Taken to task: Powell meets with anti-fraud force

President Bush's task force on corporate fraud got right down to business Friday, 7/12. It met in the morning with officials of the Bush administration including Attorney General John Ashcroft, and later met with Bush himself at the White Houses.

Michael Powell is one of four federal commission heads on the panel, the others being Harvey Pitt of the Securities and Exchange Commission, James Newsome of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Pat Wood III of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and FBI Director Robert Mueller round out the group which is headed by Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.

Premiere syndicates WMZQ-FM's Ben & Brian

Premiere Radio Networks announced 7/12 a multi-year agreement with WMZQ-FM Washington D.C. morning show duo Ben Campbell and Brian Egan to syndicate the weekly "Ben & Brian's Big Top 20 Country Countdown." Debuting this August, the three-hour radio show will air weekends on Country stations nationwide.

Each weekend on Ben and Brian count down the week's 20 biggest country music hits and discuss newsmakers in the country music and entertainment industries. They also do exclusive interviews with Country's biggest names.

Sumner has kind words for Mel

It's anybody's guess what will happen next year, when Mel Karmazin's contract comes up for renewal at Viacom (N:VIA), but once hostile CEO Sumner Redstone was quoted by the New York Times (7/13) as having noting but good things to say about Mel as the two were attending investment banker Herb Allen's annual gathering of media moguls in Sun Valley, ID.

"I am getting along with him better than ever, and I really do believe he is very good at what he does," the Times reported Redstone said, when asked about his relationship with Karmazin.

Even so, Redstone is clearly looking forward to next year's expiration of the terms of the Viacom-CBS merger, which guaranteed Karmazin and associates their seats on Viacom's Board of Directors. Come next spring, Redstone, with his majority voting control of Viacom, will be able to replace any of the 13 board members he wishes. He told the Times, though, that he will probably keep most of the CBS-appointed members - - so long, he implied, as everyone knows that he's the boss. "I would then be operating the company as I did before for 13 years," he noted.

As for whether Karmazin's contract as COO and President will be renewed next year, Redstone said, "We agreed that we are not going to talk to each other about his future until the end of the year."

RBR Observation:

We've said all along that a lot of the tension between Sumner and Mel was over perceived control of turf, not any real dispute over the direction of the company. Sumner insists on having 100% authority - - and only relinquished a bit of that in order to make a big score with the CBS acquisition.

On the other hand, Mel has never had personal voting control of any company he's run - - not Infinity, not CBS and certainly not Viacom. He's built his power base by delivering results to keep his bosses - - the shareholders - - happy. The question now is whether one very large shareholder - - Sumner - - will be happy when it comes time to talk contract next year.

Robertson Stephens shutting down

Like many of the dot-coms that it helped launch on Wall Street, the Robertson Stephens investment banking firm is fading into history. FleetBoston Financial (N:FBF), which bought the high-flying tech stock specialist for $800M in 1998 - - and later turned down offers to re-sell it for billions - - has been unable to find a buyer and Friday (7/12) turned down a bid for an employee buyout. Instead, FleetBoston will shut down Robertson Stephens and write-off about a half billion dollars.

RBR Observation:

Although Robertson Stephens had made its name in tech stocks, after merging into Fleet it expanded into media, which had long been a favorite for lending and equity investing by other units of its Boston-based parent bank. In recent years, Robertson Stephens had been an active participant in several radio IPOs and bond offerings.

File away these filing fees

Here is the new rate card for filing with the FCC for AM, FM and TV stations. By law, the rates are adjusted every two years, keyed to the inflation rate. This year the increase is 7%.

Times to remember for this year's radio show

Here are a few of the highlights of the upcoming radio show, to be held in Seattle.

Thursday, 9/12, 3:30-4:45P. Super Session on Independent promotion. NAB's EVP of Law & Regulation Policy Jeff Baumann will be joined by Eric Bernthal of Latham & Watkins, Rick Cummings of Emmis Communications (O:EMMS), Ted Kalo, staffer for Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) and Jeff McClusky of Jeff McClusky & Associates. The independent record promotion business has been getting a lot of press lately, and has been called a form of legal payola. This session brings together representatives from the legal, political, radio ownership and record promotion communities.

