September 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 September comment - Considers in the light of CBS's use of dodgy documents and the response of some US talk hosts, the importance of reputation and reliability for a broadcaster and for US democracy.
RNW August comment - Radio - the emergency 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.
2004-09-30: The long forecast start of major consolidation in the UK radio industry has formally begun with the announcement, subject to regulatory approval, by Capital Radio and GWR of their GBP 711 million (USD 1.28 billion) merger.
The deal creates the UK's largest radio group that will own one national station - Classic FM - plus 55 local analogue stations, and 93 digital stations.
Capital shareholders will control 52% of the merged company and those of GWR - who will get 60.236 shares in new Capital Radio [a proposal is to be made later about a name for the new merged company] for every 100 GWR shares they hold -the remaining 48%.
It will reach approximately 18 million listeners - some 36% of the UK commercial radio audience- each week and based on latest published financial companies for the two companies the merged group will have an annual turnover of some GBP 243 million (436 million), EBITDA of GBP 53 million (USD 95 million) and profit before tax of GBP 40 million (USD 2 million).
DMGT and GWR Directors holding a combined 35% of GWR's share capital have accepted the deal and DMGT says that it is "very supportive of the Merger" and intends to remain a shareholder for the foreseeable future. DMGT is to have a seat on the board of the merged company.
The merger agreement was announced as Capital issued a trading update for the year to the end of September in advance of full results to be issued on Nov 25 that showed revenues in the quarter to June up by 5% on a year before and for the quarter to the end of this month expected to be up by 4%. Capital says that for the full year it anticipates revenues to increase by 4%.
Capital commented that it believed "radio will continue to out-perform the display advertising market" but added that radio advertising "remains short term" and issued a note of caution for the final quarter of this year.
In their statement the companies say the merger has three strategic goals, accelerating growth of commercial radio's share of listening relative to the BBC of its own share of this, accelerating commercial radio's share of advertising revenues and its share of it, and growing non-traditional revenues. They also anticipate savings of at least GBP 7.5 million (USD 13.5 million) a year that they say they can achieve in the second year of the merger. There will be one-off costs of around GBP 11 million (USD 20 million) in connection with the savings that are expected to include the loss of around 100 posts, mostly as a result of merging the sales houses of the two companies: These currently employ some 200 people. Other savings are expected from reduced head office costs and support costs including various IT and administrative costs.
GWR chairman Ralph Bernard said of the merger that it is a "fantastic opportunity to create UK commercial radio's champion of the digital age" and added that the "enlarged group will be in a position to drive the growth of commercial radio's share of listening and total advertising by providing enhanced services to listeners and greater opportunities for advertisers."
Capital chief executive David Mansfield said the merger would create " a vibrant new radio business with a leading position in an attractive and growing sector."
"Capital and GWR share common strategies and values and have complementary brands and geographic transmission areas in both the analogue and digital spectrum," he added.
Some of the new management structure has been announced with Bernard becoming executive chairman and Mansfield chief executive and Wendy Pallot, currently GWR finance director takes the same role at the merged company.
Bernard says his role will, as at GWR, be mainly strategic, leaving Mansfield in charge of day-to-day operations.
Nothing is said about the future of Capital finance director Peter Harris, who joined the company as Head of Business Development ten years ago and already one member of the GWR team has jumped ship: Classic FM managing director Roger Lewis is joining ITV, Wales, as its managing director, his first job in TV.
Lewis began his radio career at Radio Tees in 1981 then after spells at Capital Radio and the BBC worked in the UK recording industry as Managing Director at EMI Records and President of the
Decca Record Company. He has been at Classic FM and on the GWR Board since 1998.
He will not be replaced on the GWR board but Darren Henley, who has been named as station manager of Classic FM will take over his management responsibilities.
Of the two companies Capital was the early player with the second UK commercial station on air: It launched on October 16, 1973, a week after LBC, which launched on October 8. Its stations now include Capital FM, Century FM, Capital Gold and Xfm plus regional stations including BRMB in the West Midlands and Red Dragon in South Wales.
GWR has grown from Swindon-based Wiltshire Radio, founded by Bernard in 1982. It now has 33 local stations plus the national Classic FM station.
Shares in both Capital (down 3.81%) and GWR (down 8.72%) fell on Wednesday following the announcement amidst some profit taking.
Although the merger confirmation has spurred more comment about further consolidation, one of the most likely players, Emap, appears to be biding its time.
It isn't ruling out a bid for Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) in which it holds just under the maximum holding allowed - 30% -before it has to make a full bid and its finance director, Gary Hughes said any move would be at a time of its "own choosing."
Hughes said Emap accepted that "radio consolidation is necessary and inevitable" adding "There are too many radio groups and consolidation would strengthen the sector."
He said that a tie-up with SRH would produce the UK's strongest radio player and noted "An Emap/SRH combination would have a presence in every major conurbation in Britain."
Outgoing Scottish Radio Holdings chief executive Richard Findlay who steps down today also accepted that consolidation was inevitable but not that this would necessarily mean that SRH would be taken over and told the UK Guardian his company's success was based on keeping editorial decision-making devolved.
"If the decision-making process moves outside the circulation area or the locality of the broadcast area, in my view things get very, very dangerous," he said.
He also expressed concern about the effects of any takeover in Scotland, saying, "It's a serious issue in Scottish terms if our plcs and quoted media companies are disappearing. It is both a political and business issue because of the decision-making processes that then move out of Scotland."
Findlay said that to be successful in future radio would have to widen its appeal from music, saying, "It's local news, local information and other things which are peculiar to that locality which I think are going to be key."
Findlay blamed a fall in UK commercial radio's listening share on the former Radio Authority regulator for licensing stations with "music formats that cannibalised existing formats and dwindled audiences" and said, "We need increased listener choice to get increased audiences, our track record as an industry over the last few years is nothing to be proud of."
Previous Bernard:
Previous Capital:
Previous DMG:
Previous Emap:
Previous Findlay:
Previous GWR:
Previous Hughes:
Previous Lewis:
Previous Mansfield:
Previous SRH:
UK Guardian re Findlay:
2004-09-30: Veteran New York broadcaster Scott Muni, "The Professor" of rock, has died aged 74 after a career spanning more than five decades. He had suffered a stroke last year.
It began when he was in the US Marines in the 50' where his duties on Radio Guam included reading "Dear John" letters sent to his fellow servicemen by girl friends who had dumped them.
In his commercial career, before moving to New York he was at WAKR-AM, Akron, Ohio, where he replaced Alan Freed.
In New York he began on Top 40 WMCA-AM after which he moved to WABC-AM in 1960 -- he was one of the station's original "Good Guys"- seeing the height of Beatlemania at the station before moving four years later to WOR-FM and in late 1967 to WNEW-FM where he remained for 31 years.
At WNEW, where he was PD, he was credited with turning the station into on of the first progressive rock stations in the US.
His most recent "gig" was hosting "The Scott Muni Show" at Clear Channel's New York classic rock station WAXQ, which he joined in 1998, and whose web site is featuring a tribute to him together with audio samples of his work.
WAXQ web site:
2004-09-30: More than three quarters of respondents in a recent US survey by Paragon Media Strategies said that it was very or somewhat important for radio stations to have a community presence with a third saying they would like more community involvement from their favourite station: In comparison less than a fifth felt that community presence was not very important or not important at all and only 2% wanted less community involvement whilst 53% thought their favourite station had things about right.
Paragon surveyed 405 correspondents aged from 15 to 64 and split 43% male and 57% female. The responses indicated that community involvement should increase listening with 49% saying they would listen more to stations supporting charities and community causes, 41% saying they would listen more to stations that sponsor local events, 32% saying they would spend more time with stations that discuss local issues, and 25% saying they would listen more to stations whose personalities make public appearances.
Previous Paragon:
Paragon Media Strategies site:
2004-09-30: It may be tempting fate but after months of negotiation the BBC World Service has succeeded in gaining permission to erect a billboard promoting its 89FM frequency in the commercial Al Mansour district of Baghdad.
The corporation says that more than 3.3 million people a week in Iraq now listen to the BBC service in Arabic, many on the seven FMs that have been launched. They are in Al-Amara, Al-Kut 89FM and Baghdad (89FM); Al-Nasirya (100FM); Basra (90FM) Irbil and Mosul (96FM), and Kirkuk (92.6FM).
