New Normal Music Update (July 3, 2010)

They've already hit a server peak of 302 on day one with an average TSL of over 2 hours

New Normal Music hit #156 out of over 39,000 Internet radio stations among all formats!

The Wires (July 3, 2010)

STL Media: With apologies to the late singer Lloyd Price, walk, talk, smile, charm, and love may not be enough if you want to be a successful radio personality. I've heard too many people on the air who simply don't have a personality - at all. It may be hard to believe now, but back before the days of formula radio and liner cards, having a strong (and genuine) personality on the air was considered an asset. Let's look at talk radio.

Sacramento Bee: Citing the economic downturn, Sacramento-based Spanish-language TV/radio company Bustos Media LLC has filed with the FCC to transfer its licenses and will cease to exist.

Inside Music Media: The Next CEO of Clear Channel -- Clear Channel is one of my favorite radio companies from the standpoint of the talent they employ. Even after purging so many good people, it is remarkable that they have been able to retain so many excellent managers, sales execs, programmers and talent (where they are still allowed to be on the air locally).

FMQB: Have Downloads Hit a Plateau? Statistics show that paid downloads of songs to iPods, computers, and other devices have stalled.

All Access reports that KNRS in Salt Lake City will Add Hannity October 4th. The announcement comes just one day after KSL BROADCAST GROUP Talk KSL-A-F confirmed the market chatter that it would drop HANNITY on OCTOBER 1st,

New Normal Music Launches (July 2, 2010)

Don Coryell Dies (July 2, 2010)

Reports: Former football Cardinals coach Don Coryell dies. Coryell played defensive back for the University of Washington from 1949 to 1951. He coached at Whittier College (1957-59) and San Diego State (1961-1972) and for the St. Louis Cardinals (1973-77), but he was best known for the innovative "Air Coryell" offense that he employed with the San Diego Chargers from 1978 to 1986.

From chargers.com: Says Chargers President Dean Spanos on Coryell: "He revolutionized the game of football, not only in San Diego, but throughout the entire NFL."

From chargers.com: The Chargers' head coach from 1978-86, Coryell compiled a record of 72-60. His teams won three division titles, played in four divisional playoff games and two AFC Championship Games. With the Chargers, Coryell oversaw one of one of the most exciting teams ever seen in professional football. His ground-breaking approach to the passing game completely transformed the Chargers' offensive attack and revolutionized scoring in the NFL. Coryell won AFC coach of Year honors from the Professional Football Writers of America in 1979. He was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame in 1994 and selected as one of the 50 Greatest Chargers of All-Time in 2010.

American Top 40 Celebrates 40th Anniversary (July 2, 2010)

The Wires (July 2, 2010)

TV Tech: Could 'Voluntary' Surrender of Spectrum Clear Channels 31-51? Money is part of the equation. I would add grass-roots support and political power.

Multichannel News: ICA Seizes Domains, Assets Of Alleged TV Movie Pirates.

KSL TV 5: Utah's KSL AM will dump Sean Hannity on October 1 - The announcement comes after speculation that Hannity's on-air style was not in line with Deseret Media Company's mission statement that calls for civility and other ethical stances.

Inside Music Media: Radio in its best days was the major source of exposing new music, but back then, powerful program directors (and/or music directors) decided on what relatively few songs would attract the biggest audiences. Often, local or regional artists were broken on-air and then record promoters would move to spread their success nationally. The term Top 40 often did not really describe a station that actually played forty top hits.

All Access reports that Delilah has been dropped from KSNE Las Vegas.

KXOL in Los Angeles's format format and branding remains the same.

KKGO kkgo's to New York. Mount Wilson Broadcasting Country KKGO (Go Country 105)/Los Angeles has announced that starting this July 4th weekend, it is launching a Country music service directed at New York City. The web-based streaming at www.GoCountryNY.com kicks off Saturday, July 3rd, and will be customized for New York listeners. A smart phone app for the new service is also planned.

