The President Turns To Radio For Help

10-21-14

Sensing he sees the Senate slipping from the grasp of the Democrats, President Obama turned to radio Tuesday to try to turn out more voters. He appeared on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show and Al Sharpton's program Tuesday. He's called in to seven syndicated radio shows so far this week, mostly appealing to the African American community to get out the vote.

According to the AP, President Obama told Smiley, "We do not vote, unfortunately, in midterm elections at as high a rate as we do during presidential elections. I'll bet there are a whole bunch of folks listening to your show who may not even know that there's an election going on. I need everybody to go vote." Most political prognosticators are saying the Republicans have a good chance to take the Senate but many races are too close to call. Democratic candidates are snubbing the President in their hometowns which is part of the reason he's doing these interviews.

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The Breakfast Club Turns One

8-14-14

Congrats to DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and Charlamagne Tha God, also known as The Breakfast Club. The trio will celebrate their first full year on the air together with a live broadcast from V100.7 WKKV-FM in Milwaukee. WKKV PD Bailey Coleman said, ?WKKV was the first station in the country to broadcast The Breakfast Club as a syndicated morning show, and we?re proud to welcome them on their first visit to Milwaukee. Since their debut on WKKV in August of 2013, the ?BC? has changed the landscape of morning radio. With consistent top ratings, they have infused a new excitement into the Milwaukee-Racine market and, of course, with WKKV listeners!?

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Clear Channel Turns Pittsburgh Talker To Country

8-7-14 

After 10 years and eight months on the FM dial in Pittsburgh, another FM talker is moving back to AM. Clear Channel has flipped 104.7 to Country and Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck will now be heard on WJAS-AM 1320, owned by Frank Iorio's Pittsburgh Radio Partners. Iorio recently purchased the station from Tony Renda for $1 million. Clear Channel will kick "Big 104.7" off with 10,000 songs in a row and feature the Bobby Bones morning show.

Clear Channel Pittsburgh VP David Edgar said, "It's a great day for Pittsburgh country music fans as we launch Big 104.7, a fresh new take on country music. This station will give our listeners a front-row seat to country's biggest artists and concerts. Listeners will also enjoy waking up with The Bobby Bones Show and his unique and entertaining insight on country music. No one is closer to the heart of Nashville than Bobby Bones."

WJAS-AM owner Iorio said, "We're excited to debut a lineup of this caliber, which will make WJAS-AM 1320 the ultimate destination for News/Talk in Pittsburgh. We look forward to providing listeners with a range of the best Talk programming, news, information, and commentary." WJAS-AM was playing a nostalgia format for the past decade. Local DJs Jack Bogut and Bill Cardille said their goodbyes on the air this week and Chris Shovlin also lost his evening show.

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CMG Turns On An Alternative Translator In Orlando

6-18-14

Cox has launched a new Alternative format in Orlando on a translator using the FM dial position 107.3 FM (WCFB HD2). The new station, which launched Thursday at noon will feature 10,000 songs commercial-free. Cox is aiming directly at the 18-34 demo, featuring Alternative artists such as Imagine Dragons, Lorde, Bastille, Black Keys, and more. X107.3 will be the seventh station for the Cox Orlando cluster including WDBO-FM, WDBO-AM, WWKA, WMMO, WCFB, and WPYO.

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And Then Turns His Attention To The NAB

6-10-14

Portnow called the NAB's Local Radio Freedom Act, "nonsensical and nonbinding" and says the organization has run out of arguments and out of time. "The National Association of Broadcasters  has spent a lot of money lobbying to maintain their free ride. During each session of Congress, they spread myths that never stand up to any reasonable assessment of the facts. Congressional leaders from both parties are working on real legislation to resolve this issue. Any copyright reform simply must include a radio performance right." Portnow went on to counter every argument -- calling them myths -- the NAB has made to describe the relationship radio has with the music industry as one that benefits both. Portnow outlines his six NAB Myths...

NAB Myth: A performance right is a money-grab from record labels.
Fact: Artists would be the main beneficiaries of a performance right. Artists would receive 50 percent of royalties for their creative contributions, and an increasing number of artists are also copyright owners and would, therefore, get the other 50 percent too. When the performance right campaign launched, hundreds of artists signed on to join. This quest is about them.

NAB Myth: The campaign started because piracy hurt the record business, so record labels needed to look elsewhere for revenue.
Fact: Artists have been fighting for this basic right for nearly 90 years. Legends such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra have spoken on the issue. The renewed focus on the issue is a result of  "new" radio (Internet and satellite) paying this royalty, exposing the hypocrisy of exempting "old" radio from paying their fair share.

