Tom Taylor of radio-info: In the L.A. CHR wars, it's Carson Daly versus Ryan Seacrest. And you have to wonder - did CBS promise Carson Daly some potential syndication deal beyond Los Angeles, if the new radio thing works out? Ryan Seacrest is doing it, through Premiere. But first things first - Los Angeles. CBS Radio's feisty "Amp 97.1" KAMP-FM had everything it needed in the battle against Clear Channel's KIIS-FM, except a big morning show. Now programmer Kevin Weatherly reaches out to an old friend from their days at modern rock KROQ, and hires Daly to do 6-10am for "Amp." You know Daly's career trajectory since he was doing nights at KROQ - teen idol status hosting MTV's "TRL" (Total Request Live, for those who weren't glued to the screen in the 90s). Then his own NBC-TV late-night show titled "Last Call." Amazingly, he'll keep doing Last Call, which tapes far earlier than its 1:35am airtime. Carson jokes that "now, not only can people fall asleep to my late-night show on NBC, but they can wake up with me on the radio, too." He begins that grind on Monday, January 4. The Los Angeles Board of Radio-Info.com hopped onto the Carson Daly story yesterday.

The "Jacor" name disappears even from the paperwork at Clear Channel. The big company keeps the FCC staff extremely busy with hundreds of station transfer filings, though they're all just Form 316 "reorganization" filings that tidy up the internal ownership structure since Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners took the company private. Yesterday's filings merge "CCB Texas Licenses" into "CC Licenses LLC." The company is also moving the Ackerley Broadcasting Operations stations (mostly Seattle) to Citicasters Licenses. The Jacor stations to Citicasters. The AMFM Texas listeners to AMFM Texas Licenses LLC. The Capstar TX Limited Partnership stations to Capstar TX LLC, etc. It's all just on paper, but it simplifies things for Bain and THLee - though yesterday's "Applications" section of the FCC Digest was about 130 pages longer than usual. And it does signal, quietly, the end of the "Jacor" name inside Clear Channel. CC bought Jacor in 1998, and asked Jacor's Randy Michaels to run Clear Channel radio.

Chicago Tribune: Citadel preparing to file for bankruptcy protection by year's end

Inside Music Media: Even as you read this Citadel is seeking lender approval of a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy. If Citadel succeeds, the lenders who swap their debt for equity in the reorganized company and 90 -- count them -- 90 lenders would win control of the house that Farid wrecked. Current shareholders would see their stakes totally wiped out. Sorry about that

Jay Posner: Radio voice of Chargers is right at home in Texas

John Maffei: TUBE TALK: Friday night spotlight

Prediction: Jeff and Jer Land on Sophie 103.7 (Dec 11, 2009)

The Wires (Dec 11, 2009)

Gary Lycan: Carson Daly returns to local radio + KFI's Bill Handel visits Orange County

NY Biz: Editor & Publisher magazine is closing after 108 years. Editor's note: They should change their name to blogger and uploader.

Ad Age: The difference between now and when Napster was decimating the music business is that the artists themselves fully realize what's at stake, even if they have a misplaced notion that advertising will save their ailing industry. "Let's hope Vevo can help salvage something that used to be amazing," Mariah Carey said

Inside Music Media: Television is acting like radio. In the past 13 years of consolidation the good and solid programs, formats and personalities that audiences and advertisers loved have given way to Repeater Radio, networked shows to save money and God-awful voice tracking that may sound live but isn't very local at all

TV Tech: Consumers Want Local Broadcast Content on Mobile DTV. More than three-quarters (78 percent) of the respondents said they would be most likely to watch live Mobile DTV.

TV Tech: Microtune Announces New SDR Converter. I expect to see an explosion in the number of software defined radio products.

The Wall Street Journal says Citadel has circulated a bankruptcy reorganization plan to its lenders and the company could file Chapter 11 by month's end. Lenders have until Tuesday to sign the deal, which would cut its $2 billion debt to $760 million. Shareholders would see their ownership stake wiped out. The paper says several large banks have already thrown their support behind the pre-arranged bankruptcy.

The Wires (Dec 10, 2009)

Randy Dotinga: To get some background on how we have fun with a Very Serious and Very Important religious holiday, I turned to Dr. Demento, the longtime radio disc jockey and leading expert on all things novelty-song related. Where does Christmas music fit into the whole world of novelty songs? The Christmas tradition ---- especially the Santa Claus legend, as set forth in "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" ---- is a seemingly inexhaustible source of ideas for novelty songs. It's a colorful story with elements that defy logic ---- the flying reindeer, Santa's descent through the chimney, etc. Along with all that, for most families with children, it's the most exciting time of the year beyond a doubt

USA Today: The only thing stopping Internet Service Providers from abusing their control are four "Internet principles" - voluntary guidelines, which are subject to interpretation. Now, the Federal Communications Commission wants to turn those guidelines into hard rules and extend them to wireless, and that's creating a heated debate across the USA about "net neutrality" - the idea that all Internet service providers should treat all traffic on their networks the same. The goal: to preserve the Internet as a free and open communications platform that's open to all but controlled by none. That was the original goal of the Internet's creators more than 40 years ago

Inside Music Media: The days of syndication are over because radio will be unremarkable if it does no more than repeat a local show designed for one market and try to make it fit all. Over at Clear Channel Ryan Seacrest exists so that Clear Channel can fire personalities in its group to save money and send networked Repeater Radio to places it should never go. And if CBS eventually does the same thing then I take back everything I said that is good about this move. There is going to be a big explosion next year and in spite of the fact that the three major groups will be grappling to stay afloat, that's not the explosion I'm referring to

Eggman Offering Christmas Funnies (Dec 9, 2009)

Wall Street Journal: Howard Stern rethinks his Sirius Radio gig - Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin also wants new contract terms as talks loom

Dave Kohl: We are a long way off from March Madness, at least in basketball terms, although a report from Sports Business Journal the other day has started a lot of discussion among fans and the media. The possibility exists that the NCAA could add still another week of games to the Tournament. More games means more telecasts and broadcasts, and according to the report the possibility of more networks becoming involved

Reuters: A customer of Sirius XM Radio has sued the satellite radio company, saying it deceptively increased prices in breach of subscriber contracts

Carson Daly returns to 97.1 AMP Radio (KAMP-FM) to host morning drive beginning Monday, January 4. Carson returns to his radio roots in Southern California where, in the past, he worked for 106.7 KROQ in Los Angeles. His four hour program will be heard on-air, and online at www.ampradio.com as well as on the iPhone and Blackberry

The Wires (Dec 8, 2009)

From radio-info.com: Radio reaches more than 236 million persons aged 12 and older over the course of a typical week, according to the RADAR 103 National Radio Listening Report, which releases Monday December 14 - The combination of PPM and diary respondents have shown more listeners to radio over the course of a week versus the 2007 RADAR listening reports which were based on diary respondents alone. As additional radio markets transition to electronic ratings, total radio reach is revealed to be larger than in previous surveys - Despite the adoption of MP3 players and the growth of Internet-only stations, radio reaches 92.5 percent of persons aged 12+ each week. Even 90 percent of the youngest radio audience, teens aged 12-17, who are most accustomed to using new technologies and forms of media, continue to tune in each week. Network radio also reaches 86 percent of Adults aged 18-34 who are ad elusive and media multi-taskers

En Gadget: Spanish speaking HDTV owners in the U.S. can expect the other shoe to drop this week, with Univision and Telefutura stepping up to high-definition broadcasts starting Monday.

The Wires (Dec 7, 2009)

So the rain will be here at 11.