Mission Federal ArtWalk

San Diego's Original Fine Art Festival features more than 300 artists showing and selling their work, more than 30 music and dance performances and interactive art for families at KidsWalk. ArtWalk brings the art community in San Diego together for this annual festival that offers visitors an unmatched opportunity to meet artists and purchase their work. Admission is free!

For more information, go to http://www.missionfederalartwalk.org/

C'Mon Daytime Confidential! Show This News (Apr 30, 2011)

Is this the attitude a blogger should be taking? This blogger is embracing change, although I watch AMC every now and then, I feel that the actors would be better off finding new roles in the entertainment industry to explore such as motion pictures, prime time series, cable, pay TV series, even hosting their own talk shows on the shopping channels.

New York Daily News 4/26/11: Soap opera fans protest at ABC's offices over cancellation of 'All My Children,' 'One Life to Live' Here's an excerpt: "A distraught group of 30 soap opera fans gathered outside ABC studios to protest the imminent cancellation of iconic soaps "All My Children and "One Life to Live.""

30? That's all the number of people showed up to protest the cancellations of the two soaps? Just 30? If it was something like the number of people that filled Times Square on New Years Eve, then that would be a serious number; but only 30 people? Not 30,000. 30. My conclusion? Daytime soap operas have run its course as a genre as reported in the New York Daily News.

So what should these people do? Call on Obama to prop up the two soaps with federal funds in the same way he propped up two of the U.S. automobile manufacturers and several banks?

New York Daily News had a poll on the link above:

Q: Should ABC cancel the soaps, 'All My Children' and 'One Life to Live'?

Choices:
a. Yes, it's a pure ratings decision.
b. No, you can't take away my beloved soaps!
c. Who cares?

What were the results?

52 percent. Yes, it's a pure ratings decision.
5 percent. No, you can't take away my beloved soaps!
44 percent. Who cares?

So to whoever is running Daytime Confidential's website, get your head out of the sand and face the fact. 95 percent are indifferent to the 5 percent that say that without their soaps, they have no lives to live. Why isn't Daytime Confidential featuring the New York Daily News story, link, excerpt, and all? Why aren't you reporting this, DC?

As William Shatner once said on a Saturday Night Live sketch about a Star Trek convention: "Get a life."

My opinion. The writing on the soaps are just not up to the same kind of snuff as they were in the 80s when I started watching Luke and Laura on the run on General Hospital in 1980 by sheer accident of channel surfing. Where's the relation to real world issues? Yeah, the young ladies look good, but you can't have a show with just hot actresses showing skin if the writing is just plain uninspiring.

As for production? They seem to be more of a hack job compared to any filmed prime time series. The lighting is just plain off. The budgets are so small that producers just can't do what they want to do such as on location shootings, more realistic outdoor scenes, better sequeuing between scenes, fading to black instead of going dark when going into commercial (AMC is guilty for this), diverse ideas, reflecting real issues more realistically, chase and accident scenes (seen what an AMC car crash looks like on a low budget? Don't ask me to describe it), and others I can't think of.

And what's with AMC's repeated use of a garden or some park for an outdoor scene again and again and again? Again, no budget for something like a Starbuck's on location shoot?

I swear that that tight budgets have caused these shows to look cheap and unreal. The networks wanted smaller budgets. They got it, along with lower ratings.

All My Children should be sold by Disney to Showtime or HBO. Let the producers loosen up the budgets so they can produce a more realistic weekly (no more daily) series. No more hokey park scenes or stupid fake car crash scenes.

With daytime soaps running five hours a week, first run only when most people are working, ratings down, production costs up, lack of marketability (try selling an entire year's worth of Young and the Restless on DVD?), and the tired video tape look that "All in the Family" pioneered back in 1971, it's no wonder the viewers are finding better shows to watch without the need of a VCR.

Even this longtime AMC on and off viewer admits that this show was history....back in 1997 when the stories started to go south in quality. Coincidentally, South Park debuted the same month I quit watching AMC in August of that year.

And what's with this hokey Erica Kane kidnapping storyline? Writers can do better than that. Pick up the pacing. Stories drag on from the May sweeps to the November sweeps and beyond to next February. People are sick of it and are tuning out in droves.

