November 2005 Archive
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RNW November comment - -Concludes that radio should get the core audio right rather than worry too much about adding video.
RNW October comment - Wonders whether convergence is really here and what it means for radio if so.
RNW September comment - Looks at what was and - more importantly - didn't seem to be on the agenda at the 2005 NAB Radio Show.
2005-11-30: US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Kevin J Martin has told the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that he shares their concern "about the increase in coarse programming on television and radio today" and that he also shares their belief that voluntary action from broadcasters would be the best solution.
He concentrated his comments on TV, calling for cable TV subscribers to be allowed to choose only the packages they wanted or alternatively that the same indecency regulations that apply to terrestrial broadcasters should apply to channels in basic packages but not to premium content.
"If cable and satellite operators continue to refuse to offer parents more tools such as family-friendly programming packages, basic indecency and profanity restrictions may be a viable alternative that should be considered," he commented.
The cable companies have resisted the idea of a-la-carte menus and Kyle McSlarrow, head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association said the Martin suggestions clearly breach the First Amendment under current Supreme Court precedents.
Radio has so far escaped much of the controversy although the move of Howard Stern to Sirius and Opie and Anthony to XM could lead to organized protests as happened with his terrestrial broadcasts but Bonneville International CEO and National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Joint Board Chairman Bruce Reese complained of an "uneven playing field" for terrestrial radio operators who faced an increasingly competitive marketplace against competitors who did not face the same restraints.
He was backed up by Clear Channel's SVP for Government Relations Jessica Marvencano, who argued for self-regulation rather than draconian penalties for indecency and urged the FCC to set up a task force of broadcasters to set indecency guidelines.
She said such action would be just as effective as the penalties being proposed by various lawmakers but said Congress couldn't apply tough penalties for terrestrial broadcasters but allow satellite radio and cable companies to operate without limits.
RNW comment: The satellite companies as well as being subscription services are barred from taking local advertising and providing local services and we would note that the technology is certainly there to allow terrestrial operators to run premium digital channels if they want.
Maybe the best plan is to allow an even playing field - give satellite the option of providing local services and the broadcasters the option of running paid-for premium digital channels. Somehow we don't think an even playing field is what NAB really wants though.
Previous Bonneville:
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous FCC:
Previous Martin:
Previous NAB:
Previous Reese:
2005-11-30: The BBC says it has now topped 250 million requests for on-demand listening to its radio programmes, 100 million of them this year, during which cumulative listening to BBC radio online topped 134 million hours - 15,345 years.
The Corporation says that in October listening totaled 16.4 million house with 7.7 million unique visits: Commenting on the totals, Simon Nelson, Controller of BBC Radio & Music Interactive, said: "These incredible figures show that people really value the option of listening online and catching up with their favourite programmes if they miss them."
Total listening was up 0.38% month-on-month and 61.2% on a year earlier and of the BBC radio networks the largest month-on-month gain was by Radio Five Live with 17% whilst Five Live Sports Extra was at the other end of the range with a fall of 94%.
In terms of network listening in October this year, the rankings were - Total listening hours - live plus on-demand and percentage change compared to September then to October 2004:
Radio 1 - 4,647,114 + 9.9%; + 62.4%
Radio 2 - 3,340,378 + 12.8%; +68.6%.
Radio 4 - 2,623,027 +8.8%; +70.5%.
Radio 5 Live - 1,168,080 -17.7%% +44.6%.
BBC 7 - 1,422,528 + 5.9%; +82.6%
Radio 3 - 765,631 + 4.1%; + 52.4% (Up from seventh)
6 Music - 687,823 + 7.4%; 35.4% (Up from eighth).
1Xtra - 577,165 +13.3%; +15.4% (Up from ninth).
Asian Network 212,205 -1.3%; + 28.0%(Up from tenth)
5 Live Sports Xtra - 64,318 -93.5%; + 209.6%.
*5 Live Sports Extra was sixth in September.
The top five on-demand programmes in October were:
1- The BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers with 706,255 listens in October, up 23% on September, aided by strong storylines.
2 - Chris Moyles on BBC Radio 1 with 424,076 listens in October, down 5.4 % on September.
3 - Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 with 217,427 listens in October, up 10.8% on September.
4 - The Essential Selection on BBC Radio 1 with 202,735 listens in October, up 36.1 % on September.
5 - Empire, a new series on BBC Radio 4 with 189,236 listens in October.
* The Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 with 187,913 listens in October, up 10.9% fell a rank to sixth.
Previous BBC:
Previous BBC Online figures:
Previous Nelson:
2005-11-30: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has announced that Adam Spencer is to replace Julie McCrossin, who quit the post after only a month for health reasons, as breakfast host on its Sydney station ABC 702. He will start his new role at the end of February.
Spencer, who hosted Triple J's breakfast show from 1999 to 2004 with Wil Anderson until taking a break to help raise his child, has recently been working for the station and ABC Local Radio NSW Manager Roger Summerill commented, "Adam is well known to 702 listeners and audiences across Australia and I know they'll appreciate and enjoy his sharp wit, creative intelligence and warm energy as they start their day with him."
Spencer, who has a first class honours degree in Pure Mathematics, is also an author and was once voted "Best Speaker in the World" at the World University Debating Championships.
He is a current member of the Senate of the University of Sydney; is also on the NSW Premier's Advisory Committee on Greenhouse and Global Warming; is part of the NSW Health Department's Clinical Ethics Review Committee and is an ambassador for the redkite organization and the Fred Hollows Foundation while continuing to support numerous charities.
Previous ABC, Australia:
2005-11-29: Entercom's WWL-AM, "The Big 870", which gained many plaudits for its cover of the effects of Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding of New Orleans, is proving a lifeline to many people evacuated from the city according to the Los Angeles Times.
The 50,000 watts station can reach around 30 states at night time and the paper says for "many of the city's dispossessed, WWL has become a nightly ritual, a symbolic trip back home - presided over most weeknights by their host, advisor, therapist and friend, Deke "The Big Chief" Bellavia."
WWL says the report is a prime place for survivors to vent their anguish and to get a few answers although the size of the audience may not become clear until spring, since the Arbitron rating service temporarily has suspended audience surveys here. "But," it adds, "if the steady stream of calls and e-mails is any measure, the station's audience (also listening live on the Internet at www.wwl.com) has expanded hugely since the storm."
Bellavia takes over the airwaves at 1700 from afternoon host Garland Robinette, running his show with alternating partners - onetime oldies DJ Tommy Tucker and "Pal Al" Nassa and the paper says the others tend to distribute the facts, while Bellavia doles out the lovin'.
Amongst those expressing appreciation for the help received was school secretary Margaret Smith who said she was living alone more than two months after the storm and was desperate for repairs that she was ready to trade in a treasured playing-card collection, gathered over 25 years.
Bellavia and Tucker urged her not to give up her collection and pleaded with callers to help out leading to a stream of offers.
"Brother Deke and all them, they felt my cry," Smith said. "That's real, if you have a heart. They helped people. They are still helping people."
Previous Entercom:
Los Angeles Times report:
2005-11-29: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has announced the appointment of Kate Dundas, currently Head of Music Networks, to the expanded role of Head, National Networks with responsibility for the corporation's talk networks as well as the Triple J and ABC Classic FM responsibilities she already had.
She will take up the post when Mark Collier, Head of ABC Talk Networks, who has resigned, leaves on December 16.
Collier was one of the outsiders recruited to the ABC- he joined from talk station 2UE - by former ABC managing director Jonathan Shier and has been responsible among other things for introducing the corporation's large range of podcasts.
Sue Howard, Director of ABC Radio, paying tribute to his work, said in a statement, "Mark's contribution to ABC Radio and in particular, to the National Networks, has been immense. I will miss his energy, commitment and passion for radio enormously and wish him the very best in his new endeavours," adding, "I know Kate, with her extraordinary capabilities, will build on the networks' successes and will bring her own style and direction to the new role."
