The Wires (Apr 18, 2009)

Inside Radio: iPods distract, but don't destroy. The fear that iPods and iPhones would have Americans abandoning radio is turning out to be unfounded. While 14% of respondents to the Arbitron-Edison Research study say they're listening to less radio because of their MP3 player -- nearly a quarter report it's had no impact.

Tom Taylor of radio-info.com: Teens turning off? Listening to iPod Online radio listening is expanding fast - and for 12-24s, it's taking them away from broadcast radio. That's the most worrisome bullet point in the Arbitron-Edison Media Research "Infinite Dial" update - "32% of teens and persons 18-24 say they are spending less time with over-the-air radio specifically due to time spent with iPods and other portable MP3 players." The trend has been there before. But check how quickly the gap is opening up - Edison's Tom Webster says that 32% figure is about twice what it was in 2008. In the broader population, 14% of those 12+ say they're spending less time with over-the-air radio due to iPod/MP3 usage. (Again, versus 32% of 12-24s.) Some of the characteristics of online radio listeners won't surprise you - they tend to be "upscale, well-educated and employed full time." They're increasing their intake of online video - that percentage is up 50% from last year (18% to 27%). In the general population, "iPod/MP3 player ownership continues to grow dramatically." While the broadstroke figure of online radio listening has jumped from 13% last year to 17% just one year later. That translates to 42 million Americans. The latest Infinite Dial update is on the Arbitron site here and the Edison site here.

SOSD Jay Posner: NFL Guru John Madden Turns Off The Mike

NC Times John Maffei: Cruising into the sunset: Strain of cross-country travel finally too much for broadcasting icon Madden

NC Times Randy Dotinga: Arbitron has been using the (PPM) meters to determine the ratings in about a dozen other U.S. cities. So far, the numbers have been good for some types of stations (all-music, all-talk, oldies) and bad for others (soft jazz, liberal talk, stations that have been around forever). "Some radio stations have done significantly better, some have done worse," said Garett Michaels, program director at FM 94/9, who hopes the new ratings system gives his rock station a boost. But in general, he said, the main effect has been to "level the playing field".

Inside Music Media: Yesterday when I got the news that WARM-AM, Scranton, PA was calling it quits it got me to thinking. There have been hundreds of licenses returned to the FCC this year for numerous reasons including the economy but also because it's hard to be in the radio business these days. Citadel owns WARM and they had a situation where they apparently had transmitter repairs that the company could not afford. What a great excuse to fire everyone and get the lights on the way out. There was a time - not long ago - when the owners of a station that had a catastrophic event such as transmitter problems found a way to stay on-air and rebuild as fast as humanly possible. Citadel went off the air.

You Tube: Billy Ray Didn't Find Jamie Foxx's Comments So Funny.

The Wires (April 17, 2009)

Inside Radio: Blame radio for the recession. The majority of Americans (55%) say radio and TV have at least some responsibility for the current economic crisis. A Harris poll finds two-thirds believe advertising caused people to buy things they couldn't afford - and that helped bring on the current downturn.

Gerson Lehman Group: Radio has yet to adopt a formidable digital strategy, although it is trying. Getting radio receiving chips on mobile phones has been an important start. Stations are working on things like redefining their web sites, developing a text messaging strategy for advertising and marketing, and trying to promote HD radio. Still advertising has declined with the three big categories of automotive, retail, and financial services in the doldrums - Owners need to hire managers who are willing to blow their stations up and start over, beginning with serving their local audiences and the advertisers that drive the business. It is the only real way to begin to add value back to the industry

ZDNet AU: Is digital radio too little too late? Is the real future for radio moving online? Could we soon be driving around listening to internet radio in our cars? Does the internet provide greater opportunity for choice and listener involvement? And what can we learn from the UK experience, where digital radio has been around for a while?

Radio Ink:. 'Infinite Dial' Study Shows Online Audience Growing Fast. Arbitron and Edison Research's newest "Infinite Dial" study shows that the weekly online radio audience now amounts to 17 percent of the U.S. population, up from 13 percent in 2008. One in five respondents says broadcast radio has a "big impact" on their lives, behind only Apple's beloved iPhone and mobile phones in general.

John Madden Retires (April 16, 2009)

Madden, 73, worked for the past three seasons on NBC's Sunday night NFL game. His last telecast was the Super Bowl between Arizona and Pittsburgh in February.

Madden was a coach until 1979 when he began working as an NFL analyst for CBS, then Fox in 1994 when Fox got the NFL contract for the NFC games, then on ABC for Monday Night Football in 2002, then for NBC's Sunday Night Football in 2006. He worked as an analyist for all four broadcast networks that carried NFL games.

Madden coached the Raiders from 1969 until 1979. When he went to CBS and Fox as analyst, he worked alongside announcer Pat Summerall.

His "Madden NFL Football" is the top-selling sports video game of all time.

Madden uses a specially-equipped bus when he travels across the country from city to city to be at the next site of his assignment.

Cris Collinsworth has been named to replace John Madden for the Sunday Night Football telecasts. Al Michaels remains the announcer.

His idiosyncratic delivery has been a staple for comedians and impressionists, notably Frank Caliendo, a frequent guest on The Tom Leykis Show, currently on hiatus.

