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August 2002 Archive
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![]() ![]() Links- internally where there are follow-up stories we try, at the end of each story, to put a pertinent link to the top of the next relevant story. Regarding external links see note at end of page. RNW August comment considers RDS -Radio Data Services- and where they are a benefit and where they could be a fatal negative. RNW July comment argues in favour of non-advertising funded public broadcasting. RNW June comment considers when consolidation efficiencies cross the line into abuses of power. |
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2002-08-31: Robert Reilly has resigned as director of Voice of America (VOA) after a year in the post and has been succeeded by former Time magazine correspondent David Jackson. Reilly, who was involved in controversy over clashes with the station's journalists when attempts were made to prevent the broadcast of an interview with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar (See RNW Sept 25, 2001), said in a statement that he was resigning "to seek opportunities in which I can more directly employ my talents in helping support the President and this Administration in the war against international terrorism." Reilly said he would remain with VOA for a period of time to help the new director and new Broadcasting Board of Governors chairman during the transition. Jackson, who was with Time for 23 years retired from the magazine last year and became editor of the Pentagon's anti-terror web site. He said, "I'm very excited about this opportunity to join such a respected organization, and I'm looking forward to working with my fellow journalists to carry on and enhance VOA's worldwide reputation." He also announced that Marie Skiba, currently the acting director of VOA's television service, will serve as VOA chief of staff during the transition. Previous Reilly: Previous VOA: VOA announcement: 2002-08-31: BBC Radio 1 breakfast DJ Sara Cox has signed a new three-year deal reported to be worth GBP 1 million with the Corporation even though latest ratings show the show losing around 700,000 listeners a week during the past year. The deal will take her pay above that of Newsnight presenter Jeremy Vine who is to replace Jimmy Young on BBC Radio 2 next year for around GBP250, 000 a year and is around twice the reported salary of Cox's predecessor Zoe Ball who was reported to earn around GBP150, 000 a year for the breakfast show and hosting a children's TV show. Ball, who increased the show's listening figures by 2 million a week, has recently opted to join London commercial station XFM (See RNW Aug 26). Cox increased the figures at fist, peaking with a record 7.6 million a week; this has now fallen to 6.9 million. A Radio 1 spokesman said: "Radio 1 is the perfect home for an original talent like Sara Cox, so we are really pleased that she has signed to the station for a further three years." Cox, whose current contract ends in April next year, said, "Radio 1 is the best place I have ever worked. The breakfast show means such a lot to me, especially the listeners who I love, so I'm over the moon." Previous BBC: Previous Ball: Previous Cox: Previous Vine: Previous Young: 2002-08-31: The Boston Beer Company has now run adverts in Boston newspapers apologising over the Opie and Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) "sex in St Patrick's cathedral stunt"; this had been demanded by a number of Boston bar owners as a condition of ending their boycott of the company's products. The bar owners have not yet confirmed they will end their boycott following the action. The company's founder and chairman, who was in WNEW in New York when the stunt went to air, had already posted an apology on the company web site (See RNW Aug 28) Previous Opie and Anthony: 2002-08-31: Salem Communications has announced its completion of the USD650, 000 acquisition of KHCM-AM (formerly KJPN-AM) in Honolulu from International Communications Corp. and is to switch it to a country music format on Monday (Labor Day). The station is Salem's fourth in Honolulu. Salem has also announced that it is to re-launch its Phoenix KCTK- AM as news-talk KKNT-AM tomorrow(Sept 1) . Its line-up is to include Pat Porter as morning show host; current morning host Tom Brown will move to host the morning show on Salem's KPXQ-AM, a Christian Talk station. Previous Salem 2002-08-31: India is considering a plan to allow educational institutions to set up their own radio stations. Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said the idea for the proposal came from the concept of community radio in other countries and initially would be targeted at colleges and residential schools. "In our proposal, we want schools to start off with this because there is a lot of scope, and we want to improve the quality of education," she told the Times of India. "Class lessons, lectures, extra information, educative programmes and programmes created by students can all be aired within a limited radius of access. There is immense potential for interactive radio with phone-ins.'' Times of India report: Previous Indian Radio report: 2002-08-31: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) web site, which was attacked three days ago and headlines and stories altered to give a slant opposed to its views, is now back up again. It makes no mention of the attack on the site. Previous RIAA: RIAA web site: 2002-08-30: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has announced that it is to drop the "Evening Session" Radio 1 show, which was a significant factor in the launch of bands such as Blur and Oasis in the 1990s. The show, broadcast from 2000-2200 local time for three days a week and presented by Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley, was associated with the Britpop era, has been on the air for 11 years; it will cease at the end of this year. Whiley left the show several years ago and is now a Radio One daytime presenter but Lamacq still presents it and also presents his weekly Lamacq Live show. BBC Radio One says the replacement show will have a new format and presenter but will still emphasis new acts and music. "It has been an amazing show, but we've got to freshen the schedule up and keep it relevant," he said. Previous BBC 2002-08-30: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)web site, which was attacked on Wednesday, was still out of action when we checked Thursday evening. The site was hit earlier this month by a denial of service attack but the latest attack involved the posting of an altered version of the site with false headlines including Piracy can be beneficial to the music industry" and "RIAA willing to try alternative approach to music sharing" as well as saying that the organisation would no longer oppose illegal file-sharing. The site was taken down shortly afterwards . Previous RIAA: RIAA web site: 2002-08-30: Chicago WGCI-FM afternoon host, DaVante Stone, who is known as "The Stone Pony" has been dropped by the urban-contemporary station and is now job-hunting according to Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times. Stone, whose contract runs to March will be paid until then but Feder says WGCI operations manager says he will be free to accept employment elsewhere. He will replaced from September 16 by weekend host Sam Sylk. Previous Feder: Feder Sun-Times report: 2002-08-29: Canadian broadcaster CHUM has given up on some of its sports radio network earlier than expected and put their former rock and roll programming back on Ontario stations in Toronto, Kingston, and Kitchener-Waterloo and a fourth station in Halifax, Winnipeg. It has also fired 44 employees including morning show co-host Paul Romanuk and Jim van Horne, both of whom left the Sports Network to join CHUM's TEAM network. Romanuk was on a guaranteed three-year contract and van Home on a guaranteed five year contract. The Toronto Globe and Mail says other stations from the TEAM network will run local sports including stations in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver. It said Romanuk accused CHUM of filing to adequately market and promote the new station , saying, "The big CHUM machine, as it turned out, had about as much horsepower as my electric toothbrush. A year after we launched, a ton of people still didn't know who we were." He also said staff were misled and that only three weeks ago he was told CHUM was still committed to the format. CHUM radio president Jim Waters, said the paper, said on CHUM's specialty channel CP-24 that the sports format was not continued because of low ratings and weak revenue, commenting, "In 15 months, we did not do well. It didn't show signs of growing much and we failed to cut into our competition's numbers." Previous CHUM: Toronto Globe and Mail report: 2002-08-29: Hispanic Broadcasting has announced agreement on a USD22.5 million cash deal to but five FMs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from Simmons Media Group. Hispanic says that it anticipates closing the deal in the fourth quarter of this year. The stations involved are KKRG-FM-Albuquerque, KIOT-FM-Los Lunas, KOSZ-FM-Rio Rancho, and KRQS-FM and KKSS-FM in Santa Fe. Another deal expected to close then or early next year is Regent Communications USD62 million acquisition of 12 stations from Brill Media that has now been approved by the bankruptcy court (See RNW Aug 24). Regent says it expects to begin operating the stations pursuant to a local marketing agreement by mid-September this year. And in Texas, Entravision has now closed on its USD35 million purchase of KTCY-FM in Dallas from Spanish Broadcasting System (See RNW June 11). It now owns or operates three Fm and two AM stations in the city -- KKDL-FM, KTCY-FM, KZMP-FM, KRVA-AM and KZMP-AM. Previous Entravision: Previous Hispanic: Previous Regent: Previous Spanish Broadcasting System: 2002-08-29: Some bar owners in heavily Catholic Massachusetts are boycotting Boston Beer Company products in protest over the Anthony and Opie (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) show "sex in St Patrick's cathedral " incident in New York according to the Boston Herald. It quotes one bar owner as saying, "The Catholic Church is going through enough, they don't need another kick in the teeth" and says the boycott will continue until the company publishes an apology in Boston and New York newspapers. Boston Beer chairman and founder Jim Koch, who was in WNEW-FM's studios at the time of the stunt, has apologised on the company's web site (See RNW Aug 28). New York's Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights said it was ``satisfied with his apology,'' reports the paper. But it adds that the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts has joined bar owners in requesting more forceful actions that show Boston Beer's regrets. The paper says its Executive Director C.J. Doyle wants Boston Beer to stop ``subsidizing radio stations that are Catholic bashers.'' Customers, however, says the Herald, are less harsh on Boston Beer and quotes on as saying," I can see why they'd place the blame on the sponsor, but there are plenty of other corporate sponsors that could be blamed for much more ridiculous stuff. I'll continue to drink Sam Adams every once in a while." Previous Opie and Anthony: Boston Globe report: 2002-08-29: In its latest Internet rankings, MeasureCast records a listening rise of 4% in the week to August 18 and again highlights the success of Christian music format Educational Media Foundation (EMF), which took places in the top ten simulcast rankings with its L-Love and Air 1 stations. For the week to August 18, MeasureCast's top five stations ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) with in brackets TTSL and Cume persons (a measure of the cumulative audience -CP) for the previous week - were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 343,131 (322,257); CP: 60,821 (64,407 Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 323,295 (312,957); CP 73,495 (70,649): Same position with higher listening and reach. 3:Contemporary Christian Music K-Love - TTSL 207,822 (200,975); CP 25,102 (22,799). Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL176, 660 (178,108); CP 35,748 (35,190). Up from fifth despite lower listening although reach was higher. 5: Classical music format WQXR-FM 165,966 (172,122); CP 26,416 (26,831). Up from sixth despite lower listening and reach. *Adult alternative Radioio fell from fourth to sixth rank with TTSL down from 180,841 to 155,927. The top five networks for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 1,181,617 (1,198,191); CP 262,039 (274,285) - Same position despite lower listening and reach. 2: Radio Free Virgin TTSL 837,344 (839,331): CP 157,210 (158,484) - Same position despite lower listening and reach. 3: WARP Radio TTSL 716,081 (673,912) hours: CP 157,210 (106,951) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Virgin Radio TTSL 449,205 (435,839) : CP 82,067 (88,514) - Up from fifth with higher listening but lower reach. 5: Internet Radio Inc TTSL 406,608 (616,349) : CP 194,494 (198,806) - Down from fourth with higher listening. The top five simulcast stations for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 343,131 (322,257); CP: 60,821 (64,407 Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 323,295 (312,957); CP 73,495 (70,649): Same position with higher listening and reach. 3 Contemporary Christian Music K-Love - TTSL 207,822 (200,975); CP 25,102 (22,799). Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL176, 660 (178,108); CP 35,748 (35,190). Same position despite lower listening although reach was higher. 5: Classical music format WQXR-FM 165,966 (172,122); CP 26,416 (26,831). Same position despite lower listening and reach. The top five Internet-only stations for the week (Previous week in brackets), were: 1: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 155,927 (180,841); CP 40,872 (40,904) - Same position with lower listening and reach. 2: Listener formatted MediAmazing - TTSL 89,029 (90,432); CP 45,293 (45,696) Same position with lower listening and reach. 3:Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville -TTSL 85,620 (88,303); CP 14,026 (14,245) - Same position with lower listening and reach. 4: Pure Rock KNAC.com - TTSL 82,219 (81,649); CP 18,637 (18,674). Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 5: Country format Bluegrass Country - TTSL 68,982 (64,581); CP 16,911 (16,452) Same position with higher listening but lower reach. Previous MeasureCast ratings: MeasureCast web site: 2002-08-28: The head of Boston Beer Co., which had been providing prizes for the Anthony and Opie (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) show and advertising on Infinity's WNEW-FM, has said that he was at the station when the sex in St Patrick's cathedral broadcast was made and was caught off guard. ''Live radio is meant to surprise, and I was surprised,'' Boston Beer chairman and founder Jim Koch told the Boston Globe. ''It was a bad mistake on my part not to get up and walk out.'' He has posted a statement on the company's web site formally apologising to all who were "those upset or offended by the incident on the Opie and Anthony show and by our association with it" and continuing , "We were not in control of the program, and it was never our intention to be part of a radio station promotion that crossed the line...my presence on the show was a lapse in judgment, a serious mistake, and I regret it. We are re-evaluating our policy on radio station appearances." In the ''Sex for Sam'' promotion, named after the company's Sam Adams beer, prizes for couples who had sex in public places included a trip to Boston to the company's annual festival and concert Opie and Anthony have promoted the "Sex for Sam" contests for three years with Boston Beer buying adverts on WNEW and providing pizes. In New York the Daily Post reported on Monday that Opie and Anthony supporters believed that the duo were in talks with Clear Channel but the latter has now delivered a firm no to them. It quoted an unnamed source as saying that Opie and Anthony may find it hard to get work, commenting, "They do have a big following, but there are certain areas where you just don't push it. There are now many advertisers that won't go near them," WNEW is currently filling the afternoon slot with Ron and Fez (Ron Pennington and Fez Whatley) and is to run four-hour segments of The Best of Ron and Fez until firm decisions are made; Infinity's Los Angeles talk host Tom Leykis is filling in the nightly slot formerly taken by Tom and Fez. Previous Clear Channel: Previous Opie and Anthony: Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity: Boston Globe Report: Boston Beer Company site: 2002-08-28:The holder of the London-wide country music AM licence, Ritz 1035, has gone into receivership according to the UK Radio Magazine. It says that Country 1035 Ltd, which was acquired earlier this year by the Mean Fiddler Music Group (See RNW May 29) is thought to owe around GBP100, 000 to various creditors and GBP200, 000 to EMAP for its digital radio platform. The magazine says that following the acquisition a row developed over non-payment of Ritz debts with the Mean Fiddler Group denying responsibility and Ritz appearing to back pedal on previous assurances to pay up. The UK Radio Authority is to decide next week whether to approve the transfer of the licence to the new owner; it has already said that if necessary arrangements are not put in place to satisfy creditors the licence cannot be transferred and will be revoked. Previous UK Radio Authority: UK Radio Magazine site: 2002-08-28: In US radio deals, Backyard Broadcasting has upped its stations from two to 22 and Saga Communications has added two more stations in Tennessee. The Backyard deal was a USD42 million all-stock acquisition of Sabre Communications' 20 stations: seven in Indiana (WHTI-FM/Alexandria, WHBU-AM/Anderson, WURK-FM/Elwood, WHTY-FM/Hartford City and WXFN-AM, WERK-FM & WLBC-FM/Muncie), seven in New York (WGMF-AM, WNGZ-FM & WNKI-FM/Elmira, WWLZ-AM & WPGI-FM/Horseheads and WHDL-AM & WPIG-FM/Olean); and six in Pennsylvania (WCXR-FM/Lewisburg, WBZD-FM/Muncy, WZXR-FM/South Williamsport and WWPA-AM, WILQ-FM & WSFT-FM/Williamsport). Backyard's first two stations were WRXW & WTYX in Jackson, Mississippi. The Saga acquisitions were simulcast pair WDBL-AM & FM, Springfield, Tennessee, for which it is paying USD1.5 million to Tuned-in. The latter will be left with just one Nashville station and Saga will now have seven stations in the area. It already owns two AMs and three FMs in Clarksville. Previous Saga: 2002-08-28: Montreal-based Astral Media is reported to be talking to a new company, formed by TVA Group Inc. and Radio Nord Communications Inc. of Hull, Quebec, about a radio stations deal. Suggestions are that Astral may be considering selling the company some or all of the 19 French-language stations it was to acquire from Telemedia Communications Inc. as part of a CAD 255 million deal that was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in April (See RNW April 21) but is still being opposed by Canada's Competition Bureau. Previous Astral: 2002-08-27: Following the departure of Opie and Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia), Infinity's WNEW-FM in New York has still announced no permanent replacement. It has been airing Los Angeles Talk show host Tom Leykis together with Ron and Fez (Ron Pennington and Fez Whatley) to cover the afternoon to evening slots and there are rumours that the latter, WNEW's regular evening hosts, could take over the Anthony and Opie afternoon slot. In Washington, DC, WJFK-FM, where Opie and Anthony replaced Don and Mike (Don Geronimo and Mike O'Meara) last year in the afternoon slot, the latter were back in the slot with speculation that they could end up moving back permanently from the 11am to 3 pm show where they were moved after G. Gordon Liddy was dropped. Previous Don and Mike: Previous Liddy: Previous Opie and Anthony: Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity: 2002-08-27: Two new commercial FM licences in Queens land, Australia, have gone to Hot Tomato Pty and onestore.com.au Pty Ltd. Hot Tomato put in the winning bid of AUD26 million (around Usd14 million) for the new Gold Coast commercial FM, and onestore.com.au Pty Ltd has taken the Nambour licence for AUD8.2 million (around USD 4.5 million). Commenting on the auction, Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) chairman Professor David Flint said, "The ABA is very pleased with the result of today's auction," said Professor David Flint, ABA Chairman. "It indicates how commercially valuable the FM band is. The level of bidding demonstrates a real depth of interest in the market and shows that the radio frequency spectrum is a public asset of great worth. When these new services go to air, they will add to the diversity of radio services for listeners in the Gold Coast and Nambour markets." Previous ABA: Previous Flint: 2002-08-27: The effects of the copyright fees ruling by the US Librarian of Congress is hitting the 1300 college broadcasters in the country hard according to an AP report in the San Francisco Chronicle that says most of them may have to close down. Stations that have already halted or suspended webcasting include University of California-Los Angeles Radio, KBVR at Oregon State University and New York University's WNYU and Will Robedee, vice chairman of Collegiate Broadcasters Inc. said that within days of the decision, he was "receiving e-mails from radio stations saying, 'We're going down. You can add another station to your list'." Fees will be retroactive to 1998 and some stations , including WNYU, were closed before the ruling because of the fear of large costs. Gabriel Mousesyan, an economics major and general manager of WNYU, which killed its four-year-old webcast in April, commented, "We didn't want to be liable for any of these huge fees that would cripple us or threaten our existence." Fees for non-profit webcasts were set at 0.02 cents per listened per song with an extra 8.8% to cover temporary copies needed for streaming and for WNYU, which had around 100 listeners on average, there would be retroactive fees approaching USD10,000. The minimum charge is USD 500, covering an average of some 20 listeners. San Diego University's KCR station operates on a tight budget of USD3,500 a year, making USD500 from this a significant amount. In addition to the royalty costs, the requirements for reporting listeners, which have yet to be released, will also impose an additional burden. Rachel Bradley a graduate student and KCR's station's general manager said the Internet had become a "vital part" of its broadcasting but then added, "We are a non-profit radio station on a college campus, so your options for funding are very limited. How many bake sales can you do, and how many bowling fund-raisers can you have to offset the costs?" San Francisco Chronicle/AP report: Collegiate Broadcasting web site: 2002-08-26: Our look at print comment on radio over the past week ranges from the Opie and Anthony row had in terms more of where it's going than where it has been or is currently, which we have covered in our regular reports to other forms of taking risks on radio and two reports on services that ought to give many terrestrial broadcasters pause for thought. One concerns the reason a DJ might go for a small station rather than one with twenty times the audience, the other a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation service of niche music on its satellite TV service The best single article we found on the possible implications of the Sex in the cathedral incident came from the Chicago Tribune where a report by Raul V. Mowatt commenced by saying that, although the shock jocks may have been fired, "the fallout nationwide may not be over." The case, it said, "raises questions ranging from the role of free speech to the extent of corporate citizenship." It then offered a range of comments, including the views of Tobe Berkovitz, a professor of communication at Boston University who said "It lowers the bar for the most outrageous thing anybody can do in major-market radio" but then went on to suggest that the duo, who were previously fired by Entercom for a 1988 April Fool's Day announcement that the Mayor of Boston had been killed in a car crash, might well be hired elsewhere. "It raises the stature of these guys for the type of people who would listen to them," said Berkovitz. Chicago shock-jock Erich "Mancow" Muller, no stranger to penalties for indecency, said he thought Opie and Anthony had gone too far. "You're going to say things you regret," Muller said. "You're going to do things you don't like. It happens. But this was so calculated to me." But he also expressed concern that the incident might trigger a government clampdown on free speech. "In a free society, they have a right to do these things, but we have a right to fight back, and I encourage people to do that," Mancow said. And on the question of where the blame should be laid, Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine, said that it should be directed at Infinity and Viacom since the hosts were simply performing the job for which they had been hired. On, however, and to a UK Times radio column by Vanora Bennett that puts the question of radio hosts' behaviour into a comparison that sheds a different light on such matters and indeed to any penalties that may be imposed. It was pegged to a review of the new BBC "black music" digital channel and the publicity descriptions of it in terms of "bravery." Commenting on the idea, Bennett wrote," The last time I heard so much about bravery was at the Sony Awards, where one middle-of-the-road, middle-aged, well-paid DJ after another went on stage to collect his prize, do a little victory waddle, and tearfully thank his boss for 'having had the courage to let me play my music'." "It was as if they were getting medals for heroism. The bosses were moist-eyed, too. Amid so much mawkish self-congratulation, it didn't seem polite to wonder just how brave you have to be to let experienced DJs pick their own tunes. " "To put these British heroics in proportion, I've been reading a book about radio reporting in China. It tells the story of Xinran, who presented a programme about women for eight years from 1989. Quietly, she teased stories out of timid women who had never before dared talk about their terrifying lives under communism. Equally quietly, but fearlessly, she pushed back the bureaucratic boundaries that had prevented journalists until then from reporting the truth." "Her programme, Words On The Night Breeze, genuinely changed people's lives. Making it put Xinran's integrity, peace of mind and personal safety on the line, night after night. " RNW comment: Indeed so. Unlike billions round the world who have committed no offence other than to be born in the wrong country, Anthony and Opie are unlikely to go hungry. And maybe a bit more of that integrity might go down well in US corporate life: The problem is it wouldn't be entertaining or good for the US psyche to hear too much truth about a society where the shock jocks and conservative hosts attract a significant enough audience in certain demographics to make them very wealthy indeed compared to an emergency worker. Still in the UK and a stand-in Radiowaves column in the UK Sunday Times by Patricia Nicol gives a plug to London-based commercial music channel XFM (owned by Capital Radio and also on various digital stations) that is irreverent but not to the degree of some of its US counterparts. "They have their own way of marking anniversaries on XFM, she commences her column. " A fortnight ago, I left for work to the sound of a synchronised 25-lavatory salute reverberating around the kitchen. This royal