The ABC has also announced that Richard Aedy, formerly with its Media Report, is to replace Julie McCrossin as host of its Life Matters programme.
McCrossin left the programme to host the ABC 702 Breakfast show in Sydney but resigned from her new post after only a month for health reasons (See RNW Oct 6) and appears to have failed to get back a job at Radio National. So far no permanent replacement has been named for the breakfast slot that she left vacant.
Aedy will move into his new post at Life Matters, currently being hosted by Kate Evans, on January 23.
In Melbourne, ABC 774 has announced that Lindy Burns, currently filling in the Drive time slot is to take over the slot permanently: The role that was left vacant when Virginia Trioli moved to 702's morning slot in succession to succeeding Sally Loane, who quit the station when she learned the station was seeking a replacement (See RNW Aug 8). Loane is taking a public relations post with Coca Cola (See RNW Oct 31).
Previous ABC, Australia:
Previous Collier:
Previous Dundas:
Previous Howard:
2005-11-29: Former British cabinet minister David Blunkett, HSBC Chairman Sir John Bond; TV newsreader Anna Ford; Queen Noor of Jordan; and Steve 'Chandrasonic' Savale from the band Asian Dub Foundation are to guest edit BBC Radio 4's flagship Today breakfast show between December 27 and 31 this year under a scheme that began in 2003 (See RNW Dec 24, 2003 and Dec 10, 2004).
Under it the guest editors, with the assistance of BBC editors, producers, and reporters, are responsible for between a third and a half of their programme's output.
Today Editor Kevin Marsh said in a release, "Today's guest editors have been a great success. They've brought some fascinating and thought-provoking radio to Today listeners - and always from a fresh standpoint."
Blunkett, who said he intends to turn the table on regular Today show host John Humphrys, noted for his tough question of politicians, by interviewing him about the state of the media added, "Editing the Today Programme is something that I'm sure most listeners (and I am very much a listener now!) would want to have a go at. I'm particularly keen to reflect a better social and geographical spread, without alienating the traditional audience. I hope it will be entertaining - not full of heavy politics!"
Of the other guest editors, Queen Noor of Jordan says she will measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and Anna Ford will tackle ageism.
Previous BBC:
Previous Humphrys:
Previous Marsh:
2005-11-29: Conservative US host Rush Limbaugh has announced that he is to add video to his daily podcasts to Rush 24/7 subscribers from December 12 and including in the video his Morning Update, which is recorded the previous afternoon [RNW comment: Making it a late after date we'd have thought.]
There will be no extra charge to subscribers for the video about which Limbaugh says on his site, "The quality will be superb -- well, the content is flawless; you don't need to worry about the content because I'm in charge of that. Now, we've been testing this for the past two weeks, and I got a video iPod from my buds at CompUSA. I went out there, and I've been testing, looking at some of the video that we have prepared for the testing here, and it looks awesome. It's just awesome on a video iPod."
The video service is to be delivered using a Maven Networks Inc. platform and Limbaugh's syndicator Premiere Radio Networks has extended its agreement with Maven, whose technology is being used to deliver Limbaugh's audio podcasts.
Limbaugh is also continuing to promote his discounted offer - a mighty awesome USD49.95 a year (the normal price for the Rush 24/7 service -- the combined subscription including the Limbaugh letter is normally USD 59.90) for the "Rush 24/7 Limbaugh Letter Combo Subscription "to those who want to "adopt a soldier" by donating a subscription to Rush 24/7 and the Limbaugh letter to a member of the US Armed Forces. Members of the military who sign up are told that after the information they submit is verified they will be matched with a giver.
[RNW comment: When we first reported on Limbaugh's offer in our weekly look at print comment on media it was in the context of criticism, with which we fully agree, of Limbaugh's absence of shame at increasing his own income on the back of people risking their lives and we listed three other sites that were suggested as a better route to actually making donations to troops -See RNW Nov 21 Donations). If anything on reflection we find the man even worse since when we look at the detail we assume the names of those military members who sign up are likely to go into a list that Limbaugh will sell to give him even more income. To us the only positive note on the Limbaugh site is the one that says the Limbaugh subscription gifts are not tax deductible so at least other taxpayers are in no way forced to contribute.]
Previous Limbaugh:
Limbaugh web site:
2005-11-29: The UK Guardian is entering the podcast world with a weekly show from writer/comedian Ricky Gervais and his writing partner, Stephen Merchant, who will be reunited with their sidekick, Karl "the K Man" Pilkington, who produced their Saturday afternoon show that ran for two years on GCap Media's Xfm.
The paper quotes Gervais as saying of his decision to opt for the podcasts rather than return to Xfm, "I want to do a radio show where I can say what I want, when I want for as long as I want and that's free for anybody who can be bothered to listen anywhere in the world…We didn't want it to just be the best bits of a radio programme you'd missed so this is a show that is straight-to-Pod-cast. I suppose we're trying to create an exclusive club. We'd prefer this to be a few people's favourite show than a huge samey ineffectual broadcast."
The team will record 12 shows that will be posted by the paper on its site weekly from December 5.
Emily Bell, the editor in chief of Guardian Unlimited, commented, "Their humour is perfect for our audience, both here and in the US. GU has been experimenting with podcasting over the past year but this represents the start of a much bigger commitment to using different digital formats which give our users the best content in the most convenient way."
UK Guardian report:
2005-11-28: The broadcaster consolidation that happened in US radio following deregulation is now underway in the UK, where rumours abound of further deals, and likely to happen in Australia in the near future should current rules be eased as is expected and there, as in the US, there are fears about the likely effects.
Commenting on the plans, Jock Given in the Melbourne Age sums up his expectations succinctly with the headline, "The Government moves will mean more ownership concentration, not less."
"The Government," he writes, "has decided it wants to do the double. It is going to try to change the rules on media ownership in Australia, and those on introducing digital TV and shutting down analogue."
And of what is planned: "We know some of it already. The cross-media and foreign ownership rules are to go. That is a long-standing commitment. There will be no more commercial TV licences. That is a promise from the last election. There will be no new capital city commercial radio stations, in the most popular broadcast frequency bands, for six years after the start of digital radio services, expected in two to three years."
Givens says that already Australians had expressed concern about media ownership and notes that the 2003 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes found 81 per cent of Australians thought media ownership was too concentrated among a few rich families and adds that the concentration also affects Internet information with the country's top 10 news and information websites, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, almost all controlled by well-established players
He also notes the potential for misinformation, commenting, "Despite so many affordable technical possibilities, the juggernaut of the Information Age went to war on the basis of inaccurate information. Most Australians got through an election campaign unaware the "children overboard" pictures were not even taken on the same day as the acts whose motivation they were supposed to prove… These things run deeper than the structural question of who owns the media. But the fewer owners there are, the easier misinformation becomes. We need a smarter plan than simply freeing up the contest between commercial media organizations, and making our broadcasters digital."
In the US, where the consolidation is well along the road, two articles by David Lindquist in the Indianapolis Star last week showed something of the weakness of the market when it comes to giving the public what it wants, unless you are happy that the determinant is numbers measured in dollars rather than people.
Lindquist noted that five companies control 17 of the top 20 stations in the market and in one of two articles he reports comment by Susquehanna's Vice president and general manager Charlie Morgan (whose three Indiapolis stations and the rest of its radio business is being sold to newly formed private partnership - Cumulus Media Partners, LLC) about the of the killing of oldies WGLD-FM.
It was replaced by JACK-style free-form pop on the 104.5 frequency now occupied by the WJJK-FM and Morgan says that WGLD lacked a profitable future because advertisers were losing interest in its aging listeners.
"The business model of free radio is that we provide programming that accumulates a large enough audience of potential consumers so advertisers will want to support it," he commented.
The change to the new format initially took the station, which had frequently been ranked fifth, to sixth rank but it's subsequently dropped to tenth: It also changed the market for other players.
Shortly after the switch, Emmis switched its 17th ranked talk and adult pop WENS-FM to WLHK-FM or "Hank," that plays Nashville hits from various eras so as to take some of the audience from Susquehanna's top-ranked country WFMS-FM: The change worked and took WLHK to sixth in Arbitron's summer quarter.
