Research: 250M Connected Cars By 2020

By 2020, vehicles with some form of wireless network connection capabilities will rule the roads, according to new research from Gartner Technology Research.

Gartner's report "Predicts 2015: The Internet of Things" forecast that in the next five years, nearly one in five cars worldwide will have wireless Internet capabilities, which amounts to over 250 million connected cars.

Tech Times reports the research firm pointed out that connected cars or smart cars are poised to play a pivotal role in the Internet of Things (IoT). The firm also predicted that 4.9 billion "connected things" will be deployed in 2015, which is an increase of 30 percent from 2014. This number is expected to grow further and will touch 25 billion in the next five years.

"The connected car is already a reality, and in-vehicle wireless connectivity is rapidly expanding from luxury models and premium brands, to high-volume midmarket models," noted James F. Hines, research director at Gartner.

The number of connected cars currently making their way to the market is on the rise. Major car manufacturers such as Mercedes, Tesla, BMW and Ford, to name a few, already offer some type of wireless Internet connection in their automobiles.

So, what will fuel the growth of and demand for smart cars to 250 million by 2020, you ask?

According to Hines, with digital consumption and creation within automobiles getting a boost and growing steadily, consumer demand for better infotainment systems will surge.

Comcast Allegedly Calls Customer 'A$$hole' On His Bill

Comcast thinks a customer is an "asshole" and they allegedly put it in writing...on a bill

After a Spokane, Wash., customer of the cable giant tried to cancel his family’s Comcast subscription this month, their next bill changed his first name from "Ricardo" to “Asshole.”

“I am shocked,” his wife, Lisa Brown, told blogger Christopher Elliott.

The family was “never rude,” she added, but merely tried to get out of their contract with Comcast, which has long struggled with poor customer service.

According to The Hill, Comcast has reportedly apologized to Brown, and called the name change “completely unacceptable and inappropriate.”

"We have zero tolerance for this type of disrespectful behavior and are conducting a thorough investigation to determine what happened,” said Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Moyer. “We are working with our customer to make this right and will take appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again."

It’s not the first time Comcast has been in trouble for its treatment of subscribers who want to jump ship.

Last summer, an 8-minute customer service call went viral in which a subscriber repeatedly tried — and failed — to cancel his subscription with Comcast.



Customer service has been a perennial problem for Comcast, which is currently attempting to seek regulatory review for its pending $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable.

iHM Promotes Jim Lawson To Regional Program Manager

Jim Lawson

iHeartMedia has announced Jim Lawson will be expanding his duties to include Regional Manager for iHeartMedia Colorado and Operations Manager for Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

The move is effective Monday, effective February 2.

As Regional Programming Manager, Lawson will oversee all programming operations for the Colorado stations. His duties as Operations Manager will include managing the strategy and execution of Colorado Springs and Pueblo's eight combined stations.

Lawson will continue his duties as VP?Programming for Hispanic Media and Brand Manager for National Programming Platforms.

He joined the company in 2001 as Program Director of KFMD 95.7 FM in Denver. Prior to that, Lawson helped to launch one of the first Modern Adult Contemporary stations, KALC 105.9 FM Alice105-9 in Denver.

His more than 25 years of broadcast experience includes programming and on-air roles at classic rock, AC, Hot AC, adult hits and news talk stations. Lawson also served as on-air talent at Contemporary Hits, Smooth Jazz and Classic Hits stations in Chicago.

"We are excited to bring Jim's multi-format experience and leadership skills to the Regional programming team," said Tony Coles, Senior Vice President of Programming, iHeartMedia. "With such strong brands and personalities already in place in Colorado, it takes a special kind of leader to not only maintain our success, but to further grow and develop our stations and talent. Jim is uniquely qualified for this new and expanded role."

"Adding additional responsibilities to my already rewarding position is beyond exciting," said Lawson. "We have some great brands and talent in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, and I look forward to building on that success. Thank you to Tom Poleman, Clay Hunnicutt, Brian Olson, Tony Coles and Brad Hutcheson for presenting me with yet another opportunity to grow in a dream company with the brightest and best talent."

Las Vegas Radio: Sean Hannity Moving To N/T KDWN

Beasley Media/Las Vegas has announced that the Sean Hannity Show is being added to the line-up at N/T KDWN 720 AM.

The change is effective February 2.

The show will air live from 12noon to 3pm

KDWN Program Director John Shaffer comments, “We are very excited that Sean Hannity is joining our line-up at KDWN. His show will help solidify our position as THE news and talk leader in Las Vegas."  Besides being PD, Shafer is also the station's News Director.

