January 2003 Archive
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Links- internally where there are follow-up stories we try, at the end of each story, to put a pertinent link to the top of the next relevant story. Regarding external links see note at end of page.
RNW January comment considers our hopes for radio in 2003 with reference to regulatory and technological changes in train.
RNW December comment considers whether in view of recent US complaints about talk radio and media bias, the US needs to reintroduce some form of "fairness doctrine" for broadcasters.
RNW November comment considers whether the US adoption of iBiquity's IBOC digital radio system will prove to be a step forward or one sideways to a technology inferior to that adopted by the rest of the world and offering insufficent benefits to other options including sticking with conventional analogue systems.
2003-01-31: US radio industry chiefs and Senators displayed some clear differences of emphasis and approach to media regulation at Senate Commerce Committee hearings on Thursday.
Industry testimony was to the effect that consolidation had benefited US radio and its audience, something that some of the Senators expressed scepticism about.
The Committee also heard direct accusations that radio and entertainment giant Clear Channel aired only recordings that independent promoters had paid it to play and that the recording of one artist was boycotted because she had previously refused to appear at a Clear Channel benefit.
Singer Don Henley, who was testifying on behalf of the Recording Artists Coalition, made the allegation of the boycott, saying that the his manager Irving Azoff had been called by Michael Martin of Clear Channel, San Francisco, and an independent promoter who wanted the artist to appear at the benefit.
She refused because she was trying to finish an album on time and her next single was boycotted. Henley said he came to the hearing at his peril because his records might be boycotted.
Clear Channel CEO L.Lowry Mays, denied the accusations and said that, even though Henley had made statements that were "very untrue" he need not fear retribution as long as Clear Channel audiences wanted to hear his music.
(RNW comment: The clear implication of the English, even if not so meant, is that the boot can be safely put in if the audience isn't too keen on a record, but not when an artist is possible. But then again, Clear Channel's release of May's comments does show an attachment to PR over clear use of any language).
Clear Channel has suggested that Henley's views might be coloured by his relationship with his manager, who is a principal of Concerts West, a Clear Channel competitor on the concert circuit.
Mays clashed with Republican Senator John McCain (Arizona) over the issue of consolidation when McCain asked if Clear Channel was planning more station purchases and tried to get a straight "Yes" or "No" answer whilst Mays wished to offer a detailed response. He eventually gave an affirmative if it would serve the local community better and Clear Channel saw an opportunity.
Mays was also pushed on the issue of whether any limits should apply to the number of stations a company could own, eventually ending up with a response that the 1996 Telecommunications Act covered the issue and he didn't think there should be a limit within the Act.
In his testimony, Mays said that US radio was stronger than ever, meeting listener needs and in touch with local community demands and commented that for live concerts the determinant of price was the artists not the promoters.
Mays said that Senator Russ Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin) was "dead wrong" in his legislative plans, adding that he was working on the faulty premise that the "concert business and radio business need to be fixed" when in fact they were "healthier than ever, delivering more and better service to consumers."
Far from being a "cautionary tale" of the dangers of deregulation, " said Mays, "radio has a great story to tell. The industry is healthier and more robust today than ever before."
"…Radio is, without a doubt, healthier today as a result of deregulation, and the public clearly benefits as a result."
"Recall for a moment the financial health of radio in the early 1990s, before the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Competition from cable and broadcast television and hundreds of newly authorized FM stations had forced half of the nation's radio stations into the red. Many others were operating close to it."
Mays said that at that time station profits had plummeted, causing investment to dry up and leading many stations to cut back on their news and other local programming budgets.
Deregulation, he said, had allowed economies of scale and also increased radio's share of the advertising pie, allowing investment to the benefit of both owners and listeners.
He then went on to say that deregulation had also benefited minority ownership, saying that Clear Channel was committed to encouraging diverse media ownership and he was proud of the company's contributions to that goal.
In support of this he noted that in connection with the acquisition of AMFM, Clear Channel had sold a third of the stations it had to divest to obtain regulatory approval - some USD1.5 billion worth - to minority buyers and added that Clear Channel has also committed USD 15 million to the Quetzal/Chase Fund, which invests in minority-owned media. He also noted support for a bill to provide tax incentives to increase media ownership by small businesses and new entrants.
"We have done all of this," said Mays, "not because of any direct benefit to Clear Channel, but because it is the right thing to do."
Mays also said flatly that Clear Channel did not threaten reduced airplay to force musicians to tour with it nor prevent competing concert promoters from advertising their shows on the air.
"Anyone who would make such allegations simply doesn't understand our business," said Mays.
"The fact is live entertainment accounts for less than 7 percent of Clear Channel's revenue. Radio is the bread and butter of our business, and we simply wouldn't risk the ratings of any station by refusing to play or promote a popular artist who isn't touring with us, or by overplaying a less popular artist who is."
He also said that Clear Channel helped to develop new artists through both its concert and radio activities.
On consolidation, he said radio was the least consolidated segment of the media and entertainment industry, with the ten largest radio operators accounting for only 48 percent of the industry's advertising revenues whereas in cable television they accounted for 89 percent of the revenues.
He also pointed out that, despite its size, Clear Channel only owned 9 per cent of US radio stations.
(RNW comment: A more revealing figure would be the percentage of revenues and audience, that Clear Channel and rivals such as Viacom's Infinity (few stations but more heavily concentrated on major metropolitan markets) control.
But it strains our credulity to hope for such figures to be made part of the records - as they would in fair and unbiased testimony - voluntarily by almost any business. We Mr Mays to change sex, we suggest he'd need a heavy make-up allowance!).
Also testifying on Thursday was US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) president and CEO Eddie Fritts, who focussed on the "localism" of US radio stations but like Mays, also referred to the state of the US radio industry before the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Fritts noted that many stations had gone off the air and sixty per cent were losing money and said that it was against that background that legislation was changed, allowing the industry to rebound.
"NAB believes," said Fritts, "the limits implemented through the 1996 Telecommunications Act enabled radio to better serve local audiences across the country as well as strengthening the industry economically."
He also responded to suggestions by McCain that there was a contradiction in NAB's different stance concerning different stances in supporting a cap on national TV ownership and also radio deregulation by saying that the cases were different as there were 13,000 radio stations but a tenth as many TV stations.
(RNW note: Again we'd love to have the figures for NAB income from radio and TV owners broken down into groups relating to size just to see if there is any correlation between attitudes and direct benefits!).
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Fritts:
Previous Lowry Mays:
Previous McCain:
Previous NAB:
Clear Channel web site:
NAB web site:
2003-01-31: Arbitron has announced that Belgian broadcaster, Vlaamse Radio en Televisie (VRT), and Vlaamse Audiovisuele Regie (VAR), the marketing arm of VRT, have chosen its Portable People Meter technology for use in measuring the listening and viewing habits of audience.
Flemish-language public broadcaster VRT runs three TV channels and five radio stations and it says it will use the PPM for the assessment of the synergy between radio and television.
The deal has been made through a five-year contract with TNS Media, part of the worldwide Taylor Nelsen Sofres (TNS) group, which has a licensing and royalty agreement with Arbitron for the PPM.
TNS will supply a panel of 450 people with the PPM beginning in the second quarter of this year.
Arbitron also has contracts for use of the PPM in Singapore, where it is used for TV audience measurements, and Canada, where BBM Canada will begin measuring French-language television audiences in Montreal and Quebec with the PPM beginning in the fourth quarter of this year.
On a less positive note for the company, Arbitron has told US Spanish language broadcasters that the Hispanic language weighting it had told them it would introduce is not now likely to be available until its Winter Book in 2006.
Arbitron currently applies ethnic weighting in some markets but these do not take language preferences into account and its president, US Media Services, Owen Charlebois, said in a letter that it needed to re-engineer software systems to apply appropriate weighting on a language preference-basis.
When the system is upgraded, the weighting will be applied according to the composition of the Spanish-speaking population in a market.
