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Volume 24, Issue 117, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Friday Morning June 15th, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 Musicians looking
for cash from radio
There's a new coalition on the block - the musicFIRST Coalition, and it's looking for cash. Comprised of performing and recording musicians, it wants to receive compensation whenever one of their performances is played over the air. AFTRA agrees, NAB does not. According to the Associated Press, big names such as Celine Dion, Wyclef Jean, Don Henley, Patti LaBelle, Jimmy Buffett, Toby Keith, John Legend, Jennifer Lopez, and Christina Aguilera are among those in the coalition, which calls for payments for themselves and everyone else who is heard on a recording, including instrumentalists and back-up singers. AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth agreed, saying "AFTRA members are committed to fairness in radio. The recognition in American law that the performance of music on AM and FM radio has value - and that artists' contributions to that value must be acknowledged and compensated - is long overdue." NAB EVP Dennis Wharton responded, "Congress has long recognized that radio airplay of music generates millions of dollars in revenue for record labels and artists. Were it not for radio's free promotional airplay of music on stations all over America, most successful recording artists would still be playing in a garage."
RBR observation: What nobody seems to be talking about is that the music industry was caught completely flat-footed by the internet revolution and is still struggling to come up with a business model to get back its former profitability. In its search for cash, it's trying to muscle cash out any source it can. But in the final analysis, NAB is correct. Musicians can't rail against broadcasters for forcing them into prolonged obscurity by not airing their work on the one hand, and then rail against broadcasters for failure to pay up when they are on the air. Radio and music have long had a symbiotic relationship which is beneficial, even vital, to both. Radio needs the content, and musicians need the exposure. That's a fair trade.
Broward to re-up deal with WIOD after all
Radio station WIOD will remain Broward County's official channel for emergency info despite County commissioners' concerns it is also home to Rush Limbaugh (6/14/07 RBR #116). County commissioners told The South Florida Sun Sentinel they were "deluged" with complaints from throughout the country Wednesday after they questioned whether to cut their ties with the station because of their dislike for El Rushbo. By the end of the day, a majority of commissioners vowed to renew WIOD's agreement next week.
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 Kellogg promises to
rein in kid marketing
Any media offering with an audience comprised 50% or more of children aged 12 or under will be off limits for Kellogg company food products that fail to toe a certain nutritional line. The company has announced its new policy voluntarily in advance of any action in Washington, where a perceived epidemic of childhood obesity has legislators and regulators up in arms. Under its new standards, it will only allow the preteen set to see ads for food which has no more than 200 calories; no more than zero grams of trans fat and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat; no more than 230 milligrams of sodium (except for Eggo frozen waffles); and no more than 12 grams of sugar (excluding sugar from fruit, dairy, and vegetables). Further, it will refrain from advertising non-conforming foods in schools and preschools; sponsoring product placements in preteen programming; use licensed characters on mass-media advertising directed primarily to kids under 12 in ads or on packaging for such food products; or use branded toys in connection with foods that do not meet the nutrition standards. "We are pleased to work collaboratively with industry and advocacy groups to unveil these standards," said Kellogg President/CEO David Mackay. "We feel the Kellogg Nutrient Criteria set a new standard for responsibility in the industry." Kellogg got a resounding burst of applause from a key member of the Inside-the-Beltway community. Ed Markey (D-MA) said, "The 'snap, crackle, and pop' you hear is the sound of public health progress. I applaud Kellogg for this 'smart start' toward ending TV advertisements for sugary cereal and other so-called 'junk food' products to young children. I hope that the rest of the industry will adopt measures that, at a minimum, meet those of Kellogg's." He also urged others to follow suit, saying "If the rest of the industry does not act quickly , then Congress or the Federal Communications Commission might have to take steps to safeguard kids from junk food ads during children's television programming."
RBR observation: This is an issue that does not look like it's going away any time soon. And since we're talking about commercial speech, normal First Amendment guarantees are somewhat guaranteed, meaning Washington can do more than simply try to shame companies that are thought to be preying on children. It's better to work it on your own terms than to have those terms dictated by Washington.
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Another down month for NY Times Co.