Emmis executive Tom Severino, who was responsible for the change, said of 2005 "The entire market just changed dramatically. It wasn't just a normal evolution of change. This was a revolution."
In another reaction Entercom retired light-rock WTPI in October in favour of WNTR, "the Track," a 1970s to 1980s pop Jack variant that so far has been operating without on-air personalities although posts have been advertised.
Some former WTPI listeners complained of the demise of Indianapolis DJ Steve Cooper's long-running morning show with one woman saying, "When you wake up to the same voice for 20 years and then it's gone, they've taken the personality out of radio."
Both Radio One Inc, with four stations, and Clear Channel with three have so far resisted the temptation to flip formats, the former because its hop-hop WHHH-FM and R&B WTLC-FM are performing well.
The latter is putting faith in its less-is-more initiative to cut back on advertising clutter and the market's independent success story Indy Media's WKLU-FM has followed the same track: Owner Russ Oasis commented, "After four or five commercials, half the audience is gone. At only four commercials an hour, your audience stays."
His classic rock format, aided by some tinkering and a transmitter move, has risen from 22nd to seventh rank.
In California, Bob Sokolsky in the San Bernardino Sun comments on the impending demise of the Lounge adult music format on XTRA (690 AM). The station is dying because of a change in regulations that put Mexican-owned but Clear Channel operated station - via a lease - into the company's count for the market and took it above permitted limits.
Program director and morning host Brad Chambers says the format is likely to go in late December or early January. He says that since giving notice of the change he has been "getting literally thousands of letters, phone calls and e-mails" but that there's very little chance for the format.
"I'm guessing it will become a Spanish language news and talk station," Chambers says. "But we didn't want that change to come about in the usual way -- you know, when you tune in and suddenly find a totally different format and totally different on-air people. Our listeners have always been very loyal so we decided to tell them well in advance."
He adds of maintaining the format, "Advertisers don't pay attention to older listeners and you have to wonder why. People who are 45 (and older) make up 29 percent of our population and control 57 percent of our spending. You'd think someone would come to realize that. "But advertisers prefer to concentrate on the younger listener. And you'd be surprised at how many of them listen to this music too."
So on to listening suggestions and no apologies for eschewing the musical formats that make up most American radio - our view is that in general this is an area where there are so many sources for people to choose the music they want that the only reason for a recommendation would be particularly outstanding comment from a DJ that would make compelling listening a week later and we regard that as rather rare.
Strangely enough some of the same people seem capable of more compelling comment about things dating back much further, maybe because the source music on which they are commenting has stood the test of time.
In that category we'd put "I Will Not Let You Go... The Bohemian Rhapsody Story" from BBC Radio 2 on Saturday with comments from Brian May, Roger Taylor, members of Freddie Mercury's family, Ben Elton and members of the cast of We Will Rock You, record producer Roy Thomas Baker and others as well as Freddie Mercury himself in rare archive interview material.
And for variety we'd note that as well as the Queen version the programme includes various cover versions of an original that has attracted attention from amongst others Rolf Harris, G4, The Massed Bands of The RAF and the San Francisco Gay Men's Choir with versions for Christmas, brass band, and orchestra - it's quite interesting in Japanese!
Then from BBC Radio 4 last week the first part of a three-part series "Blowing the Music Away" looking at the musical history of New Orleans - past, present and potentially future. The first part will be on the station web site until tomorrow when the second part airs (13:30 GMT with a repeat on Saturday at 15:30).
And a mention for a first time of programme only available as a podcast or MP3: It's a little amateurish and not posted to a completely regular schedule but worth a dip into if only to sample some of the music of Native American Indian artists.
Host Michael Kickingbear, or more conventionally Mike Johnson, is a member of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe who has created his Indigenous People's Music show using MP3 audio files sent to him by Indian artists.
The techniques are simple and the audio quality variable - and we can't see it ever being profitable -but it does illustrate how much more easy it is now to make audio available without needing the big recording companies.
Next a couple of suggestions from BBC Radio 4 on Sunday that have a common theme in terms of the access to the corridors of power.
In File on Four, Sarah Spiller reported on the 15,000 lobbyists who try to influence and frequently succeed in influencing European policies and in Analysis Diane Coyle considers globalization in advance of next month's global trade talks in Hong Kong: Difficult not to conclude after them that it should be a legal requirement that lobbying companies publish the arguments they have used and the politicians and officials they have approached and evidence to back them up - not difficult to do now the Internet has made such things much easier - with automatic jail sentences for all directors of PR companies when there are breaches. Such a change might have made various politicians poorer but it could also have saved them from pushing noses too deeply into the trough.
Finally back to BBC Radio 2 and a couple of documentaries this week - on Tuesday at 20:30 GMT, Smile: The Genius Of Charlie Chaplin the first of two hour-long programmes and Saturday, also at 20:30 GMT - a John Lennon documentary, "Bigger Than Jesus." The remark made in an interview with a London newspaper - "…We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity" - attracted no outrage until it was reprinted in an American magazine four months later on the eve of a Beatles tour of the USA, leading to virulent attacks and boycotts -presumably from those whose faith was as significantly wanting as their knowledge of history, which should have told them not to take the comment that seriously.
Previous Columnists:
Indianapolis Star - Lindquist on new formats:
Indianapolis Star - Lindquist on major corporate owners:
Indigenous Music podcast/MP3 site:
Melbourne Age - Given:
San Bernardino Sun - Sokolsky:
2005-11-28: Sirius and XM are ramping up their sales and marketing efforts in the US and Canada -where XM launched last week (See RNW Nov 23) and Sirius launches on Thursday - in the rush up to the holiday period and in the US the next four weeks will be especially critical for the US satellite radio companies according to a Washington Post report that says the period from Thanksgiving will be the first major test of how many subscribers Howard Stern can pull in for Sirius.
For XM, the pressure is on to meet the six million-subscriber target it has forecast it will reach -a significant point on a move into operating profit - and XM is marketing its service on the basis of the service it offers.
Spokesman Chance Patterson, contrasting this with Sirius, said, "Our campaign this season is to make sure consumers know with XM they get the broadest range of choices and not programming tailored to just one segment of the population" whilst for Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin has already told analysts, "No one will not know that Howard is coming to Sirius."
The Sirius marketing campaign featuring Stern is limited at the moment because of the host's contract with Infinity and will continue into next year, when it will feature him more prominently.
In Canada the two companies are also in a race with XM Canada beating Sirius Canada to air last week albeit broadcasting from temporary studios in Montreal: Sirius is to launch on Thursday.
In the Toronto Star, XM Canada president and COO Stephen Tapp spoke of a "whirlwind" of getting ready, adding, "Yes, we're ahead of schedule," said Tapp. "We've just been working really hard to meet the demand we've been getting from our retailers and GM (which installs XM radio in more than 50 of its 2006 models) and other automotive partners to get the service up for Christmas… The Christmas selling season is the most important for satellite radio. And, based on Decima polling, with the awareness of satellite radio skyrocketing in this country to almost 50 per cent, we wanted to ensure that we were providing Canadians with a legal alternative, because the longer we were on the sidelines, the longer the grey market could take hold."
At Sirius Canada, Gary Slaight, President and CEO of Standard Broadcasting that with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is partnered with Sirius, argued for his company on the basis of superior service - it costs CAD 14.99 a month compared to CAD 12.99 for XM - saying, We have more channels. It's going to come down to the quality of the product."
Slaight said he "started looking at satellite radio when it launched in the States," adding, "As a conventional broadcaster, I was sceptical. Then I realized the impact on commercial radio is going to happen anyway, so we may as well be part of it. It's a few years before we have to worry about (its impact on our main business); it's mostly subscribers, so we're not worried about it impacting ad support."
"We already had the infrastructure, studios, people, programming, expertise and marketing clout," said Slaight, who speculated that XM partner, Canadian entrepreneur John Bitove Jr., CEO of Priszm Canadian Income Fund - which runs KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell restaurants in seven provinces - will "use his other business to promote the hell out of it."
