Radio News ®

Bigger bonuses at News Corporation
With profits up 57% in its last fiscal year to 1.65 billion dollars, News Corporation has been using some of that cash to reward its top executives with bonuses. According to the company's annual report, Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch got a bonus of 12.5 million, up from 7.5 million, increasing his total compensation by 42% to 17 million. But he's still not the company's highest paid executive. President and COO Peter Chernin got a smaller increase in his bonus, but his total paycheck was 17.6 million, up 7% from the previous year. Not everyone got more money. Fox news Channel Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes got a bigger salary but smaller bonus, so his total pay dropped by 1.4 million to 7.1 million. Meanwhile, the Australian Federal Court has given news Corporation the go ahead to hold a shareholder vote on reincorporating the Australian company in the United States. The special meeting to vote on reincorporation will take place immediately following the regular annual shareholders meeting on October 26th. Approval is likely, although some Australian money managers have threatened to vote against the move because News Corporation would then be dropped from stock market indices in Australia. News Corporation said this week that should the reincorporation move fail, it would revisit the idea of creating a US holding company which could be included in the Standard & Poor's 500 and other American stock indices.

CBS backtracking on suspect documents
Faced with blistering attacks from other media, CBS News now says it is reexamining the authenticity of documents featured in last week's "60 Minutes II" which were purported to come from the personal files of a Texas Air National Guard officer who commanded George W. Bush during his guard service (9/14/04 RBR Daily Epaper #179). But although some of its own experts now deny that they ever authenticated the documents, CBS is not yet conceding that they are fraudulent. It cites other experts who contend either that the signature is authentic and/or that the documents could have been produced on a 1970s-era electric typewriter, not a modern computer. Following up on the original report, "60 Minutes II" aired a second story this week with Dan Rather interviewing the secretary of the now-deceased Guard officer. While she stated that the documents accurately reflected the views of her former boss, she repeatedly told Rather that the documents which CBS has are fakes. Nevertheless, Rather has refused to concede the point and told the Washington Post that if the documents are proven to be fraudulent, he himself will make that announcement. Meanwhile, reporters are staking out the gate of a ranch in Texas, hoping to question another former Guard officer who may be the source of the documents. He became the focus of attention after one person who was interviewed on the original CBS broadcast said that when he was shown the documents, the top of one indicated that it had been faxed from a Kinko's in Abilene.

Russert hosts Senate debates
NBC's Sunday morning icon "Meet the Press," hosted by Tim Russert, while broadcast debates between candidates for four hotly-contested seats in the US Senate, carrying on a platform which was kicked off during the last national election cycle in 2002. The first will be held this weekend, on Sunday 9/19/04. It will feature a face-off between South Dakota contenders, incumbent and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and former Republican US Representative Tom Thune. Three more debates will be held in October. On 10/3/04, the race in Oklahoma will be featured. There, former Rep. Tom Coburn (R) is facing current Rep. Brad Carson (D) in a battle over the soon-to-be-vacated seat of Sen. Don Nickles (R). Colorado will be the focus of the matchup on 10/10/04, where beer magnate Peter Coors (R) is facing State AG Ken Salazar (D). They are contending for the soon-to-be-vacated seat of Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R). Another open seat will be the focus of the 10/17/04 debate. The seat of retiring Senate icon Ernest Hollings (D) of South Carolina is up for grabs, pitting Rep. Jim DeMint (R) against Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum (D).

RBR observation: The "Meet the Press" series has come up in the national debate over the quality of news media election coverage. In general, election coverage has been sharply criticized. Russert was among those returning fire, noting that his offer of free TV time for the debate series was turned down flat by some politicians. Russert's point: If you offer free time and politicians refuse it, what are you supposed to do?

RTNDA pushes free press before House panel
Radio-Television News Directors Association President Barbara Cochran testified before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, describing the role of the press in the event of a national emergency. She also requested that recent efforts chilling access to information be reversed. Cochran argued that journalists need access to adequately perform their watchdog role. "The Freedom of Information Act is being attacked on many fronts," she said. "If journalists are going to be able to keep informing the public, public officials must closely scrutinize new demands for secrecy to see whether they are truly serving the public interest." Cochran said that the media has three primary responsibilities regarding homeland security. One was preparing and educating the public in advance of a crisis; the second is to report accurately when an event occurs; and the third is to take security precautions in advance of an event to allow continued reporting for as long as possible after an event occurs. Robert Long of KNBC-TV Los Angeles and Greg Caputo of WGN-TV Chicago also appeared before the committee.

527 ruling continues at "glacial pace"
A District judge reviewing the Bush campaign's request to put an end to 527 group political ads agreed that the Federal Elections Commission's ruling was proceeding at "a glacial pace," according to the Associated Press. However, the judge also refused to intervene. The FEC was looking into the highly contentious issue of 527 organization advertising, which constitutes a loophole to the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in that it allows ads to be purchased with soft money contributions, and without time-before-election restrictions imposed on other types of organizations, including corporations and unions.

RBR observation: The FEC decided not to decide during the spring, contending that the issue was too convoluted to be properly untangled in time for this election cycle. While the issue is sure to get attention after this election, the Bush campaign was probably aware that putting them out of business this time around was a long shot. But by formally contesting them, they were at least able to make their point.

Knight honored by Broadcasters' Foundation
Knight Quality Stations founder Norman Knight (center) was honored this week with the Broadcasters' Foundation Chairman's Award at the foundation's annual directors' dinner. "While Norman Knight's contributions to radio and television are legendary, he is receiving the Broadcasters' Foundation Chairman's award for his incredible commitment and benefactions on behalf of our mission of helping fellow broadcasters who are in acute need. Norman has been a guiding force in the development of the Broadcasters' Foundation since the mid 1990s," said foundation Chairman Phil Lombardo (left), CEO of Citadel Communications. Also pictured is Gordon Hastings, President of the Foundation.

