Previously on The Front Page...Jan/Feb/Mar 2008
03-31-08 Post-Dispatch in a pickle ...
A three-word link -- To our readers -- appeared innocuously at STLToday.com yesterday. The link led to a correction that read, in part:
On the front page of last Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, we published the story of a woman identified as Virginia Gillis. She was featured in an Easter story in which she described in detail a past of victimization, homelessness and despair followed by recovery and repair.
We have since learned that a number of the details in that story were inaccurate. Further, our verification procedures were not followed during the reporting and editing process. In short, this story did not meet our standards for publication.
We apologize for this journalistic breakdown.
It was signed by both Editor Arnie Robbins and Managing Editor Pam Maples.
The correction did not appear on the front page of the deadtree edition; it ran in a less prominent position, Page A-2.
This leads me to some questions and observations.
-- Why wasn't the correction displayed as prominently, on the same page, as the original story a week before? In fact, why are not all corrections printed on the same page, in the same position, as the original, incorrect, article?
-- How the hell did such egregiously bad reporting slip through the original writer(s) and what has to be at least three layers of editing? It's almost beyond belief that what was once a thundering major newspaper of record allowed such incredibly bad sourcing and fact checking on a front page story, even though it's now owned by the peanut-whistle voice of Lee.
-- What will happen to the writers who originated the story and the editors who passed the story on to the presses? The have, each and every one of them, abrogated the public trust that the readers who remain attached to the P-D rely upon and should be fired as the next and immediate wave of "early retirements".
In the past week, both the LATimes and the NYTimes have had similar issues, in which stories based on hoaxes and badly sourced reporting were published and subsequently corrected. The Post-Dispatch is in sad but well-deserved company.
In other deadtree news, Newsweek cuts 111 staffers and newspapers report their worst revenue in more than 50 years.
Comment here.
03-31-08 New to the STLMedia archives ... January, February and March 2008. Everything from the Front Page from the first quarter of this year, including photos and video and audio links, is there.
03-31-08 Scott Burton passes ... Scott was with KSD from 1973-1976, according to Frank Absher's STLRadio.com.
Burton had a long career in broadcasting in Minneapolis, Cleveland, Washington, DC, St. Louis, San Francisco, San Diego and Phoenix and retired in 1994. He was 71.
 | 03-30-08 Playing with BlogTalkRadio ... our chat recorded live and saved online, with your permission. Info later. This could be great!
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03-28-08 The art of the newscast ... How it was done, grabbing listeners and enhancing the format, on The Big 8, CKLW Windsor.
Watch it here; it's your weekend video assignment.
If you've never done a newscast with the Drake AA-Image Pack sounder, you've never done a newscast. Thanks to Jerry DelColliano for the link.
03-28-08 Terrific Monthly Meeting this morning ...
Thanks to all the Usual Suspects for their repeat performances and to the Newbies whom, I hope, will return on April 25th (details above)! Mrs. A even made a special guest appearance!
 | 03-28-08 Anybody else notice this? Ever since the Redbirds hooked up with KTRS/AM550, it's been one misadventure after another. Now the whole Ballpark Village thing might be falling apart. The guy at left is the world's worst jinx, from the old Li'l Abner cartoon strip. Is he now managing the Big 550? Comment here.
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03-28-08 Clear Channel privatization deal ... if it ran on South Park:
1. Banks agree to fund Bain and Lee acquisition.
2. Banks decline the Bain and Lee deal as deadline approaches.
3. Bain and Lee sue to force banks to give them the money.
4. Texas judge finds in favor of Bain and Lee.
5. -----
6. Armageddon for CCU employees, then PROFIT!1111!!!111 for the Mays family and Bain and Lee.
Comment here.
03-28-08 Yay! XM and Sirius will merge! Life is good!
Don't get too excited just yet, SatBoy: the FCC has to weigh in with a decision and about a dozen State Attorneys General are chiming in with anti-trust objections to the DOJ's finding, and that may have to be re-examined as a result.
And beyond the legal issues and the cloudy multi-tier pricing lies an inherent reception problem.
The Baltimore Sun reports: There's one catch: Customers may need new radios at up to $200 a pop if they want to be able to select specific channels, something they can't do now.
Comment here.
03-28-08 The NAB is not your friend...
InsideRadio reports that the NAB has filed suit asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn new FCC requirements that stations provide more detailed information to the FCC as well as post public inspection files online. The NAB says the new disclosure rules place a burden on stations, especially in small markets.
Here's why such a recommendation is just plain dumb. When (and if) consolidation shakes loose thousands of radio stations back into private hands, the onus will be on the new owners to prove that they can reliably serve their communities.
Without such records, such service will be impossible to prove when it comes time for license renewal.
And service to small markets will be especially important.
In other words, quit bitching and just do the right thing.
Comment here.
03-28-08 Those danged LPTV guys are gonna screw it up ... for all of us.
Just because they don't have to go digital next year doesn't mean we all shouldn't have the privelege of dropping a thou or so for a new digital set, right? Here's the story.
The Community Broadcasters Association, which represents owners of small television stations, wants the FCC to ban all digital set top converter boxes that are not equipped to receive an analog signal, a request that has the potential to derail the biggest broadcasting transition since color television.
Comment here.
03-28-08 This may be the final gasp from the music industry ...
It's so intensely stupid as to be barely imaginable, but the record companies want to tax all online users $5 a month:
So the plan essentially comes down to telling ISPs that they can avoid any copyright infringement liability if they pay the fee on behalf of customers. And while the government wouldn’t be directly involved, the willingness of law enforcement agencies and the judicial system to enforce civil and criminal copyright infringement laws is the stick by which Griffin will convince ISPs to jump on board. It’s government endorsed extortion, nothing more and nothing less.
Read it all and then comment here.
03-28-08 Admit it: you have no future in broadcasting...
Or so says AOL, which itself has no future in the online business.
Here's their assessment of the future of radio and television announcers:
Why it's endangered: New technology and advancement of other media sources like satellite radio and syndicated programming means less need for radio and TV announcers.
Salary: $36,120
Decline rate: 8 percent
Instead: Use your communication skills as a news analyst, reporter, correspondent, interpreter or translator.
Comment here.
03-28-08 BBC news anchor loses it on the air ...
and it makes international news:
A BBC news anchor's giggle fit has swept the news media and generated a switchboard "meltdown" at the BBC. Charlotte Green lost her composure, dissolving into helpless giggling during a story about the world's oldest recorded voice when a colleague apparently said over her headphones that it sounded like a bee in a bottle. She was unable to get things together for the next story, an obituary and a colleague had to step in before things returned to normal.
Which brings us to this question:
What was your absolute worst on-air breakdown? I've had news copy set on fire and cut in half with scissors, been mooned and worse.
Tell your stories here.
03-27-08 Out of work radio types need not apply, I guess ...
From Reuters: The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India. "We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs."
Saying hello and then answering questions by reading down the list of answers must be beyond native-born Americans who can read card liners and promos...
Comment here.
03-26-08 Canon PowerShotA95 digital camera for sale ...
Gently used, mostly for this website, only $65, originally $179.
Uses Compact Flash cards and 4 AA batteries; 5MP res, 3x optical zoom, 21 shooting modes. Shoots VGA video up to three minutes.
Review and tech details here.
I'll deliver it personally in the STL area. Email for info.
03-26-08 Talked to Rod Zerr (and his wife Jeri) earlier today ...
He's been through a lot (scroll down for the original, corrected story), but he sounded up and optimistic; Jeri sounded "up" as well as she handed the cell phone right over to him.
There are still some issues to resolve, but Rod's eager to get back to work at the St. Charles County EMA, with a few more pieces of metal aboard than he went into hospital with.
How would they resolve an emergency without him?
03-26-08 Forgot to take a book when I went out to lunch today ...
Read a copy of the RFT instead. Man, do they have a lot of ads. Man, are they making money hand over fist. And, man, is that deadtree a piece of crap.
I know, I know, I'm so far out of their target that I'm lucky I can see the paper without binoculars.
But even in my dotage I know crap when I see it.
Comment here.
03-25-08 DOJ says okey-dokey to the Sirius-XM merger ...
And that's not a good thing. I've waited all day and half the night before commenting to see if there are any realists out there...none, so far, but Jerry DelColliano.
