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Quality or size? RNW June Comment looks at what we should be "rating" for radio..

RNW May Comment -- picks up on a speech at UK Radio Authority symposium to consider what makes "high quality radio."

RNW April Comment - - follows up on March comment by considering what is necessary for regulations to be effective.

2001-06-30: Another major radio deal in North America: Standard Broadcasting Corporation Ltd is to take over Telemedia Corporation's 60 remaining radio stations.
The private cash deal will make Standard the owner of 73 radio stations compared to 49 for second placed Corus Entertainment but Corus will still reach a larger audience.
No details of the transaction have been announced but in May Telemedia sold its 19 radio stations in Quebec and Eastern Canada to Astral Media Inc for Can$255 million in stock and shares.
Although most of the stations acquired are smaller ones, Standard will add two more Toronto stations -- AM sports outlet The FAN and FM rock outlet Ez Rock - to its existing stations CFRB-AM and FM station MIX. Standard also has nearly 30% of Flow-FM in Toronto.
Other larger market stations involved are in London(Ontario), Hamilton, and Edmonton.
To the south, US giant Clear Channel has been buying again this week; in the largest deal it's paying $3.9 million to Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation for five Kentucky stations.
They're WCND-AM and WTHQ-FM, licences to Shelbyville, and WFKY-AM, WKYW-FM and WKED-FM, licenced to Frankfort, Kentucky's capital.
Commonwealth Broadcasting currently retains three stations in the area, WKED-AM, Frankfort, and WKXF-AM & WXLM-FM Eminence.
Shelbyville is in the Louisville market where Clear Channel already has a significant cluster of stations.
In Texas, Clear Channel is paying $650,000 to Coastal Digital Broadcasting for KVLT-FM, Victoria, where it already owns KLUB-FM & KIXS-FM.
In California Carlos Duharte, who has been LMA-ing KZSF-AM in San Jose which was a spin-off from the merger of Z-Spanish Media into Entravision is buying the station from the trustee for $5M made up of $1M in cash and $4M in a note.
In Georgia, WPEZ-FM, which is being bought from US Broadcasting by Radio One Inc for $55 million, is to move from Macon to Hampton, around 30 miles (45km) south of Atlanta.
Until the deal is completed, Radio One will pay US Broadcasting $300,000 per month and assume control of the station via an LMA.
Radio One is to change the station format and WPEZ's AC format and call letters are likely to be moved to another US Broadcasting station in Macon.
Also on the geographical move is Horizon Broadcasting but this time it's just its headquarters that is re-locating to Boise, Idaho, from Seattle. Most of Horizon's 11 stations are in Idaho, five of them in a Boise cluster.
Gone completely as a separate entity is Citadel Broadcasting, which is now part of Forstmann Little.
Forstman is paying $26 per share for Citadel stock, just above the $25.95 at which Citadel's stock closed on the final day.
On the results front, Emmis has reported strong first quarter results with net revenue up 36.6% from 2000 to $137.7 million and broadcast cash flow up 24.8% to $48.3 million. After tax cash flow was down 22% to $17.1 million and ATCF per share was down to $0.356 from $0.46.
Radio did well for the company, particularly compared to TV whose revenues were $1.7 million below forecasts of $55.5 million at $53.8 million; radio revenues by comparison were up by around $ 2 million.
On a same-station basis, domestic radio revenue increased 26.7% for the quarter and broadcast cash flow increased 36.4%.
Emmis has now revised upwards its full year forecasts for radio revenues to $277.4 million from its previous forecast of $275.4 million. Emmis has also launched its LMiV (Local Media Internet Venture) site for Q101, Chicago.
Its news release is high on superlatives.
Rey Mena, Emmis Interactive VP, commented, "Radio station Websites have traditionally reflected the music and promotional needs of a station, but have fallen short on reflecting the bigger picture - the needs of the listener." "Radio isn't just about a particular body of music; it's reflective of a lifestyle. It's the one place the listener can go to get everything they need. We want to be the place they go to first, regardless of what they are looking for."
RNW note: Having dipped into it using a modem we're not quite so impressed- the home page is nearly 250Kb and it's satisfactory rather than startling, but maybe we're too old and impatient to be their target audience.
Finally a note that Yahoo will soon be in the radio syndication business thanks to its $12 million acquisition of Launch Media.
Launch's main operation is online music and music-related content delivery but it also has a syndication arm, Launch Radio Networks, which supplies music and entertainment news and show prep to affiliates.
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2001-06-30: One might say "Surprise, Surprise!" but it presumably is no surprise that former UK Virgin Breakfast host (and former owner of the station) Chris Evans is now considering suing Virgin owners Scottish Media Group (SMG) over his dismissal.
SMG said that Evans was dismissed for "breach of contract" but that for legal reasons they could not be specific about details. On the Virgin web site, there is a straightforward announcement that Evans "is no longer a presenter at the station" and a brief statement about the "breach of contract." It adds that "Of course, we are all sad that it has ended this way, but Chris clearly has not been focused on his show" and goes on to say that the replacement Steve Penk Breakfast Show will now commence next Monday, July 2, rather than a week later as at first announced.
Evans' show was the highest rated show on Virgin Radio with a weekly audience of 1.7 million but SMG is taking the stance that it is the show's time slot that is most important for the ratings, not the host.
The company, which had been attacked by some commentators for overpaying when it bought Evans' Ginger Media for �225 million, also says that it was the national radio licence that was the prime attraction not Evans' presence.
SMG was valued at more than �1.1billion at its peak in August last year but is now valued at less than �600 million.
Under the terms of the sale to SMG, if he was still with the company, Evans was due to receive another 5 million shares in January, now worth around �8.6 million, althogh he has quoted a figure fo up to £15 million.
Virgin has changed the locks at the station to prevent Evans from gaining access.
Evans was reported to be furious over the statement that he was not "focussed" on his show and is likely to be further enraged by comments by his replacement, reported in the UK Sun tabloid (RNW note: A newspaper not always noted for accurate reporting - or to be more accurate -noted at times in the past for total invention).
The paper quotes Penk as saying, "Chris became lazy and tired. I think part of it was that he has got too much money and he's lost his inspiration�� He lost his touch - and that's quite sad."
"Chris always seemed to be drunk and his show was past its sell-by date. Can I get the ratings up from what Chris was getting? Of course - easy."
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2001-06-30: One of US public radio's most renowned makers of radio programmes is to close down at the end of September according to the Los Angeles Times.
It says that the media production unit of the Smithsonian institute, best known for award winning radio shows such as the "Jazz Singers" series and two Peabody Award winners -the 1996 series on African-American radio "Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was" and a survey of musical variation along the Mississippi, "The Mississippi: River of Song" --is to be closed because of budgetary problems.
The Smithsonian says that in the 2002 fiscal year budget, still waiting final approval from Congress, it was allocated a 2.4% rise for salaries and expenses which fell far short of a federally-mandated 3.7% pay increase for its employees.
As a result it is eliminating 180 posts including the nine staff of Smithsonian Productions.
The Production unit budget was fairly small - $735,000 in the 2001 budget, less than half of which came out of the Smithsonian's $386 million in federal appropriations earmarked for salaries and expenses.
Sarah Spitz, publicity director for KCRW-FM, Los Angeles, told the paper, "This is a sad moment in public radio history."
"They produced exemplary documentaries that fulfilled a key function of public radio: to entertain while teaching you something new that you might not have known before."
" They created very rich tapestries of sound and very important documentaries."
Melinda Ward, senior vice president of productions for US Public Radio International (PRI) commented, " "There are not many independent producers, or producers who work for daily network programs, who have the ability or the resources to really concentrate on a specific subject matter like 'Black Radio' or 'Mississippi."
"The Smithsonian is such a rich resource of material, and having the capability to turn that into radio material was great."
"These are fabulous programs, and there is so much rich potential at the Smithsonian. You want to see it grow, not diminish."
Los Angeles Times report:

2001-06-29: Radio Netherlands has jumped in where the BBC World Service is to take its transmitters down; it has announced that from Sunday July 1 it will "broadcast to North America on all the frequencies being relinquished on same day by the BBC World Service."
It says its announcement is tied to a short-wave publicity campaign to "to recognise and support the millions of short-wave radio owners in North America who still believe in direct contact with Europe from across the Atlantic."
Radio Netherlands' Director General Lodewijk Bouwens comments," Short-wave remains the only direct way to share a full range of important issues with a loyal audience in the USA and Canada."
"Holland was the first country to start direct broadcasts and programme exchanges with stations in North America back in 1928. We haven't looked back since."
"North American listeners have always been some of the most committed. We're guaranteed a full postbag or e-mail box when we explain attitudes that people in the Netherlands have to drug prevention or euthanasia."
"But it is much more than that. We see a growing appreciation of this country as an important cultural centre in Europe - a place that invites and stimulates constructive thinking."
Bouwens also comments on the nature of the service that can be provided via short wave in a paragraph that could almost have been written as a critique of the BBC World Service's stated reasons for abandoning short wave.
"With more than 600 stations in North America broadcasting a broad range of music and documentary features, certain Radio Netherlands' programmes are already reaching listeners on FM in the USA and Canada," he writes. "But short-wave offers us the opportunity to share a much wider range of news and features at a convenient listening time."
"We can offer more depth and context than is allowed on domestic media, knowing that the audience has made that extra effort to tune in."
Radio Netherlands also draws attention to the possibilities of digital short wave (using the DRM - Digital Radio Mondiale - system), which will significantly improve reception quality and describes webcasting as "complementary" to radio but not a replacement for it."
"Audio on the web is great at playing radio's memory, offering a second chance to listen to a programme transmitted earlier."
" But the current streaming technology is useless at coping with the peak demands of serious live broadcasting," says Radio Netherlands.
"For every 100,000 listeners over the air at any one moment, there are only a few thousand capable of hearing the broadcasts simultaneously on the web." "Webcasting is expensive, it is often congested during a crisis, there are copyright restrictions, it's simply not ready for prime time" adds Bouwens.
So far the Save the BBC coalition has not picked up on the Radio Netherlands moves but it does carry a new report, based on the Arbitron- Coleman Media broadband study (See RNW June 20) looking at Internet audio from a different angle to that highlighted by Arbitron.
In particular it picks up the gulf between Internet listening in the office and that at home which lags behind greatly, the fact that only a small fraction of broadband users had not listened to Internet audio in the previous week, that two-thirds of those who do listen to streaming audio listen to the radio as well and most of them prefer radio for many purposes.
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2001-06-29: Sooner than anticipated, UK Virgin Radio has fired breakfast host Chris Evans who for nearly a week had called in "ill" but had been photographed drinking in public houses and buying alcohol in a supermarket during the period.
In a statement a spokesman for the station said the high-profile appearances of Evans in public while on sick leave were not the reason for the station's decision, although they "obviously brought it to a head".
Evans's show will be replaced by a programme hosted by DJ Steve Penk, who has been filling in for Evans during his absence. The new show will start on July 9.
Before he was fired, Evans made a phone call to The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid newspaper, saying that he had been banned from hosting Thursday's show and offered �3 million to leave the station.
He also said he had received a formal letter from Scottish Media Group, which now owns Virgin Radio, saying his recent behaviour had "embarrassed and humiliated" them.
He then said, "I've been ill and there is a doctor in my kitchen right now who will confirm that to anyone. I won't say what's been wrong with me but I've not been well enough to do my show and that's that. They say I have embarrassed them but I don't see how."
"I want to come back and do my show today but they have said I'm banned and if I try to turn up they will physically stop me broadcasting or even entering the building."
Regarding the money proffered to leave, Evans said, "They offered me a lump sum one off payment tonight of �3 million to quit now."
"This is supposed to cover the last tranche of five million shares they owe me for the deal when SMG bought my company."
"But the current share price is pounds 1.60 and it's been as high as pounds 3.75 so they know if I accept this offer they will be saving themselves up to £15million."
"The offer is supposed to mean that I don't talk to anyone or do any work until next March."
"But they can stuff that. I don't want their money. I want my freedom and I want to carry on doing the job that I love, presenting the best breakfast show on radio."
RNW note: Under the �225 million deal in which SMG took over Evan's Ginger Media Group which included Virgin Radio, Evans was paid partly in cash plus three tranches of shares (See RNW June 28).
The deal also included a clause that said," If Chris Evans leaves Ginger Media, or the enlarged group, prior to the full vesting of his share tranches, and without the express consent of SMG, he forfeits the right to receive any outstanding entitlement."
During his call, Evans anticipated his dismissal, saying," By doing this interview with you now I accept that there is a strong chance they will fire me today."
"They will say I have breached my contract and I guess I have."
He also attacked SMG for interfering with his show over day-to-day details, defended his show and its ratings, and commented concerning his reputation for being difficult to handle, that he was "only difficult when I have to work for managers who can't deal with creative people."
Amongst those commenting on the saga, the most interesting was former BBC Radio One controller, Matthew Bannister whose article in the UK Times was written before the firing so contains a line commenting on the time Evans was fired from Radio One and saying," We called his bluff. Will Virgin Radio's owners do the same?"
They did but the tenor of the article is unaffected by subsequent decisions as it puts forward theories as to what Evans was doing. Bannister says he has three overlapping theories, overlapping because "nothing is ever what it seems in Chris's crazy tabloid world, but there's always just enough reality in the stories to keep you guessing."
One is that Evans is actually cracking up, facing a situation like that at Radio 1 when he was fired -- a falling audience, high pressure of work - but this time with so much wealth he can afford to disregard anybody's attempt to tell him what to do.
The second is that it's all another publicity game with the tabloids, generating publicity that massive amounts of spending couldn't buy.
Bannister comments, "Call me suspicious, but how come photographers are on hand in various parts of the globe whenever Chris is up to something private?"
The third is that, "He Wants To Quit - But Can Never Leave Like An Ordinary Person."
Here Bannister notes that Evans' previous successes were with shows which broke rules and shot up the ratings and were then ended before they ran out of steam whereas with others, including the Virgin Breakfast show, "he lost interest but had to stay on for pretty hefty contractual reasons, resulting in lacklustre programmes for declining numbers of viewers and listeners."
Take your pick!
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2001-06-28: More host moves in the US.
Kramer and Twitch (Keith Kramer and Tony Longo), the duo fired from Clear Channel's KEGL-FM, Dallas, last week after their latest "prank" - a fake report of the death of Britney Spears (See RNW June 20) - have now been hired by Infinity's WKRK-FM, Detroit.
They'll be slotted into the noon to 3PM slot replacing Fisher Entertainment's syndicated Ed Tyll show from July 9.
Infinity is also slotting the newly syndicated Opie and Anthony (Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia) show into two new Ohio markets in early July.
They will debut on Cleveland WZJM-FM Xtreme Radio and WAZU-FM, Columbus, from Monday.
And in Chicago it's been another on-off rant from afternoon host Steve Dahl at Infinity's WCKG-FM according to Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder.
He reports that Dahl followed Monday "this might be my last week" on-air comments with a Tuesday on-air to say he had agreed a renewal of his contract, which ends early July.
Feder also reports that Harvey Wells, vice president and general manager of WCKG, said he was surprised by Dahl's on-air announcement Tuesday.
''I have a total amount of respect for Steve,'' Wells said. ''But I don't want to negotiate in public.''
Also in Chicago, Feder reports that Johnny Mars, evening personality at WXRT-FM has been forced out after 21 years.
He quoted Mars as saying his only regret was not saying goodbye to listeners on May 31, which turned out to be his last broadcast.
Feder also reports that cost cutting has cost three jobs at Infinity's Oldies station WJMK-FM where the overnight personalities are being replaced with unmanned, automated music shifts.
And in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reports that KLOS-FM is trying to get a five-year deal with Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps of the top rated "Mark and Brian Show."
Station owner, Walt Disney Company, paid more than $3 million to resolve racial discrimination lawsuits after a 1998 promotion the "Black Hoe" (See RNW Oct 7, 2000); now its expected to spend an estimated $15 million retaining the duo.
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2001-06-28: Speculation is mounting in the UK that Chris Evans, who yet again did not turn up for his breakfast show on Virgin Radio on Wednesday, is going to quit the station.
