March 2007 Archive
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Links- internally where there are follow-up stories we try, at the end of each story, to put a pertinent link to the top of the previous relevant story. Regarding external links see note at end of page.
RNW February comment - Sirius-XM: A merger too far? The evidence so far suggests it should be accepted only if the senior executives have been misleading shareholders.
RNW January comment - Considers, as the furore continues over the death of a contestant in a water drinking competition, whether there is a need for specific regulation of broadcasters and concludes that there are virtually no areas requiring broadcaster-specific laws.
RNW December comment - As the switch-off approaches for analogue TV we consider regulatory approaches for a digital age.
2007-03-31: Australia's Communications Minister Helen Coonan has announced that the country's new media ownership laws are to take effect on Wednesday, April 4, much earlier than expected, a move that has already been widely anticipated with around AUD 17 billion (USD 13.75 billion) in deals already done along with preparation for further moves when the new laws ease restrictions.
The way was cleared for expansion of holdings earlier in the week when the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) released its "Register of Controlled Media Groups" (See RNW Mar 29): Coonan says the changes, which will allow foreign companies to own Australian media assets, will "encourage greater competition, and allow media companies to achieve economies of scale and scope, while maintaining the diversity of Australia's media landscape".
Although some of the largest deals have already been done, a number of media companies including Austereo and Southern Cross Broadcasting with their radio interests, are seen as potential takeover targets.
Peter Morgan of the fund manager 452 Capital said on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "The World Today" programme on Friday that the opportunities were likely to be once-only ones, saying, "Once a Fairfax, or a, you know, one of the free-to-air stations is bedded down, or a Southern Cross Broadcasting is bedded down, it's effectively gone. You have to then deal with the, with the new proprietor who as I said is not a mix of institutions or retail investors, it's one person that can take a longer-term view."
Media analyst Peter Cox expressed concern that prices paid could go too high, particularly as people's use of media was changing, commenting, "It's a real quandary for buyers. Do they pay the excessive prices to get a once in a lifetime opportunity to own media assets? Or do they say, well gee, perhaps they're a bit old and we should be looking for new areas in life?"
Australian media shares rose on the news and Austereo, which had been up 4.3% at one point, ended Friday up 2.76% and Southern Cross ended up 4.21%.
Previous ACMA:
Previous Austereo:
Previous Southern Cross:
ABC "World Today" report:
2007-03-31: Federal judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has thrown out a lawsuit brought against XM Satellite Radio shareholders, saying it "failed to identify any materially misleading statements or omissions" that would justify allowing it to proceed..
The shareholders had argued that they had lost financially because, contrary to XM executives predictions that its marketing costs to acquire new subscribers would fall or stabilize, the company's marketing costs increased and when this was disclosed its shares fell almost 28.5%.
Huvelle said the plaintiffs had failed to show that the statements "lacked a reasonable basis when made" and also ruled that the projections of marketing costs were shielded from action because they were "forward-looking statements...accompanied by meaningful cautionary language".
Previous XM:
Businesss Week/AP report:
2007-03-31: The BBC has announced a trial in conjunction with mobile phone companies Orange, Vodafone and 3 of a trial to syndicate most of its radio and TV programmes via 3G to mobile phones.
Radio stations that will be included are Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 6 Music, BBC 7 and Asian Network but not Radio Five Live and the trial will begin in April.
BBC Director of Future Media and Technology Ashley Highfield said, "By making a range of television channels and radio networks available to 3G mobile phone subscribers, we hope to test not only the effectiveness of 3G as a means of distribution, but also how audiences respond to the BBC's linear services on their mobiles. The findings, combined with quantitative and qualitative consumer research, will inform the BBC's future mobile strategy."
The announcement was made at the Broadcast Mobile TV Congress in London and the trials will continue for up to a year and BBC Controller of Business Strategy Richard Halton said the corporation "believes that mobile content is an important part of the broadcasting landscape and is looking at ways in which mobile devices will shape services of the future for licence fee payers."
"To this end," he added, "the BBC will be undertaking extensive and unique research into consumer behaviour and experience throughout the 3G mobile syndication trial. To date we have done relatively little consumer research in this area, and it will provide us with a detailed insight into consumer behaviour."
Latest figures from the BBC show Internet users have racked up nearly 100 million page views from the corporation using mobile phones and other hi-tech equipment in January this year and that mobile usage of the BBC websites has doubled year=on=year for each of the past three years.
Similar trials of the technology are also to take place in India where Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia are all set to start a mobile TV pilot project in metro cities, although this trial will be for Doordashan TV rather than of radio signals.
Previous BBC:
Previous Prasar Bharati:
2007-03-30: Leading US investor proxy advisory service Institutional Shareholder Services has urged Clear Channel shareholders to vote against a USD 18.7 billion buyout bid for the company, saying the price offered by company's founding family and private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners only represented a "very modest premium."
Clear Channel has delayed the vote on the bid, which needs two-thirds support, to April 19 from March 21, thus entitling to a vote shareholders who purchased their holding the original record date of January 22 (See RNW Mar 15).
Opposition to the deal had been building and RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank told Reuters there was now less than a half chance that the deal will go through.
"I think it's going to be tough to get the deal done, and this report makes its incrementally tougher," he told the agency. "I think the market had been discounting a 50 percent probability of the deal getting done, and after today I think the market's going to discount an even lower probability."
Institutional Shareholder Services, reported Reuters, commended Clear Channel for running a "shareholder friendly" auction but noted that "just because a sale process appears to be well-run, it doesn't necessarily follow (that) the ultimate outcome of that process is the best alternative for shareholders."
Also running into further opposition is the proposed Sirius-XM merger, which has now been opposed by the Alabama House of Representatives that on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution opposing it.
House Joint Resolution 144, which was introduced last week, urges the US Attorney General and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to oppose the deal.
The resolution, which now goes to the Alabama senate for a vote, says the merger would "result in consumers, musicians, and other entertainers being subject to a single company with unlimited market power to impose anti-competitive terms, conditions and prices."
It adds that the move will "potentially restrict programming, reduce diversity, and diminish creativity; each result negatively, impacting the public interest."
RNW comment: So only 49 more states to go for NAB?
In addition the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio ("C3SR"), which describes itself as the only group solely dedicated to protecting the interests of the over 14 million satellite radio subscribers in the United States, has sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a study it commissioned from J. Gregory Sidak of Criterion Economics, L.L.C. that opposes the merger.
The report says a merger would be anti-competitive; that most of the efficiencies propounded for it would not benefit consumers; and that the conditions proposed would not preserve consumer welfare;
C3SR says the report took into account competition from other audio products as portable players, the Internet and Terrestrial radio
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Sirius:
Previous XM:
C3SR web site:
Reuters report:
2007-03-30: UK Media regulator Ofcom has now confirmed that it only received two applications for the new national commercial digital multiplex it had advertised - those of Channel 4 Digital Group Limited and National Grid Wireless Limited (See RNW Mar 29).
It has also announced that it received two applications for the new Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire local digital radio multiplex licence.
These came from MuxCo Home Counties Limited - a consortium whose shareholders are MuxCo Limited (35%); The Local Radio Company plc (20%); Adventure Radio Limited (20%); Absolute Radio International Limited (20%) and Shadow Radio Holdings Limited (5%) - and GCap Media subsidiary Now Digital Limited.
MuxCo is offering a service of nine channels plus BBC Three Counties Radio, although it would launch in April next year with only eight of them. The services are:
Chiltern FM - a Contemporary channel from GCap Media Digital Limited.
Horizon FM - another Contemporary channel from GCap Media Digital Limited.
Classic Gold - a Gold service from Classic Gold Digital Limited.
Hertbeat FM - an Adult contemporary service from Shadow Radio Holdings Limited.
Jack FM - a Variety Pop & Rock service from Absolute Radio International Limited,
Easy Radio - an Easy listening service from Easy Radio Limited.
A Dance/Chill format from a provider who wishes to remain confidential.
A News, Views & Information service with name to be confirmed from MuxCo Home Counties Limited.
Mercury Plus - a Hit music family focused service from Adventure Radio Limited.
