August 2004 Archive
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RNW August comment - Radio - the emergncy saviour - considers the value of radio in a major emergency and suggests cheap mass produced robust waterproof radios would be a vaulable back-stop to sophisticated systems.
RNW July comment - looks in the light of a refusal to renew the licence of CHOI-FM because of hosts' comments and US "indecency" penalties at broadcasting content regulation in Canada and the US.
RNW June comment - argues for strong public broadcasters and suggests the BBC licence fee system is better than other options.
2004-08-31: Piquant's Air America has added yet more affiliates this week with the start of broadcasts on Clear Channel's former sports outlets KKZN-AM in Denver and KABQ-AM in Albuquerque plus Inner City Broadcasting Corporation's WHAT-AM in Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia station is taking only the Al Franken and Randi Rhodes shows: It has re-jigged its output by taking an hour off Mary Mason's morning show so that she is now on air from 0600-0900 followed by Thera Martin-Connelly, who moves from afternoons to an 0900-noon slot after which Franken and Rhodes take over before syndicated host Bev Smith who remains at 1900-2200. Reggie Bryant, formerly in a midday slot, moves to 2200-0100. Former night spots-talk host Johnny Sample had left earlier in the month.
In Denver, Clear Channel as well as putting Air America on KKZN has also revamped conservative talk KHOW-AM with changes that included the addition of Bill O'Reilly and the dropping of syndicated night host Phil Hendrie. Peter Boyles is now in the 0500-0900 slot and the "Business for Breakfast " slot hosted by T.J. Maxwell and Scott Cortelyou is out whilst the Scott Redmond/Bob Newman afternoon show has been replaced with lawyers Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman from 1500-1900. Newman gets a solo hour from 1400-1500 after O'Reilly.
In Albuquerque, Air America is now on KABQ-AM, which had been carrying syndicated sports shows.
Clear Channel is now Air America's biggest outlet: It added the station's programming in San Diego, California, and Ann Arbour, Michigan, last week following ratings success for Air America on KPOJ-AM in Portland, Oregon, earlier in the year.
Air America now lists 24 affiliates on its web site in addition to the channels on Sirius and XM satellite radios but has yet to pick up outlets in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Previous Air America/Piquant:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Inner City:
2004-08-31: According to a report in the New York Times, US public radio stations are becoming concerned about National Public Radio (NPR) plans that according to rumours include possibly putting flagship shows on US satellite radio services.
NPR, set up three decades ago as a national production operation to support local stations, is involved in a major expansion largely financed by a bequest of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars from Joan B. Kroc, the widow of McDonald's founder Ray A. Kroc.
The paper reports that at a Los Angeles meeting this month between NPR executives and station managers "the NPR team faced a flurry of pointed questions about its long-term intentions."
There was particular concern at the suggestion of NPR shows being put on satellite and the paper quotes Alan Chartock, president and chief executive of WAMC Northeast Public Radio, a regional network that serves seven states from Pennsylvania to Vermont, as saying, "The local stations created NPR as a newsgathering organization for us. If the tail is now wagging the dog to literally compete with us, then we have to protect ourselves."
The concern over satellite radio was exacerbated by XM's creation of a public radio channel including a morning show "The Bob Edwards Show" hosted by Bob Edwards, the former host of NPR's Morning Edition until he was dropped by NPR, a move that he made clear was not his choice (See RNW Mar 25).
NPR already has a contract to program two Sirius channels, NPR Talk and NPR Now and stations were concerned that it might offer its flagship shows to compete against the XM offering.
Reacting to the idea, Ruth Seymour, general manager of KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, California, commented, "These programs have required an enormous public investment. To simply sell them to a commercial entity is completely against the principles of public radio."
Although both Sirius and XM have expressed interest in the flagship shows, NPR president and chief executive Kevin Klose said there are no plans to make such a move against member stations' wishes.
"We will respond to the will of the system," he said. "And the will of the system right now is that they should be where they are."
There was also fear of NPR siphoning off funds that have in the past gone to stations, fuelled by a suggestion that NPR could be allowed to court donors in local markets more directly. Klose commented, "We may have 22 million listeners, but we can't tell you who they are. The stations have those databases. The Joan Kroc gift demonstrates that there is potential for fund-raising out there in the country that we need to explore."
Torey Malatia, president and general manager of Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ-FM, said the Kroc gift had whetted NPR's appetite, adding, "It's kind of stunning to many of us in the system, because having that kind of money in the endowment is like a dream. But all it's done is create a scramble for even more. Now they want to know if there is a way to come into communities to meet people, wine and dine them and get more gifts."
NPR, created in 1970 to act as a centralized producer and distributor for local stations, is now a mainstay of many stations, providing some with up to half of their output despite competition from other organisations such as Public Radio International (PRI), also created by the stations, and by American Public Media, which was formed earlier this year by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) to distribute programming that it produces and which had formerly been handled by PRI (See RNW July 2).
The Times says that many managers say that their local stations must gain more leverage vis-à-vis NPR by producing and promoting more of the kind of distinctive, localized programs and segments
It quotes Laura Walker, president and chief executive of WNYC-FM in New York as saying, "We have to work very hard to make sure NPR sees our relationship as a joint partnership and an opportunity to work together as opposed to them being highly resourced and the stations being merely a vehicle to transmit their programs. I think the jury is still out as to whether they get it. But I'm hoping that they will."
Previous Edwards:
Previous Klose:
Previous Malatia:
Previous MPR:
Previous NPR:
Previous PRI:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
2004-08-31: More US broadcasters have been filing comments opposing suggestions by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that they should be required to retain recordings of their output, a suggestion already opposed by industry body, the National Association of Broadcasters in a 34 page filing (See RNW Aug 28).
Amongst them Salem Communications contends that such a requirement would leave broadcasters open to undesirable involvement in legal proceedings commenting, "Each station will be subject to having to respond to subpoenas and other discovery requests with respect to any lawsuit that might involve the content of their programming, even if the station is not a party to the lawsuit."
It says that the recordings could become pat of numerous contract disputes including those between advertisers and clients, and claims of infringement of intellectual property leading to an "additional major burden" over and above the heavy expense of recording requirements.
Clear Channel argues in its filing that the idea has already been rejected by US courts in 1978 when Congressional requirements for non-commercial stations to keep records of programmed discussing issued of "public importance" that had been brought forward in 1975 were thrown out by an Appeals Court.
It also points out that the FCC itself in 1977 opposed the idea of all broadcasters having to comply with a similar rule.
In addition to the larger organizations, the Small Market Operators Caucus (SMOC) says on its web site that more than 250 broadcasters have filed comments opposing the mandatory recording proposal, most of them commenting on the financial burden that would be involved and many noting that there had been no history of indecency complaints being filed against them.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous FCC:
Previous Salem:
Small Market Operators Caucus web site:
2004-08-30: For this week's look at print cover of radio, we are starting with a business perspective, courtesy of MSN Money and Robert Walberg who comments that expectations for advertising in the US have failed to reach expectations, particularly for radio.
"Unfortunately, there appears to be no significant improvement on the horizon, despite the obvious rise in political and Olympic spending," writes Walberg, who notes that analysts at Banc of America Securities, Goldman Sachs, AG Edwards, RBC Capital Markets and JP Morgan recently lowered their estimates and ratings for much of the radio broadcasting industry.
He then asks," With the industry in the doldrums and much of the Street having already lowered expectations, is now a good time for long-term investors to swoop in and do some bargain hunting?" and answers, "Looking strictly at the numbers, the answer to that question is probably 'no.'"
In the longer-term, Walberg is more bullish, writing, "The industry is in the early stages of a significant technology upgrade as more companies roll out digital radio, which dramatically improves sound quality and gives stations the opportunity to squeeze several channels (news, traffic, music, talk) onto a single frequency. Though this change will have little effect on the near-term earnings picture, the long-term potential is exciting."
And for the short-term, he suggests, "While there appears to be no urgency to investing in this beaten-down industry, there are a few names worth putting on your radar screen for some late-year bargain hunting."
The names he mentions are Clear Channel, Cox Radio, Entercom and Westwood One.
In Forbes, Scott Woolley may see business strengths in terrestrial US radio broadcasters but he's not convinced of their virtues, writing under the headline "Broadcast Bullies" he comments, " Digital revolutions have transformed television, recorded music, medicine and more. But radio remains frozen in time, an analogue anachronism in a digital world."
