February 2004 Archive
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January 2004
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March 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 February comment - Straws, camels and regulators - has the US lost its marbles over a breast? We consider what regulation concerning indecency makes sense and would be legal in the US in First Amendment terms.
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.
2004-02-29: Last week was yet another where regulatory news in the US was dominated by the continuing whiff of indecency and hypocrisy but elsewhere the regulators were mainly concerned with more routine matters.
In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), as well as advertising new commercial licences for Brisbane and Sydney (See RNW Feb 24) has also issued terms of reference for its investigation into the disclosure of commercial agreements involving DMG's Adelaide 5AA host Leon Byner (See Licence News Feb 22).
In essence the investigation will look into all of Byner's commercial interests that were disclosed to his station and were passed on to it by its general manager following "extensive" internal enquiries that had led him to conclude that Byner "in the past has entered into commercial arrangements with various people and entities (including Adelaide Lord Mayor Michael Harbison)" that he had not disclosed to the licensee."
The ABA says that it will look at whether Byner or an associate was party to a "commercial agreement" as defined in its Disclosure Standard, whether the licensee had complied with its obligations in relation to any such agreement and to formulate and implement programmes to ensure compliance, whether the licensee had breached the conditions of its licence and if so what action should be taken.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has been involved in a number of routine licence actions including, in order of province:
Ontario:
*Renewal of the licence for the English-language radio network for the purpose of broadcasting the baseball games of the Toronto Blue Jays originating from CJCL Toronto, from 1 March 2004 to 31 December 2004.
*Renewal of the licence of CKEY-FM Fort Erie and its transmitter CKEY-FM-1 St. Catharines, from 1 March 2004 to 31 August 2004.
Also in Ontario, the CRTC denied an application for a frequency change; contour change and power increase from 33 watts to 800 watts for the transmitter CJTK-FM-1, North Bay, of Christian music station CJTK-FM, Sudbury.
Quebec:
Approval of change to authorized contours of the new ethnic FM radio station in Montréal authorized in July last year.
There was nothing of radio significance from Ireland and in the UK the only radio-related activity from Ofcom was the release of its latest programming complaints bulletin (See RNW Feb 27).
In the US, where most attention was devoted to matters of broadcast "indecency", the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced latest station numbers showing a further growth in radio; it was also involved in a number of other enforcement actions relating other matters.
In Tennessee it denied an appeal by Coffee County Broadcasting, Inc., of Manchester, related to failure to maintain a presence at the main studio of WMSR-AM during normal business hours for which it had issued a USD 7,000 penalty notice.
Coffee had appealed on the basis that it had taken steps to remedy the matter, of financial hardship, and past history but the FCC noted, as usual, that the first was no justification for a reduction, found financial documentation provided did not sustain the second point, and noted a prior notice of violation. It confirmed the full penalty.
More fortunate was Florida pirate station operator Josue Alusma from Naples whose penalty for operating the station was reduced from USD 10,000 to USD 500.
He had argued for a reduction on the gourds that he thought the operation of the station was legal and on financial hardship grounds. The latter grounds were accepted but not the former.
Previous ABA:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Ofcom:
ABA web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2004-02-29: Mexico's leading radio broadcasting company Grupo Radio Centro, S.A. de C.V. has announced final quarter 2003 net income down 90% on a year earlier to MXN 12.2 million (USD 1.1million) on broadcasting revenues down 26.4% to MXN 205.6 million (USD 18.6 million); it put the decline down mainly to a reduction in the advertising expenditures by political parties during the two quarters.
For the full year Grupo Radio reported net income up 2.6 times to MXN 60.4 million (USD 5.5 million) on broadcasting revenues up 11.7% to revenues MXN 825.1 million (USD 74.6 million); it attributed the increase mainly to higher political advertising in connection with the congressional elections that took place on July 6, 2003. Broadcasting income for the year was up 28.1% to MXN 331.5 million (USD 30 million).
Previous Grupo Radio:
2004-02-29: Washington Redskins fans contacting the Washington Post over the decision by Infinity's WJFK to drop Frank Herzog as the team's play-by-play are almost unanimously against the move according to the paper.
Herzog, who became the Redskins' play-by-play voice in 1979, was teamed two years later with Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen; he is to be replaced by Larry Michael. The decision was made by the station - the Redskins, who signed a five-year deal with WJFK in 2001, have no say concerning on-air talent.
Station manager Alan Leinwand told the paper, "We're at the point in the evolution of Redskins radio where we needed Larry to be involved in all aspects of Redskins programming. It's a tough decision. Frank is a great guy and a great broadcaster but Redskins fans can continue to count on a great broadcast.
Herzog told the paper he was told by Leinwand the reasons for the move were saving money and "more important they thought it was important for the continuity of their sports department that the guy who reports on the Redskins all during the week do the games on Sunday."
He added, "I've got a lot to be thankful for. I've called three Super Bowl championships, 498 consecutive games over 25 years and it was a great run. I'm still a good broadcaster. If I want to find another play-by-play job, I'd like to think someone might want to hire me."
The paper also reported that local broadcasting sources said the station almost made the switch several years ago to get a younger, fresh voice in the broadcast, but that Jurgensen persuaded management not to break up the popular team.
Michael, who is also to become sports director for WJFK, will remain a senior vice president of syndication company Westwood One, for whom he handled play-by -play on NFL and college games: He said, "For the last month or so, I was asked by the station to increase my responsibilities and try to take the entire Redskins package to another level."
"We're hoping to improve it, expand it and generate more interest in the broadcast. We're going to do more on draft day and training camp coverage; we're going to expand on what we've done.
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
Washington Post report:
2004-02-28: As US broadcasters continue to come under pressure over broadcast indecency Howard Stern again on Friday attacked Clear Channel's decision to drop his show and mocked its Radio CEO John Hogan for his apology to a House sub-committee on Thursday, asking "Apologize for what? This is stuff we do everyday."
Stern noted that he had not been fined recently by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and said Clear Channel had dropped his show so Hogan could look good before the lawmakers.
He also attacked Clear Channel for saying it had dropped him because of use of the term "nigger", saying, "Clear Channel has tons of Rap stations, and I'm sure the word nigger is used on those."
There appeared to be some good news for Stern from Infinity, however, with company executives saying they had no plan to drop the show from their stations.
Stern had attended a dinner with Viacom president and COO Mel Karmazin on the evening that Clear Channel dropped his show and said Karmazin had voiced support for him but said he had received 4,000 emails about him, most from the conservative American Family Association.
Stern didn't seem certain of his future though and ended his Friday show with the comment that he would "reconvene on Monday, if there's still any stations that still want to carry us."
In Florida, Todd Clem - Bubba the Love Sponge - has now issued a statement about his dismissal by Clear Channel on fan site BubbaArmy.
In it he writes that he is "deeply saddened and confused by the actions of Clear Channel this past Monday evening. I have been a dedicated and valued employee of Clear Channel for the last 12 years."
He continues, "I understand the pressures forcing Clear Channel to act in the manner that it has. These pressures still trouble me since I have always striven to be a responsible broadcaster and entertainer. The success of my shows, my deep involvement in the community and significant support of many charitable initiatives fully attests to that belief."
He ends by quoting conservative talk host Rush Limbaugh who said, "We're in the free speech business. It's one thing for a company to determine if they are going to be party to it. It's another thing for the government to do it."
Todd says he's evaluating his options and an update on the site suggests he is considering a move to satellite radio whose subscription services are not covered by the same rules as terrestrial broadcasters.
The update notes that deals are still in place with XM and stations in Wichita, Kansas, and Fort Myers, Florida, but that Clem has no studio from which to broadcast or uplink to distribute the show. It concludes, "If you want to hear Bubba again, we need you to let XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio know. Any positive words of reinforcement you could provide would be immensely appreciated."
Clear Channel has also come under attack from AFTRA (the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) for saying its new contracts would include clauses that make on-air staff pay when the company is fined by the FCC.
In a statement it said, "The responsibility for complying with FCC regulations rests with the employers. Our members aren't responsible for programming the stations and they don't hold a station's license to broadcast on the public airwaves."
"It's completely inappropriate and unprecedented for a broadcast company to shift the burden of complying with FCC regulations onto the backs of its employees."
…"What's truly indecent about this situation is how big media is trying to absolve itself of complying with FCC regulations by making its employees pay fines that are only levied because of management's programming decisions."
