“LEADING OPPONENT” OF MUSIC INDUSTRY’S REGULATORY ACTIONS DEPARTING

“I am grateful to DiMA’s member companies for allowing me to serve them,” said Potter. “I hope that my next adventure is as challenging and rewarding.” He will be succeeded by Lee Knife, DiMA’s general counsel, who will serve as interim executive director until a replacement can be found.

DiMA represents the interests of various technology companies, including large webcasters. Members include Pandora, Live365, Slacker, imee, YouTube, Apple, Microsoft, Nokia and MTV.

While Potter’s resignation officially takes effect at the end of the year, “he is no longer reporting to the organization’s office and is effectively doing no day-to-day work,” Billboard reports. Find out more from Billboard‘s coverage here.

LISTEN.FM TO BE PANDORA FOR CANADA

TechCrunch reports that Listen.fm is partially built on the technological remains of Streamzy (in turn built on Seeqpod’s database). It should open to the public sometime next year, TechCrunch notes (here).

PANDORA SAYS 1 IN 4 SONGS STREAMED TO MOBILE DEVICE

We believe this means that while 24% of all of Pandora’s current users signed up on mobile devices, half of the new users signing up with Pandora are doing so through mobile devices. If these numbers are correct, RAIN estimates that Pandora’s listenership statistics published recently by Ando Media (RAIN coverage here) could be bumped up by approximately 33% to include mobile listeners.

Elsewhere, Pandora founder Tim Westergren was a guest today on WBUR’s “On Point” radio program. The show will be avavilable later today here.

If you take the bait and decide you miss your Satellite Radio, SIRIUS XM will let you resubscribe for 5 months for $20 and waive the reactivation fee. Their offer ends December 15, 2009.

It's not a bad promo. I have to admit: I turned on my radio and enjoyed a couple of channels while doing some work at home. I left the service "in a huff" earlier this year - after some frustration - but now am mulling it over. It might be an offer I can't refuse.

More: 6 Reasons I've Canceled Satellite Radio (Opinion)

SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio Tempts Former Subscribers with Freebie originally appeared on About.com Radio on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 00:50:15.

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THE DEATH OF “FREE?”

According to major label vet Ted Cohen (pictured), “the main problem centers around the minimums [that services pay labels for the use of music],” he wrote. “The economics just don’t work. A ‘mea culpa’, I was a big proponent of per-track minimum rates for both paid subscription and ad-supported services when I was at EMI. I WAS WRONG!”

The idea that current advertising revenue won’t come close to meeting the costs labels demand for licensing music isn’t new at all. And now labels and businesses may soon be reaching a point where something has to give.

MySpace Music is acquiring most of the assets of streaming music service iMeem, reportedly for around $1 million in cash. Both are struggling to meet the premiums they pay for the use of music. And the U.S. launch of European music-streaming darling Spotify is being held up by the major labels, which want the service to convert free-listening to subscription. “As an ad-supported service the economics don’t work at all,” a label spokesperson said. “They’re going to have to convince us they can convert enough people from free to paid subscriptions to make it worth our while.”

(While none of the major stories of the past few weeks directly involves non-interactive webcasting, the revenue/cost issues facing Internet radio likely have similar roots. This only emphasizes the need to address the issue of licensing costs.)

Cohen concludes, “It seems that the only way to achieve success for both the services and the rights holders in our current economic situation is through deals based on revenue-sharing that are structured with complete transparency. We need to break the cycle of mistrust, be bold, share the risk, share the reward.”

Read Eliot Van Buskirk at Wired.com here. Read Ted Cohen in The Music Void here. Read Michael Arrington in TechCrunch (and the Washington Post) here. Read The Financial Times here, and Radio Business Report here.

BBC PREVIEWS JOINT VENTURE WITH COMMERCIAL B’DCASTERS

Davie gave a presentation at the Manchester Media Festival yesterday, showing mock-ups of the player, embeddable widgets for websites and a localised search function.The player will reportedly be “shareable” across social network services like Facebook, blogs and other websites. The Guardian reports, “Listeners will be able to search every station on the UK Radioplayer network, identifying news programmes, sports highlights, musical genres or even individual songs, using a new search engine designed for radio. Users can store their favourite stations on preset buttons.” Read more and see the slides (if you’re not in the U.S., or can “spoof” it) here.

JELLI ON CNBC “SQUAWKBOX”

PUREPLAY PANDORA GRABS TOP SPOT FROM CBS FOR U.S. STREAMS

Accounting only for U.S. audience, Pandora registered 230,435 Average Active Sessions M-F 6a-8p in October. It had 172,494 AAS when the daypart was widened to M-Su 6a-12M.

CBS Radio, tops in September, was relegated to the second slot with 227,071 AAS M-F 6a-8p; 147,491 M-Su 6a-12M. CBS, which includes AOL Radio and Yahoo LaunchCast, once again served the most streams in both dayparts overall (U.S. and international listening).

