Jason Bentley has been on air at KCRW for 16 years and he started volunteering four years before that. On Dec. 1, he takes on the job of music director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic at the Santa Monica Public Radio station; it’s one of the most influential radio jobs in America.
When the announcement was made, his email inbox quickly overflowed and the interview request piled up. “As I have been recounting this story,” he said in an interview about 48 hours after the announcement, “it’s embarrassingly clear that I’m a lifer. It’s official. This is a family to me.”
Garth Trinidad, whose Chocolate City program has been heard on Saturdays, will replace his nightly Metropolis show. Bentley was quite clear that the definition of “eclectic” in the morning would be different than it has been under the direction of Nic Harcourt, who has held the MBE/music director job for 10 years. My take on the change is here.

Q: Making the switch to daytime from nighttime obviously means creating a completely different show. How much of the Metropolis sound will carry over into Morning Becomes Eclectic?
A: No doubt dance and electronic music are my British Invasion. It will always be a part of me. I’m in competition to meet the standards of my predecessors - I see it as a challenge to grow. I’m up for it. I have never been asked to program an eclectic show — it has always been defined. I am capable of giving it a go and definitely welcome all genres. There are areas where I am admittedly weak. Latin alternative is an area I want to explore, I want to engage jazz and classical, get them off the sidelines. I subscribe to the L.A. Philharmonic and I want to shore up areas not getting enough attention. There is a balance, a thread people should be able to follow in ambitious music programming. We can really capitalize on world of music presented as a curated experience. What I think is DJ’ing is that pure instinctual move when you run into the music library with one minute to go to get that perfect record. Through programming, you’re creating your reputation through what you play, what gets repeated. It’s more of a calculation that has to be balanced with the free-form. If we strike a balance, it will make those last minute dashes real rewarding.

Jason Bentley will take over as as KCRW music director and host of "Morning Becomes Eclectic," effective Dec. 1. The job is considered one of the most influential posts in radio.
Bentley currently DJs in the early evening and will leave those slots to handle his morning time periods. Bentley's shows lean toward electronica, dance music and remixes; no word yet on whether his edition of "Morning Becomes Eclectic" will experience a sonic change.
While still in high school, Bentley worked as a phone volunteer for the station and debuted on the air 16 years ago.
He says “It's a reinvention of myself to match the gold standards set by previous music directors. It’s no longer the hypnotic pulse of the city at night – it’s the ever-evolving optimism of weekday mornings. “This is a great opportunity for me to grow, a challenge I will take very seriously. “
Bentley was music supervisor for “The Matrix” soundtracks, co-founded the Quango Music Group and was an A&R exec at Maverick Records.
He replaces current music director Nic Harcourt.

Nic Harcourt will leave his job as KCRW music director on Nov.30, staying on air once a week on  Sundays from 6-9 p.m.
Harcourt had the job for 10 years and was the third host of Morning Becomes Eclectic, the cornerstone music program of the Santa Monica community radio station. During his tenure, the station made significant inroads as an Internet destination and as a concert sponsor in L.A., San Francisco and New York.
In his announcement Harcourt noted that he "fulfilled many of my dreams as a music lover, meeting and interviewing legends like Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson and Cat Stevens (Yusuf)."
He plans to wok on activities in movie, television, voiceover work, advertising and the Internet. 
The two previous music directors, Tom Schnabel and Chris Douridas, host music programs on the weekends. The position is considered one of the top tastemaking positions in music, particularly in the world of music supervision.
KCRW expects to announce a new music director in a few weeks.

Story by Matt Kivel

Coldplay is the biggest pop-rock band in the world today -- and XM Radio knows it. Beginning July 15, the satellite radio company will devote a month-long channel to the band's music. Fans can tune in and hear songs from all of Coldplay's studio albums as well as rarities, import-only tracks, interviews, and exclusive concert broadcasts from their forthcoming Viva La Vida North American tour. If you're a fan of big, swooning, mid-tempo rock music this station should provide you with a more-than-adequate fix.

