Larry King Prepares to Sign Off

Famous people liked talking to Larry King, and for many of them, there was one reason: His program was the place to go for unhurried, agendaless conversation.

“I consider Larry one of a kind, absolutely one of a kind,” said Ross Perot, one of the many subjects from politics whom Mr. King has interviewed during his 25 years on CNN. Unlike other television hosts, Mr. Perot said, “who will interrupt you if you’re not saying what they want you to say,” Mr. King will “let you finish what you’re saying.”

Bill Carter and Brian Stetler at nytimes.com write:

After about 50,000 interviews — between his radio career and his stint on television — Mr. King will end his run as the 9 p.m. fixture on CNN this week, and perhaps take with him the hourlong conversational form of interview on cable news television. It’s not certain how his replacement, Piers Morgan, will lead his program, but some change from the King format is likely.

Though he professed no regrets, Mr. King did point to what he identified as “the saddest part” of leaving the nightly interview arena, where programs that have hurt CNN and Mr. King in the ratings are led by hosts advocating a political point of view.

“If you look at media now,” he said in a telephone interview, “all the hosts of these other shows are interviewing themselves. The guests are a prop for the hosts on these cable networks. The guest to me was always paramount.”

As he leaves this week, many of those guests are returning for a last ride in the chair: Naomi and Wynonna Judd on Tuesday, Barbra Streisand on Wednesday and a host of old favorites on Thursday’s finale.

Read more here.

Nielsen Pulls Plug on Radio Ratings

Arbitron can rest a little easier today, with the surprise announcement from Nielsen Co. that it is shutting down its radio ratings service, according to mediapost.com.

The diary-based ratings, which used stickers in place of handwritten entries, had been available in 51 mid-sized radio markets, where they competed with Arbitron's long-established diary ratings.

The statement from Nielsen reads:

"The Nielsen Company has decided to end its measurement of radio in the United States, as of the Fall 2010 period. Back data and limited access to Radio Advisor software will continue to be available for use by Nielsen clients, as required."

Neilsen began radio ratings in 2008.

These clients include Cumulus and Clear Channel Radio, which both supported the new Nielsen service as an alternative to Arbitron's de facto monopoly.

The decision does not impact Nielsen's international radio measurement, which serves 11 countries.

Nielsen's departure solidifies Arbitron's dominance in the marketplace -- a position that it has struggled to maintain over the last few years in the face of competition. It has also endured criticism from clients over the pricing and accuracy of both its diary service and ratings generated by the Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device.

Read more here.

Facebook Wrestles With Free Speech and Civility

NY Times photo

Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, likes to say that his Web site brings people together, helping to make the world a better place.

But Facebook isn’t a utopia, and when it comes up short, Dave Willner tries to clean up, according to Miquel Helft at nytimes.com.

Dressed in Facebook’s quasi-official uniform of jeans, a T-shirt and flip-flops, the 26-year-old Mr. Willner hardly looks like a cop on the beat. Yet he and his colleagues on Facebook’s “hate and harassment team” are part of a virtual police squad charged with taking down content that is illegal or violates Facebook’s terms of service. That puts them on the front line of the debate over free speech on the Internet.

That role came into sharp focus last week as the controversy about WikiLeaks boiled over on the Web, with coordinated attacks on major corporate and government sites perceived to be hostile to that group.

Facebook took down a page used by WikiLeaks supporters to organize hacking attacks on the sites of such companies, including PayPal and MasterCard; it said the page violated the terms of service, which prohibit material that is hateful, threatening, pornographic or incites violence or illegal acts. But it did not remove WikiLeaks’s own Facebook pages.

Facebook’s decision in the WikiLeaks matter illustrates the complexities that the company grapples with, on issues as diverse as that controversy, verbal bullying among teenagers, gay-baiting and religious intolerance.

With Facebook’s prominence on the Web — its more than 500 million members upload more than one billion pieces of content a day — the site’s role as an arbiter of free speech is likely to become even more pronounced.

Read more here.

Opinion: WCBS-FM Now Has 'No Style"

So Says Former Music Director

101.1 WCBS-FM has been a ratings juggernaut month after month in the Arbitron PPM survey. There’s no disputing that. The station, since leaving the bad taste from the ill-fated jockless “Jack” format in 2007, has held consistently at number two. Even twice, CBS-FM has reached the top position in the city.
However, what is up for debate is how CBS-FM compares to the original CBS-FM, heard from 1972 to 2005.

