News Blips (Oct 2, 2010)

More-FM 98.9 is finally airing Rock en Espanol music. Their 30-day all shout-out in Espanol stunt finally ended...29 days late! MORONs!

The Wires (Oct 2, 2010)

Multichannel News: Fox Pulls Nets From Dish. Impasse Over Rates, Retrans Deal Looms. Fox pulled a number of cable channels and regional sports networks from Dish Network Oct. 1 as the midnight (Pacific Time) deadline passed without a carriage agreement, possibly setting the tone for a much nastier retransmission consent fight for Fox broadcasting stations next month. As expected, Fox pulled FX, National Geographic Channel and 19 regional sports networks from Dish subscribers. As of 7 a.m. Eastern Time, no deal had been reached. As is usual in carriage disputes, the main impasse appears to be over rates. Dish claims that Fox is asking for a more than 50% increase in carriage fees for the networks (which Fox disputes), a boost that the satellite carrier believes is unwarranted. Read more at the link.

Tom Taylor: Seattle shocker - Bob Rivers and CBS Radio's KZOK can't reach a renewal. The ten-year morning man at classic rock KZOK (102.5) and the creator of the brilliant "Twisted Tunes" song parodies just did his last show yesterday, the end of the month. Hard to imagine the station (or Seattle radio) without him. Before KZOK, he did eleven years at rocker KISW (99.9). When he left KISW, he had to sit out a one-year non-compete. At a guess, the non-compete period that begins today won't be quite that long. And Rivers, who's pioneered a personality website, smartphone apps and all the rest, has plenty of new-media ways to reach his fans. His BobRivers.com site is here - though as of last night there was nothing to indicate that he's off KZOK. But he's definitely outta there.

Pandora now means "radio" to many smart phone owners. The Jacobs-Arbitron "Goin' Mobile" project finds one 20-something Los Angeles man whose Pandora app has completely replaced local radio in his media life. A Baltimore wine-shop owner uses Pandora at home, at her two shops, and in her car. Several users mentioned the joy of discovering that they can take their Pandora (via smartphone) right to their car's sound system. Jacobs Media leaves a six-item "Goin' Mobile To-Do List" at each seat in the room, and "Wake up to Pandora!" is #6. Here are the other five - #1, Go to school on mobile [learn how it works]. #2, Don't view mobile through a radio prism. #3, Make your audio stream a first-class service. #4, Turn the smartphone's addictive quality into an opportunity. #5, "Mobilize" your sales strategy. And you already know #6 - come to grips with the unprecedented spread of competitor Pandora. This TRI Newsletter has called the 2010 NAB/RAB Radio Show "the Pandora convention", and Day 2 confirms that title, and the challenge from Tim Westergren's baby. AM/FM radio's going to have to fight in the car, the home and the workplace, and as several group heads said on Day 1, "it's got to be better than we've ever been before."

XM offers its most convenient in-car model yet - the plug-in "Snap." For 60 bucks you get a device that simply plugs into any car's accessory power port (once known as the cigarette lighter) and hooks up to a magnetically-mounted antenna. You change channels using the black stalk, you can store pre-set favorites, and you hear it on the vehicle's existing sound system. Note that this is an XM unit (not Sirius, since they're still on separate satellite systems). The company's Bob Law says the Snap offers "amazing value."

Multichannel News: Could Coax Hit 20 Gigabits Per Second? There's estimated to be around 5 Gigabits per second of total capacity in a 750-MHz cable system. But if you crank up the frequencies to operate at up into the 3-Gigahertz range, "you could get up to 20 Gigs over the RF plant," says SCTE chief technology officer Daniel Howard.

TV Tech: Hockey Night in Canada Goes 3D!

Rush returns to TV. Talk host Rush Limbaugh returns to TV this weekend, taking a key role in an episode of Fox-TV's animated "Family Guy." While he admits the risqué show "crosses the line every night that it's on," Limbaugh says "It was a new challenge - I'm into crossover." Rush spent several days in the sound booth recording the show, telling listeners he was paid union scale. The title of the episode is "Excellence In Broadcasting."

