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Volume 24, Issue 134, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Wednesday Morning July 11th, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 Another tough quarter for Emmis
"Slovakia is having a wonderful year," said CEO Jeff Smulyan as he reported on fiscal Q1 (March-May) results for Emmis Communications. And it was strength in Slovakia and in Hungary which proved bright points for another disappointing quarter. Wall Street had lowered the bar so much for Emmis, though, that the company actually beat expectations slightly. But that was due to better-than-expected results from its international radio operations. Domestic radio was down 9%, mainly due to continued shortfalls in New York and Los Angeles. Aside from WRKS-FM NYC and KMVN-FM LA, Smulyan insisted that the rest of Emmis' stations outpaced their markets - but those are two big stations in the #1 and #2 markets. Look for more of the same in the current quarter. Emmis CFO Pat Walsh told analysts to expect domestic radio revenues for fiscal Q2 (June-August) to be down in the mid to high single digits. (See Wall Street Media Business report for the nitty gritty numbers from the Emmis quarterly report.)
RBR observation: Of course, the question of going private came up. In reply, Smulyan said the company is continuing to look at the possibility of going private, but that nothing has been decided yet. A couple of Wall Street analysts looked at the numbers yesterday and declared a buyout of public shareholders unlikely. Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby calculated the break-up value of the company at 20-25 bucks per share. That's a huge premium over the current price, which has been around nine bucks. Analyst Victor Miller at Bear Stearns says it is unlikely that investors would be willing to sell out to Smulyan while the company's cash flow is so badly impaired. And that declining cash flow makes it difficult for Smulyan to lever a buyout anyway. As we all know, Smulyan, who has voting control, has no intention of selling Emmis to anyone else - nor of selling off more than a few of the remaining pieces - so it looks like the EMMS ticker will continue to trade on Nasdaq for some time to come.
 Is Google the answer?
Or, at least, an answer? Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings told analysts he had spoken to the Google/dMarc folks just a day earlier - and he was happy they told him they didn't want to do a group deal with his company, at least not right now. That's because they are still dealing with the massive group deal already cut with the biggest radio company of all, Clear Channel. Cummings called that "great thinking," because the Google execs don't want to flood the market with radio inventory. Later in the call with analysts, CEO Jeff Smulyan was asked how radio can stop discounting and regain pricing power - and the conversation again turned to Google. Smulyan said Google/dMarc and their competitors in selling radio inventory to new advertisers via online marketplaces is one way to bring new advertisers to the medium. In Smulyan's view, that is one way to build demand, and only by building demand for inventory can radio put upward pressure on ad pricing.
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Radio outlook worsening
Yesterday we reported on Wachovia analyst Marci Ryvicker's lowered forecast for ad spending in general. So, what does she think about radio? As you've probably guessed, she has lowered her ad revenue estimates. For Q2 she now expects radio revenues to be flat with a year ago, down from her previous forecast of up 1%, citing weakness in May and June. However, she is sticking with her call for all of 2007 - flat. As for TV, Ryvicker sees continuing softness in auto negating the stronger than expected upfront and early political spending. She looks for 2007 to finish down 2%, rather than her previous estimate of down 1.5%, and she has lowered estimates for most of the TV companies she covers for Q2. In calculating her overall figure for the year, Ryvicker said expects local spot to be down 3%, national spot 6%, and syndication 2%. On the up side, she expects network TV revenues to gain 3% and for Internet revenues at TV companies to jump 55%.
Ye Olde Sod squad
The expanding dimensions of the terror plot in Great Britain captured the most media attention for the week of 7/1-6/07, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's latest survey. Two other stories also received a good bit of attention, President Bush's commutation of the prison sentence of Scooter Libby and the 2008 campaign. After that, it was another scattershot week. Along with the recurring stories there were a couple that figure to be in the here today, gone tomorrow category, including a holiday celebration and the release of a captured British journalist in the mideast. The biggest story to disappear was close examination of VP Dick Cheney, fueled by a series in the Washington Post. Radio was oddly out of sync with the rest of the media, giving the UK terror story only half the coverage it received overall and keeping the immigration story alive at double the going rate.
