November 2003 Archive
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October 2003 -
December 2003 
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 November comment - Looks at the relationship between regulatory penalties and the importance attached to things.
RNW October comment - Considers whether talk radio need be the province of bigots and the crude.
RNW September comment -Meters are likely to replace diaries for ratings soon. We consider the ratings future.
2003-11-30: Last week was one that in general was more notable for speeches than decisions although in Australia, for the first time ever a commercial radio licensee was held to be unsuitable to hold a licence.
The licence involved was that of Cybervale Pty Ltd and the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) refused to renew the licence (See RNW Nov 26).
The ABA has also expressed concern over comments made about its digital radio plans, which were openly criticized by the Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) (See RNW Nov 20); it says the statements "amount to a misrepresentation of the ABA's position and actions."
It adds, "The ABA's recent decision to permit Broadcast Australia, which is not an incumbent radio broadcaster, to conduct digital radio trials has provoked strong unease within the commercial radio industry."
"However, the ABA's trials policy is expressly designed to confer no long-term rights or in any way to pre-empt Government policy decisions in this area. Indeed, no decision has been made that the spectrum in question (VHF television channel 9A) will even be used by digital radio in the long term. "Nor, crucially, does the policy prevent trials by existing commercial radio operators… Given these facts, the repeated public claims by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) to have been 'frozen out' of digital radio trials in Melbourne are of concern. The Broadcast Australia trial will make use of only one of up to three channels that are vacant and potentially available for trials in Melbourne."
"…CRA did not, at the outset, apply for a channel in Melbourne. The ABA has now invited CRA to apply to conduct trials using one or more of the remaining available channels. These channels would be adequate to permit on air trials by every AM and FM commercial radio service currently licensed to operate in Melbourne, at the same time as the Broadcast Australia trial proceeds."
The ABA also says CRA's claim that it has applied three times for test spectrum in Melbourne and was ignored by the ABA is misleading and wrongly implies that CRA has faced regulatory … The reality is that CRA was at all stages made aware of the ABA's open trial policy. In Sydney, CRA has itself been a beneficiary of the policy and unlike in Melbourne, the CRA trial will make use of all suitable and available broadcasting services bands spectrum."
It concludes, "CRA's claim that the ABA is aiding and abetting Broadcast Australia's business expansion plans and is 'trying to totally destabilize the radio industry', is extraordinary and simply wrong. In all its public and private communications, the ABA could hardly have been clearer that it has conferred no rights beyond an 18-month trial to Broadcast Australia."
The ABA has also been involved in a number of changes to radio licensing plans in New South Wales.
In Braidwood, it is proposing to make capacity available for an additional community radio service in Braidwood and has revised proposals to change the operating conditions of the existing commercial radio services in Braidwood. Comments have to be submitted by December 5
In Gosford it has decided, following requests from DMG Radio, which won the new commercial FM licence, to change the operating conditions of the news service to enable it to transmit with the same radiation pattern and power as the existing commercial radio services, 2GGO and 2CFM allied with which the licensee of 2BOB Taree has agreed to change frequency to facilitate the changes.
In the Illawarra Region it has decided to make an extra FM channel available for a national radio service subject to the WIN commercial television service moving to a UHF channel.
It is also to allow existing SBS radio service 2EA to move to a higher frequency so as to be able to increase its power; the existing 2EA frequency will continue to be reserved for a national radio service for the foreseeable future.
In South Australia, the ABA is proposing to make new community radio services available in Coober Pedy and Roxby Downs where Dusty Radio, which is currently operating under a temporary community broadcasting licence at Coober Pedy, has expressed interest in providing a community radio service in the Coober Pedy area and 5Rox Community Radio, which is currently operating under a temporary community broadcasting licence at Roxby Downs, has expressed interest in providing a community radio service in the Roxby Downs area. Comment on both plans has to be submitted by December 19.
In addition to the Authority's decisions, its chairman, Professor David Flint, has courted controversy in relation to regulation of advertisements, particularly in relation to problems of obesity (See RNW Nov 29).
Canada was very quiet as far as radio is concerned with the only licence action from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) being the renewal of Rogers Broadcasting's licence for its English-language radio network that will broadcast the baseball games of the Toronto Blue Jays from the start of next month to the end of February next year.
In Ireland, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has signed ten-year contracts with County Tipperary Radio Limited (Tipp FM) and Radio 2000 Limited (Dublin 98FM) covering their services for County Tipperary and Dublin City and County respectively.
In the UK, where the Radio Authority is getting ready to hand over its duties to the new Ofcom regulator, there were no licence decisions but there was again speechmaking by the head of the regulatory body, this time in relation to the likelihood of consolidation in UK radio and the expansion of digital services (See below). There were also reports of a number of complaints to the Authority but it is not clear if it will make decisions on these or pass them on to Ofcom.
The US was also fairly quiet and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lost a day because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Its actions did include a re-iteration of its policy regarding refusal of confidentiality relating to material already broadcast, in this case in relation to a CD submitted to it by Entercom (See RNW Nov 26).
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2003-11-30: BBC digital radio network 6 Music has launched a new album chart show for genres such as rock, urban, R&B, and indie that feature on the channel and which is aimed at promoting new music.
Hosted by Vic McGlynn, the show will only feature artists who have not featured in the chart before and runs from 1600-1800 GMT on Saturdays with a repeat on Sundays from 0700 to 0900.
McGlynn, who promoted and DJ'd her own indie night at a small club in her home town of Blackpool before moving on to radio - first with a restricted service licensee and then on regional commercial radio; she says the music in the show will be "be unique - a snapshot of our musical future. It will focus on real music that people are buying before those artists become established."
In other changes to come in the New Year in the UK, Emap has announced that former Capital and Virgin host Steve Penk, who began his career in the commercials production department at the then Piccadilly Radio in Manchester in 1978 is to return to the station, now Key 103, where he became host of the breakfast show in 1991.
Penk left five years later for Capital radio, later moving to SMG-owned Virgin from which he walked out after a row over his breakfast show (See RNW Jan 26, 2002) and returned to Capital FM where he hosted a late-night show until it was axed this year (See RNW May 31)
No details of his new role have yet been announced by station owner Emap, which says they will be given when it announces a new schedule for the station.
Penk himself commented, "My heart has always belonged to Manchester. It's where my career began and it's where I was given the most freedom to do what I enjoy most - funny, lively and at-the-edge radio."
"I wanted to return to Key 103 and Emap because I love the way they know how to properly use creative talent. Key 103 is my spiritual home."
Also launching changes in the New Year is Chrysalis's LBC talk station, where Nick Ferrari is to move from his 10:00 to noon slot and take over the 07:00 to 10:00 breakfast slot.
Current breakfast show co-host Jane Moore has announced that she is to leave the show at Christmas after starting maternity leave and is due to return in a different role; her co-host John Nicolson is leaving the station.
No replacement has yet been named for Ferrari's current morning slot but Chrysalis has said that Howard Hughes, currently reading the news on the breakfast show will now present the 06:00 to 07:00 programme.
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Previous Capital:
Previous Chrysalis:
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Previous SMG:
2003-11-30: Reporting on the plans by Southern Cross Broadcasting and Macquarie Radio Network to form a joint venture company to offer operational and sales services to their Sydney radio stations (See RNW Nov 27), the Sydney Morning Herald says many people are seeing the move as a death knell for the former's 2UE and sign of success for Macquarie.
For many years the dominant talk station in Sydney, 2UE has fallen on hard times since its breakfast host Alan Jones jumped ship to take the same role at 2GB (see RNW Feb 8, 2002) and the paper says that Jones is said to have told his staff that 2UE "has come waving the white flag."
The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has already asked for further details of the plan and New South Wales Premier Bob Carr has condemned it, saying radio stations that closed their own newsrooms should have their broadcasting licences revoked.
He told 2UE breakfast host Mike Carlton. "I think it's outrageous. You could end up with a single commercial microphone put in front of the Premier, or the Opposition Leader, at any press conference. And that's very unhealthy."
Southern Cross says the deal will not affect competition between the stations and the aim of the plan was just to cut costs where there was duplication of effort.
It denied suggestions that the two broadcasters had agreed to carve up the radio markets in Sydney and Melbourne, with Macquarie agreeing to stay out of Melbourne in return for control of the Sydney market.
