Previously on The Front Page...Oct/Nov/Dec 2007

12-31-07 From the STLMedia MB ...
   Imagine JC and Allman together. That would rock talk.
   It would certainly be better than having to listen to the whiny young prepster currently partnering with Jamie. The kid adds nothing.
   And two hard-holders of their positions, in measured arguments, would be a welcome addition to media discussion. Hannity & Colmes are crap; neither espouses anything beyond party lines, no original thoughts.
   JC & Jamie/Jamie & JC sounds like a pretty good idea. I might even get up early enough to listen. I can already hear the promos...
   And, to paraphrase LBJ, "If they've got Anderson, they've got America."
   Of course, it'll never happen, because neither John Beck nor Rick Balis have any idea how to combine oil and water on a radio station.
   I do, but they'd never ask me to help because they once tried to sue me for something I presented on the STLMedia website and, acting pro se, I shut them and their lawyers down like a Corvette v. a Chevette.
   Comment here
12-31-07 Too little, too late ... from InsideRadio:
   Apple plans HD Radio push:
   Apple will reportedly unveil HDRadio-equipped boomboxes with iPod docking at next month's Macworld Expo. The units will be iTunes Tagging-ready, allowing users to more easily turn songs heard on the radio into purchases at the iTunes store. CBS Radio, Clear Channel, Cumulus, Cox, Entercom and Greater Media have begun encoding stations for iTunes Tagging.
   Where were these guys a year ago? Two years ago? Tagging notwithstanding, if iPods or their accessories had included any sort of HDRadio capability months ago, the concept might have had a chance. After all, iPod is the core for new audio tech, even though it's rapidly aging.
   Why intro such new tech after Christmas?
   Is the accessory market for iPods open enough for a first-quarter purchase of what is likely to be a costly device?
   My bet is that iBiquity paid Apple serious money to encourage the development and marketing of these things because the entire fraudulent HDRadio deal is crashing.
   It doesn't work on AM after dark and the formats on the FM HD channels are yawners.
   Plus there's the whole licensing fee thing. What a ripoff.
   When will the industry realize that listeners just don't care about HD and that station owners have been taken for hundreds of thousands of dollars per station for something that nobody wants to listen to?
   Wish I had a huge chunk of iBiquity stock...I'd be selling it right now and laughing all the way to my new home in the Caribbean.
   Comment here
12-31-07 I spent a lot of New Years' Eves ... honchoing various radio station celebrations, usually in bars and always as a "station personality." Along with a few Vietnam and surgical experiences I can say that many of those "celebrations" are high on my Worst Times Of My Life list.
   I always loved being with radio fans but when you're the Unofficial Greeter and the listeners are all pretty much at their "I love you, man" place by 9PM, it can get very old way before Auld Lang Syne.
   In recent years, it's always a quiet thing with friends and family, as it will be for me and Mrs. A tonight. I highly recommend such a celebration; quiet is good.
   Comment here
12-30-07 STLMedia notes the passing of John Roedel ... earlier this evening. This email encapsulates a shining St. Louis radio and television career:
   Just got word via Howard Demere and the KSDK alumni e-mailing, that John Roedel passed away tonight.
   Not only was John one of the last genuine gentlemen of television (we all became hardass ogres after his era), what makes him absolutely special is the part he played in St. Louis TV history...came to town in the 1940's (I think), as a member of AFRA (no televison yet) to work for KSD radio.
   When the Pulitzers decided to put a TV station on the air 60 years ago, they asked him to read news, making him the first TV news anchor in town. He was the announcer on the old Charlotte Peters show in the '50s but was uncomfortable as a newsman doing that kind of entertainment thing and went back to news...did general assignment up until the late '80s, early '90s, whenever he retired.
   Not only a classic broadcaster, but a true and genuine gentleman.
   John was one of the original inductees into the STLMedia and Radio Halls of Fame.
   UPDATE: STLToday and KSDK/5 tributes now online.
   Comment here
12-30-07 2007 Fall Book, Phase 2, demo insight ...
    25-54 PERSONS Mon-Sun 6a-12 Mid
KSHE: 6.5 -- 6.7
WARH: 6.1 -- 6.4
KEZK: 5.5 -- 6.1
WIL: 5.2 -- 6.0
KMJM: 5.2 -- 5.6
KIHT: 5.1 -- 5.5
KYKY: 4.8 -- 4.5
KLOU: 4.9 -- 4.3
KSD: 4.2 -- 4.1
WFUN: 3.9 -- 3.8
KFTK: 3.7 -- 3.6
KSLZ: 2.7 -- 3.2
KTRS: 3.3 -- 2.8
KMOX: 3.0 -- 2.8
WMVN: 2.7 -- 2.7
KATZ-FM: 2.7 -- 2.5
WHHL: 2.4 -- 2.4
KPNT: 2.9 -- 2.3
KFNS: 1.7 -- 1.8
KATZ-AM: 1.8 -- 1.6
   NOTES: All of the top six stations are trending up. Pretty early in KLOU's new sound to be trending down. KFTK, KTRS and KMOX all trending down. Movin' not movin'. KFNS still not showing signs of recovery.

   25-54 PERSONS Mon-Fri 6a-10a
KSHE: 7.0 -- 8.0
KIHT: 7.1 -- 7.3
WARH: 6.9 -- 7.1
WIL: 5.8 -- 6.1
KEZK: 5.3 -- 5.6
KMJM: 5.3 -- 5.3
KYKY: 5.7 -- 5.2
KSD: 4.7 -- 4.6
WFUN: 3.8 -- 3.7
KLOU: 3.9 -- 3.6
KSLZ: 3.5 -- 3.5
KMOX: 3.8 -- 3.2
KFTK: 2.8 -- 2.7
WHHL: 2.3 -- 2.6
WMVN: 2.6 -- 2.6
KPNT: 2.6 -- 1.9
KFNS: 1.7 -- 1.8
KATZ-FM: 2.4 -- 1.7
KSLG: .7 -- 1.6
KTRS: 1.5 -- 1.5
   NOTES: Big surge for Bob & Tom to re-take first place from JC and U- Man. KMOX falls further. KFTK still only 13th in the midst of the political season? Brian McKenna and Joe DeNiro not moving yet. Vic and Katie...hello? Hello?

   25-54 PERSONS Mon-Fri 10a-3p
WARH: 7.6 -- 8.5
KEZK: 6.3 -- 7.6
KSHE: 7.1 -- 6.7
KIHT: 6.2 -- 6.6
WIL: 5.2 -- 5.6
KYKY: 5.5 -- 5.3
KLOU: 5.3 -- 4.7
KMJM: 4.0 -- 4.6
WMVN: 3.4 -- 3.6
KSD: 3.6 -- 3.3
KMOX: 3.8 -- 3.1
WFUN: 3.5 -- 2.9
KFTK: 3.3 -- 2.8
KFNS: 2.5 -- 2.7
KPNT: 3.2 -- 2.5
KSLZ: 2.0 -- 2.1
KTRS: 1.8 -- 1.9
KATZ-FM: 1.9 -- 1.8
WHHL: 1.7 -- 1.7
KATZ-AM: 1.4 -- 1.1
   NOTES: Huge jumps for The Arch and KEZK. KLOU trending down at what would seem like an odd time. Rush beats O'Reilly. Milhaven and Christoper way, way back.

   25-54 PERSONS Mon-Fri 3p-7p
KFTK: 7.0 -- 7.7
KEZK: 5.5 -- 5.6
WARH: 5.5 -- 5.6
WIL: 4.7 -- 5.3
KSHE: 5.3 -- 5.2
WFUN: 4.5 -- 4.7
KTRS: 5.1 -- 4.5
KYKY: 4.2 -- 4.4
KIHT: 4.0 -- 4.3
KMJM: 4.1 -- 3.9
KSLZ: 3.1 -- 3.7
KLOU: 4.3 -- 3.6
KSD: 3.7 -- 3.5
KATZ-FM: 2.4 -- 2.9
KMOX: 2.5 -- 2.6
KPNT: 3.1 -- 2.5
WHHL: 2.4 -- 2.3
WMVN: 2.3 -- 2.3
KFNS: 2.2 -- 2.2
KSLG: .8 -- 1.9
   NOTES: Glover continues to dominate PM drive in this demo. KLOU down again. Paul Harris hasn't moved in quite some time. 1380 showing up in the top 20 for the first time since we've been watching.

   25-54 PERSONS Mon-Fri 7p-MID
KMJM: 8.4 -- 10.3
KEZK: 6.2 -- 6.9
KATZ-FM: 4.8 -- 5.6
WIL: 4.2 -- 5.6
KSHE: 4.5 -- 5.1
KTRS: 7.4 -- 4.7
WARH: 5.0 -- 4.5
KLOU: 6.0 -- 4.2
KSD: 4.5 -- 4.2
WFUN: 3.6 -- 3.9

   NOTE: There had been a request for upper demos, numbers that would allegedly show KMOX in a dominating position in the market. Here are those numbers.

