In observance of the Thanksgiving Day Holiday, RBR morning E-paper
will not be run on November 25 and 26, 2004. Back Monday, November 29th.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and your families.
Welcome to RBR's Daily Epaper
Volume 21, Issue 230, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
Wednesday Morning November 24th, 2004
Branding Honor Salute
RBR Observation-First
Close-up: "American Dreams" sponsorship included touching Ford Mustang film; we speak to Ford's Rich Stoddart
Ford sent consumers a heartfelt family message this holiday season with a special episode of NBC's hit drama "American Dreams." This is one great program with executive producer and radio pro Dick Clark. Just the technology of using Black & White footage of Clark, the real Bandstand and the script writing is excellent. If you did not view this episode then you missed one of the best events in TV this season. The biggest mark being missed is local radio and local NBC affiliates not working together to cross-market, promo and sell.

NBC in Hollywood worked close with Ford to pull this off and not just by making a pit stop call in Detroit. American Dreams broke new programming technology ground and NBC the wiser for picking up the series. Again, the program is the one network program that has earned the distinction of Innovator and Quality programming content.
Rich Stoddart, Ford Division marketing communications manager this all came together for American Dreams - Branding: "American Dreams developed on multiple fronts. It began with a media discussion in the upfront television season with the network to say: 1. 'What can we do that's different, that's interesting? The world of media is changing'. 2. And they brought us! this idea of sponsoring the fall season finale-commercial-free, brought to you by Ford.

Congratulations to NBC, Dick Clark Productions, and Ford. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and truly this year is a reason for us all to give thanks. Question, want to know How it was done?

This is a must read and view. | More... |

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Radio News®

Viacom/FCC 3.5M deal leaves
Nipplegate in dispute
Viacom has followed the trail blazed by Clear Channel and Emmis, making a large payment to the US Treasury in return for a clean bill from the FCC in regards to numerous pending indecency actions. Pointedly, however, the consent decree does not include the 550K NAL regarding the Super Bowl halftime incident which aired on Viacom's CBS Television Network and was produced by its MTV basic cable franchise. As in the other consent decrees, this will bring to an end any indecency actions in the pipeline, as well as several which have been kicking around the Commission going back as far as 3/2/2001. Among them is the 357.5K fine of 10/2/03 resulting from the infamous St. Patrick's Cathedral incident. In addition to the contribution to the general fund, Viacom promised to install and use delay equipment at all of its stations, and to conduct company-wide training on the FCC's indecency regulations. It also admitted that some of th! e broadcasts for which it has been fined were indeed actionably indecent. All five Commissioners supported the move. Michael Copps even eschewed his habitual dissent, but still expressed his concern that the FCC has been down this road before with Infinity, back before it was acquired by Viacom, and now it's on the same path again. "Going forward, I urge my colleagues to accord prompt and vigorous attention to any future listener or viewer complaints against this licensee," he said.

RBR observation: The total amount of Viacom's existing indecency vulnerability which had been previously announced amounts to 440K and change, according to the terms of the Decree, so there must be quite a bit as yet under the radar to make this look like a good deal to the powers that be at Viacom. For one thing, the undropped other shoe regarding Howard Stern - - Clear Channel was hit for half a million bucks for a show on just six stations, with nary a peep as to Viacom's bill - - will be whisked away without anyone ever seeing what the pricetag was going to be for Sumner Redstone and all the other Stern stablemates. We just heard Les Moonves tell David Letterman that Viacom was going to fight the Janet Jackson fine about a week ago, and this certainly confirms the veracity of that statement. However, we thought Viacom was going to fight the entire body of indecency regulation. We were very interested in seeing how well the rules would hold up under careful judicial scrutiny. It is certainly not Viacom's job or responsibility to wage that war on its own. Nevertheless, we are disappointed that such review seems likely to have been evaded for now.