Although the full upgrade won't be available for some three years because of its cost and complications and the need to keep current processing systems operating securely, Arbitron is suggesting that it may be able to come up with an interim solution of adding language weighting to its Hispanic Market Service. The proposal is to be put to broadcasters and advertising agencies next month and could be in place for its summer/fall report, due to be released in February next year.
The interim solution, says Arbitron, is dependant on it negotiating access to Nielsen's language preference information and then working about how to adapt it for its use.
Previous Arbitron (and PPM):
Previous Charlebois:
Previous TNS:
2003-01-31: UK GWR Group has reported flat like-for-like revenues in a trading update covering the quarter to the end of the year but is more optimistic about the start of this year, saying it expects January like-for-like radio revenues to be up by around 5% on the figures for a year ago.
The company singles out a 14% increase in year-on-year airtime revenues for its national Classic FM channel as a high spot, noting that national and local airtimes revenues for its local radio group were flat and 4% down respectively. GWR shares ended the day 3% up at GBP1.38.
GWR also announced that Mair Barnes, the former Woolworths Plc chief executive who is a non-executive director of a number of companies including Scottish Power and a non-executive member of the Departmental Board of the Department of Trade and Industry, as a new non-executive member of its board.
Also in the UK, the Radio Authority has now advertised a new regional FM licence for the West Midlands, covering Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and the surrounding areas, with an adult population of around 2.3 million.
A number of main UK groups have already said they will make bids for the licence. They include Chrysalis, which will offer a similar speech-based format to its recently re-launched LBC station in London; EMAP, which is to offer its Kerrang! young rock music station, which is already on air as a digital channel; GWR with its The Storm rock format, also already on air as a digital channel; and SMG's Virgin, which would also put forward a rock format.
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous EMAP:
Previous GWR:
Previous SMG:
Previous UK Radio Authority:
UK Radio Authority web site:
2003-01-31: Latest UK radio ratings from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audio Research) show UK radio now reaching 91% of the potential 15-plus audience in the country, up 1%; weekly reach was up 293000 a week to 44,097,000 million in the quarter to December 15, 2002.
Within the figures, the BBC gained 182000 listeners a week and had a 52.5% share of listening, down from 52.6%, whilst commercial radio increased its audience by 160000 listeners a week and took its share up to 45.5% compared to 45.3% in the previous quarter.
The big gainers in the quarter nationally were BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Five Live.
The former increased its weekly audience by 775000, helped by a healthy contribution from Australian radio veteran Brian Hayes, who drew an average of 5.7 million listeners for his stint replacing another veteran, Sir Jimmy Young, who had a hip operation, in the noon slot for most of the quarter.
Another Radio 2 veteran, breakfast host Terry Wogan, also did well and now reaches 7.8 million listeners a week, up some 600,000 listeners on the year. Radio Five Live added 437000 listeners a week, and now has a reach of 6.27 million.
In London, Chrysalis's Heart FM lost a little share, down from 13.6% to 13.3% but its breakfast show, fronted by Jono Coleman and Emma Forbes, again inched upwards, adding 13,000 listeners a week to take its reach to 875,000.
Also doing well in London were the Bam Bam's Breakfast show on EMAP's Kiss FM, which upped its audience by 7% to 868,000 and the SMG-owned Virgin drivetime show of Pete Mitchell and Geoff Lloyd, whose audience was up 4%; they are now hosting the station's breakfast show, swapping with Darryl Denham whose breakfast audience was down by 11,000 to 590.000 a week.
Big losers nationally were BBC Radio 1, which dropped 374000 listeners a week; BBC Radio 4, which dropped -114000 listeners a week; and Virgin Radio, which again had a dismal time and lost 184000 listeners a week.
In London, the big loser was Capital Radio's breakfast show, which haemorrhaged a further 204,000 listeners a week; its host, Chris Tarrant, was on leave for two-thirds of the survey period.
Capital's chief executive David Mansfield had already gone on record saying he expected "no miracles" in these ratings (See RNW Jan 24); he also says that changes Capital has made should bring back lost listeners and there should be signs of this in the next ratings.
Overall BBC network radio lost 8,000 listeners a week although its share of listening was up from 41.4% to 41.5%.
Within the figures, compared to the previous quarter:
*BBC Radio 1 lost -374000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 10.505 million, a weekly reach of 21%, down from 22%, and a listening share of 8.4%, down from 8.8%.
*BBC Radio 2 gained 775000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 13.260 million, a weekly reach of 27%, up from 25%, and a listening share of 15.8%, up from 15.2%.
*BBC Radio 3 lost 11000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 2.154 million, a weekly reach of 4%, as before, and a listening share of 1.2%, down from 1.3%.
*BBC Radio 4 lost -114000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 9.798 million, a weekly reach of 20%, as before, and a listening share of 11.5 %, down from 11.8%.
*BBC Radio 5 Live gained 437000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 6.274million, a weekly reach of 13%, up from 12%, and a listening share of 4.7%, up from 4.3%.
On the commercial side for national networks:
* Classic FM (owned by GWR) lost -22000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 6.657 million, a weekly reach of 14%, as before, but a listening share of 4.7%, up from 4.5% % as listening hours increased from 47,353 hours to 50,425 hours a week.
* TalkSport (owned by The Wireless Group') gained 23000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 2.415 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 5%, and an unchanged listening share of 1.7%.
*Virgin (Owned by SMG --total including all AM and FM) lost 184000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 2.817 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 6%, and an unchanged listening share of 1.6%.
Commenting on the ratings, Jenny Abramsky, the BBC's Director of Radio & Music, said: "I'm delighted to see Radio 2 going from strength to strength but the most important news for the industry is that all radio listening is up."
Paul Brown, Chief Executive of the Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA), said, "Today's RAJAR results prove unquestionably that Commercial Radio knows its local markets and knows it has to serve them."
"The locally relevant programming provided by our smaller stations has been rewarded with record audience levels, which have led to an increase in share overall for Commercial Radio this quarter."
As well as terrestrial listening, the UK has seen increased listening to radio online and to digital channels carried on Sky' satellite TV platform.
Previous Abramsky:
Previous BBC:
Previous Brown:
Previous Capital:
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous Coleman:
Previous CRCA:
Previous Denham:
Previous EMAP:
Previous Forbes:
Previous GWR (owns Classic FM):
Previous Hayes:
Previous Lloyd:
Previous Mansfield:
Previous Mitchell:
Previous RAJAR:
Previous RAJAR ratings:
Previous SMG (Owns Virgin):
Previous Tarrant:
Previous Young:
Previous Wireless Group (owns TalkSport):
Previous Wogan:
RAJAR web site (links to quarterly reports):
2003-01-31: Seattle-based Fisher Communications has reached agreement to sell two Georgia TV stations, WFXG-TV and WXTX-TV, to South-eastern Media Holdings for USD40 million but has declined comment on a Reuters report (See RNW Jan 30) that it was considering at least two bids for the company according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Fisher, which has around USD300 million of debt, last November hired Goldman Sachs & Co. to evaluate possible options including merger, recapitalization, and the sale of all or part of the company.
Spokesman Chris Wheeler told the paper that it decided to sell the two stations to reduce its debt and also shrink its geographic footprint - most of its radio and TV holdings are in the US Northwest.
Previous Fisher:
Seattle Post-Intelligencer report:
2003-01-31: Former Infinity Radio president Dan Mason is to join iBiquity Digital as a consultant to promote US radio industry adoption of its HD digital radio technology.
Mason, who retired from Infinity last year (See RNW Aug 21, 2002), is also a past president of CBS Radio, Group W Radio and Cook Inlet Radio.
"I'm looking forward to joining the iBiquity team and being part of bringing their technology to market in the broadcast industry," he commented.
"I have been a long time supporter of the technology and the team behind it. HD Radio technology is very exciting and offers limitless possibilities to broadcasters and their listeners."
"My objective will be to assist the radio industry in adopting this wonderful technology in the most efficient and effective way possible in order to help make 2003 and beyond a great success,"
Previous iBiquity:
Previous Mason:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
2003-01-31: Long-time New York radio personalityand executive Stan Martin has died aged 64.