Richard Lorenzo (center) was former music director at the Oldies station. FishbowlNY caught up with him recently at the CBS reunion luncheon.

“There’s no style to it anymore,” Lorenzo admits.

CBS-FM had two ingredients that worked for its avid listeners—the music and the jocks. Throughout the years, the DJs showing off their personalities went hand and hand with the format.

“The ones [jocks] then weren’t necessarily more intelligent, but they were more enjoyable because they were into the craft more deeply,” Lorenzo says.

Some of New York’s most legendary Top 40 jocks had stints at CBS-FM, among them former WABC-AM colleagues Harry Harrison, Dan Ingram, and Ron Lundy.

Today, only midday jock Bob Shannon remains a link to the station’s glorious Oldies past. (Dan Taylor was with CBS-FM in the “pre-Jack” era, but primarily as morning show fill-in.)

Lorenzo, while pointing out certain differences between the station then and now, doesn’t consider himself a CBS-FM purist.

“Back in the day of CBS-FM, my day, which is a long time ago, we made sure it was listenable and enjoyable,” Lorenzo says. “And more important than that, we made sure it was topical and sensitive to the times.”

As an example, Lorenzo said this past Sunday the station would have commemorated Frank Sinatra and Connie Francis’ birthdays with a special feature. He says they would “really delve deeply into the subject matter” with the hourly Rock and Rock Hall of Fame.

“Now they only skim the cream,” Lorenzo admits. “And maybe that’s what you need to do when you have 50 radio stations.”

One change at CBS-FM Lorenzo is not critical of—adjusting the playlist as listeners age.

Read more here.

Tom's Take:  Lorenzo is entitled to his opinion and obviously he offers a uniqure perspective; however, the competitive envinronment has changed from the '80s to today.  The bottomline is the ratings and it is apparent listeners (the customers) believe WCBS-FM has plenty of style.

NPR Promotes 'Revolutionary Nutcracker' Ballet

From Tim Graham at Newsbusters.com:

That taxpayer-funded leftist sandbox called National Public Radio promoted the latest work/wreck of “progressive art” on Saturday morning's Weekend Edition. In San Francisco, they're twisting the classic ballet The Nutcracker into a radical-left jeremiad. Anchor Scott Simon announced nonchalantly: "'Tis the season for The Nutcracker. One production in San Francisco is decorated with a grab-bag of liberal political causes. In the Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie, the ice caps melt during the Dance of the Snowflakes and Clara is an undocumented Latina maid."

Liberal reporters think liberals aren't at all noteworthy so they get no label. When the media elite announces something has "liberal causes," it's extremely leftist. Reporter April Dembosky interviewed the show's writer and director, Krissy Keefer, without mentioning she ran for Congress against Nancy Pelosi from the far left, demanding the impeachment of Bush in 2006:

KEEFER: We are a political dance company in that we try to make work that is socially relevant, that is responding to the real ideas and real needs of people today in the community.

DEMBOSKY: It all starts on the night of the big party at the home of the richest family in town -- the McGreeds. Guests mingle around the red velvet couch and chair; four "Swan Lake" ballerinas arrive in tutus, then aerobics teachers in workout gear, and ninjas from "The Matrix." There is a narrator who stands under chilly twinkle lights reciting the guest list.

Read more here.

Listen to the NPR broadcast story:

Does UF Hate Cam Newton?

From Matt Murschel, College Insider, Orlando Sentinel:

Florida hates Cam Newton.

Reuters photo

At least that's how it appears when the school 'Kanye Wested' the Heisman Trophy ceremony Saturday night by announcing the hiring of Will Muschamp.

You can almost see Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley racing up to the podium at the Best Buy Theater in New York City and making the announcement in front of a surprised Newton.

You have to admit that the timing of the announcement was a bit . . . peculiar.

While the Internet should have been abuzz about the Auburn quarterback and his Heisman Trophy win, instead more characters were used to talk about Muschamp's hiring.

Who announces a head coaching hire on a Saturday night?

