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Volume 24, Issue 128, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Monday Morning July 2nd, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 What does Tom Hicks
have up his sleeve this time?
He may have retired from Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (now HM Capital Partners), but Tom Hicks just can't stay away from the big money investment game. Instead of building another private equity firm to go after lots of deals, he is out to raise 400 million bucks in a publicly traded (American Stock Exchange, no symbol yet selected) "blank check" company, Hicks Acquisition Company I Inc., which will go out and try to hit a home run with a single initial investment. It's the same sort of venture as the blank check company, formerly called Coconut Palm Acquisition Corp., which now is the primary investor in Equity Media Holdings. There is no indication that Hicks will be going after a media investment, although he has plenty of experience in the field, nor any indication that he won't target media. The structure of such a blind pool is to raise money and then hunt for the best company possible to invest in. Hicks was raised in a radio family (his father owned a station in Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX) and he and his brothers have owned numerous stations over the years. As the head of Hicks, Muse, he took the firm into creating the Chancellor and Capstar groups, both of which merged into Clear Channel. In television, Hicks, Muse remains to this day the biggest investor in LIN Television, which was recently put up for sale. The private equity firm made numerous Latin American media investments, but also lots of investments far removed from media. Stetson Hats, for example. Shares in Hicks Acquisition will be sold for 10 bucks each, with no indication yet of when the IPO will take place. Citi is the only underwriter listed thus far.
RBR observation: This is definitely a high-risk investment. The prospectus even points out that of the 99 blank check companies formed to date, only 24 have closed deals and 22 have deals pending, while five have failed and returned their cash (minus some charges) to investors. "Accordingly, there are approximately 48 blank check companies with more than 4.6 billion in trust that are seeking to carry out a business plan similar to our business plan," the prospectus notes - and that's not counting more blank check companies in the IPO pipeline. And since this is Hicks Acquisition Co. I, we're guessing that Hicks may be planning a repeat performance if his first blank check company hits a home run. For investors who buy the IPO, this is a bet on Tom Hicks and some other folks you may recognize. Eric C. Neuman, who was a key player in the Hicks, Muse media investments, is back as Sr. VP. One of the directors is Brian Mulroney, formerly Prime Minister of Canada. Tom Hicks is well connected on Wall Street, in politics (the current occupant of the White House is one of his best buds), in pro sports (as a team owner) and in other arenas. It's a pretty good bet that Hicks Acquisition is not going to be left out in the cold and have to return 9.75 to each shareholder for not finding a deal to invest in within the prescribed 24 months.
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 Radio outlook
not getting any worse...
...but it's not getting any better either. Lehman Brothers analyst Anthony DiClemente is sticking with his prediction that radio revenues will be down about 1% for 2007. And if radio stocks look cheap compared to where they used to be, he thinks they're about 15% overvalued. "The two key themes driving our cautious outlook for the sector in 2007 are 1) continued lack of pricing power; and 2) the continued shift in media budgets towards new media alternatives," the analyst said in a note to clients. "Generally, while 2007 year to date has not worsened relative to our earlier expectations, driven in part by new business from the telecommunications sector, we are still forecasting nearly a 1% decline in radio industry revenues year over year. This decline combined with nominal expense growth for the industry of 3%-4% is expected to drive persistent EBITDA declines experienced by many of the radio broadcasters in the first quarter," DiClemente warned.
Small Business Committee on CRB rates:
work out a solution yourselves
Internet radio broadcasters will need to fend for themselves in the face of efforts by the music industry to raise royalty fees. That's the word from a 6/28 House Small Business Committee hearing on resolving a dispute over efforts to increase the royalties paid to musicians and labels. Webcasters say the new Copyright Royalty Board-set fees will put them out of business. The increase begins 7/15.
| Read More... |
FEC debuts new presidential campaign feature
You can now go to the homepage of the Federal Election Commission and get an instant snapshot on where the money fueling the 2008 presidential campaign is coming from, and who's getting it. Of course, where it comes from will not necessarily have anything to do with where it gets spent, battleground political warfare being what it is, but it is an interesting snapshot nonetheless. The map shows huge circles of giving for California and New York in particular, and the northeast in general. Texas, Illinois and Florida also figure in the big bucks, while the bubble of giving from North Dakota is a mere pinprick. So far, the FEC has tracked 157.2M in contributions, with 95.2M going to Democrats v. only 62M for Republicans.
