|
|
|
|
|
Volume 23, Issue 90, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
|
Monday Morning May 8th, 2006
|
|
|
Radio News ®
|
Stakelin ready to go on buying spree
With Citadel reaffirming plans to sell off 150 million bucks worth of stations once it closes on ABC Radio (5/5/06 RBR #89), CBS saying it wants to sell some of its smaller market stations and indications that some other large radio companies are interested in pruning their portfolios, CEO Bill Stakelin figures Regent Communications is in just the right place to take advantage of the situation. "Quality inventory that had been only rumored about in our last call is now in the pipeline and is a reality. Regent is positioned to become the leading consolidator in middle and small markets and our two primary competitors are now former competitors, having changed their strategy to concentrate on larger markets," Stakelin said Friday, apparently referring to Citadel and Cumulus. But while Stakelin told analysts he sees opportunities to make buys in Regent's expansion zone as he also noted that the ask is still higher that the offer in the station trading marketplace.
Susquehanna flows into Cumulus
The 1.2B acquisition of the radio properties of Susquehanna Pfalzgraff Company by Cumulus Media Partners (CMP) is official. The group is not officially part of Cumulus Media Inc. (CMI), but is closely related. CMI is contributing four stations to the 29 coming from Susquehanna to form the eight-market, 33-station group. It'll be active in San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Kansas City and York PA. The closing takes CMI to 345 stations in 67 markets, counting stations over which it has direct or indirect control. Cumulus claims second place among all radio groups in terms of station count. CMI Chairman/CEO Lew Dickey assumes the same duties at CMP. He said, "We are pleased to announce the closing of this transaction and are excited to begin working with an enormously talented group of people to maximize the potential of these great assets."
RBR observation: It should come as no surprise that the merger of these two groups has stranded numerous employees on the beach. The reputation of Susquehanna Radio is of the highest order, which is testimony to the value of those who find themselves, through no fault of their own, with a surplus of leisure time.
Bottom line: This is a great time for other radio companies to be on the hunt for top-quality talent.
|
|
|
 Greater Media drops Sox bid
Just hours after the Boston Herald reported in Friday morning's paper that Greater Media was set to take the Boston Red Sox radio play-by-play rights away from Entercom's WEEI-AM, Greater Media CEO Peter Smyth issued a statement saying his company has withdrawn from the bidding. "This was a difficult decision, but at the end of the day, the deal didn't make economic sense for the company," said Smyth. According to local reports, the team's negotiations with Greater Media had hinged on the radio company offering the Red Sox an equity stake in WBOS-FM, in addition to 15 million a year for moving the broadcast rights to the station. With Greater Media out of the picture, the team was negotiating over the weekend with the only remaining bidder, Entercom, which the Herald said was likely to move the baseball broadcasts to WRKO-AM, which already carries the Boston Celtics basketball games. The Red Sox and Entercom issued a joint statement saying they are "engaged in productive discussions" toward a contract.
Higher bid nudges VNU shareholders
There are signs that a last-ditch effort to salvage an equity buyout bid for VNU (5/5/06 RBR #89) may succeed. The company's second largest shareholder, the Templeton funds group, indicated Friday that it will accept the sweetened offer and tender its 14.7% stake by the May 19th deadline. Still to be heard from is Fidelity International, which owns 15%. Leading dissident Knight Vinke Asset Management still appears to be dissatisfied, although Eric Knight hasn't officially rejected the new offer, but it owns only 1.2%. The Dutch-based media company, whose US holdings include Nielsen Media Research and such trade publications as Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Adweek, has been in play since major shareholders rebelled last year and killed a planned seven billion bucks acquisition of IMS Health, a US-based health data company.
RBR observation: This one is going down to the wire. The revised offer of 29.50 euros does not quite get to the 30.00 that the big shareholders had been pressing for, but it is pretty close. It is a tough call for those big investment funds to decide whether to take the cash and move on, or hang onto what they believe is an undervalued company and hunker down to bring in a new CEO (Rob van den Bergh having already become a casualty of the IMS debacle) and rebuild VNU as a US-based firm with a new name. If Fidelity decides to accept the deal, it's likely that the sale will go through, but it is still going to be a challenge to get all of the smaller shareholders in line to meet even the lowered 80% acceptance threshold.
