Blogger: Dr. Demento Ends His 40 Year Old Show (June 6, 2010)

Excerpts:

The novelty tunes, wacky sounds, comedy bits and parody songs, all hosted by one crazy "doctor," has come to an end. This weekend is the final airing for the syndicated "Dr. Demento Show." The show's syndicator, Talonian Productions -- which is owned by Dr. Demento -- has told the affiliates that this is the end.

In a simple email to its few remaining stations, the email stated "Dr. Demento and his management have decided to no longer offer The Dr. Demento Show on terrestrial radio stations and to concentrate on offering the show via internet streaming only."

The Dr. Demento Show was one of the most unique syndicated radio shows in history, specializing in finding, playing and promoting novelty songs, comedic songs, and the strangest songs ever recorded, from new recordings to classic recordings from decades ago. Dr. Demento, who real name is Barret ("Barry") Eugene Hansen, got his start playing oldies on a radio station in Pasadena, California. As he and his listeners had fun focusing on the old novelty songs like "Alley Oop" and "Purple People Eater," the show then focused only on that. By 1970, the "Dr. Demento" personality was born. The weekly, goofy, all-novelty song Pasadena show from 1970 grew in popularity and became syndicated nationally by 1974.

The very last station to drop the Dr. Demento Show? Chicago's own WLUP-FM, who had been one of the show's longest supporters, through numerous ownership changes. For around 25 years, Dr. Demento was heard in Chicago on 97.9. WLUP dropped the show three weeks ago. A few days later, Dr. Demento took that lost Chicago affiliate as a sign to end the show. It was only a matter of weeks before the true 40th Anniversary of the show was to happen.

It's the end of era for novelty songs. It's the end of an era for radio.

Read the whole article at the link.

Headlines Tell The Story (June 5, 2010)

Rumor: Dr. Demento Retiring? (June 5, 2010)

"This Sunday June 6 will be the last show on KLOO, just like on KOZT. Dr. Demento is "retiring from doing a weekly radio show, but will have some shows on his website", according to Glenn Nobel, Morning Show Host / Program Director at KLOO."

This is D.T.: Are the radio stations lying to their listeners or misinformed? Is Dr. Demento moving his new shows to stream on his website or is he calling it quits altogether? What's the real deal with this? If radio knows for sure that Dr. Demento is going to do his weekly shows on the Internet only, but tell the listeners that he's retiring, the Internet will soon reveal the real truth behind this rumor. The listeners are not stupid. Once I and they find the facts, which are stubborn things, guess who's got egg on its face, and it's the radio rep that's not telling the full story, or jumping to conclusions before the full truth comes out. The readers will find the truth here or elsewhere soon.

AT&T Pulling Unlimited Wireless Plan (June 5, 2010)

TV Tech: Just in Time for MDTV: AT&T Ending Unlimited Wireless Plans

AT&T move may stunt radio streaming. With wireless data usage exploding, AT&T is exerting more control over how customers use its mobile network. The elimination of all-you-can-eat data pricing plans for new wireless subscribers could impact mobile audio and video streaming usage, which consumes large chunks of bandwidth.

Tom Taylor on AT&T: AT&T's new pricing plan may impact Internet radio usage on its service. It's just what the experts at the recent BIA/Kelsey were saying - AT&T can't afford to offer unlimited data usage, because its system is strained to capacity in markets like New York and San Francisco. Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan said in his keynote that AT&T's Ralph de la Vega has been watching the consumption patterns soar off the charts. Smulyan says "AT&T's data use has grown almost 5,000% in the last 12 quarters" and de la Vega knows that 3% of his customers use 40% of his data. Those are mostly likely iPhone owners - and just wait until Apple introduces the new iPhone 4.0 OS, which permits multitasking. Bottom line - AT&T concludes that it can no longer live with $29.95-a-month unlimited data fees. As of Monday, it's introducing a new tiered system that starts with a $15 monthly charge for downloads of up to 200 megabytes of data. That's about 400 web pages or 20 minutes of video. If your usage goes beyond that, it's another $15 for the next 200 megs. Current subscribers will be grandfathered in, but they can probably expect to be transferred to the new tariff when their current deal's up. There's a lively discussion about Internet radio - like its economics - on the "Business of Radio" Board of Radio-Info.com.

The Wires (June 5, 2010)

Gary Lycan: Will Internet or digital radio replace broadcast or terrestrial radio? It's a frequent industry topic, but listeners only perk up their ears when they discover a favorite personality is no longer on the air and learn the person has found new life on Internet radio. One prime example: Marc Germain (Mr. KFI, Mr. KABC, etc.) who is on his own site, talkradioone.com. Dan Avey, Steve Parker, Frank Sontag are on Germain's site, too

Mel Phillips: While radio was trying to digest the encouraging news posted by the enemy - Internet and mobile radio, NPR CEO Vivian Schiller was making a bold and stunning prediction for the former. Among other things, Schiller expects all cars will have Internet radio in one form or another "pretty soon." Schiller adds that 40% of weekday listening is now in-car and once there is Internet in the car, people ideally will listen to the same stations in the car. I can't agree with that statement.

