RBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Good Morning - Gain a personal edge on today's business day. Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
New readers can receive our RBR Morning Epaper for the next 30 Business days!
SIGN UP HERE

Volume 23, Issue 28, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Thursday Morning February 9th, 2006

Radio News ®

Univision hangs out "for sale" sign
Want to buy the biggest US Spanish TV company, the biggest US Spanish radio company and the biggest US Spanish record label? The price tag will be well above 10 billion bucks, but no doubt there will be quite a line of big media companies and equity buyout firms lining up to bid on Univision. The company announced yesterday afternoon that its board of directors has retained UBS to advise it on "strategic alternatives" - - a common euphemism for conducting a sale auction. Univision is known for being one of the most secretive public companies there is, so don't expect to hear much from the company as the sale process goes forward. Here's the main text of the brief announcement: "Univision Communications Inc. (NYSE: UVN) announced today that its Board of Directors has decided to begin a process to explore strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value, including but not limited to the raising of capital through the sale of securities or assets of the Company, a recapitalization, strategic acquisitions, and the combination, sale or merger of the Company with another entity. The Company has retained UBS Investment Bank to act as its exclusive financial advisor in this process. In making the announcement, Univision stated that there can be no assurance that the exploration of strategic alternatives will result in a transaction. The Company does not intend to disclose developments with respect to the exploration of strategic alternatives unless and until its Board of Directors has approved a specific transaction."

RBR observation: Don't count out anyone in this bidding process. Univision is the biggest catch there is in a red hot sector, Hispanic media. To be sure, you have to work out the legal wrangling with Mexico's Televisa over program rights payments, but Televisa stands to cash out big time in any sale - - or its CEO, Emilio Azcarraga Jean, could move to become a US citizen (he's already married to one) and become a bidder himself.

Who could bid for Univision?
The answer: Everyone who want to be a bigger player in the US media landscape. Speculation immediately focused on CBS, Time Warner, GE/NBC Universal and News Corporation. All except Time Warner would, at first glance, face ownership limit problems at the FCC - - not to mention that Time Warner is battling a break-up effort by Carl Icahn. But that is not an insurmountable problem. Even before the Univision auction rumor became fact, Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes was out with a list of ways that big media companies could get around the FCC ownership cap problem.
| Read More... |

Interep will pitch to keep
Susquehanna and ABC business
Interep isn't throwing in the towel just because both Susquehanna Radio and ABC Radio are being bought by Katz clients. Far from it. "I think performance has a lot to do with it," Interep President George Pine, who told RBR that Interep's dedicated rep firms have outperformed the collective markets for both ABC and Susquehanna. Interep has three radio rep firms that operate solely to serve specific radio groups: CBS Radio Sales, ABC Radio Sales and Susquehanna Radio Sales. "I'm confident that we can lay out the advantages of why they would want to remain with Interep and those dedicated rep firms," Pine said. Although both Citadel CEO Farid Suleman, whose company is buying ABC Radio, and Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey, whose company is buying Susquehanna, have previously moved their national representation from Interep to Clear Channel-owned Katz, Pine says it will ultimately be a business decision for each whether to stick with the dedicated reps at Interep for the stations being acquired.

The gripes of Roth, revisited
Former Republican FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth has a new book out, "A Tough Act to Follow? The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Separation of Powers." It was published by his employers since he left the FCC, the American Enterprise Institute, and AEI hosted the author, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and two of the former legislators who helped usher the 1996 Act through Congress, ex-Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD) and ex-Rep Tom Bliley (R-VA). The legislators noted the great success enjoyed by the legislation on many counts, one of them being that it has been used as both a model and starting point for similar legislation in at least 30 other nationsl. Furchtgott-Roth's premise, however, is that the ACt has been a failure in many ways, and blames it on the very structure of the federal agency tasked with implementing it, the FCC. Furchtgott-Roth notes that it is no accident that separation of power is a fundamental building block of the American system of government, but it is curiously lacking in agencies such as the FCC and a handful of others. Under the cloak of "expertise," the FCC is at once creator of rules (the legislative function), enforcer of those rules (the executive function) and arbitrater of disputes over those rules (the judicial function). None of the three major branches of government has effective oversight of such agencies, or exercises such oversight as they have effectively. His prescription is short on detail, but involves finding a way to overlay a three-pronged separation of power regimen on such agencies. (Others similar to the FCC he cites are the FDA, EPA and SEC). He argued that former Chairman Bill Kennard's establishment of a separate Enforcement Bureau within the Commission was a positive step in that direction, but falls far short of where it need to be for such agencies to function effectively.