Last word of caution - - the new name and brand/logo for VNU will set the course of success or failure. Company Brand identification is very important today in the public eye - - especially if one is to deal with Wall Street and investors. The name and brand has to say exactly who and what one is without a long explanation.
Big dollars flowing in video competition air war
Jeff Chester of Digital Destiny has numbers from Arlen Communications which show just how hot the battle between cable and telcos has gotten as their fate sits in the hands of Capitol Hill's two commerce committees. Arlen says that between them, their pumping a cool 1M weekly into the airwaves, with most of it airing in Washington and coming from the telco side. According to Arlen, telco support is coming from the U.S. Telecom Association at the rate of 250K weekly, from Verizon at 600K per week, and a more modest weekly 75K is coming from TV4US. Arlen says NCTA has fought back with 1M of its own, but that represents overall expenditures for the last year - currently, it's said to be pumping 50K per week into the fray. Chester is calling on "Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, eBay, and IAC" to make it a three-way air war - - he is hoping the Internet companies will go to bat for network neutrality.
|
|
|
Connecticut enacts reporter's shield
The state legislature in Connecticut joined the majority of states in putting a reporter's shield law on the books. "H.B. 5212 - - An Act Concerning Freedom of the Press" was passed after qualifiers were added, but was still hailed as a major improvement over reliance on protections provide only be case law precedent. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the bill was strongly supported by Jim Taricani, who served six months house arrest for refusing to reveal a source while working at WJAR-TV in Providence RI. Taricani's interest went deeper than simply being in a neighbor state - - he's a native of Connecticut. Media attorney William Fish said, "The bill that was passed is much stronger than the state's case law. It will be nice to have something specific when I'm up there in front of a judge."
|
|
| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Q1 2006 Conference Calls
Regent's Q1 revenues down slightly
We'd been hearing over and over that small and medium markets were the place to be in Q1, so you'd expect Regent Communications to have a better quarter than its larger market brethren. The company reported Friday that revenues were down 0.7% to 18.5 million. That was better than the 3% drop that Wall Street had expected and CEO Bill Stakelin said that but for losing Howard Stern and reformatting the station he had been on in Albany, NY, revenues would have been up 1% for the quarter. Revenues were up in seven of Regent's 14 markets, with El Paso leading the way - - up 16%. Stakelin complained, though, that in some markets his stations still have to deal with competitors who are not managing their inventory properly and are selling at 'low rates.' Regent is forecasting that Q2 revenues will be flat to down 2%. Stakelin told analysts that May is better than April, but he's still not pleased with trends overall.
RBR News Analysis
Less is still less for radio
Only a few more Q1 reports remain - - Entercom and Salem are both on deck today - - but the trends are clear. Big markets, particularly New York and LA, suffered from weak advertising demand for the quarter, but smaller markets, while better, still were not rolling in dough. The overriding problem is much bigger than radio. Advertising demand is just soft, and it will likely remain so until consumer confidence gets a lot better and people start buying more big ticket items, particularly cars and trucks. In the absence of a more robust auto industry, it is going to be very hard to create upward pressure on radio rates. And whatever growth there is in ad spending by other sectors is going largely to the Internet, while "old media" outlets struggle to hold onto their piece of the pie.
Clear Channel Radio is looking forward to a much better year in 2006, but that's only in comparison to the revenue declines it suffered in 2005 as it implemented "Less is More" to correct past mistakes. The radio giant is still trying to catch up to where it was in 2004, but at least it is better positioned to lead the industry with reduced spot loads and less cluttered programming. Katz, Interep and the RAB can and should continue long-term efforts to bring in new national clients, but any short-term improvement in radio is going to come from wearing out shoe leather. Local sales staffs deserve credit for keeping radio business from tanking during this long period of advertising malaise. The soldiers on the front lines just keep firing away - and they deserve thanks and appreciation from everyone in radio.
|
|
|
|
|
Ad Business Report TM
|
Wal-Mart launches review
Wal-Mart has placed its account in review that includes incumbents GSD&M, Austin and Bernstein-Rein, Kansas City. For Hispanic, Lopez Negrete, Houston is defending for a reported 55M spend. The mega-retailer spent more than 575M in measured media in '05, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Bernstein-Rein also handles buying. In September '05, Wal-Mart hired former Frito-Lay CMO Stephen Quinn as SVP/Marketing and Julie Roehm, Wal-Mart's SVP/Marketing Communications in January.
