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Volume 24, Issue 43, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Friday Morning March 2nd, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 3% gain! That's right, folks, don't touch that dial
Leave it right there, at 3%. That's where local business stands for 2007 compared to 2006, based on Radio Advertising Bureau/Miller Kaplan Arase & Co. numbers for the month of January. It wasn't that long ago that a 3% gain would have been cause for major snoring, but lately, any number that is curly and black looks good. Of course, this tale of a silver lining comes with a black cloud, and that is national business, which sported the same curly number as local, but colored red. However, the combination was good for a 2% gain in overall spot revenue, and non-spot revenue was up a hefty 13%. Non-spot remains, however, a small portion of total business, and the double-digit performance did not bring the bottom line any higher than the aforementioned 2%.
RBR observation: 2% may be a modest step forward, but it is a step forward nevertheless. And perhaps we can build on it. The crystal ball readers all seem to think we're in for another tough year, but they've predicted recoveries before and been wrong. Maybe this time they predicted sludginess and were wrong again. It's time for radio to rise up and make them look foolish by wildly exceeding expectations.
Finally getting some pricing discipline
The final quarter of 2006 was pretty good for Citadel Broadcasting, with revenues up 5.3%. But CEO Farid Suleman says the best is ahead after some tough years for the radio business. He told analysts that the industry is finally back to having pricing discipline. "The radio industry is going to be a lot better in 2007 than it was in 2006. You saw Clear Channel's results in 2006. I think some of the downward spiral, with people pricing for share, is pretty much at an end. You have limitations on how much inventory you have and at the same time there seems to be more discipline in pricing," Suleman told analysts. "I think you'll see 2007 being better. I think the first quarter initially, particularly national in the first two months was a little slow with the automobile companies and others not committing, but I think you're seeing some of it coming back. AT&T is now coming back in a much stronger way and we're expecting some of the automobiles to start coming back," Suleman added. As of now, Q1 pacings are flat to slightly up, but Suleman says he expects that to improve. Of course, Citadel is still focused on its giant acquisition of ABC Radio, which the CEO expects to close the first half of this year. He said the ABC stations that are going to be acquired gained market share in Q1, so he is optimistic about their prospects. Suleman also confirmed that his company, as owner of ABC Radio Networks, will continue to handle sales for the radio operations that Disney is keeping, ESPN Radio and Radio Disney. He said that will be a considerable "rep fee," but he did not quantify it. Suleman also repeated his intention to sell some assets once the deal is done, primarily from Citadel's non-core markets, rather than any of the big market ABC stations. But he also said Citadel will be happy to keep the stations if the market doesn't support the prices he wants. He suggested that once Clear channel is finished with its divestitures "there will be more buyers than sellers again."
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Sorry Mel, not happening
Few people know Mel Karmazin better than Farid Suleman, who worked side-by-side with the Zen Master for decades as they built Infinity Broadcasting and merged it into CBS and eventually Viacom. In a recent interview with RBR, Suleman reasserted his confidence in Karmazin's business abilities when we asked whether Mel would be able to make Sirius Satellite Radio profitable. "I can't tell you whether satellite radio business will be profitable, but if there is anybody that can make it profitable it would be Mel Karmazin," Suleman said. But he is not so confident of Karmazin's ability to get a merger of Sirius and XM to win approval inside the beltway. When an analyst asked the Citadel CEO yesterday what the impact might be on traditional radio if the merger is approved, Suleman scoffed at the notion. "I can't imagine that the merger is going to fly, so why bother talking about it?" he replied.