He then comments, "For decades the radio industry has crushed incipient competitors by wielding raw political muscle and arguments that are at once apocalyptic and apocryphal. Radio station owners, who formed the National Association of Broadcasters in 1923, have won laws and regulations that have banned, crippled or massively delayed every major new competitive technology since the first threat emerged in 1934: FM radio."
"In 1945 many AM incumbents, ostensibly concerned that interference related to sunspots might endanger their rivals in FM, encouraged the feds to uproot the FM dial and move it to a higher frequency band. This rendered half a million FM radios useless and forced the nation's FM stations to start over. A congressional investigation in 1948 found that the interference fears were bogus and that a Federal Communications Commission report had been conveniently altered to disguise that fact. Too late--the shift helped inferior AM technology remain dominant for the next 25 years. The coda: In 1954 the inventor of FM radio, Edwin Armstrong, frustrated by repeated setbacks and all but bankrupt, penned a suicide note to his wife and leapt out the window of his 13th-floor apartment."
"Fifty years later radio's old guard has been as effective at thwarting the digital threat. Existing stations thrive on an array of perks won by radio operators, including free use of the airwaves (XM and Sirius, by contrast, had to pay almost $200 million combined for their spectrum) and an exclusive exemption from paying royalties to performers. But the NAB's real forte has been in the modes of attack and delay, persuading regulators and Congress to impose daunting restraints on the satellite rivals and stalling their debut for the better part of a decade."
In the case of satellite radio, NAB played first a delaying tactic and then went in harder, commenting in 1995 in a filing to the FCC that satellite radio's "purported benefits are, in the main, nonexistent, unrealistic or of minimal value."
The organization, like so many other businesses wont to call on the virtues of free enterprise and the free market when it benefited them took the opposite view when it saw a threat and suggested that inferior programming from satellite would weaken better-quality AM and FM services and concluded, "Adding a new service would likely decrease the overall service to the public."
[RNW comment: NAB took the same view regarding low power FM as well, where NAB interference claims are reminiscent of its 1945 attitudes. In fact it could be argued that almost by definition if public interest were a significant criterion for holding a licence, membership of NAB would be considered a strong argument that the applicant was unfit to hold a licence.]
Woolley reports that economists don't take many of NAB's arguments seriously and goes on to write of the organization's power that much of it "comes from the fact that the NAB represents owners of just about every large and small broadcast outlet in the country--and you can't get elected if you can't get on the air.
He quotes Sen. John McCain as saying of NAB's lobbying, "There are no threats, there's no coercion. It's just the people who represent the best way of getting your image and message across to the people in your state."
That reality, says McCain, is why NAB is "one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington--and one of the most arrogant."
Woolley also notes that NAB has managed to retain royalty-free broadcasting for music put out by terrestrial digital radio stations whilst others have to pay significant amounts [RNW note. NAB is also resisting pressures from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for any kind of digital copying mechanism for digital radio] and is lobbying hard to get legislation passed that would kill the provision weather and traffic services on satellite radio.
As Woolley comments on the latter, "If you can't compete, get a bill to outlaw the competition. The NAB may yet win this battle."
Another aspect of US radio business, the ability to taker over a station and change its format without further ado (prohibited by regulators in most countries where the format is a significant factor in gaining a licence and then can only be changed with regulatory consent) has led to concern in Delaware and further afield over the possible consequences of Clear Channel's USD 4 million purchase of 1000-watt WILM-AM from the Hawkins family.
Locally the Delaware News Journal in an editorial with about as much punch as the Pope opposing evil in general, quotes Clear Channel as saying that it intends to keep the format and current management, and hopes that it will do so.
From further away, Jay Hancock in the Baltimore Sun is significantly less wishy-washy. Writing under the headline "Sleazy but rich radio leviathan swallows tiny quality station" he goes onto be clear about his position by opining that WILM-AM deserves its share of the public communications spectrum but Clear Channel does not.
"Clear Channel," he writes, "praises WILM, promises to honour its achievements and says the merger is for the little broadcaster's own good. Napoleon spoke similarly of Poland before invading it."
He quotes Clear Channel's Delaware vice president Joe Puglise as saying, "One of the things that that station has going for it is its years of history and heritage in the market. It takes years to build what they have, so the last thing we want to do is come along and turn it into a Czechoslovakian punk rock station."
Hancock notes that WILM currently employs 15 full-time and six part-time journalists, producing eight-and-a-half hours a day of news programming including many local stories and is particularly valuable because it is in an area with few other news sources.
After the takeover, he says Clear Channel's bigger and better-organized sales force should boost WILM's revenue, Puglise wants to rebroadcast some of WILM's news on WDOV-AM, Clear Channel's more-powerful Dover station, which will increase the audience and could boost revenue, and administrative functions can be combined.
He concludes, however, "But I fear the newsroom will shrink or morph. If Clear Channel truly valued crackerjack journalism, it would deliver it in every market."[RNW comment: Whilst sharing Hancock's concerns, it seems to us that the root problem lies in the business nature of US radio, not Clear Channel itself. As at present constituted (since licence renewal - theoretically the renewal of a lease on a public resource in return for services that are in part a public service - is as good as guaranteed), owners understandably are more concerned about return on investment than the public good when push comes to shove. That, in fact, is what a company or corporation is about. Thus a counterweight is needed which in our view should be a regular medium term requirement for the company to justify retention of a licence at local public hearings with a requirement that the licence be put back up for competition should there be significant enough opposition.
For the free marketer the situation is different but again it seems to us that in such a case the public interest requires maximisation of the return from the licence: This could be achieved either by automatic re-auctioning of licences to maximise cash gain or by a toll of a percentage of a station's profit. AT the moment the system is in effect a handout to licence holders who then, if the tenor of the Forbes article is to be believed, use some of the funds to in effect corrupt politicians to enable them to retain the handouts.]
On however to the essential of radio, without which the business would not exist, namely the programming for the listeners.
Unsurprisingly but maybe significantly, the amount of comment on this in the US media is rather limited as indeed might be expected in a context where most radio has for financial reasons to be targeted at specific demographic groups, interrupted far too much for our taste by adverts, and produces the greatest return on investments through formats where it can control costs rigorously - such as by airing music that is royalty-free or by talk that relies largely on opinion rather than fact (thus skewing the balance away from producing more expensive content such as commissioning music or actually covering news rather than relying on agencies).
Which, of course, takes us to programming and rather than print comment on what has aired suggestions of some listening to the wide range of mainly British radio we've heard over the past week and which is available online.
First BBC Radio 4 and four hours of Homer's Odyssey, dramatised on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend by Simon Armitage. It was split into three programmes, all three of which are currently available on demand on the web site (A CD is also being issued).
Then comedy from the station and today (1730GMT) sees a Dead Ringers Special, a one-off recorded at the Edinburgh Festival: In fact the whole day is fairly strong on Radio 4 with mentions being worthwhile of The Square Meal (0800 GMT), which looks at how we decide on what we should eat, followed by the latest Real Just So Story on How the Whale got its Throat followed by the start of the first episode of the Book of the Week, Wodehouse. A Life, Robert McCrum's life of the creator of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves. Still before noon there's more drama and documentary programming and in the afternoon drama written in verse in The River Girl by Wendy Cope, discussion on how saving can be encouraged in the UK where recent scandals have pretty well destroyed confidence in the financial services industry, the first of a five daily episodes of Blind Man's Beauty in which Peter White presents the series which challenges the idea that blind people miss out on beauty, and yet more drama, discussion and documentary with a similar pattern in the evening including Guinea Pig Kids, a documentary that looks at claims that the big drug companies tested out cocktails of drugs on "to infants and children in the care' of the Church or the State" in the UK, Ireland and the US.
Still today and for those interested in Carnival, BBC 1Xtra will have live cover of the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's largest Caribbean-inspired carnival, at 11:00 GMT.
For a different kind of music, on Wednesday BBC Radio 2 's The 100 Club reaches the age of punk at the club in London's Oxford Street: A change from the jazz in last week's programme (Still for the moment on the site).
And for classical, BBC Radio 3 today has a selection of Proms programming and the first of this week's Composer of the Week on Erich Korngold plus at 20:45 GMT Walden Revisited in which Professor Geoff Ward considers Thoreau's achievement in a programme including contributions from novelists Rick Moody and Alexander Theroux.