"There are no agreements outside this arrangement at all. It is business as usual; there are no control issues," Southern Cross managing director Tony Bell told the paper.
The Herald added that Macquarie chief executive, George Buschmann said the network was open to a merger with 2UE, although it already owned 2GB and 2CH in Sydney. Current Australian law prohibits an organization owning of more than two stations in an area.
Previous ABA:
Previous Bell:
Previous Buschmann:
Previous Jones:
Previous Macquarie:
Previous Southern Cross:
Sydney Morning Herald report:
2003-11-30: The outgoing chairman and chief executive of the UK Radio Authority, which is to be subsumed into the new Ofcom regulator towards the end of December, has told the Voice of the Listener and Viewer autumn conference that the UK spectrum allocation had begun to turn towards commercial radio as more digital stations came into being but said he did not expect speedy consolidation in the UK Radio Industry following the passage of new legislation.
David Witherow, whose organisation held its farewell party earlier this month after 13 years in existence, is to retire when the Radio Authority hands over its duties.
He told the meeting that, although share values of UK radio companies were well down from their peak they still seemed expensive to potential buyers from outside the industry and noted that format controls and local ownership rules would continue to apply as well in addition to competition laws.
"It is more likely that we will see convergence of interest, with some companies finding synergies with others rather than outright takeovers, at least in the short term," said Witherow.
He also commented that opportunities for expansion still existed for both analogue and digital stations and predicted that radio would increase its share of the advertising pie.
He also noted that digital offered new opportunities and that while spectrum for analogue stations had been shared equally with the BBC, the proportions had moved to favour commercial radio for digital spectrum.
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Previous Witherow:
2003-11-29: UK commercial radio in the period from July to September recorded the highest quarterly growth it has seen since 2000 with a 6.3% growth in advertising expenditure to a total of GBP 149.5 million (USD 256 million) according to latest figures from the UK Radio Advertising Bureau; national advertising expenditure was up 6.4% on the period a year before.
In comparison, UK TV advertising expenditure in the period grew by only 1.1% and display advertising in the UK national press was down 4.3%.
Michael O'Brien, Director of Marketing Operations at the bureau, commented, "The very strong performance by Commercial Radio in these results demonstrates that as the advertising industry gradually pulls out of the slowdown, advertisers are increasingly turning to radio ahead of other media. This move is being spearheaded by leading FMCG advertisers such as P&G and Lever Faberge doubling their investment in radio over the last 12 months."
Last month the bureau reported "dramatic growth in key advertising demographics" according to the latest UK official rating with significant growth in listening to digital radio that helped take total commercial radio listening hours up 3.1% year on year for the quarter.
In particular it commented on a greater reach than ever among housewives and housewives with children and the Bureau's managing director Justin Sampson commented that the ratings showed that radio had "a bright and vibrant future and these numbers demonstrate how Commercial Radio is taking advantage of new distribution platforms."
Previous UK Radio Advertising Bureau:
2003-11-29: The chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, Professor David Flint, has jumped into the centre of controversy over the issue of regulating advertisers and the media over the issue of obesity, a matter that has led for calls for regulatory measures in a number of countries including the UK and Australia.
Speaking on the topic "The Importance of Defending Freedom of Commercial Speech" at the 75th Anniversary Forum of the Australian Association of National Advertisers in Sydney, Prof Flint commented that it was "surely not the role of legislatures to forbid everything that people do legally but which may not be good for them."
"This is the area where responsibility should be encouraged, but not legislated," said Prof Flint. "This includes not only responsibility on the part of the manufacturer, the publisher or broadcaster and the advertiser. It includes responsibility on the part of the citizen, and in the case of children, on the part of parents and those in charge of them."
"Our society depends on a free and robust market place not only of goods and services, but also ideas. If we identify a problem which results from legal and non-criminal behaviour, the solution is not to immediately reach for the legislative proscription. It is to put a countervailing idea into the market place. In this case, arguments for exercise and good nutrition."
Prof Flint said that, as was done by the print media in Australia, the best solution was through self-regulation or co-regulation.
Commenting on the emphasis in considering freedom of speech, Prof Flint said, "We have hitherto tended to downgrade the importance of one aspect of free speech - commercial speech. For the essence of the proper working of the market economy based on private property is the freedom to inform and the right to be informed."
"It will of course be said that information which is paid for is tainted. But information which is free can also be tainted. For example, news that is not objective, or current affairs which purports to be balanced, and is not. The fact that speech is paid for does not mean it is necessarily tainted, nor does it mean it should not be protected. After all, a great amount of the primary sources of news and current affairs comes from the public relations profession. It should be assessed on its merits, not on its source."
Professor Flint said he was not arguing for a free for all or the right to shout "Fire" in a crowded theatre and suggested "An example of a limitation of commercial free speech which is acceptable would be the restrictions on advertising of therapeutic goods."
"… Another perennial issue concerns restricting the advertising of products which are legal. I would say that imposing a statutory limitation or proscription in relation to a product which can be lawfully traded may be adopted where it is established that the product is intrinsically deleterious to health, and that advertising encourages significantly increased levels of consumption or the maintenance of the present level of consumption among adults. It is the view of our legislatures that tobacco products fall into this category. But there remain products which again, are lawfully traded, but which in themselves are not generally believed to be intrinsically deleterious to health: tea or coffee, wine, and of course, fast foods."
Expanding on his point, he continued, "… I would ask what then encourages the intake of illicit drugs? It is certainly not commercial advertising - there is none. Is it word of mouth or fashion?" "But it is surely not the role of legislatures to forbid everything that people do legally but which may not be good for them. To stop people from driving at excessive speeds, when drunk or drugged, or when holding a mobile phone to their ears is clearly within their jurisdiction. To stop people from engaging in acts which may damage themselves - smoking, at least in private, or gluttony in private or in public - is none of their business, at least in the sense of making laws to stop it… This is the area where responsibility should be encouraged, but not legislated."
RNW comment: Prof Flint's comment was made in the tenor of a general argument for a market economy and an attack on socialism - in his speech he commented "Not necessary Stalinism - - after 1956, it gradually dawned on the more honest Marxist that communism was flawed to its core. Nevertheless, many clung to its pale shadow, democratic socialism. This used to involve occupying the commanding heights of the economy, more recently it has been reduced to the slogan of some unspecified 'third way'."
Irrespective of his wisdom in making such overtly political comment as the head of a broadcast regulator, some comments heard in the UK debate on the issue make us wonder how deeply he has considered his case. In particular, it is reasonably to ask how far individuals can reasonably be expected to research matters to ensure they are not misled by advertisers.
As an example, one UK doctor commented on an advert that said a food for children only contained 20% fat - actually a high level - but gave the impression that it was a healthy food and could easily have led a parent to buy it on the basis that is was good for children.
We would certainly prefer a situation where all in a society were dedicated more to truth than self-interest but think it rather naïve to assume that is the case - think of the tobacco industry's actions in keeping quiet about some of its research into the health effects of smoking, the propaganda of the former Soviet Union and indeed the constraints on many scientists - working in industry or on Saddam Hussein's war programmes - in terms of voicing their concerns.
In the specific context in which Flint made his remarks, he would probably have enjoyed knee-jerk approval from his audience; this, however, does not necessarily prove the strength of his case.
Obesity is indeed a significant health problem in many countries and to insist on health warnings with some advertisements, as are mandatory on cigarette packets in many countries, could in many cases be sensible. We doubt that this is the emphasis that was intended but it is one supported as much by the Professor's logic as the one he put in his speech.
A quick search in any Internet engine will show both that obesity is a very widespread and growing problem over most of the "developed" world and also that food manufacturers are both including excessive levels of sugars and salts in many products as well as resisting calls for health warnings.
The professor's call is fine until confronted with facts; yes he's right about the dangers of forbidding things but he's not about the efficacy of voluntary restraint where huge amounts are at stake. Our view in the end is no to bans yes to health warnings, and making it a criminal offence with massive fines for the companies and potential mandatory jail for their directors when clear evidence of health problems is proven to have been deliberately kept out of the public arena thus preventing the exercise of responsibility on which the Professor - and the food companies when it comes to parents exercising it but not themselves - are concerned.
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Previous Flint:
Flint Speech (143 kb PDF):
2003-11-29: Chrysalis's Galaxy station in Birmingham has become the subject of a complaint to the UK Radio Authority for a stunt in which it burned GBP 5,000 (USD 8,600) in a breakfast show competition.