| Top ten lists here |
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 We really need radio
to step up on this one
The American Automobile Association and Seventeen magazine have collaborated on a study which should give the chills to all Americans who either drive or ride in motorized vehicles. And although it isn't mentioned in the survey, a solution to this frightening problem may be found in compelling programming from local radio stations. The problem involves teen drivers and cell phones. If you thought talking on the phone is a problem, you're right. 61% of all teen drivers admit to engaging in risky behaviour, and 51% of that group list talking on a cell phone as one of them. But that's not the half of it. 46% say they text message while driving. And we thought it was going to be bad when cell phones are routinely equipped with a television receiver.
RBR observation: Radio stations targeting this demo can do two things here which will help put our minds at ease, at least a little. For starters, a healthy dose of PSAs reminding them not to attempt to type and drive, featuring the line "put the phone down - NOW" would be welcome in the extreme. But more important is the provision of compelling radio programming which encourages teen drivers to tune in, not dial out.
Sillerman butler pays SEC fine
The former butler to media mogul Bob Sillerman has agreed to pay 66,180 to settle SEC insider trading charges. Graham J. Lefford had been accused of trading on non-public information to buy up shares of a penny stock company that was soon thereafter acquired by Sillerman to become CKX Inc., causing its shares to jump over 6,400%. The SEC charged that Lefford bought 5,000 shares of the obscure stock for 12 cents a share after seeing faxes from Sillerman's office to his home on Long Island, where Lefford worked. When the deal to create CKX and market the image and name of Elvis Presley was announced, the stock shot to 6.41. Lefford had already lost his job with Sillerman before the SEC brought charges against him (9/27/06 RBR #188). He has now agreed to pay back his trading profits of 31,450, plus a penalty of the same amount, plus interest on the original gains, for the total of 66,180, without admitting or denying the government charges.
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Chew Gum in Class!
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Advertisement
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Creativity, Revenue and HD
Free webinars July 17 & 19. Tools and techniques that can put you at a competitive advantage. For management, programming, promotions, sales and operations. Seating is limited. Learn more.
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Emmis by the numbers
International radio was the star of fiscal Q1 (March-May) for Emmis Communications, with revenues up a whopping 28.1% to 8.2 million bucks. In the conference call with analysts, CFO Pat Walsh said that gain was about half due to performance and about half due to currency fluctuations. Domestic radio revenues declined 9% to 56.8 million, bringing total radio revenues to 65 million, down 5.5%. Publishing revenues rose 6% to 22.3 million. So, total revenues for the company declined 2.8% to 87.3 million, which was still a couple of million ahead of expectations. Station operating income, including both radio and publishing, decreased to 23.1 million from 27.3 million a year ago.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 Feinberg looks back on
Interep/Bear Stearns
Radio Symposium
Matt Feinberg, SVP/National Radio, SVP/Director, Interactive Broadcast, Zenith Media Services, sent us this note to clear up some misconceptions that he may have created at a panel session from the recent Interep/Bear Stearns Radio Symposium:
"Recently I attended the Bear Stearns annual radio symposium as a panelist with some of my longstanding colleagues on the agency side. In my final comment I alluded to the fact that there was great radio programming on satellite, the HD side channels, streaming audio and public radio, but not on traditional commercial radio. The minute I spoke these words I knew they were not really true. Afterwards David Field, CEO of Entercom, challenged me on that issue privately and I acknowledged I was incorrect and should really recant that statement. So here, in this pubic forum, I do. There is a lot of great traditional commercial radio programming in this country (Indie 103.1 in LA with "Jonesy's Jukebox...how can you not like a former Sex Pistol hosting his own radio show", KPIG-Monterrey-Santa Cruz, WDST-Woodstock, NY are some of my personal commercial faves). However in NYC commercial radio programming just really isn't that great. I understand a lot...a lot of people still listen to the radio here as the ratings bear out in all but the younger demos. But ask people on the street how they like their local radio station's choice in music programming and you will not hear glowing commentary. Why is this important to us? The reality is a lot of major media decisions are made here in the Big Apple. The people making these decisions are people first; people who listen to the radio by degrees and share the general perception of the local population which can't help but influence, if ever so slightly, their media decisions. While most of us think beyond our personal universe, look at research and draw on years of experience, I still hear the unfavorable critiques on NY radio. I'm a big believer in research, but as people are people first, we should never under estimate 'street cred'."
