By Mike Lyons Mike Lyons started his career in Orlando back in 1971 by publishing the city's first underground newspaper and promoting the first rock show at the Citrus Bowl (Cactus, Bloodrock, Potliquor and Dr. John for $3). He was MD/announcer for WORJ, WDIZ and WHTQ in Orlando, PD for Abrams' 98 Rock (WXTB) in Tampa, and spent the last eight years of his radio career as mornings/APD at WZTA Miami. From 1995-2000 he was VP of AAA Promotions at Lee Arnold Marketing. Lyons prefers to call himself a "post millennial pop culture theorist" instead of a "former record promotion weasel."

1/4/09

CBS RADIO - "It's Bad, You Know."
 
     "I have little respect for these managerial despots who think they know what is good for a proud and very successful industry. It took over 75 years to build today's radio business and less than ten for a handful of overpaid and under qualified CEO's to ruin it."
      I couldn't have said it any better so I quote above from Jerry Del Colliano's excellent daily media blog, Inside Music Media, because he put it so succinctly.
      Del Colliano is a former USC professor who also was the creator of Inside Radio, which he sold to Clear Channel for mucho bucks back when he knew it was right. He also was a terrific Top 40 Program Director for many years too. I remember first following his music adds at WIBG in Philadelphia back when Kal Rudman was a must-read in the early 70's.
      His sheet is remarkable to me since it seems like he is seeing the same things I'm seeing.
      Jerry was inspired for his screed after noting local radio ad revenue was off 21% in November and national radio advertising was down 24%! In an election year no less!
      Yet radio still responds to it's declining audience and business by simply cutting costs again and again and again. Never actually improving its product or reacting to the new marketing opportunities created for it in this new digital age.
      I was particularly intrigued over the holidays by the news that CBS Radio, in an attempt to cough up some amount of cash per Sumner Redstone's instructions to Les Moonves, had sold three full-powered FM stations in Denver to Wilks Broadcasting for just $19.5 million.
      $19.5 million?
      In market #21?
      It's bad you know.
      I don't know exactly what CBS paid for these stations but I'm sure it was at least five times that sale amount.
      Unbelievable.
      Of course, these stations all probably sound like the audio equivalent of a 60 cycle tone interspersed with time checks in morning drive. The way all current music formats are programmed, it's wallpaper to today's listeners. Nothing of distinction or uniqueness. Nothing new. Nothing fun! Nothing you need!
      Or want...to listen to.
      It's bad you know.
      2008 just finished with the Dow down 35% and the S&P down 39%. Retailers report that the just ended holiday season was the worst since 1970.
      160,000 stores closed in 2008 and 200,000 more could shutter this year according to Strategic Resource Group in an Associated Press story I read on Monday.
      2,000 to 3,000 malls are expected to close by May.
      I don't mean to be too negative but I'm sure we are going to see more economic distress soon. Firings and cuts are just starting to really hit here in Orlando, a former boom town.
      And more is coming.
      In this economic hard time, your product better be worth time and money. Or the customers aren't gonna show up.
      This is why I think AAA is in such a great spot as the rest of radio continues to wait before improving its product, either with new music or new people or just something that people can actually relate to!
      AAA has already had that from the beginning. New music. It'll be the only format pounding the new Bruce Springsteen album in a few weeks. It'll be the format pounding the new U2 in March.
      Christ, the format is filled with worthy new music, serving a niche that will help keep the format alive in this difficult time, presented by people who don't lie and don't waste a listener's time.
      The rest of radio thought AAA wouldn't serve enough people when it rose in the early 90's. The old rock signals would continue to dominate with their mass appeal numbers.
      Wrong.
      Radio's current music stations are sooooooo terrified of adding new music that they've killed themselves. Jocks sound bored as they read cards.
      While AAA may end up on new stations that can soon be bought for 20 cents on the dollar!    

(To get Jerry Del Colliano's free column, go to Inside Music Media.com)

TV: Things start to pick up again now that the holidays are over. "Scrubs" returns but it's now on ABC starting this Tuesday night at 9. "Nip/Tuck" also returns Tuesday on FX at 10pm. "Damages" with Glenn Close and new guest star William Hurt returns this Wednesday on FX at 10pm. "24" returns to Fox with two hours each, from 8-10pm. this Sunday and Monday. Golden Globes on NBC this Sunday too. Remember back when Steven Spielberg hired Oscar winner Diablo Cody ("Juno") to write a show he was producing? It's "The United States of Tara" coming to Showtime on Sunday January 18 at 10pm. starring Toni Collette...Both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are back with new shows on Comedy Central this week. Guests confirmed at this writing for The Daily Show include new "Meet The Press" host David Gregory on Monday, "Vanity Fair"'s Michael Wolff on Tuesday and Kate Hudson on Wednesday. Only guest confirmed for the return of The Colbert Report is CNN political reporter John King for Monday. Musical guests this week include Letterman with Glasvegas on Monday, Erin McCarley on Tuesday and Okkervil River on Wednesday. Leno has Iron & Wine on Monday, Lady Gaga on Thursday and Eagles of Death Metal on Friday....Conan has Doyle & Debby on Monday and Bang Camaro on Tuesday...One of the shows I recommended back when it began a few years ago has taken a break. "Sunday Morning Shootout," with Variety editor Peter Bart and producer Peter Guber talking about the movie business, has left its home at AMC and will be reappearing soon on another channel according to Bart. I'll keep you posted. 

TV LINES OF THE WEEK: "For the love of God. Will someone please punch me in the face so I can see some stars?" - Cloris Leachman from Comedy Central's Roast Of Bob Saget: Uncensored, out on DVD Tuesday. "I had a fallout with the Postmaster General. It was over the creation of a Jerry Garcia stamp. I said, 'If I wanted to lick a hippie, I'd return Joan Baez's phone calls.'" - Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) on "30 Rock."

MOVIES: OK, movies kept doing well last year despite the economy, finishing 2008 with a $9.63 billion gross, just under 2007's record take of $9.68 billion. 4.3% less tickets were sold last year but ticket prices were up. Over the weekend, labs continued to rule as "Marley & Me" repeated in the top spot with $24.1 million passing $100 million since its opening. Adam Sandler's "Bedtime Stories" stayed in second with another $20.3 million followed by "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" in third place with $18.4 million, "Valkyrie" in fourth with $14 million and "Yes Man" in fifth with $13.9 million. New films opening next weekend include "Bride Wars" with Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson, a typical January horror flick, "The Unborn," starring Gary Oldman and "Not Easily Broken" with Morris Chestnut. A few films with awards buzz go wider next weekend too including "Gran Torino" starring and directed by Clint Eastwood and "Last Chance Harvey" with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. The Golden Globe Awards return this Sunday after being bumped by last year's writer's strike. Remember they serve booze at this one broadcast from the Beverly Hilton next Sunday at 8 on NBC.

ONION HEADLINES OF THE WEEK: "Cubs, Absence From World Series Agree To 4-Year Extension," "Stuart Scott's Left Eye Moves To Fox."

SCHMUTZ: Sorry to see Dave Morey resign at KFOG after all these years. We wish him the best. But we'll still have the Ten at Ten...Nice to see the RIAA drop it's lawsuits. Except they're still pursing the ones in progress. Come on! What's the point? It never kept a kid from finding Limewire...Watch for Obama's FCC to embrace Net Neutrality and help escalate the move to better available broadband in this country...Book to read: "Financial Shock" by Mark Zandi, a founder of the research firm Moody's Economy.com. You'll see why he's always quoted...Finally, why is Sirius likely to stay at 12 cents a share? The collapse of the auto industry and Howard Stern's announcement that he'll retire when his contract is up in two years.

—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk
                                                                                          
Archive: 12/14/08

"DOWN SLIGHTLY IS THE NEW UP."
 
     That was the quote from Peter Crane in the New York Times this week. Crane is the President of Crane Data LLC, a money-market mutual-fund information company. He was talking about how bad the bond market is doing these days, where investors buy treasuries with zero, or even negative yields. Simply to keep their money in a relatively safe place.
     What a hell of a year it's been. Hell, what a week it's been.
     Since the Forest column last Sunday, the following items have made the news:
     The Tribune Company did file for bankruptcy. Not late in the week but on Monday, the day after I mentioned it in the column!
     The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press said they have to stop home delivery. You'll have to go to a newsstand to get it soon.
     Newsweek fired a few hundred more employees and also talked about cutting it's subscription base to save on postage.
     Krispy Kreme started closing franchises.
     The Las Vegas Sands cut jobs and bonuses.
     Procter and Gamble drastically lowered its sales outlook.
     Bank of America announced it would cut 35,000 jobs in the next three years.
     General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, still not having gotten the $15 billion they say they need, may have to cut up to 2.5 million jobs,
     Other than the Tribune story, these other stories are from the Wall Street Journal on Friday!
      It's just stunning.
      At radio, WUMB had to cancel its '09 Boston Folk Festival because no sponsors could be found. And National Public Radio had to let go of 64 people this week, about 7% of its staff. NPR also canceled two programs, "Day To Day" and "News and Notes", on account of a $23 million shortfall in the present fiscal year. Remember that $230 million gift from the estate of Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, that was bequeathed to NPR back in 2003? This year, a "decline in investment value and legal restrictions" caused the suspension of that revenue stream to NPR. $10 million suddenly gone out of the public radio pot.
     So, you can see why Mr. Crane says "down slightly is the new up." The losses are mounting in every portion of the American (and world) economy right now and there is still no end in sight.
      Remember 2003? That was when Warren Buffett warned that derivatives were "financial weapons of mass destruction."
      Of course, nobody payed attention to Buffett then because the good financial times were still rolling.
      President-elect Barack Obama put it succinctly in his last interview in Rolling Stone. "The irresponsibility of the last eight years has been incredible and will have to change."
      I think Obama's election is one of the few events in the last year to be truly happy about.
      As I pointed out in the last column. Big government is back. Big business blew it.
      And we're going to be seeing more and more proof of that throughout 2009.
      It's a shame.
      Gonna be tough to fix.
      But the other joy we have is music. Incredible new music.
      AAA has brought it to its loyal audience all year and that makes its product stand out when compared to its other faltering radio competitors. Listeners notice a AAA and appreciate it.
      I'm reminded of a piece of Buddhist wisdom.
      "Winter always turns into spring."
      You know it does.
      Work hard, be grateful and be patient.
      Happy Holidays!