RBR observation: Let's face it - - arch competitor Target has carved a great image for itself of late in the "discount chic" arena. Wal-Mart has lost customers because of it. The image out there is Target products are more appealing and sophisticated, while still being affordable. Many previous shoppers from upscale retailers are now hitting Target, as well. Wal-Mart needs a fresh idea to get some of their customers back. They have made attempts as of late, but it takes an entirely new branding idea, store imaging, tagline, slogan and campaign to pull it off. Many, many agencies are going to throw their hats in the ring for a chance. You can bet with the talents of former Chrysler Marketing Comm. maven Julie Roehm in the decision room, Wal-Mart will be coming out with one impressive effort.
Microsoft buying Massive Inc.
Microsoft announced it is acquiring Massive Inc., the New York-based creator of a leading network for video game advertising, in a move that will help deliver dynamic, relevant ads across Microsoft's online services, starting with Xbox Live and MSN Games. Massive's solution depicts brands in various forms within the game - - on soft-drink cans and pizza boxes, on billboards and posters, and in images on TV screens - - where gamers would expect to see them in real life, adding realism to the overall gaming experience.
"Advertisers are having a tough time connecting with the elusive 18- to 34-year-old male demographic because this group continues to spend less time watching TV and more time playing video games," said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president of Global Sales and Marketing and chief media revenue officer at Microsoft. "Massive and Microsoft can help lead with our shared vision of delivering more targeted, measurable and effective opportunities for advertisers to reach today's youth audience in a largely untapped market."
Within the casual gaming space, Microsoft plans to implement Massive's technology to extend in-game advertising capabilities to games on MSN and within MSN Messenger, delivering advertising solutions for the casual gaming audience of females 35 years old and up.
|
|
|
|
| Media Business Report TM |
Verizon reaching out to communities
"Community Studio" is a VOD channel option that Verizon is developing in concert with "more than 35 civil rights leaders." As the telco giant prepares to bring its FiOS MVPD service into competition with cable, it's making a point of providing public access, education and government (PEG) channels as part of its lineup. "Community Studio" will consist of a "library of public interest and civil rights content each month" provided by "a variety of established national organizations seeking to reach out to viewers." Groups in on the launch expected to take place before Q2 is out, include Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, National Hispanic Media Coalition, American Association for People with Disabilities, Black Leadership Forum and U.S. Distance Learning Association. FiOS has to date broken ground in seven states, including California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Virginia.
|
|
|
|
| Media Markets & Money TM |
Citadel gets a Colorado Springs fill-in
The territory grab of the year is Citadel's acquisition of the major market properties of ABC Radio. But it still has room on its plate to enhance its station arsenal in its existing markets, as it proves with the acquisition of KRDO-FM in Colorado Springs. The seller is the Hoth family's Pikes Peak Broadcasting, and the deal finishes off their exit from broadcast ownership in the market. They recently announced the sale of KRDO-AM-TV to the News Press & Gazette Co. (4/13/06 RBR #73), leaving the brokers at Kalil & Co. with a second deal to complete for the remaining FM. Like in the earlier deal, the terms were not immediately disclosed. RBR learned from documents filed at the FCC that the AM/TV price was 45M - - the KRDO-FM deal has not hit the FCC database yet. At closing, Citadel will go to a two-AM, four-FM cluster in the market. Its other stations are KVOR-AM, KKML-AM, KSPZ-FM, KKFM-FM & KKMG-FM.
