Category Archives: Radio

Bob Dylan to host weekly show on XM

Posted on by

Bob Dylan has signed on to host a weekly show on XM Satellite Radio, the D.C.-based pay-radio provider. Dylan will select the music, offer commentary, interview guests and answer e-mail from listeners during the one-hour program, which will start in March. Now, just tell me this: Is there anybody that Bob Fucking Dylan can’t get to be on his show? I’m trying to understand why Bob Dylan would do this. It’s not the money. Maybe he’s bored and this sounds like fun.

These are strange and wonderful times. I don’t ever remember seeing anything as big or as disruptive as what we’re seeing now. Color TV was big. Cable TV didn’t seem big at first but it got to be big. I was at the NAB meeting in Chicago when the announced MTV. That was big for a while. But the flood gates (sorry, New Orleans) are open and things just aren’t gonna ever be the same again. I honestly don’t know what it means for me and all my radio buddies but I’m glad it’s finally here. The anticipation (and the need to prepare or do something) has been exhausting. I can’t say we haven’t had a chance to gear up for this sea change, because it’s been ten long years. I’m pooped. But I can finally shut the fuck up about the changes “blowin’ in the wind” because they are here.

CBS Sheds Infinity Name

Posted on by

As Viacom prepares to split into two companies, the CBS Corporation side plans to rename its radio arm, which will become more like an “audio” arm given the new ways to deliver that content. Infinity Broadcasting, which operates 179 radio stations, will be rebranded as CBS Radio. The group will use the slogan “Broadcast….HD…Streaming….On-Demand.” The group’s name change takes it back to its roots. In 1928, CBS formed CBS Radio by purchasing 16 radio stations and forming one of the first radio networks. [B&C. Thanks, Morris]

Newsroom naming rights

Posted on by

Madison radio station WIBA has sold the naming rights to its newsroom. According to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal, beginning January 1, the WIBA newsroom will be called the Amcore Bank News Center. Jeff Tyler, vice president of Clear Channel Radio-Madison, says the deal will not affect news content.

(Disclosure) Our company does business with WIBA and I met Jeff Tyler some years ago. A very sharp guy and a well-respected radio station.

What happens if the FDIC decides to investigate some of the Amcore Banks in Wisconsin? If WIBA does a story (or does not), a listener might wonder if there was any influence. Now that I think about it, it won’t matter. A swarm of bloggers will be all of any such story. Just one more missing frog in the broadcast journalism ecosystem.

Dont’ write Jack off

Posted on by

Russ Schell says don’t dismiss the JACK radio format just because I haven’t heard it:

“I launched the 3rd JACK station in the U.S. and found it, among the very few I’ve programmed, one I actually enjoyed listening to for extended periods. (It was also a ratings smash before I quit.) Most people don’t realize that every incarnation of JACK is different from another. There’s a very loose guideline, of course, in terms of presentation and production values but you won’t find all of the same songs on JACK stations in different parts of the country. There IS localization. There are collaborations with local values and local tastes when it’s done well. There are “air talents” on some JACK stations and none on others. It’s not satellite, it’s not syndication… it’s a concept, and one left open to wide interpretation. That’s the part that the naysayers don’t get.”

“Your Nano is good. Fine. Excellent for a road trip through Kansas… but Nano is a cocoon. Your own music, your way, without any outside intervention or appeal. It’s limiting in that sense and has nothing more “local” than your own brain and own “mix.” I can talk to myself all day… but that doesn’t make me interesting, challenging, compelling, or unique. Hopefully, somehow, that’s what radio can be.”

Russ tried to post this as a comment to an earlier post that linked to a post by Chris Anderson. (I can’t seem to get comments working properly here at Typepad) As far as I know, the Jack format is great radio. I just have not heard it. So I’m certainly not ready to dismiss it. There must be a place where I can stream it and take a listen.

As for the iPod nano: “nothing more local than your own brain and own mix” sounds pretty good to me, Russ. The good news (or bad, depending on your perspective) is, listeners will decide the fate of radio. If it’s good and entertaining and informative…we will listen. The new factor in the equation is all the choices we now have that didn’t exist a few years ago (Internet, iPods, satellite). Radio had a captive audience… and now it doesn’t.

