Tag Archives: radio

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Steve Dahl vs. CBS Radio

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Disco sucks.Over on his blog, WTFF=What the !#@% factor, GLONO friend and contributor DJ Murphy eulogizes Chicago disc-jockey Steve Dahl, who was just fired by CBS Radio.

I really enjoyed his show; I had been a big fan since discovering that he had Buzz Killman and Wendy Snyder as his co-hosts. Both Buzz and Wendy were seasoned Chicago jocks who I’d enjoyed, and their presence coaxed me into listening to Steve. Before that, I honestly thought that the Steve and Garry show was kind of flat, and definitely more mean-spirited at times than I usually liked. But with Buzz and Wendy, Steve’s humor was less cruel; it was a bunch of old friends who’d worked together for years at The Loop (WLUP-FM) now in a new venue. I really liked the easy humor, the fact that they all knew Chicago well, and that in a lot of ways, I could see them as just regular folk like myself. I became a fan.

Dahl, of course, is most famous for his 1979 Disco Demolition event at Comiskey Park. Good times.

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Some People Still Listen to Radio

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Who knew? According to the New York Times, people are listening to a lot less radio than they were ten years ago. It surprises me that they’re still listening at all. But apparently, radio has slipped a lot more when it comes to college graduates:

Over the last decade, college graduates ages 25-54, who make up an increasingly large portion of the population, have abandoned radio eight times faster than nongraduates. Today, they listen to 15 hours and 45 minutes of radio a week, while their peers without degrees listen to 21 hours and 15 minutes weekly.

A pointless graphic in the piece points out that weekly radio listening has decreased 240 minutes among folks with a degree while it’s only decreased 30 minutes among non-graduates. The article blames the discrepency on the types of jobs people do, but I wonder how much it has do with iPods…

How many hours of radio do you listen to per week? I’d estimate that I listen to approximately one hour of commercial radio per week. If you include NPR, it probably jumps to 10-12 hours per week. I listen to my iPod approximately 25-30 hours per week.

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Justice Department OKs XM-Sirius merger

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Looks like you satellite radio owners are one step closer to expanding your channel selection. The Justice Department today approved the merger of XM and Sirius more than a year after the two companies announced their plans to join forces.

According to the CNN report, the Department of Justice determined that an XM-Sirius merger was not anti-competitive because of the proliferation of other media outlets like the Internet, mp3 players, etc.

“Since we determined that there was no competition between the companies, we did not need to set any conditions as such,” said Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett during a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon.

The FCC has yet to weigh in.

It’s unclear how the merger would affect pricing or content offerings, but the companies said last year that they would be willing to offer a so-called “a la carte” price plan where consumers could pick certain packages for less money.

You XM subscribers better get ready for some Ba Ba Booey!

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Year End Radio Charts

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Top Alternative Songs

1 WHAT I’VE DONE Linkin Park (Warner Bros.) 52,172 plays

2 PARALYZER Finger Eleven (Wind-up) 50,803

3 FOREVER Papa Roach (El Tonal/Geffen) 46,853

4 BREATH Breaking Benjamin (Hollywood) 44,255

5 ICKY THUMP The White Stripes (Third Man/Warner Bros.) 42,899

6 FACE DOWN The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (Virgin) 41,823

7 FROM YESTERDAY 30 Seconds To Mars (Immortal/Virgin) 37,852

8 PAIN Three Days Grace (Jive/Zomba) 35,864

9 HEY THERE DELILAH Plain White T’s (Fearless/Hollywood) 35,389

10 SNOW ((HEY OH)) Red Hot Chili Peppers (Warner Bros.) 34,080

Alternative to what-was-that-again?

More 2007 year-end radio play charts.

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FCC: More Indie on the Radio

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FCC proposal could end payola probe: “Sources said that radio station groups would be required to set aside a certain amount of airtime for music produced independently. […] It was unclear how the airtime deal would work and what would qualify as ‘independently produced’ music, but the sources said that some of the commissioners are concerned about the major labels’ ability to dominate the airwaves.”

Think there’s any chance that this could actually make commecial radio listenable?

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Clear Channel Bought Out for $19 Billion

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Not sure exactly what this will mean for the future of radio, but Clear Channel was bought out for $19 billion from private equity firms.

Tidbits from Bloomberg:

• “The company also plans to sell 448 of its 1,150 radio stations and all of its 42 television stations.”

• “The company lost more than 60 percent of its market value since 2000…”

• “Now the company plans to sell almost 40 percent of its radio stations. None of those are in the top 100 U.S. markets and the assets represent less than 10 percent of revenue.”

• “The deal leaves current executives in charge of the company, including Mark Mays and his brother Randall Mays, 41, who is chief financial officer.”

• New owners “Lee and Bain have been buyers of media companies before… [They] partnered with Providence to buy Warner Music Group…”

Guessing this is just another “same as the old boss” type of scenario. But who knows?

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Bob Dylan: Blowin’ in the Ether

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Forever Young: Photographs of Bob DylanWhen a public personality who doesn’t have some physical impairment yet otherwise can’t get much of a job in the public eye finds him- or herself in this sitatuion and thinks that eating and paying the rent are good thing, that person tends to go to something like “Dancing With the Stars” or one of those lemming-like shows on VH1. It may be pathetic. But it pays the bills.

A newer venue for those whose star is fading is satellite radio. Seemingly, those Space Cadet Companies have an endless source of money to match their bandwidth. They’ve discovered that it is necessary to find any and all means to fill in the time that people are paying for who otherwise might just say “screw it” and turn on a terrestrial system, especially those who have discovered that they are sick and tired of hearing commercials for going to their PC and the like, commercials that have all of the intrinsic interest and quality of those shown on cable TV stations that few ever venture to.

Which brings me to Bob Dylan and the “Theme Time Radio Hour.” Yes, I know that his Modern Times disc is doing remarkably well sales-wise. Good for Bob. But his radio program is pathetic, as he rolls out patter that sounds like it was scripted by a writer of ’50s pulp detective fiction—regardless of the “theme.” Sure, Bob can pull out some rather arcane tunes. So can Dr. Demento. This is what the voice of several generations has come to?

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Rebel Yell – A Shout out to the Dixie Chicks

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Naked Chicks Rule!Three years ago, the queens of country cross-over, the Dixie Chicks, alienated the country music world with a rather inocuous comment about President George W. Bush. The comment, made just days before the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, brought the trio a world of trouble and cast them as traitors in the eyes of many country fans. With a new album due this week, anyone who thinks the Chicks are ready to repent and play nice had better think again.

When the Dixie Chicks debuted in 1990 with their independently released Thank Heavens for Dale Evans nobody could have guessed just how independent the future chart dominatrices would be. The group that helped push the later-day country crossover craze of the late 90s and establish themselves as the queens of MOR hits has become a firebrand of independence and integrity—and it all started with an off-the-cuff remark in a foreign country on the eve of war.

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