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Volume 22, Issue 154, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Monday Morning August 8th, 2005

Radio News®

Analysis - PPM more good than bad
Former Wall Street analyst Jim Boyle is back, hired by Arbitron to make his own analysis of the Forrester Research study on PPM but free to speak his mind. Boyle says Forrester may be too rosy in its growth projections, but he sees PPM as being a net positive for radio. "If the radio industry does invest in the shift to PPM, I would forecast a base case of moderate incremental revenue growth of an additional 1.6 percentage points that is more conservative than the Forrester study," Boyle said. Even so, that more conservative view would still see a significant impact on station values and stock valuation. "If one utilizes the historical radio relationships between revenue, EBITDA and FCF relationships at the larger radio groups over the last eight years, the potential 1.6% higher revenue could improve EBITDA by roughly 3.4% and could increase FCF by approximately 5.1%. Read the executive summary of Boyle's analysis or download the entire thing.

[JBB Analysis of Forrester Study_executive summary]

[JBB Analysis of Forrester Study]

RBR observation: It's all about ROI. Advertisers and their agencies what to measure the return on their investment - - and what they've been saying lately is that paper diaries don't cut it when it comes to audience measurement. As Boyle notes, radio's "customers are currently voting with their proverbial wallets to move disproportionately away from radio advertising." By his count, 14.6 billion in domestic ad spending has already moved over the past five years "in the favor or more easily measurable, more accountable, and more ROI-proven media." So it's up to the radio industry to decide whether it is worth the additional cost of PPM (or another passive measurement technology) to give its customers what they're demanding. Even if it's not the 5% swing that Forrester indicated, but rather Boyle's 1.6%, that's still a lot of ad billing and it appears that radio would, indeed, get a return on its investment.

How about both CBS Radio and ABC Radio at WW1?
Westwood One CEO Shane Coppola admits it's an intriguing idea, but don't go jumping the gun. He also told analysts that Westwood One is not involved in talks about the potential sale of ABC Radio by Disney. If such a deal does go down, the driver will be ABC's radio station group - - but Westwood One is certainly an interested bidder if the buyer wants to spin off ABC Radio Networks. Although he carefully avoided mentioning the letters "A-B-C," Coppola said such a potential buy would meet WW1's requirements that it make acquisitions in its core business that increase value to shareholders, so long as they are priced to be accretive. Coppola made it clear, though, that he would not be a bidder for the station group, and could not be, given the company's relationship with Viacom's Infinity Radio.

RBR observation: So why did we print this? You thought July were the dog days well August seems to be the month that will probably see more speculation or some call it rumors because this old saying also holds true - 'The tail is wagging the dog.' Meaning, much of our radio business is spinning out of control and pressure is on everyone for a strong ROI. This fall and into the Christmas season everyone is being held accountable to the advertising client. Radio has run out of excuses, events, issues, etc to blame now it is look in the mirror and fix their problems before it is too late.

Martin pitches shutout on DSL
The extra time FCC Chairman Kevin Martin took to push for a deregulatory measure involving telcos and high-speed Internet provision has paid off. The Commission, though evenly split on party lines, voted 4-0 to ease rules requiring the telcos to provide leased access to competitors. The meeting was originally scheduled for Thursday, 8/4 at 9:30 - - then Friday 8/5, at 9:30 - - then Friday, 8/5 at 11:00, and even that starting time proved optimistic, although only by a few minutes. The bottom line is that the item, which wasn't even on the agenda released a week earlier, passed. The basic thrust of the deregulatory item was to bring telco rules in line with those of cable, who were freed from similar leased access requirements by the Supreme Court in the Brand X case earlier this summer. Martin hopes that by ridding telcos of the leasing burden, they will redouble their efforts to complete build out of broadband delivery capacity. Critics think it will eliminate competition and eventually harm consumers.

RBR observation: This shows that Martin is able to work with his Democratic colleagues, even when they have the power to force a tie vote. Of course, that power is only temporary. And in this case, if SCOTUS ruled one way for cable, it may well repeat that ruling for telcos, although that is not a certainty. That eventually Martin will get that tie-breaking vote in his arsenal is a certainty, however. It will be interesting to see if Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein are suddenly on board for kicking off the review of media ownership regulations in the near future, and if so, it will be even more interesting to see if Martin traded a concession or two for this 4-0 vote.

