This Saturday, 2/07/09, something New and Proactive from the editors of RBR & TVBR: The Weekend Report. Ideas for Management, Sales, Programming and the Internet. The Weekend Report will be delivered to you just as your regular RBR/TVBR is each morning.

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Royalty bills include exceptions
Patrick Leahy says that the performance royalty he and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are pushing will have minimal affect on most radio operators in the US. In fact, over 75% will be capped at a maximum $5K blanket license as long as they stay under revenue benchmarks. And non-profits will be capped at $1K. Leahy said, "I want to ensure that the performing artist...is compensated fairly." In a statement, RIAA said, "AM and FM radio is the only music platform that does not pay a fair performance right to artists and musicians for the use of their work."

RBR observation: Again, we will put aside arguments against this bill for the moment. Let's look at what Leahy and RIAA said - it's all about compensating "artists" and "musicians." Fine. Then let's add a clause to the bill. It will read something like this: "Sec. 6. An independent third party, with no connection to either the broadcasting or recording industries, will see to it that all of the royalties collected from radio stations go directly to the performing artists." We suspect that groups like AFTRA, the American Federation of Musicians, the Future of Music Coalition, musicFirst and other such organizations will eagerly endorse this clause. But RIAA’s support will no doubt disappear faster than an Eddie Van Halen guitar lick.

Stabenow hints at Fairness hearings
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) was on the radio with syndie Talker Bill Press, and the two were lamenting the loss of liberal talkers in Washington DC and other places - Press mentioned San Diego, Sacramento and Miami -- when she said "I absolutely think it's time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves." And that could mean hearings on Fairness. Asked by Press if hearings were in the works, she said it has been under discussion and that she thinks they will in fact take place.

RBR observation: Key watchdog groups on both sides of the ideological spectrum, including liberal radio network Air America, have come out against reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, and the courts lie in wait to strike it down in the unlikely event it gets through Congress. There are so many forces stacked against it we do not see any clear path toward its reanimation.

EchoStar takeover of Sirius XM a real possibility
With Sirius XM facing a $175 million bond maturity on February 17th, the Wall Street Journal reports that EchoStar has been acquiring lots of those bonds and CEO Charlie Ergen may be eying a takeover. In theory, merging some Sirius XM (satellite radio) operations with Dish Network (satellite TV), another Ergen company, could cut costs, but Dish lost subscribers when it reported Q3 results and EchoStar itself posted a big loss for the quarter. We've found an old Sirius name at EchoStar, though, which makes us think this takeover has real possibilities.

RBR observation: If Mel Karmazin can't come to terms with Charlie Ergen, he does have some other options. Other bondholders have been swapping their bonds for stock. If Ergen won't agree to do that, Karmazin could arrange to sell an equivalent amount of stock to someone else, then simply pay the bonds as they come due. But that would not resolve the long-term problems with Sirius XM's capital structure.

Warner Music Group posts a profit
That was a surprise to Wall Street. And even if you subtract a one-time gain, the quarterly loss for the only major label based in the US was much smaller than analysts had expected. No doubt NAB President David Rehr will be letting folks on Capitol Hill know that the record companies aren't in danger of collapse unless they get performance royalties from US radio stations.

RBR observation: The reason for WMG's better-than-expected performance is that the company is getting better at selling music online, which now accounts for a fifth of music sales, while cutting fat elsewhere. Selling music digitally, without having to ship a physical product, is obviously more efficient. And if you control costs in the traditional business model as it declines, owning record labels may yet be a viable business. Of course, you sell more digital downloads when a song gets radio airplay, so it's still pretty stupid to try to bite the hand that feeds you.

Telecom companies need to reallocate ad spend
Amidst a volatile economy, companies' ad budgets are shrinking, creating a unique opportunity for ad execs to evaluate their media plans and gauge which measured media forms get the most bang for their buck. According to Prosper MediaPlanIQ (a consumer-centric media allocation tool from Prosper Technologies), Telecom giants AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel could stand to benefit from a reallocation of media dollars.

RBR observation: These numbers are similar to the study Prosper MediaPlanIQ and BIGresearch did recently on the Big 3's automotive ad spend. Television, by far, gets the biggest share of spend by the telecom giants. Radio is left in the dust. But when they factor in what consumers say works best when it comes to buying telecommunications, radio comes in a close second to television.

Bausch & Lomb's Florida campaign uses radio, TV
Bausch & Lomb announced a new advertising campaign has been launched in six Florida markets that will educate baby boomers and seniors about Crystalens, the nation's only FDA-approved accommodating intraocular lens (IOL). The campaign will run in key Florida markets including Fort Myers/Naples, Jacksonville, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Tampa/St. Petersburg and West Palm Beach. The effort will use local television, radio and newspaper to target consumers who are 50 years old and older who are still major users of traditional mass media.

Debut Broadcasting signs AdEx Media for PI campaign
AdEx Media, an online marketing, distribution, and consumer products company, announced the launch of its Digital Instructor consumer product line via national radio on a per inquiry (PI) basis. AdEx signed with Debut Broadcasting to distribute its consumer products via its stations. AdEx plans to leverage its recently launched Think technology platform to provide the tracking of each consumer product sale back to the individual radio station that sourced the lead.