|
|
|
|
| Washington Media Business Report TM |
Hispanic journalists want ownership study
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has fired off a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Agency asking for a study on the current state of minority ownership of US broadcast facilities. NAHJ notes that the last such study from NTIA came out at the end of the year 2000. It found that 3.8% of broadcast licenses had an ownership roster that was at greater than 50% minority composition. NTIA said it shared NAHJ's goal of promoting diversity of ownership, but had no plans to repeat the study. "While we are grateful that the NTIA responded to our letter, we are extremely disappointed that the agency has failed to keep track and document the issues and trends affecting minority ownership," said NAHJ Executive Director Ivan Roman. "We are concerned that lawmakers and federal regulators have failed to address how to increase minority ownership. Yet, these same lawmakers and regulators are considering measures that will lead to further media consolidation. The future of minority broadcast ownership is in jeopardy and nothing is being done to address this."
RBR observation: We have often made the comment that the NTIA is one of the most fitting candidates for the sobriquet "Department of Redundancy Department." RBR Executive Editor Jack Messmer has often commented its basic function is to write essays about what it might do if it was the FCC. Underscoring this in bold-face type, the NTIA actually referred NAHJ to the FCC, where a more recent but nevertheless dust-gathering study can be found dating back to 2003. The trend is not good. 389 stations have better than 50% minority ownership out of 11.6K, representing a 0.5% drop from the NTIA 2000 figure to 3.3%. (Women comprised a majority at 412 stations, or 3.5%).
|
|
|
|
| Internet Media Business Report TM |
694M currently use the internet worldwide
comScore Networks announced the launch of comScore World Metrix, the first true estimate of global online audience size and behavior based on activity from the world's largest online behavioral research panel. The comScore World Metrix panel has active representation from countries that comprise 99 percent of the global Internet population. In launching comScore World Metrix, the company announced that 694M people, age 15+, used the Internet worldwide from all locations in March 2006, representing 14 percent of the world's total population within this age group. This number marks the first worldwide universe estimate based on a consistent methodology across all countries.
Notably, comScore World Metrix includes measurement of the major Asian countries, including China, Japan, India and Korea, which represent nearly 25% of the total worldwide online population (or 168.1M users), and which, in the aggregate, are 11 percent larger than the U.S. (152M users).
comScore also released the top 15 countries ranked by average hours spent online per visitor for March 2006, as a measure of engagement. Israel led the list, with the average user spending 57.5 hours online during the month - - twice as much time compared to the average person in the U.S., which did not rank in the top 15 countries. Rounding out the top 5 were Finland, South Korea, the Netherlands and Taiwan - - all countries with high broadband penetration.
|
|
|
|
| Ratings & Research |
Arbitron says all questions will be answered this week
Responding to questions asked by the Next-Generation Electronics Ratings Evaluation Team at a meeting in Las Vegas during NAB2006, Arbitron says it will deliver all of the answers by this Thursday. All three finalists in the search for a new electronic radio ratings systems, met with the committee in Las Vegas as they prepared to move into the final selection phase resulting from last year's RFP sent out by Clear Channel.
Here is the letter than Arbitron CEO Steve Morris sent out on Friday afternoon pledging to submit a comprehensive report on his company's Portable People Meter system before this week is done.
| The Morris Letter... |
|
|
|
|
| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
|
Transactions: 2/27/06-3/3/06 (restated)
OK, we admit it. We made an error in Makers & Shakers (4/10/06 RBR #70). The type of filing, the fact that it split into many separate filings, it's cusp-of-the-month filing date, and the fact that we were heading out of town on vacation (insert your own bonus alibi here) all conspired to cause us to miss the Disney/Citadel radio group filing which hit the FCC database 3/1/06. It was a minor error - - the revision takes that 38.072M week up to 2,738.072M, or if you prefer, 2.738B (we were only off by 98.6%). On the off-chance that some of you are keeping score at home, we present a revised Monday Morning Makers & Shakers for the week of 2/27/06 through 3/3/06. Hey, major corporations sometimes get do-overs on their quarterly results, and we didn't even wait for the SEC to come after us. Your regularly scheduled episode of Makers & Shakers will be presented next week.