Furthermore, reality shows, as much as I detest them, are on in prime time when everybody's home to watch them, and they get good ratings. It's the same thing with the Univision telenovelas (soap operas that run for a limited time in prime time). People still love a serialized series (I don't call them soaps) whether it's a miniseries, telenovela, or reality series like Survivor or Jersey Shore. Prime time is when most of the white collar people are home to watch the shows that are on when they're ready to see them. They don't care to tape a show at noon and watch it in prime time, or at least don't want to bother with it anyway.

More women are watching what the men are watching: sports. The NBA playoffs on cable are doing record ratings. The lure of the athletic drama is enough to lure the women to watch the same kinds of shows the men are watching. Ratings for Lifetime, Oxygen, WE, SoapNet, Hallmark, and other drama channels are on the wane. The women are finally realizing that the same old scripted dramas are getting boring and repetetive, and can't get their men to watch them with them. The men aren't going to watch what the women are watching, so the women might as well watch what the men are watching for bonding.

Prime time is where the drama is at nowadays. Daytime is better suited for cooking, talk, game, and judge shows. Even reruns of The Facts of Life in daytime is preferred over yet another cheaply produced soap opera scene.

Since there's no future in blogging about daytime soaps, let's get off of the soap box (pun intended), and back to what we do best. Radio blogging.

Westwood One To Focus On Expanding Network Radio Programming (Apr 30, 2011)

"Going forward, Westwood One will focus strategically on expanding the Company's leadership position as the premium content provider of news, information, talk, music, and entertainment programming in network radio," said Rod Sherwood, President of Westwood One. "The network radio marketplace is growing, and we are aggressively pursuing new opportunities in programming and distribution. Selling the Metro Traffic business, including Sigalert, allows us to focus on our network radio strengths."

In keeping with this strategy, this year Westwood One has launched The Daily Wrap (with the Wall Street Journal), The Robert Wuhl Show (sports talk), Urbanski, (conservative talk), Rocsi on the Radio and a new suite of Rick Dees programming.

Last year Westwood One launched more new products than any other network radio syndicator. Distribution expanded with new programs like Dr. Oz, VH1 Classic Rock Nights, Perez Hilton's Fab 30 Countdown and a new Sports Prep Service. Billy Bush, Dennis Miller and BET's 106 and Park continue to enjoy wide popularity, and anticipate further growth this year. In sports, Westwood One signed new multi-year agreements to continue as the exclusive network radio partner of each of the NFL and the NCAA. In addition, the Company had record distribution for the NFL Sunday afternoon and NCAA football packages.

"Westwood One built its brand by delivering high quality programming to our affiliates and advertising customers," said Sherwood. "We will continue to invest in new programming, as well as expand our digital business this year, to satisfy our customer's needs in the marketplace."

This transaction strengthens the Company's balance sheet and positions it for further organic growth and/or M&A activity. Approximately $104 million of the proceeds will be used to pay down 100% of the Company's outstanding 15.00% senior secured notes (notes held by the Company's controlling shareholder, Gores Radio Holdings will remain outstanding).

About Westwood One

Westwood One (NASDAQ: WWON) is one of the nation's largest providers of network radio programming in the U.S, providing more than 5,000 radio stations with over 150 news, sports, music, talk and entertainment programs, features, live events and digital content.

Westwood One Continues To Grow Rick Dees Affiliations Nationally (Apr 30, 2011)

"Rick Dees' voice is nothing short of legendary and his brand one of the most iconic in radio," said Dennis Green, Westwood One EVP Affiliate Sales. "Stations want fresh, innovative programming without sacrificing what's been a proven success with their listeners and advertisers. We are pleased to deliver both with Rick Dees."

In addition to new Rick Dees programming, Westwood One has also taken over syndication of the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 and Top 20 countdowns for CHR, Hot AC, and Mainstream AC Stations.

One of the most listened to voices in the world, Rick Dees covers the earth with hit music every week. He has been awarded Billboard's Radio Personality of the year an incredible 15 times in a row. Add to this achievement a People's Choice Award, Grammy nomination, double Platinum album, Late Night TV host, actor, and founder/partner of the Fine Living Network which is now the Cooking Channel on Scripps Networks. He is the first radio personality to have a #1 show in China.

