WKNR's Progressive Itteration

Susan Whitall profiles WDTW, the new call letters and the new direction that Clear Channel is taking with the former Keener facility.

The Keener Podcast - 2/26/05

On this week's Keener13 Podcast, a celebration of 1966 with a Motown Monday segment featuring the Four Tops, Levi Stubbs' fears about recording "Reach Out", Cody Hanson's Vinyl Podcast, and J. Michael Wilson on Keener from the week of November 14.

On-Line Microphone Museum

Here's an interesting link to a collection of information and images about classic microphones.

The Keener Podcast - 02/19/05

This week's Keener Podcast featuress an all jingle extravaganza, celebrating those 5 to 10 second logos that helped define a station's image. We have a jingle montage from yesterday and today and an exclusive interview with jingle preservationist Ken R.

The Grammys - Flat and embarrassing?

Is it just us, or was this year's Grammy broadcast laced with too many moments of musical disaster? Performing live is fraught with danger even when you are blessed with talent, but by 10:45 PM, the procession of bad dresses and weak renderings made us wish we had watched Boston Legal. J-Low was flat, no surprise there, but so were too many voices in the Free Bird number. The over-hyped "All Star" fund raiser for tsunami relief was just plain tragic. John Lennon must be rolling over in his grave. The joke going around our living room was, "hey, if we pledge some money, will you STOP singing this thing?" I'll be interested to see if ITunes gets any downloads at all. There were some good performances. Green Day was the tightest band of the night, giving punk some added class. And Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah sounded great. But overall, the program was a reminiscent of Shakespeare's tale told by an idiot. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

The Keener Podcast - 2/13/05

We received an email recently from a faithful Keener Podcast listener asking to hear un-edited air check material, to get a feel for what Keener really sounded like. So on this week's show, that's just what you'll hear. All Keener Music and all Keener DJs, including J. Michael Wilson, Swingin Sweeney, Dick Purtan, Jerry Goodwin, Bill Phillips, Mac Owens and Bob Green. It's 30 straight minutes of uninterrupted Keener excellence. Enjoy!

New Thing - Old News

You may not have heard it here first, but you definitely heard it here way before USA Today figured out that Podcasting is the next Internet wave. How it breaks is still anybodies guess.

One topic we that quickly came up on the first edition of the Spartan Podcast, is the continuing exodus of younger listeners from Radio to Internet delivered content. Some are incredulous that it's Microsoft and not Apple that is touting the genre, while others believe that the company Steve Jobs built has "sold it's soul" to the music industry and has nothing to gain by promoting something that is doing it's viral thing no matter what. ASCAP and BMI are on the bandwagon, issuing podcast licenses and word has it that Sound Exchange isn't far behind. Chris McIntyre's PodcastAlley.com is suddenly one of the most popular stops on the web and guys like Todd Cochrane at Geek News Central are getting paid for their pontifications. And then, there is the cryptic post on Dave Winer's Scripting News site:

"Since I'm not pursuing a podcasting business with Adam Curry, he's going to move his sites off my servers, on or before the end of this month."

Have the two fathers of the concept had a falling out? One guess. It probably has to do with money.

And that's the $64 million dollar question. When I discussed podcasting with a friend who is a senior strategy executive at one of the country's biggest media companies, he said that his people still haven't figured out how to make money with it. "Downloads don't necessarily mean listeners," he warns.

Which seems to bring us full circle to the ongoing discussion at Keener13.com about what makes good radio. It seems to us that compelling content will get listeners no matter what the platform. Like em or not, Dawn and Drew are compelling to the twenty some thousand people who regularly download their version of Ozzie and Harriet on Crack. Brian Ibbott's Coverville strikes a chord with folks who like their classic rock in different wrappers. And if our download stats are any indication, at least a few of you find some value in your regular dose of the Keener13 Podcast.

Content is the key. It's the holy grail, that moving target that is constantly changing with the unpredictable winds of the public taste. It turns out that Mcluhan had it backwards: the message is the medium. Figure out how to consistently connect with an audience, any audience, and no matter what your platform, sooner or later you have a business model. Nellie Knorr figured that out in the cool Fall of 1963 and changed the definition of Detroit radio. Podcasters are on the verge of doing the same thing.

Indecent Exposure

Variety says more than 30 House Republicans have signed a letter urging the President to replace Michael Powell with a tough anti-indecency FCC Chairman. The letter says that the policy debates should, "include concepts such as issuing fines based upon each utterance, enforcing the prohibition on 'profanity' over the airwaves, and emphasizing industry self-regulation.. The next FCC Chairman will oversee an important time in our nation's history, and they must be ready to aggressively enforce the laws that Congress has passed. We encourage you to nominate an individual of boldness, strength, and vision, who will continue the work already begun. We must not let immorality become normalized, nor federal laws ignored."

The Spartan Podcast

Another podcast of note debut's this week. Four MSU Com Arts guys do their impression of The Gilmore Gang, talking about communications issues and media each week on the Spartan Podcast. In the premiere program: The Best and Worst of the Super Bowl Ads, reviewing Paul McCartney's half time show, the enduring popularity of classic rock, what's new at WDBM-Impact 89 FM and a discussion of where this generation of MSU students gets their news. Add the feed to your podcast aggregator.

Internet Radio coming back into vogue?

