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2001-04-22: Licence news this week and yet again it was very quiet with the Easter break reducing throughput.
On the radio side there was nothing from Ireland or Australia, where Australian Broadcasting Authority activities primarily comprised its release of its second report on Internet content; this showed 209 complaints in the second half of 2001, a 44% increase on the first part of the year.
Most of the complaints concerned sites not hosted in Australia, mainly in the US.
The Authority has also released details of its Broadcasting Conference to be held next month; amongst the events planned there will be a digital radio session on May 3 to include speeches and presentations on Digital Radio Mondiale, the Geneva-based digital consortium , and iBiquity's IBOC (in-band on-channel) system.
There will also be sessions on the challenges of new media and community broadcasting.
In Canada, it was also very quiet. Radio activity by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) included extending the deadlines for the start of radio services at
*Yellowknife, North West Territories, by L'Association Franco-Culturelle de Yellowknife;
*North Battlefore, Saskatchewan, by Northwestern Radio Partnership;
*Matane, Quebec, by Les Communications Matane inc.;
*Christian Island, Ontario. by Chimnising Communications;
*Toronto (digital services) by CHWO Radio Limited.
The CRTC also authorised replacement of the programming obligations currently set out as conditions of licence in the Promise of Performance for CHAI-FM Chāteauguay, Quebec, and a transfer of control of CJCA-AM serving Calgary, Alberta.
In the UK, the Radio Authority has re-awarded the licences for Tendring in Essex and Stirling and Falkirk to the existing licence holders after no competing applications were submitted.
The Tendring licence went to Tindle Radio's Audio Management Ltd., broadcasting as Dream 100 and that for Stirling and Falkirk went to Central FM.
The Authority has also advertised the local digital multiplex licence for Exeter and Torbay, to be awarded in September; this is the first of a new series of digital licences on its schedule.
Next month it is scheduled to advertise the Bradford and Huddersfield digital multiplex licence.
It has also announced that, pending a more comprehensive review of analogue licensing plans, it is to add two more areas-- the Isle of Skye; and the Gairloch/Loch Ewe area of coastal Ross-shire - to its "working list" of licences to be advertised in its current developmental phase.
Finally the Authority has decided to use the FM frequency formerly used by Channel Travel Radio whose licence was surrendered in September last year by Eurotunnel (RNW Oct 31 ) to provide a small-scale licence for Ashford in Kent and that an FM frequency available in central England should be used for a West Midlands regional station rather than for an Oxford licence which was its other option.
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission has been busy with removing limitations on TV ownership but fairly quiet on the radio side although it did fine a Florida station for technical offences (RNW April 18).
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2001-04-22: The English woman who sued for a real car instead of the toy she had been given as a prize in a radio station competition (RNW April 21)has won her case against the station and disc jockey concerned.
Derby county court ruled that she was entitled to the car and ordered that she receive £8,000 to cover the cost of the Renault Clio model she expected to win.
However the court has yet to rule on who is to pay.
The DJ concerned was fired for the hoax and the radio station involved, Radio Buxton, which has been censured by the UK regulator for breaching rules on how competitions are run.
It is currently off the air although it has been given a temporary licence for a month from the end of May.
The station manager, who had tried to stave off the lawsuit by offering tickets to the Buxton opera house for a children's performance plus a meal for four, insisted that the woman was misguided in believing the competition was genuine.
He said they only received 23 calls in connection with this competition --and had received 17 for a competition the previous day when the prize was a bag of chips (French fries).

2001-04-21: James L Synder, who, amongst his achievements in 40 years as a broadcast journalist, launched the all-news format at WTOP-AM , Washington, DC, has died aged 76.
Born in Pittsburgh, he began his radio career while student and worked for Pittsburgh stations before moving to Washington in 1959 as the capital's bureau chief for Westinghouse Broadcasting.
After a spell as a producer with CBS News in Washington , he became vice--president for news at Post-Newsweek Stations in 1968 and his first assignment was the WTOP-AM all-news launch.
Washington Post obituary:

2001-04-21: A UK radio listener, given a toy car after she had been told she had won a "car" in a music competition, is asking a court to order theDJ involved or the station, Radio Buxton, to give her the real thing.
The contestant told Derby Crown Court in the English Midlands that she would never have entered the competition if she thought it was a joke. She expected to win a Renault Clio, which is priced at around £8000.
DJ Chris Constantine said that he had run an identical competition during a previous job in Lincolnshire where the prize offered was a Ferrari F50.
That was also a toy but, he said, his show was tongue-in-cheek and his listeners accepted that.

2001-04-21: Chicago WUSN-FM employees won't now have to buy their own tickets for a country music festival sponsored by the station.
Following the publicity given to a memo by programme director Justin Case (see RNW April 14 ), promoters SFX are to give "wristbands" for all the station's staff.
Reporting on the change, Robert Feder, who broke the original story in the Chicago Sun-Times, says that WUSN vice president and general manager Steve Ennen told him that the original memo was "hurriedly written"," poorly worded", and "did not take everything into context."
He added that they had been dealing with a promotion person and the communication was not complete between WUSN and the promotion company.
Ennen apologised to his staff for the misunderstanding and said, "Obviously, anybody working there for us would have gotten tickets to go."
"But Justin just didn't word that very well."
"Justin learned a lot from this process," he said. "He's not used to being in a major market and dealing with press on a day-to-day basis. It's a good experience for him."
RNW comment: Considering the time it took to sort out the matter, the main experience we think Case has gained is that those above drop more ordure downwards when the first load hits the fan.
The lesson may be valuable to him, but if the station really wouldn't have wanted staff to pay for tickets, a quick internal decision could have sorted the matter out immediately.
But then the station might have had to pay for some of the tickets!
Previous Feder;
Previous WUSN:
Sun Times -Feder on turnabout:

2001-04-20: The advertisers can't reach the parts Alan Greenspan can it would seem.
Although analysts predictions for advertisement revenue continue on the gloomy side, US radio stocks leapt on news of the decision to cut US interest rates.
R&R says its composite index jumped up 16.88 - almost 7% - to end Wednesday at 266.81 as investors responded to the cut.
The gains continued Thursday with almost everyone up, even XM Satellite Radio which ended Thursday around $7.14.
The exception was Sirius Satellite Radio, which dropped a little on both Wednesday and Thursday to end at $9.75.
Winners included giant Clear Channel -up nearly 10% over two days to $63.26; Viacom, which owns CBS-Infinity, was also up, ending Thursday around $52.80.
Radio One inc. which issued a profits warning earlier in the week (RNW April 19) jumped by around 16% to end Thursday at $20.55, perfectly timed for its $300 million bond issue.
Up around ten per cent over the two days were Entercom and Hispanic Broadcasting.
R&R web site:

2001-04-20: Moves for radio hosts and personalities both sides of the Atlantic:
In the US, Black American host Tom Joyner, who gave his syndication a major boost last August when he left WHUR-FM in Washington for Radio 1 Inc's WMMJ (RNW Aug 8) - thus adding to Radio One's 50 stations to his potential outlets which had reached a ceiling with the existing ABC Radio stations and affiliates - has now broken into the New York market.
ABC Radio networks, which syndicates his show, and Emmis have announced that The Tom Joyner Morning Show will start on Emmis's WRKS-FM at the end of this month.
Current WRKS morning host Isaac Hayes will remain with the station as local anchor for the show.
Joyner now has an audience of some 8 million and airs on more than 100 stations including outlets in Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta and Miami and Dallas, where he is based.
He has only this month been replaced as morning host at WHUR --by John Monds, former afternoon host at Chicago's WVAZ-FM.
And in the UK, TalkSport is adding London night-club owner and self-proclaimed mass fornicator Peter Stringfellow, who claims to have had sex with more than 2000 women, to its host list.
So far it'll be another one-night stand for Stringfellow who is to stand in on the midnight show on April 30.
Also in the UK, BBC Radio 1 DJ Mark Radcliffe is spreading his reach into television.
He's been signed up by an Independent production company to host "Next" , a talent-spotting show which Sky will air for an initial 13 programmes.
Finally back in the US and Tom Birdsey of the Rocko and Birdsey afternoon team on WAAF-FM, Worcester, Massachussets, is reportedly out of the station.
He's said not to have returned a renewal contract to owners Entercom on time. The duo hit the headlines last October when there were protests after they broadcast two tapes supposedly recorded secretly in a local catholic church. (RNW Oct 30):
Previous ABC, America:
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Previous TalkSport:

2001-04-19: More signs of radio revenue gloom from the US, this time with Maryland-based African-American group, Radio 1 Inc.
It has lowered its predictions for the this year and says that its first quarter revenues will be short of its forecast $49.5 million by around $2 million and the second quarter revenues will be around $64 million compared to a forecast $67.5 million.
For the full year it now expects revenues of $248 million compared to a previous forecast of $258 million.
Its cash-flow will also be down over the year to around $132million compared to a forecast $137million, although it says for the first quarter it will hit its target of $21.5 million BCF.
The figures do not include Radio One's pending $190 million cash and shares acquisition of Cincinnati-based African-American group, Blue Chip Broadcasting (RNW Feb 10).
That deal will add 15 stations to Radio One's holdings to give it a total of 63 stations.
Radio One is also to raise $300 million through a ten-year bond issue and says it will use some of the money for early redemption of a 1997 junk bond offering which carries a 12% interest rate and also to give it the power to purchase more stations.
Better news however from syndicator NBG Radio Network which currently produces, syndicates or reps some 35 national radio programs or products and reaches more than 2,700 US stations.
NBG has reported revenues for the quarter to the end of February at $2,92 million, up $990,000 (51%), on the same period last year.
NBG had a loss before provision for tax of $350,000 compared to a net income of $29,000 for the same period of 2000 ands puts this down mainly to the acquisition during the final quarter of 2000 of new programming and services which will not begin to put revenue into its books until the third quarter.
Previous NBG:
Previous Radio 1 Inc:
NBG Networks site:

2001-04-19: A feature in the Irish Times pegged to this year's 75th anniversary of Irish State Broadcaster RTÉ's radio service caught our eye today and is well worth a read.
The paper's radio critic, Harry Browne, describes radio as "a medium that inspires great devotion and commitment among producers and documentarists and has formed an aural accompaniment to the development of the State."
He then spoke to seven people, involved in radio, mainly in off-air roles r, about the "creative potential of radio and the possibilities for `new forms of dialogue'".
Amongst the comments which grabbed our attention were the following:
* John Quinn Producer and presenter of The Open Mind: Radio is boundless, with never-ending possibilities. And yet it's a very intimate medium. As the programme-maker, you're the conversationalist or the storyteller by the fireside - it has extraordinary warmth about it. A woman wrote to me recently and said: "You've given me my third-level education". That's a very humbling thing. I grew up on radio, and I have great regard for traditional radio. I worry about how little reflective radio there is now, when we're we so much in the era of the soundbite. There's little enough time to explore ideas.
* Roger Gregg Actor, radio dramatist and independent producer:
There's a huge amnesia now about radio drama. It's sad - people are forgetting what an uncontested, powerful medium this was. And while in America it was swamped by television, the public broadcasting ethos in this part of the world meant it survived here. It's worth remembering that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy started as a radio series. Bookstores in the US have whole shelves full of old-time radio on CD. With dumbed-down crap up and down the dial, a lot of people sitting in their cars would rather listen to a half-hour old-time radio show - they had the biggest stars, the best writers, the slickest production values; and the fierce competition in radio meant there was a premium on keeping the momentum up.
* John MacKenna Senior producer at RTÉ radio:
I love working on my own, setting out to shape a programme from start to finish - from the idea, to the recording, to the editing. You'll never get the perfection you set out for, but when you don't it's not anybody else's fault. Of course there is the danger of getting mesmerised by the subject. I do like to have someone else there, often at the editing stage, when a sound-operator can say to me: "I don't get that, it really doesn't work". I also like the fact that I can remove myself from the programme. I love to hear the subject talking, when you don't hear the presenter, you don't hear the producer. The programmes I've been happiest with have featured just one or two people talking about things that are close to their hearts.
* Tim Lehane Senior producer of features programmes:
We need to think of radio as something other than simply a commercial beast. What bonds readers to a newspaper? Perhaps it's not so much the treatment of international events on the front page; it might be the crossword, or Doonesbury, or Weather Eye, or the chess column. Programmes like the ones I do are part of the variety of "village life". It's so difficult to predict how the future of radio is going to unfold, with digital offering the possibility of much more narrowly targeted programming. I don't think young people have ever spent as much time listening to material as they do today, but who knows what they will listen to in 20 years' time. My own instinct is for all the eccentricities, richness and passion of that village I was talking about.
* Julian Vignoles Now TV producer and formerly producer of live programmes and documentaries on radio:
You can be very creative on live shows, but people tend to remember the times you go out alone with a tape recorder. It's a bit like the baker who is appreciated for the wedding cake prepared for a special Saturday, but not for the everyday bread. There's plenty of creativity in simply knowing that the right person to get to talk about a particular story is so-and-so. Creativity is too often described in an elitist way. The highest praise we get in radio is when someone tells us: "I couldn't get out of the car".
Previous RTÉ:
Irish Times feature:
RNW note: Any thoughts on this. E-mail your comments.