TV: The holiday season has arrived so you know the TV viewing options are now nothing but repeats, classic Xmas movies, the NFL and fachachta college bowl games (the NCAA making teams with 6-6 records eligible for these games renders many particularly pointless). Of course, I'll be rooting for my Florida Gators to beat Oklahoma in Miami January 8th for another college football title. Swords will be sharpened...Big TV news this week was NBC's announcement that they will run Jay Leno, who is leaving the "Tonight Show" on his own discretion in May, five nights a week at 10 P.M. starting this Fall. The program will be almost exactly like the "Tonight Show". Everybody in the television business is now predicting that hour-long dramas for television may now complete their evolution to cable (Sopranos, Dexter), where language and taste restrictions are nonexistent compared to broadcast networks.  NBC's doing this because Jay is cheap ($30 million a  year)versus the cost of production on a show like "E.R." or "C.S.I." for 25 or 30 episodes. Hmmm. NBC will now only produce 17 hours a week of prime-time instead of 22. What's next in the cost-cutting? Footage of puppies sleeping from  9-10pm? (Hey. It's the new Internet rage). NBC really wanted to prevent Leno from going to ABC weeknights at 11:30. At least it will mean more exposure for musical acts every night in prime-time...Lots of new talk shows with musical guests over the holidays though. Leno has Sheryl Crow Monday, Relient K on Tuesday, Los Lonely Boys on Thursday and Melissa Etheridge on Friday, on Letterman, he has Tom Cruise and Fall Out Boy on Tuesday, Broken Social Scene on Wednesday, Of Montreal on Thursday and Todd Rundgren on Monday (12/22)...Conan has Fleet Foxes this Tuesday and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones next Monday (12/22) and the Old Crow Medicine Show next Tuesday (12/23)...Craig Ferguson has Death Cab For Cutie this Wednesday, Matt Nathanson next Monday (12/22) and Conor Oberst next Tuesday (12/23)...Jimmy Kimmel has The Cure this Tuesday, The Fray on Wednesday, Russell Brand and the All American Rejects on Thursday, Fall Out Boy on Friday and Keane next Monday (12/22)...Both The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report won't be back with new shows until January 5...SNL in repeats too with Josh Brolin and Adele again this Saturday (12/20).

MOVIES: The Golden Globe nominations came out Thursday and were pretty sensible for the most part. Their was a reminder, however, that these 75 or so voters are reviewers for The Jakarta Times and The Manila Bugle too. Both critically acclaimed "Milk" and "The Dark Knight" received only one nomination apiece. Appropriately, they were for Sean Penn and Heath Ledger but critics had expected more for both films. Some found it mystifying that Clint Eastwood also received no nominations for his work directing and acting in his "Gran Torino". Nonetheless, the Golden Globes will be given out on January 11 at the Beverly Hilton on NBC. Always fun to watch an awards audience drinking. The Oscars are looking for a "night club party atmosphere" next year. Actor Hugh Jackman has been assigned that duty as the new host of the Academy Awards next year. Nominations will come out on January 22 with the awards one month later on February 22...The poorly reviewed remake  of the classic, "The Day The Earth Stood Still", still opened on top this weekend despite its tepid critical reception. It took in $31 million for Fox. "Four Christmases" was second again with $13.3 million followed by "Twilight" with $8 million, "Bolt" with $7.5 million and "Australia" with $4.3 million. "Nothing Like The Holidays" opened weakly in seventh with just $3.5 million. "Milk" was in ninth with $2.6 million. "Gran Torino," "Doubt" and "The Reader" did extremely well in limited release. Like "Milk," they'll go wider over the holidays. New films opening wide this upcoming weekend include "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith, "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey, and "The Tales of Despereaux," an animated film with the voice of Matthew Broderick. Opening on December 25 are "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" from David Fincher starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler, "Marley & Me" with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston, ""The  Reader," with Kate Winslet, "The Spirit," with Samuel L. Jackson and "Valkyrie" with Tom Cruise. Don't laugh, it's actually been testing well. Other flicks that will open in New York City and Los Angeles to qualify for Oscar consideration before expanding throughout flyover country after the holidays include Dustin Hoffman's "Last Chance Harvey" and "Revolutionary Road" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet together for the first time since the immortal "Titanic".

BAND NAME OF THE WEEK: Shovel Ready.

SCHMUTZ: It was still available the last time I looked. If you'd like to get ahold of another song from Bruce Springsteen's new album, check out "My Lucky Day," available on Amazon.com...There's a great piece on Tina Fey written by the New York Times' Maureen Dowd inside the new Vanity Fair with Fey on the cover...Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. There are only seven notes Joe Satriani but expect Coldplay to settle...Glad to see Nic Harcourt land at the Tribune Company's "Los Angeles Time Magazine". I think...Sad to see old WLOF Orlando bud John Lander out at WBMX Boston after a looooong great run...Glad to see Mike Marrone and Lou Brutus make the cut at the new XM/Sirius building...Happy to see  that Dial/Global syndicated finance whiz Clark Howard is now a part of CNN Headline News on a daily basis now. I've grown to appreciate Howard's wisdom and ability on his show on WDBO-AM in Orlando...Speaking of Dial/Global, I was so sorry to hear that longtime DG programmer Steve Young had passed away suddenly earlier this week. Steve programmed KISW, Seattle and WAXQ and WNEW New York back in the day. I always enjoyed his friendship and smarts through the years. My buds would always say, "he's one of us." But Steve Young was actually nicer and more gracious than most of his contemporaries. He was a great talent and mentored so many. He will be missed.
                    Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year. The Forest will be back January 4,
                    Thanks for reading the Forest for another year!
—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk
                                                                                          
Archive: 12/7/08

COME TO JESUS!
 
     It was interesting this week to see so many radio bigwigs (among them, the NAB, Randy Kabrich and Cox's Bob Neil) bitching about NARAS's alleged dissing of the radio business during last Wednesday's new TV concoction on CBS announcing this year's Grammy nominees.
     Ne-Yo delivered the scripted words. "When the first Grammy's were given out, new artists were discovered on radio. Today, it's a digital world and we're all players in it, including some of music's freshest faces. Websites connect artists and fans in a way never before imagined and performers who once reached thousands of music fans now reach millions on the Internet, giving an entirely new meaning to the term 'Best New Artist.'"
     Ne-Yo then ripped open his envelope and said, "Our first winner is...," before correcting himself and announcing Adele, Duffy, Jazmine Sullivan, Lady Antebellum and the Jonas Brothers as Best New Artist nominees.
     Knew that was gonna happen, using the wrong syntax during the process of naming all the nominees.
     Coldplay, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Radiohead. Plenty of AAA artists were nominated in the top categories as well as filling up a good share of the 600 nominees in the various other categories.
     But getting upset and filling the trade magazines with whiny complaints about the semantics of NARAS President Neil Portnow was such a waste of time.
     The Grammy's pulled their smallest audience ever last year.
     The record industry (which is what makes up the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences) is desperate. CD sales, which is still the big labels' primary source of income, have continued to precipitously fall in the last decade.
     The labels' attempt to apply an extravagant royalty rate on Internet radio and a new performance royalty rate on existing terrestrial radio stations, has been a desperate grab for cash on account of the fact that the labels' business model (sell ya one hit track with 11 competent but unexceptional tracks for $20) no longer works.
     But that's too obvious to those in our industries. We already know that.
     Plus, the script written for Ne-Yo was true.
     Objecting to NARAS not treating radio as a powerful blood brother in their contrived "special" to generate some interest in the Grammy's is simply silly.
     It won't create a better perception of the radio business or create anything of value for radio.
     There is now a verified swing in our American pop culture underway right now from "big business" to "big government".
     The liaise-fair, or, "trust us" approach isn't working anymore because...IT DIDN'T WORK!
     And this is nothing revelatory. This is how the world works historically.
     Hard for monolithic radio and record companies to ask for sympathy in any public forum right now. Like the Wall Street bankers and investment firms and the American automobile companies, radio and records screwed the pooch. They made mistakes, primarily by not recognizing a changing marketplace and evolving their business models to match the requirements of a new playing field, and they are going to have to pay a price. They all have denied the facts for too long.
      Time to come to Jesus.
      Now.
      Stop worrying about PR and start worrying about your product. That is what needs fixing.
      It's going to get worse before it gets better and even if today's music radio gets a second chance, it can't sound like the generic pandering bore it primarily sounds like today.

BIZ: AAA is still ahead of the rest of music radio and just perfect for the labels and their awards. AAA plays more new artists and new music than any other format. By a mile. AAA also sounds like actual people enjoying themselves. Unlike most other formats, their production is sincere and well written. Right music beds. General managers who know who their target businesses are and they are stations that do not typically cut rates in desperation. They're also simply free of the bullshit clutter and behavior that fills the air and offices of today's typical radio station. Rolling Stone, this week, pointed out that radio has been experiencing its worst year financially since 1954. 1954. Small markets (where many AAA stations flourish) have seen their revenues grow by .6% over the last 20 months while the major markets are losing 4% of their revenue monthly. Continuing to not add new music and firing talented on-air people is no way to get through life son.

THIS JUST IN: The New York Times said tonight that Sam Zell's Tribune company is now preparing for a bankrupcy filing. Soon. Come to Jesus.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: From Ted Stevens, who just lost re-election as Senator from Alaska - "The Internet is a series of tubes."

TV: The Grammy Awards will be broadcast on CBS from Los Angeles on February 8, 2009...NBC announced today that White House correspondent David Gregory will become the permanent replacement for the late Tim Russert on "Meet The Press" beginning this Sunday...As usual, the sweeps are over so re-runs fill in most of the broadcast networks' schedule but there are a few notable new shows this week. On Thursday, "30 Rock" is new with Elaine Stritch returning as Alec Baldwin's mother providing a special kind of Christmas hell for him...Also on Thursday, it's the season finale of "The Sarah Silverman Show" at 10:30pm on Comedy Central as Sarah becomes engaged to her dog, Doug...These are also new episodes this week: Letterman has The Duke Spirit on Monday, Loudon Wainwright III on Wednesday and Bon Iver on Thursday...Leno has Sara Bareilles on Tuesday, Lyle Lovett on Wednesday and The Cure on Thursday....On the Craig Ferguson show he has Seal on Monday and  the Tokyo Police Club on Wednesday...Kimmel has Common on Tuesday, Adele on Wednesday and Snow Patrol on Thursday...Conan has Stephen Colbert on Monday and the excellent new group Gaslight Anthem on Tuesday...On new Daily Shows With Jon Stewart this week it is author Matthew Alexander on Monday, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee on Tuesday, Don Rickles on Wednesday hockey puck and Philip Seymour Hoffman on Thursday...Guests on The Colbert Report this week will include author Geoffrey Canada on Monday, Kevin Bacon and Toni Morrison on Tuesday, diplomat Richard Haass on Wednesday and Olympic champion Michael Phelps on Thursday...On SNL it's Hugh Laurie and Kanye West this weekend.

