RBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Volume 24, Issue 229, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Monday Morning November 26th, 2007

Radio News ®

PPM helping some,
hurting others
Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby says Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) is producing higher ratings for some groups, while hurting others. You may be surprised, though, to learn that one of the winners from Jacoby's analysis of Summer 2007 ratings trends is Cox Radio, whose CEO, Bob Neil, is the radio industry's undisputed critic in chief as far as PPM is concerned. Jacoby says Cox Radio's revenue weighted ratings (Adults 25-54) were up 0.5% year-over-year in the Summer book. That's because of a jump of about 40% for the Cox cluster in Houston. "Rock and Oldies formats have shown to have the largest lift in this market, of which Cox Radio owns two of the four stations in these formats," Jacoby wrote in his analysis piece. If you exclude Houston, the only PPM "currency" market thus far for Cox, the company's ratings were down 3.1%.

Clear Channel Radio also has two Rock stations in Houston and got a 32% ratings boost there. But if you exclude the two PPM markets, Houston and Philadelphia, Clear Channel was down 0.3%. CBS was also a winner with PPM, although Jacoby calls that a "partial lift" from the Houston and Philadelphia markets, since the company also got a big boost from the return to Oldies of WCBS-FM in New York, which was still in diary measurement for the Summer book. CBS Radio's ratings were up 2.1% overall, but only 1.2% excluding the PPM markets. Radio One was up 2.1%, mainly due to a continuing ratings recovery in LA, but would have been up 3.7% excluding the PPM markets. Univision Radio gained 5.6% overall, but would have been up slightly more, 5.7%, excluding the PPM markets. "PPM seems to provide a 'lift' to station ratings of select formats (such as Rock & Oldies), and, as expected, is a detriment to station ratings of Urban & Hispanic formats. As such, Radio One and Emmis have the largest percentage of revenues at risk with the rollout of PPM," Jacoby told clients.

Clock ticking for buyouts
A few months ago private equity buyouts were all the rage. Univision had been bought, Clear Channel and Cumulus Media announced private equity buyout deals and Tribune announced a going-private twist that will have Chicago billionaire Sam Zell and a new Employee Stock Ownership Plan buyout the public shareholders of Tribune Company. Then something unexpected hit - something unrelated to the private equity business - a credit crunch brought on by major write-offs by big investment funds for their plays in subprime mortgages. Clear Channel and Tribune had planned to close their buyouts by the end of this year, but Wall Street has become cautious. There appear to be no impediments to winning regulatory approvals of the Clear Channel buyout and it has already been overwhelmingly approved by shareholders, but the company's stock has been trading more than five bucks below the 39.20 buyout price, obviously based on financing fears. If the buyout doesn't close by New Year's Eve, shareholders will begin receiving interest to be paid at closing. It's not just financing fears affecting Tribune's stock price, but FCC Chairman Kevin Martin holding up needed crossownership waivers to push for approval by fellow Commissioners of his proposal to dump the rule for the top 20 markets, which would eliminate the need for most of the Tribune waivers. Tribune's stock has been trading more than four bucks below the 34 bucks buyout price, which will also begin accruing interest come New Year's Day. Cumulus Media's buyout proposal is the newest of the bunch and isn't expected to close until early 2008. The shareholders vote has not yet been scheduled and there don't appear to be any regulatory issues. What has made Wall Street nervous about the buyout is that the private equity fund involved, alongside the Dickey family, is run by Merrill Lynch, whose CEO was recently pushed out after the company took huge loan write-offs. Cumulus' stock has been trading more than two bucks below the buyout price of 11.75 per share.

