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2001-03-19: So far so good. XM Satellite Radio's first satellite has now successfully lifted off shortly after 22.30 GMT Sunday.
XM Rock lifted off from the Sea Launch platform at 154 degrees West on the Equator; it is due to be followed in early may by XM "Roll" which was initially to have been the first into space but whose launch was aborted at the last moment (See RNW Jan 10).
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2001-03-19: We couldn't resist the temptation this week to start with a brief look back at the Church v State controversy now raging in Italy over the Vatican Radio complex near Rome (RNW Mar 17).
Normally we have to be in favour of radio, even religious radio (see March comment section re censorship), but not if its frying children.
The Vatican is, of course, arguing that there is no proven link between the transmitter complex and a greater incidence of cancer and leukaemia in the nearby area and on Friday, it broadcast an hour-long programme entitled: "Listen to believe" - explaining its position.
As well as claiming that its transmissions are within international standards, which are less strict than those of Italy, the Vatican is claiming extra-territorial immunity.
This last rather sticks in our gullet - if the transmitters are causing deaths the church seems to us to be at risk of justifying a full-blown war on it by the Italian state in defence of its citizens.
Now that would be a story but in the meantime it just has to be unworthy of any organisation with a claim to a moral foundation to use technicalities of this kind in any way as a justification for causing health hazards; the argument has to us to centre on whether there are such hazards not immoral use of technicalities, be they international legal ones or of any kind.
On to less - or more -- serious matters in the form of BBC attempt to resurrect The Goon Show, dealt with in Paul Donovan's radio column in the UK Sunday Times.
The last Goon Show was made in 1953 but next week a new trio will try their hand at the task.
Amongst those taking part are:
* Jon Glover, who will play Spike Milligan's roles (including Eccles and Moriarty).
* Andrew Secombe who will try to re-create the funny voices of his father, Harry (including leek-chewing Neddy Seagoon).
* Jeffrey Holland, who will take on the Peter Sellers roles (Bluebottle, Major Bloodnok).
* Christopher Timothy who will be reprising the contribution of his father, Andrew, who was a Goons announce.
* and Lance Ellington who will perform one of the songs that his late father, Ray, sang on the show.
Donovan says the BBC is making "itself a hostage to fortune in this way" because the golden jubilee of the birth of The Goon Show is on May 28.
To mark it, the Corporation is mounting a special evening on Radio 2 the next day whose finale will be the re-creation of the 1953 episode, which is being called Goon Again.
So for any fans, the Internet or the radio on May 29 it is.
And finally a start to a column we couldn't resist, this time from Donovan's colleague Gerry McCarthy, writing on Irish state radio.
"RTÉ producers should be a protected species. They are, after all, in the business of proper radio."
"They are not computerised product shifters, half flow charts, and half vampires, haunting the boardrooms of commercial radio and applying the death penalty to DJs who deviate from the script."
"RTÉ producers come from a kinder, gentler era and they should be cherished." Caveats are entered later but for once we'll forego them.
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2001-03-19: BBC Radio 4 has chosen "Go 4 It" as the title for its new weekly Sunday children's programme which it hopes will entice a new generation to listen to radio for more than just pop music.
The title was selected from some 1850 sent in by children response to requests for a name for the new series that will mix reviews and gossip with educational segments plus a reading from a children's novel.
The name selected came from an eight-year-old boy who said he wanted "an exciting name to make children do things."
The programme will begin on Easter Sunday and will be broadcast on Sundays at 1915 London time (1815GMT) for at least a year.
Its predecessor in spirit, Children's Hour, ran from 1922 to 1964, attracting widespread calls for its return at that time.
Three year's later the BBC dropped all its children's programming after audience research showed they only attracted a few thousand listeners.
In January the BBC claimed significant support for a children's programming in a report on support for its digital plans (RNW Jan 19); it also claimed around a million children tuned in for its Boxing Day Harry Potter marathon broadcast (See RNW Dec 18 ).
Commercial broadcasters in the UK have also been showing more interest in children's radio and a "Fun" children's channel from UK Capital Radio has been part of the offerings of MXR, which have been singled out by the UK Radio Authority in its recent digital multiplex licence awards to the consortium.
Of the three bidders for the third London digital multiplex, both MXR and The Digital Radio Group (London ) Ltd (DRG) are both proposing children's channels.
Children's radio is also part of the planned offerings by the US satellite radio companies Sirius and XM.
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2001-03-18: Advertisers have been pulling their spots from Tampa, Florida, station WXTB-FM in protest at the castration and killing of a wild boar in the station's parking lot during Bubba The Love Sponge's morning show at the end of February according to the St Petersburg Times.
Some have pulled them from just the show the show but others from the Clear Channel-owned station itself. Tampa police are investigating whether the slaughter constitutes animal cruelty and animal rights groups have been putting pressure on advertisers to boycott the station.
The incident happened as part of a "Roadkill Barbecue" promotion during the programme although Clear Channel's attorneys insist the actual killing was not broadcast.
"Bubba the Love Sponge had some animal noises" that he played from the studio, said lawyer Brian Albritton.
"He came out after the entire event was over."
Albritton said a hunter took the boar to the radio station as part of the promotion and once there it was restrained, castrated and its spinal cord was severed.
"It was killed swiftly and instantly," he said. "It's castrated first because often when the animal gets excited it gets a surge of testosterone and the testosterone spoils the meat," he said.
Animal experts have contested the statement concerning the effects of castration.
Last week, WXTB's general manager apologized to the staff of Clear Channel Communications' eight Tampa stations last week, saying the stunt, which included the airing of animal noises, was "far too graphic."
The host himself has been off the air this week, said to be "on vacation."
Previous Clear Channel:
St Petersburg Times site (Search archive for "Bubba".)

2001-03-18: Licence news this week is split between 3G spectrum and radio as such.
In Australia the 3G spectrum auctions got off to a slow start and so far bids have not yet reached the reserve total set by the government (RNW March 16).
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has announced three new licences for Calgary in Alberta.
The announcement follows hearings in October last year when six competing applications were put forward for Calgary services as well as an application proposing a new FM radio station to serve the Okotoks and High River, communities south of Calgary.
Five of the Calgary applications were for mainstream commercial services using the 98.5 MHz frequency - from Standard Radio Inc, Telemedia Radio (West) Inc., CHUM Limited, NewCap Inc and Craig Broadcast Systems Inc.
Of these the Commission approved that of Standard 's application for a new English language Urban Rhythm format.
In addition the Commission said that it was satisfied that the market could support two new commercial stations and has by a majority vote conditionally approved Telemedia's application for a new English-language New Adult Contemporary (NAC)/ Smooth Jazz forma.
Telemedia now has 12 months to come up with an alternative acceptable frequency.
In addition to the commercial applications, the Commission has approved a not-for-profit application for a new, Aboriginal-language station which will in the main broadcast programming originating with the FM radio station licensed to Aboriginal Voices Radio in Toronto (See RNW June 18 ).
The new Calgary station has been allocated the 88.1 MHz frequency which was listed by Golden West in its application for a new FM station at High River/Okotoks.
The Commission has therefore turned down this application but has suggested that Golden West should investigate the availability for its use of a frequency better suited to providing a local radio service to these smaller communities.
All was quiet in Ireland but in the UK, the Radio Authority has been busy on the analogue and digital fronts.
On the analogue side, the Radio Authority has announced that it will advertise a new FM licence for Pembrokeshire in West Wales as well as announcing that there were four applicants for the new Omagh and Enniskillen licence in Northern Ireland (RNW Mar 14).
On the digital side, it has announced that it has received three applications for the third London digital multiplex (also RNW Mar 14)and advertising the new digital multiplex for Dundee and Perth in Scotland.
In the US, the main news has been the clearing up of most of the backlog of deals which the Federal Communications Commission "red-flagged" for ownership concentration reasons. (See RNW Mar 13 ).
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2001-03-18: The Baltimore Sun reports that Johns Hopkins University officials intend to sell WJHU-FM, the city's primary public radio news station.
It says the decision was made after the University concluded that the cash-strapped station would fare better with an owner willing to spend more money on its future.
James McGill, the university's senior vice president for finance and administration, told the paper that any would be purchaser would have to persuade the university that it would highlight issues and events specific to the Greater Baltimore region.
He added, "The radio station has never been a money-maker for Hopkins, nor perhaps was it ever set up to be one."
Currently the station airs National Public Radio programmes as well as four shows of its own. It has put on hold plans to create a local news organisation and cancelled interviews which had been scheduled for a general manager to fill the currently-vacant post.
If no buyer emerges, the paper says the University may enter a partnership allowing another organisation to operate the station.
WJHU, which was founded in 1986, has 13 full-time employees, 11,000 members and a $2 million annual budget.
It has been in surplus on its budget recently but is still paying back a long-term loan from the university. No price has been suggested for the station but the Sun says Maryland Public Television expressed strong interest in acquiring WJHU.
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2001-03-17: Ray Burke, the minister responsible for communications when Century Radio was awarded Ireland's first national commercial radio licence, has told the Flood Tribunal that he personally took no decision to cap the advertising revenues of state broadcaster RTÉ.
Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said Century Radio and its bankers knew about Mr Burke's intention to introduce a cap in December 1989, before the Minister instructed his departmental secretary and before the Cabinet considered the matter in March 1990.
He said Burke had even indicated the extent of the cap proposed.
Burke said that the "decision at all stages was a government decision"; he had offered Century his support but was not legally in a position to make commitments to Century regarding a cap.
He also said that he never had the "slightest intention" of cutting RTÉ's advertising by half, as Century co-founder James Stafford had claimed.
"I would have never had discussed a 50 per cent cut because of the dramatic effect this would have on RTÉ and because it would never have been contemplated by the Government," he said.
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Previous Century:
Previous Flood Tribunal;
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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

