The Wires (Nov 7, 2009)

TV Tech: A Digital On-Channel DTV Repeater (DOCR) Service. Note to KFMB, KGTV, and many other VHF digital stations: you need this!

ZD Net: Seven perfectly legal ways to get Windows 7 cheap (or even free)

ZD Net: IObit Security 360 is a free malware and spyware removal utility that detects and removes the deepest infections to protect your PC from potential spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, bots, worms, and hijackers. With the unique "Dual-Core" engine and the malware detection, IObit Security 360 detects the most complex spyware and malware in a very fast and efficient way. License: Free. OS: Windows.

Chicago Tribune: Oprah leaving? Report says yes, history says maybe (read more - Phil Rosenthal - Chicago Tribune)

Music City Stuff (Nov 7, 2009)

On TV Friday (11/6): Ralph Stanley, Late Show With David Letterman (CBS); Reba, Rachael Ray (syndicated) and Dateline, (ABC).

On TV Saturday (11/7): Taylor Swift, Saturday Night Live (NBC).

On TV Sunday (11/8): Kellie Pickler, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC).

On TV Monday (11/9): Taylor Swift, Dateline (re-air) (CMT).

Upcoming Albums

Big Kenny The Quiet Times Of A Rock And Roll Farm Boy (11/10)
Dolly Parton Dolly: Live From London (11/10)
Jimmy Wayne Sara Smile (11/23)
Lady Antebellum Need You Now (1/26)

Power Boost For HD Radio Coming (Nov 6, 2009)

iBiquity and NPR have reached an agreement for a managed HD power increase. It would give all HD FMs a four-fold power hike, but some stations could get an even bigger bump.

Read more about it here

The Wires (Nov 6, 2009)

TV Tech: New High-Speed Broadband Service Planned

Gary Lycan: New KABC, KFWB lineups bring quick ratings boost: On the radio: KIIS and K-Earth are top-rated stations.

Hear 2.0: With the Internet, you can have news websites that have zero corporate advertising, which means they are ACCOUNTABLE to the subscribers who donate to the site. This is why the newspapers can't simply transfer their business model onto the web and hope to survive. It's not about technology. It's all about accountability.

Inside Music Media: The radio industry is getting shellacked by the recession but worse than that, it is being compromised by its inability to hold rates. These "dollar hollers" and cheap ad packages being thrown together by radio groups and stations desperate to make their numbers are prostituting the industry's overall clout.

Mel Phillips: Congress seems to have narrowed down the Performance Royalty battle to two groups - musicFIRST and the National Association of Broadcasters and that's just wrong - all sides must be heard. To that end, Reps. Mike Conaway (R-TX) and Gene Green (D-TX) have written to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), asking to participate in a November 17th discussion of the PRA. Conaway and Green sponsor the Local Radio Freedom Act which opposes the act

Ross on Radio: Losing A Pulse, Gaining A Party (Nov 4, 2009)

Here's his commentary on Party 87.7, and why hip hop may be dead.

"When JVC Broadcasting's WPTY (Party 105) Long Island, N.Y., made its official entrance into the New York market Monday morning, taking over the WNYZ-LP frequency formerly occupied by "Pulse 87.7," and rebranding itself "Party Radio," it did so with guest phoners from Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga. But PD/co-owner Vic Latino's morning show also became a gathering place for the dance music community with guests including record-promoter-turned-Dance-artist Lucas Prata and the New York Dance Music Coalition's Tony Santiago, also a frequent poster on this topic on the Radio-Info.com message boards.

"In the years when Hip-Hop, not Dance, was the defining flavor in pop music, "just wait until New York has a station like Party" was the rallying cry for Dance supporters in the music industry. Now, Dance has once again insinuated itself into the pop mainstream, to the point where even the New Yorker magazine has declared Hip-Hop dead in its favor. In a world of Lady Gaga, Pitbull, and the Black Eyed Peas, and three years of 130-or-higher-BPM hits by artists as diverse as Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Chris Brown and Cobra Starship, the resurgence is undeniable. At that same time, that mainstream acceptance didn't translate to stations like Pulse 87.7, or the recently departed KNGY (Energy 92.7) San Francisco, despite the presence of savvy programming talent.

