January 2004 Archive
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December 2003
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February 2004 
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 - Suggests that convergence in media is a delusion when it comes to programming since human senses have not changed even if the signal if just a data stream en route to the eyes and ears.
RNW December comment - Looks at our wish list for 2004.
RNW November comment - Looks at the relationship between regulatory penalties and the importance attached to things.
2004-01-31: Citadel is expanding its Tennessee holdings with a USD100 million purchase of Barnstable Broadcasting's Memphis Radio Group comprising four FMs - country format WGKX-FM (KIX 106), smooth jazz WJZN-FM, Classic Hits WSRR-FM (The Cat) and Urban Oldies WRBO-FM.
Citadel already owns stations in Chattanooga, Johnson City and Nashville, and overall will now have some 210 stations.
In mid week, Citadel announced that it was putting 28 million of its shares up for sale, 8 million new shares and 20 million from stockholders, primarily affiliates of Forstmann Little & Co., which bought Citadel in 2001 but took it public again last year.
In addition, the Company said it expects to grant the underwriters- Credit Suisse First Boston LLC, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co - an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 4,200,000 shares from the Company. It said it intends to use all of its net proceeds to redeem a portion of its outstanding 6% subordinated debentures.
Citadel stock fell heavily on news of the sale and they ended the week at USD18.95, just below their USD 19 Initial Public Offering (IPO) price and a high since the IPO of USD 22.80.
In other US radio deals, Iowa-based NewRadio Group is buying news, talk and sports WFHR-AM and classic rock WGLX-FM-Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, from Bliss Communications for an undisclosed sum.
NewRadio already owns central Wisconsin stations in Marshfield and Stevens Point and its CEO Mary Quass said, "We're delighted to have the opportunity to add these great radio stations to our current group and to continue to build a strong relationship with the communities and their listeners... The addition of WFHR and WGLX is a logical fit."
NewRadio is to operate the stations under a time-brokerage agreement until the deal gets FCC approval.
Wayne Ripp, general manager of the Marshfield and Stevens Point stations and future manager of the Wisconsin Rapids stations, told the Ironwood (Michigan) Daily Globe, which is owned by Bliss, that the deal "just made sense. These stations have a great tradition of broadcasting and do great local radio. They just believed in a lot of the same things we did, and they're great broadcasters and staff members."
There will be some minor changes behind the scenes, but the staff members and radio programs will not change, Ripp added.
Previous Citadel:
Previous NewRadio:
Previous Quass:
Ironwood Daily Globe report:
2004-01-31: According to the UK Telegraph, SMG is challenging the latest UK ratings on the basis that RAJAR's diary system was under-represented amongst the key demographic of males aged 15 to 35 for its Virgin Radio channel.
The ratings showed that Virgin had lost audience in the final quarter of last year (See RNW Jan 30)
RAJAR had already said it was taking steps to deal with the problem of this demographic (See RNW Jan 24), which is also high amongst the audience for talkSPORT whose owner the Wireless Group has been challenging the RAJAR figures and also sponsored alternative meter ratings from GfK Media.
Previous RAJAR:
Previous SMG:
Previous Wireless Group:
UK Telegraph report:
2004-01-31: Eastlan Resources, which earlier this month made its first radio ratings foray outside the US with a ratings deal in Montreal (See RNW Jan 21), has now added Gainesville, Florida, its first top 100 market.
Gainesville will also be Eastlan's first continuously rated market starting with this spring's survey.
Previous Eastlan:
2004-01-31: Former Hawaiian radio DJ Michael Saragosa, who broadcast as Wili Moku, has died aged 47 when his heart stopped during a dialysis session.
He began his radio in 1975 running errands at KORL-AM and by the end of the year, he had a show of his own after which he moved to KKUA-AM in the early 1980s and finally to KQMQ-FM, where he worked for 13-years. He also co-hosted "AJI Magic City," Japan's No. 1 weekend show.
He left the islands in the late 1990s and in California his Moku's health failed and doctors had to amputate his legs and two of his fingers. He returned to Hawaii in 2000 and went public with his disease to bring more awareness to diabetes.
John Matthews, program director for Oldies 107.9 (Cox's KGMZ AM/FM), where Moku had been for the past two years on a Sunday evening show, told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, "He could do it all. He could be wild. He could be charming. He could be funny as hell. It all matched the tempo of the show."
Star-Bulletin report:
2004-01-30: A clampdown on "indecent" broadcasts in the US now seems to be on the cards following yesterday's hearing on the matter by the Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications at which a letter of support signed by Commerce Secretary Donald Evans for a bill that would increase penalties tenfold was distributed.
The proposal has also been publicly backed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael K. Powell who is also amongst those calling for a reconsideration of a ruling that singer Bono's use of the F-word during the Golden Globe Awards show was not in breach of the commission's rules. The FCC enforcement bureau had said there should not be a penalty because the word was not used in a sexual context.
The sub-committee chairman Michigan republican Rep. Fred Upton had also raised the potential of licence revocation with a comment suggesting the FCC could adopt a "three strikes and you're off'' rule (See RNW Jan 29).
No one had opposed the bill during the sub-committee hearings although concern about First Amendment issues was raised.
FCC enforcement bureau chief David Solomon had told the hearing that since Powell became chairman in January 2001 the commission had issued fines totalling USD 1.4 million compared to a total of USD 850,000 in fines over the previous seven years.
Previous FCC:
Previous Powell:
Previous Solomon:
2004-01-30: Around a thousand BBC staff on Thursday staged protests at the resignation of Director-General Greg Dyke in the wake of severe criticism of the corporation in the Hutton report on the death of scientist Dr David Kelly, who committed suicide after being revealed as the source of a BBC story that said the British government had "sexed up" intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before the attack on the country.
The report exonerated British Prime Minister Tony Blair and had already led to the resignation of BBC chairman Gavyn Davies.
Amongst the protests, one small station went silent for a minute to protest both the resignation and the unreserved apology by acting chairman, Lord Ryder, on behalf of the board of governors, who also confirmed the appointment of Greg Dyke's recently appointed deputy, Mark Byford, as acting director general.
Staff at Somerset Sound decided to end the afternoon show early and go to silence in protest.
Assistant Editor Simon Clifford said: "Staff said they felt flat, deflated, shell-shocked and wanted to make their point. We may be a small station and it may have been a small protest but it was heartfelt."
"We took a carefully thought-out protest designed to make a point while having minimal impact on the licence-fee payer. Staff were upset and saw this as a way to make a protest. We immediately received messages of support from the public."
Previous BBC:
Previous Byford:
Previous Davies:
Previous Dyke:
2004-01-30: A technical problem stopped the US Federal Communication Commission's planned web cast of its hearing on localism in San Antonio on Wednesday although the commission says, "an archived version of the hearing will be available in the near future."
The hearing was broadcast live on digital channel 5.2 by KENS, channel 5 in San Antonio and on channel News 9 San Antonio.
The latter reported that there were a number of comments that the commission was perceived as unfairly singling out San Antonio-headquartered radio giant Clear Channel for criticism and saying it should be re-directed to the big TV networks. There were also demonstrations outside against Clear Channel and inside concerning its practice of voice tracking, which one speaker said many announcers couldn't even give the weather at a particular time because the show had been pre-recorded hours earlier in a distant city.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous FCC:
2004-01-30: Latest official UK radio ratings from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) for the final quarter of 2003 show BBC Radio 1 continuing to lose listeners and Radio 2 to gain them; it has more than double the listening share of Radio 1 and had a weekly audience of 13.15 million, only a little down from its record of 13.26 million.
The BBC had a strong quarter overall, taking its share of listening up from 51.8% the previous quarter and 52.5% a year ago to 52.9% but commercial fared less well with its share down from 46.2% the previous quarter and 45.5% a year ago to 45.3%.
Within the commercial sector the figures gave hope for Capital FM in London which is shown as regaining its crown from Chrysalis-owned Heart-FM; there was cold comfort for the Wireless Group whose flagship talkSPORT station was shown as losing 500,000 listeners a week over the year, ending up with 1.87 million. It did better in the final quarter, losing only 38,000 listeners a week compared to the previous quarter.
The ratings were reflected on the markets where Capital ended the day up 4.28% at 548 pence whilst Chrysalis was down 2.73% to 240.25 pence and GWR, whose Classic FM channel lost 253,000 listeners a week, was down 3.73% at 284 pence. Wireless Group stock was unchanged.
