Blog This! Radio’s New Entertainment Source

People, US Weekly and Entertainment Weekly were all at one time considered the source for entertainment news and key show prep items for radio talent. But the days of waiting to get your entertainment fix from a tabloid magazine or a nightly entertainment show such as Access Hollywood or Entertainment Tonight are long gone. Even as new shows keep popping up on cable systems across the country from operators who are seeking more programming options to capture more viewers. But as TV viewership continues to decline, more and more people are surfing the Internet for their daily entertainment news they can use.

PerezHilton.com and TMZ.com are among some of the most popular and viewed entertainment blogs, each providing their own slant of celebrity news, humor, commentary, fashion and music. You may not see videos on MTV anymore but there’s a good chance you’ll be able to catch it first on someone’s entertainment blog, thus exposing it too a much bigger audience for longer periods of time. Don’t be surprised also if you’re able to sample new music before it hits the radio as many of Britney Spears’ new songs were among those first posted on such blogs.

Radio stations are even blogging as well as perusing entertainment blogs for show prep. So how much a part of pop culture has blogging really become? “They are the new tabloids that have info on what our listeners are talking about right now,” says WIHT (Hot 99.5)/Washington DC APD/afternoon drive host Toby Knapp. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was even brought in to host a “Little Black Dress” party recently for Hot 99.5 listeners. “He’s a celebrity and for our listeners to have a chance to hang with any celebrity is something they want.” Knapp adds of Hilton’s appeal, “Perez tends to say what most people are thinking or even want to say!”

Bloggers have even been absorbed in the mainstream media. CNN’s Larry King features TMZ.com owner/operator Harvey Levin regularly on his show as a contributor. Levin has even guest hosted on several shows that feature entertainment topics such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

Radio personality blogs are also popular and are becoming a key component of radio station Web sites. “It’s a chance for me to get into some things deeper than are on my mind,” says Knapp “It’s a more in depth connection with the listener.” KXXM (Mix 96.1)/San Antonio MD/night personality Mo’ Bounce concurs, “It’s what our listeners are interested in and want. I can also personalize my page  to what might be going on in my life or a listener’s life and that usually generates some good feedback. It’s all about being interactive with the audience.”

What about the importance of blogs in general? “Ask Colbie Caillat how important blogging and MySpace are,” says Knapp. The singer/songwriter received a record contract with Universal Republic due in part to 22 million clicks on her page that features her music and a blog. Knapp adds, “We are shortsighted if we think we are strictly in the over the air broadcast business anymore. It’s just part of what we do. We need to deliver more content and connect more with our audience and blogging helps us do that. Blogging is a tip of the content iceberg!”

So why has blogging become so popular? Knapp theorizes, “Because everybody has something to say and now there’s a forum to say it…and to say it to millions.” Mo’ Bounce actually uses a blogger on his night show to deliver his Celebrity Dirt, “Bad news is good news and people want to know things that are really none of their business. People always want to know what they’re not supposed to know, especially women who listen to Top 40.”

Knapp also notes that entertainment blogs “have made traditional prep services relics of what radio used to be.” He adds, “A good morning show producer always knows where to find good video or audio nowadays.”

Blaire Galaton is one such producer who admits she’s obsessed with PerezHilton.com. As Executive Morning Show Producer of The Booker Show on WIOQ (Q102)/Philadelphia, Galaton agrees with Knapp. “Blogs are good for our Celebrity Dirt and they’re quicker than the prep services. It makes you think, ‘Why are we blowing commercial breaks on prep services when you can get it from Perez Hilton for free?” She continues, “I don’t use prep services anymore because the blogs always have it first. I’ll even check during the show because they’re always updating.”

A programmer’s mission nowadays beyond ratings is to drive traffic to their Web sites. “The days of telling the listeners ‘I have great dirt on Britney coming in 15 minutes’ are over!” snipes Knapp. “It’s about I got it for you right now…at www.(inset your station here).com!”

Some stations have even partnered with or have relationships with celebrity bloggers. Both Q102 and Hot 99.5 recently made national headlines with stories on the war between Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag of MTV‘s The Hills and Bobby Brown‘s bail out respectively.

