TV Tech: Senate Commerce Passes Satellite TV Bill. The bill extends for five years the right for satellite TV providers to carry out-of-market TV signals to household that can't receive stations in their own markets.

TV Tech: Feds, Industry Publish Consumer DTV Antenna Guidelines. The Tip Sheet and Advisory provide information on antennas, ranging from where they should be placed to what consumers should look for in buying a new antenna.

ASCAP-BMI talks hit an impasse. With just weeks left on the radio industry's agreement with ASCAP and BMI, it appears all but certain the industry will wind up in federal court. The Radio Music Licensing Committee has been negotiating with the performance rights organizations since last February, but those talks have been stalled. Details in today's Inside Radio.

Tom Taylor of radio-info: Forecast - hundreds of new low Power FMs more likely, after Senate committee action. First the House Commerce Committee okayed the Local Community Radio Act. Yesterday the Senate Commerce Committee approved it during a markup session - unanimously. That means the NAB will be fighting even harder to prevent it from coming up in the full Senate. But this one's going to be tougher to combat than the Performance Royalty bill, because support's coming not just from key industry centers (L.A., Nashville, Detroit), but from all over the map. Another thing - all five members of the FCC have testified that they favor relaxing the interference rules to let the agency authorize more LPFMs. If there's no third-adjacent protection for full-power stations, the floodgates will truly be open. The Senate's S. 592 is sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ). It has six co-sponsors in the 100-member Senate. The House bill has 86 co-sponsors. The grassroots Free Press group hails the prospect of "a new golden era of radio, where music, news and information that matter to local communities are back on the dial." There appears to be at least one carved-out exception - New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg offered an amendment that would preserve third-adjacent protection for full-power stations in the over-signaled Garden State. As the NJBA says in its newsletter, "Thank you, Senator Lautenberg."

Oprah to end her daytime TV show in two years, but she's still interested in radio. Though in hindsight, the net effect of the March 2009 lineup changes at the Sirius XM radio channel was to cut costs. It put more of Oprah herself on the satradio service - and probably broke ground by airing both next-day repeats of her syndicated TV show and stuff from the vaults from the last 20 years. (Sort of an interesting question about the rights to those, I gather.) Does Oprah's starpower help Mel Karmazin sell Sirius XM subscriptions? At the very least, putting Oprah and Martha Stewart on the promotional material helps broaden the eye appeal past sports, music and Howard Stern - it's mostly guy stuff, without the female superstars. Of course Oprah's not really "leaving TV." She's going to focus on her Oprah Winfrey Network/OWN cable channel, in cooperation with Discovery.

RW Online: In 1941, Stations Confronted `Moving Day'. We conclude our series of articles marking the FCC's 75th anniversary

Gary Lycan: L.A. radio listeners like their Top 40, Adult Contemporary and Spanish formats. They always rank high in the monthly ratings. In Orange County, it's a different story. We go for more variety - our top choices include news-talk classic hits, classic rock, country, adult hits, sports, and contemporary Christian

Randy Dotinga: Q: Whatever happened to morning hosts Tony and Kris? A: They've got a new gig, but you can't hear them on the air in San Diego at the moment + Q: OK, so what about Jeff and Jer? Are they ever going to be on the radio again? A: This is a burning question for many listeners, considering the morning team's huge popularity

Jacobs Media: Say it ain't so. Turns out that a new research study conducted in the UK shows that consumers who steal music pay for more music. Yup, these "pirates" spend an average of £77 a year on music - £33 more than the honest bloke who would never download music illegally

Jay Posner, Sports TV/Radio Beat: Still no NFL Network on Time Warner

John Maffei, Sports TV/Radio Beat: TUBE TALK: Chargers' rise, Broncos' fall takes NBC by surprise

Birthdays: Billy Currington (11/19), Dierks Bentley (11/20), Josh Turner (11/20)

Didja Hear? (Nov 20, 2009)

Oprah Winfrey will be calling it a syndication career after her 25th seson of her TV show on September 9, 2011. Winfrey has been working on the launch of her cable network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Her Harpo Radio programs the Oprah and Friends channel on Sirius XM Radio.

My Cox-attatched QAM HDTV is missing CSPAN-2 and CSPAN-3, along with KUSI-HD.

