June 2004 Archive
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Links- internally where there are follow-up stories we try, at the end of each story, to put a pertinent link to the top of the next relevant story. Regarding external links see note at end of page.
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RNW June comment - argues for strong public broadcasters and suggets the BBC licence fee system is better than other options.
RNW May comment - Looks at how radio as an aural medium is progressing as technological change opens new ways to listen and new competition.
RNW April comment - Considers the basis on which any indecency regulation should be based: We conclude that the FCC is behaving shamefully at the moment in terms of the manner in which it lays down the rules, in which it enforces them, and is effectively changing the goal posts during the game.
2004-06-30: US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael K. Powell in what the Washington Post termed "a wide-ranging interview … the first he has given since the rules were sent back" has expressed disappointment over the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit sent back three proposed FCC media ownership rules (See RNW June 25) and as the paper put it "lamented the lack of deference shown by the court to the FCC."
"The previous commission drew tighter lines, and the court said they could not justify those. This commission drew slightly looser lines, and we still couldn't justify those," said Powell.
"It may not be possible to line-draw. Part of me says maybe the best answer is to evaluate on a case-by-case basis. The commission may end up getting more pushed in that direction."
Amongst the FCC proposals rejected was its "Diversity index", a Powell pet project based on the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index of market concentration that the Justice Department uses in antitrust cases.
Powell says he think they had done "fairly well" in creating the index, which eh described as "completely novel", although he accepted there were some "areas of Weakness": The court had blasted the proposal and commented, "A diversity index that requires us to accept that a community college television station makes a greater contribution to viewpoint diversity than a conglomerate that includes the third-largest newspaper in America also requires us to abandon both logic and reality."
Powell also suggested that the result was due to the venue in which the hearing was held : "I still believe we would have had a very different result if it had gone to the D.C. Circuit," he l said. "That's why those who opposed it were so aggressive about going to a different court."
He also said opponents were crowing too much, commenting, "The court wants more explanation for the lines we drew…Yes, we failed to convince them on the first try. But we were not sort of way out of whack the way people portrayed it."
In another report, the Los Angeles Times says media and telecommunications lobbyists in Washington are rushing to get their "pet issues" on the FCC's agenda because they are convinced Powell is likely to step down this winter, although he has denied any plans to do so.
FCC Chief of Staff Bryan Tramont was quoted as saying that Powell "has no plans to leave after the president's re-election," although he acknowledged that Powell had done some thinking about wrapping things up in the event of a defeat of President Bush.
Of the other commissioners, the paper says that the Republicans Kevin J. Martin and Kathleen Q. Abernathy are "eyeing the exits" and Democrat Jonathan S. Adelstein, whose term runs out soon, is actively seeking to extend it.
Abernathy, a former telephone industry lobbyist, wants to return to the private sector and a substantial salary increase according to the paper but Martin would stay if he expected to become chairman.
It adds that Powell opposes such an appointment and might not leave if Abernathy departed and Martin stayed, because two open Republican slots would make it almost certain that Martin would become FCC chairman in a second Bush administration.
RNW comment: Assuming the court got its facts right, the Powell defence could have been used by the builders of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that collapsed spectacularly in 1940 - a revolutionary and elegant design with the disadvantage that, for all that seemed right, it was useless for the purpose for which it was designed. Still Powell was a lawyer, not an engineer, and is also operating in a political context so he could well have problems with both reality and logic.
At the same time, the agency was presented with a difficult politically charged task in the context of a legislature dominated by one party so we have some sympathy although we do think a response suggesting the ball should be taken to another pitch, however common it may be, isn't generally helpful unless some sound reasons are advanced as to the benefits of the move. We didn't see them in this report.
Previous Abernathy:
Previous Adelstein:
Previous FCC:
Previous Martin:
Previous Powell:
Los Angeles Times report:
Washington Post report:
2004-06-30: The BBC has launched a nine-point manifesto for its future as part of its arguments to retain its royal charter and licence fee funding for another decade.
The document stresses public service and also a continued revival of drama on both radio and TV and also particular attention to comedy. There is also a plan to put its TV archive online and to decentralize with more programmes to be made outside London.
In line with public service commitments the corporation is proposing a "public value test" based on
reach, quality, impact and value for money to ensure that the programming and services it offers justify retention of the licence fee.
Previous BBC:
2004-06-30: Sirius is to launch an All-Elvis channel in conjunction with Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) on July 2 with a live broadcast from Memphis, Tennessee.
The channel will be hosted by Sirius DJs from a special studio in Presley's Memphis home, Graceland, and will cover tracks from his whole career.
The launch coincides with the 50th anniversary of his first single, "That's All Right."
Elvis's widow Priscilla Presley said in statement, "I know he'd be beaming with pride at having his very own station" and EPE president Jack Soden added, "Elvis Presley was a true pioneer, a man of many firsts in our world. It seems natural for Elvis to be the first artist to have a satellite radio station exclusively devoted to his work."
"It's especially fitting that the launch of Elvis Radio happens to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of his career.
Previous Sirius:
2004-06-30: One complaint against radio and two against TV are upheld in the latest programme complaints bulletin just issued by the UK regulator Ofcom.
In all the report lists a total of 173 complaints against 91 items with most just listed and details given of only 5 TV cases including the two upheld and the one radio complaint that was upheld.
This involved a news item on The Saint radio that is owned by the parent company of Southampton Football Club and which included an interview with a member of the club staff promoting their season tickets.
Ofcom ruled that the commercial link between the licensee and the football club made the content of the news item unacceptable and the station director had acknowledged that the output was "questionable" and said there would be no recurrence.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Ofcom complaints bulletin:
2004-06-30: According to a survey from US independent advertising sales and marketing cmpany Interep there has been a growing regionalization of US media buying that has led to significant changes in the percentage of national advertising placed by the big city agencies.
Figures comparing the 1999 and 2004 figures for eight cities show the largest fall to be in New York whose share dropped from 36.4% to 28.5% and the largest rise in Los Angeles, up from 13% to 22%.
Interep Co-President and Co-COO George Pine said the regionalization trend was not of itself any cause for concern but his company needed "to keep abreast of these changes to assure that we allocate our resources appropriately to respond to the changing needs of our customers."
Previous Interep:
2004-06-29: The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) says it is not to prosecute Southern Cross Broadcasting 's 2UE, Sydney, in relation to breaches of the commercial radio disclosure standard because advice it has received from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that on the evidence available there would be no reasonable prospect of a conviction.
Its acting chair Lyn Maddock said of the decision, "The burden of proof in criminal cases is much higher than in civil cases and for a successful prosecution in this case it would have to be proven that Radio 2UE engaged in the conduct with the requisite criminal intention."
"This outcome highlights how difficult it is for the ABA to impose appropriate sanctions when it finds breaches of licence conditions and program standards."
She added, "The only civil law-based remedies available to the ABA are imposition of further licence conditions (which must not be punitive), or suspension or cancellation of the broadcaster's licence. The ABA has imposed a stringent monitoring condition on Radio 2UE, but would always be extremely reluctant to deprive the public of a popular service by suspending or cancelling the broadcaster's licence.'
The issue had been referred to the DPP in December last year after the Authority found that 2UE had breached the Broadcasting Services (Commercial Radio Current Affairs Disclosure) Standard 2000 on 19 occasions and also that there had been six breaches of the special licence condition imposed on the 2UE licensee following the ABA's Commercial Radio Inquiry in 2000 (See RNW Dec 5, 2003).
The conditions relate to disclosure by a host of a commercial relationship with a sponsor when commenting on a matter directly related to the sponsor and the Authority decided to refer the matter to the DPP because of the repeated failures of the licensee to maintain standards: It also imposed a further licence condition on 2UE (See RNW May 7) requiring the station, at its expense, to engage an approved independent third party to monitor the John Laws program, for limited periods nominated by the ABA, and provide a report, including a transcript, direct to the ABA.
The monitor was appointed this month and the ABA comments that the action will provide an ongoing incentive to ensure compliance with the disclosure requirements.
RNW comment: Being simple souls, the situation seems fairly simple to us in this case. The Authority should not pussyfoot around with further conditions in view of the history of breaches of such conditions but should make it clear that the situation is now one of another breach and you're out of business. The fact is that if 2UE loses its licence, someone else will bid and may well end up being as popular, whereas messing about when there have been breaches after imposition of special conditions implies weakness by the regulator. In our view it should already have taken 2UE off the air for a few days to make the point.
