September 2006 Archive
- Front Page
- About this site
- Freelance bulletin board
- Site audio files
- Radio Stations
- Other links
- Story Archives Index
- Personalities Archive Index
- Organisations Archive Index
- Comment Index
- Your feedback
- Browsers and players
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
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):
E-Mail
us
Note- In view of the numbers of viruses, worms etc
now proliferating, we automatically delete messages with attachments
unless these have been sent by prior agreement.
We never send out replies with attachments except by prior agreement.
We also tend to automatically delete e-mails from unknown sources without
a title that specifically ties in to a subject we can recognize.
- August 2006
-October
2006
- 
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 previous relevant story. Regarding external links see note at end of page.
RNW September comment - following the announcement that Arbitron is to rate non-commercial stations wonders about its effect on US talk radio, indicates we'd like intelligent talk but asks if it would it "rate" with advertisers?
RNW August comment - looks back at what we thought in 2000 was ahead for the industry and how far we got it right.
RNW July comment - in "The "cost" of broadcast spectrum - will spectrum pricing hit broadcasters?" considers moves to price spectrum to improve economic efficiency in its use and the potential impact on broadcasters as costs are likely to rise.
2006-09-30: US Radio revenues in August were up 2% on a year ago led by 12% growth in national advertising and 10% growth in non-traditional revenues, rises that were largely offset by a 2% fall in national revenues according to latest figures from the US Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB): Total combined national and local Radio revenues were up 1% on a year earlier.
On a year to date basis, overall revenues are now flat; those for combined local and national Radio revenue are down 1%; national revenues are up 2% and local ones down 2% but non-spot revenues are up 9%.
RAB's Ad Sales Index that equates pre-dot.com boom base year 1998 to 100 showed August figures of 128.9 for total combined local and national revenues; 135.5 for national revenues; and 127.4 for local revenues whilst for the year to date they are 139.4, 144.4, and 137.8 respectively.
Previous RAB;
Previous RAB figures:
2006-09-30: Emap in a trading update says it expects the "continuing group" - it recently sold Emap, France, for approximately GBP 380 million (USD 711 million ) - to grow revenues by 6% in the first half of this year, driven by launches and acquisitions - underlying revenue is expected to be down 2%.
Full year revenues, it adds, will be broadly flat and it warns that trading conditions are likely to remain difficult. In divisional terms Emap says it expects half-year revenues for UK consumer magazines to be town 5% with underlying revenues down 1%; International consumer magazines revenues to be down 7% and 18% respectively; Business-to-business revenues to be up 11% overall with underlying figures down 6%; radio revenues to be up 41% and underlying revenues to be up 5% - excluding the boost from its purchase of Scottish Radio Holdings it says revenues is expected to be up 5%, "outperforming a market estimated to be slightly down and demonstrating the benefit of the enlarged group"; and TV revenues to be up 11%, both in total and underlying.
Previous Emap:
2006-09-30: According to a BBC report the UK is likely to have two competing subscription satellite radio services by 2010, one from current international satellite radio company WorldSpace and the other from Spanish group Ondas Media.
WorldSpace is due to begin a service in Italy next year (See RNW May 9) and hopes to build on this whilst Ondas says it plans a full pan-European service to be launched in 2010.
Ondas Media chairman Torsten Freymark said his group would have a "wide variety of music genres… Jazz, classical, oldies rock, house, country - whatever people's listening habits are, we'll do it."
Freymark said his company is talking to several automakers about receivers in motor vehicles and that they would probably also have portable receivers in the "launch line-up".
Previous WorldSpace:
BBC report:
2006-09-29: GCap Media says that its overall revenues for the six months to the end of September are expected to call by around 9% on a year ago, mainly because of problems at Capital Radio.
In the first of two UK trading updates this week - Emap is also expected to produce gloomy figures in its update today - GCap says that excluding Capital Radio, it expects like-for-like revenues to be down 4% on a year earlier. The like-for-like figures also exclude XFM Manchester, which went on air in March this year.
The figures for Capital have been affected by its decision - in line with the policy introduced by DMG with its Nova network in Australia -to limit the amount of advertising on the station to protect its premium rates: Capital now runs no more than two commercials back-to-back, a policy that it expects to help its ratings as well as the perceptions of the value of those adverts.
GCap said in its update that "July trading proved to be particularly difficult" although "more recent months have shown an improvement on that performance" and adds that although " the market remains weak and visibility poor, we currently expect GCap Media's advertising revenue performance, excluding Capital Radio, to be in line with the radio sector as a whole for September and October."
The company says, "Enhancing Capital Radio's performance remains our priority. Our strategy for the station is clear and we have made good progress in its implementation."
It notes that this year it has streamlined the station's operations, strengthened on-air talent and brought in new management and introduced the new inventory policy, which enhances the overall experience for listeners.
"These inventory changes," it says, " have succeeded in achieving our initial objective of creating greater commercial effectiveness and value for our advertisers but have significantly reduced the inventory available for sale" and it adds that it now believes "the time is right to begin marketing Capital Radio for the first time since 2005...We will be starting marketing activity shortly, and expect its impact to begin to be visible in the New Year and to be increasingly evident in 2007 listener figures."
As regards the rest of the group it says it is already seeing results from its "strategy to reverse audience loss at our core heritage stations" with "particular success at key stations such as BRMB, GWR FM and Trent FM " and it also notes the development of non-traditional revenue with a particular reference to the launch this week of the first mobile phone with BT Movio's TV and digital radio services launched this week.
Emap, which as noted reports today, has also been developing its online and digital activities but these are thought to be unable to counter declines in circulation of its magazines and a difficult advertising market that also affects its radio holdings, which include Magic FM, Kiss and the Kerrang! stations nationally plus digital stations and the Magic AM and Big City FM networks of local stations.
Regarding the latter, the UK Guardian reports that Emap is to merge the management of the two to create a network of 32 stations and add a new tier of regional executives. It says Travis Baxter, will oversee all 32 stations and remain managing director of the enlarged Big City network, with seven regional managing directors to be appointed below him but the on-air branding of the stations will not change. There will be seven Big City network regions are: Northern Ireland, west Scotland, east Scotland, Grampian, north-east England, Yorkshire and north-west England.
Previous Emap:
Previous GCap:
UK Guardian report:
2006-09-29: Bronx charity the Gloria Wise Community Center, the former Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, is to repay to New York City USD 625,000 received to be used for the benefit of children and the elderly but then lent to Air America Radio (See RNW Sep 8., 2005) in a settlement announced by the city's Department of Investigation.
The New York Times, which says the state attorney general's office is continuing to look into the misuse of the funds, notes that the network had been lent USD 875,000 in total by the club and put it into an escrow account while the investigation continued.
The USD 250,000 remaining after the city's money has been refunded will be turned over to the charity for its operations and the paper says that according to two people close to the investigation the case has been transferred from its charities bureau to the criminal prosecutions bureau.
Of the USD 625,000 the paper says includes USD 250,000 came from the Department of Youth and Community Development and the Department for the Aging that the charity misused from 2001 to 2004 and USD 375,000 was overpayments from the Department of Education to a nursery and kindergarten run by the charity from 1997 to 2006.
The commissioner of investigation, Rose Gill Hearn, described the matter as a "somewhat shocking case" but added that recovery of the money was unusual because "most of the time, people spend it and it's dissipated." She added that the investigation into the charity involved "a copious analysis and forensic audit of their books and records " and said some officials at the charity had fabricated invoices for consulting services that never existed.
Frederick A. Lewis, who in January became chief executive of the charity and said he had been brought in to clean it up responded, "Amen to it," when asked about the settlement.
Previous Air America Radio/Piquant (its owner):
New York Department of Investigation:
New York Times report:
2006-09-29: In a run of licence renewals and enforcement actions, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has imposed or proposed penalties totalling nearly USD 100,000: It also dismissed an application for a new Low Power FM in Ohio but renewed three Clear Channel Mississippi FM licences to which a local broadcaster had objected.
