Auto Makers Sign Up For iHeart Radio

Keeping up the pressure on Pandora, the radio station giant Clear Channel this morning announced a deal to integrate its Internet-based iHeart Radio service into Chrysler and General Motors vehicles.

Forbes.com reports the company also unveiled iHeartRadio for Auto, a made-for-driving version of its Internet radio app, which it is offering through a variety of after-market radio vendors.

Clear Channel made the announcements this morning at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Clear Channel said that starting later this year iHeartRadio will be feature in GM’s new app catalog, which will included in some 2014 GM infotainment systems. “GM drivers will have access to a native and easy-to-use iHeartRadio experience directly from their dashboards giving them the ability to personalize their listening experience by searching for both broadcast and custom stations and by using iHeartRadio’s exclusive Discovery Tuner to control how much variety they want in their music,” Clear Channel said in a statement.

The iHeart Radio apps provides access to 1,500 live radio stations, as well as more than 15 million songs that can be included in user-programmable stations.

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Pandora Announces December 2012 Audience Metrics

The internet radio service Pandora announced today new metrics that were reached in the month of December 2012:

• Listener hours for Pandora during the month of December 2012 were 1.39 billion, an increase of 54% from 906 million during the same period last year.
• Share of total U.S. radio listening for Pandora in December 2012 was 7.19%, an increase from 4.71% at the same time last year.
• Active listeners were 67.1 million at the end of December 2012, an increase of 41% from 47.6 million during the same time period last year.

Pandora is releasing key audience metrics on a monthly basis to provide the most current information regarding Pandora's users and usage across platforms.

FCC Okays Cumulus Acquiring 94.7 FM NYC

If you’ve been wondering how soon the format will be flipping at WFME 94.7 FM, the FCC has given its okay to the $40M dollar deal announced a few months ago.  The deal has Cumulus buying the Newark, NJ licensed facility from Family Stations.

So how soon can a change be expected?  Well, not until more bureaucratic maneuvering.

The FCC still needs to okay a waiver needed by Family to takeover WDVY 106.3 FM (Mount Kisco).  WDVY would replace WFME with Family Station content in the NYC metro area.

As for what format to expect on 94.7 FM, the speculation continues on the Radio Discussion message board. Click Here. 

However, a recurring guess is “Nash FM”..a new national format being developed by the Cumulus programming trust.

SC Radio: Love & Hudson Return To Earth

Morning radio personalities Bill Love and Howard Hudson have reunited and partnered with broadcasting veteran Bob Nations to form the Spartanburg-based venture Earth Radio Broadcasting LLC, which will operate WOLI 910 AM and (W289BS) Earth 105.7-FM (250watts).

WOLI has dropped Yahoo! Sports to flip to Classic Hits.

According to goupstate.com, Love and Hudson will bring back their morning show that aired on WFBC-FM and WMYI-FM, and rose to be the “most-listened-to program” in the area, according to Arbitron ratings. They will be accompanied by their sidekick K.C. Carson and a parade of other hilarious characters contrived by the fun-loving comrades.

“I'm just along for the ride,” said Nations, a radio executive who started Rock 101 WROQ-FM. “Bill came to me about a year ago and asked me if I was interested in doing something. We had been looking for a frequency and when this one became available we jumped on it. I feel privileged to be a part of this and I'm excited to see what the future holds.”

Hudson, of Clemson, said he first started working with Love, who is of Greenville, at WFBC in 1982.

“I had the mid-day show and Bill was on in the late afternoon,” he said. “I would drop in and we sort of did a group thing with people popping in and out. Management liked it and we got good customer feedback. They said ‘why don't you guys keep doing that.' So we put together a formal morning show.”

Their show aired on WFBC until 1984 until the station was sold. The duo was moved to Richmond and then to Jacksonville, Fla.

Eventually they came back to the Upstate, where they found a home at WMYI through the end of 2003.

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Fresno Radio: Dave Thompson Segues To KSOF

Veteran radio personality Dave Thompson has joined KSOF Soft Rock 98.9 Fresno for mornings.

Thompson most recently ended 14-years waking up Sacramento at CBS’s KYMX Mix 96.

Thomson's radio resume includes WRQX/Washington, WMGK/Philadelphia, WLOL/Minneapolis, WKQI (Q95)/Detroit and KKBQ & KHMX/Houston.

"We casted a nationwide net to land the best morning radio talent we could find and that person happened to be just up the road in Sacramento," said Clear Channel Regional Programming Manager Tony Banks.    He added, “Dave brings a fresh, new, fun and family-friendly morning show to the Valley.”

Bob Wolf Back On-Air In The Empire State

A longtime Capital Region disc jockey, dropped by his station last spring, is back on the air at Radio Woodstock 100.1 WDST.

Progressive, award-winning radio station, Radio Woodstock 100.1 (WDST) announces the addition of Bob “The Wolf” Wohlfeld as host of the station’s new morning show, “Wakin’ Up With The Wolf”.

Wohlfeld, former morning jock on WPYX (Albany) from 2000-2012 and WPDH (Poughkeepsie) from 1990-2000 brings his talents and long history of success to the Hudson Valley along with his signature dry and direct voice and cutting wittiness.

“I am thrilled to be the new morning show at Radio Woodstock 100.1,” says Wohlfeld. “A legendary station in its own right, owned and run by actual humans."

The Wolf will take to the airwaves of 100.1FM and 106.5FM (in Beacon) as well as Radio Woodstock’s online stream at radiowoodstock.com on Monday morning, January 7th.

Radio Woodstock’s current morning show host, Greg Gattine, will take over as afternoon drive-time host, and Jimmy Buff will now cover middays.   Music Director and current midday host, Carmel Holt, will now host Radio Woodstock’s evening programming, focusing more strongly on new music.

