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February 2001 Archive

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February 2001 Archive

Jan 2001

Mar 2001

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.

2001-02-19: The UK Sunday Times reports on digital radio in the UK, largely as seen through the eyes of Score Digital, the wholly owned digital radio subsidiary of Scottish Radio Holdings.
Score, whose most recent bid is for the Aberdeen digital multiplex (Licence News Feb. 18), reckons digital will take 8 to 10 years to reach critical mass and a recent BBC report suggested it would be 12 years before digital take-up surpasses the remaining analogue holdouts.
At the moment, digital is definitely near to ground level with only some 10,000 receivers in the UK to set against an estimated total of up to 150 million analogue receivers.
Some companies such as such as GWR and Capital Radio have moved faster into digital but Score is to spend only about £1m a year over the next 12 years, which covers the remainder of its current licence and the eight years of the following one.
That spend will increase if it wins more licences.
Grae Allan, Score Digital's managing director, believes the best way forward is to offer a combination of existing popular stations as well as something new only available in the digital format. "In order to make digital radio a success we have to offer the public a wide range of services across a whole range of providers," Allan says. "Once we get to the stage where digital radio is mainstream, we will be competing with each other on a purely programming level."
Previous Capital Radio:
Previous GWR:
Previous SRH:
UK Sunday Times report:

2001-02-19: US radio engineer Robert Mitchell Silliman, whose FM antenna design was once the US industry standard, has died aged 87.
Silliman, who graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1936, worked with the Federal communications commission until 1942.
Then, during the Second World War, he was a researcher at Harvard University's Radio Research Laboratory where work was done on radar.
Silliman ran his own radio consulting company from 1946 until he had a stroke in 1996 and was also an officer for Indiana-based broadcast antennas and towers manufacturer, Electronics Research Inc.

2001-02-18: Licence news this week and a quiet week in Australia and Ireland but a whole swathe of licence approvals in Canada.
In the US it was fairly quiet although Commissioner Gloria Tristani has again been on the warpath over the Federal Communication Commission's rejection of indecency complaints (See RNW FEB. 15).
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has renewed type A community licences as listed.
In Labrador for CJRM-FM Labrador City;
In New Brunswick for CJPN-FM Fredericton; CFAI-FM-1 Grand Falls; CFJU-FM Kedgwick/Saint-Quentin;
In Nova Scotia for CKJM-FM Chéticamp; CIFA-FM Comeauville (Yarmouth);
In Ontario for CHOD-FM Cornwall; CINN-FM Hearst; CKGN-FM Kapuskasing;
In Quebec, for CFBS-FM Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon and its transmitters CFBS-FM-1 Middle Bay and CFBS-FM-2 Rivière-Saint-Paul; CFIM-FM Cap-aux-Meules (Iles-de-la-Madeleine); CHIP-FM Fort Coulonge; CJRG-FM Gaspé and its transmitters CJRG-FM-1 Murdochville, CJRV-FM L'Anse-à-Valleau and CJRE-FM Rivière-au-Renard; CKNA-FM Natashquan. CFRH-FM Penetanguishene.
The CRTC has also renewed the licence of CIPC-FM Port Cartier, Quebec, approved the applications for a new low-power English- and French-language AM radio station at Ottawa (MacDonald-Cartier International Airport) and for a developmental English-language FM campus radio programming undertaking at Kamloops, British Columbia.
In the UK, the Radio Authority has received two applications for the Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough area.
They were from Connect FM (KCBC Ltd.), the existing licensee and Vision FM Ltd.
It also received two applications for the Aberdeen digital multiplex licence; these were from SCORE Digital Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Radio Holdings plc., which proposes six commercial services and from Switchdigital (Scotland) Ltd which proposes 8.
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Tristani:
Previous UK Radio Authority:
CRTC Web site:
FCC web site:
UK Radio Authority web site:

2001-02-18:A day after Boston Public Radio station WBUR-FM suspended Christopher Lydon and Mary McGrath, host and senior producer of the "Connection" call-in programme (RNW Feb. 17), four staffers from the show have resigned after a meeting with WBUR management.
Quitting were associate producers Jake Shapiro, Hitesh Hathi, and Katherine Bidwell, and technical director Dan Furst.
WBUR has announced that ''Morning Edition'' host Bob Oakes will host ''The Connection'' next week and Shapiro told the Boston Globe, "It's been a very tight knit team. The thought of jumping into a watered-down version or altered attempt at `The Connection' without them is inconceivable."
WBUR general manager Jane Christo, in a message posted on the WBUR web site, wrote, "In any difficult situation of this nature, WBUR's first responsibility must be to its listeners, its contributors and its mission as a non-profit public radio station."
"We ask our listeners and supporters to understand that WBUR worked very hard, over many months, to reach a positive outcome."
"We made two generous proposals to The Connection host and senior producer, which they chose to turn down. In November, as a sign of good faith, WBUR raised both of their salaries to levels that make them the highest paid host and producer in public broadcasting."
"We also offered them an opportunity to earn substantial bonuses. It was their decision that WBUR's proposals were not enough. It was their decision to press on with more demands. We fully expect the situation to be resolved positively. The Connection is a vital part of WBUR."
Lydon himself told the Boston Herald," There is a treasure here that we will do everything to protect."
"Our wrangle with WBUR is not about money. If it were about salaries we would have taken the deal and run. "
"The Connection' has greatly enriched WBUR. As creators of the program we feel every right to be partners in its wider syndication to new media modes. This is not an unfamiliar issue and it seems eminently resolvable."
The Globe reports that news of the lucrative deals Lydon and McGrath turned down seemed to divide listeners.
It said WBUR had received upward of 250 e-mails about the controversy with some writers ``appalled'' at the money involved, and others wondering how ``non-profit'' WBUR can be if it is willing to pay on-air talent so much.
On the other side of the coin, some correspondents felt ``The Connection'' had special status in the city and should be retained at nearly any cost.
In an editorial, the Globe comments, "If anyone deserves equity in the show, it's WBUR's listeners and contributors."
"Commercial radio is unlikely to offer the freedom and creativity Lydon and company enjoy at WBUR."
"That said, Lydon and McGrath should be rewarded for infusing the show with unique spark, intelligence, and personality. This is best done through high salaries (Lydon's certainly qualifies at $230,000) and bonuses tied to performance standards."
"The station could also be more flexible, hiring back staff and giving Lydon room for non-competing outside activities such as book signings. Both ''The Connection'' and Lydon could move on independently. But for the sake of listeners, heroic efforts should be made to keep them together."
Previous Christo:
Previous Lydon:
Previous McGrath:
Previous WBUR:
Boston Globe report:
Boston Globe editorial:
Boston Herald report:
WBUR statement:

2001-02-17: In the wake of the recent Napster ruling in which the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) seems to have significantly limited music distribution on the Internet, the Los Angeles Times reports on similar action to stifle Internet distribution of old-time radio shows.
Taking action is Carl Amari, president of Illinois-based Radio Spirits, the largest US seller of old-time radio programs on cassette.
Amongst the examples cited is that of Pete Kenney, "Boston Pete," as he calls himself on the Internet, who created a Web site that allowed people to download recordings of old-time radio programs and closed down his site after a warning from Amari.
The paper says that tens of thousands of programmes have been made available free in MP3 format and that collectors argue that, had it not been for them, most of the programmes involved would have ended up being trashed.
Amari claims to have the copyright on most programmes that were aired and the collectors see Radio Spirits ' effort as an attempt to corner the market on old-time radio shows that a short while ago were regarded as without value.
The Times notes that most network radio shows were recorded for reference or rebroadcast but that these records were destroyed by the thousands in the 1960s and 1970s by broadcasters simply to clear storage space.
It cites an estimate that some 15,000 were saved by collectors, only around 1% of the total, but enough to enable Amari to build up a $14-million-a-year business selling some 6 million tapes and CDs.
Amari got into the business after he'd been selling tapes of programmes when at college but then received a cease-and-desist letter from a syndicator who controlled the rights to a programme he played on the college radio station.
He reacted by buying licences to shows and as well as selling recordings syndicates his own old-time radio compilation programs.
He has been successful enough to buy out his two main competitors Adventures in Cassettes and Radio Yesteryear as well as obtaining material from archives like the Library of Congress that put sharp restrictions on access.
Even where no copyright was registered for a show, the script behind it remains in copyright, and the only shows in the public domain are those where copyright was registered but not renewed so in legal terms Amari is on strong ground.
However some commentators opine that in practical terms, as with stopping MP3 distribution of music, it may not be that easy to stop swapping of old shows.
Previous RIAA:
Los Angeles Times report:

2001-02-17: UK Chrysalis Radio, which earlier this week was involved in plans to cut back on its Internet "Puremix.com" station(RNW Feb. 16) is to spend around £ 2 million on marketing its Heart-FM station in London.
The campaign will include posters on buses, taxis and the London Underground.
Chrysalis, along with Tindle Radio, has also upped its stake in Bridgend station, Bridge FM.
Tindle now has a 56% controlling interest instead of its former 23% and Chrysalis has increased its holding from 29 to 42%.
The remaining 2% of Bridge is held by its chairman and managing director.
Previous Chrysalis:

2001-02-17: BBC Radio 5 Live is set to broadcast a political reality game show called The Magnificent Seven for a week in the run up to the UK General Election.
It will operate on the style of the "Big Brother" TV show and will start with seven contenders with differing political viewpoints. Each day, a panel of listeners termed the "Select Committee" will decide which contestant to eliminate until a winner is decided.
The contestants will take part in a serious "Teatime Debate" on a political issue and will also enter a less serious test of political skills.
Previous BBC:

2001-02-17: Boston WBUR-FM host Christopher Lydon and Mary McGrath, senior producer of the "Connection" talk show which is syndicated to around 75 US National Public Radio stations, have been put on paid leave of absence following a dispute over whether the two can share the programme's profits.
The Boston Globe, which notes that the action follows months of negotiation, quoted Lydon as saying," ''we're angered. Knocked out. Stunned. Shocked. It's a lockout and a shock.''
He added that they wanted to return after the suspension.
WBUR managing director of news and programming George Boosey criticise the pair for ''your rejection of normal management oversight and established WBUR policies.'' It added that ''the leave of absence will afford you time to consider whether or not you wish to continue your employment with WBUR.''
WBUR general manager Jane Christo told the paper, "I'd like them to come back in two weeks. This is just giving them time to reflect. They need time to think about this and think about what they want to do.''
The paper says McGrath and Lydon say Christo encouraged them to be entrepreneurial and come up with a new business model for ''The Connection'' and cites a memo to Christo from McGrath and Lydon which began, ''Dear Partner Jane,'' and then stipulated that ''we want to share with you, fifty-fifty, all new growth of `Connection' revenues.''
A WBUR spokeswoman said no other host or producer has a profit-sharing deal and added that Lydon, who had been making $175,000 a year, recently got a raise to $230,000, while McGrath went from $100,000 to $150,000.
The Globe says one optimistic estimate by station management predicts that ''Connection''-related revenues - from underwriting and syndication to the sale of CDs - could conceivably rise from somewhere around $2 million to $8 million in the next five years.
Previous Lydon:
Boston Globe report:

2001-02-16: The general dot com malaise seems to be biting fairly hard on Internet audio streamers.
In the UK, high hopes by Chrysalis Radio for its Puremix Internet radio operation have not been fulfilled.
Puremix, which was only launched last November (RNW Nov. 5) is being integrated into Chrysalis New Media.
The UK Guardian reports that around two thirds of the staff of 31 have been given redundancy notices but quoted Lisa Gordon, chief executive of Chrysalis New Media as saying they were not stepping back from their investment.
She denied the consolidation had been precipitated by Puremix's failure to attract second-round funding.
And in North America there have been yet more cut backs, pullouts and bankruptcies.
In the US, following the recent end for BroadcastAmerica.com (RNW Feb. 10) whose contracts went to SurferNetwork and problems for SurferNetwork with its GlobalMedia streaming operations (RNW Feb. 14), Feed the Monster has now filed for bankruptcy.
Feed the Monster, which streamed a number of Viacom's Infinity stations, ran into trouble in October (RNW Oct. 13), ceased operations, and was subsequently sued by some 60 of its ex staff as well as various suppliers.
Its finances give a strong idea of its problems. In the 9 months to December 31 its revenues from advertising and selling merchandise were only $329,000 but overall costs were some $6.47 million before interest charges of $150,000 were added.
And according to Yahoo, giant chip maker Intel is closing down its Intel Internet Media Services that it said would serve an estimated $2.5 billion market by 2004.
Intel only launched the operation nine months ago.
It plans to wind down its operations during the next several months and to work with other streaming media content providers to serve current customers of its service.
Another pull out is San Francisco based Martz Communications Group Inc., which is closing its Internet broadcasting operations, FMcanada.com. and FMcities.com.
The company's Canadian founder and chief executive officer Tim Martz told the Toronto Globe and Mail, "We've shut down basically for financial reasons -- I guess we're the latest dot-com casualty."
"Revenue was not going up fast enough, the break-even point kept being extended further and further into the future, and when we added it all up, the expectation that revenue would accelerate just wasn't there."
The group whose Internet operations offered 50 music formats, ranging from Top 40 and jazz to country and folk, as well as local traffic, weather and news reports, also owns radio stations in New York but these are not affected.
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous Feed the Monster:
Previous Puremix:
Previous SurferNetwork:
Globe and Mail on Martz:
UK Guardian on Puremix:
Yahoo on Intel pull out:

2001-02-16: The UK Government, whose recent broadband wireless auction failed to attract bids for a number of licences (RNW Nov. 22) is now planning to make the unsold licences available at the reserve prices set for the original auction.
Under the scheme, companies can enter a bid to the RadioCommunications Agency for a licence at the reserve price and a new auction will only be triggered if there is a competitive bid.
The areas where there are unsold licences are:
3 licences in each of:
Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire; Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire;
Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire;
Derbyshire, Lincolnshire (other than the areas of North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire District Councils), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Rutland;
Kent, Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex;
Bristol, Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire;
Wales
plus 2 licences each in
Scotland;
Tyne and Wear, Durham, Northumberland, Cumbria and Lancashire;
and a single licence in the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the areas of North Lincolnshire and North-east Lincolnshire District Councils. Previous UK RadioCommunications Agency:
UK Radiocommunications Agency release.:

2001-02-15: Both the US radio giants have now reported on their figures for the final quarter of 2000 and the full year -and both have had strong performances.
The largest US radio company (with some 1170 radio stations in the US following its take-over of AMFM ), Clear Channel Communications, Inc., reported its best year ever with Pro Forma Net Revenues up 13% for the year to $6.9 billion and up 5% for the quarter to $2.1 billion.
EBITDA (defined as operating cash flow less corporate expenses) was up 21% on the year to $2.35 billion and for the quarter up 14% to $662million.
The company's radio operations, its largest segment, showed net revenues up 15% on the year and 6% on the quarter with operating cash flow up 22 % and 10% respectively.
Net loss per share in the fourth quarter was 33 cents, up from 7 cents per share in 1999 due to acquisition costs.
For the full year, there was a profit of 59 cents per share compared to 23 cents in 1999. After tax cash flow per share for the year was 24% up at $2.78 and for the quarter 13% up at 77 cents a share.
For 2001, Clear Channel is predicting after-tax cash flow of $3.16 share, but its chief financial officer Randall Mays warned that its first half of 2001 faced tough comparisons with a year ago when there was aggressive advertising from dot-com companies.
Second placed Viacom-CBS subsidiary Infinity Broadcasting, which operates 182 stations, came up with even stronger figures.
It reported pro forma revenues for the quarter of $1.06 billion, pro forma EBITDA of $490 million, each up 40%; for the full year Infinity pro forma revenues increased 13% to $4.04 billion and pro forma EBITDA increased 19% to $1.79 billion.
The report is the last independent set of figures for Infinity, which is to be merged into parent Viacom following a shareholders' vote on February 21.
Also reporting, but this time for the its fiscal first quarter which ended on December 31, was Spanish Broadcasting Corp.
Its net revenues were up 29% to $37 million but broadcast cash flow fell 7.9% to $15 million. On a same station basis, revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% and BCF down 7.1%
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Spanish Broadcasting: Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
Clear Channel web site:
Viacom web site:

2001-02-15: UK radio operators are teaming up with US on demand audio company California-based Command Audio to develop digital radio technology similar in function to the TiVo TV system, which will allow listeners to pre-programme and record radio shows.
Command, which has already teamed up with Motorola in the US to bring on-demand functionality to the car via Motorola's iRadio, is setting up a joint venture in the UK with Capital Radio plc and UBC Media plc to develop its system.
It's also signed a deal with the MXR digital consortium under which MXR is committed to carry Command Audio services on all its regional digital multiplexes.
Listeners to Command Audio-enabled services will be able to select the programmes they want to receive using an Electronic Programme Guide and have full control over how and when to listen, instantaneously scanning from story to story pausing, skipping, or saving programs for later listening.
The Command Audio software, which could be installed in various receivers including automobile and portable radio devices as well as home receivers, can store eight hours of content.
Previous Capital Radio:
Previous MXR:
Previous UBC Media:
Command Audio web site:

2001-02-15: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has again come under attack from Commissioner Gloria Tristani for rejecting a complaint of indecency.
She had previously objected to the dismissal of an indecency complaint from Missouri (RNW Feb. 13).
The complaint in this latest case came from an Alabama woman, Angela F. Woods, who complained to WRLR-FM in Birmingham after hearing the word "pussy" on air.
Woods said that she was then insulted on aid during the "Lex and Terry" morning show when the DJs called her a "bitch" and later commented that they hoped "she has a wreck and gets killed on the way to work."
Tristani says that the FCC "has erected so many barriers to complaints from the public that our indecency enforcement program is rendered ineffective, as this case demonstrates."
She continues, "It's time for the Commission to begin taking indecency cases seriously again."
On the particular case Tristani says, the FCC "dismissed the complaint noting the series of remarks were "certainly offensive, but are not indecent because they are not patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium."
" Based on the record before us, I cannot agree. First, Ms. Woods made a prima facie case for indecency sufficient to survive dismissal."
"Second, a broadcaster owes a duty to handle indecency complaints from citizens without engaging in over-the-air verbal attacks that include expressing a desire for the complainant to wreck her car and die."
Still with the FCC, new chairman Michael Powell has announced that the agency's regular monthly meeting on February 22 will focus on a comprehensive review of the Commission's policies and procedures.
Eight FCC bureau and office chiefs will report on matters including current regulatory issues after which there will be questions and discussions with the Commissioners.
(RNW Comment: We will be interested to how hard Commissioner Tristani presses the matter of indecency at this meeting).
Previous FCC;
Previous Powell:
Previous Tristani:
Powell News release:
Tristani Statement:

2001-02-15: The Los Angeles Times reports that Salvador Homero Campos, former vice president of programming at Sacramento-based Z-Spanish Radio, is to plead guilty to a payola-related tax offence.
Campos, who could be fined up to $1250,000 and be jailed for up to three years, accepted more than $200,000 in kickbacks to air songs on Spanish language music stations and received up to $15,000 a month from Fonovisa Records, the largest independent label in the Spanish music industry and a subsidiary of Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa.
Campos's attorney Alvin Michaelson told the paper that " Campos took money from Fonovisa, but he says he would have played their songs anyway."
"I'm sure Fonovisa's intent was that he would take the money and treat them favourably. But his intent was to get his station off the ground, and he needed the money to do that."
Michaelson added that Campos was also approached by other labels.
"The bottom line is that during that time, this was just business as usual--and he didn't think he was doing anything wrong. In Mexico, it's legal," he said.
Campos co-operated with a Justice Department investigation into record promotion and avoided being charged directly with violating the U.S. payola statute--which prohibits broadcasters from taking money for playing specific songs without disclosing the payment to listeners.
Fonovisa and two of its most senior executives already have pleaded guilty to several payola-related charges.
The paper says the Justice Department, which is continuing its investigation into the Spanish Music business, has also received tips about alleged kickbacks amongst other formats including some involving the urban music divisions of some of the world's largest record conglomerates according to law enforcement sources.
Los Angeles Times report:

2001-02-14: A busy week on the business side of US radio as final quarter results come out.
Too late for us Tuesday (Teleconference is on Clear Channel site at 16:00 Central Time) are those for the giant of them all Clear Channel, to be followed by Viacom-CBS-Infinity today.
Clear Channel has issued some notes as to its anticipated results in 2001.
It says that it will have a 2001 loss of $393 million, Net Revenues of $8.082 billion, and EBITDA (Cash flow from operations less corporate overhead) of $2.72 billion.
Clear Channel meanwhile continues its acquisitive habits.
Its latest deal is the purchase of Radio South's five stations in Meridian, Mississippi.
While at the top, Duncan's American Radio reports that the top billing station in the US last year was Clear Channel's KIIS-FM, Los Angeles, which took $66.5 million.
It was followed by two of Infinity's New York stations, WFAN-AM, which billed $62.4 million, and WXRK-FM, which billed $61.2 million.
Of the top billing 15 stations, Infinity owned nine, Clear Channel four and ABC and Emmis one each.
Duncan's is fairly upbeat about projections for this year when it says radio revenues will increase by 6.9% to top $18 billion; over the five years to 2004, it says strongest growth will be in Las Vegas (51%), Austin (49.9%) and Raleigh-Durham (45.8%).
The optimistic view of radio prospects is shared by Beasley Broadcast Group CEO George Beasley who told analysts he "we're going to see good long-term growth."
He was commenting as his group's final quarter results showed consolidated net revenue up 8% compared with 1999 to $28.3 million, Broadcast Cash Flow (BCF) up 20% to $9.4 million, EBITDA up 20% to $8.4 million and After-Tax Cash Flow (ATCF) for the quarter up 251% to $4.8 million, or $0.20 per diluted share.
On a same-station basis, excluding the results of WPTP-FM in Philadelphia, consolidated net revenue increased 9% to $27.0 million and BCF increased 21% to $9.5 million.
Overall for the fourth quarter of 2000, Beasley reported a net loss applicable to common shares of $2.0 million, or $0.08 per share, reflecting among other things the cost of station acquisitions including the $113.5 million acquisition of six stations from Centennial Broadcasting (RNW June 6 and RNW Dec. 16). and costs of a format change at WPTP-FM in Philadelphia.
For the full year, consolidated net revenue increased 13% to $106.2 million, BCF rose 28% to $34.4 million, and ATCF rose 78% to $18.5 million, or $0.79 per diluted share and EBITDA rose 26% to $30.4 million.
On a same station basis, excluding WPTP-FM, full year consolidated net revenue increased 11% to $99.7 million and BCF increased 18% to $34.5 million.
In other station deals and changes, Newsday reports that Disney-owned ABC radio is close to finalising an $80 million deal to buy WEVD-AM, New York, from the Forward Association and switch it from its current liberal-leaning format to an ESPN sports outlet.
WEVD was founded in 1927 and its call sign was derived from Eugene V Debs, the five-times socialist party candidate for the US Presidency who died in 1926.
And in Missouri, Indacom Inc. has sold KPCR-AM & FM Bowling Green, to Four Him Inc. for $725,000.
In Florida, WFIV-AM Orlando has been renamed WHOO -AM and changed by Genesis Communications to Music of your life from a Contemporary Christian Talk format.
And in Chicago, former classical music WNIB, which was bought by Bonneville International, moved to playing Barbra Streisand's hits.
Finally Viacom's Infinity, due to report tomorrow, has settled lawsuits filed by shareholders who said they would be short-changed in a $15.5-billion buyout by media giant Viacom Inc. of the 36% of Infinity it did not own.
It originally offered 0.564 share of Class B Viacom stock for each share of Infinity in August but later increased this to 0.592 share of Class B Viacom stock for each share of Infinity.
Although the lawyers have agreed, a judge has still to approve the settlement and Infinity's shareholders still have to vote on the matter.
Previous ABC, America:
Previous Beasley:
Previous Bonneville:
Previous Centennial:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Viacom-Cbs-Infinity:
Beasley web site:
Duncan's web site:
Newsday report;

