Ear

New Location

2005-06-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've run away....you can find me now blogging at radio blog

come make some comments

thanks

brad

I'll be on KKUP (91.5) Saturday 3-6 p.m.

2005-06-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

DJ JC Smith just asked me to bring in my favorite blues albums and he's going to play them along with some selected by other people, including the new owner of JJ's Blues, Johnny Perkins.

Give it a shot

Americana radio from one of the guys who invented it

2005-06-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Bleetstein is a guy who loves music as much as I do....You can't go wrong checking out his new station::

Country and alt.country fans can tune in to the new stream that Rob Bleetstein is now programming.
Bleetstein, a San Jose State alumnus, began his radio career at KSJS and was
also music director at KHIP in Hollister in the mid-80s (when the station
was run by former KFAT djs) and coined the term 'Americana' when he was an
editor at the radio trade magazine Gavin.
RadioioCountry embraces country old and new, traditional and neo, twangin'
and rockin', alternative and bluegrass, strange and stranger. A KFAT for the
21st Century? Tune in.

check it here radioiocountry

great great blues marathon

2005-05-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

KKUP-FM (91.5), with studios in Santa Clara and a transmitter in Cupertino, is really a people's station It's everything great radio should be.

This weekend the station does its blues marathon, which includes all kinds of local performances, including a long-awaited duet between Gary Smith and Andy Just to be broadcast Sunday at 5 p.m. The marathon starts Friday at 3 p.m. and runs through Sunday night.

The marathon will show the range of the blues, including segments on female singers, piano blues, New Orleans blues, Chicago blues, rocking blues and gospel, to name a few.

You can bet plenty of people will be stopping by to jam. If you haven't tuned in this station, try it this weekend to get a real feel for the San Jose blues community.

Check the calendar, for updates here: http://www.kkup.com/marathons/2005/blues/marathonsched.htm

raise an ear to KSJS-FM

2005-05-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

The San Jose State University station was nominated for "Station of
the Year - Medium Markets 26 - 75" by JazzWeek, the nation's premier jazz radio Web magazine.
The station's Music Director for jazz programming, Dr. Brad Stone, was also nominated this year for "Programmer of the Year -
Medium Markets 26 -75.''

When you are a volunteer on a college station, you need all the kudos you can get. And you deserve them.

Talk about a selfless job: it's something you do for love of music and love of listeners.

Thanks Brad and the KSJS staff for keeping jazz alive.

KSJS-FM is at 90.5 and you can check the schedules at KSJS

country station pangs and twangs

2005-05-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

The most asked question I've had this week: Where can I hear country now that the Bear is gone?

Answer: South Bay is easy: KRTY-FM (95.3), which was just a hop across the dial from the Bear.

For those up north, you have to turn to the Internet, I'm afraid.

For great classic country, try www.everybodysmusic.com

For eclectic country mixed with inspired classic rock: www.kpig.com

Anyone up North have other suggestions????? Can you pick up Sacto stations?

the real jack

2005-05-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite ways to start the day is with a call to Jack Swanson, manager of the Bay Area's top two talk stations, KGO-AM and KSFO-AM.

The guy is a character, something all media needs but is too often erased in this great corporate takeover of the airwaves.

Swanson is the liberal in wolf's clothing, who puts on the conservative station we used to call KKKSFO. Who knew it would become mainstream, even in the bluest of the blue cities?

He did. Or he was lucky.

I still picture him dressed in leather, as he was for the station's Halloween party, with his wife, S&M soccer mom, Melanie Morgan, co-host of KSFO's morning show.

What's up Jack?

"You're calling about KYCY, right? (The new Pod station at 1550-AM) You probably like it. No one is going to listen. There's too much out there. We just got blogs. Now Pods. It's all too much. No one can keep track of it all. I need someone like the President has, to weed through the media and tell me what I need to know.''

Swanson is bummed out about the change of Top 40 and Oldies KFRC-AM to a religious format.
"It's terrible. i don't mean to be anti Christian. I'm Christian, but please. How can this happen in a big city?"

Does it mean AM radio is finally dying and people are switching to new technologies?

"No. There are one billion radios in this country AM and FM. That is a very big number, a thousand million. There are only ive or six million satellite subscribers.

"I just listened to Howard Stern this morning in my kitchen, bathroom and car. If he goes to satellite, I don't know.

"I love new technologies, but AM didn't go away when FM came. Almost 25 percent of San Francisco listening is talk radio.Some on FM, NPR, but most on AM. I think there's room for everyone."

His KGO just had its 107th quarterly rating book on top of the Bay Area ratings. KSFO is in the Top 10 for the nine county area and the Top 5 in San Jose.

What do you think it all bodes for the future?

I'm not going bald; all this talk radio has me pulling out my hair

2005-05-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

It must be all the time we spend in cars, or maybe it's how boring the music stations have become, but South Bay listeners spend a lot of time with talk radio. KGO and KSFO are in the Top Five here; KQED has big local ratings.

So why does so much of it drive me crazy?

The worst I've heard this week:

Bill O'Reilly complaining that the print media attacks him because he criticizes them. Please. Maybe they attack him because his "no spin" zone whirls faster than Linda Blair's head in the Exorcist or Rush Limbaugh hunting for pain pill prescriptions. This guy has been teflon though. He settles a lawsuit with a woman who accused him of harrassment and kinky phone calls and it all just disappears.

Michael Savage, the former purse-carrying hippie, calling for the jailing of Newsweek's editor for sedition and praising Joseph McCarthy campaign to rid the country of communists.

Ronn Owens, whose spread is spread in San Jose Magazine this month, telling another female guest she's hot. In his revealing interview, Owens says he'd rather be able to be invisible than to fly. Maybe he should just try the salads.

All this talk about flushing the Koran, and not a word about the New Yorker's story about the U.S. using private planes to fly accused terrorists to Egypt for outsourced torture. You get the feeling all the media is getting spun?

So, what has your neck doing 180s????

how about these san jose ratings?

2005-05-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

With their share of 1.4 million listeners over 12:
Stations, company, format and share::

Amazing story: San Jose's KSJO, the legendary rocker, doubled its rating as a Spanish station. Clear Channel's KFOX, the classic rocker, also doubled...The company's strategy paid off, despite the skepticism of many a rocker.

And, for the record, this over 12 rating is more of a beauty show than anything else. Most stations care more about the 25-54 year old market, which spends the most money.

KGO-AM, ABC Radio, News/Talk:7.1
KOIT-FM/KOIT-AM, Bonneville, AC 4.7
KSOL-FM/KSQL-FM, Univision, Regional Mexican:4.1
KSJO-FM,Clear Channel, Regional Mexican: 4.0 (these ratings doubled since it went spanish)
KUFX-FM, Clear Channel, Classic Rock:4.0 (these also doubled since KSJO went Spanish
KSFO-AM, ABC Radio, Talk: 3.7
KYLD-FM, Clear Channel, CHR/Rhythmic:3.7
KBAY-FM,Infinity, AC: 3.6
KCBS-AM, Infinity, News: 3.3
KDFC-FM, Bonneville, Classical: 3.1
KRTY-FM, Empire Broadcasting Corp, Country:3.1
KFOG-FM/KFFG-FM,Susquehanna, Triple A: 3.0
KRZZ-FM, SBS, Regional Mexican:3.0
KISQ-FM, Clear Channel,Urban AC: 2.9
KEZR-FM, Infinity, Hot AC:2.8
KFRC-FM/KFRC-AM, Infinity, Oldies: 2.6
KCNL-FM, Clear Channel, Alternative: 2.2
KKSF-FM, Clear Channel, Smooth Jazz: 2.2
KMEL-FM, Clear Channel, CHR/Rhythmic: 1.9
KBRG-FM, Entravision, Spanish Contemporary: 1.8
KIOI-FM, Clear Channel, Hot AC: 1.8
KNBR-AM, Susquehanna, Sports: 1.8
KITS-FM, Infinity, Alternative: 1.7
KSAN-FM, Susquehanna, Classic Rock:1.6
KNEW-AM, Clear Channel, Talk:1.5
KVVF-FM/KVVZ-FM, Univision, Spanish Contemporary:1.3
KBLX-FM, Inner City, Urban AC: 1.0
KLOK-AM, Entravision, Tropical:1.0
KLIV-AM, Empire Broadcasting Corp, News: 0.9
KLLC-FM, Infinity, Hot AC: 0.9
KSJX-AM, Multicultural Ethnic: 0.9
KFAX-AM, Salem, Christian Talk: 0.7
KSQQ-FM, Coyote, Ethnic: 0.7
KZBR-FM, Bonneville, Country: 0.7
KAZA-AM, Radio Fiesta, Regional Mexican: 0.6
KDON-FM, Clear Channel, CHR/Rhythmic: 0.6

podcast interview on NPR

2005-05-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

I was part of a show on podcasting, the art of creating radio shows for your iPod, which are now being broadcast on Sirius Satellite and San Francisco's AM 1550, KYOU.

TO hear it go here:
Pod story

YOU RADIO launches monday

2005-05-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

The first i-Pod driven radio station launches Monday at 1550-AM...Kalled KYOU. You have to let me know what you think...this is either going to be the most audacious new direction for the medium, or its biggest flop...

to be a programmer, hit open source radio

goodbye bear; hello max

2005-05-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Bear is gone and Max is here in its place.

Bonneville radio's KZBR-FM (95.7) flipped the switch last week, dropping its country format and changing to a format it is calling "Max," which it says is a collection of
songs from ""the '70s, '80s or whatever we feel like.''

"From ABBA to ZZ," the station promises.

A similar format has been sweeping the country under the name ""Jack,'' which is sort of a male oriented "Alice" (KLLC-FM 97.3)

It is supposed to have a looser feel than the compartmentalized, structured playlists on most easy-listening or rock stations.

Word around Bay Area radio was that some station was going to adopt the format, which has been around for more than a year elsewhere. Bonneville, based in Salt Lake City, jumped first, beating to the punch New York's Infinity, which owns the often overlapping San Francisco's ALICE and San Jose's KEZR-FM (106.5).

With competition from satellite radio and the Internet, those commercial stations that haven't switched over to Spanish are looking to broaden their appeal.

With a country format, the station was 20th in the market, with a 2 percent share of the 5.8 million listeners over 12.

"That wasn't enough," said Vice President of Operations, Bill Lueth. "We had 300,000
listeners after 20 months, but in the Bay Area that's not enough to stay profitable."

Leuth said the company has another Max station in Phoenix, which went to the top slot in the market after only nine months.

Bonneville's easy listening KOIT-FM and AM is the second most popular station for those listeners, with a 4.4 share. Its classical KDFC-FM is tied for third in the market, with a four share.

The swap was great news for San Jose's KRTY-FM (95.3), now the only local country station.

"We thought when they started that it would help us and bring more listeners to country," said KRTY's chief, Bob Kieve. "But we found that instead of bringing in new
listeners, they were taking ours."

The news was particularly sad for the Bear's air staff, four of whom were fired. They
were asked to meet in a hotel room across the street, and told that they were there for a briefing on new FCC rules, said disk jockey, J.D., who has been on Bay Area airwaves for a dozen years.

"You've heard of car-jackings," he said. "This was a radio-jacking."

SO what do you all think of the new format? And...is country just dead in the north bay?

jimmy buffett gets sirius

2005-05-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

How's this for slick thinking?

Jimmy Buffett and SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced an agreement to present a Radio Margaritaville music channel exclusively for SIRIUS subscribers. The new 24-hour channel, featuring a wide variety of music, live broadcasts of Buffett's concerts and other unique programs, will debut this summer.

Buffett, a former music critic at Billboard Magazine, has always known how to keep busy and successful. You can also hear him on the internet at
margaritaville

Is there a better summer show than BFD?

2005-04-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

LIVE 105 keeps doing it year after year, coming up with great young and old alternative bands.

This year's lineup for the June 10 Shoreline show includes:the Foo Fighters on the main stage with Social Distortion, Kasabian, and The Lovemakers. Appearing on the second stage will be Sleater-Kinney, Hot Hot Heat, Alkaline Trio, The Bravery, Lyrics Born, Ash, Kaiser Chiefs, Tegan & Sara, Rise Against, MXPX, Dredg, Senses Fail, Every Move a Picture, and Jackson United (Chris from Foo Fighters side project).

In the dance Tent will be Z-trip, Party Ben, Disco Shawn and other local DJ's.

Tickets for this end-of-the-school-year extravaganza are $49.50 (plus applicable fees), $29.50 (plus applicable fee) and $12.00 (on sale at Shoreline Box Office only Saturday, May 7) and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets and the Shoreline Box Office.

woof woof woof...in english, it means, see ya suckas

2005-04-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

Well, Clear Channel Communications, whch dumped Howard Stern for lewdness, has done the same to San Francisco's Doghouse, a show that borrowed from Stern, Mancow, and anyone else it could.

The morning team had dropped to No. 10 in the ratings and, as you can see in the previous posts, had a run in with some community people last week.

More on mercurynews.com soon.

PS: I keep a poster over my desk from the Doghouse, when they took an ad out in the Mercury News giving me the finger. Thanks guys. Even that they stole from a Denver radio station.

New Ratings are IN; some are in trouble.

2005-04-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Winter Radio Ratings Book from Arbitron is in. Here are the San Francisco Bay Area ratings, for 5.8 million listeners over 12, which includes San Jose and nine counties around SF.

1) KGO-AM, owner, ABC, share of market: 6.5

2)KOIT-AM/FM, owner, Bonneville, 4.4

3)KCBS-AM, owner, Infinity, 4.0

4)KDFC-FM, owner Bonneville,4.0

5)KMEL-FM, Clear Channel, 3.8

6)KSOL-FM/KSQL-FM: Univision, 3.7

7)KFOG-FM/KFFG-FM, Susquehanna:3.1

8)KSFO-AM, ABC, 3.1

9)KFRC-FM/KFRC-AM, Infinity: 2.9

10:KYLD-FM, Clear Channel:2.9

11)KKSF-FM, Clear Channel: 2.8

12:KISQ-FM, Clear Channel: 2.7

13)KBLX-FM, Inner City: 2.6

14)KNBR-AM, Susquehanna: 2.4

15)KIOI-FM, Clear Channel: 2.3

16)KITS-FM, Infinity: 2.3

17)KSAN-FM, Susquehanna: 2.1

18) KLLC-FM, Infirnity: 2.0

19)KZBR-FM, Bonneville: 2.0

20)KRZZ-FM, SBS, 1.8

For the record: Clear Channel's talkers, conservative KNEW and liberal KQKE are in 26th and 27th place respectively, with a 1.1 and a 1.0 share.