WQAM Miami faces 55K indecency fine
Beasley's WQAM-AM Miami is the latest radio station to be hit with a proposed indecency fine by the FCC. The Commission wants the station to pay the maximum allowable fine of 55,000 bucks for broadcasts of the "Scott Ferrall Show" in morning drive on September 9th and 10th of 2003. According to a listener's complaint, Ferrall threatened a caller with being sent to prison, where he would be raped and sodomized - - and that while he was in prison Ferrall would "stuff his package into the caller's wife's mouth" and "do her daily." The listener didn't supply a tape or transcript and Beasley didn't have one either, but the FCC stuck by the listener's version of events and said the broadcast was indecent, rejecting Beasley's argument that the Commission's indecency standard is "unconstitutionally vague and overbroad." The vo! te for the fine was unanimous, but two commissioners had more to say on the matter. Michael Copps noted Beasley's argument that it shouldn't be convicted without a tape or transcript as justification for his plan to mandate taping by all broadcasters and Kevin Martin said WQAM should have drawn a bigger fine, with each utterance treated as a separate violation. Ferrall's show no longer airs on WQAM - - he was replaced by Howard Stern.

Three TV shows beat indecency rap
Episodes of "Keen Eddie," "Coupling" and "Off Centre" which were targets of indecency complaints have been let off the hook, although for two of them, it was by a 3-2 split decision among the five FCC commissioners. The dissenting commissioners were Democrat Michael Copps and Republican Kevin Martin. Republican Kathleen Abernathy and Democrat Jonathan Adelstein reluctantly supported the exoneration. Republican Chairman Michael Powell supported the moves but offered no comment. | More... |


Dan Rather leaving anchor chair
Just days before Tom Brokaw turns the "NBC Nightly News" anchor chair over to Brian Williams, Dan Rather has announced that he too is stepping down. He'll exit the anchor chair for the "CBS Evening News" next March 9th - - 24 years after taking over from Walter Cronkite.

RBR observation: CBS has been #3 for some time now in the evening news horserace - - and that's despite having surged to #1 with its primetime schedule. With #1 NBC changing horses as Brokaw voluntarily retires from the daily grind, it's obvious that a fresh face at CBS could help the Eye net capitalize on its primetime success and increase viewership of its newscast. There's no indication that Peter Jennings, who age-wise is between Rather and Brokaw, has any intention of following them into retirement anytime soon, so ABC may hope to grab the #1 spot by emphasizing stability while its competitors are in the midst of change. We always preferred Rather the reporter (despite the 60 Minutes debacle) to Rather the an! chor - - so we hope he'll continue to be the hard-hitting, combative journalist that we've all learned to love and sometimes hate. Perhaps CBS should put him back on the White House beat for a while. Now, wouldn't that be something to see! | More... |

Attacking Powell becoming a cottage industry
Tom Shales, TV critic at the Washington Post, has had it in for FCC Chairman Michael Powell for some time now. In the past, he has frequently taken potshots at Powell in the course of his coverage of one TV event of another. Finally, in the Sunday 11/21/04 issue of the paper, he went for broke with a full-length article called "Michael Powell Exposed: The FCC Chairman Has No Clothes." Within a couple of days, Renee Graham of the Boston Globe had joined in on the fun.

RBR observation: We have all kinds of problems with the current war on indecency. Still, it's a little hard for us to lay all of this on Michael Powell alone. We've seen the lynching party on Capitol Hill up close and personal, and almost everyone there is equally eager to 1) throw a noose around the broadcasting industry's collective neck and 2) grill Powell on why he isn't doing anything about it. Powell almost has no choice but to go after alleged indecent broadcasts ferociously. Given that, why shouldn't he go ahead to the front of the parade? | More... |

:60s vs. :30s: The pros and cons of
"shortening the standard" - - Part 1
Part of Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan's "Less is More" edict to reduce commercial clutter includes a push to reduce the standard :60 spot ad length down to :30. :30, of course, is the standard length for TV spots and network radio as well. The thinking is listeners' attention spans are shorter and radio should strive for messages that fit with listeners' fast-paced lifestyles. It's billed as an effort to respond to client and agency feedback on commercial clutter and issues of concern. | More... |