Moving countries, we'd suggest a listen to KGNU, Boulder, as a strong example of a community station in the US as well as, for different perspectives on the Republican National Congress, a dip into mainstream news channels like ABC, CNN and NPR, a visit to the radio.socialtechnology site for their view and maybe also a listen to Los Angeles anti-corporate radio station KillRadio.
And finally from Australia the 2004 winners in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Short Stories project - a total of 23 - each running 4 to 7 minutes, all of which are on the Corporation's web site.
Previous Columnists:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - 2004 short stories winners:
Baltimore Sun - Hancock:
Delaware News Journal - editorial on WILM-AM:
Forbes - Woolley:
Killradio Los Angeles (Anti-corporate radio):
KGNU site:
MSN Money - Walberg:
radio.socialtechnology.net site (Links to audio streams):
2004-08-30: With the Republican National Convention now under way in New York, coverage relating to the event on radio this year will not be just the conventional news cover of large media organizations such as ABC, CBS, and CNN, and of the well known talk hosts but also that from a coalition of anti-Republican groups using modern technology to overcome obstacles that in the past would have been insuperable.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the broadcasts will be a mix of the legal and illegal: the protestors will use cell phones to call in their reports and these will then be streamed on the Internet and "picked up for rebroadcast nationwide on community-based micro radio stations - some licensed, most illegal."
The paper quotes said Pete Tridish, a long-time activist and founder of the Philadelphia-based Prometheus Radio Project, an advocacy group for legal, non-commercial micro-radio broadcasters as saying, "It has become sort of a thing that whenever there's a big protest like this, someone sets up a pirate radio station the same as someone setting up the food truck or the sound system.
Someone knows how to start a radio station, and so someone does it."
The paper notes that pirate stations have a "long history of giving voice to the disenfranchised, usually on a very local level because of such outlets' relatively low power (10 to 100 watts) and reach (one to five miles)."
"Only recently," it adds, " has the technology become an integral protest tool, used to organize impromptu events and to provide news, interviews, even music from event sites."
Cover from New York is already being provided via a number of streams, from 12kbps mono to 64 kbps stereo and is of satisfactory quality although from the UK we found occasional drop-outs on some sources and were unable to get others.
Amongst the organizations involved in coordinated cover is the Critical Mass Radio Network (CMRN), whose co-founder Chris Burnett told the paper, "It's just a natural evolution of new innovative technologies we have access to. Computers, the Internet, play a central role… It's definitely not going to sound like commercial radio, and that's a good thing."
"You're going to hear real people's voices - people who are learning and teaching themselves how to use this voice instead of going through this machine called broadcast journalism that puts you into thinking about the way people expect to hear things. That's the whole point of what we're doing - to give people who don't normally think they have a voice a voice."
Burnett came up with the idea of a synchronized micro-radio broadcast with a former roommate and he is in New York working with New York City's A-Noise NoRNC Sound Coalition, which has been holding workshops to train street correspondents, or "streetcasters."
A-Noise is being cautious about any links with pirate stations although it expects them to pick up its streams and says that it gains strength from the nature of its cover: "We're the closest to the action on the street. We're the first line of information, said Tarikh Korula, one of its co-ordinators. "When people call in and let us know what's going on, then we can either send reporters out or log their calls and put them on our website or patch their calls in to the Web stream."
Previous Prometheus Radio Project:
Los Angeles Times report:
NYC Indy Media re RNC plans:
radio.socialtechnology.net site (Links to audio streams):
2004-08-29: Last week saw a steady but routine level of activity from the regulators in relation to radio.
In Australia the Australian Broadcasting Authority has again been involved with community licences.
It has invited applications for two new licences in Queensland, one in Mackay and the other for the Yarraman area, both with a deadline for applications of September 17.
Also in Queensland it is proposing to make channel capacity available in the Rockhampton/Gladstone area that will allow Rockhampton commercial radio services 4RO, 4RGK and 4ROK additional capacity to remedy reception problems at Biloela.
It is also proposing to make capacity available for the Rockhampton commercial radio service 4CC at Agnes Water and capacity available to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Rockhampton and Gladstone for future national radio services.
In addition, in New South Wales it is to make additional FM capacity available for national radio services at Batemans Bay/Moruya and a community radio service at Eden following requests from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Eden Community Radio Inc.
In Canada the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), as well as opting not to contest a stay of its decision not to renew the licence of Quebec station CHOI-FM until legal proceedings are conducted (See RNW Aug 27) has been involved in a regular flow of licence decisions.
In order of province, they included:
Across Canada:
Renewal from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2011 of the licence of the national radio programming network providing programming to French-language and Acadian community radio stations that are members of L'Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada Inc.
Nova Scotia:
Renewal from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2011 pf the licence of CKDY-AM, Digby and CKDY-FM-1 Weymouth.
Ontario:
Renewal from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2009 of the licence of low-power station CHEV-AM, Toronto. The CRTC notes that it has now authorized the operation of a new full-power radio station on CHEV's frequency and that CHEV will have to find a new frequency and be reared to cease use f its current one when the new station is ready to commence broadcasting.
Quebec:
Across Quebec - Administrative renewal 1 September 2004 to 28 February 2005 of the licence of Radio Nord Communications inc.'s French-language radio network.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CKYK-FM and its transmitter CKYK-FM-1 Alma.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CIEU-FM Carleton and its transmitter CIEU-FM-1 Paspebiac.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CFIN-FM Lac Etchemin and its transmitter CFIN-FM-1 Armagh.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CHAA-FM Longueuil.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CFOR-FM Maniwaki.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CHGA-FM Maniwaki.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CINQ-FM Montréal.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CIBL-FM Montréal.
Administrative renewal from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2004 of the licence of CKCN-FM Sept-Iles.
Renewal from 1 September 2004 to 28 February 2005 of the licences of CJGO-FM La Sarre; CHGO-FM Val d'Or and its transmitter CHGO-FM-1 Rouyn-Noranda; and CHOA-FM Rouyn-Noranda and its transmitters CHOA-FM-1 Val d'Or and CHOA-FM-2 La Sarre
In all these cases the short-term renewal is made because a final decision on various matters will not be made before the current licences expire.
Also in Ontario/Quebec, the Commission has approved a contour change and power increase from 567 watts to 2,559 watts for CHME-FM Les Escoumins to improve the reception quality of its signal for listeners in the upper north shore of Quebec and has approved the acquisition by Radio Nord Communications inc of the assets of the radio programming undertaking CHLX-FM Ottawa/Gatineau from Groupe Radio RNC inc. and art of an intra-corporate re-organization.
The CRTC has also published a public notice concerning a meeting to be held on September 7 to consider various applications noting the withdrawal of a number of items in view of the receipt of interventions.
Affected were:
British Columbia:
An application by Westwave Broadcasting Inc. for a licence to operate a commercial English-language FM in Sechelt.
Ontario:
An application by Telephone City Broadcast Limited for a licence to operate a commercial English language FM at Brantford:
An application Bel-Roc Communications Inc. for a licence to operate a commercial English language FM at Haldimand County:
An application by Sound of Faith Broadcasting to amend the licence of radio programming undertaking CJTW-FM, Kitchener.
In Ireland, there were no licensing decisions from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) but it has launched a draft of its Broadcasting (Funding) Scheme to support new television and radio programmes (See RNW Aug 24).
There was nothing from the UK and the US was fairly quiet: There the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received a filing from the US National Association of Broadcasters objecting to its plans to require broadcasters to keep recordings of output (See RNW Aug 28) and also to hold hearings over the renewal of four Radio One Inc's Akron, Ohio, licences because of public file shortcomings (See RNW Aug 27).
It is also requiring Clear Channel to show why its Tulsa, Oklahoma, KMOD-FM, which is operating below minimum Class C standards, should not be reclassified from Class C to Class CO to permit a first local service at Howard, Kansas.
Previous ABA:
Previous BCI:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
ABA web site:
BCI web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
2004-08-29: Clear Channel Communications, which earlier this year settled an antitrust lawsuit alleging it used monopolistic and predatory practices against Denver-based concert promoter Nobody In Particular Presents (See RNW Jun 4), is now facing similar action from Chicago-based sporting events promoter JamSports and Entertainment.
