Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Shapiro Apologizes on CNN; Hancock to PM Drive at WBT, Charlotte

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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Steak Shapiro Appears on CNN to Discuss Steve Gleason Bit.

As TALKERS wrote yesterday, many in the industry were wondering how three veteran sports talk show hosts could have decided a bit mocking ALS-stricken former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason was a good idea.  On a certain level, one has to hand it to former “Mayhem in the AM” host Steak Shapiro for going on CNN Tuesday and explaining – not rationalizing – what the trio was thinking and how the bit that got them fired evolved.  After all, he could have hid from the widespread media attention the story is getting but he chose to, in a way, “take his medicine.”  Some might call it an “apology tour” with the ultimate goal of working in the business again, but the fact is Shapiro did not try to defend the action and stated the obvious: the bit was offensive, hurtful and wrong.  Moreover, Gleason himself has accepted the trio’s apologies and writes that he hopes the incident will serve to bring understanding and attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  See the CNN appearance here.


John Hancock Moves to PM Drive at WBT, Charlotte.

Talk personality John Hancock makes his move to the coveted afternoon drive position at Greater Media’s WBT, Charlotte, flipping dayparts with the duo of Brad Krantz and Britt Whitmire who move to the 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm slot.  Hancock has worked in numerous dayparts at the station over the years.  He began in 2000 in the 9:00 am to 12:00 noon slot, moved to PM drive before leaving the station for a period between 1999 and 2001.  When he came back to WBT he did so as the night host.  Senior vice president and market manager Rick Feinblatt says, "John Hancock has been a staple of WBT for years, earning him the title of Charlotte’s Most Beloved.  We are excited to have him with our listeners for the drive home.”

Talkers Los Angeles 2013 is Set for Thursday, October 10.

The third annual installment of TALKERS magazine's West Coast convention has been set for Thursday, October 10.  It will again be presented in association with the Los Angeles Press Club and will be held at the historic Steve Allen Theater located on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm.  In making the announcement, TALKERS VP/executive editor Kevin Casey states, "We are very enthusiastic about the growth and positive impact of this Southern California gathering.  It started out three years ago as an experimental LA regional get-together and blossomed into an exciting companion event to our big New York convention."  The event - open only to members of the working media - will feature a power-packed day of panel discussions, keynote addresses, special presentations, technology and services exhibits, tremendous networking opportunities and abundant food and refreshments.  Registrations - $149 per person - can only be taken over the phone and the event is expected to be a very early sellout.  So don't wait to avoid being shut out.  For sponsorship information or to register, call 413-565-5413.  Speakers and agenda details will be announced here shortly.


Dave Graveline’s ‘Into Tomorrow’ Joins Envision Radio Networks.

Consumer electronics expert Dave Graveline becomes part of the Envision Radio Networks family as his “Into Tomorrow” weekly talk program joins Envision’s talk network.  Envision states Graveline’s program is heard on 180 stations in its talk network.  Graveline states, “We are proud to be a part of the growing Envision Radio Networks family.  We’re pleased to be part of their commitment to provide outstanding programs and after 18 years covering the latest in consumer tech, that is exactly our goal as well!  And…we are very affiliate-friendly.”


Beasley Broadcast Group’s WWCN, Fort Myers to Flip to Spanish Sports in Late Summer.

Earlier this week TALKERS reported the addition of the FM signal of WJBX, Fort Myers to sports talk WWCN beginning tomorrow (6/20).  The two signals will carry the newly branded “99.3 ESPN” until later in the summer when the AM 770 signal will become “ESPN Deportes” to serve the growing Hispanic community in Southwest Florida, according to station officials. Market manager Brad Beasley explains the thought process.  “Last year, we added key FM translators that covered our market to the ESPN brand.  The response was phenomenal.  What we heard back from our listeners and advertisers was that having it in one place on FM would be best.  As our audience levels reached record numbers last fall, we decided this was an opportunity to take this powerful sports brand and have it in one place on FM and grow it even more.  In addition, Southwest Florida has a significantly growing Hispanic population, and the move of ESPN to 99.3 now gives us the ability to shift 770 to ‘ESPN Deportes’ and the great programming and play-by-play they provide.”

Is the Radio "WOOOSH” Dead?

According to Michael W. Dean, co-host of the GCN syndicated radio program "The Freedom Feens," it should be.  The "WOOOSH" is that fast sweeping white-noise sound, sometimes ending in a reverbed explosion that radio production people use as a shorthand to imply excitement, even where there is none.  It's also used as an interstitial to delineate the end of program material and the start of the ad block, or at the beginning of an ad, at the end of an ad, or during an ad...or all of the above.  Dean makes a case for retiring the sound (which he describes as being "soooooo damn old") from radio's production repertoire.  To read his entire piece. click here.

