RBR's Daily Morning Epaper

2007: The Need for -- Ideas Working Now
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Volume 24, Issue 6, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning January 10th, 2007

Radio News ®

Smulyan: The worst is behind us
Fiscal Q3 radio revenues plunged 9.2% at Emmis (down 9.7% pro forma), with its US stations down 11.5%. CEO Jeff Smulyan told analysts the shortfall was all due to New York and LA, with other markets up. And, he noted, "we are beginning to see signs that the worst is behind us." In his conference call with analysts, Smulyan called it a challenging time for American radio and said that while no one has yet found the answers to the problems facing media in the US, he believes the people at Emmis are better able to find the answers than others. "We are committed to leading," he insisted. On the bright side, Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings noted that re-launched AC KMVN-FM LA, with Rick Dees as morning host, had in only 45 days gotten its audience numbers up to where the former Country KZLA-FM had been, with expectations of continuing growth ahead. For the current quarter, fiscal Q4 for Emmis running through the end of February, CFO Patrick Walsh said the company is expecting pro forma radio revenues to be down in the low to mid single digits from a year ago.

RBR observation: Everyone wants to be in New York and Los Angeles, so no doubt there will be intense bidding for the one FM that Clear Channel has to spin off for its going private transaction, not to mention the possibility that Radio One might sell its LA FM. The two biggest markets have been going through rough times, but the pool of ad revenues in those two mega-markets is still huge and the opportunity to go after a piece of that ad pie coveted by many. That said, there is not going to be an immediate recovery. Thus, analysts are not rushing back to Emmis or other radio stocks. "Despite stronger trends in October/November, radio and other traditional media continue to face a challenge in growing revenues, as the ad market slows year-over-year and new ad dollars are allocated toward newer media. The recent quarter marks the forth straight quarter of Emmis underperforming its markets, and the outlook for continued year-over-year declines against easing comparisons still does not look encouraging," said Mark Wienkes at Goldman Sachs in summing up his views.

Smulyan on Google and hedge funds
"We're not willing to liquidate this company for the benefit of anybody's hedge fund," said Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan in a rebuff to Frank Martin of Martin Capital Management. Martin is the shareholder who is trying to pressure Smulyan to give up his super voting rights (1/9/06 RBR #5), something the CEO says he will not do. As for Martin, Smulyan says the investment manager bought all of his Emmis stock knowing that there were two classes of voting stock, but now he wants to change the rules in the middle of the game. In his quarterly conference call, analysts also wanted to know about how Smulyan views radio ad sales by Google, since Emmis was one of the first radio companies to allow dMarc/Google to sell its spots. Smulyan said most of the sales to date have been of remnant inventory, confirming that Google gets a commission rate of about 50% on such sales. Emmis is willing to talk about prime inventory as well, but preferably with a commission structure more like a national rep, around 15%. However, Smulyan said the commission is not the issue, but rather it is about whether it is a profitable business for Emmis. "So if Google can show us a way that they take a 98% commission and the business is still profitable for us, we would do it. On the other hand, they can take zero commission and if the business is not profitable, we wouldn't do it," he explained.

Another big payoff for Stern
It wasn't as big as a year ago, but Howard Stern has gotten another mega-bonus from Sirius Satellite Radio for subscriber numbers topping the targets in his contract. This time he and his agent, Don Buchwald, got 22,058,824 shares of stock worth 82.9 million bucks, down from a 220 million bonus a year ago (1/6/06 RBR #4), but still nothing to sneeze at. With all the recent doom and gloom about Sirius lowering subscriber projections, why the big payoff? According to the company announcement, back at the time Stern signed his contract in October 2004, the consensus of Wall Street analysts was that Sirius would have 3.5 million subscribers by the end of 2006. With Stern aboard, the actual subscriber count was just over six million. "The decision to bring Howard Stern to Sirius required a very significant commitment and we are very pleased that our investment has dramatically paid off," said CEO Mel Karmazin in announcing the latest incentive payment. "Sirius has significantly outperformed earlier subscriber expectations, now generating over 300 million more revenue than Wall Street expected at the time Howard agreed to join us. Our exceptional programming, product offerings, and brand have led Sirius to set a satellite radio record in 2006 with 2.7 million net subscriber additions," Karmazin added. With the additional stock payments, the contract with Stern, originally announced as 500 million bucks, has grown to 692.9 million - and counting. So, is Stern himself a long-term investor in satellite radio? Well, Sirius filed with the SEC yesterday for Stern to sell 34,178,476 shares of stock and Buchwald 5,130,348, although there is no requirement that they actually sell off those shares.