New Dave's Gone By (Nov 20, 2009)

This episode features:

A chat with Nina Price, radio personality and treasurer for 50-year-old San Francisco radio station KFJC-FM.

Inside Broadway - news about New York theater plus a review of The Royal Family on Broadway.

Rabbi Sol Solomon offers his thoughts on the Fort Hood massacre.

Says Dave about this week's show, "You couldn't ask for a more eclectic program. First I'll chat with Nina Price (aka ' Ann Arbor,' pictured above) about her years working for a college station as weirdly eclectic as any on the dial. Then I'll be talking about Broadway, and what beats that? Plus, on the lighter side, Rabbi Sol will talk about the army psychopath who killed 13 people in Texas. By gosh, I'm giggling already."

The Wires (Nov 20, 2009)

John Rook: There is no doubt Wi-Fi is the future for not only the distribution of radio programming but the music industry where it will find new exposure for the creations of the past and today. The automobile industry has now embraced Wi-Fi, within the near future it will become the chief distributor of programming now heard on AM/FM and satellite radio not to mention thousands of offerings from individual sources. Having paid giant prices for AM/FM and their tower sites, the radio industry, much like the print media is feeling the sting of the consumer acceptance of the internet and Wi-Fi radio. With the swift introduction of new technology, it's coming on fast

Inside Music Media: If you've been watching the dust up over Ando Media's new ratings rules for online streaming, you can see some radio people are getting themselves all worked up needlessly. Ando has done a few positive things in spite of the fact that some radio people are getting upset and have forced them to push back a bit. The radio industry hates change. On top of that, radio executives are used to dictating how things are going to be. No one dictates to them

Radio Ink: The FCC has ordered Oldies KRAT-FM/Altamont, OR, off the air, saying it has had no license to operate since a license renewal application was dismissed back in 2007. In this strange case, the real owner of the station fraudulently filed for the license renewal under another person's name.

All Access (full story here): The SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE has just voted unanimously to pass the LOCAL COMMUNITY RADIO ACT (S. 592), that would add hundreds of new low-power FM (LPFM) radio stations nationwide. The bill, introduced by Sen. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA) and Sen. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ) with six co-sponsors, now goes to the full Senate.

Pandora becomes top webcaster. Inside Radio reports that the pureplay webcaster, which allows registered users to create their own online stations, blew past CBS Radio and every other terrestrial broadcasting in Ando Media's October domestic ranker. Web-only operators had nearly twice the growth rate of radio stations last month.

From radio-info: Jeff Foxworthy is indeed leaving the Premiere syndication lineup in December - but was it a matter of money? Heard that from one of the weekly show's 300 or so affiliates, which would explain why Premiere announces the drop now, despite the long affiliate list. It could be that Jeff, who's got an active show-biz career, just decided that he'd call it a day if he couldn't get the dough he wanted from radio.

"HotTalkLA.com" is a kind of village square of Los Angeles talk talent. The new site offers a gathering place for listeners who want "The Film Freak Movie Talk Show" hosted by Leo Quinones, or the Keri Kasem Podcast with Ashley Marriott, or "The Single Life Podcast with Sam Phillips." Also "The Pretty Good Podcast" from Randy Wang and Gina Grad, who used to work with Tim Conway Jr. on then-talker KLSX (97.1). In fact, a lot of these folks have appeared on KLSX and/or other Los Angeles broadcast stations, and the local familiarity of the names brought nearly 20,000 total visits and over 16,000 podcast downloads last week, during an unannounced soft launch. For now, the site's concentrated on podcasts, but plans to offer live streaming and video in 2010. Jack Sullivan created the web presence for KLSX, and he's the founder and CEO of HotTalkLA. Rich Boerner is its president.

Didja Hear? (Nov 19, 2009)

Tuesday night welcomed Coach John Kentera back to the evening shift after a six week sideline due to a heart attack. John thanked all of his readers who sent him get well wishes, and thanked his doctors who worked on him.

Last Saturday's much advertised pay per view boxing match between Pacquiao and Mayweather was seen for free in Southern San Diego county. Yes, it's true. TV Azteca 7 affilliate channel 21 (and its digital companion on channel 29 in HD) carried the one-hour delayed fight from Las Vegas, in Spanish, of course, except for Michael Buffer's trademarked "rumble" opening intro. I'm old enough to remember when boxing matches on TV were once on free TV. Why can't we have that again? At least we can depend on Mexico for boxing. Check the TJ TV stations next time there's a marquee boxing match.

