RBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Volume 21, Issue 205, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning October 20th, 2004

Radio News®

Boyle cuts radio estimates...again
Seeing nothing to improve radio ad sales in the near future, Wachovia Securities analyst Jim Boyle has once again cut his Q4 estimates for radio companies. "Business is not significantly or consistently improving," he told clients in a note. In the long-term, he thinks that efforts by Clear Channel and others to cut inventory and boost prices could bear fruit - - but not until at least Q2 of 2005. For now, he notes, "Ad rate-cutting hasn't gone away, but it hasn't deteriorated either.

RBRobservation: Boyle's chart comparison inside tells the story on how deep the knife has cut his Q4 revenue estimates for 10 of the 11 radio companies that he follows (all except Emmis) is worth a look see. | More... |

Journal says pacings are still strong
Other companies may be complaining about advertising softness, but with so many recent acquisitions and developmental properties in its broadcast portfolio, Journal Communications apparently still has plenty of wind in its sails. The company says pacings are still strong for both radio and TV, even as the political season winds down. Journal Broadcast Group President Doug Kiel told analysts that political advertising has been stronger than expected - - for both TV and radio. Kiel said Q4 pacings for TV remain strong, although he didn't offer any numbers, and he said radio is pacing up in the single digits.

Sinclair says it won't air
complete documentary
After days of political outcry and advertiser cancellations, Sinclair Broadcast Group said late yesterday that it won't be airing the John Kerry-bashing documentary "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" (SH:WTNH) in its entirety - - and never said it was going to. Instead, Sinclair says it will be airing a one-hour documentary entitled "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," a news special which will discuss allegations about Sen. Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activies that are raised by POWs in the SH:WTNH documentary, but in the larger context of a "broader discussion." The program, to air on 40 of Sinclair's 62 stations (one per market) this Friday, will be hosted by Jeff Barnd, co-anchor of the "Fox 45 10:00 News" on Sinclair's flagship WBFF-TV Baltimore. | More... |

Shareholders ready to go after Sinclair
A law firm representing institutional shareholders which own a piece of Sinclair Broadcast Group is preparing to sue the company for mismanagement and possible insider trading. The plans to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" precipitate the action, and the law firm's investigation into it led to the discovery of the possible insider trading activity. The lawyers pressing the case are working on behalf and at the behest of institutional investor 1199 SEIU Greater New York Pension Fund and other unnamed investor groups.

RBR observation: The lawyers need to take a look at the proxy for Sinclair's 2004 annual shareholders meeting. All four Smith brothers still hold huge stakes of Sinclair stock and options, millions of shares each, so Robert and Duncan didn't even come close to cashing out. In all, the four control over 96% of the company's super voting Class B stock and nearly 85% of total voting power. If they'd known that the stock was going to tank, it seems that they would have sold a lot more shares. That still leaves open the claim that airing the documentary, which is clearly costing Sinclair ad dollars and driving down its stock price, is mismanagement which damages shareholders to advance the Smiths' political agenda. | More... |

Airtime buy for "Stolen Honor" alternative offered
Philanthropists Deborah and Andrew Rappaport have offered to buy time on the same Sinclair stations which will air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" in order to air a documentary which they say will provide balance, and will financially benefit Sinclair. The Rappaports have already commissioned a cut-down 42 minute version of Palisade Pictures' "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry." They have offered Sinclair the cost of lost advertising and the cost of network preemption fees plus 1M dollars to air it, in an equally viable time slot and with equal promotion to that used for the airing of "Stolen Honor." Deborah Rappaport said that the offer will give Sinclair the opportunity to show that it respects its public interest obligation to present a balanced look at the issue, and would also offer it the opportunity to protect its shareholders by guaranteeing the company would make more money by airing "Going Upriver" than it would otherwise. Rappaport noted that this was in contrast to the reported plans for "Stolen Honor," which according to reports is being aired for free, and with no advertising.

