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January 2005 Archive

Prime Radio Stations
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most cases: Some have Windows Media as well.

Radiofeeds UK -for comprehensive list of UK broadcast radio stations on the Internet

ABC, Australia
Streams list:
Radio Australia
News stream

ABC, Anerica
(Links to audio)
BBC:

World Service:
(Links to audio services)
UK -Radio 1:
UK -Radio 2 :
UK Radio 3:
UK--Radio 4:
UK Radio Five Live:
BBC Where I Live (for local stations):
Radio 1 stream:
Radio 2 Stream:
Radio 3 stream:
Radio 4 stream (FM):
Radio 4 stream (AM):
Radio 5 stream:

CBC,Canada
Links to audio streams:
Hourly newscast:

US National Public Radio:
News

Voice of America:
Audio News reports:

WORLD RADIO NETWORK (listeners area has on-demand audio reports from various broadcasters from round the world)

Music Streams
(Classical):
King (US)
RTE Lyric FM (Ireland):

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- December 2004 - February 2005-
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 January comment - As Michael Powell prepares to leave the FCC, pressures mount for broadcasting regulation, and racially prejudiced and tasteless or offensive comments by hosts arouse outrage, we consider how far we should regulate broadcast inaccuracy,bigotry, indecency and racism.

RNW December comment - We look back at at Highlights, lowlights, high life, low life, and trends of 2004.

RNW November comment - Looks, as the "buying" season approaches at What we'd like from radio in the future.

2005-01-31: Rarely do we see really enthusiastic reports about US radio output, never mind that of commercial stations, that we felt we had to start this week's look at print comment on the medium with a Los Angeles Times editorial, "It's Not All Rock and Rap" that concerned "From the Top" on Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasting's classical station KMZT-FM.
With particular reference to yesterday's broadcast - we wonder of course whether there might be some related self-interest in the enthusiasm, but never mind that, it said the show was an " old-fashioned variety show that just happens to focus solely on young musicians, this weekend on young Southern Californians… The music is good. The kids are even better. Latent fuddy-duddies who view gaggles of giddy teens mall parading in this afternoon's must-wear clothes may fear that America's future is in vapid hands. "From the Top" offers a calm, unpretentious riposte. The young people perform with skill and emotion, and then they chat and laugh with host Christopher O'Riley with an appealing innocence, poise and breadth. "We want to celebrate excellence," says Gerald Slavet, executive producer, 'to discover and hail these young musicians as we do student athletes.'"
"The 5-year-old program, from a different city every weekend, has celebrated about 1,000 young musicians across the land. On this week's program, taped last month before a USC audience, is Yumi Man, a 17-year-old violinist from La Crescenta; Rossina Grieco, a precocious 10-year-old pianist from La Jolla; 12 girls from the Los Angeles Children's Chorus; plus a Florida trumpeter and a Massachusetts cellist. Under the gentle but hip interrogations of O'Riley, a concert pianist in his own right, the youngsters reveal their skills and quirky personalities in a casual format suggesting that music is just a part of their unfolding lives."
RNW note: From the Top is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to encourage and celebrate the development of youth through music and the show, which is syndicated by US Public Radio International (PRI) is produced in association with WGBH Radio Boston and New England Conservatory of Music. It's web site gives details of stations that carry the show and also has a listen-on-demand archive of the show, which runs two hours. The archive is available through this link below usual links at the end of this column including the show referred to, which includes music from Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Hummel, Smith, Shostakovitch, Gordon, and Haydn].
In a not dissimilar vein, Paul Donovan's comments in his Radio Waves column in the UK Sunday Times, refer to BBC Radio 1's pop music output, commenting of its output, "Frustrated by the fact that its target audience of 15- to 24-year-olds is definitely the commercial radio generation - I have three children in that age group, and they listen to little else - it seeks both ratings and a genuine desire to go on doing what the late John Peel did, in finding often in- accessible and arcane bands that turn out to be the musical stars and export earners of the future."
He goes on to note changes at the station prompted both by ratings and by the more serious side, this time in reference to the "One-music" shows that start tomorrow in the slot formerly occupied by the Peels show..
Of the latter, Donovan comments, "I think it is wrong to ignore, as I once did, this aspect of Radio 1's existence. The writing, performing and publishing of British popular music is, after all, one of the biggest of what are now called our "creative industries…" and then goes on to suggest an expansion into pop music by BBC groups, currently four symphony orchestras, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers, all of whom perform in classical or light music on Radio 3 and Radio 2.
The move, he suggests, "would obviously gain huge exposure - but also underline the BBC's commitment to live music-making across a variety of genres."
Also reporting on the debut of One Music was Amy Raphael in the UK Observer: She met the trio of DJs - "Huw Stephens covering the more obscure end of rock, Ras Kwame playing largely underground and urban acts followed by Rob Da Bank choosing anything from dub and ambient to techno hardcore, will Peel's eclectic taste be kept alive" - who are to replace Peel. A useful read for those trying to gain an idea of what the shows will include.
The BBC also came in for praise in the UK Times by BBC 6 Music host Phil Jupitus: Reporting on his show, Dan Sabbagh notes that he is "unlikely" to have more than "a few tens of thousands of listeners" to his breakfast show -from 07:00 to 10:00 GMT - on a digital only channel but gains job satisfaction.
Jupitus commented, "I get to choose between 10 and 14 tracks a day. Compare that to a rival station that rhymes with Xfn, and Christian [O'Connell, Xfm's breakfast presenter] gets to choose one a week."
Sabbagh continues, "His three-hour show is certainly eclectic, a word that 6 Music desperately wants to have associated with itself. On Tuesday this week Jupitus had an amiable, digressive interview with Bill Oddie, the comedian turned naturalist, while the choice of tracks ranged from American singer Tom Waits to Basement Jaxx's dance."
"6 Music's pitch is that it is aimed at music aficionados; 25 to 44-year-olds who have outgrown Radio 1 but feel too young for Radio 2…Sixty per cent of its output is meant to come from the BBC's capacious archives, the rest from new guitar-based music - and its executives get excited when the two are juxtaposed."
Capital-owned Xfm had a budget of around a third of that of 6 Music last year and Capital Radio managing director Graham Bryce commented [RNW comment: Somewhat disingenuously, if not downright inaccurately in our view from past listening to his station], They play a lot of album tracks and stuff from the archive, and we'd prefer them to concentrate on that. Supporting new and up-and-coming music is something the commercial sector does."
He then expressed some concern about the future, adding, "At some point the station will come under pressure to deliver ratings, and then they will go right up against the commercial sector with superior budgets."
Of that comment Sabbagh noted, "Bryce's point echoes an argument that is familiar to anybody at the BBC. If a BBC service has too few viewers or listeners, it is a waste of licence payers' money, but if it has too many then it is "unfairly" competing with the commercial sector. Against such critics is not easy for the BBC to win."
For the UK Telegraph the success story to note was that of BBC Radio 2. Latest ratings show the show dominating UK radio and in a report header "The secret of staying in tune with listeners" it commented of the success that it had succeeded "Through luck, judgment and the following of two intertwined rules, one musical, the other statistical."
It went on in a lesson that could not apply to a segmented market like the US terrestrial radio but
Might for a satellite channel there, to expand on the idea" The music of your teens, whether Beatles, rock, punk or garage, remains with you for ever. You will like other music but that first music will always attract you…More people were in their teens when the Beatles were famous than at any time in British history. That group is now in its 50s. People who liked punk are in their 40s. People who liked Madness are in their 30s. That's a big overall demographic.
After the praise back across the Atlantic it wasn't difficult to find examples of crassness, in particular comments made by New Jersey 101.5 radio host Craig Carton about Mary Jo Codey, wife of acting New Jersey governor Richard J. Codey.
She had suffered from postpartum depression and the host, as reported by the Associated Press, commented, "What Gov. Codey ought to do is approve the use of medical marijuana so women can have a joint and relax instead of putting their babies in a microwave. Then all they want to do is cook Doritos. Women who claim they suffer from this postpartum depression . . . they must be crazy in the first place."
According to the report we saw by Jean Rimback in New Jersey, the acting governor confronted Carton in a hallway, and admits telling the host that if he had not been governor he would have taken "him outside." He said he "defended my wife like any man would."
The host reacted by milking the episode for all it was worth, and subsequently called Codey a "schoolyard punk," demanded an apology and threatened to run him out of office.
[RNW note: We assume the comment was intended to be jocular in manner but it betrays not only insensitivity but also apparently ignorance - par for the course, maybe - about the distinction between postpartum depression, which affects around a tenth of women, and the much more severe postpartum psychosis, which affects around 0.1-0.2% and whose symptoms include delusions and hallucinations that often focus on hurting themselves or their babies.]
Now our recommendations for listening, and we could hardly start any other way but by recommending From the Top and One Music on BBC Radio 1, the first through the web site archive for those who cannot listen on a local station in the US and the second via either the web site or off-air from 23:00 to 01: on Tuesdays through Thursdays.
Then there's BBC 6 Music for the Jupitus Breakfast show and BBC Radio 2 where we'd suggest Terry Wogan's breakfast show from 07:30 to 09:30 GMT for a check on what can keep eight million listeners a week.
After that it we'd suggest 20:30 tomorrow on BBC Radio 2 for the second part of Behind the Smile The Real Life of Bob Marley followed by the fourth part of the Billy May Story.
Then for literature, the drama on BBC Radio 4 this week (10:45 GMT and an evening repeat at 19:45) is a new adaptation of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne.
Later in the day the channel's Book at Bedtime (22:45 GMT) is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
And finally to end the week with a little comedy, there's The News Quiz, also BBC Radio 4, at 18:30 GMT on Fridays.
Previous Columnists:
Previous Donovan:
From the Top web site
From the Top - Shows archive:
Los Angeles Times - Editorial:
New Jersey - Rimbach:
UK Observer- Raphael:
UK Sunday Times - Donovan:
UK Telegraph on BBC Radio 2:
UK Times- Sabbagh:

2005-01-31: A former Clear Channel woman intern is suing the company over sexual advances made by a former DJ at its contemporary KRQ-FM when she was working at the station.
The advances led to the arrest and subsequent conviction of the DJ, Richard Marcel Benjamin ("Donovan") who pleaded guilty in January 2004 to attempted sexual abuse: He was sentenced to 60 days in the Pima County Jail on work furlough, followed by three years on probation as a sex offender, but was not required to register as a sex offender. He was also was ordered to pay $95 in restitution to the woman.
Clear Channel fired the DJ after the arrest. He had initially been charged in March 2003 with for indecent exposure, a Class 1 misdemeanour, and two counts of sexual abuse, a Class 5 felony.
The Tucson Citizen reports that according to documents filed by the woman's attorney she was attending University of Arizona in October 2001 and attended a recording session at KRQ for school credit, when she met Benjamin.
She says he called her cell phone later that night and complimented her looks and she told him not to call again and reported the incident to her professor and Clear Channel, which responded in e-mail, promising to document her complaint.
She says that later, when she was hired as an intern by the company and assigned to Benjamin, she was given assurances she would be safe but soon after that another female intern complained to station staff that Benjamin asked her to give him a naked picture of her to use in a radio promotion and had repeatedly called her and was fired without explanation.
The incident that led to Benjamin's arrest occurred on March 11, 2003, when she said she was working and Benjamin touched her breast with his hand, then exposed his genitals to her and "forcibly caused" her to touch his penis: Benjamin told her not to tell anyone, which she initially agreed to, fearing she would lose her job as the other intern had but on March 26 that year she told his supervisors and Tucson police about the incident, leading to his arrest and firing.
Clear Channel told the paper it does not comment on pending litigation but the Citizen says it has filed papers saying never told station officials of her allegations while she was working as an intern at KRQ so they could not resolve the issue and she didn't suffer the trauma she claims she did.
Previous Clear Channel:
Tucson Citizen report:

2005-01-31: Latest figures from Autobytel Inc.'s Automotive Information Center are encouraging for satellite radio, which it says is now offered as an option on nearly 40% of new vehicles now on sale in the USA.
The organization comments that although still not a common "standard" feature, the appearance of satellite radio as an available "option" has more than tripled over the past three years to reach 38.2%.
It says so far in the 2005 Model Year, 56 new models have been introduced in the US and there are now, at the trim level, 1,671 models of vehicles available for sale in the country.

2005-01-31: Former New York jazz radio personality Mort Fega has died in Florida aged 83 of complications following back surgery: He began in radio in New Rochelle, New York in 1955 and became one of the first modern jazz DJs known for his "Jazz Unlimited" Saturday show as well as hosting various jazz festivals.
After New York, Fega worked as a jazz disc jockey in Phoenix from 1969 to 1975 and in 1986 he moved to Florida in 1986, where he hosted a jazz radio show.
Jazz News tribute:

2005-01-30: The main regulatory news this week was the decision of the US administration that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should not push the issue of its media ownership regulation to an appeal to the Supreme Court (See RNW Jan 28) although others could still potentially do so: They have until the end of the month to file briefs with the court to ask it to consider the issues: Elsewhere matters were fairly routine with a steady but low level of radio related decisions.
In Australia, the Australian Government has asked for tenders from head hunting companies to carry out the search for a head for the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that is due to take over media regulatory roles currently filled by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australia Communication Authority (ACA): The ABA itself issued one radio decision, a ruling that a Western Australian community station had breached one of its licence conditions by broadcasting advertisements. (Both RNW Jan 25)
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued two radio decisions, both in Quebec. They were to:
*Grant a third extension, this time until April 2, 2005, of the time limit for Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. (AVR) for an extension of the time limit to submit an application for the use of a frequency other than 100.1 MHz to operate its new radio programming undertaking in Montréal.
*Approve of frequency change for CFUT-FM, Shawinigan.
In Ireland, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has said it proposes to renew one Dublin subject to satisfactory conclusion of negotiations and signed a new five year agreement with a Dublin hospital service (See RNW Jan 29).
There were no radio decisions in the UK but Ofcom published the conclusions from its public consultation on spectrum liberalisation, which it says was positively received. As a result says Ofcom it is to proceed with the first phase of liberalisation for holders of Business Radio, Fixed Wireless Access and Fixed Links licences. It adds that it expects liberalisation to be extended to more licence classes later this year, with further classes to follow in 2006-08.
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as noted opted not to pursue to the Supreme Court the issue of its media ownership regulations (See RNW Jan 28 and below). There was also official confirmation that Kenneth Ferree, Chief of the Media Bureau, is to step down in March (See RNW Jan 25).
The FCC also authorized XM to launch two satellites to replace its current XM Rock and XM Roll that have solar array problems that will shorten their life and announced a forum for Low Power FM Operators (Both RNW Jan 28).
In Texas it has asked KELI-FM, San Angelo, which is operating below minimum Class C facilities, to show cause why it should not be reclassified Class CO to allow a second FM in Lometa.
Previous ABA:
Previous BCI:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Ofcom:
ABA web site:
BCI web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:

2005-01-30: In an interview to be broadcast today US President George W Bush has said that the best way to protect children from broadcast indecency is action by their parents.
The President told C-SPAN President and CEO Brian Lamb, "As a free speech advocate, I often told parents who were complaining about content, you're the first line of responsibility; they put an off button the TV for a reason. Turn it off. I do think, though, that there can be a -- that government can, at times, not censor, but call to account programming that gets over the line. The problem, of course, is the definition 'over the line.'"
The President defended outgoing FCC chariman Michael K Powell over his actions in relation to broadcast indecency, saying, "...I were interviewing an FCC chairman, please tell me where the line is, and make sure you protect the capacity of people to speak freely in our society, but be willing to -- if things get too far, call them to account. I think Michael did a good job of balancing that."
Regarding what was "over the line" and the suggestion of heavy penalties for broadcast indecency the President referred to a statement made by Justice Potter Stewart in the 1964 Supreme Court case of Jacobellis v. Ohio, commenting, "Look, it's the old -- the classic definition of the Supreme Court -- by the Supreme Court on pornography, you know it when you see it. I think that was Judge Potter Stewart who said that."
RNW comment: Although we can easily see how a comment like that of Justice Potter Stewart -"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it..." - can appeal to a politician, it nevertheless strikes us as a rather crass cop-out that can cover a multitude of arbitrary opinions and one that should have led to widespread derision for any senior judicial figure for making it.
Previous Powell:
C-Span interview transcript:

2005-01-30: The Indian High Court has asked the country's government to clarify by Tuesday next week the timeframe within which it will decide on the recommendation made last year (See RNW Nov 29, 2004 ) by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that it change from a licence fee to a revenue-sharing system for private FM licences. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry however objected to the proposal on the grounds that it would produce a sharp fall in revenues.
The private companies say that the licence fees are eating up all almost their profits or more and three companies - Entertainment India Network India Ltd., Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd and Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd, filed petitions asking that the government be directed to take a decision on the recommendations.
They also asked the court to set aside an order made in November last year ordering them to deposit within two months a third of the licence fee due for the year and their counsel argued that inaction on the recommendations was causing them large financial losses:
Previous Indian Radio:
Previous TRAI:
Rediff.com report:

2005-01-30: Salem is to launch its FISH contemporary Christian music format in Omaha tomorrow on KGBI-FM, which it is acquiring from Grace University (See RNW Oct 27, 2004).
Salem radio executive vice-president Joe D. Davis commented of the station, "The ratings performance and reputation of KGBI-FM already have set a high standard. Its strong Christian heritage is a firm foundation for the quality programming that Salem Communications listeners have come to expect."
Previous Salem:

2005-01-30: Although the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided not to pursue the issue of media ownership regulations to the US Supreme Court, the US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has said that it will appeal to the Supreme Court the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling upholding most of the FCC's new media-ownership rules.
In particular it wants to reverse the Commission's new Arbitron-based radio market definition method whose implementation was allowed by the court.
In a statement it said, "We're disappointed with reports that the Solicitor General will not be seeking Supreme Court review of media ownership rules. We continue to believe the Supreme Court needs to clarify lower court decisions related to media ownership, and NAB will be seeking that review on Monday, Jan. 31."
The decision not to pursue the matter gained support from the Democrat Commissioners, Jonathan S Adelstein and Michael J Copps who said in a joint statement, "The commission should seize this second chance to do the right thing."
"We should immediately begin a comprehensive proceeding to adopt rules that will promote the core values of localism, competition and diversity. We call on the FCC to gather a far more complete record, including independent research studies on media concentration in a variety of markets, so that we can make a decision that has a more solid foundation than the last failed effort."
Previous Adelstein:
Previous Copps:
Previous FCC:
Previous NAB:

2005-01-29: The power of Howard Stern has been shown in the most recent radio ratings according to an article in CNN-Money, which notes that, all the six Clear Channel stations who dropped him following the US brouhaha about broadcast indecency have lost significant numbers of listeners.
In Pittsburgh, it notes, WXDX-FM has fallen from third in the previous ratings to 11th in the time slot; WTKS-FM in Orlando, Florida. has dropped from second to eighth; WNVE-FM in Rochester, New York went from sixth to 14th place on a ratings freefall and KIOZ-FM, San Diego from fifth to tying in 20th place.
On the reverse side, when Infinity added Stern to four stations in New York, California and Florida last summer, ratings jumped with WOCL-FM in the Orlando market showing the greatest gains, up from 17th to first.
The ratings according to Michael Harrison of Talkers magazine show Stern to be" "one of the biggest radio attractions in the modern era… a phenomenon."
The report notes that with the impending departure of Stern to Sirius, Infinity is looking at a large revenue hole although CEO Joel Hollander suggested in December that the company doesn't lack for interest among celebrities and other wannabe successors.
It tips as the most likely successor as Chicago personality and former shock jock Erich "Mancow" Muller, whose "Mancow Morning Madness" on Emmis's Q101 is headed for syndication and who is now trying to position himself as Stern's heir apparent, but without the obscenity.
"He's taking it to the edge without going over the edge" and putting station licenses at risk, said Harrison.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Emmis:
Previous Muller:
Previous Stern:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:
CNN-Money report:

2005-01-29: UK Chrysalis stock, which had plunged on Thursday following radio ratings that showed Emap's Magic FM overtaking its Heart FM in London (See RNW Jan 28) and the issuing of a third profits warning within six months regained most of the loss ground by the end of trading on Friday.
They closed the week at GBP 1.80, up 5.4% on the day, having dropped to below GBP 1.65 at one point on Thursday. They began the week hovering around GBP 1.85.
The group's difficulties prompted new rumours of it being vulnerable to a takeover although there are suggestions that it could sell it non-radio holdings, estimated as being worth around GBP 200 million (USD 378 million), around two-thirds of its current market valuation, to build up funds for an acquisition.
Following the ratings, Chrysalis radio division chief executive Phil Riley told the UK Guardian that it had already been aware of problems for Heart and was addressing them.
"You never ignore evidence if it suggests there is something wrong," he said. "Since the last RAJAR [ratings] wasn't great either, we have spent time looking at it and refreshing the logo, image and [creating] a new ad campaign to move the brand and station on. But there is a time lag between doing it and it showing in the numbers."
He also said they had made mistakes promoting the company's LBC talk station, commenting, "There aren't enough people finding [LBC]. We've been thinking about the need to get the marketing on more of a consistent and reliable basis…"We have had a couple of false starts: The TV advertising we did with [LBC host] Nick Ferrari was too complex and he wasn't as famous as he needs to be for TV ads. It was an error we've learned from."
"The outdoor and tube advertising we have now is much more in line with what the station stands for," he added. "I am convinced the market is there."
Previous Chrysalis:
Previous Riley:
UK Guardian report:

2005-01-29: The "Miss Jones in the Morning" team on Emmis's WQHT-FM (Hot 97) in New York appear likely to be reinstated in due course according to a report in the New York Daily News even though protests are still continuing over its tsunami song parody.
The paper reports that assistant program director E-Bro said, "A lot of people have called in support of Miss Jones. That's good" and adding, that the host - Tarsha Nicole Jones - had been the target of "a media smackfest. ... A lotta of things get said in the heat of the moment. We'll see how it all plays out."
Protests staged a demonstration outside the station organized by Queens Councilman John Liu who has demanded that the Jones team be fired, said also wants Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sanctions on WQHT, which is almost certainly ruled out because the agency's remit relating to content only applies to matters of indecency.
The report says many radio insiders think that the matter will be determined by advertisers and notes that some of them, including McDonald's and Sprint, have temporarily pulled ads - leading Emmis radio president Rick Cummings to issue a statement saying, "No company advertising on our station had any connection to the 'Tsunami Song' ... [or] endorsed or sponsored the offensive material."
The report also noted that Miss Info, Korean-American Minya Oh, had distanced herself from the parody, was not suspended.
At Clear Channel rival WWPR-FM (Power FM) former WQHT host Troi Torain (Star of Star and Buc Wild), who has just taken over the morning slot, and who in 2003 was suspended then fired from Hot 97 after allegedly disparaging advertisers on air (See RNW May 22, 2003) agreed that advertisers were "the real story."
He could also not resist a dig at Miss Jones, a former colleague with whom he had fallen out, saying, "For this b-, I'd say it's a wrap. See ya."
RNW comment: In view of Torain's abuse of a woman at an Indian call centre (See RNW Jan 12) - which presumably could be against FCC rules since we doubt advance permission was obtained to make the broadcast, - we feel that he would have been better to have kept his mouth shut. Our view is that the tsunami song was in very poor taste that presumably was intended to be a Michael Jackson parody but was nowhere near as reprehensible as Torain's call. If Jones is to be fired, we'd like to see a combination of all those he should have upset - i.e. anyone who objects to abuse of those who cannot defend themselves, abuse of women, and racially prejudiced comments - launch a campaign for all advertisers to boycott all Clear Channel stations until Torain is fired.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Cummings:
Previous Emmis:
Previous Jones:
Previous Oho:
Previous Torain:
New York Daily News report:

2005-01-29: The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has re-awarded in principle the special interest FM licence for Dublin City to the incumbent, Dublin Public Service Radio Association's Anna Livia 103.2 FM, which offers a talk-based broad format service.
It says the award is subject to clarification of a number of matters within the application and the successful conclusion of contract negotiations.
Also in Dublin it has also signed a new five-year deal with Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (broadcasting as Mater Hospital Radio), which is to continue with a mix of music-based shows, specialist programmes, and regular music requests,
In other activities it has appointed Stephanie Comey to the position of Scheme Director of the Broadcasting (Funding) Scheme, which is principally designed to support new television and radio programmes and is funded through an amount equal to 5% of the television licence fee.
Previous BCI:

2005-01-29: Florida Attorney General Charlie Grist has filed a brief with the state Supreme Court supporting the use of search warrants to obtain information such as medical records but saying prosecutors should not have free rein, a comment that has led radio host Rush Limbaugh's attorney to claim his argument over Limbaugh's records is being supported by Crist.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Crist argues that a judge should oversee the process and review the records to determine if they are relevant to the investigation and should be turned over to prosecutors.
"Florida's constitutional right of privacy guarantees citizens freedom from unwarranted observation of, and interference in, any aspect of their medical records. Thus, a workable balance must be struck between these two competing interests," he said.
Limbaugh is being investigated over allegations of doctor shopping to obtain prescriptions to support a drug addiction and his lawyer Roy Black told the paper he was encouraged "to see that Florida's top law enforcement officer agrees with our position that the decision of the 4th District Court of Appeal should be reversed because it does not adequately protect the medical privacy rights of the patient."
Black has argued that prosecutors should have notified Limbaugh that they intended to obtain his medical records thus allowing the host to ask a judge to decide whether prosecutors could issue subpoenas for the records.
RNW comment: Increasingly as this case goes on, it seems to us that both Limbaugh and Black are misrepresenting court decisions: In this latest development Crist's argument seems to us very similar in its thinking to that of the Florida appeals court that rejected Black's argument by a majority decision in October last year (See RNW Oct 7, 2004) and whose decision was appealed to the State Supreme Court. Black's take on this decision grabbed at the dissenting vote but even this did not to us seem to support the host.
The dissent by Judge Melanie G. May included comments that "common sense suggests that law enforcement would itself be handcuffed if required to give notice to a person before lawfully 'seizing'' evidence" and goes on to say," I would grant the petition, issue the writ, quash the order of disclosure, and remand the case to the trial court to determine the relevancy of the records seized and to whom, if anyone, those records may be 'disclosed.'"
Our overall reading so far is that the very most that Limbaugh can hope for is to get off on a technicality - the kind of thing he would inveigh about himself if it applied to someone else - but that the Supreme Court will clarify the rules in a manner that would not, had they been clarified before, have prevented the seizure of the records.
Previous Limbaugh:
South Florida Sun-Sentinel report:

2005-01-28: The Bush administration has decided to abandon efforts to relax media ownership regulations in the US that had been proposed under toutgoing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael K Powell.
In what the New York Times report terms a "a final slap at Mr. Powell" it reports that the US Justice Department will not ask the United States Supreme Court to consider a decision last year by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia that sharply criticized the attempt to deregulate the rules and ordered the commission to reconsider its action.
The Times report says officials said one reason the administration decided not to seek Supreme Court review is that some lawyers were concerned that the case could prompt the justices to review related First Amendment issues in a way that could undermine efforts by the commission to enforce indecency rules against television and radio broadcasters.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia last year ordered the commission to reconsider the deregulation of the rules and the US Supreme Court had set next Monday as a deadline for parties involved to file any initial appeals. Large US media companies had wanted the US government to take up the issue.
Previous FCC:
Previous Powell:
New York Times report.

2005-01-28: The big gainers in the latest UK radio ratings from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) were BBC Radio 2 on a national scale with particular success for its breakfast host Terry Wogan and Emap's Magic-FM in London: It overtook Chrysalis' Heart FM for the first time and was the second most listened-to commercial station in London, just 0.1% behind Capital FM.
Sports stations suffered in comparison with the previous quarter when they were boosted by the Olympics and other sporting events and Chrysalis was reduced in its comment to an honest note of "disappointing audience figures" following its London reversal and to add, "These disappointing audience figures, coupled with the weaker than anticipated trading in the first half of the 2005 financial year, lead us to believe that revenues for the radio division in the full year will show a year on year decline in the region of 3%."
The BBC overall did well with a 54% share of listening, down from 54.4% in the previous quarter but up from 52.9% a year earlier whilst the commercial sector had a 44.2% share, up from 43.7% in the previous quarter but down from 45.3% a year earlier.
Commenting on the BBC results, Jenny Abramsky, Director BBC Radio & Music, said: "Today's strong figures mark the end of an excellent year for BBC Radio. I am particularly pleased to see the Asian Network top the half million mark and Terry Wogan's figures [his weekly audience topped 8 million for the first time and in London he took his figures up 13% to 1.23 million] are simply awesome."
BBC Radio 1 slipped slightly and was back below 10 million but its breakfast host Chris Moyles increased his audience by 150,000 a week.
In London Magic took its listening share for the quarter up from 4.8 to 6.1%, just behind Capital with 6.2% and ahead of Heart, which slipped from 5.4% to 5.3%. BBC London slipped back, with its share falling from 2.0% to 1.7%
Commenting on Magic's London success, Mark Story, Emap's MD of programming, said: "This is a historic day for Magic as we take the number two position and are poised at just 0.1 per cent off the number one slot. When Emap launched Magic in 1998 we were confident it had the potential to be a number one format. This remains our ultimate goal and we'll continue to invest in the brand to build on today's historic success."
Capital stressed gains for all its London station breakfast audiences, noting an additional 83,000 listeners for Johnny Vaughan on Capital FM and in a statement said, "Capital Radio showed that it has got London covered, with particular success at breakfast across all of our London stations. At 95.8 Capital FM, Johnny Vaughan continued to hold the coveted number one commercial breakfast show position for the third consecutive survey and increased the lead on the show's nearest competitors."
GWR stressed the performance of Classic FM, its national station, and its digital stable and GWR Group Executive Chairman Ralph Bernard commented, "Classic FM continues to build its status as an upmarket advertising medium with its best ever ABC1 profile. In digital radio, GWR's strategy of creating distinctive new brands is confirmed by the success of Planet Rock, Core and The Storm. The Digital Radio Development Bureau forecasts that the number of digital radio receivers will double from 1.2 million to 2.4 million in 2005, and our digital brands are ideally placed to benefit from this expansion."
For the commercial industry, the Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA) noted demographic success and its Research and Communications Manager, Alison Winter said, "Today's RAJAR data reveals record figures among the core advertiser demographic of housewives while the ever-growing number of diverse commercial radio services available via digital platforms are clearly demonstrating that they can attract and maintain a loyal audience."
A similar stress was put on the figures by the UK Radio Advertising Bureau, which noted a slight fall in listening. Its Media Planning Director Peter Cory said, "Quarter 4 2004 results provided mixed fortunes for Commercial Radio, demonstrating a marginal dip quarter-on-quarter in total hours, but once again delivering longer term positive trends against key advertiser demographics, with record reach and hours for housewife audiences. We remain very upbeat about the future, as radio moves on from the internal distractions of the RAJAR Court Case and the Capital/GWR merger, and continues to increase its relevance in an increasingly time-squeezed and on-the-move society".
Within the figures, compared to the previous quarter:
*BBC Radio 1 lost 116,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 9.926 million, a weekly reach down from 21% to 20%, and a listening share of 8.2%, down from 8.6%.
*BBC Radio 2 gained 245,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 13.305 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 27%, and a listening share of 16.4%, up from 16.1%.
*BBC Radio 3 gained 28,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 2.100 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 4%, and an unchanged listening share of 1.3%, up from 1.1%.
*BBC Radio 4 lost 16,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 9.406 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 19%, but a listening share of 11.5%, up from 11.3% thanks to longer listening.
*BBC Radio 5 Live, excluding Sports Extra, lost 417,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 5.981 million, a weekly reach of 12%, down from 13%, and a listening share of 4.3%, down from 4.9%.
(Including Sports Extra it gained 6,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 6.052 million, a weekly reach of 12%, and a listening chare of 4.4%)
*BBC World Service lost 92,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 1.273 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 3%, and an unchanged listening share of 0.60%.
*BBC Asian Network gained 62,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 535,000, an unchanged weekly reach of 1% but its listening share was down to 0.3% from 0.40%.
On the commercial side for national networks:
*GWR's Classic FM gained 59,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 6.204 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 13%, and a listening share up from 4.2% to 4.4%.
*The Wireless Group's talkSPORT lost 188,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 1.994 million an unchanged weekly reach of 4% and a listening share of 1.6%, down from 1.7%.
*SMG-owned Virgin (total including all AM and FM) lost 137,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 2.461 million, an unchanged weekly reach of 5%, and a listening share of 1.4%, down from 1.5%.
Digital national commercial networks:
*Core lost 20,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 122,000, too small for reach and share to be rated.
*Kerrang gained 112,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 1.120 million, unchanged reach of 2% and unchanged listening share of 0.5%.
*Oneword lost 3,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 112,000, too small for reach and share to be listed.
*Planet Rock gained 30,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 261,00, taking its reach to 1% and an unchanged share of 0.1%
*Q gained 54,000 listeners to end with a weekly audience of 375,000, an unchanged reach of 1% and an unchanged share of 0.1%.
*Smash Hits lost 10,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 714,000, an unchanged reach of 1%, and an unchanged listening share of 0.2%.
*The Hits lost 54,000 to end up with a weekly audience of 826,000, an unchanged reach of 2% and a listening share up from 0.2% to 0.3%
*The Storm lost 13,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 67,000, to small for reach and share to be rated.
*Sunrise gained 24,000 listeners to end up with a weekly audience of 536,000, an unchanged reach of 1%, and share down from 0.4 to 0.3%
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RAJAR web site (links to quarterly reports):