 RBR observation: As we mentioned yesterday, With all of the great publicity for CBS Radio bringing back the old CBS-FM 101, they also have the opportunity (sitting at the media hub of the entire world) with Wall Street and the agency/client community to show the revitalization and rebirth of good radio. NYC should be the shining star example. CBS Radio also has a great opportunity to bring an Indie Rock format to WNEW-FM. Remember the old WNEW with its Progressive Rock format? These DJs broke new music and could talk about the artists-from A to Z. That was passion and Indie Rock is today's equivalent. Here in Northern Virginia commuting to work some Summer mornings, tropospheric ducting will bring in WTMD-FM Baltimore and WRNR-FM Annapolis, MD quite well. They are both well on their way to creating good radio. (94.7 The Globe here in DC seems to try to break out of the same repetitive Classic Rock and New Wave songs but still has a long way to go). So why do DC area drivers have to "DX" to get good radio? Why do most listeners have to wait six or seven months after cool tunes break on Sirius 26, NME Radio, AOL Radio's Indie Channels, Pandora, etc., to hear it on typical commercial radio? Like Feinberg said, there are some great examples of good radio all over the country. We'd just like to see more of them-more knowledge of the music, more new music, deeper cuts. Get adventurous. Don't pit yourself into a specific format. Throw 20 great Reggae tunes into a Indie Rock/AAA/Deep Classic Rock hybrid format. Playing the same songs we've all heard a million times-no matter how you label it-is not going to cut it.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
 Katz Radio buys Net Radio Sales
Katz Radio Group has acquired Net Radio Sales, a major streaming audio ad sales company, from Aritaur Communications. The acquisition represents Katz Radio Group's most significant investment in digital media and will offer advertisers expanded opportunities to reach their audience across multiple audio and web-based platforms. Net Radio Sales, to be renamed Katz Net Radio Sales, sells streaming audio as well as all forms of interactive advertising across its digital network of hundreds of Internet station affiliates and provides exact audience and impression measurement for every advertising campaign. "The addition of Net Radio Sales offers us the opportunity to enter the exploding digital media world and is a natural extension of our business," said Mark Gray, President of the Katz Radio Group. "The combination of KRG's scale and Net Radio's emerging platform will offer our clients and advertisers a powerful new way to aggregate listeners and create integrated advertising campaigns that reach a much broader audience." Katz Net Radio Sales will be led by Jennifer Lane, the current president of Net Radio Sales. As part of this transaction, Katz entered an exclusive agreement to use the Internet radio audience measurement tools created by one of Aritaur's partners, Ando Media. With Ando's Webcast Metrics and Campaign Management System, Katz Net Radio will be able to accurately and precisely plan, traffic and monitor ad campaigns across the entire network, or any targeted portion of it.
RBR observation: The big issue at hand is how many more ads Katz Net Radio Sales and others like it will have to sell for webcasters and streaming radio stations to make enough revenue to stay afloat after the new Copyright Royalty Board rated kick in-officially 7/15. For those stations and companies who choose not to turn off their streams in the wake of these devastating new fees, it's companies like Katz Net Radio Sales and Ronning Lipset Radio who will be the make or break difference. Many webcasters who currently operate commercial-free will have to either become subscription-only or add streaming advertising. There could be a lot of new clients coming soon to these rep firms.