Previous AFTRA:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Bubba the Love Sponge:
Previous Hogan:
Previous Karmazin:
Previous Stern:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
BubbaArmy web site:
2004-02-28: UK Commercial radio "finished 2003 on a high note with double-digit growth across all forms of revenue in the final quarter" according to the UK Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB): In all, commercial radio had revenues of GBP 165.5 million (USD 305.9 million) in the quarter, up 12.7% on a year earlier and the fastest rate of growth recorded by RAB since 2000.
For the full year, UK radio revenues grew by 6.8% on 2002 compared to a 1.6% growth rate for TV advertising to total GBP 601 million (USD 1.1 billion).
RAB notes that the increase was driven by "leading FMCG advertisers such as P&G and Lever Faberge, both of whom doubled their radio spend in 2003" and Simon Worthington, Head of Communications Planning at Initiative Media, commented of Lever Faberge's increase "radio has provided an additional and powerful dimension to support brand objectives."
Broken down, final quarter national revenues were up 10.8% on a year earlier and topped GBP 100 million (USD 185 million), local was up 16.1% to a record GBP 44.5 million (USD 82.2 million) and
Sponsorship & Promotions grew worth 15.2% to top GBP 20 million (USD 37 million).
RAB Client Services Director Michael O'Brien commented, "The Q4 numbers show a very positive end to 2003. Radio is leading the way out of the downturn as marketeers increasingly turn to radio, attracted by its clearly demonstrated effectiveness at building awareness and driving sales."
The figures compare with an increase of 1% on 2002 for the full 2003-year in the US and a decline of 1% in the final quarter (See RNW Feb 4)
Previous RAB- UK:
2004-02-28: Arbitron has announced that it is to end its weekly and monthly Internet Ratings from the end of March although it says it plans to "offer a revised service for Internet broadcasters designed to be better aligned with the needs of the market."
No details were given of the plans but Bill Rose, vice president/general manager, Arbitron Internet Broadcast Services, said, "We will continue to document the size and growth of the Internet broadcasting audience through our Internet studies as well as offer consumer lifestyle and shopping data from Scarborough Research. Plus, we plan to offer custom research solutions to help bring Internet broadcasting into advertisers' media plans."
Arbitron was not specific in its news release about the exact reasons for its decision but Pierre Bouvard, president of Arbitron New Ventures, said the company remained "committed to the Internet broadcast business and continue to believe in the viability of this medium and its long-term market potential."
"However," he added, "the investment needed to sustain the current method would have been far greater than the revenue potential for the service. By revamping our services, we hope to provide better value for our customers and a reasonable return for our investors."
In a letter to clients of the service Rose gave more details, talking of the problems of scalability" of the system and noting that the current system depends on tallying every record of tuning in client's server files.
The growth of the audience was greater than we had anticipated, and the investment required to engineer our systems to accommodate that increase is far more than what we believe the market would bear," he wrote.
Rose also said the MeasureCast technology, whose main metrics are of the number of listeners and the time spent listening to a station, did not provide adequate demographic information of the kind that media planners needed to justify including Internet Broadcasting in their expenditure and went on to promise "more complete ratings and media planning solutions," including audience demographics, geographical location, and more traditional metrics like "reach."
He also suggested that the new service could resemble Arbitron's service for satellite radio with such metrics as Average-Quarter Hour (AQH) and cumulative audience for key age and sex demographics and market sizes.
RNW comment: Since all those providing streaming services presumably has records of the numbers who tune in and how long they are listening, the service they really need seems to us to fall into two distinct areas. One is an independent verification of their statistics to give credibility -as is provided in the UK by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) for newspaper and magazine sales. The second is a way of providing the kind of extra information that diaries - or electronic metering - give about audience demographics. Because of the mass of information to be handled we cannot see this being a practicable proposition if all the available information is to be sampled and are thus led to the conclusion that what is needed is some statistically valid system of sampling the audience so that much less processing is needed.
In this area, Arbitron's expertise in attracting diary keepers and ensuring a proper sample of people prepared to wear its Portable People Meter (PPM) should presumably enable it to develop a similar roster of people prepared to allow their PCs to keep a log of the channels they tune to and then send the data (presumably automatically via the Internet) to Arbitron.
For those who have broadband the process would seem to be simpler and more practicable than for anyone who listens via a dial-up and we can foresee some problems with workplace listening, which in some cases could breach company rules and to which a blind eye may be turned at the moment; this could hardly apply if information is to be sent to Arbitron.
Clients, however, may well be asking why Arbitron didn't see this one coming and have some form of service available for when they terminated the current service rather than at some ill-defined or undetermined future date.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Rose:
2004-02-28: US satellite radio companies Sirius and XM are about to launch their local traffic and weather services with Sirius for once commencing the service first albeit only in two markets, New York and Los Angeles.
The Sirius service for these two markets begins tomorrow with 18 other markets to follow by the end of March whilst XM is to begin its service on Monday for 15 major markets; it is to add Boston at the start of April and five more cities later this year.
The services will also differ with XM's "Instant Traffic and Weather" information from Traffic Pulse and The Weather Channel being on specific channels for each city whereas Sirius, which will take information from The Weather Channel and Westwood One's SmartRoute Systems, Inc., will broadcast its information on a single channel.
The services are likely to elicit further complaints from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) , which says they are an "appalling back-door attempt" to get round regulations limiting them to national services only (See RNW Jan 9).
Previous NAB:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
2004-02-28: Canadian privately held company Jim Pattison Industries Ltd. has gone to the British Columbia Supreme Court to block the CAD 7.5 million (USD 5.7 million) sale of Seacoast Communications Group Inc.'s news/talk C-FAX AM and music (hits from the 80s to today) CHBE-FM to CHUM that was announced last month (See RNW Jan 27).
Pattison says in a filing that it entered a deal in December, 1997, running for 15 years, that gave it certain "rights of first refusal'' if Seacoast elected to sell the Victoria operations and that it remains willing to purchase the stations. It wants the courts to allow it to exercise its claimed rights or award damages.
Seacoast is headed by broadcasting veteran Mel Cooper who told the Toronto Globe and Mail he agreed to the sale because it would allow him to retire after 52 years in the radio industry and because it was in the best interests of the company's employees and the local community.
Commenting on Pattison's move he said, "I guess Jimmy didn't feel it was a good deal for him,'' and added that he believes 74-year-old billionaire Jim Pattison wants the Victoria stations because they would fill in the "missing link" for an existing chain of radio stations in other major centres in British Columbia and Alberta. He said he didn't think the lawsuit would affect his friendship with Pattison.
CHUM vice-president Peter Miller told the paper his company had no knowledge of Pattison Industries' "purported interest' in the stations until after a definitive agreement was signed in January and that Seacoast would have been obliged to disclose any valid right-of-first-refusal while CHUM was doing its due diligence. He added that CHUM accepted Seacoast's contention that no such agreement exists.
Previous CHUM:
Toronto Globe and Mail report:
2004-02-27: Howard Stern summed it up succinctly with the comment "Fear Channel" after Clear Channel had suspended his show from the of its six stations that carried it, describing the action as "consistent with its Responsible Broadcasting Initiative."
"After assessing the content of [Tuesday's] Howard Stern show, Clear Channel worked with local market managers to take swift and decisive action," its statement continued before quoting Clear Channel Radio president and CEO John Hogan as saying, "Clear Channel drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content and Howard Stern's show blew right through it."
"It was vulgar, offensive, and insulting, not just to women and African Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency. We will not air Howard Stern on Clear Channel stations until we are assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards of responsible broadcasting."
The programme that led to the action included an interview with Rick Salomon, who was taped having sex with hotel heiress Paris Hilton in a video widely available on the internet.
In the programme according to a transcript Stern commented on Salomon activities including vaginal and oral sex and asked if he had anal sex with Hilton.
He also asked about others involved with Salomon including Drew Barrymore with whom, according to Salomon, he had sex when he was 20 and she was 15.
Stern on his show also had a caller who according to the transcript asked, "Ever bang a famous nigger chick? What do they smell like? Watermelons?"
On his show on Thursday when he reacted to Clear Channel's action, terming them "Fear Channel", and said of the racist comment, "A caller used the N word, and I hung up on him." [RNW question - what happened to all the delay systems that Stern has complained about in the past?]
Stern also spoke of "the last days of The Howard Stern Show", a comment that may come to haunt him if pressure from some groups is maintained.
