The Wires (7/11 Day, 2009)

Steve Dahl links with CBS Radio. The Chicago legend will begin hosting a daily one hour podcast in a partnership with CBS Radio. Dahl says he's itching to get back on the air to start giving his comedic take on today's issues. The feature launches in September.

Kurt Hanson: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has rejected webcasters' appeal of the Copyright Royalty Board's 2007 royalty rate determination. Webcasters were unable to prove that the CRB's decision was "arbitrary and capricious," but the Court did find fault with the $500 minimum fee imposed by the CRB.

Gary Lycan: O.C. radio in the '60s: 'Buddy & Fran' show. Next week, we will report on the July 10 KMET salute by "The Sound" 100.3 FM. If you have special memories, e-mail me and we will share them here next week. KLOS/95.5 FM had a fun time with its "Legends of LA Rock Radio" weekend. Great to hear Rita Wilde back on the air, we all agree. Best line goes to Frazer Smith, sitting in for Mark & Brian, who signed off, "See you in 20 years."

Inside Music Media: There are times when I can't tell which radio consolidator will go bankrupt first. Clear Channel or Citadel. Just recently Clear Channel's lenders were talking tough about letting the company go into Chapter 11. If that happened, the creditors would be making only pennies on the dollar. Unfortunately, that may be their best deal. Pennies are better than nothing.

Gorman Media: I'm not in love with it but this shotgun wedding of the RIAA and webcasters makes more sense than the prior proposals. I'd said it right from the beginning. Royalty payments should be based primarily on a percentage of an Internet radio station's earnings. If politics is the art of compromise - and considering the players involved, chances are that this is the best deal that could be done for webcasters.

Fred Jacobs: August marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, coupled with the revival of Hair on Broadway, both of which are fueling this nostalgic trend. Advertisers on the psychedelic bandwagon include Wawa (convenience stores), Macy's, Disney, and Volkswagen (featuring all those original Beetles). CBS Radio has even created a '60s inspired channel, "Hair"

The Wires (July 10, 2009)

TV Tech: ATSC Mobile DTV Standard Advances. Final approval of the standard could come as early as September.

TV Tech: More Choices for Portable DTVs. Consumers looking for handheld portable DTV receivers for use inside or outside the house now have more choices at better prices.

TV Tech: Update on Limited Vizio ClearQAM Channel Choices. I have an update on my previous the article about a cable TV operator trying to make it easy for consumers to receive ClearQAM basic digital channels without a set-top box.

NY Daily News: Internet radio saved by rate deal with government's Copyright Royalty Board - "Pure-play" stations have been worried for several years that the government's Copyright Royalty Board would require them to pay music royalty rates that were literally higher than their income.

Business Week: Internet-based stations pay lower royalties, but they're still the hardest hit when it comes to paying for the right to play songs, PC World says.

Inside Music Media: Radio is unprepared for a news story of the magnitude of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.. The increasingly non-local industry could barely report the death of pop icon Michael Jackson two weeks ago almost as if it was caught off guard and buried in automated programming. Frustrated program directors were stuck in voice tracking or syndication hell – unable to grab the controls and get their local stations back on track. Look what happened. After the first few hours of paralysis, some stations - I emphasize some - tried to do some Michael Jackson special programming. Later in the day of Jackson’s death, other stations reacted - much to their credit.

FMQB: Live365 Says Webcaster Agreement Doesn't Fit All Sizes

George Fullerton Obit (July 9, 2009)

Fullerton died Saturday of congestive heart failure at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, said his son Geoff.

While Fender tinkered away, coming up with improvements in guitar design that led to the creation of his revolutionary Telecaster and Stratocaster electric guitars, Fullerton was charged with making those innovations practical for mass production in their Orange County factory that opened in the late 1940s.

Nearly 1,000 people were working there when Fender sold it to CBS in 1965.

"Leo's domain was the lab: innovation, getting ideas together on the conceptual level. George's domain was the shop," said Richard Smith, curator of the Leo Fender Gallery at the Fullerton Museum Center and author of "Fender: The Sound Heard Round the World." Fullerton "made the machine that threaded the guitar necks. He came up with the neck shaper and all these unique tools they used. If Leo had problems, [Fullerton] needed to solve them."

The Wires (July 9, 2009)

Unfair Air: Roger Hedgecock's "Unfair Air" plans to build a "virtual online army" to combat the FCC and Obama administration, claiming that the goal of the FCC and Obama is to censor conservative talk radio.

USA Today: Online radio stations have stuck a big deal on royalties - The agreement calls for large ad-supported radio services, such as Pandora, to either share 25 percent of revenue with the music industry or pay a per-stream rate of 0.08 cent retroactive to 2006, whichever is greater. That rate will increase until reaching 0.14 cent in 2015.

First In: CBS-TV still has plenty of ground to make up if it wants to be recognized once again as a TV sports leader. Their offerings are still a far cry from their days in the '90's when they topped the TV sports world with MLB, NFL, and NBA coverage on a regular basis before bailing out on all for a while.

