SiriusXM Launches Scream Radio For Halloween

SiriusXM has announced its exclusive Halloween-themed programming beginning Friday, October 24 at 6:00 pm ET.  The extensive programming, which will include everything from scary stories for adults to party sounds for kids and families and more, will air across SiriusXM's multiple talk, music, and comedy channels.
 
SiriusXM's Scream Radio will provide the ultimate scary sound-effect soundtrack for fun and fright, featuring traditional Halloween tunes, spooky music from classic horror films, bone-chilling ghost stories, and special celebrity appearances.  The catchy, creepy, and fun-scary sounds are ideal for trick-or-treating, hosting Halloween parties at home and in the office, or just getting into the Halloween spirit while you are on the road.  

Scream Radio will also feature readings of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," including an all-star recitation by Al Roker, Martin Goldsmith from SiriusXM's Symphony Hall, Clark Collis from EW Radio, Covino and Rich from INDIE, Stephen A. Smith from Mad Dog Radio and ESPN and others along with a more traditional version in which SiriusXM's own Pia Lindstrom brings the dramatic, dark poem to life.  Scream Radio begins airing Friday, October 24 at 6:00 pm ET and runs through Sunday, November 2 at 6:00 am ET on SiriusXM channel 98.

Jenny McCarthy will host a special Halloween edition of her new, live daily SiriusXM show Dirty, Sexy Funny with Jenny McCarthy on SiriusXM Stars, channel 109. The Halloween special will feature Jenny hosting a costume party in the SiriusXM studios with fans and special guests. The special will air on Halloween, Friday, October 31 at 10:00 am ET.

SiriusXM will also launch Trick-Or-Treat Radio, featuring kid-centered Halloween songs and stories, on SiriusXM Kids Place Live channel 78.  The special programming airs from Friday, October 31 at 10:00 am ET through midnight on Sunday, November 2.

Additional Halloween programming on SiriusXM. For more information on SiriusXM's Halloween programming, please visit www.SiriusXM.com/Halloween.

The Secret Sauce Behind Viral Stories That Matter

Upworthy is a new media outlet taking on traditional sites by making stories that matter more engaging and social.

The company adds interesting videos, graphics, and catchy titles to make important stories appeal to a wider audience.

Co-Founders Eli Pariser and Peter Koechley talk to Bloomberg's Alex Barinka in this installment of "New Hack City."

S-A Radio: Alpha Stations Raise Thousands For Meals

Raul Jimenez

Alpha Media/San Antonio held the 7th Annual Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner Radiothon on Friday, October 17, 2014. Six radio stations – News Talk KTSA 550 AM, KZDC 1250 AM ESPN San Antonio, KTFM 94.1 FM, KJXK 1027 FM JackFM, KLEY 95.7 FM, and KSAH 104.1 FM – raised over $128,000 to benefit the largest Thanksgiving Dinner celebration in the country.

The Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner, named after the late Raul Jimenez, a local restaurateur, commenced 35 years ago serving meals to a couple of hundred people in need. The tradition called “A Feast of The Heart” has continued annually orchestrated by Mr. Jimenez’s daughter Patricia Jimenez. Today the event serves Thanksgiving Day meals to over 25,000 of most needy and elderly in San Antonio.

Patricia Jimenez stated “We are eternally grateful to Alpha Media, 550 KTSA and its sister stations for helping us raise, a record breaking $128,282 to benefit the 35th Annual Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner. Thank you to the listeners who called in to make their donations and all of the in-studio guests who took time out of their busy schedules to support the cause and give their testimony. Due to this generous out pour 25,000 Senior Citizens, Underprivileged families and the homeless will experience the joy of Thanksgiving!”

Operations Director, Greg Martin, commented “We associate our stations with so many wonderful organizations, but this one is one of the most genuine. Its family run and family executed with the help of the community of San Antonio. There is no worry about high paying salaries and big overhead. You know exactly where your money is going”.

October 23 In Radio History

In 1928…RCA announced the creation of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum holding company, more commonly known as RKO, with David Sarnoff (general manager of RCA) as its chairman of the board.




In 1932...the "Fred Allen Show" premiered on radio.  Allen's radio show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio.

His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it was only part of his appeal; radio historian John Dunning (in On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio) wrote that Allen was radio's most admired comedian and most frequently censored.

A master ad libber, Allen often tangled with his network's executives (and often barbed them on the air over the battles), while developing routines whose style and substance influenced fellow comic talents, including Groucho Marx, Stan Freberg, Henry Morgan and Johnny Carson; his avowed fans also included President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and novelists William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and Herman Wouk (who began his career writing for Allen).



In 1940...Ellie Greenwich, songwriter with Jeff Barry on "Leader Of The Pack" by the Shangri-Las, "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, "River Deep, Mountain High" for the Supremes & Four Tops and many others, was born in Brooklyn, New York.