Leonard Maltin: The voice of Hollywood is stilled -- For several decades, Art Gilmore was the voice of Hollywood -- or so it seemed. He narrated so many coming-attractions trailers that it almost seemed as if he'd cornered the market.

Gary Lycan: Donny Osmond was in L.A. and Hollywood to start his newest enterprise, hosting "Lovesongs on the Coast," 7 p.m. to midnight Sundays on KOST 103.5 FM + Frank Kramer e-mailed a reminder about his new venture with Heidi Hamilton: "We are going to be web-casting, streaming live and taking calls every weekday from 10 to noon at heidiandfrank.com"

Olde Disc Jockeys Almanac: ODJA Trivia Who's the singer-songwriter with six Top 40 hits in the 1970s and early `80s, the biggest of which was almost 8½ minutes long -- on the 45 r.p.m. single, it had to be split into two parts, one on each side -- and is still being enjoyed and discussed to this day?

Inside Music Media: At first, Bruce Reese's comments made at Kurt Hanson's RAIN Summit in Washington, DC this week startled me. According to press accounts, Reese, the Bonnevile CEO, said, "I'm not sure I see streaming as a big revenue source, at least for our company". Say WHAT? Bonneville is the one radio company actually making significant money from new media.

Radio Ink: Opie & Anthony Re-Up With Sirius XM.

FMQB: NAB Announces Marconi Radio Award Winners.

Blackout Again! (Oct 1, 2010)

Bad news, Fox 5 won't be able to broadcast it locally because the game did not sell out with over 6,000 tickets remaining. Worse news, since the Charger game did not sell out, Fox 5 can show only one game instead of two. CBS 8 will air another game not opposite the game Fox 5 is airing in the San Diego market. TV Guide lists Fox 5 to air Redskins at Eagles at 1pm, and CBS 8 will air Broncos at Titans at 10am.

Changes Coming to LPTV and Other Matters in 2012 (Oct 1, 2010)

Furthermore, all low power television stations must be broadcasting in digital in the channel range of 2 to 51 inclusive and be out of the channel 52 to 69 range after December 31, 2011.

For those who live in areas served by a low power analog television station broadcasting on channel 6, you're familiar with the fact that you can hear the audio portion of the television station on 87.75 Mhz (or 87.7 for digital FM receivers). Some so-called Franken FM radio stations, which are in fact LPTV stations in the guise of an FM radio station, have taken advantage of this fact. By sometime in the year 2012, these Franken FMs will be gone. Why? They have to convert their signals to digital, which are not compatable with analog receivers.

Living near Mexico's northern border, we can listen to the audio portion of XETV channel 6 broadcasting in analog on the FM radio. Next year, Mexico will be accelerating its transition to digital television broadcasts beginning in 2011 and phasing out all of its analog broadcasts by sometime in 2015. This means no more analog television broadcasts in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico, rendering all analog TV sets useless.

Also, Mexico plans to phase out broadcasting in the 700 Mhz band (channels 52-69) by the end of 2012.

What does this mean for us living in San Diego and Tijuana?

For starters, there are low powered analog TV stations on channels 7, 17, 26, 35, 39, 41, two on 43, 46, 48, and 49 in the San Diego county area within the 2-51 channel range. There is a low power TV 69 in the area as well; 69 will be converting to digital on channel 50 sometime soon, but the rest of the LPTV channels need to convert to digital in two years; they may be either flash-cut to digital on the same channel, or move to another channel allocation (a low power 43 in South County may be moving to 42 in digital).