Martin introduces an author and former boss
Kevin Martin is now the Chairman of the FCC, but at one time he was a legal advisor to Harold Furchtgott-Roth, author of "A Tough Act to Follow? The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Separation of Powers." Lacking a chance to have read the book, Martin said he supports the view that the FCC is often placed in a no-win situation. He thanked the author for his support and guidance back in those days (Furchtgott-Roth served from 1997-2001), and for his steadfast determination to follow the path he felt was correct, regardless of criticism and opposition. In answer to a question from audience member and former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani about guidance from Congress, Martin said he agreed with his former boss that the job of the FCC should be enforcing the will of Congress, not telling Congress what it should be doing for the FCC. That said, he wouldn't mind some guidance on how to handle the growing battles between traditional communications platforms and myriad up-and-coming new technology competitors offering the same end products, with vastly different regulatory frameworks to adhere to from one competitor class to another. Martin also indicated a new FCC report on a la carte cable programming was due for release in the near future.

Flat month for the Times
Total revenues were up 3.2% to 300.4 million in January for the New York Times Company, but only because of its recent purchase of About.com. Without that, total revenues were up 0.7% and ad revenues fell 0.3%. News Media Group (newspaper/radio/Internet, except About.com) ad revenues slipped 0.3% to 179.9 million, with retail up 1.3%, classified up 1.7% and national down 2.9%. CEO Janet Robinson noted, though, that online advertising within the News Media Group rose 22%. On a same station basis, TV revenues fell 4%, with advertising declines noted for the automotive and department store sectors. Total TV revenues, including the recent addition of KAUT-TV (Ch. 43, UPN), Oklahoma City, were essentially flat, up 0.2% to 10.5 million.

Wall Street Media Business Report TM

Interep files to drop SEC stock registration
Rather than continue the cost of SEC reporting for a stock that has been trading for less than 40 cents a share, Interep has filed with the SEC to suspend registration of its common stock. The deregistration is expected to become effective in 90 days. Thereafter, Interep's stock will trade on the "pink sheets" rather than the OTC Bulletin Board. "The company's Board of Directors has decided to file with the Securities Exchange Commission for deregistration as part of its overall program of cost reduction and focus on growing the company's business. In the current market environment, the advantages of trading on the OTC Bulletin Board are outweighed by the significant accounting, legal and administrative costs associated with the SEC's reporting requirements. Deregistering will reduce the costs associated with these requirements, and allow management to focus more fully on growing the core business," said CEO Ralph Guild. He noted, though, that ending its requirement to report to the SEC won't change the way Interep conducts business. Interep is primarily a national sales rep for radio stations, but also has an Internet ad sales operation and recently launched its first TV rep firm, Azteca America Television Sales.

DG appeals delisting notice
DG Systems says it will appeal a Nasdaq staff determination letter that the company's stock should be delisted from the Nasdaq National Market because its stock price has fallen below the one buck minimum. The appeal will automatically delay the delisting until the Nasdaq Listings Qualification Panel holds a hearing and rules on whether the stock should continue to be listed. DG says it will present a plan at the hearing for its continued listing. DG says its pending merger with FastChannel Network and accompanying 1-for-10 reverse stock split should put it in compliance with Nasdaq's listing rules.

Ad Business Report TM

Sporting News Radio
signs with Dial-Global
Sporting News Radio announced the signing of a multi-year contract with Dial Communications-Global Media as their exclusive network radio ad sales rep. "In the world of sports, everyone talks about the will to win. For SNR, winning means putting the best in sports information and entertainment on the radio, and serving our clients with excellence. That's the way it is with Dial Global - they win by focusing on the advertising community and supporting compliance technologies that make the network radio business more accountable than it's ever been," said Clancy Woods, Sporting News Radio President. "We are confident that their innovative culture and our proprietary content is a winning ad sales combination." "Needless to say, I'm very excited about a partnership with Sporting News Radio. Sporting News Radio is a heritage brand with fantastic talent," said David Landau, co-president/CEO of Dial-Global. "Under its new leadership, there is no doubt it will be a tremendous success."