Doghouse Still in the Doghouse

2005-04-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

KYLD's (94.9) popular "Morning Doghouse'' show was off the air Tuesday, it's third consecutive day, and station officials only comment was a "no comment."

"That's our official line," said Program Director Dennis Martinez. "No comment."

When are they coming back?

"No comment."

The only clue to the morning team of Elvis, J.V. and producer Hollywood's absence came in the form of letters of complaint by an attorney and a board member for San Francisco Renegages Drum and Bugle Corps, which sent representatives to the morning show Thursday.

On and off the air, the corps members were insulted by members of the morning program, they said. Lisa Johnson, a board member, said the team of Elvis, and a man identified as "the station retard," made lewd remarks to her and leered.

"This was not 'on air shtick,' she wrote in a letter to the station's local management and its owners, Clear Channel Communications, of San Antonio. "This was tantamount to an ambush, an assault to (fellow board member) Miss (Robin) Kinoshita and myself, prior to going on the air to promote our show. "

Then, on the air, Doghouse members lambasted one of the women with the Corps, saying: "you joined colorguard because you were too fat to be a cheerleader."

The result, said attorney and Corps member Lee Rudnicki, was "the business equivalent of Pearl Harbor." Rudnicki said the Doghouse made fun of the performers the Corps brought with them and effectively killed ticket sales.

The previous year Renegades members appeared on the show, which is rated in the Top Ten for the Bay Area, to promote their benefit show called "The Loud Music Symposium." The treatment was fine and the promotion helped ticket sales, Rudnicki said.

The Doghouse's career has been one of continual ups and downs. Last month, the show was celebrated for helping inspire San Jose students to protest budget cuts. The show has also raised money over the years for various charities.

But its members have also been charged with vandalism for a stunt that involved defacing a city sign, and with illegally disposing of chemical wastes, for a stunt in which members doused themselves with oil and then poured it down a drain.

The show, which is marketed to young teens, has also broadcast adult themes, some of which echo the topics used by Howard Stern. Stern was dropped by Clear Channel, which alleged his shows were offensive.

Bruce Springsteen interviewed

2005-04-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Your best shot to hear the boss as he embarks on a tour where tickets are selling on eBay for $2,500, is on the free noncommercial radio.

NPR's "Morning Edition" will host two days of interviews and music, at about 10 a.m. on its nationwide network.

Station listings and broadcast times for Morning Edition can be found on www.npr.org/wheretohear . Additionally, the interviews and exclusive live recordings will be available each day on www.npr.org at approximately 10AM (ET).

. >where to hear

Rockers Petition for return of KSJO

2005-04-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

Almost 3,000 people have asked Clear Channel to return KSJO from a Mexican music to a rock format.

But when the ratings come out next week, it is very likely that far more people have voted with their radio buttons.

Here is the link: petition

DOGHOUSE in TROUBLE AGAIN

2005-04-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

Wonder where 94.9's J.V. and Elvis were Friday and Monday?

Clear Channel spokeswoman Gabby Medecki says she can't comment on an internal matter, but an attorney's letter about the morning show's broadcast Thursday the 21st, and what happened off the air, may explain a lot.

The duo was apparently suspended for offensive comments on and off the air, not really much of a surprise to anyone who has followed their career.

It's been one of ups and downs. They had a recent up, helping promote a student walkout in San Jose protesting budget cuts.

And then this:

The supposedly funny morning team reportedly made offensive comments to the members of the San Francisco Renegades Drum and Bugle Corps, who were appearing on the station to promote a fundraiser.

I quote the letter from Corps member and attorney Lee Rudnicki. Sensitive readers may not want to read it all.

"On the air, the members of your staff, including DJs "Elvis" and "JV" were equally abusive and degrading towards the members of the Renegades, including but not limited to telling one female member something along the lines of "you joined colorguard because you were too fat to be a cheerleader."

It is my understanding that while waiting in the studio prior to their on-air appearance, a member of your staff told one of the female members of the Renegades’ colorguard "I like it when you lick my balls."

In an interview, Rudnicki said he thought the morning team's insults were "illegal, unethical and constituted sexual harrassment.''

"This was the business equivalent of an attack on Pearl Harbor," he said.

The Corps had appeared successfully on the Doghouse show a year earlier, and boosted sales to its annual "Loud Music Symposium."

This year's appearance was advertised to hundreds of Crops members and they were shocked to hear the insults, he said.

"It's not acceptable to treat women like that," says Rudnicki.

He asked new program director Dennis Martinez for a written apology, but hasn't received one. Rudnicki said the station told him the incident was under investigation.

Lisa Johnson, a Renegades board member, added more details, some gruesome, in a letter to the station.

"While waiting in the hallway to appear on the show, one of your morning DJs, "Elvis" introduced us to one of your employees whom he called "the Station Retard"(which I found offensive in and of it self) He then led "the Station Retard"in a dialogue with fellow Board Member Robin Kinoshita who was standing less than 3 feet away from me. Elvis asked "the Station Retard"if he liked Robin. He responded in the affirmative. Elvis then asked, leadingly (as if this was a script they worked out before hand) "WHEN do you like Robin?". To which "the Station Retard" responded "I like Robin when she’s sucking on my balls." At which time Elvis looked me up and down, smiled and leered at me.
This was not "on air shtick." This was tantamount to an ambush, an assault to Miss Kinoshita and myself, prior to going on the air to promote our show.

"I was stunned. I felt violated. Mere seconds later, I was on air with Elvis as he insulted a Canadian member of our corps by saying he was a "pussy" and a "dummy" because he was from Canada, the "bastard step child of the U.S." I was so completely embarrassed for this gentleman, a visitor to our country in a time where we do not need any more negative relations with visitors to our country."

KYLD-FM (94.9) is owned by Clear Channel Communications, the company that dropped shock jock Howard Stern for reportedly offensive broadcasts.

"40 Watts from Nowhere," a great pirate radio book

2005-04-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

I just finished Sue Carpenters book "40 Watts from Nowhere," (Scribner) a must-read for people who love radio.

Carpenter, formerly of San Francisco and Naperville, Ill., had a passion for playing music that one on the commercial or college dials was playing. In the late 90's she took it to the limit, spending what little spare money she had from her slacker lifestyle on broadcasting equipment, and putting a KPBJ on the air from her San Francisco apartment.

She ended up moving to Los Angeles and doing the same thing, with another sandwich-named station, KBLT. This one really took off in a city where so many music lovers work at studios or record companies.

Her little station based in a small Silver Lake apartment, was the first to play new music by Beck and Madonna. It had more than 50 volunteer deejays, who paid to have their shifts and played everything from 1960s French rock to industrial, house, weird punk ...anything a diverse LA population had in iits record collections. It also attracted punk Mike Watt as a deejay and live performances by the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Jesus and Mary Chain.
More than anything, it attests to the fact that giant commercial conglomerates have so dominated the airwaves that there is little room for diversity. While the Telecommunications Act of 1994 was supposed to increase diversity, with its unleashing of laws limiting the number of stations companies could own, it instead caused the biggest ones to gobble up the small ones, and put on the same tried and tested formulas nationwide.

The great thing about Carpenter's book is that she isn't a preachy pirate, like Stephen Dunifer, using her station as a platform for free speech (not that there's anything wrong with that). She's an everywoman, who just wants to play some good music and link up with her community.

I'm going to call her later and try for an interview.

Meanwhile: check out this site for more information on pirate radio: http://www.blackcatsystems.com/radio/pirate.html

and for my internet free form radio station, which plays a lot of the same type of stuff as KBLT: check www.everybodysmusic.com and click on radio kava.

another radio company sale

2005-04-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

Susquehanna Media, the Pennsylvania company that owns 33 radio stations, including San Francisco's KFOG-FM, KNBR-AM and KCTC-AM is up for sale by its parent, Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff.

Owned by a ceramics manufacturer, it has become the 11th biggest media company in the country.

Are satellite and internet are sending a chill to the folks that hold the bottom line?
Susquehanna Media

Another radio company sale

2005-04-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Susquehana Media, the Pennsylvania company that owns 33 radio stations, including San Francisco's KFOG-FM, KNBR-AM and KCTC-AM is up for sale.

SUSQUEHANNA PRESS RELEASE

Satellite and internet are sending a chill to the folks that hold the bottom line.

springer has sprung

2005-04-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

960 AM The Quake Announces Jerry Springer in the Mornings
Beginning Monday, April 25th

San Francisco, CA, April 19, 2005 – 960 AM The Quake, the only San Francisco radio station committed to being the alternative to conservative talk radio, is proud to announce the latest addition to the airwaves - “Springer on the Radio”! Daytime talk-show host and former mayor of Cincinnati, Jerry Springer will be heard on The Quake Monday – Friday mornings, 6a – 9a beginning Monday, April 25th.

After graduating from Northwestern University Law School in 1968, Springer served in Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.

After Kennedy’s assassination, Springer began practicing law in Cincinnati. In 1971, he successfully ran for Cincinnati’s City Council and served for five successive terms. In 1977, at the age of 33, Springer became Mayor of Cincinnati with the most votes in the city’s history.
After a Democratic primary bid for Governor of Ohio in 1982, Springer became a political reporter and commentator for the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati. Over the next 10 years, Springer was the top rated news anchor in the city and the recipient of seven Emmy awards for his nightly commentaries.
The Jerry Springer Show debuted in 1991 and is currently seen in more than 190 U.S. markets and more than 50 foreign countries.

For more information on 960 AM The Quake, visit www.QuakeRadio.com.

Personally, I'd rather see a local host....but I'll give him a chance. He may truly be the Rush of the left. Lot's of sound and fury saying not much.

two san jose stations up for grabs...got $120 million to spare?

2005-04-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Subj: Infinity To Acquire KEAR-FM in San Francisco
Date: Monday, April 18, 2005 12:33:55 PM
From: Karen.mateo@infinitybroadcasting.com

April 18, 2005

INFINITY BROADCASTING STRENGTHENS RADIO OPERATIONS

IN SAN FRANCISCO MARKET

Acquires KEAR-FM From Family Stations, Inc.

San Jose's KBAY-FM And KEZR-FM To Be Divested From Infinity Portfolio

Announcements Follow Previously Announced Sale Of KFRC-AM

Infinity Broadcasting today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire KEAR-FM 106.9 in San Francisco from Family Stations, Inc. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Additionally, Infinity announced its intention to sell San Jose stations KBAY-FM and KEZR-FM.

In March, Family Stations agreed to acquire KFRC-AM in San Francisco from Infinity. The acquisition of KEAR-FM brings the total number of radio stations in the market owned by Infinity to six, including, KCBS-AM, KFRC-FM, KYCY-AM, KITS-FM and KLLC-FM.

"The acquisition of KEAR-FM, coupled with the sale of KBAY and KEZR, strongly enhance our position in San Francisco, the fourth largest radio market in the United States," said Joel Hollander, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Infinity. "This move is consistent with our strategy of concentrating on markets where we generate the most revenue and cash flow."

The transactions are subject to regulatory approvals and are expected to close later this year.
Infinity is one of the largest major-market radio operators in the United States, with stations covering the news, modern rock, oldies, country, FM talk, classic rock and urban formats, among others. A division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIAB), Infinity operates 183 radio stations, the majority of which are in the nation's top 50 markets. Additionally, Infinity is home to 29 of the country's leading sports franchises amongst MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL, including the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Chicago Bears and the Detroit Red Wings.

* * *

Infinity Contact: Karen L. Mateo
212/846-7638
karen.mateo@infinitybroadcasting.com

more ringtones

2005-04-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Most Popular Music Ringtone Remains The Telephone Ring Itself

New York (PRWEB) April 15, 2005 -- MatrixM.com, a leading mobile entertainment website, announced that the sound of an old telephone ringing is still the most popular choice of music ringtone in the world. MatrixM.com is uniquely positioned to back the claim, because it has the most eclectic ringtones catalogue world wide. It's members have passed over stereo-quality portions of actual sound recordings featuring real music and vocals to choose a simple telephone ring or eclectic recordings from answering machines and other devices. Voice Tones, greetings recorded by music artists and other celebrities, also showed weakness.

The massive collection of eclectic ringtones can be seen at http://www.matrixm.com

ringtones hotter than radio

2005-04-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

THis is a bit out of the bounds of a discussion of radio...but it shows how we can be blindsided to new technologies, the way some on the commercial dial got caught by satellite, streaming and podcasting.

It's about ringtones, as the latest hot product. I don't get it. I mean it's nice to have a cool ring tone...my best was on my old European model phone which let me record myself playing harmonica as my tone.

But check out this press release for Vanessa Carleton. They are hyping the fact that if you go, you get a new ring tone.
* * MEDIA ALERT - PHOTO OPP! * * *

VANESSA CARLTON & RYAN CABRERA

HIT THE MUSIC ARENA WITH SWEDISH FISH, SOUR PATCH AND CHICLETS FOR AN EXCLUSIVE

CONCERT EVENT

One lucky person from your hometown won a trip to Los Angeles to see a private concert with Ryan Cabrera and Vanessa Carlton, and we want to make sure you know about it! The concert event will feature performances by each artist, as well as a one-of-a-kind ringtone download from Vanessa's performance, allowing every fan to leave with a new cell phone ringtone from the show! The event will take place on Monday, April 18th at the Skybar, Mondrian Hotel on Sunset Boulevard.

Uhh...is having Vanessa Carleton release a ring tone that big a deal? I already hate it when my phone rings. That would only make me hate it and want to fall asleep.

What are your ringtones...and why?

reviews for radio kava are mixed

2005-04-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

As a critic, I can take criticism...right?

Marc Allen writes this:::

Eclectic yes! Boring? yes and creative in its lack of commercial appeal.

There is a reason some tunes are hits and most of what you play you don’t hear anywhere else.

Not many want to hear organized noise. I can't have it in the backround, too irritating.

Don't quit your day job.

I'm back to kpig.com for entertainment

Thanks for trying.

OW. I asked him to listen more, noting that reviewing only one hour of a 24-hour-a-day station is like reviewing a 90 minute concert in only 2 minutes....(don't bother checking the math, i'm an english major)...

He replies::

Are you saying you don't judge concerts after an hour routinely? I
believe you do. An hour should be a "sample" of what it's about.
mark

My station isn't meant to be backround music, as he suggested. It's a place to hear new songs you won't hear anywhere else...

Here's someone who gets it some:::

Noel St. John [noel@thestjohns.net]

Nice variety of music. Quality is low. Lower than most internet radio.
No song listing. Just "KAVA_IR".