Sinclair axes bureau chief...
another suit threatened...
Sinclair Broadcast Group Washington bureau chief and lead political reporter Jon Leiberman has been given his walking papers after publicly criticizing the group's decision to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal." According to numerous reports, Sinclair executives would not discuss the matter, but Leiberman said the official explanation was that he had publicly aired the content of an in-house meeting, which is against company policy. Leiberman said he's been raising objections to the company's political slant for months. He was warned not to go public, and was not surprised by the result when he did. Meanwhile, liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America is working with investment firm Glickenhaus & Co. to underwrite another shareholder action (see story above). A letter was sent to Sinclair President/CEO David D. Smith demanding that the company "provide those with views opposed to the allegations in the film an equal opportunity to respond." Glickenhaus general partner Jim Glickenhaus, whose company holds 6.1K shares itself, said it was acting on behalf of its clients who also hold interest in SBG. "We are not partisan. We are investors," he said. "Sinclair's decision has caused harm to the value of our investment in Sinclair. We believe Sinclair must give equal time to an opposing point of view. Otherwise the company is placing its future and the value of our investment in jeopardy, by putting the renewal of its FCC licenses at risk, alienating local advertisers, and opening itself up to libel suits against the company."

Conference Calls Q3 2004

Journal says non-media business will hurt Q4
After reporting strong gains in Q3, Journal communications is advising Wall Street that softness and its printing services and telecommunications businesses will hold down Q4. Chairman and CEO Steve Smith insists, though, that business remains strong for the company's newspaper, radio and TV properties. Q4 revenuews are expected to be 205-210 million, which is below the 215 mark that had been the Thompson First Call consensus. For Q3, net revenues rose 2.7% to 204.4 million, with broadcasting as the main driver. Net earnings were up 3.4% to 19.2 million. Broadcast revenues were up 14.2% to 44 million, with

Smith praising both radio and TV for strong growth. Broadcast earnings jumped 63.9% to 11.8 million.

Arbitron cuts revenue guidance
Q3 came in pretty well for Arbitron, but the company has reduced its guidance for the remaining quarter of this year. CEO Steve Morris warned that while Arbitron is signing renewals for its ratings contracts, the continuing tough times in the radio are impacting revenues for Scarborough Research (which it owns 50/50 with Nielsen) and software sales. While Infinity switching its qualitative research business to The Media Audit was the big hit, Morris said Scarborough had lost some other radio business as well. And while Infinity did return to Arbitron for radio ratings, Morris doesn't expect to get the qualitative business back, with the possible exception of selected stations who have a particular need for Scarborough data. CFO Bill Walsh told analysts that the company is now looking for full year 2004 revenue growth to be 8-9%, rather than 8.5-10.5%. EBIT growth is expected to be 5-6%, rather than 6-8%. However, net earnings growth is now expected to be 19.5-20.5%, rather than 12-14% that the company had previously forecast, due to a tax benefit in Q3 and lower interest expenses. Earnings per share are expected to be a dollar-89 to a dollar-91, rather than 1.75-1.79. For Q3, Arbitron's revenues rose 8.8% to 82 million dollars, with EBIT up 10.1% to 33.7 million. The company then got big boosts from that tax adjustment of 4.2 million and lower interest costs since it paid down 25 million in debt, so net income jumped 42.4% to 24.2 million. Earnings per share were 77 cents, but absent the tax break we calculate the figure to be 63 cents, which was still two cents better than the Thompson First Call consensus.

Adbiz©

Arbitron's Steve Morris comments
on P&G joint agreement
During Arbitron's earnings call yesterday, Arbitron CEO Steve Morris said regarding the national PPM panel that Arbitron is planning for the P&G/VNU test, it will be easier to get encoding participation for the national panel than for local ratings, since Arbitron will only have to deal with a small number of TV, cable and radio networks to get them to encode. He also mentioned remarks made by Jim Stengel and Ted Woehrle from Proctor & Gamble during the ANA National Conference regarding the impact of media on actual consumer purchase behavior. Arbitron recently announced a joint development agreement to explore this type of marketing research service (9/30/04 RBR Daily Epaper #191). His remarks: "I was at the ANA in Florida the week before last and there is considerable interest among big advertisers who have been asking for this kind of information for a long time. The buzz there was certainly helped by P&G's strong public support. We see the marketing panels as a potential win for media, providing evidence of the impact of media on attitude change and actual purchase behavior. And, it's a potential win for advertisers who can sharpen their targeting strategies and determine how to maximize the effectiveness of their marketing budgets. We will know a lot more about the viability of this idea over the coming months and will talk more about the P&L when we get a better fix on the revenue potential. We have been working on this Marketing Panel for quite a while and it is very exciting to see the idea actually being presented to customers and to see their response." Also, read what P&G execs said at the ANA conference, "Making Every Dollar Work - And Knowing It."

