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Radio News ®
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 Small is still the place to be
CL King analyst Jim Boyle figures the radio industry overall is actually doing better than the dismal monthly revenue numbers from RAB would indicate. His reasoning? Miller Kaplan has fewer small markets reporting today than a few years back - and small markets are outperforming the big ones. "In past years the number of markets in the Radio Advertising Bureau sample, gathered by the accounting firm Miller Kaplan Arase (MKA), was 150 markets out of the roughly 300 rated markets. The sample is now only 100 markets, as many small markets no longer have enough radio groups willing to report their revenue confidentially to MKA. Hence, even on a weighted basis, those much better performing markets are not in the sample. That might mean that over 5% of the prior sample is now missing, by our calculations, which might deduct 30-40 basis points positive growth from ongoing Radio Ad Bureau industry revenue levels," Boyle said in his analysis. The important point is that small- mid-markets have outpaced big markets in 200 of the last 25 months. Boyle says small markets were up 5% in February, while big markets were down 3%. The RAB reported an overall 2% decline. Now, you might think that investors would be drawn to small market groups, like Saga, Cumulus and Regent. But, no, Boyle notes that "investors have not been sufficiently impressed and continue not to care for the relatively better small market outperformance versus radio's overall secular decline."
RBR observation: Boyle is a Wall Street analyst, so, of course, his clients are interested in what he can tell them about the radio companies that have public stock. There aren't a lot of those focused on the small markets and, as noted, they're just as out of favor with investors as the big market radio groups. But we know of plenty of private owners in the smaller markets who are doing just fine while the public guys are being beaten up on Wall Street. When you don't have to deal with national business being placed on a commodity basis, radio is a pretty good business. Still.
Clear Channel has everyone guessing
Will the 26.7 billion bucks buyout close next week, or won't it? Rumors are flying that some of the lenders want out. But Thomas H. Lee Partners Co-President Scott Sperling said in a CNBC interview that his firm and Bain Capital have binding commitments from the lenders. He just chuckled when CNBC's Erin Burnett suggested that the bankers might offer the private equity firms a couple of billion bucks to call the whole thing off. Otherwise, Sperling was careful to take the "no comment" route on every question about whether or not the deal would go to closing as Burnett tried repeatedly to trick him into giving some hint of where the deal stands.
RBR observation: The opera ain't over until the fat lady sings. Is she tuning up to serenade us next week, or not? Aside from not telling us much at all about Clear Channel, Sperling was very interesting in his take on current economic conditions, a little criticism of the Fed for not being narrowly targeted in trying to battle problems, and his long-term patience. The video is worth a look and listen.
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 Political hot in Indiana, North Carolina and Wisconsin
Weekly tracking by Vic Miller and his team at Bear Stearns credits the jump in political ad spending for the week of March 16th to state-specific races. Governor races are heating up in Indiana and North Carolina and there is a contentious judgeship fueling spending in Wisconsin. None of those three states, however, have cracked the top five for campaign spending this election cycle. Those are California, Iowa, Pennsylvania, New York and Texas. Publicly traded TV groups with the most to gain from political spending in the 15 hottest campaign states include Hearst-Argyle, Entravision, Young, Sinclair and Belo. Radio gets less political spending, but the biggest potential beneficiaries look to be Emmis, Salem, Beasley and Entercom.
| Read more from the Bear Stearns team |
Tribune holds the line on expenses
There were lots of special items in the Q4 and 2007 financial results issued by Tribune Company, due to the buyout of public shareholders by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and an investment by new CEO Sam Zell. So, if you want all the nitty gritty accounting details, read the release on the company's website. We're going to focus on what was reported about broadcast operations.
