CRS Early Bird Ends November 1

10-7-13
Country Radio Seminar Executive Director Bill Mayne has announced that the CRS 2014 Early Bird registration rate of $399 will expire November 1. After the deadline, registration will increase to $499 per person. A ticket to the annual New Faces of Country Music Show is included with CRS registrations until the event is sold out. The New Faces of Country Music show has sold out in advance for the past three years.

Nov. 1 also marks the last day stations can sign up to receive digital liners. Introduced in 2010 to replace the on-site Artist Radio Taping Sessions, the digital liners program has proven to be a solid success with stations and artists alike. To register for the 3-day event, being held February 19-21 in Nashville, visit http://www.countryradioseminar.com/.

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An Early Start on Holiday Music

8-9-13

It's always a winning format and Envinsion Radio Networks wants to take advantage of the early. Envision is getting in the holiday spirit early with The 100 Greatest Christmas Hits of All Time, a ten-hour radio special hosted by TV game show host Wink Martindale. Available on a cash basis, this special holiday programming will count down everyone?s favorite Yuletide hits from 100 to number one.

The song list is based on data compiled by Billboard Magazine and listings of the Christmas tracks most played on radio over the past decade.  This compilation includes hit singles as well as classic tracks from the most-loved and best-selling Christmas albums of all time. 

Augmenting each hour is a handful of ?bonus tracks? ? other beloved Yuletide gems guaranteed to make you laugh, move your heart and rekindle your life?s fondest memories. Wink Martindale supplies the story and fun facts throughout the 10-hour broadcast. Stations interested in more information about The 100 Greatest Christmas Hits of All Time should visit envisionradio.com or contact Hannah Rosenthal at hannahr@envisionradio.com or 216-831-3761.

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Will Talk Radio be an Early Target for The New FCC Chairman?

5-31-13

The Huffington Post is helping the Media Action Center promote the organizations attempt to stifle the long success of Talk Radio, mainly Rush Limbaugh, and put pressure on radio stations to let them on the air via government mandate. MAC is circulating a petition called "Tell the FCC: Talk Radio is NOT Bonafide News," hoping to get in the ear early of Tom Wheeler, President Obama's nominee for FCC Chairman, and claiming 3/4 of Americans do not believe Talk Radio is bonafide news.. Wilson claims Democrats (read: liberals) are being denied free speech and that "corporate radio stations have abused their licensed privilege to broadcast over our public airwaves." The organization is pinning their hopes on the long forgotten and long unenforced Zapple Doctrine, along with claiming their 1st amendment rights are being violated. Talk radio specialists have always said the reason left or liberal radio has never succeeded is because it lacks any entertainment value.

The Zapple Doctrine basically held that when a broadcast station gave airtime to the supporters of one side?s political candidate, they had an obligation to give like airtime to the supporters of the opposition candidate. "The Zapple Doctrine has not been enforced by the FCC for decades. It is highly questionable whether it has any validity now that the Fairness Doctrine and restrictions on political editorials are no more", according to broadcast attorney John Garziglia. .

Wilson opines..."Will Wheeler choose to put the public interest first, or will his FCC continue to simply turn a blind eye, as the agency has done since the Reagan administration?" She then goes on to claim giant radio stations are illegally promoting one political party over another. "And on the issue of "bonafide news," if the FCC does what it normally does --- that is, cave in to industry desires --- we can say goodbye to any firewall between true journalism and propaganda over our public airwaves. The blurring between fact and opinion will go unabated, and Rush Limbaugh will be featured in journalism textbooks alongside Walter Cronkite."

The Media Action Center is attempting to have the license renewal of Journal's WTMJ-AM based on programming disagreements, a violation of the first amendment and the failure of station management to have character (you can read Journal's response to that attempt HERE). This decision may come before Wheeler's FCC. Wilson claims, "One of the first questions Wheeler's FCC will have to (reluctantly?) decide: Is talk radio the same as "bonafide news"?

Back to Garziglia who says The Media Action Center Petition to Deny, and its blog posting, is a misinformed hyperbolic attempt to have the government use its licensing processes to silence a speaker with whom MAC disagrees. "If the FCC was to use its licensing power to silence a radio station for the broadcast of programming that it, or certain citizens, disagreed, that would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.  Thankfully, the FCC has not shown the propensity to engage in such censorship, at least for political speech (indecency is another issue altogether), for some time now."

Garziglia concludes, "Radio listeners often have the erroneous impression that they, or others who are not the radio station licensee, have some sort of First Amendment right to airtime. That is wholly wrong.  With the exception of equal opportunities afforded by law to political candidates themselves, there is no such right to airtime.  Rather, the First Amendment right is the radio station?s right to broadcast free of governmental censorship or restraint, in the same way that a newspaper publisher or any speaker or writer enjoys that same right to speak and write."

(6/1/2013 1:43:33 PM)
jim s, the law says that only "major party" candidates and their supporters must have comparable time. I personally would like to see smaller party candidates also have time on the radio. But for now, I am just trying to get existing law enforced.
(6/1/2013 1:39:53 PM)
Let us please remember that it is WTMJ attorneys who are legally arguing that talk radio IS bonafide news.

