03-31-07Radio One wins one, loses one ... so now, I guess they're Radio Even. From the FCC: The Commission has before it the captioned application
of Radio One Licenses, LLC (the "Licensee") for renewal of its license for Station WFUN-FM, Bethalto, Illinois (the "Station"). In this Memorandum... we find that the Licensee apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Section 73.3526 of the Rules by failing to retain all required documentation in the WFUN-FM public inspection file. Based upon our review of the facts and circumstances before us, we conclude that the Licensee is apparently liable for a monetary forfeiture in the amount of four thousand dollars ($4,000), and we grant the captioned WFUN-FM renewal application. With the influx over the past decade of real estate salespeople and failed mortgage bankers into radio management, I wonder how many understand the importance of the station's Public File? Do you know what to do if somebody knocks on your door and asks to see it? Comment here. 03-31-07Sad news to report ... WGNU Operation Director Joan Groceman suffered a massive stroke Monday evening (March 27th). Station staff is being asked to stay away from the hospital, as her condition is very serious. Prayers and best wishes from all STLMedia to Joan and her family. 03-30-07iPod Nano update ... I've been copying the '50's-'60's-'70's library to the player this evening (halfway thru 1961 so far) using iTunes(V7.1+ seems to have eliminated the objectionable issues); I'm amazed that I have over 450 songs almost 600 songs loaded so far in way less than just over a gigabyte. Looks like I'll be able to get more than 3000 songs on the 8g Nano, encompassing twenty+ years of Top 40 hits. Just hit "Shuffle" and then "Play" and be amazed. If only KLOU could sound like this...AND play the D-C Timesweep! Thanks to Matt Gordon for his expert assistance on setup. UPDATE: The RF xmtr plays the tunes from the Nano at full (MP3) fidelity in the Town Car's JBL system on FM107.5(and other freq's)... sweet! I may have to drive more, just to listen. But with gas climbing to $3 a gallon, maybe not. I can always sit in the driveway... Comment here. 03-29-07My former boss Jerry DelColliano ... continues to prove he's one of the two smartest people in the radio industry. Read his latest here, about repatriation of the 18-25 audience to broadcast (and there's nothing that his students suggest that doesn't apply to 45+, either); here's a taste: The next generation spreads the word virally in their online world. Because word travels fast with this crowd, start winning these listeners back one by one and who knows? Maybe your audience growth in this neglected but important demographic will become exponential. He also has some pretty amazing things to say about his "conflict" with Clear Channel...I'll let you dig around at his blog to find it. It's worth the hunt. Comment here. 03-29-07Blues back to KMOX ... the multi-year deal starts in 2008; hopefully Dave Ervin can figure out how to make money with the NHL. Comment here. 03-29-07More KMOX news ... Dana Daniels to do Sunday nights on KMOX from 10pm-1am starting this Sunday. Comment here. 03-29-07But wait: there's even more KMOX news ... KMOX Radio Takes Six Edward R. Murrow Regional Awards. Read the release. 03-29-07Ibiquity has raped your station once ... and now they'd like to rape your station again. The "next big feature" for HD-R is ...subscription channels! It's not bad enough that no one is buying HD Radios to listen to the free stuff; now the company that's hosing you for equipment and rights fees wants to use their technology to use "conditional access technology". Ibiquity wants you to SPEND MORE to actually, maybe, possibly, might could earn a buck or two. By subscription. This is horsehockey, Chapter Two. I don't care about the technology involved, I don't care about the programming they suggest for this magical fix and I don't care about how good this new stuff sounds. Nobody does. Standard broadcast or MP3 is good enough for the rest of us. The bottom line is that the consumer will have to buynew AM & FM radios to listen to any and all of it, and, well, they're just not gonna do that. And consumers won't pay five cents for any channels on broadcast radio, HD, AM or FM. Not with WiMax on the way. I'm almost 60 and my listening is centered on MP3's and streaming, with the occasional exception for emergency info on the broadcast channels. But what do you think kids listen to? And don't you think the fidelity will improve? Comment here. 03-29-07JibJab is back with a vengeance ... at last night's annual Radio & Television Correspondents' dinner in DC and right here:
Comment here. 03-29-07It looks like one of those big-deal types ... a national radio consultant, is presenting a minor victory he had here in the 90's as one of his current and ongoing successes, per his website. But from this guy I would expect nothing less than a misrepresentation of this magnitude. I worked with him years ago and it was, to say the least, a nightmare; we used his brand of snake oil for way too long. Thanks to youknowwho1 for the tip and youknowwho2 & 3 for the confirmation. 03-29-07My iPod Nano arrives today ... and my Griffin Tech accessories (iTrip Auto and iTalk Pro) are in the house. I'll wrap up the first part of the playlist (1955-1969) tonight and begin loading the Little Black Bucaroo sometime tomorrow evening. Road tests begin Saturday; tips on care and feeding are still welcome and appreciated. Comment here. 03-29-07 So I'm doin' my regular run ... through local radio-related websites last night. Click here to see what happens when I visited one of them (image only, not a link). "Dangerous spyware?" "Close your web browser window and do not reopen this website?" Looks like my anti-virus software is trying to make its own editorial comment. 03-29-07Closed circuit to the fine folks at Fitz ... the Grape Pop- and Root Beer-ola arrived yesterday afternoon! Thanks! Fitzis the Official Soft Drink of STLMedia! 03-29-07New Slaten producer ... The new producer for Kevin Slaten's KFNS show is Ryan Huff. Previously, he was the assistant producer for the Mike North Morning Show at WSCR/Chicago. Huff starts next week, replacing Iggy Strode. Comment here. 03-29-07Randy Raley ... who recently "hung up the headphones" after approximately 3,512 years on the air to join KMOX, has renamed his blog. What wasRadioRandy is nowSales Slug News Sleazy Sales Slug Report. Same content, different viewpoint. It's always a good read. 03-28-07Jay Philpott has too much time on his hands ... although he's considerably more productive than I am. Jay sent the link to this video, which actually is pretty cool.
03-28-07A little bandwidth bonus ... from Smilin' Bob via me to you. And, no, I haven't bought it...I just stumbled across it. Um, I mean... Just play it, loop it, have a big time with it. Ewwww...
03-28-07Life is over ... one more dead-tree pub switches to a web-only presence. Time Inc. announced that the final issue, now distributed as a newspaper supplement, will be April 20. CEO Ann Moore explained: "The market has moved dramatically since October 2004 and it is no longer appropriate to continue publication of Life as a newspaper supplement." The website will include "a new photographic portal making millions of Life photos available to the public." That's good news...the photos that Life published over the years are an incredible record of world history; their coverage of WW2 was truly amazing. Comment here.
03-27-07Secret Squirrel spins sadly on ... KFTK's Smash: Word in Tuesday is that the long-time STLRadio performer will be leaving the morning show he shares with Jamie Allman in a couple weeks to return to "performing music". It's also noted that it's contract renewal time for him and that Emmis' latest offer may have been unacceptable. Asher Benrubi is a real gentleman and from all accounts a great guy to work with. I remember his airwork well, as Adam Smasher, at DC101 years ago; he first appeared on the air here in 1988. His son, Abraham, has done a little work in movies and tv... Comment here.
03-26-07Finally bought an MP3 player ... an iPod 8-gig Nano that'll hook into the new car's Red Ride's audio system via RF and play most all of my favorite music. Plus one of these from Steve Mays' recommendation to record vt's. Yes, I have surrendered partially to the Apple demons. More on this later. Comment here. 03-26-07Iggy Strode out at KFNS ... He had been the producer for Kevin Slaten's PM drive show and occasionally did a show of his own. Word is that PD Jason Barrett canned him, left a memo to be distributed to the staff and then took off to the East Coast for a family visit. KFNS is simulcast on AM590/Wood River and FM100.7/Troy; the company also owns AM1190/DeSoto, a talk station that airs syndicated programming. This trio of marginal signals is owned by Big Leage Broadcasting out of Atlanta, who overpaid by millions for them in 2004, expecting to take the STL sports and talk audience by storm. They didn't. Damned (reversed) carpetbaggers. Comment here. 03-25-07So it looks like ... Mrs. A bought me a new car: a Lincoln Town Car. Leather seats and power everything, a car like I've never driven or owned before. Mine is veryRed(and red's really the most important thing about any new car purchase for a guy); I'll still need to call Crutchfield to upgrade the system to play MP3's and bought an iPod Nano to couple with the installed JBL audio. That will make the long .8 mile drive to the grocery store so much more bearable. As of now, I am seriously cool. Or a pimp.
