RBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Volume 22, Issue 30, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Friday Morning February 11th, 2005

Radio News®

Another broadcaster claims
it was fouled by Citadel
Ed Levine's Galaxy Communications says Citadel Broadcasting Company went out of bounds in its effort to stop Galaxy from building an FM translator in Fulton NY, which Galaxy was seeking to bolster its coverage of the Syracuse market. Similar charges have come from Red Wolf Broadcasting in the New London CT market. Galaxy's permission to build the CP was rescinded, and it says the rescission was completely improper and that the CP should be reinstated. Galaxy says that Citadel's objection was flawed and "...should not have made it past Square One." Among the deficiencies of the Citadal action, Galaxy charges that it planted complainants, who later recanted their testimony, an echo of the charges made by Red Wolf in the New London case. Red Wolf went so far as to challenge Citadel's character qualifications as an FCC licensee. | More... |

FCC nixes multicast must carry
The FCC took a big stand with the cable industry over broadcasters, reaffirming an earlier finding that CATV operators do not have to provide dual analog/digital carriage during the remainder of the DTV transition phase by a 5-0 vote, and reaffirming cable's responsibility to carry only one and only one broadcast programming stream, regardless of whether or not the broadcaster is multicasting, by a vote of 4-1. | More... |

NAB responds
NAB President/CEO Eddie Fritts wasted no time reacting to the FCC's decision on multicast must carry. "In Washington, there are no final victories and no final defeats," he said. "We salute Commissioner Martin for recognizing the importance of providing additional programming choices for consumers. NAB will be working to overturn today's anti-consumer FCC decision in both the courts and in Congress. We look forward to the fight, because consumers deserve more. And broadcasters will continue to serve our communities, because that is what local stations do best."

RBR observation: There is no way on this earth to call this a victory for broadcasters. However, Fritts does have a valid point. Members of both parties on Capitol Hill asked the FCC to support multicast must carry, or at a minimum, delay a vote on it. In their remarks, several of the Commissioners noted that ultimately, the FCC's job is to interpret and carry out the mandates of Congress. If the NAB can get legislators to put something in writing and vote affirmatively on it, broadcasters might yet get their way.

NCTA responds
NCTA President/CEO Robert Sachs also reacted swiftly to the FCC decision on multicast must-carry. "Today's decision is a major victory for consumers because it ensures that the marketplace, not government, will determine which programs local cable systems carry, ensuring greater consumer choice, and more diverse and better quality programming," he said. "The FCC decision represents the culmination of a comprehensive regulatory proceeding that commenced in 1998 and has included more than 1,200 filings by broadcasters, cable operators and programmers, and consumer groups. Sachs continued, "The fact that two different FCCs have reached the same conclusions regarding broadcasters' digital carriage rights will enable Congress to move forward now to address other issues concerning the digital TV transition. FCC Chairman Michael Powell deserves enormous credit for his vision and leadership in promoting the DTV transition. Under existing law, broadcasters are assured that their primary digital video signal will be carried on cable, just as broadcasters' analog TV signal is carried today. The FCC's rulings make clear that carriage of additional digital broadcast signals should be determined in the marketplace. Cable operators want to carry HDTV and other compelling digital TV content, especially if that content addresses local needs. In fact, cable operators already carry the digital signals of more than 500 local TV stations. To further advance the DTV transition, on January 31, 2005, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the Association of Public Television Stations, and the Public Broadcasting Service announced a long-term agreement that will ensure the carriage of public TV stations' digital signals on cable systems. Consumers who purchase digital TVs can look forward to enjoying a wealth of HDTV and other high-value content in the digital era. It's time now for all parties concerned to direct their energies to helping our country complete the digital TV transition."

Sinclair anxious to fight the FCC in court
Although the FCC backed off this week on once again rejecting Sinclair Broadcast Group's long-pending effort to buy five TV stations from Cunningham Broadcasting Corp. (2/10/05 RBR #29), don't think that Sinclair CEO David Smith is relieved. In his quarterly conference call, Smith said he wanted to have the Commission reject the license transfers once again, so that Sinclair could then appeal the decision to the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, in hopes that the court would throw out the FCC's ownership limits.