Personally, I would like to see stations run brief disclaimers before talk shows, saying this is information and opinion, and before news, saying this is news.

That might help the 22% of Americans that believe talk radio is news.

(6/1/2013 10:55:31 AM)
When I saw Sue Wilson is a blonde, that told me everything I needed to know about her. Of course, that statement is just as shallow as her own. But, if she has trouble distinguishing between news and talk, perhaps she is a product of our public school system and has been deeply influenced by the left wing professors who indoctrinated her during her college years.
(5/31/2013 8:02:17 PM)
"Rush is the Closet thing"? Maybe that explains a lot. LOL!!
(5/31/2013 7:01:06 PM)
Um, I don't think even Mr Limbaugh claims to be "news."

It seems to me that every time he gets himself in hot water by defaming someone, he claims that he's an "entertainer."

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Another Life Taken Too Early

10-30-2012

Cancer doesn't discriminate. Your lot in life has no meaning to this deadly disease and how hard you fight it doesn't guarantee you will beat it. The radio industry has lost another young life to cancer. 49-year-old Cumulus Market Manager Greg Jessen has died after a courageous battle with cancer. Jessen had more than 30 years in the business including on the air, in sales, and as a Market Manager. Jessen has two young sons, Kyle (13) and Andrew (11).

Greg's radio family in Green Bay has set up a fund for the kids called the "Kyle and Andrew Jessen" fund as a way to honor Greg's memory and provide for his sons. Checks made payable to the fund can be mailed to:
Cheryl Bellin
810 Victoria Street 
Green Bay, Wisconsin (54301).

Funeral services will be held on Friday at 10:30 a.m. in Malcore West Funeral Home on West Mason Street in Green Bay. For more information about the fund contact Jeff Schmidt at jeff.schmidt@cumulus.com

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(MOBILE) SBS – Early Blenders Of Radio And Mobile

9-12-2012

Five years ago, the largest publicly traded Hispanic-controlled media and entertainment company in the U.S. decided that mobile was a perfect, and necessary, complement for both programming and on-air advertisements and promotions in its major radio markets. Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) took an early bet that incorporating mobile would greatly deepen their audience?s engagement with their radio stations, talent, and advertisers.

For me, SBS is a great example of an early adopter in radio that embraced an emerging technology that had a lot of promise but few published results at the time. When we first started working together, Hipcricket began to capitalize on one of the nation?s fastest-growing demographics, Hispanics, who were and continue to be among the most active users of mobile technology and text messaging. SBS was one of our initial partners to see the benefit in segmenting by demographic and recognized our strengths in reaching Hispanic customers. They took a forward-thinking look at their audience, where they were spending their time, and reacted accordingly.

Cut to 2012, when U.S. Hispanic media spending continues to grow faster than general market media every year, actually topping $7 billion in 2011 (source: Advertising Age). SBS continues to capitalize on this incredible opportunity. This year, the media company introduced a 360-degree marketing approach that enables advertisers to reach these consumers across TV, radio, Web, social, and mobile.

The company clearly understands the impact of enabling engagement with its key audiences and is doing what it takes to make that engagement enjoyable, timely, and relevant, in the medium that best fits each consumer. They are also enabling advertisers, on a local and national scale, to increase marketing channels that drive awareness and loyalty.

In addition to optimizing on-air campaigns by complementing them with mobile promotions, they are also exploring new growth opportunities in the live event sector. Mobile is a rapidly growing and increasingly important aspect of live events, giving audiences an opportunity to interact in real-time and for advertisers to engage consumers with information, contests, and more. SBS Entertainment?s concerts and events, now employing text-to-screen and other mobile programs that drive engagement, is a logical extension of the mobile success the company has seen to date. 
It is an exciting time for radio, media, events, and mobile. I can?t wait to see how companies like SBS stay ahead of the curve and satisfy their listeners? desire to stay connected and engaged, constantly pushing the mobile envelope.

Ivan Braiker is the president of mobile marketing company Hipcricket. He can be reached at ivan@hipcricket.com.
Read more articles from Ivan HERE

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SiriusXM to Retire $186 Million of Debt Early

7-25-2012

SiriusXM announced Thursday that on September 1st it will redeem all of its outstanding 9.75% Senior Secured Notes due in 2015. CFO David Frear said, "Our strong cash position and growing free cash flow profile have put us in a position to retire these notes three years ahead of their maturity, at the first available redemption date. The early retirement of these notes will reduce interest expense and eliminate the only remaining piece of secured debt on our balance sheet."

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Santa Makes Early Stop in Bloomington And Drops Off Cash

Here's a great example of letting your creative people succeed, by getting out of their way. Give them a task and a goal and watch them work a little magic. Cody Welling is the General Sales Manager for Great Plains Media in Bloomington, Illinois. Cody got together with his on-air staff, the program director's and even the engineers and they brainstormed on how the station could do something fun around the holidays and make money for the radio station. What they came up with was an online version of a radio station playing nothing but Holiday music. And they call it jinglebellradio.com. Brilliant!
Welling says it was a total team effort. "We brainstormed around the idea of different domain names until we all agreed upon jinglebellradio.com.  The domain had to be ?catchy? to the listener, easy to spell, and most of all--- an available domain. Our competition is known for changing their format to All-Christmas around the holidays. We simply couldn?t compete with an already established format, and we couldn?t change ours."

