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2000-11-19: Licence news this week.
And things were still on hold in the US where election is still to be decided, although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a notice regarding third generation mobile phone spectum.
In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority has served notice on Broadcast Operations Pty Limited that it must commence operation of its commercial radio service in Maryborough/ Hervey Bay, Queensland by December 9.
The licence was allocated to the company, which had bid Aus$700000 for it at auction, in January 1999 and, under Australian regulations, broadcasts should have started a year later.
Two extensions have already been granted, one to July 20, and a second to October 20 but the Authority has now refused a request for a further extension until February next year.
The company must now start broadcasts or face prosecution and/or have its licence cancelled or suspended.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has approved a number of CBC transmitter changes.
They include a decrease of the power of CBNT-2 Placentia, Newfoundland, from 11,000 watts to 10,600 watts, increases in power of CBFNT Port-au-Port, Newfoundland, from 14,000 watts to 15,000 watts; of CBYT-1 Stephenville, Newfoundland, from 11,600 watts to 12,010 watts; of the power of CBHT-1 Liverpool, Nova Scotia, from 970 watts to 1,127 watts and of CBAFT-2 Edmundston, New Brunswick, from 8,500 watts to 19,500 watts.
The CRTC has also approved the addition of a second CBC transmitter at St John's in Newfoundland and issued new forms for campus and community radio stations.
In Ireland, the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) has received seven applications for a new station due to open in Cork next year.
They are; Beat FM, largely owned by UK Capital Radio Irish subsidiary Today FM; Cork KiX FM whose shareholders include Irish businessman Denis O'Brien; Sonic FM backed by CORK 96 FM; Capital C FM backed by Clare FM and LM/FM; Deep South Radio backed by the cable TV company, Setanta Sport; Lite FM backed by Lite FM, and Radio Kerry and Redhot FM backed by Dublin station, FM104, and the Irish Examiner newspaper.
In the UK, on the analogue side the Radio Authority has renewed the Harrogate licence held by Stray FM for another eight years from July 2002.
This was an unopposed application and was dealt with under the authority's fast track procedure, which is also to apply to the FM licences for the Isle of Wight and Tendring in Essex.
In each case only the current holders, Isle of Wight Radio and Audio Management Ltd., broadcasting as Dream 100 FM, have applied for the licence from January 2003.
On the digital side, the authority has received two applications for South Wales/ Severn Estuary regional digital multiplex licence.
They are from The Digital Radio Group and MXR.
Digital, whose shareholders include The Wireless Group, GWR Group, Emap Digital Radio and the Scottish Media Group, is proposing a nine channel service to start in September next year.
MXR, whose shareholders include Chrysalis Group, Capital Radio, Jazz FM, UBC Digital, Soul Media and the Ford Motor Co, is also proposing nine services but with a start in July of next year.
Most channels on both services are music formats with Digital also proposing a news and community access service and MXR offering both news and a children's channel.:
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2000-11-19: The Toronto Globe and Mail has been reporting this week on the swing to all-sports programming in Canadian radio.
Toronto is expected to have three sports-format stations by the end of the year and in Vancouver one station is expected to switch to all sports and another to primarily sports cover in the evening.
The paper says the changes follow a growth in sports audience and the make-up of that audience, which is heavily skewed to males from 18-54.
It quotes Alan Davis, Programme director of Team 1200 in Ottawa, as saying its audience has doubled since it moved to a sports format a year ago.
"Everybody's looking at all-sports today a lot more seriously than they were six or seven years ago," said Davis.
He added, "the reason for that is the format has proven to be a seller. You can make money with it."
In addition to the changes, expected from both the CHUM network, which owns 27 stations including Team 1200, and Corus Entertainment, with coming up to 50 stations, the paper says they each may try to set up sports syndication services.
CHUM is looking at setting up syndication not just to its own network but to other stations including an alliance with independently owned Grand Slam radio in Vancouver, which is moving to an all-sports format. Corus may set up a partnership with Headline Sports, which owns the cable highlights channel and the radio rights to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Headline would like to provide sports content to Canadian stations in a way similar to ESPN radio programme syndication in the US.
Headline, however, is in dispute with Rogers Communications, which bought the Blue Jays club in August, and wants to void the five-year deal Headline had signed with the Jays six weeks earlier.
The Jays games were carried for a while on existing Toronto sports station Telemedia's The FAN, which was launched in 1992, struggled at first, partly because of expensive Blue Jay and Toronto Maple Leaf rights fees.
By 1996 it had run up losses of $20 million and dropped them.
Now it has been making money for several years.
The FAN plays down the threat from the new sports outlets in Toronto.
Its general manager Doug Ackhurst contends that there is only room for one all-sports station in Toronto.
Ackhurst says comparisons with all-sports format success in the US is misleading.
"Americans are just enamoured with sports, from high school sports up to the pro games, he told the paper.
"Canadians are not as passionate about sports as Americans. So it's a different marketplace and, I think, this is where so-called competitors are misleading themselves."
Ackhurst adds that Telemedia is also looking into an expansion of its sports syndication, saying that one result of reasonably priced syndicated content could be more all-sports stations.
One thing he and Davis are agreed on is that, although rights to games may enhance a station's image it is not essential.
Many US stations are successful without them and they make money during the daytime not in the evenings when the games are broadcast.
In addition, rights ownership can impinge upon the nature of commentaries.
"The type of radio station you become can be dictated by rights," Davis said.
"If you're not in the rights business, the hosts can be a lot more liberal in their comments. And, in some cases, that's better radio."
Previous Corus:
Toronto Globe and Mail (Search for radio - only has 7-day free archive).

2000-11-18: More US radio deals, starting with CBS-Infinity which has now filed paperwork for the sale of the last three stations it had to divest because of the Viacom take-over.
Trumpet Broadcasting Inc is paying $4.7 million for gospel format KHVN-AM Ft. Worth, Texas and in Baltimore, Maryland, Expanse Communications Inc is paying $5.4million for gospel format WBGR-AM & religious format WBMD-AM.
In Nebraska, Waitt Radio is buying KCTY-FM, licensed to Plattsmouth, in the Omaha market from Platte Broadcasting for $750,000. Waitt already owns KCTY-FM.
Previous Infinity;

2000-11-18: Two US hosts getting a boost, one out of the door and an Australian host on the way out to end the week.
Getting boosts were black host Tom Joyner and right-wing US host Rush Limbaugh whose web site is proudly proclaiming that it had more visits in the week to November 12 than any of the major news organisations; according to Nielsen Net Ratings he scored 20 million page views in the week.
For Tom Joyner, who recently moved to Radio 1 Inc (RNW Aug 8) and has a large black audience, the boost was the first interview US Vice President Al Gore has given since the voting ended.
In the interview Gore eschewed some of the harsher language including comments that the election "stinks to high heaven."
Gore aides said that the radio interview was a spontaneous gesture to Mr. Joyner by Mr. Gore, who had appealed to black voters through the program at various points throughout the campaign.
Out of the door is Chicago WSCR-AM afternoon co-host Dan McNiel who was suspended three weeks ago for what the station management termed a "philosophical disagreement."
McNeil, who'd been at the sports-talk station for nine years had made on air remarks critical of a re-alignment that split him from his partner Terry Boers, who is now doing mornings, and put him with Dan Jiggetts.
McNeil's contract was due to expire in April but he has now agreed a buy-out.
On the way out is Australian shock-jock Stan Zemanek.