Novak gets a vacation from CNN
Just how exasperating is James Carville, anyway? It would seem that the answer is extremely, if you happen to be columnist and CNN commentator Robert Novak. In the heat of debate on last Thursday's edition of "Inside Politics," Novak uttered one of the words you're not supposed to say on TV and abruptly left the set. CNN said, "Bob Novak's behavior on CNN today was inexcusable and unacceptable. Mr. Novak has apologized to CNN, and CNN apologizes to its viewers for his language and actions. We've asked Mr. Novak to take some time off." As of this writing, Novak's forced vacation is of indefinite duration. Carville may not have been the problem - - the show's moderator, Ed Henry, said he had warned Novak that he was planning to ask some questions about Novak's role in the Valerie Plame incident. Some have speculated that Novak's departure was to avoid such questions, although he has denied any such motivation. If you missed it, the Novak walkout is posted on the Media Matters website.

RBR observation: As far as fearing Plame questions goes, well, maybe that's true, but it's also very easy to refuse to say anything on the old, reliable "ongoing investigation" grounds, as indeed Novak has been doing up to now. What's interesting is how perfectly this supports the notion that the chilling effect of rabid enforcement of indecency standards can have a chilling effect on live public affairs programming where producers do not have full control over what will be said within earshot of live microphones. The fact that this time the prep was a veteran broadcaster, not some on-the-edge rock star or 19-year-old college athlete, only underscores that. What's even more interesting to us, however, is the general quiet surrounding this incident. Thus far, as near as we can tell, none of the usual suspects have called for a flood of emails to the FCC and Congress lamenting this latest attack on decency. It was on cable, but that doesn't usually stop the attacks. Parents Television Council is currently looking for MTV's scalp, and AFA's OneMillionDads/OneMillionMoms are going after various televised commercials. Hmmmmm...

Editor's note: Now for the fun part as it would take someone to produce a hilarious hold on to your hair takeoff Laugh In style. This one is produced to the music of Clash from 1982 'Should I Stay or should I go' | view it here |

Home Depot wouldn't comment after all
...on Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey's charge that his company's Q2 revenue woes were in part to blame for the retailer's moving money from spot to network radio, or to what an industry observer mentioned to us (8/5 TVBR #153). Said spokesperson Eric Oberman: "For a number of reasons we prefer to make it a blanket statement versus attributable to one person." We thought that person would be VP/Marketing John Ross. And the statement: "Because radio is such an important part of our advertising strategy, we are constantly looking for ways to maximize the effectiveness of our advertising investment. As part of our ongoing marketing strategy to refine and improve everything that we do, we are always looking to find highly progressive industry partners we can work with to enhance our media mix."

Conference Calls Q2 2005

Revenues up, profits down at WW1
Q2 revenues gained 1.6% to 141.8 million at Westwood One, but higher costs sent operating income down 4% to 41.4 million. Once again, local/regional business at Metro Networks outpaced WW1's traditional network business. CEO Shane Coppola reported that local/regional was up 7.7% to 82.3 million, while network business fell 5.7% to 59.6 million. "The network marketplace was challenging during the quarter," Coppola said. He noted that one factor was the lack of pro hockey inventory, due to the NHL lockout - - some two million in billings a year ago. But now that the owners and the players union have settled their differences, he expects hockey to be back strong next season and WW1 has singed a new multi-year contract to carry the NHL. Looking to the immediate future, Coppola said July and August have been soft, due to the lack of last year's Olympics revenues, but that September through December are pacing in positive territory.

Local gains vs. national
decline at Fisher
Almost but not quite. Gains in local ad sales nearly overcame a national decline at Fisher Communications, with Q2 revenues coming in at 40.1 million, vs. 40.4 million a year ago. "We saw strength in local broadcast advertising in the second quarter of 2005, which helped to offset a decline in political advertising from the prior year. Improved network programming for our ABC stations has also strengthened our revenue position." The Company's two ABC-affiliated stations accounted for approximately 45% of the Company's total year-to-date 2005 revenue," said Ben Tucker, Acting President and CEO. He also announced that Fisher had signed a new five-year affiliation agreement with ABC for its two largest stations in Seattle and Portland, OR. A reduction in network comp is being recognized as a straight-line reduction over the course of the agreement, falling to around 1.5 million annually from the previous 2.5 million. Fisher is now in talks with CBS on an affiliation agreement renewal for its remaining TV stations. Fisher didn't provide a lot of business-by-business detail of its numbers, but CFO Rob Bateman said that through the first half of 2005, broadcast revenues were down about 2.5 million, while rents from Fisher Plaza were up about two million. For radio specifically, he said revenues were down slightly for the first half of the year, with gains in local partially offsetting a decrease in national revenues. Fisher says its flagship deal with the Seattle Mariners is paying dividends - - that excluding gains directly attributable to the Mariners, revenues at KOMO-AM Seattle were up 14% so far this year.