2001-02-14:Although WABC-AM kept its lead, a newcomer La-Mega-WSKO (New York) from LaMusica.com leapt into the third spot in the ratings week to February 11, according to MeasureCast Inc., the Oregon-based streaming audience measurement company.
LaMusica is owned by Spanish Broadcasting System for whom it provides terrestrial radio Web casting services.
It went ahead of Internet-only Radio Margaritaville which was streamed by BroadcastAmerica.com whose assets were sold to SurferNetwork.com earlier this month (RNW Feb. 10), although Margaritaville actually increased its audience.
BroadcastAmerica.com's contracts are now with SurferNetwork which has had problems with streaming for another company it took over.
Streaming for GlobalMedia customers was reportedly cut off by provider Activate and Radio Business Report on Tuesday commented," Obviously the reason Activate cut streaming is due to non-payment from Global. We assume they want all debts paid by Surfer as condition for streaming service."
On Wednesday it put the figures as hundreds of thousands of dollars and said negotiations were still continuing but for the moment the 80 stations formerly streamed by Gobal are still offline.
The top five ranked by total time spent listening were (with previous week's Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) and Cume persons (CP- an estimate of the total number of unique listeners who were listening for five minutes or more during the week in brackets):
1): Talk Radio WABC-AM (New York) TTSL 81,212 (79,887); CP13,589 (13,626) - position unchanged.
2): Listener Formatted MediaAmazing TTSL 59,431 (62,249);CP 18,590 (17,956) - position unchanged.
3): Spanish format La-Mega-WSKO (New York) TTSL 49,046; CP 11,521 (Formerly unplaced)
4): Classic Rock Internet Only Radio Margaritaville TTSL46,203 (39,516); CP9,115 (6,608) - position unchanged
5): CHR Top 40 WPLJ-FM (New York) TTSL 39,248 (41,483); CP3,523 (3,582) - formerly 4th.
Previous MeasureCast ratings:
Previous SurferNetwork:
MeasureCast web site:
RBR site: (Look for Feb. 12 report)

2001-02-14: Sydney 2UE radio host John Laws will be able to get home more speedily soon following a Supreme Court Decision which allows a local council decision to block off a road near the station to be overturned (See RNW Jan 31).
The barricade was erected as part of development approval for a new building but prompted calls from the broadcasters to have it removed.
Both Laws and 2UE breakfast host Alan Jones complained about the barricade on air and Laws went to the Transport Minister about the matter, saying in a letter that it was dangerous because people were doing illegal U-turns at nearby traffic lights.
Previous Jones:
Previous Laws:
Sydney Morning Herald report:

2001-02-14: Hungary's first Roma (gypsy) radio station is now on the air albeit with only a short-term licence.
Radio C, which began its broadcasts with the Gypsy hymn followed by Gypsy poet Jozsef Daroczi Choli announcing the station in Hungarian and Romany, currently only has a 30-day licence and is competing for a seven-year one against two Christian evangelist stations.
Hungary is only the second country in Europe to have full time gypsy broadcasts; there are already several stations in Macedonia.
The Roma are Hungary's largest ethnic minority numbering around 500,000 but until the station went on air the only broadcasting for them was a 30-minute weekly magazine program on the state broadcasting service.
The station will concentrate on issues of interest to the Roma in its mix of news, music and talk programmes.
Backers include the Soros Foundation and studio equipment was purchased with funds from PHARE, a European Union program that provides financial and technical aid to central and eastern European countries.
SFGate/AP report:

2001-02-13: BBC Radio 5 has retained its rights to Formula One motor racing for another four years despite losing the TV rights four years ago.
No sum was disclosed for the deal but the channel is to step up its coverage of Grand Prix with preview shows fronted by motor racing correspondent Jonathan Legard as well as live cover.
The UK Guardian reports that a 5-Live spokesman said the rights were secured against a rival bid but that the most likely contender, TalkSport, had said it did not bid.
Previous BBC:
Previous TalkSport:
UK Guardian report:

2001-02-13: The US Federal Communications Commission, which last week was criticised by Commissioner Gloria Tristani because it had not taken action over a complaint about KLOU-FM, St. Louis, Missouri, has fined a Puerto Rico $21000 for broadcasting indecent material.
The broadcasts on WCOM-FM, Batamon, Puerto Rico, in October 1999 were held to be indecent because they contained graphic, patently offensive discussions of sexual activities or organs.
The then station owner WLDI, Inc. Has admitted airing the material but contends that it should no longer be held accountable because it had subsequently sold the station to Spanish Broadcasting System.
In the St Louis case, the complainant said that, in an early afternoon broadcast in October 2000, KLOU-FM aired "a very offensive, sexually graphic dumb joke" but the FCC held that on the basis of information supplied the material was not offensive enough for it to take action.
Commissioner Tristani dissented from this viewpoint quoting a line from the joke that went "The wallet was found stuffed up the ass of a dead guy."
She concluded," The Commission appears so averse to indecency cases, and has erected so many barriers to complaints from members of the public, that indecency enforcement has become virtually non-existent."
"It's time for the Commission to begin taking indecency cases seriously again. It's our duty under the law, and, more importantly, our duty to our children."
And in another case, the FCC has levied a $10,000 fine on Richard I. Rowland for operating an unlicensed FM radio station in Longwood, Florida in June and September of 2000.
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Previous Tristani:
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RNW note- The fines are listed in the FCC Daily Digest for February 9:
Tristani Statement:

2001-02-13: The UK Radio Authority came under attack as being dictatorial by one of the speakers at its Access Radio Seminar on Monday.
UK GWR Group chief executive Ralph Bernard said that the Authority thought commercial radio groups were run by people who didn't know their audience as well as the BBC and accused it of "nannying" commercial radio from the "from cradle of creativity to the graveyard of the bland."
He added that people at the authority who had no experience in radio programming defined formats to experiences operators, sometimes by reference to papers which were years old.
Coincidentally the Authority has still not given GWR the go ahead for its takeover of Lite-FM in Peterborough which has to pass a public interest test because it operates in the same area as existing GWR stations (RNW Aug. 23 ).
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2001-02-12: Finding an AP item on radio swap-shops in the New York Times this week led us to look for columns about some of the more unusual aspects of radio or radio stations with out of the ordinary qualities.
The swap-shop item centred on Trade Mart, a popular call-in show at WXLR-FM, Harold, in rural eastern Kentucky as a representative of such shows still garnering sizeable audiences in rural America.
They give callers a moment on air to talk as well as to sell, trade or give-away items.
Barry Boyd, general manager of WXLR said the "best shows are the ones people go to work talking about, like the time an old man called in advertising for a wife or when a woman called trying, without much success, to find someone to adopt a cat that had attacked her child."
Host Shawn Allen's show on one day had a caller needing a tailgate for his pickup truck, another with fighting roosters for sale, plus other items such as record collections, CB radios, vehicles and mobile homes.
Another host Trish Stacy, who does a similar show, Free Market, for WSGS-FM in Hazard. said, "We get a lot of poultry and fowl."
"It's definitely an interesting program. A lot of people just like to be on the radio. It's their way of getting attention.''
One of Stacy's favourite calls was the man who wanted to sell 722 boxes of Kraft deluxe macaroni and cheese. ``Or I'd trade them for a good rooster,'' he said.
On more familiar ground but still with a difference and an illuminating look at some of the conflicts of interest at a station, Frank Ahrens in the Washington Post looked at 6000-watt adult alternative WRNR-FM, based above a general store on Main Street in Annapolis.
The station gained a (small) band of devoted followers through its "free-form" approach under which disc jockeys played just what they wanted.
The station's signal has a limited range and so fans have posted web sites showing how to erect antennae to pull in the signal from further afield.
The problem is that the audience may be devoted but it just isn't large, numbering only around 59,000 listeners a week compared to some 380,500 for Baltimore rival WWMX -FM.
So change has been instituted with the result that Jon Peterson, WRNR's operations director, who has been attacked on WRNR message boards for being too mainstream. The station has now phased in a play list, insists that three songs an hour have to be played from artists who have new albums out and so on.
Some of the fans have hit back in Internet message circles, one saying "Long gone are the days of artistry in radio at WRNR" although another posted a more approving," "Time to bring in a type of music that appeals to more than the 43-year-old, health-food-eating ex-hippie."
The changes also led to staff departures including DJ John Hall who commented," "I had been used to having my own way about what I played on my show."
He also admitted to stirring the pot, one example given being that after playing a McDonald's commercial, the vegetarian Hall would read a "meat moment" describing some stockyard horror and denouncing meat eating. Some hope maybe for the station though in a move by Virgin Radio in the UK to move away from youth pop towards classic rock and pop (RNW Jan 27).
This is also reflected another report, this time from the Chicago Tribune In which Los Angeles Times writer Geoff Boucher opines that the youth-pop wave is beginning to ebb.
The article quotes Sky Daniels, general manager of Radio & Records as saying, "It's as if there's a sense by a lot of radio programmers that now is the time that they're supposed to end the cycle."
Although the music is still selling well, consultant Jeff Pollack says he thinks "the reason is some Top 40 stations want to show more of a multidimensional sound so listeners aren't hearing the same thing every time they turn the radio on."
And finally, courtesy of Current Magazine, a look at the new 69,000 watts KUYI -FM public radio station in Kings Canyon, Arizona, run by the Hopi and licensed to the Hopi Foundation.
The station took its call letters from the Hopi word for water, kuyi-pronounced "goo-yee" and it sees one of its functions as "to teach and encourage the use of the Hopi language."
The station will employ three or four full-time staff members and is training more than 20 volunteers, many with no broadcasting experience, to air a bilingual Hopi-English mix of news, sports, and an eclectic blend of Native and non-Native music.
The language issue is particularly important says Loris Taylor, an associate director for the Hopi Foundation because in some villages, only 5 percent of Natives speak the Hopi language.
Within the next generation, that's going to come down to a very quick zero," she added, but notes that the station has already increased radio listening and the use of the Hopi language.
The article notes that the situation will be made worse because Arizona voters recently passed Proposition 203, a controversial measure that will end bilingual education by forcing non-native English speakers to enter a year-long immersion program.
Taylor says of the measure, "In Arizona, we seem to have a very narrow view of our place in the world. It's an isolated view that seems to tell us there's only one right way, and that way is through the English language."
There are also moves elsewhere in the US to boost native radio, one example being in Washington state where the Yakima Nation recently won FCC approval to buy KENE, a 1,000-watt AM station southeast of Yakima, Wash., from a local Spanish-language broadcaster.
The Yakima tribe had been airing Native music in a time-sharing agreement with the previous owner but soon it will begin airing bilingual Yakima-English programming full-time.
There's also a Native radio summit in June at the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, which between a hundred and 150 people are expected to attend to discuss the future of native radio.
One particular problem they see is that native radio stations are mostly serving rural communities but more than half the native population now live in urban areas.
RNW note: See RNW June 27 regarding funding from the US Corporation for Public Broadcasting for ventures including native language radio services).
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2001-02-12: The Pacifica network dispute at WBAI-FM, new York (See RNW Dec. 29), has led to Juan Gonzalez,New York Daily News columnist and co-host of the morning "Democracy Now!" show to quit on air with a call to listeners to end their support for the Network.
He's now leading the Pacifica Campaign, a grass-roots group working to drive out members of the network's board who dissidents feel are too tied to corporate interests and have forgotten Pacifica's heritage.
Gonzalez said he was listening to "Wake-Up Call," the show that precedes "Democracy Now!" and heard WBAI's new general manager announce a gag order, preventing staffers from talking on the air about internal station or network conflicts.
He said," I realised if I was going to say anything about it, I'd be fired. The trend was getting worse, not better, and something dramatic had to be done."
Gonzalez pretty well guaranteed the dramatic when he said the Pacifica board "has been hijacked by a small clique that has more in common with modern-day corporate vultures than with working-class America."
The Campaign hopes that by organising protests it will so affect Pacifica's funding as to force a policy change and drive out the board members they are opposing.
His Co-host Amy Goodman, who is remaining with "Democracy Now!", said she was surprised and disappointed by Gonzalez's departure.
Goodman, who has also had her conflicts with the network(RNW Nov. 1), said, "I just feel I can't give up on Pacifica."
Pacifica Foundation chairman David Acosta said"I don't want our mission to be stifled because, internally, we can't get it together."
"Instead of promoting the mission, we're fighting each other."
"We want to include everyone. We want to include the listeners and staff."
"I just have been a little bit dismayed, Acosta added, "by some of the attacks management has suffered, and attacks some of the board members have suffered, such as late-night phone calls and hate mail."
"I don't want to make these differences of opinion personal. There are procedures in place where we can discuss those types of disagreements."
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2001-02-11: Licence news this week and the UK was the most active area with new digital and local licences being awarded.
Australia was quiet as was Ireland but Canada had its usual fill of activity.
In the US, new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael Powell set the tone for his tenure at his first news conference (RNW Feb. 7); Democrat Commissioner Gloria Tristani also made her position clear, this time in dissenting from permissions being given for more market concentration (RNW Feb. 8).
There is also growing concern that the FCC might sell of spectrum which is currently reserved for educational use for mobile communications use. (See below).
So to Canada and first from there a call by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for comment on its policy frameworks for community cable television channels and low-power radio stations.
In terms of radio stations, Canada currently issues licences for low power AM (up to 100 watts) and FM (up to 50 watts) services, Very Low Power FM (up to 10 watts) and Low-Power Announcement Service (LPAS) whose signal covers only a very restricted area.
These have different degrees of protection against interference (none against that from regular protected AM or FM stations) and the Commission wants comment on whether the categories should be retained, whether it should have a clear definition of the objective of any such services, how to encourage diversity and so on.
In the field of actual licence issuing, the Commission has approved two applications from the Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. in Ontario. One is for a English-language FM radio station at Timmins which will offer a CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) music format and the other is for the conversion of CKAP-AM, Kapuskasing, to FM retaining its current CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio)/Hot AC (Adult Contemporary) format.
In the case of the Timmins station, objections from Telemedia Radio Inc., which owns two stations in the market were felt not as strong an argument as Haliburton's contentions in terms of adding diversity and complementing Haliburton's existing Timmins French-language FM station CHYK-FM.
Also in Timmins, the CRTC has approved a new low power tourist information service.
Elsewhere in Canada, the CRTC has approved a new English language FM station at Red Deer, Alberta to replace Corus Radio Company's CKGY-AM, retaining the current country music format, A developmental English-language FM community radio programming undertaking at Lewisporte, Newfoundland.
In Saskatchewan the CRTC approved a new low-power English-language FM radio station at Moose Jaw for Moose Jaw Tier 1 Hockey Inc. to broadcast of the hockey games of the Moose Jaw Warriors, and a Type B English-language FM community radio programming undertaking at Regina for Radius Communications Inc. which will devote 60% of its news programming time to local news and 20% to regional news as well as carrying aboriginal and French language programming. Finally the CRTC has approved the transfer of Control to Corus Entertainment Inc. of Les Placements Belcand Mont-Royal inc., which owns Metromedia CMR Broadcasting Inc. Metromedia owns Six radio stations, CKOO-FM (formerly CIEL-FM), CKOI-FM, CINF, CFQR-FM and CINW, all in Montréal, plus CIME-FM in St-Jérôme as well as digital television service "Canal Habitat".
And in the UK, a busy week for the Radio Authority.
It started off with 16 applications for the new regional Independent Local Radio (ILR) licence for South and West Yorkshire.
They were from:
The Arrow (Chrysalis Radio (Yorkshire) Ltd.)-;
Century Yorkshire Ltd;
Déjà Vu Radio (Oldies Radio (Yorkshire) Ltd.);
Flair Fm (White Rose Radio Ltd.);
Flix Radio (Yorkshire) Ltd;
Forever 106 (Forever Broadcasting (Yorkshire) Ltd.);
Jazz Fm Yorkshire Ltd;
Nova 106 (Yorkshire Radio Enterprises Ltd.);
106.2 The Rose (White Rose Regional Radio Ltd. Owned By The Wireless Group);
Route Fm (Yorkshire Sound Ltd.);
Saga Radio Ltd.;
Sunrise Radio (Yorkshire) (Bradford City Radio Ltd.);
Variety Fm (Radio Variety Ltd.)
Y107 (Yorkshire Regional Radio Ltd.).
Brief format and proposal deals are on the UK Radio Authority web site ( link below).
The week ended with the award of the local digital multiplex service licence for the West Midlands region to the MXR Consortium whose shareholders are Chrysalis Group plc; Capital Radio plc; Guardian Media Group plc; Jazz FM plc; UBC Digital Ltd.; Soul Media Ltd.; and the Ford Motor Co. Ltd.
As well as the existing BBC Asian Network service for the West Midlands., MXR plans eight channels -- Children's radio; Jazz; Adult rock; Easy listening; Rolling regional news; Urban and rhythmic music; and Saga's Melodic adult contemporary service for older listeners.
The authority has also conditionally offered the new Independent Local Radio licence for a small-scale service FM service for towns of Kendal and Windermere in Cumbria to Mint Fm (Westmoreland Radio Ltd.) and has announced that next week it will advertise the digital multiplex licence to serve the town of Bournemouth and the surrounding area.
It has also has published its assessment of the re-awarding of the licence for the High Wycombe area to Radio Wye Ltd, (See Licence News Jan 28).
Wye was commended for its local character, commitment to locally produced programming and for its specialist programming for the local Asian and African-Caribbean populations.
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Next column

