Booker told Philadelphia Inquirer pseudo-gossip-columnist Michael Klein that the New York Post's "industry sources" were most likely inspired by an anonymous posting on a blog.

He also denied the rumor-mongering claim posted right here on The O.

"All I know [about the alleged job offers] is what I read about on the Internet," Booker told Klein.

I guess that's that... for now.

[Philly.com]

(...and yes, it's a slow news day.)

Tom Hanks and the Freeplay Foundation joined forces with eBay, and launched a charity auction to raise funds benefitting rural poor areas of Africa.

Hanks has autographed the wind-up and solar-powered radios, and is auctioning them up on eBay - the winning bidders will also get a personal letter and a signed photo from Tom.

One-hundred percent of the auction proceeds will be used to help Freeplay's work in Africa.

Check out the video below...

My first thought, other than the fact that this is a pretty cool cause (somewhat similar to One Laptop Per Child), is that this feels like a missed opportunity for WorldSpace.

Yes, I know all about WorldSpace's involvement with First Voice International (formally the WorldSpace Foundation) which uses 5% of WorldSpace's bandwidth to broadcast free and unencrypted service to underserved communities in Africa. But WorldSpace can't guarantee that service anymore, and they're lacking that whole celebrity-ism that folks like Tom Hanks can provide.

That aside, it's a cool idea, and it'd be even cooler if Sirius and/or XM set aside a stable of emergency satellite radios for disastrous events here in the States. Hey, whatever happened to that crank-powered satellite radio anyway?

[eBay Auction]

We heard this news a couple weeks ago, but now it's official: the FCC has approved the sale of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. to Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

As expected, the vote was unanimous in favor of the deal. But Copps and Adelstein still had some parting shots before approving:

"I concur in part to highlight my concern regarding alleged anticompetitive practices
with respect to advertising in the radio industry," said Commissioner Adelstein in his statement (PDF).

"This case is a close call and one that I approach with decidedly mixed feelings," said Michael Copps in his statement (PDF). "[W]hile the new company will remain a media giant—now refocused on the largest markets—there are some potential public interest benefits to this deal."

For XM-Sirius merger watchers, there's one interesting takeaway here, and that's the Clear Channel deal is currently no where to be found on the FCC's Items on Circulation list. Of course, the list is updated weekly, so it could appear soon... but remember the FCC's decision on Clear Channel was heard about exactly two weeks ago.

[FCC MO&A (PDF)]

Adding to the list of merger-related activity at the FCC recently, iBiquity Digital Corporation held yet another meeting with members of the Commission earlier this week, according to a recent FCC filing.

iBiquity CEO Robert Struble and counsel met with Commission Jonathan Adelstein and Rudy Brioché of Commissioner Adelstein’s office. Their discussion was similar to previous meetings in that iBiquity expressed "concern" over competitive implications should the merger be approved.

Speaking of implications. iBiquity implies quite a bit at these meetings. From the filing:

"iBiquity raised concerns about exclusive arrangements between XM and Sirius and automobile manufacturers that could serve as a barrier to iBiquity’s ability to sell HD Radio receivers to end users. iBiquity also expressed concern that satellite radio companies may have used subsidies and incentives to discourage proliferation of HD Radio products. iBiquity discussed its concern that the merger has the potential to exacerbate these problems."

Interesting, so now that sluggish growth we're hearing about is XM and Sirius' fault? Seriously? Remember, some studies predicted that 1.5 million HD Radio units would be sold in 2007 (and that was reduced from 2.1 million), while other research firms, like Barrington Research, had hoped for a more conservative 1 million units.

"Our impression is that the actual unit sell-through was only about half that total," said Barrington Research analyst Jim Goss. That's roughly 500,000 units for the entire year if your math is rusty.

So the burden of that failure is now being placed on satellite radio's mystical "incentives" that somehow "discouraged" the sale of HD Radios. That is, despite HD Radio being all over CES this year, and being included in new tabletop radios that forgo XM in favor of iTunes Tagging support. Yeah, I can definitely see proof of iBiquity's accusations there.

iBiquity's solution to these "concerns" of course hasn't changed since last month - they just want the government to require that HD Radio technology be included in every satellite radio sold.