2001-03-17: More news and results from US radio.
In a report "Reinventing Radio", Chicago-based financial services firm William Blair and Company is upbeat about the future for the radio industry which it says is at a watershed because of the proliferation of new mediums for audio broadcasting.
Analyst Alissa Graham looks at satellite radio, Internet radio, and digital audio broadcasting and focuses on ways in which digital technology will affect the radio industry, and how it can withstand competition.
The report looks at how radio re-invented itself after the advent of television and looks at how it can "buttress its competitive position by harnessing digital technology and by addressing the changing needs of listeners and advertisers."
The report says that because broadcast radio is ubiquitous, free, has an extensive audience reach, and has "blunt" targeting capabilities-- it will stand up to the competition of satellite and Internet radio, for at least the short term.
It also says that if radio improves on its existing services and invests in new technologies and develops new revenue opportunities, it will continue to produce excellent cash flow.
And on the results front, Oregon-based NBG Radio Network, a leading US independent creator, producer, and distributor of nationally syndicated radio programs has reported its best year ever in 2000.
For the year to November 30, its consolidated revenues were up 226% over the same period in 1999 to $11,785,831 and net income was up 165% to $826,112 compared to a consolidated net loss of $1,264,275 for the same period in 1999.
NBG attributes the increase to more top market affiliates and available inventory.
William Blair web site:
NBG web site:

2001-03-17: The Australian 3G spectrum auction attracted only another Aus$38 million in bids on its second, taking the total so far made to the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) to Aus$842 million.
The government has set a reserve price of Aus$1.08 billion, although it had hoped to make up to Aus$2.6 billion, and the ACA has now announced that it will increase the number of bidding rounds a day from two to four starting on Monday.
The only bids on the second day were for the national one licence, where Vodafone Pacific has outbid Optus Mobile Pty Ltd which was the highest bidder for the licence on the first day.
Vdafone has offered Aus$223.5, some Aus$40 million above the reserve price.
The national one and national two are the only licences on offer which cover all metropolitan and regional areas of Australia although two other national licences could be put together through bids for separate spectrum.
The highest bidder for the national two licence is Telstra, which has Aus$198.4 million on the table.
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2001-03-17: Italy's Environment Minister has threatened to cut the electricity supply to Vatican Radio following a dispute about electromagnetic emissions from the site which have registered up to three times Italy's legal limit.
It has been alleged to be the cause of tumours and leukaemia. (See RNW Oct 10).
The Vatican has been claiming extra-territorial immunity under a 1951 agreement with Italy for the radio site which, like the Vatican itself, is considered part of a sovereign state.
It refused to pass on summons issued against three officials: Father Roberto Tucci, who was made a cardinal last month and who is chairman of the radio's management board; Father Pasquale Borgomeo, its director general; and Costantino Pacifici, the deputy technical director.
Earlier this week judge, Andrea Calabria, told prosecutors they made an error in issuing a summons to the defendants through diplomatic channels but he held that his court did have jurisdiction, then adjourned the trial until the autumn.
The case has caused sharp divisions within the Italian government, with the environment minister signing up as a civil party to the trial and the foreign ministry saying the Holy See was justified in invoking the extra-territorial status of the transmitter site.
In the latest development the Environment Minister Willer Bordon on Friday told a news conference, "If within 15 days the broadcaster does not get back down under the limits, I will order the national electricity provider to suspend supply to the transmission centres."
He added, "If the supplier continued to provide electricity, it too would be held responsible for committing a crime."
The transmission centre at Santa Maria di Galeria, a few miles north of Rome, has 58 antennae, some as tall as 300 feet, which beam religious ceremonies and the spiritual messages of the Pope round the world.
When it was first built, the area was open countryside but now it is in a built up area and a recent health service study found children living within one and a half miles of the transmitters were six times more likely to develop leukaemia than children living in Rome.
Residents in the nearby village of Cesano have complained that emission levels in their homes are up to eight times the legally allowed level permitted under a law that was passed in February and say it's like living a microwave oven.
When the investigation began there was no legally established limit for electromagnetic pollution, so prosecutors charged the three Vatican Radio officials with the crime of "throwing dangerous objects".
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New York Times/Reuters report:

2001-03-16: Results, format changes and host changes from the US today.
First the results, this time from Cumulus Media, whose third quarter results showed net revenues up 3.2% compared to 1999Q4 to $57.5, Broadcast cash flow (BCF) up 40.4%, to $17.2 million, EBITDA up 24.3% to $11.5 million and After Tax Cash Flow (ATCF) a net loss of $1.6 million, or 5 cents per share compared to a net loss of 22 cents per share for Q4, 1999.
On a same station basis, the net revenues were up only 0.4% compared to Q4 1999 at $33.5 million, and BCF was up 70.3%, to $10.8 million. On a pro forma basis, after all announced acquisitions and divestitures, net revenues for the company's 225 stations in 46 markets decreased $0.1 million, or 0.1%, to $57.1 million for the quarter.
For the full year, net revenues were up 25.5% to $225.9 million, BCF (Including a charge of $20.2 million to bad debt expense in the third quarter) fell by 25.9%, to $34.6 million, EBITDA was down 57.5%, to $16.3 million, and ATCF loss was 84 cents a share compared to 50 cents in 1999. On a same station basis for the for the 160 stations in 30 markets operated for at least a full year, net revenue was up 1.7% on 1999 to $126.5 million and BCF was down 7.8% to $29.6 million.
On a pro forma basis, after all announced acquisitions and divestitures, net revenue for the Company's 225 stations in 46 markets increased 2.2% to $215.3 million but Pro forma BCF dropped 3.2%, to $56.0 million.
Cumulus Chairman and CEO Lew Dickey noted, "During the fourth quarter, we realized meaningful expense reductions across our entire platform as a direct result of actions taken in the second half of 2000."
"Cumulus' expense base is now beginning to align more closely with that of our peers."
On the format front, Bonneville International has finally launched its new format on the former Chicago WNIB-FM classical music outlet that it took over in a $165 million deal and which has been running an "artist-of-the-day" stunt.
The station is now "Timeless Rock" WDRV-FM, "The Drive".
This will feature a hybrid of oldies, classic rock and pop hits from the mid-1960s through the early '80s.
Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times says Bonneville hopes to attract men between 25 and 54, drawing listeners from oldies WJMK-FM and adult rock WXRT-FM as well as complementing Bonneville's own classic rock WLUP-FM.
For a few weeks, while staff is being assembled, it will air without jocks or commercials.
Next hosts. In Baltimore, Randy Dennis local morning host for WWIN-FM has been replaced by syndicated talk show host Tom Joyner.
He has filed a lawsuit against Radio One Inc. over its enforcement of a six-month non-compete clause.
The Baltimore Sun reports that Dennis says that Joyner's former home, Howard University's WHUR-FM, has shown interest in hiring him but negotiations have been stymied by the clause, which prohibits him for six months from taking another radio job within a 50-mile radius.
"For me to work the length of my contract and then say, after that, I can't make a living for six months, is crazy," Dennis told the paper.
"If they force me to wait, I'm going to miss a great opportunity."
In Boston, Christopher Lydon, former host of the WBUR-FM show "The Connection"(See RNW Mar 3) is to run an Internet experimental programme next Tuesday (Mar 20) at the same time as his former show (10.00 Eastern, 1500 GMT).
It will be available on Lydon's site (See below).
The site also contains his version of the dispute that led to him leaving WBUR.
WBUR has its version on its site (See below).
WBUR is continuing to air "The Connection" with a series of hosts whilst it decides on a permanent replacement.
A few stations of the 75 or so to whom it is syndicated by US National Public Radio (NPR) have dropped the show including South Dakota Public Radio and KUOW in Seattle.
Finally the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that US talk-show host Dr Laura Schlessinger did not breach its code in comments she made on the Laura Schlessinger Show broadcast on CJCH-AM, Halifax, Nova Scotia, on June 13 and August 9,11, and 15 last year.
The Council had previously (RNW May 12) ruled that the host made " abusively discriminatory'' comments about gays and lesbians in earlier broadcasts.
In this case it found that the broadcaster had not aired comparable material during any of the episodes in question.
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2001-03-16: The Irish Times reports that the Flood Tribunal is to hear evidence next week from a retired bank manager, whose London branch handled payments to the offshore accounts of Ray Burke, minister for communications when Ireland's first commercial national radio licence was awarded to Century Radio.
The Tribunal has only just managed to contact Timothy McHale, former manager of the Allied Irish Bank Bruton Street branch in London.
In previous evidence, Burke told the tribunal many of the payments between his accounts in Jersey and the Isle of Man were routed through the branch which has said it has no record of an account in his name.
Burke has now retracted evidence he previous gave about a sum of £15,000, which he originally said was transferred from the Bank in Jersey to the Bruton Street account in 1985 (RNW Mar 15).
In further evidence to the tribunal, Burke admitted that he ignored the advice of the most senior official in his department in issuing a Section 16 directive fixing the amount state broadcaster RTÉ was entitled to charge Century Radio for the use of transmission services. Bernard McDonagh, the then secretary of the Department of Communications, had advised Mr Burke to write back to the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) to indicate Century had "seriously underestimated" the costs involved but Burke did not subsequently enter into any correspondence with the IRTC on the fees and fixed the fees at a figure RTÉ had previously described as "uneconomical".
Burke disputed earlier evidence from Seán Connolly, then chief executive officer of the IRTC, that "Century's promoters felt they could enlist the help of ministers" to intervene on their behalf and said he had taken RTÉ's side on many later issues.
On the question of Century's financial problems in late 1989, Burke said he had been told by Century co-founder Oliver Barry that the station was in financial difficulties because of the transmission coverage RTÉ was providing but it "came like a bolt from the blue" when he was told by Barry on December 19 that year that Century was being closed down.
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Previous RTÉ:
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

2001-03-16: Former BBC Radio 1 controller and Director of Radio Matthew Bannister, who quit his then job director of marketing at the corporation in December, is to return for a stint as a Radio 5 live presenter.
He will stand in for three days as host of the current affairs show Late Night Live over Easter weekend and has been approached about doing more work.
Bannister joined music talent agency Trust The DJ, which he joined as chairman and chief executive last month. Bannister first worked for the BBC as a radio reporter and in 1988 was responsible for setting up the BBC's former London station GLR.
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2001-03-16: After the first two rounds of the Australian 2GHz 3G mobile spectrum auction, the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) had received bids totalling just over Aus$804 million covering 32 of the 58 licences on offer.
All six bidders remain in the auction and the top total bidding so far has come from Telstra 3G Spectrum Holdings Pty Ltd which has bid Aus$221,300,000 including Aus$194.8 million for the national number 2 licence which covers all six state capital cities plus various regional spectrum bids.
Vodafone Pacific Limited had bid some Aus$185 million for the national number 2 licence but ended the day with only a total of Aus$8,000,000 on the table.
Second placed Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Ltd has made bids totalling Aus$196,100,000 for spectrum in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
It was followed by Cable and Wireless owned Optus Mobile Pty Ltd with a bid of Aus$185,501,000 for the national number one licence, just inching above the total bids from 3G Investments (Australia) Pty Ltd (US mobile phone technology group Qualcomm) of Aus$185,500,000 for spectrum in regional Queensland and Western Australia, and for one of the four licences covering capital cities.
The other bidder, CKW Wireless Pty Ltd (US telecom equipment maker Arraycomm) had only Aus$ 7,950,000 on the table.
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2001-03-15: More signs of a slowdown in the US radio world: The latest figures from Interep, the largest US independent sales and marketing company specializing in radio, show that, after a strong 2000, this year has been markedly down.
CEO Ralph Guild and CFO William McEntee told investors that business in the first quarter of this year will be down a fifth on 2000 although around a third of this is because there are only 12 weeks in this year's Q1 compared to 13 last year.
Interep expects the second quarter to be down by between 10 and 15% although it is forecasting the year overall will be up by around 7%.
So far Interep has booked 30% of the business it has budgeted, the same percentage as 1999 but way down from the 45% booked in 2000.
For 2000 itself, Interep reported record results with after tax cash flow per share nearly doubling compared to 1999 at $1.60, core EBITDA, which excludes contract termination revenue, Internet activity, and an option re-pricing charge, up 28% to $24.8 million and earnings per share improved to a loss of $0.31 for 2000 compared to a loss of $1.97 in 1999.
For the fourth quarter of 2000 after-tax cash flow per share increased 51% compared to 1999 to $0.80, core EBITDA was up 6% to $9.1million and earnings per share improved to a positive $0.23 from a loss of $0.39 for 1999 Q4.
Radio commission revenue decreased 6% to $26.2 million for the fourth quarter, although on a pro-forma basis excluding the effect of the loss of Clear Channel stations in December 1999 they were up 2%.
Radio station deals also seem slower at the moment.
The largest this week so far is a $19.4 million cash deal under which Citadel is selling to Millennium Radio Group, LLC three stations and the rights to operate another under a local marketing agreement.
Being sold are WFPG-FM, WPUR-FM and WFPG-AM plus the LMA of WKOE-FM in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In another small deal, the Heaven Network Inc. is to spend $650,000 on purchasing North Carolina Black Gospel simulcast duo WHNC-AM Henderson and WCBQ-AM Oxford.
Meanwhile Emmis Communications is offering just over $200 million worth of 10-year discount notes in a private placement through its Emmis Escrow Corp.
They're at a yield-to-maturity of 12.5% and Emmis will make no cash interest payments for the first five years.
The money raised will be used to complete the $160M acquisition of three radio stations in Phoenix, Arizona, from Hearst-Argyle Television Inc.(See RNW June 24) and reduce owings.
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2001-03-15: UK Capital Radio's programme director Richard Park has resigned from the company's board and says he wishes to concentrate on the creative side of radio.
He will not be replaced but will continue to work for Capital as a creative consultant and will work on other broadcasting projects, which could include a return to presenting.
Park joined Capital in 1987 and was a major force behind the 1988 launch of Capital Gold.
David Mansfield, chief executive of Capital Radio, said: "Richard's contribution to Capital Radio has been enormous and I am confident this new role will benefit him and us by allowing him to concentrate on what he does the best and enjoys the most.
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2001-03-15: Australia's 3G mobile spectrum auction starts today and already one major player Telecom Corp of New Zealand has pulled out. This leaves six bidders for the six licences on offer, four existing mobile operators Cable & Wireless Optus, Hutchison Telecommunications Australia, Telstra, and Vodafone Pacific plus US mobile phone technology companies Qualcomm and Arraycomm.
The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) has set reserve prices that total Aus$1.08 billion but the government had hoped to raise Aus$2.6 billion (See RNW March 11).
So far there has been no government comment on whether the spectrum will be withdrawn if the reserve price is not met as now seems possible.
Previous ACA:
Previous Australian 3G auction:
ACA web site:

2001-03-15: In what the Tribunal lawyers called an "extraordinary development", the Flood Tribunal into the award of Ireland's first national commercial radio licence to Century Radio is to re-examine evidence by the then minister for communications after he sent a letter retracting evidence he had given concerning a £15000 donation.
The then minister Ray Burke sent the letter directly by courier to Mr Justice Flood, not through his solicitors, and identifies the source of the money although this has not yet been revealed.
Two weeks ago Burke told the tribunal the money was transferred from his bank in Jersey to London, withdrawn in cash in April 1985, and then taken back to Dublin in his hand luggage and put in a safe for "ongoing political expenses."
Burke said he then changed his mind, flew to London with the cash and then gave it to his solicitors who deposited it in his Jersey account again.
Tribunal counsel Patrick Hanratty SC said Burke now "effectively retracts all of that testimony, every word of it, and suggests an alternative thesis as to where the £15,000 came from involving a person or persons named in the letter."
Burke has also given more evidence regarding the fees to be charged by state broadcaster RTÉ, saying that, less than a month after it was made, he "binned" an agreement on charges that his own officials had agreed with RTÉ and that he himself had agreed was "not unreasonable".
Burke said that he introduced a directive requiring RTÉ to reduce its charges because the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) had told him they were not prepared to go on air unless the charge was lowered. He said the figures in the directive were a compromise between what Century wanted to pay and RTÉ wanted to charge and that he had not accepted "lock, stock and barrel what Century were proposing."
Previous Ray Burke:
Previous Century Radio:
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Previous Hanratty:
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Previous RTÉ:
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

2001-03-14: Talk radio was finally dethroned from the top spot in the latest weekly Internet ratings by Measurecast and London-based Virgin Radio made its top 25 debut at the number three spot for the week to March 11.
Listener-formatted MediaAmazing.com pushed into second place New York talk radio station WABC, which had held the number One rank in terms of total time spent listening (TTSL)since the ratings were launched last December.
Measurecast reported that MediaAmazing had a 23% increase in TTSL and a 24% increase in Cumulative Persons - CP - (An estimate of the total number of unique listeners who had one or more listening sessions lasting five minutes or longer) compared to the previous week.
The top five were (with previous week's Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) and Cume persons in brackets):
1): Listener Formatted MediaAmazing TTSL 88,811 (72,179); CP 23,913 (19,335) - previously 2nd.
2): Talk Radio WABC-AM (New York) TTSL 83,864 (91,668); CP 13,931 (14,385) - previously first.
3): Adult Alternative Virgin Radio TTSL 66,376; CP 9,395 (Previously unplaced);
4): Spanish format La-Mega-WSKQ (New York) TTSL 57,325 (70,179 ); CP 11,125 (12,253 ) - previously 3rd.
5): Classic Rock Internet Only Radio Margaritaville TTSL 42,650 (46,787 ); CP6,894 (7,403 ) - previously 4th.
In Arbitron's latest Internet ratings to be released, those for December, Classical music Internet-only webcaster Beethoven.com ranked number one with an ATH (aggregate tuning hours - the sum total of all hours that listeners tune to a given channel.) of 565,700.
(RNW note: which works out as an AQH - Average Quarter Hour - audience as used for broadcast of some 190)
Arbitron's webcast ratings showed two other Classical streaming-audio webcast channels ranked in the top 25 --, Seattle-based KING-FM, which ranked sixth with 199,700 ATH, and Washington, DC-based WGMS-FM, which ranked 23rd with 94,700 ATH.
Arbitron's December Webcast top 5 were:
1:Classical music Beethoven.com ATH 565,700 (New entry):
2: News Talk Information format WABC-AM, New York, ATH 294,800 (Also 2nd in November):
3: Listener Formatted MediaAmazing ATH 282,000 (New entry)
4: (Album Oriented Rock) KNAC.com Pure Rock ATH 219,100 (5th in November)
5: Hot Adult Contemporary format Virgin Radio (UK) ATH 203,300 (2nd in October).
Previous Arbitron Webcast Ratings:
Previous Measurecast ratings:
MeasureCast web site:

2001-03-14: The UK Radio Authority has received three applications for the third digital multiplex licence for London.
They are from:
*The Digital Radio Group (London) Ltd. whose shareholders include GWR Group plc.; The Wireless Group plc and SMG plc.;
*London Digital Radio Ltd. (LDR) whose shareholders include SCORE Digital Ltd., Saga Regional Digital Radio Ltd., and Forever Broadcasting Digital Radio Ltd.;
and *MXR London Ltd whose shareholders include Chrysalis Group plc.; Soul Media Ltd., Capital Radio plc., and Guardian Media Group.
The Authority has also advertised the digital multiplex licence for the cities of Dundee and Perth and the surrounding area in Scotland.
On the FM front, it has received four applications for the new licence for Omagh and Enniskillen and the surrounding area, in the south-west of Northern Ireland. They are from Fast Fm Ltd.; Southwest Radio (Southwest Fm Ltd.); Radio West Fm (Radio West Ltd.); and Westside 101 (Lisara Ltd.).
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2001-03-14: Denver KBPI morning DJ "Willie B" has escaped jail over his chicken-dropping stunt (See RNW Feb 25).
Although the prosecutor had called for jail, "Willie B", real name Steven Meade,was fined $1000 and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