Internet-only radio overall saw its audience grow 7.2% in October — nearly twice the rate of growth of AM/FM simulcasters (4.1%) — since September. This actually runs counter to the trend we’ve seen over the past few years, in which broadcasters have been growing their online audiences more quickly. That was likely due to the fact that AM/FM stations mostly got their start online a few years after many pureplay webcasters had established themselves.

Ando continued to stand by their newly-introduced online radio metrics, but continued to address the concern. “We have not taken any metrics out of our applications; publishers will be able to choose whether or not to continue to display AQH/CUME in their console and present these figures to advertisers,” Ando Chief Operating Officer, Paul Krasinski, said in the press release. “Our public metrics will include SS, AAS and ATSL, which we believe provide enhanced precision and accuracy.”

See all four of Ando’s ranking charts for October here. It should be noted that, for various reasons, two top-rated webcasters, Pandora and Clear Channel, do not appear on Ando’s “All Streams” ranker, while several highly-rated webcasters, including 977Music, 1.fm, Digitally Imported, AccuRadio, and Greater Media, do not appear on Ando’s “Domestic” ranker (shown below):

September’s Ando ratings were reported in RAIN here.

NPR JOINS FOR LAUNCH OF YOUTUBE USER-GENERATED NEWS VIDEO PORTAL

EDISON’S WEBSTER RESPONDS TO SMYTH’S QUESTIONING OF SOCIAL MEDIA

PASSMAN: MORE PAIN IN STORE FOR MUSIC INDUSTRY, BUT DIGITAL WILL EVENTUALLY SUCCEED

Unfortunately, we’re *not there, technically or legally. The more pain the industry feels, the easier the legal side gets. The better the technology gets, the closer we get to delivering an experience people want.” Read more at CNet here.

Top 10 Radio Turkey Moments of 2009 originally appeared on About.com Radio on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 00:49:10.

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FOLLOWING STINT AT LIQUID COMPASS, WILL AGAIN HEAD DIGITAL FOR BROADCAST GROUP

Van Hook left Entercom in 2007 for the COO position at streaming technology company Liquid Compass. Van Hook has also served as Entercom’s director of marketing services and group director of interactive marketing for Susquehanna.

“Entercom has great forward movement in the digital arena, and I look forward to helping continue that advancement,” Van Hook commented. Her return date is December 9.

LABELS WILL SOON BEGIN LOSING RIGHTS TO MODERN RECORDINGS

Van Buskirk writes, “If an artist or author sold a copyright before 1978, they or their heirs can take it back 56 years later. If the artist or author sold the copyright during or after 1978, they can terminate that grant after 35 years… Record labels could lose sound recording copyrights they bought in 1978 starting in 2013, 1979 in 2014, and so on. For 1953-and-earlier music, grants can already be terminated.” He points to a Law.com article here indicating that representatives for artists like the Eagles, Journey and Barbra Streisand intend to inform record companies of termination of copyright grants. Read more from Wired here.

“U.S.-STYLE SUBSCRIPTION SATELLITE RADIO” TO LAUNCH THROUGHOUT EUROPE

Some are characterizing the developments as a blow to DAB (digital radio). Read more in the UK’s Telegraph online here.

SAN FRAN MUSICTECH MIXER TONIGHT

“drinks and networking” for the Bay Area

• No more Senior VPs . Does that mean that corporate henchmen like Gary Pizzati and Mark Sullivan will be Market Managers again?

• More Market Managers to be changed out. New hires come in at much lower compensation and fit into Dickey’s plan to continue to cut costs. Most Market Managers will likely have more than one job because it will save the company – well, you get the point.

• More cuts in market sales management on the way. Sales seems to be a big area of focus not in the way you would think. You know, the economy is down, radio is hurting, let’s get more AEs on the street selling. Not that kind. The let’s hire inexperienced people to drum up new business and give the prime accounts to a chosen few – for the purpose of …? You guessed it, saving money.

• Potentially more changes in account executive compensation.

• Almost all stations will have syndicated or non-live AM Drive shows.

• Voice tracking will handle the remainder of the day except specifically approved markets where a one-person PM drive show may be allowed. That person may also have to multi-task in promotions and/or other jobs in the stations.

During the interview, Karamzin said he was not interested in any other job offers now and also defended highly-paid content like Howard Stern, denying Stern was "overpriced". Stern originally went to SIRIUS Satellite Radio for $500 million dollars over 5 years prior to the SIRIUS XM merger.

Recent SIRIUS XM News: SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio to Offer Hotline, Programming, Free Cookbook

SIRIUS XM CEO Touts Cash Flow, Defends High-Priced Talent originally appeared on About.com Radio on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 04:46:15.