NAB Myth: Promotional support by radio creates a "symbiotic relationship" with artists.
Fact: Even by the NAB?s own (dubious) study, the benefit to radio outpaces the benefit to artists by 10 to 1. And any promotional effect would be taken into account by the rate-setting body. Internet and satellite radio also provide promotion, but pay a royalty. Further, a GAO study found "no consistent pattern between the cumulative broadcast radio airplay and the cumulative number of digital-single sales." Even Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman admitted that, "clearly [promotion] is not enough, or there wouldn't be a decades-long battle over [performance royalties]."

NAB Myth: The royalty would put small stations out of business.
Fact: The last legislation introduced on this subject exempted every small radio station and even medium-sized ones, requiring 75 percent of stations to pay as little as a few dollars a day for music.

NAB Myth: The free market is addressing the issue with private deals.
Fact: There is no "free" market when one side of the transaction does not have a right to its property. Without a performance right, there can be no "free" negotiations. And when a bill was introduced to create a free market where musicians would have a chance to negotiate for fair compensation (the Free Market Royalty Act), the broadcast lobby opposed it.

NAB Myth: A performance royalty is a tax.
Fact: In Civics 101, everyone learns that taxes go to the government. Paychecks go to people who provide goods or services for money. Performance royalties would not go to the government, but rather to those who created the sound recordings. Therefore, they are not a tax. This obvious point was made clearly in a letter signed by seven free-market organizations, including Americans for Tax Reform: "A performance royalty is not a tax?. Paying a private citizen or business for the use of their property is clearly not a tax."

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On A Dime Radio Turns To Help The Community

12-18-13

At 2:45 a.m. Tuesday morning there was an explosion in the Gate City community of Birmingham, Alabama, that would change the lives of several families forever. Two housing units were flattened in the explosion and a five-foot pile of rubble was all that remained of the two-story building you see here. The building had five bedrooms in each unit. One woman died, her fianc? was pulled from the rubble alive, but is in critical condition. In response to the devastation, Summit Media went into action quickly.

Summit's WBHJ 957-JAMZ and WBHK 987 KISS-FM broadcast live Tuesday and Wednesday to collect toiletries, Christmas toys, clothing items, and other necessities for the displaced families. As of late Wednesday, over $5,000 worth of items had been collected for the families. Promotions Director Deanna Reed told Radio Ink, "I can truly say that it is rewarding to work for a company that is so deeply rooted in the community and believes that charity starts at home. After all, this is what the holidays are about."

Market Manager David Dubose says, "This is what our folks do best: jump in and respond when people in our communities are hurting. Our team, led by Deanna Reed at  95.7 JAMZ and Jason Jones at 98.7 KISS-FM, quickly brought toys and gift baskets to the children taken to Children's Hospital and other children impacted. We also took personal kits with toiletries to all of the families. It's local radio at its best and you can never duplicate this relationship with Pandora or any other streaming audio service. None of this is possible without local disc jockeys, promotion staffs, and great program directors. All of this is why I still love radio."

(12/19/2013 2:58:57 AM)
It is a wounderfull thing to still have people out there who care.enough to help others like yourself,You have the first Baptist chuch of Jax. And a Jax.rentry prison just down the street hwyway 90 and they lelt them were rags for cloths, Thanks

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Acoustic Storm Turns 15

10-14-13
The weekend program Acoustic Storm, syndicated by United Stations Radio Networks, will celebrate its 15th anniversary, a milestone to be marked by a special broadcast October 26 and 27. Acoustic Storm, created and hosted by Jeff Parets, first signed on the air Sunday morning, October 25, 1998, as a local show on KSLX-FM in Phoenix. The program?s promise was to deliver acoustic-based rock and unplugged versions of well-known songs in concentrated blocks.

Each week, Acoustic Storm delivers to Classic Rock and Classic Hits stations a compendium of the softer side of the format, often highlighted by music programmed to a specific theme. The 15th anniversary edition of the program utilizes its own name and that weekend?s thematic show will feature songs with titles and lyrics related to storms.  This special edition of Acoustic Storm will include live, acoustic versions of Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road," Neil Young?s "Like a Hurricane," and James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," along with music from Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, Supertramp, and John Mellencamp. 

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The Big 89 Turns The Big 89 Today.

4-11-13

Some of the biggest names in Chicago radio will take part in a special broadcast tonight from historic Navy Pier to celebrate 89 years of WLS Radio. The Big 89 launched the careers of many celebrities, including Gene Autry, Larry Lujack and Bob Sirott. Other local personalities like Dick Biondi and John Records Landecker (pictured) are still heard on WLS-FM.