Amongst them was the American Family Association (AFA), which issued a call for Mel Karmazin, President and COO of Viacom, whose Infinity Radio produces the Stern Show, to "immediately fire Howard Stern for violating Infinity Radio's new 'zero-tolerance' policy for indecent broadcasting."
AFA chairman Don Wildmon said, "If Karmazin is serious about cleaning up his company, firing Howard Stern is the only option. Howard Stern cannot be controlled by Karmazin or anyone else."
He added that if Stern weren't fired he'd ask his members to start filing official indecency complaints with the FCC against Infinity-owned stations.
The AFA also posted the transcript of the show with a heading, "WARNING: The following material is offensive."
So far there has been no statement from Infinity, which in 1995 paid the largest cumulative Federal Communications Commission (FCC) penalty to date of USD 1.7 million, for various violations by Stern's radio show.
Other radio companies however seem to also be drawing up new policies on broadcast indecency including Emmis Communications that, according to the Indianapolis Star, is preparing its own "zero-tolerance" policy on the matter.
Its radio division president Rick Cummings told the paper they wanted the policy to be "carefully thought out" and added "We've told all of our people, 'Look, just don't be "blue" anymore. You can still be controversial, you can still be edgy.' "
He said there seminars are planned for on-air personalities and managers and noted that all the indecency fines that the company had been found liable for related to the Mancow's Morning Madness show on WKQX-FM in Chicago.
The US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has also announced plans to hold an All-Industry Summit to address topics related to responsible programming (See RNW Feb 12) and in Fort Lauderdale Greg Reed, general manager of the Beasley Broadcasting stations told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel he has instituted a new indecency policy that clearly spells out what can't be said on the air.
The paper notes that Beasley's WQAM carries the "often raunchy Neil Rogers Show" and quoted Reed as saying, "Neil has been very cooperative. He knows the situation in Washington and has no problems with what we're doing."
Rogers was one of the few to openly come out on air and attack the current mood. He suggested that everything said would now be subject to scrutiny by the FCC and Congress and described Clear Channel's firing of Bubba the Love Sponge (See RNW Feb 25) and suspension of the Stern show, "This is a total copout, knowing that their feet would be held under the fire by the lunatic Congress."
Clear Channel's stations - in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida, Rochester, New York, San Diego, California, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Louisville, Kentucky - that have dropped Stern now carry fairly neutral comments with links to the official Clear Channel statement.
WTKY - Real Radio 104 - has a home page line "Information about what's happening with the Howard Stern Show, FCC and Clear Channel" that links to a statement by SVP Programming
Clear Channel Radio Tom Owens saying, "We regret the circumstances that have forced Real Radio 104.1 to temporarily cease broadcasts of the Howard Stern Show."
"The content of Howard Stern's program is not in compliance with Clear Channel's content standards. Until the program provider makes those adjustments, we will be unable to air the Howard Stern Show."
Hogan in his testimony to the House Telecommunications Subcommittee on Thursday described the Bubba the Love Sponge Show that led to the imposition of a record USD 715,000 indecency penalty on Clear Channel as tasteless and vulgar and unrepresentative of Clear Channel.
He added that he was "ashamed to be in any way associated with Bubba The Love Sponge Clem's words. More than anything else, I am embarrassed by Bubba's broadcasts."
Hogan also said he was opposed to licence revocation hearings related to indecency offences saying that the penalty would be disproportionate and the threat would force the company to contest any allegation of indecency because of the high stakes involved.
RNW: Courtesan Mandy Rice-Davies remarked on denials by Lord Astor of her allegations concerning house parties at his then home Cliveden at the time of the Profumo scandal in Britain, He would say that, wouldn't he?" [The Oxford English Dictionary of Quotations shortens this to "He would, wouldn't he?"] -- The same comment could well be applied to many of Hogan's comments.
In particular his comment concerning fighting the charges on every occasion should in our view be treated with utter contempt. Whilst we don't go along with the current climate, which we regard as ill thought through, some of the transcripts we have seen show US hosts clearly going beyond the lines set by the FCC albeit in our view this did not include the now infamous Opie and Anthony Sex for Sam case.
It seems to us that it is the responsibility of the managements of all companies - including those in broadcasting - to act within the law and we would much rather see a case where there are requirements as in most countries for broadcasters to keep tapes (or hard disc recordings) of output and then have cases considered on clear evidence than the current system.
The call that seems likely to gain acceptance is not for automatic revocation of licences but for hearings and that is the place at which the proportionality issue should be properly tested. We would have thought only the most egregious breaches were likely to go get any way towards a revocation.
We'd also note that in financial terms dumping the Stern Show is a cheap shot for Clear Channel - it only airs on less than half-a-per cent of Clear Channel's stations and the action puts rival Infinity into the fiting line.
Previous Beasley:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Cummings:
Previous Emmis:
Previous FCC:
Previous Hogan:
Previous Karmazin:
Previous NAB:
Previous Stern:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
AFA web site - links to call for Stern dismissal and transcript:
Indianapolis Star report re Emmis:
South Florida Sun-Sentinel report:
WTKS web site - links to comment on Stern show suspension:
2004-02-27: In more US radio results Salem has reported a strong final quarter performance, Regent a strong full year one, and Cox, has beaten expectations.
Salem had a strong final quarter in 2003 with net broadcasting revenue up 12.8% on a year earlier to USD 45.8 million and net income of USD 2.1 million (Nine cents a share) compared to a loss of USD 0.7 million (3 cents a share) in 2002 when it had a USD 1.9 million loss from discontinued operations related to the sale of WYGY-FM.
Station operating income (SOI) for the quarter was up 24.9% to USD17.8 million and EBITDA increased 35.7% to USD13.0 million; excluding the impact of discontinued operations for 2002, Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2003 increased 13.4% to USD13.0 million. Same station net broadcasting revenue and SOI increased 11.7% and 26.1% respectively in the quarter.
For the full year, Salem had net broadcasting revenue up 9.1% to USD170.5 but reported a net loss of USD0.7 million (3 cents per diluted share), compared with net income of USD14.0 million (59 cents per diluted share, for 2002.
Salem notes that net income for 2003 included a loss (net of an income tax benefit) of USD4.0 million as a result of the early retirement of USD100.0 million of the company's 9.5% senior subordinated notes whilst included in net income for 2002 was a USD16.0 million gain from the sale of WYGY-FM.
Same station net broadcasting revenue and SOI for 2003 increased 8.3% and 17.3%, respectively, as compared to 2002
Commenting on the results Salem President and CEO Edward G. Atsinger III, said, "On a same station basis, our fourth quarter station operating income growth of 26.1% matches the best quarterly financial performance we have achieved since going public in 1999. This is especially significant given the difficult year that the radio industry experienced in 2003."
" Our 12.8% revenue growth was fuelled by our start-up and developing stations, which continue to achieve strong growth. In particular, our contemporary Christian music stations grew robustly achieving 30.0% revenue growth and 197.1% growth in station operating income."
"Looking ahead to 2004, we continue to focus on driving our start-up and developing stations to maturity. Their performance, combined with the consistent and stable performance of our block programming business, provides Salem with a business model featuring both growth and predictability."
Regent had full year 2003 net broadcast revenues up 14.5% on 2002 to USD80.6 and net income of USD5.7 million for the year (12 cents a share) compared with a reported net loss of USD6.5 million (15 cents a share) in 2002.
In its final quarter however net broadcast revenues decreased 1.8% to USD21.0 million but it had net income of USD1.5 million for the quarter (3 cents a share) compared with a reported net loss of USD3.9 million (8 cents a share) a year earlier.
Chairman and CEO Terry Jacobs said Regent had "made great strides in 2003, enhancing the growth potential of our station group through both operational improvements and strategic acquisition."
"Specifically, we delivered impressive growth in revenues, which grew 14.5%. This performance reflects our commitment to maintaining investment in our developing properties while improving the leadership position of our market leading stations. We also greatly enhanced our new markets by utilizing station swaps with other radio operators to improve our station group as a whole on very attractive financial terms."
"Looking ahead," continued Jacobs, " we are entering 2004 in a very good position. We have a healthy mix of start-up, developing and mature radio properties clustered in attractive middle and small-sized markets."
"With the economy on the upswing, we look forward to capitalizing on the improving advertising environment and delivering impressive results for the coming year."