   35-64 PERSONS Mon-Sun 6a-Mid
KEZK: 7.0 -- 7.6
KSHE: 5.8 -- 5.9
KMJM: 5.3 -- 5.8
KIHT: 5.2 -- 5.7
KLOU: 5.6 -- 5.7
WIL: 5.3 -- 5.5
WARH: 5.2 -- 5.5
KMOX: 5.9 -- 5.5

   35-64 PERSONS Mon-Fri 6a-10a
KIHT: 7.3 -- 7.9
KMOX: 8.0 -- 7.2

   35-64 PERSONS Mon-Fri 10a-3p
KEZK: 7.8 -- 8.8
WARH: 6.4 -- 6.9
KIHT: 6.1 -- 6.6
KSHE: 6.6 -- 6.2
KLOU: 6.2 -- 6.2
KMOX: 6.3 -- 5.4

   35-64 PERSONS Mon-Fri 3p-7p
KMOX 10th

   35-64 PERSONS Mon-Fri 7p-Mid
KMOX 6th

   18-34 PERSONS Mon-Sun 6a-Mid
KPNT, KSLZ, WHHL, KATZ-FM, WIL, WARH, KSD, KMJM, KSHE, KYKY, WMVN, WFUN, KFTK, KEZK, KSLG, KLOU, KTRS, KMOX, KATZ-AM, KIHT, KNSX

   18-34 PERSONS Mon-Fri 6a-Mid
KSLZ, KPNT, KSHE, KSD, WIL, WHHL, KMJM, KATZ-FM, WARH, WMVN, KYKY, KSLG, WFUN, KEZK, KIHT, KFTK, KATZ-AM, KLOU, KMOX

   18-34 PERSONS Mon-Fri 3p-7p
KSLZ, KPNT, KFTK, KATZ-FM, WIL, WHHL, WARH, KSD, KEZK, KYKY, KSLG, WMVN, WFUN, KSHE, KTRS, KMJM, KLOU, KMOX, KIHT, KNSX
   Comment here

New KTRS PD Todd Manley (photo from 2004), to whom neither the untouchable McGraw Millhaven nor the month-to-month Frank O. Pinion goldmine will need to pay attention.    Manley will also have no control over any sports or news programming or personnel.    Yup, that's the PD gig I'd want, boy howdy!    Minus syndication and sold weekend programming Todd handles, what, about twenty, thirty hours a week?    Oh, wait...he also schedules board ops. Good for the ol' resumé, you bet.    Sorry, Todd, but when you said "Yes," to Tim you entered permanent professional obscurity.

12-27-07 Dear Mom, I got a PD job in St. Louis! ... Secret Squirrel thinks due diligence may not have been part of the new guy's plan:     Craig Unger is out as PD of KTRS. He will be replaced by Todd Manley (scroll down the page), most recently the imaging director of WGN/Chicago. Manley also did imaging for KTRS as a free lancer for a few years. Could more changes be in the air AGAIN at KTRS? How many morning shows has the station had in 11 years? How many PDs has Dorsey gone through there? Maybe Manley didn't do his homework? Let's see how this latest move plays out.    What's really sad is that now that Tiny Tim's run out of KMOX'ers to Svengali into his fold, he's had to resort to hires who are a handshake away from former KMOX'ers. How pathetic.    And, knowing the history of the radio station, why has this guy said yes? I know jobs are hard to get these days, but to misquote Al Wilson, "I knew you were a snake before you brought me in." Todd could have asked anyone in the entire industry about Tim and KTRS (The Laughingstock of the Broadcast BizTM)...most of them have worked here at one time or another!    Comment here

12-27-07 Congrats to JC Corcoran ...
   Emmis Broadcasting's K-HITS 96 morning talker JC Corcoran has signed a three-year contract extension.
   Corcoran began his stint in St. Louis in 1984 with KSHE, then re-joined Emmis in 2001 following a sixteen-year hiatus.
   The "Morning Showgram with JC and The U-Man (John Ulett)" is currently in second-place in their target demo of 25-54 Persons.
   "This new deal ensures that I'll be at K-HITS in 2009 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the show's debut in St. Louis. It also ensures that I'll finally be able to pay off my student loan," Corcoran said.
   JC will also continue provide nightly commentary for FOX2 News in St. Louis as well as contribute a monthly column to St. Louis Sports Magazine.
   Comment here
12-27-07 CE move from CC/STL to CC/DC ... Another one exits the Highlands...but this time in a positive light! Chief Engineer Christian Vang is headed to CC/Washington DC for a similar position where one of his first prorities will be a major studio build-out.

12-26-07 On the Internet ... you can run but you can never hide. (And no one can hear you scream, unless you load up an MP3 file.)    Tasha, the STLMedia WatchDog, offers this email in evidence:    Someone asked me what Al Brady Law is up to...so I did a search and found this...    Could this guy seriously be programming a new religious station in Cork, Ireland?    Doesn't seem like a fit...but the picture looks like him.    STLMedia firmly believes in redemption, so anything is possible. The top photo is of ABL from his KTRS days; the bottom photo is from the referenced link at LifeFM.    The eyes, the 'stache, the hairline...looks like the same guy on these monitors, at least to me.    If Al Brady Law has found the Lord and become an expat, more power to him.    We report, you decide, to coin a cliche.    UPDATE: Secret Squirrel supplements Tasha's report -- Al Brady is in Boston. I don't know WHERE yet though, and as far as I know, no one else knows either. BOSTON! TRUST ME!    Comment here

12-26-07 STLMedia buddy and certifed car nut Jonnie King ...

   ... knows I drive a somewhat more recent model of the Lincoln Town Car than the one pictured above, the 1941 Lincoln, one of the last great American luxury cars built before we entered WWII and shifted all our machining and metal over to the war effort.
   Look at that vehicle, though: streamlining, moulded rear fender skirts, suicide doors and a leather interior that could house a family of eight in comfort.
   The chrome and glass alone on the car probably weighs more than most current mid-sized autos.
   And you just know that there's an unbelievable power plant (for the era) under the long, long hood.
   In any given accident, if you're driving it, you win. Even Santa knows.
   For me, today? Power everything, please. I don't think I could steer that beast, shift its gears or brake it without power assist.
   And gas at .23 a gallon like it was when I was in High School would be good, too.
12-22-07 OakHill buys Fox O&O's ... and you unbelievers told me it would never happen!
   KTVI/Fox2 becomes part of LocalTV, along with the NYT and Tribune stations (including KPLR/11), at least for now.
   Note: This is why KTRS (Bobby Lawrence's radio baby) affiliated with KTVI/Fox2 and dropped KSDK/NBC5 a while back. I will take your cash challenge on this bet now.
   Oak Hill Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm, announced today that it has agreed to purchase eight News Corporation owned-and-operated FOX network affiliated television stations for approximately $1.1 billion in cash.
   Bobby Lawrence, CEO of Local TV, said, "These are heritage stations in great markets. Their management teams and operations are a perfect fit with Local TV. The stations have an outstanding track record and we look forward to helping them continue their success."
   Comment here
12-22-07 Radio World asking for postage help ... the magazine, published most recently by IMAS Publishing, has been sent free for years to almost anyone who asked for it, and in the past few years has carved their snailmail list down even while it's become more and more a shill for various sponsoring causes (specifically HDRadio).
   It's come into my mailbox every two weeks for years but now this advertising-supported trade mag wants its readers to pay for part of the cost of snailmailing. I say no.
   They've developed a wonderful interactive website and great Rich Text issues and features online and that should be enough.
   The dead-tree version should just go away; they could easily alert us (as they already do) to the presence of a new issue or industry alerts online with email.
   If this is not where they're headed already, Radio World management needs to be replaced with Print 2.0-savvy types that can move the mag forward.
   C'mon...how much could IMAS save by dumping ink, newsprint and snailmail?
   Comment here
12-22-07 Top 10 STLMedia stories of 2007 ... Look thru the 2007 archives for October/November, July/August/September, April/May/June and January/February/March and, for December 2007, below on The Front Page...then suggest here what you think were a few of the biggest stories in the market for 2007 in radio, tv and print. I'll tally 'em up and post 'em here after the New Year.
12-21-07 Randy Michaels takes over WGN radio ... he's Sam Zell's $8billion dollar boy wonder, named EVP and CEO of Interactive and Broadcasting for Tribune Company's TV and radio properties; Zell is Tribune's new CEO. Can Bobby Lawrence be far behind in the order of march?
   Chicago insiders say there are serious business problems at Tribune and they need to be fixed. Michael's slash and burn rep with FM's won't apply to Tribune in Chicago; he has a different record with AM's.
   WGN's staff is aging and may be facing some necessary personnel changes in the coming year.
   I bet former KMOX'er Tom Langmyer is waiting to see what happens and keeping his options open.
   Now...what might happen with Zell's acquisition of KPLR/11 and his potential purchase of the Fox O&O's, including KTVI/Fox2? Don't count two-stations in one-market ownership out for Zell's company.
   Comment here
12-21-07 Nielsen TV ratings have a glitch ... and that's just what ratings credibility needs. From MediaPost:
   The glitch, which was disclosed this week in a notice to clients, involved a failure of both the active and the passive components of Nielsen's system used to measure WKRN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Nashville, Tenn. Nielsen did not explain to clients specifically what happened, but it acknowledged that the failure involved both the "station's encoding equipment" (the active portion of its system), as well as its Nielsen's passive monitoring of the station's signal.
   Comment here
12-19-07 KMOV/CBS4 offered, in the cable channel guides ... a new NCIS eppy this evening, but showed a repeat instead. The new show had a plot that presented ME "Ducky's" refusal to perform an autopsy on a murdered Muslim US sailor. I've emailed KMOV to see what's the deal. I'd hate to think that the wonderful world of political correctness was the cause of the change, either locally or on the net.
   UPDATE 21 December -- Got this email from KMOV/CBS4 in response to my query:
   CBS pulled the show at the last minute. They did this with two other shows on Wednesday night as well. They did not provide any reason to the affiliates, but my guess is that, due to the ongoing writer's strike, they are trying to save new episodes for a later date. Comment here
12-19-07 Not good, not good, infinity ... from Yahoo/Reuters:
   The FCC said okay today to end the 32-year old ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership in the top 20 markets. TV station owners may buy up to seven radio stations in a market.
   In addition, the FCC action exempted 36 newspaper-broadcast ownership combinations that had been grandfathered under the previous rule. Thanks to Rod Zerr for the tip.
   It's...it's...it's unnatural, cats and dogs living together.
   When will these maroons learn that consolidation is NOT a good thing?
   The good news is that Lee is so underfunded that they can't even buy a CB radio.
   Comment here
12-19-07 Non-Sonderman STL pizza delivery history ... from the WSJ:
   In 1993, a St. Louis woman who was involved in an auto accident with a Domino's delivery person sued the company on the grounds that the 30-minute pledge led to accidents. Domino's later settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum and abandoned the promise. Now, with declining sales nationwide, Domino's is bringing it back.
   Comment here
12-18-07 Why can't all political advertising be like this? ... Why can't candidates quell the who shot John crap and concentrate on their, uh, qualifications?

