by a Democratic administration. That's good news for hosts like Laura Ingraham, who's added 20 affiliates in recent weeks including in Dallas, Boston and Seattle. Talk Radio Networks is also putting Ingraham up against Rush Limbaugh with a new daily re-feed.

Seattle PI: On Radio: Stations face turbulent year - There were three separate news items about radio this week, each important to the local market, each intertwined with the other two and each illustrating what a turbulent year it already has been and will continue to be.

Motley Fool: For those about to rock - As you can imagine, life is pretty sweet in 2012. The way we listen to radio has changed -- and I'll get to that shortly -- but you probably have two very important questions on your mind that need to be addressed first. * Did Sirius XM file for bankruptcy protection in 2009? Is it still alive and relevant in 2012?

Didja Hear? (Jan 21, 2009)

Rick Dees Back With a New Parody (Jan 21, 2009)

Yes, he's THAT Rick Dees who once had a #1 hit single in 1976 "Disco Duck."

100.3 Goes Vinyl Retro (Jan 21, 2009)

Apologies to Star Trek for that pun.

Bonneville's "The Sound" KSWD (100.3) will give the Selector system a day off Wednesday (Jan 21) when it goes all-vinyl for 24 hours.

The "Album Sides Wednesday" won't be streamed online. Back then, there was no such thing as Internet streaming - and Bonneville says "in keeping with the spirit of radio", they won't stream Album Sides Wednesday, either. They experimented with the all-vinyl bit last November with U2's "Joshua Tree", Springsteen's "Born to Run" and Bob Marley's "Exodus." Now they plan to repeat the "Wednesday" bit every other month.

The Wires (Jan 21, 2009)

From many sources: "Clear Channel cut 1,850 jobs - or 9 percent of its workforce at its corporate, radio and outdoor units, according to a memo to employees today from Chief Executive Officer Mark Mays"

http://www.radiodailynews.com/ has many more links to other Clear Channel employee layoffs in other cities with various links to other sources

San Diego Business Journal: Excerpt: "Roughly 40 workers, including on-air personalities and salespeople, lost their jobs at local Clear Channel radio stations in sweeping staff cuts made Jan. 20 by the nation’s largest radio broadcaster."

Inside Music Media: Today is Invasion of the Body Snatchers day at Clear Channel stations across the country. Just as in the 1978 remake of the science fiction movie, Clear Channel employees across the nation are screaming, "They're here already! You're next!" As of late yesterday, Clear Channel employees were telling me of the staff meetings that were being scheduled for today -- during the distraction to the news cycle of a presidential inauguration. The meetings are probably for those who survived the cuts - the cuts could come earlier in the day and they could use the staff meeting to announce the changes for the surviving employees

All Access reports that another radio station goes silent. PAMAL BROADCASTING has taken Religion WIZR-A/JOHNSTOWN, NY silent. The company filed notification of the move with the FCC on JANUARY 7, giving the reason for going silent as "Financing" and saying, "The station was removed from the air in a time of economic turmoil for the industry in order to converse financial resources for the operation of the licensees' other stations in the market cluster that have larger audiences. The licensee fully intends to restore service as soon as financially feasible."

The Cat 103.1 (Jan 20, 2009)

Entravision, owner of the two stations on 103.1, already debuted its Mexican "Cat" format on its El Paso station KYSE 94.7. It replaced the indie rock Indie 103.1 simulcast. The SoCal siblings of KDLD, Santa Monica and KDLE, Newport Beach are now “El Gato”, running Entravision’s latest networked twist on regional Mexican.

Their new website will be at http://www.elgato1031.com/

The Wires (Jan 20, 2009)

ZD Net: Safe and productive browsing in a dangerous Web world. This paper highlights six top tricks used by hackers and describes the three pillars of protection you need to safeguard your systems and resources from Web-based attacks. (Sophos)

Tom Taylor of radio-info.com: The Clear Channel cuts make the newspapers. Clear Channel Cut About the Clear Channel budget-whacking, T-R-I hates to be right. Friday’s New York Post story (“$400 million in costs” coming out across radio, outdoor, etc.) and the weekend Wall Street Journal story (“CC to cut work force by 7%”) are right along the outlines of what T-R-I has been (unhappily) reporting by specific day since January 12. We’ve been reporting the anxious times about headcount well before the CC managers meeting, two weeks ago in Dallas. But I have to say that a 7% cut, or about 1,500 jobs across all the 22,000-person worldwide Clear Channel universe, is less drastic than the “1 out of 3, or 4 or 5” scare-rumors that were whispered in late 2008. That’s something to be grateful for, I guess. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Clear Channel is mostly catching up with the expense-cutting by other radio operators. That may be true if you look at just the past 2-3 months. But CC endured a load of cuts before that and many PDs (for example) are overseeing more properties and brands than they thought possible a few years ago – and wishing they had an extra pair of arms and a second brain.

Tom also reports that “Chunks of local programming” will be gone…, and the sales department may bear the brunt of the Inauguration Day layoffs.

John Gorman: Today, Clear Channel has 30,000 global employees. After Tuesday? A whole lot less. In advance of the massacre, Clear Channel filled some open programming positions by doubling-up existing program directors’ duties and its Katz Media Group, now the sole national radio rep in the U.S., thinned their herd by 122. Though they never denied budget cuts, Bain and Lee claim the moribund economy forced them to expedite the kill

Mark Ramsey: I haven't written much about HD radio lately because, like the vast majority of America, I'm not particularly interested in it. After all, radio's challenges and opportunities run deep and long, and HD is neither challenge nor opportunity. It's worth noting, however, that in our zeal to establish this new medium as one that matters, we have forgotten the lessons of our own industry's history (read more - Mark Ramsey - Hear 2.0)

Top 5 Headlines for the Week (Jan 12-18, 2009)

4. Cardinals Beat The Eagles for the NFC Title.

3. Indie 103.1 Moves To the Internet. Get Ready For El Gato Radio!

2. No Number 2. My Western Digital My Book died.

1. Circuit City Goes Out of Business. Guess Where I Won't Be Buying a Replacement External Hard Drive From!