From InsideRadio: The Justice Department has approved Sirius Satellite Radio's $4.38 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio. The merger was approved despite opposition from consumer groups and an intense lobbying campaign by the land-based radio industry. Regulators said the merger is not likely to substantially hurt competition or consumers. The deal still must receive FCC approval, but Wall Street has already given it the thumbs-up: Sirius stock rose 25 cents to $3.15 (+8.6%), while XM gained $1.85 to $13.79 (up 15.5%).
SatRad proponents now have what they wanted, presuming FCC approval, which is almost assured. But beware. Here's what will happen, as SatRad combines under the hand of Mel Karmazin:
60% (or more) of the combined staff will be released, adding more misery to the radio unemployment well. Count on almost everyone at XM hitting the beach.
60% of the combined channels will be eliminated, completely done away with. The drops will include narrow-casts and channels that cost more than moderate wages, with the exception of the Stern channels, because Mel has an unnatural business relationship with Howard and both have ginormous stock holdings in the company.
Subscription fees will mirror cable fees, with early-on low rates that will increase, increase, increase...
Within a year all SatRad channels will include commercials. It's the only way that Karmazin can fully monetize his new playground. Subscriber fees alone will not support the service.
Prediction: by 2010, SatRad will be a Thing Of The Past and TerRad will still be stumbling along, doing their analog broadcast thing (and having dumped the dumb HDRadio deal), albeit with a little help from WiFi and WiMax.
If the stations can afford the absurd online music rights fees, that is.
Comment here.
03-25-08 Stayed up late to install one of the ... new Samsung 20" LCD monitors at Mrs. A's workstation and all I can say is...
WOW! (I say it louder.)
Like a little HD TV, which, I guess, is exactly what it is. This afternoon I'll set up the others in my dual array desktop. I'll post a photo when it's accomplished.
03-25-08 Another of the Great Ones is gone ...
Jack Armstrong passed away over the weekend at his home in High Point/NC. He was 63.
Armstrong's four-decade career included stations from border to border and coast to coast, with two three-year stints at WWKB/Buffalo (the first in the 1970's when it was WKBW), and seven-and-a-half years in mornings on WMQX/Greensboro.
Jack was a fast-talkin' high-energy jock and he incorporated characters into his act better than anyone.
I listened to him on WKBW while I made the 60-mile drive to do overnights on WMID/Atlantic City in 1971 and stole every bit of his I could. His shows were magic.
I had the opportunity to meet him at a Gavin Convention in Indianapolis; what a great guy. He will be sorely missed.
Comment here.
03-24-08 Message Board regular contributor ... Rod Zerr had a heart attack last weekend and the surgery to repair the damage appeared to go well and he was released from the hospital. But he was re-admitted to the hospital after he coded and had to be resuscitated. He needs our prayers and good wishes right now.
Rod and I have chatted more than a few times off-board; he works for the St. Charles County EMA.
Rod is only 55. I wish him the best luck with this; my heart attacked me in 1996, when I was 48.
03-24-08 A hundred years ago ... as what seems now a cruel joke, I kept a 10" reel of tape of the worst airchecks I received as a PD, to which I continually added, that I called the Best of the Worst.
One of them was the first aircheck from a Beloit/WI kid named Mike Sorce. It was unbelievably bad, but I sensed a spark in the guy, hired him at WYFE-FM/Rockford, gave him a new airname and worked with him.
The Sorce kid got good, went on to better gigs and PD's and became a national talent you may know as the recently retired Don Geronimo.
Another who should have been on that reel would have been a L&CCC student of mine named Andy Kirby.
Andy was awful on the air, but he had drive and desire and that, much more important than his exhibited talent, won him his degree.
Once he got into a station, Andy's work ethic prevailed. His talent and programming and management skills improved quickly and suddenly, years later, he's an overnight success.
I'm happy I had a little to do with it.
I'm also proud to point your browser to young Mr. Kirby's website.
03-24-08 All the what-if notwithstanding ... maybe Movin' is just a pawn in the greater wheel of Bonneville business.
Tom Taylor speculates (as have several others in STLMedia email over the weekend) that Movin' may be the vig in a multi-market station swap between BIC and Radio One.
Even with the unbelievably expensive signal upgrade (C2 to C1) they went through for 101.1, by adding 101.1 to the deal BIC could then wind up adding Radio One's LA station V100 to their folder.
The presumption is that Bonneville would take V100 country in the ad-dollar rich LA market (which currently only has a so-so signal playing country) and that Radio One would take 101.1 here directly up against Majic104.9.
Or not. I leave this kind of thing to the Great Thinkers of the Radio Biz.
Grin. Giggle. Guffaw.
Comment here.
03-24-08 Hope your Easter weekend was fulfilling ...spiritually and/or gustatorially.
We had the in-town kids and grandkids over for dinner, at which meal Tasha, the STLMedia WatchDog, hovered hopefully for just a taste of the Double G ham.
Even with the unseasonable snow, it was a nice day to have the family all in one place to eat good food and watch bad tv.
03-22-08 From Andrew Finlayson, VP/ND, FOX-TV Chicago ...
You might want to know about a website we set up called LiveNewsCameras.com.
We have quite a few of the major station groups involved…to do something no one has done before…give the public live news cameras from around the US (and soon around the world). We already have over one hundred active streams. We have been live over or at many events that would be of interest to your team.
We are the place to turn to if you want to see live breaking coverage of news across the country. If the helicopter or crews roll at one of our member stations, chances are they are going to stream it…and we give the first look. We had five different live streams of storm damage from your state today.
This website is still an experiment…something that we hope local stations will want to get involved in. There is NO cost and NO obligation. We are not selling anything. This is pure journalism in this beta stage.
Comment here.
03-22-08 Cool to be able to get online Help ... with a local phone call. I just talked with my brother Rick for free on Skype at his home in Israel with a Linux question.
Typical for Da Bro, I may or may not have an answer. Synaptic-something-or-other. I'll work it out on the Asus eee.
But who cares? Rick was here in 1993 for the Great Flood...we laughed and exchanged stories about our current issues and how much of a bitch Mother Nature can be, then and now, here and there.
03-22-08 Better news than Scott Shannon's channel ...
Secret Squirrel burps, now reports no satellite at KZQZ
Looks like KZQZ (formerly WIL-AM/1430) is going live April 1, with a full staff including Terry "Foxman" Fox and Al Gross, among others. Production value has already increased quite a bit with market veteran Fox doing the imaging.
Comment here.
03-22-08 Following the Kirkwood madman shooting ...
I noted the first local appearance of a paper-produced video at the Post-Dispatch website.
This Northwest deadtree has gotten their hooks into distributed audio in a big way, according to InsideRadio:
The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA will start its own online radio stations this Spring. The family-owned Cowles Publishing plans to offer some of its content to other media outlets. The SR has already ventured into radio. Last month the paper struck a two-year deal allowing Mapleton Communications to use its content on-air.
Comment here.
03-21-08 New Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell ... is predictably moving the pieces around to see how much greater the parts are worth than their sum.
Outside of Chicago where Zell's looking to sell off the Cubs and Wrigley Field, it appears he's also looking to dump Long Island Newsday because of lagging ad sales.
Unsurprisingly, NewsCorp's Rupert Murdoch may be a bidder, along with publisher Mort Zuckerman and Cablevision owner James Dolan.
Comment here.
03-21-08 Blue collar blue-plate special ... This afternoon, Mrs. A (who had Good Friday off) tripped the light fantastic with me to Sam's in Gumbo Flats to (a) stock up for the next quarter and (b) see if the Monarch Levee was gonna hold.
We chose Bob Evans for dinner, mostly because I had a hankering for country-fried steak...and had the best dining experience we've had in a long, long time.
The chow was great and the waiter should get a star on the Waiter's Walk of Fame.
The best part was that he never referred to us as "guys." The tip was appropriately outrageous.
03-20-08 Three NEC 15" LCD 'puter monitors for sale ... $150 for the bunch. Replaced the office monitors with 20" Samsungs. The NEC's work great, look good, cords included, cash only. Free delivery in the STL area.
Contact me here
03-20-08 KTRS/AM550 relaunched their website ... a while back and it looks pretty good. A few comments are in order after they've worked out some of the bugs:
The colors overall look a little faded. Kind of understated. Richer colors are better. Grab my eye.
