Radio News ®

Forbes attack has broadcasters riled
A cover story in the latest issue of Forbes magazine that paints terrestrial radio station owners as "Broadcast Bullies" holding back satellite radio via Capitol Hill muscle has some broadcasters fighting mad. Backyard Broadcasting President and CEO Barry Drake has written the magazine to assail it for "sloppy publishing and editing" and NAB President and CEO Eddie Fritts has accused the author of regurgitating "satellite radio industry propaganda."

RBR observation: It's one thing to criticize radio with factual information. You've certainly seen some strong words from this publication, such as Publisher Jim Carnegie's "Naples is calling" treatise. And as we noted just yesterday, this week's Barron's has a largely negative story on radio which, while painful to many in this business, was well researched. Not so the Forbes story and sidebar, which took at face value the claims of terrestrial radio's critics and seemed to devote no effort whatsoever to determining whether those claims were true. | More... |

Copps gets ink in NYT
Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps took to the Op-Ed page of the New York Times yesterday, wondering why citizens must have a cable television subscription to stay on top of the happenings at this week's Republican National Convention, not to mention the Democrat's convention of a month ago. He further questioned political coverage in general. "What do we get in return for granting TV stations free use of our airwaves?" queried Copps. "Unfortunately, when it comes to coverage of issues important to our nation, the answer is less and less." He went on to note the dwindling amount of coverage, and diminishing quality of what coverage there is, for both national and local elections. He said political ads outnumber news stories four to one.

RBR observation: Should the networks be required to go gavel-to-gavel at the conventions, at least during prime time? Here at RBR we are not in agreement on this issue. Bottom line: Maybe the networks' decision to go with minimal coverage is understandable. But there is nothing about it worth applauding. | More... |

Clear Channel cashes out SBS stock
Don't be confused. This is not Spanish Broadcasting System, but rather SBS Broadcasting SA that Clear Channel Communications is cashing out of as a shareholder. Clear Channel received 856,498 shares of stock in Luxembourg-based SBS when the latter bought radio stations in Norway and Denmark from Clear Channel subsidiaries in September 2003. SBS has now exercised its option to buy the shares back from Clear Channel for 18.6 million euros (approximately 15.5 million dollars) - - that's the original value of 17.5 million euros, plus interest at 6%. Had SBS not exercised its option to buy back the shares, Clear Channel would have been entitled to sell them in US SEC-registered sales over a six month period, beginning next month.

Add Canada's broadcasters to HD Radio concerns list; Struble responds
The CBC and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters have penned a letter to Canada's technical regulatory body Industry Canada charging that HD Radio will harm reception of Canadian AM stations inside its own border - - especially at night (Canada uses the Eureka-147 system, which does not use AM or FM frequencies). Canada's Broadcaster magazine says the letter even goes as far as to say the US's use of HD Radio may break broadcast treaties between the two countries because of its use of first adjacent channels. IBiquity Digital CEO Bob Struble tells RBR: "We are aware that the Canadian regulatory authorities have raised questions for the potential of IBOC to cause interference to Canadian broadcasters. The FCC is working closely with the Canadian government to answer these questions and to resolve any concerns. And we are confident that any issues raised in Canada can be addressed and will not delay the rollout of IBOC in the US." From the story: | More... |

Legal eagles call recording retention
a chilling idea
John Wells King and Melody A. Virtue of laws firm Garvey Schubert Barer have filed comments with the FCC regarding the Commission's proposal to require the recording and retention of broadcast programming tapes, saying it will have "an unconstitutional chilling effect on speech...," and arguing that the courts struck down a similar requirement way back in 1978. They whip out some statistics to back their claim that such efforts are largely unnecessary. "More than 18K broadcast stations air [over 105M] program-hours n a cumulative basis between 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM in a year." Balanced against that are an average of 238 programs which annually inspire indecency complaints, usually confined to a scant few moments within the offending programs. "Imposing a recording requirement on all broadcasters for such a smal fraction of a percentage of offending programs would be unnecessary, arbitrary and capricious." Should the FCC go ahead with the proposal, King and Virtue suggest modifications, such as a "strike two" regime - - this would shield non-offending stations - - most stations, many would argue - - from the taping requirement, which would kick in only after an indecency complaint was lodged. They also suggest that stations with formats which by definition almost preclude indecency, such as Standards, Classical, Agricultural and others, should get a bye if a recording requirement is adopted.

