And they wonder why I keep posting about them.

Not to beat a dead horse, but WKHM needs some serious help.

 

It's 2:48 PM on Memorial Day.  I'm playing SimCity 4 and listening to the rerun of Rush Limbaugh on 970.  It's about time to end the commercial break and return to the show.  All of the sudden, the Greg O'Connor interview with race car driver Roger Curtis that interrupted Sean Hannity on Thursday, which I mentioned the next day after praising the station for airing a storm warning, begins running again.  Last time it took five minutes for someone to figure out something was wrong, get into the studio and stop it.  This time, the damn thing continued running over the final segment of the show and the next commercial break at 2:55, and didn't stop until the recording actually ended at 2:56.  It even prevented the automation system from picking up a network closure that fires local commercials, which I'm sure a couple of advertisers aren't too happy to hear about.

 

You'd think that after the first time this happened, they would have fixed it.  Are the folks at 1700 Glenshire Drive so ignorant of what's airing on their own stations that they didn't realize this happened again?  Apparently they're lax enough to not have fixed the problem the first time around.  Now, to be fair, as of 11:45 or so this morning (Tuesday), Marc Daly was commenting on the computer screwing up again, so at least they now know they've been having problems.  Of course, the question still remains: did they realize this has been going on since Friday?

 

This problem is only one, and the issues go beyond just the automation system continually breaking down.  It only leaves me to ask the question: what the hell?  What is behind the lack of motivation in that building?  Is it simply that they have no competition in the market?  Is it a deficit of able employees (and it shouldn't be; they had the opportunity to hire me and didn't)?  Is it that no one at JRW actually cares?  I'm honestly asking, because I just don't get it.  There's no excuse for this level of incompetence.  It's reprehensible!

 

By the, uh, way, can Greg Uh'Connor get through, uh, one sentence without, uh, saying "uh", uh, after every few, uh, words?  It's getting bad.  Not to say it wasn't bad before, but come on, man!  Put together a complete sentence in your mind, then open your mouth.  Remember: engage your brain before you open the microphone.  Having to sit through a weather forecast with three utterances of the word "uh" is darn near intolerable.  One "uh" is enough to get you a scolding.  Two, under my supervision, would get you a month of airchecking.  Three is enough for me to send you back to broadcasting school.

 

I have a request for one of three things:

A) Please, please, Bruce Goldsen… please take quick, authoritative action on these things.

B) Someone please buy JRW and whip them into shape.

C) Someone please start new stations in Jackson that will serve JRW's own rears to them on a silver platter. They're ripe for it.

 

Can someone suggest any better ideas?

 

No?

 

Didn't think so.

Lo and Behold: Weather Alerts!

I tuned in to WKHM-AM yesterday afternoon around 4:10... the first opportunity I'd had to listen all day.  At 4:13, I was surprised.  Not by the fact that I was trying to listen through the loudest lightning-induced static I'd ever heard, but by the fact that at 4:13 exactly, Marc Daly interrupted The Sean Hannity Show to announce that a severe thunderstorm warning had just been issued for Jackson and Ingham Counties!

 

This comes after a fiasco during the last storm, when a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued along with a tornado watch.  WKHM-AM had remained in their pre-recorded weather forecast mode all day (I was listening) without any mention of the warning being issued.  In that storm, straight-line winds caused property damage in Michigan Center, and there still remains the possibility of a tornado having been sighted (though nothing has been confirmed).  While the tornado warning being issued late and the rabble-rabbling over that mess has nothing to do with WKHM, the station should have broadcast the issuance of the severe thunderstorm warning, and they did not.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that they made sure to broadcast the warning this time around so as not to incur the backlash that hit them last time.  But at least they did the right thing, and while I suspect they did it for the wrong reason, I'd rather they do the right thing for the wrong reason than not do the right thing at all.