2001-03-13: The US Federal Communications Commission, acting on instructions from its new chairman Michael Powell, has approved 32 long-pending radio deals, which had been "red-flagged" because of what he termed "genuine concern about increased levels of concentration in local radio markets."
The deals are around three-quarters of those which had been held up, six of them having been delayed by two years or more and 19 by a year or more.
Powell said in a statement that the FCC had struggled in its attempt to "balance the important goals of competition and diversity with the legitimate expectation of parties that their applications will be reviewed in a timely fashion."
He added that, "Congress established quite plainly the number of stations that could be commonly owned in a local market--- and the proposed transfers in all of the flagged cases comply with these numerical caps"
" . … The Bureau found that based on existing rules and Commission precedent, these cases did not warrant further delay. Over the coming weeks, the Bureau will continue this process of backlog reduction with the remaining cases."
Powell concluded by saying," The Commission will have an opportunity in the pending rulemaking on radio market definitions to review its implementation of the numerical limits imposed by the Act."
"To the extent that the Commission's existing rules for determining the size and the number of stations that count toward the cap has led to higher levels of ownership than Congress intended, we will fix that problem."
"If the Commission determines that further competitive analysis is warranted, we will consider such changes consistent with the Act and in a proceeding that affords full and open debate on the issues."
The two Democrats on the Commission, Susan Ness who supported the action but expressed caveats and Gloria Tristani, who dissented strongly, issued separate statements.
Ness said the approvals were necessary to be fair but did not constitute a policy change and she spoke of the applications underscoring the "breathtaking consolidation of the radio industry since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996."
Ness said that Congress's action in eliminating the national cap on ownership and relaxing local ownership rules did not "remove the Commission's obligation to assess whether the transfer is in the public interest."
She commented that," It is instructive that, had the Commission adopted an Arbitron radio market definition, as opposed to the contour-overlap method, as many as 17 out of 32 pending radio mergers would have violated the Commission's local ownership limits."
"This potentially significant impact on our radio merger review emphasizes the critical need for the Commission to act swiftly in adopting a rational radio market definition."
(RNW note: In response to the FCC's notice of proposed rulemaking to change the way local markets are defined for counting stations when applying local ownership limits, 17 of the comments filed were from the National Association of Broadcasters and various broadcasters supporting retention of the current system. The other comment was a call for satellite channels to be counted and called for XM Satellite Radio's channels to be counted in every market where Clear Channel, an XM part owner, operates).
Ness concluded by sounding "the alarm over the growing levels of local radio ownership concentration" and said, "Applicants have pushed the regulatory envelope beyond recognition."
" I urge us now expeditiously to adopt a new radio market definition and clear, reasonable, and sustainable radio merger review guidelines."
Tristani took a much harsher line writing that the approvals relied "on a simplistic antitrust-like analysis of competition and confounds the Commission's primary obligation to implement a federal broadcast communications policy that serves the public interest."
"Each of these license transfers brings about an increase, and in some cases an unprecedented increase, in market power concentration."
"Taken together they exemplify harmful levels of control of advertising revenues by both single owners and duopolies in local radio markets that can hardly lay claim to be supported, much less approved, by prior Commission cases or logic." Tristani added," While I agree the Bureau should act on these applications, some of which have been pending since 1998, most, if not all, of the cases should have been designated for evidentiary hearings under Section 309(e) of the Communications Act."
"Absent a better factual record upon which to base the decision, these approvals appear to flatly contravene the Commission's duty to ensure broadcast license transfers serve the public interest."
"It is not any action that we are obligated to undertake, it is action in the public interest."
Previous FCC:
Previous Ness;
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2001-03-13: Former radio reporter and broadcaster Michael Elkins has died aged 84 in Jerusalem following a heart attack.
New York-born Elkins was renowned his scoop about the Israeli destruction of Arab air forces during the six-day-war in 1967 when he was working for the CBS radio and the BBC.
CBS radio refused to broadcast the news, which nobody else had reported at the time.
Elkins later said he had got it from overhearing legislators and military leaders whispering in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) about their country's success in wiping out the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian air forces in bombing raids on the first day of the war.
The BBC aired the report after it cleared military censorship and Elkins resigned from CBS shortly afterwards.
He remained the BBC's correspondent in Israel until he retired in 1982.

2001-03-12: A week when praise for radio in England and Ireland almost tempted us to go off-balance, but was then counterbalanced by some comments from Scotland and the US.
So let's get the bad bits out of the way first, especially as their tenor is similar in some ways.
The first comment is from Allan Brown in the UK Sunday Times.
about BBC plans for radio in Scotland. It's headed, "All we hear on our airwaves is radio ga-ga" and is pegged on BBC plans for radio in Scotland.
It's clear from the beginning that Brown feels that some change is needed and a little later he comments, "Clicking through the dial marked Scotia, however, you would not know that popular radio had undergone any kind of change, let alone a seismic one."
"More than any Scottish media, radio remains resolutely time-warped and provincial."
As he's already said of BBC Radio 1, however, that "The assumption now, of course, is that broadcaster and audience are jointly engaged on a leery stag or hen night in Dublin, led by the likes of Sara Cox, Mark Radcliffe and Emma B, which has to be progress of a sort", it's clear that not any change would be welcome.
Indeed he says that Radio Clyde, the "jewel in the crown" of Scottish Radio Holdings, "is the only British commercial station to have been in profit from the first day of its operation, a state of grace rarely attained by overestimating your audience."
Later he adds, "The dangers are obvious, though, and evident in the lazy, homogenised, mid-Atlantic pap that covers the airwaves."
"To switch in the mornings between Clyde, Beat FM and QFM is truly spirit-sapping."
"In the olden days, when DJs played gigs and chose their own records, there was an intimate knowledge of local audience tastes."
"That has gone, as has virtually all speech-only provision."
"There was a time when even a wildly commercial station like Clyde won awards for its speech content. Now the station broadcasts just under four hours of speech-only programming a week."
And although he holds out hope for BBC Radio Scotland, which he says is moving from modelling itself on "stately Radio 4, the flagship of state-funded radio" to "coveting the shiny, chatty sheen of Radio 5", that hope doesn't seem to burn too bright.
He endsby commenting on commercial radio in Scotland as "the tatty world of Scottish radio, pumped out by the yard with as few overheads as is humanly possible, a mere cash cow that might yield lip-licking revenues for media conglomerates but which degrades the national discourse in the process."
"It would be a tragedy, Brown says, "if Radio Scotland, modest, humble, heart-warming old Radio Scotland, went even part way down the same path." That path, Boston Globe correspondent Donald M Murray, obviously feels is one, which has been followed too far by US National Public Radio as far as music is concerned.
After commenting how his musical education when he was young was enhanced by the radio, and by NPR in particular for classical music, he writes, "there are few musical surprises any more on National Public Radio no matter where I drive."
Murray says that when he complained to New Hampshire's NPR station, WEVO, about its switch to just playing excerpts from compositions, he was "personally told by the station manager, tough luck."
"He said listeners didn't have the attention span - and, he implied, the intelligence - for longer works. Younger people wanted talk."
Murray concludes, "I like Terry Gross's ''Fresh Air,'' Garrison Keillor's ''Lake Wobegon,'' can mostly stand the snorting and guffawing mechanics from Cambridge, and depend on 'All Things Considered.' "
"But chopped-up elevator music? No thanks. I stopped contributing."
"Now the policy is expanded. No music. It is only babble, babble, babble all day long on WEVO. Other National Public Radio stations are becoming round-the-clock talk radio."
"And the more the talk, the less said. I reach for my CDs."
"But I mourn for the young and not-so-young who will never have the opportunity I did to travel from The William Tell Overture to Beethoven's Last Quartets during my serendipitous musical education from National Public Radio."
After which it is some relief to turn to UK papers praising radio output, particularly notable being defence of and praise for BBC Radio 4's farming soap, The Archers.
The defence, from Paul Donovan, in the Sunday Times, relates to criticism of the programme for not mentioning that Kate Archer's South African boyfriend, Lucas is referred to only as "African" not "Black" (See RNW March 5).
Donovan comments, "I have a mother-in-law who was born in South Africa when it was still a British colony, I got married in another former African colony, and, in 22 years of visiting Kenya, I have never heard Africans referred to as "blacks"."
"They are always referred to as "Africans". Similarly, whites are not called whites, but Europeans."
He adds that," in the countryside, where these verbal usages tend to linger longer than in the towns, because the countryside has an older, less cosmopolitan, more conservative populace."
Donovan then praises the "the programme's remarkable achievement in responding with such speed and sympathy to the hideous outbreak of foot and mouth.", praise also given in the UK Guardian by Elisabeth Mahoney.
She writes of, "its daily reflection of the unfolding foot and mouth crisis, sensitively and quite thrillingly handled."
"The feeling we get from news bulletins, of a crisis closing in around rural communities, has been weaving into the Ambridge drama just as stealthily."
"When no television soap even pretends to reflect day-to-day reality, this is to be cherished." In similar vein, she praises BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed for a programme that took up the pros and cons of golf.
Laurie Taylor, bearing a copy of "The Global Anti-Golf Manifesto" said of golfers, "I don't like seeing them wandering around - their clothes, their demeanour, the way they walk even"
Mahoney comments that he mentioned "his credentials as a social scientist in case we thought he was being flagrantly intolerant."
She adds, " He was, actually, but given his target - golfers - who was going to mind?" and then says, "Only Will Hutton minded. Despite damning statistics from a Golf Monthly survey ( (two-thirds of 180 golf clubs surveyed operate a two-tier set of rules based on gender), Hutton extolled "the beauty of the game", its inherent democracy."
(RNW comment - as the programme also showed a remarkably high number of UK gold clubs were obviously racist as well and many in less developed countries or areas were immensely exploitative of local resources, we felt Hutton should look at his definition of "inherently democratic".
We do feel, however, that a case can be made amongst mass media, that radio is the medium which has the best chances of being "democratic" as it allows a direct community and individual voice to get through at comparatively low cost when the environment is suitably regulated to encourage this.)
Finally more praise, this time from Sue Arnold in the UK Observer for BBC Radio 3.
She writes, "Remind me, someone, this time next year, when radio critics are traditionally requested to submit their nominations for best programme and radio personality of the year."
"You need only say one word - Richter."
"On Wednesday night, Radio 3 cleared its schedules and devoted the entire evening to the life and work of Sviatoslav Richter, often described as the greatest pianist of the century. There was no particular peg, no anniversary or centenary ….. The only requirements for a broadcasting marathon on this scale are a fascinating subject and a presenter who can maintain the listener's interest in said subject for five whole hours without repetition, hesitation or deviation."
"Fortunately, in Sviatoslav Richter and Sir John Drummond, we had both."
(RNW Comment: Obviously Murray of the Boston Globe needsa suitable Internet-enabled radio service in his car - or to get a US satellite radio service to put out BBC Radio 3).
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2001-03-12: As DMG prepares for the launch of its new Sydney and Melbourne FM radio stations on which it has gambled Aus$225 million on the licences alone, the Sydney Morning Herald reports on the atmosphere in Sydney as work goes furiously ahead on the company's Sydney home.
So far virtually nothing is known about the station apart from its frequency (96.9 FM) as DMG remains tight-lipped about its format and even the launch date, which has to be by the end of June to meet the licence requirements.
DMG's sales staff have already been on the road for a fortnight meeting advertisers and their agencies and talent signed up so far includes breakfast duo Merrick and Rosso (Merrick Watts andTim Ross) from the ABC's Triple J and drive shift host"Ugly" Phil O'Neil, the former 2 Day FM shock jock.
This, suggests the Herald, indicates that DMG will target the 18 to 39-year-old listeners who have been "the lifeblood" ofDMG's chief executive Paul Thompson, who was founding chief executive of Austereo, Australia's largest commercial broadcaster.
The paper speculates that Thompson will have a tough job delivering results to justify the licence investment although it quotes ANZ Bank media analyst Bob Peters as saying, "Paul Thompson is a very experienced operator with a good track record."
"I think it is not so much a question of if he can make a profit, but rather how much and how quickly."
Adding to the pressure will be the fact thatUK GWR Group holds a quarter of DMG's interests and has a three-year option, but no obligation, to pick up the remaining 75% and will thus be keeping a very close eye on his performance.
DMG already had 57 regional radio stations in Australia plus an AM in Adelaide, which cost it around Aus$200 million.
In all the paper estimates that if all costs of putting Sydney and Melbourne on air are added to this figure, DMG will have spent around Aus$ 450 million on its Australian radio assets.
It will have to spend another $70-80 million if it is to have a chance to win the upcoming new Brisbane FM auction against tough competition from Australian Radio Network (ARN) - a joint venture between US giant Clear Channel Communications, APN News & Media - and regional broadcaster RG Capital.
The paper says Thompson concedes that an acceptable return on investment may take several years but adds that he thinks DMG is committed to a long-term strategy.
In particular he says that the Sydney licence was essential if a national network was to be built, although he adds that DMG's business plan also allows for a smaller number of stations in key markets.
"We are looking at it with a vision that is very large but with a practical understanding that we can make the smaller pieces work if that is the way it comes to pass," Thompson said.
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Next column