Now Digital is proposing eight services plus BBC Three Counties Radio with a July 2008 launch. Its offerings are:
97.6 Chiltern FM - A Contemporary Chart Hits service from GCap Media Digital Limited.
96.9 Chiltern FM - a second Contemporary Chart Hits service from GCap Media Digital Limited.
Horizon Radio - a third Contemporary Chart Hits service from GCap Media Digital Limited...
Classic Gold 792 - A Classic Hits service from Classic Gold Digital Limited.
Xfm - A Modern Rock service from GCap Media Digital Limited.
Chill - a Chill out service from GCap Media Digital Limited.
Jack - An 06:00 to midnight Classic Rock and Pop service from Absolute Radio International Limited.
UCB UK - A religious service from UCB Limited
Previous Ofcom:
2007-03-30: Less than 48 hours after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a consent decree under which Univision would pay a record USD 24 million fine for listing TV soap operas as part of its children's TV programming thus resolving TV licence issues and also cleared its sale( See RNW Mar 28), Univision has been bought by Broadcasting Media Partners Inc. (BMP) in a transaction announced at the end of June last year (See RNW Jun 28, 2006)
"BMP, an investor group including Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Saban Capital Group, paid USD 36.25 per share in cash, a deal valued at around USD 13.7 billion in all including approximately USD 1.4 billion of debt and Univision ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange before its opening on Thursday.
Outgoing Univision Chairman and CEO A. Jerrold Perenchio in a statement said he "would like to express my deep gratitude to all of Univision's employees for their many contributions to the Company's success and for their devotion to its mission of providing quality news, information, and entertainment to Hispanic audiences throughout the U.S."
He added, "I am enormously proud of all that Univision has accomplished since 1992 and look forward to following the next phase of its growth, which will undoubtedly be characterized by continued success under the leadership of its new owners."
BMP said it was "extremely pleased to have achieved a successful and timely closing of our acquisition of Univision" and said it looked "forward to working with the Company's newly appointed CEO, Joe Uva, and Univision's talented management team and employees to take full advantage of the enormous opportunities the Company will have in the years ahead."
Uva commented, "Univision has a rich and impressive history, and I am very excited to join the Company in partnership with its new owners, who have a proven track record of growing successful media companies. Jerry Perenchio and his management team have done an exceptional job of building Univision into the premier Spanish-language media company and the fifth largest network overall. Univision's programming quality and audience loyalty are second to none, creating unmatched opportunities for advertisers to successfully reach the U.S. Hispanic community."
As well as its TV operations, Univision has recording and online interests and is the leading Spanish-language radio group, owning or operating 69 radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets and 4 stations in Puerto Rico: It also has a non-voting 14.9% interest in Entravision Communications Corporation.
Previous Perenchio:
Previous Univision:
2007-03-30: UK media regulator Ofcom in its latest Broadcast Bulletin upheld no complaints against radio but did uphold four standards complaints against TV with details given of TV standards complaints about one item that were not upheld and of another that was considered resolved by action taken by the broadcaster. In addition two TV fairness and privacy complaints were upheld in part.
The figures compare with no radio complaints upheld but three TV standards complaints and three further fairness and privacy complaints against TV partly upheld in the previous bulletin when Ofcom also considered three further TV standards complaints resolved by action taken by the broadcasters and gave details of another TV standards complaint that was not upheld.
In addition to these the bulletin lists with no details a further 143 TV complaints involving 100 items and 17 radio complaints involving 15 items that it were out of its remit or not upheld. The totals compare with 174 TV complaints involving 131 items and 21 radio complaints involving 20 items that it were out of its remit or not upheld in its previous bulletin.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Ofcom Complaints Bulletin:
2007-03-29: At least two bids have been submitted for Britain's second national commercial digital multiplex, one led by Channel 4 Radio and the other led by National Grid Wireless (NGW): UK media regulator Ofcom is to publish details of the applicants today but no other bids are expected and, if they have been made, have been kept under remarkably tight wraps with no leaks from potential content providers. .
The "4 Digital Group" bid, whose backers include Chrysalis, Emap Radio, SMG, UBC, and UTV plus non-broadcast partners including Carphone Warehouse and BT Movio, proposes ten channels whilst that of National Grid Wireless, which is offering content from various providers including the BBC and GCap Media, is proposing 12, two of which would be for Channel 4 services, a music-based general entertainment service and a talk-based station designed to appeal to "younger BBC Radio 4 listeners".
Under the Channel 4 bid, Channel 4 radio would provide three stations - "E4 Radio", an interactive music and entertainment station targeting 15 to 29 year-olds with the best of what's new in music, comedy and entertainment; "Channel 4 Radio", a speech-based station with core content of news and current affairs but also carrying comment, drama, comedy and documentary programming; and "Pure4", a music station that Channel 4 says will combine "the best that music has to offer with modern contemporary culture."
The other seven channels will be "Talk Radio", an all-speech service from UTV; Emap's "Closer" that will carry a "broad mix of current and classic chart music with lifestyle conversation aimed at women aged 30 and over"; "Sky News Radio", a joint BSkyB and Chrysalis 24-hour rolling news channel; "Sunrise Radio UK" , a "personality-led, music-dominated station serving Britain's growing appetite for Asian music and culture"; "Virgin Radio Viva" - a station for "fun-loving, fearless women between the ages of 15 and 30"; "Original" from CanWest MediaWorks - "an album-led music station aimed at 40 to 59-year-olds, mixing music with meaningful speech"; and "Radio Disney", the UK's first national radio station devoted to children.
4 Digital Group also says it will be "at the forefront of digital media, fully exploiting the latest technologies to introduce a range of on-demand radio 'podcasts' from Gaydar, Club Asia, NME, IMG, Penguin, The Financial Times, The Princes Trust, The Media Trust and Colourful and catering for a wide array of tastes and interests."
It says it will devote "unprecedented resources" to promote the take-up of digital radio and will commit GBP 4.5 million ( USD 9 million) to general marketing of digital radio in the first three years of the licence period, together with more than GBP 25 million (USD 50 million) media value to support the launch of the individual new radio stations. It adds that it has reached an agreement to work together with the BBC on the development of DAB to achieve full consumer breakthrough for the medium.
4 Digital Group chair Nathalie Schwarz said the group will "secure the future of radio", adding, "Our proposed line up of 10 distinctive new national radio stations and range of downloadable podcasts offers genuine choice and exciting content. We will serve a broad spectrum of audiences - from mainstream to niche, minority groups to children - in both speech and music. Our vision is to put radio back where it belongs - at the heart of a multi-media, multi-platform UK."
National Grid Wireless is proposing to spend GBP 14 million (USD 28 million) as "part of a cross-industry marketing partnership with the BBC and Digital One, to drive the uptake of DAB products and services in the UK" and as noted is offering 12 channels from a variety of providers set to include the BBC, Digital One, Colourful, FUN Radio, GCap, Premier Christian Radio and Somethin' Else.
The line-up it proposes is an Adult/Album station to compete for BBC Radio 2's younger listeners; Channel 4 Radio 1 - a music-based general entertainment service for the under 35's; Channel 4 Radio 2 - a talk-based service to compete for BBC Radio 4's younger listeners; 50-plus - an easy listening station to compete for older BBC Radio 2 listeners; Radio Luxembourg with new music and "active rock" for the under 30s; Premier Christian Radio; Radio Play - a "games, challenges and competitions station by Somethin' Else, the independent radio and cross-platform production company"; Asian - a mainstream service for adult Asians; FUN Radio, an under-10s station with content from a 50-50 joint venture between GCap and HIT Entertainment; Love Songs - with love songs from the past four decades for a female audience; Colourful for the black, African and Caribbean communities; and BBC Asian Network, which will "will transfer from its own digital radio multiplex at higher audio quality."
National Grid estimates the cost of building its network as up to GBP 20 million (USD 40 million) and its general manager of broadcasting Tony Moretta said their "neutral host "approach would offer a market-driven model that would not own any stations so would not be I competition with its partners but would draw on the company's experience in building and operating networks and selling their capacity.
The Channel 4 offerings that National Grid has listed have drawn adverse comment from Channel 4 according to the UK Guardian which says Channel 4 will not guarantee to provide its own-brand stations should National Grid win the franchise.
In a statement Channel 4 said the three Channel4 -branded stations it unveiled are exclusive to its own bid and added, "There have been no conversations between Channel 4 and NGW and there is no guarantee that the stations will launch if 4 Digital Group's application for the second national multiplex is unsuccessful."