Mandel: This will make the
live ratings controversy "Moot"
On following up on the recent ultimatum from ABC's Mike Shaw that ABC will not do business in the 2006-07 upfront with media agencies that insist on using only Nielsen's live ratings as the measurement currency (2/7/06 RBR #26), we got a rather cryptic remark from Jon Mandel, Chairman/MediaCom US and Chief Global Buying Officer MediaCom Worldwide. Nielsen late last year began issuing three types of viewing measurement: "live," "live plus same day" and "live plus seven days," which accounts for DVR viewing. Shaw insists DVR viewing should be counted. While we thought Mandel would be angry about the Shaw ultimatum, he was quite relaxed: "Everybody is jerking around on something that's going to be a moot conversation." Why is that? "I can't get into it. It's all moot. It doesn't matter. They're talking about something that's yesterday, and there are some things that will come out that will make this a moot conversation. There's a more important and cleaner way to do the whole thing." Might we find out at the AAAAs in Orlando? "I can't say." We called Nielsen spokesperson Jack Loftus who said, "Our responsibility is to make the data available. The buyers and sellers decide how to use that data. It sounds to me like some kind of a negotiation going on between the buyers and the sellers about what they're going to do. Maybe something's going on. But we're not involved in that discussion."

Kaline: not enough confidence in DVR sample size
Mark Kaline, Ford Motor Global Media Manager, also commented on the Shaw ultimatum (2/7/06 RBR #26). "I don't think there is enough confidence amongst advertisers in the sample size of DVR homes being measured to warrant outright acceptance of the live plus data, nor do I think we know enough about the audience's behavior while timeshifting to give it any credit at all at this early stage of things. Additionally, if I'm a retailer, or someone with a deal that has a hard end date, live plus could really be viewed as a liability."

DirecTV names Deutsch as
creative, media AOR
DirecTV has named Deutsch as the creative and media agency-of-record. Deutsch originally worked on the DirecTV business from 2000 to 2004. The previous agency-of-record was BBDO, New York. Media responsibilities will shift from Omnicom's OMD media network to deutschMedia. Deutsch's Los Angeles and New York offices will work in tandem on the DirecTV business.

TracyLocke partners with CCKA, Pizza Hut
To help introduce its new "Cheesy Bites Pizza," Pizza Hut staged a one-day national radio promotion in 50 top national markets where it will sponsor one full hour of commercial free evening drive-time radio programming on 115 Clear Channel and Katz Radio Group stations handled by Clear Channel Katz Advantage.
| Read More... |

Media Markets & Money TM

Close encounter of the double kind
Broker John Pierce tells us he's brought home a double deal to completion. It's the swap of KNIT-AM Dallas, going from Salem Communications to Jim Hilliard's James Crystal Radio, in exchange for WORL-AM Orlando, which moves in the other direction. According to Pierce, Salem is expected to use its new Florida station for its Conservative Talk format. Hilliard is said to still be pondering his next move in Texas. The swap has an estimated value of 6M both ways.

Washington Media Business Report TM

NAB reached into minority ranks for gov-rel
Mike Mullen is the new Director of Government Relations for the National Association of Broadcasters. He comes from the staff of US Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), who specialized in telecommunications issues with particular focus on the DTV transition and the SHVIA, along with other issues which came before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

RBR observation: Smart move. The Republican ties of NAB President/CEO David Rehr have often been mentioned, and that's fine. But broadcast issues, more than most, tend to cut across party lines. They are a breeding ground for strange bedfellows, like the liberal Byron Dorgan (D-ND)/conservative Trent Lott (R-MS) collaboration on the Resolution of Disapproval they slapped on the FCC's 6/2/03 media ownership rulemaking. If and when something like multicast must carry comes to a vote, we'll need every vote we can get, and it won't matter which side of the aisle it comes from.

Power of the press:
We're getting to them
The business of broadcasting has always been inextricably linked to the business of journalism. Both pursuits have been subject to generous amounts of criticism in recent years, and many of us, looking at the many polls to determine most and least esteemed job titles, are prone to find our career of choice listed down at the very bottom along with attorneys and tax auditors. But we're getting to them, gang, we're getting to them. At the American Enterprise Institute's unveiling of the new Harold Furchtgott-Roth book, "A Tough Act to Follow? The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Separation of Powers," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (pictured) took a handful of questions from the audience. But after just a couple of questions, he said, "First of all, aren't there questions out there from people who are not reporters?" The lobbyists in the audience (and there were quite a few) (and aren't they also down at the bottom of that career list too?) thought that was funny. Martin tried to soothe the reporters presumably damaged psyches, saying "Reporters are people too." Didn't help, because it didn't matter - - we don't care, and we weren't hurt in the first place. Then former US Rep Tom Bliley, after making some remarks, offered to take questions, saying, "I'd like to answer them - - or dodge them - - as best I can."

