The Wires (August 7, 2010)

TV Tech: Broadcast and WiFi Take Wind Out of FLO TV Sales. Study shows "disappointing adoption levels. (editor: too bad FLO TV isn't designed to be a free service. It might be far more popular now.)

Jay Posner's Final TV/Radio Sports Column. ESPN Radio taking leave of San Diego. Posner promoted to Sports Editor. More.

John Maffei TV/Radio Sports: MWC's network still unavailable on Time Warner.

The NFL exhibition season kicks off at 5 p.m. Sunday when the Cowboys and Bengals meet in the Hall of Fame Game from Canton, Ohio, on NBC.

Who Da Guy Hawaii: 93 KHJ: Inside Boss Radio - Excerpt # 14: Scotty Brink: "The first time I encountered Ron Jacobs on the job was my first day in the building at KHJ. I was sitting outside his office with his secretary, Shelley, while Jacobs and Morgan were having one of their screaming matches inside. It was hardly a soundproof office. Morgan stormed out, with Jacobs on his heels and the loquacious expletives continued down the hall. After a couple of minutes, they came back, went in Jacobs’ office and slammed the door. Thirty seconds later, Morgan poked his head out of Jacobs’ office and asked, “Are you Scotty Brink?” I nodded in the affirmative. Morgan presented his warm, wonderful smile and continued, “Welcome to Boss Radio.”

Now and Then: Radio's Biggest Headache Is Headed For A Resolution -- Used to be that terrestrial radio's biggest fear was the wrath of the FCC. When the agency's iron fist rusted with each new administration, the fear disappeared. The biggest fear for radio went from the FCC to survival and the costs inherent in that struggle.

All Access: Federal Communications Commission Walks Away From Net Neutrality Talks. Federal regulators have decided to walk away from negotiations between Web companies and Internet Service Providers over so-called Net Neutrality rules, which would prevent discrimination in the way online traffic is treated.

All Access: Salem Sells KXMX (AM)/Los Angeles To Korean Gospel Broadcasting Network

Whooping Cough Epidemic Occuring in California (August 6, 2010)

From Marty Block, Assemblymember, 78th District:

Dear Friends:

The California Department of Public Health has declared an epidemic of whooping cough in California with 1,497 cases or reported this year, a five fold increase over the cases reported last year! Seven of these cases were infant fatalities including a recent case in San Diego County.

The death was the first from whooping cough, known as pertussis, in San Diego County since 2001.

As of the end of July, in San Diego County, 266 cases have been reported so far this year and 15 infants have been hospitalized. That compares with 143 cases for all of 2009, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency.

Immunization is the key to controlling this illness. All Californians, in particular families with infants and young children, are urged to obtain vaccinations to prevent whooping cough. Contact your health care provider directly for information on immunizations. To find an immunization center near you call 866-358-2966 toll free or visit www.getimmunizedca.org.

Click here for a fact sheet about whooping cough so you can identify the signs and symptoms.

Don't hesitate to call my district office at (619) 462-7878 for additional information on community resources.

Sincerely,

signature

MARTY BLOCK
Assemblymember, 78th District

The Wires (August 6, 2010)

