Radio News ®

Sumner says he and Mel
are simpatico
As Viacom shareholders met to re-elect them both to the company's board of directors, Chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone denied claims in a recent New York Post report of new bad blood between him and President and COO Mel Karmazin (5/18/04 RBR Daily Epaper #97). He assured shareholders that the two are in agreement on how to run the company and denied that he has been pressing to make a major acquisition - - against Karmazin's wishes. "In general, we don't respond to scurrilous, uninformed stories written in questionable press," said Redstone of the report in the newspaper owned by rival News Corporation. "I can tell you we have never disagreed on any major issue. Neither of us wants to do a major deal." With Viacom's stock price so low, in his view, Redstone said he would never use the company's stock to buy another company in this environment. Redstone's statements came amid recent stories that Viacom is in talks to buy Viva Media, a German rival to MTV, for about $350 million. Editor's note: Redstone denied claims in a recent New York Post report of new bad blood between him and Karmazin. Don't think anyone was reporting New Bad Blood just the same Old Bad Blood and trying to make it sound like New Bad Blood. Like Rambo - First Blood. Come on, we got to print this stuff just to keep up with the Murdock's.

NHPI renews attack on
Univision/HBC merger
The National Hispanic Policy Institute (NHPI) wants its case against the merger of Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation into Univision reviewed. It contends that the FCC was remiss in its duties in allowing the merger, and argues that it indeed has standing to press its case. NHPI's earlier request for review was dismissed upon federal court determination that it lacked standing, particularly in that it could not show how it had been harmed by the merger's approval. | Full Story |

Analysts: No surprises from Clear Channel
As TV networks were trumpeting their new fall shows this week in New York, Clear channel executives were in town trumpeting their stock in the company's first "Investor Day" in several years. But analysts who attended the confab say there were no surprise announcements and the word for investors is that Clear Channel is staying its course. That's not a bad thing, so Gordon Hodge at Thomas Weisel Partners and Richard Rosenstein at Goldman Sachs are advising clients to buy the stock. | Full Story |

CEO confidence on the rise
Chief Executive magazine has released the May results of its monthly survey of CEOs, and reports that things generally look good from the corner offices of corporate America. Its key metric, corporate confidence, rose 14.5 points from April, to 172.8, with 100 equal to the confidence level at the outset of the ongoing measurement in October 2002. Confidence levels have risen steadily over the past 12 months after sinking below the 100 level at the onset of the war with Iraq in April 2003, when the confidence level bottomed out at 89.4. Chief Executive's Chairman/CEO Edward M. Kopko said, "There's no question that optimism prevails right now in the executive suite. The nation's top business leaders are telling us that they believe in the US economy and its inherent strengths."

Al Franken to be feted by CMA
Air America talk show host and conservative-bashing author Al Franken might be one of the last people you'd expect to encounter at the Country Music Association Music Festival/Fan Fair next month, but he will indeed be there - - at least by phone. | Full Story |

NIH to study media impact on children?
A trio of US senators is introducing a bill which would put the National Institute of Health to work studying the effect of electronic media on the development of America's youth. The bill is endorsed by Common Sense Media, an organization dedicated to improving children's programming. The bill is called Children and Media Research Advancement Act of 2004 (CAMRA), and the signatory senators are Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Samuel Brownback (R-KS) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).

Is Howard Stern responsible
for Abu Ghraib?
Get ready, members of the broadcast media. Despite the fact, even early into the investigation, that there is ample evidence pointing toward possible causes and culprits in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse case, many are already pointing fingers at: broadcasting. Shows like "Fear Factor" and radio broadcasters like Howard Stern are said to be coarsening society, leading to a breakdown in civility among us citizens. An article in the San Diego Union-Tribune quotes Penn State University Professor Stephen Cimbala, who seems frankly amazed that Americans haven't by now been turned into a ravening pack of attack dogs. RBR observation: This is pure and utter nonsense. The good professor makes it sound like many of us are one episode of "Smackdown" away from running off to join the Manson family! "I was a law abiding citizen, your honor," a clemency-seeking defendant will blubber, "until that last 'Jackass' show drove me over the edge. It's all MTV's fault!"
| Full Story | RBR Observation |

