It’s all very exciting. Each fall, old white guys in ill fitting suits, wrinkled button down collar shirts, unpolished shoes and ties fashionable in 1986, American radio broadcasters if you will, gather in a different city to discuss what’s right and wrong with the radio industry, discuss theories, drink a few beers and return home…
So, four more years is what — The release didn’t specify that. Because I told everybody involved I don’t want any terms announced. I have never, by the way, released that kind of information about my arrangement here. Those numbers have always come from other people. My parents, my dad always told me, “you…
As I predicted in last week’s blog, (Rush Limbaugh) he won’t quit. But, I do have a question for everyone to answer. Where was he going to go?
People are outraged. People are sad. People are in shock. People are now, finally, speaking up over the execution of one of America’s former great and “heritage” stations, KGO-AM in San Francisco. Why now? What happened last week to KGO has been happening to radio stations, personalities, talk hosts, support personnel and news staffs for…
Translation: If you’re going down, you might as well go down in a memorable way. Donald Trump sure is memorable and the same could have been said about talk radio some 20 years ago. Conservative talk radio and the Republican party are connected, once again trying to energize their common “base.” Each are equally disconnected…
Bob Pittman, the head of iHeart Media, said this when announcing the company’s name change from Clear Channel Media + Entertainment. I can’t imagine former Clear Channel CEO Randy Michaels ever saying something like this. Ouch. It’s going on three years since the Federal Communication Commission (F.C.C.) announced plans for “AM Revitalization.” Then, late last year, the…
February 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. There are no planned celebrations. No parades. No planned parties. You’d think someone, somewhere would have popped open a bottle of Dom Perignon by now. But, nothing. Not even from those who lined their pockets and are clearly to blame for tearing the…
You know what they say, “If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Generally speaking this phrase, from America’s south, means a “family” looks to Momma to keep it organized and functioning. If someone gets out of line, Momma will not be pleased. For iHeart Media, two of their “Momma’s” are investment bank Goldman Sachs and a…
It’s been almost 20 years ago since the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.), the National Association of Broadcasters (N.A.B.), Congress and then President Bill Clinton all teamed up to reinvent broadcasting with the historic Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first major rewrite of regulations since the 1930’s. With this combined brain power and political and business…
You can imagine my surprise last Friday night when the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) announced it was moving forward with its plan to help AM radio survive. “Ratchet Rule?” Marconi must have come up with that. Change it. Transmitters that decrease carrier levels when low or no audio is present to save electricity? Sign us…
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