Martin began his radio career in 1959 in Port Jervis, New York, and worked for a number of other stations in New York and Philadelphia before joining WQEW-AM in 1992 as programme director when The New York Times changed its format from classical music - it was then WQXR-AM - and became station manager before leaving in 1998 when the Times leased it to ABC, which now uses it for Radio Disney.
After leaving WQEW, Mr. Martin was master of ceremonies for cabaret shows in Manhattan and host of a Web site, www.popstandards.com.
New York Times obituary:
2003-01-30: The US Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) in its fourth annual Nontraditional Revenue (NTR) Survey says that US radio stations are continuing to increase NTR activities with event marketing remaining the clear leader in the area.
The RAB reports that there has been an increase of nearly a third in responses over the past year and more than two thirds of stations say they have been pursuing such revenues for more than three years, compared to just over half in 2001.
Some 85% say they will increase NTR activities and 72% say they will have more involvement with event marketing.
The survey shows that NTR activity is concentrated in sales departments (42%, up from 37%) and nearly two thirds of respondents say they train sales staff in NTR. Time management is said to be the main problem in developing such revenues although this problem declined slightly over the previous year's survey (65% of respondents compared to 67%).
In terms of current NTR activity, 91% said they were pursuing event marketing (down 1% from 2002 figures), 70% Cause-Related marketing (the same as last year) and 55% Internet marketing (also the same as lat year).
In terms of total revenue share, 2% reported getting more than 30% of their revenues from NTR activities (down form 4% in 2002), 5% from 21-30% (down from 6%), 27% from 11-12% (up from 26%) and 66% up to 10% (up from 64%).
RAB President and CEO Gary Fries commented, "Radio has quickly adapted to the new advertising landscape and incorporated more NTR programs into its revenue-generating efforts. Radio has traditionally delivered results with events in the local marketplace, and the acceleration we are seeing in that direction is a natural progression that will be of benefit to the industry and its clients."
Previous Fries:
Previous RAB:
2003-01-30: Two significant US media board meetings are being held today but without any announcements as we publish.
In one, Fisher Communications directors are considering at least two firm offers to acquire the company; one is from LIN TV and the other from Sonoran Capital.
Each offer is reported to include acquisition of Fisher's debt of some USD 300 million plus additional payment of around USD450-500 million and Reuters reports that sources have told it that LIN has also negotiated a deal to sell off Fisher's 28 radio stations to Clear Channel should its bid succeed; it would keep the company's 12 television stations and probably its other operations including programme production arm Fisher Entertainment, satellite and fibre transmission provider Fisher Pathways and its Fisher Plaza digital communications hub in Seattle.
Reuters also said that Emmis Communications has decided not to bid. In November last year Fisher hired Goldman Sachs and & Co. as its financial advisor to assist in reviewing its options.
In the other meeting, Viacom directors are expected to put pressure on chairman Sumner Redstone to patch up differences with president Mel Karmazin, whose contract is due for renewal at the end of this year. There has already been one run by Viacom's board at settling the power battle between the two executives and last year it told the two to settle their differences and work as a team.
RNW comment: When push comes to shove, Redstone's shareholding in Viacom gives him the power.
He will have to decide how far it is to his benefit to keep Karmazin on and how much power Karmazin should retain (his contract also means that two-thirds of the board have to agree to vote Karmazin out, which would have strengthened his hand last year). A high-stakes poker game this one!
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Fisher:
Previous Karmazin:
Previous Redstone:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
2003-01-30: UK Capital Radio has hired Jane Wilson, account director at financial PR agency Impact Consulting and former corporate affairs manager at SMG (the former Scottish Media Group that owns Virgin Radio), as its head of corporate communications.
Wilson, who will report directly to chief executive David Mansfield, will face an uphill task in overcoming current perceptions of Capital's shortcomings - its audience share has fallen form 10.3% to 8.8% - and putting forward a positive view of changes it is making.
Latest UK radio audience figures from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) today are expected to show a further loss of listeners.
RNW comment: As with Virgin, which is also having a disappointing time in the ratings, Capital's troubles stem from it failure to attract listeners. However important public relations may be in guiding perceptions, to paraphrase a US phrase, "It's the audience, stupid!" that counts.
Previous Capital:
Previous Mansfield:
Previous SMG:
2003-01-30: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has paused its usual informal 180-day period for processing station transactions for the Univision purchase of Hispanic Broadcasting, saying this is because of "novel" issues in the merger and perceived delays by the companies in meeting requirements from the US Department of Justice.
In a letter to the companies, it notes that they had agreed to allow it to review documents they were submitting to the Department of Justice and adds that the companies have not yet told it that they have supplied all the documents required by the DOJ.
Previous FCC:
Previous Hispanic Broadcasting:
Previous Univision:
2003-01-30: Wisconsin Democrat Senator Russ Feingold has re-introduced his "Competition in Radio and Concert Industries Act" that he first introduced in June last year (See RNW June 28, 2002).
Feingold argues that his legislation would aid smaller independent radio companies and concert promoters by restricting concentration and curbing anti competitive practices.
Amongst the sanctions in includes are a proposal that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could rescind a station licence if its owners abused cross-ownership of concert venues to the detriment of artists, a proposal that would clearly potentially affect US giant Clear Channel.
Feingold says he's found a groundswell of support grow in Congress and amongst artists, consumers, and smaller radio companies and promoters since he first brought forward his proposals.
RNW comment: Bearing in mind the amount of concentration that has gone on since 1996, the Feingold legislation would seem to be in danger of a case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. Although it could act as a restraint on any future anti competitive actions, unless Clear Channel were to be forced into a major divestment, such as of its Entertainment division, there don't seem to be many locations left where it could currently acquire without falling foul of current restrictions and indeed those that seem likely under planned FCC changes.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Feingold:
2003-01-29: A number of Latino organisations in Chicago have launched a boycott of the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC) in protest at the content of the breakfast show on the company's WOJO-FM.
The show, hosted by "El Pistolero" and sidekick Memin, is said by the protesters to be breaching the US Federal Communications Commission's obscenity and indecency laws with the jokes and humour it carries.
Luis Pelayo, president of the Hispanic Council, told the Chicago Tribune the show was "garbage" and added, "These guys are like the evil side of Howard Stern."
Cesar Canales, operations director for HBC in Chicago, said audience response had been overwhelmingly positive since the program went on the air in April and commented on appearances by its hosts at charity events and functions geared to women and children
"If this was a show that was a detriment to the community, I don't think they would be invited," he said. "I think we have strong support. The majority of people seem to be very pleased, very happy with the program."
Previous Hispanic Broadcasting:
Chicago Tribune report:
2003-01-29: UK Virgin Radio, owned by SMG (the former Scottish Media Group), is to spend some GBP3 million (USD 4.7 million) promoting its sound.
Virgin has lost some 700,000 listeners a week over the year to the end of September last year when its weekly reach was down to 3.3 million; it hopes to boost both its overall audience and that for its new breakfast team of Pete Mitchell and Geoff Lloyd, the fourth set of hosts for the show in less than two years.
The show was once hosted by Chris Evans, whose Ginger Media Group owned the station. He was fired after failing to turn up for work and his replacement Steve Penk walked out in January 2001(See RNW Jan 26 2001), to be replaced by former Drivetime host Darryl Denham.
Denham switched shows with Mitchell and Lloyd, who were then hosting Virgin's drivetime show earlier this month (See RNW Jan 6).
The promotional drive for Virgin will include TV, cinema, press and outdoor including poster adverts on the London Underground that show CD's from various artists to communicate the musical variety on its shows.
Previous Denham:
Previous Evans:
Previous Penk:
Previous Mitchell and Lloyd:
Previous SMG:
2003-01-29: California morning host Renan Almendarez Coello, who dominates his English- and Spanish-speaking competition in Southland ratings has announced that he is to leave his morning show, which he has hosted for six years, and move to an afternoon slot with the station.