The site is a victim of their designer using a wide screen monitor: the right side ad-tower is invisible unless manually scrolled to. Most web users will never see the ad as a result.
HINT: develop websites using a scaleable 800 to 1024 pixel width, and nothing wider. That's where almost all home and business monitors live.
Too many broken image links on inside pages. One is too many.
Otherwise, pretty much okay: effects work nicely, and the station's audio loads through their custom player in a reasonable time. But not nearly as info- and audio-filled as KMOX.com.
Comment here.
03-19-08 Where were these guys ... after I bought traded for my Sony BetaMax VCR in the 1980's? Oh, yeah...no Big Box stores then.
Electronics retailer Best Buy said Wednesday it will give gift cards to customers that bought HD-DVD players or HD-DVD attachments from its U.S. stores as the format goes away in favor of the Blu-ray standard.
Comment here.
03-19-08 Quantity vs. Quality ... Looking for a cool TV network catering to upscale young'n's? Just quit now.
CBS Corp president/CEO Les Moonves says this market doesn’t exist — and TV marketers should stop asking for it.
“We’re dealing with the fact that advertisers demand 18- to 34-year-old upscale viewers. There are no upscale 18- to 34-year-olds — except my children. And they have to ask me for money. It’s a bullshit demographic category,” he says.
“We sell over half our advertising to a 25-54 demo. We think the boomer is where the money is — and there’s where we want to go to.”
Then why the heck doesn't CBS show me programming that I can watch without barfing?
And why do they insist that 25-54 is a viable demo, when it includes two generations?
How stupid are these people?
Comment here.
 | 03-18-08 Why is there so much talk in the trades ...
...about the FCC re-examining the whole dirty talk thing, about fines for obscenities?
What is it that radio and TV owners and networks don't get about just being polite?
Is this the kind of junk you want your kids to listen to?
(NOTE: NSFW)
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03-18-08 On Palm Sunday, daughter Anna came for dinner ... and brought with her a copy of a local deadtree pub I'd almost completely forgotten: The Evening Whirl.
If ever there was a reason to keep producing newsprint and ink, The Whirl is it. I won't spoil the surprise if you've never read it - check the website linked above - but it's, simply, a hoot. It's the last no-holds-barred anti-crime newspaper in America and the style is, well, unique.
Seeing the Whirl once more brought to mind the generosity and kindness of one of the jocks at WIL when I moved here to join the station in late 1985: Scott Arkin.
Scott was the overnight guy and I was the new morning guy and we often spoke at length off the air (happily when I arrived early or on time, less so when I got there late).
Nonetheless, Scott made it his personal project to help me learn the market. He brought me copies of the Whirl and the Bugle ("the world's softest newspaper"), explained the layout of the city's neighborhoods (The Hill, Kerry Patch, Dogtown, and so on) and why there are, what, twelve thousand municipalities in STL County.
Arkin prepped me on the rich radio industry history here, told me who was who then and now and lent me a STL Trivia game that I hungrily consumed and helped make me sound early on like I was born here.
Haven't talked to or heard from Scott in years, but I bet he reads this page. If you know him, let him know somebody's using his name in vain.
Thanks, Scott Arkin, for all you did to help a new guy way back when. I owe ya a lunch, at the very least.
Comment here.
03-18-08 In the past couple months ... I've had discussions with several radio station employees who have been charged with development of HD "side stations." To a man (and they've all been male) they're blindingly optimistic about the future of HDRadio.
For their sake, I hope that the efforts they've made for their stations are warranted, but it's looking less and less like HD is gonna be much of a happening thing.
Stores don't carry the receivers, retail employees have no idea what it's about and stations themselves have no idea how to promote their own sidecars.
Imagine if FM was handled this way back in the 60's, when it was Federally mandated that all radios over a certain price point were required to include an FM section and a few years later when TV manufacturers had to include a UHF tuner on all sets.
Neither of these segments of their respective spectrums would have happened...witness the failure of AM stereo when the Fed decided to let the marketplace make a decision on the issue.
Kids, HD is a dead issue. So, for that matter is SatRad, but the Vampire Karmazin is too slippery to be caught so we can finally drive a stake through his evil heart.
Comment here.
03-17-08 I was a beta tester ... for Hulu.com and now STLMedia contributor and classic-TV afficionado Jay Philpott is all fired up about the site's public launch.
Jay says "I would like to introduce you to my new time-suck. I've given up all my other websites. A brand new video service just opened. This is going to be stiff competition for YouTube, and quite frankly, several cable channels like TBS and TVLand. It's called Hulu.com and it offers hundreds of full length movies and classic TV series FREE and with limited commercial insertions (about 2 minutes per viewing). The list is quite impressive, and features some of the funniest TV shows - some of which haven't aired for 20, 30 or even 40 years!!"
Hulu offers free recent and classic full-length TV shows and clips with limited commercial interruption.
Comment here.
 | 03-16-08 Almost free video recording ...
$129 for the Aiptek A-HD camera and $15 or so for a 4gig flash memory card from Amazon (order both at right).
Records an hour-long MOV file at 5mp resolution and hundreds of stills at 8mp.
Batteries recharge with USB, in the car (with added charger) or with an AC adapter (included).
I'll bring a couple of demo recorders for us to play with at the Meeting on the 28th.
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03-15-08 Free current movies to view and download ... if you don't mind watching grainy bootlegs or stolen DVD's streamed from Eastern European and Asian servers, click here.
WARNING: I expect that before you do, though, you'll want to have some serious virus protection installed and updated. You never know what mischief those "damned foreigners" are sending along with the video.
At least you'll be able to get an idea of whether or not you'll want to pop the loot to see them down the road in a theater or on DVD with original fidelity and a bucket of popcorn in your lap.
FYI, the streaming works best (no buffering except at startup) on the Firefox browser.
Instant review: Doomsday sucks. Bob Hoskins and that Brit chick from The Practice must need money for rent. Rambo5, Witless Protection amd Cloverfield suck, too. I didn't get very far into anything available.
Play with this soon, because I can't imagine it'll last too long online. Hollywood lawyers have very long arms and lots of friends in DC.
Comment here.
03-14-08 Since I got the Asus eee sub-compact ... I've noticed that my use of cable and broadcast media has radically changed. The Asus is parked on a sidetable, next to the couch, tied into the LAN.
If something on TV tweaks my interest, I just pull the 'puter over and check the facts. Or I do a quick email run during spot breaks. Or Mrs. A grabs it away and plays Solitaire, at which I experience the same mental cramps I get when the TV remote is taken away from me by Herself.
It seems I'm becoming a geek.
But at least I'm a well-informed geek, when Mrs. A lets me.
03-14-08 P-D dumps 31 more jobs ... from STL BJ:
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Wednesday it eliminated 31 jobs mostly in its circulation, classified phone rooms, production, purchasing, telephone operations and marketing departments. No newsroom departments are affected by the job cuts. (Via Frank Absher)
Comment here.
03-14-08 Doritos sends ad into outer space ... from ScienceDaily:
The advert will travel at the speed of light and continue for an indefinite period. Within 1.2 seconds the transmission will pass our moon, after 4.5 minutes it will pass Mars (77million kilometres away), in under 9 minutes the signal will whiz past the Sun and five and a half hours later it will travel past Pluto and out of our solar system.
Seems to me I remember high school science telling us that all radio and television signals left Earth and just went into space forever. Guess these guys are hooked up to some new-fangled high-speed transmission...
But a Doritos ad? Ya think the aliens like that refried beans, Velveeta and salsa dip?
God help us if they do, on any given football Sunday.
03-14-08 Tasha achieves her majority ... On Saturday, 15 March, the STLMedia WatchDog celebrates her 3rd birthday. If you're into that 1 human year=7 dog years thing, that means she's now officially 21.
Doesn't look a day over Puppy, does she?
03-14-08 Big League Broadcasting getting smaller ... the company (KFNS and KRFT) has fired their receptionist at their STL unit because they can't afford her anymore (they also dumped their PD). How much worse can it get? When will these idiots sell their local stations off and let the freqs be what they want to be...meaningless minority formatted players to a geographically limited audience?
Comment here.
