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Volume 23, Issue 32, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning February 15th, 2006

Radio News ®

Stone upped to Univision Radio prez
After serving as Sr. Vice President and COO for five years, Gary Stone has been promoted to President and COO of Univision Radio. "Gary has done a terrific job at Univision Radio and we are sure that he'll even do a better job as President and COO. He brings unparalleled experience and a clear vision of the tremendous opportunities ahead," said Ray Rodriguez, President and COO of the parent company, Univision Communications. The position of President at Univision Radio had been vacant since Mac Tichenor stepped down at the end of 2004 (12/9/04 RBR #239). Stone began his broadcasting career as a DJ in 1969 and moved up through a series of jobs to become a major market GM and then group manager. Stone's promotion comes just a few days after Univision put itself up for sale (2/9/06 RBR #28). There has been speculation that Univision Radio might be spun off if the eventual buyer chooses to focus solely on television. Univision got into radio in 2002 with a 3.5 billion bucks deal to acquire what had been Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. In fact, Stone's marking of his fifth anniversary as COO this month began at HBC before it became part of Univision.

Radio revenues down for Journal
Broadcast revenues for Journal Communications were up 28.5% to 13.6 million in January, but only because the company added TV stations it bought from Emmis. Without those new stations, broadcast revenues were down 5.4% for the month. Radio revenues fell 8.5% to 4.7 million. The company said that was due in part to the lack of a Green Bay Packers playoff game this year. For the TV group, revenues shot up 64.1% to 8.8 million including the new stations. Without them, TV revenues fell 2.4%. Publishing revenues were essentially flat, with newspaper ad revenues up 3.5% in January.

Shareholders said to favor
bust-up of VNU
As VNU management continues to evaluate a buyout bid from a consortium of private equity firms (2/8/06 RBR #27), the Wall Street Journal reports that several of the company's biggest institutional shareholders aren't satisfied with the 8.8 billion bucks offer. Instead, they're said to favor breaking VNU up into three companies and then selling the pieces. According to the WSJ, analysis by those big shareholders figures the pieces could be worth 35-40 euros per share, considerably higher than the offer of up to 28.50 euros from the equity consortium. If such a strategy were to be followed, the largest and most profitable piece would be the media measurement division, led by US-based Nielsen Media Research with EVP of Media Measurement & Information Susan Whiting. Next would be the marketing services business headed up by President / CEO Steve Schmidt, which includes ACNielsen and Claritas. The least profitable division, considered the most likely to be sold off in any scenario, is the publishing and trade show operation, whose major US titles include Billboard, Adweek and The Hollywood Reporter fall under the watch of President / CEO VNU Business Media (USA) Michael Marchesano

RBR observation: Having already derailed VNU's proposed seven billion bucks acquisition of IMS Health, causing VNU CEO Rob van den Bergh to announce his resignation (11/18/05 RBR #227), VNU's big shareholders obviously have a lot of clout. The company's directors aren't likely to cross them again and approve a buyout bid that they won't like. After all, they might well have the votes to reject it anyway. Selling three companies will be more difficult than selling one, but then that's essentially what the equity consortium plans to do - - selling off unwanted pieces and then building up the remainder of VNU for a sale or IPO. The big shareholders apparently think they might as well do that themselves and eventually pocket the profits.

Major adcat: Bush administration
According to the Government Accountability Office, government agencies in the last two and a half years have pumped at least a cool 1.6B dollars into advertising and public relations, and the real number is likely much higher. Of this, the lion's share went through advertising agencies, which received 1.4B via 137 separate contracts. 54 agreements valued at 197M were made with PR firms, and 131 smaller contracts went directly to media companies, adding up to a total or 15M. A technique which gained notoriety in recent years was the video news release (VNR) - - GAO said 1.2M was spent on 14 such contracts. Even the rarely-used Armstrong Williams-type deals were also noted - - there were only eight, totalling just under 100K. However, the actual agreement between the Department of Education and Williams was not part of the study. According to a release from Democrats in the House of Representatives, GAO did not have direct access to much of the government and was certain that reports received were incomplete, since DE's known relationships with Williams and PR firm Ketchum Communications were not provided. "GAO surveyed only seven of the 15 cabinet-level departments and did not survey any independent agencies," it was explained in the release. Direct comparison to the spending habits of prior administrations was not part of the study, but it was noted that government spending on PR in 2000 was 39M, compared to 88M in 2004.

