Radio News ®

Two more glum views from Wall Street
Following RAB's report that August radio revenues were down 1%, two more Wall Street analysts are out with negative assessments of the outlook for radio. Both James Marsh at S.G. Cowen & Co. and Gordon Hodge at Thomas Weisel Partners have lowered their estimates for Q3 and Q4 - - and say 2005 is looking iffy as well.

RBR observation: Do you think it is bad now? Wait until after this election. December RBR & TVBR Solutions Magazine goes in-depth with the advertising bureau chiefs for their forecast as the RBR / TVBR editors are gathering the necessary forward pacing data both radio and television need to get into 2005. Get ready to rumble. | More... |

Emmis, Bonneville pull a blockbuster swap
Cash, licenses and no small amount of radio station hardware will be changing hands as Bonneville sends WLUP-FM Chicago and 70M dollars to Emmis in exchange for three stations in Phoenix. All told, RBR estimates 210M in value is going in each direction. Bonneville, while retaining four FMs in the Windy City, gains entry into another top-20 market, getting AC KKLT-FM, Newser KTAR-AM and Sports KMVP-AM. Emmis paid 160M for the stations back in spring 2001 and says its banking a profit of 50M, making the RBR estimate the result of an extremely simple arithmetical operation. Emmis will have a double-barreled Rockopoly in Chicago when it teams WLUP with its WKQX-FM. The swap for the three Phoenix stations, minus the 70M in cash, which Emmis plans to use to pay down debt, yields a value of 140M for the Loop. Emmis said WLUP is projected to earn 11.6M this year against operating expenses of 8.2M. The three Phoenix stations expect to generate 29.8M against either 19M or 19.6M, depending on whether or not non-cash compensation is included on the expense side.

RBR observation: Is the dealing done? We don't think so. Emmis retains what is now an orphan in the age of consolidation. That would be KKFR-FM in Phoenix. We will not be at all surprised to see the Urban Contemporary outlet sod to either an in-market owner or a format specialist. Radio One, are you reading this?

CC Radio launches Creative Resource Group
for better ads
In it's ongoing quest to reduce clutter and transition some local :60 second spot advertisers to :30s, CC Radio announced the creation of the "Clear Channel Radio Creative Resource Group." The group, launching this fall, will be a resource to ad agencies and local stations, assisting them in creating engaging and memorable radio ads, offering creative coaching, online toolkits and ongoing direction in the creation, writing and production of spots. The group will also conduct comprehensive training of CC Radio staffers to ensure that sales and creative staffers are indispensable resources in the quest for more compelling content.

RBR observation: Good move if this is the case to hire the best in writing and production skills to create the theater of the mind with the power of audio. RBR has said before 'Less doesn't mean More' if we can not create the end product for the client. This means hiring more humans with talent. Again, another major issue RBR & TVBR Solutions Magazine investigates in our December 2005 outlook report. | More... |

Watchdogs pouring on the anti-indecency heat
Morality in Media (MIM) and the Parents Television Council (PTC) are doing all they assure that heightened indecency fines survive as an attachment to a defense authorization bill. MIM in particular is circulating a letter to gather signatures, prior to sending it to members of the Senate. PTC says it caught an unbleeped "f" word going out over the air on CBS's "Big Brother" 9/17/04. PTC's website is set up as a launching pad for FCC complaints about the matter. To rally the troops, the MIM effort cites the Big Brother incident, and recalls Janet Jackson and Bono for good measure. "There is no question that these violations are becoming more prevalent," says the MIM letter to citizens. "It is clear that the networks are either unwilling or unable to police themselves. Though the FCC has worked hard to toughen its enforcement efforts, too small fines have too little impact. We need to get the Congress to increase FCC fines now."

Rivals come to Rather's defense
They may be competitors, but at a weekend joint appearance to talk about the presidential campaign, both ABC's Peter Jennings and NBC's Tom Brokaw used the occasion to defend CBS' Dan Rather against calls for his firing based on his "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush's National Guard service using documents now believed to be fakes. "I don't think you ever judge a man by only one event in his career," Jennings said, drawing loud applause from the audience at the New York Public Library. According to the New York Times, the comment surprised Rather - - that his eyes moistened and he whispered, "Thank you, Peter." Brokaw then followed by taking issue with the efforts by conservative bloggers and websites to take down the CBS anchor. "What I think is highly inappropriate is what's going on across the Internet - - a kind of political jihad against Dan Rather and CBS News that's quite outrageous," Brokaw said. With Brokaw retiring from the anchor chair next month at age 64, the question did come up of when Rather, who is 72, might exit voluntarily. "Sure, I have thoughts about stepping down," he admitted, but said he intends to continue as long as he enjoys the work and his employer approves of his efforts. "I don't have a date, I don't have a time frame," he said.