Adbiz©

Office Depot effort puts spotlight on
"Gifts that mean business"

Just in time for the holidays, Office Depot has compiled a list of the Top 100 Gifts for businesspeople. The list covers a wide spectrum of products ranging from digital cameras and printers to leather padfolios and exclusive Christopher Lowell accessories. Dubbed Gifts That Mean Business, the list and its accompanying integrated marketing campaign highlight Office Depot's commitment to helping customers find the perfect present for the businesspeople in their lives - whether they are a client, co-worker, employee or boss.
| More... |

EU commission says WPP-Grey merger files incomplete
Files submitted to the EU's merger regulator seeking approval for UK-based WPP to buy U.S. rival Grey Global are incomplete, the EU's executive Commission said on Tuesday. The Commission declared the firms' notification incomplete. That means they will have to re-file a full notification, after which its one-month merger review process will start again. WPP Group Plc's proposed 1.31 billion purchase, equally divided in cash and shares, would put it on a par with the world's largest advertising company Omnicom. WPP and Grey's combined 2003 revenues would have been 8.637 billion.


Media Markets & MoneyTM
4M sells five to two for 4M
A rare five-AM superduopoly based in Richmond VA is being split up four and one, and heading for two different buyers in a double transaction worth 4M dollars. The buyers are rapidly-growing Davidson Media Group for the foursome, and current Richmond player Mainquad Communications. The seller is 4M Communications Inc. Peter Davidson's group, which has been an active buyer all year, is picking up WLEE-AM, WVNZ-AM, WREJ-AM and WTOX-AM for just over 3.8M dollars, giving it an instant four-AM superduopoly in the Virginia capital. Meanwhile, for 200K, Mainquad will add WHAP-AM to its already-up-and-running four FM cluster, which includes WCUL-FM, WARV-FM, WBBT-FM and a JSA with Richmond Broadcasting Co.'s WJZV-FM. 4M apparently owes 250K to Mainquad, which will be applied to this deal essentially as a down payment. In addition to completely paying for WHAP, 50K of it will count toward the Davidson purchase. This is the second re! cent foray into Virginia for Davidson, who started building his AM-heavy, geographically diverse group in North Carolina. He is also buying WCMS-AM Norfolk from Chesapeake Bay Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Barnstable Corp. The value of that transaction is 975K.

Analyst applauds Radio One's network move
Investors may have pushed Radio One's stock down following its 56.1 million bucks deal to acquire 51% of Reach Media (11/23/04 RBR Daily Epaper #229), but Wachovia Securities analyst Jim Boyle is applauding the move into the radio network business. "Tom Joyner is bigger than Howard Stern. This is an offensive and defensive move," Boyle told clients in a note. "The Tom Joyner show has eight million listeners vs. Howard Stern's seven million. Joyner's show is on many Radio One stations; it is developing a show for Radio One's cable network (TV One); and it has non-Radio One ad clients. A ten-year contract keeps Joyner from moving to satelli! te, too," Boyle said as he listed the benefits of the deal. Some of the negative reaction to the deal was likely due to Radio One paying part of the purchase price in stock. But Boyle noted that Reach's executives, Joyner and David Kantor, had refused to take an all-cash deal. The analyst argues that the agreement to buy the Reach Media stake at nine times forward EBITDA is cheaper than buying radio stations or even for Radio One buying back its own stock, which are currently trading at 13 times forward EBITDA by Boyle's calculation.


2005: Year of Local Muscle

January 2005 Debut!
Radio & Television
Business Report

What Radio & TV both need to overcome in 2005 is the focus of the January Report. If you don't get it then you won't know what lies ahead - so Get It! It's Free!