RBR observation: How has hiring Stern away from traditional AM & FM radio paid off for investors in Sirius? Well, the stock closed at 3.87 on October 6, 2004, before the deal with the self-styled "King of All Media" was announced, which began the drive to a peak of 7.87 as the closing price on December 9, 2005. It closed Monday, before his most recent stock payoff was announced, at 3.76. You do the math.

Martin reassures senators on localism
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has responded to a multi-senator letter spearheaded by Byron Dorgan (D-ND) addressing concerns that the FCC may proceed with ownership rule revisions without first completing a study of localism. That study was initiated by Martin's predecessor, Michael Powell. Martin assured Dorgan et al that the project would be seen through to completion. Martin addressed the promise of six outside-the-Beltway forums on the topic. Four were held in 2003-2004, and he promised the last two would be as well, including one in Maine, which will be of interest to Dorgan's across-the-aisle fellow Commerce Committee member Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Further, regarding studies commissioned by the Localism Task Force, Martin said that as of December 2006, 100% of the studies have been completed and forwarded to the FCC. The Commission is now reviewing this material "for quality and completeness" and will eventually make it available to the public. Martin also noted that the Commission has posted most of the relevant documentation it has on the topic on its website, even reports that are only in draft form.

RBR observation: Dorgan and most of the senators who signed the letter of inquiry will no doubt have a chance to talk to Martin face-to-face when the Commerce Committee holds its first FCC hearing of the year 2/1/07.

Hirsch exits NextMedia
Co-founder Carl Hirsch has left NextMedia Group, calling it an amicable parting from the radio/outdoor company that he initiated. Hirsch says he wants to explore new opportunities and isn't sure yet whether his next venture will be in new media, traditional media or a combination. Hirsch declined to provide the terms of his separation from NextMedia and CEO Steve Dinetz declined to comment on his co-founder's departure, saying the press release that Hirsch sent out "speaks to the whole situation." Dinetz continues to head the company as CEO, with Jeff Dinetz as President of the Radio Division and Jim Matalone as President of the Outdoor Division. Prior to NextMedia, Hirsch spent many years with Malrite, a public company, Legacy Broadcasting, which was sold to a public company, and OmniAmerica, a public company which was merged with another public company. So, we wondered, was Hirsch disappointed that Wall street turned sour on traditional media companies and the IPO window closed before NextMedia got though it? "Disappointed only in that the public markets changed, but thankful that we didn't go public because the world changed and to be a private company was a blessing. The public companies all want to be private. No, I'm not disappointed. I'd have only been disappointed if we went public a minute before the end and then gone down the chute like everybody else. Private company values clearly have held up better than public company values," Hirsch told RBR.