| Candidate Results |
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 More on Fairness
The House of Representative put a nail in the coffin of the Fairness Doctrine before it could even rise to the level of a bill. Now John McCain (R-AZ), with the help of John Thune (R-SD) and Norm Coleman (R-MN), has introduced the "Broadcaster Freedom Act" in the Senate. He said, "With the great number of media sources available today, divergent viewpoints do not have to be offered on the same radio or television show, but can be found simply by channel surfing, reading a newspaper or browsing an Internet blog. The legislation would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from reinstating the 'Fairness Doctrine,' a regulation that had required broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on issues of public importance." At the same time, presidential candidate John Edwards (D-NC) demonstrated an excellent way to counter speech he objects too without cutting off the speech itself. Edwards is in a select group of candidates that have drawn comment from pundit Ann Coulter, commentary which the candidate and his wife have frequently gone over the edge of the legitimately political and into the realm of personal insult. But the Edwards campaign has found a way to respond that does not require the provision of equal time on whatever electronic medium used by Coulter in the first place (although the internet is buzzing over a confrontation between Coulter and the candidate's wife Elizabeth on an edition of Chris Mathews' MSNBC show Hardball last week). Instead, the Edwards campaign is using Coulter's notoriety to drum up campaign contributions. In fact, this is the second time the Edwards campaign has tied a fund-raising goal to Coulter remarks. The first time, back in March, he picked up a quick 300K from supporters.
RBR observation: It doesn't matter where you sit on the political spectrum - the fact that the spectrum is not comprised of two and only two points is all you need to know to see that the concept of the Fairness Doctrine is unworkable. It's the rare issue which affords two and only two viewpoints. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate or vanilla? All it takes is for one person to say strawberry and the Doctrine collapses. The plus side, no matter where you sit on the political spectrum, is that freedom of speech is a double-edged sword. It is a good thing that the law of the land makes it almost impossible to disarm your opponent. Better to keep your own sword sharp and know how to wield it. Regardless of what you think of Edwards and his platform, you have to give him credit following the age-old, peculiarly-American dictum of not just getting mad, but also getting even.
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| Executive Comment |
Your question, "Are we missing something?" (6/29/07 TVBR #127). The answer is, "You bet!" Broadcasters have their heads in the sand when it comes to the Yellow Pages in their markets. Because of it, the directory companies are laughing all the way to the bank at their expense.
For the last thirty-five years I have been training broadcasting salespeople on how generate new business revenue by counseling local business owners on "THE OTHER SIDE OF THE YELLOW PAGES STORY". That is the side the Yellow Page reps don't want business owners (or you) to know about, and it is also the side they are paying too much for. They work with their clients on being more effective for less in the directories and to re-invest the savings with their stations.
| Read More |
Merritt Mattson
Yellow Page Consulting LLC
West Des Moines, IA
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Ad Business Report TM
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Buyers speak out
Last Thursday at the Interep Radio Symposium the panel session, "Radio from the Agency Perspective," featured Matt Feinberg, SVP/Director of Radio; Director of Interactive Broadcast, Zenith Media; Janice Finkel-Greene, EVP, Director of Broadcast Strategy - Initiative Media; Rich Russo, Director of Broadcast Services, JL Media, Natalie Swed-Stone, US Director, National Radio Investment, OMD and Kim Vasey, Senior Partner/Director of Radio, Mediaedge:CIA. We got a bit of commentary on the session:
| Read More... |
 State Farm official
insurance co. of MLB
Major League Baseball announced a multi-year sponsorship agreement to make State Farm the "Official Insurance Company of Major League Baseball". The deal includes exclusive category rights and title sponsorships for the State Farm Home Run Derby and the State Farm Mascot Home Run Derby at Major League Baseball All-Star Week. The State Farm Home Run Derby competition is the highest rated sporting event of the summer on ESPN. The competition pits eight MLB sluggers against each other in three head-to-head elimination rounds in which each batter receives 10 outs to hit as many home runs as possible. The Derby will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio on 7/9 at 8pm ET from San Francisco's AT&T Park. As a participating sponsor at DHL All-Star FanFest, the interactive baseball theme park that is the cornerstone of MLB All-Star Week, State Farm will sponsor the State Farm Home Run Derby attraction and the State Farm Mascot Home Run Derby. As part of the deal, State Farm will make significant media commitments to national Major League Baseball television rightsholders. State Farm also continues to maintain partnerships with 24 Major League Clubs.