His contract with Sydney 2GB is not being renewed and the station is looking for a new morning presenter.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Zemanek, who was hired from the late slot at Sydney 2UE (RNW Dec 14 )to take on that station's morning host John Laws, had only a 4.2% audience share compared to Laws' 12.1%.
It adds that he will remain in his post until the contract expires on December 17 but is hardly likely to have to worry about finance as Business Review Weekly magazine earlier this estimated his annual income at Aus $1.7 million.
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2000-11-18: Broadcasts from the Moscow-based Voice of Russia have been swamping the signal of a tiny local radio station in England according to the UK Guardian.
The problems are said to occur on winter mornings when it is dark because the absence of sunlight on the ionosphere makes it reflective and thus able to bounce radio waves -which would normally go out into space -- back to earth.
Both the local station, Somerset Sound which is based in Taunton, and the much more powerful Voice of Russia, which broadcasts English language programmes from 0600-1000GMT, use the same medium wave frequency.
UK Guardian report.

2000-11-17: US digital radio has taken a step forward with iBbiquity Digital Corporation announcing that its IBOC digital audio broadcast (DAB) system has satisfied ITU (International Telecommunication Union) standards for bands below 30 MHz.
A draft recommendation that countries considering digital broadcasts using these bands could comply with ITU standards by using the iBbiquity system is now to be circulated to the 189 member countries of the ITU.
ibiquity's IBOC DAB system (iDAB) allows a broadcast to carry both conventional analogue and digital signals.
Robert Struble, president and chief executive officer of iBiquity Digital Corporation said they regarded the recommendation as a significant vote of confidence" in their system. "Digital broadcasting offers the potential for new and improved services to AM radio listeners, who will greatly benefit from the existence of a standard for the transmission and reception of digital signals," he added.
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iBiquity web site (links to news release):

2000-11-17: The UK wireless broadband auction, which started off slowly, now seems to have crawled almost to a halt!
Bidding shown on the Radiocommunications Agency site has increased by under a million pounds over the past two days, most of it in the London licence bids.
Bidding has also gone up a small amount in Northern Ireland, but it now seems unlikely to get remotely near the billion pounds mark which was forecast before markets started feeling that companies had paid too much for spectrum.
The current total is less than half the £78 million reserve placed on the licences and there have been no bids at all in seven regions.
Under the bidding rules, companies which do not bid during a round can only then bid for a reduced number of licences and current speculation is that as many as half of the 42 licences on offer may remain unsold.
Previous Spectrum auction;
UK Radiocommunications Agency (links to bidding information pages);

2000-11-17: US radio giant Clear Channel is to cut around 400 jobs and close down the AMFM corporate offices in Dallas and those of its Capstar subsidiary in Austin, also in Texas.
According to paperwork filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Clear Channel, which took over AMFM in a $24 billion deal at the end of August (RNW Sept 1), plans to close the offices in March next year.
Amongst the people losing out is AMFM's chief financial officer, Geoffrey Armstrong.
Clear Channel had already closed down AMFM's web site - it hasn't even set it to re-direct.
Clear Channel's shares, which have lost around 40% of their value this year, rose slightly on the news.
In other US radio developments, Emmis Corporation has postponed plans to separate its radio and TV units which it announced in May. (RNW May 9).
It says it will reconsider when stock market conditions are more favourable.
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2000-11-16: The Flood Tribunal into the award of Ireland's first national commercial radio licence to Century radio has been hearing evidence from former members of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), the country's regulators who awarded the licence.
Vivian Murray, the first former IRTC member to give evidence said concerning the applications, that the estimates for advertising revenue submitted by two of the unsuccessful applicants were "optimistic in the extreme".
He commented that the Commission was the he said the commission was prepared to see someone like Century "take up the cudgels" over the question of RTE's transmission charges, as this would have a knock-on effect on other commercial broadcasters seeking to use them.
"The Century people were seen to be tough, experienced business people with a broad range of talents both in and out of the entertainment industry."
" I think the Commission looked at the people involved at the end of the day and said on balance they were the best of the applicants," said Murray.
He also said that it was a "surprise" to him to learn that , the then Minister for Communications Ray Burke nominated the solicitor, bank and accountant used by the Commission.
Burke's lawyers say that the matter was straightforward; the solicitor and bank manager were constituents of the minister.
William Moody, a senior Ulster Bank official said he had received a phone call from the minister to tell him they had been appointed as bankers but Burke got no benefit from the bank for the introduction.
The Tribunal also heard that a senior RTÉ executive received "£1600 or £1700" from the co-founder of Century Radio, Oliver Barry, not the £5000 that Barry had told the tribunal he had paid over
The money, said the executive, Peter Branagan, was given to fund entertainment for RTÉ transmission staff who had worked on getting Century onto the air.
Branagan said Barry was pleased with the work done and wanted to show his appreciation.
There had been discussion of a bonus payment but in the end it was decided to set up entertainment budget for use as each transmission "milestone" was reached.
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RNW note: Most of our report is culled from The Irish Times which has been carrying full reports on the Flood Tribunal. For their reports follow the link below: Look for Flood Tribunal .
Irish Times --search page

2000-11-16: More radio results both sides of the Atlantic, but with the strongest news from Scotland where Scottish Radio Holdings has just reported record profits for its financial year.
Group pre-tax profits were up by a fifth to £20 million and turnover was up nearly a third to just under £72 million.
The biggest earners were the group's analogue radio stations, which had a turnover of £34 million. The group is now focussing on expansion of its digital radio network, which it sees as spearheading its reach into England.
Still in the UK but less positive news for both EMAP and UBC Media, with the former reporting a small increase of 3% in half year revenues to £567 million and flat pre-tax profits of £92 million.
The group, which runs magazines and radio stations, had been planning heavy Internet spending but has now trimmed this from £250 million over the next three years to around £120 million, mainly on magazine-linked sites.
UBC Media has reported half-year losses of £430,000 on turnover of £2.4 million.
It says the results are in line with its expectations and chief executive Simon Cole was bullish, pointing out that revenues were up by more than a fifth compared with the first half of 1999 and that the company was in a strong cash position thanks to the £5 million it raised at its initial public offering in July.
And finally for the UK, Capital Radio is re-branding its Capital Gold station with a new logo and a marketing campaign, which will feature posters of such stars as David Bowie and Mick Jagger on London buses.
In the US, Cumulus Media showed how to ride bad news positively.
Despite poor third quarter results, it had so lowered expectations that its shares jumped by more than a fifth following the company's conference call.
The third quarter results showed net revenues up 22.9% to $47.3 million, but Broadcast cash flow down 4.7% to $15.7 million; on a same station basis revenues went down 4.7% to $28.8 million and broadcast cash flow dropped 38.5% to $7.1 million.
In addition to the results, CEO Lew Dickey announced that Cumulus is unable to collect on some $20 million in sales contracts written at its stations.
He was more upbeat about the future, predicting 7% overall growth next year allied with a 15 % increase in cash flow to take the company.
For 2000, Dickey says, Cumulus should see $230 million in net revenues in year 2000 and $63 million in broadcast cash flow.
As well as its financial results, Cumulus has also announced the appointment of Jonathon Pinch as executive vice president and chief operating officer from the beginning of December.
Pinch was formerly president of Clear Channel International Radio CCU.
Still in the US, a few deals to round up the day.
In Georgia, Beasley Broadcasting is spending $12 million on WKXC-FM and Soft AC WSLT-FM in Augusta to up its station total in the market to eight.
