Thursday, August 17, 2006

"I am only an entertainer who has understood his time." Picasso

"The artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs." G.K. Chesterton

"The structure of a play is always the story of how the birds came home to roost." Arthur Miller

Chad Brown
named president of Katz Radio. Mark Gray up to president of Katz Radio Group. More examples of why Stu Olds is the very best mind and finest leader working in representation. KRG release, via word doc, here Congrats and cheers to Chad and Mark. Bravo to Stu!

Staci Kramer puts forward her best guess. The TimesSelect product has "about 139,400 full-paying subs representing about $6.9 million in revenues annually." Staci shares another interesting stat, the number of academic half-priced subs...less than 2% by her estimate. More here at paidContent.

Superjock speaks: Uncle Lar tells Robert Feder...

"Given the fact that I am still charming, still delightful, and still blessed with the God-given ability to pleasure the listeners in every conceivable way, you would think that some station manager would be eager to throw money at me. But with the idiots running radio stations these days, who knows?"

Idiots indeed. More via Robert Feder, Fired 'Superjock' still has a lot to say, in today's Chicago Sun-Times here

During my Chicago days I was asked to serve as EP for the then annual Windy awards dinner. I was blessed to have Uncle Lar accept the invitation to be our MC. Larry did a masterful job, his pitch perfect performance had the jaded crowd engaged and entertained. Larry made the evening memorable and fun for every presenter, winner and all attending. Uncle Lar also managed to make the event a complete joy for this EP and my crew - the evening was a smash thanks to the casual tone set by Larry (it was a pleasure to be along for the ride).

Who will tell the boss he sucks? Michael Eisner posted 18,000 viewers (25-54, 8pm) this past Tuesday on his CNBC show. His lead, OTM, pulled 41,000. About as close as one can get to having no viewing at all. What to do? Start with a stronger show runner, better coaching of Michael and either theme the show to tie the multiple guest shots or let him run with one guest for the duration. One hour with Dick Parsons would have worked this week if Michael had been prepared and coached with the right questions. An hour "behind the scenes" with Jimmy Kimmel would also have played well. The segment with Billy Crystal was gratuitous and as it led it perhaps killed any potential for the show to hold lead-in. Going forward the show has to either change or die.

Happy trails. Emmis gets out of the Country in LA, debuts the "Movin" format in the southland. The move reunites consultant Allan Burns with Emmis (the smart money says Jon Coleman is also likely involved somehow). Emmis also inks radio star Rick Dees marking his third round at an LA breakfast show (KHJ and KIIS previously). Congrats to Rick, Emmis and Allan & company their new format now up and running in two major markets. LATER - thanks for the emails. Guy Zapoleon is the COR, Emmis has worked out a license w/AB to use the Movin brand name. No word yet on who is doing the research.

Pay radio, one or none time? A review of the numbers along with a reasonable assumption or two about the coming months (more bad news) seems to indicate Mel better pick up the phone and save the day (and his job). The road ahead for the pay radio folks appears to be just plain ugly. Making things happen with regulatory is not one of Mel's skills but knowing that he is smart enough to engage folks that can make his case. Charlie, Candy and Rupert will pave the way, watch.

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