media bytes for Thursday, November 1, 2007

Welcome to SDRadio for Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007

Stay Healthy, Stay Safe!

The World-Famous GelderHead Thought Of The Day: We lift ourselves by our thought. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your “thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to be, always everywhere. ~ Orison Swett Marden

After more than a decade of service, KPBS News Director, Michael Marcotte, is leaving the San Diego public broadcasting organization in early November.

Marcotte was hired as news director in 1995 and implemented KPBS’ “beat system” for in-depth specialty reporting. He helped to spread the station’s journalistic effort from KPBS Radio to KPBS TV and later to the website KPBS.org. He also hosted the Friday edition of “Full Focus” on KPBS TV. Marcotte is credited with growing the news department at KPBS into the largest radio news staff in San Diego.

“We’ve built a strong team at KPBS,” said Marcotte. “I feel great about how far we’ve come. KPBS deserves credit for innovation on many fronts. I’m thankful for 12 years of learning and doing exciting work in San Diego. And I leave feeling confident about the station’s future.”

In 2006, Marcotte was elected national president of PRNDI – Public Radio News Directors, Inc. He also served on the board of AP Television-Radio Association and is a graduate of LEAD San Diego. He was a trainer for PRNDI, taught public affairs reporting at SDSU, and for many years led a multi-cultural journalism “boot camp” for high school students. Beginning last year, he directed the station’s Jacobs Project for Reporting Excellence – a new media laboratory for experimentation and innovation.

Marcotte is planning to move to Santa Barbara with his partner Denise Lin, where he hopes to continue serving public media as a consultant. Marcotte’s last day is next Wednesday.

As San Diego recovers, please considering donating to the charity of your choice. First responders Red Cross and the Sierra Del Mar chapter of the Salvation Army were there, and remain on station.

Roger Hedgecock told his radio audience yesterday on KOGO that his Saturday nationwide launch will have 20-plus stations. Roger will continue with his live and local show weekdays at 3 p.m. on KOGO.

Randy Dotinga wrote in his North County Times column that this could be day 112 of the death watch of progressive radio in the market — and he may be close to the mark. The format will flip to sports and was first expected in August, then October … and today. However, the earliest will be Nov. 5, or as late as the week later, on the 12th. Or, it could be right now …. Stay Tuned.

From Tony and Kris at US 95.7: If you have kids, you know that Hannah Montana is the biggest thing since the Beatles! Hannah Montana is coming to San Diego on November 8th for a sold out show. Don’t fret because Tony and Kris have your tickets!

On November 8th from 6-9am, Tony and Kris will be broadcasting live from the San Diego Sports Arena with their “Mannah Montana” beauty contest.

The rules are simple:

1. Get your dad, or another man in your life, to dress up as Hannah Montana & practice his Hannah moves.

2. Come down to the San Diego Sports Arena on November 8th at 6am and plan on staying until around 8am. Tony and Kris will be doing their show from the Sports Arena.
3. Have fun seeing your dad dress like Hannah!

Please come down to the San Diego Sports Arena on November 8th from 6am-9am and check out the madness!

San Diego 1700’s Mark Larson fills in for for Michael Reagan on his national talk show today. Mark regularly serves as the prime guest-host for Mike on the show, airing on over 200 stations nationwide. The program is also heard on Sirius and XM satellite radio. The show airs locally on San Diego 1700 from 6 to 9 p.m. Mark, a long-time San Diego radio broadcaster, does his daily morning show from 5 to 9 a.m.

Also at the BCA: XX Sports Radio and San Diego 1700 are raising money for San Diego via their Mission Recovery 2007 drive. XX Sports Radio has the list of today’s items. All the money raises stays in San Diego.

The Digital Divide: What’s in your radio …. AM, FM, satellite, and the promise of earth-bound extreme high-fidelity radio is doing a slow roll out. I asked radio expert Larry Shannon about the digital delight: Larry writes: “HD Radio? It is an evolutionary process.

“What’s happened is that — I think — the big media companies like Clear Channel and others bought into the concept. But, they have not put their programming where their possibilities are.

“Same thing happened with FM. The AM owners did not want to chip away their listener base with those who would drift to other frequencies. They had “cash cows” that they wanted to keep milking. Happened at the AM station where I worked. We begged the GM to let us simulcast in the early 70’s. But, he didn’t want to fragment the AM with the FM.

“A couple of years later, under new owners, they did simulcast and the FM beat the AM within a year or so.

“Plus, with HD Radio, you have to either “man” the HD channel or use prerecorded stuff as many now do.

“Look at the cost it would entail to have one or two other stations to staff.

“I see the HD channels — in time — becoming channels for special programming like concerts, local public affairs, etc.”

The current San Diego line-up for HDRadio can be found at SDRadio’s San Diego Radio Log.

Stay Digitally Tuned!!

Thank you! Yes, thank you for making SDRadio part of your broadcast and internet travels. See you on the radio today and here when breaking radio news happens. Thanks for playing!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 4:00 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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