If you want the January Debut issue, please register now. All orders must be in by
Monday December 6th, 2004.




Washington Beat
Not so hot in Terre Haute
It's not so hot to get an FCC admonishment. But it's not unbearably hot if it doesn't include a financial hit, and Emmis's straying over the line at WTHI-TV Terre Haute received only a mild rebuke from the Commission. It seems a viewer had a problem with a particular news story, and sent the station two letters on the topic. He later went to the station to peruse the public file, and found that his letters were not there, and he so informed the FCC. In a stunning example of adult behavior all around, which is seemingly becoming less and less common these days, 1) Emmis admitted the error, saying that the letters were originally sent to the station's news department for their information and review, and 2) at some point in transit back and forth, the letters were lost. 3) Emmis reviewed proper public file procedures with its staff. 4) The citizen was satisfied with this response and the FCC, recognizing the very small pull o! f gravity in the situation, responded with 5) a minor wrist slap.

Adelstein says hello to his once and future home
Jonathan Adelstein issued a brief statement upon his reconfirmation by the Senate, which resulted in his first full term on the Commission retroactive to summer 2003 and running until 6/30/08. He said, "As a lifelong public servant, it is especially gratifying to be given such a rare opportunity to continue to work on behalf of this great country. The issues before us are critical to our economy and touch people in deeply personal ways. I will continue to promote the interests of the American public in having access to the best possible communications opportunities in the world."


Programming
Hollywood Hamilton to air Best of 2004 show
Hollywood Hamilton's Weekend Top 30 and Crystal Media Networks are kicking off 2005 with his "Best of 2004" show. This 6th annual end-of-the-year special will highlight the top 30 songs of 2004. It will also include the best artist interviews Hollywood's conducted throughout the year, as well as bloopers and celebrity gossip. The three-hour special, airing the week of 12/27, is available for both Rhythmic and Mainstream CHR stations. Featured artists include Usher, Beyonce, and Kanye West for the Rhythm format program while the Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, and Jessica Simpson perform their hits from 2004 for the Mainstream format program.

Phillies broadcasts return to WPHT-AM
The Philadelphia Phillies and Infinity Broadcasting have agreed to a five-year deal to broadcast Phillies games on WPHT-AM, starting in 2005. WPHT will once again become the flagship station for Phillies games after a three-year absence. The station previously aired Phillies games from 1982-2001. In addition to regular season and post-season games, WPHT will broadcast a total of 14 spring training games, including the Spring Opener. Friday night games will be broadcast on WIP-AM. Additionally, WPHT will carry a full slate of Phillies pre-game and post-game shows, as will WIP on Fridays. Phillies baseball will continue to be heard on the team's Radio Network of 23 affiliated stations, delivering the broadcasts beyond the greater Philadelphia region.


Ratings & Research
How do diarykeepers record
their Christmas listening?

Whether a station switches to "all-holiday" this year or not, Arbitron says it's important to know how diarykeepers reference holiday format stations and how seasonal entries are credited by Arbitron. The Holiday Diarykeeping and Diary Crediting web page answers some of the most frequently asked questions on the topic, including:

• Do diarykeepers write down listening to "Christmas Music"?
• How are seasonal entries recorded?
• What is Arbitron's policy on crediting Christmas entries?
• What are the "Seasonal" Station Name submission guidelines?

The web page also includes information on how to get answers to additional holiday diarykeeping questions, as well as general diary crediting info.


Stock Talk
Broadcasters gain in mixed market
A slight rise in oil prices kept a lid on stock prices on Tuesday, but broadcasters fared better than the broader market. Major indices were narrowly mixed. The Dow Industrials gained three points to 10,493, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down slightly.

The Radio Index rose 1.495, or 0.7%, to 228.807. After turning a thumbs down to Radio One's Reach Media acquisition the previous day, traders thought it over and decided they liked the move after all. Radio One's Class A stock shot up 6.6% and its Class D rose 6.4%. Sirius Satellite Radio was an even bigger gainer, rising 12.4% on news that it had signed its 800,000th subscriber.


