Mancow was quoted in Inside Radio recently, criticizing satellite radio and uncensored content in general.

"Mancow says satellite radio is like a one night stand. He says uncensored content is 'kind of exciting — but you cannot have a substantial relationship with that kind of host.' 'Mancow,' [the creator of 'Drunk Chick Friday'] says the pressure for morning show hosts to push the envelope has been 'a cancer on our business' and he’s renewing his call for a less coarse content on radio."

As Mark Ramsey of Hear 2.0 points out, Mancow calling for "less coarse content" is like taking diet advice from trans fats.

I just find it funny that the guy who publishes a book about free speech is now saying that uncensored content is "kind of exciting." His entire career, until recently, has been based on coarse content.

But to associate satellite radio and its uncensored content with being a "cancer" in the business? C'mon, you need to try harder than that Mancow.

Either way, sounds like yet another attempt at publicity to me.

[Hear 2.0] 

iBiquity presented yesterday at the Radio Symposium 2007, and appears to be poised for a major push in services and offerings in the near future.

Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck, in a recent note to clients, listed several key takeaways from the presentation:

New Services:

• HD Radio is planning on offering features like enhanced PAD data to show sports scores, stock tickers, and even text-ads.
  
• On-demand radio, including traffic and weather
• Time-shifting capabilities with pause, record and playback functionality
• The ability to purchase music
• Subscription or opt-in services

More Stations:

• There are currently over 1,300 HD Radio stations nationwide, covering 82% of the U.S. population
• iBiquity is expecting 5,700 HD Radio stations by 2011.

At 1pm ET today, various artists and music groups announced the launch of a new coalition: musicFIRST (Fairness in Radio Starting Today).

The group's members include Christina Aguilera, Michael Buble, Jimmy Buffett, Celine Dion, Toby Keith, Godsmack, Ludacris, Rihanna and Gretchen Wilson - over 100 artists in all, and growing at a rapid pace.

The coalition's goals are to ensure that all performers are paid a performance right when their music is aired on the radio. MusicFIRST wants to hold the multi-billion dollar radio industry to the same standards as its competitors.

Of course, the NAB doesn't agree.

"NAB will aggressively fight RIAA's proposed performance tax on local radio stations," said NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton. "Congress has long recognized that radio airplay of music generates millions of dollars in revenue for record labels and artists. Were it not for radio's free promotional airplay of music on stations all over America, most successful recording artists would still be playing in a garage."

It's funny to hear the NAB talk about a level playing field, yet they don't pay the same performance fees as satellite radio or Internet radio (or Apple for that matter). It's not like terrestrial radio is a nascent industry either, they've been very profitable for many years. So terrestrial enjoys the monopoly of "localism" combined with cheaper-than-everyone-else royalties. All under the guise of "serving the common good."

How convenient. 

Now, don't get me wrong, there's no question as to the music industry's motivation here. But entertain this as a thought: if terrestrial radio was paying performance fees - just like everyone else is - perhaps the royalty fees of other broadcast mediums wouldn't be so high?

[musicFIRST] 

In a recent Op-Ed piece to the New York Times, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps questioned the public service interests of free broadcasters, and called for the FCC to reform its license renewal process.

"Our policies should reward broadcasters that honor their pledge to serve that interest and penalize those that don’t," wrote Copps.

He continued to call for a shortening of the license renewal process, currently set at every eight years (commonly rubber stamped), to a more frequent three-year renewal period. Copps also called into question broadcaster's intentions for providing children's educational programming, election coverage, and "improve the generally shoddy coverage of minority and other underserved communities."

"If you need convincing that something needs to be done, consider that only about 8 percent of local TV newscasts in the month before the last presidential election contained any coverage whatsoever of local races, including those for the House of Representatives," Copps wrote. "This low number is just one example of how poorly stations are serving their viewers."

XM recently announced POTUS '08 - a 24/7 channel providing election coverage - as well as covered, and is a lead participant, in the Children's Miracle Network $10 Million fundraiser. Both Sirius and XM broadcast CNN en Espanol, ESPN Deportes, a wide variety of Latin music channels, and many public radio channels nationwide. In 2005, Red Cross Radio was established during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath to provide free satellite radio based services to workers on the field during a time when local radio towers were simply not functioning.

Of course, NAB President/CEO David Rehr doesn't agree with Commissioner Copps. He fired back a letter to the New York Times editor disputing Copps' statements. Rehr feels that broadcasters go through "enormous lengths" to fulfill their public interest rolls. He specifically cited Amber alerts, disaster coverage and polls that say broadcasters "do a good job" of covering elections.

Yet, earlier this year, the NAB backed the "Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2007" legislature that would prevent Sirius or XM from broadcasting Amber Alerts, as well as transmit local traffic, weather, and other public safety/emergency information. Funny, that seems to go against the public interest, and only serve the broadcaster's own monopoly of localism.

So, exactly who's interests is the NAB serving?

[NYTimes: Commission Copps' Op-Ed Piece]
[NY Times: Rehr Letter's to the Editor]

The National Association of Broadcasters has been relentless in its opposition against the Sirius-XM merger. But now they mean business. Now they're going to show the nation that they're fighting the good fight. Now it's time to take off the gloves.

Now is the time... to hang a banner!

Oh sure, the NAB may hire the American Antitrust Institute who opposes media consolidation of all kinds (wait, isn't Clear Channel an NAB member? tee-hee!). But nothing shows opposition better than large amounts of vinyl, written in children's handwriting!

Along with their defiant banner-hanging, the NAB has officially launched their own anti-merger website (which was actually was unveiled back in early April, but was riddled with missing links) sporting the crafty URL xmsiriusmonopoly.com.

Admittedly it's a great name for a website, because it's so concise. Personally, I'm half considering registering thenationalassociationofbroadcastersisabunchofhypocrites.com, but I'm almost certain it's already taken. 

While women and minorities comprise two-thirds of the population, only one-eighth of full power radio stations are controlled by the same groups. Welcome to Big Radio.

The report, Off the Dial: How Media Consolidation Diminishes Diversity on the Radio gives details on exactly how bad the situation is:

• Women own just 6 percent of all full-power commercial broadcast radio stations, even though they comprise 51 percent of the U.S. population.
• Latinos own just 2.9 percent of all U.S. full-power commercial broadcast radio stations, but they comprise 15 percent of the U.S. population and are the nation’s largest ethnic
  minority group.
  
• African-Americans own only 3.4 percent of this country’s full-power commercial broadcast radio stations, but account for 13 percent of the entire U.S. population.
  

"This study presents fresh and challenging evidence about the lack of female and minority ownership in the radio industry," FCC Commissioner Copps said. "My fervent hope is that we can harness the shame of our failures and recommit ourselves to creating a media that reflects the diversity of the American people."

"Women and people of color have been left off the dial because the FCC has pursued policies that are far off the mark," said Commissioner Adelstein. "It is our legal and moral obligation to promote diversity in the public airwaves."

"Latinos own less than 3 percent of U.S. radio stations but make up 15 percent of the population," said Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) who recently came out in favor of the Sirius-XM merger. "These alarming statistics suggest that women and people of color have very few stations available to serve the needs of the community. LULAC urges the FCC to do better."

[View the full report here (PDF) via Free Press]