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| Media Business Report TM |
Citadel bets on McClatchy
We now know why shares of McClatchy have been shooting up lately. Citadel Investment Group revealed in an SEC filing Friday that it has accumulated a 5.7% stake in the newspaper company's Class A stock. Citadel is the primary owner of Ion Media Networks, but this won't create any problem with the FCC. The McClatchy family has iron-clad voting control of McClatchy via their Class B shares.
RBR observation: As badly as Wall Street has beaten up on broadcasting stocks, it has been even more negative on newspaper stocks. Traders brutally punished McClatchy for buying Knight-Ridder and the stock has continued to decline (until just a few days ago), despite McClatchy having successfully sold off the Knight-Ridder papers it didn't want in markets where the local economy doesn't have long-term growth prospects. So, it has been reducing debt and will likely sell off its stake in CareerBuilder.com (inherited from Knight-Ridder) to further reduce its debt load. Citadel may not be bullish on the newspaper industry, so much as the hedge fund figures McClatchy is in better shape than most of its peers and its strong cash flow is undervalued in its stock price.
Talkers demonstrate their independence
You can lead a talker to news, but you can't make him talk about it, would seem to be the lesson from the Project for Excellence in Journalism Talker Index for the week of 6/17-22/07. IN point of fact, the news coverage for the week was scattered, with the 2008 campaign taking top honors with a modest 11%. Talkers agreed that it was the #1 topic, but gave it a full quarter of their attention at 25%. They then moved on to immigration (12%), which was received a very modest #5/4% in the newshole. Talkers devalued #2 news story events in Iraq from 9% down to 3%, a focused on five stories which were not on the top 10 news list, including White House scandals, fired US attorneys, talk show wars, Iraq policy an the Duke lacrosse scandal. It marks a departure from the usual pattern of reacting to and amplifying the major news stories of the week.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
Three more Clear Channel markets sold
 Frontier Capital Partners, headed by Jason R. Wolff, is the latest buyer to grab a piece of the Clear Channel Radio divestiture process - and a new radio group to boot. Frontier is buying 16 stations in three Western markets in a deal brokered by the folks at Kalil & Co. Frontier will get five stations in Victorville, CA, Arbitron market #127, eight in and around San Luis Obispo, market #173, and three in unrated Yuma, AZ.
Lotus takes a piece of Peak
In Fresno, it turns out that the 2.4M sale of KFPT-AM to Fat Dawgs 7 Broadcasting isn't the end of the pruning job that Todd Lawley's Peak Broadcasting is undertaking with the cluster it acquired from CBS in a 90M deal filed late last year. It has now filed to spin KOQO-FM to Lotus Communications. According to Kalil & Co., which brokered the deal, the move pares an the station's incompatible Hispanic format from the Peak cluster and sends it into the Lotus group where it is expected to be much more at home, with an all-Hispanic cluster featuring KGST-AM, KLBN-FM & KMMM-FM and an owner in Howard Kalmenson who knows how to run it. Lotus will pay 8.4M for the station. Peak will be left with an AM and four FMs.
Another peek at Peak news
Kalil & Co. says that Peak Broadcasting's 25M acquisition of the Clear Channel Boise cluster has been completed. Included in the buy are KFXD-AM, KIDO-AM, KCIX-FM, KSAS-FM, KTMY-FM & KXLT-FM. Peak immediately announced it was taking KFXD-AM 63 into local Talk with local legends Jon & Chris (John Duane and Chris Kelly) manning the mics during morning drive. Peak SVP Kevin Godwin said, "As part of the community, we believe in live and local radio. Now, we celebrate the launch of All Talk 63, KFXD, with the quintessential top rated local talk morning show in Boise for 14 years, Jon & Chris. The new radio station will be the latest addition to the significant commitment by Peak Broadcasting in talented local broadcasters."
