Previously on The Front Page...Apr/May/Jun 2007
06-30-07 Claim made...is it true? Buzzsings writes (scroll down): I listen to AM 850 KFUO, the oldest continually-religious station in the world. And if the signal is a problem (say you live more than 75 miles from Clayton MO), you can always listen online at www.kfuoam.org - go to the streaming audio... Comment here.
06-30-07 Spring Book Phase 2 coming Monday ... We'll have 12+ numbers and demo commentary.
06-30-07 Is Katie Couric failing on CBS ... because of sexism? I think the answer is a resounding NO...she has no credibility and none of what you call your basic gravitas. Jeff Zucker, Katie Couric's former boss, thinks some of the scrutiny directed toward her has been "unfair and sexist in tone." Smarmy is the best way I can describe her delivery. Comment here.
06-30-07 Damn dog! ... We're sitting son Jason's dog, Ruca, while he's on a camping trip through the 4th; Ruca is a notorious counter surfer and a big noise just ran me into the kitchen to discover she'd tipped the remains of a dinner plate onto the floor. I found her in the deepest, darkest corner of the living room, ears back, eyes big and looking guilty as sin. I'm such a sucker for dogs...I just cleaned up the mess and went back to work. My fault, I guess...I shoulda cleaned up the dinner dishes hours ago. Comment here.
06-30-07 What's up with 'GNU? ... If what I'm hearing is correct, the buyer (Burt Kaufman) has not yet decided what to do with AM920. He's apparently brought in consulting engineers to work on the towers and transmitters; God knows the engineering must need some tweaking after what must be years of neglect. More later. Comment here.
06-30-07 Randy Wachter gets out of 21Sound ... Randy's selling his interest in the company to his partner, Louis B. Eckelkamp, for $200k. Wachter walks with $100k free and clear in his pocket. If he ever borrowed $20 from you, now's the time to call and remind him... Comment here.
06-30-07 Get-well wishes to an ailing Smash ... Dr. S. Squirrel, MD, sends along this report: You might want to send out some best wishes to Smash who is recovering from an exercise accident in which he tore both achillles tendons. Not "confined to" a wheelchair, but in one some of the time. Smash, babycakes, c'mon...exercise that vigorous at your age? You might take some of Frank O. Pinion's exercise advice: "Start slowly. Then taper off." Comment here.
06-29-07 Buying an iPhone today? ... Well, good luck to ya, what with the lines and everything. Read this first. Then let us know your first impressions. I'll be sticking with my RAZR for a while. Comment here.
06-29-07 Today's STLMedia's 7th birthday ... so Happy Birthday to us! Apologies for the long delay between newsletters, but family business and the 4th of July has taken precedence for the past few days (I did plan on a week or so off, but, well...).
06-29-07 Looks like Prince gets it ... the undefinable recording artist Prince is planning a huge freebie: a giveaway of his latest album with a British Sunday newspaper and with concert tickets. Record stores in England are seething. Prince clearly sees the way to profitability for him in the future is with ticket sales, and the free recorded music just primes the pump. The Big 5 (or is it now the Big 4?) labels here need to take notice...this is the road to the future. Comment here.
06-29-07 Clue bat for Farid Suleman ... no, you can't sell all your inventory! Take what you can get and run with the cash!
From R&R: Google-izing Ad Inventory A Mark of Failure? -- Just the mere notion of selling a station’s surplus advertising through Google seemed to unnerve Farid Suleman Thursday afternoon (June 28). Sitting on an Interep Radio Symposium panel along with fellow industry titans, the Citadel CEO wrinkled his face when the subject of electronic selling of extra inventory was broached. “That is further commoditizing our product. I think it is a fundamentally flawed model. It says we cannot sell all of our inventory,” Suleman said with the sound of a man in pain. Comment here.
06-29-07 Jonnie King with Darryl Starbird ... STLRadio vet Jonnie King recently spent some time with Darryl Starbird (if you don't know Starbird, he's one of the custom car greats). Jonnie's custom Buick Invicta is in Darryl's museum.
"Monetizing" is my favorite word so far this decade. Everybody wants to do it, but nobody knows how.
From R&R: Look For HD Channels To Add Spots In ’08 -- A few years ago when the HD Digital Radio Alliance launched, signaling the debut of HD programming, the companies involved in the alliance agreed not to air advertising on HD side channels initially as a way to lure listeners to sample the new technology -- but that might change soon.
iBiquity president Bob Struble told attendees at the Interep Radio Symposium Thursday afternoon (June 28) that he expects to hear advertisements on the channels early next year as stations attempt to “monetize” HD. Some side channels not part of the alliance, Struble said, have already begun to broadcast spots, but he acknowledged that currently there are too few receivers “out there” to be able to “monetize the stations.”
Struble did not elaborate on what the plans are for advertising, but broadcasters have never made it a secret that adding very limited ad schedules as a new source of revenue was part of the greater plan for the new technology.
Clear Channel, said Struble, is creating a specialized traffic reporting service that it expects to sell for “$4 or $5 a month” on a narrowcast basis.
So exactly why would I pay $5 a month for traffic info on an HD channel when all I have to is click back once to get it on the broadcast channel for free?
God, what crap. Can you spell d-e-s-p-e-r-a-t-e? Comment here.
06-28-07 STL Old Dog Kevin McCarthy ... is now the highest-cuming voice talent on Planet Earth. In addition to his voice work on the Staten Island Ferry in New York (where about 20million travelers a year hear his narration and directions), Kevin is now the official on-board voice of the Golden Gate Ferry in San Francisco (total number of travelers unknown, but it's gotta be huge). Or, as Kevin writes: "The coast to coast voice of the ferry's! I have to be careful how I spell that one!" Comment here.
06-28-07 Day of Silence survey results ... All of Bridge Ratings' study is published here (scroll down the page to see the graph). Trades and blogs are trumpeting the "huge numbers of calls" to Congress. Unfortunately they're not mentioning that the same congressional offices were receiving an unprecedented number of calls on the Immigration Amnesty bill. Comment here.
06-28-07 One more sports station in STL ... exactly what we need! From Frank Absher's Arch City Chronicles media column: One Less Format Choice --
Reliable sources report "Soul Classic" 1490 a.m. WESL is dropping the unique format in favor of an affiliation with Fox Spots Radio Network. Comment here.
06-27-07 Somebody's been fibbing ...
(STLMedia reported months ago that there's an easy compatibility between the two SatRad services). Just today TomTaylor reports:
Can some XM and Sirius receivers get both signals, already? Michael Hartleib says "yes."
The California resident and satellite shareholder smells a rat in the confusion over "interoperability." Their FCC-granted licenses require XM and Sirius to work toward that goal, and Hartleib says "many of the radios in service today are capable of receiving ‘either/or' service and signals, but not both simultaneously." That would be big news.
He says that could happen either by "firmware update and/or flash of the receiver." He alleges that "both companies have been less than forthright regarding the interoperability issue, and have done their best to confuse this issue."
Now Hartleib seeks to force the FCC to "explain [its] lack of enforcement, certification and implementation of the interoperable mandate." Also to force XM and Sirius "to immediately disclose to the public and their shareholders the availability of an interoperable radio which has existed for several years."
Interestingly, Hartleib favors the proposed satellite merger.
Comment here.
06-27-07 Did the Day of Silence work? ... Dunno. Maybe we'll get an idea of the reverse-boycott's effectiveness later this week when Bridge Ratings releases their survey results.
06-27-07 Star Spangled Banner ... from JibJab. It's a Presidential thing...
06-27-07 Today would have been ... Dianna "Krash" Kirby's 51st birthday. Think good things.
06-27-07 Annie Wilson ... formerly of KTRS, hires on full-time as Programming Assistant at WARH & WMVN. Comment here.
06-26-07 FEMA's fault, looks like ...
from R&R: A Federal Emergency Management Agency contractor is being blamed for inadvertently activating the federal Emergency Alert System over the Illinois State Emergency Alert System on Tuesday morning (June 26) at around 7:45 local time after a new satellite-based distribution network was installed on Monday. The installation is part of a program that will cover all 50 states.
FEMA said the mistaken broadcast of an internal EAS test happened while ongoing improvements were being made to the national alert and warning system, and, despite the goof, the overall test of the system "was ultimately successful in verifying that the new alert and warning technologies are compatible with the current EAS in providing a redundant and reliable capability to distribute emergency messages to the public."
No broadcast message was heard, but local radio and TV broadcasts in several states were interrupted, FEMA said.
Looks like I picked the wrong day to sleep in...
This is not the first time the emergency notification system has failed.
WGN's Spike O'Dell said shortly after the two-minute silence: "I have no idea how many other radio stations are listening to us right now. We are trying to figure out what's going on."
The glitch also affected St. Louis stations: one email report sent here said "KPNT read the text of an official guv'ment saying that they had declared a state of emergency. KIHT (JC) just sounded annoyed that the system took over the console and he was forced to listen to KMOX KTRS. Y-98 and KDHX also went on autopilot. I had an unconfirmed report that some tornado sirens were activated."