RBR observation: Who said arbitrage was easy? Despite indications that the financing is firm for the Clear Channel and Cumulus buyouts, Wall Street is pricing significant risk into their trading prices. It is highly unlikely that Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital will try to renegotiate the Clear Channel price, since they had to bid it up to win shareholder approval. So it looks like easy, short-term profits to buy the stock well below 39.20 and wait for the closing. But if the buyout somehow does crater in this turbulent credit market, who knows how low the stock price could fall? The Cumulus buyout is moving ahead, but how much worse could the credit situation become before it is scheduled to close? And Tribune really carries a big "if" for speculators. What if the FCC just sits and does nothing - no rule change and also no action on waivers? Step two of the two-part buyout could just stay in limbo indefinitely.

Radio vet tries
to checkmate dereg
Further illuminating the fuzzy lines of division when it comes to the issue of media ownership is John Rook, former DJ, program director and station owner, and current consultant and commentator on radio and media issues. Discussing the proposal of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to undo cross-ownership restrictions in the top 20 markets, he said, "Chairman Martin's desire to expand deregulation assumes newspapers are doomed and that only a print/broadcast combination can save them. In fact, a serious review of content could do wonders for both newspapers and broadcast. Under the total control of bean counters, deregulation of the media thus far has reduced the coverage of news and given the public fewer choices. More competition, not further deregulation is needed." The remarks were made on his blog at JohnRook.com. Rook even labeled Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein "the two sane commissioners." Noting that thousands of citizens have called for no further dereg, Rook suggested to Martin that "The public has spoken, as Judge Judy would say, 'Put on your listening ears, Kevin,'" including the helpful photo depiction of what that might look like.

RBR observation: On Capitol Hill, Democrats are generally against further dereg -- the opposition is more even more wall-to-wall now than before, since the fairly recent departure of John Breaux (D-LA). Many Republicans have crossed over the aisle to join them. The NAB has come out in favor of loosening cross-ownership restrictions, easing rules for TV combos and perhaps lifting radio caps in the largest markets, but it hasn't been giving these issues a huge push. Free marketeer and Commissioner Robert McDowell just went public wondering why broadcasters aren't asking for more freedom, all while some, like broadcasters Rook and Jim Goodmon, and newspaper owners like Frank Blethen, have come out in opposition to further deregulation, showing that even within the industry there is a divide.

The bottom line, it seems to us, is that according to the Third Circuit remand, Martin could have tried to go for the entire 6/2/03 deregulatory package. All he needs is better underpinnings to justify the rules. Rather than do that, Martin is attempting a partial implementation of a one portion of 6/2/03, and in view of the fact that the Third Circuit practically gave its own blessings to such combinations, you'd think the necessary underpinnings wouldn't be too hard to come by. However, watchdog Free Press has found a chink in the FCC's own study, that such combos take the wind out of would-be in-market news competitors, and resistance to even Martin's modest proposal appears to be stiffening. All of which should make for an interesting close to 2007.

Localism, 17-year cicadas: What's the difference?
That's what Harry F. Cole and Patrick Murck of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth are wondering. In an FCC filing, they said that localism and cicadas "Both emerge after periods of dormancy lasting more than a decade, both generate considerable noise during their emergence, both tend to result in messes requiring clean-up activities well after each emergence has ended, and neither accomplishes much at all, other than to lay the groundwork for the next emergence." They argue that the FCC "...is under no external compulsion to take action in this area -- and therefore, it can simply decline to act, if it so chooses." They say that the periodic calls for more localism have sometimes resulted in reporting requirements, but these turn out to be "increased make-work chores for broadcasters and Commission staff alike..." and that "...virtually all of those make-work chores have been abandoned..." since the 1981 deregulation movement. They say it's impossible to link any problems of any kind to the abandonment. They note the futility of reporting requirements due to the Commission's reluctance to do anything even in the face of clear evidence of local inadequacy. They cite the case of a 24/7 shop-at-home station, the sole station in its city-of-license, which did not bother to interrupt its schedule of uninterrupted commercials even during a serious earthquake. Its license was challenged, a viable alternate licensee was presented and still the license was renewed. They also mention the fabled Minot incident, saying that a local owner would not necessarily have performed better and further, the very isolated nature of the story indicates that "some 15,000 broadcast stations" must be doing an adequate or better job during such emergencies.

