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After downing rum all night long, a cranky Phil Spector ordered House of Blues hostess Lana Clarkson to oust his own lady friend from the club because she ordered only water, the spurned woman testified yesterday + The fourth and final woman to allege that Phil Spector threatened her with a gun testified Thursday that she believes the music producer is giving money to her sister (read more - Michelle Caruso-NY Daily News)  (read more - Peter Y. Hong-LA Times)

Research Account Head, BBC Audio and Music, Jane Clancey, said U.K. Radio One’s success was due to its “rich schedule and content”. RAJAR figures also showed the ‘Digitally Enabled Universe’ is on the rise, now incorporating 58 per cent of the UK population – up from 55 per cent on three months previous (read more - UTalk Marketing U.K.)

From Kent Burkhart -- XM hired Online Testing of Culver City for audience estimates. I would hope that XM will eventually release some part of the Culver City information to the public when that project is completed + I have read or heard from many people regarding which Arbitron PPM numbers should be the keys to selling advertising. Some say daily cume over weekly cume, and AQH ratings and persons above projected shares. Well, it is too early for me to call for sure. I’ll have to see some more PPM’s to help me figure it out. You readers have any thoughts??? If so, I will print them. Just e-mail me  (read more - www.KentBurkhart.com)

Today KQV-AM (1410) is a respectable all-news station, but in its wilder youth, it was something else entirely. XM Satellite Radio will rewind and replay some of those memories today in a five-hour live tribute to the old KQV on Channel 6/The '60s, 4 to 9 p.m. Nonsubscribers can tune in online by signing up for a three-day free trial of the service at listen.xmradio.com. On Fridays, XM's '60s music channel features "Sonic Sound Salutes," a tribute to the classic Top 40 radio stations, from markets large and small. These sonic re-enactments mix '60s hits with air checks of well-known DJs, commercials, jingles, contests, local news and references to local happenings and clubs of the era (read more - Adrian McCoy-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

The air war for in-car listeners is spreading. As the satellite radio stations fight for subscribers, and as more drivers cue up their iPods with slick car-stereo interfaces, a new entrant has entered the drive-time marketplace: HD Radio. As HD Radio promises superior sound quality and subscription-free content, auto manufacturers like BMW and Jaguar are perking their ears (read more - Shane Kite-Forbes-MSNBC)

The Rockin’ ‘80s adds its newest affiliate, WFBZ-FM/ Lacrosse, WI, to its weekend lineup for the two hour version of the program

The Lionel Show debuts on Air America Radio starting on Monday, May 14th from 9am-Noon EST

When both XM and Sirius satellite radio launched less than a decade ago, they were instant archrivals. Coke and Pepsi had nothing on these two. Yankees and Mets are better buddies --  With so many viable options, such as iPods, HD Radio, and even streaming Internet radio and music on cell phones, the merger of XM and Sirius might not be big news for most people. But for those of us who passionately love our satellite radio, this is as big as Apple and Microsoft joining forces (read more - Leslie Shapiro-SCiFi Tech)

Net radio stations got a boost Thursday with the introduction of a new Senate bill that would block an aggressive increase in the copyright royalties webcasters pay to record labels (read more - Mark Sullivan-PC World)

ARBitron numbers for Albuquerque   Austin   Bakersfield   Baton Rouge   Colorado Springs   Des Moines   El Paso   Gainesville-Ocala   Grand Rapids   Jackson MS   Jacksonville   Johnson City-Kingsport   Little Rock   Madison   Mobile   Orlando   Shreveport   Wichita (read 'em)

From Lee Abrams -- Another new FM out there trying some new things. Lone Star 92.5 in Dallas. Formerly KZPS, possibly the worst Classic Rock station in Texas history  They completely f - - - ed up a franchise by being the only Classic Rocker...and blowing it. Typical. They literally blew those 300 songs SO into the ground that is painfully boring --add to that the lame production and every cliché in the book and they simply bored the market to death. Literally. I remember going in and talking to them years ago and they just didn't get it. IT being that they served an audience not a Classic Rock playbook. What was REALLY frustrating is that the guys on the staff knew what to do but were scared to do anything about it. I can't blame the guys running the station--good guys, but they were strapped by the system (read more - Lee Abrams)

HE IS the morning DJ who sharply divides the nation - some loathe him, others cannot start the day without his motormouth style. But Chris Moyles yesterday cemented his own boast to be the saviour of Radio 1 after figures revealed more than seven million people now tune in for his breakfast show (read more - Fergus Sheppard-The Scotsman U.K.)