2005-01-28: Barnstable Broadcasting is exiting the Hampton Roads with the sale for USD 80 million of its five stations in the area to Max Media.
Barnstable will still own six stations in Long Island, New York and three in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Virginia-based Max Media already owned 32 radio and 11 TV stations; The stations it is now acquiring are WGH-FM (The Eagle), oldies station WFOG-FM, rocker WXMM-FM (Max-FM), inspirational WXEZ-FM (Star 94.1) and all-sports station WCMS-AM.
The Virginian Pilot quoted Max Media COO Gene Loving as saying, "We're excited to be adding these stations," but stressing that there are no plans for format changes.
Virginian Pilot report:

2005-01-28: Air America gains another market today in Memphis today when Entercom's Adult Standards WJCE-680AM is re-branded Progressive Talk 680 WWTQ-AM with a line-up that starts at 05:00 with "Morning Sedition" and ends at midnight with "The Mike Malloy Show" and includes Al Franken's show, "Unfiltered," "The Randi Rhodes Show" and "The Majority Report."
The station will also offer local news, weather and traffic and WJCE Operations Manager Jerry Dean told the Memphis Business Journal that the station hopes to add its own live morning show in a few months but had not decided on a host for it.
The growth of "progressive talk" has also benefited the Rev Jesse Jackson according to Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun- Times. He reports that Jackson's weekly show, "Keep Hope Alive with the Rev. Jesse Jackson" that made its debut in April last year on the company's WRGB-AM in Chicago has also been added to the company's progressive talk stations and now has affiliates in 23 markets including five in the US top ten.
The latest are WWRC-AM in Washington, D.C., WXDX-AM in Detroit and WCKY-AM in Cincinnati that switched to the format earlier this month (See RNW Jan 16).
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Previous Feder:
Previous Piquant (Air America owner):
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2005-01-28: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized XM Satellite Radio to launch two replacement satellites, XM3 and XM4 to replace the company's two existing satellites - XM Rock, launched in March 2001 to a 115 degrees West location, and XM Roll, launched two months later to an 85 degrees West location. The two existing Boeing 702 satellites have solar array problems that will reduce their useful life.
XM3 will then be launched to take over from XM Roll and XM has been given permission to move its current XM Roll satellite location to that of the present XM Roll and operate it from there - each satellite will operate at half-capacity during this period - until the successful launch of XM4.
XM will then be allowed to operate the current satellites as in-orbit spares for the remainder of their licence terms, thus ensuring that XM can continue to provide its service without interruption.
*The FCC has also announced that it is to hold a Low Power FM forum on the morning of February 8 at its headquarters.
It will be open to the public and will focus on the experiences of low power FM licensees getting on the air, staying on the air, and meeting local needs and on issues affecting the future of low power FM.
Speakers will be operators of LPFM stations and after the forum representatives from stations in the audience will be invited to comment about their stations or issues relating to the future of LPFM.
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2005-01-27: Emmis has suspended indefinitely host Miss Jones (Tarsha Nicole Jones) and the New York Hot 97 Morning Team following the airing of a parody "tsunami song" that made light of the Asian tsunami and included the lines:
"There were Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away.
You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim."
In a statement Emmis said the team had been suspended for the airing of the song and other comments made at the time (See RNW Jan 24) and noted that, although apologies had been given, station management felt that stronger action was necessary to demonstrate the severity of the situation: Miss Jones had apologized on air as well as on the web site (See RNW Jan 26)
Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings said in a statement, "What happened is morally and socially indefensible. All involved, myself included, are ashamed and deeply sorry. I know the members of the morning show are truly contrite. They know their actions here are inexcusable."
Before the suspension was announced David Hinckley in the New York Daily News had said the station was "weathering" the storm of protest and wrote, "The question of the moment about Hot 97's well-circulated "Tsunami Song" might be this: Miscalculation or mission accomplished?"
He noted that the station at first played things cool and, although Miss Info disassociated herself from the song, posted it on the station web site and as protests got louder, Miss Jones called it "my first boycott," and said she would play the song once more just to show that protesters can't dictate what goes on the air.
Protests continued however and Councilman John Liu, whose Queen's area has a large Asian population, said if WQHT is serious about remorse, its parent, Emmis, "should donate a week's worth of ad revenue to tsunami relief." Sprint, who had been the advertiser mentioned during the exchange when the song was played, says it is to withdraw adverts from the station.
Hinckley suggested that the song had gained attention for Hot 97 to the detriment of rival show Star and Buc Wild (Troi Torain and his half-brother Timothy Joseph) on Clear Channel's WUSL-FM (Power FM). Torain, who had also been involved in protests over verbal abuse of a woman at an Indian call centre, was formerly a top rated host at Hot 97 where he had also been involved in controversy over remarks made in poor taste.
Hinckley, who had commented of the song, "Getting people to notice is the whole point" ended by asking presciently," So at what point does an attention getting device attract too much of the wrong kind? And is there any such thing?"
The answer was not that long in arriving for once.
Previous Cummings:
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New York Daily News report:

2005-01-27: Sirius Satellite Radio, which says it now has more than 1.24 million subscribers, has increased its 2005 subscriber guidance to more than 2.5 million: It ended 2004 with 1,143,258 subscribers and says its revenues were up more than four-fold, costs of adding new customers were significantly down but its losses were also up, from USD 226 million to USD 712 million (USD 0.38 to USD 0.57 per share) for the year and from USD 148 million to USD 262 million (USD 0.14 to USD 0.21 per share) for the final quarter.
Total revenues rose from USD 12.9 million to USD 66.9 million for the year and from USD 4.8 million to USD 22.7 million for the quarter
Operating losses were up steeply - the GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) loss went up from USD 438 million in 2003 to USD 678 million in 2004 and the adjusted loss was up from USD 330 million to USD 456 million.
In the final quarter of 2004, the GAAP loss increased from USD 125 million in 2003 to USD 259 million and the adjusted loss went up from USD 91.6 million to USD155.2 million.
Sirius puts the increased losses down in part to increased subscriber acquisition costs as it added new customers - in the fourth quarter it added 480,969 subscribers, up more than threefold on a year earlier.
Sirius says it ended Sirius ended 2004 with approximately USD759 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, which it believes is sufficient to reach cash flow breakeven under its current business plan.
In 2005, it says it expects revenues of approximately USD 210 million with an adjusted loss from operations of some USD 480 million with total operating cash used, capital expenditures and purchases of restricted investments amounting to around USD 350 million, down from around USD 452 million in 2004.
During 2005 it says it expects average monthly churn is expected to be in the range of 1.6% to 1.7% during 2005 - the 2004 churn rate was 1.6%, its lowest - and the cost of acquiring a subscriber should drop to below USD145 - it was USD 177 in 2004, down from USD 293 in 2003 - with further declines expected in 2006.
Commenting on the results, CEO Mel Karmazin described 2004 as a "turning point" for the company and said it was "a strong indicator of what we believe the future holds for a new entertainment category still in its early days."
Of the year he said, "Not only did we greatly exceed our estimated subscriber target for the year, but we also beat estimates in subscriber acquisition costs and monthly churn. The fourth quarter produced blow-out sales, heavily fuelled by the holidays, and solid numbers in our automotive channel, which we believe will be a major contributor to our subscriber growth in 2005."
"Our strong start this year, along with an expanding slate of compelling programming, the introduction of third generation products later this year, and the anticipated arrival of Howard Stern next January, all contribute to our enthusiasm for the growth prospects of Sirius."
Karmazin also bluntly dismissed during the Sirius conference call rumours that the company was to be merged with its rival XM.
Earlier a Forbes online poll on the best moves Sirius has made lksted hiring him as its best move (around a third of the votes cast) with getting factory installation in DaimlerChrysler, Ford and BMW vehicles second (16%).
Sirius shares ended the trading day just under 1% down at USD 6.18 and fell a little further after markets closed. XM shares were up 1.38% at USD 33.14.
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2005-01-27: UK Chrysalis Group has followed on the heels of Capital and GWR (See RNW Jan 26 ) with a trading update showing a revenue fall for its radio operations. The results contrast with more upbeat updates from Scottish Radio Holdings and Emap (See RNW Jan 25)
The update for the first five months of the company's financial year - from September 1 to the end of this month - says revenues for the period were down 3% on a year earlier although Chrysalis chairman Chris Wright noted that the comparison is with "particularly strong first 5 months in the previous financial year, where like for like revenues for the same period increased by over 21%." "Encouragingly," he adds, "we have seen signs of improvement in the national advertising market since the beginning of January and hope to regain our lost audience share over the next two Rajar surveys [RNW note: The next UK Rajar - Radio Joint Audience Research - ratings are to be released tomorrow. In the previous two surveys, Chrysalis's Heart FM in London, which had toppled Capital FM from the top listened-to rank in London briefly- See RNW Oct 24, 2003 - has lost ground against its rival.]
Regarding other divisions Wright said Chrysalis Music has seen "an excellent start" to the year, its publishing operation "continues to benefit from the worldwide success of OutKast and the outlook for the remainder of the year remains encouraging, with interests in a number of albums across all territories" and "good progress continues to be made at Chrysalis Books."
He said that results would be biased more towards the second half in 2005 than in previous years and concluded, "Overall, I am pleased with the progress made at the Chrysalis Group in the first five months of the 2005 financial year as we continue to build on the excellent assets and market positions in our core radio and music businesses."
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2005-01-27: US lawmakers are reviving proposals for massive increases in penalties for broadcast indecency that died when Congress adjourned last year..
In the House Michigan Republican Fred Upton, who chairs the House Commerce sub-committee, and who was a prime drafter of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004 has unveiled a bill to raise the maximum fine from its current USD 32,500 per violation to USD 5,000 and also require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to consider revoking a station's licence after three violations.
In the Senate Kansas Republican Sam Brownback is introducing a measure to increase the penalties to USD 325,000 per violation up to a USD 3 million maximum for continuing violations according to his spokesman reported by Reuters.
Congress adjourned last year without acting on similar proposals that had been folded into a compromise measure that would have raised fines to as much as $500,000 per violation and a maximum of $3 million for continuing violations.
Previous Brownback:
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2005-01-27: Former Sydney 2UE colleagues Alan Jones and John Laws are to be going head-to-head with each other for an hour a day following changes to its scheduling by Macquarie Radio Network's 2GB where Jones is now breakfast host.
Jones show on 2GB has been extended by an hour, now running from 05:30 to 10:00 with Ray Hadley following from 10:00 to 13:00. Laws remains in his 09:00 to noon slot and the speculation is that 2GB is trying to use the extra hour of Jones to keep listeners from switching stations to Southern Cross Broadcasting's 2UE, the one-time Sydney leader that has languished in the ratings since Jones moved to 2GB.
Previous Jones:
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2005-01-27: Minnesota Public Radio's newest station, 89.3 The Current, KCMP-FM, is now on air in Minneapolis-St Paul on the frequency previously used by St.Olaf College's classical music public station WCAL-FM and is airing pop in place of classical. It had previously given broad details of the programming to be aired (See RNW Dec 19, 2004).
The Current's output will air for most of the time in Rochester on KMSE-FM, also acquired from the college by MPR, but KMSE will keep classical music from 06:00 to 09:00. MPR will continue to air its news and information programming in Rochester on KZSE-FM and will also retain The Morning Show with Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole on its classical station KLSE-FM.
Music on the new station will be chosen from a library of some 5,000 albums, around a hundred times the choice offered by the playlists of many US commercial stations.
MPR President Bill Kling said they were " very proud" of the new station, adding, "We've gathered people from within MPR and bright new voices in the community to create a unique format and a unique sound."
Previous Kling:
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2005-01-26: Latest figures from the UK Digital Radio Development Bureau show that DAB digital radio sales in December exceeded expectations comfortably and took the cumulative total of receivers now sold to 1.272 million, well above the 1 million target set by the Bureau at the start of 2004.
Figures from electronics industry auditor GfK showed sales of DAB digital radios in December at 346,400 were more than a third of the total now sold.
The DRDB is forecasting another doubling of the total of DAB receivers sold by the end of this year.
Previous UK DRDB:

2005-01-26: Arbitron has reported final quarter revenues in 2004 up 11.4% on a year earlier at USD 72.9 million producing net income up 10,3% at USD 9.6 million (USD 0.31 per diluted share up from USD 0.28).
For the full year Arbitron's revenues were up 8.4% to USD 296.6 million, and net income was up 21.4% to USD 98.4 million (from USD 1.63 to USD 1.92 per diluted share).
Arbitron also noted that during 2004 it reduced its long-term debt from USD 105 million at the end of 2003 to USD 50 million at the end of 2004.
Commenting on the results president and CEO Stephen Morris spoke of "yet another challenging year" during which the company was able to increase revenues and earnings.
He noted that Arbitron had signed long-term contracts with a number of companies including Clear Channel and Viacom its two largest customers and said this would allow Arbitron to "focus our energies on helping our customers take advantage of the opportunities that we believe the advertising environment will present in 2005."
Morris also spoke of the development of the company's Portable People Meter (PPM) and noted that it had completed the first two waves of recruitment for PPM tests in Houston.
He told the company's conference call that the Houston test was critical but was only part of the activities linked to the PPM including an economic study of its impact and accreditation of the PPM by the Media Rating Council that needed to be carried through this year.
Morris said the full spring survey, which would show both diary and PPM results, would be critical information in determining the impact of electronic measurement.
Looking ahead, he said he said, "Given the current state of the radio advertising economy and the continued stability of our core ratings business, we believe that Arbitron is in a good position to deliver continued growth in revenue and profitability in 2005."
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2005-01-26: Capital Radio and GWR, which are to merge to form Britain's largest commercial radio group, have both issued trading updates that show weaknesses and concerns over the next year.
Capital's update, issued in connection with its Annual General Meeting, showed revenues in the final quarter of 2004 down 4% on a year earlier although it said there had been some signs of improvement and it anticipated that January revenues would be flat year on year.
GWR like-for-like figures for the quarter were down 3% on a year earlier and it commented that although the market was relatively weak in October and November it had shown some growth in December.
During that month total revenues were up 5% helped by an 8% increase in national revenues. GWR says the growth came mainly from its national commercial station Classic FM whose national revenues were up 10% on a year earlier.
For the quarter, however, Classic FM's revenues were down 7% on a year earlier when they had shown a 12% year on year increase whilst GWR's Local Radio Group, which accounts for around 70% of group revenues, saw revenues decline 3% in the quarter: In the final quarter of 2003 they had been up 13% year on year.
GWR says that like-for-like total Group revenues are likely to be down by 4% year-on-year in January and forward visibility remains short term.
The two groups said that talks are being held with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about the sale of 106 Century FM in the East Midlands and they expect to complete the merger in early May.
Previous Capital:
Previous GWR:

2005-01-26: Emmis's WQHT-FM Hot 97 in New York has now broadcast an apology by Program Director John Dimick and also by host Miss Jones ( Tarsha Nicole Jones) over the "tsunami song" parody that was aired on its "Miss Jones in the Morning Show" last week (See RNW Jan 24).
In her comments the host said, "I apologize to all who have been offended by my poor decision to go along with playing that insulting (to say the least) Tsunami song. I should have known better and I didn't. So I'm sorry and hopefully we can move forward from this, or I can move forward from this being a better hostess, because I am better than that, and I know better than that -- and you deserve better radio than that."
The station, which had already posted an apology, has also now removed the (non-working) link it was still carrying on Monday to the song.
There have been calls for action from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) but the agency has so far made no comment about the matter.
Previous Emmis:
Previous "Miss Jones":

2005-01-26: The BBC Governors Programme Complaints Committee in its latest finding covering the final quarter of 2004 has partly upheld one appeal out of 14 concerning complaints rejected by the Corporation's Complaints Unit.
One appeal related to a matter of taste and decency and 13 to matters of fairness of accuracy with one of the latter, a complaint concerning a segment of a TV programme on narcolepsy being shown in another TV programme out of context, being partially upheld.
Another complaint concerning BBC trails for digital radio that promoted digital audio broadcasting but was not platform neutral because it failed to mention that digital radio was also available on satellite and terrestrial digital TV platforms was held to be out of the Committee's remit and referred to the BBC's Head of Marketing, Radio & Music for a response.
Of the other eleven fairness and accuracy appeals not upheld, four involved radio, two of which alleged bias against Israel: One related to an Islamic cleric's reference to Israel as "the traditional enemy of the Arabs" and another to a news report on an attack by Israeli warplanes on what Israel called "Palestinian targets" in Lebanon and said to be biased because it did not mention in the first bulletin - which aired only minutes after the Israeli Defence Force released a statement saying the raid was a response to attacks from Lebanon - although later bulletins focussed on the IDF statement
The other appeals relating to radio concerned a discussion about media coverage of Europe that the complainant alleged implied that to be anti the European Union was to be xenophobic and a report that Muslim Council of Britain was urging voters to vote in the forthcoming elections in order to halt the rise of far-right parties had been biased because there had been no opportunity for the British National Party (BNP) to respond.
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2005-01-25: Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) has announced a strong start to its 2005 financial year with revenues from continuing activities up 11% on a year earlier in the first quarter running from October to December and like-for like-revenues up 5%.
In an update given at the company's Annual General Meeting SRH chairman Lord Gordon of Strathblane said its radio local advertising had remained strong but "the national market was challenging, particularly in December."
"Notwithstanding this," the update continued, "like-for-like radio revenues were up 3% compared with the corresponding period last year (continuing operations plus 13%). In press, revenues grew 8% compared with the same three months a year ago."
Early trading for the second quarter said SRH looked encouraging for all revenues and the Board "looks forward to a good result for the group overall, for the financial year to 30 September 2005."
SRH is due to issue interim results on May 19 but there is continued speculation that it is likely to be the target of a bid from Emap, which holds just under 30% of the company.
Emap itself issued an unscheduled trading update in advance of an investor road show in New York and Boston this week in which it said current trading was good for UK radio and consumer magazines and for B2B display, was strong for TV and B2B exhibitions and weak for B2B recruitment.
In France it said advertising was tough and newsstand sales were weak but subscriptions were stable whilst in the US circulation was stable and advertising was reasonable.
Also in the UK, Capital Radio has announced that its Strategy and Development Director Nathalie Schwarz is to leave the company at the end of this month.
Schwartz, who joined Capital as Company Secretary and Head of Legal Affairs in 1998 and was appointed Strategy and Development Director in 2001 and has been a member of the board since December 2003.
She led the group's submissions to UK regulators the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Ofcom for its merger with GWR, which has now been approved but is leaving with no post to go to and reports are that there was no suitable position for her in the merged group.
Paying tribute Capital chairman Peter Cawdron said in a statement, "Nathalie has been an influential figure both at Capital and within the radio industry and has made a significant contribution to the Group's progress…We wish Nathalie every success in her future endeavours"
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2005-01-25: The Australian federal government has invited head-hunting companies to compete for a tender to find a head for its planned Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that is due to take over media regulatory roles currently filled by the Australia Communication Authority (ACA) and the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA).
The planned merger was announced in May last year at which time the government said the new body would be responsible for regulating telecommunications, broadcasting, radiocommunications and online content: It added that the ACMA will be established by 1 July 2005, subject to the passage of enabling legislation.
The tender documents say the chair of the new body will have a role that also encompasses the duty of chief executive officer and will report to the Australian minister for telecommunications.
The job would be offered for an initial period of up to five years with possible re-appointment up to a maximum of ten years and will have an annual operating budget of some AUD 70 million (USD 54 million) and collect taxes and fees amounting to around AUD 450 million (USD 347 million) a year.
The document also notes that the new body is being formed in part because of a "convergence of communications technologies" and adds that the person appointed will need a "sound understanding of relevant technological issues and their potential impact on the regulatory environment".
In an unrelated ruling, the ABA has said community radio station service Radio Mulba in Port Hedland, Western Australia, breached its licence conditions by broadcasting advertisements.
The licensee had argued that it had not intended any breach in interviews of six retailers during a live broadcast from a shopping centre, that it had not received payment, although the retailers gave information on the goods or services they offered and shopping centre management representatives gave such details for three other retailers. It said it had suspended the broadcasts when told of the investigation and would ensure there were no such future broadcasts.
The ABA noted that this was the first breach by the station and proposes to take no further action. It rejected an additional contention that naming brands of cigarette during comments that were intended to highlight tobacco companies' disregard for people's health amounted to advertising tobacco products.
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2005-01-25: Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting has announced the launch of what it terms a "multi-media business-to-business campaign designed to emphasize the power of Infinity radio" through adverts in national and media trade publications.
The "How Far Will You Go?" campaign will target such groups as media planners and buyers in an attempt to persuade them to pay attention to the scope offered by Infinity.
Over the next few months the campaign will be extended to include radio, outdoor, direct mail and online, and will be incorporated into the sales and marketing efforts of local Infinity stations across the country.
It will include testimonials from Monster and Daimler Chrylser executives, to communicate how agencies and clients can realize the full potential of a new idea with radio. One ad states, "At Infinity Broadcasting, we're taking the world's most relevant free media to places most have never dreamed. Think big, and go bigger. Take your ideas to Infinity."
Infinity chairman and CEO Joel Hollander commented in a statement, "Advertisers today need to think differently in targeting consumers - the media landscape continues to get fragmented and clutter is still a problem - but radio remains one of the most effective tools in a media planner's arsenal."
"Infinity stations attract millions of listeners each morning, day and night, and it has been proven time and time again that this is a responsive audience. We are taking this opportunity to present a bold and provocative campaign which not only illustrates the reach and impact of Infinity, but encourages advertisers to take full advantage of their ideas by utilizing this highly functional medium."
In an unrelated announcement Infinity has also given a partial reprieve for fans of its former WHFS-FM that it switched to a Spanish-language "El Zol" format earlier this month (See RNW Jan 13) and which it hopes to change to WZLL-FM.
It has put the station's programming online through the AOL Radio Network as WHFS.com, a 24-hour, seven day a week audio stream of the former alternative rock station. It is also to air "HFS on Live 105.7" on evenings and at weekends on its Baltimore Live 105.7 FM.
The nightly programming hosted by Tim Virgin will feature personalities and music previously heard on WHFS but Live 105.7 FM's daytime programs, including Howard Stern and Don & Mike, will continue as at present.
Previous Hollander:
Previous Viacom-CBS-Infinity:

2005-01-25: The BBC has started to re-launch its Internet Radio Player in a move that should be completed today and make almost all the Corporation's radio output for a week after its broadcast.
The Corporation already makes most of its output available online, particularly that of Radio 4 almost all of whose output is already available on=demand for a week after airing and some for much longer, and says that its service attracts more than 10 million hours of listening a month: The new player will add more than 80 extra programmes including Colin & Edith, Jo Whiley and Vernon Kay from Radio 1; Steve Wright, Sarah Kennedy and Ken Bruce from Radio 2; Morning on 3 and Performance on 3 from Radio 3;and a number of programmes from its digital networks as well as featuring live streams of all the BBC's local radio stations.
It will also offer listeners the option of stopping a programme at any point, switching off the computer and then resuming listening from that point at any time during the seven days the programme is available.
In addition it will give details of current and next programmes for each station and will be integrated with the BBC's News, Sport and Weather Players and will also allow listeners to stay with a programme whilst checking what else is on offer through links to lists of most popular programmes or programming of a particular genre.
Commenting on the benefits of making it possible to listen by genre the BBC's controller of Radio and Music Interactive Simon Nelson told the UK Independent that the current design of its Radio Player just could not cope with the hundreds of programmes on offer.
"There are thousands of people who would enjoy the comedy we put out but just wouldn't go to brands like Radio4 and negotiate a schedule that includes The Archers and Woman's Hour," he says.
"We can offer comedy programmes to 25-year-olds who are not ready to tune in and listen to them on Radio 4… We want to push down this road of introducing people to stuff they wouldn't normally listen to."
Nelson noted that people were put off because of their perceptions of the output of BBC networks, commenting, "Radio 3 makes world-beating jazz programmes but many people still regard it as a classical music station" and adding that there were other jazz-related offerings on Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio Scotland, Radio Wales, Radio Ulster and 1-Xtra.
Nelson said he hoped future versions of Radio Player would emulate websites such as Amazon and iTunes, taking users on a journey by noting their listening habits and recommending related programmes on other BBC networks.
The paper also noted the major resources that the BBC had put into its system and said these were not available to the commercial sector although some commercial networks such as SMG-owned Virgin and Emap-owned Kiss were providing on-demand services.
It also reported some scepticism in commercial radio about the appeal of this, quoting Nick Pigott, digital content manager for GWR, as saying he was not convinced that radio on demand had the same appeal in the commercial sector where schedules are often built on consistent music programming. "I believe that for commercial industry it's something of questionable benefit at the moment," said Pigott.
Previous BBC:
Previous GWR:
UK Independent report:

2005-01-25: Following the announcement that US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael K.Powell is to step down in March (See RNW Jan 21), the Commission's Media Bureau Chief Ken Ferree has announced that he is to leave on March 4.
Ferree, who was appointed to his current post in 2001 by Powell, has not said what he intends to do after he leaves. He had headed the FCC cable bureau before he moved to his current post.
The FCC says that a decision on who will succeed Ferree will be up to whoever is appointed chairman of the Commission.
Previous FCC:
Previous Ferree:

2005-01-25: Italian publisher Mondadori, which is controlled by Fininvest, the holding company of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's family, has announced completion of its purchase of Italian National Radio Group Radio 1-0-1 for Euros 39.6 million (USD 51.7 million): Last year it had said it was to pay Euros 42 million (then USD 52.5 million) on the purchase, a move that raised concern about excessive influence by Berlusconi on Italy's media (See RNW Oct 21, 2004).
Fininvest has also said it had taken a 10% stake in local station owner Rock FM.
The deals are seen as the start of moves by Italian media giants to buy into the country's fast growing radio sector and last year Mondadori's CEO and deputy chairman Maurizio Costa said he hoped Radio 101 would be the first of a series of investments in the sector and also commented on potential synergies between radio and other parts of the Fininvest media empire.

2005-01-24: This week to start our print look at radio we could not resist the opening paragraph of Gerry McCarthy's Radio Waves column about Irish Radio in the UK Sunday Times: "With its flexibility and speed of response, radio remains the best barometer of the public mood," he wrote. "If there is such a thing as a national conversation it can be heard on talk shows. But some forms of public conversation are more fruitful than others."
McCarthy, whose remarks would certainly not apply in all countries - it certainly doesn't fit the styles of many popular US hosts- then went on to consider different styles of talk radio - that of Gerry Ryan whose method McCarthy said was to "the conversation personal… Actively introducing his beliefs allows Ryan to modulate the conversation in a highly productive manner."
"He does not act the part of a neutral modulator or passive sounding board. He interacts, making himself a part of the equation. This has a definite psychological effect. Conversation works best when both participants make equal contributions."
"By contrast," commented McCarthy, "Liveline is still hidebound by an ethos of neutrality. Joe Duffy, its presenter, tends to act the part of a neutral referee, playing callers off against one another. He avoids taking sides and generally aims to balance opposing points of view…As a result, Liveline can get locked into sterile political debate with tried and tested arguments winging back and forth like ping-pong balls. The form inhibits it from reaching the places Ryan is able to touch."
Also discussing styles - and noting a difference between the UK and US - was Guy Browning in the UK Guardian.
In "How to ... ... be a DJ" he began, "A good DJ gives you more pleasure in your ear than anything other than actually putting in a figure and waggling vigorously. Bad DJs encourage you to put both fingers in your ears and keep them there."
"DJs," he continued, "have to be able to deal with the public as if they were normal, sane people, even when bats are clearly loose in their belfry. The ability to interrupt and cut people short is therefore vital… To be a successful DJ in the US, you need to have lots of opinions and share them at high volume."
"In Britain, successful DJs must be masters of self-deprecation. Given the looks of most DJs, this probably comes naturally. There are no good-looking DJs over 40, as TV claims the cute ones."
Browning took another dig at the occupation later, commenting," Some radio stations are all music and some are all talk. The worst combine the two, where the DJ talks over the music. DJs are divided into those with musical integrity and those with producers. The first choose the music and try to convince you that it's worth listening to. The others play what they're told to play."
Also from the UK, a tribute to a DJ in the other UK Sunday Times Radio Waves column - that of Paul Donovan: His column this week was on the UK Radio Aid programme to aid tsunami victims (See RNW Jan 18), a programme carried by most of Britain's commercial radio stations, the first time they have co-operated to broadcast a single show since commercial radio began in the UK 32 years ago.
After commenting on the p

January 2005 Archive

Prime Radio Stations Streams are Real Audio in most cases: Some have Windows Media as well. Radiofeeds UK -for comprehensive list of UK broadcast radio stations on the Internet

Prime Radio Stations
Streams are
Real Audio in
most cases: Some have Windows Media as well.

Radiofeeds UK -for comprehensive list of UK broadcast radio stations on the Internet