Cox reported revenues for the final quarter down 1% to USD 106.8 million but net income was up 20% to USD 20.7 million (17 cents a share): For the full year revenues were up 1% to USD 425.9 million with net income up 45% to USD 66.6 million (66 cents a share).
President and CEO Robert F. Neil said Cox was "pleased to report record 2003 results in a difficult advertising environment."
"We effectively managed our business in the short-term for the benefit of the long-term, keeping our expenses down while still investing in our station brands," he continued. "During 2003, it was the strength of these local brands that not only fuelled net revenue growth that outpaced the revenue growth in the markets in which we operate, but also led to strong free cash flow growth for the year."
Looking ahead he said Cox was optimistic and expected "full-year revenues to be up in the mid-single digits over full year 2003. "
"While we expect first quarter revenues to be positive," he added, we face difficult comparisons in the near term given our very strong performance last year. For example, in January of 2003, our revenues were up almost 11% compared to 6% revenue growth for the industry."
Previous Atsinger:
Previous Cox:
Previous Jacobs:
Previous Neil:
Previous Regent:
Previous Salem:
2004-02-27: Extra competition, notably from DMG's Nova network, which topped the latest ratings in Sydney (See RNW Feb 26) has resulted in a 20% fall in revenues to AUD 123 million (USD 95 million) in the six months until the end of 2003 for Austereo and although net profit was up 4.1% to AUD 25 million (USD 19.5 million) this represented an 8.4% fall from continuing operations.
Despite the fall, Austereo delivered an upbeat report, highlighting EBIT of AUD 41.7 million (USD 32.2 million), ahead of its projections in December and then noting that this was down 9% "achieved in an extremely competitive and crowded market."
Chairman Peter Harvie commented that ratings in the period had provided " clear evidence of our determination and successful programming in dealing with competition."
"At the same time, " he continued, "our share of advertising revenue increased and we continue to punch above our weight."
CEO Michael Anderson commented on programming: "In the six month period, Austereo maintained its strong FM position in every market. During this time, comprehensive plans were developed for new generation of programming. We have continued to pro-actively respond to the evolving market."
Anderson did not say how much of the company's 3.5% increase in costs during the period was down to marketing to combat DMG, which has spent heavily on talent and promotions for its stations.
Austereo said its joint-venture operations in Canberra and Newcastle had record sales levels and its ventures in Malaysia and Greece continued to trade well. It said its UK operation, UKRD, was in recovery growth and looking toward revenue improvement.
For the full year it continues to forecast earnings before interest and tax in the region AUD 68-72 million (USD 52.5- 55.5 million).
Previous Anderson:
Previous Austereo:
Previous DMG:
Previous Harvie:
2004-02-27: In marked contrast to the much larger numbers of complaints included in bulletins by the Radio Authority and Broadcasting Standards Commission, whose duties it took over along with those of other regulators, fewer than 20 complaints concerning broadcaster programming standards have been listed so far this year by the UK regulator Ofcom.
In three bulletins so far it has listed one "significant intervention" concerning an explicit TV channel, cases involving eight broadcasters where complaints were upheld - one of them a radio case, seven that were resolved including one radio case, and one complaint that was not upheld.
The radio complaint upheld involved Dream 107.7 in Chelmsford, Essex, and related to the use by a presenter- who had asked if they were off air - of the term "fucking cunt" in an early evening programme: Ofcom accepted that it was clear the language was not intended to be broadcast but said the production failure was serious and put the station in breach of codes.
Previous Ofcom:
2004-02-27: The latest Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings just released show MUSICMATCH retaining its hold on top station spot and AOL Radio@ Network doing the same for the top network spot. There were no changes in the top five ranks, both station and network.
For the week to February 8, 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 950,830 (940,756); CP - 309,726 (306,639). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: Contemporary Christian K-LOVE (Non commercial) - TTSL 315,132 (297,288); CP 39,947 (36,768). Up from third with higher listening and reach.
3: Hot Adult Contemporary Virgin AM & FM (Commercial) - TTSL 291,483 (314,087); CP - 60,741 (66,137). Down from second with lower listening and reach.
4: Country format AOL Top Country (Commercial) -TTSL 271,146 (230,716); CP 106,431 (60,159). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
5: Smooth Jazz AOL Smooth Jazz (Commercial) - TTSL 246,572 (203,924); CP - 53,809 (41,987). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
The top five networks for the week to February 8 (Previous week's figures in brackets) were:
1: AOL Radio@ Network (Commercial) - TTSL - 6,124,864 (5,350,006); CP - 1,547,903 (1,530,806). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
2: LAUNCH (Commercial) TTSL - 4,692,881 (4,094,599); CP - 987,898 (939,166). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
3: MUSICMATCH Inc. (*Non Commercial) TTSL - 2,442,561 (2,421,855); CP - 571,527 (568,761). Same rank with higher listening and reach.
4: The Adsertion Network (Sales Network) TTSL - 724,086 (738,109); CP - 107,673 (109,473) - Same rank with lower listening and reach.
5: Virgin Radio (Commercial) TTSL - 484,195 (526,244); CP - 85,331 (93,220) - Same rank with lower 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 2,846,972, up from 2,820,576and StreamGuys with TTSL 635,139, up from 632,971.
Previous Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings (Month of January):
Previous Arbitron Internet Broadcast weekly ratings:
2004-02-26: As the political tide runs against the broadcasters, Clear Channel has joined Infinity in announcing a "zero tolerance" policy on broadcast indecency.
Announcing its new "Responsible Broadcasting Initiative" that it says will "make sure the material aired by its radio stations conforms to the standards and sensibilities of the local communities they serve", President and COO Mark Mays said the company was "serious about helping address the rising tide of indecency on the airwaves."
As well as the new policy that will include company-wide training and automatic suspensions for anyone that the FCC alleges has violated indecency rules on the air, Clear Channel is also to write into all contracts with on air talent a provision to force them to share "financial responsibility" for any penalties.
"If the FCC accuses us of wrongdoing by issuing a proposed fine, we will take immediate action," Mays said. "We will suspend the DJ in question, and perform a swift investigation. If we or the government ultimately determine the offending broadcast is indecent, the DJ will be terminated without delay."
Clear Channel radio president John Hogan, who testifies today before the House Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing on the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004, added," If a DJ is found to be in violation of FCC rules, there will be no appeals and no intermediate steps. If they break the law by broadcasting indecent material, they will not work for Clear Channel."
Regarding changes to contracts to make talent pay when there are fines, he said," From now on, every contract that Clear Channel enters into with on-air talent will include this provision. While that won't relieve Clear Channel from our responsibility as a broadcast licensee, we believe it will have a significant deterrent effect on indecent content."
Clear Channel has also re-iterated its call for a "Decency Task Force" and volunteered to fully participate with other representatives of the broadcast, cable and satellite industries to develop an industry-wide response to indecency and violence in the media.
"In our view, industry-developed guidelines should be as effective as Government-imposed regulations without running afoul of the First Amendment protections that we all respect," said
Hogan.
RNW comment: If Hogan and Mays on reading a few transcripts of material that has aired can defend the broadcasts, we'd like to see them do so. If they can't there are many words for them and their past committment to standards, none complimentary.
In addition, in view of the returns Clear Channel (and others) have made from broadcasting material that is clearly beyond the bounds for most communities at times - and their attitudes when caught but enforcement was less strict - we find it difficult to feel any sympathy whatever for them.
We don't defend staff who push things to far but for them to end up fired and then having to pay up whilst out of work - we'd like to see details of exactly what the clauses are going to insist on - seems over the top.
Indeed in view of the limitations on employment for anyone fired by the large groups, we'd say there is an arguable case that enforcing any clause of this kind on top of a dismissal makes them arguable unfit to hold licences because of abuse of their power.
Again in your dreams, but the idea of Clear Channel getting too greedy with the DJs and then losing everything does have an appeal. And we can't really see that the US would be much poorer without them since we're sure there'd be takers for the frequencies who might not delight the accountants as much but would probably serve their communities just as well or better.
Putting Clear Channel down doesn't seem such a bad idea compared to kicking ex-staff when they are down.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Hogan:
Previous Mark Mays:
2004-02-26: DMG's Nova has finally managed to move to the head of the Sydney station ranks in the latest Australian ratings from the AC Nielsen McNair survey that show it pushing Austereo's 2-DAY into second place: Macquarie Radio Network's 2GB was down to third with ABC 702 fourth and Southern Cross Broadcasting's 2UE dropping from fifth rank to seventh.
