May 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 May comment - Playing to strengths! We suggest radio has to accept the world as it now is and play to its strengths rather than waste effort in attempts to stifle competition.
RNW April comment - Imus's demise - what can be learned from it?
RNW March comment - Considers copyright in view of increased feed for Internet broadcasters and the possibility of their introduction for terrestrial radio in the US and suggests we would benefit from different classes of copyright.
2007-05-31: India looks set to adopt Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) technology for its digital radio transmission system following successful tests of the technology on both short wave and medium wave by state-broadcaster AIR.
The short wave trials began on Republic Day (January 26) using a 250kw AIR transmitter in Delhi and medium wave trials were conducted this month. Officials say the ability of DRM to allow transmission on short wave, AM and FM gives it a significant advantage in the country. The FM trials used Single Channel Simulcast (SCS) and Multi-Channel Simulcast (MCS) technologies and heir results are currently being assessed.
A major problem at the moment is the cost of receivers - some Euros 200 (USD 270) - but officials anticipate this would come down dramatically if, as expected, China and India adopt the system.
ABU (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union) Head of Transmission, Technology and Spectrum Sharad Sadhu commented of the trials, "Given that this region has some of the largest number of MW radio broadcasters, we believe that successful trials and measurements will pave the way for easy and cost effective transition to DRM transmissions" and DRM chairman Peter Senger added, "We are proud and very happy that these tests will become a reality now and we would like to thank all parties involved. We see a great potential for the DRM system in Asia."
Manufacturers involved in the trial included DRM members, Thomson and Hitachi Electric Kokusai and David Birrer of Thomson Radio Broadcasting Marketing & Strategy commented, "A smooth transition to DRM will bring AIR a lot of new possibilities for local and national services, while generally enhancing the popularity of the medium. In addition, DRM makes much more efficient use of the existing broadcast infrastructure."
Indian officials estimate that unlike FM, where the initial licence auction system for private FMs put many operators into loss - it was subsequently changed to a percentage of revenues model - the lessons learned could man that digital radio could be successfully introduced within three to four years.
Previous AIR:
Previous DRM:
Previous Indian Radio:
Previous Senger:
2007-05-31: Shares in Britain's largest radio group GCap Media plunged by just under 14% to GBP 222.50 on Wednesday following the release of preliminary results for the year to the end of March that showed like-for like revenues down 7% to GBP 193 million (USD 381 million) - overall revenues, affected by disposals, were down 9% to GBP 200 million (USD 395 million) - and pre-tax profit down 35.1% to GBP 14.4 million (USD 28.5 million) with earnings per share down from 7.8 pence to 4.4 pence.
The company is proposing a final dividend of 1.5 pence to make the full-year dividend 4.6 pence, just below half the 9.25 pence per share of a year earlier.
GCap described the performance as one of "robust results and significant strategic progress", saying underlying pro-forma revenue and PBT were ahead of consensus estimates ; that cumulative cost savings [RNW note - over two years] were up to GBP 29.5 million (USD 58.3 million ) from GBP 27 million ( USD 53.4 million ) with a further GBP 5.5 million [USD 109.9 million) to be achieved during the 2008 financial year, taking the total to GBP 35.0 million (USD 69.2 million ); that audience figures had stabilized despite intense competition; that it had strengthened its board with the appointments of Richard Eyre and Fru Hazlitt; and that its portfolio had been enhanced by acquiring full control of Planet Rock and Classic Gold, plus the launch of
theJazz national digital station.
Going forward it said it had a "clear strategy" to strengthen its core business and focus on multi-platform brands with greatest revenue potential
Chief executive Ralph Bernard said of the results and plans, "In the past year we have made considerable progress towards our strategic objectives, consolidating our audiences and revenues and preparing the business for growth. We have also achieved further cost savings, ensuring the business is run as efficiently as possible.
'We have invested in our key stations, particularly in Capital 95.8," he added, "stabilizing audience figures across the Group. We have initiated a significant upgrading of our online offering to further our strategy of leveraging our brands across multiple platforms. The market remains difficult to predict but we have seen an improving trend in advertising revenue performance and we outperformed the market in the last quarter of the financial year."
[RNW comment: To which he should presumably have added comments about the scepticism of the pesky investors who marked the shares down! We have to add that we wouldn't be buying GCap shares at the moment either.]