The First Broadcast: ?Hear Ye Hear Ye Hear Ye, WLS, The Sears Roebuck Station, is on the air.? Those first words by Edgar Bill, director and program manager, were broadcast on the evening of April 12, 1924 from the Sherman House Hotel in Chicago.  The WLS call letters were taken from the nickname ? World?s Largest Store ? for Sears-Roebuck's West Side Headquarters on Homan Avenue.   Today, 89 WLS ? a Cumulus Media station ? broadcasts from its State Street studios in the heart of Chicago?s Loop.

Roe Conn, co-host of the Roe & Roeper Show, will host the 89th Birthday Bash Broadcast featuring legendary 89 WLS broadcasters such as Dick Biondi, Catherine Johns and Wayne Messmer, with special birthday greetings from Larry Lujack, Jeff Hendrix, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Rep. Peter Roskam and Notre Dame Football Coach Brian Kelly. 

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will present WLS with a special proclamation.  WLS listeners and special guests at the event will celebrate with champagne toasts to 89 years, and dine on deserts of Eli?s Cheesecake. John Records Landecker said, ?When I got into radio I never expected one set of call letters to mean so much to me, and to so many listeners. WLS, The Big 89, truly is the 50,000 watt blow torch of the Midwest.?

(4/12/2013 4:23:00 AM)
Those lucky enough to hear the "Mr. Biondi" era will never forget radio as it once was

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Tom Kent Turns Five

3-15-13

Congratulations to The Tom Kent Radio Network which is celebrating 5 years on radio. March 16, 2008 TKRN began with 3 affiliates and is now over 400. Kent said, "From 3 stations to 408 stations in 5 years....our cup truly runneth over! We are both amazed and grateful."

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jacAPPS Turns 4

11-20-2012

It was four years ago that Tom Bender at Greater Media gave consultants Fred and Paul Jacobs a commitment to purchase a handful of station apps. This week their company, jacAPPS, will celebrate its 4th birthday. Those early products only contained two functions, the ability to stream five channels and an alarm clock. Since then jacAPPS has created 750 apps for every format in markets large and small.

Company President Fred Jacobs said, ?Because we?re so involved with radio at every level, we?ve been able to continue to push our apps to provide innovative functions that benefit broadcasters. Mobile apps for radio today look nothing like the earlier models. They not only contain great content, like news stories, blogs, podcasts, and events, they are now the digital hub of a user?s life, enabling easy sharing of a station?s content on Facebook, Twitter, email, and more.?

Paul Jacobs added, "We expect that four years from today, our apps won?t look anything like they do now, which is a good thing. Our latest apps for news stations incorporate mobile Web pages for content like live traffic and weather reports. Listeners of music stations post pictures and catch up on gossip. There are new revenue platforms that are exciting. And our sports apps provide a mobile platform for blogs, social sharing, videos, and showcasing unique local personalities.?

Congratulate Fred HERE and Paul HERE

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RadioSalesCafe.com Turns Three Years Old

5-21-2012

RadioSalesCafe.com is celebrating its third anniversary in May and giving away some very cool prizes in celebration. The grand prize is a one-year subscription to Roy Williams' Wizard of Ads LIVE, a $1440 value. RadioSalesCafe.com was conceived and developed by the staff of Grace Broadcast Sales (GBS), a longtime syndicator of short form radio features to help stations generate extra revenue for holidays, seasonal celebrations, and special events. Other prizes include voiceover sessions by top talents, books and periodicals including a subscription to Radio INK.    

With all the changes taking place in the radio industry and the boom in social networking, GBS account executive Rebecca Schwartz thought it would be helpful to provide her clients and other radio advertising sales professionals, managers, and station owners with a place where they could meet and interact other members of the radio advertising sales community, to discuss local trends in sales and marketing, share ideas for increasing ad sales, ask questions, address problems, and brainstorm for solutions.  Thus, RadioSalesCafe.com was born. 

Get more details HERE

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Entravision Turns Tropical in Orlando

It's called "Salsa 98.1" on Entravision's WNUE-FM in Orlando. Entravision Radio President Jeff Liberman made the announcement: ?As a leader in Spanish-language radio, we constantly seek to serve our listeners by enhancing our stations with popular formats and fresh talent to attract new listeners in our markets, further allowing advertisers to successfully reach their target audiences. We understood the need for an all-tropical format in the market and, with Orlando being one of the fastest-growing Hispanic markets in the U.S., we are committed to providing our listeners with this highly in-demand tropical music on Salsa 98.1 FM.?

The station flipped at noon today and on an improved signal that will reach approximately 1.7 million residents of Central Florida, an increase of approximately 300,000 potential new listeners and more than one million of whom will receive an even stronger signal than before.

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Santorum Turns to Radio After Bump in Iowa.