In the Sydney breakfast slot Alan Jones took a 15.3 share and put 2GB back in the top slot with Angela Catterns for ABC 702 falling to second with a 12.4 share, down from 12.8. 2GB's commercial talk rival 2UE, with former drive time host Mike Carlton in the breakfast slot was down to sixth equal from third as its share fell from 9.9 to 7.0.
Nova benefited in the breakfast slot from changes at 2-Day, where the trio of Judith Lucy, Peter Helliar and Kaz Cooke has taken over from Wendy Harmer. Its share dropped from 8.9 to 8.0 with Nova's breakfast team of Merrick and Rosso being the main beneficiaries and increasing their share from 8.1 to 11.9
2UE also lacked the consolation of a morning slot lead as John Laws' show lost share l from 11.0 to 9.0 and it dropped from first rank to fourth behind leader Nova with 12.3, 2-Day with 10.5 and 2GB with 10.2.
In drive time Nova increased its share from 10.6 to 12.8 and took the lead, pushing Richard Glover from ABC 702 to third place with a share of 9.5, down from 12.1 behind 2-Day, which moved from third to second with share up from 10.5 to 12.1.
Despite the Nova success in Sydney, Austereo Chief Executive Officer Michael Anderson produced the usual bullish comments, starting with a countrywide view:" Austereo has had a great first survey for 2004. We have once again confirmed our leadership across Australia and we and our listeners are enjoying the early success, strength and chemistry of our new shows across Australia."
"We look at these results and say the implementation phase of our aggressive new two-year strategy is right on track."
Regarding the Sydney result he was reticent about 2_Day apart from expressing satisfaction with the new breakfast show that he said was "meeting expectations" and added that they were "happy with Triple M's performance" and drawing comparison with the Triple-M success in Melbourne where formats new to Sydney had been in operation for longer.
City by city, the top three stations were (previous % share in brackets):
*Adelaide: SAFM - same rank with 20.4 (23.1); Mix 16.6 (11.4) - up from fourth; 5AA -14.1 (16.6) - down from second; *5MMM - 13.1 (12.8) - fell from third to fourth:
*Brisbane - B105FM - same rank with 18.4 (18.0); Triple M with 14.0 (13.2) - up from third; NEW 97.3 FM with 13.6 (14.2)- down from second:
*Melbourne - 3AW with 14.2 (16.2); Gold with 11.5 (10.2) - up from fourth; Fox FM with11.0 (12.7) - down from second; * ABC 774 with 10.7 (11.8) fell from third to fourth; Nova fell from fifth spot to sixth with 8.3 (10.0).
*Perth - MIX 94.5FM same rank with 21.9 (20.7); All New 92.9 with 11.6 (12.2)- same rank; ABC 720 with 11.1(10.1)- same rank; *Nova moved up to fourth from sixth as its share rose from 8.8 to 9.5
** Sydney - Nova with 11.8 (9) - up from fourth; 2-Day with 10.4 (9.8) - down from first; 2GB 10.3 (9.7) - Down from second equal;
*ABC 702 9.1 (9.7) - fell to fourth from second equal and 2UE lost share - from 7.7 to 7 and fell from fifth rank to seventh.
In another comment on Australian ratings, Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner considered a "recent trends" report by Nielsen Media Research that looked to the future in noting the increase in listening by the younger generation in Australia.
"The figures show that people aged between 18 and 24 increased the time they spent listening to radio in the first survey period for this year by one hour and 46 minutes to nineteen hours and 36 minutes a week - up from seventeen hours and 50 minutes in survey one last year," she said.
"This is indicative of a trend over the past few years which shows that commercial radio continues to gain in popularity among younger listeners - which is great news for the industry."
"Today's young people love radio because it complements a faster-paced lifestyle and it is also the most interactive and immediate medium."
"Younger audiences, particularly the under-25s, have access to new technology and mobile phones, and they have taken very quickly to interacting with their favourite radio stations and DJs via email and SMS to request songs, have their say or enter competitions."
Previous ABC, Australia:
Previous Anderson:
Previous Austereo:
Previous Australian ratings:
Previous Carlton:
Previous Catterns:
Previous Commercial Radio Australia:
Previous DMG:
Previous Jones:
Previous Laws:
Previous Macquarie:
Previous Southern Cross:
Previous Warner:
2004-02-26: In further details of its reshuffling, BBC Radio One has announced that Vernon Kay, who joined the station in October last year (See RNW Oct 14, 2003), is to take over the late morning weekend slot from Edith Bowman and Colin Murray, who are moving to take over the weekday afternoon slot on the channel from Mark and Lard (Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley) who are moving to BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music (See RNW Feb 20). Their last show is on March 26th and Kay begins his new show on March 27th.
The channel also says that Scott Mills' Saturday show is to be replaced by a new Sports show headed by The Breakfast Show's 'Comedy' Dave and Mark 'Chappers' Chapman from The Sara Cox show with Mills hosting an extended Sunday show running from 1300-1600 and taking in the 1500-1600 slot formerly hosted by Kay.
Mills is also to host the weekday BBC Radio 1 afternoon show from late May when Sara Cox goes on maternity leave with Bowman then taking over his Sunday show.
In early August JK and Joel, who were recently signed from Emap Manchester station Key 103 (See RNW Jan 17) will take over the Saturday 1300-1500 and Sunday 1300-1600 slot.
Previous BBC:
Previous Bowman and Murray:
Previous Cox:
Previous JK and Joel:
Previous Kay:
Previous Mark and Lard:
Previous Mills:
2004-02-26: Top rated Los Angeles talk host Renan Almendarez Coello "El Cucuy de la Tarde'' says he has been suspended by Univision after he walked out of his show on KSCA-FM on Friday to show solidarity with colleagues upset over negotiations with station managers about pay and working conditions.
He told the Associated Press he had "always been for the cause of the poor and the weak people, and in this particular situation, all that I did was to react to the tears and suffering of my crew."
He added that the station was airing highlights of previous shows and had suspended all the show personnel without pay.
"My crew has been asking for salary improvements for years and never got the consideration that they deserve."
Also in Los Angeles, Ryan Seacrest launches his new breakfast show, "On Air With Ryan Seacrest," on Clear Channel's KIIS-FM today.
Previous Coello:
Previous Univision:
2004-02-25: Clear Channel has fired Todd Clem - "Bubba the Love Sponge", its WXTB-FM (98 Rock, Tampa)-based host whose show broadcast material in 2001 that last month led the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to propose record indecency fines of USD 715,000 against the company - it topped the amount up to USD 755,000 with an extra USD 40,000 for four public file violations (See RNW Jan 28).
The news was broken in comment by WXTB General Manager Dan DiLoreto in comment to Clear Channel's News Talk WFLA-AM. He said the contract had been ended for all the Florida Clear Channel stations that carried the show.
In a statement on the decision later he said the company recognized "the importance of understanding and airing content that is consistent with the standards and sensibilities of the local communities we serve."
He was backed up by Clear Channel Radio President and CEO John Hogan who said the company supported the local manager's decision to drop the show.
Clear Channel acted speedily in removing signs of "Bubba" from the WXTB web site, which when we last checked listed no breakfast show host; it also took down the Bubba web site that it hosts.
It slipped up however with for some 12 hours with some of its sites including the show's syndication site and some station sites - when we checked on Tuesday morning the syndication site was up, WJRR-FM (Real Rock 101.1, Orlando) listed Bubba as "now playing" and WRQC-FM (Real Rock 92.5, Fort Myers) listed the show with a link to the non-working Bubba site.All had removed links when we checked in the evening.
The only non-Clear Channel affiliate, Fly 92.7 in Wichita, Kansas, still listed the show and carried details but its Internet stream did not produce anything when we tried. The show is also still listed by XM on Channel 152.
RNW comment: As a reflection of the standards of Tampa, we would note that the most recent ratings for the market showed the show in first rank in the 12+, 18-34, and 25-54 demographics.
And as a reflection of Clear Channel's understanding of local standards and sensibilities, we would ponder any link between the decision to drop the show and the penalty recently proposed relating to broadcasts that dated back to 2001.
Then as a reflection of Clear Channel's openness, we would suggest anyone who cares to check the company's web sites would find it mighty difficult to find a mention of the matter.
The logical conclusion is that the accountants have calculated that the likely financial risks of keeping the show as it is or its ratings value if censored to meet the current climate of outrage, however synthetic, in the US, mean that overall the profits wouldn't justify any opprobrium or penalties that might come Clear Channel's way.