Oink Ink Radio's "Dead Radio Contest" winner named
Oink Ink Radio, a national radio ad agency with offices in NYC and LA, announced Greg Christiansen's "Testing" for Miller Brewing Company is the Gold Award winner of its seventh annual "Dead Radio Contest." Hailing from Young & Rubicam's Chicago office, Christiansen's script was selected from more than 1,000 entries nationwide. "Testing," which was rejected by the client, is a :60 spot introducing the convenience of the Miller Fridge Pack. By winning the contest, Christiansen also won a trip for two to Oink Ink Studios in New York City, where he supervised the production of his spot. Oink Ink Radio produced the "resuscitated" script free of charge. | More... |

Cadillac selects Vindigo for mobile marketing
Vindigo, a publisher of consumer applications for mobile devices, and Cadillac announced an agreement to launch one of the first contextual sponsorships for mobile phones. "Cadillac Hot Spots," a sponsored channel on Vindigo city guides, provides wireless subscribers with an exclusive insider's guide to the best in shopping and restaurants in Cadillac's top 10 markets, including NYC, LA and San Francisco. "The mobile marketing channel is an innovative way for Cadillac to reach its target audience," said Tom Hassett, Cadillac's interactive marketing manager. "Cadillac Hot Spots on Vindigo city guides affords us the opportunity to present users with relevant shopping and restaurant information upon their request. This sort of contextual messaging is an ideal compliment to our traditional and online media campaigns." Cadillac Hot Spots are available now and will run through the end of 2004. The trend-setting cities featured in Cadillac Hot Spots, include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, Miami, NYC, San Diego, San Francisco and DC.

League of Conservation Voters launches effort in Florida
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) announced that its Environmental Victory Project has launched the largest single-state media campaign in the history of environmental activism. The new, 3 million two week TV effort focuses on the Bush-Cheney links to Big Oil, their support of drilling off Florida's coast, their gift of no-bid contracts to Halliburton and their clear favoritism towards corporate polluters. The campaign is part of LCV's largest-ever presidential campaign effort, which is targeting swing voters in five battleground states. "Our first ad simply states facts about the Bush-Cheney anti-Florida agenda. The fact that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are oilmen, the fact that they supported drilling off the coast of Florida and the fact that their policies are developed by and written to benefit corporate polluters," said LCV president Deb Callahan. "We're launching this massive blitz because Floridians need to be clear about the Bush-Cheney record when they go to the polls in two weeks," Callahan said. "The stakes are high for our environment and for our country. We believe that this election is coming down to who wins Florida - - and we intend to make sure it is John Kerry."

Media Markets & MoneyTM

And the man wins a cigar
If Wachovia Capital Markets James Boyle was reading the entrails of birds or scattered tea leaves when he divined the price of Saga Communications' recent three-station acquisition in Charlottesville VA (10/18/04 RBR Daily Epaper #203), then we are truly impressed. Boyle said he estimated the price at 22M dollars. Documents filed at the FCC confirm Boyle's guess to the penny. Seller Eure Communications will get 20M of that in cash, with another 2M in stock.

Cox Enterprises to buy back cable stake for 8.3 billion
Cox Enterprises Inc. is moving to take Cox Communications private, buying out public shareholders for 8.3 billion dollars. The tender price of 34 dollars 75 cents per share was announced after approval by the entire Cox Communications board after a unanimous recommendation from a special committee of its independent directors. Cox Enterprises had originally proposed a buyout at 32 dollars per share back in August (8/3/04 RBR Daily Epaper #150).

RBR observation: We can't help but notice that the stock of the other public company controlled by Cox Enterprises, Cox Radio, is trading near its 52-week low. How much of a stretch is it to guess that Cox Enterprises might also be looking at whether to take its radio group private as well?

Washington Beat

Will Earnhardt be a two-time loser?
Well, no. NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s slip of the tongue over the NBC Television Network has cost him 10K and an all-important 25 points in the standings, penalties imposed by the racing organization. The FCC has yet to weigh in. But if and when it does, Earnhardt won't likely be on the receiving end. The Parents Television Council has stepped forward to urge the Commission to extract its own pound of flesh - - from NBC. PTC points out that since the incident, NBC has promised a five-second delay on all NASCAR broadcasts. PTC says that the Bono Golden Globes incident should have taught them this lesson already. It asks for maximum fine against NBC and a radical increase in the price of a top-drawer fine.

