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Volume 23, Issue 166, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Friday Morning August 25th, 2006

Radio News ®

Clear Channel Reorganization: Phase II
Clear Channel Radio is set to announce this morning the second set of organizational changes following last week's designation of three Executive Vice Presidents with responsibility for overseeing a section of the country, each reporting to CEO John Hogan (8/18/06 RBR #161). Today's announcement will indicate an increased focus on driving ratings and revenues in the largest markets. As RBR reported previously, Top 20 Market Managers will be reporting directly to their Exec. VP and no longer overseeing any nearby smaller markets. That is viewed as eliminating a layer of management to focus in the big population, big revenue markets, despite those managers no longer having "Regional Vice President" on their business cards. This morning's announcement will apparently include the naming of the Senior Vice Presidents who will be responsible for overseeing the medium and smaller market managers as the Exec. VPs devote their primary attention to the big markets. RBR sources inside Clear Channel have been burning up the Internet this week with information about what is going on. A Clear Channel spokesperson insists that some of the details are not correct, but they refused to say what is right and what is not, so we will find out today how it all shakes out. According to multiple RBR sources, here is what is going down in phase two. Bill Gentry has been named Sr. VP East, reporting to Exec. VP Tom Shurr. Dave Crowl has been named Sr. VP Central, reporting to Exec. VP Charlie Rahilly. Ed Krampf has been named Sr. VP West (except Texas) and Mark Kopelman has been named Sr. VP Texas, both reporting to Exec. VP Susan Karis (who no doubt will earn lots of frequent flier miles with her far-flung responsibilities). All were previously Sr. VPs except Kopelman, and this eliminates three Sr. VP positions on the management/sales side. Lee Larsen, Bruce Demps and Alene Grevey are said to have been reassigned to Regional VP positions, with their first assignment being to take over as Market Manager in one of their markets, which requires a firing where no position is currently vacant. Meanwhile, on the programming side, multiple sources report that veteran Sr. VP of Programming Jack Evans has indeed been let go. There was no word on whether Bill Richards, who had also been expecting a pink slip, had also gotten the "sorry Charlie" phone call. Both were reportedly uninvited to a top-management conference call this week.

RBR observation: We wish we had the business card concession for Clear Channel. The grape vine says dozens of people who used to have "Regional Vice President" as part of their title no longer have that designation, with just over one dozen so titled. But then, radio was always a business which paid people with titles in lieu of cash. Will this refocus Clear Channel on building ratings and revenues in the largest markets? This new organizational structure comes as the jury is still out on whether Less is More accomplished its objectives. Meanwhile, we hear that Clear Channel is getting serious about shedding hundreds of smaller market stations to keep management focused on the big bucks. Word is that Chris Devine has a deal in the works to buy a pile of stations in Western markets where cattle outnumber radio listeners by substantial margins.

PPM holdout comes aboard in Houston
Radio One has quietly dropped its long opposition to encoding for Arbitron's PPM test in Houston and begun encoding. Its stations are doing pretty well, too. The revelation came as Arbitron yesterday issued a weekly ratings data report to demonstrate new software for PPM stations. In AQH for the first week of August, Radio One's KMJQ-FM was #3, KBXX-FM #9 and KROI-FM tied for #22. That leaves only Cox Radio as a major player in the market refusing to participate. What changed? No response yet from Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins. Meanwhile, Arbitron is touting the ability to produce weekly data as a great step forward for radio programmers. "Instead of waiting as long as a month for a ratings report that only reflects the average audience for the previous three months, radio station executives will now have a single week of reliable audience ratings to see how a programming strategy is working," said Gary Marince, Arbitron VP Programming Services and Development. According to George Brady, director of PPM Client Software, Arbitron designed the new software to look and feel like the monthly Arbitrends system. But instead of a three-month rolling average, stations will now be able to trend week-to-week estimates for all PPM-encoding stations. The sample report that Arbitron sent out for the Houston PPM test covered the week of Thursday, July 27, through Wednesday, August 2 (plus weekly back data for the four weeks in July). Subsequent weekly audience estimates can be accessed directly from Arbitron's online data delivery system, TapMedia. Data for August 3-9 will be available on August 28.
| Here is the sample report |

RBR observation: Mary Catherine Sneed had been the most vocal critic of Arbitron at Radio One. That makes us think that her recent departure as COO (7/5/06 RBR #129) may have had something to do with the corporate change of heart toward PPM.