Redstone family airing dirty laundry in public
Was Brent Redstone inspired by his father's decision to break up Viacom? He's filed a lawsuit seeking to break up National Amusements Inc., the company by which the Redstone family controls both CBS Corporation and the new Viacom. If Brent has his way, the eight billion bucks company will be dissolved and he'll take his one-sixth stake to do with as he wishes. As it stands now, his father, Sumner Redstone, has majority voting control of National Amusements and, in turn, both CBS and Viacom. Brent is a lawyer-turned-rancher and once served as a director of pre-split Viacom. But he's been estranged from his father since siding with mom when the couple divorced in 1999. Sister Shari, who is closer to Sumner, is now President of National Amusements. According to the Los Angeles Times, which strangely was the first news outlet to report the Maryland lawsuit, Brent alleges that he was forced off the National Amusements board because he refused to falsely certify minutes of board meetings that never took place. The lawsuit also claims that Sumner failed to inform him of some major transactions, including a 425 million bailout of his father for a personal debt. "It is unfortunate that Brent Redstone is abusing the court system in an attempt to extract a financial settlement in a family dispute. His allegations are completely unfounded and NAI will defend itself vigorously against this meritless lawsuit," National Amusements (NAI) said in a statement yesterday.

NAB offers telcos a helping hand
There is nothing ambiguous about the position being staked out by the National Association Broadcasters when it comes to the looming battle between entrenched cable operators and would be competitors from the telephone industry. NAB wants the doors wide open for the new kids. In comments filed with the FCC, NAB cites the well-known general benefits of competition and refers to a smattering of statistics to back up the claim. NAB also notes that another channel lineup will help break cable's influence over what is and is not seen, giving new producers another place to try and peddle their wares. But NAB's chief concern is getting the programming of its constituency in the broadcast community before as many people as possible. Having a second local MVPD outlet (or third most places where satellite carries local channels) obviously provides local television with another way to reach viewers. "A new video distribution platform will represent another outlet for broadcast programming, including local news and information. Given broadcasters' dependence on advertising revenue (and thus on reaching as many viewers as possible), the expansion of our opportunities for reaching consumers must be regarded as positive. The development of another video distribution platform for carrying broadcast programming may also encourage the development of innovative digital television programming, including multicast and high definition programming. If new MVPDs emerge as viable platforms for carrying local stations' HD and multicast programs, broadcasters will be encouraged to make the substantial investments needed to bring their multicast service plans to fruition. In the end, it is consumers that will benefit by receiving a greater diversity of programming, including local programming, from multicasting broadcast stations and unaffiliated cable programmers via a competitive MVPD."

RBR observation: Broadcast and telephone interests haven't gone unnoticed, sweet-talking to one another over their in the corner. The two industries seem to be developing a symbiotic relationship. Telcos can help broadcasters leverage high-def and multicast carriage, which broadcasters help telcos get started. This letter from the NAB to the FCC can be seen as a little valentine to the phone people.

Ad Business Report TM

MPG latest to sign for PPM
Arbitron announced that MPG, the buying and planning unit of Havas, has signed a contract to use its PPM radio audience estimates when the company makes a decision to deploy its state-of-the-art audience measurement service. "It's time for the radio industry to embrace the PPM so that it can be more accountable to advertisers," said Phyllis Maguire, MPG EVP/managing director of. "We're ready to work with radio broadcasters to help stations transition to Portable People Meter measurement." The agreement covers the U.S.-based radio planning and buying activities of Havas companies including MPG and MPG Diversity.

Kwan's withdrawal changes Coke's ad plans
Michelle Kwan's withdrawal from the Winter Olympics has forced Coca-Cola to reevaluate its TV plans. Coke decided not to go ahead with one of its two ads that mention Kwan, while Visa USA is sticking with her in its campaign. A series of Coke ads that feature fans rooting on their favorite athletes included one where they were rooting for Kwan. Since she isn't seen in the ad, Coke will substitute ads featuring other athletes in the spots. Kwan and speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno had their names used in another Coke ad where the v/o says, "Without ice, Apolo Anton Ohno would be a speed-swimmer, Michelle Kwan would be a water-skater, and our Cokes would be warm." That ad is staying on the air.

