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Volume 22, Issue 171, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning August 31st, 2005

Radio News®

US ad spend rose 5.7%
in first half of 2005
Ad spending for the first half of 2005 rose 5.7% over the same period last year, due to gains across major media, according to figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Ad spend increased in almost all reported media, led by Spanish-Language TV, Cable TV, and Internet. A number of media haven't shown much movement through the first half including Newspapers, Coupons, Top 100 Spot TV markets, and Network Radio. "Ad spending continues to strengthen in 2005, with the second quarter outpacing the first. In particular, spending for the Top 100 Spot Television markets was down in the first quarter, but bounced back to a 3.1% gain in the second quarter," said Jeff King, managing director of Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Q1 ad spend for the top 10 companies reached 9.5 billion, up 7.7% from last year. Most advertisers experienced growth. Although DaimlerChrysler cut back 7.8%, overall the automotive companies show healthy gains, accounting for $3.8 billion in spending, with an increase of 7.5%. Johnson & Johnson and Altria also continue to climb in 2005. Spending for the 10 largest categories reached 21 billion in the first half, 5.4% greater than the same period last year. Most product categories have increased spending, with the exception of Motion Pictures and Department Stores, which are slightly down. The Credit Card industry remains the fastest growing in terms of percent increase over last year. For the last several years, the Prescription Drug industry has experienced substantial growth in advertising spending. However this year, possibly as a result of more public scrutiny of the large Pharmaceutical Companies, spending has leveled off. See more from the report in AdBiz.

| View the charts |

Nielsen vs. Arbitron: The top 20
The major ratings services for both radio and TV have released their market ranking updates - - Nielsen for the 2005-2006 TV season and Arbitron for the next year of radio ratings, beginning with the Fall book. If you've spent your entire career in one broadcast medium, you may be surprised to see how different the market rankings are in the other. The biggest difference is the two big Arbitron markets that don't show up at all as Nielsen markets - - #13 Puerto Rico, which isn't rated at all by Nielsen, and #18 Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island), which is part of the NYC market as far as Nielsen is concerned. Most of the differences can be attributed to Nielsen TV markets generally being larger, often encompassing multiple Arbitron radio markets.

| We've put the top 20 for each ratings service side-by-side |

After levee breach, Entercom
may abandon downtown studios
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (8/30 RBR #170) things have actually gotten worse for the Entercom stations in New Orleans. Entercom VP/Engineering Marty Hadfield tells RBR that because a levee breach yesterday sent water flooding into the area around their downtown studios, staffers may evacuate the downtown studios and move to a site near the WWL-AM transmitter site: "There's a good chance we may have to abandon it. We already have people at the Jefferson Parish Emergency Operations Center. We have a makeshift studio out there that's been there for along, long, time. If or when we do abandon the downtown area then we're going to be operating form there. We're getting some satellite receivers and dishes out there as we speak. It is in Marrero, LA. This is going to be lasting for months and months and the power is going to be out for 30-45 days. After the levee breach, there is quite a bit of water where our building is downtown - - knee deep to waist deep now and working its way up." Mississippi also took a pounding from the storm, with reports of stations knocked off the air in some communities. For many areas, the floods that followed the hurricane were more devastating than the winds had been.

VT TV ordered to turn over tapes
WCAX-TV suffered a reversal in the Supreme Court of Vermont. The Burlington VT CBS affiliate had prevailed in a lower court, keeping unaired news footage out of a grand jury investigation, but the higher court said there was no privilege for journalists, "qualified or otherwise." The cast involved videotape of a University of Vermont riot following the defeat of the New York Yankees by the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series on 10/21/04. The Hearst-Argyle station voluntarily turned over footage which had been broadcast, but fought subsequent attempts by police to get unaired footage, arguing in court that the police had not exhausted other sources of information, an argument which stood up in the Burlington District Court but which was overturned on appeal. Radio-Television News Directors Association, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, three VT newspapers and other industry organizations came to the aid of WCAX.