It doesn't take too big of a conspiracy theorist to figure out that something funny is going on.

All conspiracy's that have a life of their own.

Let's take a look at the facts:

When Auburn began showing its dominance, reports begin to appear that Newton's father, Cecil, and a former Mississippi State football player were involved in a pay-for-play scandal.

In the middle of the accusations, Foxsports.com reported that Cam Newton had faced possible expulsion from the University of Florida for academic cheating. He reportedly was caught cheating three times during his two years in Gainesville.

Academic records are protected by law and suppose to be private but somehow this information made it into the hands of the media two years later, while Auburn was enjoying one of its best season's ever.

Fast forward to Wednesday, when Urban Meyer announced his decision to retire for a second time from Florida. The announcement came in the early afternoon, on the same day that some of college football's best athletes, including Newton, were making their way to Central Florida to prepare to meet the media for the Home Depot College Football Awards banquet.

Newton skipped talking with the media but Urban's retirement dominated headlines for several days afterwards.

Obviously, school make coaching announcements all the time but most orchestrate it to get the maximum exposure for the program. Sometimes though, it never works out that way.

Read more here.

Leaving Metrodome Cameras On Pays Off

Before leaving its routine NFL game setup at Minneapolis' Metrodome Saturday, the Fox Sports crew did something different: It left a camera on to continuously shoot the roof.

"It was already leaking," NFL lead game producer Richie Zyontz told Michael Hiestand at usatoday.com Sunday. "But we heard that's happened here before. They were heating up the dome to furnace levels to melt the snow."

But Zyontz said Fox videotape operator Randy Carr heard from a Metrodome staffer "this was a real problem." With a camera and mikes left on overnight, Zyontz says, "We knew what we were looking for. This was specifically for that roof collapsing."

Which it did early Sunday morning, causing the New York Giants-Minnesota Vikings game — which was supposed to go to 49% of the USA as Fox's most widely distributed game Sunday — to be moved to Monday (7:20 p.m. ET).

Read more here.

Analysing Data Is The Future For Journalists

Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the world wide web, says reporters should be hunting for stories in datasets

Guardian photo

Sir Tim Berners-Lee reckons he's glimpsed the future of journalism – and given he's the person who invented the world wide web, you might not want to bet against him.

According to a story by Charles Arthur in The Guardian, in Berners-Lee's view, it lies with journalists who know their CSV from their RDF, can throw together some quick MySQL queries for a PHP or Python output … and discover the story lurking in datasets released by governments, local authorities, agencies, or any combination of them – even across national borders.

That's because he thinks the future lies in analysing data. Lots of data. Speaking on Friday he was asked who will analyse them once the geeks have moved on. What's the point? Who's really going to hold government, or anyone else, accountable?

"The responsibility needs to be with the press," Berners-Lee responded firmly. "Journalists need to be data-savvy. It used to be that you would get stories by chatting to people in bars, and it still might be that you'll do it that way some times.

"But now it's also going to be about poring over data and equipping yourself with the tools to analyse it and picking out what's interesting. And keeping it in perspective, helping people out by really seeing where it all fits together, and what's going on in the country."

If that sounds like a daunting prospect, then it's worth considering that hardly any of the journalism courses today teach any sort of data analysis – not even its simplest form, statistics.

Read more here.

Grand Rapids' WOOD-AM Picking Up FM

Clear Channel West Michigan is shaking up its programming in the area by moving stations around the radio dial.

WMUS "The Moose," the Muskegon-based country station, is switching from 106.9 FM to 107.9 FM. From next week to early January, the station's signal will be heard on both frequencies.

According to a story at wzzm13.com, the adult contemporary music formerly heard on Muskegon's Star 108 (WSHZ) will now be heard on Star 105.7 WSRW in Grand Rapids.

Beginning in early January, the news-talk programming heard on 1300 WOOD-AM will be simulcast on 106.9 FM. WOOD's morning hosts Gary Allen and Steve Kelly have signed new contracts to continue their show for the next two years, according to Tim Feagan, market manager for Clear Channel West Michigan.

"There were a lot of areas in West Michigan that couldn't hear news-talk, weather, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dave Ramsey and the lineup that we put together," says Feagan. "This will let us have a larger platform of distribution for news on the radio throughout West Michigan.