AdLab's Cohen invited to join
Round Table Group
Barry Cohen, principal of AdLab Media, has been admitted to Round Table Group's expert network. Round Table Group is a Chicago and Washington, D.C. think tank recognized by the "Wall Street Journal" for high profile companies seeking intellectual experts. In 2004 and 2003, Round Table Group made the "Inc 500" list of fastest growing US private companies. It has also been featured in Crains's and Fortune.

Media Business Report TM

New twist in Knight Ridder auction
As Knight Ridder and its financial advisors evaluate buyout bids for the nation's second-largest newspaper chain (12/12/05 RBR #241), it turns out that number crunching won't be the only part of the process. Knight Ridder's own San Jose Mercury News reports that company officials discovered a provision of the company's articles of incorporation which requires that the board of directors certify that the buyer will continue the company's "journalistic excellence." If the board can't or won't make such a certification, then a sale would require not just a majority, but 80% approval by shareholders - - a significant hurdle for any buyout to clear. The Mercury News said Knight Ridder management was scrambling this week to assemble a panel of independent journalism experts to evaluate the journalistic bona fides of potential buyers.

Media Markets & Money TM

Salem bails out of Richmond
Broker John Pierce has word of yet another deal - - this time the seller is Salem Communications, which is spinning out of Richmond VA with the sale of its WBTK-AM. The buyer, for 1.5M, is Mount Rich Media, run by Sun Young Joo and Victor Joo. The deal will expand the buyer's portfolio south - - it already owns properties in the Philadelphia and Washington areas.

Washington Media Business Report TM

Commerce Committee flips sessions
Broadcasters have only a passing interest in many of the communications hearings currently on the agenda at the Senate Commerce Committee, and a pair of flippers constitute two of them. A session on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is moving from 3/14/06 to 3/2/06, swapping planks with Wireless Issues/Spectrum Reform, moving from the earlier to the later date. A national conference being held the week of the 14th posed a conflict for many with an interest in the VoIP issue.

Ratings & Research

Analyst sees gains for public radio
companies in Fall ratings
Total radio listening may have been down in the recently-released Fall 2005 ratings from Arbitron, but Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller sees good news in the numbers for some of the publicly traded radio companies, including giants Clear Channel and CBS - - although the biggest winner was Radio One. Here's a summary of Miller's analysis.
| Read More... |

RBR Stats

Nielsen Monitor-Plus:
Winter Olympics opening ceremony ads
NBC carried a total of 40 minutes of national commercials during its telecast of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony, on 2/10 in Torino, Italy, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plush. This compares to 35 minutes of commercial time during the Opening Ceremony of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 and 40 minutes of commercial time during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, both also carried by NBC. The Automotive Category aired the greatest number of commercials during the Opening Ceremony, accounting for a total of 71/2 minutes of airtime. General Motors contributed to a majority of the commercial minutes, advertising for its Chevrolet and Cadillac brands as well as promoting its environmentally friendly "FlexFuel" vehicles. The Motion Picture Category followed with 31/4 minutes, as Buena Vista Pictures placed the most ads for the films "Eight Below" and "Shaggy Dog", while Credit Card Services held the number three slot with a total of 3 minutes of commercials, all for Visa International. General Motors was the top advertiser, airing 51/2 commercial minutes for the following brands: Cadillac Escalade (1 minute), Chevrolet Tahoe (11/2 minutes), Chevrolet Trucks (1 minute), Chevrolet Suburban (30 seconds), and General Motors Autos and Trucks (11/2 minutes). Visa aired 3 commercial minutes and McDonald's, Exxon Mobil and Coca-Cola follow for the third slot with 2 minutes of air time each. Visa Credit Card Services was the top brand advertised during the 2006 Opening Ceremony, with a total of three 60-seconds commercials. McDonald's, Exxon Mobil and Coca-Cola Soft drinks each aired 2 minutes worth of commercials, while Chevrolet Tahoe Trucks, General Electric and General Motors tied for third, each running 11/2 minutes of commercials.