In New Mexico, Clear Channel is to exercise its option and spend $1.26 million to buy KAZX-FM Kirtland, which it already runs under an LMA. Also in New Mexico, Burt Broadcasting, which already owns KYEE-FM Alamagordo, is buying KINN-AM & KZZX-FM for $800000;
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2000-11-15:Two obituaries today of US radio veterans.
First a national institution in the form of Robert Trout who has died aged 91.
His radio career started at the start of the 1930s and was still going in the late 1990s with work for the US public radio series, All Things Considered.
Trout was often referred to as one of "Murrow's Boys", the name given for the team of reporters hired for CBS in the mid 1930's.
In fact he preceded Murrow into the business when he was hired by the small Virginia station WJSV in 1931 before it became part of the CBS network.
After covering such events as the Coronation of King George VI in 1936, Trout made 35 broadcasts in one day during the Allied Invasion of France on D-Day.
He also announced the "end of the second World War" to CBS listeners on VE Day in 1945.
Trout was also noted for dubbing US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's radio addresses "fireside talks" and extemporaneously delivered a 25-minute memorial program when Roosevelt died in 1945.
Trout was born Robert Albert Blondheim in Washington in 1909, but took Trout as his professional name in 1932.
Most of his broadcasting life was spent with CBS on radio and then television but he also had spells with both ABC and NBC.
Trout retired from full-time reporting in 1996 but continued to work as a commentator for All Things Considered.
The other death, at the age of 100, was of New York veteran, Eleanor Naumburg Sanger, the first program director of WQXR, the New York classical music station that she and her husband helped to found. She was at the station from shortly after its founding in 1936 until 1959, spending more than 20 of the years there as programme director.
New York Times Sanger obit:
New York Times Trout obit:

2000-11-15: More spectrum sales slowdowns: Bidding in the UK broadband auction for wireless Internet use has got off to a slow start and the third generation mobile phone auction in Switzerland has been put on hold.
In the UK, the broadband auction has now reached some £37 million compared to analyst's initial estimates of more than £1 billion for the final amount.
Another bidder, FirstMark Communications pulled out on Monday, following the withdrawal of Unica before the auction even began (RNW Nov 12).
There have been no bids at all in eight of the 14 regions and where there is bidding, the highest bid so far is of £7.25 million for one of the London licence and the lowest of £200,000 for a Northern Ireland licences.
And in Switzerland, the country's third generation mobile phone auction was put on hold after British Telecom agreed to sell its 34%stake in the Swiss Sunrise network to fellow shareholder TeleDanmark for £460 million.
At the same time TeleDanmark took control of another bidder for a third generation licence, diAx.
TeleDanmark intends to merge the two companies, which would leave only four companies bidding for four licences, thus denying the Swiss government of a revenue windfall.
The auction was postponed and Bakom, the Swiss telecoms regulator, is to investigate any potential collusion among the bidders
And still on the subject of spectrum, US aviation officials have warned that the airwaves used for air traffic control purposes in the US are nearly at full capacity, thus threatening any expansion of air travel.
Experts say, according to the Washington Post, that the constraints this imposes are as important as those from crowed airspace and a lack of runways.
There is also a dispute over how to solve the problem with airlines pushing for adoption of a European system, which could be in operation in five years but would then be outdated in another 15.
The Federal Aviation Authority would prefer a digital system which would have a longer life but could not be in operation for around ten years but some authorities say gridlock will be reached long before then.
Aviation uses the spectrum from 108 to 137 megahertz, just above that used by FM radio stations, and initial solutions were possible by crowding more channels into this spectrum but the limit for this has been reached with current US technology, which allows four channels for each MHZ of spectrum.
The European system would permit 12 channels, leaving 8.33 kilohertz between each channel but can only handle voice traffic.
The fear is that money would not be available to adopt this system on an interim basis and then have to send money again on a higher technology digital solution but pressures are so great that a likely interim solution may be instituted using it only on a limited basis in conjunction with an existing US digital solution which is satisfactory for non-critical uses.
This would free up space for a short-term expansion whilst longer-term solutions are brought in.
RNW note: In view of the continuing US moves (RNW Nov 11) to allow sub-leasing of frequency, one wonders whether there may yet be pressures to use some of the existing radio FM spectrum in some cities as digital radio is introduced.
Previous Spectrum auction:
Washington Post article:

2000-11-15: Iranian exiles in California are expanding the range of their radio station signals to include short wave broadcasts to Iran itself according to the Los Angeles Times.
The state has long had Farsi services, from non-political KIRN-AM in Los Angeles and the more polemical KRSI or Voice of Iran, a closed-circuit station, which is now based in Beverley Hills.
There is now a a newcomer in KSMI. This is another closed-circuit station, launched in September and sending its programming over North America an to Europe via satellite.
The new station has spurred KRSI into its short wave broadcasts to Iran and KSMI is also to broadcast to Iran for two hours a day via satellite.
All the stations are competing for listeners amongst Iranian exiles who oppose the government in Iran and different adaptors are needed for stations to pick up KSMI and KRSI, which has started fund-raising drives similar to those of US public stations to raise funds.
Los Angeles Times article:

2000-11-14: More US deals: And Christian-oriented Salem Communications, which already owns WYLL-FM in Chicago, is paying $29 million for the 50,000 watt 1160-AM signal which used to carry WSCR-AM, the Infinity sports station. Infinity had to sell off a Chicago AM following the Viacom take-over of its CBS parent and chose to close down WMAQ (RNW Aug 1)and switch WSCR to the more powerful WMAQ frequency.
It then used the 1160 signal to simulcast WXRT-FM ad WXRT-AM pending the divestiture.
Salem President and CEO, Edward G. Atsinger III, said Salem had been trying to acquire additional stations in Chicago/ He said the acquisition fitted perfectly with Salem's "strategy to add stations in markets where we have established a foundational station operation, in this case, our flagship Chicago station WYLL-FM"
On a smaller- and larger - scale, giant Clear Channel has agreed an LMA of KREW-FM, Naches, Washington, and filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission to buy it from Butterfield Broadcasting Corp. for $1.3 million.
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2000-11-14: Two likely departures from broadcast shows; one from TV by conservative US radio host Dr Laura Schlessinger and the other from radio by Internet gossip Matt Drudge.
The latter, reports the Washington Post, has been "fired" by ABC radio from his syndicated radio show.
The paper says Drudge attributes the decision not to renew his contact to sensitivity about his reporting on the activities of ABC and its parent, Disney.
It quotes Drudge as saying, "The whole notion that this is a political payback for my Web reporting is an explosive accusation, but I'm willing to make it."
ABC says ABC Broadcast Group President Bob Callahan made the decision with no involvement by Disney because " Sunday night talk shows are just not a good business."
The company added that, "It takes up a lot of your time but makes very little money."
ABC Radio executives are said to have been talking about moving the show to five days a week and are said to want to keep the show, currently aired in 135 markets and generating revenue of some $400,000 a year.
Drudge had already given up his TV show after a row with Fox. Drudge is now back to a one-man operation with no links to major media companies.
He is quoted as saying, "The air we breathe is free, the airwaves are not." And it looks very much as if Dr Laura has failed to make it on TV.
At least one station has dropped her TV show entirely according to the Stop Dr Laura site, and others are moving it to a middle of the night "graveyard" slot.
An even more ominous report for the host, denied by Paramount, the TV show's producer, came from TV Industry journal Electronic Media .