The promoter filed suit in April 2002 against Clear Channel Entertainment in the Northern District in Illinois alleging that it used monopolistic practices to win a lucrative contract promoting dirt-track motorcycle racing.
The San Antonio Express-News reports that U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly wrote that enough evidence exists for an antitrust lawsuit against Clear Channel Entertainment to proceed and set a trial date for November 15 but it also quotes Chris Gair, partner in a Chicago-based law firm that is representing Clear Channel Entertainment as saying in a written statement, "The real news here is that the judge gutted this case before it even got to trial. Eleven of the 12 claims have been dismissed due to lack of evidence."
JamSports and Entertainment Principal Jerry Mickelson in a written response countered, "I don't mean any disrespect to any of the victims or their families, but Clear Channel claiming victory in connection with Judge Kennelly's ruling on JamSports and Entertainment's claims is like John Wayne Gacy [RNW note: The notorious Chicago sadistic homosexual serial killer who was executed in 1994 and was responsible for at least 33 deaths] saying he was exuberant that he was not also charged with rape."
JamSports has sued both Clear Channel and Paradama Productions, which does business as AMA Pro Racing, for allegedly breaching a contract that would have given JamSports the right to produce and promote the American Motorcycle Association Supercross Series for 2003-09; it says AMA Pro Racing breached a written agreement to negotiate with JamSports exclusively and in good faith.
It also alleges that Clear Channel took away its AMA Pro contract through a requirement that venues hosting Clear Channel Supercross races to agree not to book other motor sports events within 60 to 90 days of a Clear Channel event and also alleges Clear Channel offered original equipment manufacturers and Supercross star athletes financial incentives for participating in Clear Channel's series.
In his ruling the judge noted, "JamSports has presented evidence that Clear Channel tried to use its other motor sports events and concerts to entice venues to exclude JamSports."
Previous Clear Channel:
San Antonio Express-News report:
2004-08-28: The US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has strongly opposed suggestions from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that US broadcasters should be required to keep recordings of their output for a period of 60 or 90 days to increase the effectiveness of its processes for enforcing restrictions on obscene, indecent and profane broadcast programming.
In opposing the idea, NAB says it "strongly believes that this proposal is unnecessary, vastly overbroad, burdensome (especially on smaller broadcasters and multicasting stations), and constitutionally suspect."
"As shown by recent actions," it continues, "the Commission is obviously able to enforce effectively its indecency rules without the imposition of any recording requirement. The extraordinarily broad recording proposal is also needlessly punitive, and places burdens on thousands of broadcasters that have never received an indecency complaint, let alone an actual forfeiture."
"Given the extremely small number of broadcast programs that have ever been found indecent, a proposal requiring the recording and retention of (at a minimum) tens of millions of hours of radio and television programming clearly fails any cost/benefit analysis. Particularly in light of its vast overbreadth, the proposal further raises obvious constitutional problems, and would very likely fail to withstand First Amendment review by any court. Finally, a program recording mandate raises other serious legal questions, including copyright."
It also says that the measures are unnecessary, commenting, "The Commission obviously has all the tools necessary to enforce effectively its indecency regulations. Indeed, the FCC's use of these tools has been so "effective" that commercial and non-commercial broadcast stations are already engaging in significant self-censorship of all types of programs, including entertainment and news and informational programming."
RNW comment: As so often, our immediate reaction to an NAB statement is that it weakens its case by throwing in everthing including the kitchen sink.
It makes the cost/effectiveness case effectively with useful details of equipment costs and in terms of a comparison of the number of offences likely and the resources required to meet the requirement.
As we have already noted in the past, the numbers of complaints about even the most publicised "indecent broadcasts" have been very small despite the efforts of organizations like the AFA and the ease of setting up e-mail protest campaigns.
NAB then howevergoes on to its fairly common trick of conflating different issues since the censorship it refers to, by its own logic, can have little relation to the issues of evidence and far more to a climate where the rules and penalties, as we have also commented, seem to have been changed and in effect applied retroactively.
The copyright issue seems very much a red herring - and one that a simple law can remove since Congress has the right to amend copyright law: So far it's done this mainly to the benefit of big business but there is nothing to stop Congress rendering copyright null and void in specific cases it sets out such as the retention of recordings for legally required purposes.
As to suggestions of constitutional problems, it would seem to us that once something has been broadcast it should be considered to have entered the public domain in the same way as print does once a newspaper, book or magazine has been published. We see no reason why broadcasting should not be considered the same as publishing in this regard.
Previous FCC:
Previous NAB:
NAB response (230 Kb 34 page PDF):
2004-08-28: Capping off a fairly busy week for radio deals in the US, Salem Communications has announced a swap with Cox Radio under which in exchange for its Hawaii AM stations Country format KHNR-AM and News/Talk KHCM-AM it will be acquiring Honolulu Oldies station KGMZ-FM; Cox is acquiring KGMZ, for which is already provides sales and marketing services under a joint sales agreement, from Honolulu Broadcasting for USD 6.6 million through the exercise of an option to purchase the station.
Salem says it is to retain the oldies format at KGMZ and although Cox has not formally said what plans it has for the station it is expected to change the programming on KHNR-AM, whose output is currently simulcast on Salem's KHNR-FM.
The deal is expected to close by the end of this year and Salem President and CEO Edward G. Atsinger III said KGMZ-FM would complement "very nicely our existing three FM signals."
"This swap will give Salem an eight-station cluster in Honolulu, which provides important marketing, sales and cost benefits," he added.
Cox Vice President and General Manager Mike Kelly said that the transaction "reflects our strategy to expand our footprint in markets where we have an existing presence. We look forward to integrating these stations into our portfolio, further enhancing our ability to better serve listeners and advertisers in the Honolulu market."
Other US deals over the week included:
Arizona: The USD 22.6 million purchase by Peppertree Capital Fund LP from 3 Points Media LLC of KVNA-FM, Flagstaff (Prescott).
Colorado - The USD 4.1 million purchase by Boulder Community Broadcast Association (KGNU-FM) of KJME-AM, Denver from Jo-Mor Communications Inc.
Delaware: The USD 4 million purchase by Clear Channel from Delaware Broadcasting Co. of WILM-AM.
Florida - The USD 1.6 million purchase by Vox Media Group from LSM Radio Partners of WAVK-FM and WWWK-FM, Marathon.
Michigan - The USD 1.6 million purchase through stocks in the seller by Heartland Communications Group LLC from Tu-Mar Broadcasting Inc of WCCY-AM, WHKB-FM and WOLV-FM, Houghton.
North Carolina - The USD 8.7 million purchase by Curtis Media Group from Alchemy Communications of WRBZ-AM in Raleigh.
Texas - The USD 1.5 million purchase by Entravision from Seeger, Guest & Fort, of KAIQ-FM, Wolfforth (Lubbock).
In other radio business, Entravision has announced the closing of its new USD400 million senior secured credit facility, which replaces the company's existing credit facility. The new facility consists of a USD150 million 6-1/2-year revolving credit facility, a USD175 million 7-1/2-year term loan, and a USD75 million 7-1/2-year delayed draw term loan.
Previous Atsinger:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Cox:
Previous Entravision:
Previous Salem:
2004-08-28: In further advances for digital radio in the UK, GWR subsidiary Now Digital has launched a new transmitter in Sudbury that adds a potential 70,000 new digital listeners in the Southend and Chelmsford areas of Essex, the company's fifth transmitter.
It will transmit a digital multiplex service comprising Essex FM, Classic Gold Breeze, Passion for the Planet, The Storm, Kiss and BBC Radio Essex.
Also in the UK, GM subsidiary Vauxhall has added a new model the 1.6 litre Sxi Digital in its Astra automobile range that will include Digital radio as a standard fitment and Perstel has added a kitchen radio, the DR-601, to its range of receivers. The DAB/FM receiver has 100 presets, five hotkeys and a bookmark function plus a radio alarm clock and auto-sleep timer. It can be mains or battery powered.
Previous GWR:
2004-08-28: In Australia, Southern Cross Broadcasting has reported profits in the full year to the end of June were up 35% to AUD 42.3 million (USD 32.5 million) on revenues up 16.8% to AUD 403.6 million (USD 283.7 million): Pre-tax profits were up 30.5% to AUD 64.2 million (USD 45.1 million).