Previous BBC:
2004-09-29: Emmis Communications has reported revenues for its second quarter to the end of August up 8% on a year earlier to USD 166.8 million with pro-format net revenue up 6% to USD 166.8 million.
Radio net revenues were up 8% and pro-forma radio revenues were up 5% whilst the comparable TV increases were 10% for reported and pr0forma revenues and publishing net revenues were up 2%.
Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said of the performance, "While it is a challenging time in our industries overall, I couldn't be more pleased with the way Emmis has performed in this environment."
"In radio, we outperformed our markets by 4%, while our television group had eight stations in eleven measured markets exceed their market revenue growth. We continue to gain audience share and lead our markets, which positions us for growth as the industry strengthens."
He noted during the company's conference call that Emmis national advertising revenues were down 1% compared to 4% for US radio overall and that its local revenues rise of 4% cam against an industry fall of 1%.
Smulyan was also upbeat about radio's ability to fight off new competitors such as satellite radio and music downloads, saying he saw nothing that would replace American radio.
In other US radio business, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has announced that it has now completed its USD 30 million cash sale, announced last year, of KPTI-FM, San Francisco, to Three Point Media-San Francisco.
SBS chairman, president and CEO Raúl Alarcón said the sale, part of disposals of non-core assets, would with other pending sales allow the company to focus all of its resources "on further improving the operating and financial performance of our top market stations."
Cumulus Media meanwhile has announced that its board has approved a USD 100 million stock repurchase programme; it notes that its existing credit facility limits share repurchases to USD 15 million except by prior approval of its lenders and says it is seeking such authorization but cannot give assurances that it will be forthcoming.
In Canada, Radio Nord Communications Inc., which manages five TV stations and 13 radio stations, has announced the appointment of Raynald Brière as its President and COO. Amongst his past posts Brière was for five years Vice-President of CKAC and Radiomédia.
Previous Alarcón:
Previous Cumulus:
Previous Emmis:
Previous Radio Nord:
Previous SBS:
Previous Smulyan:
2004-09-29: In a trading update before release of its interim results in November, UK Emap has reported overall revenues in the six months to the end of September up 2% (Underlying revenues up 2%) with consumer media up 6% (Underlying revenues up 6%), Communications up 10%(Underlying revenues up 8%), Emap performance, which includes its radio operations, down 3% (Underlying revenues down 3%), and Emap France down 4% (Underlying revenues down 4%).
Emap says indications are that the improved trading conditions in the second quarter are continuing across the autumn, with revenue growth of approximately 10% across both September and October and overall for the full year it "is on target to deliver full year growth in line with its expectations, albeit more weighted towards the second half than previously envisaged.
In Scotland, Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH), rumoured to be a possible target for Emap, which in January bought SMG's 28% of SRH (See RNW Jan 20), has issued an update indicating overall group revenues will be 15% up on a year ago for the year to the end of September with like-for-like revenues at both its radio and press divisions up 9%.
Outgoing SRH chief executive Richard Findlay - he will retire at the end of the financial year and is to be succeeded by David Goode, SRH's current Managing Director, Radio, who takes office on October 1 - has told the UK Guardian that, although the company is well placed to go forward as an independent, it would not oppose a takeover bid if this were "in the best interests of shareholders and staff".
He added that he was not currently studying any offers and commented, "At the end of the day the company has got a great future, there is lots of opportunity for growth and we're perfectly happy on our own for the benefit of our shareholders. The return SRH shareholders have received over the past 10 years has been the best in the industry. We'll do whatever we believe is in their best interests."
Previous Emap:
Previous Findlay:
Previous Goode:
Previous SRH:
UK Guardian report:
2004-09-29: Boston University has announced that in response to concerns expressed by Rhode Island governor Donald L. Carcieri and attorney general Patrick C. Lynch it is to put on hold its planned sale of public radio stations WRNI-AM and WNNI-AM, which are subsidiaries of the university's WBUR-FM in Boston.
A spokesman for the university's interim president, Aram V. Chobanian said the sale would be on hold at least until issues raised by the attorney general had been addressed.
The attorney general had asked the university to turn over financial documents and the governor had urged a delay, saying the sale decision had been made "abruptly and unilaterally."
Although the university maintains its motives in selling the stations were not primarily financial, the Boston Globe reports that it has received documents showing that financial troubles were a major factor.
It quotes one report as saying, "The financial performance of WRNI/WXNI has negatively impacted WBUR's budget for the past six years. Our proposal illustrates how the sale of our investments in Rhode Island will allow WBUR to balance the budget going forward and sustain the station's historic growth levels."
Another comments, "The investment in WRNI has adversely affected the financial performance of WBUR since their purchase in 1998. The station's operations have created a drain on WBUR's resources and have impacted the station's ability to balance its budget… Given the inability of the Rhode Island community to support their public radio station and in view of the considerable financial pressure for WBUR, the decision has been made to implement plans to lease and/or sell WRNI as soon as possible."
Gene Mihaly, president of the Foundation for Ocean State Public Radio, said the WBUR memos "just verify what we've known to be the case. This is about the money, period. This is the multi-pronged effort to dig themselves out of a financial hole."
Mihaly says his group is to examine the possibility of legal action over the potential sale and also consider partnerships to run a public radio station in Rhode Island. He does not contest the figures showing the station spending much more than its income but contends that a "modest public radio station" can be viable in the state and likens the sale to that of a building where one group had bought part of it but the other owner, even if it bought more, is selling the lot.
Henry D. Sharpe, a retired Rhode Island businessman who chaired the capital fund-raising campaign for WRNI, said that until September 17, when it announced the sale plans, WBUR had painted a rosy picture of WRNI.
"The thing that has shocked Rhode Island and yours truly," he said, "was the fact that there was no serious indication to the Rhode Island public that, `Hey, we have a serious problem here,' "
There are also concerns about the sale of a non-commercial radio station in California where Southern Oregon University's Jefferson Public Radio (JPR) Foundation, which last week finalized its purchase of KPZN-FM, has changed the station's programming from BBC World Service to an alternating combination of its Rhythm & News Service and its News & Information Service.
JPR says it is to continue alternating the services until October 6 and will then hold a public meeting in Bayside to find out which service listeners prefer.
JPR says that when it began discussions to purchase KZPN from Humboldt Educational Enhancement Radio Service, Inc., it was responding to requests for its Rhythm & News Service, which is comprised of a mix of non-classical music including singer-songwriters, world music, jazz, folk, blues and new acoustic music combined with NPR news. Subsequently, it says, it received requests for more news and public affairs, much of which is in the News & Information Service that is comprised of news and public affairs programming, most of which is from non-NPR sources, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Public Radio International (PRI).
Supporters of the previous output have formed Friends of the BBC that has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stop the transfer of the station for which JPR paid USD 130,000 but JPR says that by not taking action the FCC effectively approved the change.
Previous WBUR:
Boston Globe report:
Jefferson Public Radio news release re KPZN:
2004-09-29: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reduced from USD 20,000 to USD 16,000 penalties it had imposed on by Radio X Broadcasting Corporation, licensee of Station WXLX-FM, Lajas, Puerto Rico, and owner of an antenna structure number at Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico for failure to maintain the antenna to ensure good visibility and failure to maintain the station's public inspection file at the main studio.
Radio X had admitted the offences but sought a reduction on the basis of prompt remedial action and an inability to pay.
It also sought a reduction on the basis of a previous record of compliances and, although the other arguments were rejected, the penalty was cut by USD 4,000 on this basis.
The FCC has also announced that it is to delay enforcement of its recently adopted "Red Light Rule" from October 1 to November 1. The rule is being introduced to improve debt collection and provided that if entities or individuals seeking benefits such as licences are found to have debts to the FCC they will be given 30 days to pay up or come to a satisfactory arrangement: If they fail to do so their benefit will be denied.
The FCC says it has allowed the delay following introduction of a new Red Light Display (RLD) System that after registration will allow checks online as to if there are any such debts: It says that individuals or organizations should make checks and resolve any outstanding issues before November 1.
Previous FCC:
FCC RLD site:
2004-09-28: UK official radio ratings organization RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) has issued details of plans that could lead to it switching to an audio metering system within three years.