It h said on its web site that the show is to cease production this.week.
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Washington Post report:

2000-11-13: The UK Observer, following up the story of the death of Italian radio journalist Antonio Russo, found dead by a roadside in Georgia, (RNW Oct 27) suggests that he may have been murdered by the Russian Secret service because he had evidence of atrocities in Chechnya.
According to the paper, he died because his chest was crushed until ribs cracked causing him to die from internal bleeding but without leaving marks of violence.
His apartment in Tblisi had been ransacked and friends, say the paper, believe he was assassinated by the Russian secret service after discovering unconventional weapons were being used against children.
Russo had phoned his mother, Beatrice, a pharmacist in Tuscany, in September, reports the paper, saying he had obtained videotape.
He is said to have spoken of dead children, unimaginable horror, and war crimes which the world would see when he returned to Italy in October.
The claim is only one of a number of reasons which are being put forward for Russo's death and his mother says she believes his killers, whoever they are, will never be fund.
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UK Observer report:

2000-11-13: The US elections seem to have thrown up some doubts about the county's electoral system and also indirectly about its media, specifically the broadcast media, so it seems apposite to bias this week's columnists towards the political.
And first the US elections which, reports the Washington Post, have been a "bonanza" for the US talk-show hosts.
However, that's not necessarily a great bonus for the populace if it or the UK Sunday Times is correct.
Howard Kurtz in the Post summarises one reason in his first sentence, which speaks of "the television and radio shows that thrive on partisan combat."
Unsurprisingly (to RNW that is )most of those quoted are partisan, and indeed Republican partisan, although one newspaper man who has been featuring on the shows put some balance in with the comment, "It's a wonderful thing for us and a bad thing for the country."
Equally unsurprising to us has been the fact that the Republican supporters, who have most to lose, have been more strident than the Democrats, with Rush Limbaugh comparing Gore's strategy to that of OJ Simpson's defence ands terming it 'voter nullification."
Oliver North (of Contra arms and lawbreaking fame) gets his bias over by quoting a caller who said, "This is Impeachment II" and adding, "it's even more important than impeachment."
" That would have transferred power from one Democrat to another. This is their final effort to keep from ever surrendering."
By comparison the quotes from a liberal hosts were much less strident with them saying things like "both sides feel morally entitled to the White House" and "because "each side is so close and both sides can taste it. The pressure on Gore to concede is absurd.
" Gore does have a moral mandate in that he has the popular vote, and he should not be intimidated into conceding prematurely. It's a little smirky for Bush to start publicly convening his transition team."
RNW note:From the UK it does seem strange that there should be so much fuss about a re-count when things are so close, although there's no moral superiority when it comes to parties with the higher popular vote failing to get elected.
On then to Declan Burke, the UK Sunday Times Irish radio correspondent, who in a perceptive item starts off by saying, "On radio, size matters. The size of a station and the size of a nation shape the way radio is produced and received. In a large and diverse nation such as the United States, radio tends to be highly specialised and local."
" In a small and more homogeneous country such as the (Irish) republic, a national radio station has more chance of dealing with national issues satisfactorily."
" So it proved last week. I spent some time browsing through American stations on the web, via ituner.com, searching for indigenous coverage of the American presidential election."
"Despite the profusion of stations, there was precious little debate or comment. American radio, it seems, is so fractured and niche driven that when faced with general issues, even of immense domestic interest, it is ill-equipped to deal with them."
Burke admits that the size and disparate nature of the US inevitably has its effect but notes the benefit of having national stations as well as local ones when there are events of national import, citing the treatment of issues concerning recent severe flooding in Ireland on local and national radio/
RNW Note: these comments could equally apply in the UK and much of Europe which has also been hit hard by the weather over recent months.
"Take it all round, as Huckleberry Finn would say, " writes Burke, "the coverage kept its eye on the big picture without losing the local detail."
Still political, but this time pre-dating the US results row and to a degree contradicting Burke, was an articleby Dean Johnson in the Boston Herald on "Egghead" host, Christopher Lydon whose The Connection show goes out daily on some 75 US Public Radio stations.
It quotes Lydon as saying in jest during a show about "Gore-isms'' that ``We dare to be boring on this program.''
This says the article is odd in "these days of bottom line/high profit/lowest common denominator talk radio."
It adds that in part this is because the show, founded after Lydon made a pitch in 1994 to WBUR, Boston, to create an "intelligent talk radio show" is on public radio and thus needs to worry less about ratings.
And political again, but in a different vein, an article by former BBC Radio 4 "Today" show political correspondent John Kampfner in the UK Guardian at the beginning of the week was revealing about the pressures politicians in the UK put onto broadcasters.
He cites a whole catalogue of government callers putting on pressure after he rhetorically commented, regarding a fuel depot blockade, "what had happened to the government's green agenda of prising people out of their vehicles and on to public transport?"
Apparently he'd been mis-heard as saying "pricing" but as he points out, that really makes no difference.
The article lists other examples of pressure from politicians and illustrates well why so many people hold so many of them in contempt for their partisan approach and attempts to "script" broadcasters' comments for them.
The tactics, he points out, have often worked.
Kampfner writes that he interpreted his job "explaining what is really going on - sometimes through an original story, sometimes an original take on the mainstream story."
On the other hand, he says, " Many politicians want it just to regurgitate what they say. They maintain it is not the job of the BBC journalist to interpret."
RNW comment: An intelligent article worth a read. To us it puts many politicians on a par with the creatures from "entertainment" who will only appear on a show after prescribing conditions that simply make it a publicity vehicle for them. In the case of Hollywood, maybe it's good business, but democracy has wider connections.
And finally, to stay political but give a new slant on radio, a brief look at Paul Donovan's column in the UK Sunday Times. "It is a wry paradox," he writes, "that the most powerful moment of the radio year is one of silence."
"This morning (Nov 12) , virtually every radio station in Britain (apart from the pirates) will go over to the Cenotaph for that mournful two minutes in which the nation honours its fallen, and all you can hear is the wind sighing and people alone with their thoughts." Donovan goes on to reflect about another anniversary, Armistice Day, "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month", when the First World war ended -and how radio in the UK chose to mark it this year and comments on various other programmes dealing with the war.
RNW note: To us , the point he makes about the power of silence is well worth noting; so much for the US "cash" device (RNW Jan 6) that kills silences for profits!
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2000-11-13: Another round up of proceedings of the Flood Tribunal which is looking into the award of Ireland's first national commercial radio licence to Century Radio, which later went bankrupt.
In the past week, the Tribunal has heard of the shock and disbelief by state broadcaster RTÉ at a ministerial order cutting transmission costs, the dire effect of another ministerial order capping RTÉ's advertising revenue and how a businessman kept his involvement secret.
Testimony of "shock and rage" was given by former RTÉ director general Vincent Finn when asked about an order by then communications minister Ray Burke to cut agreed transmission charges from RTÉ to Century from the £694,000, agreed with the Department of Communications before the licence was awarded, to £375,000.
Finn said RTÉ decided to seek a legal opinion on the legality of the minister's directive and Hugh Geoghegan SC, now a High Court judge, stated that in his opinion the minister had acted ultra vires (beyond his powers) on two grounds.
However, said Finn, in spite of this they were reluctant to go the legal route on the issue because there would have been a public perception that RTÉ was ridding itself of a competitor.
On balance, taking the matter to court would not have been wise.
Asked if the minister gave an indication that there might be some flexibility on the figures, during a meeting with him, Finn said: "Quite the reverse, his mind was made up."