The penalties ranged from USD 14,000 to USD 4,000 and related (In descending order of amount to):
*Cobb Communications Inc.'s FM translator Stations K261AO, Prudhoe Bay, and K230BY, Kuparuk, both in Alaska. The FCC renewed the licences but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 14,000 for failing to timely file a license renewal application for the Stations, and then operating the stations without authorization after the licenses had expired. The FCC noted that the licensee admitted failure to file the renewal application in time or seek special temporary authorization ("STA") to operate after the licenses had expired. The FCC noted that its standard policy includes a USD 3,000 base penalty per station for the failure to file a renewal application in time and USD, 10,000 for operating without a licence but said that because the breaches were not comparable to "pirate" operations it proposed only a USD 4,000 for the latter offences, making a total for the two stations of USD 14,000.
*New Northwest Broadcasters LLC's stations KFAT-FM and KDBZ-FM in Anchorage and Alaska KRPM-FM, Houston, all in Alaska. The FCC renewed the licences but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 14,000 for failing to comply with the Commission's Equal Employment Opportunity ("EEO") recruitment, recruitment source, self-assessment, and recordkeeping requirements. It also renewed the licences subject to the imposition of reporting conditions.
*Geneva Broadcasting, Inc.'s WGVA-AM, Geneva, New York. The FCC renewed the licence but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 10,000 for failing to retain all required documentation in the station's public inspection file. The station had admitted that files including those for the whole of 1999 and 2000 as well as the first three quarters of 2,001 were missing
*Rose City Radio Corporation's WSNR-AM, Jersey City, New Jersey. The FCC renewed the licence but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 10,000 for failing to retain all required documentation in the station's public inspection file. Again the licensee had disclosed various missing items in preparation of its renewal application.
*Lehigh Carbon Community College's WXLV-FM, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania: The FCC renewed the licence but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 10,000 for failing to retain all required documentation in the station's public inspection file. Again the licensee had disclosed various missing items and also admitted it did not timely file ownership reports for 2002 and 2004...
*Hacienda San Eladio, Inc.'s WRRE-AM, Juncos, Puerto Rico. The FCC issued a forfeiture order for USD 8,800 for failure to operate its station in accordance with the terms of its station authorization -operating in non-directional mode then its authorization is for a two-tower directional array - and its failure to maintain a complete public inspection file. It had issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for USD 11,000 in May but Hacienda applied for reduction on the basis of an overall history of compliance and efforts to remedy the defaults. The penalty was reduced to USD 8,800 on the basis of a history of compliance.
*West Coast Broadcasting's WNNV-FM, San German, Puerto Rico. The FCC issued a forfeiture order for USD 8,000 for failure to operate in accordance with the terms of its station authorization and to maintain the transmitter output power as near as practicable to its authorized power. The FCC had found the station operating at more than five times its authorized power of 5,000 watts.
West Coast had asked to be able to pay in instalments but failed to submit its good payment and the request was denied.
*Davis & Elkins College's WCDE-FM, Elkins, West Virginia. The FCC renewed the licence but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 7,000 for failing to timely file a license renewal application and then operating the station without authorization after the licenses had expired. The FCC noted that its standard policy includes a USD 3,000 base penalty for failure to file a renewal application in time and USD, 10,000 for operating without a licence but said that because the breaches were not comparable to "pirate" operations it proposed only a USD 4,000 for the latter offence.
*William L. Bonner's WKBY-AM, Chatham, Virginia. The FCC renewed the licence but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 7,000 for failing to timely file a license renewal application and then operating the station without authorization after the licenses had expired. The FCC noted that its standard policy includes a USD 3,000 base penalty for failure to file a renewal application in time and USD 10,000 for operating without a licence but said that because the breaches were not comparable to "pirate" operations it proposed only a USD 4,000 for the latter offence.
*Valley Air, LLC's KVLR-FM, Twisp, Washington. The FCC renewed the licence but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 4,000 for failing to retain all required documentation in the station's public inspection file.
* Canandaigua Broadcasting, Inc.'s, WCGR-AM, Canandaigua, New York. The FCC renewed the licence but issued a Notice of Apparent Violation (NAL) in the total of USD 4,000 for failing to retain all required documentation in the KVLR-FM public inspection file.
In Mississippi the FCC renewed the licences of Clear Channel's WMJY-FM, Biloxi; WKNN-FM, Pascagoula; and WBUV-FM, Moss Point: It refused a pleading from WJZD, Inc. for the renewals to be denied on the basis that Clear Channel had engineered" an unauthorized transfer of control of its station WQYZ-FM, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and terming Clear Channel a "recidivist violator" of regulations relating to indecent programming.
In Ohio, the FCC dismissed an application for a Construction permit for a Low-Power FM at Columbus from M&M Community Development, Inc., Columbus Branch. There had been objections to the application from the Bruce H. Klemesrud and Sarah Marie Klemesrud Foundation and the National Lawyers Guild Center on Democratic Communications.
The FCC in examining the application said it breached the 10-mile rule under which all LPFM applicants had to be based within ten miles of the station they sought to operate. In this case an initial application met the conditions but when the FCC subsequently implemented third-adjacent channel protection the site nominated was not suitable and the new site specified by the applicant's engineer did not meet the ten-mile rule with applicants living up to 16.5 miles from the transmitter. It ruled that the application was dismissed as inadvertently accepted for filing.
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous FCC:
2006-09-29: European Broadcaster SBS Broadcasting Sarl says it now owns all of Sweden's second largest radio operator SBS Radio AB having bought the 28% it did not own from Bonnier Gaming AB: SBS Radio AB was formed in 2003 when SBS and Bonnier merged their Swedish radio operations and SBS says the terms of the deal are confidential.
SBS Radio AB's stations include two of Sweden's largest radio networks, Mix Megapol and The Voice, plus the radio stations Rockklassiker, Vinyl and Studio 107.5.
SBS COO and acting CEO Patrick Tillieux said the deal and other recent Swedish radio acquisitions meant it had "expanded its position in the growing Swedish radio market and is well-positioned for long-term success."
"This move," he added, "enables us to obtain the fullest possible synergies between our Swedish radio operations and our other wholly-owned radio and television businesses in Sweden and the region."
In the US, Univision's shareholders have approved its previously announced acquisition by an investor group including Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Saban Capital Group for USD 36.25 per share in cash- a total of approximately USD 13.7 billion including the assumption of USD 1.4 billion in debt (See RNW Jun 28).
The agreement was approved by 80% of the shares voted at a special Univision shareholders' meeting on Wednesday - more than 60% of outstanding shares - but the deal, expected to close next spring, is still subject to regulatory approvals.
Also in the US, Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers, LLC, which represents firms and funds that hold around 1.7% of Emmis Communications, has urged the Emmis Board of Directors to reconstitute its Special Committee and invite chairman and CEO Jeffrey Smulyan to re-open discussions on a buy-out offer for the company.
Smulyan withdrew a USD 15.25 per share offer in August (See RNW Aug 5) and the Arnhold and Bleichroeder note that in an amended 13D filing issued on September 18 Smulyan disclosed that after withdrawing his offer he engaged in exploratory discussions with the Special Committee regarding the "potential reinstitution of a proposal at a price of USD 16.80 per share in cash."
This it says amounts to a premium of 40% to the average closing price of Emmis shares on the five trading days prior to the date of this 13D filing [RNW note: They closed at USD 12.50 on Thursday] and it argues that in the circumstances the "Board's apparent decision not to pursue a transaction at a premium of this magnitude was simply not in the best interests of shareholders."
They note that Smulyan has said he will not sell his shares - he owns some 48.9% of the company's voting shares and can thus veto a sale to anyone else - and say they believe members of the committee were concerned about criticism had they recommended a deal less than their advisers' estimates of the full private market value of the assets.
In fact, they say, Smulyan's controlling interest means a proper valuation has to apply a substantial minority discount and they say they "If a deal is struck in the vicinity of USD16.80, we would be quite surprised if the transaction [RNW note - excluding Smulyan from the vote] did not receive overwhelming shareholder support."
Previous Emmis:
Previous SBS Broadcasting Sarl
Previous Smulyan:
Previous Univision:
2006-09-28: A new study published by the Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab (RAEL) that compares radio advertising with that in other media - television, newspapers, and the Internet - and says that "radio listeners are especially receptive to advertising,
The study, "Personal Relevance Two: Radio's Receptive Ad Environment" follows on from previous studies conducted in 2004 and 2005 (See RNW Jun 8) that showed a marked better return on investment from radio than other advertising and also connected better with consumers at an individual and personal level.