Measuring the Media Moguls

Jefferson-Pilot: David Stonecipher,
Chairman & (former) CEO

2003 stock performance: +32.90%
2003 CEO pay: +87.65%

Wait a minute, you may be saying, how did any CEO deserve an 87.65% pay raise in one year? Well, there is a good explanation. 2003 was the swan song year for David Stonecipher, who turned over the CEO title to Dennis Glass on March 1, 2004. Stonecipher is still Chairman of the Board of Directors, but Glass is President and CEO. | Full Story |

Adbiz ©

Ad Council and NCMEC unveil new PSAs
The Ad Council, in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), announced the launch of a new PSA effort designed to raise awareness about the prevalence of online sexual exploitation and to help parents and teens better protect against online sexual predators. The PSA campaign is the first national, multimedia campaign to address this issue and it was unveiled by Ad Council President & CEO Peggy Conlon yesterday, along with NCMEC President & CEO Ernie Allen. | Full Story |

NBC's "Jeep World of Adventure"
announces new sponsors
The "Jeep World of Adventure Sports" series announced that Columbia Sportswear Company, Garmin International, Goodyear and AOL will join Jeep and NBC as sponsors of Jeep World of Adventure Sports, the new action-adventure sports series that debuted 4/10. The program airs its next episode 5/22. The TV series, produced by NBC and sports-marketing firm Aura360, covers adventure and action sports around the world. The sports coverage and production formula provide a natural utility for vehicles and lifestyle products, such as Columbia Sportswear's all-weather technical gear and Garmin's GPS technology, to be incorporated into the show. | Full Story |

Media, Markets & Money tm

Close encounter in the city by the bay
The city by the bay in this case is Bay City, and the bay itself is Saginaw Bay, near - - strangely enough - - Saginaw MI. The station creates a new combo, but not a traditional one - - it combines a television station with an AM station. They buyer is Meredith Corporation, owner of WNEM-TV Channel 5. For $1.1M (3/31/04 RBR Daily Epaper #63), it's picking up WKNX-AM from Frankenmuth Broadcasting. Meredith says it's going to make the station an adjunct to its TV news operation, converting the format to News-Talk and changing the calls to WNEM-AM. VP/GM Steve Sabato said, "Through the radio station, we can provide increased local news, weather and traffic coverage using our existing on-air talent and other news resources. Extending our brand to the radio, we can now offer local advertisers both radio and television exposure to their customers." [Note: For RBR's take on the prospects for an AM-TV combo, see our observation in the 3/22/04 RBR Daily Epaper #56.]

Washington Beat

Programming

Former Sex Pistols guitarist now a punk on the radio
Well, you'd think this would have been seen in the LA Times, but not in this case. The Washington Post gives some ink to Entravision's Indie 103.1 in LA's fairly recent hiring of Steve Jones, guitarist of the former punk band "The Sex Pistols." Jones does a lunchtime show at the KDLD/KDLE-FM simulcast weekdays, playing his own picks and bringing on his own guests (yes, it's commercial radio, folks, with the ads sold by Clear Channel). Excerpts from the story: | Full Story |

Transactions

$1.832M: KUJ-FM Tri-Cities WA (Walla Walla WA) from Alexandra Communications Inc. (Thomas D. Hodgins, Cheryl R. Hodgins) to New Northwest Broadcasting LLC (Michael O'Shea, Trila Bumstead, Ivan Braiker et al). Cash. Superduopoly with KEGX-FM, KIOK-FM, KNLT-FM, KALE-AM & KTCR-AM. LMA/option since 6/1/02. [File date 4/14/04.]

$95K: WULA-AM Eufala AL from Mark Hellinger to River Valley Media LLC (Clyde Earnest, Ken Hawkins). $10K escrow, balance in cash at closing. Combo with WRVX-FM. [File date 4/14/04.]

Stock Talk

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