The Radio 1 findings are in line with those from GfK's unofficial ratings (See RNW Jan 29) but the unofficial ratings, sponsored by the Wireless Group, show talkSPORT doing much better.
Commenting on the figures for the BBC, Jenny Abramsky, Director of Radio & Music, said, "Overall radio listening is increasing in the UK which is really good news, showing the strength of radio in this country. Every quarter there are new stations coming on air, but we are heartened by the continued good performance of BBC Radio."
In year-on-year terms, BBC Radio 1 lost more than a million listeners weekly - down from 10.51 to 9.44 million with share down from 8,4% to 7.7%; BBC Radio 2 was down slightly in reach - from 13.26 million to 13.15 million - but increased its listening share from 15.8% to 16%; BBC Radio 3's reach was slightly up - from 2.15 million to 2.19 million with share up to 1.4% from 1.2%; BBC Radio 4's reach was down from 9.80 million to 9.51 million with share unchanged at 11.5% and BBC Radio Five Live, including numbers for digital sister station Five Live Sports Extra, had a reach up from 6.15 million and 4.7% share compared to 6.27 million and 4.7% a year ago when there were no digital figures.
For the main commercial networks the figures were all down - Classic FM's reach went from 6.657 million to 6.210 million with share unchanged at 4.3%, talkSPORT's reach was down from 2.415 million to 1.866 million with share down from 1.7% to 1.4% and Virgin's reach, for AM and FM, was down from 2.817 million to 2.574 million with share down from 1.6% to 1.4%.
Within the figures, compared to the previous quarter:
*BBC Radio 1 lost 411,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 9.85 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 20%, and a listening share of 7.7%, down from 8%.
*BBC Radio 2 gained 548,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 13.15 million, a weekly reach of 27%, up from 26%, and a listening share of 16%, up from 15%.
*BBC Radio 3 lost 22,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 2.192 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 5%, and a listening share of 1.4%, up from 1.2%.
*BBC Radio 4 lost 12,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 9.513 million, a weekly reach of 20%, as before, and a listening share of 11.5 %, up from 11.3 %.
*BBC Radio 5 Live gained 409,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 6.125 million, a weekly reach of 13%, up from 12%, and a listening share of 4.4%, up from 4.2%.
*BBC World Service lost 52,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 1.296 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 3%, and a listening share down from 0.7% to 0.6%.
*BBC Asian Network lost 42,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 453,000, an unchanged weekly reach of 1% and an 0.3% share, down from 0.4%.
On the commercial side for national networks:
*GWR's Classic FM lost 253,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 6.210 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 13%, and a listening share down from 4.5% to 4.3%.
*The Wireless Group's talkSPORT lost 38,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 1.866 million an unchanged weekly reach of 4% and a listening share of 1.4%, down from 1.5%.
*SMG-owned Virgin (total including all AM and FM) lost 281,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 2.574 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 6%, and a listening share of 1.4%, down from 1.7%.
Digital national commercial networks:
*Core, in its second ratings, had a weekly audience down from 162,000 to 98,000, too small for reach and share to be rated.
*Kerrang lost 142,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 722,000 a reach down from 2% to 1%, and an unchanged listening share of 0.2%.
*Oneword gained 5,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 64,00, too small for reach and share to be listed.
*Planet Rock in its second ratings had a weekly audience of 199,00, down from 247,000, a reach too small to be rated and an unchanged of 0.1%
*Q, in its second ratings, lost 175,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 378,000, an unchanged reach of 1% and an unchanged share of 0.1%.
*Smash Hits lost 226,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 751,000, an unchanged reach of 2%, and a listening share of 0.2%, down from 0.3%
*The Hits, in its second ratings, lost 212,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 824,00, an unchanged reach of 2% and a share down from 0.4% to 0.3%
*The Storm, in its second ratings, lost 3,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 74,000, to small for reach and share to be rated.
*Mean Country is no longer rated: The station was sold to Sunrise Radio
Previous Abramsky:
Previous BBC:
Previous Capital:
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous GWR (Classic FM owners):
Previous RAJAR:
Previous RAJAR ratings:
Previous SMG (Owns Virgin):
Previous Wireless Group (TalkSport owner):
RAJAR web site (links to quarterly reports):
2004-01-30: First Broadcasting Company is entering the Cincinnati market with the purchase of three stations, - WAXZ-FM, Georgetown, and WAOL-FM, Ripley, which are being bought for USD 4.06 million in cash from Plessinger Radio Group - and WOXY-FM, Oxford, which is being bought from Balogh Broadcasting Co. for £5.64 million. Doug and Linda Balogh bought the station in 1981 for USD 375,000.
The latter sale has aroused most comment because WOXY-FM, "97X The Future of Rock and Roll", is moving onto the Internet.
The format was changed to format to alternative rock in 1983, and made a national reputation for itself with its music mix and attacks on corporate radio conglomerates.
An announcement on the web site said, "We're a little stunned ourselves to announce the sale of WOXY to First Broadcasting Investment Partners of Dallas. The FCC approval process takes about three months, so the switch should occur sometime around May 1st. So that's a big change..."
"But! Our plans are to continue 97X The Future of Rock and Roll right here at woxy.com, including our internet broadcast. Over the next 90 days we'll be looking for sponsors or investors who will enable us to make this site and stream better than ever. We may be the first terrestrial radio station ever to make the full-time jump to the Internet!"
(RNW note: Not so. In 2000, KACD, Los Angeles, was left with staff but no frequency when owners Clear Channel sold the signal to Entravision for USD85 million: It then made a move to the Internet as worldclassicrock (See RNW July 17, 2000).
The site now redirects to kbco.com's classic rock site but this is no longer streaming. Although WOXY has a fairly strong Internet following we would not put that much money on it being around in a couple of year's time.)
2004-01-29: A US Congressional hearing on indecency has heard calls for broadcasters to increase their efforts to keep indecent comments of the air and said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had not enforced its rules strongly enough.
Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, who is pushing legislation that would increase penalties for indecent broadcasts tenfold from their current USD 27,500 maximum, said that a number of stations had been penalised as repeat offenders which proved "the point that the fine under today's law just isn't enough.''
Upton said the Bush administration had indicated it will back the House's effort to raise indecency fines, and hoped the FCC will move more aggressively in penalizing a station for each "utterance" of an allegedly indecent statement, adding, "Perhaps we should also consider having a policy of 'three strikes and you're off the public airwaves."
The prime concern, he said, was protecting children from indecency and had nothing to do with censorship; he cited a number of examples of cases including the Opie & Anthony "sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral" stunt.
Rep. Jim Davis (Democrat, Florida) said he was "disappointed" that Clear Channel representatives were not present at the hearing, adding that if they had been someone could have read into the official Congressional Record a description of what was considered indecent or obscene by the FCC a day earlier when it proposed fining Clear Channel USD 715,000 for indecency offences
Parents Television Council President Brent Bozell called Clear Channel's arguments that it has no intent to shock and titillate its audiences "preposterous."
Bozell also attacked the FCC, saying, "Looking at the FCC's track record on indecency enforcement, it becomes painfully apparent that the FCC could care less about community standards of decency or about protecting the innocence of young children.''
A number of committee members also said they were dismayed that the FCC enforcement bureau had declined to fine NBC for airing the F-word, uttered by rock star Bono during the Golden Globe Awards show last year.
Previous FCC:
2004-01-29: Latest unofficial UK radio ratings by GfK Media show BBC Radio One continuing to lose audience - down more than a million compared to the end of 2002 - and GfK comments that the channel's new breakfast host "self-styled savior of BBC Radio One Chris Moyles has a lot of saving to do."
GfK's figures make BBC Radio 1 the third most listened to channel in the UK, behind leader BBC Radio 4 and Radio 2.
GfK notes that since its previous ratings a month ago BBC Radio 2 breakfast host Terry Wogan added some 300,000 more listeners a week and that BBC Radio Five Live added 350,000 and says that among commercial networks talkSPORT, owned by the Wireless Group which sponsors the ratings, consolidated its lead with more than a million listeners a week above Classic FM and almost 3 million more than Virgin.
In the latest official RAJAR ratings to the end of September last year talkSPORT was behind Classic FM and Radio One was ahead of Radio 4: the RAJAR ratings for the final quarter of 2003 are due out today.
In London, Heart FM kept the pressure up on Capital FM: GfK's figures show it was only 75,000 listeners a week behind Capital compared to 200,000 in the previous ratings.