O'REALLY: Bill O'Reilly raised a few eyebrows recently during his visit to St. Louis. The Fox News superstar was in town for a luncheon hosted by radio station KFTK (97.1 FM) and he stopped in at KTVI (Channel 2) to tape his talk show. While there, we were told he "demanded" the following: a chicken sandwich with the crusts cut off; a tuna salad sandwich on dry bread for his producer; total silence on the set; and that the camera operator look through the camera lens and not around the camera at O'Reilly directly. Ah, the perks of privilege …
03-24-07FNC's Bill O'Reilly ... beat up the STL P-D Monday night in his Most Ridiculous Item of the Day. Friday, Deb Peterson retaliated in her column with the snarkiness at left. Was Deb miffed because he didn't visit her radio-station-of-choice?
On his Friday show on FNC, O'Reilly responded by calling Ms. Peterson a liar and accusing Publisher Kevin Mowbray of letting the paper "degenerate". Listen. Wow! Us kids in flyover country are getting a spotlight treat! Will Deb's article disappear into the P-D'smemory hole? Don't think so. Will Mowbray be able to "regenerate" the paper? Will someone from KTVI/2 please let us know if they got Bill's sandwich order right?
I absolutely live for this stuff. Comment here.
03-24-07Get well wishes and prayers in order for ... 630KXOK/STL and WHB/KC legend Richard Ward Fatherley. Richard called Friday evening with the news that a recent bout with pneumonia had lapsed into congestive heart failure. He's on oxygen full-time and a long list of meds, and he sounds weak but upbeat and told me he has every intention of making it to the Hall of Fame doin's later this year in STL. Let's hope he's able to travel by then. Email Richard your get-well wishes and/or comment here.
03-23-07My Edit-All splicing blocks ... and all my single-edge razor blades may now officially be retired. RadioWorld tells the story of the shutdown of the last magnetic tape manufacturer (now Quantegy, was Ampex). For those of you who don't have an historical handle on this, Ampex was the company that took captured wire recording devices used by Germany in WW2 and moved the technology to the US and eventually re-developed and owned that market, in both hardware (multi-channel tape recorders) and software (1/8" cassette to 2" open-reel tape widths). I went through thousands of miles of their tape products over the years. Comment here. 03-23-07Consultant as terrorist ... there's a certain disturbing reality there. Read Lee Abrams' comments here and then comment here. 03-23-07Thanks to friend and reader Mary Morgan ...for her mention of STLMedia.net in the JavaJournal, a snail-mailed and retail-available newsletter. I'm not exactly sure where it's available, but you can contact them and ask. Or to advertise your business, which, I'm sure, they'd appreciate. 03-23-07UPDATE: Trying to touch base with an old friend ... I worked with Phil Robbins at WOSH Oshkosh/WI many years ago ... You guys are unbelieveable! Too many responses to count, and I spoke with Phil last evening. He's well and living in Door County/WI. Member of the local Rotary, even. Phil told me he has some tape of me from those days, and may eventually convert them to MP3, solely for the purpose of embarassment! 03-22-07WiFi/WiMax use grows hugely ... will TerRad stations which stream use this to their advantage? Read the Bridge Ratings study here. Just as I can carry my cell phone anywhere I travel and be reached by calling a local number, I can listen to my home-town radio station online wherever I go on any wireless device. But the results of the Bridge study may be meaningless if current plans to increase digital rights fees to online stations to draconian levels is allowed to pass into law. Comment here. 03-22-07Sirius and XM file with the FCC to merge ... and the industry yawns. SatRad is so 20th Century... Comment here. 03-22-07Kevin & Sue McCarthy's syndicated travel shows ... continue to add client stations and programming services: We are happy to announce the Travel Planners Radio Show is now heard on two stations in the Chicago area, WKKD and WMCW from 12N-2PM on Thursdays. We are also heard on The World Travel and Dining Channel presenting two features per hour plus travel news and a travel tips segment. Kevin and Sue also write travel columns for the Pulse News Service (click here and then click again on the Pulse newspaper link). Life is good when you get paid to travel and eat! Comment here. 03-22-07This'll probably come up at the next staff meeting ... trades are reporting that CBS Radio executive VP, Western region Brian Ongaro was among nine men indicted earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Justice's Arizona District. The nine were collectively charged with 33 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering for a scheme that, prosecutors say, got people to invest in medical outpatient rehab and massage therapy centers. Ongaro is said to have personally pocketed $750,000 from the plan, which took in $40 million from 2000-2003.Comment here. 03-22-07Found this accidentally ... while I was playing with some video download software: almost a half-hour of classic '50's and '60's tv spots. I know it's not like you don't have a full load of spots already, but plugging in the audio from one of these now and then might be a radio taste treat, presuming your audience is of a certain age, or just as an off-beat element. But God forbid we should introduce something to a listener that they don't expect...
03-21-07UPDATE: This is pretty cool ... Kent Weissinger (O'Fallon IL HS, Class of '69), a practicing attorney and an actual grownup now living in Florida, is taking the time to rebuild the 'scoped airchecks from the KXOK tribute site with the original music and is presenting various dayparts, with all the dj chatter, ads, news and weather, at his Live365 area. Several segments are now up and running. Comment here. 03-21-07Before there was STLMedia.net ... there was "Broad" - Cast St. Louis, an enormously funny newsletter lampooning the "haps" of Karen Carroll's reign of terror during her transition from ARS GM to CBS GM. The issues I have just received by Secret Squirrel Courier Service are from 1998 and are presented here in PDF format. NOTE:If you weren't here in the '90's, find someone you work with who was, take them out for a beer and listen to the stories. Issue 3:Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4 Issue 4:Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4 Comment here. 03-20-07Damn... Eddie, the Beav and Wally got old. Me, too, but I guess I never realized how BIG the Beaver's head was...
03-20-07FNC's O'Reilly ... beat up the STL Post-Dispatch Monday night in his Most Ridiculous Item of the Day. Find the video here and watch it. Comment here. 03-20-07Obama says it's not my fault ...so who did do it? An unacknowledged political spot changes everything and gives the web unwarranted power. Who's in charge here? Watch the spot below and then comment here.
03-20-07Grafman to the STL Walk of Fame ... when? One name that keeps coming up in any discussion of the history of radio in St. Louis is Shelley Grafman, who pretty much single-handedly put together the radio phenomenon that was/is KSHE. Anyone in the radio business in America in the 1980's who was paying the least bit of attention knew of KSHE. There was no other station, from Chicago down to Dallas, or from Denver across to, well, whatever big city East of STL would make sense here, did as much for the community or for their listeners, than did KSHE... Read the rest and comment here. 03-18-07Got a pointer in an email ... from InsideMusicMedia to read Kurt Hanson's article on CRB. Some excerpts: Satellite radio has to pay a royalty for the use of sound recordings, with a rate being set by an arbitration panel based on several criteria that are designed to be balanced to benefit, overall, the public. (That rate is not public knowledge, but is estimated by stock analysts to be about 3.5% of industry revenues.)
Internet radio also has to pay a royalty for the use of sound recordings, but its rate is set by a trio of judges based on a single criterion that can, in my reading, anyway, be interpreted as "almost whatever the labels feel like." And thus we end up with a situation in we're in right now, in which a trio of judges granted the copyright owners a royalty rate from Internet radio that is effectively, I believe, more than 100% of the total industry's revenues!