 

Now if they could just fix that damn automation system.  At 4:25, for no reason apparent to the listener, it started playing an interview segment from Greg O'Connor's morning show over the top of the network ads leading into the bottom of the hour as well as the Wall Street Journal update, and either no one noticed it or no one could figure out how to stop it until 4:30.  Honestly, guys, just find something other than WireReady.  If it's giving you that much trouble, find something that works.

Radio Blog Early Summer JAMS!

All-American Rejects - Move Along
Good, solid song.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear this pop up in basketball games next school year.

 

Cascada - Miracle

Good follow-up to Everytime We Touch, but not quite as good as I'd expected.  It's getting rave reviews online, though.

 

Chamillionaire - Ridin'

Already blowing up.  Reminds me of Three Six Mafia's "Stay Fly".

 

Christina Milian feat. Young Jeezy - Say I

VERY hot, but given a few of the recent hot tracks that radio hasn't played, I wouldn't be surprised to hear this one swept under the rug.  Which is sad, really, because most people would probably dig it.

 

K.T. Tunstall - Black Horse & The Cherry Tree

Bluesy... I like it!  We need more of this feel in CHR today.

 

Mary J. Blige feat. Brook-Lyn - Enough Cryin'

The jams just keep coming from Mary J.  I've gotta get this album!

 

Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland - Promiscuous

For anyone who doesn't know what the current sound of hip-hop and R&B should be, this is it!  This is HOT!!!  Very Miami-feeling, too.  Power 96 will probably blow this one up.

 

Pussycat Dolls feat. "Big" Snoop Dogg - Buttons

I like another PCD track?  Scary.

CBS Radio to sell off Triad stations

AllAccess just released the news that CBS Radio (formerly Entercom) has announced that it plans to sell off all of it's radio stations in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point market.  The specific stations in play are WMFR (news/talk, 1230, High Point), WSJS (news/talk, 600, Winston-Salem) and WSML (news/talk, 1200, Graham, mostly simulcasts WSJS).

 

This means that aside from WZTK (news/talk, 101.1, Burlington), which serves the Triad and the Triangle with a rimshot signal into both, the news/talk format in the market is entirely up in the air... as are the three highest-rated (which isn't saying much in this case) AM's in the market.  One could make the argument that they're the highest-rated simply due to power (WSJS/WSML) and location (WMFR), and they'd probably be right, but either way... we still don't know what will happen.  WZTK has been making some inroads, despite some arguments in various circles over how well a rimshot news/talker can do between two markets.  That can't bode well for three AM stations, two of which have to simulcast in order to cover the entire market, none of which have actually broadcast local news about the entire market for ages (if ever).  WSJS/WSML only covers news in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, and WMFR only covers news in High Point.  No one has even attempted to touch news in Greensboro for years.  WWBG came close before they flipped to Spanish, but they were more a sports station than anything else.  Whoever buys WSJS, WSML and WMFR either needs to seriously revamp the news operations in order to cover the whole market or consider making some major format changes, and the former would be more to everyone's benefit.

 

Let's hope they make the right choice.

Consultants Explained

 

With my return to the group of radio junkies I know and love (see the recently added link to the right), I came upon The Insultant's latest signature: the above image.  Couldn't have said it better myself, Scott Adams!

 

It passed.

Not good.

 

I'm just waiting for the Family Guy episode to become reality.  When can we expect them to start censoring real life?

Let me say right now that I’m NOT crazy.

I've found myself listening to Ray Thomas' night show (now known as "The Pig Pen") on WKFR more and more recently, and I have to say: the show is on the mark. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

 

"The next morning he woke up, looked around and… 'Ooh, sausage!'"

"What can I say?  I'm Irish.  And I'm a drunk."

"Maybe it all comes back to his being a complete bitch."

 

These are great lines (from great breaks, at that) from the 10:00 hour alone last night, when I officially decided that The Pig Pen has hit it's stride.  I've been expecting (and greatly anticipating) the moment I could say that since I wrote the Round-Up in November.  I knew back then that they were on the right track, and while it took a little longer than I would have liked, I can finally say that Ray and the gang finally got me hooked on the show!