Ellie Greenwich

Joining forces with legendary producer Phil Spector, a string of legendary hits were created, including: "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "And Then He Kissed Me," "Chapel Of Love" and "River Deep, Mountain High." With Barry, this trend continued with number one smashes, such as "Hanky Panky," "Do Wah Diddy" and the epic "Leader Of The Pack," co-written with Shadow Morton.

Also, during these years, Greenwich reigned as one of New York's top demo/session singers and vocal arrangers, working with artists ranging from Dusty Springfield and Lesley Gore to Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra. One of her most exciting sessions was re-arranging the background vocals on Aretha Franklin's "Chain Of Fools" and working with Cissy Houston and the 'Sweet Inspirations.'

During one of her many demo sessions, Greenwich met and "discovered" Neil Diamond and went on to co-produce all his early hits such as "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman," doing background vocals as well.

She died of a heart attack in New York City August 26, 2009.


In 1963...Bob Dylan began to record "The Times They Are A-Changin'" at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City.

In 1971...The Hot 100..One of The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era "Maggie May" remained king on this day for Rod Stewart.  It had to be a pretty good song to keep "Superstar" by the Carpenters away from #1.  The Osmonds were singing about a "Yo-Yo" while Cher made her move (10-4) with "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves".  Joan Baez, meanwhile, took a more serious tone with "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" at #5.  The rest of the Top 10:  Lee Michaels with his only hit "Do You Know What I Mean", Donny Osmond ventured off for a solo hit with his remake of the Steve Lawrence song "Go Away, Little Girl", the Stampeders' great song "Sweet City Woman" was at #8, Isaac Hayes moved from 50 to 9 (how's that for a hot song?) with "Theme From 'Shaft'" and Stevie Wonder's 27th career hit "If You Really Love Me" was at #10.


In 1972...WOR 98.7 FM becomes WXLO. (Now WEPN 987. FM/ESPN)

In 1976...The Hot 100..Although it was their 22nd hit and 11th Top 10, supergroup Chicago scored their first #1 on this date with "If You Leave Me Now".  Rick Dees had to surrender with "Disco Duck".  What a shame.  Otherwise, a pretty dynamite Top 10 with Walter Murphy's "A Fifth Of Beethoven" still in the list after 22 weeks, the great Boz Scaggs song "Lowdown", Orleans with "Still The One" and Wild Cherry's former #1 "Play That Funky Music".

The rest of the Top 10:  "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Hall & Oates were up with "She's Gone" and two great new entries--"Love So Right" from the Bee Gees, which moved from 16-9 and "Rock 'N Me" by Steve Miller.


In 2001...Apple introduces Ipod.

Bill Mazer (undated)

In 2013…Longtime New York City Radio/TV sportcaster/program host (WNEW-TV, WNBC-AM, WOR-AM, WFAN-AM, WEVD-AM, WVOX-AM) "the Amazin'" Bill Mazer, who earlier in his career worked in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Buffalo, died at the age of 92.

Born Morris Mazer, he was raised in Brooklyn and a fan of the Dodgers, spent 60 years in broadcasting before he retired in 2009. After 16 years covering sports in Buffalo, N.Y., he returned to New York when he was hired by WNBC-AM in 1964 to host a groundbreaking sports talk show in the afternoon.

“The first call was a kid, and he said, ‘I just want to ask you one question,’” Mazer told New York Newsday in a 2011 interview. “I said, ‘OK, go ahead.’ He said, ‘Who’s better: Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle?’”

Mazer later worked for New York’s WFAN, the first full-time sports talk station, which debuted in 1987.

Mazer served as an analyst for NHL games on CBS and did commentary for the Knicks, Nets, Rangers and Islanders before he joined WNEW-TV in 1971 to anchor its nightly sports coverage. On Channel 5’s Sports Extra, he often teamed and argued with former New York Jets defensive back John Dockery.

Pandora AMP To Provide "Large Scale" Artist Analytics

Pandora today launched Pandora AMP, a free online service that gives artists and their managers a detailed view of their audience on the world’s largest Internet radio platform.

Pandora AMP provides a trove of data and insights to all 125,000-plus artists played on the service. Derived from tens of billions of hours of personalized listening, it has the potential to help artists with many critical decisions such as tour routing, single selection, set lists, audience targeting and more.

Updated daily, examples of the insights available on Pandora AMP include:

• Song-by-song performance information, including total spins and number of thumbs up
• Number of unique fans that have created a station for each artist
• Detailed geographic and demographic breakdowns of each artist’s audience
• An interactive heat map showcasing where an artist’s music is attracting an audience across the United States

Tim Westergren

“When I was in a band, we had a rented van, a box of fliers, and a couple staple guns,” said Tim Westergren, Pandora’s founder and a former touring musician himself. “The challenge faced by artists trying to find and build an audience was part of the original inspiration for Pandora. With AMP, the goal is simple: we want to harness the power of our scale and data to make artists’ lives easier.”