We suspect that if it had, John Laws would be extremely careful about taking sponsorships since he seems to have difficulties undertanding the rules but would lose the sponsors anyway were he not onthe airwaves.
Previous ABA:
Previous Maddock:
Previous Southern Cross Broadcasting:
2004-06-29: There were no changes in the rankings at the very top of Arbitron's RADAR 81 (Radio's All Dimension Audience Research) Radio Network Audience Report just released covering March 27, 2003 - March 31, 2004 but top-ranked ABC Daytime Direction Network again lost a significant number of listeners allowing followed second-ranked Westwood CNN Max Radio Network to close the gap between the two to fewer than 400,000 listeners a week.
ABC Morning News Radio Network remained in third and Premiere Pulse Network remained fourth but then Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network, one of three networks that made their debut in RADAR 80 moved up to fifth from sixth, pushing Premiere Morn Drive AM Network into sixth.
Further down there were other changes, most notably a plunge from tenth to 18th for Premiere Focus Network and rises for the ABC Urban Advantage Network and American Urban Pinnacle Network from 16th and 11th respectively to tenth equal.
In the top five places:
*Top-ranked ABC Daytime network lost 912,000 listeners a week to end up with a weekly audience of 8.005 million, down from 8.17 in the RADAR 80 survey and 9.45 million in the RADAR 79 survey; its AQH rating fell from 4.0 to 3.7 to 3.3 in the three ratings.
*Second-ranked Westwood CNN Max, which in the previous survey had lost 114,000 listeners a week, more than made this up with a gain of 275,000 to end with a reach of just 7.608 million and AQH rating up from 3.0 to 3.1.
*ABC Morning News Radio Network lost 4,000 listeners a week to end up with 5.613 million and AQH unchanged at 2.3.
*Premiere Pulse Network lost 16,000 listeners a week to end up with 5.455 million and AQH unchanged at 2.2.
*Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network moved up from sixth to fifth having gained 237,000 listeners a week to end with 5.364 million and AQH up from 2.1 to 2.2: In so doing it pushed Premiere Morning Drive AM Network, which lost 50,000 listeners a week and ended with 5.077 million, down a rank to sixth with the same AQH of 2.1.
During the RADAR 81survey period, 77% percent of U.S. consumers, age 12+, heard one or more network radio commercials in the course of a week, up a percent on the RADAR 80 figure that in turn had been up a per cent on RADAR 79.
Among the prime audience demographics sought by advertisers, the commercials that aired on the 40 radio networks now rated reached percentages 78% of Adults, age 12-34 (up 1% again for the second survey running); 79% percent of Adults, age 35-49 (up 1%); and 74% of Adults, age 50+ (up 1% again for the second survey running).
As in the past, radio did better among upper-income adults with 79% (unchanged) of adults living in households earning USD 75,000 a year or more are in the network audience each week.
The survey RADAR 80 is based on more than 70,000 diary keepers across the US but Arbitron is to increase this to 80,000 by March next year.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Disney/ABC, America:
Previous RADAR:
Previous RADAR ratings (RADAR 80):
Previous Premiere Networks:
Previous Westwood One:
2004-06-29: 2004-06-29: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued penalties totalling USD 58,5000 for public inspection and other file offences along with ten licence renewals it has approved.
The stations involved are (in order of state of licence- penalty is for public file offence unless otherwise noted):
WGIB-FM, Birmingham, Alabama (Rather than the base amount, a USD 4,000 penalty felt appropriate and this was reduced to USD 3,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
WQEM-FM, Columbiana, Alabama (Rather than the base amount, a USD 4,000 penalty felt appropriate and this was reduced to USD 3,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
WMCZ-FM, Millbrook, Alabama (Rather than base amount, USD 4,000 penalty felt appropriate and this was reduced to USD 3,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
KLRC-FM, Siloam Springs, Arizona (Base forfeiture of USD 10,000 reduced to USD 9,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
KUOA-AM, Siloam Springs, Arizona (Base forfeiture of USD 10,000 reduced to USD 9,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
WPNG-FM, Pearson, Georgia (Rather than the base amount, a USD 4,000 penalty felt appropriate and this was reduced to USD 3,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
WGSO-AM, New Orleans, Louisiana Carolina (Base forfeiture of USD 10,000 reduced to USD 9,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
WDAV-FM, Davidson, North Carolina (Base forfeiture of USD 10,000 reduced to USD 9,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
WLTC-AM, Gastonia, North Carolina (Base forfeiture of USD 10,000 reduced to USD 9,000 because of voluntary disclosure):
WZRH-AM, Dallas, North Carolina (Base forfeiture of USD 3,000 for failure to file application in a timely manner was reduced to USD 1,500):
It has also cancelled a USD 7,000 penalty issued to Mega Communications of New Britain Licensee L.L.C., licensee of WLAT-AM, New Britain, Connecticut for alleged failure to enclose two of its antenna structures within effective locked fences or other enclosures.
It says that based on its review of Mega's response and the overall record, including Mega's regular inspection of the tower and the fact that the problem occurred shortly after an inspection by Mega, we conclude that Mega did not wilfully violate the Rules and no forfeiture should be imposed.
Previous FCC:
2004-06-29: BBC Radio 1 is to broadcast the UK's first official online music download chart that is to be launched in September of this year. It will be compiled from tracks sold online by legal download services such as iTunes, Napster, HMV, Virgin, MSN, Playlouder and Coca-Cola, and will be broadcast mid-week although full details are yet to be announced.
The Official Chart Company, whose current chart is sponsored by Coca Cola and is also broadcast by Radio 1, says it wants information from as wide a range of legal download sites as possible and is considering extending the range that it uses fro compilation as new services are developed.
The launch has been welcomed by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which represents British record labels. Its chairman Peter Jamieson said that legal downloading was a major part of the future of music and should be represented by its own chart.
Previous BBC:
2004-06-28: This week we start our look at print cover on radio from the UK and the Guardian's view of the one-day suspension of DJ Tony Blackburn for playing Cliff Richard tracks against proclaimed policy on UBC's Classic Gold.
Mark Borkowski goes straight to the point, writing: "Any silly season worth its name needs silliness galore, so warm and generous thanks to whoever organised the Tony Blackburn and Cliff Richard stunt this week… The concept of using not one but two of the country's national treasures to promote a digital radio station, and to make music the 'issue' at stake, was brilliant. A much better way to promote a radio station than that terrible debacle at BRMB a few years ago, when competitors had to sit on blocks of ice for as long as they could, resulting in frozen-arsed Brummies being carted off to hospital. What great publicity that was."
Borkowski comments on the artists involved and their popularity and then goes on to recount "another scam" relating to Cliff Richard in which he was involved.
"Facing a similar ban from Radio 2's airwaves," he writes, "we mixed a particularly funky Cliff track called 'Can't Keep This Feeling In', credited it to something or someone called 'Black Knight', and sent it as a 'white label', pre-release CD to various oh-so-cool radio stations. It was deeply satisfactory when the track duly started clattering out across the airwaves. A point had been proved."
On the other side of the Atlantic the story we noted about a host concerning not putting things on air rather than the other way around. Writing in the Hartford Courant Tara Weiss reports that Brad Davis, host of WDRC-AM's morning show was told Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland's decision to resign on Sunday evening but sat on the story until it was public rather than telling the station.
"I knew when I got off the phone with the governor that he was going to resign," said Davis, who has been one of Rowland's staunchest supporters and a friend. "I could have come on at 5:35 this morning and said that, but he was talking to me as a friend, and that's where I draw the line. My responsibility is to me first and to my character."
Although the station bills itself as News and Talk, its vice president and general manager Wayne Mulligan expressed support for the decision, commenting, "I'm not at all disappointed that WDRC didn't break the story. Brad and I also are friendly with the governor and we feel sorry for him. Brad called me right after he got off the phone with the governor. I think it's appropriate [that we didn't break the news on the air]. It's not our job to make news."
Also not being full reported - at least not in the print stories we saw - was the tale of the outburst in the US Senate by Vice-President Cheney. RNW comment: Unfortunately as far as we are aware there is no audio of the VP telling Patrick Leahy, the senior Democratic senator on the Judiciary Committee and a leading critic of Halliburton's [Cheney formerly headed the company] operations in Iraq, to go and fuck himself: It would have been a good test of what Howard Stern might be allowed to air, giving the F.C.C. a real conflict between freedom of speech and indecency regulations.
