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Regent heading for positive territory
Regent Communications is projecting that Q2 same station revenues will be up 2-4% after the company reported a 2.6% decline for Q1 - still outperforming the radio industry, noted CEO Bill Stakelin. That brings the count for Regent outperforming the industry to 16 of the last 17 quarters. He notes that the economic downturn has not impacted all markets equally and Regent is gung-ho on selling ads at the local market level.
Las Vegas and Ft. Myers drag down Beasley; More PPM woes
Those two markets saw double-digit revenue declines in Q1, but COO Bruce Beasley notes that the company, overall, still slightly outperformed the industry with a 4.6% revenue decline. He was also critical of Arbitron for its PPM panel juggling in Philadelphia, which he charged has been disruptive to ratings in the market. "I would not want broadcasters to go through what we're going through now in Philadelphia," said Beasley when analyst Jim Boyle of CL King asked for his view of the odds for Arbitron resuming its PPM rollout in September.
RBR observation: We noted yesterday that we would be looking for PPM data from April week two in Philadelphia to show evidence to support Arbitron Chief Research Officer Bob Patchen's assurance to clients that 18-24 panel representation was rebounding. The numbers sent along by ever helpful consultant Randy Kabrich show, once again, slight declines in 18-24 panelists, both men and women, although the count for 18-24 women only fell by one. Kabrich also notes that Arbitron fell below its target sample of 1,530 Persons 6+ in Philadelphia for the week.
SCBA hits the LA Times for "fuzzy math"
Did the Los Angeles Times lay off its fact checkers before running last week's ad claiming that a single ad in the newspaper delivers more people than spots in morning and evening drive on 20 radio stations? (4/30/08 RBR #85) The Southern California Broadcasters Association (SCBA) says it only takes three stations to beat the LA Times in Cume and wonders why audience powerhouses like KRTH-FM and every Spanish station in the market were conveniently excluded from the newspaper's list of "20 top stations."
RBR observation: As our observation noted, we were skeptical of the way the LA Times was throwing numbers around. The SCBA has now dug down and generated real numbers, as much as is possible with very different measurement systems, and found the ad's claims to be unsupportable. Even in the best case scenario for the newspaper, the SCBA found "fuzzy math" because 20 radio stations still come out ahead of a newspaper ad that is somehow lucky enough to be seen by every person who read any part of that day's edition.
CEOs see business picking up in Q3, Q4
Is it possible that the US has gotten past the worst of the latest economic down cycle? That's what the Conference Board is suggesting based on its latest survey of CEO confidence for April 2008. Although the top line figure is still below the 100 par line, at 96, all five supporting indicators have improved. At least one CEO blames - you guessed it - the media. Bob Gutenfick, CEO of Gutenfick & Associates said, "The media hypes the economy, preaches doom and gloom and uses scare tactics to bolster ratings and appeal to the incredibly short American attention span."
RBR observation: That last comment has got to be the single most ridiculous thing we've heard all year. Damn that media! The economy would be just fine if they'd just shut up about it.
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Slurpee, Guitar Hero use radio in promotion
To promote its new Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee drink this month, 7-Eleven has partnered with Coca-Cola, Activision, and Microsoft in a marketing and PR blitz designed to reach 18-34 year-old males. Online and radio contests, grassroots events and traveling street teams will hype 7-Eleven's promotion of Activision's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. |
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Saints come marching in for Emmis
New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson is also the principal owner of formed Louisiana Media Company LLC, which is planning to lay out 41M to acquire the last of Emmis Communications' television stations, Fox WVUE-TV in New Orleans. "Tom is getting a station that is stronger than ever," commented Emmis' Jeff Smulyan. "I have the utmost admiration and respect for Vanessa Oubre and the entire Fox 8 team for their dedication and grace in overcoming tremendous adversity in the wake of Hurricane Katrina." This brings Emmis' exit from television to completion, totaling 16 stations sold for a total of about 1.24B. |
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7.5M WHUB-AM/WPTN-AM/WGIC-FM/WGSQ-FM Cookeville TN from CC Licenses LLC, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Broadcasting Inc. (Mark Mays et al) to Cookeville Communications LLC (Jerome R. Zimmer). 750K escrow, balance in cash at closing. Existing duopoly. Transaction also includes cable channel WHUB. [File date 4/1/08.] |
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PROGRAMMING BUSINESS REPORT ™ |
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Media Management Group welcomes Dr. Julian Whitaker
Media Management Group welcomed Dr. Julian Whitaker as its newest client. Dr. Whitaker, one of the world's pioneers in Complementary Medicine, is the host of the nationally syndicated "Healthy Talk" Radio program. MMG will be working with the doctor's team to coordinate the growth of the radio show, website, and other related projects and ventures. Media Management Group is a NYC-based personal management, marketing and business development company representing major talk radio talent as well as personalities in other media.
Lotus Fresno launches new station
KLBN-FM, La Buena, moved frequency from 105.1 to a more powerful dial position at 101.9. The void of format at 105.1 was filled yesterday at noon on when Lotus Fresno launched "105.1 The Blaze," KKBZ-FM. The Classic Rock station began playing 5,000 songs in a row. In a weeks live and locally produced features and air talent will be unobtrusively incorporated into the station's flow.
