We Don't Watch Most TV Channels We Get

How many TV channels do you get, and how many would you say you actually watch?

New research finds you're probably not watching many. Nielsen reports that the average household TV receives 189 channels, but only tunes into 17 or 18 of them.

Researchers say that the total number of channels has increased by more than 50 in the last five years, but the number of channels the average viewer watches has remained the same the whole time.

One researcher says, "The data is significant in that it substantiates the notion that more content does not necessarily equate to more channel consumption, and that means quality is imperative-- for both content creators and advertisers. So the best way to reach consumers in a world with myriad options is to be the best option."

DC Radio: MLB Nats Manager Rear-Ended On-Air

Matt Williams

MLB Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams was rear-ended by a vehicle attempting to flee Metropolitan Police Wednesday morning.

The Nationals' first-year skipper narrated it all to sports talk radio station, WJFK 106.7 FM The Fan, during a morning show segment with the Sports Junkies.

Williams was on his way to the stadium and doing a live radio interview, when the talk quickly switched from baseball.

"Sorry guys, I just had an accident," he said. “I just got rear-ended by a guy in a car...I'm good."

For the next two minutes, the Nats manager provided a play-by-play of a police chase that followed.

MSBC Now Accepting Nominations For Kidd Kraddick Award

Kidd Kraddick

Following last year's untimely death of radio legend Kidd Kraddick, Morning Show Boot Camp's Host Don Anthony, told attendees during its 2013's opening address (presented shortly after Kidd's passing) that beginning in 2014 he very much hoped to create an annual award that would be named and presented in Kidd's honor.

"Having been a special part of so many of our events, this would be a our way of keeping his extraordinary talent, contributions and memories alive for many years to come," said Anthony.

Now, with the blessing of Kidd's Daughter Caroline and Yea Networks, Morning Show Boot Camp 26 has announced that nominations are now being accepted for its first ever Kidd Kraddick Award.

"Each year's winner will be judged on those standards and attributes which align most closely to Kidd's," says Anthony.

The award will be based on, but not limited to, 5 key components:

• UNIQUENESS 
• CREATIVITY 
• OVERALL CONTENT (including website, social media, etc) 
• COMMUNITY SERVICE (fund raisers, special events, etc.)
• INSPIRATION TO OTHER SHOWS AND PERSONALITIES. 

Each year's award will go to one show or host, as chosen by a select panel of talent and radio specialists.

All submissions are welcome from either a show or personality, or from anyone within the industry who wishes to nominate someone. Each entry will require a short explanation as to why they or someone else should be selected . Nominations will be taken via email until Friday, July 18th.

This years first annual award will be presented during MSBC - August 7 & 8 - Chicago Renaissance Hotel.

For More Details: Click Here

Personality Surprises Homeless Man With New Home

Rahat Hossain

Rahat Hossain, known by his YouTube username MagicofRahat, is an American magician and prankster.

While he began his YouTube career showcasing magic tricks with playing cards, Rahat is famous for his prank videos.

As of January 2014, MagicofRahat, the YouTube channel, has over 2.7 million subscribers and over 276 million video views.

Watch as he surprises a homeless man with a new home.  This is an amazing story!

Weather Channel Founder Refutes 'Climate Change' Alarm

The sky is not falling, according to retire meteroloist John Coleman.

“Climate Change” is running wild and disaster is certain unless we immediately stop burning coal and oil and move quickly to “green energy” to eliminate use of fossil fuels. Heat waves, huge floods, powerful storms, droughts and rising seas are on the verge of killing millions of us and destroying our civilization. That is my summary of the new Federal Assessment of Climate Change issued by a Obama administration team of more than 300 specialists guided by a 60-member federal advisory committee produced the report. It was reviewed by federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to Coleman's blog at the Climate Depot, the 600 page litany of doom and gloom has received extensive coverage (because) panting anchors of the national media who feel important when tell their audience that “the sky is falling.”

According to Coleman, the climate of Earth has never been “normal” or stable. It has continuously changed through this planet’s 4.5 billion year history. Powerful storms, floods, droughts, heat waves and ice and snow storms have come and gone as long as Earth has existed.

The current bad science is all based on a theory that the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the exhaust of the burning of fossil fuels leads to a dramatic increase in “the greenhouse effect” causing temperatures to skyrocket uncontrollably. 

This theory has failed to verify and is obviously dead wrong. But the politically funded and agenda driven scientists who have built their careers on this theory and live well on the 2.6 billion dollars of year of Federal grants for global warming/climate change research cling to this theory and bend the data spread to support the glorified claims in their reports and papers. 