Media focus is on Dems on the Hill
The first weekly newshole analysis from the Project for Excellence in Journalism is out, and its found that the top story for the week of 12/31/06-1/5/07 was the takeover of Capitol Hill by new Democratic majorities. That story claimed 15% of the newshole, beating out the funeral of President Gerald Ford (R), which picked up 12%. Filing out the top five were Iraq policy (9%), the execution of Saddam Hussein (8%) and Iraq events (4%). Five media categories contributed to these overall totals, including newspaper, online, network TV, cable TV and radio. Coverage of the new Congress was the only story in double digits across the board, ranging from 20% of the radio hole to only 10% online. The Ford funeral, a natural for television, occupied 19% of network TV and 17% of cable TV but only 4% of newspaper stories (which at least began on the front page) and only 10% of radio stories. The cellphone footage of the Saddam execution amplified that story, and shot it up to 14% on cable news. Stories crowded off the general list included fighting in Somalia and the crash of an Indonesian plane, which cracked the top five online, the crippling snow in western portions of the US, which earned 3% of the network TV newshole and stories about how the Iraq war is felt on the homefront, which garnered 4% of radio coverage. PEJ notes that Ford actually morphed over to the Iraq policy coverage story following publication of a Bob Woodward story in Ford was critical of the Bush administration's handling of the situation.

Wall Street Media Business Report TM

Not much for Emmis to cheer about
Revenue gains overseas couldn't counter a big drop in domestic radio business - all in New York and LA - so Emmis Communications reported that radio revenues for its fiscal Q3 (September-November 2006) were down 9.2% to 66.7 million, a pro forma drop of 9.7%. While the publishing business was better by comparison, it only managed a flat showing (up a mere 1K) with revenues again at 24.5 million. The tiny bit of Emmis Television that remains isn't counted, since it is classified as a discontinue operation. Thus, companywide revenues were down 6.9% for the quarter to 91.2 million, or down 7.3% on a pro forma basis. The net loss per share from continuing operations fell to nine cents from a penny a year ago. Add in 11 cents for the discontinued TV operation, though, and EPS was two cents to the positive side.

Ad Business Report TM

SWMX launches SWMX Hispanic
SoftWave Media Exchange announced the introduction of SWMX Hispanic, a new division serving the company's growing roster of Spanish-language broadcasters and advertisers. SWMX Hispanic will provide advertiser access to local broadcast TV, cable TV and radio. SoftWave currently reps Spanish-language radio stations owned by Univision Radio, Entravision Radio and Spanish Broadcasting Systems, including many located within the top 50 U.S. Hispanic DMAs. By the end of 2007, SWMX Radio expects to reach over 70% of the U.S. Hispanic population, including Puerto Rico. SWMX Hispanic will be led by Senior Account Manager Richard (Rick) Hernandez, who recently joined SoftWave with over 10 years experience as an ad sales manager specializing in Spanish-language media. Hernandez has worked in NYC and LA for leading broadcast groups such as Infinity and Univision Radio, the largest Spanish-language radio broadcaster in the United States. Throughout his career, Hernandez has helped develop and introduce effective Spanish-language marketing initiatives for leading U.S. companies, including Citibank, Pepsi, Colgate and Coca Cola. Prior to joining SWMX, Hernandez was a regional director of sales for Captivate Networks in New York City. SWMX COO Bill Figenshu, pictured, tells RBR the reason for launching SWMX Hispanic was: "First of all we had such a huge response from the radio stations. All of the major companies have come and said, 'What about us?' And number two, its just good business to be involved in the fastest-growing segment of the advertising business, which goes a long with the population. So, we've been responsive to our customers. They've asked for an Hispanic platform and we delivered." SWMX, with offices in NY and Dallas, will soon be opening offices in DC and Atlanta.

