Category: Radio

Who to launch channel on Sirius
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Legendary British rock band The Who is reaching out to a new generation of listeners.
In addition to this week launching its first world tour in more than 20 years to promote its first new album since 1982, The Who, which rose to fame with rebellious hits such as “My Generation,” said it will be hosting its own channel on Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
“The Who Channel,” a commercial-free music channel, will launch on Sept 21. Sirius, a subscriber-based satellite radio provider, announced the new channel during a press event in New York attended by all current members of The Who.
The Who has only two of its original members — singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend.
Two other original members, drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle, died in drug-related incidents.
The limited-run channel will feature five decades of the band’s music, exclusive interviews with band members and nightly broadcasts of concerts on the band’s current tour.
Sirius will also broadcast shows from The Who’s archives, including some never before-heard shows and backstage conversations with the band, including some with the late Keith Moon and John Entwistle.
Townshend and Daltrey are now joined by bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Zak Starkey ( Ringo Starr’s son), guitarist Simon Townshend and keyboardist John “Rabbit” Bundrick on the new album, as well as in their live performances.
The band kicked off their world tour in Philadelphia on Tuesday with a two-hour set that included a full complement of classic hits and a smattering of new material.
“Endless Wire,” The Who’s first studio album in 24 years, is due to be released by Universal Music on October 31.

Sirius subscriber growth outpaces XM
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. on Thursday posted stronger second quarter subscriber additions than larger rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., sending Sirius’ shares up 4 percent.
Sirius, boosted by an exclusive deal with shock jock radio personality Howard Stern, said it added about 600,640 net new subscribers in the quarter, a 64 percent growth from the same period last year. It ended the quarter with 4.7 million subscribers, still short of XM’s nearly 7 million subscribers.
XM said it added 398,000 net new subscribers, a 38 percent drop in net subscriber growth compared to last year’s period curbed by new product availability. XM shares were flat in Nasdaq trade after falling as much as 5 percent before the market opened.
Oppenheimer and Co. analyst Thomas Eagan said Sirius’ business continued to benefit from the “Howard Stern-effect,” with fans of the ribald talk show host flocking to the No. 2 satellite radio service.
On the other hand, XM’s growth has been hurt by a delay in shipment of its new handheld digital music players with built-in satellite receivers.
But Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett offered a more complicated answer that explained XM’s volatile stock price on Thursday morning.
He said the difference in net new subscriber growth was actually an “optical illusion” due to the difference in the sheer size of the two satellite radio operators.
With churn, or the rate of losing subscribers at an industry average of about 2.5 percent, Moffett said XM would naturally lose more customers every quarter since it has a larger subscriber base.
“By virtue of its smaller size, Sirius loses fewer customers … each quarter,” he said. “As a result, its share of net additions will always be higher than its share of gross additions, at least until it ‘catches up’ to XM in sheer size.”
To make up the difference, “XM has to grow more aggressively,” Oppenheimer’s Eagan said.
Moffett said the gap between the number of net new subscribers each company added was approximately equal to their difference in estimated churn for the quarter.
The two companies, which are expected to post net losses for the foreseeable future, are also hamstrung by high marketing and subscriber acquisition costs, analysts have said.
Sirius shares rose 11 cents, or 2.46 percent, to $4.59; XM shares lost 12 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $14.37 on the Nasdaq in late afternoon trading.