FM auction takes shape
FCC Auction No. 37 will put 288 FM licenses on the block, with 456 qualified bidders. It is scheduled to begin 11/3/04. We offer a selected list of the bidding. Paragraph one includes those who have invested down payments of 1M dollars or more; paragraph two includes other bidders of interest. LUK Broadcasting 10.8585M; Advance Acquisition 3.027M; College Creek Broadcasting 4M; George S. Flinn Jr. 2.5M; Family Stations 2.4825M; Cumulus Broadcast Group 2.175M; Bigglesworth Broadcasting 2.1M; Community Radio 1.84M; Radio One 1.3875M; NT Radio 1.35M; Educational Media Foundation 1.2M; Visionary Related Entertainment 1.275M; Radioactive 1.236M; Frightmare 1M; and Wednesday RadioWorks 1M. Shamrock Communications 810K; Bott Communications 805K; Entravision 572.5K; Commonwealth Broadcasting Group 290K; Citadel Broadcasting Company 280K; Nassau Broadcasting 255K; Pamal Broadcasting 119K; Saga Communications 75K; and Legend Communications of Wyoming 72.5K. Then there are these three companies: Citicasters 175K; Capstar TX 135K; and Clear Channel 25K. Or as we see it, Clear Channel 335K.

Programming

Stern likely to stay with Infinity through contract
Howard Stern is here to stay with Infinity (at least through the end of his contract). He's on the air, he's honoring his end of the deal and not talking much about Sirius anymore. Infinity is honoring their end of the deal. An Infinity source tells RBR: "We expect him to be on the air for a long period of time, at least through the end of his contract. But something could happen before." What do you mean? "If Sirius wants to pay us a lot of money to get [him] out, then we can do something. But that's not being talked about right now...Right now we're idea think-tanking on who to replace him. But we're not in a rush - - we've got 14 months."

RBR observation: The first decision for Infinity President Joel Hollander and his Viacom brethren will be do they want to do a show in the genre of Opie & Anthony, Stern and Mancow, or will they go in a different direction? That's a big decision for the company. Infinity/Viacom hasn't talked with anyone yet, but it could be folks like Chris Rock, Jon Stewart or Adam Carolla - - anyone that's under the Viacom umbrella. With Viacom's muscle and their starpower, they will obviously spend the money to get the right person.

Ratings & Research

Arbitron chief says tide is turning for PPM
The radio industry may have balked at moving to the Portable People Meter for ratings, but Arbitron President and CEO

Steve Morris told analysts in his quarterly conference call that he sees indications of a shift in favor of the new ratings technology. Morris said it's not just PPM, but that radio groups are focusing more on what's needed to restore growth to the industry and build ad revenues. While there are still holdouts who don't plan to encode for next year's PPM test in Houston (no names were mentioned, but the holdouts are still Cox Radio, Radio One and Infinity), Morris said Arbitron is still talking with them and seeking to address their concerns about PPM. Outside the US, Morris said Arbitron's PPM expansion effort is focused on Canada, where PPM is already in use in Montreal, and the UK, where the RAJAR ratings consortium is preparing to test PPM, which is worn like a pager, against two competing devices which are worn like watches.

RBR observation: The key is ROI. We're hearing that everywhere. Advertisers want to be able to see a return on their investment - - and they are insisting on something faster and more accurate than paper diaries. Broadcasters want an ROI too - - and they're the ones who will be footing the bill for PPM. A lot of variable are still in flux, but we see things coming together in a few months and we'll know whether PPM is a go. If not, somebody had better figure out quickly what other alternative there is for the next generation of US radio ratings. By the way, Morris repeated what we reported from San Diego - - that Arbitron will give the radio industry an idea of what PPM is going to cost by the end of this year (10/7/04 RBR Daily Epaper #196) - - but he warned that without an agreement on a joint venture with Nielsen, the cost estimate will still be only a range, which could vary by some 20 percentage points.

Transactions

WZZJ-FM, WZZI-FM Roanoke-Lynchburg VA (Lynchburg, Vinton) from Travis Media LLC to Centennial Broadcasting LLC

KSEK AM & FM Joplin MO (Pittsburg, Girard KS) from Innovative Broadcasting Corp. to Southeast Kansas Independent Living Resource Center Inc.

| More... |

Stock Talk

Radio stocks take a dive
Radio stock prices were down pretty much across the board Tuesday, perhaps due in part to Wachovia analyst Jim Boyle cutting estimates for the group (see Radio News). The broader market was also down, but not as much, as a rise in oil prices again weighed on stocks. The Dow Industrials were down 59 points, or 0.6%, to 9,898.