RAEL says the latest study, the first of a new series under the general theme, "Radio and the Consumer's Mind: How Radio Works", is intended to "shed new light on the psychology of radio advertising more than on the mechanics."
It was conducted by Harris Interactive, Inc. through a national telephone survey in June and July this year and RAEL says it "2,649 completed media interviews with randomly selected adults 18-54", using higher incentives and bilingual interviewers in high-density Black and Hispanic ZIP codes in order
In particular, it says, it wants to "help advertisers understand radio's role in the overall media mix" and it says it finds that listeners have "a unique relationship with radio as a medium" that is "more emotionally connected than for either newspapers or the Internet" and is much more personal than for television or the Internet.
"Consumers", says the study, "perceive that radio advertising is more personally relevant to them than ads on television or the Internet, in part, we believe, because radio ads are usually targeted to the demographics of particular stations. That sets up a unique advertising environment in which radio listeners actually expect ads to be more interesting to them."
They see television and newspapers, says the study, as being designed to satisfy the masses, but radio is where they turn to get gratification of their personal wants and needs."
It also says that listeners accepted radio adverts better than they did TV or internet and comments that they were "especially struck by how negatively our respondents perceived advertising on the Internet."
Previous RAEL:
RAEL study (76 Page 3.2 Mb PDF):
2006-09-28: XM Satellite radio says that its "Oprah and Friends" channel, produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Radio and launched this week (See RNW Sep 26) has attracted thirteen new, high- profile advertisers.
XM says that as well as current XM clients AirTran, Honda, and Rinnai, the new programming has attracted adverts for the first time from Acuvue, Crown Publishing, Dove, GE, Iams, JC Penney, Jenny Craig, SlimFast, Rozerum, Snapple, Splenda, Target, and Warners TrueFit.
"In terms of ad sales, this is XM's most successful channel launch ever," said D. Scott Karnedy, XM senior vice president, sales and marketing solutions. "Not only are clients investing millions of dollars to be a part of 'Oprah & Friends,' but most of them are advertising on XM for the very first time."
XM says that , although the bulk of its income is from subscriptions, its advertising income has been more than doubling each year since 2003 - moving up from USD 4.1 million in 2003 to USD 8.5 million in 2004; and more than USD 20 million in 2005.
Previous XM:
2006-09-28: New Indian commercial FM network BIG 92.7 FM this week launched its Delhi station, which is to joined by stations in Aligarh, Bangalore, Chennai (Madras), Hyderabad, Jammu, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), and Srinagar over the next few weeks.
Owned by Adlabs Films, itself majority controlled by Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), the company says its stations will be able to reach around 200 million listeners, a fifth of the country's population, including a third of Indians in cities and an eighth of those in villages.
In all the group is to invest some INR 400 crore (INR 4 billion or USD 87 million - a crore is 10 million) and will employ around 1,500 people: Around INR 2.4 billion (USD 52 million) of this will be spent on the rollout of its 45 stations.
COO Tarun Katial said the group was "driven by the desire to give new and innovative radio programming to millions of Indians" and added, "We will not only present unique, city-specific content but also rope in personalities who will connect with the listeners and provide the glamour quotient."
Katial, who was previously programming head of Sony Entertainment TV, said it would have a major focus on "utilities and entertainment" and the company is also investigating the possibility of including sports programming: Indian private FMs are not allowed to carry news and current affairs and so far the government has not made it clear whether such programming as sports commentary would be categorized as news and current affairs or entertainment.
Previous Indian Radio:
2006-09-28: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced further details of its planned October 3 Los Angeles field hearing regarding media ownership (See RNW Sep 12). although it still has to detail its list of panellists.
It will be held in two locations the University of Southern California (USC) Davidson Conference Center and El Segundo High School and audio of the meeting will be available from the FCC's web site and live video may also be provided.
Previous FCC:
2006-09-27: ABC's Daytime retained top rank but otherwise the rankings story in Arbitron's RADAR 90 (Radio's All Dimension Audience Research) Radio Network Audience Report just released covering the period from June 30, 2005 - June 21, 2006, is one of ABC, Westwood One and Premiere slipping back and Jones MediaAmerica and Dial-Global moving up.
Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network, pushed down a rank in the RADAR 89 rankings to third, was back up to second followed by Dial-Global Complete FM Network, which moved up a rank to third.
Dial-Global also had success further down the rankings with the Dial-Global Contemporary Network jumping up from 11th to seventh and its News & Information Network up from 18th to 13th.
The top five were:
1 - ABC Daytime Direction Network, gaining 41,000 listeners and retaining an AQH of 2.9 with an average audience of 7.15 million.
2 - Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network, gaining 714,000 listeners, taking AQH up from 2.2 to 2.5, the average audience to 6.1 million, and moving up a rank.
3 - Dial-Global Complete FM Network, gaining 375,000 listeners, the average audience up to 5.70 million, taking AQH up from 2.1 to 2.3 and moving up a rank.
4 - ABC Prime Access - gaining 50,000 listeners, retaining a 2.2 AQH, taking average audience up to 5.57 million, and falling from second rank.
5 - ABC Morning News Radio Network, gaining 36,000 listeners, taking its average audience to 5.02 million and retaining an AQH of 2.0.
Behind them Westwood One's top ranked offering - the Westwood CBS News Primetime Network - was down a rank to sixth as it lost 191,000 listeners to end with an average audience of 4.80 million and AQH down from 2.0 to 1.9 then the Dial-Global Contemporary Network, up as noted from 11th to seventh as it added 704,000 listeners to end with an average audience just under 4.80 million..
Premiere Network's top ranked offering was its Premiere Emerald Plus Network in eighth rank as in RADAR 89 with 45,000 fewer listeners, an average audience of 4.35 million and an unchanged AQH of 1.7 after which Premiere took the remaining top-ten slots with its Premiere Mediabase Network retaining ninth rank and a 1.7 AQH as it added 9,000 listeners and then the Premiere Morn Drive Network, which was down from seventh to tenth as it lost 266,000 listeners and its AQH went down from 1.8 to 1.7.
For RADAR 90 Arbitron increased the sample from 106,299 to 112,519 diary-keepers as part of a planned increase to 125,000 diary keepers by the release of RADAR 92 in March next year.
Coinciding with the RADAR 90 release, Westwood One announced that for RADAR 91 its programming will be grouped into 14 new consumer-targeted networks - three Adult-targeted news intensive networks, three broad reach networks, three young-adult-targeted networks, three Female targeted networks and two 10-second Traffic-Sponsorship Networks.
Paul Gregrey, Executive Vice President, Westwood One Sales, said of the change, "While America has been listening to us, we've been listening to our advertisers and affiliates. This exciting new line-up features more RADAR rated news programming than any other network, three individual networks specifically targeting women and several ROS networks. More choice, more targeting and better clarity."
The new Westwood One line-up, to be introduced in January includes:
News - CBS News Network; CBS News Weekend; and CBS News Day.
Broad reach - WON I; WON II, and WON III.
Young-adult-targeted networks - FM Weekday; FM Weekend; and FM Day.
Female targeted networks - WFM Weekday; WFM Weekend; and WFM Day:
Traffic networks - Traffic Sponsorship I, described as "skewing female" and Traffic Sponsorship II. Described as "skewing male."
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Disney/ABC America:
Previous Dial-Global:
Previous Jones MediaAmerica:
Previous RADAR:
Previous RADAR ratings (RADAR 89):
Previous Premiere Networks:
Previous Westwood One:
2006-09-27: Andrew Harrison, chief executive of the UK radio industry body, The Radio Centre, has said in an interview with the Financial Times that Britain's commercial radio should be deregulated to help it compete with the BBC and Internet offerings.
Harrison wants an easing of rules governing station formats and sponsorship and told the paper, "There is no doubt that if you look at the number of regulators working in radio and the sector's size that -- compared with TV -- radio has a high regulatory burden."
"What we need is for Ofcom to set a liberal environment so licence holders can thrive and make money. That is in the listeners' interests," he added. "If stations can't make a success from licences, it is listeners who will lose out. The broad thrust we want is for less regulation, less format restriction and more opportunity to secure long-term revenues."
RNW comment: The broad thrust, we would suggest, for Harrison is less concern about public interest and maximum concern for profit and moves by various industry bodies to curb the BBC so as to improve their finances remain in our view against the broader public interest.