TNS forecasts 2.6% increase in US ad spend for 2007
Total U.S. advertising spending is expected to increase 2.6% in 2007 to 153.7 billion, according to the full-year forecast released by TNS Media Intelligence. This anticipated tepid gain is the smallest since the media economy emerged from its 2001 recession and follows estimated ad spending growth of 3.8% in 2006. Ad expenditures are forecast to increase by just 2.1% in the first half of 2007 followed by a gain of 3.2% in the second half, paralleling an expected late year uptick in overall economic activity. "Our outlook for 2007 is tempered by the absence of two biennial advertising events, the Olympics and federal elections, which tend to contribute an incremental 80-100 basis points to growth rates," said Steven Fredericks, TNS CEO. "More significant, we expect share of total ad spending will continue to shift away from the Top 100 marketers, as media fragmentation enables more brands with smaller media budgets to participate in the market, while concurrently helping dampen media price inflation. Based on our forecast, 2007 is poised to be the third consecutive year in which the advertising sector more closely tracks growth in real GDP as opposed to its historical reference mark of nominal GDP. The forces driving this new pattern appear to be sustaining and there is little reason to believe a return to the old order will be forthcoming." Internet display advertising is expected to continue growing at double-digit rates in 2007 with Syndication TV, Outdoor and Magazines also exceeding the overall market average. Network TV is projected to be almost flat versus 2006, while newspapers and Spot TV are expected to experience outright declines in ad revenue.
| See charts here |

Executive Comment

The response from Clear Channel
A spokesperson for Clear Channel Radio from its PR firm, Brainerd Communicators, has contacted RBR with this response to the Comments by John Lund that ran in the first issue of this year (1/3/07 RBR #1):

There were many inaccuracies in the piece and Clear Channel Radio has reached out directly to them to clarify and correct them. But we also wanted you to know that there are multiple questions about the Lund groups' source data and the following has also been shared with them...
| Read More |

With Regards,
Clear Channel Radio

Get On Board for Febuary

If you missed the January debut issue
of SMARTMEDIA Magazine...

Contact June Barnes today to secure your ad placement for Febuary
[email protected] --- 803-731-5951

Media Markets & Money TM

Price revealed in Fort Wayne
The transaction which will allow Russ Oasis to go from one to three FMs in the Fort Wayne IN market has hit the FCC deal database, meaning the previously undisclosed pricetag is now a matter of public record. And the price for WBTU-FM and WSHY-FM is (drum roll please) 3.8M cash. The FM pair will cluster up with WJFX-FM. The seller is Art Angotti's Artistic Media Partners.

Close encounter in Houston
And yes, it's Houston, Texas. John Pierce & Company broker Jamie Rasnick informs us that a deal for an AM-FM pair has closed there for 275K. But Texas refers to the county in which KBTC-AM/KUNQ-FM reside. The state is Missouri. Rick Vermillion's Media Professionals Inc. is getting the combo from Mark Acker's Metropolitan Radio Group. Houston, Texas, Missouri is not part of a rated market.

Educational Media Foundation picks up sticks
Donald Wildmon's noncom Religious group American Family Association is sending seven active FMs and 11 FM CPs to fellow Religious nomcom Educational Media Foundation in a deal filed late in 2006, valued at 2.5M. The stations scattered, and include on-air FMs in rated markets like Cheyenne WY, Gret Falls MT, South Bend IN and Youngstown-Warren OH. Three of the CPs are pegged for rated turf, including Augusta GA, Rapid City SD and Bryan-College Station TX.

Media Business Report TM

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils iPhone, AppleTV
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled at Macworld yesterday the iPhone, its much-anticipated touch-screen mobile that will be able to play music and take pictures. The iPhone will have a 3.5-inch diagonal screen and less than a half-inch thick. It will sync with iTunes and have a 2 megapixel camera. The phone automatically synchs movies, music, photos, e-mails, bookmarks and almost type of digital content stored on a computer-much of which will be through Apple's iTunes digital content store. As anticipated, "It's just like an iPod," Jobs said. Jobs also said the company will begin taking orders Tuesday for 299 bucks for a set-top box that allows people to stream video from their computers to their televisions-"Apple TV." It'll be available in February and come with a 40-gig hard drive that stores up to 50 hours of video. It can handle videos, photos and music streamed from up to five computers locally.