Clearly the process has spun off the rails. Particularly if the CRB decision drives Internet radio off the air, the public clearly doesn't benefit, meaning that the purpose of copyright law is not being served. Read it here and then comment here. 03-18-07Okay, okay, Google wins ... if you don't have a Gmail address, go set one upright freakin' now. It's free. And then set up a Google Home Page(calendars, Gmail access, maps, local weather, news...). It incorporates all of your Google accounts, including their new IM(anyone with whom you correspond who has a Gmail address is built in, if they''ve signed into Gchat -- mine is mediastl@gmail.com). You can even add YouTube previews to email and chat. Google is building the ultimate online community...and it works. 03-18-07Will HD TV affect the coming elections? It's not a far-fetched concept at all. After all, Kennedy's win over Nixon in 1960 had as much to do with their televised debates as anything, and JFK came off looking a lot better physically on tv than did RMN. Almost a half-century later, we can see every pore and hair on the candidates' faces up-close-and-personal and, yes, that can make all the difference once you're in the voting booth with video memories locked in. Political snarkiness aside, JaneGalt.net has an interesting perspective and this article is good reading, too. Comment here. 03-18-07Should he stay or should he go ... him and his little brother, too? The New York Post and radio trades were all atwitter at the end of last week with the news that CBS Radio Chairman & CEO Joel Hollander is planning to step down before his contract expires at the end of 2007, and his brother, who oversees CBS/STL, might go with him. The reason: "he's said to be tired of battling with CBS CEO Les Moonves over the direction of the radio division. Hollander was also said to be unhappy with CBS' decision to sell 39 of its radio stations, which the company did recently at a profit of $668 million." And InsideMusicMedia publisher Jerry DelColliano(the guy who beat CCU at their own game of acquisition) has his own and very pointed perspective on this. Comment here. 03-18-07There's something eerily DaVinci Code about this ... Is The Triangular Hand Thing at the core of Katie Couric's ratings difficulties? This writer thinks so: "It's an on-camera device that's been driving me crazy lately because it's so overused -- and so contrived and stagy. The currently fashionable thing for reporters to do is to form his/her hands in the shape of a triangle, index fingers pointed toward the camera. It's a totally unnatural gesture, something you never see anyone do with their hands in real life. Only on TV. Which, of course, isn't real life. CBS anchor Katie Couric does this Hand Thing far too often -- which, I'd like to think, is one of the reasons her ratings have been so lousy."Comment here. 03-18-07KMOV's Savard to dabble in News ... for a few days this week and next. Dan Caesar had the story over the weekend. Steve is obviously being given the opportunity to spread his wings a bit by cooperative management. Whether or not it presages a Mike Bush-like move to a New World for the sports anchor, it's still a good thing. At least as long as Savard doesn't open a hot dog stand... Comment here. 03-17-07I like this ... but then I'm a sucker for '70's music and I've been listening here all night. Slacker is a website like others that offers tunes by format, preparing, I guess, for the coming World of WiMax Radio. But they went online before getting all of the necessary rights settled: But like many companies looking to create fresh uses for digital music that don't have an existing rights framework around them, there's a hitch in transforming vision to reality: The San Diego-based startup still must secure the contractual approval of labels and publishers for a never-before-issued interactive radio right that allows for portability.Comment here. 03-16-07In the 1970's ... we shuddered every time the teletype rang its bells more than once. Coulda been something bad, coulda just been the regular weekly system test. TM, one of the major jingle companies back then, produced a full-sing version of the EBS Test that was usually produced in cold-voice by the one of the jocks. The FCC decided that the musical version was entertainment and not information and it was not allowed for use. Listen here:
03-16-07So there I was, in the middle of the 1970's ... at WTRX/Flint/MI, returning to the studio from the little PMDriver's Room, to find Harry Chapin sitting in the air chair. He was in town to do a benefit concert for a local crisis intervention line run by a friend of mine. Best.interview.ever: all I had to do was open his mic and Harry was off and running; three hours later he had to split to do the show. BTW, the Flint Crisis Line was run by a guy who went on to make a few movies: Michael Moore. Moore no longer returns my phone calls or emails; he is a certified social a**hole, regardless of his politics.
03-16-07The progress of HDRadio/STL ... one of our readers has put together a well-researched observation of the state of the digital broadcast medium into which many companies are investing big bucks. It's not an entirely pretty picture. Read it and then comment here. 03-16-07A reader has a question ... and I bet you can answer it: I have a 33-1/3 LP Record by a musican named Ian Matthews (of Fairport Convention?) that I got in a box of records at a yard sale a couple of years ago. This is a picture disc with the artists image, name and background scene on one side and the KXOX logo in very large print on the other side, both molded into the vinyl in color.
I don't know if this is a station promotional item or maybe a demo or promotion from the artist or label. There was no jacket for the record, just the plain paper sleeve, and there are no paper labels at the spindle hole or evidence that there evers were any labels.
I've never played the record and it looks to my 52 year old eyes like it might never have been played, it is in pristine condition.
Any information on how common a picture disc like this is would be welcome. Respond to him here. 03-16-07NPR claims 26.5 million listeners nationwide ... a +4 percent increase in the Fall 2006 Arbitron vs Spring 2006. National Public Radio's member stations experienced a similar jump, according to this press release. "The stations’ performance is particularly notable in light of general declines in audience for commercial radio, television news and newspapers. In particular, over the past three years, commercial news/talk radio has dropped -7 percent while listening to public radio news-talk stations has risen +3 percent." NOTE: Arbitron is expected to include non-commercial ratings in their published surveys beginning with the Spring 2007 rating period. Comment here. 03-16-07Secret Squirrel spins on ... the frequency formerly known as KIX104: Looks like Radio One's WHHL Jerseyville/St. Louis is going to (somehow) get an upgrade to a Class B signal. Now this woulda been damned handy back when I was playing Conway and Merle and Hank Jr. and the rest of their pals on 104.1. Comment here. 03-16-07It's Video Friday at The Big STLMedia ... Jay Philpott sends along this link and a cryptic description: Strongbad from Homestarrunner.com and his "radio" email. Trust Jay on this one. Just watch it. 03-16-07Anchorman meets Mary Tyler Moore ... Video Friday continues with an actual promo for an Eyewitness News tv station from the dreaded 1970's. I can smell the polyester love from here.