Engineering Business Report TM

First Broadcasting assimilates Denny & Assoc. team
First Broadcasting, a broadcast and technology company focused on investments and emerging radio technologies, announced the addition of three new engineers to its Spectrum Innovation Laboratory. DC-based engineering consultancy Denny & Associates President Bob Denny, P.E. has been named SVP/Technology and will direct all of the company's technical initiatives including First Broadcasting's Spectrum Innovation Lab. Bert Goldman will remain honorary chair of the Spectrum Lab and will work closely with Denny. First also announced the addition of former Clear Channel SVP and Denny head of the Broadcast Technical Services Division Al Kenyon as Director, Technology and Project Management. Denny exec Tiffany Ligon has been also tapped the Spectrum Lab technical analyst. The Spectrum Lab is the country's first technical facility devoted exclusively to the study of digital and analog RF signal propagation including the development of sophisticated software tools to predict and measure such signals. Located in Dallas, the Lab houses a diverse team of resident technical professionals including experts in RF, signal propagation, complex software algorithms and related computational modeling. Denny will be winding down Denny & Associates and commuting to First Broadcasting for the time being. He plans to eventually move to Dallas. Kenyon will be staying in the DC area.

NETIA announces advanced monitoring solutions
NETIA, a provider of software solutions for managing media content, is launching a powerful new range of audio and video monitoring solutions for radio and television. This new offering, which is fully integrated with NETIA's Manreo and Radio-Assist media-management solutions, is comprised of Chronos and Dragster software. Chronos automatically captures audio and video feeds during a broadcast and offers real-time MPEG-4 encoding for video and MP3 or WAV encoding for audio. Its interface allows operators to view video data on demand, 24/7. Users can retrieve playlists without interrupting the recording and the system automatically archives and purges recorded files stored locally or on the network. Dragster is a real-time engine that monitors the appearance of specific images among thousands of clips, triggering such actions as recording, switching the grid, playback from a server, and notification in a database. It features full-screen image recognition as well as recognition of parts of images.

Transactions

250K KJCM-FM Snyder OK/KHIM-FM Mangum OK from Ray Broadcasting Inc. (Forrest Ray) to Fuchs Rdio LLC (Chad Fox, Shelley Fox). 50K down payment, balance in cash at closing. Superduopoly with KTJS-AM Hobart OK, KTIJ-FM Elk City OK. LMA 11/7/05. [File date 1/27/06.]

60,294 WAXZ-FM Georgetown OH from First Broadcasting Capital Partners LLC (Hal A. Rose et al) to Gateway Radio Works Inc. (Hays McMakin). Cash. Station has applied for CP to change city of license to Salt Lick KY on 97.7 mHz, Class A, 3 kw @ 469'. [File date 1/27/06.]

Stock Talk

Oil drops, stocks rise
It was a day of hitting landmarks in the markets. Oil prices fell below 60 bucks a barrel, which got the attention of stock traders, who sent the Dow Industrials above the 11K mark. Specifically, the blue chip index rose 136 points, or 1.3%, to 11,028.

Radio stocks rose modestly. The Radio Index gained 0.571, or 0.3%, to 172.686. Radio One was the star performer, with its Class A stock up 3.6% and Class D up 2.1%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		39.14	+0.52	Hearst-Argyle	HTV		23.89	+0.27
Beasley	BBGI		13.34	-0.54	Interep	IREP		0.25	unch
CBS CI. B	CBS		25.60	+0.06	Jeff-Pilot	JP		60.11	+1.65
CBS CI. A	CBSa		25.59	+0.08	Journal Comm.	JRN		12.52	+0.02
Citadel	CDL		11.42	-0.05	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		10.33	+0.36
Clear Channel	CCU		28.70	+0.04	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		10.26	+0.21
Cox Radio	CXR		13.84	+0.08	Regent	RGCI		4.54	+0.07
Cumulus	CMLS		11.81	-0.19	Saga Commun.	SGA		10.00	+0.10
Disney	DIS		26.75	+0.34	Salem Comm.	SALM		14.17	-0.10
Emmis	EMMS		17.44	+0.16	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		5.64	+0.03
Entercom	ETM		28.65	+0.33	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		5.94	+0.09
Entravision	EVC		7.24	+0.09	Univision	UVN		34.08	-0.32
Fisher	FSCI		42.89	+0.35	Westwood One	WON		13.95	-0.22
Gaylord	GET		44.00	-1.08	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		24.64	-0.02

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]

Peter Ferrara responds to yesterday's Bounceback from Bruce Maduri (2/14/06 RBR #31).