Coello's "El Cucuy de la Manana," or "the Morning Boogeyman" is syndicated to stations in New York, Washington, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Chicago.
The last show on Hispanic Broadcasting's KSCA-FM will be on Friday this week and a company spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times that Coello was also to try his hand with television and unspecified other opportunities.
"It's his choice, and he has really amazing opportunities that have been presented to him," spokeswoman Victoria Lichtman said. "He's reached about every goal you can dream of. He's making the decision to explore those opportunities."
She added that the morning show is to be hosted by Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, a morning host on KLOK-AM in San Jose.
Previous Hispanic Broadcasting:
Los Angeles Times report:
2003-01-29: Canadian broadcasting veteran Harry Mannis has died 83, He had a 37-year-career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) where he was hired in 1946 as a radio announcer in Halifax, moving to Toronto two years later.
Mannis worked in radio as a news reader and host until the 1960s when he added TV news reading and hosting to his repertoire, although he maintained a preference for radio on the basis he did not need to dress up for work.
In the US, former co-owner of Great Empire Broadcasting and for two years President of the Country Radio Broadcasters Mike Oatman has died aged 63.
He built Great Empire in conjunction with partner Mike Lynch into a group of 15 mid-west stations. After leaving radio he was a newspaper columnist for the Wichita Eagle.
Toronto Star - Mannis obituary:
Wichita Eagle - Oatman obituary:
2003-01-29: Xfm and former BBC Radio 1 host Zoe Ball, who recently split with her husband Fatboy Slim (real name Norman Cook) has admitted that she is involved with another man.
Ball, currently on two weeks leave from Xfm, separated from Cook, which whom she has a two-years-old son, at the end of last year. In a statement she said there were problems in the marriage and she subsequently met someone else.
British tabloid newspapers have been carrying reports of Ball's relationship with DJ Dan Pepe, drummer with dance group Themroc.
Previous Ball:
2003-01-28: Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and its president Mel Karmazin are barely speaking according to the New York Times, which says that people who know them think "their relationship has become so poisonous that even if they resolve their current contract dispute, their dealings are not likely to improve."
Karmazin's contract is due for renewal and the paper says that the relationship between the two men will undoubtedly be up for discussion when Viacom directors hold a scheduled meeting tomorrow.
The paper says its sources say the two got off to a bad start after Viacom took over CBS in 2000, with Redstone thinking he gave away too much power to Karmazin when he became Viacom President. The sources also say that there is a clash in personal styles, with Redstone being much more gregarious.
One executive close to Karmazin told the paper that he expected to work out a deal although it could be a short-term contract, for a year or two.
The executive said he was confident that the board would address the issue of Mr. Karmazin's level of control. "The board is going to put strong pressure on the two men to make a deal that keeps the status quo in the company," the executive said, adding, "The board will act because it has a fiduciary responsibility to maintain a management team that has been so successful.".
Others who know both men told the paper strains developed because Karmazin had run Infinity Broadcasting and then CBS and was not willing to consult Mr. Redstone about management issues immediately after the merger.
He also upset Redstone by barring his daughter Shari and son Brent, who are both on the Viacom board, from attending divisional management meetings as they had previously.
Previous Karmazin:
Previous Redstone:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
New York Times report:
2003-01-28: Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) , has issued an upbeat set of figures that included an increase of 6% in like-for-like revenues in the three months to the end of December compared to its fiscal first quarter a year earlier with its radio division doing even better with a 6.5% increase.
The figures are in marked contrast to those of some of its major rivals, most significantly Capital Radio, which earlier this month reported a 6% fall in revenues (See RNW Jan 24).
SRH chairman Lord Gordon of Strathblane said the group had "had a good start to the current financial year" and noted that in its radio division this reflected "an improvement in national advertising revenue and a continuing strong performance from local direct advertising."
If acquisitions, which included regional newspapers in Scotland and Ireland as well as Today FM in Ireland and Wave FM in southern England are taken into account revenues are up 30% on the same quarter a year ago
During the year, SRH also sold its loss-making outdoor division to Clear Channel (See RNW May 22, 2002), taking a hit of GBP 21.2 million (USD 33.3 million) and putting it into a loss of GBP13.5 million (USD 21.2 million) for the year (See RNW Nov 22, 2002)
Looking ahead, Lord Gordon commented, "While it is still too early to foretell how the full year might develop, we are pleased with the start to our new financial year and remain confident about the group's inherent strengths."
Previous SRH:
2003-01-28: The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) says it has received four applications for the two licences advertised in its fifth tranche of local commercial licences advertised (Licence News, Nov. 17, 2002).
There was one application for the Donegal North franchise area, from Donegal Highland Radio Ltd (Highland Radio), and three applications for the Donegal South/Sligo/Leitrim North franchise area.
These were from NWR FM Ltd. (North West Radio, the current licence holder), Ocean FM Ltd (Ocean FM), and North West Broadcasting Ltd. (Ocean FM Radio).
Commission members will assess the applications at their Board meeting in February.
Previous BCI:
2003-01-28: Clear Channel's KMEL-FM is now taking some "small" steps towards "repairing its damaged image in the local hip-hop community" according to San Francisco Chronicle Pop Music Critic Neva Chonin.
She says that executives from the station, which more than a year ago cancelled its community affairs program "Street Knowledge" and fired its host David "Davey D" Cook, earlier this month met a delegation from the Coalition for Media Accountability to discuss listener complaints that the station has lost touch with local issues and local music.
The only firm decision was to hold more meetings but, says Chonin, Jen Soriano of the Oakland non-profit Youth Media Council said the opening talks were promising and that she felt KMEL was sincere in its desire to work with the coalition, although real change would "take a lot of follow-up on our part."
The dialogue, says the paper comes after "a controversial year in which the hip-hop and R&B station has moved toward increasingly homogenized content."
"The same can be said of nearly every Bay Area radio station owned by the Clear Channel conglomerate, " adds Chonin, "but the case of KMEL, which draws a large part of its audience from youth of colour, has been especially rancorous."
RNW comment: Our reaction, as with any other large business conglomerate decision in radio, is that we'll believe in a commitment when we hear it on air.
As shown by the Opie and Anthony show and a number of other cases, corporate commitment is to profits but minds will change when sufficient pressure is applied.
"Homogenized content", of course, allows conglomerates to save money through economies of scale.
Hence, much as we may regret it being the case, the most effective response is probably for those who feel really strongly to boycott advertisers of a station after any such changes are made: If the money flow dries up sufficiently, the savings will be more than wiped out by the effects of audience loss and the accountants will call for a suitable response.
If, of course, the station has judged it correctly in terms of profiting more after taking into account the combination of audience reaction and cost savings, then, as a commercial operation, they have acted wisely.
Previous Clear Channel:
San Francisco Chronicle report:
2003-01-28: UK Capital Radio programme director Keith Pringle, in an interview with the UK Guardian, has defended both Capital FM's wide mix of music and also the changes it is making.
"Londoners have grown up listening to radio that gives them a range of musical styles, rather than to stations with narrow music formats," he told the paper. "In London people have a wide appreciation of music - they love great songs, they don't care about the musical label. Capital FM is the only station in London that can play that mix for them."
He also said that as market leaders they could not be complacent, commenting, "You have to move things forward, as a leader you need to innovate. Tried and trusted can easily turn into safe and predictable."
"So we're making a few changes to keep pace with the changing tastes of our listeners and to stay ahead of the pack. However, the current fine tune of Capital FM's programming is part of a natural ongoing process rather than a lurch to the surface for air!"
He said that the pop charts were now less representative of mainline tastes and they had made changes to reflect this but he did not favour going too far in narrowing output as this risked becoming a niche station.
"Despite the huge number of stations in London," he said, "Capital FM is still considered far and away the best for music by Londoners, with our mix of today's hits, new songs and great oldies."
Pringle's comments come in advance of the release this week of British radio ratings, which are again expected to be disappointing for Capital, whose chief executive David Mansfield warned eerier this month that the company was not "expecting any miracles" in the next set of figures from its market-leading breakfast show, hosted by Chris Tarrant (See RNW Jan 24).