   Comment here
12-18-07 Found in a local grocery store ... (and openly liberated by me); the printing department at this company is probably staffed by future CNN and FNC headline scroll writers. I gots a shiny new quarter that says they meant something else...

   Comment here
12-18-07 Ticket scalping to become legal, sort of ...
   From Yahoo/AP:
   Ticketmaster plans to launch a Web site next year where people can resell tickets to pro football games, the latest push by the event ticketing company into the lucrative secondary ticket market.
   Comment here
12-18-07 Art Holliday to take business refresher course, soon ... from Countenance:
   KSDK: Don’t Watch Our Commercials
   Art Holliday was doing a story [Monday] on Channel 5’s news at noon. The story was about exercise, and the point of the story was that you can get exercise just by getting off the couch. Holliday finished the story by stating that one can get exercise by walking around the house during commercial breaks on TV.
   Presumably he meant to include the line "turn it up" but just, you know, forgot.
   Comment here
12-18-07 Arbitron Fall 2007 Phase 2 numbers ...

   Comment here
12-17-07 Frank O. Pinion's ... Large Morning Show In The Afternoon used JibJab's resources to produce this Christmas greeting/shameless hustle for their upcoming cruise. Thanks to Ian (the Peon) Geisz for the link.
12-17-07 Is it just me ... or are pretty much all of the internal functions at STLToday.com slow as molasses? And the searches many times turn out to be inconclusive? Comment here
12-17-07 KMOV/CBS4's website ... was down briefly and then up again over the weekend. The page that appeared was a Network Solutions replacement page, leading wise websters to believe that somebody forgot to renew a domain. It's an "oops" that's happened at least once to just about everyone who manages websites; the good news is that it was caught in time, before the domain got picked up by a pack of Chinese or North Korean pirates and turned into a porn site. Now, that would have been embarassing!
12-17-07 Say it ain't so ... Secret Squirrel almost lost his nuts (or at least the map to where he buried them) when he heard this: Did Craig Unger and Tim Dorsey really try to convince Wendy Wiese to go back to Westport Plaza for yet another try at a bad morning show? Is management that unhappy with Vick and Katy? Sheesh...no comments necessary.
12-17-07 Best.Newspaper.Headline.Ever. ... at dinner Sunday evening, celebrating the birthday of one of our closest friends, this headline, supposedly from the New York Post, came into conversation: Ike Turner Beats Tina To Death. Think about it... Comment here
12-16-07 Apparently, sometime in the last few days ... it snowed. Anybody else notice this? Did they mention it on the tv weathercasts?

12-16-07 Looks like the STLMedia Watchdog knew ... the squirrels Tasha's been herding the past few months had no place to go but up into the branches of an oak tree once the snow fell. Girl-dog's on the case.