"We do not recognise the descriptions of the two Channel 4 radio stations in NGW's bid - they bear little relation to any of our three proposed services and are entirely NGW's creation prepared without consulting Channel 4," it said, suggesting that NGW might not be able to deliver the formats submitted to Ofcom.
Previous Channel 4:
Previous NGW:
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Schwarz:
UK Guardian report:
2007-03-29: Bridge Ratings latest report on the state of the US satellite radio business shows a continuing slowdown in the interest in the medium for a variety of reasons but in particular now including decisions by people to hold off making a commitment until the Sirius-XM merger goes ahead - or doesn't.
Less than a fifth of those polled (19%) say they will subscribe within 60 days irrespective of the merger with 29% saying they will hold off for up to here months before making a decision and 58% - up from 55% in February - that they will wait to see if the merger happens.
Bridge also estimated that the gain to Howard Stern if the merger goes through will be less than may have been anticipated although it still argues that the 48% of Howard Stern's most loyal listeners - some 2.5 million of them - who have not subscribed to Sirius are still "the prime group to pursue for further growth as they will be less costly to acquire than the 80% of Stern's terrestrial audience who were categorized as those who "listened occasionally" or "listened frequently".
It notes that the merger seemingly opens a new opportunity for the host but cautions that this benefit won't "be as significant as one might think" because XM subscribers do not consider Stern a high priority: Of 1,000 XM subscribers polled, 88% said they would not be likely to listen to Stern's show regularly were it to become available to them as the result of a merge whilst 8% said it was "somewhat likely" and only 4% that it was "very likely." The figures it notes, applied to the 7.6 million subscribers to Sirius would mean that the current base of XM subscribers could provide an additional 912,000 listeners for Stern
In terms of likely subscriber totals Bridge says it is inclined to reduce its pre-merger announcement estimate of a total of 17 million subscribers by the end of this year but for the moment will stick with the estimate until it gets further feedback.
Previous Bridge Ratings:
Previous Sirius:
Previous Stern:
Previous XM:
2007-03-29: Australian industry body Commercial Radio Australia has given a cautious welcome to changes announced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to its draft licence conditions for regional commercial radio stations
In a statement, it welcomed the changes but then said, "Commercial Radio Australia has consistently stated that both the local content and local licence conditions being imposed on commercial regional radio operators are an unnecessary intrusion by Government in the day to day running of commercial enterprises."
"The original draft local presence condition was extremely restrictive and inflexible," it continued, " In discussions with the Minister, National Party MPs and ACMA, and in its formal submission, Commercial Radio Australia argued that in order to be workable the condition needed to be flexible and to recognize the reality of running commercial radio stations in regional areas. The industry requested significant changes to the draft, in particular to the drafting around the requirement to maintain existing staffing levels and studio facilities in the event of a trigger event [An event such as a change of control or transfer of a licence].
Commercial Radio Australia Chief Executive Joan Warner commented, "While it is far from ideal to have such a licence condition imposed, we are pleased the Minister, other Government MPs and ACMA have taken the industry's concerns on board. We have worked closely to make the condition as flexible as possible under the required legislation."
"The changes," said, provided "a broader definition of local presence. In addition, the industry and regional radio stations will be able to request a review of this condition at any time."
The rules were part of regulation of regional radio introduced to gain the support of National Party senators for Australia's new media laws, which had been passed but have yet to come into effect.
In particular there was concern about the use of syndicated programming and the legislation was amended to include a requirement for 12.5 minutes of local news daily, 4.5 hours of locally produced programming, and rules requiring the maintenance of staffing levels and local studio facilities if a station changed hands.
Communications Minister Helen Coonan subsequently asked the ACMA to review the rules and it has now produced a modified licence condition under which, starting from the beginning of April regional operators will have to keep records so that after a "trigger event" calculations can be made about average staffing levels and studio and other production facilities existing for three months before the event. New owners will have to retain these levels.
Coonan told The Australian newspaper, "We have tried to provide maximum flexibility in the conditions. I have a great deal of sympathy for the proprietors. I am not trying to penalise owners; anything but. I know many of them are small operators and I think they provide an absolutely vital service. There is absolutely no secret that these changes were an ask by certain National Party constituents who were of the view that, given the way the Macquarie interests had acquired a number of licences and hubbed services so that there was a loss of local content, there should be measures which should secure local services."
The new media laws are expected to be put into effect by July: they had been held up by various essential requirements including the completion by the ACMA of a "Register of Controlled Media Groups" and the release of the results of the agency's consultation on "trigger events" for regional radio - both just released - and also a report on local radio content expected by the end of June.
Previous ACMA:
Previous Commercial Radio Australia:
Previous Warner:
The Australian report:
2007-03-29: Emap has closed down its digital country station 3C - "Continuous Cool Country"- whose site now carries a message saying "It has been a pleasure serving you" and then continues to suggest people check out US station Voice of Country.
The latter's web site terms it the "only 24hr Country Music station for the U.K. broadcasting entirely from Music City, Nashville, Tennessee" and promises "to play you the most up-to-date Country Music on the planet and, of course, lots of your favourites as well."
At the moment VOC is promising "streaming online and offering podcasts, daily news updates and newsletters to keep you informed" as well as "access to buy the songs (and ringtones) you really want" but is not delivering.
3C was based in Strathclyde and Clyde One has taken over the channel on terrestrial digital TV platform Freeview and DAB, although there is no indication how long it will continue.
Meanwhile GCap digital pop station "Core", which is dropping its DJs from the end of this month (See RNW Mar 16) has posted further details of its plans.
Promoting itself as being in the lead on trends - "When text messaging was the next big thing, Core was the first station to run a daily chart from your texts. When MySpace was the next big thing, Core was the first national station on there, and thousands of you have joined as our friends" the site says it thinks the "next big thing" now is "you, getting connected, having your say, and being in control of what you hear. "
To meet this perceived demand from Saturday it will become what it terms "the world's first "Access All Areas" radio station - where you choose the music, and say what you want about it, on air and online."
Amongst the plans are a service for listeners to text requests and in return get a text saying when the requested song will be played; offering "Core" facilities on "MySpace"; putting the best messages received - by a normal phone or via "Skype" on air; and offering a dial-in playlist meeting every Tuesday so listeners can help choose the music to be played.
Previous Emap:
Previous GCap Media:
3C - "Continuous Cool Country" - web site:
Core web site:
Voice of Country web site:
2007-03-28: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given the go-ahead for the USD 12.3 billion purchase of Univision Communications Inc. by the private equity group Broadcasting Media Partners, Inc. subject to payment as part of a Consent Decree of a record USD 24 million penalty levied on it for failing to provide sufficient programming specifically designed to serve the educational and informational needs of children
Statements were made by Chairman Kevin J. Martin and Republican Deborah Taylor-Tate and Democrats Jonathan S. Adelstein and Michael J. Copps, who partly dissented.
Martin said of the sale, "Today the Commission takes an important step in ensuring that broadcasters comply with their public interest obligations. This Order approves the transfer of Univision Communications Inc. (Univision) and resolves concerns about Univision's compliance with its obligation to serve the educational and informational needs of children."
Democrat Michael J Copps, whilst going along, dissented in part, saying he believed the Consent Decree "fails to address-indeed, it conspicuously ignores-two critical aspects of the transaction before us. To begin with, as I noted in my joint dissent with Commissioner Adelstein to the 2003 transaction that greatly expanded Univision's media empire, the Commission has never formally decided whether Spanish-language programming constitutes a separate market segment that must be analyzed in isolation from English-speaking programming. Then and now, I believe that we need to answer this threshold question before we decide important licensing questions concerning Spanish-language stations."
His fellow-democrat Jonathan S. Adelstein added that the order gave the new owners "six months after consummation of the underlying transaction to come into compliance with the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership, the radio/television cross-ownership, and the local radio ownership rules in nine markets" and added, "While I concur in our decision to grant these temporary waivers, I am sceptical about Commission enforcement. The Commission historically has failed to enforce the terms of its temporary waivers and, as a result, parties have simply failed to take the step necessary to demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with our ownership limits. In the instant case, the Commission should make clear that we will not grant any extensions absent extraordinary circumstances. I am committed to ensuring that BMPI comes into compliance within the time period allotted by the temporary waivers."