Neal Boortz will keynote Conclave 007-Radio Under Construction on Friday, June 29 at the Marriott City Center Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota (visit www.TheConclave.com)
 

93.3 WMMR is putting Philly first by teaming up with the Northeast Auto Outlet to help Project H.O.M.E. – a non-profit organization fighting Homelessness and poverty in Philadelphia with midday host Pierre Robert (read more - WMMR)

Dave Graveline and the Into Tomorrow team are featuring tech news and info you can't live without and This Week in Tech History with Chris Graveline on Sunday's show  (visit Graveline.com)

Yohan "JP" Perez has joined Miami's Power 96 WPOW-FM in the 6 to 10 p.m. slot as weekday personality

Thursday May 10, 2007

The producer of Luis Jimenez's popular morning radio show, which is currently between stations in New York, says Jimenez will be "analyzing and revamping" the show in the wake of a 30-day suspension for a song parody that insulted lesbians (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily  News)

They'll be dancing seven nights a week on "Nine FM," the Newsweb Corp. simulcast combo of WDEK-FM (92.5), WKIE-FM (92.7) and WRZA-FM (99.9) + Rick Kaempfer, a former Chicago radio producer who now oversees a couple of lively media blogs, has just written a notable new book, $everence + Mike Elder, the highly regarded former director of operations and programming at ABC-owned news/talk WLS-AM (890), has been promoted to vice president of Fox News Talk (read more - Robert Feder-Chicago Sun-TimesO

Talk radio is rarely a placid segment of the business, but the past few months have been especially tumultuous for the format. What's going on here? Are events reflective of (or even driving) broader changes in talk radio? To some in the business, there is a broad linking issue: "It's freedom of speech," says BJ Shea, morning host at KISW-FM (99.9). "What bothers me is we're regulating speech beyond what people find obscene" (read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI)

A trio of researchers at Indiana University just came out with a report comparing radio and TV talk-show host Bill O'Reilly (heard locally on KFMB-AM) to the infamous "radio priest" Father Coughlin.  It's not because O'Reilly supports similar causes as Coughlin. Instead, the academics argue that the two men share a similar style. According to their study of the commentaries that lead off the daily "No Spin Zone" show, O'Reilly called a person or a group a derogatory name an average of once every 6.8 seconds ---- more than Coughlin did. Worse, O'Reilly relies on rhetorical techniques such as stacking the cards against the opposition, appealing to "plain folks" and urging people to follow the "bandwagon" (read more - Randy Dotinga - NC Times)

Chris Albrecht's 22-year career at HBO came to an abrupt end Wednesday as a weekend arrest in Las Vegas for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend led to an admission he suffered from alcoholism, and then a published report that this dust-up might not have been unprecedented for him (read more - Phil Rosenthal-Chicago Tribune)

Salem Communications announced results for the three month period ended March 31 (read more - Business Wire)

Apparently, somebody in Baltimore isn't a fan of Rush Limbaugh. A large billboard advertising local air times for the conservative radio talk-show host has been defaced (read more -Nicole Fuller-Baltimore Sun)

Joost, the world’s first broadcast-quality Internet television service, announced that five selected parties have collectively invested approximately $45 million in the company. Each party invested in a minority percentage of the company. This funding will enable Joost www.joost.com to accelerate product development, global expansion, localization, and service offerings

The Network Division of American Media Services-Internet has launched 20 new online “multi-channel” formats designed for broadcasters to stream highly targeted and locally branded content to their online audience. Three of the 20 launched this week include  50s Radio Gold (50sradiogold.com) - 60s Radio Gold (60sradiogold.com) - 70s Radio Gold (70sradiogold.com)  (read more - American Media Services-Internet)