Washington Media Business Report TM

Dorgan, Snowe
return to net neutrality
Concessions made by AT&T to get FCC approval for its acquisition of BellSouth were seen by many as a first step toward making the preservation of network neutrality the law of the land. Now senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are back to take another stab at making that supposition a reality. The duo tried to so amend a Ted Stevens (R-AK) bill primarily aimed at easing telcos into the MVPD business and narrowly failed, earning a tie which went to Stevens, who opposed the measure. They are back now with Tthe "Internet Freedom Preservation Act." Dorgan said, "The Internet became a robust engine of economic development by enabling anyone with a good idea to connect to consumers and compete on a level playing field. The marketplace picked winners and losers, not some central gatekeeper. That freedom - the very core of what makes the Internet what it is today - must be preserved." Snowe added, "Today's reintroduction of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act marks another step toward ensuring the fate of the Internet lies in the hands of its users and not the hands of a few gatekeepers. The tide has turned in the debate between those who seek to maintain equality and those who would benefit from the creation of a toll road on the Internet super highway. The reintroduction of this legislation and the FCC's imposition of net neutrality conditions as part of the AT&T-BellSouth merger, are significant victories in the fight to ensure nondiscrimination on the Internet, and I look forward to continuing that fight along side Senator Dorgan in the new Congress." John Kerry (D-MA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and Barack Obama (D-IL) have all signed on as co-sponsors.

Martin appoints new Media Bureau Chief
FCC Media Bureau Chief Donna Coleman Gregg is taking on news responsibilities, sliding over to fill the role of Senior Policy Advisor to the Ambassador, United State Representative to the World Radiocommunications Conference. Coming in to fill her spot will be Monica Shah Desai, who herself is sliding over from the chief slot at the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, where she's been since April 2005. She's been with the Commission in a variety of roles since 1999.

Entertainment Media Business Report TM

Dial Global to team with L.A. radio legend Art Laboe
Dial Global will now be the exclusive rep for "The Art Laboe Connection" and "The Art Laboe Sunday Special," produced by legendary LA radio personality and entrepreneur Art Laboe. In the arrangement, Dial Global will provide national advertising sales representation, as well as affiliate marketing. "We are thrilled to be associated with Art Laboe, who is a radio legend with a very rare connection with his audience that spans all the demos and ethnicities," commented Ken Williams, Co-President and CEO of Dial Global. "His extraordinary appeal is demonstrated by his program's top rated status" The original "The "Art Laboe Sunday Special" launched in 1991, and airs Sunday nights from 6pm-12 midnight PT. "The Art Laboe Connection" is a 5-hour live show that is heard Monday-Friday 7pm-12 midnight PT.

Ratings & Research

Arbitron announces PPM
ratings schedule for Philadelphia
Arbitron will release on 1/11 the last radio ratings for Philadelphia that it plans to produce by paper-and-pencil diaries: the Fall 2006 Philadelphia Local Market Report. The company also announced the delivery schedule for the new electronic Portable People Meter ratings service that will begin for the radio market on 1/11. The Fall 2006 diary-based ratings report is being designated the "currency" in the market until the release of the March 2007 PPM ratings report. The January 2007 and February 2007 PPM radio ratings reports are to be released as demo data. "We have truly ended an era with the delivery of the Radio Market Report for the Fall Survey. These are the very last 'currency' radio ratings for Philadelphia that we intend to tabulate using entries written in diaries," said Jay Guyther, senior vice president, Rating Services, Arbitron. "The arrival of the PPM service also means the end of Arbitrends for Philadelphia. Instead of Winter Phase 1 and 2 Arbitrends reports, subscribing stations will receive monthly PPM-based audience estimates using the installed PPM sample, which is planned to be 2,040 persons, age 6 and older." The first PPM monthly audience estimates are scheduled to release on February 28 for the monthly survey of 1/11 to 2/7. PPM subscribers should receive the electronic ratings 21 days after the end of each monthly survey, including a "Holiday Survey" for listening between 12/1307 and 1/9/08. In addition, subscribing radio broadcasters should begin receiving weekly PPM data beginning 3/28, covering the first four weeks of the February survey. Weekly downloads will begin 4/2, beginning with the period of 3/8 - 3/14. "Our PPM panel design supports weekly reporting with the same large sample sizes as the monthly reports, so the PPM Weeklies will be 52 discrete reports-not rolling averages-with the same demos and dayparts as delivered in our current Arbitrends service," added Guyther.