Spokane price revealed, and then some
Adam Nathanson's Mapleton Communications will be paying 22.5M to get Citadel's three-AM, four FM cluster in Spokane WA. The deal also includes a non-competition agreement which has an interesting clause, and contains further implications which may be felt some distance to the west in the City by the Bay. As for the non-competition, Citadel has agreed that it will not contest the Spokane audience with Mapleton, other than the fact that it reserves the right to make its ABC Radio Network fare available to any station which wishes to carry it. Few radio groups need include anything like this in a contract, and it would have been an unnecessary bit of language for Citadel not so long ago. And here's the San Francisco connection. Among the stations Mapleton is getting is KGA-AM Spokane. It will be able to reduce KGA's nighttime power and upgrade KPIG-AM, which serves San Francisco from its perch in Piedmont CA, from its current 230 watts. Citadel stands to make a little extra cash if this happens. It will get one dollar for every additional pair of ears KPIG is able to reach following such an upgrade, up to a ceiling of 1.5M. Mapleton uses the 2000 Census to estimate the station's current nighttime reach at 224K individuals.
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| Media Business Report TM |
 Weather web
hops on board Bentley
Bentley Commerce Corporation, which provides "barter, trade, media, asset management and alternative capital financial transactions" for broadcasters, among others, has just acquired Larry Usner's Radio Forcast Network, with Usner staying on as President/COO of RFN. The value of the deal was undisclosed, but RFN is said to sell 650K worth of advertising time monthly, time between 6AM-6PM that it receives on a barter basis for its weather service. Its reports include voicing, station calls, a local sponsor and a jingle and are currently heard on some 235 stations in 39 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Other Bently execs include Robert Schumacher, Chairman/Secretary and Bruce Kamm, CEO/Treasurer.
Destination Television to buy American Broadcast Group
Destination Television has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase all of the issued and outstanding member's equity interests of American Broadcast Group. The core business of American Broadcast Group is the design and implementation of digital signage sales programs. Their approach to selling ads brings a marketing platform to local and regional advertisers. In addition, ABG will spearhead a national location sales initiative to expand Destination Television networks into major metropolitan markets. American Broadcast Group will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Destination Television and will be the sales division for all of the Destination Television out-of-home networks. ABG's operations will focus on monetizing the Destination Television business model. Gordon Scott Venters, President of Destination Television stated: "By acquiring American Broadcast Group, with its highly trained sales organization, we begin the implementation of our long term strategic plan in the digital signage sector.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 Will 700 auction pass the M&M test?
Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and Kevin Martin (R), Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, often find themselves at loggerheads on a wide variety of communications issues. On the issue of how the auction of spectrum about to be vacated by television on 2/17/09, however, it appears they may be sharing some common ground. As Markey put it, "I have repeatedly advocated that the FCC should seize the opportunity in the upcoming auction to foster greater innovation for wireless devices and applications...Recent statements to the media by FCC Chairman Martin with respect to these issues are encouraging. It appears that Chairman Martin is poised to propose that certain auction winners should be required to permit unaffiliated content providers to offer services and applications to wireless consumers and for manufacturers to innovate and offer cutting-edge wireless devices in the marketplace for consumers to use with their service." For all his encouragement, however, Markey is taking a wait-and-see approach.
RBR observation: What happens in these spectral latitudes will be of little concern to broadcasters once they've moved on to the new all-digital world. But it is interesting to see a possible meeting of the minds between Markey and Martin and is further proof that in the communications realm, party lines are often blurred beyond recognition.
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| Internet Media Business Report TM |
Superpages.Com ad content pushed to AOL's IM users
Idearc Media and illumiCell, operating as Multiplied Media in the US, have signed an agreement that allows Idearc to place its Superpages.com advertisers' content on a local search service provided by Multiplied Media. Multiplied Media's "Poynt" service, currently available to over 15 million users in Canada, will launch in the United States in the third quarter of 2007 and will be the first local search service to be available on instant messaging.
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| Ratings & Research |
Entravision signs for PPM
 Spanish multi-media company Entravision has signed up for Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings from Arbitron in its five top 50 radio markets. The first to get PPM will be LA, next year, but Phoenix, Denver, Sacramento and Las Vegas are further down the road in 2009 and 2010. While Entravision is focused on the largest US Hispanic markets, many of those major Hispanic markets, such as McAllen-Brownsville, El Paso and Albuquerque, are outside the top 50 Arbitron metros in terms of total population. Its contract with Arbitron for PPM ratings in the five markets specified will run through the end of 2012.