The plan, which anticipates awarding a new contract for measurement as early as September next year, has been agreed by the RAJAR board which includes representatives from the BBC, commercial radio and the advertising industry.
RAJAR has been repeatedly criticized by Wireless Group chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie over its continued use of a diary system that he claims under-records his group's listening; MacKenzie, who is suing RAJAR for damage that he says has been caused to his company, has already commissioned unofficial ratings from GfK Media using its RadioControl wristwatch system.
RAJAR has responded by pointing to differences in what is measured and its extensive tests to ensure that it gets right any move to electronic metering .
Commenting on RAJAR's latest announcement, its managing director Sally de la Bedoyere said its "roadmap to enhanced radio audience measurement" was "ambitious, but certainly achievable."
"It is the final stage of a journey RAJAR began in 2001 and it leads to a seismic change in radio audience measurement, namely the possible move to electronic measurement, she said.
We are optimistic that, by 2007, we will be heralding the introduction of an audio-meter based methodology, which measures analogue, digital, digital TV and Internet listening and we shall continue to work vigorously in the pursuit of this goal."
"RAJAR is tasked by its subscribers to select the very best methodology for the radio industry, nothing less is acceptable. This is an industry-backed plan and will mean radio groups and their commercial partners can be assured RAJAR will continue to deliver thoroughly tested and accurate "gold-standard" data."
Under the plan, RAJAR expects to report at the end of October or in early November on the findings of its industry-wide consultation that began in May and then conduct tests of new versions of the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) and the GfK Radiocontrol watch as well as of a new meter, the Eurisko Electronic Media Monitor (EMM) developed in Italy.
Initial tests will run to December and further tests are planned from January to March next year with a tendering process to take place between April and September: RAJAR says that until it has its consultation, and is satisfied with the results of the new meter tests," it is unclear what degree of electronic methodology might be employed."
A new contract is then expected to be awarded in September to be followed from April 2006 with a series of parallel runs of the diary system and selected audiometer after which, if they prove satisfactory, the new system will go live in early 2007.
Previous de la Bedoyere:
Previous RAJAR:
2004-09-28: Initial findings just released from Arbitron's RADAR 82 (Radio's All Dimension Audience Research) report show US radio continuing to attract more listeners amongst the more highly paid and educated with 95% of those 18 and over in households with annual incomes above USD 75,000 and 95% of college graduates listening in a typical week compared to only 92% of those who did not go to college.
82% of the 18 plus audience listened in their cars and 25% at work with morning and afternoon drive still the time at which the highest percentage listened - 78% of the 12 plus audience for both times.
In demographic terms, listening rose from 93% of the 12-17 group to 94% of the 18-24 group, then reached a plateau of 96% amongst those aged 25-34,35-44, and 45-49, before dropping back a percentage amongst those 50-54, yet another per cent to 94% amongst those 55-64, and then dropping to 87% amongst those 65 plus.
The full survey is released next week.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous RADAR (RADAR 81):
2004-09-28: UK Wireless Group chairman and chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie had another go at the BBC on Monday in an article in the UK Independent .
He set his tone by commencing, "The BBC may be in the process of being defeated creatively. It may be going backwards in terms of technology. But there is an area of life in which it is undisputed leader. In lying. In dissembling. In twisting."
His ire was aroused by BBC actions against his interests, particularly in terms of sports rights, specifically those to football. After a personal attack on BBC Radio Five Live Controller Bob Shennan - "an amiable cove, if not the sharpest tack in the carpet"- he says of sports that the BBC had offered to share "From my memory, they were sports such as the tortoise-throwing championship, tossing the Camembert, and smacking the radish, i.e., the BBC will share any sport that has no audience."
Regarding soccer, he comments on the Corporation's approach: ". Five Live, it says, has kept exclusivity because of the 'importance of the contract'. Important? In what way? Culturally? No. Intellectually? No. I think that what the Five Live guys actually mean is that the matches bring in massive audiences and they would rather cut off their dicks than share it."
He then argues that the BBC has overpaid massively, noting that his talkSPORT station offered GBP 2.6 million and the BBC, which had hired a consultant, GBP 39 million. This massive difference he says is because at the BBC "great crime is not to win the prize."
He then goes on to his complaint to the EU competition authorities, writing, "this time, the BBC and Premier League have incurred the wrath of Brussels where talkSPORT has complained to the European Commission regulators about the corporation's activities."
The nub of his argument is that there are six games that kick off at the same time on Saturday afternoon, meaning that Five Live by broadcasting only one - it puts the others on the Internet- is "hoarding the other five."
He then goes on to say that if the Football League were to offer second pick rights to his company, the BBC would threaten to pay much less and adds that it is illegal to keep products off the market to force up the price and that online streaming is not a substitute for analogue broadcasts
RNW comment: Neglecting MacKenzie's bilious approach - no mean feat we'd suggest for anyone dealing with him and probably very difficult for an employee - we think he has a degree of justification in his argument but it's one that could have been levelled equally against the activities of his former employer and current shareholder Rupert Murdoch when Sky TV was building up its empire on the back of sports contracts, pushing up the prices massively.
We would also note that MacKenzie has a competitive nature and are sure that he'd play the game even harder than the BBC if the scales were reversed.
In the end though, we don't see that the overall balance of things would be worse were a ruling to force sporting authorities to open up their offerings - the International Olympics Committee would seem ripe for this - and rights prices were to fall.
The argument here though, is with the sporting authorities, not the purchasing broadcasters and we note that MacKenzie's bile is directed at the BBC. We wonder whether this might be because despite its faults BBC radio is a wondrous resource whilst in comparison in our view everything Mackenzie has been associated with, however brilliantly handled, is by comparison tat.
To have one damaged would be a loss to the world, to lose the whole MacKenzie oeuvre a so what?
Previous BBC:
Previous MacKenzie:
Previous Shennan:
Previous Wireless Group:
UK Independent - MacKenzie:
2004-09-28: Infinity's Minneapolis "Good Neighbour" WCCO-AM has begun a week of celebrations of its 80th anniversary that actually falls on Saturday (October 2) starting with a day of broadcasts yesterday of Great Moments in WCCO Radio Sports.
This is being followed by similar broadcasts today of Great Moments in Entertainment with noted celebrities on WCCO Radio, then on Wednesday with The Greatest WCCO Radio News Stories, Thursday with The rest…bloopers and unforgettable broadcast moments and classic features as heard and created on WCCO Radio and Friday with what the station terms "WCCO's All Time Superstar Talent Line-up featuring the Greats who helped build the legendary heritage along with the talent who continues the tradition."
On Saturday, the actual anniversary day, it will wrap up events at the Minneapolis Metrodome; it has also produced a coffee table book, complete with six CDs of its historic recordings and a video DVD documentary that it is selling for USD 74.95
The station is named after the Washburn Crosby Company, the flour miller that later became General Mills and that in 1924 bought predecessor station WGAM, which had launched on Labor Day 1922 but run into financial problems and ceased broadcasting earlier in the year. As WCCO, it began broadcasts on 710 and in 1928 moved to 810.
It was designated as a clear-channel station in 1929 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its current 830 AM frequency if conditions are good at night reaches around 20 states and large parts of Canada.
The station dominated the market and sports cover in the region until the 1990's but was then toppled from its top station spot by classic-rock rivals. It also suffered from the loss of long-time hosts such as Steve Cannon, who after starting an acting career moved to radio in Iowa and eventually joined WCCO in 1971. "The Cannon Mess" was a hit for 26 years for the station, a record in major-market radio.
Cannon will be back on the station's airwaves on Friday as will other 830-AM personalities including Charlie Boone, Roger Erickson, and Ruth Koscielak, fired by the station in 1998 after 17 years but now hosting her own syndicated show that is on WCC0 sister station KSNB-AM;
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
WCCO web site:
2004-09-28: Shares in UK GWR rose on Monday but those of Capital Radio fell back slightly amid rumours that DMGT, which holds just under 30% of GWR, might be successfully holding out for a better deal in the proposed nil-premium merger of the two companies.
GWR shares had fallen back around 9% on Friday on fears that the deal might collapse but regained some of the loss on Monday with a 3.85% rise whilst Capital shares, which also fell on Friday, lost another 0.11%.