Despite double-digit growth for its online ad sales, the mainline newspaper business is dragging down ad revenues at the New York Times Company. May advertising revenues plunged 8.5%, with its regional newspaper group suffering even more than its flagship NY Times and the New England Media Group anchored by the Boston Globe. The company no longer has its former television group, which had 12.7 million in revenues in May 2006. But the May 2007 figure is adjusted for that and ad revenues from continuing operations were down 8.5% to 157.3 million. The company doesn't break out what portion of that came from its lone radio station, WQXR-FM NYC. It does, however, proudly break out a little bit of information about the Internet sites associated with its media properties. Ad revenues there were up 21.4% for the month, which means that newspaper results were even a little bit worse than the overall ad numbers, where retail fell 14.9%, classified dropped 12.9% and national was down 5.6%. About.com, which is reported separately, saw ad revenues rise 32.6% to 7.4 million. Newspaper circulation revenues were up 0.1% to 67.7 million. That brought the overall revenue decline for the NYT Co. for May to 5.8% for total revenues of 243.5 million.
Univision Radio's Eddie ''Piolin'' Sotelo delivers
1 million letters supporting immigration reform
 Yesterday, Univision Radio personality Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo hand-delivered over one million letters signed by U.S. citizens and/or legal residents in support of the passage of a fair and just immigration reform bill this year to bi-partisan members of Congress. Piolin's "Por la Reforma Migratoria con Piolin" campaign marks the first time that a letter writing campaign has generated such a large number of letters in support of immigration reform. Piolin began his letter writing campaign on Univision Radio's "Piolin por La Manana" and on Univision.com just six weeks ago. Five days ago, he left from LA, beginning his cross-country caravan journey and making stops in Albuquerque, Dallas and Chicago to collect letters from U.S. citizens and legal residents in a united quest for immigration reform. "Piolin por La Manana" is the top ranked morning show in LA (and its 27 syndicated markets make it the #1 show in the country, according to Uni).
Moody's downgrades Sirius debt
With Sirius Satellite Radio taking on 250 million in new debt, Moody's Investors Service has downgraded some of the company's existing debt. Moody's said it had assigned a B1 rating to the new 250 million bucks 5.5-year Senior Secured Term Loan Facility. The rating agency downgraded Sirius' 9 5/8% Senior Notes due 2013 to Caa2 from Caa1 and downgraded its probability of default rating to Caa1 from B3. Additionally, Moody's affirmed Sirius' Caa1 corporate family rating and SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity assessment. "The outlook remains developing," Moody's said.
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
DG FastChannel to acquire GTN
DG FastChannel has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held GTN, Inc., for 11.5 million cash, which includes approximately 1.5 million of GTN's working capital. Based in Detroit, GTN serves the ad community through a ange of advertising media services including distribution for standard definition and high definition commercials, production, post-production, asset management and archival services. GTN's lients include top automotive advertisers and Detroit-based agencies focused on the automotive ad market. Automotive advertising produced by GTN has aired during the Super Bowl, Grammy Awards and other high-profile broadcasts. The transaction is expected to close in Q3. DG FastChannel plans to finance via cash on hand and through borrowings under its existing credit facility.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 Sprint Nextel teams
with NASCAR driver
for Hispanic effort
Sprint Nextel will debut its first TV commercial with celebrated driver Juan Pablo Montoya on 6/18. As the premier sponsor of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, Sprint Nextel brings the sport of NASCAR closer to Hispanic consumers and uses the sport's intensity to demonstrate the speed of Nextel's products. Titled "Gotera" (A Water Leak), the 30-second, Spanish-language commercial shows the Colombian-born driver making his pit stop during a race. While his pit crew works on refueling and changing worn tires in less than 15 seconds, Montoya is instantly connected to his wife via a Nextel Walkie-Talkie phone, and helps negotiate the cost for a plumber's work. The commercial is part of a larger, Hispanic integrated-marketing campaign Sprint Nextel launched earlier this year. Designed to capitalize on the excitement of NASCAR Nextel Cup Series racing, the second phase kicks off with the commercial's debut, and includes radio advertising, a national "Viva la Copa Nextel de NASCAR" sweepstakes, in-store promotions, online, direct marketing, PR, and leveraging Nextel drivers such as Montoya. The effort is via Sprint Nextel's Hispanic AOR The Vidal Partnership.