RBR observation: Furchtgott-Roth argues that the FCC has too much power because it is an "expert" agency. However, one of the reasons its gets that reputation and the power that comes with it is that often, the legislators who us citizens are counting on to write effective legislation don't understand the issues. Reporters on the beat constantly hear fuzzy questions, pointless fishing expeditions, off-topic and non-sequitor remarks, and common every-day political grandstanding. One time, we heard a US Rep, when his five minutes came up during a hearing question-and-answer period, simply say he wasn't interested in the topic at hand and hijacked the entire proceeding to talk about something utterly unrelated that he WAS interested in. So sometimes a knowledgeable press corps is needed simply to keep the powers that be on topic. All you journalists out there can pat yourselves on the back to know that some in the hot seat would rather get softballs from the masses (and legislators) than the finely targeted darts we are capable of delivering.

Ratings & Research

Nielsen Monitor-Plus: Olympics ad trends
With the 2006 Winter Olympics upon us, Nielsen Monitor-Plus took a close look at trends surrounding previous Olympic Games. These trends include the average cost for a 30-second commercial during the opening and closing ceremonies, the top advertisers throughout the 17 days of the games, as well as the top brands advertised during the Opening Ceremonies.
| View the Charts |

RBR Stats

Lots of women in
Super Bowl audience
Nielsen Media Research reports that the percentage of women in the TV audience for Super Bowl XL was slightly lower in its Local People Meter (LPM) markets than nationwide - - 44% vs. 45% - - but, we would note, LPMs haven't yet gotten to either Pittsburgh or Seattle. Female viewership of the big game in LPM markets was highest, 47%, in Detroit (where the game was played) and lowest, 42%, in New York. Interestingly, in the 18-34 demo, women made up half of the Super Bowl audience in Philadelphia, splitting 50/50 with the guys. The same was true for senior viewers, 55+, in Detroit and LA.

Engineering Business Report TM

ENCO, Wicks partner
for "StreamLine"
ENCO Systems a provider of digital audio delivery systems, announced a partnership with Powergold Music Scheduling Software, and Wicks Broadcast Solutions to produce "StreamLine," an integrated system addressing all aspects of radio automation, music scheduling and traffic management. StreamLine will combine Powergold Music Scheduling and Wick's Visual Traffic with ENCO's DAD radio automation system to deliver a complete integrated radio management and automation solution. StreamLine integrates DAD's Library, Import, Export and Playlist functions with Visual Traffic spot entry and log management. Similarly, Powergold's music scheduler can automatically drive and update DAD playlists. Delivered as a single integrated solution, StreamLine frees broadcasters from managing multiple discreet applications and interfaces, eliminating errors and synchronization issues.

Transactions

728K KAGC-AM Bryan-College Station TX (Bryan TX) from Divcon Associates Inc. (Bob Davis Bell) to Bryan Broadcasting Corp. (William R. Hicks, Ben D. Downs). 115 real estate line note, 30K consulting agreement, 30K non-compete, 523K note. Duopoly with KNDE-FM, KZNE-AM. LMA 1/1/06. Buyer also holds license for expanded band WTAW-AM. [File date 1/24/06.]

500K WKGN-AM Knoxville TN from Triple S. Enterprises Inc. (Robert L. Stewart) to Norsan Consulting & Management Inc. (Norberto Sanchez). 25K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 1/24/06.]

Stock Talk

Univision stirs some excitement
Univision putting itself up for sale gave a boost not only to its own stock, but to other Spanish-language broadcasters as well. Meanwhile, strong earnings at PepsiCo and Cisco boosted the broader market. The Dow Industrials rose 109 points, or 1%, to 10,859.