2001-03-11: Licence news this week and in Australia the main focus has been on the upcoming third generation mobile phone 2 GHz spectrum auction for which reserve prices of Aus$1.08 billion have been set by the Australian Communications Agency (ACA).
The Australian government is hoping to raise more than double this sum but the ACA has estimated that it may not sell all the licences and could raise only just over Aus$900 million.
The agency, which last month had to allocate the last two remaining licences in the 800 MHz band to Telstra for the reserve price of Aus$7 million after AAPT withdrew, has set March 15th for the start of the auction.
There are 58 lots on offer and competition limits set for the auction will mean that no bidder can acquire more than 25 per cent of the available spectrum in metropolitan areas and no more than 50 per cent in regional Australia.
There are seven bidders:
*AAPT Spectrum (ACT) Pty Ltd;
*CKW Wireless Pty Ltd;
*Hutchison Telecommunications Australia Limited:
*Optus Mobile Pty Ltd:
*Telstra 3G Spectrum Holdings Pty Ltd;
*Vodafone Pacific Pty Ltd:
*3G Investments (Australia) Pty Ltd.
In Canada, it's also been fairly quiet with radio activity limited to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)C approval of a new French language Christian music station at Rouyn-Noranda and a new type B French language community station at Charlesbourg, both in Quebec.
Ireland was quiet but in the UK the Radio Authority, continued a good run for digital consortium MXR.
As well as awarding the new Northwest England digital multiplex to MXR (RNW March 10), has also published its assessment of its previous digital award, also to MXR, of the West Midlands licence (See licence news Feb 11).
The awards follow recent MXR successes in the South Wales/Severn Estuary region (RNW Jan 24 ) and the North East of England (RNW Dec 17).
In its assessment the authority commented on the format choice and technical quality available from the three West Midlands bidders, saying that the bouquet of programme services offered by MXR included "a large proportion of formats which were not as yet available to digital radio listeners in the West Midlands."
In particular it noted the provision of services for older listeners and the plans for a "well-resourced regional news operation" as well as MXR's plans to enhance its services with ancillary multi-media applications.
In the US, as well as another indecency fine (RNW March 6) the Federal Communication's Commission was involved in a number of issues.
They included launching a partial appeal over a Federal Court's decision to rule unconstitutional agency rules encouraging broadcasters to recruit among women and minorities.
The court had struck out all the rules although it only said some of them were unconstitutional (RNW Jan 18).
Commissioner Gloria Tristani issued a dissenting statement expressing disappointment that the FCC had not sought a review of the entire decision.
The FCC also re-scheduled a planned May auction of 355 FM allocations to December, leading to rumours that the delay might be associated with moving the revenues into the administration's budget for its next fiscal year.
It has also begun a hearing to revoke the Amateur radio operator license of L.D. "Doug" Brewer as a result of his unauthorized use of the FM radio band in Tampa, Florida.
Brewer had allegedly run a pirate FM station since 1996 but he has already been fined $11,000 and his equipment was confiscated in 1997. He says he has not been engaged in pirate operations since then.
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2001-03-10: More digital radio developments in the UK. The UK Financial Times reports that UK pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting, is to move further into digital radio by taking a minority stake in Radio First.
Radio First, which was founded by John Aumonier, has exclusive joint venture deals for digital audio rights with a number of UK soccer clubs.
The paper says Radio First will exchange around a fifth of its equity for carriage of its services on Sky digital which has some 4.7 million subscribers, many of whom use Sky's service to gain access to digital audio services.
Sky is already the largest shareholder in Music Choice Europe, which broadcasts 46 digital genre-based radio stations over digital TV networks and is included in Sky's basic package.
Also in the UK, the digital multiplex licence for North West England has been awarded by the Radio Authority to MXR, a consortium created specifically to bid for UK regional digital licences (see RNW July 26).
It won the licence against competition from two other contenders, Digital Radio Group Ltd a consortium including The Wireless Group plc, GWR Group, Emap Digital Radio Ltd. and SMG plc and North West Digital Radio Ltd whose main shareholders include Forever Broadcasting Digital Radio Ltd., Saga Regional Digital Radio Ltd., and SCORE Digital Ltd.
MXR's main shareholders include Chrysalis Group plc, Capital Radio plc, Guardian Media Group plc, Jazz FM plc and UBC Digital Ltd. It is proposing nine services using eight transmission sites.
The planned services are:
*Children's radio - Fun (provider: Capital Radio plc).
*Urban - Urban Flava (provider: Soul Media Ltd.)
*Melodic adult contemporary - Heart (provider: Chrysalis Radio Ltd.).
*Adult rock - The Arrow (provider: Chrysalis Radio Ltd.).
*Easy listening - Smooth (provider: Guardian Media Group plc).
*Rolling regional news - Digital News Network (provider: DNN Ltd.).
*Dance and rhythmic hits - Galaxy 102 (provider: Chrysalis Radio Ltd.).
*Jazz - Jazz FM 100.4 (provider: Jazz FM plc).
*Music and talk -105.4 Century FM (provider: Capital Radio plc).
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2001-03-10: More evidence concerning transmission charges to be levied by Ireland's state broadcaster RTÉ has been given to the Flood inquiry into the award of Ireland's first national commercial radio licence to Century Radio.
Ray Burke , the minister responsible for communications at the time, accused the state broadcaster of "massaging" and "puffing up" its proposed charges.
He said, "The figures were not based on true costs - they were at that stage massaging figures to come to a bottom line that suited themselves."
Burke added that figures put forward were not based on actual costs but were an attempt by RTÉ to get the new station to subsidise its own costs.
RTÉ initially wanted £1 million for providing transmission facilities but these were then reduced, first to £914,000, then £691,000 in January 1989 and finally, after a letter from the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) was sent to RTÉ asking for lower charges, a figure of £614,000 was agreed.
Burke said in a letter to the IRTC that this amount was not "unreasonable" but in March 1989 he issued a directive reducing the charge to £375,000.
Lawyers for the tribunal have queried the legality of this directive and Tribunal counsel Patrick Hanratty SC, said Burke did not receive a request to issue a directive from the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) and had not consulted RTÉ on the issue.
As a result, he said, the directive did not comply with Ireland's 1988 Radio and Television Act.
Burke received a letter on February 20th, 1989, from Mr Justice Henchy, then IRTC chairman, saying that Century Communications had requested a ministerial directive be issued under section 16, requiring RTÉ to allow access to its transmission equipment.
Hanratty suggested that he letter was not asking for a decision but drew attention to the fact that Century had asked for a decision but Burke responded, "As far as I was concerned when I received it, it was a legitimate request from the chairman of the IRTC passing on a request from the company they had given the licence to. The legal strength of that letter never arose."
Previous Ray Burke:
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Previous RTÉ:
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