Couldn't get it to work with the Firefox browser (Mozilla). I had to use
IE. I'll just chalk it up to another Microsoft conspiracy. :-)

Thanks for setting this up.

-Noel

We need to get a song listing in there....

Also, I'm going to ask Bay Area program directors to write their reviews and will publish them here.

Feel free to send yours too.

BAY AREA RADIO HALL OF FAME

2005-04-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

I was taping a show this morning with Greg Kihn (98.5) that will air Friday between 7 a.m. and 8:20, where we tried to stump each other playing signed and unsigned bands.....You'll have to listen to hear who won.

BUT during a break, producer Chris Jackson suggested a brilliant idea....

What about a Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame?

It could be like local sports halls of fame....with plaques and airchecks you can listen to...

Or it could be virtual, on the internet, right here...

What do you think? Whom would you nominate first? Would we have categories for producer, engineers (I nominate John Higdon), hosts, morning shows, music deejays?

Jackson nominated Dr. Don Rose for the first person who should be honored....

Your nominations???

you guys know about this? also, about the Jack format?

2005-04-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Brad. Ex-SJ'er of 20 yr, now in central FL: on trip to Baltimore over
Spring Break there was reception blowing out my car speakers. Washington DC
station called 'the River,' 100.7, promo'd their massive signal strength as
100,000 watts. For sure, on the drive home, was able to pull in their
signal for close to 200 miles. Programming was fine for me, a 50 yr old,
along tunes from Hey Jude to stuff as recent as the past 5 years (so-called
Modern Rock).
Takes major earjerker to impress and with this (road) discovery, it received
my enthusiastic thumbs up! (You likely have learned of this powerhouse via
trade publications. Regardless, wanted to tip you in on this development.
Owner of the station? Believe they made mention of it and I have to assume
it WASN'T Clear Channel. Don't think I'd have let something as this slide
thru the memory!)
Dave

Radio Kava

2005-04-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

All these years of criticizing what's on the airwaves...and I finally have my own radio station.

It's not actually on the airwaves and it's not podcasting. It's a streaming station, running 24/7, with the music in a rock critic's library.

I've weeded out the garbage so you don't have to hear it.

(you can start listening right now at everybodysmusic . Click Radiokava, and I'm afraid you'll have to register, but ...and I say this with absolute objectivity and critical depth, I think you'll like it.

I've learned though, it's not easy to do radio. What you are hearing today was started in August and worked on through long nights.

The hardest part? Listening to my own voice and adlibbing to an empty studio, trying to imagine an audience around the world.

The best part: throwing on music I think most anyone would like if they could ever hear it.

Even better: I picked the artists and albums; a computer randomly shuffled the songs. As I listen, I don't know what will come up, but some of the combinations have been better than I could have done...well, almost.

For example, I heard a Mexican rock song by El Tri, backed by the Mexico City Symphony. The next song was a classical/jazz piece by John Scofield.

Cuban singer who performs in English Nil Lara, was played back to back with Colombian singer Shakira, singing in Spanish.

There were a lot of local bands still unsigned, including the Cowlicks and my own band, Doghouse Riley.

My goal in the future is to include a LOT more local artists....and before long to merge the station and the Mercury News site. We would run bios of the artists and run polls on who you like. Then, we would play more of that artist on RADIO KAVA.

Dare I use the word synergy? But it has the chance to be a truly interactive radio station, a place where young local talent can get its first mass exposure.

I take requests and suggestions at radiokava @ yahoo.com or right here in the comments part of the blog.

drop on by

brad

npr essays

2005-04-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

NPR's "This I Believe" launched last week on All Things Considered with a
powerful first essay from award-winning author Isabel Allende and continued
today on Morning Edition with a very personal and compelling essay from
former Secretary of State Colin Powell. If you were unable to listen or to
read the essays at www.npr.org/thisibelieve, I recommend you click on the
audio links below or read the transcripts at the bottom of the page. In
keeping with the history and tradition of Edward R. Murrow's original 1950's
series, these thoughtful and personal essays are an excellent example of
what NPR hopes to generate in this weekly series.

Each Monday, alternating between Morning Edition and All Things Considered,
NPR will air a new "This I Believe" essay with prominent and everyday
Americans voicing their core beliefs and values.

If you would like to receive more background on the series including the
incredible history of Murrow's series or would like to speak with the people
behind today's series, please let me know. We look forward to airing essays
from people all over the country, and we hope that you will invite your
readers to submit an essay as well.

In her own voice,, Isabel Allende's essay "In Giving I Connect With Others"
Audio link:
http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=04-Apr-2005&segNum=6&med
iaPref=WM&getUnderwriting=1

In his own voice, Colin Powell's essay "The America I Believe In"
Audio link:
http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ME&showDate=11-Apr-2005&segNum=7&medi
aPref=WM&getUnderwriting=1

RUSH gives a mouthful

2005-04-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't hear it, but Howard Stern today said he has a transcript of Rush Limbaugh throwing around a street term for oral sex during his show yesterday.

Stern says Limbaugh told his listeners he didn't care if he got fined for saying it.

The more liberal shock jock allowed a listener to play a small portion of the Limbaugh show, another example of the great hypocrisy from those who constantly preach family values.

Do you have a transcript or tape? Send it on over!

thanks

listening to michael savage is a mental disorder

2005-04-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

He claims not to care whether he gets covered in the mainstream media.

Yet, here is an email from Michael Savage's publicist asking me to interview him. :::

I've got some questions for savage....do you have some to add? See below.

-----Original Message-----
From: Eddie Ward
To: bkava@mercurynews.com
Sent: 4/12/2005 1:33 PM
Subject: Michael Savage / New Book, 'Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder" -feature?

Hey there, Brad - I hope you'll consider a feature story on nationally
syndicated radio host Michael Savage. His new book, "Liberalism is a
Mental Disorder" follows two New York Times bestsellers. In addition,
he's the highest-paid radio or TV personality in your market, and has
the third largest radio listening audience in the USA (over 8 million.)
Despite (or because of) his success, he provokes a lot of fierce
criticism.

Shout out if you need more materials or info... The press release is
below.

Best and thanks,
Eddie

Eddie Ward | Dera, Roslan & Campion PR | 212-966-4600

******************
He added in a follow up, that Savage doesn't do many interviews.. Yeah, right.

SAVAGE SOLUTION TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:

OIL FOR ILLEGALS PROGRAMS

APRIL 12 BOOK EXPOSES THE ILL-LIBERAL ILLS THAT THREATEN AMERICA1S VERY
FOUNDATIONS
Liberalism is a Mental Disorder Follows Two Savage New York Times Best
Sellers

This April 12, Dr. Michael Savage leaves 3no political turn unstoned2 as
he savages today1s breed of rabid liberals in his provocative new book,
Liberalism is a Mental Disorder (Nelson Current/$25.99/ISBN
1-5955-5006-2), exposing an America whose current President has given in
to liberalism and whose citizens are quickly losing their protections
once considered guaranteed by the Constitution.

3Illegal immigration is by far the biggest threat to our national
sovereignty,2 says Dr. Savage, 3and a prime example of the mental
disorder that is liberalism. 3How can President Bush fight a war on
terror over there, while leaving our back door to Mexico wide open over
here? Just last week he called our concerned citizens Œvigilantes,1 and
has repeatedly called for better Œunderstanding1 and cooperation with
Mexico, even saying Œfamily values don1t stop at the Rio Grande.1
Neither do border jumpers, drug runners or the freshman class of
Al-Qaida terrorists. But the president apparently filed that memo, along
with our national security, right in the round file under his desk.2

Dr. Savage adds, My solution is unique. Mexico has something we want
(oil) and we have something Mexico doesnt want (aliens). I envision an
"Oil for Illegals" program-- in order to offset the tens of billions in
expenses that America incurs from this alien invasion, the President
should demand one barrel of oil from Mexico for every illegal alien that
sneaks into our country.

Standing to the right of Rush and to the left of God, Dr. Michael Savage
prescribes Liberalism is a Mental Disorder as the cure for many of
today1s ill-liberal ills, striking at the root of today1s most desperate
issues and offering hard-hitting Savage Solutions to reclaim our
social, political and cultural sanity. From Liberalism is a Mental
Disorder:

Savage on Islamo-fascism...."Radical Islam isn't a religion as much as
it is a political movement with global aspirations. Its leadership
masquerades in holy robes, while carrying the Koran in one hand and an
AK in another. Their goal is to convert you or kill you."

Savage on Iraq:."I believe the Iraq war will be recorded as one of the
greatest of military miscalculations : you cannot fight a politically
correct war and win. We need more Patton and less patent leather. Patton
understood the principal of domination."

Savage on The God Gap: Thanks to the godless worldview of ultra
intolerant liberals, America has become less oriented around faith and
more a society of pagans and paganism, all in one generation.

Dr. Michael Savage, whose radio show has upwards of 8,000,000 listeners
weekly, is an independent conservative and fierce nationalist the likes
of which this country has not seen since WWII. This sage prophet of the
airwaves continues to soar as the author of two New York Times
best-sellers, The Savage Nation and The Enemy Within, and as the most
independent thinker in talk radio. His program, The Michael Savage Show
airs on 400 radio stations and has the third largest radio audience in
America. He is committed to protecting our borders, culture and
language.

For interviews or copies of Liberalism is a Mental Disorder, contact:

Chris Roslan
Dera, Roslan & Campion, Inc.
(212) 966-4600
chris@derapr.com

I'd ask him:::

1)You blame many of the problems in America on the gay agenda, yet you wrote lewd homosexual love letters to Alan Ginsberg that are on file in the Stanford Library....? Have you changed, or do you keep that side closeted now?

2)You call liberalism a mental disease, yet in your younger, bearded days, you hung out with beat poets, avoided the draft and carried a purse...were you mentally diseased?
PICS:

purse picture

pornstar picture

3)You call for a new morality, yet you are on the board of Rockstar beverages, which your son owns, and has used porn star Ron Jeremy to promote. Is there some hypocrisy there?

Send me your suggestions...thanks.

some FOX-Y promotions

2005-04-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

Usually if you know the name of a station's program director, something is wrong. You only hear it if he or she is firing someone or changing a format you loved.

But write this one down: Laurie Roberts. She's been programming San Jose's KUFX-FM (98.5) which has been on top of the classic rock format for a long time.

But lately, she's had some ideas that are so brilliant, I have to call attention to them.

A few weeks back, she had the station's morning show with Greg Kihn and Chris Jackson, host a competition between high school marching bands playing classic rock songs. That was a great way to link parents and kids, sharing music, and also called attention to music in the schools, which is struggling in some places, healthy in the ones competing here.

This week, another stroke of brilliance: For charity she has her DJ's auctioning their time. You can get Greg Kihn to play a house party; Billy Vega will take you to dinner; you can sit in with Greg Stone during his show.

Later this week, she organized a contest between me and Kihn, guessing which bands are signed and unsigned...a great way to play some hot unknown local talent.

Check their site: www.kufx.com for the auction.

looking for best radio website

2005-04-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Web Marketing Association to Name Best Radio Website of 2005

(PRWEB) April 8, 2005 -- The Web Marketing Association announces the call for entries for its 9th annual international WebAward Competition (http://www.2005webaward.org), the Internet's premier award competition that judges website development against an ever increasing Internet standard of excellence and against peer sites within an industry. From The radio industry represents an important category in the WebAward competition, and the Web Marketing Association will again be honoring the Best Radio Web site of 2005. The deadline for entry is June 1, 2005.

"The radio industry is very competitive when it comes to Web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their efforts that the award judges provide," said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. "That is the goal of the WebAward Competition - to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective websites on the Net today. Winning a WebAward also provides a great opportunity to market your success to the outside world."

Here are some of the past WebAward Best Radio Website winners:

- 2004 Live365 Internet Radio - http://www.live365.com
- 2003 WBCL Radio Network - http://www.wbcl.org
- 2002 live365.com - http://www.live365.com
- 2001 WBUR.org - http://www.wbur.org

jazz from san jo

2005-04-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Jazzset, DeeDee Bridgewater's one hour NPR jazz program, will be presenting a live recording from the 2004 Comcast San Jose Jazz Festival tonight at 9 PM on KCSM - FM, 91.1.

The program will include Dena DeRose with Eddie Henderson as well as Jovino Santos Neto as they performed last August at the San Jose Rep Stage.

Tune in at 9 PM!

Jovino's performance was so good that it will be released as a CD soon.

KPIG FLIES UP NORTH

2005-04-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Watsonville's feisty KPIG-FM, the small radio station that helped put roots rock music on the map around the world, will be simulcast on a San Francisco AM radio station starting in July.

Mapleton Communications from Los Angeles, which owns KPIG and 25 other stations, paid $5.1 million for San Francisco's 500-watt KMZT-AM (1510), which is now broadcasting classical music programmed from Los Angeles.

Bad news for San Jose: the signal will stretch southward only as far as Palo Alto.

Programming starts in July 1....see more in the Mercury News tonight and tomorrow.
Link to the full story:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/11318632.htm

and an added quote: Says Mapleton president Nathanson, asked if he's looking for a San Jose station for KPIG: "I'd never say never. It would be the perfect bridge between San Francisco and Santa Cruz."

Santa Clara Ethics in Government talk

2005-03-31T15:57:00.000-08:00

Radio KLIV-AM (1590) will broadcast a talk on ethics by some local movers and shakers, Sunday night at 8 p.m.

The show was taped at the Martin Luther King library Wednesday before 75 people, and features former San Jose mayor Tom McEnery; former Santa Clara mayor Judy Nadler, former Mercury News editorial page editor David Yarnold and Empire Broadcasting president, Bob Kieve.

"Pretty big company for this kid in the bowtie," says Kieve.

Clear Channel and women

2005-03-31T14:55:00.000-08:00

Whatever you have bad to say about Clear Channel, the Texas company that is dominating radio nationwide. the company has launched in important new trend, I'm checking out for a story.

In a business that has been deadly slow to promote women, it is doing so quickly. Women run the company's groups in San Francisco/San Jose; Las Vegas and San Diego.

Kim Bryant, who took over the position five weeks ago, started in Spanish language radio 17 years ago, for EXCEL communications, under Athena and Chris Marks, and has moved up the ranks in Monterey/Salinas and now heads the company's five Monterey, three San Jose, and 8 San Francisco stations.

That's an impressive start to breaking up a business that has been in good old boy hands for far too long.

KSJO in Espanol

2005-03-31T14:50:00.000-08:00

People have been asking....how is the once proud rocker doing now that it is playing regional Mexican music in spanish...