If he does go the departure would carry echoes of 1997 when Evans was sacked by then BBC Radio One controller Matthew Bannister after failing to turn up for work.
Evans' place was taken on Wednesday as on the other mornings by Russ Williams who usually presents the mid-morning show but the speculation is that Steve Penk, who was brought in from Capital FM for Virgin's afternoon show by its new programming head, Paul Jackson, will take his place.
Evans' agent Michael Foster met Virgin bosses for urgent talks on Tuesday and the official line from Virgin Radio is still that it accepts his explanation that he was "unwell and unfit to do the breakfast show."
British newspapers have been listing his drinking exploits since he called in ill and the leading tabloid, The Sun, on Wednesday carried a front page report listing the alcohol he bought from a local supermarket the day before. The London Evening Standard quotes a Virgin Radio source as saying that Evans is "fed up with the breakfast slot and presenting on radio at that time in the morning." "All his old team have gone and he is finding the new team hard work." "Having a new programme director is not helping as they do not see eye-to-eye�� It is unlikely he will return, whatever."
"He has other priorities in his life now and he has felt for some weeks that he needs to look into new projects."
Evans position is weakened by the lead that Sara Cox's BBC Radio One breakfast show has over his offering -some 7 million listeners a week compared to around 1.75 million.
Should he leave he forfeits the final instalment of Scottish Media Group (SMG) shares due to him from his sale of his Ginger Media Group to SMG.
The group bought Virgin Radio in 1997 for �85 million; it was sold last year to SMG for �225 million (See RNW Jan 13, 2000).
Evans himself was paid around �34 million in cash plus �38.4 million in SMG shares to be paid in three instalments.
He has received the first two of them but could forfeit the final instalment, worth around �13 million if he leaves Virgin before January next year.
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2001-06-28: More moves on the US satellite radio front. First an announcement from Agere Systems that it has shipped engineering samples of its chip set to seven manufacturers who are developing receivers for Sirius Satellite Radio.
Agere says it expects to ship production chip sets in the early fall to the seven -- Alpine, Clarion, Delphi Delco, Jensen, Kenwood, Panasonic and Visteon.
Sirius had seemed ahead of rival XM, which had launch problems, until it suffered from a chip fault, which caused fading.
Curing these delayed its plans and meant sample chips were only shipped in April (See RNW April 4)
At XM, whose production chip sets were shipped by ST Microelectronics in March to Sony, Pioneer, Alpine and Delphi-Delco for final testing, the move ahead is again in programming.
It has announced agreement with Viacom's MTV Networks to create two 24-hour XM channels under the MTV and VH1 brand names.
The channels will feature music, news and entertainment reports, artist interviews and features based on some of their programs.
The deal also includes MTV providing promotional opportunities for XM on its networks.
XM has also revamped its web site which now has streaming audio of a number of its channels as well as an audio introduction to their service.
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2001-06-28: There may yet be some hope for BBC World Service short-wave broadcasts to North America, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific according to the UK Daily Telegraph.
The transmissions are due to stop at the end of this month (See RNW June 23) but the paper reports that the Foreign Office has said that it would be concerned if the moves jeopardise the World Service role of boosting Britain's reputation.
The Office funds the service and has confirmed that the matter will be brought up at the next quarterly meeting with the BBC in August.
A Foreign Office spokesman told the paper it had been warned of the BBC's plan in advance but stressed that the corporation could use its budget however it liked "as long as it meets our shared objectives".
He added: "The World Service remains a vital tool in contributing to the respect of Britain abroad and we'd want to see it continuing in that objective."
"If there was anything to suggest they were not fulfilling that objective it would be a matter to discuss."
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2001-06-27: The US Federal Communications Commission, which had already issued fines of $11,000 against "pirate" radio operator Leslie D Brewer, has now revoked his licences for what it terms willful and repeated breaches of the 1934 US Communications Act.
The action to revoke the licences was commenced in March this year (See RNW March 11).
Brewer, who owns an electronics shop in Tampa, Florida, selling two-way radios, held licences to operate an amateur radio station and also as licensee of a General Mobile Radio Service station.
He was said to have operated pirate broadcast facilities and an unlicensed studio to transmitter link.
Brewer was warned in 1996 about operating an unlicensed FM station from his home in Tampa in 1996 and, when he repeated the offence, was fined $1000.
Further monitoring the next year showed that he had continued operations and the FCC received a complaint of interference to WHPT-FM in Sarasota; the Commission in 1997 refused as unacceptable his application for a new non-commercial educational broadcast station but he continued to operate his station and in November of that year his transmission equipment was confiscated.
In 1998 Brewer applied to operate an experimental station but this was rejected as being filed on an incorrect form and in 1999, after another request to operate a station was still pending, Brewer resumed his broadcasts, this time from a warehouse in Tampa.
In December, the FCC found that he was using an unlicensed studio to transmitter link between his home and the warehouse and in March 2000 the FCC linked signals from Brewer's home to transmissions from the warehouse.
The FCC also found that Brewer had been marketing unauthorised FM broadcasting equipment, having purchased such equipment from him under cover in 1998.
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2001-06-27: The UK Wireless Group (TWG), which owns national commercial station TalkSport, has complained to Britain's Office of Fair Trading about what it calls BBC abuse of its dominant position for overpaying for the broadcast rights to sporting events.
In its lengthy complaint, the group says the BBC paid more than double the market value with its �42 million 3-year winning bid for UK Premier League soccer rights in November last year (See RNW Nov 29, 2000).
The bid included an increase in cover from 120 to 180 games a season and the amount paid was nearly triple the amount the BBC had paid for its previous 3-year deal.
The Wireless Group complaint says, "The use of taxpayers' money to distort the market for sports broadcasting rights and, potentially, to price new commercial entrants out of the market is ....a clear abuse."
"Commercially successful executives are now running BBC Radio and exulting in their power and finance to disadvantage their commercial competitors."
TWG chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie criticised the lack of regulation covering the BBC's activities and said he wanted the corporation to be fined for anti-competitive behaviour.
RNW comment: Although the UK Guardian in a comment has expressed sympathy for the Wireless Group, saying that perhaps this complaint should be treated differently to previous grumbling by MacKenzie, it suggests that his complaint will have little chance of success, noting that a previous complaint over Test Cricket rights got nowhere.
On that occasion MacKenzie had made a blind bid of half as much again as the BBC offered but was rejected on the basis of the breadth of the BBC cover together with its pledges to support the sport.
In the previous month TalkSport had won the rights to the 2002-2003 winter English cricket tour of Australia with a bid of around 25 times the amount the BBC had paid for the last "Ashes" series in Australia.
Our feeling is that MacKenzie understands self-interest very well but would be accusing others of hypocrisy if they reacted as he has
. We have seen no signs of his criticising others such as BSkyB for massively outbidding the BBC for sports rights (Rupert Murdoch's News International is the major shareholder in BSkyB and Murdoch is MacKenzie's former employer and a current backer).
And somehow, were the boot on the other foot, we can't see MacKenzie practising restraint in rights bids to be fair to a weaker or smaller competitor.
We will of course be delighted should we be proven wrong in the future!
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2001-06-27: Internet listening to an all-time high in the week to June 24th according to streaming audience measurement company Measurecast.
Its Internet Radio Index, which for the previous week fell back by 5%, rose by 7% to 184 compared to a base of 100 at the stat of the year.
17 of the top 25 stations ranked by total time spent listening (TTSL) were Internet-only stations; newcomers to the top 25 were Howard University's WHUR-FM, an adult rhythm and blues station which came in at 24 and urban rhythm and blues station WBLS-FM, New York at 25.
At the top, there was again jostling for position with audience increases for the top two and falls for the next two but no change in the stations included.
The top 5 ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) were (with previous week's TTSL and Cume persons (CP), a measure of the cumulative audience, in brackets):
1): Listener Formatted MediaAmazing TTSL 176,756 (170,060); CP 45,684 (43,544) - Position unchanged.
2): Adult Alternative Virgin Radio TTSL 81,979 (59,258); CP 14,084 (10,815) - Previously 5th.
3): Internet only Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville TTSL 78,500 (90,798); CP 12,580 (17,124) - Previously 2nd.
4): Internet only Hot 100 TTSL 63,927 (79,133); CP 23,983 (27,153) - Previously 3rd
5): Internet only Alternative Rock 3WKUndergroundradio TTSL 63,490 (63,292) CP 24,607 (24,403) - Previously 4th.
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MeasureCast web site:

2001-06-27: The Virgin Group has unveiled plans to take the Virgin radio brand to Asia in partnership with Hong Kong-based venture capital group ChinaVest.
It says talks are already under way to take shareholdings in and management control of radio stations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Thailand and India with the intention of re-branding them under the Virgin name and creating what it calls a "network across territories."
Virgin will take at least three-quarters of the joint venture.
In 1997 Virgin sold its UK radio interests to Chris Evan's Ginger Media Group that in turn was taken over by Scottish Media Group(SMG) in January of last year (See RNW Jan 13, 2000) but it still has a station in Paris, France.
And at Virgin radio in the UK, there is considerable newspaper speculation that Chris Evans is to leave the station.
For the fourth time since calling in sick on Thursday of last week, he failed to show up for his breakfast show on Tuesday and British newspapers have reported that on Friday of last week he followed an all-night binge with an all-day drinking session.
Evan's Virgin breakfast show on Tuesday was presented by mid-morning host Russ Williams who did not mention Evans but joked about getting listeners to give up alcohol in favour of mineral water.
Evans, who personally received around �75 million from the �225 million SMG paid for Ginger Media, still has 18 months of his contract to run and stands to lose around �13 million in SMG shares if he leaves.
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2001-06-26: US radio ratings service Arbitron, which has announced that from September it is to provide a Mexico City radio ratings service.
This will be the first Arbitron ratings service outside the US.
Arbitron says that long-term commitments to the service have been made by Grupo ACIR, Imagen Telecomunicaciones, MVS Radio, Nucleo Radio Mil, and Organizacion Radio Formula who together operate 23 stations in Mexico City and the Valley of Mexico.
Arbitron has already conducted tests in the area and is to use a Spanish-language version of its standard seven-day radio diary to survey the radio listening behaviour and key socio-economic characteristics of approximately 4,800 Mexico City residents, age 12 and older.
Unlike the US where diary keepers are recruited by phone and diaries themselves mailed back to Arbitron, the Mexico diary system will use interviewers to place the diaries at the households selected to participate in the survey and later retrieve them at the end of the survey week.
The diaries will then be shipped to Arbitron's Columbia Research and Technology Centre for processing and tabulation using the company's existing processing infrastructure.
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2001-06-26: It's not just the BBC World Service that seems to think the Internet is a place to offload some of its broadcasts (See RNW June 23) nor is the World Service the only International service cutting back on short wave or on output.
As we have already noted the Voice of America has cut back on its short wave transmissions (See RNW April 2) and Radio Canada International (RCI), the Montreal-based service run by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, has also had to cut back its output for budget reasons.
As noted on the action site set up to protest against the cuts, RCI has already cancelled weekend newscasts by RCI staff including those in Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Arabic and Spanish; it is maintaining broadcasts from CBS and Radio Canada in English and French only and other programmes at the weekend are pre-recorded.
RCI has also dropped morning shows to Africa, Europe and Middle East, eliminated its India evening show and trimmed back live programming.
The Action Committee's letter to Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps says they are "appalled" by planned cuts in programming services starting in June.
It adds, "We know your ministry signed an accord at the end of March with CBC to maintain our service at its present level for the next year. Yet we are being told by RCI/CBC management that we must cut programming to save money because of a possible lack of money next year."
So far the group's lobbying appears to have had no results and there may be further changes in the pipeline as an April e-mail from CBC President Robert Rabinovitch to staff said, "Over the next year, we will undertake a fundamental re-evaluation of our international service and its mandate in the new multi-media environment."
"In cooperation with the government, we will determine the needs of and our obligations as Canada's public broadcaster with respect to our audiences abroad." At the heart of the issue, as it was ten years ago when RCI's staff was halved and programming slashed back, is finance; Heritage Minister Sheila Copps promised stable funding of Can$15.52 million per annum to RCI but made no allowance for inflation.
Nor did it allow for any possible knock-on effects of the BBC World Service changes in terms of shared transmitter facilities in Canada and Britain.
As in Britain where the Foreign Office funds the BBC World Service but does not run it, RCI is run by the CBC with the government remaining at arms length.
Should the Minister decide the changes were unwelcome she would therefore have to go for influencing decisions rather than ordering changes.
Whilst on the subject of moving to the Internet, the American University station WAMU-FM on Monday moved its weekday afternoon music broadcasts from the airwaves to the Internet in favour of news and current affairs.
The station says it lost nine-tenths of its audience when the music shows came on air in the 1500-1800 time slot.
They featured classic country host Jerry Gray on Monday and Wednesday and bluegrass host Ray Davis on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and are now on the Internet only.
They're at the site www.countrybluegrass.org funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The site will broadcast the station's country and bluegrass music exclusively, around the clock and started by broadcasting tapes of Davis's and Gray's shows.
Gray will continue to tape shows for the Web site. Davis has not decided if he will do so.
In the show's place on the airwaves is international news show "The World" from 1500-1600 and additional hours of "All things Considered" from 1600-1800.
WAMU will continue to broadcast bluegrass and classic country at the weekends.
Former WAMU general manager F. Kim Hodgson told the Washington Post he was "very sad" about the decision.
He had trimmed back bluegrass from six to three hours daily but resisted killing it during the week.
"[WAMU] was generally raking in $300,000 to $700,000 a year more than I could spend, anyway," he said.
"We were providing a unique public service not available anywhere else"
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Washington Post on WAMU:

2001-06-26: As our instincts had it last week, the figures put forward by US Senators Byron Dorgan and Ernest F. Hollings in their Washington Post article about US radio consolidation (See RNW June 22) have speedily been challenged.
R&R reported Monday that Duncan's American Radio senior analyst Tony Sanders put the advertisement share of the top four billing US radio companies at around %7.2 billion in 2000, around 42% of a total $17.12 billion.
RBR has a similar report but its figures have the top four -- Clear Channel, Infinity, Cox Radio and ABC Radio - as Duncan's figures for the share at 37% and those of Broadcast Investment Analysts and the Radio Advertising Bureau putting the share at 34%.

2001-06-25: For our look at print media comments on radio this week, we take a look at values, in the industry and in general, starting with a Chicago Tribune commentary by Bob Greene.
Greene writes about what could turn out to be a new US payola scandal (see RNW May 30).
Even if the current "whispers" turn into shouts, he writes, "there will be no national outrage if the allegations are true."
"Because payola, in the 40 years since the first scandal, has become the American way of life. And it goes way beyond the music business." The original 1950's scandal, he notes, led to new laws and ruined careers because in those days "the supposition had been that the way records made it onto local radio stations was by their quality."
Nowadays he adds, the concept that was thought to be shocking, "�. the idea that a company would be expected to pay money to a purportedly neutral exhibitor so that the exhibitor would let the public know about the company's product ��.is assumed to be the standard way of doing business in the United States."
Greene then details examples such as "product placements" in movie and TV and "slotting fees to get goods onto shelves.
He concludes," It will be difficult for any new radio payola scandal to stick, in our current world of commerce in which everyone has been conditioned to become a cynic, and where the constant supposition is: No one does anything without money changing hands."
The view is either realistic or cynical, depending upon your point of view but on the financial side of radio it would be rather surprising if those who were successful just because they can maximise the profits they can wring out of the system were all to have Damascene conversions.
The question does arise though, how far those on the programming side, in front of the microphone, or sitting in a regulator's chair can be held to have the same view.
Some would take a cynical line on the current US Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael K Powell but a Frank Ahrens feature in the Washington Post gives the lie to them and paints a picture of a man who does have his principles even though many of his critics think he errs to far on the side of a laissez-faire approach and allowing the market to drive change.
Powell's stance is, "I believe government has the role and duty of proving the merits of intervention rather than the other way around."
"If I can't demonstrate with rigor the necessity of intervention, then the obligation of the government is to stay out."
Powell also seems to favour a similar approach in general on the question of regulation on content, saying, "It's better to tolerate the abuses on the margins than to invite the government to interfere with the cherished First Amendment."
He also says he is on the side of the "consumer" and diversity of choice and he voted, when an FCC commissioner, for Low Power FM plans although he did express some caveats about the threat it could pose to small stations close to the margins of economic survival.
Powell has also supported the idea of equal opportunity rules to give more chances to women and minorities in broadcasting and it seems fair to say that his views are held for other than monetary or personal gain reasons.
Ironically one might say that Greg Smith, the host of "On a Roll", the only US live commercially syndicated radio talk how in the US for the disabled, has just as much of a personal stake in his show as a chief financial officer does in maximising returns.
In Smith's case, as noted in a St Petersburg Times feature by Babita Persaud, he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when 3, but still managed to play in his high school band and get onto thee student council.
Smith's radio career was sparked by a desire to do play-by-play at the high school football games, which led him to a microphone and being hooked.
It wasn't easy to get hired when he had ended his studies and he was turned down by 30 stations before a strongly worded letter to the general manager of KTAR in Phoenix concerning a brush-off got him to an interview and a job.
His show "On a Roll" Has received a lot of help from sponsors, who the paper says, "saw an opportunity to reach a sizable market" and many of the advertisements on the show are for products for the disabled.
So are we back heading towards payola-type attitudes?
Not really, we would contend, but it is a plus to have a state broadcaster in the UK who can put out shows without the need for financial sponsorship from commercial companies.
And in the case of the BBC it does have a regular weekly programme for the blind or partially sighted which gives a cue for the opening paragraph of Paul Donovan's column in the UK Sunday Times.
"What," he writes," What do the following have in common - Americans, farming, food, films, books, gardening, the arts, the law and blindness?"
"And what do these have in common - Europe, keeping fit, computers, astronomy, hunting, fishing, sex and holidays?"
"Easy to answer," he continues, "if you listen to Radio 4."
"The first is a list of topics given at least one programme a week on the network."
"The second is a list of topics not given such a privilege: they are covered from time to time, but there is no regular slot for them."
The strangest anomaly he suggests is the absence of a regular programme concerning Europe but for that follow the links to the column.
But even where the outlets are pretty well dominated by the commercial and the ratings, other factors can come in; one of these is, of course, the reaction of an audience and, beyond the actual audience for a show, the reaction of a wider public to reports about any excesses.
This forms the theme of another St Petersburg Times feature, this time by Tom Zucco which looks at the case of Doug "the Greaseman" Tracht who in February 1999 made his now infamous remarks concerning the Texas murder by dragging behind a truck of James Byrd Jr.
Tracht has still only made a very limited comeback (see RNW March 7),
Fast forward to February this year and Tampa radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge (real name Todd Clem), whose "Road Kill Barbecue" show featured segment in which a wild boar was castrated and killed.
Again there was widespread protest, which in this case led to a 15-day suspension and a prosecution for animal cruelty which is still in train.
Both incidents, the paper notes, were about attracting listeners.
In Tracht's case in one sentence he "had overstepped an imaginary line, crossed over from crude to reprehensible."
"With one sentence, he had managed to infuriate just about everybody."
Tracht also managed to keep himself out of a job despite apologising and only recently has he managed to get back to air on a small Washington DC station plus some syndication (RNW March 26).
In Bubba's case he is still in a job and his show remains high in the ratings.
The host himself has apologised but says there is no comparison between the cases.
"I think what he (Tracht) did was just absolutely irresponsible as a broadcaster," he said. "And you will never hear me say that about another DJ."
"I mean, what in the hell is the upside of what he said? There is none. You can't put your management in the position to defend that."
"And you can't defend what he said. You can't. Fortunately, for what I'm accused of doing, we have a defence."
RNW note: Maybe so, maybe no but whatever else many of those who objected to the comments did it without any "money changing hands"; in some areas there may be payback but it's certainly not payola.
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St Petersburg Times - Persaud:
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Sunday Times - Donovan: Washington Post - Ahrens:

2001-06-24: More community radio for Australia, a few power increases in Canada and a go ahead for a draft communications bill and digital development in the UK are the main features of the past week's licence news.
In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority has proposed a new community radio service for Wagga Wagga, and another for Young, both in New South Wales under its draft radio licence area plans for the Murrumbidgee/ Riverina region.
It is also proposing to allow power increases for 2AAA, Wagga Wagga's existing community radio service, and the four ABC national radio services in Wagga Wagga town, and to allocate additional FM channels to Young's existing commercial FM Station, 2LLF, to provide better cover to the towns of Cootamundra and Cowra.
A power increase is also being proposed for community radio service 2MIA in Griffith.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has approved new transmitters for Radio du Golfe inc.'s CJMC-FM Saint-Anne-des-Monts at Cloridorme, Rivi�re-�-Claude, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts est and Murdochville, and change of frequency for its CJMC-FM-4 Grande-Vall�e, all in Quebec.
Also in Quebec it has approved a small power increase, from 23,400 to 25,000 watts, and transmitter relocation to nearby Fleurimont for CBM-FM-1 in Sherbrooke.
In the Northwest Territories it has approved a change of the programming source of CBQO-FM Deline from CHAK Inuvik to CFYK Yellowknife.
Ireland was quiet on the radio front.
In the UK, the government has said it is to go ahead with a draft Communications bill in the current parliamentary session. Amongst other things this will see the folding of five current regulators into one super-regulator (See RNW June 21).
On the licence front the Radio Authority has been involved only in digital plans.
It has announced its assessment of the award of the third London digital multiplex licence to Digital Radio Group (London) Ltd. (See RNW June 8).
The Authority says that there was no concern about the ability to provide services from all the applicants whose rollout and coverage plans were similar but it had caveats about DRg's technical proposals.
These reduced the level of technical transmission in order to carry an extra programme.
Overall, however, it considered the applicant was "most likely to broaden the range of local digital programme services because many of its programme services targeted niche audiences."
"Specialist formats.|" it said, "such as those offered by Abracadabra, Purple Radio, TAP, Time Out and Passion for London would contribute greatly to the choice of digital radio services in London."
The Authority added that DRg was offering "a selection of adventurous services not only new to digital, but notably included some which were entirely new to radio and would effectively cater for communities within London whose tastes and interests were not currently being fully met."
The Authority has also announced that it has received two applications for the Dundee and Perth digital multiplex in Scotland. One is from Score Digital Ltd, a subsidiary of Scottish Radio Holdings, which is proposing a total of seven services as well as the two BBC stations that have to be carried.
The other is from Switchdigital (Scotland) Ltd, a consortium whose main shareholders are the Wireless Group and Clear Channel International; it is proposing a total of nine commercial services in addition to the BBC channels.
In the US, new members of the Federal Communications Commission have been appointing their staffs and otherwise main attention has been centred on comments by chairman Michael Powell on the approach he has to regulation (see RNW June 23); It is worth a note however that the FCC has "red-flagged" the proposed purchase by the Millennium Group of Press Communications' New Jersey stations WKXW, WBUD - both in Trenton, and WBSS/Vineland.(See RNW June 9)
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ABA web site: (links to Rich Text /PDF's of discussion paper and draft radio plans - totalling 23.6Mb/ 1.15Mb in all)
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2001-06-23: With just a week left before the BBC World Service ends its short wave broadcasts to North America, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific (See RNW May 23), the signs are that he BBC may be noting protests but hasn't taken up properly many of the points made in opposition to its action and isn't going to change its decision.
A representative of the Save the BBC World Service web site set up by a coalition of organisations opposed to the move has appeared on the World Service but there seems no sign that any decisions have been changed.
The organisation set up the site to lobby for action against the dropping of short wave on a variety of grounds including the advantages short wave has in terms of cost, availability and portability over the other options suggested by the BBC.
These are the Internet, satellite radio and re-broadcasts on local stations.
The BBC says its research shows listeners are moving away from short wave and says that in the US and Canada it has only 1.25 million listeners on short wave compared to 1.5 million on the Internet and 2.5 million to re-transmissions by local FM stations.
Jerry Timmins, head of the World Service's Americas region, says the World Service is expanding short wave transmissions in other areas where it is the primary method of delivery but ending it in other areas was a tough but necessary business decision.
The objectors however point out that with a small portable radio they can receive the world service on a beach or in a hotel where the Internet or local FM re-transmissions simply are not available or are only sporadically and partially available, and that, even when they are, they still do not match the pre-tuned short wave receiver in convenience.
They also suggest that in using the "cumulative" audience in its arguments, the BBC ignores the amount of time spent listening which they suggest is much greater on short-wave because people will leave their radio tuned in for long periods.
They also point out that "The World Service produces a huge range of programs covering arts, science, music, sports, business, entertainment, culture, and religion. None of these programs have an appreciable presence on local stations, and for all intents and purposes, will be unavailable once shortwave broadcasts to North America cease."
" In fact, the feed provided to US FM stations is the "24 hour news" feed, not the mainstream World Service feed, and does not include any music or arts programming. A significant portion of the possible BBC World Service output is simply not available via local placement."
RNW note: Having the convenience of the BBC World Service easily available off-air and having appreciated it on a small portable short-wave receiver in many parts of the world, we just don't think the BBC has sustained its case in any other terms than possibly savng around $1 million a year; We'd have thought this was a small price to pay for a dedicated audience in a major part of the English-speaking world.
Of the other options suggested:
*The Internet isn't as convenient, even when it is available without significant extra cost and when streaming audio is coming through well.
*As we know full well, neither Sirius nor XM is yet on air and when it is there will still be a subscription to pay and another fairly expensive receiver to purchase on top of which the main push for the stallite radio companies is for the in-car audience not those with portable radios.
*And finally the point made about the overall range of the World Service is an excellent one -anda strong reason we have preferred itin the past to listening to other options such as Voice of America or Moscow Radio's English service, even when these had much stronger signals.
Those of you who share our feelings should check the
Save the BBC web site:

Previous BBC:

Next column

2001-06-23: US Federal Communications Commission chairman, Michael K. Powell, has said he supports new rules to encourage broadcasters to recruit women and members of minority groups.
He was speaking following a refusal by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reconsider its January decision to strike down FCC rules that required broadcasters to make job listings readily available to all qualified applicants, including women and minority groups, using job fairs and other methods.
Powell told lobbyists and lawyers at a Federal Communications Bar Association lunch that he was "disappointed" at the decision.
"We may not always agree on methods, but the goals of providing a meaningful opportunity to participate in the communications industry through ownership and employment are important," he said.
"Without pre-judging our litigation options, I intend to recommend to my colleagues that we consider pursuing new rules that increase employment opportunity in a manner that complies with the judicial limitations of the Constitution, and that are not unduly burdensome on the industry."
"I also intend to continue to explore ways to improve the opportunity for ownership."
"I have been a strong supporter of the revised tax credit bill, sponsored by Senator McCain and supported by Congressman Rangel.
The main tenor of Powell's speech was in support of policy centred around market economics and he argued that, far from harming consumers their end product was in fact the opposite.
"Market systems, far from being the bane of consumers, have unquestionably produced more consumer welfare than any other economic model devised by mankind," he said.
"A well-structured market policy is one that creates the conditions that empower consumers," he continued, saying that it allowed consumers to choose the products and services they wanted, bred entrepreneurs, created a fertile environment for innovation and because market prices were related to supply and demand meant that consumers got the most cost-efficient prices.
He did give a nod to regulation in part but qualified this by saying," I am the first to admit that deregulation for its own sake is not responsible policy."
" What is good policy is to carefully examine rules to determine if they are actually achieving their stated purposes, or if, instead, they are, in fact, denying consumers value by impeding efficient market developments that these consumers would welcome."
"Regulations are not innocuous simply because they are promulgated in the name of consumers."
"No matter how worthy the purpose, rules that constrain markets can, in fact, deny or delay benefits to the consuming public."
"There are many examples of deregulations by the Commission that were met with fierce claims that consumers would suffer as a result. When the deed was done, however, we often witnessed instead, the flourishing of innovation and competition, from which consumers benefited magnificently."
Previous FCC;
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2001-06-22: Signs of nervousness amongst US media giants have followed a Washington Post article by two Democratic Senators, Byron Dorgan from North Dakota and Ernest F. Hollings from South Carolina, who, now that the Democrats have a Senate majority, is also now chairman of the Commerce Committee and thus in a position to affect Federal Communications Commission activities.
In particular the big media groups were concerned that the Senate majority change would lead to stiffening of resistance to the lifting of cross-media regulation and a current 35% national TV ownership cap.
These are fears that the article, which argues in favour of ownership diversity and ownership restrictions, will exacerbate.
In the article, headed "Your Local Station, Signing Off", the two speak of a "frenzy of media mergers" over the five years following the passing of the 1996 US telecommunications Act.
Before that, they note, the top US radio group "owned 39 stations and generated annual revenues of $495 million" whereas now the top group"owns more than 1,100 stations and generates annual revenues of almost $3.2 billion" (RNW note - this is Clear Channel:The Senators also also cited a news report four groups controlled 90% of US radio advertising which we estimate is at least double the actual figure.
We expect corrections to come on this but to us the principle at issue is still worth considering.)
They continue, "Drive across the country and in big cities and small towns, your car radio too often plays only a handful of homogenized voices beamed by a few media conglomerates."
"For decades, our communications policy has imposed sensible restrictions on media ownership to promote and preserve multiple, independent voices."
"Unfortunately, the rules that protect this diversity are under assault: from regulators, judges and from the industry itself."
"This despite the fact that the rules in question have encouraged the growth of locally relevant, independent programmers and distributors of media content."
The Senators argue that the creation of new media outlets is not relevant to the debate because current ownership restrictions are not based not on competition grounds but "are grounded in principles -- the promotion of diversity and localism -- that must be considered distinctly from our nation's competition laws."
"Diversity in ownership," they argue, " creates opportunities for smaller companies and local business men and women to have a voice. Diversity in ownership provides outlets for creative programming, locally relevant news and information and controversial points of view."
"Deregulation without reasoned justification," they continue, "is nothing more than deregulation for its own sake."
"We have already been down that road and we have seen the troubling results in the radio marketplace."
They then develop the argument in terms of television and the decline of independent producers who, they argue, "helped build an entertainment industry that is envied around the world."
"Lifting the rules that protected its diversity may have been a harmful mistake, " they say, concluding, "By maintaining sensible restrictions on ownership of media properties, we can promote diversity in the marketplace and preserve the localism that every American has come to expect when he or she picks up the morning paper or turns on the local news."
"Let us not repeat the mistakes that led to the rapid consolidation in radio and in the marketplace for TV programming."
"This is not just about competition between major media conglomerates. It's a question of whether we want all of the media outlets in this country to be controlled by a powerful few.
Washington Post article:

2001-06-22:The editor of New York Spanish language newspaper, El Diario La Prensa has accused the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC) of dropping his weekday radio programme because he rejected requests to stop criticising three members of Congress according to a New York Times report.
Gerson Borrerro told the paper that HBC representatives told him that the licence for WADO-AM was at risk if he did not moderate harsh criticism of Representatives Jos� E. Serrano (part of the Bronx), Robert Menendez (central New Jersey) and Nydia M. Vel�zquez (parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens).
In late May, Borrerro had said on the programme "Bajo Fuego," that on the next program he would tell "the story of the three congressmen."
He never did because the programme was dropped and Borrero said, "They fired me because my views upset these congressmen."
Borrero alleges that the pressure was put on HBC at a meeting between the Congress members and HBC vice-president David Light; the three representatives however have issued a statement denying this.
They say the meeting was at the request of WADO, which wanted support for community broadcasting.
"We made it very clear that we did not care for WADO's journalistic standards and would not support its community programming," the statement said.
"We support journalism that is free but responsible, meeting the highest journalistic standards. It should inform and educate our community, not divide it."
The Times says that WADO and Light did not return calls asking for comment.
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New York Times report:

2001-06-21: The battle between US National Public Radio (NPR) and rival Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is featured in a New York Times article, which looks in particular at the moves, by both organisations to boost their Los Angeles operations.
Last month MPR opened a new $3 million Los Angeles centre and the paper says that NPR is close to a deal to open a similar West Coast centre near Los Angeles.
The moves come against a background of a slow fall in commercial radio audiences whilst those for public radio have been growing along with their revenues, which reached more than $500 million for 1999.
Public radio has an audience that is generally highly educated and thus sought after and this, says the paper, and has led to competition.
NPR, whose "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" shows are touching 30, has grown but not as fast as MPR which as well as producing and distributing shows controls a network of stations.
The paper quotes Ruth Seymour, general manager of NPR station, KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, California, as saying that, although the organisations deny they are competing, this is "a lot of nonsense."
KCRW and Pasadena City College public radio station KPCC-FM, where MPR took over operations in January 2000 (See RNW Dec 10, 1999), both air "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered"
"To have two stations broadcasting the same program to the same audience at the same time, I don't think you have to be Einstein to figure out what's going to happen," said Seymour.
"It's a waste of resources."
Radio industry consultant Tom Thomas told the paper that the denials of competition could be because of a fear that calling public attention to it might lead legislators to question spending tax dollars on duplication.
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2001-06-21: The UK government has confirmed that it is to go ahead during the current Parliament with a full draft Communications Bill to set up a super-regulator (OFCOM)and reform the country's broadcasting and telecommunications regulations but the timetable for this has led to disappointment amongst a number of big media groups.
These include the Granada and Carlton TV companies whose planned �10 billion merger is now on hold. They had hoped the government would press ahead with getting the act passed rather than just going ahead with the draft bill.
The move was welcomed however by the GWR Group, whose Chief Executive Ralph Bernard said in a statement that the delay would, "allow a little more time to get the draft absolutely right" to achieve the objectives of "encouraging enterprise, strengthening competition laws and safeguarding consumers."
Taking up suggestions that the bill could have been introduced without including media ownership issues, he said," That would create a two-track media, with parts of the industry able to develop and others restricted."
"We need parity across the communications sector and an uninterrupted pace of development, so let's use the extra time we have to reach a definite conclusion on the ownership issues and produce a ready-to-go Bill which can be fast-tracked onto the statute books."
The current five regulators in the UK, whose separate organisations are to be subsumed into the new OFCOM super-regulator, have welcomed the announcement.
They have in turn announced that they have appointed management consulting firm Towers Perrin "to map the process for setting up the new regulator."
The consultants will report to a steering group whose members will include the Chief Executives of the current regulators, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, Independent Television Commission, Oftel, Radiocommunications Agency and the Radio Authority.
Previous Bernard:
Previous GWR:
UK Radio Authority web site: (carries OFCOM consultants announcement as do the other regulators' sites).

2001-06-21: XM Satellite Radio is now forging ahead in advance of its planned launch in late summer with recent announcements of more staff and channels.
Its recent additions to its output include a tie-up with CNET Radio, which is currently available on the Internet and on AM in San Francisco, to provide technological news and another with CNBC for a live audio feed of its financial news.
On the staff side, it has announced a further 14 new staff to its programming team and more members of its artists family.
The new staff are seven programme directors and seven music directors.
New additions to XM's artists family include Junior Marvin, former lead guitarist for Bob Marley and The Wailers and The Insane Clown Posse who follow last month's new members,Quincy Jones and Wynton Marsalis.
Rival Sirius Satellite Radio has remained quiet about developments recently.
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2001-06-20: The Dallas DJ's Kramer & Twitch whose false report of the death of singer Britney Spears and her boyfriend Justin Timberlake whizzed round the world earlier this month (RNW June 15), have been fired by their station, Clear Channel's KEGL-FM, "The Eagle".
The Dallas Morning News quotes Tom Schurr, vice president and market manager in Dallas for Clear Channel as saying the dismissal was not just as a result of the Britney Spears hoax but also related to incidents during the duo's recent five month spell at Clear Channel's KSJO-FM in San Jose, California.
The DJ's, Keith Kramer (Kramer) and Tony Longo (Twitch), moved from KEGL to KSJO in December 2000 but returned to KEGL in May.
They continued to be aired by the Dallas station whilst in San Jose, where they gained notoriety for one show in which they suggested that motorists run over bicyclists or hit them with their car doors.
Kramer told the Morning News that he and his partner were surprised by the decision since they had approached KEGL's programme director Duane Doherty before the hoax and received approval for it. ~
"We called Duane and said, 'Look, we have this outrageous idea. If you shoot it down, cool,'" said Kramer.
"We got permission to air the bit."
He added that, at first, they were going to report that Metallica singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield had been killed, but because KEGL is a rock station, they decided that would strike too close to home for their listeners so they chose Britney Spears because they doubted that any of her fans would listen to them.
Kramer said their aim was to cause a "little commotion." "The last thing we expected," he said, "was us, self-proclaimed morons, to create such a worldwide panic within one hour."
Asked about the DJ's version of events, Schurr said he didn't believe the call to Doherty was as described; he added that most of the calls to the station were in favour of the DJ's whereas they were against the station in another controversy it is involved in, the placing of billboards that depict Satan injecting Timothy McVeigh next to the words "Highway to Hell," the title of an AC/DC song.
In the case of another firing of a US radio host, Nate Livingston, who was dumped as 1500-1700 weekday talk host at Cincinnati WDBZ-AM, the station is denying allegations from the host that the station had agreed a deal with Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken that meant talk hosts would not criticize the mayor.
Livingston, an African-American activist, made his comments after he was fired.
He told the Cincinnati Enquirer that at a staff meeting in April, following the killing of Timothy Thomas by a police officer and subsequent rioting, WDBZ-AM owner Ross Love said that he was working on an agreement with Mr. Luken not to criticize the mayor, who is up for re-election.
Livingston said that talk hosts were also told not to criticize African-American members of Cincinnati City Council.
Livingston was fired three days after he wrote a memo to Mr. Love threatening to present the deal allegation to law enforcement.
He says he is putting information together for a lawsuit under the Ohio Whistle Blower's Act but also thinking about seeking re-instatement.
Steve Love, WDBZ-AM general manager and brother of owner Ross Love, told the Enquirer, "We had the opportunity to terminate his contract at any given time, and that's what we did Friday."
"I can't make any further comments."
Lincoln Ware, WDBZ-AM programme director and talk host, told the paper, "It didn't happen."
"I was at the same meeting that Nate was, and that was never said - that there's any type of a deal."
Cincinnati Enquirer report:
Dallas Morning News report:

2001-06-20: The UK Radiocommunications Agency has announced more details of an independent review of the country's radio spectrum which is expected to lead to a shake-up of how spectrum resources are allocated and which could be costly for broadcasters (See RNW June 11).
It has just published a consultation paper, "Radio Spectrum Management Review" as part of the independent review under Professor Martin Cave, professor of economics and Vice-Principal at Brunel University.
The review, says the agency will "develop principles that will underpin an economically efficient radio spectrum." "Benefits for the UK economy will cover both private and public sector, strengthening the quality and breadth of services to the public."
Amongst the areas up for debate are:
*the economic gains to be won from efficient use of spectrum;
*the best regulatory framework for spectrum management;
*spectrum use by a sectors including defence, broadcasting and emergency services; and
* pricing and auctions of spectrum.
Cave says his intention is not to raise a lot of money for the government although spectrum costs are almost certain to rise.
"The radio spectrum is a key UK asset and very important to the success of many industries which can contribute to the future prosperity and productivity of UK plc.," he writes.
"It is also vital to ensure that the spectrum is available for the delivery of essential public services such as defence, broadcasting, air safety and the emergency services."
"The key proposal is that all users should face an incentive to take into account the opportunity cost of the spectrum they are using."
"The review will explore ways in which this principle might be applied to both private and public sectors."
In the private sector, Professor Cave talks of a system of auctions and secondary trading to set prices, noting that the EU is likely to end its current prohibition of spectrum trading.
For the public sector, he says," ways must be found to give spectrum users an incentive to consider a range of possible technologies which may economise on valuable spectrum."
"This may involve, for example, trade-offs between spectrum use and the bringing forward of equipment renewal, or between spectrum use and 'wired' alternatives such as fibre-optic cable."
Previous UK Radiocommunications Agency:
Previous UK Spectrum:
UK Radiocommunications Agency site:

2001-06-20: Internet radio audiences which jumped by nearly a fifth last week have fallen back again by nearly five per cent according to Measurecast; its Internet Radio Index, based on a nominal 100 at the start of this year, dropped 4.8 percent in the week to June 17 from 180 to 172.
Measurecast also reported that Internet Radio Inc, formed from the merger of ChoiceRadio.com and alldanzradio.com. took four spots in its top 25 raked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL).
Internet Radio's New Age/Smooth Jazz, Urban, and Top 40 stations took the eighth, ninth, and tenth spots respectively and its country station was ranked 17th.
At the very top, there was some jostling for position but no change in the stations included.
The top 5 ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) were (with previous week's TTSL and Cume persons (CP), a measure of the cumulative audience, in brackets):
1): Listener Formatted MediaAmazing TTSL 170,060 (170,490); CP 43,544 (44,094) - Position unchanged.
2): Internet only Classic Rock Radio Margaritaville TTSL 90,798 (76,475); CP 17,124 (15,618) - Previously 3rd.
3): Internet only Hot 100 TTSL 79,133 (84,605); CP 27,153 (27,624) - Previously 2nd.
4): Internet only Alternative Rock 3WKUndergroundradio TTSL 63,292 (66,167) CP 24,403 (23,905) - Position unchanged.
5): Adult Alternative Virgin Radio TTSL 59,258 (42,767); CP 10,815 (8,027) - Position unchanged but listening up nearly 40%.
The pattern at the top of the Measurecast rankings is in line with conclusions of a new Internet audio study by Arbitron and the Coleman media research company.
This study, "Broadband Revolution 2: The Media World of Speedies" looked at the use of media by "Speedies" - people who have broadband Internet access.
It found at 59% of them kept tuning in to the same audio sources and only 24% looked for new sources when online.
It also found however, that when such people could not find the audio they had been used to, as has recently been the case in the US, where major broadcasters stopped streaming because of a dispute over Internet advertisement fees, they quickly found other sources of similar audio.
Commenting on this, Bill Rose, general manager and vice president, Arbitron Webcast Services, said "Traditional radio stations that have temporarily discontinued their rebroadcast on the Web risk losing their webcast audiences to Internet-only webcasters."
"Our research indicates that the rapidly growing number of those with super fast Internet access, whom we call "Speedies," will find alternative sources of audio if they can't find their favourite station online."
RNW Note: Yet again looking at the above figures in comparison with traditional radio broadcasts indicates just how low audiences really are; We'll be interested to see if BBC World Service, which is due to end short-wave broadcasts to North America, Australia and New Zealand at the end of the month, comes up with any realistic numbers to defend their decision to move to local affiliate re-transmissions and the Internet.
With protest groups estimating that more than 1.2 million people listen via short wave, we somehow don't see the move giving anything like the service, even if it does save money.
An update on the campaign later this week; In the meantime anyone interested can check at the Save the World Service site.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous MeasureCast ratings:
Arbitron web site:
Coleman web site:
MeasureCast web site:

2001-06-19: As hinted last week at the R&R conference (RNWJune 16), US giant radio operator Clear Channel is to recommence streaming operations shortly with Internet-only adverts in its radio station streams following a deal with Los Angeles-based advertisement insertion company Hi-Wire.
Hi-Wire says it has agreement to handle advert insertion for some 250 Clear Channel stations in the top 50 markets and it is to start tests on five stations with others then being brought on stream from next month.
Hi-Wire was competing with Coollink Broadcast Network and Real Broadcast Network for the deal and it says it expects to handle one billion ad impressions in the first year of operation.
By using Internet-only adverts, Clear Channel will not only avoid the extra fees charged when adverts made just for radio are also put on the Internet but will also increase its adverts inventory.
When the row over extra fees broke in April (See RNW April 11), Clear Channel had 318 stations streaming audio.
Kevin Mayer, chief executive Clear Channel Interactive, which is also Los Angeles-based, said, "Internet radio is catching on in a big way," adding, "Clear Channel has vowed to find a comprehensive approach to streaming that makes both legal and financial sense."
Mayer also said that the company was planning to stream music stations as well as its talks, sports and news stations which have already started going back online.
Streaming music is also a contentious issue because of a dispute with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which, under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is claiming an extra payment whenever a song is streamed.
Radio stations, which do not have to pay extra over and above an agreed annual fee, are contesting the claim. (See RNW April 25).
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Previous Mayer:
Previous Real Networks:

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