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AGOVINO: “CROWD-SOURCED” RADIO AN EXAMPLE OF “MELTING DISTINCTION” BETWEEN RADIO MEDIA

Agovino also brought up smartphone radio applications, which “go well beyond a passive listening experience.” For example, the ESPN Radio app “lets listeners tune in to an ESPN station while getting a live feed of sports scores and other information on the phone’s screen.” Meanwhile, “increasingly clever wireless Internet radio sets could help lure more listeners into grabbing their radio online,” with new features (such as Facebook integration) and access to niche offerings like NPR. Check out the full WSJ article here.

CLEAR CHANNEL LAUNCHES ONLINE “PIRATE RADIO” STATION

O2 JOGGLER UPDATED WITH NET RADIO FROM PURE

BBC ADDS iPLAYER TO NINTENDO WII

Take the ethically dubious Farid Suleman, CEO of the crumbling Citadel radio group, which, at any moment, will file for Chapter 11 protection.

Poor Farid. Tired of toiling under Mel Karmazin as his official bean counter, he wanted to prove he could be a number one.

Instead, he proved to be a lifeguard who couldn’t swim. Mini-Mel he will never be.

But failure is rewarded in the radio industry many times over.

Despite his destruction of the third largest radio chain in America, one notion being bandied about would have him falling uphill by staying on as CEO of Citadel to help bring the chain out of bankruptcy.

When Suleman gobbled up the ABC Radio chain - he got the networks, too. Losing Sean Hannity to Clear Channel and Paul Harvey to his life cycle erased $8 million in revenue off the books compared to a year ago. Overall, network revenue was down 31.5 percent, which translates to a $13.5 million loss.

Let’s stop here for a moment. Paul Harvey was 92. How many more years and how many more breaths did Farid foresee squeezing out of him? Did he expect Harvey to give him five years advance notice before he passed away?

I’m stunned that Suleman didn’t come up with some Rube Goldberg apparatus that would record every word Harvey ever said so he could assign some poor minimum wage schlub to continue his broadcast by rearranging words from prior newscasts and commentary.

When Farid bought the nets, Hannity made it apparent that he had no intention of sticking around and cozying up to the draconian management of Citadel once his existing deal expired.

Granted, Citadel-ABC was the last bad big deal in radio broadcasting - but it’s painfully evident no lender bothered to skim through Farid’s faulty Rube Goldberg-style business plan. Was it assumed that being Mel’s beanyman was reason enough to fund his folly?

Disney wanted ABC Radio off their books. They were cutting a deal with Steve Jobs to acquire Pixar and weren’t interested in holding on to yesterday, especially when the radio division was likened to a country club.

Last Tuesday, just after Suleman signed off on still another massive staff bloodbath and the elimination of whatever localism remained on his distressed properties, he joined eight other radio group heads, to pitch the FCC on myths and legends. Specifically, they were asking the commission to make FM receivers mandatory in cell phones. That way, in case of an emergency - FM stations would be available to provide detailed information on where to go, what to do, and why.

Insert laugh track here.

Excluding public radio, give me twenty FM stations in this great country of ours you could listen to for immediate emergency information. Okay, I’ll settle for ten. No, final game scores on sports-talk FMs don’t count as emergencies.

Actually, I’ll tell you what FMs do provide that coverage. Small, independent market FMs. I’ll give you one - WATD in Boston’s South Shore, which on many occasions has provided my family and friends who live in its signal range with pertinent and vital information related to regional news, weather, and traffic.

Does the station make money? Yes.

Did these radio CEOs understand that the FCC has no jurisdiction to force manufacturers to add FM to cell phones?

Do these radio CEOs really believe the FCC is not aware of how these chains ruined the radio industry post-deregulation?

Then we have Lew Dickey, the CEO of the Cumulus chain who also made the trek to the FCC.

The smartest man in any room was shrewd enough to kick ahead its inevitable insolvency for one more year with his Rube Goldberg accounting so he could continue screw his shareholders, investors, vendors and anyone else who’s reluctantly hitched up to his wagon.

Lew doesn’t know how to make money but credit him for knowing how to filch it. He is challenging Clear Channel CEO John Hogan and the aforementioned Farid Suleman for the title of career derailment king.

Instead of stepping aside when his company spiraled downward in revenue and ratings under his direction, Dickey’s slanted family and friends’ board anointed him to save it.

Dickey’s in serious need of a spine transfusion before he even considers a financial one for his company.

You’ve probably heard the joke. How do you identify an old radio chain? Look for the makeshift morgue.

I define radio to those who ask as a business where luck is running out for those who are presently controlling it - but it’s like passengers in an airplane where the pilot dies and there’s no way to land the plane without crashing.

The only good news is that by keeping Suleman, Dickey and the other usual suspects in place will speed-up the impending fire sales.