In Tijuana, there are only three analog TV channels without a digital channel operating yet (3, 45, and 49), but they'll be up soon. The remaining analog channels (6, 12, 21, 27, 33, and 57) all have digital companion channels. Here's what has to happen. Channel 57 has to leave its allocation, meaning, they can't use it for digital broadcasts, therefore, by 2013, channel 57 (XHUAA) might to continue its analog transmissions for another three years on another analog channel below channel 52.

After 2015, there will be no more analog TV transmissions in Mexico. Where the final digital assignments for the Tijuana stations are a big question, but I expect analog channels 3 and 6 to be dropped in favor of broadcasting its digital TV signals in the VHF 7-13 or UHF 14-51 bands. Digital TV signals on the VHF band 7-13 are difficult to pick up as the broadcasters are using relatively low power (about 20kw) compared to the maximum 316kw their analog transmissions can use. Putting the digital TV signals on the VHF low band 2-6 may be so problematic because of interference of radio frequency waves in that band, so broadcasting at 10kw will be difficult for many TV sets to pick up.

The Wires (Oct 1, 2010)

Jay Posner TV/Radio Sports. CBS is still showing its halftime NFL highlights in standard definition, even though it televises every game in HD. How is this possible? The NFL controls just about everything else with TV; can't the league mandate CBS spend a few bucks and return viewers to the 21st century?

John Maffei TV/Radio Sports. To summarize: XX Sports 1090's new lineup: 6-10am: Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith. 10am-2pm: Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton. 2-6pm: Darren Smith. 6-9pm: John Kentera. ESPN National Feed programs late/overnights and weekends.

XTRA 1360's new lineup: 6am-9am: Dan Patrick. 9am-NOON: Jim Rome. NOON-3pm: Chris Ello and Ben Higgins. 3-4pm: The "Chargers Power Hour". 4-7pm: Josh Rosenberg teaming with Charod Williams. Fox Sports Network feed programs late/overnights and weekends.

ESPN 1700: 6am-9am: ESPN programming. 9am-2pm: Financial/Brokered programming. 2pm-6am: ESPN programming. Weekends: ESPN programming.

Mexico Speeds Up Digital-TV Transition, Will Compete With Grupo Televisa

FCC Press Release: FCC "unlocks" government data by promoting new (and old) online tools (the broadband speed test is always informative):

Broadband Speed Test

Fox News: The master encryption code that protects most high-definition video content has been cracked, an Intel spokesman told FoxNews.com.

CNET: XM Satellite Radio that works in any car

The Wires (Sep 30, 2010)

Randy Dotinga: NPR's Norris on her family's hidden past. ARTICLE: The voice of National Public Radio anchor Michele Norris doesn't betray her color or her past. Many listeners don't realize that she's black, or that her family has a history that has much to tell about racial relations in this country.

USA Today: Portable music is no longer just about the iPod. New apps from online music subscription services turn smartphones and other mobile devices into "celestial jukeboxes." They can play millions of songs, on demand, anywhere, for a monthly fee of $10.

Inside Music Media: We often look at the world through our own eyes and experiences. Radio people think there will always be 24/7 radio and record labels apparently think they can get the same high profits for selling music that they once earned for selling vinyl or CDs. The generation that is now coming of age û Generation Y û is reshaping everything. It is strong in numbers at about 70 million and the last Gen YÆer has already been born but hasnÆt made it to college yet.

Dave Kohl: The Monday Night Football game between Chicago and Green Bay drew the highest viewership for Monday Night Football for this young season around the country. Chicago area viewers proved once again that the Bears remain the big media draw on TV even as the Blackhawks prepare to defend their Stanley Cup championship. The Bears' last second win over the Green Bay Packers on Monday night (9/27) drew a rating of more than 38 even with some fans struggling to find the telecast.

Fifteen Nominated For Induction Into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame For 2011. It's a diverse group that's been nominated for induction into THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME for 2011. The CLEVELAND-based Hall proposed 15 acts for this year's induction ceremony. ALICE COOPER, THE BEASTIE BOYS, BON JOVI, NEIL DIAMOND, CHIC, DONOVAN, DR JOHN, J GEILS BAND, LL COOL J, DARLENE LOVE, LAURA NYRO, DONNA SUMMER, JOE TEX, TOM WAITS and CHUCK WILLIS made the list ..

