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Morning News 'Pack-o-Podcasts'

Listening to music or an iPod while you run is nothing new.  Millions of people do it.  Even my minister. I know because I gave him an iPod for Christmas last year. And I virtually gave up radio while commuting, in favor of hearing podcasts using a cassette-adapter in the car. 

Now I’ve gone a step further. Well, several thousand steps further. On my morning run, I catch up with the overnight news via podcasts.  I stack up a few favorites that total about 25 minutes. I created a “Morning News” Smart Playlist on my iPod so that when the shows download they go into that folder. It's easy then to  sync them to my Shuffle.   

My morning “pack ‘o podcasts” is:

•     Wall Street Journal Tech Briefing
•     Front Page Preview of The New YorkTimes
•     Cynopsis Digital (tech news)

    So far, I haven’t been able to find a good Sports update.  Anyone have a suggestion.

These short-form podcasts, from reliable and specialized information providers really give new meaning to the phrase “News on Demand.”

Sirius loses David Lawrence tech show

Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) plans to end its simulcast of the David Lawrence Show, a nightly three-hour radio talk show about pop culture and technology.  Lawrence told listeners to his podcast he and Sirius were unable to agree on a renewal of their agreement.  He indicated one of the issues was the number of commercial slots Sirius wanted to control in the show.  "The David Lawrence Show" is also carried on XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) and terrestrial radio stations.  It will leave the Sirius lineup February 13th.

Lawrence's program has been on Sirius several years.  Failing to negotiate a renewal could be part of what the New York Post said was an effort by the company to "fine tune" its agreements after "spending lavishly to lure talent."

In the past several weeks, Sirius (SIRI) has announced plans to add an urban comedy and entertainment channel featuring Jamie Foxx, a weekly hour-long interview show with Barbara Walters, and a simulcast of CNN (TWX).

Disclaimer: I own shares of Time Warner.

Leo Laporte 's radio show goes national

Premiere Radio Networks (CCU) has begun offering Leo Laporte's weekend technology talk radio show to stations across the country.  Laporte's known as "The Tech Guy" on KFI. He's done a weekend show there for several years, Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. eastern time.  Syndication is set to begin Feb. 17.

Laporte's show may change as he takes it national.  On a recent KFI show, about 85% of the calls dealt with computer-related questions.  Premiere's promotion of Laporte positions him as the "Go-To Gadget Guy" who can give advice as well about "camcorders, digital cameras, gaming systems, home theaters, (and) Ipods."  This adjustment could well reflect the popularity of gadgets blogs including Engadget and Gizmodo.com.

Newspapers not alone in watching audience age

Michael Wolff writes in Vanity Fair all about his lunch with an unnamed billionaire who, "doesn't have a clue" and wants to buy one of the major newspapers now on the block.  Wolff says the desire is fueled by the idea of a really, really big vanity printing press, and a failure to understand that, at 63, or more, everybody's not like them.  They may read papers, but nobody else does.

"Newspaper readers (as well as broadcast-news audiences) are old and growing ever older (on an actuarial table, you can plot the newspaper's last day)," Wolff wrote.  He concludes, "There are, effectively, no new newspaper readers."

So when I saw the winter Arbitron radio ratings for a Top 5 market, I shouldn't have been surprised.  But I was.  While the news and talk stations were in the top 10, thanks to morning drive, it appears there are few listeners under the age of 35. Among 18-to-34-years old, no news or talk station ranked higher than 16th.

Can this be fixed?  NPR wants to try, launching in September a Morning Edition-like show aimed at 25-to-44 year olds. A major market all news broadcast executive said this was a smart strategy, perhaps looking at his own station’s audience makeup.  Tellingly, its programming includes lots of commercials for high-end cars, concert pianos, and furniture stores; no movies, clubs, or concerts.

Another report by Arbitron shows that all news stations don’t attract a young audience. At all.  Just 1.5% of the listeners to all newsers across the country were between the ages of 25-44. Truth be told, this number has not changed a smidge since 1998.

Wolff says newspapers are simply run out of readers.  Could news/talk radio could run out of listeners?

NPR sets younger morning show for September

Agreeing that the best way to beat the competition is to attack your self, National Public Radio announced plans for a new morning news block aimed at 25-44 year olds.  Ken Stern, CEO of NPR, said, "One size doesn't fit all," said Stern. "This ... group is underserved by the media seeking smart, thoughtful content relevant to their lives.  This is a logical opportunity."

The news and information service will be carried on broadcast stations, HD Radio multicast channels, Web sites, and via satellite. 

A number of major market news and talk station program directors agreed during e-mail exchanges with me.  One colorful commercial broadcaster said, "The 'evil empire' finally does something right."  Another, in New York City, said, NPR’s catering to a younger market just makes it even tougher for his legacy operation.

Stern said NPR will hire hosts and staff for the new project which will be produced from the network's New York bureau.  Multimedia will be an integral part of the project, Stern said, suggesting a strong Web presence which will include video.

NPR said its “Morning Edition” newsmagazine is the to-rated morning radio program in the U.S.  with 13 million listeners weekly.

Xm-irius?

Over the holiday, The New York Times warmed up the speculation about a Sirius/XM Radio merger. 

Every time this story gets rehashed, I'm amused at the enthusiastic quotes from the Sirius side.  This time it was the CFO saying, "Clearly, a merger makes sense from an investor's point of view to reduce costs."  XM is observing radio silence on the subject.