Comment here.
06-26-07 Outta here for the 4th ... Gonna celebrate our 7th birthday and take care of some home business; back full time on the 9th of July. As you might expect, I'll check in and update you as you provide the news. Send it here. I plan on sleepin' in!
06-26-07 Help wanted ... 590 THE FAN – PRODUCER WANTED
590 The Fan is looking for a Producer who can hit the ground running and understands what it takes to produce an entertaining talk show. You must bring with yourself a proven track record of success, a passion for the position, a very creative mind, an ability to work with and motivate high profile talent, a strong sense of organization and a great understanding and ability to execute top notch production.
The person who fills this opening will understand developing, improving and advancing story ideas, the compilation/editing of material for individual production, providing creative guidelines to on-air talent, booking guests, knowing how to win in the ratings game and building and maintaining solid relationships with local sports teams.
To qualify, you must have strong radio production and guest booking experience, knowledge of effective phone call screening techniques, a flexible attitude and tireless work ethic and the ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Living in St. Louis or having ties to the market is also a huge plus.
For immediate consideration, please send your resume and a letter outlining your producer philosophy to Jason Barrett at JBarrett@kfns.com. No phone calls please.
06-26-07 Today's the day ... that those stations protesting the proposed rate increases will shut down their streams, midnight to midnight. The Big 5 streamers in STL affected by this include stations owned by Clear Channel, Emmis, CBS, Bonneville and RadioOne. Of course, there are others. Listen as you can and, if you can, record their alternate streams and send brief excerpts along; I'll include samples here as they come in. I've got a busy day today, but I'll try to catch as many alternate streams as I can as well. Comment here.
06-23-07 This will not work ... Stations (broadcast and online) that stream on the 'net are being encouraged to drop said streams next Tuesday to show their solidarity against the draconian webstreaming fees about to be imposed by the RIAA and approved by the Copyright Board.
So far, just a few broadcast companies have agreed to go along with the boycott; presumably a lot of the online-only streams will go dark for the day.
Read more about it here and here.
My vision of the future includes online WiMax radio, including broadcast and online channels, available everywhere...but the fees demanded may not permit that. Greater Media's Peter Smyth says broadcasters are willing to pay reasonable rates, but the Copyright Board's ruling "could mean the end of any and all Internet radio."
Unfortunately, this "day of darkness" will have about the same effect as those emails you get every now and again that encourage you to boycott this or that oil company's gas stations for a day.
Which is to say, nothing.
Tomorrow you'll just come back for more.
The only answer I know to this issue is to aggravate the hell out of legislators until they agree that WiMax is the next thing and then allow it to happen. The music industry certainly isn't about to think their future through. Comment here.
06-23-07 More from KFNS via Secret Squirrel ... Brian McKenna is picked to replace Tim McKernan on KFNS's Morning Grind. No word yet who will replace him in his 10pm-midnight show. McKenna's still doing his 10p-midnight show, not sure when that's going to end. I like Brian, and I wish him well. But sooner or later KFNS is going to have to get it under control or they'll wind up with as bad a rep as KTRS. Comment here.
06-23-07 What you need to know to win ... Perry Michael Simon is the editor of the AllAccess News-Talk-Sports section; each week he sends out a newsletter. This weeks's included this:
I was reminded why some hosts become successful, some don't, and some can't get hired in the first place. The core of it is simple. Here's the main thing you need to be a better radio host:
A distinct personality.
Here's the other main thing you need to be a better radio host:
Something to say.
Very true, and, sadly, not always the case for talkers or, for that matter, anyone on the air. Perry has a lot more to say on this; not sure if his newsletter is online, but you can go there and search for yourself.
Comment here.
06-23-07 20% less income ... is okay with you, right? From Broadcasting & Cable:
Congress looks at forcing stations to cut lowest unit rates by 20%:
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) says it will cost stations "a lot of money - there's do doubt about that." But he says stations make a lot from elections so it's "not unreasonable" to ask stations to give "some small part of it back into the system."
Uh-huh. Obviously Durbin doesn't own a broadcast outlet. Or a business of any kind.
According to Durbin (D-IL), the current system is essentially "creating a trust fund for TV stations" which will receive millions he has collected from "generous contributors." Candidates are currently charged the lowest unit rate for TV ads, but the bill would give them a extra 20% discount in the run-up to election day. The bill would also extend the lowest unit rate and discount beyond candidates to ads from political parties.
As we used to say in the Army (edited) un-freakin'-believable. I have a much better idea, which I have published here before and will again, soonest.
You may not make any money with my idea, but you'll be a good and well-respected American.
Comment here.
06-23-07 Speed Racer returns! ...Lionsgate announces plans for its first animated series, a new version of the 1960s toon "Speed Racer." Nickelodeon's 24-hour cartoon channel, Nicktoons, is aboard to run the initial 26 episodes.The downside? "Chim-Chim is now a mechanical robot." Comment here.
06-23-07 I hear Joe Pesci's character Leo Getz ... from the Lethal Weapon movies, saying this: "Okay, okay, okay, RDS didn't work, didn't work, let's try HD. HD! " From InsideRadio: Promising results from pilot tests using HD Radio for data delivery -- With a goal to find additional revenue opportunities from HD, iBiquity has been testing a system that would piggyback traffic data on an FM signal. Engineers drove around Chicago in a car with a specially-equipped traffic navigation system that pulled its data from Emmis rocker WKQX's HD signal. The test drives show no loss of service or dropped data.
With the ultimate failure of HDRadio looming, iBiquity is scrambling to repurpose the technology. The listeners don't need it, they don't want it, and it's just too damned expensive to implement for the providers.
Comment here.
06-23-07 Mel's just gotta be seriously pissed ... From InsideRadio:
Sirius slapped with $100 million advertiser suit -- JEC Nutrition is filing the suit after it says a live-read on Howard Stern's show went terribly wrong - and led to a 20% drop in sales. CEO Kelly Lockwood tells FNC's Neil Cavuto that "we saw a plummet in our sales after those comments." JEC claims Stern show regular Crazy Cabbie was supposed to talk about how he lost weight using their product - but instead Stern kept saying how he looked "fatter than ever." Lockwood says when he asked Sirius not to rebroadcast the spot - they refused. Comment here.
06-22-07 Last Sunday, on Fathers' Day ... Mrs. A and the kids wanted to take me out to dinner. Fair enough; I wanted fried chicken, hadn't had any in many months. They wanted to go to dinner at 2PM. Nobody within miles serves fried chicken dinners at 2PM. I grumpily settled for a couple appetizers, they had sandwiches and fries.
So since then I've been jonesing for fried chicken and Thursday I went to KFC and bought a bucket. No 'taters, no slaw, no biscuits...just fried chicken.
On the way, going through WestPort, I narrowly avoided wiping out a family of ducks who crossed in front of me. Oddly, the ducklings were not in a row, but, rather, gathered tightly around their Mama. I had second thoughts about eating poultry at that point, but the ducks survived, so...
Came home, loaded the DVD player with Brisco County Jr. TV shows and did my cholesterol count a massive disservice. Went through about a hundred paper towels. Trashcan looks like a poultry abattoir.
As of Friday, there are two pieces left to eat, and a lot of Brisco County DVD's left to watch. But I've still got a couple slices of Spam, a half-dozen eggs and a quarter-pound each of boiled ham and garlic baloney in the fridge for sandwiches to add to the feast.
Happy belated Fathers' Day to me, huh? Hope I live...
Comment here.
06-22-07 Philpott's back in the game ... Jay Philpott returns to the air at Bonneville's WARH/ St. Louis (106.5 The Arch - 70's, 80's Whatever We Want). In addition to his role as a radio/public speaking instructor at Broadcast Center, Philpott's duties at the Arch will include weekends, vacation fill-in, production - Whatever They Want. Comment here.
06-22-07 If it ain't one thing it's another ... NPR considers sports loyalists to be "feather brained" and says if it weren't for sports, they'd be glomming onto something else, something less savory: Well, to be sure, there are an awful lot of featherbrained fans who could rattle off the entire roster of the Kansas City Royals before they could name their own congressman. But somehow I doubt that these folks would suddenly become as acutely involved as informed citizens if, tomorrow, all sports coverage instantly ceased. Probably, in fact, their new devotion would be to something more base, like pornography. Now, tell me that the fine folks at NPR aren't societal elitists...How 'bout we look over their hard drives? Comment here.
06-22-07 The word I get from the trenches ... is that agency ad spending for blogs is dropping like a stone, with the exception of a very few, very highly-rated sites. And even these are fighting tooth and nail for ads. There is a huge amount of competition for ad dollars for what has been primarily a self-supported cottage industry (bandwidth costs money). Unless they're part of a blog network or some kind of hub-and-spoke system, expect to see lots of citizen journalists' work falling by the wayside over the next year. Comment here.
