Report: Unable To Buy, WGN-AM Seeks Alternatives

WGN 720 AM, the only radio station owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., is still among the city's top outlets. But, according to chicagobusiness.com,  it is facing increasingly bleak prospects in a market crowded with digital rivals such as Spotify and broadcast competitors like Cumulus Media Inc., which made a deal this month to operate and eventually purchase two FM stations, doubling its reach in the local market.

WGN Radio President Jimmy de Castro, the veteran industry executive tapped by Tribune to revive the station's ratings and revenue, says he “would love to” buy an FM station with its superior signal quality and was interested in the stations sold to Atlanta-based Cumulus by Merlin Media.

Crain's Chicago Business graphic

 “The value of AM and FM stations will come down in the future, and I believe there will be more stations for sale as time goes on,” he says.

But federal laws limit his options as long as Tribune continues to own the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV.

He's improvising by branding the new website an “FM” outlet and says he's trying to create the Pandora of talk radio, assembling talent from across the country and posting podcasts so people can listen when it's convenient.

Tribune's owners, which include Los Angeles private-equity firm Oaktree Capital Management LP, have latched on to the consolidation trend in the TV broadcast business, paying $2.73 billion last year to buy Local TV Holdings LLC. But they are aiming to spin off or sell Tribune's newspaper division, where circulation and advertising income are sinking.

That could give Mr. de Castro legal leeway to add Chicago radio outlets.

Read More Now

Buffalo Radio: Talk Host's Behavior Raises Concerns

Tom Bauerle

Police responded to a 911 call early Wednesday morning last week at the Williamsville, NY home of WBEN 930 AM talk show host Tom Bauerle, who told officers he was under surveillance by operatives of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

According to buffalonews.com, two police sources, who did not want to be identified because officials have not released reports on the incident, said officers took a licensed, loaded, semi-automatic handgun from Bauerle when they encountered him in his backyard as he claimed a suspicious person was spying on him.

The two sources also said the radio host personally summoned police and then consented to a voluntary psychiatric evaluation later that day at Erie County Medical Center after police contacted Crisis Services about their concerns.

No charges have been filed against Bauerle. He did not return phone calls. WBEN managers have had no comment.  But officers and neighbors told The Buffalo News they have become concerned about Bauerle’s behavior.

Three neighbors said a neighborhood meeting was held recently so that Bauerle could talk about his fears about surveillance around his home, but they described his fears about the surveillance as “quirky” and “made you scratch your head.”

Bauerle’s fears and suspicions about surveillance occur at a time when he has been on the air, criticizing the governor for sponsoring the new gun control laws in New York State and accusing Cuomo of seeking retribution.

Amherst police have been dispatched to Bauerle’s home numerous times in recent weeks, two police sources said. One source counted 13 times since Nov. 18.

Bauerle, 50, was absent from the airwaves on Wednesday and Thursday, when he regularly hosts a talk show from 3 to 7 p.m. But he returned on Friday afternoon and explained his absence stemmed from hitting a “physical wall of exhaustion.”

Read More Now

Phoenix Radio: KYOT Flips To Adult Hits

The Phoenix radio scene continues to be active as CCM+E flips its KYOT EVA 95.5 FM from Rhythmic Oldies to Variety Hits 95.5 The Mountain on Friday.

LISTEN-LINE: Click Here

The move is the third format change in the market in 2014 and fills the format void created when Bonneville's KPKX 98.7 FM dropped the format last week to simulcast the sports format of its cluster-mate KTAR 620 AM.  (See original posting, Click Here).  And on January 1st, Phoenix rimshots KMVA and KEXX merged into a single Hot AC format.. (See Original Posting, Click Here)

"Eva 95.5", which debuts in August 2001, was originally named after Eva Longoria star of ABC's longest running & legendary smash hit TV series Desperate Housewives. Last October 2013 the station shifted to a Rhythmic AC direction by adding current Rhythmic Pop and R&B material to its selection while maintaining a majority of older Rhythmic product.

KYOT 95.5 FM 60dBu Coverage

SC Radio: Freak Accident Silences WSPG In Spartanburg

A freak accident early Saturday morning has left radio tower a broken mess across the building housing WSPG 97.1 FM translator / 1400 AM ESPN Sports knocking the station off-air.

It see two workers hired by a nearby homeowner were removing tree limbs when all or part of a tree landed on a guide wire supporting the tower. The guide wire was pulled from the ground, ripping with it the tower.

