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Dahl exits, blames PPM
After 30 years on the air in Chicago, Steve Dahl told listeners to WJMK-FM "Jack FM" Friday that it was his last show, even though CBS Radio will still be paying him for another two and a half years. Dahl blamed PPM for the decision to cancel his show, saying all-music formats get better ratings under the new system. And despite the long period remaining on his contract during which he will not be on the air, Dahl insisted that he is not retiring.
Republican CommComm picture even cloudier
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the ranking member on the Republican side of the Commerce Committee, has announced the formation of an exploratory committee with an eye on the governor's mansion in her home state. It promises to stir a committee roster that has already been shaken. The Texas race will be in 2010, and Hutchison would be able to continue serving - her seat is not due for another voter referendum until 2012. She could also exit upon officially announcing her candidacy for Texas governor.
RBR observation: One of the candidates to replace Hutchison if she exits is Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who may be the closest thing to a Democrat remaining on the Republican side of the aisle since Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI) was dispatched in 2006. Should Snowe get the top slot, it would figure to increase the bipartisan spirit of one of the more bipartisan committees in the Senate.
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Nielsen radio test underway
The Nielsen Company confirms that the first sticker diaries ever used in the United States went out last week. As RBR/TVBR reported last month, a test is being run this month in one of the 50 markets where Nielsen will begin US radio measurement in 2009. It is still a deep, dark secret though which market is the site of the test. Nielsen doesn't want any station to be able to try to skew the data. Meanwhile, Arbitron CEO Steve Morris is standing his ground. He told the company's consultant fly-in last week that the current US radio ratings leader is "not going to give an inch to the Cumulus sticker diary." Cumulus Media signed with Nielsen to provide radio ratings in 50 smaller US markets and Clear Channel is also subscribing in the 17 markets where it also has stations.
Scammers used media to lure victims
The Federal Trade Commission has busted a group of companies and individuals who used radio, television and newspaper advertising to attract victims with promises of a career as a mystery shopper. Instead, all the respondents got was a lighter wallet. According to the FTC, the scammers' advertising directed people to a telemarketer, who promised full or steady part-time employment as a mystery shopper - provided they kicked in $99 up front. That got them a worthless certificate and links to mystery shopper jobs offered by other, completely unrelated companies. They've been hit with settlements of $850K and $750K.
RBR observation: These are repeat offenders, and all we get is "don't do it again?" Are there no minimum security prisons left? Please, broadcasters, do us all a favor and keep imbeciles like these off of our airwaves. |
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Ideas Working Now ™
Primer on Media Mixing
By Marivic Valencia, Director of Marketing, Broadcast Interactive Media
I'd like to dispel the notion that traditional media and social media do not mix well together. There's a widely-held fear of giving the general public access to station personnel (even though it's the job of local media to broadcast themselves). But, social media is now much more of a two-way communication platform than it has been in the past, and it's time for traditional media to jump in... |
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Simmons Media Group/Salt Lake City earns CRMC status
Simmons Media Group's entire Salt Lake City sales force for their seven-station cluster earned Certified Radio Marketing Consultant (CRMC) status by completing the RAB CRMC course. Pictured left to right is Steve Johnson, President of Simmons Media/Salt Lake City; Crystalynn Portwood, AE, KXRK; Tammy Montoya, AE, KRXK; Janene Perkins, AE, JEM Network; Heather Easterbrook, AE, KALL/KZNS Sports Radio; Jill Smith, AE, KALL/KZNS Sports Radio; Tami Savage, AE, JEM Network; Jamie Plesko, SA, JEM Network; Jan Brownstein, AE, JEM Network; Jacquie Louie, AE, JEM Network; Heath Harper, AE, JEM Network; Collin Ash, AE, JEM Network; Jason Stark, AE, JEM Network; Craig Hanson, President & COO of Simmons/Corporate. Though not pictured, Sue Murphy, DOS in Salt Lake City, was also a driving force in the training initiative.
