Sanyo Radio Accesses Streaming Stations

Sanyo Canada this week launched its first Internet radio, the R227. It features an Ethernet jack and a built-in wi-fi module.

The R227, which retails for about $220 affords users PC-free access to streaming radio stations and podcasts on the Internet. It allows them to search for Internet radio stations and save them on one of eight presets.

It also includes an FM radio tuner.

The Power of Radio ...

Fifty years ago this evening, a famous/infamous radio milestone was achieved: a young Orson Welles read the H.G. Wells classic, The War of the Worlds.

As it is so often said, "High jinks ensued."

Hear the original broadcast on the Mercury Theater on the Air.

Read Wells' script.

Read about public reaction.

Christian Science Monitor to Shift to Web

The Christian Science Monitor will celebrate 100 years of publishing in one month. Yesterday they announced that beginning in April 2009 CSM will focus on its web presence (csmonitor.com) with daily email delivery and a weekly print edition.

In addition to frequent updating with the latest news seven days a week, the plan is for the site to become a portal where editors will point visitors to other areas on the Web that are attempting journalism in the same spirit as the Monitor. Yemma said he wants to encourage much more two-way conversation between readers and Monitor staffers to "build a community of people who care about the values the Monitor stands for."

In the interim, they are phasing in a new web layout.

'Old Media' Taking a Beating

The hard times on which so called "old media" have fallen just got a little harder. The list of major newspapers and magazines making substantial job cuts seems to grow with each news cycle.

The New York Times' media reporter David Carr laments the growing list of casualties and explains the dilemma:

"For readers, the drastic diminishment of print raises an obvious question: if more people are reading newspapers and magazines, why should we care whether they are printed on paper?

"The answer is that paper is not just how news is delivered; it is how it is paid for.

"More than 90 percent of the newspaper industry’s revenue still derives from the print product, a legacy technology that attracts fewer consumers and advertisers every single day. A single newspaper ad might cost many thousands of dollars while an online ad might only bring in $20 for each 1,000 customers who see it."

ACE Awards Now Posted

You can now hear the winning entries in the 2008 PRPD Awards for Creative Excellence (ACE) competition on the PRPD Website. Included are audio and judges' comments for both the Winners and Honorable Mentions in this year's competition.

The categories were:

News & Information Programming
Classical Music Programming
Jazz Programming
Triple-A Programming
On-Air-Fundraising
Promotion & Station Imaging

Makers Quest Deadline Nears

The deadline for the Public Radio Makers Quest is eerily near. You have until midnight Halloween (next Friday) to nominate someone to receive one of about 12 grants for people who are combining forward-thinking radio programming and new media platforms. Grants range from $20,000 to $40,000.

Makers Quest is a project of the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) supported by the CPB. Ingrid Lakey is AIR's point person on the project as talent manager.

PRPD Email & Website Restored

We now have email again at all of our prpd.org email addresses. That should mean we'll also start getting our newsfeeds again and can start posting more to this blog.

PPM Out-of-Court Settlement in the Works?

Inside Radio this afternoon reports:

"Arbitron attorneys and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office have met in hopes of producing an out-of-court settlement in their battle over the PPM rollout. Inside Radio has learned the meeting came at the order of U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote. It's unclear whether any progress was made. Arbitron declined to comment."

Sirius XM Radio Faces Sky-High Debt

That was the headline of a Business Week article yesterday. It reports that the newly combined satellite radio company has "more than $1 billion in debt coming due next year, and it doesn't have the money, at least not yet."

PRPD Web Site & Email Down

Due to technical difficulties beyond our control ...

PRPD's Web site is out of service for about the next 24 to 36 hours. Technical issues arose while making updates.

Because of this, PRPD's email is also not working.

We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest you check this blog for further updates.

Pledge Drive Pep Rally

If you are in or just about to begin a pledge drive, you might want to see the webinar that PRPD and DEI presented on Tuesday. We called it a Pledge Drive Pep Rally - DEI's Jay Clayton and PRPD's Jody Evans (KUT PD) reviewed some of the things you should be aware of when fundraising in these turbulent times.

Check it out : http://events.meetingbridge.com/Info/?05123464011

New PRPD Board Members

We were on the road and neglected to post the results of the PRPD board election here!

We're glad to welcome Lynne Clendenin of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Abby Goldstein of New Hampshire Public Radio to the PRPD Board.

And a big THANK YOU to departing board members Hawk Mendenhall and Bruce Warren.

Voting was up 56% this year - lets hope we see the same in the national elections!

Thoughtcast Features PRPD Conference Interviews

Thoughtcast blogger, Jenny Attiyeh, has produced and posted a piece based on her interviews conducted at this year's PRPD Public Radio Programming Conference. Included are remarks by KUOW's Jeff Hansen, Wisconsin PR's Mike Crane, WGBH's John Voci, KCRW's Jennifer Ferro, WBUR's Sam Fleming, and WNYC's Chris Bannon.
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MPR Morning Show Wraps in Early December

The Morning Show, Minnesota Public Radio's long-running program, ends its 25-year run Dec. 11. Listeners heard the news from the show's hosts this morning.

Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole (a.k.a. Tom Keith) have hosted the program, which is hear in the Twin Cities on the Current, and elsewhere in Minnesota on Classical Minnesota Public Radio. The program is ending because Poole will retire at the end of the year.

The decision to wrap up the show follows co-host Jim Ed Poole informing MPR he planned to retire at the end of the year. Jim Ed Poole was the name Garrison Keillor used to refer to his board operator Tom Keith when Keillor did the morning program in the early days of MPR. Keith kept the name when he and Dale Connelly took over the show, according to MPR's website.

Connelly will develop new programming for Minnesota Public Radio. Keith will continue his work Keillor's Prairie Home Companion.

According to MPR, The Morning Show will be replaced by classical music on MPR's classical music service. On The Current, music programming will expand to fill the morning hours.

The Morning Show's last broadcast will originate live from the Fitzgerald Theater December 11.

Lutman Leaving MPR/APM

Sarah Lutman, Senior Vice President of Content and Media at Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, will take over the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in December as president and general manager. She has been with MPR since 1999 and in her current position for 3 years.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

"It's an organization that I have admired for many years," Lutman said Tuesday afternoon. "The SPCO has an international reputation, tours internationally, plays in New York. And it's an innovator in its field much the same way as American Public Media is."

Charney New PD at Michigan Radio

Tamar Charney has been named to the position of Program Director at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor.

Charney joined Michigan Radio in 1997, and has served as Michigan Radio’s Interim Program Director since March 2007. Her other roles at the station have included senior producer, on-air host, Managing Editor and Production Director.

She helped produce the station’s 2007 documentary Ashes to Hope: Overcoming the Detroit Riots, which won a 2007 national Edward R. Murrow award, as well as recognition from the Public Radio News Directors Incorporated, and several local and regional awards.

Before joining Michigan Radio, Charney worked at public radio stations in Detroit (WDET) and Ypsilanti (WEMU) and did a variety of voice-over and freelance work, including documentary production for NPR.

She earned a post-graduate degree in Telecommunications from Michigan State University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The University of Michigan.

Takeaway Not a 'Trap' for Young Listeners

John Hockenberry does not expect The Takeaway to be hip. Nor cool. Nor a lure for young listeners who are either or both of those.

Instead, he tells the Seattle Post Intelligencer the latest public radio morning a show builds on being live and relies on the "instantaneousness of information sources." Doing this ought to attract listeners, said Hockenberry, regardless of their personal demography. The newspaper says:

"Hockenberry believes there's an enormous potential listenership beyond the traditional public radio audience that can be reached by 'not trying to trap young people by being hip and cool, but trying to interest all curious people by presenting content that's stimulating.'"

Read the Bloggenberry.

NY Attorney General to Sue Arbitron

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo intends to sue Arbitron Inc. to halt its introduction of Portable People Meters in the New York City market. Cuomo claims PPM-generated data will reduce ad revenue at minority radio stations.

Cuomo has said,

"Because of Arbitron's virtual monopoly over ratings in the radio industry, a significant and improper decline in ratings under the PPM methodology could cause minority stations to suffer drastic reductions in advertising revenues. This, in turn, could severely harm minority broadcasting in New York."

Arbitron has said that PPMs are more accurate, fair and reliable than the written diaries.

Arbitron to Start Cell Phone Sampling in Spring

Cell phone-only households will soon be included in Arbitron surveys, according to today's announcement. Beginning with the Spring 2009 survey (6 months earlier than previously planned), sampling of those without land lines will begin in 50 diary markets. Another 75 markets will be added in Fall 09.

The rapid increase of people using only cell phones has been a concern in recent years. It is particularly an issue for younger listeners. Arb also plans to establish 18-54 benchmarks in diary markets that are similar to those being used in PPM markets.

Chiotakis Hops from Birmingham to Marketplace

It's a safe bet that the job of host on APM's Marketplace Morning Report does not come with a frog suit, and Steve Chiotakis must be thankful for that.

Chiotakis, who begins his new job at Marketplace late this month, tells The Birmingham News that he started in radio right after high school. He was an overnight DJ for a country station ... and the station's mascot, Wivik the Frog.

After that, he bounced around commercial radio before spending the last 12 years at WBHM, public radio in Birmingham, AL. In his interview with the News, Chiotakis said of his time at WBHM:

"It's been incredible, it really has," Chiotakis says. "This the longest I've ever held a job. Twelve years in the scheme of things is not a long time, but in radio it is an eternity."

NPR Sells the Mother Ship

National Public Radio is not a victim of the real estate market collapse. It is being reported that NPR recently sold its home on Massachusetts Ave. NW for more than $119 million.

The buyer of the seven-story building at on is Boston Properties, Inc.

NPR is moving its headquarters to N. Capitol St. just north of Union Station.