On the effect of Burke's "cap" on RTÉ advertising revenue, the broadcaster's then financial director Gerry O'Brien told the tribunal the losses would have been so large that RTÉ could not have remained in business and a former RTÉ sales and marketing director, Colm Molloy,said it "all but destroyed" the Irish advertising industry.
He added that no thought was given to the marketing implications of the cap when the Broadcasting Act was introduced in 1990 and denied that RTÉ ever engaged in price-fixing, predatory pricing or cross-subsidisation of different radio channels.
Testifying later in the week, Century co-founder (and son-in-law of the then Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey), John Mulhern said his involvement was kept secret in contravention of Irish broadcasting rules because the two other founders, Oliver Barry and James Stafford, wanted a "position of power" in the company.
Mulhern said he was not award of the rules at the time and that it was Stafford's decision to keep his (Mulhern's) involvement secret. Mulhern also said that he had no advance knowledge of £35,000 paid to Burke in May 1989 but learned of it considerably later "probably by the end of the year."
Mulhern said was made aware of it by Stafford, who said Mr Barry had paid the money on behalf of Century.
Mulhern also said he would not have agreed to payments made by Century of £5,000 to the political parties Fianna Fáil and £2,000 to Fine Gael.
Mulhern invested £610, 000 in Century, an equal one-third share of £300,000 with Barry and Stafford at the start and £310,000 later.
Mulhern's testimony conflicts with a statement by Barry which said the three agreed in advance the £35,000 payment to Burke.
It also conflicts with testimony from Stafford, who told the tribunal that he only learned of the payment in March 1991 and also insisted the money was paid by Mr Barry personally and not on behalf of Century.
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RNW note: Most of our report is culled from The Irish Times which has been carrying full reports on the Flood Tribunal. For their reports follow the link below: Look for Flood Tribunal .
Irish Times --search page

2000-11-12: Normally the complaint about broadcast media seems to be of "dumbing down" but one of British radio most popular soaps is said to be "too complicated."
It's the BBC Radio 4 "Archers" programme, which attracts a weekly audience of 4.5 million and is now approaching its fiftieth birthday.
The "soap", set in a fictional farming community was originally conceived by the British Ministry of Agriculture to attract people back into farming after the war and to pass on tips about modern agricultural practices.
It was first heard all over Britain in January 1951.
Now, it seems, research shows that new listeners can't make head or tail of it. According to the controller of Radio 4, Helen Boaden, BBC researchers who had hoped that it would bring new listeners to the channel found instead that new listeners couldn't "work out who is related to whom. "
"Its long history, which is so loved by its core audience, makes it impenetrable to the new listener, she told the UK Independent. "
"The Archers - and most radio drama - only works for those people who have fallen for speech radio in the first place and are already practised in creating pictures and characters in their heads."
However, mindful of the row caused when her predecessor James Boyle changed Radio 4 schedules, she isn't going to mess around with it. For those who may be tempted, the Independent also ran a guide to the characters features in the drama. RNW note: For those really keen, there will be a first-ever double-length New Year's Eve episode of the programme at the end of the year. It will set up a cliffhanger concerning the feud over who will inherit "Brookfield Farm" Tune in or listen to Radio 4 online.
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2000-11-12: Licence news this week. And fairly quiet everywhere, although proposals to allow sub-leasing of spectrum in the US may yet turn out to have wide-ranging consequences.
All was quiet in Australia and in Canada the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was involved only in the issue of public notices on the radio side.
These concerned three applications for low-power licences and one for a new English language FM station in Alberta.
The last application is from the Corus Radio Company, which wants a new 100,000 watts licence to replace its existing licence for CKGY Red Deer.
Corus proposes a country music format and wants to broadcast simultaneously on the AM and FM bands for a period of 3 months before surrendering the current CKGY licence.
The low power applications are for a 5-watt English-language low-power developmental FM community radio programming undertaking at Lewisporte, Newfoundland, a 250-watts English- and Native-language FM station at Georgina Island, Ontario, and a 50-watts English language tourist information service for Timmins, Ontario.
In the UK, the Radio Authority has fined an East Lancashire station £1000 for breaching its format, which requires it to provide a service to the Gujerati-speaking community within its output.
The station, Asian Sound, had been formally warned about a similar breach in October 1997 but had nevertheless, failed to broadcast its Gujerati output during two weeks of September this year.
The authority has also re-awarded the Aylesbury licence in Buckinghamshire for another eight years to Bucks Broadcasting Ltd., (Mix 96), the existing licence holder and sole applicant, and has pre-advertised two small-scale licences in the London area.
These latter are for the Thamesmead area of South-East London and the North London licence focusing upon Haringey, both for eight-years from 1 January 2003.
The present Thamesmead licence is held by Millennium FM Ltd and the present north London licence is held by London Greek Radio.
The Authority has also invited public interest comments on the planned take-over by GWR Group, which owns Hereward FM in Peterborough, of Lite FM (RNW Aug 23 ).
Both licences are for Peterborough, Hereward broadcasting a contemporary and chart music and information service and Lite broadcasts an adult contemporary music, local news and sport service.
In the US, the main regulatory activities were the proposals to permit sub-leasing of frequency (see below).
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2000-11-12: Time for another look at the issue of spectrum sales as the UK starts its auction for broadband internet spectrum but fails to attract bids for all licences and the US regulators propose changes that would allow companies to sub-let spectrum licensed to them.
The US action comes from the Federal Communications Commission which is now proposing to allow sub-leasing of spectrum without regulatory approval instead of the current situation where an FCC licence is needed for all use of radio spectrum although some sub-leasing is permitted.
The changes are being proposed because of the demand for wireless communication services such as mobile phones, pagers and other portable devices to access such services as the Internet.
FCC chairman William Kennard said the devices are "are consuming spectrum faster than we can make it available. The demand for spectrum is simply outstripping supply."
The FCC says its proposals could effectively increase the amount of spectrum available through more efficient use of currently licensed airwaves and wants to make pass on to current licensees responsibility for ensuring that any sub-leased spectrum is used in accordance with regulations in force such as those designed to prevent interference.
In the UK, there was evidence of the change of stock-market attitudes to mobile communications when one of the ten companies bidding for broadband licences pulled out on the first day.
Many analysts think companies have paid far too much for spectrum and their stocks have dropped.
There are 42 licences up for sale in 14 regions in the 28-gigahertz spectrum band.
They're being sold in an online auction of broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) licences which would allow data transmission by radio at rates exceeding 2 megabits per second.
Although the reserve prices total £78.3 million, advance estimates of the amount the licences could fetch ranged from £1 billion to £2 billion ($1.4 billion to $2.8 billion), helped by delays in rolling out other forms of broadband service.
However the pullout of Unica Communications dampened Friday's auction.
It was followed by a recess request from another bidder, something which in the past has presaged a withdrawal. At the end of the first round bids totalled £27.1m with three London area bids totaling £12 million, and two bids each totalling £6 million for Manchester and the West Midlands.
There were no bids at all in eight regions and only one bid in Northern Ireland, of £100,000 from Eircom, for one of the three licences on offer.
The nine bidders now in the race are Broadnet, Chorus Communications, Eircom Plc, Energis Plc, Faultbasic, FirstMark Communication, Formus Communications , Norweb Telecom Ltd, and Winstar Communications.