2001-02-11: Concern is growing in the US that the Federal Communications Commission, faced with an explosive growth in demand for spectrum by telecommunications companies for a variety of wireless and Internet services, may reclaim airwaves it awarded in the sixties for educational use.
Around 1200 1,200 schools, colleges and universities would be affected by any move and the FCC has asked for comment on the idea by February 22.
The spectrum at issue is in the 2,500 megahertz to 2,690-megahertz band Instructional Television Fixed Service that is reserved for educational use.
It's at risk because President Clinton before leaving office set a deadline of July for federal agencies to find the spectrum for such uses as third generation mobile technology which permits Internet use on cell phones and too much of the spectrum is already occupied to allow for the growth. Hence lobbying by the powerful telecommunications companies to take over spectrum.
Most of the spectrum that could be used is already assigned to the military, although some of it could be freed up by a lengthy and costly reallocation of spectrum currently used for such purposes as command-and-control radio networks for the Army and Air Force and radar networks.
Other military spectrum such as the Air Force's Space Ground Link Subsystem, the network through which the military talks to its fleet of satellites, are regarded as sacrosanct.
As a result the pressure is heavily on the educational services.
Previous FCC

2001-02-10:The latest Internet streaming audio study by Arbitron and Edison Media Research shows that streaming continues to increase although total time spent online has dropped.
The report, "Streaming at a Crossroads" is the sixth Internet study by the two companies and it found out that in January this year 13% of Americans (more than 30 million) reported using Internet audio or video at least once a month compared to 10% in January 2000.
27% of Americans (61 million) reported using streaming media in the past year with 6% (13 million) viewing or listening to streaming content weekly. The report says that more Americans (62%) now have Internet access than a year ago (60%) and they are spending more online (up from $650 to $806 a year) but just over 7 hours a week is spent online on average compared to 8 hours a year ago.
In terms of Internet use, radio fares best with 34% of those polled saying they expected to spend more time listening to radio during the year and half saying they would continue to listen for the same amount of time.
The report also says that nearly twice as many Americans listen online as watch streaming video.
Of those who listen, 44% go for music, 25% for radio stations, and 24% each for news reports and Napster music downloads and 22% for MP3 downloads.
Interestingly 76% of the people who listened couldn't name a single Internet audio provider and a quarter found listening to streaming audio difficult to a degree.
Online listening to radio stations increased by about a third over the year and 54% of those listening went for local stations, 39% for stations from other parts of the US and only 7& from other countries.
Around 12% listened to station side channels, those similar to but not the same as the on-air broadcasts and more time was spent listened at work than from the home (RNW note: A finding regularly reported by competitor MeasureCast).
The study also found that those who used streaming media were more likely to spend money online (34% compared to 19%) (RNW Note Another finding we would have anticipated as we'd expect such people to be confident about Internet use)
Edison site (Links to report:

2001-02-10: More satellite and digital radio developments, starting with US XM Satellite Radio whose first launch is now to be on March 18 instead of February 28 as originally announced (RNW Jan 11).
It will also be of its "Rock" satellite instead of "Roll" which was scheduled for launch last month but whose launch was aborted because of a last-minute seeming problem which proved not to be a malfunction (RNW Jan 9).
XM says both satellites are in good condition and it expects to launch "Roll" in early May.
XM has also announced that its has completed its production chipset design and that manufacturer ST Microelectronics will make components available to manufacturers by the end of March.
This would enable mass production of receivers for the commercial launch of XM in the summer.
Another radio satellite company, WorldSpace has announced a manufacturing, marketing and distribution deal.
This is with Indonesian manufacturer P.T. Hartono Istana Teknologi (HIT) and the two companies will cooperate to produce receivers for WorldSpace's international satellite services.
WorldSpace, whose STARMAN® chipsets are also made by ST Microelectronics already had receiver agreements with manufacturers Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita (Panasonic) and Sanyo.
Its first two satellites, AfriStar and AsiaStar, were successfully launched in 1998 and 2000 and a third, AmeriStar, will follow this year.
And in Europe, Geneva-based Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), whose steering board last month endorsed its digital AM service technology, has announced that Japanese state broadcaster Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) is joining the DRM consortium.
The decision to join followed DRM's first Japan symposium last December at which live transmissions were demonstrated, broadcast from transmitters in Irkutsk, Russia and from Tinian in Saipan, Pacific.
DRM now has some 70 members of its consortium and says the technology can be used with more modern transmitters through modifications rather than replacement, thus reducing the cost of implementing digital technology.
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2001-02-10: More radio business deals, starting with the effective demise of BroadcastAmerica.com.
Internet marketing and content distribution company SurferNETWORK.com has now taken the radio assets of Maine-based BroadcastAmerica following the auction of assets under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.
SurferNETWORK chairman and CEO, Gordon Bridge, said that by combining their assets with those of BroadcastAmerica and recently acquired GlobalMedia.com, Surfer was, "creating the global leader in streaming radio via the Net."
He indicated that his company might be interested in buying BroadcastAmerica subsidiary BroadcastEurope.
The Portland Press Herald quoted the lawyer for Surfer and its affiliate BA Funding as saying that the deal was a poor one for BroadcastAmerica and its creditors compared to the offer they rejected in December but BroadcastAmerica's lawyer disputed that claim.
Broadcast America's furniture and equipment will be auctioned off at its site on March 1.
BroadcastAmerica's web site is still operational but carries nothing about the development but Surfer's site does have a news release.
And additional information concerning the Radio One Inc and Blue Chip broadcasting deals, which was too late for us yesterday (See report below). Radio One's, chief financial officer Scott R. Royster told analysts that Minneapolis station KTTB-FM alone was worth $30 million of the $190 million the company is paying for Blue Chip and the whole deal was less than 14 times cash flow.
The $190 million will be made up of pay $45 million in cash and $90 million in stock and $55 million to refinance Blue Chip's debt.
Royster said the company's loss in 2000 was largely due to heavy depreciation costs associated with radio licenses.
He added that he was not concerned about the loss because it serves as a tax shelter for the firm.
"Profits are increasing dramatically," Royster said. "We don't want to become a taxpayer."
Radio One's CEO Alfred Liggins says he will now focus on operating the stations his company now owns although he added that there were a few gaps he would like to fill in.
He estimated that these would not cost more than $50 million in 2001. This is a small fraction of the company's spend over the past year where its $1.3 billion purchase of Clear Channel divestitures resulting from Clear's AMFM take over doubled its size.
Of Blue Chip's 19 stations, as well as the 14 going to Radio and the retention of WDBZ-AM, which will be operated by Radio 1, CEO Ross Love is keeping WCIN-AM in Cincinnati and selling off the three remaining stations.
WFIA-AM in Louisville, Kentucky, is on the market and WBTF-FM and WLXO -FM in Lexington, Kentucky, are to be sold to LM Communications.
LM will then have four FMs and one AM in the market.
And fourth quarter results from Hispanic Broadcasting, which showed a fall in same station revenues although overall the company was still up.
Net revenues were 9.7% higher than 1999 Q4 at $61.4 million and after-tax cash flow (ATCF) up 5.5% at $24M but broadcast cash flow (BCF) was down 9.6% to $25.6 million.
On a same station basis revenue was down 8.4% and BCF down 11.9%. For the full year, Net revenues were up 20% to $237.6 million, BCF up 11.9% to $102.6 million and ATCF up 18.8% to $84.2 million.
And finally a UK deal under which Forever Broadcasting is paying just over £5 million for Wolverhampton station The Wolf.
After the deal Forever will own four stations; the others are in Liverpool, Bolton and Bury in Lancashire and Brighton
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2001-02-09:After the breasts as a prize (RNW Feb. 8), the whole station.
KAWL-AM in York, Nebraska, is staging a prize contest with the station itself as the prize.
Its web site values the 500-watt station owned by Prairie States Broadcasting, Inc at around $700,000 and the winner receives the right to apply to the Federal Communications Commission for the transfer of KAWL's licence to him or her.
If the FCC approves, they get the station complete with all its facilities.
If they're rejected, the next placed winner gets the chance to apply for the transfer.
Tickets for the competition are $1000 each for which an entrant gets to enter a written test followed by a tie breaker test on broadcasting terms and then a further tie breaker on a broadcast topic.
The catch? If less than a thousand entries are received, there's no winner and entrants get their money back.
And while on ingenuity in getting funds, a report in the Washington Post brings up the issue of funding for US National Public Radio (NPR).
By law, NPR cannot advertise on the air although it can take corporate funding in the form of underwriting, and credit the underwriters on air for their support without any indication of support for them or their products.
However the network apparently can, and has signed a contract to, advertise on its building walls in Washington DC.
The Post reports that the deal has aroused opposition, not just from staff and supporters who fear "creeping commercialization" of NPR but also from Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) chair of the House Commerce and Energy Committee.
The Committer heavily influences funding for public broadcasting. NPR gets around 4 percent of its budget from Congress, through grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Tauzin told the paper the move was, "very unwise and -- let me use the word - provocative."
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2001-02-09: More on the Flood Tribunal into the award of Ireland's first national commercial radio licence to Century Radio, which subsequently went broke.
In hearings this week, co-founder Oliver Barry has denied telling his fellow founder James Stafford that the government press secretary, P.J. Mara, and the minister for communications, Ray Burke, were operating a price list for the award of commercial broadcasting licences.
Stafford told the tribunal in July last year that Barry told him in September or October 1988 before Century applied for its licence that the "going rate" was £90,000 for a national television licence, £75,000 for each of the Dublin radio licences and £25,000 for a local licence.
Barry, who gave £35,000 to Burke in May 1989, has denied that he made other payments and in particular that £40,000 he claimed from Century Radio in February 1991 was used for any other purpose than the management services listed on the invoice he submitted.
He has admitted, however, that he paid Mara £2,000 in the early 1980s when the latter had financial difficulties. The money was never repaid.
Stafford has also alleged Barry approached him three times in 1990, saying Mara was "expecting" a sum of money from Century but Barry says he can't recall discussing this although at the time Mara was unhappy in his job and he had suggested to Mara, who was thinking of going into private enterprise, that "if he was taking on clients he might look at Century Radio and help to rebuild our corporate image."
Mara has already been ordered by the Tribunal to produce to it all his financial records from 1988 to date and the deadline twice extended after the first order was made in October last year and the second in December.
He has now been given until next Thursday to comply with the order. Mara's solicitors said he was trying to produce the records speedily and had contacted all the financial institutions he had dealings with in order to obtain copies of his records. He didn't keep comprehensive records and would have to rely on the records of third parties.
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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

2001-02-09: Maryland-based Radio One Inc, the largest African-American owned radio group in the US, is to acquire Cincinnati-based Blue Chip Broadcasting, the third ranked group for $190 million.
The deal will give Radio One 15 more stations, an AM in Dayton, Ohio, and FMs in Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus (Ohio - 3), Louisville (6) and Dayton (Ohio - 3).
Blue Chip CEO Ross Love will join Radio One's board.
Radio One is also selling in Mississippi where it is getting $225000 from Fort Bend Broadcasting for the assets but not the call letters of WJZZ-AM in Kingsley
The deal was announced as Radio One reported its fourth quarter results.
Revenue was up from $25 Million in 1999 to $58 million for the quarter and for the full year up from $82 million to $156 million.
For the quarter after tax flow was up 102% to $11.9 million; one a same station basis the rise was 15%.
On a per share basis this was 14 cents for the quarter and 58 cents for the full year but for 2001 the company is forecasting a loss of 39 cents per share, 20 cents a share in the first quarter, 8 in second quarter and around 5 in each of the third and fourth quarters.
Also reporting its fourth quarter results was Cox Radio whose net revenues for the quarter were up 25.7% on 1999 at $102.8 million whilst for the year net revenues were up 22.9% to $369.4 million whilst broadcast cash flow (BCF) was up 29.8% for the quarter to $42.7 million and for the year up 20.5% to $221.6 million.
On a same station basis revenues were up 13% for the quarter to $90.2 million and for the year up 15.8% to $253million.
BCF was up 23% for the quarter to $39.6 million and for the year up 29.6% to $102million.
Net income for the final quarter was $4.7 million including a $100,000 unrealised gain related to interest rate swap agreements and a $500,000 after-tax loss for adjustments on previous sales of assets.
For the year net income was $305.9 million including a $27.9 million after-tax gain on the sale of KACE-FM and KRTO-FM in Los Angeles, California; a $244.6 million after-tax gain on the exchange of KFI-AM and KOST-FM in Los Angeles, California; a $1.0 million unrealised gain related to interest rate swap agreements the $500,000 adjustment as in the final quarter.
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2001-02-08:Almost as new US Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell was setting out his reduced regulation policy (RNW Feb. 7) and classifying "pubic interest" in terms of "a commitment to making sure the American consumer is benefited", there was a blast from Democrat Commissioner Gloria Tristani about allowing too much concentration in radio markets.
She released statements about the approval of licence transfers in Georgia from Southard Radio to Golden Isles Broadcasting in Brunswick, and from Taylor Broadcasting to Clear Channel Broadcasting in Macon.
In the first case she noted that the transfer would result in two groups controlling 8 of the nine stations in Brunswick and 93.9% of advertising revenue.
She felt that a rather than approve the transfer because it did not change the existing competitive situation in Brunswick, the Commission should have considered other options such as requiring the applicant to demonstrate that it attempted to find another buyer for one of the stations.
In Macon, she noted that Clear Channel, because two specific "markets" were involved, should be permitted to own no more than six stations and seven stations, respectively but was in fact being allowed to own seven and eight stations respectively.
Tristani said the size of the "market" was being expanded and contracted to suit our purposes instead of being consistently applied as required by statute, her initial reaction was to disagree with the decision to grant the transfer
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2001-02-08: A Manchester, UK, radio station has just announced a prize of a new pair of breasts to a local woman in one of their competitions.
Key 103 was contacted by the woman's mother who said she needed to recover her figure after having two children and had become really depressed about her breast size.
After the award was made the station's JK & Joel Breakfast Show found out that the woman had already raised nearly all the money for the operation herself and was going to cut the£2500 prize in half.
After calls from listeners, however, they tossed a coin, which came down in favour of the larger figure.

