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Volume 24, Issue 172, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Tuesday Morning September 4th, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 Regent and Riley
continue sparing
Riley Investment Management has continued to buy stock in Regent Communications, even as it battles in two courts to try to force Regent to hold a special shareholders meeting at which Riley hopes to place its own representatives on the board of directors. In its latest filing with the SEC, Riley reports that it has increased its stake in Regent to 7.5% of the company's outstanding stock. Riley's John Ahn also fired off another letter to the directors and management of Regent, accusing them of wasting the company's funds by suing Riley and Sanders Morris Harris Group (SMH). The letter noted that the Delaware Chancery Court, where Riley has sued Regent, denied Regent's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and a Delaware Federal Court, where Regent has sued Riley and SMH, declined to issue an injunction blocking any special shareholders meeting. "We urge you to stop wasting the Company's money on further litigation and hold a special meeting. If you convene a meeting to address our proposals, you will have a full opportunity to explain any objections you have to our concerns, and we will have a full opportunity to put the reasons for our concerns before the stockholders, who can then decide," Ahn wrote. Meanwhile, SMH has filed a report with the SEC that it controls 6.9% of Regent's public stock. Regent's federal lawsuit had charged that SMH violated federal securities laws by failing to make the required SEC filing when it acquired a 5% stake in Regent (8/16/07 RBR #160).
RBR observation: The dissident shareholders had demanded that a special shareholders meeting be held on September 3rd. That deadline has now passed without any such meeting. It now appears to be up to the courts whether there will be such a meeting - and when.
Get ready for the return of the Tony Snow show
President George W. Bush announced Friday that Tony Snow is stepping down as White House press secretary on September 14th. The President said he was sad to see Snow go, and added: "And I don't know what he's going to do - I'm not sure he does yet, either. But whatever it is, it's going to be - two things: One, he'll battle cancer and win. And secondly, he'll be a solid contributor to society." Snow made it clear in recent interviews that his decision to leave the administration was purely economic - he needs to earn more for his family. While 168,000 may sound like a pretty decent paycheck, he no doubt had an additional digit when hosting his talk show on Fox News Radio and doing on-camera work as well for Fox News Channel. Although Snow suffered a recurrence of colon cancer in March, four months of chemotherapy produced good results on CAT scans and MRIs, so Snow is now on "maintenance chemo" and living a normal life. President Bush promoted deputy press secretary Dana Perino, who got on-the-job experience during Snow's recent treatment, to the top job in the White House press office.
RBR observation: The timing should be good for Tony Snow's return to the private sector. Presidential election years are audience gold mines for talk radio, so a new Tony Snow show should get off the ground just in time to cash in. No doubt he'll also do some TV as well. He may talk to others as well, but we see a return to Fox News Radio and Fox News Channel as most likely.
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 How will credit problems
affect broadcasting?
Worries about the broader impact of the sub-prime mortgage crisis are top-of-mind on Wall Street. But just how widespread will the fallout be? We get this assessment from Lehman Brothers broadcasting analyst Anthony DiClemente: "In our view, the reality in the U.S. economy right now is that anyone that does business with mortgage brokers, banks big and small, real estate agents, home insurance companies, home builders, or home furnishings businesses is at a distinct risk of a tangible slowdown in their business. For Newspapers, Outdoor and Radio, we note that the real estate, insurance and financial services categories aggregated represent 15%, 16% and 11% of total ad spend, respectively. We believe the impact of the current economic concerns is exacerbated for local media platforms already facing fragmentation as more media platforms vie for consumer attention and advertising dollars, as well as the underlying secular shift in advertising towards more national campaigns driven by increasing nationalization of domestic brands.
Specifically, we examine: 1) the shift in advertising towards national and the impact of that trend on various media platforms; 2) the supply chain of local advertisers and how it may be impacted by the current climate; and 3) the exposure of our broadcasting universe to these trends. We conclude that the stocks most levered to these trends are those companies with significant local ad revenue, and little large market or large geographic presence, especially those with markets in the southeast and out west -- areas that have seen a significant contraction in the housing market. As a result, we remain on the sidelines with our radio broadcasters and outdoor advertising companies and instead would favor more diversified, defensible businesses that are levered to national advertising and recurring revenue."
