Williams buys again

Walton Williams is on a buying spree. Just days after buying WCLE-AM & FM Cleveland, TN for $2.4M (RBR.com 7/2), Williams Communications is making another small market buy, paying $1.1M for WKHC-FM Dahlonega, GA. The seller is Southern Radio Inc., owned by Kevin Croom and Brenda Hollifield.

Dahlonega is about 40 miles north-northeast of Atlanta. It's the same town where Small Town Radio (O:STWI) just closed on a $175K purchase of WDGR-AM.

XM & Sirius stocks fall

While most stock were rising Friday (7/5), satellite radio stocks were moving the other direction. Merrill Lynch satellite analyst Marc Nabi cut his short-term rating on XM (O:XMSR) from "buy" to "neutral" and Sirius (O:SIRI) to "sell" from neutral. With fallout from the scandal at WorldCom reverberating through the telecommunications industry, Nabi is concerned about whether start-up technologies, such as satellite radio, will be able to raise the capital they need on reasonable terms.

"Satisfying funding needs with single digit stock prices and the current cost of debt makes us less comfortable," he noted.

Sirius plunged 16.4% on Friday to $3.01 and XM was off 7.6% at $5.75.

Gaylord sells more assets

Gaylord Entertainment (N:GET) continued its sell-off of non-core assets last week, offloading Acuff-Rose Music Publishing to Sony for $157M and a 33.3% stake in Nashville's Opry Mills Shopping Center to The Mills Corp. for $30.8M. Gaylord officials says they're also looking to sell off a few other things, including the company's stakes in a couple of pro sports teams.

RBR Observation: The sale of Acuff-Rose may give us a clearer picture of Gaylord's radio group - - WSM-AM & FM and WWTN-FM, all in the Nashville market. Gaylord reported $24.2M in 2001 revenues from its "media" operations - - Acuff-Rose and the radio stations. BIA estimated that the three stations had revenues of $11.7M, which would indicate that slightly more than half of Gaylord's "media" revenues came from Acuff-Rose - - $12.5M, if BIA's radio estimates were on target.

Religious TV group buys first radio station

Three Angels Broadcasting Network Inc. (3ABN), which already owns nearly 80 LPTV stations, is making its first foray into radio station ownership. The non-profit religious broadcaster already has a 24-hour radio network which airs on a number of non-commercial stations, but it will get its first O&O with the purchase of WBLC-AM Lenoir City, TN, which is in the Knoxville market. It's not a big purchase, though. Seller Horne Radio LLC will get $55K for the 1kw day/24-watts night signal on 1360 kHz.

RBR Observation: WBLC had already been one of 3ABN's 14 affiliate stations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, but now it will carry pretty much all of the network's programming as and O&O. The non-commercial network, based in Southern Illinois, carries mostly Religious and family-oriented Talk programming, plus some inspirational music. Yes, officials tell us, they may buy more radio stations.

Emmis to pay preferred dividend

Emmis Communications (O:EMMS) says its board of directors has declared a regular dividend of 78.125 cents for its 6.25% convertible preferred stock. That's a pretty routine action, but with all of the negative news hitting Wall Street recently, it's reassuring just to see companies making such routine announcements. The dividend will be paid 7/15 to holders of record as of yesterday (7/2).

FCC offers additional comment period on WFUV-FM tower

Fordham University/WFUV-FM's (Bronx, NYC) quest to move its tower to the New York Botanical Garden will get 30 more days of comment from interested parties. The Commission announced 7/2 the extra days, as well as scheduling a formal meeting with Fordham, the Garden, and others 8/14. Concerns over "environmental impact" of the proposed move on the Garden has led to years of delays and has prompted comment from U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, National Public Radio and the New York State Broadcasters Association. The FCC hosted two meetings last week to hear counter-proposals and alternatives from outside parties. The FCC has already determined the tower relocation would create an adverse impact on the Gardens, prompting Fordham to propose reducing the tower's height to 380 feet.

RBR observation: First of all, the need for the move is high RF levels atop the dorm where the tower is located. Why not get some good engineering and shielding? That problem can be fixed. Second, why the Botanical Gardens? It's miles south of Fordham. Pick another spot on the campus and forget about it already!

Labels now looking to sue individuals for song swapping

The Wall Street Journal reports major music labels are preparing to mount a new attack on unauthorized online song-swapping via lawsuits against individuals using music file-sharing services like Napster, Morpheus and Kazaa. Working through the RIAA, the labels are planning to file copyright lawsuits that would target the highest volume song providers within the services. The suits would also include a PR campaign that may feature prominent artists urging music fans to respect copyright rules.

As it stands now, the labels are discussing what a music uploader would have to do to become a target. The details and scope of the PR campaign also haven't been resolved. The strongest backers of the suits are said to be the recording units of Vivendi Universal and Sony Corp.

Sam Donaldson to host DC Talk show

ABC's Sam Donaldson is set to launch a daily show on WMAL-AM Washington late next month. That's in addition to his national show already syndicated by ABC. The hour-long local program is said to be scheduled 9-10AM, chopping off the first hour of Premiere's Dr. Laura.

