Radio

(Newser) - GOP activists are salivating over audio clips of Barack Obama reading from his book, Dreams from My Father , detailing his attitudes on race and adventures with drugs. "I attended classes sparingly, drank beer heavily, and tried drugs enthusiastically," Obama says in a reading of the 1993 bestseller. Now radio hosts are testing which snippets to play in post-Labor Day attack ads, Politico reports. More »

(Newser) - Rush Limbaugh has signed an eight-year contract renewing his syndication with Clear Channel for more than $400 million. This makes for the second-most-lucrative deal in radio history, ranking only behind Howard Stern's $500 million deal with Sirius in 2004, the Washington Post reports. "I'm having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have," said Limbaugh. More »

(Newser) - Take a moment today to honor the 100th birthday of the SOS signal—the Morse code dots and dashes that have saved thousands of lives. The distress call was introduced in 1908 to replace an older code, "CQD," which was easier to confuse with other signals, the Times of London reports. More »

(AP) - BBC Radio today aired a long lost Beatles interview featuring John Lennon and Paul McCartney talking about the day they met and their songwriting partnership. The precious film sat forgotten for 44 years in a garage in south London until film fan Richard Jeffs realized a piece of pop history was contained inside. More »

(Newser) - In the escalation of a long-simmering turf war, the largest Hollywood actors union is attempting to scuttle a deal reached by its smaller rival with studios, the Los Angeles Times reports. Though the Screen Actors Guild isn't planning to strike when its contract expires tonight, it's urging members who also belong to the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors to vote against that contract. More »

(Newser) - One of the country's most prominent evangelical leaders says Barack Obama is "distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view," the AP reports. Focus on the Family head James Dobson recorded an 18-minute screed that was released ahead of his radio show today, accusing Obama of “dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.” More »

(Newser) - With Led Zeppelin's first iTunes-sold album boosting the classic Stairway to Heaven back into various charts, Portfolio sounded out entertainment execs on what the tune might really be worth if the "notoriously protective" band would loosen the shackles. The final math: $572 million. A look at the breakdown: More »

(Newser) - After languishing nearly a year and a half in regulatory limbo, the merger between XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio may finally get the green light to proceed . The FCC staff has signed off on the $5 billion deal, reports the Wall Street Journal, with some conditions devised by FCC Chairman Kevin Mitchell to protect consumers from price increases. More »

(Newser) - Apple’s new iPhone will provide free, CD-quality radio from 200 stations in 25 genres—even if that does cut into iTunes' music business, Saul Hansell blogs in the New York Times . But Apple knows that it will "fare best if it makes the iPhone as useful as possible, and that means exploiting the device’s ability to stream music, talk and video."