Canadians watch TV and use Internet more, listen to radio less: CRTC
TORONTO (CP) – Canadians are watching a bit more television, listening to a bit less radio and accessing the Internet in record numbers.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission released its annual broadcast monitoring report Friday. In addition to detailing the radio and TV habits of Canadians, this year’s report also includes data on the growing field of handheld technologies.
In 2005, 59 per cent of Canadians used cellphones, 16 per cent used an iPod or other MP3 player, eight per cent used a webcam, seven per cent used a personal digital assistant (PDA) and three per cent used a BlackBerry.
Canadians listened to the radio for an average of 19.1 hours per week in 2005, down slightly from 19.5 the year before.
They watched an average of 25.1 hours of TV each week in 2005, up a bit from 24.7 in 2004.
The diversity of Canada is also reflected in the CRTC’s data. There are 659 television services in the country, and 13 per cent of them are third-language services, neither French nor English.
In terms of Internet and computer access, 74 per cent of Canadian homes had a computer, and 78 per cent of Canadians accessed the Internet in 2005.
In 2004, 71 per cent of Canadian homes had a computer and 76 per cent of Canadians accessed the Internet.
Still quite limited, however, is the number of Canadians that access the Internet from their cellphones or wireless devices, or use them for services other than their main purpose.
Of the people who own a cellphone, BlackBerry or PDA, seven per cent use it to get news or weather information, four per cent use it to get sports scores, three per cent use it to take pictures or make videos and two per cent use it to watch TV.

XM says suspending some radio sales
NEW YORK (Reuters) – XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said on Tuesday that it is suspending the sale of two products and reviewing others after a U.S. regulator said the devices exceeded limits for wireless signal strength.
XM said the suspensions applied to Audiovox Corp. and Delphi Corp. radios that let consumers play XM’s satellite radio service on regular radios but declined to say if it stopped the sale of other products.
The satellite radio service said it was keeping its latest subscriber growth target for 2006 but said in a filing at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it could provide no assurances that the issue would “not have a material impact” on its operating results or financial position.
“We’re working to expedite this issue and minimize the extent of any interruption at retail. We’re continuing to target 8.5 million year-end subscribers,” spokesman Chance Patterson said.
XM, which cut its forecast from 9 million on Friday, said that the Federal Communications Commission ruled that the signal strength of wireless transmissions from the Delphi and Audiovox products exceeded FCC limits, potentially interfering with nearby FM radios using similar frequencies.
XM leads the U.S. satellite radio service with more than 6.5 million subscribers, compared with 4.1 million at its rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.. The sector is one of the world’s fasting growing new technologies, and analysts have forecast total users may top 40 million in a few years.
But XM has been battered this year with bad news, including probes by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Federal Trade Commission, concerns about its relationship with beleaguered auto maker General Motors Corp, and charges that it is spending too much in its quest to gain new users.
The company said in its filing that the FCC sent it a letter stating that Delphi’s XM SKYFi2 radios, which it started selling more than a year ago, was not in compliance with emission limits.
Audiovox also received a similar letter about its Audiovox Express radio, which started selling in late 2005, XM said.
XM said it was also taking a series of actions involving various radios it did not name to bring them into compliance with guidelines.
Its actions include requests to manufacturers to stop shipping radios or accessories that might need hardware or software changes or changes to operating or installation instructions, XM said.
For example changes could include the addition of small attachments that reduce emissions, it said. Patterson declined to say if XM was stopping the sale of other products besides the ones named in the filing.
He said that factory installed satellite radios for cars were not affected and that it did not suspend sales of its digital music players from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Pioneer Corp.
XM said in the filing that it would look for new equipment authorizations where appropriate and that it expects to give the FCC new information shortly, including the results of modified radios that comply with in-car test criteria.
The company said that the sale suspensions do not involve any health and safety issues. Patterson said that no product recalls were planned.