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 Wild political season shaping up
The Supreme Court's decision that rolls out the red carpet for down-to-the-wire issue advertising adding pressure to a jam-packed and front-loaded primary election season, with the potential to put enormous pressure on inventory, possibly squeezing out traditional advertisers and sending rates sky-high. And that's before we learn about Michael Bloomberg's plans. We'll start with Bloomberg. The New York Post mentioned the oft-cited figure of 500M. That's how much of his personal fortune which the newly-minted political independent (after stints in both major parties) is willing to spend out of his own pocket on a run for the White House. It further speculates that as much as 300M of that may go straight to television. The pressure may be so great, and so many states may be put into play by the pressure of his candidacy on both parties, that what was once a battleground-oriented national spot advertising approach may spill more and more into the national network category. As for the issue ads part of the equation, both the advertisers and the regulators are in the early stages of digesting just what the Supreme ruling means. Corporations and unions both have issue axes to grind in the media, and both have favored and disfavored candidates. They are trying to figure out just what they'll be able to do and what may still be prohibited. If it's any consolation, over at the Federal Election Commission, they're going through the same process from the opposite side - just how are they supposed to enforce whatever it is that the Supreme Court just unleashed? Both of these wild cards hold great potential to send rates skyrocketing and schedules bulging.
RBR observation: As for the FEC, it took it seemingly forever to get around to actually figuring out how it was going to enforce McCain-Feingold. The 527 group situation was a major case in point - it has spent the early portion of 2007 issuing fines for spending money as though they were PACs, not 527s, but when the campaign was in progress, the FEC declined to get directly involved. MoveOn.org and Club for Growth were among many 527s pouring cash into the election process one way or another. It will be very interesting to see what the fall-out from this will be. But whatever the fall-out, be ready for a bumper crop of political cash, with the concurrent potential for damage to your year-round clients as they get squeezed off the schedule by hungry politicians to whom you cannot say no.
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| Entertainment Media Business Report TM |
 ESPN Radio gets more
NBA in contract renewal
ESPN, ABC and the NBA are significantly expanding their global relationship with ESPN's most comprehensive digital rights package negotiated with any major professional sports league and enhanced television coverage in an eight-year extension beginning in 2008-09 (6/28/07 TVBR #126). For ESPN Radio, broadcast rights include a minimum of 15 regular-season games, 32 playoff games (including both Conference Finals and the NBA Finals), the NBA All-Star Game and related events, and the NBA Draft; live streaming on ESPNRadio.com; and continued satellite radio distribution rights.
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 5/14/07-5/18/07
For the second consecutive week, station traders left the 1B threshold far in the rear view mirror, pushing the total over 3.1B. The 2.6B Ion sale wasn't enough to compete with the prior week, featuring 4.2B worth of Tribune television stations (and one great big AM). Radio was a much bigger contributor to the total this time around, the the massive Clear Channel-to-GoodRadio.TV agreement weighing in at over 450M. The stations-traded total soared from 83 to 268.
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Total
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Total Deals
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11
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AMs
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66
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FMs
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133
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TVs
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59
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Value
*rounded |
3.103B*
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
GoodRadio.TV stocks up
| More... |
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TV Transactions of the Week
Buyers have their eye on Ion
| More... |
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| Transactions |
450K FM CP Cuba MO & FM CP Wheatland MO from World Radio Link Inc. (Earl Williamson) to Marathon Media Group LLC (Christopher Devine, Andrew Barrett, Peter Handy, Charles D. Schwartz, Jonathon D. Schwartz, Bruce Buzil, Aaron P. Shainis). 50K earnest money, balance in cash at closing. 325K allocated to Cuba CP, 125JK allocated to Wheatland CP. Buyer will also place 100K into escrow if necessary to pursue possible upgrade to Cuba CP. Cuba CP is for Class A on 102.1 MHz with 2.35 kw @ 518'; Wheatland CP is for Class A on 102.3 MHz with 4.73 kw @ 361'. [File date 6/12/07.]
N/A KIOT-FM Albuquerque NM (Los Lunas NM) from Univision Radio License Corporation, a subsidiary of Univision Communications Inc. (Joe Uva, Ray Rodriguez) to The Univision Albuquerque Trust, Bob Woodward, Trustee. Divestiture, placed in trust for resale. [File date 6/11/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Slight declines to end the first half
2007 is half over and stock prices ended the final session of June slightly lower, with traders worried about higher oil prices and continued worries about the sub-prime mortgage fallout. The Dow Industrials were off 14 points, or 0.1%, to 13,409.