06-22-07 Just what we need ... more LPFM's! Radio trades are reporting that bills were introduced in the House and Senate Thursday proposing to lift the ban on low-power stations by letting the FCC strip away full-power broadcasters' third-adjacent channel protection. TomTaylor suggests that the Future of Music Coalition is behind it all: Why is it interested in Low Power FM? The Coalition believes that licensing more stations is a way around "corporate radio." Some other folks also think that putting more LPFMs up for grabs, especially in larger markets, might discourage pirates. Comment here.
06-21-07 Horse hockey ... The new report -- entitled The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio -- raises serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public radio airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.
Along with other ideas, the report recommends that national radio ownership not be allowed to exceed 5 percent of the total number of AM and FM broadcast stations, and local ownership should not exceed more than 10 percent of the total commercial radio stations in a given market.
My take on the Fairness Doctrine will smooth it all out. This, however, is a very, very bad idea. Comment here.
06-21-07 KCFV's Dianna Kirby passes ... Dianna Kirby, Radio Station Supervisor at FloValley's student station
KCFV passed away Wednesday morning.
From the school: I am sorry to say that Dianna Kirby, long time GM of
KCFV, passed away this morning at approximately 6:30am from a heart
attack. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family this morning.
For those who do not know, on June 1st, Dianna had a heart attack and
was admitted to Barnes Jewish hospital in St. Peters. While there, she
was diagnosed with colon cancer and possible lung cancer. She was
gaining strength and was looking better and better each and every day. Early
this morning, she had another heart attack at about 1am. She passed
away several hours later.
We are currently working with her family on details for arrangements.
From Sam Pranito: KCFV will be airing a Diana Kirby tribute all day Thursday, starting at 8am. Former co-workers and students are enouraged to drop by the station at SLCC/Florissant Valley, 3400 Pershall Road in Ferguson, or phone-in their favorite Diana story. The phone number is 314-513-4478.
Mike says: Much to my regret, I never had the honor of meeting Ms. Kirby. It was always one of those things I had planned to do, but for stupid, inconsequential reasons I never got around to. I feel her loss deeply, regardless. The list of people (in radio and other businesses) whose careers and lives she touched is impressive and very, very long.
Let this be a lesson. If there's someone in your industry whose work has inspired you or who has been an example for you, take the time right now to call them or email them or touch base however and thank them.
Comment here.
06-21-07 MLB started this with their claim on photos ... from Tom Taylor: "The new National Football League rules on podcasting state that if I send my own guy to the game and he does an interview with a player in the lockerroom, using the station's tape recorder - I can't podcast it on the station website. The NFL is now claiming they own the rights to that." Teams increasingly want to control everything about their "story", and now they're asserting rights over all kinds of new technology. Comment here.
06-21-07 Ruh-roh ... research results are starting to suck. This is to be presented by Critical Mass Media at the upcoming Conclave, according to Tom Taylor: 75% of phone calls placed by researchers aren't answered, period. And of the other 25%, four out of five people will talk, but won't answer the survey. That's the scary topline data from a new 30,000-person Critical Mass Media study that will presented a week from today at the Conclave. Looking forward to the full report... Comment here.
06-21-07 June 29th is comin' up ... and there are three special occasions due then: the iPhone releases to retail, Michael Moore's Sicko shows up in theaters, and this website celebrates its seventh birthday. Guess which one I'll have a party for?
06-21-07 ESPN/1380 pays $25k ... to get off the hook on FCC fines for running day power after sunset between October 2006 and January 2007. Comment here.
06-20-07 Al Brady Law slips out of STL ... from R&R: Al Brady Law Joins WERC/Birmingham As PD -- Al Brady Law will be taking the programming reins at Clear Channel news/talker WERC/Birmingham, effective July 2. He will also be handling day-to-day duties at the Alabama Radio Network. Law was PD of CH Holdings' talk KTRS/St. Louis until he exited in December 2006; his long career also includes programming stops in New York, Los Angeles and Houston. Near as I can tell, WERC has just one live, local show; the rest is syndication. The network is all newscasts and sports. Looks like there's nothing there he can break. Unless he tries really, really hard. Watch the trades to see what havoc ol' Al Lady Bra can wreak in Birmingham... Comment here.
06-19-07 Watch this ...
06-19-07 STLRadioOne ... is looking for a local Business Manager. Considering the company's current federal financial difficulties, you might want to give this position an extra layer of consideration. Just sayin'... Comment here.
06-19-07 You really need to see this ... the website for MusicFIRST. It's always somebody else's fault. According to them, radio has had no impact on music sales. I just don't know what to do with this new knowledge.
Does this mean the 45's and LP's I bought because I heard the songs on the radio would have been bought because I just imagined that the Four Tops or The Doors had a new tune? Why were so many gold records awarded to radio? Will I have to give mine back? And to whom? Will they go back to music hall plays and deny them credit for sheet music sales?
MusicFirst, backed by the RIAA, intends to destroy not only all commercial music broadcasting, but all forms of internet radio. What the hell are these people thinking? Who do they think presents the new songs to encourage purchase? Comment here.
06-18-07 Oldies artists sob for sympathy, and cash ... from InsideRadio: The music industry is fighting to change the law and force stations pay a performance fee for airing music. They argue if satellite and Internet radio are required to pay - it's only fair terrestrial radio pays too. musicFirst's Mark Kadesh says "it's time to close the loophole." They're pushing for congressional hearings. So far more than 100 artists are signing-on as founding members of musicFIRST.
And I wish them luck, because they're gonna need it. After, what, sixty years of payments to BMI and ASCAP, now the same stations that played (and paid dearly for the right to do so) pre-recorded music on their air, selling billions of records and cassettes and CD's, have to dig into their dimishing bank accounts and pony up more money because the artists made bad deals years ago with their record companies and managers?
I wonder if those concert performances and CD's and DVD's they're performing for PBS' fund-raising benefit (including STL's Channel 9) are paying them any fees worth noting?
Me? I watch and listen without guilt, figuring that, over the years, I've:
(a) paid performers plenty enough for concert performances and show tickets
(b) paid ASCAP and BMI enough in station fees
(c) bought enough oldies record, CD's, etc.
All of the above should offset an hour or two of viewing, listening or many hours in Purgatory.
Kinda like buying indulgences (if you're Catholic, you'll get that reference).
Comment here.
06-18-07 Here's a surprise! ... from InsideRadio: The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has earmarked $1 million for its ad campaign on why fuel mileage requirements should not be raised. But they're only using news and talk formats formats. Well, of course they are! Fifty-plussers are the demos that listen to news/talk radio...and that's the demo that can afford $3-a-gallon gas! Please don't hate us because we can afford to fill up our low-mpg SUV and luxury car tanks! Don't ya know we all keep a Prius in the trunk as a spare? Comment here.
06-18-07 Tall men running around in their underwear ... set new lows for the NBA finals. From MediaDailyNews -- The San Antonio Spurs' sweep over the Cleveland Cavaliers will mean this NBA finals will sink to the lowest-ever numbers among all viewers, as well as key 18-49 watchers--posting a preliminary 5.6 rating. That's down
06-18-07 Scarborough taking over Imus' spot on MSNBC/WFAN? After five weeks, it sure seems like the former congressman-turned-talkhost is doing that, but neither MSNBC nor WFAN has anything to say about it. I discovered, after three years, that I do have MSNBC on my cable system (it's up in the mid-two hundreds, where I've never even searched, mostly kids' channels) and, after watching this guy a few times, I can't understand why they'd want him. He has nothing original to say, and his moaning and sub-vocé comments during newscasts is annoying as hell. I don't care about his politics; he's just hard to take, too negative, regardless of his philosophical persuasion. Comment here.
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06-17-07 Secret Squirrel says Kramer's going to KRFT/1190 ... Word is the former KTRS'er will replace low-rated Air America syndication Randi Rhodes 3-6PM. The offer has apparently been made by the Big League Broadcasting station as a barter-type deal, with Kramer getting an unknown number of spots per hour to sell in lieu of a salary. An arrangement similar to this has worked amazingly well for STL vet Frank O. Pinion and some years ago for Mark Klose. Kramer's sales skills are unknown. He's recently been working on the development of a web portal at GodOfRadio.com. Comment here.
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06-16-07 Website traffic ... After years of living under the gun of radio ratings, I've never really cared about who or how many visits this site or the associated MB gets, how often they come here, and who is a new or unique visitor.
Things change.
Using Google Analytics I've learned that this website gets just under a thousand absolute unique visitors a day, no IP address repeats, and that impresses even me.
Near as I can tell from the metrics supplied, the MB, eliminating image hits and IP address repeats, gets, on average, about 500 unique visitors daily.
That means that almost 1,500 unique visitors...1,500 ever day...touch base with STLMedia branding.
Weekends suck here and on the MB, as expected, but M-F uniques are pretty amazing. 1,500 every day. Just like a newspaper with a circulation of 1,500, but with ads in context and only one reader per copy.