Expectations are now that the merger deal will be confirmed on Wednesday when Capital is due to issue a trading update.
Previous Capital:
Previous DMG:
Previous GWR:
2004-09-27: This week to start our look at print comment on radio, we start with two items relating to ethical issues, one from National Public Radio ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin and the other from North County Times columnist Randy Dotinga.
Dvorkin takes up the question of NPR cover of US electioneering, starting off with a call for more reporting about what is actually happening and what policies are on issues such as the economy, Iraq, the environment and less on campaign tactics and polls about what one listener termed "how well the spin doctors are accomplishing their games of illusion."
Dvorkin also takes up the issue of the need to avoid perceptions of bias pegged to a symposium organized by "Best Practices in Journalism." In particular he notes that most of those present agreed that "public broadcasting journalists - and the organizations that employ them -- must avoid both the appearance and the reality of involvement in partisan politics" and comments, in relation to a journalist with strong political commitments, "Americans have a First Amendment right to express opinions; they do not have a First Amendment right to work for a public broadcaster."
Dvorkin, in our view a skilled fence-sitter, does not commit himself on this nor on the issue of the involvement in politics of non-news employees or of the spouses or partners of journalists [RNW comment: For the record, our view would be that a publicly-funded broadcaster can reasonably require senor non-news staff to choose between the broadcaster and public involvement with politics or a political party but that it would be counter-productive were it to so do for junior non-managerial non-news employees and is absolutely nothing to do with the broadcaster what involvement there is by a non-employee such as a spouse, partner, sibling, parent or child.]
Dotinga's column is about a totally different ethical issue and is pegged to responses to an earlier column that led the morning hosts of "Dave, Shelly & Chainsaw" on Clear Channel's KGB-FM and A.J. Machado on Channel 933 to take him "to the woodshed for criticizing their decision to allow a suicidal man to speak on the airwaves."
In the incident in question a man sounding as he might be near suicide called Channel 933 host Machado's studio and after Machado and KGB morning co-host Dave Rickards had spoken to him, Rickards put the man on air.
The hosts defended putting the caller on air and pointed out that behind the scenes they had called police and, reports Dotinga, Rickards commented to listeners during the following morning's show he "resented my criticism that the stations didn't act quickly enough to get Greg access to a professional. (Greg spoke to a therapist more than 20 minutes into the on-air call, which itself came after the 45-minute private call.)"
Dotinga holds to his contention that as a reader pointed out, there was a simple answer - to transfer the call to a suicide hotline - and suggests that it was not necessary to put the call on air although he quotes Dr. Jerome Motto, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at UC San Francisco who has studied Golden Gate Bridge suicides as expressing support foe the hosts and saying, "When you're faced with a unique situation, what can you do, what can anybody do? You use your judgment and let intuition be your guide."
On the other side of the argument, Dr. Herbert Hendin, a psychiatrist and medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, commented critically, " They were exploiting the situation in order to attract their audience. Talking to him over the phone was appropriate. They just didn't need to bring him on the air."
Hendin advises broadcasters against interviewing even formerly suicidal people about their experiences, saying there was a danger of attracting "people who think their suicidal behaviour is a way to get noticed," something he felt sends "exactly the wrong kind of message."
On the other hand David Phillips, a UC San Diego sociologist who has studied the deadly after-effects of highly publicized suicides suggested it was possible the call could have actually encouraged troubled people to seek help and added, "In the absence of studies, you don't know whether the effect of this was positive, negative or neutral."
From ethics, we move on to an appreciation of radio the medium that we found in an interview with Citadel COO Judy Ellis we spotted in Musicbiz.
Asked about obstacles to radio growth such as ad clutter, competitors such as satellite radio and iPods, and lack of star air talent she commented that the same question had been asked "every five years for the last 50 years" and added "Radio reaches 95% of the population every single week. That's more than any other medium, and that number hasn't changed. I don't think any of the new threats will change that."
"People make the assumption that radio's broadcasting of music is the key to its success, and it will hurt radio if more people start listening to music from other sources. But music isn't the only reason people listen to radio. Besides music, there's talk, sports...a multitude of reasons...but the primary reason is our local appeal. None of these threats can replace what radio provides to the local community, how immediate we are, and the personal connection we have with our listeners."
Ellis was blunt concerning "indecency" on the air, saying, "I don't think this should be a question of admitting blame or pushing the envelope. The term, "pushing the envelope," assumes that whoever does it is doing something bad. I happen to think our First Amendment rights are vital to freedom and everything we stand for, because the alternative is pretty scary. It's important to be persistent and fight for free speech. As I said previously, if you are not confronted from time to time with things that offend you, you're probably not living in a free society. Then, of course, there's always the issue of "If you don't like it, don't listen to it."
…"I want to put on entertainers who are right for their market, period. This shouldn't even be a political issue. I don't think that we should be rewriting the constitution of the United States of America because of what you heard on a radio show...or what just one segment of society doesn't want to hear. I believe people should have a right to free speech. I believe people should be able to listen to what they want to listen to, and I believe all radios should have buttons or dials on them."
And now, as Monty Python had it, for something completely different: In this case someone appreciating the sound of silence.
It came in the UK Times where we appreciated the start of a review of radio cover of Ryder Cup Golf from Giles Smith.
He began," Towards the end of the second day, John Inverdale, on Radio 5 Live, gave us a few seconds of silence - something for supporters of the Europe golf team and John Cage fans to savour with equal enthusiasm, which probably doesn't happen all that often. This dead air, Inverdale explained, was the sound of unerring European matchplay anaesthetizing an American gallery's tonsils. It had all gone quiet over there.
How quiet? Well, you could have heard a tin pop, had alcohol not been banned from the Oakland Hills course. It was one of those times, probably not much dwelt upon in the radio broadcasting manuals, when the best policy was to say nothing and to let that nothing do all the saying. And Inverdale was not only sharp enough to seize it, he was also well-mannered enough to do so without any trace of cheap gloating or relish in an opponent's misfortune."
After further details of the commentary - wroth a read - Smith commented on a negative in the commentary when Inverdale ", distracted by a minor crisis of faith in his medium, add: 'I hope the TV cameras have caught that.'"
"This brought a swift rebuttal from Inverdale's colleague, Iain Carter, who said: 'On behalf of the Radio 5 Live listeners, I don't care whether the TV cameras got it.' But too late. Even in a moment of triumph for the spoken word, radio's perpetual inferiority complex had raised its head."
Which of course is as good a cue as any for some offerings on radio that have no reason to feel inferior to TV.
First off, we'd note that the BBC has now started transmitting the new series of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Second episode is due tomorrow at 17:30 GMT but the first is still on the Radio 4 web site for the moment as are comments from a number of fans of the original series including members of the Monty Python team). This is one series where in our view, for all the money that will be spent on it, the film is going to have a hard job to match the book and radio, never mind TV attempts.
In like vein, we'd commend the Radio 3 drama on Sunday, Hippomania by Snoo Wilson. To quote the channel's description, "Snoo Wilson's astonishing fantasia, which springs from real events in [Poet John] Betjeman's life, conjures up Nazis, assassins and fairies as the poet wanders blithely through seats of power, pubs and a cemetery." It does and the power of imagination would in our view be damaged by turning it into an unsatisfying visual, however good the special effects. The play is on the Radio 3 web site
So also is the latest programme in the four-part Nile Lands series in the Sunday Feature spot where we will digress to include an excerpt from Paul Donovan's Radio Waves column in the UK Sunday Times. In comment on Radio 3 in general he included the following about part of its non-classical music output: The shining example at present is the four-part Sunday feature Nile Lands, which tonight [September 26] begins its second half with Zeinab Badawi reaching Khartoum."
" Curious and good-humoured, she observes boat-building techniques un-changed since Herodotus' time. She listens to songs sung for forgiveness by mothers whose babies accidentally pee in the Nile and to priests who still say 'smite'. Anybody who is interested in the world's longest river, Africa's ancient ways or the impact of pink strangers from Victorian Britain should not miss this series."
"It is bliss to hear any programme made in Ethiopia, Uganda or Sudan that is not primarily about Aids and famine. How would we feel if African broadcasters came here and reported only on rocketing teenage pregnancies, drunkenness and serial killers?"