CRTC radio review revives Cancon debate
The rules that govern the amount of Canadian content played on the radio are being debated again, more than three decades after they were first introduced.
On Monday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) began a series of hearings as part of its review of the country’s commercial radio policy.
The broadcast regulator’s hearings ñ which are being held all week in Gatineau, Que. ñ are expected to broach a range of topics, including increasing diversity on radio, the industry’s move to digital transmission and the amount of local news and information.
However, the issue of Cancon ñ the percentage of Canadian-made musical content that stations are required to play ñ has emerged as the dominant subject.
Currently, most commercial radio stations are required to play 35 per cent Canadian content.
Stations urge less Cancon, more ‘points’ for emerging artists
The Canadian Association of Broadcasting (CAB), which represents commercial radio stations, presented its views to the CRTC on Monday.
The group has pitched a revised Cancon judging system whereby stations would receive more credit for playing emerging Canadian acts than they would for playing established artists.
The Canadian Recording Industry Association supports similar changes.
The CAB is also pushing to ease the Cancon requirement for some stations, such as reducing it to 25 per cent for oldies stations.
The broadcasting association has argued that despite recent successes, traditional radio now faces stiff competition from newer technologies ñ including satellite radio, the internet and digital music players.
“Next door you have this new emerging universe of unregulated services ñ by way of internet, by way of broadband, by way of wireless ñ that access consumers without any regulations,” Glenn O’Farrell, the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Association of Broadcasting, told CBC News.
“And we need to compete with that new environment.”
Voices raised for higher Cancon requirements
On the other side of the spectrum, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) wants the Cancon requirement raised.
According to SOCAN vice-president Paul Spurgeon, the Canadian Broadcasting Act calls for the “predominant use of Canadian resources.”
His group interprets the act as saying more than half of all music played should be homegrown.
“Some people might think it to be somewhat aggressive but we’ve looked at the law on this,” he told CBC News.
“After considering this, we can’t argue with the notion that ‘predominant’ means ‘predominant’ ñ which means more than 50 per cent.”
SOCAN is also urging the CRTC to raise the Cancon requirements for specialty radio stations, including jazz and classical stations, from the current 10 per cent to 35 per cent.
The Canadian Independent Record Production Association has similarly asked for the general Cancon quota to be raised to 45 per cent.
Since January, more than 150 individual and groups have submitted comments and topics for consideration to the CRTC in relation to the Commercial Radio Review.
The last review took place in 1998. Another was scheduled for 2003 but the commission decided to postpone the review while it dealt with applications to introduce satellite radio to Canada.
A report, including any regulation changes, is expected later in 2006 or early in 2007.

Critics praise ‘chatty’ Dylan’s satellite radio debut
Critics used to raspy mumblings from Bob Dylan are singing his praises after his debut as a host on satellite radio this week.
Dylan’s weekly one-hour show, Theme Time Radio Hour, features the 64-year-old music icon spinning an eclectic mix of his favourite tunes. Each episode revolves around a specific theme and Dylan offers commentary and information about his choices.
On Wednesday morning, his debut episode featured a weather theme and included a lineup that veered from Judy Garland singing Come Rain or Come Shine to Jimi Hendrix’s The Wind Cries Mary.
With most people used to a reclusive, mumbling Dylan, the show offered a real surprise: critics described the singer-songwriter as uncharacteristically chatty and engaging as a host.
“You can understand Dylan on radio better than you can in concert,” wrote Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Dave Hoekstra.
British musicologist Charlie Gillett described the show to the U.K.’s Observer newspaper as “seamless and natural” and said Dylan’s “growly commentary is charming.”
“It’s how radio should be,” Gillett said. “It draws you in and you never for a moment think he’s playing games, which he’s supposedly notorious for doing.”
The Telegraph’s Robert Sandall praised Dylan’s insightful commentary about the musical choices, which were shared “in his own uniquely insouciant and personally unrevealing fashion.”
Bloomberg called the episode a “promising premiere” and said Dylan’s “passion for old-time radio, combined with his reverence toward American musical traditions, make this just the kind of niche program that fee-based satellite radio is made for.”
Upcoming episodes will revolve around themes such as Mother’s Day, cars, police, dance and whisky. Special guests ñ including Elvis Costello, Sarah Silverman, Charlie Sheen and Jimmy Kimmel ñ will offer network IDs and other contributions.
Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour airs in Canada and the U.S. on XM Satellite Radio.

