See what I mean?

Editor's Note: It was suggested in a subtle way that I depersonalize the original version of this post. So, for the record, this is an edited version. I'm not one for editing stuff this way. I say what I mean and mean what I say. But, after reading it over a few times, I agree that it needed to be edited. The point is made without sharing horror stories.

A few months back, I wrote about the local weekly arts newspaper, The Hippo, advertising a job for a new features reporter. I posted the ad and then made a crack about how I was really sick and tired of media outlets in New Hampshire essentially selling the jobs in our state to people outside of our state. It seems to say, "Granite Staters need not apply." The Hippo didn't do this and I thanked them for it, not that it probably mattered to them.
But, lo and behold, look what I found on the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters' Web site ... a New Hampshire Public Radio ad for a talk show producer.
Here is a segment of the ad:

NEW HAMPSHIRE OFFERS BUCOLIC NEW ENGLAND SCENERY AND IS A HAVEN FOR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES LIKE HIKING, SKIING AND FISHING. NEW HAMPSHIRE IS ALSO A VERY AFFORDABLE PLACE TO LIVE WITH NO STATE INCOME TAX AND NO STATE SALES TAX. CONCORD, WHERE NHPR IS BASED, IS AN HOUR FROM BOSTON, FROM THE SEACOAST AND FROM WHITE MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST.

Why would they post this listing on a New Hampshire job board? We know how great it is to live here ... we already do. You don't need to tell us that. The polite thing to do, which would probably net more potential job applicants, would be to post a local notice without going on and on about how great it is to live here, and post a national notice like this one. Unless, of course, Granite Staters need not apply, and then, we get the point, thank you very much.
People may ask, what is the point? Well, the point is this: This is how the people covering your state get hired to cover your state. It is sickening when you think about the fact that media employers in our state, who may not know as much as others about New Hampshire, are telling you who is qualified and who is not qualified to tell the stories of our state.
I have been hearing that donations at NHPR are down right at a time when they need more money because they are expanding into a bigger location, at the old Blue Cross Blue Shield building in the South End of Concord [It is an exciting change for the network and it looks like a great space]. And this new show, not unlike another show proposed in 2005 called "The Current," which never went anywhere, seems like a new opportunity for them. But one has to wonder where the money will come from.
Earlier this year, they didn't limit the amount of donations for the Prius raffle whereas last year, the odds were better because there was only X-amount of donations taken. Why limit the popular contest, especially when you need more $100 donations?
Back in April, a few weeks after the interview, I was asked to make another donation to NHPR. The phone conversation went something like this:

Pablo: Hi, I'm Pablo from NHPR. How are you tonight?Me: Fine.Pablo: We know you are a regular listener to NHPR so you know all the wonderful things we do, correct [or something like that]?Me: Actually, I just stopped listening to NHPR recently [Go ahead, ask me why, Pablo, ask me why! I really want you to tell you ...]Pablo: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that ... Can we sign you up for your annual contribution of $100?Me: No.Silence for a moment.Pablo: Well, can we renew your $35 annual membership.
Me: No, sorry.Silence again [Come on Pablo, ask me why ...].
Pablo: OK, thank you for your continued support and we will talk to you again soon.Me: OK, bye.

Come on people, you don't want to know why? Over the years, I have had to talk to people who weren't happy with the product I was employed to deliver. I ALWAYS ask why someone is canceling their subscription or canceling their ads. Always. Why didn't Pablo want to know? Shocking, isn't it?
Lastly, I wonder why any radio network with as many stations as NHPR, with a ton of employees gathering news and interviewing people, would ever need to hold listening sessions around the state to find out what the pulse of the state is or what listeners think? Doesn't that say a lot?

Is Dodd making his move?

... or are firefighters starting to blog at Daily Kos?
I thought I would take a quick spin around the Web to look at some headlines and get my mind out of work for a few minutes.
Over at Daily Kos, there is a new preference poll up. With almost 11,000 voting, CT Sen. Chris Dodd has broken out of single digits for the first time and leaped into second place: Edwards 31, Dodd 22, Obama 16, Clinton 9, Other 6, Kucinich 5, No freakin' clue 5, Richardson 2, Biden 2, and Gravel 1.
I don't have all the previous results in front of me but it looks like Dodd is sucking up a lot of Richardson and Clinton support. I don't know if the IAFF all started becoming Daily Kos members or maybe they are Freepin' the poll. Who knows. However, this is a huge jump for Dodd and it will be interesting to see if this burst will last.