But does the audience really care about blogs? “Our audience definitely reads them,” says Galaton of Q102’s audience. “We know first hand from when we made a posting on Perez Hilton. The e-mails and phone calls from our audience were non-stop. They couldn’t believe we made it onto his blog. There was such excitement with the audience who thought it was pretty cool.”  

Mo’ Bounce has a celebrity dirt segment on his night show that’s hosted by Dana McKay who he thinks is a perfect fit. “Being a male night jock, targeting women 18-34, having a female doing the dirt makes it more believable.”

Dana’s story is unique. She has been in the radio business for over 15 years and has a solid reputation for being a high personality jock with an extensive knowledge of celebrities and celebrity gossip. She started www.danasdirt.com in 2004 after her on air gossip stories and gossip Web page at WFLZ/Tampa became very popular with listeners.  She is currently doing nights at WTIC/Hartford where she hosts a nightly “Celebrity Soundoff” feature. We recently pulled Dana away from her keyboard long enough to get her take on blogging and dishing celebrity dirt on many stations across the country.

How did that opportunity come about to do Celebrity Dirt on so many stations?
J.J. McCain was doing nights at WKZL in Greensboro, NC and he liked reading my site for show prep. He emailed me one day and asked me if I wanted to do some gossip reports for him in exchange for plugs for the Web site. He thought it would be cool to have an “inside” source and a female doing gossip on his show instead of just reporting it himself. That’s how it started and now I’m on about 25 stations.  

Has a celebrity or their rep ever disputed information on your blog?
I’ve never actually had anyone contact me directly to deny or dispute a story. I did get an email just this morning from Dallas Austin‘s rep thanking me for not posting his phone number when it was made public a few weeks ago. Britney Spears was photographed in her car with his phone number on a piece of paper in plain sight and I called the number to let him know what was up if he started to get phone calls. I didn’t post the number but I was tempted to!

Is there a story you knew you broke that the world may or may not have read on your site first?
I came up on the first page in a Google search for “Vanessa Hudgens Naked” when pictures of her leaked to the Internet a few weeks ago. My hits were 10x what they usually are for three days. I didn’t break the story, but I managed to find the pictures fast enough and got lucky with Google. I also got a ton of hits a few years ago when Paris Hilton’s cell phone was hacked. A radio friend actually told me about it before it exploded on the Web so I got some credit for that one too.

Give us some interesting stats on the Dana’s Dirt blog.
I did a poll recently asking readers where they heard about my site. Of the 900 people who responded, 37% said they heard my gossip reports on a radio station in their city and decided to check it out, 34% linked from another blog or web site, 23% didn’t remember how they found me, and 3% found it through a search engine. It’s very cool to me that the #1 response was they heard it on the radio!

What kind of feedback do you get?
It’s more female, but there are definitely a lot of men who need their celebrity fix as well. I actually got an email from a guy last week who told me he loves my site because it helps him have something to talk about with the hot girls in his office!

Define the importance of entertainment blogs today.
I honestly think the explosion of entertainment blogs has changed the way people get their celebrity gossip and news. TV shows like Extra and ET and magazines like Star and US Weekly have their own blog-like sites just to be able to compete with bloggers. Most of the time their “breaking” stories have already made the blogs before they air or are published.  I receive emails with stories from Extra and Star Magazine on a daily basis because they now rely (at least partially) on promotion from the bloggers.

Are they important musically?
Britney Spears is a classic example of how entertainment Web sites are important. The ridiculous amount of negative publicity she’s received lately is a huge reason her song has gotten so much airplay so quickly and people are still paying so much attention to her. The song isn’t that bad, but is it being played because it’s a smash or because of the fact that “it’s Britney?” It’s Britney! The blogs combine written reports, photographs, audio and video of her on an hourly basis. She’s constantly in our faces. Good or bad, we want to see what she’s going to do next.

It seems like a lot of work and yet you still host a night show on WTIC.
And I take care of my three and a half year old Kyla! It is a lot of work, but I set aside time each day to focus on the Web site. The good thing is I can make my own schedule when it comes to the Web site.

There’s no doubt that web blogs have become a major part of pop culture. Chances are good if you don’t see it on YouTube you’ll be reading about on one of the many blogs that somehow seem to always get the story… and get it right within minutes of it happening. With so much happening in and around us, bloggers have forever changed the way we now get our entertainment news.  

**QB Content by Bob Burke **