Warner & Warner from VA? Not a chance
Speculation that Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D), pictured, will challenge incumbent George Allen (R-VA) for a seat in the US Senate has been rendered moot with the Warner's announcement that he will not make a run for the seat in 2006. He also ruled out a 2008 against Virginia's other Senator, John Warner (R-VA). Mark Warner made his intentions known on a broadcast by Bonneville's WTOP-AM Washington DC. He announced no alternate plans, other than his desire to help find a viable candidate to challenge Allen, and to have a roll in national Democratic politics. He did not rule out another run for governor in 2009. Virginia law restricts governors to one term at a time. Allen is of interest to media companies due to his seat on the all-important Senate Commerce Committee, where he has consistently taken a pro-big-business stance. In perhaps the key ownership dereg litmus test, the Byron Dorgan (D-ND)/Trent Lott (R-MS) Resolution of Disapproval, which would have negated the FCC's 6/2/03 ownership rulemaking, Allen made a floor speech supporting the FCC and opposing the Resolution. Apparently, the possibility of a run by the popular Governor has had at least one positive effect on the Allen campaign - - according to the Associated Press, the prospects of a strong challenge have aided Allen's efforts to fill his campaign warchest.

Adbiz©

Nielsen Monitor-Plus
looks at creative in first half
Ad spending for the first half of 2005 rose 5.7% over the same period last year, due to gains across major media, according to figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus (see TV News for the basic numbers). Also from the report: There were 15,798 different creatives used on national television in the first half of the year, airing over 4.8 million times, and accounting for 25.4 million. Each creative aired an average of 307 times. The large majority of the commercials were placed on cable television; however, the most money was garnered from the broadcast networks, representing only 7 networks, with 240,758 spots. PeoplePC, an Internet Service Provider, ran its creative the most times, totaling 12,662 airings. The 60-second spot features animated stick figures promoting the company's 10.95 service. PeoplePC was the second largest advertiser in this category, spending 90.3 million across national TV. Nielsen's Product Placement tracking service continues to show significant growth in the integration of product occurrences in primetime broadcast network programming. The top 10 brands in the product placement category totaled 11,455 occurrences in the first half of the year. The top 10 programs that featured product placements in the first quarter accounted for 23,518 occurrences. The Contender was the number one program, with more than double the amount of product placements than the number two program, American Idol, 7,521 and 3,497, respectively. Many of The Contender's placements were for Everlast Apparel and Sporting Equipment.

| View the charts |

AAA, ANA: Advertisers adopt Ad-ID system
The Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies have jointly announced more than 300 of the nation's top advertisers have adopted Ad-ID, a universal ad coding standard. A total of 875 companies have registered in Ad-ID, and over 14,000 individual codes have been created for various forms of advertising. The codes have been generated in the US and several other countries, including Canada, France, the UK, Portugal and Australia. By assigning a unique code to all advertisers and ad mediums, Ad-Id can improve the accuracy and efficiency of billing and tracking advertising. ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox are all Ad-ID compliant, as well as Donovan, Datatech, Harris, Talent Partners, Vyvx, MediaPlex, Verance and other systems. "We are committed to the industry's growth in technology and realize that antiquated coding systems and a lack of a common standard are not acceptable," said Bob Liodice, ANA CEO. "Ad-Id establishes a common language that not only enables system-to-system communication, but also reduces inefficiences and wasted dollars." "Ad-ID lays the foundation upon which the future of digital communications in the ad industry will be built," said Burtch Drake, AAAAs CEO.

Outback taps Kaplan Thaler
for national broadcast
The Kaplan Thaler Group has reportedly been awarded national broadcast chores on the Outback Steakhouse account following a review. The client spent 80 million on ads last year and has said it could spend up to 100 million next year. Euro RSCG and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners were eliminated, along with five undisclosed agencies in the review. Incumbent David and Goliath declined to defend.

