The Wires (May 2, 2009)

TV Tech: Will Video Streaming Cause Internet 'Brownouts?' This week's news raises the possible that the Internet may not be as reliable tomorrow as it is today

RW Online: Supreme Court Upholds FCC 'Fleeting Expletives' Rule NAB is 'disappointed the court majority seemingly failed to understand the need for clear and consistent regulatory policies'

TV Tech: New Consumer Antenna Targets DTV Signals Antennas Direct is touting the ClearStream Convertible as a replacement for “rabbit-ear” antennas.

TV Tech: Internet-Enabled TV Gains Popularity The study revealed that many are likely to buy an Internet-connected set.

Inside Radio: Rush Limbaugh on Time's "influential" list. Author Joel Stein puts Limbaugh at #38. Rush is the only radio host to make the magazine’s list of people Time says most impact the world.

Facebook: I Got Fired From Clear Channel...join the group here.

KGMB 9: Let me tell you something about radio, which will help explain why Clear Channel Communications, the nation’s largest owner of radio stations, might have to file for bankruptcy before the year is over. Radio stations can be a license to print money. The physical plant is small, you don’t need a lot of employees, and for many of the jobs at a radio station you can hire aspiring young talent and pay them peanuts. This more than offsets the electric bill and other technical expenses. It is, however, possible to lose money on a radio station

Ars Technica: If you're one of those people who believes that US commercial radio sucks, a new study from the Future of Music Coalition provides some empirical support as to just how it sucks. Despite vowing to change its ways, big radio programmers are amazingly conservative; much of the music they play comes from major labels, and it tends to be older (and well-known) material. Not even government consent decrees have been able to change that

ZD Net: Microsoft made the first release candidate of Windows 7 available for free download on Thursday and the general public can download it on May 5. In an unprecedented move for the company, the software will run on a user's PC for more than a year

Inside Music Media: 7 Trends Radio Missed: So many talented people in many radio companies have been let go or compromised (more work than they can handle) - the missed opportunities that would have fit nicely into a new age business plan where radio could harvest its huge free cash flow ability to invest in the digital future. All that free cash flow never went to pay dividends for shareholders because it was busy trying to pay down what I call irresponsible debt that consolidators ran up when they purchased their stations at highly inflated prices. But, look with me at just a few of the trends radio missed that could have made all the difference in the world

FMQB: FMC: Radio Hasn't Changed After Consent Decree. The Future Of Music Coalition says little has changed on the airwaves after the payola allegations of 2007.

JOIN the 91X MORNING SHOW... (May 1, 2009)

555 Broadway (between H St & I St) Chula Vista, CA 91910

Not only are they doing Beer for Breakfst live from BJ, they will be giving away Stay Classy Elemental Experience tickets and Advance Screening Tickets fo X-Men Origins: Walverine.

So come out , it's going to be one hell of a breakfast!

-91X

The Wires (May 1, 2009)

NY Times: Clear Channel's revenues are plunging and so is its cash flow, making it harder to meet the payments on the billions in debt accumulated in the process of buying out its public investors. If it violates some of its loan agreements, those interest payments rise sharply

Inside Music Media: I have long suspected that this week's latest round of "layoffs" formerly known as firings would not end with the 590 victims Clear Channel claimed. Now, I'm sure of it.

All Access: He's not on the air at the moment, but former CBS RADIO Talk KLSX/LOS ANGELES and syndicated host TOM LEYKIS will be holding his annual CINCO DE MAYO event anyway. The appearance is scheduled for TUESDAY 5-7p PT at the J RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE in downtown LOS ANGELES, and LEYKIS is tapping his FACEBOOK and MYSPACE friends lists and e-mail list to invite fans to the party, which will include Mariachi music and the LEYKETTES.

The Wires (Apr 29, 2009)

Ruling upholds FCC power. Today's 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court upholding the FCC's authority to fine stations for a so-called fleeting expletive is bringing praise from indecency activists. The Parents Television Council calls it an "incredible victory for families." The NAB says its "disappointed" and says voluntary self-regulation is better.

Clear Channel layoffs hit operations. In a new round of staff cuts the company dismisses 590 employees. While a January reduction focused on sales, today's downsizing hits mostly off-air operations. Air talent is also being dismissed as local PDs pick up shows from the new "Premium Choice" line-up.

Country KUSS/San Diego PD/morning man Mike O'Brian was released, along with morning co-host Linda Welby and producer Nikki French. O'Brian can be reached via e-mail at sandiegomikeobrian@gmail.com; Welby is: lmwelby@cox.net.

Clear Channel cuts 401(k) match. Pointing to a "highly challenging" environment, Clear Channel follows the lead of other companies and suspends employee 401(k) match for the remainder of the year. In a memo to staff, the company says it if reaches 90% of its budget goal this year it will retroactively restore the match.

WSJ: A 5-4 Supreme Court upheld the Bush administration's rule penalizing broadcasters for the isolated utterance of a four-letter word before 10 p.m.

John Gorman: The labels and radio concocted legal payola with the sole purpose of controlling new music radio playlists, which, they believed would convert to sales. It didn’t because the music they were paid to play was not what their listeners expected to hear. Consumers stopped buying CDs at retail, and peer-to-peer file sharing, which the labels ignored because they insisted on inventing their own failed technology, became the new ground zero hearing and procuring new music (

Mumblings (Apr 28, 2009)

Is Top 40 really popular once again? Is it popular with people who get their music fix from alternative means?

Why doesn't corporate playlists go away? Because people who don't listen to music from alternative means can't stop listening to it.

Frank Zappa (from the grave): Why Radio & Music Industry Sucks Nowadays)

The Wires (Apr 28, 2009)

Charlotte Observer: One of the voices of old-time Charlotte radio has gone silent. Calvin Walker, 62, who worked at 10 local stations and outlived most of them, was found dead in his home Monday - During his heyday in the 1970s, he was a pioneer of the new FM sound of album rock - After leaving WXRC in 2005, Walker posted a note to friends on a radio-insiders Web site. “I finally quit the radio business after watching it change from a fun, creative and popular industry to be in, to an automated, and humiliating place to hang my hat - I have vowed to never again enter a radio station - Thanks to Clear Channel, Infinity, and all you other idiots big and small who have ruined the radio business”

Blog Talk Radio: Have you ever wanted to have your own radio talk show? Thanks to the internet and a website called blog talk radio you can. Just log onto the site, open a free account and pick a time and date for your show and you're ready to go (read more - KHQ TV)

Inside Music Media: On one hand, it's Ryan Seacrest and company with shows that are being developed not for one local market but as "hamburger helper" for many stations in the chain to reduce operating costs. How Hogan will get away with championing localism when he represents the biggest threat to it is beyond me. Thousands of Clear Channel people -- loyal, competent and fully capable of doing local radio -- have been fired. What was their failing? I guess you've heard that Hogan did a webinar last week for Clear Channel managers on localism