Moody's puts Entercom
under review
Deals announced this week to buy 293M worth of radio stations (8/22/06 RBR #163) has prompted Moody's Investors Service to put its debt ratings for Entercom under review with an eye toward possible downgrades. But first Moody's will talk with Entercom management and assess the outlook for Entercom and the radio business. "The review will focus on the impact of the incremental debt to finance the transactions and the resulting impact on credit metrics, particularly leverage given the company's recent debt financed dividend and share repurchase activity. Moody's anticipates that Entercom's 2006 pro-forma debt-to-EBITDA leverage will approach 5.2x (adjusted for Moody's standard adjustments). Moody's will evaluate the credit metrics in the context of the current softness in radio advertising and Entercom's operating performance and the strategic threats facing the mature radio business, including emerging satellite and cross media competition. Moody's will also discuss the business strategy for the existing and acquired stations with management," the ratings service said.
The following ratings are under review for possible downgrade:
1) Ba2 rating on 150M 7.625% senior subordinated notes and
2) Entercom Radio, LLC's Ba1 Corporate Family Rating.

Commissioners set for Milwaukee meeting
No, the FCC hasn't scheduled any of its public forums on media ownership yet. But media watchdogs Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy remain in the business of setting up such events, and they have another one on the docket. It'll take place Thursday, 9/7/06 at UW-Milwaukee Helen Bader Concert Hall, Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts. If you guessed that the commissioners planning to attend are Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, then you have obviously been paying attention to how these things work. The hook to get citizens to attend is this: "Do you want more quality journalism? Are you concerned about the consolidation of media ownership? Do you think important issues don't get enough air time? Is your community fairly represented in the media? Here's your chance to tell the Federal Communications Commission!" They are even willing to bus in a load of citizens from Madison if there are enough takers. According to Matthew Larar's Lasar Letter, another session is scheduled for Los Angeles' Davidson Conference Center, with Reps. Dianne Watson (D-CA) and Hilda Solis (D-CA) joining the Commissioners. Lasar also says that a teach-in is being scheduled for San Francisco by the Media-Alliance and the National Latino Media. Organizations there are also angling for one of the FCC's six meetings with a petition drive, following in the footsteps of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who has already proposed Washington State as a location.

CPB helping to grow noncom HD
85 radio stations will get a boost into the digital era via grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 7.74M will be divvied up between stations in 28 states, including 49 serving rural and/or minority audiences. "Public radio must be equipped to participate fully in the digital revolution," said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison. "Building on support from Congress, state governments and local communities across the nation, these critical grants will help ensure the success of public radio's digital transition and new and better radio broadcast service for the communities these stations are connected to."

RBR observation: One of the knocks on public radio is that stations are often forced to make a difficult choice between musical formats not generally available from commercial radio, including Classical , Jazz and Progressive, or serving niche groups in the community, or providing in demand News-Talk fare from NPR. Or there is the formatically problematic option of a schizophrenic block programming schedule, often resulting in undesirable audience turnover every time a new block kicks in. HD side channels would free up stations to provide the full gamut of traditionally noncom program offerings. And who knows? Maybe some creative noncoms will point the way to sideband commercial success in some areas.
| See stations receiving grants |