Executive Comment

Radio Advisory Council chair
responds to Arbitron
Steve Sinicropi, Chairman of the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council and VP/GM of Cox Radio Greenville, sent RBR this response to the comments published Wednesday from Arbitron VP Thom Mocarsky (11/21/07 RBR #228):

Mr. Mocarsky's comments as published today are an attempt to rewrite history and to try to deflect the responsibility for Arbitron's performance predicament from Arbitron to the Arbitron Advisory Council. The council demanded MRC accreditation for PPM prior to roll out of Houston as currency. This was a line in the sand. Because of the differences in methodology for all markets other than Houston, the Council asked for MRC accreditation in Philadelphia prior to release as currency. Arbitron unilaterally decided that an MRC audit was satisfactory for Philadelphia prior to release as currency. Arbitron positions the methodological differences between Houston and Philadelphia as a more of tweak than a major change and assured the Council that concerns over differences were unwarranted. Obviously Arbitron was wrong.
| More Sinicropi comment |

Steve Sinicropi VP/GM
Cox Radio Greenville
WMMZ-FM/WHTZ-FM

Ad Business Report TM

Anheuser-Busch
to go against microbrews
Anheuser-Busch is retooling its marketing strategy amid sluggish sales and intensifying competition, reports a WSJ story. A-B plans to pour more money next year into television advertisements for four core brands-Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob and Michelob Ultra-and to reduce spending on smaller brands like Bud Select and Rolling Rock. New campaigns will place increased emphasis on the ingredients in its beers and how they're brewed. The effort is aimed at shifts in consumer tastes, including greater preference for small-batch "craft" beers and imports. Anheuser's U.S. sales to retailers grew less than 1% through the first nine months of this year, and much of the increase was from newer products, such as a lineup of European brews it began importing in the spring. For the Michelob family of brands, new ads created by Euro RSCG Worldwide highlight the traditional way Anheuser brews the beer, a European-style lager with hops grown in Germany. Anheuser will spend about 30 million on the new campaign, the story said. Anheuser also plans to spend 70 million more than it has this year on ads for Bud Light and Budweiser, particularly in the summer. Budweiser spots have already begun to emphasize the beer's heritage, with the tagline "the great American lager."

Media Business Report TM

New Hampshire sets date for presidential primary
New Hampshire set January 8 as the date for its primary vote in the U.S. presidential election. "It's earlier than we had imagined not too long ago, but first and foremost we are going to preserve the New Hampshire primary and this will let us do that," New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner said at a news conference. The change means the January 8 primary is the earliest in the history of New Hampshire, which has held the first primary in every presidential campaign since 1920.

Democratic candidates
won't cross picket lines
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards announced Wednesday he and wife Elizabeth have canceled a visit this week on ABC's "The View" because of the CBS News writers strike. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NY) also said they would withdraw from CBS News' presidential debate on 12/10, if CBS news writers go out on strike. The Obama campaign said in a statement: "If CBS News is unable to reach an agreement with its workers and they decide to strike, Barack Obama will not cross the picket line to attend the debate." "It is my hope that both sides will reach an agreement that results in a secure contract for the workers at CBS News, but let me be clear: I will honor the picket line if the workers at CBS News decide to strike," Clinton said.

RBR note: For an update on Day 22 of the WGA Strike see this morning's TVBR.

Media Markets & Money TM

Greenwood AM resold
WABG-AM Greenwood MS is headed for Stephen C. Lavere, Bennie J. Welles and William O. Luckett SPB LLC for 12K, according to documents filed with the FCC. 10K of that will be put down in advance, with the remainder being paid at closing. A transaction calling for its 60K sale back in 2004 apparently never came to fruition. Beverly B. Poston, listed as principal of the seller, earlier this summer sold WABG-TV (Greenwood MS, ABC Ch. 6) to Commonwealth Broadcasting Group Inc. for 5.1M. The television station was licensed Mississippi Broadcasting Partners, a subsidiary of Bahakel Communications.