Slaight, whose company in 2001 teamed up with CHUM and Newcap in a deal giving them equal shares of Canadian Internet music streaming company Iceberg Media.com, expressed particular excitement over Sirius's Canadian rock station, Iceberg Radio, saying, "This is a great business for us, but it also gives us an opportunity to give Canadian talent a window into U.S., because all those American subscribers will be able to hear them."
Iceberg's programmer Liz Janik said of the channel, "Our mandate is 100 per cent Canadian talent. That would probably upset most broadcasters, but here we're pretty happy about that. We've put the word out that we're taking Canada to the U.S. …Our playlist will be 25 per cent that's never been on a music chart and 25 per cent of albums that have been out for less than six months. So right away, half of it will be brand new music to be explored. "
And the launch music for Iceberg on Thursday? The first hour will feature songs with the word "radio" in them and Janik says, "Rush's `Spirit of Radio' is a good bet."
Previous Bitove:
Previous Iceberg:
Previous Karmazin:
Previous Sirius:
Previous Sirius Canada:
Previous Slaight:
Previous Standard Broadcasting:
Previous Stern:
Previous Tapp:
Previous XM:
Previous XM Canada:
Toronto Star report:
Washington Post report:
2005-11-28: Britain's Sunday papers are reporting that the fall in the share price and its plans to get out of its problems have revived takeover interest in GCap Media from private equity groups with the Independent on Sunday saying that former Emap Performance chief executive Tim Schoonmaker is fronting a bid from Australian investment bank Macquarie for the group: Earlier this month the UK Guardian reported that Schoonmaker was heading a bid but said it was not thought to involve Macquarie (See RNW Nov 5). Other groups said to be evaluating a bid are private equity groups Cinven and 3i.
GCap chief executive Ralph Bernard played down suggestions of a takeover after the interim results were released, saying there had not been shareholder reaction and terming its institutional shareholders " a pretty stable bunch" who would not be bounced into reaction and adding, "Do I look bothered?" The speculation I read is just that: speculation. It's having zero effect. We have not had any approach."
The Observer suggests that this may change and notes that City reaction to Bernard's plans to run fewer adverts had been sceptical and noting they had recommended that investors sell their shares.
It said the fall of a fifth in the market value of the company over the past week had made it vulnerable to a bid and adds that the Daily Mail and General Trust, which has a 15% stake in GCap might opt to bid itself rather than sell its holding.
North of the border,The Scotsman focuses its report on the re-launch of GCap's regional dance and rock station Beat 106 as Xfm, noting that like Capital FM in London its audience has fallen significantly - down from a high of 509,000 listeners in 2001 to 379,000 in the latest ratings.
It quotes Stuart Duncan, marketing and operations controller for Beat 106, as saying, "Guitar-led music has become the first choice with the Scottish audience. The new format can offer something to new listeners whose needs are currently not being met while still retaining its specialist music appeal."
Radio consultant John Evington, who said strong brands will be more important in a digital future when there is more choice commented, "Xfm in Scotland can survive by targeting a niche audience; it will never have a massive audience reach but it will have a very clearly defined and sellable audience…But the transition has to be handled very carefully, as there is some equity in the Beat 106 brand."
The Scotsman also notes former BBC Radio 1 and Radio Clyde host Mark Page's attempts to keep a Lanarkshire local station going. Page's Garrison Radio, which has five stations providing radio programmes to British Army barracks, took over the licence of the former Edge 107, which Kingdom Radio closed down earlier this year after final attempts to find a buyer for it as a going concern failed (See RNW July 16).
Page said the re-launch of the former UKRD Clan FM as The Edge was an error, commenting, "They weren't running a local station for Lanarkshire. It was an image-station, a brand focused on playing new music for Glasgow even though the signal didn't properly cover Glasgow. They made the mistake of trying to take on Clyde."
Page, who remains based in Middlesborough, is broadcasting as L107 from a business centre in Hamilton and believes he can succeed by keeping a close grip on costs and concentrating on local news and sport.
"Real Radio and Radio Clyde are certainly not the giant commercial monopoly stations of a decade or two ago," says Page. "It's fine to mention them, but the competition comes from around twenty stations, not two, and we're uniquely placed as the only media outlet that specializes purely in Lanarkshire - there isn't even a newspaper that covers the whole of Lanarkshire."
In Ireland, the deadline for Zed FM to pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court against the award of the Dublin alternative rock licence to Phantom FM expires today: The licence was granted to Phantom FM last year (See RNW Nov 9, 2004) and earlier this month the High Court upheld the award (See RNW Nov 6).
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2005-11-27: The main regulator-related stories over the past week were two large penalties - a record fine in the UK and in the US Warner Music Group's settlement of a payola investigation by the New York Attorney General's office (See RNW Nov 23), an issue also being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)..
There were no radio announcements from Australia but in Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) had a moderately busy week with radio decisions including the following (In order of province):
Alberta
Approval of conversion of CKWA-AM, Slave Lake to 5,700 watts FM:
Ontario:
*Approval of new 5 watts English-language developmental community FM in Stella.
*Approval of transmitter relocation for Adult Classic Hit FM radio station in Kincardine approved in February.
*Approval of extension until 13 November 2006 of deadline to commence operation of new CBC English- and French-language FM radio station in Algonquin Park authorized in November 2003.
*Approval of transmitter relocation, power decrease from 700 watts to 485 watts and antenna height increase for new adult standards/easy listening FM radio station in Ottawa approved in June.
*Licence renewal until 31 August 2012 for CHPR-FM, Hawkesbury.
Prince Edward Island:
*Approval of 1,880 watts transmitter at St. Edward to rebroadcast the programming of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's national French-language network service La Première Chaîne.
*Approval of 173 watts transmitter at Urbainville to rebroadcast the programming of the CBC's national French-language network service La Première Chaîne.
Quebec:
*Approval of subsidiary communications multiplex operations (SCMO) channel by CJPX-FM Montréal to broadcast a service predominantly in the Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil and Sinhalese languages.
*Approval of application by TVA Group Inc. for a licence to operate a French-language radio network to offer programming originating from CFTM-TV Montréal, a new network that will allow the live simultaneous broadcast of programs such as "Devine qui vient ce soir II" and "Star Académie 2005".
The CRTC also issues various public notices including in Manitoba the approval of transfer of effective control of Radiolink, licensee of adult standards and easy listening CHNR-FM , Winnipeg, from Radiolink to Newcap Inc.
The deal was opposed by Rogers Broadcasting Limited, CHUM Limited and Corus Entertainment Inc., all of whom own and operate commercial stations in Winnipeg. They claimed that CHNR-F had abandoned its format commitment and was currently operating in an adult contemporary format and also breaching regulations on Canadian content. Newcap contended that the station had not breached its licence conditions.
Granting the approval the CRTC noted that CHNR-FM is not profitable, nor is it expected to be in the foreseeable future, that Radiolink has indicated that it does not have sufficient resources to sustain the operation of CHNR-FM, and concluded that the station and the audience it serves will benefit from Newcap's broadcasting expertise and its ability to ensure that the station attains financial viability.
There were no radio decisions from Ireland although there the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) is involved in the release of radio ratings, the latest of which came out last week (See RNW Nov 24).
In the UK, Ofcom levied a record GBP 125,000 (USD 215,000) fine on a radio station for various racist comments and jokes (See RNW Nov 26): it also gave reasons for its award of seven community licences earlier this month (See RNW Nov 12). The reasons given ranged from demonstration of local demand and support for the services, to broadening of choice, and provision of access and training.
Ofcom also published another Broadcast Bulletin, this time upholding no complaints against radio (See RNW Nov 22) and also appointed Philip Graf as its Non-Executive Deputy Chairman to replace Philip Hooper, former chairman of the UK Radio Authority (See RNW Nov 24).
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as well as the issue of payola, also received a filing from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) calling on it to reject low-power AM (See RNW Nov 23).