03-14-08 And good luck with this ... Kentucky Representative Tim Couch has filed a bill to make anonymous posting online illegal. The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site. Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.
Comment here.
03-13-08 BIC/STL's promo wizard Sammy Simpson ... has published a personal development audio book, a "self-help/personal development audio/coaching series that uses the concept of broadcasting and radio as a metaphor to have you look at yourself to change your work, your money and your life in some way."
Click here or here for info. (Via AllAccess)
03-13-08 Jason Barrett's farewell to the troops ...
Folks, I'd like to inform you that after 21 months as Program Director for 590
The Fan in St. Louis, I have reached a mutual agreement with KFNS
which allows me to move on and focus on the next chapter of my life and as
a result I will be exiting my position with the company effective
tomorrow.
In the past 21 months I have experienced some great moments in
this city and I've also dealt with some unpleasant times as well (it comes
with a management position) but I believe the station has been put in
a great position during my time here and there isn't much left that I
can do and now it's time for me to move on and start the search for the
next great opportunity.
I'm hoping that opportunity comes on the East
Coast so I can be closer to my son, my family and my friends and right
now I have a few possibilities on the table that I'm in discussions on
but only time will tell how things shake out.
Anyways, if you wish to catch up in the interim please feel free to get
a hold of me at the email or phone # listed below as I won't have
access to this account after tomorrow. Hope all is well and will chat with
you soon.
Thanks
Jason Barrett
Program Director
590 The Fan, KFNS
ESPN 1190, KRFT
The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.
Comment here.
03-13-08 Secret Squirrel tunes in East-side radio ... Rumor has it that Bob Romanik's KZQZ 1430 AM will pick up the Satellite ABC Radio Network's "Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel" format effective April 1.
Comment here.
03-13-08 Milk, eggs, and the second digital converter from the left ...
Looks like proponents of the analog-to-digital TV changeover are getting antsy:
NAB Wants Digital Converters Sold In Grocery Stores
Nervous federal agencies and lobbyistys have upped their efforts to get digital converters into analog TV homes. Now the National Association of Broadcasters recommends those boxes be sold in grocery stores, worried that larger consumer electronic retailers might not have locations in rural areas.
Comment here.
03-12-08 IBEW Local 4 ... representing St. Louis TV and Radio Engineers, Producers,
etc., is now online. Check it out at www.ibewlocal4.com.
03-11-08 More what-if ... but with less if and more meat:
Secret Squirrel says: Bonneville managers have been going to off-campus meetings recently, looking at play by play possibilities for "one of our stations". There's also word that the Rams have been approached about working with Bonneville, maybe as soon as the next season. All expenses at Movin' have been cut to the bone, including research.
FACT: Movin' 101.1's signal is soon to be upgraded to 100kw.
FACT: Drew Horowitz becomes EVP/Bonneville Radio, with oversight of all BICRadio operations in the company’s other six markets, exclusive of Salt Lake City.
FACT: Washington/DC Market Manager Joel Oxley will add to his responsibilities the oversight of the company’s St. Louis market as Senior Regional VP.
FACT: Radio companies add new layers of management when they need a sea anchor, someone with experience to hold the cluster steady when changes are afoot.
Here's what Oxley's managed in DC: BIC operates 6 stations in and around the DC market: Three under the WTOP brand (Federal News Radio/1050AM; WTOP News/103.5FM & 103.9FM) and three as TalkRadio 3WT (107.7FM, 1500AM and 820AM)
It seems complicated...but it all works.
Bonneville's 3WT offers the NHL Capitals, the NBA Nationals, Navy football and George Washington University basketball, so the company is no stranger to sports broadcasting.
FACT: All radio stations, including KTRS/AM550 (or at least the half-share of the station owned by the Cardinals) and KXOK/AM630, the most likely - and most desireable - candidates, are for sale, announced as such or not. Everything's for sale. The buyer just has to say the correct number.
Bizarre idea? Adding 3 + 3 to get 7? Maybe. God knows I've been wrong before.
But remember that STLMedia tipped you to the move of the Cards' games to KTRS and the sale of a piece of the station to the Card's ownership a full year before it was announced.
I think that Bonneville is preparing a big move locally, involving our MLB and NFL franchises, their upgraded 101.1 freq and one of the AM stations noted above, giving STL a fulltime market-reaching AM talker and a fulltime market-reaching FM sports station.
Comment here.
03-11-08 Get well wishes to Craig Cornett ... The Bull's morning star's been out of the saddle for a while, hospitalized with pneumonia and, we understand, with a collapsed lung.
03-10-08 In September I'll turn 60 ... and sooner or later it'll be time to turn my attentions to things other than STLMedia.
In June, this website (and the associated Message Board, in various incarnations) will have entered its ninth year; it's well established, with a solid readership that includes not only nearly everyone in radio, TV and print media locally but the operators of almost every other local, regional and national media website in the US.
I've spent a huge amount of time on the development and content of this website.
The stories we start here and our commentary on other aspects of media are quoted far and wide.
It's time for me to begin looking for someone to take over this website, the MB, and the well-subscribed newsletter.
It will have to be a very special person, someone with a deep and abiding love of all things media, especially STLMedia.
If you have the energy and inclination to listen, watch and/or read 24/7/365 and are interested in a unique opportunity to help make media better (or at least keep their feet to the fire), contact me at your convenience.
Comment here.
03-09-08 P-D writer Paul Hampel bullies widow in story ...
As Hampel reeled Sandy in he got more personal, asking her if she was married, and Sandy opened up to him explaining she lost her husband in 2003 and that she would always miss him. Hampel seized upon this opening to ask Sandy if the reason she went to St. Peters meetings was to fill this void.
You need to read this story...Hampel comes off as a bullying jerk, and I have no reason to believe he is not.
The P-D should be scurrying to make nice.
Comment here.
03-09-08 1380/KSLG for sale for $450k? ... Can't possibly be. But I got this in email:
The Squirel was so far off on the 1380 KSLG rumor. There is more money pouring into the station and right from the owners mouth there is NO interest in selling. He said want a price? Start at $.4.5 million!
Okay, I'll give the writer the typo mulligan, but four and a half mil for 1380?
I've got a hot-rodded hand-held CB that I'll let you have for, oh, what, $75k?
$4.5million for 1380/KSLG? Gimme a break.
Comment here.
03-09-08 Last week, XM, CBSRadio and AOL played musical chairs ... and we ended up with one of the SatRads taking a long walk off a short pier, breaking up with AOL to kick start their own online net for $3 a month.
All-righty, then.
Maybe that'll shore them up while they wait for the ever-less-likely merger with Sirius.
Then CBSRadio slid between the unwashed sheets with what's left of AOL. Presumably, using the streaming servers from the nearly defunct online pioneer will save huge bucks for CBSRadio; this will not be the saving grace for AOL, where everything now is pretty much free, but it will delay the final cut.
Online ad sales will be handled by both companies.
Comment here.
03-08-08 Everybody including the Baby Jeebus ... has bid on the Weather Channel.
Their reserve price is $5billion.
NBC, CBS, Time Warner, Comcast, Liberty and Disney are among the media bidders and Bain Capital, Providence Equity Partners, and Madison Dearborn are among those in the private equity arena who have a tentative case of the gimmees.
NOTE: All of their offers are based on borrowed money! And everyone is saying that the cable network-plus-Weather.com is worth more like $4 billion.
HA! Now we've got them!
On behalf of all STLMedia readers, I have tendered a cash offer of $20 (I have $11 in my wallet and will need you to make up the other $9).
Let's just wait and see whose offer works...as the discount stores say, cash is king.
03-07-08 Let's play "what if" for a bit ... What if an MLB team, rumored since Day One of ownership to be interested only in eventually flipping the franchise for profit, was thinking about shopping its half-share of the radio station that carries its games?
And what if there was a cash-rich local station group owner with a solid rep for moving AM formats to the FM side in other markets, and had an ailing but market-reaching FM that would benefit from such a change?
Might there be a deal afoot? And if so, what would happen to the principals of the other half of the station's ownership?
Yeah, I know, lotsa layers of "if" involved here.
But nothing beyond believability...
Comment here.
03-07-08 Jonnie King's 3x5 business card ...