Close encounter in Indiana
Radio One's sale of WLRX-FM Charleston IN to Bob Ausburg's WAY FM Media Group is a done deal. According to broker Greg Guy of Patrick Communications, the price was 1M. Star Media Group also had a hand in the deal sending the station, across the river from Louisville, to noncommercial WAY.

New firm targets troubled private equity deals
Over the past few years, private equity firms have invested in acquisitions of quite a few radio stations. Many of those investments have been successful, but veteran broadcaster Dex Allen figures a few have run into problems and need some help. To that end, he and some associates have launched the Broadcast Resource Group (BRG). Allen, Jim Shea, Cindy Weiner Schloss and Dennis Goodman have more than 100 years of broadcast management experience. They say the new company offers "a complete menu of services with everything from Programming Consulting Contractors to Engineers for special projects...from station diagnostics to a full blown transitional management plan." Additionally, BRG has experience with and access to private equity capital if the situation warrants. Allen is at [email protected] or 858-756-6388.

Washington Business Report TM

Revolving door on loopholes
Campaign finance and advertising rules have been in flux ever since enactment of the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) was passed, as the FEC struggled to transform the BCRA into actual regulations and various segments have been challenged and reversed in the courts. The big loophole from 2004, 527 organizations like MoveOn.org and Club for Growth has not only been closed, groups operating under what seemed to be the rules of the road for 527s have been getting nailed with huge fines for behaving, in fact, like political action committees (PACs). The latest is The Media Fund, which used soft money donations from unions or corporations prohibited from contributing to a PAC. In fact, that's where 93% of its funding came from, and it'll cost TMF 580K. Meanwhile, a new huge loophole has been opened, thanks to this year's Supreme Court ruling on the Wisconsin Right to Life case. Groups wishing to buy time or space to discuss political issues may do so at will whether there is an election going on or not. WRtL wanted to run ads seeking Senate support for the judicial nominations of President Bush within the pre-election black-out period, and they wanted to specifically mention Russ Feingold (D-WI). Proponents of BCRA deemed such ads to be a thinly-veiled attack on Feingold, but the Supremes held that WRtL was within its rights to discuss the issue, even though there were no judicial nominations before the Senate at that time.

RBR observation: So 527s are out, but any group or individual with money and a bone to pick can buy time or space whenever they want, so long as they address an "issue" and do not advocate the election or defeat of any specific candidate. It remains to be seen if this will result in another opening of the campaign cash floodgates -- odds are it will.

Broadcasters gather support in House
The issue is the battle over performance royalties. A bipartisan slate of Representatives is on board a bill sponsored by Gene Green (D-TX) and Mike Conaway (R-TX), called the "Local Radio Freedom Act," which would halt the attempt to impose a new fee which broadcasters think of as a performance tax in recognition of the vast promotional value recording companies get from free radio airplay. 53 lawmakers were on board when the bill was introduced, and the number of co-sponsors as of 11/20/07 has swelled to 104. Meanwhile, the Music First Coalition is offering to promote items from the NAB Store, such as NAB T-shirts and wine charms, rather than use cash to buy them, since the promotional value is just as good. "According to the NAB, playing a song on the AM and FM dial is more than enough compensation for the hard work and talent of the performers, background singers and session musicians who bring the music to life." To reciprocate, Music First has placed a downloadable NAB coupon on its website and hopes that NAB will honor it.