Inside Music Media: National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller did what all good speakers try to do when they address their peers -- get noticed. At the All Things Digital conference Wednesday she predicted that Internet-delivered radio will replace broadcast radio in 5 to 10 years. Schiller made her prediction quite clear when she said radio towers would be a thing of the past. Guess she got their attention.

FMQB: Citadel Completes Restructuring, Emerges From Chapter 11. More than five months after it went to court lugging $2.1 billion in debt, Citadel Broadcasting emerged yesterday from Chapter 11. While several clean-up items remain - most notably winning FCC approval of the company's new structure - the heavy lifting is over.

All Access: Marv Albert Exits Westwood One NFL Coverage. Westwood One is searching for a new play-by-play announcer for "Monday Night Football" broadcasts as Marv Alert exits to focus on NBA television duties. Albert, 68, says he wants to cut down on his schedule. Boomer Esiason remains lead "MNF" analyst for Westwood One.

All Access: EMMIS Top 40/Rhythmic KPWR (POWER 106)/LOS ANGELES will finally launch its audio stream on www.power106.com on MONDAY, JUNE 7th. POWER 106 has partnered with STREAMTHEWORLD to offer a high-quality audio stream on www.power106.com

Jay Posner TV/Radio Sports: MLB Network's coup: Strasburg's debut. The NBA Finals are under way. Same for the Stanley Cup Finals. The World Cup is a week away.

John Maffei TV/Radio Sports: Padres, NBA finals, Strasburg debut all make for must-see viewing. Tuesday is why picture-in-picture and the remote control were invented.

TV Tech: Mobile DTV Pitched to Detroit. The auto industry was the focus of Mobile DTV boosters this week.

Radio World: AFTRA, SoundExchange to Match Artists With Unpaid Royalties

TV Tech: ATSC Digital On-channel Repeaters at NAB Show

Discussion: "Will all cars have Internet radio soon?" NPR boss Vivian Schiller's future-looking comments at this week's D8 digital summit have resonance beyond the public radio community, though the Public Radio/Non-Commercial Board of Radio-Info.com is where a lively discussion about her prediction has sprung up.

Radio-info: Clear Channel renews its Fox News Radio deal for 100+ stations.

Multichannel News: Video To Consumer Most Internet Bandwidth In 2010: Study.

The National Cucumber Fake News (June 4, 2010)

FOX has announced that they plan to shut down the network until September due to the fact that they don't have anything interesting besides MLB and the upcoming preseason NFL games during the summer. Those games will be syndicated to the Fox stations via its syndicated arm until Fox reopens in September. The action will save the network millions of dollars a day.

And finally, the bombing of last week's chick flick "Sex and the City 2" hasn't fazed the producers from planning on a third sequel. This time, they plan to replace the entire cast with animated cartoon drawings of Betty Rubble, Daphne of Scooby Doo, Jessica Rabbit, and a teenage Pebbles Flintstone as Carrie.

The Wires (June 4, 2010)

Don Barrett: The View and Ryan's Hope. Huh? Guess I'll tell All My Children about this!

Who Da Guy Hawaii: 93 KHJ: Inside Boss Radio - Excerpt 1: Introduction by Ben Fong-Torres: " When it comes to deciding on the best Top 40 radio station of all time, the one all the other stationsÆ deejays and programmers listened to, the one everyone wanted to work for, thereÆs no definitive answer. It depends on when and where you grew up, what stations you heard and came to love, which deejays became your own personal favorites. In my book, The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio, I mentioned a few -- just a few -- contenders, including WABC in New York, KLIF in Dallas, KFWB in Los Angeles, and WLS in Chicago. But hereÆs the thing: No matter where and when the debate takes place, thereÆs one station thatÆs gotta be in the, oh, Top Two. That station, of course, is KHJ, ôBoss Radioö in Los Angeles. Scott Shannon, whose career took him from Nashville to New York, offers strong nods to WLS, WABC, and KFRC in San Francisco, a younger sister-station of KHJ. But, he says, ôKHJ was the most polished. It was an incredibly disciplined, tight-fisted, Top 40 station laced with high-profile personalities. Few understood how that worked; even fewer knew how to combine the two.ö Ron Jacobs was one of the few. He was RKO Programming Consultant Bill DrakeÆs first program director at KHJ. And here, abetted by ear - and eyewitnesses galore, along with the black-and-white documentation of the memos he cranked out day and night, he helps you to understand how it worked. Read the whole thing at the link.