In terms of the future plans, GCap says it is to invest a further GBP 5.6 million (USD 11.1 million) in interactive projects; develop Classic FM, Xfm, Planet Rock, theJazz and a network of "classic hits" stations as multiplatform projects; and invest GBP 2.2 million (USD 4.4 million) in its One Network and Capital Radio. It also said it has cut its debt from GBP 76 million (USD 150.2 million) to GBP 27 million (USD 53.4 million) following the sale of Century FM, Manchester and North East to Guardian Media Group for GBP 60 million gross (USD 118.6 million) in cash.
On the other side of the equation is closing Capital Disney and will "cease to invest" in its Core and Life digital stations.
Concerning its London operations, Fru Hazlitt, who left Virgin Radio in January and is now in charge of GCap in London, said that in the capital, "commercial radio is driven by three things - its music, its breakfast show and its London information…What we're seeing is that Capital performs very well in two of those." Of the breakfast show, she said they knew progress had to be made but the show - hosted by Johnny Vaughan -had been performing well and they were very confident and regarding music she commented that the station tried to move genre but should have stuck to contemporary pop because they didn't have commercial competition in that genre.
Commenting on the decision to reduce advertising on Capital Radio, she said advertisers had been happy with the decision, which helped to maintain "brand premium" but there were no plans to extend the idea to other stations.
Regarding online she spoke of the "multiplatform" environment in which radio now had to operate and said its online performance was encouraging.
Capital Radio is to start promoting its evening show, hosted by former Kiss FM host Bam Bam (Peter Poulton), from next week with a new advertising campaign to draw attention to his presence, along with sidekick Streetboy, on Capital on weekday evenings.
Poulton left Emap-owned Kiss in April last year after seven years hosting its breakfast show (See RNW Apr 29, 2006): Subsequently the station was fined a record GBP 175,000 (then USD 323,000) for comments made by Poulton - GBP 75,000 (then USD 138,000) of it relating to an upheld fairness and privacy complaint over a wind-up call and GBP 100,000 (then (USD 184,000) for eight breaches of standards codes (See RNW Jun 21, 2006).
Capital said the ads, which continue the station's "Sound of London" campaign launched by the station in March.
Previous Bernard:
Previous GCap Media:
Previous Hazlitt:
Previous Poulton (Bam Bam):
2007-05-31: The Digital Media Association (DIMA) in conjunction with National Public Radio, and Small Commercial Webcasters has filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for an emergency stay to delay the implementation of new streaming royalty rates announced by the US Copyright Royalty Board at the beginning of this month.
Terming the increase "radical and arbitrary", the filing asks that the court delay implementation and notes that Legislation that would repeal the rate increase is pending in the Senate and the House, but may not be brought to a vote in either chamber before July 15th, the day the first payments for the newly increased rates for webcasters are due.
SaveNetRadio spokespersonJake Ward said of the suit in a release, "July 15th, D-day for Internet radio is fast approaching and we are hopeful that today's motion for an emergency stay will afford the Internet radio industry crucial time to rehear this case."
He added, "We have every confidence that Congress will continue to give the Internet Radio Equality Act the attention it deserves with the urgency it requires, as evidenced by the over 100 cosponsors who have signed on H.R. 2060 since its April 26th introduction. SaveNetRadio and the millions of webcasters, artists and listeners we represent urge the Court to give this motion full consideration."
Previous DIMA:
Previous NPR:
2007-05-31: Clear Channel's sale to a private equity group moved forward on Wednesday with an announcement by Highfields Capital Management LP, which had previously stood out against acceptance of the deals on offer, that it has now agreed to vote all of its Clear Channel shares in favour of the proposed transaction.
In the agreement between Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. and Highfields, which advises investment funds that beneficially own 5% of Clear Channel's common stock, the private equity group has agreed that Clear Channel's post-closing Certificate of Incorporation will include provisions intended to assure public shareholders who elect to receive stock in the surviving entity that they receive equal treatment in all dividends and other distributions, representation on the Board of Directors of the surviving entity and certain other rights following completion of the merger.
The private equity group has also agreed that, subject to certain exceptions, affiliate transactions between Clear Channel and the private equity group, or their affiliates, will be prohibited unless approved by either the public shareholders of Clear Channel or the independent directors who will represent them.
Previous Clear Channel:
2007-05-31: Emmis has appointed Tisa LaSorte, who joined the company last year, to the new position of brand manager of its two Chicago stations.
In the new role she will oversee programming, marketing, promotions and new media at classic rock WLUP-FM (The Loop) and alternative WKQX-FM (Q101) and will report to Emmis Chicago's regional vice president and market manager to Marv Nyren, who had previously worked with her at KTAR-AM in Phoenix.