The Wires (Apr 16, 2009)

Radio-info.com: Rick Dees' last song yesterday on L.A.'s "Movin' 93.9" - his own "Disco Duck." No doubt he was smiling all the while, breaking format on his last shift on the Emmis-owned KMVN. But the L.A. board of Radio-Info.com is convinced Rick wasn't even physically there. Emmis sidelined the recent "Mix that made you move" format to get some immediate dollars in the door with an LMA to Mexico's Grupo Radio Centro. The whole Movin' staff - Patti Lopez, Mark Wong, Jera Bonilla, Clarence Barnes, Nena - was off as of midnight. But "Disco Duck"? Dees created the parody of disco tunes in 1977, and he took a lot of ribbing over it. But the duck gets the last laugh - Emmis will be paying out Rick's three-year contract for months to come.

KMVN (MOViN 93.9)/Los Angeles officially flips to its new format of Spanish AC "Exitos," under Grupo Radio Centro's new LMA agreement.

The Wires (April 15, 2009)

All Access: Movin' On Out ... At Midnight. EMMIS Rhythmic AC KMVN (MOVIN'93.9)/LOS ANGELES is bidding adieu to its listeners in a classy way on its website. The station flips to a Spanish-language format at midnight tonight under a LMA EMMIS signed with SBS.

The Wires (April 14, 2009)

Houston Biz Journal: Twitter was hit with a series of computer virus attacks that placed unwanted messages on uers' sites over the weekend (read more - Houston Biz Journal).

L.A. Times: Rick Dees is launching a Top 40s website today and Miley Cyrus is top of the charts (as well as starring in the new movie version of her successful TV series, "Hannah Montana.") "She's a billion-dollar industry on two legs," Dees said. "I'm just reflecting what people want." That's what Dees does for a living, whatever the media - Times have changed, and Dees has changed with them. The era of big radio personalities has given way to podcasts, and while technology has improved and expanded, familiar voices have died out (read more - Alicia Lozano - LA Times)

Glenn Beck: kicks off his "The Common Sense Tour," live one man comedy show, June 1 in Denver before traveling to Phoenix, San Diego, Kansas City, Houston and Richmond in just six days providing a brand new no-holds-barred comedic look at the state of our culture and the terrifying shortage of common sense - especially in Washington - His mission: to make listeners "feel goodness from my show and accept me for who I am, flaws and all"

Harve Alan: Is the writing on the wall? Will towers and transmitters, those that transmit traditional AM and FM radio, eventually fade away like a spring-loaded Victrola? I think so. Despite the fact that simply turning on a traditional radio and selecting a station is ridiculously simple, easy, and works very well the mobile streaming train has left the station and accelerating to bullet train speeds.

The Wires (Apr 11, 2009)

TV Tech: National Broadband Plan Includes Wireless, TV 'White Space'. The FCC this week announced it had begun the process of developing a national broadband plan to ensure every American has access to broadband capability

TV Tech: Nearly 4 Million Still Unprepared for DTV Transition. The total percentage of households unprepared for the DTV transition has been cut in half since December's estimate of 6.8 percent.

Kurt Hanson: A new study from American Media Services found that 27% of all Americans have, at some point, listened to Internet-only webcasts. Of the respondents who haven't listened to Internet radio, 48% said they would if they could while driving . 74% of Internet radio listeners said they'd listen more if they had in-car access to webcasts.

ZD Net: Internet infrastructure operates on a wire and a prayer. Larry Dignan: Yesterday's fiber-optic outage -- sabotage, actually -- reveals a dirty little secret: Our fancy infrastructure is ridiculously vulnerable and it only takes a few vandals (or terrorists) to bring communication to its knees. How will we protect those big wires?

ZD Net: Conficker botnet stirs, with a scareware business model. Ryan Naraine: One week after a heavily-hyped April 1 activation date, the Conficker botnet stirs to life, using its peer-to-peer communication system to update itself and download scareware (fake anti-virus programs) to millions of infected Windows machines.

Inside Radio: Listening holds steady. More than half (55%) of those surveyed by American Media Services listen to about the same amount of radio than in the past. Nearly one in five (18%) have increased their listening. When commercials come on -- a majority (56%) say they keep listening to the station.

Tom Taylor of radio-info.com: Get your baseball play-by-play on iPhone - every game. For $9.99. MLB.com's "At Bat" application for the iPhone even lets you choose the set of announcers you prefer (home or visiting team). At Bat has video clips and all the other feature-rich stuff you'd expect. The new service began earlier this week (rather quietly), and there's a free version that at least gives you real-time scores. Does this compete with over-the-air radio's long-precious local franchise? Does it potentially devalue its contracts? Does it suggest that radio better find excellent ways to compete online and stay viable? "Yes" to all those questions. Though the iPhone, with short battery life and other limitations, is still not the ultimate mobile device. That's coming.

Many sources: L.A.'s "Movin'" will give way to "Exitos 93.9" - Spanish pop.

SD City Beat: What's in a pronoun? Transgender gets judged by the San Diego Reader and KUSI.

Gary Lycan: Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton and Rick Dees are names well known to Southern California radio audiences. Both men start new career moves Monday (April 13), and both will probably be successful because they have learned over the years how to reinvent themselves and take advantage of the ever-changing media technologies.