 

I should voice one gripe, though, although it's an extremely minor one: after Bubba said the second line I pointed out, how come no one took the opportunity to ask, "Isn't that a little redundant?"

 

While the two shows are totally different and nothing will ever replace Phil Hendrie, at least now I know what I'll be loyally tuning in to every night after June 23rd.

 

So what's been added to The Pig Pen that makes the show so great now as opposed to the past?  Simple: the entire night consists of a group of guys on the radio just having fun!  There's really nothing much more to it, and there doesn't need to be.  That's how I've always run my show, and listeners have told me left and right that they listen more for the banter than the music.  Of course, that could just be because most of my career has been spent spinning brain-liquefying adult contemporary music.  Then again, listeners to my former Christian rock show told me they enjoyed my breaks, too.

 

I'm pointing out my experience more for Ray, Phat Pat and Bubba's benefit than to pat myself on the back.  And yes, before anyone posts snarky comments about me being arrogant in assuming that they'll see this, several people at KFR, Ray included, have been known to read my commentaries.

 

But I digress.  The crux of what I'm trying to say is that good radio isn't really all that hard to do, and The Pig Pen is now an excellent example of how good radio is done!

 

By the way – and I've been meaning to mention this for a while – I'm glad to hear the stereo-separated echo in the Cheek2Cheek feed is finally gone for good.  Tune in tomorrow night and hear the difference.  It's a change that makes a vast improvement.  Either my complaining about it actually motivated someone or whoever is in charge of such things simply realized that it sounded like crap.  The latter is probably the case; I just threw the former in there to satisfy my ego.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back up to my pedestal.

Wow... doesn't THIS say it all?

"Our audience spends lots of time on net, creating their own media."

 

That's a quote from Lou Kerner, one-time Wall Street cable TV analyst and current president of Bolt Media, a website that just recently relaunched itself as a YouTube clone.  According to Advertising Age, Bolt surveyed users as to how they spent their free time.  While the headline of the article pointed to the survey's finding that only a quarter of the 12-to-34-year-olds surveyed can name all four major broadcast TV networks, I found Kerner's comment much more informative.

 

Why is that so important to me?  Because it doesn't just apply to television.  It applies to all media!  Radio, newspapers, magazines, television, movies, music... the Internet is a creative outlet that provides an alternative to all other forms of communication!

 

I don't know about you, but I find that exciting!  Think about what that truly means: anyone out there with a computer has a voice with which to speak to the world!

 

Now obviously not everything online is up to par.  I can think of plenty of online radio stations that flat-out suck.  However, I can think of many that are the best at what they do... and that's the bigger story here.  The Internet provides a place -- with infinite capacity and flexibility, mind you -- for someone to succeed, whereas in other mediums they'd never get off the ground.  MakRadio is a great example of an online CHR station that's seen tons of success.  Digitally Imported has the best dance music online (period!), and their Euro Dance channel is especially great.  Beethoven.com is probably the most recognizable and most listened-to classical station online.  All of these are the best at what they do, but they wouldn't have been able to do it anywhere else.

 

So why am I posting this on a blog about radio?  Quite simply put: the Internet is where radio is headed.

 

Oh, believe me, I know the flame mail is coming for pointing that out.  "Blah blah blah satellite blah blah HD Radio blah blah blah blah blah you're crazy blah blah blah."

 

No, you know what?  If you're too blind to see that I'm right on this, you need to simply step aside and let the onslaught pass by you.  Otherwise you're going to get trampled.

 

One car manufacturer announced a few months back that they've already committed to putting wireless broadband into their cars by, if I recall correctly, 2008.  The rest are sure to follow.  That's a giant step toward making Internet radio the medium of choice, since the majority of radio listeners listen in their cars.