2001-04-19: Boston radio host, Christopher Lydon, ousted from WBUR-FM after a dispute over his claim to have an ownership stake in "The Connection" could find an outlet with the Cape Cod stations affiliated to Boston's other public radio station WGBH according to the Boston Herald.
It reports that WGBH's vice-president for communications said that she would be interested if Lydon was producing a radio show that was available.
She ruled out WGBH itself because it is primarily a music station.
Lydon is now doing a weekly talk show, which goes out on the Internet and is aired on a few small radio stations.
Previous Lydon/WBUR:
Christopher Lydon web site:
Boston Herald report:

2001-04-18: For the second week running the MeasureCast Internet Radio Index has shown a fall in the time spent listening to Internet audio, this time put down to the effect of the decision of many US broadcast stations to end their streaming because of the dispute over advertisement fees (See RNW April 11and April 17).
The Index for the week to April 15 was down nearly 5% on the previous week to 141 from the 148 for the previous week; it is now at February levels, having fallen more than 13% over the past two weeks.
The lowered presence of some previously high-ranked stations has also let into the top 25, ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL), a number of newcomers.
They include ESPNRadio.com which took the sixth place, and Spanish/Salsa, Merengue Hits format LaMusica's El Zol in 20th place.
In the top 5, the list was largely unchanged, partly because ABC radio kept its streaming up longer than other stations, thus keeping WABC-AM in second place.
Top ranker MeasureCast seems to have benefited with a significant increase in listening but lower down there was a fall for both Internet-only Margaritaville and for Virgin..
The top five stations in the period ranked by TTSL were (with previous week's Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) and Cume persons (CP) in brackets):
1): Listener Formatted MediaAmazing TTSL 125,339 (114,447 ); CP 38,957 (34.248) - Position unchanged
2): Talk Radio WABC-AM (New York) TTSL 51,039 (68,546); CP 10,957 (13,053 ) - Position unchanged.
3): Internet only Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville TTSL 47,804 (49,028); CP 9,521 (7,258) - Previously 4th
4):. Adult Alternative Virgin Radio TTSL 45,553 (61,241); CP 9,521 (9,550) - Previously 3rd.
5): Internet only Alternative Rock 3WK Undergroundradio TTSL 41,101 (29,025) CP 12,657 (9,710) - Previously 9th.
Previous MeasureCast ratings:
MeasureCast web site:

2001-04-18: More on the digital and satellite radio front again.
First approval by the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of iBiquity Digital Corporation's AM IBOC DAB system as an ITU standard for digital broadcasting in the radio bands below 30 MHz.
The ITU recently also approved the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) system (RNW April 17).
iBiquity says that the ITU is also expected to recommend its FM system later this year.
Tests of the system are well under way and results are expected to be submitted to the US Federal Communications Commission this fall.
Ibitquity recently submitted results of tests in San Francisco to the FCC (RNW April 13).
On the satellite front though, the outlook continues to be less encouraging.
Sirius shares have fallen again after its special conference call (see RNW April 13); at the close yesterday, they were down to $8.98 compared to last week's $10 and a 52-week high of $60. This latest conference call was set up to counter problems after a first conference call early this month sparked of a major share price fall.
The main backstop for the company is its cash position - it has around $400 million in the bank, enough it says to carry it through to the middle of next year or even longer, depending upon its roll-out expenditure.
Rival XM's shares have done a little better -they closed yesterday at $6.21, up from $5.22 a week ago.
On the programme side, Premiere Networks has confirmed that XM is to take Art Bell's syndicated overnight show Coast To Coast AM although neither Premiere or XM has made any formal announcement.
Previous Art Bell:
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2001-04-18: A follow up by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder to his item concerning the meanness at Viacom- Infinity's WUSN-FM, Chicago, notes that at least one other station in the city is taking the chance to have a dig at the station.
Greg Solk, programming Vice President at Bonneville International's WLUP-FM, attached a copy of the Feder column to a memo concerning his own station's Loopfest '01 rock festival in June.
He then continued with the memo saying that Bonneville wouldn't think of making their staff pay to get in.
"We have purchased enough tickets to accommodate the entire Loop staff as well as family and some friends," he wrote.
" If you can't make it due to other commitments, we understand, but LoopFest should be a great opportunity to spend time with our listeners and advertisers."
After which it seems slightly churlish to damn with faint praise another initiative involving Bonneville which is worthy in intent but which we found less so in execution so far.
This is the launch of Bonneville's WTOP.com (Bonneville owns WTOP-FM in Washington, DC), the first Local Media Internet Venture, of the partnership initiated by Emmis and also involving amng others Entercom, and Corus.
Maybe we were unlucky but it took a long time loading the site, which has positions for banner sales at the top, in the middle and on the bottom, all currently carrying national not local banners.
We saw only four advertisers and, although there was a variety of news content sections with smaller categories including specifics such as hi-tech, health, and local weather and charities, it was lacking any audio.
Instead, even though it is equipped with ad insertion technology, there is a message saying, "WTOP, like most Radio stations nationwide, has been forced to suspend online streaming due to a dispute between national ad agencies and unions."
"We are working very hard to find a way to legally restore our audio stream during the dispute. Until we do, we offer you the streaming audio of Federal News Radio/WTOP 2."
Previous Bonneville:
Previous Corus:
Previous Emmis:
Previous Entercom:
Previous Feder:
Previous audio streaming dispute:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
Feder Sun-Times column:
WTOP web site:

2001-04-18: Full marks for effort but not for results for Panama City, Florida, non-commercial station WJTF-FM and its owners Joy Broadcasting who have been ordered to pay a fine of $3000 by the US Federal Communications Commission.
Joy had argued that the fine should not stand because, although it had violated technical regulations in 1998 a later check found it to be in compliance.
The FCC however ruled that the fine should stand because it related not just to the signal broadcast but also to "Joy's failure to make periodic calibrations of the station's monitoring equipment, to make equipment performance measurements upon the initial installation of a new transmitter, and to designate the station's chief operator in writing and post a copy of the designation with the station license."
Previous FCC:
FCC ruling:

2001-04-17: More digital and satellite radio developments: And first, UK Financial web site Citywire reports that GWR and UBC Media have linked up to launch what they claim is the world's first commercial digital radio data service, which they've called Digizone.
The service is to using digital radio's data capacity to provide a wireless news service from ITN as well as cartoons from the Cartoon Network.
UBC will be handling the design and implementation whilst GWR provides the spectrum.
And in Switzerland, the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) consortium of broadcasters and equipment manufacturers now has International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approval of its on-air system.
Plans are for it to be on the world market some time next year.
Finally, in the US, Sirius Satellite Radio has been holding a special conference call in an attempt to re-assure investors who have recently been dumping satellite radio stock (RNW April 13).
CEO David Margolese said during the call that receivers should be available in the fourth quarter of this year but admitted that only around 20.000 are expected to have gone to consumers by the end of the year.
Sirius now expects to launch its main marketing drive early next year.
Rival XM, which had been behind, now expects to have its receivers on the market in late September.
Previous DRM:
Previous GWR:
Previous Margolese:
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Previous XM:
DRM web site:
Citywire report:

2001-04-17: The BBC's first interactive radio play, "Wheel of Fortune" is being promoted on the radio 4 web site as a drama that offers "making 90 billion ways of listening from start to finish."
Written by Nick Fisher over a period of four years, it features a professor who specialises in probability, a computer programmer tired of the shoot-em-up games she is asked to create and a gambler.
Together they try to develop a system to win at roulette.
The play is to be broadcast simultaneously in versions on BBC radio 3 and 4 and on the Internet and is split into 23 one-minute segments.
At the end of a segment, the listener can continue to listen to the version they've already chosen or switch to one of the other two versions (thus making 3 to the power 23 choices in all for those with access to all three signals, or 2 to the power 23--some 8.4 million --for those with only a radio).
In his comment on the play, the author says," these characters are no longer under my control - they'll soon be under yours.
"You can gamble with the starting point of the story, the billions of possibilities during the progression of the action and of course with the ending."
"Naturally you'll never know what you're missing elsewhere...unless you come back and spin the wheel a few more times. Have fun."
The play was to have been transmitted this month but has now been held over until after the UK general election --the site invites those interested to "Come back soon for a special trailer of how the play will work on the web site."
Previous BBC:
BBC "Wheel of Fortune" site.

2001-04-17: The US streaming audio conflict over extra fees for radio adverts carried on Internet streams has now seen the major broadcast players close ranks and cut off their streaming.
Howevert some stations have moved to advert-insertion technology and are back online.
According to StreamAudio.com, it has now moved many of its terrestrial broadcast clients onto its ad insertion technology with some of them running commercials and promos produced in-house using non-Union (AFTRA) talent and others running Internet-only promos.
Amongst those it says up and running are 47 Cox stations and Entercom stations in Boston and Seattle.
StreamAudio's site lists amongst its clients Clear Channel - which cut its streaming operations at the outset.
It also comments "Due to the economic issues involved, stations without the StreamAudio solution will likely be forced to abandon their sizable Internet audience." (RNW note - see comment below).
Amongst the major players, ABC Radio, which had continued to stream its talk stations(See RNW April 15), cut them off yesterday.
Its Chicago outlet WLS-AM carries a more comprehensive message than other sites.
It says, "Effective 12:01 a.m. on Monday, April 16th, Newstalk 89 WLS -- along with all other ABC radio stations -- will temporarily suspend our live Internet broadcasts."
"ABC is rebuilding its Internet streaming infrastructure in order to handle all of the many Digital Rights Management issues that have emerged as Internet radio has developed."
"We are a leader in this area and take our leadership role very seriously. Our streams will be back when all of these issues have been resolved."
In New York, WABC-AM, which has been amongst the top-rated Internet stations since measurements began by both Arbitron and MeasureCast, carries a briefer note about the streaming dispute, which has the same core wording as KABC-AM, Los Angeles; KGO-AM and KSFO-AM, San Francisco, WBAP-AM Dallas; WJR-AM Detroit; WLS-AM Chicago; and WMAL-AM Washington.
This says, "WABC has temporarily suspended our live Internet broadcast while our streaming infrastructure is being retooled. We apologize for any inconvenience."
The New York site also adds a note about baseball rights (See RNW March 28).
This says, "Important announcement for New York Yankee listeners. Major League Baseball is now charging $9.95 a season, to listen the Yankee's over the Internet."
"WABCradio.com will not be allowed to stream these games. If you can't listen to the games over the air on 770, you will have to go to the MLB web site, and sign up for this service, using RealAudio."
On its home pageWABC continues to promote its top ranking as an Internet streamer, with a link to MeasureCast's January rankings (RNW April 4) saying, "WABC still ranks #1 in the world in internet streaming by MeasureCast.com."
RNW comment: The whole dispute with AFTRA seems to us to be somewhat overblown, particularly as the amount at issue for an advertisement spot is only a tripling of the session fee
(The contract on the AFTRA site shows a fee of $220 for actors, announcers, solos and duos and then goes on, "Industry recognized the Union as exclusive bargaining representative for all performers employed in the production of commercials for use on the Internet.
Some key components of the new Internet provision:
A. Internet use of a commercial made for initial use on broadcast radio
* Producer may initiate Internet use for an initial term of one year for not less than 300% of the applicable session
* Producer may use Internet commercial for an extended 9 month period for an additional 300% but in no event shall use extend beyond the Maximum Period of Use (21 months)").
Our attitude seems to be shared by Radio and Internet Newsletter, which carries a screenshot of an ABC news item headed," Who grabbed my WABCRadio.com audio stream away from me" and which refers to AFTRA "now making demands for extra fees for the Internet."
In his comment, founder Kurt Hanson writes, "WABC's explanation, as shown in the screenshot above, seems a bit disingenuous."
"AFTRA is not "now making demands." The truth is, they successfully negotiated an increase in talent fees in arms' length negotiations with agencies last summer and signed the contract last fall."
"Perhaps it seems ridiculous that agencies would have agreed to quadruple the talent fees for spots that run on the Internet, but that's what they apparently did. Maybe they traded something else way for it. In any event, it would seem that AFTRA won its increase fair and square."
"It's actually the agencies that are primarily responsible for shutting down radio station streams. They (or their buying services) are the ones that have decided that they don't want to pay that extra one-time $600 expense to increase the reach of their schedules."
"And the secondary culprit might be the radio stations themselves, who for many months now have had the opportunity to acquire the technology that allows spots to be selectively stripped out of the broadcast stream and replaced with Internet-only spots...but chose not to do so."
" (Am I wrong? Am I missing something?")
Previous Audio Streaming dispute:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Cox Radio:
Previous Entercom:
Previous StreamAudio:
AFTRA site (carries links to contract summary):
Radio and Internet Newsletter: StreamAudio site:

2001-04-16: The US Radio Advertising Bureau says its annual NTR (Non-Traditional Revenue) survey shows that for nearly a fifth (18%)of responding US radio stations it accounted for between 11% and 20% of their income; 77% reported it as being less than a tenth of total revenue.
Event marketing was by far the largest NTR source with more than 90 per cent of respondents taking part in some form of event marketing with 95% of those offering sponsorships and nearly 90 per cent offering booth space or signage.
In addition more than two thirds of the stations had explored cause-related marketing activities.
Nearly two thirds of the stations responding were from markets with a population of less that half a million.
Gary Fries, President & CEO of RAB said," Radio stations will find ways to develop even more NTR business, reaching out to clients with innovative marketing solutions."
"The RAB is committed to helping Radio grow its revenue from these new streams."
Previous Fries:
Previous RAB (US):
RAB web site:

2001-04-16: For this week's look at radio as seen in various publications, we decided to look at various issues of legality or illegality, indecency and what we might consider indefensible practices, particularly in view of the recent issuing by the US Federal Communications Commission of "guidelines" regarding its indecency regulations (RNW April 7).
The indefensible first and we can't find any "decent" - in the normal sense of that word - excuse for Infinity and their Chicago station WUSN-FM where staff were apparently told they had to turn up and work the crowd for a music fair the station was promoting -- and pay for their tickets. (RNW April 14).
There now seems to be some backing off but the instinctive reaction was to try and find the whistleblower not consider the merits of the original decision itself.
A clear case of behaviour we consider not decent but not one where any real sanctions can be applied apart from bad publicity and station staff with the backbone to do something themselves about the matter.
Next a report of a DJ who did just that.
In this case, as reported by the UK Guardian, breakfast presenter Graham Mack walked out of his programme at BRMB, Birmingham, UK, after an on-air row over an order from the station's controller to play Eminem's track "Stan".
Mack called the track "rubbish" and said, "I'm supposed to play Stan by Eminem. He's a bigot, he's a criminal, and he's on probation." (The US rapper was this week convicted of carrying a concealed weapon.) "
"Here we are playing this song, making him rich... The countryside's in a mess, and it's not looking good for people at places like Marconi (RNW note -UK company instituting large scale redundancies) - so I'm going to play Keeping the Dream Alive instead."
The programme controller Adam Bridge came on the phone and was heard on air saying, "Maybe I'm stupid, but I selected Eminem. I don't pay you for your opinion - just play the bloody song."
Mack let him know the conversation was going out live and then said, "I'm out of here - if you want it played, you bloody play it."
On to another pretty-well indefensible case to us, that of the Florida boar killing and castration case involving "Bubba the Love Sponge" which is due to come to court on April 23rd.
We don't wish to pre-judge the court case of charges of animal cruelty but certainly wouldn't disagree with the host when he spoke of doing "something distasteful"(RNW March 31).
The St Petersburg Times at the start of this month was rather harsher about the criminal side but also brought up the question of regulatory involvement in an editorial which said the Federal Communications Commission should be asking "why Bubba's bosses at Clear Channel Communications failed to stop the slaughter in their own parking lot."
It also comments that the trial, "could serve an educational purpose by giving the community a fuller picture of the inner workings of the lowest forms of the radio industry..... The boar had more dignity than any of the Homo sapiens involved in this outrage."
RNW comment: We'd agree with the second but not necessarily the first comment in the sense that we rather feel a better legal system would be for Clear Channel bosses to face criminal prosecution - and risk jail - as accessories rather than regarding it as a matter for broadcast regulation.
On the issue of regulation, the $14000 fine on Emmis's WKQX-FM, Chicago, over comments made on Erich "Mancow" Muller's show (RNW April 10), aroused comment along the lines of Voltaire's principles of defending not the comment itself but the right to comment.
This came from Steve Johnson in the Chicago Tribune who spoke of the FCC regulatory cure being worse than the Mancow offence.
"My instinct, " Johnson wrote, " is to support anything that brings trouble to Mancow Muller and morning-radio "zoo crews" everywhere."
" ……. No punishment seems too severe for Muller or the nation's legion of bad Howard Stern imitators, who think sniggering about bodily functions constitutes a radio show."
Thinking further, however, Johnson brings up his doubts. First he notes that Muller's "belligerent and megalomaniacal persona earns him a reported $3 million per year."
he says that in this light, "The $14,000 fine is chump change, about what WKQX pays Muller per broadcast. The sting is more in the notoriety."
Johnson continues, "much as I dislike Muller's show, I can't support the fine because it is based on faulty principles: that the public is incapable of protecting itself and that it somehow can, in a general way, be protected."
"…….. The answer is not the nearly futile gesture of outside regulation but the staggeringly profound one of personal education. It is the duty of citizens in a free society to learn who says stupid, ugly things and avoid that person -- and to teach their kids to do the same."
"I wouldn't tune in Howard Stern while driving a 10-year-old to school. But I'd hate to live in a place that prevented me from listening to Stern -- or Mancow -- on the way home."
RNW Note - as per our April comment,where we end upfavouring fewer but properly enforced regulations brought in after full public discussion we'd welcome feedback on the issue of regulations.
Previous "Bubba":
Previous Columnists:
Previous FCC:
Previous Steve Johnson:
Chicago Tribune -Johnson:
St Petersburg Times site (search archive for radio):
UK Guardian report:

2001-04-15: Licence news and another fairly quiet week, with the most significant activity in the US, where the Federal Communications Commission, has levied a larger than usual indecency fine and gone ahead with another Low Power FM filing window after its rule changes concerning LPFM.
There was nothing of import in Australia or Ireland.
In Canada it was very quiet with almost the sole activity by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) relating to a licence amendment that follows Canada's new Community radio policy, which replaces licence conditions with a promise of performance.
In this regard, CFAI-FM Edmundston, in New Brunswick, has been allowed to change its type B community licence in line with the current regulations.
In the UK, the Radio Authority has for once only been active on the analogue radio front.
It has received four applications for the new FM licence for Rugby in Warwickshire.
They are from:
* Fosseway Radio (Jet Fm Ltd.), which proposes a community-oriented news and community information and pop music service.
*The Lion (Lion Radio Ltd.) Which proposes a full-service station mix of news and community information and adult music.
* Rugby Fm (Rugby Broadcasting Company Ltd.), which proposes a mix of news and community information and music, aimed at a 25-54-age range.
*Rugby 1 (Rugby On Air Co. Ltd.) which proposes a mix of news and community information and pop from the past 40 years.
The authority has also pre-advertised the local licences for
*Northampton - where the current FM licence is held by Northamptonshire Broadcasting Co. Ltd. (GWR Group plc), broadcasting as Northants 96 and the current AM licence is held by Classic Gold Digital Ltd., broadcasting as Classic Gold 1557
* Gloucester - where the current FM licence is held by the Cotswold Broadcasting Co. Ltd. (GWR Group plc), broadcasting as Severn Sound and the AM licence is held by Classic Gold Digital Ltd., broadcasting as Classic Gold 774.
In addition the authority has asked for public interest comment concerning the South & West Yorkshire regional FM licence where two of the 16 applicants are subject to a public interest test because the service would overlap with other services for which they already hold a licence.
The stations involved are:-
*106.2 The Rose; this controlled by The Wireless Group plc., which already owns The Pulse broadcasting in the Bradford and Huddersfield area.
*The Arrow, a subsidiary of Chrysalis Group plc. Chrysalis already owns Galaxy 105 in the area.
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission has combined its last two planned Low Power FM filing windows into one (RNW April 12) and, following its issuance of new guidelines concerning its indecency regulations (RNW April 7) has said it intends to fine Emmis $14,000 over offences concerning two episodes of the Mancow Morning Madhouse" show on WKQX-FM, Chicago (RNW April 10).
The FCC has also come under attack again from a dissenting note by Democrat member Gloria Tristani.
This time the issue was not indecency but the concentration of ownership.
At issue were rejections of three petitions to deny licence transfers and one informal objection to a licence transfer.
They involved stations in the Billings, Montana area; Topeka, Kansas area; Mt. Sterling, Kentucky; and the Parkersburg, West Virginia area.
Tristani accuses the Commission of not obeying its duty to ensure licence transfers serve the public interest but instead to allow transfers and then comfort itself on the basis it's done the same thing before.
In the cases at issue she notes that two of the four rulings cite a previous approval of a AMFM cases involving duopoly concentration of 82.6% of advertising in a market as justifying a decisions including the West Virginia decision which allows 83.7% concentration.
Tristani cites other examples and says that previous decisions to approve high concentrations do not justify allowing even higher ones.
In the Montana case she cites objections by Fisher Broadcasting, not on the basis of concentration, but on the basis that a sale to Clear Channel would result in an anti-competitive market because many of Fisher's top rated programmes are distributed by a Clear Channel subsidiary and it fears the contracts with it will be ended to allow the stations now owned by Clear Channel to air them.
The rulings, she writes," do not reflect a principled public interest analysis, nor is there any numerical limit to the percentage of advertising revenue share a single owner or a duopoly may possess."
"This approach is dangerously close to writing the public interest out of the statute."
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous LPFM:
Previous Tristani:
Previous UK Radio Authority:
CRTC Web site:
FCC web site:
UK Radio Authority web site:

2001-04-15: More Internet streaming statistics, this time from Arbitron, which has, just released its January Webcast Ratings.
it has also announced that StreamAudio is now taking its service and has three stations in Arbitron's top 75, albeit the highest is at 43!
Arbitron ranks by Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH - the sum total listening to a station by all listeners) and says that in January its figures show an ATH 17 million hours
(RNW note: In Average Quarter Hour figures, as used for broadcasting, that's about 5700 listeners in all for more than 2300 stations which allow Arbitron to access their server information).
Arbitron's rankings have some crossover with that of rival MeasureCast but also some striking differences, in particular as regards the ranking of classical music stations.
Its January top five are (December ATH in brackets):
1:Classical music Beethoven.com ATH 727,400 (565,700)- Also 1st in December:
2: News Talk Information format WABC-AM, New York, ATH 310,700 (294,800) -Also 2nd in November:
3: Listener Formatted MediaAmazing ATH 251,600 (282,000) - Also 3rd in December: 4: Classical format KING-FM (Seattle) ATH 239,100 (199,700) - 6th in December:
5: Hot Adult Contemporary format Virgin Radio (UK) ATH 232,200 (203,300) - Also 5th in December.
The figures also reflect those of MeasureCast in showing an audience increase although MeasureCast has since shown a fall in its latest weekly figures RNW April 11and the next set of figures will be totally skewed by the decision of many US broadcast stations to stop streaming following a row over payment for advertisement spots ( also RNW April 11).
ABC Radio is the only major player to continue streaming, although it is streaming talk stations not music ones; amongst those who have virtually ended their streaming for the moment are Bonneville, Citadel, Clear Channel, Emmis, and Radio One Inc.
In the latest MeasureCast top 25, 14 stations were broadcasters including seven from ABC and Virgin.
In the Arbitron figures only eight were broadcasters, three of which are still streaming. They are two ABC talk stations plus Virgin from London.
The others, currently not streaming, are two ABC music stations, two Fisher Broadcasting stations and one Bonneville station.
At the heart of the row is an agreement last year with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists which agrees a triple session fee where advertisements made solely for broadcast are subsequently used on the Internet as happens in "passive" streaming of station signals.
Advertisements made for the Internet or both Internet and broadcast are covered by a different clause.
Previous ABC, America:
Previous Audio Streaming dispute:
Previous Arbitron Webcast Ratings:
AFTRA site (carries links to contract summary):