Hispanic market composed of several niche markets
Madison Avenue often homogenizes ethnic markets under tidy categories such as African American, Hispanic and Asian Americans. However, BIGresearch's latest Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 10) of 15,439 consumers indicates that the categorization into generic groups leaves marketers with an inaccurate picture of ethnic groups. This is particularly true with Hispanics as many of whom report being from multiple racial ethnic descents. In SIMM 10, Hispanics identified themselves racially as: as Caucasian (44.2%), Other Race / Heritage (34.6%) and Multi-Racial (16%). "The breakout of Hispanic/Caucasian, Hispanic/Other Race and Hispanic/Multi-Racial consumers reveals differing cultural identities within the categories which give a real insight into the complexity of marketing to Hispanics who have their own internal diversity," said Joe Pilotta, VP, Strategy of BIGresearch. Advertisers should also pay close attention to age and income as social and cultural markers of mobility within Hispanic groups. For example, those Hispanics who identify themselves as being Caucasian are generally older and report a higher income than other Hispanic races. "Still too often marketers and advertisers lump Hispanics into over-simplified categories. Through increased research we aim to help advertisers and marketers better understand how they can optimize their ad dollars by effecting targeting niche markets within the Hispanic market that often times have more affinity for a product or service," said David Taggart, GM/Televisa Publishing.
 Sweeney gets Golden Mic
The Broadcasters Foundation of America will honor Anne Sweeney, co-chair Disney Media Networks and President, Disney-ABC Television Group with its 2008 Golden Mike Award. The presentation will be at a February 25th gala in New York. "Anne Sweeney is one of the most powerful media executives in the world. She has built her amazing career upon vision, innovation and a long- standing commitment to excellence. As an outstanding industry leader, Anne is a powerful role model for all men and women in broadcasting," said foundation Chair Phil Lombardo.
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Westwood negotiations continue
Just before the Labor Day Weekend, Westwood One issued an update to shareholders on its negotiations with CBS Radio to discontinue the management agreement under which CBS runs WW1, but extend WW1 clearances on CBS Radio stations through 2017. The announcement, however, didn't provide much insight into the progress of the talks. "Westwood One, Inc. (NYSE: WON) announced today that it is continuing to negotiate with CBS Radio and work towards finalizing definitive documentation regarding the modification and extension through 2017 of its various agreements with CBS Radio," said Friday's announcement.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 Moving traditional media forward
Phil Cowdell, CEO of Ford Media Services across WPP's media agencies (collectively referred to as GroupM), spoke to RBR/TVBR recently for an upcoming OneonOne interview in our SmartMedia Magazine. One of the questions we asked was, "What do traditional media like radio and television need to realize about new media and becoming part of multimedia pitches?"
Excerpts from his answer:
"A lot of agencies and clients still have a digital department and a traditional advertising department, but everything is digital. Now some of the key things that we're getting in the digital world-dialogue, interaction, extra types of format, the ability to capture data-leads into much more advanced analytics. And also behavioral triggers by consumer allows us to the start pre-selecting to copy that we ad serve up to the person depending on that their interests are-all of those things are fabulous from a marketer's point of view because I can start being more relevant to much more defined groups of people and serve up to them tailored messages. Then let the analytics work out right whether they're right and how do I improve on the fly? Versus I spend a million dollars making a lovely glossy TV ad which runs for 30-seconds and I'll have it on for the next two months running at 400 GRPs a month.
It just is a no contest to say how do you take the issues of flexibility or changing the copy, doing behavioral triggers to define the target and then building off real time analytics that we do online...how do you bring that back into traditional media? If traditional can't start embracing those things then they're going to struggle because the agencies are going to say, "But hang on I can get that on half my media mix. By you not having it on the other half, then you make it hard for me to make those choices."
| Cowdell One on One continues |
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| Media Business Report TM |
 Newspaper advertising
down again in Q2
Total ad expenditures at newspaper companies were 11.3 billion for Q2, an 8.6% decrease from the same period a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). Spending for print ads in newspapers totaled 10.5 billion, down 10.2% versus the same period a year earlier. Among the major print components in Q2, classified advertising fell 16.4% to 3.4 billion; retail declined 6.4% to 5.2 billion; and national was down 7.9%, coming in at 1.8 billion. Within the classified print category in the second quarter, real estate advertising fell 20.7% to 966.8 million. Recruitment dropped 18.5% to 995.4 million. Automotive was down 19.3% to 756.3 million. All other classifieds were down 1.8% to 716.1 million. Ad expenditures for newspaper Web sites, however, increased by 19.3% to 796 million in the second quarter versus the same period a year ago. The increase reflects the 13th consecutive quarter of double digit growth for online newspaper advertising since NAA started reporting online ad spending in 2004. Newspaper website advertising now accounts for 7% of total newspaper ad spending, compared to 5.4% in last year's Q2.