Read more here.

Prank Radio Calls Make It To TV

Prank calls have been a cornerstone of "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show" on 100.3 FM Z100 for about a decade, and now they're moving up. Monday night, the calls will make their television debut.

According to Richard Huff at nydailynews.com, Spike TV will air "Phowned," a half-hour show built around the radio program's take on phone pranks. It will be shown at 7 and 11 p.m. Its a five night test.

"For years, people would say, 'How come you don't put this on TV?'" Duran says.

They weren't on TV because no video existed, he says, and because getting the calls done is hard enough to do in the first place.

Morning-show prank calls are set up by friends and families of unsuspecting victims.

In one call, for example, a 52-year-old woman who is about to get married is offered a great deal on a reception hall. Then, in a second call, she is told the hall can't honor the price, and blows her stack when she is told she's probably too old to get married anyway.

Duran's group persisted in trying to bring the feature to television. It hooked up with Atlas Media, a production company, and they found a way to film it by setting up prank calls in homes where video cameras had been hidden.

Read more here.

Tom's Take:  Since the FCC frowns on fake phoners to unsuspecting listeners, one would wonder how Duran gets aaway with it. Just guessing but I suspect Duran gets releases signed before airing and the help of family and friends probably removes the sting.  Still, you gotta believe Clear Channel's legal eagles have all I's dotted and T's crossed.

Talker Yanks Sinatra

Philly's WPHT yanks Frank from Friday

Sid Mark, who's been ring-a-ding-dinging the sounds of Frank Sinatra for 55 years, has learned that 1210 AM WPHT will eliminate his Friday radio program.

According to Michael Klein a columnist at philly.com writes, Sunday With Sinatra - Mark's five-hour marquee show (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.) - is not going anywhere, he's been told. He expects to inform his audience Sunday morning about the imminent change.

WPHT (the Big Talker) is retooling its lineup over New Year's, moving morning talker Michael Smerconish to 3 to 7 p.m. and eliminating the syndicated talk shows of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity (who have not yet found new Philadelphia stations).

WPHT has not announced who will follow Smerconish at 7.

Friday nights were a challenge from spring till fall, when Phillies games affected Mark's 6-to-9 p.m. time slot. For a spell several years ago, Friday night Phillies games were carried on 610 AM WIP, lest they bump Sidney.

That a Sinatra show exists on a talk station is testament to the appeal and passion of Mark, who joined WPHT one month after the death of his longtime station, WWDB, in 2000. WWDB had briefly shifted the Friday show to Saturdays.

Mark's Sinatra affiliation began in November 1955 when the overnight rock-and-roll DJ on 1340 AM WHAT failed to show up for work and Mark, a jazz spinner, solicited requests because he had no playlist. From 2 to 3 a.m., Mark played Sinatra, and all station owner Dolly Banks had to hear was that the phones had lit up.

Read more here.

Fishing For Listeners

WBUR’s new ad campaign is a rarity for public radio

In a series of new TV ads, Bostonians are featured in a montage of scenes at local places from Out of Town News to J.P. Licks. Laced throughout the spots are phrases such as “UR smarter than they think’’ and “UR taking it all in.’’

Johnny Diaz in a story at boston.com explains the “UR’’ refers to listeners of 90.9 WBUR-FM, and the ads are part of the Boston National Public Radio affiliate’s new marketing campaign aimed at differentiating itself at a time when it faces fierce competition from 89.7 FM WGBH, another NPR broadcaster. Analysts say the aggressive advertising campaign, which includes TV ads and billboards along Interstate 93 and the Massachusetts Turnpike, is a rarity for public radio.

“Another competitor going directly after the same audience they have makes it all the more important for them to go out there and market themselves,’’ said Scott Fybush, a radio industry analyst. “Public stations are becoming more savvy about their marketing.’’

Corey Lewis, WBUR’s station manager, said the campaign is designed to identify how the station augments and supplements NPR programming, but he acknowledged that it also has to do with the growing competition from WGBH. “That certainly is part of it,’’ said Lewis, who added that the print ads will launch this month.