The fall in demand for licences has also hit in Switzerland where three of nine groups have pulled out of the bidding in advance of next week's auction of four third generation mobile licences, each with a reserve price of 50 million Swiss Frances ($2.8 million).
Pulling out were T-Mobile of Germany, Telenor of Norway and Hutchison Whampoa's European mobile division.
The pullout has led to fears that the Swiss auction could end up in the same situation as that in Italy which had almost as many licences as bidders and came to a premature end when one of the runners pulled out.
The Italian government has since demanded that Blu , the British Telecom-led consortium which dropped out, should forfeit its deposit.
In advance of the Swiss auction, two of Europe's big groups upped their holdings in the country.
Vodafone is to pay £1.75bn in cash or stock for a 25 per cent shareholding in Swisscom's market-leading wireless arm, Mobil Com. and France Telecom is to pay E.on £700m for its 42.5 per cent of Orange Communications, the second-biggest of Switzerland's three mobile operators.
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2000-11-11:The UK Independent reports that Capital Radio has conceded that it may lose its breakfast show presenter Chris Tarrant, despite a share option package valued at up to £1.5 million.
Tarrant, whose show is Capital's biggest earner, also presents the TV show "Who wants to be a Millionaire" in the UK.
He has a contract with Capital worth some £1 million a year which expires at the end of next year.
The share options package with Capital and this would go if he left the group.
But with the TV show paying him an estimated £5 million a year, there has been speculation that he may dispense with having to get up early.
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2000-11-11: Yet more US radio results and deals but also a dip in radio share prices amidst nervousness over US political uncertainties and a fall in dot.com advertising.
All of the giants suffered, with Clear Channel down more than 5% at one point, Infinity down around 7.5% and Disney by around 15%.
In the last case, however, Disney's ABC Radio stations and ABC Radio Networks were said to have performed "beyond expectations" and overall it delivered net earnings of 11 cents a share compared to eight in the third quarter last year and Wall Street expectations of around seven.
First the deals and Radio One Inc is to spend nearly $60 million in Texas in a deal with Sunburst Media of Dallas and Clear Channel.
Sunburst is selling the intellectual property of its alternative rock station KDGE-FM Gainsville, to Clear Channel and the station itself to Radio for around $52.5 million in cash.
Radio One will acquire the call letters and format of "Jammin' Oldies" KTXQ-FM from Clear Channel and move it to KDGE frequency.
In another deal, Radio 1 is gaining some $52.5 million from Cox Radio for WDYL-FM in Richmond, Virginia, and WJMZ-FM and WPEK-FM in Greenville, South Carolina.
WJMZ-FM was one of the stations Radio One gained from the Clear Channel-AM FM sell-offs.
In another deal, Catholic Radio Network has sold yet another of its stations; this time it's WYPA-AM, Chicago which is going to Newsweb fo r$10.5 Million cash.
And in Ohio, Salem Communications, which recently acquired two of Catholic's stations (RNW Oct 25) is spending $10.5 million in cash in a deal involving Salem, Clear Channel and Radio Seaway.
Seaway gets the money and WHK-AM, Cleveland, from Salem plus WAKS-FM in Lorraine from Clear Channel, Clear Channel gets WHK-FM, Cleveland, from Salem, and Salem gets the transmitting facility of WCLV-FM in Cleveland from Seaway.
Salem has also just declared its third quarter results.
Net broadcasting revenue was up 28.2% compared to 1999 Q3 to $27.7 million and broadcast cash flow was up 15.4% to $12.0 million on the same comparison.
On a same station basis, net broadcasting revenue and broadcast cash flow increased 13% and 7% respectively for the quarter.
For the first nine months, net broadcasting revenue increased 18.5% to $75.1 million, broadcast cash flow was up 11.4% to $33.2 and on a same station basis the increases were 11% and 9%, respectively.
The company says that BCF increase for the third quarter would have been higher but for the lower operating efficiencies of its clusters in Los Angeles, Colorado Springs where it sold stations.
It also says its newly acquired stations are operating at lower margins than those it already had but it expects this situation to improve as the new stations are integrated into existing clusters.
Acquisitions during the quarter comprised the purchase of eight stations from Clear Channel for $185.6 million, of Christian music station KLTY-FM in Dallas in exchange for KDGE-FM, also in Dallas and of license and transmitting facilities of WALR-FM, Atlanta, KLUP-AM, San Antonio and WSUN-AM Tampa in exchange for the license transmitting facilities of KKHT-FM, Houston.
Sales were of KLTX-AM Los Angeles for $29.5 million and KALC-FM, Denver for $98.8 million.
The Fisher Companies reported that Q3 income from its continuing operations shot up 529% to $13.3 million compared to $2.1million for the third quarter of 1999.
The figures do not include its loss-making flour mills which it is selling and it had a consolidated net income loss overall of $847,000, compared to a loss of $106,000 reported for the third quarter 1999.
Its radio business performed well with first nine-month figures showing Seattle up 19%, Portland up 14% and Washington up 8%
And Radio Unica, whose share price is now less than a tenth of its year high of $33, has announced a stock repurchase programme. The company feels its shares are undervalued and has approved a buy-back of up to three million shares.
Joaquin F. Blaya, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Radio Unica, said, "Given the national network that we have built, the continued dramatic improvement in our results and our strong balance sheet, we believe our equity is significantly undervalued."
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2000-11-11: The row over the road block which hinders the homeward journeys of Sydney radio hosts John Laws and Alan Jones (RNW Nov 9) has now moved into the city's Supreme Court.
And, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, it's also sparked calls for a public enquiry into the role of the two in the decision to remove the barricade.
The Road Traffic Authority, which had been threatening to remove it, has given the court an undertaking to take no action until an injunction by the local Lane Cove council can be heard on November 20.
The Mayor of Lane Cove, Councillor Stephen Bowers, told the Sydney Morning Herald that it was a "disgrace" that the RTA had ignored its own processes and guidelines over a an issue about which it had constantly been consulted.
Calling for a public enquiry into the broadcasters' role in the decision, he said," John Laws and Alan Jones are entitled to ask whatever questions they like. They are, like the residents of Lane Cove and the citizens of NSW, free to put their views forward and put them forcefully."
" I have no problem with that at all. But the issue here is why, very shortly after the matter is publicly aired by two high-profile radio announcers, does Chris Ford [director of traffic and transport] from the RTA take unilateral . . . action completely against the RTA's policy?"
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2000-11-10: Two technology-related items which we think deserve a wider airing, one relating to on-demand audio and the other to satellite internet.
The UK Guardian reports that BBC Radio 4 controller Helen Boaden told a Broadcasting Press Guild Lunch that all "BBC radio networks are having discussions about the possibilities of some radio-on-demand."
The paper says her comments came in response to criticism that many of Radio 4's more popular were scheduled at bad times for working listeners.
Bu it but did not make clear exactly what was meant apart from noting that Radio 4's strategy of repeating popular programmes on a Sunday could be extended to other parts of the schedule. RNW note: That's not the same thing but on-demand is something we'd welcome having commented in the past how much it is needed and yet absent from offerings (see our very first comment).
And in the US, the Washington Post reports on the two-way satellite Internet service run by StarBand Communications Inc, based in McLean, Arizona, which it credits with bringing radio to the the Havasupai Indian reservation in Supai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Star Band has now launched on a US national scale and wants to make satellite a prime route for high-speed Internet connections.
The paper says the company is targeting some 50 million U.S. households that now have no "broadband" Internet access and are unlikely to be economically served by cable or DSL services.