Overall the weekly reach figures for the main UK networks from GFK for the period from September 15th to December 14th (with in brackets GfK prior period, running from September 15th to December 14th, and then RAJAR figures to the end of September) in rank order were:
BBC Networks:
BBC Radio 4 -million 16.37 (16.35million; 9.53 million): Unchanged 36% of potential national 45 million adult audience.
BBC Radio 2 -15.32 million (15.01 million; 12.477 million): Up from 33% to 34%.
BBC Radio 1 -11.80million (12.51; 9.85 million): Down from 28% to 26%.
BBC Radio Five Live -9.44 million (9.09 million; 5.716 million): Up from 20% to 21%.
BBC Radio 3 -3.27 million (3.51 million; 2.214 million): Down from 8% to 7%.
Commercial networks:
talkSPORT -million 6.66 (6.58 million; 1.904 million): Unchanged 15%.
Classic FM -5.48 million (5.56 million; 6.46 million): Unchanged 12%
Virgin - 3.68 million (3.80 million; 2.86 million): Unchanged 8%.
GfK figures for the London area showed that for the period from June 16th to December 14th (in brackets previous figures from May 12th to Nov 16th) the three most popular stations were:
BBC Radio 4 with 3.87 million (3.99 million): Down from 39% to 38% of the potential 10.25 million audience.
BBC Radio 2 with million 2.87 (2.8 million): Up from 27% to 28%.
Capital FM with 2.56 million (2.49 million): Up from 24% to 25%.
For the same period the top five London stations (in brackets previous figures from May 12th to Nov 16th) in terms of weekly audience were:
Capital FM with 2.56 million (2.49 million): Up from 24% to 25%.
Heart FM -2.49 million (2.41 million) - unchanged 24%.
Magic FM 1.91 million (1.93 million) - unchanged 19%.
talkSPORT 1.56 (1.52 million)- unchanged 15%.
Kiss FM 1.51 million (1.67million) - down from 16% to 15%.
*Virgin Radio (AM and FM combined) was down to sixth with million 1.50 (1.56 million) - Unchanged 15%
BBC Radio London was eighth with 1.30 (1.30 million) - unchanged 13%.
Previous GfK:
Previous GfK ratings:
Previous RAJAR ratings:
2004-01-29: Sirius Satellite Radio has reported large revenue increases and subscribers up in the final quarter of 2003 by 111,449 to 261,061 at the end of the year but operating losses were also up significantly.
For the quarter Sirius had a net loss of USD 147.8 million (14 cents a share), up 10.2% on a year earlier on revenues up from USD 685,000 to USD 5 million; its operating loss was up 38% to USD 125.1 million and adjusted EBITDA loss was up 37% to USD 92.3 million.
For the full year, revenues were up from USD 805,000 to USD 12.9 million, the operational loss was up 40% to USD 437.5 million and adjusted EBITDFA loss was up 39% to USD 330.7 million including USD 1.4 5 million of charges linked to disposing of its previous management subscriber system. The full year's net loss, which included a USD 256.5 million gain associated with its restructuring and a deemed dividend of USD 79.5 million linked to the elimination of its convertible preferred stock was down from USD 468.5 million to USD 314.4 million, 38 cents a share.
The company said it had a strong cash position and had ended the year with $550 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
During the quarter of 2003, Sirius raised $150 million through a common stock offering and also reduced debt through the exchange of common stock for USD65 million of the company's outstanding convertible notes.
Sirius said it had strong sales in the holiday season in the final quarter and President and CEO Joseph P. Clayton commented that the appeal of new products had helped to make Sirius popular holiday gift item. "We had a great quarter, increasing our share of satellite radio retail sales to approximately 32% at the end of November, according to the NPD Group, up from approximately 11% at the end of 2002," he said.
During the fourth quarter of 2003, Sirius added over 24,000 subscribers through its automotive, boating and trucking partnerships and it says by year-end Daimler Chrysler, Ford, BMW, Nissan, Infiniti and Audi offered SIRIUS Satellite Radio in more than 50 different vehicle models and this year the company's automotive partners are expected to offer SIRIUS in nearly 80 vehicle models, with 50 of those offered as a factory option.
The latest links announced yesterday are with Penske Automotive Group, Inc., United Auto Group, Inc., Penske Truck Leasing Co. L.P. and Penske Corporation, which together own and operate some 144 auto dealerships in the US and include the largest truck renting and leasing company in the United States.
Sirius rival XM has announced the closure of its underwritten public offering of 20,000,000 shares of its Class A Common Stock, at USD 26.50 per share.
It has also announced that at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Exposition in Las Vegas at the end of this month it will be showing XM Direct satellite radio vehicle kits designed to enable specific Ford and Chrysler vehicles with satellite-ready radios to receive XM Radio and will also will showcase XMCommander, a universal receiver that can deliver XM Radio to any new or used vehicle with an FM radio.
On the programming side it is to add the 24-hour news network MSNBC and a wide array of national talk-radio shows syndicated talk radio hosts Michael Savage, Matt Drudge, Laura Ingraham, and Ed Schultz.
XM Chief Programming Officer Lee Abrams commented, "Talk radio is a big part of our appeal. People love the fact that they can get a wide variety of talk and news with a diverse mix of opinions, and they can listen from coast to coast without fadeouts or static. Adding these new hosts to our current talk stars like Sean Hannity, Dan Patrick, Tony Kornheiser, George Noory, Glenn Beck, Art Bell, Phil Hendrie, and Tony Bruno is a big plus for XM subscribers."
Previous Abrams:
Previous Clayton:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
2004-01-29: Conservative US talk host Rush Limbaugh has again been attacking the Florida prosecutors involved in action against him over his painkiller drug purchases.
Under particualr attack is Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer whom Limbaugh's attorney Roy Black says should be investigated concerning release of letters from him. Krischer had released the latter's last week in response to Public Records Act requests from a newspaper and a non-profit legal foundation.
Black says that a "January 26, 2004 letter from the Florida Bar shows that despite statements by Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer to the contrary, neither the Florida Attorney General nor the Ethics Department of the Florida Bar told the prosecutor that confidential letters from Rush Limbaugh's attorney [RNW note: Related to a possible plea bargain - see RNW Jan 24) must be released to the public."
Limbaugh's site carries a link to Black's statement as well as a copy of Krischer's memo about the reasons for the release and of a letter from the Florida Attorney General's Office to Assistant State Attorney Ken Selvig that says his purpose in contacting the office " may have been not to obtain impartial advice on an open government issue but rather to use part of our conversation to justify your office's decision that the documents should be released
Previous Limbaugh:
2004-01-28: Just before Congress today begins to scrutinise the US Federal Communications Commission's enforcement of broadcast indecency violations and the FCC holds it "localism" hearing in San Antonio where Clear Channel has its headquarters, the FCC has proposed a record USD 755,000 fine on Clear Channel over "indecent material" broadcast on the syndicated "Bubba the Love Sponge" programme broadcast on Florida stations WPLA-FM, Callahan, WCKT-FM (formerly WRLR-FM), Port Charlotte, WXTB-FM), Clearwater and WRLX-FM, West Palm Beach, and also over Clear Channel's apparent failure to maintain certain required documents in the public inspection files of these stations.
The penalty relates to seven broadcasts and 26 indecency offences for which the maximum penalty is USD 27,500, and four public file violations for which penalty proposed totals USD 40,000.
Separate statements were issued by FCC chairman Michael K. Powell, Republican Commissioner Kevin J. Martin and Democrat Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael J. Copps, the latter dissenting and saying there should have been a hearing on the revocation of the stations' licences.
Powell termed the decision "yet another example of this Commission's commitment to enforce its rules and regulations-especially as it relates to indecent programming engulfing our broadcast airwaves and warned that the "Commission will soon begin considering fines for each separate utterance found indecent in a broadcast."
" In addition," he added, "we will continue to look to Congress to dramatically increase the enforcement penalties available to us to prosecute clear indecency violations."
"As the Commission continues the challenging task of balancing the protections of the First Amendment with the need to protect our young, these increased enforcement actions will allow the Commission to turn what is now a 'cost of doing business' into a significant 'cost for doing indecent business.'"
Clear Channel responded by Calling for an "industry-wide "Local Values Task Force" to develop indecency guidelines that would apply fairly and evenly across all media platforms that distribute content into people's homes - including television, radio, cable and satellite networks."
Clear Channel president and COO Mark Mays said, "Indecency is not a simple concept. Congress, the FCC, and the courts all have struggled to define it for years," said Mays. "However, we believe all content providers have a responsibility to shield our audiences from indecent programming."