Ad Business Report TM

Denver Water Board
makes big "blinks" buy
Denver Water has introduced its new water conservation campaign under the slogan "Use Only What You Need." Created by Denver-based Sukle Advertising & Design, the campaign is intended to encourage consumers to continue practicing wise water use. The campaign includes :05 radio blinks, print ads, billboards, transit ads (on buses and bus shelters) and two mobile billboards. As part of the effort, a grassroots "community-level" initiative has also been implemented. Grassroots tactics include the distribution of 2'x'2' yard signs throughout the Denver Water service area and drink coasters with water conservation tips at local restaurants and bars. Several Denver stations, not just Clear Channel, are on the buy. No :60s were included. The five-week schedule runs on eight stations: KBCO, KBPI, KIMN, KQMT, KRFX, KTCL, KMGG (Hispanic) and KBNO (Hispanic). Two versions are in English and one in Spanish. The blinks are running within music blocks three days a week between 12-6p.

| Hear the spots | 1 | 2 | 3 | See the outdoor effort here |

Media Markets & Money TM

On the level in Levelland
Paul Beane is spinning off his Lubbock FM station in a deal that will leave him with a pair of AMs. The buyer is Greg Mixon's Amerimedia Texas. According to broker Jim Hoffman of Explorer Communications, the pricetag is 500K. According to Hoffman, the 1053.3 mHz C3 is playing a mix of Soft Country Standards and Southern Gospel. Beane retains KLVT-AM, Levelland and KZZN-AM, Littlefield, both also in Texas.

Rice gets a Wisconsin side dish
WKLJ-AM and WCOW-FM hail from Sparta WI and are considered part of the La Crosse Arbitron market. WFLZ-FM Trempealeau WI is not part of La Crosse, but it's close enough that WKLJ/WCOW owner Sparta-Tomah Broadcasting Company was compelled to append a consolidation study to its contract to buy the Trempealeau outlet. Zel Rice's group is getting WFLZ-FM from S&S Broadcasting for 850K cash. So while under the old contour rules Rice would be assembling a duopoly cluster, under the newer market-based method, it's more like he's expanding into a new albeit unrated market.

Washington Media Business Report TM

FTC forms net neutrality task force
The advent of converging technologies and related regulatory developments has inspired the agency which will bear much of the brunt to put together a task force to get ahead of the curve. The agency is the Federal Trade Commission and the issue is the Internet. And FTC Chairman Platt Majoras knows where the major sticking point will be. In announcing the formation of the task force, she said, "I also have asked the Internet Access Task Force to address what is likely the most hotly debated issue in communications, so-called 'network neutrality'." She added, "The FTC's Internet Access Task Force is looking carefully at the issues raised by calls for network neutrality laws. . . . I urge caution in proceeding on the issue. I...question the starting assumption that government regulation, rather than the market itself under existing laws, will provide the best solution to a problem." However, proponents of network neutrality have something to point to that calls the effectiveness of the market into question. Art Brodsky of watchdog Public Knowledge, writing for TPM Café, noted that two big phone companies, Verizon and BellSouth, effectively raised broadband prices in tandem. They did this by not passing on to consumers the savings realized by the elimination of FCC universal service fees which formerly applied to the service. Verizon kept the cash inflow alive as a "supplier surcharge," while BellSouth called it a "regulatory cost recovery fee." Brodsky commented, "Raising prices in a restricted market may or may not be classified as 'anticompetitive conduct,' but it's a sure sign that competition doesn't exist."

Entertainment Media Business Report TM

Bonneville splitting KTAR
We now know what Bonneville International is going to do with KKFR-FM Phoenix, which it recently acquired from Emmis for 77.5 million. Bonneville is splitting KTAR-AM in two, with News/Talk moving to the new 92.3 FM signal as 620 AM converts to Sports/Talk. A simulcast of KTAR begins next month and come January 2007 the split will take place. "KTAR always has delivered great news talk and sports programming to its listeners. However, news talk listeners told us they did not want their news interrupted by play-by-play sports, and sports fans told us we did not give them enough sports coverage. With an all-sports format at 620 AM and news talk at 92.3 FM, we can give them what they want when they want it," said KTAR VP/GM Erik Hellum in announcing the plan. The announcement said the change will also allow KTAR to fully maximize its long relationship with the biggest sports teams in Arizona. The 620 AM station will continue to be the home of play-by-play for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals, and Arizona State University, and will also affiliate with ESPN and deliver local Sports Talk shows.