Adbiz©

The Firm, ZenithOptimedia partner
in brand integration deal
Beverly Hills entertainment media company The Firm has entered into an agreement with ZenithOptimedia Group to pursue brand integration and entertainment opportunities for their clients, which include General Mills, Hewlett Packard, JP Morgan Chase, Lexus, L'Oreal, Nestle, Scion, Toyota, Verizon and Verizon Wireless. The two companies say they will work in tandem to help secure integrated branding in all aspects of the entertainment world. The deal begins with product placement and goes beyond to the integration of brands into programming, both in the network and cable TV. The two will also be looking for media related opportunities on the Internet, in music and in film. Rich Hamilton, CEO, The Americas, ZenithOptimedia, tells RBR/TVBR all of his clients are aware of the deal and are looking forward to the opportunities: "We have known the Firms' principals for years, but this deal only took three months to get done-most things in Hollywood move pretty fast." As to when we may first see integration in programming and content, Hamilton could only say, "To be determined."

Iacocca teams with Snoop Dogg in new Chrysler ad
Former Chrysler Corp. chairman Lee Iacocca's run with Chrysler Group's advertising didn't stop with Jason Alexander (former Seinfeld co-star). This time around, he's teaming with Hip-Hop star Snoop Dogg in another ad for its employee-pricing program. Iacocca and Snoop Dogg appear as golf buddies in the ad, which began begin airing Saturday. Snoop Dogg wears an argyle sweater vest, while Iacocca dons a pastel plaid hat. At the end of the TV spot, Snoop Dogg says: "If the ride is more fly, then you must buy." Iacocca responds: "That's what I hear." Chrysler spokeswoman Suraya DaSante told The AP the pairing isn't as odd as it seems. Snoop Dogg is a bona fide Chrysler fan who called company President and CEO Dieter Zetsche last year asking for a Chrysler 300C sedan.

Brien to helm Universal McCann
The Interpublic Group of Companies has hired Nick Brien as President and CEO of Universal McCann. Brien's advertising career had previously been at Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett and Starcom. Brien will be based in New York and will report to Mark Rosenthal, the recently-appointed Chairman and CEO of Interpublic's media operations. Murray Dudgeon, who had taken on the CEO role at Universal McCann on an interim basis, will remain with the company in his role as Chief Operating Officer. "Nick Brien is more than just a top-tier international media executive. He brings a unique breadth of experience, having also led an ad agency and a multi-disciplinary marketing services firm. He's known as a passionate client partner who understands the big picture and the growing need to build brands with fully-integrated media solutions. His extensive experience in the media and marketing arena, as well as his strategic and operational skills, will be a major asset. He'll be an incredible partner for me and a great collaborator with John Dooner and the leadership of McCann Worldgroup," said Rosenthal.

Radio & Television Business Report

Radio's Important September Face Off
UpFront 2005 - will radio face the mild reception as Network TV? Top media agency buyers and network radio sellers participating so far: Kelly Cadotte, Natalie Swed Stone, ,Irene Katsnelson, Chris Fontana, Rich Russo, Matt Feinberg, Matthew Warnecke, Kim Vasey, and Lisa Opensky Greenberg.

And we go One on One with Charles Courtier, Executive Chairman of Mediaedge:cia

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Media Markets & MoneyTM

Swaggart brings renter into the fold
Jimmy Swaggart's Family Worship Center should be quite familiar with the FM it's buying on the outer outskirts of St. Louis. It's had an LMA to provide programming for KDJR-FM De Soto MO since January 2004. De Soto is about 25 miles south of St. Louis. The seller is Harold Vogt's Serendipity Ventures, which stands to make a total of 1.25M for the station. An option payment and LMA payments up to closing will count toward that total.

