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Volume 24, Issue 197, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Tuesday Morning October 9th, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 More doubts about radio groups
Several Wall Street analysts came out with updates yesterday cutting their estimates for Emmis, following last week's quarterly conference call. One also reduced estimates for Radio One. The reaction from Wall Street was hardly surprising. Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan said in his call that he saw signs of improvement, but gave little tangible evidence of improvement in the company's guidance for the current quarter. At Bear Stearns, analyst Victor Miller noted that the guidance for the current fiscal Q3 was for domestic radio revenues to be down in the mid single digits. That was better than the 8.7% drop in fiscal Q2, but worse than the 3-5% drop that Miller had been expecting. He has reduced his full year revenue estimate for the entire company to 351.1 million, down from the previous projection of 354.8 million. And he seed EBITDA of 66.6 million, rather than 69.1 million. In miller's view, Emmis' stock is "fairly valued" and he maintains his "Peer Perform" rating.
"Emmis' revenue outlook remains challenging, given market-specific and industry headwinds. That said, a case for easy comps and a stabilization on the horizon can almost be made, and meanwhile we believe there is some probability that shareholders could receive either a tender offer or share in an equity distribution if any one or two of the stations in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago are sold," wrote analyst Mark Wienkes of Goldman Sachs, who maintains his "Buy" rating, despite reducing his financial projections for Emmis. The upside, he says, is the asset value. Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby questions the likelihood of investors realizing the spread between the stock price and the break-up value, given Smulyan's voting control. Based upon that and "continued weak radio fundamentals," Jacoby has lowered his target for the stock to six bucks from 10 and maintains his "Neutral" rating. Wienkes at Goldman Sachs also issued a report on Radio One yesterday, reducing his 2008 revenue estimate by 5% and his EBITDA estimate by 9%. "We are lowering our estimates and price target for Radio One owing to the continued challenging radio industry revenue trends. Radio One's ratings are improving but underperformance in key markets such as LA has the company pacing below industry trends," Wienkes wrote. His new price target is four bucks, down from six.
MMTC finds 48 companies to do its replying for it
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council has submitted a long laundry list of things the FCC can do now, things it can consider doing, and voluntary things the broadcasting community can do to foster increased broadcast ownership by socially disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) in general and minorities and women in particular. By way of reply comments, it submitted a simply endorsement by another laundry list, this time comprised of seconding broadcast businesses. "We agree with the commenters that MMTC's propsal is an important one, and we believe that the NAB's practical questions can be readily addressed," they wrote, urging the FCC to proceed. MMTC broke the companies down as follows: "21 radio broadcast companies, five financial institutions and capital providers, 16 media brokerages and six public interest and civil rights organizations."
| List of companies |
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 Cubs sale now on front burner
The Chicago Cubs had a good season, but have now been eliminated in the playoffs. So, instead of heading to the World Series, Tribune Company honchos can focus on selling the team. There appear to be plenty of interested bidders. Losing three games straight to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League playoffs was an inauspicious end to what had been a strong season for the Cubbies, extending the team's string of seasons without a World Series win to 99. Chances are good that there will be a new face in the owner's box next season. As Sam Zell and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan move to take Tribune Company private, the Cubs were put up for sale in April. That process can now shift into high gear. Publicly traded MVC Capital, headed by Illinois native Michael Tokarz, is the latest potential buyer to come to light in the pages of the Chicago Tribune, which is closely following the team auction. MVC's founders also have local ties: Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; and former US Senator Adlai Stevenson III (D-IL). Previous reports have listed Madison Dearborn Partners head John Canning, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the billionaire Ricketts family as bidders for the Cubs.
Meanwhile, the Cubs exit from the playoffs was bad news for TBS, which is telecasting the National League playoffs. Not only did the Arizona-Chicago series only run three games, depriving the cable net of ad revenues from the potential 4th and 5th games, but now it has a National League Championship Series pitting two western teams against each other, Arizona vs. the Colorado Rockies.
RBR observation: Rupert Murdoch has to be relieved that Fox cut back on its Major League Baseball playoffs commitment this year and let TBS take the National League Championship Series. A Cubs run after a potential World Series win would have been a big ratings draw, but TBS is now stuck with an NLCS with no big market team and no regional diversity.