NH radio news
According to NERW, Libertarian talker Gardner Goldsmith, who does the lunchtime show on WTPL, will now be syndicated on the company's sister station, WMXR, 93.9, in Woodstock. They will also have on the putrid Glenn Beck and news simulcast from WMUR-TV, Channel 9.

Howie to appeal

["Howie to appeal; WRKO responds"]

Howie gets nailed

The court rules in WRKO's favor: ["Judge blocks Carr from jumping to WTKK"] and ["Judge rules against Carr in WRKO case"]. Oh, this is going to get interesting.

Oh man: This has to be burning Howie Carr ...

This "Virutal Howie" feature on the WRKO Web site is burning up the New England media landscape today: ["WRKO"] ... while the Boston radio gabber headed into court today to plead his case: ["Howie: Let me be heard on... 'TKK"].
Is anyone taking odds on what the outcome of the case will be? If you are, I want in on the action!
But, if you think about this for a second, WRKO must think they are going to lose. Otherwise, why would they put the Virtual Howie feature up AS A HAND PUPPET!?! If it were just another feature, it would be downloadable tracks, maybe a cute cartoon. But a HAND PUPPET? I know what that tells me. It's humiliating ... and it has to be burning Howie right now.
Question: Do they really think Howie is going to go back and work for those people after that? Well, I guess, if the price is right, he would probably go back. But, maybe not. He doesn't seem to be budging - even with a $7M matching contract offer.
A Google News search on the court case led to this story posted by the Boston Globe about 45 minutes ago: ["Carr awaits ruling on return to the airwaves"].

WFEA celebrates 75 years

WFEA 1370 AM out of Manchester celebrates 75 years in radio. From Ed Brouder earlier today:

For those within earshot of Manchester, WFEA's hour-long anniversary special airs today (Saturday) at noon, and repeats Sunday night at 7:00.
It's cram full of as many WFEA airchecks as I could find dating back to 1937.
Ed Brouder (AM 1370 WFEA news editor)
Man From Mars Productions
Manchester, NH

Howie Carr off the air, for now
Jessica Henslam over at the Boston Herald has all the details: ["Ruling leaves Howie Carr in limbo"]. Here is the Globe's report: ["Ruling issued in Howie Carr case"]. His PR firm released this statement which was sent to the Boston Radio Archives email list:

While we would like to have achieved a complete victory in court, we are gratified that the decision leaves open the opportunity for Howie to work at the place of his choosing. Not only did the Court find unlawful a portion of Entercom's employment agreement, but the Court adopted our argument that Howie cannot be forced to work for a particular radio station.

Howie looks forward to taking some well-deserved time off from one of his three careers and to joining WTKK in the very near future.

This entire thing has been pretty interesting to watch but I can't honestly see how it will all turn out. In the end, I think Entercom is going to lose this one and, knowing that, they probably should starting thinking about a future without Howie and start making the necessary changes to the station lineup.
Matching an agreement isn't just about money. In the case of radio, it is also about signal strength and time slot. While Entercom could match the monetary offer Greater Media made to Carr, WRKO is AM, not FM. The signal isn't as strong. They can't match that. They also can't match putting Carr on mornings without a total restructuring of the entire line up, something I doubt they would do. They could move former Speaker of the House Tom Finneran to another time slot. But, they are reportedly paying him a lot of money. They could give Howie mornings and Finneran afternoons, but I doubt that they would do that. The publicity buy alone to let everyone know of the change would be extremely expensive.
I just saw Howie on WBZ-TV 4 and boy, as he would say, he is one fat bastahd. Note to Howie: Like Tony Soprano once said to Big Pussy: "I have one word for you: Salads!" Come on, Howie. Get back on the treadmill, man.

Morse returns to airwaves too ... on WEIM

Author and conservative pundit Chuck Morse will not be on WBIX 1060 after all. He has actually just started a new afternoon drive program on WEIM 1280, The Blend.
Chuck's new show, entitled "Two-Way Talk," will air weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. According to a post on his Web site, "The program will focus on breaking news, pop culture, health, and money." The station isn't streaming currently but the Web site suggests it will be soon: ["WEIM AM 1280 The Blend"].
WEIM is based out of Fitchburg, Mass. and runs at 5,000 watts during the day and drops to 1,000 watts at night. The daytime signal runs from Worcester to Framingham to Lowell up to Nashua and then back around, in a circle, through the boonies south of Keene.
It will be interesting to hear what Chuck does with this show. He has been on six or seven area stations at this point, with not a lot of longevity. Over the years, I have found his shows to a mixed bag, both interesting and not. But if you've ever had to book a radio program, you know that it is difficult to hit a home run for every show. I will check it out on my drive home and report back about it at a later date.