First it was hot, then it was not. Internet radio seemed to vanish almost as quickly as it appeared. Talent contracts were able to extract onerous fees for Internet exposure and suddenly, those same spots you heard on the air became more costly to run on the web. And then there were those pesky copyright and mechanical fees. The old compulsory License doctrine didn't cover Internet broadcasts and everybody from composers to performers smelled the blood in the water. Mark Cuban fortuitously sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo at just the right moment, and by the time the web radio house of cards began to tumble, he was on to HDTV and the NBA. Some Internet broadcasters hung in, but most, including the big boys, decided that the idea wasn't ready for prime time. Well time, as they say, heals most wounds and with the RIAA negotiating podcast license rates with Coverville and the ASCAP/BMI folks leading the way with less restrictive copyright fees for webcasters, Internet broadcasters are again dipping their toes in the water as this LA Times story reports.

Super Bowl Ads

Paul McCartney's half time show was light years better than last's year's MTV produced fiasco, proving again that talent always outclasses hype. Which brings us to the commercials. Were the spot breaks better than the game? See this year's ads here. Check out USA Today's Ad Meter page, vote for your faves at the AOL Superbowl site. And voice your opinion at the SuperBowlAds.com chat site.

The "Last" Detroit Radio Reunion 9/24/05

Art Vuolo called Friday night. The man John Leader dubbed "Radio's Best Friend" has again worked his magic to organize one final Detroit Radio Reunion the weekend of September 24. If you were lucky enough to attend the last event, you saw many of the Detroit radio greats, including names who moved on to Chicago, New York and Hollywood. This year's gathering will surely attract a similar contingent, including a strong WKNR representation. Keener alum Dick Purtan will host the program, the proceeds of which will benefit the Gail Purtan Cancer Fund. Art says that he's already affirmed attendance interest from Robin Seymour, Scott Regen, Gary Stevens, Frank "Swingin" Sweeney, Pat St. John and Michael Stevens. And that's just the Keener gang. If rumors prove true we might expect to see Russ Gibb, Tom Shannon, John "Records" Landecker, Bob Dearborn (Keener's Mark Alan), Lee Alan, Dick Kernan, Casey Kasem and perhaps even the venerable Specs Howard. Keener13.com will be there with a display of WKNR History and our full podcasting studio gear to record as many of the Keener voices as may attend. Keep tuned to Keener13.com for updates.

So Long Dean Wormer

Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz left us this week. He had come far from Zehner, Saskatchewan, Canada where he was born on February 24th, 1932. Coming to Hollywood as John Vernon, he made a career out of playing bad guys. From his debut in John Boorman's gangster pic Point Blank in 1967, Vernon worked for many of the best, Alfred Hitchcock, George Cukor, Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood among them. Our three favorite John Vernon characters: The ineffectual mayor of San Francisco in Dirty Harry, the heartless bounty hunter in Outlaw Josey Wales and the immortal Dean Vernon Wormer in Animal House. Now that he's gone, we're all on "double secret probation."

Keener Podcast - 2/5/05

On This week's Keener13 Podcast, farewell to Dean Wormer, The Yarbirds sell Chevys, Susan Whitall talks about Russ, Paul and the 2005 Radio Reunion. The Wilson Sisters sing in Vegas with Al and the Boys. We answer a Keener Q&A: What was the first major studio to produce a prime time cartoon for network television? We meet Sondra Lowell, the Tap Dancing Podcaster and we turn back the clock to 1969 to hear what our boys listened to in Vietnam. And on the way out, they spanned 9 labels in three years, recorded 12 forgettable songs and one Motor City Hit.. Who are they?

Paul's Super Bowl Appearance Triggers Keener Memories

My daughter called me yesterday afternoon. She is an account exec at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville and, like everyone else who has any remote connection to the media, has been shanghaied into on-air duty during Super Bowl week. "Paul McCartney was sighted at EndoXo last night," she told me. Endo is one of the hipper bistros in J-ville and rumor has it that the Beatle is staying at nearby Amilia Island as he preps for his half time appearance on Sunday.

But is it really him? At time like this, the old Paul-Is-Dead rumors resurface, and the stories of how WKNR was involved also pop up. Several months ago, we were contacted by a Dutch film crew who is producing the latest documentary on the most famous of Beatle urban legends. They wanted to connect with the indomitable Russ Gibb and meet up with Tom Zarski, the EMU student who's call to Russ on WKNR-FM triggered the amplification of the story to the national stage. Last week, the docu-journalists made the trek to Dearborn to interview Russ. Rock journalist Susan Whitall was there to capture the event for the Detroit News.

The best telling of the tale is certainly Andru Reeve's meticulously researched book: Turn Me On Dead Man - The Beatles and the Paul McCartney Death Hoax, available on line from Authorhouse. In it, he explores every nuance of the web of clues and personalities, including the erie connection that the late Terry Knight seems to have to the affair. Listen to our November 13, 2004 podcast for the story.

The attention Russ gets from all of this used to be an inconvenience, he unlisted his phone number because of all the curious calls he got. Today he's bemused about the continuing interest in this Beatle bit, telling Susan, "I think there's a universal intelligence, a connection to everything," says Gibb, sounding once again like his 1969, underground DJ self. "Certain things trigger molecular structures to change. I think there's a reason, but I don't know what the reason is."

Classic Russ.