The answer, in early trends, is very well, according to Ed Krampf and Kim Bryant, Clear Channel managers.

Krampf says it may be the number one station in the past two months, for ages 18-34, a huge accomplishment, given that was once rock's strongest demographic.

The Arbitron book comes out in 30 days, when we'll have the final numbers.

"People thought we were crazy when we did it," says Krampf, who supervises some 98 stations across the West. "I guess we know something about what we're doing."

Sad update: Dr. Don Gone

2005-03-30T15:41:00.000-08:00

I'm working on his obituary right now, but Dr. Don Rose, noted Deejay and sailor, died today.

For some interesting biographical information, check this site: Broadcast Legends

whatever we want weekend

2005-03-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

San Jose's country KRTY-FM (95.3) has started a new weekend tradition: "Whatever We Want" weekends, in which it loosens up the format and plays songs the staff likes, not just what tests well.

"I pulled out stuff I haven't heard in a long time and stuff that may not test well, but that we like,'' says Program Director Julie Stevens. It adds some spice to the standard rotation.

Some Examples:

Scotty Emrich,"I Can't Take You Anywhere," Earl Thomas Conway, "What I'd Say," Johnny Cash's "Sunday Morning Coming Down," Dobie Gray's "Drift Away," Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Three Steps."

"It's been really positive. The fear is you believe too much in the phone calls you get and can wind up in a mess in terms of ratings. I say cautiously, we'll see, when we see the numbers."

It's sort of modeled on a format called "Jack" radio, in which adult contemporary formats nationwide are loosening up their reigns and playing a variety of songs that don't always test or appear on the current charts.

A lot of us have been saying radio needs to loosen up, remember about the love of music, not just the songs that appear in testing. It has to be ahead of the curve. WIth repetition, some songs may become new favorites over time.

Thanks Julie, for bringing us some variety...or should I say, Nice Work, Cowgirl.

satellite hits and misses

2005-03-30T14:28:00.000-08:00

This is the kind of thing I'd score as a hit: a chance to hear new music I couldn't hear elsewhere....I traveled to Austin for the South By Southwest music festival, just to hear bands like this..

WHO: Four of the best new rock bands from Sweden: The Ark, The Drowners, Moneybrother and The Deportees

WHAT: From Stockholm to SIRIUS: Left of Center Showcases the Best New Rock from Sweden. Special two-hour airing of the recording of sold-out March 21 showcase featuring these four new bands from Sweden at CBGB in New York City, interspersed with clips from their on-site interviews with SIRIUS Satellite Radio host Pappy.

WHEN: Saturday, April 16 at 9 pm ET and Sunday, April 17 at 12 pm and 10 pm ET.

WHERE: Exclusive broadcast only on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Left of Center channel 26.

Giants troubles?

2005-03-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

After years as a season ticket holder, I don't follow much baseball anymore. A week in a major league dugout for a story years back cured me.

But from the radio ads I'm hearing, I get the feeling the Giants are in for some troubles this year.

The commercials imagine moments at a game. In one, play is stopped while a player asks for Barry Bonds' autograph. In another, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielders get into boats in McCovey Cove.

The announcer tells fans that these are the kind of things they will be missing if they don't go to the games.

Ugh ... these things never did happen and never would.

Couldn't they find actual historical moments that fans might see or want to see?

Seems like a desparate ad campaign someone in the front office should have nixed.

Maybe they can entice people to the games to see what happens when athletes stop taking steroids and their muscles shrink up. Students of science may want to study real-life examples of the effects of the drugs.

Too cynical am I?

yeah, right, rush

2005-03-28T11:52:00.000-08:00

Hard to imagine Rush Limbaugh in the middle on an issue, but that's where he is during this Terry Schiavo case.

He's a firm Bush backer, but the president and his governor brother, Jeb, are being blasted by the real hard right wing conservatives for not doing enough for the this woman's right to life.

So, backing their refusal to break the law and send in troops to save this woman who has been on her death bed for more than a decade, Limbaugh is far to the left of the staunchest conservatives.

A caller today challenged Rush, asking him if he would be acting the same if John Kerry had been elected president, or would he be blasting him.

And the man who boasts of having half his brain tied behind his back waffled more than a breakfast chef at the House of Pancakes.

"That's speculation," said Limbaugh. "John Kerry will never be president and I can't imagine a situation that hasn't happened."

There are too many disingenuous moments in Limbaugh's broadcast to count, but this can be nominated for one of the most flagrant.

As if Limbaugh, heard on KSFO-AM (560) never speculates on things. If I had a nickel for every time he speculated on what Bill Clinton or Hilary Clinton would have done in a situation, I might have enough to fuel his private jet for a couple of golf games.

I think even the toughest "ditto heads" must have blanched at this one.

Si o no?

LIVE radio performers who remember the old days

2005-03-24T14:46:00.000-08:00

The Museum of American Heritage
presents

Golden Memories of Radio

Broadcast re-enactments by members of the Broadcast Legends

April 15, 7:30pm
Cubberley Auditorium
4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
Advanced reservations recommended - call (650) 321-1004
www.moah.org

Tickets: $15 general/$10 MOAH members

Dave Parker and Dan Odum get into the heart of "The Telltale Bullet" as they recreate an
original Lone Ranger radio episode at the Museum of American Heritage

From the early 1930s through the mid-1950s, radio was the primary entertainment for Americans. Relive the golden age of radio as The Broadcast Legends and the Museum of American Heritage recreate original radio episodes on April 15 at 7:30 pm in the Auditorium of the Cubberley Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The script, studio setting, production techniques and effects are authentic as staged in the original broadcasts.

The "hoofbeats" of the mighty horse Silver emerge from the
sound effects table as the climax of the show approaches.

The "broadcast schedule" includes abstracts and episodes of "War of the Worlds", "Origin of the Lone
Ranger", "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon", "Gangbusters", Groucho Marx, Jack Benny and others. The production will include the original music and recorded sound effects used for the broadcasts and "live" sound effects will be created on-site as they were in the original productions. Enjoy the singing
commercials of the era and an assortment of soap opera introductions. Put on your old Lone Ranger
Six-Shooter ring, pack your Gangbusters lunch box and come enjoy the show!

The cast for the MOAH production will include Dave Parker (Lone Ranger cast member) and Bay Area
radio and TV personalities Fred LaCosse, Terry Lowry, Duncan Robertson, Ed Vasgersian, Bill Evanson, Ben Williams, Joan Parker and Dan Odum.

The cast of The Broadcast Legends relaxes at the conclusion of
a recreation of an original Lone Ranger broadcast at the Museum of
American Heritage

Admission is $10.00 per person for MOAH members and $15.00 for non-members. Seating is limited and reservations are strongly suggested. Call 650-321-1004 for reservations

The Broadcast Legends is a group of radio and television professionals that have been in the business for more then twenty years, gathering quarterly for lunch and a program. The purpose of the Legends is "To have fun with colleagues from the years when Broadcasting was fun!." Programs range for recreations of "old radio dramas" to saluting stars from our past. Information about the Legends is available on their website at: www.broadcastlegends.com or by calling 650-341-7420.

The Museum of American Heritage, located in the historic Williams House in Palo Alto, operates programs to collect, preserve, and present objects that illustrate the evolution of 19th and 20th century invention and technology. MOAH provides hands-on education to engage and encourage the public, especially youth, to understand and appreciate the history of technology as a stimulus for the creative mind.

Regular exhibit hours are 11 AM to 4 PM, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free.

MOAH thanks its sponsors for 2005:
The Moore Family Foundation
See’s Candies
The Frank Livermore Trust

check this out: tegan and sara making it big

2005-03-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

They labored for years, unknown folkies, who opened Neil Young's Bridge Benefit Concerts to an empty audience and who were signed to his label.

Then, a monster alternative radio hit, "Walking with a Ghost" and tegan and sara are everywhere. 12-year-olds love them.

You can see them free in concert Friday, at 2 p.m.
at San Francisco's Metreon theather.

The first 10 to email syoshimura@metreon.com will be placed on the VIP list.

Say NO to Jerry

2005-03-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

The New York Post reports that Jerry Springer is trying to get a slot on Air America, the liberal talk network, which is surprisingly thriving, despite conservatives claiming it would fold after the November election.

From the POST

JERRY Springer is trying to hook up with the all-liberal Air America network — meaning his new radio talk show could soon be heard in New York.

"Obviously, I would love to be in New York — that's where I grew up," said Springer, 60, who was born in London and raised in Kew Gardens, Queens.

"Hopefully, something will be worked out in the next couple weeks," Springer told The Post late yesterday.

Please, oh please, don't take this showboat. He's the kind of guy who gives liberals a bad name. He's almost as bad on the left as Michael Savage is on the right.

Take the high road, Air America. Leave this guy for the pits of the Roman Colliseum.

this is the kind of thing I'd pay $10 a month NOT to hear

2005-03-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

Lance and Sheryl broadcast live on SIRIUS from Spain this Sunday, March 27th

WHO: Multi-platinum, GRAMMY-winning music star Sheryl Crow

WHAT: Sheryl Crow is the guest DJ on Armstrong Radio, Lance
Armstrong¹s SIRIUS Satellite Radio show, in a special live
broadcast from Spain, where Lance is currently training for
the Tour de France.

WHEN: Sunday, March 27 at 3 pm ET (repeated at 9 pm ET)

WHERE: Armstrong Radio, hosted by Lance Armstrong and heard weekly
on Faction channel 28, exclusively on SIRIUS Satellite Radio

MORE:

Armstrong Radio is hosted by the six-time Tour de France
champion and author Lance Armstrong. As guest DJ, Sheryl will
select and talk about the music played on the show.

I don't know. The interviews I've seen with this couple remind me of all those frat boys and girls I avoided in college. Sheryl may have been variously entwined with several Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, but I listen to satellite under the premise that I will never have to hear her sickly sweet whine.

But I guess there's something for every taste, right?

sports radio news

2005-03-22T15:02:00.000-08:00

All the big radio news while I was away was in sports.

KNBR-AM, as expected, picked up the San Francisco 49ers broadcasts, after KGO-AM let the team go after two decades.

KNBR, which also broadcasts the Giants, will have some Niners games on its sister station, KTCT (1050), when the Giants are playing simultaneously. Susquehana Broadcasting, which owns all three stations, will also broadcast the games on its FM signal, classic rocker, KSAN-FM 107.7.

Meanwhile, oldies music station, KFRC-AM, the home of the Oakland A's, and a music station in San Francisco since 1924, has been bought for $35 million by Christian Family Stations, which broadcasts religious programming.

The deal came soon after Infinity Broadcasting's purchase of Sacramento TV station KOVR, the CBS affiliate. It owns five radio stations in San Francisco, as well as TV's KPIX and it owns six radio stations in Sacramento.

The A's will still be broadcast on the AM station through 2005.

For those who said the A's don't have a prayer, well, now maybe they do.

alice radio wants your short films

2005-03-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

San Francisco, CA (March 21, 2005) - Radio Alice is offering all the aspiring George Lucases and Steven Spielbergs out there a chance to be seen and heard at The 4th Alice 3-Minute Film Festival, a challenging and creative competition about the art of making a really, really short film. Winners in three categories, drama/documentary, comedy, and animation, will receive a share of over $9,000 in cash and prizes. Entries are being accepted now (see www.radioalice.com for official entry form) through April 11, 2005.

why robert plant supports public radio

2005-03-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant told a great radio story as part of his speech to music critics and industry executives at the 19th annual South By Southwest music festival today, which will go on both my newly obsessive blogs.

About five years ago, he recalls ("I was dating her ..." he says to mark the time frame) he was driving the northwest from Portland to Eureka, and heard public radio station KBOO-FM pleading for money.

The station was playing doo-wop and the deejay promised, "Make a donation and you will never hear us play 'Stairway to Heaven.' "

Plant, co-writer of the song with some 4 million U.S. radio plays, says he called up and made a pledge and left his forwarding address as Atlantic Records chair Ahmet Ertegun.

"It's not that I don't like the song," says Plant. "It's just that I've heard it before."

He says he continued making donations to the station. "You have to do your part."

here's a challenge for bay area music radio

2005-03-16T02:54:00.000-08:00

Play me a song that makes me wake up in the middle of the night to find out who the artist is so I can buy the album as soon as the stores open.

KGSR-FM in Austin just did that to me again. It happens every time I visit this city.

The song, if I got this right, was "Playing rock and roll is like stealing all day," by "CC Hancock". I fell asleep with the radio on, and woke up during this long, haunting, riff-driven number that sounded like something you would have heard Sonny Boy Williamson do in the 1940s. Wow. I waited and waited to hear who it was, praying the deejay would give the song and artist.

He did, and mentioned that "Hancock" is playing the New Orleans Heritage Festival this spring.

Why else listen to music radio but to get turned onto great new music? And why does it happen so rarely at home, where I often have to switch stations because I hear the same boring cuts so often?

There were a few others I heard during the night, but missed the artist. I'm going to check KGSR's site right now and hope it has a playlist. ...more later...

OK: It's 5 a.m.....and the site tells me: it was CC Adcock and the song was "Stealin' all day." Unfortunately, there was no playlist, but rather a list of new songs on the station.

You wanna check not only a great song list, but listen to the best coverage of the SXSW festival, with live interviews and performances all day long? Check www.kgsr.com. There is nothing like this in the Bay Area. This is radio the way it was meant to be, cutting edge and covering history at the same time.

god bless local radio

2005-03-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

SO, after a week in Mexico's Riviera Maya, where the only place you could hear music in Spanish is on local radio, I've come to realize again how important LOCAL radio is.

It was scary, really. The only music in bars in Playa del Carmen, was English-singing cover bands. Mexican MTV is now almost identical to its northern neighbor, with only an occasional song by Shakira to add Latin spice.

I fear a world without local flavors.

Meanwhile, San Francisco and San Jose's KFOG-FM (97.7/104.5) follows up its successful Sunday morning mellow music show, with an evening counterpart.

Says the station:

KFOG DEBUTS NEW "ACOUSTIC SUNSET" SHOW ON SUNDAYS

The new show, "Acoustic Sunset," will add two more hours of soothing World Class Rock, unplugged Archives tracks and interesting singer/songwriters every Sunday evening from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. with Rosalie Howarth, host of the Acoustic Sunrise show for the past 10 years. Acoustic Sunrise is Arbitron-rated No. 1 for music programming on Sunday mornings.

"With Acoustic Sunset we 'bookend' Sundays with the kind of mellow, unplugged world class rock that's become a hallmark of Sunday mornings on KFOG," said Howarth. "Sunrise and Sunset ... I'm looking forward to spending more time with our weekend Fogheads!"