"While the government's role is important in this area, there are limits established by the First Amendment to our Constitution. The task of developing guidelines about what is and what is not appropriate is the job of every one of us that delivers content into the home."
Mays added that "indecency is not just a radio problem, a television problem or even a cable problem. It is an industry-wide challenge, and we all must take responsibility to make sure it is addressed on a fair and consistent basis" and commented that by continuing to deal with this issue on a case by case, platform by platform basis, the government is creating an atmosphere of confusion and uncertainty.
Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan commented, "We work hard every day to entertain, not offend our listeners," said, of. "None of us defend or encourage indecent content - it's simply not part of our corporate culture," he said.
"Our employees live and work in the communities they serve. They work hard to make sure the line is not crossed - but that line can get very fuzzy," Hogan added.
In their separate statement all of the Commissioners suggested that higher penalties could be applied in future.
Commissioner Adelstein noted, "Clear Channel and, indeed, this particular 'Bubba the Love Sponge' program have been the subject of repeated Commission indecency actions in the past. "
" Given the explicit nature of the broadcast material and the history of prior offences, this is the type of serious repeated behaviour that I believe would warrant initiation of license revocation hearings. "
He added, "In fairness, however, this material was broadcast in 2001. The Commission clarified in an April 2003 order that it was broadening its range of enforcement approaches and tools to combat indecency on our nation's public airwaves. For this reason, I approve of today's Order as legally appropriate. "
The strongest statement came from Commissioner Copps who said, "The extreme nature of these broadcasts and the fact that the show at issue has been the subject of repeated indecency actions gives the FCC the obligation to take serious action. Instead, the majority proposes a mere USD27,500 fine for each incident. Such a fine will be easily absorbed as a "cost of doing business" and fails to send a message that the Commission is serious about enforcing the nation's indecency laws. "Cost of doing business fines" are never going to stop the media's slide to the bottom."
"To fulfil our duty under the law, I believe the Commission should have designated these cases for a hearing on the revocation of these stations' licenses, as provided for by Section 312(a)(6) of the Communications Act. I am discouraged that my colleagues would not join me in taking a firm stand against indecency on the airwaves. .. If the Commission can't bring itself to go to a revocation hearing, at least the Commission should have used its current statutory authority to impose a higher and meaningful fine. The Commission could have proposed a fine for each separate "utterance" that was indecent, rather than one fine for each lengthy segment. As Commissioner Martin points out, such an approach would have led to a significantly higher fine. "
Commissioner Martin said he wrote "separately to emphasize again that we could, and should, be placing higher fines on those who broadcast indecent programming during the hours when children may be watching or listening, in violation of our rules and statute… In this case, I would have found numerous violations, for a total indecency fine significantly higher than that proposed (it appears there were at least 49 indecency violations, for a total forfeiture exceeding $1,000,000).
In its Notice of Apparent Violation, the FCC comments that the proceedings arose out of "a series of formal complaints filed on behalf of Douglas Vanderlaan against Clear Channel alleging: (1) indecency violations; (2) public inspection file violations; (3) improper intimidation by Clear Channel against the complainant; and (4) the promotion and glorification of the use of illegal drugs in Clear Channel's broadcasts and on its web site."
The notice gives basic details of the seven programme segments, transcripts of three of which were admitted by Clear Channel to be accurate although concerning the remainder it said it had not retained tapes or transcripts and refused to admit or acknowledge that the material in the transcripts provided by Mr. Vanderlaan aired as he alleges." The FCC accepted that all the transcripts - which range from purported "cartoon characters" talking about drugs and sex to a male applicant for a job as an underwear model describing his "perfect penis" and a number of comments concerning oral sex.
RNW comment: Hogan's comment to us is clearly baloney as regards the broadcasts at issue and Clear Channel's response seems in part an attempt to muddy the waters in that there is a clear distinction to be made between services on public airwaves that anyone can receive and subscription services where a positive decision has to be made to access the material.
In the end, whether one agrees with the decision or not, Powell is right in that this decision, and possible future penalty increases, will increase the cost of doing "indecent business" and we suspect the accountants at broadcasters round the US will be looking closely at the effects on the bottom line of such penalties; If in the end, the penalties on offending shows are so large as to put them into the red or close to it, the companies will curb the hosts whereas if the profits are large they are unlikely to take action. At the moment, we expect to find curbs being imposed and we rather suspect that the negotiating powers of a number of prominent hosts and their agents have been significantly decreased already.
Previous Adelstein:
Previous Bubba the Love Sponge:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Copps:
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Previous Mark Mays:
Previous Powell:
2004-01-28: The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled that an answer to a Moslem-related question in a multiple-choice quiz aired on CJAY-FM, Calgary, in which the answer "c" was also correct, "constituted a racist comment."
A listener had complained about three questions on the quiz that day: The CBSC said that two of the questions were on the edge of acceptability but that on Moslems was a breach of Canadian codes.
The question concerned related to why "Moslems around the world continue to travel to Mecca on the week-end to celebrate" and gave as a correct answer, " just a way to build up some frequent flyer miles so you don't have to pay the next time you want to ram an airplane in the stronghold of the Western civilization."
The CBSC commented that after 9/11 and "the proliferation of incidents of terrorism both before and after that date, it has been all too easy to target the Moslem communities with comments that are generalizations which are negative, hurtful and utterly unjustified."
"That was the case with the challenged program. The humour in this broadcast was singularly unacceptable. The implication that all Muslims (how else could one interpret the words "Moslems around the world"?) might travel to their holiest city in order to fund terrorist activities is outrageous. To put it in perspective, the failure to distinguish between the Moslem community and terrorists is no more acceptable or justifiable than a failure to distinguish between (to choose one of many possible examples) white persons and the Ku Klux Klan."
The other two complaints, ruled as on the "edge of acceptability" were a question over complaints by Michael Jackson "over the recent documentary saying that people think that he's a paedophile" to which the correct answer was that the interviewer had no right to " portray him accurately" and another about men who didn't shave daily to which the answer was that they would "give their girlfriends a nasty beard burn on their taints."
CJAY's Vice-President and General Manager had responded to the complaint by saying, CJAY was "an adult radio station targeting a listening audience of males between the age of 18 to 49 years of age. Much of the programming aimed at that target group, is meant to be of a humorous nature, similar to the humour on many of the mainstream television shows such as The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live or the Comedy Network."
"I'm sure you can appreciate that humour is a very subjective issue. I'm sorry if we may have offended you with this comedy bit, but we certainly did not mean to do that. The contest was meant as comedy entertainment only."
The CBSC responded by saying, "The comment was racist. Dressing this type of comment up in the veil of subjective humour for a target audience does not alter that fact. Comparing the show to programs such as The Simpsons does CJAY 92's program too much, and the Simpsons too little, credit. The Simpsons and other satirical programs are funny in large part because they manipulate stereotypes and poke fun at the assumptions people hold. [The] quiz show lacked any such subtlety or cleverness. Anti-Moslem is not an appropriate target audience."
Previous CBSC:
2004-01-28: Arbitron has reported revenues for 2003 up 9.5% to USD 273.6 million, EBIT up 8.1% to USD 92.7 million and per share income up 14.8% to USD 1.63 ; it performed more strongly in the final quarter when its revenues were up 13.2% on a year earlier to USD 57.8 million and EBIT was up 14.2% to USD 16.1 million; expenses were up 13.8%, making net income up 33.8% to USD 8.7 million, with per diluted share income up to USD 0.28 from USD 0.21. .
Commenting on the results Arbitron president and CEO Stephen Morris said, "2003 was a very demanding year. Yet despite the challenges, we still met the guidance for revenue, EBIT and earnings per share that we established at the beginning of the year. Equally important, we worked hard to help our customers weather a difficult year and prepare to take advantage of an improving environment in 2004."
"We also devoted considerable time, effort and money to our programs to enhance the willingness of the public to take part in our surveys, and continued our effort to improve how we manage the representation of Hispanics by their language preference."
…"We also enhanced the technical capabilities of the Portable People Meter system and continued to explore new ways to use that technology to meet the needs of marketers and advertisers."