The service to Supai started as a result of federal requirements to ensure certification of teachers by 2005.
For Sally Tilousi, The director of the village Head Start office and one of only two Havasupai tribal members have ever graduated from college, this posed a problem and she went for help to Northern Arizona University, which uses videoconferencing and the Internet to broadcast higher-education classes to the isolated tribes of the high desert.
The university made enquiries at StarBand, is a joint venture between an Israeli satellite maker, EchoStar Communications Corp and Microsoft Corp., and gained federal grant financing for installation of six dishes.
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2000-11-10: Whilst the big drama has been over the Presidential race in the US, there have also been a number of changes which may affect broadcasting.
Amongst Senators losing their seats were Missouri Republican Senator John Ashcroft, whose defeat leaves a vacant Republican place on the Communications sub-committee and Sen. Rod Grams (Republican, Minnesota), sponsor of the Low Power FM Bill which was tagged as a rider to the appropriations bill appropriations bill covering the State, Justice and Commerce departments (RNW Oct 28).
In the House, two other Republicans associated with anti-Low Power FM measures; Mike Oxley (Ohio) and Billy Tauzin (Louisiana) are still in place. And then there's still the question of who takes over as Federal Communications Cmmission chairman from William Kennard.
Top tips are Texas Public Utility Commission chairman Pat Wood III for a Bush Presidency and current commission Gloria Tristani if Gore should make it..
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2000-11-09: After their abuse of their positions in the "cash for comment" affair, Sydney 2UE stars Alan Jones and John Laws have become involved in a new controversy about using their posts for personal gain.
But this time, as the Sydney Morning Herald reports, it's about convenience not cash.
The two stars have been railing against a ban on right-hand turns at the end of a street near 2UE's station.
The ban impedes their swift journey home and the roads minister has personally addressed their complains on air.
The Road Transport Authority has now decreed that the barriers must be removed. They were erected under conditions laid down by the local council for approval of an apartment complex and were build of temporary materials whilst the apartments were being built.
They were supposed to have been replaced by a permanent landscaped barricade.
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2000-11-09: The Radio Advertising Bureau reports for both the UK and USA show healthy third quarter figures with the US notching up eight straight years of month on month revenue growth.
In the US, RAB reports that the third quarter ended with a 3% revenue increase in September for combined national and local advertisement sales.
Compared to September last year, local revenues were up 6% but national revenues were down by the same amount.
Third quarter figures were up for both, 15% for local and 20% for national and for the first nine months increases were similar with combined revenues up 16%. In the UK, RAB says growth was also strong with a 9.8% growth in overall revenues to £129.5 million and a 19.5% growth in national advertisement revenues over the July to September period of 1999 to reach £94.5 million.
For the first nine months airtime revenue was up 27.3% to £522 million.
And in the US, Beasley Broadcasting has performed strongly with third quarter after tax cash flow up 32% to $5.1 million, $0.21 per diluted share; same station revenues for the period were up 9.1% to $28.0 million and same station broadcast cash flow was up 32.7% to $9.2.
The group had no acquisitions pending or completed during the quarter and has commenced renegotiation of its previously announced $138 million deal (RNW June 6) to buy six Centennial Broadcasting stations.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George G. Beasley said," "Beasley Broadcasting is committed to its long-term plan of achieving growth internally and through acquisitions, but not at the expense of shareholder value." "Unfortunately, the purchase of the stations from Centennial under the original terms of the agreement would have prevented us from maintaining the degree of fiscal discipline and economic performance we require."
Beasley has also switched the format of its Philadelphia WWDB-FM station from news-talk to 80's hits.
WWDB switched from all Talk to News-Talk some two years ago but dropped listeners to rival WPHT-AM who also took the Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Rush Limbaugh shows from it.
The news was not as good on the Internet front, however, as Maine-based BroadcastAmerica.com filed for chapter 11 Bankruptcy and announced an intended merger with New Jersey-based SurferNETWORK.com.
The latter will bring to the deal cash plus its targeted ad insertion and proprietary "FM-quality" streaming technology and a client list that includes New Northwest Broadcasting, Nassau Broadcasting and Marathon Media.
BroadcastAmerica has some 750 streaming clients and a number of network alliances that include OneOnOne Sports, Talk Radio Network and Superadio but has run into cash problems.
If the deal proceeds to completion the new company, will have headquarters in Portland, Maine, and trade as BroadcastAmerica.com.
BroadcastAmerica President, COO, and founder John Brier said "BroadcastAmerica is the content leader for streaming traditional radio. SurferNETWORK.com has created a patent-pending player and ad insertion technology that is second to none."
"We believe the pairing of our two companies has tremendous potential to create the number one online radio experience on the Internet for both listeners and advertisers. "
"Once the new company is formed, I believe no other Internet destination will be able to offer our breadth of quality content with proven, targeted advertising, tailored to listeners' tastes and demographics."
Gordon J. Bridge, currently Chairman and CEO of SurferNETWORK.com, will become Chairman and CEO of the new BroadcastAmerica and Brier will remain President of the new company.
Under the planned deal, Surfer.com will provide around $1 million dollars of funding but neither it nor the new company will assume any liabilities of BroadcastAmerica.com.
The new company is estimated to be looking for some $7 million dollars in additional funding to pay operating expenses and claims from the old BroadcastAmerica.com's pre-petition creditors.
Still in dot.com world and earlier this week, another online company, Hip-Hop and Latino entertainment portal Urban Box Office Network, laid off all its employees and declared bankruptcy Among its investors was because former AMFM Vice Chairman and Radio President Jimmy de Castro, now CEO of Ultimate.com.
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2000-11-08: More radio financial results and deals.
Regent Communications has reported a strong quarter and also announced a deal to sell three stations for $13.5 million to Concord Media Group.
Being sold are California stations KOSS-FM, licensed to Rosamond and KTPI-FM and KVOY-AM, licensed to Mojave and Tehachapi.
The sale is part of a strategy of selling Regent's Southern California clusters and acquiring radio stations in the larger markets of Albany, New York and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Regent acquired stations in these markets from Clear Channel as part of the latter's divestitures required to gain approval of its AMFM take-over.( RNW Aug 26).
Regent also reported a record third quarter and was bullish about the fourth quarter with Chairman and CEO Terry Jacobs noting that Regent is driven primarily by local advertising and is "not dependent on national advertising or on the presence or absence of dot-com advertising."
For the third quarter, net revenues were up 76% on Q3 1999 to $11.7 million and broadcast cash flow was up 11% to $3.7 million.
Same station net revenues were up 11.7% and broadcast cash flow was up 25.9%. Over the first nine months, net broadcast revenues increased 71% to $29.8 million, station operating expenses were up to $20.6 million from $13.1 million and broadcast cash flow increased 109% to $9.2 million.
The company also reported that it has spent some $4 million in buying back around 770000 of its own shares at an average price of $5.22; Regent's board has authorised buy backs of up $10 million worth of shares in June.
In the UK, the GWR Group has reported half-yearly profits before tax down 24.2% to £6.9million from £9.1million.
Turnover for the six months to September 30 was up 23.7 % to £58.7million compared to 1999. EBITDA (net revenue less operating expenses and corporate expenses) for the group's existing businesses was up 24.5% to was £16.9million.
The fall in profits is linked to acquisition of the DMG radio group (the UK Daily Mail's radio assets- see RNW June 15) whose UK stations GWR chairman Henry Meakin said had delivered "been slightly below our expectations. "
So had the Australian stations acquired through the DMG deal where he said, "the expected boost to advertising revenues due to the Olympics did not arise outside Sydney causing the results for the three months of our ownership to be below our initial forecasts."