TV Technology: Bill Aims to Stifle Involuntary TV Spectrum Reclamation

TV Technology: Solar Storm Creates Auroras; Not Damage

Tom Taylor of radio-info: Sirius previews next-gen “Sirius XM 2.0” receivers for car and home, due in late 2011. CEO Mel Karmazin says they’ll “offer significantly more choices for the consumer and contain functionality that does not exist today in our radios.” Mel promises a set of products with more channels that will take the satellite radio service “to a new level” with technology. Though details are scarce on products that won’t be ready until the holiday season of next year. Yesterday morning’s call also delivered some numbers that made Mel very happy in the here-and-now. Second quarter adjusted revenue of $705 million was higher than analysts expected, and the profit of $15.3 million was also unexpected. EBITDA was $154 million. The subscriber numbers for April-June were already public, thanks to Mel’s "pre-announcing" several weeks ago. Sirius XM gained 583,249 net subscribers in the quarter to hit a record-high 19,527,488. Car sales are critical to Sirius XM and this year's pickup at the dealer lot helps the company. The conversion rate from trial to paying customer is 47%, and the churn rate is 1.8%. Karmazin used his call to raise guidance for all of 2010, and he now predicts $2.8 billion in adjusted revenue and as much as $150 million in free cash flow. Though Lazard analyst Barton Crockett asks why they’re not also raising guidance for EBITDA. Sirius XM had already upped its guidance for net subscriber additions this year, to 1.1 million.

The Latest Sirius Press Release Is Here

Gary Lycan: Life has come full circle for Bill Martinez. In 1970, he was a hit DJ on Orange County's KWIZ/1480 AM – the station once known for its slogan "Top Banana – Best of the Bunch." His career took him to KDAY and Wolfman Jack, KIIS (he was hired by Charlie Tuna), KRLA and Art Laboe, KIK-FM and Art Astor. Along the way, in about 1985, he met Rich Buhler and changed the direction of his life + CBS Radio stations in Los Angeles may soon be on a single website. The plan is in beta testing in New York where the sites for the news and sports stations have been combined in an effort to drive web traffic to one site.

Poll: Majority Favor Broadcast Content Regulation By FCC. A RASMUSSEN REPORTS poll says that 55% of respondents believe the FCC "should be allowed to regulate objectionable content on television and radio," eight points lower from a JUNE 2007 poll. 34% oppose the regulation. Women are in favor of indecency regulation by a two-to-one margin, while men are evenly divided.

How Will 'Net Neutrality' Affect Radio? FCC Chairman JULIUS GENACHOWSKI's "third way" to regulate Net Neutrality continues to be a hot topic, and with more and more radio listenership online -- and continued growth of social networking as an important radio tool -- any changes to how information flows on the net will affect radio.

The Wires (August 5, 2010)

Randy Dotinga: True confessions: radio behind the scenes

Sirius Radio: SIRIUS XM has announced second quarter 2010 financial and operating results -- The sharp subscriber growth and double-digit increase in adjusted revenue and adjusted EBITDA show that we continued to execute on our business plan during the second quarter," said Mel Karmazin, Chief Executive Officer, SIRIUS XM.. The struggling satellite radio broadcaster said it expanded its subscriber base by 6% to a record 19.5 million in the second quarter.

Mel Phillips: Congress Puts The Heat On Radio -- Although the National Association Of Broadcasters publicly maintains their position opposing performance royalties, could they be considering a compromise?

Dave Kohl: For all of the sports available to us on TV via cable and satellite, the news of the day still reflects that consumers still do not have the choices they should have. There is now less than a month left for Time Warner Cable to continue with ESPN on several cable systems around the country, with the Orlando area being among the larger ones.

sdradio: Disney is Taking ESPN Radio Away From You August 31.

TV Broadcast: Full-power TV Broadcasters Total 1,784

97.7 Moves to 90.7 (August 4, 2010)

97.7 suffers from a weak signal and comes in scratchy north of I-8.

90.7 comes in clearer, but it suffers co-channel interference with KPFK from Los Angeles. Yup. It's a redux of the 90.7 frequency dogfight.

90.7 and 97.7 are La Mejor FM broadcasting mainly for the Tijuana area. Its sister station at 99.3 FM, also named La Mejor FM, is stronger and is marketed for the San Diego metro area.

Why XHTIM is moving to 90.7 puzzles me when they knew that they would be moving into a channel slot that seems open but a strong station from 120 miles away comes in strong enough to do some signal contour damage to many places in the north-western part of San Diego county.

In 2000, XLNC1 signed on at 90.7 from Tijuana, causing San Diegans to lose reception of KPFK for eight years until that station moved to 104.9 FM, where it's not coming in as clear in the areas where they used to pick up 90.7 from.