The Wires (July 1, 2010)

Kurt Hanson: RAIN 6/30: Bloomberg says iPhone coming to Verizon in January. In the wake of every new iPhone are rumors that it will be arriving on AT&T's CDMA rival: Verizon. So far those rumors have come to nothing, but now Bloomberg is reporting that, according to "two people familiar with the plans," Apple's iPhone will be available from Verizon in January 2011. Yeah, it's just a rumor, but two other reports line up with it and may add more credibility to the story. First, Bloomberg also points out that Verizon plans to debut several devices in January that run on its new 4G network. Secondly, The Wall Street Journal reported in March (here) that production of a CDMA iPhone would begin in September - meaning they could possibly be available in January. The iPhone has been driving the mobile Internet radio field and its expansion onto other cellular networks could only fuel webcasters' growth. As Engadget writes, "fingers crossed."

Find the Bloomberg article here.

ZDNET: If iPhone comes to Verizon: We Got Answers

Tom Taylor: Is Ryan Seacrest ready to leave radio - or just Clear Channel? Is CBS dangling something in front of him? Most of the speculation about his sunsetting relationship with CC's KIIS-FM, Los Angeles (102.7) and CC-owned Premiere revolves around Ryan potentially taking over the now-vacant Larry King franchise at CNN. But there's also the CBS scenario - where Les Moonves is reportedly prepared to hand Seacrest bags of money to do a new daytime talk show for the post-Oprah TV era, and perhaps offer him a daily radio gig and other platforms. It does appear from Ryan's comments to Forbes that he's thinking seriously about "several different things" other than renewing with Clear Channel. Of course this could all just be negotiating talk, to enhance his bargaining power. The wild card (one of them) is American Idol. If Ryan perceives that franchise is deteriorating, he may step away from that duty, and perhaps not leave radio. Forbes estimates that Seacrest is extracting as much as $15 million out of Clear Channel, for the KIIS-FM morning gig (where he succeeded Rick Dees) and "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" for Premiere. He makes another $15 million from hosting "Idol", seen on Fox. Read the Forbes interview here. Meanwhile, Ryan's "On Air" is off the air in his hometown of Atlanta, which must be a bummer. Lincoln Financial Media's "Star 94" WSTR pulled the show from its lineup (says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Rodney Ho) "several months before his two-year syndication deal is up." Maybe more than several months, since Star took "On Air" in early 2009. Seacrest is a graduate of Atlanta's Dunwoody High and got his start hanging out at Star in high school.

Multichannel News: Hulu's Subscription Plan Spans Three Screens. Hulu, the startup owned by three of the four major broadcast networks, is launching a multiscreen subscription service for $9.99 per month -- available not only on the Web but also on HDTVs and mobile devices -- in a move that could erode pay-TV offerings from cable and satellite operators.

Test Your Broadband Speed Here! Check your Internet speed, latency and jitter by visiting this government-sponsored site. Under the heading "Consumer Broadband Test," click on "Test My Broadband Speed Now:"

Earth Signals: KATY's FCC attorney, John McVeigh, has put together a detailed technical explanation of why the HD Radio operation at KRTH is negatively impacting KATY's analog listeners

Earth Signals: A spokeswoman for CBS Radio (owner of KRTH) says that CBS "would be filing its response to [KATY's] petition shortly.

Radio World Online: Car radios are increasingly being used for everything but radio.

Radio World Online: Canadian broadcasters start turning off their digital audio broadcasting transmitters.

Broadcasting and Cable: TV loudness bill passes Senate Commerce Committee.

TV Tech: "ATSC Digital On-Channel Repeaters at NAB Show" by Doug Lung.

Edison Research: Youth Use The Net For Music Discovery

Randy Dotinga: A closer look at radio's Web

Yahoo News: Dr. Demento is leaving radio for the Internet.

Inside Music Media: So now we learn that Ryan Seacrest may be leaving Clear Channel. Industry reports say Seacrest earns $15 million a year from his radio show and syndication but he'll be just fine, thank you, if all he has left is his Comcast work, American Idol, endorsements and perhaps replacing Larry King on CNN. This may be a Seacrest negotiating ploy -- or not.

