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Welcome to RBR's Daily Epaper
Volume 24, Issue 207, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
Tuesday Morning October 23rd, 2007

Radio News ®

Moody's downgrades Emmis
Citing "continued weak operating performance," Moody's Investors Service has lowered its ratings on Emmis Communications debt. Moody's does, however, say the company's large market radio assets provide adequate coverage of its debt load. The ratings agency said its reduction of Emmis' corporate family rating to B2 from B1 and other ratings reductions reflected the company's increased debt to EBITDA leverage, which Moody's put at 8.9 times. Moody's said it also believed that Emmis "faces a tightening cushion vis-à-vis its covenants under the senior secured credit facility." Moody's also noted that growth prospects for radio, particularly in large markets, will be challenged by increased advertising fragmentation. "This industry has gone through a rough patch, and we've had challenges in our New York and L.A. markets, just like other operators - but I've seen signs of improvement. Regardless, we're fully aware of where we sit with our banks, and we will continue to do what is necessary to stay within our covenants," Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan told RBR.

RBR observation: Jeff has faced tough times before and managed to come out smiling. But he's also had to make some hard choices along the way, such as selling WFAN-AM New York to Infinity (now CBS Radio). With pressure from big shareholders, the Moody's downgrade making it potentially more expensive to borrow and continuing ratings problems in Emmis' biggest markets, we wait to see what tough choices Jeff will make this time.

Warchests filling up
The campaigns for federal office have already spend over 368M this cycle, even though the first vote is still months away, we aren't even in the calendar year of the election yet and there's still plenty of time to raise more cash. And the amount spent is dwarfed by the amount still on hand. This is particularly true of the race for Congress. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 83.724 has already been spent in the battle for the House of Representatives, but there is 237.198M waiting to be spent. The proportions are even more stark on the Senate side, where only 18.032M has been spent and 102.638M is still in the bank. Only in the presidential category is spending keeping close pace with receiving. 265.961M has been spent, with only 153.810M still on hand. Democrats lead across the board in all categories, although in the presidential money spent category, the difference is miniscule. Democrats have much more on hand in all three categories.
| View the Chart |


Obama asks Martin to slow down
More particularly, Barack Obama (D-IL), one of the leading candidates for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, wants issues on minority ownership and localism addressed before moving on to easing ownership restrictions, if that is FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's goal. Noting media reports stating Martin's goal of a 12/18/07 on as yet unspecified media ownership rules, Obama wrote, "I believe both the proposed timeline and process are irresponsible. Minority owned and operated newspapers and radio stations play a critical role in the African American and Latino communities and bring minority issues to the forefront of our national discussion. However, the Commission has failed to further the goals of diversity in the media and promote localism, and as a result, it is in no position to justify allowing for increased consolidation of the market. Moreover, 30 days of public review of a specific proposed change is insufficient to assess the effect that change would have on the media marketplace or the rationale on which any such proposal is based."

Stating the need for a special panel to study the minority ownership issue, he continued, "I object to the agency moving forward to allow greater consolidation in the media market without first fully understanding how that would limit opportunities for minority, small business, and women owned firms. He also took the Commission to task for its "...propensity to vet proposals through leaks to the press and lobbyists," as reported by the Government Accountability Office. Obama noted that it was unclear just what rules changes were being proposed, but stated that whether or not they will be crafted well enough to get past the courts is immaterial if Congress and the public are not given sufficient time to determine whether or not it "constitutes sound policy," and that the FCC should be able to defend its actions "in public discourse and debate."

RBR observation: We doubt that Martin was under the illusion that he could slip this matter through quietly, and that truth has already been amply demonstrated. Watchdogs and politicians alike seem as if they've been waiting to spring into action on the first mention of acting on the court-ordered reconsideration of the 6/2/03 rulemaking attempt. And although media ownership issues were being hotly debated in 2004 but played virtually no role whatsoever in Bush v. Kerry. Not so this time: Candidates on the Democratic side are clearly aware of the issue this time and will speak out about it, even as Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill go to work on it. This is going to be a contentious, noisy debate.


Private equity slips out of Harman deal
Two private equity firms, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company (KKR) and GS Capital Partners (an affiliate of Goldman Sachs), have been let out of their broken eight billion bucks deal to take Harman International private (9/24/07 RBR #186) without having to pay the 225 million termination fee spelled out in the original contract. They will, however, buy 400 million worth of Harman convertible senior notes paying 1.25%. The settlement announced yesterday avoids a court battle over one of the biggest private equity buyouts to be abandoned in the current credit crunch. "We are pleased to have reached an understanding with KKR and GSCP. Although we do not agree with the reasons for cancellation of the original merger agreement, we view this 400 million investment as a vote of confidence in our business and its prospects for continued growth," said Sidney Harman, Executive Chairman of Harman. The company plans to use the 400 million to accelerate its stock buyback program. In addition to buying the notes, which cannot be sold or hedged for at least a year, a KKR representative, Brian Carroll, will take a seat on the Harman board of directors.