The question of broadcast indecency was again getting cover last week, particularly after the Senate approved an increase in maximum penalties per offence to USD 275,000(See RNW June 23) but there was a slightly different angle from Randy Dotinga in the North County Times.
"To hear all the bloviating politicians and hand-wringing parents, " he wrote, "you might think the radio airwaves are a virtual smutworld, full of dirty words and descriptions of activities that only Bill Clinton could imagine."
But, he continued, "'Twas never so. Before the feds cracked down, only a few radio folks routinely stretched the boundaries of taste... now, nearly six months later, everybody on the dial is paying the price for their misdeeds."
…"In San Diego, disc jockeys are getting intensive lessons about how to avoid getting in trouble. Programmers are worrying listeners could bring down their empires with a single complaint. And even staid ol' KPBS-FM is on alert to make sure cuss words don't get on the air unless there's a really good reason."
"None of the producers like this, and the reporters hate this," said KPBS-FM program director John Decker. "But for now, we don't know what the rules of the game are. We do not want to be a test case because it could kill us. The last thing I want to do is go to court to set precedent."
…" While radio stations typically avoid comedian George Carlin's famous 'seven dirty words,' there's no list anywhere that says what people can say on the air and what they can't. Could a four-letter word be acceptable on a public radio documentary but not a show like 91X's syndicated sex advice show 'Loveline'? What about stations that barely disguise offensive words with bleeps?"
RNW comment: Or indeed had it been on tape, what about stations that had opted to air or fully report vice-presidential comments? We're neither surprised nor shocked about them but would regard it as a serious First Amendment matter should such news reporting be inhibited by indecency regulation!
So far, being subscription services, cable and satellite do not come under the same indecency regulation and the courts could well throw out the attempts by some to extend the regulations to them; some see the potential for hosts found to risky for terrestrial broadcasts to move to satellite and boost it but a Chicago Tribune report by Maureen Ryan, although it starts with consideration of the implication of such a move by Howard Stern, suggests that even without such a move the satellite companies are going to take a significant number of listeners from terrestrial radio.
It includes a number of comments from one online discussion board as to why people have found it worthwhile to pay a subscription to satellite: "Regular AM and FM where I live is terrible. It's a small-town market with hardly any national programming of talk radio," said one XM subscriber. "Because I hate commercials!!!" chimed in another. "To hear stuff that FM will never play," added a third.
A move to satellite by Stern would says the report would give a significant boost to satellite and already the possibility has given a significant boost to awareness of the service.
The report quotes XM programming chief Lee Abrams as saying, "We're uncensored and we offer true national coverage" and adding that, though they currently have long-term contracts to their current employers, they'd be fools not to talk to superstars like Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh, though he notes that both are currently under long-term contracts to their current employers.
Noting the opposition from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to the weather and traffic services on satellite, the report quotes XM spokesman Chance Patterson as saying, "The NAB has a tradition of acting as a bully in defence of the incumbent radio platform, which in this case is AM/FM. We know that we are permitted to provide these traffic and weather channels. The FCC has publicly stated in different forums that we are in compliance with our license."
There was also support from artists and their agents who benefit from the range of music on the satellite services.
Zach Hochkeppel, marketing director for Blue Note, home to Norah Jones commented, "XM and Sirius have both become big parts of the radio and promotional plans for our artists. Now that both great [in-house studio] facilities are opened, XM has been an automatic thought any time an artist is in Washington, D.C...And with Sirius' wonderful NYC studios, it's definitely something we get together for all the NYC-based artists."
Sirius' director of country programming Scott Lindy noted that when he was hired by a Clear Channel station in Baltimore in 1996 he had 23 people working for him but by the time he left he had 7 full-time staffers.
The station was, however, making more money and Lindy commented that at many mainstream stations now "you're working more for an ad-marketing company than you are for a radio station."
Looking at the finances of satellite, which has made massive losses so far, it suggests the future is now more hopeful and quotes Sean Ross, radio analyst for Edison Research as saying, "If you look at the [negative] headlines from 12 or 18 months ago, both have clearly hung in there past what a lot of people were expecting, and past what a lot of people in broadcasting were hoping for."
It notes a change in the market as subscriptions, currently coming mainly from retail, build up from automobile manufacturers programmes and also takes on the nay saying from some quarters.
Sirius President and CEO Joseph P. Clayton commented that he laughed at the Entercom negative advert: "Thinking about satellite radio? The fact is every month, tens of thousands of people who have it cancel it. Maybe they know something you don't."
"That's when you know you've arrived -- when people start saying bad things about you," he said noting that after a decade satellite TV, which he worked in and attracted similar comments at the start, now reaches more than a fifth of US households. Satellite radio, he says has a larger potential market as it can also reach vehicles on the road, plus boats, RVs, heavy trucks, workplaces and stores.
And finally before moving on to programmes still around and worth a listen, a UK Financial Times comment from its associate editor and chief economics commentator Martin Wolf regarding the BBC.
Headed, "The BBC does not need privatizing " it begins," In the past 25 years, there has been a worldwide move towards greater reliance on markets. But how far should that shift go? Can we, for example, make a strong case for restricting the role of markets in broadcasting?"
He then goes on to consider the case made by former BBC chairman Gavyn Davies in his Lubbock Lecture in Management Studies "Economics and the BBC Charter" delivered earlier this month and that examined whether there is a case that a competitive market would under-provide what Davies calls "Reithian services" - that is, content that "informs, educates and entertains".
The economic balance that Davies produces takes a study (commissioned by the BBC) estimate that users of its services would be prepared to pay GBP 2 billion (USD 3.7 billion) a year more than they cost to produce, which would be lost if the organization were closed, and goes on to estimate that although a move to a higher-priced subscription model would benefit those who feel they are now forced to pay more than the service is worth, those gains would be outweighed by the extra costs to the others of some GBP 500 million ( USD 914 million).
Other classic arguments noted by Wolf are the value of "living in a society with an informed electorate", the "dangers of monopoly" in the face of estimates that News Corporation's British Sky Broadcasting could receive more than one-third of all broadcasting revenue by 2010 and the market problem of "the need to experience broadcasting before knowing whether it is worthwhile."
Wolf concludes, "Nobody would now invent the present model. But if it isn't broken, don't fix it. True, the BBC looks a little broken. Privatization, however, would not fix it. Mr. Davies has made a good economic case for public intervention in broadcasting. The new management must convince the public that a well-funded BBC remains the pragmatic way to do so. I hope it succeeds."
And now for some suggestions of programmes worth a listen: To start off with, spurred by the Cheney comment, we suggest a listen to last week's We've Been Here Before that runs on Friday evenings at 17:30 GMT on BBC Radio 4. It includes, around five minutes from the start, broadcast of comments by former British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock describing pithily the economic failures of the then Conservative government.
Still with Radio 4, the listen again web site contains Letters from Iraq, comprised of stories of life in Iraq over a year of occupation through the letters, journals and e-mails of American soldiers, British officials and Iraqi civilians.
Moving over to music and Radio 3, whosee web site now has the (four-hour long) 2000th edition of CD Review, the channel's weekly Saturday morning show.
With sport in mind, BBC Radio 5 Live is carrying commentary of Wimbledon Tennis but BBC Radio 4 had a historical perspective on a different aspect of the tournament on Saturday in New Balls Please, an examination of the history of the ball boys and girls that includes interviews of some of them who were at the event sixty years ago.
Equally with this year's Glastonbury Festival in mind we would have suggested some of BBC Six Music's Dream Ticket programmes on past festivals but they currently seem to have a fault with their listen again feature so we have to settle for Radio 1's listen again programming from this year's festival.
For those with a historical bent, Radio 4 again came to the rescue on Saturday with the Archive Hour and Summers Of Mud And Madness, a look at the history of the British pop festivals that had their roots in the Jazz festivals that preceded them.
On BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday in Empress of the Blues (19:30 GMT) George Melly continues the story of his blues heroine, Bessie Smith, chronicling the strange circumstances surrounding her death.
And to end with, the last of the repeats of the late Alistair Cooke's Letter to America is nigh and next Sunday (19:30 GMT) BBC Radio 4 will be broadcasting Letters to Alistair in tribute.