What all this means is this: about 1500 different radio types and/or radio fans log into this site or the STLMedia MB every day.
It might be worth your while to spend a few bucks to capture or keep their attention.
I have a number of ways to present your message: audio, static video and flash video. Let me know how to begin to put STLMedia to work for your company.
06-16-07 DelColliano says let's play what if ... Read it all here; some highlights:
I can't help thinking what would happen if radio united for a national day of "relief" from playing the same old songs over and over again and replace their playlists -- just for one little day -- with lots of new music that is available rights free.
A veritable nationwide "Stop The Music" protest, even.
Radio listeners would eat it up. Station ratings would go up. Radio might even attract some interest for a change from their younger listeners, the ones they are losing to the Internet.
Indeed, radio stations would make a lot of listeners happy. Finally, it takes an arrogant record industry to force terrestrial radio into doing what the audience wants anyway --more variety, less repetition, fresh music and artists.
And if radio had the guts, extend the national "Stop The Music" day to two days and really give the musicians and label execs something to think about.
Comment here.
06-16-07 CBS to change morning show format ... Secret Squirrel reads the KMOV internal memoes: KMOV is expected to run from 5am-7am. Early Show will go from 7-9, mirroring the Today Show. Comment here.
06-16-07 KMOX employment ad a sham ... Secret Squirrel noses around One Memorial Drive: The CBS GM ad is an EEO formality. Someone already in
the building on Market Street will be the new GM post haste. Wonder if they'll be able to find the GM office? Wow. I'm knocked out. When was the last posted employment ad by anyone anything other than just an EEO cover-your-legal-ass ploy? FYI, I checked today and discovered that no one from CBS was making fun on the PA system of any other stations at the Komen Run... Comment here.
06-16-07 KTRS Kastoffs Reunion ... three hours of bison burgers, chicken wings and nachos, cold beer and iced tea, war stories and bringing eachother up to date made for a great afternoon at Krieger's. Thanks to Dave Strauss for bringing a stack of the above bumper stickers, dating back to the first days of the Dorsey Debacle. Mrs. A ran the numbers and figures there was a complete staff turnover about every eight months for ten years, which may be an industry record. Click on the thumbnails above for larger images. We'll let you know date and time for the next Kastoffs Reunion.
06-15-07 Air America exits the newscast business ... InsideRadio reports: CEO Scott Elberg says that decision's based "solely on economics" and it makes sense: Air America Radio really should concentrate its resources on its talk service. Its initial vision from the March 2004 launch was to offer progressive stations a turn-key network of talk and news (not just a syndication menu). Unfortunately, AAR's point of view shone through all of that - that politics were at least as important as offering compelling talk programming. The New York Daily News' David Hinckley reports the end of the news effort, probably in late June, and that puts these journalists on the street: Wayne Gillman, Bill Crowley, Mike Piazza and Mark Scheerer. Comment here.
06-15-07 I'll never be in any radio hall of fame ... but I've had the privilege of working with and knowing many who are. Professional accolades are wonderful, but the best are those that come from the family. Like this one, from Ray Otis' granddaughter Michelle, whom I met while Ray was in town for the STLMediaHOF thing last week. Michelle is a remarkable young lady, by the way. Thanks to Frank Absher for sending me this link. Comment here.
06-15-07 Help wanted: One Memorial Drive ... unfounded speculation may begin now. From KMOX.com:
Vice President/General Manager
CBS Radio, St. Louis has an opportunity for an additional VP/General
Manager position in St. Louis. Successful candidates will be
performance-driven and results-oriented leaders to oversee the
day-to-day operations of all facets of the radio stations. Must be a great
strategist with a winning track record who leads by example and knows how
to create revenue and manage success. Broadcasters with
previous GM experience or 5+ years major market GSM experience will be
strongly considered.
Recruitment: Until position is filled.
To apply, send resume to:
KEZK/KMOX/KYKY, Attn: H/R-GM, 3100 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103
314.531.0000
hr@stl.cbs.com
Or, I guess, if you know him, call Dan Mason...
Comment here.
06-15-07 WGNU sold ... to "the company that owns KXEN – 1010 AM." That's what it says on the oddly-worded press release. FYI, "the people" who own KXEN are BDJ Radio Enterprises. No price is mentioned, but the transfer is set for later this year. Any money on how long Lizz Brown lasts? Comment here.
06-15-07 McKernan out at KFNS ... as of right now. Monty in? Yawn. Comment here.
06-14-07 Love you CC web guys ... Throw the name Carroll into the mix and I might buy you all lunch. KLOU's website is being redirected to Dodie Rahlman here. You can sign up to suggest music to be played, and presumably for station updates and promotional involvement. Format changes are scheduled to come down on Monday (or sooner) when Smash kicks off his morning show on 103.3. Or you can go here and see the new site in all its glory. Welcome to My103.3 -- My life, my music. Maybe they'll throw football onto HD-3 with lessened bandwidth, where the reduced fidelity won't matter. Comment here.
06-13-07 Let the extortion begin ... From AllAccess: A partnership of artists and music industry organizations will announce a newly formed coalition named MUSICFIRST tomorrow (6/14). The coalition is asking that "performers, from aspiring and local artists to background singers and well-known stars, be compensated through a performance right when their music is broadcast on AM and FM radio."
Founding artists include CHRISTINA AGUILERA; JIMMY BUFFETT; CELINE DION; THE DOORS; EARTH, WIND & FIRE; DON HENLEY; WYCLEF JEAN; TOBY KEITH; PATTI LABELLE; JOHN LEGEND; JENNIFER LOPEZ; MARTHA REEVES; MARY WILSON; and 11 industry organizations. The official press conference is set for tomorrow.
These people are getting some very bad legal and career advice.
Comment here.
06-13-07 Two words: prior restraint ... From R&R:
WIOD's Deal With County May End Over Limbaugh Show
According to a report in Wednesday's (June 13) South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the all-Democrat Broward County Commission is considering ending an arrangement under which WIOD/Miami broadcasts hurricane information to the area because the station airs shows hosted by conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. The Clear Channel news/talk station has been the official channel for Broward County emergency information for the past year.
Commissioner Stacy Ritter said of Limbaugh and Hannity, "They have every right to speak, but we don't have to do business with [WIOD]," the paper reports. Commissioner John Rodstrom, however, said, "If we are going to start censoring what people write in the paper or speak on the radio or television, that's a slippery slope. This is necessary. It's something we need to do for emergency response."
WIOD PD Ken Charles told the Sun-Sentinel: "It's a shame that people would let politics get in the way of saving lives in a hurricane."
Under its deal with Broward County, WIOD broadcasts news conferences from the county Emergency Operations Center in Plantation, Fla., in their entirety. The commissioners have delayed a final decision on the WIOD contract until next week.
This is the first real First Amendment issue I've seen in years. I'm pretty sure that no government agency can prevent a news agency from covering a story like this. Comment here.
06-13-07 Update on the weekend oopser on Movin' ... Bonneville jocks recieved a "radio 101" email today (Tuesday) reminding them to never use profanity near any microphone, hot or not.....
06-13-07 Secret Squirrel DX'd to hear KFNS news ... Two more producers out at KFNS. Frank Ladd and Tony Hubert are the latest to fall under the Jason Barrett regime. Ladd was fired last week and Hubert was asked to take a pay cut, refused and put in his notice. That makes 13 employee's that have either quit or been fired since Barrett's arrival. This station is so determined to destroy itself it's frightening. Comment here.
06-13-07 Fox unloads O&O's ... News Corp. announced Wednesday it has hired Allen & Co. to advise it on potential transactions, which would leave the company with 26 stations, including nine major-market duopolies.
A News Corp. spokesman said the company was just lightening up its roster by selling off stations it considers good but not critical to
its performance.
The stations on the block are WJW-TV in Cleveland; KDVR-TV in Denver; KTVI-TV in St. Louis, Mo.; WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Kan.; WITI-TV in Milwaukee, Wis.; KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City; WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Ala.; WHBQ-TV in Memphis, Tenn.; and WGHP-TV in Greensboro, N.C.
Comment here.
06-13-07 KSHE PD Rick Balis ...has been promoted to VP/Rock Programming for both KSHE and Classic Rock/Classic Hits KIHT. His new responsibilities will include overseeing the entire STL cluster as well as consulting on programming decisions at Emmis stations in Chicago, Austin and Terre Haute. After the requisite celebration, Balis will return to doing what he does best: scheduling weekend air talent. Comment here.
06-12-07 Start talkin' about your web stream ... right freakin' now, and loudly. It's your future. (from MediaDailyNews):
Arbitron: Net Radio Numbers Remain Low
The world may be digital, but radio has yet to catch up. Online listening for AM/FM stations remains low, according to Arbitron's analysis of its fall 2006 radio audience data. Such listening represents less than 1% of total quarter hours in the 30 markets where it was analyzed.
While the proportion of AM/FM stations specifically identified as the source of online radio listening increased, giving a slight boost to individual station ratings, the low overall total may temper earlier optimism about the rate of adoption for online radio generally.