"Given the overall strength of the core ratings business, we believe Arbitron remains well positioned to deliver solid growth in revenue and profitability in 2004. At the same time, we expect to continue our investments in new services that have long-term growth potential for our company and for our customers." During Arbitron's conference call, Morris let out that its second call centre, whose location it had not previously divulged, was to be in Houston, which ahs a significant Hispanic population.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Morris:
2004-01-28: UK GWR has appointed Patricia Hodgson, Chief Executive of the Independent Television Commission for four years, until the creation of Ofcom, and prior to that head of policy at the BBC as a non-executive Director: She will sit on the company's Remuneration and Audit Committees.
GWR Executive Chairman Ralph Bernard said of the appointment, "Patricia has extensive experience in broadcasting and media regulation with the BBC, the ITC, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and more recently the Competition Commission. At a time of rapid change in the radio industry, her expertise and knowledge will be invaluable to GWR."
GWR is expected to be a buyer in expected consolidation of UK media following a relaxation of regulations although earlier this week it dismissed weekend speculation that it was having formal discussions with Capital Radio, saying no discussions were being held with Capital.
The UK Sunday Express had said GWR and Capital were talking about an 840 million pound ($1.55 billion) merger and were confident of a deal by the middle of this year.
Previous Bernard:
Previous Capital:
Previous GWR:
2004-01-28: Infinity has confirmed that Andy Schuon, who rejoined the company in 2002 as its President, Programming (See RNW Aug 21, 2002), has left the company; his duties will be taken over by Sr. VP, Programming, Steve Rivers, who now reports directly to Infinity President and COO Joel Hollander.
Announcing the change to Infinity employees, Infinity Radio Chairman and CEO John Sykes, who brought Schuon back, said in a memo "Andy was an early Infinity employee as program director at KROQ in Los Angeles and rejoined the company in the summer of 2002. I want to thank Andy for his contributions and wish him the best in his next venture."
Previous Hollander:
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Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
2004-01-28: Ron Britain, ("King B", the Chicago radio veteran) who came out of retirement to help launch oldies station Clear Channel's WRLL-AM, Chicago, has stormed out over a call for his on-air material to be kept under a minute and the editing of one of his bits according to Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Feder says that in a resignation letter to WRLL program director Tommy Edwards, who is also morning personality at the station, Britain wrote, "I really don't mean to insult you, Tommy, but your particular talent is of little or no use to me. You should save it to impress or intimidate one new in radio, someone without experience or confidence, one in need of direction."
"In clear terms to help you understand, can you imagine what the world would have missed had Picasso's creative expressions been restricted to painting on postage-sized canvases only?"
"I may lack the acclaim given to Picasso, but I do relate as an artist, and my mind does not respond to writing within a 60-second time frame as you were demanding on Friday.
…"I promised myself that when I could take control of my life, I would. I promised myself that I would no longer remain silent when inept management tried with their lack of knowledge to reinvent me one more time."
Edwards told Feder he had a long talk with Britain last Friday because some of Britain's bits were cutting into commercial time but didn't expect him to quit.
"I told Ron he could still do all his characters and all his stuff, but he just had to edit them down so they didn't go so long. The unfortunate thing is that I thought he was really having a great time on the air," said Edwards.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Feder:
Chicago Sun-Times - Feder column:
2004-01-27: Toronto-based CHUM has reported a solid fiscal first quarter to the end of November last year during which profits were up slightly from CAD 13.56 million (USD 10.32 million) a year ago to CAD 13.62 million (USD 10.37 million) on revenues up 4.3% to CAD 155.48 million (USD 118.38 million). EBITDA was up 5.6% to CAD 24.6 million (USD 18.73 million) but earnings per share were down from CAD 0.58 to CAD 0.50 as the result of a share split.
CHUM said that its radio operations has revenues up 0.6% during the quarter compared to a year before and noted that for major and some medium markets Canadian radio revenues were up 5.5% during the quarter. It said its expectations were for "for a modest increase year over year given CHUM Radio's very strong first quarter last year which outperformed average radio sales for major and some medium markets by 7.9%… It should be noted that radio has seen an unprecedented number of format changes in almost all of the major markets over the last nine months. With these changes, advertisers were hesitant to commit funds prior to the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings results for the Fall of 2003. In addition, advertising placement lead times and campaign windows have been shorter than normal."
"On the plus side, the radio segment is seeing growth in the packaged goods and automobile categories and it is expected that the Company's radio stations should reach their objectives for the year.
At its conference call, CHUM's President and CEO Jay Switzer said the company's priorities continued to be improving operating margins, minimise losses on its AM stations and better maximise radio and TV strengths across the countries and to actively look for strategic growth opportunities."
For fiscal 2004, he said, bookings are ahead of last year and CHUM was seeing earlier than normal advertising commitments.
CHUM has also announced that it is paying CAD 7.5 million (USD 5.7 million) for the radio assets of Seacoast Communications Group Inc. in Victoria, British Columbia.
Seacoast owns and operates C-FAX AM, the second highest rated news/talk radio station in the province, and CHBE FM (B107.3, with a music-based format offering hits from the 80's, 90's and today.)
Seacoast's principal owner, Chairman and CEO Mel Cooper has agreed to enter into a three-year contract with CHUM Limited to continue working with the stations as Chair of Community Affairs and all current Seacoast staff will be offered posts with CHUM.
"C-FAX AM and CHBE FM are very attractive and strategic acquisitions for CHUM," said Paul Ski, CHUM's Executive Vice President, Radio. "Victoria has been a solid growth market and we hope to build on the legacy Mel Cooper and his team have created over almost 30 years."
Previous CHUM:
Previous Ski:
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2004-01-27: UK Wireless Group chairman and chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie has yet again attacked UK radio ratings organization RAJAR over its failure to adopt the electronic audience measurement system that he has sponsored and that gives his group's talkSPORT flagship much larger audiences than does RAJAR.
Responding to RAJAR's announcement last week that it had extended a research contract in anticipation of possible adoption of electronic metering (See RNW Jan 24) he told the UK Guardian, seemingly his regular mouthpiece, that he doesn't "believe that RAJAR has any intention of ever introducing a technology unless it is ordered to do so by a judge."
MacKenzie added that his group is to press ahead with legal action seeking "substantial" damages from RAJAR and also hit out at new RAJAR managing director Sally de la Bedoyere saying, "said she would "have to do rather better than this if she will not soon be taking a rather long boat trip around the world like her predecessor [Jane O'Hara - who after leaving went long-distance sailing - see RNW Aug 31, 2003]".
RNW comment: As we have commented before, we cannot see any merit in legal action by MacKenzie and we suspect he may not either, which may be why so far it is all wind and no action from him over the matter.
Previous de la Bedoyere:
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2004-01-27: Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is selling its news format WMNN-AM in Minneapolis to Advance Acquisition Inc., a subsidiary of Starboard Media Foundation Inc., which distributes the Roman Catholic Relevant Radio format fur USD 6.75 million.
The sale is part of a disposal of commercial operations that also includes the sale to Saga of The Minnesota News Network and The Minnesota Farm Network for USD 3.25 million by Greenspring Company, MPR's for-profit affiliate (See RNW Jan 24).
The Minneapolis-St Paul Business Journal reported that Larry Bentson, who gave WMNN to MPR in the early 1980s, said he is extremely disappointed with the sale.
"The intent of our gift to Minnesota Public Radio was that it be used as an additional voice to the community by a non-profit organization," said Bentson, chairman of the board of Midcontinent Media Inc. in Edina. "It's a real disappointment that the station we donated to MPR ... is now being sold by them for a substantial amount of money."
MPR spokeswoman Suzanne Perry said they were " very sorry that Mr. Bentson was disappointed because we really appreciated" that he offered his station to MPR at a bargain price.
"But when he entered his transaction with us there were no conditions attached. We subsequently used the station to support the mission of Minnesota Public Radio and we are pleased that this sale of the station will enable us to further support the mission of MPR."
Bill Kling, president of both MPR and Greenspring, said the properties had provided a revenue stream for more than 25 years to support MPR.
"These sales will allow us to convert this revenue stream into a permanent asset, helping to assure MPR's financial health far into the future," he commented.
WMNN, the only all newsstation in the Twin Cities market, will continue to broadcast its current format until Starboard takes over operations and switches to Relevant Radio programming round mid-February.
Previous Kling:
Previous MPR:
Previous Starboard:
Business Journal report:
2004-01-27: SMG has confirmed that its Non-Executive Chairman, Don Cruickshank, has decided to step down following the Group's Annual General Meeting, which is scheduled for 4 June 2004. The group says it has hired consultants to look for a replacement and expects a successor will be identified before the AGM.
