Radio-Info.com by Tom Taylor: [email protected]/609.883.3321 Monday, July 28, 2008 A marriage made in heaven Satcasters XM and Sirius “flagrantly violated FCC rules” – but can merge. Commissioner Deborah Tate held out for fines against the only two SDARS licensees – much more for XM than Sirius – but ultimately contributed the necessary third “Yes” that made the merger a partyline vote. Radio-Info.com had the news up for you on the front page Friday evening along with the bones of the settlement. There’s a consent decree that XM and Sirius signed along with accepting the nearly $20 million in fines, and it relates to the past violations the NAB and some consumer groups have been harping about. Like the in-car receivers that were knowingly sold despite problems with leaking audio to nearby vehicles. And the ground-based repeaters that most satellite subscribers don’t even know exist, but which are necessary in some areas and which sometimes weren’t built where they were supposed to be. Sirius signed off its questionable repeaters while XM kept going – one of the reasons XM’s paying more than $17 million in fines. Mel Karmazin of Sirius and Gary Parsons of XM also agree to conditions such as a three-year cap on prices to subscribers and a speedy roll-out of interoperable receivers. Late Friday, Tate got what she wanted from Chairman Kevin Martin, and he’s now sure “the merger is in the public interest and will provide consumers with greater flexibility and choices.” More about XM+Sirius coming up in today’s T-R-I. But first - To Subscribe to this Newsletter for Free Click Here. | Download + Print the PDF Version Dallas radio’s a real soap opera, involving Pugs & Kelly, Cindy & Robert, Russ Martin… And mucho speculation. Middayers Pugs & Kelly (John Myron, Kelly Mohr) left CBS Radio’s “Live 105.3” KLLI last week and were supposedly spotted over at the Cumulus complex. That’s intriguing, say the posters on the Dallas board of Radio-Info.com, since Cindy Scull and Robert Miguel are just recently out at Cumulus-owned “Bone” KDBN (93.3). So – Pugs & Kelly to mornings there? And – there’s enough cyber-speculation to fill a good-sized thumb drive about what happens next with Live 105.3 kingpin Russ Martin. He’s facing charges in a domestic dispute and shaking up some hardcore fans with the graphic allegations by his fiancée (who may’ve had a tape recorder running during their encounter two weeks ago). Yesterday’s Dallas Morning News says GM David Henry is still running best-of shows, and can’t say when or if Martin will be back in his chair. Read Dallas Morning News writer David Tarrant’s front-page, above-the-fold Sunday-edition piece here. KLLI’s own webpage describes Martin’s afternoon talkshow as “the driving force of Live 105.3.” But if he’s sidelined and midday talents Pugs & Kelly are gone – well, those are enough plot points for Days of Our Lives, wouldn’t you say? Michael Savage loses his copyright lawsuit against CAIR – and Cleveland affiliate WHK. The TRS personality probably saw his suit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a longshot – but he was infuriated that CAIR was employing a four-minute clip from his October 29, 2007 syndicated show to raise money for the purpose of attacking him. CAIR claims (no way to know) that its boycott has cost the Savage show $1 million in advertising. So what did Savage say on the show? That Muslims are “screaming for the blood of Christians or Jews or anyone they hate.” He also called the Qur’an a “hateful little book” – and you can search for various Savage videos about Islam on YouTube. Which pretty much predicts the tone that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston took on Friday: If you hear something that’s publicly-broadcast, you can have fair use of it. And she said no evidence had been produced to justify the claim of economic harm from the boycott. Savage cited the RICO statute and said the Islamic group isn't a true civil rights organization, but a political group with some nasty friends. But it’s not over for Savage: his attorney Daniel Horowitz tells the San Francisco Chronicle over the weekend that his client may try again on the racketeering angle. (The judge suggested that might be legally possible.) Meanwhile – Salem-owned Savage affiliate WHK (1420) tells the Plain Dealer’s Julie Washington it’s had enough of him and is dropping the show. GM Mark Jaycox says “this guy’s a knucklehead and I want to get rid of him.” That comes after the TRN- syndicated host went on a rant