I saved the best Rube Goldberg for last. By now, you’ve heard of iBiquity’s latest scheme to jumpstart their D.O.A. HD Radio.

Here’s a seriously flawed technology that has zero consumer interest despite millions of dollars of donated radio time to promote it.

At iBiquity, there’s nothing more rewarding than to spend other people’s money on preposterous promotion, marketing, and gadgetry.

So what do you make of the HD Radio iPhone app?

Yes, the app is free - but there’s a catch. It’s iBiquity. There’s always a catch!

To receive HD Radio on your iPhone, you must go to a participating Radio Shack, er, the Shack store and plunk down $79.95 plus tax for a bulky add-on HD Radio tuner, which you have to attach to your iPhone.

Yes, you are now carrying around two devices. One, which is sleek and stylish, the other - pure Rube Goldberg.

There’s another catch. You cannot use the device through your iPod-docking car stereo system because the 30-pint port of an iPhone connects to only one device at a time.

It is said that iBiquity CEO Bob “Booble” Struble hasn’t even uttered the word “Zune” since his iPod Rube, er, app, was released.

Wonder if Freddie sold him the app? Together we con!

Rube Goldberg and radio. Life imitates art.

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Carl Hirsch & Gil Rosenwald interviews from 1979

"On Air. Off Shore. Out of Control" says the film's website. It's a comedy set in 1966 about a fictitious offshore Pirate Radio station broadcasting from a ship back to the United Kingdom.

"The Boat That Rocked" stars Tom Sturridge, Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Nick Frost and others and tells the story of a station called Radio Rock which upsets the established broadcasting standards of the day by spewing rock music 24-hours-a-day.

Although not based on a particular Pirate Radio station of the era, if the trailer is any indication it successfully presents the wild feeling and flair that offshore Pirate Radio brought to the times.

See It: View The Boat That Rocked Trailer on YouTube

Truth or Spin? Original Radio Caroline DJ Takes Issue with Movie's Portrayal of Pirate Radio

More Online: Visit "The Boat That Rocked" official website. It's really a lot of fun.

The Real Pirates: Find out more about Pirate Radio

'The Boat That Rocked' - Pirate Radio Docks in America originally appeared on About.com Radio on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 00:55:29.

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Freebie: SIRIUS XM is offering a Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Cookbook in .PDF format. It's a free download and you can grab it at www.sirius.com/thanksgiving

More Turkey Radio: WKRP in Cincinnati's Turkey Drop Episode

SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio to Offer Hotline, Programming, Free Cookbook originally appeared on About.com Radio on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 00:47:11.

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I am finally starting a new series of posts about media personalization as it relates to Talk radio. It’s about time. What finally got me started on this after I have threatened to start on the topic for a while now, was the kind invitation from Al Peterson to publish my thoughts first for his newsletter. So my first installment here on the Fourth Speaker is a reprint of Al’s weekly Newsletter, which you should subscribe to.
 
 

Radio Personalization - Possible with Mobile, but in demand?

With the incredibly fast pace of change occurring in the world of technology and media today, it is necessary to take a look not only at cumulative data on where today’s radio audience is and is going, but also to reflect on some of the ‘what ifs’, and ‘why nots’ and ’why not yets’ surrounding the changes. The level of intrigue surrounding new media is equaled only by the claims many on my side of the table have made. As far as those claims go, and speaking for the sane faction on “my side of the table” (although the fact that a ‘table’ even exists is a hindrance for the radio industry), I want to apologize for those who have predicted the demise of radio by 2010. They don’t speak for even a quarter of us who have been approaching the industry with ideas and products we believe will help radio’s staying power through the personal media revolution.

Today I want to speak specifically about the one item of change I have been pushing for and am willing to admit I have been partially wrong about. That is, the listeners personal quest for programming personalization. In short, my conclusion is that it is not as big a deal to them (yet) as I had hoped. It is easy for technology innovators to make the leap from possibility to market demand, and we should be encouraged to continue making these leaps in that that is our strength — to see a possible future and place bets on it coming to pass. The pay-off is worth the risk. One key facet of my calculated bet with CelleCast is that some listeners, if given the chance, would prefer to be able to queue up their favorite talk radio programs into a playlist and always have the freshest episodes from each ready to auto-play when convenient. I never meant for this bet on an emerging demand for convenience to call into question the value of program directors, stations and streams, but in this age of media disruption, new technologies are often seen more as a challenge to the way things have always been done, versus by the merits they bring to the marketplace. I submit to you that we can only win by looking at both sides of the equation, or to put it in political strategic terms: Contribute to both campaigns, just in case the other guy wins. Therefore, with all that said so you know my heart is for the industry is in the right place, allow me to share my observations to date in my quest to promote my own vision for disruption.