 Long slog ahead for XM/Sirius
If there's one thing that everyone seems to agree upon, this is the beginning of the process of merging XM and Sirius, and that result is far from assured. The NAB seems prepared to fight it every step of the way. EVP Dennis Wharton said, "NAB does not believe Mel Karmazin came even close to making the case for a government-sanctioned monopoly," and the organization has already put two ads in the Capitol Hill daily newspapers with the theme "No satellite radio monopoly." Wall Street analysts think its way too early to predict an outcome. At Bank of America, Jonathan A. Jacoby sees synergy value that would help benefit stock prices, and downside risk if a) the merger doesn't go through, or b) conditions prevent the new company from raising prices if needed. The main thing for now is to fasten your seat belt, because there's a long road ahead. Next stop: Ed Markey (D-MA) and the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet on 3/7/07.
Natalie Cole to headline NABOB dinner
The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) announced that singer Natalie Cole will be the featured entertainer for its 23rd Annual Communications Awards Dinner, Friday, March 23rd at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC. This year's honorees are: Pam Grier, NABOB Pioneer in Entertainment Award; Dennis Haysbert, NABOB Entertainer of the Year Award; The Mighty Clouds of Joy, NABOB Pioneer in Music Award; and Jimmy Scott, NABOB Pioneer in Music Award.
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527 gets 750K
Progress for America Voter Fund may have been claiming to be a 527 organization, but it was behaving just like a federal political committee, according to the Federal Election Commission, and was bound by contribution limits not affecting 527s. PFA-VF agreed to a "conciliation agreement" under terms of which it will pay 750K into the US Treasury. This blows away three similar findings from last December, when Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth was hit for 299.5K, League of Conservation Voters received a 180K levy and MoveOn.org Voter Fund was nailed for 150K. "This settlement demonstrates once again that the Commission is serious about enforcing the campaign finance law," said FEC Chairman Robert Lenhard. "It should now be clear to organizations that want to be active in the 2008 cycle that the activities we saw in this case are prohibited under the law." FEC said that of 44.9M in contributions leading up to the 2004 general election, 41M came from excessive donations from otherwise qualified contributors, and 2M came from completely prohibited sources. 31M went to advertising on radio, TV, direct mail, email and internet banners, and in expressly advocating either the election of George W. Bush or the defeat of John Kerry, ran afoul of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The threshold for federal registration as a political committee is tiny, either 1K received or spent.
RBR observation: We're not sure about the other organizations, but MoveOn.org has indeed moved on and functioned as a pure political action committee during the midterm elections. It no longer accepts large lump sums from wealthy benefactors, but rather accepts only small donations (i.e., hard money), and is therefore pretty much free to conduct its political activity as it wishes. It's interesting that when the Democrats held an edge in 527s in the early going in 2004, they were warned that if they were not brought into line with the intent of BCRA, Republican 527s would quickly catch up and probably surpass the Democratic ones. That certainly appears to have been the case. However, it looks like they will not be much of a factor going forward.
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| RBR REPORTS FROM AAAA LAS VEGAS |
 Marc Goldstein: A call to action for communications leadership
AAfter being introduced by AAAAs CEO O. Burtch Drake (who mentioned this would be likely the last time he'll be kicking off the convention--AAAAs spokesperson Kipp Cheng later confirmed with us Drake will be retiring sometime in 2008), GroupM CEO North America/AAAAs Media Policy Committee Chairman Marc Goldstein spoke about four critical issues affecting the business yesterday at the conference in Las Vegas. He asked for a call to action for the media community to fulfill the promise of this meeting's theme: Communications leadership: increasing the odds of success. "Let's attack the issues of today so that 12 months from now when we're in Orlando, we're not re-hashing today's issues," Goldstein stressed. "Let's all agree to work towards the following:
| Read More... |
O. Burtch Drake comments on media unbundling
In Las Vegas yesterday AAAAs CEO O. Burtch Drake made a point during his opening comments that of all the industry issues he would like to discuss at the April AAAAs Management Conference, the unbundling by some of the largest agencies of buying and later planning for the general market agency was one that wouldn't wait: "As for my point of view on that, Irwin Gotlieb [GroupM CEO] said it very well in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal interview [and in RBR/TVBR's March SmartMedia magazine] where he cited Martin Sorrell's quote: 'The toothpaste is out of the tube and you can't put it back.' I agree with that, and I would also note that there are a large number of 4A member agencies-large and small-that did not unbundle their media operations and have no plans to do so. And I'm fine with that as well. Like so many things in today's complex advertising world, just as there is no longer one method of agency compensation, there is no one model for structuring an advertising agency and a media operation. It's different strokes for different folks and there is room for a variety of options in the marketplace."