RBR observation: Instead of repairing its business model, the recording industry is grasping wildly in whichever direction it thinks there may be some loose cash. Funny how this wasn't such a big issue until the internet caught the industry napping on its business model. At a recent Senate hearing it appeared that there was bipartisan support for doing something, so this is another one of those communications issues which defy normal party and ideological boundaries, but at the very least, the senators seemed to consider the issue to be complex and destined for the slow track. As for Music First, musicians have our sympathy, but it is our belief that their bone of contention is with the labels, not broadcasters. Airplay does drive sales, while according to many accounts the artist/label relationship is in serious need of repair. What about legislation preventing labels from using copyright ownership as a bargaining chip when negotiating a contract with a new act -- that might help musicians enjoy the fruits of their labors more than a trickle from performance fees.

Entertainment Business Report TM

Monticello Media adds local staff
Monticello Media Charlottesville, VA announced the addition of on-air hosts to its newest radio stations. Market vet Vinnie Kice returns to the 102.3 and 94.1 FM frequencies today where he most recently spent over three years as the morning host. Now Kice returns as afternoon host of the new generations 102.3 & 94.1. He's been working behind the scenes as OM for Monticello Media. Mark Milleson, another Charlottesville vet returns as mid-day host on generations 102.3 & 94.1. The new Tom @ 107.5 also gets its first air person today with the addition of Kerry James who will be hosting afternoons. Since closing on the purchase of what was previously the Clear Channel stations on 10/4, Monticello Media has launched two new FM stations; [email protected], Generations 102.3 & 94.1, added the a live, local morning show featuring Joe Thomas to NewsTalk 1260 AM WCHV, hired news director, Melissa Neeley, and now added additional air staff. The Monticello stations include WCHV, Country 99.7 WCYK, Hot 101.9 WHTE, SportsRadio 1400 WKAV, generations 102.3 & 94.1, and [email protected] WWTJ. Monticello has no other holdings outside Charlottesville.

Internet Business Report TM

Jetcast partners with Spacial Audio for Internet radio
Streaming provider Jetcast announced additional available products to radio stations including SAM Broadcaster software automation and StreamAds spot insertion, both provided by Special Audio of Austin. StreamAds software allows multiple ad sources to be automatically inserted into a stream and targeted to specific demo. SAM automation manages all program elements including music, promos, voice tracks, and commercials on a software platform from on a single computer. It also handles CRB-mandated song reporting and spot insertion.

Ratings & Research

Black Friday promotions stoke sales of
electronics, jewelry, clothing, toys
As retailers rushed to put the final touches on their stores before pre-dawn openings on Black Friday, consumers left their houses early to stand in line and be the first to welcome in the official start of the holiday shopping season. "Retailers knew they had to offer promotions enticing enough to get shoppers out of bed on a chilly day, and they delivered," said NRF CEO Tracy Mullin. In addition to shopping in malls and stand-alone retail stores, NRF is also expecting consumers to flood retailers' websites today. According to Shop.org, a division of NRF, 72.2% of online retailers are planning a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 42.7% just two years ago. More than 400 special offers will be featured on CyberMonday.com, a one-stop shop for consumers looking for the best Cyber Monday deals. According to ShopperTrak, which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3% to about 10.3 billion on Friday, compared with 9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. NRF estimates that holiday sales will rise 4% this year to 474.5 billion. NRF's holiday sales forecast is based on an economic model using indicators like housing data, unemployment and previous monthly retail sales reports and includes retail industry sales from November and December.

Monday Morning Makers & Shakers

Transactions: 10/8/07-10/12/07
Believe it or not, this is not the weakest trading week of the year. That honor goes to the last full week of April, when a mere two filed deals came home at under 1.5M. But take a look -- it's plenty weak enough.

10/8/07-10/12/07	Total
Total Deals	6
AMs	3
FMs	4
TVs	0
Value	4.4M

| Complete Charts |

Radio Transactions of the Week
Metroplex niche AM takes top honors
| More... |

TV Transactions of the Week
TV remains on break

Transactions

230K WTXY-AM Whiteville NC from Milliken Broadcasting LLC (Jeffrey Milliken) to Partners Media Group LLC (Eric Andrew Braun). 11.5K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 11/5/07.]