Radio Stocks

Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday

Company Symbol Close Change Company Symbol Close Change

Arbitron

ARB

37.11

+0.04

Jeff-Pilot

JP

49.95

+0.22

Beasley

BBGI

17.74

+0.16

Journal Comm.

JRN

17.72

-0.06

Citadel CDL
15.39 +0.24

Radio One, Cl. A

ROIA

13.95

+0.86

Clear Channel

CCU

34.71

-0.07

Radio One, Cl. D

ROIAK

13.94

+0.84

Cox Radio

CXR

16.06

+0.08

Regent

RGCI

5.78

+0.03

Cumulus

CMLS

15.81

+0.23

Saga Commun.

SGA

17.75

+0.13

Disney

DIS

27.32

+0.13

Salem Comm.

SALM

25.78

-0.22

Emmis

EMMS

18.95

-0.05

Sirius Sat. Radio

SIRI

6.71

+0.74

Entercom

ETM

36.43

+0.13

Spanish Bcg.

SBSA

11.00

-0.10

Entravision

EVC

8.21

-0.09

Univision

UVN

30.67

+0.02

Fisher

FSCI

47.87

+0.53

Viacom, Cl. A

VIA

35.95

+0.46

Gaylord

GET

35.13

-0.44

Viacom, Cl. B

VIAb

35.24

+0.61

Hearst-Argyle

HTV

25.86

+0.15

Westwood One

WON

23.01

+0.09

Interep

IREP

0.74

+0.01

XM Sat. Radio

XMSR

36.66

+1.94

International Bcg.

IBCS

0.01

unch

-

-

-

-

-



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More News Headlines

TVBR - TV News

FCC sets kiddie standards for DTV
In a long-anticipated move, the FCC has set requirements for children's programming for digital television, specifying that stations which multicast will have to increase the amount of educational and informational programming they carry for kids. The current requirement of three hours per week will be multiplied by the number of programming channels that a broadcaster is transmitting. Since not all channels will necessarily be fulltime, the new standard is three hours for the main channel, plus an additional half hour for each 1-28 hours of programming on additional channels - - and at least half of the programming may not be reruns within the same week. The new DTV kiddie programming requirement applies only to free over-the-air programming, not subscription channels. The new guidelines also resolve questions about whether to apply commercial limits on children's programming to subscription channels, or only to those av! ailable for free. The FCC has decided that commercial limits will apply to all DTV broadcast programming aimed at kids 12 and under - - both free and subscription. The FCC also took a touch line on the practice of running website addresses in a crawl during children's programming. The Commission says the websites must offer a substantial amount of bona fide program-related or noncommercial material - - otherwise the crawl time will count as a commercial. "Parents have come to rely on children's programming as an oasis in an increasingly commercial world. Today, we ensure that parents have a clear path to this haven in the digital age," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell.


October Digital
Solutions Magazine

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.

October Zinio Solutions Magazine
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1.Create a simple account with Zinio and download the Zinio Reader.
2. You can then download the October Issue of RBR




RBR Radar 2004
Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.

The man whose nickname
is the 'Zen Master'

Mel Karmazin has returned and crossed the commercial fence to get real serious by taking the CEO position of Sirius Satellite Radio and has filed the purchase of 1.5M shares for 7.08M dollars of personal cash to get into the Sirius game and already has made 2 million profit see the bottom line: believes in programming content and talent plus sees that radio, unlike satellite TV, is portable. TVBR observation: Now the punch line: For all you media hounds - - you know who you are - - that played the Stern bashing in your papers, faxes, emails, you were had. While the trades and commercial press were printing and going out of their way to discredit Howard and even his appearance on Late Night with David Letterman show - - Clear Channel putting out their press release - - you all were had by Stern and Karmazin. He who laughs last. To hear Karmazin's first inte! rview see
11/22/04 RBR #228