Game consoles to generate
66 billion in revenues thru 2012
JupiterResearch says the US game console market will generate cumulative revenues of 66 billion through 2012. According to a new report, "US Console Games Forecast, 2007 to 2012," competition for console households over the next five years will be fiercer than ever and will result in a close sharing of the installed base of systems among platform suppliers. Jupiter anticipates the competitive field will be much closer than in the past; at the end of the current cycle in 2012, the range in market shares is projected to just under 10% as compared to the 33% range in market shares at the end of the last cycle in 2005. Despite this fierce battle among platform suppliers, the report contends that the market is will remain strong through the remainder of the system cycle. Console market revenue growth will reach a high of 12.8 billion in 2007 when new platform sales are strongest. And, in 2008 Jupiter expects US household penetration to surpass the 50% mark.
 NY Yankees may be America's
favorite baseball team
As Major League Baseball heads into the All-Star Game, the New York Yankees find themselves on top as the favorite baseball team among those who follow Major League Baseball for the fifth year in a row. The Atlanta Braves jump up one spot to No. 2 while the Boston Red Sox are in third place on the list. Rounding out the top five are the St Louis Cardinals at No. 4 and the Chicago Cubs at No. 5. These are some of the results of a Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive among a nationwide sample of 2,372 U.S. adults between June 5 and 11, 2007. Two teams have moved up eight or more places since 2006: The Texas Rangers move up 11 places from a tie at No. 27 to a tie at No. 16; The Milwaukee Brewers move up eight places from No. 18 to No. 10. Three teams have dropped seven or more places since last year: The Chicago White Sox have fallen 10 places from a tie at No. 11 to No. 21; The Arizona Diamondbacks have fallen eight places from a tie at No. 14 to No. 22; The Kansas City Royals have fallen seven places from a tie at No. 21, to No. 28.
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| TVBR TV News |
License challenge averted
One-time Deputy Mayor Michael Greiner of Warren MI has failed in an attempt to have the FCC deny a license renewal for Scripps Howard's ABC 7 WXYZ-TV Detroit. His basic complaint was that a WXYZ news reporter set up a story called "Michigan Boys" which was about members of the local business community and at least one public official consorting with prostitutes during a fishing trip to Costa Rica. Greiner alleged that the reporter, Steve Wilson, paid prostitutes to show up at the hotel where members of the fishing expedition were staying, then "falsely reported that the participants consorted with the prostitutes." Channel 7 denied the charges, as did Wilson and his cameraman. The FCC says it has never "codified its news distortion policy," meaning that a case must be built to determine if a reasonable factfinder could conclude that the charge could possibly be accurate. The FCC agreed that if in fact Wilson paid the prostitutes that would constitute "staging" a news story and would support a license challenge. However, Greiner failed to meet a second prong, the provision of reliable evidence that the allegation did indeed occur. What little substantiation was available was determined to be hearsay and the challenge to the license was denied.
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| Transactions |
N/A KOBH-FM CP Hobbs NM from Abundant Life Broadcasting (Frances C. Price, sec) to American Family Association (Donald E. Wildmon). Donation. CP is for Class A on 91.7 MHz with 250 w @ 157'. [File date 6/13/07.]
N/A KJTW-FM CP Jamestown ND from Abundant Life Broadcasting (Frances C. Price, sec) to American Family Association (Donald E. Wildmon). Donation. CP is for Class A on 89.9 MHz with 400 w @ 154'. [File date 6/13/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Stocks take a dive
Stock prices plunged Tuesday as Home Depot and Sears warned of disappointing results ahead. The Dow Industrials fell 148 points, or 1.1%, to 13,502.
Radio stocks slid with the market. The Radio Index was off 3.960, or 2.5%, to 154.820. Emmis fell 4.1% after delivering results down from a year ago. The biggest drop, though, was by Westwood One, down 4.9%. Salem fell 4.6%.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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52.95
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-1.20
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Google
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GOOG
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543.34
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+0.78
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Beasley
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BBGI
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8.94
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-0.02
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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23.48
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-0.24
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
 |
34.14
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-0.15
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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12.93
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-0.28
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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34.19
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-0.13
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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68.79
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-1.56
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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6.32 |
-0.21 |
Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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7.00
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-0.23
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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37.79
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-0.40
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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6.99
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-0.22
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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14.00
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-0.24
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Regent
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RGCI
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3.38
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-0.03
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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9.11
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-0.25
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.13
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-0.06
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Debut Bcg.