Internet Media Business Report TM

CBS adds more shows to innertube
To gain additional exposure for some key freshman and sophomore series during the fall launches, CBS announced plans to stream episodes of several of its primetime shows produced by Warner Bros. Television and Twentieth Century Fox Television free of charge on CBS's broadband channel innertube. Starting in September, shows being offered include the freshman series Shark, as well as the sophomore series How I Met Your Mother, The Unit, freshman series The Class and Smith, as well as the sophomore series The New Adventures of Old Christine. With all six shows, each of the first four original episodes of the season will be available for viewers to watch for free on innertube for a week following its Network broadcast. As previously announced, innertube will also provide free streams of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Jericho, NCIS, NUMB3RS and Survivor. Current innertube offerings include the web-exclusive series "InTurn," "Animate This!," "House Calls" and episodes of "Big Brother: All-Stars."

AOL Video launches movie downloads;
to offer content from Fox
It looks like Fox's recent announcement to stream content over its O&O sites isn't an exclusive thing. AOL has unveiled partnerships with 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group that will offer consumers downloadable movies through the AOL Video portal (www.aolvideo.com). These new partnerships complement the 17 video content partnerships and more than 45 on-demand channels that AOL Video announced in July. Popular movie titles will be available for purchase and download with prices ranging from 9.99 to 19.99 per movie. As part of AOL Video's VOD channel line up, content from Fox Entertainment Group and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will be accessible through the AOL Video portal's online interactive programming guide (IPG). Some of the features, such as classic TV shows, will be free and accompanied by commercials. Others, such as episodes of Fox's "24" and "Prison Break," will be available for download for a fee.
| See content available in the coming months |

RBR observation: The competition is getting fierce. Yahoo, iTunes and AOL are making deals right and left in the online video distribution biz. Amazon is readying its own launch. Google recently struck a deal with MTV Networks for online content. The content providers gain revenue from these new placements, but may lose traditional television viewers. That's the fear with some, but we doubt it. Anyone discovering content they like online or wirelessly may be driven to an appointment on the couch to see it on a bigger screen. New media content offerings are in some ways just tiny ads for bigger programming slates. Creates word of mouth, etc. So no worries and the more the merrier.

Ratings & Research

Americans stockpiling emergency supplies
In the year since Hurricane Katrina caused widespread devastation along the Gulf Coast, nearly four out of every five American adults say they have taken some precaution to prepare for an emergency. A national survey commissioned by American Media Services found that only 21% of Americans say they have not yet taken any precautions.
| Read More... |

Programming Business Report

The Explosion of Hispanic programming
Wednesday, we looked at "keeping listeners listening." What are Spanish-language stations doing to keep listeners from migrating over to the pure Urban or Pop Rock stations where the young focus? (8/23/06 RBR #164).

Serving Hispanic viewers
On the Television side, a proliferation of Hispanic television stations in the last 15 years have brought on new networks to provide content. Univision has launched Galavision, Telefutura and TuTV; NBC Universal's Telemundo has launched mun2, a cable network that celebrates the lifestyle of all U.S. Latino youth and Telemundo Puerto Rico. Sí TV has also launched, targeting younger English-speaking Latino demos. Azteca America and Hispanic Television Network have all launched, as have numerous Hispanic versions of popular cable nets, i.e. "Discovery en Español." Cable-only penetration is common for many Hispanic audiences, as the over-the-air signals for many Spanish language stations is on UHF, often with lower power signals. Therefore, the must carry issue is important to Spanish-language broadcasters to reach their audiences. All of affiliate group Una Vez Mas' stations (the largest affiliate group for Azteca America), for example, are low power and therefore not subject to must carry status. Says Una Vez Mas CEO Robert Hyland: "We have to buy our way on to the cable systems even though we are over the air stations licensed to that particular market-same as the full power station receiving 'must carry.' Because we have to pay for cable carriage it slows us down in being able to target our audience with local programming such as news. We will be launching local news in January, but we could have started earlier if we had must carry rights."