03-06-08 Secret Squirrel spins his paws in the pits ... and squeaks that it looks like long-time market motorsports reporter and photographer Jim Compton will be returning to his weekend roost at KTRS/AM550.
03-06-08 KMOX weekender Dana Daniels ... moves it on over to replace Cindy Collins as Ed Goodman's sidekick on KEZK. Dana starts Monday 3/17. In other CBS/STL news...one more replacement to come?
03-06-08 With that face, who else? ... Keith Richards is the new face of Louis Vuitton luggage.
03-06-08 Where will you be in five years? ... It's been my experience that most radio types don't give much thought to their long-term career advancement, prefering to think only of the next step.
But if you had to plan it out (and the unpredictable nature of consolidated radio allowed you to), how would you make your moves? Where do you want to wind up when you retire? Doing what? Comment here.
03-06-08 Cox Radio's nifty new corporate positioning statement ... sounds a little bit like second-year algebra: "Best People + Best Product Environment + Best Solutions = Best Results."
Cox CEO Bob Neil's a pretty smart guy, but he'll need to hide any key-man moves to keep the slogan effective.
03-05-08 TV continues to embarass itself ... you'll need to sit through a fairly boring newspiece to get to the meat of this, but when the reporter and the anchor get at it, it's worth the wait. Thanks to Frank Absher.
And then there's always another example of embarassing morning television. Thanks to Phillip J. Fry.
03-04-08 Emmis tucked its tail between its legs ... rolled onto its back and said "I'm yours, take me."
That's what dog trainers call an "alpha roll," how you make the dog do what you want the dog to do. You make the dog understand that you are the Master by making them show you their belly.
And that's exactly what happened last week when Emmis Broadcasting allowed themselves to be raped of cash and services in order to let JC Corcoran, who makes the company more than a million dollars a year in pure profit, back on the air.
What JC said on the air was edited and re-presented by someone who had a vendetta against him, and was made to sound as badly as it could.
The voice tracks you heard were stripped of all elements of humor...laugh tracks, sound effects, radio crew reaction, and so on.
Corcoran was intended to fail, and his enemies hoped him to fail.
The good news is that JC will be back on the air on K-Hits March 10th.
The bad news is that Emmis has set itself up for the next attack.
Comment here.
03-04-08 The Travel Planners' Show ... hosted by STL uber-jock Kevin McCarthy and wife Sue, is now online as well as in international broadcast syndication.
The World Travel and Dining Channel will carry the show live each Sunday from 3PM-5PM CT. And the McCarthy's are providing a few recorded features each hour, 24/7, on the net channel as well.
Additionally, Sue is now a featured writer for FairwayGolf.com, a UK-based website featuring up-scale golf resorts and spas around the world.
And Secret Squirrel tells me that, along with NetRad and TerRad, there may be one more ?-Rad in the show's future!
One final note: our pal Kevin is facing hip replacement surgery on March 11th. This is serious stuff and we wish him all the best for a quick and thorough recovery.
Get well quickly, Kevin...we need you ready to play for the STLMedia OldDog Volleyball team!
03-04-08 Former KTRS- and KMOX-er Paul Harris ... will be sitting in for Don Wade & Roma on their 5AM-9AM WLS/Chicago morning show this Thursday and Friday, according to Harris' website.
03-04-08 The last round up for WIL-AM ... as a BIC/STL station will probably be sometime this week when it transfers to the ownership of Belleville's Bob Romanik.
03-03-08 Pardon my absence for the past few days ... but every couple years I do something so intensely stupid that it requires an ER visit and surgical followup.
In July '06 it was the burned feet thing after chasing a runaway dog. I got the stupidity out of the way early in '08: last Friday morning I tripped and wound up fracturing and chipping a bone in my right arm, just at the wrist.
Yes, the arm bone IS connected to the wrist bone, and now I know exactly where that connection is.
I'll see an orthopedic surgeon in the next few days for a more permanent cast, but I've briefly snuck out of the temp cast to make a few entries here. Mrs. A is not pleased that I have done so, so I'll have to be quick. And thanks to Dana Daniels for directing me to the best guys for the fix.
03-03-08 The premiere of the late Don Corey's book ... Are You Talking To Me? at the Webster Groves Library was a smash success. Rich Dalton and Mark Klose read from the book and expressed memories of Don to a crowd of over a hundred. Here are some photos (below, Mrs. A at left, with Kathy Corey)...
02-28-08 Great February Breakfast Meeting ... Great to see familiar faces, talk radio biz talk and solve all problems. We'll do it again in March, of course, on Friday morning, the 28th.
By the way, to the anonymous genius who sent me this early Thursday, "Will you and *** hug at breakfast? Will you request a pair of his dirty underwear as a souvenir? This is going to be so interesting...": *** was a no-show.
Too bad, 'cause the Roadhouse staff turned out to be ready for *** way before I arrived.
All I can tell ya, after twenty years of having semi-regular breakfast and lunch there, is that the Reynold's Ladies don't take kindly to being punked.
See, they read Internet MB's, too.
02-28-08 God forbid you should ever grow older ... trades are going wild over this, from across the state:
Four former employees of Kansas City classic-rock station KYYS-FM have filed an age-discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over their firings in January.
I hope they take Entercom to the freakin' cleaners.
Comment here.
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02-28-08 For a guy not "on the air" anywhere ... former KC and STL radio personality George Woods is crankin' out the hits...and maybe even making a few bucks doing it.
Woods' website offers up to three hours of no-repeat music in each of twenty (and more coming) variously-formatted stereo internet channels 24/7: Smooth Jazz, Christmas Music (in season), Oldies, KC Jazz Roots, Bubbling Under The Top 100 (hits you missed) and American Graffiti (tunes from and relevant to the classic movie).
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He even has a George Woods and Friends Talk Radio channel in the works. For the music channels, George uses FineTune, a web service that provides format mixes that Woods carefully defines for each of his online music channels and presents on his site.
FineTune handles all rights and royalty payments for online play and makes it possible for listeners to instantly buy the music they're hearing.
George tells me, "Radio George Oldies has really taken off. I'm using Google's AdWords to promote the site; for this month alone, I've had just under 12,000 page views from over 1200 different cities around the world. St. Louis holds 4th place for most listeners and Kansas City comes in at 9th."
Woods' success with this project is between him and the IRS, but his effort shows clearly what a guy with vision can accomplish.
Check out my little 45-song r&b playlist, above. George's playlists are even better.
The number 45 is kinda retro-prophetic, don't ya think?
Comment here. |
02-28-08 Is there movement at Movin'? ... SecretSquirrel seems to think so, but he's been a little shaky since Tasha, the STLMedia WatchDog, arrived.
Squirrel thinks the leaves at the bottom of his cup of nut tea say that something "fresh" is coming to 101.1 for the Spring Book and that someone named Trish might be part of it.
The Movin' format hasn't exactly been shakin' the ground anywhere, has it? Movin' and shakin'...see what I did there?
The Spring Arbitron starts 3 April, so we should see soon if a change is on the BIC/STL horizon.
Comment here.
02-28-08 A while back I told you ... that this was the way to go. Now look what shows up in InsideRadio:
Some markets want a return to telephone ratings.
It has been more than two decades since Arbitron based any of its radio ratings on data captured by telephone. But there's a push by some small market operators to use that lower-cost alternative to diaries to reallocate resources to improving qualitative data. Arbitron Advisory Council chair Chuck DuCoty says "Operators in those markets are open to anything." Arbitron isn't too keen on the idea.
Comment here.
02-28-08 There's a reason they say ... it's not "rocket surgery."
Tom Taylor writes about new commercial set priorities at CC stations, relating how much better an idea CC thinks it is to run five minutes of spots twice an hour. Better than what? Better than giving a listener a break on spot fatigue like this?
No, it's not an original way to develop an hour, but it does accomplish several things:
1. Limits spot sets to three units each (presuming you sell just 4x30 per hour and run two at each set in the first and third quarter hours).
2. Eliminates the "dark side" of the hour, where you'd most likely run both 5 minute spot sets.
3. Eliminates the sponsor's worries about being four, five, even six deep in a spot set. Being just one of three is much more desireable to the guy paying the freight.