NFL Network Thursday Package and The CW: Get Together! (Nov 19, 2009)

Here's my suggestion that's a win-win solution. Have the NFL put the NFL Network produced games on the CW network for greater reach and to boost the ratings for the CW. The NFL Network, since it's buying time, can advertise whatever it wants to advertise including its shameless calls for viewers to call the cable companies to get the NFL Network on the cable systems.

The Wires (Nov 19, 2009)

Kelly Osbourne has made it to the finals of ôDancing with the Stars.ö Ozzy was soooo excited. Also making it to the finals is Donny Osmond - otherwise known as the ôAnti-Ozzy.ö

Mel Phillips: NAB Chief Says æThere Is No More MoneyÆ For Performance Rights

Inside Music Media: The World Intellectual Property Organization says that 40 billion music files were shared illegally in 2008 û thatÆs more than in 2007 but not as many as will be shared by the time the present year ends. ThatÆs a piracy rate of 95%! No wonder the record labels are beside themselves trying to stop this movement right now. Of course, they cannot

I Have Clues, Do You? (Nov 19, 2009)

Yes, this is a slam, and he/she/it deserves it. Thanks for e-mailing me. Time for me during this so-called holiday season to get started on educating the people.

I have clues on what makes good radio.

Too bad there are lame ass program directors that don't give a @#%^ about listeners and program lame ass pop on the airwaves all the time.

Channel 933, Star 94.1, KGB, Rock 105.3, and Clear Channel can kiss it where the sun don't shine.

My radio station runs circles over the best Clear Channel can do! http://www.dfsxradio.com/

Clear Channel program director, you don't have a clue how to program music. Get out and run a crappy Burger King franchise.

Podcasters and streamers like me are making music exciting again. Can't say the same for commercial radio.

Radio program directors go for the bore, the bland, the unfunny, the predictable, in other words, stuff you really wouldn't want to listen.

I'm part of a trend where listening to streams, podcasters, and mp3s on CD in my car is the norm rather than the exception.

With podcasting and streaming, it's music the way it used to be. Music for all ages, not just teens and young women.

As the so-called holiday season approaches, I have two words for Clear Channel and it's not Merry Christmas.

It's a shame that I have to spend time telling my readers what America is doing for the benefit of the radio suits who aren't into music.

To the person who e-mailed me today about being a hypocrite. You suck. You belong in New York.

Just like we can be in a war and have our citizens protest our troops fighting in a war....

We can launch a kick ass Christmas radio station and protest the early start of the Christmas commercials. This is America!

BTW: our Christmas station at http://www.dfsxradio.com/ has no commercials and plays fun holiday music. Can't say the same for CC radio.

The Wires (Nov 18, 2009)

NY Daily News: The talk show host wasn't amused by a "Saturday Night Live" skit that poked fun at Kathie Lee Gifford's work as co-host of the "Today" show's fourth hour

In addition to his MNF role alongside play-by-play commentator Mike Tirico and analyst Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden will appear on ESPNÆs NFL Draft and Super Bowl week coverage and he will call the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl in South Florida on January 31 - Gruden will serve as an analyst for ESPN RadioÆs 2010 Rose Bowl and Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title game broadcasts

All Access reports that Time Warner will be spinning off AOL on December 9th. Anybody remember AOL?

The Wires (Nov 17, 2009)

NY Times: Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform.

After 10 years, The Jeff Foxworthy Countdown will not be returning to the Premiere Radio Networks as of the end of the year

Chicago Tribune: NBC brings a lot of history as cable TV operator Comcast prepares to take control

NY Times: Americans spend more money each month on their wireless bills than people in any other country. But the money we spend buys a whole lot more talk time and text messages than it does elsewhere. On average, we effectively spend about 5 cents per minute of talk time and about a penny a text message, lower than anywhere else in the developed world. This year, the deals are becoming even better

Maxim Magazine: Country Music's Hottest Women.

All Access: HotTalkLA.com Launches With KLSX Alumni.

sdradio.net: Tony and Kris Launch Syndicated Morning Show.