Idaho Radio News Etc.

In the past year, Sony/BMG, Universal and Warner music groups have agreed to pay the state of New York a combined total of $27 million. The violation: bringing radio programmers with cash and gifts…

A line from a R&R story? No, that’s the key line from the first article in this week’s decidedly more main-stream Entertainment Weekly.

The payola prattle has hit the mainstream – but does anyone care? I’d posit that the answer is no (by “anyone” I mean — normal, non-media-obsessed types).

The EW piece goes in to great detail about NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer’s crusade against payola.

The first line of the piece (it’s not online, sorry) – says “Would Beyonce be a smash solo success had songs from here 2003 album Dangerously in Love not gotten unrelenting radio play?” Clearly the answer to that is a big “no” – though there are some exceptions (see: Chicks, Dixie).

Here’s the quote of the day: “Basically Spitzer is taking all the fun out of this business,” said Justin Reilly of El Paso, TX station KSII. That comes on the heels of the note that even t-shirt giveaways backed by labels are getting tough because of the paperwork.

Now to “localize” as we say in the newsroom: Noticed that concert flyaway that KZMG/Magic 93.1 FM is doing? I want to strongly note that I don’t believe KZMG is doing anything illegal or even unethical — and this is only one example of dozens that I could use.

With that said, the Boise popster has been promoting a fly-away to see Pink in Orlando. Listener & friend get two tix, airfare and hotel… yadda yadda. The promotion is bought and paid for by Jive Records (acknowledged in promos with the line “brought to you by Jive Records and Magic 93.1″).

So how’s Pink’s new single doing on Magic? Good, but not great. “Who Knew” is at 25 spins, up just three from last week — and ranks as the 23rd most played cut (according to Mediabase).

The song doesn’t hit the top 30 chart on rival KSAS/103.3 Kiss FM. It’s at #37 (according to yes.com), up from last week as well.

Back to the EW piece: “Stations are now adding fewer new songs to their playlists” (oh, joy).

A top producer is quoted as saying that this is like cracking down on an entire class that cheated on a test “This is so pervasive… expelling [everybody] would be too harsh. [Spitzer's] just trying to say ‘All of you are going to get bad grades, and you’re going to have to pay for it.”

Pete
July 9th, 2006 21:17 e 37I found this site while googling “Q104 The Rock of Idaho”. I used to listen to that station as a teenager back in the early 80s. I’m looking for a Q104 window sticker for my car. It’s kind of a retro-Boise thing. If you have any leads on one, please shoot me a note at haqitman at gmail.com. I’d appreciate it. ~Pete

Anyone have a stack of those somewhere? Or maybe the J105 All Rock & Roll stickers? Might be some value on eBay… (especially if you let me know so I can link it).

Here it is, hard proof that SOMEONE wants to hear the Dixie Chicks in B-town.

On the Record Exchange’s blog – the store posts its best selling CDs.

For the week ending June 18, the Chicks had the #2 best-selling album (behind Gnarls Barkley) – and are still hanging on at number six for the week ended July 4.

So now, you have to at least ask: are the country stations that are so worried about being out of step with their audience — actually out of step with their audience? Yes.com data shows that none of the three Boise-based country stations have the Chicks in rotation (still).

If you flip around the radio dial as much as I do, you hear Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” a lot. As Michael Deeds pointed out in his Friday column, the song is currently airing on KZMG/Magic 93.1, KSAS/103.3 KISS FM, KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River, KQXR/100.3 The X and KCIX/Mix 106.

The song is hot on ITunes, and as Deeds points out, it’s atop the Record Exchange’s top 10 list. There’s something rare and fun about a song that can penetrate in CHR, AAA, Mod/Alt Rock & Hot AC. Songs like KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse…” from this spring can hit most of those bases – but to hit them all is extraordinary. In some ways, if you take any two of those frequencies – say, Kiss & the River or The X & Mix – there’s going to be overlap in playlist. But to get from Mix to Magic to The X is more of an impressive triple play.

Mike Petrak stepped down from the Idaho Statesman today.

KCIX/Boise’s Mix 106 is putting on a free show… with a band you’ve actually heard of.

The station welcoms Smashmouth to Lake Harbor July 19th. Tickets are being given away on-air and online.

…or is it just the voices in my head?

KQFC’s annual “Save the Blue” campaign is getting a change of venue.

Cory & Debi from the Q’s morning show created the event in 2003 to help gather food for the Idaho Food Bank. The events gathered over 400,000 pounds of food.

This year, due to track construction – the event is going to be moved from Bronco Stadium to Meridian Speedway, and renamed “Pack the Track.” KBOI is joining the fun this year – and the event gets under way Friday.

Clear Channel’s concert promotions arm Live Nation is gobbling up the famous House of Blues franchise. The $350-million deal gives CC the 10 HOB clubs nationwide.

(via AA, thanks Jac!)

KTVB & Citadel are teaming up – putting ten local brands in one collaborative basket: KTVB/Idaho’s NewsChannel 7, KZMG/Magic 93.1, KQFC/The Big 98, KTVB.COM, , KIZN/Kissin’ 92, KKGL/96.9 The Eagle, KTIK/ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK The Ticket, KBOI/News Talk 670, ZIdaho.com, and 24/7.

On-air promotions are already running. This deal teams Idaho’s largest TV news team and Idaho’s largest radio news team, and also allows the Bronco TV & Radio partners to collaborate.

Update: Just to be crystal clear – this is a partnership – NOT a merger of any sorts.