Pandora, in Greek mythology, is a woman who opened a box that unleashed evil, leaving only hope behind. Online radio service Pandora has been more positive, unleashing consumer choice and a counterpoint to AM/FM radio.

The concept for Pandora is simple. You pick a song or artist and using a special “genome” breakdown of more than 700,000 songs, Pandora creates a station for you. You can rate each song to shape the station to your taste.

Anchored to computers, the free service was a solid at-work utility but unable to build a profitably large audience until it introduced an iPhone application in 2008.

“It took off like a rocket ship,” said founder Tim Westergren in a recent interview. ”Completely viral. We never advertised Pandora.” About 21 million of the estimated 50 million users now use the service on a mobile device, with 30,000 new iPhone users every day. Average listening time per month: 11 hours.

As a result,  the private-held company said it made its first …

Continue reading Pandora making inroads on AM/FM radio »

Rashan Ali has rejoined Ryan Cameron, this time at V-103.

Cameron, now an afternoon host, gave Ali her big break on radio in 2002 on his morning show on rival Hot 107.9. He left for V-103 in early 2005, but Ali stayed behind, leading her own morning show until Hot dumped that show in 2008 for Rickey Smiley. She left Hot last May.

In the meantime, she has since had her second baby and awaited her next big career move. “It’s been a journey going from billboards to walking to the unemployment line pregnant,” she said on the air today. “Just to be able to come back is a true blessing.”

In an interview Saturday morning, Ali said the deal had been in the works for a long time but declined to detail why it took as long as it did. She signed the deal on April 12 and kept it under wraps until Friday.

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Continue reading Rumor confirmed: Rashan Ali joins Ryan Cameron at V-103 »

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Much like the volcanic ash plumes from Iceland, the tears seemed to flow on and on and on as Season 7 of “Project Runway” and Heidi Klum said “aufedersein” last night.

There weren’t any surprises, except that the reunion show followed immediately after the finale. I suspect producers felt no one would need time to process the winner, Seth Aaron, which was a no-brainer.

The runway show at Bryant Park did throw a little excitement into the mix. We made it through M.I.A. models, Michael Kors in Secret Service shades as well as cameos by actress Raven-Symone, “America’s Next Top Model” judge/photographer Nigel Barker and a list of other PR designers.

With Nina Garcia and guest Faith Hill helping to judge, the collections took center stage.

SETH AARON–WINNER

Inspiration: “Kick-ass” German-Russian military

The look: Beyond his glaringly white-washed jeans, Seth …

Continue reading Project Runway Season 7: And the winner is? »

Someone posted this earlier in the week on radio-info.com:

Yesterday, Howard Stern had former CBS Radio executive Rob Burnett on his show to talk about life after Stern (i.e. the David Lee Roth era). Part of the conversation included a reference to how Stern’s show couldn’t sell in Atlanta. A listener transcribed the segment, but here is the portion that involves Atlanta:

HOWARD: … This terrestrial radio thing was killing me with the censorship. I had felt alone. Many times they’d tell me they can’t expand my radio stations, you’re too outrageous, we can’t put you on in Atlanta. I was fed up.

ROB BURNETT: When I heard you were down to only 27 radio stations, I said that’s small…

HOWARD: I went to them and said, you have three radio stations in Atlanta. You’re only billing 2 million dollars there. I can do better. They said, no you can’t. It’s too hard to sell you…

–My comment: I’m sure rock station Z93 billed more than $2 million a year when they could have picked up Stern in …

Continue reading Howard Stern talks about never getting on Z93 »

Surprisingly, ESPN dropped out of the running to air the NCAA tournament. In the meantime, CBS will now share the duties with Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting, which will air NCAA games on TBS, TNT and truTV. The deal runs through 2024.

CBS had not been able to air all the games at the same time since the network lacks multiple cable channels.

Between the two networks, $10.8 billion will be expended over a dozen years. And there will be 68 games instead of 65, if the Division 1 board of directors approves.

Here’s more info from the New York Times:

Through 2015, CBS will cover the regional finals, the Final Four and the championship game. But starting in 2016, CBS and Turner will split the regional finals and the Final Four, and the national championship game will alternate annually between CBS and TBS.

Continue reading Turner and CBS share NCAA duties through 2024 »

Dacula resident Anslee Payne-Franklin, 23, made it halfway through the CW’s 14th cycle of “America’s Next Top Model.” Tyra Banks cut her loose Wednesday night. She just missed a trip to New Zealand.