ARBitron numbers for Charleston SC   Chattanooga   Columbia SC   Greensboro-Winston Salem   Greenville-Spartanburg   Harrisburg-Lebanon   Knoxville   NOrfolk-Virginia Beach   Raleigh-Durham   Richmond   Tulsa   York (read 'em)

Q: Rob of New Berlin - Good Wednesday, Tim. Do you anticipate a lawsuit from the Charlie Sykes camp against Michael McGee for his statements implying that Charlie had "something to do" with his mothers' death? I realize his other comments are disgusting, but covered by our First Amendment. However, you can't publicly accuse someone of a crime without some possible repercussions, can you? Thanks.
A: Tim Cuprisin - Hi Rob, and everybody and thanks for signing on for the May cyberchat. JS Online is cranky today, so I apologize for any technical glitches, but let's try getting this going with Rob's question. I doubt that there will be a lawsuit, although I don't have any inside info. And I strongly doubt that there's any chance to win such a suit (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

From Murphy Martin -- We were glad to learn this week that we were not the only people concerned about the deluge of weather reports we see and hear on radio and television these days. There can be something seven-hundred-miles off the California coast and these people who take six or seven minutes to report what they should in only three-minutes will start saying what that thing off the coast is going to do in Texas next weekend.  Better cancel that weekend trip to Grandma's place, or, the lake, or that Rangers game. Weather is going to be a problem IF that stuff off the California coast stays on it's present path (read more - www.MurphyMartin.com)

Give WPLJ radio's Brad Blanks a hand. As the roving reporter for "Scott & Todd in the Morning," Blanks got former Playboy Playmate Kelly Monaco to diss "Dancing With the Stars." Now he's topped that feat. Tuesday night, he got Lindsay Lohan to autograph his breast. Yes, his breast. Scott Shannon and Todd Pettengill offered $1,000 if Blanks could get Lohan to sign his boob (read more -NY Daily News)

Is the FCC DOA? Is there are role for the Federal Communications Commission in the 21st century? All this week, Glenn Reynolds and Robert McChesney debate the future of media in the LA Times (read more - LA Times)

DJ Chris Moyles has attracted a record audience to his BBC Radio 1 show, according to new listening figures (read more - BBC News U.K.)

Imus is a caregiver too. He raised millions via his radio show and the MSNBC simulcast for his New Mexico ranch that invites about 100 children with cancer, blood disorders or those who have lost siblings to sudden infant death syndrome to stay for a week. Some say that Imus put autism and SIDS on the map -- or at least had them taken more seriously by policy makers -- but I think it's really sad that medical conditions that affect millions have to be highlighted by shock jocks (read more - Alex Cukan-C-SPAN)

WLW 700 AM has taken down billboards that upset Hispanic leaders, and it posted a statement of regret on its Web site.
Billboards for WLW-AM, Cincinnati's radio ratings leader, depicted a Mexican flag, a donkey, and a mustachioed man in a sombrero with the headline "The Big Juan." The station calls itself "The Big One." WLW-AM General Manager Chuck Frederick said all billboards had been taken down. The station had no comment beyond its statement (read more - Akron Beacon Journal)  (read more - Brad Kava-Mercury News)

Samsung plans to introduce a new HD Radio chipset in 2008. The low-power, high-performance chip is targeting a range of applications, including mobile phones and portable media players

I was drawn to Rich Duprey's "Why Satellite Radio Will Fail" article like a moth to a flame war. Even though my once-bullish perspective on satellite radio has started to fade of late, I wasn't ready to suit up as a pallbearer for the heavy coffins of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio (read more - Rick Aristotle Munarriz-Motley Fool)

HDNet will produce and finance fifteen new episodes of the original, half-hour improv comedy series, Sports Action Team. MGM will exclusively handle the worldwide television distribution of the series that follows the antics of a hapless team of reporters who cover the national sports beat

News Talk 820 WBAP and Nokia Theatre present The Sean Hannity Freedom Concert August 14, 2007 at NOKIA Theatre at Grand Prairie. Hannity, Levin and North, along with WBAP personalities like Hal Jay and Mark Davis, will host a special concert featuring the CMA award winning country music duo, Montgomery Gentry and the country music singer-song writer, Lee Greenwood