Adbiz ©

Spanish-language marketer comments
on CC Radio's latest move
We asked David Perez, CEO, Latin Force (formerly Lumina Americas), to comment on Clear Channel Radio's move to bulk up on Spanish language formats and programming. CC Radio CEO John Hogan tells RBR: "It's a tremendous area of growth and opportunity for CC Radio and we have wanted to participate for some time...we now have the experience and expertise to allow us to do so in a high quality, comprehensive way. We plan an intelligently aggressive schedule of Hispanic conversions in all market sizes and are thrilled to be providing additional choices for listeners." | More... |

RBR First - Part I
Director of Pontiac Marketing speaks
on the Oprah-G6 marketing coup
Northwestern University-bred Director of Pontiac Marketing at General Motors Mark-Hans Richer talked to RBR/TVBR about their genius marketing effort with the new Pontiac G6, giving away 276 of them on Oprah recently. | More... |

Interep works with Quiznos
on radio effort
Interep announced it is working with Quiznos to develop a radio campaign to help the nation's largest chain of sandwich shops reach African-American consumers via adult urban contemporary stations. Sherman Kizart, Interep's SVP/Urban Marketing, said that in addition to enthusiastically backing the radio campaign, Quiznos' Chief Marketing Officer, Trey Hall, has agreed to speak at Interep's annual Power of Urban Radio Symposium in New York in 2005. "We are delighted that Quiznos is embracing urban radio as a way to reach out to African-American consumers," Kizart said. "As we have proven time and time again with a wide variety of advertisers, urban radio is a highly effective vehicle to tap into the $656 billion in spending power held by the African-American community. We look forward to delivering great results for Quiznos. Urban radio's future with Quiznos looks very bright in 2004 and beyond." Kizart cited Radio One for its help in bringing Quiznos to urban radio. "Radio One's corporate sales department played a key contributing role in Quiznos' entry into urban radio," Kizart said. Kizart and Hall said the initial Quiznos campaign will run in Kansas City, Richmond, Baltimore, Chicago, Indianapolis and DC. Pictured from left to right: Sherman Kizart,SVP/Urban Marketing, Interep; Trey Hall, Chief Marketing Officer, Quiznos Corporation; Tamani Davis, Senior Media Planner, Quiznos Corpoartion

Campaign ad watch: MoveOn moves in
MoveOn.org has announced a 230K buy focusing on the situation in Iraq. It's a highly concentrated buy, earmarked for only five markets. Look for it in Des Moines IA, Marquette WI, Green Bay WI, Wilkes Barre PA and Dayton OH. The spot is a 0:30 for television. Meanwhile, the media buyers for both presidential campaign organizations are duking it out over the Hispanic vote. States benefiting from this contest include Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.

Media, Markets & Money tm

Washington Beat

Programming

Legends, Viva strike syndie deal
Viva International announced that Legends Production Company, a subsidiary of Florida-based Legends Group Holdings, has signed a national and international radio syndication agreement with "Sports ByLine" radio network. Previously, LGHC has agreed to acquire Viva's wholly owned subsidiary, C T Industries under an agreement providing assumption of existing liabilities and the granting of an equity interest in the reorganized C T Industries. Under the syndication agreement, twice weekly programming of "Legends on Sports and other stuff" radio talk-show will be broadcast to over 50 US station affiliates, in addition to Armed Forces Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio as well as Sirius subscribers on EchoStar's "Dish Network." "We were very impressed with the quality of the radio show and felt it would be a great product for syndication on our network," says Darren Peck, Sports ByLine President. Total reach is estimated at 8.5 million listeners from the US affiliates and 4 million servicemen and women with a combined domestic and international signal reach to 100 million civilians via Armed Forces Radio. In addition the programming will be made available to a current subscriber base of over 600,000 on Sirius and to over 10 million users on the Dish Network. In July, LPC signed a one-year agreement with the ESPN Club to produce "Legends on Sports and other stuff," a sports radio talk-show produced weekly LIVE from the ESPN Club on the Boardwalk at Disney World. The show is hosted by "Sudden" Sam McDowell, a former MLB pitcher, and radio host Glen Dehmer.

Third annual "Take A Loved One
to the Doctor Day" launching
Tuesday, September 21 is "Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day," a HHS-ABC Radio Networks campaign recently announced by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. The campaign is designed to reduce health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities by encouraging individuals to go to a doctor or health professional for a health screening. Joining with Secretary Thompson to lead the effort for the third year is Chairperson Tom Joyner, nationally syndicated radio personality and host of the ABC Radio Network's Tom Joyner Morning Show. "Take a Loved One To The Doctor Day" will rally minority consumers to visit a doctor, nurse or other health professional or make an appointment to see a health professional. The campaign is part of "Closing the Health Gap," an ongoing campaign partnership that combines HHS' medical expertise with the broadcast resources of ABC Radio Networks and the efforts of hundreds of national and community-based organizations. As part of the campaign, ABC Radio Networks will air "Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day" Public Servicew Announcements across more than 240 Urban Advantage Network stations which reach 19 million African-Americans weekly. In addition, the Network is coordinating localized events, live remotes, celebrity and political interviews on The Tom Joyner Morning Show and The Doug Banks Morning Show.

Transactions

WBIX-AM Boston (Natick MA) from Langer Broadcasting Corporation to Egan License LLC.

KSNB-AM Minneapolis-St. Paul (St. Louis Park MN) from Infinity Radio/Viacom to JR Bradcasting LLC.

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