Friday, 9/13, 9:00-10:15A. This year's keynote address will be delivered by Westwood One (N:WON) Talk talent Bill O'Reilly. Some also have heard of O'Reilly because of his presence on a cable news channel.

Friday, 9/13, 1:30-2:45P. Group Executive panel. ABC (N:DIS) Radio talent Sam Donaldson (who like O'Reilly has also been known to do a little TV work) will host a gathering of top radio ownership execs including Ed Christian of Saga (A:SGA), David Field of Entercom (N:ETM), Mark Mays of Clear Channel (N:CCU), Mary Catherine Sneed of Radio One (O:ROIA) and Bill Stakelin of Regent (O:RGCI).

Saturday, 9/14, 12:00N-1:30P. Radio Show Luncheon will feature remarks from marketing author and Mandalay Sports Entertainment exec Jon Spoelstra, as well as Cox Radio's (N:CXR) Dick Ferguson.

Saturday, 9/14, 6:00-7:00P. Marconi Radio Awards reception, dinner & show emceed by comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

Boston's "The Zone" celebrates expansion

Sporting News Radio's WWZN-AM "The Zone" Boston says it fired up its new three-tower signal Friday (7/12) to expand coverage to the western and southwestern suburbs. WWZN, on 1510 kHz, was already 50kw day and night, but its former two-tower array missed a lot of the western part of the Boston metro during the day.

Petitpas joins Salem

Dionne Petitpas has joined Salem Communications (O:SALM) as Director of Communications. She will report to CFO David Evans. Petitpas worked at various LA radio stations in the early 1990s, but left mainstream radio for Calvary Chapel's KWVE-FM, where she became Marketing and Music Director, as well as midday host. She was most recently Director of Marketing for Maranatha! Music, a Christian record label.

Philly stations see dramatic drops in PPM vs. diary ratings

News from Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) fly-in: Some AQH PPM results are not good news for a handful of stations there. KYW-AM's PPM AQH number, for example was 30% lower than the diaries; WIOQ-FM, WPLY-FM and WDAS-FM also had much better diary results than PPM. In light of the news, some radio groups are reportedly asking Arbitron to take a slow approach to the PPM, and also use another market test other than Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, sometime later this year, Nielsen is supposed to give its decision as to whether it will be a partner with Arbitron on the PPM. If it doesn't, Arbitron officials said they not go forward with the PPM in the US and instead focus on PPM's use overseas and in research gathering for realms other than broadcast.

Conclave to focus on PPM

The Conclave 2002 Learning Conference in Minneapolis (7/25-28) has scheduled a session on Arbitron's (N:ARB) new Portable People Meter. Arbitron VP of Radio Programming Services Bob Michaels will be on hand to go over data from the ongoing PPM test in Philadelphia.

MMTC to honor Tristani

She's back! Former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani will return to Washington, DC 7/25 to be inducted into the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Hall of Fame. Tristani will be taking time off from her campaign in New Mexico, which she hopes will send her back to Washington as a US Senator. Being inducted along with Tristani at the evening reception are cable TV veteran Leo Hindery, who currently runs the New York Yankees' YES Network, and Andy Schwartzman, President and CEO of the Media Access Project.

NBC helps GE boost Q2 earnings

Q2 earnings were up 14% to $4.4B at General Electric (N:GE), due in part to earnings growth at NBC. Revenues for the TV unit were up 9% to $2B and NBC's profits rose 11% to $545M.

"NBC continued its success in television's most sought-after demographic, adults 18-49, with seven of the quarter's 10 highest-rated prime-time programs. The network claimed its ninth consecutive sweeps victory in May with a 37% advantage over its nearest competitor. Overall, NBC led in key demographics for the quarter in morning news, daytime, evening news, late night and Sunday morning public affairs programming. With this ratings success, NBC garnered 52% of the growth in advertising industry dollars in May's upfront sales season, reaching $2.7 billion at prices 7% higher than last year. NBC also saw increases in scatter pricing, which at the end of the quarter was 7% higher than upfront pricing. During the quarter, NBC completed the Telemundo and KNTV acquisitions," GE said.