The new Sunday lineup is as follows:
6-7 a.m. "KFOG's World Music Hour"
7 a.m.-noon "KFOG's Acoustic Sunrise" with Rosalie Howarth
6-8 p.m. "KFOG's Acoustic Sunset" with Rosalie Howarth
8-9 p.m. "KFOG's Live from the Archives -- the Show"
9-11 p.m. "KFOG's Sunday Night Jam"
11 p.m.-midnight "The House of Blues Radio Hour"

Says Brad::

Now, I won't even complain that a lot of the best local shows fall on weekends, when virtually no one listens. I'm just glad to have some local shows.

A reason to tune in ALICE this week

2005-03-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

No Name, one half of the popular Sarah & No Name AM show on Alice @97.3 is the proud father of a bouncing baby boy!!!! No name yet. (Thanks Michael Coates for that line.)

"We searched high and low for a suitable replacement and we found him!!! Kevin "Silent Bob" Smith!!!"

He is the creator of such hit movies as "Clerks," "Chasing Amy", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," and "Dogma" to name a few!! We are very lucky to have Kevin join Sarah for the rest of the week.

He's also a writer of comic books, I think. Wow. That's a coup. Have you all listened? What do you think?

blog vacation

2005-03-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

Hey, I'm doing a little therapy of my own, heading to Mexico to see if I can help rid the country of its tequila. The only radio will be from my fillings or en espanol.

Blogging again next week from Austin, Texas, home of some of the best radio I know. And will have a second blog, covering the annual South By Southwest music conference, featuring the best of the new bands, and some classic rock from the likes of Robert Plant, Los Super Seven, Elvis Costello y mas.

radio of the future here now

2005-03-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

What we think of as radio...the playing of tunes for free 24/7...is becoming more and more specialized.

No wonder the corporate behemoths are running so scared they are trying to get satellite radio censored.

How about this press release for an interesting niche:

When 12StepRadio.com launched its first Internet broadcast on April 17, 2004, its playlist contained 49 songs. That was the number of broadcast quality songs the station's founder, Bill Zimmerman, was able to find with one thing in common - - they were all about recovery from alcoholism or addiction. Only ten months later, the station's playlist has grown to over 150 songs, broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

As word spreads within the recovery community, the number of listeners keeps increasing. January 2005 was the station's tenth record month in a row with 12,000 visits. Over 2,500 listeners visited more than ten times. And over 1,000 listeners, 1,013 to be exact, have signed up to receive the station's monthly newsletter to stay informed of new music that's been added and upcoming live broadcasts. Not bad for a brand new radio station broadcasting a style of music no one ever heard of.

I'm dying to see the playlist. I can think of thousands of anti-recovery songs, but not one going the other way.

Check it out at 12 Step

thanks gaaaary

2005-03-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

I hear Sports talker Gary Radnich mentioned the story I wrote in today's paper about Deborah Santana'sgreat new book.

My friend laughed that he pronounced my name Brad Kayva...Come on Gayry, don't they teach you pronunciation at the Fremont School of Radio Broadcasting.

Seriously though, that's what I like about KNBR-AM (680 midmorning show. The guy is NOT your average sports blowhard. He's the first to admit there are other pursuits besides the latest trade or rotisserie league obsession.

Really, if you had a choice of paying $7,000 to sit down with Barry Bonds (as the athelete charged in NY recently) or Radnich, you'd have a far better conversation, and get a lot more personality, from the radio host. But his autograph won't sell on Ebay.

Obit: Ruth Bennett, once the oldest living deejay?

2005-03-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

Satellite radio's SIRIUS LEFT channel 143 host Alex Bennett's mom, Ruth Bennett, passed away on March 1 at the age of 100.

At age 78, Ruth Bennett was the oldest deejay in America, hosting "Ruth Bennett's Top 10 Countdown" on KMEL.

Her son Alex was also on the air in San Francisco at that time, as the morning man on Live 105. Bennett will travel from New York City to San Francisco to do his SIRIUS Satellite Radio show on Friday, March 4 from San Francisco from the Sports Byline Studios.

(Bennett, whose career has benefitted almost as much from satellite as will Howard Stern's, can be heard Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET.)

It's probably hard to make a claim of oldest deejay, In these days of Internet radio and podcasting. ... but she was certainly the oldest on what is now a youth-oriented hip-hop station.

wildest things I heard today

2005-03-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Rivalling Paris Hilton's latest fiasco, the members of Motley Crue gave out no-show Tommy Lee's cell phone number on the air during Howard Stern's show. By the time we heard it on the West Coast, the phone had been disconnected.

The Crue talked about their "Mammary Cam," in which they film women in the audience flashing, a real time "Girls Gone Wild." Then, they complained that one reviewer talked more about that than about their music. Duh.

More than 30 members of the San Benito High School marching band, including three tuba players, crowded the parking lot outside KUFX-FM and rocked out with songs that included Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" as part of the San Jose radio station's high school bands contest.

In these days when school cutbacks have savaged music programs, this was a testament to the value of keeping music education intact.

I've never understood how the powers in education think that the students knocking heads on a football field learn more than those playing music during halftime. Kudos to KUFX for bringing something positive to the community.

The never-ending hypocrisy that is Michael (Weiner) Savage: Tuesday the hate talk radio host said the FCC should censor satellite radio, mostly, he said, because of the "demented" Howard Stern.

Well, Mr. Family Values should look closer to home. His son owns the energy drink company, Rock Star. Savage's family is on the Board of Directors. His son has been photographed with porn star Ron Jeremy hyping Rock Star. And...Savage constantly lavishes his praise on the sex, violence and profanity filled "Sopranos" show, on uncensored cable TV.

Does anyone really believe this garbage? Not to mention that this conservative, who was once a hippie who carried a purse, plays Motley Crue every day on his radio show. Hey, that's the best thing about the show.

School of Rock

2005-02-28T16:38:00.000-08:00

San Jose's KUFX(THE FOX) at 98.5 FM has come up with one of the best recent promotions. It's local, it's musical and it gets kids and parents involved together.

The station asked schools to submit tapes of bands playing classic rock songs and it got 20 really good entries and 10,000 votes. The winners are from Hollister - Rancho-Maze Middle School, and San Benito High School. The contest was open to middle school and h.s. jazz bands, marching bands.

Both bands will receive their framed gold record, and perform live on the Greg Kihn show, this week. San Benito (about 35 members) on Wednesday and Rancho-Maze (about 100 members) on Thursday, both 7:30-8:30am.

In these days when schools have cut back on music education, it was great to hear such great musicianship. These kids rock.

meaning of radio station call letters

2005-02-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

The airwaves digest over at airwaves always has nifty tidbits for radio fans.

Here's one contributors analysis of how some Arkansas stations got their call letters. It's time to do one for the Bay Area. Some of you experts want to chime in and help out an overworked scribe? Come on...please?

KRMG (AM 740) - Originally owned by Kerr McGee oil company
KVOO (now KFAQ 1170AM) - stood for Voice Of Oklahoma - I believe these
calls are now parked on the sister FM at 98.5.
KMOD - acronym for Middle Of the Dial (97.5FM)
KELI (used to be AM1430) - if memory serves, Kelly was the name of the
original owners' daughter.
KXOJ (100.9 FM) - Christian easy listening station - ironically, the calls
stood for eXcited Over Jesus.
KCFO (AM 970) - Christian talk station, the calls stand for Christ For
Oklahoma - originally these calls were parked at 98.5FM as "Love 98".

KXUA (88.3 FM) - University of Arkansas
KUAF (91.3 FM) - University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

KAMO (94.3 FM) - The story I was told was that when the station signed on in
the late 60's, it was the only FM in the region that could be heard in all
four of the following states - Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

KBVA (106.5 FM) - Licensed to Bella Vista, Arkansas.

KURM (AM 790) - I've actually met the original owner, and his first name
was/is Kermit.

big rick hangin' round a while

2005-02-28T16:16:00.000-08:00

Nice KFOG press release::

Afternoon drive deejay “Big Rick” Stuart has signed a multi-year contract with KFOG-FM (104.5/977).

"I sleep better at night knowing that Big Rick will be at the wheel in afternoon drive on KFOG for years to come,” said KFOG Program Director Dave Benson. “Rick lives and breathes the Bay Area and puts it all out there every day for our listeners."

Big Rick, who joined KFOG in 2000, will continue his 4 - 10 p.m. show, which includes segments such as the 5:01 Blues, the KFOG Quiz at 7:15 p.m., the 8 p.m. Archive Track, and The Buzz Cut at 9:15 p.m., new songs added to the KFOG library.

Stuart’s radio background includes stints at Live 105 (KITS), KNAC (Long Beach, CA), The Quake (KQAK), KUSF, San Francisco and KBLC-AM in Lake County where he first started in radio at 19 years of age.

Stuart was born in San Francisco, raised in Richmond, CA and now lives in Oakland, which makes him very happy.

Congrats to a guy who loves radio and knows how to make it fun for listeners and bloggers alike!

Who is your favorite Bay Area deejay and why????

here's a tip from a deejay

2005-02-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

ALTERNATIVE TO WHIMPERING ALTERNATIVE

'Under the
Covers with Vision, fridays, 7-10pm on 90.5fm KSJS or on the web at ksjs.org'.
I won't bust out any specifics, except to note that the department I am in
charge of is called, 'Electronic' at KSJS in San Jose (SJSU). You can check out
my show as an 'alternative' to the mainstream mess of 'hip-pop' and the
tretcherous 'indy-like whimpering' that has taken over the radio these days (in my
humble opinion). Well, at least the commercial dial. I generally play stuff
that appeals to everyone from hip-hop junkies to metalheads to ravers, and the
goth kids in between. I am open for requests, too. So anyway, Just puttin'
it out there :-)
cheers, vision

*The beat plus the melody*

'Under The Covers with Vision'

Fridays 7-10pm

90.5fm, KSJS, in San Jose

check it out here:
KSJS-FM

Don Bleu turns 25

2005-02-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

Well, his career anyway.

Today is morning man Don Bleu's 25th anniversary in Bay Area radio and he will be feted with a dinner and a live broadcast from the Fairmont Hotel, with guests including Huey Lewis, Dwight Clark and the man who gave Bleu his start, Shadoe Stevens.

Star 101.3's star previously worked at KYUU (now KFRC) in San Francisco. That first job, though, was in Grand Forks, South Dakota. Stevens called his former frat mate, Bleu, who was selling shoes, and offered him his first radio job. More than 35 years later Bleu is still in the biz.

The show will be broadcast tonight from 7-9 p.m. on STAR 101 .

Chunks of it will be replayed on the station Monday morning also.
Some Bleu thoughts on his career before the big party:

"It's not a real surprise. I do things for long periods of time. Next week I will celebrate my 37th anniversary. I had the same phone number for 25 years; the same woman has cut my hair for 25 years. Was in Minneapolis at a station for 10 years.

"I must be flexible. I think one of the qualities is I give the benefit of a doubt to the new boss. I'm the player on the team, a new coach comes in and says, we'll be a running team; a throwing team. I do what he wants.

I believe I have had 19 program directors. When they tell me how they want to do things, I think number four said that. No, number 11. The changes have been around me, but I haven't had to change.

My job is the same; to do a good morning show.

I think we're at a point where iPods and satellite are potentially the FM of 2005. We will have to deal with that the way television has dealt with cable.

The local entertainer is surely going to survive. I've had people say, 'as long as I can get up in the morning and hear Don Bleu and know he's there and if something big is happening, he'll tell me what he thinks.' That's the nicest compiment ever.

What advice would he give to someone who wants to follow in his shoes?
It's a hard thing to do with all the consolidation. There aren't too many inlets into this. Luckily some of the people realize they have a passion and they will get in where they can. Radio is still kind of open area you can hang around and get a job. You can't just hang around IBM and get a job."

A concert isn't a concert without radio

2005-02-22T13:05:00.000-08:00

Just as the promoters of San Jose's Slipknot concert are seeing slower than usual sales, because there is no hard rock station here, the opposite is also true.

When radio gets behind you, it can make an unlikely show into a big success.

Take Sunday night's Tsunami benefit at Fremont's Saddlerack club. It was the first rock show at the renowned country club, with a $25 ticket price.

And largely thanks to strong promotions by radio station KUFX-FM (98.5) the show was packed with rock fans.

I have to say it was a great night, sort of a local Live Aid show, with short, but sweet performances by (to name only a few) Dave Meniketti, Y&T, Eric Martin, Santana's Myron Dove, well-traveled bassist Polo Jones, Sista Monika, Pepper D'Agostino, Jeff Blackburn (who used to play with Neil Young in the Santa Cruz band called the Ducks and cowrote "My My Hey, Hey"), country rocker Tim Murphy and more. KUFX morning deejay Greg Kihn and his son Ry did a fine set. Kihn was the show's heaviest promoter.

The actor who did a melodic rootsy blues set David Carradine was a real surprise.

(Note to a certain other performer: if you are booked for 15 minutes, keep it to the limit. This isn't your showcase and don't get fooled into thinking the audience loves you. They loved everyone.)

The show went eight hours and the music was solid throughout. People got far more than their $25 worth and the money went to a good cause.

The night made me proud to live in the South Bay, with its diehard rock fans, who would stay all eight hours.

And it showed how strong a force a good radio promotion can be for getting listeners out to a live concert.

Back to Iraq

2005-02-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

It's one thing to send an "embedded" journalist during the battles, but I'm really glad that KGO-AM (810) is sending reporter Greg Jarrett back to Iraq now. Call me skeptical, but I'm not sure I trust most of what I've heard from over there.

Jarrett is going to be embedded (I hate that word the administration concocted and all of its implications that the reporter is in bed with the people he's covering) with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, a helicopter team.

I hope he breaks away from the pack and lets us know what's really happening in the country. It's almost impossible to get an honest feel for what is over there, under all the spin.

You can catch his reports during news blocks from 5-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.

Give a panhandler a radio

2005-02-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

I like this promotion by San Jose country station, KRTY-FM (95.3).

If you hear a song by Tim McGraw, and are the 12th caller to(408) 575-KRTY, Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm, you win $100 in cash.

The station plays five McGraw songs a day. Hey, didn't the cowboy-hatted guy do that many at the Grammys?

Seems like a great way to make a quick buck, as long as you aren't frantically dialing from a cell phone speeding down the freeway. Can you imagine the country song that could lead to?

Speaking of which: what's the difference between a heartbreaking country song and a tornado? The tornado takes the mobile home, but leaves the wife, kids, dog and job.

