The Wires (Sep 17, 2010)

Chicago Tribune: Tribune Co. launching digital subchannel Antenna TV network

Jay Posner Radio/TV Sports: Uncertain times at XX Sports Radio. Schedule alterations coming soon, but that could be only the start of changes at all-sports station.

New York Times: GM to add in-car Pandora access to OnStar system

Humberto Luna needs no introduction to Spanish radio fans in southern California, but expect San Diego-based "W Radio 690 AM" XEWW to promote him in his new weekday morning drive shift. Luna worked in L.A. for years and W Radio promises "entertainment, news and humor" from him, aimed at its female Hispanic target audience. The rest of the day's also getting freshened up. There's a new 3-5pm topical talk show named La Ventana, hosted by Mirthala Salinas. Middays continue to offer health advice from Dr. Elmer Huerta and the current-affairs talk show La Voz del Pueblo. XEWW is the former Mexican super-power XETRA - gonzo signal.

STL Media: Satellite radio came along. I got it in my car and never looked back. Since then I can truly say I have not listened to broadcast AM or FM in my car - ever. Now we're hearing that Internet radio may soon become available in cars. As one who already owns two fantastic Internet radios in my home and who has wired them so they can be heard in every room, I'll be one of the first to get a set in my car, and I am hoping I can still keep satellite. My history as a broadcaster probably qualifies me as a wonk of sorts, so it might be doubtful that many other people would want Internet radio in their cars, but a new study recently released by Mark Ramsey Media notes that Internet car radio would have a lot of appeal.

Gary Lycan: There are times in talk radio when no one's talking. This is one of them. We're all playing the guessing game "who will replace Frosty, Heidi & Frank on KABC/790 AM?" Al Rantel, perhaps? Doug McIntyre? Marc Germain?

Inside Music Media: Predictions are just teasing unless they turn out to come true. The Clear Channel demise - predicted. Consolidation destroying radio - predicted (during their glory days yet). The rise of digital media and a new generation - yes, that's one of the reasons you read me. So, I've got four new ones that I'd like you to tuck away in the back of your mind.

The Wires (Sep 17, 2010)

Inside Radio: Chris Berry exits L.A.'s KSPN. ESPN Radio owned-and-operated "710 ESPN" KSPN, Los Angeles general manager Chris Berry has resigned. Berry had been with Disney's ABC Radio since 1996, first at ABC News Radio then as general manager for WMAL, Washington where he remained with the station after it was sold to Citadel. In January 2009 he returned to Disney as GM of KSPN. No word on a successor.

Multichannel News: Marcus: Time Warner Cable Could Lose Subs in Q3. Time Warner Cable chief financial officer Rob Marcus told an audience at an industry conference Wednesday that the second-largest cable operator in the country is on track to lose customers in the third quarter, a reflection of the stagnant economy.

NFL renews deal with Sirius XM. The satcaster appears to have struck an agreement with one of two high profile content providers whose deals are up for renewal. "I believe we have a deal with the NFL," CEO Mel Karmazin told today's Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. "Our lawyers are working on it." But inking an agreement with morning man Howard Stern remains elusive.

Multichannel News: ESPN Nets Best 'MNF' Opening Doubleheader. Continuing the success enjoyed by the league's other programmers, ESPN scored its highest-rated and most-viewed opening night with its doubleheader presentation of Monday Night Football.

Gary Lycan: There are times in talk radio when no one's talking. This is one of them. We're all playing the guessing game "who will replace Frosty, Heidi & Frank on KABC/790 AM?" Al Rantel, perhaps? Doug McIntyre? Marc Germain?

John Maffei TV/Radio Sports: Pay the price to watch SDSU. Aztecs fans must pluck down bucks to watch game against Missouri. Excerpt: I was pretty fired up to see them Saturday against a good Missouri squad in a game that kicks off at 4 p.m. To do that, however, is going to take a little doing. The game can only be seen on a pay-per-view basis. And it will cost you $39.95 if you can get it on DirecTV (Channel 787), Dish Network (Channel 465) or AT&T U-Verse (Channel 104). So I'll listen to Ted Leitner and Chris Ello call the contest on KOGO (600). Also: San Diego has been without an ESPN Radio outlet since the plug was pulled at 98.9-FM on Sept. 1. ESPN officials said, "There is a lot of movement in the sports radio landscape in San Diego. We are in constant discussions with multiple partners to select the right opportunity for the fans in the market. We have several suitors in this market, so we're taking our time and finding the right match." ESPN Radio is the home of the Major League Baseball playoffs and World Series.