RBR observation: Bravo! A pretty clever settlement. Harman shareholders would obviously have preferred the 120 bucks in cash that they were supposed to receive for each share, but the deal now to let KKR and GS Capital Partners walk away will pump cash into the company without a drawn out court battle. The trigger price on the conversion, by the way, is 104 bucks per share, which is quite a distance from the mid-80s where Harman has been trading since the buyout collapsed. So, it appears that Harman will get to use that cash on terms well below market rates for some time to come. Some traders still have jitters that some private equity buyouts in media could suffer the same fate, but we still haven't heard of any actually being on shaky financial ground.

PTC uses stock
as ticket to bully pulpit

The Parents Television Council has members with a piece of News Corp., and took advantage of a shareholders meeting to protest some of the racier programming on Fox Television and News Corp. basic cable offering FX. The shows drawing specific fire from PTC New Jersey Chapter Director Crystal Madison included Family Guy, American Dad and Bones on Fox. On FX, she mentioned Dirt and Nip/Tuck. She said, "Fox Broadcasting and the FX network have repeatedly embarrassed you, the board and the shareholders with such programs as Family Guy, American Dad, Bones and Dirt." Noting that some of these shows were on as early as 8PM in the Central time zone, Madison wanted these programs held back until at least 10PM in each time zone, when young children are more likely to be in bed. She also demanded that FX be converted to a premium channel so that it does not show up unbidden on basic channel lineups and go into the homes of people who find it objectionable. "As a mother, I am pleading with you, Mr. Murdoch, to take control of your companies' programming schedules and place these negative shows and programs like them where they belong," she concluded.

RBR observation: If you own a piece of News Corp., why not use all available venues to make your case? Al Sharpton has been doing the same thing when he believes companies he has an interest in go over the line on matters of concern to him. However, we do not believe PTC will have much success, since its Leon Weil made essentially the same pitch last year.


Ad Business Report TM

Dial Global signs Syndicated Solutions
Add another to Dial-Global's ever-growing list: Syndicated Solutions and Dial Global announced Dial Global will be the exclusive sales rep for SSI programming beginning in January. SSI offers affiliate sales, direct ad sales, network distribution and programming consulting/development services. In 2006, they developed iRadioNow.com, a subscription based talk radio podcasting web portal. SSI also offers The Rick & Bubba Show, The Roger Hedgecock Show, Peter Greenberg Worldwide, The Steve & DC Show, Tony Tantillo--The Fresh Grocer and more. "The network radio business is still very much a business of entrepreneurial dreams and aspirations" said David Landau, Co-president/CEO of Dial Global. "Bob Carey and the staff of Syndicated Solutions have carved a very successful niche in the national radio landscape."

Bob Dylan, XM featured
in Escalade campaign

Bob Dylan will star in a new multi-platform campaign for the 2008 Cadillac Escalade that integrates his XM Radio show, "Theme Time Radio Hour." The campaign, which began yesterday, highlights XM as a standard feature in the Escalade through TV, online and print. Coinciding with the campaign's launch, Dylan's show, which offers an eclectic mix of music based around a weekly theme, will include a "Cadillac"-themed episode, premiering 10/24. Creative includes a The:30 second television spot titled "Detour" and an online video vignette as well as a 30-minute sample preview of the "Cadillac" episode of Dylan's XM show are available at xmradio.com/dylan-cadillac, and soon at mycadillacstory.com and cadillac.com. Creative features Dylan behind the wheel of a Cadillac driving across a remote desert listening to XM. Print and online will begin running in November.

RBR observation: Now we can see, more and more, the ways satellite providers can score ad dollars on their "commercial-free" music channels. Of course, traditional radio has far more latitude to do so than the satellite folks, but this is the sort of "different" campaign clients and agencies are looking for than the standard spot. As well, now that the HD Radio Alliance has opened up the multicast channels to advertising in 2008, "ground floor" pitches should be being made now for clients to "own" some or all of these channels.


