RBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Volume 23, Issue 47, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning March 8th, 2006

Radio News ®

Moody's disses
Entercom dividend
Entercom cheered shareholders last month by announcing that it would start paying a quarterly dividend (2/23/06 RBR #38). But now Moody's has designated the company's outlook "negative" because of the 38 cents per quarter dividend (yield of over 5%). Moody's didn't change any of its ratings on Entercom's debt, but only changed its outlook from "stable" to "negative." It expressed concern about Entercom's willingness to spend for stock buybacks and start paying a dividend - - both of which are good for shareholders, but increase risk for bondholders and lenders. Moody's warned that Entercom's ratings could "face negative pressure" should the company make a large debt-financed acquisition or increase its share buybacks.
| Here's more of what Moody's had to say |

Bob Woodruff on the mend
Six weeks after being severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq (1/30/06 TVBR #20), NBC News anchor Bob Woodruff is reported to be speaking and walking, although still heavily sedated. The injured newsman's brother, Dave, appeared on "Good Morning America" yesterday with an update on Bob's condition. "He's definitely doing so much better," Dave said of Bob's recovery, noting that he had shown significant improvement in just the past 48 hours. The family is hoping to soon be able to move him from Bethesda Naval Medical Center to a rehabilitation facility. Dave said his brother had spoken to his children and other family members and had even spoken a bit in a couple of languages that he speaks besides English. But don't get the idea that he's talking up a storm. Dave said his brother is still under "heavy pain medication" so he speaks only a few sentences at a time. Likewise, his walking is limited to a few assisted steps as he works to rebuild muscles that have been idle for weeks. What about his future? "He's an overachiever. I think he'll be back," Dave said. And he managed to slip in a comment to dispel rumors that Bob had been permanently disfigured by his head injuries. Dave said in one of the first times that he saw his brother in the hospital he told him, "You still have a face for TV." Bob, he said, smiled at that comment. GMA co-host Diane Sawyer also gave a brief update on cameraman Doug Vogt, who was injured by the same blast, but less severely. She said Vogt is back home in France and working on his own rehabilitation.

FTC moves to protect attorney's speech
Any time a government agency makes a move which would encourage the exercise of speech rights by attorneys, the template of resulting news stories, if there was such a thing, would almost certainly include a blank with the instructions (insert joke here) clearly marked in boldface type. However, that is just what the FTC is doing, in regards to what attorneys may say in advertisements. The topic is New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Attorney Advertising regarding Proposed Advertising Guideline 4, "which would place certain restrictions on the use by lawyers or law firms of endorsements or testimonials from clients." In fact, the restriction would prohibit the use of a client endorsement or testimonial to discuss the "nature of legal services, the quality of legal services, and comparisons between providers of legal services," even if the claims are completely truthful and straight-forward. The FTC, in a letter filed with the Committee, says that such information is useful to a consumer, and as long as it is honest, is a testimonial to the client's own personal experience, and is not misleading in that it is "representative of what consumers generally experience." If these provisions are in place, the restriction on an attorney's commercial speech is unnecessary.

Candidates getting ready
to spend, spend spend
According to the Federal Election Commission, off-year fundraising for US congressional candidates was robust in 2003, missing the 400M mark by a mere 10M. This time, however, the 400M threshold was passed in a walk, with the total closer to a new benchmark than to the freshly-broken barrier. 470.3M is the total, with 280.1M attributed to candidates for the House, a gain of 25.4% over 2003. The surge was credited to Democratic candidates, who picked up 35% to 122M. Nevertheless, as a group they still lagged behind the Republicans, who did some growing of their own - - 18% to 157.1M. Senate spending was also up, gaining 14% to 190.2M. The FEC stipulates, however, that Senate comps are not apples to apples, since not all states are involved in a given year. Differences in state size loom large in totals. So to does the number of highly competitive races, which inflate the total when there are many and deflates it when they are scarce. Following are totals from the FEC for off-year congressional campaign fundraising going back to 1987.
| Read the funding chart here |

Ad Business Report TM

Mandel comments more on Nielsen debate
We asked Jon Mandel, Chairman/MediaCom US and Chief Global Buying Officer MediaCom Worldwide, if he had anything to say on the whole Nielsen commercial ratings commentary from Mike Shaw at the AAAAs and what Jean Pool said yesterday (3/7/06 RBR #46)? At the AAAAs, ABC President of Sales was quoted as saying ABC pays 90% of the cost of the ratings. "If they want to pay 50%, they can have the numbers, too." As well, on making commercial ratings the currency, Shaw commented that networks cancel shows all the time for poor ratings... "Who's going to cancel bad creative? Do I charge more for a commercial in the A position if every time it airs the rating dips?" Mandel tells RBR: "Mike doesn't know what the...I've got to talk to him. First of all, Mike is wrong on several counts.