As with all matters financial, we have no problem with companies striving to maximize profitability but within the context of a society - without whose protection they might not exist at all (think of the implications of no copyright or regulations of frequencies) - that accordingly has a duty to consider the wider public interest.
To far too great a degree already in our view this has been compromised by what is in effect bribery of politicians and we do not wish Harrison success in his endeavours in as far as they are lobbying for narrow interests rather than raising debate on broader ones.
Previous Harrison:
Previous Radio Centre:
Financial Times report (Subscribers only):
2006-09-27: Sirius has finally launched its much-expected portable satellite receiver, the "Stiletto 100", which as well as live-listening allows users to store up to a hundred hours of broadcast and receive its services through Wi-Fi.
The device, priced at USD 350, will allow users to keep their own M3 and WMA files (it has storage of 2GB) and also purchase of music through Yahoo!'s software: Recordings of up to six hours duration can be scheduled and the Stiletto as well as live listening allows the use of "Sirius Replay" to pause, rewind and replay up to an hour of live radio and also through a "Game Alert" facility to be prompted when favourite sports are being broadcast.
It has 30 channel pre-sets and measures only 4.7 inches by two inches by one inch (11.9 cm by 5.1 cm by 2.5 cm) and accessories including a vehicle kit and executive system will also be available.
Previous Sirius:
2006-09-27: APN News and Media CEO Brendan Hopkins has argued that allowing newspaper proprietors to own radio stations could greatly improve local news content on the stations according to a report in The Australian.
He cite New Zealand as an example of a situation where local radio news gained from the company's ownership of local newspapers and said, "There is no doubt that local radio working closely with local publications will give better local content than if they were working separately."
Hopkins, whose company publishes 23 daily regional newspapers and more than one-hundred other regional newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, was speaking as Australia is engaged in consideration of government proposals to deregulate media ownership regulations.
The Australian report noted that this week's Media Watch programme on ABC TV highlighted the lack of local content on radio news in many regional areas and cited one example of a Macquarie Bank controlled FM on the Gold Coast that broadcasts a local news bulletin from its Queensland studio and syndicated part of the service to another station 3,000 km (1,860 miles) away in Western Australia.
There are currently no content requirements for Australian regional radio but Communications Minister Helen Coonan plans to legislate minimum local content rules for regional stations as part of her push to remove cross-media ownership restrictions in moves designed to attract support from National Party MPs who are concerned about potential domination of media in rural areas by single interests.
Nationals MP Paul Neville, who chairs the ruling Australian Coalition's backbench communications committee, has said that radio stations to be forced to broadcast "live and local" for a minimum of six hours each day between breakfast and drive time, writing, "That programming should be locally sourced and presented, not some pseudo-localism from a hub," he wrote. "There should (also) be a requirement for not less than 12 1/2 minutes per day of locally sourced and presented news, exclusive of weather reports."
The Liberal Party needs the support of national MPs in the ruling coalition to pass its planned media changes and Neville rejected the idea that cross-ownership of newspapers and radio would improve local radio news, commenting "My objection is that radio reporters can just regurgitate what the newspaper is saying. You're not getting the diversity of opinion."
Previous APN News and Media:
The Australian report:
2006-09-27: BBC Unions have warned the corporation that they will ballot their members concerning strike action should there be compulsory redundancies following an announcement that more than 100 jobs in BBC News are to go on the next six months as part of a cost-cutting drive .
Details of the scale of the cuts were given to the unions - BECTU, the National Union of Journalists and Amicus - at a meeting on Tuesday and they were told the corporation was unable to rule out compulsory redundancies.
The job losses are being made as part of a three-year cost-cutting exercise that began in April 2005 and that the BBC said would involve 420 job losses in its news division.
So far some 220 posts were cut in the first year and during the current year a further hundred are going without compulsory redundancies but the unions are concerned that following these cuts there may not be enough volunteers to meet the corporation's targets.
BECTU official Luke Crawley noted that the announcements coincided with the announcement by BBC One TV of a "new on-screen identity" that are part of new "idents" for BBC One and Two on which more than GBP 1 million ( USD 1.9 million) are being spent and said he was pessimistic about the likelihood of enough volunteers agreeing to take redundancy.
The cuts are expected to lead to the departure of a number of well-known names amongst the corporation's journalists.
Previous BBC:
2006-09-27: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced the launch of its "Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau", noting in a news release that "The events of September 11, 2001 and last year's hurricane season."
It is organized in three divisions - a Policy Division to draft, develop and administer "rules, regulations, and policies"; a Public Communications Outreach & Operations Division "responsible for coordinating the Commission's emergency response procedures and operations"; and a Communications Systems Analysis Division to administer the Commission's information collection requirements and perform analyses and studies concerning public safety, homeland security, emergency management and preparedness, disaster management and national security.
The move has been backed by all the commissioners and Chairman Kevin J. Martin said in a statement, "Public safety is one of the Commission's and my top priorities", adding, "We have a history of taking action to ensure the operability of the nation's communications networks. Last year for example, in response to Hurricane Katrina, the Commission worked around the clock to cut red tape and ensure a rapid restoration of communications to the impacted region. "
Amongst the other comments, Democrat Commissioner Michael J, Copps welcomed the move but said it should have come earlier, commenting, "To put it bluntly, I believe this is a step we should have taken more than five years ago in response to the searing lessons of 9/11. We didn't then; we do now, so I applaud Chairman Martin for his leadership in bringing us here today."
RNW comment: Copps does seem to have a point. Katrina was more than a year ago and it's been a matter of luck that subsequent storms have not been so severe.
Previous Copps:
Previous FCC:
Previous Martin:
2006-09-26: US host Oprah Winfrey's "Oprah and Friends" radio service launched on XM Satellite Radio on Monday with a line-up of programming that includes "The Oprah and Gayle Show" with Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King; King's own "The Gayle King Show"; "The Dr. Robin Show" hosted by Dr. Robin Smith; "The Jean Chatzky Show"; "The Dr. Oz Show" with Dr. Mehmet Oz; "The Bob Greene Show"; "The Marianne Williamson Show"; "The Dr. Maya Angelou Show"; "Oprah & Friends Sampler"; and "Weekend Encore", a compilation of highlights from the previous week's shows.
XM says that among guests lined-up for the show in its first few weeks are Donald Trump, Julia Louis- Dreyfus, Annette Bening, Jon Bon Jovi, Nora Ephron, Carnie Wilson, Norman Lear, and New York Times' columnist Thomas Friedman.
Winfrey said in a new release, "For me, being a part of XM Radio is a full-circle moment because I started out in radio when I was 16 years old and now I'm able to share the airwaves with my friends."
The channel is being produced by Winfrey's Harpo Productions and will originate from studios in Chicago that, according to a report by Phil Rosenthal in the Chicago Tribune will house fresh flowers as well as potted plants and a carefully designed space with "curtains, comfy chairs, a pair of end tables and a coffee table" and even "crown moulding atop the walls.."
Rosenthal quoted Harpo Radio general manager John Gehron as saying of the details, "The listener notices little differences, and I think Oprah realizes that. That moulding, we could have done without it. But it adds to the total picture. ... It's all part of the feel of the channel. It creates a feel. It creates a creative environment."
Of the intended audience, Gehron added, "Women have been [largely] ignored in information-and-talk radio" noting that the "loud, shouting and angry radio" doesn't appeal to them and talk formats aimed specifically at women have been hit or miss. "You didn't have someone as strong as Oprah driving it. You had men deciding what women wanted to hear."
Despite the hype Rosenthal says analysts doubt that the Winfrey service will generate anywhere near the kind of subscribers that Howard Stern gained for satellite radio rival Sirius, a comment put into context by a story in Ad Age that says Stern's advertising rates in Sirius are in the range USD 5,000 -USD 6,000 with live reads going up to USD 10,000 compared to triple this sum for a live read when Stern was in terrestrial syndication.
The report puts the lower rates down to a combination of an audience that has to be lower then it was on terrestrial - Stern had some 7 million listeners a week but that total was only recently reached by XM (See RNW Jul 28) - and also because satellite channels are not yet rated by Arbitron (See below) although XM does offer some details from a custom Arbitron report and Sirius says it has hired a research company to get audience date on "certain things" its advertisers would need.
