Radio News ®

Our exclusive confirmed: Premiere gets Delilah, Jones to replace with Alan Kabel
We now have confirmation from both Premiere Radio Networks and Jones MediaAmerica that Delilah is indeed starting with Premiere 7/1, as we had exclusively reported a month ago. Jones Radio Networks will offer Alan Kabel as a replacement to Delilah affiliates. But, of course, many will be getting calls from Premiere. | Full Story |

Powell MIA in Rapid City
FCC Chairman Michael Powell was not in attendance as planned at the broadcast localism hearing held last night. According to reports, a scheduling conflict forced him to be in transit at the time of the meeting. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein presided over the forum, making the session much like the national road-show the two Democrats held prior to last year's 6/2/03 ownership rulemaking, most of which were also Republican-free events, at least on the Commission level.

No contest would have saved NNM $4K
New Northwest Broadcasters (NNB) has been hit with a $4K fine by the FCC for improperly running an over-the-air contest. Although the stations belong to its Tri-Cities WA cluster, NNB didn't own the station which received the complaint. It was operating KUJ-FM Walla Walla under an LMA. NNB has since filed to acquire the station. | Full Story |

Group assails NPR for bias
From the headline, you've probably assumed that we're talking about liberal bias. But no, FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) claims to have found proof of a conservative bias on National Public Radio. That likely comes as a surprise to the right, which often holds up NPR as the epitome of liberal media elitism. | Full Story |

Liberal watchdog wants to
de-militarize Rush
A liberal group is demanding that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld remove Rush Limbaugh's show from the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFTRS), charging that he has been condoning and trivializing the abuse, torture, rape and possible murder of prisoners by US guards at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "It is abhorrent that the American taxpayer is paying to broadcast what is in effect pro-torture propaganda to American troops," Media Matters for American President and CEO David Brock wrote in his letter to Rumsfeld. "I ask you to consider removing Mr. Limbaugh from the radio network to protect our troops from these reckless and dangerous messages." Brock said Limbaugh's comments "...undermine the military's chain of command and may also inflame anti-American sentiment abroad, putting our service men and women at risk." Limbaugh has repeatedly said that critics took out of context comments he made on May 4th comparing photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse to the initiation into Yale's Skull & Bones Society, of which President Bush is a member. AFRTS airs one hour of his three-hour show daily.

Measuring the Media Moguls

Salem Communications: Ed Atsinger, President & CEO

2003 stock performance: +8.61%
2003 CEO pay: +0.38%

Small pay increases were the rule last year at Salem Communications. President and CEO Ed Atsinger saw his total paycheck go up less than $3,000, as did Chairman Stuart Epperson, his co-founder of the company. Atsinger got a salary of $700,000 (the same as 2002) and no bonus (ditto). His entire increase in compensation came from slightly higher payments the company made on a life insurance policy - - $44,016 vs. $41,184 the previous year. So his total compensation of $744,016 was up 0.38% from $741,184. | Full Story |

Adbiz ©

Jon Mandel: A no-holds-barred take
on media today, Part IV
From RBR's May 2004 print edition, continued:
As far as TV in general, what are some of the things they can do
to improve your objectives?
Well I think there's an inconsistency in how they sell. I mean some guys do double runs, some guys don't, I mean there's all kinds of crap like that. | Full Story |

Nielsen: US ad spend up 7% in Q1
Ad spending for Q1 2004 rose more than 7% over the same period last year, due to gains across major media, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Cable saw the greatest gain, at nearly 16%, while Network TV grew 10.4%. National Newspaper climbed 9.4%, while Local Magazine and Spot TV rose 8.3% and 7.1%, respectively. Local Newspaper increased 4.7%, National Magazines 4.4%, and Network Radio rose 2.7%. Spot Radio was up 2.7%. Spanish-Language Television showed some weakness for the quarter, compared to the rapid growth in the same period last year.
| Full Story |

Gillette's new M3Power razor effort
features NASCAR drivers
To help launch the new Gillette M3Power shaving system, Gillette is turning up the heat during the Coca-Cola 600 with the debut of two TV spots starring the "Gillette Young Guns": NASCAR's Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman. The two 30-second spots, which are part of a campaign to support the M3Power system, will be unveiled during the FOX telecast of the Coca-Cola 600 on 5/30, and will run exclusively during NASCAR programming on TNT, NBC and FOX for the remainder of the 2004 race season.

Washington Beat

Programming

ABC News Radio offering three Memorial Day Specials
ABC News Radio is offeing three new holiday specials scheduled to air during Memorial Day weekend: Critical Condition: America's Obesity Crisis, The Family Fix with John Stossel, and Murder in Modesto: The Trial of Scott Peterson. The specials will be available 5/27-5/31. | Full Story |

Transactions

$10.25M: KRIO-FM San Antonio (Pearsall TX) from Radio Tuna Ltd. to Border Media Partners LLC.

$3M: KVOP-AM/KREW-AM/KKYN-FM/KRIA-FM Plainview TX; KBST AM & FM, KBTS-FM Big Spring TX; KVOU AM & FM, KUVA-FM Uvalde TX; KEPS-AM & KINL-FM Eagle Pass TX from Equicom Inc. to Rhattigan Broadcasting.

$2.7M: WIOL-FM Columbus GA (Eufala AL) from Hatchee Creek Communications Inc. to Davis Broadcasting Inc.

| Full Details |

Stock Talk

Radio Stocks