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary "Sicko," The Associated Press has learned (read more - Newsday)

As a guy who builds audiences by inflaming political differences, Limbaugh has more in common with Sharpton than with Obama. Birds of a feather mock together. Imus' targets, by contrast, weren't rich, famous, powerful or political. He's entitled to free speech rights, but the First Amendment only protects you from government interference, not from losing sponsors or embarrassing your employer. Limbaugh's target is a wildly popular presidential candidate, which is precisely the sort of political expression that the First Amendment was written to protect. I may not agree with Limbaugh's politics, but he has a right to express them. Besides, if the potentates of political correctness come after Limbaugh from the left today, they'll come after liberals tomorrow (read more - Clarence Page-Chicago Tribune)

Looking to profit directly from the growing market for music downloads, Disney (DIS) has launched an online store for kid-focused singles, albums and music videos. Disney Mix Central - disneymixcentral.com - initially will offer about 1,500 songs and 19 music videos from Disney stars such as Hannah Montana and The Cheetah Girls (read more - Laura Petrecca-USA Today)

Glenn Beck's special, "Exposed: Climate of Fear," was a commercial flop, finishing dead last in total viewers among CNN, Headline News, Fox News, and MSNBC programs that night. The weak showing simply highlighted Beck's recent, albeit little-discussed, ratings woes (read more - Media Matters)

Bid4Spots has expanded to the U.K., creating a third distinct marketplace for its reverse auction model for last-minute radio airtime. Having successfully established itself in the U.S. terrestrial radio market and the emerging Internet radio sector, Bid4Spots’ expansion across the Atlantic inserts it into the £800 million market of the U.K. (visit Bid4Spots.com)

Wednesday May 9, 2007

The national watchdog for broadcast ethics is reviewing whether Councillor Bob Bratina crossed the line by talking politics on his morning radio show. A public complaint about comments made by the downtown politician on CHML was sent to the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council (CBSC) in March (read more - Nicole Macintyre-Hamilton Spectator CA)

The firing of Don Imus hasn’t curbed crude remarks by many talk radio hosts, the New York Times reported (read NY Times article). The paper monitored nearly 250 hours of shock-talk radio broadcasts from a dozen shows. Its finding: "Gay men and lesbians, and women and Muslims, among others, were frequent targets of ridicule; coarse, sexually explicit banter, particularly descriptions of anal and oral sex, proliferated. . .; and meanness appeared to be a job prerequisite" (read more - Wichita Eagle Op/Ed)

ARBitron numbers for Albany   Birmingham   Charlotte-Gastonia   Fresno   Memphis   Nashville   Oklahoma City   Rochester NY   Sacramento   San Antonio   Toledo (read 'em)

Going conservative doesn't necessarily pay. WYTS (1230 AM) found out the hard way after it switched from a liberal/progressive format to a mainly conservative one in December (read more - Tim Feran-Columbus Post-Dispatch)

Studs Terkel's 95th birthday next week will be celebrated with a day of programming devoted to him on the station he long called his radio home + Now that she's lost her seat in the Chicago City Council, could Dorothy Tillman be throwing her hat into the radio ring? + Natalie Moore, former city hall reporter for the Detroit News, has been hired as a reporter at Chicago Public Radio WBEZ-FM (read more - Robert Feder-Chicago Sun-Times)

CBS-owned KWLI-FM (92.5), which last fall changed its country music format from classic to current (Patsy Cline was replaced by Faith Hill), jumped into a three-way tie for eighth position in the winter Arbitron audience rating survey. A year ago The Wolf, formerly known as "Willie" wasn't even in the top 15 (read more - Dusty Saunders-Rocky Mountain News)

Most radio people say if fired WFAN morning host Don Imus goes to court with CBS Radio to collect on the rest of his contract - $40 million, with treble damages bringing it to $120 million - he will win. For anyone wondering where "the line" of good taste falls in radio, it's somewhere this side of recent remarks by former Milwaukee alderman Mike McGee on WNOV there (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)

From Bridge Ratings -- Cell phone pervasiveness will be a significant contributor to the success of cell phone radio.  In fact, today cell phone technology is the only audio-capable technology that could approach traditional radio's market penetration (currently at 93% or 276 million Americans who listen to terrestrial radio at least once a week) (read more - Bridge Ratings)