There might have been a Damascene conversion amongst the local managers that has received backing from the top; we'd think it more likely the decision was influenced from the top and not through any strong empathy with the experiences of St Paul.
In another story that relates to the whole question of shock-jock broadcasts and that could bode badly for Erich "Mancow" Muller in Chicago as well as a number of his fellows, Robert Feder in his Chicago Sun-Times column comments on the five-year crusade against Mancow and his show by David Edward Smith and his Chicago-based Citizens for Community Values.
His complaints led to penalties of USD 28,000 being levied against Emmis last week for broadcasts on Muller's show, also in 2001.
Since 1999, Smith has filed a total of 66 complaints against Muller but he told Feder, "The whole Mancow project isn't about targeting one particular shock jock. The idea was -- and is -- to draw attention to the indecent material being broadcast on the public airwaves and bring a greater awareness to the prevalence of broadcast indecency."
In comments on material aired on other shows in the city that have not been targeted Feder writes," One major flaw in the FCC's enforcement procedures is that they rely on citizens to submit tapes or transcripts on suspected indecency."
"So while Smith goes after Muller with a single-minded vengeance, other shows in the market -- from the puerile and titillating morning show of Kevin "Drex" Buchar on WKSC-FM to the sophisticated Karen Hand and Dr. Kelly Johnson's "Private Lives" on WCKG-FM -- often air material that's far more sexually explicit than anything heard on "Mancow's Morning Madhouse."
Previous Bubba the Love Sponge:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Emmis:
Previous Feder:
Previous FCC:
Previous Hogan:
Previous "Mancow" Muller:
2004-02-25: Clear Channel has posted 2003 results that show full year profits up 58% to USD 1.15 billion (USD 1.85 per diluted share) on revenues up 6% to USD 8.93 billion but notes that had it not been for around USD 727 million in pre-tax gains related to its investment in Univision, the sale of an investment in American Tower Corporation and the early extinguishment of debt, and some USD 15 million in asset impairments profits would have been USD 726 million (USD 1.17 per share) compared to 2002 figures before the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle of USD 725 million (USD 1.18 per share).
For the final quarter of 2003 its revenues were up 4% to USD 2.29 billion producing net earnings of USD 187 million, up USD 3 million on a year earlier but 30 cents per share each year.
The figures were below expectation and the markets reacted negatively with Clear Channel shares ending Tuesday down 2.1% at USD 42.92
Radio revenues were down 1% for the final quarter at USD 967 million compared to a 14% increase for outdoor to USD 615 million and a 6% increase in entertainment to USD 597 million. For the full year, radio was down 1% to USD 3.7 billion, outdoor was up 17% to 2.18 billion and entertainment was up 8% to USD 2.65 billion.
Clear Channel put down most of the radio decline down to weak local advertising but also cited discontinued sports broadcasting rights, cessation of business with independent promoters and a revenue decline in the Company's nationally syndicated radio business. In the top 50 markets it says Clear Channel Radio was able to generate a 1 percent revenue increase, primarily behind the relative strength of national advertising compared to local advertising.
Putting the usual positive spin on things Clear Channel President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Mays said, "Our record 2003 results highlight the strength of our business model and the high free cash flow characteristics of our businesses."
"Our focus on profitable revenue streams enabled us to deliver earnings per share of USD1.85 for the year. In addition, during the year we significantly strengthened our balance sheet, reduced debt by approximately USD1.8 billion, and instituted a dividend for shareholders. Looking ahead, Clear Channel is ideally positioned to capitalize on an improving economic environment and we are excited about our growth prospects in 2004."
At the company's conference call, Mays repeatedly ducked questions on details of current pacings although he spoke of "sequential" monthly improvement since November and said he expected radio revenues to be up between 3% and 5% in the first quarter of this year.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Mark Mays:
2004-02-25: Australian group, RG Capital Radio controlled by Reg Grundy has reported net profit in the half year to the end of 2003 up 18% to AUS 6 million (USD 4.7 million) on revenues up 8.6% to AUD 36.7 million (USD 28.6 million).
The company, which is strongest in Australia's regional east coast and Tasmanian markets, says increased competition had pushed up promotional costs but they were still controlled tightly. It says it is meeting and dealing well with the impact of competition and is looking for acquisitions in areas such as Newcastle where it can add value.
For the first quarter of this year it says things are slower but it is still experiencing "solid growth" and chairman Tim Hughes said they "were encouraged that the positive trend has continued into January and February."
He added that growth over the past two years had been "driven by strong domestic tourism and retailing down the east coast of Australia."
Managing Director Rhys Holleran commented that the majority of its markets had shown good growth over the previous year. Referring to the impact of new licences on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast he said this had been as anticipated and "overall any slight pull back in these markets has been offset by growth in other markets across regional Australia."
Previous RG Capital:
2004-02-25: The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has approved Capital Radio's acquisition of urban contemporary Choice FM, which operates two FM licences in London plus a network of five digital radio licences in London, the North West, Yorkshire, North East and the Severn Estuary, with an additional West Midlands service on offer to it.
Capital had acquired a 19% stake in Choice for GBP 3.3 million (USD 5.6 million) in October 21 with an option that allowed it to acquire the remaining 81%; this was exercised in November last year at a price of GBP 12 million (USD 20.4 million) (See RNW Nov 20, 2003)
Capital's Strategy and Development Director Nathalie Schwarz said they were delighted with the decision, the first concerning radio made by the OFT since last year's Communications Act came into force.
"Choice is an excellent investment for Capital and one that complements our existing portfolio of stations in London," she added. "We believe that Choice has significant opportunities under its existing formats to grow its audience across London and the UK and look forward to announcing completion of the deal."
Previous Capital:
2004-02-25: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that as of the end of last year the US had a total of 26,613 licensed broadcast stations, an increase of 194 on the figure at the end of June, 2003.
Of this total 13,563 were radio licences, up 145 on the previous total and within the radio total there were 4794 AMs - down nine, 6217 commercial FMs - up 28, and 2552 educational FMs - up 126.
Previous FCC:
Previous FCC station numbers:
2004-02-24: The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) has invited applications for new commercial FM licences in Sydney and Brisbane; they have a reserve price of AUD 1 million each but with competition expected to be heavy they are expected to fetch much more with estimates ranging around AUD 80-100 million (USD 62-77 million) for the Brisbane licence and around AUD 100 million (USD 77 million) for the Sydney one.
Applications have to be in by midnight on March 22 and amongst those likely to be in competition are DMG Radio, APN News & Media, Rural Press, RG Capital and Gold Coast radio group Hot Tomato.
DMG, which has created its Nova network on the back of winning bids in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, is expected to be particularly keen on the Brisbane licence. It has a share of a licence in Brisbane, but as with its Perth licence share the Brisbane station in jointly-owned with ARN (a joint venture between APN News and Media and Clear Channel International).
ARN manages the Brisbane station while DMG operates the one in Perth and thus DMG is still without a Nova outlet in the city.
A further new commercial FM licence - for Melbourne - is to be auctioned later this year.
Previous ABA:
Previous DMG:
2004-02-24: Entercom has reported final quarter 2003 profits up 16% to a record USD 21.8 million (42 cents a share) on revenues up 3% to a record USD104.6 million with full year 2003 in profit before accounting changes to the tune of USD 71.8 million (USD1.39 a share) compared with a 2002 loss of USD 83 million (USD 1.67 a share).
President and CEO David J. Field said Entercom was "are pleased to report record financial results for 2003, particularly under the difficult economic conditions that hindered all advertising-based media subsequent to the commencement of the Iraqi war last year."
He continued, "We are optimistic on our outlook for 2004 based on positive external and internal factors, led by the recovering economy, growing business confidence, improving station ratings, and continuing enhancements in our operating capabilities and execution."
For the first quarter this year Entercom says it is expecting same station net revenues to increase 3 - 5%, with station operating expenses increasing 3%, giving net income in the range 21-23 cents compared to 18 cents a year ago.
At Entercom's conference call, Field described current pacings as disheartening but said he expected improvements later in the year providing the US economy as a whole remained healthy.
Previous Entercom:
Previous Field:
2004-02-24: According to the UK Sunday Times - owned by News International, which also owns part of The Wireless Group as well as Sky satellite TV in the UK - the discomfiture of the BBC when the Hutton report led to the resignations of chairman Gavyn Davies and Director-General Greg Dyke led to celebration at Britain's commercial radio groups.