TV station wins prior restraint case
A federal appeals panel in Florida has struck down a state judge's order that had barred WKMG-TV (Ch. 6, CBS) Orlando from airing stories based on documents legally obtained from an abandoned storage unit. The former owner of the documents, a political consultant, had claimed that his privacy rights somehow trumped the First Amendment. The Post-Newsweek Station had obtained the files that had formerly belonged to Doug Guetzloe from the man who bought them at an auction for 10 bucks after Guetzloe quit paying the rent on a storage unit. The station began reporting on the contents, including juicy details of Guetzloe's dealings with several political figures, until a judge in Orange County, where Orlando is located, barred the station from revealing any more information from the documents. The order was later modified to apply only to medical records and attorney-client communications. That didn't satisfy the station, which appealed to the federal courts, citing the doctrine repeatedly upheld by the US Supreme Court that prior restraint of the press is unlawful. "Although Appellant [WKMG] raises several arguments, we need only address one - whether the injunction imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint on the press in violation of the First Amendment," the three-judge federal appeals panel said in last week's ruling. The court turned aside the privacy claims of Guetzloe, noting that his lawyers had failed to cite any Supreme Court ruling that upheld privacy claims as justification for prior restraint of the press. The injunction against WKMG has been struck down, although Guetzloe vows to continue his appeal. He is also suing to regain possession of the documents. WKMG had been supported with briefs filed by RTNDA, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, The Florida Association of Broadcasters, The Florida Press Association, The First Amendment Foundation, The AP and numerous newspapers and television stations.
RBR observation: What is astounding about this case is that it took months, from back in January, for such a ridiculous court ruling to be struck down. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that prior restraint of the press is forbidden and that any exception would have to clear an incredibly high hurdle. That hurdle is so high that the Supreme Court has yet to find a case that actually cleared it. Not even plans to publish stolen, classified government documents qualified. Remember the "Pentagon Papers" case of the New York Times vs. the US Government? Certainly saving a political consultant from embarrassment doesn't come close to qualifying.
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Hearst Corporation undeterred
Although the independent directors of Hearst-Argyle Television have said "no" to a buyout of public shareholders by Hearst Corporation at 23.50 per share (9/28/07 RBR #190), Hearst Corporation is not backing away. In its latest SEC filing, Hearst Corporation said it plans to extend its tender offer, which is scheduled to end this Friday (10/12). The company, which already owns 73% of Hearst-Argyle, indicated that it would announce the extended tender by Monday, October 15th. The SEC filing did not give any indication, though, whether Hearst Corporation will increase its offer to win endorsement from the independent directors.
 Weight loss guru complains
about FTC intervention
Kevin Trudeau has a book out called "Weight Loss Cures They Don't Want You to Know About." The FTC makes no secret of its general disdain for dicey weight loss drugs and/or schemes. But Trudeau has a new wrinkle to the lengthy battle between the FTC and diet gurus. The FTC wants him to cease using infomercials to promote the book, but he says the infomercials simply advertise a product of his own constitutionally-protected free speech. The FTC is famously down on any advertisement which makes claims about weight reduction that is not tied to diet and exercise. Trudeau's marketers, Direct Marketing Concepts, couch the conflict between Trudeau and the FTC as a difference of opinion. Further, DMC President Donald Barrett claims, they are marketing a book, not diet products. "It is disheartening to me that the FTC would spend tax payers' dollars on legal action designed to stop an author from expressing his beliefs," said Barrett. "The FTC is desperately seeking new ways to suppress Mr. Trudeau's opinions and prevent millions of readers from hearing what he has to say about government agencies and American health care." DMC claims that the FTC "has maintained a history of tacitly approving advertisements that merely repeat opinions expressed in books," which it calls the "mirror-image rule." Barrett plans to counter-sue the FTC over the matter.
RBR observation: Let's see if we have this concept straight. We cannot market cigarettes over the air. But if we write a book called "Cigarettes: In Our Opinion, the Best Thing For You," then we can run all the ads we want to market the book. Interesting. Think this argument will fly?
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| Wall Street Business Report TM |
Time to meet The Street
Westwood One holds a conference call with Wall Street analysts this morning to answer their many questions about last week's renegotiated deal with CBS (10/4/07 RBR #194). A few questions were answered when WW1 filed copies of the new agreements. For example, we now know that WW1 will pay CBS Radio an annual programming fee of 12.5 million for exclusive syndication rights to CBS Radio News. No doubt the analysts will still have many, many more questions to ask.