For years, no audio maker dared compete with Bose in the space. That was back when the Smashing Pumpkins were still big. In this decade, the proliferation of new formats such as MP3s, satellite radio, Internet radio, and now HD Radio, has left Bose struggling to decide what consumers of high-end audio really want (read more - KIRO TV 7)

Cox Radio said Wednesday its first-quarter profit slipped 4 percent because of increases in salaries, pension benefits and some programming costs (read more - Yahoo Finance)

Cumulus Media today reported financial results for the three months ended March 31 (read more - Cumulus)

A Radio One U.K. DJ has mocked Preston live on air. Sara Cox, 32, told Radio One listeners on her afternoon show on Tuesday that before the Radio One Big Weekend came to the city, it was best known for it's "animal feed". It isn't the first controversial comment the star has made - her most famous boob was in August 2000 when she said live on air the Queen Mother "smelt of wee" and was reported to have been very close to losing her job (read more - Lancashire Evening Post U.K.)

Nationally award-winning journalist, author, commentator and radio host, Roland S. Martin (l), joined T.D. Jakes (r) in Premiere Radio’s New York City studios last Sunday.  Martin played host during a live, commercial free, two-hour special. Empowering Moment with T.D. Jakes is a 60 second syndicated program that runs on more than 100 stations (photo-Premiere Radio)

Howard Stern sidekick Benjy Bronk stepped out of his "shtick coma" long enough to win $20,000 in the "Battle of the Blobs," a two-month contest between the show's overweight men to see who could lose the highest percentage of body weight (read more - Page Six)

Eric Logan who is a VP from XM satellite radio said, “Listen…I wish we were a profitable business, believe me!”  Given that XM pays 90 million dollars for their FCC licensing (while terrestrial radio gets theirs for free) and also launched a huge infrastructure of satellites, their costs are already astronomical -  with changes in legislation they are only going to get higher (read more - Blog Critics Magazine)

The Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, has axed foreign affairs magazine show A World in Your Ears after nine years on the network - to the consternation of the show's originator and its presenter, Rosie Goldsmith (read more - The Guardian Unlimited U.K.)

Starbucks, which already pipes in XM Satellite Radio music to thousands of its stores, will sell a new CD produced by XM with music from the company's blues channel (read more - Washington Biz Journal)

More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show.
Everyone has a theory to explain the plummeting ratings. CBS' "Evening News With Katie Couric" last week drew the smallest audience since September 1987, according to Nielsen Media Research. CBS wasn't alone in reaching a new low: NBC's "Nightly News With Brian Williams" also hit a 20-year-low with its target audience of 25- to 54-year-old viewers. And ABC's "World News With Charles Gibson" hit its second-lowest number with the 25-54 crowd since 1987(read more - Richard Huff-NY Daily News)

From John Rook -- Citing radio talk show hosts are Islamophobic, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has been successful in silencing their critics at ABC’s WMAL in the nation’s capitol and Clear Channel’s KFI in Los Angeles under the pressure of an advertising boycott orchestrated by CAIR.  Growing tired of it all, hopefully a majority of Americans will soon begin to protest protesters (read more - www.JohnRook.com)

Nancy Grace is leaving Court TV at the end of the summer to concentrate on her prime-time show on CNN Headline News. CNN was good enough to provide the following quote attributed to a "Court TV spokesperson": "We have agreed to let her out of her contract"  (read more - Ben Widdicombe-NY Daily News)  (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

Fisher Communications-owned KOMO/4 stunned its newsroom by pink-slipping three of its veteran reporters Monday morning. Kevin Reece, Joe Furia, and North Puget Sound reporter April Zepeda were let go without warning and, curiously, in the middle of the May ratings-sweep period (read more - Melanie McFarland-Seattle PI)

Michael K. Kincaid has been named President, Sales, CBS RADIO, effective next Monday, it was announced today by Dan Mason, President and CEO of the division

Michael W. Perry and Larry Price still have the No. 1 morning show on top-rated KSSK-FM 92.3, but another station has beaten KSSK's overall rating in a key demographic (read more - Erika Engle-Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