"The question now for both dance fans and Party 105 is staking out a position. New York's WKTU helped fuel the industry's cult-of-Party in the mid-`00s by becoming more library-driven. It's still not as aggressive as Party, but it's considerably more current these days. And in a world where Top 40 is Rhythmic Pop and highly danceable, the competition isn't just WKTU, but also Mainstream Top 40 WXRK (92.3 Now) and even WHTZ (Z100). Pulse 87.7, with its determination not to be too hip for the room, could play long stretches of music that was available elsewhere in the market (albeit remixed). And Party, despite its willingness to break indie-label pure dance music, has always had a Hip-Hop component as well.

"In the late `70s, Disco took hold at a time when Rock radio was upstaging an increasingly mellow mainstream pop music. In the late `80s, it rebounded as the excitement of Top 40's 1983-84 resurgence was giving way to a surplus of Steve Winwood and Peter Cetera-driven AC music. Now, Mainstream Top 40 is cheerfully riding the disco stick (just by following the available hits) and the underground electroclash music of the early `00s has been pretty extensively harvested by the pop mainstream over the last decade.

"It would be nice to see those who have been carrying the torch for Dance music over the last decade - stations like Party, labels like Robbins and Ultra, and the fans who keep the message boards busy - enjoy the rewards of those labors, rather than seeing them commoditized by a mainstream that then moves on to something else. For that to happen, even in New York, Dance needs so much viable product that Top 40 can't get to it all (it had that in 1978-79) and to keep moving in new directions.

"Meanwhile, according to Nielsen BDS, Lady Gaga has become the first artist in the monitored airplay era to reach No. 1 with four singles from a debut album. At this writing, Gaga is competing not only with herself (the No. 1 "Paparazzi" and the fast-breaking "Bad Romance"), but with Cascada's "Evacuate The Dancefloor" and the "even badder than Gaga" Ke$ha's "Tik Tok." And all four songs look like real hits. That's a significant change from just a few years ago when Top 40 PDs had a slot or two for any dance record.

"Clearly when Dance music is involved, there will be no shortage of readers today willing to comment."

Sean Ross is Executive Editor of Music and Programming for Radio-Info.com. He is also a consultant to the radio and music industries, and VP of music and programming for Edison Research. He can be reached at 973.763.1306.

Didja Hear? (Nov 4, 2009)

XX Sports 1090 is airing most of the NFL games from the Westwood One radio networks. Westwood One's package includes two weekly Sunday afternoon games, the Sunday Night Football game, the Monday Night Football game, the Thanksgiving Day games, late-season Saturday games, all Thursday night games (beginning in 2006), the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, all playoff games, the Super Bowl, and the Pro Bowl. These games are distributed throughout the United States and Canada, but blacked out in the markets of the competing teams. The games don't air on the affilliates opposite home team radio broadcasts unless those Westwood One NFL affilliates are also flagship stations of the home team's telecasts. XX Sports 1090 cannot broadcast the NFL games when the San Diego Chargers are playing and broadcasted on Rock 105.3/XTRA 1360, the flagship station of the Charger telecasts.

ESPN Radio 800/98.9 aired some NFL games from Compass Media Networks, but not this past Sunday. Compass Media Networks was launched in January 2009. It is owned by former Westwood One CEO and former COO of Connoisseur Media, Peter Kosann. The company focuses on radio and offers representation and marketing services for national radio. (source: Wikipedia).

XTRA 1360 airs some NFL games from another NFL syndicator, Sports USA Radio Network.

Lee Hacksaw Hamilton's show starts at 2:50pm weekdays, and not 3pm. XX 1090 doesn't seem to do a midday news report anymore.

United Stations Radio Networks (USRN) airs Spanish language broadcasts of the NFL games, though I am not aware of any local affilliates who do so.

KSPN 710 comes in to El Cajon during the day, but at night, all I get on 710 is a Mexican radio station.