The FCC also announced that it was now ready to grant six more FM construction permits to winners in its Auction 37, with final payments due on December 6: They are for stations in Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, and Texas.
The New York permit relates to a USD 2.7 million bid from Radioactive, LLC., which is headed by former Clear Channel Radio CEO Randy Michaels.
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2005-11-27: Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) has expressed interest in being involved in TV and FM radio in India but is concerned at the restrictions on news and current affairs programmes according to a Press Trust of India report in the Hindustan Times.
It quotes Director-General Erik Bettermann, who was visiting Delhi as saying that DW, which had revenues of about 300 million Euros last year, was open to making investments in the Indian market
Bettermann, who met top officials of public broadcasters All-India Radio (AIR) and Doordorshan, welcomed the government's decision to allow foreign direct investment in FM radio but expressed concern on the ban on news and current affairs programming in private FM radio and barring of foreign TV news broadcasters from running programming and advertising specifically designed for Indian audience.
DW, which is funded by the German government, transmits multilingual services, including a service in Hindi over its network, which has 29 radio channels as well as TV.
The report says that the BBC is understood to have already filed an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for a 20 per cent stake in a radio company.
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Hindustan Times/PTI report:
2005-11-26: Shares in GCap Media fell by another 5% on Friday to end the week at 268 pence following a fall of 17% on Thursday after the release of weak interim results (See RNW Nov 25): Comment in the financial pages of British newspapers had been solidly focused on the company's problems.
In the Financial Times, Media Correspondent Emiko Terazono terms the past 12 months "a lost year at GCap Media" and notes that it's market value, a total of more than GBP 700 million (USD 1.205 billion) for predecessor companies Capital Radio and GWR had fallen to GBP 465 million (USD 801 million at Thursday's close - it was down to GBP 439.6 million - USD 757 million- on Friday).
The FT quoted one analyst as saying of GCap's plans to cut back advertising at Capital Radio - which chief executive Ralph Bernard said would lead to a GBP 3.3 million (USD 5.7 million) fall in pre-tax profits on a GBP 7 million (USD 12 million) fall in revenues for the year to March 2007 - that it was "commercial suicide."
In The Times - not a related paper - Robert Cole under the heading "The road to radio recovery looks hard for struggling GCap" says "In two or three years' time these may be seen as wise. At present, however, the action taken on the dividend and the Capital Radio advertising rate card simply looks necessary. Investors will rightly question whether they want anything to do with a company that finds itself backed into a corner." And concludes after further analysis, "Things may get better, eventually. The immediate prospects for the share price, however, are poor. Sell."
The Telegraph uses Queen's hit single Radio Ga Ga as descriptive of GCap's plight, commenting, "Judging by the ghastly sounds coming out of GCap Media yesterday, the commercial radio group has gone all Radio Ga Ga, to use the lyrics of the Queen hit single which the company's Capital FM station used to play so much."
It concludes, "Having been ousted in September with a pay-off of at least £600,000, Mr Mansfield [former Capital chief executive David Mansfield who became initially GCap chief executive] can now watch in comfort from the sidelines as Mr Bernard desperately tries to clear up the mess of the Mansfield years. If he doesn't there will be plenty of time for him each afternoon to sing along with one of his favourite Queen songs:
The Guardian in one of its reports takes up the issue of blame under the heading "Capital's former management blamed for slump" and quotes GCap Media operations director Steve Orchard as saying Capital's management was "overwhelmed" by the many problems at Capital FM and kept hoping ratings would improve whereas in fact, the station lost half its audience in five years.
Orchard said the arrival of GWR executives, following the merger with Capital Radio, allowed the company an "outside perspective" on the problems at Capital FM that combined with most recent ratings figures so bad that an overhaul could no longer be put off.
"When you are in the middle of it, you always hope that the next Rajar would turn the corner and the management had been overwhelmed by those factors. But when you get a [Rajar] result like last time, and a new management, you can say 'we've got to do it'. Outside perspective is a very valuable tool," he said.
Capital FM is to re-launch on January 3 as Capital Radio to combat the four biggest problems outlined by Mr Orchard- being "too cheesy, too hype-y; DJs talking too much; playing the same songs over and over and playing too many commercials".
"We're going to have a more disciplined DJ style and play more music. We will improve programming and adopt a new music position as well as inventory," he said but he refused to say which DJs would be axed although he said every aspect of Capital FM - which is to be re-branded Capital Radio - was being reappraised, including DJs' styles and what they say and do on air.
The paper says Orchard admitted that "because of the sheer numbers of female listeners we've lost" the station was too blokey" and goes on to speculate which DJs could go.
It says "Johnny Vaughan's breakfast show job is believed likely to be safe - not least because it would cost millions to buy him out of his contract - although his waffle-heavy style will be curtailed" but adds that question marks hang over drivetime host Richard Bacon, even though he has a two-year contract, Neil Bentley, who hosts the weekday afternoon slot, and morning DJ James Cannon.
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Financial Times report (subscription):
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UK Times report:
2005-11-26: Radio One Inc CEO Alfred C. Liggins III sees his company outperforming the industry with a particular opportunity in black talk radio according to the Washington Post, which notes that on a recent conference call Liggins had spent much of his time explaining to analysts how this could be done.
Liggins, says the Post, has spent two years coming up with new ways for his company to reach black consumers - he commented, "We're in the black people business. We are in the business of aggregating audience for this particular demo and providing content to them."
He has launched cable network TV One LLC, bought a 51% interest in Reach Media, which syndicates the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" on about 115 radio stations nationwide, and is now planning a black talk network.
Liggins said he has not done any research to determine whether there is a market for such a national talk network for blacks, but the lack of black news programs convinced him there was room. "We think the market for talk is there," he said. "There are tons of talk options for non-African Americans…Our company was built off of an all-talk radio station. Now we are large enough that it makes sense to invest in this type of programming."
The network is still being developed for a launch early next year on some of Radio One's AM stations with syndication to other urban stations: It is planned to air from 10:00 to 19:00 weekdays and include a political morning show hosted by Al Sharpton and an afternoon drive hosted by Doug and Ryan Stewart, who currently host "The 2 Live Stews" sports show in Atlanta.
In support of Liggin's contention the Post notes that only around 7.5% of the audience of the nearly 2,200 news-talks stations in the US are black and quotes Holland Cooke, a talk radio consultant for Cleveland-based radio consulting firm McVay Media as saying, "I make my living advising talk radio stations, and I keep ending up in these meetings where everyone in the meeting is a white male 50-something-year-old Republican, and the reason we are having the meeting is that the [station's] ratings just came in and the only people who are listening are white male 50-something Republicans…They can't figure out where the women and black listeners are."
Wachovia Securities analyst Bishop Cheen said he thinks Liggins's talk radio plan will work. "He's trying to leverage his core skill set. He has [radio] talent, and he has content," Cheen said. "He also has a bunch of AM stations. He thinks he can serve literally hundreds of AM stations who want to reach the African American population."
Liggin's company began in talk when his mother Catherine L. Hughes acquired 1000 watts WOL-AM in 1980 for USD 900,000 - nearly all borrowed and converted it from soul music to talk: She herself was morning host from until the mid-1990s. Radio One's move into music stations began with the acquisition of WMMJ-FM in Washington seven years after the WOL acquisition - Hughes changed it from soft pop to R&B and most of its stations are now hip-hop and R&B.
RNW comment: It seems to us worth noting here that in the early 1970's three stations -- WOL-AM, WOOK-AM and Howard University's WHUR-FM where Hughes worked before she launched Radio One - all had active news departments serving DC's African-Americans, employing some 20 staff --- 12 at WHUR, five at WOL, and four at WOOK. Now WHUR is still in news but WOL has gone for talk. We presume it makes business sense - and the language being used by Liggins is often indistinguishable from that of other radio operators when it comes to talk of the business.