Ryan Seacrest loses his Star 94 weekday gig (June 30, 2010)

The Wires (June 30, 2010)

NBC San Diego: SoundDiego's Chris Cantore Joins KPRI. He has replaced Oz in the afternoons from 3-7pm as of June 29. He's also the director of KPRI's website.

RAIN: White House calls for more spectrum for wireless broadband

"Latino 96.3 is gone", says the promo on SBS-owned KXOL-FM, Los Angeles. Does that mean the hurban-leaning rhythmic station is changing images, but perhaps not formats? The answer's due Thursday morning at 6am, says the L.A. Board of Radio-Info.com

Dave "Chachi" Denes programmed L.A.'s "My FM" KBIG (104.3) for five years and put in a total of 10 years with Clear Channel in Los Angeles. Most recently Chachi's been working with Triton Loyalty and his old friend Tracy Johnson. Starting this week, Denes joins Black Card Radio in Burbank as its VP of Programming. He'll manage the daily programming ops and look for additional talent. Black Card Radio's current lineup includes Slow Jams with R Dub, Hot Mix, Pro Mix and the Charlie Tuna Show. Note that Denes will continue as president of Benztown Branding USA.

Larry King Quits! Statement from Larry King: "I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted -- I'll still be a part of the CNN family, hosting several Larry King specials on major national and international subjects"

World Net Daily: Talk Radio Watch: Complaints that talk radio is too opinionated, too controversial and even too influential sometimes come from the strangest sources. Take Michael Smerconish. In a Washington Post op-ed, the talk-show host complained that "extreme rhetoric" was harming the nation. Industry veteran Randall Bloomquist responded, "When exactly was the broadcast media rife with rational discussion of the issues? Such shows have always been ratings losers." One would-be talk-show host found that out the hard way.

Mac World: TiVo has let us pause and replay live television for a while now, but what if you want to do the same with XM or SIRIUS radio? Now you can, thanks to Rogue Amoeba's new update for its XM and SIRIUS desktop client, Pulsar. Along with some interface improvements, the 2.0 update gives Pulsar the ability to pause, replay, or fast forward live radio.

CNET: The Federal Communications Commission's plan to free up 500 megahertz of additional wireless spectrum got a significant boost from the White House. On Monday, President Barack Obama signed a memorandum that commits the U.S. to making an additional 500MHz of government and commercial spectrum available for auction and for unlicensed use within the next 10 years.

Now and Then: While PC World is calling the new Pulsar device "an elegant satellite radio experience", I'm not so sure that radio consumers want a TiVo for radio, elegant or not. Pulsar hopes it catches on with SIRIUS XM so they can revolutionize radio like TiVo did with TV.

FMQB: Study: Smartphone Users Want FM Radio. 30% of U.S. smartphone users wish the new iPhone had an FM tuner.

Forbes has named Ryan Seacrest to its annual "Celebrity 100" list, and within a larger feature on the media star, suggests he may not renew his current Clear Channel contract for his syndicated radio show

The Wires (June 29, 2010)

Who Da Guy Hawaii: 93 KHJ: Inside Boss Radio - Excerpt # 8: Johnny Mann: "I heard rumors that KHJ was going to change formats - again. Don Otis called me to do a jingle package. Whatever he was called, he was the head guy. As far as he knew, this was news to me. I hadn't done anything for them before. He said, "I want some jingles," and I said OK. He said, "When can you record them?" I answered, "Well, right now the Musicians Union is on strike so we can't use any musicians." He said, "Oh my God, what are we going to do?" So I asked, "Wait a minute, how long do these things have to be?" He said, "Well, I want to do `93 KHJ,' I want to do `KHJ, Los Angeles,' I want to do `93 more music'." Listening to whatever it was that he wanted, I said, "Why don't you do 'em a cappella?" He said, "What's a cappella?"

Eric Stark: Five little words prompted Wendy Caldwell to send an e-mail. "Radio used to be fun." Today Caldwell, a former radio news journalist and morning co-host at two local stations - WSBA-AM 910 and WLAN FM 97 - believes radio and fun are opposites. "There was a lot of radio energy -- in the 1980s and early '90s, and then the advertisers took over," said Caldwell.