Previous Columnists:
Chicago Tribune -Ryan:
Financial Times - Wolf:
(Also see Davies Lubbock lecture):
Hartford Courant - Weiss:
North County Times - Dotinga:
UK Guardian - Borkowski:
2004-06-28: US radio has taken three grand awards and ten Gold World Medals in this year's New York Festivals 2004 International Radio Programming & Promotion Awards with the UK following in second place with Nine World medals and then Canada with one Grand Medal and three Golds.
The four Grand Awards went to Lichtenstein Creative Media, New York (The Grand Award for Best Documentary for "War", an episode of the nationally broadcast, weekly public radio series The Infinite Mind, guest-hosted by John Hockenberry); Kansas Public Radio (The Grand Award for Best Entertainment Program for "Right Between The Ears", a sketch comedy series performed before a studio audience and broadcast);Online station CBCradio3.com (The Grand Award for Best Programming Format - the first time this has been awarded); and Clear Channel's KFI-AM, Los Angeles (The Grand Award for Best Promotion Spot for "Can't Get Enough").
In all there were 494 entries from eighteen countries with a total of thirty-three Gold World Medals and four Grand Awards being awarded; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and its affiliates took the most Gold awards for a single organization for the second year running. Last year it took five of the 27 Gold Awards..
They were the Gold Awards for Human Relations with Beethoven's Bust; for Online Radio to CBC Radio 3; for Social Issues/Current Events with He's My Brother; for Science & Technology with In The Beginning; for History with Race Against Time; for Best Drama Special with Rue Morgue Redux: Parts 1 & 2; and for Health/Medical with Voice Box & Flute
Also gaining multiple awards were:
* LBC - now owned by Chrysalis - which won the Best Talk Format award for LBC and the Best Comedy Special award for the Sandi Toksvig Christmas Pantomime. Chrysalis also took the Contest Promotion award for Fugitive on Galaxy 102.
* Radio Netherlands, which won the Best Investigative Report (Longform) award with On The Rampage: Zimbabwe's Youth Militia; the Profiles/Community Portraits award with Palestinos E Israelíes: Dos Pueblos Y Una Tierra; and the National/International Affairs award with Weapons Of Mass Destruction: The Race.
* The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which won the Human Relations award for The Asylum Seekers on Radio National and the Religious Programs award for The Monk & the Modern Girl.
*BBC World Service, which won the Environmental Program Gold with Dzhan On Aral Shores and the Best Special Event with Edinburgh Festival 2003.
*Ben Manilla Productions, which won the Culture & The Arts award with The Blues and the BEST Regularly Scheduled Music Program award with The House Of Blues Radio Hour.
* Kansas Public Radio, which won the Best Regularly Scheduled Comedy Program and Best Comedy/Humor Personality: Local awards with Right Between The Ears.
Among the individuals gaining awards was US veteran Paul Harvey who gained the gold for network/syndicated personality for The Rest Of The Story that is syndicated by ABC.
One award that came a little late was the Best Comedy/Humor Personality: Network/Syndicated award to SMG's Virgin Radio for the Daryl Denham Show: Denham's contract was not renewed and he is no longer with Virgin (See RNW June 8).
Previous Denham:
Previous Harvey:
Previous New York Festivals' award (2003 Awards):
New York Festivals web site:
2004-06-28: Chicago classical music station WFMT-FM faces the loss of much of its audience with the news that it is to be dropped by Tribune Co. from its cable superstation feed that has carried the signal for 25 years.
According to Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times the station is to start streaming its signal early next month on a subscription basis with fees expected to be between USD 60 and USD 100 a year.
The station had streamed its signal previously but stopped in 2002 because of the costs and uncertainties relating to royalty payments.
It said at the time that it had tried hard to keep the service going but "given the reality of having to pay not only past royalties but future royalties at a rate that is still being determined makes continuing service at this point impossible."
Chicago Sun-Times report:
2004-06-28: The initial rush on broadcast delay systems that put pressure on equipment manufacturers is now over according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
It quotes Dane Butcher, president and chief executive of Symetrix Inc., one of two American companies making delay equipment, as saying that after an initial rush of orders and backlog his company has "worked our way through the brunt of it."
The company had been making delay equipment for around a decade and until the recent brouhaha about indecency had seen slow steady business. Its units allow delays by up to 20 seconds, built incrementally so as to make deletions imperceptible.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer report:
2004-06-27: The main regulatory news over the past week has come from the US where a Federal Court in Philadelphia has thrown out most of the new media ownership regulations announced by the Federal Communications Commission a year ago but whose implementation had already been stayed by the court; it has continued that stay.
Elsewhere there was a steady but more routine flow of radio related decisions except in Australia where the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) was exclusively involved with TV decisions although radio was on the agenda during its 200 annual conference held in Canberra.
The conference included sessions on the direction of broadcasting and communications regulations; the consequences of technological change; fairness, accuracy and bias; sports rights; and programming, advertising and audiences.
Opening it, Acting chair Lyn Maddock listed highlights of the year that for radio included an Australian Content Review for radio and TV, major planning of spectrum, the auction of new commercial FM licences for Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide - Melbourne followed earlier this month - after which there will be a pause in new commercial licence activity, although the expansion of services through community licences will continue; and a number of radio reviews including those into advertising and sponsorship on Sydney talk stations 2GB and 2UE, 5 AA in Adelaide (Where talk host Adelaide talk host Leon Byner was investigated because of payments that might have biased his comments - See RNW Feb 14) and into Groove Radio.
In addition the ABA has now started using audits to supplement its complaints-based approach in cases where non-compliance with regulations may not be obvious to audiences; it has already conducted an audit into licence fee collection.
Although it prefers self-regulation, the ABA says it will take action when an industry fails to perform and has explored new ways to in areas ranging from canceling a licence to imposing audit-type conditions for compliance.
Over the next year it says it will be examining the codes of practice for radio, the Internet and community TV, in particular looking like issues as to whether existing regulations concerning clear identification of editorial and advertising content are adequate and whether extra safeguards are needed to ensure accuracy and fairness in a current affairs programme when an issue involves a sponsor.
In addition a large number of reviews of digital policy will be carried out over the next 12 months.
Canada was quiet as far as radio was concerned with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) being involved in just two licence renewals, those of CKEC-AM, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2011 and a short-term administrative renewal until August 31 this year of the licence for low power CHEV-AM, Toronto. The CRTC notes that it will not be able to rule on the application for renewal of this licence before the current licence runs out.
In Ireland the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has signed a five-year contract for the service for South West Tipperary and has also welcomes a High Court decision upholding its award in principle of the Donegal South/Sligo/ Leitrim North local licence to a new entrant rather than the incumbent licence holder (See RNW June 24 #BCI2).
In the UK Ofcom has advertised the new commercial FM licences for Edinburgh and Blackburn and also published its timetable for advertising new licences until May next year (See RNW June 26).
In the USA, the Federal Communications Commission now has to decide whether to rewrite its media ownership rules following a court ruling against the rules it published in June last year (See RNW June 25).
It has also been involved in a number of enforcement actions and one non-action when it denied complaints against three Clear Channel stations relating to broadcasts alleged to have incited violence against cyclists (See below).
Among other actions was the confirmation of a USD 10,000 penalty on a New York state AM for violation of power restriction, emergency alert system (EAS) and antenna structure regulations (See RNW June 19) but reduced from USD 10,000 to USD 7,000 its penalty on a Nashville AM (See RNW June 22).
It also denied applications for review of its decision to proceed with an application for a new AM in Bunnell, Florida and for review of its dismissal of an application for a new non-commercial educational (NCE) FM station to serve Baldwin, Michigan that was in conflict with the application of American Family Association for a new NCE station at Hesperia, Michigan (Also RNW June 22).
In Florida it has ordered Cox Radio's WKQL-FM, Jacksonville, to show cause why it should not be reclassified from class C to class CO in order to allow a first FM in Homerville, Florida. WKQL is operating below the minimum height above average terrain (HAAT) required for a Class C station.
Looking further ahead it has announced that it is to hold its next localism meeting in Monterey, California, on July 21.