The station was expected to be off-air  for at least a few days while damage is assessed and equipment repaired.

WSPG feels fortunate to be surrounded by a wonderful array of engineers, technicians, employees, listeners and clients who all just want to help them  get back on the air. They couldn't offer a timeline.

The station will keep everyone informed via social media and website.

WSPA

Lawmakers Take Step To Overhaul Communications Law

Top Republican lawmakers last week took the first step to update a foundational law regulating Internet, television and telephone communications, according to The Hill.

Reps. Fred Upton (Mich.) and Greg Walden (Ore.), who lead the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its communications and technology subcommittee, respectively, released a white paper outlining flaws that have emerged since the law was last updated more than a decade ago. The paper is the first action in the multi-year effort to revamp the Communications Act.

The 1934 law created and outlined the powers of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but it has not been significantly modernized since 1996.

Updating the law “is critical to ensuring that the communications and technology sectors, the bright spot of our national economy, have laws and regulations that foster continued innovation and job creation,” Upton and Walden said in a joint statement.

The committee’s white paper also criticized the “siloed” nature of the current law, which has different rules for different kinds of communications. This has created a problem with providers that now offer, for example, combined communication services, such as making calls through an Internet connection. That has created “regulatory uncertainty” about the FCC’s authority, legislators said in their review.

Lawmakers are asking the public to comment on the paper and any other issues related to the Communications Act by the end of the month.

Read More Now

Analyst: Diane Sawyer's ABC Newcast 'Disneyfied'

Diane Sawyer’s “World News Tonight” is the least serious evening news broadcast and is “now certifiable Disneyfied,” according to well-known TV news business analyst, Andrew Tyndall.

According to The NY Post, Tyndall has released a scathing review of Sawyer’s broadcast in his 2013 news industry annual report.

“2013 marks the year when ABC World News finally rejected the mission of presenting a serious newscast,” wrote Tyndall, noting that ABC’s broadcast did the least coverage of weighty issues such as the budget debate, health-care roll-out and gun control and instead loaded up on stories about sports and show business.

“The only major stories that ABC covered competitively were true crime — the George Zimmerman trial and Ariel Castro’s Cleveland hell house — and celebrity: London’s baby prince,” Tyndall wrote.

The Mouse House network immediately returned fire and tore into the report.

ABC News is the only one of the three major broadcast news divisions not to pay Tyndall for his minute-by-minute analysis of who’s covering what on the evening news, ABC’s news p.r. chief Jeffrey Schneider said — trying to cast Tyndall’s attack as financially motivated.

In addition, the quality of news broadcasts shouldn’t be judged on how many minutes they dedicate to any single topic, Schneider told The Post.

Tyndall argues that his data shows CBS has the most serious evening news coverage because it covered foreign policy and policy debates in depth.

Read More Now

In a response statement Tyndall stated, "I resent any insinuation that my research findings represent some kind of shakedown: that I would suppress them if only ABC resumed its subscription. Prior to these insinuations, I had no animus towards ABC and would embrace any decision they might make to reverse course and resume serious coverage of the day's news."

Radio Disney Caves To Activists

Radio Disney has withdrawn from an educational program with the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program, citing strong opposition from activists across Ohio and elsewhere, according to ohio.com.

The decision comes after 21 local environmental groups across Ohio signed a letter chiding Radio Disney for supporting the Rocking in Ohio program staged in schools. (See Original Posting, Click Here)

“The sole intent of the collaboration between Radio Disney and the nonprofit Rocking in Ohio educational initiative was to foster kids’ interest in science and technology,” a Radio Disney spokesperson said in an email.

“Having been inadvertently drawn into a debate that has no connection with this goal, Radio Disney has decided to withdraw from the few remaining installments of the program,” the statement said.

Activists said Rocking in Ohio, a 60-minute interactive program presented in schools in eastern Ohio, was inappropriate in pushing shale drilling. A spokeswoman said they were pleased by the Radio Disney decision.

Rocking in Ohio supporters have said the program emphasizes science and technology, not drilling.

In a letter released Thursday, Columbus activist Teresa Mills of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice told Radio Disney that her supporters were “stunned and horrified” that it was aligned with the Granville-based Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program.

It is unfair that Disney would partner with the oil industry to indoctrinate children with “a one-sided, factually unsupported” view of fracking, she wrote.