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Ad Business Report TM
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Project Apollo pilot adds radio networks
Project Apollo, the joint initiative of Arbitron and The Nielsen Company, announced that audience estimates to the radio commercials broadcast on the network and syndicated programs provided by Dial Global, Jones Media America, Premiere Radio Networks and Westwood One are now being included in the media data that will be available to the seven advertisers participating in the Project Apollo Steering Committee. The network and syndicated radio audience info is the latest addition to the syndicated Project Apollo media dataset that currently includes broadcast television networks, cable networks, magazines, newspapers and circulars. Participating advertisers include Kraft, Pfizer, Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and SC Johnson.
 VoodooVox signs
JMA to rep deal
VoodooVox (www.voodoovox.com), developers of In-Call Media and operators of In-Call Network, announced Jones MediaAmerica has been awarded a three-year contract to serve as the exclusive In-Call Media sales rep for US-based radio and television broadcasters. The agreement is expected to generate 2.3M in ad sales for VoodooVox over the first year, and more than 10m over the course of the entire contract. In-Call Media inserts ad-supported audio content directly into the call stream of high-call volume companies before they answer the phone. Currently integrated into hundreds of leading telecom "publishers" generating 300 million calls monthly, the VoodooVox In-Call Network is creating new revenue for IDT, Univision, Virgin Mobile, Nokia, Microsoft and Showtime, among others. Said Gary Schonfeld, president, Jones MediaAmerica: "Radio stations have a unique relationship with their audience, millions of whom interact with the stations by phone on a daily basis. In-Call Media represents the perfect way to reach this audience with unique material, such as targeted marketing messages to ad-supported mobile content like ringtones, games and graphics, and even full music tracks."
Tune in and Columbus radio spots examined
Media Monitors took a look at tune-in advertisers, the city of Columbus, OH and their use of spot radio. #1 last week on the radio in Columbus was SAFELITE AUTOGLASS running 1176 spots. Next was KROGER, the Ohio based grocery store chain, airing 698 commercials. #3 was GEICO with 619 ads, while HOME DEPOT was in the #4 slot with 343 spots. SAFEAUTO INSURANCE COMPANY was #5 running 339 spots and SKYLINE CHILI restaurants were #6 airing 322 announcements. The DISH NETWORK was #7, up from 23 the previous week, running 322 spots. COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS, their NHL team aired 310 spots, while JARED GALLERIA OF JEWELRY ran 305 commercials coming in #9. And #10 was FOX TV NETWORK with an even 300 spots.
As the TV Networks fire up their fall seasons, they tend to promote their new and returning shows with much vigor. From all the spots that ran on all the stations in America monitored by Media Monitors, here are the results: #1 FOX TV with 12,758 spots. #2 NBC TV with 10,295 and #3 was CBS TV with 9,723 announcements. Coming in #4, the CW TV NETWORK, the joint venture of CBS and Warner Brothers ran 9,622. In the #5 slot was ABC TV with 8,550, while the SCI FI CHANNEL was #6 airing 7,037 spots. COMEDY CENTRAL laughed its way into the #7 slot up from #18 in the previous week with 4,932 ads, and the TWO AND A HALF MEN syndication efforts of Tribune Broadcasting came in at #8 with 1,839 spots. VH1 was #9 with 1,830 spots, while the GEORGE LOPEZ syndication machine ran 1,792 spots.
On the NATIONAL SPOT TEN last week GEICO was #1 running 35,156, breaking all records for number of spots run this year. The HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE was #2 with 25,911 spots. HOME DEPOT was #3 with 23,739 units, while VERIZON was #4 running 18,552 spots. MCDONALDS was #5 with 17,339 spots.
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| Executive Comment |
Pricing In A PPM World
 It has become apparent that Arbitron's PPM service reports lower listening than its diary service. Studies have shown that the average station's AQH Persons decreases in excess of twenty percent. This decline means that their AQH Rating falls by a similar amount. Many conclude that lower ratings will result in a station's AUR declining at a time when our industry is ill-prepared for anymore obstacles. There is a basic flaw with this thinking. While stations are often judged based on ratings, rank and CPP, the basis of pricing is Economics 101-supply and demand. This elementary concept is often forgotten in the context of pricing as our currency changes. A station's rates are based on the demand for its inventory. How else can you explain that for years WFAN-AM was the top biller in New York even though it rarely broke the top 10 on a ranker?