Insights on Pandora AMP, powered by The Music Genome Project, provide a lens into the company’s immense data, collected since its launch more than nine years ago. With more than 76 million listeners tuning in on average for over 20 hours each month, it gives artists access to the single largest source of music engagement in the United States.

The scale of this audience has important implications not only for established acts but also for the tens of thousands of working musicians who have never enjoyed the support of broadcast radio – over 80 percent of the artists on Pandora do not receive any airtime on terrestrial radio. With AMP, Pandora has created an easy-to-use and actionable tool for all musicians.

Ben Singer, manager of singer-songwriter Andy Grammer said, "This is a total game changer for us. Our research shows us that the majority of Andy's fans consume music on Pandora. To have access to these analytics will only help us better serve his fans as the music industry continues to evolve."

Starting today, AMP is available to all artists currently playing on Pandora. Artists can sign up for the service at http://amp.pandora.com and follow the latest news about AMP on Twitter @PandoraAMP.

Survey: Different Is The New Cool For Teens

Piper Jaffray has completed its 28th semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens market research project, which indicates increased spending across categories despite decreased optimism about the economy.

Steph Wissink

“Our fall 2014 survey results indicate teens continue to diversify their tastes through discovery of emerging brands and multi-brand experimentation, even as their views of the economy worsen,” said Steph Wissink, co-director of research and senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray.

“We also observe trends that indicate teens use social media, mainly Instagram, to create their own unique personal brands and seek peer affirmation. Millennials continue to be early adopters of change who use technology to engage with brands ‘on demand’ on their own time.”

Key findings from the survey in fashion, beauty and personal care, digital media, food, gaming and entertainment include the following:

• Spending rebounds as teen employment figures improved modestly and parent contribution returned to historical levels in the 70% range. Yet teen perception of the economic climate worsened, with roughly 73% seeing the economy as staying the same or getting worse, up from just 57% a year ago.
• Male spending increased in the spring while females turned this fall and contributed to gains year over year and sequentially in total spending. This is the first period of improved spending, specifically on fashion-related goods, in nearly two years.
• Teen closets are diverse, just like their social circles and lifestyles. The millennial thirst for adventure is clear with experimentation, discovery and individuality being the new cool. A key fashion trend among teens is the spirit of choice – demand for action sports, fast fashion, refined classics and fashion athletic brands stabilized or increased. Demand for legacy brands stabilizes – AE, A&F, Hollister and Aero – but is still significantly below peak mindshare and current capacity.
• This generation of teens are creating their own “stories” through purchases, experiences and activities in order to cultivate their personal brands, primarily in domains like social media and friend networks. We note that teen interest in food and electronics, at the expense of fashion goods, continues to be a strong underlying theme in our multi-year data series.
• Friends and the Internet dominate teen influences and combine in social media environments. Instagram and Twitter are the two most used social media sites, implying teens are increasingly visual and sound bite communicators.
• Apple remains the top consumer electronics brand for teens. 67% own iPhones, up 6% from spring 2014. 73% of teens expect their next phone to be an iPhone.
• A key food trend amongst teens is the increasing consumption of organic food, especially among upper-income teens.
• Mobile gaming interest declines to 80%, but 22% of those that play spend money on virtual goods or extra levels, up 4% from spring 2014.
• Pandora is a distant second to broadcast radio, with one-in-five teens reporting they use it the most while in the car. 
• Satellite radio doesn’t typically score well with teenagers. Piper Jaffray’s report reflects that, with teens saying Sirius XM gets an average of just 5% of their listening time.

Nielsen, Adobe To Measure Multiple Devices

Adobe and Nielsen have announced a strategic alliance that is expected to deliver the industry’s first comprehensive, cross-platform system for measuring online TV, video and other digital content across the web and apps.

The move for Nielsen, which dominates traditional TV ratings and Adobe, which has troves of data on how people watch videos through the Internet, underscores how quickly the landscape is shifting.

Just last week, Time Warner's pay TV channel HBO and broadcaster CBS made the startling announcements they plan to launch standalone products allowing consumers to watch their programming without a cable or satellite subscription.

The collaboration will integrate Nielsen’s digital audience measurement products with Adobe Analytics and Adobe Primetime. As a result, both companies will jointly market Nielsen's Digital Content Ratings, Powered by Adobe, which will deliver analytics and currency-grade content metrics. Customers will have comparable metrics to measure audiences accurately and consistently across every major IP device, including desktops, smartphones, tablets, game consoles and over-the-top boxes.