The Bank it or Burn it competition included a vote from listeners as to whether the money should be burned or given to a listener who wanted to spend it on a breast enlargement operation; listeners voted for the burning and, despite appeals from churchmen that the money should be given to charity, the cash was set alight.
A member of the public has already lodged a complaint and according to the UK Guardian, the Anglican Church in Birmingham is also considering a complaint under the Authority's taste and decency guidelines.
A spokesman for the church told the paper, "Members of the clergy were outraged at what was happening. The station told us it was bound by its decision but it could have given its listeners another choice - to give the money to charity. But they refused to do that."
Galaxy managing director Paul Fairburn said the competition was funded from the station's marketing budget and competition winners were free to do what they wanted with winnings.
"We were aiming to involve the audience in a truly dramatic competition. I would stress the money was never earmarked for charity use; it would either have been burned or given to a listener to squander," he said.
In potentially more serious trouble is GWR's Beacon FM in Shropshire, following an incident in which two presenter asked listeners to call or text them to say whether they thought a man accused of the murder of two schoolgirls was guilty.
Cambridgeshire police in whose area the dead girls lived has confirmed that they are investigating the station and have asked for a tape of the broadcast containing the comments that could be in breach of laws concerning court cases and the prejudicing of a trial.
The station and GWR are refusing comment but have confirmed that the two presenters involved are now " on leave".
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Previous GWR:
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UK Guardian report:
2003-11-29: Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) is to sell 1.62 million new shares at GBP 7.90, thus raising around GBP 12.8 million (USD 22 million) to help fund its acquisition of Dublin music station FM104 for Euro 26 million (GBP 18 million, USD 31 million) (See RNW Oct 25).
The deal has yet to be approved by Irish authorities and SRH says that if approval is given around 80 per cent of the funds raised will be used for the cash part of the acquisition deal and the rest will be used to reduce debt; should the deal be rejected, all the funds will be used to reduce debt.
SRH was already paying for 45% of the acquisition in the form of stock from an issue of around 955,000 new SRH shares.
Previous SRH:
2003-11-28: UK Wireless Group, whose flagship is the national talkSPORT station, is seeking GBP 27 million (USD 46 million) in damages from the official UK radio ratings organization RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) according to a report in the UK Guardian.
Wireless Group chairman and chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie has been in a long-running spat with RAJAR about its ratings system, which gives its group much lower ratings than the electronic meter system he has commissioned from Gfk Media (see below).
He launched his latest attack at a UK Media Research Group conference but said he would be having one last meeting with RAJAR on December 18 to persuade it to switch to electronic metering.
MacKenzie says he will be suing for some GBP 1.5 million a month in lost advertising revenue, some GBP 9 million (USD 15.4 million) of it for the last six months of this year and twice that amount for 2004 because the case may not be heard before the end of next year.
"If they don't agree to introduce watches [the wrist device that Gfk uses] immediately after that meeting, I will be in the High Court the next day," he said.
MacKenzie also launched an attack on Douglas McArthur, chairman - and co-founder in 1992 - of the UK Radio Advertising Bureau, who has supported RAJAR's decision to delay the introduction of electronic metering whilst it carries out further research (see RNW .
"He gets paid £290,000 a year, plus a pension of £70,000 a year. I don't know who else in this room makes that sort of money, apart from me, but he is getting paid by commercial companies who have a vested interest in sticking with outmoded technology," said MacKenzie.
McArthur told Media Week in response, "If I was currently that well remunerated I would be delighted. I do wish that Kelvin would concentrate on the real research issues and stop this mud-slinging PR."
"I have been very clear that RAJAR will eventually move to using electronic measurement systems, but will not do it immediately as there are problems with both current systems - even according to their manufacturers. RAJAR would be mad to introduce them knowing such problems exist."
MacKenzie in his usual crude style responded, "The opposition to change is all financially based - the rest is just bollocks."
RNW comment: As we have commented before, it seems to us that nobody is forcing the UK radio and advertising industries to use any particular method for gathering ratings information and those involved will be fully aware of the factors involved.
Our view is that that MacKenzie's arguments for change are probably even more financially based than the arguments of those who want further evaluation of systems, even if they do benefit from the current system and we cannot see how he has any reasonable case in law.
We understand why RAJAR might feel they have to meet him, however unpleasant they may find the experience, but hope that they will tell him exactly where to put himself.
So far he's had loads of free publicity from his blustering and seems at times to have come very close to libelling his opponents in his comments about them and their motives; We hope he's stubborn enough to push the matter to court, runs up heavy costs, and then not only loses but gets told to pay the costs of the other side as well. And since he makes that kind of money, how about paying from his own pocket? Penury for MacKenzie, we suggest, would be a plus for humanity, even if it benefits lawyers.
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2003-11-28: A Valentine's Day broadcast by CHMJ-AM (MOJO Radio, Vancouver) of the US-originated Tom Leykis Show - which it has now dropped - has been held to be both degrading to women and unduly sexually explicit by the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council (CBSC)
In the show concerned, broadcast from a tavern in Los Angeles, Leykis, says the CBSC, "continually used, and allowed the use by others of, words and comments such as 'bitch', 'money whore', 'pathetic chicks', 'another illiterate ignorant vagina' and other such terms in reference to women. He emphasized that women merited no special treatment on Valentine's Day. He also put breasts on display, as best as he could in a radio context, and engaged in unduly sexually explicit conversations that described, among other things, oral sex acts."
The CBSC was responding after a complainant, who noted the warnings given during the show but said they "no way excuse what follows", had written to it and the station, saying, "In my view, Mr. Leykis is a misogynist, and his show promotes the objectification and hatred of women. His main theme is that women are nothing but objects to be f…ed and treated badly. They should never be married, because, as I have heard on an earlier program, they'll never "put out" for their husband, but "just lick it around the edges".
The station responded in part by commenting, "The Program, which is syndicated from Los Angeles, is widely known to be a program of broad interest to male listeners. As a result, topics discussed on the Program and callers that are interviewed by the Program host are selected because of their appeal to a male audience. Realizing that the Program may not appeal to all our listeners, the Program frequently airs appropriate advisories to inform our listeners that some might find the Program offensive."
"We appreciate that a number of the Program host's comments may seem derogatory when reviewed in small sound bites. However, we believe that a reasonably frequent listener to the Program will come to understand this as the host's 'shtick' and not a full representation of his beliefs… However, he often balances his outrageous opinions with counter arguments. For example, he frequently espouses the value of a strong family unit and the importance of making responsible decisions. He is a champion of Planned Parenthood and marital fidelity."
…" Accordingly, we believe that while the comments in the Program may have been controversial and not to everyone's taste, in the context that it were [sic] presented, it was not promoting the objectification or hatred of women. Please be assured that we do not condone discrimination or profanity of any sort on MOJO Radio."
The CBSC panel, however, found that Canadian codes which prohibit the objectification and degradation of individuals based on gender, on the one hand, and the broadcast of unduly sexually explicit material, on the other had been thoroughly breached, commenting of the show, "the extent of its disrespect for women and sweeping generalized disregard for their equality are astonishing"
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Previous Leykis:
2003-11-28: Details that have been given by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the indecency and obscenity complaints in its latest quarterly report on consumer complaints and inquiries released earlier this month (See RNW Nov 22 FCC18) show that the massive increase in complaints related to two TV shows and not to radio broadcasts.
The figures showed 19,920 of the 20,103 radio and TV complaints in the third quarter were about indecency and obscenity but most of them were about two TV programmes - NYPD Blue and Keen Eddie, a cop show that has now been dropped.
FCC spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball told the New York Daily News that radio was "very quiet" in relation to complaints in the quarter and put down the high volume of complaints against the TV shows to morality groups One Million Moms and the Parents Television Council.
Previous FCC:
2003-11-28: The latest UK Broadcast Media Survey from Gfk Media, which uses electronic metering and covers the period from July 14th to October 12th, shows the numbers of people listening to the UK's two national sports radio stations were up compared to the previous period whilst they fell for other national networks.
The Gfk survey was set up in conjunction with the Wireless Group and its flagship national talkSport station did particularly well with its weekly reach up 5% to 6.6 million; BBC Radio Five Live was marginally up to 8.8 million.
In London, in contrast, talkSPORT fell back, dropping from fourth-placed commercial station to sixth; BBC Radio 4 was the capital's most popular station but its London Live local station was ninth.