Previous ABA:
Previous BCI:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Maddock:
Previous Ofcom:
ABA web site:
BCI web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2004-06-27: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied complaints against Clear Channel's WDCG-FM, Durham, North Carolina; WMJI-FM, Cleveland, Ohio; and KLOL-FM, Houston, Texas, relating to comments made that the complainants felt could lead to violence by motorists against cyclist.
The comments led to repeated attacks on Clear Channel at the first US FCC Field Hearing On Broadcast Localism held in Charlotte, North Carolina (See RNW Oct 24, 2003) but the FCC said that for First Amendment reasons the "comments do not merit enforcement action in the absence of an adjudication of a "clear and present danger" by a court of competent jurisdiction."
The complainants had alleged that a broadcast of the during the Walton and Johnson Show on KLOL-FM broadcast material that advocated that automobile and truck drivers hit and seriously injure bicycle riders; that WMJI-FM encouraged their listeners to pull around bicycles and slam on the brakes, pass bicyclists and then open the passenger door and slam on the brakes, and throw things and shout curses at bicyclists; and that WDCG-FM aired comments from hosts and callers during the Bob and Madison Show, which expressed contempt for law-abiding bicyclists and suggested that motorists run them off the road or throw bottles at them.
The Commission wrote to the stations asking if they had broadcast language "advocating violence toward bicyclists" and also asked if there were any litigation concerning such matters and asked for copies and transcripts of any recordings of the subject broadcasts.
Clear Channel responded by saying none of the three stations "broadcast language advocating violence toward bicyclists," and that none of the licensees was then or had been a party to any criminal or civil litigation involving the broadcasts and argued that in light of the remedial actions that it took subsequent to the broadcasts in question in response to listener complaints it resolved the matter to the satisfaction of all involved months before its responses to the Commission.
Recordings were submitted of two of the shows - that from KLOL had been recorded over - and Clear Channel contended that there was no advocacy of violence against cyclists.
The FCC noted that is very limited in its role in overseeing programme content and is prohibited from censoring programme material and interfering with broadcasters' freedom of expression. This it says left it with the question whether the broadcasts raised a substantial question about the licensees' basic qualifications and in this case no such question was raised.
RNW comment: Regrettably - and in our view lamentably since it often posts transcripts in indecency cases - the FCC does not post transcripts of comments made on the recordings that were supplied to it. It seems to us that the FCC has a public duty that it has failed in not making it crystal clear whether comments of the nature alleged were in fact broadcast by WMJI and WDCG and in particular which comments were made by callers and which by station personnel.
If the comments were not made, Clear Channel deserves a public exoneration; if they were made by callers the crucial question is that of how far the hosts allowed continued broadcast of calls that incited criminal acts - violence against cyclists and if they were made by hosts, the exact content should be on public record.
We also take the FCC point that the law and commission reasonably consider these matters for local law enforcement authorities rather than a broadcast regulator.
That being said, we think it would be better that the US, like most other countries, should require recordings to be kept of station output for a reasonable period so as to enable judgments to be based on the full details and context of broadcast remarks and also that they should be a matter of public record (again as elsewhere) if a complaint is received.
We also think that the point over the basic qualifications is quite reasonable and that the base for regulatory action should be that it should follow any successful legal action locally against a station; however where such a court decision has been made we feel that the corollary should be that the station has to justify retention of its licence in all cases with the FCC able to, as is done in Canada for example, either revoke a licence or renew it only for a short period subject to specific conditions that are appropriate in the circumstances.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous FCC:
2004-06-27: The Pacifica Foundation CFO Lonnie Hicks has warned the network that it is spending far too much on governance costs - projected as USD 580,000 nearly a quarter of its total expenses for April and May - and that it cannot "survive this kind of expense."
The amount includes the cost of Pacifica's board elections but not other normal administrative expenses and insurance, and Hicks comments that there are no "easy solutions" and also questions whether, even if the funds can be raised, Pacifica should spend "listener resources in this way and in these amounts."
Hicks' document says that for May revenue was USD 79,000 below budget but considers that this is "not particularly worrisome" but for a shortfall of USD 231,000 in listener support that is put down largely to transmitter problems at KPFK-FM in Los Angeles that led it to begin its pledge drive late.
Hicks expresses most concern about the cost of local board elections, some USD 347,000 in the fiscal year that takes total governance costs up to USD 580,000 when National Board expenses of USD 168,000, legal expenses of USD 50,000 and phone costs of USD 15,000 are added.
Legal expenses the report notes began as a USD 4 million item several years ago [RNW note: This arose from internal conflicts between the board and member stations on which we have reported over the years - see RNW Dec 14, 2001] and have now been "whittled down to a remaining balance of USD 271,000 by the end of the fiscal year."
In station-by-station terms, KPFA-FM, Berkeley, was USD 120,000 above budget in May; KPFK-FM, Los Angeles was USD 333,000 down; KPFT-FM, Houston, was USD 20,000 below budget; WBAI-FM, New York was above budget but is expected to be USD 55,000below by the end of the fiscal year; and WPFW-FM, Washington, D.C., was USD 47,000 below budget in May but is expected to be above by the end of the fiscal year. The archives had only a small income variance but there is a warning that some USD 12 million will be needed to preserve them adequately.
Previous Pacifica:
Pacifica financial report (1.22Mb PDF):
2004-06-26: It is still uncertain if the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will try to appeal to the US Supreme Court the decision made by a Federal Court in Philadelphia that struck down most of its planned new media regulations published a year ago (See RNW Jun 3, 2003).
Should it choose not to appeal, the commission will have to rewrite the rules: it was barred from a third option when the Philadelphia court said this was ruled out because too man of the judges on the circuit had to disqualify themselves from the case although it did not specify why' speculation was that it related to holding of media company stock by many of the judges.
If it does decide to appeal, the Supreme Court could according to some lawyers reject the case on the basis that it does not involve issues that it normally finds of interest.
Reaction to the decision has been largely among party and self-interest lines with Republicans and big media companies expressing concern and Democrats, consumer groups and small media companies expressing satisfaction: The rules themselves were passed by a 3-2 party line split with Republican Commissioners Michael K. Powell, Kevin J. Martin and Kathleen Q. Abernathy for and Democrats Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein against.
Previous FCC:
2004-06-26: Following the announcement that Infinity has moved its ratings agreement to Houston-based Media Audit (See RNW Jun 25), Arbitron has revised its earnings guidance for 2004, saying that it anticipates revenues for the year will be around USD 12 million lower than previously forecast.
It says that revenues are now expected to grow between 5% and 7%, net income to be flat to down 2%, and Earnings Before Interest & Taxes (EBIT) is expected to decline between 5% and 7%.
Arbitron, however, left the door open for a last minute deal with Viacom. Its president and CEO Stephen Morris, said in a news release, "We remain willing to work with Infinity Broadcasting with the goal of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement for the renewal of our ratings contracts. Our Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited ratings services and our qualitative services are the most widely accepted tools to help broadcasters get the most revenue for the audience that they deliver to advertisers."
In other US radio business, Nassau Broadcasting has announced that it is to sell its last two stations in the Monmouth, Ocean and Atlantic City markets, classic rock WCHR-FM "The Hawk" in Stafford Township and light jazz station WOJZ-FM "Smooth Jazz" in Egg Harbor City for USD 40 million.
Both stations are being bought by Atlantic City headquartered Millennium Radio Group that two years ago bought WADB-AM, WOBM-AM and FM, WJLK-FM and WBBO-FM in the Monmouth-Ocean market from Nassau for around USD 90 million (See RNW May 21, 2002) in an earlier deal that gave Millennium nearly two thirds of the advertising revenue in the market and had been delayed because of market concentration concerns.
The WHCR deal takes effect immediately but that for WOJZ is awaiting FCC approval.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Media Rating Council:
Previous Morris:
Previous Nassau:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
2004-06-26: The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in favour of the weather and traffic services on Sirius and XM satellite radio.
Responding to a petition by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to ban such services, the DOT says it "strongly supports widespread dissemination of such information in the interests of enhancing safe and efficient transportation."
As to contentions that it would be against the public interest and duplicate existing services it says the submissions to this effect are "inaccurate on the fence" and argues that in fact they provide a service that is more accurate because it is updated more frequently and additionally has the advantage of making such information available outside the transmission area of local stations.
The submissions against these services the DOT says say "fail to appreciate the true value of making travel-related information widely available beyond such areas and on a continuous basis."