One of the ways I have explained the idea of cellecasting to both customers and producers is that the listener becomes their own program director, deciding for themselves exactly what mix of programming they want to consume, even whether they want to tolerate commercial interruption or not. The idea that they would want to do this has a solid basis. DVR’s (TiVO) have become mainstream practice for television consumption, giving people near total control of how they consume TV. We all know what MP3 players, file sharing and Pandora are doing to music side of radio, allowing listeners to personalize consumption, eliminate commercials and tap into the new inventory called the long tail. I have believed and still believe that talk radio listeners will at some point do the same, whether we like it or not. However, radio in its broadcast form, now having to exist among alternatives not previously available, is finding resiliency and learning to articulate its staying power in a changing environment. Paraphrasing Dave Van Dyke, who watches listener trends like no other: “Listenership in some segments of younger demographics is still strong, as more people are using radio as a way to discover new artists, ideas, etc.”. What I am seeing here is a welcome sign. Radio is declaring its particular strengths and demonstrating its staying power against a host of unproven radio alternatives/derivatives declaring themselves the new reality. The broader observation I have come away with at this juncture is that although self-service, personalized media alternatives still deserve ongoing attention, investment and market testing, there is a growing awareness that consumers are happy to let others (PD’s) program their media consumption for them, even with an alternatives in the palm of their hand.

The other important observation I have made in this tumultuous year, is where radio sits on the personalization landscape versus other forms of media. What we are finding is that radio, possibly through no fault of its own, is likely to be near or at the bottom of the list in demand for personalization. In terms of talk, one of my key advisors always reminds me that the Rush Limbaugh you turn on at midday is not all that different in content from the Hannity that follows immediately. No need to personalize if roughly the same content is ubiquitous. But the bigger reason for radio falling behind video and print is that radio is most naturally today’s background media. Personalization requires attention. Radio is perfect for when you are driving or otherwise multi-tasking. Video and print on the other hand, demand visual focus and thus foster a thirst for personalization. Plus, they are more conducive to hyperlinks.

Conclusion: When the demand for personalization in radio comes, let’s be ready.

Why will the app craze dissipate? Because the same thing has happened on your desktop already. Installed apps, for a variety of obvious practical reasons, have given way to web apps. Web apps are accessible from any computer. They don’t care what version your OS is. The installation step gives way to a much easier registration step. The configuration and data status information is 100% portable. Think of your email. Where would you be if you could not access it from the web? That’s right, stuck to one PC. How 2004 is that?

Now, with the recent emergence of Android and Palm Pre as competing smartphones to the iPhone, what do all touch smartphone users have in common? The webkit safari browser.. that’s what. iPhone web apps already have had a few advantages over their native app counterparts, but now that the safari browser will be the common denominator among all phones, the scales are going to tip dramatically. Web apps as a sub project will give way to the mobile web app being the core business model. Look how this new real estate application is built around this concept.

Also, in case you are skeptical about all this, Verizon, who has been the odd carrier out in the non-blackberry smartphone world is about to enter in with bang. Droid phones are due out before Christmas with the new Android 2.0 OS. They are also slated to carry the Palm Pre by January. You would not believe the amount of iPhone users who are ready to switch to a new phone only because of how much they hate AT&T.

What this means for radio, is new opportunity that maybe, just maybe, they might not pass by this time. Radio’s long-held media advantage of wider and simpler accessibility is being challenged again and again, but this time and through 2010, the shift will be felt more dramatically. We have been telling radio leaders to partner with us to head off the challenge and bring in new tools to lead in opportunity. Start adapting now, without abandoning your core. We share your ‘accessibility first’ principle, so let’s get moving. The future still marches on.

We are ready to help now by developing your mobile website assets simply by repurposing what you have now on your current website. We can work with your webmasters and engineers in a seamless manner to get a winning strategy working. There are lots of new possibilities for audio as well with a combination of web based, telephony based and mobile streaming tools for mobile phones.

We leave you with a quick video about how the fast and versatile Safari browser works at different speeds for the iPhone, Palm Pre and T-Mobile G1.

The joint actually feels haunted. For years, it was the center of the universe for all decisions made for its radio stations. Now it’s a disembodied mess and run by spirits from a distant city.

I’m sorry to report that Randall Mays, the soon-to-be-former CFO of Clear Channel, is boycotting this year’s party after being told by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee that he would have to get their approval before he could wear his Little Lord Fauntleroy costume.

Brother Mark will be coming as Pol Pot, the former Cambodian leader. Pol Pot eliminated hundreds villages in Cambodia and killed tens of thousands. Mark and his family eliminated hundreds of radio stations and altered the lives of tens of thousands.

The managing directors of Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee need no costumes. Their very presence is scary enough. Just ask the banks that invested in the Clear Channel privatization debacle.

The unimaginative John Hogan wears the same costume year after year and this is no exception. He’ll be coming as the abandoned puppy dog, unsure of whom his next master will be.