 Leveraging traditional media to maximize ROI for clients
By Bill Reynolds, VP/Media Director for Erwin-Penland, a full-service advertising agency headquartered in Greenville, SC and part of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos:
These days, it's all about New Media. If it's not digital, it's dead. Every day it seems we witness the introduction of some new media channel or technology with potentially game-changing impact. It's a very exciting time, and I'm just as interested as anybody - especially since one of my current assignments is to expand my media team's capability to distribute content, via whatever new or old channels make sense. At the same time, though, there is another, darker theme under all this New Media excitement: "Big Media" (Old Media) are Dying. Whether spoken or implied, there is the inference that New Media can only rise if Old Media simultaneously declines. Don't Bet On It.
| Read More... |
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Cumulus pacing flat after Q4 gain
Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey says Q1 is pacing flat to down slightly, but he is optimistic about the future because Q2 is currently pacing better. Q4 2006 revenues were up 5.9% to 87.8 million for Cumulus and station operating income (SOI) jumped 19.9% to 34.3 million. On a pro forma basis, since Cumulus had transferred its Houston and Kansas City stations to Cumulus Media Partners (CMP, owned only partly by the public company), the results were even better. Pro forma revenues were up 9.4% and SOI gained 20.6%. For the final three months of 2006, Cumulus Media recorded a 1.0 million as its share of net revenues at CMP and received 2.6 million in management fees.
Strong finish for Citadel
Q4 net revenues shot up 5.3% to a record 114 million for Citadel Broadcasting. That translated into a 6.8% gain in station operating income to 49 million. "This revenue growth was across the majority of our markets with over 35% of the markets reporting double digit revenue growth when compared to the same period in 2005," said CEO Farid Suleman. Citadel's quarterly report revealed that the company has taken a charge of 2.2 million related to the FCC's investigation of sponsorship identification practices - the probe launched by the New York Attorney General's probe of so-called "corporate payola." Entercom indicated earlier in the week that it had set aside four million for the same reason.
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Ad Business Report TM
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Online ad spending growth slowing, but still double digits
US marketers will continue to shift their spending into online advertising in 2007 says eMarketer in its forecast for 2007. Despite the continuing shift from "old media" to "new media," the forecast says growth in US online ad spending will be lower than it has been for the last three years, dropping from annual rates of over 30% to just under 19% in 2007 for a total of 19.5 billion. That 19% growth rate is still impressive, since eMarketer projects that total US ad spending will be up only 3.2% this year. "With the exception of the online sector, the US advertising industry will be the same size in 2007 as it was in 2006," eMarketer noted. The fastest-growing Internet ad format is video, which is expected to see spending surge by 89% in 2007. When it comes to total spending, however, search advertising rules. In 2007, US advertisers will spend nearly 8.3 billion on paid search ads, 1.3 billion more than they did in 2006. Looking further ahead, eMarketer says the US presidential elections and the Summer Olympics will be behind increased online ad spending growth in 2008. A rise of 22% will bring the total to nearly 24 billion. The fundamental shift will not abate for several years and by 2011, US marketers will spend 36.5 billion on online advertising, about 10% of their total media budget, the forecast states.
| View the Chart |
 Fast food wars
We talked recently about fast food breakfast wars heating up. There have been numerous developments of late concerning the rest of the menu too, which are worth looking at. McDonalds has had the challenge of dealing with an unwanted negative testimonial from none other than Prince Charles of Great Britain. During a visit to the United Arab Emirates, he suggested banning the chain from the country as a measure toward improving the average citizen's diet. In an unrelated development, the burger giant is making a big push to sell its fish sandwiches to Hispanics, in part due to that demo's heavy membership in the Catholic Church. This isn't the only recent fish story - KFC is introducing a fish offering of its own, and recently asked for an endorsement from: the Pope, especially if he can offer it in time for Lent. Meanwhile, Subway is prepping the introduction of a new line of low-fat subs, and Krispy Kreme is rolling out a whole wheat doughnut, with a slight, 20 calorie savings over its regular items.