Inside Music Media: AT&T CanÆt Kill Pandora -- Or can it stop consumers from watching YouTube all day. Or making streaming radio too expensive for most. When AT&T announced yesterday that it would soon do away with its unlimited data plan for new wireless customers and put caps on usage -- albeit it at lower prices -- what did you expect?

All Access: NPR's Vivian Schiller: Net Will Replace Broadcast In 5-10 Years

The Wires (June 3, 2010)

Kurt Hanson: Starting June 7, AT&T will no longer offer new customers their flat-rate, unlimited data plan for mobile devices. Instead, the company is offering slightly cheaper plans with monthly usage caps of 200MB and 2GB. With such limits in place, users may be more cautious about using data-heavy apps, like those that stream Internet radio. And because AT&T is the exclusive carrier of the iPhone, which has been driving mobile Net radio growth, the stakes are quite high.

Radio World Online: FCC Nixes AM Power Hike. The commission didn't jump on consultant Richard Arsenault's ambitious proposal, saying it would cause interference.

Broadcasting and Cable: Most Americans OK With Broadband Speed.

Price for Imperial Valley, California's KROP (1300) - $250,000. More on the May 13 TRI story about "the AM station that stayed behind while sister Q96 KSIQ moved to the San Diego market." The paperwork's at the FCC for the deal between seller Cherry Creek Radio and buyer LarDog Communications, and the price for the 1-kw daytime/500 watt nighttime KROP is $250,000 cash. KROP is licensed to Brawley in the agriculture-rich Imperial Valley - thus the "KROP" call letters. Buyer LarDog has no other broadcast interests. The Imperial Valley Press says the station's been off the air, but should return by July, doing country, talk and some sports for the El Centro-Mexicali market.

Radio-info: San Diego-based Horizon Christian Fellowship confirms in an FCC filing what's become obvious - it's leaving the broadcast business. The ministry's been selling off full-power stations and translators that it's accumulated far from its base, and now in a request for silent operation of its K223BM translator in Warren, Arkansas, it says this, outright - it's "in the process of dismantling its network of FM stations and translators and is in the process of assigning them to other non-commercial and commercial broadcasters." The reason for going silent on that particular translator? Mike MacIntosh says "There are inadequate financial resources to keep the stations operating during the process" of selling off stations. Among its recently-reported deals - selling K279AP, Bethany, MO to Dean Goodman for $10,000 (May 3 TRI Newsletter). And Robert Womack buying Grand Rapids-market K236BK, Forest Hills, MI for $25,000 (March 22 TRI).

Country radio's "Tony & Kris in the Morning" signs up with United Stations. Alabama natives Tony Randall and Kris Rochester quickly made it to San Diego and did ten years at country KSON and then five years at cross-town KUSS before partnering with Cumulus Media last year for a Nashville-based show through their own Tony & Kris Productions LLC. Their current affiliate list is seven Cumulus-owned stations (including WLXX, Lexington and KAYD, Beaumont) plus recently-signed Access.1-owned KYKX, Tyler-Longview. Now United Stations will handle both affiliate sales and national ad sales. Tony & Kris are "the first complete morning show in any format" to be part of the lineup at USRN, which has country products such as The Country's HotList with Shawn Parr, Thunder Road, and comedy and morning show prep services aimed at country. No doubt one of the items on USRN's to-do list is somehow getting Tony & Kris cleared in Nashville.

The Hill: The FCC is being urged to monitor "hate speech" on talk radio and cable broadcast networks - A coalition of more than 30 organizations argue in a letter to the FCC that the Internet has made it harder for the public to separate the facts from bigotry masquerading as news - The groups also charge that syndicated radio and cable television programs "masquerading as news" use hate as a profit model.

Randy Dotinga: Art Linkletter's San Diego Radio Days

Unofficial Word: Dr. Demento Leaving Terrestrial Radio (June 2, 2010)

This past Sunday night, KOZT-FM Ft. Bragg's evening jock Vicky announced that Dr. Demento and his management have decided to no longer offer The Dr. Demento Show on terrestrial radio stations and to concentrate on offering the show via internet streaming only at drdemento.com

Some posts point to the drdemento.com website as the source of the news, but the official announcement of his show airing for the last time on terrestrial radio stations cannot be found.

