Radio News ®

No drama for today's NAB board meetings
With no threat remaining of a challenge to the re-election of Phil Lombardo (pictured), CEO of the Citadel Communications TV group, as NAB Joint Board Chairman, it looks like today's voting will be a pretty sedate affair. The Vice Chairs of both the Radio and TV Boards should move up without opposition. TV Board Chairman Michael Fiorile of Dispatch Broadcast Group is also stepping down, although he'll remain a board member for another year. Andy Fisher of Cox Television will apparently face no opposition in his run for Chairman. In Radio, Carl Gardner of Journal Broadcast Group, whose term on the board is ending, will be succeeded by Bruce Reese of Bonneville. If there is to be any contested election at all it is likely to be for the at-large seat on the Radio Executive Committee. Russ Withers of Withers Broadcasting, having decided he didn't have sufficient backing to challenge Lombardo, has reportedly been testing the waters to challenge incumbent Alan Harris of Wagonwheel Communications for that seat on the Radio Executive Committee. TVBR was unable to reach Withers to learn his intentions. Of course, board members are expected to overwhelmingly approve a new two-year contract for President and CEO Eddie Fritts and begin the search for his successor as he heads toward retirement after a run of more than two decades.

KRLV-AM Las Vegas to end up with John Douglas
The saga of KRLV-AM Las Vegas appears to be coming to a close. When we last reported on the fight over the Sin City signal last September (9/22/03 RBR Daily Epaper #185), David Peschau's Continental Radio Broadcasting Acquisition LLC was trying to convince a federal bankruptcy judge that the company's creditors, led by former station owner Fred Weinberg, had been interfering in his business and they, not he, were responsible for the station's financial difficulties. But as of last week, Peschau is out and Weinberg is in, with the judge putting the creditor's committee in control of Continental Radio as it exits Chapter 11. Weinberg tells RBR that he already has a deal to LMA the station to John Douglas, who will have an option to buy it. The price tag is $3.2 million for the first 12 months and goes up after that. No word yet on what Douglas plans for the station, although he has owned numerous stations in the past with Asian formats and Las Vegas has a sizeable Asian population, not to mention lots of Asian tourists coveted by the big casinos. In a parting dig at Peschau, Weinberg has named the new licensee-to-be 1340 AD LLC, with the "AD" standing for "after Dave."

Howard Dean lauds local media
Former Vermont Governor and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean appeared before the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation to discuss broadcast debating in particular and the relationship of politicians and the media in general. He remarked several times that the best of all media, on several levels, is local television. Editor's note: Dean blames a noise-squelching mic as he was attempting to buck up spirits and was using a loud tone of voice because he had to be heard over the crowd. Well Mr. Dean radio can make any face for TV sound good. If you missed it the first time then take another listen for old time sake. Radio's production of
The Dean Scream. | More... |

Debating the debate
The NABEF panel spent at least part of their time discussing their topic, which was the state of debates in the broadcast media. Moderator Leon Harris noted the presence of both perpetrators and victims on the panel when he launched the discussion. | More... |

Broadcasters serve up $9.6B to the public
The numbers are in for 2003, and they show a record of public service by the broadcast community second only to the off-the-charts year of 2001 in the donation of time and generation of charitable funds. $9.6B was either raised for charity and relief efforts, or donated for gratis public service announcements. The total represents a slight drop from 2001, which included a $1B one-time surge attributable to 9/11. Broadcaster participating in the survey used to generate stats were specifically instructed to limit their reporting to the above categories. PSAs airedw for partial payment did not count, nor did the value of advertisements canceled in order to cover breaking news. "This census confirms again that local, over-the-air radio and television stations are collectively the number one provider of public service in America," said NAB President/CEO Eddie Fritts. The total was well beyond those of 1999 ($8.1B) and 1997 ($6.8B).

Redstone puts his team in place at Midway
New controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone said a few days ago (6/7/04 RBR Daily Epaper #110) that he would announce new management for Midway Games shortly after the annual shareholders meeting last Thursday, and indeed he has. To no one's surprise, the two new directors that Redstone nominated to the board of directors (5/10/04 RBR Daily Epaper #91) are now running the show. Former Vivendi Universal Games Chairman and CEO Kenneth Cron is now Chairman of the Board of Directors at Midway and Shari Redstone, Sumner's daughter and head of the family's National Amusements Inc., is Vice Chairman. Filling the board seat left vacant by the abrupt departure of former Chairman Neil Nicastro is Joseph Califano, former US Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Califano and Shari Redstone are both directors of Viacom, where Sumner Redstone is Chairman and CEO.