Sirius Loss Doubles on Stern Compensation
NEW YORK – Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. reported Tuesday that its first quarter loss more than doubled, due largely to expenses of $225 million in stock-related compensation to its star shock jock Howard Stern.
Sirius reported a net loss of $458.5 million, or 33 cents a share, for the January-March period compared with a loss of $193.6 million, or 15 cents a share, a year ago.
By far the largest factor affecting the results was costs for stock-based compensation, which all companies had to begin recording this year under new accounting rules. Sirius reported stock compensation expenses of $284.6 million, of which about $225 million went to Stern and his affiliates, a company spokesman said.
The company said stock compensation costs accounted for 20 cents per share of the loss in the most recent quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been expecting a wider loss of 36 cents per share.
Revenues nearly tripled in the quarter to $126.7 million compared with $43.2 million in the same period a year ago as the company continued to build up its subscriber base.
Sirius said it had 4.1 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter, having added about 761,000 customers in the most recent period.
Both Sirius and its larger rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. are spending heavily to sign up subscribers and programming talent to their services, which require special radio receivers and cost about $15 per month.

SIRIUS Canada and CFL Announce Exclusive Multi-Year North American Broadcast and Marketing Agreement
Toronto, April 24, 2006 ó SIRIUS Canada Inc. and the Canadian Football League (CFL) today announced a national multi-year broadcast and marketing agreement which will see SIRIUS Canada become the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the CFL. Under the three-year agreement, SIRIUS Canada becomes the exclusive North American satellite radio broadcaster for CFL games and content, including the 94th annual Grey Cup to be held in Winnipeg on November 19, 2006. In addition, SIRIUS receives exclusive rights to use the CFL logo and collective CFL team trademarks in marketing and promotional activities across Canada.
As a result of this partnership, CFL fans across North America will be able to listen to live CFL game action on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, the countryís leading satellite radio provider with the best and most exclusive sports programming available. Kicking-off at the start of the 2006 season, CFL regular season games, the playoffs and the Grey Cup championship game will be broadcast live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.
ìThe CFL is one of Canadaís most popular and premier sports brands and we are thrilled to bring it to SIRIUS Satellite Radio,î said Mark Redmond, President and CEO, SIRIUS Canada Inc. ìThis agreement with the CFL further enhances SIRIUS Canadaís superior sports programming lineup and represents significant strategic value for the company. Sports fans throughout North America can now listen to the CFL on SIRIUS in addition to live play-by-play games of the NFL, NHL and NBA.î
ìWe are pleased to be working with SIRIUS Canada as a Canadian leader in sports-focused content for satellite radio,î said CFL Commissioner, Tom Wright. ìOur partnership with SIRIUS Canada provides CFL fans across North America with yet another innovative way to get into the game and cheer on their favourite CFL team.”
SIRIUS Satellite Radio is also the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the National Football League and broadcasts the entire NFL regular season, playoff games and the Super Bowl. SIRIUSí NFL Radio channel offers exclusive NFL content with news, features, and a wide-range of other programming.
SIRIUS Satellite Radio – Canadaís Sports Leader
SIRIUS Canada is the countryís leading satellite radio provider and offers Canadian sports fans the most extensive lineup of exclusive sports programming. SIRIUS is the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the CFL, NHL, NFL and NBA and broadcasts live play-by-play games of the CFL, NHL, NBA and NFL. In addition, SIRIUS Satellite Radio is home to broadcasts of U.S. College Football, English Premier Soccer, Arena Football and coming in 2007 ñ NASCAR.
SIRIUS Canadaís premium 100 full-time channel satellite radio service features the most commercial-free music and the best news, sports and entertainment programming available. SIRIUS Canada offers Canadians the most full-time channels, the broadest Canadian offering and the highest quality of satellite coverage among all satellite radio providers in Canada.
About the Canadian Football League
Building on a strong past toward a stronger future, the Canadian Football League (CFL) celebrates the best of Canada’s game with fans across the nation. The 94th Grey Cup will be played in Winnipeg, Manitoba on November 19, 2006. For additional information, visit www.cfl.ca.
About SIRIUS Canada
SIRIUS Canada delivers 100 full-time channels of the best programming in all of radio. SIRIUS is the original and only home of 100% commercial-free music channels in satellite radio, offering 62 music channels available throughout Canada. SIRIUS Canada features sports, news, talk and entertainment. SIRIUS is the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the CFL, NHL, NFL and NBA and broadcasts live play-by-play games of the CFL, NHL, NBA and NFL.