BET, Wal-Mart launch urban marketing effort
BET and Wal-Mart are forming a marketing alliance to meet the demand for urban-oriented music and movie offerings with BET content and branding. BET will provide Wal-Mart with DVDs containing exclusive BET programming and other content related to featured urban-oriented music and movie releases. These DVDs will be packaged with the featured releases and sold as "BET Official" branded two-packs in BET-branded retail sections and other merchandising displays throughout thousands of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations. First to hit Wal-Mart stores 8/30 under the new BET Official brand will be a companion DVD featuring multi-talented, Grammy Award-winning rapper/producer Kanye West. The DVD will be paired with West's new CD project "Late Registration" in a special CD/DVD two-pack available exclusively at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart stores nationwide. The package will retail for 13.88, and will be promoted through specially-designed BET-branded merchandising displays, print and electronic advertising, in-store promotions and other marketing executions.

Media Markets & MoneyTM

Gore's bid for KBID is successful
American General Media is spinning KBID-AM Bakersfield to Hal Gore's Gore Overgaard Broadcasting. The price is 925K. According to broker John Pierce, Bakersfield will be Gore's third place of business, joining Fresno CA and Daytona Beach FL in the company's market portfolio.

Close encounter in Creedmoor
Broker Michael Bergner of Bergner & Co. tells us that the Capitol Broadcasting's 7.25M deal for WFXQ-FM in the Raleigh-Durham market has come to a close. The move-in - - it's in Creedmoor NC after exiting Chase City VA - - will form a duopoly with WRAL-FM and will be in cross-ownership with WRAL-TV and WRAZ-TV. According to documents filed with the FCC, there is also a consulting agreement attached to the deal, sending an additional 1M to seller Tom Joyner.

Washington Beat

Indecency fight dormant, not over
It's been a quiet year on the indecency front, but according to an article in Salon, things are getting set to heat up. Legislation passed in the House which would drastically increase fines for broadcasts found to be indecent, only to be stalled for the second year in a row in the Senate. However, even though there has been little or no overt Senate activity, the issue is said to be simmering briskly at the staff level, and may surface in the form of hearings in the Senate Commerce Committee this fall. Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) is known to be interested in extending some of the restrictions placed on over-the-air broadcasters to cable programmers. He will have a willing soldier in place atop the FCC in Chairman Kevin Martin, who has been pushing for at the very least a family friendly tier of basic cable channels. The FCC is said to be getting ready to announce rulings on a sizable backlog of indecency cases, which will presumably bring to an end the year's surprising shut-out on indecency fines. As further evidence, Salon notes the new presence of a former anti-indecency watchdog Penny Nance, who has segued from the Kids First Coalition to the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.

TVBR - TV News

Arbitron claims first for TV:
Out of home viewing numbers
Of course, these numbers are only for Houston, where Arbitron is currently running a test of its Portable People Meter (PPM) to measure radio, TV and even in-store audio. Preliminary TV estimates from the PPM trial found that out of home viewers were a significant percentage of the audience for live coverage of the space shuttle - - about 11.3% of the total audience of 1,048,900 (age 6+) watching TV during the July 26th launch and 9.2% of the total TV audience of 857,300 during the early morning landing on August 9th. Out of home viewership accounted for 25% of the TV audience watching the launch on nine broadcast and cable channels and 14% of those watching the landing. Arbitron PPM President Pierre Bouvard bragged that PPM had quantified, for the first time, "the complete audience, in and out of home," for the shuttle launch and landing. "We're beginning to learn that out-of-home television viewing is more than just men in bars, watching sporting events in the evening. It's also women at work in the middle of the day, a previously unreported audience for stations and their advertisers," he said.

