CCU to push HD Radio on White House Press Secretary

[mmnassour]

Pppppppbbbbbbbt!

Yea, right. Clear Channel is gonna send the Obama administration a couple of cheesy, defective, radios and that will make up for eight years of supplying the Republicans with thousands of stations to use as mouthpieces.

I've heard our President has a loooooong memory.

 

[The Ultimate Warrior]

Pppppppbbbbbbbt!

Yea, right. Clear Channel is gonna send the Obama administration a couple of cheesy, defective, radios and that will make up for eight years of supplying the Republicans with thousands of stations to use as mouthpieces.

I've heard our President has a loooooong memory.

Quick... how many talk stations does CC own.

 

[clouseau]

Wow, how bitter can you be?

When the press secretary says he doesn't have a radio, if you're a broadcaster, you get him one.

And you trick it out with HD and Itunes tagging...

And you do a press release about it...

And you shout it from the rooftops...

And everyone who doesn't have their ears crammed fulll of I-Pod Buds hears about it...

Unless you live on the internet in which case you can post about how dumb it is at Radio-info..

Looks like Rush's call to have WMAL send Gibbs a radio worked great...

For the record, note the previous posters screen names in this thread. Mark them down in the "Don't have a clue about radio promotion" list.

Clouseau

 

[KB1OKL]

What?? The Press secretary doesn't have a radio? : Come on now, that is the biggest bunch of Malarkey I've ever heard and/or this guy is about the worst pick for a press secretary in the country. What living human being over 30 years old being does not have a radio, especially a guy who is supposed to be a communications expert? I think obvious conclusions can be drawn from this.

 

[Savage]

radioracket: "love ya, man," but....an "interesting quote?" From another PR Newswire simulated press release, which by definition, means....a sales pitch?? : Puh-LEAZE.

It's just more Baghdad-Bob boilerplate puffery from one of America's least credible corporations - that would be iBiquity. (The credibility deficit generated by incessant, provably false, massively stupid public statements like "radio has already made its digital transition.")

iTunes tagging? Dead issue. And the HD Alliance chose to send a radio to a White House Press Secretary just about every Beltway insider is saying has a life expectancy in his job roughly equivalent to that quart of 2% in the door of your fridge? (It's just glaring how clueless Gibbs is, as the communications officer for the Leader Of The Free World, to publicly declare he "doesn't own a radio." Doesn't get much dumber than that.)

I say: BFD all the way around.

Most of the "press release" (yawn) consists of more regurgitated talking points, many of which have been discredited for at least a year.

Next!!

 

[Carmine5]

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayR...STORY=/www/story/03-05-2009/0004983826&EDATE=

An interesting quote from this article:

"Side benefit: Radio has already made its digital transition!"

Oh, really? What about the other 12,000+ radio stations that have chosen not to convert, or is the plan just to convert the HD Alliance-owned stations, Bob Struble? And, those stations that have converted are stuck in the hybrid-hump, as long way from full digital-mode.

This news release is a howler. I especially love this quote:

"The HD Digital Radio Alliance, a joint initiative...to accelerate the successful rollout of HD Digital Radio."

If HD Radio is truly successful then 'accelerating' it's rollout is unnecessary. Only if a rollout is going too slow (or worse, retreating) do you form a group to accelerate it.

This is more of the logic-defying 'Dear Leader, North Koreanspeak' we've come to expect from an HD Alliance press release.

And for what its worth, I have no doubt that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has a radio. This is just his own digging little contribution to the Obama/Limbaugh imbroglio. The implication is that radio doesn't matter and neither does Rush.

C5

 

[Carmine5]

"The HD Digital Radio Alliance, a joint initiative...to accelerate the successful rollout of HD Digital Radio." If HD Radio is truly successful then 'accelerating' it's rollout is unnecessary. Only if a rollout is going too slow (or worse, retreating) do you form a group to accelerate it.

