Real men do groceries (and push carts)
It still may be a woman's world inside the grocery store but real men do push the carts with the squeaky wheels that wobble. Did you know that 50% of men do grocery shop at least twice per week? As they push that cart 19% of men spend over $100 weekly at their favorite grocery store.

Remember in your local sales efforts that shopping for groceries is a neighborhood choice where people talk with people and get to know each other. It is just not pinching the peach to check for ripeness. The kicker is 23% of men are self-proclaimed homemakers, to the extent of being the primary shopper.
Income average is $40K versus the comparable average female median income of $30K. Interep put out this valuable study of the changing male consumer of today. He must be taken into account when planning your local sales strategy.
More next week, including a look at men's trends in media usage.

Simultaneous media usage threatens effectiveness
of D to C marketing campaigns
Advertisers' quest to increase advertising ROI through direct communications in a one to one environment may be hitting some unexpected bumps in the road caused by consumers multiple media consumption patterns, according to the latest Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) of 13K consumers by BIGresearch. "Simultaneous media consumption is creating a moving target for advertisers through all communication channels and that includes direct communication online or via mail," said Joe Pilotta, PhD, VP Research BIGresearch. "Directly targeting consumers based upon behaviors is in theory a great way of cost effectively enhancing relationships and eliminating waste from ad budgets, however, the reality is that direct communication with consumers rarely occurs one to one, but is more like 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 in the context of SIMM usage." Some of the findings on ho! w this multitasking phenomenon is effecting online and direct mail are:

When online:
-- 63.5% say they regularly or occasionally watch TV
-- 59.7% say they regularly or occasionally listen to the radio
-- 40.3% say they regularly or occasionally read the mail

When reading mail:
-- 73.9% say they regularly or occasionally watch TV
-- 57.5% say they regularly or occasionally listen to the radio
-- 35% say they regularly or occasionally go online

Tribune offering a Franklin and two Abes
Multimedia giant Tribune Company, with newspaper, TV and one humongous standalone AM station in its portfolio, is announcing a dividend to shareholders of record as of 8/26/04. On 9/12/04, those lucky shareholders will get one dime and two pennies per share, thanks to the munificence of the company's board of directors.

Radio One doubles up in Charlotte
WABZ-FM will be the latest addition to the Radio One portfolio, coming in an $11.5M deal with Susquehanna Radio. It already owns WQNC-FM in the market. Radio One honcho Al Liggins was crowing about the deal at the group's Q2 conference call, saying they'd spent only a little more than $20M to get into this relatively large, and significantly African-American market. "This acquisition is another great deal for Radio One," said Liggins. "Charlotte is an important city for us, as it is one of the faster growing markets in the Southeastern United States, an area that is seeing strong African-American population growth."

Radio One said it had improved from an average 3-share to a 5-share when they flipped WQNC from young to Adult Urban, with Tom Joyner. It expects at a minimum it can take the new stick, and stick it is - - a move-in - - and at least get to its old 3-level for an 8-share total. The move is from Albemarle to Indian Trail NC. It'll be a 6-kW Class A, but with a decent perch. As we wrote earlier (5/24/04 RBR Daily Epaper #101): "Susquehanna likes the move to Indian Trail because the migration southwest of Albemarle puts it very close to a big yellow blob which, in our Map quest 2004 road map atlas, has the word Charlotte printed on it. We'd guess that the town is about 15 miles out of the city limits, compared to 45 miles for Albemarle."

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Saga looks at the broadcasting climate
Ed Christian’s views on the radio medium are to say the least constructive - Spotloads: see the programmer - Recovery: radio can't duck partial responsibility - Arbitron: OK in large markets unreliable in smaller - Station trading: summer doldrums - IBOC: must take advantage of new technology... TVBR observation: Always straight talk from Christian we advise a click through for this must-read. 07/29/04 TVBR #147


DTV transition:
Fritts offers an olive branch
Acting on the advice of Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), has fired off a letter to his opposite number at the NCTA, Robert Sachs, proposing that representative of the broadcast and cable businesses sit down soon to hash out details of the DTV transition. TVBR observation: Tauzin is absolutely right - - to begin with, legislators are not experts in broadcasting or cable. They do not necessarily know when they are monkeying with a trifle or with a cornerstone of either business. To top it off, their broadcast vote may be little more than a bargaining chip - - something to trade in return for a vote to get a new cloverleaf built in their district! If the broadcasting and cable industries want a resolution that is businesslike, they will be much better off doing it themselves. 07/28/04 TVBR #146