Viva La Vida North American Tour Dates

7/14 The Forum (Los Angeles, Ca), 7/15 The Forum (Los Angeles, Ca), 7/18 HP Pavilion (San Jose, Ca), 7/19 MGM Grand Garden Arena (Las Vegas, NV), 7/22 United Center (Chicago, Il), 7/23 United Center (Chicago, Il), 7/25 Wachovia Center (Philadelphia, Pa), 7/27 Pemberton Festival (Pemberton, BC), 7/29 Bell Centre (Montreal, QC), 7/30 Air Canada Centre (Toronto, On), 8/02 XL Center (Hartford, Ct), 8/03 Verizon Center (Washington, DC), 8/04 TD Banknorth Garden (Boston, Ma)

Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show will this weekend celebrate the New Orleans music festival Ponderosa Stomp, being held April 29 and 30 at the Crescent City's House of Blues.
Dr. Ira "Dr. Ike" Padnos curated the lineup but it looks like he invaded my closet and asked which artists had special meaning to me. For example:
? & The Mysterians (my favorite record ever, "96 Tears")
Dr. John (the performer at the club on my first date with my future wife)
Eddie Bo (the performer at a N'awlins club where we were celebrating our first anniversary)
Ronnie Spector (top 3 in my list of favorite female singers)
13th Floor Elevators ("Nuggets," anyone?)
Roy Head (As a fan of songs with "hey" chants, is there anything better than "Treat Her Right"?)

Variety's Rich Nieciecki was agog the other night when the radio intake on his drive home was all Springsteen, all the time on a station that had been an R&B outlet. They played 10 hours of the Boss before announcing that the format had been changed to "world class rock," technically AAA, which has flopped three times over the last decade. Judging from Rich's drive home Tuesday night, it appears the newly dubbed "100.3 The Sound" will be going after a bit harder edge in it's rock 'n' roll. (Were this a compilation being sold on TV, it could well be titled "Dope Smokin' Tunes.") KRBV are the call letters and between 9 and 10 p.m. they played: 
  "Oh Atlanta" (live) by Little Feat / "Heavy Things" by Phish / "Sex & Candy" by Marcy Playground
/ "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by Police / "Be The One" by Poi Dog Pondering / "Remedy" by Black Crowes / "Don't You Evah" by Spoon / "Feelin' Alright" by Traffic / "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers / "Everybody Knows" by Ryan Adams / "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins / "Funk #49" by James Gang / "Vertigo" by U2

PS For old-time Angelenos, Boss Radio has nothing to do with Springsteen

I say Christmas, you say Eurythmics. Bit of a surprise from ASCAP today: Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart's version of "Winter Wonderland" has racked up the most performances on radio over the last five years of any ASCAP tune.It is the first time "Winter Wonderland" has topped this particular chart, which also counts versions by  Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians, the Andrews Sisters, Perry Como, Jewel and Air Supply.
ASCAP's top 10 most performed holiday songs for the past five years, with the most popular recording:
1. Winter Wonderland (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith)
Performed by Eurythmics
2.The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)
Performed by Nat "King" Cole
3.Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin)
Performed by the Pretenders
4.Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)
Performed by Bruce Springsteen
5. White Christmas(Irving Berlin)
Performed by Bing Crosby
6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne)
Performed by Aaron Neville
7. Jingle Bell Rock (Joseph Carleton Beal, James Ross Boothe)
Performed by Bobby Helms
8. Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish)
Performed by the Ronettes
9. Little Drummer Boy (Katherine K. Davis, Henry V. Onorati, Harry Simeone)
Performed by the Harry Simeone Chorale & Orchestra
10.Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Johnny Marks)
Performed by Gene Autry

Lyle Lovett became the latest artist to head to D.C. and testify in favor of being paid for radio airplay, even using an axis-of-evil argument. (No, he was not referring to Clear Channel.) 
“When radio plays recorded works, they generate profit for themselves because they attract listeners and advertising dollars. Yet radio has never compensated performers for the value their creative work brings to the radio industry, because the Copyright Act does not protect sound recordings in the same way it protects the underlying songs,” Lovett told the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. “Let’s face it. No one tunes into a radio station to hear the commercials.”
The musicFIRST Coalition was also represented by singer songwriter Alice Peacock.
Lovett also addressed the international angle, suggesting that not paying a performer for airplay, is un-American. 
“Foreign radio stations often broadcast a high percentage of American music, but we don’t get our share of the royalties due to our lack of a right in the U.S. This is amazing. We’re responsible for 30 to 50 percent of music played on stations around the world, and we don’t have a performance right? I can understand why China, North Korea, and Iran might not. But the United States?”
Currently, foreign broadcasters withhold royalty payments to protest the fact that U.S. radio stations do not honor a performance right for foreign artists.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing “Exploring the Scope of Public Performance Rights” was the second congressional hearing about the issue of a performance rights on radio.

Mediabase, which has kept track of radio airplay since 1987, has crowned "Apologize" as the biggest Top 40 hit ever, bypassing Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous."
Granted that's only 20 years and hence the asterisk. "Apologize" racked up  10,331 spins on the weekly chart ending Saturday.  100% of the 129 Top 40 radio stations on Mediabase's Top 40 panel are playing the song.
Mediabase assembled its list of one-week wonders, which in the tracking world means the biggest hits over any seven-day block and not necessarily songs that had spectacular lifespans like "Umbrella" or "Crazy." Perhaps Eliot Spitzer might find this list interesting - it clearly reveals the ramifications of media consolidation, restricted playlists that are shared market-to-market and the fact that radio seems to foolishly cling to the belief that popular music is superstar based.