The Wires (Nov 4, 2009)

Tom Taylor radio-info: In Washington, asking to negotiate is a sign of weakness. That's how the NAB interprets a letter from Senator Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) and House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-MI) - that on this one, the two powerful committee chairs aren't in a very powerful position with the performance royalty bill. The NAB was able to marshal support for its non-binding Local Radio Freedom Act from 252 House members (well over the number you'd need to kill the PRA) and 27 Senators. That was the association's goal, to persuade the leadership that they didn't have the votes in the full Senate and House. Note the tone of the new Gordon Smith-led NAB - spokesman Dennis Wharton says "We are of course willing to talk with members of Congress on this issue and any issue that could negatively impact" local radio. I'm not sure that a David Rehr NAB would've worded it quite that way. Former two-term U.S. Senator Gordon Smith is already making his congenial presence felt, and maybe he can start out his CEO-ship with a win on performance royalty. That's only for this year, of course. It's bound to come back next year, with stronger artillery from the labels. The NAB argues that the royalty would cost American radio anywhere from $500 million to multiple billions. The labels say it's a matter of fairness.

The End of the Free San Diego Union-Tribune on the Web? (Nov 3, 2009)

The new e-edition can be found at http://eedition.uniontrib.com/, but the paper is no longer free. It now costs 55 cents a week for 3-day delivery, or 7-day delivery for 99 cents a week.

This may a sign of the times that the days of reading the news for free on the Internet may be coming to an end.

For years, many newspapers have been putting their newspapers on the Internet with the hopes that advertising would help pay for the costs of running the newspaper's operations. Now that the advertising model for the web isn't enough, we'll probably see more newspapers turning their free web versions of their newspapers into pay subscription models.

Newspapers are literally losing readers year by year, and putting their entire papers on the web isn't enough to compete with the other free news websites on the web. The costs of printing and running newspapers are so high that the single daily price is out of range for many folks. 75 cents for a day's worth of news is just too much.

Could the Union-Tribune eventually ditch the paper edition and just go at it on the web as a pay subscription model for their newspaper? Will other newspapers follow soon?

91X Announces Anticipated ôWreX the Hallsö (Nov 3, 2009)

Tickets for the concert cost $39.00 and go on-sale to the public Friday, November 6 at 10:00 A.M. A listener-exclusive Internet pre-sale starts tomorrow at 10:00 A.M. through Thursday, November 5 at 10:00 P.M. Listeners who have signed up for ô91X e-file,ö e-mail blasts, or follow the station via Twitter, Facebook or Myspace will receive the pre-sale code and link to buy.

Editor's note: the preceding was sent in via e-mail.

Please Drop a press release about radio (programming, personalities, deals, etc.) at This Location.

The Wires (Nov 3, 2009)

Tom Taylor of radio-info.com: New YorkÆs ôPulse 87.7ö is dead û now itÆs time to ôPartyö on the same frequency. Last week Vic Latino (Victor Canales) hinted to me that after changing the call letters of Hamptons-area WDRE, Calverton-Roanoke to WPTY, there would be more news from JVC Media. Now weÆve got it, and itÆs big stuff for the passionately-committed dance-music fans around New York City. JVC is taking over the lease for the audio of low power Channel 6 WNYZ-LP from Mega Media, which operated dance-music ôPulse 87.7ö, and it will simulcast ôPartyö WPTY. That puts Party on the FM dial for many Big Apple listeners. It also puts Vic Latino back into the market where he once jocked for Clear ChannelÆs rhythmic WKTU (103.5). ThatÆs not all. It appears that JVCÆs Spanish tropical ôLa Nueva Fiestaö WBON, Westhampton is gaining wider coverage, with a new simulcast on the Plainview, NY translator at 101.5 (W268AN). That translator previously carried ôPulse.ö By the way û Pulse, airing on the audio of Low Power TV station WNYZ-LP, managed a 0.8 share in the September PPMs and an age 6+ cume audience of about a million. But it ran up a reported $500,000 in debt to WNYZ owner Island Broadcasting. As youÆd expect, the New York Board of Radio-Info.com has plenty to say about what happened to cash-challenged Mega and Pulse, and the advent of the new ôParty.ö The new site is http://www.partymusicleader.com/