Transactions

7M WKNR-AM Cleveland OH from Caron Broadcasting Inc., a subsidiary of Salem Communications Corp. (Stuart W. Epperson, Edward G. Atsinger III) to Good Karma Broadcasting LLC (Craig Karmazin). 350K earnest money, balance in cash at closing. Duopoly with WWGK-AM. LMA 12/1/06. [File date 12/12/06.]

500K KEND-FM Roswell NM from Burkberry Communications Group Inc. (Phil Brewer) to Pecos Valley Broadcasting Company (Sam F. Beard, David A. Ruckman). 350K cash at closing, 150K one year later or upon resale. [File date 12/18/06.]

Stock Talk

What do lower oil prices mean?
For some time now, stocks have gotten a boost just about every time that oil prices have gone down. But the opposite occurred yesterday, with traders now worrying that dropping oil prices could signal soft economic growth ahead. So, the Dow Industrials ended the day down seven points at 12,417. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, however, was up a bit as Apple unveiled its iPhone.

Radio stocks were mostly lower. The Radio Index was down 0.168, or 0.1%, at 155.386. Salem had the worst day, down 2%. Emmis reported a down quarter, but traders apparently think there is a recovery ahead. The stock rose 5%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		43.98	+0.46	Journal Comm.	JRN		12.55	-0.23
Beasley	BBGI		9.41	-0.01	Lincoln Natl.	LNC		65.31	+0.46
CBS CI. B	CBS		30.89	-0.16	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		6.82	-0.06
CBS CI. A	CBSa		30.90	-0.14	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		6.81	-0.06
Citadel	CDL		9.72	-0.04	Regent	RGCI		2.91	+0.01
Clear Channel	CCU		35.44	+0.05	Saga Commun.	SGA		9.87	+0.18
Cox Radio	CXR		15.52	-0.12	Salem Comm.	SALM		11.26	-0.23
Cumulus	CMLS		10.36	-0.15	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		3.71	-0.05
Disney	DIS		34.45	-0.05	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		4.17	+0.18
Emmis	EMMS		8.69	+0.41	SWMX	SMWX		1.95	unch
Entercom	ETM		27.55	-0.35	Univision	UVN		35.68	+0.04
Entravision	EVC		7.84	-0.07	Westwood One	WON		6.99	-0.12
Fisher	FSCI		42.00	+0.10	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		15.12	-0.06
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		25.65	+0.46	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

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Below the Fold

Executive Comment
The response from Clear Channel
There were many inaccuracies in the piece...

Ad Business Report
They do it again SWMX launches
SWMX Hispanic, New division serving the company's growing roster of Spanish-language broadcasters and advertisers...

TNS forecasts 2.6% increase
In US ad spend for 2007 and that
Is to 153.7 billion...

Media Markets & Money
Price revealed in Fort Wayne
WBTU-FM and WSHY-FM is (drum roll please)...

Ratings & Research
PPM ratings schedule for Philly
Arbitron will release on 1/11 the last radio ratings In paper and pencil...

Stations for Sale

HAWAII - The Big Island
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Radio Media Moves

New Sr. VPs
Mapleton Communications has promoted a trio of execs to Sr. Vice President. Michael Anthony is SVP of Programming for all Mapleton markets; Andrew Adams is SVP of Central California, over Merced, Tulare-Visalia and San Luis Obispo; and Ron Hren is SVP of Oregon/Northern California, over Medford, Chico and Redding.

PD change at SNR
Sporting News Radio announced that Bill Pugh has joined the company as Program Director, effective as operations move from Northbrook, IL to Los Angeles later this month. He succeeds Matt Nahigian, who will not be making the move to LA.