Comment here. 03-15-07Fitz's Grape Soda ... oh, wow! Kinda expensive, but it is the grape soda from Heaven. Uses cane sugar rather than high fructose syrup so the aftertaste is purely grape. I'll drink maybe one of these a week, and the time spent doing so will be savored and most gratifying. This is Teh Stuff! And their Root Beer ain't too shabby, either. NOTE: This is not a product placement ad, but I'd be happy to accept a few cases of each of the above and make it so. Just sayin'. 03-15-07Global warming makes me cry ... Here's absolute, incontrovertible photographic evidence of global warming and the havoc it has wrought among the polar bear population. I do so luv dem polar bears. 03-15-07Big day for Anderson's radio friends ... whose names begin with "B": Mike Berlak has opened a company positioned about halfway between local PD and consultant. It's called OffSitePD and his idea makes a lot of sense. Berlak's an enormously talented programmer who has responded to the call of family and plans to run his business where he can pay attention to that most important aspect of life. Call 916-521-3559 for info. David Bernstein, with whom I worked in Richmond, is the new PD at Air America. Bernstein's broad experience programming talk radio includes WOR/NYC and extensive consulting work. If any PD can pull the liberal rabbit out of the hat, it'll be Bernstein. If he fails, my suggestion to investors is another "B" word: "Bail!" Tad Griffin(OK, he's a "G", not a "B") has some interesting InterNet marketing ideas we'll be telling you about soon. I watched Tad grow from a part-timer at WHBQ to a respected country music PD. Tad's smart, he's street-savvy and I just bet that he's got a great plate to set, yet, for the radio industry. Yeah, I know...he's old and outa shape and all, but give him a break. 03-15-07Movin's HD-2 channel ... "Mike, Speaking of HD-2 innovations, check out WMVN's HD-2. No more River rehash, it is now "iChannelmusic.com playing unsigned independent artists. LIVE jocked for most shifts (though they don't talk much either). Probably a little too alt-rock for your personal tastes, but truly something different."Comment here. 03-15-07You read about it on the MB ... here's the fact, Jack: Kelly Jackson from KSDK in St. Louis will join KXTV Channel 10's morning newscast in Sacramento/CA. Our loss. Comment here. 03-14-07So I've been listening to The Bull's HD channel ... since about 6:30 this morning (it's now quarter 'til eight) and I've heard exactly three dj tracks. I might have missed one, but none of them were memorable. One every half hour, at about :04 and :34 is what it seems to be. Erin Austin is just an average jockette, but nothing special, and she certainly isn't putting a lot of energy or effort into her voice tracking. If this is what CCU means by "adding dj's" to their HD channels, well, it sucks. Yo, Billy Greenwood: thanks for the help on the PI deal. But now you might want to get your HD jocks tightened up and a little more involved, huh? Comment here. 03-14-07Secret Squirrel got a pretty unlikely email ... regarding significant changes at CBSRadio's local KYKY and KEZK supposedly locked in and coming soon, maybe by this weekend. In the parlance of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, DON'T PANIC! We're tracking the info for confirmation and will let you know what the CBSRadio reality is soonest. UPDATE from inside CBS: None of that is true except for the client party which is in fact designed to do nothing more than spoil client's dinners with champagne and chocolate. Y98 is doing exceedingly well in revenue, and KEZK is way too strong as a heritage giant to alter its format in any way. Pretty much as I thought: CBSRadio stays stable here. And, yes, I know who sent the "poison pen" email...they've been doing it for years. 03-14-07Finally the photos ... not enough of them, of course, but a few from the STLMedia Conclave on 10 February 2007. Take a look. 03-14-07Got some morning numbers ... from the first Winter Trend; read 'em here. 03-14-07You can never have too many flashlights ... I picked up some of these at Sam's Club for about $25 a pair and they cover our little backyard like a lantern with many times the lumens of a regular light source. Three AAA batteries power them for almost a full day's use. I've gotten kinda paranoid about light sources since the last two power failures, so I've been stocking up... 03-14-07STLMedia readers come through ... on that PI's investigation referred to a bit down this page. Turns out that voiceover wizard Dave Morris and Bull PD Billy Greenwood were the guys on the air on KIX106 back then, and both have checked in. I was able to forward a viable lead to the investigator as a result. I'll keep you posted if I hear more on the case. I'm now working on a teleplay for Law & Order based on this and asked Billy who should play the dj's. His reply? "Brad Pitt plays me and Norm from Cheers can portray Dave." Bet we'll hear from Dave on this issue... 03-14-07Viacom sues YouTube for a billion ... that was the big media news Tuesday. Bottom line is that the lawsuit, the biggest challenge to date to Google's ambitions to make YouTube into a major vehicle for advertising and entertainment, accuses the web search leader and its unit of "massive intentional copyright infringement." Viacom contends that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of its programming have been uploaded onto YouTube's site and viewed more than 1.5 billion times and that negotiations with Google have been unproductive. InsideRadio asks the really big question: Does this suggest that Sumner Redstone’s other big media company – CBS – probably isn’t going to be announcing an ad-sales alliance with YouTube parent Google? Ya think? Comment here. 03-13-07SatRad horsehockey ... from RadioWorld03-09-07: If the two satellite radio companies merge, they would need to support two separate technology platforms until about 2016. This is key, as Wall Street analysts have been debating how much money Sirius and XM might save by merging and how far down the road those benefits would be realized. The 2016 date is from Sirius President/CEO Mel Karmazin, who testified before the House Telecom and Internet Subcommittee this week in a hearing about the future of radio. The satcasters don't want to make current receivers obsolete: Sirius signals can't transmit and be received by XM radios and vice versa. This is crap. All they have to do is match their bit rates, delete duplicated channels for the sake of bandwidth and send the same signals to both services' sats. How tough is that? This is 2007, right? We have the technology, etc., etc., etc. The real answer: Karmazin wants all the bandwidth for both channels for his own, some of which will be used for the combined SatRad channels and the rest which will be sold for other, commercial, use.
The good news is that Mel understands the value of bandwidth.
The bad news is that Mel understands the value of bandwidth. Comment here. 03-13-07McVay Media's Holland Cooke ... shills for HD Radio, but wisely holds the door open for WiMax: Anyone with files on a server is tantamount to a radio or TV station. Before you scoff that listeners prefer professionally produced content, know this: CNN.com delivers 50 million downloads a month. YouTube will deliver 100 million today.Read it here and then comment here. 03-13-07Attention STLMedia Newsletter subscribers ... please make sure that your ISP will accept email from mediastl@gmail.com. We've received a few kickbacks in the last few days and don't want you to miss anything. If you want to unsubscribe, click here and then re-subscribe by clicking here. Just make sure that the GMail account from which we send is acceptable to whichever email provider you choose to use. Or you can just get a free GMail account and never have to worry about it again! 03-13-07Reuters gets it wrong again ... just another bogus oldies group: Members of pop band The Drifters, Peter Lamarr, Victor Bynoe, Rohan Turney and Patrick Alan, were said to be lucky to be alive after a serious car crash on the way back from a concert in northern England. The band, whose line-up has changed many times since its formation in the United States in 1953, claims to be the longest running group in pop history to still be performing live. Look, sorry they were hurt and all that but these guys have NOTHING to do with the Drifters. Just another soundalike group, making a few bucks on the backs of the pioneers. Here's Bill Pinkney's website for the closest-to-the-bone version of the group. At least Pinkney was there at the beginning. These guys were screwed out of most of their royalties back when they had hits and the originals deserve to be accorded more than their fair share of the loot now. Don't believe everything you saw in the movie Ray about the altruistic motives of Atlantic Records producers and execs. Comment here. 03-13-07Aarrgh! What to do with those promo shots of all the cute little kids shoving their fingers in our faces? KMOV and KSDK tied with 16.6/25 at 10pm in February. Neilsen adjusted the numbers to account for people who use a DVR to watch the newscasts. They're BOTH number one. Best MB comment so far: If you tie for third, both are considered 4th place. With that logic, wouldn't the two stations tied for first actually both be #2?Comment here. 03-13-07NBC/TV-ABC/Radio-Paul Harvey fill-in guy ... might run for US President. Fred Dalton Thompson, former TN Senator and current actor and radio commentator, says he'll "leave the door open" and "I’m going to wait and see what happens. I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November...I think people are somewhat disillusioned. A lot of people are cynical out there. They’re looking for something different." Check out this cagey devil's qualifications (eg: "If Fred Thompson had been at