Welling says they are getting the word out by utilizing facebook and social media, along with their station data base for e-blasts. "We even created a ?jingle? for jinglebellradio.com.  On all 3 of our radio stations, we downloaded a simple: 15 second promo that airs throughout the day.  The on-air talent also talk about it every day. We've purchased some rotating digital billboards in our community that simply has the domain name.  Listeners that visit our web-sites can also link to jinglebellradio.com."
The advertisers really like the concept, according to Welling. "It?s a new idea in our market, and we made it affordable because it's new. Our community is approximately 179,000 people with 3 colleges, and the national headquarters of some major corporations.  Internet usage and digital products are very popular in our community. Since the average commute in our market is only 10-15 minutes, the advertisers thought the domain idea, the smart phone app, along with the popularity of Christmas music could help their businesses gain market share around the holidays if they invested in our product. Plus they liked the concept around a radio station that can be played in the office or at home, utilizing our growing digital formats."

The site officially launched LIVE Monday, November 1st.  The total cost of the site and equipment was around $900.  The creation of the web-site layout, colors, logos, and content was done in-house by Program Director Steve Uselton. The Christmas music was purchased. Spots and ads are being sold specifically on the site. Weller says they wanted to keep the site as simple as possible. "The home page has some simple sponsor logos, and a Christmas version of each of regular radio station logos.  We limited the site to 24 local advertisers and we will have 3 stop-sets per hour.  (4  minutes, 4 minutes, and 2 minutes.)-  Less clutter and more Christmas music.  The site, when sold out, will generate approximately $13,000 in NTR revenue over 2 months.  As of October 31st, the site has already generated approximately $8800.  We have simple tabs on the web-site such as holiday recipes, local events, and a Santa Tracker that all has sponsorship opportunities.  The whole concept was to generate revenue, but keep everything simple and clean on the web-site."

Check out the site www.jinglebellradio.com
Reach out to Cody cody@gpmbloomington.com

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Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber Win Early at 2011 Billboard Music Awards

The 2011 Billboard Music Awards kicked off with a bang, as pop stars like Rihanna, Britney Spears and the Black Eyed Peas rocked the stage of Las Vegas' MGM Grand, while Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Taio Cruz and Lady Antebellum snagged the first awards of the night.

Britney Spears made a triumphant return to the Billboard Music Awards stage with a surprise performance alongside Rihanna on the latter's hit single "S&M." The pop star pairing featured stripper poles, jeweled handcuffs, sultry backup dancers and two iconic pop singers strutting their stuff.

Photos: 2011 Billboard Music Awards Red Carpet

Soon after, host Ken Jeong took the stage in a trim suit and injected some high-class comedy into the ceremony with a throwback song-and-dance number alongside Train's Pat Monahan and Nicki Minaj. "It's great to see you again in Vegas -- this time, with my clothes on!" Jeong told the crowd, nodding to his hilarious nude scene in the Sin City-set blockbuster comedy "The Hangover." Jeong and "Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet later played dueling Elvis impersonators, and the host was later shown cruising around Las Vegas and taking in a Celine Dion show.

2011 Billboard Music Awards Main

"Glee" star Matthew Morrison presented the first award of the night -- the Billboard 200 Album Artist of the Year award -- to Taylor Swift, whose third full-length "Speak Now" topped the chart with over a million copies sold in its first week last year. "The impact of the album is all determined by the fans," the country star told the crowd, "and you've just given me another reason to be completely in love with you. Thank you so much!"

Justin Bieber took home the Digital Artist of the Year trophy, and embraced pop star girlfriend Selena Gomez when the award was announced. "I want to thank anybody who helped me get out of my hometown and live out my dream!" the pop star said.

Meanwhile, Taio Cruz, who topped the Hot 100 last year with "Break Your Heart" and "Dynamite," took home the Hot 100 Song of the Year trophy for "Dynamite," marking what the admittedly nervous singer described as "the first time I've ever received an award." Lady Antebellum followed by taking home the Country Song of the Year trophy for "Need You Now."

Beyonce Accepts Billboard Millennium Award,

Delivers Show-Stopping Performance

The Black Eyed Peas rocked the stage in futuristic attire with a high-octane medley of "Just Can't Get Enough," "The Time (Dirty Bit)," "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling," which was highlighted by an elaborate dance routine and Fergie attacking some impossibly high notes. Keith Urban followed with a performance of his country hit "Long Hot Summer" as wife Nicole Kidman watched on smiling.

The 2011 Billboard Music Awards will continue on ABC from Las Vegas with performances by Nicki Minaj, Lady Antebellum, Cee Lo Green, Taio Cruz, Far East Movement and Ke$ha, among others, while Neil Diamond will take the stage to deliver a not-to-be-missed performance.

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