In Arbitron's 30-market survey drawing on fall 2006 data, diary keepers recorded 20,331 unweighted quarter hours of Internet radio listening attributed to a specific AM/FM radio station. That figure is up dramatically from 4,684 in spring 2006. However, the increase was mostly due to revised reporting instructions issued by Arbitron for the later reporting period.
Interestingly, most Internet listening for AM/FM stations came from older males, contradicting the image of early adopters of Internet media as younger men. Arbitron found that 78% of Internet listeners also listened to the same station's regular broadcasts on a traditional radio set.
Comment here.
 | 06-12-07 Best Fathers' Day gift ... ever! Hard to believe that this show premiered the same year as The X-Files, in 1993, and even harder to believe that it never gained ratings traction. UPS snuck the complete 27-episode (plus extras) DVD set onto the front porch early on Monday morning. Bruce Campbell (The King of B-Movies) stars in this series, along with his genius horse, Comet, and the intensive viewing will commence immediately following the KTRS Reunion this Saturday. Or sooner. My thanks to Mrs. A for understanding what truly amuses an aging husband who is otherwise of no account.
Comment here.
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06-11-07 Secret Squirrel was out dancin' over the weekend and got this email ... I was driving down the street Saturday, listening to Movin' when I heard the jock on the air intro the remote break. I then heard the jock at the remote start the break, stumble and then go… “…sh*t, sorry about that. 3-2-1…” and she starts the break over. Don’t know who either jock was, but I just about shot a Pepsi through my nose. Somebody at Bonneville needs to run a digital editing seminar. And then a seminar on polite-speak.
06-11-07 For no good reason ... Mrs. A and I were invited to a meet-and-greet and brunch with many of the KXOK "old-timers" Sunday morning. On the way, I explained to her that these were the guys who stood at the frontline of the creation of the Top 40 format and that their work made everything I did in my career possible. We were honored to have an audience with Storz PD Bud Connell, legendary newsman and voice artist Steven B. Stevens and Production Director and voice artist Richard Fatherley, followed up with brunch with Fatherley and dj and voice artist Ray Otis and his family. I'm one of those guys who has a respect for the history of the industry in which I spent so many years and this past Sunday morning will be stored in the Anderson memory banks wonderfully and tightly forever. I'm tellin' ya...I was born ten years too late!
06-11-07 Tales out of school ... When former KXOK DJ Ray Otis worked here, he and his family lived in Bridgeton. While he was here for the recent STLMedia Halls of Fame ceremony over the weekend, he visited the site of his previous home and discovered that...it was gone! Welcome to the new Lambert runway, Ray! The cross-street sign that stood near his home, however, was still there. Until it magically disappeared. Are you aware that those things just slip up and over the poles on which they're mounted? Police who investigated the theft of Bridgeton city property report no leads, but assume that the sign was taken by aliens. I agree.
06-11-07 A little help ... Former KXOK DJ William Hopkins is looking for copies of the station jingle packages produced by Hugh Heller for Gene Autry's Golden West stations. I've found material for KSFO online, but not for the other stations. If you have any of this, please let me know and perhaps we can make arrangements to get the audio to Bill. He's still on the air, by the way, doing a weekend jazz show at WESS, East Stroudsburg University/PA, and operates an amazingly well-equipped (and totally analog) production studio out of his home.
06-10-07 Both hours ... of KMOX' pre-show at the STLMedia Halls of Fame Gala from last night are up for your listening pleasure, in MP3. Click here for Hour 1 and click here for Hour 2 to download or listen online. John Carney interviews event organizer Frank Absher and inductees Jim Holder and cartoonist Mike Peters in Hour 1 and inductees Anne Keefe, Steven B. Stevens, Dick Ford and Karen Foss and previous inductee Ron Jacober in Hour 2.
06-09-07 It's not so hard to be humble ... regardless of what Mac Davis sings. So I pick up Richard Fatherley this morning and take him to the Chase Park Plaza for the Media Halls of Fame thing that played out there Saturday evening. We retire to one of the coffee shops for drinks and lunch and are soon joined by William Hopkins and Ray Otis. Now, I've been told over the years I have a decent voice. But sitting there with those three guys, who don't just sound like God, they sound like God would if He had had voice lessons, I learned an overwhelming lesson in humility. And I truly dreaded the imminent arrival of similarly-big-voiced Bud Connell, Steven B. Stevens and Robert R. Lynn. I couldn't add much to the discussion by just nodding. 630KXOK was a truly amazing radio station, if just for the timbre of the station's voices. Comment here.
06-08-07 Clayton Studio's Dick Ulett writes ... I told former KSD jock/pd (1977-'79) Tom Straw that I would spread the word about his first mystery novel, "The Trigger Episode," recently released. Tom is living up East and is currently writing for the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. More details at tomstraw.com. Book's available at Borders, Amazon, etc. Any mention you can make, please do. Well, I did. Radio folks with ambition might take a close look at Tom's track since he left KSD. His success in television has been nothing short of stellar. Bet he'd be happy to do an interview...
06-08-07 Old pal Mike Berlak ...has relaunched his website: "Whether you are looking for on-going or per-project assistance with radio station or internet stream programming, or you need an "idea guy" for ad copy or marketing strategy, please explore these pages and see (and hear) the type of work I've done for others." Berlak offers unique in-house outsourcing for all area of station operation. Smart guy, good ideas, great service. Give him a call.
06-08-07 I'll say it once more ... if you, as radio managers, can't get your talent under control, then the guvmint will step in and help you do it. And nobody wants that. From InsideRadio: Congress isn't done tinkering with the indecency rulebook -- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (R-WV) is writing legislation that would give the FCC even more power to go after stations on indecency. Rockefeller says this week's appellate court ruling "called into question nearly 30 years of FCC precedents and regulations." So if the FCC can't enforce its longstanding rules - he wants Congress to step-in. Comment here.
06-08-07 Tell me again why the US is switching to digital TV? ... From BroadcastingCable: "The FCC has warned K-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and CompUSA, or essentially an A-list of the major electronics retailers, that if they don't start placing the following warning "in close proximity" to analog-only sets, even those sold online, the stores will face an $11,000-per-day fine, up to $97,000." Comment here.
06-08-07 In the footsteps of that amazingly successful ...Fox "Foreign Taxi Driver" campaign, SpikeTV rolls out their own version, aimed at holding viewers thru spot breaks: "The two 30-second original clips, dubbed Spike Men of Action, spoof typical action movies. The first, sponsored by Dairy Queen, features two young men attempting to diffuse a bomb while eating a meal from the fast food chain. The second, sponsored by Lamisil features the same two guys fighting martial-arts-style as one recommends that the other might need to try using the athlete’s foot remedy." Yup, this'll hold me off the clicker...especially by including commercials within the non-commercials. Comment here.
06-07-07 If CNN had reported D-Day ...
06-07-07 My apologies ... to STLMedia Newsletter subscribers who may have been a bit jolted when they received yesterday's edition datelined 06 January 2007. Hey, January and June are both "J" months, right? Sorry, kids. Those letters go out around 4AM...
06-07-07 61% of households have no digital idea ... government mandates be damned. From WorldScreen: "As the U.S. prepares for the transition from analog to digital-only signals, the study concluded that many consumers are generally unaware of the nature of the transition and do not fully know what the direct impact on their ability to watch TV will be. An earlier APTS report revealed that 61 percent of over-the-air households had "no idea" the DTV transition was taking place. Free over-the-air households have also resisted subscription campaigns by cable and satellite companies. The population of free, over-the-air households has virtually remained unchanged since 2004 at 22.6 million, compared with 22.5 million in the first quarter of 2007." Comment here.
06-07-07 STL Satire website launches ... Chris Files and Mike Merenda, a pair of STL twenty-somethings with a self-professed (combined) mental age of about nine have set netsail with TheFilesFiles, a twice-weekly-updated site of fun, frolic and frivolity that includes written and video satire of wuz happenin'. Pretty good stuff. I'm betting that they give good interview. They might even make good on-air regulars...
06-07-07 Currently my favorite TV spots ... are these from Haggar slacks: Boyfriend, Cableguy, Overgrown and Harassment. Boomers Pete and Red will probably not get their own show (like the GEICO cavemen) but they'll likely lapse into ad history as those Bartles & Jaymes guys did years ago. Don't know how many pairs of pants they'll sell, but these are great spots. Comment here.
06-07-07 Is it just my imagination ... or are the soundtracks to Stripes (1981, by Elmer Bernstein) and The Caine Mutiny (1954, by Max Steiner) almost identical? At least the main theme? A little help? Or am I nuts? Comment here.
06-07-07 Former RAB HBMIC Gary Fries ... joins the dark side. From trades: "Former Radio Advertising Bureau president and CEO Gary Fries has been retained by Arbitron to provide the company with insights and recommendations about the needs of radio station owners and operators in smaller markets."
