In a blog post on KVAL's site, News Director Jenny Kuglin discusses negative feedback and an increase in the number of angry emails and online comments the station has received recently.

"People are being mean in greater numbers than I’ve ever experienced before," she says. "I’ve also been personally screamed at, called names, and hung up on countless times. So have other members of my staff. I’ve talked to other people in the news business, and they are reporting the same trend."

She goes on to cite specific examples from recent emails and voicemails, including:

• "I hate the media, and you are the reason women shouldn’t be in charge!"
• "(anchor name deleted) is an anorexic, incompetent, unprofessional, moron and should be fired. period," and
• "(anchor name deleted) is probably an illegal immigrant. Did you even check her papers? No- because you are the liberal media."
Are you also seeing an increase in negative comments like these? If so, do you think it's due to the economy? Could it be the current political climate? Or are we just being too sensitive?

Saturday’s Oregonian featured Robert Wagner and pdx.fm, a network of streaming radio and podcasts based in Portland, Oregon. Founded in September 2009, PDX.FM currently streams approximately thirty shows to about 10,000 unique listeners a day.

Maybe it's not all polite discourse, or close to the cultural mainstream. Portland calls itself the city that works, but it could as easily be the city with quirks.

But where is that spirit on the radio? That's what Robert Wagner, pdx.fm's founder and chief executive, couldn't stop wondering. And not just in Portland. Raised in Seattle, he spent endless hours in search of the latest sound on the radio. Once it was easy to find. But as the years passed and more stations fell under the corporate grip, the electric charge in the air evaporated.

"I got so tired of hearing the same generic disc jockeys saying the same stuff and playing the same 14 Rush songs," Wagner says.

In eight days, over half a million Oregon and Southwest Washington residents will be subscribers to something they've never heard of before: Xfinity. Comcast's residential television, internet and voice products will bear that new name in eleven markets, including Portland and the entire stretch of service from Longview, Washington to Eugene. The rest of the country will make the switch over the coming year.

Portland was the first market where Comcast converted to digital service, and the Xfinity name is intended to communicate that difference and more, said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts on yesterday's earnings call. "I think we are giving a better and better service experience," he said.

The renaming also introduces a new brand between consumers and Comcast, with Comcast remaining the name at the top of customers' bills. Comcast's beleaguered brand placed second in Consumerist's Worst Company in America surveys in 2008 and 2009, surpassed only by economic disasters AIG and Countrywide Financial, which have also rebranded. Comcast didn't mention any negative associations with its brand in its earnings call.

The Xfinity name will also be added to Fancast, the company's online video service. Comcast customers will retain their existing comcast.net email addresses.

The Bulletin in Bend (available via Multnomah and Deschutes libraries) reports that KTVZ has provided one Tami Sawyer with the IP addresses of commenters who replied to stories about her; her real estate businesses, which are under FBI and IRS investigation; and her husband, former Bend police captain Kevin Sawyer, who retired last February, the month the FBI's investigation became public. The couples' bookkeeper has admitted to activity akin to a Ponzi scheme.

In a civil case filed by the children of one deceased investor, Tami Sawyer submitted data that she said she subpoenaed from KTVZ, according to court documents viewed by The Bulletin. She claimed that the internal, identifying information from the station's website showed the "true colors" of the investor's children. KTVZ did not contest the subpoena. The station's privacy policy states:

We reserve the right to release any and all information contained within our access logs concerning any visitor or member when that visitor or member is in violation of our Terms of Service or other published guidelines, or partakes (or is reasonably suspected of partaking) in any illegal activity, even without a subpoena, warrant, or other court order, and to release such information in response to discovery requests, or in response to any circumstance which we, in our sole discretion, deem an emergency.

According to KTVZ's terms of service, visitors are in violation whenever they post "objectionable or harmful information of any kind."

In a similar 2008 Oregon case, Willamette Week and The Portland Mercury received subpoenas from a John Doe for IP addresses associated with comments such as this one. But instead of handing the data over, the two competing newspapers teamed up to contest the subpoena, and won.

In that case, Clackamas Circuit Court Judge James Redman ruled [PDF]:

The statutory language, however, deliberately protects not only news but also "data" and what is commonly understood as information. It would seem clear that Oregon's Media Shield Law is intended to have a wider scope than "news gathering". The posting on the Portland Mercury Website titled "Busy Day at City Hall, Part 2" discussed actions taken by Sho Dozono to qualify for public financing in his run for mayor of the City of Portland. The Portland Mercury invited readers to comment on the blog post. An anonymous reader calling himself "Ronald" responded with a comment related to Mr. Dozono's candidacy which was allegedly defamatory of plaintiff. If the comment had been totally unrelated to the blog post, then the argument could be made that the Portland Mercury did not receive it in the "course of gathering, receiving, or processing information for any medium of communication to the public".