More News Headlines

Emerson Radio, Griffin Technology to produce HD Radios
Emerson Radio has been granted a non-exclusive technology license from iBiquity Digital to produce and sell HD Radio digital audio receivers. Emerson anticipates bringing its first HD Radio receivers to market this year. Griffin Technology also announced radio SHARK HD, a digital table-top radio for Macs and PCs with HD Radio technology. Says Macworld: "SHARK HD-an update to Griffin's radioSHARK and radio SHARK 2-will house a radio tuner in a 'shark fin' that connects to the USB port of a Mac or PC. With radio SHARK HD users will be able to listen to their favorite AM/FM stations in digital audio quality from their personal computers. SHARK HD will allow users to pause live radio, and to schedule recordings of digital radio programming, similar to a DVR. It also will automatically identify radio stations and individual songs broadcast in digital format, and will allow users to review and playback music recorded from digital radio on a personal computer, sync recordings of digital radio programming to an iPod, and purchase songs heard on digital radio from Apple's iTunes Store." The company expects it to be available in Summer 2007. Pricing has not yet been set.

BMW offering
HD Radio option
across all makes
BMW announced it is first automotive firm to offer a factory-installed digital HD Radio receiver as an option across its entire 2007 product line. This option, which now includes HD Radio multicast reception capability, will be available in the spring on all 2007 3, 5, 6, and 7 Series models, as well as X3, X5, and Z4.

Old WOR-AM towers coming down tomorrow
WOR-AM is resuming the delayed demolition of its three 700-foot radio towers tomorrow, picking up where it left off after a PR debacle in September when Lyndhurst, NJ police halted the event because they had not been notified. Lyndhurst Police Chief James B. O'Connor stopped the demolition over concerns about safety issues and the possibility that uninformed area residents might be concerned seeing the structures fall down. He had said emergency personnel were not properly prepared to answer any public emergency calls about the demolition. Joe Bartlett, who co-hosts the "WOR Morning Show," will broadcast the event live at 11 a.m. The tower razing can be viewed later on wor710.com. The towers have been replaced by three 658- foot-high digital structures, half a mile north in Rutherford, NJ. The Lyndhurst site is part of a 437-acre parcel that is slated to be developed by EnCap Golf Holdings into a 350-room hotel and conference center, 250 luxury condominiums, 100,000 square feet of retail space, 930 adult housing units, 850 open-market housing units and two 18-hole golf courses and a driving range, says North Jersey dot com.

LIV sports drink launches "Truth" Outdoor effort
Building on consumer and retail excitement, LIV Natural, a new sports drink, has just launched a poster campaign called "Truth," directly challenging consumers to explore the ingredients in their sports drinks. The GoPoster ads launched initially in Manhattan and Brooklyn, where they will run via street level poster boards located on high traffic streets through the end of January. The campaign will likely continue in South Florida, Philadelphia, Boston, and Denver. Differentiating LIV is its use of agave nectar instead of high fructose corn syrup. LIV is designed for athletes, active adults and kids and is positioned to dominate leading sports drinks in taste and health benefits. Last week, LIV announced the introduction of LIV Orange, which joins LIV Lemon and Berry drinks. In addition, all three LIV flavors will now be offered in a 12 oz. bottle, which joins its 20 oz. offering. These new options will be available at retail in early February.

RBR Radar 2006

Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.

Talk radio holds steady
as US news source
55% of all Americans check in with their favorite local television news program every day, and another 14% view it several times a week, according to The Gallup Poll's recent study of media news sources. Talk radio continued a slight downtrend that has seen it fall from 22%/10% in 2002 and 21%/12% in 2004 to 20%/9% this time, but still reaches over half of all Americans at least once in awhile. The entire run down of who's who in this RBR issue so read and print out the data. Remember Radio no matter what is still local.
01/09/07 RBR #5

One in 10 mobile subscribers
have music phones,
but song purchases slow
According to recently published research from Telephia, the world's largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets, there are now 23.5 million mobile subscribers in the U.S. who have phones with integrated music players. The number of consumers with music-enabled phones is up five times from the same period in 2005 and nearly 20% of the new phones purchased in Q3 2006 were music capable.