But even better things are expected from NBC. For Q3, GE is expecting NBC's profits to jump 50-60%. Of course, Q3 of last year included September, when NBC and other broadcasters ran wall-to-wall news and no commercials for days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Cable nets to help decide Adelphia's fate

Two of the largest cable programming suppliers - - Viacom (N:VIA) and AOL Time Warner (N:AOL) - - are going to be part of the creditors committee to help work out a financial restructuring of Adelphia Communications (O:ADLAE). Adelphia, a cable MSO, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization after disclosing billions of dollars in off-the-books liabilities for loans it guaranteed for the family of founder John Rigas. As content providers, Viacom and AOL Time Warner are among Adelphia's largest unsecured creditors.

Consumers still spending

Retail sales rose again in June, as consumers continued to spend, despite the gloom and doom that was growing on Wall Street. The Commerce Department reports that retail sales rose 1.1% in June - - more than twice what economists had expected - - reversing a 1.1% drop in May. Auto sales were a big driver. Without the 3.4% boost in auto sales, overall retail sales would have been up only 0.4%.

But will they keep spending?

The University of Michigan's monthly survey of consumer sentiment is finding a big drop in confidence as the stock market dives and daily headlines blast the latest Wall Street scandals. The monthly index fell to 86.5 this month (from 92.4 in June), putting the gauge of consumer sentiment at its lowest level since November of 2001.

CCU may buy Chinese MediaNation outdoor firm

Bloomberg.com reports Clear Channel's China-based outdoor firm Clear Media, is in talks with rival MediaNation for a potential purchase. A merger of the firms would bring Clear Media to the top in the outdoor advertising sector there. Clear Media does bus-stop advertising; MediaNation on-bus ad faces.

KXLU-FM LA complains to FCC about signal interference

The LA Times reports 7/12 Loyola Marymount University's student-run KXLU-FM has filed a complaint with the FCC that religious broadcaster KTLW-FM is infringing on its frequency. Both located at 88.9 FM, KTLW in Lancaster, CA has a signal almost twice as strong as KXLU (5,800 watts vs. 3,000 watts). KXLU has complained to the FCC its signal is being obliterated by KTLW, especially after its move in March to add a translator in the Verdugo Hills area to extend its signal into the San Gabriel and La Crescenta valleys.

"They started transmitting from the hills of La Crescenta," KXLU GM Dan Rowan told The Times. "That area is a huge area for us-Silver Lake, Glendale, Burbank. We have a strong listener base there. If we don't have those people in October when we do our annual fund-raiser, it will make a huge difference. I'm thinking that it will be at least a third less money."

Rowan said attorneys for the university have begun looking into the matter. Meanwhile KXLU website postings and newspaper ads are informing listeners of the issue.

Monthly Minnesota Public Radio show to go national

"First Person Speaking of Faith," a monthly Minnesota Public Radio show that features people talking about their faith, is going national, with a two-year $650K grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The show is broadcast the third Thursday of each month at noon and 9 p.m. on MPR. The next one is scheduled for 7/18.

Powell criticizes electronics makers on DTV

FCC Chair Michael Powell criticized consumer electronics manufacturers 7/11 for failing to follow his voluntary plan to help the rollout of DTV. This April, Powell asked manufacturers with a major stake in the DTV transition to begin including digital tuners in many new TV sets. In a press release Powell said operators, broadcasters and DBS operations had either endorsed his initiative or were making great strides in advancing the transition: "The missing piece of the DTV puzzle is the consumer electronics industry," Powell said in his release. "I hope they will join their industry colleagues and come forward with real and tangible commitments to advance the transition.

Powell may have a good point here. We recently reported (TVBR 6/10, p.3) the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced DTV product sales totaled 148,369 units ($257M+) in March, an increase of 86% compared to the same period in last year. CEA also reported that DTV product sales (integrated sets and displays) to date in 2002 represent the strongest first quarter start in DTV history, totaling 431,424 units--an 84% increase over Q1 '01.