When the temperature data could no longer be bent to support global warming, they switched to climate change and now blame every weather and climate event on CO2 despite the hard, cold fact that the “radiative forcing” theory they built their claims on has totally failed to verify.

Read More Now 

Throwback Thursday: Larry Lujack

Born in Quasqueton, Iowa and raised in Arkansas, as Larry Lee Blankenburg, he later changed his last name to that of his football idol, Johnny Lujack.

He attended the College of Idaho (in Caldwell) and Washington State University and was a radio disc jockey, starting in 1958, at KCID in Caldwell.

His entry into radio came when he was a biology major at College of Idaho and at the time was a matter of finances; he was looking for a part-time job.

He originally intended to go into wildlife conservation.

He subsequently worked at several other radio stations, including KJR (AM) in Seattle, but is best known for his antics on Chicago AM radio stations WLS 890 AM and WCFL 1000 AM.

Lujack died December 18, 2013 at a Santa Fe, New Mexico hospice after a year long struggle with esophageal cancer.

Here's Larry on KJR, courtesy of Airchexx..

R.I.P.: Elkhart Radio Icon Bill Darwin Dies

Bill Darwin

Bill Darwin, an iconic morning radio and television voice in northern Indiana for more than 40 years, died Wednesday, May 7.

He was 80, according to The Elkhart Truth.

"Bill was in love with radio and he was in love with his listeners," said Vince Turner, who worked with Darwin from 1983-97. "It really was a relationship he had with the people he saw or imagined beyond the microphone."

Darwin became the standard for much of Elkhart County's morning news in the 1970s and '80s after he came to Elkhart in 1967. He retired from radio in August 2009 after 42 years with the station.

"For years, he was the voice of Elkhart, along with Allen Strike and Jack Lorri," said John Dille, president and CEO of Federated Media, which owns WTRC and Truth Publishing Co.

Lorri, who was WTRC's sports director from 1967-1985, was the morning deejay at 1340 when Darwin arrived from WKZO in Kalamazoo, Mich.

"Bill was the kind of guy where people just drew to him," said Lorri, "He was the first thing you heard in the morning when WTRC was a great personality radio station."

May 8 In Radio History

In 1962…Beatles manager Brian Epstein had a chance meeting with engineer Ted Huntly at a London record store. After Epstein related his discouragement about the Decca label rejecting the band, Huntly suggested he send a demo recording of the Beatles to EMI and, in particular, to one of their producers, George Martin.


In 1970...The Beatles released the "Let it Be" album to Radio


In 1982...Ron Lundy does last show at 77 WABC, prior to format change to Talk.

Ron was on the air in New York City starting in September 1965, first on the overnight shift at WABC before shifting to middays in 1966. He remained at WABC right up until its last day as a music station on May 10, 1982. He then shifted to WCBS-FM in 1984 and remained there until his retirement on September 18, 1997.  Ron passed away at the age of 75 in Mississippi on May 15, 2010.

New Study Shows Measured ROI In Radio Commercials

Tim Castelli

Marketing Evolution and Clear Channel Media and Entertainment today released a study demonstrating the effectiveness of radio in building brand awareness and delivering against client goals when included as a significant part of their media campaigns.

The study measured the ROI on a new menu awareness marketing campaign for Romano’s Macaroni Grill, which ran across national cable television networks and four targeted Clear Channel radio markets – Tampa, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio; Denver, Colo.; and Dallas, Texas – from September 16, 2013 through October 13, 2013 targeting adults 25 – 54 years of age.

The study showed that radio ads are extremely successful in 'sonic branding' efforts and drove an actual increase in Top of Mind Awareness for Macaroni Grill — and that TV and radio work well together when consumers are exposed to both. In addition, Marketing Evolution’s research showed that combining TV and radio marketing would yield higher Top of Mind Awareness scores with no additional investment.

“This study is crucial in showing the power that radio has to connect with consumers,” said Tim Castelli, President of National Sales, Marketing and Partnerships for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. “This research proves that audio advertising is very effective, especially when combined with TV ads, in having a significant influence on diners’ decisions on where to eat.”

Key insights and findings from the study include:

• For Macaroni Grill, modeling demonstrates that more impact was achieved with a 77 percent TV and 23 percent radio campaign-spend mix.
• Radio is effective in communicating the “Great Taste” message for Macaroni Grill.
• The campaign significantly increased Top of Mind Awareness (+8 points) for Romano’s Macaroni Grill in the radio test markets.
• Combining radio with TV had a stronger impact on Top of Mind Awareness  per exposure  than just TV alone.
• The Marketing Evolution model shows that the 60-second radio spots were as cost effective as the 15-second TV ads and conveys longer, more custom engaging messages that drive consumer action.
• The campaign areas that included radio impacted all stages of the purchase funnel, from brand awareness and affinity, to actual sales

Pandora Testing 'Promoted' Stations

On Monday the digital music streaming service will begin a test of the new ads, which allow brands to promote their own stations.

