Radio Waves

Howard Stern then and Now
Howard Stern had 20 million listeners when he was on radio. Today he has 1,225,100 listeners to his satellite show.That's Stern's weekly cume according to Arbitron's first-ever report detailing listening to XM and Sirius. It shows his $500 million contract with Sirius buys the company an average 96,700 listeners in any given quarter hour. While his audience is just a fraction of what it once was, his "Howard 100" channel is satellite radio's top-rated, delivering more listeners than any other channel.

Opie & Anthony Are Out at WYSP-FM/Philadelphia
Syndicated Opie & Anthony are out at CBS Radio's WYSP-FM/Philadelphia. The duo had handled mornings on the Rock outlet since replacing David Lee Roth in April, 2006. While rumors of this move have been circulating for a few weeks, it seems as though it was expedited following a segment on the morning’s show which called PD John Cook vulgar name for not communicating with them. WYSP will go with jockless music for the time being, although it is expected that afternooner Kidd Chris will eventually shift to mornings. WYSP dropped "Free FM" and flipped to fulltime Rock in September.

A.I.R. Awards finalists
Finalists have been named for the 12th annual Achievement in Radio (A.I.R.) awards recognizing the best in local radio talent, programming, news and advertising.
Selected Categories:

Station Sponsored Community Event: "Toys For Tots 2006" (WLTJ-FM), Pregnancy Care Network "Choose Life" (WORD), Y108 Donkey Baseball VFD Fundraiser (WDSY), Y108's Tiki Town (WDSY), Stop the Music, Stop the Violence (WAMO)

Afternoon Show on a News Talk, Personality or Sports Station: Fred Honsberger (KDKA), Kevin Miller (KDKA), Doug Hoerth (WPTT), Mark Madden (WEAE/ESPN), John & Stephanie (WORD)

Individual Performance in a Radio Spot: Darren Eliker, Port Authority, "Crossing Rivers/Idea" (WORD); Darren Eliker, Extreme Fitness, "So Easy/Meathead" (WORD); Mark Roberts, PA AFL/CIO, "Labor Day" (Mark Roberts); Bill Cameron, ABC Cell Phones, "Valentine's Day" (WDVE); Bill Cameron, NMC Mortgage, "Up At Night" (WDVE)

And A TV Story
Channel 11 continues to struggle in their new location. WPXI has been plagued by technical difficulties. Last night's 11 p.m. news was no exception. A report froze, which resulted in a long string of commercials."We want to apologize for the technical difficulties we've had," said news anchor Darieth Chisolm. "Thanks for hanging in for us."

Later, video froze during John Fedko's spotscast, his microphone went out and a promo eventually cut him off in mid-sentence. Anchors Darieth Chisolm and David Johnson returned apologizing again for the flubs. They then painfully sat there not sure what to do next (no music, no sound effects) until they cut to commercial to end the newscast. A commercial for a "Just Pay Half" sale on WPXI.com followed but it was a sale "starting April 10th."