What's your favorite local or national radio station promotion?

radio tips over the holiday weekend

2005-02-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

NPR has Bay Area jazzman Don Byron on "Fresh Air" on Monday,
February 21st, on all affiliated NPR stations across the nation. You can also hear the show on the web at NPR .
In his conversation with Terri Gross, Don will be talking about his new Blue Note release, Ivey-Divey, and about his recent Symphony Space concert with the Sugar Hill Gang.

Now, I ask you for some help...what do you recommend for readers here to hear this weekend????

Guest of the day: Triumph the Insult Dog

2005-02-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Conan O'Brien's irascible friend, Triumph the Insult Dog, the hand puppet who got outed by Joan Rivers at the Grammy's red carpet made a great appearance on Howard Stern's morning show (heard here until January on KITS-FM 105.3.

Triumph was nominated for a Grammy for his album, "Come Poop With Me," but lost to the comedian most in with the in-crowd, Jon Stewart, for his album of the same name. Just kidding.

Triumph apparently spotted my friend Bill Miller , whose album "Cedar Dreams Songs" won the Grammy for best Native American album.

"I told him it couldn't be any good," said the dog puppet, "Because if it was, the white man would have stolen it."

Keep giving me lines like that and I'll pay $10 a month.

One plug for Mr. Miller: While the Grammy-winning disc is traditional Native American flute music, last year Vanguard Records released this Nashville resident's Greatest Hits album, Spirit Songs , an album of much more mainstream rock and roots music. I was flattered that Miller asked me to write the liner notes for this album.

It always bothers me that Miller is pigeon-holed in the Native American category, because this album sounds like it could have been made by Bruce Springsteen. It's like putting Springsteen in the Catholic music category.

So where can you hear Miller on the radio??? KPIG-FM (107.5) plays him regularly, and program director Laura Ellen Hopper is a big fan.

Wait...Wait...

2005-02-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

NPR's popular news quiz show "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me," hosted by Carl Kassell, makes a live appearance at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall Thursday at 8 p.m.

Tickets from $22-$42 are available from Cal Performing Arts at (510) 642-9988, and although it has sold out, there may be some available at the door before the show.

The Bay Area has one of the show's largest audiences.

Speaking of NPR: the network is the only one in radio I know with its own ombudsman, Jeffrey Dvorkin, who, with help from listener complaints, polices NPR's output on the airwaves.

It's fascinating stuff, such as the complaint by a woman who felt the statements of Confucius were trivialized in a Superbowl report. As a journalist, I hear these kind of complaints on my phone mail everyday. As a listener, you'll be intrigued to see the thin line a newsperson must walk to avoid offending someone.

Check out the column at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4500501

steve earle up early

2005-02-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

The best thing I heard on radio today was new Grammy winner Steve Earle interviewed by Dave Morey on KFOG-FM (97.7/104.5).

Earle played his tribute to George Bush's right hand worman, "Condi" and talked about how he was moving from Nashville to New York, where he has a play coming out in October.

"I know a lot of people who moved to Nashville from California or New York, and now that their kids are a certain age, they realize that it's as hard to keep them away from Baptists as it is from gangs."

Asked if he was a liberal, the 50-year-old rock/folk troubador responded: "No, I'm a radical."

Earle plays the Great American Music Hall tonight (www.gamh.com). He's always worth catching.

valentine's suggestion for kids

2005-02-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

You want to know what kids really think?

Check out Radio Disney's "Kid Talk with Dr. Mary.'' a chilrens' version of "Loveline," on which kids are free to ask questions and get advice from the host.

This is what radio should be: a community place that includes something for people of all ages. You'll laugh at the frankness, and your kids will enjoy knowing there are other people out there like them.

Tonight's theme is love, crushes and ways to show you care.

Showtime is 7-8 p.m., every Monday.

Next week's theme: Do you wish you had a twin?; Feb: 28:pot luck; March 7: what gives you confidence and what takes it away
March 14:what are the tough issues about growing up?
March 21: Feelings.

GREATEST BAY AREA MUSIC U NEVER HEARD

2005-02-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was once asked why 90 percent of Science Fiction was garbage.
"90 percent of everything is garbage," he said.

As a music writer, I find that holds true every week, as I review up to 50 new CDs released by bigger record labels.

I expected it to hold up during an appearance on Pete Wilson's radio show last Friday, between 2 and 4 p.m. (www.KGO810.com), where we asked local bands to send in demos.

I was shocked at the quality of the work: not just the recording quality, but the songwriting and performing. Many of the performers I heard rival what I will see tonight on the Grammys. Here are a few of my opinions. You can get the full list later in the week at Pete Wilson's site on KGO810.com.

Cheryl Ashton & Melodie Crittendon: These Hollister cowgirls did a song called "Cowboy Cool, " that kicked like a rodeo bull. Vocals were suberb and tight. The song was catchy enough to get played on radio tomorrow. (Are you guys listening at KRTY-FM? Here are some local peformers you can get behind).

The Girlfriend Experience (www.girlfriend experience.org) played moody and memorable alternative rock. Sophisticated, funny and cool.

Blues rock singer Samantha Steollenwerck has this quality to her voice, like it was daring you to stay with it, even if it went off-key, but it never did. I think they call that edge. Cuts right though the mix.

The A-Boyz made pop that was so tightly crafted and funky, it could be the next Outkast tune. Why is this not on the radio (other than on a talk stations yearly foray into music)?

Evolution Eden: school teachers at Brier Elementary in Fremont sound like a real-life "School of Rock." They tear it up.

Trusting Lucy (www.trustinglucy.com): More solid country from Gilroy. Takes a bit of a rootsy bent too. See them at San Jose's Barnes and Nobel March 19.

The Dreamakers: two San Francisco brothers, 23 and 21, muster a tune with the dreaminess of Dr. Dre's tracks for Eminem, but a lyrical content that won't offend. They play the Octopus Lounge in Pacifica Saturday Feb. 19.

INQ: Some San Jose perennial musicians, make tunes that sound like they slipped out of the rockin' British 1970s. They play Brittania Arms in Cupertino Friday night. (www.inqrocks.com).

Souls of Blue: Solid modern blues, soft around the edges and easy to listen to, They play the Pioneer Saloon in Woodside regularly. (www.soulsofblue.com).

In the old days radio used to support unsigned local bands like this. I'll tell you this: each of them has at least one song that is as good as anything on the music radio dial today.

rush may be right, but he's wrong too

2005-02-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Ditto-heads are some of the nicest people in the world. For days after I covered Rush Limbaugh's Tuesday San Jose speech, they wrote me the nicest letters, most saying they were surprised to see such objective coverage in their hometown paper. (Radio Host's Royal Welcome: (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/10853618.htm?1c)

One even suggested I seek out a job at Fox, with its "fair and balanced coverage."

It hits me that's all any of us wants from our media: honest coverage that helps us make up our minds about issues.

As a radio junkie, I realize the only way to get it from that medium is to scan the dial constantly and take in all sides.

I listen to Limbaugh (KSFO-AM 560, daily at 9)almost every day. I also tune in a range of other conservative commentators, including Matt Drudge (KSFO Sundays at 7), Sean Hannity (KSFO daily at 4) and I'm embarrassed to admit, Michael "Savage" Weiner (KNEW-AM 910 daily at 3), the lowest of the low in the format. But I also tune in liberal Air America KQKE-AM, 960), Howard Stern (KITS-FM, 105.3) and NPR. (KQED-FM 88.5).

The most troubling thing about Limbaugh for me, is that he tells his audience not to bother with other medial. He'll give them everything they need.

But listening to his talk Tuesday, he used the Boston Globe's investigation of a "journalist" who used a false name and got credentialed for the White House pressroom, as the butt of a joke. He didn't note the part about the fake name etc. He just described him as a reporter who favored the White House.

"That's the state of the media today. " he laughed. "Two reporters investigating a man who asked a positive question."

If that was all I heard about the issue, I'd think Rush is right, the media are screwy. Then, over on Randi Rhodes' show on Air America (960-AM) I hear the other side, that this reporter working for a Repbublican website, couldn't get credentialed to cover Congress, but was mysteriously given access to the high security room where the President does his briefing, and asked a softball question suggesting that "Democrats are divorced from reality" and has access to classified CIA reports.

Definitely a story with two sides, both of which I want to hear.

All I ask from Rush is the respect I gave him. Look at both sides fairly and with balance. If the same thing happened under the Clinton administration, you know Rush wouldn't be treating it with kid gloves or laughing. It would be a weeklong scourge.

The same goes for the other side, which is basically reinventing Limbaugh's tactics for the left. I single out Limbaugh, because he is the top host in radio with 20 million listeners (drive across the country and you can pick him up 24/7) and he pioneered this World Wrestling style of colorfully bashing your idealogical opponents without airing their views fairly or with balance.

I'm afraid it's about as likely that you will hear fairness from any one host as it is for TV's World Wrestling to become an Olympic sport.

Hear me now

2005-02-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

I'll be on Pete Wilson's show today at 2 p.m., doing a show on the best music you never heard. Take a listen and call in.

Debriefing on Rush

2005-02-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

In this job you know you are doing a good job when the hate mail runs about equal. Usually when I covered conservative commentators in opinion columns, I get calls claiming I have a liberal agenda.

I covered Rush Limbaugh's lecture in San Jose last night (you can read it at www.mercurynews.com) for the news pages and must have hit the ball in the right spot.

My first call: "How could you write that about Rush Limbaugh? He said he wants everyone to be like him? He's a drug addict. Anyone else would have been arrested for what he did. I don't want my kids to be like that."

Point taken.

My second call: "I've read your work for a long time and I don't often agree with it. I was at Rush's talk last night and you told it like it was. You were completely objective."

There were a couple of others like that, and I'm appreciative. Contrary to what Rush said in his lecture, the news media's first obligation in its news pages is to be objective, to let people know what happened without inserting opionions. There are editorial pages and columns for that.

Rush and his imitators keep harping on one Dan Rather mistake and tarring the entire media with it. It's no more fair than someone judging the entire military by the events in one Iraqi prison.

During the lecture, Limbaugh was honest about his role on the radio. "I'm here to get as many listeners as possible so we can sell ads at confiscatory prices," he said, admitting to being a showman and a salesman in his daily 3-hour nationally syndicated show.

On one hand I want to congratulate him for what he has achieved: going from being fired repeatedly in disc jockey jobs to becoming the top talk host in the country.

On the other, though, his success is like that of pro wrestling. For years the baseless ranting of these "wrestlers" pummeling each other with breakaway chairs and drawing fake blood, was the most popular show on cable TV.

I think a lot of people in radio, on both sides of the political spectrum, learned a lot from those wrestlers. Yell, rant, sell, shout, but don't bore people with both sides.

You watch Limbaugh, or his opposite locally, Ray Taliefero, and you realize you are getting only one side and the issues switch with the politics.

In San Jose Limbaugh blasted Democrats for having no vision except that of hating George Bush. For eight years his show was little more than a Clinton-bash, and in San Jose he continued to use Bill Clinton's name more than Bush used the word freedom in his inaugural.

He blasted Clinton for his "immoral" life, overlooking his own drug-addled haze, reportedly buying illegal drugs from his servants in a Denny's parking lot.

Limbaugh denigrated "tax and spend" Democrats, who don't admit they want to raise taxes. When Clinton was President, Limbaugh and his followers kept bringing up the deficit and the swoon it may send us into.

He said nothing Tuesday about the fact that under the Republicans the government is spending like a teenager with a stolen credit card, and offering no ideas about how the debts will one day be paid.

He pointed out accurately, that the Democrats who a few years ago were complaining about the problems of social security are now saying it's not a problem, just because a Republican wants to fix it.

He even blasted the Bush administration for being soft on illegal immigrants. Yet the government spends a pittance on services to help them achieve the same hope and freedom compared to the billions it is spending to bring the same things to Iraq.

The hypocrisy on both sides is overwhelming. Sometimes you want someone in a position of objectivity to print up a scorecard, to let you know accurately what both sides are saying.

As long as you do, there will be a need for an objective press, as well as the new partisan media that have sprung up all over.

RUSH's fans expected to fill San Jose's Civic tuesday

2005-02-05T08:23:00.000-08:00

Rush Limbaugh will give his first California speech Tuesday in San Jose to a packed house of 3,000. While the city celebrates Mardi Gras later that night, Limbaugh is here for the ATT golf tournament. He'll donate the money raised to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I love this Winston Churchill quote KSFO's marketing director Greg Raab threw my way: "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. "

And in KSFO's case, won't change the dial. Radio stations are rated not just by how many people tune in for 15 minutes (AQH, average quarter hourly) but also for how long they keep their dial set to a station (TSL, time spent listening).

From its start the liberal Bay Area's first conservative talk station has had huge success in the latter. Loyalists put it on and left it on.

Want to see the ratings in your market? Hit: http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/

painting on a fresh canvas

2005-02-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

I can't help but watch these satellite services with fascination. Like the pioneers of cable TV, they have been given a fresh canvas on which to create.

Will they come up with innovations, like "The Sopranos," "Real Sex," "Taxicab Confessions," and everything on MTV from "Beavis and Butt-head'' to the "The Real World," many of which bled back to network TV, and boosted the content there? Not to mention the 24-hour news channels, which have changed the definition of news to anything that might shut out the boredom for a minute.

Or will they fall victim to the formulas that have plagued the commercial radio dial? The medium has subsisted for the past 20 years by playing music for people in car commutes of an average 20 minutes that make for numbing repetition of songs and by hiring overstimulated hosts wth obnoxious voices, geared to be so bad they are memorable when listeners fill out their Arbitron diaries. In the Bay Area, Ralph Barbieri looks like a pioneer.

Here's how Sirius is covering the Superbowl, in the pay service's first time in the national spotlight.
It is devoting six channels to the game. One, for Patriots fans; one for Eagles fans. The others will be in Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese and German. ..German? Why did they leave out Vietnamese and Urdu? What about Klingon?

There will be sports talk shows all day assessing the game, in English and footballese.

How would you have filled that canvas?

the battle over satellite continues daily

2005-02-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

I can't help but feel we are watching history in the making. Reports say that in 10 years, 40 percent of us will be paying for radio every month.
All those who complain about commercials can put their $10 a month where their mouths are.

A PRESS RELEASE FROM XM:::

The the nation's leading satellite radio provider with more than 3.2 million subscribers, will be the new satellite radio home to national talk radio personalities Dr. Laura Schlesinger and G. Gordon Liddy, beginning mid-February when XM launches its new talk programming line-up. XM is the only satellite radio service to offer "The Dr. Laura Show."