GWR spent £146 million on the DMG acquisition, which involved radio stations in Australia, Hungary and the UK.
Meakin said, regarding the Australian stations, the group was keeping under review the prospects of exercising our three year option to acquire the remaining 75% from DMGT."
In the UK, he reported, Classic FM has continued its growth in audience share (RNW Nov 3) and GWR has completed its £12.1million acquisition of the Marcher Radio Group(RNW July 15).
It has also sold 12 AM licences to UBC Media to comply with the regulator's ownership limits (RNW Sept 21).
On digital radio he reported GWR now had three local digital multiplexes (Coventry, Wolverhampton and Bristol) and had was part of an alliance with the Wireless Group, EMAP, Scottish Media Group and the Carphone Warehouse to bid for regional licences in the next round.
The group has also invested in an Internet local portal business under the brand name koko.com, which is now live in the Reading, Swindon and Bristol areas and will be rolled out to all GWR's regions over the next six months.
In Europe, he said Danubius is now the leading national station and Budapest station Roxy has shown good growth since its launch last year.
In Austria, GWR stations are operating consistently ahead of our plans.
Elsewhere Meakin reported a profitable trend from Classic FM in South Africa and in Australia, where the DMG deal gave GWR a 25% stake 58 Australian licences and the new Sydney FM licence.
Deakin said the latter " will be pivotal in establishing the base for a new network of major city licences.
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2000-11-08: The UK Guardian reports that Bob Jobbins, is to leave his post as BBC World Service director of English networks and news after 30 years with the corporation. He's to leave next spring and plans to move into media consultancy. Jobbins was for many years a correspondent, working mainly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He then moved into management as head of the BBC Arabic Service and later editor of World Service news and current affairs.
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2000-11-07: Following on the heels of Chrysalis Radio (RNW Nov 5), UK Capital Radio has now come up with details of its first Internet audio station to be launched by its new media arm, Capital Interactive.
The site will be called Activa and will be targeted at women from 25-34 with music from such artists as Madonna, of George Michael and Tina Turner.
Two more stations are to follow, one for soul music devotees and the other for males who play computer games. The UK Guardian quotes Mark Frost, managing director of Capital Interactive, as saying of Capitals plans which could include hiving off the stations normal output in music genres which are accessible from its existing sites, "It's going to be a big change from what radio has been so far. We're aiming these products directly at desk potatoes." Capital has developed radio players based on Microsoft's Media Player.
The Guardian notes that it is entering a market dominated by US companies which have been able to gain copyright access to music through the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) whilst in the UK there is as yet no common licensing system which means that stations have to negotiate access with recording companies on an individual basis. RNW note: The Guardian is perhaps being a little naïve over the benefits of the RIAA as a single stop for copyright deals. There is still considerable controversy over its "SoundExchange" which it set up to collect royalties from online audio stations. SoundExchange was set up following the passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in October 1998 the US. This required Webcasters to pay royalties going back to that date once a licence amount was settled which is now expected to be early next year. Some groups are concerned that the RIAA arrangement would give too much power to the big recording companies and there is also the question of the sums involved. Some reports suggest that the RIAA will want a payment per song, others that it wants a percentage of the web site's gross revenues. Whatever the outcome, and some organisations such as Yahoo, have concluded deals with the RIAA, most current sites are not making much, if any, profits at all and even a small per-song payment or percentage of gross revenues could lead to bankruptcy for many of them.
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2000-11-07: Looking ahead to the US Presidential elections, the Washington Post considers the future of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which regulates use of US airwaves.
Once in a relatively sleepy backwater, the FCC now has a much higher profile largely due to the combination of the de-regulation of the broadcasting and telecommunications industries and technological advance, particularly in the areas of the Internet and wireless communications.
Conventional wisdom is that the industry giants such as AT&T Corp Viacom and Walt Disney, which would like to see relaxation of regulations on how much a single company can own, would be in for an easier ride under George W. Bush than if Al Gore is elected.
The paper quotes Viacom President Mel Karmazin as saying that Republican administrations "tend to be more deregulatory."
He adds that that they have not "not heard the vice president express any interest in further relaxation of the ownership rules."
The paper also points out that the new president will be able to choose a new FCC chairman and notes that amongst the issues he will have to deal with is the release of more spectrum for third generation mobile (cell) phone use.
Most of the spectrum that could be used, says the paper, is already assigned to the military, and the Pentagon has signalled that it will not relinquish its rights without assurances that its own communications needs can still be met.
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2000-11-06: A more positive response to Internet extras for radio than ours in November Comment from Paul Donovan in his UK Sunday Times column.
Referring to the BBC's use of a web camera to allow those listening to the Radio 4 Today show to see the presenters, he comments in a column entitled "Now you see it" on the "rash of new computer sites throughout the radio world."
Donovan writes about BBC plans and sites, including those for Radios 3, 4, and 5, noting that the last-named has sent out invitations to "an exclusive preview of the station's ground-breaking new online service" which is "set to be rolled out" next week as "the UK's first truly interactive radio station".
In an aside he also comments "where do these people learn their English?" This was much the sort of reaction we had to the news release concerning the launch of Puremix.Com (RNW Nov 5).
Donovan also comments on Atlantic 252's "pulsating" new web site and says "Radio is no longer about what used to be called "listening": the key thing now, in the words of Atlantic's boss, John O'Hara, is the "listening experience".
He then notes that,"online services are useful add-on extras - useful in attracting the interest of a younger audience, useful as a way of providing extra information."
But Donovan goes on to express a concern, namely to say," would it not be dreadful if radio started shaping its output to take account of visual appeal - hiring presenters for their looks rather than their voices, for example?"
RNW note: indeed it would and, as per November comment, radio taken neat has strengths that dilution with visuals can impair.
After which, it seems relevant to look at his Irish colleague Declan Burke's column, entitled "Lingo Bingo" which deals with the use of language.
In his case the best way we can give the flavour of the column is just to quote the first few paragraphs.
"Is a banger a sausage, an old car or a firework? According to one listener who phoned Sportscall (RTÉ R1), it's what Tony Cascarino is after admitting he isn't as Irish as he thought he was, so shouldn't have played football for the republic 88 times."
"As Des Cahill, the host, explained, a banger is also what Dublin footballers call ineligible players.
On Making Waves ( RTÉ R1) Teri Garvey was somebody else who had to deal with shifting vocabulary, following listeners' complaints about offensive slang, common usage and abuse of grammar on RTE radio.
Professor Terry Dolan, the author of A Dictionary of Hiberno-English, and Noel Shiels, a former RTÉ archivist, debated whether Radio 1's programmers, editors and presenters are letting standards slip.
They condemned the affected pronunciation of "Dart speak" as Ireland's contribution to a homogeneous globalised language. It was fair comment, but the thrust of the complaints was that RTÉ radio increasingly resorts to substandard grammar and offensive language."
Burke goes on to quote a number of examples such as the call for a "fatwa" against Brian O'Doherty because of passages in his novel The Deposition of Father McGreevy. (The call was for condemnation not assassination) and ends with a delightful example of the way in which mangled syntax and grammar can come together to create a wonderful image.
The example was the revelation "courtesy of the Shadows bassist Jet Harris, that his fellow guitarists Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch fell out after a deliciously apt "riff" developed between them."
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