http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl? http://www.eblah.com en http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283614511/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283614511/#num1 Sirius XM: Stern Says “Pretty Sure” He’s Leaving Satellite Radio

By Eric Savitz
blogs.Barrons.com
                                      
Howard Stern told listeners to his Sirius XM radio show this morning that he is “pretty sure” he will leave the satellite radio business when his contract expires at the end of the year, according to the blog Orbitcast.

Stern also reportedly said it he not considering leaving the radio business entirely, and told listeners he would announce soon where he’ll go next, “hinting towards a possible mobile application and low monthly fee.”

On the other hand, the post says Stern also mentioned the possibility of launching a third satellite radio channel, and also discussed doing a similar show to the one he does now but with less hours.

Stern also reportedly said Sirius wants to sign him to a new five-year contract, but that he wants a shorter deal.

You can also find a semi-transcipt of Stern’s comments on the show on a site called MarksFriggin.com, which posts a detailed daily rundown of what happens on the show.]]> Sat, 4 Sep 2010 08:35:11 clockwatcher http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283613426/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283613426/#num1 Radio Waves - Ben Fong-Torres
Radio Hall of Fame names 20 new members
by Ben Fong-Torres
San Francisco Chronicle
September 3, 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    
                           One of the 20 new Radio Hall of Famers: DJ Bonnie Simmons in her Oakland digs.

The Hall calls: The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame has counted some 7,000 ballots, and a sizable group of 20 new members, including sportscasters Jon Miller and Gary Radnich and DJs Bonnie Simmons and Dave Morey, will be inducted into its fifth class. "It is a large, diverse and eclectic group this time," said David F. Jackson of the online Bay Area Radio Museum, which oversees the polling. Last year's class included 11 people and a "legendary station" (KCBS). This year's honored station will be announced later. Jackson said the list was swelled by five radio pioneers named by the Hall's Veterans Committee.

The 2010 inductees include, by category:

Announcer: John McLeod, Morey, Don Sainte-Johnn, Tom Saunders, Simmons.

News: Stan Bunger, Dave McQueen.

Sports: Miller, Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, Radnich.

Specialty: Ben Fong-Torres, Isabelle Lemon.

Owner-manager: Allan Newman, Heber Smith.

Pioneer: Evangeline Baker, Hilario Caballero, Budd Heyde, Lewis Hill, Walt Jamond.

Engineer: Art Lebermann.

Voting took place online, by mail, and at events staged by the Hall of Fame's partner organizations, the Broadcast Legends and the California Historical Radio Society. The inductions will take place at a dinner Sept. 25 at the Doubletree Hotel on the Berkeley Marina. If you'd like to mingle with a roomful of people with extraordinarily powerful voices, go to http://www.BroadcastLegends.com for ticket info. It's $75 for a prime rib dinner and prime-time mingling.

Next time out, I'll have bios of each inductee. And, yes, I'm honored to be inducted, although I can't stay for dinner. I'm booked to conduct backstage interviews with comedians at the 30th anniversary reunion of the Other Cafe at the Palace of Fine Arts, a benefit for KQED-TV.

Purple people meter: My recent item about a San Francisco woman who participated with the Arbitron ratings company as a wearer of its new Portable People Meter (PPM), got the radio industry buzzing. Well, the industry's various publications, anyway. All Access Music Group, Radio-info, Radio InSights, Radio Twit and Byrnes Media picked up the story, with All Access noting that "Arbitron closely guards the details of how they choose Portable People Meter participants and is even more secretive about their compensation." Apparently, my source was the first to divulge such info. Where's my Pulitzer?

In her interview with me, Angella Sprauve said her meter often picked up stations she hadn't chosen to hear, which would seem to call to question the technology's accuracy in reflecting listeners' habits. Jerry Del Colliano, in his Inside Music Media newsletter, called my item "a real-life example of a PPM carrier who ... admits that the only time it recorded her real listening was when she was in her car - read it and weep." But, as Bill Conway, PD of KOIT (96.5 FM) noted, whether or not Sprauve chose her station doesn't matter. Stations get credit if they (and their commercials) are heard, for five minutes or more within a 15-minute period. Or, as voiceover talent Mike McKay noted: "It's not listening; it's impressions. ... It doesn't matter if you picked that station or somebody else did. You may not enjoy it, but you heard it. ... Those stations deserve the credit for being heard."