The fourth and final episode is next Sunday at 20:30 GMT, after a two-hour production of Tennessee Williams's Vieux Carre in the Drama on 3 slot.
Changing channels Puttin' On the Style on BBC Radio 2 (Tuesday, 19:30 GMT) this week features Ingrid Bergman in the fourth of a five-part series - last week's show on Cary Grant is still available until then. In the case of these shows, the visuals of TV might add but they would also change and the radio experience remains worthwhile.
Moving back to Radio 4, an unexpected gem to us last week was Dick Vosburgh's chat with Peg Lynch in The Woman Who Invented Sitcom, still available until tomorrow morning on the web site.
We suspect the same could be true tonight at 19:30 GMT the channel has Fifteen Inches per Second, the story of the invention of magnetic tape, an invention that changed the world of recorded sound.
Also from Radio 4, tomorrow (19:00 GMT with a repeat on Sunday) we'd suggest Gerrymandering, which looks at the practice of redrawing electoral districts for political advantage and how it has expanded in the United States over the past few years and asks what this means for democracy? [RNW comment: We rather suspect in view of the way it has solidified the benefits of incumbency and locked areas into becoming fiefdom's one on party or another, we'd suggest it isn't that far from meaning that for many people US democracy is a sham and the system is more like an oligarchy, a term rightly used as a criticism of the former Soviet Union].
And sticking with the UK and Radio 4, we end by noting that the News Quiz returns next Friday (17:30 GMT with a Saturday repeat): It's a programme that has always been well worth a listen in the past.
Previous Columnists:
Previous Donovan:
Previous Dotinga:
Previous Dvorkin:
MusicBiz - Judy Ellis interview:
NPR - Dvorkin:
UK Sunday Times - Donovan:
UK Times - Smith:
2004-09-27: Pressure is building on Boston University over its proposed sale of Rhode Island public station WRNI-AM, a subsidiary to its Boston WBUR-FM station: The university had said the sale was not being proposed for financial reasons but according to the Providence Journal WRNI's figures were in the red by USD 9.4 million in its first five years.
Members of the Foundation for Ocean State Public Radio, the non-profit foundation that helped to bring the public station to Rhode Island, met last week to consider the best strategy to keep a public radio station in the state: It may consider legal action and Eugene Mihaly, president of the foundation, said the group is determined not to lose WRNI.
Many contributors, who had helped raise funds to bring WRNI into existence, wish they had insisted on more legal control over the station's licenses and attorney Don E. Wineberg, a member of the foundation board, told the Journal, "In retrospect, we should have put in some legal protection for the money. Our goal now is to control the license so we are never in this position again."
In a report on the station's finances taken from federal tax returns filed by the WRNI Foundation, the paper say that in its first fiscal year it raised USD909, 000 and spent USD 1.9 million; in the second year funds reached USD 1.1 million but spending was USD 2.8 million; in the third year it only raised USD 928,000 but spent USD 3.3 million; in the fourth year it raised USD 963,000 and spent USD 3.1 million and in its fifth year - the 2003 fiscal year - it raised only USD 743,000 but spend 2.9 million.
The Rhode Island row has also led to criticism of the university in Boston where an article in the Boston Phoenix comments… "it's time - indeed, it's long past time - to demand some accountability on the part of WBUR Radio, the BU-licensed public-broadcasting giant whose excellence is matched only by the mystery surrounding its operations and the imperious, fear-inspiring style of its general manager, Jane Christo."
The Phoenix notes that only a month ago " then-WBUR spokeswoman Mary Stohn announced that WRNI's four-person news operation would be cut in half" and suggests this meant the final decision to sell was made very quickly but then adds that WBUR's current spokesman Will Keyser is denying the sale decision was anything to do with money.
"The financial implications of the sale are not driving the decision in any way," Keyser says. "I know there are concerns about the process, and those that feel that the process is not fair, but the reality is that the community will be given [a chance] through this process to make a serious and viable offer for the station, if that's what they would like to do."
In comments that bear similarity to some of those made about the financial state of American University's WAMU-FM in Washington, DC (See RNW Nov 1, 2003) the article says questions need to be answered about WBUR under Christo's leadership - "About the station's finances. About her management style. And about why, at a public station that relies so heavily on the goodwill of its listeners and the community, so little is known about its internal operations."
The report contrasts information readily available about the finances of public broadcaster WGBH in Boston and that which is published about WBUR and notes that WBUR is too small an operation to show up anywhere in Boston University's publicly filed information.
Keyser denies that the University is secretive about WBUR's finances and said that the station's current annual budget is around USD 20 million and adds that the station is in the process of preparing a new annual report but WBUR has to stay in line with University policy to disclose only information required by law.
The paper says that a consensus amongst current and former WBUR employees contacted, none of whom would go on the record, was that the station's finances are a mystery to it staff. It also notes that the collapse of the dot.com boom hit WBUR hard and that it also lost around USD 1-2 million because of a boycott organized by CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) that accused it of an anti-Israel bias in its reporting [RNW note - CAMERA is certainly a pro-Israeli organisation and its devotion to accuracy is in our view seriously biased despite its high-falutin title].
The paper also reports that there is no question but that money is an issue for WBUR and that there are reliable accounts of slowness in paying freelance contributors and others who provide services to the station: Keyser says that the slow payments are the result of "some internal accounting challenges with respect to paying independents for work that they have done" - a problem the station is seeking to rectify - and are "not reflective of the financial or administrative health of WBUR."
Previous Christo:
Previous WAMU:
Previous WBUR:
Boston Phoenix report:
Providence Journal report:
2004-09-27: UTV (Ulster TV) is in talks to buy Drogheda-based radio station LMFM, which broadcasts to Louth, Meath and parts of Fingal in north Dublin, and is understood to have bid close to the Euros 10 million (USD 12 million) asking price according to the UK Sunday Times.
The paper notes however that Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) rules that restrict a company to owning 15% of the country's 28 commercial licences - the limit can be increased up to 25% in some circumstances -could rule out the deal.
UTV already owns four stations, two in Cork and one each in Limerick and Dublin meaning that an additional station would take its licence share from just above 14% to nearly 18% but the paper says UTV expects to get clearance since it has no other media interests in the Drogheda area.
It adds that UTV is being given preference to a rival bid from Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH), which owns Today FM and FM104, and also the Dunfermline Press newspaper group that owns the Meath Chronicle and Anglo-Celt, because the UTV bid is more likely to gain clearance from the BCI and Ireland's Competition Authority.
In the UK, the Observer says that DMGT wants a seat on the broad of a merged GWR/Capital radio as a condition for supporting the proposed nil-premium merger between the two companies who confirmed their talks about the deal last week (See RNW Sep 21): DMGT holds a 29.9% shareholding in GWR and its finance director Peter Williams is on GWR's board.
The paper notes that both companies are expected to issue trading updates this week and that a formal announcement of the tie-up is expected to be issued with one of these if there are no hold-ups.
The Observer also says that Fidelity, the US fund manager, has indicated that for it to support the merger there will have to be a clear delineation of the roles of the chairman and chief executive of the combined company if they are to support the merger under which Capital chief executive David Mansfield would become chief executive of the merged company and GWR executive chairman Ralph Bernard would retain the same position with the new one.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that Roger Parry, chief executive of Clear Channel's international arm, has confirmed that at some stage his company could be interested in UK radio acquisitions but not yet.
He confirmed his support for radio consolidation in an interview with the paper, said Clear Channel was "obviously a potential buyer of radio assets in the UK" but then also confirmed previous comments in which he had said UK radio assets were currently over-priced.
He also said there would be no hostile bid for the merged company, saying, "As an absolute corporate philosophy, we don't like hostile bids for media properties."
"I think to buy a business that has creative staff on a hostile basis is almost always the road to ruin because you don't have the support of the management. At the moment I assume that both Capital and GWR are very focused on making their marriage work, so they wouldn't be looking for a third-party purchaser, and there's absolutely no way we would want to mess up the nuptials by trying to make an unwanted bid for either of them."
On the potential success of the merger, he said it would be "Neutral or good. It's certainly not bad." Why potentially good? "Because a consolidated radio industry may throw up opportunities to make investments later on - may do - and it's often easier to deal with a small number of big players than a large number of small players."