Language and targeting younger generations
Until recently, the only game in town was Univision and Telemundo, but now with multicast digital platforms many non-Spanish language broadcasters are also looking to place Hispanic programming in place. Most of the content comes from Latin and South America, from providers like Televisa and Venevision. Telemundo's bid to win market share away from Univision (and they're having some measure of success) is to create original US-generated Spanish language programming content specifically for US Spanish-speaking viewership. Says Mike Castello, VP of television syndicator AIM Tell-A-Vision Group (AIM TV): "And it is written to be relevant to their lives to include things that the challenges, circumstances, backdrops, etc. that are recognizable for them and that they can relate to."
| Read More... |

Next Week...

BRANDING
Brandcasting with Snapple and WFNX
Jay Coleman, EMCI President, organized a deal that took WFNX-FM Boston commercial free for six weeks this summer, with Snapple as sole sponsor. He calls the promotion "brandcasting," and it's gotten quite a bit of interest from broadcasters.

MEDIA BUSINESS REPORT
Rashid Tobaccowala, chief innovation officer of Publicis Groupe Media (PGM) and Denuo CEO. Publicis Groupe's Denuo unit is a new strategic initiative designed to anticipate and exploit the rapidly changing digital, interactive and mobile communication environment.

Transactions

780K WGVM-AM/WDMS-FM Greenville MS from Mid-America Broadcasting Co. Inc. (David M. Segal) to WDMS Inc. (John R. Salyer, Wesley K. Gerald). 39K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 8/3/06.]

250K KVLR-FM Twisp WA from Valley Air LLC (Donn Fry) to Resort Radio LLC (Kent Phillips, David Bauer, David Herald, Glenn Knutson, Megan Phillips). 25K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 8/10/06.]

Stock Talk

Tiny gains for the day
Government reports that new home sales fell last month and durable goods orders declined reassured Wall Street traders that the Fed will not need to raise rates again - but they did not go on a buying spree. The Dow Industrials crept up seven points to 11,304 and other major indices were also slightly higher.

Radio stocks did a bit better. The Radio Index gained 0.697, or 0.5%, to 134.341. Westwood One rose 2.3% and Entravision gained 2.2% to lead the pack.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Thursday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		35.82	+0.41	Hearst-Argyle	HTV		22.06	+0.51
Beasley	BBGI		7.02	-0.11	Journal Comm.	JRN		10.81	+0.11
CBS CI. B	CBS		28.28	-0.06	Lincoln Natl.	LNC		59.70	-0.30
CBS CI. A	CBSa		28.35	+0.08	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		5.82	+0.03
Citadel	CDL		8.75	+0.13	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		5.79	-0.02
Clear Channel	CCU		28.13	+0.18	Regent	RGCI		4.14	+0.14
Cox Radio	CXR		14.99	+0.08	Saga Commun.	SGA		7.49	-0.02
Cumulus	CMLS		9.62	unch	Salem Comm.	SALM		9.99	-0.44
Disney	DIS		28.95	-0.24	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		4.06	+0.02
Emmis	EMMS		12.23	+0.15	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		4.25	+0.06
Entercom	ETM		24.09	+0.42	Univision	UVN		33.91	+0.05
Entravision	EVC		6.88	+0.15	Westwood One	WON		7.15	+0.16
Fisher	FSCI		40.04	+0.04	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		12.90	unch
Gaylord	GET		42.05	+0.02	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