Lew Dickey is bring two costumes. First, there's his customary Smartest Grim Reaper in the Room.

Unlike Clear Channel, Citadel, CBS Radio and other companies that set up their kills in a manner that you know that they’re coming but not quite sure who the victims will be, Lew just shows up unannounced and says, “Boo! You’re fired!”

His second costume is an Invasion of the Body Snatcher pod. After he fires you, he’ll take over your job and since he's always the Smartest Grim Reaper in the Room, he'll do it better than you.

Did you happen to read Lew Dickey’s interview in Portfolio? Click here if you missed it.

Here are a couple of highlights.

To cut health care costs at Cumulus, Dickey dumped Human Resources from the task and seized total control of the project.

“It’s handled at human resources. I think that’s a big mistake,” he said. “I could immerse myself in office supplies, and in 15 minutes I could have a knowledge about that.”

Frightening.

The unimaginative Peter Smyth is going to wear horse blinders and rose-tinted sunglasses. That way he won’t be spooked by the realities of increased unemployment, lack of consumer confidence, sucker rallies on Wall Street, and unsold inventory.

Farid Suleman is coming as Dracula. He bought ABC Radio, sucked the life out of it, and somehow, he’s still standing.

Dan Mason will arrive as Mandrake the Magician. With a wave of his magic wand, he’ll turn one of his stations into a contemporary hits format whether the market needs it or not.

Though he wasn’t invited and has no plans to show, Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin will be the most visible person in the room. Like it or not, Wall Street considers Sirius XM a “radio company” and of the top five, his is the only one showing a increase in revenue (+18.6 percent).

By comparison, number one chain, Clear Channel had a -7.4 percent loss; number three, CBS was down -12.2 percent; number four, Citadel was down -9.4 percent, and Cumulus, a -6.9 percent drop.

Now, that’s scary.

Almost forgot. At this party, "Trick or treat" has been replaced by "pay for play."

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The Dr. Destructo story

There are times when we think the business relationships we have set up years ago will remain intact and that everyone is comfortable in their role. Then the phone rings. “Although we have been glad to have you provide that service for us, in light of the recession and all, we decided to handle that in house from this point forward.” No matter how wrong headed these kinds of decisions might be, they are made anyway, and more and more specialists are forced to diversify. What should surprise us is that anyone is surprised anymore when things normally regarded as necessities are re-evaluated at every level.

For a minute, let us consider the vital services provided by the radio program director. First of all, rest assured that I love PD’s and my appreciation for what they contribute to radio has increased over the last 2 years. Nonetheless, the core of what they do for listeners is gradually being replaced by an increasing consumer awareness of a whole new set of media choice. Not just content choice, but delivery method choice and personalization.

The convenience of pre-packaged media with a carefully balanced mix of news, info and music is certainly here to stay, but the obvious fact that this is no longer the only option means the radio industry must decide whether to participate in a widening demographic, or a shrinking one. Sound familiar? This is what we have been saying since 2006, and others have been saying as well.

I am slated to write an industry article specifically on the radio personalization topic next week, so you will have to stay tuned for the helpful details. I still think we can all progress better together as an industry if we test new radio ideas out in an intelligent way. That should seem like an obvious point, but you might be surprised how many still need this hammered home.

Shame, shame, shame on me. One of the most important dates in recent history and I missed it.

I’m going to stop short of taking full blame here. There were no reminders. No hints. No nothing.

You’d think with Google and Wikipedia someone would’ve flagged this date.

I didn't even see a single Tweet about it.

Eight years ago last Friday, October 23, the iPod was introduced.

I was in my Apple store last week. I’ve gotten to know most of the people there.

You’d think someone would’ve invited me to stop by and have cake and ice cream last Friday.

But no. Not a word.

Do you remember the first iPod?

Radio ignored it.

The labels mumbled something about intellectual property and copyrights.

Though it was a significant technological advance over the Diamond RIO MP3 player, the iPod was compatible only with Macs, which excluded 90 percent of the computer market.

And only geeks and Goths and art students owned Macs.

It was weird looking and clunky; the size of a deck of cards. It didn’t look or operate like a radio or a Walkman.

Just a year earlier Diamond REO released its second and third MP3 players with 32 MB and 64 MB of internal memory respectably which were compatible with PCs.

They weighed roughly 2.5 ounces and ranged in price from $200 to $250.

The downside was their fragility. They were prone to cracks and breakage.

The iPod, by comparison, weighed 6.5 ounces and had a whopping maximum 5 GB of storage.

Initially, the only way you could add music to it was by ripping songs from CDs.

And it was pricey. $400.

2001 - the year that Apple introduced the iPod, it made $5.4 billion - nearly all of it from sales of Macs to geeks, Goths, and art students. It posted a loss of $25 million.