RBR observation: Newspaper ad revenues were down 8.6% in Q2, but the NAA headlined its release with ads for newspaper websites being up 19%. Online is the growth area, but still not able to overcome the sharp decline for the larger traditional business.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
Armada grows again
Just days after buying eight stations in Kansas from the Ingstads, Armada Media has a deal to buy four more in Nebraska from NRG Media. Fast-growing Armada, headed by Chairman Jim Coursolle and CEO Terry Shockley, will acquire KODY-AM & KXNP North Platte and KUVR-AM & KMTY-FM Holdrege for 4.5 million bucks. The deal was put together by Kalil & Co. for the seller and American Media Services for the buyer. NRG, headed by Mary Quass, isn't leaving Nebraska. It will still have stations in Fremont, Grand Island, Kearney, Norfolk, Omaha and Wayne. Armada already has a cluster in McCook, NE.
Magnum adds in central Wisconsin
Dave Magnum says he's had his eye on three stations that NRG Media has right in his backyard, and now he's cut a deal to add them to his own holdings. Kalil & Co. reports that NRG has agreed to sell WRDB-AM & WNFM-FM Reedsburg and WBDL-FM Baraboo, WI to Magnum Radio Group. The trio will expand the local cluster that Magnum already owns, WBKY-FM Portage (the company's first acquisition back in 1991), and WDLS-AM & WNNO-FM Wisconsin Dells. Arbitron considers WBKY, WDLS and WNNO to be part of the Madison metro, but not the three being acquired from NRG.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 License renewed, but a fine to pay
Israel G. Ybanez, a sole proprietor, failed to file a license renewal for KYMI-FM Los Ybanez, TX and continued to operate the station for a year or so without a license. Ybanez blames the foul-up on a change of address, which the FCC says was not properly documented with the Commission, resulting in him not receiving notification that a license renewal was due. Ybanez did eventually file for renewal. The FCC has granted that application, but also fined him 3K for failing to file a required form and 4K for operating without a license, for a total of 7K. The FCC noted that operating KYMI without a license did not deserve the same 10K fine normally handed out to pirate stations, since KYMI had been previously licensed to operate on its assigned frequency.
RBR observation: Did you notice the station owner's name being the same as the city of license? According to the Texas State Historical Society, Israel Ybanez bought the site, a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp, from the federal government in 1980, and established his own town, incorporated in 1983 as Los Ybanez.
Tribune fined for kidvid violations
Yet another TV station is facing a fine from the FCC for exceeding commercial time limits in children's programming. Tribune Company's KHCW-TV (Ch. 39, CW) disclosed in its license renewal application that it had exceeded the limits four times between December 14, 2000 and October 18, 2003. One of those four was the fleeting image of a "Pokemon" game card during a commercial on the "Pokemon" show, which the FCC has said made it a program-length commercial - the same incident that has resulted in fines for several other affiliates of the former WB network. The FCC has ordered Tribune to pay a 12K fine for the violations at KHCW.
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| Internet Media Business Report TM |
Radio websites post online viewers with WhiteBlox
Radio stations across the U.S. and in Mexico are broadcasting video and audio online, using WhiteBlox's Internet television technology. Early adopters of WhiteBlox's Make Your Audio Visual platform have seen a sharp rise in online traffic. Using WhiteBlox's interactive media player on their website, Orlando's Real Radio 104.1-FM, which broadcasts from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. ET, is averaging 4.7 million viewer minutes per month. The idea behind WhiteBlox's solutions is that stations leverage content they are already broadcasting over traditional radio frequencies by adding a video component. Stations bring their on-air advertisers on board as online sponsors via the interactive advertising features within the WhiteBlox media player. Houston's The Buzz 94.5-FM brought Bud Light on as the title sponsor of Rod Ryan's Morning Show, and dubbed the online broadcast The Bud Light Peep Show. The Morning Freak Show with Mikey and Big Bob on Pittsburgh's KISS 96.1-FM has become the McDonald's Freak Show online. Likewise, Austin's KISS 96.7-FM online broadcast has become the Time Warner KissCam. Stations have gotten creative with the video, broadcasting popular shows, celebrity guest appearances, in-studio performances, favorite DJs, on-location events and special reality-television-like programming. Events like Tiffany's Slumber Party on 104.1-FM, which garnered more than 70,000 stream hits in a 24-hour period, and The Doc and Johnny Morning Show's Real Spring Break on XL 106.7-FM Orlando racked up 270,000 viewer minutes in a 4-day period.