The Radio Index plunged 1.646, or 0.8%, to a year-to-date low of 207.561. Entravasion was down 3.6% and Spanish Broadcasting System 3%. Journal Communications fell 2.7% after saying it expected soft Q4 results from its non-media businesses.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		36.82	-0.05	Jeff-Pilot	JP		46.56	-1.58
Beasley	BBGI		14.96	+0.02	Journal Comm.	JRN		16.34	-0.45
Citadel	CDL		13.68	-0.10	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		14.13	+0.06
Clear Channel	CCU		30.55	-0.29	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		14.05	+0.08
Cox Radio	CXR		13.94	-0.06	Regent	RGCI		5.45	-0.09
Cumulus	CMLS		13.76	-0.01	Saga Commun.	SGA		16.98	+0.13
Disney	DIS		24.89	-0.19	Salem Comm.	SALM		24.63	+0.09
Emmis	EMMS		17.92	-0.11	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		3.79	-0.02
Entercom	ETM		31.25	-0.15	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		9.88	-0.30
Entravision	EVC		7.14	-0.27	Univision	UVN		30.31	+0.29
Fisher	FSCI		47.50	+0.05	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		34.83	-0.11
Gaylord	GET		31.20	-0.16	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		34.42	-0.04
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		25.05	-0.10	Westwood One	WON		20.19	-0.39
Interep	IREP		0.81	-0.01	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		29.05	-0.22
International Bcg.	IBCS		0.02	unch	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

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

We mentioned the marketplace of ideas...well, we have it right here.

Jay Austin,
KIOD, KSWN McCook, Nebraska
| More... |

Arbitrends

Upped & Tapped

Westwood One names Joe Montione Senior Director/Affiliate Sales
Westwood One announced the appointment of Joe Montione to Senior Director/Affiliate Sales. Montione will be responsible for the company's Network/News affiliations throughout the Mountain West region and will report directly to Kane Biscaya, VP/Affiliate Sales. Prior to joining Westwood, Montione served as National Director/Marketing and Distribution at All Comedy Radio.

More News Headlines

O'Reilly scraps interviews
on his new book

Sirius passes 700,000
subscriber mark

ABC News Radio adds New Movies.com weekly feature

Tom Joyner to Lead
'March To Vote' Rally in Miami

Mike & Mike receive
award from NYSARC

September Digital Solutions Magazine

Complimentary Report

Quarterly Deals:
4.1 Billion spent on broadcast properties since the thaw
RBR/TVBR Observation:
Where is the action? We got it.

Less is More
CCU's already meaning less with syndicators and nets.

September Zinio Solutions Magazine
Read RBR in 2 simple steps:
1.Create a simple account with Zinio and download the free Zinio Reader.
2. You can then download the free September Issue of RBR

RBR Radar 2004

Click on these issues for Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.

Ford expands Sirius offering
Blame it on Stern? Ford Motor Company announced that it is upping the availability of Sirius Satellite Radio as a dealer-installed option, and is targeting up to 20 vehicle lines for factory installations over the next two years. That's something Sirius has been waiting for now for some time - - factory installations by Ford to let it compete with what GM has already been doing for rival XM. Ford, Mercury and Lincoln now offer Sirius as a dealer-installed option on nine models. RBR observation: Again, here comes da satellite and radio in 2005 Must Muscle Up with Local. 10/19/04 RBR #204

ASCAP cuts new licensing
deal with radio
Radio broadcasters now have agreements in place with both of the giant music licensing organizations. The latest agreement, totaling over 1.7 billion dollars. The new deal is similar to the one negotiated with Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) last year in that fees are fixed, rather than being based on each station's advertising revenues.
RBR observation: We may be jumping the gun, but based on the last round of RMLC negotiations with BMI and ASCAP, it looks like music license fees should be a much less contentious issue going forward. Broadcasters have finally succeeded in ending the practice of basing music fees on their revenues, which rewarded (or punished) BMI and ASCAP for sales efforts that might have nothing to do with music programming but they still managed to reach financial terms which satisfied both music licensing organizations. And all this was accomplished without anyone storming out of the negotiations and heading to court. Kudos to everyone involved on all sides.
10/19/04 RBR #204