It quoted one un-named (we're not sure why as the comment is hardly that contentious and Wireless Group chairman Chief Executive Kelvin MacKenzie has made more antagonistic comments) radio executive as saying, "A real opportunity has been presented by this and it could not have come at a better time for us. The BBC needs to be put back in its public-service box."
The paper then quoted Kelvin MacKenzie as attributing a rise in listening to BBC London as possibly due to cross-promotion on the BBC1 TV channel (RNW comment: Any ex-Murdoch executive ought to be an expert on cross-promotion!) and adding that he estimated this from "commercial advertiser would cost me £1m a week and which no other radio station could afford."
"The sooner we privatize these taxpayer-funded shysters the better," he said, also commenting, "As far as reach goes, there could be as much as a 20% increase if the BBC was reined in. For example, I am not sure what public-interest purpose the Radio 1 and 2 stations serve. They should not be funded by the licence fee."
The paper also quotes another un-named another senior executive as saying that the BBC should be catering for music tastes that are not mainstream and adding that there was anger that Radio 2, which used to be targeted at the over-fifties, is trying to attract the younger audience that is so vital to the commercial broadcasters.
The paper also says digital radio could be another force for growth in commercial radio because it has a higher share of the digital spectrum than the BBC with anticipated consolidation also generating growth - it comments, "This year promises to be the one when radio's big four - Emap, Capital, Chrysalis and GWR - become three."
Roger Parry, chairman and chief executive of Clear Channel International based in London, also accepted that there would be consolidation of the major groups but was more cautious about the timescale: "Logically, in three or four years the four (big radio groups) will become three because as it stands there is one too many," he said. "How we get to that situation is open to question. But I envisage that there will be a certain amount of asset swapping. That is what happened in the United States."
Chrysalis chief executive Richard Huntingford said he foresaw three phases in consolidation: "
"The first act will be intra-UK and will involve the juggling of radio assets. We saw the first scene last month when Emap took Scottish Media Group's stake in Scottish Radio," he said.
"The second act," he said, " could see some serious cross-media involvement" and he suggested that the new ITV plc would be looking to grow and added "a big radio acquisition would certainly be an option for them."
Finally, he thought, in two or three years an American media company would enter the market.
RNW comment: Although self-interest would in our opinion be no stranger to MacKenzie or Murdoch we'd not put much value on their commitment to public interest, public service, or indeed truthful reporting.
We see increasing evidence of a case against the BBC being fuelled by self-interest, being in some cases presented in a very one-sided manner, and regrettable little overt opposition to those involved.
We're fairly sure that if the British public were given a free choice between keeping the BBC and simply closing down any operation involving Murdoch and MacKenzie the latter two would be out of business but regrettably the public don't have the same capabilities when it comes to putting pressure on the politicians in terms of sticks and carrots - who was it who described an honest politician as one who stayed bought?
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Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous Huntingford:
Previous MacKenzie:
Previous Parry:
Previous Wireless Group:
UK Sunday Times report:
2004-02-24: Clear Channel has appointed John T. Tippit, formerly vice president, finance and strategic planning for Clarke American Inc., to the newly created position as senior vice president, strategic development.
In the role he will oversee Clear Channel's strategic planning and development and executive vice president and CFO Randall Mays said Tippit had the "experience, knowledge and leadership skills to step into this important position."
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Randall Mays:
2004-02-23: Our view of opposition from the US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to low power FM - community radio as it would be called in Australia and Canada where it operates successfully and will be called in the UK - is, as we indicated yesterday (See Licence News Feb 22) that it is fuelled more by the potential loss of a few dimes than any genuine concern about interference or indeed by much public spirit.
The same would appear to be true in the UK to a degree as illustrated by the first item we chose for our look at print comment on radio over the past week.
In an article headed "Commercial radio fears community rivals" Dan Milmo in the UK Guardian reported on plans to allow community radio in the UK (See RNW Feb 18). and the concerns from commercial companies.
"Community radio is a sensitive subject for commercial broadcasters, who fear that the new services, although well-meaning, will take advertising revenue," he wrote.
Milmo then said that James Bethell, the strategy development manager at Capital Radio, had said the group understood the benefits of community services but warned that the funding issue [Current plans would allow revenue from advertising although this could be capped]still posed a threat to small commercial broadcasters.
"Ofcom has not resolved the crucial question of how it will be funded, and we are particularly concerned on behalf of smaller stations that there is protection for people with existing businesses," said Bethell.
Milmo also cited GWR group public affairs director Simon Cooper as saying the new stations had to be strongly differentiated from local broadcasters and also saying that the regulator had to develop a digital strategy for the services, commenting, "The long-term question is how do we get them on to digital radio in the future? We have to make sure we allocate spectrum that will allow them to be on digital radio."
Digital radio may well be the future but for some countries it is certainly a distant one and that would appear to be the case in Ghana if a careers article by Kitty Melrose in the UK Telegraph is anything to go by.
She notes that one student Gavin Campbell, who spent three months as a volunteer at English-language news and talk radio station Choice FM, one of some 50 stations in the country, found some significant deficiencies.
"They had computers, but half of them didn't work. They had internet connection, but held together by a safety pin. You could write a wonderful report but you wouldn't have enough paper to print it out." he says.
"It was chaotic - but an absolute challenge. Within seconds I was assigned to the business desk. I cast aside lingering memories of a BBC newsroom and decided to learn fast."
He also commented about being thrown in at the deep end: "Quite often we'd be seconds away from a bulletin, and nobody would be behind the mike," he explains. "And so I'd suddenly find myself dragged into the studio as 'International Correspondent'. It would be: 'So Gavin, tell us what you know about Osama bin Laden and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and is there any link between the two?' I'd be sitting there shaking, but at least I never once thought I was wasting my time."
He and his girlfriend Kirsty Hemming, who was with him at the station, ended up long hours but with the satisfaction of their own hour-long Saturday slot, which rounded up all the latest international news. "That was a real test of our skills and initiative because we were given so much freedom. It was amazing but also scary. We were even heard in Germany," said Gavin.
RNW comment: Unfortunately no indication is given in the article of the accuracy and judgement involved in the programmes, something we have to consider significant. On the other hand bearing in mind how many TV and radio reports in the US are cases of correspondents regurgitating a prepared script put together from agency material the pair could well have done as good a job!
We'd also note that the cost per head of the trip was around USD 4000, certainly not peanuts for a student who had to work to pay their own way, never mind university costs.
On however to the US and the topic that seems to be getting the Puritans aroused, namely broadcast indecency.
In our reading on this matter we noted an Associated Press- Ipsos survey showed some four fifths of Americans thought it a waste of time to investigate the revealing of Janet Jackson's breast on CBS TV although more than half thought it had been in bad taste. Less than a fifth thought the matter to be one of illegality and amongst those between the ages of 18 and 29 nearly half said the Jackson incident was neither illegal or in bad taste.
The figures would appear to be one in the eye for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael K Powell and his fellow commissioners and amongst those we noted weighing in against him was Anthony Cumia, Anthony of the Opie and Anthony duo whose show was axed after the Sex for Sam stunt in St Patrick's cathedral in New York.
Commenting on the duo's web site, Cumia wrote, "I watched the entire Broadcast Decency Enforcement hearing the other day on CSPAN. It went on for about 8 hours and by the time it was over I had to fight the urge to run head first into my television set."
…" You may ask 'what was the noble mission of these proceedings?' To protect the American people…from Janet Jackson's right breast. It doesn't stop there though. Apparently we need protection from just about everything that airs on TV and radio."
…" Wait a minute. We are talking about a ¾ second long clip of a partially covered breast here, right? Ok. Sorry, with a congressional hearing and denials of prior knowledge and claims of responsibility I was getting this confused with Watergate or the Pentagon Papers or the Challenger explosion or 9/11 or ANYTHING besides a ¾ of a second clip of a partially covered breast on TV."
There was more of the same; particularly a section directed at House Committee member Heather Wilson the Republican representative from New Mexico.
Cumia writes, "Ms. Wilson told the room how her family "is real restrictive about television watching" and how her 4th grade son had to ask for "special permission" to watch the Super Bowl. Special permission? Gee, thanks mom! With utter disgust on her face and in her voice she told everyone how even before halftime she had to hear about "The farting horses" making reference to one of the commercials that aired. This was a great opportunity for her to take a well-rehearsed jab at how Madison Ave. aims its humour towards 4th graders. Wow, farting horses. Get to your fallout shelters people! What the hell is this country coming to?"