Also in the satellite radio world, international operator WorldSpace has announced a an exclusive broadcast license agreement with ESPN. STAR Sports to provide subscribers with live audio coverage of cricket.
Under terms of the agreement, PLAY, the WorldSpace-branded all sports channel for South Asia and the Middle East, will have exclusive broadcasting rights throughout South Asia for 12 tours and over 200 days of cricket comprising both test matches and one-day internationals. Three of the 12 tours include India -- WorldSpace Satellite Radio's primary market in the Asia region. Coverage begins November 19, 2006 with India's tour of South Africa, and runs through February 2008, with conclusion of the India-Sri Lanka-Australia Triangular Series in Australia.
Alexander Brown, co-Chief Operating Officer, WorldSpace said the acquisition of the rights was another demonstration of the company's "continued commitment to providing the best in audio entertainment for our listeners."
Previous Gehron:
Previous Sirius:
Previous WorldSpace:
Previous XM:
Ad Age report:
Chicago Tribune report:
2006-09-26: Arbitron is to further delay plans to rate satellite radio channels but will go ahead with the introduction of ratings for non-commercial stations from the Fall 2006 ratings: It says the delay in rating satellite channels - rating is now expected to start some time next year - is because it needs to develop further rules governing diary entries on programming that could be satellite listening or over-the-air listening.
Commenting on this in a news release Arbitron's VP Product Management and Client Services Brad Feldhaus said, "As an example, we want to test the rules necessary to assign entries such as NFL football, or MLB baseball since these programs are broadcast on both over-the-air radio and satellite."
"We recognize the implementation date for reporting satellite in local markets has moved previously and for this reason we hesitate to provide another target survey date until we have this desired additional data," he added.
Arbitron says that starting with the Fall 2006 survey it will modify its diary instruction page to incorporate Internet and Satellite instructions including instructions for people listening by these means to include a station name or channel number and the diary keeper is told that if they do not know they should list the programme name: References to "Internet" and "Satellite" have been added to the checklist and sample inside diaries.
Arbitron notes that it has already tested revised Internet and Satellite instructions during Winter 2006, Phase II and Feldhaus said. "Thanks to these improved instructions, we expect the volume of satellite entries to rise and the quality of entries to improve. We will review the content of these entries over a period of surveys to better inform and enhance our edit rules."
Arbitron is also planning to rate HD radio listening starting with the winter 2007 survey and says that in PPM markets next year encoded HD radio stations will be reported in the PPM Analysis Tool.
Previous Arbitron:
2006-09-26: The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has now signed a ten-year contract with News 106 Ltd. (Newstalk 106) for a quasi-national news and speech FM service in the republic.
BCI chairperson Conor J. Maguire said at the signing that "In now broadcasting to a national audience, the service will mark a new era in Irish broadcasting."
"We are confident," he added, "that the service will add significantly to news and speech-based radio in Ireland and will provide Irish listeners with a vibrant alternative."
The new service is scheduled to launch on Friday this week.
Previous BCI:
Previous Maguire:
Previous Newstalk 106:
2006-09-26: The BBC closure of its Thai language service as part of measures linked to the opening of an Arabic TV service (See RNW Jan 15) has come under renewed criticism in the country in the wake of last week's army coup according to the UK Daily Telegraph.
The paper says that the military have been censoring broadcasts and the internet and hundreds of community radio stations have been closed making those who would formerly have tuned to the BBC World Service for independent Thai-language broadcasting acutely aware of its absence.
Chuan Leekpai, predecessor to the ousted Thaksin Shinawatra as Prime Minister, told the paper, "It's a shame that they closed the Thai service, it was very up to date and very accurate."
The paper reports that international news broadcasts may be interrupted and says there were "quite a lot" of soldiers in the newsroom of Thailand's only privately owned terrestrial television station, quoting a member of staff as saying, "They are monitoring the news, making sure nothing against the coup is presented."
Internet links have also been censored with closure of websites of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party and an anti-coup group and the political discussion board on Pantip.com, Thailand's most popular chat site and the paper says that the link to a BBC web site analysis report headlined "Thailand's revered king continues to play a key role" brought up a blank page.
The paper says a BBC spokeswoman said the corporation closed its Thai language service because it had been making "minimal impact in the region" and added that Thais would not be able to listen to the service even it if was still operation because it was heard through partner stations that have now been closed down.
Previous BBC:
UK Telegraph report:
2006-09-26: UK Virgin Radio is promoting itself with a novel form of cash prize - it has suspended a "Star" 20 feet ( 6 metres) high and wide that it has "Stuffed full of cash" above Regent Street in London and is offing the "value" of the contents in "hard cash" to a person who guesses how much the total is.
The "Virgin Radio Big Star" was, it says, constructed at a secret location before being suspended above Regent Street, one of London's prime shopping streets, and it has posted a webcam shot of the star on its site.
The station has previously boosted itself through a cash giveaway when in 1999, during Chris Evans time at the station, he gave out GBP 1 million (Currently USD 1. 9 million but then around USD 1.65 million - See RNW Dec 17, 1999).
This time it is asking would-be winners to register for the competition and one listener per hour - chosen randomly using a computer programme - will be allowed a guess at the amount - in fake money, since it was felt there was too much of a security risk in suspending real cash in the star. Should someone guess the exact amount, the competition will end and Virgin will deposit the amount concerned into their bank account.
The Big Star competition, unveiled on Monday by Virgin's breakfast host Christian O'Connell, is being promoted through TV commercials in London and a nationwide campaign in cinemas.
Previous SMG (Virgin owner):
Virgin Radio web site:
2006-09-25: This week we start our look at print comment on radio with a look forward and backward - to Friday when BBC Radio 3 marks the 60th anniversary of the station that began as the Third Programme - it became Radio 3 on September 30, 1967 as part of the wholesale BBC changes that saw the launch of BBC Radio 1 along with the re-naming of the "Light Service" and "Home Service" to Radios 2 and 4 respectively.
Both the UK Times and its sister paper the Sunday Times devoted their weekend regular radio columns to the channel and we happily go along with their choice.
Starting off we have Chris Campling's Radiohead column in Saturday's Times in which he comments on changes to the channel "little that has happened to Radio 3 since Wright (Radio 3 controller Roger Wright) took over in 1998 has been to the detriment of the station."
Campling then goes on to say of the station, "Radio 3's USP remains, augmented by the more up-to-date music, as well as the plays (The Wire is a constant joy of a Thursday for those hungering for new drama), the documentaries, and Lucie Skeaping, the medieval babe of The Early Music Show (Sat/Sun, 1pm).
It has also hacked out a place for itself on the wild frontiers of new technology. When, last year, the BBC Philharmonic's performance of Beethoven's symphonies were downloaded more than a million times, the shock reverberated around the music as well as broadcasting worlds - it must have so kicked itself that it didn't charge for them.
Yes, its listenership may have slipped, but this has not been decline through neglect. If listeners have deserted to Classic FM, more fool them - they are the ones embracing the past, while Radio 3 stumbles into an insecure but exciting future. "
The station is also praised by Paul Donovan in his Sunday Times Radio Waves column, which began: "A decade ago, for Radio 3's golden jubilee, Humphrey Carpenter wrote a splendid book about it called The Envy of the World. Sadly, he is no longer with us, having died of heart failure last year at the age of 58. But what he chronicled certainly is, and this week - mainly on Friday night - it celebrates its diamond jubilee. Is it still the envy of the world, which was how, in 1957, Peter Laslett (who in that more leisurely era managed to be both a Cambridge fellow and a BBC producer at the same time) described the Third Programme? It is an intriguing question, if unanswerable.
Envy is a deadly sin, so few are likely to admit to it. I do know that many other stations, quite understandably, covet Radio 3's annual budget of £31m, and its further £28m for the BBC's orchestras and singers. And I am sure Radio 3, which rarely raises its voice, but provides the highest of standards, is the best possible reason for the licence fee, and that it deserves its birthday bash."
He concludes, after looking at some of the changes over the years, by writing that Radio 3 "may no longer have comedy or theology, as it once did, and in today's world would benefit from both. But at its best it has the power of all great music, poetry and art. It elevates, which is something beyond Reith's famous trio of educate, inform and entertain. You feel better as a human being for listening to it, and there are not many stations you can say that about."