Media Business Report TM
Ad sellers arrested in prostitution sting
Three employees of the classified advertising department of the Orlando Weekly, including the Director of Classified Advertising, have been arrested on charges of promoting prostitution by selling ads to escort services. The newspaper itself has also been charged with racketeering and aiding in the commission of prostitution. Newspaper Publisher Rick Schreiber calls the arrests "an outrageous abuse of process and an attempt to censor the First Amendment rights of a newspaper that has reported critically on the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation." The MBI is a multi-agency law enforcement task force involving a number of Orlando-area police departments, along with the FBI, DEA, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Florida state law enforcement agencies. The charges handed up by a local grand jury came after female MBI agents posing as prostitutes allegedly got the Orlando Weekly employees to create ads for them that would be published, even though the employees knew the escort service ads were for prostitution.

RBR observation: The big buzz in Orlando now is over whether the MBI will next go after Craigslist. The law enforcement organization recently sent a letter to the CEO of the popular online site asking that Craigslist take down ads being posted daily by more than 100 known prostitutes in the Orlando area. We noted just a few months ago (7/26/07 RBR #145) that free ads for adult services on Craigslist are responsible for a big financial hit on alternative weeklies, which had previously made lots of revenue from ads that are not accepted by most major dailies.


Media Markets & Money TM
CT duo goes to Gois
A pair of AM stations in the Hartford market have been sold out of receivership to Gois Broadcasting. Larry Patrick spun the pair of Hispanic-formatted FMs as receiver for Freedom Communications. The duo includes Tropical WLAT-AM New Britain CT and Spanish/News WNEZ-AM Manchester. According to broker Greg Guy of Patrick Communications (hmmmmm -- Larry Patrick...Patrick Communications...we wonder how Guy got this listing...), the price is 2.65M. Upon closing, Ivon Gois will become a group owner, adding these stations to his WORC-AM Worcester MA. An LMA is set to kick off 11/1/07.

Close encounter in Chicago
Sovereign City Radio is the now the proud owner of WNTD-AM in the Windy City, according to broker Bill Schutz, who says the 15M deal is officially complete. The seller was Arthur Liu's Multicultural Radio Broadcasting. Mark C. Follett is a principal of the buyer, which also owns and operates WAIT-AM Willow Springs IL and WWCA-AM Gary IN in the area.


Washington Business Report TM
Report says Tribune deal is a bargaining chip
For Tribune's 8.2B privatization to go forward, it needs to have newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership restrictions either waived temporarily or lifted altogether. Los Angeles Times is reporting that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants the rules done away with, and is therefore holding off on waiver grants in hopes of getting a positive vote on cross-ownership easements from the two Democratic commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Martin's office has said one thing has nothing to do with the other, but LAT quoted both as objecting to tying a policy decision to a specific business transaction. There are strong fears that failure to get regulatory relief soon may cause the Tribune deal to unravel.

RBR observation: It's been our position that as long as the cross-ownership regulatory issue remains pending, it is unfair to punish companies that have played by the rules while the rules have been punted from one venue to another. We see no reason to change that position now. If cross-ownership restrictions are not relaxed, fine, Tribune must do what is necessary to come into compliance. But it should not be forced to bust up a multimedia combo now that may be perfectly legal next year. This is simple fairness.


Ratings & Research
Home town heroes
move the PPM needle

You know that a Major League Baseball playoff game is a big hometown radio draw, but with PPM up and running in Philadelphia, Arbitron is now able to report just how big that draw was. The ratings company says game one of the Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies playoff series on the afternoon of October 3rd drew huge listener numbers. Arbitron's PPM estimated that WPHT-AM delivered a 9.2 average quarter hour rating for Men 25-54. That means that the average audience for each of the 11 quarter-hours of the game was 94,900 persons for that key demographic. For all persons age 6 and older, the game posted a 5.3 average quarter hour rating. Over the course of two and three-quarter hours of "pure game" programming, more than three quarters of a million persons, age 6 and older, tuned in to WPHT-AM for at least a portion of the game. Among Men 25-54, more than one out of every four in the market tuned to WPHT-AM for at least a portion of the playoff game. Alas, the Rockies swept the Phillies in three games, so PPM is also out of the playoffs this year, at least from the home team position.
| See the ratings chart.|

Top markets, days for candy sales revealed
Halloween is the season of ghosts, goblins, and most of all, candy. According to The Nielsen Company, U.S. consumers are expected to purchase more than 2.1 billion in candy this Halloween season. The holiday generates the greatest sales volume of sweets for the entire year, with candy sales expected to jump nearly 63% compared to the previous ten week period. Nielsen's analysis of 52 major U.S. markets shows that residents of the Salt Lake City/Boise metropolitan area bought 80% more candy than would be expected for a market its size, followed by Seattle and Portland, OR. Chocolate and non-chocolate miniature candy generated 39% of its annual dollar sales during the Halloween season last year, in comparison to the total candy category, which saw 22% of annual dollar sales in the same period. Nielsen found that sales jump during Halloween for other spooky and savory items. 89% of annual costume hair coloring sales occur during the 10 weeks leading up to and including Halloween, as do 36% of sales of both refrigerated and shelved ciders and 28% of lollipops.