flush, to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of the King, was one of several Elvis-themed pranks on the station's inventive and irreverent Christian O'Connell breakfast session that morning." Nicol then goes on note that former BBC Radio 1 DJ Zoë Ball is joining the station, which has an audience of only half a million "mostly male musicheads "for its drive-time slot today, working Mondays to Thursdays, despite approaches from BBC Radio 1 with an audience of some 21 times as large and Capital itself with an audience of more than five times as large. The reason? "We give our presenters a carte blanche," says Sacha Taylor-Cox, the head of press at XFM. "We don't have a play list and they don't have to play chart pop. Also, for Zoë, there's the advantage that a lot of the bands we play are people she knows. It's just like hanging out for her." Nichol then comments on other output from the station noting of one show that "although key in kick-starting the bootlegging trend" it is "more specialist than most females ever allow their music passions to become" but goes on to comment, "few can match XFM's verve and the sense that its DJs love being there. In fact, it seems to be becoming the type of music station Radio 1 has often spoken of aspiring to be, without ever quite managing - possibly because there's nothing very rock'n'roll about a public-service remit." Another plug for a service came from the Toronto Globe and Mail where Russell Smith wrote of the benefits of the Galaxie music network which helped him to what he termed, "the joy of listening to beautiful music without blabber and schmaltz -- music radio as it should be." The service he writes is "radio that you can't get on your radio" and is received from satellite by connecting a stereo to the TV set to give "uninterrupted music of your choice -- highly specialized choices, too: specific kinds of folk, ambient electronica, chamber music -- 24 hours a day, without any light-hearted anecdotes about bird watching, or sudden switches to new-age pop." "And the music is brilliant: as challenging or as mindless as you want. I sit there in front of the TV for hours (while others are splashing about in the sun and waves, like normal people, as my mother always told me I should do), absorbed by the choices made by the mysterious genius who programs, say, the chamber-music channel. There might be an obscure little Saint-Saëns piece, followed by a classic like Death and the Maiden, followed by something eerie by Schoenberg. It's music for people who are interested in music. Obviously the programmer is someone very clever and educated, a total music dweeb. And there's nothing at all to indicate who it is." "There's nothing to watch on the screen, of course, except the name of the composer and the piece and the people playing it, but I keep checking that screen because most of the pieces are ones I don't know, so I want to learn what they are " Smith then goes on to consider the effects of a terrestrial broadcaster trying to put out programming like this " The only people who listened would be people with an interest in serious music -- which might, I venture, be a group as large or even larger than retirees with an interest in bird watching. And it would be much cheaper to produce; since it's not about information or "personalities," you don't have to pay news-gathering services, or the massive salaries that "personality" hosts demand." "So why," he asks, "didn't the CBC think of it?" "Well, actually, they did. This is what fascinates me. Galaxie is a branch of the CBC, and a highly successful one. It is based in Ottawa. The general manager is an old-school CBC music expert called Alain Pineau. The DJs who program the music are experts on one, and only one, genre. (The brain and sensitivity behind the chamber-music channel, for example, is Bill Skolnik, a composer, musician and former CBC Radio music producer). They have an ingenious system of programming: The DJs live all over the country, and work from home. They use a computer program called Selector, which can access the entire CBC musical archive. Everything is lined up and played by the computer. It's like a vast and sensitive jukebox." He then writes of plans to put the service on the Internet via high-speed providers whose subscribers would get it for free as a signing-up perk with Galaxie itself receiving a small fee from the service provider for each subscriber. "This," he writes, " is an ideal use of the million-channel universe: It's ultra cheap, ultra niche marketing. A channel on chamber music has horizontal rather than vertical appeal: It's not a particular age group or geographic region that's going to listen, but 22-year-old music students and 70-year-old intellectuals in different parts of the world. And it's so cheap to put new specialty music channels up there can be one for every minute niche. If I were a regular radio producer, I would be scared by this. If the music you want comes for free, over the Internet, it's going to put bad radio out of business. Previous Ball: Previous Bennett: Previous Columnists: Previous Mowatt: Chicago Tribune - Mowatt: Toronto Globe and Mail - Smith: UK Sunday Times - Nicol: UK Times - Bennett: 2002-08-26: Lord Puttnam, who chaired the joint parliamentary committee that considered the British Government's Communications Bill, has called for the new OFCOM super-regulator to be given tough powers to prevent media takeovers that are not in the public interest. Giving the annual "World View" lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival he accused past governments of lacking the nerve to take on giant conglomerates and referred to the way News International was permitted to build up a newspaper and satellite TV empire, something he said had given "tremendous power to a single unelected conglomerate." This he said had led to something he considered "unhealthy" for the "competitive ethos of business" and the "vibrancy" of British democracy. Puttnam calls for the new super regulator to be properly staffed to allow it to take on the role and concerning the democratic aspects of allowing massive media conglomerates, said, "'If we are remotely serious about that attractive mantra diversity and plurality' then we can't just leave it to the market, or for that matter to the Government of the day, who may be guilty of their own set of preferences." He also spoke of the need for the public interest to be "actively defined and protected" and said the government knew it needed to introduce safeguards if it wanted to get the bill though Parliament. Before his speech, the UK Observer reported that a suggestion calling for such powers was buried in the report on the government's draft Communications Bill and had been described by the government as very interesting". Puttnam said he was surprised the recommendation had not been picked up by the media and the Observer noted that UK media deals involving newspapers can already be subjected to a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN). The paper says the clause proposes that regulators should consider whether all potential media deals would "'guarantee a balanced and accurate news service, a clear differentiation between the free expression of opinion and news and a range of voices to satisfy a variety of tastes and interests." The Observer then quotes an unnamed member of the committee as saying, "'Puttnam knows that when the UK's big newspaper groups with ambitions to move into radio and television discover this plan they won't take kindly to it. It is designed to stop media firms from moulding their acquisitions in their own image. This has always been the time bomb in the report waiting to explode." Previous OFCOM: UK Observer report: 2002-08-26: A clash is in progress in New York between Clear Channel and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) over the issue of voice tracking. A New York Times report on the matter, the practice of replacing live local DJs with pre-packaged shows that combine music, banter, weather and listeners' calls to mimic a live broadcast, starts by noting the success on WWPR-FM in the evenings of a show pre-recorded in Los Angeles by "Theo" and notes that New York, where Clear Channel owns five stations, is the only city where it does not use voice tracking, which is prohibited under agreements with the unions. The company slipped in the Theo show as a syndicated show, although the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) disagrees. The paper quotes Peter Fuster, a New York negotiator for AFTRA, as saying, "They want to destroy local radio. My first priority is to protect our members' jobs. My second is to prevent these stations from becoming the McDonald's of radio." The union contracts for WWPR-FM (Power 105.1), WLTW-FM (Lite FM 106.7) and WKTU-FM (KTU) have all expired, and Clear Channel is refusing to renew them unless voice-tracking is permitted. Contracts for its other two stations, WHTZ-FM (Z-100) and WAXQ-FM (Q104), expire soon. "The audience stands to benefit," Tom Owens, a Clear Channel senior vice president for programming, told the paper, "What we are doing is providing a superior entertainment product." Clear Channel says it will use voice-tracking sparingly, probably on graveyard and weekend shifts On the other side, says the paper, the DJs say they are less concerned about their job security than the impact on radio culture. It quotes Johnny Sialiano, KTU's morning host whom it described as one of the few DJs willing to give his name" as saying, "Overnight slots are the training ground for young talent. We'll be robbed of new voices and neophytes." In contrast to this an unnamed DJ from Lite FM commented, "We don't mind the concept of voice-tracking in the sense that we'll gladly export our voices. We just want to be the talent pool." RNW comment: Our reading of this is that Clear Channel will succeed, a few New York DJ's will gain extra money for tracking for other stations, and that the New York talent pool will gradually be denuded. Sialiano at least may have had the courage to speak his mind but he won't be able to win any fight on the issue on his own and the technology involved would allow Clear Channel to replace all its New York staff with outside voices in the short term should there be a dispute. Perhaps the best hope the lesser names have is that Clear Channel has high profile political problems at the moment, assumed by many to be the reason Randy Michaels was moved out of its radio operations, and that it may choose to avoid a fight. Give things time though, and the idea will be back Previous AFTRA: Previous Clear Channel: New York Times report: 2002-08-25: The main news this week is in a sense yet to come as the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues its enquiry into the Opie and Anthony "Sex in St Patrick's Cathedral" stunt and stations all over the US wonder whether the duo have opened the door for a new flurry of tightening up by the Commission: Elsewhere things were fairly much routine. In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has allocated new community licences for Adelaide and the Adelaide Foothills. The former has gone to Fresh Broadcasters Incorporated, which is offering a youth oriented service, and the latter to Music Broadcasting Society of South Australia Inc., which is targeting the audience for "fine music and the arts." In all there were five applications for the Adelaide licence and six for the Adelaide Foothills one. In Tasmania,the ABA has invited applications for four new community licences to serve Hobart South, Tasman Peninsula, George Town and Northern Midlands in Tasmania. Applications have to be in by September 18. The Authority has also proposed to alter area plans in Queensland and Victoria. In Queensland it has announced changes for commercial radio services for the Remote North East Zone under which it will make an alternative medium power frequency available at Mount Tamborine for the commercial radio service, 4SUN and for licensee Sun FM's additional service, 4RBL. The ABA is also making frequencies available for additional low power in-fill translators for both services at Eagle Heights and Canungra. In Victoria, the changes are in the plans for the Mildura/Sunraysia area by formally changing a frequency nominally assigned for community radio retransmission to an open narrowcasting service. In 1996 the frequency concerned was allocated to the Association of the Blind Ltd (now called Vision Australia Foundation) but the organisation subsequently advised that it would not need the translator for five years and in 1997 it was made available for five years for an open narrowcasting service whose licence was bought by Tately Pty Ltd. The ABA wishes to formalise the change and also propose operation from a nominal site in Mildura rather than the Robinvale site specified in its original plans. In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued three-month administrative renewals for a number of stations in Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Alberta where there are issues that affect normal renewals due on August 31. Stations involved are Coopérative de travail de la radio de Granby 's CFXM-FM, Granby, Québec; Entreprises Radio Etchemin inc.'s CFOM-FM, Lévis, Québec; Astral Radio inc.'s CKRS-AM, Saguenay (formerly Chicoutimi), and CHIK-FM, Quebec, both in Québec; Réseau des Appalaches (FM) ltée's CFJO-FM, Thetford Mines, Victoriaville and Lac Mégantic, Québec; Newcap Inc.'s CFSX-AM, Stephenville, Channel-Port-aux-Basques and St. Andrew's, Newfoundland and Labrador; 614546 Saskatchewan Ltd.'s CJDJ-FM, Saskatoon, Sasktachewan; and O.K. Radio Group Ltd's CFGP-FM Grande Prairie and Peace River, Alberta. Ireland was quiet on the radio front apart from some new staff appointments In the UK, the Radio Authority has awarded the Hereford/Worcester AM and FM licences to their existing holders. There had been no other applicants for either the AM licence, held by Classic Gold, or the FM licence, held by Wyvern FM The Authority has also updated its tariff table: The only change is the addition of a GBP20,000 new Additional Services licence application fee; this licence relates to the RDS(Radio Data System) sub-carrier of the Independent National Radio (INR1) that was advertised last month (See Licence News July 28) On the digital front, the Authority has announced that at the end of the month it will invite applications for the digital multiplex for Stoke- on-Trent and the surrounding area. In the US, as well as the Opie and Anthony saga, the Federal Communications Commission has confirmed a fine of USD 12,000 on Madison Broadcasting (See RNW Aug 20). It has also red-flagged Saga Communication's USD12 million acquisition of KDEZ-FM, KDXY-FM and KJBX-FM, in Jonesboro, Arizona, that was announced earlier this month (See RNW Aug 13 ). If the deal goes through Saga and Clear Channel will together control some 95% of the market's revenue. Saga has also lost out in another FCC ruling, this time its petition to deny the sale of WYVR-FM in Petersburg, Illinois, by LUJ, Inc to Long Nine Inc. Saga had argued that the application for the sale in 2001 was falsely certified complete when it in fact "omitted, without explanation, all of the Agreement's schedules. Long Nine Inc had responded that the omitted schedules " contained proprietary and other information not germane to the subject application, and there was nothing in the record to dispute Long Nine's claim." The FCC accepted that it had breached its own rules requiring sale application to include "all" requested information but decided that the deal should stand and modified its rules to allow the omission of "exclude non- material contract attachments." Previous ABA: Previous CRTC: Previous FCC: Previous Licence News: Previous Saga Communications; Previous UK Radio Authority: ABA web site: CRTC web site: FCC web site : UK Radio Authority web site: 2002-08-25: Streaming pioneer KPIG, owned by Mapleton Communications, which cut its streams last month in the wake of the royalties ruling from the Librarian of Congress (see RNW July 20) has now returned to the Internet, but its no longer there for free. The station's output is now part of a package from RealNetworks with around 40 other channels including channels from the BBC, US National Public Radio and classical station KING-FM for which there is a charge of USD5.95 per month. Previous Mapleton: 2002-08-24: More developments have piled up in the Sex for Sam feature in the Opie and Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) show in which people received a prize for engaging in sex in risky places and which took the shock jocks a step too far with the sex in St Patrick's Cathedral incident in New York. Infinity's WNEW-FM, New York, has now axed the show - although the shock jocks remain under contract - in the wake of the protests over the incident and Westwood One has stopped syndication of the show. Following this, the Catholic League has withdrawn its call for revocation of the licence of WNEW-FM and asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to end its investigation into the matter, which was announced late yesterday. However, the FCC, having started the process, is continuing with its investigation. It is asking for full details from Infinity, not only including documentation regarding the planning and broadcast of this particular incident but also of other broadcasts "whereby it encouraged participants to engage in public sex." It instructs Infinity to " modify immediately its document retention policies, if necessary, to ensure that no arguable relevant documents are destroyed" and also specifically requests information on the relationship between Infinity and producer Paul Mercurio, who was involved in giving details of the activities via a cellphone, The news of the show's end came in a short statement issued late on Thursday just after we had published yesterday. It said," "Based on recent events, The Opie and Anthony Show has been cancelled, and will be replaced by other programming beginning tomorrow." The outlook also looks fairly grim for WNEW general manager Ken Stevens and programme director Jeremy Coleman, currently under indefinite suspension. Infinity has put in interim general managers at WNEW and WJFK , which were overseen by Stevens but at the moment is not suggesting his dismissal. Characteristically the station's web site, which has avoided discussion of the matter, simply removed mentions of Anthony and Opie. It made no mention of the replacement with its schedule simply listing Ron & Fez from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and a blank until the duo were listed again from 7pm to 11p.m. Infinity's news station WCBS did carry the story, as did its WINS station site. Both radio stations in the stories on their web site also noted that Westwood One, the Infinity-controlled syndicator of the show although the latter was also not making note of this itself on its web site. Following the decision, William Donohue, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said that he would ask the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to end its investigation into the matter and withdraw the League's request for revocation of WNEW's licence. The League's web site however was still carrying attacks not only on the WNEW show but also on parents Viacom and CBS and, by name, Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone, and late night TV host David Letterman. Concerning Letterman, the League said, "Unfortunately, David Letterman is piling on as well. His monologue on Monday included a joke about people having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral and then getting ordained. Last night he used the St. Pat's incident again, though this time he crossed the line for sure: he made reference to a priest molesting an altar boy in the Cathedral. "David Letterman works for CBS and CBS is owned by Viacom, the same parent company that owns Infinity Broadcasting which, in turn, owns WNEW, the 'Opie and Anthony' station. There is obviously something twisted going on at Viacom and we intend to find out what it is and then act on it." An earlier posting headed, "VIACOM: FIRST IN CATHOLIC-BASHING BROADCASTING" (League's capitalization) had referred to a letter written to Redstone "asking him to do something about his company's apparent disregard for Catholic sensibilities." Further on it commented, " Just as Enron is now synonymous with corporate irresponsibility in the energy sector, Viacom is fast becoming synonymous with corporate irresponsibility in the broadcasting sector." The FCC, which had held back on action, on Thursday sent a letter to WNEW asking for documents related to the broadcast and information about who approved the program. FCC chairman Michael Powell issued a statement saying, "I am deeply disturbed about the reports. I have directed the FCC's enforcement bureau to proceed immediately with a thorough investigation." He has also published on the FCC web site, not only his statement, but a copy of the letter sent to Infinity by Charles W Kelley, Chief of the Enforcement Bureau's Investigations and Hearings Division as well as a copy of the complaint sent by Donahue and a transcript of part of the show. As well as the WNEW site, the official Anthony and Opie site had nothing on the matter, just a still: on the "unofficial" Anthony and Opie " site however, there were postings in support of the shock-jocks. One called for a rally to save their show at 3pm Friday afternoon but, probably realistically, included the line "We don't know what the hell is it's going to accomplish, but it should be one hell of a farewell party!" RNW comment: Having read the transcript sent to Infinity, it is obvious that we were mistaken yesterday as to the existence of a tape of the relevant part of the show but feel our other comments remain sound providing the FCC sticks to the policy it had previously announced. In terms of the language used and what actually happened, the show would seem to us to be extremely offensive to the Catholic Church (which we note seems to have eschewed action itself and left the League to raise the matter) but the language used was nowhere near as indecent as material that has escaped penalty in the past. The most offensive segments seem to be those that effectively defend the acts by attacking the church--see below.. In one early comment from Mercurio from the Cathedral steps he comments on the response they are getting and says that one person yelled, "That's a church. You should be ashamed of yourself" To this the host responds, "Yeah, can't you do some paedophilia?" Later, after the security guard has asked them to leave, he exchange goes: Mercurio:" Listen, we just need to use the restroom, don't be such a what are you being so difficult for. This is a sacrilegious place, this is a Catholic church." Security guard: "Be quiet." Mercurio: "No. I'm not gonna be quiet. I can say whatever I want to say. Just because you have a blue jacket on with a patch on doesn't mean you have authority over me. When they give you a walkie-talkie that doesn't mean you take over my Constitutional rights. We're gonna go, alright? We can do whatever we want. No harm, no foul. Not a problem what priests do to kids, though, either? Woman: "Yeah. That's right." Mercurio: I guess if the doors are closed it happens on the alter, right? [garbled] Nothing like meat and potato sex to turn that church around, right? A little homosexual sex {inaudible} everybody out here " Security Guard {inaudible} Mercurio: I'm a scumbag? What the Catholic Church has done to kids for 435 years? How could you be part of that? You're culpable. You should be ashamed of yourself. Maybe meat and potatoes sex is what the church needs. [Yelling} Sep up! Be Counted! And that was a balloon knot just so you know [laughter]. Mercurio:[yelling} "Where's your God now?" Host:[laughter] "Whoa!" Mercurio: "Alright, we're moving on. We'll call you back. Host: "Wow!" Host: "Oh my God. 27 points. 25 points with 2-point conversion and eternal damnation. Host: "We should be allowed to just give him 200 extra points!" There is more transcript but the above gives a fair flavour of the show. We hold absolutely no brief at all for the Catholic Church and would find many of the points raised, if brought up in another context, to be acceptable responses but not in the context of any place of worship. In English legal terms the actions are clearly ones likely to lead to a "breach of the peace" and we suspect that not many years ago exactly that would have happened. The response in this case to bring in the police was reasonable and we stick to our view that those who set up such a situation should be held equally culpable with the couple involved (who could be jailed for a year). Such a sentence would have been far more effective in curbing the errant hosts than the pay-off they are likely to negotiate to end their long-term contract with Infinity. We would equally agree that for a station to be involved in organising such a stunt should mean it is penalised but can't see that the actual broadcast was as serious a breach of regulations as many that have passed without sanction. Interestingly enough, revocation of a licence, might be more justifiable under the rules in terms of an organisation being fit to hold a licence. We note here though, that in the case of Michael Rice, who was imprisoned for charges involving sex with minors and thus deemed unfit to remain a licensee, he lost all his stations (See RNW July 6, 2002). The logic would thus be a loss of all Infinity's licences but that isn't going to happen; the question to us, therefore, is how far rules may be bent to assess a penalty that the broadcast itself probably doesn't deserve or whether the approach by the Enforcement Bureau will concentrate on the commissioning of the act. Wee suspect that it'll be around Christmas time before a ruling is made and that it won't be a present for Infinity. Previous FCC: Previous Opie and Anthony: Previous Redstone: Previous Stevens: Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity: Previous Westwood One: Catholic League news releases: FCC Enforcement Bureau letter to Infinity plus complaint (555 Kb PDF) FCC web site (Links to Powell letter and above): Unofficial O & A site: WCBS report: 2002-08-24: Regent Communications has announced a successful bid of approximately USD62 million for 12 radio stations from the bankruptcy administrative officer for Brill Media. The stations involved are WIOV-FM and WIOV-AM serving Lancaster-Reading, Pennsylvania; WBKR-FM, WKDQ-FM and WOMI-AM serving the Evansville, Indiana and Owensboro, Kentucky markets; KTRR-FM and KUAD-FM and a construction permit for an FM station serving Fort Collins-Greeley, Colorado; and KKCB-FM, KLDJ-FM, KBMX-FM and WEBC-AM serving Duluth, Minnesota. Up to half the sum will be in Regent's common stock, although Regent can substitute cash for the stock portion of the transaction if Regent's stock falls below USD7.50 per share within the relevant time period before closure of the deal. The rest of the payment, which will not be less than USD31 million, will be in cash. The deal is subject to the regulatory approval and the bankruptcy court's final approval. Regent chairman and CEO Terry Jacobs, commented, "Located in five very attractive middle markets, these stations have leadership positions, strong technical facilities and the ability to generate an internal rate of return in excess of 25% over the next five years." Previous Jacobs: Previous Regent: 2002-08-24: LmiV, the local media Internet venture set up two years ago by Bonneville International Corporation, Corus Entertainment, Emmis Communications, Entercom Communications, and Jefferson-Pilot Communications, has announced that it is to close down as an independent operating company from the end of next month. In the announcement made by the company, LMiV President and CEO Jack Swarbrick said, "The two things that were of critical importance to the mission of LMiV - the production of standard-setting websites for radio stations and the creation of a revolutionary model for cooperative initiatives among media companies - will continue. They just will no longer be done by LMiV." He added, "Unfortunately, the fundamental change in the economic viability of streaming and the recession in the broadcast advertising market have conspired to cause many radio stations to reduce the resources they are allocating to their interactive efforts. As we continued to encounter prospective customers who loved our product but couldn't find the funds in the 2003 budget to become an affiliate, we knew that it was time to shut down LMiV." LmiV's first station was Emmis's Q101 in Chicago (See RNW June 30, 2001) but consistently failed to meet its targets, In December last year it laid off around a third of its then 45 staff but was still talking of growing from 30 active sites to 125 by the end of March this year. It reached around 60 stations but, although this was insufficient to justify its existence, there was praise from member organisations for the progress made. Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan, who was also LmiV chairman, commented, "This was an ambitious project that taught us a lot about the power of collaboration and the possibilities of the Internet. As a result of the tremendous online content and creative solutions generated by LMiV and our own people, Emmis Interactive enjoyed remarkable product success and revenue growth. We look forward to continuing to leverage the success for Emmis, our LMiV partners and others throughout the industry." Previous Bonneville: Previous Corus: Previous Emmis: Previous Entercom: Previous Smulyan: LmiV site: 2002-08-23: Although it's now a week since the start of the row over the sex in St Patrick's cathedral incident and lots of complaints have been made (See RNW Aug 20) it would appear none of them have been formal complaints that would allow the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate the incident. The incident involved a stunt contest on the Opie and Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) show on Infinity's WNEW-FM in which couples took part in sex in unusual places.. No complaints so far , it seems, fit the necessary FCC criteria that the complainant must provide a tape or transcript to back up their complaint. The question of this requirement has been brought up a number of times by Democrat Commissioner Michael Copps, who has called on a number of occasions for broadcasters to keep recordings of their shows although so far he has held back from making it a formal requirement to keep tapes as is required in a number of other countries and most broadcasters have not taken up the idea. RNW comment: Looking at the FCC's clarification of its indecency rules issued in April last year (See RNW April 7, 2001) we rather think that, even if a proper formal complaint is brought, the rules might well allow WNEW to escape any penalty. The rules require that a broadcast be "patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium" and it also "must describe or depict sexual or excretory organs or activities." The FCC says, "The more explicit or graphic the description or depiction, the greater the likelihood that the material will be considered patently offensive." Without having the chance to listen to the broadcast, we would surmise that it may be adjudged "tasteless" and it certainly was offensive to many, both Catholics and non-Catholics, in New York but it may well fall outside the FCC rules (unless the activities were full sexual intercourse -the defendants say they were fully clothed and did not engage in full sex- and graphically described) and to us the main offence is not in the broadcast but in the stunt itself. Logically therefore the obvious course of action, since the hosts were obviously as complicit in the stunt as producer Paul Mercurio that, would be for them also to be prosecuted individually in relation to the actual acts rather than the broadcast. That said, we are rather surprised in view of the publicity this case has had that tapes have not been forthcoming and their availability publicised: maybe Opie and Anthony has a very low listenership amongst Catholics and can also rely on few of its audience thinking it worth recording for a replay. We do note that, as US regulations are currently framed and applied, broadcasters have no real incentive to keep recordings that could be used to incriminate them. Nor, it would seem to us, do they generally have much incentive to take great care regarding matters that may lead to complaints since the fines recently imposed have been comparatively small. Indeed action by advertisers in reaction to or in conjunction with pressure group complaints seem to have been much more effective than any formal regulations. To us this seems to bring the rules into disrepute and they should either be strengthened or abandoned. The question of requiring organisations to keep tape logs is one that some might argue could all foul of the Fifth amendment, albeit we would see the requirement as being on the organisation not the individual and we have no sympathy with organisations being treated as if they have "human rights" without a corresponding treatment for offences which would, for example, see almost automatic manslaughter jail sentences for company board members and senior executives in cases where lack of care leads to deaths. We feel the current case is likely to bring pressures for changes in the regulations and tend to the feeling that they are necessary. An obvious one would be a dual-set of default penalties: Maybe around the current level for those broadcasters who agree to keep tape logs and massively more - say 100 times --whenever a log has not been kept or they do not so agree. If nothing else this would make for some interesting calculations by the accountants! Does a broadcaster risk rather more fines in the current USD 4000 to 7000 range and accept the cost of keeping recordings or risk fines of USD 400,000 to USD 700,000. The latter would be fewer but the level of publicity greater, thus evening things out. Again in our dreams but the idea isn't totally without merit and allows broadcasters to choose themselves which way to go! Previous Copps: Previous FCC: Previous Opie and Anthony: Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity: 2002-08-23: A totally different story of radio self-sufficiency comes from an Associated Press report that looks at two public stations that are nearly independent of the big companies not so much as in what they broadcast but in that they generate their own power from natural resources most of the time. One station featured is WJFF-FM in Jeffersonville in the Catskill Mountains; the other is KBSJ-FM in Jackpot, Nevada. WJFF is powered by turbines in the basement of Malcolm Brown's house; they're fed from a trout stream and power the house and WJFF's studios in a chalet overlooking Lake Jefferson. There's even power over to sell. The impetus for the station came firstly from Brown's desire to get "off the grid" and then comments from a visitor. After researching the power project Brown spent USD 100,000 building the powerhouse, laying pipe from the dam, and installing generators and the water-powered turbines. After things were up and running a friend visiting Brown complained he'd miss the next episode of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion because of the Catskills' dearth of radio stations and the suggestion was made to build a station. The subsequent process of gathering signatures, raising money, filling out government grant forms and building a studio, took four years and the station hit the airwaves in 1990. In Nevada, the power for all-news KBSJ's transmitter comes from three windmill generators on the 8,700-foot peak of Ellen D Mountain, 12 miles south of Jackpot. They churn out enough power for the 5,000-watt station , run by Boise State University with studios (powered from the grid) in Twin Falls, Idaho, and mostly offering programmes from National Public Radio Station chief engineer Tom Lowther said the wind-generating system, with its 13,000-pound storage battery and voltage inverter, cost less than $300,000 -- much cheaper than an eight-mile spur from the nearest utility lines. The need for the station at Jackpot, says the university, was related to a need for a local station that could carry news of an emergency should there be a spill or highway closure affecting US93 along which run trucks taking nuclear waste to a nearby federal repository. The wind and stream, says the report, can provide power for most of the year but back-up power has to be used in August when the winds are low and the Catskill rains scarce. San Francisco Chronicle/AP report: 2002-08-22: Infinity Broadcasting, which allowed Opie and Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) on the air last Friday after Thursday's sex in St Patrick's Cathedral incident, but then starting putting out "Best of " shows, has now said the pair will be off air indefinitely. It has also suspended general manager Ken Stephens and programme director Jeremy Coleman while it reviews the matter Re-runs are continuing while the pair remain suspended. The incident, part of a regular show feature for which six couples were given a list of 54 high-risk locations at which to have sex in New York, led to calls from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights for WNEW-FM's licence to be revoked and for a heavy fine on the station's owners, Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting. The couple involved, Brian Florence, 37, of Quantico, Virginia, and Loretta Lynn Harper, 35, of Alexandria, Virginia, were arrested on charges of public lewdness and producer Paul Mercurio was charged with acting in concert. The lawyer for them said the couple were only simulating sex. When they appeared in court on Wednesday, the judge refused their request to be allowed not to attend the next hearing due on October 2; prosecutors had objected and commented that if they travelled to New York to commit a crime they could come to the city for a court date. They were heckled as they left the court. Previous Opie and Anthony: Previous Stevens: Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity: 2002-08-22: John Hogan, the new Clear Channel Radio CEO has pledged a more collaborative approach to the job than his predecessor Randy Michaels. "I think the biggest change people can expect is, we will have a more collaborative, more cooperative attitude with our competitors inside the radio industry and we will be more open with the record industry and recording artists," he told the Los Angeles Times. He also said that he would end the division's use of Michael's private company Radioactive through which Michaels had billed the company when its executives flew on his private plane. Last year Radioactive received around USD450, 000 for "consulting and transportation" according to the paper, which notes that his base salary was just above USD500, 000. Another change that is to follow Michael's move is a relocation of the radio division's headquarters from Covington, Kentucky, to Clear Channel's San Antonio, Texas, HQ. Hogan is to move there and the radio division's chief financial officer, Jerry Kersting, is also expected to relocate to San Antonio. Clear Channel employs some 40 people at Covington and a company spokeswoman told AP no decision had yet been made on how many of them would be affected by the change and noted that many of them worked in areas such as research that might not be affected by the change in HQ. Hogan, who has an office in Cincinnati, had been living in Atlanta. Previous Clear Channel: Previous Hogan: Previous Michaels: Los Angeles Times report: 2002-08-22: Canadian broadcaster Corus Entertainment has announced agreement to sell CKDO-AM and CKGE-FM in Oshawa, Ontario, to Durham Radio Inc., which owns and operates country format stations CJKX-FM and CJKX-FM-1. Corus acquired CKDO AM and CKGE FM in 1999 when the company purchased Power Broadcasting Inc.'s broadcasting assets comprising 17 radio stations and four television stations in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Corus Radio President John Hayes said, "after conducting a detailed strategic review of the market, we concluded that our best strategy would be to focus on other parts of our radio business. We believe that these stations are a better fit for Durham Radio Inc. which already operates in the market with a strong country FM format." Previous Corus: Previous Hayes: 2002-08-22: The Librarian of Congress is arguing to the US Court of Appeals that webcasters who did not take part in the CARP (Copyright Arbitration Panel) process that set royalty rates for streaming music should not be allowed to file an appeal against his decision. A report by Kurt Hanson in his Radio and Internet Newsletter (RAIN) says that librarian James Billington is saying that they would not be an "aggrieved party" because they did not take part in the CARP proceedings. Hanson notes that to take part in the process a webcaster had to commit to "an unknown portion of the million-dollar-plus cost of the proceedings 'in such manner and proportion as the arbitration panels shall direct.'" He also notes that this meant that a webcaster without major resources would first be barred from taking part in the proceedings and subsequently not allowed to object to the decision in court and comments that "This process stinks." RNW comment: It seems to us that, had the US the equivalent of a human rights act, any reasonable court would throw out Billington's motion with contempt. Indeed it seems further that it would be fairly easy to replace Billington and a not unreasonable action to take on the basis that the attitude displayed makes him unsuitable for virtually any form of public office where ordinary members of the public have an interest. It would be equally reasonable on that basis to conclude that the money he had been paid so far was taken partly under false pretences and thus no compensation should be due for the firing of any such jobsworth. Only in our dreams, but we can at least hope that the court slaps him down with some harsh words at the very least. RAIN website: 2002-08-22: Latest Internet ratings from MeasureCast show listening up 3% in the week to August 11, the first weekly increase since July 14; In the rankings the top stations remained unchanged and newcomer L-Love Radio held on to its third position, helping Educational Media Foundation (EMF), which streams it, Air 1 Radio, and World Wide Worship, into the MeasureCast Top 10 Internet Radio Networks at number nine. For the week to August 11, MeasureCast's top five stations ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) with in brackets TTSL and Cume persons (a measure of the cumulative audience -CP) for the previous week - were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 322,257 (344,061); CP : 64,407 (63,895) Same position with lower listening but higher reach, although latter still lower than two weeks ago. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 312,957 (278,927); CP 70,649 (64,545): Same position with higher listening and reach. 3:Contemporary Christian Music K-Love - TTSL 200,975 (196,999); CP 22,799 (20,482). Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 180,841 (173,352); CP 40,904 (40,585). Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 178,108 (162,874); CP 35,190 (33,262). Same position with higher listening and reach. The top five networks for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 1,198,191 (1,429,679) ; CP 274,285 (323,062) - Same position with lower listening and reach. 2: Radio Free Virgin TTSL 839,331 (820,209): CP 158,484 (158,233) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 3: WARP Radio TTSL 673,912 (627,055) hours: CP 106,951 (100,705) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Internet Radio Inc TTSL 616,349 (579,887) : CP 198,806 (193,284) - Same position with higher listening. 5: Virgin Radio TTSL 435,839 (466,621) : CP 88,514 (91,429) - Same position with lower listening and reach. The top five simulcast stations for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 322,257 (344,061); CP 64,407 (63,895): Same position with lower listening but higher reach. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 312,957 (278,927); CP 70,649 (64,545) : Same position with higher listening and reach. 3: Contemporary Christian Music K-Love - TTSL 200,975 (196,999); CP 22,799 (20,482). Same position with higher listening and reach 4: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 178,108 (162,874); CP 35,190 (33,262): Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Classical format WXQR-FM - TTSL 172,122 (121,788); CP 26,831 (21,856). Up from sixth with higher listening and reach. *Classical format KING-FM fell from fifth to sixth with listening down from 142,387 hours to 127,605 hours. The top five Internet-only stations for the week (Previous week in brackets), were: 1: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 180,841 (173,352) ; CP 40,904 (40,585) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 2: Listener-formatted MediAmazing - TTSL 90,432 (94,650) ; CP 45,696 (46,144) Same position with lower listening and reach. 3:Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville -TTSL 88,303 (86,107); CP14,245 (13,768) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Pure Rock KNAC.com - TTSL 81,649 (76,941) ; CP 18,674 (19,051). Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 5: Country format Bluegrass Country - TTSL 64,581 (62,249); CP 16,452 (15,745 ) Up from sixth with higher listening and reach. *Alternative Rock 3WK Underground Radio fell from fifth to sixth with listening just up at 64,389 hours compared to 64,165 hours. Previous MeasureCast ratings: MeasureCast web site: 2002-08-21: The two top US radio groups have announced senior executive appointments. At Clear Channel John Hogan has been appointed CEO of the company's radio division following Randy Michaels' move to head Clear Channel's New Technologies division (See RNW July 24). Hogan, the President and Chief Operating Office of Clear Channel radio, actually takes over from Clear Channel President and COO Mark Mays, who has been acting CEO of Clear Channel Radio since Randy Michaels' move. Hogan, who has been Clear Channel Radio's COO for a year, was formerly one of the division's Senior Vice Presidents and during his year as COO assembled the division's teams of Senior and Regional Vice Presidents. Commenting on the appointment, Mays noted the extensive search for a new CEO amongst internal and external candidates and commented:"The radio industry and our company is full of tremendous talent, it was a pleasure to speak with so many qualified candidates. In the end though, this was an easy decision." "John brings the combination of sales leadership, operating vision and industry experience that is so important to our next phase of growth. With much of the acquisition activity behind us, the overriding operating goal is to grow our business organically, leveraging assets now in place. John is both uniquely suited and qualified to lead that charge." At rival Infinity, owned by Viacom, former Clear Channel Sr. Regional VP John Fullam has been named as President/COO. The appointment is the highest level one made by new Chairman/CEO John Sykes who recently recruited Andy Schuon as President of Programming and David Goodman as Executive VP/Marketing. Commenting on the appointment, Sykes said, "John's managerial and leadership skills for the past 26 years have made him one of the radio industry's most respected leaders." "He has enjoyed an unvarnished track record of success operating multiple groups of stations in some of the largest markets in the nation." Fullam replaces Dan Mason, who is to continue as a consultant to the Infinity. Previous Clear Channel: Previous Hogan: Previous Mason: Previous Mark Mays: Previous Randy Michaels: Previous Sykes: Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity: 2002-08-21: SMG has announced that it has appointed Adam Singer, former chief executive of cable company Telewest and a member of the SMG board as a director nominated by Telewest, as an independent non-executive director. Singer, says the group will be "eligible for appropriate directors' fees", which last year were GBP25, 000 in cash and shares for most of the company's eight non-executive directors. Telewest, which is seeking to sell its 17% stake in SMG (See RNW Aug 14), had two directors on SMG's board; its other nominated director Stephen Cook will remain as their representative on SMG's board. Commenting on the appointment, made after a full nomination process, SMG chairman Don Cruickshank said: "Adam's an experienced and far-sighted director, whose knowledge of the communications industry has been of great value to SMG over the years. I'm delighted that he has agreed to stay on the Board and that the Group will continue to benefit from his knowledge and judgment." Singer was ousted from his post at Telewest, which he had held for two and a half years and which paid some GBP700, 000 a year plus bonuses, at the end of July; Under his leadership the company had built up debts of some GBP5 billion and its market value fed from some GBP12 billion to GBP120 million Previous SMG: 2002-08-21: Latest Irish ratings from the JNLR/MRBI survey, covering the period from July 2001 to the end of June 2002, show that independent radio has lost 1% of its share since the survey to the end of March but it is still ahead of state broadcaster RTÉ; independent stations had a combined listenership of 53% compared to RTÉ's 47%; For the period to June 2001, independent stations had a 55% listenership. Within the RTÉ figures, Radio 1 had a listenership of 31%, down 1% on the previous quarter but up 1% on a year ago, 2FM held on to the 27% it had in the previous quarter, and Lyric FM held on to the 4% it had in the previous quarter. National commercial channel Today FM held on to its 16% in the previous quarter up 1% on the figures for a year ago. Excluding counties Dublin and Cork, the independent sector had a reach of 56% (down 2% on the previous year), Today FM increased its reach by 2% to 18% and RTÉ Radio 1 and Lyric retained their reach of 29% and 3% respectively whilst its "FM gained 1% to 33%. Of the independent local stations Highland Radio gained 4% to go to a 76% reach and increased its share by 3% to 66% and NorthWest Radio gained 2% to go to a 70% reach and increased its share by 2% to 55%, In Dublin, FM104 had a listenership of 215, down 1%; 98FM has 19%, down 2%; Lite FM had 12%, down 1%; and new entrant Country 106.8FM had a 2% listenership for the six months to the end of June this year. In Cork, County Sound increased its reach of a year ago by 1% to 57% and new independent youth service Red FM has a reach of 16% for the six months to the end of June this year. Previous Irish Ratings: Irish Ratings for 2001-2001 year: Previous RTÉ: 2002-08-20: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has now received a whole bundle of complaints about the Opie and Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) generated stunt that led to two of the shows listeners and producer Paul Mercurio being arrested in connection with what Commissioner Michael Copps has termed a "a running on- air broadcast of a sex act in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York as part of a radio stunt." The couple, Loretta Lynn Harper, 35, of Alexandria, and her boyfriend, Brian Florence, 37, of Quantico, both in Virginia, were participating in a WNEW-FM/"The Opie and Anthony Show" contest to see who would have sex in the riskiest place. The couple were arraigned on charges of public lewdness, third-degree obscenity and exposure and are due back in court for a hearing tomorrow. According to the New York Daily News, during the broadcast on Thursday's Opie and Anthony show, as Mercurio phoned in reports, the hosts awarded the couple "Twenty-seven points. ... Twenty-seven points and eternal damnation!" After the arrests, Anthony commented from the studio, "Oh, boy. Well, that's the first time one of our teams have ever been arrested." The two have not commented on the matter although one said at the start of the next day's show that the station lawyers had forbidden them to say anything and lamented, "We're here to do a radio show and we can't talk about the biggest thing to do with this radio show." The station General Manager Ken Stevens in a statement said, "WNEW regrets the unfortunate incident that took place We apologize to anyone who has been offended and have taken measures to ensure that it does not happen again." According to the paper this, if anything enraged New York Catholics further and the paper quoted William Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, as saying of the statement, "This makes it worse. This is so insulting it is incredible. Unfortunate incident? Broadcasting a live sex act in a cathedral packed with worshipers on the Feast of the Assumption?" The League has filed a formal letter of complaint with the FCC and is calling for WNEW's licence to be revoked, a call that was taken up by Copps. In his statement he said he expected the complaint to be on the fast- track at the Commission and added "If these complaints and press accounts prove true, this Commission should consider the strongest enforcement action possible against this station, up to and including revocation of the station's license." RNW comment: Normally we would have laughed out of court the idea that the FCC would revoke a licence for shock-jock excesses but in this case we would have a nagging concern were we the station owners, albeit we still tend to think that a hefty fine is the most likely response. If, however, the Commission feels that it has to take strong action when abuses are serious - an approach that Commission Chairman William Powell has suggested he might support with comments concerning tough regulation when necessary but tolerance of minor abuses - this case would certainly fit the bill for strong action. Either way, we'd think Opie and Anthony might be wise to examine job opportunities outside radio just as a precaution. Still with the FCC and disciplinary action, the Commission has Upheld Penalties totalling USD12, 000 on Madison Broadcasting Group for failure to post its antenna structure registration (" ASR") numbers and its failure to maintain specified painting on its five antenna structures in Lynchburg, Virginia. Madison had been issued with a Notice of Apparent Liability for the amount at the end of April but had argued that it could not afford to pay and that the violations were not wilful. The Commission said that Madison's argument, and a supplemental argument based on the subsequent dismantling of the towers and the statement that the company's president did not know of the need for action and thus was not acting wilfully, were not accepted and upheld the penalty. Previous Copps: Previous FCC: Previous Opie and Anthony: Previous Powell: Copps statement: FCC notice re tower fines: New York Daily News report: 2002-08-20: Duncan's American Radio has reported a drop of 4.6% to USD16.7 billion from USD 17.1 billion in US radio industry revenues in 2001 compared to 2000. The fall was the first after nine consecutive years of grown and was put down to the effects of the dot.com bust and the September 11 attacks. For this year Jim Duncan is forecasting revenues are being flat or falling up to 3%. Within the figures, Clear Channel is listed as top biller with a total of USD3.5 billion, followed by Infinity Radio with USD2.2 billion, Cox Radio third with USD433 million, ABC Radio fourth with USD 386 million and Entercom fifth with USD358 million. 