Previous Adelstein:
Previous Copps:
Previous Martin:
Previous FCC:
Previous Univision:
2007-03-28: CBS Radio has named Dan Mason as President and CEO of CBS Radio as in succession to Joel Hollander.
Mason was replaced as President of Infinity Radio in 2002 by former Clear Channel Senior Regional VP John Fullam (See RNW Aug 21, 2002)
Hollander, who moved to Infinity from Westwood One in 2003 to succeed Fullam, who had stepped down at the end of April, as President and Chief Operating Officer (See RNW May 16, 2003) became chairman and President and CEO of Infinity in 2005 when John Sykes moved to a new role in Viacom at MTV Networks (See RNW Jan 15, 2005).
He retained the role when Infinity became CBS Radio but earlier this month had been reported by the New York Post as preparing the ground for an early departure because of differences with CBS Corporation President and CEO Leslie Moonves (See RNW Mar 17).
Hollander was the "roastee" at the annual John Bayliss Foundation Radio Roast last Thursday, an occasion when the Post report led to a number of jokes about his future.
Mason, who had been an adviser and consultant to Infinity/CBS Radio after he left the company, was also an advisor and consultant to other radio companies including All Comedy Radio and iBiquity and was appointed to the board of Spanish Broadcasting System in 2003. In his new role he will report to Moonves and will CBS Radio's 144 radio stations, as well as the day-to-day operations of the division.
He began his career in radio in 1975 at WZGC-FM in Atlanta and subsequently joined Westinghouse as President of Group W Radio in 1993. As Infinity president he integrated the original CBS, Group W, Infinity Radio and American Radio Systems stations.
Moonves said of the appointment, "Dan brings with him a wealth of diverse experience and a true passion for the radio business. He is a well known and respected leader within the industry and our Company, and his perspectives on how radio can thrive and grow in our highly competitive media world are very exciting. Dan has a key understanding of the huge potential of our radio operations, and we are very pleased indeed to welcome him back to CBS."
Mason himself commented in a statement, "Radio reaches more than 90% of the population of the United States, and there is no better medium to call our listeners to action and deliver results for our advertisers. The combination of our premiere content with new technology applications will enable CBS Radio to move to a new plateau. Exciting times are ahead for our industry and especially at CBS."
Mason is to take over on April 16 and speculation continues as to whether CBS, which has already sold stations in ten of its smaller markets, will put more up for sale, a possible point of contention between Hollander and Moonves.
Previous CBS:
Previous Hollander:
Previous Mason:
Previous Moonves:
2007-03-28: GCap Media has announced that former Capital Radio and ITV chief executive Richard Eyre is to join it from May 1 as non-Executive Deputy Chairman and chairman-designate, taking over as Non-Executive Chairman in November from Peter Cawdron, who will remain on the board as Deputy Chairman.
Eyre will step down from the board of Guardian Media Group (GMG) immediately because of possible conflicts of interest with its radio business, which includes the Real Radio and Smooth brands, but will continue as chairman of the television production company RDF and remain an advisor to Guardian News and Media's newspaper interests.
Eyre was chief executive for Capital Radio from 1991 to 1997, leaving after the company's merger with GWR to from GCap to become chief executive of ITV, a post he held until 2000.
The announcement coincided with a trading update from GCap, which forecast revenues for the year to the end of March - affected by the sale of two Century stations to GMG - to be down around 9% with like-for-like revenues down around 3% for the year but up 1% on a year earlier in the final quarter.
GCap says its advertising revenue performance has improved steadily over the last six months and it expects to be ahead of the market for the last quarter of the financial year.
Chief Executive Ralph Bernard commented of the financial performance, "Although the market remains uncertain and visibility short-term, we are encouraged that the Group has been showing an improving trend over the past six months and that we are outperforming the radio advertising market for the first time," adding, "We have a strong board and senior management team in place. Now, having stabilised the business, we intend to focus on the excellent opportunities we see in the digital world - particularly online."
Of Eyre he said, "Richard is someone I deeply respect and admire. His wide experience covering advertising, radio, television, press and digital media will be a valuable addition to the Board. I am greatly looking forward to working with him" and added, "Peter Cawdron has been an excellent Chairman and we are delighted that he has agreed to remain on the board."
Also issuing an update on Tuesday was Emap, which said its results would be in line with current expectations and re-iterated its report of last month in which it said market conditions had been weak in consumer media and radio but that its B2B continued to perform well, driven by acquisitions (See RNW Feb 9).
For the financial year it says it expects UK Consumer Magazine revenues to be down 6% (down 2% underlying); International Consumer Magazine revenues to be down 10% (6% underlying); radio to be up 15% (down 1% underlying including SRH results for full periods); TV to be up 11% (11% underlying) and the continuing group to be up 3% (down 2% underlying).
Emap says it is on track to save GBP 20 million (USD 40 million) a year in 2008/09 through our operational efficiency initiatives across the Group which are progressing to plan and also gave flesh to rumours that it may sell its radio stations in the Republic of Ireland by saying it is "considering its options" in relation to them and intends to "to provide an update on this at our final results in May."
Looking ahead Emap says it expects the "existing difficult trading conditions in consumer media markets will continue in 2007/08" but says prospects for B2B are more robust, in particular around information products and events. Radio outlook is described as weak whilst that for TV is good.
The markets reacted positively, moving GCap shares up 3.9% to 219.25 pence and those of Emap up 3.99% to 769 pence.
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2007-03-28: Macquarie Radio Network's Sydney 2GB has increased its lead in the ratings in the second survey of the year, results of which have just been released by Nielsen Media but DMG's Vega stations continue to struggle, remaining near the bottom in both Sydney, where Vega's share was up from 3.0 to 3.3 and it was fourth from the bottom, and Melbourne where the share was down from 3.3 to 3.1 and Vega was fifth from the bottom.
Amongst hosts Alan Jones for 2GB increased his share from 16.2 in the previous survey to 17.9 whilst talk rivals fell back - ABC 702's breakfast share, although still keeping it in second spot, was down from 12.3 to 10.7 whilst that for commercial talk rival, Southern Cross Broadcasting's 2UE was down from 7.5 to 6.9 and it fell from fourth to fifth - behind leading FM station, Austereo's 2-DAY, DMG Australia's Nova, and WSFM.
In the morning slot Jones and Ray Hadley took 2GB's share up from 13,7 to 15.7, well ahead of nearest rival 2-DAY, whose share was down from 10.8 to 9.1,and 2UE whose share was up from 6.3 to 6.7 but the station fell back a rank to ninth
On the FM front, Austereo consolidated its dominant position in Sydney and Melbourne with the breakfast shows of 2-DAY (the "Kyle and Jackie O Show") in Sydney and Fox FM (the "Matt and Jo Show) each posting a tenth consecutive survey in top rank.
Austereo chief executive officer Michael Anderson said the breakfast results in Sydney and Melbourne demonstrated that they are connecting with listeners and added, "It's a great endorsement for the shows - the ratings show that new listeners are continuing to try the shows, and staying when they like what they hear."
Anderson said the pattern of an increasing audience staying longer was repeated on the Today network in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and commented, "We've put a new breakfast show into Brisbane and they have put on an incredible result in only their second ratings survey. There's a real passion that goes into creating great shows like these and it's great to see that passion reflected from our listeners."
In Adelaide, Nova had a thin time with its breakfast share down to 9.6 - down from 10.6 in the previous survey and 12.8 a year ago: The result compares with breakfast increases from 19.6 to 20.1 for DMG's sister station and market leader 5AA and from 9.8 to 11.7 for Austereo's SAFM, which is to launch a revamped breakfast show on April 10.
City by city, the top three stations were (previous % share in brackets):
*Adelaide: Mix 15.6 (18.0) - Same rank; 5AA 15.0 (13.9) - Same rank; SAFM 11.8 (12.0) - same rank.
Nova with 10.8 (11.2) remained fifth, behind ABC 891 with 11.8 (11.3).
*Brisbane - Nova with 15.2 (13.6) - Same rank; Triple M with 12.2 (12.4) - same rank; 4BC with 10.7 (9.0) - up from fifth.