|
|
Total
|
|
Total Deals
|
21
|
|
AMs
|
18
|
|
FMs
|
46
|
|
TVs
|
1
|
| Value |
2.738B
|
| Complete Charts |
|
Radio Transactions of the Week
Disney turns over radio group to Citadel
| More... |
|
TV Transactions of the Week
Big Easy DTV CP moves out of bankruptcy
| More... |
|
|
|
|
|
| Transactions |
595M WJAR-TV Providence RI, WNCN-TV Raleigh-Durham NC (Goldsboro NC), WCMH-TV Columbus OH & WVTM-TV Birmingham AL from NBC/Universal (Jay Ireland), a subsidiary of General Electric to Media General Inc. (James Zimmerman). Cash. All stations are NBC affiliates. Duopoly in Birmingham with WIAT-TV (CBS). Media General is requesting six-month waiver to sell WIAT. [File date 4/12/06.]
450K WIJD-AM Mobile AL (Prichard AL) from 1270 AM Inc. (Michael Glinter) to Mobile Bay Corporation, a subsidiary of Wilkins Communications Network Inc. (Robert J. Wilkins, Luann Wilkins, Mitchell Mathis). Cash. LMA 5/1/06. [File date 4/17/06.]
|
|
|
|
| Stock Talk |
Stocks rise on jobs news
A government report that showed modest employment growth cooled inflation fears and sent stock prices higher on Friday. The Dow Industrials shot up 139 points, or 1.2%, to 11,577.
Radio stocks joined in the gains. The Radio Index rose 2.560, or 1.7%, to 157.273. The leader was Radio One, whose Class D was up 5.1% and Class A 4.7%. The company was added to the S&P SmallCap 600 index after the market closed on Friday. Regent was down 0.9% after reporting its Q1 results.
|
|
|
|
| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
|
Arbitron
|
ARB
|
|
35.40
|
+0.15
|
Hearst-Argyle
|
HTV
|
|
23.14
|
+0.07
|
|
Beasley
|
BBGI
|
|
8.35
|
+0.29
|
Journal Comm.
|
JRN
|
|
11.71
|
+0.23
|
| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
 |
26.38
|
+0.34
|
Lincoln Natl.
|
LNC
|
|
58.79
|
+0.76
|
| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
|
26.37
|
+0.33
|
Radio One, Cl. A
|
ROIA
|
|
7.85
|
+0.35
|
| Citadel |
CDL |
|
10.35 |
+0.39 |
Radio One, Cl. D
|
ROIAK
|
|
7.90
|
+0.38
|
|
Clear Channel
|
CCU
|
|
29.47
|
+0.06
|
Regent
|
RGCI
|
|
4.21
|
-0.04
|
|
Cox Radio
|
CXR
|
|
15.05
|
+0.49
|
Saga Commun.
|
SGA
|
|
9.76
|
+0.37
|
|
Cumulus
|
CMLS
|
|
10.97
|
-0.01
|
Salem Comm.
|
SALM
|
|
15.26
|
+0.15
|
|
Disney
|
DIS
|
|
29.09
|
+0.69
|
Sirius Sat. Radio
|
SIRI
|
|
4.73
|
+0.01
|
|
Emmis
|
EMMS
|
|
13.43
|
-0.16
|
Spanish Bcg.
|
SBSA
|
|
5.25
|
-0.01
|
| Entercom |
ETM
|
|
27.62
|
+0.14
|
Univision
|
UVN
|
|
35.83
|
-0.06
|
|
Entravision
|
EVC
|
|
8.77
|
+0.18
|
Westwood One
|
WON
|
|
8.87
|
+0.08
|
|
Fisher
|
FSCI
|
|
44.17
|
+0.98
|
XM Sat. Radio
|
XMSR
|
|
17.97
|
-0.09
|
|
Gaylord
|
GET
|
|
47.67
|
+2.48
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bounceback
|
 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to [email protected]
In my opinion, your "RBR Observation" comments re Clear Channel (5/4/06 RBR #88) are "Right On" as are the comments of Cox's Bob Neil.
"Less Is More" isn't a gimmick name per se perhaps but�not something new either.