2001-02-08: More US radio business and results, starting with satellite radio.
On the plus side, XM Satellite Radio has announced another tie-up, this time with Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. to design, develop, produce and market XM radios for factory installation into new cars.
XM has also announced its fourth quarter results, which show an operating loss of $20.5 million, a consolidated net loss of $14.0 million, and a consolidated net loss available to common shareholders of $19.8 million, or $0.40 per share.
In the fourth quarter of 1999 the figures were $12.9 million, $11.1million, $11.1million or $0.27 per share respectively.
Meanwhile competitor Sirius Satellite Radio, whose three satellites are already in orbit and last month had its rating upgraded by Moodys from negative to stable (RNW Jan 3), has had technical problems with software which have prevented clear reception.
They've also led Lehman Brothers Inc. to delay a $150 million loan until the system passes tests.
Sirius still has some $75 million in cash.
Strong fourth quarter results however for Entravision whose net revenues for the period were $55.7 million, up 225% on 1999, mostly through acquisitions which tripled its size.
On a same station basis, net revenues were still up a healthy 20% to $18.4 million and broadcast cash flow (BCF) was up 29% to $7.8 million.
For the full year net revenues were $154 million, up 161% and BCF was $58.2 million, an increase of 154%: same station net revenues grew 26% to $67.5 million and same station BCF was up 32% to $27.7 million.
Finally on the downside, Clear Channel's Premiere Networks Syndication is to shed 10% of its workforce and axe some 20 shows.
Fuller details are to be announced tomorrow.
Premiere President and COO Kraig T. Kitchin says he is focusing the company's attentions on recent launches and new programmes including four new RADAR-rated sales networks, Fox Sports Radio Network and the Premiere Traffic Network.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Entravision:
Previous Kitchin:
Previous Premiere:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
Entravision web site (links to Q4 Conference call):
Sirius web site:
XM web site:

2001-02-12: Two more California radio veterans have died.
They are Robert H. Forward, a pioneering radio and television producer and manager who was 85 and Leona Jacobs-White volunteer programmer and talk show host of Berkeley's non-commercial radio station KPFA-FM, who was 72.
White co-hosted KPFA's weekly "AIDS in Focus" program for six years and from 1988 to 1990, was host of a weekly talk show.
Forward, who worked for Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System's KHJ radio in 1941 before WW2 duties, moved back and forward between radio and television after the war.
After a spell in Lee's experimental Los Angeles television station W6XAO in 1946 he had a number of television jobs before returning to radio in 1956 as programme director of KMPC. While there, he pioneered use of mobile units and helicopters for 24-hour, live news coverage and also introduced one-minute radio editorials.
He was later general manager at KLAC radio from 1961 to 1964 and at KRLA from 1978 to 1982
Los Angeles Times on Forward:
Los Angeles Times on Jacobs-White:

2001-02-07: Cox Radio, Inc., the fourth largest US radio company in terms of net revenues, has announced that it is to sell KGTO-AM in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to KJMM Inc for $465,000.
A Local Marketing Agreement is already in force pending regulatory approval.
The deal will leave Cox with four FM's and one AM in Tulsa.
Cox has also announced completion of two previously announced deals.
They are the sale of WHOO-AM serving the Orlando, Florida market to ABC Radio for $5 million in cash and the acquisition from Radio One Inc for $52.5 million in cash of the assets of WDYL-FM serving the Richmond, Virginia market, and WJMZ-FM/WPEK-FM serving the Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina market.(RNW Nov 11).
In addition, Cox has entered into a joint sales agreement with Honolulu Broadcasting, Inc. under which it will provide sales and marketing services for WARV-FM serving the Richmond, Virginia market.
Also in the US, Entercom Communications Corp. has reported fourth quarter results of net revenues up 52% to $91.7 million, broadcast cash flow (BCF) up 65% to $40.4 million and after tax cash flow per share up 44% to $0.56 per basic share, all compared to 1999.
On a same station basis, revenues were up 9% and BCF up 14%. Net revenues for 2000 were up 64% over 1999 at $352.0 million and BCF was up 84% at $145.4 but net income per share was down at $0.59 as compared to $0.62 in the prior year.
Entercom says the reduction in net income per share is primarily attributable to the additional costs of depreciation, amortization and financing costs of newly acquired properties.
Previous Cox:
Previous Entercom:
Previous Radio One Inc:
Cox web site:
Entercom web site:

2001-02-07: Internet radio audiences increased by another 10% in the most recent week of their ratings according to MeasureCast Inc, the Oregon-based streaming audience measurement company.
There were four new stations in the organisation's top 25, based this week on 575 stations: Urban Rhythm and Blues "The Beat Los Angeles" at 14, Adult Contemporary KBLX-FM at 19, Urban Rhythm and Blues WBLS-FM at 22, and Spanish Onda Cero at 25.
In the top five ranked by total time spent listening there were no ranking changes but we note that the figures for the top Talk Stations have dropped.
They were again (with previous week's Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) and Cume persons (CP- an estimate of the total number of unique listeners who were listening for five minutes or more during the week in brackets):
1): Talk Radio WABC-AM (New York) TTSL 79,887 (90,520); CP13,626 (16,123) - position unchanged.
2): Listener Formatted MediaAmazing TTSL 62,249 (48,854); CP17,956 (14,947) - position unchanged.
3): CHR Top 40 WPLJ-FM (New York) TTSL 41,483 (38,787); CP 3,582 (3,469) - position unchanged.
4): Classic Rock Internet Only Radio Margaritaville TTSL 39,516 (38,362); CP 6,608 (6,652) - formerly 6th.
5): Talk Radio KSFO-FM (San Francisco) TTSL 36,163 (38,144); CP 6,701 (6,875) - position unchanged.
And still on Internet audio, Inside Story has reported that radio giant Clear Channel, which last week announced a deal with Los Angeles-based Hiwire Inc., which inserts advertising into streaming radio webcasts, has bought Internet radio network Enigma Digital.
It adds that neither company was prepared to comment.
Enigma's stations include hard rock/metal KNAC.com and electronic/dance grooveradio.com.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Clear Channel, which had fought shy of major Internet investment in the past although some 300 of its 1100-plus stations stream their output, says it is making a profit on worldclassicrock.com.
This is a site it set up when it sold the Los Angeles frequency carrying KACD to Spanish language broadcaster Entravision.(RNW July 7).
According to the paper, Clear Channel online President John Martin says the key to the profit is not adverts so much as payments for links to the sites of other organisations or commission on sales made through the site.
The Journal says the site seven staff to pay from revenues derived though a total of 130,000 listeners a month.
RNW comment: The points we have made before about the real audience comparison between broadcast radio stations and those of Internet stations make us sceptical about the profitability claim.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Entravision:
Previous MeasureCast ratings:
Inside Story report:
MeasureCast web site:

2001-02-07: Recently appointed US Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell has held his first news conference to outline his agenda for the organisation. The content was general but Powell made it clear that he would tend to be less interventionist than his predecessors.
He termed the 1996 Communications Act, which led to much deregulation of US broadcasting a success and asked about public interest issues he said the organisation owed "fairness to all" but "allegiance to none."
Powell said he felt that the challenges for the agency were not going to be ones it found but those that found it as technological change and innovation brought forwards new and unforeseen issues.
Still with the FCC, it has rescinded a $6000 fine imposed on Infinity-owned WXRK-FM, New York, in connection with three Howard Stern shows that were held to have included indecent material.
The broadcasts were aired on October 23, 1995, March 7, 1996, and June 3, 1996 and had led to fines on affiliates WBZU/Richmond and WEZB/New Orleans after complaints from listeners.
The FCC had also propos