Brokers get a plug at NABOB confab
The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters concluded their 2004 management conference with an informative and thought-provoking session on breaking into the ranks of broadcast ownership. The session went far beyond advising minorities on breaking in - - the advice we heard would be well-taken by anyone looking into broadcast ownership. Minority Media & Telecommunications Council honcho David Honig was at the session, and told the gathering that regulatory and business conditions pointed to the development of a much more robust station trading market than we've seen of late. To take advantage of this, his organization is looking at the formation of an incubator program to assist first-time owners into the business. He expects to make a more concrete announcement in the coming months. NABOB's Jim Winston asked the panel how to answer a question he is frequently asked: What stations are for sale? (We at RBR/TVBR occasionally field that same question.) The answer was a ringing endorsement for our friends in the brokerage community. Panelist Joel Hartstone said that most of the properties which are on the block are known to someone in the brokerage community. Hartstone went further, saying that the most active brokers have a demonstrated history of promoting minority ownership. There are numerous factors which go into a successful buy. If a prospective station owner has the other necessary elements lined up, brokers were cited as an excellent source to identify properties to acquire. We'll continue to provide details of the session as the week progresses.

TV stocks closed mixed. Granite led the decliners with a loss of 13.3%, while Entravision was the best performer, up 2.9%.

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This radio broadcaster isn't sitting still for our observation that TV is currently better positioned than radio to help car dealers move product (9/13/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #178).

Dollar for dollar, that is for each dollar invested vs. dollars received in goods sold Radio will outperform TV for auto dealers. Your statement that TV will sell for the dealers better than Radio has no fact basis. You bring up the thirty second commercial, and as I have said before, this idea is one conceived by people who have never sold advertising, who do not talk with clients and who are not involved in the process. Radio must continue to sell sixties because that is how Radio works for the advertiser.

Barry Drake
Backyard Broadcasting

Rick Joyner to GMC
Veteran Gospel radio programmer Rick Joyner has joined cable's Gospel Music Channel as Senior Manager of Acquisitions and Programming, working with the network's programming of both Urban and traditional Gospel.

Brian Eloe joins Impossible Pictures
Impossible Pictures, a full-service animation, visual effects production and post-production company, announced the appointment of Brian Eloe to join its team of discreet artists. Eloe, formerly with STARZ! Encore Group, will be responsible for the creative and technical production of broadcast projects.

RBC warns investors of soft radio revenues
RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank is warning investors that radio revenues are pacing behind his previous expectations for Q3 - - and that Q4 is worrisome as well. In a note which headlined that Q3 for radio came in "like a lamb" and appears to be going out the same way, Bank said his checks across the country found "continuing lackluster radio performance" despite the November election now being less than 60 days away. TVBR observation: Heads up people because the fourth Q is at risk. Now you can not point any finger at Naples, FL or Barron's or Forbes. Best read further on. | More... |

Death of reporter killed by US fire aired on TV
An Arab television journalist was killed and two other journalists were wounded Sunday when a U.S. helicopter opened fire to destroy a U.S. vehicle disabled by a car bomb, witnesses and their employers said. Mazen al-Tumeizi, who was working for Al-Arabiya television, was taping a report when an explosion behind him caused him to double-over and scream "I'm dying, I'm dying." He died moments later, Al-Arabiya said after airing the video. An Iraqi working as a camera operator for Reuters Television was wounded and reported in stable condition, the agency said here. The helicopter incident occurred shortly after 6:30 a.m. when a U.S. Army Bradley fighting vehicle was en route to help a patrol in distress during clashes on Haifa Street in the center of Baghdad, military spokesman Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan said. The vehicle was disabled by a car bomb and the four-member crew was evacuated, Boylan said. A U.S. Army helicopter opened fire to prevent looters from stripping the vehicle, Boylan said. At least 30 journalists and other employees of media agencies have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March 2003, according to the AP.

Complimentary Report
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We have the economic, political, and close up look at your 4th quarter of business and what must be done to hit budget by year's end.

GM of Cadillac, Mark LaNeve
tells it like it is on where he
spends ad dollars.

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Auto analyst: Big three have a marketing problem
Detroit is facing a new problem - - how to keep moving cars now, since there's no pent-up demand and rising rates will soon put an end to 0% financing. Morgan Stanley auto analyst Steve Girsky said the US car makers face a marketing problem. "..you look at who is increasing incentives at a faster rate, you have Nissan at 50% and Audi at almost 60%, Land Rover 45% - - a lot of the foreign are increasing incentives at a much greater clip than the domestic brands." TVBR observation: Girsky sees local dealers struggling to hit a profit this year. TVB's Rohrs sees this as an opportunity for local TV to move local inventory. TVBR agrees with Rohrs as TV doesn't have the 'Less is More' issue and can sell new or used autos better than radio. The question for radio is can it move local inventory with a 30 second spot? The Big Three "Implied" Retail Inventory Days of Supply chart is worth printing for your local sales staff. 09/13/04 TVBR #178

Scandal nixes Belo bonuses
Belo Corporation Chairman and CEO Robert Decherd has sent employees a letter stating that he and other top Belo executives won't be getting any bonuses this year because of the scandal over inflated circulation figures at the Dallas Morning News - - and no increase in their base salaries next year. Check it out the personal letter. 09/13/04 TVBR #178

American Airlines launches
new branding effort
"Back to the future" may be one way to describe the new American Airlines branding campaign. The program, leverages the core strengths of the company and focuses on the attributes that for decades have helped define American's success. The new brand positioning is executed through series of gently emotional ads seek to make flying adventurous instead of just a hunt for the cheapest seat. American's advertising consultants have jettisoned the old jingle, "Something special in the air," and replaced it with, "We know why you fly."
TVBR observation: Question is how many of the biggies will be around to fly. US Airways just declared Chapter 11 for the second time.
09/13/04 TVBR #178

Homeland security issues tied
to DTV transition
FCC Chairman Michael Powell told Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and the rest of the Senate Commerce Committee that he thinks it is time to establish a hard deadline for the transition to digital television broadcasting, a move which will free up spectrum for use in homeland security operations, particularly for first responders in the event of an emergency, whether it be natural or man-made. Powell endorsed the controversial Ferree plan
09/13/04 RBR #178

Arbitron study shows radio is a political player
Looked at the relationship between radio and politics in the hotly-contested battleground state of Pennsylvania, and found some surprising results. In short, although the preponderance of right-wing voices on Talk radio have led many to view the much of the medium as an outlet for Republican thought - Arbitron also pulled favorite formats for the three voter groups. Here are the results - Independents: AOR, CHR, News-Talk, Oldies - Republicans: AC, News-Talk, Country - Democrats: AC, CHR, AOR. 09/13/04 RBR #178

TVB forecasts flat 2005,
big '06 gains
With 2004 revenues inflated by record election spending and the Summer Olympics, the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) is predicting that 2005 will be essentially flat for spot TV (local and national combined), from down 1% to up 1%. TVBR observation: The facts are in the TVB's chart forecast for 2005 and 2006. Recommendation is to print it out. 09/10/04 TVBR #177