Parry also confirmed his earlier view that the UK would eventually end up with three large radio groups, saying, "One of them will be based around Capital and it now looks like GWR. One of them will be based round what is currently Emap, and one of them will by based around what is currently Chrysalis. And those three big broadcasters will own many, many dozens of digital channels both locally, regionally and nationally."
Asked whether Clear Channel could take over one of them in the longer term he commented, "It's a possibility. It's a hypothetical question. It depends on valuations."
"It would be no surprise to me if one of my successors would be managing a large radio business alongside the existing large entertainment and outdoor advertising businesses [in the UK] because the model does work for us in America."
Previous BCI:
Previous Bernard:
Previous Capital:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous DMG:
Previous Emap:
Previous GWR:
Previous Mansfield:
Previous SRH:
Previous Parry:
Previous UTV:
UK Observer report:
UK Sunday Telegraph report:
UK Sunday Times report:
2004-09-27: Piquant-owned Air America radio continues its growth this week with the addition of yet another Clear Channel outlet, this time in San Francisco: Last week it began airing in Phoenix on KXXT-AM, formerly conservative news-talk outlet KXEM-AM, NewsTalk 1010, home of such illiberal hosts as Michael Savage.
The Phoenix change according to station manager Bob Christy as reported in the Arizona Republic had nothing to do with ideology and more to do with the marker.
"This market is loaded with conservative talkers. How many conservative talkers can one market support? I took myself out of the talk arena and thought about it like this: If this were music and there were five country stations, would I continue to be a country station?" he commented.
In San Francisco, Air America tomorrow bumps the likes of Frank Sinatra from Clear Channel's American standards KABL-AM, which becomes KQKE, "the Quake" whilst KABL moves to FM -on KFJO-FM, Walnut Creek, currently simulcasting San Jose rock station KSJO-FM. Clear Channel hopes to turn the move into part of a broader network.
Again the decision was described as market, not politically oriented: KABL General Manager Joe Cunningham told the San Francisco Chronicle, "There's a general misconception that Clear Channel as a company must be aligned one way or another. These are just business decisions of where we can find the best programming. The Bay Area is pretty hungry for it."
As with some of its other Air America outlets, Clear Channel's offerings will also include Jones Radio Networks' syndicated host Ed Schultz from North Dakota.
Air America has also been given a stay of execution in Portland, Maine, where Nassau Broadcasting is switching WLVP-AM to ESPN programming.
It had announced that it would switch on October 4 but according to the Portland Press Herald received protest calls and e-mails that led it to postpone the switch until after the Presidential election.
The station says that this move is also being made for business reasons following analysis of advertising sales for local sports programming that it also ran but it decided that taking a political talk network off the air in Portland just before a national election was not the right thing to do.
Air America's site currently proclaims itself as having 32 affiliates, listing Rochester, New York, and Phoenix as the latest to be welcomed.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Nassau Broadcasting:
Previous Piquant/Air America:
Previous Schultz:
Arizona Republic report:
Portland Press-Herald report:
San Francisco Chronicle report:
2004-09-26: The major news from the regulators this week was the imposition, after many weeks of rumours, of a USD 550,000 penalty on Viacom for the Super Bowl half time show breast baring incident, a penalty that the FCC justified in part because of the past indecency record of Infinity Broadcasting.
Elsewhere, apart from Ireland, which had nothing on the radio front, there was a steady level of activity.
In Australia, the activity was mainly in community radio: Radio decisions from the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) included in the following (in order of state):
New South Wales:
*Extension of the service area of the Deepwater and Districts Community FM Radio (DCFM) service to include Glen Innes. The ABA had invited applications for a Glenn Innes licence in March this year and DFFM was the only applicant and the ABA decided it would be more appropriate to merge the licence areas of the two services.
*Decision to make additional FM capacity available for an additional community radio service in Sanctuary Point in the Nora area: The ABA is also proposing to make capacity available at St Georges Basin and Kangaroo Valley to for commercial service 2ST, Nowra, so as to rectify reception deficiencies.
The ABA also notes that it has received an inquiry from Multiform Open Broadcasting Inc. expressing interest in an additional community radio service in the Kiama region: It has suggested that Multiform may apply for a temporary community licence on the frequency reserved for a planned third Wollongong/Nowra community service and until then should consider applying for a temporary community licence using the frequency.
Northern Territory:
*Advertising a new community radio broadcasting licence for Alice Springs with a translator service for Tennant Creek.
Queensland:
*Advertising a new community radio broadcasting licence for the Charleville area.
*Decision to make FM capacity available to Cairns commercial radio services 4CCA at Redlynch Valley and 4HOT at Little Mulgrave to help them resolve reception deficiencies and is to make FM channel capacity available to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Cairns and Cairns North for future national radio services.
*Decision to make FM channel capacity available for a new community radio service in Cairns and a new high power open narrowcasting radio service in Port Douglas for which applications will be invited in the near future.
In addition the ABA has proposed to formalize changes to technical specifications to allow commercial station 4BC-AM in Brisbane to continue to operate on a day and lower power night time basis following some three years of tests during which a site move had led to some reception problems.
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has only been involved in a small number of radio related actions including, in order of province:
British Columbia:
Approval of contour change for CKGF-3-FM Rock Creek following a transmitter relocation and decrease of the antenna height and power - from 132 watts to 50 watts.
Approval of new 17 watts English-language Pop-Rock and Country music FM in Tofino.
The CRTC has also extended until October 5 the deadline for applications for a licence to provide commercial ethnic service to Vancouver.
Quebec:
Issuance of public notice, with an intervention deadline of October 28, relating to the following applications:
Frequency change for VF8007 Acton Vale necessitated by approval of FM transmitter in Sherbrook for CBM-FM, Montréal, using its original frequency.
Application by CKRB-FM Saint-Georges-de-Beauce to change frequency and increase power from 2,175 to 17,000 watts. [This and the following two applications are mutually exclusive.]
Application by CKYQ-FM, Plessisville, Quebec, to add an FM transmitter at Victoriaville.
Application by CIRA-FM, Montréal, to change frequency so as to enhance its signal.
In the UK, Ofcom has received 12 applications for the new Edinburgh FM on offer and four for a new Blackburn FM, with a preponderance of the applications targeted towards an older demographic (See RNW Sep 25).
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was back in the headlines over an indecency ruling, this time its USD 550,000 fine on Viacom. It was also involved in a number of other enforcement actions including on the same day penalties of USD 10,800 and USD 18,000 (See RNW Sep 23).
Previous ABA:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Ofcom:
ABA web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2004-09-26: According to a report in the UK Guardian, Britain's Channel 4 TV has been considering a bid to take control of BBC Radio 1 that would give it a share of the licence fee that currently goes to the BBC but has cooled on the idea as figures indicate it would not be as lucrative as it had at first thought.
The TV channel has expressed interest in radio and recently agreed a development deal with UBC Media amid rumours that it was interested in turning UBC's Oneword speech channel into a competitor to the BBC's Radio 4 speech channel (See RNW Aug 2). It also recently tied up with UBC in a deal to exploit the Popworld brand (See RNW Sep 14).
The Guardian report says Channel 4 considered the BBC Radio 1 idea as part of deliberations over its financial future and that it does not see its current TV business as viable in the long term.
The Radio 1 idea was submitted along with a number of other options to the media regulator, Ofcom, which is compiling a report on the future of public service broadcasting in Britain reports the paper, adding that if Channel 4 were to run Radio 1, it would not take advertisements, which would be opposed by the under-pressure commercial radio sector, but could be free to exploit lucrative sponsorship deals.
The radio channel could be moved away from the BBC under the forthcoming act of parliament that will renew the BBC's royal charter but the corporation is likely to strongly oppose the idea since Radio 1 is its main connection with younger audiences in the UK.
Previous BBC:
Previous UBC:
UK Guardian report:
2004-09-26: The operators of three St Louis sports radio stations have agreed to pay USD 158,000 to settle charges that they aided in illegal gambling activities according to the St Louis Business Journal.
It reports U.S. Attorney James Martin as saying that Missouri Sports Radio, Simulcast and All Sports Radio, which operated KFNS-AM, KFNS-FM and KRFT-AM have forfeited proceeds from the promotions of illegal gambling activities and also agreed to provide evidence in ongoing related investigations.