After praise some more negative comments, this time about talk and technology: First talk and comment from Barbados that may well reflect feelings from a wider world. The talk in this case is not the kind of talk the Third Programme went for - erudite, informative, and educational - but that most common in the US and UK commercial radio - less so on the BBC - as well as Barbados.
Writing in "The Nation News", guest columnist Carl Moore says "RADIO BROADCASTING in Barbados has become a daily challenge of separating the chaff from the wheat. Everybody can broadcast. Almost everybody is broadcasting. All you have to do is take up your phone and dial a radio station and, as the late revered Grenadian broadcaster Leslie Seon used to say: 'You are on the air and you are broadcasting.'"
After comments about the "daily diet of talk radio" and "laziness" at radio stations and by producers simply deciding who gets to air and what is dumped to prevent legal action, Moor continues, "This laziness is reflected in the absence of programming for enlightened listening. People still listen for education, information and entertainment" and then notes the addition by the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation of "three new talk shows called Ideas, hoping that ideas would emerge."
"This," comments Moore "has not happened. It's just more talk" and later, "This surfeit of talk radio has started to affect both listeners and moderators. People tune out the repetitive, the irascible and the incoherent, while some moderators are beginning to lose their cool and to exhibit symptoms of burn-out and irritability. "
Moore then notes that 16 years ago when he became chairman of the Barbados Broadcasting Authority the suggestion was made of international broadcasting via short-wave, a suggestion pooh-poohed on the basis of the opportunities offered by the Internet.
"Well, the Internet is here and we are on the worldwide web," says Moore. "But how are we using the technology as people listen on their computers from Antigua to Australia; from Brazil to Burundi? Can we truly say that we are international broadcasters? What's the content that we transmit to the world? The local, parochial issues? The potholes in St Philip? The loud and lewd music on the ZR vans? Afternoon Delight?"
He goes on to suggest what could be done in terms of real international broadcasting - telling people elsewhere in their own language about Barbados and says of talk, "Its place is secure, but there's too much of it. We could do with 50 per cent less talk and more structured programming designed to educate, inform and entertain."
And from Australia but with a multinational slant, The Australian last week carried a report cum interview with actor and comedian John Cleese, who is to be the keynote speaker at October 13's Australian Radio Conference.
In it Michael Bodey says Cleese's "love of radio hasn't diminished, despite the fact he spends most of his year in California, a blandly networked radio wasteland" but then having dropped a casual insult - we're willing next week to offer correction or clarification if someone can suggest to us California stations with audio online that disprove it - he goes on to quote Cleese who was speaking in the context of his UK radio experience before he moved into TV and movies.
"I love it as a medium because there's so little technology to get between you and the audience," he says. "With film, it's all about a shadow there or he's glinting there and you think the last thing that matters is the script. In radio, it's the first thing that matters."
Cleese also expressed confidence in the medium, saying, "I'm very optimistic about radio. What I like about radio, and is still true and ultimately will make the difference, is it's still relatively cheap to produce. So radio may start producing more comedy, for example, for the simple reason it's not terribly expensive. Whereas everything in America is so expensive now that no one wants to take anything remotely like a risk, which of course kills the possibility of originality."
He also comments of another important difference between now and when he worked in radio: "If you're talking about censorship and editorial interference, you're absolutely right, we were unbelievably lucky, breathtakingly lucky," he says.
"We worked at the BBC in the '60s and '70s and there was probably no better place to work, because there was still freedom and the confidence they were not caving into power groups.
"The problem now, in my experience, is they're not so much television people or radio or film people any more, they're more marketing people. There are exceptions of course but most of them don't have gut reactions; they don't think 'This is an exciting script', they give it to the marketing department and find out if it might work. And I don't think any good art has ever been produced like that, certainly no great art."
Which is as good a cue as any to skip more negative comments about radio - and most of that we saw in US publications contained rather more of the negative than the positive - and move on to suggested listening.
And to begin with we suggest a week listening to some of the range of BBC Radio 3 - augmenting that core with other BBC stations and some very select listening from elsewhere.
From Radio 3 itself we start by suggesting from Sunday "The Longest Tour" - the first part of the story of what happened to the BBC Symphony Orchestra whose members on September 2, 1939, were alerted to their duty to leave home by the phrase "This is London" rather than the usual "This is the BBC "on the Nine-o-clock radio news.
It was the start of a long period off-base, first in Bristol, then in Bedford, the second part of which will be told next Sunday (14:30 GMT. The first programme is on the BBC Radio 3 site until then).
Also from Sunday we'd suggest "The Choir" - an edition in which Aled Jones and former producer of the series Barry Rose looked at "80 Years of Choral Evensong" on the BBC and also in the "Drama on 3" slot a new production of Terence Rattigan's "A Bequest to the Nation" with Kenneth Branagh playing Lord Nelson. That was followed in the Sunday feature slot by "History through the Ears" in which as part of the station's 60th anniversary celebration, Christopher Frayling examines how the act of listening has changed dramatically with societal and technological developments including the development of devices such as the gramophone and iPod.
A look at the station's schedules will offer much more from "The Early Music Show" - Sunday at noon GMT, festival coverage including the 2006 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition at the end of last week (the final is available in the Saturday "Performance on 3" audio online if you have three hours) and various performances from this year's Edinburgh International Festival plus other regular features such as tonight's "Night Waves" that marks another 60th anniversary, that of Britain's Blood Transfusion Service, with a look at the history of passing blood from one body to another; Thursday's Hungarian Evening, marking the uprising against the Soviet occupation in 1956; and Friday from 16:00 GMT when in "In Tune" Sean Rafferty launches Radio 3's celebrations of its 60th anniversary, with music that was broadcast for the opening evening on September 29, 1946 - it continues until 23:00 GMT (midnight local) when in "Jazz on 3" Jez Nelson raids the archives to present a taste of jazz broadcasting on the station over the years.
Except for those with masses of free time, the above will more than consume available listening time for the week so we wrap up with only a few other suggestions.
Then from the US, we would suggest last Wednesday's "All Things Considered", which included an interview with Maher Arar, the Syrian-born Canadian computer engineer who was falsely accused of having terrorist ties, arrested at JFK Airport on his way back to Montreal from Germany and then "rendered" by US authorities to Syria where he was tortured. The issues raised are fundamental to any civilized society and Maher comes over as infinitely more civilized and reasonable than the US attorney general Alberto Gonzalez (Maher's site gives details of his story and the interview comments about the listing of his wife, six years old daughter and six-months-old son on a "watch list" implicitly suggest that a number of Canadian and US officials have been collecting salaries they don't deserve) .
Maher's interview leads us on to another in the mistakes by officials category, tomorrow's "The Choice" on BBC Radio 4, in which Michael Buerk talks to Nick Yarris, who spent 22 years on death row in Pennsylvania before being freed in 2004 on the basis of DNA tests, developed after his conviction, that showed genetic material found under the victim's fingernails, on her undergarments, and in a pair of gloves possibly worn by the killer was not his.
Then relating to the nature of good and evil from Radio Netherlands whose "Amsterdam Forum" on Sunday was comprised of an interview with holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel by Chris Kijne in which Wiesel reflects on the moral questions of the nature of evil and why people kill.
Also from Radio Netherlands we'd suggest last week's "Vox Humana" in which Chris Chambers draws on his own experience of Chronic Lyme Disease -caused by the bite of a tick, which injects the bacteria Borrelia into the bloodstream and which speedy treatment with antibiotics can stop.
Finally we suggest BBC Radio 4 at 14:30 GMT this week when the "Afternoon Reading" slot contains a series of short stories from Iran and is followed by the "Invention of Childhood" series that continues over the next six weeks looking at childhood and the experiences of children in Britain (See RNW Sep 16).
Previous Campling:
Previous Columnists:
Previous Donovan:
National Public Radio - Arar story (and audio link- interview is 7 minutes 25 seconds):
Nation News, Barbados - Moore:
The Australian - Bodey:
UK Sunday Times - Donovan:
UK Times - Campling:
2006-09-24: The most significant regulatory events last week that we noted came from Australia and the UK in relation to preparations for potential Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) transmissions and reports that UKRD that it was to hand back a licence rather than try and sell it on.