Bruce - -
Thanks for your note. The "genius" was iBiquity digital, which is what they have had on their web site for the past few years. Part of making the point about HD Digital Radio is to punctuate the dramatic difference that digital quality brings to the consumer. It is hard to do that over the web and we felt this offered a valid, albeit stark contrast. Having said that, you will notice that we also emphasize that HD Radio is about more choice, new local content and free radio. We would welcome your creative input into how to make it even better. Let me know if I can send you membership documents so you can join the HD Digital Radio Alliance.

Peter Ferrara
President & CEO
HD Digital Radio Alliance

Below the Fold

Ad Business Report
Coke to reevaluate TV
Kwan's withdrawal decides
not to go ahead...

Media Business Report
Knight Ridder auction
Sees a new twist...

Media Markets & Money
Bail out in Richmond
This time the seller is Salem...

Ratings & Research
Fall ratings under eye
Analyst seeing gains for
public radio companies...

Radio Media Moves

Pepple lands in N. Caro.
NextMedia announced that Rolf Pepple has been named Vice President/General Manager of its Greenville/New Bern/Jacksonville radio cluster, effective February 27th. Pepple was previously Cox Radio's Market Manager in Louisville (1/19/06 RBR #13).

Stations for Sale

Houston 50,000 kW AM
New transmitter site
& transmitting equipment
John W. Saunders
(713) 789-4222 or e-mail
[email protected]

TVBR - TV News

Ads in Twin Cities spark protests
NBC Channel 11 KARE-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul says an ad being run on its station is sparking viewer protests. It comes from a group calling itself Progress for America. In the current flight - - KARE says the group has spent 700K on Minneapolis air space - - uses Minnesota military veterans to make a case for carrying on the war in Iraq. Several of the people who objected to the content thought it was misleading, if not outright incorrect, but was defended by one of the on-camera veterans as hewing strictly to the truth nevertheless. KARE stated, "The station neither agrees nor disagrees with the messages in advertising, but one of our responsibilities is to be an advocate for freedom of expression and to provide a marketplace of ideas."

TVBR observation: We agree with KARE. As long as the station makes its airwaves equally available to those with opposing views, the station should have no problems.

Download Now
February '06 RBR/TVBR Solutions Magazine

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RBR Radar 2005

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

HDRadio.com launches
Complementing the new HD2 multicast formats launching in 28 markets, the HD Digital Radio Alliance announced the launch of HDRadio.com (www.hdradio.com) the new consumer info site for HD Radio. The site helps consumers. - But, this reader has been checking out the new website to promote HD Radio, I just listened to the demo on hdradio.com. I wonder who the genius was who decided to promote current AM and FM analog as mediums that sound terrible.

RBR note: For first reaction and comment read....
02/14/06 RBR #31

Feingold seeks
Senate hearing on payola
Has asked both Chairman Stevens (R-AK) Dan Inouye (D-HI) to put one of his pet issues on the committee's agenda. He cited his bill, the Radio and Concert Disclosure Act of 2005 (S.2058) as a starting point.

RBR observation: They say that the most common flaw of military leaders throughout the centuries is the use of tactics appropriate for the last war in the books, rather than new tactics appropriate for the war in front of them. Feingold seems guilty of fighting the last war. It is the observation of RBR to raise a flag of victory over the carcass of the old pay-for-play system and start looking ahead to the newer concerns - - pay-for-say, un-attributed fake news releases, undisclosed product placements, and false product endorsements from allegedly independent expert reviewers.
02/13/06 RBR #30

RBR First
GM share deals to be cancelled
Stations to monitor pod violations as GM Planworks SVP/Local Investment Director Kevin Gallagher made the announcement to all in the Television Business. Reps were called to a meeting and told that GM share deals would all be cancelled from Q2 on and that stations, not buyers, would then monitor pod violations. Said one industry source: "These moves lose GM multiple millions of ad time at a time when they need every dime they can get. In the local community the reps are out celebrating as are the stations."

RBR observation: This is good for radio so read the details
02/10/06 RBR #29

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

Companies Looking
1. Clear Channel RSM in Twin Cities
2. Arbitron Account Manager
3. Sales Rep in Washington, DC
4. Sales Manager for Reno Reps

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