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I have to respectfully disagree with the column written by Mr. Gary Weiss (5/4/05 TVBR #88). As a young listener myself (I'm 25) my generation has been exposed to a hyper competitive music industry, with hundreds of thousands of music choices to listen. The Peer-to-Peer networks that are so popular among the youth these days has catapulted that competitiveness in the only the last 2-3 years. I believe that competitiveness will continue in some form or another (even in the midst of a landmark Supreme Court ruling). My music professor once told me that an accomplished Musician can know (and play) as many as 30,000 songs...and an average person can know (and hum/sing) as many as 5,000-7,000 songs. Granted some of those songs are songs like, "It's a small world after all." But many of those are enjoyable songs, and I believe Mr. Wiess underestimates the number of songs that the average persons knows, recognizes, and enjoys.

I'll admit most of my evidence is anecdotal evidence. But I've certainly heard many complaints from friends that they are 'tired' of songs because they're so over-played. I certainly am one of those persons. Mr. Wiess' comments I think certainly do apply to the 34+ demos. But the 18-34 are clearly going to be tougher to reach in the future. And new innovative methods will have to be adopted to reach them. I, for one, will be awaiting this new format here in good ole Peoria, IL. In the meantime....I'll probably be playing music off the Internet... and/or scanning stations on my Satellite radio to feed my appetite for variety.

Justin Locke
ShareBuilders, Inc.

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Bankruptcy Sale:
New Mexico Radio Stations
US Bankruptcy Court is selling the assets of a New Mexico radio group - 1 AM and 2 FM’s in Silver City and 1 AM and 2 FM’s in Alamagordo. Stations generate over $800,000 of revenue, are currently profitable and have good upside potential. No broker fees. John Brooks, Consultant to US Bankruptcy Court(415)383-5967 [email protected]

Rosenthal adds TV
After 26 years in the Boise market, Bob Rosenthal isn't going anywhere - - but he is adding TV to his portfolio, while continuing as market manager for Journal Broadcast Group's six radio stations. He's now also Vice President/General Manager of Journal's KIVI-TV (Ch. 6, ABC) Boise and KSAW-LP (Ch. 52, ABC) Twin Falls, ID.

Fox plans "Idol" probe
Following Wednesday night's ABC "Primetime Live" report alleging that "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul coached 2003 contestant Corey Clark and had a sexual relationship with him, Fox says it is investigating the claims and has asked Clark to assist it in doing so. Not a chance, says Clark, who is still bitter about being cut from the show when it became public that he had pleaded guilty to a criminal charge. "We have concerns about the motives behind last night's purported news special," said Fox in a statement Thursday, although the network added that it was taking the allegations seriously.

TVBR observation: Who at ABC decided that this was news anyway? It sounds like an "investigative report" for one of the Hollywood gossip shows, but not for a production of ABC News. What's next - - a special report on allegations that WWE wrestling matches may be choreographed ahead of time? Horrors!

Satellite radio
attracts a few good
men-very, very few
In 87 metropolitan markets with a collective adult population of 137,478,000, satellite radio has attracted a mostly male audience of just 681,000 or 0.5% of all adults in the 87 markets surveyed by The Media Audit. From a total sample of 117,737 respondents, only 571 adults (age 18 +) said they listened to satellite radio at least once in the past seven days (7-day cume). "We were surprised at how little market penetration has been achieved by satellite radio," says Bob Jordan, President of International Demographics, which produces The Media Audit. "The demographic profile of the satellite audience is most certainly affluent and well educated, but the absence of significant market penetration also shows up in the demographics. More than 73% of all satellite listeners had household incomes of 50,000 or more, but that 73% represents only 0.8 of all households with incomes of 50,000 or more." Approximately 63% of satellite listeners are men and 55% have at least one college degree. Satellite radio is not another technology that penetrates the 18-34 age market. Quite the contrary, The Media Audit surveys found that 76.1% of all adult listeners are 35+ and 48.5% are 45+. More than 29% of satellite listeners fall into the proprietor/managerial classification and 17.3% fit the professional/technical category. "Surprisingly," says Jordan, "16.6% are blue collar workers and 11.0% are retired. In the 87 markets surveyed, satellite radio attracted only 10,000 or more adults in just 20 of the 87 markets surveyed. The largest number attracted, 76,000 was in New York City, which is a market of more than 14 million adults. "The penetration in New York City was just one half of 1%," says Jordan. Satellite only pulled one% or more of the adults in just six markets and in no market did it attract 2%. Jordan thinks the two primary problems faced by satellite radio are cost and lack of portability. "Satellite radio is competing with a product that is distributed free, and that's a heck of a price disadvantage," he says, "The portability issue may be solved, but making satellite portable is the easy part. Building the audience and selling their numbers is the tough part."

Interep's future debated
After Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey raised the issue Wall Street analysts are now asking other radio groups whether they are dissatisfied with national sales representation by Interep and what's going to happen to the company. In short, the Radio One executives said Katz was outperforming Interep, although the latter had shown some improvement in Q1. Liggins said a healthy Interep would benefit the radio industry and Interep's clients need to talk about the rep firm's future. But when asked about the possibility of a client buyout, he said that didn't appear to be feasible unless Infinity, Interep's largest client, wants to be involved. RBR observation: We hear from sources inside Interep that pacings are actually up so far this year for most of the firm's clients, and that it's actually been gaining market share from Katz for the past six months, so there's frustration with the perception by Wall Street that it is underperforming. 05/06/05 RBR #90

One good backlash deserves another
Brent Bozell is asking how much the big networks paid to certain watchdog organizations in order to get their backing for the TV Watch coalition which is trying to head off government regulation of broadcast program content. "This supposed 'coalition' needs to be taken - - and dismissed - - for what it is: a collection of random citizen and public policy groups that have simply been hired and paid for by the networks to do their dirty work," These organizations, and this so-called coalitionw, have an obligation to disclose the level of funding they're receiving, directly or indirectly, from the networks and the entertainment industry to do their dirty work. 05/06/05 RBR #90

Meredith, NAB opposing
Durbin amendment
At least one television group - - Meredith Broadcasting Corp. - - is joining the NAB at the barricades as Congress makes another attempt to pick broadcasters' pockets in the form of reduced campaign ad costs, according to a report in Roll Call. The measure would force broadcasters to offer lowest unit rate to politicians for a full year prior to an election, and would make the ads non-preemptible. "Making broadcasters provide LUC to candidates throughout the year and giving them preemptible status is a terrible idea," said Gregg P. Skall of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC last week. "It is probably unconstitutional and is tantamount to requiring illegal campaign contributions by all broadcasters. It is no different that requiring that all in the airlines and lodging industry subsidize political candidates by providing them deep discounts and bumping other passengers and guests if a politician wants a reservation." 05/06/05 RBR #90

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