20K FM CP Florida Keys (Key West FL) from Public Radio Inc. (Earlyne Lund) to Educational Public Radio Inc. (William R. Lacy, John A. Belcher, Dan Lacy III). Cash. CP is for Class C1 on 89.1 MHz with 50 kw @ 495'. [File date 11/1/07.]

N/A KCOY-TV Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo CA (Santa Maria CA) from Ackerley Broadcasting Operations LLC, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications Inc. (Mark Mays) to Aloha Station Trust LLC (Jeanette Tully). Placed in trust pending transaction. [File date 11/9/07.]

Stock Talk

Black Friday was a good day
Shoppers lined up to pay for gifts and traders lined up to buy stocks on "Black Friday," the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. The boost on Wall Street, despite the usual post-Thanksgiving low volume, was attributed to indications that retail sales were getting a strong kickoff and a Wall Street Journal report of major banks putting together a "superfund" to shore up the credit markets. The Dow Industrials rose 182 points, or 1.4%, to 12,981.

Radio stocks had a good day. The Radio Index was up 3.792, or 3.8%, to 104.873, bouncing off Wednesday's nine-year low. Radio One saw its Class A jump 16.2% and Class D 15.1%. Emmis rose 6.3%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Friday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		50.59	-0.33	Google	GOOG		676.70	+16.18
Beasley	BBGI		7.00	+0.05	Hearst-Argyle	HTV		19.35	+0.21
CBS CI. B	CBS		26.58	+0.68	Journal Comm.	JRN		8.92	+0.18
CBS CI. A	CBSa		26.56	+0.51	Lincoln Natl.	LNC		59.76	+2.21
Citadel	CDL		2.27	+0.04	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		2.29	+0.32
Clear Channel	CCU		33.68	+0.30	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		2.29	+0.30
Cox Radio	CXR		12.64	+0.67	Regent	RGCI		1.93	-0.13
Cumulus	CMLS		8.88	+0.23	Saga Commun.	SGA		7.08	+0.03
Debut Bcg.	DBTB		0.80	unch	Salem Comm.	SALM		8.00	+0.23
Disney	DIS		31.84	+0.34	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		3.46	-0.03
Emmis	EMMS		4.24	+0.25	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		1.91	+0.05
Entercom	ETM		17.82	+0.60	SWMX	SMWX		0.01	unch
Entravision	EVC		7.85	+0.23	Westwood One	WON		1.97	+0.10
Fisher	FSCI		43.01	-0.03	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		14.02	-0.01

Bounceback

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

Below the Fold

Executive Comment
Radio Advisory Council chair responds to Arbitro, Steve Sinicropi,
Mr. Mocarsky's comments as published today are an attempt to rewrite history...

Media Markets & Money
Greenwood AM resold
WABG-AM is headed for SPB LLC for 12K, 10K of that will be put down in advance...

Washington Business Report
Revolving door on loopholes
Campaign finance and advertising rules have been in flux...

Shakers & Makers
Transactions
Radio Metroplex niche AM takes honors

Stations for Sale

Seller Financing Available
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Buy or Lease Studios, Tower
Gordon Rice Associates
(843) 884-3590
or E-mail Gordon Rice

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Contact
June Barnes
[email protected]

Radio Media Moves

Two take seats
Carey P. Hendrickson, Senior Vice President/Chief Accounting Officer for Belo Corp., and Brian M. Madden, Esq., a Member of Leventhal Senter & Lerman, PLLC, have been elected to the Board of Directors for the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM) and its Broadcast Cable Credit Association (BCCA) subsidiary. Hendrickson will complete the term of Ali Engel, Vice President/Controller of Belo (who will go with the publishing side in the pending company split), and Madden will complete the term of Linda Feldmann, a Member at Leventhal Senter & Lerman who has asked to step down.