Overall the weekly reach figures for the main UK networks from GFK for the period from July 14th to October 12th (with in brackets Gfk prior period, running from June 23 - Sept 14, and then RAJAR figures to the end of September) in rank order were:
BBC Networks:
BBC Radio 4 - 17.19 million (17.99 million; 9.53 million): Down from 40% to 38% of potential national 45 million adult audience.
BBC Radio 2 - 15.78 million (16.10 million; 12.477 million): Down from 36% to 35%.
BBC Radio 1 - 12.63 million (12.98 million; 9.85 million): Down from 29% to 28%.
BBC Radio Five Live - 8.81 million (8.79 million; 5.716 million): Same 20%
BBC World Service - 4.71 million (4.75 million; 1.411 million); Down from 11% to 10%.
BBC Radio 3 - 3.90 million (3.91 million; 2.214 million): Down from 9% to 8 %.
Commercial networks:
talkSPORT (Wireless Group) - 6.59 million (6.20 million; 1.904 million): Up from 14% to 15%.
Classic FM (GWR) -- 5.75 million (5.75 million; 6.46 million): Unchanged 13%
Virgin (SMG) - 3.91 million (4.11 million; 2.86 million): Unchanged 9%.
Gfk figures for the London area showed that for the period from July 14th to October 12th the three most popular stations were BBC Radio 4 with 4 million listeners a week, BBC Radio 2 with 2.8 million, and Capital FM with 2.6 million.
For the same period the top five London local stations (with in brackets Gfk prior period, running from March 10 - Sept 14) in terms of weekly audience were:
Capital FM - 2.57 million (2,63) -25% of the potential 10.25 million audience, down from 26%.
Heart FM - 2.32 million (2.42 million) - 23% down from 24%.
Magic FM 1.96 million (1.99 million) - unchanged 19%.
Kiss FM 1.64 million (1.67 million) - unchanged 16%.
Virgin Radio (AM and FM combined) 1.57 million (1.63 million) - 15% down from 16%
BBC Radio London was ninth with 1.30 (1,29 million) - unchanged 13%.
*talkSPORT, which was fourth-placed commercial station in London before, fell to sixth with a weekly audience of 1.56 million (1.68 million) and 15% down from 165.
Previous Gfk and Gfk ratings:
Previous RAJAR:
Previous RAJAR ratings:
2003-11-28: Longtime Washington DC radio host Eddie Gallaher has died aged 88 of complications that followed hip surgery.
Gallagher, who retired in December 2000 from Clear Channel's then WGAY-M (See RNW Dec 15, 2002), had a career that lasted 53 years, working among other stations for WTOP, WWDC and WASH.
He began his Washington career in 1946 at WTOP-AM on the night show after a spell as a radio announcer in Oklahoma and as a newscaster, disc jockey and baseball play-by-play announcer in Minnesota, moving over to mornings a year later as a morning replacement for the legendary Arthur Godfrey, who was moving to New York to do a national CBS program. For a time, he hosted both the morning "Sundial" program and nighttime "Moondial" show.
After WTOP went all-news in 1968, Gallaher remained with the station for a couple of months and then took his morning show to WASH-AM. In 1982 he moved to WWDC-AM, which later became WGAY and which in 2000 was converted to business broadcasting format WWRC-AM.
Previous Gallagher:
Washington Post obituary:
2003-11-27: Sirius shareholders who at its annual meeting pushed the company about how it would catch up with rival XM - currently with more than a million subscribers against 150,000 for Sirius, which is now saying it expects 200,000 subscribers by the years end, down from previous forecasts of 300,000 - have been told that the company's strategy is to differentiate itself in terms of the content it will offer.
President and CEO Joseph P Clayton said that going forward Sirius would have to define its differentiation from XM and mentioned four areas - commercial free music, talk programming niches, news and sports.
"Those four things will be the differentiating factors for our product," said Clayton, adding, "… hardware will not be what differentiates us…" and that his job was to make sure Sirius justified its extra three dollars a month subscription charge.
He had been taken up about a perceived shortage of receivers on the shelves and said there would be "plenty of goods for the Christmas selling season" and said Sirius boom box would be shipped for Christmas. He said there had been delays, particularly with integrated circuit development, but Sirius had done well to introduce a second generation chip and new products would be coming along that were cheaper, smaller and more powerful.
He admitted hardware had been a problem but they would catch up.
Clayton also said that Sirius had a good footprint to reach outside the US and saw strong prospects in Canada and also in Mexico but things there were a "little further off" because of various problems including regulatory ones.
In terms of the rest of the world, Clayton noted that Global Radio went out of business in Europe, and said it was premature to consider expansion outside North America.
Clayton was also taken up on the pricing of the company's shares with particular reference to the USD 2.10 pricing set on its recent USD 150 million shelf offering. Clayton added that there were no current plans for issuing more shares but he would do so if it were felt to be in the company's best interests.
Overall, Clayton said, the satellite radio was enjoying "spectacular success" with consumer awareness rising, auto makers seeing provision of satellite radio as a plus and Wall Street paying closer attention. "The " market opportunity is not only huge today but is expanding as well," commented Clayton.
Previous Clayton:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
2003-11-27: Southern Cross Broadcasting and Macquarie Radio Network have announced agreement in principle to form a joint venture company to offer operational and sales services to their Sydney radio stations -- 2UE for Southern Cross and 2GB and 2CH for Macquarie.
The new company, provisionally called Sydney Radio Network will services including sales, commercial production, news, and technical support in what the partners term "non-sensitive areas" and they say that it will not "provide any services which would permit its officers or directors insight into, or participation in, significant decision making processes of each licensee" but it will substantially reduce operational costs.
Southern Cross Managing Director Tony Bell commented, "Whilst we remain fierce competitors with MRN, we are taking the opportunity to jointly access outsourced services in areas in which the stations currently have significant duplication of costs. It will, however, in no way affect the ongoing management and programming of 2UE."
Despite the comments by the companies about not affecting sensitive areas, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has called for further details of the plan especially as to how it might affect the "provision of news and advertising services on the radio stations concerned."
Previous ABA:
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2003-11-27: Interep chairman and CEO Ralph Guild has told the US "repping" industry's first teach-in - "Getting to Know National Radio & Repping" - that he predicts 8% - 9% growth for US radio next year, with major growth in six areas - Wireless/Telecom, Computer/Software, Automotive, Cable & Entertainment, Airlines, and the Internet as an advertising category.
The teach-in also heard Susquehanna Radio President and COO David Kennedy note that his company's national business, as a percentage of total revenue, has grown from the high-teens to over 20 percent from national radio billings that grew at a rate of 14% in the last four years in comparison to the market's 6% and the industry's 4% growth.
Kennedy told the event that Susquehanna had done its best to "establish a partnership with our rep firm, not just a contractual relationship," adding, "Clients' needs have become much more complex and our abilities to respond have become greater and more sophisticated. Fortunately for us, Interep has long been an innovator in that area."
Guild, fresh from Interep's failed bid to take over most of the staff of rival Katz Media (See RNW Nov 26) has also formally confirmed that it has withdrawn from an arrangement to raise USD 50 million in investment commitment from Boston Ventures, saying, "Due to the events of last week, we do not feel that additional funding of this magnitude is necessary at this time."
He added that Interep valued "the strong relationship that we have developed with Boston Ventures" and continued, "As additional opportunities develop, we look forward to their continued support."
Previous Guild:
Previous Interep:
2003-11-26: For the first time, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), has found a licensee unsuitable to hold a commercial radio licence, and has refused to renew the non-broadcasting services bands commercial radio licence of Cybervale Pty Ltd that expired yesterday.
Cybervale had operated 6GS Wagin in Western Australia on 1611kHz, just outside the AM band, and the decision only affects its use of the band as Cybervale will be able to use the frequency for other purposes such as narrowcasting.
In June, in what was the first radio licence suspension in its history, the ABA suspended the licence for 14 days after finding that it had breached a condition of its licence relating to audited annual returns (See RNW June 3).
This was followed by an investigation into Cybervale concerning notifications made ownership and control of the licence, which followed notification in March 2002 that Cybervale was 'taking over all future business activities of Great Southern Broadcasters Radio 6GS Pty Ltd' to whom the licence had been issued in 1998.
