WLW's Darryl Parks Uses Station Blog To Take Industry To Task About AM Radio; Calls Recent Radio Show A 'Circle Jerk'

Darryl Parks

CCM+E/CINCINNATI VP/News Talk Operations, based at WLW-A, DARRYL PARKS -- who also pulls down a SATURDAY 9-11a shift -- has got folks buzzing this morning after posting to his section of the station's blog, "A SERIOUS Message To The Broadcast Industry About Revitalizing AM Radio."

In it, he writes "If you would allow me the indulgence of being the radio suit that I am in real life for just one blog, because something has me irritated in a major way. There is finally a call, as the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION put it recently, to revitalize the AM band.  You know, create and ease rules to allow station owners to be relieved of horrible burdens.  You may have read about this in the press or online.  If you're in the broadcast industry you may have read about it in one of the industry rags."

PARKS turns his anger on folks in the business, writing, "sadly, what a joke the people in the radio industry are who are nodding along without thought or the ability to intelligently reason the basic concepts of physics."

He doesn't get much kinder, wrapping up "Just last week at the yearly 'circle jerk' gathering of broadcasters called the NAB/RAB RADIO SHOW, FCC Acting Chairwoman MIGNON CLYBURN announced a 'Notice of Proposed Rulemaking' with six 'count ‘em' six ideas to rid station owners of horrible burdens.  What do these six ideas do?  Increase interference!  And no one.  Not one freaking person in the industry press will talk about this."

ALL ACCESS VP/News-Talk PERRY MICHAEL SIMON did address this concern -- several times -- most recently on SEPTEMBER 13th in his weekly column. He wrote, "At the NAB/RAB RADIO SHOW Jamboree in ORLANDO next week, PAI will be there talking about the same thing, as he did in LAS VEGAS at the NAB Big Content Don't Call Us Broadcasters Hootenanny in the SPRING, and, sure enough, there'll be yet another "revitalizing AM Radio" panel at the convention next week, too. And as in VEGAS, I'm sure there'll be a room full of people in suits raptly listening as the experts talk about going all-digital, jacking up power, shoehorning FM translators in everyplace (middle finger extended to LPFM applicants) to milk every last penny of value out of those AM licenses."

SIMON added, "Do I really need to say this again, guys? Come on. You know the deal. Even the previously unscathed monster 50,000-watt heritage stations are eroding. You can't fight demographics, you can't fix ambient electrical interference, you can't change this particular thread of history."

A CLEAR CHANNEL spokesperson had no comment on the blog.

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