Nielsen’s new Digital Content Ratings will be supported by certified Adobe Analytics census data. The aggregated and anonymous data will measure content of all types, including online TV, videos, games, audio and text. The technology integration is expected to accelerate the adoption of a digital ratings currency, allowing advertisers to better allocate marketing dollars across platforms, and enabling media companies to benefit from insights into the performance of TV and other digital content across screens.

In addition, Nielsen’s measurement data will be embedded in Adobe Primetime to give broadcasters and pay-TV service providers the ability to quickly measure audiences and viewing behaviors across a broad set of devices. The integration also seeks to drive deeper engagement through the delivery of personalized content and ads.

Hacker Wanted $500 From Louisiana Broadcaster

The victim of a recent computer hacking was Stannard Broadcasting in Leesville that was attacked. Not one but all three of its stations were affected; they are Country KVVP 105.7 FM as well as KROK 95.7 FM and KUMX 106.7 FM.

The three stations are all back on the air, but problems persist, according to RadioWorld.

“Stannard Broadcasting Inc. is working to correct problems associated with a virus that affected its data server,” the company said in a statement. A Trojan virus had been executed on a computer in the station’s network on Oct. 16 that encrypted the station’s database audio files in the server.

“Along with the virus came a text note offering a key word to unlock the virus in exchange for $500 in Bitcoin, an Internet currency,” it said.

The broadcaster did not pay any ransom; instead it reported the attack to local law authorities and went about working to get back on the air. The company said it will have to buy some new equipment and that “further measures will also be taken to secure data.”

KVVP 105.7 FM (13.5Kw) 60dBu Coverage

Doug Stannard is the general manager. “Two stations have had their music library compromised in that there is still missing audio and all the data strings are not complete,” he wrote to RadioWorld in a followup email today. “Each day there are more elements compromised. Each day there are additional files tapped by the hackers. So, each day is a new set of problems.”

NYC Radio: SBS Promotes Eric Garcia

Eric Garcia

Spanish Broadcasting System appoints Eric Garcia as Revenue Chief of its radio division and General Manager of its New York cluster.

He'll be responsible for the management and oversight of Local and National Radio Divisions and Event Sponsorships areas as well as the overall impact of Station Operating Income. Garcia has been with SBS since 2004. Previously, he was VP/Sales for WSKQ 97.9 FM Mega 97-9 and WPAT 93.1 FM Amor 93-1).

"My appointment of Eric Garcia to a senior leadership role in SBS, represents complete confidence that he will do an excellent job," stated COO Albert Rodriguez. "Eric Garcia has demonstrated a capacity for leadership and management skills in improving New York's station performance. We are asking him to extend those abilities to our other Radio markets, please join me in welcoming Eric to his new position."

Garcia began his radio career at radio sales at McGavren Guild Media before joining Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) in 2004.

"I am extremely excited for this opportunity. I will be able to work alongside the best operators in the business across our SBS markets, and together, grow the dynamics of the overall SBS portfolio. As with any close family, I look forward to working together with each market, and use our current relentless drive to grow SBS shares in every market," added Garcia.

NJ Radio: 95.9 The Rat Welcomes Dave McDonald

Dave McDonald

WRAT 95.9 FM in Point Pleasant, NJ has announced “East Side” Dave McDonald as joined the RAT Morning Show.

He joins 18 year Rat Rock veteran Carl Craft and morning sidekick, Gotts.

A native of Monmouth County, McDonald grew up in Spring Lake, NJ and now resides in Neptune.

His past credits include a stint as producer for the Ron and Fez show on SiriusXM as well as guest appearances on the Opie and Anthony show. McDonald also had his own radio show called the Davey Mac Sports Program XL. Following several television appearances on shows like TLC’s America’s Worst Tattoos and “truTV presents, Worlds Dumbest…,” Dave kicked around the comedy scene and ended up at 95.9 WRAT-FM.

WRAT 95.9 FM (1.45 Kw) 60dBu Coverage

“Dave has been a great addition to the show. He’s got the fun, upbeat vibe that the show craves without being fake or over the top. He’s totally fitting in with me and Gotts and so far the listeners have welcomed him to their favorite morning show. It’s funny how personally they’ve taken it, going so far as to “welcome him to The Rat” at our first public appearance last Friday” ,said Carl Craft, WRAT-FM Program Director and Morning show co-host.

Bob Pittman: Radio Needs To Improve Monetization

Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, discusses how big data is impacting the radio industry.  He spoke during a Bloomberg Television interview at the Robin Hood Investors Conference in New York, U.S., on Tuesday.

Pittman also discussed the reasons behind changing the company's name from Clear Channel to IHeartMedia during an interview in September.

He speaks with Bloomberg's Stephanie Ruhle at the Robin Hood Investors Conference.