2002-08-20: According to the UK Independent British TV companies Carlton and Granada have refused SMG's asking price of around GBP350 million for its television and do not intend to get into a bidding war over the interests. The paper says that Carlton and Granada want to drive the price down but notes that venture capital firm Apax and other private equity houses including Candover are also thought to be interested in a purchase of the interests. Previous SMG UK Independent report: 2002-08-20: Big City Radio has reported a slightly reduced loss for its second quarter, down from USD7.7 million (52 cents a share) to USD7.1 million (46 cents) a share but its revenues were down by 40% to USD3.4 million. The revenue total was the same as in its first quarter, when the fall was nearly 20% over 2001. The drop was mainly due the sale of its Phoenix stations. Big City only had USD4.7 million on hand at the end of the quarter, less than half the USD9.8 million semi-annual interest payment of USD9.8 million due for payment on September 15. As with previous filings, Big City is warning that it may not be able to stay in business; it commented, "There can be no assurances that the company will be able to obtain any such financing or sell assets on acceptable terms or at all. These matters raise substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern." Previous Big City: 2002-08-19: For our look at print comment on radio over the past week, we have concentrated on services that have only become possible because of modern digital technology. First a look, courtesy of the Associated Press and New York Times, at what we consider the most significant US radio story of the past week, the race by the satellite radio companies Sirius and XM, to line up enough financing before they run out of cash next year. Both companies issued warnings about their cash positions in Securities and Exchange Commission filings and their shares took hits accordingly, although the main pain was for Sirius whose shares dropped 44% on Wednesday (XM dropped around a tenth of that) although they recovered some of the loss later in the week (See RNW Aug 17 ). XM, the report notes, expected to break even by late 2002 or early 2005 and has exceeded its subscription forecasts with 136,000 customers signed up by the end of June, some 6,000 more than expected. Its vice president of corporate affairs, Chance Patterson, said it remains on track for 350,000 subscribers by the end of this year. Sirius spokesman Jim Collins also insisted his company's business plan remained on track despite failing to reach expected subscription number for the same period and cutting its year-end target to 75,000 subscribers from 100, 000. But he expressed some concern over whether Sirius could raise the extra USD300 million it needs by the middle of next year. "The issue is can we get the money," he said. "The concern is that the environment is so negative that analysts have concerns that the industry cannot raise that money." Both companies suffered from commercial launch delays, Sirius because of receiver problems and XM with its satellite launch although the latter was able to start commercial service well before Sirius. So far Sirius has spent around USD1.9 billion and XM around USD 1 billion. Having got the negative out of the way, the outlook in Britain is looking better. First we look through the eyes of UK Sunday Times radio columnist Paul Donovan at the growth in on-demand services from the BBC. After listing some of his listening, he writes, "Eureka - we radio fans can at long last hear almost any programme at a time to suit us. Programmes that, for a variety of reasons - being asleep, being at work, being out, being overseas - we could not hear when they were first broadcast." "No longer will there be any need for boffins to rig up Heath Robinson-type recording contraptions in advance. True, you need a computer with RealPlayer installed. But more than half the population now has a PC, and that standard software is in millions of homes." "Click a few buttons on the BBC's website and you find yourself in an Aladdin's cave of audio treasures that you can listen to for up to seven days from when they were first broadcast." Donovan notes that so far some 220 shows are now available on demand for a week of which more than half are on BBC Radio 4. "Radio 4, in fact," he comments, "launched "programmes on demand" two years ago. But the other half of what is available, the musical half, had to wait until the BBC signed deals with record companies in June. As a result, dozens of specialist shows - jazz, folk, rap, rock, swing, classical and so on - can now be enjoyed by anyone anywhere for an initial period of one year. There are 29 on Radio 2, 27 on Radio 1, 27 on Radio 3, 10 on 6 Music and 8 on Radio 5 Live." The BBC, however, is not releasing audience figures for its online listening although it has commented on what are the most popular programmes and is also upbeat about the effect on normal listening. "Our gut feeling is that it will extend the time people will spend with their radios," Chris Kimber, the head of BBC Radio Online, told the paper. "The system we have devised, of which we launch an improved version next week, enables people to listen while they surf. So we hope it will displace television and video, particularly in the evening, rather than make any difference to ordinary radio listening." RNW comment: Perhaps it's worth a note here that European broadcasters have always paid performing rights as well as royalties to writers and publishers of music, so the differences between webcasting and terrestrial broadcasting that exist in the US (where broadcasters pay only writers and publishers) are not replicated in Britain. We remain hopeful, however, that in the US progress will be made in talks between Internet operators and the recording companies over a special licence for small webcasters. Also in Britain, there has been considerable cover of the launch of the BBC's new digital radio "black music" channel 1Xtra (See RNW Aug 16). In US terms its closest to an urban format but it's also worth noting that the channel is in part a response to pirate stations and that is has included former pirates in its line-up (a marked contrast to the US attitude to the participation of former pirate operators in Low Power FM stations!). In her radio column in the London Times Vanora Bennett is upbeat not just about 1Xtra but also about radio as a medium. She comments on the contrast between radio and TV and the past situation of personalities moving from radio to TV: " that isn't true any more. Now we listen to more radio than we watch TV, and find clever, imaginative radio meshes better with our six-things-at-once lifestyles than sitting down to concentrate on the dumbed-down dullness coming out of the box at the edge of the room." "And the stars are cottoning on. Almost everywhere, the kings and queens of the media are queuing up to get back on the radio " 1Xtra is planning none of that and Bennett comments, "By plucking its presenters from the unknown, 1Xtra is bucking the trend. And that is a welcome sign. Having the courage to pick presenters because they know their music, not just because they will guarantee the station some easy headlines, is a good way to begin." The UK Guardian in a Peter Robinson feature entitled "Bassline bandits" uses 1Xtra as a peg for a report that says "pirate stations are still as vital as ever in breaking new music." Robinson comments of 1Xtra, "Their impressive roll call of urban DJs includes Robbo Ranx and Rodney P, names cherry-picked from the pirates, but while this raft of talent is now brought to us via the wonderful BBC licence fee, the scene they've left behind is still blissfully licence-free, and as vital as ever in breaking new music." He then looks at the activities of pirate stations Déjà Vu FM, Shine FM, Flashback FM and Horra FM, with comments on operations and output including a significant notice at Flashback: "If you are seen with a record box outside the studio you will be fired. It's your records the DTI will be taking." Robinson notes that, "Another warns: 'There isn't a toilet for you to use in this building, which we hope has nothing to do with the glass cabinet containing a dustpan and brush, dustbin lid, white spirit and air freshener. The locked door to an adjoining room has a slot sawn in it. This is where the DJs' subs go; there's no licence fee-style funding on the pirates and it's pay-to-play." After the pirates, another note on the acceptable to end on, this time the question of BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day slot, about which there has been controversy because of the attitude to allowing atheist and agnostics to have a say. It got widespread cover in the UK but also made it to the US where we noted an Associated Press report from Robert Barr in the San Francisco Chronicle. More than a hundred names had signed a protest over the ban on atheists in the slot that in part said, "By resolutely retaining the ban, the BBC is discriminating against the nonreligious, and thus giving the impression of promoting religion as the one source of ethics." Barr writes, "Thought for the Day," the British Broadcasting Corp.'s venerable "God slot," responded Wednesday by giving listeners a dose of atheism, as the debate continued over religion's place on the national broadcaster. Richard Dawkins, Oxford University's professor for the public understanding of science, was granted an experimental "Thought for the Day" slot an hour after Anne Atkins, a newspaper columnist and wife of a Church of England vicar, had presented the daily fixture. He summoned the nation to abandon religion -- to "leave the cry-baby phase and finally come of age." Barr also noted some of the comments on the programme's web site: "To ask an atheist to contribute to ('Thought for Today') would be like asking an earthworm to comment on quantum physics," wrote Gerald Aves. On the other side, Phil Healey responded: "This is an absolutely perfect example of the bigotry of those people who believe in fairy tales." The UK Daily Telegraph in an editorial opined, "With very few exceptions, what you get from rabbi, priest and mullah alike is Religion Lite: doctrine so watered down as to be inoffensive to all -- or, rather, offensive only in its patronizing banality." After which, RNW would merely note that British conscripts in the post war period were initially not allowed to enter "No religion" in their papers. Later the King's regulations were amended: "Atheist" and "Agnostic" were allowed as acceptable responses - as the beliefs that could be entered in answer to the question about "religion." Previous Bennett: Previous Columnists: Previous Donovan: Previous Kimber: New York Times/AP on satellite radio problems: San Francisco Chronicle/AP - Barr: UK Guardian -Robinson: UK Sunday Times - Donovan: UK Times - Bennett: 2002-08-19: Los Angeles news station KNX-AM has fired part-time reporter Ron Fineman allegedly because of negative comments he published on his web site about Viacom sister-station KCBS-TV according to the Los Angeles Times. Fineman's site says the paper provides a forum for news, rumours and gossip and is widely read by local media staff. The paper says that a recent issue included a negative e-mail about a producer at KCBS and low morale in the station and Fineman said that KNX news director Ed Pyle told him that the comments were inappropriate and then fired him. Pyle and KCBS refused to discuss the matter, adds the paper, but station sources denied that management had been involved in the dismissal: Fineman web site: Los Angeles Times report: 2002-08-19: SMG (the former Scottish Media Group) is reported to have held talks with both Granada and Carlton about selling its television arm which includes the Grampian and Scottish Television ITV franchises, a quarter of breakfast TV company GMTV, and production activities. Carlton is said to have dropped out over the price being asked, though to be around GBP350 million which would remove most of SMG's debt of around GBP400 million. Venture capitalist group Apax, which made a windfall profit when SMG paid GBP225 million for the Ginger Media Group headed by former DJ Chris Evans, is also said to be considering a bid for SMG's TV interests. SMG has until June of next year to repay its owing to its bankers. Previous Evans: Previous SMG: 2002-08-18: Last week was very quiet on the regulatory front for radio with no major decisions. In Australia, the only radioactivity from the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) was the extension of the deadline for applications for a Sydney-wide AM community radio licence. The deadline, originally August 12, has now been put back to September 23rd following a request from a number of intending applicants. In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has now approved a frequency for a new community-based radio station in Burnaby, British Columbia, submitted by the Simon Fraser Campus Radio Society. The 450-watt station was approved in June last year but not the frequency proposed at the time. The Commission has also issued a public notice, with a September 20 deadline for interventions, concerning an application by the Friends of Banff National Park Fellowship to amend the licence of the low power radio station CFPE-FM, Banff, Alberta, to allow it to widen its service and add some music and wider information to its current programming of general information and weather reports form Banff National Park. Also in Alberta, it has issued a public notice concerning a CBC request to reduce the power of its French FM service in Calgary from 100,000 to 10,0000 watts; the application follows comment by Canada's Department of Industry concerning interference created by the current broadcasts with aeronautical NAV/COM services. There was nothing of note from Ireland and in the UK, the only announcement from the Radio Authority concerned the launch of three new experimental Access radio services. They are Forest of Dean Community Radio, which broadcasts on two AM frequencies, one from Coleford and the other from Newent in the Forest of Dean Area Of Gloucestershire; Sound Radio in East London, also on AM; and FM station New Style Radio, Winson Green, Birmingham. The three take the total of Access Radio Stations in the UK up to 15. In the US, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael Powell has launched the "FCC University", a training and development initiative for Commission staff. It will enable employees to choose courses on general topics or more specialised ones geared for engineers, economists and lawyers. "For the Commission to function effectively and carry out its current and future mission, it must build a first class operation that is fluent in the language of new and emerging technologies, in economics and market analysis, and in the legal framework governing Commission activities," commented Powell. "The FCC University is an exciting initiative that will enable us to achieve that objective." The FCC has also reduced to USD 4000 on financial hardship grounds, a penalty originally proposed of USD25, 000 for various technical offences by Tennessee broadcaster Sycamore Valley Broadcasting (See RNW Aug 16). Previous ABA: Previous CRTC: Previous FCC: Previous Licence News: Previous Powell: Previous UK Radio Authority: ABA web site: CRTC web site: FCC web site : UK Radio Authority web site: 2002-08-18: The BBC local radio network today starts airing a short series of four "Changing Lives" programmes in which people recollect days that fundamentally changed their lives; all involve tragedies in one way or another. The first programme centres on a church elder whose daughter was killed when Pan Am flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie in Scotland in December 1988; the second a teenager who became a nun after being taught to pray by a dying prostitute; the third a former teacher who converted to Islam after the death of her premature child and the final programme, on September 8, centres on the experiences of Archbishop Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales and now Archbishop-elect of Canterbury, who was near to the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11 last year. Previous BBC 2002-08-17: Nervousness about the future of Sirius Satellite Radio continued to affect the stock on Friday: It had plunged to an all-time low of 76cents on Wednesday and rebounded to close Thursday at USD1.44, dropped sharply again on Friday to end the day 22 cents or 15.8% down at USD1.22. In contrast, XM, which is seen as in a much stronger position, rose 47 cents, or 16.43 % on Friday to end the day at USD3.33. Sirius has blamed the dramatic plunge in its stock on Wednesday on a Reuters report that suggested it could be forced to seek bankruptcy protection. It has issued a statement pointing out that the comment in its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing was "routine reporting language about what any company could be forced to do if it were unable to secure additional funds for operation." Sirius President and CEO Joseph P. Clayton commented, "We have a tremendous amount of momentum in the marketplace. All of our radio, retailer and automobile manufacturing partners are very excited about our product and the wonderful acceptance it has received by consumers. We are making significant progress in solidifying our balance sheet, and I remain extremely confident that we will secure additional financing shortly." " The Reuters story, and its provocative headline, gave the impression that there was a new and troubling development that had not been previously discussed. This is blatantly false. Sirius has previously disclosed what its cash reserves were, and that it would require additional funding." "Also, according to conversations between Sirius and Reuters management, the news service claimed that their decision to print the misleading story was based on their assertion that Sirius had never used the word "bankruptcy" in previous filings, and this constituted new information. This too is blatantly false. Sirius has used this routine cautionary term in previous filings, such as in its Annual Report Form 10-K." Sirius has also announced that BMW of North America, LLC has confirmed plans to offer Sirius Satellite Radio service in the new MINI, as well as in the BMW 3 Series, 5 Series and X5. RNW comment: As we noted in our report on August 15, the language used is indeed put in as a routine precautionary measure and is not necessarily the harbinger of problems. At the same time, we fear that more economic woes could leave Sirius with a very uphill struggle against a comparatively well-established XM service. We hope both services will survive but cannot be confidant that this would be the case should there be another economic downturn. Previous Clayton: Previous Sirius: Previous XM: Sirius web site: XM web site: 2002-08-17: US Radio revenues rose 3% in June compared to a year ago, the second month running they have risen by this amount and the fourth consecutive month for which overall revenues have been up, according to latest figures from the US Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). Local revenues were up 2% for the month and national revenues were up 7%; for the first six months of the year, overall revenues are up 1%, local revenues are flat, and national revenues are up 5%. RAB's Sales Index, which sets 1998 - before the dot.com boom - as a base year of 100, was 130.1 in June and the local index for the month was 118.1 whilst the national index was 133.9. For the first six months, the combined index is at 133.6, the local index at 133.5 and the national index 133.9. RAB President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Fries commented, "Radio's strength as an advertising medium is reflected in the industry's steadily improving revenue figures, and bodes well for back-to-school sales and the upcoming holiday season. "Looking forward, we see signs that Radio's growth will outperform the economy in general, resulting in a steady and strong recovery in 2002." Previous Fries: Previous RAB: RAB web site: 2002-08-17: Veteran Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) broadcaster Russ Germain has retired after 29 years with the Corporation, which he joined in 1973 in Saskatoon as a TV announcer after working for various commercial stations. He has been host of the national evening radio news The World at Six, since 1983 and also spent time on the Morning Report programme. Germain retires officially in October but hosted his last show yesterday evening. Previous CBC: 2002-08-16: Clear Channel has now announced its plans to mark the September 11 attacks anniversary, following similar announcements by a number of other organisations. The US radio giant will run special programming through out the day with stations in each time zone broadcasting at 8:45 a.m. a two-minute memorial, "Tributes and Triumph: America's Day of Remembrance," followed by two minutes of silence and concluding with a special message to all Americans. Local stations will operate as considered most appropriate by their managements but Clear Channel's resources will be made available to other broadcasters. Details will be posted on the company's web site on September 9. President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Mays commented, "Virtually everyone in America will be remembering that tragic day a year ago." "We want to use our resources to help Americans reflect and to help our communities heal. We think 'Tributes and Triumph' will in some measure accomplish that with our communities and listeners. We invite the radio industry to join us and we are very proud to share these resources." Amongst other station plans, National Public Radio (NPR) has announced that NPR News will present live cover from 05:00 EST September 11 until 01:00EST September 12; The special production "Voices of Reflection, will be available to all NPR member stations and will include live coverage of memorial events. Fox News Radio, which is distributed by Westwood One, will present special, commercial-free cover live from 05:00 EST to 19:00 EST including live reports from memorial ceremonies. New York Public Radio Station WNYC, which lost its transmitters in the September 11 World Trade Centre attacks, is to broadcast a comprehensive look at the state of New York with a series of special documentaries and programs broadcast from September 7-11. RNW note: Some US broadcasters have already indicated that they will be running advertisement-free on the anniversary and polls indicate a majority of Americans do not want commercials interrupting the ceremonies, which will include a presidential visit to "Ground Zero" (a term formerly associated with the rather more devastating August 6, 1945, dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima that killed around 70, 000 immediately and devastated some four square miles). Previous Clear Channel: Previous Mark Mays: Previous NPR: Previous Westwood One: Previous WNYC: Clear Channel web site: NPR web site: Westwood One web site: WNYC web site: 2002-08-16: DJ Mark Goodier, who has presented BBC Radio 1's Sunday chart rundown for a decade is to leave the channel at Christmas after 15 years. Goodier said he decided to leave on the day of his fifteenth anniversary, which he called "a good time to move" and the BBC said that the reason for the move was not falling audience figures, but the ending of his contract. Goodier, who is 41, was kept on when Mathew Bannister, the then Radio One Controller, axed many ageing DJs in a revamp in the early 1990s. The most recent RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) ratings show that the Pepsi Chart show now has around a million more listeners than the BBC show. Previous Bannister: Previous BBC: 2002-08-16: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reduced to USD 4000 a penalty on Sycamore Valley Broadcasting, Inc., Ashland City, Tennessee, for offences relating to Emergency Alert System failures, failure to repaint its antenna tower as needed to maintain good visibility and failure to maintain enough transmission monitoring and controls and reduce power after sunset. The Commission had originally issued a notice of liability for a USD25, 000 penalty at the end of April after noting the various failure's at the company's WQSV-AM over the period from January 1999 to February this year, having first received complaints in 1995 and contacting the company. Sycamore had appealed on he basis that it was financially unable to pay and because "we have corrected all the problems referenced and we have made every attempt to operate in compliance with the Commission's rules and regulations." The Commission in response said the remedial action following notification of the violations did not warrant cancellation of reduction of the penalty but it reduced the amount on grounds of financial hardship. Previous FCC: FCC ruling: 2002-08-16: The BBC's new black music digital station, 1Xtra, goes on air at 1700 GMT today with a special five hour opening show to be started by Rampage and KC and feature guest appearances from other 1Xtra DJs. The channel will also host a series of launch parties with live broadcasts from venues in Bristol, Glasgow, London, Nottingham and Sheffield between 2200 GMT and 0500 GMT, August 17 Previous BBC: Next column: |