Maybe Liggins comment of being "in the black people business" needs the words "exploiting ill-informed" inserted before the word Black. We don't wish his talk network ill but would like to see more information and less opinion - often rabble-rousing to the already converted - on US radio in general. It would be good to see a future re-incarnation of Hughes with some of the same fire she had manage to bring back news successfully rather than just talk.
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Previous Liggins:
Previous Radio One Inc.
Washington Post report:
2005-11-26: The Tawani Foundation has awarded the Chicago-based Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) USD 250,000 to fund a digitisation initiative that will make more than 600 programs on U.S. military issues available to the public, both onsite - the museum is due to open in new premises late next year - and online. The grant will also support two public programs exploring the media and the military.
The museum already has a diverse audio-visual collection of documentaries, national news programs, and radio reports focusing on U.S. military history covering World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War and its Founder and President Bruce DuMont said the two organizations shared a "passion for collecting, preserving and presenting significant moments in radio and television history", many of which related to military history and also a passion for making the material available to the public.
"This partnership will allow the MBC and the Tawani Foundation to meet its mission of education," he added.
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2005-11-25: Shares in GCap Media, Britain's largest radio group, fell by nearly a fifth on Thursday spurring renewed speculation about a takeover bid by various venture capital groups following the release of interim results that showed group revenues in the six months to the end of September down 11% to GBP 111.6 million (USD 192.3 million), operating profit down 27% to GBP 14.7 million (USD 25.3 million) and pre-tax profit down 28.3% to GBP 12.4 million (USD 21.4 million).
At one point the shares hit a low of 275.75 pence before recovering a little to end down 17.3% at 282 pence.
GCap said that its most important priority was reversing the audience decline at its flagship Capital FM in London and to do this it would reduce advertising clutter- it will have advertising during the day and limit adverts to a maximum of two run together, survey listeners' views and reformat and re-launch the station." We believe that we have a very strong position from which to rebuild Capital FM's audiences and its revenues - but only if we make significant changes to the station," it said in a statement."
GCap says it is to concentrate its efforts on five areas - - London, south-east, Midlands, North West, Anglia, Wales and the West, North East, Scotland and dispose of nine stations - MFM, Buzz, Coast FM and Champion FM in the north-west and Plymouth Sound, Lantern, Gemini, Orchard FM and South Hams in the south-west; develop national brands to compete with the BBC - these would be the Capital FM/Century network/One network, Xfm, Core-Xfm is to replace The Storm digital station and Beat 106 will be re-launches as Xfm and Xfm launched in Manchester; Classic FM; Planet Rock and a Life & Capital Gold brand combining its existing Life and Capital Gold networks.
It also wants to develop non traditional revenue from CDs- including compilations from Xfm, Choice and Classic FM, books, licensing, the sale of ringtones and downloads and so on.
Previous GCap:
2005-11-25: UK media regulator Ofcom has slapped a record GBP 125,000 (USD 215,000) fine on Manchester radio station Key 103, owned by Emap's Picadilly Radio, for racist comments and also for jokes about the death of hostage Ken Bigley, beheaded in Iraq, made by a late-night phone in programme host in October and November last year.
It's previous largest fines had been of GBP 75,000-penalties imposed on Virgin Radio in 2000 when then breakfast DJ Chris Evans breached impartiality rules by supporting Ken Livingstone in the election for Mayor of London - its largest radio fine at that time (See RNW May 17, 2000) and in 2002 when late-night host Jon Holmes made remarks encouraging a nine-years-old girl to repeat sexually explicit words for a contest called "Swearword Hangman"(See RNW Mar 20, 2002).
Ofcom's Content Sanctions Committee said it found the content "some of the most offensive material it had heard" and added, "In particular, the presenter's continual focus on race and religion as forms of abuse caused grave concern. The attacks on callers were verbally aggressive and highly offensive."
The station had admitted the breaches and Emap's Managing Director for Radio Programming said the material was "about the worst thing" he had ever heard on the radio. The station said it wanted "distance itself from any racist remarks and wanted to stress that the licensee was in no way racist" but defended Key's track record over two decades.
In making its judgment Ofcom said "the station had paid insufficient attention to the long history of problems with James Stannage. It had relied too heavily on the presenter's personal assurances that such content would not be repeated when it should have been clear to them that serious breaches were likely to occur again."
Ofcom noted that its predecessor, the Radio Authority, had also fined Key in April 1996 (GBP 1,000 -USD 1,700) and June 1997 (GBP 10,000 - USD 17,200) for comments made by Stannage and had also issued a warning over a breach of its Programme Code in November 2003 concerning a conversation with a Lupus sufferer, when Stannage graphically described how she should have carried out her suicide attempt. Ofcom itself had held that he breached its rules in jokes about the death of Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in February 2004 (See RNW May 20, 2004)
The comments concerned were jokes about Bigley made only two days after his death that were combined with remarks about his wife being Thai - he had asked, "What's yellow and got a spare hat? Ken Bigley's widow", and also commented, "Why do we give a shit about Ken Bigley? He went for the money … He's got a 25 year old tart from Thailand"
Other comments listed by Stannage were racially and religiously prejudiced - among other things he referred to Sharon Osborne as a "dirty old slapper … stupid, stupid Jewish princess wife" told a Moslem caller he fasted "because you're a brainless, moronic Islam baby. That's all … You're just a Muslim sheep" and commented to a woman, after asking her if her marriage had been arranged, "Your husband's gambling and whoring, baby. I see all the Muslim boys out all night when I go out at 2am baby. I go to the casino and the late night drinking clubs and all the Muslim boys are there … Why aren't you now, at this moment, shagging your husband? …Have you ever given your husband a blow job?"
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2005-11-25: The largest radio station owner in New South Wales, Bill Caralis 's 2SM Supernetwork, has pulled out of bidding for rugby league next year according to the Sydney Morning Herald, which quotes 2SM head of sports programming Mike Niu as blaming the decision on stalling by Macquarie Radio Network, owner of Sydney 2GB.
"The last 10 months have been just ridiculous," Niu told the paper. "Basically [Macquarie's] 2GB was delaying it [the bidding process]. We pulled out purely because we were getting nowhere and it was leaving us no time to sell [advertising]. The question for the NRL [National Rugby League] is how could they give a Sydney station the NSW rights when they don't have a regional network?"
2SM owner Broadcast Operations, which owns 33 radio stations in NSW and south-east Queensland, has bought cover from Macquarie in recent seasons but Liu said in 2006 it would launch its own syndicated weekend sports show which would cover rugby league.
Macquarie chief executive, Angela Clark, said she was surprised by the decision but if Caralis did not carry rugby league next year, a combination of community and commercial stations was likely to be found that would.
"Bill [Caralis] hasn't told me he's not interested," she said. "Maybe I'll get a call today. I'm getting a bit confused with Caralis's messages. If that network doesn't want to take the rights from us, it's really up to them. They haven't been locked out. There are other stations out there, whether they are commercial or community stations, happy to take the NRL."
NRL communications director John Brady said the NRL decided to extend the existing contract with Macquarie because most station owners wanted to bid for multi-year rights from 2007, when radio commentary for Monday and Friday night football games would be introduced and added that ABC Radio, which has the largest regional network in Australia, would still carry the 2006 season.
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Sydney Morning Herald report:
2005-11-25: A small radio station in Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistani-held portion of Kashmir, is providing vital information to victims of last month's earthquake according to a feature in the Los Angeles Times.
Radio Muzaffarabad provides information to quake victims in tent cities and isolated villages that can hear its signal on battery-powered radios donated by aid groups and receives about 100 calls a day, either seeking help or giving thanks for its service, which has provided victims with a vital link to the outside world and informed them of the availability of critical services.
The station's studios and an adjacent television complex were flattened by the earthquake that killed nearly a third of its 80 employees and its broadcasting using equipment borrowed from its parent group, government-run Radio Pakistan.