Radio stocks were slightly lower. The Radio Index was off 0.185, or 0.1%, to 158.259. Beasley rose 2.7% and Citadel was up 2.6%, but Cox Radio fell 3.2% qnd Westwood One was down 1.5%.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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51.53
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-0.84
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Google
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GOOG
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522.70
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-2.31
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Beasley
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BBGI
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8.90
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+0.23
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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24.10
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+0.03
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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33.32
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+0.09
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.01
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-0.09
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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33.33
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+0.10
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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70.95
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-0.09
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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6.45 |
+0.16 |
Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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7.07
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+0.02
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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37.82
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+0.11
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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7.06
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unch
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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14.24
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-0.47
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Regent
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RGCI
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3.35
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+0.08
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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9.35
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-0.10
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.80
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+0.05
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Debut Bcg.
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DBTB
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1.90
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+0.20
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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11.09
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unch
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Disney
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DIS
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34.14
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+0.29
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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3.02
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unch
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Emmis
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EMMS
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9.21
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-0.01
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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4.30
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-0.13
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Entercom
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ETM
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24.89
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+0.14
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.25
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+0.07
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Entravision
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EVC
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10.43
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-0.10
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Westwood One
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WON
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7.19
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-0.11
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Fisher
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FSCI
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50.79
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-0.44
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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11.77
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+0.21
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to radionews@rbr.com
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Below the Fold
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Executive Comment
Are we missing something?
Answer ,"You bet!" Broadcasters have their heads in the sand...
Ad Business Report
Buyers speak out
Interep Radio Symposium: Rich Russo, JL Media: Radio can't do that...Natalie Swed-Stone, OMD: to remain healthy radio needs to appeal to a diversified...
Media Business Report
Citadel bets on McClatchy
We now know why their shares have been shooting up lately...
Media Markets & Money
3 more Clear Channel markets
Sold. Frontier Capital Partners is the latest buyer to grab a hunk of...
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Stations for Sale
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Hispanic Stations-Connecticut
Two full-time established AM stations serving the Hartford & Bridgeport Markets.
Contact Dick Kozacko,
Kozacko Media Services
607-733-7138, rkozacko@stny.rr.com
Full Power Maine FM's
2 FM's great cash flow with good upside, asking 1.5M.
Also offered individually.
Inquiries 781-848-4201 or
e-mail: salesgroup@beld.net
WEB: radiostationsforsale.net
 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
jbarnes@rbr.com
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Radio Media Moves
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DiRenzo gets Skin
Marconi Broadcasting Company LLC, owner of Philadelphia local Alternative radio station, WHAT-AM 1340 "Skin Radio," welcomes 17-year Radio veteran David DiRenzo as General Sales Manager. He was most recently Senior Account Executive with Citadel Broadcasting.
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More News Headlines
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Tribune, Gannett get hit
If you saw the word-fragment "mon" on a partially-obscured card flashed on your screen for one second during a commercial, would you know what it meant? Hint: You're not in Jamaica. Hint #2: It happened during broadcast of the Pokemon cartoon show on Tribune's KTLA-TV in Los Angeles. By now you're probably wondering how much it would cost you if it was your station on which this occurred. The answer is 8K. Since children have difficulty distinguishing between entertainment and commercial content, an ad that mimics or mirrors the entertainment legally turns the entire program into an "ad," easily taking the program past the legal limit of 10.5 minutes of advertising per hour on weekends and 12 minutes on weekdays. By now, you may have guessed that "mon" was a very partial view of a Pokemon card - no artwork was visible - but to the FCC, a Pokemon is a Pokemon is a mon. The FCC refused to grant KTLA any slack for the minimal nature of the infraction (it was part of a network feed from the old WB Network, which informed Tribune about the potential for trouble after the fact). Adding in 13 other related infractions and the Tribune hit was jacked all the way up to 20K. Gannett's WKYC-TV Cleveland joined in the fun with the much more mundane failure to publicize the existence and location of its Children's Television Programming Reports. That cost it 10K.