*97.3 FM with 10.1 (10.3) -fell from third to fourth rank and ABC 612 with 8.2 (9.2) fell from fourth to seventh.
*Melbourne - 3AW with 17.5 (17.1) - same rank; ABC 774 with 11.9 (12.2) - same rank; Fox FM with 10.6 (10.3) - same rank;
*Gold with 9.6 (8.6) was up a rank to fourth, overtaking Nova which fell to fifth with 9.5 (9.7).
*Perth - MIX 94.5FM with 20.3 (18.8) - same rank; 96FM with 11.7 (10.1) - up from sixth; ABC 720 with 11.2 (12.4) - same rank.*6PR with 9.5 (11.5) - fell from third to sixth whilst Nova with 10.0 (10.3) was up a rank to fourth, ahead of 92.9 which was down a rank to fifth with 9.9 (10.8).
*Sydney: 2GB 12.8 (11.9) - same rank; 2-DAY with 10.1 (10.4) - same rank; ABC 702 with 9.3 (9.9) - same rank.
*2UE with 6.6 (6.5) up a rank to sixth behind WSFM which remained fourth with 7.6 (8.3) and Nova, which remained fifth with 7.2 (7.0) and ahead of Triple-M, which was up a rank to seventh with 6.6 (6.4).
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2007-03-28: International satellite radio company WorldSpace on Tuesday postponed its scheduled earning teleconference, saying it is currently engaged in negotiations about potential financing "to address the Company's cash flow issues arising from the Company's projected year-end cash position and that, although the negotiations may not succeed, it thinks it "will be able to respond better to investor questions once such negotiations have concluded."
During 2006, WorldSpace had subscriber revenues of USD 7.29 million, nearly double the USD 3.69 million for 2005, with final quarter subscriber revenues up from 1.14 million to USD 1.95 million. Overall revenue for 2006 was up to USD 15.61 million from USD 11.66 million in 2005 and for the final quarter revenue was up from USD 4.43 million a year earlier to USD 5.03 million.
Despite the rise in revenues, operational losses were also up for the year - from USD 162.97 million in 2005 to USD 182.29 million in 2006 - but they were down in the final quarter - from USD 62.73 million to USD 52.2 million - whilst net loss for the year rose from USD 79.86 million to USD 128.60 million ( from USD 2.77 to USD 3.44 p34 share) and for the final quarter was virtually flat - up from USD 33.18 million to USD 33.82 million (down from 90 cents to 89 cents per basic and diluted share).
Subscriber numbers were up from 115,306 at the end of 2005 to 199,105 at the end of 2006 with the largest rise in India where it has been concentrating efforts: Subscribers there went up from 74,574 to 138,065 whilst for the rest of the world they fell from 40,732 to 37,095.
WorldSpace is potentially facing a class-action lawsuit from the Rosen Law Firm which filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York at the end of last week alleging that the company and some of its present officers and directors had violated the 1933 Securities Act by "issuing materially false and misleading statements about the Company's subscriber count" and specifically by including in the count accounts that had either expired or been "churned."
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2007-03-28: This year's nominees for the Sony Radio Awards - the British radio "Oscars" - were announced on Tuesday at the CC Club in Piccadilly, London, with new awards - The Internet Programme Award and a special Broadcasters' Broadcaster Award to mark the Awards 25th anniversary.
Amongst the main awards, the "Station of the Year" nominations go to BBC Radios 1 and 2 and GCap's "Classic FM", whilst nominations for the new awards included five for "The Internet Programme Award"
In some categories the BBC is again the only nominee - including Drama - three nominations for BBC Radio 4 and three for Radio 4; the Comedy Award; and the "Feature Award".
Tim Blackmore, Chairman of the Sony Radio Academy Awards committee, said of this year, "It is testimony to the respect in which these awards are held that after 25 years of their existence this year's event attracted the all time highest number of entries. In our multi platform, multi media world, it's so good to have such solid confirmation that the creative use of audio continues to excite listeners and practitioners alike."
The awards, in 30 categories, will be presented at the 2007 Sony Radio Academy Awards Ceremony in London on April 30.
Previous Sony Awards:
Sony Awards site - links to 2007 nominees.
2007-03-27: ABC's Daytime Direction Network retained top rank but again fell back a little in Arbitron's RADAR 92 (Radio's All Dimension Audience Research) Radio Network Audience Report just released covering the period from January 5, 2006 - December 13, 2006 with Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network in second rank increasing its audience to get within range of pole position.
The top five were:
1 - ABC Daytime Direction Network, which lost 307,000 listeners to end with an average audience of 6.703 million and an AQH down from 2.8.to 2.7
2 - Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network, which gained 413,000 listeners to end with an average audience of 6.531 million and an unchanged AQH of 2.6.
3 - Westwood WON I Network, which gained 276,000 listeners to rise from fifth rank with an AQH up from 2.2 to 2.3.
4 - Dial-Global Complete FM Network, which lost 374,000 listeners to fall a rank and end with an average audience of 5.425 million and an AQH down from 2.3 to 2.2.
5 - ABC Prime Access, which lost 180,000 listeners and a rank to end with an average audience of 5.397 million and an unchanged AQH of 2.2.
Premiere's top ranked offering was the Premiere Morning Drive Network in seventh place, gaining 583,000.00 listeners over the former Premiere Morning Drive Network, which was in 11th rank and taking AQH up from 1.7 to 1.9: The Premiere Emerald Plus Network, which had been ninth, fell a rank to tenth behind the Westwood WON III Network which took over at ninth.
The sample size was increased from 118,000 previously to 140,000 diary keepers as part of a new sample increase initiative, with a goal of 200,000 diary keepers by December 2007. RADAR now measures 55 networks that together reach 73 percent of Persons 18+ and 74 % each of Persons 18-49 and 25-54 in the US.
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2007-03-27: A four-year research project into talkback radio in Australia by the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland lists Australia's top-rated talkback host Alan Jones as an "ugly" host who tries to exploit personal power to build influence without regard to social consequences and his fellow 2GB host Ray Hadley and former colleague 2UE's John Laws amongst those in the "bad" categories of "celebrity" hosts who give the impression they know what they are talking about when in fact they don't.
Although Jones' power is disputed - less than a fifth of people in Sydney don't listen to his programme - Centre Director Professor Graeme Turner argues that the way in which Jones works creates a perception of political influence and notes that nearly two third of his comments were considered to be partisan and even more of callers airs - more than 85% were supportive with less than 5% critical.
Turner is dismissive of the qualities of radio talk hosts in general, commenting on last week's "Media Report" on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National that with a few exceptions they operated on the basis of "'Tell me your message and I'll ask you a few questions, and we won't have an arguments, and we'll put the callers on."
This, said Turner, is "fantastic for politicians, they don't get a particularly rough ride and they go straight to the callers, and the callers might give them a rough ride, but there are lots of benefits in that too, because if they're seen to handle that well, that's a plus."
Regarding Jones he commented, "It really is quite different. I mean there's a controversy about Alan Jones, and people saying, well on the one hand you've got people saying that he's so influential he swung the result of a national election once. I don't believe that's true, but that's said. Then there are other people who say 'Well he can't be that influential because he only gets a few hundred thousand people who listen to him every day anyway, and so how influential can that group be?' And I don't believe that, either, I think that the influence of a talkback host can actually extend way beyond his audience."
"But the thing that's different about Jones, in my view, and from the research we did where we looked at his program in some detail, and analysed samples of it, he seems to actually pursue political influence as an objective. I can't think of anybody else who does that. And he spends a great deal of time telling his audience that he's influential, and he spends a great deal of time on what you'd have to call campaigns, where somebody else might run a story for 10 or 20 minutes, and then it's gone for the day, maybe come back the next day, but you know, it's kind of gone. It's more or less like news agenda. He will actually mount campaigns that can run for weeks. He'll return to those campaigns and to those issues over and over again over the course of the day."
He also noted that, when advert breaks and so on were removed, Jones talks for some three-quarters of the time during his programmes compared to around 40% for most hosts
Of his influence Turner said, "He's actually influencing the way in which people think about an issue, and that's not going to just be the people who ring up, that's the people they talk to as well. So I think that what he does, he acts as a kind of primary definer of issues for a certain section of the population, that is political influence when that happens."
