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Smulyan upbeat, but says Emmis
can't buck the economy
Emmis Communications didn't miss its fiscal Q2 guidance target for radio as Wachovia Securities analyst Jim Boyle had warned and CEO Jeff Smulyan is confident that the company's radio and TV groups will outperform their markets again in the current quarter. While he admits there are concerns because of the choppy economy and new media competitors, Smulyan said "reports of the demise of over-the-air radio and television are greatly exaggerated."

RBR observation: Times are tough, and as Smulyan noted, his company can't buck the direction of the US economy. But Emmis does have some things going right for it which don't necessarily extend to the entire broadcast industry. In New York, in particular, Emmis Radio is on a roll, with Barry Mayo & Co. cranking up the volume. Saying he didn't want to jinx anything, Smulyan nonetheless couldn't resist mentioning that WRKS-FM "Kiss-FM" is on track to topple Clear Channel's WLTW-FM from its long-held spot #1 and reclaim the title that Kiss once held for many years. Meanwhile, WQHT-FM "Hot 97" is rebuilding its morning show around "Miss Jones" and fighting in court to enforce its non-compete against "Star and Buc Wild," who are now in the Clear Channel stable (and on the air in Hartford and Philly). | More... |

Emmis says it is raising rates
Other companies may be talking about the need to push ad rates higher, but Emmis says it has been doing so already - - for the past year and a half. "For radio in the second quarter, I'm very, very proud to talk about the fact now that for six quarters Emmis' radio has had rates that have been up year-over-year, whereas sellout rates have been down. This has been one of the greatest contributions to our performance in terms of our margins," said CFO Walter Berger. "Whereas other people talk about their strategy of doing this, I think Emmis has great credibility in its ability to have done this now for almost a year and a half to two years." The CFO said Emmis raised its radio rates by 4% in the Jun-August quarter, while it sold 2% less inventory. For TV, ad rates were up 8% while the sellout rate was up only 0.5%. The auto sector continues to be soft for radio. Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings said he's not seeing any auto pickup in Q4. He said that while his stations are holding their own with local dealers, the dropoff has come in national spot advertising for the auto sector. Meanwhile, auto advertising was up 2% in the past quarter for Emmis Television.

Profs, tankers bat around ownership regs
As was to be expected, yesterday's session on media ownership at the Senate Commerce Committee focused on the philosophical underpinnings of the argument. The question boils down to this: Where is the point at which the principals of an open market and the need for regulation meet? | More... |

Poll: CBS made an "honest mistake"
What does John Q. Public think of the scandal that has engulfed CBS News? According to a USA today/CNN/Gallup Poll, 56% of the people surveyed said Dan Rather and CBS made an honest mistake in reporting on memos about President Bush's National Guard service that now appear to have been fakes. Asked if CBS should fire Rather over the incident, 64% said no. And despite all of the perceived negative public reaction to journalism in general, 52% said they had a positive view of media accuracy. On the other hand, 47% had a negative view - - which is still a pretty big number.

NAB attacks travail of the tape
The National Association of Broadcasters has sent in its reply comments per the FCC's request for same in its look at establishing a taping requirement to help it enforce indecency regulation. NAB notes solid arguments by many against such a requirement, and little coherent support in favor. Dealing with the pro-tape commenters, NAB can point to the recent raft of fines for indecent broadcasts as evidence that the FCC is well able to enforce the rules without such an onerous and constitutionally suspect station reg. It found other comments, like those of Morality in Media, to be "rife with errors or irrelevancies," first and foremost, whether or not indecent speech is protected by the First Amendment. MIM says it isn't, but the Supreme Court says it is. "The overwhelming majority of commenters in this proceeding have opposed the proposed recording requirement on a number of sound legal and policy ground," NAB concluded. "In light of these convincing arguments and the striking absence of support for the proposal, the Commission must refrain from adopting it. Imposing an exceptionally overbroad, unnecessary, burdensome, and legally and constitutionally suspect mandate on thousands of television and radio stations in the face of overwhelming evidence against the proposal would be the epitome of arbitrary and capricious rulemaking."

FCC kicking off big DTV push
FCC Chairman Michael Powell, along with representatives from virtually every high-profile corner of the electronic video programming business, will meet with the press Monday 10/4/04 in an event designed to push public awareness and acceptance of high definition television. Representatives from ESPN, FOX, CBS, HBO, Dicovery, NCTA, CEA, DirecTV and Emmis Communications will be on hand to discuss HDTV programming from the consumer angle. Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that Powell is planning to put the so-called Ferree plan to a vote before year's end, despite the fact that a similar measure just recently went down in flames in the Senate Commerce Committee. The plan would make 1/1/09 the day all analog television spectrum must be returned to the government. Some of the returned spectrum would go to public safety organizations and some would be auctioned off to other services.