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "NASA SIMULATOR PREPARES ASTRONAUTS FOR RIGORS OF AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY KING."

MOVIES: Well, our year-end awards have started already with the National Board of Review naming Searchlights', "Slumdog Millionaire" as it's Best Picture. Best Actor went to Clint Eastwood for the well-reviewed upcoming "Gran Torino". Anne Hathaway was Best Actress for "Rachel Getting Married." Best Supporting Actors were Josh Brolin in "Milk" and Penelope Cruz in "Vicki Cristina Barcelona." It's just the beginning of these awards of course...Over the weekend, movie box-office revenues were up for the fifth week in a row. So far this year, ticket sales have been down 4% compared to last year but ticket prices have risen (as you've no doubt noticed) and the studios are looking for another record-breaking year in total box-office take. This weekend, "Four Christmases" remained at #1 with another $18.2 million. "Twilight" pulled in another $13.2 million in second. "Bolt" was third with $9.7 million followed by "Australia" with $7 million and "Quantum  Of Solace" with $6.6 million. The only new full wide release was "Punisher: War Zone" which underwhelmed, debuting in eighth with just $4 million. Sony's Chess Records 'story', "Cadillac Records," took in a healthy $3.5 million in limited release. Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon" set records with $180,000 at only three theaters. Both that and "Cadillac" go wider this weekend. Also new next weekend will be Gus Van Zandt's "Milk" starring Sean Penn and Brolin. Terrific reviews. Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly star in a remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still". Reviews have been hard to find. Never a good sign. Klatu Barada Nikto. Who knows?...Two holiday family flicks also open this weekend. "Delgo," animated with the voice of Jennifer Love Hewitt, and "Nothing Like The Holidays" with Alfred Molina.

FINALLY: He was a legend. I met him at the Century Plaza back in the 70's and we enjoyed a long talk about the conception and execution of radio music formats. Bill Drake, the legendary originator of the hyper tight "Boss Radio" Top-40 format, died last Saturday. My friend Brock Whaley (KPOI Honolulu) tells me all speakers at his service were limited to fifteen seconds of remembrance and all hymns jingled out.

—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk

Archive: 11/23/08

GIVE THANKS THAT YOU'RE AT AAA

    The Radio Advertising Board (RAB) said Friday that overall radio ad business was down 11% in the third quarter. That's like, the biz has kept sinking for the last ten or eleven quarters.
    And radio keeps doing the same thing. Firing talent but not firing the consultants who've been reassuring owners that this is the way to survive in 2009.
    Just continue cutting costs to keep the shareholders happy.
    What shareholder is happy when the shares of today's public radio ownership are worth but cents per share?
    This business is nuts right now.
    That is why anyone currently working in AAA should be thankful as the holiday season approaches.
    AAA has an audience and a product and a presentation that is correctly positioned for the difficult times ahead.
    AAA knows who it targets, how to serve them and how to sell the numbers.
    The rest of the radio biz is firing talent, replacing it with syndication and playing the same 300 songs the consultant gave them in Clinton's first term.
    Is it any wonder why listener-ship and advertising at most radio is still trending down?
    The cost cutting of our business moved into the field of the ridiculous last week as both Cumulus and Clear Channel Broadcasting both stopped using Arbitron to measure ratings and hired Nielsen to start measuring 67 small markets starting in the third quarter next year. The top 100 markets would be next.
     Advertisers asking for this? Nope.
     Agencies asking for this? Nope.
     It's being done so Cumulus and Clear Channel can save money. Nielsen's new service is cheaper than Arbitron.
     Yeah, that'll save the day.
     It's as if the radio industry, as a whole, is trying to eliminate any kind of value that could be recognized at their facilities.
     Nielsen will do one eight week survey a year. Using stickers on diaries. Come on.
     And you cannot find any businessman or trade reporters who think these constant cost-cutting moves will work.
     Economics 101 tells you that investment increasing the value of a product or service is all that works at the marketplace.
     Cutting overhead has no economic history as a method of increasing revenue.
     And the shares will still be worth pennies.
     Be thankful that, for most of you, programming and working at AAA does not require putting a hatpin through your frontal lobe to keep a straight face when talking about this business.

BIZ: I'm always amazed by how little radio music formats have changed through the last decade as the marketplace has changed. I swear I'm still listening to rotation clocks and music lists from the mid-90's! Recently here in Florida, you never hear the new AC/DC, Metallica or Guns and Roses. They're all selling a ton! The rockers still seem to be frozen in past habits. It's stunning. And it's that way because too many of today's rock stations can no longer figure out who their audience is. That is why radio is in so much trouble. Not only has consolidation and homogenization not worked, talented programmers are now apparently nonexistent...Paul McCartney says that the previously unreleased 14-minute "Carnival of Light" by the Beatles from 1967, an improv piece inspired by avant-garde composer Karl Stockhausen at the heighth of their psychedelic experimentation, may now be released next year...And here's our Ad of The Year from All Access - "PD WANTED  FOR KOREAN-REGGAE WEB RADIO STATION. Korean-reggae is all the rage on the Internet and now we need you. Do you have vast knowledge of this incredibly popular format? Do you love the Korean-reggae lifestyle? Do you like our bacon crunchy or soft? Tell me 10 reasons why you'd be the person for this job. We can't pay you anything for the first year or so but money will come sometime in the future. This station is voice tracked so we don't need any jocks. Thanks - Jerry Makeral." Hey, it's a looooong tail.

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "Americans Celebrate 10 Millionth 'Bring Yourself To Work Day'."

TV: The clueless heads of the big three auto makers flew into Washington D.C. last week, each in their private Gulfstream, to beg for money. Here's another example of the current trend of misguided corporate business decisions. NBC buys the Weather Channel for billions. Then Tuesday NBC celebrated its big "Green Is Universal" corporate campaign by eliminating the Environmental unit at its new acquisition, the Weather Channel. So Natalie Allen and 50 other employees go so they can save money. My friend Tom Teuber says it reminds him of the Pentagon's "we have to destroy the village in order to save it" explanation from the Vietnam war...Jimmy Fallon has picked The Roots to be his house band when he replaces Conan O'Brien next year...Anne Hathaway and The Killers on SNL this weekend 11/29...The Killers also on new Leno Tuesday, Seal there on Wednesday...Letterman also new this holiday week with Kanye West Monday, Ludacris Tuesday and Denis Leary and John  Mayer on Thursday...Conan has Tom Morello on Monday, Plain White T's on Wednesday...Craig Ferguson has Low vs Diamond Monday, Adele on Wednesday...On Jimmy Kimmel he has The Killers on Monday and Scott Weiland on Wednesday...Daily Show With Jon Stewart is reruns this week. New shows return next Monday 12/1 and The Colbert Report is repeats this week too but his "Colbert Christmas Special" will rerun Thanksgiving night.

MOVIES: The vampire romance "Twilight" opened $20 million better than expected over the weekend. It took in $70.6 million for new imprint Summit Entertainment. It was the biggest opening ever for a female director. Catherine ("13") Hardwicke is negotiating a return for the followup, "New Moon," which was understandably greenlit over the weekend. Coming in second was "Quantum Of Solace" with another healthy $27.4 million. This will be the highest grossing Bond film ever. Notice how it's recession/depression but films are doing record business? Disney's "Bolt" debuted in third with $27 million followed by "Madagascar 2" with $16 million and "Role Models" in fifth with $7.2 million. Opening on Wednesday for the long Thanksgiving weekend will be Baz Luhrmann's epic, "Australia", starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Studio reportedly fought with Luhrmann over the ending last month. Never a good sign. Also new will be "Four Christmases" with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn and "Transporter 3" with Jason Stratham.

FINALLY: Happy Thanksgiving! I'll be back December 7.

—Mike Lyons

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Archive: 11/16/08

MIND GRAPES AND THOUGHTSICLES
 
     That's a line Tracy Morgan recently dropped on "30 Rock". Just made me laugh out loud immediately. Sounds like a great band name. Or maybe whatever's in Sarah Palin's head right now. But it is really just another way to lead me to - Clearing out my notebook:
 
     Radio, records, television, newspapers and automobiles are all headed in a disastrous economic direction. The business models are broken for all of them. Their prospects for attracting new customers are virtually nil. But the guys at the top of these companies are still employed.
      Incredible. Unexplainable.
     Farid Suleman at Citadel Broadcasting has a stock price in cents-per-share while General Motors' CEO Rick Wagoner is begging Congress for money that will salve the wounds caused by his inability to effectively lead his company out of the wilderness it's found itself in as 2009 approaches.
     Things are so bad it's only a matter of time before these guys are history.
     Despite the immense sense of denial surrounding these businesses, there's no other way for these companies to get better than to eventually eliminate those responsible for their companies and their industry's fatal tracks.
     Essentially, the lack of leadership in these troubled companies will render these current leaders imminently replaceable.
     And 2009 is starting to look like a year when economic conditions will force the necessity of new, courageous and risk-embracing leaders.
     There will be no other choice.
     It has already been too long for all of these guys. It's a miracle they're still there.
 
     Sirius XM sustained a third-quarter loss of $4.88 billion, reflecting the declining value of its merged assets. CEO Mel Karmazin is a great salesman and leader but there are now more serious talk on the street of the company being in serious danger. $1 billion in debt is due in January 2009 and with banks and credit lines now tighter than a crab's ass, Wall Street wonders where Mel's gonna get the money.
     I'll tell you another thing about satellite radio. It has got to find a way onto the Web to successfully flourish. New revenue streams and aps. Whatever. The hardware necessity will kill it if the lack of debt service doesn't.
 
     Market research firm NPD Group this week said the Apple iPhone 3G passed Motorola's RAZR and is now the most popular mobile phone in the U.S.
 At least during the just released third-quarter figures. It's the first time a smart-phone has ever been the top selling consumer phone. Word has it that Apple will roll out the new OS v22 update this Friday. This will now include access to Google Street View as well as over-the-air podcast downloads. Here comes the future again!!
 
     Last week, the Tribune Company gave the Associated Press it's contractually demanded two-year notice that the Tribune company will not be renewing its deal with the A.P. What will their papers use in place of the A.P.? Nobody knows, but it may be the rollout of a new CNN wire service. Other than that possibility, who knows? There are less and less folks left in the buildings to write and fill that space under the Zell regime.
 