| Here are the stats |

International

Satellite radio fighting
political backlash in Canada
Canadian affiliates of Sirius and XM are battling to keep the country's cabinet from ordering the CRTC - - Canada's equivalent of the FCC - - to rescind approval of satellite radio. Heritage Minister Liza Frulla is reported to be heading the effort to overturn the CRTC decision. The cabinet has until September 14th to accept, reject or send the satellite radio issue back to the CRTC for further review. Sirius Canada Inc., meanwhile, is scrambling to line up more French channels for the service, in an attempt to blunt objections that the satellite company shortchanges French-speaking Canadians. As approved by the CRTC, Sirius Canada and Canadian Satellite Radio Inc. (allied with XM) are required to produce only eight original channels in Canada, with one quarter of them in French. The rest of their lineups will be Sirius and XM channels from the US. That channel lineup, which falls far short of the Canadian content standards for terrestrial broadcasters, is not sitting well with many members of Parliament.

Transactions

1M WHLF-FM South Boston VA from JLC Properties Inc. (John Cole III) to Lakes Media Holding Company II LLC, a subsidiary of Birch Broadcasting Corporation (Thomas C. Birch, Aurora D.P. Birch). 60K escrow, at least 40K cash at closing, remainder via note. LMA 4/18/08. [File date 7/22/05.]

32K KLGH-FM CP Mission SD from Christyahna Broadcasting Inc. (Gerard A. Turro) to ScotnMex Broadcasting LLC (Neil MacLeod). Cash. CP is for Class A on 100.7 mHz with 140 w @ 302'. [File date 7/20/05.]

Stock Talk

Stocks drop in Katrina's aftermath
Concerns about insurance costs and the overall economic impact of Hurricane Katrina sent stock prices lower on Tuesday. The Dow Industrials dropped 50 points, or 0.5%, to 10,413.

Radio stocks fared better. The Radio Index edged up 0.393, or 0.2%, to 206.483. The biggest mover was Beasley, up 2.7%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		42.05	-0.33	Jeff-Pilot	JP		49.53	-0.15
Beasley	BBGI		14.36	+0.38	Journal Comm.	JRN		15.91	-0.08
Citadel	CDL		13.60	+0.13	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		13.94	-0.14
Clear Channel	CCU		33.52	+0.10	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		14.04	-0.07
Cox Radio	CXR		15.20	+0.21	Regent	RGCI		5.41	-0.08
Cumulus	CMLS		12.50	+0.06	Saga Commun.	SGA		14.20	-0.08
Disney	DIS		25.29	-0.06	Salem Comm.	SALM		18.31	+0.16
Emmis	EMMS		23.52	+0.14	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		6.83	+0.04
Entercom	ETM		32.90	-0.01	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		7.65	-0.05
Entravision	EVC		7.97	+0.08	Univision	UVN		26.75	+0.18
Fisher	FSCI		48.10	-0.20	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		34.00	-0.10
Gaylord	GET		43.50	-0.71	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		33.96	-0.22
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		25.95	+0.01	Westwood One	WON		20.12	-0.21
Interep	IREP		0.60	-0.01	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		34.45	+0.51
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]

Perhaps the NYT editorial comments (8/26/05 RBR #168) would have more credence if NYT operated stations in LPM markets, or better yet, was arguing for conversion of markets they operate stations in to LPM's. What the NYT and TVBR, in its constant defense of a problematic methodology, conveniently continue to ignore is that Nielsen is an unregulated monopoly. When did that become a good thing? We wouldn't think of having an unregulated monopoly in other industries. No one has claimed diaries are better, a spin you have tried to infer upon those who want the current LPM system fixed. What people do want is an accurate system with ENFORCEABLE checks and balances. The current oversight system lacks any downside for Nielsen for non-compliance, much like the effectiveness of UN sanctions. Why on earth you and others continue to espouse that this foreign-owned monopoly should be able to operate unfettered and exert control over billions in US media spending with no enforceable oversight is beyond comprehension.