Co-channel dogfights between TV and FM stations are more common between San Diego and Los Angeles especially since the HD Radio and the digital TV signal formats were launched years ago with co-channel and adjacent channel interference between two or more stations between the two cities becoming more commonplace, frustrating the average radio and TV listener and viewer experience.

There have been no further news updates since 2007 on whether the proposed translator for KPFK at 93.7 Mhz in Rancho Bernardo will ever get built or not.

Now, once again, a new old station from Baja California Norte moves into the 90.7 slot so that it can suffer the same co-channel interference that XLNC1 did back then.

There's no word whether another station will take the 97.7 slot or not. Strange things happen on Mexican radio all the time with stations changing frequencies and in some cases cities of license.

I might suggest that KSIQ could use the 97.7 allocation to boost its limited coverage in San Diego, but it would have to do so with a Mexican licensed radio station owner since that frequency is assumed to remain in Tijuana. No word on whether a new Tijuana radio station plans to light up on that frequency.

Comment from the L.A. board on radio-info posted July 30: The worst news about KPFK, however, is the fact that someone in Tijuana has re-activated a 90.7 transmitter and is wreaking horrible interference to KPFK in San Diego and Orange county. It just started a couple of days ago.

Chris Carmichael On Vacation (August 4, 2010)

"SDRadio returns full industrial strength on Monday, August 9! Breaking news as it happens.

"See my travel log at..." http://chrisinsocal.blogspot.com/

Comments: Responses to Dave Rickards' Explaining It All (August 4, 2010)

Selected postings:

From George J: Still would be interesting to find out just how "lucrative" their offered contract was....25% of the previous contract? 50%? From what Dave said, it seems like CC wrote the contract with the hopes that the DSC wouldn't sign it... I'm a little confused on the 49-minute thing...they gave 49 minutes to either sign the contract or get lost?

Also from George J: I am more inclined to believe Dave's side of how things went down with KGB than CC's...I don't think he sounds bitter, but if he is, he has reason to be. My reading on the "49 minutes" was that they sprang the crap on him on New Year's Eve so he couldn't get a legal opinion on the contract..

From idigradio: Wow, whatever shred of respect I had for Dave R. went out the window yesterday after listening to his bitter tirade. Throwing people like Coe and Brian under the bus and saying "they are dead to me"...are you serious dude? Coe is like the nicest person who has ever walked the earth. And when I have called about Dave, she has only spoken highly of him. Yeah she admitted she didn't understand the breakdown, but she never said anything mean or out of order. Nor did Brian. I know we were all curious what happened, but his rant was just nasty. Beat down Clear Channel Dave, not people. You sound like a bully. Not cool, not cool at all. I tuned in once to check it out. I am tuning out. I don't need to hear some rich deejay complain how he was treated badly. I am going to check other people. Later

From vonrolls: That came from Dave's heart. I Truly believe Dave.Brian was just doing orders.He could have refused to read it..Coe..She is awesome to say the least.I do know one thing,ALOT of San Diego is now listening to Jack100.7.Im proud to be one of them!!!

Letters: Enough of the DSC Already (August 4, 2010)

From Isiah: The DSC is getting enough free coverage. Stop it already! Thank you.

From Jackson: I was a fan of Dave and the DSC until yesterday. I'm siding with Clear Channel and KGB on this for reasons below. Like Dr. Demento, I lost respect for Dave Rickards. When Dr. Demento pulled his streams off of free radio, I quit listening to his show rather than to pay for the privilege of listening to whiny over-egoed "artists" hyping their unfunny crap and dominating the show in the last few years, ruining the Dr. Demento show until it's unlistenable. Now, it's Dave Rickards that has his ego stroked so big that he's now picking on his former KGB workmate deejays for dissing him. Oh, boo hoo hoo, Dave. His fans are too blind to see the fact that Dave has always been about his ego, and like Dr. Demento bullying radio stations around, Dave is bullying his radio competetors. What class, huh? No way. I think that Clear Channel did the right thing in getting rid of the DSC and get some music in the morning on instead. I feel sad for the underdogs, Brian Schock and Coe Lewis in this case, for getting the one finger salute by Dave on Jack yesterday. They didn't deserve it. I don't care why Clear Channel fired the DSC, but I support Clear Channel and KGB for growing a pair and taking charge of the situation. End of story. Time for KGB to move on with some new ideas for a morning show without Dave's ego getting in the way. Brian has to work a lot harder to beat the DSC, but he can do it. Good luck Brian and Coe.