From The Radio Babe -- Dear Readers: It was an honor for Radio Babe to attend the Federal Communications Commission public hearing on media consolidation and ownership in Tampa a week ago. She got hooked on every word of the 71/2 hours of public testimony (read more - Dawn Scire-The Radio Babe)

There's no going back now. So take a moment to contemplate the future of internet and radio advertising sales.
The reality is that you still haven't seen a splinter of how radio ad sales and response measurement is going to play out (read more - Audio Graphics)

Trinity Broadcasting Network will be the first faith-based television network to offer a dedicated High Definition channel beginning in the fourth quarter of 2007 (read more - Click Press)

Why aren't more stations in the top 50 markets joining the fight against the royalties increase for on-line streaming? Unless you have personally made certain that your signal penetrates each major office building everywhere from downtown to the outer reaches, suddenly (as the listener would interpret) you could lose potentially thousands of "work day" listeners to the competition. The larger cities have the dense downtown office building areas which wreak havoc on many an FM and AM signal (read more - Steve Eyre)

The Web Marketing Association will once again name the Best Radio Web site of 2007. The Web Marketing Association is calling for entries for its 11th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at www.07webaward.org

Judging by the words of Will Tieman, loyal listeners of Grand Haven radio station WGHN (92.1 FM, 1370 AM) can expect broadcast as usual (read more -  Bill Iddings-Muskegon Chronicle)

94.7 WCSX is working with Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County to complete the "WCSX House That Classic Rock Built" in Pontiac. WCSX will be broadcasting live from the building site on Wednesday and Friday of this week (read more - WCSX)

Due to a year-ago sale, first quarter profit fell 98 percent at Spanish Broadcasting System, even though revenue rose 3 percent (read more - South Florida Biz Journal)

Honolulu radio personality Larry Price apologized yesterday for race-related comments he made last week in an on-air interview with state Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser (read more - KPUA 1360)

Michael W. Perry and Larry Price, KSSK Radio’s dynamic morning duo, dominate the Hawaii morning airwaves with a remarkable 25 percent share of the listening audience (read more Malia Zimmerman- Hawaii Reporter)

Tuesday May 8, 2007

The $28 billion leveraged buyout of radio giant Clear Channel Communications, which appeared dead in the water last week, has been revived after influential shareholders voiced their displeasure with the board's hasty rejection of a sweetened offer from Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners (read more - Zachery Kouwe-NY Post)

Radio isn't exactly rocking nowadays. It's a 100-year-old technology, and many operators cling to tired ways of doing business. Financial results have been about as flat as an old 45: Total revenues for U.S. radio stations, at around $20 billion, have increased less than 1 percent over the past six years. Enter Joe Schwartz, 54, the founder of Cherry Creek Radio a three-year-old firm in Denver. Schwartz buys underperforming stations in small communities, mostly in the American West. He encourages each newly acquired station to focus on community news and interests (read more - Justin Martin-FSB Magazine)

A long-gone era in the history of Chicago's radio and recording industries will be fondly recalled today. Starting at 3 p.m., denizens of Chicago's "Music Row" -- the once vibrant stretch of record studios and promotion offices on South Michigan Avenue -- will reunite for the first time + Middays are realigned at NextMedia Group's north suburban news/talk WKRS-AM (1220) + Veteran radio newsman Jim Frank will be saluted Wednesday by the Chicago City Council. A resolution in his memory will be introduced by Ald. Edward M. Burke (read more - Robert Feder-Chicago Sun-Times)

ARBitron numbers for Dayton   Honolulu   Indianapolis   Las Vegas   Louisville   New Orleans   Omaha-Council Bluffs   Phoenix   Portland OR   Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo   Tucson (read 'em)

Rush Limbaugh's parody song is really riffing on reports that Al Sharpton is jealous of Obama's success. Chris Burrows posted a question on the CBS13 website during the morning show Monday, asking viewers if they thought the parody song 'Barak the Magic Negro' was racist. Hours later, it was the center of heated commentary for controversial radio host Rush Limbaugh, who has been playing the parody on his radio show. "KOVR must have just heard about 'Barak the Magic Negro'," Limbaugh said (read more - CBS 13 Sacramento)  (read more - David Hinckley-NY Daily News)  (read more - EurWeb)  (read more - Media Matters) (read more - Michael P. Tremoglie-NewsByUs)