NHPR
Here is a "fun" radio fact from NHPR's "Extra" email:

Did you know that it costs NHPR $162 for every hour of Morning Edition and All Things Considered every day of the year? That's $345,968 a year. It costs even more to produce local programming.

I'm kinda shocked by this. With $350,000, I could easily create 10 hours worth of New Hampshire-based daily programming which would be on par with NHPR's current programming. In fact, when I was running another local radio station, we were able to create more than 12 hours a day of localized programming for less than $200k annually and we won almost as many broadcasting awards as NHPR and more broadcasting awards than any other commercial radio station in New Hampshire during the time period! Had we entered all the same contests as NHPR, who knows how many more awards we would have won.
You know, I could go on a total blistering rant here but I will keep it to the finer points. I honestly do enjoy a lot of NHPR's weekend programming. I also think Xenia Piaseckyj, the afternoon news reader, is a top notch broadcaster and decent person. I also have other acquaintances who work at the network.
But, at the same time, I'm so disappointed in them and there is a good chance that I will never give them another dime again. For $350k - or even the $3 million budget they have - NHPR should easily be producing a lot more in-house content which would be more relevant to the listeners of New Hampshire then they currently are producing. It can be done ... I've proven it can be done on the local level, with one dinky AM radio station and a fraction of the resources. You just have to have the wherewithal to do it.

Arnie's back on the air
Arnie Arnesen is back on the radio down at Lawrence's WCCM 1110 AM from 6 to 9 a.m.: ["ARNIE"]. The signal runs from Lawrence to Lowell up to Nashua up to Manch and then down to Salem in a funny, slanted snow cone-like shape. It has taken awhile for her to get back on the air. Here's hoping she lasts a bit longer than previous gigs. I will check out the show on my way into work and see if it is worth listening to on a regular basis.

But, is NAB really that great?

Personally, I liked going to the NAB and RAB radio conventions. I learned a lot from the seminars and information, and a lot about the business, both good and bad. However, this guy makes some really good points, especially about the state of the industry: ["NAB: It's Your Party"]. I found this link quite by accident. It happened to be in the body of a Google email news alert about John Cox, which is weird if you think about it.

Canceled elections
I want to offer some quick comments and links and then get back to some other stuff.
First, another city cancels an election: ["Patrick allows city to waive preliminary election"]. I don't really know if it is such a good idea to make a habit of this. Surely, the 5th Congressional District race could have been lined up to be held on the preliminary election for Lowell, since Marty Meehan left plenty of time after his resignation to hold a special election. I'm surprised Secretary of State Bill Galvin didn't line it up to jibe with elections already being held in some cities, like Lowell and Lawrence. Then, it would not have needed to have been canceled.
Speaking of canceling elections, here is a preview in the Phoenix of the Boston City Council race: ["The rumor mill"] . Note the bit about the potential sixth place finishers. Some folks are always a day late and a dollar short.

The earth
Two stories about the planet worth looking at. First, this one, about a monstrous asteroid which could come very close to hitting the planet in 29 years: ["Civilization Threatening Asteroid Now Viewed by NASA, Others"]. and this one, about the earth's axis being off: ["Earth's Axis Tilts"]. Could this be the cause of "global warming" and not humans? It would make sense.

R.I.P. Hilly Kristal
The guy who opened CBGB's which pretty much created the alternative music phenomenon died recently: ["Hilly Kristal; His CBGB Nurtured N.Y. Punk Scene"]. I never met the man but would often walk by him at the club when I would go to shows. He would be up on a stoop, chain-smoking, and looking down at everyone.

TWA 800
I've always wondered about this one, considering what has been going on in this country over the last 15 years. But now, there is more evidence available and it's beginning to look like this was a terrorist attack: ["TWA 800 FOIA Suit Yields Smoking Gun"].

Preview
The NAB Radio Show is happening in a few weeks. I won't be going this year, even though it is in North Carolina and not that far away. But here is the site: ["NAB Radio Show"].

The $7M man?
Could be: ["WTKK deal may make Carr $7M man: Ratings bonuses would boost pay"].