Previous SMG:
Previous Cruickshank:
2004-01-26: As digital radio take-up increases in the UK and begins in terrestrial broadcast terms in the US, we start our look at the past week's comment on radio with an article from the North County Times by Randy Dotinga that poses a question current in the UK around a year ago: "Digital radios on sale, but why buy now?
Dotinga notes that current HD radio are not cheap - "a new car stereo system from Kenwood has a list price of $500" and then continues, "For another thing, no one seems to know how many stations are broadcasting in digital. And it looks like it will be another year or two before digital radio appears in San Diego."
The problem, he says is the cost of introducing digital when at the moment the spending will benefit a potentially tiny number of listeners and quotes local Clear Channel executive Mike Glickenhaus as saying, "It's a chicken-and-egg thing" as to which should come first ---- listeners equipped with digital radios or radio stations equipped with digital signals?
[RNW comment: A response that is total nonsense given a moment's thought. There is no point at all in buying a receiver before digital transmissions are available. The initiative has to come from the broadcasters!]
Clear Channel says Glickenhaus will start introducing digital in larger markets and then work down to smaller ones but there was more enthusiasm from public radio in the form of said Doug Myrland, general manager of the KPBS stations.
They of course, as we have already noted (See RNW Jan 21) can use digital to add an extra service within their existing spectrum, something from which commercial stations, which in many areas have virtually saturated markets with formats and advertisers would benefit comparatively little.
Further north in California, Art Vuolo Jr. in The Daily Oakland Press gave a plug to the digital audio already being taken up in the US, satellite radio.
After noting the interest satellite radio attracted at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show and detailing the services of Sirius and XM, Vuolo notes the positive reception both have generally had from their subscribers and looks at the potential effect on terrestrial broadcasters.
After mentioning the concerns of the National Association of Broadcasters, particularly concerning services such as weather and traffic services, he notes the promotions from NAB that are being run on local stations stressing the benefits of terrestrial broadcaster with messages such as "certain things should remain free ... like this radio station."
Steve Stewart, operations manager of local station WJR-AM, which is running the promos, commented "While I think satellite radio will grow in popularity, particularly as a music medium, I don't think it will ever replace the need for a station like WJR, where people can get the latest local news and information, and hear and interact with compelling personalities who talk about the issues that matter to them on a local and national level."
Vuolo also notes that two mainstays of the stations, hosts Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura, are available only on traditional terrestrial radio so far.
Writing this, we are as it happens listening to radio from the Internet, via Real Player, but Real's practice of making it easier to buy their fancier products or subscription services attracted a definitive thumbs down last week from the National Public Radio programme Car Talk that has moved from Real to Window's Media Player.
The site's newsletter said it was "unceremoniously dumping Real Media" because of the number of complaints received from people having trouble trying to download the free Real Player, and noted that a number had complained of paying for software mistakenly instead of downloading the free version.
Real, of course, had a different perspective and spokesman Matt Graves said the company had introduced a new version of its software, and users could easily find the free version on Real's web site where it was promoted in the upper right corner.
We would concur with Graves about that, albeit recently we had problems getting the free player to install for someone (We went and got it via CNET instead of directly), but also note that the latest version got a pretty dim review from the Washington Post under the headline "RealPlayer 10 Adds New Mistakes to Old."
Back to terrestrial radio, however, and some worrying comment came from Neil Strauss in the New York Times that is in part related to the impact of the Internet.
In an article headed, "Forget Radio, Musical Path to Success Is TV, TV, TV" Strauss compares the success enjoyed by Kelis with her single "Milkshake", which is getting much radio play, and the comparative failure of her full-length CD whilst John Groban has sold some two million CD's of his operatic pop release, based largely on TV appearances.
"As the Internet changes the distribution of music," he comments, "it is also changing the way fans respond to marketing. As Kelis's chart position shows, a smash hit single is no longer enough to guarantee strong CD sales. After all, it is easy for a music fan to hear almost any single on demand online free and legally or even to see the video at sites."
Strauss comments that the television show "American Idol" is perhaps the greatest pop franchise of the moment, and notes a different use of TV in Groban's success, based in part through being cast in "Ally McBeal" and appearances on "Larry King Live," the "Today" show, the N.F.L. Thanksgiving Day game (he sang the national anthem) and even "The View."
Many labels, notes Strauss now hire so-called TV pitchers, whose job is to find ways to get their artists on television shows and he says that with radio formats closed to many types of popular music, labels have only two options for promoting many releases. One is to force radio to widen its scope, an unlikely possibility in the wake of widespread consolidation, and the other is to find other promotional outlets for the music.
After that to some programmes still available on the Internet, starting with BBC Radio 4 and The Best of Dead Ringers, the first of six [weekly] episodes of which aired last Friday (18:30 GMT). Still with BBC Radio 4, Filling the Void last week carried a report by Faynia Williams on the story of how in 1939 every trace of Judaism was wiped out from the town of Sejny, three-quarters of whose population were Jews in the 19th century.
It also dealt with how theatre director Krzysztof Czyzewski, has been involved in refurbishing buildings and also in ensuring that young Poles learn more of their past- including the involvment of Poles in the murder of uch of the country's Jewish population.
For the Jazz Fans, former British chancellor Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats series continues - tomorrow the subject of the programme (13:30 GMT) is Bessie Smith whilst last week's edition on saxophonist Dexter Gordon is still available today on the Listen Again part of the Radio 4 web site.
And for those more interested in pop, Seven More Days That Rocked The World on BBC Radio 2 last week [still available until Wednesday] focussed on the making of "Good Vibrations" whilst this week's edition (Wednesday, 22:00 GMT) is on the murder of John Lennon.
Finally from the US, an interesting discussion for those interested in photography from "All things Considered" on "The Fate of Photography in a Digital Age" (Sunday edition).
Previous Columnists:
Car Talk web site:
New York Times re Car Talk:
New York Times - Strauss:
North County Times - Dotinga:
Oakland Press - Vuolo:
Washington Post - Real Player review:
2004-01-26: Long-time New York classical music host Harry Fleetwood has died aged 86 according to the New York Times. Fleetwood, who worked for WNBC from 1954 to 1975 and then for WNCN until the late 80's, also read poetry on another program, sang folk songs on still another and travelled America to profile interesting people on still another and, thanks to fluent French, hosted programmes for French and Belgian television
Fleetwood graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, where he majored in education and later earned a master's degree in Romance languages from the University of Pennsylvania.
He made his start in the radio business in 1938 in Camden, New Jersey, but after serving with the US army in Europe during the Second World War stayed on in France to study at the Sorbonne.
He subsequently returned to the US and began working for a Philadelphia radio station in 1948; In 1953 he got his big break when he was chosen from more than 1,500 would-be announcers who applied to become the host of "Music Through the Night" on WNBC
New York Times obituary:
2004-01-26: SMG chairman Don Cruickshank is expected to quit at the company's annual meeting according to the UK Observer, which tips former BBC 1 controller and Channel 4 TV chief executive Michael Grade as a likely successor.
The paper says Cruickshank is understood to be keen to scale back his workload after being appointed to the board of specialist publisher Taylor & Francis; he is to start the job in March.
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Previous SMG:
UK Observer report:
2004-01-25: Yet again last week was fairly quiet for the regulators with nothing from Australia and Ireland, and a fairly low level of activity from the UK and North America.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved an application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to change the authorized contours of CBN-FM-1 Grand Falls, as a result of an increase in the effective radiated power (ERP) from 57,000 watts to 100,000 watts following the installation of a new antenna and also issued two public notices, each with an intervention deadline of February 26, that include a number of radio applications.
The radio applications in the public notices included:
Manitoba - application to add a 24.7 watts FM transmitter in Snow Lake to broadcast the programming of CINC-FM Thompson.
Ontario - application to amend the licence of CHKT-AM, Toronto, by deleting various conditions relating to the maximum programming broadcast directed to the Chinese community; As an alternative, the licensee says it would accept a condition of licence to broadcast a minimum of 52% of its weekly programming in Chinese languages.
Application to change the frequency of CHCD-FM, Simcoe, and increase its power from 420 watts to 14,370 watts.
The Commission has also announced that it has received applications for a new commercial service for Ottawa, Ontario/ Gatineau, Quebec, and called for other applications for a licence.
Quebec - application to amend the licence of CHME-FM, Les Escoumins, to add a 50 watts FM transmitter at Forestville.
- Application to convert rebroadcasting station CRFP-AM, Forestville, to FM.