In Australia the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that it was embargoing a number of frequencies for other uses so as to keep them available for DRM, potentially a way for digital technology to reach remote areas where DAB transmissions could present problems (See RNW Sep 20): There were no other radio announcements from ACMA.
Canada was fairly quiet with a fairly small number of routine decisions from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) including the following radio-related matters (in order of province):
Alberta:
*Approval of request to increase the power of CJSI-FM, Calgary, from 47,000 watts to 100,000 watts.
New Brunswick:
*Denial of application to relocate the transmitter of low-power Christian music format CKOE-FM, Moncton, and increase its power from 50 watts to 725 watts. The CRTC noted that it had already denied an application to increase the power to 2,800 watts and said that the current parameters were adequate for the low-power service originally proposed and added that the applicant had not presented compelling evidence of either an economic or technical need for the proposed changes.
Ontario:
*Approval of a 200 watts English- and French-language FM radio station in Greenstone to broadcast emergency information and information for area residents relating to danger from such threats as forest fires, train derailments and severe winter storms.
*Approval of power increase from 2,070 watts to 4,000 watts and increase in antenna height for CKSG-FM, Cobourg. The application was opposed by Corus Entertainment Inc., licensee of CKRU-AM and CKWF-FM, Peterborough, and CHUM Limited , licensee of CKPT-AM and CKQM-FM, Peterborough, on the basis that the increase would allow CKSG's signal to encompass Peterborough but the CRTC said that the aggregate profit before interest and tax (PBIT) for Peterborough market last year was much greater than for Cobourg and it did not consider that approval would result in significant financial hardship to the CHUM and Corus stations in Peterborough.
The CRTC also issued a public notice in which in connection with a public hearing to be held in Regina, Saskatchewan, on October 30, that the application by Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. (AVR) for a licence to operate an English and Aboriginal-language native Type B FM radio programming undertaking in Saskatoon is technically mutually exclusive with an application by Rawlco Radio Ltd., 587681 Saskatchewan Ltd. and Dekkerco Holdings Limited to convert CJNB-AM, North Battleford, to FM.
*Renewal of licence of CKMB-FM, Barrie, to 31 August 2013. Concern had been expressed by the Canadian Independent Record Production Association (CIRPA) about the way the licensee is distributing its Canadian Talent Development (CTD) expenditures and the Commission noted a shortfall. It therefore said it was requiring the licensee to fulfil its obligations in a timely manner and also submit a report to be filed with its 2008-2009 annual return detailing the manner in which it has addressed its arrears to CTD and non-CTD Native broadcasting initiatives.
*Denial of application for a 250 watts FM transmitter at Iqaluit, Nunavut, for CJLF-FM, Barrie. The application was opposed by among others Nunavut Nalautinga Ltd., licensee of CKIQ-FM, Iqaluit. In refusing, the CRTC noted that CHR format CKIQ-FM has been in operation for only three years and has not gone into profit and also that the proposed transmitter to broadcast programming originating at Barrie would provide minimal local reflection of the Iqaluit community.
Quebec:
*Denial of application to add a 5,750 watts FM transmitter at Rivière-du-Loup for CFVD-FM, Dégelis. In refusing the application the CRTC noted that the Rivière-du-Loup radio market is currently served by two local stations, CIEL-FM and CIBM-FM, and that the overall financial position of these two stations is precarious and said that the transmitter would have expanded the station's service area rather than improving the signal along highway 185, which is located within its existing contours.
Saskatchewan:
*Approval of application by CJNE FM Radio Inc. to change the programming source of VF2212, Carrot River, from "local programming and programs received from CFMI-FM, Vancouver, British Columbia" to "local programming and programs received from CFMI-FM, New Westminster, British Columbia and from CJNE-FM, Nipawin, Saskatchewan".
CJNE said the change would allow it to continue to augment its local programming with programming received from CFMI-FM and added that it would continue to broadcast three hours of locally-originated programming in the English and Cree languages each week.
Also in Canada the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled that a January broadcast on the CKAC-AM, Montréal "Doc Mailloux" phone-in programme breached Canadian standards and contained inappropriate insults and sexually explicit dialogue (See RNW Sep 23).
There were no radio announcements from Ireland but in the UK Ofcom had a fairly busy week in relation to radio. As already noted it is having to consider UKRD's intention to hand back its Stroud licence (See RNW Sep 23) - a matter on which we have already said that its response should be to simply say thank-you, offer the licence again either to a commercial applicant or community service, and bear the matter in mind whenever UKRD is involved in a licence application for an area where its station is facing financial difficulties.
Ofcom has also been involved in controversy over a suggestion by its director of radio and multimedia, Peter Davies, that the AM frequencies of national commercial services talkSPORT -owned by UTV - and Virgin Radio -owned by SMG - could be used for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) transmissions in six years' time when the licences, recently extended for four years, are due to expire (See RNW Sep 22).
In other radio decisions, Ofcom published its reasons for the award of the Bristol and Exeter licences earlier this month to CanWest-controlled Original Bristol FM Ltd. and Exeter FM respectively (See RNW Sep 15).
In the case of the Bristol award against five competing bids it said the winning bid demonstrated a detailed understanding of the Bristol market, and in particular identified a notable gap in current local commercial radio provision for ABC1 and male listeners. Its licensing committee, it said "felt that Original's album-led 'Adult Alternative' format was a coherent one that would broaden choice in the Bristol market in a distinctive and well-considered manner" and it also noted that apart from an occasional network or syndicated programme the station would be locally produced and presented and would feature a 24-hour local news service.
Of the Exeter winning bid, one of three, it noted that it had said it would pay particular attention to the ability of each applicant to maintain its proposed service for the duration of the licence period and also that speech content was likely to be considered more important than music proposals.
In this case it said it felt "the synergies which would be open to Exeter FM as a result of its co-ownership with neighbouring Palm FM in Torbay and the opportunity to share its resources, coupled with the backing of parent company Sunrise Radio, offered the strongest business case in a comparatively small market."
It also commented on a "strong commitment to local news" in the winning bid and its provision of "a solid body of research which demonstrated evidence of a demand for the proposed service."
In relation to national digital licences Ofcom approved a change that would allow GCap Media to launch a national jazz station and in other local licensing decisions it allowed format changes by Sunrise Radio that would allow it to move obligations to broadcast 18-hours a week in Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, Tamil and Sinhalese onto its Kismat Asian Talk Radio and also to allow Guardian Media Group to co-locate Paisley station Q96, which it is buying from UTV, with its Real Radio in Glasgow.
In yet another decision of relevance to the Asian audience, Ofcom refused to allow Spectrum Radio, which serves the Greater London area on AM, to increase its Asian output from eight hours to 12 hours a day (See RNW Jul 11).
Spectrum had said that it would also to increase the Format requirement to serve eight communities from the existing six. Ofcom said that in this case the change would be a substantial one to the character of the service and would narrow the range of programmes available in London where there were already three AM services providing Asian programming.
Ofcom also published its seventh quarterly Media Literacy Bulletin which as well as references to its "Communications Market 2006" report released last month (See RNW Aug 11) included a section on Community radio from Paul Steele of the Community Media Association (CMA).
Steele reported on a pilot project in which two community radio stations- Desi Radio in Southall and Forest of Dean Radio in Gloucestershire (one urban and one rural) - were enlisted to perform various media literacy activities and then test their effectiveness.
Each station hosted a media literacy workshop aimed at staff and volunteers and also produced five media literacy Public Service Announcements (PSA's) and one dedicated media literacy programme.
The Forest of Dean approach was to focus on 'editorial' issues and misrepresentation in the media; looking at how media literacy should inform people and raise awareness of how the media is put together and how editorial decisions influence how the media is presented and understood whilst Desi focussed on more practical issues surrounding media literacy such as raising awareness of technological issues and digital services.
The first step was to hold a media literature workshop with input from Ofcom and Steele said these were considered a success by the station staff and volunteers taking part.
The PSAs focussed on raising awareness of "Generic, TV, Radio, Internet and Mobile' issues" and these and other information have been posted on a new media literacy sub-site on the CMA website.
The CMA is still evaluating the pilots and will post the evaluation on its site: It says following on this it plans to submit proposals for a national scheme.
In the public sector, Ofcom announced that it was to subject the BBC's plans for on-demand services via the Internet to a Market Impact Assessment (MIA) for which purpose it is to set up a Joint Steering Group with the BBC governors although it stresses that the "substantive findings of the MIA, however, will remain a matter for the judgment of Ofcom."