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

Radio stations have exactly what they need, right now, to bring "measurable, interactive and...targeted capability...that goes beyond simple demographic and psychographic characteristics" to the auto industry. (8/14/06 RBR #157) Smart radio stations are building online listener databases and collecting information on everything from listening habits to buying habits. That means stations that understand how to interact with their databases are identifying which listeners are buying cars, what they want to buy and when they're planning on buying. This data extends far beyond the demo/psychographic characteristic to the actual person, including their name, email address, zip code and most importantly, their permission for the station to send them information. Stations that put together offers, targeted exactly to what these listeners - and consumers - have told them, are moving cars off lots, to the benefit of the station, the dealership and the listener. One more thing - they're doing all of this off-air. So the choice is yours: wait five to seven years for one kind of trackable information or get to work building listener databases, identifying listener interests and bringing credible, qualified, trackable consumers to your advertisers right now.

Ruth Presslaff
President
Presslaff Interactive Revenue

Below the Fold

Ad Business Report
Denver Water Board
Makes big "blinks" buy...

Media Markets & Money
On the level in Levelland
Paul Beane is spinning off his Lubbock FM...

Rice gets a Wisconsin side dish
WKLJ-AM and WCOW-FM...

Washington Media Business Report
FTC forms net neutrality task force
There will be major sticking points...

Entertainment Media
Business Report
Bonneville splitting KTAR
KKFR-FM, acquired for 77.5 M
News/Talk on FM & Sports/Talk on AM...

Arbitrends

Radio Media Moves

Cox Radio taps Mike Paterson in Houston
Cox Radio has named Mike Paterson to Internet Sales Manager for its four Houston stations (The New 93Q, KKBQ-FM; Country Legends 97.1, KTHT-FM; Houston 107-5 The New K-Hits, KLDE-FM; 106-9 The Point, KHPT-FM). He had most recently served as an account manager for Cox Radio's The New 93Q since in January.

More News Headlines

NABOB taps keynoters
The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters is drawing close to its 30th Annual Fall Broadcast Management Conference. The event will be held from 9/6/06 through 9/8/06 at the Fairmont Washington Hotel. The Association has now announced its lead speakers. Both are prominently identified with the Democratic Party. One is the former Vermont Governor and presidential aspirant and current Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean. The other will be former President/CEO of the NAACP and current United States Senate candidate for the State of Maryland Kweisi Mfume. Both will speak at noontime events. Mfume will appear Thursday 9/7/06 and Dean will hold down center stage Friday, 9/8/06.

FCC duo booked for Big D
You knew there was an FCC Breakfast scheduled for Thursday, September 21st, during the NAB Radio Show - now you know who you will be breaking bread with that morning. Two Commissioners have accepted the NAB's invitation, Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, the longest-serving member of the current FCC, and Republican Robert McDowell, the newest Commissioner. Of course, you kinda figured Adelstein would be there, since he will be featured on harmonica a few hours later as "The Formats" perform at the Marconi Awards Dinner & Show.

RBR Radar 2006

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

More shoes falling at Clear Channel
Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan alluded to additional changes to come last week as he promoted three people to Executive Vice President and put each over all radio stations in one section of the country. RBR sources say some of those changes were laid out this week in a conference call for top-level managers. In fact, a couple of Senior VPs of Programming who weren't invited to be on the call, while their peers were, are said to be expecting pink slips - but are still waiting for word from San Antonio. More in
08/24/06 RBR #165

GE exec takes VNU helm
Folks at Billboard, Radio & Records, Adweek, Nielsen Media Research and such have a new boss at VNU corporate headquarters. He has no media background, but David Calhoun is definitely a heavy-hitter as far as Wall Street is concerned.