Stations' rates were being set well before cost-per-points were prevalent. Cost-per-points follow a station's rates, not the other way around. Two markets of similar population can have very different average cost-per-points because of differences in supply and/or demand. We can all remember markets that were on fire. Cost-per-points go out the window as people will spend whatever it takes to get on the air. If demand grows and supply stays constant, then AUR will rise. Conversely, if demand falls and supply remains constant, AUR will drop. Neither of these two scenarios has anything to do with ratings or cost-per-point. That's not to say that the conversion from diary to PPM won't affect a station's billings. As a station's rank position rises or falls, demand for its inventory will change. Also, if not properly educated, an advertiser may perceive that radio has gotten more expensive because the same schedule in a PPM world will yield a significantly higher CPP than it would in a diary world. Although PPM listening estimates show lower ratings, actual listening has not declined.
Advertisers' misperceptions can be easily eliminated by a well-focused and clear explanation that the radio schedule's actual effectiveness has not changed; only the tool that measures it has. A schedule that was effective in a diary-based world will be equally effective in a PPM world. If a radio station delivers real results for an advertiser, there will be great demand for its inventory and its AUR will rise - no matter what the PPM estimates show.
Charlie Sislen
Research Director, Inc.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
Don't get mad, get a station
It's not every day you get off the beach by buying a station on the beach. WLSC-AM Loris doesn't quite qualify for that latter, but it is in the Myrtle Beach SC market. It's being bought by a longtime local air personality Banana Jack Murphy. Banana Jack is actually James Marvin Blackmon, and along with Barbara Krumm Blackmon, he's getting WLSC from J.A.R.C Broadcasting for 100K cash. According to Sun News MytrleBeachOnline, Banana Jack has been plying the airwaves of Myrtle Beach under that and other names for 18 years until he was cut loose from WYAV-FM about six months ago. According the Sun News, the station's Country/Gospel programming will undergo some tweaks. Banana Jack will be looking to broadcast live acts on the station and may pump up the emphasis on local high school sports. Loris is about 20 miles inland on the northern end of the resort market, not far from the North Carolina line.
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| Washington Business Report TM |
ConAgra gets aboard anti-obesity express
Yet another major food producer is voluntarily taking steps to avoid marketing sweet, fatty and/or salty food to youngsters. ConAgra says it is setting up nutrition guidelines for advertisement going on programs aimed at children aged 12 or less, and should have something ready for implementation early in 2008. Congressional point man for the project is Ed Markey (D-MA), who said, "I want to commend ConAgra for its voluntary commitment, which indicates that ConAgra recognizes its responsibility to children and the importance of taking steps to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. As childhood obesity is a serious public health issue, it is vital that food and beverage marketers adopt socially responsible marketing strategies. I look forward to reviewing the full details of ConAgra's new criteria."
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| Entertainment Business Report TM |
Emmis Indianapolis shuffles
formats; adds ESPN
 Emmis Indianapolis announced that beginning 1/7/08, its programming on flagship WIBC-AM will be separated, with CHR WNOU 93.1 FM becoming WIBC-FM and broadcasting a news/talk format, and 1070 AM broadcasting an all-sports format as an ESPN affiliate. The transition period began yesterday, when 93.1 FM kicked off "93 Days of Christmas." The move will allow WIBC to provide the market's first local news and talk station on FM radio, along with one of the strongest ESPN Radio signals in the nation. RadioNow, the previous format on 93.1 FM, will continue as an HD-2 format and on the Internet.
RBR observation: WNOU is a full-market FM, but nothing even close to the coverage of 50kw WIBC-AM. A lot of folks throughout Indiana are no longer going to have access to what has long been the leading radio news outlet in the state. Gonna be some upset listeners.
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| Internet Business Report TM |
Msnbc.com acquires Newsvine
Citizen journalist news site Newsvine has been acquired by msnbc.com. Newsvine, which lets visitors read and comment on news stories from mainstream media outlets, will continue operating independently, just as it has been since launching in March of 2006. Over the next few years, Newsvine technology and content will make its way onto msnbc.com, and vice-versa where it makes sense. Users' columns and content will remain as they have been. Mike Davidson, its co-founder and CEO, told The AP about a million people come to the site each month. He adds that the deal will increase exposure for its writers: "Remember when Killfile broke the news of the Virginia Tech shooting 22 minutes before the Associated Press? What about when Corey Spring got an exclusive interview with Dave Chappelle? When important moments like these occur on Newsvine, why shouldn't they also be put in front of 29 million people on msnbc.com?"