WIGL 93.9 FM, once one of Miller Communication’s two “Bad Dog” classic rock stations, is now known as “Radio Ritmo” – a 24-hour Spanish-language station (read more - Gene Zaleski-The Orangeburg SC Times and Democrat)

Suzyn Waldman's call of Roger Clemens' triumphant return on WCBS radio Sunday already has taken its place as a Yankees classic, alongside many of the vocal stylings of her partner, John Sterling.. Whether you heard it live, through MLB.com or on numerous TV and radio replays, it was undeniably entertaining, arguably unprofessional and singularly wacky (read more - Neil Best-Newsday)

The results of a recent Gallup "likability" poll that rated the three main networks' news showed ABC's Charles Gibson with a 62 percent positive vote, followed by NBC's Brian Williams (59 percent) and CBS' Katie Couric (51 percent) (read more - Dusty Saunders-Rocky Mountain News)

It was one of the biggest business news events of the year, the kind that The Wall Street Journal would typically pursue aggressively. But Paul E. Steiger, the paper’s top editor who knew of Mr. Murdoch’s offer, decided not to publish any news of it, according to people inside of Dow Jones who were briefed on the situation. As a result, The Journal was beaten on its own story when the bid was first reported last Tuesday on the financial news channel CNBC; The Journal posted its version soon after. That day, Dow Jones’s stock rose to $58.47, a gain of more than 50 percent (read more - Andrew Ross Sorkin and Richard Perez Pena-NY Times)

Citadel Broadcasting Corporation reported its results for the first quarter of 2007 (read more - Business Wire)

Three radio stations owned by Saga Communications finished on top of the winter Arbitron ratings among a key listener group. While it's lost some listeners, WHQG-FM (102.9) - better known as "The Hog" - remains No. 1 among 25- to 54-year-olds (read more - Tim Cuprisin-Milwaukee JS)

From Jacobs Media -- Radio continues to grapple with how to approach the programming of its HD2 channels. Some stations have actually thought out the process, and have devoted some time and resources to these secondary channels that the HD Alliance is heavily marketing. Most others, however, have simply loaded a couple hundred songs in a hard drive, and assigned scheduling, voice drops, and other housekeeping issues to part-timers (read more - Jacobs Media)

Bob Schieffer will speak at the Great Communicators Luncheon -- a benefit for the Columbus Speech & Hearing Center in honor of Chuck White, former public-affairs director at WBNS-TV (Channel 10) -- Wednesday in the Greater Columbus Convention Center (read more - Tim Feran-Columbus Dispatch)

The 30-second spot still lives on TV, but it doesn't appear long for the Internet. Yesterday, NBC Universal became the first big-media player to limit the length of ads that run before online-video clips. Starting July 1, advertisers will have to keep their spots to 15 seconds or less (read more - Holly M. Sanders-NY Post)

While DJs have been spinning discs on the Web for well over a decade, Internet radio, at least commercially speaking, has only recently begun to move the needle. No longer a technically clumsy novelty, more people seem to be listening to radio online (read more - Brad Spirrison-Chicago Sun-Times)

Although Entercom continues to pay dividends and buy back shares, that doesn't seem to be enough to console the investors who are growing queasy about radio's growth prospects (read more - Alyce Lomax-Motley Fool)

Ty Pennington, host of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol and drugs while driving, reports TMZ.com + Verizon Wireless has dropped its sponsorship of Gwen Stefani's tour because of opening act Akon. The singer/rapper was videotaped performing simulated sex onstage with a 15-year-old girl at a Trinidad concert in April, garnering criticism from fans and the prime minister of Trinidad, Patrick Manning (read more - Rush and Molloy-NY Daily News)

The competition was fierce, but a song by Nineties star Des’ree has been voted the worst ever pop lyric. “I don’t want to see a ghost/It’s the sight that I fear most/I’d rather have a piece of toast/Watch the evening news,” she sings on Life. It was the runaway winner in a listener poll for BBC6 Music’s Marc Riley show (read more - Ireland Online U.K.)