Entercom gets 55K indecency fine
KRXQ-FM has been hit with a double indecency fine of 55K dollars, directed at its Rocker KRXQ-FM in Sacramento. There are two maximum 27.5K fines leveled at the "Rob, Arnie and Dawn in the Morning Show," RBR observation: Example of what KRXQ did - Arnie, speaking as a little boy, said, "Daddy's going to take me to a restaurant 'cause he wants to take pictures of me in my birthday suit"... Now that is entertainment, do not think so. We will stop there but see more details inside. Word to the wise is in order to the talentless purveyors of audio effluvium who continue to disgrace our business. If this is the Good Radio PR Entercom CEO David Field was speaking about during the NAB conference he sure went about it the wrong way. Not monitoring his stations talent. Hey, do not pass the buck on to the GM. 10/18/04 RBR #203

Eddie Fritts takes issue with WSJ
article by Lee Gomes attacking blockage of the so-called Ferree plan for DTV conversion put forth by John McCain in the Senate Commerce Committee. Fritts' response received the headline "Don't Leave Millions of TV Viewers Stranded." "There are 73 million television sets in use in America connected neither to cable nor satellite, 45 million of which are in homes that rely exclusively on local, 'over-the-air' stations as their sole source of television. These stations provide more than just entertainment; as hurricane-ravaged Florida residents can attest,.."
RBR observation: Bravo Eddie you are correct. You go Big Daug.
10/18/04 TVBR #203

Media General to appeal crossownership to Supreme Court
With license renewals for several of its television stations hanging in the balance, Media General is preparing to ask the US Supreme Court to overturn the Philadelphia Federal Appeals Court ruling which blocked the FCC's new ownership rules from taking effect. 10/18/04 RBR #203

LPM data for the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York
TVB has begun tracking the data that is now available from those markets. For the week ended Oct. 10, broadcast drew a higher aggregate primetime rating than ad-supported cable in all four markets in the three measured demos: RBR observation: Embrace and work with the technology. Fix one mistake at a time and improve on the strength in the same fashion. One step at a time. 10/18/04 TVBR #203

Pounding continues as Wall Street still lower radio stocks
S.G. Cowen analyst James Marsh sees radio stocks bump around near 52-week lows, we still see downside for the average radio stock from here, especially as we near 2006. It was the dire warning from in the latest missive to investors. And it is not just a short-term bear. Marsh sees radio revenue growth in the 2-3% range over the next five years - - a far cry from a return to the historical 7-8% range that broadcasters hope to get back to after crawling out of this prolonged ad recession.
RBR observation: Could it happen? You bet. It's because radio has been turned into a commodity and left itself open to attack. It's not going to be easy or cheap to get radio programming, management, sales and marketing back on track but it has to be done. Those who got rich, swell, and those who didn't our word GO Private and get of the headlock of Wall Street. You are killing your business not the analysts.
10/15/04 RBR #202

FCC stays out of Sinclair case
Despite protests from nearly 50 members of Congress, FCC Chairman Michael Powell has declined to intervene in Sinclair Broadcast Group's plans to air an anti-Kerry documentary over 62 of its O&O television stations. His reason is simple: He doesn't have the power to do so. RBR observation: Powell is correct. You can say "there oughtta be a law" all you want, but if there isn't a law, there is nothing that our elected or non-elected officials can do. And Powell is again correct - - you can't give someone a ticket for speeding in advance just because you're pretty sure they're going to speed. The biggest problem with this whole mess, however, is that it is occurring at a time when broadcasters have already been kicked from one end of Capitol Hill to the other regularly for over two solid years - - and let's not forget added contributions from the court system. Sinclair, if nothing else, is galvanizing opposition to the industry opposition which didn't really need any further motivation. We hope it's all worth it to Sinclair, because the entire industry may pay.
10/15/04 RBR #202

The Breeze from Naples, FL
is blowing--Scripps sees
soft TV ad market
After outperforming other media stocks for much of this year, E.W. Scripps Company took a hit on Wall Street yesterday after missing expectations for Q3. As for post-election business, both November and December are pacing up in the low single digits. RBR observation: Gannett CEO Doug McCorkindale just two days ago was seeing the same as Scripps by saying the company's core non-political business is soft and that both November and December are pacing up only in the low single digits. Now Scripps seeing both November and December pacing up but in the low single digits. Television may just start to be feeling that breeze from Naples, FL 10/15/04 RBR #202

Local Sales Manager
Cumulus Broadcasting of Shreveport seeking a LSM. The person hired for this very important position will have the ability to train, motivate, write and supervise proposals, close sales with A/E's and hit or exceed monthly and quarterly local sales budgets.

See Radio Careers for more info on this once in a lifetime shot.

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