Charting the future for the post-Eddie NAB
The Eddie Fritts era at the NAB is coming to an end. The organization has come a long way in his 22 years, but where should it be going once Eddie retires within the next two years? A lot has already been said by some NAB members about wanting a Capitol Hill heavy-hitter. The scenario often mentioned is that Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) would be the ideal candidate, if only he didn't have health problems. But even if he were available, there's no guarantee that NAB could land him. Lots of other trade associations are also looking for leadership and they also have multi-million-dollar contracts to offer. The Motion Picture Association of America has been looking for some time for a successor to retiring Jack Valenti, so far without success. | More... |

Adbiz ©

CBS, ABC seal upfront ad deals
Viacom's CBS had pretty well wrapped up its upfront yesterday with a total take of $2.4B, up from $2.2B last year. CBS was able to obtain double-digit CPM increases in ad rates, on average, for its primetime shows. Home to such shows as "CSI: Miami" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," top-rated CBS is likely to be the one major network to substantially surpass its upfront ad-sales total from 2003. Viacom's UPN secured about $350M in the upfront, some $100M over its advance commitments in 2003. Viacom had been one of the last to finish this year's upfront, since it had held out for price increases of 10% or better at CBS. | More... |

Charles Schwab joins TiVo's roster of advertisers
TiVo continues pulling advertisers over from traditional media outlets. Charles Schwab & Co. will be the first financial services company to advertise on the TiVo rich media platform. Schwab will treat golf fans to lessons, commentary and more from 2004 Masters Champion and Schwab client Phil Mickelson in a TiVo Showcase that debuts 6/16 in conjunction with the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in NY. | More... |

P&G signs sponsorship deal with
Reach Media's Tom Joyner
Reach Media announced a partnership between its Tom Joyner Morning Show and Procter & Gamble that includes sponsorship and a study to measure the effectiveness of urban radio and its ability to impact sales. | More... |

Schwab debuting new radio effort
Charles Schwab & Co. will launch a new radio campaign on 6/15 to highlight the introduction of the company's new lower trading prices, which were announced 5/25. Founder and Chairman Charles Schwab is featured in three 60-second radio spots highlighting the value and choice of services available at the company, while the print portion of the campaign builds upon the recent "Grafitti" ads, emphasizing that investors should not have to sacrifice service and advice to get low-cost trades. The new pricing, which also becomes effective 6/15, will dramatically reduce fees for online equity trades, offering $9.95 trades to clients with $1M in household assets at Schwab and lowering commissions to $19.95 for a wide range of additional clients. The campaign, developed by Austin ad agency GSD&M, consists of a broad range of radio and print placements. Radio ads will run on national networks as well as in key local markets through the week of 6/21. Print placements include national news dailies as well as weekly news magazines and will run from 6/15 into July. Also see our related story on Schwab's first financial services showcase with the TiVo platform.

Media, Markets & Money tm

Washington Beat

Engineering

The mission to bring
text messaging to radio - - Part I
In this four-part RBR E-paper series, everything you wanted to know about text messaging for radio: The mobile phone, because it usually follows its owner everywhere and is almost always on, opens up many new opportunities for marketers. Mobile marketing can drive a high level of response and consumer action while building brand recognition, loyalty and sales. The cost-per-contact in mobile marketing is a fraction of comparable costs in more traditional marketing channels, such as direct mail and call centers. For example, the cost per contact for direct mail begins at $1.00, while SMS (Short Message Service) carries a cost-per-contact starting at $.15.

Mobile messaging as a marketing tool is well-developed in Europe and Asia, but is still only emerging in the US. In fact, in many other countries, consumers send and receive far more text and visual messages - - including video with sound - - over their mobile phones than they do voice messages. Some of the SMS text services for radio decided the time was right to enter the US market on the heels of Fox's "American Idol." It made the market aware of its existence. Across the country in the first eight weeks of the show, viewers were asked to vote using this technology that they hadn't used much before. Some of the results were significant. It was only available through AT&T, to its 20M subscribers. Over the course of that first eight week program, they received 21M SMS votes. | More... |

Ratings & Research

Transactions

$44.2M: WISE-TV Fort Wayne IN. 100% of NVG-Fort Wayne II LLC from New Vision Group LLC (Jason Elkin) to Granite Broadcasting Corp. (W. Don Cornwell). Cash, with $180K put into reserve escrow account. Duopoly with WPTA-TV, which, although it is being sold to Malara Broadcast Group LLC, will be operated in an LMA. WISE is an NBC affiliate on Channel 33 (DTV Channel 19). WPTA is an ABC affiliate on Channel 21. [File date 5/11/04.]

$1.25M KAEZ-FM Amarillo TX from KXOJ Inc. (David J. Stephens et al) to Kanza Society Inc. d/b/a Plains Public Radio (William L. Combs et al). $150K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 5/14/04.]

Stock Talk

Radio Stocks