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Radio's Hiring Hot List
Network Administrator
Account Executive, VA
General Manager, IA
View all Radio jobs
Check out over 25 job openings. |
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WASHINGTON BUSINESS REPORT ™ |
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Obama dwarfs fund-raising records
Counting donations up to and a bit beyond 11/4/08 (Election Day), the presidential campaign of Barack Obama brought in $745M, including over $100M during the final five weeks of the campaign. To put that in perspective, it compares favorably to the 2004 income reported by George W. Bush and John Kerry combined, and with room to spare - Bush and Kerry combined for $653M, and that's including federal financing. Obama opponent John McCain didn't bring in half as much, although he enjoyed an edge in support from the RNC, which outraised its rival DNC $322M to $186M.
RBR observation: Individual donation limits were intended to prevent millionaires from having an undue influence on elections. Much of Obama's support, however, came from small donors. It'll be interesting to see if there is another attempt to "fix" the system, if such a thing is even possible - every time they try it, it seems like a new spending record is set.
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PROGRAMMING BUSINESS REPORT ™ |
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Scarborough comes to radio
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough takes to the radio airwaves today. He and Mika Brzezinski will continue their "Morning Joe" show from the cable network for two more hours daily on Citadel's WABC-AM New York, 10 am to noon, filling the gap between Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh. The spot had most recently been filled by material from Curtis Sliwa's overnight show. According to the New York Times, Scarborough, a former conservative Republican congressman, and Brzezinski, a veteran TV journalist, hope to take their radio show nationwide in 2009. |
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MONDAY MAKERS & SHAKERS ™ |
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Transactions: 10/20/08-10/24/08
After two weeks in double-digit million territory and another that just missed, station trading activity edged back to Nowhereland. Six transactions involving six stations, none of them on the television side, chinned over the 2.5M line but not by much. The lack of action seems to be in a holding pattern.
- |
Total |
Mkts 1-50 |
Mkts 51-100 |
Mkts >100 |
Unrated |
AMs |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
FMs |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
TVs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
LPTVs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Total |
6 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
-Type |
Trans |
Stations |
Value |
Radio, 1 mkt |
6 |
6 |
2.645M |
TV, 1 mkt |
- |
- |
- |
Rad-TV, 1 mkt |
- |
- |
- |
Radio, multimkt |
- |
- |
- |
TV, multimkt |
- |
- |
- |
Rad-TV, multimkt |
- |
- |
- |
Totals |
6 |
6 |
2.645M |
©2008 Radio Business Report, Inc. All rights reserved.
Radio Trans. of the Week: Salem snags Miami DIY
The CP for WZAB-AM in Miami-Fort Lauderdale is headed to Salem Communications, adding to the two AMs it already has there. The Class B on 880 kHz is coming from Karen M. Cox for $1.4M. Salem will begin constructing the station with the seller's cooperation.
TV Trans. of the Week: Back into dormancy
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Stocks gain despite bad jobs news
Wall Street had expected the November employment report from the Labor Department to be pretty bad. It was, but the market digested the news and moved on. By the end of Friday's session, stock prices were higher as investors banked on the government doing more to shore up the economy. The Dow Industrials rose 259 points, or 3.1%, to close at 8,635.
Radio stocks went along for the ride. The RBR Radio Index rose 1.081, or 3.9%, to 29.101. The big gainers were Cumulus, up 29.2%, and Beasley, up 23.8%.