TV: Sweeps have begun so enjoy your guest stars. Elvis Costello joins "A Colbert Christmas - The Greatest Gift of All" next Sunday on the Comedy Channel...Costello's new show "Spectacle" on Sundance debuts December 3 with Elton John...Special guests on the talk shows this week will include French first lady and former Clapton/Jagger squeeze Carla Bruni Sarkozy on Tuesday's Letterman with Katie Couric on Wednesday, Colbert on Thursday and Beyonce on Friday...Leno has Adele on Tuesday, Bill Maher and Nickleback on Wednesday, Tenacious D on Thursday and Scott Weiland on Friday....Conan has Blitzen Trapper on Monday, P.C. spokesman John Hodgman on Tuesday, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's Wednesday, Sarah Vowell and Brian Wilson on Thursday and Vampire Weekend on Friday...Criag Ferguson has "High Fidelity" author Nick Hornby on Monday, The Bacon Brothers on Tuesday and Sarah McLachlan on Wednesday...Jimmy Kimmel has Paramore on Tuesday, Leona Lewis on Wednesday and The Hives on Thursday...Guests on The Colbert Report this week include Tom Brokaw and author Malcolm Gladwell on Monday, Paul Simon on Tuesday, author Michael Lewis on Wednesday and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and Newark Mayor Cory Booker on Thursday. As of Sunday night we do not have guests for this week for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart but the shows will be new so...Tim McGraw hosts and Ludacris and T-Pain perform on a new SNL this weekend.

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "Supreme Court Upholds Bill Of Rights In 5-4 Decision."

MOVIES: "Quantum of Solace" enjoyed the largest opening ever for a James Bond film with $70.4 million to place #1 at the weekend box-office. That's $30 million more than the last Bond film ("Casino Royale" in 2006) opened with. "Quantum" is already north of $300 million worldwide. Last week's #1, "Madagascar 2" was in second with another $36.1 million followed by "Role Models" in third with $1.7 million, "High School Musical 3" with $5.9 million and "The Changeling" in fifth with another $4.2 million. Director Danny Boyle's well-reviewed "Slumdog Millionaire" opened strong in limited release, taking in over $350,000 on only ten screens. It goes wider this weekend. Overall, the weekend box-office was up 54% compared to the same weekend last year. New openers for next weekend include "Twilight", the buzzed about first feature from author Stephanie Meyer's vampire novels. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson star. Also new is the animated "Bolt" from Disney with the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus among others. Two smaller films continuing to spread to more theaters are "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" with David Thewlis and Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, "Synecdoche, New York" starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. Both have not been reviewed favorably.

SCHMUTZ: Sorry to see Jon Hart leaving KTBG Kansas City at the end of the year. Jon deserves immense credit for his programming and research instincts used to launch the successful non-comm AAA at the University of Central Missouri during the last seven years...Meanwhile, KCRW's Nic Harcourt will be leaving as station music director and host of "Morning Becomes Eclectic" as of November 30. Nic has enjoyed ten years at KCRW and now, like Hart, is moving on to other things. Best wishes to both...Sorry to see CBS's WTBG drop all it's AAA currents before last week's first PPM month from Arbitron came out. The station doubled its demo shares after the Washington D.C. switch from diaries to PPM. Patience would've helped The Globe realize the size of its audience after all...Meanwhile, great to see Arbitron finally getting around to adding cell-phone-only focusing on the 18-34 in 50 diary markets. Why did it take so long?...Vivian Schiller is the new President and CEO of NPR starting in January. Schiller comes from driving the New York Times Web site to becoming the largest newspaper Web site...Finally, get ready, all of you will have a station across the street flipping to All-Christmas music any day now. Oy!

—Mike Lyons

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Archive: 11/9/08
 
     YES, WE CAN.
 
     Barack Obama's arrival as our new American President gives me hope. Gives me relief that as our nation struggles to recover from the irresponsible madness of the last eight years under Bush, the American spirit will repair and present itself as what it always has been. A dedication to hard work, innovation and the best instincts of the human spirit.
     It's also once again cool to be intelligent.
     A couple of notes about last Tuesday night: Obama canceled the scheduled fireworks over Grant Park in Chicago when he gave his winner's address to a huge lakeside crowd. Too much, he thought. We've all been numbed by pompous pomp and circumstance since 2001.
    The North Carolina county where Sarah Palin expressed her delight at being in the "real America" went for Obama by more than 18 percentage points.
    And it was nice to see CNN's Jessica Yellin as a holographic projection from Chicago in front of Wolf Blitzer in his studio but, what was the point? Looked like a Sci-Fi channel effect that blinked and shuddered as Wolf blabbered. How is this so much better than a split-screen shot?
    Mazel tov to Sarah Silverman as my home state of Florida joined Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Indiana, Virginia, New Mexico and Nevada in crossing over to the Blue side to ensure Obama's large electoral victory.
    How bad had Bush left the playing field?
    A black man with a Muslim name had more votes from white males than any other Democratic candidate since Jimmy Carter.
    George Bush's undeniable incompetence finally killed any chances the GOP may have had.
    It isn't gonna get any better for his type either.
    White men will be a minority in the United States by 2010 for the first time in our history.
    Bush may have just been the last of the angry, greedy, corrupt white guys
    He got what the Republicans wanted though. Two more conservative men for the Supreme Court and probably his best accomplishment for the GOP. His tremendous deficits make it nigh onto impossible for Social Security and Medicare to survive. There's no way you can raise taxes high enough to make them solvent for our children and grand children.
    So George killed the last remnants of FDR's New Deal. The historic goal of the Republican Party.
    Bush also killed almost 5,000 Americans in two insane land wars in Central Asia.
    And the repair work starts now.
    Obama will be hard pressed to solve the economic tragedy that will continue to get worse for this country very soon.
    But we've got nowhere to go but up from here.
    Now we can at least do this with dignity and honesty.
    And do not forget that AAA's personality and values are in sync with the sensibilities (especially the "greening" of America) that have just prevailed in this Presidential and congressional election.
    Yes, we can.
(This was written while listening to a "live" recording of Bruce Springsteen performing "Land of Hope and Dreams" from last week. Available on YouTube.)

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "Republican Party, Average Working Joe Bid One Another Adieu Until 2012."

TV: Fox's "24" returns with a two-hour movie two weeks from tonight on Sunday November 23...ABC has announced that the season debut of "Lost" will be a three-hour return on Wednesday January 21...Guests this week will include Taylor Swift on Monday, Alicia Keyes on Tuesday and Charlie Haden on Wednesday with Letterman...On Leno, he's got Dido on Monday, Senator John McCain and the Kaiser Chiefs on Tuesday, Beck on Wednesday and Sarah McLachlan on Thursday...Craig Ferguson has the Cold War Kids on Thursday and Ray Davies on Friday...Conan welcomes Conor Oberst on Tuesday and Boz Scaggs on Thursday....On The Daily Show With Jon Stewart he's got a repeat with Paul Rudd on Monday followed by new shows with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on Tuesday, T. Boone Pickens on Wednesday and Fox's Bill O'Reilly on Thursday...On The Colbert Report it's a repeat with Rachel Maddow on Monday and new shows with new Sacramento, California mayor Kevin Johnson on  Tuesday, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward on Wednesday and author Stephen Moore on Thursday...Paul Rudd and Beyonce on a new SNL this weekend.

MOVIES: Fambly, fambly, fambly won this weekend as Dreamworks' "Madagascar 2" sequel opened on top with over twenty million more than the original. "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" was #1 with $63.5 million. Universal's "Role Models" opened well in second with $19.3 million followed by "High School Musical 3" with another $9.3 million in third place. In fourth was "The Changeling" with $7.3 million and in fifth, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" with another $6.5 million. Samuel Jackson and the late Bernie Mac's "Soul Men" opened weakly with just $5.6 million in sixth. Overall, the top 12 films over the weekend took in $128.8 million, up 32% compared to the same weekend last year. Overall, this year's box-office total is just a fraction ahead of last year's record $9.7 billion take...Opening next weekend is the latest James Bond flick, "Quantum of Solace," starring Daniel Craig and another British film, "Happy-Go-Lucky" starring Sally Hawkins, which has gotten terrific reviews.

SCHMUTZ: Jerry Del Colliano's Inside Music media column is one of my favorites and his post on Friday, "A New Beginning For Radio," in which he proposes radio get ready to abandon spots and embrace underwriting and sponsorship placements is just what I've written for the last two or three years. Those four hourly five-minute clusters don't work anymore, especially on music radio formats...Appreciated Bill Figenshu's "After The Cuts" commentary, posted last week on AllAccess in case you haven't read it yet. Radio has to change now. Now...Love seeing a new major-market AAA station beginning in Vancouver, British Columbia...How bad is it going at the Tribune Company? This weekend, the Los Angeles Times closed its Washington D.C. bureau. Former bureau chief Doyle McManus has been relegated to an Op-Ed columnist now...Newly Discovered Gem this week: "It's My Own Cheating Heart" by Glasvegas.
                                                                                                                                                        
—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk


Archive: 11/2/08

AND WE ALL SHINE ON
 
      Last column I warned non-commercial radio that financial times could be getting tough in the next year because of the country's financial crisis. NPR, classical, news and AAA non-comms may have to bust their nuts to make ends meet this year.
      But, for the commercial radio guys, those stations not AAA or programmed well, or suffering under the industry's "cut, cut, cut" edict, the time is right for "lawyers, guns and money." Cuz the shit has hit the fan.
      Here's the story from Radio & Records' Web site this Sunday afternoon:
"In case you've just returned from a 10-month vacation on the dark side of the moon, the news in radioland is that the gold rush that began with the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has come to an ugly screeching halt. It's over baby!"
     According to BIA Financial Networks, 568 radio stations were sold or under contract to be sold between January 1 and September 30 of this year-compared to 845 stations in 2007. And the slowdown shows no signs of abating.
     Fact is, the radio industry, after its conglomerates expanded at will for years, now find themselves owning stations with formats they no longer believe in, with audience ratings declining, billing declining and CAZART, no customers as they try to save their financial asses by trying to sell them.
     Even if they had customers, those companies would be hard-pressed to find a bank to loan them the money to purchase.
     BIA says that current multiples. rather than being at the standard 17 to 18 times cash flow, are now lucky if they can get 5 to 7 times cash flow. If that customer can get a bank to lend.
     It's not instant karma. It took almost a decade to get here.
     But not investing in your product and indulging in denial while you fire people. And fire people. And fire people as Xmas approaches.
     Will no longer save your ass.
     It'll look you right in the face.