Yukon Territory - application from CKRW-AM Whitehorse to add a 380 watts FM transmitter (maximum effective radiated power 1,000 watts/effective antenna height 364 metres) at Whitehorse to broadcast the programming of CKRW. The CRTC notes that the purpose of the proposed transmitter is to enable the applicant to remain competitive in the local market by providing FM stereo service to the city of Whitehorse and surrounding area
In the UK, Ofcom has appointed Simon Crine, currently Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations with political and media communications consultancy APCO UK, as its Director for England, effective from 26 February.
He will be part of the UK External Relations team with special responsibility for representing Ofcom to stakeholders in the English Regions.
It has also announced the result of a number of legacy cases regarding complaints made to its predecessor regulators including one Radio Authority case in which government adverts relating to student finances were ordered off the air by the Authority on the basis that it breached a rule relating to Political, Industrial and Public Controversy in the Radio Authority Advertising and Sponsorship Code.
The authority said it "believed that the advertisements mixed the present and proposed situation by the use of tense and portrayed an enthusiasm that clearly represented one side of what had become a political debate" and "showed undue partiality in a matter of political controversy."
Ofcom has also announced yet another consultation, this time concerning its annual plan for its first year of operation, which had already taken into account a number of consultations.
The 30-page plan say chairman David Currie and chief executive Stephen Carter in their introduction "sets out our overall approach to regulation, our priorities for 2004/5, and how we will be audited, measured and evaluated."
It is in 3 parts with nine sections in all, including a final section about responding to the plan. Matters dealt with include the regulator's complaints system, the concept of spectrum trading, the move to digital broadcasting, Ofcom's approach to regulation, and its finances.
In the US the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released further details of its planned second hearing on localism, to be held in San Antonio on January 28 (See RNW Jan 24) and also confirmed two penalties for tower offences (See RNW Jan 23).
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
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CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2004-01-25: A survey carried out in December last year by India's largest research agency IMRB International for ENIL (Entertainment Network India Ltd) has shown rapid radio growth in the capital Delhi with almost half the population above 15 - some 4.25 million people - listening to radio every day.
ENIL's Radio Mirchi dominates the Delhi market with around 1.4 million listeners each day massively ahead of second-ranked Red FM with 22,000 for and 19,000 for third-ranked Radio City.
Listening has almost doubled since a survey in June 2003, a month after the launch of private FM's in the city and radio listeners spend on an average 103 minutes daily listening to the medium, not far behind the 137 minutes of time spent viewing television.
Radio did well amongst the better off with around 53% of those in socio-economic classes A, B and C now listening to radio, up from 31% in June last year.
ENIL COO Prashant Panday said the penetration of radio is as high as 70 % in socio-economic classification A and noted differences in listening patterns though the day.
"Early morning is developing as a family band for radio, while late night is developing as a students' band. Housewives enter late in the morning but stay tuned till late in the afternoon. Radio TSL is higher than time spent viewing television till about 3:00 pm," he added.
The increase, however, has yet to produce corresponding income for the media said Panday, commenting that although advertising as up as were the number of brands advertising "revenues are still poor."
Panday said that in Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad and Pune the retail sector accounts for almost 50 % of advertising income but in Delhi it was currently about 17 % in Delhi although it should rise to 25-30 % in 1-2 years.
Previous ENIL:
Previous Indian Radio:
Business Standard, India, report:
2004-01-24: The propaganda war between conservative US talk host Rush Limbaugh and Florida prosecutors has bubbled up again with Limbaugh's attorney Roy Black describing as "ludicrous" an offer to end their investigation of the host's drug-related activities if Limbaugh pleaded guilty to a single felony for "doctor shopping" and agreed to a three-year term of probation.
According to the Florida Sun-Sentinel prosecutors had rejected an overture last month from Rush Limbaugh's attorneys that would have allowed the conservative commentator to enter drug rehabilitation rather than face criminal charges for prescription drug abuse and said they thought they had have evidence that Limbaugh committed at least 10 felonies by illegally obtaining overlapping drug prescriptions.
Black in a statement commented, "My letter to Mr. Krischer [Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer] regarding Mr. Limbaugh's case asked that Mr. Limbaugh be afforded the treatment anyone else would receive."
"The State's response was preposterous, but consistent with their double standard in this case. The facts are: Mr. Limbaugh went to these doctors to relieve chronic, intractable pain; there was no doctor shopping. Mr. Limbaugh never considered accepting the State's ludicrous offer. He was not going to plea to something he did not do. We sent them a letter suggesting Mr. Limbaugh be treated in a similar manner that others had been treated. They responded with a preposterous offer. Discussions ended at that time. At no time was there ever a plea agreement of any kind."
He then went on to attack the attorneys for releasing the information, saying, "…before we could draft a letter responding to the State, we received a phone call from a newspaper reporter, as a result of a leak by the State Attorney's office, asking us whether Mr. Limbaugh had agreed to enter a plea. As I told the court last month, we think the State Attorney's Office should be investigated for journalist shopping."
"What is most troubling here is the continued violations of Florida law and bar ethics by the State Attorney's Office. One need look no further than the bold caption on top of my letter alerting everyone to the confidential nature of the communication. The disclosure of these highly confidential communications violates the Florida statutes, the rules of procedure and evidence, and the Florida Bar Rules governing professional conduct. Because the State has no case against Mr. Limbaugh they continually seek to discredit him in the media."
The Sun-Sentinel said prosecutors declined to comment on the letters, which were released to it in response to a request under the state's public-records laws.
It added that prosecutors consulted with the Florida Attorney General's Office and the Florida Bar before determining the letters are not confidential and had to be released as public records.
The paper said that the prosecution offer involved an admission by Limbaugh of doctor shopping, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
It added that Limbaugh would be placed on three years of probation, required to undergo a treatment program approved by a judge and subjected to random drug tests during that time. And noted that since Limbaugh does not have a criminal record, the prosecutors' offer would have allowed the judge to withhold a formal finding of guilt, meaning Limbaugh would not be a convicted felon if he successfully completed all terms of his probation.
"Mr. Limbaugh would provide community service during his probationary period in a manner approved by the court," Martz [James Martz, the prosecutor heading the investigation] wrote. "We would suggest that those efforts be utilized to raise public awareness of the dangers of prescription drug addiction."
The paper said it was unclear if the prosecution offer was still on the table.
RNW comment: One wonders whether Limbaugh, on whose web site the story carried the headline" Palm Beach State Attorney's Office Dances Atop Their SUV, Releases Confidential Communications" has ever heard of "Pot" and "Kettle." From a distance, his strategy seems potentially high-risk with the downside of a few years in jail against an upside that so far may get him off the charges but to the non-devotees is probably damaging his reputation more than the suggested deal. It certainly seems potentially off base for his attorney to launch such a strong attack for records released under public-records laws, the same laws that are being used to try and obtain evidence to be used against the prosecution. Did we mention "pot" and "kettle"?
Previous Limbaugh:
Florida Sun-Sentinel report:
2004-01-24: UK radio ratings organization RAJAR (Radio Joint Audio Research) has extended for a year its contract with research contractor IPSOS-RSL that was due to expire at the end of 2004 saying the decision was made "given the very real possibility that pending audiometer tests will yield a credible alternative to diary measurement."
New managing director Sally de la Bedoyere commented that the extension would "afford us greater flexibility, particularly when we review the results of the second set of audiometer tests due out later this year. We undertook extensive work on the measurement of digital listening in the latter part of 2003 and are continuing to safeguard the currency by minimising any possible respondent confusion regarding equipment, platform and brands."
RAJAR has earmarked £500,000 for the testing, to start in July, of second-generation Arbitron and Radiocontrol audiometers. The date was the earliest both developers could provide their respective devices to RAJAR and results should be known by the end of the year.
RAJAR is also investigating a number of alternative devices, which display potential but have yet to reach the production stages of the established brands.
RAJAR, which has been attacked by the Wireless Group for not introducing meter systems, announced in July last year that it would not introduce electronic measurement of radio listening in the immediate term because of a number of concerns including the lack of consistency of results in the audiences recorded in terms of meter versus meter.
The Wireless Group, whose flagship is the national talkSPORT station, has threatened to take RAJAR to court over the low figures it gets in official ratings and has sponsored ratings using the Radiocontrol system, which show it as having a much higher audience than the official ratings.
RAJAR says it has also taken steps increase its base sample of 15-34 year old males, which it terms a "traditionally difficult demographic group to access" (RNW note: Coincidentally this audience is one heavily represented in talkSPORT's listeners.")
