SiriusXM to Introduce Alternative Morning Program

In a quest to lure subscribers from free terrestrial radio, the pay satellite service SiriusXM is betting that some morning drive listeners want something other than straight news, partisan talk or local fluff, and it is backing a homegrown talent to develop the format.

Starting Feb. 11, the stand-up comedian Pete Dominick will end his afternoon call-in and interview program on SiriusXM’s Potus politics channel and move to a renamed male-oriented Indie channel (formerly Stars Too) in a prime three-hour block, 6 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time, with a repeat for the West Coast.

His show will keep its name, “Stand Up! With Pete Dominick,” but will not be “stuck in the paradigm of politics,” said Mr. Dominick, 37, in an interview at SiriusXM’s Manhattan offices. He said he planned to explore religion, race, energy, education policy, veterans’ issues and even parenting.

(Mr. Dominick, the father of young daughters, is also a contributor to the cable network HLN’s “Raising America Wih Kyra Phillips.”)

He called the new radio show “similar to NPR content, but â€" without taking a shot at them â€" with more of a heartbeat, with more of a personality.”

Any celebrity guests will be asked about causes, but not their personal lives. “Death to voyeurism and gossip,” said Mr. Dominick, who made headlines in 2010 when a CNN host, Rick Sanchez, was fired after making what some viewed as anti-Semitic comments on Mr. Dominick’s show. Mr. Dominick declined interviews at the time, not wanting to exploit the incident, he said.

To accommodate his new early morning hours as well as time with his family, Mr. Dominick is giving up his other job, warming up the studio audience for Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”

Mr. Dominick started in satellite radio in 2006, as a host on Raw Dog Comedy, and has steadily branched out. His personal politics lean liberal, but he would rather ask questions than offer opinions. “The problem with political talk radio i! s that it’s mainly a farce, it’s mainly just theater,” he said. “I longed for a discussion that I thought was real.”

SiriusXM, which has 24 million subscribers, declined to disclose the size of Mr. Dominick’s current audience, but Jeremy Coleman, senior vice president for talk and entertainment programming, said, “We track very carefully the enthusiasm, loyalty and passion of our audience and do everything we can to maximize it.”

Newspapers Vie for Reality Show

Who knew that ink-stained newsmen and newswomen would be so eager to break into show business

In the 10 days after NBC put out a casting call for small-town newspapers to participate in a reality television show, the network received more than 150 responses from newspapers across the nation. NBC executives say they’ve been inundated with all types of pitches, from newspaper editors talking about how they are struggling to survive to newspaper staffs eager to show off their talents, sometimes well beyond their coverage of school meetings.

The Pilot, based in Southern Pines, N.C., sent a video of its staff performing a “Call Me Maybe” parody, later updated to feature “Gangnam Style” moves. David Woronoff, The Pilot’s owner and publisher, said that while he had let his younger employees produce the videos last year as “a good morale builder for the staff,” he sent the link to NBC executives because “we thought they would want to see what we look like and what our office looks lie.”

NBC executives said they were intrigued by how quirky and diverse some newspapers were â€" from the Kodiak Daily Mirror in Kodiak, Alaska, to the Hungry Horse News, which is run out of a log building near an entrance to Glacier National Park in Montana.

“It’s fun now because we have gotten such a tremendous response,” said Sharon Scott, general manager and senior vice president of NBC News Peacock Productions. “We’re looking for a great environment, colorful place, great characters.”

While NBC executives said they typically don’t pay newspapers for access, Ben Ringe, the senior vice president for development for NBC News Peacock Productions, said that he expected a paper’s appearance on a national television show to help in other ways.

“The advertising rate for that newspaper would go through the roof,” Mr. Ringe said.

As NBC’s producers start the time-consuming process of reading and deciding which newspapers may make the final cut, newspaper! editors are waiting for answers.

Richard Hanners, editor of the Hungry Horse News, based in Columbia Falls, Mont., said that while he hadn’t heard that his colleagues had pitched his newspaper for a reality show, he was receptive to it because his newspaper was rich with stories.

“I’ve got the Cub Scouts coming in a week or so. That’s the only reality I know about,” Mr. Hanners said. “I guess I have time to do it.”

Make Babies, Urges Saucy Public Radio Campaign

Mention public radio to a teenager today and you might get an eye roll. Why listen to the radio when you can plug in to all things digital But if those teenagers were born into a public radio-loving family, they might be persuaded to keep listening, even through their teenage years.

At least that’s the punch line for a new ad campaign from WBEZ, the Chicago public radio station, that begins on Friday. The campaign, called “2032 Membership Drive,” encourages Chicagoans to, well, “hook up” with other Chicagoans and procreate.

A tag line on one ad sums it up succinctly: “We Want Listeners Tomorrow. Go Make Babies Today.” Other ads read: “Do It. For Chicago.” and “Interesting People Make Interesting People.”

“Most public radio marketing and advertising is very nice and polite,” said Daniel Ash, the vice president for corporate sponsorship, marketing, membership and partnerships at Chicago Public Media, which owns the station.

This campaign, he said, is meant t playfully encourage listeners in their 20s and 30s to “make babies” so that by 2032, the station will have a slew of teenage listeners.

“We wanted to break the mold and take some risks,” Mr. Ash said.

Torey Malatia, the chief executive of Chicago Public Media, said the station has a strong audience among 25- to 49-year-olds, but “as you get lower than that, 18 plus, you see the weakening of any kind of interest or loyalty.”

The campaign, which cost $400,000, was created by the digital agency Xi Chicago, part of BBDO and Proximity Worldwide. Its debut in the city will include billboards and ads on taxi tops, bridges, subways and buses.

Some ads will ask famous Chicagoans, like the chef Rick Bayless and the musician Jon Langford, to make babies.

The campaign will also include a Facebook application that will help users determine how interesting they are and what type of WBEZ content might appeal to them.

Rick Hamann, the group creative director at Xi Chi! cago, said the campaign tested well with the intended audience. “All of them got the joke,” he said. “They really appreciated that WBEZ was making an irreverent request.”