Let’s fast forward to last year’s figures. Apple made $36.5 billion - good for $6 billion in profits - from the sale of iPods, iPhones, Macs, and digital content.

220 million iPods users can’t be wrong.

While I’m thinking of it. We missed another important date earlier this year.

January 5.

The eighth anniversary of the sale of the first HD Radio.

That’s when Cedar Rapids, Iowa resident Nathan Franzen bought a Kenwood KTC-HR 100 HD Radio tuner to install in his 2001 Pontiac Gran Prix.

The less said about HD Radio the better.

220 HD Radio users can’t be right.

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Seger & Sweet in Cleveland

Peter Smyth, it’s true that people are worried about the future of radio - or at least those of us who work for radio are.

I read your latest From the Corner Office last week and have to respond.

Peter, I’m not going to counter-point the half-truths and untruths in your latest letter.

Just a few points, please.

You say the Great Recession is over? Really.

How might I ask did you reach that conclusion? Unemployment continues to rise. Foreclosures are on the increase.

They’re related, you know.

If you don’t have a job, you can’t afford to pay the mortgage - and you lose the house.

And Peter, what does one do when they're foreclosed-upon. For one, they're less likely to spend whatever money they have left.

Our industry is based on consumer advertising. If they’re not buying, clients stop advertising. Some go out of business.

Here are all the stats you need.

The real world isn’t like radio, Peter. When Lew Dickey or Farid Suleman misses a payment, they have floatible options. They can give up more equity or try and pawn off debt.

Happy days are here again because the Dow cracked 10,000? Two words: Sucker’s rally.

Peter, you need to get out more. There’s little reality between Wall Street and Main Street. Or Dorchester Street.

I can even show you a few empty storefronts Newbury Street? How about Copley Place? It has a few shaky tenants.

Remember that 10,000 hallmark was hit a decade ago - March 30, 1999 to be exact. So even by Wall Street terms, our economy is, at best, torpid.

Are we really better off today than we were a year ago? Yes and no. The stimulus programs - tax credits and “Cash for Clunkers” brought consumers out of hiding - but all of that money’s been absorbed.

How many publicly traded radio groups are about to go belly-up?

How about the radio industry? Are we better off today, post-pillage deregulation?

I’d prefer your optimism to remain cautious, Peter.

We now know that the country was thisclose to plummeting into another Great Depression. We also know that we’re not even close to lifting ourselves out of this current Great Recession.

Truth be told, Peter. We’ve managed some temporary form of stabilization in a still depressed market.

Did you read Northeastern University economic prof Alan Clayton-Matthews' take on the economy in yesterday's Boston Globe? "I had seemed we hit the bottom this summer, but I'm not so sure anymore."

Yes, I believe we will have a turnaround - but it will be slow and imbalanced. Not everyone will get out of here alive.

Could we agree that the Internet is to radio what the horse was to the car?

The first cars were manufactured in retooled horse carriage factories.

The engine replaced the part where the horse used to be.

The only surviving radio stations will be those with creative content and retooled and grafted to on line and mobile.

See, we don’t need more radio stations. We already have too many. We do need live and localized radio stations providing what our potential audience wants.

And I don’t care what your consultants say. Slapping one of your radio station apps on a smart phone isn’t social networking.

There’s only one alternative. It’s the obit you don’t want to read, Peter: After several attempts to shock the radio industry back to life with gimmicks like HD Radio failed, it was pronounced obsolete on - fill in the date.

Since deregulation, radio’s been in denial.

Don’t blame the casino for losing your money. Look in the mirror.

Don’t blame the audience for your loss of time spent listening. Just listen to your product.

Don’t say it can’t happen here. It already has.

Radio lives in an alternate reality where fish sing, birds swim, and humans get in the way of voice tracking and syndication.

There will be more rounds of economic disasters from time to time. It’s inevitable. But you are in control of your own destiny. The disasters will be measured by how much or how little you prepared for them.

Here are three more words: Commercial real estate. We haven’t felt the aftershocks - because the quake hasn’t happened yet. But it will. Those commercial deals were bundled up and sold along side the equally toxic subprime residential mortgages.

Remember the tech boom at the end of the last decade when VC’s were running out of ink signing off on anything that had the word Internet embodied in the first sentence of a business plan?

Remember it was assumed that housing prices would continue to rise forever, which led to banks giving away mortgages to anyone whether they wanted them or not? Supply and demand? Come on.

Normally, I try to let sleeping dogs lie. But this is one hound that keeps barking and won't shut up.

I’m talking about your bud Lew Dickey. He’s now whining to Inside Radio that he gave away the store just to fill inventory. He forgot to add that he and others kept adding more inventory, too, in an attempt to meet budget. Supply and demand? Come on.

How can you have demand when you have an endless supply?