Good catch! In effect, is this the same thing as, "forward momentum", or now as, "forward movement"? Struble must be reading this board, because he changed his smoke-screen, after Tom called him on it, a while back. If only for the laughs, it sure is worth following this Big Rollout!

Exactly. It's like one of those amusement park optical illusions. You think you're moving forward when you're really standing still.

Ibiquity and the rest of the Alliance have been existing in an optical illusion for far too long.

C5

 

[pocket-radio]

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs doesn't own a radio. So what does this say besides he's an idiot.

He's has to be well informed and is getting information from other sources. I have to admit I never listen to radio while at home.

 

[KB1OKL]

And for what its worth, I have no doubt that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has a radio. This is just his own digging little contribution to the Obama/Limbaugh imbroglio. The implication is that radio doesn't matter and neither does Rush.

C5

Good point, and if that is so ibiquity just seized on another political opportunity which of course won't make any difference anyway.

 

[Carmine5]

And for what its worth, I have no doubt that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has a radio. This is just his own digging little contribution to the Obama/Limbaugh imbroglio. The implication is that radio doesn't matter and neither does Rush.

C5

Good point, and if that is so ibiquity just seized on another political opportunity which of course won't make any difference anyway.

The thing the kinda gripes me is that, by making the admission, 'I don't own a radio', Gibbs has in essence marginalized radio and the radio industry, an industry that is already coping with tough challenges.

And rather than censure him, the industry gives him a radio (or two, or three). I would have complained.

Of course, he'll have fun trying to tune and lock onto an HD signal but that's another story.

C5

 

[TheBigA]

Keep in mind that the President appoints the Commissioners at the FCC. They are the folks in charge of the transition to digital. They are the ones you all should be directing your attacks.

 

[RadeoEngineer]

Keep in mind that the President appoints the Commissioners at the FCC. They are the folks in charge of the transition to digital. They are the ones you all should be directing your attacks.

What transition to digital regarding radio? There has been nothing mandated, there will be nothing mandated in regards to Ibiquity, and any mandate of a commercial broadcast radio transition to digital that doesn't directly impact the general public with something they give a crap about enough to buy a new radio (or multiple radios as the case may be) will fail, just as IBUZZ is failing now.

I was involved yesterday in a discussion with an "alliance" member that stated bluntly they would not finish their IBOC buildouts, and that if an increase in power levels is approved, they'll be unable to achieve that in their present environment and aren't about to spend the money it would take to accomplish that task. There is so much stink on this pig that the pigs that started it are crying "wee wee wee all the way home."

 

[TheBigA]

What transition to digital regarding radio?

I think you know the story there.

The government, via the FCC and Congress, have fully supported radio's transition to digital in money and in verbal support. Both Democrats and Republicans have said it's the future. This is a non-partisan, non-political issue.

 

[TheBigA]

The thing the kinda gripes me is that, by making the admission, 'I don't own a radio', Gibbs has in essence marginalized radio and the radio industry, an industry that is already coping with tough challenges.

I disagree. There are lots of products I don't own. I don't own a Lexus or a Cadillac. That doesn't marginalize those cars. I just don't own one.

I think it says more about a man who is supposed to represent the administration to the media that he, in fact, doesn't even use it. That's like the Pope trying to advise married couples on relationships and sex. Whoops...maybe a bad analogy.

 

[Carmine5]

The thing the kinda gripes me is that, by making the admission, 'I don't own a radio', Gibbs has in essence marginalized radio and the radio industry, an industry that is already coping with tough challenges.

I disagree. There are lots of products I don't own. I don't own a Lexus or a Cadillac. That doesn't marginalize those cars. I just don't own one.

I think it says more about a man who is supposed to represent the administration to the media that he, in fact, doesn't even use it. That's like the Pope trying to advise married couples on relationships and sex. Whoops...maybe a bad analogy.