 

Localism will certainly have it's place online as well, but the local broadcasters who aren't streaming right now better jump on the bandwagon fast, or else they'll be left in the dust.  If a local station the likes of... oh, say WCSR, just to pick on them... if they don't start streaming, they'll be but a faint memory in the not-too-distant future.  Even if they did start streaming today, they'll need programming that beats competing local podcasts or locally-based online-only stations, and with the current state of things at 170 N. West, that programming better come along fast.  They're not very far away from facing competition like they never, ever have before, and they'd better be prepared to beat it if they want to survive.  That goes for all local radio stations.

 

In a nutshell, Kerner's quote is a summarization of the Dear John letter we Internet users have been writing to the mass media for the past decade.  They aren't playing up to par, and people are starting to realize the potential of the Internet in order to create their own product.  For corporate radio, it could very well be the sound of the tolling bell.

Simple Fact: Congress Hasn't a Clue.

So now they're trying to re-write the DMCA to be more strict, more harsh and more restrictive.

 

What they don't understand is that not only would these proposals be massive undertakings making them all but impossible to enforce, but they also don't realize that this would prohibit new technologies, ones that could be used legally, from coming into play!

 

Even the record industry, who's just now beginning to learn these are bad ideas, is going to be hurt by this.  Aren't they who Congress is supposedly trying to protect here?

 

Of course we all know Congress is simply trying to appease the lobbyists who added green sheets to their wallets, but try and forget that for just a second and think about what they've been saying all this time.  And think it in the voices of your local Congresscritters.  "We're protecting the record companies!  We're protecting the artists!  We're protecting you!"

 

How can they protect anyone if their actions will harm us all?

 

Write them.  Tell them to wrap their mind around the above sentence for a while.  It probably won't mean anything to them, since they don't really understand the technology anyway.  Ask them if they know what "MP3" stands for.  No, seriously, do it.  They probably can't tell you.  But write them just the same.  Get everyone you know to do so as well.  This stupidity has to stop.  They don't realize what they're doing in the name of "protection".

 

If it doesn't end, they're going to destroy digital media in ways they can't possibly understand for generations to come.

A Store!

I'm working on designs right now, so there's currently nothing in it, but The Radio Blog Shopping Center will be open soon!  I'll feature all kinds of designs dealing with a whole variety of topics... everything radio-related, of course.  T-shirts, mugs, whatever I can think of to slap crazy radio-oriented images onto... they'll all be available in the store.

 

I'm thinking my first design should have something to do with someone's retirement.  Who, I'm not sure.  Kenny?  Footy?  Hendrie?  I don't know.  All I know is, with only a 50 item allotment, this shop is gonna fill up fast.

Elvis Duran and the Z Morning Zoo... no, scratch that...

Elvis Duran and the Y-100 Morning Zoo...

 

No, wait, scratch that too... Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Yoo.  Or something like that.

 

AllAccess reports today that Elvis Duran will be replacing Footy as Y-100's morning man.  Duran is the lead wake-up jock at Z100 in New York, and the show will now be simulcast on both WHTZ and WHYI.  The show will alternate between both cities in terms of origination (and I'd love to see that airline bill after a couple quarters).  As is pointed out in the AllAccess article, Miami pretty much is New York South, so it should work out to be a good fit.

 

But (and there always is one with me)...

 

If Clear Channel really wants to fix the problems at Y, they're going to have to do better than this.  Miami's sole CHR station deserves it's own morning show.  The desgination of Market #12 doesn't exactly scream "prime syndicated morning show territory" to me.  In the entire history of the station, there has never been a morning show that wasn't local... and that's not at all a problem.

 

This is simply another example of Clear Channel cutting corners.  They don't want to spend the time, effort and money on finding someone who actually knows Miami; who has lived, breathed and bled Miami; who is talented, knowledgable and willing enough to fill Footy's shoes.  In short, the "Cheap Channel" play on the name definitely applies here.

 

Who knows?  Maybe Duran will help the station do better in the ratings... perhaps if only temporarily.  But my money is against that possibility.  If they aren't willing to find someone who identifies directly with the community, who in the community will be willing to listen?  