Inside Music Media: SoundExchange, negotiating for the record labels, and webcasters struck a compromise announced yesterday that defines more reasonable royalty payments for a longer period of time -- 2006 (retroactively) to 2015. There's no doubt that the compromise is better than the Copyright Royalty Board's initial verdict that would have seen webcasters paying the labels virtually 100% of their revenue or more. Hey, that kind of makes 25% -- one quarter -- look good, right? Not so fast.

Radio Ink: iBiquity Proposes Immediate Power-Up For HD Radio Signals. HD Radio developer iBiquity tells the FCC that it would like to see an "intermediate" power increase to 6 percent of analog power for HD Radio signals right away, while the commission continues to "work toward authorization of a full 10 dB." The current limit of 1 percent of analog power, says iBiquity, is "unnecessarily conservative."

Tech Dirt: Could Web Royalty Deal Lead To Radio Performance Fee? Should Pandora Be Happy With The Deal? These rates, certainly, will likely influence any eventual 'performance right' that's added to terrestrial radio, and could significantly jack up the cost of running a regular radio station as well. Not everyone is happy with the just-announced royalty deal between SOUNDEXCHANGE and "Pureplay" webcasters (NET NEWS, 7/6). In a column on TECHDIRT.COM entitled, "Why Should Webcasters Pay 25% Of Revenue To Promote Musicians?" writer MIKE MASNICK asserted that the deal is too generous to the labels, while at the same time could be used against them in the looming performance rights battles. "Royalty rates that traditional broadcasters do pay (to composers/songwriters/publishers) averages out between 3 and 4% of revenue," he wrote. "So ... a reasonable rate to pay performers ... would start around that same 3 or 4%. Even that would be a pure bonus for performers who are used to getting nothing as a royalty (tax) from radio. But... no. The agreement is an astounding 25% of revenue as a bare minimum, with a requirement to kick-in $25,000 just to be a webcaster at all. "PANDORA claims they're happy about this because it keeps PANDORA in business ... But it's a stunningly large percentage of revenue that will make things prohibitively expensive for most webcasters to really stay in business. You now have to have huge margins to get anywhere in a notoriously competitive business. "Who loses? Well, just about everyone outside of SOUNDEXCHANGE/RIAA. PANDORA is sharply curtailing its free service, and if you listen to more than 40 hours per month, you'll need to start paying. Most webcasters now have a huge expense that will make it difficult for many of them to remain in business. Musicians are severely harmed as well. While a few top musicians might get a new royalty check from SOUNDEXCHANGE, most musicians will now get less exposure, making it that much more difficult for them to put in place the successful modern business models needed to succeed today." Some might say the NAB and traditional radio stations also make out nicely ... but even if the radio stations are happy in the short-run, it's a bad deal. These rates, certainly, will likely influence any eventual 'performance right' that's added to terrestrial radio, and could significantly jack up the cost of running a regular radio station as well." Read the entire story here.

The Wires (July 8, 2009)

JS Online: We like to think we live in the craziest age ever, and the excesses of TV in a story like this reinforce that notion. Hours and hours of needless Jackson coverage are a prime example. Of course, TV news is a business, and CNN, which hasn't been doing well of late, has scored well in the ratings, which keeps the coverage coming. Looking at the golden past, much has been made of the fact that "CBS Evening News" didn't even lead with the news of Elvis Presley's death back in 1977, to prove, somehow, that we were all wiser just three decades ago

Inside Music Media: One cannot help draw comparisons between the death of the King of Pop, the music industry that created him and the radio stations that made him a star. First of all, there would be no MTV videos, no world tours, no enormous record sales without radio stations playing Michael Jackson's music. In fact, without radio there would likely be no Michael Jackson.

Jimmy Valentine: DO YOU HAVE CLOSURE? Don't mean to be disrespectful. And with luck this is our final word on MJ. But were you looking for "closure," following his "untimely" death? Had to hang on to kitchen stool last evening as a fan was interviewed on TV saying that just being in LA gave him that thing. Closure. Huh? Didn't mean to laugh but I think the laughter was a sign that my slim grasp on mental health is still intact. Kudos to ABC Evening News with Charles Gibson. His Monday night show did not originate from LA. The MJ story took second fiddle to the events in Russia. CBS put Katie live in LA and devoted top 11 minutes to MJ. Russia came later, thank you very much. ABC did advertise all day Tuesday MJ coverage but at least they kept their main news show mostly within bounds of integrity. I was good as word. No TV on Tuesday during MJ events at all. Normally I keep the TV on (sound down) while I work in the office or kitchen space. Tuesday, no TV pix or sound. I had closure like, what was it, a month ago. Sorry. I have wondered over the past many, many days however. Where be Jesse Jackson? It just doesn't seem right without him.

Bolinger returns to CBS Radio. CBS Radio hires veteran GM Bob Bolinger to become market manager for its two-station San Diego cluster. Bolinger held the post from 1998 to 2005 when he left to take a similar role at Clear Channel's San Diego cluster. In December Bolinger was bumped when Clear Channel gave Debbie Wagner the job.