2002-08-15: Sirius Satellite Radio stock plunged for the second day on Wednesday, following second quarter results that were below analysts' expectations, They had already dropped more than a third on Tuesday to close 72 cents down at USD 1.35, and on Wednesday plunged by 43.7% to close at 76 cents,, having fallen at one stage to 68 cents. This compares to a 53-week high of USD13.05. The plunges followed Sirius's admission it needed to raise an additional USD300 million to get through next year and might need as much again to reach break-even point allied with the suggestion that it might have to seek bankruptcy protection. In its SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filing, the company said it might have to seek such bankruptcy protection if it's unable to raise additional funding but this is more of a precautionary measure than an expectation of imminent problems. Its filing says, "If we fail to timely raise additional funds, we will be forced to seek protection under the United States bankruptcy code, materially reduce our operations, significantly alter our business plan and/or seek the sale of our company," Sirius is negotiating with private-equity firms Apollo Management and Blackstone Group, who hold some USD500 million of its preferred stock, about an additional investment and is also talking t bondholders about exchanging debt for equity. It has also hired UBS Warburg to advise it on a range of financial options and formed a special committee of independent members of its board of directors to look at the options. Sirius President and CEO Joe Clayton confirmed during the company's conference call that it has laid off employees to cur costs, some as recently as last week, and said it might have to trip staff in future but expected to stay around the 360 employee mark it currently has "to get this job done Its CFO John Scelfo said it is aiming for around 75, 000 subscribers to its USD12.95 a month service by the end of this year, most of them in the fourth quarter, adding that so far more than half its subscribers are paying for the service a year in advance. Its filing said it needs 3 million subscribers to break even. Previous Clayton: Previous Scelfo: Previous Sirius: Sirius web site: 2002-08-15: An advertising boost from the soccer World Cup has helped UK Wireless Group to trim its losses in the first six months of the year to GBP 8.9million, a little above half the GBP17.5million pre-tax loss in the first half pf 2001; the group reported advertising revenues up 7.6% to GBP14.2 million, Flagship TalkSport's revenues were up 6.7% to GBP6 million for the first half of the year and over recent months they were up by more, by 11% for July with August figures expected to be at least 10% up on August last year. TalkSport's local stations fared less well with same-station revenues up by 2.2% to GBP 7.8million. The company paid off most of its debts last year through the sale of Scot FM to Guardian Media Group (See RNW June 12, 2001) and of Southampton-based Wave 105 to Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) ((See RNW Nov 6, 2001) and is now estimated to owe around GBP5 million. Previous Wireless Group/TalkSport: 2002-08-15: Latest Internet ratings from MeasureCast show listening down 6% in the week to August 4 although more than half its top 25 stations recorded more listening. Newcomer to its rankings, contemporary Christian music station K-LOVE Radio, retained its third position and helped Educational Media Foundation (EMF), which streams K-LOVE Radio, Air 1 Radio, and World Wide Worship, into the MeasureCast Top 10 Internet Radio Networks at number nine. For the week to August 4, MeasureCast's top five stations ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) with in brackets TTSL and Cume persons (a measure of the cumulative audience -CP) for the previous week - were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 344,061 (321,061); CP 63,895 (64,486): Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 278,927 (233,138); CP 64,545 (60,821): Same position with higher listening and reach but both were also less than two weeks ago when it was in first spot. 3:Contemporary Christian Music K-Love - TTSL 196,999 (188,077); CP 20,482 (19,650). Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 173,352 (147,816); CP 40,585 (40,290). Up from sixth with higher listening and reach. 5: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 162,874 (160,009); CP 33,262 (32,369). Same position with higher listening and reach but both were less than two weeks ago. Classical format WQXR-FM, New York fell from fourth to sixth spot. The top five networks for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 1,429,679 (1,330,495) ; CP 323,062 (292,063) - Same position with higher listening and reach but both less than two weeks ago. 2: Radio Free Virgin TTSL 820,209 (813,623): CP 158,233 (165,100) - Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 3: WARP Radio TTSL 627,055 (645,211) hours: CP 100,705 (100,938) - Same position despite lower listening but reach was higher 4: Internet Radio Inc TTSL 579,887 (586,462) : CP 193,284 (193,937) - Same position with higher listening and reach but both less than two weeks ago. 5: Virgin Radio TTSL 466,621 (459,561) : CP 91,429 (91,945) - Same position with higher listening and reach but both less than two weeks ago. The top five simulcast stations for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 344,061 (321,061); CP 63,895 (64,486): Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 278,927 (233,138); CP 64,545 (60,821) : Same position with higher listening and reach. 3: Contemporary Christian Music K-Love - TTSL 196,999 (188,077); CP 20,482 (19,650). Same position with higher listening and reach 4: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 162,874 (160,009); CP 33,262 (32,369): Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Classical format KING-FM - TTSL 142,387 (125,122); CP 24,528 (21,979). Same position with higher listening and reach. The top five Internet-only stations for the week (Previous week in brackets), were: 1: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 173,352 (147,816) ; CP 40,585 (40,290) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 2: Listener-formatted MediAmazing - TTSL94,650 (99,267) ; CP 46,144 (43,535) Same position with lower listening but higher reach. 3:Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville -TTSL 86,107 (80,397); CP 13,768 (13,872) - Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 4: Pure Rock KNAC.com - TTSL 76,941 (71,157) ; CP 19,051 (17,461). Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Alternative Rock 3WK Underground Radio-TTSL 64,165 (59,638) CP 16,767 (18,580 ). Up from seventh with higher listening but lower reach. Rock format BeOnAir Rock fell from fifth to seventh spot. Previous MeasureCast ratings: Previous MeasureCast weekly ratings: MeasureCast web site: 2002-08-14: Miami-based Radio Unica Communications Corporation has announced strong second-quarter results with positive EBITDA for the first time and revenues up 23% to USD12.2 million compared to USD9.9 million in the quarter to the end of June 2001. For the same periods, broadcasting revenue was up 14% to USD10.0 million, EBITDA before stock option compensation expense turned from a negative USD2.4 million to a positive USD300, 000; Radio related EBITDA before stock option compensation expense was a loss of USD100, 000 compared to a loss of USD2.6 million a year ago. Unica's net loss applicable to common shareholders was USD5.1 million (24 cents a share) compared to USD7.7 million (37 cents a share) in 2001 Q2. Commenting on today's announcement, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joaquin F. Blaya said, "I am happy to report that Radio Unica has turned the corner and reported positive EBITDA on a quarterly basis for the first time Our second quarter results reflect the considerable progress we are making in improving our operating and financial results. We are producing revenue growth well above the industry averages, while benefiting from the cost reduction program that we initiated last year." "As a result, we were able to post positive EBITDA during the quarter, while substantially reducing our net loss. Looking ahead, we have completed the majority of our station upgrades and have secured the rights to a stable of popular sports events that will fuel our network growth through 2005. During the quarter, we also secured a new credit facility enhancing our financial flexibility as we seek to improve our capital structure. As the advertising market continues to rebound, we are well positioned to continue to grow our business by serving the nation's fast growing Hispanic population." Also reporting was Sirius Satellite Radio, which had an EBITDA loss of USD67.3 million, more than double the 2001 Q2 loss of USD32.8 million and a net loss applicable to common stockholders of $124.6 million ($1.62 per share) compared to a net loss of $72.5 million ($1.35 per share) a year earlier. Sirius's launch was delayed by technical problems and it only went nationwide in the US on July 1 this year. At the end of June it says, it had 3,347 subscribers, a number that had increased to 6,510 as of August 11; Its rival XM, which launched nationwide in November last year (See RNW Nov 13, 2001), had 136, 000 subscribers at the end of June. Sirius said that at the end of June it had $326.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted investments, enough to fund it into the second quarter of 2003. Previous Blaya: Previous Sirius: Previous Unica: Previous XM: 2002-08-14: Telewest, the debt-ridden British Cable group that said at the beginning of the month that it wanted to sell its stake in SMG (the former Scottish Media Group) to reduce its debts is now asking its shareholders for permission to sell within the next year. Telewest, whose debts total more than GBP 5 billion, holds just under 17% of SMG, which at SMG's current valuation of just under GBP 300 million would bring in around GBP 50 million. SMG was valued at more than GBP 1 billion at its peak in 2000; it now has debts of some GBP400 million and is expected to reduce those debts by disposals, probably of its TV holdings (See RNW July 23). Previous SMG: 2002-08-13: Both Arbitron and MeasureCast have now released their ratings for July, with MeasureCast measuring more listening from a total of 1320 stations, 36 fewer than in June. We take leave to doubt their published station figures however, as it seems to be stretching things too far to have exactly the same listening figures for the top five station for June and July! The network figures did differ. Arbitron's July webcast figures show two new stations in its top 25 but only one change in the top five where Radioio and King FM swapped places. The stations new to Arbitron's rankings are JazzRadio Berlin, which ranked number 15 with 189,000 ATH, and WBUR, which ranked number 21 with 147,400 ATH. Arbitron's July top five channels, ranked by ATH (aggregate tuning hours) with previous month's figures in brackets were: 1:Adult contemporary Virgin FM with ATH 1,382,800. Same position in June when ATH was lower at 1,217,900. 2: Jazz FM with ATH 1,014,200. Same position in June when ATH was lower at 853,500. 3: Classical WQXR-FM with ATH 737,800. Same position in June when ATH was lower at 702,600. 4: Album Adult Alternative Radioio with ATH 564,400. Up from fifth in June when ATH was 445,100. 5: Classical King FM with ATH 546,700. Down from fourth in June when ATH was lower at 501,200. Arbitron's July top five networks, ranked by ATH with previous month's figures in brackets where applicable were: 1:Live 365 with ATH 9,480,200. Position unchanged but up from June ATH 8,273,000. 2: Clear Channel Worldwide with ATH7, 485,900. Position unchanged but up from June ATH 7,362,700. 3: ChainCast Networks/StreamAudio with ATH 2,127,000. Position unchanged but up from June ATH 1,930,100. 4: SMG PLC (Virgin radio owners) with ATH 1,835,000. Position unchanged but up from June ATH 1,778,900. 5: MLB.com Network with ATH 945,300. Same position in June when ATH was higher at 1,012,200. MeasureCast's top five channels for July ranked by TTSL - total time spent listening - (with June's TTSL and Cume -CP - Cumulative Audience- in brackets) were: 1): Adult Alternative Virgin Radio TTSL 1,630,546 (1,630,546); CP 241,237 (241,237). Same position with (magically) exactly same listening and reach. 2): Jazz format Jazz FM TTSL 1,197,148 (1,197,148); CP206, 401 (206,401) - Same position with (more magically) exactly same listening and reach. 3): Classical format WQXR-FM TTSL 704,259 (704,259); CP 173,275 (173,275): Same position with (even more magically ) exactly same listening and reach. 4): Sports-talk ESPN TTSL 415,621 (415,621); CP Not available (95,334)- Up from 7 but yet again same TTSL total listed. 5): Internet-only Radioio 481,027 (481,027); CP 107,742 (107,742). Same position and yet again exactly the same listening and reach. *Artist-match MUSICMATCH, which was listed as a new entrant and fourth in June with TTSL 508,139 has disappeared from MeaureCast's rankings. MeasureCast's July top five networks were (June rank and hours in brackets where applicable): 1: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 7,351,905 (7,095,923); CP 944,282 (907,282)- Same position with lower listening and reach. 2: Radio Free Virgin TTSL 3,417,988 (3,714,258); CP 500,004 (438,296) - Up from third with higher listening and reach. 3: WARP Radio TTSL 2,854,096 (3,049,476); CP 293,633 (273,295) - Down from second with lower listening (for second month) but higher reach. 4: Internet Radio Inc TTSL 2,610,364 (2,219,409) ; CP 607,204 (535,050): Up from fifth with higher listening and reach. 5: Virgin Radio TTSL 2,197,847 (2,150,722); CP 306,503 (285,730) - Up from sixth with higher listening and reach. June new entrant MUSICMATCH has again disappeared from the rankings. Previous Arbitron: Previous Arbitron webcast ratings: Previous MeasureCast ratings: Previous MeasureCast Monthly ratings: Arbitron web site: MeasureCast web site: 2002-08-13: Saga Communications has announced agreement to purchase KDEZ-FM, KDXY-FM and KJBX-FM, which serve the market of Jonesboro, Arizona, from Pressly Partnership Productions, Inc. No further details were given of the agreement apart from the expectation that the deal will close in the fourth quarter. Saga President and CEO Edward K Christian said pf the deal, which takes Sag into its 14th state and 18th market, "This acquisition is great for Saga as we not only acquire 3 wonderful FM radio stations in a terrific market but also an experienced management team that has already proven to be very successful." Previous Christian: Previous Saga: 2002-08-12: For this week's look at comment on radio over the past week, we could but lead on another article in Salon on Clear Channel. Entitled, "Radio's titan hits the skids", the article by Eric Boehlert opens by saying, "It's becoming harder and harder to stay the course at Clear Channel Communications." "The multimedia and entertainment giant is the world's largest radio broadcaster, concert promoter and outdoor advertising firm, as well as a major player in the American television business. In the last year, however, Clear Channel -- well known for its hardball tactics -- has been hit with numerous antitrust lawsuits, petitions to the Federal Communications Commission and pending legislation on Capitol Hill." He then refers to a recent companywide e-mail fromClear Channel President Mark Mays urging employees to "stay the course" but notes the subsequent course change when Randy Michaels was moved out of the company's radio division. The company's stock fell in the wake of the decision but Boehlert notes that it still remained in good odour with analysts. He then continued, "Its relationship with the Street may be sound, but it's going to take more than jettisoning Michaels to repair Clear Channel's relationship with the music industry, which insiders say has been poisoned for several years." "That strain, "Boehlert says, "became impossible to ignore since Clear Channel, thanks to its iron grip on the radio and concert business, is 'the most powerful force in the music industry today,' says Mike Jacobs, who ran his own record label, Way Cool Music." To give an indication of the company's scale, Boehlert notes that it has around 1225 radio stations and sold 27 million concert tickets last year according to the live entertainment trade magazine Pollstar. The second largest promoter, House of Blues, sold just 4 million. He goes on to add," it's more than a question of dollars and cents. Not shy about using its radio and concert leverage, Clear Channel has won a reputation for its at times graceless power grabs, with artists and record companies often caught in the middle." "It's not just how big and powerful they are, but how they do business, the arm-twisting," says Jacobs. "I had more bare-knuckles experiences with Clear Channel than any of the others." Michael's, of course, took much of the blame and Salon quotes one independent record promoter, who requested anonymity as saying, "Randy Michaels screwed up through his relationship with record companies, that's why Randy's gone. The way they dealt with the record industry was shameful. And that noise became a political issue." "Was it all Randy's fault? No. But he was a lightning rod for controversy," said Robert Unmacht who used to edit the radio trade publication M Street Journal. Unmacht says Michaels deserves more credit for keeping the quality of Clear Channel's radio product up while the company's corporate office continued to cut funding. Salon also makes a link between Michael's departure and the settling of a lawsuit with Inside Radio (See RNW Aug 6). "The bottom line, says one radio veteran who's known Michaels for years, is 'he likes to fight with people.' He got into a well-publicized pissing match with the publisher of an industry trade publication, Inside Radio, even setting up a mock InsideInsideRadio.com Web Site, complete with a caricature of a man with his head up his ass. Duelling lawsuits were filed, and just days after Michaels' exit as Clear Channel's radio chief, the final suit was settled, with Clear Channel agreeing to purchase Inside Radio for an undisclosed sum." "The problem for Clear Channel," continues the article, "is that others are also fighting back. While the company's outdoor and television operations quietly conduct their profitable businesses in relative obscurity, the music and concert side continue to create controversy." It then details various accusations concerning Clear Channel's alleged activities in putting pressure on artists to use its promotional company and threatening withdrawal of airplay if they don't, a move denied vehemently by the company and also by some artists and also makes note of other lawsuits against the company including that of Spanish Broadcasting System (See RNW Aug 1) and those brought by Ohio carpet dealer David Ringer who has alleged that the company illegally controlled stations through shell companies (See RNW Nov 24, 2001 and Dec 12, 2001) and more recently following the SBS case alleged that it "demonstrates a pattern of conduct in which Clear Channel conceals, through numerous material misrepresentations to the FCC, the actual ownership and control of certain radio station groups." It concludes by referring to an anti-trust case brought by Denver promoter "Nobody in Particular Presents" (See RNW Aug 9, 2001), a case that a judge recently refused to dismiss saying the allegations "are sufficient to make out a case of monopolization and attempted monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Act." Agents, managers, promoters and programmers are to be questioned under oath about their dealings with Clear Channel, and whether its radio stations rewarded or punished artists based on their business relationships with Clear Channel's concert division, and Boehlert concludes "That could put some industry players in awkward positions, forced to publicly detail their experience with Clear Channel." "Jesse Morreale, a principal partner with NPP, suggests the current conditions are just as uncomfortable. 'It's not like people are happy getting pushed around by Clear Channel, told where their artists can play and how much they can make or else,' he says. "'That's not what people got in this business to do. They're excited to see somebody doing something and they're eager to see resolution. This is going to make or break it.'" In Britain, the UK Guardian marked the tenth anniversary of classical music station, GWR's Classic FM, with articles by its media Correspondent Matt Wells and radio critic Elisabeth Mahoney. Wells noted that it has record audiences, outstripping BBC Radio 1, Kiss and Virgin, in London and is "a British success story, a station that identified a gap in the market and gives its listeners what they want." He notes that the station's "harshest critics say Classic FM has been single-handedly responsible for the death of a serious approach to classical music on the radio" a charge that he says "is dismissed by the station managing director and programme controller Roger Lewis, who points to Classic FM's soaring audiences - up 360,000 on the year to 6.7m, although slightly down on the quarter." "At the heart of Classic FM's exponential audience growth is our ambition to make classical music truly inclusive, not exclusive, "Lewis said. "It is an ambition to create entry points for as many people as possible, who want to experience and enjoy classical music. Before Classic FM went on air in 1992 the doors were closed, there were barriers in place which did not allow or enable a broad-based mass audience to experience the art form. " "The occasional brickbat we receive doesn't come from our audience, it comes from perhaps one of a small band of critics who feel possibly threatened by what Classic FM has achieved. We have questioned the old guard, the old ways, we have questioned the negative aspects of elitism surrounding classical music. It is a protectionist stance adopted by some misguided people who work within the genre." Wells gives more on Lewis's views from an interview, mostly along the same populist lines, and his views are echoed by the paper's radio critic Elisabeth Mahoney who notes that it is "the most successful commercial radio station in the UK" and then continues, "Listen in, and it doesn't take long to see why. Avowedly (some might say gruesomely) populist and accessible - Italian recipes with Italian music, smoothie presenters and the active promotion of Simon Bates, plus lots of shows with comforting words in their titles, such as "easier" and "relaxing" - this is a radio station promoting classical music without tears." "There are no Radio 3-style august pauses after pieces of music, the playlist is largely 19th century and the presenters offer cosy chat All the cultural anxiety surrounding classical music (when to clap during live concerts, which recording is the best and so on) is soothed and smoothed away by Classic FM. It reflects the growth of popular interest in classical music with a rigorously honed and developed station identity, enforced largely through the playlists. In this, Classic FM is doing the same as the best dance music stations, picking up on a trend and successfully targeting a new demographic. Challenge your audience - perhaps with some of the trickier avant-garde pieces from the last century, the kind of thing that can make your eyes water with its barking strangeness - and they'll flee, along with the advertisers. Cosset them with more of the same, slickly presented, and both will stay put." Finally on to an unexpected consequence of being a successful DJ, at least according to an item in the UK Daily Telegraph. It reports that "Judge Jules, a Radio 1 presenter, has warned fellow club DJs of a vocational hazard more associated with building sites and removals than nightclubbing - the bad back." "Years spent bending over turntables in nightclubs," it continues. "has left the 6ft 2in performer with crippling pains so bad he was forced to pull out of a high-profile gig, the Berlin Love Parade, last month." "Now he straps an ice pack to his back when he is working. "I don't know a DJ out there who doesn't suffer from some sort of back discomfort," said Jules, 34. "It's posture related. Club DJs stand in the same stooping position that's adopted by hairdressers and golfers." RNW comment: The answer presumably would be to stick to radio and sit down for the DJ'ing. Previous Boehlert: Previous Columnists Previous Mahoney: Salon - Boehlert: UK Guardian - Mahoney: UK Guardian - Wells: UK Telegraph report: 2002-08-11: The main stories of interest from the regulators over the past week were from North America with other areas either quiet or dealing mainly with routine matters. In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has invited applications for three new community licences, all in New South Wales. They are one each for Cootamundra, Cowra and Wagga Wagga. In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued five new licences for Winnipeg including one for a new jazz format station for CanWest (See RNW Aug 10). It has also extended deadlines for a number of licences. They include: Ontario: - An extension for Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. to commence operation of a new native radio station in Toronto. - An extension of the time for the start of operations of a new FM n Cobourg. Quebec: - An extension for the start of operations of a new developmental campus radio station AT Shawinigan. - An extension for Standard Radio to commence operation of two new transitional digital radio programming undertakings associated with CJAD-AM, Montréal and CJFM-FM, Laval. - An extension for Radio du Golfe inc. to start operation of three new transmitters CJMC-FM Sainte-Anne-des-Monts at Cloridorme, Rivière-à-Claude, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts est and Murdochville, and change of frequency for CJMC-FM-4 Grande-Vallée. The CRTC has also approved an application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to increase the power of CBRF-FM, Calgary, Alberta from 10,000 watts to 22,000 watts. Ireland was quiet on the radio front but in the UK the Radio Authority has announced details of its local licence re-advertisement timetable. This includes: August 2002 - Guildford AM and FM licences. September 2002: Chichester & Bognor Regis and Stratford-upon-Avon FM licences. October 2002: Oban FM plus Wrexham & Chester AM and FM licences. November 2002: Heads of South Wales Valleys FM plus Crawley & Reigate AM and FM licences. December 2002: Oxford/Banbury and Milton Keynes FM licences. January 2003: Cambridge & Newmarket and Taunton & Yeovil FM licences February 2003: Southwest Scotland and The Borders FM licences. The authority also notes that for a number of licences due for re-advertisement in 2004, it may have awarded local digital multiplexes and meaning that stations contracted to provide a service on the relevant multiplex would automatically be re-awarded their licences. These include *Brighton/Eastbourne & Hastings FM and AM (Southern FM and Capital Gold 1323/945); *Stoke-on-Trent FM and AM (Signal 1 and Signal's Big 1170 AM); *Great Yarmouth & Lowestoft (103.4 The Beach); *Swansea FM and AM (96.4 The Wave and Swansea Sound); *Kent FM and AM (Invicta FM and Capital Gold 1242/603); *Norwich FM and AM (Broadland 102 and Classic Gold Amber); *Nottingham/Derby FM and AM (Trent FM/Ram FM and Classic Gold GEM); *Plymouth FM and AM (Plymouth Sound and Classic Gold 1152 AM); *Reading/Basingstoke & Andover FM and AM (2-Ten FM and Classic Gold 1431/1485). It has also received two applications for the re-advertised North London AM licence, one from current holder London Turkish Radio and the other from Turk Radio Ltd. Both are offering music and speech programmes that will mainly be in Turkish. The Authority has also invited comments concerning the application by Asian Talk Radio Ltd for the re-advertised Greater London AM licence, for which a total of eight applications were received. Asian Talk Radio Ltd is controlled by Sunrise Radio Ltd. and its coverage area, were it to be awarded the licence, would significantly overlap with that of Sunrise Radio's existing Greater London AM licence. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission, which is pushing digital broadcasting, has not only set a deadline for manufacturers to supply only digital-capable TV receivers but has also moved forward on the issue of a digital copy protection mechanism. Although digital TV is the main driver for the move, the suggestion for a code to embedded in a signal to mark it "broadcast only" would also apply to radio. The effect of this would be to limit or prevent copies, a move that the Recording Industry Association of America is supporting. The Commission is seeking comment on whether quality digital programming is being withheld because of copyright concerns, the impact of the absence of digital copy protection, and whether the ATSC broadcast "flag" scheme is the appropriate technological model to be used, or whether there are alternatives. The FCC has also issued a penalty of USD 21, 000 on Fenix Broadcasting Corporation., licensee of WWFE-AM), Miami, Florida, for failing to have Emergency Alert System equipment operational, failing to exhibit tower lights and failing to enclose antenna towers. Previous ABA: Previous CRTC: Previous FCC: Previous Licence News: Previous UK Radio Authority: ABA web site: CRTC web site: FCC web site : UK Radio Authority web site: 2002-08-11: Canadian broadcaster CHUM's Team network of radio sports stations is to re-launch on August 19 with a new strategy of local programming and drop its national concept according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. The paper says the new emphasis on local programming will rely heavily on hockey and talk about the local team; it also speculates that the nationally distributed Gene Valaitis show, which was dropped during the week by TEAM 1200 in Ottawa, will be discontinued and that CHUM will drop the whole TEAM idea if ratings do not improve within a year to 18 months. Previous CHUM: Toronto Globe and Mail report: 2002-08-10: Amongst five new licences for Winnipeg issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is one for a new jazz station for Winnipeg-based CanWest Global Communications Corp. Its executive chairman, Izzy Asper, is jazz enthusiast, and said the award was "terrific news." The licence term starts on September 1 and Canwest expects the station "Smooth-FM" to launch early next year. CanWest also has applications pending for Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario and in Montreal and these are also widely thought to be for a jazz format. The other licences granted by the CRTC included an FM licence for Toronto-based Rogers Communications, which is to replace its oldies format CKY -AM station with a classic rock FM station. The Rogers' application, and an application by Corus for a new commercial FM featuring a mix of oldies and soft adult contemporary music that was denied, was for the frequency allocated to CanWest and it will have to come up with a suitable alternative. As part of its application, CanWest made a commitment of CAD 80,000 a year to support the summer Jazz Winnipeg event and Asper Jazz, a series of special concerts held throughout the year. Global made a commitment to support both events. Of the $80,000 annual allocation $8,000 would support Asper Jazz, and $72,000 would go to Jazz Winnipeg. The other licences awarded were to CKVN Radiolink System Inc. (Radiolink), for a new specialty commercial FM offering a nostalgia format of adult standards and easy listening; to HIS Broadcasting for a new English-language specially FM that will broadcast Christian music aimed at the youth audience; and to not-for-profit Red River College Radio for a new instructional campus FM An application for a new FM by N.I.B. 95.5 Cable FM Inc. was denied but its existing licence for instructional campus station CJAE-FM was amended to allow a frequency change and a power increase from 13 watts to 200 watts. Previous Asper: Previous CanWest: Previous Corus: Previous CRTC: Previous Rogers: CRTC web site: 2002-08-10: B.J. "Red" McCombs, one of the founders of Clear Channel, is selling more than half of his stake in the company, some 11.3 million share representing nearly 2% of the company's stock. McCombs will use the funds to repay more than $200 million he borrowed to buy the Minnesota Vikings. Previous Clear Channel: 2002-08-10: The Vancouver-based Commonwealth of Learning, which was set up by Commonwealth Heads of Government to spread open and distance learning, has awarded its Award of Excellence for Institutional Achievement to BBC World Service for the quality of its English teaching on radio and online. Presenting the award, Andrea Hope, the Commonwealth of Learning's Higher Education Specialist, said of the Service's radio output, "We were impressed by the way the organisation makes partnerships with local educational bodies and broadcasters around the world to produce materials which achieve a balance between global content, global content adapted for local use and highly targeted local content produced in association with other partners." Previous BBC: Awards citation: 2002-08-10: According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 2GB may drop Gordon Moyes, the Wesley Mission's public voice, from its Sunday "God Spot", ending his 17-years relationship with the station. The programme would probably stay with a new host. The paper says there have long been tensions between the Macquarie Network, owner of 2GB, and Dr Moyes, who was the network's chairman until his replacement by Sam Chisholm. The paper also notes that the network has gradually cut its ties with the Uniting Church, which is estimated to have put more than AUD10 million (around USD5 million) into 2GB over the past ten years. Previous Macquarie: Sydney Morning Herald report: 2002-08-09: Webcasters and the recording companies have now filed notice of their intent to appeal against the webcasting royalties decision by the US Librarian of Congress with the former wanting lower rates and the latter higher ones. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claims that the librarian was "duped" by Yahoo's testimony, on which it based its rate, and that the latter was not the aggregator of other webcasters' streams as treated by the Copyright Arbitration Panel but was playing down its plans for Internet-only radio to drive down the rate; Yahoo subsequently bought Launch.com and dropped broadcasters' streams. The RIAA also says the rate would have been significantly higher had the panel considered another 25 agreements it made with webcasters and deals made between webcasters and individual recording companies. RIAA Chairman Hilary Rosen said in a statement: "The end result significantly undervalued the music used by Internet radio companies." On the webcasters' side of the argument, the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Association (IBS), filed an appeal on behalf of its 700+ non-commercial education member stations in July and this month Salem Communications and the National Religious Broadcasters Music License Committee filed a joint appeal as did a group of 19 independent commercial webcasters, including RadioIO.com, Live365.com, and Radio Free Virgin. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and Clear Channel, the leading streaming network, had not filed appeals by this week's deadline. Previous RIAA: Previous Salem: 2002-08-09: Cox Radio has reported strong second quarter results, exceeding its guidance in all areas helped by improved advertising conditions and strong ratings; net revenues, which were up in almost every market, rose by 5.6% compared to 2001 Q2 to USD113.9 million, broadcast cash flow was up 6.1% to USD 46.2 million and free cash flow per share was up by 41%. Net income was up by USD11.8 million to USD17.5 million (17 cents per share) but Cox notes that had it adopted accounting standard SFAS142 at the beginning of 2001 net earnings for the quarter then would have been USD15 million (15 cents per share). President and Chief Executive Officer Robert F. Neil commented, "Our strong second quarter results reflect an improvement in the overall fundamentals of our business. These results exceeded our expectations and were well ahead of our previous guidance. We are especially pleased with the growth in our free cash flow per share of 41%. Our consistent strategy and strict focus on operations are allowing us to take full advantage of the improving advertising climate. We look forward to a successful second half and remain focused on maximizing shareholder value over the long term." For the third quarter of 2002, Cox expects net revenues of approximately $105.0 million and broadcast cash flow of approximately $41.5 million and earnings per share of 15 cents. Previous Cox: Previous Neil: 2002-08-09: UK equipment manufacturers are putting more effort into digital radio receivers following the success of last December's sell out of a limited number of receivers for GBP99 (See RNW Dec 31, 2001) and the sell out last month of the initial offering of another GBP99 receiver, the Evoke-1, a simple receiver with six pre-set buttons and a small display. The receiver is similar to a transistor radio with a built-in 3inch (75 cm) speaker and an output to connect to an auxiliary speaker for stereo output. It uses third generation chip technology, enabling manufacturers Videologic, which is better known for more expensive tuners, to reduce costs. It should be widely available soon and other manufacturers including Acoustic Solutions, Goodmans, and Modular Technologies are soon to offer low-cost tuners and PC cards at around the same price or a little more. 2002-08-09: For only the second time in more than two decades, WBEZ-FM has opted not to broadcast the Chicago Jazz Festival live; instead it is to make recordings at the Festival, which runs from August 29 through September 1, and use them as the basis for a weekly Chicago-based music programme starting in January 2003. The station, which last dropped a live broadcast of the festival in 1995, says the decision to drop the broadcast of the festival, now in its 24th year, followed a change in programming policy and they felt the Festival recordings would be the ideal way to start the station's new series. National Public Radio, which has carried the festival live, will be offered the 13-hour weekly series of performances from the festival. 2002-08-08: In a business feature on SMG ( Scottish Media Group) the UK Guardian says bankers are looking to break-up the company and examines the likelihood of this happening. It notes that Chief Executive Andrew Flanagan, who joined the company in 1994 as Director of Finance and became Managing Director in 1996, has built the group up in the past six years to become Scotland's largest media company but that currently media conglomerates are out of favour. SMG has debts of some GBP400 million that have to be paid by June next year following their restructuring (See RNW Mar 16) and their have already been suggestions that it may put its television holdings up for sale (See RNW July 23); the Guardian says the investment bankers see an opportunity to generate large fees through breaking up the group and the timing for SMG could not be worse with advertising revenues at their lowest for more than a decade. " if they remain in the doldrums for much longer," the paper reports, "analysts say, SMG will have little choice but to start selling assets." It later quoted an un-named senior executive at a rival broadcaster as saying, "SMG's debt is like a time-bomb, and the longer they leave it ticking the more likely it is to blow the group apart"; the paper added that drastic action could be accelerated after cable group Telewest last week said it wants to sell its 17% stake in SMG to pay down debts of its own. Flanagan insisted he was not panicking and said, "If there is no advertising recovery there may be a situation where we need to sell something to cut our debts, but there is a whole range of options open to us and we are not going to be rushed into any hasty decisions." He also said he needed firm information on the British government's media plans before making a decision and said," We need a degree of confidence in the final media ownership legislation before deciding what we do." The paper concludes, however, that SMG needs TV advertising to pick up very soon but then says that even if they do pick up analysts believe SMG's ITV assets, valued at around £332m, are still likely to be sold in the short term. It quotes Merrill Lynch analyst Neil Blackley as estimating that SMG's interim results due out next month are expected to show a 37% fall in pre-tax profits to £12.6m. The paper speculates that if the law is changed to allow consolidation, a disposal of its TV holdings could allow SMG to make a full bid for rival Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH), in which it has a holding of just under 30%. That holding cost GBP148 million and stretched the company but Flanagan did not express regret "With the benefit of hindsight the price we paid was probably too high, but we were not the only ones paying those sort of prices at that time," said Mr Flanagan. "But we like radio, and you don't take a 30% stake in a company unless you have an interest in it." Previous SMG: Previous SRH: 2002-08-08: Sirius Satellite Radio has announced that it is to introduce a new, second generation chipset that is much smaller and uses around half as much power as current chipsets for its receivers in the fourth quarter of this year. The new chipset uses Agere Systems technology and integrates all the digital receiver circuitry except for memory into a single chip that is combined with analogue and mixed signal circuits into the new chipset. Sirius says the new design will allow Sirius to halve the cost of its system. Previous Sirius: Sirius web site: 2002-08-08: Two Univision executives, Andrew Hobson and Michael Wortsman, have stepped down from Entravision's Board of Directors, where they were serving as representatives of Univision Communications Inc, to avoid any potential conflict of interest arising out of Univision's pending acquisition of Entravision. Commenting on the decision, Walter Ulloa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Entravision said, "This is a decision that serves the best interests of both companies and we are grateful for the service that Andy and Mike have provided our company. Going forward, our affiliate relationship with Univision remains solid. With our exclusive 25 year affiliation agreements and base of 22 Univision and 15 Telefutura television affiliates, Entravision is a critical part of the Univision affiliate group." Previous Entravision: Previous Ulloa: Previous Univision: 2002-08-08: A newcomer to its rankings, contemporary Christian music station K-LOVE Radio, was rated third in the latest MeasureCast Internet ratings covering the week to July 28. Listening during the week was the same as the previous week and the only ranking changes were the knock-on effects of K-Love's debut. For the week to July 28, MeasureCast's top five stations ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) with in brackets TTSL and Cume persons (a measure of the cumulative audience -CP) for the previous week - were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 321,061 (354,014); CP 64,486 (70,055): Up from second despite lower listening and reach. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 233,138 (355,738); CP 60,821 (73,029): Down from first with lower listening and reach. 3:Contemporary Christian Music K-Love - TTSL 188,077; CP 19,650: Newcomer to rankings. 4: Classical format WQXR-FM, New York -TTSL 185,422 (184,122); CP 31,962 (35,148): Down from third despite higher listening but reach was down. 5: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 160,009 (175,535); CP 32,369 (34,723). Down from fourth with lower listening and reach. Internet-only market match Adult alternative Radioio TTSL 147,816 (134,331); CP40,290 (38,095). Dropped to sixth despite higher listening and reach. The top five networks for the week to July 28(Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 1,330,495 (1,758,966) ; CP 292,063 (339,956) - Same position despite again having lower listening and reach. 2: Radio Free Virgin TTSL 813,623 (786,470): CP 165,100 (158,164) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 3: WARP Radio TTSL 645,211 (612,581) hours: CP 100,938 (99,521) - Up from fourth with higher listening and reach. 4: Internet Radio Inc TTSL 586,462 (627,806) : CP 193,937 (194,222) - - Down from third with lower listening and reach. 5: Virgin Radio TTSL 459,561 (504,593) : CP 91,945 (94,967) - - Same position with lower listening and higher reach. The top five simulcast stations for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 321,061 (354,014); CP 64,486 (70,055): Up from second despite lower listening and reach. 2: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 233,138 (355,738); CP 60,821 (73,029): Down from first with lower listening and reach. 3: Classical format WQXR-FM, New York -TTSL 185,422 (184,122); CP 31,962 (35,148): Same position with higher listening but lower reach. 4: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 160,009 (175,535); CP 32,369 (34,723): Same position with lower listening and reach. 5: Classical format KING-FM - TTSL 125,122 (121,733); CP 21,979 (21,350). Same position with higher listening and reach. The top five Internet-only stations for the week (Previous week in brackets), were: 1: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 147,816 (134,331) ; CP 40,290 (38,095) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 2: Listener-formatted MediAmazing - TTSL 99,267 (90,955) ; CP 43,535 (41,223) Same position with higher listening and reach. 3:Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville -TTSL 80,397 (84,606); CP 13,872 (13,899) - Same position with lower listening and reach. 4: Pure Rock KNAC.com - TTSL 71,157 (69,327) ; CP 17,461 (16,143). Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Rock format BeOnAir Rock TTSL 66,832 (63,204); CP 9,108 (9,294). Same position with higher listening but lower reach. Previous MeasureCast ratings: MeasureCast web site: 2002-08-07: Hispanic Broadcasting, Entercom and Salem Communications have now issued their second-quarter figures. Entercom reported net income, aided by ratings performance and an improving adverts market, up to USD16 million (32 cents a share) from USD9.9 million (22 cents a share) in the second quarter of 2002: But for an accounting change, earnings per share would have been 35 cents a share compared to 34 cents a share in 2001. Hispanic Broadcasting reported revenues up 4.1% to USD68.6 million but its reported profit was flat at USD10.4 million (9 cents a share) compared to USD10.2 million (9 cents a share) for the second quarter of 2002. It said its operating results included around USD2.4 million of expenses relating to its merger with Univision (See RNW June 13). Broadcast cash flow was down 6% to USD25.4 million, After tax cash flow (ATCF) was down 10.7% to USD 19.2 million (17 cents a share) compared to Usd21.5 million (20 cents a share) a year ago, and EBITDA was down 18.9% to UD20.3 million. Hispanic says that excluding the merger expenses would have cut the EBITDA decrease to 9.4%, profits would have been USD11.9 million (11 cents a share) and ATCF would have been USD20.6 million (19 cents a share). Same station net revenues for the quarter were up by just 0.3% at USD62.3 million and same station BCF was down 4% to USD26.5 million and Hispanic said that this reflected revenue declines in Los Angeles because of increased competition and in San Francisco because of station format changes made in the conjunction with the launch of a new station for the area. Commenting on the results, President and CEO McHenry T. Tichenor, Jr. said they were pleased with ratings performances in the Spring Arbitrons, noting that for the 2-54 demographic the company operated the top ranked station in Los Angeles, Houston, San Diego and Las Vegas and in Los Angeles also had the second-ranked station. "We are particularly gratified that we have solidified our position in Los Angeles, the country's largest radio advertising market," he said. "Indications are that Los Angeles has absorbed the recent competitive entries, and we expect growth from our Los Angeles stations in the second half of the year." Looking ahead, Hispanic is forecasting third quarter net revenues to grow in the 6-8% range, with BCF in the range USD25.2 to 26.5 million, EBITDA in the range USD 22.4 to 23.7 million, Earnings per share between 11 and 12 cents and ATCF per share between 18 cents and 19 cents. It is maintaining its full year guidance of EBITDA in the USD83 to 87 million range, earnings per share from 38to 40 cents and ATCF per share between 69 and 71 cents. Salem Communications net broadcasting revenues for the quarter up 16.8% to USD39.6 million but the company reported a net loss of USD1.6 million (7 cents a share) compared to a net loss of USD1.3 million (6 cents a share) in the second quarter of last year. The impact of start-up losses for Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations in Chicago, Sacramento, Portland and Milwaukee affected broadcast cash flow, although it was still up 4.7% to USD13.3 million. BCF margins were down to 33.5% from 37.5% because of the impact of. Salem notes that last year excluding gain/loss on sale of assets and adjusted for the impact of SFAS 142, it would have reported net income of $0.8 million (3 cents a share). Same station performance was strong and CEO Edward G. Atsinger III commented, "We are pleased to deliver some of the best results in the radio industry with same station revenue and broadcast cash flow growth of 16 percent and 19 percent, respectively." "Results were driven by continued growth at our developing stations and overall improvements in the advertising environment. In addition to our strong operational performance this quarter, we also announced the sale of WYGY-FM in Cincinnati for $45 million." "The proceeds from this sale will substantially strengthen our balance sheet. Looking ahead, due to the significant proportion of developing stations in our portfolio, Salem is ideally positioned to take advantage of improving advertising trends and we expect to continue our industry leading growth rates for the remainder of 2002 and into 2003." Salem is expecting to record a gain on sale of WYGY-FM of approximately $28.0 million, less a tax provision of $11.2 million. Based on the most recent pacings, Salem says it expects third quarter same station revenue growth in the mid-double digits, net broadcast revenues of between $38.7 and $39.0 million and broadcast cash flow of between $14.0 and $14.3 million with earnings per share, excluding the WYGY-FM sale, between one and two cents. Previous Atsinger: Previous Entercom: Previous Hispanic Broadcasting: Previous Salem: Previous Tichenor: 2002-08-07: Latest Australian ratings from the AC Nielsen McNair survey show Austereo re-asserting its dominance in Brisbane and Melbourne where DMG's Nova has lost ground but in Sydney itself Nova has pulled back and in the 25-39 demographic is in the lead with a 16.4 share compared to 14.6 for top-ranked 2-DAY, whose overall share slipped from 11.7 to 10.6. The breakfast slot in Sydney has also seen top-ranked 2GB, owned by Macquarie, falling back although Alan Jones has kept his show in top slot. His share was 14.5, down from 16.1 and his former station, Southern Cross owned 2UE, moved up from an 8.5 share to 10.2 whilst second-placed 2-DAY slipped from 12.5 to 11.4. Overall in Sydney there were no position changes in the top five but 2UE pulled back against 2UE, increasing its share from 8.7 to 9.3 whilst 2GB fell from 10.2 to 10. Nova, while remaining in fourth place increased its share from 8.3 to 8.7 whilst fifth-ranked ABC 702 dropped back from 8.0 to 7.8 In Brisbane, Austereo's B105 increased its lead and New FM, owned by DMG and ARN, slipped back from second to equal with 5MMM whilst in Melbourne Nova fell back from fourth to fifth and leader 3AW increased its share. City by city, the top three were (previous % share in brackets): *Adelaide: SAFM with 26.9 (25.8); 5AA with 16.2 (15.7); 5MMM with 12.0 (12.8) - no change in rankings: *Brisbane - B105FM with 20.3 (17.9); Triple M, formerly third, 13.6 (13); NEW97.3 FM, formerly second, with 13.6 (14.2) New FM falling back. *Melbourne -3AW 15.2 (14) - increasing its share in the top spot; Fox FM 13.2(12.1) - also increasing its share in second place: ABC774 12.1 (11.4) -also in same spot but increasing its share. Nova, which had been above GOLD, slipped back to fifth spot and an 8.4 share from 10.0 whilst GOLD increased its share from 8.2 to 8.5 to move into fourth. *Perth - MIX 94.5FM with 24.8 (22.8); All New 92.9 with 14.5 (14.7); 96FM with 12.8 (14.5) - no change in rankings: *Sydney, 2-Day with 10.6(11.7); 2GB 10 (10.2); 2UE 9.3(8.7) - no change in rankings: Previous Austereo: Previous Australian ratings: Previous DMG: Previous Jones: Previous Macquarie: Previous Southern Cross/2UE: 2002-08-07: US digital radio developer iBiquity Digital Corporation has announced that it has acquired an exclusive worldwide license to California-based Command Audio's digital radio intellectual property and technology that it says sets the stage for "radio broadcasters to provide consumers content on-demand-from program selection via electronic guide to scanning content to pausing or saving for later listening." iBiquity says it plans to integrate Command Audio's technology with its digital AM and FM system and its Presidents and CEO Robert Struble commented, "The ability for broadcasters to manage the delivery of additional advertising-supported content like news, weather and traffic information along with their current audio is a major benefit of the technology. Radio manufacturers will be positioned to fully utilize the additional storage and multimedia capabilities in their products " iBiquity has established a Redwood City, California office and has hired the former software engineering employees of Command Audio. Both iBiquity and Command Audio are privately held companies and they did not disclose the terms of their agreement. Previous iBiquity: Previous Struble: 2002-08-07: Cumulus Media has announced that it has now completed its re-incorporation in Delaware. Cumulus, formerly incorporated in Illinois, merged the company into a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in Delaware than then converted its own stock into stock of the new corporation on a one-for-one basis and carrying over details of the shares. Previous Cumulus: 2002-08-06: US radio giant Clear Channel and Inside Radio and its publisher Jerry Del Colliano have settled their differences, including various lawsuits and M-Street Daily, partly owned by Clear Channel is to acquire Inside Radio. The dispute between the organisations followed from a case launched in New York by Clear Channel in November 2000 claiming that Del Colliano was trying to force it to purchase the publication by a vicious campaign of coercion, public vilification and harassment." The lawsuit was subsequently dropped but re-filed in Texas and Del Colliano responded in July last year by filing suit for USD115 million, claiming that Clear Channel had sought to put Inside Radio out of business and defamed him through its parody InsideInsideRadio. Terms of the settlement were not announced but Inside Radio and M Street Publications, a partially owned and independently run subsidiary of Clear Channel are to merge and M-Street will acquire Inside Radio's Daily Fax, daily e-mails, website and the weekly publication Who Owns What. The price was not disclosed. The daily fax, called Inside Radio, is now being edited by M-Street Daily editor Tom Taylor, a former editor for eight years of Inside Radio. Del Colliano is leaving the publishing business and will become more involved with teaching at The University of Southern California. Inside Radio's web site automatically re-directs people to M-Street's site. Clear Channel Chief Executive Officer Mark Mays said in a statement,"I'm pleased we have reached a mutually acceptable resolution. We wish Mr. Del Colliano well in his future endeavours." Del Colliano said, "I'm pleased we could resolve the lawsuits. I am looking forward to moving ahead with the next chapter in my career and I wish Tom Taylor and everyone at Clear Channel the best." RNW comment: The timing of this development and the recent move of Randy Michaels from his former post as Chairman and CEO of Clear Channel radio (see RNW ) is presumably coincidental but we do recall Michaels being fairly blunt about both Del Colliano and Inside Radio so his move is unlikely to have made the mediated settlement harder. Previous Clear Channel: Previous Mark Mays: Previous Michaels: Clear Channel announcement (22 kb PDF): M-Street web site: 2002-08-06: BBC TV Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman is to step down as host of BBC Radio 4's Start the Week programme, a post he took over in 1998 from Melvyn Bragg following the latter's ennoblement as a Labour Peer. His replacement will be the BBC's political editor Andrew Marr. Bragg had presented the programme, which began in 1970, for ten years. The BBC announcement by Radio 4 controller Helen Boaden said Marr will present the programme in November when it resumes after a delay to allow Marr to cover Britain's party political conferences. Marr said , "It is one of the most daunting and thrilling jobs in radio. I suppose I'm both daunted and thrilled!" Paxman said of his decision to step down, "I've had a wonderful five years, full of interest. But now it's time to let someone else have a go." Previous BBC: Previous Boaden: BBC announcement: 2002-08-06: Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) , which in the second quarter of last year reported a loss of USD 2.39 million ( 4 cents a share) has reported a profit of 12.82 million in the second