| Read more here |
KFI-AM tower topples, again
The Orange County Register reports KFI-AM's half-built new tower, under construction, crashed to the ground Tuesday, injuring a construction worker. His injuries were believed to be minor, Greg Ashlock, market manager of CC Radio told the paper. The worker was knocked off a construction platform next to the tower when it fell. The reason for the collapse was not immediately known. The fallen tower remained in place Wednesday as engineers and insurance crews tried to determine the cause of the collapse. KFI contracted Seacomm Erectors Inc. to build the new 684-foot-tall tower. Construction began Saturday and had reached about 250 feet when the tower came crashing down around 2:30 p.m. It will eventually replace the 760-foot-tall tower that was toppled late 2004 when a small plane crashed into it on approach to Fullerton Municipal Airport. The pilot and his wife were killed. In recent months, Fullerton airport and city officials joined local pilots in protesting plans for the tower's reconstruction, saying it was too tall and would pose a hazard to pilots. The La Mirada City Council unanimously approved the tower in January. KFI continues to broadcast from another tower in LA.
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| Wall Street Business Report TM |
 Disney stores heading home
The 100 million bucks acquisition of the Disney Store chain in the US by The Children's Place retail chain (10/21/04 RBR #206) has gone sour and both parties confirm that talks are underway to have The Walt Disney Company take back the stores. Disney, which receives licensing fees from The Children's Place under the current arrangement, would buy only a portion of the US stores to keep the brand alive, while the rest would be closed.
RBR observation: Hmmm. Do you suppose Disney would want to buy back ABC Radio from Citadel as well? That deal hasn't worked out too well either.
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| Intelligence Brief |
What the users say...
In today's Traffic and Revenue Management System Intel Brief, we've gathered some quotes from radio and television traffic personnel responding to selected Traffic Directors' Guild of America (TDGA) questions. This is a bit of a "wish list," although they were welcome to get up on their soapboxes as well! We've asked vendors in the space to respond, where relevant to their product offering.
| Read more here |
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Ad Business Report TM
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JMA signs The Tom Kent Radio Network
Jones MediaAmerica announced the signing of an exclusive long-term ad sales deal with the Tom Kent Radio Network for all programming on the net, including the daily Tom Kent Show. On 3/12 the Tom Kent Radio Network launched. It's a 24/7 network featuring personalities and multiple music formats. TKRN's initial offerings will be for the classic hits format and the Tom Kent show which will be available 24/7 via satellite. In addition to the daily Tom Kent show, there are specialty weekend shows including a live Saturday night show, "The Ultimate Party" also a weekend version of the daily show as well as a 70s themed show called "My 70s Show".
 Hilton Garden Inn launches national cable, radio effort
Hilton Garden Inn has launched its first national cable, and radio campaign, "Tomorrow's a Big Day"-the largest broadcast buy in the brand's history. As part of its larger multimedia campaign that launched last year, the broadcast spots complement the existing print and online executions that bring the guest - the hotel's most important asset - to the forefront as they plan for their tomorrow, considered and prepared for a big day whether an important business meeting, a marathon, vacation or attending a family reunion. The TV spot, entitled "Getting Ready," is the brand's first foray into national cable, and features both a 30- and 15-second spot that will air throughout 2008. The ads will appear on stations that reach the brand's core demographic of both business and leisure travelers, including CNN, Discovery, FOX Sports, HDL News, E!, National Geographic Channel, Hotel Networks and Metro Networks. Hilton Garden Inn also produced two 30-second radio spots that began airing on networks such as Westwood One's "Dennis Miller Show," ESPN's "Mike & Mike in the Morning" and Premiere's "The Bob & Tom Show." The new broadcast spots follow the brand's print campaign, which kicked off 12/31/07. The campaign was created by Orange County-based DGWB, Hilton Garden Inn's AOR for the past four years.
RAB presents sales & marketing workshops at NAB
The RAB is producing a lineup of topical sales and management programs for the NAB Conference in Las Vegas, April 11-17. They include:
| Read more here |
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| Media Business Report TM |
 Spitzer story makes mega-splash
Gee, do you suppose the story of a well-known governor being caught up in a prostitution scandal would move the meter in the weekly measurement of media coverage by the Project for Excellence in Journalism? Now-Ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer made a big splash, but even such a juicy scandal couldn't bump the rough-and-tumble election from the top spot overall - although it did cut newshole percentages for the 2008 campaign by about half across all media. Spitzer was a strong #2 and claimed the top spot in coverage by newspapers and online news sites.