Thermopylae the movie would have been called '1' and we'd all be wondering if Persia really ever existed.") and then comment here. This bucaroo gets my vote... 03-13-07This is pretty cool ... Kent Weissinger (O'Fallon IL HS, Class of '69), a practicing attorney and an actual grownup now living in Florida, is taking the time to rebuild the 'scoped airchecks from the KXOK tribute site with the original music and will be presenting various dayparts, with all the dj chatter, ads, news and weather, at his Live365 area. He expects to have the first segments online this weekend (it's currently country). Listen then and then comment here. 03-13-07Law & Order SVUCI KIX106 ... Spoke with a PI recently who's looking for anyone who has copies of the music logs for or airchecks of KIX106/STL for the hours of 10AM-5PM on December 31st, 1999, or who might have been on the air there between those hours on that day. Contact me and I'll pass your name and contact info along. You will incur no legal liability nor is there a reward for the information. But you might be helping someone out of a jam. 03-13-07I've known a passel of salesfolk over the years ... but I could count on the fingers of one hand the number who rise to the professionalism and work ethic of Greg Kornfeld, whose birthday was yesterday (the 12th). "Korny's" been with KTRS for just over ten years and is one of the hardest working, most organized guys I've ever met, even though he keeps his client records on a stack of tattered 3x5 index cards held together with a rubber band. He's a good guy, a great family man, and a good friend to those fortunate enough to count him as such. Happy belated birthday, Greg! Comment here. 03-12-07Fred Zielonko goes home ... As noted below, Randy Raley has joined KMOX in sales, and now we learn that former KTRS Station Manager and Jack Carney Show producer Fred Z. is apparently headed in the same direction. Fred's a great guy and he'll do well in sales, I think, especially at the station for which he worked for so many years. Comment here. 03-10-07I have a pretty rigid network tv viewing schedule ... and it doesn't include a lot of programming like 30Rock, The Office, Scrubs, The Unit, Jericho, Bones, Prison Break, Justice, Cold Case and Grey's Anatomy. I'd like to watch 'em all first-run, but a man has to have priorities. So I watch them as they are available at my convenience online, on one monitor, while I work on the other. I have to wonder how this affects tv ratings, since neither of my 'puter monitors is attached to a Nielsen box. ConnectedDVR recording numbers can be included, I guess, but this must still leave a lot of viewers uncounted. So how does this work? How do the nets know I'm there? Comment here. 03-10-07I must be a smart guy ...'cause even the kids at Harvard are agreeing with me about SatRad: While Wall Street may not have realized it, it’s perfectly obvious why satellite radio is not making money: no one wants to pay for radio, especially radio with generic programming.Comment here. 03-10-07Anything you can sell ... I can sell better (from InsideRadio): For years it wasn't an issue between the two sales forces - but as demand for :10's, :15's and :30's has taken off CBS station reps have sold more and more of them. Now Westwood is "seeking to resolve a dispute" over whether CBS stations can sell those spots under the non-competition provision of their management agreement. Now spot length is proprietary? Gimme a break. Sell the spots. See spots run. Damned spots better run! Then collect the money. Comment here. 03-10-07The world gets smaller every day ... I was going through a few blogs that interest me tonight when I came across a reference that set me back a bit. James Lileks, a columnist in Minneapolis, wrote of listening to a guy named Bob Davis doing a talk show on KSTP(you'll have to scroll pretty far down the page). Davis was the PD at Alice when that amazingly bad station existed here in the same office spaces at KTRS at Westport Plaza; he was also the MD at WRXL in Richmond/VA when I was PD/OM at the AM there, WRNL, in the first half of the 1980's.
And here's another one! Holy cats! This dancin' little man was a teenaged jingle freak in 1971 when I was at WMID/AC and now he owns stations in Pennsylvania and freelances in NYC. You shoulda heard him on the air at WPEN/Philadelphia...what an incredible talent.
The wired world is just one big high school reunion that runs at full power 24/7/365. What are your experiences? Who have you caught up with in this kind of oblique contact?
I'd tell you the story of a high school girlfriend who touched base online, wanting to pick up where we left off, but Mrs. A is listening. Comment here. 03-10-07Weathermeister Ben Abell retiring ... The meteorologist announced Thursday that his final forecast on KWMU will be April 27th. His weather reports have been a part of KWMU ever since the station went on the air, in 1972. Abell, 75, said he wants to spend more time writing and researching. He also quipped that he's only at the beginning of a "five-year" retirement, as he will take a few more years to leave SLU, where he teaches meteorology. Comment here. 03-10-07STLMedia defers to Great Britain's media ... for a little bit:
Comment here. 03-10-07Because we love you ... and because we know some guys, here's the Katie Couric tune currently in rotation at WPLJ/NYC. Abba never sounded so good!
Comment here. 03-10-07UPDATE: Frequent flyer Secret Squirrel ... Metro and Helicopters Inc. are in the middle of contract renewal negotiations. They are currently operating on a contract that is technically expired. Apparently Metro had been paying some expenses to Helicopters Inc. that they weren't contractually obligated to pay. They decided to stop paying the extra expenses. Helicopters Inc. threw a tantrum and grounded their biggest markets (plus St. Louis, their headquarters) for one morning drive shift. An agreement was reached and they were back in the air by afternoon. I have no idea if Metro decided to pick up the tab on the extra costs or not.Comment here. 03-10-07Raley leaves Nashville, joins the Dark Side ... Randy Raley is comin' home: I have found out that the "business" I missed no longer exists. I am not a liner card reader, I am much too old for that. I have realized that what I have to offer isn't what the radio companies are looking for. So, with that in mind, I am thrilled and overwhelmed to be added to the sales staff at KMOX. I will be trading in my headphones for a three piece suit...Read the rest and comment on Randy's blog. 03-09-07First to stream radio online in STL ... was probably KTRS. It was the mid-to-late 90's when a Frank O. Pinion fan and advertiser at A-Z Used Computers set up a radio with a mic next to the speaker and fed the audio into a T-3 pipeline they owned so the world could hear TLMSITA. You could occasionally hear discussions with customers in the background! I got CE Mike Breitenstein to hardwire the audio and Station Manager Fred Zielonko began a search for a stream provider. I'm almost positive that KTRS was the first radio station in the market to stream their signal on a regular basis, and back in the days of 28.8kbs modems, it was quite a treat! Comment here. 03-09-07Shelley Grafman's spot on the STL Walk of Fame ... why hasn't it become a reality yet? Grafman built a little Crestwood radio station into a media giant that influenced the entire music and radio biz and has, for three decades, dominated STLRock radio: KSHE95. Even that dope-smokin' pig Sweetmeat has something to say about this. More coming. 03-09-07Is it just me ... or is CBS' anchor Katie Couric the most blatantly unsexy woman on television? Not that female TV anchors have to be sexy, and I don't mean that sexy has to incorporate sex, but, well, I don't know, there's just something about Couric that puts me off. She's not authoritative, she doesn't seem to be in charge, she seems unsure of herself (the way she tilts her head is a dead giveaway), she's not "hot", she's just "not." Katie's just blah. Maybe it was that high colonic she went through on tape. I'm married to and desperately in love with the smartest, most kickass woman on Earth, so it's not any sexist disdain here. But I think in-charge babes are sexy. Women, like Mrs. A, with gumption, rule, and get my respect. It's just, well, I dunno...Katie's got no gumption. Feh. Comment here. 03-09-07Frequent flyer Secret Squirrel ... hears that, after six months of no payment from Metro Traffic, Helicopters Inc. grounded its flight services in several markets, including St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, and New York. That lasted about two air shifts before Metro coughed up the cash and wired payment. Metro services are used locally by KSDK/5, KMOX, KEZK and KTRS; Metro is part of Westwood One, which "provides a broad range of programming and information services, which deliver audience to advertisers and also deliver traffic, news, talk, sports and entertainment programs to its affiliate stations. Westwood One is managed by CBS Radio, a division of CBS Corporation."Comment here. 03-08-07A2IM Releases 'Rules Of Engagement' For Radio ... AllAccess has published the press release from A2IM that outlines the agreement between that organization of independent music labels and the radio companies that reached a consent decree with the FCC in which the stations agreed to go forth and do payola no more.
While I have long been an advocate of zero-tolerance and maximum punishment for payola violations, I have a hard time with what appears to me to be blackmail by indie labels and a collusive FCC to control your station's playlist. An excerpt: "We have taken a free-market approach to fixing an imbalance in the marketplace -- a self-correction without government interference," says PETER GORDON, A2IM board member and lead negotiator in this matter.