Eight years ago we reduced 12 spot minutes per hour to nine units and revenues went thru the roof. Dramatically increased rates and a belief that whatever your rates are at the time they should be higher. Closer scrutiny of inventory and a sales department willing to say no at the right time.
Joe Vincent
Joe Vincent & Assoc.
Atlanta
|
|
|
Below the Fold
|
Wall Street Media Business Report
Regent revenues slightly down
Hearing small and medium markets
were the place, but expect...
RBR News Analysis
Less is still Less for Radio
The trends are clear big markets,
NYC & LA suffered - smaller markets
Were not rolling in dough...
Ad Business Report
Wal-Mart launches review
Let's face it arch competitor Target
has carved a great image...
Washington Media Business Report
Hispanic journalists
Want ownership study...
|
|
|
Radio Media Moves
|
JRN ups Ginsburg
Jones Radio Networks announced that Jim Ginsburg has been named Director of Wireless Media. Ginsburg also serves as Vice President of Jones Banana Network. "Our growth into various wireless technologies is happening now with our use of SMS, ring tones, podcasting, RSS, comedy animations and more," said Phil Barry, Group VP/GM of JRN. Ginsburg will work to establish and direct implementation for text messaging services, audio/video content, and other applications, products and services oriented to mobile devices like cellular telephones, personal digital assistant units and MP3 players.
|
|
|
More News Headlines
|
Storms knock out ABC 24-hour formats for two hours
ABC Music Radio told affiliates that at 2:58 AM CT 5/5 during a thunderstorm with heavy rain and intense lightning, their Dallas studios apparently took a direct strike. Despite multiple back-ups, they were unable to get all the formats restored for up to two and a half hours, though some were back within 30 minutes. They added: "We are still evaluating the situation and will let you know the outcome."
Disney has a Jobs now
Disney Friday closed its 7.4 billion bucks acquisition of Pixar, bulking up its movie animation operation and adding Pixar (and Apple Computer) founder Steve Jobs to its board of directors. Disney's board now has 14 members and the company noted that 11 of them, including Jobs, qualify as independent directors. Jobs is now also Disney's largest single shareholder, with a 7% stake following Friday's stock-swap merger. Disney also announced Friday that it is withdrawing its stock listing from the NYSE Arca, formerly known as the Pacific Stock Exchange, reducing the costs of being listed on two exchanges. Disney shares will continue to be listed on the much larger New York Stock Exchange.
TV One passes 30 million households
Less than 16 months after launching with 2.2 million households, TV One says it has passed the 30 million household subscriber mark, based on Nielsen TV universe estimates. "With TV One, not only are we offering a quality entertainment and lifestyle channel for adult African Americans, but we are also now working with operators to create non-linear and broadband content that can help them reach and market new products to the African American audience, who can be voracious consumers of all types of media content," said Exec. VP of Affiliate Sales and Marketing Brad Samuels. The TV One cable network is primarily owned by Radio One and Comcast, along with investment by The DirecTV Group; Constellation Ventures; Syndicated Communications; Pacesetter Capital Group; and Opportunity Capital Partners.
|
|
|
RBR Radar 2006
|
|
Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
|
Tough quarter for many
Citadel - Local was up 2.5% in Q1, while national was down slightly. All in all, net revenues were up 2.2% to 94 million for the quarter. While big markets are currently out of favor on Wall Street, Citadel sees lots of opportunities for growth in markets like New York and LA, despite their current problems.
WW1 - Having the US radio rights to the Winter Olympics was no gold mine as inventory just oversupplied an already over-saturated marketplace and contributed to making it a down quarter. After reporting a 9.9% drop in revenues for Q1, WW1 is projecting that Q2 will be as bad or worse, with guidance that revenues will likely drop from the high single to low double digits.
Radio One - The witch's brew of unfavorable conditions holding down revenue at traditional media companies is expected by executives at Radio One to reach its nadir in the current second quarter of 2006. They expect that factors will become more favorable as the year moves into its latter half.