"XM is pleased to offer Dr. Laura and G. Gordon Liddy," said XM's Executive Vice President of Programming Eric Logan. "XM's talk programming has always represented a large spectrum of social and political views, and with our new talk line-up, XM will be expanding that universe of interests and opinions even further."

Dr. Laura, one of America's most-listened-to radio personalities, hosts a daily program offering her own unique brand of advice to callers from across the country. Dr. Laura will be broadcast weekdays on Ask! (XM Channel 165) from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET, beginning February 15.

Also debuting on February 15, the outspoken political commentator G. Gordon Liddy makes his return to radio with a new show to premiere on Extreme XM (XM Channel 152). "The G. Gordon Liddy Show" will air daily from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET.

And from the competition:

EW YORK, NY - February 2, 2005 - On the 60th anniversary of his birth
- Sunday, February 6th - SIRIUS Satellite Radio will remember musical
pioneer and legend Bob Marley with a day-long tribute.

"Bob Marley's 60th Birthday Party" on SIRIUS commercial-free music
channel 30, Reggae Rhythms, will be celebrated with lots of Marley's
music, as well as personal reflections of the man and his legendary
music.

Such important musical figures as Marley's son, Ziggy Marley, as well
as James Brown, Sly and Robbie, Shaggy, UB40, Billy Idol and Chris
Blackwell, founder of Marley's record label, Island Records, will talk
about Marley's music and their memories of him. Blackwell is credited
with bringing Marley's music to the masses.

Don't be shy about posting your views

2005-02-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

This one is about my story
in today's Mercury News, about how the loss of rocker KSJO has hurt the metal community.

Looks like the indies are working on picking up the slack...good work:::

hi brad,

I read your article on blabbermouth.net and got your email address from mercurynews.com. In regards to http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/brad_kava/10794482.htm?1c:

You write: "How do you reach the audience that would buy tickets for a hard-core concert such as Slipknot and Lamb of God ... or Ozzfest ... if no station is playing the music?"

Well, there are plenty of people playing the music!

I have helped run the METAL music department at college radio in Hayward at Chabot College since May 2001. Obviously, Chabot College's 89.9 FM (KCRH) is not going to reach but a small fraction of the listeners that KSJO reached (since we broadcast to only Hayward, San Leandro, Union City, and perhaps some parts of Fremont).

Also, you write "Mueller and his staff are looking for other ways to reach this ... market".

I hope that you could forward this email to Rick Mueller of BGP (since you have the contact info and bgp.com doesn't). I would like to tell Mr. Mueller that KCRH (and probably the other college stations CC'd here), are always available for concert promotion and ticket giveaways and whatever is needed to help promote the Bay Area live music scene.

Being a college radio station has always been a disadvantage with big-time promoters such as BGP (Clear Channel), but NOW with the loss of KSJO, and the rumors about Live 105 and The Bone 107.7's impending doom, there is no better time than NOW for Mr. Mueller to embrace college radio.

If you look at my cc: list, you will see:
* Dave, Andy of KSJS (San Jose State Univ)
* Marko of KSCU (Santa Clara Univ)
* Keith of KALX (Berkeley)
* Anthony of KUSF Rampage Radio (Univ of SF)

These are other Bay Area METAL music dept contacts, as well as the rest of the music staff and station director at KCRH (Johnny, Daniel, Chad). I hope all those Cc'd are okay with me sharing their email!

Brad: I think that all of college radio can help promote concerts in the Bay Area, and I would hope that you could forward this to Mr. Mueller for his consideration of the college radio outlets as a concert promotional tool.

Thanks
Alan
KCRH METAL
KCRH 89.9 FM, Hayward

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I think i've heard this before I think I've heard this before

2005-02-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

I know there are days when it sounds like Howard Stern is repeating himself. I mean, who can distinguish one lesbian stripper on the tickle machine from the next?

But Wednesday what sounded like a repeat of Tuesday's show, actually was. He repeated an entire segment, talking about new concerts by the group Cream. It went on for what, 20 minutes? It was interminable, if you had already heard it the day before.

If he told the audience it was a repeat, I missed it. He treated it like it was happening live.

Which maybe he can get away with on free radio. But if you are paying the $10 a month they want when he goes to Sirius next year, do you want to sit through repeats?

Not long ago, Stern talked about his future pay show, noting that most people only listen to radio for less than an hour on their commute. He joked about doing an hour-long show on Sirius and just repeating it throughout the morning .

At least, I thought he was joking.

No liberals need apply

2005-02-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

So I was listening today to Clear Channel's conservative talk station, KNEW-AM (910) and heard an ad for McKinney heating and cooling that said: "No liberals employed."

I'm sure someone must think this is a joke, but it really says a lot for the times.

Talk radio has become less a forum for ideas, and more a place for name-calling, race and sex identity baiting, like those morons on World Wrestling. It's a place where the other side is demonized. (Would I hear the same ad on Clear Channel's liberal station, KQAK, saying no conservatives employed? You tell me. I've missed it so far. At least if the company did both, there would be a genuine sense of humor there.)

Maybe they'll scream that I'm too politically correct, a term that effectively stops people fighting for fairness and the rights of others, but how far is it from the days when merchants posted, "No Irish need apply" on their doors?

Not far enough. Meanwhile, when I need heating and cooling, I'll find it somewhere else.

Weird Aunt Francis

2005-01-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

The former KSJO deejay "Weird" Uncle Frank, whose sex change operation was the topic of a great Mercury News story by Mike Antonucci on July 20, 2002, hasn't found a permanent home on the radio dial, but has opened up shop on the web.

Here's Aunt Fran's press release:

Happy New Year!

"Fran's Classics" is a weekly, three hour program on KZAM DOT NET where
we enjoy a 30,000 title library and complete autonomy. You won't be fed
the same 300 songs anymore and you'll be able to listen at home, at
work and very soon...even in the car!!

My website has been completely revamped with new
audio & video. Also, is a great web-streaming service
run by an old KOME colleague. Check it out!

As mainstream music radio continues to push people away, the internet,
(especially high speed, wireless), is fast becoming the new standard by
which people enjoy music. Like cable vs. broadcast in the seventies,
we're on the crest of a wave just about to break.

Thanks for your support through the change. Please take a listen and
let me know what you think.
,

Here's to a great year -

Fran

By the way, we welcome sponsorships on the PBS model, ie: few in
number, brief, delivered calmly. If you'd like a place on the cutting
edge for your business, send me an email.

KGO to lose Niners?

2005-01-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

I've always wondered why a news-talk station, like KGO-AM (810), would broadcast football games on the weekends. Or, as one wag said, if you are a restaurant serving meat and potatoes on weekdays to people who want meat and potatoes, why would you change to serving fish on the weekends?

KGO's president, Mickey Luckoff, who has kept his station on top of the charts for 30 years, or a couple of centuries in radio terms, had some answers. He appeared on Ronn Owens's morning show Monday to announce that after 18 years, the station's tie to the San Francisco 49ers has ended, and fielded questions afterwards.

The broadcasts, with the team in a 2-14 downward spiral, lost the station more than a million dollars last year, but Luckoff says he would like to keep the team for other reasons.

1)The prestige, for the station and its advertisers: "Home of the 49ers or the Raiders, says something,'' he says. It also helps get his ad staff into businesses they might not otherwise get into.

2)It's hard to find talented airstaff to host shows only on the weekends.

3)Weekend radio listening is low anyway and this is one way to keep people who otherwise wouldn't be, focused on the station.

If I can mix metaphors here, the Niners are playing hardball with the station, looking to control more of the broadcast and its revenue stream. Meanwhile, the prestige factor of the Niners has been waning with their submerged record.

Luckoff says he would like to continue if he gets a better deal, like the one-year contract he had with the Raiders last year at KSFO, which he expects to continue next year.

The reaction to the news from callers was mixed on Owens's show, although, Luckoff acknowleges that the station's hardcore listeners don't care for it. (They call them call 'P-1's, the name given in Arbitron diaries for the most ardent listeners: 20 percent of them make for 80 of a station's ratings).

One thing has changed for the station and its sister, KSFO. They have competition now from conservative talk KNEW and liberal talk KQAK. If a loyal listener wants to hear newstalk on a Sunday, now he or she has somewhere else to get their fix.

And one thing a radio manager doesn't want in a medium dominated by habit, is for a listener's dial to be on another station on a Monday morning.

Howard Stern is right

2005-01-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

The fines levied against him by the FCC certainly seem to be arbitrary and capricious. Other radio "personalities" are just as offensive, but walk away unscathed by government enforcement.

The idea that the federal agency responds to complaints is a joke. It picks and chooses, and in most cases the complaints are organized by religious or lobby groups. It wouldn't be unthinkable to surmise that some of them are backed by competing companies as acts of boardroom and stock market war.

I mean, really, did you, or anyone you know, write a letter to the FCC about Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction? Could you even see it, except on the slow motion replays on the news? And Stern argues correctly that if you take a transcript of the teen sex shows for which he was fined, and put them next to Oprah covering the same topic, the words are almost identical. Yet only he was fined.

So, New York Hot 97 deejay Miss Jones was suspended by Emmis Communication after playing this Tsunami "parody" for a week, where she used racial slurs and derogatory terms for Chinese people, to describe the Asians that were affected. This is as or more offensive as anything Stern has done and has raised a tsunami of protest from Asian groups, including the rapper Jin. Think the FCC will do anything? I would bet not.

"All at once you could hear the screaming (racial slur)
and no one was safe from the wave
there were Africans drowning, little (derogatory term) swept away
you could hear god laughing, "swim you bitches swim"

So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami
you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head
and now the children will be sold to child slavery..."

At least Sprint pulled its ads from the station, the only punishment most media companies really feel.

How could something like this be aired over the course of a week and get no federal sanctions, given the endless publicity over the Stern and Jackson fines?

The legacy of soon to be retiring FCC chair Michael Powell is that of an archaic agency that has not come up with or enforced standards of decency, but that uses its power as a publicity ploy and political weapon.

just a quick thought here

2005-01-27T14:33:00.000-08:00

Remember the days when a band would come to town and radio would play the group for weeks before...and all day the day of the show?

Now, here in San Jose, we don't even have an active new rock station. I mean, for anything harder than Tom Petty.

But I do notice, those satellite stations are doing marathons and paying tributes to various music. Randy Blythe, the singer from the heavy heavy heavy band (only listen if you like the sound of a buzz saw) Lamb of God, told me both services have done live shows with his band.

He didn't think KSJO would have played them even if it still existed....But he warned, if commercial radio is going to stay viable, it better start trying more challenging broadcasts.

"It's like having Top 40 all the time now," he said. "They all play the same garbage."

Same with MTV: "I don't need to watch a reality show," he said. "I live one."

Lamb of God, you say. Never heard of them. Never heard them on the radio.

But, on a tour about to begin with Slipknot, they have sold 3,000 to 5,000 tickets on the first day of sales all over the country. Someone is hearing them somewhere. The Internet? Burned copies from friends? College radio? Where are you finding your more obscure music?

Send me some tips and lets get them out there.

press release of the day

2005-01-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

As a reporter, I'm deluged with press releases: by bands, promoters, radio stations. But the best ones lately are from the two competing satellite radio networks, XM and Sirius.

These two companies remind me of the old newspaper war days, when there really was competition in the daily press. There still is, in a few places.

And the satellite fight is only going to heat up when Stern takes over next January. Meanwhile, how is this one for reaching to stir the media pot::

Fleece Worn By XM Satellite Radio's Bob Edwards Up For Auction on Ebay

A fleece jacket given to and worn by Bob Edwards on what turned out to be his last Morning Edition staff retreat, is being is being auctioned off on Ebay. After sporting the jacket at the retreat, Edwards, now the host of The Bob Edwards Show, which airs weekday mornings exclusively on XM Satellite Radio, decided it was too small and gave it to an NPR staff member. The staff member, still upset over Edwards’ less than ceremonial dismissal last April, has decided to put it up for auction and in protest plans to give the proceeds to NPR competitor, American Public Radio. American Public Radio is the satellite radio subsidiary of Public Radio International (PRI), a programming partner of XM Satellite Radio.

Contact: Emily Spitale or Josh Gross
FerenComm for XM Satellite Radio @ 212.983.9898
emilys@ferencomm.com / joshg@ferencomm.com

satellite of love

2005-01-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

So the rumors, fueled by a story in the New York Post today, are that the two satellite services, XM and SIrius, are entering prelminary talks for a merger.

It seems almost inevitable, and is probably the thing that commercial radio owners fear most. While, even combined, current satellite listeners amount to only 5 million, compared to radio's incredibly pervasive 229 million listeners, the momentum of so much choice for one price could be crushing.

Both services have lifted every rock to find new niche audiences. Like this announcement from Sirius today:

LANCE ARMSTRONG LAUNCHES HIS NEW SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO
SHOW ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 30

"Lance Armstrong's Live Strong Radio" will air on FACTION channel

NEW YORK (January 26, 2005) -- SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced today that six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong will debut his new exclusive weekly show on SIRIUS, Lance Armstrong's Live Strong Radio, with a live broadcast this Sunday, January 30.

The new program can be heard each Sunday at 9 pm ET on SIRIUS’ Faction channel 28, the innovative music channel SIRIUS created especially for action sports enthusiasts.

Armstrong, whose association with SIRIUS was initially announced in October 2004, joins other top athletes and Faction hosts Tony Hawk, Bam Margera, Kerri Walsh, Kelly Slater, Bode Miller, Jonny Moseley and Sinjin Smith. Like these hosts, Armstrong will play his own selection of music and talk about what motivates him for professional competition.

I don't know ... I associate Lance with nonstop riding and fighting cancer .... but music? Not quite. ... He's the guy who dates Miss Middle of the Road, Sheryl Crow, whose music is the stuff I thought satellite was created to get away from.

Radio appearance

2005-01-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hey, I'll be on radio, February 11, on Pete Wilson's afternoon show on KGO-AM (810) from 2 to 4 p.m.

It's a special show we've been doing quarterly, sort of an American Idol for Bay Area musical talent. It's the only time this newstalk station plays music and it's developed quite a following.

For details of how to get your band played, check www.kgo.com, under Pete Wilson's show, listing the Best Music You've Never Heard.

Tell any of your friends who are performers to follow the directions and get stuff to the show's producer, Sandra Firpo, who screens the material first.

Good Luck;;;

Brad

ROOTS ROCK NEW DIRECTIONS

2005-01-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

Two roots rock stations have been expanding outward, not only having artists record in their studios, but putting on live shows.