RBR observation: One does not leave a Vice Chairmanship at GE at the peak of one's working life to preside over a break-up, so this move makes it clear that the new owners are out to build VNU (or whatever new name it soon takes) and have brought in a superstar CEO to take command. Our sources say the new owners have confidence in Susan Whiting as CEO of Nielsen Media Research and they recently brought in publishing veteran Robert Krakoff to head up VNU Business Media USA, so Calhoun doesn't need a background in media to do his job - streamline operations, set strategy to grow each of the businesses and tell the company story to the financial community. Folks on Wall Street who were familiar with Calhoun at GE were shocked that he went to a company as small as VNU to be CEO, but he indicated to Bloomberg that he was looking for an entrepreneurial opportunity. We doubt that his family will need to relocate to The Netherlands. Look for VNU to move its corporate headquarters to New York and, once the heavy lifting has been accomplished, launch an IPO.
08/24/06 RBR #165

More signs of a
banner political year
TNS Media Intelligence's Campaign Media Analysis Group is keeping track of that most seasonal of advertising categories, political, and in keeping with all the tea leaves and crystal ball readings that have preceded them, CMAG is finding record amounts of money being spent on advertising in support of both issues and candidates. YTD, 311M has been spent already, a figure CMAG calls "stunning." And that's just for local television, and it constitutes a 150% increase over the comparable period in the last midterm of 2002. The battle for Congress is generating much of the heat.

RBR observation: Political will be a category just like auto and the best advise is have a sales/marketing team in place to develop this business. Politics is business.
08/23/06 RBR #164

XM to the rescue!
That is how the satellite radio company is positioning itself in the Los Angeles, after KZLA flipped and left LA without a Country station. "XM rescues Country music" it announced, as XM stepped in to "replace now-defunct KZLA-FM (93.9) as sponsor for Los Angeles ' largest country music festival 'Country Bash '06.

RBR observation: Like it or not XM made a smart marketing move. Now lets see if they can pull it off and put fans in the stand.
08/23/06 RBR #164

CC settles 'Shellhammer suit'
Clear Channel confirms to RBR the company has settled a class action lawsuit (known as "Shellhammer suit") in San Francisco Superior Court relating to claims for overtime and expense reimbursement by a proposed class of current and former account executives in California. "The settlement occurred before trial, there was no judgment, and Clear Channel did not admit liability," a company spokesperson said. We heard the settlement was for 22 million, but could not get a confirmation. The settlement included a full gag order, so read the details in
08/22/06 RBR #163

Fox buys up the blinks
Clear Channel Radio and Fox Broadcasting announced a first-of-its-kind national radio campaign that uses "blinks," the shortest-length radio spots available. "Blinks" will be used to support the fall season premieres of Prison Break, House and The Simpsons. Conceived by, and running exclusively on, 1,100 CC Radio stations, "the first "blinks" - running every hour from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Kaye Bentley, Fox Broadcasting SVP, tells RBR they chose the blinks because they've got iconic shows like The Simpsons, House and Prison Break. "We figure at this point it's just a tune-in message, a real quick 'tonight-tonight-tonight' message.

RBR observation: Good move on the part of Clear Channel and Fox. Now this is how a Blink should be used. Listen to the audio Blink spots only in RBR as we have the Audio Content. See Ad Business Report section in
08/22/06 RBR #163

State Broadcast Association
President for one of the nation's top broadcast associations seeks a replacement for its retiring executive. Applicants must have broadcast management experience; knowledge of broadcast governmental, legal and regulatory affairs; an awareness of small and medium market broadcaster needs; ability to plan and coordinate a convention, workshops, seminars, and solicit event sponsors. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
See Radio Careers

Talk Radio Network
Seeking professionals in three areas to join our TRN team: Executive, Board Operator with 2 years experience and Staff Engineer that can take initiative. EOE. For complete details all three positions
See Radio Careers

General Manager
Saga Communications has a rare opening at Rock 102 and Lazer 99.3. Excellent facilities, benefits and quality of living in Springfield, MA. EOE.
See Radio Careers

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.

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