The investigation found various breaches and omissions concerning those with beneficial ownership of the licensee.
In making its ruling, the ABA noted that the 6GS commercial service has been off air since early June this year due to a transmitter problem and adds once this problem is fixed Cybervale will be able to use the frequency to provide a different type of radio service; it also noted that decision does not affect the operation of Cybervale's narrowcasting service Radio 6GS on 1422 kHz in Wagin.
Commenting on the decision ABA chairman Professor David Flint said, "This is the first time the ABA has found a licensee not suitable to hold a commercial radio licence. The ABA takes very seriously the manner in which every licensee complies with its obligations under the [Broadcasting Services Act 1992 ] Act."
Previous ABA:
Previous Flint:
2003-11-26: Conservative US radio host Rush Limbaugh was on Monday pushed into defending himself against charges of being a hypocrite for demanding tough sentences for drug users while himself was taking black-market pain killer drugs.
Limbaugh was ambushed by caller "Mike from Miami" who, after commenting on a congressional cote, suddenly added, "How do you equate hypocrisy and addiction, pillhead?"
Limbaugh responded by commenting on the original congressional vote and then said the show was prepared for crank callers before moving on.
Later in the show, however, he returned to the issue of hypocrisy, saying [quotes courtesy of Limbaugh's own transcript on his site], "…it's not hypocritical because my behaviour doesn't determine the value of right and wrong. Nobody's does. I mean right and wrong, there are absolutes of right and wrong. And there are people who waver from right and do wrong, and I'm one of them… It doesn't change what right and wrong are… You know, a lot of people say, "Rush, you're too rigid. This right and wrong business, you have to understand there's a lot of grey area out there." And those are people who wish to be exempt from any moral judgment, and so they are taking the occasion of my story to try to weaken the whole concept of right and wrong by taking shots at me. And let them do that. They can do it all they want. And whatever I did, I did, but it doesn't change what right and wrong are, which I think is the real objective of people who are taking this opportunity."
Limbaugh then went on to attack former President Clinton and make other attacks concerning "liberals" attitude to defence and concluded, "I do think that that's what this is primarily all about which is why I am not going to admit to being hypocritical about anything here, because if I were to admit that I'm a hypocrite, then I'm going to be disqualified from being able to say what I think is right and wrong. I'm not going to give that up."
"I'm not going to let anybody take that away from me, so that's my answer to this. There's some e-mails coming in and we had this prank phone call earlier about it and I just decided that I wanted to tackle it and tell you what I really think is going on with all this. Just so you can be aware of what the real motivation is."
RNW comment: Taking first the Merriam Webster definition of hypocrisy as "a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion" a strict reading lets Limbaugh of the hook as far as a dissonance between comment and behaviour is concerned.
If however, the definition is put into the context of someone who is claiming virtue as far as telling the truth is concerned, then we think the charge is justified as far as Limbaugh is concerned even if he is too bigoted and blinkered to be able to see it.
We await with interest the decision of the authorities as regards a prosecution of Limbaugh on money-laundering charges in relation to his drug purchases and rather hope they'll go ahead since the logic of many of Limbaugh's past comments would suggest they would be derelict in their duty not to do so.
In the meantime, either Limbaugh did or did not put pressure on his housekeeper to purchase drugs illegally as was alleged in the original National Enquirer report. If he did, he presumably thinks it wrong and also that it would be wrong to deny it and that the authorities should prosecute in such cases. If he's being honest, a prosecution would give him full opportunity to clear his name -he can certainly afford the best lawyers - and he'll come out strengthened and declared not guilty. If found guilty, then, as he himself might well comment of others, " jail the bum."
Previous Limbaugh:
Limbaugh web site (Currently carries Limbaugh comments about hypocrisy):
2003-11-26: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied an appeal by Entercom against its decision to refuse to keep confidential material on a CD from the company of a programme that was the subject of an indecency complaint against KNRK-FM, Camas, Washington State.
Entercom had requested that the material be kept confidential when it supplied the recording but the FCC held that it had not made its case for confidentiality.
In upholding the refusal, against which Entercom had appealed, the FCC noted that its confidentiality rules are designed to protect against the disclosure of competitively sensitive material such as financial records, trade secrets and personnel records.
It ruled that Entercom had not, as required, demonstrated "by a preponderance of the evidence that the material for which confidentiality is requested falls within one of the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") exemptions" and said the fact that Entercom had supplied a recording that covered more than the material complained about was not relevant to a call for confidentiality for material that had been broadcast.
RNW comment: In this case the simple answer seems the sensible one in most cases: If it's been broadcast is can't then be considered confidential and any attempt to have a broadcast subsequently declared confidential should be refused unless there are truly exceptional circumstances such as further dissemination of a libel or potentially serious consequences from the rebroadcast as could happen if it had, for example, revealed details of weaknesses that had not been remedied in the security of a nuclear plant that would put the public at risk.
Previous Entercom:
Previous FCC:
2003-11-26: Paul Ross, best known as a TV editor and presenter, is to move into radio to present Chrysalis-owned LBC's Saturday morning show from the New Year; he replaces Matthew Wright who is to concentrate on TV work.
The move will put him up against his older brother Jonathan Ross, who hosts the BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning programme.
Previous BBC:
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous Jonathan Ross:
2003-11-25: The US radio "rep" companies war now seems to be definitively over with reports that not only are the Katz employees who moved over to Interep briefly now back with Katz but also the three former executives whose signing was announced by Interep last week (See RNW Nov 15)
Former Katz Radio Group President Steve Shaw, former Christal President Tucker Flood and former Katz Radio President Mark Gray, are to resume their duties at Clear Channel-owned Katz just after Christmas and Interep is reported to have ended its deal for in financing that it had arranged with Boston Ventures (See RNW Nov 15) since it no longer needs the level of financing that would have been necessary for its planned expansion.
Interep has now named Mike Agovino as co-President/co-COO of Interep; Agovino, a former president of Clear Channel Radio Sales, recently became vice president and general manager for the Spanish Broadcast System (SBS) in Los Angeles (see RNW Nov 1)and he will remain based in Los Angeles, but reporting to Interep chairman and CEO Ralph Guild.
His appointment coincides with an eight-year extension of SBS's national representation deal with Interep, foreshadowed earlier this month (See RNW Nov 13).
Marko Radlovic, former Vice President / General Manager of SBS Los Angeles stations KLAX-FM, KXOL-FM and KZAB-FM/KZBA-FM, who was promoted earlier this month to the newly created corporate position of Chief Revenue Officer will continue to oversee the stations until a successor to Agovino is appointed.
Rumours are that the returns are being accompanied by significant pay rises for those involved although previously they had been told they would not be getting rises next year or bonuses this year.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Guild:
Previous Interep:
Previous Katz:
Previous SBS:
2003-11-25: Two more sets of UK radio results, those of UBC Media and the Wireless Group, have shown healthy increases in revenues over recent months as have other results we have reported on recently.
The greatest increase was for the Wireless Group, whose revenues were up 24% on a year ago in the period from September to November, and whose flagship TalkSport station increased revenues by 28% in September and 42% in October when it began coverage of the seven weeks of Rugby World Cup that ended this week. For November it reported a rise of 38%.
The Wireless Group's 13 local radio stations also saw significant increases with revenues up 11% in September, 23% in October and 19% in November.
The company said that as well as a boost from the rugby competition and the return of Premiere league soccer, it was helped by a general improvement in advertising and could also have benefited from its self-commissioned electronic meter ratings from Gfk Media, which show TalkSport with a far higher audience share than it is given under the official diary-based RAJAR system (See RNW Oct 16).
The group's chairman and chief Kelvin MacKenzie, who has been pushing for the introduction of metered ratings, said the " very strong performance figures speak for themselves…"The sales director is whistling, which is always a good sign."
At UBC Media, which owns national digital radio stations One Word and Classic Gold as well as producing content for other stations, turnover for the first half of its fiscal year was up 31% to GBP6 .51 million (USD 11 million) and pre-tax losses were cut by 26% to GBP 758,000 (USD 1.285 million).
It turned a loss before goodwill and development spending a year earlier of GBP 24,000 (USD 40,700) into a profit of GBP 152,000USD 257,000)
UBC was helped by the launch of the AA Roadwatch traffic update service, with sales at its commercial division more than doubled at GBP 2.39 million ( USD 4.05 million).