The sad thing about it is that Watsonville's KPIG-FM (107.5) was one of the first on the dial nationwide pioneering such things, but under its current owners, Mapleton Communications, the station is cutting back.

Philadelphia's WXPN-FM, which produces public radio's syndicated "World Cafe" (www.worldcafelive.com), a show that features roots rockers and truly new alternative folk, world and rock music, got a huge shot in the arm from developer Hal Real.

Inspired by the show, Real built a state-of-the-art club and recording studio, in which the acts can perform in front of an audience and listeners can hear perfectly recorded concerts. Its upcoming schedule includes Chuck Prophet, Sonny Landreth, Hilton and the Devils Party.

Its the kind of thing that could help bring older music fans back to going to concerts. They are already overwhelmed by expensive tickets and bad sight lines.

But Real isn't sure when he might turn a profit. Music these days isn't always a sure thing, particularly music that isn't Top 10 stuff.

But this is just the kind of thing that KPIG was working towards, with its Sunday morning live show, "Please Stand By," which is still one of the best live forums in the country. Its Swine Soiree at the Santa Cruz Fairgrounds, one of the best radio-affiliated live concerts in the country, was dropped last year as a result of corporate cutbacks, after many successful shows. One can only hope it will return.

KPIG guests play in the station's motel-like small studio, miraculously getting decent sound on a Sunday (10 a.m. starting time), and hauling gear upstairs, and praying it all works. That's how things were in Philadelphia before Real stepped in and upped the ante.

Los Angeles's KCRW-FM (www.kcrw.com) has also branched out, putting on live shows in LA, New York and San Francisco, featuring its "Morning Becomes Eclectic," cutting edge mix, with artists such as Shivaree, Arcade Fire and Inara George (Little Feat founder, Lowell George's daughter).

In business they call it synergy, and its the kind of thing radio is going to have to do to stay relevant as its playing field is encroached by iPods and satellite services.

It would be nice to see KPIG keep up, or even get back to a leading position. But of course, it takes big bucks, and its no coincidence that the leaders in the field are in nonprofits

KFOG benefit

2005-01-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

I always criticize radio for only doing charity works around Christmas, but stations have been doing a lot for Tsunami victims. Here is a list of San Francisco's KFOG's work, raising $23,000:

Collections of 11 volumes of Live from the Archive discs got huge bid on EBAY...:

KFOG Live from the Archives catalog - $5,100
KFOG Live from the Archives catalog - $5,100
KFOG Live from the Archives catalog - $4,250
as did other paraphrenalia, such as:
Wallflowers autographed guitar - $5,000
Wilco autographed guitar- $1,500
Gov't Mule autographed guitar - $660
Dave Matthews autographed bus shelter - $1,010
Jackson Browne autographed poster - $610

Those discs have been issued by the station every year since 1994, a success that has inspired other stations to do the same.

A big difference from Michael Savage, the Clear Channel host on KNEW-AM, who asked his listeners NOT to contribute to Tsunami victims, to let the Muslim world take care of them instead. A real class act.

diversity or schizophrenia

2005-01-20T11:49:00.000-08:00

SO Clear Channel's 960 AM, The Quake, sent out a press release saying, the station "celebrated Inauguration Day 2005 by visiting all the Bay Area's many planned protests.
"Besides commiserating, The Quake will be registering people to win a one way ticket to Canada!"

This week the company also announced it converted three more stations to a liberal talk format and this year could double to 44 the number of liberal talk stations.

Clear Channel has over 1,200 stations, with 175 focused on news or talk.

"The election cycle last year gave rise to dissenting voices, which gave rise to a new format in talk radio,'' Gabe Hobbs, vice president for news talk programming told Reuters. "When the public says it wants more of this, we provide it."

"Prior to 1988, talk radio was very liberal, but then Rush Limbaugh was an overnight sensation and the genre of talk radio became somewhat conservative," he said, noting, again for Reuters, that progressive talk is one of the fastest growing formats in radio.

What an ingenious move by this company so strongly identified with conservative radio and the President specifically, to also be the outpost for Air America the liberal talk network. They call it presenting all sides. Some may look at it with a more jaundiced eye.

As the country's largest radio corporation, it needs vigilant monitoring, not by the ever ineffective and capricious FCC, but by you, the public that owns the airwaves.

What say you? as Clear Channel's O'Reilly would ask.

cuzin al

2005-01-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

The longest running bluegrass show in the Bay, hosted by Cuzin Al, celebrates its 35th anniversary Sunday night on KPIG-FM (107.5)from 6 pm. until the cows come home.

Al Knoth (his real name, pronounced con-NOTE), has the perfect Deejay day job: he sells grease interceptors, those bins outside restaurants that catch cooking grease.

''I think bluegrass has a big future,'' he said at his 30th anniversary. ''It will continue to grow as people discover the cleanliness, the purity, the drive. Bluegrass has such fine drive, every bit as much as jazz or any instrumental music. It's deceptively complex. It sounds simple, but it's very complex and very difficult to play correctly.''

Knoth, 67, who was raised in San Jose, whose family goes back four generations in the local fruit-drying business and who lives in Hollister, got his start in radio at Los Gatos station KTAO-FM. He was studying banjo in Palo Alto and heard there was an opening for a bluegrass DJ.

''They asked me if I knew anything about bluegrass. Oh sure. I've got 11 records. There was a guy there named Big Tiny Little. He put me on the air. I put on a Flatt and Scruggs record. I turned the pot on, hit a button. It worked pretty good. Then I played another one, Larry Richardson and Red Barker.

''The big guy said he was going to step outside for a minute, and he leaves the building.

''The phone rings a while later, and it's (station owner) Lorenzo Milam telling me I don't have to announce what I played after every song. Then he tells me to come back next week.''

That inauspicious beginning led to jobs at Gilroy's KFAT and Freedom's KPIG and a record library of bluegrass albums that takes up 30 feet in a ''record barn'' he added to his house.

His wife, Robin Banks, and son, Matt, also caught the bug. Banks does a bluegrass show on KKUP the first Monday night of the month, and Matt, a paralegal, plays in the San Francisco bluegrass band All Wrecked Up.

You can bet plenty of bluegrass celebs will stop by live to join the celebration.

rock is dead, long live rock

2005-01-19T13:41:00.000-08:00

Don McLean said it in 1971, declaring rock dead in "Bye Bye Miss American Pie."

"Rock is dead," The Who said, also in the seventies in "Long Live Rock."

So, here we are in a new millenium, and they are saying it again, this time about rock radio.

A Washington Post story by Paul Farhi notes that rock radio stations have lost 13 percent of their listeners from mid-1999 to last summer, a trend that is particularly disturbing in San Jose, with the transition of the area's only pure new rock station, KSJO, to a Spanish format. The same thing just happened to DC's alternative station, WHFS-FM.

Radio listeners have seen musical trends rise and fall, pretty dramatically. Country was king for a long time and has fallen off, largely based on the ability of a few people in hats to post big hits.

Surprisingly rock is still selling: it amounted to 19.8 percent of 2004's sales, up from 16.1 five years ago, according to the Post's story, even though only two rock albums were in the Top 20 for the year. The hit-driven rap, country and pop formats pumped up the volume at the top, while rock, like classical, had big sales overall.

Of the 228 million people listening to radio last spring nationally (according to Arbitron studies):

17 percent tuned in Newstalk or Sports, including KGO-AM, KNBR-AM and KSFO-AM, locally;

13.7 percent sampled Adult Contemporary Stations, such as KEZR-FM and KBAY-FM locally;

11.7 percent bounced to Contemporary Hit Radio, we don't have one locally since the death of Z-95;

10.3 percent hip-hopped to to Urban music, such as KYLD-FM and KMEL-FM

8.9 percent tuned into Spanish stations, KZOL-FM, KSJO-FM, KZSF, KBRG-FM.

8.9 percent checked out country, KRTY-FM and KZBR-FM;

8.3 percent rocked out to classic or new rock, KUFX-FM or KSAN-FM

7.4 percent heard oldies, such as KFRC-FM/AM

4.9 percent rawked to Alternative music: locally, KITS-FM and KCNL-FM

2.9 percent grooved to smooth jazz: KBLX-FM and KKSF

2.8 percent praised religious stations, such as KLVM and KJOI

1.8 percent floated along with adult standards, such as KABL-FM

1.3 bached out to Classical: KDFC-FM

Public radio, which does very well in the Bay Area, isn't included in the commercial Arbitron study.

Certainly rock and country have taken big dips -- threatened by younger people tuning in hip-hop and iPods. Satellite, with some 4 million listeners, is making a small dent too. And, as KGO-AM manager Jack Swanson notes, newstalk radio has never been stronger, and never needed to be.

"Things changed when this country was attacked in 2001," he says. "People are feeling more of a need for news."

AND::: I don't know about you, but I think rock may have died during last week's Golden Globes awards, when, picking up his honor for what sounds like the best Stones album in 20 years (the "Alfie" Soundtrack), 60-year-old elfin Mick Jagger thanked his tall, lanky, young girlfriend for "wearing her flats."

This is the same guy who once wrote "Under My Thumb," "Stupid Girl," and "Bitch"?

savage details

2005-01-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

I can't help myself. When I hear something despicable on the radio, I find myself ranting. That maybe a good thing in a blog.

But there is a group of film producers on the web who do it with more subtlety....

Here's a great example of a film made based on a talk host's drivel.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2662563

The gist of it is that nationally syndicated host Michael Savage (real name Weiner), returned to his KNEW-AM (910) studio early from his vacation to tell his listeners not to contribute to tsunami relief. The first day back, he said it was because the victims were Muslims and they hate us.

As usual, this hate talker changes his tune based on public opinion (or if you go on and praise his show. This supposed arch conservative kissed up to Willie Brown once). You hear him on this film, still telling people not to contribute, saying that it's not really a tragedy and that fellow Muslims should give the aid.

"They won't get one nickel from me," he says.

This is a wonderfully illustrative little bit of film.

This host was thrown off his MSNBC show after gay bashing, but has continued even more egregiously on his radio show. He recently condemned the President for inviting Elton John and his boyfriend to the White House.

"What's next, murderers and rapists?'' said Savage.

So much talk radio is akin to World Wrestling. Lots of loud talk, little sense. And obviously, no compassion.

But this guy has become popular around the country. You have to wonder how much of the hate-talking bluster trickles down into the mainstream from this Clear Channel-owned radio station.

It scares me, like watching films of Hitler speeches.

Am I over-reacting? Should I just ignore it and figure it will go away? Or that forces, such as these film makers will prove him wrong, over and over?

Indie radio recognition

2005-01-13T17:44:00.000-08:00

In this season of award shows, when we are reminded of Woody Allen's quote -- there's no garbage on the streets of LA because they recycle it all onto awards shows --here's one that pays tribute to something we care about.

The Plug awards, www.plugawards.com, salute all things indie, including radio.

Here are the nominees, for the gathering, which will be held in New York's Webster Hall February 9.

College/Non-Comm Radio Station Of The Year
KCRW, Santa Monica, CA
KEXP, Seattle, WA
KXLU, Los Angeles, CA
WFMU, Jersey City, NJ
WRAS, Atlanta, GA
KALX, Berkeley, CA
WSOU, South Orange, NJ
KUSF, San Francisco,CA

Specialty Show Of The Year (Commercial Radio)
KDLD, Los Angeles, CA Dead Air-
KITS, San Francisco, CA, Soundcheck with Aaron Axelsen
WPLA, Jacksonville, FL, Forbidden Planet with Robert Goodman
WXRT, Chicago, IL, Big Beat with Marty Lennartz
WEQX, Albany, NY, Download with Alex Taylor
WWCD, Columbus, OH, The Independent Playground - with Tom & Rudy
WAQZ, Cincinnati, OH, Miss Sally's Playhouse with Sally Vollner
WBER, Rochester, NY, Indie Rock Show with Joey Guisto
WFRD, Hanover, NH, Uplink with Danielle Ricci
WPGU Champaign, IL Off The Record with Liz Mozzocco

Internet Radio Station of the Year
3wk.com
dublab.com
KCRW.org
WFMU.org
KEXP.org
WOXY.com
XFM.co.uk
eastvillageradio.org
groovepalace.com
brainwashed.com

Since these awards are selected by the votes of fans, you should head to www.plugawards.com and start voting now!

I haven't heard all of these, but I know that Aaron Axelson's KITS-FM (105.3) weekend show is one of the best things on the dial. It's radio the way it was meant to be: experimental, independent, freeform, and it's a place to hear new music you will want to buy.

His boss's show isn't so bad either. You can hear Sean Demery weekdays at noon, talking about and playing things you don't normally hear on the commercial music dial.

Another one bites the dust

2005-01-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

After 20 years as Washington, D.C.'s flagship alternative rock station, WHFS-FM (99.1) packed it in Thursday, becoming El Zol, Spanish radio, with its logo, "Siempre de Fiesta'' aka always a party.

The station that pioneered Depeche Mode and the Cure, went out with Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye."

Wanna see a tribute site to the station? Check http://www.dcrtv.org/hfs.html.

There is a local tie to this Infinity/SBS broadcasting switchover. This was part of the payment to Infinity in return for San Francisco's former KABL-FM, now KRZZ-FM, La Raza. For that one popular signal, Infinity received 10 percent of SBS broadcasting.

You think English language companies are preparing for the day when many of their listeners will pay for music and figuring that new immigrants will be left on the free dial?

Says LIVE 105's music director Aaron Axelson: "It's a huge event. A heritage station that started playing progressive music in the 1960s and switched to Alternative in the 1980s. The HFS festival is the preeminant of all radio festivals with 60,000 people at RFK stadium.''

In Washington, he says, there are two other rock stations, but no Spanish coverage, a pragmatic decision. Infinity owns KITS also.

"Based on that, how can you fault it?'' he says. "I'm sad. There's a big hole there. I don't think it can be replaced by any internet station or any Podcast.''

Is rock dead or dying on the airwaves? You tell me.

news flash, RUSH to speak in San JO

2005-01-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

The dean of conservative talk, Rush Limbaugh, will appear February 8 at the San Jose Civic Auditorium, his first California public appearance.

Money from the $40 tickets goes to charity.

You think this is the big guy's way of writing off his Gulf Stream fuel bill, or is KSFO feelign threatened by KNEW and its blowhard, Michael Savage? Limbaugh was out here the same time last year to check out the Pebble Beach golf classic...and the station tried to get him to do an appearance then.

What's fuel and jet time cost for the junket? $20,000? NOt much for a guy with 20 million listeners, probably making 100 million a year. But somehow I can never shake the image of him scoring Oxy-Contin in the Denny's parking lot.