It goes on to say there "is a strong public interest in making available to drivers information that is relevant to their actual and potential journeys" and that this should not be "limited to those who live or drive daily within specific community boundaries."
"The record in this proceeding is overwhelmingly comprised of the comments of thousands of individuals attesting to the benefits derived from access to travel-related conditions pertaining to areas outside of their own localities," argues the DOT.
RNW comment: The DOT arguments in this case seem clearly sound to us, and those of NAB generally specious and self-serving. We would welcome an FCC ruling that not only throws out the NAB petition but also pokes it in they eye by including a paragraph to say that in this and other proceedings it will err on the side of the public interest not narrow reading of existing regulations for any services proposed by the satellite companies.
Previous FCC:
Previus NAB:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
DOT petition (93 kb PDF):
2004-06-26: CBS News heads the winners' list for this year's Edward R. Murrow Awards, named after the long-time correspondent for the network and organised by the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA): It took five radio and three TV awards.
Its radio awards were for Overall Excellence; Continuing Coverage - with America at War; News Series - with Orange Alert; Spot News Coverage- with Saddam Captured; and Sports Reporting: - with Baseball in Beijing. The TV awards were for Overall Excellence; Spot News Coverage - for the CBS Evening News, First Day of War; and writing - for Everybody Has A Story.
In second spot, Disney's ABC took four radio awards - for Feature Reporting -with The Wiggles; for News Documentary - with It's a Gay Thing! An ABC News Exploration; for Newscast with the 10am Information Network Newscast; and for writing - with the Rest of the Story: Bar Mitzvah in the Dark. ABC TV also took two awards, for Newscast with World News Tonight and News Documentary with ABC News, Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination: Beyond Conspiracy.
Other radio network/syndication awards went to National Public Radio (the Investigative Reporting reward for Iraqi Village Bombed);CNN Radio (Use of Sound for Urban Chicken Coops) and MissouriNet (website www.missourinet.com).
Among larger market radio stations, the overall excellence award went to WCBS-AM, New York, and the Investigative Reporting award went to KOA-AM, Denver, for Emergency Alert: Flawed System whilst in small markets KFDI-FM/KFTI-AM, Wichita, Kansas, took the Overall Excellence award and the Investigative Reporting award went to South Dakota Public Radio (KUSD-FM, Vermillion) for Black Hills Hydrology.
Previous (2003) Murrow awards:
Previous RTNDA:
RNDA web site (Lists all 74 awards):
2004-06-25: The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia has largely reversed new media ownership regulations proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that would have allowed companies to own more broadcast stations in the same market; and has kept in place an order it made last September that stopped them from taking effect.
It did however rule that the FCC was entitled to end a blanket ban on a single company owning a newspaper and broadcaster in the same city.
it has also upheld FCC decisions to change definitions of a radio market from a contour-based system to one based on Arbitron markets and said that the FCC was entitled to count non-commercial stations as part of radio markets and to count joint-sales agreements in determining a company's ownership in a market.
In addition, relating to a constitutionality challenge, it held that the FCC decision to grandfather existing clusters that breached the new rules but only allow their sale intact to minority or small-business buyers was constitutional.
On the question of limits to how many stations a company could own in a market and general methodology of determining numerical limits for ownership it commented that the Commission operated on an "unjustified assumption that media outlets of the same type make an equal contribution to diversity and competition in local markets."
"Most importantly," it added, "the Commission has not sufficiently justified its particular chosen numerical limits for local television ownership, local radio ownership, and cross-ownership of media within local markets."
"Accordingly, we partially remand the Order for the Commission's additional justification or modification, and we partially affirm the Order. The stay will continue pending our review of the Commission's action on remand."
The decision came on a 2-1 vote with judges Thomas L. Ambro and Julio M. Fuentes in favour and Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica against and issuing a dissent.
Commenting on the dissent the majority said," Our dissenting colleague asserts several times (indeed it is a principal theme) that we somehow substitute our own policy judgment for that of the Commission."
"Our response is simple. It is impossible to substitute our policy judgment for that of the Commission when we have no view on its policies save that it act with reason. The proof for this
statement is that we do not reverse, but remand (and only in part)."
"Differences with our dissenting colleague touch only some of the many issues presented on appeal. He believes that the Commission's work, while in part flawed, comes close enough to merit our approval. Our response: not yet."
The decision was on a case brought by the Prometheus Radio Project and Andrew Jay Schwartzman, President and CEO of the Media Access Project who was lead counsel for the citizens groups in the case commented That the decision was a "a big, big win for diversity in the media." Noting that the ruling had been in the plaintiffs' favour in almost every issue he added, "The judges agreed with us that preserving democracy is more important than helping big companies grow bigger. Perhaps the most important part of the decision is the Court's holding that the FCC improperly applied a presumption in favour of deregulation in its review of the broadcast media ownership rules."
"The Court's directive that the FCC take its deregulatory thumb off the scale virtually assures a different outcome when the FCC revisits the question in response to the Court's decision. We won on almost every issue we raised. While the Court did uphold the FCC's authority to eliminate the current prohibition on new newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership, its remand to the FCC gives us the chance to prove that these limitations are necessary for local civic discourse."
"Almost as important as what we won is what the big broadcasters didn't win. The Court decisively rejected claims that the FCC hadn't deregulated enough, and that the existing ownership scheme is unconstitutional."
FCC Chairman Michael Powell reacted to the decision by saying that it might "perversely" make it "dramatically more difficult for the Commission to protect against greater media consolidation."
"It sets near impossible standards for justifying bright-line ownership limits," he continued. "The fear is realized in the opinion itself. The court rejected the Commission's effort to limit further radio consolidation. It also upheld the elimination of the newspaper cross-ownership rule, while rejecting our efforts to place reasonable limits on those combinations. This is deeply troubling and hampers the flexibility of the agency to protect the American public, as this agency is charged to do."
"This is the second time a court has put aside exhaustive efforts by the expert agency to set numerical limits. This has created a clouded and confused state of media law. The chaotic results demonstrate the wisdom of Chief Judge Scirica's nearly 100 page dissent, where he says that 'the Court has substituted its own policy judgment for that of the FCC and upset the ongoing review of broadcast media regulation mandated by Congress….'"
The two Democrat Commissioners, Michael J Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein, both issued statements supporting the decision which Copps said, "The rush to media consolidation approved by the FCC last June was wrong as a matter of law and policy. The Commission has a second chance to do the right thing. We must immediately move forward and redesign our media policy. This time we must include the American people in the process instead of shutting them out… It would be a great mistake to drag our feet or rehash old arguments. It is time to protect media democracy in America."
Adelstein commented, "This week, both Congress and the courts repudiated the FCC's reckless decision on media ownership. It no longer works to say, "Congress and the courts made us do it" because the Commission has now been reversed by both. They got it right, and the FCC got it wrong. This is a vindication for the vast majority of the American public who opposed these rule changes. The court largely undid what would have been the most destructive rollback of media ownership protections in the history of American broadcasting."
"We now need to work together on a bipartisan basis to fix the rules so they comply with the court order and respond to Congressional and public concerns. We need a more inclusive discussion than we had last time on ways to move forward. This time the Commission should truly act in the interest of the American public rather than the corporate interests of media giants who want to get even bigger."
The Consumers' Union, which termed the ruling a "consumer victory" announced that it was to follow up with a "a nationwide campaign to ensure the Bush Administration follows through with today's Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision that overturns most of the Federal Communications Commission's lax media ownership rules and requires diversity and competition in the nation's media."
Its public policy director Gene Kimmelman commented, "The American people, the Congress, and now the courts have said that competition, localism and democratic dialogue must exist in our nation's media. Now we have to ensure that the Bush Administration shifts course and attempts to ensure that the most important sources of news and information cannot be controlled by a handful of giant companies… The court's ruling clearly demonstrates that it rejects the desire of the Bush Administration and FCC Chairman Michael Powell to let large media companies dominate and grow even larger."
On another set of FCC rules, the chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Rep Joe Barton , said before the court ruling was announced that because of other clauses relating to ownership limits that been added on to the Senate Bill that increased the maximum indecency penalties that the FCC could levy for an incident of broadcast indecency (See RNW June 23) the House was likely to reject the amendments in their present form.
He told Reuters, "They watered down the bill, and then they added some things that are extraneous… We'll just work with them and see what we can do."