Turner also noted international differences with such hosts having "negligible" influence in the UK but rather more in the U.S. and said that there was very little research on talkback, suggesting that this was because it is considered at the trashy end of media output although in reality there was a large variation from programme to programme.
Previous Hadley:
Previous Jones:
Previous Laws:
ABC Radio National - Media Report site:
University of Queensland - Media International Australia (Current (February) issue - subscription required - is on the theme of talkback radio with ten articles on various topics):
2007-03-27: UK Guardian Media Group on Monday launched its new "Smooth" format network on four stations, each commencing with Barbra Streisand's "A Star is Born" as its first song.
The four stations - Glasgow, East Midlands, West Midlands and London - have been running a preview since 18:00 on Friday and a fifth station, the Northwest regional station, made the change on Friday evening.
A further station in northeast England is due to go on air later this year and the company has launched a multi-million pound advertising campaign using TV, posters, bus backs and taxis to promote the launches in the stations' individual regions: Three of them were formerly owned by SAGA which was taken over by GMG plus the London and Manchester stations that previously had a jazz format.
Previous Guardian Media Group:
2007-03-26: Most print comment on radio that we noted last week was repetitive and took previous comment on issues ahead only a little but we did spot a couple of reports on the payola settlement that CBS Radio, Citadel, Clear Channel, and Entercom are reported to have agreed, but which has not yet been formally confirmed, that put some flesh on the bones.
In one, Ben Fong-Torres' "Radio Waves" column in the San Francisco Chronicle, a little maths put one part of the reported deal - the other is the USD 12.5 million penalty - into context.
This is the separate agreement under which the companies have agreed to set aside 8,400 half-hour segments of free airtime for local and indie artists over the next three years.
The article quotes Thirsty Ear Recordings founder Peter Gordon, who led the negotiations on behalf of the American Association of Independent Music, in positive terms abut the deal- "The independent sector has a chance to have a voice once again on commercial radio. I think you're looking at the airwaves being refreshed" - but then goes on to do a little mathematics that cast a different light on it.
"On paper, it's not that great a deal," writes Fong-Torres. "The four companies -- Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Entercom and Citadel, own about 1,600 stations. If, say, 1,000 are FM and play music, then each station would have to devote a little more than four hours to indie music -- in three years."
To those figures, that to us indicate a gesture rather than real commitment, Gordon responded, "It's not necessarily over three years, and it's probably fewer than 1,000 stations that would be the right format to play independent music. We wanted it to not be just a gesture but to have a number attached to it, so that we can begin working together."
And the payola part…well it's a penalty of USD 12.5 million with the largest penalty of USD 4 million to Entercom whilst Clear Channel, the largest company - and which made a profit before discontinued operations of getting on for USD 700 million last year (See RNW Feb 24 Clear4)- will pay USD 3.5 million.
Fong-Torres may be a little cynical but he may also be right in commenting, "Meantime, payola, in one form or another will go on, just as it does in virtually every business in this country and around the world."
Putting the future of indie music into another perspective was Paul F. Roberts writing in Salon: He contrasted the positive for independent music in the settlement with the likely effect of the effect of the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision to increase rates for streamed music, a decision he said "drove a regulatory stake through the heart of a fast-growing and popular medium for niche and independent music: Internet radio."
After giving various details of the likely effect of the new rates, Roberts continues on to a potential response that could cost the recording industry. "Postings to in online forums like Techdirt," he wrote, "widely interpreted the CRB ruling as a call to arms to reject artists that use copyright altogether in favour of alternative online music services that trade in royalty-free music."
…"Magnatune, in Berkeley, California, is one such response. Launched in April 2003, Magnatune is a cross between a music label and an online radio station. It obtains its songs by negotiating directly with musicians to license their music. The service then allows Internet users to listen to streamed versions of any songs from its catalogue for free online. Listeners who want copies of the music buy them directly from Magnatune as digital downloads, or as CDs."
CEO John Buckman said its albums for not have digital rights management controls and pricing is variable with half going directly to the artist, yielding "several thousands of dollars a year" through sales to top artists. The deals are non-exclusive, allowing artists to pursue other sources of payment and Buckman said of the CRB ruling that is "part of the major labels' death wish, and I see it as a general trend of cluelessness that does nothing but drive the music public to a new regime."
"Online licensing is a great idea," added Buckman, "but it takes a lot of traditional effort and sweat to get people interested in your music and paying you licensing money for it."
David Oxenford, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, which represented small webcasters in the recent negotiations with the CRB, said the purpose behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act "was to set up a statutory royalty because Congress recognized how hard it would be for any Internet radio operation to negotiate with every copyright holder for a piece of music. Now, with the royalties, the only way to operate is to do what Congress thought they couldn't do -- go after every major independent unsigned band."
And of competitor Pandora, potentially liable to be driven out of business by the new rates, he said, "Pandora is a great service, but they're at the mercy of some spectacularly nasty, greedy and clueless people in the music industry and government. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. With new restrictions, subject to the whims of the major labels or the government officials, an entrepreneur's needs don't factor highly in these decisions. Guess who has the most lobbyists? The major labels, not Pandora."
RNW comment: We tend to agree with the go-it-alone approach and in that sense only rather hope Sound Exchange wins the battle to require payment for over-the-air broadcast by terrestrial radio stations, historically not required in the US because of the promotional value that broadcasts provided.
Were that to happen there are quite a few larger broadcasters who might well have an interest in also setting up their own direct-deals with artists and the logic would surely be to support a co-operative venture of broadcasters and streaming organizations to form their own recording organization -after all Starbucks has managed to sign up Paul McCartney for its "Hear Music" label - with a suitable simple range of deals and cut out the big recording companies completely.
On then to listening suggestions and first BBC Radio 2 and the fifth and final part of the "In Search of the Perfect Pop Song" that airs tomorrow at 20:30 GMT.
Then drama and BBC Radio 3 with "The Wire" at 20:30 GMT next Saturday when a new series begins with "The Incomplete Recorded Works of a Dead Body" (See below) and also "The Saturday Play" from BBC Radio 4 last week - "Slavery: the Making of…" a fictional creative process to see what goes on when an illustrious group of actors and a radio producer grapple with the problem of how to re-enact stories about the slave trade.
The theme of slavery was also in last week's "Friday Play" on Radio 4 - "The Dinner Party" by Winsome Pinnock whilst next week's "Saturday Play" at 13:30 GMT imagines what might have happened if the young Adolf Hitler's father had followed the village doctor's recommendation and taken him to see Sigmund Freud.
And for a final drama suggestion, next Sunday BBC Radio 3 's "Drama on 3" at 19:00 GMT is Karel Capek's "War with The Newts", a satire from the 1930s on the dangers of runaway technology, militarism, and greed dramatised by George Poles.
It's followed at 20:30 GMT by the "Sunday Feature" - "Riches from Freetown" in which Kwame Kwei Armah makes an emotional journey through Freetown, in Sierra Leone, to discover how the slave trade has influenced a generation of writers and if the memory of it is still alive in a country that has passed through colonial independence and bloody civil war.
And as a final "Slave Trade" suggestion, today at 10:00 GMT BBC Radio 4 has "Trade Roots: Arts and Culture", the first of three programmes in which Michael Buerk marks the bicentenary of the Slave Trade Act with an investigation into the links to slavery of key British institutions including The National Gallery, All Souls' College in Oxford, and the Church of England (The remaining programmes are at the same time on Tuesday and Wednesday).
Back to copyright and for a short while last Tuesday's "Book Show" from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will still be available as an MP3: It deals with the debate about copyright - seen by some as an evil - in 19th century America where the first International Copyright Act was not passed until 1891 following pressures from authors such as Charles Dickens - who wasn't getting a dime as foreign authors had no protection in the US - and Mark Twain, who along with other American authors suffered because the works of foreign authors, carrying no copyright, were cheaper.
Also from the Book Show - daily, so MP3s are there only for a week - on Wednesday (Also on the Sunday selection from the show but that is only a stream ) we suggest "The 'Song of songs': eroticism in the Bible", a suitable cue for the next suggestion, which is last Saturday's "Vox Humana" from Radio Netherlands. This was a feature "Treasure on Earth" from Kofi Owusu of Joy FM in Accra (It's part of the international documentary series Global Perspective 2007 focusing on the theme: Belief) concerning the "Prosperity Gospel" that seems to preach that God will make you rich but first you must give generously to your church. Listening to some of the clergy it's not difficult to think of religion, especially where there is an emphasis on acceptance of authority and obedience, as a terrific cover for crooks, especially if the preacher has charisma. Maybe Sirius and XM should hire some of them to sell their merger plan to Congress?