Taco Bell, Diageo's Crown Royal, Skechers and Sonos are among the ten brands participating in the beta, which will be exposed to 10% of Pandora's roughly 75 million monthly listeners.

"This is the first time we will be testing an ad product within the station list," Pandora's VP-digital Lizzie Widhelm.

The Promoted Stations ads will appear atop the "Stations You Might Like" section of Pandora's listeners' station lists.

Salem 1Q Earnings: Broadcast Revenue Increases 5.4 Percent

Salem Communications today released its earnings results for 1Q 1014, ending March 31, 2014:

Consolidated

• Total revenue increased 12.1% to $62.3 million from $55.6 million
• Total operating expenses increased 16.2% to $57.0 million from $49.0 million'
• Operating expenses, excluding gains or losses on the sale or disposal of assets, stock-based compensation expense and changes in the estimated fair value of contingent earn-out consideration increased 16.9% to $56.4 million from $48.2 million
• Operating income decreased 19.0% to $5.3 million from $6.6 million
• Net income increased to $0.4 million, or $0.02 net income per diluted share, from a net loss of $18.6 million, or $0.75 net loss per share in the prior year
• EBITDA (1) increased to $10.1 million from a loss of $17.3 million
• Adjusted EBITDA (1)decreased 4.3% to $10.7 million from $11.2 million.

Broadcast

• Net broadcast revenue increased 5.4% to $45.6 million from $43.2 million
• Station operating income ("SOI") (1) increased 5.2% to $14.4 million from $13.7 million
• Same station net broadcast revenue increased 5.2% to $45.4 million from $43.2 million
• Same station SOI increased 5.2% to $14.5 million from $13.8 million
• Same station SOI margin remained consistent at 31.8%

Saga Earnings: Radio Revenue Slight Uptick

Saga Communications, Inc. Tuesday reported net operating revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 of $29.4 million compared to $29.0 million for the same period last year.

• Operating income from continuing operations was $4.3 million
• Radio revenue $24.9 million in Q1 of 2014 compared to $24.46 million in Q1 of 2013. 
• Net income for the period was $2.4 million ($0.42 per fully diluted share)
• Free cash flow was $3.4 million  
• Station operating expense increased $0.9 million (3.9%) to $23.0 million (station operating expense includes depreciation and amortization attributable to the stations) 
• Over half the increase in station operating expense was due to a $0.5 million increase in health insurance costs

Capital expenditures in the 1st quarter of 2014 were $1.5 million compared to $1.2 million for the same period last year.  The Company currently expects to spend approximately $5.5 million for capital expenditures during 2014.

Saga is a broadcasting company whose business is devoted to acquiring, developing and operating broadcast properties.  Saga owns or operates broadcast properties in 25 markets, including 62 FM and 30 AM radio stations, 3 state radio networks, 2 farm radio networks, 4 television stations and 4 low-power television stations.

Commissioner Warns Of FCC Power Grab

Michael O'Rielly

The FCC's Michael O’Rielly, one of two Republican commissioners since being sworn into office last November, Tuesday warned against the commission using what he called "newly invented authority to regulate the Internet," according to arstechnica.com.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has declined to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, which would open Internet Service providers up to the same type of common carriage rules that apply to the country's phone system. But, according to O'Rielly,  he's continuing to use Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which requires the FCC to accelerate broadband deployment, as justification for a new set of net neutrality rules—despite a federal appeals court striking down anti-blocking and anti-discrimination rules previously implemented using that authority.

Net neutrality advocates have argued that Section 706 doesn't provide strong enough authority to prevent ISPs from abusing their market power. O'Rielly agrees in a sense, though unlike net neutrality supporters, he isn't pushing the FCC to use its common carriage powers, either. In an op-ed for The Hill, O'Rielly wrote:

For years, edge providers—Pandora, Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp, to name just a few—have flourished from the government’s hands-off approach to the Internet. Both Republicans and Democrats championed a structure that allowed the “application layer” of Internet architecture to be free from government intervention, apart from occasional Federal Trade Commission activity. 

That is now subject to change. 

A very real threat is that edge providers could fall within the reach of the FCC’s newly invented authority to regulate the Internet under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. 

Congress never intended to give the FCC that authority. I know because I was in the room, as a congressional staffer, when that deal was made.

Read Morning Now

D/FW Radio: KSKY Mocks Climate Change Report

Salem's KSKY 660 AM The Answer is pitching in to fight climate change — by declaring all of its programming “carbon neutral,” reports The Washington Times.