RNW comment: We will be interested to see how the Republican-dominated House now responds to the Senate vote since the court ruling has somewhat stolen their thunder when it comes to opposing the ownership clauses that were tacked, like the indecency penalty increase, on to the Defense Department budget bill.
Previous Adelstein:
Previous Copps:
Previous FCC:
Previous Media Access Project:
Previous Powell:
Previous Schwartzman:
Court ruling (courtesy of Media Access: 630 KB PDF.218 pages):
2004-06-25: The UK media regulator Ofcom has advertised new commercial FM licences for Edinburgh in Scotland and Blackburn in northwest England and also published its planned timetable for other commercial analogue licences to be advertised over the next 12 months.
The first will be a licence for smaller licence for Ashford in Kent to be advertised next month followed by a smaller licence for Kidderminster licence in August; a larger licence for Belfast and smaller licence for Cornwall in September; a smaller licence for Durham in October; a smaller licence for Banbury and larger licence for Manchester in November; and a smaller licence for Norwich in December.
In 2005, it will be advertising a smaller licence for Ballymena in Northern Ireland in January; a larger licence for the Solent region and a smaller licence for Torbay in February; a smaller licence for Swindon in March; a smaller licence for Barrow-in-Furness in April; and finally a larger licence for Swansea and a smaller licence for Northallerton in May.
Applications for both the licences advertised have to be in by September 23 and nearly all the major UK radio groups are expected to bid for the larger Edinburgh licence that will broadcast to a coverage area of approaching a million adults. Scottish Radio Holding's Forth 1 holds the existing Edinburgh licence.
Capital Radio, which already operates Beat 106 that covers Edinburgh and Glasgow has not yet announced its intentions but groups openly committed to a bid include Chrysalis with its Arrow format; Emap, which is joining forces with a local Castle FM consortium in Edinburgh Radio Ltd., a joint venture in which Emap will hold a fifth interest; SMG, which is to put in a bid for its Virgin Radio Classic Rock format; Guardian Media Group, which owns Glasgow-based Real Radio, with its Smooth station format that launched in the north-west in March on its former Jazz FM frequency there; and GWR.
Previous Ofcom:
2004-06-25: Viacom has decided not to renew Infinity's contract with ratings service Arbitron and instead opted for a multi-year deal with Houston-based Media Audit to provide ratings and other information for all its 185 stations from the start of next month.
Infinity President and COO Joel Hollander said the move was made because it had become clear it would not be able to reach agreement with Arbitron.
"After lengthy negotiations with Arbitron, it has become clear that we will be unable to reach a mutually satisfactory financial agreement," he said. "We will ready our company to grow our business using other means. The data provided by The Media Audit qualitative product is just one of the methodologies we will utilize to provide our stations with the highest quality research needed to compete in their markets."
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Hollander:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
2004-06-25: The Swedish Broadcasting Commission has condemned state-owned Sveriges Radio for a broadcast in which it announced as a prank the death of King Carl XVI Gustaf..
The "Hej Domstol! " (Hello Court) programme on March 15 changed its music and announced,"This is an official message from Sveriges Radio. His Majesty the King has died suddenly" before telling listeners that they had been listening to a prank..
In its ruling the Commission, which received ten complaints including one from the Royal Court, said the action could undermine confidence in future announcements and condemned the segment for not "taking into account radio's special pervasive force, and because it constituted an invasion of the King's privacy."
Under Swedish regulations the programme now has to air the ruling on the same day at around the same time as the original material was broadcast.
Swedish Broadcasting Commission site (has announcement in Swedish):
2004-06-25: Attendees at the first Interep Radio Symposium, held in New York City, have been told that a recovery in radio advertising is now under way although Victor Miller, Sr. Managing Director, Broadcasting/TV and Radio Analyst, Bear Stearns, noted that that "following historical patterns, radio - a residual medium - generally lags other media slightly in the recovery cycle."
The event heard speakers comment on the growing importance of non-traditional revenues but longer-term issues such as the growth of satellite and Internet radio were largely ignored.
Amongst other issues brought up were the issues of long runs of advertisements and the demand from advertisers for solid research and return-on-investment information if they were to fully use the medium.
Previous Interep:
2004-06-25: UBC Media's UK Classic Gold has now reversed its decision to ban Cliff Richard's tracks that had led DJ Tony Blackburn being suspended after defying orders to keep the singer of the station's airwaves (See RNW June 24).
A statement on the station's web site said, "We have reviewed our music policy following a staggering amount of listener feedback in support of Cliff Richard. Some of his songs will now become part of our classic hits playlist."
"We have to listen to our listeners, or they won't listen to us," the station's head of programmes, Paul Baker said in his statement. It's quite obvious now that they want to hear Cliff Richard on the station so that's what we'll do."
Managing director John Baish added, "This row was never actually about Cliff, it was just a situation with Tony which got out of control. I'm glad we've resolved it."
Blackburn will be back co-hosting his breakfast show with Laura Pittson today and said he was "delighted this business has been settled."
"I enjoy working with Classic Gold and doing my breakfast show immensely," he added. "I'm also pleased that we're going to be playing Cliff Richard records. It's the listeners who have come out on top."
Blackburn commented that he was not a Cliff Richard groupie but noted that he has sold more records than the Beatles."
RNW comment: We see nothing in this change of heart to revise our view of yesterday that this was a publicity stunt rather than a real clash.
Previous Blackburn:
Previous UBC:
2004-06-24: In his Chicago Sun-Times column Robert Feder says that Erich "Mancow" Muller, who is now off the air for two weeks vacation in Italy, is expected to be close to renewing his contract with Emmis's Q101 when he returns. Muller has been with the station for a decade.
Muller is reportedly earning around USD 3 million a year and Feder says all the signs "point to an amicable renewal" of his deal, despite flak from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over indecency offences.
Feder adds that Muller's agent has confirmed that talks have proceeded to the "proposal stage" with Q-101 and quotes the station's vice president and general manager Chuck DuCoty as saying, "I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of talent over the years, and I've never worked with anybody any more talented than Mancow. I love the time that I've been able to work with him here. Why wouldn't you want to have that kind of talent around as long as you possibly could?"
Muller himself commented of his indecency run-ins with the FCC and foe David Smith, who has filed 70 complaints against him, that he didn't want "to give the 'American Taliban' a victory. By those people trying to keep me off the air, it makes me want to stay on the air even more."
"I'm not a very corporate guy, but Emmis is about as good as it gets in radio," he added. "These people love radio. This isn't some big corporation. We are the little guys on the block. I like being part of the underdog team. I think they've been miraculous with me. It's been a great team."
Also in Chicago, long-time DJ Lon Dyson has died aged 65; he was the youngest DJ in the city when he started aged 15 on WHFC-AM, now WVON-AM, his brother, Marv, told the Chicago Tribune.
Dyson later worked for WBEE-AM, WAAF-AM, WJPC-AM and WLS-AM, where he was a news assignment editor for 11 years.
His father Richard Dyson was a WHFC-AM disc jockey, who wooed the brothers' mother Florence with dedicated slow jams over the airwaves, he added. She also became a DJ for the same station.
Lon Dyson most recently worked for WGCI-FM and Gospel Radio 1390; he retired in 2000 for health reasons.
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Chicago Tribune obituary:
2004-06-24: Liking oldies too much, in this case the records of Cliff Richard, has led veteran British DJ Tony Blackburn, who launched BBC Radio 1 in 1967, into a suspension from his breakfast show on UBC Media's Classic Gold Digital.
Blackburn, who joined the show last year (See RNW March 31, 2003) had defied an instruction at a meeting on Monday not to play Richard's tracks but on Tuesday played the 1963 number one Summer Holiday as a result of which he was sent an e-mail re-iterating the ban by head of programmes Paul Baker.
It said, "We shouldn't be playing Cliff Richard. As I said on Monday, we might carry out research on him, but for now we have a policy decision that he doesn't match our brand values, he's not on the playlist, and you must stop playing him."
Blackburn on Wednesday read out the e-mail on his show, tore it up, binned it, and then played to more hits from Richard's - Living Doll from 1959 and We Don't Talk Any More from 1979.
As a result Classic Gold managing director John Baish e-mailed him immediately telling him the matter was now "really serious" and then followed it up with a further e-mail saying, "You're consistently breaking the station's music policy. We've made our position as clear as we could. I've got no option except to suspend you until the situation can be resolved."