TV: Just another reminder of how our media world keeps flattening: Nielsen reports that during the first two weeks of the new Fall TV season, an average of 9 million people were watching any given show on prime-time live or within seven days. That's down 6.6% from last year...Be aware that Fox's "Fringe" and CBS' "The Mentalist" have been the two successful new series on network TV so far this season...Shows of note this week include an "SNL: Presidential Bash" Monday night at 9 on NBC. On Tuesday, election results may be snappier when Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert host "Indecision 2008: America's Choice" live from 10pm to Midnight...Guests of note this week include Elvis Costello and Jenny Lewis on Letterman Monday night...The Decemberists on Conan Monday...On Leno it's Tracy Chapman on Wednesday and TV On The Radio on Friday...Guests on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart will include Doris Kearns Goodwin on Monday, Election coverage on Tuesday, Fox News' Chris Wallace on Wednesday and Paul Rudd on Thursday...Guests on The Colbert Report include Andrew Sullivan on Monday, Election coverage on Tuesday, Ambassador Andrew Young On Wednesday and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday...Next new SNL will feature Paul Rudd and Beyonce on November 15.

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "Area Man Saddened To Realize Short Jewish Women With An Interest In Theater His Type."

MOVIES: Halloween occurring on Friday night killed it with its target audience but "High School Musical 3" still was at #1 at the weekend box-office for the second straight weekend with $15 million. "Zack & Miri Make A Porno" opened a little lower than expectations with $10.7 million in second. "Saw V" had $10.1 million in third. "The Changeling" went wider and took in $9.4 million for fourth and indie, "The Haunting Of Molly Hartley", debuted with $6 million in fifth. Overall, the weekend was down 38% compared to the same weekend last year...Variety reported this week that director Stephen Soderbergh's next effort will be a 3-D live-action rock & roll musical about Cleopatra starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman. OK...Opening next weekend are "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," "Repo! The Genetic Opera," "Role Models" with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott and "Soul Men" with Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac.

SCHMUTZ: Wanna welcome a new AAA station to the family. Chapparal Broadcasting, owners of KMTN Jackson Hole, have brought the Grand Tetons KSKI in Sun Valley. It'll be programmed by Rob Thompson and KMTN's Mark Fishman. They need music service too: KSKI P.O. Box 2750/ 201 S. Main, Hailey, Idaho 83333...WXPN's Dan Reed has announced that he 9th Non-Commvention will be held May 28-May 30 in Philadelphia. The view from under your table will be second to none...Wal-Mart will partner with T-Mobile to sell the G1, the first phone equipped with Google's Android mobile operating system, for $148.88 starting November 24. That's $50 cheaper than an iPhone. Also, Wal-Mart relaunched its MP3 store last week and tracks now start selling at just $.74. The store offers more than 3 million MP3 tracks from all major labels...Just finished a good book. "Rock On - An Office Power Ballad" from former Atlantic Records marketer Dan Kennedy. You'll recognize, you'll laugh, you'll cry. Oy.

—Mike Lyons

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Archive: 10/19/08

DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE CREEPINESS
 
     What a week!
     Obama appears to be pulling away as the Presidential election approaches two weeks from this Tuesday.
     It's happening for many reasons but the biggest reason is the financial collapse in this country and around the world. Recent drastic measures have yet to yield relief. The truth is that whoever is in charge is held for blame so Senator John McCain and the Republicans are having an extremely hard time using the GOP's laisse faire "trust us" theme as futures collapse and uncertainty reigns across this country.
     Meanwhile, radio's business declines continue. Low stock prices for companies like Entercom and Radio One led both to be dropped from the Standard and Poor MidCap 400 Index this week. That really makes it hard for people to take you seriously. Citadel's shares are 20 cents per and last week, Jerry Del Colliano, in his blog, Inside Music Media, looked at the market capitalization figures maintained currently by the largest radio ownership firms and they showed stunningly low figures. No wonder CBS is having trouble finding customers for its stations on the block.
     And, just like following the collapse of the financial institutions on Wall Street, you wonder, why haven't these people been fired?
     They just keep trying to cure their ills by firing more people. It's not just insanity, it's the actual definition of insanity. "Keep doing the same thing expecting different results each time."
     Del Colliano had a great way to put it when he pointed out 25% of Clear Channel employees were now Ryan Seacrest.
     In the current radio business, nothing is working. So nothing is changing.
     Especially when the only business moves attempted are more cuts, cuts, cuts such as what Entercom did last week.
     But there are still radio businessmen out there who are using formats like AAA and working hard, without denial, to sell their inventory and invest money and people in the next path.
     Adding online to the terrestrial signal and actually marketing these new inventory opportunities.
     Way too many of radio's industrial elite are too busy sitting in their offices working out the last days of their contracts. Nobody throws water on the fire because their mentor or best bud hasn't done it yet. That's a breathtaking lack of both courage and responsibility.
     And the other foot is still to come for radio. Both commercial and non-commercial.
     Right now, not only are companies not sure about the size and appeal of their product. Even if customers can be certifiably found, it can't be assumed that they will have the money, or the credit, therefore the ability, to spend.
     This goes for the big down through the small, investors, or customers.
     Things are going to continue to be very unstable for a while because collateral has disappeared and "trust us" won't work anymore.
     Watch this become more clear in the credit card market soon.
     And while commercial radio appears to be really in the sore spot right now, the non-commercial side of the business will begin to feel the pressure on its own terms.
     At the national level, underwriting and government grants are now starting to understandably wither.
     This may accumulate at a dangerous rate through the next 12 months. One just doesn't know how bad things can still get. One hopes for the best but nobody's counting on it coming.
     It just reminds me of one of favorite commercials, the "E-Trade" TV spot that features a baby sitting there telling us about "me and the boys were talking about what to do with all this extra coin we're gathering. And I said, "I wanna rent a clown!' So I did. Yeah (head turns). Bobo here. And I really underestimated the creepiness."
     There's a lot more coming. Be prepared.

TV: N.A.R.A.S. this week said that they will announce this year's Grammy nominees during a prime-time one hour show on CBS at 9pm on Wednesday December 3, "live" from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Several noms will perform during "The Grammy Nominations Live! - Countdown To Music's Biggest Night" while the academy will both celebrate the simultaneous opening of the Grammy Museum in L.A. as well as taking advantage of the exposure during the peak-time annually for music purchases...Also, married, Daily Show With Jon Stewart correspondents Samantha Bee and Jason Jones have both been signed by CBS to create/write and star in a new half-hour sitcom for next season...SNL will again be doing its Thursday night "Weekend Update" between 9:30pm and 10pm this week...The season two finale of AMC's "Mad Men" will take place next Sunday at 10pm..."Mad Men" star Jon Hamm and Coldplay will be on a new SNL next weekend October 25...Guests this week are a  lot of repeats but I'll note some specials. On Letterman it's Bill Clinton and Chris Rock again this Tuesday, then Sarah Vowell and the Pretenders on Wednesday...Leno again has Marc Broussard on Tuesday and Al Green on Friday...Conan repeats with Ira Glass on Thursday...Craig Ferguson is new with Cold War Kids on Thursday and Lenka on Friday...Jimmy Kimmel is new with the Smashing Pumpkins this Friday...New shows for both Colbert and Stewart this week. Guests on The Colbert Report will include Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria and Wynton Marsalis on Monday, home schooling advocate Mike Farris on Tuesday, D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee and conservative author David Frum on Wednesday with Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter on Thursday...On The Daily Show With Jon Stewart it's author Eugene Jarecki on Monday, Christopher Buckley, who was fired from his column at the National Review last week after endorsing Barack Obama, on Tuesday, NBC's Tom  Brokaw on Wednesday and New Jersey governor John Corzine on Thursday.

BAND NAME OF THE WEEK: "Joda Plummer."

MOVIES: Some financial notes from the studios this week are interesting. Warner Brothers just received an investment of more than $1 billion from Abu Dhabi's Sovereign Fund. Steven Spielberg jumps from Viacom/Paramount and takes his Dreamworks back to Universal riding a one-half billion dollar investment from India. Universal gets a simple 8% distribution fee. Great move..."Max Payne" debuted on top with $18 million over the weekend followed by "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" in second with $11.2 million. "The Secret Life of Bees" debuted solid with $11.1 million in third followed by the debut of Oliver Stone's "W" in fourth with a take of $10.6 million, a bit less than expected. Meanwhile, the concept of "Bush fatigue" isn't stopping Will Ferrell and writing/production partner Adam McKay from announcing this week that they will debut on Broadway, "You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush," starting on inauguration day January 20 at New  York's Cort Theater. Ferrell was incredible at doing Bush on SNL ("strategery") and the show will officially open February 1 and run through March 15. Overall at the box-office, the top 12 films took in $86.4 million, the fourth straight up week. The weekend was up 10% from the same weekend last year...Next weekend it's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" with Zac Efron et al, "Saw V" with Costas Mandylor, "Pride and Glory," a police drama with Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, "I've Loved You So Long," an indie sleeper with Kristan Scott Thomas and "The Passengers" with Anne Hathaway.

ONION HEADLINES OF THE WEEK: "900-Pound Giant Squid Joins Cast of "'The View,'" "'I Am Under 18' Button Clicked For First Time In History Of The Internet" and "Sci-Fi Channel Launches 'Battlestar Galactica: Miami'".

SCHMUTZ: Sad to see some of my terrific friends leave the now-combined XM/SIRIUS satellite radio operation. Appears that the company is duplicating Clear Channel and other big radio company's technique of placing several stations under one program director who will wipe out staffs and the appeal that goes with it. This doesn't solve the budget problem. Paying Oprah Winfrey $56 million a year for 6 hours of annual appearances is the type of move that's lead to satellite radio's financial instability. Too much for too little...FCC's OK of plans for "free" wireless national network is just the first step. Follow this one...Great to see one of my favorite columnists, Princeton's Paul Krugman, pick up the Nobel Prize for Economics....Can The Tribune Company survive it's $10 billion of debt payments, Wachovia Securities' Bishop Cheen doesn't think so...Finally, there is another reason McCain/Palin is behind Obama/Biden besides the vaporization of belief in the "trust us" form of regulation. If elected, Palin would be the first candidate to ever run and win without holding a single news conference.
                You can't not talk about it and not do it in 2008. The creepiness is too much...
                See you in two weeks.

—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk

Archive: 10/12/08
 
ROUND PEG IN THE ROUND HOLE. VERY GOOD!
 