Criminals and radio
Editor''s Note: This post has been edited and a correction is offered below:
What is it about some criminals and radio? Why must radio programmers continue to hire criminals and others to build their station programming instead of the ton of radio people out there who could easily do just as good a job and don't have the criminal records?
The reason I speak of this is the latest move by a radio station to hire a criminal, in this case, former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, who has been rehired at WPRO in Providence: ["Rhode Island"]. Like, it isn't bad enough that the Felon Finneran is on Boston's historic talker, WRKO. Or, that the pill-popping oaf of a human being, Rush Limbaugh, is still on hundreds of talk stations instead of in jail where he probably should be.
Then there is G. Gordon Liddy, Oliver North ... sigh ... the list goes on and on. Where are the standards?

Correction: In an earlier version of this post, it was mistakenly written that Tom Leykis was convicted of a lesser charge concerning an incident he was involved in while hosting a program on WRKO in Boston. That portion of the post was incorrect and has been removed. The charges were dropped as the link below explains: ["The Smoking Gun"].
As the writer of the post, I failed to correctly remember the incident and posted the information incorrectly. While the post was only up for about an hour, that isn't really the point. The information wasn't correct and I'm sorry for that.
As this shows, not everyone who is arrested is actually convicted of the crimes they have been charged with. As well, Cianci, Finneran, and others, all served their time so maybe I shouldn't be so judgmental about it.

One complaint about 3WK
OK, I've found a complaint about the new Classic Alternative Radio playlist at 3WK: They play too much Pere Ubu and the Sugarcubes. It seems as though the rotation plays both bands two or three times a day. Alternative commercial radio pretty much ignored Pere Ubu. What minor amount of airplay the band did receive was on college radio. Personally, I never liked the band. Their songs just go on and on and not in the cool on and on way by which a Sonic Youth goes on and on, for example. It just never seems to end and the singer's voice is annoying.
The Sugercubes, on the other hand, received a lot of commercial airplay. But, they play the annoying songs which featured Bjork's husband barking through them, destroying the songs. It is truly annoying. I did, however, hear the lovely "Birthday" today, which was nice. Oh well.

New 3WK stream
3WK, the online music streaming station, has added a third network to their site: Classic Alternative Radio. I don't know when they added it but it wasn't there last week. And the stream is pretty good. It features all the best of the 1980s and 1990s. Already today I've heard Translator, Juliana Hatfield's "Spin the Bottle," and the Psychedelic Furs' masterpiece, "Book of Days." Very, very nice.
Frankly, this is the format of the future, as we late baby boomers and X-ers long to hear the music of our lives and I'm surprised that rock radio stations haven't moved some of these tasty tracks into their playlists. While I dig 3WK's indie rock stream, I may be coming back to this stream a bit more often.

WRKO responds to Herald hit piece

In the ongoing, and amusing, media battle down here in Boston, here is the PD of WRKO responding to a Herald hit piece: ["Unfair to Finneran"]. Here are some of the responses over at radio-info.com: ["Jason Wolfe vs. The Boston Herald"].
I'll report on the fab Cheap Trick/Squeeze show in Boston last night in the next day or two. I might include some comments about all the changes at the South Boston Seaport District too, which are pretty impressive.

Well, this had to happen
["WRKO sues Howie Carr"]

Morse gets new radio gig

Chuck Morse, the author, two-time failed congressional candidate [aren't we all?], and self-proclaimed "rightwing extremist," will have a new gig on WBIX 1060 outside of Boston starting in September: ["Morse Code starting September 1"].
With things shaking up in the radio world down there - specifically, Howie Carr jumping to mornings at WTKK and no talent lined up to take the afternoon shift at WRKO - this is a good opportunity for Morse to try and tap into the afternoon drive time AM audience down in Framingham. Morse was last heard doing mornings down on WARL 1320, a 5,000 watt AM station in Attleboro and has a long history of on-again, off-again radio shows.
One of the neat things about Chuck is that while he is bats on some issues, he is dead-on correct on many others. As well, as I've noticed over the years, he likes to debate people from the opposite side of the fence. Folks like Noam Chomsky and his nemesis, Rep. Barney Frank, actually get airtime on his shows and that is a lot more than they ever get on other radio stations. In addition, he often gives dark horses and long-shots the chance to be heard [Disclosure: When he was on 1510 in the late 1990s, I was on his show a couple of times].
Of course, Morse has his work cut out for him. WBIX doesn't even post in the Top 30 of 12-plus numbers in Boston, according to the Arbitron diary: ["Market 11"]. In fact, looking at these numbers, Manch's WGIR-FM and WZID-FM, WUNR-AM's foreign language stew [and other foreign language stations], and Cambridge's tiny beautiful music station, WJIB-AM, chart higher. WBIX does have a trade deal with the Boston Herald, according to gossip I've heard. They get an ad in the Herald and the Herald gets a news sponsorship before and after news updates.
In order to make this work, a lot more promotion is going to be needed for the station. Here's hoping he has a good long run with this one.

