Please change your billboard already. As annoying as Don Bleu is with his "bleupers," Star 101.3 is guilty of something even more annoying. Something that makes our skin crawl every time we glance up at it. Something even more annoying than Alice's whiny Sarah & No Name. The billboard Star 101.3 has in SOMA, which is viewable to 101-South drivers, has been up since late summer. As proud as Oakland must be that the featured......

Here's todays sports news...

We have incredibly exciting news about bus shelters! The city just reached an agreement with Clear Channel, your favorite company, to provide bus shelters and advertising and revenue. It's a complicated relationship, and totally boring -- like, alt-weekly-level boring -- but here's what it all means to you, the common man on the street: - New shelters will speak NextMuni information out loud, will have a beacon for waiting passengers to notify approaching vehicles, will......

-- Ross Mirkarimi, sole supe against Clear Channel. [SFBG] -- Out-of-town drug dealers bring their goofballs and china white to SF. [Examiner] -- Stupid TV can't ever get us right, or so says the Streets of San Fauxcisco. [Culture Blog] -- San Jose kills cigarette smoking at city parks. [SJ Merc] -- SF is numero uno according to Conde Nast Traveller. [The Snitch] -- And yet we can't crack the top-ten as a prime......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly. Hey, why is Sucka Free City before the letters this week? Anti-Jewish slurs at Rainbow Grocery. The story behind that weird killing in Hayes Valley you guys got all worked up at us about (blah blah blah, hipsters, blah blah, SFist is racist, blah blah). Cover article: Disbar more lawyers. We are adoring the cautious yet game-for-adventure tone in this Southern Exposure pie delivery service piece! Meredith Brody bills......

Was that San Jose radio station Channel 104.9 the "new music alternative" because they played alternative new music, or were they the "new music alternative" because they played something other than new music? Well, that question has now been definitively answered, as Channel 104.9 was unceremoniously switched by its Clear Channel overlords on Jan. 1 from light-alternative rock to an all-Spanish adult contemporary music format, called La Romantica. Check out these weird radio shenanigans -- Channel 104.9 was planning to switch on New Year's to that alternative classic rock format recently adopted by Live 105 in an attempt to attract an older audience, but when Clear Channel learned that rival Spanish language station 100.3 was switching from a La Romantica to a La Preciosa format, Clear Channel decided it needed to move into the gap. 104.9 staffers only learned of the switch last week. Two staffers will be laid off, and the other 8 will move to other Clear Channel stations in the area. 14 months ago, Clear Channel switched another English-language rock station (KSJO 92.3) to an old-school Spanish-language music format (La Preciosa), and it's now the number 1 station in San Jose for listeners between 25-54. Live 105, now the only alternative rock station in the area, has been running ads this week, promising what the Merc News said was "alternative rock without having to learn Spanish." Hey, the Pixies sang in Spanish every now and then! ...

Last week's winner, the "locally owned and operated since 1966" Bay Guardian. The Guardian buys out a full-page ad in its own newspaper about the SF Weekly! We love the CLEAR CHANNEL = BUSH, CLEAR CHANNEL = SF WEEKLY thing. The transitive property rules. Everyone's favorite topic, community-choice aggregation of public power. Cover article: A dude who pretended to be a bank. More toilet humor by Dan Leone, and veggie banh mi reviews. SF Jewish Film Fest and an interview with Gus Van Sant (not online). Next up, the SF Weekly -- oh, sorry, we meant to say: the "Clear Channel Spawn of Satan not-authentically-SF" Weekly, our bad. Dog Bites makes fun of the first version of the previously-mentioned ad Bruce Brugman emailed to them, about the Bay "Guard-AIN." Also, a frighteningly-well-designed response (.pdf). Duelling cover articles: fake social security cards and local band the Herms. Also, their club columnist gets into Otis, using nothing more than SF Weekly (sorry, we meant to say "running-dog imperialistic not-authentically-SF Weekly") business cards. We totally need to print out our SFist business cards. The evil scum-sucking not-authentically-SF New Times affiliate East Bay Express and the much-missed voice of reason through all of this alterna-media on alterna-media violence, the SJ Metro, after the jump. Plus, the pick of the week! ...

In a fantastic speech at the National Conference on Media Reform in St. Louis, Bay Area hip-hop historian and KPFA radio personality Davey D gave a keynote address (which he shared with folks like Al Franken, Jim Hightower and Patti Smith) on the role of media in the community and how people can strike back against giants like Emmis and ClearChannel. Early on, he issues his call to action: The thing that I always......

The San Francisco Bay Area is considered the 12th largest metropolitan area in the United States. We have beautiful hills and ocean views, economic opportunity, diversity of opinions, and great food. But you know what we don't have? A top 40 radio station!!! We can't believe this. Ever since the death of our beloved Z 95.7 (for a classic rock format, which was then later changed to country), there's no place in San Francisco to tune in for those naggingly-catchy Kelly Clarkson and Ashleeeeee (so many e's!) Simpson tracks. (There's a station in Fremont and a station in Santa Rosa, but we can't get them in SF proper). How are we supposed to participate in pop culture if we can't even hear that abysmal new Britney Spears strip-joint song? We try to keep up by watching MTV Hits, but -- man, those kids on TRL are annoying. Sure, we can hear the slower mainstream pop tunes on Yawn 101.3 and we can catch the crunky on our Clear Channel hip-hop affiliates -- but part of what we like about top 40 radio is the cross-genre mixing! We like hearing the new Mariah next to the new Eminem next to the J.Lo next to the Ciara! And while we can download what we like on iTunes or Musicmatch, we're certainly never going to spend even 99 cents on schlock like Ryan Cabrera or Jesse McCartney, so we'll realistically never really listen to them anymore -- and thus we can't even be as fully contemptuous of them as we might be if we sort of absorbed them while stuck at a red light or finishing up that last 3 minutes on the Bowflex. We're being hampered in our snark! So someone, please -- like Ms. Spears-Federline says -- Do Somethin'! (na na na na na na, na na na na NA na na na). ...

Once again, the Essefficist is back, a day late and at least a dollar short. We could go on all night about what a piece of junk this column is -- she may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid -- but we're a little rushed, so if you'll just get on board, we'll get started. We've got two questions to answer today, both from esteemed colleagues. First, let's check......