The Radio Index gained 1.437, or 0.8%, to 174.750. Although Univision is not a component, because it is primarily a TV company, it was the day's big gainer, shooting up 12%. The other big Spanish radio groups were also strong gainers. SBS rose 4.2% and Entravision 1.3%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Wednesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		38.80	+0.14	Hearst-Argyle	HTV		23.94	-0.06
Beasley	BBGI		13.65	-0.21	Interep	IREP		0.37	unch
CBS CI. B	CBS		26.02	+0.49	Jeff-Pilot	JP		57.36	+0.13
CBS CI. A	CBSa		25.98	+0.43	Journal Comm.	JRN		12.19	+0.08
Citadel	CDL		11.62	+0.14	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		10.12	-0.09
Clear Channel	CCU		28.74	+0.07	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		10.14	-0.05
Cox Radio	CXR		13.92	+0.11	Regent	RGCI		4.69	+0.15
Cumulus	CMLS		12.77	+0.04	Saga Commun.	SGA		10.08	+0.08
Disney	DIS		26.90	+0.20	Salem Comm.	SALM		15.10	+0.23
Emmis	EMMS		18.20	+0.09	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		5.98	+0.22
Entercom	ETM		29.50	+0.07	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		5.53	+0.22
Entravision	EVC		6.92	+0.09	Univision	UVN		34.20	+3.66
Fisher	FSCI		42.50	+0.03	Westwood One	WON		14.37	unch
Gaylord	GET		44.87	+0.57	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		24.61	+0.93

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]

On the CBS Radio-RCS Issue
(2/8/06 RBR #27)

The whole debate here is useless. As programmers we already have more competitive information that we can deal with on Mediabase and BDS. We don't need to see the RCS library to know the little rule settings - - we can see the whole library, clocks and the overall results of any rules just by subscribing to either of these services. Even if Clear Channel wanted to dive into a competitor they would need a current backup every day and after every change to keep up. The only way RCS gets a backup is when you have a problem or when someone uses their data exchange file sharing system. If we were working on a format change or adjustment with a station RCS would never see the data, because there would be no reason to send them a backup.

Dave Lange
VP Rock
McVay Media

Below the Fold

Ad Business Report
Ratings controversy "Moot"
Jon Mandel "Everybody is jerking around on something...

Media Markets & Money
Close encounter of double kind
Swap of KNIT-AM Dallas in exchange for WORL-AM Orlando...

Ratings & Research
Olympics ad trends
Include the average cost for a 30-second, top advertisers throughout the games...

Radio Media Moves

Grey climbs
"The Peak"
Bonneville has promoted Joel Grey to VP/Program Director at KPKX-FM "98.7 The Peak" Phoenix. Grey had already been PD and now adds Vice President to his title.

Upped in Miami
Beasley Broadcast Group has promoted John Jaras to General Sales Manager of WPOW-FM Miami, where he had been Sales Manager since 1988. Jaras succeeds and will still report to Matthew Bell, who was recently promoted to General Manager (1/16/06 RBR #10).

Back to Hawaii
Steve Miller already has a stint in Hawaii on his 30-year radio resume and now he's going back to the islands as General Manager of Salem's Honolulu cluster. He was most recently a market manager for Fisher in Washington State.

New news boss
for NPR
Bill Marimow, who has served as Managing Editor of NPR News since May 2004, has been promoted to Vice President for News, putting him in charge of some 350 employees and 36 bureaus worldwide.

Tribune Media net
taps Jeff Piper
Tribune Media Net, the national and cross-media advertising sales organization for Tribune Company, named Jeff Piper as the group's Director/Direct Response Sales, responsible for the creation and management of programs that maximize the value of "stand-by" ROP/Display advertising inventory for Tribune's 11 newspapers. Piper had served as vice president and general manager at Carat Press, a division of Carat USA, since 1999.

ESPN Radio names GM of new media
Marc Horine has been named General Manager of New Media for ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes Radio, responsible for the overall businesses of both ESPNRadio.com and ESPNDeportesRadio.com, including all editorial and design decisions, as well as sales. Previously, Horine served as Senior Director of New Media at ABC Radio Networks.

February RBR/TVBR Digital Magazine

Era of Technology
and Moving Forward

AdBiz
'The new generation of radio
revenue specialists'
pg 12
Radio Sales
'What AEs can bring to the table
with Kim Vasey'
pg 18
Media Markets & Money
'Hedge funds are changing the broadcasting lending landscape'
pg 26

Read RBR/TVBR in 2 simple steps:
1.Create a simple account with Zinio and download the Zinio Reader.
2. You can then download the
February Issue of RBR/TVBR

RBR Radar 2005

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

RBR First -- CBS Radio may
dump all RCS systems
It is an RBR First because we certainly voiced the concern after Clear Channel bought RCS last month that this could happen. RBR confirmed through two high-level sources independently at CBS Radio there have been meetings about pulling RCS systems company-wide. Source #2: "It's true. ! If you were running CBS Radio, would you want your number one competitor having inventory on your radio stations?" RBR, through our investigation, has also confirmed that while CBS Radio will honor their current contracts, the source stated, "We will be honoring our contracts, but we aren't going to do business with RCS." In an email response to CBS's issues Philippe Generali, President/CEO RCS wrote: "Confidentiality has been, and will always be the cornerstone of the RCS business. For more than 27 years, radio stations around the world have trusted RCS with their databases, format changes, and music libraries.

