John “JC” Chaffee, veteran broadcaster, musician and one-time National Program Director for the former Malrite Communications stations, is a regular reader of NTS MediaOnline Today. He checks in this week to share a new song he’s recorded that he believes speaks to our current turbulent times in America, and adds, “It could make for an interesting Talk show conversation.” The song, Play By The Rules, finds Chaffee (pictured) decked out in classic ‘Uncle Sam’ attire declaring that, no matter which side of the political aisle you’re on, most Americans are simply fed up with our leaders and others in the public eye who refuse to play by the rules the rest of us must follow. A sample lyric: “Cut me in, bail me out, failure’s not my fault. Responsibility, what’s that? Just a word that’s all. I’m tryin’ hard to find someone who’ll just play by the rules.” Crank up the sound on your computer and check out Chaffee’s new song on YouTube HERE.

A new Coleman Insights study, unveiled at last week’s NAB Radio Show in Philly, finds that Weekly Cume Rating is the measure that most often differentiates high performing radio stations from the rest of the pack under Arbitron’s PPM audience measurement methodology. The report, The PPM DNA of America’s High Performance Radio Stations, found that the highest performing stations in the study reached an average Weekly Cume Rating some 63% higher than the comparison group of stations identified within the first 20 markets to be measured under PPM. “Radio stations that perform well in PPM obviously benefit from higher-than-average Cume and TSL levels,” said Coleman Insights VP John Boyne. “However, our study reveals that it is Cume, far more than TSL, that truly separates the high performers from the rest of the pack.” That fact prompted the researcher to suggest that stations need to recognize the importance of “awareness, positioning and branding” of their product, and the need for “a strategic marketing and advertising plan, to build higher cumes.” Get more details and a free download of the study HERE.

Journal Broadcast Group President/CEO Doug Kiel has announced he will retire at the end of this year to pursue entrepreneurial ambitions. A former VP/GM at Journal flagship News/Talker WTMJ/Milwaukee, Kiel (pictured) has been with the company for the past 23 years. He was named President of the broadcast group in 1998 and assumed additional responsibilities as CEO in 2001. The Wall Street Journal reports that Journal Communications Chairman/CEO Steven Smith will assume oversight duties for the company’s broadcast division following Kiel’s departure.

An appeals court has tossed former CBS News anchor Dan Rather’s suit against his former employer. Check out details in our report posted late Tuesday to the NTS MediaOnline Today website HERE … Westwood One has implemented expected new cost cutting measures including employee furloughs, mandatory time off and salary reductions. WW One President Rod Sherwood calls the belt-tightening something that “requires all of us to give up something” … Former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will join Patton Boggs next month as co-chair of the law firm’s telecommunications policy practice.

A number of Talk media pros are blowing out the candles on their birthday cake this week including Peak Broadcasting President and Fig Media founder Bill “Fig” Figenshu, “Radio’s Best Friend” and Vuolo Video head honcho Art Vuolo, syndicated talker Leslie Marshall, and longtime Clear Channel/Denver chief Lee Larson. Just click on the names above to send your personal Happy Birthday greetings to ‘em all!

It was barely a week ago when a judge ruled that former CBS News anchor Dan Rather’s lawsuit against his former employer could move forward. But, today a state appeals court dismissed that suit in which Rather charged CBS with ruining his professional reputation in the wake of fallout from a 2004 CBS Evening News report on now former President George W. Bush’s National Guard service. Rather’s attorney, Martin Gold, expressed extreme disappointment with the court’s decision and told reporters that he’ll ask for a review of the decision by the New York State Court of Appeals. Rather joined CBS News in 1962, eventually rising to succeed Walter Cronkite as anchor of the network’s nightly news broadcast in 1981. He remained in that chair until his departure in 2006. He currently anchors Dan Rather Reports on the HDNet cable channel.

So says Arbitron in the 2009 edition of its Radio Today report released at last week’s NAB Radio Show in Philadelphia. “Thanks in part to an historic presidential election and important congressional campaigns, News/Talk/Information (N/T/I) radio ranked as the number one format in Fall 2008 with a 12.6% share of people 12-plus — far above its 10.7% share in Spring 2007,” says Arbitron. According to the ratings company, “The News/Talk/Information boasts more broadcast signals by far than any other format.” The latest report produced by Arbitron on radio listening and consumer behavior statistics was developed using data from the Fall 2008 TAPSCAN, which includes quantitative radio audience info from every market surveyed by Arbitron, and from Scarborough USA+, Release 2, 2008, containing information garnered from more than 220,000 interviews with adults 18+ in 81 of the country’s largest markets. Register to get free access to more details from the latest Arbitron report HERE.

That’s just one of the comments from Dial-Global syndicated talker and WSB/Atlanta personality Neal Boortz in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution feature penned by John Kessler. Boortz (pictured) says that, when it comes to callers to his program, “I love callers who disagree with me, if they can keep it straight. If they call us and say, ‘you’re a Nazi, you’re a racist,’ then I’m less interested.” Asked if he regrets anything he’s ever said over his past 40 years on the air Boortz replies, “I’ve been on the air for how many thousands of hours and there’s no scripting, it’s all just stream-of-consciousness stuff. The Pope couldn’t talk that many hours and not say something he’d wish he could take back.” Read the full AJC feature on Boortz HERE.

While on the west coast last week to appear on The Jay Leno Show, Premiere Radio Networks host Rush Limbaugh took time out to talk sports with FOX Sports Radio hosts Chris Myers and Steve Hartman. Hear the conversation HERE … Former WFMS/Indianapolis PD Bob Richards is tapped to fill the open Operations Manager position at Emmis/Indianapolis where he’ll oversee a cluster that includes News/Talk WIBC and Sports WFNI. Richards assumes the chair vacated by the recent departure of David Edgar, who segued to the OM position at Clear Channel/Pittsburgh … Longtime CBS Radio/Washington, DC programming and management exec Michael Hughes exits to launch MHMedia, a new consultancy based in Annapolis, MD, where his new firm’s first client, Adult Alternative WRNR, is also located.

A recent report by eMarketer.com says users of Twitter in the U.S. are even greater than previously estimated. The online media researcher says at least 18 million adults acess Twitter on any given platform monthly. That’s a 200% increase over 2008 estimates with eMarketer projecting that usage of the service will reach 26 million by 2010. The market researcher says that, while the service’s numbers are up, “large numbers of users are abandoning Twitter after a short period of experimentation, and another sizable contingent seems to use the service only sporadically. Read more on the study HERE. BTW, you can get BREAKING NEWS ALERTS and follow us on Twitter @ntsmediaonline.