I forgot about the Mothboard on this topic. The perfect place for Russ to have shared his comments. I’ll have to provide a more prominent link.

Is Jack FM the long tail of radio?

Posted on by

The main problem with radio is not the relatively small size of the playlists (although that doesn’t help); it’s that music is polarizing–people may like one song but hate the next, so they’re prone to switch stations or switch off entirely. As MTV found out a decade ago, there simply is no single playlist that can keep enough people listening long enough to please the advertisers. MTV switched to reality shows because they’re sticky. Radio is switching to talk for the same reason.

It is the curse of broadcast: with just a few dozen stations in each city, most must aggregate audiences in the tens of thousands. In an era of infinite choice and narrowcasting, such mass-market broadcast distribution–the ultimate one-size-fits-all model–just can’t compete.

— Chris Anderson on the future of music on radio

I have not heard the Jack format and think it unlikely I will. The little nano is getting more and more of my limited listening time (mostly podcasts, some music). I’m even listening to XM less since getting the little iPod.

thirtiesandsixties.com

Posted on by
Reply

I own a few domains that I’m not using. Squatting, if you will. I keep renewing BasementDiaries.com in hopes that I’ll eventually get around to moving that site to it’s own space. I just registered thirtiesandsixties.com. An idea that occurred to me while swilling beer with Scott earlier this evening. We were talking about radio and advertising and the big-chested blond at the bar and I went off on a riff about how someday the notion of little 30 and 60 second chuncks of advertising would seem quaint. More to the point, how our business (radio networks) is dependent on the concept of “thirties and sixties.” We’ll sell you “x” 30’s (or 60’s) between 6a and 7pm for “x” dollars. We sell “units.”

A blog about advertising or radio or networks could do worse than thirtiesandsixties.com. We’ll have more on that, right after this from our sponsor.

David Lee Roth, Adam Carolla to replace Howard Stern

Posted on by

After weeks of speculation as to who will inherit the microphone from Howard Stern, Infinity Broadcasting today said former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and late-night talk show host Adam Carolla will take over the shock jock’s morning-drive broadcasts in New York and Los Angeles, respectively. Mr. Stern remains on the air through December 16. [AdAge.com]

Okay, I’m not a Howard Stern fan and I’m not as smart as the guys running Infinity Broadcasting… but this just feels like they’ve thrown in the towel. Adam Carolla, maybe. But David Lee Roth?

XM offers “biggest givaway” at World Series

Posted on by
Reply

“Touting it as the largest giveaway in the 102-year history of the World Series, XM Satellite Radio said Thursday it was giving a free satellite radio to every fan who enters U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago for Game One this Saturday between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros. Fans will receive a coupon good for the new Delphi XM RoadyXT satellite radio receiver which retails for $79.99 plus a World Series commemorative pin.” — Billboard Radio Monitor

200 new car models satellite ready in 2006

Posted on by
Reply

Michael Endelman gives us one more look at what’s happening in the radio business in a piece called “Lost In Transmission” (October 21, 2005 issue of Entertainment Weekly – Registration required). Nothing regular visitors to smays.com haven’t seen before. My favorite factoid: “In 2006, satellite radios will come factory-installed in nearly 200 models of new cars — up from just two models four years ago.” For those with a power-to-the-people bent: “Ten years ago, you needed millions of dollars and and FCC license to go into the radio biz. Now all you need is a laptop.”

Steve’s Weird Media Moment for 19-Oct-05: I was driving to work listening to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code on the nano and reached over (to my car radio) to turn the volume down, only to discover my radio was not turned on (shudder).

33 years in radio

Posted on by

Frequent visitors to smays.com know that my pop was a radio guy. He was an announcer, news guy, sales rep and station manager during his 33 years. That always seemed like a very long time. A few days ago it occurred to me that I have been in or around the radio business for that long. Not quite, if you count the year I spent in Albuquerque trying to get a radio job (I do count that year). It’s really harder to count the last 5 or 6 years doing web stuff (for a company that provides programming to radio stations). If dad were still with us, I belive I could take him into a radio station and he’d still recognize what was going on there as radio. I wonder how much longer that would be true.