eBay pulls ads from Google's AdWords
eBay has pulled its ads from Google's search-based AdWords network in the US, an eBay spokesman on Wednesday. Computerworld, which originally reported the move, cited a source as saying it was in response to Google's decision to hold a party starting at the same time as an eBay conference for merchants who sell on its site. The Google "Checkout Freedom Party," is part of an effort to lobby eBay to accept its online payment system, known as Google Checkout, which competes with eBay's PayPal. eBay spokesman Hani Durzy told Reuters eBay was disappointed about the Google event. "We don't view that kind of activity as an appropriate activity for one partner to do to another." The move exposes the widening rift between eBay and Google, as they increasingly compete on new products, making a public showdown inevitable. However, on Wednesday, Google canceled the party, a day before it was to take place at the Old South Meeting House, just a short trolley ride from eBay Live at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. Google explained the decision in a blog posting, saying: "eBay Live attendees have plenty of activities to keep them busy this week in Boston, and we did not want to detract from that activity. After speaking with officials at eBay, we at Google agreed that it was better for us not to feature this event during the eBay Live conference." Durzy said eBay was pleased by the cancellation, cast the abrupt advertising freeze as an experiment, albeit far larger in scale than usual. "This is part of an ongoing experiment to look at how we market across all media channels," told Reuters.
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| Media Business Report TM |
 Unilever brands join forces in ''Sprays in the City'' webisodes
Betting that two brands can out-market one, Unilever is combining the power of two of its spray brands - I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! and Wish-Bone - to launch Sprays In the City, a new animated series of webisodes. The series, which launched at spraysinthecity.com, features Extra's Mark McGrath, Project Runway's Tim Gunn, and aging heartthrob Fabio. Raising the bar on branded entertainment, the effort tells the story of Spritzy, the feisty Wish-Bone Salad Spritzers Dressing and Spraychel, the captivating I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! spray. The two sprays pursue love in the big city fridge filled with drama, gossip and excess. They quickly find that their product benefits, like portion control and great taste, make them the center of attention. This season, Spritzy and Spraychel are asking viewers for help. At the end of each webisode, consumers can take control by voting on the outcome of a cliffhanger. The following week viewers can tune back in to see which ending won the vote. Participating viewers can win one of five 100 dollar gift cards daily and have the chance to win a 10,000 grand prize shopping spree. The celebrity gossip parody is integrated throughout the campaign, and each communication is entertainment in and of itself. Playing off of the pop culture obsession with celebrity gossip, SpraysInTheCity.Com looks and feels like a gossip blog. The 30-second spot, running on Bravo, VH1, and E! mimics celebrity news shows. Similarly, the print ad parodies celebrity magazine "Hot or Not" lists and will appear in People, In Touch, Star, US Weekly, and TV Guide. Integrating traditional and non-traditional media, the webisodes are also supported via targeted advertising on celeb gossip Websites and blogs such as PerezHilton, PopSugar and the Superficial. Subscribers of DirecTV and Cablevision can watch the webisodes on their televisions at home via an interactive TV channel.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
KNOE-TV sold, KNOE-FM on the block
Noe Corp. has announced the sale of its CBS-8 KNOE-TV in Monroe LA. The buyer is Hoak Media Corporation, which will add it to a portfolio which already includes stations in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas and Colorado. President George Noe said, "This is a bittersweet day for the Noe family. While we as a family agreed that we wanted to sell this asset, we are sad that our 54 year stewardship of KNOE-TV is coming to an end." The sale takes the family two-thirds of the way out of the broadcasting business in the market. It sold KNOE-AM to Holladay Broadcasting in a deal filed with the FCC last December and plans to announce the sale of KNOE-FM in the coming months. Hoak Media President and CEO Eric Van den Branden noted they were getting one of the strongest CBS affiliates and the nation, commenting, "This acquisition is consistent with our strategy of acquiring stations with quality local news programming, solid management teams, and the highest commitment to serving their local communities." The value of the transaction was not immediately disclosed.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 Family Choice makes
return engagement
Do you remember the Family Choice Act of 2006? Then you'll be reasonably familiar with the Family Choice Act of 2007. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), pictured, was and is a sponsor, but has replaced last year's Nebraska Republican co-sponsor: Tom Osborne (R-NE), with another: Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE). He's also picked up co-sponsors Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Robert Aderholt (R-AL). The thrust of the bill is to force the cable industry to choose one of three paths toward protecting children from indecent or violent programming. A system could either provide a la carte channel menus, provide a family-friendly program tier or agree to abide by the same indecency regs which apply to over-the-air broadcasters. The bill never made it out of committee last year, but Lipinski thinks that momentum for such a bill is increasing as people are "...becoming more and more upset by what they are seeing on TV." A la carte champion and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin attended a press conference where the bill was unveiled. He said, "While it may surprise some, I actually agree with many critics of the FCC that parents - not the government - should be the first and last line of defense. Parents are best able to determine what programming their children should be exposed to. But that means that parents must have meaningful choices and that their choices must have meaningful consequences. If a family must continue to pay for programming even when they object to it, there is little or no incentive for programmers to respond. Instead there should be marketplace implications for programmers when consumers don't want a channel." He added that the recent Second Circuit derailing of the FCC's fleeting expletive ruling made this more crucial than ever.