Some more thoughts on the Carr deal
First, so much for "frivolous lawsuits," eh?: ["Carr files suit against WRKO for trying to stop deal with rival"].
Next, Dan Kennedy has a great overview of the decline at WRKO here: ["WRKO's long, painful decline"]. I agree with his point that giving Eagan and Braude the morning slot would have been a better move. This way, they could have offered Howie the Noon to 3 p.m. slot, where he would have easily creamed 'RKO's drug-dealing addict hypocrite Rush Limbaugh. WTKK would be a more powerful station than it already will be with Carr's morning show.

Lastly, before getting back to work, I'm going to rant a bit. I would be remiss if I didn't give Kennedy [and myself] a pat on the back for talking about this issue and the problems with talk radio more than 10 years ago: ["The Death of Talk Radio"]. Yours truly is quoted below:

Teaching people to think and act for themselves, and to take charge of a political process that they normally look at as something done to them, is a powerful thing. And in today's decadent talk-radio environment, that's happening less and less.

Take Anthony Schinella, who wants to talk about empowerment but finds himself shut out. Schinella got involved in talk radio through Jerry Brown's 1992 presidential campaign and the 1993 debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement. He's a bright, articulate guy, and he espouses a hard-edged political view that's seldom heard these days. He's beside himself, for instance, that not one Boston talk show chose to focus on the recently announced layoff of more than 100 workers at Osram Sylvania, in Danvers, whose jobs are being moved to Mexico thanks to NAFTA.

But Schinella can't break in. He just left a once-a-week gig at Tufts University's tiny WMFO, and is starting a Sunday-morning show at the slightly larger WUNR (AM 1600). Yet he has few illusions about breaking into the big time. "There's no Triple A farm system," he says. "There's no place for me to go. There's a wall there." And he wonders who, in the post-Jerry Williams era, will talk about the Big Dig, a new baseball stadium, or any of a host of local issues. "When you limit the number of voices, you limit the real news that people get," he says. "You don't get news from Dr. Laura."

If I may say so, I think I made a good point back then and it only rings that much louder today. The chickens, as they say, have come home to roost. It just took a bit longer to happen. No farm teaming of local talk talent has left a shell of a station and has kept competition in talk broadcasting in the Boston area, the cradle of liberty, the Athens of America, from fomenting.
It may seem like tooting my own horn by running this quote again, but whatever. The point is this: Programmers could have given me - or many others in the Boston area - the opportunity to compete way back when, even on a small scale. But they didn't, despite the quality programming I/we had to offer. If they had, they might not be in a hole right now, mighten they?
There are holes everywhere, as Kennedy notes.
Instead of continuing to bang my head against a wall in Boston's radio business, I delved more into politics and later, got into the newspaper business and started working in that medium [I never really gave up radio or talk. I looked at every possible opportunity, from leasing local time to leasing satellite time to offering to sub for free, trying to come up with some way to get on the air. Nothing worked. It just wasn't meant to be, as they say].
When I found out about blogging in 2002, I started this site, which has been a ton of fun. All this work led me back to radio in New Hampshire, as a reporter, news director, program director and then, station manager, all in 2.5 years. And now, thankfully, I'm back in newspapers.
In the end, it all worked out. But for us radio fans out here, what shortsightedness, eh? Maybe I should copy and paste the entire "The Death of Talk Radio" article for posterity's sake on the site. It is a great example of media journalism.

More on Carr's jump
Tons of people are talking about Howie Carr's plans to leave WRKO for WTKK.
First, WRKO is saying they aren't going to let Howie go that quickly, via a press release from George Regan to the updated Herald story.
Over on the Boston Radio Archives list, there is a lot of talk about what Carr's New England affiliates are going to do. Doug Drown suggests that some stations might jump at a Carr morning show. Others noted that many of Carr's New England affiliates lost Imus and don't have permanent replacements yet.
The Radio Equalizer says WRKO PD Jason Wolfe went ballistic: ["PD Trashes Office"]. Somehow, I doubt this, but who knows.
Media Nation also has some chatting going on: ["Carr talk on WTKK"].