Chairman John Dahlsen said the results reflected a significant improvement in trading conditions for electronic media with its metropolitan TV revenues up 12.6%, regional TV revenues up 10.9% and metropolitan radio revenues up 11.7%.
He noted improved performance from the company's radio operations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane stations and commented, "The diversification of our media assets has significantly enhanced our financial position with strong trading conditions in metropolitan television, regional television and radio operations throughout this financial year."
Managing director Tony Bell, whose employment contract has been extended to the end of June 2009, noted that advertising revenue continued to be strong with revenues for July and August and forward revenue to October 2004 was well above a year ago, saying "In the absence of unforeseen circumstances, the company is well placed to achieve growth in the current year."
Within the radio division he commented that "The more competitive radio market in Sydney still presents challenges for Radio 2UE with only a marginal improvement in trading over the past twelve months. We expect 2UE to continue to improve its operating margins. A further opportunity exists with the addition of a new FM radio licence in Sydney which is likely to further fragment the cluster of seven stations currently rating within two percentage points of each other, including 2UE. The new service is likely to adversely impact on the audience share of the FM stations."
He was more bullish about operations in Melbourne, where 3AW has been the market leader for all surveys in the past two years and Magic 693 has also performed well; in addition he noted success in shifting the target demographic for 96FM to the 25-39 demographic. Brisbane also performed strongly.
Previous Bell:
Previous Southern Cross:
2004-08-27: Genex Communication's Quebec station CHOI-FM, whose licence renewal was last month refused by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) largely because of complaints about the station's breakfast show (See RNW July 14) has gained at least a stay of execution until March.
The regulator and the Canadian federal government opted not oppose CHOI's request filed in the Federal Court of Appeal, to stay the shutdown order pending an appeal and a three-judge Federal Court of Appeal panel ruled that the station can continue on air until March 2005, when the court will decide whether to overturn the decision not to renew its license,
"The CRTC and the Attorney-General of Canada . . . confirm that they will not oppose the granting by this court the authorization to appeal," the CRTC's lawyers said in a letter to the Federal Court of Appeal. In its court filing, the CRTC said it neither accepts nor recognizes the validity of CHOI's motion but will not oppose it "for the sole purpose of ensuring an expedited appeal hearing by the applicant."
RNW comment: CHOI seems to be opting in this case to spin things out as long as possible - it suggests that a final decision could take as long as a year, indicating it could appeal to the Canadian Supreme Court should it lose its first case. That is its legal right.
It also suggests that the case will call into issue the whole manner in which the CRTC carries out its regulatory role, something which we think may well be needed but something that should not be a case for the courts but for the lawmakers and public debate.
In our view a very dangerous precedent is set if courts start to expand their role beyond interpretation of laws as passed into whether they should have been passed except where there are cases in which different laws conflict (A situation in which the lawmakers need excoriation for bad drafting!).
In this case, if the Canadian public are against regulation then the laws need changing but it does seem to us that as written Canadian law permits the regulator to refuse renewal on criteria that appear to have been followed in which case the court's role is to say so and the politicians' to change the law alter if need be but not retrospectively. If the court says the regulator acted correctly within its remit then CHOI should lose the licence but have the fight to apply for the new one being issued and be judged on exactly the same basis as other applicants.
Previous CRTC:
Previous Genex:
2004-08-27: US talk host Tom Leykis has allegedly been attacked outside a Seattle bar and needed 17 stitches above his right eye.
The Los Angles-based host, probably best-known for comments that many find derogatory towards women [RNW note: Our last mention of him was when the Canadian regulator rules against an episode of his show in which it said he seemed to think the anal rape of a caller's girlfriend who had passed out was amusing and must have been enjoyable- see RNW June 6].
According to Seattle police records reported in the Seattle Times, Leykis was outside the bar feeling unwell when one of his alleged assailants took a photograph of him and went inside to show it to two other men. A woman witness, who went to check on him, was followed by two of the men one of whom said to the host he had been called a name when he phoned Leykis's show. Leykis was then kicked in the face and fell to his knees after which the two men fled and the third man went to the taxi in which Leykis and the witness were leaving and apologized.
According to the report Leykis, has singled out Seattle men as the world's biggest wimps, said this was the first time he had been attacked by a listener.
Previous Leykis:
Seattle Times report:
2004-08-27: Former Gaylord WWTN-FM Nashville SportsNight host George Plaster has accused the company of conspiring with Cumulus Broadcasting to keep him off the air in relation to a deal by the latter to purchase Gaylord's stations.
Plaster claims that the two companies had a "secret side-deal" to prevent him moving to a rival whilst Gaylord contends that the host had been talking to Citadel from 1998, a year after he had first signed a personal services deal with Gaylord, but the talks with them heated up after the sale was agreed in 2003.
Plaster contends that Cumulus conspired with Gaylord to keep him from working for a rival station until his agreement expired in March 2005 and that Gaylord's use of a "pay or play" clause was in appropriate as this was supposed to be there to prevent inappropriate on-air conduct not to protect a prospective buyer of the radio station.
Gaylord says that its intention was to "ensure that Cumulus received the benefit of its bargain with Gaylord" and "for the benefit of Gaylord to retain the availability of Mr. Plaster's service for WSM-AM."
It took out an injunction against Plaster when he signed a deal with Citadel and informed them that after the sale he would move to host the sports show on WGFX-FM; after an initial court injunction was dissolved he moved to Citadel.
Gaylord is suing Plaster for breach of contract, saying he violated a non-compete provision and claiming that harm was done to WSM-AM: Plaster contends that his contract was not assignable to Cumulus against his wishes, that the non-compete clause was rendered null and void when Gaylord sold the station and "terminated" him.
Plaster wants the court to dismiss Gaylord's claims of breach of contract whilst Gaylord want the host's counter-suit dismissed. The case is now to go before a jury next month.
Previous Citadel:
Previous Cumulus:
Previous Gaylord:
Nashville City Paper report:
2004-08-27: Boulder-based community station KGNU-FM has bought the Denver AM signal of former Spanish-language station KHME-AM for USD 4.1 million and is to start broadcasts on the new frequency on Sunday: KGNU has already raised USD 1.2 million from supporters towards the purchase but needs to raise another USD 75,000 to cover the down payment due in October.
It then has three years in which to raise the balance.
KGNU's first broadcasts on the new frequency will be of six hours of special programming for the Republican National Convention live from New York City, coverage slated on its web site as "Bringing you the voices of mass protest against the RNC in NYC."
KGNU began to study the idea of purchasing a commercial AM signal because there was no new FM frequency available in the area for a new public station and an attempt by the Denver Radio Coalition to create a low power community station was rejected by the FCC: A commercial FM frequency, it noted would cost tens of millions of dollars
Before the current deal, offers to two AM station owners were rejected, either because KGNU did not offer enough money for the station or as a down payment, or because the terms were not favourable enough to the seller.
KGNU web site (RNW note- links to audio stream):
2004-08-27: As for non-commercials, so for commercial stations: We suggested earlier this month at if the FCC were to take action against California public station KALW-FM over public file offences (See RNW Aug 16) the logical corollary would be for activists to target commercial giants over the same matter.
Now law firm KMZ Rosenman has filed on behalf of "broadcaster and concerned citizen" Robin Rothschild a formal objection to the renewal of the licences of four Dayton stations.
In the filing, Rothschild alleges that owner Radio One Inc. misrepresented the facts and "lacked candour" in its renewal applications for Urban Contemporary WDHT-FM, Top 40/Chr WGTZ-FM, Urban WRNB and News/Sports/Talk WING-AM - its country WKSW-FM is not mentioned.
Rothschild says that she had found the station's public files to be incomplete or missing on three separate visits including one after the company had filed renewal applications that said the files were in order: On a fourth visit three days after the renewal applications had been filed she found the public files had been "essentially reconstituted."
Rothschild is arguing that as a result Radio One should be required to show cause why its licences should not be forfeited, revoked, or designated for hearing.
RNW comment: We have not changed out view that should there be other than a small penalty or reprimand for KALW the just penalty for a big broadcaster should be levied pro-rata, which probably means loss of some or all licences.
We do not advocate this but do think that in fairness small stations should face small penalties and if the lawmakers cannot see their way to write laws in this manner, the only fair response for the major broadcasters is to remove licences. We suspect laws could get rewritten very quickly after only a few cases involving the giants!