Ofcom also published its latest Broadcast Bulletin in which it upheld two standards complaints against radio and considered two more resolved (See RNW Sep 19).
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received further calls for an investigation into allegations that it had suppressed 2003 and 2004 reports that did not fit in with its agenda (See RNW Sep 22), an investigation its chairman Kevin J Martin has said he supports.
The FCC also ended its latest spectrum auction - Auction 66 - for mobile services, raising USD 13.7 billion (See RNW Sep 19): It also issued a notice seeking comment on bidding procedures to be adopted for its Auction 70 of FM broadcast licences, currently scheduled to begin on March 7, next year.
In all 124 construction permits are to be put up for sale in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Previous ACMA:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Ofcom:
ACMA web site:
Community Media Association web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2006-09-24: Former Michigan Public Radio salesman Jeremy Nordquist has been sentenced to 18 months probation - or less if he pays USD 5,000 in restitution - for misappropriating goods and services intended for the University of Michigan's WUOM-FM according to the Ann Arbor News which quotes Nordquist as saying the way the case was conducted was unfair.
Nordquist was one of three former employees charged with misappropriating nearly USD 60,000 in goods and services provided by sponsors in exchange for on-air mentions: the other two, his supervisors Justin Ebright and Michael Coleman, now the general manager at public radio station WDET-FM in Detroit, made plea bargains.
Ebright was sentenced to two years probation, 50 hours of community service and ordered to pay USD 10,000 in restitution in April after pleading no contest to a felony charge of embezzlement (See RNW Apr 14) whilst Coleman was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay USD 3,500 in restitution after pleading no contest to a misdemeanour charge of embezzlement under $200 (See RNW Jun 24).
The paper quotes Nordquist as saying, "There are a lot of things in life that aren't fair, and this is one of them" in relation to the embezzlement case.
He had argued that he had full approval of his supervisors when he accepted Persian rugs, a pool table and golf club memberships but Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Blake Hatlem said at the trial that Nordquist knowingly did wrong by personally benefiting from the goods or services that became U-M property once an in-kind trade agreement was made.
Jurors had convicted Nordquist in July of conspiracy to commit embezzlement but acquitted him of a count of embezzling (See RNW Jul 28) and his attorneys had tried and failed to have the verdict set aside.
Nordquist had returned the rugs when police began investigations and offered to return the pool table, which will be donated to a local youth club or the YMCA, his attorney Kelly Roberts told Washtenaw County Circuit Judge David Swartz.
Swartz ordered Nordquist to pay more than $1,000 in court fines and to relinquish any tax refunds he received from the gifts so they could be applied toward restitution but he allowed him to travel and even move to any state where he finds employment.
Previous WUOM:
Ann Arbor News report:
2006-09-23: US National Public Radio (NPR) has named Ken Stern to take over as CEO from the start of next month in succession to Kevin Klose: Klose will remain president and also stay on as a member of the NPR Board.
The two men worked together in previous roles with the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Klose, who is also a former Washington Post editor and correspondent, joined NPR as President and CEO in 1998S and Stern joined as EVP in 1999.
Since Klose and Stern joined NPR its revenues have grown from USD 75 million in 1998 to a projected USD167 million for 2006 and in 2003 it received the largest cash bequest ever made to an American cultural institution, nearly USD 235 million from the late philanthropist Joan B. Kroc, widow of MacDonald's founder Ray Kroc (See RNW Nov 7, 2003).
On the editorial side NPR doubled its audience to 26 million weekly listeners and completed a multi-year expansion of NPR News that significantly increased the number of staff, beats and bureaus and also expanded in digital media.
Commenting on the appointments NPR chair Tim Eby said Klose had "led NPR through an era of dramatic accomplishment, infusing the organization with his belief in journalistic excellence and the ideals of public service."
Klose is now to take on the development of a major new initiative for NPR and public radio designed to strengthen financial resources and Eby commented, "The financial resources of NPR and the entire public radio system have been a critical issue to Kevin for quite a while and the Board agreed with his idea to empower him with this initiative as a formal responsibility."
Of Stern's role Eby said, "Ken Stern's new role reflects his achievements as well as his dedication to a vision for the future. During his tenure, Ken has rebuilt the organization from the inside out, creating a new level of leadership and stability. He has also actively and strategically redefined NPR's place in the larger media environment of the future, while nurturing the organization's crucial position of trust in radio."
Previous Klose:
Previous NPR:
Previous Stern:
2006-09-23: According to the UK Guardian, media regulator Ofcom is in a quandary over what to do about the Star FM commercial licence for Stroud in Gloucestershire that licensee UKRD has said it is handing back, the first time a UK operator will have surrendered a licence.
UKRD has said that it will stop broadcasts at the end of the month, with its chief executive William Rogers, who moved into the role last year from his previous position as managing director, saying that the move was made in protest at the way smaller radio stations are regulated.
Rogers told the paper, "Someone has got to do this to get the whole area of smaller radio stations which is over-regulated and over-burdened and lacks sufficient flexibility from the regulator. So we have taken the very bold decision to hand back the Stroud licence where we will cease broadcasting at the end of the month."
In March UKRD had been refused permission to simulcast the majority of programme output from Star in Stroud and its sister station in Cheltenham although Ofcom said it would allow the two stations to be co-located (See RNW Mar 22).
UKRD said the station had been loss-making during the whole of its eight-year life and Rogers told the paper, "We need a serious and meaningful debate in the industry to help smaller stations work and become commercially successful. There are scores of radio stations losing money that will never work and the regulator has got to have a serious look at how to manage this sector. It would have been almost unethical to sell the licence on; it's not a sound business and never would have been."
Asked about the matter an Ofcom spokeswoman told the Guardian, "We don't know what we are going to do with the licence. This has only just happened and a decision has not yet been made."
Ofcom added in a statement that its forthcoming radio review will look at the issues highlighted by UKRD and continued, "We note the announcement made by UKRD. This is a commercial business decision for the radio station itself. However, Ofcom is naturally disappointed that UKRD have decided to close Star 107.9 in Stroud."
"We are aware and mindful of the pressures facing all local radio stations - particularly small stations," said the statement. "We are in the process of preparing a consultation, scheduled for publication early next year, which seeks to address directly issues and challenges currently facing radio operators in smaller areas such as UKRD."
RNW comment: To us the Ofcom decision should be very simple. It should say thank you, take the licence back and then make the frequency speedily available to others who are interested.
If a commercial group says it can make the station pay and produces a suitable business plan they should be presumed to be commercially competent and given the chance. If not the frequency should be made available to a community station.
UKRD is putting a gun to the regulator's head in a way that no regulator worth having should, in our view accept, and we would consider it quite reasonable of Ofcom should UKRD apply for any future licences - or renewal of any existing licences where it may be thought to be operating at a loss or with minimum profitability -to insist on suitable cast-iron financial guarantees related to ability to continue the service before allowing renewal or awarding a new licence.
If UKRD is correct in its assessment of the chances of the station having no commercially-viable future it would presumably not have received any bids for the licence: That may indeed be the situation, in which case UKRD is not acting with relation to ethics but is calculating that this action will force lighter future regulation in general to its overall benefit - in other words a business gamble being presented as one taken on principle.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous UKRD:
UK Guardian report:
2006-09-23: The winners of this year's National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Awards have been announced at the annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show, which this year was held in conjunction with The NAB Radio Show in Dallas and sponsored by HD Radio.
Winners of the 21 awards, which this year did not include a classical station award but did add Spanish Format Personality of the Year - won by Eddie Sotelo - were:
Legendary Station - WBEB-FM Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
AC Station of the Year - KOIT-FM San Francisco, California:
Network Syndicated Personality of the Year- Bob & Tom (Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold), Premiere Radio Networks:
CHR Station of the Year - WSTW-FM Wilmington, Delaware:
Major Market Station of the Year - KGO-AM, San Francisco:
Country Station of the Year- KYGO-FM Denver, Colorado:
Large Market Station of the Year - WEEI-AM, Boston, Massachusetts:
News/Talk Station of the Year - KGO-AM, San Francisco:
Medium Market Station of the Year - WIVK-FM, Knoxvil