RBR observation: Radio learn from this as new technology is coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. What the consumer controls in their hand is it...Period.
01/09/07 RBR #5

Changing one's mind
on PPM encoding
Arbitron now says Radio One has agreed to encode its radio stations in Philadelphia and Los Angeles for the PPM audience measurement service. Remember, encoding is free to all stations, whether they subscribe to the ratings book or not. Clear Channel is the last holdout in the Philly market now for encoding.

RBR observation: We reiterate: Clear Channel is probably still not encoding because now that they're going private, they don't need to bow to Wall Street pressure, so they can afford to gamble for a year (the deal will still be executed at the same price, no matter what), further posturing against Arbitron for lower rates and/or hoping Media Audit gets the RFP recommendation. RBR assumes this issue will hit CC's new owners' (Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital) RADAR screen soon (pun intended). As PPM gets rolled out in more and more markets, CC Radio will potentially be seeing less and less revenue from agencies like Carat refusing to do business with non-encoding or "unrated" stations. The next, and impending, Electronic Ratings Measurement RFP Committee Meeting may shed some light.
01/08/07 RBR #4

Arbitron to offer Audio
Matching within a year
In case you haven't heard, while The Arbitron Advertiser/Agency Advisory Council announced a resolution strongly advising radio stations encode their signals for PPM measurement in the face of holdouts Clear Channel and Radio One (1/4/07 RBR #2), Arbitron says within a year there will be a solution within a year, in 2007: "Audio Matching" will allow non-encoding stations' listening to be picked up by the PPM device.

RBR observation: Many stations were afraid of the idea of commercial ratings for radio, but after the Coleman study came out saying radio does a great job of keeping listeners through breaks, the fear is subsiding. The study says on average only 7% of listeners leave stations during commercial breaks. In addition some advertisers like Anheuser-Busch, for instance, may have big issues with buying unrated stations-if their 21+ audience comp. is not proven to be 70% or higher, they are breaking the industry guidelines. If someone is not encoding, they may have no idea (for the time being) what their audience comp. is on that station. It may be taken off the buy altogether. There is more in this issue of RBR
01/05/07 RBR #3

Wall Street beat up
on radio in 2006
At first glance, the tally for radio stock performance in 2006 isn't so bad - 12 of the stocks tracked daily by RBR were up and 16 down. But if you look closer, it was the pure play radio groups (and satellite radio) who constituted almost all of the suffering. With radio revenue growth close to a flat line, 12 pure play radio stocks were down double digits. Also down double digits were both satellite radio companies, with the former Wall Street darlings repeatedly lowering subscriber projections. The big winner for the 06 was Disney. So Wall Street preferred for radio companies to sell themselves rather than operate radio stations. RBR's Radio Index, currently consisting of 13 public companies whose primary business is radio, was down 13.5% for the year. SBS exited the Index in the course of 2006 as its stock price fell into penny stock territory. Our chart spells out the winners and losers in this issue of RBR.
01/05/07 RBR #3

Arbitron Advertiser/
Agency Advisory Council
wants PPM encoding
Look out Radio One and Clear Channel: The Arbitron Advertiser/Agency Advisory Council announced a resolution strongly advising radio stations encode their signals for PPM measurement. We mentioned agencies like Carat are likely to boycott non-PPM encoding stations (12/27/06 RBR #249). Perhaps this is the first agency warning shot over the bow. Kathy Crawford, MindShare President/Local Broadcast "The resolution was written to vocalize what has already been said to the radio industry, which is that accountability is the name of the game..."

RBR observation: People this is one issue you best pay attention to. Suggestion is to read the resolution in RBR.
01/04/07 RBR #2

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