R.I.P.: CBS Radio Seattle Engineer Arne Skoog

Arne Skoog

The CBS Radio cluster in Seattle lost a colleague on Monday with the passing of long-time engineer Arne Skoog.

He died from colon cancer.

Cluster station KZOK 102.5 FM paid tribute with a postings on its website saying “Arne was a good soul and a pleasure to be around”. 

Chief engineer Tom McGinley arrived in Seattle 13 years ago and worked side-by-side with Arne ever since. Tom said of Arne, “He could fix almost anything — and best of all, he was so gentle and kind to everyone, always willing to help in any way he could …. He will be missed beyond words.” 

At radio stations — or any type of broadcast company, engineers can sometimes carry a reputation of being high-strung and impatient with co-workers who don’t completely understand how things operate. This was never the case with Arne. He was always willing to help with issues, explain why things were acting a certain way and never questioned why you were asking a favor of him.

iHeartRadio Embraces Talk

Clear Channel's iHeartRadio is now trying to gain new listeners by embracing talk.

According to adage.com, iHeartRadio Talk is offering listeners thousands of "audiosodes" from The Huffington Post, Mashable, Ryan Seacrest, Wall Street Journal and Univision as well as ABC shows including "Good Morning America," "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "The View." The service will also include "Daily Pulse," a customizable talk channel.

Like its custom music stations, which were introduced in 2011, the talk service will let users indicate their preferences as tracks automatically play by hitting a "thumbs up" button or "thumbs down" to skip to something else. Unlike with music, however, talk listeners will be able to rewind and won't face limits on the tracks they skip.

Talk radio is still a big part of terrestrial radio's appeal, making up 16% of all listening on Clear Channel stations, according to the company. Spoken word formats have an 11.4% share of the overall radio marketplace, according to Arbitron's 2013 "Radio Today" report.

Talk radio listeners are a loyal group that think of hosts as friends, said Brian Lakamp, president of digital, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.

"It's a terrific environment for advertisers," added John Hogan, chairman and CEO of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. "Product can be weaved into a show, making it less like a commercial, and more like testimonials from hosts they trust." added John Hogan, chairman and CEO of Clear Channel.

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Pittsburgh Radio: FCC’s Ajit Pai Visits KDKA

But its not an inspection visit.

Instead, the nation’s first commercially-license radio station is hosting the visit.  

The station is presenting its 92-year-old heritage to the commissioner.  And since they knew he was coming, they baked a cake too!

Pai will also participate in a radio roundtable at the 50kw blowtorch comprised of owners, programming and engineering executives.

The execs will be from both large and small market stations in and around the Pittsburgh area, according to Michael Young, senior vice president and Pittsburgh market manager for CBS Radio.

SiriusXM, Greenstein Extend Deal

Scott Greenstein

On Monday, SiriuxXM entered into a new employment agreement with Scott Greenstein, president and chief content officer at the company. According to THR, the deal extends his service to the company until at least 2016.

As part of the agreement, Greenstein will continue to earn $1.25 million in base salary.

He'll also be given the opportunity to earn up to $1.88 million in additional bonus money.

Greenstein is also being given $6.5 million in stock options as well as $1 million in restricted stock.

What's different about the latest employment contract, according to a security filing by Sirius XM, is that Greenstein's employment contract "no longer provides for a so-called golden parachute excise tax gross up."

About 30 years ago, Congress put a 20 percent tax on certain golden parachute benefits. To make things more favorable to corporate executives, many companies attempted to insulate their leaders from potentially having to lose any money in taxes. The benefit has recently been subject to scrutiny from shareholders and others.

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WCCO Radio Interviews Twitter Sensation ‘Cubicle Guy’

If you didn’t notice the older man poking his head out of a cubicle — and even waving to cameras — in the background of the Anthony Weiner press conference on Tuesday, the internet did.

The man dubbed “cubicle guy” on Twitter is Jeff McKinney, who was a long-time reporter and anchor for WCCO Radio. Now he works as a reporter at WOR in New York City.

Adam Carter, of WCCO Radio, interviewed McKinney on his accidental stealing of the press conference spotlight.

LISTEN HERE.

Report: How Radio Gets A Handle On The Hits

Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” may be exactly that at the moment, but what if top 40 had a crystal ball to predict which Dragons track was next to breathe fire at the format?

For many PDs, reports Billboard, that crystal ball already exists in the form of such research as SoundOut, HitPredictor, RateTheMusic and Mscore. Some of that research predicts that Imagine Dragons’ “Demons”—which is already a factor at alternative and adult top 40—has what it takes to impact  mainstream. “Demons” is already playing on CBS Radio’s “Tomorrow’s Hits Today,” the Radio.com station based on SoundOut’s research of music consumers.

CBS Radio VP of research and audience measurement Gary Heller notes, “It wasn’t long ago when all radio had was callout, requests, sales and gut to help determine a song’s potential.” How things have changed.

While using callout research to test music has been around for half a century, the introduction of RateTheMusic nearly 10 years ago moved the process online and keyed in on super-active database members in order to get a read on songs well before what would normally be seen in callout, and sometimes before release. 

According to Mediabase/­Clear Channel executive VP of integrated music marketing worldwide Alyssa Pollack, who oversees the service used by 200 stations, “Rate­TheMusic is usually four to six weeks ahead of the curve. If PDs want to know what songs work with women 25-34 listening in afternoon drive, we can get that deep.”

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New York Is Pirate Radio Central

There are dozens if not hundreds of illegal radio stations operating without a government license in the state, according to theverge.com. They’re especially easy to find in New York City, where licensed stations often complain that bootleggers are hijacking their frequencies.

