Sirius goes terrestrial (for a day)
Sirius Satellite Radio is migrating to the FM band this Sunday in Jacksonville, FL, using low-power transmitters to provide live play-by-play feeds to fans attending the Super Bowl. There have been similar broadcasts at previous Super Bowls, but this year Sirius is the official sponsor. Each of the 80,000 people attending the game will be given a palm-size FM receiver with the Sirius logo on it. They'll be able to tune in and listen to a choice of audio feeds, including Fox TV, the national radio broadcast by Westwood One and the local play-by-play feeds for both the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, plus a Spanish feed. The Patriot, Eagles and Spanish broadcasts are also being carried on the Sirius satellite service, along with three more languages - - Mandrin Chinese, Japanese and German.
Radio contest hijacker gets prison
Remember William Passarella Jr.? He was arrested just over a year ago on charges of hacking into the request line of WIOQ-FM Philadelphia and assaulting a 17-year-old girl he lured with a promise of free tickets to an event (1/26/04 RBR #16). Passarella has now be convicted and sentenced to spend 15 months to two and a half years in a Pennsylvania state prison.
Packers make hometown shift
After five years of being carried on Cumulus Media stations in the Green Bay and Appleton-Oshkosh markets, play-by-play coverage of the Green Bay Packers will be moving to other stations in both markets next season. The Packers Radio Network lists its new affiliates as WNFL-AM & WIXX-FM Green Bay, owned by Midwest Communications, and WHBY-AM Appleton, owned by Woodward Communications. The Packer network originates from WTMJ-AM Milwaukee, owned by Journal Communications.
Interep to host 7th "Power of Urban Radio"
Interep will host its seventh annual Power of Urban Radio Symposium 4/27 at the Grand Hyatt in New York. The symposium will assemble over 300 of the country's leading national marketers, their agency partners and senior execs from the leading broadcast corporations to discuss and learn how to effectively target African American consumers strategically and tactically.
The focus of this year's symposium is on the emergence of the Urban Market as the new General Market and its significance in the future of radio advertising. Industry leaders Charles Warfield (President/COO, Inner City Broadcasting Corporation), Barry Mayo (SVP/ Market Manager, Emmis NY) and Zemira Jones (VP of Operations, Radio One) are coming together for the first time to spearhead this event, bring with them a vast amount urban radio experience and knowledge.
The keynote speaker for the event is Dr. Nat Irvin II, founder and president of Future Focus 2020.
Online radio networks near 5M listeners in December
Arbitron and comScore Media Metrix announced that the Monday - Sunday 6AM-Midnight audience for the three measured networks increased 16 percent from an estimated 4.2 million people per week, age 12 and older, in November 2004 to almost 4.9 million for the December 2004 survey period.
The midday daypart of Monday-Friday 10AM-3PM is the heart of the working day. Listening to the online radio networks measured by comScore/Arbitron peaks during midday, with 655,000 people age 12 and older listening during an Average Quarter-Hour Monday-Friday 10am-3pm. AQH is the estimated number of people who listen during an average 15-minute period of time during a given daypart.
The December report of the comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings service rated the three charter subscribers-America Online's AOL Radio Network; Yahoo!'s LAUNCHcast; and Microsoft's MSN Radio and WindowsMedia.com-during an average broadcast week in the month of December.
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