Read More Now

Glenn Beck Predicts Massive Changes for Talk Radio

Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck on Friday predicted massive changes in talk radio over the coming years, saying that as far as he knows, the titans of the industry have all “had it” with the excuses of the GOP.

According to Beck's website TheBlaze, the fiery segment was a response to a caller on Beck’s radio program Thursday, who said Beck needs to stop “poisoning the well” for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie because conservatives may have to vote for him in 2016.

“Anyone else who feels this way, I want you to listen carefully,” Beck told his audience. “This isn’t the show for you. Let me tell you what we do on this show. We tell the truth as we know it. It’s not our job to make sure the Republicans get elected at just any cost. We will tell you what we truly believe.”

Beck said he believes people like Thursday’s caller will be “absolutely shocked” over the next few years, because he is “not the only one who’s had it with the GOP.”

“Sean Hannity has had it with the GOP,” Beck said. “Mark Levin has had it with the GOP. The biggest, quote, ‘shill of the GOP,’ as they have always liked to say, Rush Limbaugh, has had it with the GOP … So if you’re looking for shills for a political party, you’re probably going to have to shake talk radio.”

CableTV News: Jeff Zucker Blasts Fox News

Jeff Zucker

Jeff Zucker said he was thrilled to be back at the Television Critics Association press tour on Friday afternoon, his first trip to the event since he started his tenure as president of CNN Worldwide.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Zucker addressed recent comments Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes made in The Hollywood Reporter that CNN was "out of the news business." (See original posting, Click Here)

"There is no network covering American news as seriously and substantially as CNN," said Zucker. "I think that criticism is obviously meant to deflect your attention from the book that's in the news this week."

The book, an unauthorized Ailes biography by Gabriel Sherman that Ailes and Fox News did not take part in, had not made its way to Zucker yet -- though he had choice words for its contents.

"[It] confirms what we've known all along," he said. "The Republican Party is being run out of News Corp headquarters masquerading as a cable news channel."

When asked for comment, a rep for Fox News told THR that Zucker's remarks were "nothing more than an attempt to deflect attention from CNN's dismal ratings."

Read More Now

Music Streaming: And The Beats Goes On

Beats Music has announced the new music streaming subscription service officially launches in the US on January 21, 2014. Developed and led by a team of executives that have spent their entire careers in service of music, fans, and artists– Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre, Luke Wood, Trent Reznor, and Ian Rogers- Beats Music brings fans and music lovers an unparalleled personalized and curated listening experience that answers two important questions:

“What should I listen to?” and “what song comes next?”

"Popular music is created in bite size pieces, one song at a time – but most people need more than four minutes to be truly satisfied," said Jimmy Iovine. "It takes a highly curated, uninterrupted sequence of songs to achieve a fulfilling music experience, where the only song as important as the song you are listening to is the song that comes next.”

Jimmy Iovine

At launch, all music fans are invited to a free trial of Beats Music, after which a $9.99/month subscription fee will apply. The service will be available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone as well as via the web beginning January 21st. Fans can stream their music or download to listen offline.

"Beats was created so people could hear the music the way the artists intended, but speakers were just the first step," said Luke Wood, President of Beats Electronics. "Beats Music is the final piece in making that vision a reality."

Beats Music features a vast catalog of more than 20 million fully licensed songs from all the major labels, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, as well as all independent labels– managed and maintained by a team of music experts with hundreds of years of curatorial expertise.

Led by radio programming vet Julie Pilat, the Beats Music genre lead curation team includes:

• Former Pitchfork Media editor-in-chief Scott Plagenhoef
• Former digital content director at XXL Carl Chery
• Veteran Detroit radio music director Suzy Cole
• Recording Academy music blogger Arjan Writes
• Former Rhino Records A&R Director Mason Williams
• Los Angeles hip-hop radio personality Fuzzy Fantabulous
• Country music writer Ken Tucker
• Former Programmer of L.A.’s hugely successful Latino 96.3, Jerry Pullés

Ian Rogers

Beats Music also features a comprehensive collection of editorialized playlists from some of the most well-respected music brands in the world, including Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, DJ Mag, Country Weekly, Hot97/Power 106, among many others.

“Beats Music combines the emotion only a human created playlist can give you with the best personalization technology can deliver, ” said Ian Rogers, Beats Music CEO. “With this you get not just the music experience only a talented DJ or music expert can deliver, but also the right one for you right now."

TWC Launches DIRECT-TV Campaign

The Weather Channel has launched a nationwide campaign to alert DIRECTV customers that they are at risk of losing access to its critical weather programming, and asking them to contact Congress about this public safety issue.