RBR observation: Last summer a wide variety of cable and satellite operators committed to offering family tiers. However, any channel that carries live programming or adjusts its programming at night when most children are in bed was essentially disqualified from the list. Must-have channels like CNN, Fox News and ESPN were ruled out. We've even seen complaints about some of the programming on ABC Family. In short, adults still make up the vast bulk of the audience, not small children, to the extent that a family tier isn't really commercially viable. And since this bill, if it ever gets anywhere, is just going down on the horns of the First Amendment anyway, wouldn't it be smarter to expend our legislative and regulatory energy on teaching parents to use the V-Chip and channel blocking technology and leave content regulation alone?
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| Internet Media Business Report TM |
 Shatner, Priceline Negotiator, opens page on MySpace.com
William Shatner, a.k.a. The Priceline Negotiator, officially launched his MySpace page myspace.com/thenegotiator. Visitors can download ringtones, including The Negotiator's signature line - "You're so naughty!" They can insert their karate-chopping hero into personal photos or can listen to The Negotiator as he riffs on a certain ceramic gnome. Earlier this year, priceline.com kicked off The Negotiator ad campaign where Shatner, camping it up in the persona of a 1960s-era spy movie hero, has attacked high travel prices, karate-chopping and kung-fu kicking his way to spectacular deals for priceline.com customers. On sites like MySpace and YouTube, Negotiator fans began appearing, demonstrating their own deal-chopping karate moves. The Negotiator's MySpace page contains lots of previously unreleased video and audio footage, bio information and, of course, the ability to become part of his network of friends. Features include: Negotiator ringtones; Backstage interviews; The Negotiator's Favorites; and Put The Negotiator in your family photos.
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| Ratings & Research |
Only one in 10 boomers truly affluent
As portrayed by the media and in advertising, virtually all members of the Boomer generation are wealthy. However, only a few Boomers are truly affluent, and of these "elites" only one third relies on outside advice when making financial decisions according to a research study from Focalyst, a market research and consulting firm focused exclusively on Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) and older consumers. In this study of more than 30,000 adults over the age of 42 in the continental U.S., only 1 in 10 (9%) Baby Boomers can be classified as Boomer Elites, defined as having an annual household pre-tax income of 150,000 or 100,000 if retired. Almost all Boomer Elites are married; college educated; and live in a residence valued at almost twice that of the average Boomer. Boomer Elites feel that they are on top of their finances and that they have prepared well for retirement. 95% have some sort of savings or investments versus 75% for the total Boomer population. Despite characterizing themselves as savers rather than spenders, Boomer Elites have plans to invest in big ticket items such as technology products, furniture and appliances at a rate of almost twice the spending of the average Boomer. And they are willing to pay a premium for quality goods and place brand names in high regard. This is particularly true for spending on their homes which they see as an investment as well as an extension of their own image. How can this attractive group of consumers be reached? Boomer Elites are avid consumers of media, more so than Boomers in general: on a daily basis, 91% watch TV ; 87% read a newspaper or magazine; 76% listen to the radio; and 75% use the internet. Print is particularly effective with this group as they spend an average of 30 minutes a day each on newspapers and magazines, with 4 in 10 saying that they read the ads in the magazines they subscribe to.
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| Transactions |
250K WJJT-AM Jellico TN from Douglas Broadcasting Inc. (Marvin Douglas) to Southeast Broadcast Corporation (James Kilgore). 12.5M earnest money, balance in cash at closing. [File date 5/24/07.]
150K WPRY-AM Perry FL from HD Broadcasting Perry LC (Ellen Williams) on behalf of the Estate of Gary Williams to Perry's Community Radio LC (Melvin Parker, Marcia Parker, Thomas A. Jackson, Garrett B. Jackson). 1.5K monthly escrow payment (plus 1.7K monthly LMA payment) with promissory note for the balance at closing. [File date 5/24/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Inflation news is good
The Labor Department's Producer Price Index, a key measure of inflation at the wholesale level, was up in May due mainly to higher gas prices. But the report overall showed inflation remaining under control and encouraged traders to buy stocks. The Dow Industrials rose 71 points, or 0.5%, to 13,554.