Mandel also added this point for radio: "I think you will see that there will be people, primarily in the cable business-and network television could do better than cable-stepping forward. And the same thing holds with radio. It is unconscionable to me in radio that if you're a program director you can get weekly numbers or in PPM you can get daily numbers...and we get quarterly?! They've got the same situation."
| Read More... |

Mindshare scores Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel has awarded its 750 million buying and planning account with MindShare, Nextel's media agency. Starcom had the Sprint account. A Sprint spokeswoman said the business previously was divided into two pieces, Starcom with the larger consumer piece and MindShare with the business portion of the account. MindShare also will pick up the online portion of Sprint's business.

Agencies on AAAAs conference
What did you take with you from the AAAAs conference last week?
Said Jon Mandel, Chairman/MediaCom US and Chief Global Buying Officer MediaCom Worldwide: "I'm on the board of the AAAAs, and I'm pretty proud of the fact that the largest assemblage of people of any conference in our business run by the AAAAs, happens to be the media conference. This, from a group of people that used to keep the budgets straight. The fact that people recognize now that media is that important that it's now the largest gathering, I think is a hell of a statement."

Media Business Report TM

Verizon focuses on Hispanic market
You may think of Verizon as a telephone company, but it is rapidly transforming itself into a media company and becoming more savvy about promoting itself as much more than a phone company. The company has now launched a Spanish online site to promote its latest products, including FiOs TV and FiOS Internet (fibre-to-the home products now available in a few markets), DSL, wireless phones and long distance. It also touts what Verizon is doing at the corporate level to benefit the Hispanic community. "At Verizon we know our customers have different backgrounds and are multi-ethnic. For many of our customers, English is not their first language, and we are committed to serving all of our diverse customers," said Jeff McFarland, director for multicultural marketing for Verizon.

Media Markets & Money TM

Ohio quintet goes around the Riverbend
Stop 26 Riverbend owes D.B. Zwirn a hefty chunk of change. A bankruptcy proceeding in Ohio involving Riverbend's two market/five station has resulted in a sale which will send the stations to Zwirn's Bernard Ohio LLC. Zwirn was said to have won the stations at auction and will pay with credit against the money owed. The stations are WVKO AM & FM in the Columbus market and WASN-AM, WGFT-AM & WRBP-FM in the Youngstown-Warren market. The court document quoted three different numbers, from three different sources with an interest in the case, placing the total amount of debt between 15.5M and 16.8M, all of which are significantly higher than the winning bid of 12M.

Close encounter in Wichita
Jeffrey Warshaw's Connoisseur Communications has closed on its 1.7M acquisition of KTCM-FM in Wichita KS, according to Michael J. Bergner, who brokered the deal. The station will double up with an FM CP earmarked for Augusta KS which Warshaw picked up in FM Auction No. 37.

Washington Media Business Report TM

NLC pressing for spectrum
The National League of Cities wants to get spectrum for times of emergency and it wants it sooner rather than later. Mayor Rob Drake of Beaverton, Oregon, a suburb of Portland, was in Congress last week speaking on the topic before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science and Technology. He said that a wide cross-section of groups have come together in his area to form the Regional Emergency Management Group, including the broadcasters, the Red Cross, utilities, etc., to formulate a plan of action should emergency conditions develop. What's lacking is interoperable communications equipment. Also lacking: the spectrum in which to operate such equipment. In fact, Drake argued that the date certain for the return of spectrum by the television industry be sped up if at all possible.

RBR observation: Drake also argued that "The federal government should commit to link all emergency warning systems and supply all areas with appropriate equipment so that we leave no area unprotected." As we understand it, the equipment which would provide interoperability is not yet in existence - - that's what Ted Stevens (R-AK) has been saying anyway when fending off the repeated attempts of John McCain (R-AZ) to move the date up. It makes no sense to move the deadline up from 2/17/09 until such equipment is in existence. Congress should be concentrating efforts on its development and manufacture before they worry about when it will be implemented.

Transactions

500K KRDM-AM Bend OR (Redmond OR) from Sage-Com Inc. (Ernest J. Hutchinson) to Red Mountain Broadcasting LLC (Juan Zendejas). 125K escrow paid at closing, 375K note. Includes non-compete. [File date 2/14/06.]

110K WSPQ-AM Springville NY. 100% of Hawk Communications Ltd. from William L. Haws, Karl F. Kluckhorn (each 50% to 0%) to Biscuit Communications LLC, comprised of Glenn Herdman (0% to 50%), Terrence Grant (0% to 40%), John Grant (0% to 5%) & Thomas Landers (0% to 5%). 10K escrow, 70K cash at closing, 30K note. LMA 9/1/05. [File date 2/14/06.]

Stock Talk

Another tough day for radio stocks
The broader market was mixed on Tuesday, with rate fears dominating trading. The Dow Industrials managed to rise 22 points, or 0.2%, to 10,981, but other major indices were down.