Webcasters strike deal. SoundExchange and internet-only radio operators have reached a ten-year royalty agreement that's significantly different than one originally ordered by the Copyright Royalty Board. Webcasters agree to pay 25% of revenues or a per-fee song, whichever is higher. The agreement is retroactive to 2006 and runs through 2015.

Michael Jackson Memorial Service Today (July 7, 2009)

Some related news on that.

http://www.mediacurves.com/: Michael Jackson's death was "over-covered", says a new survey from HCD Research. That's over-covered, compared to the attention the media gave to Farrah Fawcett's death, right around the same time. This is all pre-holiday weekend data, of course, but telling. Last Wednesday, July 1, 63% of those in a nationwide study of 1,850 people said the media's over-doing the Michael Jackson hoopla. But there's this, too - 80% of them said they're engaged in the MJ story when exposed to it. So they're not tuning out, even if they're annoyed or feeling some other emotion. The HCD survey work was conducted on MediaCurves.com.

Newsday: Rep. Peter King Sunday said people clamoring about Michael Jackson's death should just beat it. The Seaford Republican posted a two-minute YouTube video Sunday blasting the late King of Pop as "some pervert" and blaming political correctness in the media for the wall-to-wall coverage of Jackson's death. "Let's knock out the psychobabble," King said in the video, which was posted by his campaign. "He was a pervert, a child molester; he was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country? I just think we're too politically correct."

Veterans Benefits for Dummies Radio (July 7, 2009)

Now Live every Thursday from 9-10 PST. The show premiered on the U.S.S. Midway, the pride of San Diego, on D-Day, June 6th, 2009

Jimmy Valentime (left) and Scott Langhoff (right) are hosting Veterans Benefits For Dummies Radio live every Thursday from 9-10 AM Pacific Time. Can't catch the live show? listen 24/7 via the archives or download the podcasts on iTunes. A show every Veteran needs to listen to.

MyTV13 Now in DTV (July 7, 2009)

Twitterings (July 7, 2009)

@SDRadio...@ElPolloLocoInc here is the problem. Baco Tell and Beef Powder Chicken: owned by same company. Yuk!

@ElPolloLocoInc...Taco Bell's new TV ad shows chicken grilling over an open flame. I've never seen any such grill in any Taco Bell I've visited. Have you?

@mr_dennismiller...Miss California may have had a chance if she'd taken a more constructionist epistemological stance on gay marriage. Or like, such as...

@RogerHedgecock...Obama's revamped Health Care plan would cover 99% of the population ,I thought he promised Health Care for ALL. 1 877 84 ROGER

@marklarsonradio...Getting set for tomorrow's radio show on KCBQ 1170AM in So California..and www.kcbq.com Guests include fmr UN ambassador JOHN BOLTON

@mc_lars...LOL LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE MISCONSTRUING MY POINT FROM THE BLOG. I have love for everyone making music, just keep pushing yourselves.

The Wires (July 7, 2009)

ABC News: "We began the weekend of July 4, 1970, and after 39 years this will be our final countdown," Casey Kasem said matter-of-factly on his "American Top 20" radio show over the weekend. And so, with no hoopla and hardly any advance notice, the 77-year-old broadcasting legend counted down the hits one last time, quietly pulling the plug on a weekly ritual for his legion of loyal listeners.

Claude Hall Online: From Claude Hall -- It's humorous to some extent and also a bit sad. This honoring of past radio stations by some of those that have, so far, survived. KSWD in Los Angeles is paying tribute July 10 to KMET by "recreating" a so-called day in the life of. Some of the old KMET staff will be on hand, doing their "thang" + e-mail from Bob Gowa: "Thought you should know that a documentary is being produced about KPPC, the amazing radio station at the center of Los Angeles counterculture in the 1970s. I was interviewed for the film yesterday by director Cass Paley

NY Post: Clear Channel Is 'Clearly Failing'; Clear Channel Says: 'Not So Fast'. CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS is running out of options after its outdoor unit failed to attract interest in a $3 billion debt offering, setting the stage for the company to break its loan agreements later this year, reports THE NEW YORK POST. "Three weeks ago, the company's outdoor unit began aggressively pre-marketing the $3 billion bond sale, said one market participant whose firm got a flurry of calls about the deal. This person added that after some big-name buyers declined to participate, GOLDMAN SACHS, which was working on the outdoor unit's behalf, stopped making phone calls.

WND: Roger's Column: 'Frankenstein' of All Health Care Reforms. ObamaThe president wants to "fix" health care by mandating health insurance for all, by creating a government insurance company to "keep the private insurers honest" and by imposing tighter price controls on the spiraling cost of current government-run health care programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Washington Times: GM Chrysler Sales Plummet after Bailout. Chrysler There is a groundswell of disdain for the federal bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, even as polls show that a growing "Buy American" sentiment is boosting sales for the only Detroit automaker that avoided bankruptcy and federal rescue - Ford.

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