Report: Limbaugh In Hawaii Hospital. RUSH LIMBAUGH has been taken to a HONOLULU hospital this afternoon suffering from chest pains, according to ABC affiliate KITV (TV). The station reports that LIMBAUGH, 58, was taken to QUEEN'S MEDICAL CENTER at 2:41 pm HAWAII time and was listed in serious condition as of late afternoon TODAY.

All Access and sdradio.net report that Finest City Broadcasters, operator of 91X, Z90, and Magic 92.5, are forced to put the assets of the Mexican-owned radio stations up for sale due to a default on a loan.

SD Reader Blurt: FCB Up For Sale, John Lynch In The Hunt For Them. Rumor in the article suggests that Lynch could take one of them into a simulcast with XX Sports once again. Is 91X a target for this? That would suck big time.

Randy Dotinga: It's the Year-End Radio Quiz

SD Radio.net: Good-bye 2009; Welcome 2010

NY Biz: Time Warner Cable offers arbitration with Fox

Chicago Tribune: New Year's Eve: The ultimate amateur night -- Carson Daly, who has no discernible talent, holds down the fort on "New Year's Eve With Carson Daly" on WMAQ-Ch. 5, if you're looking for something hipper than Dick and Ryan. And for something completely different: CNN proves it's not really a credible 24-hour news outlet anymore by televising a New Year's Eve show hosted by Anderson Cooper and famed D-lister Kathy Griffin. Fox News is having an "All American New Year," whatever that is. I'm guessing it involves a lot of those tea-party types

PC World: The FCC, in taking the first step toward creating net neutrality rules earlier this year, has reignited a contentious debate about government regulation of the Internet

Mel Phillips: National Association of Broadcasters new CEO Gordon Smith was recently interviewed about his fight against the Performance Rights Act, the tariff that would be imposed on terrestrial radio for playing music. Smith told politico.com why local radio should not pay for play. According to Smith, "satellite radio pays because it's a subscription service. The law specifically exempts AM and FM radio stations because we charge no fee to listeners. It has been the view of Congress for 80 years that play was exchange for promoting artists' music

The Wires (Dec 30, 2009)

Hampton Roads: Just when you thought you could enjoy your iPhone 3G, along comes the iPhone 3GS. VCRs are all but gone, replaced by DVRs. DVDs are on their way out, and Blu-ray discs are in. Betamax and VHS. Eight-track tapes. Cassettes and CDs. With technology, nothing lasts forever. As soon as something gets replaced by The Next Big Thing, the next Next Big Thing comes along. So, before they disappear, here are 10 advances in consumer technology this past decade worth remembering

Twin Cities: Broadcasters' woes could spell trouble for free TV

Inside Music Media: We are about to enter a time of great change in the media business -- yes, even bigger than anything we have seen to date in the tumultuous first decade of this new century. The Internet thing has happened. Social networking has taken root - even if in the primitive form of Facebook and Twitter. Traditional media has been increasingly on the ropes. The music industry has locked itself out of the digital future - no one else did it to them. And the radio industry is a mere shadow of its former self as consolidation, greed, mismanagement and too much debt service has taken its toll

SDNN: Philip Rivers headlines list of five Chargers Pro Bowlers

The Wires (Dec 29, 2009)

On Milwaukee: It's not news to say that the radio business is a mess. Consolidation of radio stations into the hands of a few major corporations means that the short-term bottom line is driving decisions. Add to that the general economic situation, which has hit radio advertising hard. Then there's the technological revolution that's affecting all media. For radio, there are increasing listening alternatives, from iPods to satellite radio to the Internet.

San Francisco Chronicle: The worst part about losing their morning show on KNGY ("Energy"), say Fernando and Greg, was that they had to keep it a secret. The new owner (who switched its format from dance music to Top 40) forbade the air staff from mentioning their upcoming demise - When he heard that new owners had dismissed the "Energy" staff, Doug Harvill offered the pair the morning show on KMVQ ("Movin' 99.7")

Fast Company: Gadget Flops of the Decade: 10 Devices That Didn't Survive the Aughties. One of them is of course the HD-DVD format. Also, Apple TV, DVD Audio and SACD,

Inside Music Media: George Michael could teach consolidators like Lew Dickey, Fagreed Suleman and John Slogan Hogan a thing or two. For example, when NBC canceled his popular "Sports Machine", Michael did something Suleman, Hogan and Dickey would never do.

Richard Wagoner: Citadel Broadcasting's bankruptcy filing last weekend apparently will have little effect on the radio giant's day-to-day operations - The radio industry - along with other traditional media including newspapers, magazines and television - has been hard hit by the recession. Radio owners have it particularly tough, though, due to massive debt loads brought on by the station-buying free-for-all over the past two decades. Promised savings from such consolidation were never realized, just as listeners shunned sound-alike stations, causing ad revenues to drop further

The Sound 100.3 Comes to St. Louis. Caution: it's run by Clear Channel!