Anslee was mostly been in the middle of the pack during the show and did not win a single challenge. Last night, she was in the bottom two for a second time.

The judges frequently cited her great bone structure but weren’t always thrilled with her photos. She also had trouble on the runway. Last night, she got reamed for a leaden catwalk. The editors made it seem like the audience gave her no applause. In an interview today, she said, no, she did get applause but they edited that out for effect.

She defended herself following the runway walk, saying she was “stern and strong. That’s basically most of the traits of my personality. This is who I am and if you don’t like me, I’m sorry. I know I didn’t win the challenge but I felt like I stayed true to myself.”

The former bartender …

Continue reading Dacula gal ousted from ‘America’s Next Top Model’ »

Former WAGA-TV anchor Roy Hobbs was arrested over the weekend for possession of crack cocaine and a crack pipe, according to the Birmingham News.

The story said the arresting officer had previously stopped him with a known prostitute and a suspended license. He was given a warning and let go. It said he was arrested Saturday on the drug possession charge and released later that day on an $800 bond.

Hobbs worked at Fox affiliate WAGA-TV from 1997 to 2003 as an anchor. He has been at ABC affiliate 33/40 in Birmingham as a weekend anchor. He is currently on leave after the arrest, the story said.

Not surprisingly, news of his arrest is not on the ABC 33/40 Web site though his name is the top search term as I write this.

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Continue reading Former WAGA-TV anchor Roy Hobbs arrested for drug possession »

“American Idol,” for a second week in a row, beat “Dancing With the Stars” after losing out for two weeks. This time, the performance shows were separated by just 37,000 viewers, 20.64 mil to 20.56 mil.

The “Idol” results show for the first time this year did better than the performance show, perhaps thanks to Adam Lambert, who sang that night.

Locally, “Idol” did better than a week earlier and finished in the top two slots.

The new “Glee” episode last week might have helped, too. It held about 60 percent of the “Idol” crowd and came in fifth for the week, just behind “Two and a Half Men.” Among 18-49 year olds, it was third behind the two “Idol’ shows. In Atlanta, it came in fourth.

- The part one finale of Lifetime’s “Project Runway,” minus Anthony Williams, dipped a bit but was in its usual 3 million range April 15.

- BET’s “Tiny & Toya,” shot in Atlanta, opened at 1.6 million April 13, which is comparable to what the show did last year.

- The same day TBS announced Conan …

Continue reading ‘Glee’ sings way near the top of Atlanta ratings; Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy’ tops Atlanta radio again »

“American Idol” has never had an “originals” theme night. Why? Because songwriting is not a criteria to win that competition.

So Bravo is trying to fill the void with its new show “Hitmakers,” which is seeking the best songwriters out there in different genres. The casting call will be in Atlanta Sunday, May 2 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Studio Dionne at 524 Plasters Ave., Atlanta GA.

From the press release:

The network is partnering with The Writing Camp, America’s top songwriting team behind such hits as Beyonce’s “HALO” (top left) and Rihanna’s “SOS,” to discover the nation’s top talent in every genre of music. The winner of the series will receive a cash prize and a publishing and development deal with The Writing Camp for Sony’s RCA/JIVE.

The folks who make “Real Housewives of Atlanta” (True Entertainment) are developing the series.

Each week, the winner’s song will be sung by a major artist. But the songwriter also needs to be able to perform to sing their …

Continue reading Bravo casting for singer-songwriters for new reality show ‘Hitmakers’ »

(ABC/Guy D'Alema)

Unless a big breaking story happens, “Nightline” is set to air a truncated version of its 2.5 hour town hall meeting in Decatur earlier this month on Wednesday, April 21 at 11:35 p.m.

More than 600 people crowded the Porter Sanford Performing Arts Center in Decatur on Friday, April 9. Several hundred more were forced into satellite rooms or simply got there too late to get in. Clearly, moderator Steve Harvey’s promotional pull showed. He talked about it on his radio show heard locally on Majic 107.5/97.5 that week.

And “The View’s” Sherri Shepherd flew from New York City to take part as well. Vicki Mabrey, the “Nightline” correspondent moderated with Harvey, along with participants Jacque Reid (”Let’s Talk About Pep”), actor Hill Harper (”CSI: NY”) and author Jimi Israel (”The Denzel Principle”).

The show revealed the misconceptions each gender has about the other. And the numbers are stacked against college-educated black women. The pool of comparable men …

Continue reading ‘Nightline’ town hall in Decatur about successful black women having a hard time finding black men set to air Wednesday, April 21 »