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| Transactions |
210K WRES-AM Columbus GA (Alexander City AL) from Joy Christian Communications Inc. (Ed L. Smith) to The Neeck Trust (William A. Neeck, Margaret A. Neeck). Debt forgiveness. [File date 9/21/07.]
110K WADM-AM Decatur IN from Holden Broadcasting Inc. (Richard Holden) to Lewis Broadcasting LLC (Jay Lewis). Two 11K escrow deposits, balance in cash at closing. [File date 9/21/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Wall Street in neutral
Stock prices were little changed on Monday as traders awaited today's release of minutes from the last Fed meeting and a slew of earning reports due out this week. The Dow Industrials declined 22 points to 14,044, but the Nasdaq Composite was up a bit while the S&P 500 was a bit lower.
Radio stocks were mostly lower. The Radio Index declined 1.007, or 0.8%, to 126.506. The bookends were Emmis, down 6.9%, and Beasley, up 3.2%. Google, an increasingly important advertising middleman for broadcasters, rose above 600 bucks per share for the first time.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Monday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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46.72
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+0.32
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Google
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GOOG
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609.62
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+15.57
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Beasley
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BBGI
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8.02
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+0.25
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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25.55
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-0.13
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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30.85
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+0.42
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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9.92
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+0.05
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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30.86
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+0.45
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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67.73
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-0.22
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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4.27 |
+0.12 |
Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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3.86
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-0.07
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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37.20
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+0.05
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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3.86
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-0.11
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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13.43
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-0.25
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Regent
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RGCI
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2.72
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+0.03
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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10.50
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-0.01
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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8.04
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-0.04
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Debut Bcg.
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DBTB
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0.85
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-0.17
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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8.43
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+0.12
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Disney
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DIS
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35.27
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-0.20
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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3.45
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unch
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Emmis
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EMMS
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5.13
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-0.38
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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2.55
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unch
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Entercom
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ETM
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21.24
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-0.33
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.06
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+0.02
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Entravision
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EVC
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10.10
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-0.46
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Westwood One
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WON
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2.95
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-0.05
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Fisher
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FSCI
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49.99
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+0.04
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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14.26
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-0.05
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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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Ad Business Report
Project Apollo pilot grows
Joint initiative of Arbitron / Nielsen, is adding network radio to the data...
Executive Comment
Pricing In A PPM World
One vet broadcaster's take on how PPM is likely to affect average unit rates....
Washington Business Report
ConAgra cutting the fat
Another big food manufacturer pledges to market only good stuff to eat to kids...
Media Markets & Money
Don't get mad, get a station
Not every day you get off the beach by buying a station on the beach...
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Stations for Sale
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 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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Garsh to Entercom
Steve Garsh has been named Station Manager of Entercom's WVEI-FM Springfield, MA and WVEI-AM Worcester, MA, both of which simulcast the programming of "Sports Radio" WEEI-AM Boston. Garsh spent the last three years with Nassau as Senior Vice-President/Regional Manager for the New Hampshire Concord/Lakes region, Manchester and Boston markets.
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More News Headlines
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Artist dishes on labels
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails does not feel like he and his friends in the recording industry are facing a tough situation in the difficult new internet world, where both artists and labels suffer from rampant illegal downloading. Instead, he feels caught between his fans and the labels, and is looking forward to the day his last contractual obligation to a label is fulfilled so he can divorce himself from them. In an interview with Australia's Herald Sun, he said, "It's a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there's so much resentment towards the record industry that it's hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don't look like a greedy a*******." If people didn't like his latest work, fine, but he knows its out there on iPods, and people are stealing it. What are the record companies doing about it? He said he walked into a store in Australia and found his CDs priced 10 dollars higher than more popular releases. Local recording execs told him that was because his audience was so loyal that they could be gouged, because they'd buy the work at any price. Reznor was furious that the loyalty of his fan base was being exploited, and to top it off, he wasn't seeing on penny of the extra cash. He said if he was free of the labels right now, he'd sell his material directly on his own website at less than a quarter of the going retail rate, and market other related material as well.
RBR observation: It's just another reminder that the battle for radio performance royalties is not all that it seems to be. If an artist like Reznor wants royalties when he's a free agent all the way from composing to performing to marketing, that's one thing. However, we hope and suspect he's smart enough to realize that radio can drive traffic to his website.