Oh, and Goss also added that iBiquity is getting $5-$6 for every HD Radio receiver sold. So, you know, requiring that HD Radio technology be included in every Sirius and XM unit sold has absolutely nothing to do with the interests of iBiquity. Nah... it's all "to insure a level competitive playing field," right?

[FCC Filing (PDF), Radio Ink]

UPDATE: Looks like iBiquity met with Commissioner Michael Copps and Rich Chessen of Commissioner Copps’ office as well. [FCC Filing (PDF)]

Only three weeks into the new year, and members of the FCC have met various parties involving the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. on eight separate occurrences.

Could this (finally) be a sign that we'll have a decision on the merger soon? Here's a listing of some of the reported activity coming from the Commission:

• January 3, 2008: The CEO of US Electronics (along with counsel) met with Comissioner Copps and his advisor, Rick Chessen. [Link (PDF)]
• January 4, 2008: Georgetown Partners, TSG Capital Group, and King & Spalding LLP met with Michelle Carey, senior legal advisor to Chairman Martin. [Link (PDF)]
• January 7, 2008: Chester C. Davenport, Managing Director of Georgetown Partners met with Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein [Link (PDF)]
• January 7, 2008: Georgetown Partners on the same day also met with Commissioner Michael Copps. [Link (PDF)]
• January 9, 2008: Georgetown Partners and the Reverend Jesse Jackson met with Chairman Kevin Martin [Link (PDF)]
• January 11, 2008: XM and Sirius, along with CRA International, met with representatives from the FCC to discuss the findings of the CRA study which determined that Satellite Radio and Terrestrial Radio are demand substitutes. [Link (PDF)]
• January 14, 2008: Once again Chester Davenport of Georgetown Partners, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Kimberly Marcus (also of the Rainbow PUSH coalition) met with Chairman Kevin Martin, Daniel Gonzalez and Catherine Bohigian. On the same day in a separate meeting: Davenport, Rev. Jackson and Ms. Marcus met with Commissioner Michael Copps, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, Rick Chessen and Rudy Brioché. And in yet another meeting Davenport, Jackson, and Marcus met with Commissioner Robert McDowell. [Link (PDF)]
• January 15, 2008: iBiquity CEO Robert Struble met with Commissioner Robert McDowell as well as Angela Giancarlo and Cristina Chou Pauze of Commissioner McDowell's office. [Link (PDF)]

Last month, RBC Capital analyst David Bank predicted that the FCC's decision would likely stretch to February of this year.

"We believe XMSR/SIRI management served up the necessary sacrificial lamb(s) by offering ala carte pricing and openness to variety of other conduct/behavioral conditions," wrote Bank. "However, our sources indicate FCC is likely 1-2 months away from fully fleshing out conditionality such as ala carte pricing, interoperability of radios, unused channel availability to 3rd parties, indecency standards and local content restrictions."

From the looks of these recent meetings, it appears that the FCC is working through those conditionalities right now.

Hot on the heals of Opie & Anthony being dropped from the WJFK lineup, comes word that changes could be coming to the morning slot for K-Rock.

According to a reliable source, Chris Booker has been telling people that he is taking over mornings at K-Rock when Opie & Anthony's contract expires. The source only gave this information under the condition of anonymity.

Booker is currently the host of the Q102 Philadelphia morning drive show, though is probably best known for his work at K-Rock New York where he met Howard Stern and appeared numerous times on Stern's show.

Opie & Anthony announced they would simulcast on both terrestrial and XM Satellite Radio in April, 2006.

K-Rock General Manager and VP Tom Chiusano, arguably the most famous GM in the biz thanks to his many appearances on Stern's show as well as on O&A, is stepping down from his role at the station. This month marks exactly 23 years that Chiusano has led the day to day operations of the station, but he'll still remain on as a consultant until "at least June."

Meanwhile, starting today Opie & Anthony will no longer be heard on Washington DC's WJFK, adding to the list of major market stations that have dropped the dynamic duo.

The twist?

Rumors are swirling that Michael Hughes, the CBS Radio exec who runs WJFK - and the guy who just dumped O&A - could be on the list of candidates to replace Tom Chiusano.

According to multiple sources, the Federal Communications Commission has approved the sale of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. to Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $19.5 billion, reports All Access.

The vote was reportedly 5-0 in favor of the transaction.

If this turns out to be true, the FCC would have taken 386 days to come to this decision.

[All Access]