RBR observation: Nothing is better for the advertising business than a heated and protracted war between competing, traffic-dependent businesses. And when these businesses have to fend off surprise negative publicity, it supercharges the environment. The challenge is to simply make sure your station gets its fare share. And speaking from personal experience, we don't know how many times we've been driving around thinking about where to get a quick meal - with the car radio on. It's the perfect time and place to make your pitch.
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| Media Business Report TM |
Cross-media partnership in Windy City
Radio giant Clear Channel, content producer Music Choice and cable system operator Comcast are teaming up to bring a new program to people in the Chicago market called "Video 6 Pack." "Video 6 Pack" is a Clear Channel inspiration from last August, allowing (then) musical artist and now local personalities to share their favorite videos with an audience. Music Choice is going to make the program available on its video on demand service (each episode will be available for a month), and Comcast, of course, provides the home channel for Music Choice. The cable service and platform get the benefit of the Clear Channel content, and Clear Channel gets another way to promote its local talent.
RBR observation: We expect we'll see more and more partnerships as time goes forward, unless the worst nightmare of House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey comes true and all these various media outlets are owned by one company.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
 Two more CC Radio markets sold
The first Clear Channel Radio stations to be sold since the bidding deadline last Friday are two clusters in Mississippi. Kevin Wagner's Urban Communications is acquiring the six-station cluster in Tupelo and the five-station cluster in Meridian. Terms were not immediately disclosed. In an email note to bidders in its auction, CC Radio noted that the buyer is "a minority controlled and operated company." The company held a special seminar in Washington, DC before the auction with the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council to encourage minority and female entrepreneurs to bid for the stations being divested. Because of the large number of bidders, CC Radio said in its email that it will not be able to communicate "as we might otherwise like" with all of the interested parties involved in the auction. "If you have additional information relevant to your proposal that you would like us to consider, please provide it to Kalil & Co. as soon as possible," the email stated. RBR has been keeping track of the 448-station sell-off for you. Here is the latest update to our market-by-market chart.
| View the Chart |
Houston AM goes for 200 grand
It's amazing how often you can put a headline out that seems to indicate a bargain station buy in a huge top 20 media market. But Tupelo isn't all that big - in fact, it's ranked #188, and that's where Houston MS is. It's where Wilkins Communications Network, which has been an active buyer of late, has struck again, with a 200K deal for WCPC-AM. President Bob Wilkins is using licensee name Cajun Radio Corporation. The seller os WCPC Broadcasting Company, which Wilkins tells us was founded by Robin Mathis, who built the station some 51 years ago and has run it ever since.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 Tate looking to increase diversity
Republican FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate told a gathering in Washington that she is concerned about the disparity between the number of women and minorities in the population and the number of media interests they own. According to the Associated Press, she is open to a number of options to try and get the groups better representation on the nation's electronic spectrum. One idea is to return to the old minority tax certificate, which used to give a tax break to companies which sold a radio or television station to a qualified minority or female buyer (and various versions of which have been stuck deep in the bowels of Congress the past few years). She is also open to devices to make capital more accessible, and supports a Chairman Kevin Martin (R) idea in which digital side channels on television stations could be leased to small businesses and/or those owned by women and minorities, granting them must-carry status on in-market CATV systems.