LaSorte has spent nearly all of her career in news/talk and was the late Bob Collins' producer at WGN-AM, Chicago, from 1987 to 1993, when she became program director, only to be forced out in 1996 following a management change. Since then she has spent most of time at KTAR-AM & KMVP-AM (ESPN Radio) in Phoenix, being forced out in December 2005 following a change in owners.
Room for her new role was created earlier this year when Mike Stern, vice president of programming, and Tim Dukes, program director of the Loop, were pushed out and their posts eliminated (See RNW Feb 15).
Reporting on the changes in the Chicago Sun-Times, Robert Feder quotes LaSorte as saying, "I am grateful for this incredible opportunity to work with these well-respected Chicago brands and a group of very talented people to build an even more valuable radio experience for our listeners and advertisers."
Previous Emmis:
Previous Feder:
Previous Nyren:
Chicago Sun-Times report:
2007-05-30: GCap Media, which is to release its interim results today, has announced the resignation of its commercial director Duncan George, who will leave the company on June 8.
George is a former employee of both Capital Radio and GWR, the companies that merged to form GCap: He was Sales Director at Capital Radio in 1997 when he left to head GWR's sales operation and after the merger of the two companies in 2005 he was appointed Commercial Director for GCap.
The company says he played a pivotal role in integrating the sales operations, systems and commercial infrastructure of the two companies and GCap chief executive Ralph Bernard commented in a news release, "Duncan has been an outstanding asset to the company. He was instrumental in successfully merging the GWR and Capital Radio sales teams, which was managed whilst maintaining our high standards of service to clients. He has built a team that can adapt to the changing dynamics of the advertising world and deliver the multi-platform solutions advertisers increasingly demand."
George in the same release said he had "really enjoyed "his time and GCap and added, "The time feels right to move on and explore new opportunities and I can leave safe in the knowledge that GCap is now in great shape".
Previous Bernard:
Previous GCap Media:
2007-05-30: Aubrey Singer, a former Managing Director of both BBC Radio and BBC Television, has died in London aged 80.
Most of his career was spent in TV, where he was particularly well-known for work on science programmes and in his spell in radio - he went into the medium as Managing Director in 1978 following a four-year spell as controller BBC 2 TV - he became known for the dispute with musicians who objected to his plans to cut back the number of BBC orchestras: It was only settled after he stood down from the negotiating team.
The move into radio had been seen as a precursor to further general promotion and in 1982 he was appointed Managing director TV and Deputy Director-General to Alisdair Milne, who reportedly fired him in 1984 following a day's pheasant shooting.
The dismissal was tempered by a healthy pay-off and a contract to make independent productions for the Corporation for which Singer formed White City Films. He remained managing director of the company until 1996.
Singer was born in Yorkshire and after leaving Bradford Grammar School aged 17 became a trainee film editor at the British Gaumont Studios following which he director films for the armed services and made films in Africa from 1946 to 1948. He joined BBC TV in 1949, working on outside broadcasts before becoming a producer.
2007-05-29: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has granted six new FM licences - two each in Medicine Hat, Alberta; Regina, Saskatchewan ; and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
In Medicine Hat it approved applications from Rogers Broadcasting Limited for a 77,900 watts English-language commercial FM offering a blend of modern rock, album-oriented rock, classic rock and adult rock music designed to appeal to those between 25 and 54 years of age with a core audience of males aged 25 to 44 and from Clear Sky Radio Inc. for a 100,000 watts Adult Standards/Modern Nostalgia FM: It also approved a frequency change power increase from 48 watts to 2,300 watts for Lighthouse Broadcasting Limited's CJLT-FM, Medicine Hat.
Including the CJLT application, there were nine competitive applications for licences in the market, which at the moment has two commercial stations - New Country music CHAT-FM and Hot Adult Contemporary CFMY-FM, both operated by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Limited Partnership.
The commission noted that many applicants identified males in the 18 to 54 demographic as the primary underserved group in the market and said its analysis showed a substantial segment of adults between the ages of 25 and 54, particularly males, might be underserved.
Regarding the capability of the market to sustain additional services it said that the 2006 profit before interest and taxes (PBIT) for stations I the market is significantly higher than the Canadian commercial average and that it was confident Medicine Hat could support two new commercial stations.
The applications rejected came from:
*Newcap Inc., which proposed a 100.000 watts FM offering a mix of New Rock, Classic Rock and Classic Hits.
*Golden West Broadcasting Ltd., which proposed a 100.000 watts FM offering a Rock and Modern Rock hybrid format.
*Radio CJVR Ltd., which proposed a 100.000 watts FM offering a Classic Rock format.