Traffic Directors Salary Survey
launched online
The Traffic Directors Guild of America have launched their 4th TDGA Salary Survey in preparation for the 2004-2005 Annual Report. Data collection begins this week with a targeted release of all categories planned for January 1, 2005. This year, the trade association is using an online easy to use "point 'n click" response format.(http://www.pddesigns.com/tdga/tdgasurvey.html) "As with our three previous Reports, all individual responses are completely confidential and links between respondent and their information are severed once entry has been submitted to our secure collection point," said Larry Keene, CEO of the TDGA. The results of the report are available to TDGA Members and those non-members who actually participate and submit a completed survey. This year, the survey will include combined and individual categories by market size, commercial and non-commercial, radio and television stations, plus breakouts for Station Traffic personnel, Corporate level, Network and Cable network Traffic positions. The Report will also show data for Traffic personnel handling individual, combo or multiple numbers of logs. Working with BIAfn, this year TDGA will be able to have Stations that serve several different markets have their data reflected in each market served, increasing the Reports reliability across each market size.

Adbiz ©

RADAR 82:
ABC Daytime Direction on top again
Arbitron has released RADAR 82 covering June 26, 2003 - June 23, 2004. Sporting News Radio Network has been added to the roster of RADAR-rated nets, bringing the total number of measured networks to 47. As par for the RADAR course, ABC Radio Networks' ABC Daytime Direction on was top again. wAlso par for the course these days is the increasing number of special tabs--22 from ABC, AURN, Crystal, Dial-Global, Premiere and Westwood were added to 82. Says Dr. Tom Evans, SVP/Research at ABC Radio Networks: "Thanks to the flexibility of RADAR, special tabulations can provide audience estimates for all of the changes occurring in network radio. RADAR 82 is like watching 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy. You see one film at a time knowing that more is coming. We will evaulate RADAR 82, but can expect changes due to reconfigurations, new networks, and more affiliations that will be reported with special tabulations. My only concern is that the large number of Special Tabulations ordered for RADAR 82 does not confuse the marketplace." With ever-increasing reliability and predictability, RADAR's sample was at 75,000, the highest ever. Overall, Gross Impressions (GIs) were down slightly. There was some slight audience movement: one double-digit increase & three double-digit decreases. However, half of networks' changes were within three percentage points.
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DDB reportedly wins Subaru
Subaru of America is announcing that DDB Worldwide NY, has won the company's creative and media account. TM, Dallas, was the creative incumbent and Universal McCann, NY, was the media incumbent. DDB beat Martin, Richmond, VA, Berlin Cameron/Red Cell NY and McCann Erickson NY. The search consultant was AAR Partners, NY. Ad spend surpassed 137 million last year, according to TNS/CMR.

Media, Markets & Money tm

Washington Beat

Programming

Harrison back at WCBS-FM
The "Mayor" has come back to radio in the Big Apple. No, not Mike Bloomberg. We're talking about Harry Harrison, who was known as the "Morning Mayor" for 23 years of pulling the wake-up shift as WCBS, following more than a decade at WABC-AM. New WCBS PD Dave Logan said, "When I arrived at CBS-FM it was clear that our listeners missed having Harry on the air." So after leaving 18 months ago, saying that industry changes had taken the fun out of radio, Harrison has been coaxed out of retirement - - if only for a weekend gig. He'll be back this Saturday (6-10 am), with his new "Beatles for Breakfast" show timed to launch on the 64th birthday of the late John Lennon - - kicking off a weekend long celebration of The Beatles' music on WCBS.

Transactions

KVNA-FM Phoenix (Flagstaff AZ) from 3 Point Media - Arizona LLC to KVNA Acquisition LLC.

New FM Brush CO from Broadcasting for the Challenged Inc. to Way-FM Media Group Inc.

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Stock Talk

Radio Stocks