Both services are losing lots of money. One radio industry analyst suggests the problem is, "There are not as many people willing to pay for radio as these companies thought there would be in the '90s" when the FCC was allocating licenses.  Allen Sniffen, who is Webmaster of a New York City radio message board, also has a suggestion: sell the razors, give away the blades.

"Give away a chunk of programming for free," he wrote.  "Make people buy the radios ...give them a chunk of (channels) ... put commercials on those channels."  Advertisers won't object.  As Holland Cooke, a radio programming consultant wrote in his latest client newsletter, it's all 'radio' to the sponsors ... AM, FM, HD, satellite. If there's an audience, they will come.

Then Sniffen says, after people have gotten use to sat radio, since they have the receivers, they'll want some of the premium stuff, like maybe the NFL, or Howard Stern, or Oprah.  "In the end," Sniffen says, "I think you’ll have more subscriptions than you have now and an additional revenue stream from the free channels with commercials."

No question that free works.  Over the holidays I began listening to XM because its holiday music was available as part of my DirecTV subscription.  I kept listening New Year's eve, when Wolfman Jack played 60s tunes for our party.  A modest number of commercials would not have been unacceptable.

FCC OK's Wi-Fi Net radio

Torian Wireless says it has opened an office in Fremont, California to begin working with major US retail chains to insure availability of its $230 InFusion portable Wi-Fi radio, in stores, by next spring.  George Parthimos, the Australian company's founder, also said the radio received approval from the FCC Tuesday, a process which took longer than expected (Can you imagine?) and delayed retail sales this quarter.

"In the interim, we have been busy selling through our online store, and will ship from the factory early next week, to meet Christmas delivery," Parthimos said in an e-mail.  With the InFusion, listeners can tune in, and even record, any streaming Internet radio station.

Torian's also developed this Internet Radio Module (at left) which can be embedded in consumer products such as clock radios, and home stereos to bring Net radio to the family room.  The module's set for release to manufacturers before summer.

Google radio ads ready to roll

Google's next move to sell advertising off line may be just weeks away, according to Donna Bogatin, a blogger at ZDNet.  She posted that Google "is actively pitching Google Audio Ads and is claiming that it will be able to give advertisers access "to thousands of stations through Google's digital, automated platform." Google says its system talks to radio stations' traffic operations "to search for inventory that fits advertiser criteria," and will deliver information as ads are broadcast.

According to a slide from a presentation, posted by Bogatin, Google (GOOG) has deals in place with 800 stations, with coverage in 19 of the top 25 markets.  The slide identifies almost 700 outlets as "live."

One strength of the Google radio ad sales effort is how clean and automated it is.  Place an order for X  number of listeners in Y number of markets, the computers ping the stations and find the spots available, and you're done.  No messy details like having lunch with clients, leaving behind logoed coffee cups, or even shaking hands with a human.  Which, by the way, should be the strength of the local radio station.  But as consolidation has slashed staffs, and salespeople have become de facto program directors selling block time for weekend talk shows, Google's system, which appears super efficient, is more than a little attractive.

Mark Cuban could be expected to argue just the opposite, as he does in a posting about the state of newspapers.  If there is one advantage the print people have over the Net people, he says, it is a sales force that goes out into the business community and sells them on the benefits of advertising on your properties. "Google isn't going to send a sales rep to visit, or have an inside sales rep call on the local 5 store pizza, dress, toy, laser surgery, dentist, whatever chain of stores," Cuban wrote, "You are."

Cuban goes on to suggest that print sales people and even publishers even work with local advertisers to help them exploit the Internet, too. "There is very little chance the local Pizza chain or Body Repair shop knows how to use SEM correctly," Cuban said. "Those that try more often than not waste a ton of money trying to figure it out. Why not offer it up as a service?"

It may just be that Cuban's found a way to identify the dying media managers from the survivors.  Those who are in touch with the customers, and those who are not.

Disclaimer: I own shares of Google.

New at iTunes

The iTunes podcast directory is now offering Marketplace, the award-winning, sensational nightly business radio show from American Public Media.  APM is offering its programming for download at no charge.  The Marketplace daily shows (there are morning and weekly productions, too) are free for subscribing, here. 

For several years, APM's been selling subscriptions to the show at Audible.com.  It still is, asking $69.95 a year. What's this mean for Audible's (ADBL) business?  We put a request into the company for a comment, but since this is earnings reporting day, we've agreed to talk next week about podcasting and its effect on Audible's business.  (BTW, the company named a new CFO this morning.)

The iTunes (AAPL) store has also added a guide for Latino entertainment.  Top CDs and songs are listed, as well as Spanish-language podcasts, videos, TV programs and audio books.

Disclaimer: I own shares of Apple.

XM makes the call

Last week, it was Sirius starting an Internet radio service, following XM's lead of some time ago.  Now, it's XM on your mobile phone. For $8.99 a month, you can subscribe to 25 channels of XM Satellite Radio on your Cingular (T) (BLS) cell phone.

What's it going to take for the satellite services to get into the home, where there are lots of additional listening hours available?  Well, both XM and Sirius have deals with the satellite TV ( DirectTV (DTV) has XM, Echostar (DISH) has Sirius). 

Is there a way to take those audio feeds and distribute them through the house, via Wi-Fi or an FM repeater, so even the bathroom radio can have them?  In home access is a real challenge.

Disclaimer: I own shares of Sirius.