RAJAR also notes that it is now rating 25 national digital services and says it is examining a number of options to see how it might best measure listening via platform, either as part of the existing survey or as a separate exercise
Previous de la Bedoyere:
Previous RAJAR:
Previous Wireless Group:
2004-01-24: XM satellite radio has priced at USD 26.50 the 20 million shares it is putting up for sale - seven million new shares for company financing and 13 million from existing shareholders: Earlier this month it had announced that 18 million shares were to be put up for offer, seven million new ones and 11 from existing shareholders (See RNW Jan 14).
In addition, one of the selling shareholders has granted the underwriters - Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Banc of America Securities LLC, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch & Co, and UBS Investment Bank an option to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional shares to cover over allotments.
In other US radio business, Saga Communications has agreed to buy The Minnesota News Network and The Minnesota Farm Network for USD 3.25 million from Greenspring Company, the for-profit affiliate of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).
Saga President and CEO Edward, K. Christian said of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of this year, "The acquisition of the Minnesota News Network and the Minnesota Farm Network is a nice addition to our existing ownership of the Illinois Radio Network, the Michigan Radio Network and the Michigan Farm Radio Network. Saga intends to continue building its radio, television and network business with acquisitions such as this."
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Previous XM:
2004-01-24: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has named the panellists to take part in its second hearing on localism, intended to determine how well US broadcasters serve their local communities.
The meeting is to be held in San Antonio on January 28 and FCC chairman Michael K. Powell and commissioners Kathleen Q. Abernathy, Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps are scheduled to attend.
The panel members will include Ray Benson, co-founder of Asleep At The Wheel and Recording Academy member; John Freeman, Southern Development Foundation COO and a LPFM licensee; Tom Glade, Clear Channel/San Antonio VP/Market Manager; Jerry Hanszen, who owns stations in Marshall and Carthage in Texas; Joe Linson, NAACP San Antonio Branch VP and Oscar Moran, League of United Latin American Citizens senior adviser.
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2004-01-23: Montreal-based Astral Media has reported a strong fiscal first quarter performance with profit up a quarter to CAD 20.7 million (USD 16 million) on revenues up 15% on a year earlier to CAD 128.2 million (USD 98.9 million) but Toronto-based Corus Entertainment because of a tax change showed profits down 31.3% to CAD 5.7 million (USD 4.4 million) despite revenues being up 11% to CAD 185 million (USD 142.8 million).
Astral's figures, covering the quarter to Nov 30 last year, were boosted by acquisitions including two months revenue from stations acquired from Telemedia but it also had a strong performance from both its TV and radio divisions although revenues from its outdoor division were down 6.6%.
In contrast TV revenues were up 9.2% to CAD 93.1 million (USD 71.8 million) and radio revenues were up 56% to CAD 25.8 million (USD 19.9 million).
Astral President and CEO Ian Greenberg commented, "Driving hard on the heels of an excellent year in Fiscal 2003, we are pleased to begin Fiscal 2004 with a solid first quarter. "
"Subscription revenues for our Television division have increased by 7% while advertising revenues have grown 23% for the quarter. Radio advertising revenue grew 56% for the quarter and the fall radio BBM ratings position our two key networks Énergie and RADIO RockDétente in the top echelons with listeners in Québec."
"For our Outdoor Advertising division, it has been a challenging quarter but we are expecting performance to rebound over the course of the year."
Commenting on the impact of Astral's acquisition of 19 French-language stations in Quebec and New Brunswick from Telemedia, eight of which have now been sold, Greenberg commented, "The positive impact of the radio assets acquired from Telemedia for an additional two months this quarter drove radio revenues up by 56 per cent from last year, with organic revenue growth continuing to be solid at seven per cent."
He also told analysts at the company's conference call that the company was well placed for acquisitions, saying, "We have our eyes open. We're diligently examining every opportunity that arises, but as in the case of our past acquisitions we're looking for properties within our core businesses that have the right culture and fit."
For Corus, a change in Ontario tax rates increased its income tax expenses and future liabilities, taking what would have been a profit of 55 cents a share to 13 cents a share and its president and CEO John Cassaday noted that before tax all of its divisions had delivered higher profits.
"Excellent ad growth from specialty television, solid expense control in radio and continued strong Beyblade results coupled with a disciplined business approach from our Content division were the major contributors to our strong results," he said.
In the US, Saga Communications has announced the acquisition of two more stations in North Carolina.
It's spending USD 10 million to purchase WISE-AM, Asheville, and WOXL-FM, Biltmore Forest. It already provides programming to WISE-AM, for which it is paying USD 2 million, under a Time Brokerage Agreement and to WOXL-FM under a Sub-Time Brokerage Agreement.
Saga bought WOXL-AM in Asheville in March last year.
Previous Astral:
Previous Cassaday:
Previous Corus:
Previous Greenberg:
Previous Saga:
2004-01-23: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed a penalty pf USD 6,000 on a North Carolina AM for failing to post its antenna structure registration number and to exhibit red obstruction lighting on its antenna structure between sunset and sunrise and another of USD 3,000 on a Kentucky FM for failure to register its antenna structure.
The higher penalty went to Media Broadcasting Corporation, licensee of WAAA-AM in Winston-Salem, which had asked for reconsideration of the penalty - already halved from USD 12,000 at first proposed - on the grounds of financial hardship and the "expeditious dismantling" of its antenna structure warrant reconsideration
The FCC noted that Media had filed its petition after deadline and added that even if it had been timely the petition would have been rejected because it had already halved the penalty on financial hardship grounds and had received no information to support further reduction and also because
"Media did not in fact dismantle its antenna structure expeditiously" but around a year "after being notified of the violations - an unacceptably long delay."
In the case of the USD 3,000 penalty, on Meade County Communications, Inc., licensee of WMMG-FM, Brandenberg, Kentucky, Meade had asked for a reduction on financial hardship grounds and on the grounds that its violation was not wilful because the registration "slipped through the cracks" but the FCC, after examining financial information provided, rejected the first argument. It also dismissed the second and confirmed the penalty.
Previous FCC:
2004-01-23: Latest Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings show the old favourites back at the top and listening up again now that the holiday period is truly over; In the network ranks there were no changes but in the station ranks Virgin was up to second from fourth although MUSICMATCH retained its top ranking.
For the week to January 11, Arbitron'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 (*Non Commercial) - TTSL 761,815 (566,864); CP - 248,569 (229,016). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin AM & FM (Commercial) - TTSL 313,572 (138,345); CP - 59,365 (38,529). Up from fourth with higher listening and reach.
3:Contemporary Christian K-LOVE (Non commercial) - TTSL 278,276 (146,250); CP 32,704 (22,308). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
4: Smooth Jazz AOL Smooth Jazz (Commercial) - TTSL 241,715 (136,321); CP - 52,1531 (41,073). Up from eighth with higher listening and reach.
5: Country format AOL Top Country (Commercial) -TTSL 238,863 (151,331); CP 86,583 (72,947). Down from second despite higher listening and reach.
*Top 40 AOL Top Pop (Commercial) fell from fifth to seventh with TTSL 205,383 (137,735); CP 109,250 (98,161).
The top five networks for the week to January 11 (Previous week's figures in brackets) were:
1: AOL Radio@ Network (Commercial) - TTSL - 6,058,658 (4,133,906); CP - 1,474,930 (1,343,739). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: LAUNCH (Commercial) TTSL - 3,676,479 (2,385,397); CP - 863,683 (702,934). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
3: MUSICMATCH Inc. (*Non Commercial) TTSL - 2,115,851 (1,569,207); CP - 501,775 (467,272). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
4: The Adsertion Network (Sales Network) TTSL - 698,556 (539,469); CP -113,276 (91,653) - Same rank with higher listening and reach.
5: Virgin Radio (Commercial) TTSL - 552,999 (248,349); CP - 86,798 (58,459) - Same rank with higher listening and reach.
Arbitron does not now rank Content Delivery Networks (CDN) alongside other networks but does report on them; for the week the top Content Delivery Networks were Live365 with TTSL 2,682,070, up from 1,941,839 and StreamGuys with TTSL 573,247, up from 387,130.
Previous Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings (Month of December):
Previous Arbitron Internet Broadcast Weekly Ratings:
2004-01-22: UK GWR chairman Ralph Bernard has called upon the British government to set a date for the switch-off of analogue radio so as to boost the take-up of digital