Pig out: KPIG, the eclectic station in Freedom, near Santa Cruz, has dropped out of San Francisco, four years after putting its program on an AM signal here (at 1550). The villain, as always, was money.

"Radio is an expensive endeavor," said Ed Monroe, VP of national sales for Mapleton Communications. "Besides a tough economy, we didn't make the cut on the advertising side." The city Pig was also stymied (pun intended) by signal problems. Until a recent boost, the station was off the air three hours a day. Mapleton has leased the signal to a foreign-language station. On KPIG's site, Monroe hinted that the station was hoping to return to San Francisco - perhaps on FM.

"There are no guarantees," Monroe said, "but we're absolutely going to try. I'm convinced the format is strong enough to work in the city."

Now KPIG fans who are out of the station's FM range must pay to get it online. Since March, KPIG.com has required a subscription ($5 a month; $50 for a year). "The goal," said Monroe, "was never to drive profits. It's expensive for the bandwidth."

Monroe concluded, "I want to thank each listener and advertiser in San Francisco for taking the leap of faith with us. We were a small-town station in a big city. We appreciate every listener."

Chuy re-upped: Don Bleu of KIOI (Star 101.3) just celebrated 30 years on the air in the Bay Area - an amazing feat in this day and age. Now, we hear that Chuy Gomez, the morning mayor of KMEL (106.1 FM), has signed a deal with Clear Channel that will carry him to a 20th anniversary at the station. "I never imagined 20 years at one company," he said, "but it's great to serve the Bay Area."

R.I.P.: Dave McElhatton. He will be remembered by many as the avuncular, witty and easygoing news anchor on KPIX (usually alongside Wendy Tokuda or Kate Kelly). But he began in radio, had a stellar career on KCBS, beginning in 1951, straight out of San Francisco State. He pulled a midlife segue into television in 1975. "Mac," who retired in 2000, was 81, and he will be missed. Said Tokuda: "He was every bit as nice as he seemed. ... He was the Bay Area's anchor."

Reunited: Former employees of KRE and affiliated stations are being sought for an Oct. 23 reunion. Steve Kushman, president of the California Historical Radio Society, which is headquartered at KRE's old building at 601 Ashby Ave. in Berkeley, is organizing the bash. He seeks employees, managers and family members who worked in the Art Deco building for KRE, KPAT, KBLX and KBFN, from 1937 through the late '80s. Interested parties should e-mail Kushman at kushseal@flash.net.

Uprooted: The Sausalito Art Festival this weekend is featuring a lot of bands. Monday, it's Jefferson Starship, the Sons of Champlin and the great Mavis Staples. Also, a great radio guy: Harry Duncan, who'll DJ. Duncan, whose "In the Soul Kitchen with Harry D" airs Tuesday evenings on KUSF (90.3 FM), spins hip-hop and classic soul music at concerts and parties. Last New Year's Eve, at the Warfield, he DJ'd before the Roots performed. Afterward, Duncan met lead rapper Tariq Trotter, who looked at the 60-year-old Duncan and said, "You were the DJ tonight? Man, you scooped us! You played the song we were gonna open up with!" Oops.

Ben Fong-Torres is a freelance writer. E-mail him at pinkletters@sfchronicle.com.]]> Sat, 4 Sep 2010 08:17:06 clockwatcher http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283550214/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283550214/#num1
                      
Since 1998, the Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum (known colloquially as the Big Yellow Board) has been the place to discuss local radio issues and to post news items of interest to the radio and television community. Our good friend and moderator of SOWNY, Craig M. Smith (pictured above) is not well.

Craig has been in the hospital for many weeks now. Unfortunately it has been decided that Craig is not strong enough to withstand his transplant and has been removed the the transplant list. He will be moved to the palliative care unit.

This page has been setup to provide ongoing and accurate updates about Craig's progress, contact details, and any other related information.

                         http://www.craig.sowny.ca/

There was a report somewhere that Craig was suffering clinical depression. Not true, although judging from discussions on the board perhaps many folks are depressed about one thing or another so this isn't surprising.

But it is true, Craig is not doing well.