RBR observation: This is a hurdle RCS will have to overcome--the image that Clear Channel may have access to clients' proprietary databases. But all should just calm down and breathe into a brown paper bag and not put the cart before the horse. For more see
02/08/06 RBR #27

Billboard owner VNU
in no rush to sell itself
There's still no indication of the fate of Billboard, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter and other US media magazines owned by VNU as their parent company mulls whether to accept a buyout bid. VNU confirmed that the head of its Supervisory Board, Aad Jacobs, and VNU's Executive Board met Monday with Eric Knight, who heads the Knight Vinke Asset Management investment group, to hear his views on the possible sale of VNU to a consortium of equity investment funds. VNU says it is continuing to have active talks with the equity funds about a buyout of the company. But while there are lots of talks going on, VNU management appears to be in no hurry to strike a deal.

RBR observation: As we've noted before, the equity buyout firms haven't given any indication what parts of VNU they intend to keep for a while and build up for an eventual sale or IPO and which ones might be sold off immediately. The general view from outside observers is that the publishing and trade shows unit is the most likely to be put on the auction block.
02/08/06 RBR #27

Citadel + ABC: Done
Here's how the deal will work
The merger of Citadel and ABC Radio will be a complicated one. Because its tax basis in the radio assets is essentially zero, Disney insisted on a "reverse Morris Trust" so it (and its shareholders) will not have to pay capital gains taxes on the transaction....ABC's O&Os, 22 stations in nine markets, will become part of Citadel Communications, as will ABC Radio Networks. Citadel will have an exclusive 10-year licensing agreement to deliver ABC News Radio programming to terrestrial radio stations.

RBR observation: 13.2 times. Amazing. Even after you add in about two and a half turns for the tax savings to Disney, the effective multiple is only 15.7 times. Just a couple of years ago such primo radio assets would have brought at least 20. Is Bob Iger correct in betting that radio multiples will continue to fall? For now, it looks like an incredibly cheap purchase for Farid Suleman. There is more see
02/07/06 RBR #26

Analyst worried by radio trends
Wachovia Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker says the 1% radio revenue decline was worse than expected and early evidence is that the softness has continued into 2006. Q1 may be further impacted by the Winter Olympics, as TV historically tends to drain some of radio's ad dollars during this competition. How much growth? Ryvicker is looking for an anemic 1% gain in January and 2% for most months this year - - with 3% in June and November and 4% in October. For all of 2006 forecasting that radio revenues will be up a mere 2.3%.

RBR observation: Only two radio companies have reported their quarterly results so far and given guidance for early 2006. But both Emmis and Journal Communications indicated that the year is starting out soft for radio. That's not encouraging for a year that is supposed to feature easy comps. Add to injury radio still has many issues to face this year that revolve around investing money into their stations around technology - HD and PPM are just two that are now becoming a reality. Radio's perception is not strong and will have to fight for its place in the total media world this year as 'Time with Technology will not wait for no one'.
02/06/06 RBR #25

Retail Sales Manger
This is where the new money is today and for the future. Not selling spots that can be erased. Clear Channel- Minneapolis, top 20 market, has this unique opening and seeking a unique person to teach with leadership. This is not a spreadsheet position but one of growth to build a retail team.
See Radio Careers

National Radio Services
Arbitron seeking that unique individual to join them as Account Manager to their National Radio Services team in NYC. Key duties: On the national side of the business serving as principal contact with-Networks-Syndicators-Rep Firms. Have the experience and skills in the network or rep business then join the Arbitron team where 'People make the difference.'
See Radio Careers

Other Links

State Associations

Contact Us

Publisher question:
Reading RBR from a friend?
Receive your own morning copy at www.rbr.com

Help Desk

Having problems with our epapers?
Please send Questions/Concerns to:
[email protected]

If you wish to remove your name completely from our database use this link __UNSUB__

RBR Epaper -- 108 annual
or just 9 a month