 Texting to teens
from e-mail
Web-based e-mail users will soon be sending text messages to mobile phones. Yahoo! has already announced the feature for Yahoo! Mail users, reports eMarketer. An Associated Press-AOL study conducted with Knowledge Networks in late 2006 confirmed that instant messaging trumped e-mail for most teens. The e-mail to text link is important for marketers who target teens. Teens preferred e-mail 3-to-1 over texting for exchanging information, according to a Harris Interactive survey conducted in December 2006. Now, e-mail will be connected to text, making texts a PC-to-mobile activity as well as mobile-to-mobile. Despite a preference for e-mail over texting, teens use a variety of tools to communicate. Making it easy to send texts through e-mail from any Internet connection increases the chances of getting through to them. Typing on a keyboard is easier than on a mobile keypad, so the change may also convert some former texting holdouts. Moreover, viral text campaigns may now be spread through the Web. Since mobile phones are personal, it is very easy to annoy users with unwanted or irrelevant offers. A text forwarded from a friend, perhaps straight from an e-mail account, stands a better chance of getting opened.
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| Ratings & Research |
Top US websites enjoy high visitor retention rates
Nielsen//NetRatings announced the leaders in three key Web categories - search, career development and multi-category travel - enjoyed high month-over-month visitor retention rates from June to July, but also experienced significant audience overlap with the other top players in their categories. Among the categories, search providers had the highest visitor retention rates, with an average of 71% of June visitors at home returning in July among the three leading players. Google Search led with a retention rate of 79%, followed by Yahoo! Search at 69% and MSN/Windows Live Search with 65%. Visitor retention rates were slightly higher among the work audience, with an average of 76% among the three leading search providers. Notably though, a substantial portion of visitors went to more than one of these three search sites in July. MSN/Windows Live Search had the highest audience overlap, with 84% of its unique visitors also going to Google Search, Yahoo! Search, or both. Yahoo! Search had a 78% audience overlap with Google and/or MSN, while Google Search had a 63% audience overlap with one or both of its two primary competitors.
The top three sites in the career development category, CareerBuilder Network, Monster and Yahoo! HotJobs, experienced a similar phenomenon, although to a lesser degree. They had an average month-over-month audience retention rate of 38% at home; at work, it was 44%. Monster.com had the most audience overlap with the other two, at 50%. Yahoo! HotJobs had a 45% audience overlap, while CareerBuilder Network's was 34%.
Compared to the other two categories, the top sites in multi-category travel, Expedia, Orbitz Worldwide Network and Travelocity, had the lowest average month-over-month at home visitor retention rates, at 31%. At work it was slightly higher, at 35%. Audience overlap was fairly similar between the three properties, at 59, 58 and 51% for Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia, respectively.
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 7/16/07-7/20/07
Station trading top 44M this week, mainly on the strength of on agreement to sell a top-10 market FM between two companies that will both remain active in the market. Other than that, it was back into the doldrums, with a scant seven transactions involving only eight stations. Television was not part of the action.
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Total
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Total Deals
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7
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AMs
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4
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FMs
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4
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TVs
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0
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| Value |
44.718M
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
Radio One scores a strategic FM
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TV Transactions of the Week
TV goes into time-out
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| Transactions |
21.15M WGGB-TV Springfield MA (ABC/40) from WGGB Licesee LLC, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (David Smith) to Gormally Broadcasting LLC (John Gormally). 1.5M escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 8/9/07.]
2.66M WCAP-AM Lowell MA from Northeast Radio Inc. (Maurice Cohen) to Merrimack Valley Radio LLC (Clark F. Smidt, Samuel Poulton et al). 100K escrow, 1.928M cash at closing, 532K note. Includes non-compete. [File date 8/13/07.]
750K KVLL-FM Lufkin-Nacogdoches TX (Wells TX) from Radio Woodville Inc. (Edward Seeger) to GAP Broadcasting Lufkin License LLC (George Laughlin). 37.5K escrow, balance in cash at closing. Superduopoly with KYKS-FM Lufkin, KSFA-AM Nacogdoches & KAFX-FM Diboll TX. GAP also owns KTBQ-FM Nacogdoches, but it does not overlap KVLL-FM. LMA 8/15/07. [File date 8/13/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Small gains before the holiday weekend
Stock prices were modestly higher on Friday after both President George W. Bush and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave reassuring signs that the government will take action to keep credit market problems from damaging the entire economy. The Dow Industrials rose 119 points, or 0.9%, to 13,368.