Chief executive Simon Cole said it had been "a tough year in the sector, marked by disappointment and pessimism", but added that performance was in line with expectations and after a strong advertising month in September it expected to benefit from a sustained recovery.
UBC said its analogue stations held steady although they were in a declining market and its
The group said its Classic Gold Digital brand continued to perform strongly, with revenues in the half year up 5% to GBP 2.4 million (USD 4.1 million) with profits at its national network of radio stations based on the Classic Gold digital and analogue formats up 28.7% to GBP 665,000 ( USD 1.13 million).
Cole also said UBC looked forward to returns from the group's long-term investment in digital radio, commenting, "The entire radio industry is now alive to the opportunities in digital radio - opportunities in which we have carefully been investing for the last three years."
He also anticipated strong digital receiver sales, saying, "There's no doubt that digital radio is going to be the Christmas present of the year."
Revenues from Unique, UBC's production arm, were up revenues were up 6% to GBP 1.19 million (USD 2.02 million) and UBC also announced that Unique has signed a three-year deal to provide radio services to bingo club chain Gala.
Unique has also recently announced that it had been commissioned to produce eight documentaries, covering subjects including Asian Rap, Going to College, South Africa 10 years after apartheid, African football and disability in the black community, from the BBC's Digital Station, 1 Xtra.
It has, however also just lost its commission to produce the re-launched Hit 40 chart for independent radio stations (See RNW Nov 12), but said the loss would be "immaterial" to this year's financial performance.
Previous Cole:
Previous Mackenzie:
Previous UBC:
Previous Wireless Group:
2003-11-25: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is reported to be investigating Clear Channel's operations in San Diego where it owns eight stations and also has operating agreements with four Mexican stations that serve the market.
The San Diego Reader reports that two Clear Channel employees confirmed that on November 12, DOJ staffers were at the San Diego Clear Channel headquarters to collect evidence regarding a federal investigation regarding monopolistic activity and restraint of trade.
Clear Channel says it does not operate in any anti-competitive way and its Sr. VP Government Affairs Andy Levin said the enquiry is routine adding that it began in summer and the company was fully cooperating.
Levin said the DOJ was asking for documents to see if anything was wrong and "If they think there is, you'll probably hear about it. The problem is, if there isn't anything wrong, you probably won't hear anything about it."
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Levin:
San Diego Reader:
2003-11-25: Yahoo's Launch continued to narrow the gap on leader AOL in the Arbitron Internet Broadcast Rratings for October, while newcomer, Educational Media Foundation's K-Love Contemporary Christian station retained second place in the station rankings behind MUSIMATCH, which kept its top spot. Overall listening was up at the top, but only slightly after taking the extra day in the month into account.
The top five stations for October were (September figures in brackets):
1: Internet only artist-match MUSICMATCH (non-commercial) - TTSL 3,094,250 (2,972,685); CP 744,044 (673,624). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: K-LOVE Contemporary Christian (non-commercial) - TTSL 1,420,311 (1,259,669); CP 126,897 (111,751). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
3: AOL Top Country (commercial) - TTSL 1,264,164 (1,211,885); CP 397,655 (354,798). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
4: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin Radio (commercial) - TTSL 1,192,445 (1,170,770); CP 163,441 (172,152). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
5: AOL Top Pop (commercial) - TTSL 1,143,552 (998,923); CP 555,966 (430,291) Up from sixth with higher listening and reach.
** AOL Smooth Jazz (commercial) fell from fifth to sixth with TTSL 1,129,522, up from 1,126,959 and CP 200,666 , up from 190,864.
The top five networks for October were (September figures in brackets):
1: AOL Radio Network (commercial) - TTSL 27,379,327 (26,050,947); CP 4,333,059 (3,850,491). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: Yahoo LAUNCH (commercial)- TTSL 18,311,876 (15,725,817); CP 2,498,962 (2,130,136). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
3: MUSICMATCH Inc. (non-commercial) TTSL 9,378,479 (8,432,371); CP 1,537,326 (1,393,128). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
4: Adsertion (sales network) -TTSL 5,357,224 (4,774,733); CP 433,295 (379,779). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
5: Virgin Radio (Commercial) - TTSL 2,358,331 (2,061,693); CP 250,333 (236,915). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
Arbitron is not now ranking content delivery networks but it does list the top two --
Live365.com, which had a TTSL of 11,352,734 hours, up from 10,551,161 in September, and StreamGuys with a TTSL of 2,390,014 hours, up from 2,219,870.
Previous Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings:
Previous Arbitron Internet Broadcast monthly ratings:
2003-11-24: We just couldn't resist the temptation this week to lead off our look at print comment on radio with a couple of comments about the returned-to-the-airwaves unabashed Rush Limbaugh, who may yet find his career curtailed should money laundering charges be brought against him (See RNW Nov 20).
One came from the Washington Post in the form of advice from former alcoholic Mark Gauvreau Judge that Limbaugh should not, as he seemed to have indicated he would, allow recovery to remain the centre of his life.
Judge writes, after references to Alcoholics Anonymous's 12-steps programme, "As someone once addicted to alcohol, I've logged many hours in the rooms. I've heard lots of self-aggrandizing stories of debauchery, which are common in the recovery culture."
"In most of these stories, individuals battle addiction to arrive at the truth that the world doesn't revolve around them -- yet often they still manage to make themselves the centre of the universe. They spend years of their lives in a stupor of addiction; then, once sober, they spend years of their lives talking about it."
In his case, Judge says, "I escaped that hell [of addiction], thanks largely to A.A. After a few years, however, I got tired of telling my story. It seemed -- it was -- years ago, something I had put behind me. I stopped craving alcohol. I could meet friends in bars and it didn't bother me…I had found a higher power. It turned out to be the Catholic Church…"
Limbaugh, of course, often seems to portray himself as a higher power, or as headlined in a Chicago Sun-Times column by Mary Mitchell, "Limbaugh may be off drugs, but he's on his high horse."
Mitchell notes that she wasn't one of those awaiting El Rushbo's return to the airwaves, indeed exercised her freedom not to listen.
Instead she followed the news accounts, which led her to comment, "Now that he's been in the valley, would he use his power to help pull others out?"
"Of course not."
"Why should he? He's doing just fine. He still has his radio show. He still has his $24 million oceanfront mansion. He still ranks right up there with 1 percent of the wage earners in this country."
"Is he a hypocrite? Probably not, because addicts don't see themselves as addicts. "
"As any addict would tell you, when people are abusing drugs, they are always hiding their real selves. How would I know that? Well, to be honest, I've dealt with enough addicts in my own family to know their moves. There's not much difference between addicts who snort, shoot up or pop pills, although many of us would like to see it that way."
And then, in a polite way, she really put the boot in, writing, "All addicts are notorious liars. They have to be in order to hide their sickness from people who care about them -- not to mention those who don't give a darn…
"Between 1995 and five weeks ago, the time Limbaugh said he was an addict, the man must have told a whole lot of lies."
"'I've not been a phoney here,' he told his audience on Monday. 'I've not been artificial on the program. I was all of that elsewhere. I was all that other places, but not here.'"
"He also said "he avoided the subject of drugs" on his program, despite the fact that the quip most quoted while he was laid up in rehab was about drugs. "
Mitchell then continued, "As tainted as it is, Limbaugh has his image to uphold. Obviously, it wouldn't be good for business if the rooster came off looking like your average chickenhead. Because Limbaugh has mastered the art of manipulating the masses, he knows his celebrity status and drug of choice distance him from other drug abusers. "
"Most people can relate to the "ordeal" of getting hooked on a prescription drug and forgive the means by which those illegal drugs are obtained. But fewer people can relate to the life circumstances that have led millions to abuse street drugs. Those conditions -- neglect, sexual abuse, violence, mental illness, and depression -- are far less palatable."
"But a backache or dislocated disc? That's another matter."
…" Accusers claim Limbaugh used his former maid as a drug mule to make his buys. If that's true, he should be treated like other small-time drug dealers. Maybe after he gets out of prison, listeners would really see a changed man.."
…"Palm Beach County officials have said that Limbaugh's drug use is still under investigation, and fair-minded people in that town ought to make sure those officials don't flush the toilet on this one."
"I don't expect Limbaugh to come clean about how he acquired illegal drugs for eight years, but police officials should go after this drug conspiracy as aggressively as they go after other drug conspiracies."