The Oregon Media Shield Law is broadly written and it is intended to protect a broad range of media activity, not simply news gathering. This court feels compelled to follow the broad statutory language in regard to plaintiff's motion to compel and therefore denies plaintiff's motion to compel.

Asked why his station handed its website's internal information to the Sawyers, KTVZ General Manager Eric Bradley provided Oregon Media Central with the following statement:

We here at News Channel 21 have always and will always stand by our right to protect our anonymous news sources (we do not consider a public comment an anonymous news source). Our policy on disclosing information on people who make comments regarding our stories is posted on our website. While the laws protecting Print, Radio and TV are clearly defined, we feel the laws regarding Internet properties are still evolving. With that said, we continuously review and revise our policies regarding comments on our public forums as warranted.

Oregon's media shield law protects individuals "connected with, employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public," with the definition of such a medium including examples of print and broadcast media, but not specifying the internet. A seemingly generic "news service" is listed. The law states that the examples are not intended to be limiting. In the motion [PDF] filed in the 2008 case, the plaintiff did not attempt to argue that a website is not a medium of communication.

The Los Angeles Times this morning carries a front-page story on Joseph Farah, founder of World Net Daily, a website with roots in Oregon that makes millions of dollars annually and is a daily source of material for conservative talk shows and blogs.

From 1999 to 2002, the site, which continues to feature multiple headlines about Obama's birth certificate and presidential eligibility as a signature issue, was headquartered in Selma, Oregon, southwest of Grants Pass. Farah moved to Washington, DC the year after George W. Bush became president, but he still has "about a half dozen employees in Southern Oregon," Farah tells OMC.

With online traffic comparable to The Oregonian's (see Alexa, Quantcast [1,2] and Compete), the site makes money from advertising, a book publishing division and the rental of its mailing list. Farah claims annual revenues approaching $10 million, though that figure could not be independently verified.

The LA Times piece drew a critical response from Farah on his website today.

KATU got an online makeover today, following a similar redesign for Fisher flagship KOMO's website in November.

Troy McGuire, general manager of Fisher Interactive, tells OMC that, in addition to the obvious visual changes, the site's video player is improved and load times are faster. He points out that more photos and video are "above the fold" and that there's more emphasis on the site's neighborhood content. Navigation and content discovery are improved as well, he says.

The redesign is meeting a mixed reception among visitors, with 48 percent of poll respondents giving the new site a thumbs down, versus 30 percent who are more favorable. A strong "meh" contingent accounts for the rest.

McGuire says Eugene's KVAL will be receiving a similar makeover, though no date is set. The redesign for KATU.com comes after new sites for KGW and KPTV late last year.

New traffic reporter

Something else that's new on KATU's website is the bio for new traffic reporter Greg Knight. According to that profile, Knight has previously reported for KNRV and KREN in Reno, as well as KCSG in Utah. More recently, he was news director and operations manager at radio station KSUE in Susanville, California. Knight has lived in Portland for 5 of the last 11 years, the bio says.

Knight replaces Lauren Allison, who left KATU last month for an opportunity to anchor and do weather at KVAL.

(Thank you to Brad Taylor and Jordan Frasier for contributing leads.)

Pasadena is the temporary capital of Oregon sports media as numerous reporters, photographers and additional crew assemble in California for the Oregon-Ohio State Rose Bowl.

KATU sports Director Katy Brown says nine people from her station are in Pasadena, including herself, Steve Dunn and Anna Song on air, plus three photogs, two live truck operators and a field producer. "Needless to say, it's a big deal," she says, "especially since the game is on our network." Song says she's "doing the fan angle the whole time I'm here — the fun stuff." Sports reporter Craig Birnbach will anchor Friday's 11 pm sportscast, he tells OMC.

KVAL Eugene Sports Director Tom Ward says, "We were the first TV station from Oregon down here last Saturday, and have been going strong since we hit the ground."

"Since we’ve been here," he says, "we covered the team at Disneyland, have gone to several practices, and saw them put away large quantities of beef at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills. We’ve done some sort of 'look live' or live report every day we've been here. [On Tuesday], our sister station from Portland, KATU, arrived en masse and helped out a great deal with live coverage."

The Register-Guard's George Schroeder is in LA, he says, along with UO beat writers Rob Moseley and Adam Jude, additional sports reporters Steve Mims and Chris Hansen, reporter Mark Baker and two photographers.