Hannity has been airing in the market on CBS Radio's KXNT 100.5 FM.  KXNT will move the live feed of the Dave Ramsey Show into the Noon-3pm airslot, vacated by Hannity.

Philly Radio: Annual WIP Wing Bowl Set For Friday

Wing Bowl 23 presented by Sports WIP 94.1 FM will be held Friday starting at 6am at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The event is packed with participants and is soldout to the public.

The event continues to be one of the largest wing eating competitions anywhere and those who can't make it in person, can listen live on 94WIP.

A portion of the proceeds from Wing Bowl 23 will benefit local charities including the Fraternal Order of Police Survivors Fund.  For more information, go to www.wingbowl23.com.

This year’s competition promises to be the biggest party and the prizes have a different twist.  The overall winner of Wing Bowl 23 wins a 2015 Harley-Davidson FLSTF Softail Fat Boy Motorcycle, along with $10,000 in cash and a Wing Bowl 23 Championship ring.

LISTEN-LIVE:  Click Here

For the first time ever,  the Overall Runner-Up will also received $10,000, according to marketing director Cindy Webster.
Here are photos from last year's event...

Report: Sony Dropping Music Streaming

A shakeout in the crowded market for music-streaming services appears to be gathering steam, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Sony Corp. said it is shutting down its $10-a-month Music Unlimited at the end of March, four years after launching it in the U.S. The streaming service, one of the biggest in Japan, is integrated into Sony’s PlayStation consoles and has counted mostly PlayStation users among its subscribers.

In terms of musical content and price, Music Unlimited is indistinguishable from competitors including Spotify AB, Google Inc. ’s All Access, Apple Inc. ’s Beats Music, Rdio Inc., Rhapsody and Deezer, all of which offer more or less the same 30 million songs.

Sony didn’t disclose its subscriber count but Music Unlimited had just north of 100,000 paying subscribers as of the second half of last year, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Spotify—which boasts the music-streaming world’s biggest paying subscriber base at 15 million, plus another 45 million active users of its free service—will now power the music for PlayStation users in 41 markets, in a new partnership with Sony Network Entertainment International called PlayStation Music.

At least one Sony executive had predicted that a shakeout was inevitable. In 2012, before Apple launched its free iTunes Radio service, Michael Aragon —Sony’s vice president and general manager of global digital video and music services—told The Wall Street Journal that “it’s going to be a brutal business and there’s probably going to be some consolidation.”

Read More Now (Paywall)

Indy Radio: Pence Backs Away From State Run News Service

Mike Pence

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence told WIBC 93.1 FM Wednesday that he would reject any version of his new "Just IN" website that looks like state-run media, continuing to distance himself from a written news service plan developed by his staff.

Meanwhile, Pence's communications staff, who authored the plan for "Just IN," scrambled to tamp down concerns over the news service Wednesday morning in a strange, sometimes emotional exchange with Indiana Statehouse reporters.

Pence appeared on Greg Garrison's radio talk show to explain his administration's new communications plans, at one point saying he was unsure who wrote the plan for "Just IN," details of which were first reported by The Indianapolis Star.


Garrison continuously pressed Pence to abandon any plan for a state-run news service, until Pence finally said he would reject any state-run news outlet.

"As governor I can assure you that (the plan) did not meet my expectations and if this website doesn't meet my expectations of respecting the role of a free and independent press, I will reject it​," Pence said Wednesday on WIBC-FM.

Pence also repeated his earlier explanation that the new site was intended to be a resource, not a news source.

Mark Levin Inks Long-Term Deal With WW1

Mark Levin

Westwood One announces the long-term extension of the popular nationally syndicated talk radio program "The Mark Levin Show" through 2020.

Levin has become one of the most trusted voices in radio, bringing a unique perspective to his show from years in constitutional law and from his experience as a guest commentator. The fast-growing show covers the most important legal and political events of the day and has become one of the top five most-listened-to programs, reaching a listener base of millions on over 300 stations across the nation.

"I am delighted to continue working with Cumulus and Westwood One and look forward to further developing the show over the next five years," Levin said. "I am passionate about challenging the mainstream media and educating the public on the most pressing political and legal issues of our time and maintain my commitment to doing so."

"Mark has established himself as a pillar in talk radio with his sharp and witty commentary, and we look forward to expanding his program's reach," said John Dickey, Executive Vice President of Content and Programming for Cumulus.

