Regent heading for positive territory
Regent Communications is projecting that Q2 same station revenues will be up 2-4% after the company reported a 2.6% decline for Q1 - still outperforming the radio industry, noted CEO Bill Stakelin. That brings the count for Regent outperforming the industry to 16 of the last 17 quarters. He notes that the economic downturn has not impacted all markets equally and Regent is gung-ho on selling ads at the local market level.

Las Vegas and Ft. Myers drag down Beasley; More PPM woes
Those two markets saw double-digit revenue declines in Q1, but COO Bruce Beasley notes that the company, overall, still slightly outperformed the industry with a 4.6% revenue decline. He was also critical of Arbitron for its PPM panel juggling in Philadelphia, which he charged has been disruptive to ratings in the market. "I would not want broadcasters to go through what we're going through now in Philadelphia," said Beasley when analyst Jim Boyle of CL King asked for his view of the odds for Arbitron resuming its PPM rollout in September.

RBR observation: We noted yesterday that we would be looking for PPM data from April week two in Philadelphia to show evidence to support Arbitron Chief Research Officer Bob Patchen's assurance to clients that 18-24 panel representation was rebounding. The numbers sent along by ever helpful consultant Randy Kabrich show, once again, slight declines in 18-24 panelists, both men and women, although the count for 18-24 women only fell by one. Kabrich also notes that Arbitron fell below its target sample of 1,530 Persons 6+ in Philadelphia for the week.

SCBA hits the LA Times for "fuzzy math"
Did the Los Angeles Times lay off its fact checkers before running last week's ad claiming that a single ad in the newspaper delivers more people than spots in morning and evening drive on 20 radio stations? (4/30/08 RBR #85) The Southern California Broadcasters Association (SCBA) says it only takes three stations to beat the LA Times in Cume and wonders why audience powerhouses like KRTH-FM and every Spanish station in the market were conveniently excluded from the newspaper's list of "20 top stations."

RBR observation: As our observation noted, we were skeptical of the way the LA Times was throwing numbers around. The SCBA has now dug down and generated real numbers, as much as is possible with very different measurement systems, and found the ad's claims to be unsupportable. Even in the best case scenario for the newspaper, the SCBA found "fuzzy math" because 20 radio stations still come out ahead of a newspaper ad that is somehow lucky enough to be seen by every person who read any part of that day's edition.

CEOs see business picking up in Q3, Q4
Is it possible that the US has gotten past the worst of the latest economic down cycle? That's what the Conference Board is suggesting based on its latest survey of CEO confidence for April 2008. Although the top line figure is still below the 100 par line, at 96, all five supporting indicators have improved. At least one CEO blames - you guessed it - the media. Bob Gutenfick, CEO of Gutenfick & Associates said, "The media hypes the economy, preaches doom and gloom and uses scare tactics to bolster ratings and appeal to the incredibly short American attention span."

RBR observation: That last comment has got to be the single most ridiculous thing we've heard all year. Damn that media! The economy would be just fine if they'd just shut up about it.

Media Management Group welcomes Dr. Julian Whitaker
Media Management Group welcomed Dr. Julian Whitaker as its newest client. Dr. Whitaker, one of the world's pioneers in Complementary Medicine, is the host of the nationally syndicated "Healthy Talk" Radio program. MMG will be working with the doctor's team to coordinate the growth of the radio show, website, and other related projects and ventures. Media Management Group is a NYC-based personal management, marketing and business development company representing major talk radio talent as well as personalities in other media.

Lotus Fresno launches new station
KLBN-FM, La Buena, moved frequency from 105.1 to a more powerful dial position at 101.9. The void of format at 105.1 was filled yesterday at noon on when Lotus Fresno launched "105.1 The Blaze," KKBZ-FM. The Classic Rock station began playing 5,000 songs in a row. In a weeks live and locally produced features and air talent will be unobtrusively incorporated into the station's flow.

Second lease on life in Riverhead
WRIV-AM Riverhead NY, licensed to Crystal Coast Communications, found itself unlicensed, in possession of deleted call letters and ordered off the air. The cause of all this existential unpleasantness? A missing $150 license renewal application fee. CCC neglected to send the money along with the application. In the old days, the receiving FCC employees would have informed the reviewing FCC employees of the omission, and CCC would have been notified and given a chance to pay the fee plus a 25% penalty. However, under the new electronic filing system, the reviewing employees never found out about the timely attempt to renew, and acted as though there had been no attempt at all. The situation is now rectified and life restored to WRIV pending reception of its belated $187.50 fee.

Another record-breaking year
for millionaire households
TNS released results from its annual Affluent Market Research Program (AMRP). For the sixth consecutive year, TNS found that the number of millionaire households has increased significantly. Key findings from the survey include: Millionaire households (households with $1MM+ net worth, not including primary residence) increased by 5.9% from June 2006 to June 2007, reaching an estimated 9.9 million. Long term investing continues to be one of the key success factors for these households, with the vast majority of millionaires making few reactionary changes in their portfolios.

MEDIA BUSINESS REPORT ™

WALL STREET BUSINESS REPORT ™

No cheering for Yahoo!
Stock traders were in a foul mood after Yahoo! spurned an improved buyout offer from Microsoft - and Microsoft then walked away. Yahoo!'s stock took a dive and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%. The Dow Industrials were off even more, falling 89 points, or 0.7%, to 12,970.

Radio stocks fell as well. The RBR Radio Index was down 2.299, or 2.8%, to 79.666. Regent outperformed the industry in Q1 and predicted a revenue increase for Q2, but its stock fell 17.4%. Beasley, which also reported Q1 results, was down 6%.

Here's how stocks fared on Monday

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On "Radio Heard Fear"
Wow. I guess John Gorman didn't get invited to the sleep-over! Like my ol' Daddy used to say about Monday morning quarterbacks: "There're a lot of great coaches out there, only problem is you can't get them to put down their hotdog and beer and come out of the stands." Keep working on it guys, the product is a good one. There are a lot of knowledgeable guys and gals out there working in the trenches. All you have to do is ask.

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Ad Business Report
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Media Markets & Money
Saints come marching in
For Emmis as New Orleans
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Media Business Report
Global research consolidating
Market may not allow for Nielsen
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