Key West outpost for Westminster
TheWestminster Academy is seeking a main studio waiver to expand the range of its WAFG-FM in Fort Lauderdale FL. If it is allowed by the FCC, it'll use it in regard to its acquisition of WAZQ-FM on the tip of the Florida Keys, Key West. The seller is Educational Public Radio Inc. The contract puts the price at $135,233 cash.

$1.35M KHFH-FM Oxnard-Ventura CA (Ojai CA) from Shepherd Communications Inc. (Tom Bronleewe) to Logos Broadcasting Corporation (Daniel Lemburg, Daniel Woods, Leon Maksoudian, Steve Potratz, Tyler W. Liljekvist). Cash less LMA paymets, unpaid balance as of 12/31/08 was $308,932. LMA/option 1/10/03. Station is noncommercial. [FCC file date 1/6/09]

N/A FM CP Bradford RI from Colina Alta Ministries Inc. (Kenneth R. Leitch) to Connecticut Christian Radio Outreach Corporation. (Dobbie Paskewich et al). Donation. CP is for Class A on 91.1 MHz with 780 w @ 177'. [FCC file date 1/2/09]

Tribune forms online entertainment news bureau
Tribune Company announced the creation of an online entertainment news bureau that will provide original, multimedia content to the company's newspaper and television websites. The bureau will be powered by the combined resources of the LA Times and Zap2it, a leading online source of movie and television listings. The bureau will deliver expanded coverage of movies and television, and will leverage writers and reporters from across Tribune to bring readers constantly updated blogs and other multimedia news on more than 60 top TV shows. One of the team's first editorial projects will be a behind-the-scenes look at "American Idol."

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Ad Business Report
Telecom companies
Need to reallocate ad spend

Media, Markets & Money
Key West outpost
For Westminster is seeking
a main studio waiver

Washington
Business Report
The ouch outlasts the license
WQMA AM 1520 in Marks MS is no longer a licensed station

Upped in Philly
Veteran broadcaster Ed Palladino began doing fill-in work on-air at WPHT-AM "The Big Talker 1210 AM" in 2007 and was soon taken on full-time as Assistant Program Director. Now he's been promoted to Program Director of the CBS Radio station.

Heading South
Cox Radio has named Tim Clarke Program Director of WAPE-FM Jacksonville, FL, effective March 2nd. He currently serves as Music Director of the company's WBLI-FM Long Island. Both are CHR.

Air America
restructures sales
Air America Media has restructured its internal sales team to create a new organization that will align with the company's radio, online and video platforms. The department will be headed by Air America's Scott Elberg, and will include a veteran sales staff as well as additional new hires including Lory George and Terry Howard. Additionally, COO Elberg will now be responsible for all revenue streams as the new chief revenue officer. AAR will also be opening a D.C. sales office this year.

SMS messaging used in emergency broadcasting situation
Last week snow and ice storms swept through Kentucky and left many areas in complete devastation. Kentucky Farm Bureau needed to get on the air immediately to alert the public where to call for emergency claims and other critical information. In Paducah, the buyer wanted to run on Bristol Broadcasting's WKYQ-FM and WDDJ-FM. The station's phone, fax, e-mail and website were all down due to the storms. Regional Reps announced their VP Joe Hearn was able to track down a cell number for station GSM Jamie Futrell. Jamie was on the air but with limited power, and there was no way to get him the schedule or the copy that was to run with all of the station communications being down. Read how they did it by clicking the headline...

Performance royalties
about to hit the Hill
AFTRA has just come out in support of the measure, but the real force behind the move is RIAA. NAB issued a strong objection to the bill, pointing out that it's about paying record companies, not artists.

RBR observation: We've commented on many aspects of this morally-bankrupt money grab from the international recording conglomerates.
02/05/09 RBR #24

Arbitron puts more
"Feet on the Street"
In its latest move to boost survey participation in young ethnic demos, Arbitron is expanding its in-person PPM training. The new program, "Feet on the Street,"

RBR observation: We had to laugh when we read this quote in the Arbitron announcement: "Your mother would want you to marry one of our 'feet on the street' trainers," said Nancy Weissman, director, PPM Panel Relations. They're described as "charming, engaging and persuasive bilinguals." We really didn't think they were sending out thugs to threaten people who forgot to carry their PPM devices.
02/05/09 RBR #24

Covenants Not to Compete
You may invest substantial capital in the development of a morning team. Once established, the station will want to protect their "personality" investment against a station that might try to "steal" the talent (and the capital investment that went into their promotion). Legal tips at RBR.com
02/05/09 RBR #24

DTV delay makes
it through the House
The new DTV deadline day of 6/12/09 made it through the House. the next stop for the bill is the Oval Office, where it is considered to be a mortal lock.

TVBR observation: Among the points made by Joe Barton (R-TX) and others was that one of the key problems, the converter box coupon bottleneck, could be solved with language alone. The argument had merit - if it had been done near the first of the year when the problem presented itself.
02/05/09 TVBR #24