Cox Radio launches "I Am Atlanta"
Listeners will hear familiar names and voices when they tune into Cox Radio Atlanta's five stations (B98.5 FM, 97.1 The River, Kiss 104.1, 95.5 The Beat and News Talk 750 WSB). Cox Radio Atlanta is launching the "I Am Atlanta" radio campaign. The campaign combines online features with on-air spots to portray positive attributes about the city from notable citizens.

Univision touts ratings growth as revenues slip
Q4 revenues declined 7.8% at Univision, with radio down more than television. Even the Interactive Media division was down. Despite the tough ad sales environment, President Ray Rodriguez bragged on ratings growth for the Univision TV network, while saying the radio division had maintained strong ratings.

Turning down the consumer gloom?
Rasmussen Reports tracks consumer confidence on both a daily and monthly basis. The last full month available is February, when the measure was 57.6, far below the 100 break-even score. But since then, it's been inching up.

RBR observation: One big key to turning this mess around is getting people to open their wallets and let go of a dollar every once in awhile.

GM, Chrysler shares down from Obama's hard line
The Obama administration's forcing out GM CEO Rick Wagoner and pushing Chrysler LLC toward a merger and threatening bankruptcy for both sent GM shares plunging Monday. The administration pledged only to fund GM's operations for the next 60 days while it develops a restructuring plan, instead of granting GM's request for up to a further $16 billion in loans. Wagoner was forced out at the request of the auto panel headed by Steve Rattner. A majority of GM's board will also be replaced.

CBS Radio to add "live spots" to streams
Launching in May, online and mobile audiences of CBS Radio's stations, as well as those of AOL Radio and Yahoo!, for the first time will begin hearing live reads hosted by station personalities. Advertisers will have access to listeners of more than 500 streaming radio stations.

Campaign asks House Members to
rein in hidden credit card fees
The Merchants Payments Coalition launched an aggressive media and grassroots campaign to rein in unfair and hidden credit card fees called "interchange." The campaign is already underway in eight key House members' districts. Phase one of the campaign includes television, radio, online and print.

Bluefield station gets its Witts about it
Dirk Hall’s Peggy Sue Broadcasting Corporation is selling WRIC-FM Richlands VA to RR & WT Broadcasting Inc.

TRANSACTIONS
$300K KOVM-AM & KCNM-FM/KZMI-FM Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan MP, Garapan-Saipan MP) from Inter-Island Communications Inc. (Ed Poppe) to Choice Broadcasting Company LLC (Richard C. Yu, Joselyn T. Yu, Robert F. Kelly Jr.). $15K earnest money, $135K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [FCC file date 2/24/09]

$25K WATO-AM Knoxville TN (Oak Ridge TN) from Horne Radio LLC (Nick Drewry) to Sheepdog Broadcasting Corporation (Ann Walden). Cash. LMA 3/1/09. [FCC file date 2/24/09]

$5K KDIL-AM CP Twin Falls ID (Jerome ID) from Maria Elena Juarez to Maria Rosario Ortega. Cash. CP is for Class B on 940 kHz with 1 kw-D, 250 w-N, DA2. [FCC file date 2/24/09]

CBS Radio to blow up 94.7 in DC
And the format switches just keep coming: Blowing up the Classic Rock format of WTGB-FM DC, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5, Natasha Bedingfield, Sheryl Crow and Daughtry are coming to 94.7 Fresh FM in DC on Monday, April 6. For HD2, they will offer Alternative rock and will continue to simulcast WJFK-FM on HD3.

Univision Radio to add "Viva La Familia" programming
Following the success of Todobebé's "Viva La Familia" on the Univision Television Network, Univision Radio announced a partnership to bring Todobebé and "Viva La Familia" (Hooray for Families!) to the national radio airwaves. Aracely Arámbula, "Viva La Familia's" co-host, megastar actress, and celebrity mom, will be a host of the radio vignettes. The content will offer unique sponsorship opportunities and can be customized. The Todobebé and "Viva La Familia" vignettes will air throughout the day on various Univision Radio stations and on RadioCadena.

Tribune combining Hartford operations
"This is the future of media," declared Tribune Company COO Randy Michaels as he announced that the company's TV duopoly and the Hartford Courant newspaper will be brought under one roof later this year. TV Sr. VP/GM Richard Graziano is now Publisher of the newspaper as well.
RBR observation: No doubt there will be some grumbling in the newspaper ranks at Tribune. But, is this what is necessary to maintain the Hartford Courant's claim on the title of America's oldest continuously published newspaper?

Fox News launches its own blogosphere
Take that Arianna Huffington, Fox News Channel has launched a competitor to the left-leaning HuffPost with a lean in the other direction. Fox Nation made its debut on Monday.

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Ad Business Report
CBS Radio to add
"live spots" to streams advertisers will have access to listeners

Internet Business Report
Internet ad revenues
Surpass $23 billion in '08

Wall Street Business Report
Lincoln National
shares plunge
Losing more than a third of their value

CC Radio adds a CFO
Mitchell Goldstein, formerly CFO of Nice-Pak, an international maker of wet wipes products, has joined Clear Channel Radio as CFO. He will report to CEO John Hogan. "Clear Channel Radio is an outstanding business facing an unprecedented situation. Every so often, great challenges are accompanied by great opportunity for success. I'm looking forward to working with John and his team to help achieve that success for Clear Channel Radio," said Goldstein.

Two join Arbitron
Arbitron has filled two of the new Executive Vice President positions created by new CEO Michael Skarzynski. Alton Adams, EVP, Chief Marketing Officer, is responsible for developing new solutions that use the Arbitron Portable People Meter platform to integrate measures of multiple media. Robert Henrick, EVP, Customer Solutions, is responsible for Arbitron's survey research methods and product management.

Arthur Penhallow leaving WRIF after 39 years
Greater Media's WRIF Detroit regretfully announced the departure of 39-year veteran afternoon drive host, Arthur Penhallow. After months of negotiations, WRIF management and Penhallow were unable to come to an agreement on the terms of his contract.

KeKe Luv doing it again at Kiss-FM Boise
Peak Broadcasting's KeKe Luv, a jock at 103.3 KISS-FM Boise is once again embarking on a huge mission for the community to help prevent child abuse. Last year he spent 175 hours straight on the air to raise money. On April 13, he'll be doing it again -- jogging for 175 hours straight...
03/30/09 RBR #61

Listen up: funny parody on radio industry
"Please don't piss off my buyer," sung to Billy Joel's "We didn't start the fire." It's pretty funny and basically nails the current state of the radio industry. Give it a listen at RBR.com
03/30/09 RBR #61

Rethinking Crossownership
Broadcast and print operations are different enough that it is not necessarily all that easy to find enough operational efficiency to make combining them worthwhile.
03/30/09 RBR #61

Hispanics rush to get online with cell phones
As Internet technology spins ahead, US Hispanics are clamoring to stay on top of the latest and greatest in online communication.
03/30/09 RBR #61

Peak CEO Todd Lawley on makin' it local
It's very significant right now that radio stations get back to their local roots and Peak is RBR's top pick to that is leading the way.. It seems KMJ-AM, FM and KMJNow.com is doing just that, with 18 of every 24 hours being California-based programming-and the FM and AM talkers only simulcasting in the mornings. We asked: How can other stations adopt this sort of mentality
03/27/09 RBR #60