Radio stocks, however, were mostly lower. The Radio Index declined 1.426, or 0.9%, to 157.686. Citadel gave up some of the previous day's gain, falling 1.5%. Trading volume was nearly as heavy as the previous day at 14.5 million shares. Beasley plunged 7.1%, with no news to account for the move. Radio One rose after announcing the sale of its Minneapolis station. Its Class D rose 2.7% and Class A 2.1%.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Thursday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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50.59
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-0.39
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Google
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GOOG
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502.84
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-2.40
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Beasley
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BBGI
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7.87
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-0.60
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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24.88
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-0.22
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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33.11
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-0.03
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.56
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+0.08
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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33.10
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-0.01
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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72.24
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+0.08
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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6.05 |
-0.09 |
Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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7.25
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+0.15
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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38.45
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-0.03
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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7.25
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+0.19
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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14.18
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-0.07
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Regent
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RGCI
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3.36
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-0.05
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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9.30
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-0.15
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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10.00
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-0.03
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Debut Bcg.
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DBTB
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1.84
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+0.29
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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11.30
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-0.27
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Disney
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DIS
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33.79
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+0.39
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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2.75
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-0.02
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Emmis
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EMMS
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9.62
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+0.02
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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4.37
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+0.01
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Entercom
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ETM
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25.19
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-0.05
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.13
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+0.01
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Entravision
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EVC
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10.50
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+0.03
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Westwood One
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WON
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7.54
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unch
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Fisher
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FSCI
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51.18
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-0.38
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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10.52
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-0.04
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to [email protected]
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
eBay pulls ads
From Google's AdWords...
Sprint Nextel teams with
NASCAR driver Montoya for
Hispanic TV ad using sport's intensity to demonstrate the speed of products...
Media Business Report
Unilever brands join forces
In ''Sprays in the City'' webisodes betting 2 brands can out-market 1...
Media Markets & Money
KNOE-FM on the block
Noe Corp will sell CBS-8 KNOE-TV in Monroe LA and will announce...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
[email protected]
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More News Headlines
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Bargain basement
buccaneer walks
the plank
Actually, the FM bandit was working out of a garage, or rather, he claims his tenants were. The upshot is that an organization identified by Donald J. Payne of San Diego CA as FRSD had an FM mast and was operating with an amount of juice above the legal limit on 96.9 MHz. An FCC field agent traced the signal to Payne's garage on 4/3/06. The agents found the station still in operation several times thereafter, and even spoke directly with Payne, who said the garage was locked and inaccessible, and that FRSD was paying him 100 dollars a month for the space. (FRSD = Free Radio San Diego? That'd be out guess.) The station was found to be in operation as late as 11/13/06. It was finally shut down and Payne was hit with the standard 10K fine on 12/28/06. Payne argued that it wasn't his station, but the fact that it was running on his property, that he was providing necessary electricity, and that he was benefiting from rental fees, was more than enough to make the fine stick. However, three years worth of tax records were sufficient to have the fine reduced to 750 dollars due to Payne's inability to pay the full 10K.
"Bravo Radio"
to launch
NBCU's Bravo has unveiled "Bravo Media," a new global, multimedia content company that will expand its current television and digital content offerings under the newly formed title Bravo Media, creating an all-encompassing group of divisions - talent management alliance, publishing, merchandising, Bravo To Go (wireless), Bravo Experience, digital, television, radio, and international. Emerging beyond television, Bravo plans to launch a Bravo Radio division to further maximize the network's successful shows and talent on the terrestrial, digital and satellite radio. Stay tuned.
Copa America 2007 airs on Radio Caracol
Radio Caracol 1260 AM (WSUA Miami) will provide live coverage of Copa America 2007 soccer matches in Spanish, exclusively for South Florida. Radio Caracol 1260 WSUA will deliver a total of 26 2007 Copa America broadcasts to over 1.7 million Hispanics that reside from Key West to Pompano Beach. Copa America will take place in Venezuela, from 6/26 to 7/15. First played in 1916, Copa America is the oldest National soccer competition in the world and it is the most important soccer/sports event in the Americas. Copa America is one of the most coveted trophies in the world featuring historical rivalries, colorful patriotism and spectacular soccer. Radio Caracol will also audio broadcast the games live via caracol1260.com.