Jennings gets the boots

KTST-FM Oklahoma City has shipped off hundreds of old, beat-up boots and sneakers to ABC-TV anchor Peter Jennings to protest his booting Country artist Toby Keith off ABC's Fourth of July special. Morning co-host "Crash" organized the boot protest and some other Country stations owned by Clear Channel (N:CCU) joined in to gather the collection of boots, sneakers and even a couple of prosthetic legs.

Jennings said Keith had insisted on being the show's opening act and that he and the producers decided that Keith's hit song "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue" was too angry to be the opening number. The boots protest came because of the line, "You'll be sorry that you messed with the US of A 'cause we'll put a boot in your ass - - it's the American way."

Jennings had planned to donate the footwear to charity, but initial reports indicate that most are too beat up for anyone to want.

Broadcast gurus face new rules

Wall Street analysts who appear on radio, TV and cable shows to comment on stocks will face new disclosure rules, effective tomorrow (7/9). The new SEC rules require analysts and registered money managers to disclose any interest they may have in the stocks they're talking about. The new rules do not, however, require any disclosures by broadcast hosts - - just Wall Street professionals appearing on their shows.

Standard Radio completes Iceberg purchase

Standard Radio announced it has acquired 22,732,000 common shares of Canada's largest Internet streaming entertainment provider, Iceberg Media (70%), at $0.05 per share.

Delphi demos Mesh Networks streaming service for autos

Perhaps an even bigger threat to drive time listening erosion than XM or Sirius: Delphi Corp. is developing technology to deliver real-time Internet and digital information to vehicles, even at highway speeds. The future vehicle option uses a wireless network, being developed by Orlando-based Mesh Networks (www.meshnetworks.com). Universities have used similar peer-to-peer wireless systems for years to allow students access via laptops anywhere on campus. Mesh Networks wants to take it across the country. The system allows complete access to the Internet, including audio and video streaming, real-time gaming, email and chat. Real-time digital information is delivered to moving vehicles via a broadband wireless connection. Data is moved over a peer-to-peer network that consists of access points and wireless data repeaters. Information is transferred at speeds up to an incredible 6 megabits per second.

For the Delphi demo, the system works with the vehicles existing audio and rear-seat video systems, making integration simple and cost-effective.

Indy Classical station debut put on hold

The Indianapolis Star reports 7/4 that plans for a new 24-hour classical music station in central Indiana have hit a snag that could delay its start for as little as a few weeks or as long as several months. WRTV (Channel 6) has filed an objection with the FCC, expressing concern that the radio station's signal at 89.1 FM could interfere with the television reception for people in the Cloverdale area who watch Channel 6 over the air. Channel six's audio is located at 87.7-87.8 FM

Some 3,089 homes near the proposed station's transmitter in Hendricks County, IN could be affected. Bill Mays, Chairman of Hoosier Broadcasting, which applied to create the non-commercial station, said he told Channel 6 GM Don Lundy that the radio company would buy a special filter for every resident in the area near the transmitter-even if that meant purchasing and installing filters in all 3,089 homes.

Mays and partner Bill Shirk sold their previous broadcasting venture, Hoosier Radio & TV, to Radio One (O:ROIA) for $40M two years ago.

If Lundy agrees to the compromise, Mays said the new station could be on the air in seven business days. "The worst case," Mays told The Star, "is that they don't choose to do that and it takes six months for the FCC to finally hear it. Once the hearing occurs, the FCC can see we have met all the remedies that are required, so they will grant the license."

BBC consortium gets three digital licenses from ITV

Three digital television licenses from troubled broadcaster ITV Digital have been awarded to a consortium headed by the British Broadcasting Corp. The BBC's bid with satellite broadcaster BSkyB and Crown Castle beat another bid from ITV and Channel 4 to win the licenses.

XM announces preferred dividend

XM Satellite Radio (O:XMSR) has declared a regularly quarterly dividend of $1.0313 per share on its 8.25% Series B Preferred Stock. No cash payment is required at this point, so XM will be paying the dividend in shares of its Class A common stock. The payment will be based on 95% of the average daily trading price for the common stock for the 10 days ending 7/15. The payment will be made 8/1 to preferred shareholders of record on 7/22.

FBI seeking radio scam artist

The FBI has apparently joined the hunt for fugitive infomercial investment guru Sean B. Burns - - but they may need some help from Scotland Yard. The Palm Beach Post reported that Burns is believed to be back in his native UK after Florida authorities shut down his investment companies - - USFX and Worldwide Forex - - in Boca Raton. Prosecutors charge that Burns' radio infomercials, in which he claimed he could double investors' money in foreign currency exchange markets, got people to send in about $3M - - for which they got nothing in return. Four associates have been charged in a 186-count indictment, but Burns himself is still being sought.

Big Kahuna is new Classic Rocker

The Honolulu Star Bulletin reports that KAHA-FM used the Fourth of July holiday to drop its Rock format as "Lava Rock" for 36 hours of patriotic music followed by the debut of a new Classic Rock format at noon on Friday (7/5). The Maverick Media station is now calling itself "The Big Kahuna."