*Vista Radio Ltd., which proposed a 100.000 watts FM offering a blend of Classic rock and Modern Alternative rock.
*Harvard Broadcasting Inc., which proposed a 100.000 watts FM offering a blend of Classic rock and Modern Alternative rock.
*Pat Lough, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, which proposed a 100.000 watts FM offering a blend of Classic Rock Hits and Alternative Rock.
In approving the Rogers application the CRTC said it felt this would provide the most innovative and attractive service to the primary underserved audience group whilst it commented of the Clear Sky that only this proposal target an audience of those aged 45 years or more, a group that the Commission has identified as a secondary underserved cohort in the current Medicine Hat radio market. It also noted that it had also granted a licence for the same format to Clear Sky in Lethbridge, Alberta, and said that the addition of the Medicine Hat licence would afford Clear Sky an opportunity to expand its holdings and strengthen its position as a new entrant in the Canadian broadcasting system.
Regarding the change to CJLT-FM, which would move from a low-power FM status to a regular Class A FM service, the Commission noted a commitment to maintain CJLT-FM's existing Specialty FM Christian music format and said its analysis confirms Lighthouse's claim that CJLT-FM's current low-power signal cannot provide adequate coverage throughout its authorized service area and that even listeners within the station's central market cannot always receive a quality signal.
The new Regina licences go to Standard Radio Inc. and Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc., in addition to which the CRTC approved an application to add a transmitter to serve Regina for Natotawin Broadcasting Inc.'s CJLR-FM, La Ronge, Saskatchewan.
Excluding the CLJR application there were seven applications, one for a Native Type B Fm and the others for commercial stations: Regina has four FMs and two AMs -operated by Rawlco and Harvard Broadcasting - and the commission said the market could support a further commercial FM.
Standard's winning bid was with a 100,000 watts New Country music English-language commercial FM and Natowin's application was for a 43,000 watts transmitter to broadcast the service of its Type B native radio station CJLR-FM La Ronge, to serve Regina.
Rejected were applications from:
*Newcap, which proposed a 100,000 watts English language Oldies Hits and Traditional Classic Hits commercial FM.
* Radio CJVR Ltd. , which submitted two proposals for English-language commercial FMs, one for a 100,000 watts Classic Rock station and the other for a 100,000 watts Oldies FM.
*Touch Canada Broadcasting Inc., which proposed an 86,000 watts Christian music English-language Specialty FM.
*Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. (AVR, which proposed a 100,000 watts Native Type B FM.
The new Saskatoon licences have gone to Harvard Broadcasting Inc. and Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc.(AVR): In all there had been eight bids for commercial licences and one bid for a not-for-profit Native Type B FM station, that from AVR which proposed a 100,000 watts English- and Aboriginal-language Native Type B FM radio station.
Saskatoon currently has four FM stations and two AM stations operated by two licensees and the Commission held that the market could support one additional commercial station.
The winning bid from Harvard was for a 100,000 watts Youth Contemporary music format blending Pop, Urban and Alternative Rock music.
Rejected were bids from:
*Radio CJVR Ltd., which made two proposals -one for a 100,000 watts English-language Classic Rock FM and the other for a 100,000 watts English-language Oldies format FM.
*Newcap, which proposed a 100,000 watts English-language Oldies-based Classic Hits music format.
*Saskatoon Radio Broadcasting Ltd., which proposed a 100,000 watts English language Contemporary Hits FM. Saskatoon involved Rawlco and Mr Hildrebrand, the owners of the existing commercial stations in the market.
*Standard Radio Inc., which proposed a 100,000 watts English-language Soft Adult Contemporary FM.
*Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Limited Partnership, which proposed a 100,000 watts English-language gold-based Soft Adult Contemporary FM.
*Touch Canada Broadcasting Inc., which proposed a 100,000 watts Christian music English-language commercial Specialty FM.
Previous CRTC:
2007-05-29: Despite a recommendation for acceptance and a vote by nearly four-fifths of the shareholders of APN News & Media Ltd. - which owns the Australian Radio Network and publishing interests - a takeover by a private equity group led by Irish media group Independent News & Media plc (INM) has been rejected.
Acceptance of the AUD 2.97 billion (USD 2.43 billion) bid needed a 75% vote in favour but there was a vote against by two major shareholders- Perpetual Ltd and Australian Foundation Investment Company, who hold 23% of the company.
INM is the largest single shareholder in APN with a 41% holding and the bid had been recommended by the board (See RNW Feb 21).As with the Clear Channel private equity bid in the US, the reluctant sellers may be holding out for an increased bid.