06-07-07 A quarter of a billion dollars ... that's how much serious cash Sirius needed. From R&R: "Satcaster Sirius Satellite Radio on Tuesday (June 6) got a $250 million senior secured loan from Morgan Stanley that will span 5 1/2 years. The loan is to be used for general corporate purposes. Word on the street is that Sirius is paying about 7.9% interest." Good rate. Maybe Mel could have done better with American Equity Mortgage? Comment here.
06-07-07 The music biz continues shooting ... itself in the foot: Lon Helton's CountryAircheck reports: After six months of airplay, Sony BMG/Nashville Sr. VP/Legal & Business Affairs Katherine Woods has demanded that stations stop playing the Tracy Lawrence song "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" featuring guest vocals by BNA's Kenny Chesney. The original single release was sung entirely by Lawrence, but his album For The Love features a version with guest vocals by Chesney and Curb's Tim McGraw.
Woods' letter reads in part: "SBMG did not grant 'singles' rights to Rocky Comfort Records with respect to the album version of this song and has not authorized any radio station to play this recording. If your station is playing the album version...SBMG demands that you immediately cease such unauthorized broadcasting."
Radio stations and legal types are confused; no further response so far from the label. Comment here.
06-06-07 63 years ago today ... D-Day! When we stood as nations together against our enemy...
06-06-07 A la carte cable ain't gonna work ... according to a study by Forrester Research: A little over one-half of consumers surveyed by Forrester Research in 2006 support a la carte pricing of cable programming but have unrealistic expectations of what it would cost for the privilege of picking only the channels they want to watch. Respondents indicated that they’d pick a package of 26 channels for which they’d like to pay $24 per month. That’s about 53% of what they currently pay for only one-quarter of the channels in a typical expanded-basic package. And it computes to about 10 cents per viewing hour per week -- economics that would not financially support program development or delivery, according to the report. Cable viewers currently spend about 22 cents per viewing hour, according to Forrester.
Comment here.
06-06-07 After BigDog Lucy passed a few weeks back ... I made a promise in my heart to BoyDog that he'd be the only dog in da house for the rest of his time with us (he's almost 13). It's taken him a while to assume dominance but this past weekend it clicked in and it's been a wonderful thing to watch. He's resumed patrolling the entire yard, barking back when barked at...having the biggest time. In the house, he's by me wherever I go. Bless his aged little ol' heart.
06-06-07 With all this money up for grabs in gay print ... I still do not understand why radio in St. Louis continues to ignore the huge and well-funded gay market as targets for lifestyle programming. From Media Daily News: Ad spending in the gay and lesbian press reached $223.3 million in 2006--a record figure, according to the study from Prime Access Inc. and Rivendell Media, a gay-media representative firm. Over the last 10 years, ad spending in these niche publications has grown at about three times the rate of consumer magazines in general. Of the top Fortune 500 brands, 183 had a presence in gay media in 2006, according to the study--a nearly 1,000% increase over 1994, when just 19 did. Comment here.
06-06-07 I had no idea ... that it was so easy to manipulate TV ratings. From BroadcastingCable: In the highly lucrative morning news hours, running commercial-free would seem counter-intuitive. But that’s just what NBC’s Today did on the last Wednesday of May sweeps when Dancing With the Stars winner/Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno appeared with finalists Laila Ali and Joey Fatone on ABC’s Good Morning America. Because ABC’s ratings were likely to spike, thanks to the popularity of Dancing, NBC figured its numbers would fall faster than Meredith Vieira on skates. Since Nielsen doesn’t record program data without national ads, NBC yanked the ads. How come this doesn't work with Arbitron? Comment here.
06-06-07 Here we go again ... and once again the courts have their hands in the mix for no reason at all. From various trade reports:
-- Broadcast attorneys are still sorting what the impact will be for radio of a ruling today tossing out indecency decisions against two TV networks. The U.S. Court of Appeals says the FCC was "arbitrary and capricious" when it wrote its indecency rulebook regarding cases when an expletive is a slip of the tongue. The FCC says it's still studying the decision.
-- Commissioner Michael Copps warns the appeals court decision striking down part of the FCC's indecency rules doesn't mean stations can cross the line with immunity. Copps says "any broadcaster who sees this decision as a green light to send more gratuitous sex and violence into our homes would be making a huge mistake." The FCC is still mulling an appeal.
-- The U.S. Court of Appeals has tossed out the FCC's "fleeting expletives" policy regarding slips of the tongue. Washington insiders say it sets a precedent for what is enforceable and what is not. But Kevin Martin says the court is "divorced from reality." While the NAB backs "responsible industry self-regulation."
-- The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York said when that happens, there is no foul. As such, the court handed a sharp rebuke of a Federal Communications Commission ruling — and the Bush administration as well — yesterday. It threw out an FCC decision on indecency, siding with four television networks — Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC — that filed a lawsuit against the federal agency.
Here's how to resolve the issue: first, only hire air talents who understand that there are some words you just cannot say and who understand the nature of polite discussion; second, plug in a brief delay system for use when you have guests who don't know the rules; and, third, hire producers to manage the delay and educate them thorougly in propriety. The fact that their parents should have provided that input is notwithstanding (their parents probably didn't); if the producers screw up, fire them and hire someone else.
Wow, just like magic, your multi-million dollar investment and cash flow is suddenly protected from FCC fines! How tough is that to understand? Comment here.
06-06-07 Secret Squirrel's cousin, Distant Deep Squirrel, squeaks thusly ... and I hope it's the last word on what KLOU might become. We'll know on the 18th. For now, here's some educated speculation:
Is it all a smokescreen? It doesn't seem that KLOU's supposed shift to a male 70's/80's classic hits/classic rock format is a smart or strategic play, or a move that's likely to produce any quick dividends. It's more likely that the station is walking into an expensive format war if it tries to move into a very crowded neighborhood. There isn't much room for another station in that arena. With those decades amply covered by The Arch (75% of its music is from those two decades), K-Hits (82%), KSHE (on the hard side of the spectrum at 57%) and KEZK (on the pop side with 41%). Secondly, the assertions that KLOU would mimic sister stations in Milwaukee and Washington DC to present that format aren't quite accurate, as those stations couldn't be described as "male leaning".
A look at a recent "last 9 played" from My 95.7 in Milwaukee:
Stay/Jackson Browne
Saturday Night/Bay City Rollers
Superstition/Stevie Wonder
Smoke From A Distant Fire/Sanford-Townsend Band
Drift Away/Dobie Gray
I Think I Love You/Partridge Family
Nice To Be With You/Gallery
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover/Paul Simon
Emotion/Samantha Sang
A look at a recent "last 9 played" from WBIG in Washington DC:
We Will Rock You/Queen
All Right Now/Queen
Born To Be Wild/Steppenwolf
Don't Stop/Fleetwood Mac
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me/Animals
It's Only Rock & Roll/Rolling Stones
More Than A Feeling/Boston
New Kid In Town/Eagles
Barracuda/Heart
Neither of those stations can be accused of a male lean. The Milwaukee station is a blend of oldies and classic hits (and wimpy at that) while the DC station is straight ahead classic hits.
A more likely approach for KLOU, and one with more potential for success is Clear Channel's "Brew" format. It's a Rock of The 80's classic hits station, and this approach could be described as having a male lean. CC runs this format in Milwaukee, Columbus and Omaha. First developed in the home city of Miller Brewing, a station called "Brew" would seem to be a natural for A/B's hometown. It's 80's classic hits without going too far into the "hair" image. This would present a dilemma for KSHE and KIHT....which station should respond to a Brew attack?
The Brew in Omaha - Last 9 played:
Back In Black/ACDC
Living After Midnight/Judas Priest
Living On The Edge/Aerosmith
Overkill/Men At Work
Urgent/Foreigner
Pretenders/Brass In Pocket
Don't Go Away Mad/Motley Crue
Anyway You Want It/Journey
Lick It Up/Kiss
The Brew in Columbus - Last 9 played:
Faithfully/Journey
Walk This Way/Aerosmith
Crumblin' Down/John Mellencamp
Welcome To The Jungle/Guns N Roses
She's A Beauty/Tubes
You Really Got Me/Van Halen
Love Is Like A Rock/Donnie Iris
Boulevard of Broken Dreams/Green Day
Fooling Yourself/Styx
Comment here.
06-05-07 Let me 'splain this stuff once again ... If you have questions that need answering, please do not contact me thru the Tips/Rumors form. That sends me an email with no return address and no way to track the sender, providing me with what the politicians call plausible deniability and the sender with full anonymity in case the lawyers come calling. Same thing if you have heartburn about something you've read here or on the Message Board. Please know that I will not deal with complaints about content or how the site is managed if the email is signed by anything but a real name with valid contact info. If you have a valid issue I'll respect your confidentiality and answer your questions best I can but I won't deal with screen names...only real people. Thanks for understanding.