The University of Oregon's main student newspaper is also devoting special coverage to the game. Daily Emerald sports reporter Lucas Clark says he and fellow sports team members Ben Schorzman and Robert Husseman are in LA with a photographer, updating their website and preparing for Monday's print edition.

Over at KPTV, reporter Mark Ross says, "The Ducks playing in the Rose Bowl is one of the biggest stories the state has seen in the last decade." He won't be part of Fox 12's LA crew, "but come New Year's Day," he says, "I'm at least going to LISTEN to the game, being a huge sports fan, even if we're driving off to some crime story!"

KGW sports director Adam Bjaranson says he and Joe Donlon are on air from LA, joined by two photographers and their sports producer.

Dwight Jaynes says he's in LA to do shows with Comcast SportsNet today and tomorrow. He was on the Morning Sports Page on The Game (KXTG) in Portland this morning.

Steve Tanenbaum says he's broadcasting tomorrow morning for KUGN from Eugene sports bar Sam's Place, then handing coverage off to Jerry Allen, Mike Jorgensen and the Oregon Sports Network in Pasadena. Once the game's over, he'll "head back to Sam's for our post game show where I'll take calls to get the fans' input on the game. After that's done, considering I'll have been in a bar since 10 am, at a party, then back to a bar without having consumed a single drop of alcohol, it won't be safe to get between me and a J.D. on the rocks."

Hank Stern, managing news editor for Willamette Week, says he's flying down to LA today and writing a piece for next week's paper.

KVAL's Ward says, "It is exciting to finally cover a Rose Bowl. I’ve covered an Aloha Bowl, four Sun Bowls, three Holiday Bowls, two Vegas Bowls, two Insight Bowls, and seen way too many Oregon and OSU seasons that ended in disappointment. Now the Ducks just need to provide us with a happy ending."

UPDATE (12/31, 5:24 pm): KEZI anchor Brandi Smith adds: "KEZI 9 News has the largest crew of any Eugene station. Executive producer Sean Schoppe, news operations manager Kurt Richter, sports director Michelle Dapper and myself have been down here since Saturday night."

100000watts.com has a list of commercial radio stations playing all-Christmas music, and innumerable non-commercial stations are running holiday programming as well. More stations are flipping to all-Christmas formats this afternoon through tomorrow morning, and there's at least one locally produced Christmas special online, from Tim Riley, formerly of KUFO.

On television, the Christmas specials are countless, but a favorite for many is the most simple. The Yule Log on OPB is the fireplace at Timberline Lodge set to Christmas music, playing from 10 pm to midnight on Christmas Eve. For many sleepy viewers, it's almost convincing that a TV screen could radiate its warmth.

The concept isn't unique. Here's a similar offering from online:

Do you have a favorite Christmas special?

Cort and Fatboy are moving from Error FM to PDX.FM, the duo announced on their online radio show today. They're also moving up from 2 pm to 10 am and adding listener interaction through phones and chat.

The two were fired along with most of the air staff from Portland rock station KUFO (101.1) in October. Since then, they've found success online, with their podcast reaching as high as #14 among comedy audio podcasts on iTunes, regularly surpassing offerings from Ricky Gervais, Dane Cook, and Z100 (KKRZ)'s Phoenix-based morning team, Johnjay and Rich.

PDX.FM's Robert Wagner tells OMC, "A certain local radio station may have 'got their balls back,'" referring to a promotional line from the relaunched KUFO, but "we're just happy to have their brains, talent, and wit. Besides, we weren't careless enough to lose our balls in the first place."

The Cort and Fatboy Show debuts on PDX.FM on January 4.

One benefit to being public is that I get to attend events that I would have missed otherwise, including Beer and Blog this Friday. From B&B's about page:

It started as a means to swap information among peers in the Portland tech scene. It has grown into a weekly happy hour for Portland area bloggers. Sometimes we work. Sometimes we discuss. Sometimes we go on a field trip. But we mostly play and celebrate the transition from the work week to the week end. It’s the kind of place that is fun to network in, kindle ideas into side projects, and announce a release.

In Oregon, there are chapters in Salem, Corvallis and Eugene, but I'll be attending in Portland, where Beer and Blog began.

And this Friday turns out to be a good week to go. Beer and Blog will be part of the 30 Hour Day, a marathon webcast for charity put on by Cami Kaos of Strange Love Live and Rick Turoczy of Silicon Florist. The Beer and Blog portion of the 30 Hour Day will be hosted by KXL tech expert Brian Westbrook. Guests are asked to bring an unwrapped toy or non-perishable food donation, and there will be an online charity auction during the event.

Beer and Blog starts at 4 pm every Friday at Green Dragon at 928 SE 9th Avenue in Portland.