Following the rejection, APN has announced that it is now to hold its annual general meeting on July 3 and has also declared a final dividend for 2006 of 20 cents per share, 30% higher than a year earlier.
APN said the increase recognised the delay in the payment and also said that because of the proportion of its profits generated outside Australia the final dividend would be unfranked.
Previous APN News and Media:
2007-05-28: Yet again last week comment on US talk hosts outweighed other comment in print about the medium in the US, but we start by looking forward, courtesy of John Petkovic of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, to the future for radio rather than at talk show controversies.
Petkovic suggests that it is music formats on terrestrial radio that are at most risk, commenting, "Audience share for music is eroding, as listeners bolt bland formats and canned disc jockeys. Some listeners end up plugging in their iPods or getting satellite radio. Others are migrating to talk radio. The rise of FM in the 1960s was supposed to signal the death of AM. In 10 years, it might be the other way around."
The reasons for this he says are in part the Internet - poised for the greatest growth over the next decade; satellite with some 15 million subscribers between them, the iPod, which he suggests "could suck away listeners en masse when auto manufacturers install plug-ins or make it a standard option"; and radio-friendly mobile devices such as cell-phones as well as increasing offers of radio feeds on TV satellite and cable platforms.
Back, however, to the excesses of US talk radio - or, depending on your viewpoint, the excessive reaction to comments that have led to recent firings and suspensions.
In the Michiguide, Mike Austerman in an article reprinted from the Sunday Oakland Press took the view that "Edgy' antics on air aren't funny - they're bullying" and commented, "…there is no humour in racial and ethnic stereotyping, as Don Imus and New York City personalities JV & Elvis have shown, or in references to rape, as satellite radio bad boys Opie & Anthony recently did. You've lost your edge when you resort to making fun or taking advantage of others and label it as entertainment."
"Twenty- and 30-something men" he continued, "are falling all over themselves across the Internet in protest of the actions being taken against these so-called talents, mostly claiming free-speech violations. The Rev. Al Sharpton, in an appearance in Troy last week, had the perfect answer, correctly explaining that free speech is a two-way street."
His solution! "Let's get radio back to a place where true creativity and humour take centre stage without all the unnecessary degradation of people who might look or act differently."
Not all his readers agreed with reactions including, "How about not listening to the said radio show? It really is that damn simple. If you don't like it DONT LISTEN TO IT. It is satire, it is comedy" and "Whether or nor what Opie and Anthony did was sophomoric and offensive is beside the point. We live in America, where nobody has a right NOT to be offended. In recent year, however, we've been taken over by political correctness run amuck."
On the other side came a comment saying that "public outrage is a perfectly acceptable way to counter wayward & hurtful material"; adding that it is "the responsibility of citizens who find this crap on the public airwaves as unacceptable to become more proactive in letting their views be known...to the broadcaster or to their sponsors".
Coming in hard for the "freedom of speech" argument, David Stegon in the New Jersey Home News Tribune Online comments, "I like video games where you must shoot and kill the bad guy, words that end with a "K" and Cinemax movies after 10 p.m. I like music with "Parental Advisory" lyrics, unhealthy quantities of alcohol, and the always funny, and sometimes crude, humour of Opie and Anthony on my XM Satellite Radio during my commute to and from work."
He continues, "As a 25-year-old self-sustaining adult, all of these things are legal to me in the beautiful United States of America where the Bill of Rights has granted me the right to enjoy these privileges as long as I use them responsibly" and notes of Opie and Anthony that their show is only available to those who pay a subscription to XM, that it is on a station "marked XL - for Xtreme Language - and can be blocked by parents, so basically the only people hearing the show are the ones who want to hear it" and adds, "It is hard to imagine anyone called to complain, at least in large enough numbers to cause a disturbance. The scary thing is the show is being suspended, and likely cancelled, not because the consumers do not want it, but because XM Radio fears a public backlash that will influence the FCC, which does not regulate the content on satellite radio but must approve a potential merger XM has with Sirius Satellite Radio."
He says of the show and XM's action, "The everyday listeners of Imus and Opie and Anthony do not want to see their favourite programs taken away because someone who does not listen to the show disapproves of what was said… Instead of standing up for their talent's right to say what they want XM is afraid of becoming the next target of public ire, even if it goes against what their paying customers want. We have reached a point where a holier than thou segment of society is trying to censor speech that they do not agree with on perceived 'moral values' that companies are afraid to stand against… Freedom of speech exists to protect the speech we do not like. If everyone agreed, then there would be no need to protect certain things that are said. But everyone is different, which is what makes this such a great freedom."