The Wires (Sep 16, 2010)

All Access: Internet In The Car: Will It Become Radio's Friend Or Foe? The day is not far off that you will be able to bookmark your favorite radio station, or stream it into your car and theoretically drive anywhere listening to what you want -- without the restriction of a tower!

AOL Radio Blog: 100 Worst Songs Ever. Excerpts: 096 'You're Beautiful' James Blunt. 093 'Jenny From the Block' Jennifer Lopez. 090 'Heartbeat' Don Johnson. 083 'Feelings' Morris Albert. 80 'My Humps' Black Eyed Peas. 77 'Butterfly' Crazytown. 67 'Rumors' Lindsay Lohan. 51 'You Light Up My Life' Debby Boone. 26 'Afternoon Delight' Starland Vocal Band. 18 'Achy Breaky Heart' Billy Ray Cyrus. 10 'Macarena' Los Del Rio. Complete list at the link.

Santa Barbara AM Goes From Talk To Spanish Oldies. RINCON BROADCASTING Talk KSPE-A (formerly KIST-A)/SANTA BARBARA has flipped to Spanish Oldies as "LA PRECIOSA," simulcasting KIST-F (formerly KSPE-F).

Edwin Newman, Longtime NBC News Correspondent, Dead At 91

Randy Dotinga: San Diego bucks radio's best wisdom . You could call San Diego the land of the radio undead. In other places around the country over the past few years, radio programmers gave last rites to three kinds of formats: jammin' oldies, oldies and smooth jazz. Listeners were tired of the formats, the thinking went, and they just weren't going to make as much money as other kinds of music. Surprise! All three formats are doing well here. How well? The stations that play them all rank among the 10 most popular stations in town, according to the most recent Arbitron ratings. One of them, Magic 92.5, ranks way up there in second place. Read more at the link.

Mark Ramsey Media: The Danger to Terrestrial Radio posed by Internet Radio in Cars. Excerpt: One third of radio listeners would listen less to local radio if they had easy access to Internet Radio built into their cars. One out of three radio listeners would listen less to terrestrial radio if they had an Internet Radio installed in their car -- Given a choice between an Internet radio in their car and a radio built into their iPod or mp3 player, almost 60% of radio listeners prefer the Internet radio - Those are two of the alarming statistics from a recent national study Mark Ramsey Media conducted in conjunction with VIP Research

Also at Mark Ramsey Media Blog.

Inside Music Media: Adam Carolla may be able to attract 400,000 podcast downloads and not make money, but Howard Stern can. Sirius Satellite Radio listeners who have to lumber through the negotiating period running up to every Stern contract expiration are used to the game. Talk that Stern will not be back. That he'll return to terrestrial radio (not likely). Just do three days a week at Sirius for the same money and on and on. Howard Stern is one figure who could make it in digital app-dom if he wanted to do it. But stop!

Border Blaster Issues and Answers (Sep 15, 2010)

You would think that XX Sports 1090 is a Los Angeles radio station because of this weird signal reception issue. Truth is, XX Sports 1090 has its transmitter based in Tijuana; its 50,000 watts of power is directional towards Los Angeles, and its reception is weaker when you get too far away from its directional signal path, which is why Campo, which is about 60 miles away from the XX Sports transmitter, is geting a weaker signal than Long Beach, which is about 150 miles away from XX Sports transmitter.

Also, in the past, XEPRS's previous formats had studios based in Hollywood and its sales department billed 1090 as a Los Angeles radio station; same with AM 690 and AM 950 in their past with advertisements aimed at Los Angeles. Why? To get more advertising revenue compared to billing itself as a San Diego radio station.

Since these three Tijuana/Rosarito stations are at least 50,000 watts towards Los Angeles, it only makes sense to bill themselves as Los Angeles radio stations.

Radio Blips (Sep 15, 2010)

Will we soon be hearing ESPN Radio making its return on 1700 AM?

Anybody notice that Magic 92.5 has stopped playing 20-minute old school medley sets at Noon and 5pm? Haven't heard them for weeks.

The DSC returns LIVE on Jack-FM Wednesday morning. Personal family issues were involved, so I won't cover that here as its beyond the scope of this blog.