New Jersey Broadcasters Association Conference Underway; Greater Media’s Peter Smyth to Help Induct Tony Marano into HOF.

The annual New Jersey Broadcasters Association conference in under way in Atlantic City and today will feature the Hall of Fame Induction Awards Luncheon.  Being inducted today are legendary broadcaster Tony Marano, New Jersey 101.5 morning drive host Jim Gearhart, and Jim Morris.  Greater Media CEO Peter Smyth will present the award to Tony’s family on behalf of the NJBA.

Colonel Allen West Subs on WMAL.

With WMAL, Washington morning drive co-host Brian Wilson on vacation, Colonel Allen West (r), filled in alongside program co-host Larry O’Connor (l) on June 19.  The duo welcomed guests Senator Rand Paul and Congressman Steve King to their show, among others.

G8 Summit, AZ Voter Registration Law Quashed, ‘Gang of 8’ Bill, U.S.-Taliban Talks, NSA Phone-Email Record Gathering, and Brazil Violence Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (6/18).

The G8 gathering in Berlin; the quashing of Arizona’s voting law requiring proof of citizenship; the “Gang of 8” amnesty bill; the possibility of U.S.-Taliban talks in Afghanistan; the National Security Agency’s collecting of phone and email records; and the violence in Brazil were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS.





How Many Social Media Followers Should I Have?
 
By Chris Miller
Miller Digital


SHAKER HEIGHTS, OH “There are some questions I hear pretty regularly. They’re good questions. Here are some of them, answered.

Q. How many social media followers should I have?

A. I don’t know, and I don’t care.

What matters is who they are and what you do with them! Social media is your frequent flyer program. This is where you take your big fans and turn them into customers for life who give you the lion’s share of their media consumption. So, you want to attract your heavy listeners, bring them backstage with you. More big fans is better than fewer. A lot of casual cumers is a waste of your time.Read the complete story here.




Arbitron Ratings for All Would Be Good for All
 
By Walter Sabo
Sabo Media


NEW YORK “Please take a moment to click through to this website: tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com.

You see TV Nielsen ratings. Nielsen as you know is the TV and radio (in Australia) ratings company that is merging with Arbitron and has cool offices in lower Manhattan. TV BY THE NUMBERS breaks out the TV ratings any way you could imagine: By demo, show, cable, syndication, network. If you want a number you don’t see, simply email the site’s founders and they’ll get it for you.

What is the source of their information? “Various data sources” it says in their ABOUT section. Read the complete story here.



“Situational Baseball Return Liners” Maximize Play-by-Play Promotional Potential
 
By Chris Pendl
Bonneville Seattle


SEATTLE “ If you’ve made the investment on play-by-play sports on your station, it’s important to maximize the return on your investment by trying to recycle that audience to another day part on your station.

Arbitron tells us that MLB drives cume increases anywhere from 50%-65% on flagship stations when the baseball season starts. This influx of audience is one of the reasons we pay rights fees, share revenue, or give up inventory to carry this programming. In a climate with little or no external marketing dollars, I’ve often joked that our promotional time within baseball play by play is the closet thing we’ll get to an interstate billboard or TV campaign.

A few years ago in Seattle, we decided to take a different approach to how we used our in-game promotional inventory during Mariner broadcasts. We wanted something that was more dynamic than a recorded promo — something that cut through and made the listener feel like someone was watching the game with them.” Read the complete story here.



WTOP Hacking: Why You Should Worry
 
By Steven J.J. Weisman
TALKERS
Legal Editor


BOSTON 
— As reported in Talkers earlier in May, Washington D.C. radio stations WTOP and Federal News Radio had their websites hacked resulting in the possible infection of anyone who accessed the two websites using the popular Internet Explorer web browser prior to the discovery and correction of the problem.

The hacking of these two websites is particularly insidious because unlike infections that occur when a computer user is lured to a phony infected website set up for the specific purpose of infecting unwary computer users — a technique called “phishing” — in this case, the computer users were infected when they went to legitimate websites that they believed were trustworthy.

One of the two malware programs that became installed on the computers of those people who used Internet Explorer to access the websites of WTOP and Federal News Radio resulted in the victim having a pop-up message appear telling him or her that their computer was infected with a virus and then provided a link to a website offering phony security software and invited the victim to order the software by providing credit card information. This is a common scam. You should not click on the link to go to the phony security software website and you certainly should not provide your credit card information.”  Read this entire story  here.