Tasha is an Australian Cattle Dog (a Red Heeler). She was born 15 March 2005 and became an Anderson on 13 September 2007. Tasha's a rescue dog, from the Humane Society. Please consider adopting a pet there first, or from any qualified adoption agency.
12-15-07 Worst.Sponsor.Credit.Ever. ... Saturday evening, on the History Channel, during a show on the pandemic that took out as much as half of the European population in the Middle Ages, the VO guy said: "The Plague is brought to you by Red Lobster." Mrs. A and I 'bout busted a gut laughing. I'm thinking a job review of HC copywriters might be in order... Comment here
12-14-07 Thanks to Susan Smith-Harmon ... for this cool Christmas card. Drifters, right? Or maybe the Coasters...and only former KIX PD John King and Mrs. A will understand that reference.
12-14-07 Re: Pujols -- KTVI/Fox 2 did nothing wrong ... before those of you rallying against KTVI and their ND light your torches and march on the station, you might want to hold your water and think this over rationally. If what Dan Caesar reported is true (I did not see KTVI's reports) they reported only what was delivered to them in a chain of references and sources that would have been acceptable by any news reporting agency anywhere.
   That it began at the NBC radio flagship in NYC should have tripped a few triggers in the suspicions department, since NBC and their broadcast and cable nets have had some pretty serious problems with factual reporting and credibility in the past year.
   Nonetheless, that KTVI used the story and presented it the way they did is to their credit, and shame on others, radio and TV, for ignoring it and treating Pujols as St. Albert the Greater. There's considerable discussion on this going on here (Registration required).
12-12-07 And they can play it over from 12M-5AM ... Cable network GAC and ABC Radio Networks have partnered to launch GAC Nights: Live from Nashville, a syndicated radio program airing weeknights from 7PM-12M. GAC's Suzanne Alexander hosts and will be joined by GAC personalities Storme Warren and Nan Kelley. The show launches January 14th.
   See how quickly your friends in Nashville can reduce that burdensome, expensive employee list even further?
   Comment here.
12-11-07 Please note the story references ONLINE newspapers ... from MediaPost:
   One of the best ways of generating word-of-mouth may be via the press. That's the conclusion of a new Millward Brown study being released today by the National Newspaper Network and the Newspaper Association of America. The study, based on online interviews of 1,501 adults conducted in September and October, found that readers of online newspapers are more likely to be so-called "influencers" - people who spread buzz and shape the opinions of others about various issues, including branded products and services.
   Comment here.
12-11-07 A delicate issue ... that probably no one will address. From MediaPost:
   Black-Owned Radio Group Slams Arbitron
   It's a bad sign when a media fight goes to Congress.
   The latest swipe at Arbitron came from Jim Winston, executive director of the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters, in his testimony to the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications last Wednesday. He said results from its Portable People Meter system suffered from "bias," adding: "PPM is a greater threat to the survival of minority-owned media than even the FCC's threatened media-ownership rule changes."
   Winston's ire was the result of Arbitron's alleged unwillingness to rectify shortcomings in the PPM system, including its failure to meet target sample sizes in key demos. Of critical interest to NABOB members are African-Americans ages 18-34, a group they say is woefully underrepresented in Arbitron's samples. They blame ratings disparities--the sudden drop at urban format stations--after the switch to PPM.
   Here's Mike's take on this. Get ready to get pi**ed off if you're a sensitive sort.
   Over many years of Arbitron research, it's been known how difficult it was to get any respondents at all to fill in the diaries. We came to accept that they were completed on the last possible day before they had to be mailed in, and from memory and not from concurrent listening.
   Some demos (mostly younger) and some races (mostly Black but also Hispanic) were less likely to fill them in at all, so Arbitron increased the financial incentive for those listener segments, with the intention of increasing their response rate. Makes sense to me.
   Additionally, Arbitron always bolstered the final segment of the survey period with a flood of diaries into under-represented demos and races to bring their "in-tab" (fully completed and acceptable for parsing) diaries up to the 1% sample they deemed necessary for accurate results each rating cycle.
   We accepted these weaknesses, work-arounds and minimal responses and learned to live with the ratings. Didn't like 'em, didn't think they used a sufficient audience base, thought they cost too much, but they were what they were and they were what we had to sell.
   Then along comes the Personal People Meter, a little pager-like device that listens to radio along with you, records what you hear, stores the info and then sends it back to Arbitron.
   There's good news and bad news with the PPM.
   First, you have to remember to wear it ever day, all day long.
   Second, you have to keep the PPM charged by placing it in its cradle for at least a few hours every day.
   Third, you have to allow the PPM time in its cradle to "call home" and report it's findings.
   There are other issues, but these three are the top of the list.
   I'm not saying that any given race or nationality is less than attentive to their PPM responsibilities. But the published fact is that Black and Hispanic radio stations are the ones complaining about ratings lesser than they were with the hand-written diaries.
   Look: all you've got to do to make your radio use measured fairly, White, Black, Hispanic, Oriental or whatever, is to wear the damned PPM thing and then remember to set it in its little saddle at night. It does everything automatically, like magic.
   How tough is that?
   Much as I hate to say it, these rating discrepancies are not Arbitron's fault.
   Comment here.
12-11-07 Secret Squirrel put his Rams jersey on and infiltrated ... the Not-So-Big 590:
   John Marecek and Bob Fescoe are out at KFNS effective Jan 1. They were told their contracts would not be renewed. In other KFNS news, Brian Stull, who was not good enough to be considered for the full time reporters job when he applied a year ago, is now the full time Rams, Blues and Cardinal reporter. Sara Daley, who was told 2 years ago that she did not have enough experience to be the promotions director, is now the new promotions director. Evan Crocker has also been asking staffers for their opinion of Jason Barrett. The feedback has not been good for JB.
   Comment here.
12-11-07 Like the KSHE Cafe wasn't a bad enough idea ... from Boston.com:
   It's "I Love Lucy" meets Kobe beef burgers in a sleek restaurant just a few yards from Gillette Stadium. That's the premise of a new concept, known as CBS Scene, being unveiled next fall as a joint partnership between New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and CBS Corp. The 15,000-square-foot restaurant serving upscale grill fare will feature about 130 high-definition televisions, including table-side flat-screens programmed with CBS content ranging from "Late Night with David Letterman" to "The Honeymooners."
   Comment here.
12-11-07 This audio track hit the web over the weekend ... like an atomic bomb. By late Sunday it was linked at countless blogs and websites, and Monday I had HUGE email, all pointing to the hotlink. In case that doesn't work, try this one. Merry Christmas...from Clear Channel!
   Comment here.
12-09-07 Just after 4AM Sunday morning ... Tasha, the STLMedia WatchDog, and I distributed the ashes of Lucy and Boy Dog in the back yard that our dear two dogs loved so much.
   Tasha yipped and jumped in their honor, following my lead, even though she didn't know them, as I tossed their ashes into the wet grass, to be absorbed into the next-year's lawn.
   Lucy and Boy crossed The Rainbow Bridge this last year, in April and September, respectively.
   Tasha, an Australian Cattle Dog, joined our family on my birthday in September.
12-09-07 In honor of Production Directors everywhere ... especially at this time of the year. Talk about unsung heroes... Listen here
12-07-07 I occasionaly get positive email ... like this: This site is great with the inside info on radio, TV and print. You really fill a big void in our community. As a former radio guy I still like to know what's going on in the biz. You're doing great work. I like your "take no prisoners" attitude, concerning the Clear Channel and KTRS salt mines. Your advice to print media is revolutionary and right on. What a great job! The only thing I can advise is don't give away the advice for free, man, you could make a mint as a media consultant.
   Okay then...no more free advice. Send the money before you ask the questions.
   Email here.
12-07-07 Arbitron ... will reach 80% of its target sample sizes for the critical 18-54 demo, the company announced Wednesday after consulting with the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council. This is a step down from its earlier proposal to guarantee 90% of sample target sizes for listeners 6 years and up.
   Comment here.
12-07-07 Newspaper 2008 will be just as bad ... as Newspaper 2007: Newspaper publishers and analysts now say next year will probably be just as tough for the troubled industry as 2007.
   Comment here.
12-07-07 Sometime today we'll learn ... if the story we picked up from OHM about the sale of nine Fox TV stations, including KTVI/2 here, has legs. I say it has long, muscular legs, that stretch all the way to the floor.
   OHM has credibility and has posted updates and clarifications to the info we posted here weeks ago.
   KTVI/2's GM Spencer Koch has denied this sale to our sources, but we believe this is just a matter of his being allowed no corporate comment on the story. Guess Spencer hopes he'll be kept on. Good luck, Mr. Koch.
   If I were a betting man, I'd put the cash on Fox selling the nine markets to Local TV, LLC, and for all of them to stay Fox affiliates.
   Then we'll have to deal with Bobby Lawrence and Randy Michaels raping a group of otherwise healthy tv broadcast stations for their own personal profit.
   Just like they did with their radio properties.
   Comment here.
12-06-07 From JC Corcoran ...We got this too late to do much with it last year so we've rolled it out, full-scale, this year. These are the real guys, btw. The writing was a collaboration among me, Carl Middleman, as well as David Bickler and Pete Stacker, the RMOG guys. Nicely done, and something of a privilege to have "the RMOG guys" working on your station's behalf. Listen here.
12-06-07 WKRP audio ... STLMedia friend Jay Philpott has one of the most amazing collections of radio-related MP3's (airchecks, jingles, drops, etc.) I'm aware of, even organized on a lengthy spreadsheet. Recently Jay's begun sharing tracks from his 90-episode collection of the classic tv show, WKRP in Cincinnati. We'll be presenting them here, as Jay excerpts the audio.
12-05-07 Fox sells KTVI to Local TV LLC ...
   Ohio Media Watch hears that it has been announced to staffers at Cleveland FOX owned-and-operated WJW/8 "FOX 8" that the local station, and eight other FOX-owned stations are being sold to Oak Hill Capital Partners. The below-top-10 market outlets were put on the block to help fund FOX parent News Corporation's successful bid for the "Wall Street Journal".
   Yes, that's the same Oak Hill Capital Partners which bought the New York Times TV stations, and now run them under the "Local TV, LLC" banner.
   And yes, that's the same Oak Hill which hired former Clear Channel radio head Randy Michaels, he of suburban Cincinnati, to run the group.
   The prospect was brought up recently in a Reuters article, which we found through Tom Taylor's Radio-Info.com daily newsletter.
   OMW hears that Randy's name was mentioned at today's meeting with FOX brass visiting the South Marginal Road headquarters of WJW.
   "Cleveland's Own" FOX 8 is the largest market station on the nine-station FOX sell-off list, followed by markets like Denver and St. Louis.
   FOX's top 10 market O&Os (in places like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles) are staying with the company.
   STLMedia told you weeks ago that this was a sure thing, and now it looks like it's come to pass. Woe is the TV market in the Gateway City as the "man" who single-handedly crippled the radio business now takes his pathetic shot at television. Comment here.
12-05-07 Smartest move they've made since they've been here ... Simmons Media has hired market vet and the guy who is likely the best known (and certainly the best behaved) stadium announcer in STL, Tom Calhoun, to voice their imaging for their Team 1380 station. Tom's been the voice of the Blues for, oh, what, about a hundred years? He's also the PA guy for the Gateway Grizzlies. As Tom says, "I'll announce your sports event for food, particularly that Krispy Kreme cheeseburger at the Grizzlies games."
12-05-07 Mr. Computer Wizard ... finally finished up the STLMedia Main System updates, hardware and software, polishing it all off with a nifty wireless keyboard and mouse thingie. Now we here sit around the office drinking coffee and patiently waiting for the next round of XPPro updates, due early 2008.
12-05-07 KLPW back on the air ... Following up Wachter's stations off the air -- Randy Wachter's KLPW-FM/Union is back on the air as of Tuesday PM, in a country format. We still don't know why it was off the air, or why its sister station was, in the first place. Comment here.
12-04-07 The only reason I can think of ... that Jamie Allman's KFTK morning show doesn't make the Top Ten 25-54 is the presence of the Fortunate Son Crane Durham. The boy adds nothing to the show and, in fact, drags the level of intellect considerably down. Durham, formerly a country club tennis coach, is only on the air anywhere because of his family's social connections. Emmis/STL would be well served by ditching Durham and letting Allman solo. Comment here.
12-04-07 Coming soon ... why radio hits are played so many times, and the frequency came to be...
12-04-07 What we already said ... and about which we do not care.
   From the STLBJ:
   Local radio stations 1380 KSLG-AM and 1190 AM are changing their affiliations
    Big League Broadcasting, owners of Sports Talk 590 KFNS-AM and The Talk Monster 1190 AM, announced Monday the conversion of the 1190 frequency to ESPN Radio 1190 AM. The transition will take place on Jan. 1.
    Evan Crocker, vice president and general manager of Big League Broadcasting-St. Louis, said in a statement: "In taking 1190 AM to all-sports ESPN 1190, combined with Sports Talk 590 The Fan KFNS, Big League Broadcasting can now deliver premiere sports programming on a national and local level for the St. Louis sports fan."
    Simmons Sports Marketing said as of Monday morning, sports talk station 1380 KSLG-AM is switching its affiliation from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports under the new name TEAM 1380. It wasn't long ago 1190 AM switched from a sports talk format over to political talk and now its going back to sports with ESPN.
    The station will be local from 6AM to 7PM Monday through Friday with national syndicated programs taking up the remainder of the schedule.
   None of this matters. It's all crap meant for stupid advertisers who will buy anything directed at local sports clients. You can't hear these stations outside the 170 loop anyway.
    Comment here.
12-04-07 HD-2 EAS Handbook ... download it and bet your life that it'll never be used. Why? Nobody has an HD Radio, and those who broadcast to them just don't care. Comment here.
12-04-07 Imus is back on the air at WABC/NYC ... and for the life of me, I don't understand why anyone cares, especially those of us in markets where his show does not air. The radio trades are all aflame with audio and video celebrating his resurrection. Fact is that Imus' relevance was finished a dozen years ago. C'mon...do you really care? Comment here.
12-04-07 Wachter's stations off the air ... and Secret Squirrel wants to know: So what’s up with Randy and his stations? 93x …the station in Union MO and Vandalia stations are all off the air as of Friday. I have no idea why ... maybe you do. Comment here.
12-03-07 Friday's CC changes ... Secret Squirrel reports: Taylor J returns weekdays to Z107.7; on The Bull, Craig Cornett will be heard 5:30AM-12N and Billy Greenwood 12N-7PM. Reason being told is that listeners want to hear more from their favorite air-personalities. Big Mike and Sherry Farmer are off the air weekdays and Kelly Wilde is gone.
   Morning and afternoon drivers, including the PD, running seven hour shows? Bullcrap. At least half of each will be voicetracked. Listeners want to hear more of their favorites, indeed.
   Look, the deal is this: Clear Channel needs to clear the decks on personnel charges as they sell off. They DO NOT care about ratings and they DO NOT care about audience.
   They care only about raping their stations for profit.
   Comment here.
12-01-07 A little holiday giftie for ya ... thirty minutes of tv spot oldies:

12-01-07 Former KTRS'er George Woods has been hard at work ... on an internet "radio" project and is just bringing it to fruition, with affiliation with 67 national sponsors (!), local sponsors and multiple music streams.
   Woods says: After I returned to KC, the hole in the market that RadioGeorge, the online local talk show that I cranked up just before KTRS lured me to St. Louis, filled, wasn't there any more.
   To my surprise, a number of friends, and my wife, kept saying that RG was a great idea and that maybe there was some other way to resurrect it. What has come forth has been a real labor of love, and is turning into an exercise in Internet marketing...and full credit to Randy Raley, who gave me the idea for the new Radio George.
   Comment here.
12-01-07 Tom Weber is leaving KWMU ... for Minnesota Public Radio, says he couldn't pass up the opportunity to work at a network that produces such shows as "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Marketplace" and operates a regional network of 37 radio stations. Comment here.
12-01-07 A listener wonders ... about news and traffic reporting. Maybe station execs ought to pay attention...here's from my email:
   I like your site because it keeps me updated (honestly) about radio in STL and in general. I graduated Mizzou with a degree in Radio/TV/Film (not J school!) but never got in the biz. Still, I love radio and listen to 20 times more radio than watch TV (I've figured it out).
   My question is why does STL radio rely so much on networks for news? There are stations across the country (WSB, WGN, WLS, WIND, KMBZ, WWL, etc) that will have their top-of-the hour news presented locally with network sound bites. It's concise, tight, and you get the info you need from one voice/source. Here all stations follow the model of network first then local after. Seems like that drags it out.
   KTRS tried this approach during the ill-fated Brady era, but went back to the old way after he left. That was the one change I did like. WBGZ in Alton does this sort-of. Local first then network, but even this is better.
   One other thing-seems to me stations are cutting traffic reports or cutting traffic people just as we are heading to having the biggest traffic issues of our STL lives. Not everyone has access to traffic info on the go or access to computer...I have the latter. The least KMOX could do is traffic in every news cast...even if it's just construction. They would definitely find sponsors.
   (name redacted)
   Chesterfield, MO
   Answers, anyone? Bueller?
   Comment here.
12-01-07 Don't call it product placement ... call it an "integration." And now Trump's Apprentice wants $2.5 million per episode. Radio missed the boat entirely on this deal. Use your imagination, radio dudes (and dudettes)! Comment here.
12-01-07 RJ Reynolds dumps print ads ... The nation's second-largest tobacco seller is pulling out of print advertising entirely in 2008 in response to attacks from Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) and sympathetic colleagues, as well as broader criticism from anti-tobacco advocacy groups. Comment here.
12-01-07 Former AM radio sales guy figures out narrowcasting ... at local gas stations. He's making a lot of money, charging clients $200 a month and offering 2100 avails a day per location, airing 15-second spots and using free, unsigned local talent for music. He also employs seven people (probably more than your local Clear Channel cluster) and plans to triple his workforce next year. Comment here.
11-30-07 1380 cans most of their local sales staff ...and outsources their new 10A-12N weekday show to 360 Sports Marketing.
   360, founded earlier this year by UMSL golf coach (and former Winghaven CC manager and radio personality) Dustin Ashby, will be bringing in Tim Woodburn, most recently Sports Director at Cumulus' WVLK in Lexington/KY and previously publisher of the defunct free newspaper, The Lexington Snitch.
   Woodburn joins an "elite" group of STL sports types (Tony LaRussa, Josh Hancock, Leonard Little, Rob Ramage, et al) with alcohol-related driving offenses or tragedies on their record.
   Dan Caesar will likely have more on this at STLToday.com over the weekend.
   Comment here.
11-30-07 Local news media up in arms at Press Club treatment ...