RBR observation: The DC court has tended to have a bent toward deregulation, which was why opponents of media consolidation sought to have the most recent battle over the FCC's ownership rules fought elsewhere - - and succeeded in getting the case heard in Philadelphia. Should Sinclair get the type of ruling it anticipates in the Cunningham case, the sharp differences between the DC and Philadelphia federal appeals courts would increase pressure on the US Supreme Court to settle the issue of media ownership limits once and for all.

CalPERS to oppose Eisner's re-election
When they count the votes today at Disney's annual meeting in Minneapolis, Roy Disney and Stan Gold won't be the only ones repeating their vote of no confidence for Michael Eisner (2/9/05 RBR #28). The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation's largest public pension fund, says it will withhold its 9,437,390 votes for Eisner's re-election to the board. "CalPERS believes the company is in need of new leadership. Further, as a retired CEO, Mr. Eisner should not be on the board in the future. Consistent with our vote last year, CalPERS has lost confidence in Mr. Eisner's ability to contribute to long-term shareholder value creation," the pension fund said in announcing its decision to vote against Eisner. CalPERS did not indicate that it will vote against any other Disney directors up for election today.

RBR Poll
Is the economy on the mend this year, or are we just starting to see new problems? H-P threw its CEO overboard, the CEO of Starbucks ranted at shareholders for selling their stock and once high-flying Krispy Kreme saw its dough deflate. Aberrations or a trend? You, are readers are out there on the front lines. After seeing radio revenues finish 2% in 2004, what is your forecast for this year?

How will radio revenues finish 2005?
1. Flat or down
2. Up 1-2%
3. Up 3-4%
4. Up 5% or more

Conference Calls Q4 2004

XM adds 713,101 subscribers in Q4
XM Satellite Radio's Q4 financial and operating results showed net subscriber additions of 713,101, representing a 66% increase over the 430,580 subscribers added in Q4 '03. The company added 1.8 million net subscribers in 2004, an increase of 137% over 2003, and finished the year with 3,229,124 subscribers, exceeding 2004 year-end subscriber guidance of 3.1 million by more than 125,000 subscribers. In Q4, XM reported revenue of 83.1 million, an increase of 148% over the 33.5 million reported in Q4 '03. FY 2004 revenue was 244.4 million, an increase of 166% over the 91.8 million reported in 2003. | More... |

Adbiz©

Monster announces results
of January campaign
via Infinity stations
Monster.com's January jobs campaign, featured exclusively on 180 Infinity stations (in 41 markets), racked up 3.3 million new and updated resumes that month. Monster also said it had 13 separate days where at least 60,000 new resumes were received, setting a company record for the most days in one month where resume submissions exceeded that number. Also noted were a 23% increase in job applications submitted by job seekers and a 28% increase of employer resume views during January 2005 compared to January 2004. The campaign concluded with Monster's Ultimate Career Day, which included "Monster Career Moments" hosted by Jeff Taylor, Founder and Chief Monster. Throughout the month of January and into February, these one-minute radio clips featured Jeff's interviews with notable businessmen and women, athletes and celebrities, as well as Monster's own career tips and listener success stories.

Dodge Dakota partners with Channel M
and CC Katz Advantage on Integrated campaign
You've heard about the best spots to pick up a date, now Dodge Marketing has partnered with Channel M and Clear Channel Katz Advantage radio stations to launch the "Dodge Dakota Key to the Best Pick-Up Spots" promotion - a multi-city search to identify the best "pick-up" spots for everyday favorite items. | More... |

Agencies sound off on accountability
Today at RAB2005 in Atlanta, the Radio Advertising Bureau releases its Radio Perceptual Study Update, focusing on a lot of the accountability issues that have been dealt with repeatedly in RBR/TVBR in recent months. We hear, as you might expect, that the view of radio's accountability is not good, particularly in such areas as running schedules as ordered and the quality and timeliness of ratings information. TV fares better, but broadcasters will likely be surprised to see how well newspapers rate. (It is, after all, perception, not reality.)