I don't know how everyone missed this one. A couple of weeks back a Seattle paper got radio broker Gary Stevens on the phone to discuss classical music formatted KING-FM's financial problems.

You're familiar with classical music, Peter. You dumped the format in two markets, Detroit and Philadelphia. Too bad the formats you replaced them with stiffed, too.

Here's what Gary said about the radio market to Seattle Crosscut: "Two years ago, a Seattle FM would have been worth $50-70 million, even if it wasn't profitable. In the current meltdown, so few radio stations have been traded, there aren't comparable sales numbers, but if I had to guess, KING-FM might bring in $15-25 million, in today's market, assuming a buyer could find financing."

Times are tough when even a seasoned radio broker like Stevens is quoting rates out of Filene's Basement's automatic markdown - before the markdown.

Shall we join reality, already in progress, Peter?

Let’s start with this report from Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS).

Their 23rd annual U.S. Communications Industry Forecast report that the largest declines in 2009 ad revenues will be newspapers (-18.7 percent/$35.5 billion); consumer magazines (-14.8 /$11 billion); radio (-11.7 percent/$15.8 billion), and broadcast television (-10.1 percent/$43.0 billion).

Growth will come from digital media. VSS forecasts increases in mobile (+18.1 percent/$1.3 billion) and Internet (+9.2/$23.8 billion).

VSS also predicts 2010 will be the year marketers will move advanced and sophisticated social media into its mainstream - effecting nearly all marketing initiatives.

Sounds like radio has some work to do. Up for it?

Finally, Peter, are you aware of the TV sitcom Gary Unmarried. In a recent episode the lead character, played by Jay Mohr, is trying to land a gig as a L.A. radio sports talk show host. He sends the station a demo and….well, click here and hear it yourself.

Ouch!

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The song remains the same

The Foundation of Human Understanding was established by Roy Masters as a religious organization dedicated to assisting anyone interested in perfecting their spiritual natures through the principles of Judeo Christianity. For over 44 years, the FHU has reached millions of listeners with radio programs such as “Advice Line,” currently carried on over 130 stations in the U.S. and rebroadcast worldwide via the internet.

Now with CelleCast, Advice Line is now interactive for all who wish to participate.

from their website.. how they are promoting their cellecast

Be Still and Know is a new kind of program for CelleCast, in that it is not a series of ongoing radio episodes, but rather a single audio exercise in 2 parts where listeners are encouraged to return multiple times a day to meditate regularly. This makes a persons cell phone a great personal development tool in an unprecedented way.

We made a few adjustments to how we deliver programs with less than 4 episodes. We took out the prompts that alert the user to the episode date since that is not relevant.

We also hope to see listeners using the talkback and cellegram features on CelleCast to declare personal progress and to spread the word to others in need.

Advice Line with Roy Masters

Mobile Voices Part 1
A case study in new media beyond broadcast, the Mobile Voices project empowers first generation immigrants in Los Angeles to publish multimedia stories about their lives and communities directly from mobile phones. This panel will explore questions of media production through demonstrations of the Mobile Voices project by some of its participants.

Nothing wrong with the projects goals, but the net affect of these kinds of schemes is to ride on the wave of mobile technology seeming to create a new practical application for it, but in reality, they are simply using the public interest in mobile technology to draw attention to their cause. The way they are doing this simply does not scale. If they wanted it to scale, they would contact us and use our Field reporter toolset and create an audio community on the spot that could be pointed to, listened to, added to, etc.

Looks like there was some grant money that simply needed to be spent. Go USC!

In all seriousness, there is a real need to bridge the gap between capability and acceptance of mobile storytelling, and I can certainly report on how it has gone for us in enabling event-based cell phone citizen journalism. Currently, the lifecycle of these kinds of deals is very short. When we quickly put ours together for the Obama inauguration and the April 15th Tea Parties, there was tremendous interest but little follow-through. The practical tools for enabling citizen journalists to contribute is all there on our website, but without practical application of the technology from social organizers, the whole situation feels like an awkward junior high dance where we really want to dance and don’t mind saying so, but those who can use the service already have a well funded entourage in tow that has keeping appearances at the top of their priorities. Show me the platform! Where are the stories?

Now, I would still love to dance with USC and other organizations, but at this point of seeing way too much posturing in the various industries we have tried to work with, simply calling them out like this appears to be the next best approach. I could be wrong and we were simply not findable amidst a sea of choices or the desire for video and pictures nullifies our otherwise highly elegant, easy to use, audio only solution. But it certainly seems to me that dialoging with a young, hungry and community minded startup like CelleCast is a highly effective way to move forward in mainstreaming audio social media. everyone has a story, and we want to continue to empower people to tell it right over thier phones, have it publish immediately on a branded project program page, as well as spread via Twitter. All the parts are there.

Always open to feedback,

Andrew Deal