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DBTB
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1.75
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unch
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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10.50
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-0.50
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Disney
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DIS
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33.89
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-0.57
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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3.02
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+0.01
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Emmis
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EMMS
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8.76
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-0.37
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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4.28
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-0.21
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Entercom
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ETM
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24.33
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-0.56
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.33
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+0.09
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Entravision
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EVC
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10.47
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-0.19
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Westwood One
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WON
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6.80
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-0.35
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Fisher
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FSCI
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50.14
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-0.92
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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11.80
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-0.09
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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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Media Business Report
Weather web hops
On board Bentley. Uust acquired Radio Forcast Network...
Media Markets & Money
Katz Radio buys Net Radio Sales
Big issue selling for webcasters/streaming stations to make enough rev to stay afloat after...
Spokane price revealed
22.5M to get Citadel's 3-AM, 4 FM cluster...
Washington Media Business Report
700 auction
Will pass the M&M test? That is Markey and Martin...
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Stations for Sale
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Four Station Cluster
Dominant in Growing Rated Market
Excellent Cash Flow & Upside
Clifton Gardiner & Company
(303)758-6900 [email protected]
Full Power Maine FM's
2 FM's great cash flow with good upside, asking 1.5M.
Also offered individually.
Inquiries 781-848-4201 or
e-mail: [email protected]
WEB: radiostationsforsale.net
 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
[email protected]
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Radio Media Moves
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Journal board grows
Owen Sullivan has been elected to Journal Communications' Board of Directors, increasing the size of the board to 10 members. Since 2005, Sullivan has served as CEO of Right Management, an employment consulting firm that was acquired by Manpower in January 2004.
Big names join
Univision board
Former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros and singer/songwriter/entrepreneur Gloria Estefan have been named to the board of directors at Univision Communications. CEO Joe Uva is also joining the board. Cisneros and Estefan will be paid the regular director's fee of 100K per year, plus equity awards.
Smith to Radio One
Radio One announced the hiring of Elroy Smith as Operations Manager for Radio One Philadelphia, responsible for the overall programming of WRNB and WPPZ, and working with Colby Colb, Program Director of WPHI, to direct the overall strategy of "The Beat." Smith was most recently Program Director/Operations Director for Clear Channel's WVAZ Chicago.
Liquid Compass
hooks Van Hook
Liquid Compass, a streaming media provider to the radio industry, hired Amy Van Hook as COO. A 20-year veteran of the radio industry, Van Hook comes to Liquid Compass from Entercom, one of the nation's largest radio broadcasters, where she was director of digital operations.
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More News Headlines
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Howie Carr
heads to court
A day after his attorney announced that Howie Carr was leaving Entercom's WRKO-AM Boston, where he has a long-running afternoon talk show, to take mornings at Greater Media's WTKK-FM (7/10/07 RBR #133), the attorney filed suit on Carr's behalf claiming that Entercom is trying to block him from taking the new gig. The suit charges that Entercom failed to exercise its renewal option, although Carr twice extended the deadline, and it seeks a court declaration that provisions of Carr's contract giving Entercom first refusal rights to match any other offer and restricting his rights to seek another radio or TV job in the same market within 90 days of leaving Entercom violate the Massachusetts ban on non-compete agreements. The lawsuit, posted online by the Boston Herald (where Carr is also a columnist), indicates that Carr has not yet accepted the offer from Greater Media because of the restrictions in his Entercom contract. Late yesterday an attorney for Entercom sent RBR this statement: "Howie Carr expressly agreed in his Employment Contract with Entercom that Entercom could have up to 72 hours to match any offer of employment made to him by a competing broadcasting entity, and Entercom exercised its right in this regard in less than 24 hours because it genuinely wanted to retain Mr. Carr's services. We are confident that the Superior Court will agree with us that Entercom's right to match is valid and enforceable under Massachusetts law and expect Mr. Carr to continue to broadcast his daily program on WRKO as soon as he returns from vacation."