This most certainly IS government interference and it should not be tolerated. Read the release here and then comment here. 03-08-07Winter '06-'07 Phase 1 ... Here are the 12+ numbers and here's a free preview: The Arch is flat and KSHE sneaks past them with a nice little bump. KMOX continues their #1 streak and KEZK jumps .7. The Bull and KTRS suffer similar drops, from 4.1 to 3.4.Comment here. 03-08-07Radio One cans two ... from AllAccess: Cluster OM and Urban AC WFUN PD Garth Adams is out, as is Urban WHHL PD and morning host Craig Black. Sources say Boogie D, who recently left as Director/Rhythm-Crossover Promotion for Virgin Records, is headed to STL but there's no official word on exactly what his new position will be. Prior to joining Virgin, Boogie was MD for CBS Top 40/Rhythmic WPGC/Washington, when Radio One SVP/Programming Jay Stevens was in charge of programming. Comment here. 03-07-07Message Board update ... I've deleted the Personalities forum. Entries there were sporadic and would be better served in any case by posting them in the appropriate Formats or Local Groups forums. I have also removed the archives from Columns/Commentary written by former presenter LottaTalk. I'm currently looking for two someones, one from each side of the aisle, who might be interested in writing regularly in their own forum. Contact me if you're interested and willing to invest the time needed to write and moderate. Anonymity is guaranteed. 03-07-07The Air America sale has gone through ... As much as I'd like to see them succeed, I say these guys will get out of their deal within 18 months. The LibNet is a moneypit that no one can survive or fund for much longer. Comment here. 03-07-07Kramer's back ... for better or worse. Keith Kramer, the former KTRS midday guy, has built himself a home studio, bought the bandwidth, sold some sponsors and is online 24/7, with a live show starting at 1PM weekdays. His content is still a little raw for my taste...I think he's better than that but maybe he has to work it out of his system. In any case, he's a damned sight better online than he was on The Big 550. Give him a listen. 03-07-07Five new chunks of STLRadio history ... stories about the old days at KMOX, WEW, WIL and KSD are online now at Frank Absher's STLRadio history website. Some great photos, too. 03-07-07Another oldie-but-goodie ... The best voiceover guys in the world in one four and a half minute burst, in a limo. Yeah, this could happen. But if a bomb hit their car maybe I'd get some work...I can do Don LaFontaine better than he can: "In a world..." 03-07-07This has been around for a while ... but it bears reposting. Sometimes I can't help myself and just have to talk up a song Mrs. A and I hear on the radio. I'm always fearful she'll pull the .38 out of her purse, but then I hit the vocal and all is well...she does have respect for craftmanship, after all. 03-07-07It's been too quiet, for too long ... something's bound to pop soon. Phase 1 of the Winter Book(for the four weeks commencing January 11th) is due today, but nobody with any sense at all would make any changes based on just that. No KTRS jokes, please. Send newstips here. 03-06-07ACMs Ain't Whistlin' Dixie (Chicks) ... (from E!Online) They swept the Grammy Awards, but apparently the Dixie Chicks don't fly with the Academy of Country Music. Nominations were announced Monday for the annual ACM Awards and there was nary a Chick to be found despite the Texas trio's five Grammys for Taking the Long Way. The Chicks have won 10 ACMs in their career, including Entertainer of the Year in 2000, but have been shunned by the Nashville establishment since their President Bush-bashing comments in 2003. Is this a nanny-nanny-boo-boo moment or what? Comment here. 03-06-07Daylight Savings Time comes early this year ... (2AM, this coming Saturday night/Sunday morning) and it may be an issue for broadcast stations. Because the change in DST implementation was a congressionally-mandated decision, event scheduling software may not have workarounds or fixes in place. XP, I'm told, is safe; Windows2000 may not be, nor may be the various software packages that radio and televion stations use to schedule commercials and music. I'm in receipt of a memo from ProphetSys.com outlining the changes that need to be made to CCU workstations, and it's a long list; I presume that other companies which use proprietary software have issued something similar. I suggest you pay attention to this issue and get your IT Manager on it right now. Comment here. 03-06-07Somebody at the FCC loves dem Indie labels ... It appears that part of the $12.5 million FCC payola settlement/consent decree reached Monday with CBS, Clear Channel, Citadel and Entercom also requires the four broadcasters to provide 8,400 half-hour segments of free airtime for independent record labels and local artists.
As they say, just more mush from the wimp. The fine, spread between the four groups, is peanuts, and those 8400 half-hours dedicated to indie music works out to less than three hours per each station owned. Thirty or so indie-spins and they've paid their debt to society.
Here's what some trades are reporting:
From R&R: The Future of Music Coalition said it is "pleased" that broadcasters accepted the deal and have voluntary embraced the "Rules of Engagement," which it characterizes as guidelines "that spell out how independent labels and commercial broadcasters can work together in the future."
Michael Bracy, the coalition's policy director, said, "For seven years, FMC has worked to document and combat the practice of payola. We have urged the FCC to work with artists and labels to build a basic framework for how the local independent music community can interact with the commercial radio industry."
From AllAccess: FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told AP, "I love music and I want radio to sound fresh, dynamic and real. But payola gets in the way of authenticity because money drives the music, not its quality. Taking payola out of the system will lead to more interesting programming."
As part of the separate agreement with the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSIC, a set of "rules of engagement" will guide how label reps and radio programmers interact. Broadcasters will more closely monitor their dealings with labels, including setting limits on gifts, promising to keep track of all items of value supplied by those companies, hiring independent compliance officers to make sure the rules are followed, and establishing a "payola hot line" for employees to report when rules are broken. Comment here. 03-06-07RIAA eager to eat your lunch ... If you offer a streaming internet "radio station" or if your station streams its programming, the whole thing suddenly just got more expensive. A lot more expensive.
One writer at TechDirt runs the math that will affect his company:
Have you considered who will be paying the most? This year, every Clear Channel station in the top 100 markets will be simulcast streaming. That's on the order of 1,300 stations, +/- 100 or so. Since I've already done the math, I'll clue you in.
Using an average of one song per four minutes, each station will be playing 131,400 songs per year. That's $144.54 per station per listener. TFA quotes 500 listeners as average; that works out to:
100 listeners: $14,454 --- 500 listeners: $72,270 --- 1,000 listeners: $144,540
At 1,300 stations or so, that means this ruling will cost Clear Channel:
100/station: $18.8m --- 500/station: $94m --- 1,000/station: $188m
I can tell you firsthand they are not making that kind of revenue on their streaming side. Clear Channel stands to lose on the order of $100m this year. Ad revenue might help offset it next year, but we're still looking in the range of $100m or so for 2008 as well. CC most definately did not sign up to lose $150-300m in the next two years; it's really not a good time.
From R&R: The rates, which are back-dated to 2006 and run through 2010, will almost double during the span. According to the Broadcast Law Blog the minimum fee is $500 per channel per year. There is no clear definition of what a "channel" is for services that make up individualized playlists for listeners. BLB reports that the new rates are as follows:
2006 - $.0008 per performance
2007 - $.0011 per performance
2008 - $.0014 per performance
2009 - $.0018 per performance
2010 - $.0019 per performance
From Mike: There are only two ways to get around this extortion: one is to run your streaming servers from an off-shore location where these schmucks cannot legally reach you; the other is to go "bareback" and just ignore the RIAA and hope you never get caught. I know guys who are doing one or the other of these and guys who believe in doing the "right thing" and paying the royalties. I believe in paying fair royalties for streaming your signal or programming online, but this is unconscionable. This, along with ASCAP's latest decision (scroll down), may kill domestic music streams and end the WiFi potential for broadcast radio that I and so many others have promoted over the past few years. Thanks to catfishal for the tip. Comment here. 03-05-07Top 40 sez it all ... here's the hooks from the greatest Top 40 hits of all time. 45 minutes of the music of your life; it's a bandwidth gift from STLMedia, unless you abuse it. (You'll need a Flash player)
03-03-07My apologies to the STL Journalism Review ... for unintentionally misrepresenting their under-their-old-ownerFebruary issue (cover at left, issue designed and printed by the new owner) as their under-the-new-ownerMarch issue (to come soon). This motif carries thru the issue and would appear to be a preview of the new design...a little klunky, I think. Heavier paper is a plus, as is the additional color within. They should place the address label on the back cover to preserve the integrity of the cover artwork, carving that page into two ad spaces and an area for the label (if the label was placed upside down the issue could still go thru the postal system bound-edge first). Comment here.