Multichannel News: Congress Passes Digital Disability Access Bill. Bill requires online video captioning, restores FCC's video description rules.

Tom Taylor: For Internet in the car, ô2011 is going to be the year everybody's waiting for.ö That's Livio Radio founder/CEO Jake Sigal at the opening panel of the RAIN Summit in D.C. Lots of talk from there about the Internet on wheels, and the ubiquity of smart phones. One panelist predicts there will be more smart phones than TVs or computers. And of course smart phones really are tiny computers that seldom get used very much for making telephone calls. And from the Law of Unintended Consequences file - in the four states that have enacted "no texting laws", the accident rates have actually risen. Why? You can't stop people from texting, apparently, because now they're hunching over (behind the wheel) to avoid detection by the cops.

XX Sports To Change Schedule (Sep 29, 2010)

Jim Rome's syndicated show that airs from 9am-NOON will move to XTRA Sports 1360 beginning on that day. Also at XTRA, the station has named Charod Williams as a co-host to its 3-7pm afternoon drive show with Josh Rosenberg.

San Diego 1700 is now ESPN Radio 1700...Catch the San Diego #Padres, the #MLB Playoffs and the World Series ESPN Radio 1700.

Jay Posner TV/Radio Sports says that XEPE-AM, better known as San Diego 1700, will begin carrying ESPN Radio programming on Wednesday, Oct. 6, the same day the network begins broadcasting the baseball playoffs.

The Wires (Sep 29, 2010)

Multichannel News: Net Neutrality Draft Surfaces. Framework Includes Preventing FCC From Reclassifying Broadband As Title II Service

Radio in Sights: We are told the next battleground for listeners will be on the mobile phone. If that is the case, radio has its work cut out. The fight will be over a fraction of mobile phone users.

Pioneer Press: Judge Judy beats Oprah in daytime ratings.

AC KOST/Los Angeles adds the syndicated Donny Osmond "Lovesongs" Show for Sunday nights, 7 p.m. - midnight.

KHTS (Channel 933)/San Diego PD Joe Haze has named night host Frankie Vinci (aka Frankie V.) as MD of the Clear Channel CHR station.

The Wires (Sep 28, 2010)

Study: Radio Still Drives In-Car Listening. A study of the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada by Vision Critical finds that broadcast radio "remains by far the most common media used in the car," followed by CDs or cassettes. But the picture is changing: One in four drivers report that they regularly play personal digital music through the car stereo.

All Access: 24/7 Comedy Radio Debuts On KFNY-A/Riverside, CA. CLEAR CHANNEL Spanish Oldies KDIF-A (LA PRECIOSA 1440)/RIVERSIDE-SAN BERNARDINO, CA has become KFNY-A (FUNNY 1440), the first affiliate of 24/7 COMEDY RADIO. The station is debuting the all-comedy format TODAY (9/27).

SD Union-Tribune Jacks Up Prices Again (Sep 27, 2010)

The U-T has almost doubled its daily paper price since May of 2008, the last time I bought the daily paper just after they raised the price from 50 cents to 75 cents.

Hasn't the U-T stopped bleeding red ink by now? Aren't the advertisers coming back? There are still internal problems with the U-T which is why their paper is getting smaller, the price is getting higher, and their readership seems to be dropping. With the price at a dollar with tax, expect even more readers to leave the San Diego Union-Tribune in favor of websites with free news on the web.

The U-T isn't what it used to be back in the day. It's a shell of its former self. A dollar a day is just too much to ask for for a daily paper that's 1/3 of the size of what it was about 20 years ago.

The San Diego Union-Tribune can't do newspapers right. Time to fold the paper (pun intended.)