RBR observation: When discussing the extremely touchy issue of media ownership in his last public statement before the Senate, Martin was careful to mention that existing ownership caps had to be examined in context of the vast technological changes that have taken place since the 1970s, when many of the caps were established. He'll have a tough row to hoe getting anything by the newly watchful 110th Congress. And while Tate said nothing here to indicate she would not support whatever he decides to try and push through, neither is it a ringing endorsement for further ownership deregulation. It is another mildly-flavored tea leaf pointing to modest adjustments, if any, to the rules, rather than the sweeping changes Michael Powell tried to push through in 2003.
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| Ratings & Research |
First PPM data from Philly
Arbitron has released the first "pre-currency" monthly audience estimates for Philadelphia produced by the Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings service, thereby taking another step in transitioning the market from diary-based radio ratings to electronic measurement. The PPM ratings released this week are for the monthly survey of January 11 through February 7. This survey is based on an installed panel of 2,139 persons aged 6 and above against a target panel of 2,040. The data includes Persons 6+ for both average quarter hour and Cume and Persons 12+ for both as well.
| Here is the data |
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| Transactions |
1.25M KICA-AM/KKYC-FM, KMUL-AM/KICA-FM & KMUL-FM Clovis NM-Muleshoe TX (Clovis NM, Farwell, Muleshoe TX) from Broadcast Entertainment Corporation (Thomas J. Crane) to Tallgrass Broadcasting LLC (Joseph E. Walker, William H. Curtis). 62.5K escrow, balance in cash at closing. Includes non-compete. Both AMs hold CPs to increase daytime power to 50 kw with directional antennae. [File date 2/2/07.]
300K KACY-FM Arkansas City KS from Third Coast Broadcasting Inc. (Robert Fisher) to Tornado Alley Communications LLC (Carl Ice, Mary Ice, Marshall Ice). Cash less LMA payments. Includes non-compete. LMA 10/1/06 @ 2K/month. [File date 1/31/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Struggling to regain ground
Stock prices ended Thursday lower, although they mostly recovered from an early-session plunge by the blue chips. The February manufacturing report from the Institute for Supply Management helped encourage traders. In the end, the Dow Industrials were down 34 points, or 0.3%, at 12,234.
Radio stocks managed small gains. The Radio Index rose 0.271, or 0.2%, to 156.478. Not that any one stock moved very much. Entercom was the best performer, up 1.4%. cox Radio was the worst, down 1.7%.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Thursday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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44.81
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+0.01
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.29
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-0.01
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Beasley
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BBGI
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8.73
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-0.02
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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68.17
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-0.06
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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29.97
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-0.40
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Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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6.98
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-0.04
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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29.96
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-0.44
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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7.00
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-0.04
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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10.22 |
+0.06 |
Regent
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RGCI
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2.97
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+0.02
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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36.15
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-0.06
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.86
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+0.13
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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14.21
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-0.24
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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11.97
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unch
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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9.84
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+0.01
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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3.62
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-0.03
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Disney
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DIS
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34.39
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+0.14
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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4.38
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-0.13
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Emmis
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EMMS
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8.31
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+0.09
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.85
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-0.05
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| Entercom |
ETM
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28.97
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+0.41
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Univision
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UVN
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35.99
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unch
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Entravision
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EVC
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9.07
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+0.04
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Westwood One
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WON
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6.82
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-0.01
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Fisher
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FSCI
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45.33
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-0.23
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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14.36
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unch
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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26.10
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+0.06
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-
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-
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to [email protected]
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Below the Fold
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Media, Markets & Money
Two more CC Radio markets sold
Kevin Wagner gets the first Clear Channel Radio stations to be sold since the bidding deadline last Friday.
Ad Business Report
Online ad spending forecast
The online shift by US advertisers continues, but growth is finally slowing.
Ratings & Research
First Philly results
Arbitron has released the first monthly ratings results from the City of Brotherly Love.
Internet Media Business Report
Don't fight YouTube, overwhelm it
Mark Cuban says content owners are using the wrong strategy in trying to battle YouTube.