Crud (and Other Stuff)
 
By Thomas R. Ray, III CPBE, AMD, DRB
Tom Ray Consulting


NEW YORK “So I was working on this transmitter today. Seriously – I know this starts off like a joke. Problem was actually a bad air switch. All transmitters have a way to sense air flow. If there is no air flow in the transmitter, if, for example, the blower motor quits, it will shut down. In the case of a tube transmitter, this is to prevent the final amplifier deck from melting down and starting a fire. In a solid state transmitter (which also uses temperature sensing in the final amplifier), it prevents the transistors from self destructing causing a fire and/or other severe damage to the amplifier.

Anyway, this isn’t related to the air switch, but it could be (the air switch in this case was 33 years old – it simply had enough). The air filters on the transmitter were caked with crud.

The air filters are there to keep crud out of the transmitter (obviously, in this case, they did their job). In a tube transmitter, crud can cause an arc over in the high voltage areas. In solid state transmitters that do not have high voltage inside, the crud acts like a blanket holding heat into the transistors. Heat is an electronic device’s worst enemy. Read the complete story here.



Talking in the UK: Perspectives from an American Talk Show Host Working in London
 
By Charlie Wolf
Talk Show Host


LONDON “Working in London, England, as an American talk show host has its challenges. For instance, for the first two-three years of my six year stint as a host on commercial national talk station, TalkSPORT, (Talk Radio UK) doing a political/news-based show – it was the audience’s view that I was not allowed an opinion at all, either as a host and especially as a “Yank.”

For years on the BBC – where there is “speech radio” (drama, news, news analysis – and done very well) there had been very little interactive talk, and even then the host – though he would occasionally explore or challenge a point – was mostly a moderator not an instigator or opinion former. Talk shows on the BBC, now more opinionated than they used to be, are very much in the mould of “on the one hand there is …. But on the other hand…. what do you think?” British radio – due to over-regulation, a fairness doctrine, dominant licence funded BBC, a lack of competition, and a “scared-of-one’s-own-shadow” attitude to regulators – will never have a thriving talk radio market as in the US. There is not the space for talent to truly develop in talk commercially. Read the complete story here.



Can the Radio Station Overcome Smothering Debt and Become a Viable Business Again?
 
By Mike Kinosian, Managing Editor
TALKERS


LOS ANGELES “Chalk it up to misreading the economic tealeaves or perhaps to good old-fashioned avarice, but several radio groups have fallen victim to the, “(S)he who has the most toys, wins” hypothesis.

“Winners” managing to run the board in today’s all too real game of Radio Monopoly are rewarded by becoming further ensconced in deeper, darker, debt.

Administer sodium pentothal to a cross-section of radio managers and the overwhelming majority will vociferously state that, owing to its cookie-cutter nature and mounting pressure to deliver grossly unrealistic percentages to the bottom line, the business is no longer fun. Countless executives at high-billing, strong ratings performing outlets have been unduly placed in the gut-wrenching position of laying off personnel and making other vital cutbacks – forced to share the load of paying for what could be considered out-of-control acquisition sins at the corporate level.

Capitalism has functioned exceptionally well for years, so to be clear, this is not a condemnation of mammoth radio groups, nor a suggestion that they are run by evil, incompetents.

There can however be hiccups such as the painful one we are witnessing with revenue survival.

Those who did not overly-consolidate or did not allow themselves to be enthralled with the “biggest is best” notion seem to be in a better position to thrive. Read the complete story here.



The 2013 Heavy Hundred
 
The editors of TALKERS magazine, with input from industry leaders, present the 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America –– a popular annual feature that has come to be known as the “Heavy Hundred.” This is one of the most challenging tasks that TALKERS undertakes each year considering that there are thousands of talk show hosts across the country, ranging from national icons to those laboring in relative obscurity. Aside from the hosts whose sheer numbers and fame demand their inclusion on this list, the selection process is subjective with the goal being to create a list reflective of the industry’s diversity and total flavor as well as giving credit where credit is due. The TALKERS magazine editors who painstakingly compile this super-list draw upon a combination of hard and soft factors when evaluating candidates. These include (in alphabetical order): courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, revenue, service, talent and uniqueness. We acknowledge that it is as much art as science and that the results are arguable. There is one concrete qualification for inclusion. Hosts must be working at the time TALKERS magazine initially posts the list in order to be considered. They must have a regularly scheduled professional show on the air at a minimum of one terrestrial or satellite radio station at “press time.” The list remains intact from that point forward until the next year’s edition. In past years, TALKERS magazine has included sports talk hosts in the Heavy Hundred. Last year, due to the massive growth in the sports talk genre, sports talk radio has earned a Heavy Hundred of its own, the 2013 installment of which will be published by TALKERS in the coming months. TALKERS magazine salutes the fine broadcasters who made this year’s list. To view it click here.

 









 

























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