Martin said the three companies knowingly received thousands of dollars in funds derived from illegal offshore and online gambling activities from mid-2000 through September 2003.
KFNS 590 AM, The Fan, and KRFT 1190 AM, The Zone, are now owned by Big League Broadcasting of Atlanta, which bought them earlier this year for USD11.5 million.
St Louis Business Journal report:
2004-09-25: Ofcom has received 12 applications for the new Edinburgh FM licence and four for the Blackburn licence with a preponderance aimed at older audiences.
The Edinburgh licence will be the first big city licence to be awarded under Ofcom and a decision, which will be worth millions - some GBP 10-15 million (USD 18-27 million) for the winner for an outlay of thousands to the regulator - is expected to be announced around the end of the year.
Ten of the Edinburgh applications are targeted at older age groups and none are specifically aimed for youngsters: They are comprised of six applications specifying music stations for age groups of 35 or older, four for classic rock stations, and two speech-based applications.
The Edinburgh applications came from:
The Arrow (Edinburgh) Limited - (The Arrow 107) a Chrysalis bid for an adult rock station.
Dunedin FM Limited - a speech-based application from The Wireless Group.
Edinburgh City Beat Limited - (Edinburgh Citybeat 107FM) an Adult Contemporary rock application from CN Radio, part of the regional newspaper group whose holdings include Belfast City Beat and six more local stations.
Edinburgh Local Radio Ltd (107 FM The Rock) - the GWR offering of rock from the last 40 years targeted at an audience of 35 to 54 year olds.
Edinburgh Radio Ltd./Castle FM - a gold music based offering targeted at a 45-64 audience from an Emap-backed consortium including Andrew Neil, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Scotsman Publications and broadcaster Sheena McDonald
4Life FM Limited - a service targeted at a 40 plus audience based on a BBC Radio-2 style mix of music plus spoken word entertainment and news. It comes from Celador Radio with backers who include former Capital FM breakfast host Chris Tarrant and former BBC Radio 2 controller Jim Moir.
Real Radio Limited (Smooth FM) - another music, news and information station for mature adults. The Guardian Media Group application with an offering similar to its Manchester station.
Red FM Limited - (Red107) - an SMG-backed Adult Alternative offering for the 35 plus
Saga Radio (Scotland) Limited (SAGA 107fm)- Easy listening for the 50-plus audience from Saga.
Scottish Radio Holdings plc (Forth 3) - a news and talk offering.
Time FM (Edinburgh) Limited - a music-led offering for the 45-64 demographic backed by the Sunrise Group, best known for its broadcasts for the Asian community.
Virgin Radio Classic Rock (Edinburgh) Ltd (Edinburgh's 107FM Virgin Classic Rock) - the SMG-owned Virgin Radio classic rock bid.
In Blackburn the four bids are from:
Blackburn Broadcasting Company Ltd. (The Bee) - A full service station bid.
Blackburn 2Day FM Ltd (2Day FM) - A Classic Hits bid.
Bold FM Limited (Bold FM) - offering contemporary hits and the best music from the last forty years.
The Burn FM Limited (Burn FM) - a music and talk bid.
Previous Ofcom:
2004-09-25: Broadcast media could come back into the US politicians' sights again shortly as the Senate Commerce Committee has set Tuesday next week to resume its hearings on media regulation and additionally Kansas Republican Sen Sam Brownback is opining that an increase in penalties for broadcast indecency could soon be on the statute books.
The Senate hearing, to be presided over by Sen. John McCain, will consider the recent Third Court Circuit decision in Philadelphia that upheld most of the Federal Communications Commission's ownership regulations but remanded back its proposals on station ownership limits.
Regarding indecency, Brownback says that the House and Senate could reach a compromise between their two bills in the Senate - which would raise the maximum fine tenfold with a cap of USD 3 million a day - and the House bill - whose maximum is USD 500,000.
He also says that an amendment from Sen. Byron Dorgan to re-institute the former FCC's media ownership rules is likely to be dropped.
According to a Reuters report legislators are now hoping to add the indecency legislation to an upcoming defence spending bill, which could be signed by President Bush sometime before the end of this year.
Previous FCC:
Reuters report:
2004-09-25: The past week has been fairly quiet on the business front although in the UK radio provided the bright spot in a trading update from Chrysalis that included a profits warning because of a weaker than expected performance from the group's publishing division.
Chrysalis radio had like-for-like revenues up around a fifth equating to full year revenues of some GBP 67 million (USD 121 million) and Chrysalis Music performed in line with expectations but Chrysalis Books had a shortfall in both revenues and margins.
Chrysalis says it anticipates Books EBITA to be around break-even for the full year to the end of August but adds that "as part of this year's audit process, the Board are reviewing all balance sheet carrying values in the books division, the outcome of which may impact the financial results for the year ending 31st August 2004 by a further approx. GBP 1.5million (USD 2.7 million)."
Chrysalis adds that the 2005 financial year has started well including results at the Books division but says it has instructed an independent publishing specialist to value the division.
Chrysalis has already sold its TV production arm as it moves to concentrate on its core radio business in anticipation of consolidation in the UK radio sector.
Chrysalis has also announced the launch by its newly formed Chrysalis Mobile of "music2mobile", a range of branded physical products supporting delivery of music to mobile phones, to be promoted through major retail outlets.
In the US, Metromedia International Group, Inc. has announced that it has now completed its previously announced USD 14.25 million sale to Communicorp Group Limited of its wholly-owned radio business unit that held the Company's interests in seventeen radio businesses, which operate radio broadcast stations in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland and Hungary.
Previous Chrysalis:
2004-09-25: The BBC has appointed Mark Damazer, currently its Deputy Director of News as the Controller of Radio 4 and BBC 7 to succeed Helen Boaden, who was appointed as the BBC's first female director of news in July (See RNW Jul 23)
He was appointed following three days of interviews of some dozen BBC executives and Jenny Abramsky, Director of Radio & Music, commented of the choice, "Mark is a passionate listener and supporter of Radio 4. When you talk to him you realise it's in his blood. I'm sure he will build on Helen Boaden's success and take Radio 4 and BBC 7 to new heights."
Damazer, who gained a double starred first in history at Cambridge and a Harkness Fellowship to Harvard University, is a former BBC Head of Current Affairs in which role he was responsible for File On 4, From Our Own Correspondent and a whole range of Radio 4 documentaries and short series, and from 1998 to 2000 was Head of Political Programmes.
During the row over the Radio 4 report that alleged that the government "sexed-up" information about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, he helped draft the BBC's official reply to the complaint from Prime Ministerial aide Alastair Campbell's complaint about Andrew Gilligan's report on the Radio 4 breakfast show and was then heavily involved in building the corporation's defence during the subsequent Hutton inquiry.
He commented of his appointment, "Being Controller of Radio 4 is the best job in broadcasting and I am privileged to be given the opportunity of working with so many talented and creative people.
"Radio 4 is in terrific shape and my challenge is to cherish it, sustain it and make sure it remains the home for intelligence, flair and wit.
"BBC 7 has already made a name for itself and I hope to see it become a must for those who value the BBC's storehouse of drama and comedy."
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2004-09-24: Commenting on the Chicago radio scene, Robert Feder in his Sun-Times column says News-Talks WLS-AM is beginning the fall ratings period with "no morning show, half an afternoon show, and cobwebs collecting in the vacant office of the general manager."
Disney/ABC-owned WLS has been without the morning drive husband and wife team Don Wade and Roma for a week now after failure to agree terms on a new contact and the afternoon show which used to pair Roe Conn and Garry Meier is now hosted by Conn along after failure to agree terms with Meier, who had been taken off the air in January in anticipation of the event (See RNW Jan 13).
WLS also lost president and general manager Zemira Jones, now with Radio One Inc., who quit in June when he learned he would be losing oversight of WZZN-FM (See RNW Jun 12).
The morning show is currently being hosted by two part-timers described by Feder as " the astonishingly mean-spirited and intolerant Teri O'Brien and the utterly bland Art Wallis."