4. Provides you with eight logical positions for service elements (remember those?).
5. Provides you with four logical positions to say what you couldn't have before and actually expect someone to hear it: "In just one minute (or thirty seconds), you'll hear (name of song following spot set)."
Note: two of the most successful Top 40 stations on Earth, WLS and WABC, used to play an acapella call-letter jingle in that position, and only in that position. Talk about Pavlovian responses...
6. Provides you with four three-song sweeps across important parts of the hour; no, really long no-talk music sets are not always good things, regardless of what your overpaid consultant may have told you.
Yes, as the cool kids say, your mileage may vary.
Comment here.
02-28-08 How to rationalize your radio career ... ToastedRavioli gets it, they really get it. Read it here.
02-28-08 Goin' to the ballpark this season? Be prepared. Thanks to Jay Philpott for sending along this link to HeckleDepot.
02-27-08 If the SatRad merger doesn't go through ... Mad Money's Jim Cramer warns that XM might not survive, and Sirius would be put into considerable peril. And who, exactly, in broadcast radio, cares?
Comment here.
02-27-08 Caricaturist confab in STL 3/2-5 ... Read here.
02-26-08 I've grown tired of waiting for Bob Romanik ... to call and reschedule an interview about his Illinois radio stations. I wish him luck with whatever direction he decides to take with them; I'm no longer interested.
Comment here.
02-26-08 Jerry DelColliano's New Rules For Radio PDs ... sound an awful lot like the old rules, with the exception of the recent consolidation unpleasantness.
I wish I'd known this rule when I worked for Bill Viands at KIX104:
4. Give full authority to the PD to do his/her job. No meddling. No backseat programming.
Read Jerry's blog entry here. Once again, JDC makes the most sense.
Comment here.
02-26-08 Internet billionaire Marc Andreessen .. yeah, the Netscape guy, says:
"I hereby inaugurate my New York Times Deathwatch, which will continue until the last Sulzberger has left the building."
You really need to read this story if you have any faith left in dead tree pubs. Then you'll need to take your meds.
Comment here.
02-26-08 I may be going to jail ... and that may amuse some of you.
Seems the City of STL is absolutely convinced that I'm trying to evade some gigantic tax bill due them. I should mention that my business has always been based in STL County and I haven't done any billable work for a client in the City in years (and when I did I faithfully paid them their 1% employment tax).
Nonetheless, the intrepid City tax collectors have dunned me for exactly $0 due every year since I closed out my last City-based client.
Now they want me to appear in court to 'splain my bad self and perp walk me to jail if I don't pay up the $0 I owe for no money earned in the City since then.
And these assclowns wonder why businesses are fleeing the City like bunnies who heard a shotgun.
Comment here.
02-25-08 Love the Secret Squirrel RumorRepeater® ...
Do you and I mean do you ~EVER!~ report on anything
that is currently going on in St. Louis media? Most of us could care less
about anything that happened 10, 20, 30 years ago. NO ONE CARES. You
need to start focusing on things that currently are happening. Do you
ever call media outlets to ask them if there is any news with them? Do you
even TRY? Your website is calls STL MEDIA, not
OLDSHITTHATHAPPENEDINANOTHERCENTURY! Snooooooozzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeeee
Dang. Never knew I was missing that current thang...so find another website to badger or make your own site if this one doesn't work for you, or send info here.
You get to choose which! Cool!
And remember that if you don't pay attention to what's gone before, you'll have no idea of what's coming next...
02-25-08 Ya don't beat the watchdog when it barks at a burglar ...
and the manager of a radio station shouldn't punish a radio personality for doing he was hired to do in the first place.
A couple weeks ago, K-HITS morning show host JC Corcoran took an on-air flyer at AmerenUE, its boss and PR flack Karen Foss when his power went out during the SuperBowl.
JC was pissed about it, and I would have been so, too.
He mocked the African-American Ameren boss using a dialect bit Chris Rock would have walked away from and added a comment about sniping that included laugh tracks.
But wait, there's more to consider:
Corcoran and Foss have always been at odds. Karen Foss considered herself the Queen of Local TV when she was at KSDK and that feeling never, nor her dislike for Corcoran, left her when she went to work for Ameren.
Ms. Foss had at hand the abilty to record any and all radio and tv signals.
The audio file that was sent to radio, tv and clergy by Ameren was edited from a much longer file that included laugh tracks and other elements.
That edited audio file, excluding the personality bits, was the killer.
For all this, Corcoran was first suspended without pay for two weeks, then suspended again for an additional two payless weeks while Emmis makes their final decision on what Corcoran's eventual punishment should be.
Emmis Market Manager John Beck has never been known as an aggressive type, and his response to this most recent kerfuffle is not unexpected.
Beck will fold and make JC endure whatever "punishment" the African-American community will demand.
This is major league crap.
Comment here.
 | 02-24-08 Got a great weekend email ... from former KIX104 Promotions Assistant Pat Dwyer.
Kind of a wild man back then (I remember the altercation he got into with the soon-to-be Mayor of Maplewood over a bumper sticker incident), Pat's become an Air Force success story.
He's married, and he and his wife, Karen, are about to become parents in the next few months; Pat will become Master Sergeant Dwyer in the next few days and he's a just a few years away from retiring from an honorable Air Force career as a senior non-commissioned officer.
Read about his military time here.
On AF retirement, Pat and Karen want to come home to St. Louis and he intends to go into accounting, a degree toward which he's been working while in service.
When young Mr. Dwyer left KIX, he left a vacancy that was never adequately filled...he was missed. I'm glad to see that it was clearly the AF's gain.
Say hi here.
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02-22-08 One of the great uses of my Asus eee ... is using the $400 subcompact PC for a book reader. Project Gutenberg offers tens of thousands of out-of-copyright books in HTML and TXT formats as a simple "save as" download.
I've got a ton of them on my 8gig SD card and expect that I'll be dl'ing lots more. There are also audio books available, mostly in the Ogg Vorbis format.
Currently, I'm plowing my way back through early-20th Century sci-fi and US lit I loved earlier in my life; I expect I'll get around to more serious subjects sooner or later.
Comment here.
02-22-08 Our audio buddy Bob Heil ... is putting on a show at CRS2008, March 5-7 in Nashville, with comparison demos of HeilSound's wide range of revolutionary broadcast microphones. If you don't already know Bob, watch this...
02-21-08 Not the first time ... junk from outer space got press.
In an amazing affirmation of the US' missile defense system, we nailed an errant satellite right on the nose with a missile launched from a Navy cruiser, blew that sucker to tiny chunks that will burn up as they fall into the atmosphere. Yay for us!
In 1979, SkyLab, a 75-metric ton US-launched manned station, finally decayed from its orbit after six years in space. The whole world wondered what would happen when and where SkyLab, a huge chunk of metal, fell to Earth.
RKORadio assigned one of their programming executives, Michael Spears, to go wherever it took him to bring back a piece of SkyLab to award as a chain-wide prize to a single winner.
SkyLab hit the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean and broke apart and scattered over the ocean and the mostly uninhabited Western Australia desert; Spears managed to grab a chunk and caught a flight back to the US to present it to the RKO winner.
Some large pieces of SkyLab are held at the US Space & Rocket Center as exhibits.
02-21-08 Format Trends ... I read Anthony Acampora's excellent analysis of Arbitron's radio format trends over a five-year period at AllAccess. It's an enlightening article available in their NetNews area, dated 20 February 2008. Take a look (you'll need to register to read it).
One stat jumped off the web page at me, though:
Sports also had a huge 2007 -- reaching new highs yet again. The format is up a stellar 43% among adults 25-54 since 2002.
Yup, SportsRadio is up 43% in a key demo. Everywhere, that is, but in St. Louis.
You'd think that a radio market once noted as the best sports town in the US could at least make a decent showing.
Stations with some sports (including the pro franchises) lead the pack here: KMOX and KTRS. Full-bore sports stations, all, what, 19 or 43 of them, each hover just above a one-share, with no ratings, revenue or signal growth potential.
Maybe it's time for one of the two biggies to just drop the pretense and go sports 24/7. Or maybe a failing FM could take up the cudgels.
Comment here.
02-21-08 Love you guys too ... 'cause you make me laugh!
This came in thru the anonymous SecretSquirrel RumorRepeater®:
Sweet Tasha pic, Tubby! I guess this is how men act when they lose their sex drive -- take pics of their dogs and put them on a web site. What a douche...