The Wires (June 2, 2010)

Tom Taylor-radio-info.com: Citadel seeks court approval for a new one-year deal with the L.A. Dodgers. When a company like Citadel's in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, all the deals get scrutinized out in the open, except for certain sensitive personnel-related issues. We now know from a New York bankruptcy court filing that Citadel's current three-year deal with the National League Dodgers expires October 31, or 15 days after the end of the World Series, if they make it that far. Citadel's been negotiating with the team and it's got a one-year renewal on these new terms - the in-house commission rate for the team (Dodgers LLC) rises next year from 9% to 13%. The team's guaranteed fee, for letting Citadel produce the Dodgers games, increases by 7.7%. And instead of paying the fee at the end of the season - Citadel must pay "at or near the beginning of the season." Citadel, owner of Dodgers flagship KABC (790), does get a sweetener out of the deal for the 2011 season. It gets advertising space inside Dodgers Stadium and "game tickets to be used in connection with the sale of sponsorship packages." Citadel tells the court that approving the extension is in everybody's best interests - and it will probably win approval (even if the New York judge is a Mets fan).

FCC rejects AM power hike. Broadcast engineer Richard Arsenault's petition asking the FCC to give all AM stations a ten-fold daytime power hike didn't get far. Media Bureau chief Bill Lake says proposal would "greatly increase" the potential for interference between AM stations and would undermine the Commission's efforts to improve the AM service.

United Stations Radio Networks has begun marketing Tony & Kris in the Morning to both radio affiliates and national advertiserss

Mel Phillips: Radio Spreads On Smartphones - Are Cell Phones Next? With Sirius XM Radio announcing its launching of a free Android app for its subscribers and Clear Channel offering premium ad-free content on its newest edition of iheartradio mobile streaming, will we now see some headway made in the drive to get radio on cell phones?

Inside Music Media: The Paid Internet Gains Credibility: You've heard me tell you of my own decision to take this site (Inside Music Media) to a paid model this summer. Everything I do is a virtual "lab" to me. So far the work is proceeding that will enable Inside Music Media to continue unimpeded by influence from advertisers or power brokers. Then, last week I noted that Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine Editor and Chief, launched a new Apple app for Wired priced aggressively at $4.99 per issue. Wired sold 24,000 iPad apps in the first 24 hours. That's $120,000 in revenue in one day keeping in mind that the print edition of Wired only sells about 82,000 single newsstand copies per month and Wired has approximately 672,000 paid subscribers

91X Announces 'X-Fest' Lineup. Alternative XTRA-F (91X)/SAN DIEGO PD/afternooner CAPONE this afternoon announced the return of "X-FEST" is FRIDAY, JULY 25th at CRICKET WIRELESS AMPHITHEATRE. The "X-FEST" main stage lineup is: 311, THE OFFSPRING, CAKE, UNWRITTEN LAW, and AUTHORITY ZERO. There will also be a NEXT BIG THING STAGE featuring CIRCA SURVIVE, NEON TREES, PAPER TONGUES, and CIVIL TWILIGHT. Find all the details at www.91x.com.

It's Gay Pride Month (June 2010)

The Wires (June 1, 2010)

Yuma Sun: Before television, radio was king of the airwaves, and Yuma had its very own broadcast royalty. KYUM first signed on the air and into history on March 3, 1940, on AM 1210.

Politico: 248 House members on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about the Federal Communications Commission's plan to reshape the regulatory framework for broadband services in order to adopt net neutrality rules.

Hear 2.0: Are Ratings Killing Radio? We are so motivated to achieve ratings, we are completely ignorant of the need to grow fans. Is radio in the business of growing fans - or even of growing revenue? No. Radio is, sadly, in the business of growing "ratings." Have you ever met a "rating"? Me neither.

iheartradio has introduced commercial-free programming streaming premium content from Sean Hannity, Dr. Laura, Jim Rome and Bob & Tom

Update: Dr. Demento Dropped KOZT, Not The Other Way (May 30, 2010)

I just got back an email from Tom on The Coast KOZT-FM and he explains to me in this email I just received!

From Tom of The Coast-FM: "Edwin...There is NO problem with Homestyle...they would stay with the show forever. The problem is, Demento has decided to leave terrestrial radio and just do his website...there will be no show for us to carry. Again, no problem with our great local sponsors..they're very sad too..but Dr. D. and his management have made this decision and there's nothing we can do...but please do not blame the sponsors and do not allow this kind of untruth to circulate."

From Josh on rec.music.dementia: "I'm listening to Dr. D on KOZT right now, over the air. Vicki had a different statement this week, announced before the show. She said that Dr. Demento has decided to stop providing the show to *all* terrestrial radio stations. This week's show is the second-to- last show, and next week's show is the final show. After that, only the paid Internet podcast remains. She sounded disappointed by this. I think the Homestyle Cafe was willing to continue to sponsor the show, and was wondering aloud what to fill the time slot with, if it's true that Dr. Demento stops providing KOZT with new shows. Anyone else hear this, from other radio stations?