The Weather Channel and DIRECTV are involved in negotiations to renew The Weather Channel’s carriage agreement, but to date an agreement has not been reached. If an agreement is not reached by Tuesday, January 14 at 12:01 a.m. ET, DIRECTV viewers will lose access to national and hyperlocal weather information that The Weather Channel provides to consumers and communities across the country.

“For DIRECTV to take us off their lineup would be deeply irresponsible to its customers who not only count on The Weather Channel on a day-to-day basis, but depend on us before, during and after severe weather events. As the most trusted source of weather news and information in America, The Weather Channel is there when it matters most. If we are not available to DIRECTV’s 20 million viewers, they will miss the accurate and life-saving information we have been providing for more than 30 years,” said David Kenny, chairman and CEO of The Weather Company, parent company of The Weather Channel. “We have offered the industry’s best rate for our programming and are committed to reaching an agreement.”

Sam Champion

The Weather Channel will begin asking DIRECTV viewers and all Weather Channel supporters to call their Representative and Senators in Washington and ask them to help keep this critical public safety resource in the DIRECTV lineup. Given the increasing frequency and severity of weather-related emergencies across the country, access to timely and accurate weather information is imperative for public safety and, therefore, an issue meriting Congressional attention.

The LA Times reports the two sides are divided over financial terms. The Weather Channel, which is increasing its spending on weather-related programming and recently hired "Good Morning America" weatherman Sam Champion to host a new morning show, is looking to boost the fees it gets from pay-TV distributors.

According to SNL Kagan, an industry consulting and research firm, the Weather Channel charges distributors an an average of about 13 cents per subscriber per month. That pales in comparison to general entertainment networks such as USA and TNT and sports channels like ESPN that charge from 60 cents up to $5 per subscriber per month.

However, the audience for the Weather Channel is also on average much smaller than those networks, which is why DirecTV is balking.

DC Radio: Tommy McFly Lunches With The POTUS

President Barack Obama listens as he has lunch with five young people at The Coupe restaurant in the Columbia Heights section of Washington, Friday. The five are spearheading creative outreach efforts to connect with and help enroll young consumers through the Marketplaces or are interested in getting more involved with these efforts.  On the right is Tommy McFly, morning host at CBS Radio's WIAD 94.7 Fresh FM. (AP Photo)

McFLY TALK ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE: Click Here.

January 13 In Radio History

In 1905..."Scientific America" published an advertisement for the "Telimco", a device guaranteed to received signals for as far as one mile. It cost $8.50.

In 1910...the first opera was broadcast on Radio, courtesy of the New York Metropolitan Opera.

In 1922...WHA 970 AM in Madison, Wisconsin began broadcasting.


In 1962..."The Twist" by Chubby Checker hit Number 1 again, over a year after it first reached the top spot on the charts. The only other song ever to do that was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."

In 1980...Orchestra leader/arranger Andre Kostelanetz, whose radio program was one of America's most popular from the 1930s to the 1950s, died at the age of 78.

January 12 In Radio History

In 1926..."Sam 'n' Henry" began a two-year stay on Chicago's WGN Radio. The show's creators, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, quit the show and WGN when the station rejected a proposed syndication deal for the series. Since contractually their characters belonged to WGN, they changed the title and reworked the premise in 1928 to create the long running "Amos 'n' Andy" show, orginally broadcast from WMAQ in Chicago.

In 1951...Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Limabugh is the most popular and most listened to conservative Radio host in the United States.

In 1954...Howard Stern was born in Roosevelt, New York.



In 1956...At the KHJ Studios in Hollywood, Frank Sinatra recorded "I've Got You Under My Skin." He first sang this song in 1946 but he didn't actually record it until 1956 where it became a big hit for him.

In 1959...Berry Gordy, Jr. borrowed $800 from his family and rented an eight-room house in Detroit at 2648 W. Grand Boulevard, which became Hitsville U.S.A., the home of his Motown Records and its subsidiary labels. His first release, "Come To Me" by Marv Johnson on the Tamla label, came nine days later.

In 1963...In London, Bob Dylan recorded the BBC Radio play "Madhouse on Castle Street," featuring his first recorded version of "Blowin' In The Wind" and his only recording of the original "Swan on the River."

In 2003...Bee Gees member Maurice Gibb died of a congenital bowel condition that he was unaware he had. He was 53