In 2003, "The Mark Levin Show" launched on flagship station 77 WABC Radio in New York.

Facebook Tops Q4 Estimates on Strong Mobile Growth

Facebook, the biggest social network on the planet, keeps getting bigger — and its users are more mobile and consume more video than ever.

The company posted revenue of $3.85 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014, up 49% year over year and beating analyst expectations, as the social giant grew to 1.39 billion average monthly active users worldwide (up 13%) at the end of last year and boosted mobile advertising dollars.

Accoridng to Variety, Facebook also topped Wall Street forecasts with adjusted earnings of 54¢ per share for the last three months of 2014, up 69% year over year. Analysts had expected the company to post $3.77 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS of 48¢.

Underscoring Facebook’s focus on video, chairman-CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a call with analysts that the service in December delivered an average of 3 billion video views per day — up from 1 billion daily over the summer of 2014. According to the company, U.S. users now watch an average of at least one video per day on the site; it’s worth noting that Facebook’s tally includes autoplay videos that users do not click on.

Boston Radio: WEEI Website Traffic Surges

Entercom/Boston is reporting the controversy surropunding the Boston Patriots and Deflategate is very good business for its WEEI 93.7 FM website.

The Boston station its website has moved into record territory. Between January 19th, the day the allegations about the footballs and January 25th, WEEI.com racked up over 1 million unique users to and over 4.3 million page views.

WEEI also reports a total of 6.1 million Facebook users with more than one million participating in a WEEI post and more than 1.1 million Facebook views of a special Deflate-Gate video produced by the station’s Jerry Thornton and videographer Peter Neudel, plus an additional 285,000 views on YouTube.


WEEI.com employs its own dedicated team of 12 editors, videographers and journalists under the direction of site editor Rob Bradford who said he was not surprised by the metrics.

"Our most recent success offers yet another example of how powerful the WEEI brand has become,” Bradford commented. “I am consistently amazed by the level of talent and commitment our team at WEEI.com and WEEI brings to the table on a daily basis, with the last month serving as yet another reminder as to what this group has built and continues to build."

Rdio Dropped From Zenbu Media Lawsuit

Just days after Google, Apple's Beats, Sony, Rdio, Songza, Slacker and Grooveshark were served with simultaneously filed lawsuits alleging exploitation of pre-1972 sound recordings without license or payment, the case against music streamer Rdio has been dismissed.

Attorneys, on behalf of Zenbu Media - the owners of recordings from The Flying Burrito Brothers, Hot Tuna, the New Riders of the Purple Sage and others - filed the lawsuits and requested class action status.

These new filings followed similar lawsuits from Flo & Eddie (The Turtles) against SiriusXM, Pandora and others over a loophole that many music services have used to not make the usual payments for use of recordings released prior to 1972.  The majority of the court findings have favored the musicians.

“We’re pleased the lawsuit was dismissed." reads a statement from Rdio sent to Hypebot Tuesday evening. "Rdio respects copyright and is committed to compensating artists for their creative works and pays royalties for all songs we offer.”

NBC Officially Sold Out For The Big Game

With the big game just days away, Seth Winter, exec VP-ad sales, NBC Universal News and Sports Group, said the network achieved record volume in ad dollars.

Winter told AdAge, NBC was able to maintain "premium pricing," with one 30-second spot costing about $4.5 million.

"Price was never an issue," he said. Mr. Winter said.  Still, he acknowledged it was a long road and that NBC hit a few challenges in selling commercial time in Super Bowl XLIX, which will air from Arizona on Feb. 1.

"It was a challenging ad sales marketplace, I won't diminish that," Mr. Winter said. "This hasn't been the easiest exercise I have been through."

The post-game is sold out and there are just a few spots remaining in the pre-game, Mr. Winter said.

NBC's digital stream of the big game is also sold out. Mr. Winter said NBC nearly tripled its digital ad revenue from when it last aired the game in 2012, noting it generated eight figures. There are 18 advertisers in the digital stream.

There will be 15 advertisers airing commercials during the Super Bowl for the first time this year, the highest number since 2000, which advertising experts say is a positive sign that companies are feeling good about the economic recovery.

Among the companies who are first-time advertisers this year, paying some $4.5 million for a 30-second spot, are well-known brands like Skittles and Carnival Cruise Lines, but also ones you've likely never heard of, which are hoping to make a name for themselves with their Super Bowl spots.