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TVBR - TV News
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Legislators criticize
premature white
space initiative
Two Republican senators and two democratic Representatives have expressed their concerns over allowing unlicensed devices to be introduced into the spectrum holes between television stations. FCC tests have yet to prove that such devices can operate without causing harmful interference. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said, "With the test results that were compiled, I am deeply concerned about the significant implications that could occur with respect to the DTV transition if the Commission and Congress hastily move forward with any rulemaking or legislation." Her sentiments were echoed from her colleague Susan Collins (R-ME), who added, "I urge the Commission not to take such a step until such devices have been thoroughly tested to ensure that they do not pose a risk of interference with over-the-air broadcast signals." Bart Gordon, who is in a position to bring Congressional oversight to bear on this matter, said, "As the Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, I support the most efficient use of spectrum. However, I believe this proposal is premature until such time that it can be proven that unlicensed, personal and portable devices will not cause harmful interference to the devices already using the TV spectrum." Finally, Charles Gonzalez (D-TX) expressed concern about what disruption of the spectrum could mean to his constituency, noting, "Hispanic homes are especially sensitive to TV interference as nearly 40 percent of Hispanic households reside in multiple dwelling units, compared with the non-Hispanic U.S. average of 21.7 percent."
TVBR observation: We've said it before and we'll say it again. It is simply mind-boggling that this topic is even being considered with -- as NTIA has been at great pains to point out lately -- the DTV transition is less than 500 days away. If we were white space proponents, we'd be spending our money on R&D over the next two years to develop genuinely fool-proof devices (if such a thing is possible), not on promoting the rash introduction of experimental technology that risks disrupting the most important change to spectrum usage in the history of the United States.
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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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Emmis projects another down Qtr
CEO Jeff Smulyan says he sees encouraging signs, but the guidance from Emmis for the current quarter is that it will again underperform a sluggish domestic radio industry, with KMVN-FM Los Angeles cited as the culprit. Emmis' radio stations would have been in line with the markets, except for WRKS-FM New York and KMVN LA. For the current quarter, he says the Emmis stations will be in line with their markets except for KMVN. "We're actually very encouraged by the things we've seen this quarter," Smulyan insisted as he began his quarterly conference call with analysts. He pointed to switching national representation to Katz, said ratings are up for most Emmis stations and that sales are improving.
RBR observation: Emmis going forward has three issues that may be challenging. 1) Emmis has Urban in NYC. PPM has not been kind to Urban. 2) WKQX is still suffering from the loss of Mancow. It is 25th in the market 12+, plus the Alternative format is where technology is hitting first. Classic Rock WLUP is 16th 12+ and losing to Bonneville's "Drive." 3) 'Movin' in LA has not caught on. Rick Dees is miscast and there are plenty of stations duplicating the music they play. When you are challenged in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, it doesn't matter how your stations in Indianapolis are doing. Smulyan must execute formats better in 2008 or face another long year of little or no growth.
10/08/07 RBR #196
Dissidents on News Corp. ballot
When shareholders of News Corporation hold their annual meeting October 19th, they'll be voting on some routine items, plus two proposals that are opposed by Rupert Murdoch and the company's board. One would dramatically dilute Murdoch's voting power, but it is not considered likely to pass, despite a key endorsement.
TVBR observation: What is unusual about News Corporation is that there is actually at least a theoretical possibility that these measures could pass. In many companies with dual voting structures, CBS, Emmis and Radio One to name a few examples, one shareholder has majority voting control by virtue of their super-charged shares and can effectively veto any idea they don't like. But while Rupert Murdoch and his family members own the biggest chunk of News Corporation's voting stock, that still only amounts to 39% voting power. Should Mayne's proposal pass, that would be reduced to under 15%.
10/08/07 TVBR #196
Rehr wants hearing on
record company/artist relations
In the battle over performance royalties for airplay, the music industry trotted out musicians to carry the water. But will the musicians end up with the cash? The NAB thinks Congress should try to find out before it crafts any legislation.
RBR observation: This addresses the big question about the latest airplay royalty grad, which many believe is simply part of an all-points thrust to make up for money lost as the recording industry adjusts to new internet realities. Will cash taken from broadcasters benefit artists or multinational conglomerates?
10/05/07 RBR #195
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WOR Radio Network's Offering competitive salary + commission plan, health insurance and 401K. WRN is the place to be to succeed with stability.
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