Washington Beat

FCC gives high sign to Show Low deal
A deal for KRFM-FM, KSNX-FM, KVWM-AM and KVSL-AM, all in Show Low AZ, has been waved through by the FCC over the objections of Cynthia R. Konecny. The stations - - owned by Petracom of Show Low - - went into Chapter 11, and subsequently to creditor Textron, who assigned them to FFD Holdings. FFD resold them to Petracom of Holbrook. Konecny said that Petracom of Holbrook does not appear to be financially qualified to own and operate the stations, that it may not be kosher for the bankrupt stations to bounce from original owner to creditor and back to original owner, and that multiple station ownership studies were not properly submitted. The FCC noted that the Chapter 11 proceeding was court initiated, and that it is the Commission's practice to give the courts as much leeway as possible consistent with the law. As to the second point, and whatever the appearances, Petracom of Holbrook is a separate entity from Petracom of Show Low, so there was no bounce. Finally, an appropriate multiple ownership showing was added to the application and was within the rules. The deal goes through.

Clarification
The story "FCC to put build out enforcement on autopilot" (8/4/05 RBR #152) implied that all FCC licensees were subject to automatic license revocation if not built and/or reported built by the scheduled deadline. In fact, licenses issued by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau are affected, not licenses issued by the Media Services Bureau.

Ratings & Research

Less is Lots More
Clear Channel Radio says the Arbitron Spring 2005 book proves that its Less is More initiative is drawing more listeners to its stations, with radio listeners in the top 25 markets across all formats spending 14.5% more time listening to Clear Channel stations (vs. a year ago). "In addition to making radio more engaging for our listeners, we've also made vast improvements to benefit our advertisers, including adding shorter, more effective radio spots, fewer spots per commercial break and improved creative," said Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan. Meanwhile, CC Radio is also crowing about audience gains in the online world. So far in 2005, the comScore/Arbitron Online Ratings Report shows streaming traffic to the company's 400 streaming stations up 177%. Here are details of CC Radio's results from the Spring Arbitron book.

| View the Stats |

Air America reports ratings boost
Says its affiliate base has increased its cume audience from 1.3 million Persons 12+ (Arbitron Nationwide, Fall 2004) to a Cume of 3.1 million Persons 12+. The Network also continues to grow in markets including: Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Cincinnati, Denver, Honolulu, Memphis, Austin and Miami, according to the Arbitron Spring survey. Since last year, Air America Radio has grown from 25 affiliates to 67 stations nationwide. Highlights from Arbitron Spring 2005 Survey: Increase in cumulative listening audience jumped from 1.3 million to 3.1 million within one year. 300% increase in L.A. in P12+ Share Spring 2004-Spring 2005 300% increase in Washington D.C. in P12+ Share Spring 2004-Spring 2005 267% increase in Phoenix in P12+ Share Spring 2004-Spring 2005

Monday Morning Makers & Shakers

Transactions: 6/27/05-7/1/05
Almost all the action was outside the parameters of Arbitron, resulting in the odd combination of a marked up tick in station volume combined with a fairly steep drop in total value. Both of the TV deals were stock transactions, one for 49.75% and the other for 38%. Don't be fooled by the top 50 market TV deal either - - we've been to Barstow and we don't believe in real life (as opposed to Nielsen life) that it's part of Los Angeles.

6/27/05-7/1/05	Total
Total Deals	19
AMs	8
FMs	18
TVs	2
Value	23.246M

| Complete Charts |

Radio Transactions of the Week
Hybrid VA group takes top honors
| More... |

TV Transactions of the Week
White ups his share of KHIZ
| More... |

Transactions

3.2M KHIZ-TV Los Angeles (Barstow CA). 38% of Sunbelt Television Inc. from Estate of Margaret R. Jackson, deceased, Mary Ellen Zenz, Executor (19% to 0%), Estate of J. Riley Jackson, deceased, Mary Ellen Zenz, Executor (19% to 0%) to Initial Broadcasting of California LLC (Peter L. White, Nicholas B. White, 30.4% to 61.4%), TVPlus LLC (0% to 7%). Cash plus debt assumption. LMA until closing. Station is indy on Channel 64. [File date 7/1/05.]

620K KQYK-FM CP Mankato-New Ulm-St. Peter MN (Lake Crystal MN) from William C. Doleman to Three Eagles Communications Inc. (Rolland C. Johnson et al). Debt cancellation. Superduopoly with KRBI AM & FM, KEEZ-FM. CP is for Class A on 95.7 mHz with 6 kw @ 328'. [File date 7/1/05.]

250K WSMN-AM Manchester NH (Nashua NH) from WSMN Broadcasting LLC (Roland Lesieur) to Absolute Broadcasting LLC (Thomas F. Monahan). 5K down payment, then increasing payment schedule with final payment of 175K no later than 1/11/06. Duopoly with LMA of WSNH-AM Nashua, acquisition from Balance View LLC pending. [File date 7/1/05.]