Radio stocks also gained. The Radio Index rose 2.194, or 1.8%, to 126.816. Saga rose 2.9% and Westwood One gained 2.5%. CBS also had a good day, with its Class B up 2.5% and Class A 2.3%.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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49.83
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+0.34
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Google
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GOOG
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515.25
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+3.85
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Beasley
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BBGI
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7.38
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+0.08
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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25.57
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+0.02
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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31.51
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+0.76
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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10.37
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+0.07
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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31.46
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+0.71
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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60.88
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+1.00
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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4.07 |
+0.06 |
Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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3.89
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+0.29
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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37.26
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+0.71
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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3.91
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+0.30
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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13.78
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+0.20
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Regent
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RGCI
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2.75
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+0.18
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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10.70
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+0.09
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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7.20
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+0.20
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Debut Bcg.
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DBTB
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1.25
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unch
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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10.27
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unch
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Disney
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DIS
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33.60
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+0.13
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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2.97
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+0.05
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Emmis
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EMMS
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6.37
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-0.04
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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2.84
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+0.02
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Entercom
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ETM
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21.30
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+0.21
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.08
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unch
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Entravision
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EVC
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9.01
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+0.14
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Westwood One
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WON
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2.89
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+0.07
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Fisher
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FSCI
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48.89
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+0.82
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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12.47
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+0.17
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to [email protected]
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
Moving traditional media forward
Phil Cowdell, of Ford Media Services..key things that we're getting in the digital world-dialogue, interaction...
Media Business Report
Newspaper advertising
Down again in Q2 preliminary estimates classified advertising fell Web sites, however, increased...
Media Markets & Money
Armada grows again
Days after buying 8 stations in KS Another deal for 4 more in NE from...
Ratings & Research
Top US websites
Enjoy high visitor retention rates 3 key Categories; Search, Career & Tavel...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
[email protected]
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More News Headlines
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Radio continues to be strong for planned vehicle purchasers
As planned vehicle purchasers hit a 5 year low, radio continues to be one of the best ways to reach those adults who are still in the auto purchase market. These are the findings from The Media Audit's telephone study of 118,211 randomly selected adults in 88 markets. 22.2% of heavy radio listeners plan to purchase a vehicle compared to 18% of the general population. Of five major media, including outdoor, internet, TV and newspaper, radio performs the strongest, indexing nearly 25% above the market average. As planned vehicle purchasers decline, the hardest hit market segment is domestic, down 20% over the past 5 years. 8.4% of adults are planning on purchasing a domestic vehicle while nearly 12% of heavy radio listeners are planning on purchasing a domestic vehicle. Indexing 42% above the market average radio's strength in delivering auto purchasers gets even stronger for delivering the domestic category. Of the major media, radio again performs the strongest in delivering planned domestic purchasers. One of the reasons for radio's strong performance in delivering planned auto purchasers is that radio has strength in delivering the "plan to purchase" demographics. For adults in the major demographic cells between 18 and 74 about 22% are heavy radio listeners. In a comparison of heavy exposure to the major media, radio has the strongest profile in delivering consumers across the major demos. Radio offers the auto industry additional strengths as heavy radio listeners planning to purchase a vehicle are more financially optimistic. This is good news for auto companies interested in selling high profit options as financial optimists tend to be more liberal in the spending. Nearly 25% of adults planning on purchasing a vehicle are financial optimists while over 28% of heavy radio listeners planning a vehicle purchase are financially optimistic. In a comparison of heavy media exposure, radio is the strongest.
Skin Radio becomes Martini Lounge in Philly
Marconi Broadcasting owned WHAT-AM Philadelphia has flipped from Alternative "Skin Radio" to "Martini Lounge Radio." The new station will feature classic standards from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Peggy Lee combined with new music from artists like Michael Buble', Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall. To celebrate its Grand Opening, Martini Lounge Radio is airing "September With Sinatra"-continuous Frank Sinatra music through Labor Day weekend and beyond. Operations Manager Al Clay will oversee the programming of Martini Lounge Radio with consultation and research from Paul Kelly at Kelly Music Research. The station's prior Skin Radio, will continue exclusively on-line via its live internet stream at skinradio.com Skin Radio features a blend of modern rock, music from local Philly bands, independent and reggae music. The new website is martiniloungeradio.com.