Dang! They not only hate me, they hate my dog! Now that's some serious hate!
And personal attacks always help solve the problem. Asshat.
02-21-08 Isn't the loss of memory one of the side-effects? ...
From AllAccess:
BBC Radio One drum-and-bass show DJ Ray "Grooverider" Bingham was sentenced to four years in prison in Dubai for possession of cannabis. Bingham was arrested in November on drug and pornography charges hours before he was to play a sold-out show at a club there.
He was convicted despite his denial that he deliberately brought drugs into the country, saying that he accidentally left the cannabis in his pocket.
I'm pretty sure that Dubai is very high on the list of "places where I'd rather not be in jail in," along with Turkey and Singapore.
02-21-08 Radio revenues continue to suck ... down 6% January-to-January. The RAB says that radio national ad revs for 01/08 compared to 01/07 were off 13%, local ad dollars for all markets were down 5% and non-spot revenue was down 11%.
Comment here.
02-21-08 Okay, birds are stupid ... and your point is?
From InsideRadio:
Broadcast engineers have insisted for years they have seen no evidence that towers are killing birds. Environmentalists disagree. The job of scientifically proving or disproving that is now up to the FCC.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is ordering the agency to conduct a study into the environmental impact of 6,000 Gulf Coast towers. The 2-1 ruling says "There is no real dispute that towers 'may' have significant environmental impact."
In all the years I spent in radio, in all of the transmitter site acres I walked, I never once saw more than a few dead birds. Obviously this is a fairly new problem, caused by the introduction of drugs, gangs and Republicans into the social infrastructure of our feathered friends.
I suggest a public service multi-media campaign: "Get high, fly high, die high."
Yup, that'll solve it. If birds could read. Maybe little teeny tail-feather stickers...
Comment here.
02-21-08 I'm responsible for a lot of electronic trash ...
Maybe I should add to that, that I mean I'm responsible for the disposal of a lot of over-the-hill hardware and not just the distribution of random electrons on this website. This is one aspect of recycling that actually concerns me.
From BusinessGreen:
What will happen to the old TVs pushed aside by the shiny new mega-screen units? Most will be stuffed into closets or sent to backup duty in another part of the house. Old or broken ones will be parked on the curb or tossed into dumpsters.
Since old TVs are loaded with harmful lead that can spill out of broken cathode ray tubes (CRT), several states have banned road side disposal of CRT monitors and TVs.
About 10 states have programmes to recycle electronic waste, but many lack the infrastructure to provide convenient drop-off locations sufficient to attract large numbers of consumers.
Comment here.
02-20-08 Ex-KTRSer Keith Kramer online audio show sample ... Note: NSFW! The guy has talent but none of the "off-buttons" the rest of us have. Plus he hates me, oh, so much, and blames me for all that's gone wrong with his career.
Listen here and then comment here.
02-20-08 Tasha squeezes in for a nap ... with a paw under and an ear in the handle of my file credenza. The rest of GirlDog is wrapped around a leg of my chair.
How she sleeps like this I'll never understand.
Seems everyone has forgotten the KFUO license renewal case from the early 90s! What short memories we have of a truly awful period where "citizen/public interest" groups went around threatening and greenmailing stations across the land when their licenses were up for renewal.
A racket if there ever was one!
It was the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod that ended this practice, WINNING this big case before the U.S. Supreme Court!
A group -- maybe the one you had contact with -- challenged KFUO-AM/FM during the 1990 license renewal cycle along with several other Missouri stations, including my little (3 kW FM at the time) outlet in Columbia, Mo. and KADI-FM/96.3.
We got greenmailed by this group and paid them thousands to go away but the FCC still fined us something like $8K because we didn't list any minorities working for us when renewal was filed. KADI-FM probably just paid the greenmailers to go away because I don't recall hearing that they were fined by the FCC.
We heard about other stations around the country that were greenmailed, paid up and settled, evidently pleased with whatever they managed to extort. So we paid off the greenmailers, the FCC and of course DC counsel. The whole episode cost us about $30K and took several years to resolve!
The Lutherans balked and the FCC set the matter for hearing and actually proposed REVOKING their licenses, the AM on the air since 1924 and the FM since 1948 both as original licensees. Armed with deep pockets, the Synod got all the way to the SC (certiorari granted!) and WON.
Comment here.
02-19-08 Bye-bye to biz news ... from AdAge:
Shrinking newspapers forced to make cuts are increasingly regarding their stand-alone business sections as expendable. The Denver Post -- which folded its business section into other sections on every day but Sunday -- this month became at least the eighth daily to cut its stand-alone daily business section since early 2007. The Orange County Register made a similar move just a week earlier.
Comment here.
02-19-08 Sam Prainito terminates himself at CBS/STL ... Sam, who had joined Y98/KEZK in November of 2005, resigned Tuesday to pursue opportunities outside the radio biz.
Comment here.
02-19-08 Ex-KMOXer Paul Harris is already back on the air ... at least online, via PodCast, with his popular trademarked and copyrighted feature Knuckleheads In The News. Click here for info on subscribing through iTunes or adding update notification to your RSS reader.
02-19-08 Ex-KTRSer Keith Kramer is also back on the air ... also online, via BlogTalkRadio, with a mid-day show starting at 3PM and an adults-only show called "ManBoobs" starting at 8PM, both CT/USA.
The language on both is pretty free-wheeling and definitely NSFW; neither show is likely to attract an employer, but you can listen to them here after you register.
You can even call in to the shows. Joy, joy! This probably won't last long. Listen while you can.
Comment here.
02-18-08 During my tenure as PD at KIX104 ... (early 1990's) I had an encounter at the station with two "media representatives" of the St. Louis African-American community that left me, for one of the few times in my life, absolutely speechless.
Don, the GM appointed by the receivers, had left STL to go home for the weekend and Wanda, his assistant, was at a planned long lunch when I heard loud voices in the station lobby.
Our receptionist, Wendy, was a young'n and somewhat inexperienced at handling conflict, so I got up and went to see what was going on. I was the "ranking officer" and it fell to me to handle it.
Two African-American gentlemen were there, and had attempted to physically bypass Wendy and enter the operational area of the station, demanding to see the Public Files.
That, of course, was the absolute right of anyone back then, as it is now. Not to freely wander around the station, but to see the files in a secluded area and have copies made of them at a reasonable cost.
Now most stations keep important aspects of their Public Files online, but back then, they were paper files and accessible only at certain places prescribed by the FCC.
The bad news was that I didn't have a key to the file cabinets in which our local Public Files were stored; I tried to explain that copies were also available in our city of license, Jerseyville/IL, maintained by our partner WJBM-AM, and if they needed immediate access to the files, they should go there.
I suddenly became Satan.
One of the "media reps" used incredibly foul, immensely insulting racist language at me for not allowing him access to our files.
"Nothing I can do about it," I explained calmly, blinking a lot, and settled them into our conference room to wait for Wanda's return from her lunch.
They asked for lunch and refreshments; I showed them the coffee room, even made a fresh pot. And, since my office faced the conference room and both doors were open, I heard their continuing screed about what a racist piece of s**t I was and how they were going to nail us for, well, they never exactly said what.
The two gentlemen eventually left our KIX offices before Wanda returned from lunch with the file cabinet key. I don't think they ever went to Jerseyville.
Never heard from them again, although I've been told that several stations back then and before paid those two tens of thousands of dollars to get them off their case, to just leave them alone.
I have no idea where that money went if, in fact, it was paid out that way.
Now read the list of what BT Rice wants from Emmis for JC's indiscretion and tell me times have changed.
John Beck needs to grow a spine.
Comment here.
02-17-08 Red light, green light ... CC/STL-Total Traffic's Gary Weed exits the company.
02-17-08 26 years after release ... Thriller has come to this...
02-16-08 So I'm hearing that the audio ... played here, there and everywhere, that was used to condemn JC Corcoran to the lowest Circle of Hell, may have been edited a bit before it was sent out to various media outlets by someone who may have had an axe to grind.
If that's true, it might have a mitigating effect on the weight of his statements, once they're heard entirely in context.
Did JC say some dumb things? Oh, yes, it sure looks that way.