Dave's Gone By Podcast: DAVE'S GONE BY: Sun 11/1/09 û Theodore Bikel meets Rabbi Sol Solomon. The NEW episode of Dave's Gone By (#319 û Theosophy) is now ready to hear as an internet stream or podcast. This episode features: Rabbi Sol Solomon's chat with legendary actor, singer and activist, Theodore Bikel. Inside Broadway û news about New York theater plus reviews of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Bye Bye Birdie and Avenue Q. Dave Goes Off on the first snowstorm of the Colorado season. Says Rabbi Sol about this weekÆs show, ôNot only was Theodore Bikel Tony nominated for the original Sound of Music, not only was he Oscar nominated for the Defiant Ones, not only did he spend a decade as president of ActorsÆ Equity, but he was a celebrity guest on `Super Password!Æ Is there nothing this man canÆt do?ö

DAVE ANYTIME!!! DaveÆs Gone By episodes are now archived, free, on the web! TheyÆre at www.davesgoneby.org. Over 300 vintage episodes are now on online so you need never miss a Dave again! Among the guests in the archive: Linda Eder, Peter Tork, Neil Sedaka, Christine Lavin, Jill Sobule, Uncle Floyd, Ute Lemper, Joe Franklin, Issa, Wing, Juliana Hatfield, Fyvush Finkel and Tovah Feldshuh!

Inside Music Media: It appears we have the first signs of an uprising by abused radio employees protesting the increasingly pervasive hostile working environments they are being forced to tolerate. In the past I have heard rumblings from workers at Citadel complaining about Chief Bottle Washer Judy Ellis, at Cumulus directed at John (Other Brother) Dickey and Gary Pizzati (The Terminator) and, of course, Clear Channel where lack of a solid example at the top has spawned little dictators terrorizing perfectly good clusters. Now, it is about to get uglier

Music City News (Nov 3, 2009)

On TV Friday (10/30): Brooks & Dunn, Invitation Only (CMT); Kellie Pickler, Ellen (syndicated).

On TV Saturday (10/31): Martina McBride, Live In Concert (re-air) (GAC).

On TV Sunday (11/1): Travis Tritt, Nickel Creek, Soundstage (re-air) (GAC).

On TV Monday (11/2): Jack Ingram, Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (CBS); Carrie Underwood, Late Show With David Letterman (CBS); Reba, Live With Regis And Kelly & Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC); Charlie Daniels, CBS Early Show.

Upcoming Albums

Carrie Underwood Play On (11/3)
Big Kenny The Quiet Times Of A Rock And Roll Farm Boy (11/10)
Dolly Parton Dolly: Live From London (11/10)
Jimmy Wayne Sara Smile (11/23)

World Series (Updated Nov 17, 2009)

Gm 1    Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Yankees
           Wed Oct. 28 7:57 PM FOX (PHI)
Gm 2    Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Yankees
           Thu Oct. 29 7:57 PM FOX (NYY)
Gm 3    New York Yankees @ Philadelphia Phillies
           Sat Oct. 31 7:57 PM FOX (NYY)
Gm 4    New York Yankees @ Philadelphia Phillies
           Sun Nov. 01 8:20 PM FOX (NYY)
Gm 5    New York Yankees @ Philadelphia Phillies
           Mon Nov. 02 7:57 PM FOX (PHI)
Gm 6    Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Yankees
           Wed Nov. 04 7:57 PM FOX (NYY)

New York Gets Party 87.7 (Nov 1, 2009)

Inside Radio has learned that "Following the demise of Mega Media Group's dance-formatted "Pulse" station Friday, Island Broadcasting strikes a deal to lease New York's WNYZ-LP (87.7) to JVC Media which will simulcast Long Island's rhythmic CHR "Party 105" WPTY. The "Party" will begin Monday at 6am."

ESPN on 540 and 800 (Nov 1, 2009)

KGIL simulcasts on AM 540 in Tijuana. When game 3 of the World Series aired on ESPN Radio it aired on 1260 in Los Angeles, but it also aired on 540 in Tijuana.

But ESPN Radio has a San Diego affilliate. It's on 800 (through the end of last night) and 98.9 FM.

Wonder how MEC Networks, operator of AM 800 and FM 98.9, felt about KGIL rebeaming the ESPN World Series broadcast into its Tijuana station where there already is an ESPN affilliate from Tijuana.