He HAD To Have the Last Word!

Anyone on the Buzzboard's Detroit section knows about my little tiff with "Towerfreak".  This e-mail that showed up just further proves my point that he's as immature as... as... um, well, I can't really think of a good comparison right now, at least not for someone his age (or the age he claims to be).

 

Hey Josh,

 

      I just wanted to say I had fun talking to you on the message board. I know I got under your skin and you always had to respond to my posts.

 

Ho, whoa whoa whoa!  Did he just say what I think he said?  I always had to respond to his posts?  I tried to end the stand-off more than once!  He was the one who had to post in response to everything I said!  On top of that, he's the one e-mailing me after he got booted off the board for continued harassment!  And I'm the one who had to have the last word?  Talk about trying to flip the script!

I wanted to show you that your points of radio were way in left field but then again half those people are non-radio people who speak out of their ass.

 

He didn't show anyone anything.  All he did was insult me.  No, seriously, read the threads  (there are two of 'em).

     I have 17 years in the radio business and I have worked for some of the  top radio stations in DETROIT ! 

 

Whoop-dee-doo.  If he's had that much experience, he should be able to point out where I'm wrong.  He didn't, therefore, I don't care what he has to say.

     Allot of people that you had issues with I have worked with them in radio and I can tell you are not getting a radio job. 

 

Okay then!  So apparently all that production work I do (and have done in the past) doesn't count.  The show I'm working on putting on the air right now doesn't count.  The various shows I've done in the past don't count.  Nothing I do or have ever done counts.

 

Oh, wait... well, I guess I just blew him out of the water again.

    Have fun Alex P Keating, it's a reference from Family ties, a TV show that was very popular. You are too young to understand.

 

Actually, I was a huge fan of Family Ties and I got the reference.  It just has nothing to do with me.  The connection he tried to make was a weak one at best.

    Take care,

 

  John C. Miller

 

Good riddance, John.

FOOTY LEAVES Y-100

The losses just keep coming.

AllAccess reports today that...

Mornings at CLEAR CHANNEL Top 40 WHYI (Y100)/MIAMI will be in for a major change as 32 year veteran FOOTY calls it quits, telling his audience of his decision this morning according to the MIAMI HERALD.

FOOTY (aka JOHN KROSS) will wrap it up on FRIDAY, MAY 5th, and will rebroadcast some "best of" features all week long. FOOTY will continue to oversee his charity, "Here's Help," even though he's retiring from mornings. For more on FOOTY's Farewell, just click here.

Meanwhile, no word on a replacement for FOOTY, yet. And, Y100 also has a PD opening to announce soon, too.

The Miami Herald quoted Footy this morning:

``What else could I possibly do in radio? he told reporter Brian Andrews. I'm not going to satellite cause I ain't moving and nobody wants to syndicate a guy from Miami. So this is it, you're stuck with me!''

This comes on the heels of Kenny Walker leaving the station, which spurred debate as to whether or not Footy would stay or go. Some, myself included, surmised that veterans such as Walker and Kross were not happy with the direction the station has been headed in recent years. Walker, on one hand, was fired. Footy, on the other hand (as far as I can find), is retiring by choice.

I know the press releases and interviews will all say that it's an amicable parting, but Kross is, quite possibly, the Top 40 jock with the most longetivity on the continent to date, and having seen all the changes going on at Y, one has to consider the idea that he's sick of the corporate BS. The station has pretty much been run into the ground. Frickin' Big 106 (oh, excuse me Mr. Mays... "Big 105.9") is beating them 12+! It's crazy to assume that, being the veteran he is, Footy hasn't taken that, among many other changes, into consideration in his decision to leave.

You can find out everything you want to know about Footy's last day over at the South Florida Radio Pages by clicking here.

Radio Veteran Sign-Off List 2006 (to date):

Kenny Walker

Phil Hendrie

Footy

I'm going to go bury my head in a pillow and cry now.