Although most U.S. adults have a cell phone, a computer and Internet access, a study says only a small percentage are participating in Web 2.0 activities. Pew found in a survey that 73 percent of U.S. adults own a cell phone, 68 percent have a desktop computer, 30 percent possess a laptop, and 73 percent connect to the Internet, but that very few use them to express themselves publicly via Web 2.0 applications (read more - Candace Lombardi-ZD Net)

Almost 50 years later, Frankie Avalon's work is enjoying a digital renaissance, thanks to Apple Inc.'s iTunes, RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody and other online stores and subscription services. "In the world before digital music, it was very difficult to find my stuff," Avalon said. "Now anybody can find anything" (read more - Alana Semuels-LA Times)

Westwood One says that The Dennis Miller Show is now airing on more than 100 stations across America, in all 10 of the top 10 markets

The September Fund, created by The Corey and Jay Show, will award $6,000 in scholarships in an upcoming ceremony planned for May 31. College-bound sons and daughters of firemen, law enforcement officers, and emergency medical technicians are eligible for the one-time scholarship, which this year will present $1,000 to six recent high school graduates from around Arkansas who were chosen as this year’s recipients by The September Fund Board

WOGL 98.1-FM is searching for “The Ultimate Mom” and is askinglisteners to go to www.wogl.com to nominate their favorite mother (read more - Laura Nachman-Philly Burbs)

Clear Channel pushed back a shareholder vote on a proposed $19.4 billion buyout of the company on Monday, saying it was in talks with private equity bidders regarding a revised bid (read more - CNN Money)

From Happy Hare --  I have told you the story of how my emceeing of the network big band remotes from Mafia Don Sam Maceo’s Balinese Room were my ticket to Hollywood.
Jan Garber, the high society band leader, with Maceo’s prodding, contacted his friend, Don Fedderson, the VP/GM of KLAC in Hollywood, asking him to listen to me on the network shows. Fedderson liked what he heard and summoned me to Hollywood, in my mind, one of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. I had no idea that Jan, a reputed “square,” wielded such influence in hip Hollywood. He came to play the Balinese in early 1949, and things happened for me in a hurry. The KLAC deal was set ... (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Not only are "The Big Juan" billboards coming down, but the Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA is demanding a written apology and an explanation for the campaign. Chamber Board President Alfonso Cornejo hand-delivered a protest letter to WLW-AM last week about the "hateful campaign." He says Chuck Frederick, Clear Channel market manager, said all 82 billboards would be down by Tuesday (read more - John Kiesewetter-Cincy Enquirer)

Gretchen Wilson's One of the Boys will premier on HD Radio station GRETCHEN 99.9 on May 9-- six days before its in-store release date. Wilson is the inspiration and on-air spokesperson for the station, which multicasts from Beasley's KISS Country WKIS-FM in Miami

On Friday, June 29 at Conclave 007 – Radio Under Construction, the Marriott City Center in Minneapolis will become the location for some amazing PPM revelations in a fact-filled and surprise-laden session entitled “Arbitron Presents Programming Through the PPM Lens,” hosted by Arbitron Vice-President Programming Services and Development, Gary Marince (read more - visit www.TheConclave.com)

On the radio, Janet Snyder is all pop culture. The morning host on Kiss 98.5, she knows what is happening with Britney, Paris, Justin. Snyder made broadcasting history by being the first woman in the country to host a radio morning show (read more - Jane Kwiatkowski-Buffalo News)

Big D and Bubba’s “Free Car Friday” contest kicked off last Friday with Kelly Rowley of Cincinnati, Ohio, winning the first of four certified pre-owned vehicles from Ford and Lincoln/Mercury. Listeners can visit www.BigDandBubba.com through May 23 to submit their stories about how a car would greatly improve their life

Don Hallett has been appointed program director for Beasley's Star 102.7 80's, 90's NOW KSTJ-FM in Las Vegas

As advanced technologies in marine audio systems become increasingly popular, new-boat owners are more likely to subscribe to satellite radio than new-vehicle owners, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Marine Audio Report released today (read more - Earth Times)

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