Another analyst weighs in on Clear Channel's "more is less"
"Reading between the lines of management comments, we believe inventory reduction heavily involves inventory unit sales shift from 60 second units to 30 second units without significant unit price discount," RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank. But he says details of just how that will be accomplished remain "elusive."
RBR observation: Interesting question Mr. Bank raises: Cutting spots in overnights might reduce clutter and even increase average unit prices, but if nobody's listening, does it matter? On the other hand, it is hard to see how CCU can cut inventory in its most important day-parts... 07/28/04 RBR #146


Analysts cautiously optimistic
about "less is more"
After hearing management's explanation of Clear Channel's "less is more" initiative seem to be buying into the idea, but remain cautious about what it will mean to the company's financial results.
RBR observation: SG Cowen & Co., analyst James Marsh .. Noting that current radio trends are "not pretty," 07/27/04 RBR #145


Belo and Time Warner cut cable ties
Pulled the plug on their 24-hour local cable news venture in three markets - - Houston, San Antonio and Charlotte. This put 190 full- and part-time staffers out of work. But Time Warner will go it alone to continue operating News 14 Carolina in Charlotte. 07/26/04 TVBR #144


Clear Channel may end guidance
CFO Randall Mays is asking Wall Street analysts and investors for some feedback. He wants to know whether the company should stop giving forward guidance on financial numbers. RBR observation: You can run, but you can't hide! It was Clear Channel a few years back which orchestrated the move by major groups to force Miller, Kaplan Arase & Co. to stop providing weekly pacing data to RBR. Then it was Clear Channel again just last month which put an end to Miller, Kaplan's gathering of pacing data altogether. Now Clear Channel wants to stop having to be accountable to its shareholders for whether or not management has a handle on where its business is heading. Of course, there's no requirement to provide forward guidance, but it sure looks like Clear Channel management is trying to crawl under a rock and hide. Back when times were good, Randall Mays was a master of the Wall Street guidance game - - always providing guidance that proved to be just a tad conservative so that Clear Channel delivered a bit more than it had promised. But now that the advertising environment is turbulent and Clear Channel is no longer a growth stock, he doesn't want to be held accountable anymore.
07/26/04 RBR #144


TV & cable strong,
radio not at Viacom
Radio was again the weak spot as Viacom hit its Q2 earnings targets on the strength of its TV and cable networks. TV revenues were up 11% but the story was quite different for the Infinity radio division. Revenues did inch up 2% that barely moved the needle on operating income, which was essentially flat! While brokers and other group owners have been salivating at Viacom saying it will divest some of its radio stations, Moonves indicated that he's not in any rush to do so and that the sell-off won't be extensive. Editor's note: Sell off of some radio - it will happen but when and what. Co-President/ Co-COO Les Moonves is just getting circling the pool before he jumps in. 07/23/04 TVBR #143


Tribune appeals for crossownership
Facing possible TV/newspaper combo breakups when some of its TV licenses come up for renewal, Tribune Company has appealed last month's ruling by a Philadelphia federal appeals court that sent all of the FCC's ownership rules back for reworking. Tribune wants the court to allow TV/newspaper crossownership in markets with at least nine stations while the Commission reviews its rules. 07/23/04 TVBR #143


Infinity moving all national business to Interep
The p-match between Infinity and Clear Channel continues: While 75%-80% of Infinity's national sales biz is currently with Interep, the rest (20%+) will be moving from Katz over to Interep. RBR observation: Makes sense to bring that money into your own bank. But word of caution again to Interep, and not put yourself as a company in harm's way. There has been and always will be this stigma. 07/23/04 RBR #143


Clear Channel fires back
with $3M countersuit
against Infinity and Stern
The best defense is a strong offense, so Clear Channel is going on the offensive in its legal battle with Viacom's Infinity over bouncing "The Howard Stern Show."
TVBR observation: We note that one of the allegations that Clear Channel denies in its response to the Infinity lawsuit is the claim that Clear Channel's suspension of Stern's show was politically motivated - - coming a day before Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan was due to testify on Capitol Hill about indecency penalties. But we all know this is more about politics than anything else.
07/22/04 TVBR #142