The worst kept secret in radio is now official. Surprise!

Opie and Anthony will be heard on the following CBS Radio stations:

New York - WFNY 92.3
Dallas - KLLI 105.3
Philadelphia - WYSP 94.1
Boston - WBCN 104.1
Pittsburgh - WRKZ 93.7
Cleveland - WXRK 92.3
West Palm Beach - WPBZ 103.1

CBS Radio stations in New York, Dallas and Philadelphia will also stream the O&A show show online at 923freefm.com, 1053freefm.com and 941freefm.com, respectively.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In reference to the anti-satellite radio legislation up for vote in the Senate:
"It is crystal clear, that both XM and Sirius - with nearly $1 billion in combined losses last year and having failed as a national programming service - are skirting the intent of their original FCC licenses. This bill holds satellite radio accountable to those licenses."
(Did you contact your Senator yet? - why not?)

When talking about slumping radio advertising revenue:
"Something that particularly drives me nuts is everybody says, 'Internet, Internet, Internet! Click-through rates!' I go on the Internet all the time. I click through it; I don't buy it. Where, if I listen to something on radio -

I just think it's a better experience and a better investment for advertisers. But we need to be sure that the advertisers and the agencies get reconnected with the power of radio. That's part of it; I think getting new people to advertise is part of it.

A lot of it is creating the tone and movement that radio is cool. People say, 'Well, you're a dinosaur.' Well, we're not a dinosaur. "
(No really, you're a dinosaur. It's called tracking your ROI.)


When asked about young people's perception about radio:
"Apart from HD, which I think will give us a lot of sizzle, I also think we need to make a more concerted effort to interact with technology and technology manufacturers. My watchword has been that every gadget should be able to get the signal."
(...no content?)

On how radio is going to survive:
"We're in a new competitive playing field. Satellite has lobbyists in DC now. Other technologies have lobbyists in DC and NAB has always been "the big dog." Now, we're going to be the big dog with other dogs around us and we're going to growl. And perhaps bite a whole lot more. Because we need to get the desired result; because the future of the industry is at stake. "

This is ironic. A satellite that carries a good amount of terrestrial radio programming used by Clear Channel, Westwood One and other major radio networks, is having some problems up there. These carriers were notified that failures of three power circuits on the AMC-8 satellite will require SES Americom to relocate the satellites services.

Currently power circuit failure has brought the satellite's power down by 25%, and if fourth power circuit fails, SES Americom will shut down an unused transponder to conserve power. If a fifth circuit fails, some of the satellite users will need to turn off some of their transponders.

I just can't help but to chuckle over this. 

[Radio Magazine via FMQB] 

A recent Radio and Records article gives a bit more color on the regional channels recently announced by XM Satellite Radio. Currently WLW - a Cincinnati AM station owned by Clear Channel - is the first  of these regional offerings, with more to be announced in the months ahead. In total, seven regional news and talk channels, each provided by Clear Channel, will be made available to XM subscribers.

It's important to note that these regional channels will be broadcast on a national level - there's no geo-targeting going on here. It's also important to note that XM Radio and Clear Channel will be splitting the revenue earned from the advertising sold on these regional channels.

I strikes me that XM's regional content can't possibly make terrestrial broadcasters very happy. This might also be an indication that Clear Channel is looking to diversify it's content, perhaps they aren't very confident about the successes of HD Radio. I'm really curious as to kinds of stations will be picked up (maybe it's a way of grabbing content that otherwise wouldn't sign with satellite radio exclusively?).