quarter this year on revenues from continuing operations of USD39.54 million, up from USD35 million. Previous SBS: 2002-08-05: For this week's look at comment on radio over the last week, we have concentrated on various columns and reports concerning the factors that make for success, or the reverse, in various parts of the medium. First an indubitable success story, that of Paul Harvey, an American institution who has been broadcasting for more than sixty years, who is still married to the woman he proposed to on their first date 60 years ago,who has a daily audience approaching 20 million and who in November 2000 signed a ten-year deal guaranteeing him a minimum USD10 million a year. Rick Kogan, in a feature on Harvey in the Chicago Tribune, starts his article by noting the vocal exercises Harvey goes through before every broadcast and the fact that he dresses formally for them and then quotes the man himself as saying, "It is all about discipline. I could go to work in my pyjamas, but long ago I got some advice from the man who was the engineer for my friend Billy Graham's radio show. He said that one has to prepare in all ways for the show. If you don't do that in every area, you'll lose your edge." Some in the industry, writes Kogan, say Harvey is increasingly making factual errors in his broadcasts and has developed a "nasty tone" when referring to anything to do with the Clintons but they are not willing to go on the record with their views. Far more, he continues, "cite him as an influence and regard him still as a powerful presence." RNW comment: Without regular listening, which we cannot do from this side of the Atlantic, we can't comment on Harvey's tone and accuracy but he has not hidden his the fact that he speaks from a conservative viewpoint'; we will, however, go on record about another veteran broadcaster of similar longevity, Alistair Cooke, whose "Letter from America" whose affiliations are not made clear by the BBC and who nowadays tends to sound far too close to a Republican Party political advert for comfort. In the case of Cooke, we suspect any producer who tried to tone him down might well get short shrift; In the case of Harvey, since his wife Angel and son, Paul Junior, are involved in the production we suspect they would be able to curb too many excesses. Among those commenting on Harvey's influence was WEBZ-FM host, 31-year-old Steve Edwards, who said, after noting that he listened to Harvey when he was 7 or 8, "Beyond that youthful fascination, I appreciate him now. In this business there is a tendency to talk too much, to talk too fast. He reminds me that to be an effective communicator, you must understand the power of silence. I try to keep that in my mind when I am on the air, but I'm afraid I too often forget." Another facet of his success was highlighted by Kathy Voltmer, the 37-year-old news director and public affairs manager at rock station WDRV-FM 97.1, "A lot of people don't realize that the key to great radio is often great writing," she says. "Nobody does it better than Paul Harvey. His simple eloquence is astounding. There's not a broadcaster alive who can't learn from him." Harvey, writes Kogan, is "generally considered the greatest salesman in the history of radio. Sponsors--the show takes only one of every 15 that would like to be on--must sign up for at least a year. The products must be things that the Harveys use. He buys stock in whatever companies sponsor his broadcast. He writes the ad copy himself." Harvey himself commented, "I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is. I am very careful and selective taking sponsors that I can endorse with enthusiasm." He's also courteous and, after signing again with ABC Radio Networks for whim he had broadcasting since 1951, took the trouble to write to each of the major companies that he been wooing him to say thank you. Harvey, full name Paul Harvey Aurandt, is the son of a police officer killed when he was three; he first broadcast when one of his high school teachers in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was impressed by his voice and took him into the offices of station KVOO-AM where he impressed to the extent that he was broadcasting the next day, albeit not paid for a year. His wife, Angel, nee Lynne Cooper (Angel was his nickname for her), met him in 1939 when he was a reporter on KXOX in St. Louis; he proposed - in her car (he didn't own one) on their first date, they were married a year later, and still keep the car. She has worked closely with him since, persuaded him to move to Chicago in 1944, to try his hand at network radio, who conceived the "Rest of the Story" and who still produces his "News and Comment." After success in one area, a few thoughts courtesy of William Houston in the Toronto Globe and Mail, about the requirements for success for sport talk radio. He says it is a tricky business where TV personalities fail to make an impact, and where money doesn't "necessarily buy a winner." Houston continues, " How many great talk hosts are there in radio? To paraphrase Red Smith to Howard Cosell: one fewer than your local radio star thinks there is." He then quotes one successful host, Bob McCown whose afternoon drive show on Toronto's "The Fan" is in the top ranks for the male demographic and beats competition from rival "The Team" by 5-1. "You have to elicit response," said McCown, " You've got to hit them with issues and strong opinion and controversial stuff in order to create a response. You're trying not to manufacture it, but you're trying, if you will, to embellish what your perspective is on an issue." Then he adds rule 2: "In interviews, steer clear of athletes. Their opinions are generally predictable and a lot of them are boring. Instead, interview executives, agents and media people." Still with the Globe and Mail, another article, this time by Sarah Kennedy, reports on the public station KGRW-FM, Los Angeles, show "Morning Becomes Eclectic". The station she writes is heralded as the only station in the city that allow DJ's to pick their own music and host Nic Harcourt has a philosophy of introducing "music ahead of the curve to a discerning audience by taking chances on bands that are largely ignored by mainstream radio. Kennedy then quotes him on rules to be broken to fight the status quo: "Play independent bands; Listen to demos; create a free-form radio show. "Morning Becomes Eclectic is a show put together every day. I play what I feel like playing. There are no play-lists. "Challenge the audience. On the other side of the Atlantic in his column on Irish radio, Gerry McCarthy in the UK Sunday Times praises Donncha O Dulaing's series "Ballrooms of Romance" on RTÉ Radio1, saying, "Donncha O Dulaing is in love with radio. It's a love that stretches back to the era of valves. But it has endured like a long, happy relationship. Perhaps at times O Dulaing sounds too self-satisfied, but you can't blame him. He speaks like a man doing a job he loves, with an old-fashioned gratitude for the privilege." "You can always tell the ones who love their work," McCarthy continues. "Tim Lehane, with his explorations of sonic limits, is one. Roger Gregg, of Crazy Dog Audio Theatre, another. " "Some of radio's best-known names, by contrast, sound as though they fell out of love a long time ago. " A less charitable view of Irish radio came in the same paper from Liam Fay in a feature on new Dublin station, "Newstalk." "If knowledge is power," he starts by writing, "Sue Carter and Carol Moran seem to have been disconnected from the national grid. The tittering presenters of Dublin Life, Newstalk 106 FM's daily what's on show, are renowned for the range of topics about which they appear to know somewhere between nothing and nothing much. " "Previewing a recent concert in Dublin's Marlay Park, Carter and Moran were at the height of their power cuts. "'I've never actually been to Marlay Park," declared Carter, "but I'd imagine it's a fairly nice venue.'" Eager not to be overshadowed, Moran outlined the numerous facts about the concerts that she didn't know. "I'm not too sure whether there's one or two stages," she revealed, before adding that she also wasn't sure whether special buses would be laid on for the event or how much tickets cost. "I'd imagine tickets are quite expensive," said Carter helpfully. Even more acerbic comment follows later, "Responding to speculation that Noel Gallagher of Oasis might make a guest appearance at the Marlay Park gigs, a fortnight after his band's performance at the Witnness festival in Fairyhouse, Carter displayed her gift for remorseless logic. 'My shoes are still dirty from Witnness so, you never know, he might still be hanging around,' she said." To which Fay responds, "Dirt cheap and dumber than a boxful of rocks, Dublin Life is an insult to the intelligence of even the dimmest listener. On either of the capital's lobotomised top 40 stations, this slurry-soft promo show would seem like an embarrassing throwback to the infancy of Dublin pirate broadcasting." More of the same, if less coruscating follows and Fay concludes that the station may have had a successful launch for advertisers but has a way to go if it is to "progress from plucky newcomer to reliable mainstay." If it doesn't succeed than, of course, out will have to come the excuses. And as Paul Connolly reflected in a different context in the Times of London, the response may not be a dispassionate analysis. Looking at the latest UK audience figures that show the BBC ahead of commercial radio, he comments, "Needless to say, the commercial sector is yet again whinging that the BBC has an unfair advantage in being able to alter its remit without reference to the Radio Authority." "Commercial radio executives," he continues, " are now pinning their hopes on the recently announced plans for further deregulation, which they hope will kickstart the (Classic FM aside) largely moribund sector. However, I seem to recall similar hope and anticipation 12 years ago when the landmark Broadcasting Act deregulated the radio industry." "The prospect of a proliferation of competition was exciting, especially in the key area of music. As well as more mainstream channels for listeners who like their tunes safe and comfortable, a range of interesting new stations would spring up, playing the weird and wonderful. Unfortunately, only half that supposition has proved correct." Connolly then notes that the UK has more than twice as many stations as in 1990 but adds, "the problem is that they all sound pretty much the same - a local radio station in Clyde will have more or less exactly the same playlist as one in Exeter. "The motive for this bland homogeneity," he concludes, " is simple - money. Every advertiser is chasing the high-spending 20-40 age bracket and safe, familiar pop music is an effective lure." "So why on earth commercial stations feel that they have the right to complain about BBC Radio's ability to overhaul existing stations and even launch new digital stations such as 1Xtra is bewildering," he says. "They made their choice back in the Nineties and they all chose to do the same as each other. Do they really think further deregulation will help? Once the first wave of mergers is over we'll be left with the same insipid fare operated by fewer companies." "Terrific. And which organisation will still be making news-making radio documentaries and breaking thrilling new music? Why, the BBC of course." Previous Columnists: Previous McCarthy: Previous Fay: Previous Harvey: Chicago Tribune - Kogan: Toronto Globe and Mail - Houston: Toronto Globe and Mail - Sarah Kennedy: UK Times - Connolly: UK Sunday Times - Fay: UK Sunday Times - McCarthy: 2002-08-05: Stuart Carolan, best known in Ireland as Navan Man, is to leave Irish station Today FM's Last Word show for what the producer and comedian says are reasons of near-exhaustion, although the UK Sunday Times leads its report by suggesting that money was a significant factor. The paper says "sources" close to Carolan as saying that he did not feel his contribution to the station's success was not sufficiently acknowledged and that his salary did not reflect the effort he put in. It says that the station, that has just negotiated a large contract with the show's presenter Eamon Dunphy, was reluctant to give Carolan a significant increase. It quotes Carolan himself as saying, "I had five very intense years on the Last Word, but I was getting tired and it was time to go. I am leaving before I get burnt out - that's pretty much it in a nutshell." Station chief executive Willie O'Reilly, who described Carolan as " genius" said he was now aware that the latter's departure was to do with money and said he believed Carolan was leaving for other projects including a film script. "I was not aware that Stuart was unhappy with the money he was receiving. But I would say that in radio it is often the case that the man behind the mike gets the big bucks," RNW comment: Whatever the facts, beyong Carolan's decision to leave, the Sunday Times version reflects today's devotion to spin and speculation ahead of the verifiable. What, we wonder, could Carolan and O'Reilly have said differently, assuming they are telling the truth, to have pushed the paper into leading on the statement's from the principal's rather than unnamed chattering voices from offstage? Previous Dunphy: UK Sunday Times report: 2002-08-04: Last week was notable most for a large number of disciplinary actions by the US Federal Communications Commission: elsewhere licence activity was mainly concerned with low power stations. In Australia the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has advertised five new open narrowcasting licences, four in the Northern Territory and one in South Australia, each with a reserve price of AUD4000 (Around USD2000). The Northern Territory licences are for Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Yulara and that in South Australia is for Woomera. The ABA currently has 96 open narrowcasting licences on offer with the deadline for all applications at the end of this month. Australian open narrowcasting licences are limited wither in time for special events, geographic area or because they are targeted at special interest audiences: more than ninety per cent of narrowcasting services presently operating provide tourist radio or racing radio services. In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has again been fairly active in issuing low power licences. They included two very low power mobile licences to allow the broadcast of warnings from logging vehicles of their presence on roads in the L'Ascension and surrounding areas located north of Lac St-Jean and in and around Sundre and Nordegg, Alberta. Low power tourist information licences were issued for the Red Deer Visitor and Convention Bureau, Red Deer, Alberta; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and the Confederation Bridge, Prince Edward Island. The CRTC also approved a low power licence for an English FM service for July and August allowing the Christian Youth Centre (Kingston), doing business under the name and style of Camp IAWAH, Westport area, Ontario, to broadcast a non-commercial 0.23 watts service of some four to five hours of music and 15 minutes of religious broadcasting. The CRTC has also approved an application concerning the frequency to be allocated to one of three new English-language FM stations that it approved in March of last year. One of them that of the former Telemedia Radio (West) Inc. was granted a licence but not on the frequency it applied for, which had been allocated to a competing applicant. The CRTC has now approved the use of 103.1 MHz with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts for this station. Both Ireland and the UK were quiet on the radio front but in the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had a fairly busy time over various offences. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has re-affirmed an indeceny penalty of USD16,800, issued a number of penalties ranging up to USD 7,000, halved another on appeal, and rejected a call to reconsider its rejection of three indecency complaints against Mancow's Morning Madness show. In Puerto Rico, an appeal by WLDI, Inc., licensee of WCOM-FM, Bayamon, for reconsideration of a USD16, 8000 for indecent broadcasts made when Chancellor Broadcasting owned WLDI in October 1999; it was sold to Spanish Broadcasting System in January 2000. The FCC had originally proposed a penalty of USD20, 000 (See RNW Feb 13 2001). WLDI had responded in March with a request that the penalty be reduced or rescinded because of the ownership change and because there was no history of WLI violating FCC rules. Based on the lack of prior offences, the Commission then reduced the penalty to USD16, 800 in May last year. It rejected and has now confirmed its rejection of WLDI's argument that it is "inimical to rational public policy" to continue to hold a licensee responsible when there is a transfer of control subsequent to a violation, saying that "Holding an entity responsible for its violation of Commission rules regardless of a subsequent transfer of control encourages compliance by the entity's employees, to the benefit of the public," The FCC also notes that SBS "could have negotiated an indemnification clause with respect to forfeitures for violations prior to the transfer of control" or have made allowance for the situation in the purchase price. In Ohio, Rubber City Radio Group, licensee of WONE-FM, Akron, has been issued a penalty of USD 7, 000, the base amount for the offence involved, for indecency. It related to a segment of the station's Morning Show and a guest from MTV's Jackass television show. The complainant said she heard an exchange that ran, " Guest - "I've got a joke - what do you get when you stick a butcher knife up a baby's ass?" Host - "I don't know - what do you get?" Guest - "A mean hard on." This exchange was said to have been followed by laughter and joking. The station did not dispute the complainant's recollection or making the broadcast, although it had no recording. It said it did not condone indecent or obscene programming and acknowledged that the host should have anticipated the need to use a time-delay device in view of the background of the guest and comments made earlier by the guest. It then went on to say that the host did not know where the joke was going and that the dialogue was merely a "fleeting reference." The Commission was not persuaded and found the broadcast "patently offensive." In Illinois, the Commission reduced a USD10, 000 fine on M & R Enterprises, licensee of WESL-AM, East St Louis, to USD 5, 000 following an appeal on hardship grounds. M&S had argued that the station was in a highly depressed area and could not afford to pay the fine, which was levied for failure to provide access to its public information file. The Commission reviewed the company tax returns and decided to halve the fine. There was some good news for Emmis, when the Commission denied a request by David Edward Smith' for reconsideration of two indecency complaints that it had dismissed in January this year against the Mancow Morning Madness show and also for reconsideration of a similar third decision in February this year. The Commission said his first two requests for reconsideration were filed after the 30-day deadline had expired. In the third case, the request was originally denied on the basis that the discussion involved of Viacreme, although it contained repeated explicit sexual references, was not patently offensive and the presentation was not pandering. Smith had challenged this but the original ruling was upheld. The Commission was also active concerning various technical and Emergency Alert System (EAS) violations. In Utah, a USD 7, 000 penalty has been issued on Sam Bushman, licensee of KNAK-AM, Delta, for failure to provide an effective locked fence enclosure round the station's antenna structure. In Florida, the Commission has issued a penalty of USD5, 000 to Joseph S. McCreary of Pensacola, for using an external radio frequency power amplifier as part of his Citizens Band Radio station. McCreary had not responded to a notice sent to him. Also in Florida, WRHC Broadcasting Corp., licensee of WRHC-AM, Miami, has been issued with a penalty of USD4,000 for failing to have its Emergency Alert System equipment in operation when a check was made in March this year. The station had failed to respond to a notice issued in May In Honolulu, the penalty was of USD2, 000 on New Wave Broadcasting, licensee of KPOI-FM, for failure to retransmit the EAS required monthly test; again the station had filed to respond to a notice sent to it. In Virginia, the it admonished Telemedia Broadcasting Company Inc., licensee of WGRQ-FM, Colonial Beach, for failure to provide access to its entire local public inspection file on one occasion. It dismissed other allegations, made in the same complaint by the Free Lance-Star Publishing Co. of Fredericksburg, that Rappahannock River Broadcasting, LLC. , which along with Telemedia is controlled by Carl Hurlebaus , had failed to maintain a main studio for another station, WGRQ-FM, Falmouth, at a proper location as required and had also tried to delay Free Lance-Star's application for assignation of the licence of WWUZ-FM, Bowling Green ,through filing a frivolous petition to deny. Previous ABA: Previous CRTC: Previous FCC: Previous Licence News: ABA web site: CRTC web site: FCC web site : 2002-08-04: Boston WBPS-AM starts its transition from CNET radio to talk radio from midnight tonight when it commences airing the Talk Radio Network's Michael Savage continuously as the "Boston Talk Party" until Wednesday when it is due to make its full switch. The full line-up will include a morning show hosted by Doug Stephan and will include other syndicated talk shows from Neal Boortz, Rusty Humphries, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, whose show was dumped by WRKO-AM in Boston earlier this year. The station is being programmed and marketed by AirTime Media of Chicago. Previous Schlessinger: 2002-08-03: In more US results, Disney has warned of weaknesses at its theme parks and reported a disappointing performance from its ABC broadcast division that led to its stock dropping more than a tenth on Friday; it reported fiscal third quarter net income of USD364 million (18 cents a share), down from USD392 million (19 cents a share) for the quarter to the end of June 2001. If the figures are adjusted for new accounting standard SFAS142, the 2001 figures increase to USD527 million (25 cents a share), meaning this year's figures are nearly a third lower. Revenues also slipped this year, 2.8% on 2001 to just under USD5.8 billion. Revenues at Disney's broadcasting division, which includes radio and TV, were down 16%, to $1.2 billion and operating income was down 69%, to $76 million. Beasley Broadcast Group saw its net revenues for its second quarter to the end of June go down 6.2% to USD28.4 million from USD30.2 million; most of this was attributed to its USD23 million sale of WRNO-FM and KMEZ-FM, New Orleans, to Wilks Broadcasting LLC (see RNW March 22). Beasley's broadcast cash flow was up 15% to USD 9.7 million with BCF margin up to 34%; EBITDA was up 18.6% to USD8.4 million; and its after tax cash flow was up 48% to USD4.5 million On a same station basis, Beasley revenues were down 1% to USD28.4 million but BCF was up 22% to USD 9.7 million. Beasley attributed the latter increase mainly to a renegotiation of rights to the Florida Marlins baseball games for the 2002 season. Net income for the quarter was USD2.6 million (11 cents a share), including approximately USD 700, 000 gained on hedging instruments, compared to a net loss of USD4.1 million (17 cents s share) in 2001 but had Beasley adopted SFAS142 in 2001 the loss would have been cut to USD600, 000 (2cents a share). Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George G. Beasley said the results reflected, "specific actions we took over the past year to improve our cash flow, such as the successful negotiation of a new contract for the Florida Marlins at WQAM-AM in Miami and company-wide cost control measures we implemented at the end of 2001." Looking ahead, Beasley says it expects third quarter revenues of around USD27.5 million, BCF of approximately $8.0 million and ATCF per share of approximately $0.12 per share with same-station revenues flat but same station BCF higher than 2001 by up to 8%. In other US radio business, Salem Communications has announced agreement to acquire WRLG-FM and WYYB-FM, Nashville Tennessee, from Tuned In Broadcasting Inc. for USD5.6 million in cash. Salem already owns two stations in the market, WBOZ-FM and WVRY-FM, both programmed in a Southern Gospel format. There's also been news of job cuts by giant Clear Channel which, according to Dow Jones, had dismissed around 630 employees by the end of June this year following restructuring and various acquisitions including those of the Ackerley Group, SFX Entertainment and AMFM. Another 170 are due to follow according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Previous Beasley Broadcast: Previous George Beasley: Previous Clear Channel: Previous Disney/ABC: Previous Salem: 2002-08-03: The Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) has announced that it is to acquire the quarter stake that GWR held in its Australian radio network in return for an increased shareholding in GWR: DMGT now has 29.9% of GWR, the maximum permitted before it must launch a full bid, and the whole of its 31-station DMG Radio Investments Pty Limited (DMGRI) Australian radio network. Under the deal, DMGT is to cancel nearly GBPO40 million of loan notes of GWR and a further GBP7 million of interest-bearing debt as well as receiving 5.8 million new shares in GWR, valued at GBP 2.06 a share, a total of GBP 11 million and at a premium of almost 4% on GWR's closing mid-market price at the end of July. GWR has already indicated that it wanted to dispose of its Australian stake as part of a debt reduction programme; it's also effectively put its European radio stations up for sale but so far has not found any buyers. Another possible sale, that of London News Radio (LNR), of which GWR holds a fifth, has also stalled (See RNW July 13). Ralph Bernard, Executive Chairman of GWR, said of the deal, "We had previously announced our intention to dispose of our interest in DMGRI and I am pleased that we have been able to agree satisfactory terms for this. This transaction reduces significantly GWR's debt level and enables us to focus our attention on opportunities in the UK market." Previous Bernard: Previous DMG: Previous GWR: Previous LNR: 2002-08-03: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has now launched its first Internet-only radio station DiG, which is based on music and cultural programming for a 30-plus audience. The Corporation says the service, which offers an on-demand stream of music and audio features, will "provide a rich experience for people who love music but are not getting the kind of music they want from other ABC Radio services or from the commercial sector." Previous ABC, Australia: 2002-08-03: The BBC is to its replace its current Radio Five Live Sunday political programme "Sunday Service" with a new political programme hosted by its weekday breakfast news co -presenter Julian Worricker according to the UK Guardian. The paper says that the new programme is likely to start in January and will be produced by Ten Alps, the Bob Geldof production company that produces Sunday Service. Sunday Service has been on air since May 1999 and was praised for its irreverence, satirical bite and fast pace and the paper says that Worricker, whose programme had recent record ratings of almost three million, was said to be becoming tired of the load on the breakfast programme that he co-presents five days a week with Victoria Derbyshire. The duo won this year's Sony Gold Award for Breakfast News and Talk for their show from New York that was described as "Broadcast six days after September 11th, this programme captured the spirit of a city determined to get back to some semblance of normality and come to terms with what happened, whilst at the same time covering events the world over. A great example of news radio at it's best." The Guardian says Worricker recently told Radio Five Live controller Bob Shennan that he wanted to move, prompting an offer of the new Sunday morning show plus a position as Radio Five's main presenter for special events programmes. It adds that sports and business presenter Adrian Chiles, who has a young family, was offered the breakfast post but demanded a four day week and rejected the offer. Previous BBC: Previous Shennan: UK Guardian report: 2002-08-02: Latest UK radio ratings from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audio Research) show radio as a medium continuing to perform strongly, although the overall audience was down by 280,000 a week despite an increase of 370,000 in the number of adults in the country. The BBC held its lead over the commercial radio sector; it kept its audience and retained a 52.6% share of listening whilst commercial radio lost more than half a million listeners a week and its share dropped from a 46.5% share to 45.5%. The BBC's record share was 53.4% in the final quarter of 2001. Radio's overall audience was down at 44.070 million a week compared to 44.099 million but the potential adult (15+) audience went up from 48.660 million to 49.029 million, thus meaning that radio only reached 90% of its potential audience each week in place of the 91% for the first quarter. Within the overall audience, the BBC reached 32.585 million adults a week, 66% of the potential audience and up 222, 000 a week on the first quarter whilst commercial radio reached 31.583 million, 64% of the potential audience and down 493, 000 a week on the first quarter. Star station was again BBC Radio 2, already dominant: It increased its audience by 144, 000 a week. BBC Radio Five Live also did well, helped by the Soccer World cup for which it held live commntary rights. BBC Radio One continued to languish, in part being hit because audiences switched over to sports more during the cup. Over the past year Radio One's listening share is down from 9.6 to 8.4% and it has lost nearly three quarter of a millioon listeners. National sports station TeamTalk 252, which has just been closed down, is shown to have slipped back slightly from its first quarter ratings with an audience of 415, 000 a week, down 13, 000, and the Wireless Group's TalkSport also lost audience although its listening figures were higher. BBC network radio gained some 452, 000 listeners a week and its share was up from 40.2% to 41.3%. Within the figures, compared to the previous quarter: *BBC Radio 1 lost around 150 000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 10.541 million, a weekly reach of 21%, down from 22%, and a listening share of 8.3%, down from 8.4%. *BBC Radio 2 increased its audience by 144000 to end with a weekly audience of 13.042 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 27%, and a listening share of 15.6%, down from 15.7%. It now has nearly 1.29 million more listeners a week than a year earlier. *BBC Radio 3 lost 111,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 2.021 million, a weekly reach of 4%, as before, and a listening share of 1.1%, down from 1.2%. *BBC Radio 4 lost 192, 000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 9.756 million, a weekly reach of 20%, as before, and a listening share of 11.3%, down from 11.4%. *BBC Radio 5 Live gained 223,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 6.659 million, a weekly reach of 14%, up from 13%, and a listening share of 4.9%, up from 4.5%. On the commercial side for national networks: * TEAMtalk, in its second - and probably last - ratings completely as a sports outlet instead of a dance music one, lost some 13,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 415,000, and unchanged weekly reach of 1% and listening share of 0.2%. *Classic FM( owned by GWR) had more listening but lost 155,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 6,683 million, a weekly reach of 14%, as before, and a listening share of 4.9%, up from 4.6%. *TalkSport (owned by The Wireless Group) had more listening but lost 27,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 2,401 million, and unchanged weekly reach of 5%, and a listening share of 1.8%, up from 1.7%. *Virgin (Owned by SMG --total including all AM and FM) lost 104,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 3.106 million, a weekly reach of 6%, down from 7%, and a listening share of 1.7%, down from 1.9%. Previous BBC: Previous Classic FM/GWR: Previous RAJAR: Previous TalkSport/Wireless Group: Previous TEAMtalk: Previous UK quarterly audience figures: Previous SMG/ Virgin: RAJAR web site (links to quarterly reports): 2002-08-02: Syndicated conservative US host Rush Limbaugh has now moved into his 15th year in nationally syndicated radio. His show was first syndicated on August 1, 1988, on 56 stations and nine years later Jacor Communications Inc purchased the show, Jacor was later taken over by Clear Channel. Limbaugh is now syndicated by Clear Channel subsidiary Premiere Networks and has a weekly reach of some 20 million listeners on 600 stations, the highest rated national talk show in the US. Limbaugh, who in December 2001 had successful cochlear implants following problems that had rendered him deaf, took the Marconi Award for "Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year" in 1992, 1995, and 2000 and has also been inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame (1993) and National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (1998). Previous Clear Channel: Previous Limbaugh: Previous Premiere: 2002-08-02: EMAP's Performance Division, which includes its radio operations, and GWR Group have formed a joint venture company to launch EMAP's dance music Kiss format over GWR's digital multiplex network, NOWdigital. Kiss is already broadcast in 14 major UK cities and with the addition of the new outlets will have the potential to add some 9 million more listeners and reach nearly three quarters of the UK population. Kiss-FM is the top ranked station for London's 15-24 year olds. Previous EMAP: Previous GWR: 2002-08-01: The British Government seems to be heading for a fight over its draft Communications Bill, which would allow foreign companies to buy British Broadcasters without any reciprocal agreement, although it has sent some signs that it might back of from confrontation. A Parliamentary Committee chaired by Lord Puttnam recommended that the government should not lift the restrictions but should leave the decision to the new super-regulator OFCOM and Puttnam commented that the Committee proposals were "significantly more coherent than the original bill" In a statement, he said, "The draft Bill, whilst in so many ways welcome, has given rise to unease on several grounds." "Does it provide a framework for effective competition and economic regulation wherever appropriate? Does it protect the unique strengths and vitality of British broadcasting? Does it strike the right balance between fostering the development of a dynamic market and the protection of plurality in the media? We have concluded that the draft Bill goes a long way in the right direction. Our main purpose has thus been to make a good Bill better." Concerning the nature of regulation under the new body, Puttnam commented in his chairman's executive summary," regulation should be at the minimum level necessary to enable OFCOM to fulfil its duties, but such regulation is not usefully characterised as light touch; the path to self-regulation rather than detailed statutory regulation should be clearly signposted; further measures are needed to ensure that OFCOM meets necessary promptness standards." The Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has indicated that the government is not prepared to drop the ending of restrictions but could be flexible if the dispute were over the narrow issue of timing. Concerning radio, where the British commercial radio industry has lobbied hard for the requirement that any given area must have three commercial station owners plus the BBC, the Committee has recommended that the rule be kept but that it should be amended so as to define "mature" or "well developed" markets where it would apply and also a clause that would allow OFCOM to drop the rule without any need for new laws should it feel it was no longer needed. RNW comment: Although the British government has such a massive Commons majority that it can force most measures through, to do so takes time, and its abrasive comments so far on this matter may well weaken it in the House of Lords, which can significantly delay legislation by sending it back for amendment, even though it can be overridden in the end. We rather suspect that the only thing preserving the government's strength is the weakness of the opposition rather than its own strengths and that enough forces will eventually be arrayed against it in some areas, particularly concerning reciprocity where the industry lobby in general shares the view of the Committee concerning a one-way trade, that it may well find itself having to back down on its brave words. Previous Jowell: Previous OFCOM: 2002-08-01: In more US second quarter results Interep, Regent, Radio One Inc., and Saga have all have reported strong performances. Radio One had record results with net broadcast revenue up 29% on 2001 to USD80.2 million, broadcast cash flow up 28% to USD43.4 million, EBITDA up 24% to USD40.3 million and a net loss of USD14.6 million (16 cents a share) converted to a profit of USD13.2 million (13 cents a share). After tax tax cash flow was up 53% to USD21.4 million (21 cents a share) and on a same station basis net broadcast revenue was up 12% and BCF was up 15%. CEO and President Alfred C. Liggins, III, commented, "I am not sure we could have asked for much more from our management team in Q2. The reality is that they over-delivered across almost every measurable metric. This is a very competitive business in an uncertain economic environment; but Radio One continues consistently to outperform relative to the industry in a meaningful way. We believe our second-quarter results perfectly reflect the earnings potential and free cash flow generation power of a focused radio business model." Executive Vice-President and CFO Scott R. Royster said, "There has never been a time in the 22-year history of this company when it was more sound and better positioned for the future than it is today." "Our leverage level is generally in-line with the radio industry average and is declining as our cash flow grows. Our cost of debt is lower, we believe, than that of many of our peers and is also declining, as our leverage ratio declines." "Our growth rates are strong as is our free cash flow generation This is a very competitive business in an uncertain economic environment; but Radio One continues consistently to outperform relative to the industry in a meaningful way. We believe our second-quarter results perfectly reflect the earnings potential and free cash flow generation power of a focused radio business model." Regent Communications reported net broadcast revenues up 17.8 percent on Q2, 2001, to USD 17.3 million and BCF up 21.0 percent to USD 5.8 million but operating expenses were also up and net income for the quarter was USD1.7 million (4 cents a share), compared to 2001 when net income was USD2.5 million (7 cents a share) with the benefit of USD4.5 million from the sale of Regents stations in Palmdale, California, and also USD1.7 million of amortization expense related to goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets, net of income taxes. On a same-station basis, revenues were flat but BCF excluding barter was up 4.9% to USD4.8 million. Chairman and CEO Terry Jacobs said the results reflected improvement over the prior year and were slightly ahead of guidance in a challenging environment. "We have an attractive mix of developing stations, an experienced management team committed to growth, and a strong balance sheet which provides us with the ability to capitalize on future growth opportunities, "he added. Independent radio sales and marketing company Interep said is commission revenues were up 5% to USD 23.7 million, USD 700, 000 of it Internet revenue and operating EBITDA, aided by cost controls put into effect, was up 66% to USD5.5 million but net income for the quarter was way down at USD 300, 000 compared to USD 1.2 million in the same period of 2001; Earnings per share were down from 12 cents to 3 cents. Net loss for the first six months of the year was down to USD3.5 million from USD5.1 million and Interep says it expects to meet its guidance of commission in the USD18-19 million range with operating EBITDA margins from 22-23%. Chairman and CEO Ralph Guild said Interep was seeing a steady increase in the second half of the year as predicted and the company expected "revenues to continue to improve due to our focus on new business development and the continued rebound in national advertising." Saga Communications had net revenues for the quarter up 6.3% over 2001 to USD29.8 million; BCF was up 0.6% to USD10.9 million and ATCF was up 7.7% to USD6.2 million or 29 cents a share compared to 28 cents a share in 2001. Same station revenues were up around 2.9% to USD 28.8 million and same station BCF was down by just under one per cent to USD93, 000. Saga said it expected third quarter revenues of around USD28.7 million, BCF of USD11 million and ATCF of USD6.2 million or 29 cents a share. For the full year it expected revenues just under USD112 million, BCF just over USD 40 million and AFCR just over USD 22 million or USD1.05 per share. Previous Guild: Previous Interep: Previous Jacobs: Previous Liggins: Previous Radio One: Previous Regent: Previous Royster: Previous Saga: 2002-08-01: Latest figures from the UK Radio Advertising Bureau show revenue up for the second quarter in a row, aided by substantial increases in sponsorship and also by promotions on radio station websites. The Bureau says the industry is on target to gain a 7% share of UK advertising by the end of the year. Overall revenues in the quarter were GBP139 million, up 2.1% on the second quarter of 2001, but sponsorship and promotional spending leapt by 16.8% after a 15.5% increase during the first quarter of the year. UK RAB managing director Justin Sampson commented, "...given the overall mood we were pleased to report that Commercial Radio had increased its share of advertising to 6.7% in the first quarter of 2002. These latest numbers give us confidence that a 7% market share will be achieved this year - this may even be the case when a clear picture emerges of how other media have performed across the April-June quarter. He said the sponsorship and promotion trend was "very encouraging", adding, "New marketing models, such as permission and experiential marketing, are fuelling advertiser's desires to move beyond spot advertising - radio is clearly benefiting from the increasing integration of sponsorships and promotions alongside more traditional advertising mechanisms". The British government through the Central Office of Information (COI) remained the top spender in the latest quarter; it spent GBP3.5 million, up by 165% on 2001 when most campaigns were withdrawn in the run-up to the British General Election. Other big spenders were Sainsbury's, the supermarket chain, which increased its second quarter radio spend of GBP680, 000 in 2001 to GBP3.27 million to take the second place; it now spends a fifth of its advertising budget on radio compared to a fiftieth a year ago. In the telecommunications sector, third-ranked British Telecom increased its spending from GBP1.83 million to GBP3.26 million; fourth ranked Vodaphone increased its spending from 1.74 to 1.87 million and O2, Telewest and T-Mobile also increased spending ignorantly although mobile phone sales company the Carphone Warehouse cuts its spend by almost a quarter. Other large national advertisers increasing spending included Coca Cola (Up 133%), Ford (up 139%), Nestle (up 118%), and Toyota (also up 118%). Previous Sampson: Previous UK Radio Advertising Bureau: UK Radio Advertising Bureau web site (Flash 6 site): 2002-08-01: Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has upped the ante in its lawsuit against Clear Channel and Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC), originally filed in June (See RNW June 13): it is now looking for actual damages of more than USD500 million, to be tripled under anti-trust laws. In an amended complaint that it field on Wednesday, SBS alleges a significant conspiracy by Clear Channel combined with other actions such as vandalism at its KBTI-FM, Oakland, California where it says Clear Channel representatives spray-painted the walls with obscene and pornographic messages. Business malpractice allegations include claims that *Clear Channel interfered in negotiations with HBC that could have led to a merger of SBS and HBC and instead required HBC to merge with Univision; *that HBC leveraged its relationship with Clear Channel, which holds 26% of its stock, to gain favourable treatment from auditors and valuation consultants; *and that HBC tried to entice a New York host to breach his contract with SBS. RNW comment: Although we are not drawing a link between the two, it is interesting to note that a Media Week article on Randy Michaels and Clear Channel this week says that Michaels was moved out of his Radio CEO position because of a consensus that he was a "a political liability that Clear Channel could ill afford to carry as the company's radio operations came under intensified scrutiny in Washington for questionable business practices, many of which Michaels spearheaded." Previous Clear Channel: Previous HBC: Previous Michaels: Previous SBS: Previous Univision: 2002-08-01: UK sports station TeamTalk252 has now gone off the air and staff have received redundancy money following a failure by new owners UKBetting to find a buyer for the station. The station, formerly dance format Atlantic 235, was converted to its sports format in March this year ((See RNW March 11). UK Betting acquired TEAM talk Media Group , whose holdings included the radio station, in June this year. TEAMtalk under its former chairman Bill Wilson paid RTL Group GBP2 million for its 80% holding in the station last year (See RNW Oct 12, 2001). Irish State Broadcaster RTÉ held the other fifth and UK Betting is reported to have agree in principle to dispose of its holding to RTÉ. Previous RTÉ: Previous TEAMtalk: Previous Wilson: 2002-08-01: MeasureCast, which earlier in the week announced changes to its system including abolition of the requirement for a listener to stay with a station for five minutes without a break before being counted, has rated Jazz FM the top Internet station in its latest ratings covering the week to July 21. Virgin Radio fell from top to second rank. MeasureCast's Internet Radio Listening Index for the week of rose two percent to an all-time high in as many weeks and the company says since January 6 of this year, the total time spent listening to Web radio stations measured by MeasureCast is up 145 percent. For the week to July 21, MeasureCast's top five stations ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) with in brackets TTSL and Cume persons (a measure of the cumulative audience -CP) for the previous week - were: 1: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 355,738 (289,880); CP 73,029 (67,630): Up from second with higher listening and reach. 2: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 354,014 (362,831); CP 70,055 (67,861): Down from first with lower listening but higher reach. 3: Classical format WQXR-FM, New York -184,122 TTSL (184,782); CP 35,148 (34,809): Same position with lower listening and higher reach. 4: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 175,535 (161,040); CP 34,723 (32,650). Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Internet-only market match Adult alternative Radioio TTSL 134,331 (118,111); CP 38,095 (33,009 ). Up from sixth with higher listening but lower reach. *Classical format KING-FM dropped from fifth to sixth with lower TTSL 121,733 (127,006) and reach CP 21,350 (21,686). The top five networks for the week to July 21(Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 1,758,966 (1,973,769) ; CP 339,956 (359,292) - Same position despite lower listening and reach. 2: Radio Free Virgin TTSL 786,470 (781,926): CP 158,164 (160,716) - Same position despite lower listening and reach. 3: Internet Radio Inc TTSL 627,806 (593,328) : CP 194,222 (187,854) - - Up from fourth with higher listening and reach. 4: WARP Radio TTSL 612,581 (694,577) hours: CP 99,521 (160,716) - Down from third with lower listening and reach. 5: Virgin Radio TTSL 504,593 (516,983) : CP 94,967 (94,229) - - Same position with lower listening and higher reach. The top five simulcast stations for the week (Previous week in brackets) were: 1: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 355,738 (289,880); CP 73,029 (67,630): Up from second with higher listening and reach. 2: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 354,014 (362,831); CP 70,055 (67,861): Down from first with lower listening but higher reach. 3: Classical format WQXR-FM, New York -184,122 TTSL (184,782); CP 35,148 (34,809): Same position with lower listening and higher reach. 4: Sports talk format ESPN TTSL 175,535 (161,040); CP 34,723 (32,650). Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Classical format KING-FM - TTSL 121,733 (127,006); CP 21,350 (21,686). Same position with lower listening and reach. The top five Internet-only stations for the week (Previous week in brackets), were: 1: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 134,331 (118,111) ; CP 38,095 (33,009) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 2: Listener-formatted MediAmazing - TTSL 90,955 (94,982) ; CP 41,223 (41,583) Same position with higher listening and reach. 3:Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville -TTSL 84,606 (83,711); CP 13,899 (13,342) - Same position with higher listening and reach. 4: Pure Rock KNAC.com - TTSL 69,327 (63,825) ; CP 16,143 (15,707). Same position with higher listening and reach. 5: Rock format BeOnAir Rock TTSL 63,204 (56,987); CP 9,294 (9,057). Previously below Internet only top ten. * Alternative Rock 3WK Underground Radio fell from fifth to ninth with lower TTSL of 50,785 (61,597) and CP 16,465 (16,641). Previous MeasureCast: Previous MeasureCast ratings: MeasureCast web site: 2002-08-01: British Broadcasting watchdog, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC), in its July bulletin just issued, upheld three complaints against British radio compared to two a month earlier. In all the Commission lists 205 complaints compared to 122 in June; no statements were required from broadcasters in 76 cases compared to a corresponding figure of 105 in April. There were 11 fairness complaints (two in June), only one of which was against radio and that was not upheld. Of the ten TV complaints including teletext, two were upheld (one in June) and three partly upheld (none in June). Standards complaints totalled 194, statements being called for in 118 cases. Of these six were upheld (four in June), three involving radio (two in June) and three involving TV (three in June). In addition four complaints were resolved, all involving TV, and four were partly upheld, one involving radio and three involving TV. The three complaints against radio that were upheld involved BBC Radio 1, Beacon Radio and Key 103. That against BBC Radio 1 involved the Chris Moyles afternoon show, which had carried an interview with Charlotte Church in which a listener felt there had been inappropriate sexual content. The BBC responded that the references to the interviewee's virginity and sexual innuendo had not been too graphic or adult for the time of transmission but the Commission held that it had exceeded boundaries and upheld the complaint. The complaint about Beacon concerned what the complainant termed "inappropriately offhand" treatment of a story on its breakfast show about the attempted suicide by an unidentified young person in police custody and the Commission held that the detailed recollections of the incident combined with the light-hearted tone had exceeded acceptable boundaries. The Key 103 complaint was about an item on the JK and Joel show that the complainant said made light of mental illness in an item about Adam Ant. The Panel said it considered the repeated comments "gratuitous and distasteful, and that making light of a serious illness was unacceptable." The radio complaint that was resolved was a complaint against Virgin FM and a Jon Holmes late evening show in January about which there was a complaint of offensive remarks regarding murdered woman TV presenter Jill Dando and about people with learning difficulties. Virgin had apologized for any offense and noted that it had ended Holmes' contract. (RNW note: The same reason was given for the resolution of a two complaints about his show in the June bulletin and another in the Commission's May Bulletin). The latest report of the BBC Complaints Unit, covering the period from April to July, lists comments about six complaints involving radio compared with 18 against TV and two concerning the Corporation's website output. In all, the Corporation says it received 229 complaints concerning 142 items compared to 186 complaints concerning 156 items in the previous quarter. Of these, 81 concerned matters of fairness and accuracy (59 in the previous quarter) and the remaining 148 about matters of taste and standards 127(in the previous quarter). In the period (previous quarter's figures in brackets) 31 complaints were upheld ((13 of them partly) - 13.5% of the total compared to 25 upheld (6 partly) - 13.5%of the total) and of the items investigated 16 were upheld ((11.5% of the total compared to 16 (10.5%)). The complaints involving radio concerned A complaint by the Countryside Alliance of bias by a presenter on Radio Northampton during cover of a survey on attitudes to the use of firearms: A complaint of bias in BBC Radio 1's reporting on the Scottish Parliament's anti-hunting legislation: A complaint against Radio Kent that it had infringed the privacy of a man involved in a neighbourhood dispute and that the item was unbalanced. The first complaint was rejected but the second was upheld. A complaint about a Woman's Hour interview with the Europe Minister comparing the attitudes of men and women towards the Euro in which the minister gave figures of benefits that were inaccurate. It was held that the figure should have been challenged. A complaint against BBC Radio 4 On your Farm programme and subsequent more generalized complaint that the BBC denigrated conventional farming and propounded the benefits of organic farming. This complaint was not upheld. A similar complaint of bias in BBC coverage of the EU: An appeal against a decision not to investigate a complaint about inaccurate reporting of the case of a baby with Goldenhar syndrome that had stated that the baby was the subject of a "Police Protection Order" when no such order exists. The appeal was not upheld on the basis that in this case the distinction between a "police protection order" and, for example, an "emergency protection order" was not materially significant in this context Previous BBC: Previous BSC: Previous BBC Complaints Bulletin: Previous BSC Complaints Bulletin: BSC web site (Note: This is a 'Flash' site: It links to the report in PDF format- 205 kb): BBC web site re complaints: Links
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