Twist the dial in Brooklyn and you’ll hear reggae, dance hall, and the news from St. Thomas coming in over the airwaves, broken up by commercials for barbeque at Frankie’s. Occasionally, you’ll pick up a signal on your cell phone and hear DJs bantering faintly in Spanish or Yiddish in the background.

But lately in Brooklyn, the underground airwaves have been much quieter than usual. Earlier this month, The Fire Station 104.7, a prominent Caribbean pirate radio station, was shut down after its owners inadvertently sold a $500 ad to undercover police. The police arrested Solomon Malka, the owner, and DJ Fresh Kid, whose real name is Seon Bruce. The pair face up to a year in jail.

In the past, getting busted meant pirate station owners merely had to pay a fine. Frequently, the same station would pop right back up again, which is partly why New York has more Federal Communications Commission enforcement actions than any other state. But in 2011, New York passed a law that made unlicensed broadcasting a class A misdemeanor.

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Chris Brown To Be Booked On Hit&Run Charge

Two charges against Chris Brown were dropped Tuesday, but the singer is still accused of hit and run after a minor traffic crash.

CNN Reports Brown's lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and a judge ordered him to show up at a sheriff's station within a week to be officially booked on the charge, according to a court spokesman.

The prosecutor dismissed charges of driving without a license and driving without proof of insurance during a hearing Tuesday in a Van Nuys, California, court.

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Houston Radio: KPRC’s Outlaw Dave Sued By Investor

Popular Houston radio personality and bar owner "Outlaw" Dave Andrews has been sued by an investor in Andrews's Outlaw Dave's Worldwide Headquarters for allegedly using a $360,000 loan to "promote his personal broadcasting career" instead of paying bills and other operating costs.

According to houstonpress.com, the suit, filed in Harris County District Court by James Walker, also accuses the KPRC 950AM (5p to 7p) radio host of using "or knowingly allow[ing] others to use illegal drugs on the bar premise[s]." The suit also names Andrews's business partner, Duane Bradley, as a defendant.

Walker's attorney, David Pace, declined further comment. Andrews also declined to comment, stating only that the lawsuit was merely an "investor disagreement" and that his attorney expects to file a response by the end of the week.

According to the suit, Walker received a 20 percent ownership interest in ODWWHQ, LLC, which operates Outlaw Dave's Worldwide Headquarters on Washington Avenue, in exchange for covering the bar's lease, property taxes, alcohol permits and utilities. But after he put more than $360,000 into the company, Walker alleges, the duo shut him out of "significant decisions affecting operations" and withheld financial records.

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Vegas Radio: Homegrown Show Observes 15 Years

Bands come and go, but “The Homegrown Show,” a weekly local music showcase on rock KOMP 92.3 FM, remains.

According to lasvegassun.com, the Sunday night two-hour radio show, which celebrates 15 years on the air this month, has featured more than 1,000 bands from Las Vegas and surrounding areas.

“I didn’t have a strategy to get this far,” jokes show founder and host Laurie Steele, who moved to Las Vegas from Southern California in 1996 for a job with KKLZ. Taking an interest in the local rock music scene, she pitched a local music show to the station; they didn’t bite, but KOMP did and welcomed “The Homegrown Show” with open arms.

Originally airing for just an hour, the program soon expanded to an hour and a half and for the past 10 years has been running as a two-hour show that includes band interviews and in-studio performances, as well as live showcases Steele hosts periodically in town.

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Gainesville Radio: Talk of The Town Goes Silent

Ward Scott

Talk of the Town went off the Internet on Friday after a campaign to secure $5,000 in monthly commitments for equipment and production salaries came up short.

The show raised about half of the money, former co-host Ward Scott told The Gainesville Sun.

“The money we would raise would only prolong the end of the show,” he said. “Why not face the inevitable sooner than later?”

The show originally aired on WBXY 99.5 FM with founders Ed Braddy and Jake Fuller. It was bumped by electronic dance music under new management.

The show transferred online to AlachuaTalks.com and through Apple and Android mobile apps with the help of Ozean Media, a political consulting media company.

It announced its “Save Talk of the Town” campaign in early July to keep the show running from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.

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Study: More Latinos Get Their News in English

Fewer Getting News From Radio

The language of news media consumption is changing for Hispanics: a growing share of Latino adults are consuming news in English from television, print, radio and internet outlets, and a declining share are doing so in Spanish, according to survey findings from the Pew Research Center.

In 2012, 82% of Hispanic adults said they got at least some of their news in English, up from 78% who said the same in 2006. By contrast, the share who get at least some of their news in Spanish has declined, to 68% in 2012 from 78% in 2006.

Half (50%) of Latino adults say they get their news in both languages, down from 57% in 2010.

The rise in use of English news sources has been driven by an increase in the share of Hispanics who say they get their news exclusively in English. According to the survey, one-third (32%) of Hispanic adults in 2012 did this, up from 22% in 2006. By contrast, the share of Hispanic adults who get their news exclusively in Spanish has decreased to 18% in 2012 from 22% in 2006.

Television is the most popular platform for news, but internet is on the rise

Fully 86% of Latino adults say that on a typical weekday they get their news from television. That is down slightly from 92% who said the same in 2006 but is higher than the share of Latinos who get their news from radio (56%), the internet (56%) or print newspapers (42%).

Use of internet news media has grown among Latino adults. Today more than half (56%) say they consume news media on a typical weekday from the internet, up from 37% in 2006.

Radio news media and print newspapers have seen the biggest declines in use among Latino adults. Use of radio is down from 64% in 2006 to 56% in 2012. Use of print newspapers is down even more sharply, from 58% in 2006 to 42% in 2012.

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