Indeed, the two public broadcasters have been engaged in a battle — for listeners and donors — since last December when WGBH reinvented 89.7 FM to a full-time, news-talk format and began running syndicated NPR programs that WBUR carries. WGBH also launched two news-talk shows: “The Emily Rooney Show’’ and “The Callie Crossley Show.’’ In response, WBUR expanded its weekly local news magazine show, “Radio Boston,’’ to a daily program last May.

WBUR still leads in Boston public radio. In November, the station ranked 11th in Boston with a 3.9 percent share of listeners, according to Arbitron. But WGBH is expanding its share of the market: The station ranked 20th last month with a 1.1 percent share of listeners — up from 24th in October. Last month, WBUR drew a weekly audience of 455,400 listeners to its daytime programming, while WGBH attracted 258,900 listeners.

Read more here.

Charlie Boone To Sign Off At WCCO

Charlie Boone, a staple at 830 AM WCCO radio (Minneapolis) for more than 50 years, announced his retirement Friday.

According to startribune.com, Boone and former broadcasting partner Roger Erickson -- once one of the most powerful teams in Twin Cities media -- will reunite for his last show on Dec. 18.

Boone and Erickson ended their program in 1998 but he continued to work the 6-9 a.m. Saturday shift.

"These almost 52 years have been a gift," Boone said. "I will always love 'CCO."

Read more here.

Also read here:

Radio's Neil Rogers suffering from dementia (Miami Herald)

Sue Hall: Home is where the microphone is (Ben Fong-Torres SF Chronicle)

Did Tim Tebow Break News Of UF Hiring?

The former UF quarterback welcomed Muschamp to the Gator family on Twitter, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

As news of Florida's hiring of Will Muschamp began trickling out, many people began to credit Tim Tebow for "breaking" the story.

Tebow, the former UF quarterback now playing in Denver, welcomed Muschamp to Florida on his Twitter account before most had heard the news.

"Welcome to the Gator family Coach Muschamp! You'll soon find out why it's great to be a Florida Gator! God bless and Go Gators!!!," the tweet said.

Further speculation was driven by the fact that Tebow and Muschamp share the same agent, Jimmy Sexton.
Our own research shows the Twitter account for the website SaturdayDownSouth.com was actually the first to post on the Muschamp hiring.

Their tweet by user "SatDownSouth" said, "Source says Will Muschamp will be announced #Gators head coach tonight at 9pm on # ESPN."

It was around an hour before Tebow's.

Still, for most of Gator Nation, the first word they received of Muschamp's hiring was from Tim Tebow.

Read more here.

Check-in Services Boast Coveted Demographics

Foursquare now boasts 5 million users with 25,000 newcomers signing up every day. But, writes Austin Carr at fastcompany.com, that massive growth isn't the only reason the company turned down a $140 million offer (likely from Yahoo), as revealed this week. The demographics of its users may be far more valuable in the long run.

According to a report released Friday by Forrester Research, location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla are attracting some top clientele. Location-based app users are far younger and more affluent than the average online user. Around 86% of those checking in are under the age of 43. More than 70% of users have earned a college degree or higher. And most impressively, the average annual income stands at $105,000--at least 30% more than the average Netizen.

Read more here.

Comedy Central Unveils Ironic New Logo

The kibitzers have spoken: Comedy Central’s new logo?: Not funny. Or maybe they just don’t get the joke, according to fastcompany.com.

The network unveiled a dramatic new look yesterday set to launch officially in January -- a “C” tucked inside an upside-down “C” that bears a striking resemblance to the copyright symbol, and seems simple, straight-laced, and otherwise everything that Comedy Central’s old logo was not. Faster than Colbert can raise a thumb, commenters on sites including the HuffPo, New York, and the brand-design blog UnderConsideration, started wailing: “Borrrring!”

The new logo is simple because it needs to be able to travel across the vast spectrum of new media, from iPads to TVs. You can shrink it down, blow it up, make it dance -- whatever.

One of the chief complaints about the new logo is that it’s too corporate and looks exactly like the copyright symbol.

Read more here.

The Sunday Funny

Traveling over the holidays?   Get ready!


Americans appear slightly more likely to travel this holiday season than they were a year ago.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 17% of Adults say they are planning to travel away from home during the holiday season, up from 14% last year at this time. Seventy-eight percent (78%) have no travel plans, comparable to findings in December 2008. (To see survey question wording, click here.)