| Top 10 lists here |
The Newspaper Consortium joins quadrantONE
The Newspaper Consortium, a consortium of 26 newspaper companies, will add 138 web sites to quadrantONE (quadrantone.com), an online ad alliance formed in February by four of the country's largest media companies. quadrantONE allows advertisers, for the first time, to buy hundreds of online newspaper and broadcasting sites by placing a single order. It's owned by Tribune, Gannett, Hearst and The New York Times Company. The consortium newspapers will become affiliates of quadrantONE, devoting guaranteed inventory on their sites to deliver premium audiences to advertisers seeking national, regional and local reach. The newspaper and broadcast sites in the network represent in excess of 70 million unique monthly visitors.
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| Washington Business Report TM |
 Groups want probe
of auction failure
Was the public/private spectrum auction sabotaged by the first responders who were supposed to benefit from it? The Washington Post reports that nine consumer organizations have written to the FCC demanding an investigation of a rumored shake-down. The strange allegations are that representatives of the nation's police, fire and safety officials drove off would-be bidders by demanding that any winner of the block in the 700 MHz spectrum auction make additional payments to them. Not explained was how or why they would be able to make such payments a requirement. While the rest of the 700 MHz action raised 19.6 billion bucks, the public/private block drew only a single bid of 472 million, well below the 1.3 billion reserve price set by the FCC.
RBR observation: Might it have been that the public/private block was just a stupid idea in the first place? Only one company ever expressed any interest in the idea, and that was Frontline Wireless, created by former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, who may be the one person on the planet who knows the least about the communications industry. Not surprisingly, he wasn't able to get sufficient financial backing and didn't make a bid. The real mystery is who was even willing to bid 472 million for the privilege of being locked into this cockamamie scheme.
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| Transactions |
250K KYKM-FM Yoakun TX and KTXM-FM Hallettsville TX from The Kalil Holding Group LLC (Frank Kalil) to Kremling Enterprises Inc. (Travis Kremling, Laura Kremling). 25K escrow, balance in cash at closing. Stations have only tangential overlap. LMA until closing. [File date 2/21/08.]
50K WXPZ-FM CP Clyde Township MI from Larlen Communications Inc. (Larry Harp, Trustee) to Tim Woodson Ministries Inc. (Timothy Woodson, Jeanna Woodson, Chandra Lane, Tonya Robinson). 5K earnest money escrow, balance in cash at closing. CP is for Class A on 90.1 MHz with 1.5 kw @ 243'. [File date 2/21/08.]
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| Stock Talk |
Riding the roller coaster
Stocks turned back up on Thursday, with financial stocks leading the rally as traders searched for bargains ahead of the three-day market weekend. The Dow Industrials rose 262 points, or 2.2%, to 12,361.
Radio stocks rebounded. The RBR Radio Index rose 4.003, or 5.1%, to 82.301. double-digit gainers included Regent, up 17.7%, Westwood One 14.3%, Emmis 12.3% and Citadel 10.9%.
US stock markets are closed today in observance of Good Friday.
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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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42.49
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+0.43
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Google
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GOOG
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433.55
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+1.55
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Beasley*
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BBGI
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4.66
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+0.13
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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21.23
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+0.26
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
 |
23.18
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+0.88
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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7.43
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+0.36
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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23.16
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+0.84
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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53.16
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+3.05
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| Citadel* |
CDL |
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1.53 |
+0.15 |
Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
|
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1.10
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-0.02
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Clear Channel*
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CCU
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34.64
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+2.04
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Radio One, Cl. D*
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ROIAK
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1.11
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-0.03
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Cox Radio*
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CXR
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11.92
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-0.01
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Regent*
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RGCI
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1.20
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+0.18
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Cumulus*
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CMLS
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6.35
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-0.23
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Saga Commun.*
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SGA
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5.34
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+0.01
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Debut Bcg.