More News Headlines

XM/Sirius gains traction, suffers attack
The Wall Street Journal says that residents of its famous financial boulevard are becoming more and more inclined to believe that the once-doubtful wedding of DARS services XM and Sirius may actually come to pass. The DOJ is expected to weigh in on the matter soon, with the FCC to follow. According to WSJ, XM/Sirius have overcome natural objections through a campaign to redefine the competitive landscape, pitting the services against a wide variety of audio delivery regimes rather than solely one against the other -- an argument aided and abetted by this year's court decision in favor of a merger between organic grocery firms Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Markets. Meanwhile, they've fed the a la carte desires of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin by offering various tiered packages and others which allow limited subscriber channel selection options. Opposition to the merger remains in place, however. Regulatory answers should be out soon. Meanwhile, minority-owned Georgetown Partners is requesting access to at least 20% of the merged party's capacity to provide continuing competition and diversity. They say that XM/Sirius is misrepresenting the record of support and opposition to the merger in FCC filings, and that the proponents fail to address the fact that nobody has opposed Georgetown's solution to fundamental flaws in the merger proposal. Georgetown says another big consideration is that it can be counted on to provide family-oriented programming, which Sirius puts at risk "...in light of Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin's long track record of promoting programming considered by the FCC to be indecent and his championing of Howard Stern."

CCTTN expands into
10 more markets
CC Radio's Total Traffic Network (CCTTN) announced that it will further expand its delivery of real-time traffic data over RDS-TMC (Radio Data System Traffic Message Channel) on 12/1 with the addition of Baton Rouge, LA; Colorado Springs, CO; Des Moines, IA; Ft. Pierce, FL; Greenville, SC; Harrisburg, PA; Huntsville, AL; Lexington, KY; Madison, WI and Tulsa, OK. Coverage will now span 80 metros.

Hope rises for
October outcome
A few days ago, CL King analyst Jim Boyle was predicting that October radio revenues would come in down 5% from a year ago (11/19/07 RBR #226). Now, though, he has revised that to only a 3% drop, which is in line with the consensus view. "The long-time weakness in the top 25 markets persists with a slightly negative average, but the final markets' data came in at more encouraging levels. Mid markets averaged a 6% decrease and smaller markets were off an average of 2%," Boyle said.

BEA scholarships awarded
Thirteen students from twelve different campuses were awarded scholarships in the Broadcast Education Association's 2008-2009 competition. The winners were selected by the BEA Scholarship Committee at its Fall meeting in Washington, DC. BEA scholarships are awarded to outstanding students for study on campuses that are institutional members of the organization. The 2009-2010 competition begins on January 15, 2008. Here are the scholarship recipients, announced by committee chair Pete Orlik:

Abe Voron Scholarships
* Adam Cavalier, Marshall University
* Meagan Hachey, New England School of Communications

Walter Patterson Scholarships
* Laura Schnitker, University of Maryland
* Mallory Lyn Thompson, George Washington University

Harold Fellows Scholarships
* Laura Donaldson, Ball State University
* Caitlin Mallory, University of Montana
* Susan Plungis, Ohio University
* Seth Tober, Indiana University

Vincent Wasilewski Scholarship
* Thomas Ksiazek, Northwestern University
* Alexander Tanger Scholarship
* Jill Irwin, DePauw University

Helen Sioussat/
Fay Wells Scholarships
* Alissa Griffith, Ohio University
* Aaron Jones, Southern Illinois University/Carbondale

BEA Two Year/Community
College Scholarship
* Lisa Schleef, Parkland College/Eastern Illinois University