Saga - Radio down, TV up but, of course, radio is a much bigger part of the company, so Q1 revenues at Saga Communications were down 2% to 31.2 million. The big hurt was in national, where same station radio revenues plunged 15.1%, while local fell 4.5%. CEO Ed Christian said national was responsible for 80% of the Q1 shortfall, with the biggest impact felt in Saga's Columbus, OH and Milwaukee clusters. TV group was a bright spot, with revenues up 13.1% to 3.9 million (against 27.3 million for radio).
Beasley - Q1 revenues of 27.1 M, down 5.4% from 28.6 M in Q1 2005. Net income was 1.6 million, or 7 cents per share. Operating income rose 4.8% to 4.4 Million. The decline in revenue was attributed to the current radio advertising environment.
RBR observation: So far not matter what spin you try to put on it - Q1 has not shown any favors to the radio business. Again being in the public eye is not meant for all and some should try to go private or take long warm soaking baths to easy the pain.
05/05/06 RBR #89
Bounce Back on
"Less" Clear Channel, is "More" for radio
It's about time for someone to stand up and shout out loud on how Clear Channel continues to obliterate and disgrace the radio industry. I guess I need to vent, (and I think I speak for thousands of radio people across the country), when I say that the so-called Mays, Hogan and Michaels way of radio has destroyed the radio industry as we know it. Over the past 7 years, the leaders at Clear Channel have slowly but surely whittled radio down to an almost unrecognizable product... Scott Evans, Ocala, FL
05/05/06 RBR #89
Bizarre comment in
CCU conference call
painted an improving picture for the future, Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark Mays insisted that future growth prospects for the radio industry don't pertain to his company because Clear Channel Radio is not the same as the rest of radio. "Why are we different from the radio industry? First, we're in the content creation business. We find, develop, produce and promote content like no other radio or audio entertainment company...
RBR observation: DA? AH? Huh? What is new about all this? It sounds to us like what all good radio companies do and have been doing for decades. Anyone who'd actually worked at radio stations would know that. As for any expectations that Clear Channel can consistently outperform the radio industry, simple mathematics would make it unlikely that the largest player in a sector could run more than slightly ahead of (or behind) the sector over the long haul, since it plays such a large role in setting the average. Clear Channel was a drag on that average last year as it tried to correct past mistakes with Less is More and it's now playing catch-up and running ahead of the average. Check out the numbers in Wall Street Media Business Report section and you'll see that Clear Channel still isn't back even with where it was before Less is More. Credit to Cox Radio CEO Bob Neil Countering Mark Mays made note of the fact that Clear Channel Radio's revenues were still down from two years ago in Q1 as he reported that his company's revenues were down 1% to 97.6 million after rising 6% a year ago. Frankly this bizarre statement radio should take as a slap and that it seems Mays thinks Clear Channel is better than the rest of ya. Guess what, RBR was at the 4A's conference when Mark Mays was on the media panel and his grade from the Ad Agency executives was not pretty.
05/04/06 RBR #88
|
|
|
|
 |
Director of Sales
Step Up to a Great Cluster and Market with NextMedia's top-rated 9-station cluster in Coastal Carolina, Greenville/New Bern/Jacksonville looking for an outstanding DOS. If you're a proven leader with a solid track record, we want to talk to you.
See Radio Careers
Affiliate Relations
Talk Radio Network is expanding and we are looking for someone with great phone techniques who is enthusiastic about joining our successful team.
See Radio Careers
TV Media Sales Executive
TVBR needs just one (1) person that has the closing contacts in the Television & Cable business to bring in the Ad dollars to TVBR with our Monthly Solutions Magazine and earn 6 figures. NO Relocation necessary. Contact me in Confidence: [email protected] EOE
See TV Careers
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Help Desk
|
Having problems with our epapers?
Please send Questions/Concerns to:
[email protected]
If you wish to remove your name completely from our database use this link __UNSUB__
RBR Epaper -- 108 annual
or just 9 a month
|
|
|
|
©2006 Radio Business Report, Inc. All rights reserved.
Radio Business Report -- 2050 Old Bridge Road, Suite B-01, Lake Ridge, VA 22192 -- Phone: 703-492-8191
|
|