     There are so many of us now, bloggers, reporters, analysts and industry veterans like myself, chronicling the simultaneous decline of both the radio and record industries, that sometimes I think that maybe we're all too negative.
     But we're not.
     After deregulation in 1996, broadcasting companies merged into a few behemoths whose business model diverted immediately and massively from the customer to Wall Street.
     The special, unique sound and feeling, hell, the simple communication has left most of radio with AAA becoming one of the few formats whose construction and sensibilities still make it attractive to listeners.
     The whole radio world is continuing through it's evolution out of the greed and into the need. Again, becoming a product again that people can use and relate to and treat as a "favorite" in their lives.
     AAA continues to stand out in it's delivery of that service. More stations come to the AAA family every year. Perhaps the evolution will continue and terrestrial radios can be worthy again.
     The labels, of course, missed the boat completely by ignoring, then denying the Internet. During the last decade they've spent millions trying to legally stop downloading and sharing by shaming and punishing folks who often don't even know that they've broken a law.
     And it hasn't gotten any better.
     But banging on the RIAA and labels gets old sometimes.
     So I wanted to point out something new that I think may help the labels that was announced this week.
     EMI said it would start its own iTunes competition by the end of the year.
     The statement, from Guy Hands, the CEO of the private equity company Terra Firma, who bought EMI last year, said that the site, EMI.com, would combine streaming and paid downloads. Some portions of the site would be free and some others would cost you.
     Doesn't matter, At least they will be doing something!
     Since both Sony's PressPlay and MusicPlay died on the vine a few years back, many wonder if EMI can make money on this.
     At least they'll be able to find out now.
     Word  is that non-EMI artists will be included through EMI.com. That was a fatal piece of the business model of PressPlay and MusicPlay.
     Since I first began writing the Forest column over nine years ago, I've continuously pointed out that the Internet is constantly changing. Evolving into a market defined set of products and services.
     Precedent law, royalty rates and business models are changing almost every day, still, because none of the typical business details of operations and market definition were there at the start of the Web.
     We're slowly getting there.
     The other day, the label's royalty group, Sound Exchange, again declared that Pandora was ready to pay the astronomical new royalty rates that the labels got an, admittedly ignorant, Congress to let them apply.
      They keep saying Pandora, Last FM, Live 365 et al, should be making more money so that the labels can charge them more money to legally function.
      What's wrong with this picture?
      Have you ever heard of one industry demanding that another industry use a certain business model?
      It's nuts.
      Online audio ads may become the standard someday, but, right now in 2008, money online is found primarily in banners and other visual ads. All of the aforementioned Internet radio firms do that as the evolution continues.
       While the labels attempt to kill Internet radio before it even really begins with the arrival of WiMax to cars. In a desperate act of suicidal greed.
       Now, as EMI begins selling its own catalog through the Web, it has a chance to research price points on all of its products. The audio. The video. The art. The options are endless.
       And you know if the labels are so desperate to get back on a survivable financial model that as it is considering playing the patentedly unfair royalty game, it will need income from several new sources. Cuz this royalty heist isn't gonna work.
       Maybe the Internet will finally be a source for the labels.
       EMI can now research revenue opportunities across the board. They're calling this an experimental "consumer lab".
       You can't find your future if you don't take the first step.
       With Universal Music Group reportedly ready to follow the EMI example and get their own site up to snuff by the end of the year, it may be the only good move the labels have made in this decade so far.

TV: The third (and final) Presidential debate will be held this Wednesday at 9pm on all the major networks. Also on Wednesday, "Project Runway" has it's season finale at 9pm My money's on Leanne Marshall....SNL Weekend Update Prime time returns Thursday night at 9:30pm....Josh Brolin and Adele on a new SNL Saturday night at 11:3pm...John McCain and David Letterman make up to one another this Thursday night. Other notable guests on Dave's show this week include Sarah Silverman and Ra Ra Riot on Monday, Blues Traveler on Tuesday and Tina Fey on Friday...Over on Leno, he's got Amy Lee on Monday, Kings of Leon on Tuesday, Senator Joe Biden and Lenka Thursday night and Black Kids on Friday...On Conan this week, it's Flobots on Monday, Ray Lamontagne on Tuesday and Nikka Costa on Thursday...New guests for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart this week include Amity Shales, author of the new book, "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" on Monday, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer on Tuesday, comedian Richard Lewis on Wednesday and former Labor Secretary, current Berkeley prof Robert Reich on Thursday...All-new this week on The Colbert Report too. On Monday it's Fortune's Bethany McLean, who was so sharp breaking and explaining the Enron story a few years back. Also on Monday, Stephen welcomes columnist Kathleen Parker, a conservative who recommended Sarah Palin remove herself for the McCain ticket last week. On Tuesday, it's Joseph Stiglitz, author of the book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the War in Iraq" followed by former SAP President and current Alternative Energy pioneer Shai Agassi. Brent Glass, Director of the National Museum of American History and author Robert Greenwald ("OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism") will join Colbert on Thursday.

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "Dog Experiences Best Day Of His Life For 400th Consecutive Day." Susan and I got a wonderful new chocolate lab this month and this is so true. Reminds me of my reason for loving pets so much. Unlike humans, they give you unconditional love and don't lie. They also love these other Onion headlines this week - "Obama Under Fire For Playing T-Ball During Vietnam" and "Tony Kornheiser Not About To Let Football Game Interrupt Tennis Anecdote."

MOVIES: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences decided this week to allow movie advertisements during the next Oscars telecast on ABC on February 22. The Academy had originally banned ads since the Academy Awards first were broadcast on television back in1953 in order to remove any charges of favoritism to the studio that bought the most ads, for instance. They obviously don't think that's a problem anymore and will require that films advertised will be for "future release" rather than for flicks competing for awards that night. And, since the Oscars numbers have dropped in recent years, they can allow networks to make more money while the AMPAS board continues to justify higher rights fees....Over the weekend, Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" celebrated its second week at #1 with a take of $17.5 million. Sony's horror opus, "Quarantine," followed in the tradition of Fall horror with a healthy opening of $14.2 million in second. Warner  Brothers' "Body of Lies" with Leo Dicaprio, Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott's names attached, was expected to open at #1, but opened in third with just $13.1 million. Analysts declared that a downer movie on political intrigue wasn't made for this month of financial markets collapsing. "Funny is money" was said, to explain the poocher success. "Eagle Eye" took in another $11 million in fourth place. "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" took in another $6.5 million for fifth while Universal's "The Express" disappointed with just $4.7 million in sixth place. "The Duchess" finally cracked the top ten, boxing $3.32 million in ninth place while Fox's "City Of Ember" with Tim Robbins and Bill Murray didn't make much of a dent with $3.2 million in tenth...Opening next weekend is "W" from Oliver Stone starring Josh Brolin as the current President and James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn as the folks and, in a great casting, Richard Dreyfus as Dick Cheney.
Also new will be "Max Payne" starring Mark Wahlberg in another movie version of a video game. Queen Latifah, Alicia Keyes, Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Hudson star in the drama "The Secret Life Of Bees". Also opening will be "Sex Drive" with James Marsden in a tale of a cross-country teen search for a girl they all met online. Finally, Madonna's directorial debut "Filth And Wisdom," starring Richard E. Grant and Eugene Hutz will open in N.Y and L.A. It's a dramatic, romantic comedy about a band on its way to the top. Prepare to be "Swept Away"! By the way, hubby Guy Ritchie's new "RockNRolla" opened well in limited release on seven theaters in New York and L.A. over the weekend.

SCHMUTZ: The body count at the papers continues as the L.A.Times announces layoffs for 75 more editorial positions this week...This week Apple reportedly sold its 10 millionth iPhone. And it's not even Christmas yet...I see New York and New Jersey attorneys general have both filed suit against Arbitron's Personal People Meter (PPM) for alleged violations of each state's consumer fraud and civil rights laws. This just after the past six months of major radio ownership groups (like Cox) attacking Arbitron after signing deals with the company (?). Boy, this looks like PPM's are turning into radio's version of credit default swaps.
                                                                                    
—Mike Lyons

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Archive: 10/5/08

SCHMUTZ? YOU BETCHA!
 
Emptying the notebook:
 
Great to see Saga again turn to AAA as a commercial format choice as they flipped their 98.1 FM frequency in Asheville, North Carolina to "The River" this week. It will join other Saga AAA's such as WRSI and WCNR, whose PD Brad Savage will consult "The River". That booming, attractive western North Carolina city, Asheville, has become a sort of mini-Austin as the musicians and listening rooms have bloomed or set roots there in recent years. Couple of friends went up to see Levon Helm there a few weeks ago. Loved it. Plus, I know tons about Asheville since a daily, slick, advertising insert has been in every issue of the USA Today that I've purchased in Central Florida since the turn of the century.
 
One of my first campaigns in this column was introducing and following the story of WiMax, the new wi-fi technology that would take wi-fi signal strength from several feet to several miles, enabling Internet radio and streaming to become enabled in cars. This week, Sprint launched its WiMax network in Baltimore. Their mobile broadband service (brand named XOHM) will next come to Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Chicago. It will still take time for competing networks, software and hardware to come together in the marketplace, but getting broadband in your car will dramatically change radio's future. If it doesn't make itself into a worthy product suited for the digital age, the potential for people switching to offerings online could become sincerely devastating.
 
In another technology note, this week, Disney, Paramount, Fox, Universal and Lionsgate all agreed to help pay for a $1 billion-plus roll-out of digital projectors on about 20,000 movie screens in North America. This will be both a precursor to showing movies in 3-D and enable, hell, rapidly sped up the transition from film to digital projection at theater franchisees across the country. It was inevitable that owners of theaters had to have some help to replace the hardware from film to digital projection and here it comes!
 
Sam Zell's karmic shit-train continues as his Cubs disappear from the baseball playoffs as fast as the Masters of the Universe disappeared from Wall Street.

TV: You'll, no doubt, get plenty of Tina Fey's remarkable Sarah Palin impression this Thursday at 9:30pm on NBC when SNL presents the first of its four prime-time appearance's during this political season. Next Saturday Night Live host will be "W" star Josh Brolin and musical guest Adele....The next Presidential debate will air this Tuesday at 9pm...Sarah Silverman's back with a new season of her series on The Comedy Channel Wednesday at 10:30pm ...Musical guests on Letterman this week include the Pretenders on Monday, Buddy Guy on Wednesday, Bill Murray and Beck on Thursday and Lou Reed on Friday...Over on Leno, it's Katy Perry on Monday (Hurry! 15 minutes almost up!), James Taylor on Tuesday, Marc Broussard on Wednesday, Rachel Yamagata on Thursday and Jackson Browne on Friday...Tom Morrello on Craig Ferguson on Friday...Conan welcomes Jenny Lewis on Monday, Death Cab For Cutie on Tuesday and Sarah McLachlan on Thursday...Guests on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart this week include Tim Robbins on Monday, the inimitable Sarah Vowel on Tuesday, TBA on Wednesday and Robert DeNiro on Friday...This week, all new guests will be featured on The Colbert Report but a list wasn't available Sunday night...In an episode of The Simpsons slated to run on Sunday, November 2, Homer Simpson will vote for Barack Obama. As Homer tries to vote for Obama, a machine changes the vote to McCain and proceeds to devour him. Sounds like Ohio in '04.