CC’s TTN Does Deal with Toyota

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment's Total Traffic Network, a groundbreaking programming and technology service that delivers real-time local traffic flow and incident information, and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. today announced a three-year agreement that will integrate real-time traffic and The Weather Channel information into the dashboards of select 2013 calendar year Toyota and Lexus models.

These new Toyota models will feature the first consumer facing real-time delivery of information and graphics inside a vehicle via an HD Radio signal.

Toyota also plans to expand the service coverage beyond the HD boundaries for those vehicles equipped with Entune by providing these same services through a customer's cell phone.

Featured In-dash Services:

•  Doppler Weather radar: Drivers will have instant access to The Weather Channel's Doppler weather radar overlaid onto their existing in-dash navigation map.
• Current weather conditions and forecasts: Drivers will be able to easily access The Weather Channel's local and national forecasts for over 120 cities with a touch of the console screen.
• Real-time traffic: These easy-to-understand maps and incident coverage reports are updated every two minutes and offer current conditions, as well as upcoming 15-, 30- and 45-minute predictive traffic information. 

"Innovation is an essential part of what we do including leveraging our national distribution platform in new ways," said Kevin Dorsey, President of National Media Groups for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. "This new agreement with Toyota highlights our ability to leverage our distribution, programming and technology platforms to bring consumers what they want, where they want it and without annoying subscriptions."

60 Minutes: Outcry After NOLA's Daily Paper Cuts Back

The Times-Picayune cut back to a three-day-a-week publishing schedule in October, causing New Orleans to be the largest U.S. city without a daily paper. Morley Safer reports.

Concert Ticket Sales Getting Sleazier

From Scott Maxwell, The Orlando Sentinel:

The story of modern-day ticket sales is murky and complicated. 

It involves many moving parts — from ticket scalpers to insider privileges. 

But all of these parts have a common effect: driving up ticket costs. 

But there are those who believe the public deserves better — especially when it comes to venues such as the Amway Center (in Orlando), which was financed with tax dollars. 

"These public facilities are party to all this," said Dean Budnick, who wrote "Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped." "And the public has a right to know how it all works." 

So how does it work? 

Well, in Taylor Swift's case, the hot young country star planned two stops in Orlando — something city officials describe as a coup and proof that building the new, $480 million facility was an investment that paid off. 

But 85 percent of the tickets to the April 12 show were gone before the general public ever got a shot. For the April 11 show, 78 percent of the tickets were gone before the public sale. 

So who got the early offers? 

Well, according to the city, 970 of the Orlando Magic's higher-end season-ticket holders got right of first refusal to the Friday-night show. 

Taylor Swift's management company and the promoter got 3,700 — for everything from gifts to pre-sales for members of Swift's fan club. 

Then there are the "insider" deals: more than 5,700 tickets for holders of certain credit cards, such as American Express, and those on the city's arena-insider email list. 

Really, though, many of these early-access deals are snatched up by professional ticket brokers with sophisticated software systems. They snatch up the tickets and then sell them for higher prices — you can find them now for anywhere from $100 to $1,000 on places such as stubhub.com and ticketsnow.com. It's all perfectly legal in most states, including Florida. 

But it gets even sleazier. Some artists are now cutting themselves in on the scalping action — by "holding back" big blocks specifically for the brokers, who then cut the artists in on the markups.

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What Makes Social-Media Followers Flee?

From Mirna Bard for SmartBlogs.com

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social-media practices and issues. 

Last week’s poll question: What causes you to unfollow an individual or a business on social networks?

• Their over-communication gets overwhelming — 44.81%

• The don’t add value to my day with their irrelevant postings — 36.79%

• They only talk about themselves or act irresponsibly toward their audience — 9.91%

• They are not open to feedback, two-way dialogue or user-generated content — 5.19%

• They under-communicate or may not be active for weeks/months at a time — 3.30% 

We all can see how popular Facebook business pages have become and how quickly businesses on Twitter find followers. Nonetheless, it does it take huge effort and dedication to grow an online community with real staying power. Similar to anything else in business, it is difficult for you to get to the top with social networking, but it is even harder to say there. Thus, the main challenge is not growing followers, but to keep your followers loyal on social networks.

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This post is written by Mirna Bard, a blogger, speaker and consultant. She serves as the social-media chairwoman of the Orange County (Calif.) chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and she teaches social media at the University of California at Irvine.

R.I.P.: Former PA. Radio Owner Bill Brady Was 80

Decorated Marine owned Berwick radio station

William S. "Bill" Brady, 80, formerly of Berwick, died Friday, Jan. 4, 2013, at the Wilkes-Barre V.A. in Pennsylvania.

Brady earned his Master's Degree in Broadcast Journalism in 1959 from Boston University and served in the US Marine Corps during the Korean War.   He was decorated with the Korean Service Medal with a Bronze Star, the Purple Heart Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

Brady had a long career in radio broadcasting. Early in his career he was employed by WABI TV in Bangor, Maine, for two years and then WVEC TV in Norfolk, Va., for 3½ years as an anchorman.

In July 1965, he was employed by KDKA TV Pittsburgh, where he was a producer, assistant news director; and then radio news director for nine years. In 1976, he purchased WBRX radio station in Berwick, (now WBWX 1280-AM which simulcasts WHLM 930-AM in Bloomsburg), until 1985 when he retired and sold the station.

Boston 96.9 FM Format Wheel Lands On Classic Rock

Greater Media's transformation of WTKK 96.9 FM continued Sunday when the Wheel of Formats landed on classic rock.  GM launched 96.9 The Bone… Classic rock that really rocks!

Listen Line, Click Here.

No other developments to note.

The Radio Discussions message board is smokin' with speculation. Click Here.