   At a recent STL Press Club event, well-known local PR maven Joan Quicksilver "disallowed" local TV reporters access to Tony LaRussa when they attempted to ask questions about his earlier guilty plea to a Florida DUI charge. The video's here.
   KTVI/Fox2 is pretty hot about the situation.
   This isn't the first time Quicksilver has tangled with members of the working press.
   According to one local media observer, The group's biggest problem is that few members are working press, and it's being run by PR types like [outgoing PC President Alice] Handleman and Quicksilver. They really botched this one.
   Another media wonk wonders why the tv crews couldn't have just waited and done one of their time-honored ambush interviews in the parking garage after the Joe Buck tribute?
   On one hand, Quicksilver could easily be said to just be doing her job as a watchdog (and that's about 90% of a PR person's gig); on the other, it's unsettling to see the Press Club suppressing the local press.
   But it's no real surprise. STL has, for many, many years been a "company town" and all the pertinent rules have been laid down by their PR firms and followed sheepishly by media, broadcast and print.
   The times, though, they are a'changin'...
   Comment here.
11-30-07 After what appears to have been a company-wide series of layoffs ... STLMedia is still waiting to hear the results of a 10AM-this-morning meeting at CCU's digs at The Highlands. Long-time employees in LA, Dallas, Greensboro and Louisville, among other markets, bit the dust today. Merry Christmas from the Mays family, who, also today, made a $40+million deposit after closing two major sales. Comment here.
11-28-07 Fall Book, Phase 1, 25-54 insight ...
25-54 PERSONS, 6-10A Weekdays
KIHT 6.7 to 7.1
KSHE 7.7 to 7.0
WARH 6.7 to 6.9
WIL 5.4 to 5.8
KYKY 5.1 to 5.7
KEZK 5.3 to 5.3
KMJM 5.4 to 5.3
KSD 4.6 to 4.7
KLOU 3.9 to 3.9
WFUN 3.2 to 3.8
KMOX 4.2 to 3.8
NOTES: Hard to imagine that KMOX is tied with, of all stations, WFUN (!!!!!!!) for a TENTH-place tie, but they are. Watch to see if KLOU's new TV campaign with Smash's voice-over propels them from 9th. Arch holding on. Guy Phillips up. Watch the impact of KEZK's Christmas music on the cluster of top stations. JC and John Ulett back in first over Bob and Tom for the first time since The Arch debuted.
-----
25-54 PERSONS, 3-7P Weekdays
KFTK 6.9 to 7.0
WARH 5.5 to 5.5
KEZK 5.2 to 5.5
KSHE 4.8 to 5.3
KTRS 5.2 to 5.1
WIL 4.5 to 4.7
WFUN 4.5 to 4.5
KLOU 3.9 to 4.3
KYKY 4.1 to 4.2
KMJM 4.5 to 4.1
NOTES: Little movement here. Watch Glover's numbers as the political season kicks into full swing.
-----
25-54 PERSONS, 6A-12M Weekdays
KSHE 6.4 to 6.5
WARH 6.0 to 6.1
KEZK 5.2 to 5.5
KMJM 5.5 to 5.2
WIL 4.6 to 5.2
KIHT 5.0 to 5.1
KLOU 4.6 to 4.9
KYKY 4.6 to 4.8
KSD 4.1 to 4.2
WFUN 3.8 to 3.9
NOTES: Again, little movement. WIL mornings and overall moving up.
Comment here.
11-28-07 Left-coast sportswriter and STL homeboy Irv Muchnik ... (yes, THAT Muchnik family) has a bit to say about the major-media slamming of Mizzou's football ranking: Missouri’s #1 Football Ranking Can Mean Only One Thing – Slavery Is Back!
   Read it here and then comment here.
11-28-07 Media recession coming? ... I call BS on this bit of business terror mongering. A downturn, yes. A full blown recession, probably not. From TheGlobeandMail.com:
   The U.S. media industry is on the brink of a second downturn in a decade, one that could accelerate the divisions between fast-growing targeted advertising and traditional formats aimed at mass audiences.
   Since the last advertising recession following the Internet bust in 2000, the world's largest media companies have tried to adapt to deep technological changes, from the rise of high-speed Web use to the spread of portable digital media players like Apple's iPod.
   But a deteriorating U.S. housing market has raised fears of a domestic recession that could harm media segments vying for some $290 billion in U.S. advertising in 2008.
   Comment here.
11-28-07 Susan Smith-Harmon ... why, oh why, did you have to try and do that juggling thing with six cans of cranberry sauce? Always one of our favorite people, Susan fractured her wrist over Thanksgiving. Tough to do data entry with one hand, kiddo! Heal quickly, Ms. Harmon!
11-28-07 November TV sweeps are almost over ... and here's where the numbers stand: KSDK owns mornings and 5 and 6PM; KMOV has the noon and 10PM locked up; KTVI trumps KPLR at 9PM and lags behind the established 10PM shows with its not yet established "News Edge."

6AM ******* 5 - 7.9 2 - 5.0 4 - 3.9

Noon ******* 4 - 6.7 5 - 6.6

5PM ******* 5 - 12.6 4 - 9.1 2 - 6.4

6PM ******* 5 - 13.2 4 - 8.6 2 - 4.7

9PM ******* 2 - 8.7 11 - 3.7

10PM ******* 4 - 13.9 5 - 13.1 2 - 4.3

Comment here.
11-28-07 Web radio royalty may silence Yahoo, AOL ... from InsideRadio: The two Internet giants say an impending 38% increase in royalties to the record labels will likely lead to an end to their web radio service. Yahoo's Ian Rogers tells Bloomberg "We're not going to stay in the business if cost is more than we make long term." AOL's Lisa Namerow agrees "the current math doesn't add up." Terrestrial radio operators are also facing a big increase for their webcasts. Comment here.
11-27-07 Classic STL aircheck ... Jonnie King on WDRQ Detroit and on K-Hits96...Listen here
11-27-07 My brother sends this along ... Just days after Microsoft delivered a release candidate preview for Windows Vista SP1, it has quietly issued a similar milestone for Windows XP SP3 to about 15,000 testers, the company said...according to accounts published last month, XP SP3 will feature more than 1,000 hot fixes and patches that have been issued in the past three years, as well as at least four new features, some of which will be ports of Vista tools.
   It's those Vista ports that worry Rick and me... Comment here.
11-27-07 Hot news anchor creates tension in MO TV newsroom ... KRDW's new anchorette is making waves in local television. "I've done tons of photo shoots for Hooters and Banana Boat," says newswoman Lisa Storm. "That's like, really hard and stuff..." Read it here.
11-26-07 The history of Gaslight Square ... a lengthy (2:17) video presentation of the history of Gaslight Square, once the premier St. Louis arts and entertainment district. Very cool memories and a very cool video!
   Thanks to Jonnie King for the original material (he even briefly appears in it, at about 4:20).
   Joe Pollack reminded me that the STL Playboy Club was not exactly in Gaslight Square...it was on Lindell, near Vandeventer.
   And another emailer, who shall remain nameless, waxed rhapsodical about his (very) personal experiences at the local Club and at Hef's West Coast mansion. Such things were so different in the 1960's and 1970's...
   Enjoy the video. If you have RealPlayer10, you can download it for home viewing at your convenience.

11-26-07 Bill Pfeiffer's Airwaves is no more ... For those of you who don't know, Bill Pfeiffer started the first radio news group in the 1980's on the old USENET and grew it into a remarkable discussion group, newsletter and website.
   He suffered a horrible disaster in December 1996, a fire in which he lost everything and which eventually took the life of his Mother; I was able to help a little by donating a computer to use as a new server and I paid for as much bandwidth as I could afford.
   A few years later, in September 1999, Bill was killed in an auto accident and his website went into a memorial status. I just discovered that the domain was sold to an HVAC company a few years ago.
   Bill gave a start to a number of well-known radio websites and was an inspiration when I first began STLMedia in 2000. Comment here.
11-25-07 Welcome to unattended operation ... Most recently known as 1490 Soul Classics WESL, owned by Simmons Media, WFFX had a bit of an issue over the weekend.
   According to an emailed report, "WFFX 1490 AM for a few hours this afternoon simulcast KESZ 102.9 FM in Cape Girardeau. I don't think they have the same owner, so I can't place rhyme or reason."
   The writer followed up on Sunday: "I have a theory re the WFFX simulcasting KEZS I told you about yesterday. [They were airing] SEMO basketball, and WFFX didn't cut out of the simulcast after the game, meaning for a few hours it played KEZS's country music and local ads."
   Comment here.
11-24-07 Using a U3 drive ... The 4gig USB 2.0 thumb drive I recently purchased delivers graphic editing and capture using Irfan, reads MSOffice files (using Open Office), does FTP transfer, reads the web with Firefox, provides instant local weather updates, renders and edits PDF files, and gives me a text/HTML editor and an enormous amount of data storage...and that's just with free U3 aps I downloaded Friday night.
   It can move from system to system; seems to work with everything here. Pretty impressive...a little teeny computer in your pocket, using everbody else's resources.
   It also includes free anti-virus protection from the host computer.
   Skip carrying the laptop around; just tie one of these onto your keychain, fill it up with your presentation and plug it into your client's system.
   Comment here.
11-24-07 From STLRadio dot com ... A photographic and technical PDF presentation on KMOX transmitters, up to 2005, by Stanley Adams. Cool, in a geeky sort of way. Comment here.
11-24-07 Thanks to Frank Absher for sending this link along ... "For over 50 years, outlaw American radio broadcasters exploited a legal loophole and aired powerful pirate radio from the Mexican side of the border. So called ‘border blasters’ - or ‘X stations’ - were true innovators whose influence continues to be felt today."

   Comment here.
11-23-07 Just in case you need to keep track ... of which radio stations around the US are doing the Christmas thing, here's where you can see the list. It's updated somewhat regularly.
11-22-07 Sincerest condolences ... to STL Radio stalwart JC Corcoran, whose father, James Francis Corcoran, passed away Wednesday evening at the age of 85 following a lengthy illness. According to JC, arrangements are pending but a memorial will likely be held in upstate Wisconsin sometime after the first of the year.
11-21-07 Happy Thanksgiving to y'all ... Don't know about you, but I'm most thankful for four-day holiday weekends. Great dinners with local family and friends, fun (and confusing) speaker-phone calls with distant family in KC and Richmond and friends elsewhere, and finally a taste of Winter.
   Mrs. A will get some rest from her regular 60-hour weeks, Tasha, the STLMedia WatchDog, and I will play Tug, Herd The Squirrels, Belly Rub, Fur Brush and Chase The Laser Dot, we will all watch DVD's of no consequence and my BP will drop to 90 over 60.
   Guaranteed: sometime on Saturday, Mrs. A will not-so-subtly suggest that I get my butt in gear and start cleaning and organizing the office, which has fallen into some disunity in the past year. Life just isn't fair.
   If something comes up, email me or send it in via the Rumors Page.
   Have a great Thanksgiving!
11-21-07 Maybe that's what made his hair grow back ...
   Please tase me, bro! From 11 months ago yesterday, a memory of the sacrifices that our TV anchors will make for our holiday amusement...