ONION HEADLINES OF THE WEEK: "Members of Twisted Sister Now Willing To Take It". "Paul Newman Dies After Consuming 51 Hard-Boiled Eggs".

MOVIES: Woof! Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" opened big with $29 million to take the top spot in the weekend box-office. Last week's #1, Dreamwork's "Eagle Eye" fell to second but took in another $17.7 million. Sony's "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" debuted strong with $12 million in third. "Nights in Rodanthe" grabbed another $7.4 million in fourth and Warner Brothers' "Appaloosa" spread well into $5 million for fifth place. Other new pix included $3.8 million for David Zucker's send-up of Hollywood's liberals with "An American Carol" in ninth place and, in narrower release, Bill Maher's "Religulous" opened well in tenth with $3.5 million and one of the best per-scren averages of the weekend. "Flash of Genius" with Greg Kinnear disappointed in eleventh place with only $2.3 million. Other new offerings opened feebly as well. "Blindness" starring Juliane Moore opened with an anemic $2 million. "How To Win Friends and Influence People" opened weakly with just $1.4 million. Overall the weekend was up 42% from the same weekend last year. Opening next weekend are "Rachel Getting Married" with a well-reviewed Anne Hathaway,"The Express," a biography of Syracuse running back Ernie Davis, the first black Heisman trophy winner, starring Rob Brown and Dennis Quaid, "Quarantine," another cheap Autumn horror film, "City Of Ember" with Bill Murray and "Billy: The Early Years" starring Martin Landau, a bio of the evangelist Billy Graham.

FINALLY: Impressed to have the opportunity to hear Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs- Rare And Unreleased 1989-2006 as NPR streams it on NPRmusic.org...Sorry to lose another favorite newspaper voice. Media columnist Robert Feder will be leaving the Chicago Sun-Times after 28 years...In other publishing news, Tina Fey will be writing a book for Little, Brown while O.J. Simpson gets to work on his great prison novel after his December 5 sentencing...And the Nobel Peace Prize will be given out this Friday. Have you noticed that previous winners have included the last two Democratic presidential administrations? Jimmy Carter won in 2002 and Al Gore won last year. Ahem.

—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk

                                                                                                                 
Archive: 9/28/08

EDITORS WILL ALWAYS BE NEEDED.

     I call the column "The Forest" because I have a habit of looking at the big picture. Take a breath, dolly back, see if you can get a better understanding of what's truly happening.
     With the continuing decline of newspapers, radio, broadcast TV networks and other mass-media pipelines we're so used to, I've recently been looking at the honest cause and effect nature of value creation in our world now.
     Let's go back to civilization's beginning.
     Folks gathered around the campfire to listen to guys like Homer and Virgil because they had valuable information and told interesting, engaging stories. They edited the world for you.
     That's pretty much what media and community was before the printing press. Then came radio, quickly followed by television and in the 20th century media took off!
     Communication, news, weather, music, plays, comedy, finance and politics for the masses.
     Then, as we entered the 21st century, the Internet matured and exploded as hardware became more powerful and, at the same time, cheaper.
     Software innovation continues to explode as the world flattened.
     We moved from a one-newspaper, one-radio-station, one-TV-station world into one where individual choices are combined from many sources to suit one's exact personal tastes.
     This means that today TV networks' #1 rated shows top out at just over 20 million while, in 1995, the top ten rated TV programs all drew an audience over 30 million apiece.
     Newspaper circulation has suffered an increasing decline in both circulation and ad sales as the Internet takes its piece.
     And at radio, the next foot is preparing to fall as technology enables wi-fi and wi-max to bring stations on the Internet into radio's essential listener foundation: automobiles.
     These declines alarm the industries affected but all of these industries unfortunately appear to be frozen in their tracks, like the anecdotal "deer in the headlights."
     The Internet has changed everything.
     But for those in radio, TV and newspapers, the truly talented will still fill a huge need in our lives.
     We will always need an editor.
     Everyone acknowledges the "information wave" that the Internet has brought to civilization. It's really quite stunning. One can spend hours on the Web clicking through links and topics that interest them.
     The need for a service to help edit this sea of information has always been there and will continue to be.
     That's why portal home pages have basically replaced newspapers headlines.
     P2P and YouTube are replacing radio and television.
     But the new digital world also has new habits of consumption too.
     We're living in an age of instant gratification (see the current Wall Street collapse as how this can end up badly).
     People want help in quicker access and editing the ocean of info.
     We've already seen television splinter into hundreds of cable channels serving specific needs.
     Newspapers will see that they have to provide better services over the Web and, bottom line, better products.
     Radio's formats have splintered.
     This is why watching newspapers and radio eliminate talent to save money is so distressing.
     It's the short term thinking that will kill you eventually. Just like an unregulated Wall Street.
     Radio, TV and newspapers can still flourish, but they have to aim for achievable goals rather than trying unsuccessfully to duplicate the results that were available in a different time. Nobody getting a 10 share 12+ anymore.
     I'll get the Wall Street Journal to read Walter Mossberg. I'll go to the New York Times for Paul Krugman. I'll watch the Coen Brothers films because I share their point-of-view. I'll listen to WMVY online because I like their music choices.
     Their has to be a reason to close the sale.
     Making the best choices about music and the news and the presentation a station uses equate to a memorable attraction.. I come back.
     For those who don't display a talent for producing interesting, attractive product after editing the ocean of material available.
     In the new digital world you lose.
     Like Homer and Virgil, there has to continue to be a good reason to hang out around the campfire with you.

BIZ: The new "royalty" settlement the labels mentioned last week applies just to a narrow group of 'on demand' sites and not Internet radio. It's similar to terrestrial publishing rates to BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. It's the 'performance royalties' the labels want to apply that will kill Internet radio. This is also a perfect example of why 'media" is so lame and disrespected nowadays. Way too often, news departments receive a press release. Read the press release on the air. Then repeat. No analysis or followup...The labels and SanDisk announced their "Slot Music" campaign this week as MySpace Music also arrives. The disc is not going to do what the labels hope. Replace the CD at CD's price. And MySpace has cut out all the smaller independent labels. Good luck. You'll both need it...Accuradio, NON-COMM keynote speaker Kurt Hanson's Internet radio company is in the process of introducing "30 Channels In 30 Days" and a new AAA channel consulted by our old friend Tom Teuber (WMMM, WMET,WLVQ) debuts this Tuesday. Accuradio has also cut a deal with Greater Media in Philadelphia to launch PhillySmoothJazz.com for the Phans who miss the format...Another radio bud of mine, KPOI Honolulu's PD Brock Whaley, sends this piece of news along. "'The Hard Rock Cafe' theme park in Myrtle Beach has gone Chapter 11. Turns out Led Zeppelin-themed roller-coasters aren't as much of a draw as some thought. The park closed for the season but plans to be back in the spring. That'll give 'em time to build the George Michael Haunted Restroom."

NEW WORD OF THE WEEK: Nomophobia - what psychologists now diagnose when people are so scared of being without their cell phones that a nervous condition kicks in.

TV:  Many good series continue to return for new seasons. "Pushing Daisies" is back on ABC this Wednesday from 8-9pm "Friday Night Lights" returns, but on DirecTV, not NBC, also Wednesday at 9pm...Thursday night, Sarah Palin field-dresses Joe Biden with her eyes at the Vice-Presidential debate on all the networks. "Tim Gunn's Guide To Style" has its season premiere also on Thursday on Bravo...Guests this week on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart include a repeat on Monday, Bill Maher on Tuesday, Robert DeNiro on Wednesday with Clint Eastwood on Thursday. This week on The Colbert Report it's Paul Begala on Monday, James Taylor on Tuesday, education pioneer Dave Levin on Wednesday and author Naomi Klein on Thursday...Did you see Letterman catch Senator John McCain while he was getting made-up for Katie Couric after calling David personally to cancel his appearance last Wednesday to "fly immediately back to D.C.". CBS News wasn't happy about Dave tapping the network's internal feed but Letterman certainly wasn't happy that McCain had lied to him. "This is not the way a tested hero behaves" hissed Dave. His musical guests this week include Pete Seeger on Monday, The Virgins on Tuesday and Lucinda Williams on Thursday...This week on Leno it's  Nikka Costa on Wednesday and Jack's Mannequin on Thursday...Conan has The Watson Twins on Monday, Ben Folds on Thursday and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on Friday...On Craig Ferguson he's got Amy McDonald on Monday, Michael Franti and Spearhead on Thursday and Randy Newman on Friday...Next weekend on SNL,  it's Anne Hathaway and The Killers.

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "McCain's Economic Plan For Nation:Everyone Marry A Beer Heiress,"

MOVIES: It's Shia's world and we're just living in it. Hoping he doesn't drive into us. "Eagle Eye" starring Shia Lebeouf, opened at #1 with $29.2 million over the weekend. "Nights In Rodanthe" debuted in second with $13.6 million. Last week's #1, "Lakeview Terrace" dropped to third place with another $7 million followed by the debut of the Sam Goldwyn Studios "Fireproof", a Christian-targeted film with Kirk Cameron and $6.5 million. "Burn After Reading" took in $6.2 million in fifth. Spike Lee's WWII drama "Miracle At St. Anna" opened weakly with just $3.5 million in ninth place. Overall the weekend took in $87.8 million, up 15% from the same weekend last year. Studios continue this year's risky tactic of opening an average of 8 films every weekend. New next weekend will be "Appaloosa" with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen, "Blindness" starring Julianne Moore, "How To Lose Friends And Alienate People" starring Simon Pegg, "Nick and Nora's Infinite  Playlist" with Michael Cera, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" with the voice of George Lopez, "Flash Of Genius" with Greg Kinnear (may be good. About the guy who invented the windshield wiper) and Bill Maher's "Religulous" from 'Borat' director Larry Charles.