From Vic: Listened to a few minutes of the DSC, then turned it off after Dave wished Brian Schock and Coe Lewis dead. Hey, Dave, Brian's been through a lot of radio stations. Leave him alone, Dave. I don't know what Brian or Coe said on the day the DSC was fired, nor did Tanny report it here, as I guess he doesn't listen to KGB, but I'm giving KGB the benefit of the doubt and turning off Jack and switching to KGB. Both stations play the same old songs all the time, but KGB's rock is better than Jack's idea of rock anyway.

From Adam: I never liked Jack FM. Never played what I like. Like the DSC some of the time, but they get boring. Radio needs a more consistent entertaining morning show. I want music, relevant talk, and entertainment in the morning. No show in San Diego comes close.

The Wires (August 4, 2010)

Gary Lycan: Christian talk broadcaster Rich Buhler has pancreatic cancer, his wife Dianne confirmed in a message handed to Bill Martinez on Tuesday while he was on the air filling in for Buhler on his KBRT 740 AM "Talk from the Heart" radio program

First In: For all of the sports available to us on TV via cable and satellite, the news of the day still reflects that consumers still do not have the choices they should have. There is now less than a month left for Time Warner Cable to continue with ESPN on several cable systems around the country, with the Orlando area being among the larger ones.

(read Excerpt # 13 - 93 KHJ: Inside Boss Radio) Bill Drake: "The 20/20 news sweep wasn’t at KGB, it was totally devised for KHJ. The 20/20 news placement came about as I was flying from Fresno to L.A. to finalize the deal. I remember I had the flu, it was a night flight and I had a meeting the next morning. I was wigging out at all those damn lights as I was flying in, and I was thinking, ‘Jesus, there’s a lot of people out there, all listening to KFWB and KRLA. What can we do to make them want to listen to us.’ You know we had to do a lot of shit. But I was thinking about KFWB’s news being at :25 and :55, KRLA at :15 and :45. Not a whole lot you can do there. So I was figuring out the mechanics and the 20/20 thing hit me -- news at 20 minutes past and 20 minutes before the hour" .

Mel Phillips: Social Networking Has Never Been More Important To Radio -- The numbers are staggering - so staggering that radio stations not interacting with their listeners on social networks have no way of being successful.

Radio-info: Famous boxing announcer Michael Buffer owns the phrase “Let’s get ready to rrrrrumble” – and he’ll sue to protect it. El Paso border station XHNZ (107.5) discovered that the hard way and now the ElPasoInc site says a court just found it liable for $175,000, in a default judgment. XHNZ didn’t respond to the copyright and trademark infringement suit - big mistake. Buffer has licensed the phrase plenty of times, and claims it’s brought in more than $400 million over the past five years. (Warner Bros. even made a movie titled “Ready to Rumble.” So how did Las Vegas-based fight announcer hear about an announcement that aired in El Paso? Nielsen’s BDS can track usage of trademarked material such as “Rumble.” Buffer subscribes to the service, and it informed him that XHNZ used his phrase – 42 times in February and March. XHNZ is programmed by U.S. company GRM Communications.

Dave, Shelly, and Chainsaw Returned (August 3, 2010)

The team of Dave and Cookie "Chainsaw" Randolph, and the gang, sans Shelly until January, has returned to the airwaves on Jack 100.7. The band is back together as the first parody played was a retooled Beatles melody of "Let It Be" as "DSC".

