From FMQB, by John Silliman Dodge: "If you thought iPods or Sirius or XM was a threat to radio, watch out for the cell phone. Last summer  the Wall Street Journal reported that despite the success of the iPod/iTunes industry, “... mobile-phone makers will sell more than 750 million handsets. With the rollout of full-track music download services…the wireless phone could become the music industry’s biggest and most profitable distribution channel.”

"Let’s consider three mega-trends. First, the phenomenon of content on demand began with the Internet. Before 1995, most people were happy to consume whatever radio served up... But now music is a commodity, available from a rapidly growing number of sources. Consumers are experiencing 'overchoice,' and the numbers tell us they like this feeling of control... Power is shifting from program supplier to program consumer, from us to them.

"The second trend is the fractionalization of time... Every new gadget or trend that comes along  potentially subtracts time spent listening from radio...

"Never underestimate the American people’s love of convenience, which is trend number three... Since we are on the fast track toward becoming a 'one person one cell phone'nation, this convenient little gadget is the next big gateway into our commercial lives.

"Sprint Nextel is now in the radio business, working with Sirius. Cingular is in. Virgin is in..., Motorola has iRadio with 435 channels from Clear Channel; Nokia is getting in, CBS Radio is working with Hewlett-Packard  on a "visual radio” concept... This should keep everybody busy for a while...

"Notice how FM doesn’t seem to be on the radar here? More from MusicBiz.com reporting on the CES: 'Steve Jobs threw a bone to terrestrial radio. He introduced the iPod Radio Remote, which will incorporate remotecontrol to any fifth generation or Nano iPod... Granted, calling this innovation a 'life-saver' for radio is a stretch. Nevertheless, the new gizmo brings the traditional medium a cutting edge cachet it sorely lacks. Now if only terrestrial radio stations would program some more compelling content for all those potential iPod consumers,'...

"The radio business needs to focus on the total package, to craft the completely branded music/talk /personality/ relationship/package that makes  us more compelling than any program-it yourself entertainment option. And now would be a particularly good time to do this work, now that the music, telecom, software and banking industries all plan to make cell phones their new one-stop delivery and payment channel."

John Silliman Dodge's article can be found in the paper copy of last month's FMQB.

From the Online Spin newsletter, by Shelly Palmer: "To listen to Howard Stern's new radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio, you need a satellite radio receiver and a paid subscription to the service — or do you? The show is being rebroadcast (albeit slightly delayed) on a bunch of 'pirate' radio stations. It's all over the Internet in the form of podcasts and progressively downloadable files. If you search hard enough, you'll even find a few brazen souls streaming the shows.

"Is it legal to rebroadcast a 'free' radio show? Is it legal to rebroadcast a 'pay per listen' or 'subscription' radio show without permission or payment? Should there be a legal way to do it for free?...

"Howard has a loyal following of 13- to 32-year-old males... These 'millennials,' or 'digital natives,' have been trained to believe that stuff you can watch or that you can listen to should be free. They have the tools, they have the talent, and they are motivated to obtain anything digitally that they don't want to pay for.

"Ironically, the 'King of All Media' is now going to have to enlist the help of his nemesis (the Federal Communications Commission) to search and destroy the pirates that are cutting into his profits. Ahhh... advanced media makes strange bedfellows."

If you've signed up for our RAIN daily e-mail reminders, and you no longer receive them (or have never received them), the imperfections of spam-blocking technology may be to blame.

Like many services web sites use to send e-mail to a large number of members or subscribers, RAIN's uses a "dynamic" return address. Instead of something simple like "RAIN" or "kurthanson," the part before the "@" in the address will include a seemingly random string of numbers, which will be slightly different every time.

The trouble is, many utilities that people have to filter "spam" and "malware" (viruses, spyware, etc.) summarily reject e-mail from such a source.

But if you know you've signed up for our e-mail reminders but don't receive them, you need to "tell" your spam software that you want it to ignore the RAIN e-mail.

Different e-mail clients, naturally, differ; but all essentially involve adding the mail sender's "domain" to your Address or Contact list. If you have a spam-guard that has its own "Safe List," even better.

Try this: Open the "Address" or "Contacts" list in your e-mail program. Select "New" or "Add." Leave the "Name" field blank, and type "@radio.co.mansellgroup.net" (without the quotes) into the "E-Mail Address" field, and hit "Save." By adding the domain name of our e-mail sender, your system should recognize that you choose to receive mail sent from this source.

If you've been having trouble, please let us know, and indicate whether this suggestion changes your situation. Thanks.