03-02-07A guy you might want to consider ... when you're looking to hire: Michael Grafman. He's got an MBA from Maryville, long-term success in syndication as a COO and at local and regional sales, but is willing to look outside broadcasting to advance his career. It probably doesn't hurt that he's the son of Shelley Grafman, who created the STL AOR legend KSHE, and so has been involved in media sales all his life. Michael would rather stay here than move to accept other offers; you know how effective the impact of a legendary STLMedia name can be in local sales. Reach Michael at MRGinvests@aol.com 03-02-07Arbitron bids "Adios" to Mexico ... from InsideRadio: That ends years of spadework that begin with the launch of Mexico City in September 2001. Then came Guadalajara and Monterrey. So what's the problem? Answer: Not enough financial support from broadcasters. Or maybe Arbitron realized that they could get sufficient listener data from "immigrants" already in the US? Now we learn from an Edison study performed for Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. that country music stations need to be aware that Hispanics love their stuff and so need to cater to that audience. Does this mean that we'll hear more accordians on WIL and The Bull? Larry Rosin, President of Edison Media Research says, “You reap what you sow. Country music only needs to make itself available to Hispanics, and then court them. Listening will almost assuredly go up.”Comment here. 03-02-07Trouble in Paradise Nashville ... the annual Country Radio Seminar wraps up this weekend in Nashburg and the local fishwrap is covering it. This article caught my eye, especially this: Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman Luke Lewis kicked things off when he declared in less-than-delicate terms that the industry should applaud secondary radio markets that can't afford research for their stations and whose programmers are instead left to play music they believe in.
This is where Mike calls bulls**t. Nothing has changed in this regard since the Playlist Renovation Days of the early 1960's, when PD's finally took control of their music away from the DJ's. A few trade-reporting radio stations in BIG markets took their cues (and the money) from record promoters as to which of the tunes released that week were going to be hits. The next week, MEDIUM market reporting stations studied the trades to see what the BIG stations had added and followed suit. By the third week, the SMALL market stations were onboard and the record was climbing the Billboard Hot 100.
Remember, back then, all this was being done by snailmail.
There was no phony music research and there was none of that "I believe in it" crap. One PD followed another and station after station climbed on the Hitbound Bandwagon.
If they didn't play the game, the station would lose service and promotional support from the label and in the days of the "Rip us off for an LP/t-shirt" contests, that could be crippling. And, God forbid, it could cost the PD his family's annual trip to LA or the Bahamas.
By the late 1980's the addition of a record to a playlist was being orchestrated by labels openly in trade ads: "This is the week for you to add (fill in the blank)." Because of the way that hitlists were compiled in trade mags, the gravitas of multi-station adds was critical. So critical, in fact, that the loss of just one trade-mag-reporting station could tank the whole project.
I managed to do just that in the early 1990's, while I was PD/MD at KIX104 here: I was in the middle of a dispute between KIX, Ray Massey's WIL and RCA over presentation rights to a Riverport concert (I forget which artist). KIX lost and in a fit of pique I refused to advance an Oak Ridge Boys song to our power category. That cost the group what would have been their last #1 record. Just one reporting station caused all that havoc. I caught Holy Hell from RCA and even the trade mags to which KIX reported for not playing the game.
Collusion between the trades and the labels? Nah!!!
Trust me, from then to now, nothing has changed. Want proof? Read this: Then, nearly 20 minutes into the hour-long discussion, after not having said so much as "hello," country musician and panelist Clay Walker casually piped up. "I miss payola," Walker said. "When I came out in 1994, you could take a guy out to a ballgame, buy him sneakers and pay for his kid's private school and you'd form a great relationship. These days, I mean, it's become holier-than-thou at every radio station you go to. They can't accept anything."
Bummer. Comment here. 03-02-07Contest violations cost money ... Trades are buzzing with the revelation of multiple FCC fines (and, likely, more to come). And every one of these $4000 forfeitures could have been avoided if the stations involved had had a clear set of rules posted on their websites and available at the station's office. Over the years, I developed a set of very basic rules for all contests that was supplemented with specific and timely rules for each new contest that aired. The rules were vetted by station/company attorneys and kept my fat out of the fire on a number of occasions. I wish I had a set to present to you here, but that memo is long gone. We could always recreate it here, though. Submit your ideas below and let's see what we can come up with. I do remember that the last rule on the basic sheet was this: Decision of the judges is final. That always seemed to be the most important one, for some reason. Comment here. 03-02-07AAR sale may be in trouble ... from AllAccess: Could NY Dispute Sink AAR Sale?
Trouble may be brewing over the closing of the sale of Air America Radio to real estate mogul Stephen L. Green. It may involve the reported $3 million yearly fee paid to Access.1 Talk WWRL-A/NYC to serve as the network's flagship. Almost a full year before AA took air, I said that their proposed business model was unworkable and now it looks like it's coming back to bite them in their left butt cheek in the hour of their greatest financial need. Somebody with real-life radio experience needs to take these people firmly by the shoulders and shake them to some level of awareness. Comment here. 03-01-07ASCAP wants more of your dough ... from AllAccess: ASCAP filed a motion yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asking the court to confirm that all Internet transmissions of musical works to the public are "public performances." Essentially, ASCAP wants all digital streams and downloads to be be subject to licensing by the creators and copyright owners of those works, through organizations, like ASCAP, that represent them -- and therefore subject to an additional license and royalty fees. "The emergence of the digital world is dramatically reshaping the way music is purchased and enjoyed," said ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento. "We strongly believe that our members are entitled to be compensated for all Internet transmissions of their music to the public -- including the public performance that is an essential part of a music download." Comment here.
03-01-07AI's Katharine McPhee ... allowed this to happen to her on TV: Tyra Banks: “I squeezed her boobs and they are real! They’re jiggly and soft.” The screen grab was used by RCA as an ad in several radio trades (the headline on the graphic is theirs). The blanking is mine. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. Your kids have access to music sites and I guarantee that this will show up there. Disallow this crap and ban McPhee's music. Comment here.
03-01-07CC/STL-HD2 stations ... (except KLOU-HD2, which is Rams' football games) all now have jocks. Of course, they're all voice-tracked and slipped into the 'puter driven music rotation. But at least there's somebody saying here is and that was and come see this thing. Hope there was a few bucks passed around for this additional duty. Now tell me again, what was the enemy, exactly, that HDRadio was supposed to beat? National talents on SatRad? MP3 players? Hard drives(what I'm listening to now)? Live broadcast radio(where I'll be listening tomorrow morning)? Just wonderin'... Comment here. 03-01-07The Main System here went online in May '02 ... with a few upgrades since, and now we're thinking about upgrading the whole system. Hardware aside, the biggest consideration for me is the OS: sticking with XPPro (which I'd prefer) or moving to Vista. I've heard from a few already who've made the change and all seems copasetic with peripherals, which was an initial concern. But I'm more concerned about the additional DRM aspects of Vista since a lot of my work includes audio and video. Your thoughts? Comment here. 03-01-07My apologies to Erin Austin ... In the piece below that mentions Ms. Austin's ascension to MD at The Bull, I mentioned that she and Z107 PD Tommy Austin were married. That is not the case. The source for the tip was mistaken and I erred by not following it up. The report has been corrected. 02-27-07Congratulations to Mrs. A and her business partner, Mrs. S ... along with their ridiculously expensive intellectual property attorneys, for being granted the patent for the device they've worked on so long and so hard. Now comes the fun part: manufacturing and marketing. Maybe I'll get to do the sales pitch on TV...hey, me and Billy Mays! 02-27-07For no apparent reason ... I've been asked to make a presentation on New Media at the regional Society of Professional Journalists meeting in STL in April. For more info, or to join or register for the confab, send email here.
02-27-07Big time at the Chase Park Plaza ... Hotel insiders report that a group of Saudi Arabians partied heartily in the multi-floor Chase penthouse over the weekend, with local entertainment, lots of booze and nose candy and a whole herd of hookers. Guess those Saudi restrictions on behavior only apply if they're at home. Glad to offer a good time, boys! Have you tried White Castle, Waffle House, Uncle Sam's and Courtesy Diner? My only question is why in the hell would Saudis come to STL to party? Now, about those $61+ a barrel oil prices... Comment here.