Blackburn has not commented himself but a spokesman said he was disappointed at the suspension and accepted he may have made a mistake.
In an interview with the BBC Radio 4 PM programme Baish later said all that had happened was that Blackburn would be off air on Thursday (today) to take some heat out of the situation.
Blackburn, he said, felt strongly that Cliff Richard was under played and he accepted this might be so but there were two issues, one about what should be played and the other about the way in which decisions were made.
RNW comment: is it the cynic in us that feels both station and Blackburn, having got oodles of publicity, will end up cosying up and attracting more Cliff Richards' fans?
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2004-06-24: The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has now signed a five-year contract with Tipperary Mid West Radio Co-operative Society Limited (Tipperary Mid West Community Radio) to provide a community service for South West Tipperary. It is to provide a service to reflect the community's values and involve all its sectors.
The BCI has also welcomed a decision by the Irish High Court to uphold its award in principle in April last year of the Donegal South/Sligo/ Leitrim North local licence to North West Broadcasting Ltd (Ocean FM), a decision that had been challenged by the existing licence holder, NWR FM Ltd.
There had been three applicants for the licence, which was being offered as part of the re-licensing process for local commercial radio, which took place during 2002/2003.
BCI Chief Executive Michael O'Keeffe commented: "The BCI is delighted with the outcome of today's decision. The Commission believes its decision to award the contract to North West Broadcasting Ltd. will best serve the needs of listeners in the franchise area. We look forward to furthering contract negotiations with the successful applicant, Ocean FM."
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2004-06-24: In more North American radio deals, Entravision is to pay USD 16.1 million - USD 5.6 million cash plus a USD 10.5 million payment to secured creditors - for KBMB-FM, The Bomb, in Sacramento.
The Diamond Radio CHR/Rhythmic station was its only one; its purchase will give Entravision four FMs in Sacramento.
And in Canada, Newfoundland Capital Corp. is to pay CAD 2.3 million (USD 1.7 million) for Big Pond Communications' CJUK-FM, Magic 99.9, in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Newcap already owns CJLB-FM, Hot 105, in Thunder Bay.
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2004-06-24: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed a USD 10,000 penalty on a New York state AM for violation of power restriction, emergency alert system (EAS) and antenna structure regulations.
M.J. Phillips Communications, Inc., Licensee of WJJL-AM, Niagara Falls, had been found to have been exceeding its authorised power limits by 105%, and also not to have fully operational EAS equipment and to have failed to register its tower.
Baseline penalties of USD 4,000 for the power offences, USD 3,000 for failure to register its tower, USD 2,000 for failure to conduct requires EAS measurements and tests and USD 1,000 to make required EAS log entries were issues last year.
Phillips had sought cancellation or reduction on the basis of disputing the antenna registration requirements, because it said the power violations were due to unusual circumstances, and because it could not afford to pay: Concerning the last it said the station has been operating at a loss and that it has filed for bankruptcy protection in February 2003 but did not provide the documentation the Commission requires in hardship cases. All the penalties were confirmed.
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2004-06-24: BBC Radio 4 is not to replace the late Alistair Cooke's Letter from America with a similar programme when the current set of repeats "Letter from America: A Celebration" ends next month but will instead shorten the slot he had to ten minutes and try out a number of different programmes.
Also in its summer/autumn (fall) schedule is a resurrection of the late Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with a new series starting on September 21.
It is based on the last three books - Life, The Universe And Everything; So Long And Thanks For All The Fish and Mostly Harmless - and features Adams himself.
This has been made possible because Adams, who had always intended to play the part of Agrajag, an alien who is repeatedly killed accidentally by the central character, Arthur Dent, but then reincarnates, and had already recorded it for an audio book that he narrated.
His recording is being worked into the new series that will feature most of the cast of the original BBC radio series. The Guide was originally written as a radio drama and was broadcast in 1978; Adams adapted it into a novel a year later and it went on to sell some 14 million copies and is currently being made into a film by Disney.
The project had been moribund until the director Dirk Maggs met radio producer Bruce Hyman at a memorial service for Adams and the idea of using the author as Agrajag came from Maggs who knew that Adams had wanted to play the part.
In making the series Maggs, who was the author's original choice for the job, has followed the preparatory instructions and notes that the author had made.
As in the original it features Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Stephen Moore as Marvin The Paranoid Android but the late Peter Jones has been replaced by his friend William Franklyn as The Voice Of The Book.
Notable by its absence from the schedule is a replacement for Letter from America; there had been suggestions until recently that the BBC was approaching possible replacements but its Sunday first-run slot is to be trimmed by five minutes, which will be used to extend the news bulletin.
In the schedule so far is a seriesof 10-minute programmes starting on July 9 called State of the Union that will featuring local views on life in the US in the run-up to November's presidential elections.
Contributors include Robert Hodierne, an editor from Military Times, Detroit News writer Betty DeRamus and Paul Greenberg, the Arkansas journalist who coined former President Bill Clinton's nickname "Slick Willy".
On the World Service, Cooke's Letter to America slot has been replaced with a strand called Letter, featuring views from African, Asian and Latin American journalists based in the US.
Also in the schedule is another "classic", a new production of Homer's The Odyssey that will air at the end of August starring Amanda Redman, Tim McInnerny and Janet McTeer, and dramatised by Simon Armitage.
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2004-06-23: The US Senate has approved by 99-1 an amendment tacked by Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback on to the USD 447 billion Defense Department funding bill that will increase the maximum fine for a single indecency incident nearly ten-fold to USD 275,000 for broadcast licensees with a daily maximum of USD 3 million. In addition on-air talent could be fined up to USD 11,000 per broadcast incident. Only last week the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had announced an inflation-linked increase in the maximum penalty from USD 27,5000 to USD 32,500.
Brownback had earlier this year introduced a standalone bill to increase FCC fines but it had stalled.
The Senate also voted for a clause proposed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (Democrat, North Dakota) to invalidate new, relaxed ownership rules, a proposal that had been rejected earlier by the House of Representatives when it approved a similar resolution that increased fines to a maximum of USD 500,000 per incident and required the FCC to determine whether to revoke a station's license after three violations.
The Senate ownership vote re-institutes the ban on a company owning a newspaper, television stations and radio outlets that serve a single market and also a ban on companies owning two television stations in a single market. These new rules are currently suspended while a Federal court in Philadelphia considers their legality.
In addition the Senate has also added clauses from Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns requiring the FCC to consider a station's audience and also how far it has controls and discretion about shows it airs - a proposition intended to protect small broadcasters - plus a clause from Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (Democrat, South Carolina) that would requirement the FCC to examine whether children are being exposed to too much TV violence.
To go forward both proposals need full congressional approval and a Presidential signature. There have been suggestions that President Bush, who had endorsed the House Bill, would veto changes to the new ownership regulations.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which is on record as preferring voluntary codes to government regulation, responded to the vote with a statement from President and CEO Edward O. Fritts saying, "NAB does not support the amendment passed today by the Senate. We continue to believe that voluntary industry initiatives that have been taken by a number of broadcasters thus far are far preferable to government regulation when dealing with programming issues. We also believe that most Americans would acknowledge that broadcast programming is considerably less explicit in terms of violence and sexual content than that which is routinely found on cable and satellite channels."
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2004-06-23: The BBC's new Director-General Mark Thompson, who began his job with the Corporation yesterday, made a call to staff for a focus on "public value" and also announced top level changes that reduce the membership of the Corporation's Executive Committee from 16 to nine and told staff to expect reviews into its commercial businesses, production and commissioning, and how to increase efficiencies and control costs through self help.
We are going in to this with a genuinely open mind but these are questions which are not going to go away," he told staff. "If we did not examine them thoroughly ourselves, others would do it for us." "…from the outside - and you may not want to hear this - it feels like the task of really changing the BBC has only begun. Our world - the world of broadcasting and media - is itself changing with the speed of an express train. We face amazing new challenges and opportunities. What they mean is that we're going to have to change the BBC more rapidly and radically over the next three to five years than at any previous point in its history."
"The people who founded the BBC believed that broadcasting could make the world a better place. Public intervention would ensure that its astonishing creative power - to enrich individuals with knowledge, culture and information about their world, to build more cohesive and productive communities, to engage th