about how kids are victimized by the diagnosis with autism. Though as of last night, Savage was still on the WHK homepage at Salem’s TownHall.com. The man with the shotgun was killed by police right in front of WTLR, State College. Brian Neiman wanted to tell his story, and what a story – he’d just barged into a nearby car dealership with a loaded shotgun saying he needed gas money (says the Centre, PA Daily Times) so he could drive to Christian non-com WTLR (89.9). His purpose was not to do violence there, but to get on the air (with the aid of the shotgun?) to speak about an alleged conspiracy involving drugs. He claimed the FBI and the police weren’t taking his calls, and his ex-wife says he’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and could've become paranoid if he didn’t take his meds. The story ended in a Friday morning shootout just in front of the station at 2020 Cato Avenue, where Neiman was intercepted by police. Station Manager Mark VanOuse says they’d turned off the lights, locked the door and moved the staff away from any outside-facing windows or rooms. But soon they could hear “the roar of the Bronco.” Neiman pointed his Ford Bronco at the officers, drove it into a patrol car, and fired out of the vehicle’s window. Police confronted him there because the son of the car dealership owner had the sense to call both the authorities and the radio station. (Imagine what the next minutes at WTLR were like?) Main thing for Way Truth Life Radio (the origin of the call letters) is that they’re okay – as VanOuse assures listeners in a most remarkable account, on the website. Washington, D.C. Spring Arbitrons: WHUR’s 7.3 share blows away the field. Ratings maven Chris Huff tells me “it’s not so much a surprise that urban AC WHUR is back at the top, but what a jump they show. It’s been four years since any station in D.C. has had a share that high. WPGC had a 7.3 back in Summer ’04, and you have to go back to 1985 to find the last time WHUR was in the 7- share range.” #2 in the latest 12+ standings – by the width of a microphone cord – is FM all-newser WTOP (6.5- 5.9). It’s just ahead of urban AC “Majic” WMMJ, which had its own nice jump (5.1-5.8). See Washington, Baltimore, Cleveland, Akron, Hartford (soft AC WRCH is out of double digits) and more at the Ratings page of Radio-Info.com, here. Clear Channel is hurrying up its dealings with Lotus, in Las Vegas, Bakersfield and San Antonio. CC – about to go private on Wednesday and needing to keep the DOJ happy - is swapping away FMs in Las Vegas (“La Preciosa” KWID at 101.9) and Bakersfield (country KBKO-FM at 96.5) to gain San Antonio-market classic rocker KZEP (104.5) from Howard Kalmenson’s Lotus Communications. Of course the object of all this is for Clear Channel to shed “La Preciosa” in Vegas. We’d expected this all to close around September 1 and the weekend news out of Bakersfield – that KBKO’s playing its last Alan Jackson or Kenny Chesney tune tonight – probably reflects an LMA and not a closing. But you wonder what else will be happening out of this three- market exchange, format-wise. (Most folks expect Lotus to do something other than country with the 96.5 in Bakersfield.) What I’ve heard about San Antonio’s KZEP is that the format will likely remain, but there may be cutbacks on the talent side. As for the other three markets the Department of Justice focused on last February – Cincinnati, Houston and San Francisco – the selected stations there will almost certainly be going into a trust. Still nothing about whether the Cincinnati divestiture would include Door #1 – “Big One” WLW (700) and “Kiss 107.1” WKFS – or Door #2 – classic rock “Fox 92.5” WOFX and hot AC WNNF (94.1). Hard to imagine Clear Channel giving up WLW, though. The Radio-Info.com Central California board has details on today’s farewell broadcasts of Big D & Bubba at KBKO-FM, with dropbys featuring former DJs. Advertisers who want to buy a lot of online radio have a new choice – Katz Online Network. Talk about aggregating – the deal to be announced this morning offers not only stations from Katz parent Clear Channel. Nope, stations owned by Bonneville, Cumulus, Cox, Emmis, Entercom, Greater Media, Journal, Nassau and Salem are in there, too, because they’ve already got a national rep relationship with Katz. And in what Katz calls a first, the new Online Network is simultaneously offering ad space in independent Internet radio names like AccuRadio, Club 977, Energy Group Radio, FineTune, radioIO and SmoothJazz.com.