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DBTB
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1.00
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unch
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Salem Comm.*
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SALM
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3.85
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+0.29
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Disney
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DIS
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31.90
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+0.66
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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2.90
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+0.11
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Emmis*
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EMMS
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3.20
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+0.35
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Spanish Bcg.*
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SBSA
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1.54
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+0.01
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Entercom*
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ETM
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10.44
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+0.36
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Westwood One*
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WON
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2.16
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+0.27
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Entravision
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EVC
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6.39
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+0.12
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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11.94
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+0.72
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Fisher
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FSCI
|
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31.01
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+0.96
|
-
|
-
|
-
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-
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-
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*Component of the RBR Radio Index
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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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Ad Business Report
Hilton Garden Inn
Launches national cable, radio effort...
Friday Intel Brief
What the users say...
What the traffic directors say about the systems...
Media Business Report
The Newspaper Consortium
Joins quadrantONE that is 26 newspaper companies, will add 138 web sites...
Washington Business Report
Groups want probe of
Auction failure.Have written the FCC demanding an investigation of a rumored shake-down...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
Jim Carnegie
[email protected]
Chicago full market AM
Tampa full market AM
Ocala, FL heritage AM
ALL with good cash flow -
owners will finance
AM CP's
Grand Rapids, MI
Quad Cities, IL/IA
Tim Disa - AirTime Media
Ph: 888-846-3472
[email protected]
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Radio Media Moves
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Horton hires a Judy
Horton Broadcasting has named Judy Bailey Market Manager for its North Florida operations, including WJZT-FM "Smooth Jazz 97.9 FM" Tallahassee and a new radio station currently being built in Panama City. Bailey spent the last 13 years with Clear Channel in Tallahassee and Sarasota.
Sports/talker in Philly
Greater Media Philadelphia announced that Mike Missanelli has been named afternoon drive host on the new WPEN-AM "950 ESPN." He will begin his new position effective April 1st. Missanelli is a veteran of sports radio and TV in Philadelphia and New York.
 Promotion at Nielsen
The Nielsen Company announced that Karen Watson has been appointed Chief Communications Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Communications. Watson joined Nielsen in 2006 at Sr. VP, Communications, after serving as VP, Government Relations, for EchoStar. In her new role, Watson will be responsible for managing communications between Nielsen and its key audiences and stakeholders, both inside and outside the company. She will oversee the company's media relations, internal communications, client communications and public outreach functions worldwide. "At the core of Karen's new responsibilities is ensuring that Nielsen's global communications operation is moving forward from a position of strength and innovation and that it is well positioned to support our company's key growth initiatives," said Susan Whiting, Executive Vice President of the Nielsen Company.
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RBR Radar 2008
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Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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Carnegie's Observation
Bring in the oxygen tanks Pt 2
Part 1 took a look at all the antics of Mad Money's Jim Cramer. Now, Cramer is nuts (but often right), but today we're talking about a proven visionary, Lee Abrams (pictured). He has introduced himself to the troops at Tribune Company where he was brought in as Chief Innovation Officer. Get ready, here comes the culture change and action to turn that old battleship into a sleek racing boat. Read - Bring in the oxygen tanks Pt 2
03/20/08 RBR #56
Clock ticking for Interep
Blog item on adrants.com prompted our interest yesterday. It recounted word from a "tipster" that Interep would be filing bankruptcy within the next month. Knowing that Interep's 99 million bucks in outstanding bonds aren't due until July 1, we at RBR/TVBR thought the timing seemed a bit off.
RBR observation: Its bondholders, primarily Oaktree Capital Management, will likely to agree to something less than 100% of face value for their bonds. Oaktree, after all, paid well below face value to acquire its stake, then tried to pressure management for a quick cash-out back in 2005.
03/20/08 RBR #56
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RBR Classifieds
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Account Executives
WDCW-TV, Washington's CW has two immediate openings. First, for entry-level AE and Second, need an experienced New Business local AE. Highly motivated self-starters who have the ambition to be successful apply. Winning attitude is important. Requirements include ability to develop long-term relationships and have strong closing skills. Must be well-organized and possess excellent presentation skills. EOE Where to apply see TV Careers
Hard finding that key person
to fill the important position at your organization? RBR Classifieds, Results with Service. Contact April McLynn at [email protected]
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