1)  Timbaland/OneRepublic: Apologize
2)  Nelly Furtado: Promiscuous
3)  Beyonce: Irreplaceable
4)  Justin Timberlake: Sexyback
5)  Fergie: Big Girls Don't Cry
6)  Avril Lavigne: Complicated
7)  Nelly Furtado: Say It Right
8)  Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie
9)  Nickelback: How You Remind Me
10) Justin Timberlake: What Goes Around Comes Around

The three venues at Gotham's Lincoln Center are some o the premiere places to hear jazz. Even if the music being played isn't arresting, the rooms are acoustic wonders, despite the fact that two of them have windows behind the performers
to provide delightful views of the Upper West Side.
Music from Lincoln center will be featured in two new XM shows: "Live from Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola"
and "Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center," which will feature live performances from the Frederick P.
Rose Hall.
"Live from Dizzy's" will premiere Oct. 19 on the Real Jazz channel (XM 70), and will feature  pianist Cedar Walton. Future episodes will include performances from Trio Da Paz, Tom Harrell and Charles McPherson and Eric Alexander.
"Jazz at Lincoln Center" hits the airwaves Oct. 20, also on XM 70, with the Benny Carter Centennial concert featuring the JLCO performing music and arrangements by the legendary saxophonist.  Future performances will feature Monty Alexander, Dave Brubeck, Paquito D'Rivera, Kurt Elling, Frank Foster,  Ivan Lins, Russell Malone, Branford Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Lewis Nash, Rosa Passos, Eric Reed, Marcus Roberts and others.
JALC artistic director Wynton Marsalis kicks off a new season of his  XM series "In the Swing Seat with Wynton Marsalis" on Sept. 28.

Tom Petty will resume his XM show, “Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure,” on Sept. 24.
The hourlong "Buried Treasure” features tracks from Petty’s personal collection, garage rock masterworks and live tracks plus Petty's commentary.
On this week's playlist are the great N'awlins singer Lee Dorsey doing “Ride Your Pony,” British Invasion rockers the Searchers’ “He’s Got No Love,” and the Pyramids’ surf classic “Penetration.”
Show will available all day every Thursday on XMX.
In other Petty news, Peter Bogdanovich's docu "Runnin' Down A Dream" will be shown in theaters on  Oct. 15. The one night only screening precedes the pic's TV premiere on Sundance Channel on Oct. 29.

XM starts the second season of Bob Dylan’s “Theme Time Radio Hour” on Sept. 19.Week one is devoted to "Hello" songs; soon they'll do "Young and Old."
Among Bob's more obscure "Hello" choices: "Hello, Mello Baby" by the Mardi Gras Loungers; "Hello, Aloha! How Are You?" by the Radiolites and the Carter Family's "Hello Stranger."
“Young and Old” has some obvious yet killer selections - "Young Man's Blues" by Mose Allison and "Old Man" by Neil Young - as well as some tunes with an intriguing twist, Muddy Waters' "Young Fashioned Ways," "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" by the Ramones and The Flying Burrito Brothers doing "Older Guys."

Garth Brooks doesn't really makes records anymore, he just sets them.
His publicity machine is touting Brooks as the first artist in history to debut at No. 1 on the country singles chart. His new single, “More Than a Memory” (Pearl Records/*Big Machine), has posted staggering numbers: 36.3 million "impressions" in its first week at country radio and a one-day audience of a record 11 million "impressions" on its first day at country radio.
Track will be included on Brooks' "Ultimate Hits collection," which will be released Nov. 6.

Sirius will air a sneak preview of its Grateful Dead Channel Aug. 1-9 on channel 17.
The Grateful Dead Channel will feature studio, live and unreleased concert recordings, plus new commentary from  Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bob Kreutzmann. Archival interviews from Jerry Garcia will also be part of the mix.
Channel 17 is titled Jam-On, Sirius’ home for jam bands. Regular programming resumes Aug. 10.  There is no date set yet for the launch of the Grateful Dead Channel though it will occur this summer.

When the company that owns Billboard purchased Radio & Records, the airplay tracking company MediaBase had nowhere to print its charts. Billboard closed its Radio Monitor, and R&R began using the Nielsen data that Billboard also uses. MediaBase has been running an ad in USA Today touting its genre by genre playlists and now Music Connection will be carrying the airplay charts on its website.