David Lee Roth axed from radio gig
NEW YORK (AP) – Well, that didn’t take long.
Rocker-turned-radio host David Lee Roth, who accepted the no-win task of replacing ratings king Howard Stern in January, was bounced from the airwaves Friday after barely three months on the air in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and four other markets.
“I was booted, tossed, and it’s going to cost somebody,” Roth said on his last show, intimating that his lawyers would go after CBS Radio for the full compensation due from his reported $4 million contract. The timing of the move was interesting: It arrived just days before the Roth show’s first Arbitron numbers.
CBS Radio spokeswoman Shavonne Harding said the company would have an announcement soon on its plans. She declined any other comment, and would not say who will replace the former Van Halen front man on Monday’s morning drive time shift.
Roth said he was only told about the syndicated show’s demise while riding in a car to the WFNY-FM studios in Manhattan.
His replacements, in a hiring fraught with bizarre subplots, will be shock jocks Greg (Opie) Hughes and Anthony Cumia – currently available only to the 6.5 million listeners on XM satellite radio.
“Apparently we can talk about it now. So much for keeping a lid on this,” the pair said Friday on their show’s website. “The Opie and Anthony show will be replacing David Lee Roth in several markets on CBS Radio Free-FM stations.”
Opie and Anthony’s syndicated show was yanked from terrestrial radio in August 2002 after airing a live account of listeners having sex in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The company that silenced the duo was the same one that just hired them back, CBS Radio.
It also puts the pair in the slot long dominated by Stern, who feuded with Opie and Anthony for years before leaving for Sirius Satellite Radio. And it reverses the trend of satellite looting traditional radio for talent. Instead, CBS Radio is reaching out to satellite radio for syndicated programming.
“What they’re doing is switching to a proven act,” said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. “This is a group with a pedigree. I would think the stations involved are very happy about this.”
There is no word on when the Opie and Anthony show will debut on CBS Radio. The Associated Press was told the pair will do three hours on both XM and CBS, and two additional hours exclusively for the satellite audience.
In addition to New York, Boston and Philadelphia, Opie and Anthony will reportedly air in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Dallas.
Further proof of how strange the O&A move was: Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, who demanded the pair’s dismissal after the St. Patrick’s scandal, issued a statement wishing the pair well.
“(They’ve) made it clear they regretted the St. Patrick’s stunt,” said Donohue, who appeared as a guest on the pair’s XM show. “In short, the Catholic League hopes Opie and Anthony have a great run on CBS Radio.”

Howard Stern Lashes Out at Some Fans
NEW YORK – Howard Stern is angry more fans haven’t followed him to satellite radio. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 52-year-old shock jock lashes out at those of his fan base who haven’t made the transition to Sirius Satellite Radio.
In January, Stern moved his popular and bawdy morning show to the subscription satellite radio provider.
“I was just at my psychiatrist and I said, `I just got great news: We hit the 4 million mark. And I’m angry. It should be 20 million,'” Stern says in the magazine, on newsstands Monday.
“It’s insulting to me that everyone hasn’t come with me. I take it personally,” he says.
“I want to say to my audience … `You haven’t come with me yet? How dare you? We’re up to wild, crazy stuff, the show has never sounded better. You cheap bastard!'”
In February, CBS Radio, formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting, filed a lawsuit against Stern for improperly using airtime to promote his new show on Sirius.
Stern has claimed the lawsuit is without merit.