We end with a marked contrast to the above with Chris Campling's Radio Head column from the London Times, devoted last week to cricket coverage, begun by the BBC in 1927.
"It took another 30 years, "he notes, "for the corporation to overcome its timidity about the game as a broadcastable entertainment, and put in place the institution known as Test Match Special. Why? They thought that the game was too slow to retain listenerso attention. Yes, bloody football thinking again.
The first match covered by the programme was between the West Indies and England and the anniversary was marked last weekend on BBC Radio 5 on commentary about another match between the two teams and also on Radio 4 itself by an "Archive Hour" last Saturday that was narrated by Rory Bremner, better known as a comedian and impersonator.
"Satirists such as Bremner himself," comments Campling, "may poke fun at Aggers, Blowers, CMJ and the Bearded Wonder [RNW note: Various cricket commentator's nicknames], but it is affectionate fun and gentle jibing. Laugh all you want about the endless procession of cakes through the commentary box, but remember, too, that someone, somewhere in the world, is crouched next to a crackling radio, living the excitement of a great sporting contest vicariously through the commentary of gifted communicators. Cricket less exciting than football? Get away."
On to listening suggestions and after the BBC Radio 4 "Archive Hour" mentioned by Campling, we suggest Radio Netherlands' "Amsterdam Forum" from Sunday: It featured a 40 minutes interview with historian and political commentator Niall Ferguson whose most recent book "The War of the World" considers why the 20th century was so bloody. He argues in favour of intervention but notes that in the case of Iraq US actions are a good lesson on how not to handle it and also that successful interventions are rarely properly appreciated since what they prevented obviously did not happen.
He argues in terms of the 20th century that the risk of conflict is worst where there are three Es- economic volatility, ethnic disintegration and empires in decline - conditions that currently apply in the Middle East where the "empire" of the US is losing its grip.
Then we suggest the past two weeks of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Background Briefing", also from Sunday, a look at "Politics and the Internet" from May 20 and at "The Children of Zimbabwe" from yesterday.
From the US, we suggest last week's "On the Media" and in particular the final item "Pulling back the curtain" that took a look at the way news items are edited and produced on radio.
From BBC Radio 3 we suggest Sunday Evening's programming, which comprised of 4 hours 45 minutes of the "Awards for World Music 2007 Poll Winners' Concert" before another hour and a quarter of "Words & Music" that was on the theme of work and toil and included music from Beethoven, Handel, Elvis Costello and Shostakovich plus readings of prose and poetry from Shakespeare, Kathleen Jamie, Simon Armitage, John Clare and Carol Rumens.
Also from Radio 3 this week we suggest "Composer of the Week" (11:00 GMT with a repeat at 19.45GMT) that this week features the work of Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin and this week's "Essay" (22:00 GMT Monday through Thursday) that has four writers - Will Self, Tim Parks, Alain de Botton and Kate Pullinger- commenting on "Nightwalks" and the difference between walking at other times and at night time
And for those who have the stamina, this evening's programme is followed by highlights of a concert from the Brighton Festival by the veteran Congolese rumba band, Odemba OK Jazz All Stars.
From BBC Radio 2 today for those in the UK (it is not available outside the country) we suggest the latest "Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour" on the topic of Sleep (17:00 GMT) :It's followed by "The Record Producers", in this case a programme looking at the work of Clive Langer and " who have produced hits such as "House of Fun" by Madness, "Absolute Beginners" by David Bowie, Morrissey's "November Spawned a Monster" and Dexys Midnight Runners' "Come on Eileen".
And finally before we update, some suggestions from BBC Radio 4 starting with Sunday's "In Business" - "Music Machine" in which Peter Day talks about the use of computer programmes to predict hits and from Saturday the "Saturday Play", a dramatisation by Melissa Murray of Daphne Du Maurier's classic horror story "The Birds" and the last programme in the "World in Your Ear" series, which has been axed. It featured the winners of the first ever BBC Africa Radio Awards.
Back to BBC Radio 2 and on Tuesday night (21:30) GMT Peter Bogdanovich presents a documentary "John Wayne is Dead" marking 100 years since the birth of the film star.
Then BBC Radio 4 again and amongst the station's regular features we note the "Book of the Week" (08:45 GMT daily with an evening repeat) that this week is "Queuing for Beginners", Joe Moran's humorous look at British habits starting with the Great British Breakfast and the "Woman's Hour Drama" (Circa )9:45 GMT within Woman's Hour plus an 18:45 GMT solo repeat) is a comedy by Nancy Harris and Louise Ramsden - "Blood in the Bridal Shop" that looks at an impending wedding from a different point of view in each episode.