He also forecast better figures for Xfm, Capital's alternative format station which performed strongly in the September ratings, increasing its weekly reach from some 366,000 to 535,000
Previous Capital:
Previous Mansfield;
UK Guardian report:
2003-01-28: Evansville, Indiana, talk station WGAB-AM, owned by Newburgh Broadcasting, has been put up for auction online at Ebay with a price-tag of USD 2 million although so far bidding has only reached just over a twentieth of the figure.
WGAB has five employees and broadcasts to 22 tri-state counties; it was founded in 1984 as an adult standards format by the father of station general manager Jeff Davis, who told local station WFIE that, although the station is doing all right it was hard competing and the family would pick up the money and leave if offered the right price.
The auction closes on February 12 and as of 22:00 GMT/Jan 27, there had been 22 bids with the current highest bid being USD122,000 well below the reserve price.
WFIE report:
e-Bay web site:
2003-01-27: We start this week with three technology reports, one from the UK and two from the US, although the actual technology in one case is so far only on sale in Japan.
The UK technology, subject of Paul Donovan's Radio Waves column in the UK Sunday Times concerns the convenience of recording radio programmes without the ready availability of the facilities built into every videocassette recorder to record programmes.
For those who want to use tape, he notes the arrival of the first gadget specifically for recording radio programmes, the Long Play recorded produced by Roberts for GBP80 (USD 125) and comprised of a tape recorder, timer and digital clock that is plugged into a supply and a receiver to enable up to six hours of programmes to be recorded on audio cassette.
It can be programmed for recordings up to six days ahead, less than advanced VCR's but a significant convenience.
For those who have moved into the digital domain the latest Sky+ box (Satellite broadcaster BSKYB's version ofa personal recorder like TIVO) can now also record radio as well as television. In all there are now
68 radio stations available on Sky's satellite system and the device can be set to record on a regular schedule without limit.
From the US comes praise for the latest XM satellite receivers, courtesy of Walter S. Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal in a reporter we spotted in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mossberg comments that when he fist reviewed XM he gave high marks for the programming but "panned the actual radios that were being sold to receive all this stuff."
"I found them cramped, hard to use and a poor fit for the service," he adds. "They were mainly based on existing FM radios that were never designed to navigate 100 channels quickly or to display XM's song information properly. I also noted that they were expensive…"
Now, he writes, the hardware as caught up and XM's rich programming is now available through a new, very well-designed radio that works in a car or a home and is much less expensive -- around USD200."
The hardware Mossman refers to is, of course, the recently introduced Delphi XM SkyFi Radio, consisting of a small, palm-size modular satellite receiver used together with various home or auto adapter kits.
"The SkyFi," concludes Mossberg, "is simply the best satellite radio around today, the first designed from the ground up for the new medium. "
And from the Chicago Tribune "techie home" column by Don Hunt and Brian Edwards comes word of a Japanese device that enables listeners to slow-down the sound and listen again to items such as "hard-to-understand broadcast messages include rapid-fire legal disclaimers at the end of cash-back car commercials" and "commercials with speedy election-year patter that plague radio and TV in alternating Novembers."
The feat is achieved through a JVC receiver, the RA-BF1 desktop radio, that is currently available in Japan but whose technology may be introduced into products for the US.
It is an AM/FM/TV band radio equipped with three different "sound enhancement" technologies that can at the first stage slow down the speech.
The total duration of a segment of sound is not affected; the device uses an algorithm to slow down speech at the start of a segment and then speed it up gradually to catch back up again with the programming.
A second part of the system's signal processing boosts the normally softer sounds in a broadcast while lowering the louder ones, levelling the volume differences and a third part uses a buffer memory to enable a replay of ten seconds of speech.
The RA-BF1 was developed under a commission from the Japanese government to benefit older and hearing-disabled listeners and went on sale in December in Japan at a price of about USD 300 but JVC think it also has benefits for the general public.
"We have talked to many customers using the product and believe its appeal isn't limited to the senior citizen," said JVC spokesman Namiko Goto. "Disabled customers also wish to have this technology in various products. People in education also expect this technology to be used for learning foreign languages."
JVC says it is studying how the technology might be implemented in televisions, telephones and other appliances for the US market.
Technology and science, of course, have always included downsides for the ignorant, leading to pressures to make devices as simple as possible; ignorance however can always still strike back as was discovered by Capital Radio when staff at its Birmingham BRMB station used "dry-ice" instead of "ice" for a "Coolest Seats in Town" competition and injured four contestants. (See RNW Jan 25).
Unsurprisingly the fine imposed on the station led to follow-ups, one of which, by Mark Borkowski in the UK Guardian, speculated about the possibility of it leading to a long-term inhibition in developing contests and promotions.
"Everyone's getting sued for not informing punters of things it is just not possible to predict, whatever your professional expertise" writes Borkowski. "Ultimately, it makes professional advice worth less than the paper a no-win-no-fee advert from a unscrupulous ambulance-chaser is printed on."
"Professionals can't afford to make useful, definitive judgments, so they don't. Short-term, lawyers and claimants are richer; long-term we're all of us the poorer."
"It was inevitable that PR stunts would head down the same litigious road," he continues, noting that the contestants had signed disclaimers but then adding, "OK, the disclaimer defence might have technically save BRMB's bacon, but regardless, they're the losers in this sad little debacle."
"The upshot of all this? Obvious. Every brand manager in the land will be scared stupid at the merest mention of staging a stunt. They'll only consider what could go wrong. If they do agree to try anything in the least creative, it'll be hedged by so many riders you won't see the photocall for ambulance chasers after a quick buck, and it'll earn as much media space as a small ad."
"Who knows, when Joe Public gets involved in some bizarre bit of PR-driven promo, he'll only have an eye for the really big prize - the one he can collect in court."
"Stunts, " says Borkowski, " have to have a component of excitement and apparent - note that word, 'apparent' - risk and danger. There is no risk or danger if you plan properly, if you cover all eventualities…sawing a woman in half is great entertainment. It looks a bit iffy, but iffy it isn't. I would have thought that was pretty basic thinking. BRMB didn't think - beyond the funny headline."
The prescient Jim Moran, legendary American stuntmeister, said as much when one of his stunts got stuffed by the city authorities in the big apple. "It's a sad day for capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over New York".
Back in Chicago, Robert Feder in his Sun-Times column drew attention to a stunt by WLUP-FM that injured nobody but gave a fair number of people chuckles at the expense of Arbitron.
The Bonneville International station started airing its legal station identifications in Spanish at the top of alternating hours, a stunt that "Greg Solk, vice president of programming at the Loop, explained the stunt as a subtle jab at Arbitron for giving disproportionate weight to the listenership of young Hispanic males in the fall ratings survey."
"As a result," noted Feder, "rock stations catering to white males (including the Loop) declined across the board."
Solk's response? "At the Loop, we've always had fun with our listeners, and since it appears Arbitron is doing such a great job of measuring Hispanic listeners, we thought we'd reach out and welcome our Hispanic listeners too," he said.
All the above pales into insignificance, of course, against the possible penalties to one of other of the sides in spat between some US churches and Christian radio host Harold Camping, reported by the AP and carried in a number of US papers.
Camping, best known for his failed predictions of the second coming of Christ, says Satan has taken over all the churches and that God wants people to worship privately in their homes instead.
Unsurprisingly, many churches disagree and a former supporter, Dave Rastetter a deacon at Faith Presbyterian Church in Akron, Ohio, and the man behind anti-Camping Web site familyradioiswrong.com now terms him "an authoritarian spiritual meathead" who refuses to answer critics who can find no traces of his teachings in the bible. He suggests Camping is trying to save face after his predictions failed.
Camping, whose organisation collects around USD 12 million a year in donations, calls the criticism "character assassination" and says he still says the second coming is nigh.