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WASHINGTON BUSINESS REPORT ™ |
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Second lease on life in Riverhead
WRIV-AM Riverhead NY, licensed to Crystal Coast Communications, found itself unlicensed, in possession of deleted call letters and ordered off the air. The cause of all this existential unpleasantness? A missing $150 license renewal application fee. CCC neglected to send the money along with the application. In the old days, the receiving FCC employees would have informed the reviewing FCC employees of the omission, and CCC would have been notified and given a chance to pay the fee plus a 25% penalty. However, under the new electronic filing system, the reviewing employees never found out about the timely attempt to renew, and acted as though there had been no attempt at all. The situation is now rectified and life restored to WRIV pending reception of its belated $187.50 fee.
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Another record-breaking year
for millionaire households
TNS released results from its annual Affluent Market Research Program (AMRP). For the sixth consecutive year, TNS found that the number of millionaire households has increased significantly. Key findings from the survey include: Millionaire households (households with $1MM+ net worth, not including primary residence) increased by 5.9% from June 2006 to June 2007, reaching an estimated 9.9 million. Long term investing continues to be one of the key success factors for these households, with the vast majority of millionaires making few reactionary changes in their portfolios.
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INTERNET BUSINESS REPORT ™ |
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Online at-work listening grows
The portion of American workers who are choosing to listen to radio at work via the Internet as opposed to through a traditional radio receiver grew dramatically from 2007 to 2008. According to data from the Arbitron/Edison Media Research Internet & Multimedia series of studies, among people who are employed full or part time and listen to radio at work, the portion who listen most often to radio stations over the Internet has grown from 12% to 20% in one year's time while the portion who listen most often via a regular radio has declined from 88% to 80%.
RBR observation: The real key here for traditional radio is how many of these at work internet radio listeners are listening to actual stations that stream, vs. Internet-only radio stations like 3wk.com or somafm.com (the website and study didn't break this down).
IAB launches video in-stream ad format guidelines
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of "Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines." Created by the IAB's Digital Video Committee, a group comprised of 145 leading interactive companies, they are the definitive format guidelines that directly address digital video advertising. The guidelines focus on the most widely used current in-stream ad products, including linear video ads, non-linear video ads and companion ads. |
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Global research consolidating
Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) rejected an unsolicited takeover bid from WPP Group, but now may face a bidding battle between WPP and Nielsen. TNS essentially put itself in play by trying to merge with GfK, so one way or another it looks like time for consolidation in the global market research business.
RBR observation: The market may not allow for Nielsen to do an IPO this year, but that won't keep CEO David Calhoun from bulking up in the interim. So, if Nielsen does emerge as the winning bidder for TNS, what could that mean for Arbitron's global deal to have TNS deploy PPM?
Political ads cost broadcaster half a million
TV Azteca accepted money from a coalition of political organizations to run ads back in March, and that is a no-no - in Mexico. The television network was testing new ads calling for provision of free political airtime, and it found out that the government plans to enforce the rule, to the tune of 500K. According to Variety, the ads concerned a demonstration being planned by a defeated presidential candidate who wanted to focus attention on energy policy concerns. At least 15 airings occurred in March. The rules apply to both television and radio.
RBR observation: Free political airtime in the US is constantly proposed in Washington, and so far, it has been just as constantly beaten back. But it is clearly an irresistible target for politicians.
Product placements rose 6% in Q1
The Nielsen Company reported product placements for Q1 rose 6% on primetime programming for the 11 measured networks on broadcast (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, MNT, NBC) and cable television (A&E, Bravo, HGTV, MTV, TLC).
Broadcast television placements rose 39%, while cable television was essentially flat at -1%. There were 117,976 brand occurrences on cable and broadcast networks in the first three months of the year, according to Nielsen Product Placement Service.
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WALL STREET BUSINESS REPORT ™ |
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Up quarter for Cumulus
Cumulus Media reported after the market close Monday that pro forma Q1 cash revenues rose 2% to $69.7 million and station operating income (SOI) gained 5.4% to $21.8 million. Local ad sales were up, but national down. "As reported" net revenues gained 0.7% to $72.9 million and SO rose 4.8% to $21.8 million. With its going private buyout still pending, Cumulus did not conduct a Wall Street conference call. It did say in its announcement that Q2 revenues are pacing down slightly from a year ago. |
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No cheering for Yahoo!
Stock traders were in a foul mood after Yahoo! spurned an improved buyout offer from Microsoft - and Microsoft then walked away. Yahoo!'s stock took a dive and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%. The Dow Industrials were off even more, falling 89 points, or 0.7%, to 12,970.
Radio stocks fell as well. The RBR Radio Index was down 2.299, or 2.8%, to 79.666. Regent outperformed the industry in Q1 and predicted a revenue increase for Q2, but its stock fell 17.4%. Beasley, which also reported Q1 results, was down 6%.