Mohammed Bilal, a 25-year-old producer from nearby Peshawar who volunteered to help restart the station and who, like other employees lives in a tent near the sheet-metal studio that - along with a 750-foot radio tower - was trucked in along mountain roads, along with others dug through wreckage to rescue equipment: It broadcasts in English and Urdu as well as dialects such as Kashmiri, Gojiri and Pahari but only has around a 30-square mild coverage compared to its former signal that had a broadcast range of 100 miles, stretching into India..
It broadcasts 11 hours a day, down from the previous 17, to allow for maintenance and checks.
Bilal said his worst moment came during an interview with an 11-year-old girl whose parents were dead and older brother missing. "She was badly wounded and could not walk, but she was holding up," he recalled. "But as she talked about how she could not return to school, she began to cry. I just let my recorder run. Later, her sobs filled the airwaves. It was a terrible thing to me, but I had to tell the story."
Los Angeles Times report:
2005-11-24: US recording companies are bidding for royalty payments for radio broadcasts of their music according to Billboard Radio Monitor which says the demand was made at a recent House subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property panel hearing on broadcast and audio flags.
US radio stations, unlike stations in many other countries, have traditionally been exempt from such fees on the basis of the promotional value of their airplay but Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol said the change was necessary because digital radio broadcasts would allow songs to be copied directly from broadcasts and would thus cost sales.
The report says The RIAA, SoundExchange, the Recording Academy, the Recording Artists' Coalition and the music unions are also working to win the songwriting and music publishing community over to their cause but they admit that their legislative strategy is in its first stages and might take several sessions of Congress to reach their goal.
Clear Channel Executive Vice President for Law and Government Affairs and Chief Legal Officer Andrew Levin said talk of a performance right was "counter-intuitive" and added, "What they'd be ultimately doing is keeping their songs from consumers, because we certainly couldn't embrace HD radio like we're committed to now."
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Billboard Radio Monitor report:
2005-11-24: Jonathan James-Moore, head of BBC Radio Light Entertainment from 1993 to 1998, has died aged 59.
Paying tribute to him, Jenny Abramsky, BBC Director of Radio and Music, said: "If you ever had a meeting with Jonathan you knew it would be a laugh. He was an absolutely lovely man, terrific fun. I will miss seeing that huge galumphing figure with the mass of red hair wandering down the road. He was a real human being who didn't shut himself away. He cared about radio as a medium and was interested in all aspects of it."
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2005-11-24: Latest Irish ratings just released from the JNLR/TNSmrbi survey for the period October 2004 to September 2005 show radio reaching 85% of the country's adult population, down 1% on a year earlier.
For national stations weekly reach was up 1% to 56% with RTÉ Radio One retaining 26%, Today FM 16% and Lyric FM 3% whilst RTÉ 2FM lost 1% to 21%.
In terms of share RTE Radio One lost 0.7% to 22.8%. 2FM lost 0.5% to 14.7%, Today FM gained 0.1% to 11.1% and Lyric lost 0.2% to 1.6%.
Regional station Beat 102-103FM retained a daily reach of 19% reach (same) but lost 0.1% to end up with an 8.7% share; its weekly reach was 32%, unchanged on a year earlier but down 2% on the previous six months.
Among local stations the top performers were Highland Radio with daily reach up 3% to 68% - its weekly reach was up 2% to 84% and it also topped the share rankings where it was up 2% to 61%.
Limerick's Live FM had daily reach up 2% to 60% (up 1% to 84% for weekly reach) and Ocean FM also had a 60% reach, down 3% (weekly reach was up 1% to 75%) followed by Shannonside/Northern Sound with an unchanged 57% and Mid West Radio with 55%, down 2%.
Ranked by share, Shannonside/Northern Sound was second with 48.5%, up 1.9% (weekly reach was an unchanged 72%) followed by Tipp FM with 46.8%, up 3.8% (weekly reach was up 1% to 68%), then Mid West Radio with 46.6%, up 3.0% (weekly reach was down 1% to 76%), and Radio Kerry with 45.9%, down 1%(weekly reach was up1% to 74%).
In Dublin, weekly reach rankings were RTÉ Radio 1 with an unchanged 41% (down 1% on the previous six months); RTÉ 2FM with an unchanged 39% (up 1% on the previous six months);
Today FM with an unchanged 31% both on a year earlier and the previous six months and RTÉ Lyric FM with an unchanged 9% both on a year earlier and the previous six months.
In Cork, 96FM County Sound led with a weekly reach up 5% to 69% followed by RTÉ Radio 1-down 2% to 35% and Red FM - up 1% to 30%.
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Previous RTÉ:
2005-11-24: Indian public broadcast overseer Prasar Bharati is likely to have revenues this year of INR 1,000 crore (INR 10 billion - USD 218.5 million), an increase of a quarter over the previous year according to Indiantelevision.com.
It quotes Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma as saying, "We have been doing quite well this financial year (April-March) and expect to close our books with a INR 1,000 crore (10 billion) revenue in March 2006."
Of the money All India Radio (AIR) is expected to contribute more than INR 200 crore (INR 2 billion - USD 42.7 million) with the rest coming from Doordorshan TV.
A financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati is being studied by a committee headed by a senior bureaucrat from the information and broadcasting ministry (See RNW Nov 21) and Sarma said of this, The restructuring will be good for the organization and the employees' union (that had petitioned the Prime Minister earlier this year to dismantle Prasar Bharati's existing autonomous structure) too is supporting us now."
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2005-11-24: UK media regulator Ofcom has appointed Philip Graf, former chief executive of the Trinity Mirror Group and current chairman of the Press Standards Board of Finance - the body which funds the Press Complaints Commission - and the Broadband Stakeholder Group - the advisory group to the Government on the promotion of broadband services, as its Non-Executive Deputy Chairman to replace Philip Hooper, who was chairman of the UK Radio Authority before it was subsumed into Ofcom.
He will step down from the other two roles when he takes up his Ofcom appointment at the start of next year and in his new role will. Among other duties, chair the Ofcom Content Board, a committee of the main Ofcom Board with responsibility for the regulation of television and radio quality and standards, and will be a member of the Ofcom Remuneration, Audit and Nominations Committees.
Ofcom also announced that its Partner in the Competition Group, Sean Williams, will be joining the Ofcom Board as an Executive Director with effect from 1 January 2006 and the appointment to the newly created post of General Counsel of Polly Weitzman, who has been its Director of Competition Law since January last year.
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Previous Hooper:
2005-11-23: Warner Music Group has become the second major recording company to settle "payola" allegations with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office with an announcement that it is to pay USD 5 million and has also agreed to end any payment of financial incentives or promotional items to stations or their employees in return for airplay for its recordings. It will also pay USD 50,000 for the costs of the investigation.
Sony-BMG agreed a settlement of USD 10 million in July, also allied with agreement to end such payments (See RNW July 26); As with the Warner settlement the money is to go to the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors for distribution to New York State not-for-profit to benefit New York State residents by funding programs aimed at music education and appreciation.
Warner in a statement said it was " pleased to work cooperatively with the Attorney General in resolving these promotion issues" and added that the reforms it had agreed were consistent with internal reforms instituted earlier this year by its new management team. It added that it felt that the "music that people hear on the radio always should represent the highest quality the industry has to offer."
In a statement Spitzer said, "Warner is the second major player in the music industry to come forward and acknowledge that these practices are wrong. Unfortunately, other companies continue to engage in them. I applaud Warner's decision to halt this conduct, cooperate fully with my office, and adopt new business practices."
Spitzer's office has posted on the Internet the settlement - a 56 page 515 KB PDF - that details the practices involved including what it lists as Warner "obtaining airplay for its songs through such deceptive and illegal practices as:
a). Bribing radio station employees on occasion to play its songs.
b). Providing a stream of financial benefits to radio stations to assist with stations' overhead costs or to benefit stations' listening audience on the condition that its records receive airplay;
c) Using independent promoters as conduits for illegal payments to radio stations to obtain airplay;
d) Purchasing spin programmes and using syndicated programs to manipulate chart positions of its music; and
e) Engaging in fraudulent call-in campaigns to increase airplay of its songs.