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Chng |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Chng |
Arbitron* |
ARB |
|
12.61 |
+0.28 |
Fisher |
FSCI |
|
21.92 |
-0.14 |
Beasley* |
BBGI |
|
1.98 |
+0.38 |
Google |
GOOG |
|
283.99 |
+9.65 |
CBS CI. B |
CBS |
|
7.39 |
-0.01 |
Hearst-Argyle |
HTV |
|
7.31 |
+0.22 |
CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
|
7.34 |
-0.11 |
Journal Comm. |
JRN |
|
2.29 |
+0.09 |
Citadel* |
CDL |
|
0.18 |
+0.01 |
Lincoln Natl. |
LNC |
|
17.36 |
+5.15 |
CC Media |
CCMO |
|
4.00 |
+1.25 |
Radio One, Cl. A |
ROIA |
|
0.41 |
-0.19 |
Cox Radio* |
CXR |
|
6.26 |
+0.53 |
Radio One, Cl. D* |
ROIAK |
|
0.22 |
-0.01 |
Cumulus* |
CMLS |
|
1.15 |
+0.26 |
Regent* |
RGCI |
|
0.11 |
-0.01 |
Debut Bcg. |
DBTB |
|
0.27 |
0.00 |
Saga Commun.* |
SGA |
|
2.89 |
0.00 |
Disney |
DIS |
|
22.77 |
+0.98 |
Salem Comm.* |
SALM |
|
0.95 |
-0.01 |
Emmis* |
EMMS |
|
0.28 |
+0.01 |
Sirius XM |
SIRI |
|
0.15 |
-0.01 |
Entercom* |
ETM |
|
1.08 |
0.00 |
Spanish Bcg.* |
SBSA |
|
0.11 |
-0.04 |
Entravision |
EVC |
|
0.72 |
+0.07 |
Westwood One* |
WWON |
|
0.07 |
+0.01 |
*Component of the RBR Radio Index
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Only On RBR.com
Primer on Media Mixing
Social media is now much more
of a two-way communication platform
Media Business Report
Unintended consequences
Was Sumner not thinking
straight, or is he just under
so much pressure
Ratings & Research
Battle of the media
ratings titans
Nielsen is invading Arbitron's turf. Arbitron is threatening by offering TV
Makers & Shakers
Transactions: 10/20-10/24
Radio Salem snags Miami DIY |
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Upped in Athens
Cox Radio has promoted Scott Smith to Vice President and General Manager of its Athens, GA cluster of six stations. He had been Director of Operations in Athens.
John Sirmons
retiring from Christal
From Christal Radio VP/General Sales Manager Scott Porretti: "It is will sincere mixed emotions that I announce the first of three company announcements to you. [VP/Sales] John Sirmons, who just celebrated his 31st anniversary with Christal Radio a week ago, made the personal decision to retire this month (coincidentally right in time for ski season!). Truth is, John came to us a couple of months ago with his decision and while we selfishly will miss having him here everyday, we are personally excited for him. He has had an outstanding career with us. While he has seen much change in our business over his career, what has never changed is John's personal approach to doing business and his passion for our company and industry. He is someone who is extremely well respected both here in the NY marketplace and within our company. His last day with us will be Friday December 12th and for the folks in NY we will have something planned to celebrate with John."
Admiral on board
AccuWeather Inc. announced that Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired) has been elected to the company's Board of Directors. Admiral Lautenbacher served from December 2001 to October 2008 as the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, in whichhe also was the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
New board members
Relevant Radio announced the addition of two members to its board of directors. Mark Balasa, a financial planner, is a Principal, Co-President of Balasa Dinverno Foltz LLC. Timothy Wiggins is Exec.VP and CFO of Tellabs.
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News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
Last pieces of Interep sold
Former owner Sheila Kirby and current President Susan Novicki are buying the sales consulting company Morrison and Abraham. There's also a buyer for Interep's two Hispanic TV reps.
12/05/08 RBR #237
Optimization, Integration, and Procrastination
Three things seem to be prevalent in the world of traditional media as they map-out their new media strategies: Seems legacy media has just discovered there is something out there called SEO and SEM (Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing.
12/05/08 RBR #237
Sanyo debuts Internet radio
Now a major electronics manufacturer has jumped into the Internet/Wi-Fi radio arena. Designed with the contemporary look and functionality of a clock radio, the Sanyo Internet Radio R227 can play some 10,000 internet radio stations and podcasts
12/05/08 RBR #237
For complete content and previous RBR issues, analysis, interviews,
and more...see and bookmark www.RBR.com |
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