Previous FCC:
Previous Radio One Inc:
2004-08-27: Eastlan has added more markets to its ratings service with deals for services in the Palm Springs, California, Salisbury/Ocean City, Maryland, and Ludington/Manistee, Michigan markets from this Fall.
Salisbury/Ocean city, rated 145 in the US, will be Eastlan's second largest market. It and Palm Springs are already Arbitron-rated markets but Ludington/Manistee is a previously unrated market with a population of about 65,000.
Previous Eastlan:
2004-08-26: An Ottawa computer programmer and XM subscriber who developed software to allow him to record material from the company's service directly onto his PC hard drive has come under fire from XM and the music industry.
Scott MacLean started selling the software, called TimeTrax, which in combination with XM's PCR software converts the programming to MP3 files and also arranges files of individual songs complete with artist name and song title information.
XM has sent a letter to MacLean telling him to discontinue his sales and provide it with a list of purchasers - some 2,500 listeners have downloaded the programme since he made it available this month, with some 400 paying for the full version that cost USD 19.95, now increased to USD 29.95.
Its vice president of corporate affairs Chance Patterson told Reuters the product is something they do not condone and they expect it to be shut down; He added that it relies on the PCR receiver that is in only a small fraction of its sales, most of which come from automobile receivers and units that connect to home stereos that cannot be hooked up to computers (RNW comment: A quick check of sound cards might indicate that this latter comment is somewhat technologically flawed!).
MacLean says he has no such list and does not intend to comply, adding that his intention was to make XM's service more user-friendly.
Recording Industry Association of America spokesman Jonathan Lamy told the agency his organization had not reviewed the software, but in principle was disturbed by the idea, commenting, "We remain concerned about any devices or software that permit listeners to transform a broadcast into a music library."
The music industry has been lobbying for restrictions on the copying of digital audio broadcasts in the US similar to the Broadcast Flag technology that limits home recording of digital TV but this is opposed by the US radio industry and the US National Association of Broadcasters says such a move would hinder the introduction of digital technology.
Another copyright-related fight also seems about to start in the US as the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 expires at the end of this year. This act allowed small webcasters to make royalty payments based on company revenues or expenses as opposed to flat rate fees that were set out by the US CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel) with some amendments by the Librarian of Congress.
Any interested party can call for a further CARP panel if agreement on royalty payments cannot be reached and such a request is anticipated before the deadline to do so comes up on Sunday this week.
RNW comment: The issue as with all copyright and patent issues is a balance between encouraging innovation and best serving the public. The patent issue in our view has already been pushed too far in the US - think of even the idea of a patent on Basmati rice - and that on copyright has already gone too far as the power of money and lobbying seems to have bought off consideration of the wider public interest.
Our view is that the entertainment industry is pushing things far too hard - if they had their way they would have certainly instituted restrictions years ago that would have effectively killed home recording on tape of both video and audio.
We would like to see some politicians put on a public service hat and start to think properly about the most constructive balance in the current circumstances: For example in our view the length of copyright in many areas is already far too long and acts to deter innovation for the public good - the 14 years that was originally set by the US Congress would seem far more than is required for most entertainment or software (How many 14-years old programmes do you use?).
There is obviously a need for a proper short-term payments system for music and indeed software and video but the longer-term issue indicates that the balance is not well drawn at the moment.
Even in areas where there is more longevity it does not seem an overall public good to have such long copyright - how, for an example, does an author benefit if a book written 25 years ago but with no chance of re-issue is kept from the public domain as opposed to say having a public organisation require all books on PDF and then issue them after a period for a fairly small fee to those who want the book. It might even if there were a spurt of interest, prompt a republication!
Previous RIAA:
Previous XM:
Reuters report:
Time Trax web site:
2004-08-26: Veteran Australian radio reporter John Highfield is to retire after 36 years with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which he joined in 1968 after working with Sydney commercial stations when he left school including a spell with 2SM-AM, then owned by the Catholic Broadcasting Company and one of the top Sydney commercial stations.
At 2SM, which was innovative in its news reporting - and also one of the first stations to introduce talk-back programming after delay technology led to the 1967 lifting of a regulatory ban on broadcasting callers live - he gained experience in reporting "live to air", something he terms "an extraordinary change for broadcasting because suddenly we were bringing people news as it happened. It taught us a lot."
After working in Australia and the ABC's AM and PM programmes he was posted to London in 1970 and also had a spell in Washington, D.C. He became the first journalist to report live and unscripted into an ABC news bulletin in1072 when covering the Munich Olympics at which the Black September Palestinian faction took Israeli athletes hostage.
Over the next day and a half Highfield reported the subsequent drama in which 11 athletes died and five of the eight kidnappers - plus a policeman - were killed.
Among his own personal memories are giving an IRA car hijacker a driving lesson and he commented of his career, "I see myself as a storyteller. It's a wonderful thing to be and radio is the most magic of mediums. It is a one on one relationship between you and the listener - it's just one person you've got to engage in your storytelling."
Also at the ABC, the Corporation's NewsRadio staff have been celebrating the 10th anniversary of the network and John Cameron, who since 2000 he has been National Editor of ABC News and Current Affairs, has been appointed the Corporation's new Director of News and Current Affairs.
Cameron joined the ABC in 1984, working as a reporter in radio and TV for eight years including a spell in the USA as Washington correspondent and Bureau Chief.
Previous ABC, Australia:
2004-08-26: US classical music radio is being further depleted with the announcement that Miami WKAT-AM, Classical 1360, has begun to sell brokered programming.
The station was South Florida's only full-time classical output but its General Manager Andrew Korge told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that it had been forced to make the move to remain viable as a classical outlet.
He said the decision was also made to grab former advertisers of WAXY-AM, which ceased brokered programming earlier this month.
"The reality of it is that it would make more sense for us to be entirely brokered," Korge told the paper. "But that's not what I or the other owners want to do. Most days you'll still hear classical 17 to 18 hours. We're still providing as much music as we can."
Although an announcement indicated that WKAT would drop classical only in the morning hours, Korge said that in September the station would start broadcasting Florida Atlantic University football games and Florida International University basketball games in the evening and he added that he could not guarantee its format would not change further in the future.
WKAT morning host Bonnie Berman left the station four weeks ago when she was told of the format change.
Also changing formats, this time in Detroit, is Detroit Public Schools (DPS) station, the former WDTR-FM - now renamed WRCJ-FM and due to be leased to a commercial outfit to operate with a jazz and classical format.
The station has been owned and operated by the DPS since 1948 and the change has been made to save the costs of running it, amounting to around USD 1 million a year according to the Detroit Metro Times.
The paper says most of the staff are to be dismissed by the end of the month.
Former Sunday night host Malik Yakini, who has already been axed, said he and other protestors were concerned that the station's community slant - it ran a wide range of programming from world music to political commentary - will be list and added, "We want to put the station and DPS on notice that we are examining the situation. We sent in teams to look at the public file. We're also looking into legal action and a license challenge."
Detroit Metro times report:
South Florida Sun-Sentinel report:
2004-08-25: The issue of US Spanish language radio stations being judged by different "indecency" standards to English-language stations has again been raised in the US.
In a Los Angeles Times report that we noted on AZ Central, Agustin Gurza comments that "Latino DJs have been carrying on with raunchy talk-radio shows that sometimes out-shock Stern. But unlike the public fuss made over Stern and the Jackson incident during the Super Bowl, daytime indecency on Spanish-language radio has developed mostly under the radar of mainstream moral monitors."
He ascribes the comparative immunity to a lack of Spanish speakers at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allied with fewer complaints being made by recent immigrants to the US and also "a tradition of community activism that engenders a loyalty not usually found in English-language radio."
In blunt language Alex Nogales, a long-time activist with the Los Angeles-based National Hispanic Media Coalition, an advocacy group that pushes for better representation of Latinos in the mainstream media, comments, "These "cochinos" (pigs) felt they could say or do anything they wanted because nobody was listening. And they were right."
"I think it's partly the listeners' fault," says Jerry Velasco of Nosotros, an advocacy group for Latino actors. "Our people are not used to writing letters of complaint, because in the countries they come from, they feel they don't have a voice."