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Stations for Sale
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NorthEast FM's For Sale
Clusters, standalones, sticks
8x - 12x BCF, 950K - 7.2M
[email protected] or
781-848-4201
10 TX, AZ, NC, and GA
FM radio stations at an exceptional value offered for sale. Broker cooperation encouraged. Please visit www.toweritrust.com for complete information including pricing.
 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
[email protected]
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Radio Media Moves
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CRB elections
The Country Radio Broadcasters Board has elected four new Directors to serve three-year terms: Joel Burke, KYGO Denver; Renee Fonner, KFKF Kansas City; Mike Peterson, WUSN Chicago; and John Zarling, Big Machine Records, Nashville. Officers elected for the upcoming year are: President, Becky Brenner, KMPS Seattle; Vice President, Bill Mayne, 903 Music; Treasurer, Jeff Walker, AristoMedia/Marco Promotions; and Secretary, Carole Bowen, WKIS Miami. Brenner was re-elected to the Board for a three-year term along with Capitol Records' Mike Dungan, 903 Music's Bill Mayne and Kim Leslie.
HR boss for Fisher
Fisher Communications announced that Karen Aliabadi has joined the company as Vice President of Human Resources. Aliabadi has over 20 years of professional experience, most recently as First Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, where she was also their former Senior Vice President, Director of Human Resources.
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More News Headlines
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Don't fight YouTube, overwhelm it
That's the advice from Internet billionaire Mark Cuban, who said in a posting on his Blog Maverick site that the Oscars took the wrong approach by demanding that YouTube take down all of the clips that users had posted from Sunday's ABC telecast. That was an attempt to protect the copyright and direct Internet surfers to the Oscars.com site. But Cuban suggests doing just the opposite - hire some temporary web workers to cut up video scenes from the telecast and post them on YouTube - not just once, but a hundred times for each video. And his suggested format would be a 4:10 video, with a 10-second clip followed by a four minute screen inviting viewers to go to Oscars.com for lots more. "The reality is that YouTube viewers will grow tired of scanning through every video and just click over to Oscars.com where they will see all the unique video that isn't anywhere on YouTube along with the Oscars.com paying advertisers," Cuban said.
| Read the blog posting |
Pirate loses
court appeal
San Francisco Liberation Radio (SFLR) has lost another court round in its bid to get back the equipment that was seized in a 2003 raid of the pirate radio station. A three-judge federal appeals panel in San Francisco this week dismissed the appeal by SFLR operator Charlotte Hatch who claimed a First Amendment right to run the station. "Neither broadcasters nor listeners have a First Amendment right to engage in or listen to unlicensed broadcasts," the judges ruled, upholding the decision of a lower court. SFLR now operates as an Internet streaming station, but apparently has not returned to broadcasting without a license.
ABC Radio en Español signs Thalia to new show
Latin superstar actress and recording artist Thalia and ABC Radio Networks announced they will produce and syndicate The Conexión Thalia Radio Show, a two-hour weekly radio program. The show will focus on Latino culture and lifestyle, fashion and celebrities and serve as a platform for Thalia to connect one-to-one with her millions of fans. There is a press conference scheduled 3/6 in NYC to provide details.
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RBR Radar 2007
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Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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XM/Sirius gets a Capitol Hill airing
Hearing at the House Judiciary Committee adjunct, the Antitrust Task Force did a good job of establishing where the both the fault lines and the battle lines lie in the proposed merger of the two DARS services, XM and Sirius. It also got an early seal of approval from Rick Boucher (D-VA), who said he believed that with conditions it was in the public interest. Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) claimed an open mind.
RBR note: This is just the beginning and to view the entire Panelist testimony summaries.
03/01/07 RBR #42
Houston PPM goes real April 5th
That's the date Arbitron says PPM will become commercialized in Houston, following the recent MRC accreditation. The Winter book will remain the ratings currency in Houston until the June PPM report is released July 18th. Here is how the switch-over from diaries will work in RBR.