The official first song played: "The Star Spangled Banner"

Emily McGwyre, Ruth 66, Chris Boyer, and the rest checked in at the start of the show heard all over the world on their streaming flagship station.

Some highlights of their first show:

About 15 minutes into the first hour, Dave says that they've been working very hard to settle things with Clear Channel. Later on, on about January 3rd, Dave came home from the hospital and got a phone call saying "Don't bother coming in to work tomorrow, jerk!" January 4th was the first Monday of the new year, and the day listeners were surprised that the DSC were no longer heard on KGB.

20 minutes into the first hour, Dave tries to explain what's been going on, but there's a legal issue going on so he hates the fact that he can't talk about it right now. They can't talk about the "S" (Shelly) and he hopes that it resolves itself, so to protect her, he's not going to talk about it. Dave then introduces the audience to Elaina, who works at KFMB, and agreed to be his winman for who knows how long to do the news, disagree with him, etc.

Dave Sniff, the boss of KFMB-AM, called Dave and asked him if he wanted to come over to KFMB to work there, and that was back in December.

Dave thanked the people on Facebook for helping to get the DSC back on the airwaves.

E-mail: dsc@sandiegojack.com

Phone: 888-570-1007.

Cookie did his first sports update on Jack at about 6:50am.

Dave on Facebook (August 3, 2010)

"So now you know, my first song was "The Star Spangled Banner". I'm feeling sort of patriotic these days. Tonight Chainsaw and I were interviewed by the delightful Kathleen Bade of Fox 5, thanks to our long time dear friend Sandy. Kathleen asked what was our most memorable moment of our history, and for me it was a No Brainer. I remember, and it was most recently, that a Marine had called to say that his company had had "some bad days, really bad days". They lost most of their company. And when he was looking for something that reminded him of home, he had streamed our show, via the station web site.

"20 years of slaving over a hot microphone came boiled down into tight focus for me in a split second. It's hard to say it was our best bit, since we had nothing to do with it, but that Marine gave me the greatest motivation I've ever had in my life. There's no question, that I believe that was the finest bit of radio my show has ever had the privilege of airing.

"Hence The National Anthem to kick off our new world.

"Gotta tell you the the God's honest truth...I am truly plexing at our new place. Everything, everything is different, and it's been a long time since this old man has had to make big changes. But the comfort zone is coming, and in the mean time, I thank you for your support, and hope to do a good show for you on Tuesday morning."

Dave

Dave Explains It All About What Happened (August 3, 2010)

Dave said that to the "people who speculated or even wrote on their lameass North County Times critic column that you never got it right. Not once. Your record is perfect for getting it wrong!!!." He's talking about Randy Dotinga, the radio columnist who apparently made some stuff up in print.

Dave said that he told us quite frankly that waking up on January 4th and listening to their so-called friends at their old radio station (Coe, Bryan, etc. at KGB) talking about them the way that they did and telling the listeners the lies about the DSC that they did was heartbreaking at the very least.

Dave asks if we remember hearing that the DSC was offered a lucrative contract and they turned their backs on it? Ask yourself something. Would you like to have a very lucrative contract? Would you like to be the very lucrative earner?

"Yeah," said Dave. "Us too", said Chainsaw.

Says Dave, "That's why we didn't turn our backs on it, and I don't know what possessed them to go on the air on January 4th and tell lies about a radio show that's done nothing but win first place for 20 years, and we weren't dicks. I don't know what it was that possessed them to do that, but they did. Make no mistake about it. They did. They lied about us, and the fact of the matter is that the reason we weren't there on January 4th, is not because we were greedy bastards who wanted too much money. The fact of the matter is, we were kicked out! And that's all there is to it. Kicked out, and I, to this day, don't understand it. I'll never understand it. I'll never get it because it makes no sense.