02-27-07Congrats to Erin Austin ... The [former] wife of Tommy Austin, PD at Z107, has been named MD at The Bull. Erin's been here for two years, with previous stops in Austin, Portland and Omaha. Bull PD Billy Greenwood says: "She has tremendous passion for the music and will be a tremendous asset as MD."AllAccess reports: "AUSTIN will take over MD duties on MARCH 6 and can be reached at (314) 333-8132. Music call times are to be announced soon."
02-27-07Fall Book: no SatRad channel exceeded 0.2% ... The average satellite radio channel had a .009% share of quarter hours, which would not be high enough to meet Arbitron’s minimum reporting standards. More here. From AllAccess: The Fall 2006 survey was the first in which new instructions were provided in the diary asking respondents to indicate their listening to satellite and Internet radio in addition to AM/FM radio. Respondents mentioned 297 separate satellite radio channels during the Fall 2006 survey; approximately 5.6% (rough equivalent of reach or "cume rating") of the 468,786 diary keepers who participated in the survey listed a satellite radio channel in their diary. The sum of all listening to satellite channels mentioned by the half-million diary keepers in the ARBITRON FALL 2006 survey totaled 3.4% of credited quarter hours (rough equivalent of share), according to ARBITRON. NOTE: the 3.4% share 12+ in STL's Fall Book would have landed your station in twelfth place, but there are way too many layers of "if" here to relate these numbers to the STL market. Thanks to Jay Philpott for the tip (and I hope I've finally got this right!). Comment here.
02-26-07Baby talk-jock Joe Hipperson ... (see his photo above) decided a while back (February 8, 2007) to take on STL Radio legend JC Corcoran. Apparently, Corcoran had made a few comments on-air about Hipperson's work, and Joe took umbrage. Here's my take: I've known JC since he was in college, employed him twice, in fact, and he's never let me down, personally or professionally, in all those years. JC is one of the two hardest-working radio talents I have ever known. Hipperson, on the other hand, makes promises he cannot (or will not) keep and thinks that sounding like a low-end, high-energy Casey Kasem is the path to fame and fortune. Anybody can talk about CD and DVD release dates, Joe. That doesn't drive you to an AM drive show anywhere. And almost anybody can work at KTRS; shoot, nearly everyone here has! Ain't no thang! Calm way down and get back in line. Comment here. 02-26-07Former WIL PD Russ Schell sent this along ... "I just found this article on the Yahoo! main page. Interesting, and quick, reading. What if radio's middle managers (and GM's for that matter) started to think this way? Food for thought. Instead of just "covering their ass" maybe they should think about growing their assets."Read the article and then comment here. 02-26-07They're already shaking in their boots ... at the very thought of Mel as boss: "There are definitely people who are nervous," said XM PD Billy Zero. "Without a doubt, there's going to be some overlap. I'm a creative guy. I'm an innovator. Hopefully, I will be part of that team. That's what it's going to be about -- pulling the most creative and innovative people onto the next leg of this tour."Read the rest. Gosh, it's like it's already a fait accompli...and that's not a good thing. Comment here. 02-26-07The Oscars didn't fare so well ... a few reviews from the Washington Post, Variety, Hollywood Daily, and the New York Times; former VP and global warming evangelist
Al Gore had a funny comedy moment. Comment here. 02-25-07Hire this guy ... if you're in NC or know someone who is and is looking. Mike Berlak followed me as the PD at my first programming gig and went on to make his own exceptional mark at stations across the country. Now he wants to return to home base to be with his family. He's a good man, and talented on the air and in the office. Contact him at mikeberlak@aol.com or on his wireless at (916)521-3559. 02-25-07Over the last week or so ... I've discovered that former KLOU jock Mike McCann and I had more in common than we ever thought: we both pretty much started our careers at WMID/Atlantic City. I was there a few years before McCann, but the bosses were the same, and so were the horror stories, including twenty commercial minutes an hour Easter-thru-Labor Day. Some scenes from Eddie & The Cruisers and Atlantic City were shot in the station, at client locations and at places McCann and I both visited. WMID still has a website; Mike McCann is doing weekend sports anchoring at WFAN/NYC. You know where I am. Comment here. 02-25-07KEZK no longer the exclusive Komen Run station ... Well, now, what precipitated that? Last year's bad-taste handling of the big-contributing WIL team by CBS PD Mark Edwards? That was probably a part of it, but it's more likely that the charity saw the future and decided that allowing several stations to participate as co-sponsors made more sense than having just one station in charge. Check other markets where the Komen Run happens to see how they handle it. Comment here. 02-25-07Maybe you better move your MP3's to a CD or DVD ... on a non-DRM system or HD right now! Trades (including AllAccess) are reporting that a U.S. federal jury found yesterday that Microsoft infringed audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay $1.52 billion in damages. MS said it plans to first ask the trial judge to knock down the ruling and will appeal if necessary. It said the verdict is unsupported by the law and that it had already licensed the technology in question from Germany's Fraunhofer. This may also include Apple's iPod and iTunes files, Sony and others. My bet is that this will come to nothing, or at best, a quiet settlement. But better safe than sorry. Burn, burn, burn then golden discs. Comment here. 02-25-07Oh, my, it's starting up again ... as I expected it would. Unsigned threats and stupidity are coming in thru the rumors/newstips link and it's pretty obvious where they're coming from. Look, if you want to threaten me or try to intimidate me, at least have the courage to sign your name. Otherwise, your messages are as meaningless as those you represent. And why do you think they don't have the sack to do it for themselves and have to ask others to do it for them? Go away now. Scat. I have a business to run. 02-25-07Secret Squirrel hears that ... KTRS GM Tiny Tim Dorsey has named Jeff Witt(current AE at The Arch) to steer the sales ship. If true, Witt would be the 4th SM at The Big 550 in 18 months. Is this some kind of new market record? Did TTD's son and/or brother fail to make it happen? Comment here. 02-24-07Voiceover guru Dave Morris' excellent blog ... which you can read here, pointed the way to this story, about a ban on dancing in certain clubs in NYC. That lead to this memory. Read it and then comment here. 02-24-07Thanks and a tip o' the hat to ... Ameren UE, who managed to plunge the neighborhood surrounding STLMedia World HQ into heatless darkness this afternoon for about five hours. Mrs. A and I had both a business lunch and dinner scheduled; I wound up shaving by candlelight (NOTE: this is NOT romantic, or even very comfortable). No wind and only light rain, so I don't know the proximate cause of the outage. But the power infrastructure is crumbling...that's very clear. Comment here.
02-23-07Thanks to intrepid STLMedia reporter "Jane" ... for sending along the photo above: Mike,
I ate lunch at Pita+ Thursday at Olive & Fee Fee, next door to a Dobbs Auto Center, when I spotted this opportunity to amuse you. The Arch van had been parked in front of Dobbs but then was carried away by this wrecker truck. I dropped my falafel, almost knocked a lady down that was coming into the restaurant and ran out the door to get this picture. Hey, that antenna mast that much higher off the ground's a little scary...didn't they hear about Paul Arca's adventure with power-line electricity last year?
Our baby
T-Bear
BatBoy
Dad
02-23-07Regardless of the facts ... that I had a vasectomy in 1981 and I've never been within 1000 miles of the woman, I have to admit that I am the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby and that I should be given control of all the money. That Florida probate judge is a showboating idiot. The relationship between Anna and me is obvious when you compare the images (above) of some of my other children (T-Bear and BatBoy) to our daughter, DannieLynn, and then to my image, at right. More or less, we all look like Winston Churchill. Any questions?
02-23-07A locally-aired syndicated radio show ... is taking shots on the air at this website and the associated Message Board and we thank them for the additional traffic. That's more money to STLMedia
