Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

43° - overcast at 1pm

Listening this morning - to the music of Neil Young being featured on WDRV's Rock & Roll Roots. Walk On. Like A Hurricane. All good stuff.

Christmas. I've seen a lots of stations testing their holiday music; and I've come to believe that the audience expects to hear it.

There's nothing wrong with Classic Rock and Classic Hits embracing selected holiday music - although I didn't always feel that way.

Thanksgiving weekend isn't that far away and a great time to kickoff. My wife was in Target yesterday and said it was apparent the shopping season has begun.

The Buzzard Book. It didn't come out in time for my birthday - but if anyone is looking for a Christmas present for me it might be John Gorman's new book: "The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio.

John Gorman was Program Director of WMMS (The Buzzard) from 1973 to 1986.

From Amazon:

This rock and roll radio memoir takes you behind the scenes at the nation's hottest station during FM's heyday, from 1973 to 1986. Sex and drugs, music and merchandising--it was a wild time when the FM airwaves were wide open for innovation.

John Gorman led a small band of true believers who built Cleveland's WMMS from a neglected stepchild into an influential powerhouse. The station earned high praise from musicians and even higher ratings from listeners.

Gorman tells how WMMS remade rock radio while Cleveland staked its claim as the "Rock and Roll Capital" by breaking many major international music acts. The fun may have died when FM went corporate in the late 1980s, but it was a hell of a ride while it lasted.

Filled with juicy insider details, this fast-paced story will entertain anyone who listened in during those glory days when FM delivered excitement and the Buzzard ruled the airwaves.

Looks fantastic - and available through Amazon here. Perhaps I'll just get myself an early Christmas present.

Mel. Will sue the FCC if the Sirius/XM merger isn't approved. Read here.

I can only think that others interested in one of the two satellite radio licenses might sue too if the merger is approved. I could be wrong.

While there is plenty of competition under of the broad definition of "audio entertainment", I do feel that satellite radio is a unique distribution platform that deserves two competitors. Every other distribution platform is open to competition.

Let them merge - but force a surrender of one license and award it to another.