Stock Talk

Week ends on a down note
High oil prices and rising wages, as reported Friday by the Labor Department, sent stock prices lower. The Dow Industrials fell 52 points, or 0.5%, to 10,558.

Radio stocks were down almost across the board. The Radio Index fell 3.22, or 1.6%, to 202.900. A disappointing earnings reports sent Univision falling 8.3%. Q2 results from Fisher Communications didn't satisfy The Street and the stock fell 4.9%. Cox Radio dropped 3%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Friday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		41.50	-0.08	Jeff-Pilot	JP		49.77	-0.48
Beasley	BBGI		13.40	-0.20	Journal Comm.	JRN		15.82	+0.01
Citadel	CDL		12.44	-0.24	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		12.98	-0.23
Clear Channel	CCU		33.38	-0.23	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		12.98	-0.19
Cox Radio	CXR		15.54	-0.48	Regent	RGCI		5.56	-0.10
Cumulus	CMLS		12.31	-0.20	Saga Commun.	SGA		14.47	-0.08
Disney	DIS		25.48	-0.14	Salem Comm.	SALM		20.20	-0.25
Emmis	EMMS		20.55	-0.30	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		6.76	-0.05
Entercom	ETM		31.20	-0.37	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		8.03	-0.23
Entravision	EVC		8.11	-0.10	Univision	UVN		26.79	-2.43
Fisher	FSCI		42.56	-2.18	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		34.19	+0.12
Gaylord	GET		44.85	-1.39	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		34.00	+0.13
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		25.04	-0.06	Westwood One	WON		19.65	-0.55
Interep	IREP		0.68	-0.02	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		33.71	-0.80
International Bcg.	IBCS		0.01	unch	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

Send Us Your Opinions We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments to [email protected]

The NAB's suspicions concerning XM Satellite Radio's planned acquisition of Wireless Communications Service spectrum (8/5/05 TVBR #153) is laughable. Is this the same NAB that a decade ago began lobbying the FCC to assure that not more than two satellite radio licenses would be granted-thus creating a virtual national monopoly on this technology? When the NAB's efforts ultimately succeeded, without protest from its members, I recognized that broadcasters were about to make another of their colossal technological missteps and immediately sold my radio and TV interests. Remember how radio broadcasters scoffed at the emergence of FM as the dominant technology in the early 1970s? This was followed by incessant wrangling over which stereo technology would "save" AM. Stereo arrived too late to be of much help to AM broadcasters. Is it any wonder that General Motors, already committed to its On Star satellite-driven technology, pumped millions into XM? Led by a trade organization that engaged more in puffery than providing actual value to its members, terrestrial broadcasters could not agree on significant issues and endlessly debated the merits of a fading a technology. Has anyone noticed how poor the audio quality of the AM and FM sections of radios in GM vehicles is when compared to the XM receivers they're installing in ever-increasing numbers? It's time that terrestrial broadcasters wake up to smell the coffee. Satellite radio is here to stay. Local traffic reports and weather are available on both XM and Sirius. Further localization is merely the next logical step, and it's not a bad idea (if you believe that competition is good).

The question is: will AM and FM broadcasters make the investment in the significant technological improvements required to be competitive or will they, yet again, simply whine, blather, and continue to dwindle in their influence to the communities they serve?

Sincerely,
Bill Bro
Chief Executive Officer
Kidney Cancer Association
Evanston, IL

Arbitrends

More News Headlines

American Idol judge to
headline Radio Luncheon

"The Tom Joyner Show"
to hit TV in October

CBS issues first "pod-casting call"

KNBR host suspended

Vince Gonzales named Broadcast Journalist of the Year by NAHJ

TVBR - TV News

Emmis TV bids
due today
That's the word on the street - - final bids to acquire the Emmis Television group are due today, with the announcement of a deal expected as soon as next week. Although only Journal Communications and Gannett have publicly stated their interest in bidding on some or all of the 16 stations, there are expected to be quite a few bids - - from both existing groups and new companies with venture capital backing who are trying to get a TV platform that they can build from. TVBR has estimated that the stations are worth 1.1-1.2 billion and Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan has said he expects to get more than the one billion that's been speculated by some Wall Street analysts. To refresh your memory, here's what's for sale.

| View the Charts |

ABC’s Anchor passes away
Late last night, Sunday around 11:00pm, Peter Jennings died he was 67. Jennings backed away from the ABC news desk after announcing he had lung cancer this past April. Jennings was at the ABC desk for more that two decades.

RBR Radar 2005

Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.