To sell, or not to sell? Is that your question? Part 7
What's a particular radio or TV station worth? The answer to that question may depend on who you ask. The answer may be different for an in-market buyer than an out-of market buyer, or for a niche specialist than for a general market broadcaster. So, if you're trying to sell your station, broker Tom Gammon says you have to be able to identify the best possible buyer. | More... |

Adbiz ©

LA Times radio campaign gets "Spot of the Month"
A one-minute radio spot created for the LA Times by Heil Brice Retail Advertising Newport Beach, CA recently was named, "Commercial of the Month" by the SCBA's General Sales Managers Council. | More... |

Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Red Book
of Selling to be released
A new tool in the sales arsenal? Every salesperson learns "how to sell." And every salesperson learns the wrong thing. People don't like to be sold, but they love to buy. That's the first line in sales innovator Jeffrey Gitomer's new book, Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Red Book of Selling. It's a sales book. It's not a how-to-sell book. Rather, it's a "why people buy" book, according to Gitomer. The book releases next month. For more info: www.gitomer.com . Highlights include:

* 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness.
* "Red Whines" placed strategically throughout the book. Red Whines are common gripes of salespeople that are followed with Gitomer's pragmatic in-your-face remedies.
* Gitomer tells salespeople in the very beginning of the book the reasons why the book is red. And those reasons correlate to a salesperson's success: Red is the color of passion and passion is the fulcrum point of selling. No passion, no sales. Red is the color of love and if the salesperson don't love what they sell, then they should sell something else. Red is the brightest color and the salesperson must be bright in order to convert selling to buying. Red is the most visible color and the salesperson must be visible to their customers with a value message, not just a sales pitch. And red is fire and if the salesperson isn't on fire, then they'll lose to someone who is.

Cars.com ramps up advertising for Fall season
Cars.com announced it will ramp-up its integrated campaign to coincide with the fall car-buying season. Building on the launch of its "Joy" campaign earlier this year, cars.com returns to the airwaves today with nearly 2,000 spots on leading cable networks, and increased promotion across its network of 175 local newspaper and TV partners. | More... |

Media, Markets & Money tm

Washington Beat

Programming

Hartenbaum launching
"The Stephanie Miller Show"
The Progressive talk format continues its march: Former Jones MediaAmerica CEO Ron Hartenbaum's WYD MediaManagement is launching "The Stephanie Miller Show" 9/7 live, 9AM-noon, ET (6AM-9AM, PT) weekdays. Originating from LA, the new progressive and politically Liberal talker joins the Ed Schultz Show as progressive talk radio programs whose introduction was fostered by Democracy Radio, the based program incubator, said Hartenbaum. Jones MediaAmerica will handle sales; Jones Radio Network will handle clearances.

"As talk radio has more and more become a sea of right-wing wackos, I think the audience has finally recognized the need to balance that with some good left-wing wackos, and I'm thrilled to be able to fill that need," said Miller. "And, as the daughter of a former Republican vice-presidential candidate, you can only imagine how happy my family is about it. However, unlike Patti Davis, I can safely say that there are no nude pictures of me anywhere, but only because no one's ever asked."

Hartenbaum tells RBR: "This is just further affirmation that the whole Progressive Liberal Talk category is expanding very dramatically. And we're seeing that at WLIB-AM NY with the ratings at Air America; we're seeing that in Portland, OR with the Clear Channel station; it's happening with the Ed Schultz Show, it's happening all over the place. This is a valid format, it's an entertaining format and it's growing. There's more and more product out there." As well, of course, CC Radio's KKZN-AM Denver and KABQ-AM Albuquerque are the latest to join in CC's recently-announced five-station Liberal talker lineup. Miller's active media life includes a new series on the Fox Family Channel called "Show Me Funny," hosting duties for "I've Got a Secret" on cable's Oxygen channel and game show panelist on the Pax Network's "Balderdash." In addition to major market radio stints at KABC and KFI in LA, Miller guest hosted CNBC's Equal Time as the liberal counterweight to Bay Buchanan. She appears regularly on CNN's Larry King Live and NBC's "Today Show" and has been a guest on "The Tonight Show," "A&E's "An Evening at the Improv" and is well known on the stand-up comedy club circuit in New York and LA.

Clear Channel's liberal count now seven
When Clear Channel Radio announced the launch of two more liberal-leaning Talk stations last week in San Diego and Ann Arbor, MI, the company said two more were in the works (8/24/04 RBR Daily Epaper #165). Both launched yesterday and "progressive talk" is now the format of KKZN-AM Denver and KABQ-AM Albuquerque. As with the other CC Radio stations in the genre, programming from Air America Radio is being mixed in with Jones Radio Network's Ed Schultz and other programming. Clear Channel, long associated with right-wing Talk radio, is now far and away the top affiliate group for Air America, with seven of the network's 24 affiliates.

Transactions

WKIE-FM, WKIF-FM & WDEK-FM Chicago (Arlington Heights, Kankakee, DeKalb IL) from Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. to Newsweb Corp.

KQST-FM Flagstaff AZ (Sedona AZ) from Rocket Radio Corporation to Yavapai Broadcasting Corporation.

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