The Wires (Dec 26, 2009)

Jay Posner: Booth is far better fit for Millen than any team's front office

John Maffei: TUBE TALK: Traveling troubadour

SDRadio.net: Snap! A look back in pictures for 2009

The Wires (Dec 25, 2009)

Wall Street Journal: Invisible Airwaves Crackle with Debt: To quote Everclear's not-quite-hit single "AM Radio", "The VCR and the DVD - there wasn't none of that crap back in 1970." Never mind iPods, Napster, YouTube, Pitchfork, MP3s `R' Us, et al. So don't blame Clear Channel Communications Inc. 100% for its less-than-stellar financial results earlier this year, or a capital structure that Moody's Investors Service has called "unsustainable"

Mercury News: The FCC wants to revamp the market for set-top boxes - the channel-switching devices that cable and satellite subscribers typically lease for $5 or $10 a month - and equip the machines with Internet-surfing capability

Gary Lycan: Will 2009 be remembered as the year of Dr. Laura? Or the year that Frosty, Heidi & Frank made a successful transition from FM to AM radio? Or perhaps the year-ending question - why aren't Larry Elder and Doug McIntyre on local radio? As the saying goes, we report - you decide. The big story in local radio was KFWB/980 AM dropping its all-news format after nearly four decades for talk on Sept. 8 - and kicking it off with an 18-hour marathon by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who moved over to KFWB from KFI/640 AM

George Michael Dead: (not the pop singer with the same name) George Michael, dean of Washington sportscasters, has died after a long battle with cancer, according to a reporter at WRC-TV (Channel 4), his former employer. Michael covered sports at WRC-TV (Channel 4) for 28 years until resigning in 2008 in response to budget cuts

The Wires (Dec 24, 2009)

Boston Herald: Experts say Howard Stern doesn't have many places left to go if he wants another huge payday. Free radio stations are struggling with steep drops in advertising and high debt loads, and probably can't pay top dollar to get him back

Inside Music Media: It's Christmastime and information is leaking out of Cumulus Media that is very disturbing to its employees and ex-employees. It is obvious that there is little to no holiday goodwill at radio's top three consolidators. They are playing Scrooge and putting coal in the stockings of their overworked and often abused personnel. Now this. Cumulus - in a legally questionable move - is allegedly holding back money due employees who are leaving their employ and some accuse their former employer of shutting the door on transparency with regard to their final commission payments

Inside Radio: Another smooth jazzer bites the dust. The triple threat of metered ratings, an aging audience and a lack of new music from core acts brings an end to two decades of smooth jazz on Cleveland's WNWV. "The Wave" will swap places with its adult alternative side channel within the next 10 days.

Randy Dotinga: On and off the air: real human drama

The Wires (Dec 23, 2009)

Waterloo Record: Arnold Stang, the actor whose career spanned, radio, TV, theatre and film, has died

NY Times: Who Killed Citadel Broadcasting?

PC World: The PC World 100 Best Products of 2009 - The App Store, Google Voice, Twitter and more

Inside Music Media: 'Tis the season to be bankrupt. The radio industry is weird - let's face it. Their idea of a Christmas bonus is to give away controlling interest in their failing radio groups in return for the CEO keeping his job! Ho! Ho! Ho! And what is it with these pre-arranged bankruptcies? I know they are in but basically you're handing over the company you ran into the ground to the people who gave you the loans you can't repay. You lose. They win. Everyone who works for them gets screwed

All Access: Yahoo Shutting Down For a Week

Clear Channel San Diego Falling Apart Continues... (Dec 22, 2009)

Inside Radio via e-mail: Citadel restructures via bankruptcy. He called it a ôlast option,ö but in the end, Citadel Broadcasting CEO Farid Suleman and the companyÆs lenders agreed it was the best option. The company has filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, the first step to implementing a pre-arranged restructuring with the holders of $2.1 billion in debt A second radio company presses the pre-arranged bankruptcy button in as many days. NextMedia, the Colorado-based radio and outdoor advertising company, today filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware

USA Today Verizon Wireless said that it doubled the fees for customers to break service contracts for smart phones because those devices cost much more.

Radio Ink: WFLZ Turkey-Frying Stunt Goes Wrong. A WFLZ/Tampa stunt -- attempting to deep-fry a turkey inside a station van -- went wrong Friday morning, destroying the van and leaving a veteran firefighter and a station staffer injured, the Tampa Tribune reports. Tampa Fire Rescue said the station had no permit and no proper safety crews on site