"Perfect storm" hits Cumulus
A couple of months after switching from Interep to Katz, Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey is still being buffeted by problems with national spot revenues. Cumulus was particularly hard hit by the decision by Home Depot - - which had been the company's biggest advertiser - - to switch spending from national spot radio to network.
RBR observation: In the Q2 conference calls, we've noticed that, in general, the big market-oriented groups are reporting gains in national business, while those in medium and small markets aren't seeing a boost. As Saga CEO Ed Christian noted, there's not a lot that a local station can do about national - - either it's there, or it isn't. 08/05/05 RBR #153

Home Depot's advertising clarified
We heard that in reality, Home Depot purchased select radio networks and programs with a heavy spot overlay. They didn't shift all of their dollars out of spot and into network radio. It was just a more efficient utilization of their ad dollars. The bigger problem with Cumulus may be that a lot of their markets are too small to make the cut for many national brands. The source said there is always churn in the radio marketplace, especially on the national level and blaming one account for ad revenue woes might be a bit overdone. 08/05/05 RBR #153

Not everyone is cutting inventory
Radio One COO Mary Catherine Sneed tells analysts that some competitors were adding inventory in June to take advantage of advertiser demand. She didn't name names, but indicated that the offenders included both group owned stations and independents. After reporting that radio station revenues rose 9% in Q2, Radio One is projecting that its station revenues will be up in the mid single digits in Q3. RBR observation: What a surprise! There are still greedy folks out there trying to make an extra buck by adding a spot or two. Still, the overall trend is toward cutting clutter, reducing inventory and putting upward pressure on pricing. Sticking to a diet and exercise regimen is tough, but it will pay off. 08/05/05 RBR #153

Cox's Flames still burning PPM
Bob Neil wants electronic measurement, but not PPM long-time PPM critic is back and wants nothing to do with Arbitron's Portable People Meters and dismissed the recent Forrester Research study on the potential economic impact of PPM saying the study commissioned by the RAB (but paid for by Arbitron) was tainted by leading questions. Neil is anxious to see what systems are submitted to the pending request for proposals by Clear Channel, which will be evaluated by representatives of numerous radio groups. Asked about specific problems with the PPM technology, Neil said women are likely to put the devices in purses, which will prevent them picking up audio encoding from stations. RBR observation: For the competing electronic measurement systems that we're aware of, the basic difference is in whether they use encoding or audio recognition, but none have a way to overcome Neil's objections that they don't measure all listening, such as from the time people get out of bed until they have showered, dressed and are ready to head out the door. Short of human implants, we wonder how would you deal with that? 08/04/05 RBR #152

As Cox's flames Arbitron
sets off alarm
Bob Neil has a way of setting off a fire alarm faster than a jackrabbit on a date and thus Arbitron VP Thom Mocarsky was quickly on the phone to RBR to throw water on those flames from the Cox Radio CEO. Mocarsky insisted that PPMs work fine from inside purses and that there had been no problems with the devices failing to register listening in the earlier Philad! elphia test. As for the cell-only households, Arbitron doesn't plan to install its own landlines in the future because it has now developed a PPM docking station that has its own wireless phone built in to upload data.
RBR observation: One good thing, radio is not getting the same attention as Nielsen from the US Senate. But just wait as idol hands make for what? 08/04/05 RBR #152

ABC, NAB kiss and make up
Walt Disney/ABC is back in the National Association of Broadcasters. It joined the other major networks in exiting the industry's major trade organization during the height of the dispute over the national audience reach cap. Michael Powell's FCC was pushing to up it from 35% to 45%, a move enthusiastically seconded by the majors and opposed by many smaller entities in the television universe. NAB sided with the smaller companies and the majors went on their way. RBR observation: With the audience cap now, to borrow a phrase being bandied about in an entirely different Washington theater, a matter of settled law, there is no point to any intramural squabbling when broadcasters especially TV broadcasters face a common foe. All broadcasters want their full digital signal, whether its high-def or multicast to be carried on its allotted cable system bandwidth as a matter of national policy. Cable wants one signal as a matter of national policy, and others at its own but there is a great deal of sentiment for the broadcast position on Capitol Hill. It is an especially important moment in time for broadcasters to put forth a united front. 08/04/05 RBR #152

General Manager

Saga Communications Brad Eure retires and we seek his replacement with a radio professional that has passion and commitment to the radio business to take the leadership at WWWV / WQMZ & WINA Charlottesville, VA. Saga, we believe in our people. Interested then tell us about yourself.

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