06-05-07 KMOX' John Carney checks in ... Thought you'd like to know that I'll be doing a broadcast from the 2nd Annual STL Media Halls Of Fame Gala from the Khorassan Room at the Chase Park Plaza from 5-7. Bob Hamilton will be co-hosting with me and we'll have chats with many of the past recipients and some of this years inductees. As always, thanks to Dick Ulett, I'll also have some tape of STL Radio over the years. The get-together is this Saturday evening.
06-05-07 12+ Spring '07, Phase 1 numbers ... are posted here. Demo discussions will follow.
06-04-07 Happy Birthday ... to the Master of Worldwide Broadcast Overnight and all the rest that is radio weirdness...George Noory!
06-03-07 Thanks to an intrepid insider ... (who shall remail hidden behind the curtain of anonymity) the hot skinny is this: My103.3 will be a male-oriented 1970's-1980's Classic Hits mix station, ala WRIT/Milwaukee and WBIG/DC. Streaming audio is avalable at both links; welcome to the New World of FM103.3/STL. Feh. Back to the iPod. What? This couldn't have been an HD2 format, replacing bad football games? We need a new broadcast Classic Rock station? Comment here.
06-03-07 Secret Squirrel spins on the promo dude ... "James Perry, longtime WIL Promotions Director for WIL has switched teams and is now beating the streets for the Bull! His first official job was on Friday at the Alan Jackson concert." Comment here.
06-03-07 This is not good, not good at all ... I have stated many times that I applaud the efforts made by the holders of copyrighted material to protect their intellectual property (having myself been the victim of copyright-rape). But this apparent use of steganographic embeds in iTunes music tracks to keep an eye on what goes where opens a door that should have never even been unlocked. While, in itself, this is not a privacy issue, it may eventually lead to a massive abuse of user rights...for example, what exactly they can do with tracks they own and have ripped from sources, not purchased online. I think this is one of those Star Wars upsets-in-the-Universe moments. Comment here.
06-02-07 This guy agrees with me ... not that that's unusual:
You're right, the reason I wouldn't bother to buy HD radio is the same
reason I bought an iPod for work - why would I buy new equipment to
listen to the same crap I don't enjoy listening to now? HD crap is
still crap, crystal clear digital crap or not...
It's insane. I can flip through 8 presets and get 6 stations on
commercials (sometimes the same commercial - how many times do they
need to talk about mortgages before realizing I DON'T NEED ONE?), one
DJ yammering on about some "news story" about a water-skiing squirrel
(no offense to SS) and maybe one station playing a song that I want to
hear. Maybe.
Why should I bother when I can have 15000 songs in my pocket?
Comment here.
06-02-07 Former KTRS victim George Woods ... has news: read here.
06-02-07 After a long absence ... expect to see billboards again for KMOX. Turns out that the "new guy at Corporate" -- real radio guy Dan Mason -- thinks that's how you can help to build an audience. Comment here.
06-02-07 In other CC/STL news ... The Bull's morning guy, Craig Cornett, signed a contract extension that'll keep him in place until 2010. With all that's been happening at CC here lately, I hope Craig thinks of this as a good thing... Comment here.
06-02-07 Oldies 103 will become My103.3 ... at 6AM, 18 June, the morning Smash takes over as AM driver at KLOU. Will Smash be the new PD?
Not sure as of now, considering there's still some speculation as to which demo the new format will go for, but that isn't unlikely, considering that CC PD's don't have to do much with the format other than schedule weekend dj's (no disrespect to Mr. Benrubi, but that's the reality).
Screen shots of the new website have been available all over the Web for a day or so. Best guess? A change is gonna come to CC/STL's 103.3 on the 18th, it'll be called "My103.3" and here it'll probably lean male, probably some kind of Classic Rock/ClassicHits hybrid. Or not.
If not, "My103.3" will lead a hard charge against Y-98, in which case, Mark Edwards will listen for a bit, lean over from his recliner and throw a switch to change the ever-dropping KYKY to assume another position that will shift the music a bit and retain the awesome income the station brings in. Comment here.
06-01-07 Charter sales turnover? ... After lots of turnover over the last 3 years it seems as though Charter Media has its team in place.....except that word on
the street is that new GM is looking to replace his DOS and all his buddy LSM's. Comment here.
06-01-07 Helmkamp to Simmons/STL GM ...from Radio&Records: Simmons Media Group has tapped John Helmkamp as GM for its St. Louis stations: sports KSLG (1380 ESPN Radio) and urban oldies WESL (AM 1490). He’s replacing Dave Green, who left the company in April to start a new magazine, St. Louis Sports. Helmkamp most recently served as marketing director for CC/STL. In related news, Helmkamp named Matt Strelo to the KSLG staff as a sales and management consultant. Strelo most recently was VP of ticket sales and marketing for the St. Louis Blues. Unfortunately, neither of the Simmons stations can be heard entirely within the MSA. Best of luck, kids. Comment here.
06-01-07 Sam Muchnick: remember him? ... STL's wrestling promo king's nephew has a book in print and you need to get him on your air. You won't believe what Irv has to say. Contact Irv Muchnick for a great interview.
06-01-07 Avis is now offering WiFi in select rental cars ... The death knell for SatRad and HD Radio is in cars already. Radio-info's Tom Taylor writes: You realize what that means? Radio's truly getting a competitor in the car dashboard - the whole Internet. I've been expecting this for years and it may be bad news for XM and Sirius, long-term. Why pay $155 a year to get satellite radio's 130-170 channels in your own car, when you can tune in thousands of streams online, at some kind of additional cost? Of course it's also scary for local AM and FM free radio. The service won't be perfect and of course WiMAX will have to be built out and there are plenty of air pockets ahead - but wireless broadband in the car is coming sooner than you think.
Ummm, I think this is where I say I told you so, huh? Comment here.
06-01-07 I spent a lot of time on the road Thursday ... and I must have heard Richard Fatherley's latest national spot twenty times. By the time I got home, it seemed like an omen.
I called Dick last evening and discovered that he's no longer driving because of visual issues and that he will be here for the MediaSTL Halls of Fame gala at the Chase on the 9th.
I'll pick him up on arrival and carry him to the hotel and back to transportation home; I offered to drive over and pick him up in KC, bring him here and take him back home in the Town Car, but he declined.
Please be aware that Fatherley, a National Treasure, has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and has to travel on Oxygen. We'll see what happens at the end of the long awards weekend!
Richard: the trip back home's on me!
06-01-07 Apologies for a few days absence ... I took added time off after the long weekend. Happenings: the new Bunn coffeemaker has arrived and will be test-driven this weekend; final arrangements have been made for the KTRS Kastoffs Reunion on June 16th (see above); I made plans to pick up Richard Ward Fatherley upon his arrival here and take him via the Red Ride Limo Service to his accomodations at the Chase Park Plaza for the STLMedia Halls of Fame gala there on June 9th; working on audio, photos and text background from last weekend's WLSRewind2007 event; sending off a spare laptop to Mrs. A's Mom, who was burned out of her home a while back and will use it to keep her sanity until she can move back in, hopefully soon; and creating campaign ideas for a certain former Tennessee Senator who appears to be running for the Presidency. Yup, I've been busy during my time off.
05-29-07 Getting a copy of my military records ... In 1971, when I was discharged from the Army, I registered a copy of my DD214 and associated records with the Courthouse in my home county in NJ. Now they can't find my records. Many phone calls later, including to my ex-sister-in-law who works for the County (and with whom I maintain good relations), still no joy. Guess where they sent me? Yup! The Personnel Center on Page. Took some faxing but I'll let you know how this works itself out and how to get copies of your records.
05-29-07 KFNS was off the air ... from 1-2pm on Memorial Day, according to sources, who report:
It
seems Jason Barrett e-mailed the employees a schedule for Monday and
scheduled a Hard Ball Show. The only problem was that he sent out the e-mail
on Sunday night at 10:30pm. In the e-mail, he aplogized for the late
notice, saying he was out of town and didn't have access to a computer.
Thats funny considering he was at a station function on Thursday and was
at the station on Friday. The host and board-op he had scheduled for
Hard Ball didn't show up. The station switched back to automation at 2pm.
Admittedly, sending out a rescheduling email that late the night before is an iffy kinda thing; the PD would have been better served by making a few phone calls from wherever he was. But why aren't station employees checking their email regularly? Even on a holiday weekend, the 24/7 job of radio goes on. Looks like the blame here goes both ways... Comment here.
05-29-07 The best laid plans ... gang aft agley (lifted liberally from Robert Burns).
I had planned on recording the entire WLS Rewind stream, editing it and then presenting it here. Unfortunately, the outboard drive I was using decided at the least propitious moment possible to get cranky (of course now it's working). So I'll have to rely on the kindness of friends to provide whatever audio I can get.
From what I heard, though, and from what others have said, the presentation was incredible. Fred Winston has the best voice ever in radio. Period. No more discussion. Okay, Gary Gears may have had an edge, but he's passed away...
I understand that WLS will be making segments of the Rewind available at their Podcast download area later this week. I'lll add links as I get 'em.
