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Gimme that old time Religion
Veteran cable executives hope to build off the success the Gospel music format has been enjoying on radio airwaves all over the nation, using that success as a springboard for a new basic cable channel. The programming service will be called, simply enough, the Gospel Music Channel (GMC). The execs are former Discovery Channel exec Charles Humbard, who will be President/CEO of GMC; and ex-Turner Entertainment exec Brad Siegel, who will be Vice-chairman. Gospel/Country legend Larry Gatlin will also be on hand to help direct the channel's programming. Financial backing is coming from Alpine Equity Partners and Bear Stearns's Constellation Ventures. The latter has also provided back for other launches, including TV One and College Sports Television. The service is targeting Q4 2004 for launch date, and says it already has one MSO on board as a carrier.

Salem benefits from Marcus mark-up
Deutsche Bank analyst Drew Marcus likes what he sees at Religious radio giant Salem Communications, and recently gave its stock a Buy rating. As a result, it has hit a new 52-week high, rising to $32.18 on the Nasdaq chart. Salem holds its quarterly conference call Monday 4/26/04, and says it expects to report 10% same-station revenue growth at the time for Q1 2004. 35% of its revenue comes from what are essentially rental payments from local clergy who book time on Salem stations. 97% of these customers are said to renew annually, usually for a 5% increase in airtime fees, providing a revenue stream that is almost completely insulated from the red ink well. Salem also notes that its programming is almost completely insulated from the FCC's indecency crackdown as well.

Univision says its news is #1 among Hispanics
Studies released recently have indicated that Hispanics actually prefer news communicated over the airwaves in English rather than in Spanish. Not so, say Hispanic juggernaut Univision, which owns both television and radio stations which mostly use Spanish. Univision uses Nielsen data for US 6:30-7:00 PM early newscasts to make its case. It says that is the only time when both Spanish and English newscasts compete head-to-head, therefore making it the only truly relevant time period in which to conduct such a study. Univision says 76% of Hispanics choose one of the Hispanic networks during this time period - - if not viewing Univision's offerings, they use for Telemundo before tuning into ABC, CBS, Fox or NBC.

Conference Calls

Viacom has record-breaking first quarter
The $6.8B Viacom raked in between January and March 2004 was the most it's ever done in a first quarter, and was $700M ahead of last year's take, representing a gain of 12%. Advertising revenue accounted for $3.2B of that total, a 21% gain over the same period in 2003. Chairman Sumner Redstone noted that a turnaround in local business is definitely taking hold, and that the immediate future looks bright. "If you're looking for a growth company, look no further," he said. | Full Story Click Here |

Adbiz ©

Information Resources, NDCHealth team
for prescription drug ad testing
In a cooperative agreement designed to measure the impact of TV ads for prescription pharmaceuticals, NDCHealth and Information Resource's Healthcare Solutions Group announced a strategic relationship to develop and market the "BehaviorScan Rx Split Cable Advertising Testing Service." How? The service will direct different spots to test markets and then analyze prescription purchasing patterns to determine if there is statistical evidence that advertising had an influence on prescription volumes.
| Full Story Click Here |

Frontier Airlines' "Talking Animals"
campaign receives praise
Frontier Airlines announced its "Talking Animals" TV and radio effort, starring Jack the Rabbit, Foxy the Fox, Grizwald the Bear, Flip the Dolphin, Larry the Lynx and Sal the Cougar, has been the recipient of several national and local awards recently-from The Denver Advertising Federation, The New York Festivals International, a Cresta Award and nine Mobius Awards.
| Full Story Click Here |

"Euro RSCG Life Chelsea" launches for pharmas
Euro RSCG Life, a division of Euro RSCG Worldwide, has created a new healthcare agency, "Euro RSCG Life Chelsea," and established "Euro RSCG Life MetaMax" as a stand-alone, fully-integrated global communications company. Several key employees have been assigned new leadership positions within the company to help drive the agency's move forward as it continues to roll out its Power of One integration strategy. Euro RSCG Life Chelsea, formed through the combination of Euro RSCG Life's Becker and Questar agencies, will service an expansive client roster that includes leading pharmaceutical companies such as Wyeth, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson. Mary Ann Capritti was named CEO and Ed Stapor President. Cary Lemkowitz was named Chief Creative Officer. "Over the past year we have increasingly employed new ways of servicing our clients in response to their evolving needs and wishes to consolidate relationships with external agencies," said Ron Pantello, CEO/Euro RSCG Life. "Our 'Power of One' strategy is designed to ensure that our customers receive the best services in a single place. By reshaping our flagship agencies we're adding value while creating economies for our clients. It's a unique concept, and as we continue to execute on this strategy, we will also further define new ways to expand our own business going forward."

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$2,250,000 KRRR-FM/KRAE-AM Cheyenne WY; KHAT-AM/KIMX-FM/KRQU-FM Laramie WY; & KREO-FM Pine Bluffs WY from Mountain States Radio Inc. (Cheyenne & Laramie stns)/Laramie Mountain Broadcasting LLC (Pine Bluff stn) (Victor A. Michael Jr.) to Brahmin Broadcasting Corp., a subsidiary of Northeast Broadcasting Co. Inc. (Jane N. Cole, Steven A. Silberberg, Edward F. Flanagan). $400K deposit, $150K cash to Michael for real estate, $1.65M cash at closing. Purchase price also included $50K to broker Media Services Group, with buyer and seller each contributing half. Three separate markets. Existing duopoly in Laramie. LMA since 4/1/04. Deal includes facilities improvement agreement which may have bearing on final price. [File date 3/22/04.]

$130,000 KXFE-FM Dumas AR from Metro Birch Enterprises Inc. (Jackie Harris) to Arkansas County Broadcasters Inc. (Bobby Caldwell, C.B. Moery Jr.). Cash. Duopoly with KAFN-FM Gould AR. [File date 3/22/04.]

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