"Just for me, and I'll only speak for me, I owe that radio station a lot more work. I had agreed to it. I signed my name to a thing that said I'll work for you for a lot longer, and we were kicked out, and that they went on the air and lied about us that morning was unspeakable, and those people are dead to me (quoting from The Sopranos.) Dead."

Dave explains that to for everyone who thought that they were greedy bastards and that's why it fell apart, that is absolutely incorrect. The reason that it fell apart is that Dave was given 49 minutes to either have his brains or his name on the contract, and guess what day that was? New Years Eve. Dave said "That company (Clear Channel) kept up a pretty strong threat that they were going to take us off the air and they finally did." They called the DSC up on January 3rd and told them to not come to work. "And that's why we haven't been coming to work because we were kicked out. We weren't allowed. And that's the bottom line."

A listener called in to Dave and told him on the air that she's been boycotting KGB since the day the DSC were off the air from that station.

Listen to the DSC on Jack (Aug 3, 2010)

What is a Podcast? A Podcast is like an audio TiVo. Subscribing to a podcast will automatically download episdodes of that podcast to your computer and iPod so you can listen to them whenever you want. Can't tune in to Jack FM while DSC is on the air? No Problem! Just subscribe to the DSC podcast and you can listen whenever you like!

Letter From Dave (Aug 3, 2010)

"Really...what did I do to you to deserve this?

"Did you really have to protest?

"Did you have to create Facebook accounts demanding our return?

"I was perfectly happy in my new job as stable boy at our barn, shoveling horse crap. Sure, it was harder and more demanding than being a DJ, but I dug the challenge.

"So to each and every one of you who had anything whatsoever to do with this, I have one thing to say: God Bless You.

"See you each weekday morning at 6AM....yawn."

Dave

Didja Hear? (Aug 3, 2010)

During the noontime lunchtime jams on Magic 92.5, the sound kept breaking up as if there was a buffering problem with a phone line. What's going on, engineers?

During 91X's Yesterday's Lunch, Mookie played a song titled "We Did It All For The Nookie." The song was all for the Mookie. If this was applied to a Star Wars character, it would be a wookiee (named Chewbacca). If it was about the Sesame Street blue monster, it would be a cookie.

Yesteday on Roger Hedgecock's show, he identified a sobering result of President Obama planning to let the Bush tax cuts expire: The federal income tax rate paid by the poor will go from 10 percent to 15 percent of their income, a sobering 50 percent rise in their federal income taxes. I thought Obama was helping the poor such as myself. I guess he's not.

Analysis: Dave vs. KGB (Aug 3, 2010)

Word to the radio on-air jocks: don't lie to your listeners. They will find out in due time what the truth really is.

Rumors Schumors (Aug 3, 2010)

PR: Jimmy Steele as CCRSD OM (Aug 3, 2010)

San Diego, California August 2, 2010 – Debbie Wagner, Clear Channel Radio San Diego President and Market Manager, today announced the appointment of Jimmy Steele as Operations Manager for the San Diego cluster. Steele will oversee all programming operations for Clear Channel’s San Diego seven radio stations while also acting as Program Director for KMYI, Star 94.1 FM.

In announcing Jimmy Steele’s appointment, Debbie Wagner said, “I am pleased to announce the promotion of our own Jimmy Steele to Operations Manager for the Clear Channel San Diego cluster. Jimmy is a strong, strategic and creative leader with a proven track record of building and managing successful stations, formats and on-air teams as a PD, CHR Brand Manager and Regional VP of Programming for Clear Channel. Under Jimmy’s leadership as Program Director of KMYI-FM Star 94.1 and KHTS-FM Channel 933, both stations have consistently achieved #1 ratings in each station’s respective demographics. Both KHTS & KMYI are enjoying national success among the highest rated radio stations within their respective formats. Jimmy’s extensive experience, knowledge of the San Diego market, respect of his peers and commitment to win make him the perfect choice to lead our programming efforts and continue to grow our strong cluster of outstanding talent and stations.”