This isn't just some nobody (like you) saying he doesn't own a radio. This is no less than the White House Press Secretary, a person who should have access to all forms of media, radio being one of the most basic. We're talking about a high profile person representing President Obama's Administration saying in public that he doesn't own a radio. Big difference.

Plus I think you need to look at the greater context in which Robert Gibbs made his remark. I believe this was a back-handed swipe at Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio as a whole. The point being that people his age and younger don't own and are not listening to radio and therefore conservative voices, Limbaugh's being the most prominent, are not being heard by a large demographic of which Gibbs is a part.

For a high profile person like Gibbs to say in public that he doesn't own a radio, only reinforces the notion that radio is losing its audience and influence. That is not the kind of impression the industry needs the public to believe.

C5

 

[TheBigA]

For a high profile person like Gibbs to say in public that he doesn't own a radio, only reinforces the notion that radio is losing its audience and influence. That is not the kind of impression the industry needs the public to believe.

Or that Rush is losing his audience and influence. Which is more likely the impression he wants to promote. And why Rush's syndicator felt the need to correct the problem.

I agree that context is the issue here. Had the context been National Public Radio, it might have been different. As I said, it's more a comment about the man than the industry.

 

[KB1OKL]

"Mark Plotkin: Not Out to Make Friends"

"Later, at White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs's daily briefing, Plotkin presented Gibbs with the gift of an HD radio (he wasn't the only one to do so today, following some comments Gibbs recently made about not being a radio listener)... Then, without missing a beat, Plotkin proceeded to grill Gibbs... Plotkin even went so far as to ask out loud whether President Obama was being 'an ingrate...'"

http://dcist.com/2009/03/mark_plotkins_big_day.php

Well, Plotkin's remarks should negate any advantages gained by those bottom-feeders at the HD Alliance.

Looks like it was a publicity stunt after all, but not for iBlock radio and Gibbs said he may not be able to accept it anyway.

 

[Carmine5]

For a high profile person like Gibbs to say in public that he doesn't own a radio, only reinforces the notion that radio is losing its audience and influence. That is not the kind of impression the industry needs the public to believe.

Or that Rush is losing his audience and influence. Which is more likely the impression he wants to promote. And why Rush's syndicator felt the need to correct the problem.

I agree that context is the issue here. Had the context been National Public Radio, it might have been different. As I said, it's more a comment about the man than the industry.

But as a matter of collateral damage, Gibbs' remark maligns an industry. If Limbaugh was his only target, he should have made it clearer or, better still, kept his mouth shut.

C5

 

[Carmine5]

"Mark Plotkin: Not Out to Make Friends"

"Later, at White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs's daily briefing, Plotkin presented Gibbs with the gift of an HD radio (he wasn't the only one to do so today, following some comments Gibbs recently made about not being a radio listener)... Then, without missing a beat, Plotkin proceeded to grill Gibbs... Plotkin even went so far as to ask out loud whether President Obama was being 'an ingrate...'"

http://dcist.com/2009/03/mark_plotkins_big_day.php

Well, Plotkin's remarks should negate any advantages gained by those bottom-feeders at the HD Alliance.

Looks like it was a publicity stunt after all, but not for iBlock radio and Gibbs said he may not be able to accept it anyway.

Great. I can just see the headline: "Radio Industry Bribes Press Secretary To Listen". Another publicity stunt misfire from members of the HD Alliance.

C5

 

[TheBigA]

But as a matter of collateral damage, Gibbs' remark maligns an industry. If Limbaugh was his only target, he should have made it clearer or, better still, kept his mouth shut.

Hey, from my perspective, Rush maligns the industry. But there's not much we can do about it.

I thought it was interesting, though, that Gibbs knows the radio reporters and who they work for. I saw the video of his exchange with WTOP's Mark Plotkin, and it was obvious that Gibbs was familiar with him and his reporting. Plotkin also gave him a radio, and Gibbs made a point to leave it at the podium.

I'd be interested to know how many newspapers Gibbs reads. I bet not many.