FCC and broadcasters pondering a Supreme challenge
The Acting Solicitor general has filed for an extension of time on behalf of the FCC as it considers whether or not to challenge the 3rd Circuit ruling on "Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC" in which most of the provisions of the FCC ownership ruling of 6/2/03 were remanded to the Commission for justification or modification. The clock is set to stop 12/2/04; the FCC wants until 1/1/05.
RBR observation: The FCC has a few strategic options to weigh here. The court remanded the rules back to the FCC, and while many opponents of the 6/2/03 ruling saw that as a repudiation of them, in fact, it contained no language on way or the other as to how the rules should be rewritten. In fact, they don't even have to be rewritten at all if the FCC comes up with better justification. Now that Republicans are guaranteed another four years of FCC control, they could simply proceed along the path set by the 3rd Circuit. Meanwhile, a Supreme Court challenge could wind up exactly as the 3rd Circuit case did, with the rules simply going back to the FCC for reconsideration. That would just tack more time onto the process. The FCC's recent history in the courts isn't pretty. You'd think they'd do as the 3rd Circuit asked. They may not like it, but at least they'd be in control of the pro! ce! ss. To say the least, it'll be interesting to see how they decide to play it. 11/23/04 RBR #229

Where are multiples these days?
Still high - - Part 8
Our previous installments have told you a lot about the current marketplace for radio and TV stations, and the brokers we quoted have given you a pretty good idea of where multiples are. But it's always nice to have everything laid out in a chart. Based on our talks with brokers, here's a general idea of where multiples are today for the sale of cash-flowing radio stations.
TVBR observation: See the chart and then see the Radio deal cash flow multiples and Television deal cash flow multiples. Then if considering or wanting to sell - sellers what do you need compared to your personal want. 11/23/04 RBR #229

Clear Channel does not
blame Letterman
For what we don't know but during Howard Stern's appearance 11/18/04 on CBS's "The Late Show with David Letterman," Letterman himself referred to a "Rolling Stone" article on Clear Channel which was less than flattering. In a statement, the radio giant said, "Clear Channel does not blame David Letterman for being duped by poor journalism." Appended to the CCU statement was a refutation of the article, which was sent to Rolling Stone as a letter to the editor which it says went unpublished. RBR observation: Like it or not, Clear Channel is light years bigger than the next-largest radio group. In its letter to the Rolling Stone, it claims 9% of all US stations and 18% of US radio revenue. "Neither come close to satisfying any accurate definition of dominance," it wrote. Nonetheless, it is so big that whenever anyone ta! kes a shot at radio in general, Clear Channel cannot help but get hit. Publisher note: Stern's vertical smile went horizontal. 11/22/04 RBR #228

TV, Where are multiples these days? Still high - - Part 7
If radio prices are too rich for your blood, you may want to look at TV - - but you won't find any bargains there, either. "We've got a lot of television deals to judge by." Just as in radio, multiples in a couple of Top 10 market TV deals in recent years have been through the roof. "Sometimes in large markets, people just kill to own them," he noted. "Despite all this bad press about radio lately, TV is still trading at a significant discount to radio just because people perceive more issues in the industry." So TV multiples outside the Top 20 markets are in the 10-12 range, which is less than you'd have to pay for a cash-flowing radio station in the same market.
11/22/04 RBR #228

Publisher Observation
Stern all smiles with Letterman
The "King of All Media" was the opening act for David Letterman, I was expecting the F word, Stern's normal radio act and anti-everything thinking this is going to be good but even I got surprised. Nope it didn't happen. Letterman was a not funny interviewer but a knowledgeable one on Clear Channel, Stern's Fines, and of course comparing Stern to Oprah's content. Oprah can do and Stern can't but if he does he gets fined. In short - a great commercial for Sirius Satellite Radio with Stern being the official spokesperson. 11/19/04 RBR #227


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