Dominic Mancuso
Station Manager
WGN-TV Chicago

Arbitrends

Stations for Sale

Suburban NYC AM
Good population coverage. Comes with studio/transmitter site. Fulltime station w. low night power, upgrade possible. 1.6M. 781-848-4201
[email protected]

Radio Media Moves

Legend ups Gelder
Roger Gelder has been promoted to Executive VP and COO of Legend Communications, with operational authority for the company's 16 stations in Wyoming, Ohio and Missouri. Gelder has been with Legend since 1997 and has managed its 11 Wyoming stations for the past two years.

NAB Daytime Planner

The following brokers will be attending the NAB. Call or email to make your appointment in advance.

American Media Services,
Todd Fowler, David Reeder,
843-972-2200, Marriott,
[email protected], [email protected]

Clifton Gardiner & Company,
Cliff Gardiner, 303-758-6900,
Ritz-Carlton Hotel,
[email protected]

Force Communications, Hal Gore, John Laurer, Stan Raymond,
770-329-2234, Hilton Garden Inn, [email protected]

Frank Boyle & Co., Frank Boyle,
203-969-2020, Marriott Courtyard, [email protected]

Gordon Rice Associates,
Gordon Rice, 843-884-3590,
Marriott Downtown, [email protected]

Henson Media, Inc. Ed Henson,
502-589-0060, Loews Hotel, [email protected]

John Pierce & Company LLC,
John Pierce, Cell 859-512-3015,
Jamie Rasnick, Cell 513-252-1186,
859-647-0101 Hilton Garden Inn,

Kozacko Media Services,
Dick Kozacko, Cell 607-738-1219,
George Kimble, 607-733-7138,
Marriott, [email protected]

MCH Enterprises, Inc.,
Brett Miller, Cell 805-680-2265,
805-237-0952, Marriott Courtyard,
[email protected]

Patrick Communications,
Larry Patrick, Greg Guy,
410-740-0250, Marriott, [email protected], [email protected]

Schutz & Company,
Bill Schutz, Cell 757-880-9251,
757-258-8740, Loews Hotel, [email protected]

Serafin Bros., Glenn Serafin,
cell 813-494-6875, 813-885-6060, Marriott Downtown, [email protected]

RBR Radar 2005

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

Emmis Honolulu TVs
hit with EEO fine
For the first time since putting together a new EEO regimen, the FCC has issued a fine to a station licensee for failing to adhere to it. The stations are CBS KGMB-TV and Fox/UPN KHON-TV, both Emmis stations in Honolulu. They were among the latest random audit.
RBR observation: This decision demonstrates that the FCC views it's EEO obligations seriously, and should serve to alert stations to their need to keep accurate and complete EEO records, as another audit could be conducted at any time.
08/30/05 RBR #170

Market re-ranking won't affect LPM roll-out; what about PPM?
Detroit may no longer be a top 10 TV market but it's still getting Local People Meters (LPM) come January. Houston's move into the top 10, displacing Motown, won't change the plan to complete the roll-out of LPM in 10 markets by adding Detroit and Dallas-Ft. Forth in January 2006 and Atlanta in June. RBR observation: We're sure that Houston's move into the Nielsen top 10 didn't go unnoticed at Arbitron, which is in the midst of testing its Portable People Meters (PPM) there, even though Nielsen passed on participating. Arbitron has made no secret of its desire to follow the 2005 test with real ratings in Houston in 2006 as the first market to make PPM its ratings currency for radio - - and for TV and cable as well if Nielsen signs on for a joint venture. Nielsen's TV clients in Houston will now have to decide whether they want to join their top 10 brethren (plus #11 Detroit) in the LPM camp, or push for PPM. No doubt the ad buyers will be pressuring them to do one or the other, rather than sticking with the current meter/diary methodology. 08/30/05 RBR #170

Market Manager
To lead in Montgomery, Alabama our new Hallelujah 104 and our station group to new levels of success. Our three Urban stations now dominate the market and need this keep person to be community involved and provide leadership to a hungry sales staff. See our qualifications and if you have them you are encourage to joint our team at Clear Channel in Montgomery. In confidence contact us. See Radio Careers

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