Engineering Business Report TM
FAA to study KFI
tower rebuild risk

The FAA has agreed to further study whether a reconstructed tower for KFI-AM LA would threaten the safety of pilots flying near Fullerton Municipal Airport. The previous single tower at the La Mirada, CA site less than two miles from the airport was toppled in 2004 when a small plane slammed into it, killing two, says the Orange County Register. KFI has switched to an auxiliary tower at the same site at reduced power. Note the site in the center of the photo-inside the round fenced area. The auxiliary site is just off to the Northwest, in the photo as well. The review comes in response to petitions filed by Fullerton and the aeronautical division of the California DOT that say the tower poses an obvious hazard because a tower in that spot has already killed two people. The FAA previously made a determination that a rebuilt tower would pose "no greater risk" than the previous tower. Local pilots and Fullerton officials have strongly opposed plans to rebuild the tower to 684 feet. The old tower was 760 feet. The FAA must finish its review before the La Mirada City Council can give the tower final consideration. The paper said there will be an opinion issued by the end of November.

RBR observation: There is no reason that the tower shouldn't be rebuilt. They have lights on top of them, remember? If pilot error stopped tower construction, we wouldn't have many of them. Two miles is plenty of space from the airport.


Transactions
150K KLCH-FM Lake City MN from NRG License Sub LLC, a subsidiary of NRG Media LLC (Mary Quass) to Q Media Group LLC (Alan R. Quarnstrom). Promissory note. Duopoly with LMA'd KCUE-AM/KWNG-FM Red Wing MN. LMA 10/1/07. [File date 10/9/07.]


Stock Talk
Strong recovery for radio stocks
Stock prices rebounded from early declines, led by the tech sector. Investors were expecting strong results from iPhone maker Apple, which reported after the closing bell and did not disappoint. The Dow Industrials rose 45 points, or 0.3%, to 13,567.

Radio stocks recovered strongly. The Radio Index gained 3.759, or 3.2%, to 121.874. Big movers, all to the up side, were Radio One Class A 8.1%, Entercom 6.6%, Citadel 5.7%, radio One Class D 5.7%, Emmis 5.1% and Arbitron 5%.


Radio Stocks

Here's how stocks fared on Monday

Company Symbol Close Change Company Symbol Close Change

Arbitron

ARB

49.76

+2.36

Google

GOOG

650.75

+6.04

Beasley

BBGI

7.49

+0.06

Hearst-Argyle

HTV

23.10

+0.07

CBS CI. B CBS

29.10

+0.40

Journal Comm.

JRN

8.64

+0.06

CBS CI. A CBSa

29.07

+0.40

Lincoln Natl.

LNC

65.60

+1.46

Citadel CDL
4.44 +0.24

Radio One, Cl. A

ROIA

3.72

+0.28

Clear Channel

CCU

37.80

-0.03

Radio One, Cl. D

ROIAK

3.70

+0.20

Cox Radio

CXR

12.49

+0.29

Regent

RGCI

2.38

-0.03

Cumulus

CMLS

10.33

+0.09

Saga Commun.

SGA

7.45

-0.11

Debut Bcg.

DBTB

0.75

-0.27

Salem Comm.

SALM

8.33

+0.37

Disney

DIS

34.68

+0.87

Sirius Sat. Radio

SIRI

3.65

+0.10

Emmis

EMMS

5.53

+0.27

Spanish Bcg.

SBSA

2.67

-0.06

Entercom

ETM

18.64

+1.15

SWMX

SMWX

0.03

-0.01

Entravision

EVC

9.80

+0.34

Westwood One

WON

2.26

+0.01

Fisher

FSCI

47.95

+0.40

XM Sat. Radio

XMSR

15.54

+0.53


Bounceback

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Below the Fold
Media Business Report
Ad sellers arrested
In prostitution sting as 3 employees of the classified ad department of the Orlando Wkly...

Ad Business Report
Bob Dylan, XM featured
In Escalade campaign, Now we can see, more ways Sat providers score ad dollars...

Washington Business Report
Tribune deal is a bargaining chip
Tribs 8.2B privatization to go forward, it needs to have newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership restrictions either...

Media, Markets & Money
CT duo goes to Gois
Pair of AM stations in Hartford have been sold out of receivership...