That's nice, but "integrated sets" represent TVs that can actually receive a DTV signal. While the sales figures first appear promising, the VAST majority of those DTV sets aren't integrated sets, but merely monitors-great for DVD players, DirecTV service etc. CEA figures from a 3/27 release confirm it: "2001 sales of digital set-top boxes totaled 128,845, representing a 251% increase from 2000. Unit sales of integrated sets were revised to 70,295-a 1,025% increase over 2000. The total 2001 DTV product figure remains unchanged at 1,459,731 units on sales of more than $2.6B."

So out of 1,459,731 DTV units sold, 70,295 were actually DTV sets that could receive a DTV signal. 128,845 set-top boxes plugged into an analog TV set or DTV monitor isn't very heartening either.

WAXQ-FM NY host offends Italian-Americans

A controversy may be brewing between Clear Channel's WAXQ-FM NYC and some angry Italian-American listeners. As we hear it from a couple of NY sources, morning drive show sidekick Chuck Nice (who is African-American) recently said on-air that "Italians are [the 'N'-word]s with short memories." The station has refused an on-air apology.

Dona De Sanctis, Deputy Executive Director, DC-based Order Sons of Italy in America, emailed us this comment:

"I understand that you write for a radio industry publication and are interested in writing about a remark made by Charles Nice on Bob Buchmann's radio program recently (WAXQ FM 104.3 in NYC) to the effect that 'Italians are [the "N"-word]s who have lost their memories.' Apparently he said it when he was guest host on June 26, 2002 between 8 and 9 AM on this talk show whose name is something like 'Bob Buchmann and the [Radio] Chick.'

"The Sons of Italy, the nation's oldest and largest organization for Italian Americans, is puzzled by such a statement and the station's refusal to do an on-air apology. We understand that Mr. Nice is African American, but we don't understand why it is wrong for a white person to call an African American that name, but OK for an African American to use it to describe white people. Anything you can do to help us understand would be deeply appreciated."

RBR Observation: Well, we called Buchmann and haven't heard back yet. All we can do on this one is report it as we hear it.

Burger King takes $300M account to IPG

According to reports, Diageo's Burger King is consolidating most of its $300M US creative and media duties at Interpublic Group. IPG is negotiating with BK to consolidate all media duties at Media First from Bcom3's MediaVest, and to move the estimated $50M regional advertising business currently at Bcom3's D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in New York to Deutsch/LA.

Media Audit report ranks 85 metro markets by educational achievement

The Media Audit released a report 7/10 detailing metro markets by educational achievement. According to the 85 metro markets regularly surveyed regularly by The Media Audit, the percentage of adults with a college degree is increasing while the percentage of adults without a high school diploma is decreasing. Since 1997, the percent of the adults in the 85 markets with one or more college degrees increased from 33% to 34.4%. During the same period, the number of adults (age 18+) with "some high school or less" increased from 11,848,000 to 12,075,000. However, as a percent of the population surveyed the number of those (age 18+) with "some high school or less" decreased from 10.1% to 9.4%.

The Media Audit data also reveals that 12% or 15,464,000 adults in the 85 markets had advanced college degrees in '01 compared to 11.2% or 13,173,000 adults in 1997.

Four new channels debut on June Arbitron webcast Top 25 ratings

Arbitron today announced 7/12 that four new stations - WFXZ-FM, Live365 - KSBJadmin, WWDC-FM and WOXY-FM - were ranked within the top 25 webcast channels in the June Arbitron Webcast Ratings. Sea-Comm Media's WFXZ-FM was ranked 12th; Christian station, Live365 - KSBJ, was ranked 22nd; Clear Channel's WWDC-FM Washington ranked 23rd and WOXY-FM Oxford-Cincinnati was 25th. Virgin Radio maintained its top channel ratings spot; Jazz FM UK ranked number two; and WQXR-FM ranked number three.

For Network Ratings, Live365 was ranked number one; Clear Channel ranked second and ChainCast/StreamAudio ranked number three.

UK opens Entwistle inquest

An inquest into the recent death of The Who bassist John Entwistle has been opened in the UK. He was found dead in the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on 6/27 of a suspected heart attack. He was 57. Although Entwistle died in the US, it is policy for an inquest to be held in the UK for all British residents. Meanwhile, the adult entertainer who was reportedly in Entwistle's suite when he died is rumored to be shopping her story to tabloids.