Emmis hits its numbers
Results for its fiscal Q2 (June-August) came in right about where Emmis had told Wall Street to expect them to be. Total radio revenues (domestic and foreign) were up 5% to 86.4 million, beating the 85.9 million mark that the company had set for itself. Looking strictly at Emmis' US stations, revenues were up 3.3% to 81.6 million, with the rest of the gain coming from a 38% jump in overseas revenues to 4.8 million. TV revenues were up 10% to 61.4M, just a hair below the 61.9 million target. Company officials said Emmis' station significantly outperformed their markets, particularly in radio. CFO Walter Berger said national spot revenues were down 4% in Emmis' markets for the quarter, but its stations were only down 1%, and that while local sales were down 1% for the markets Emmis is in, its stations were up 4%. For the current quarter, which ends November 30th, Emmis is projection that total radio revenues (domestic and foreign) will be up 2.4% to 77.3 million, which Berger says is about 300 basis points (3 percentage points) better than its markets. In other words, Emmis thinks its stations will be up while its markets will be down slightly - - which doesn't bode well for some of its competitors. With the hottest portion of the election season falling in this quarter, TV revenues are expected to be up about 14% to 72 million.

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Toyota unveils new branding message:
"Moving Forward"
Toyota's new brand message, "Moving Forward" debuted yesterday with spots during evening network TV programming and will be rolled out as a motivational theme for dealers and Toyota employees. | More... |

Toyota enlists former GM exec
for "Moving Forward"
Toyota's new "Moving Forward" tag had help from a valuable source--a former GM marketing exec who led the Chevrolet brand. Toyota enlisted Kurt Ritter, who led the brand during its successful "Like a Rock" campaign. Ritter quit GM last year after 32 years with the automaker to direct Toyota's North American marketing efforts at Saatchi & Saatchi. His move came just as Toyota was gearing up for a renewed attack on the U.S. pickup truck market. As a consultant on the new Toyota campaign, Ritter "was involved in everything," said Jim Lentz, Toyota Group VP/Marketing. With the new campaign, Toyota will increase its U.S. ad spending slightly, Lentz said. Toyota spent an estimated 2 billion on advertising in the US last year, up from 1.8 billion in 2002, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR.

Oink Ink Radio produces ads for "Jeopardy"
Oink Ink Radio, a national radio ad agency with offices in NYC and LA, just completed its most recent radio effort for long-time client King World Productions. Oink Ink created and produced five musical performance-based radio ads for the theme song of the popular and long-running syndicated game show "Jeopardy!." Interesting musical performers were garnered for the campaign, including Calloway Brooks, grandson of legendary Jazz musician Cab Calloway and leader of the Cab Calloway Orchestra, Australian dobro player Tug McGraw and 75 year-old accordion player Frank Marocco. The Cab Calloway Orchestra recently recorded their ad in New York City. "We thought it would be interesting to find out how musical performers from around the world play the 'Jeopardy!' theme song," said Dan Price, President of Oink Ink Radio. "What we wanted was a unique musical style and flair for one of the most recognizable tunes in TV history." Casey Chester produced of all the "Jeopardy!" spots, and Gary Chester is the engineer who mixed The Cab Calloway Orchestra track.

AWRT and RAB team for PSA campaign
AWRT Empowering America, the third in a series of inspirational 60-second PSAs from the Foundation of AWRT, the philanthropic arm of American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT), and the RAB are now available for download from www.awrt.org and www.rab.com. The PSAs are the third in a series of inspirational vignettes and are a key component of AWRT's nationwide campaign celebrating the contributions that women have made to the American experience. AWRT Empowering America is made possible through the generous support of the Foundation of AT&T and Wal-Mart Women's Diversity Initiative. Narrated by Mary Hart, co-anchor of Entertainment Tonight, the PSAs relate stories of female American heroes in a way that is designed to spark interest and provide inspiration to radio listeners. Each PSA conveys the personal story of one of America's great women and focuses on their tale of empowerment and success.

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KZAB-FM & KZBA-FM Los Angeles (Redondo Beach, Ontario CA) from Spanish Broadcasting System to Styles Media Group LLC.

KKAA-AM & KQKD-AM Aberdeen SD (Aberdeen, Redfield SD) from Aberdeen Radio Ranch to Family Stations Inc.

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