So having put Limbaugh into context, on to a far greater man who also had back problems along with other medical ones- and took to both drugs and women.
The man of course is John Fitzgerald Kennedy, assassinated in Dallas 40 years ago, and the subject of numerous retrospectives. Two worth a listen - and still available online from BBC Radio 4 were "Secrets at Camelot " presented by Anthony Howard and The Archive Hour's "Something is terribly wrong", presented by Alan Thompson.
The former was a "warts and all" evaluation of Kennedy's Presidency and the latter a documentary using archive recordings and more recent interviews, including some memorable comments from Nellie Connally, widow of the late Texas Governor John B Connally who was injured in the Dallas shooting, and who recounted how she turned to the President shortly before the fatal shots were fired and commented of the crowds cheering him, "Mr President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you."
Kennedy like Limbaugh had medical problems, in the President's case including the potentially fatal Addison's disease, prostatitis, urethritis, sinusitis, spastic colitis and, back problems. His response wasn't so much painkillers as sex and other drugs: he once confided to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan that if he didn't have sex for three days he got a headache, and Frank Sinatra's valet, George Jacobs, recounted walking into Kennedy's guest suite in Sinatra's Palm Springs mansion to find the President and his brother in-law Peter Lawford, laughing wildly, and being told, "'It's all right, George. 'The white powder is medication for my bad back."
As well as cocaine, Kennedy was also well known to have indulged in numerous affairs including those with Marilyn Monroe and an 18-year-old intern called Mimi. There were also two young women on the staff, known as Fiddle and Faddle, and on one occasion, while showing a reporter from Paris Match around the White House, Jackie opened the door of the Oval Office, saw one of them and said in French: 'This young woman is supposed to be sleeping with my husband.'
In contrast to the warts and all as above and the Thompson documentary, BBC Radio 2 went more for hagiography in The JFK Generation, presented by Martin Sheen, in which various famous showbiz personalities including Janet Leigh, Harry Belafonte, and Joan Baez heaped praise on Kennedy.
RNW note: If you like sugar and schmaltz - and more sounds from the time - go for Radio 2; for facts and meat, Radio 4.
Previous Columnists:
BBC "Listen Again" web site (Links to audio of BBC Radio 4 programmes available on demand including the two Kennedy programmes referred to.
Also available for a week is the Staurday Play, the new production of Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood we referred to last week -- follow this link.
BBC Radio 2 - the JFK Generation).
Chicago Sun-Times - Mitchell:
Toronto Star - Burrill:
Washington Post - Judge:
2003-11-24: US Catholic-oriented talk format non-profit Starboard Broadcasting is about to expand in the Chicago area with the conversion on November 26 of WWCA-AM, a former Indiana gospel station it bought for USD 1.5 million from Willis Broadcasting in the summer of last year, into a full time outlet for its "Relevant Radio" programming.
At the start of next month it is also to expand its programming on Newsweb Corporation's time-brokered WCSN-AM from two hours a day to a full sunrise to sunset slot.
In January this year Starboard was in a USD 3.25 million cash deal to purchase community news and sports format WJOB-AM, Hammond, from the receivers of St George Broadcasting's but this ran into local opposition (See RNW February 7) and the station was subsequently sold last month this year, along with full service WIMS-AM, Michigan City, to Vazquez Development.
John Bitting, Eastern region president of Starboard, told Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times there had been "overwhelming" demand from listeners in the Chicago area to expand programming on WCSN. WWCA's signal boosts coverage to south Chicago and northwest Indiana.
Starboard, which now boasts 14 stations, has grown from a single AM acquired in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in October 2000.
Previous Feder:
Previous Starboard:
Chicago Sun-Times -Feder column:
2003-11-24: The BBC has now launched a new campaign to promote its UK digital radio stations - it began at the weekend with a poster campaign and will be followed up with TV, radio, and online from next weekend and run to the end of the year.
Created by the Fallon ad agency, the campaign continues the theme of the BBC's first digital promotion campaign - a humorous view of the lengths people will go to in order to listen to the radio.
The BBC says its first campaign significantly increased awareness of the medium and adds that people enjoyed the humour of the adverts.
Also boosting digital radio in the run-up to Christmas is the MXR commercial digital radio consortium, which ahs launched a new DAB dedicated website - www.buydigitialradio.com - that will offer the latest DAB digital radios made by leading brands.
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2003-11-23: Last week was in general a low key one for most of the regulators with only a steady level of radio-related activity.
Australia was quiet on the radio front, although the country's commercial broadcasters, who have attacked the way the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) is handling digital radio trials, has now backed up its complaints with the issue of its wish list for digital radio (See RNW Nov 20).
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has again been involved in various issues of new licences, renewals and amendments. They included approval of a new trans-Canada English-language religious specialty service, The National Youth (Radio) Network, to be made available in both analogue and digital formats.
Local decisions, in order of province, included:
Alberta:
Approval of additional extension until 12 September 2004 for Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. to commence operation of its station in Calgary; this is the third extension granted
Approval of a new 125 watts English-language community-based campus FM radio station in Lethbridge; this application was opposed by Spirit Broadcasting Ltd., the licensee of CJTS-FM Lethbridge, a low-power English-language specialty radio station that offers a Christian contemporary music format and that said the new station would have a negative effect upon it.
British Columbia:
*Approval of new 4.9 watts Community-based campus FM radio station in Kamloops; this will replace developmental campus radio station CFBX-FM.
*Approval of an English-language specialty audio undertaking to be known as C-VUE FM and to be distributed to residents of the Sechelt region.
Ontario:
*Approval of acquisition by the Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. of the assets of low-power stations CJWL-FM, Iroquois Falls, and CHPB-FM, Cochrane.
*Approval of request by oldies station CKDO-AM, Oshawa, to broadcast a lower level of Canadian popular music than the normal 35%; the CRTC permits a reduction to 30% for this format.
*Approval of a transitional digital radio undertaking (DRU) to serve Toronto associated with CHKT-AM, Toronto.
Quebec:
*Approval of power increase from 3,000 watts to 9,750 watts for CFNJ-FM Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon. The proposed change is intended to offer a better signal in the Lanaudière area and at the east side of Mauricie and will change the CFNJ-FM transmitter from Class A to Class B1.
Ireland was quiet on the radio front but in the UK the Radio Authority, winding up its duties before becoming part of the new Ofom regulator, published its assessment of two recent awards.
In the case of the new Glasgow FM licence that went to Saga against competition from 12 other applicants (See RNW Nov 7), Saga is offering a format of easy listening music and a relatively high speech level aimed at those aged over 50, and the Authority panel said this catered for a large section of the population "less well served by the area's existing Independent Local Radio stations."
It added. "Saga had made genuine use of research in tailoring its proposed output to cater for the tastes and interests of listeners in Glasgow."
The Authority also published its assessment of the award on the same day of the Plymouth/Cornwall digital multiplex to the sole applicant South West Digital Radio Ltd., a newly-formed company whose shareholders are Now Digital Ltd. and UKRD Group Ltd.
The panel said the applicant offered a "viable business plan" and had demonstrated a reasonable level of local support. It added that members "recognized the difficulties of attracting programme providers to digital multiplexes in areas with limited population coverage, and considered that a good start had been made with the provision of a variety of services."
The new regulator, Ofcom, meanwhile has begun issuing its own releases, the latest of which concerned consultation on plans to allow spectrum trading (See RNW Nov 20).
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued its latest quarterly complaints and inquires report, which showed a massive jump in indecency complaints over the previous quarter (See RNW Nov 21).
It has also decided, because of problems with its database, to extend until December 8 the deadline for license renewal applications and annual EEO reports for stations in Alabama and Georgia, and for ownership report submissions for stations in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont. Petitions to deny a license renewal application for a station in Alabama or Georgia will now be due 90 days from release of the FCC public notice announcing acceptance of the application for filing.
The FCC enforcement bureau has confirmed a USD 11,000 penalty relating to failure to have an operational Emergency Alert System deficiencies and register its tower on an Alabama AM (See RNW Nov 18).
The FCC has also given notice of a hearing to decide whether an amateur radio operator, and licensee of Amateur Radio Station W5EBC, should lose his licence following his 1998 conviction for the murder of his wife.
Previous ABA:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Ofcom:
ABA web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site :
Ofcom web site:
2003-11-23: Capital Radio's London new music station Xfm, has appointed Nigel Harding as its new head of music to succeed Andy Ashton who has succeeded Andrew Phillips as the station's programme controller (See RNW Nov 6).