But I'd like to hear the entire bit that aired (and I'm sure that his accusers would, too) before passing final judgement.
Everybody wants to be fair about this, right? Nobody wants to look like a stooge, right?
Comment here.
02-16-08 Sorry for being out of touch ... for the last day or so. Late Thursday PM I had a recurrence of a chronic sinus problem that I can trace back to a botched procedure by an Army surgeon in 1971. Pain meds and antibiotics do nothing; all I can do is shut the blinds, turn out the lights and sleep until it's over. Tasha was patient enough to only wake me twice. By Friday PM, I was back in the game.
02-16-08 Do newspapers still need The Associated Press? ... and does The AP still need newspapers?
From Forbes:
Until recently, these would have been ridiculous questions. But print circulation is tumbling. So is advertising revenue. Editors are slashing budgets and making do with less. Readers are moving online, where they get all the national and international news, sports scores and celebrity gossip they can read--for free, updated constantly, and often by AP.
Comment here.
02-16-08 It's suddenly a general loss of propriety ... Diane Keaton drops the "F" bomb and Jane Fonda says the "C" word on network TV and the Mayor of Toledo exercises the Lenihan excuse:
Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner used the f-word during a live radio interview show. His explanation: "I started to say 'fuss' and changed to 'ruckus' and the words were merged into one."
The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether to hear the FCC's appeal to a lower court ruling overturning its "fleeting expletive" rule. Ironically, Finkbeiner suspended his spokesman for three weeks after he used the f-word during an off-air interview with a WJR producer earlier this week.
What the hell is the matter with you people?
Comment here.
02-16-08 Blecch ... lickable magazine ads? Not for me.
A new ad campaign for Welch's Grape juice has advertisers licking their lips in anticipation, but it might leave a bad taste in consumer's mouths. New magazines contain ads for Welch’s grape juice that are lickable, called “Peel and Taste” advertising. Consumers just peel back the metal foil and get a sample of the juice.
Comment here.
02-16-08 Reardon fills Harris shoes at KMOX ... and the Two Johns shows now make you wait for Grayson (11PM-2AM) to follow Carney (8-11PM).
Steve Moore's giving Mark Reardon the nod for PM drive should come as no surprise...the two of them have worked together at several stations.
Reardon, though, is as sing-the-party-song Conservative as Harris was not. I like Mark, but I wonder about the wisdom of scheduling, what, seven hours of consecutive righty talk on a station like KMOX, a station that purports to represent the entire community.
There's still a lot to be said for the old concept of block programming. At least it afforded balance. And in an election year, that's important.
Nonetheless, congrats to Mark and best wishes to him for a long and successful run.
Comment here.
02-14-08 I bought this USB thing ... a TV tuner and DVR for both analog and digital channels, with appropriate antennae. I figure I'll hang with cable to deliver the pix after next February and live with analog tv in the movie room.
This USB thing gives me digital tv on my office monitors, with the capabiity of scheduled recording, time shifting and dvd burning. Not bad for less than $50. Seems to work like a champ, so far.
Screencaps from stations I've logged so far with just the little antenna stub supplied appear above.
Comment here.
 | 02-14-08 Tasha and Uno, sittin' in a tree ...
Exclusive to STLMedia:
Tasha, the STLMedia Watchdog, has confessed her undying love for the Westminster Kennel Club's newly crowned Best-Of-Show, Uno, the Belleville Beagle.
GirlDog is badly smitten.
Tasha swears that Uno's wink (shown at left) on his triumphant trot around the Madison Square Garden ring was a signal solely meant for her.
"I'd love to have his puppies," the Maryland Heights-based Australian Cattle Dog was overheard woofing while she watched the Dog Show with her humans earlier this week.
"Sadly," Tasha woofed, "some human named Barker...and how ironic is that...suggested that all pets be spayed or neutered. So I guess I'm out of the puppy game."
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02-14-08 It appears that MoDot's traffic cameras ... used by GatewayGuide were offline for a number of hours on Wednesday, showing 12-hour old images at 3PM. Any idea what happened?
Comment here.
02-14-08 How cool is Skype? ... very, very cool.
My little Linux laptop, the Asus eee, came with it loaded, so yesterday I signed up, sent an email to my brother, and sat back and waited.
A little while later, Mrs. A comes to the back bedroom where I was reading and tells me, "Your laptop is ringing."
And so it was. It was Brother Rick, on his Skype, calling from his home in Israel, and for the next half-hour we just chatted. The sound quality was great in the Asus' little speakers. A little level-fiddling fixed a few audio problems, although I never did figure out how to get the built-in webcam to integrate with Skype.
Guess I'll have to finally read the damned manual. And that whole manual-reading thing is woman's work, y'know?
Oh, one more thing...the cost of a 30 minute video call to Israel?
Free.
I have no idea how any of this works. This whole innertubes thingie is mostly a mystery to me. All I know is that, as low as long-distance call rates are, free is always better.
Yup, Skype is very, very cool.
02-13-08 Tomorrow Radio ... TM Productions released this in 1977, in sync with that year's R&R convention; the presentation was dated 02/19/1978 and suggested the state of radio 2000 days later, in 1983.
It is to radio as the movie Network is to television, with less killing.
Set aside 20 minutes of your life to listen to the above-linked MP3 or download it to your iPod.
NOTE: If you're not of a certain age, some references may escape you. Find a survivor and ask about anything you don't understand.
Comment here.
02-13-08 I had lunch with two of these pirates ... in the mid-1990's. Their plan was to set up a web "portal", charge membership and allow all subscribed users to listen to their collection of streams. I tried to explain the concept of copyright to them, but they still insisted on paying my exhorbitant consultant fee.
Looks like they went into business:
InsideRadio reports that Morris Communications ops director Jay White says its bandwidth charges dropped by almost 50% when it started using a protection program.
StreamAudio's Paul Distefano says there are literally hundreds of sites that "hijack" station webcasts and offer music from their own sites at no cost.
Comment here.
02-13-08 Digital radio fizzling in Great Britain ... GCap, the biggest guy in British DAB, backs away from digital as "not economically viable" and plans to sell their share in the franchise for US$2.
Corporate head Fru Hazlitt says “FM is the backbone of the radio industry and we believe it compares favorably to any of the digital platforms currently available to the consumer in terms of quality. It is also the source of the majority of our revenue.”
So far, no comment from iBiquity here in the colonies.
Comment here.
02-13-08 And monkeys wil fly out of the RAB's butt ...
Non-spot radio revenues will hit $2 billion by 2009 if manufacturers will only take the time and spend the loot to develop FM (and, presumably) AM radio tuners for all other mobile devices.
Can you say wishful thinking? Can you say delusion?
The RAB's Jeff Haley says the RAB is working to make sure every MP3 player and cell phone features a radio receiver within five years, pointing to research that shows 72% of consumers want it.
Narrow that down to the demos that invest heavily in that technology and the percentages dip precipitously.
Radio can survive, but not by being a choice on an MP3 player. It's all about content and radio consolidators lost sight of that about ten annual reports ago.
Comment here.
02-13-08 Dead tree media continues to rot ... From MediaPost:
Time magazine received a body blow in the latest circulation report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, leading a round of bad news for consumer magazines in a variety of categories. Comparing the second half of 2007 with the same period in 2006, Time Inc.'s flagship title saw newsstand sales fall 19.4% to 107,277, as subscriptions tumbled 17.5% to 3,244,595. Overall, circulation fell 17.6% to 3,351,872.
Comment here.
Meet the new MD, same as the old MD!
Thanks to Frank Absher for the tip. | 02-13-08 This guy got owned, in a big way ... Stephen Lynch of the New York Post bought into this announcement:
"Emmis Communications announced this week that it was switching New York's 101.9 FM station from smooth jazz to WRXP, the "rock experience" with "a playlist not determined by era, but rather by the acoustic quality of each song, as determined directly by on-air personalities and staff."
This guy actually believes that dj's will choose their music! He makes me raff!
Lynch has, as they say, beclowned himself.
Comment here.
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02-12-08 CBS cuts may continue in St. Louis ... following the annual MegaWedding, Thursday, on Y98, which so far has been untouched. No speculation on who, exactly, but we've heard there will be three released.
In other CBS/STL staff changes, Market Street W |