2001-03-09: Some good news for Spanish stations in the US; several years earlier than anticipated, an early analysis from the 2000 census shows that Hispanics now number 35.3 million. 12.5% of the US population, and have now become the largest minority group in the US.
They now outnumber the country's 34.6 million African-Americans although the figures are not totally clear-cut since another 1.8 million blacks indicated at least one other race on the form, thus reducing the "black" total.
Had they chosen only "black" would have been 36.4 million.
The Census Bureau estimated that by 2050 Hispanic will total a quarter of the US population.
Another report showed that nearly 45% of the population in Western States of the US are already Hispanic.
Shares that stand to benefit include those of Entercom, Entravision, Hispanic Broadcasting Corp.,Spanish Broadcasting System and Radio Unica.
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2001-03-09: US Christian-oriented media company Salem Communications Corporation has reported record results for the final quarter and full year of 2000 with its radio division reporting same station fourth quarter revenues up 14% and broadcast cash flow up 22%.
Overall Salem lost $3.6 million during the quarter ($0.15 loss per share) compared to a $0.5 million profit ($0.2 per share) for the final quarter of 1999.
The losses included an extraordinary loss (net of income tax benefit) of $1.2 million from the early repayment of the Company's bridge loan and another $1.4 million, before depreciation and amortization, from Salem's non-broadcast media businesses, OnePlace.com and CCM Communications.
Overall in the quarter net broadcasting revenue increased 47.7% compared to 1999 Q4 to $35.0 million and broadcast cash flow (BCF) increased 47.3% compared to 1999 Q4 to $16.2 million.
Broadcast EBITDA, excluding the company's non-broadcast media businesses, increased 53.4% to $13.5 million compared to 1999 Q4.
For the full year net broadcasting revenue increased 26.4% to $110.1 million and BCF was up 20.8% to $49.4 million whilst broadcast EBITDA, excluding the company's non-broadcast media businesses, increased 20.7% to $39.0 million.
Despite losses of $7 million in its non broadcasting activities, Salem had a net income of $10.1 million ($0.43 per share) for 2000, compared with a net loss of $8.0 million ($0.40 loss per share) in 1999.
The 1999 figures included an extraordinary loss (net of income tax benefit) of $3.6 million, resulting from the early retirement of $50 million of the Company's Senior Subordinated Notes.
This 2000 positive net income includes a gain on the sale of assets of $29.6 million consisting of a gain on the sale of KLTX-AM Los Angeles and KPRZ-FM Colorado Springs offset by the loss on the sale of certain assets of the company's non-broadcast media businesses.
Looking at 2001 so far and projecting ahead CEO Edward G. Atsinger III said, "Salem's core broadcasting revenues are stable, and we believe, recession resilient due to the loyalty of our listening audience and the inherent long-term nature of block programming."
"In addition, we have been very satisfied with the early ratings performance of our recently launched music formats and we look forward to translating our early ratings success into financial results in 2001 and beyond."
Salem reported same station revenue growth of 12% for January 2001 and 11% for February 2001, slightly higher than previous projections and as of March 1, had already achieved same station revenue growth for March 2001 of 4% with four weeks to go.
Based on current pacings, Salem expects net broadcast revenues and broadcast cash flow for the first quarter of 2001 to be approximately $29.5 million and $9.5 million respectively, also up on previous projections.
For the whole of this year Salem is keeping its projections unchanged with forecasts of net broadcasting revenue up 25.3% on 2000 to $138 million and BCF up 13.4% on 2000 to $56 million.
It says projected broadcast cash flow is negatively impacted by start-up costs associated with WYGY-FM Cincinnati, WFSH-FM Atlanta, KFSH-FM Los Angeles, WCLV-FM Cleveland, and WZFS-FM Chicago whose launches in the fourth quarter of 2000 and first half of 2001 are expected to favourably impact both revenues and broadcast cash flow in the second half of 2001 and in 2002.
Same station net broadcasting revenue and broadcast cash flow are each projected to increase by 10% and 12% compared to 2000.
Salem has also just announced the launch of contemporary Christian music radio station, WZFS-FM, The Fish, in Chicago.
The station, whose signal covers the whole of Chicago, was formerly Salem's Christian talk format WYLL-FM.
Salem switched the talk format to WYLL-AM after acquiring the frequency used by WXRT-AM in Chicago last November for $29 million (RNW Nov 14).
The frequency had been used to carry WSCR-AM, the Infinity sports station, which was moved to the former WMAQ frequency by Infinity which had to divest a station in Chicago as a result of the Viacom takeover (see RNW Aug 1)
Other deals during the fourth quarter of last year were
*a three-way asset exchange agreement with Radio Seaway and Clear Channel Communications involving the Cleveland market.
Salem is acquiring the transmitting facility of WCLV-FM in exchange for WHK-AM, WHK-FM and $10.5 million.
*The acquisition of WWTC-AM in Minneapolis and WZER-AM in Milwaukee from Catholic Radio Network for $7 million.
*The acquisition of WGTK-AM and WFIA-AM in Louisville from Truth Broadcasting Corporation and Blue Chip Broadcasting, Ltd. for $1.7 and $1.75 million respectively.
*The acquisition of WROL-AM in Boston from Carter Broadcasting for $11 million.
In addition, in January of 2001, the company completed the sale of KALC-FM in Denver to Emmis Communications for approximately $98 million. (See RNW Jan 23)
Previous Atsinger:
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2001-03-09: Peterborough , UK, station Lite-FM has been sold to Forward Media which has bought all of its shares.
The station had been expected to come under the control of GWR which bid some £1.24 million for 62% of its owner GP Broadcasting last August (RNW Aug 23) but the deal had been held up awaiting approval from the UK Radio Authority.
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2001-03-08: Just over a year after the death of then top-rated Chicago morning host Bob Collins, killed when his plane was in collision with another light plane piloted by a student (See RNW Feb 9, 2000), WGN has signed a 3-year deal with his replacement Spike O'Dell.
No terms have been published but O'Dell is now Chicago's top rated host, although his figures are about a point down from those Collins managed.
O'Dell told Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times that he thought the hit on his ratings would have come earlier than it did.
"I don't think there's any question that change is different, people are different, and I'm sure [the ratings decline] from what Bob had is due partly to change," O'Dell said.
Previous Collins:
Previous Feder:
Previous O'Dell:
Feder Sun-Times report:

2001-03-08: Ray Burke, the Minister responsible for Telecommunications when Ireland's first national commercial licence was awarded to Century Radio, has been giving evidence to the Flood Tribunal inquiry into the award, denying that he has discussed setting up a national radio station with Century co-founder Oliver Barry when the issue was first raised.
Burke also said that licensing a rival national commercial station to state broadcaster RTÉ was only to provide an alternative voice.
The Tribunal heard that the Century bid followed a meeting between Barry, another future Century co-founder John Mulhern and broadcaster Gay Byrne on November 6, 1987, at which the issue of a national radio licence was raised but Burke denied that he had discussed the matter with Barry, who he described as a political supporter, friend and constituent.
Burke said that the idea of a national licence had been kicked around for some time although the tribunal was told there was no reference to it in radio plans which dealt only with local and community radio and were well under way when Burke first took office in March 1987.
Burke said that the idea of a national licence was first raised informally with the government on October 28. 1987, and a memo on the matter was presented on November 16.
Patrick Hanratty, SC, Counsel for the Tribunal drew attention to government papers regarding local licences which were drawn up July 1987 and carried no reference to a national licence and also said no record existed of any consultation before the November 16 memo from Burke.
Hanratty suggested the meeting on November 16th was just "window dressing" and a "charade" but Burke denied this and said in government issues were discussed informally and then presented formally.
Asked why the proposal was made without research from civil servants, Burke said, "Because it was an idea that I had and that's what ministers are supposed to do."
"The only source of news and current affairs in particular and entertainment generally at a national level was coming from just RTÉ. They'd been doing an excellent job - don't get me wrong. But was it time to move into the other area of an alternative source of news and current affairs and entertainment, etc, from an Irish base?"
Burke also said in reference to minutes of the Barry meeting which referred to a national radio licence that if the idea was known about the information had not come from him. He did say that plans for the licence were speeded up by RTÉ's "attitude" and referred to strike action by RTÉ unions and successful opposition to efforts by a previous government to introduce legislation for local radio.
The government of 1987-89 would not be "dictated to", Burke said.
Previous Barry:
Previous Ray Burke:
Previous Byrne:
Previous Century Radio:
Previous Flood Tribunal: Previous Hanratty:
Previous Mulhern:
Previous RTÉ:
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

2001-03-08: Scottish Media Group (SMG) has raised its stake in Scottish Radio Holdings yet again.
It now holds 27.7% after purchasing a further 275,000 shares, some 2.8% of |SRH, for £14.6 million.
Under UK stock exchange rules SMG can only take its stake to 29.9% before it must make a full bid but current regulatory roles prohibit it controlling SMH because it has overlapping TV franchises.
The current market value of the two companies is around £527 million for SRH and £730 million for SMG.
SMG initially took around 15% of SRH in December (RNW Dec 9 ) and has already increased this three times.
Previous SMG/SRH:

2001-03-08: XM Satellite Radio's "Rock" satellite is now on its way on Sea Launch's Odyssey Launch Platform from Long Beach, California, to its launch position on the equator at 154 degrees West.
Its launch, announced in January as scheduled for February 28, is now scheduled for March 18th.
XM's second satellite, XM "Roll", whose launch was to have been the first and but was aborted at the last moment on January 8 (See RNW Jan 10) is now due to launch in early May rather than mid April as announced in January (RNW Jan 11).
A spare third satellite is in its final testing phase. All three satellites are Boeing 702 models.
Rival Sirius Satellite Radio has already successfully launched its three satellites.
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
Sirius web site:
XM web site:

2001-03-07: The latest Internet audio ratings from Measurecast show a 13.5% increase in total time spent listening (TTSL) for the week to March 4 compared to the previous week and its monthly report shows a 12% increase in TTSL in February compared to April after adjustment is made for the number of days in the month.
Most listening is at work and during the lunch hour, which may well account for some of the month on month increase.
It's also mainly male, with men forming 72% of Internet listeners.
Within the monthly report the most notable increase in listening time was for OnePlace.com which streams Christian audio; its Solid Gospel station had a TTSL increase more than six fold and its Black Gospel Network more than doubled its TTSL.
The monthly report also shows some changes in the top ten formats ranked by Cumulative Persons (CP), an estimate of the total number of unique listeners who had one or more listening sessions lasting five minutes or longer in the period.
They were (January rank in brackets)
1. Talk Radio (1);
2. Spanish (6);
3. News/Talk (2);
4. Classic Rock (3);
5. Listener Formatted (4);
6. Contemporary Hit Radio / Top 40 (5);
7. Contemporary Christian Music (7);
8. Salsa / Latin (20);
9. Blues (8);
10. Alternative Rock (11).
For the month the top five stations were (January rank in brackets):
1:Talk Radio WABC-AM, New York (1) ;
2: Listener Formatted Internet-only MediaAmazing (2) ;
3:Spanish format LaMega, New York(Unplaced);
4: Classic Rock format Internet only Margaritaville(4) ;
5: Contemporary hits/Top 40 WPLJ-FM, New York (3):
For the most recent week the only change in TTSL ranking in the top five stations was a position flip between MediAmazing and LaMega..
The top five were (with previous week's Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) and Cume persons in brackets):
1): Talk Radio WABC-AM (New York) TTSL 91,668 (83,787 ); CP 14,385 (14,196) - position unchanged.
2): Listener Formatted MediaAmazing TTSL 72,179 (61,578); CP 19,335 (16,020) - previously 3rd.
3): Spanish format La-Mega-WSKO (New York) TTSL 70,179 (65,686 ); CP 12,253 (12,554) - previously 2nd. 4): Classic Rock Internet Only Radio Margaritaville TTSL 46,787 (48.557); CP 7,403 (10,005) - position unchanged.
5): CHR Top 40 WPLJ-FM (New York) TTSL 44,864 (36, 653); CP 3,571 (3, 315) - position unchanged.
Previous Measurecast ratings:
MeasureCast web site:

2001-03-07: The return of Doug "Greaseman" Tracht to the Washington airwaves is featured in a Washington Post report by Frank Ahrens which reports on his 6 AM debut on 5000-watt WZHF-AM.
WZHF-AM, which has sold time and facilitites to Tracht, normally broadcasts brokered programming selling time to Spanish- and Asian-speaking clients who broadcast music and news to an audience so small that the station never shows up in the ratings.
Ahrens estimates that Tracht, would have been luck to get two thousand listeners, a tiny fraction of those he was attracting before being fired in 1999 as morning man for classic rock station WARW-FM after making on-air racist comments relating to a Texas 'dragging death" case in which James Byrd Jr. was murdered when dragged behind a truck in Jasper.
Tracht had also been in trouble for racist remarks three years earlier.
Then, working for another station, he reacted to theannouncement of a national holiday commemorations Martin Luther King Jr. by saying, "Kill four more, and we can take a whole week off."
Tracht's previous attempted comeback at US Virgin Islands oldies rock radio station WMNG-FM didn't even make i

March 2001 Archive

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