RNW note: The birth of a foal in rural Morocco, could of course be adduced in evidence to support Camping. It was born to a mule, normally a sterile animal, only the third substantiated case of such a birth in the past 25 years, and according to some reports legend in the village in the Oulmes region near the ancient city of Fez says that such a birth forefends the Apocalypse.
We, of course, believe this as much as we believe Camping!
Previous Columnists:
Previous Donovan:
Previous Feder:
Chicago Sun-Times - Feder:
Chicago Tribune - Hunt and Edwards:
San Francisco Chronicle/AP Camping report:
San Francisco Chronicle - Mossberg:
UK Guardian - Borkowski:
UK Sunday Times - Donovan:
Family Radio web site:
Familyradioiswrong web site:
2003-01-27: Alfred C. Liggins III, president and CEO of Maryland-headquartered Radio One Inc is featured in a Courtland Milloy column in the Washington Post that starts by noting that he first featured in a 1988 column when he was 23-years old and working, for USD 100, 000 a year, as general sales manager for the two radio stations owned by his mother, Cathy Hughes.
In most people's eyes, Liggins, who earns around USD 1 million a year and whose company is valued at close to USD 3 billion, and in which he is the largest stockholder, would be regarded as close to an unalloyed success but he commented to Milloy, "When I look back on my life, back at the vision I had at age 23, I would have spent a lot less time on things that did not matter. If I had just stayed more focused, how much farther along would I be?"
His mother, who started the company with 1980 purchase of WOL-AM, is more positively proud of his achievements: "There is no question that I laid the foundation," she said. "But every brick in the skyscraper that sits atop that foundation was laid by him."
She added that she first noticed his business acumen when he was 13 and would earn up to USD 100 a week taking odd jobs. But then he came back home one day with designer jeans and she told him if he was going to plaster a label on his behind it should be his own.
It's just me and you," she told him, referring to her status as a single mother. "Since you are actually going to pay somebody to be a walking advertisement for their jeans and help them build their business, you are also going to help me build mine."
She then started to charge him rent, USD 20 a week, noting, "People said I was so cruel. But that was my method of teaching responsibility."
Liggins graduated from the District's Wilson High in 1983 and then worked in Los Angeles as a record industry production assistant before returning home two years later to work as a radio advertising salesman for Hughes and also begin night school at the University of the District of Columbia.
After graduating from the District's Wilson High in 1983, Liggins headed out to Los Angeles, where he worked as a production assistant in the record industry. He returned home in 1985, went to work for Hughes as a radio advertising salesman and began night school at the University of the District of Columbia.
A year later he dropped out of UDC to work full time in the business but later he enrolled in an executive study program at the Wharton School of Business and, in 1998, gained his MBA. It helped, he said, to have already pulled off several 30 million and 40 million dollar deals -- and have no need for financial aid.
The struggles to gain attention and time from prospective advertisers are long behind him and he noted, "There have been tremendous strides in the advancement of many African Americans," Liggins said. "Look at Richard Parsons at AOL; look at what's happening at Radio One. I'm fortunate to be a part of the ascendancy."
He's also not one for giving in. "I am good at not letting other people's problems stop me," he said. "If a person is central to the accomplishment of my goal, I will find a way to make him see the world the way I see it."
One area where he could be considered less successful is his personal life; at 38 he is still unmarried, a status his mother would like to change.
"When you're married," Hughes said, "a wife can help to balance you, keep you from working so hard that you end up having a heart attack and dying young, or end up as a lonely old man."
Liggins said he is confident that all of his dreams, which include being married as well as becoming a media mogul, will come true. But first things first.
"It's always nice when you have a dream that's viable and someone who is credible, smart and powerful agrees with you," Liggins said - talking about his cable TV tie up with Comcast -- not a wife.
Previous Hughes:
Previous Liggins:
Previous Radio One Inc.:
Washington Post column:
2003-01-27: CBC Radio Canada has announced the names of the eight journalism student winners of the 2003 CBC Newsworld Joan Donaldson Scholarships.
The students are awarded to students who have demonstrated a commitment to the ideals of public interest journalism, academic excellence and community involvement; each will receive a cash award of CAD 2,000.00 (USD 1250), special training and an intensive four-month internship with CBC News.
The awards are named after Joan Donaldson, the founding Head of CBC Newsworld.
Previous CBC:
CBC News Release:
2003-01-26: Last week was very quiet for licence activity, with the most important activity again coming from the US, where the Federal Communications Commission is busy considering media regulation changes; it has now set February 27 as the date for its public hearing in Virginia (See RNW Jan 25.)
There was nothing on the radio side again from Australia but Canada was back to fairly busy with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issuing a number of new lower power station licences and also approving various changes from AM to FM.
New licences issued were:
Alberta:
New low power (48 watts) English-language religious music FM in Medicine Hat.
Ontario:
New English- and French-language low-power (50 watts) weather and environmental information service FM in Britt.
Quebec:
New low-power (1 watt) French-language religious FM in Crabtree.
Conversions to FM approved were:
British Columbia:
Licence for new English-language country 40,000 watts music format FM to replace Standard Radio's CKNL Fort St. John.
Licence for new 9,300 watts English-language full news, weather, sports and community FM to replace CKPG Limited's CKPG-AM, Prince George.
Ontario:
Licence for a new English-language adult contemporary format 5,600 watts FM to replace CHUM's CFJR-AM.
Brockville.
The Commission also approved an application from CFMM-FM Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to relocate and increase the effective radiated power of its transmitter CFMM-FM-1 Waskesiu Lake from 58 watts to 2,500 watts and to change the authorized contours.
Also in, Saskatchewan the CRTC approved extension of time limits to commence operation of a new transmitter at Denare Beach for Natotawin Broadcasting Inc.'s CJLR-FM La Ronge, Saskatchewan (until April 30, 2003) and for the commencement of operation of a new transmitter for Radio CJVR Ltd.'s CJVR-FM Melfort (until March 7, 2003)
The CRTC has also approved an application by Radio Mégantic ltée to implement a corporate reorganization that would modify the direct control of Mégantic, part of the Quebec radio network known as Réseau des Appalaches, which includes Radio Victoriaville ltée and Réseau des Appalaches (FM) ltée.
The reorganisation will involve the transfer of the 79.01% voting interest in Mégantic currently held by the management corporation Gestion 450 inc., owned by François Labbé, to a new management firm to be incorporated that will also be owned by Labbé, to be named Gestion des Appalaches inc. (Gesco).
In a concurrent transaction, Gesco will also acquire Labbé's direct holdings (9.75%) in Victoriaville.
Ireland was quiet but in the UK, the Radio Authority has issued its assessment of the award of the Brighton digital multiplex to Capital Radio Digital Ltd., the sole applicant, which is proposing eight channels, one of them shared, plus carriage of BBC Southern Counties Radio (See Licence News, Nov 3, 2002).
It noted that all of the multiplex capacity had already been allocated to identified programme service providers including full digital simulcasts of three local commercial radio services, Southern FM, Capital Gold and Juice 107.2 FM and also daytime carriage of Spirit FM, the local radio service for South West Sussex. Members considered, said the Authority that overall capital would provide a good mix of services.
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) , apart from its activities concerning changes in ownership regulation has reduced a fine on South Central Communications Corp. relating to tower offences in Tennessee (See RNW Jan 24 ); it is also in receipt of a complaint from Spanish Broadcasting System objecting to the structuring of the deal under which Hispanic Broadcasting proposes to acquire WXXY-FM, Chicago, from Big City Broadcasting (also RNW Jan 24).
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous UK Radio Authority:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site :
UK Radio Authority web site:
2003-01-26: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) host Shelagh Rogers is on medical leave from her "Sounds Like Canada", which went on air in October last year as part of a re-vamp of the Corporation's morning programmes, because of high blood pressure.
There have been suggestions that Rogers is dissatisfied with the show, which succeeded the This Morning Show, and which has been trimmed and changed so as to reduce her control and airtime, including the introduction of a ten-minute local update segment, but Rogers herself said that her leave was to do with stress and not because the newscast was taking her airtime.