They include: glue maker Loctite; Mophie, which makes phone cases that hold extra batteries; and Wix.com, which hosts customizable websites.

Report: Mobile News Media Habits Vary By Market

According to Nielsen’s latest Local Watch report, while connectivity has made the world smaller in a lot of ways, U.S. consumers still want to keep up with the happenings in their own neighborhood. While consumers continue to go local when it comes to watching television, they’re also going digital to augment that local experience!

The report found that “local digerati”—those that used internet and mobile apps for local news and community events and feel social networking is important for local information—number nearly 30 million strong in the U.S.

So who make up this digitally savvy, locally focused group?

Accoridng to Nielse, the majority of local digerati are female (55%). This group is also on the younger side—among adults 18 years old and older, local digerati peak in the 25-34 year old demographic (25%) and gradually decline as age increases.

About 70% of these consumers are educated and employed. In addition, nearly 40% of them make more than $75,000 per year. In short, local digerati represent a very desirable group of viewers and a golden opportunity for broadcasters everywhere to leverage their unique local content online with this highly engaged audience.

Report: Location-Targeted Mobile Ads To Reach $6.6B

Mike Borland

The proliferation of smart phones and advanced capabilities such as location awareness and connectivity will help propel location-targeted mobile advertising revenues to $6.6 billion in the U.S. this year, according to BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Media Forecast 2015.

BIA/Kelsey explores this opportunity, particularly as it applies to national brands, franchises and multi-location businesses, in a new insight paper titled, “Think Global, Target Local: Multi-Location Advertising in the Mobile Age.”

The local targeting objectives of national brands, franchises and multi-location businesses have led to a renaissance in local media and advertising, with an entire ecosystem of support industries, vendors and independent developers. The firm forecasts national brand spending will represent 43 percent of location-based advertising by 2018, representing $68 billion in spending.

“Nowhere do ‘national’ and ‘local’ come together more than with multi-location businesses,” said Michael Boland, VP, content, BIA/Kelsey. “They are inherently national in their footprint and resources, but they are local in that they compete for customers in the local markets where they are present. This makes them a significant participant in the local advertising ecosystem.”

Key themes from the report will be covered within the program of the upcoming conference, BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL, which takes place March 25-27, in Dallas. The conference will focus on how local has evolved as an important channel for national players who are targeting locally.

The initial list of speakers for BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL includes keynoters Jon Czaja, director, small business (North America), Facebook; Aaron Goldman, author and CMO, Kenshoo; and Karen Traversi Kovaleski, CEO, Geary LSF. The current list of speakers, agenda and additional conference information is available at www.biakelsey.com/NATIONAL.

The “Think Global, Target Local” insight paper is available to clients of BIA/Kelsey’s advisory services. For information on purchasing the report, please contact sales@biakelsey.com.

SoundExchange Wraps Record-Setting Year

Michael Hupe

SoundExchange Wednesdayday announced a new record with total year-end royalty payments reaching approximately $773 million (up 31 percent from $590 million the prior year). The fourth quarter 2014 distribution also increased from the previous year with more than 38,800 payments totaling approximately $183 million. In addition to breaking records with its payments,

SoundExchange also moved the industry forward in 2014 in many other important respects.

“2014 was a banner year for SoundExchange. Not only did we pay out more royalties to recording artists and record labels, but they now receive payments faster than ever after we became the first sound recording performance rights organization in the world to deliver monthly payments,” said SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe. “While 2014 finished on a high note, we look forward to continuing our success and growth in 2015 which promises to be even more exciting.”

SoundExchange royalties are paid by more than 2,500 non-interactive Internet radio, satellite radio and cable radio services for their use of sound recordings.

Significant organizational accomplishments in 2014 included:

• Launching Project72, a campaign to ensure fair pay for artists who recorded their music before 1972, in support of the RESPECT Act.
• Issuing quarterly Digital Radio Reports. For the latest (Q4 2014), click here.
• Hosting the brand new SoundExchange Influencers Series at the Bluebird Café in Nashville.
• Reaching thousands of artists and record labels through ongoing outreach as well as several high-profile and effective database matches with partner organizations such as SXSW, CMJ, GRAMMYS, SAG-AFTRA, LOCKN’ Music Festival, and School Night!
• Announcing Michael Huppe as President and CEO through 2018.
• Introducing our annual year-end charts naming the Top Streaming Artists, Top Recordings, and Top Breakout Artists.
• Representing the entire recorded music industry in proceedings before the Copyright Royalty Board to set rates paid by webcasters.