FINALLY: Ira Gordon, OM of KBAC in Santa Fe, was featured in The Huffington Post on September 18 by Julia Goldberg, who covered a practice that Ira also used in the 2004 presidential election. On September 15th, the McCain campaign began running ads nearly every hour on Santa Fe's wonderful AAA station but every spot was followed by a spot by Ira that begins with a note that the station has to run political ads regardless of the truthfulness under federal law. Ira then says "This election is not about race, gender, age, terrorist fist bumps, cookie recipes, Muslim attire, church pastors, flip flops, lipstick or pigs. Rather, this election is about high gasoline prices, a sinking economy, the war in Iraq, the lack of support of our military vets, global climate change and pollution, corporate greed, the 1% getting richer and the poor getting ignored. Better off than you were eight years ago? Then you can only be one person: the CEO of Halliburton."
                Gordon tells Goldberg, "My feeling was political advertising in the long run is full of shit, so, without mentioning Democrats, Republicans or the candidates' names, I wanted to alert our listeners to the fact that they shouldn't believe political advertising. They should delve into the issues and decide who represents them the best."
                If only every station would do that!
                                                                    
—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk

Archive: 9/21/08

EVERYTHING'S FINE? WTF?    

     What a week that was!
     The U.S. government, after spending $29 billion bailing out Bear Stearns in March and taking on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's possible 3/4 trillion mortgage debt last week, decided to buy the planet's largest insurer, AIG, the eighteenth largest company in the world, for $85 billion.
     Money-markets funds broke the buck. Housing starts were the lowest in seventeen years. Mortgage rates are rising again. Gold jumping $150 an ounce. WAMU putting itself up for auction. Morgan-Stanley ready to merge with Wachovia.
     My god, people are discussing derivatives on TV and radio!
     Then to top it all off here in Orlando, an 18-wheeler rolling from the mint in Philadelphia to the Federal Reserve Bank in Miami collides with another truck early Wednesday morning, spilling 3 million, 700 thousand nickels that close I-95 just north of Cocoa for the day.
     It's pandemonium!
     Dogs and cats living together!!
     THUNDERDOME!!!
     I'm no financial genius (even Warren Buffett told CNBC, "I don't want to talk about derivatives") but here's what I understand.
     There is approximately 1 trillion dollars in consumer debt in this country. Mortgages, home loans, credit cards, auto loans, etc.
     At least a majority of this debt is insured by AIG. That's the main reason the government had to step up or things were going to get worse.
     Then, this debt, in a practice that has taken hold in the last 15 years, has been sold into securities that not everybody understands. Even Wall Street veterans.
     These are the derivatives. And there is basically no oversight of them. Period.
     Now, when the value of any collateral on Wall Street or in any American bank is questioned, it is nigh onto impossible to give an accurate answer.
     Because most of that collateral is housing, and that's floating all over the place.
     Cox's syndicated financial whiz, Clark Howard, said last week that there were between 8 and 10 million empty overbuilt houses in this country right now. Add on the houses of folks moving on or moving up and we all know why the values of homes is in such a state of flux.
     Why close on a home at a given price when that price may likely be lower as soon as the next week?
     Prime and sub-prime mortgages are now all buried in securities called "credit default swaps". Don't ask. If you want a better explanation of everything that's going on and why, check the Wednesday Wall Street Journal and the article "Worst Crisis Since The '30's, With No End In Sight." Written by eight WSJ reporters, it's a lesson in the world of finance in 2008.
     Forest for the trees? Banks are not granting credit to you or each other because they don't trust the valuations of assets. Yours or theirs. Plain and simple.
     And that scares the daylights out of every nation on the planet.
     So, to settle things, Bush is ready to buy every last stinking, bankrupt mortgage out there and...then sell it...if we have to...eventually. Or just eat it.
     In explaining politics, the Wall Street Journal once said, "Democrats tax, spend and govern. Republicans borrow, spend and govern."
     Bush will just put it on the card. It won't be his problem in three months
     But regulation and big government will take over no matter who wins in November.
     Hell, big government has taken over NOW.
     Nothing goes up forever.

BIZ: While Wall Street was going nuts, broadcasters at both the NAB and R&R were meeting at conventions declaring to one another and the press, "We're fine! Everything's FINE! REALLY! Cross my heart. Ask all my friends!" The same things said at the last three NAB and R&R conferences were repeated again dutifully across every format panel. Too few are talking about and accepting the truth. Any healthy future for radio will be based on having terrific content. And that's not happening enough to keep the radio business alive and flourishing in these tough economic times. AAA is way ahead of the rest of the radio curve with it's well served, well defined niche. Dream harder. Work harder.

TV: So, after ten years, MTV killed "TRL" this week. As Monica Hesse put it in the Washington Post, "the whole concept of voter-generated countdown shows feels extraneous in our new on-demand YOUTUBE world." No kidding. MTV now doesn't show videos anymore. Irrelevant...Amy Poehler will be leaving SNL at the end of this season after seven stellar years. She will be having a baby and concentrating on a new show on NBC...Anna Faris and Duffy on SNL this weekend...Stephen Colbert will host "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All" on November 23 on Comedy Central. The special will find Stephen snowed in at his 'upstate New York cabin' with musical friends including Elvis Costello...This week on The Colbert Report there's a rerun on Monday followed by new shows with Jackson Browne on Tuesday, Harvard's Dr. Cornel West on Wednesday and author Nick Carr on Thursday... The Daily Show With Jon Stewart will also have a rerun on Monday followed by new shows with Bill Clinton on Tuesday, Aaron Eckhart on Wednesday and Bob Schieffer from CBS on Thursday...On Letterman this week, he's got TV On The Radio on Monday, Kings of Leon on Tuesday, Senator John McCain on Wednesday, Morningwood on Thursday and Darius Rucker on Friday...On Leno it's My Morning Jacket on Monday with the Plain White-T's on Wednesday and The Hives on Thursday...On Conan it's Little Feat on Monday, Lenka on Wednesday, Jakob Dylan on Thursday and Amos Lee on Friday... Great article in today's (Sunday) Washington Post by Hank Stuever "What Will 'Everybody' Be Watching? Trust Us: 'Nobody' Has A Clue," in which he points out how 'everybody' has been replaced by 'nobody' in the pop culture lexicon when referring to mass-appeal entertainment. But there are some notes on the new "season" from the broadcast networks. "Heroes" and "Big Bang Theory" return on Monday night. "My Name is Earl," "The Office" and "Grey's Anatomy" are all back on  Thursday. The first presidential debate takes place on all networks on Friday and on Sunday it is the return of "The Simpsons," "Desperate Housewives" and "Californication" on Showtime. Stop that.

ONION HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: "Palin Unveils 9/11 Firefighter Cousin, Reformed Lesbian Niece, Naturalized Mexican Half Brother."

MOVIES: After bouncing back last weekend the motion picture box-office results continued their fall slump with Samuel L. Jackson's "Lakeview Terrace" debuting on top with a, just OK, $15.6 million. Overall, the weekend was down 4% from the same weekend n 2007. Last week's #1, the Coen brothers' "Burn After Reading," was in second place with $11.3 million followed by "My Best Friend's Girl" with Kate Hudson and Dane Cook opening third with $8.3 million. MGM's animated "Igor" started with $8 million. "Righteous Kill" was in fifth with $7.7 million. The other debut in the top ten was "Ghost Town" with Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear debuting in eighth place with $5.2 million. "The Duchess" and "Appaloosa" opened well in limited release. They'll go wider this weekend. Also new this weekend are Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna," Shia Lebeouf in "Eagle Eye," "Nights In Rodanthe" with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, "The Lucky Ones" from Tim Robbins and, in  limited release, "National Lampoon Presents Robodoc" with David Faustino, Alan Thicke and my AAA sponsor, who advises, "keep coming back!".

FINALLY: Maureen Dowd writing as 'West Wing's' Jeb Bartlett from today's (Sunday) New York Times: "We went to war with the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught dead or alive, my family's less safe than it was eight years ago, we've lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know...I'm a little angry."
                WTF?
                        
—Mike Lyons

Discuss! Visit the AAA live forum: TalkTalk

Archive: 9/14/08

"READING FOR THE BLIND"

     That was what my friend Sybil McGuire suggested I do when I mentioned to her that I sometimes missed being on the radio. She had done it up in Raleigh/Durham, where she now works for WRVA. Many local non-commercial radio stations in the country offer a service for the blind. Recruiting volunteers to read newspapers and such for the visually-impaired.
     So, this year, I started reading for several hours on Saturdays at WMFE-TV/FM. That's the NPR/Classical station here in Orlando. I loved kissing a Neumann again, reading for a channel that is fed over the SAP function to local viewer/listeners who need the service. Plus, I could pronounce the five-syllable names of third-world leaders just fine again.
      The local Tribune-owned Orlando Sentinel is the first newspaper we read every day. But the Sentinel is the pioneer of the new Zell/Abrams format of pix/charts/blurbs rather than the old longer stories. This is Lee Abrams idea and I enjoy being able to find the headlines I need in two minutes. Unfortunately, you could read the entire paper in about ten minutes. Tops. Everything.
      Last Saturday, the Sentinel's "A" section had seven pages of news with eleven pages of ads. The ads to news ratio in the other sections was even higher. About two to one.
      We're running out of news to read here!
      To fill the new gap we now read more from the Daytona News-Journal and Florida Today over in Cocoa Beach, USA Today creator Al Neuharth's original paper. So our time slots get filled with enough news after we edit out the duplicates.
      But it's not like the country's 19th largest television market suddenly has less than half the news happening than it had last year. It's that the stories (international and national) are not covered period, or the stories are now 100 to 200 words rather than 500 words or more.
      Like Gertrude Stein's reference on Oakland, "There's no there, there." The Sentinel's shrinking is alarming. How is this supposed to incline more people to subscribe or buy?
      My own personal rule for the radio I did was that the priority was to be interesting. If you're not interesting than, why should people be spending time with you?
      In today's corporate/quarter-driven world, it continues to appear that radio, records and the newspaper industry have chosen to commit suicide-as-a-business by continuously cutting back on their product, in hopes that leaving the old format in orbit will last until an industry collapse takes place.
      Then they'll do something.
      When every piece of business coverage I read says that all three industries have to adapt now. Not just bloggers and columnists. Anybody covering business or simply paying attention knows that the products offered to today's digital audience has to be different from what was delivered to them when these stations, papers, labels began.
      This is something that AAA, both commercial and non-commercial has already done. Kept the product interesting and special. Adapted the business model to cover streaming and HD. Deals for music and merchandise on the Web site.
      The rest of them will join us eventually. Putting time, money and effort into making a more desirable product. Until then, we're on our own.
      We have a business convention on this topic coming up in Los Angeles this week. The Public Radio Program Directors conference (PRPD) will begin Wednesday and run through Saturday at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.
      On Thursday, one of non-commercial radio's smartest and effective leaders, Ken Mills, will moderate a panel entitled, "Case Studies In Format Focusing: New Triple-A Stations." Panelists will include Nico L