RBR observation: We wait to see what Clear Channel will do, come April 5th. Will it stop encoding in Houston as PPM becomes real there? CC Radio does not encode in Philadelphia, where PPM is already the ratings currency. For that matter, will everyone who has been encoding in Houston for the PPM test - which is pretty much everyone after long-time holdout Cox Radio came onboard - or will some pull the plug on their encoders when it is no longer a test?
03/01/07 RBR #42
Moonves comfortable
with radio portfolio
After selling 39 radio stations in the company's smaller markets, CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves says he is satisfied with the current portfolio - although he would never refuse to listen to a good offer.
RBR observation: The tough comps are gone now. CBS Radio has lapped the departure of Howard Stern to Sirius, so Q1 results will be measured against the first post-Stern quarter. While radio revenues were down 8% in Q4 to 498.2 million, that reflected both the lack of Stern, which required the reprogramming of 27 stations a year ago, and not counting several of the divested stations, which were already being operated under LMAs by their owners-to-be. On a same station basis, CBS said radio revenues were down 6% for the quarter, but that still includes the former Stern stations. Operating income before depreciation and amortization was down only 2% to 211.3 million for the quarter, so CBS Radio appears to be getting back on track.
02/28/07 RBR #41
Mixed quarter for Clear Channel
Radio revenues were up 7% in Q4 for Clear Channel Radio to 966.8 million, but that was less than Wall Street analysts had expected. Also, it was barely ahead of the revenues of 964.5 million booked in Q4 2004, before CC Radio took a deliberate hit for a year with its Less is More (LIM) program. For the full year, CC Radio even finished behind pre-LIM 2004. Meanwhile, CC Outdoor surged 13% to 830.7 million in Q4, even better than Wall Street had expected, and "other" rose 25% to 179 million.
RBR observation: The Q4 data cuts both ways for shareholders trying to decide whether to approve the buyout bid, with votes due by a March 21st special meeting. Radio growth going forward is still a question mark, which argues in favor of taking the cash offer. But opponents of the buyout have complained that they are being shortchanged for the value of CC Outdoor. There growth is even better than anticipated and the entire outdoor industry is on a growth spurt. With two-thirds approval required for the 26.7 billion buyout to go to closing, it could be a cliffhanger vote.
02/26/07 RBR #39
Global online ad revenue
to reach 81.1 billion by 2011
Piper Jaffray & Co. Internet Media and Marketing research team published an in-depth, comprehensive research report titled, "The User Revolution," discussing the new advertising ecosystem and the rise of the Internet as a mass medium. In the report, the team outlines its expectations that global online advertising revenue will reach 81.1 billion by 2011, representing a 21% compound-annual-growth-rate (2006-2011). If you missed or did not print it out you can do so by reading here at RBR this report page.
02/26/07 RBR #39
Radio One review not a scandal
Wall Street analysts say the stock option accounting review at Radio One is not the same as the backdating practice that several high tech firms are in trouble for. Rather, they say, it appears to be a bookkeeping issue, not unethical behavior.
02/23/07 RBR #38
Hub-bub over the merger
Scott Cason from LaGrange, KY writes RBR - I don't understand the hub-bub over the merger of XM and Sirius. In every interview I have seen with various radio execs over the last couple of years, they all say they are not worried about the impact of satellite radio on their over the air stations. Judging from the programming I hear out of these same stations, I would say that's true. (More of Scott's observation in RBR)
02/23/07 RBR #38
eBay Media Marketplace
set to launch
The much-anticipated eBay Media Marketplace for automated TV buys is set to launch 3/15 in beta. While no networks are officially on board as of yet, agencies and advertisers are. The Q2 cable scatter market will be the first marketplace the system will tackle, assuming networks decide to put some inventory in the fray.
02/22/07 RBR #37
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