Also from Radio Netherlands this week we'd suggest Sunday's "Amsterdam Forum", which looked at how far religion shapes America's approach to the world and features an interview by Chris Klijne of Dutch broadcaster VPRO with former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who has changed her former views on separation of foreign affairs and religion as outlined in her book "The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God and World Affairs."
Not as charismatic as some of the preachers in the Vox Humana report but rather more thoughtful in the degree to which she recognized the reality of the link and problems it can cause - as in Jerusalem being "given by God" to both Jews and Moslems - as well as pros.
She's quite perceptive on President George Bush's religious utterances and the war on Iraq - and the "uni-dimensional" approach of his administration - and even more so about her suggestion of "religious advisors" for the Secretary of State to warn them of the importance of various features of and events in different religions.
Later this week the station in "Documentary" on Wednesday in "The Quest for Mechanical Man" looks at how expectation of machines has changed and in particular questions concerning robots as potentially learning-capable and able to be considered as slaves or friends including asking what people learn about themselves - and God - when building robots.
And a final selection from today in "Research File", which considers global health issues from the perspective of four people who are involved in areas that often gain little attention such as rejuvenating old treatments for neglected illnesses finding practical solutions to a range of health problems in Bangladesh; and campaigning for a more environmentally friendly healthcare industry.
And for a final health-related item back to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with this week's "Health Report", which looked at the female organism (anti-histamines apparently dry up the vagina and prevent orgasm and there will be no female equivalent of Viagra) and "All in the Mind", which looked at how people born blind experience their "seeing mind" and are helping scientists examine the perceptions of a brain rigidly hard-wired for vision.
Then back to BBC Radio 4 and another mental experience, the timed examination which is the subject of "Turn Over Your Papers ... Now!" - an examination by John O'Farrell of the history of exams and our relationship with them.
Finally relief from the above and we suggest the various comedy shows on BBC Radio's 2 and 4 this week - including "The Green Guide to Life " at noon GMT on Saturday on Radio 2; and from Radio 4 - "Dick Gregory Live" (17:30GMT) and "Mitch Benn's Crimes against Music" (22:00 GMT) tomorrow; "Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show!" (10:30 GMT), "The Hollow Men" (17:30 GMT) and "28 Acts in 28 Minutes" (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday; plus "The Now Show" at 17:30 GMT on Friday.
Previous Columnists:
Previous Fong-Torres:
Salon - Roberts:
San Francisco Chronicle - Fong-Torres:
2007-03-26: UK Channel 4's bid for a new national digital multiplex, applications for which have to be in on Wednesday, is to be centred on on-demand offerings according to the UK Sunday Telegraph, which says the move would put radio in the "same territory as pay TV where BSkyB and Virgin Media already offer their customers the technology to select and store programmes for later viewing."
The paper says on-demand content that would be shown as a selection on digital radios and some mobile phones is likely to include business news bulletins, children's shows and audio books with listeners being able to purchase and store material that could then be transferred to computers or digital music players. The bid will also include a number of live channels including an Emap offering named after its weekly celebrity gossip publication "Closer".
The technology for the download services has been developed by UBC Media, a partner in the bid, and, says the paper, it will allow a doubling to 16 of the channels that can be transmitted compared to the GCap Media/Arqiva owned Digital One national commercial multiplex.
Trials conducted last year of the service, which allows instant purchase of music tracks as they are broadcast , showed that Britons appear prepared to spend significantly more than previously anticipated on downloads to mobile phones according to UBC (See RNW Sep 8, 2006).
The paper also reports that Emap is considering a sale of its stations in Ireland, acquired when I took over Scottish Radio Holdings, with a price tag of around GBP 50 million (USD 100 million) plus. It notes that potential purchasers would include UTV, already the largest radio group in Ireland.
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UK Sunday Telegraph report:
2007-03-26: US comedian cum pundit Dennis Miller moves into national syndicated radio in a substantial way today with the launch of the weekday 3-hour "Dennis Miller Show" on more than 80 stations including seven of the top markets.
The show will be broadcast live from New York in its first week with inaugural guests slated to include former New York mayor and current Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani - whom Miller has said he will back for President in 2008 - and comedian Dana Carvey.
Amongst companies that have signed up the main one is Salem, which will air the show in nine markets including Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Salem COO Joe Davis described Miller as a "self-proclaimed 9-11 conservative with an engaging style and a quick wit that our listeners will appreciate."
"He is an entertainer, he is smart, and he understands politics and current affairs," added Davis. "He fits well with our other talk personalities, and he will bring a fresh perspective and new vigour to news talk on Salem stations."
Westwood One, which is producing and syndicating the show, is also re-launching Dennis Miller's official web site to coincide with the launch of the radio show, describing it as a "fully interactive digital space offering a host of digital features to support the show, including: premium services, live streams; hands on fan interaction through listener blogs; exclusive audio content and podcasts to download; and more" and a feature that will "present advertisers and affiliates with increased opportunity over multiple platforms."
Previous Salem:
Previous Westwood One:
2007-03-26: BBC Radio 3 next Saturday launches a new season of its "The Wire" programme with "The Incomplete Recorded Works Of A Dead Body" by Ed Hime, a play set in London that explores the themes of decay, aspiration, noise and loneliness through the character of Babak, a reclusive Iranian sound artist who comes to London in search of Simone, a cellist he met in Beirut.
It is the first play for Hime, one of the new writers who took part in the "Royal Court 50" mentoring scheme set up by the Royal Court Theatre and the BBC to mark the 50th Anniversary of the English Stage Company, which is headquartered at trhe theatre..
The series showcases best contemporary writing for radio and the new season will also include "My Glass Body", written and directed by Anna Furse, drawing on her own experiences of infertility; "Eye Witness", an insight into the IRA hunger strikes in the Eighties by Tom Kelly, who came to radio drama in 2001 through the BBC's SPARKS initiative to bring in the best new talent from other media, ; and "Bully Boy", a darkly comic look at modern parenting by Oxford-born actor Toby Jones whose recent work includes the movie "Infamous" and theatre-maker Tom Morris, best known recently for his work on "Jerry Springer The Opera."
It also has two further first plays for radio - "Wes Bell" , a darkly comic love story from film writer Matthew Broughton and "I Can See You" - a story by Sarah Lee about self-loathing by a character of mixed race not black enough to be black, not white enough to be white.
Previous BBC:
2007-03-25: Last week the main regulatory news was undoubtedly from the US where the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indulged itself in tidying up a number of matters including setting final rules for digital radio in the US; approving the Citadel purchase of 24 ABC stations subject to 11 disposals; and moving forward on new or improved non-commercial educational FMs in 76 communities as well as decisions regarding broadband and other matters: Elsewhere in comparison was fairly routine.
There were no radio announcements from Australia but in Canada the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was involved in a steady flow of radio-related work that included the following (In order of province):
Alberta:
*Approval of application by Bear Creek Broadcasting Ltd. to relocate the transmitter and increase the antenna height for its Classic Rock/Classic Hits FM in Grande Prairie approved in November last year. The originally authorized transmitter site is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and is old and possibly unable to withstand addition of a new antenna so Bear Creek made an agreement to use a tower owned by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.
New Brunswick:
*Approval of application for frequency change and power increase from 50 watts to 250 watts for new community-based campus radio station CFMH-FM, Saint John, approved in May 2000. The licensee said it made the proposals in response to interference from Newcap's new station CFRK-FM, Fredericton. The power increase would change the service status from a low-power unprotected service to a regular Class A FM service.
Ontario:
*Approval of application by the Fondation Radio Enfant du Canada for a new 1,000 watts day and night French-language, Type B community AM in Gatineau and Ottawa. The new station's programming will target children from 4 to 18 years of age and will be by and for young people and will reflect specific educational objectives drawn from school programmes.
*Application by Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc., licensee of CKAV-FM, Toronto, for authority to use a subsidiary communications multiplex operations (SCMO) channel to broadcast a predominantly Tamil-language radio service.