TVBR - TV News

What one advocate is looking for in leased access
Attorney Dan Margolis of Leibowitz & Associates PA has been representing the interests minority programs in their attempt to improve access to the nation's cable channel lineups, and viewed the plank on that topic at tomorrow's Open Meeting with interest. "If the Commission makes changes to its rules that level the playing field for leased access programmers with respect to their negotiations with cable operators, these changes will represent the greatest advance that minority and local programmers could make in efficiently obtaining meaningful video outlets to serve their communities," he said. Specifically, he's looking for "reduction in rates and the removal of procedural roadblocks that are artificially implemented by cable operators." Margolis says the Commission "must clarify what terms are considered to be commercially reasonable within the context of leased access agreements," and "address the negotiation process between cable operators and leased access programmers to ensure that there is a requirement that the negotiations are conducted as expeditiously as possible and that the contracts are not merely adhesion contracts unilaterally imposed by the cable operators."

TVBR observation: This is a cable question at the moment. But watch out -- in a digital multichannel world, it could soon become a broadcast question, and a broadcast/cable question, as well.

RBR Radar 2007

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

Arbitron says clients
were involved in PPM all along
Arbitron CEO Steve Morris' proposal to have President of Sales and Marketing Pierre Bouvard meet with the four radio group heads demanding immediate changes to improve PPM in-tab performance (11/20/07 RBR #227) didn't do much to placate the angry broadcasters. They've already signed PPM contracts and they want Arbitron to deliver what was promised. There was also some astonishment at Morris' reference to past debates over "trade-offs vs. cost," with the broadcasters asking what debates he was talking about, since they and the Radio Advisory Council weren't involved. Arbitron Sr. VP Thom Mocarsky late Tuesday explained to RBR what Morris was referring to. (Complete details in RBR)

RBR observation: Arbitron is under attack now on numerous fronts and it remains to be seen how the company can simultaneously put out all these fires and continue full-tilt on its PPM roll-out schedule. In addition to the four major broadcasters demanding changes, Arbitron has agreed to have another independent analysis of PPM to answer claims by NABOB, civil rights groups and the New York City Council that PPM undercounts minority listeners. Meanwhile, there is no sign that Media Ratings Council (MRC) accreditation of PPM in Philadelphia or New York is at hand. The ultra-secretive MRC hasn't said what the holdup is, but there are whispers that telephone recruiting for PPM panelists isn't passing muster. That's what is being used in Philly and New York - and all future markets under the Arbitron plan. Houston alone has MRC accreditation for PPM - the only market where a different recr! uitment method, based on addresses, is used. It is more expensive and dates back to Arbitron's unsuccessful effort to interest Nielsen in a joint venture to use PPM for both radio and TV measurement. We have to wonder if Arbitron set the bar in Houston and now the MRC won't let them lower it.
11/21/07 RBR #228

Morris wants to talk trade-offs
Arbitron has yet to say anything publicly about the letter sent last week by four large radio groups demanding larger sample sizes to get PPM in-tabs up to targets (11/16/07 RBR #225), but RBR has received a copy of an email that Arbitron CEO Steve Morris sent to the four group heads. In it, Morris proposes having Arbitron President of Sales and Marketing Pierre Bouvard meet with them to hear just what they want in the new ratings service "and how you would rebalance the trade-offs." Morris's email stated that "trade-offs vs. costs" were among the things discussed extensively during the time that PPM was being developed. "It seems clear from your letter, however, that we need to go back and revisit previous assumptions about how the! service is to be built, and to make sure that we are doing this in a way that serves your needs," At least one of the broadcasters is not impressed by the response from Morris, and that is Cox Radio's Bob Neil who puts it on the line in an email sent to RBR. "We don't need to have a meeting.."

RBR observation: Have to agree with this statement from Bob Neil, "Again, I stress....no one is fighting electronic measurement. That train is gone." The time is right now to slow this train down before there is a massive accident which will not be pretty to watch. From the seat we are sitting in the legal department at Arbitron is working overtime. Recommend for all to read the email as this issue is not going away any time soon. Read the email in this issue page of RBR.
11/20/07 RBR #227

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