05-27-07 Bad times for Fox/2's Auble & Williamson ... Fox 2 veteran reporter John Auble and videographer Walt Williamson were injured Friday when a pickup ran a red light and smashed into the side of their Fox 2 news vehicle. Auble may have some internal injuries, but is not hospitalized. Williamson broke one rib. The news unit was totalled. Thoughts, prayers, and good wishes accepted and encouraged. Comment here.
05-27-07 Our Cuisinart coffee grinder/maker crapped out ... after not enough years and I say damn. Something weird with the electronics. So we decided to replace it with restaurant-quality pure muscle, and add a killer bean grinder on the side. Yes, well-brewed coffee is important here. Friends who travel insist on sending me are begged to send me Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona beans and Trader Joe's always has Kenyan beans on sale. Who can say no to that selection? Of course, the official basic coffee here is Thomas. What? You'd expect something else?
05-26-07 Former KTRS'er Kramer needs money ... not for rent or food or electric, but to buy a new monitor.
Apparently he's having a rough time of it and his vision's not what it used to be. Let's get on top of this and see that he gets something new to see. The boy wants an Acer 20" flat panel, and I say he deserves it. Send $20 or more and get a free set of TKS dogtags. He'll let ya know when he's got enough money.
Of course, he's already turned down non-monetary business assistance, and I have no idea if he's ever contacted SCORE, as I suggested, to help him develop his business plan. Truthfully, after he told me to go 'eff' myself, I kinda lost interest in his predicament. But here's one more try.
Keith, from someone who's been down the nasty unemployment highway, here's what you MUST do to take care of your wife and son:
1. Get a temp job. Any kind of temp job for which you're physically and/or mentally qualified. You seem to know a little about computers and digital cameras; go for a sales gig at Circuit City or Best Buy. Got a pickup truck? Hire yourself out to haul stuff or deliver pizza. Got a power lawnmower? $30 a lawn, from everyone on your block, once a week, adds up to a substantial sum every month. The gig might not be what you want, but it will bring in some loot. And that shows a potential employer that you've got stones.
2. Want a job in radio? Realize for once and all that the industry is cleaning itself up. Purge your website and your airchecks of anything approaching offensive material (as it will appear to potential employers) and relaunch. Your basic skills are enough to make you a player. You don't need to pass gas or go blue to be a star. If I didn't believe that you were better than gas-passing, I wouldn't have taken the time to write this.
3. Forget about surfing the web so "I don't have to." Most of us want to surf the web. We already have Fark and a lot of other sites to show us suggested links. And we know how to find new stuff to play with. Frankly, you don't have enough bandwidth to compete with the big guns. Quit wasting your money there.
4. Forget about finding local sponsors. Like it or not, you're an STLRadio has been, with a tiny little presence online (and you're badly misinterpreting your webstats). Use Amazon or Google Ads if they'll accept you (and, considering current content, they won't). But they might send a few bucks your way every month if you clean up your online act.
5. Create a blog. Use one of the free services and chronicle your experiences and your reactions to what's going on in the US and the world. You're smart enough to be able to write commentary without going blue. Place ads there. I'll promote it.
6. Learn HTML/CSS/XML. The GodOfRadio/KramerShow website is terribly done. Too many graphics (including animated GIF's) and weird backgrounds. A pointless entry page. Uncontrolled fonts. Uncontrolled page size. Too many bad links. Too many link colors. Whew.
7. If your wife works while you're "on the beach" ... regardless of when, how often and where, and regardless of when, how often and where you work, you should be the one who handles the bills, grocery shops and cooks, washes the dishes and maybe does the laundary. Babysitting is optional, because most men can't handle it. Trust me, I've been in that game, and it will keep your marriage together. And right now you need that marital glue.
All that having been said, I predict that Mr. Kramer will call me every defamatory name in the book in commentary on his website and follow none of these suggestions. He will also never again be employed in the radio biz and the next time I mention him here will be when he moves on to his next full-time non-radio venture.
05-26-07 Sometimes hiding your light under a basket ... is the best thing to do, at least until you're ready to let it shine out loud.
Case in point: CC/STL's Erin Austin, who recently moved on to a morning gig at WKTI/Milwaukee, is already blogging: Monday we will all go to the Brewers game which will be my 1st game. I can't wait to get a hotdog! YUMMY!!! I'm even going to but a Brewers shirt at the game!
Yes, Mike is now going to second-guess the lovely Ms. Austin: First (to paraphrase Tom Hanks), there are no hotdogs in Milwaukee. Or anywhere in Wisconsin, for that matter. Only brats! Spicy links made of God-knows-what and cooked in huge groups over white-hot coals, never boiled or steamed. When the smoke stops, you eat. LOTS of brats. And drink beer. LOTS of beer. But never A-B beer. Not in Milwaukee.
Second, the station couldn't have bought Erin a freakin' Brewers jersey so that she went to the game appropriately outfitted?
Milwaukee, much like STL, is a totally alien culture within the US. I don't understand why new arrivals aren't given a packet of material to study and learn before they get on the air or show up in public. Even KTRS, managed and owned (primarily) by locals, couldn't get a handle on that, back in the Great Talent Debacle of December '05. Managers, what's wrong with you? Comment here.
05-26-07 With the apparent demise of Mike Batchelor's" ... MB's at missouriradio.net, Gary Leonard, out of Mexico MO, has set up missourimedia.net to "fill the void." Gary writes: Two other domains also point to it: showmemedia.net and broadcastforums.com. One unique aspect is the availability of email addresses for forum members. If it flies, great, if it doesn't, so be it. I've got plenty of bandwidth and thought this might be a good way to give back to the broadcast community. Having grown up in St. Louis in the 60s and 70s, it's always interesting to read your take on the St. Louis media. Keep up the good work!
05-26-07 Secret Squirrell ponders one of the folks on the ... whatever happened to list: Is Linda O'Connor about to return to the ranks of the employed? Will she return to a job she once had? Inquiring rodents need to know... Comment here.
05-26-07 Noory takes over the Sci-Fi Channel ... Okay, maybe not take it over. But he's got a show coming up on Wednesday, 13 June (10PM CT). More info here. Incidentally, George is set to celebrate his 57th birthday a little more than a week prior, on 4 June. Comment here.
05-25-07 KLOU set to flip "imminently" ... As of Friday PM, the station was still billing itself as Oldies 103. But that could change anytime, according to my StlMedia.net mailbox that's stuffed with references to "My 103.3". That url, which was registered on April 19th for one year by Clear Channel, leads to an index page which needs password authorization to continue. Scroll down this page to our May 9th story on what life after Oldies at 103.3 might be like. Comment here.
05-24-07 Mike & The Statler Brothers, Part 2 ... Real brothers Harold and Don Reid, original group member Phil Balsley and the newest "Brother," Jimmy Fortune, showed up right on time for my scheduled spot shoot in early 1982.
(Original Statler tenor and songwriter Lew DeWitt -- he wrote Flowers On The Wall -- had retired from the group due to illness in 1982; he passed away at 52 in 1990.)
Harold, Don and Phil were seasoned show biz veterans, but Jimmy was literally being presented to the world for the very first time. He had learned just the night before, while performing in a club in Roanoke, that he was the group's choice to replace DeWitt on a permanent basis.
As you might expect, Fortune was a bit nervous. Composed stage presence in a 200-seat country-music bar was one thing; to be part of what was then one of the best known country music groups in the world was something else entirely.
Young Mr. Fortune had what we now call, 25 years later, "issues."
Jimmy did the best he could and the rest of the group did their expected over-the-top best-of and out-takes. I recently uncovered the Beta tapes of the session (yeah, in a box in the garage), including the finished spots and maybe I can can convince my video wizard bud Kevin McCarthy to transfer them to net-useable video.
The Statler Brothers retired from concerts and tours (and commercial endorsements) in 2002 and have made their home in Staunton VA ever since. Not bad for a high school group who made good. And what a great bunch of guys to work with.
05-24-07 HD Radio reaches less than 1% of the US population ... and therefore I summarily and once and for all declare the concept toast. Bridge Ratings projects there are 450,000 listeners to HD Radio nationwide. But it's not the hardware...it's the content, stupid. Users cited "poor broadcast content" as their number one reason why they don't listen more. But hasn't that always been the top reason for any form of media to fail? Comment here.
05-24-07 Shortly after Memorial Day ... we'll be offering you a locally-based, female-oriented promotion that you can plug into a vacant weekend on your schedule at almost no cost to you and no cost at all to your listeners. It's irresistible to your female audience component. Keep checking back here for details. Note: I have "no dog in this hunt." A friend of mine has a great idea and the resources to pull it off and I'd like you to consider it, that's all.
05-24-07 Secret Squirrel is still hanging around the Highlands ... he reports: The CC Exodus continues as KSLZ GSM Scott Adamec exits. Dennis Lamme quickly announces Adamec's replacement: Effective immediately Aaron Hyland will become the General |