Satellite TV companies partner for wireless Internet
Seeking to compete with wired cable providers on every level, both DirecTV and EchoStar have signed distribution agreements enable both satellite companies to offer wireless high-speed Internet service to their customers via Clearwire Corporation. It is also contemplated that Clearwire, in turn, will be able to offer the video services of one or both satellite companies to its customers. This is expected to enable each of the three companies to offer high-speed Internet, video and voice in all current and future Clearwire markets. The launch is planned for later this year. Under the terms of the distribution agreements, DirecTV and EchoStar's Dish Network will have access to Clearwire's wireless high-speed network, and will be able to market a bundle that includes Clearwire's high-speed Internet services to their residential customers. The satellite TV companies will also have the ability to sell Clearwire's branded services on a stand-alone basis. Similarly, the agreements call for Clearwire to be able to sell DirecTV and EchoStar satellite video services. Clearwire, founded in October 2003 by Craig McCaw, now offers service in 39 US markets, covering approximately 9.9 million people.
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RBR Radar 2007
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Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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Citadel now in the big leagues
Farid Suleman and his team continue to be low-key about the successful completion of their 2.5 billion bucks takeover of ABC Radio, but the redone Citadel Broadcasting website touts the former middle market radio group as now "the largest pure play radio company in the United States." Take that, David Field.
RBR observation: Was it 2.5 or 2.7 billion? We're still seeing both numbers tossed around. The value of the ABC Radio spin-off from Disney was originally estimated at 2.7 billion. But the terms of the merger with Citadel were adjusted a few months back. Disney then estimated the resulting value at 2.5 billion. RBR has been using the 2.5 billion figure since that time.
06/14/07 RBR #116
Murdoch looks to sell nine markets
In a surprise move, News Corporation announced late Wednesday, 6/13/07, that it is looking to sell nine of its Fox O&O stations. The move comes as Rupert Murdoch is seeking to acquire Dow Jones & Co. and launch a new Fox Business Channel, so maybe some portfolio trimming isn't so surprising after all. News Corporation said it has retained Allen & Co. to assist it in selling: (see the list in TVBR)
TVBR observation: We recall that just a few years back Jeff Smulyan was trying to buy the smaller market stations from Fox, but the deal never got done and, ultimately, it contributed to Emmis deciding to exit the television business completely. We also note that the list of stations to be divested, strangely, does not include the two very smallest markets in the Fox station group, Austin, TX and Gainesville, FL. What's up with that? The divestiture list, running from markets #17 to #47, also skips over Orlando and Baltimore.
06/14/07 TVBR #116
Audio star wars continue
XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio is fighting to keep its proposed merger alive, and has issued a release citing a number of the more prominent groups that support its cause. Meanwhile, the NAB has set up a dedicated website to further crystalize the opposition. Located on the web at xmsiriusmonopoly.com, it aggregates Congressional testimony, news stories and other sources of information supporting the turndown of the merger. NAB has even adorned its building in Washington DC with an invitation to passersby to check out the website.
RBR observation: If this was the Civil War, this pair of actions would probably be reported as mere skirmishing. The real action will be at the FCC, DOJ and Congress, where it appears the merger will have a tough row to hoe.
06/14/07 RBR #116
Why he's coming home
Bill 'Fig' Figenshu is a radio warrior and as many know by now has resigned his position as COO of Softwave Media Exchange (SWMX) (06/07/07 RBR #111) and will return back to the radio business after June 29th. Fig is still not saying where or giving any details, but he did want to pass along his comment why he is heading back home to radio. Radio Broadcasting Is About to Change.....For The Better!I believe it to be true. That's why I'm going back in. There must be a period of innovation, creativity, passion, and training. I believe the time is about to begin.
RBR observation: If you are truly in this radio business to stay and succeed and waiting for this rebirth of our business, this is the time. We have seen 10 years of BS from the Top down that has damn near killed our radio business with their bottom-line mentality. We can not go back nor do we want to but we can learn from those mistakes and now move forward aggressively. Time to play real radio and we suggest you re-read this Executive Comment.
06/13/07 RBR #115
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Hard finding that key person
to fill the important position at your organization? Media HeadHunters is the place that key media firms use to get results. See Media HeadHunters and get results with service--Period.
Need assistance
contact Cathy Carnegie
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