The Wires (Sep 15, 2010)

Bridge Ratings: A new study by Bridge Ratings with data from Internet radio measurement firm Ando Media, shows consumer passion about Internet Pure Play radio has increased significantly while listenership to terrestrial radio Internet simulcast has slipped - The report found that 84% of the total on-line Internet radio listening group regularly listened to AM/FM simulcast streams in a typical week; 62% regularly listened to pure-play Internet radio streams.

San Diego Union Tribune: Broadcast Company of the Americas, which operates Padres flagship XX Sports Radio AM 1090, has ousted its chief executive and longtime San Diego radio station entrepreneur John Lynch.

Jacobs Media: You have to believe that down the road, thereÆs every reason to believe that many of us will be connecting and engaging via sites that arenÆt Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg may be thinking that he needs as much innovation flexibility as possible. It also makes you wonder what the radio business might have been like in 2010 if the vast majority of its largest companies had remained privately held.

Inside Music Media: When was the last time you bought a radio that wasnÆt attached to a car? Have you ever purchased an HD radio anywhere û not as part of an auto entertainment center that came with your car? Ever buy an iPod Nano for the FM Tuner? Own a Kindle and an iPad? I just bought a Kindle because it causes less eye strain when reading at dayÆs end. ThatÆs two new readers. No new radios.

Dave Kohl: I can't help but wonder how Fox Sports execs now feel about the hire of Mike Pereira for their NFL coverage now that the former head of NFL officiating failed miserably during the early games of opening Sunday. I was watching the Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears telecast at the time of the over-ruled "almost" TD catch that directly changed the outcome of the game in Chicago's favor.

Tom Taylor of radio-info: Veteran San Diego operator John Lynch is out as CEO of Broadcasting Company of the Americas. This isnÆt receivership and itÆs not Chapter 11, and itÆs not even the lenders û itÆs the main equity holders of BCA, led by the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, who are also in the casino business. As recently as January, they approved of Lynch cutting a deal to manage the trio of former Finest City Broadcasting stations in addition to the three BCA stations. But yesterday morning, Lynch was replaced as CEO by Patrick Communications principal Larry Patrick. Lynch, the onetime principal of the San Diego-based Noble Broadcast Group, is gone, and so is his daughter. SheÆd been a sales manager. Patrick says there will be no other immediate changes in personnel, formats or jocks. HeÆll be working with BCA general manager Greg Wilson. The BCA stations are ôXX Sports Radio" XEPRS (1090), the flagship of the San Diego Padres. (And just how onerous is the rights deal for the ôPodsö?) Also talk "San Diego 1700" XEPE, and oldies "105.7 The Walrus" XHPRS. The Local Media of America stations are modern rock "91X" XETRA-FM, rhythmic "Z90" XHITZ and rhythmic oldies "Magic 92.5" XHRM. ôLMAö is backed by Chicago-based Thoma Bravo LLC, which acquired the debt of Finest City Broadcasting out of foreclosure. Lynch intended to use this platform to look for additional opportunities. Looks like heÆll be starting over from a new platform. Note that all these stations whose call letters begin with ôXö are licensed to Mexico. They can be operated by non-Mexican citizens û but not owned by them.

In Reno, Wilks Broadcasting spied the hole for country and sacrificed smooth jazz KJZS (92.1) to become "92.1 the Wolf."

The Wires (September 14, 2010)

Business News: Sirius Looks Fit to Outgrow Howard Stern -- If Stern lands elsewhere, analysts say Sirius XM Radio should keep attracting listeners - and at lower cost.

New York Times: This month, the FCC is likely to approve opening the door to supercharged Wi-Fi networks that will do away with the need to find a wireless hot spot and will provide the scaffolding for new applications that are not yet imagined.

Veteran broadcast manager and station owner Larry Patrick has been appointed CEO of Broadcast Company of the Americas, also known as BCA Radio, which operates several Mexican stations that serve the San Diego market. He replaces John Lynch, who has exited. The company says the management change won't have an impact on any BCA Radio operations.

Congratulations to SAN DIEGO STATE noncommercial News-Talk KPBS-F/SAN DIEGO, which celebrated its 50th anniversary SATURDAY (9/11). KPBS signed on the air on SEPTEMBER 11th, 1960 as KEBS, adding a TV station on Channel 15 in 1967; the stations became KPBS-F and KPBS-TV in 1970.