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On "Less is More"

It is my understanding that Clear Channel has agreed to reduce the number of commercial "minutes" in an hour from 12 to 10. To my knowledge, nothing about the number of units in a stop set has been mentioned. At the same time they are going back to the :30 second standard unit. Two observations: 1.) In this market (Tulsa, OK.) We have been monitoring the Clear Channel cluster. Less than 10% of the spots recorded in a random one week sample, (NOV. 04) across all stations were :30's. The preponderance of those spots were for "local direct" accounts. Local accounts from large 4A agencies, as well as regional and national accounts still remain at :60 seconds. 2.) If and when the industry decides to re-embrace the :30 second unit. How does 10-:30's in a 5 minute pod, equate to "LESS CLUTTER" than 6-:60's in a 6 minute pod?

Mark Cortner, AE,
Shamrock Communications
Tulsa, OK.

Market Results
| Birmingham |
| Honolulu |
| Indianapolis |
| Milwaukee |
| Salt Lake City |

New MIW spokesperson
Susquehanna's Nancy Vaeth-DuBroff takes over from Arbitron's Joan Gerberding as the public voice of the informal group Mentoring and Inspiring Women (MIW), comprised of leading female managers in radio.

Tennessee/Alabama AM
Great AM opportunity in excellent Tennessee/Alabama border market. Adjacent rated market coverage.
Cliff at Clifton Gardiner & Co (303)758-6900
[email protected]

Mercury Awards join in
"Less is More"

Sirius signs for NCAA rights

Coroner: Ebersol's son probably dead

Halifax to get two more FMs

Univision and Nielsen call off the legal beagles
First Univision sued to block Nielsen from implementing Local People Meters in Los Angeles (6/11/04 TVBR #114), but an LA County Superior Court judge refused to issue a temporary injunction and LPMs began use as scheduled. | More... |

Report: Agencies not sold on PPM in Canada
The Toronto Globe and Mail reports the Association of Canadian Advertisers says the PPM isn't ready for prime time, and is calling on BBM to keep the hard-wired system in place. "We're certainly not ready to switch..." says Ron Lund, President and CEO of the ACA. "PPMs at some point in time may be the way to move technologically, but as far as we're concerned, the jury's still out."
| More... |

Who Will Sit on the Throne?
The election -What is in it
for Broacasters?

One On One
with PHD's Patrick McNew -
The man that over sees spot
for Chrysler Group.

Engineered For Profit
'05 budgets and capital expenditures, our close up look at who's planning to buy what next year.


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Campaign 2004 broke all records
- - in a big way
One tally of total political ad spending on TV time is in - - and it's more than even the highest previous estimates that we're aware of. Read this for their reasoning.
RBR observation: Anyone who thinks broadcast licenses are free hasn't tried to acquire one lately. New licenses, by law, now go to auction and if you want to buy an existing license you'll have to pay a multiple of cash flow in the double digits. On top of that, there are annual regulatory fees and it seems every year folks on Capitol Hill - - both Democrat and Republican - - propose new taxes on broadcasters as a way to help fill budget gaps. But those facts are ignored by the folks who see stealing your airtime as an easy way to "level the playing field" between candidates. These attempts at legalized theft won't go away, so broadcasters have to be vigilant in fighting back by emphasizing the role radio and TV play in informing voters. 11/29/04 RBR #231

:60s vs. :30s: The pros and cons of
"shortening the standard" - - Part 2
A key element of "Less is More" initiative is to migrate advertisers to shorter spots. But to implement more :30s and less :60's across the board, there may be a catch. To make listeners happy by reducing clutter and keep stockholders happy by at least keeping revenues stable, something's got to give. And that is to charge more than 50% for the price of a :30 second spot. CCU suggested that the price for a :30 could be as high as 70%-75% of the cost of a :60. 11/29/04 RBR #231

RBR News Analysis
Where things stand on indecency
The tangled web that is broadcast indecency enforcement is even more tangled than ever before after the FCC and Viacom agreed to veer off from a total head-on collision in the game of regulatory chicken they were playing. Let's look at where things stand. 11/29/04 RBR #231

Mark your calendars:
The sweeps periods
If you've gotten your wall calendar for 2005, it's time to mark the all-important dates for the Nielsen ratings sweeps. Conveniently, Nielsen Media Research has issued a list of all of the sweeps periods (including some from earlier this year) through the end of 2005.
RBR observation: Now radio GMs, PDs, marketing people- - this is the time when TV pulls out all the stops. So our recommendation is to focus on cross-marketing and promotion with TV's rating seasons. Best get to know real quick when they are in their sweeps, just like your sweeps. Called getting the biggest ROI bang for your promotional TV budget dollar. It should be pretty simple to figure out. 11/29/04 RBR #231

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