Also worthy of note are two plays - Monday's "Afternoon Play", which is "Keep Your Pantheon", David Mamet's comedy of ancient Roman manners, and the "Friday Play", the second part of the Avie Luthra and Gary Brown political drama "The Prospect" featuring the dilemmas of newly-elected MP Bobby Khan (The first part is available until Friday).
And finally a strong evening from BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday with (at 20:00 GMT) the delayed broadcast of Hanif Kureshi's "Weddings and Beheadings", which was listed for this year's National Short Story Prize, the award created to celebrate the best in contemporary British short fiction followed up with a broadcast of David Almond's" Slog's Dad that was the runner-up in the competition
Later in the evening at 22:00 GMT "Jon Ronson on …" is about the "Internet Date from Hell", the extraordinary story of Mary Turner Thompson from Edinburgh who met and married a man who told her he was a CIA agent...for the rest of the story listen to the programme
Previous Campling:
Previous Columnists:
Cleveland Plain Dealer - Petkovic:
Home News Tribune - Stegon:
Michiguide - Austerman:
UK Times- Campling:
2007-05-28: Looking ahead to GCap Media's full-year results, which are due to be announced on Wednesday, UK Observer City Editor Richard Wachman says they will be amongst the worst since the company was formed through merging Capital Radio and GWR and will lead the company to slash its dividend.
But, he adds, the "effects of the meltdown could be mitigated by a swingeing cost-cutting programme to be announced by chief executive Ralph Bernard."
Wachman says advertising revenues are expected to be down by around 9% year-on-year but analysts are hopeful that the company's fortunes could improve and are looking towards Bernard's strategic review that could include staff cuts, reduced spending on digital radio or the sale of stations.
Last year GCap sold its remaining two Century FM regional stations - the Gateshead -based North East station and Manchester-based North West station - to Guardian Media Group (GMG), the Observer's parent, for GBP 60 million (then USD 112million - See RNW Oct 19, 2006).
Wachman also adds that many investors are pinning hopes on new management at GCap including Richard Eyre, formerly on GMG's board, who became GCap deputy chairman at the start of this month and will take over as chairman when Peter Cawdron steps down in November (See RNW Mar 28), and Fru Hazlitt who has been hired to head GCap's London operations (See RNW Jan 18).
Previous Bernard:
Previous GCap Media:
UK Observer report:
2007-05-28: Disney-owned WABC-AM, New York, and WLS-AM, Chicago, two of the leading US music stations of the rock era will be marking their past today.
In Chicago, WLS marks Memorial Day with the BIG 89 REWIND radio special that will run from 05:00 to midnight and for which the station will be bringing back a host of big names including Larry Lujack - who will be broadcasting from his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico - and Tommy Edwards, his former partner in the "Uncle Lar and Li'l Tommy" duo who is currently morning host on Bonneville International's rhythmic oldies WILV-FM.
Others due to take part include Jeff Davis; Tom Kent; John "Records" Landecker; Chris Shebel and Fred Winston along with former news anchors Lyle Dean; Gil Gross and Catherine Johns plus sportscaster Les Grobstein.
WLS finally dropped music to go to all-talk in August 1989, whilst sister station WABC, which is airing its WABC-Rewound special programming (from 06:00 to 18:00) for the eighth consecutive year, moved to talk in 1982.
Its programming, produced by its Production Director Johnny Donovan, who was one of the station's jocks, will feature original broadcasts from Musicradio77 including the voices of Cousin Brucie, Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison, and Bob Lewis.
The Rewound special will be followed on WABC with the Rewound Talk Show hosted by Mark Simone, host of the station's Saturday Night Oldies show that is a tribute to the Musicradio77 era.
Previous Disney:
2007-05-27: Last week was mainly a matter of routines and reports from the regulators with most routine decisions from Canada and the longest report from the UK.
There were no radio related announcements from Australia but in Canada the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has been involved in a number of decisions including giving Rogers Broadcasting Limited the go-ahead for a new commercial-free national pay audio service, Rogers Pay Audio (See RNW May 23).
Other radio-related postings by the CRTC included:
British Columbia:
*Short-term renewal until 31 August 2011 of licence of Rogers Broadcasting Limited's CKCL-FM Chilliwack and its transmitters CKCL-FM-1, Abbotsford and CKCL-FM-2, Vancouver. The Commission said the short-term would allow it to assess, at an earlier date, the licensee's compliance with conditions of its licence and noted apparent repeated non-compliance with the Commission's directions that CKCL-FM Chilliwack not be operated with exclusive orientation to Vancouver.