March Radio & Television Business Report

2005 Technology Odyssey...
The Changing Landscape
Ipods up to 4 million sold over Christmas and radio doesn't have a problem?

Nexstar's Perry Sook goes exclusive One-On-One and is very vocal on why he is standing alone and tall against the Cable MSO's.

Brace yourself as media top gun Irwin Gotlieb tells all Radio & TV what he really thinks and if you don't like it - "Then change careers."

Ad / Marketing Space is still available reaching all key media decision makers in Ad Agencies, Radio, TV, and Wall Street. See www.rbr.com for circulation.

Advertising/Marketing Placement - Contact
Jim Carnegie - 813 909 2916
June Barnes - 803 731 5951

Not Receiving The Official Business Media Magazine? Then here is your Last Chance to a Trial - Read. Your order must be place by February 18th.

Media Markets & MoneyTM

What's the Buzil in Las Vegas?
Bruce Buzil's 3 Point Media is trying to acquire another FM in the Las Vegas area, filing an 8M dollar deal with M&M Broadcasting to acquire KADD-FM, licensed to Laughlin. But there's a catch, and it has to do with the new Arbitron-geo radio market definitions. Buzil, along with Chris Devine and others, is part of a multi-name broadcast license holding group. Its Desert Sky Media is licensee of KOAS-FM and KVGS-FM, also licensed to Laughlin NV. Sky Media owns KPKK-FM Amargosa Valley NV. And College Creek Broadcasting just won a Vegas-area CP for Mesquite NV in the recently concluded Auction No. 37. 3 Point says, however, that this is not really a five FM group. "...3 Point submits that the inclusion of one of these stations, [KPKK] is manifestly in error." It argues and Arbitron by document supports the conclusion that it was only included in BIA's station list of the Las Vegas market because it repeats some of the programming of KOAS. The BIA list counts 41 total stations in the market, four shy of the total which would make a five-FM cluster legal.

RBR observation: Buzil's group is not a big player in the market, and is not likely to be, despite the potential for five FMs. Five FMs in the general area is a better description. KPKK is far to the west of town and does not even come close to overlapping the signal of any of the other stations. KADD is far south of town - - it overlaps the two other Laughlin stations but, with a much smaller contour, comes nowhere close to the yellow area of the Nevada state map that shows the true city limits of Las Vegas. The Mesquite station will do a little better job of getting in the yellow, but it will originate from a point considerably to the north and will not make it to the southern or western parts of the city. In short, the new rules protect entrenched market leaders Infinity, Clear Channel, Lotus, Beasley and Univision, and work against the efforts of a smaller company trying to compete with inferior signals, one of which - - perched some 60 plus miles away - - is in Las Vegas on paper only.

Washington Beat

McCain to remain on cable's case
An annual ritual of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is to rail against the annual rise in the rates cable television operators charge their subscribers. The recently released FCC report on 2003 charges, which rose by an average of 5.4% (2/7/05 RBR #26), had the effect of propelling McCain back to his soapbox. He noted that the increase in rates was above the general pace of inflation, but was not nearly so pronounced in those areas where a cable system faced significant competition. He promised to push for remedies, including overbuilding. Here are the Senator's remarks. "Despite industry claims of vigorous competition, the FCC reported last week that cable rates continue to outpace inflation at an annual rate of over 5%. It's no wonder, then, that the previous day, the nation's largest cable operator announced a 10.4% increase in earnings for the fourth quarter." "Notably, where cable providers faced competition from another wired provider, the FCC found the average rate increase was only 3.6%. Competition matters. Therefore, I will continue to champion policies that promote competition to the incumbent cable operator from other technologies, including over builders, satellite providers, wireless carriers and telephone companies using Internet Protocol enabled services." "Lastly, I applaud RCN and PrairieWave Communications for volunteering to develop and implement a market test to give consumers more choice. These carriers want to allow consumers to purchase additional options of bundles or individual channels thereby providing consumers with more control over their bills, particularly those consumers who watch only a few channels, and over the content they welcome into their homes. A market test is the only true way to understand both the merits and shortcomings of alternate channel packaging. I urge companies in the content industry to work with these providers to allow a valid market test to proceed so that policymakers can debate the merits of channel choice for the first time with concrete data in hand."

