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Another reader has taken on the "Saving Private Ryan" controversy.

What is the big deal? I began my career in radio in 1974. We couldn't say squat then. But now we should be allowed to say anything and everything? Why could they not bleep out the more offensive words? I don't want to subject my children to the seven no-no words on network TV. And I can use those words with the best of them. I just think there is some line in the sand we should draw to have civilized society.

Market Results
| Bakersfield |
| Detroit |
| Philadelphia |
| San Diego |

CC Radio
gets Hispanic sales chief
With Clear Channel Radio expanding its portfolio of Hispanic stations, Raul Calvo has been named Vice President/Director of Sales for Clear Channel Radio Sales Hispanic. In this newly created position, he will manage and oversee CCRS Hispanic sales efforts.

Paragon Media names Davis Director/Music Research
Radio vet Steve Davis joins Paragon Media Strategies as Director of Music Research. Davis will be responsible for the management of all international and national music testing for Paragon's radio clients.

Four upped at Viacom
Viacom Chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone announced the promotion of four key members of the company's senior management team to Executive Vice President, including Carl Folta, head of Corporate Relations; Carol Melton, in charge of Government Relations; William Roskin, who oversees Human Resources and Administration, and Martin Shea, head of Investor Relations. They are all Executive Officers of Viacom, and report directly to Redstone.

New CFO for Liberman
Steven Gramer, formerly of MatchNet Plc, has been named CFO of LBI Media, the parent company of Liberman Broadcasting, succeeding Brett Zane who is leaving for a "non-broadcasting media opportunity."

Sporting News is off the block

NY Times broadcast revenues
soar 30.9%

Broadcast up 4.7% at Tribune

More AMBER Alert success stories

CEA petitions FCC
for faster digital
tuner mandate
In a filing with the FCC last week, the Consumer Electronics Association and the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition urged the FCC to accelerate the digital television (DTV) tuner mandate timetable. Pointing to the unintended consequences of the 50% requirement, CEA and CERC requested that the 100% deadline for DTV tuners in television screen sizes 25" to 36" be accelerated to 3/1/06, thereby speeding the consumer migration to DTV. The current DTV tuner mandate timetable calls for 50% of the TV receivers in the 25" to 36" screen size range to have a digital tuner by 7/1/05. CEA and CERC are petitioning to exchange the 50% requirement for advancing the 100% requirement in this size category up from 7/1/06 to 3/1/06. The associations argue the modification will expedite the planning for and implementation of 100% incorporation of DTV tuners, in providing for a clear date for universal reliance on the DTV technology and components. "The current 50% requirement is antithetical to the Commission's goal of building marketplace demand for broadcast DTV receivers when applied to popular, 25 to 36 inch, screen sizes," said CEA President/CEO Gary Shapiro. "Although initially conceived as a phase-in for the benefit of manufacturers and retailers, in reality it creates uncertainty in the marketplace for each group and slows the ramping up of volume production necessary to bring costs down.

TVBR observation: This is good news, because for years we've been reporting many of the DTV sales numbers issued by CEA weren't really true DTV sets. Most of the sales were digital monitors that had no DTV tuner built in. People would bring the sets home and find they needed to spend even more on a separate DTV tuner set top box. This filing could help accelerate the closing of that gap.

Who Will Sit on the Throne?
The election -What is in it
for Broacasters?

One On One
with PHD's Patrick McNew -
The man that over sees spot
for Chrysler Group.

Engineered For Profit
'05 budgets and capital expenditures, our close up look at who's planning to buy what next year.


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More fun with
radio markets: Part III
"Will grant of this application result in the applicant or any party to this application having a cognizable interest in more than one commercial or noncommercial full-power radio station located in (i.e., having its community of license within) or 'home' to the same metropolitan area (Metro), as defined by Arbitron and reported by BIA?" Thus begins the multiple ownership worksheet for radio on FCC Forms 301, 314 and 315. RBR observation: Our exploration of the new radio market definition regime is not a witch hunt. We are not trying to identify any villains - - not at Arbitron, not at BIA, not at the FCC, not on Capitol Hill, not among station group owners. What we're trying to do is figure out how the new rules are going to play out in real life, after the catalytic multiple ownership filing for a Burlington AM station. Now if you are a fan of Reality programming - this is reality.
11/16/04 RBR #224

Where are multiples these days? Still high - - Part 3
With almost no deal flow in the top markets, it's hard to say what multiples are for cash flowing stations in really large markets - - except that they're high. Most big radio transactions lately have been for sticks, with the buyers having plans that aren't dependent on cash-flow multiples. 11/16/04 RBR #224

Burlington Part II: New rules more whacked than we thought
RBR has argued against the new market definitions for radio since they were first publicly pondered. Contours are real and measurable. Markets, as defined by Arbitron and BIA, are fluid, invented - - often by the station owners - - and often quite arbitrary. The new definition, which is supposed to clamp down on excessive ownership concentration and promote localism, incredibly, may in fact do the opposite.
RBR observation: If you have an interest in the rules of the road for radio ownership, we strongly advise that you RBR through this maze daily. Your stations, ywour future and your problem. RBR stand by our radio business. 11/15/04 RBR #223

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