Dorothy Walsh

LONDON (AFP) –
Radio veteran Terry Wogan announced on Monday that he will be leaving Radio 2's breakfast show, the nation's most popular, and that he will be replaced by Chris Evans.

Speaking live on air, the 71-year-old said the decision to leave Wake Up To Wogan at the end of the year was the hardest of his career.

"I'd rather leave while we're in love, as the song says, while the programme is the most popular on British radio, while we still delight in each other's company," he said.

"And so we will, until the end of the year, when my good friend Chris Evans takes over. I know that you'll give him the same love and affection you've always shown to me."

Wogan said he will start work on a new radio show in 2010.

Recent figures show Wake Up To Wogan attracts a weekly audience of 7.93 million listeners, making Wogan the king of breakfast radio.

The legendary presenter first started working on the breakfast radio show in 1972. He left to host another show in 1984 but returned to Radio 2 in 1993 and has presented Wake Up To Wogan ever since.

Tim Davie, director of audio and music at the BBC said: "I'd like to thank Terry for entertaining his army of fans for many years and I'm delighted that he has agreed to continue to entertain the nation on Radio 2."

Evans, a popular radio DJ in his own right, will be taking over the reins in January 2010.

Writing in his blog, Evans said: "Good luck Mr W. I promise I will do my utmost not to let you and your listeners down."

HOLDEN, La. – A Louisiana killing spree that left four family members dead, including a 2-year-old boy, marked the bloody culmination of an ongoing domestic dispute between the suspected gunman and his estranged wife, said the father of a woman who survived the shootings.
Dennis Carter Sr. shot and killed his wife, son and 2-year-old grandson, then shot himself to death as police tried to pull over his car about 20 minutes later, Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office Chief of Operations Perry Rushing said Sunday.
Also shot was Carter Sr.'s daughter-in-law, Amber Carter, who was six months pregnant and was in intensive care in a New Orleans hospital after giving birth to a healthy boy named Aubrey, said her father, Paul Williamson.
Williamson said Carter Sr., 50, had a history of assaulting his wife, Donna Carter, and recently tried to attack her with a machete. Donna Carter had a restraining order against him that her husband had repeatedly violated.
"This had been going on for quite some time," Williamson said. "It was one of those domestic violence things that just gets worse and worse."
A 16-month-old boy was in the house during the shootings but was not hurt. The child was related to the Carters but Rushing was not sure how.
Authorities were called to the home in Holden, about 30 miles east of Baton Rouge, around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Donna Carter, 49, and Dennis Carter Jr., 26, were dead inside. Found outside were Amber Carter, badly hurt, and their son, 2-year-old Masson Carter, who was dead.
Rushing said it appeared Amber and Masson Carter escaped from a second-floor window but it was not clear if the gunman shot them inside or followed them outside and shot them there. Williamson said his daughter had bullet wounds in her kidney and liver, plus spinal damage sustained when she leapt from the window, probably trying to escape her father-in-law.
Rushing said deputies spotted Dennis Carter Sr. about 20 minutes after the shootings driving on a highway. When they tried to pull him over, he shot and killed himself.
"It's very unusual to have this many victims," Rushing said. "This is an anomaly by any stretch of the imagination."
In a statement released late Sunday, Stephen Alexander, a lawyer representing other family members of Carter Sr., said they were "obviously devastated by their tremendous loss and they ask that the media respect the family's privacy during the grieving process."
All the Carters lived at the house in Holden except Dennis Carter Sr., who used to live there but had recently moved to nearby Hammond. Williamson said Carter Jr. and wife Amber had been planning to move to another house.
Williamson described the senior Carter as a semi-employed mechanic. He said Carter Jr. was a scaffold builder; Amber Carter was a secretary at North Oaks Rehabilitation Center in Hammond, where Donna Carter worked as a data entry clerk.
Rushing said that state police ballistics experts were conducting tests on a gun found in the senior Carter's car.
Williamson said he didn't expect to learn exactly how the killing spree transpired.
"We won't ever know what happened inside that house," he said.

WASHINGTON – When you're a real-life guitarist like Billy Squier, seeing fans trying to emulate your behavior in a video game can be weird.
Squier, whose "Lonely Is the Night" was in "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s" and returns this week in "Guitar Hero 5," says he once saw some kids playing his hit in an electronics store.
"They were so focused on the game they didn't even notice who was looking over their shoulder," he says. "When I do this song in concert, there'll always be a few young kids playing air guitar ... which I'd attribute to the 'Guitar Hero' experience."
For younger musicians, landing a tune on "Guitar Hero" means invaluable exposure.
"It's ubiquitous, especially among younger fans," says AFI guitarist Jade Puget.
His band's "Miss Murder" was on "Guitar Hero III," and the AFI track "Medicate" is debuting on "GH5." Premiering a new single in a video game "isn't something we agonized over," says Puget. "The fans really enjoy it."
Tim Riley, Activision's vice president of music affairs, says bands young and old are becoming more aware of what "Guitar Hero" can do for them. The latest addition has "a lot of bands we've tried to get before," he says, citing the Arctic Monkeys and Dire Straits. "We get a lot more phone calls than we used to."
As "a bit of a geek," Riley says he feels a responsibility to bring diversity to each game's lineup. Classic or modern, he says, "great music needs to be heard."
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On the Net:
http://hub.guitarhero.com/games/gh5/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
U.S. regulators are seeking ways to make more efficient use of the airwaves as consumers' use of smartphones is expected to surge, the official spearheading the national broadband program said on Wednesday.

"A key input is spectrum," Blair Levin, the top broadband official at the Federal Communications Commission, told industry executives and lobbyists. "There is consensus in the record; there is not enough of it."

Levin and the FCC are crafting a national broadband plan, as mandated by Congress, to extend broadband services to unserved Americans living in rural areas and to make broadband affordable for those living in urban areas.

One of the ways being considered to increase broadband use is to free up some of the airwaves, or spectrum, that is currently being held by U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Defense.

"The demand curves from uses like smartphones suggest it's going to increase dramatically, for spectrum," Levin said.

The wireless industry is anticipating increasing demand over the next several years for smartphones like Apple Inc's iPhone, Palm Inc's Pre and Verizon Wireless' Storm.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc. AT&T Inc is the exclusive provider for the iPhone, and Sprint Nextel Corp provides service for the Pre.

T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, is also seeking more spectrum.

CTIA, a wireless trade association, is prodding Congress to move legislation that would take inventory of what portions are being used and by whom.

"We can't wait eight to 11 years for additional spectrum," CTIA President Steve Largent told reporters. He said his group will urge lawmakers to include language in legislation to set a timetable for spectrum auctions for businesses.

Both chambers of Congress are considering legislation.

(Reporting by John Poirier; editing by John Wallace)