Almost daily updates on Craig's progress are called in from his close, personal friend Peter Leigh who will be looking after Craig's personal affairs. Information he feels should be passed along to Sowny.ca readers will appear at the above link on a regular or semi-regular basis.

E-mail addressed directly to Craig will not be answered.
However mail will be read to Craig, if directed to the hospital at:

        https://www.southlakeregional.org/patientemail.html

Craig is in good hands in the hospital. He has a good-sized "support group" trying to keep his spirits up, and we know he appreciated all the kind thoughts sent to the hospital from Sowny.ca readers.

Thanks to John Derringer and others for their official thoughts.

Craig could do a turn-around, re-gain strength, walk and possibly get back on the transplant list.
But as of this week, he's off the list, being too weak to proceed.

On behalf of our membership and visitors, we at Puget Sound Radio can only wish our brother-in-radio-blogging Craig the very best.]]> Fri, 3 Sep 2010 14:43:34 TurnTable3 http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283360445/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283360445/#num1 A Sad Day For Radio
As of today, The Radio Marketing Bureau is no more


By Wayne Ens
BroadcastDialogue.com
September 1st, 2010

I believe if you sell the value of radio first, that rising tide will raise all ships. We’re our own worst enemies in the radio business. As I travel across the country I witness actual horror stories of our self cannibalization. In some markets, station operators actually reward, or offer incentives for, advertisers to not use other radio stations in the market!

We create confusion, or drive advertising dollars to other more user-friendly media, by manipulating data to present ourselves as number one or put pressure on advertisers to not increase their reachand frequency with radio by using otherstations.

My most recent disgust at our seeming desire to shoot ourselves in the foot is in the implosion of the Radio Marketing Bureau.

Innovative radio leaders Allan Waters and Ted Rogers spearheaded the formation of the RMB, or should I say the RMB’s predecessors the RSB (Radio Sales Bureau) and the RBC (Radio Bureau of Canada), even though they were head-to-head competitorson the street. They recognized that their big picture competitors were other media, not other stations.

I’ve watched the slow demise of the relevance of the RMB with sadness, anger and dismay over the past 10 to 15 years.

There is no doubt the RMB has became redundant or unproductive as the radio industry’s marketing champion, but not because there is not a need for a vibrant industry champion. Rather, individual corporate self-interest and shortsighted budget cuts made the RMB a toothless tiger.

Shame on us.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen industry associations fall victim to individual self interest, politics and member consolidation to the long-term detriment of
the industry.

I still recall the first Radio Sales Bureau presentation I saw, just six weeks after leaving the print industry to get into radio. It was a scary transition for me to leave the comfort of a salaried newspaper position to a straight commission radio world. But the RSB presentation actually gave me goose bumps. When Larry Heywood played creative examples of the power of sound my confidence in what I was selling, radio advertising, soared. And so did my sales.

I admit that the political, budget and varied self-interests of the RMB’s board members over the years rendered it irrelevant to many radio operators.
But that doesn’t mean the concept of an industry marketing arm like the one envisioned by the Waters and Rogers of the world is wrong. It simply means its members and steering committees were wrong.

Here is what I foresee if we don’t have the foresight to revive the RMB:

1) Who’s going to build and train our farm teams? Over the years larger broadcasters have had a wealth of small market talent to draw from; talent that was trained by the RMB and talent that these small broadcasters could not afford to train on their own.

2) Who’s going to set the industry’s WAYNE ENS benchmarks? While the big companies can and should train their people beyond the minimum standards of the CRAs and CRMs administered by the RMB, at least these designations did set a minimal industry standard.

3) Who’s going to conduct the research to validate where radio over-all fits into the new media landscape? Some companies may do research to validate their company, their markets or their formats, but if no one is providing relevant research about radio, radio budgets will decline and the narrow research of self-interest won’t change that national strategy.

4) Who’s going to help all of us learn from the success of some of us? The creative and ideas housed in the RMB’s archives helped many radio reps create radio advertising converts. Many of these very small local businesses become big national chains over time. If they become big without radio in their advertising DNA they probably won’t convert to radio after they’ve achieved success.

5) Last but not least… if an industry’s marketing association dies doesn’t that send a signal that the industry itself is on the verge of a funeral? Even secondary media such as theatre advertising is able to maintain an umbrella marketing organization, the Cinema Advertising Council.