In Los Angeles on any given day, reports Gurza, Latino DJs talk sex with callers, tell racy jokes with sexual sound effects and even wedge salacious wisecracks into otherwise normal interviews with guests.
Renan Almendarez Coello, Southern California's most popular morning DJ known as El Cucuy, regularly peppers his seven-hour show on La Raza, with jokes about flatulence, erections, ejaculations and gay and lesbian sex.
On sister station El Sol, a flirtatious former DJ known as El Chulo engaged a cooing caller named Lily in a midmorning discussion about the sexual pros and cons of women shaving their genital area.
"Isn't it appalling that we allow this to happen?" asks California Democrat U.S. Rep. Joe Baca, co-chairman of the Congressional Sex and Violence in the Media Caucus. "Whether in English or in Spanish, they should be monitored and should be controlled."
Gurza reports that since the clampdown on English-language stations leading Spanish radio chains -- Univision, SBS and Liberman -- say they have tightened or reaffirmed policies to prevent violations of FCC decency standards.
For Univision, radio division President Mac Tichenor Jr. commented, "We've sat down with all of our talent and made sure they understand the rules. The talent has been uniformly and universally cooperative and supportive, and I am confident they understand exactly how to abide by the rules."
However there was no blanket condemnation of excesses from Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) executive vice president of programming Bill Tanner who said judgments had to be made case by case.
He said he thought a discussion of shaving female genitalia by former DJ El Chulo, who recently resigned, was genitals inappropriate and "racier than we probably should have on" but declined to condemn the suggestive sexual jokes of El Cucuy, Southern California's most popular morning DJ.
"I think people appreciate that Renan is an earthy humorist," says the veteran radio executive who hired El Cucuy at both La Nueva and La Raza. "He really speaks the way the people speak on the street. "
Previous Coello:
Previous FCC:
Previous Liberman:
Previous SBS:
Previous Tichenor:
Previous Univision:
AZ Central report:
2004-08-25: A British DJ who posted the two Edvard Munch masterpieces 'The Scream' and 'Madonna' that were stolen at the weekend from the Munch Museum in Oslo, for sale on eBay has been banned from the auction site for life.
Robin Banks, who with Melissa Johnson hosts Emap's London Kiss FM afternoon to early evening show, used the name "The Heist Boys" " to list the paintings.
He described them as "Recently acquired original masterpieces by Edvard Munch. 'Madonna', Painted in 1894. Oil on canvas. 90.5 x 70.5 cm. Signed by the artist and Unframed. Slight damage to the side of the canvas and scratching on the rear of the canvas. Also offered the more famous 'Scream'. Again unframed and this has no damage. This was painted in 1893 and is signed by the artist. It measures 91 x 73.5 cm."
"These stunning works of art are only offered as a pair and will not be sold separately. They have been valued at over £10,000,000 (RNW note = USD 18 million)."
"Payment will only be accepted in cash at a rendezvous point that we decide anywhere in Europe."
The listing had been on the site for around nine hours and bidding is reported to have reached GBP 2.5 million (USD 4.5 million) when eBay removed the listing and banned Banks.
Last week Banks had raised GBP 3,200 (USD 5,700) on eBay for a giant paperclip chain made by some of his colleagues at the station.
He commented of the withdrawal of the listing, "I can't believe eBay took these down… why? How the hell can they get in the way of me and my cousin selling these items? Now we'll have to resort to local art fairs where we obviously will not get anywhere near the audience and clientele eBay has to offer not to mention the money!"
Kiss has left a link from "Psst! Wanna buy a painting?" to eBay on its site but this returns the message, "The item you requested (3743898827) is invalid, still pending, or no longer in our database."
Previous Emap:
Kiss web site (Schedule links to Bank's show and then to eBay link):
2004-08-25: Only one complaint against radio is upheld in the latest Complaints Bulletin from the UK regulator Ofcom, which upheld four complaints against TV, two standards and two fairness cases: It also lists two cases in which fines were imposed, one against Chrysalis's Manchester Galaxy 102 (See RNW Jul 30) and the other against a TV "adult" channel over a trailer transmitted un-encoded before its normal air time.
In addition Ofcom considered resolved because of action already taken two radio standards case - against the Sonia Deol Show on the BBC Asian Network over comments made about the founder of the Sikh religion and against BBC Radio 1 for an edition of "The Essential Selection - Pete Tong" in which a track including the word "fuck" was played in error.
The AsianNetwork case was also notable in the latest BBC complaints bulletin having attracted more than a quarter of the complaints made in the period involved (See RNW Jul 30)
Upheld against radio was a fairness complaint against BBC Radio 4 over a report in which a former employee of a company responsible for arranging visas for Saudis in connection with a 1985 defence contract, made allegations in the programme about hospitality for Saudi officials. He also said that doing business with the Saudi Arabian Government required sweeteners for diplomats and staff. The Saudi Arabian Ambassador complained that this was unfair to the Saudi Arabian Government and Embassy because it was not true and the programme did not include any of the statement he had provided.
Ofcom said that it made no judgment about the truth of the reports but it was unfair not to have included any of the Embassy statement in the programme.
In addition to these cases Ofcom listed a further 224 TV complaints against 181 programmes and 18 radio complaints relating to 18 programmes that it did not uphold or considered out of remit.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Ofcom Complaints Bulletin:
2004-08-25: Chattanooga radio veteran David Earl Hughes has died aged 48: He had told his wife he was going for a nap and she later found him dead.
Hughes, who moved to WSM-FM in Nashville last year after 13 years with WUSY FM in Chattanooga had been in radio in Chattanooga for nearly three decades.
At WUSY he won the Country Music Association (CMA) Small Market Personality of the Year award in 1994, and in 1999 won again with partner Bill "Dexter" Poindexter.
WDEF site (Carries tributes from colleagues):
2004-08-24: Atlanta-based Navigauge is promoting its system of radio ratings as a "new standard for broadcast radio measurement" that it says could significantly affect the buying behaviour of advertisers and sales strategy of broadcasters.
The Navigauge system combines in-vehicle radio audience measurement with global positioning technology in what it terms "a dramatic advancement beyond anecdotal data capturing methods started 50 years ago and still in practice today."
Data is collected continuously on what is being listened to and combined with a location and date stamp enabling analysis of exactly what advertisements are listened to and also where the driver is at the time.
Navigauge Co-Founder and President Carl Ceresoli commented, "It's the combination of accurate audience measurement and global positioning that can influence more intelligent programming decisions, increase the return on content investment and accelerate subscriber acquisition."
RNW comment: Somewhat disingenuously if not misleadingly Navigauge fails to mention Arbitron's PPM system or other electronic metering competitors and we just don't see it as a serious competitor for Arbitron albeit it may increase the pressure for development of more comprehensive ratings information.
We would also note that the Radiometer system that is in use by GfK can already deliver information on what is being heard through an audio monitoring system that is tied in to the audio broadcast by stations rather than through embedded special coding as used by Arbitron.
We can't see that the additional GPS information adds greatly to the value of information that would be collected by other electronic metering systems giving details of what is listened to and equally cannot see particular difficulties should the information be wanted in combining some form of GPS log with the date from the Arbitron or GfK systems.
In addition it seems to us that from an advertisers point of view, the important part of the data is how an advertisement ties in with purchasing decisions and location only gives a clue to this: The real information would have to come from credit cards.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous GfK:
2004-08-24:The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has launched a draft of its Broadcasting (Funding) Scheme whose development follows the passage of Ireland's Broadcasting (Funding) Act 2003, in December.
The Act assigns responsibility to the BCI to develop and administer funding scheme(s) to support new television and radio programmes, which will include programming aimed at improving adult literacy and on Irish culture, heritage and experience, programmes.
A deadline of September 27 has been set for comment on the proposals, which will be funded through an annual allocation of 5% of net revenue from television licence fees and will initially run for three years.
Previous BCI:
2004-08-24: Interep has now formally released its Spring 2004 Radio Format Share Analysis that shows record highs for News/Talk listening that pushed News/Talk/Sports to a wider margin of leadership as the most listened to Radio format category at a higher level than in the Spring 2003 Survey that included the war in Iraq.
CHR is the next most listened to format category, followed closely by Urban, which scored sizable gains in the latest report.
Country and New Rock have pulled back falls to the levels of last summer following declines in two books; AOR, Classic Rock and Oldies are stable; and Spanish remains near its all-time high but AC and Smooth Jazz have both slipped a little.
