Metro Detroit: Newsmakers Feb 1, 2007

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Ownership of the four Ann Arbor radio stations operated by Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is changing hands. The new owner will be Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, Inc., the second largest radio broadcasting company in the country. Under a local marketing agreement (LMA), the exchange took place last week, said Jerry Kersting, chief financial officer for Clear Channel. The LMA will allow Cumulus to operate the Ann Arbor stations until the FCC approves the exchange. That's expected by June, Kersting said... New owner for Clear Channel stations (Thu, 1/2)

Sunday is Super Bowl, er, Symphony Sunday , if you're an avid listener of classical/jazz WRCJ-FM (90.9), as host Chris Felcyn continues his practice of pitting symphonies from each Super Bowl city against each other. This year, it's Chicago vs. Indianapolis... Super Bowl city orchestras duke it out Symphony Sunday (Thu, 2/1)

Consumers can run, but they can't hide from the almighty ad. Satellite radio listeners are the latest to be irked by the omnipresence of marketing pitches. Last year, advertisements began popping up on four XM Radio music channels, even though thousands of customers signed up under the promise of commercial-free listening. Some analysts predict current satellite advertising is just the start of the trend... Ads invade satellite radio (Thu, 2/1)

Let’s give Greater Media —owners of Detroit’s WRIF-FM (101.1), WCSX-FM (94.7) and WMGC-FM (105.1) —credit for trying to do something to get some buzz going about HD radio. Over the past two weekends, first the main WRIF signal and the next weekend the main WCSX lineup was replaced by the station’s HD channels. WRIF's RIFF2 plays an eclectic mix of local artists, alternative, hip-hop, punk and indie-rock; WCSX’s Deep Trax plays lesser heard rock gems. Of course to hear them all the time, you need to buy an HD receiver and despite recent price cuts, they’re still not cheap. Or particularly plentiful... HD radio experiments good, but... (Wed, 1/31)