“I'm honored to have been entrusted with this position and excited about working with our President and Market Manager, Debbie Wagner; Executive Vice President of Operations, Susan Karis; and Executive Vice President of Programming, Gene Romano in providing leadership to the very talented and passionate team we have here in San Diego! I look forward to working with our dynamic team as we lead the charge in strategizing solutions for the challenges which we face every day in this ever evolving business; one which I am crazy about,” added Steele.

Spanning his 27-year broadcast career, Jimmy Steele has just about done it all, ranging from on air talent, morning show host, Engineer, Program Director, Operations Manager, Brand Manager-Consultant and Regional Vice President of Programming. In addition to his radio background, Jimmy is an established national voice over artist and can be heard on radio, TV, and network syndication.

Jimmy’s success as an air talent includes markets such as Buffalo, NY and St. Louis, MO having claimed both Radio & Records and Billboard “Personality of the Year” awards as a morning show host, and “Achievement in Radio” award as an afternoon drive personality.

Since his first Program Director/Operations Manager position in 1992, Jimmy has established a proven track record consisting of multiple successes, which include #1 ratings at each station along his career path, and earning his teams “Station of the Year Awards” from both “Radio & Records” and “Billboard” while at WZEE in Madison, WRVW in Nashville, and WNCI in Columbus, where Jimmy later served as Clear Channel Regional Vice President of Programming.

About Clear Channel Radio

Clear Channel Radio is a leading radio company focused on serving local communities across the U.S. with an audience of more than 110 million listeners choosing Clear Channel Radio programming each week. The company's content can be heard on AM/FM stations, HD digital radio channels, on the Internet, at iheartradio.com and on the iheartradio mobile application on iPods and smart phones, and used via navigation systems from TomTom, Garmin and others. The company's operations include radio broadcasting, syndication and independent media representation. Clear Channel Radio is a division of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (OTCBB:CCMO), a leading global media and entertainment company. More information on the company can be found at www.clearchannel.com.

Editor's note: "PR" is a press release. No word of this has been altered or omitted for publication.

The Wires (Aug 3, 2010)

Jim McInnes: The DSC is Back

Skid Roper: Man of Mystery

All Access: Cumulus Louisville Combo Goes Dark. Excerpt: "ALL ACCESS hears that CUMULUS Classic Hits WLCL (CLASSIC HITS 93.9) and Sports WQKC-A (1450 THE TICKET)/LOUISVILLE have gone dark, with no indication if it's for good or not, although the stations' websites now redirect to CUMULUS' corporate site. The stations' signals went off the air midday TODAY (8/2)." Comment: Is this the first domino? Stay tuned.

Mitch Miller dies at 99 on July 31.

Gary Lycan: Orange County broadcaster Rich Buhler - on Costa Mesa-based KBRT 740 AM - acknowledged as the "Dean of Christian Talk Radio," has been diagnosed with an inoperable "mass on his pancreas".

Multichannel News: Comcast Inks CBS Retrans Deal. Comcast reached a 10-year retransmission consent deal with CBS on Monday, a pact that also includes carriage of a full suite of Showtime Networks and a pair of other cable networks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed,

Tom Taylor of radio-info: In a sign of the times, another PPM format change, another smooth jazzer gone. In Columbus, Ohio, it’s “Rewind” time as a smooth jazz station flips to an 80s based oldies station.

Dave, Shelly, and Chainsaw Return Today (August 2, 2010)

A DSC podcast page has been set up here: http://www.sandiegojack.com/global/Story.asp?s=12880043

A new DSC page on Jack is found here: http://www.sandiegojack.com/Global/category.asp?C=192804

Didja Hear? (August 2, 2010)

KPRI and 94/9 played a few new songs that were recently heard on the one-month old New Normal Music feed that Tom Leykis created. Looks like his influence is being heard across the radio dial nationwide. Readers? Recognize any songs New Normal broke out weeks before you began hearing it on your local rock station? Let me know which ones and where.