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RBR Radar 2007
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Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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AM auction set for
Arbitron market #1
The FCC has set a window of October 1-5 for applicants to file for a new AM station in the New York market, specifically for Rockland County at 1700 kHz in the expanded AM band. The filing window is the result of a successful effort by Alexander Broadcasting, licensee of WRCR-AM Spring Valley, NY, to get the FCC freeze on expanded band applications thawed slightly to allow for this one AM auction. Alexander wants to move WRCR from its current 1300 position, with only 500 watts day/83 watts night, to the proposed 10kw day/1kw night on 1700. That, of course, would give it pretty good coverage of the New York Metro, while its signal now is limited to the far suburbs.
RBR observation: It was just a little over a year ago that we reported the success of Alexander Broadcasting in getting the FCC to grant an exception to the freeze. It took support from lots of folks with political clout to push the exception through, after it was first turned down by the Commission. Now it has taken another 12 months just to get to the point of scheduling the auction. The wheels turn slowly, but at least they are turning.
08/31/07 RBR #171
Morning shows
accused of liberal bias
The right-leaning Media Research Center (MRC) is out with a report complaining that the morning news shows on NBC, ABC and CBS devote far more coverage to Democratic candidates for President than to the Republicans. Is it bias, a "liberal agenda" or just following the news? MRC charged. "Our results show pure partisanship on the part of ABC, CBS and NBC. Not only are the network morning shows over whelmingly focused on Democrats, they are actively promoting the Democrats' liberal agenda." declared MRC President L. Brent Bozell III. The networks deny any bias.
TVBR observation: This is the first time since the introduction of television that we have had a US presidential election without either a sitting President or his Vice President in the running, creating a real horse race in both major parties. Let's face it, there is more drama in the Democratic race at this point. That will change once the nominees are selected and it becomes a two-person competition for the White House.
08/31/07 TVBR #171
XM director puts his
money on the line
Jeffrey Zients, who has served on the board of directors at XM Satellite Radio since May 2006, has demonstrated his confidence in the company's future, buying 270,000 shares of stock.
RBR observation: Unless XM and Sirius are lucky enough to draw Judge Paul Friedman, if and when the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division files suit to block an XM-Sirius merger, getting the same outcome is a long-shot. Friedman's decision in the organic grocery merger is at odds with decades of antitrust law precedents and is likely to be overturned on appeal. An off-beat ruling by a single judge isn't going to change how they look at antitrust cases.
08/30/07 RBR #170
Clear Channel sues over disintegrating deal
Clear Channel has now sued in a Texas state court to try to hold American Securities Capital Partners (ASCP) to its 452.1 million bucks deal to buy 187 radio stations. ASCP has fired back with its own lawsuit filed in a New York state court, so look for lots of legal wrangling ahead.
RBR observation: With this deal now in doubt Mark and Randall Mays could have avoided all of this divestiture drama, of course, if they had accepted a preemptive bid from former Clear Channel Radio CEO Randy Michaels for the entire block of stations. You may have read elsewhere that he and Oak Hill Capital Partners offered around 800 million. We have it on good authority, though, that the actual bid was over 900 million, but that the Mayses held out for 1.1 billion. When all is said and done, will Clear Channel now even come close to that mark?
08/29/07 RBR #169
HD Radio rules take effect
The FCC's HD radio rules are to take effect September 14, 2007. Subject to the limitations noted below, AM stations will be able to broadcast HD at night and FM stations can operate HD2 and HD3 streams without a need for special authorization. At this point, HD radio remains a "hybrid" IBOC (in-band, on-channel) system that permits the transmission of both analog and digital signals within the spectrum occupied by a single AM or FM channel. Among the benefits..
RBR observation: The highlights of the rules that are to take effect September 14 are as follows
08/23/07 RBR #165
Why radio has to pay royalties
Did radio miss a great opportunity to get a sweetheart deal on streaming audio royalties and DMCA fixes from the RIAA? RBR was told the RIAA willing to settle on sweetheart streaming rates and DMCA fixes for a trade off of industry support on DRM [Digital Rights Management] in HD Radios. The powers that be, including CBS, Clear Channel and iBiquity Digital (which was desperate to get some revenue flowing), were so determined to get HD rolled out they did not want to wait 18 months to give the Consumer Electronics Industry time to rethink HD.
08/23/07 RBR #165
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Sales Associate
A fast growing network radio company seeks a Sales Assistant for its Chicago office. The ability to multi-task and prioritize are paramount in this position, as is the willingness and desire to learn in a fast paced environment. Please send resumes with cover letter to: [email protected]
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.
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