Mike Webb
was murdered
Seattle authorities say the death of radio talk host Mike Webb was a homicide, although they have not yet arrested a suspect. Webb's body was found Thursday by a man cleaning out his house for the landlord. The body had apparently been missed in previous searches because it was wrapped in a tarp and stuffed into a crawl space, with book cases in front of it. Police say he had been stabbed repeatedly. Webb had been missing since April 13th. Webb was best known for his 10 years on KIRO-AM, where his liberal, gay activist views were in sharp contrast to the conservative fare of most radio talk. He had been airing an online talk show via GAYBC.com since being fired from KIRO in December 2005 when he was charged with insurance fraud and ultimately convicted.
DC adds two more
HD streams
CC Radio's WASH-FM DC has launched a simulcast of its sister "Progressive talk" WWRC-AM on its HD-3 signal. That adds a good amount of coverage for the AM, especially at night. WASH-FM HD-2 is Adult Standards/Easy Listening/Show Tunes. Citadel's WMAL-AM went HD on Friday.
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RBR Radar 2007
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Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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Fairness Doctrine handed
strong rebuke in US House
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), a former radio talk show host, may be on the minority side of the aisle in the US House of Representatives, but he was clearly in the majority with the amendment he introduced to bar the FCC from using any federal funds to reinstate the so-called "Fairness Doctrine." The amendment to an appropriations bill was adopted Thursday night by an overwhelming 309-115 vote. Most of the recent talk about reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, which the FCC eliminated in 1987, has come from Democrats in the Senate, but the vote showed that party members in the House were less enamored of the idea.
06/29/07 RBR #127
Carat revises US ad spending forecast downward
Slightly to 5.1% growth. In December, the company had projected a growth rate of 5.2%. Carat forecasts U.S. ad demand to rise to 5.6% next year, compared with 4.9% in 2006. Carat expects 6.4% growth in global ad spend in 2008, largely fuelled by China, and maintained its global estimates for this year at 5.8%, down on the previous year's 5.9%.The biggest growth will come from online, while newspapers will be the slowest-growing segment. Carat also projected increasing ad spend from new technologies, including 3G (wireless), HD Radio and IP (Internet Protocol) TV. Digital investment remains the single biggest driver of growth in every region and country, with the next two fastest growing media being out-of-home and cinema. China is forecast to see 2007 growth of 20.9%, more than three times faster than the global advertising industry. The 2008 figure for China is 23.1%.
06/29/07 RBR #127
Kitchin exiting
Premiere Radio Networks
RBR bulletin first reported, Kraig Kitchin, President/COO Premiere Radio Networks has resigned. Kraig and Katz Media CEO Stu Olds were gathered at CCU HQ in San Antonio Wednesday for a meeting to hammer out the details. Charlie Rahilly will take over the top job at Premiere. He is currently Executive VP/Operations at CC Radio and its non-traditional revenue chief.
RBR observation: Perhaps he just got a better job offer. There are some big openings possibly right now in the network radio business - Westwood and potentially ABC Radio Networks, depending on what Citadel decides to do with its new division - but neither seems to fit with his comment on his next job being more "narrowly focused." We wait to see what's up.
06/28/07 RBR #126
Coen lowers expectations
for 2007 ad spending
Advertising guru Bob Coen is less optimistic now than he was back in December when he issued his ad spending forecast for 2007. The Universal McCann forecaster now expects US ad spending to grow only 3.1% this year, down from his previous prediction of 4.8% growth. Coen noted in his mid-year update, saying that consolidation of many retailers has hurt local ad spending. But he'd been so negative about local radio going into this year, that it is one of only two local media categories (yellow pages is the other) where he has boosted his forecast. He now expects local radio revenues to be up 2% this year, rather than 1%, while local ad spending across all media rises only 1.1%, down from his previous forecast of 2.7%. Coen is not so upbeat about national radio ad sales (network and national spot combined),
06/27/07 RBR #125
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Local Sales Manager
KFAN, Twin Cities, home of the Vikings and the leader in Sports radio has opening for a Sports Leader LSM. Minneapolis-St. Paul is a Top 20 Metro market (#16) and year after year, in quality of life studies, we are listed as one of the nation's best. Have what it takes to win when in the Red Zone then join our Sports Team and KFAN-AM 1130 as we go helmet to helmet. Qualifications and where to send resume, cover letter see Radio Careers
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