She added that her family had a history of early deaths from heart problems, so she had to take the problem seriously and was taking the leave on "doctor's orders."
Previous CBC:
Previous Rogers:
2003-01-26: XM Satellite Radio says it has now completed restructuring its debt and is on track to obtain an extra USD475 million of financing that will keep it operating until mid-2004, by which time it hopes to break even in cash flow.
Debt holders tendered 92% of the XM's outstanding 14% senior secured notes due 2010 for 14% senior secured discount notes due 2009 plus and warrants to buy XM common stock. The total for the exchanged noted was just over USD 300 million.
XM expects settlement and closure of the exchange on January 28 together with obtaining the extra financing from General Motors and a group of investors, which was dependant on successful completion of the tender offer,
XM President and CEO Hugh Panero said in a statement that the believed the completion would fund XM to cash flow break-even.
Previous Panero:
Previous XM:
2003-01-25: Birmingham, England, radio station BRMB, owned by Capital Radio, has been fined GBP 15, 000 (USD 23,400) in connection with its "Coolest Seats in Town" competition two years ago that left four people with severe frostbite and permanent scarring (see RNW Aug 26, 2001).
The fines, imposed under Health and Safety laws, is only half the amount Capital has already paid out in compensation and the sum could end up much higher as so far only one case has been settled, that of Emma Adkins, who settled her claim for GBP 8,000 (USD 12,500); she had less severe injuries than the other three contestants who were in hospital for up to ten weeks.
The other three claimants have received interim payments, of GBP 9,000, GBP7,800 and GBP 6,000 (USD 14,000 to USD 9,000) to two women and a man respectively but their claims have not been finally settled.
Helen Terry, who received the £9,000 payment, said she could no longer sit on plastic sets, which caused her extreme pain and could not watch her soccer team play because she could not sit in the seats at the stadium; she said her family had been "through hell" and said the station had not been that helpful over the past year.
BRMB, which pleaded guilty to the offences, said it got the idea for the competition from a New Zealand website that had used ice for a similar stunt but a "breakdown in communications" led to them using dry ice (solid carbon dioxide whose temperature is minus 78 degrees C rather than zero C) instead.
Following the court case, Capital Radio operations director Paul Davies said the company deeply regretted the consequences of the competition, adding, "It was never our intention to place anyone in jeopardy and we sincerely apologise to the participants and their families for their injuries and distress."
He added that over the past thirty years listeners to the company's stations had taken part in and enjoyed many station events and as responsible broadcasters took the health and welfare of our listeners extremely seriously " as testified by our exemplary track record to date. "
Previous Capital:
Previous Davies:
2003-01-25: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it is to hold its public meeting about media regulation in Richmond, Virginia, on February 27.
It has yet to give details of the agenda or location but says the hearing will run from 10 AM to 4 PM and will "focus on the goals of diversity, competition and localism."
Previous FCC:
2003-01-25: Strong results have come from both Montreal-headquartered Astral Media and Toronto-headquartered Corus Entertainment in their fiscal first quarter figures to the end of November last year.
Astral reported strong results from pay-TV, radio and outdoor, with a particular note that "The acquisition of the Telemedia radio assets had a significant impact on our radio results, even though their contribution was only included for one full month of operations."
Overall revenues were up from CAD 100 million (USD 64 million) to CAD 114 million (USD73 million) in the same quarter of 2001 whilst EBITDA was up 44% from CAD 20.2 million (USD 12.9 million) to CAD 29 million (USD 18.6 million) and net earnings, excluding a one-time after-tax gain of CAD 13 million (USD 8.3 million) in 2001 through sales of Astral's holdings in the Comedy network, were up 65% from CAD 9.8 million (USD 6.3 million), or CAD 0.20 per share, to CAD 16.1 million (USD 10.3 million) or CAD 0.31 per share.
Astral President and CEO Ian Greenberg commented, "This very robust quarter is due principally to a strong increase in the advertising market felt across all our properties and by sustained television subscriber growth."
In its first quarter, Corus more than doubled its profits, again aided by strong advertising radio and TV revenues, to CAD 8.3 million (USD 5.3 million) or CAD 0.19 a share from CAD 3.7 million (USD 2.4 million) or CAD 0.09 per share a year before.
Its revenues, however, were down 9% from CAD174.7 million (USD112 million) to CAD 158.1 million (USD 101 million) as gains in radio and TV were more than offset by problems at its Nelvana Ltd. animation unit, which cut its production.
Corus, which acquired Nelvana in 2000, took a CAD 200-million (USD 128 million) write-down on it in November.
Corus Radio revenues in the quarter increased to CAD 59.3 million (USD38 million) from CAD 55.6 million (USD 35.6 million)
Corus President and CEO John Cassaday commented, "The advertising recovery seems to be picking up momentum. We saw real growth in the first quarter and our outlook for the second quarter remains positive."
"We think the ad recovery, coupled with our continued focus on cost reduction, will allow us to partially offset the necessary repositioning of Nelvana."
Previous Astral:
Previous Corus:
Previous Greenberg:
2003-01-25: Entercom has now imposed new contracts on on-air staff at its Boston stations, WEEI-AM, WRKO-AM, and WQSX-FM, following a failure after three years to reach agreement with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
The action is likely to have its main effect on staff hired in future and includes pay-scale cuts, reductions in severance pay and insurance benefits.
In all some 60 -80 positions are affected but the changes do not affect major hosts who have their own personal contracts.
Entercom said it had "tried desperately" to reach agreement but had ultimately concluded it was at an impasse whilst AFTRA said that Entercom's contract when first proposed last year, was rejected ''overwhelmingly'' by union members because it included a life insurance cap of $50,000 compared to the former contract which had a benefit equivalent to a year's pay.
The union says that the move will cause problems with new staff working side-by-side with people paid more for doing the same job and accuses Entercom of trying to undercut industry standards.
Entercom and the union are to meet again on January 30 and staff at the stations are scheduled to meet the enxt day to decide what action to take.
Previous AFTRA:
Previous Entercom:
2003-01-25: Shareholders in SMG, the former Scottish Media Group, have voted to approve the GBP216 million (USD 336 million) sale of the company's print division including its Glasgow newspapers, to US publisher Gannett (See RNW Dec 24, 2002 ).
The deal is still subject to clearance by competition authorities but if it goes through, proceeds will be used to reduce the company's debt.
Previous SMG:
2003-01-24: The US Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing on consolidation in the radio industry on January 30 according to the Wall Street Journal.
The paper says that Clear Channel President and COO Mark Mays is among those who already have agreed to testify and it is also thought that Clear Channel chairman and CEO Lowry Mays is likely to make an appearance.
Clear Channel has consistently argued that deregulation and the resultant consolidation in US radio has been to the benefit of US listeners but a number of Senators, notably Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold and Arizona Republican John McCain, who is to take over chairmanship of the Committee, have expressed concerns about the level of consolidation in US radio.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Lowry Mays:
Previous Mark Mays:
2003-01-24: UK Capital Radio has reported a 6% drop in revenues in the final quarter of last year compared to 2001, a fall the company said in an update was in line with its expectations in a continuing tough advertising market
In October lat year, it said, revenues were down 14% compared to a year earlier but November and December were "essentially flat" and it expected January revenues to up a little.
"The outlook for February and March is more uncertain," it added, "and we continue to manage the cost base of our business on the assumption that the advertising market remains under pressure for the rest of our financial year.
The fall had been anticipated and Capital's shares rose GBP 0.25 after the announcement to GBP 432.5, around half their value of GBP 8.69 in March last year
Capital has been under pressure in London where its flagship Capital FM suffered from uncertainty as to whether breakfast host Chris Tarrant would leave the station and from competition by rivals, particularly from stations formatted at particular musical genres such as Heart, Kiss and Jazz FM who took share from the more broad-based Capital format.
