A New Media Player comes to the Rescue…

Wednesday, May, 7, 2008 by Mel Phillips.

I only met Dan Mason  once but discovered quickly that he’s a sales guy, mainly because that’s all he talked about.  Not that there’s anything wrong with being a sales guy.  I use the descriptive to differentiate sales and programming.  Lord knows, Dan has been very successful in his radio career.  He also looks like Brian Wilson  who’s also had some success in his chosen field.  Yesterday the CBS Radio President/CEO, Dan, not Brian, called the death of broadcast radio, “a myth” and also announced plans for the digital distribution of a new media player in conjunction with AOL Radio…

The media player  will offer all of CBS Radio’s  major market outlets and will also feature large space for contextual ads that display marketers’ slides.  It will also contain the company’s Internet-only stations and archives from then-Classic Rock WNEW-FM.  Users will also be able to customize playlists on this widget.  Call me a skeptic, but you know what this reminds me of?  Remember those promotional radios that were glued to your radio station?  As hard as they tried, listeners could only get your station…

I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong.  This new CBS media player could be the greatest thing to come along since Marconi got spanked on his tush and opened his eyes but somehow I doubt it…

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1789]  Havin’ a party:  The first inaugural ball is held in honor of President George Washington and his wife Martha with music provided by Lester Lanin…
2. 1903]   Red Sox Nation is born:  It all started with this game.  Boston faces off against New York for the first time as the then-Pilgrims beat the Highlanders (pre-Yankees) 6-2 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston.  Bill Dinneen is the winning pitcher and Hobe Ferris homers…
3. 1946]  SONY is born:  The Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp. is founded.  The company will be renamed SONY…
4. 1968]  The name game:   British singer Reginald Dwight changes his name to Elton John…
5. 1957]  No score:  A line-drive off the bat of Yankee Gil McDougald  severely damages Cleveland pitcher Herb Score’s  right eye, effectively ruining his career.  Two years later he retires…
6. 1966]  Not so Keane:   After winning only 4 of the Yankees first 20 games of the season as manager, Johnny Keane  is fired and replaced by Ralph Houk.  And this was pre-Steinbrenner…
7. 1968]  Not a good image:  Dancer’s Image, winner of the Kentucky Derby three days earlier is disqualified after it’s discovered that the horse was injected with the illegal drug “bute” to reduce inflammation of the joints.  Forward Pass who finished second is declared the winner…
8. 1987]  Diane bows out of ‘Cheers’:  Shelly Long a.k.a. Diane Chambers  makes her last appearance as a regular on “Cheers“…
9. 1999]  Jenny Jones disaster:  A jury in Pontiac (MI) orders “The Jenny Jones Show” to pay $25 million to the family of a gay man who was shot to death after revealing a crush on a male guest on the show.  The award will be overturned on appeal…
10. 2002]  Seattle Slew makes history:  Twenty-five years to the exact date that Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories in 1977, the great Slew dies at the age of 28…

Music Memories:

• 1978]  Number One ten years apart on this date:  “Night Fever” - Bee Gees…1988]  “Wishing Well” - Terence Trent D’Arby…1998]  “Too Close” - Next…

Commentary:

If you had any doubts about Howard Stern’s position on satellite radio, doubt no more.  Stern towers over everything else on satellite, according to Arbitron numbers reported on by David Hinckley  in this morning’s New York Daily News.  He’s got about as many listeners as he had on terrestrial radio but these listeners are paying $12.95 a pop to listen…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday”:

Robert (”Epstein”) Hegyes (57), Tim Russert (58), Thelma Houston (62), Jimmy Ruffin (69), Johnny Maestro (69), Ed Pyle (69), Babe Parilli (79), Dick Williams (79) and Jim Lowe (81)…

Timeline Countdown:  4 days until Mother’s Day, 19 days until Memorial Day and 39 days until Father’s Day…

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