…"Listening to this bullshit story was making me sick. It's a story. She made this crap up. I was a 4th grade boy once. I know how 4th grade boys react to these things. They laugh. That's all. They talk about it with their friends and laugh their asses off… The fact of the matter is things like the Janet Jackson breast shot doesn't offend children it offends some of the parents. For years, people who said they were offended by radio or TV shows were told to turn the dial and shut up. Those people smartened up. Now they complain in the name of America's children so you can't argue the point or you're some kind of kid destroying child-hating monster. "
We think Cumia has a point as he also did in comments on the Sex for Sam case: "We were within the FCC guidelines during that broadcast. For those who don't know by now there was no "steamy sex" broadcast from St. Pats as some of you might have read. There was no "pew rocking sex" broadcast live by Opie and Anthony as was reported in the press. There was no "blow by blow description of sex broadcast from St. Pats" as was also reported. What was broadcast from St. Pats? Hold on to your hat's here it is: "We're in St. Pats and he's doing the balloon knot…This is what was broadcast from St. Pats. That's it. No really, that's it."
…" This is why, as Mel Karmazin said during the hearing, Infinity has not paid the St. Pats broadcast fine and will continue fighting it. It was not indecent as it was broadcast. The idea behind that show was tasteless and awful and offended people's faith and morality but the broadcast itself was not indecent and that's what the FCC is supposed to be looking at."
He concludes, "This is far from a protection issue. This is a morality issue. A few people want to push their idea of what is good and right on everyone else. Unfortunately the majority of the people are also the quietest. No one ever writes letters or makes phone calls to tell a company or the government they don't feel one way or another about something and few people write or call to say they are fine or pleased with something that happened. This is the vast majority of the population."
"89 million people watched the Super bowl. The FCC received about 200,000 complaints against the halftime show. That amounts to .2 percent. Yes, that is point two percent. Since when does a .2 percent disapproval of something hold any weight? Could you imagine going to a show with 500 people and having one person at this show tell the manager that he was offended and doesn't think it's good for the other 499 people to see the show? Anyone in his right mind would tell the guy to get lost. He's .2 percent of the audience. You wouldn't consider shutting down based on that one complaint. But that's what's happening because the rest of us don't make a peep."
RNW comment: We rather agree here as well. And, apart from First Amendment issues when it comes to subscription services, we'd add that if FCC commissioners and the lawmakers aren't bright enough to draft the rules properly and are then incapable of understanding what has been passed into law they should buy some duct tape and wear it whenever near a microphone - and then resign and let those a little more professional do the drafting!
And finally in comment on the issue of broadcast decency, on to Randy Dotinga's Static Column Awards for Radio, the SCARs, in the North County Times.
He gave the "Tell It Like It Is" award for speaking the truth about the radio world instead of playing it safe to KPBS general manager Doug Myrland.
Among Myrland's comments: " "A few dirty jokes on the radio are not going to undermine the underpinnings of society. Reasonable people, whether they're Democrats or Republicans, know that. Why really waste your time unless there's something to be gained politically?"
As Dotinga comments, "Someday, Myrland's big mouth is going to get him in big trouble. But until that time, we can all enjoy the words of wisdom from a guy who must have skipped that CEO class on how to talk without saying anything."
After which on to some recommendations for listening over the next week and also a heart-warming programme we picked up by chance last Monday - it is still on the BBC Radio 4 Listen Again web site but not for long.
The Lost Children of Possum Trot is a remarkable story of some 70 adoptions by the Bennett Chapel Missionary Church community in the small predominantly black east Texan community in Shelby County.
We would probably find philosophical disagreement with some of the good people involved but if even a tenth of what was reported and said is true they are surely Good People.
Still with the religious but some who don't always deserve positive description were featured on US National Public Radio (NPR) on Sunday's weekend edition that carried a report, to quote the programme's own description "on the history of passion plays -- the dramatic performances recounting the suffering of Christ -- and why Jews are concerned about renewed anti-Semitism resulting from Mel Gibson's new film The Passion of the Christ."
Back to the UK and rather than our usual recommendation of BBC radio 4 comedy output (Still worth a listen at 18:30 GMT weekdays with particular reference to Absolute Power on Thursday and the Best of Dead Ringers on Friday) last Tuesday saw "Should we be laughing?" the first of two programmes on the way disabilities are - and should be - treated by comedians.
The series is presented by disabled stand-up comedian and presenter Francesca Martinez and began with a look at the way disabled characters were presented - generally they had fun poked at them - by the non-disabled. That edition is still on the web site: This week's edition at 11:30 GMT will look at the work of disabled comedians.
Before that on the channel at 09:30 GMT is the last of five Subterranean Stories, this one looking at Winston Churchill's secret wartime bunker, hidden in the North London suburb of Dollis Hill and which, after decades of neglect, has recently been opened up by members of the group Subterranean Britannica.
On BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday, in Seven More Days that Rocked the World Stuart Maconie looks at the collaboration between Aerosmith and Run DMC and the release of 'Walk This Way'.
Previous Columnists:
Previous Cumia (Opie and Anthony):
Previous Dotinga:
North County Times - Dotinga:
Opie and Anthony site - Anthony Cumia comments:
UK Guardian - Milmo:
UK Telegraph - Melrose:
2004-02-23: WorldDAB Forum President, Annika Nyberg is to address a session at the 3GSM World Congress currently being held in Cannes on the benefits of Digital Audio Broadcasting to the mobile phone industry including the economics of using DAB for one-to-many broadcasts and the integration of DAB technology in mobile devices.
"The marriage between DAB and the Telecoms industry is inevitable," says Nyberg. "The technologies are perfectly compatible, economically attractive and promise a long and fruitful relationship."
She added that the DAB and mobile technologies were "the perfect match, with a combination of strengths that can present consumers with the ultimate in hand-held devices. Such a device can deliver a range of benefits beyond the audio of pure DAB and the established returns of mobile phones."
As well as audio and basic data services, the development of DMB-T (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting-Terrestrial), using Eureka 147 will enable the delivery of tailored video services to mobiles and DAB receivers
Livetime, a new venture that will deliver music, video and text to a mass market, will demonstrate at the show a prototype handset and service that will enable consumers to buy and interact with content whilst on the move, and others including NTL: Broadcast are developing ideas for the delivery of multimedia content on the move to vehicles, mobile phones, PDAs and other devices.
Amongst technology companies Samsung Electronics is to exhibit a DMB-T prototype that delivers real-time multimedia content in the mobile environment and RadioScape Ltd will demonstrate solutions for digital radio applications including audio, video and data services.
RadioScape has already released details of its new RS250H fully integrated, tri-band micromodule, supporting FM, RDS, Band III DAB and L-Band DAB, that enables handheld radio receivers to be made and used anywhere in the world.
The form factor of the micromodule measures only 52 by 37 by 7 mm and battery life has also been extended as its power consumption is less than 500mW providing up to fifteen hours of use from three AA cells.
In the UK Frontier Silicon has launched a highly integrated module for Band III, L-Band and VHF radios that will enable the first €99 (USD 125) DAB digital radios in Europe. The new tri-band Venice 2 module is fully hardware and software compatible with the Venice 1 module, which powers the majority of DAB digital, radios available today and requires only a power source antenna, display and keypad to create a fully featured digital radio.
For those listening at home, PURE Digital has announced details of its Legato DAB/FM/CD micro system that integrates DAB radio with FM, CD and MP3 playback and includes features that allow listeners to pause and rewind DAB broadcasts and also a record timer lets users record favourite radio shows to a separate recording device such as a MiniDisc or CD-R recorder.
The Legato is to go on sale in summer this year retailing around GBP 350 (USD 650).
Previous Nyberg:
Previous WorldDab:
2004-02-23: Allegations by conservative US radio host Rush Limbaugh that his former maid Wilma Cline only went to the police with allegations about his drug taking after the National Enquirer had said they could only publish the story if there was a police investigation have been denied by Cline's attorney Ed Shoat according to the Palm Beach Post.
Limbaugh's site posts a transcript from his Friday show that says, "Those two people first went with their so-called story to the National Enquirer, and the Enquirer said sorry, we can't do that without a police investigation, we're not going to publish this unless there's a police investigation, so