The Salem Radio station's conservative-leaning shows hosted by Mike Gallagher, Bill Bennett and others, mocked the White House’s dramatic “National Climate Assessment” on Tuesday and even changed its logo to reflect its so-called carbon-neutral status.

Tom Tradup, the station’s vice president of news and talk programming, said listening to carbon-neutral radio programming “may be the most important step Americans can take if they believe in the White House’s dire predictions.”

“We have determined, through an independent source, that SRN programming (including our talk shows and 24/7 newscasts) is, in fact, 100% carbon neutral and will not increase the carbon footprint of either radio stations carrying our programming or listeners who enjoy it,” Mr. Tradup said.

“Essentially, listening to SRN creates a neutral or zero impact on the environment, in total compliance with White House guidelines.”

The Obama administration’s climate report predicts superstorms, droughts, rising sea levels and other consequences unless the U.S. takes serious action to combat global warming.

NBC Renews iHeartRadio Music Awards For 2015

Coming off its highly successful inaugural telecast Thursday night, NBC has announced it will pick up the iHeartRadio Music Awards for 2015.

The iHeartRadio Music Awards, which was presented by Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, was also broadcast on Clear Channel radio stations nationwide and the iHeartRadio digital music platform. The event took place at the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles and paid homage to the City of Angels.

The iHeartRadio Music Awards brought together the top names in music, and included electrifying performances by Shakira, Pharrell Williams, Blake Shelton, Kendrick Lamar, Pitbull and Thirty Seconds to Mars. It also marked the debut of a new Michael Jackson song, “Love Never Felt So Good.”

The three-hour telecast on NBC improved by 55% on the network’s Thursday night average since the Winter Olympics in the key demographic of adults 18-49 (with a 1.7 rating vs. an average 1.1).

John Sykes

Among the many winners, as chosen by fans using hashtags to cast more than 65 million votes across Facebook and Twitter, were Rihanna for artist of the year, Lorde for best new artist, Rihanna’s “Stay” for song of the year and “Demons,” from the Imagine Dragons, for alt rock song of the year. The iHeartRadio Music Awards also generated an incredible social footprint: The award show was a dominant social media topic throughout the week of the show, with #iHeartAwards trending No. 1 on Twitter throughout the night.

“The iHeartRadio Music Awards established some amazing benchmarks in its inaugural year,” said John Sykes, President of Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises. “The feedback from artists, music labels, and most importantly, fans and viewers made it clear that the new approach we took in creating a show truly powered by the fans could deliver results.”

The iHeartRadio Music Awards were executive produced by John Sykes and Tom Poleman of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, Ryan Seacrest Productions and Ian Stewart and Hamish Hamilton of Done and Dusted Inc., who produced the show for Universal Television. Hamilton served as director.

iHeartRadio Music Awards Hit With Lawsuit

Clear Channel has been hit with a trademark infringement lawsuit from Radio Dogs, which claims the iHeartRadio Music Awards show is too close to their Radio Music Awards, according to
pollstar.com.

The Radio Dogs product ran from 1999 through 2005 on various networks, including NBC, which hosted the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Radio Dogs sued Clear Channel and Premiere Radio Networks claiming the new show is too similar to their brand. Seacrest, who produced the recent event, is a former host of the Radio Music Awards.

Radio Dogs also claims the iHeartRadio logo looks similar to the one used for its awards show. A trial date has been set for April 6, 2015.

The lawsuit contains the following language: “On September 6, 2013, Radio Dogs canceled its registration in the Radio Music Awards mark, the ‘814 Registration.’ However, Radio Dogs is in the process of reinstating the ‘814 Registration.”

TuneIn Relaunches With New Look

TuneIn, the service that lets people listen to terrestrial radio stations on the Web, wants to become more like a social network for audio, report The LA Times.

That's means a dramatically different look for the Palo Alto company's website and apps.

The old TuneIn worked like a search engine, allowing users to find and stream live radio from around the world. The new version, unveiled Wednesday, is designed to help listeners discover, follow and share stations and podcasts they enjoy, said Chief Executive John Donham.

Users will now see preferred content through a live feed that they can personalize by adding desired brands, such as CNN, ESPN Radio or NPR, as favorites. Audio providers themselves will now have their own pages to engage with fans. "With our launch today, TuneIn transforms into an audio network," Donham said in a statement.

The relaunch comes as the company, founded in 2002, tries to compete with large rivals in the streaming audio industry including Clear Channel's iHeart Radio and Pandora Media Inc. The company says it has about 50 million monthly active users. Pandora is considerably larger. As of April the Oakland-based company counted 76 million active users.