About Westwood One

Westwood One (NASDAQ: WWON) is one of the nation's largest providers of network radio programming and one of the largest domestic providers of traffic information in the U.S. Westwood One serves more than 5,000 radio and 182 TV stations in the U.S. Westwood One provides over 150 news, sports, music, talk and entertainment programs, features and live events to numerous media partners. Through its Metro Traffic business, Westwood One provides traffic reporting and local news, sports and weather to more than 2,250 radio and TV stations. Westwood One also provides digital and other cross-platform delivery of its Network and Metro Traffic content to radio, television and newspaper affiliates.

Meet Phillip Rivers (Apr 30, 2011)

He will be at the Cox Santee building on 9349 Mission Gorge Road. The store is next to Henry's Market.

Radio Wires (Apr 30, 2011)

Gary Lycan: K-Earth 101 FM weekend DJ Charlie Tuna, a legend in Top 40 and Classic Hits radio for five decades, has landed a dream television role - literally. He stars as afternoon drive jock "Charlie Luna" in the new KCET-TV series "The Dreamsters," debuting at 8 p.m. Sunday, May 8 - Mother's Day

San Francisco Chronicle: "Oldies" no longer means "Earth Angel," Elvis and the Beatles. "Oldies 103.7" considers Blondie, David Bowie and John Cougar Mellencamp oldies, a label that until recently radio avoided. "Oldies" sounded ... well, old. But it has been rehabilitated, and it hasn't hurt that "old school" has been used successfully to describe classic R&B hits on stations such as KISQ

SiriusXM Radio is changing the channel lineup on May 4. It may be necessary to "refresh" your satellite radio on that date. Click the link to download the new channel lineup that's effective May 4.

Westwood One To Focus On Expanding Network Radio Programming. It sold its Metro Traffic division to Clear Channel Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of Clear Channel Communications, Inc.

Now and Then: A new study by knowDigital shows in-car streaming has grown to 14%. That's the percentage of listeners who stream at least 5 minutes per week in-car. And those that stream listen to other forms of radio.

fmqb: Howard Stern will begin his new, reduced broadcast schedule for Sirius XM, starting next week. According to The Examiner, Stern told listeners that starting May 2, Stern will only do three live episodes a week, every other week. Stern told listeners, "I don't want to hear any nonsense about it because the option was either leave or work a few less days and I thought it would be better to stay on the air. Okay? Look, I know, listen, everyone would rather have the show every day five days a week. I figured it was better if we showed up three days a week, sometimes four days a week or whatever, be here for you, touch base and do a good show." The show will be live Monday through Wednesday next week, then Monday through Thursday the following week, and alternating weeks going forward.

John Maffei TV/Radio Sports: Fox expected to swoop in after Padres leave Channel 4 Excerpt: "After 15 years on Channel 4 San Diego, the Padres are leaving the network. Where the team will land is up in the air, but sources close to the negotiations say the Padres have a deal in place with Fox. An agreement is so close to being consummated that, according to sources, it has been turned over to the Major League Baseball commissioner's office for approval. The dollar figures being thrown around -- if they're anywhere close to accurate -- are ridiculous. One report has Fox paying $1.4 billion over 20 years. That's $70 million a season. Channel 4 was paying about $15 million a season and offered about $16-18 million on a new deal. The Padres were asking for something between $25-30 million. So the $70 million figure is hard to comprehend. While the dollar figure is unknown, there seems to be little doubt that the Padres will land on Fox, which is expected to establish a San Diego network, much like Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports Prime Ticket in Los Angeles. On the radio side, the Padres' contract with XX Sports 1090 will expire at the end of this season. It would make sense, for both parties, for the Padres to stay put. The Padres, however, are believed to be asking for $6 million in rights fees. The station currently pays a little more than $5 million and is having a hard time making a profit now." Read more at the link.

Tom Taylor: "WKRP in Cincinnati" is for sale - the low power TV station by that name, that is. Operator Eliott Block had a few good years in the last decade and "moved from Golf Manor into a 17,000-square foot Roselawn warehouse", says the Cincinnati Enquirer's John Kiesewetter. Around that time he re-branded WBQC-LP as "WKRP" - "though he didn't have the rights to the old CBS sitcom", says Kiesewetter. And the actual FCC-granted WKRP calls belong to an LPTV in Key West. For Eliott Block in Cincinnati, the economy got worse, the lack of full carriage on the local Time Warner cable system was a problem - and now Hearst's WLWT-TV intends to change the content of one of its digital channels from all-weather to re-runs of "M*A*S*H", "Happy Days", "Hawaii 5-0" and other chestnuts of the medium. That's the general kind of stuff that Eliott Block has been living off of, and he says that after 20 years, it's time to sell.