Mitch Dolan, the ABC Radio Group president who is currently in charge of WLS did not speak to the paper but, reports Feder, "passed along the word that there was 'no shortage' of candidates for general manager of WLS and that an announcement should be forthcoming within 'a few weeks.'"
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Previous Dona and Roma Wade:
Chicago Sun-Times - Feder:
2004-09-24: BBC Oxford has announced a re-launch from October 4 with a new breakfast show hosted by former TV host Anne Diamond followed by long-time radio host Danny Cox who will also host a new Sunday evening show.
Cox, who began his career in the East Midlands with Leicester Sound and then Radio Trent/Trent FM, which he left after GWR took over the company. He was more recently with Capital Radio's Fox FM in Oxford, leaving earlier year to become to take up the post of Media Manager with the National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC).
Cox will be followed weekdays by a new show from Alison Booker before Bill Heine moves to a new afternoon drive slot.
Previous BBC:
2004-09-24: Midcontinent Media has withdrawn from broadcasting and announced the sale of all five of its radio stations in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Backyard Broadcasting of Maryland for an undisclosed price.
The stations sold are KELO-AM and FM, KWSN-AM, KRRO-FM, and KTWB-FM, the first of which has been on air for 52 years.
Tom Simmons of Midcontinent Media was quoted by Keloland TV as saying of the sale, "It's an emotional decision as well as a business decision for our chairman, Larry Bentson and he shared that with staff today, this will be the first time that he's out of the broadcasting business since he was in the 7th grade."
The new owners say they are not planning changes and Barry Drake of Backyard Broadcasting commented, "Often times when companies come in they come in with an idea of fixing what's there in this case the ideal situation for us, these stations are beautifully run and received in the community so we come in with no idea to make changes or make things different."
Backyard, which began in business only two years ago, now has 27 stations including this deal.
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Keloland TV report:
2004-09-24: British DJ Paul Green, who broadcasts as Monkey Boy, has been suspended for a week by Emap's Viking FM after making sexually suggestive jokes about sausages to celebrity chef James Martin.
Martin agreed to talk to the station to promote the British Sausage Appreciation Society's Banger Awards but Green's questions mainly comprised of linking sausages to sexual acts, angering the chef who cut the interview short and complained to his Public Relations firm that then pressed for action by the station.
Programme director Darrell Woodman, who says the interview went out without approval, left him no choice but to suspend the DJ without pay for a week. [RNW comment: And of course enjoy the free publicity?].
Previous Emap:
2004-09-23: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has finally pounced on Viacom over the Super Bowl halftime show in which one of Janet Jackson's breasts was briefly exposed; it is proposing a fine of USD 550,000, as already widely leaked, and commented that the "partial nudity was, in the context of the broadcast, in apparent violation of the broadcast indecency standard."
It proposed the maximum USD 27,500 for each of 20 Viacom stations that aired the show "show due to the involvement of Viacom/CBS in the planning and approval of the telecast and the history of indecency violations committed by Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting Corporation subsidiaries."
It added that it was not proposing forfeitures against non-Viacom owned CBS affiliates that also aired the show "because of the unexpected nature of the halftime show and the apparent lack of involvement in the selection, planning, and approval of the telecast by these non-Viacom owned affiliates."
Viacom had said in response to the FCC that the exposure resulted from a poorly-executed stunt that was planned by the performers without any involvement from Viacom, CBS, or MTV, all of whom would have forbidden the stunt if there had been any indication that it was planned and added, "While CBS regrets the incident, the Commission should acknowledge that it was unplanned, unanticipated, and contrary to what we intended."
In its judgment the FCC noted that "Mr. Timberlake pulled off part of Ms. Jackson's clothing to reveal her breast after he sang, 'gonna have you naked by the end of this song.' Therefore, we find the nudity here was designed to pander to, titillate and shock the viewing audience…Based upon the preceding analysis, we find, in context, that the exposure of Ms. Jackson's breast was apparently indecent, and, therefore, is legally actionable."
All the commissioners went along with the penalty with separate statements being issued by chairman Michael K. Powell and Commissioners Jonathan S. Adelstein, Michael J. Copps, and Kevin J. Martin.
Powell in his statement commented that the event had received more complaints than any other on TV - some 540,000 - and added, "The show, clearly intended to push the limits of prime time television, ultimately violated federal law that restricts indecent programming to times when children are less likely to be watching. The U.S. Constitution is generous in its protection of free expression, but it is not a license to thrill. 'Anything goes,' is not an acceptable mantra for those that elect to earn their profit using the public's airwaves. "
He also issued a cautionary note, presumably intended at some of his fellow commissioners, writing, " Indecency determinations, however, must be made cautiously and with appropriate restraint. There is always a substantial danger that a regulatory authority buoyed by an outraged public will overstep and fail to heel to the commands of the First Amendment. Our decision stays in bounds, but I am troubled at the suggestion of some on the Commission that we should reach further and drop the hammer for the musical performances themselves-divorced from the infamous wardrobe malfunction-or for the commercials. I agree that some of the performances were risqué and that commercials were frequently crass and sophomoric, but they were hardly indecent within the bounds of federal law. To let loose governmental sanction on such a thin premise is to stray from our limited role in enforcing the indecency laws, into the role of national nanny-arbiter of taste, values and propriety.
In his statement, Democrat Commissioner Copps expressed concern that a precedent might be set by not penalising non-Viacom-owned affiliates, said the commission should have followed through further on other complaints about the show not concentrating on the single incident, and noted, "This fine needs to be seen in the context of a broadcast in which each 30-second commercial cost more than $2 million. In other words, this fine represents less than 10 seconds of ad time on the Super Bowl and will be easily absorbed as a cost of doing business. "
His fellow Democrat, Jonathan S. Adelstein, said he found "today's remedy totally inadequate. After all the bold talk, it's a slap on the wrist that can be paid with just 7½ seconds of Super Bowl ad time. The $550,000 fine measures up to only about a dollar per complaint for the more than 542,000 complaints that flooded into the FCC after the broadcast. "
He also raised the issue of the other affiliates, commenting, "Compliance with federal broadcast decency restrictions is the responsibility of the station that chooses to air the programming, not the performers… While the Commission must always proceed cautiously in broadcast decency cases, this type of graphic and gratuitous nudity is not a close call. The millions of our nation's children who were ambushed by the Super Bowl halftime show deserve better protection. A fine of 7½ seconds of ad time is scarcely any deterrent. The shockwaves are still being felt by this shameful episode. I fear that today we're responding to a "wardrobe malfunction" with a regulatory malfunction."
Republican Commissioner Kevin J. Martin took up the same points, saying that in his view the FCC had "a duty to the public to fully analyse all of the complaints that we receive" and also commenting that the commission needed to "affirm local broadcasters' ability - and responsibility - to reject inappropriate programming."
"This obligation." He said, "is critical to local broadcasters' ability to keep coarser network programming off the air in their communities. The network affiliates asked us to clarify that this right over three years ago. We still have not acted, and thus I concur in the decision not to fine the affiliates in this instance."
The FCC's enforcement bureau has also issued two other forfeitures: one, of USD 10,800 went to Global Radio, Inc. for broadcasts from the station to be used for the Super Bowl. Global had asked for authorization to use six frequencies but was granted permission to use only two because of interference concerns.
It was found to have been using five frequencies and a penalty of USD 12,000 was initially put forward. Global requested reduction or cancellation on grounds of inability to pay and a previous history of compliance but did not provide evidence regarding to ability to pay. The penalty was cut to USD 10,800 on the basis of a history of compliance.
The other penalty, of USD 18,000, went to Union Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of KCTE-AM, Independence, Missouri and WHB-AM, Kansas City, Missouri, for operation of KCTE with modes and at hours not specified in the KCTE station authorization, and for failure to make the KCTE and WHB public inspection files available to the public.
The KCTE operation violation related to operation of the station, authorised to broadcast in daytime only, at night and thus causing interference to other stations.
AT a subsequent station inspection an FCC agent was unable to inspect the public files for both stations because they were locked in the office of a station employee who was out of the office at the time.
The FCC proposed penalties totalling USD 18,000 and Union filed a Response seeking a decrease in the forfeiture amount, saying it had taken remedial actions to comply FCC rules but the FCC rejected its arguments and confirmed the full penalty.
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2004-09-23: The UK Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA) has d