Harding has been at the station for around 18months; before that he promoted bands at Alan James PR.
Previous Ashton:
Previous Capital:
2003-11-23: Sirius has re-united three KROQ-FM veterans who pioneered alternative music in Los Angeles in the early 1980s with daily shows on the Sirius Classic Alternative stream, First Wave.
They are Richard Blade, who was with KROQ for 18 years and was the first US DJ to play such artists as Duran Duran, English Beatr, and Billy Idol; Freddie Snakeskin who was among the original staff members of the KROQ Los Angeles alternative format and spent 12 years at KROW where he hosted every time slot and was program director for two years; and Swedish Egil, a 10 year KROQ veteran who spearheaded a number of the station's specialty shows, including Reggae Revolution, New American Rock.
Previous Sirius:
2003-11-22: The latest quarterly report on consumer complaints and inquiries released by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shows complaints increasing in all major areas except cable with the largest increase within radio and broadcasting and a massive leap in indecency and obscenity complaints from 351 in the previous quarter to 19,920.
The increase came in each month with 5,552 complaints in July, 8,876 in August and 5,492 came in September compared to totals of 47 in April, 62 in May and 242 in June.
Inquiries by contrast fell with the largest fall in radio and broadcasting where they almost halved, dropping from 6,014 to 3,244.
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC Complaints report:
2003-11-22: BBC World Service is today broadcasting a special HIV/Aids Concert, hosted by actor Sir Ian McKellen and featuring amongst other artists Oliver Mtukudzi and the Black Spirits from Zimbabwe, Malian singer Rokia Traoré, poet and author Veronique Tadjo from South Africa, UK hit singer-songwriter Daniel Bedingfield, Russian violinist Vadim Repin, accompanied on piano by Itamar Golan, and virtuoso Chinese musician Liu Fang.
Oliver Mtukudzi, who opens and closes the Concert, says his brother and several band members have died as a result of Aids, commenting. "As an artist I feel we have a responsibility, we are a mouthpiece for the nation. If we are to stop the spread of this disease, if we are to conquer this disease, it has to start with us men because we are the head of the family."
Rokia Traoré says parents should talk to their children more openly about sex and sexually transmitted diseases and adds that she talks to teenagers regularly about HIV/Aids and is told by many that girls who carry protection are often stigmatised as bad girls with many boyfriends.
"I tell them it is better being a bad girl who is changing boyfriends than have Aids," she comments.
The is part of a season of special programming broadcast in 43 languages around the world on radio and online in the run up to World Aids Day on Monday 1 December.
The BBC World Service Trust in association with the Kaiser Family Foundation and Viacom is involved in a year-long campaign to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.
It will include short educational spots will be broadcast three times per day at peak listening hours in eight languages and a five-minute special call-in segment.
The target audience is 19-25 year-olds and the emphasis is on men, since they are the main drivers of the epidemic in this region. The spots will focus on three main issues: consistent condom use, risk assessment and stigma.
This effort in turn is part of a wider global effort on HIV/AIDS by the BBC World Service that began on November 16 in 43 languages.
Other activities include an international HIV/Aids communications forum in London next week in which the keynote speaker will be Dr Richard Feachem, Executive Director of The Global Fund - the Geneva based public-private partnership set up to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
The forum will also hear a recorded message from former United States President Bill Clinton in which he says AIDS is "not just a human health issue, it is also economic issue, a national security issue, an issue with global ramifications."
Dr Feecham says, "If we are to win the fight against Aids, we all need to change our behaviour."
"But behavioural change is political as well as personal. People won't change their behaviour until governments do."
"Governments must say Aids is a national and global threat. They must say unprotected sex is unacceptable and involuntary sex is inexcusable."
"They must say that those infected need our help, treatment and care - not our condemnation."
"They must say we can beat this pandemic, if we do the right things and invest enough resources."
Previous BBC:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
BBC World Service Trust web site:
Know Aids/HIV web site:
2003-11-22: Syndicated US radio host Dr Laura Schlessinger whose TV show was killed after demonstrations by lesbians and homosexuals who had been angered by her comments about them (See RNW April 1, 2002) is now in hot water with the US Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) over what it termed an "anti-Muslim tirade" on her Nov. 17 syndicated radio show.
CAIR said it received a number of complaints from Muslims who said Schlessinger's remarks crossed the line from legitimate commentary on terrorism to Islamophobic bigotry when she was talking to a mother who asked whether her 16-year-old daughter should take part in a Catholic High School class field trip to a local mosque.
The trip was to have the students in a "moral themes" class learn how "Muslims are treated" in America and Schlessinger responded, "This is a class on morals. What is the point of going to a mosque?...You're joking of course...How many Americans have tortured and murdered Muslims...I think you ought to stand up against this class and this teacher. This is despicable."
"You tell him you are willing to go to the mosque only if it is one that has done its best to route out terrorists in its midst...instead of complaining...I am horrified that you would let her go...I am so sick and tired of all the Arab-American groups whining and complaining about some kind of treatment...What culture and what religion were all the murderers of 9/11...they murdered us...That's the culture you want your daughter to learn about?"
CAIR says that when Schlessinger's extremist views have been confronted in the past, she has often responded by attacking the source of the challenge, instead of dealing with the substance of the complaints and Dr Laura's response on her web site does not tackle the complaint head on nor give any idea as to whether she made the remarks quoted by CAIR.
Instead she says that the purpose of the trip was "to find out how Moslems might be unfairly treated by Americans [RNW- significantly different to that given by CAIR] and that, "The mother was only asking about the head covering. She was concerned that her daughter going into the Mosque would have to cover her head."
Schlessinger also says people have to do a "proper job in listening…some people have misinterpreted my remarks …I pointed out that Moslems are safer here than in their countries of origin… it is the radical Moslems who are responsible for 9/11 and various attacks."
She then goes on to attack those who target innocent men and women , repeatedly says she does not know how "much more clarity she could give" and says she gets really angry when others get angry over what people have told them and that she herself has a staff to ensure that she has the facts before attacking anyone or anything.
RNW comment: Either the quotation given by CAIR is accurate or Dr Laura is ducking and weaving. If the comment," This is a class on morals. What is the point of going to a mosque?...You're joking of course" was not made, we would have expected her to have stated this. Our view listening to her response is that the woman is either bigoted to the extent she is unable to grasp the complaint made or fundamentally dishonest. In her response she says, "I would personally appreciate if people would not get on to easy side arguments…." and then goes on to attack those she considers evil. Perhaps as this is a response to the original, she should take her own advice to heart.
Previous Dr Laura:
CAIR News release:
Dr Laura web site - currently has link to audio of her response.
2003-11-22: American University public station WAMU-FM in Washington, DC, had a deficit of USD 2.3 million in its fiscal year to the end of April 2003 according to audited reports released by the station; the accounts, audited by KPMG show its assets of USD 4.5 million at the end of April 2002 had been reduced to USD 2.7 million a year later and it now owes the university just under USD 490,000.
General operations, shown as USD 1.98 million in the back at the end of April 2002 are now in the red to the tune of just under USD 290,000.
The Washington Post reports that staff and donors, who were expecting a deficit, were unprepared for its size and quotes Michael MacLeod, a member of the WAMU community council, as saying,"I am absolutely appalled by this deficit… I don't know what to say."
WAMU has just ousted Susan Clampitt from her job as executive director of the station (See RNW Nov 1) amid attacks from donors, current and former staff members, and volunteers about her management of the station's finances and manner of handling staff relationships and NPR talk-show host Diane Rehm, a leading critic of the Clampitt administration, said, "We knew things were bad, we just didn't know how bad they were."
The station is currently being overseen by David Taylor, chief of staff to AU President Benjamin Ladner, who stressed that the station remains solvent with the financial support of the university.
"This is not the first time there have been losses at this station," Taylor said. "It's fundamental to understand that the university will backstop these current losses."
Another critic Forbes Maner, one of several former WAMU donors who have been asking the university for an accounting of the station's spending, told the paper, "I saw the annual report and I'm not sure what I have to say about it can be printed in the newspaper. It's a real surprise. I think it's scandalous."
Clampitt herself in an e-mail to the paper described her management plan as being a long-term strategy and said the decision to continue with it despite deficits was one endorsed b