11-21-07 Charles Klotzer will hate this ...    Klotzer, the Founder and Publisher Emeritus of the once-esteemed St. Louis Journalism Review, has steadfastly refused to accept that dead-tree publications are just that...dead, or nearly so. It's now all about the electrons.    The device pictured at left is the end of all Mr. K's objections.    Meet the Kindle, the first truly viable wireless online/offline reader, from Amazon.    Many topics are free to read, some are available by subscription, and most books cost about $10. And the EVDO service is free (no need to search for a WiFi HotSpot).    I can't include all the features here. Read this page and you'll be as impressed as I am (and, yes, it's on my Wish List, above right).    As with any new technology, there are sure to be improvements in updated models. But this, or something very similar, is the future, friends. Get the ink off your hands once and for all.    Comment here.

11-20-07 KWMU GM Pat Wente ... spent part of the past weekend as a guest of the Sarasota County/FL Sheriff's Office after being stopped for and charged with DUI Saturday evening.    Of course, the all-important mugshot is at left, with Ms. Wente wearing one of those snazzy prison orange jumpsuits.    Read the arrest sheet here (scroll down to p. 106).    Ms. Wente has been GM of KWMU, an NPR affiliate, since 1989.

11-19-07 Phase 1, 12+, Fall 2007 ...

   Comment here.
11-19-07 My very first hard drive ... was a 40 kb meg install into a Tandy laptop and cost about a grand. That was in 1989 and I was online with Prodigy at 14.4k baud dialup.
   Does anyone use the word "baud" anymore? Does anyone get a busy signal anymore when they log on?
   Now I'm on DSL, with a system I don't fully understand but makes thing happen very, very quickly and will store a half-terabyte of data and never have a hard drive failure because of something called RAID.
   I think terabyte means the same as a bajillion. Dunno. But I bet it's a lot.
   Last night I bought a 4gig thumbdrive for about $60 that will store all my work, data, photos and audio and email and provide me with a transportable OS that I can plug into any computer, anywhere, carry in my pocket and get my work done wherever. Damn.
   And Old Media can't get it together enough to move on to the next level?
   Comment here.
11-19-07 STL racist tossed off YouTube ... Former WGNU talker and caller Frank Weltner, known on the air as "Couch Potato," who has taken advantage of the internet to spread his vitriolic white power and anti-semitic slime in hundreds of bigoted rants, has finally been deleted from the net's most easily accessible website.
   YouTube has canned him, deleting all of his video rants.
   Weltner is an oily spreader of hatred in all directions. I remember him calling conservatives on the air (including myself) at WGNU with his peculiar brand of unhappiness and I remember him emailing me with unhappy, drunken screeds late at night, about his broken relationships with women and men and his less-than-honorable military service. Weltner is a sad, bad and evil man.
   Comment here.
11-18-07 Classified revenue is tanking ... and the best idea that the newspaper industry can come up with is to spend tens of millions to reinvent the Craigslist wheel.
   From STLToday:
   Lee Enterprises Inc., the owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, has joined fellow newspaper publishers MediaNews Group Inc. and Hearst Corp. in the $20 million purchase of an online classified ad software provider...aimed at creating an industrywide consortium featuring community-based classified advertising.
   Mike's first six suggestions:
   1. Shrink the print edition to tabloid size and pocket the newsprint savings. Think of the print package as a revenue-generating gift from God, while there are still people alive who want to read a newspaper offline; cherish newsbox and subscription income while it lasts. Print lots of photos.
   2. Think Max Headroom. Only hire new reporters who are trained in video and still photography, video production and have appropriate wrap-around writing and narrative skills; train the old ones. It kills me to say it, but I haven't shot a photo on 35mm in years and years. My Leica and Nikon go unused. 7 or 8mp digital res is just fine for repro in print and online. Use higher res and sell the prints online as added revenue.
   3. Equip all reporters with video/still cameras and digital audio recorders. Use the stills and their stories in what remains of your print edition; direct readers to your newly enhanced online edition with video and audio. Yes, you're in direct competition with TV. You always have been, so live with it. Now you can compete fully, even wif dem moom pitchers. Let your reporters narrate the video and read the stories, recorded in the newsroom. Natsound is good. Podcasts are good, too, although a tad out of date.
   4. Pay as much (or more) for a visionary Web Manager as you do for your Editor-In-Chief. He or she represents the future of your business. And just one Web Manager per paper, please, if you're a chain. Save on salaries elsewhere.
   5. Just as the income from recorded music is no longer in the sale of CD's, your future is in the ancillary income you can generate, one dime at a time. Coupons. User managed and auto-paid classifieds. Advertised product purchase click-thru's. Subscribed movie previews and product reviews. Get the picture?
   Give the news away and charge a little bit here and a little bit there (mostly invisibly and in partnerships) so your readers can make their lives better and make your online product the central part of their info and consumer lives.
   6. Include carefully moderated chat rooms for instant feedback and forums for single-subject commentary.
   I grew up the son of a Printer and it pains me to say this: ink sucks and electrons rule. It is, after all, the 21st Century.
   Comment here.
11-18-07 Congrats to KFTK's Jamie Allman ... From Jamie's website: Natalie Kathleen Allman is 4lbs 15 ozs and is in NICU and doing great..she's a strong girl and your prayers worked! Thank you for all of your great thoughts and we are happy and blessed to have this beautiful and early gift! All the best, Jamie.
   Comment here.
11-18-07 Hy Lit's show on WIBG was the reason I got into radio ...

