Radio News ®

Bono's f-word freebie was a split decision
Despite FCC guidance to broadcasters to the contrary, in last week's lone TV action all five commissioners held that Bono's Golden Globes verbal slip-up was in fact indecent. The ruling overruled an Enforcement Bureau ruling which let NBC and Bono off the hook since use of the word was isolated and fleeting. However, the decision to let the incident go unfined passed by a narrow 3-2 margin. RBR observation: Forget "don't do the crime if you can't do the time." The operative phrase for today is "You can't fine the crime if you don't criminalize it in time." | Full Story Click Here | RBR Observation |

Infinity COO Hollander yells Bro
and Bro is now with Infinity
Les Hollander, yes you are reading correctly Joel's brother, to take charge as the Eastern Regional Manager for Infinity Broadcasting leaving Clear Channel (CCU) as DOS New York. Sources report that CCU's Andy Rosen called all upper management yesterday afternoon into the city for an emergency to break the news. RBR observation: Big loss for CCU good hit for Infinity since Bro Les made the dollars for CCU's WLTW-FM and as we all know WNEW-FM is still low on tire pressure. We should hear more this morning.

WUSN Tom Rivers passes
Infinity Chicago Country OM Tom Rivers dies at 38 from bronchial asthma. Prior to Chicago Rivers worked in the Tampa Bay area as WQYK-FM general manager and on-air personality.

Eisner's book on hold
Did you know that Michael Eisner has written a book? It doesn't look like you'll get a chance to read it anytime soon. BusinessWeek reports that Warner Books has put release of the book, "Camp," on hold. The official explanation is that Eisner is "too busy" to promote the release. Our guess is that everyone is really waiting to see whether the Disney CEO still has a job. "Camp" is said to be a character-building book about Eisner's experiences as a young man in the 1950s who went off to camp in Vermont. At one point, he was attacked by swarming insects and had to spend hours lying in a cold river with only his face exposed. The original plan was to promote the book as a Father's Day gift this year. But after 43% of Disney's shareholders voted this month to kick Eisner out of the company, and the board then stripped him of his title as Chairman, Warner Books may wait for Father's Day 2005 - - if then.

Indecency responses vary; NAB fumbles the ball
With the FCC on the anti-indecency warpath, it's been interesting to watch how different broadcasting companies are handling the dirty broadcasting hot potato. Since we're dealing with both politics and the law - - which are not necessarily in lock step on this issue - - there are several different approaches being tried. In our view, though, NAB has fumbled the ball. It had two choices of how to structure the session - - either a nuts and bolts meeting of group heads and lawyers to craft a strategy to deal with the problem or a PR effort with a bunch of meaningless panel discussions to assure the public that broadcasters are fine, upstanding and decent citizens. The organization chose the latter, but then managed to screw it up. As RBR first reported.
| Full Story Click Here |

RBR Focus on the Indecency Issue

Adbiz ©

Virginia looking at ad tax
The state of Virginia, like many other states, is facing a severe budget crunch, and is looking high and low for revenue sources. By the time you read this, they may have included an advertising tax in the mix. | Full Story Click Here |

Qtopia Media, Interep pact to target gay market
Qtopia Media, a new marketing firm specializing in the gay & lesbian community, opened its doors last Friday in response burgeoning advertiser interest in targeting the gay marketplace. Qtopia specializes in local market communications efforts, focusing on metro areas with high concentrations of gay and lesbian consumers. The company has already signed marketing alliances with Interep, MacDonald Media (Out-of-Home), The Event Shop (Event Marketing) and Gotham Communications (PR).
| Full Story Click Here |

CPP system flawed for radio?
Joe Shamwell, Director/Market Research, ABC Radio/DC weighs in on CPP vs. CPM: "There are two methods of evaluating media efficiency: Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM) And Cost-Per-Point (CPP). CPM is a ratio based on how much it costs to reach a thousand people. CPP is a ratio based on how much it costs to buy one rating point, or one percent of the population in an area being evaluated. Cost-per-point is calculated by using the following formula: | Full Story Click Here |

Six Flags launches first effort in seven years
For the first time in seven years, Six Flags is launching a national campaign and introducing a "mysterious new icon" representing family fun. National spots that begin airing this week feature an exuberant, irresistible character who beckons families to escape their overscheduled, stressed-out, hectic lives for a day of playtime at Six Flags. The spry, bald-headed character featured in the television spots travels in a colorful retro style bus bringing his signature music - "We Like to Party" by the Vengaboys - and an invitation to leave the boredom, stress and pressures of everyday life behind, to families across America. He quickly has Dad dropping the rake, Mom putting down the garden hose, and Junior abandoning the lawn mower in an easy decision to take the short trip to Six Flags and a day filled with sheer enjoyment. The national TV spots that began airing 3/16 can be seen on prime time programs including FOX's American Idol, ABC's Hope & Faith and NBC's Law & Order SVU. Spots will also be airing in local markets, timed to coincide with each park's opening schedule.

Media, Markets & Money tm

Washington Beat

Transactions

$650,000 KXKS-AM Albuquerque NM from Clear Channel Broadcasting Licenses, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications (Lowry Mays) to Mortenson Broadcasting Company (Jack M. Mortenson). $50KKK escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 2/25/04.]

$350,000 WASR-AM Wolfeboro NH from Radio Wolfeboro Inc. (Alan W. Severy) to Winnipesauee Network Inc. (Grant P. Hatch). $20K loan repaid by seller to buyer, cash payment on or before closing. $200K allocated to station, $10K allocated to real estate. [File date 2/24/04.]

Monday Morning Shakers & Makers

Deals: 2/16/04-2/20/04
This would easily be the slowest non-freeze dealing week since the first deal freeze thawed out last August, were it not for the ultra-pathetic sub-$1M total posted last week. This week's total is less than half that of the next-worst, which was over $17M (10/6-10/03). A problematic deal, which despite involving four California markets, comes in under $3.5M, was the biggie. No TV, once again.

Stock Talk

Radio Stocks