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More News Headlines

Carr asks OK to temp
Howie Carr has asked a state appeals court in Massachusetts to let him out of radio limbo to work for Greater Media's WTKK-FM Boston while he appeals a lower court ruling that said he can't take the new job with WTKK because his former employer, Entercom's WRKO-AM, matched the offer before his contract expired. Look for Entercom to oppose the motion. It has insisted that it would welcome Carr back and even has a "Virtual Howie" on the WRKO website with a puppet of the former host mouthing to brief audio clips from his show.

Judge dismisses Lulu suit against Hulu
A federal judge has stopped efforts by do-it-yourself Web publishing firm Lulu to prevent NBC's and News Corp.'s "Hulu" site from launching it web video site. "Lulu faces no immediate business threat from Web video company Hulu," ruled Judge Terrence Boyle of the U.S. District Court of Eastern North Carolina. Therefore, it has no legal standing on which it can ask a court to stop Hulu from going to market. Lulu had claimed Hulu was a copy not only of its name but also of its business model. NBC and News Corp. chose the Hulu name specifically to confuse potential customers, the suit had said. The judge didn't buy it, saying Lulu makes money by publishing others' works (authors, artists, musicians, etc) and then taking a cut of the sales. Hulu plans a YouTube-like business that's will include streaming full-length TV shows from NBCU- and News Corp.-owned networks. Bob Young, founder and owner of Lulu.com, vowed to continue his legal fight "This decision does not alter our position that this is a case of trademark infringement," Young, a co-founder of Linux software developer Red Hat, told WRAL.com. "Our concern remains that such semantically and visually similar brands existing in the same core categories will create confusion in the marketplace and especially to the millions of visitors to Lulu.com each month." A company spokesperson told WRAL the judge's decision was "just phase one" and that the company would seek a trial.




RBR Radar 2007
Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.

Martin ownership plans
draw immediate fire
The watchdog community was ready, and the aiming seemed already to have been done, when FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced his intention to try for a media ownership vote on 12/18/07. Most who commented were against any further deregulation.

RBR observation: It's interesting that a likely push for cross-ownership comes just as many multimedia companies are or are considering splitting their broadcast and print properties into separately-run entities. While watchdogs opposing any move of any kind are still on fire, business interests in favor of action, short of companies like Tribune, may be less so. Stay tuned.
10/22/07 RBR #206

Arbitron on target, focused on PPM
CEO Steve Morris reiterated that growth for Arbitron will begin in 2008 after a "trough year" in 2007 to get PPM off the ground. Q3 revenues were up 6.4% to 96.5 million, but EBIT dropped 15.4% to 27.2 million, largely due to costs for the PPM rollout. That was in line with the company's guidance and Wall Street expectations.

RBR observation: Morris was even asked about whether he expected anything of significance to come out of the planned test in Houston by would-be competitor The Media Audit/Ipsos, but the Arbitron boss said he had no information. Later in the call, Morris said that Arbitron was continuing to look into the possibility of using cell phones to gather PPM data, but noted that there are also problems with using cell phones, as opposed to the single-purpose pager-like devices now used for PPM. Use of Smart Cell Phone technology is a key part of the challenger's business model. But while the wannabe is still in the testing phase, Arbitron is running full speed ahead with the PPM rollout and PPM-related projects. A key decision is coming in early 2008 on whether major advertisers will continue to back Project Apollo and pay up to increase the national panel and commercialize the operation. Apollo uses PPM to track consumer behavior and produce very detailed single-source marketing information for advertisers and agencies. But that detailed data is also quite expensive, so going the decision to go forward will require a big financial commitment by the marketers.

RBR note: As an entire company Arbitron has a lot of work to do in the area of marketing and educating simultaneously in 2008 to over come consistent picking at the technology. The future of PPM is in the hands of Arbitron marketers to brand the importance of PPM. Remember, Technology Waits for No One.
10/19/07 RBR #205

Who bid for Lincoln
Financial Media?
Bids were due this week for the potential sale of the Lincoln Financial Media stations. There was, indeed, lots of interest in the portfolio of primo properties, both radio and television - the former Jefferson-Pilot Communications. The real question, though, given the current credit market, is whether the bidding will be strong enough for Lincoln Financial Group, primarily an insurance company, to exit broadcasting.
10/19/07 RBR #205

Don Imus, down on the farm?
The NY Times website is reporting that Don Imus, who will begin broadcasting on WABC-AM NYC in December, is in "serious" discussions with Omaha-based RFD TV, a satellite and cable channel aimed primarily at rural demos and seen in 30 million homes (rfdtv.com).
10/18/07 RBR #204




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