12-30-2011

Rick Santorum hopes to capitalize on his recent bump in the polls with a new radio ad airing in Iowa. It's Santorum's first paid media effort in the state since a poll released two days ago show the conservative former Senator leaping into third place among Republicans ahead of next Tuesday's caucuses. As Newt Gingrich starts to fade in the field of candidates, Santorum is hoping to make a run at Mitt Romney with in the seesaw battle for Iowa.

The Santorum ad is called "Best Chance and says the candidate is "rock solid on value issues like life, marriage and the right to own a gun. Santorum is also a favorite of the Tea Party for his efforts fighting corruption and taxpayer abuse in Washington." The ad closes by telling Iowa conservatives, who have long been fractured in the Republican race, that Santorum is a candidate "we can all unite behind."

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Radio Great Turns to Podcasting

by Brian Baltosiewich

For over four decades, Detroit radio and Dick Purtan (pictured) were nearly synonymous. Nationally, he has a collection of awards like ?Major Market Air Personality of the Year? (twice,) NAB?s Marconi Award and four times he received R&R?s Personality of the Year. His radio show has been included in the Museum of Radio and Television Broadcasting. Dick Purtan is as good as it gets in radio.

When he retired from the air in March of 2010, it?s safe to say there was a Purtan-shaped hole in the Detroit radio scene. Flash forward to the Fall of 2011, and Dick Purtan is a podcaster. The podcast really began, Purtan told me in an email interview, even before he retired. ?About six weeks before I left the air? Purtan said  ?I started getting flooded with calls and e-mails from listeners asking me not to hang up the headphones.  I was flattered, but after 45-plus years I was ready for a little sleep.  The whole website/podcast thing seemed like a logical way to stay connected with the listeners, keep the old grey matter working, and finally get to stay up past 9pm. It seemed like a good fit.?

As we?ve established, a podcast can be worlds apart from a terrestrial radio gig. Purtan and his co-podcasters (called Purtan?s People) record his podcast weekly at his dining room table. Purtan runs his own board, something he admits he had to get used to. ?Figuring out which plug goes in which hole... I always had an engineer for that.  And to be honest, I'm not used to broadcasting from my dining room.? The other major difference?

?Not having to play "My Baby Does The Hanky Panky" or any other song for that matter. There's part of me that keeps thinking I should go to weather and traffic - but I'm slowly getting used to that.  I occasionally go out and look at my driveway, but there aren't usually too many back-ups to report. The best part is not having to deal with a Program Director.?

As for his listeners, they?re finding the podcast and liking the new, unfettered Purtan Podcast. As Purtan told me, ?The reaction has been great. People are asking if we'll expand them to four hours long, five days a week.  As you can imagine, that schedule sounded too vaguely familiar to me.  I thought I had retired from that!  We have a very strong following on Facebook and that has really directed people to both my website, DickPurtan.com and our weekly podcasts. ?

As someone who has seen the industry change several times over in a four-decade career, Dick Purtan sees the writing on the wall, and admits that podcasting is not only approaching ?Next New Thing? status: It seems already to be ?the next thing" (although it?s not a big money maker.) On the plus side, it gives freedom not only to those of us doing it, but now people can choose when and where to listen.  They're not limited to the time they have driving to work... they can listen while they're working out or - if it's not one of our particularly funny ones - they can always use it to help them fall asleep.? New podcasts are uploaded on Fridays at DickPurtan.com.

Brian Baltosiewich has been a broadcast professional for more than 20 years.  His podcast website, www.radioexiles.com features professionally-produced podcasts from radio pro?s who have lost their gigs.Reach out to him at brian@radioexiles.com or through their twitter account @radioexiles and on Facebook at radioexiles.com

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Pittsburgh Mayor Turns to Radio to Inform The Public.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced he'll be taping weekly radio addresses and airing them on NewsRadio KDKA. They will also be streamed on the City?s web and social media sites. Director of News/Talk Programming for KDKA Marshall Adams told Radio Ink "This is a unique and very direct way for the mayor to get his message to the people of Pittsburgh. This address is very similar to President Obama's weekly media address. Mayor Bloomberg in New York does something similar, and former Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey did a weekly radio message too. Ideally we look forward on KDKA to being able to break news in his weekly addresses. Our mayor is very excited about this opportunity. If he chooses to run for re-election, we'll need to re-consider how we execute this under equal time rules.

?I am extremely excited to be given this opportunity to speak directly to citizens on topics that are important to them, such as the work we are doing to advance our City?s Third Renaissance,? Ravenstahl said. ?It is my goal that through these weekly addresses, our residents will not only become more aware of the work we are doing to improve their quality of life, but better understand the challenges that face City government.?

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