Transactions

KZDC-AM, KFNI-AM San Antonio (San Antonio, Pleasanton TX) and KVJY-AM McAllen-Brownsville (Pharr TX) from Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Licensee LLC to Border Media Partners LLC

KWKC-AM & KZQQ-AM Abilene TX from Abilene Radio Corporation to Canfin Enterprises Inc.

| More... |

Stock Talk

Good economic news spurs stocks
Government reports showed fewer unemployment claims and a smaller trade deficit, giving Wall Street plenty to celebrate. The Dow Industrials rose 86 points, or 0.8%, to 10,750.

The good news gave radio stocks a boost as well. The Radio Index was up 1.934, or 0.9%, to 218.858. Cox Radio was the day's star, up 3.1%. Cumulus gained 2.8%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Thursday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		40.50	-0.22	Jeff-Pilot	JP		49.67	+0.09
Beasley	BBGI		17.00	+0.26	Journal Comm.	JRN		16.40	+0.24
Citadel	CDL		14.49	+0.19	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		14.61	+0.12
Clear Channel	CCU		34.60	+0.13	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		14.60	+0.13
Cox Radio	CXR		15.49	+0.19	Regent	RGCI		5.06	-0.10
Cumulus	CMLS		14.35	+0.39	Saga Commun.	SGA		16.80	+0.10
Disney	DIS		29.35	unch	Salem Comm.	SALM		23.42	+0.28
Emmis	EMMS		18.09	+0.35	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		5.93	-0.06
Entercom	ETM		31.49	+0.39	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		10.25	unch
Entravision	EVC		7.85	+0.03	Univision	UVN		26.24	+0.25
Fisher	FSCI		50.00	+0.31	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		37.31	-0.39
Gaylord	GET		39.25	-0.35	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		37.00	-0.38
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		25.81	+0.04	Westwood One	WON		24.56	+0.12
Interep	IREP		0.68	-0.02	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		31.90	+0.50
International Bcg.	IBCS		0.01	unch	-	-	-	-	-

__UNSUB__ to this email service.

Bounceback

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

Appreciation for RBR/TVBR POV...

RBR daily email is my daily MUST READ for media business intelligence and analysis. The first thing I do when I get on the train, is check "more all" on my blackberry to get your entire email. I appreciate your interpretations and recommendations. You're one of the few radio people to attend the Four A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies conference) and the ANA (Association of National Advertisers event). Bravo! Thanks to you and your staff for your impressive work.

Warmest regards,

Pierre Bouvard
President, Portable People Meter
Arbitron Inc.

Upped & Tapped

Rosen Scores
in Chicago
Infinity's WSCR-AM "The Score" Chicago has named Mitch Rosen as Program director. He had previously been PD at WMVP-AM.

Stations For Sale

Saginaw/Bay City/Midland FM
WSAG-FM 104.1 Mhz Class A, Pinconning, Michigan. ARB ranked #130, revenue ranked #97, 23M. Newly on the air. New owned 350' tower. 4,600 watts ERP, new 5KW solid state transmitter, ERI 3 bay antenna. No revenue yet, no sales staff, only minimal personnel. Running oldies format with BSI computer system. New studio facility will be needed for new owner. Minimal studio equipment, with EAS equipment, STL, etc. New construction project, currently
owned by an engineering company. Operating company needed to be brought in to finish project. Priced as "stick" value. Asking $950,000.00.
[email protected]

Phoenix AM Bankruptcy Sale
KFNX 1100, 50,000 Watt AM radio station in Phoenix, AZ, will be sold for the highest and best offer on March 31, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. MST
at the US Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix, AZ. An initial bid of $3.6 million has been received. The sale of the business is "as is/where is". Please go to www.1100kfnx.com for station information, and
call 602-277-1100 x.499 for details.