Other Wires (Apr 30, 2011)

Usage Caps Will Now Apply To 56% Of Broadband Users. AT&T to Impose Limits and Overage Fees on DSL Customers Starting May 2. With AT&T set to implement usage caps and overage charges for all high-speed Internet customers next Monday, May 2, more than 42 million broadband subscribers in the U.S. will be subject to explicit pre-set limits on how much bandwidth they can use on a monthly basis. All told, approximately 56% of the country's 75 million broadband subscribers will have some form of caps, according to a Multichannel News analysis based on Leichtman Research Group's subscriber estimates for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Radio Wires (Apr 29, 2011)

Other Wires (Apr 29, 2011)

Multichannel News: TNT, On Record NBA Playoffs Ratings Pace, Scoring Biggest Gain With Affluent Viewers TNT's coverage of the NBA playoffs is not only off to the best Nielsen start in cable television history, but the network says it's delivering the biggest increase among affluent viewers of any professional sports league ever. Coming off its most-watched and highest-rated season in its 27 years of airing the NBA, Turner Sports is continuing apace with those measures during the 2011 postseason.

Multichannel News: ESPN Dunks 23% Audience Advance With NBA Postseason ESPN and broadcast teammate ABC are dunking their share of viewer gains with the NBA playoffs. Through its first seven telecasts, ESPN averaged 3.58 million watchers, a 23% jump from a 2.91 million mark at the same stage of the 2010 postseason, according to Nielsen data. ESPN has registered a 20% gain to 2.64 million households and an 18% ratings improvement to a 2.6 from a 2.2 last year.

Broadcasting and Cable: Study: Viewers Name Discovery, History, Food Network as Favorite Channels. When asked to name their favorite channels, consumers listed networks that they do not actually watch, according to TV measurement companies, MediaDailyNews reported

Radio Wires (Apr 28, 2011)

Randy Dotinga: Sing a song of hostile intent.

Matt Stone is named APD/MD at Modern AC KSCF (Sophie @ 103.7)/San Diego, effective Monday, May 9. "I am absolutely thrilled at this amazing opportunity. To be joining [PD] Charese [Frug‚] and the Sophie team in San Diego is a dream come true! I cannot wait to be on the ground in SD and get to work," says Stone.

Jim Mandich, Miami sportscaster and former Dolphin, loses his last fight. Mandich, part of the NFL Dolphins' legendary undefeated 1972 team, was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in early 2010 but didn't miss a single game last season, working as the radio color analyst. Today's "Finsider" Dolphins show on WINZ (940) is dedicated to Mandich

Radio Wires (Apr 27, 2011)

Former PBS Station KCET Sells Historic Studio to Church of Scientology

Other Wires (Apr 27, 2011)

It's official -- Katie Couric reveals in People interview that she is leaving CBS.

AFLAC duck's new voice: Radio exec Dan McKeague replaces Gilbert Gottfried, fired for Japan jokes

Radio Wires (Apr 26, 2011)

KnowDigital Finds That 'The Future Is Now' For In-Car Streaming Radio

May 4 is Channel Change Day at Sirius XM. Some channels are being merged (Willie's Place and the Roadhouse) or moved to the Internet service (southern gospel enLighten). But the change that most subscribers will notice, nearly three years after the merger, is making the channel numbers consistent across both Sirius and XM.

Tom Taylor: All-comedy does a 4.0 share in Kansas City - on an FM translator. Ratings scholar Chris Huff scans the new March Arbitron PPMs and says "The big question prompted by the Kansas City book is, What market will see the next all-comedy station?'" Huff says "The HD2-to-translator all-comedy format of 'Funny 102.5' got attention last month when it debuted with a 1.5 share. But now it shoots to an unprecedented 4.0 share. That's unprecedented for the format and unprecedented for this new breed of HD2-to-translator operation." More from Day 3 of the March-book PPMs coming up in today's TRI Newsletter. And speaking of HD multicasts and FM translators -

Other Wires (Apr 26, 2011)

New York Times: Broadcasters have long been under siege, their audiences slipping away to cable television, their advertisers defecting to the Internet. Although giving up spectrum would go unnoticed by most viewers, the fight to hold onto a chunk of the airwaves could be the industry's biggest battle in years