The settlement also details what Warner will or will not be permitted to do in future such as prohibiting payments to station employees and payment for airplay but allowing it to provide items to be given away on air or at a radio event or to charity but not to radio employees or their relatives and also to arrange for its artists to appear at radio events.
The settlement allows Warner to continue using independent promoters but sets boundaries as to what they may do.
The detail of the report singles out for mention former WKSE-FM, Buffalo, Program Director David Universal, who was fired by Entercom over allegations that he had accepted vacations in payment for airing songs (See RNW Jan 13). It says Warner paid for him to go on a personal trip to Miami and also provided him with a "laptop computer, tickets to sporting events, concerts, and a host of other promotional items for his personal use."
It says that according to Warner employees he "always required something in exchange for adding a song" and quotes an Atlantic Promotion Manager as saying," We all had to do business with Dave if we were going to get our records on. And it was a game you played or you didn't have a shot at getting your records on the air" but adds that he was not the only person to receive items for personal use in exchange for airplay.
It also gives an idea of the scale of payments involved, saying "At the time when Clear Channel, Infinity, Entercom and Emmis had exclusive arrangements with independent promoters, Warner Music's Indie budget could be as much as USSD 100,000 per song" and also lists individual promotion details, mainly for items of values under USD 1,000 a time.
Welcoming the announcement, Democrat Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, who noted that the FCC had launched its own payola investigation in August (See RNW Aug 9) said in a statement, "Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has once again achieved a breakthrough in the effort to combat payola and protect consumers from misleading broadcasts. The settlement with Warner Music Group adds more dirt to the mountain of evidence that payola is pervasive in the music business. This agreement once again raises serious concerns that not only has New York State law been violated, but Federal law under the FCC's jurisdiction, as well. The FCC needs to act on this evidence and conclude as soon as possible the investigation we are now undertaking."
Previous Adelstein:
Previous FCC:
Settlement document (56 Page PDF):
2005-11-23: WorldDAB, the international promotional and lobbying body for DAB, has unanimously elected Quentin Howard, chief executive of Digital One, the UK's national commercial DAB digital radio multiplex operator, as its new president
Howard succeeds Annika Nyberg, director of programmes for the Swedish Radio arm of Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE, and will serve in the post for two years.
WorldDAB also unanimously elected Leif Lønsmann, managing director of the National Danish Broadcasting Corporation, as vice-president.
Both Howard and Lønsmann have seen major growth in DAB services - in the UK more than two million receivers have now been sold and digital listening, of which DAB reception is now the largest segment, is now more than a tenth of total listening (See RNW Nov 22).
In Denmark under Lønsmann's direction DR radio has moved from three FM networks to a portfolio that includes more than 30 digital radio services across a variety of platforms and the country now ranks second to the UK in the penetration and use of DAB.
Howard has worked in UK commercial broadcasting since the mid 1970's in various roles - as chief engineer at a number of radio stations and then at GWR (now part of GCap Media) as Director of Engineering with responsibility for all broadcasting and IT systems and also as a Programme Director and as a radio pres set up the company's digital broadcasting division, and then to launch Digital One.
Howard told the WorldDAB General Assembly in Prague he wishes to concentrate on several key areas, the first of which is "to ensure that DAB is seen as the best platform for multichannel radio and the primary replacement for domestic analogue FM and AM."
His agenda also includes convincing more commercial radio companies of the benefits of DAB a task of which he comments, "My message to commercial broadcasters is to embrace more choice, it's not a threat, it's an advantage."
Previous Nyberg:
Previous WorldDAB:
2005-11-23: The US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has followed up its opposition to low-power FM with a filing objecting to proposals for low power AM following a petition for rulemaking on the matter by the Amherst Alliance of Michigan.
In a 16-page filing it says LPAM would undermine the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) attempts to clean up the AM band and cites the FCC itself in its argument, saying," Only five years ago, during the low power FM ("LPFM") proceeding, the Commission specifically rejected pleas to authorize low power service also in the AM band because the propagation characteristics of the AM band make it a "poor choice" for introduction of an additional service."
The Amherst petition it says "provides no data or analysis to explain why LPAM is any more technically feasible now than it was five years ago" and the NAB goes on to argue that it has demonstrated "that LPAM stations are unwarranted because full power AM stations already provide vast amounts of coverage of local news and cultural events, and other community-responsive programming, as a matter of survival in the intensely competitive media market."
It also argues that what it terms the "rapidly increasing competition that AM radio faces from satellite radio services and Internet streaming, to say nothing of competition from other radio stations, television stations, cable and satellite video providers, DVRs, and video games" should be borne in mind by the Commission and adds that "Interference created by additional stations in the AM band, even low power stations, has the potential to delay, if not, cripple the digital transition by forcing receiver manufacturers to reconsider product development."
RNW comment: Although, as we have stated in the past, we consider much of NAB's objections to LPFM to be unreasonable in this case they do have some reasonable arguments in technical terms although as usual in our view they over-egg the argument - and throw in everything except the kitchen sink (they'd probably mention that if they thought it could in any way seem to bolster their argument) to the detriment of their credibility in the eyes of any reasonable observer.
We feel that making the technical argument well should suffice without the extra baggage of promoting current AM services as a reason that low power services are not required (if that were the case, presumably there would be no real desire to launch them for the sake of it.
We do think that community stations could affect the audience of some commercial broadcasters but that is only because they would provide programming that the commercial stations fail to provide, in some cases simply because of the very local nature of a service that makes it of interest to a small community but could never attract an audience large enough to finance the service by advertising.
Previous FCC:
Previous NAB:
NAB filing (16 page 64 kb PDF):
2005-11-23: XM Canada - the name Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR) appears to have been dumped and its web site re-directs to XM Canada - has announced the launch in Canada of its service but so far it would appear with no official Canadian listeners to the service.
The announcement that includes an exclusive offer to its Founders Club members, around 4,500 Canadians who have pre-registered for its service - to purchase XM satellite radios and sign-up for its service on-line and as an incentive to sign-up early XM is offering its Delphi RoadyXT at a reduced price of CAD 79.95 to the first 1,000 to order its service.
Various portable plug-and- play XM receivers will, it says, be available in retail stores across Canada next week but it has still not completed its terrestrial repeater network, meaning that those driving in urban areas with tall buildings may well lose the signal from its satellites.
Stephen Tapp president and COO, XM Canada, said in a statement, "This is an historic day for consumer choice, for music lovers, hockey fans and for all Canadians, rural and urban.
XM Canada is on the air and signing up subscribers. To our thousands of supporters, XM Canada has delivered on its promise to be the first to bring Canada the greatest technological evolution in radio in the past 60 years."
Previous Tapp:
Previous XM Canada/CSR:
2005-11-22: UK radio listening from terrestrial DAB broadcasts has now overtaken digital listening via the Internet and digital TV according to a RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) into listening via platform carried out in August and September.
RAJAR says that when results from this survey are equated to its main survey they show listening hours through all digital platforms has increased from 5.9% of total listening a year earlier to 10.5% of total listening with DAB listening up from 2.4% to 5.5%, listening via digital TV up from 2.3% to 2.9% and Internet listening static at 1.8%.
In terms of reach DAB again recorded the largest increase, going up from 12.9% in 2004 when all radio listening combined had a reach of 93.9% to 20.3% this year when all radio listening had a slightly lower reach of 93.7%: In comparison, analogue listening was down from 91.9% to 88.8% while digital TV listening went up modestly - from 24.0% to 24.7%- and Internet listening rose from 14.4% to 15.0%.
Commenting on the survey RAJAR managing director Sally de la Bedoyere noted that the DAB listening increase of 165% and shift from analogue to digital listening reflected the sales of increased sales of digital receivers and said the findings made "encouraging reading for the digital radio industry in the UK."
The UK Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB) noted that the number of people who claimed to listen digitally had increased by 25% compared to a year ago to reach a total of 4.67 million and its chief executive Ian Dickens, noting its research that showed DAB receiver sales more than doubling year-on-year, said, "Consumers are delighting in the new, unique