Here's how stocks fared on Monday
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Chng |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Chng |
Arbitron* |
ARB |
| 47.15 |
-0.47 |
Google |
GOOG |
| 594.90 |
+13.61 |
Beasley* |
BBGI |
| 4.61 |
-0.30 |
Hearst-Argyle |
HTV |
| 20.74 |
-0.28 |
CBS CI. B |
CBS |
|
24.02 |
-0.31 |
Journal Comm. |
JRN |
|
5.89 |
+0.04 |
CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
|
23.91 |
-0.43 |
Lincoln Natl. |
LNC |
|
55.19 |
-1.14 |
Citadel* |
CDL |
| 1.63 |
+0.03 |
Radio One, Cl. A |
ROIA |
| 0.92 |
0.00 |
Clear Channel* |
CCU |
| 30.40 |
-0.87 |
Radio One, Cl. D* |
ROIAK |
| 0.90 |
-0.02 |
Cox Radio* |
CXR |
| 11.53 |
-0.35 |
Regent* |
RGCI |
| 0.95 |
-0.20 |
Cumulus* |
CMLS |
| 5.69 |
-0.17 |
Saga Commun.* |
SGA |
| 5.31 |
+0.05 |
Debut Bcg. |
DBTB |
| 0.75 |
0.00 |
Salem Comm.* |
SALM |
| 3.27 |
+0.04 |
Disney |
DIS |
| 33.29 |
-0.20 |
Sirius Sat. Radio |
SIRI |
| 2.67 |
-0.03 |
Emmis* |
EMMS |
| 3.03 |
-0.14 |
Spanish Bcg.* |
SBSA |
| 1.61 |
-0.05 |
Entercom* |
ETM |
| 10.55 |
+0.01 |
Westwood One* |
WON |
| 1.68 |
-0.01 |
Entravision |
EVC |
|
6.03 |
-0.12 |
XM Sat. Radio |
XMSR |
|
11.54 |
-0.15 |
Fisher |
FSCI |
| 31.77 |
-0.46 |
- |
- |
- | - |
- |
*Component of the RBR Radio Index |
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We want to
hear from you
Send your comments and
a photo to [email protected]
On "Radio Heard Fear"
Wow. I guess John Gorman didn't get invited to the sleep-over! Like my ol' Daddy used to say about Monday morning quarterbacks: "There're a lot of great coaches out there, only problem is you can't get them to put down their hotdog and beer and come out of the stands." Keep working on it guys, the product is a good one. There are a lot of knowledgeable guys and gals out there working in the trenches. All you have to do is ask.
Brett Miller
MCH Enterprises, Inc.
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Ad Business Report
Slurpee, Guitar Hero
Use radio in promotion
Media Markets & Money
Saints come marching in
For Emmis as New Orleans
Saints owner Tom Benson
is planning to lay out 41M
Media Business Report
Global research consolidating
Market may not allow for Nielsen
to do an IPO this year, but
Internet Business Report
Online at-work listening grows
The key is actual stations that stream, vs. Internet-only radio stations
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WFUV names
Rich McLaughlin
Fordham University's WFUV-FM NYC (90.7 FM, wfuv.org) announced the appointment of Rich McLaughlin as Content Director for its forthcoming HD Radio music channel and web stream. McLaughlin's responsibilities will include programming, curatorial and on-air duties. McLaughlin comes to WFUV after seven years at Sirius Satellite Radio. |
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We're looking for the "Write" person!
Sovereign City Communications LLC has an immediate opening for an Assistant Writer Researcher. Duties will include reviewing music schedules, creating compelling and relevant content for on-air talent, assisting Senior Writer and Show Producer. To apply see radio careers.
Director of Sales
Washington, D.C. & Baltimore
Market-leading cluster has an opening for an experienced DOS. The ideal candidate has cluster sales management experience, inventory management skills and a track record of exceeding revenue goals. Clear Channel is an equal opportunity employer. To apply see radio careers.
Radio Careers
Submit a Job
Find that key person!
Fill that important position at your organization with RBR Classifieds. .See our website for details. |
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News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
RBR Blog Log
Radio Heard Fear
I'm a little late weighing in on the ludicrous Radio Heard Here campaign. Please answer this question. Does NAB ringmaster David "Fumbles" Rehr have ears or is his ego really that large?
05/05/08 RBR #88
Arbitron's "Infinite Dial"
Study Tunes in Radio's
Multi-platform ROI
Of course, return on investment is the evaluation criteria that all of us - including our audiences, advertisers and investors - use for measuring the value of the time and resources we devote to practically everything that we do. That's why we thought that Arbitron's "The Infinite Dial 2008: Radio's Digital Platforms" was well worth a second look for our members; we think you'll find its conclusions very valuable as well.
05/05/08 RBR #88
Sales - How to Make the Offer
Your Local Client Can't Refuse
When you start showing clients how to attract new business without discounting, you'll go from zero to hero in 4.5 seconds. Here's how to make the offer your local direct client can't refuse. First do some research.
RBR note: Try to determine what keeps that client up at night. More for your staff at RBR.com, book mark us.
05/05/08 RBR #88
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