11-17-07 St. Louis receives another national accolade ... and KEZK is so proud! I'm pretty sure this never hit the air, but it's VERY funny! Just click the Go button on the player below. The Syphillis Station...KEZK! Listen here
11-16-07 Happy birthday today ... to the STL Business Journal's best reporter and my buddy Rick DesLoge. Honestly, I had no idea how old he was. Wow. Still working, too, and with such a young wife (well, he told me she was his wife).
11-16-07 Persons using radio continue to decline ...
   That refers to broadcast radio, of course. This ain't a good thing. We need to grow/educate more radio listeners. The way to do it is with compelling content. But I bet your budget doesn't allow for that, or your PD or consultant has no idea how to do it.
   Summer book Persons Using Radio numbers declined to their lowest level since Arbitron began keeping statistics in Fall 1998. Radio usage dropped in every cell except 50-54s. Steepest declines continue to be among teenagers and young adults. That's especially true among males, with Men 18-24 and 18-34 cells posting the biggest year-over-year declines. But the crowded media world is also taking a toll on the 25-54 money demo.
   Comment here.
11-16-07 Murdoch says huge TV profits are history ...
   from MediaDailyNews:
   News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has all but declared that the sky's-the-limit profits from traditional broadcast TV are over.
   "I think we have to be a little sensible about this--and realize that free-to-air television faces a lot of challenges, just from the sheer fragmentation of the audience," Murdoch told shareholders in Australia, citing many homes with hundreds of channels. And that comes, he said, despite broadcasters "probably offering the best programs with the most excitement about them."
   Comment here.
11-16-07 I brought BoyDog home yesterday ... After three months of putting it off, I picked up my late pup's cremains from my buddy and vet Dr. Chris Rolf's office at Clayton Animal Hospital. Chris and I had a good long chat, too. Boy's and Lucy's ashes will be scattered at their favorite places in our yard during the first appropriate snowstorm of the Winter. Plans are still being made, but they will certainly include son Jason, me, Tasha the STLMedia WatchDog and a considerable amount of beer.
11-16-07 This guy is a bought-and-paid-for idiot ... On the issue of the XM/Sirius merger, this rural Virginia Representative, Rick Boucher, says:
   By the end of the year, the Justice Dept. and the Federal Communications Commission should have completed their review of the proposed merger of satellite radio providers XM Satellite Radio Holdings (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI).
   Because the merger will promote competition and benefit consumers, it should be approved.
   How, exactly, does reducing the two licensed SatRad companies to one promote competition? Who will compete with whom? What a freakin' moron.
   Comment here.
11-15-07 Noory for President 2012 ... From WorldNetDaily:
   George Noory affirmed that he intends to remain the principal host of Coast to Coast AM, honoring until 2012 his current long-term contract with Premier Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, and possibly through 2016, but he acknowledges various advisers have been urging him to run.
   For what it's worth, the year 2012 is also considered by many callers to Noory's show to be the end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar, a year during which the planet will be struck by horrendous cataclysm.
   Hey, I can see how these two could work together...
   Comment here.
11-15-07 Is the AntiChrist set to buy Fox O&O's? ...
   Secret Squirrel passes along this email:
   Randy Michaels & Bobby Lawrence are one step closer to owning Fox 2 and eight other Fox TV-owned stations.
   Reuters business wire reports Oak Hill Capital, the venture capital firm that owns Local TV LLC, has made a bid of $1.2 billion for the nine Fox-owned stations.
   Local TV LLC is the operation run by Michaels and Lawrence.
   According to Reuters, the bid is $600 million below Fox's asking price, but is the only bid that's been made.
   Michaels and Lawrence are widely regarded as the Darth Vaders of radio broadcasting. They currently own nine TV stations sold by the New York Times Company. The largest markets in that group are Oklahoma City and Memphis. The nine Fox TV stations for sale include St. Louis, Denver, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Milwaukee.
   Comment here.
11-15-07 One more from the Squirrel ... More changes at The Highlands: CC Total Traffic Assistant Director of Operations/Reporter Melody Sharp is out. Comment here.
11-15-07 Man Bites Dog! STL P-D praises radio station ... alleged Post-Dispatch radio writer Diane Toroian Keaggy has put together an interesting look at KSHE's 40th anniversary. Young Diane finds the most entrancing part of their tribute website to be the collection of Sweetmeat images. Comment here.
11-15-07 Radio trades were buzzing about this Thursday AM ...
   From MediaPost:
   The radio industry gave voice to its dissatisfaction with Arbitron's Portable People Meter ratings in a blunt letter sent last night and signed by some of the country's biggest broadcasters. With signatories including Clear Channel Radio, Cumulus Media, Cox Radio and Radio One Inc., the letter demands immediate action by Arbitron to remedy the PPM rating system's shortcomings.
   Specifically, the broadcasters demand that Arbitron meet its in-tab sample targets for all age segments in the 18-54 range and all ethnicities, including African-Americans and Hispanics.
   These four companies represent a big bag of subscriber loot to Arbitron; this bears watching.
   Comment here.
11-14-07 Old Richmond friend David Bernstein ... most recently VP/Programming Air America, is out, effective immediately. Make your bets now that the LibTalk net is cutting back on costs. Love to see 'em survive, but they just don't get that whole Capitalism thing. David & Debbie will be just fine, I betcha.
   Can't say so much for AA. Comment here.
11-14-07 A $15 WiFi portable receiver ... Told ya this was coming, and it looks like here it is.
    A $15 portable WiFi radio that picks up 10,000-plus stations?
    Cambridge Consultants says it’s completed the design of just such a gizmo, dubbed RadioPro, and that it will make the circuitry available to manufacturers.
   This is the HDRadio and SatRad killer we've told you about.
   Signals from the electronic mist that surrounds us all...and all your, lovingly free.
   Comment here.

11-14-07 Digital newsbox ...    Newspapers used to cost a nickel back when I was a kid and now they cost, well, more.    The Birmingham News' Scott Walker modified a newsbox he bought on Ebay with a 17" monitor and a used Mac (although a PC would work as well) to play newspaper front pages from around the world, and even works as an alarm clock.    With speakers and a wireless connection, it'll also play MP3's and online videos.    The cost was about $800, plus his skilled labor.    Here are Scott's plans and project notes.    This pretty much answers the question, "Is print dead?"    So when will the P-D roll over and give it up to the Web? Comment here.

11-13-07 J-school prof fired for plagiarism ... A distinguished UM-Columbia journalism professor, John Merrill, will no longer write a weekly newspaper column after admitting to plagiarizing material from a student reporter. Comment here.
11-13-07 A new voice at STLMedia ... Here's an article on the Free Flow of Information Act by J-student Kathy Valdez, from whom I hope we'll read more.
   Here's an excerpt from Kathy's excellent work:
   I have come to realize that the free press that I learned about in history and the papers I read while growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s doesn’t really exist in the same form in the United States.
   Today, the media is all about circulation and viewership which translates into advertising which means money.
   Read it all and comment here.
11-13-07 The current Writers' Guild strike ... brings to mind the 1967 AFTRA strike that WABC/NYC DJ's were forced to honor. Management and other staff had to fill in on air. It wasn't pretty. The good news was that it didn't last long.
   So...presuming that you were working at an AFTRA station, and there was a labor action and all your air talent decided to honor the picket lines, what would your station do?
   Oops! Trick question: your station's already using voice tracking from non-union stations and your contract says that's okey-dokey; you're screwed! Not that AFTRA's of much use anyway...
   Comment here.
11-13-07 This oughta make KMOX' Randy Raley a happy man ... from MetalUnderground: XM Radio launched a new channel dedicated to the music of rock icons Led Zeppelin yesterday. The new channel, "XM LED: The Led Zeppelin Channel" (XM 59), will feature the band's complete audio catalog, interviews with band members and other unique content that celebrates the musical contributions of Led Zeppelin. Comment here.
11-13-07 Top earning dead guys for 2007 ... from Forbes:
1- Elvis Presley $49 million
2- John Lennon $44 million
3- Charles Schulz $35 million
4- George Harrison $22 million
5- Albert Einstein $18 million
6- Andy Warhol $15 million
7- Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) $13 million
8- Tupac Shakur $9 million
9- Marilyn Monroe $7 million
10- Steve McQueen $6 million
11- James Brown $5 million
12- Bob Marley $4 million
13- James Dean $3.5 million
11-13-07 If the US enters a recession ... (and I'm not suggesting that we're about to, but there seems to be an uncertain feeling about the economy within the ad community) ... radio ads always seem to be the first thing to get thrown off the bus.
   That never made sense to me, but who understands the media buyers' minds? What really troubles me is how much further can radio cut back?
   With some exception, most every station is either voice-tracked or using syndication in many dayparts and average DJ pay is at an all-time low. Support personnel are being paid peanuts and sales commissions are in the dirt. Benefits are almost non-existent.
   Each subsequent license transfer turns the new owner more financially upside down than the previous one as they assume debt based on stupid business deals. Who the heck buys any business at 15-20 times cash flow?
   Most stations are running as fat-free as they have in decades, and there's not a lot left to trim.
   I worry.
   Comment here.
11-12-07 Finding the REAL Classic Coke ... Lots of years ago, Coke began to be made with high fructose corn syrup, as are many soft drinks these days, rather than cane sugar.
   To me, it's a big difference in taste, even though I don't consume many soft drinks. And it may be a big difference in your health. But I'll leave that judgement to others.
   If you enjoy the old taste of the drink, look for the small glass bottles of Coke that become available around Jewish holidays. Those that are marked Kosher are made with cane sugar rather than corn syrup. Check the label just to make sure (the bottler may have hired an apostate Rabbi). In my experience, the Kosher drink is only available in the smaller bottles (and I still believe that plastic loses taste to glass, regardless of the sweetener used).
    Hannukah 2007 begins on December 4th, so these should become available soon. Buy lots, if you like the REAL Classic Coke. Passover's coming soon enough to make a resupply!
    Comment here.
11-11-07 Regardless of whom you support ... for the Presidency in '08, you have to admit that this stuff is funny. Example: Fred Thompson once fought fire with fire. Fire was admitted to the hospital with third degree burns covering eighty percent of its body. Comment here.
11-10-07 Frank Absher asks these questions ...
   (1) Who most influenced you to get into the radio, tv or print biz?
   (2) Who has made you most embarrased that you did?
   Comment here. And speaking of Absher, he sent along this video from The Great Plains Radio History Symposium...

11-10-07 But smoke one little doobie ... from New York Magazine:
    "We know who you are. We’re all DEA agents, and we think you should smoke as much pot as you want to. And we love you." The Dell Dude lives on, with a new identity. And maybe still baked. Comment here.
11-09-07 Well, nobody expected this ... from MediaPost:
    Arbitron's first measurements of New York City radio listening with its Portable People Meter technology delivered bad news for radio stations targeting African-American and Hispanic audiences, with ratings significantly lower than those previously generated by Arbitron's personal diary system. Although PPM ratings won't be used as the official market currency for ad sales until January, the October preview is giving many broadcasters cause for alarm.
   And talk radio has grown immensely with PPM. While written diaries have had their own problems, it looks like PPM data recovery may have a whole new set of issues. The user has to remember to wear the damned thing and then to plug it back into th