More News Headlines

Franken won't run in 2006

Interep releases Contemporary Christian format study

iBiquity extends early adopter program discounts

CRG to handle affiliate relations for Thom Hartmann Show

RBR Radar 2005

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

Congressional indecency
effort clears first hurdle
There was twice as much opposition to the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act in 2005 as there was in 2004. That brought the opposition all the way to two votes, as an essentially clean bill sailed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee as predicted. The vote was 46-2, compared to last year's 49-1 tally. The bill, if enacted into law, will raise the FCC's maximum indecency fine from 32.5K to 500K and put in a 3rd strike rule ordering the FCC to consider license revocations for thrice-cited owners.
RBR observation: The bill sailed through the full House last year with only token opposition, but was done in by the Senate, which included amendments dealing with broadcast ownership consolidation and violent content, among other things. That will no doubt happen again, putting the ball squarely in Sen. Ted Steven's (R-AK) court. Will he be able to get an equally clean bill through his Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation? Stay tuned. 02/10/05 RBR #29

Revise and shine?
The goal of keeping government activities transparent requires that when ever more than two commissioners meet, it must be in an open forum observable by the public, a provision of the Sunshine Act. Commissioners from both parties serving at the FCC want the rules revised, saying it hampers their ability to deal with the complex issues which are regularly brought before them. The Commissioners say they still communicate, via memos, staff members, round-robin one-on-one meetings etcetera.
RBR observation: Neither Powell nor Copps has been at all shy about explaining themselves to the public. Where Powell has run into icebergs is his distaste for letting the public tell him what they think.
02/10/05 RBR #29

Spectrum tax proposal back again
In what is becoming an annual event and traces back to the Clinton White House, the administration is attempting to slip a spectrum tax on broadcasters who are running parallel stations in the pending phase of the DTV transition. The tax would apply to unreturned analog spectrum beginning in 2006, and would shoot for a government payday of a half billion dollars. The congruent annual event is the successful effort by the National Association of Broadcasters to blow the spectrum tax out of the water. RBR observation: NAB is alive and doing its job but the industry knows the leader is leaving. When can the radio and television business expect to see 'white smoke?' There are issues that need addressed and nobody in our business wants to get blind sided. NAB needs a leader that has knowledge but also has the youth to lead for the next ten years. 02/09/05 RBR #28

Interest in satellite radio
already weakening
That's the key conclusion of JP Morgan media analyst Barton Crockett from the firm's second consumer survey on satellite radio. The survey of more than 1,600 people found that 35% of households were interested in satellite radio - - down from 43% in the first survey last May. Of course, with penetration at only 3.8%, there's still plenty of growth potential, but Crockett still sees the decline in consumer demand as "incrementally negative." As noted yesterday, when JP Morgan entertainment analyst Spencer Wang also issued a report on the survey's findings, commercial-free music is the main factor driving demand, not exclusive content. Nevertheless, Crockett believes that its content deals with the NFL and Howard Stern will help Sirius achieve retail share parity with XM. 12% of non-subscribers preferred the Sirius package, compared to 6% for XM.
02/09/05 RBR #28

January Digital
Solutions Magazine

No more political money or more Olympics advertising. In '05 you're going to have to make money the old fashioned way - earn it. Keep up on trends and figuring new ways to earn ad dollars. The need is serious for a business-oriented publication. In radio or television, many of the challenges are the same -each industry can learn from the other.
No fluff. No hype. Just business.

November Zinio Solutions Magazine
Read RBR in 2 simple steps:
1.Create a simple account with Zinio and download the Zinio Reader.
2. You can then download the January Issue of RBR

News Director
WLPO/WAJK/WKOT, LaSalle, IL - Established stations in the Midwest looking for the journalist of integrity and understands what local means to a news department with experience to encourage others on staff. LaSalle is a great market and excellent company benefits. EOE.

GSM or LSM
Shreveport's fastest growing radio cluster, Cumulus Broadcasting has an immediate opening depending on experience. If you are motivated by winning and by money we have the job for you. Five station cluster moving into showcase studios. Cumulus, EOE, the best radio company in America.

See Radio Careers for more info.

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