It has recently reversed its policy of a group playlist to allow Capital FM to have its own playlist but remains under pressure particularly from Chrysalis's Heart FM, which in the latest ratings recorded its highest-ever share of the London audience; Heart's Breakfast show increased its weekly audience by 26% to 862,000 whilst Capital's breakfast show lost some 160,000 listeners, although it still remains the market leader with a weekly audience of 1.6 million (See RNW Oct 25, 2002)
Capital Chief Executive David Mansfield told the Company's annual general meeting that he does not expect any"miracles" from Tarrant when the next ratings are issued at the end of the month.
He added that Capital was not expecting an increase in listeners in the ratings because they would not include changes to the breakfast show that he expected to improve things.
He was more positive about Xfm whose ratings he said he did expect to have made strong gains.
Previous Capital:
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous Mansfield:
Previous Tarrant:
2003-01-24: Arbitron has reported fourth quarter revenues up 12.3% over Q3, 2001 at USD57.8 million and annual revenue for 2002 up 9.8% at USD 249.8 million.
Net income did even better at USD 6.5 million in the quarter (USD 0.21 per share compared to USD 0.09 per share), two-and-a-half times the net income for the quarter in 2001; for the year net income was up 17.3% at 42.8 million (USD 1.24 per share compared to USD 1.24 per share in 2001).
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the quarter were USD 14.1 million, compared with USD 9.3 million whilst for the year EBIT was up 13.5% to USD 85.7 million compared to USD 75.5 million.
President and CEO Stephen Morris commented, "We ended 2002 by meeting our financial goals for revenue and profitability, a good performance in a difficult year for the media industry."
"Our basic ratings, Scarborough and software services all made good progress in the quarter …
our RADAR network radio measurement service expanded its roster of clients while staying on track in its transition to a more efficient and more effective sampling system.
"Our acquisition of a license to the MeasureCast Webcast ratings technology, also in the fourth quarter, should allow us to maintain a leadership position in the webcast ratings arena while keeping a tighter grip on costs."
Commenting on the Portable People Meter (PPM) he said that, working with Nielsen Media Research, Arbitron continued to make progress in refinements requested by the marketplace and on its own Arbitron had made "solid progress" marketing the PPM internationally.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Morris:
Previous PPM:
2003-01-24: Hilary Rosen has announced that she is to leave her post of Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) at the end of this year after 17 years with the organisation she was appointed its CEO in 1998.
Rosen has been at the forefront in the music industry's fight to prevent digital piracy of music; she has four-years-old twins.
She has not said whether she and her partner, Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay-advocacy group in the US, will remain in Washington, DC.
Birch announced last month that she would leave her post at the end of this year.
Rosen said she was stepping down for family reasons but she would be very busy in the rest of her time in the role.
"This has been the most exciting job I can imagine," Rosen said. "During my tenure here, the recording industry has undergone dramatic challenges and it is well positioned for future success. I have been extremely proud to be a part of this industry transition."
"But, I have young children and I want to devote more of my time to them. This has been an extremely difficult decision but I know it is the right one for my family."
"…I have much to do in the coming months. We continue to face unprecedented levels of on-line piracy as well as a changing market in physical piracy here and abroad."
Cary Sherman is to remain as RIAA President as he will serve on a committee to be set up to search for a replacement for Rosen.
Previous RIAA:
Previous Rosen:
Previous Sherman:
RIAA web site:
2003-01-24: A long history of compliance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations has saved South Central Communications Corp. USD 2000 for breached at an antenna in Sevierville, Tennessee.
It had originally been served with a notice in June last year of liability totalling USD 10,000 but this was reduced to USD 8,000
The offences related to failure to maintain an automatic alarm system designed to detect any failure of its antenna structure lights and also failure to paint the structure as required in aviation orange and white.
In its response
South Central did not deny the offences but noted that it has been the licensee of 30 broadcast facilities over the past 50 years and has an unblemished history of compliance with the Commission's technical requirements, including those related to towers, during this period.
It also noted that when it acquired the tower in 1987, the tower did not appear to be adequately painted or lighted and said it immediately sought authority from the FAA to install medium intensity obstruction lighting on the tower and that the FAA subsequently notified the FCC that it had no objection to the use of such lighting on the tower.
The FCC has also received a letter from Spanish Broadcasting System objecting to the structuring of the deal under which Hispanic Broadcasting proposes to acquire WXXY-FM, Chicago, from Big City Broadcasting.
Hispanic is proposing to program the station under a time brokerage arrangement whilst Superior Broadcasting holds the licence (See RNW Jan 3).
SBS notes that Hispanic already owns four stations in the market and says that approval of this arrangement would set a "dangerous precedent" and adds, "To allow HBC to obtain indirectly what it cannot presently obtain through the candid and straightforward filing of an application for assignment of license is abusive in the extreme."
Previous FCC:
Previous Hispanic:
Previous Spanish Broadcasting:
2003-01-24: Clear Channel's reduction of its streaming activities on various cost grounds has again cut its listening as shown in the latest Arbitron-MeasureCast Ratings released although it did not change its number three ranking, which compared to a top spot in the December monthly rankings and for most weeks of last year.
The ratings also showed that, although leading classical station WQXR-FM fell back from fourth to fifth, there were three classical channels in the top ten; the other two were Beethoven.com, which was ranked eighth, and KING-FM, which was ranked ninth.
For the week to January 12, Arbitron-MeasureCast's top five stations ranked by Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) with (in brackets) TTSL and Cume persons (a measure of the cumulative audience -CP) for the previous week - were:
1: Internet only artist-match MUSICMATCH - TTSL 291,602 (226,698); CP 129,662 (124,489). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 184,238 (145,184); CP 56,601 (48,062). Up from third with higher listening and reach.
3: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 278,136 (198,141); CP43,357 (35,743). Down from second despite higher listening and reach.
4: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 242,298 (159,693); CP 33,174 (27,697): Up from fifth with higher listening and reach.
5: Classical format WQXR-FM- 226,620 (160,474); CP 35,080 (31,278). Down from fourth despite higher listening and reach.
The top five networks for the week to January 12 (Previous week's figures in brackets) were:
1: MUSICMATCH Inc. TTSL 1,221,801 (947,720); CP 370,441 (359,444). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: StreamAudio TTSL 1,004,167 (686,939); CP 154,569 (122,279). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
3: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 633,596 (667,172); CP 129,985 (176,814) - Same rank but listening was down yet again as was reach.
4: WARP Radio TTSL 617,326 (536,261) hours: CP 102,556 (95,346) - Same rank with higher listening and reach.
5: StreamGuys TTSL 511,787 (359,165); CP 120,288 (100,119) - up from sixth with higher listening and reach.
* Internet Radio Inc fell from fifth to seventh although TTSL 485,723 (438,263) and CP 189,285 (160,296) were each higher.
In the ratings for the month of December, also recently released, Clear Channel held on to its former regular top spot, something that without a change of policy is now unlikely to return.
For the month of December 2002, the top five stations were (November figures in brackets):
1: Internet only artist-match MUSICMATCH - TTSL 1,183,194 (1,250,514); CP 459,139 (381,603). Same rank with lower listening but higher reach.
2: Adult alternative Radioio - TTSL 1,012,992 (1,803,431); CP 166,092 (180,106). Up from fourth despite lower listening and reach.
3: Jazz format Jazz FM - TTSL 890,620 (1,202,148); CP 161,196 (248,267). Down from second with lower listening and reach.
4: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin FM - TTSL 846,585 (1,174,334); CP 110,652 (176,362). Down from third with lower listening and reach.
5: Classical format WQXR-FM - TTSL 787,094 (848,693); CP 95,949 (109,213). Same rank with lower listening and reach.
The top five networks for December were (November figures in brackets):
1: Clear Channel Worldwide TTSL 5,585,467 (5,848,346); CP 796,330 (836,559). Same rank with slightly lower listening and lower reach.
2: MUSICMATCH Inc. TTSL 5,272,302 (4,990,647);CP 1,361,611 (1,239,405). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
3: StreamAudio TTSL 3,824,927 (3,930,618); CP 364,724 (375,419). Same rank with slightly lower listening and reach.
4: WARP Radio TTSL 2,479,659 (2,573,816); CP 3