The Radio Index fell to another year-to-date low, dropping 1.264, or 0.8%, to 161.053. Most radio stocks were lower. Spanish Broadcasting System fell 1.8%, Cox Radio fell 1.6% and Entravision also fell 1.6%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		34.54	-0.13	Hearst-Argyle	HTV		23.26	-0.41
Beasley	BBGI		10.79	-0.10	Interep	IREP		0.25	unch
CBS CI. B	CBS		24.36	+0.38	Jeff-Pilot	JP		59.03	+0.17
CBS CI. A	CBSa		24.35	+0.39	Journal Comm.	JRN		11.98	-0.07
Citadel	CDL		11.63	-0.02	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		7.99	-0.10
Clear Channel	CCU		29.00	-0.08	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		8.01	-0.04
Cox Radio	CXR		13.11	-0.21	Regent	RGCI		4.12	-0.03
Cumulus	CMLS		11.52	-0.08	Saga Commun.	SGA		9.03	-0.02
Disney	DIS		28.01	+0.13	Salem Comm.	SALM		13.97	-0.01
Emmis	EMMS		16.66	unch	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		4.92	+0.01
Entercom	ETM		28.76	-0.21	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		5.40	-0.10
Entravision	EVC		7.63	-0.12	Univision	UVN		33.00	-0.40
Fisher	FSCI		42.58	-0.15	Westwood One	WON		10.85	-0.14
Gaylord	GET		44.19	-0.73	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		21.35	-0.01

Bounceback

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Below the Fold

Ad Business Report
Mandel comments more
On Nielsen debate "Mike doesn't know what the...

Media Business Report
Verizon focuses on Hispanic
Transforming itself into a media company and becoming more savvy...

Washington Media Business Report
NLC says 2009
May not be soon enough to get spectrum...

Arbitrends

Radio Media Moves

Rosen lands at Cumulus
A little over a month after resigning as NYC market manager for Clear Channel (2/3/06 RBR #24), Andy Rosen has signed on as a Sr. VP at Cumulus Media. He'll be overseeing the stations in eight markets that Cumulus Media Partners is buying from Susquehanna Radio for 1.2 billion.

Greater Media
gets a Redo
Former MJI Broadcasting VP (most recently in public radio at WNYC-AM & FM NYC) Phil Redo has joined Greater Media as Market Manager for its Boston cluster. It's a homecoming for Redo. He was once PD of WMJX-FM and long ago on air at WROR-FM.

Salem takes a Holiday
Long time radio vet Tom Holiday, most recently a regional manager for The Media Audit, has been named General Manager of Salem's Sacramento cluster.

Stations for Sale

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

Exclusive Listing
FM Radio Station in South
Florida. Great start-up opportunity
for a radio entrepreneur or a great addition for a radio group.
Please contact Joel B. Day
202-478-3737 (x3)

More News Headlines

Lyle Evans dead at 64

''The Apprentice'' says
"You're Hired" to Arby's

DJ faces kiddie pron charges

VNU on deck today

International

PPM expands
in Canada
While US radio broadcasters continue to debate whether to move from diaries to Arbitron's Portable People Meter (or some similar device), the first commercial PPM deployment in North America is being expanded. Canada's BBM ratings consortium announced that the 23 broadcasters in its Quebec Franco market have agreed to increase the PPM panel from 530 households to 800, effective before the start of the 2006-'07 broadcast ratings year. Declaring that PPM has "proven its superiority," BBM Canada VP/Quebec Robert Langlois said, "The expansion of PPM to 800 homes will make the data more stable and reliable than ever before for narrow demographic groups and over shorter periods of time." BBM began using PPM to measure the French-speaking radio audience in Quebec in 2004.

RBR Radar 2006

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

4A's insight; We're not encumbered by creative fighting for turf
One of the issues was the debate about re-bundling and creative control/ownership of media. Lately, some creative agencies have complained that the unbundling of media services over the past several years has led them to lose strategic ground. Read what the top guns had to say and their views in
03/07/06 RBR #46

Quiet steps toward dereg
not going unnoticed
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) did not exactly make national headlines however it didn't go unnoticed in San Antonio, where the San Antonio Business Journal (SABJ) has a front row seat for the actions of Clear Channel Communications. And SABJ has made it clear that another group has taken note: the watchdogs who helped derail, at least temporarily, the dereg efforts of the FCC back in 2003.

RBR observation: It remains to be seen what tack FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will take when he engages the Commission in the court-ordered redo of the 6/2/03 media ownership rulemaking, now that he is just days and/or weeks away from his first Republican majority. Look for loud noises from the FCC.
03/07/06 RBR #46

Hard finding that key person to fill the important position at your organization? RBR's - Media HeadHunters is the place that key media firms use to get results. See www.mediaheadhunters.com and get results with service--Period.

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