In many ways, I personally compete with the RMB when it comes to training, idea sharing and helping stations to succeed.

As a competitor, and as an industry champion, I mourn the death of RMB.

Shame on us!

Wayne Ens is a Canadian broadcast sales consultant. He may be reached at
wayne@wensmedia.com or (705) 484-9993.

Wayne's Website


http://www.broadcastdialogue.com

.]]> Wed, 1 Sep 2010 10:00:45 Voice Over http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283291766/ http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1283291766/#num1 Glenn Beck's Happy Warriors
You probably couldn't have found a more polite crowd at the opera...

By James Freeman
wsj.com
Washington, D.C.

Pundits will debate whether the crowd at Glenn Beck's Saturday rally in Washington was the largest in recent political history, but it was certainly among the most impressive.


Mr. Beck is a television host and radio broadcaster with a checkered past and a penchant for incendiary remarks. But if he's judged by the quality of people of all colors that he attracted to the Lincoln Memorial, his stock can't help but rise.

One would not be able to find a more polite crowd at a political convention, certainly not at a professional sporting event, probably not even at an opera. In fact, judging by the behavior of the attendees following the event, you'd have a tough time finding churches in which people display more patience as others make their way to the exits.

This army of well-mannered folks that marched into Washington seemed comprised mainly of people who had once marched in the U.S. Army or other military branch, or at least had a family member who had. Perhaps that's not surprising, given that the event was a fund-raiser for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships to the children of elite troops killed in the performance of their duty. The day was largely devoted to expressions of gratitude for the sacrifices of U.S. soldiers, for great men of American history like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and for God.

But it didn't end there. Dave Roever, a Vietnam veteran, offered a closing prayer in which he thanked the Lord for the president and for the Congress. Despite the unpopularity of the latter two, no booing or catcalls could be heard.

Perhaps feeling defensive about how they would be portrayed in media reports, various attendees wore t-shirts noting that they were "Not violent" or "Non-violent." For other participants, there was no need for an explicit message. Relaxed young parents felt comfortable enough to push toddlers in strollers through the crowded areas along the memorial's reflecting pool.

Not only was the rally akin to a "huge church picnic" (in one Journal reporter's description), but one had to wonder if the over-achievers in this crowd actually left the area in better shape than they found it.

After the event, walking from the Lincoln Memorial's reflecting pool through Constitution Gardens, this reporter scanned 360 degrees and could not see a scrap of trash anywhere. Participants and volunteers had collected all their refuse and left it piled neatly in bags around the public garbage cans. Near Constitution Avenue, I did encounter one stray piece of paper—but too old and faded to have been left that day.

Given the huge representation of military families at the event, maybe it's not surprising the grounds were left ship-shape. A principal theme of the day was that attendees should restore the country by making improvements in their own lives—be the change you wish to see in the world, as Gandhi once put it.

Most of the participants were strictly amateurs in the business of activism. For many, it was their first appearance at a public demonstration. Their strikingly mild-mannered nature might inspire even Mr. Beck to acknowledge that in a crowd estimated at 300,000, the craziest person at the event might have been the one with the microphone. While he admits that he's part entertainer and prone to over-the-top comments, his followers appear to be sincerely responding to his message that Americans need to cling to their best traditions. (Mr. Beck's program appears on the Fox News Channel, which is owned by News Corp., which also owns this newspaper.)

The conservative Mr. Beck's ability to draw this many people to Washington may suggest enormous gains for Republicans come the fall. But the GOP shouldn't expect voters to simply hand them a congressional majority without making them earn it. If pregame chatter and off-season optimism translated into victory, the New York Jets and the Washington Redskins would meet in the Super Bowl every year.

Between Saturday's crowd in Washington and the tea partiers agitating for limited government, we may be witnessing the rebuilding of the Reagan coalition, the "fusion" of religious and economic conservatives that political theorist Frank Meyer once endorsed. Reagan always believed that the Republican Party was the natural home for this movement, but GOP leaders in Washington need to prove they are worthy of it.

Mr. Freeman is assistant editor of the Journal's editorial page.

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....WSJ_newsreel_opinion

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]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:56:06 newsman