Six major broadcasters sign with HipCricket
HipCricket has announced new partnerships with several key broadcast radio groups including: Hubbard Radio, Triad Broadcasting Company, Perry Broadcasting, Inc., Press Communications, Sandusky Radio Seattle and South Central Radio Group. These companies, representing 43 radio stations in the top 50 U.S. radio markets, chose HipCricket's services to boost revenue by offering advertisers higher levels of connectivity with their audience via opt-in mobile text messaging promotions.
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SmartMedia Magazine
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Coming in August
OneOnOne:
Joe Uva, Univision CEO
Planning:
Halim Trujillo, Mindshare Partner/Director of Multicultural Planning
Programming:
How the personality jockeying between SBS and Univision (Luis Jimenez, Enrique Santos and Renan) is playing out.
Engineering & Technology:
Cavell & Mertz "How radio and television stations can adapt to and capitalize on the digital revolution"
Technology:
Monetizing text messaging for radio
Media Markets and Money:
Amador Bustos, Bustos Media CEO
Sales:
McGavren Guild President
Lisa Sirotka
Branding:
AHAA: "Branded content in Hispanic Media"
For advertising
information, contact:
June Barnes
[email protected] 803-731-5951;
Jim Carnegie
[email protected] 813-909-2916 or
Carl Marcucci
[email protected] 703-492-8191.
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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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RBR observation:
WCBS has all eyes back on radio
Just like we told 'ya first: CBS-FM NY is coming back this week, (7/6/07 RBR #131) ....and with the format we imagined ("We estimate the format will be a bit updated - maybe hits and deeper cuts from the 60's, 70s and 80's"). This news has caused a tremendous rumble inside NYC-even more than when it was blown up for Jack FM. The anticipation factor gleaned phenomenal press. As CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason noted to RBR, the headlines were big, and could be found in The New York Times, The NY Daily News, The NY Post,! Crain's NY Business, Forbes, etc.: "When is the last time you've seen 1-ft headlines on a NY paper?" Our opinion: Dan and CBS Radio now have the opportunity (sitting at the media hub of the entire world) with Wall Street and the agency/client community to show the revitalization and rebirth of good radio. To put and keep radio on the front page. Read complete RBR observation in this special analysis page.
07/10/07 RBR #133
FCC goes over CCU
with fine-tooth comb
Size is not a factor when it comes to following the most basic FCC rules. With platoons of employees listing centuries worth of cumulative broadcast experience on their resumes, the biggest radio company in the history of the world has nonetheless been caught with its public files down.
RBR observation: For all we know, 42K is what the Lowry Mays' outfit spends each month on non-dairy creamer. But we have no doubt that Clear Channel can think of many uses for the cash other than helping to defray the national debt. We again remind everybody to have at least two or more people at each station who know what goes into the file and are responsible for making sure it remains up to date. 42K may not be a major setback to CCU, but it sure might be to a little mom and pop station in a town with one traffic light, which is every bit as susceptible to this kind of assessment as Clear Channel is.
07/10/07 RBR #133
Soothsayer Rich Russo on the WCBS-FM switchback
Chalk up WCBS-FM NY as yet another successful radio prediction up for Rich Russo, JL Media's SVP/Director of Broadcast Services. Dan Mason to run CBS Radio (3/28/07 RBR #61) "This will be a cakewalk for him, he's a programming guy,... Russo also had a few criticisms on the Jack format that seem to now be materializing. He labeled it "Jack Sh*t" and we ran it before there were any ratings info on the stations. Read the full Russo view in RBR
07/10/07 RBR #133
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Local Sales Manager
KFAN, Twin Cities, home of the Vikings and the leader in Sports radio has opening for a Sports Leader LSM. Minneapolis-St. Paul is a Top 20 Metro market (#16) and year after year, in quality of life studies, we are listed as one of the nation's best. Have what it takes to win when in the Red Zone then join our Sports Team and KFAN-AM 1130 as we go helmet to helmet. Qualifications and where to send resume, cover letter see Radio Careers
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