*Approval of conversion of CHUM Limited's CKPT-AM, Peterborough, .to a 5,700 watts FM that will continue to offer a "soft oldies" format. The application had been opposed by low-power, unprotected Christian music service CKKK-FM, which will have to change frequencies and Pineridge Broadcasting Inc. Comments were also made about the competitive nature of the market by Corus. In a separate public notice, the deadline for comments on which is April 27, the Commission posted an application by King's Kids Promotions Outreach Ministries Incorporated for a frequency change and power increase from 50 watts to 230 watts for CKKK..
Quebec:
*Approval in part of an application for a new 6,000 watts French-language pop rock commercial FM in Saguenay. The applicant now has to find an alternative frequency to the one it had proposed.
It has also approved various transfers of station owned by HUM within the group as part of corporate reorganization.
The CRTC also posted a public notice with a deadline for submission of interventions or comments of April 25 that included an application by CJNE FM Radio Inc to add a 45 watts FM transmitter at Tisdale to broadcast the programming of CJNE-FM, Nipawin, both in Saskatchewan.
In contrast to Canada, Ireland was quiet with just one radio-related announcement from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) - that of a public hearing, to be held tomorrow in Dublin concerning applications for a new quasi-national Christian and religious AM. Applications to be considered are from Spirit Radio and Yes Radio.
In the UK, Ofcom has confirmed that Community Audio Distribution Services (CADS) no longer need a licence and has also posted reasons behind its awards of seven new community licences earlier this month (See Licence News Mar 18).
It also posted its Public Service Broadcasting: Annual Report 2007, the first in a planned series of such reports comprising factual accounts of broadcast hours, viewing figures and audience opinions of the channels (a 764 KB 154-page PDF):We noted not a single mention of the word "radio" in the entire report.).
In the US, as already noted, the Federal Communications Commission (CC) had a tidying up session during the week in which it approved final HD Radio regulations and also approved Citadel's purchase of 24 ABC Radio stations (See RNW Mar 23).
It also issued an order evaluating some 200 applications for new or modified non-commercial educational (NCE) FM station construction permits, comprising 76 "closed" applicant groups (i.e., groups of mutually exclusive applications against which competing applications no longer may be filed), by awarding "points" to each applicant pursuant to the Commission's NCE point system.
Tentative winners or tied winners are identified and the commission will issue public notices establishing deadlines for the filing of such petitions against the various tentative selectees and also will issue a public notice announcing the dates for a fall 2007 NCE FM window.
It also proposed penalties totalling just above USD 50,000 for various breaches and late filing of licence renewal applications (See below):
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2007-03-25: Boston University-owned Boston public broadcaster WBUR-FM has announced agreement to sell Rhode Island station WRNI-AM to non-profit Rhode Island Public Radio (RIPR) for USD 2 million, a deal it says will fulfil "its commitment to secure the future of public radio in the Ocean State."
RIPR is also to buy 1950 watts jazz station WAKX- FM in Narragansett from Davidson Media Carolinas Stations in a deal to be financed with a loan from The Rhode Island Foundation, thus expanding its stations' cover to nearly all of southern Rhode Island. It has not announced the purchase price but says the acquisition is expected to be completed within 60 days.
The purchases, subject to state and federal regulatory approvals, will give Rhode Island its first-ever locally owned and operated National Public Radio (NPR) network and RIPR President Eugene Mihaly said the "historic agreement ensures that Rhode Islanders will control the destiny of this important media outlet," adding, "Local NPR stations are the crown jewels of communities across the country. RIPR is thrilled to bring WRNI home."
Boston University, which has invested some USD 3.6 million in its Rhode Island public radio operation since 1998, will receive its USD 2 million over a 10-year period and will continue to provide programming and engineering support to the operator for five years.
WBUR Group General Manager Paul La Camera said of the sale, "Our goal and belief is that public radio in Rhode Island is best served by local ownership and control. This agreement creates that opportunity, and from my perspective, it provides the best of both worlds: The people of Rhode Island own and direct the future of their public radio station while allowing us to provide continuing support through what will be some formative, but exciting years."
He added that once WAKX is on the air throughout the region WBUR will also sell WXNI, 1230 AM, the Westerly-based station which currently carries WRNI programming but will no longer be needed: The proceeds of that sale will be credited towards the USD 2 million RIPR is paying for WRNI.
WRNI General Manager Joe O'Connor, who has been asked to remain in his post, said he appreciated the strong support of Boston University, The Rhode Island Foundation, and the Board of Rhode Island Public Radio and added, "I must also thank the growing number of listeners and the dedicated WRNI staff who have contributed significantly to the station since its inception. Once the purchase and approval are complete, RIPR will need to sustain this exciting community resource. I'm confident we Rhode Islanders will enthusiastically support these stations that are uniquely and now truly Rhode Island's NPR stations. "
Rhode Island Foundation president and CEO Ronald V. Gallo said the foundation had been a "staunch supporter of the effort to create a locally directed and controlled NPR station since WRNI arrived in Rhode Island" adding, "The establishment of Rhode Island Public Radio assures the development of local programs bringing fresh perspectives to the tough challenges facing our communities, and connecting Rhode Islanders from Westerly to Woonsocket. We are delighted to be a partner in this important venture."
WBUR announced that in September 2004 that it was to sell the Rhode Island stations (See RNW Sep 20, 2004), an announcement that angered donors, particularly concerned over comments by then WBUR-FM General Manager Jane Christo that although she hoped a Rhode Islanders' group will be able to buy the station and keep it going as a National Public Radio station but did not rule out a sale to a commercial broadcaster.
The announcement was followed by scrutiny of Christo's actions in her post and she resigned in October (See RNW Oct 10, 2004).
Previous WBUR:
2007-03-25: The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed penalties of USD 51,000 but renewed licences of a number of stations that had been involved in violations or failed to file renewal applications on time. In descending order of amount the penalties proposed are:
*USD 10,000 Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) for public file rule violations along with licence renewal to WPW Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of WLBK-AM, DeKalb, Illinois.
*USD 7,000 NALs along with licence renewal for failure to file a licence renewal on time and operating after its licence had expired to:
Big Sky Owners Association, Inc., licensee of FM Translator Station K257AE, West Fork, Montana.
Faith Bible College, Inc., licensee of WTGF-FM, Milton, Florida.
Metz, Inc., licensee of WTCL-AM, Chattahoochee, Florida.
Newman Media, Inc., licensee of WDSR-AM, Lake City, Florida.
The Master's Mission, licensee of FM Translator Station W212AB, Robbinsville, North Carolina.
*USD 1,500 NALs along with licence renewal for failure to file a licence renewal on time
Robert C. Blakes Enterprises, Inc., licensee of KKNO-AM, Gretna, Louisiana.
The Florida Institute of Technology, licensee of WFIT-FM, Melbourne, Florida.
Mississippi Valley State University, licensee of WVSD-FM, Itta Bena, Mississippi.
John P. Reynolds, licensee of FM Translator Station W266AC, Blairsville, Georgia.
The FCC also dismissed a petition from Radio 780, previous permittee of unbuilt and cancelled Station WREY-AM, Mulberry, Florida, that sought reconsideration of a decision to deny its request to toll the station's construction deadline. The permit was originally granted with a construction deadline of May 1998, subsequently extended to December 2000 and ultimately to December 5, 2004. Two days after this, Radio 780 requested additional time to construct but this had been denied.
Previous FCC:
2007-03-24: The proposed Sirius-XM merger is now bringing out a rush of adverts and comments that quote the opposing side in favour of a particular point of view.
Latest is a filing by Sirius and XM to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that turns the Federal Communications Commission final rules for HD radio to its own service, commenting, "The FCC decision underlines that HD radio on the AM/FM bands provide a real alternative to satellite, and that the current audio entertainment market is broad, robust and competitive. The decision will raise competition to a new level by stimulating the growth in HD radio stations (now 1200), enhancing its offerings to consumers and establishing a process for free radio to offer a paid subscription service for the first time."
Meanwhile National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) president and CEO David Rehr has again written to FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin to re-iterate arguments against the merger and in particular the need for competition in the satellite radio market.
Proving the old adage that "needs must when the devil drives", Rehr writes that "competition between two satellite radio providers has served consumers well. Each provider has differe