Previous Interep:
2004-08-24: Air America, now owned by Piquant , has added San Diego to the cities in which it is aired: Its new affiliate is Clear Channel's former adult standards KPOP-AM, now KLSD-AM, which is taking "The Al Franken Show" in the mornings and "The Randi Rhodes Show" in early evening as well as The Ed Shultz Show - from Jones Radio Network - in afternoons.
KLSD's other hosts include Stacy Taylor, formerly evening host at Clear Channel's San Diego Conservative talk outlet KOGO-AM, in the breakfast slot, Ray Lucia in early evenings and The Lionel Show in late evenings followed by Air America's "The Majority Report" with Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder (Midnight to 3 a.m.) and then Air America's "Morning Sedition" with Mark Riley and Marc Maron (3 a.m. to 6 a.m.).
Air America programming is already on Clear Channel's KPOJ-AM station in Portland, Oregon, where it has performed strongly (See RNW Aug 9) and although San Diego is perceived as Republican the county only has around 10% more registered Republicans than Democrats and the city itself has slightly more registered Democrats indicating a significant potential for a competitor to conservative talk.
Air America, in addition to channels on Sirius and XM, now claims to be on air at 21 affiliates in the US with a further California affiliate due soon: It is still, however, without a presence in Chicago or Los Angeles.
Previous Air America/Piquant:
Previous Clear Channel:
Lionel Show web site:
Stacy Taylor site (Home page still lists KOGO but web log notes his move to KLSD):
2004-08-23: For our look at last week's print cover of radio, we start with US satellite radio and a column from Gary Krakow of MSNBC who looked at last week's presentations of new receivers from both Sirius and XM.
The two companies, he notes, were promoting models due to hit the US market for Christmas and he made particular note of the Delco SkyFi2 from XM that has the capability to store and replay the last half-an-hour of programming listened to and also feeds its signal to existing equipment via a built-in low power FM transmitter rather than through a wire.
From Sirius's range he highlighted the XACT Stream Jockey, a receiver shaped like a very thick cell phone with a headphone unit and volume controls, a wireless FM modulator, 18 presets and a 6-line screen display: As well as being able to dock this with other equipment Sirius is also to provide for the XACT an optional docking device with a built-in antenna, rechargeable battery and carrying case.
In California, Randy Dotinga in his column in the North County Times considered Internet radio in the first of two articles.
"In a revolution that's spreading beyond the world of technogeeks, disgruntled radio listeners are finally getting an opportunity to hear what they want," he wrote. "If you can imagine a kind of music station, there's probably something close to it a few clicks away on the Internet."
"The delightful obscureness of Internet radio (Celtic music channel, anyone?)," he goes on, "is nothing new. What's changed is that a lot more people are tuning in."
The number he cites come from Arbitron in February - some 11 million a week compared to around 20 times that for terrestrial broadcasts but he notes the growth fuelled by the spread of broadband and also notes the potential for much more choice, quoting Kurt Hanson of Radio and Internet newsletter (RAIN) as saying, "Given the amount of available bandwidth on the FM spectrum, there's only room for 20 or 30 stations in any given city. If a format of music isn't the primary choice of a core percent of the population, it doesn't get one of those spots."
However comments Dotinga, Internet radio isn't perfect and he comments that he "is still trying to find a Bitter Female Rocker station."
Dotinga also notes on an entirely different beat that staff at Golden Oldies KPOP-AM are waiting for the axe to fall and the station to move to an Air America format.
Back now to the Internet but in a roundabout way since the UK Financial Times article we cite below from James Boyle, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School, a board member of Creative Commons and the co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, is focused on issues of technology, patents and copyright.
It was spurred on by Apple's whine about RealNetworks developing a programme that would allow iPod owners to buy songs from Real's Music Store and play them on iPods they owned.
Apple in a statement said, "We are stunned that RealNetworks has adopted the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod, and we are investigating the implications of their actions under the DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] and other laws."
As Boyle comments, "The first lesson of the story is how strangely people use the metaphors of tangible property in new economy disputes. How exactly had Real "broken into" the iPod? It hadn't broken into my iPod, which is after all my iPod. If I want to use Real's service to download music to my own device, where's the breaking and entering? What Real had done was make the iPod "interoperable" with another format. If Boyle's word processing program can convert Microsoft Word files into Boyle's format, allowing Word users to switch programs, am I "breaking into Word"? Well, Microsoft might think so, but most of us do not."
Boyle who develops the theme is quite in our view and he goes on to give further details and to comment," The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and equivalent laws worldwide were supposed to allow copyright owners to protect their content with state-backed digital fences that it would be illegal to cut. They were not supposed to make interoperability illegal, still less to give device manufacturers a monopoly over tied products, but that is exactly how they are being used… innovators actually come to believe that they have the moral right to control the uses of their goods after they are sold. This isn't your iPod, it's Apple's iPod. Yet even if they believe this, we don't have to agree."
RNW comment: Boyle doesn't come up with any suggestions except that such claims should be thrown out: We'd go much further and allow a counter-claim that an organization making such outrageous claims is unfit to hold patents or copyrights. If the counter-claim succeeded, all their "intellectual property" would then pass into the public domain. We don't see that such a law would ever lead to such an action - even the greedy companies wouldn't be so dumb in our view - but it would certainly move the pendulum towards allowing more competition and be to the public benefit.
On the topic of public benefit, Florida's suffering at the hands of Charley yet again proved the value of radio as a medium in times of emergency. With power out completely for many people, the radio in the form of old trannies and car radios yet again came to the rescue.
Writing from Punta Gorda, Washington Post staff writer Manuel Roig-Franzia commented of the broadcasts in the area: "The voices radiate from a tiny radio station -- broadcasting over five frequencies -- planted on the edge of a mangrove bog in the shredded-aluminum core of Hurricane Charley's path. The round-the-clock broadcasts have been like a step back in time, a time when radio was king."
"There is no power in Punta Gorda. No television. Spotty phone service. In other words, radio rules."
…" But the reign of Seaview-104.9 and its sister stations has been all the more remarkable because the radio station itself is a victim. Charley ripped the roof off the tiny wooden station and shattered its windows last week but somehow spared the announcer's booth. Within four hours after the storm passed, the station was back on the air."
"What has ensued is a kind of reciprocal love affair. The tattered station and its cast of haggard announcers -- many of them with ruined homes of their own -- have directed listeners to the nearest MRE station or ice stand. The listeners have given back by showing up with hammers and wood to build a new roof, at a time when roof builders are almost impossible to find."
And for once it was a corporate giant meeting local needs. As Roig-Franzia notes, the station benefited from the resources of owner Clear Channel whose engineers worked with local engineers to keep the station on air.
And finally, still in Florida, a Miami Herald report by Adam Jacobson that may give some clues as to why the state seems to have a high number of pirate operators. He begins by focussing on one station, "Vibez" that he writes, "has all the trappings of a full-service radio station serving South Florida's growing Caribbean community. Between 10 a.m. and noon, Vibez takes calls from listeners on the day's issues facing Jamaican natives. Local advertisers promote their businesses. Traditional reggae music airs throughout the afternoon and in the evening…But there's one slight problem: Vibez isn't supposed to be there. It's one of close to 25 traceable ''pirate'' radio stations wreaking havoc on the FM band from Homestead to Hobe Sound."
"While Florida broadcasters and legislators alike have complained about the pirates over interference concerns," continues Jacobson, "a new problem has emerged for licensed broadcasters in South Florida: The current batch of pirate FMs specifically targets communities traditionally underserved -- or not served at all -- by FCC-licensed radio."
He notes that research for the Herald indicates six pirate stations offering Haitian programming compared to three legal AMs catering to the audience -- WRHB (Radio Carnivale), WLQY, and Beasley Broadcasting-owned WHSR (Radio Haiti Amerique Internationale).
The legal stations struggle for advertising revenue against the pirates and Liana Naranjo, Radio Carnivale's assistant sales manager commented, ''The Haitian population has a lot of small business,'' Naranjo says. ``Their ad budgets are not as large as those of corporations. Corporations will not be attracted to the underground stations. It is mainly the moms-and-pops . . . that we are having a problem with.''
As well as the broadcasters' concerns there are also fears of safety for aircraft and Jacobson says the Federal Communications Commission,