2001-04-14: A Florida Court has set April 23 as the date for the trial of radio host Bubba The Love Sponge, real name Todd Clem, on charges of felony animal cruelty charges, which could carry a sentence of up to five years in jail.
The charge follows a wild boar castration and killing stunt on Clear Channel's WXTB-FM in Tampa at the end of February.
Previous Bubba:

2001-04-14: A look at the end of the week at some of the business side of radio.
In the US, the pace of deals has slowed down but giant Clear Channel showed it was still in acquisition mode with the $17 million purchase of KXEW-AM, KTZR-AM & KOHT-FM in Tucson from Big Broadcast of Arizona.
The deal will give Clear Channel seven stations in Tucson.
In smaller deals, California-based religious radio group L-Love network operator Educational Media Foundation has paid Southern Entertainment Corp. $3.5 million for WKVE-FM, Semora, North Carolina, and Withers Broadcasting is paying $2 million to Union Broadcasting for WKIB-FM in Anna, Illinois.
On the reporting and prediction front, Entercom has lowered its projections for the first half of the year although it said it will still met its first-quarter target of after-tax cash flow of 33 cents a share.
Entercom had forecast first quarter revenues of $73 million and second quarter revenues of $103million; it has reduced the figures to $70 million and $97 million.
In a contrary vein to most broadcasters, however, Sinclair Broadcast Group is forecasting a better performance than previously advised.
It says its first quarter figures will be higher than the guide figure it had given of $148 million, which compared with pro-forma net broadcast revenues of $166 million in the first quarter of 2000.
In the UK, worries about a weaker advertising market continue to put pressure on radio shares.
Shares in Capital Radio , the country's largest radio group, are still well under half their peak of £19.37 and not that much above half their 52-week high of £12.90.
They had plunged to £6.50 in March after a profits warning (RNW Mar 23) and ended this week at £6.77:
Previous Capital Radio:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Entercom:
Previous Sinclair:

2001-04-14: Following in the wake of the row about Vatican Radio emissions and where the Italian government backed down on threats to cut power to the transmitters (RNW April 13), it has emerged that the US Navy has had to shut down two of its transmitters which were exceeding limits set under Italy's tough environmental regulations.
The transmitters were shut down in the hills above Naples along with ten other transmitters operated by local Italian stations.
They were used by the American Forces Network which relays US-radio broadcasts to US troops in Europe and were operating within limits set in an original agreement with the Italian Communications Ministry.
The Navy, which has been trying to move its transmitters for more than a year but is still awaiting permits, is to appeal against the closedown.
Previous Vatican Radio:

2001-04-14: From Chicago, an action by a station that RNW feels indecent, even if not in the sense regulated by FCC regulations.
It concerns what we would term "meanness" at the Viacom-owned Infinity Broadcasting top-billing WUSN-FM in Chicago (revenues $46 million last year) and a memo issued by WUSN programme director Justin Case.
According to Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times, Case has issued a diktat that all on-air employees of the station must attend and work the crowd at the George Strait Country Music Festival on May 26.
Bad enough in a sense if you aren't on duty that day and have something else to do but in addition the memo says the staff have to buy their own tickets although Case suggests staff might buy the cheaper $29.50 tickets.
Feder quotes Case as writing, "I'm sorry, but we are gonna have to buy tickets to see Strait this year. We are going to use all of our free tickets on air. ."
" . . We are still cutting expenses, and the tickets will be our only promotion to close out the spring [ratings] book."
Case's memo concludes, "I would expect most everyone to be up and walking around and NOT just watching the concert the day of this event."
Feder says Case, when called, confirmed the memo's content but then backtracked by saying, "I intend to reimburse anybody on my staff who works the show on behalf of US-99."
He also said of anyone who did not wish to attend, "If one of my staff members comes to me and says they don't want to go to the George Strait Country Music Festival, I understand."
"But I would hope that this being the most important country music event of the year that my staff would want to be there. If somebody doesn't want to work that show, they can talk to me about it."
As Feder says, "this isn't about some dinky little radio station nickel-and-diming its employees. It's a lot scarier."
"Earlier this year, US-99 was forced to fire its veteran morning personality, Ramblin' Ray Stevens, because it couldn't afford to keep his salary in the budget."
"Then, a few weeks later, the station hired him back as afternoon host for considerably less money."
"If that's the way it is at one of Chicago's top radio powerhouses, how much worse can it be at one of the losers?"
And the reaction to reports of the memo from the station?
Feder reports that "bosses called a meeting and angrily threatened to fire the source who leaked a management memo to this column."
Previous Feder:
Previous Viacom:
Feder Sun Times report:

2001-04-13: The Italian government has backed down for the moment from a confrontation with the Vatican over radiation from its transmitter complex in Santa Maria di Galeria near Rome.
The complex is alleged to have been the source of cancers and leukaemia in the area and Italy's environment minister Willer Bordon had set a deadline of next Tuesday for the Vatican to meet Italian regulations, the most restrictive in Europe, or have power to the complex cut off.
Bordon has now been over-ruled by Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, and the deadline has effectively been extended.
The Vatican had already said it would reduce its AM transmissions from the complex although it is planning to continue short-wave and FM transmissions without change (RNW April 11 ).
Previous Vatican Radio:

2001-04-13: US satellite radio companies which a short while ago raised more than $430 million from sales of shares now seem to be able to do nothing right for the shares although their technical problems are being cleared up.
Sirius sold shares in early March for $21 and since then they have fallen to below a third of that although they have since rebounded a little and ended Wednesday approaching $10.
Sirius' woes stemmed in part from their admission that problems with their chip, which had been fading out the signal, meant they would not make their target of going on air by summer of this year.
The problems, which were holding up a $150 million line of credit from Lehman Bros., have been resolved and the credit has been released but the delay has meant a significant loss of confidence in the company.
Amongst those hit as well as shareholders is US National Public Radio, which is to produce two channels specifically for Sirius.
Staff working on the channels have been told that production will be scaled back until Sirius sets a firm date for its service launch and that efforts will be made to place the 17 staff in other positions in NPR. Until the chip problems, Sirius had seemed ahead of rival XM, whose first planned launch was aborted at the last moment (RNW Jan 10 ), well after Sirius satellites were in orbit.
Then Sirius admitted that so far no major automakers have yet ordered any of the receivers, hitting hard confidence in the company's plans which depend on targeting the automobile market as a first step (See RNW April 4).
Sirius has alliances to install three-band (AM/FM/SAT) radios in Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Mercedes, Mazda, Jaguar and Volvo vehicles as well as Freightliner and Sterling heavy trucks.
Meanwhile XM, which had seemed behind, has now successfully launched its first satellite (See RNW Mar 19) and its second is due to launch on May 7.
It has also already begun shipping sample chips to manufacturers and says it expects to start its commercial service and have receivers be ready in stores and as an option on some Cadillac models by late September.
XM has additionally just announced a tie-up with custom-truck maker Peterbilt to have receivers in some of their vehicles by the fourth quarter this year.
XM, whose investors include General Motors, American Honda Motor Co. Inc., and Clear Channel Communications, earlier this week it declared a regular quarterly dividend on its 8.25% Series B Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock.
The dividends are payable in shares of the Company's Class A Common Stock at a rate of $1.0313 per share of Series B Preferred Stock.
That stock has fallen nearly as hard as Sirius's -- from the $10 at which it raised $200 million.
It dropped to around 40% of that, although it has again risen and finished Wednesday at $5.22.
Both Sirius and XM plan to charge around $10 a month for subscriptions to 100 channels of commercial-free or mainly commercial-free channels and are into heavy front-end costs.
Estimates are that XM needs some 5.5 million subscribers at that figure to break even, and Sirius, which has spent more, needs around1 to 1.5 million more than that.
Once past the break-even point though, costs go up little but income rises steeply meaning that if they can keep going and if there is a take-off in subscribers, the rewards for both companies will be large.
Previous US NPR:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
Sirius web site:
XM web site:

2001-04-13: More digital developments, this time in the US where iBiquity Digital Corporation says San Francisco tests of its system show it to outperform analogue signals there.
Ibiquity has submitted to the Federal Communications Commission the results of the tests of its IBOC digital broadcast system.
It says they demonstrated more reliable reception of better audio quality than current FM broadcasts.
Ibiquity says that San Francisco is the most challenging urban area for radio broadcasts in the US because of the mountains that surround the city and reflect analogue signals.
Ibiquity President and CEO Robert Struble said the tests together with previous tests in Las Vegas (see RNW Jan 9) and Washington, DC, clearly demonstrated, "the superior performance of the IBOC technology in real-world environments."
He added that the tests continued the move "toward the selection of our IBOC system as the digital radio standard for the United States."
Previous Ibiquity:
Previous Struble:
iBiquity web site:

2001-04-12: The US Federal Communications Commission has announced its last Low Power FM licence application filing window in which it has consolidated its planned fourth and fifth filing windows.
The new window runs from June 11 through June 15, 2001 and the Commission is giving 60 days notice instead of the 30 days it previously applied because of the joining of the two windows.
The window is for LP100 stations (with 50-100 watts effective radiated power).
It applies to transmitters in the states and territories of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Guam, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.
In its notice the FCC notes the changes it has had to make to meet congressional requirements, particularly those of adjacent third channel protection and the prohibition on anyone party to an application having engaged in any unlicensed radio operation in the past (See RNW Dec 19).
In addition the FCC says that it will be opening a "remedial" filing window within the next few months for those applicants in filing windows 1 and 2 whose applications violate the third adjacent channel requirements, which were not applicable when the applications were originally lodged.
Previous FCC:
Previous LPFM:
FCC News release:

2001-04-12: A Thai radio host has been shot and killed by gunmen as he was about to enter his office in Surat Thani, some 300 miles south of Bangkok.
Witayudh Saengsopit had until recently been under police protection following the placing of a hand grenade on the gate of his office.
It was not clear whether this was a threat inked to his reporting on alleged government corruption.
He was the host of a provincial radio station show, "Catch Up With The World, Catch Up With The Man."

2001-04-12: UK Capital Radio is selling two of its local stations to Carlisle-based newspaper and radio company CN Group Limited, as part of its strategy of concentrating on large stations in metropolitan areas.
The stations, Centre FM and The Bear, were acquired when Capital bought Fox FM and its subsidiary Bucks Broadcasting Limited.
After payments to shareholders who had minority interests in Bucks Broadcasting, Capital will be left with £3.63 million in cash.
Previous Capital Radio:

2001-04-12: The US Federal Communications Commission budget for 2002 will be increased by some 8% taking it to nearly $250 million for the 2002 fiscal year if Congress accepts President Bush's proposals for the organisation.
The increase totals $18.5 million taking the budget to $248.5 million and the FCC notes that some $7 million or nearly 40% of the additional money will go on mandatory salary and benefit increases or inflationary increases for services provided under outside contracts.
The other $11 million of the increase will go on replacement of computer equipment and various IT related expenditure that the FCC says will "create a more efficient, effective and responsive agency."
Previous FCC:
FCC News release (Links to 9.5Mb zip file - yes Mb - of budget proposals):

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