*Renewal of licences of English-language community-based campus radio programming undertakings listed below, from 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2014: In each case the licence will include conditions requiring that the licensee devote, in each broadcast week, 12% or more of its musical selections from content category 3 (Special interest music) to Canadian selections broadcast in their entirety.
Alberta:
* University of Calgary Student Radio Society's CJSW-FM, Calgary.
British Columbia:
* Simon Fraser Campus Radio Society's CJSF-FM, Burnaby.
* Student Radio Society of the University of British Columbia's CITR-FM, Vancouver.
* University of Victoria Student Radio Society's CFUV-FM, Victoria.
New Brunswick:
*Attic Broadcasting Co. Ltd.'s CHMA-FM, Sackville.
*CHSR Broadcasting, Inc.'s CHSR-FM, Fredericton.
Ontario:
*Brock University Student Radio's CFBU-FM, St. Catharines.
*CHRY Community Radio Incorporated's CHRY-FM, Downsview.
*Radio Queen's University's CFRC-FM, Kingston.
Renewal until 31 August 2014 of licences of bilingual Type A community radio station:
Quebec:
*Radio Blanc Sablon inc.'s CFBS-FM, Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon and its transmitters CFBS-FM-1, Middle Bay and CFBS-FM-2, Rivière-Saint-Paul.
Renewal until 31 August 2014 of licences of French-language Type A community radio stations:
Manitoba:
*Radio communautaire du Manitoba inc.'s CKXL-FM, Saint-Boniface.
New Brunswick:
*La radio communautaire des Hauts-Plateaux incorporée's CFJU-FM, Kedgwick/ St-Quentin.
*Radio Fredericton Inc.'s CJPN-FM, Fredericton.
Newfoundland and Labrador:
*Radio Communautaire du Labrador Inc.'s CJRM-FM, Labrador City.
Nova Scotia:
*La Coopérative Radio Chéticamp Limitée's CKJM-FM, Chéticamp.
Ontario:
*La Clé d'la Baie en Huronie, Association culturelle francophone's CFRH-FM, Penetanguishene.
*Radio communautaire Kapnord Inc.'s CKGN-FM, Kapuskasing and its transmitter CKGM-FM-1, Smooth Rock Falls.
*Radio de l'Épinette Noire Inc.'s CINN-FM. Hearst.
Quebec:
*Diffusion communautaire des Îles inc.'s CFIM-FM, Cap-aux-Meules.
*La radio communautaire de Fermont inc.'s CFMF-FM, Fermont.
*La radio communautaire CKNA inc.'s CKNA-FM, Natashquan.
*Radio Anticosti inc.'s CJBE-FM, Port-Menier.
*Radio communautaire M.F. de Senneterre inc.'s CIBO-FM, Senneterre.
*Radio Gaspésie inc.'s CJRG-FM Gaspé and its transmitters CJRG-FM-1, Murdochville; CJRV-FM, L'Anse-à-Valleau; and CJRE-FM, Rivière-au-Renard.
Renewal until 31 August 2014 of licences of English-language Type A community radio stations:
Northwest Territories:
*Hay River Broadcasting Society's CKHR-FM, Hay River.
Quebec:
*La radio communautaire de Rivière St-Augustin inc.'s CJAS-FM, Saint-Augustin.
The CRTC also announced reception of renewal applications for a number of commercial stations whose licences are due to expire on 31 August. The deadline for submitting comments or interventions if June 26:
Alberta:
*902890 Alberta Ltd.'s CIHS-FM, Wetaskiwin.
*4323041 Canada Inc.'s CKGY-FM, Red Deer.
*Corus Radio Company's CKRY-FM Calgary and its transmitter CKRY-FM-2,
Banff.
*Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Limited Partnership's CIBW-FM, Drayton Valley; CHLB-FM, Lethbridge; CJBZ-FM, Taber;
British Columbia:
*Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Limited Partnership's CKBZ-FM, Kamloops, and its transmitters CKBZ-FM-1,Pritchard; CKBZ-FM-2 Chase ; CKBZ-FM-3, Merritt; CKBZ-FM-4, Clearwater; CKBZ-FM-5.Sun Peaks; plus CHWF-FM, Nanaimo.
*Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation's CHMB-AM, Vancouver .
*Rogers Broadcasting Limited's CKQC-FM, Abbotsford; CFSR-FM, Hope, and its transmitter CFSR-FM-1, Boston Bar. CKIZ-FM, Vernon and its transmitter CKIZ-FM-1, Enderby;
*The Beat Broadcasting Corporation's CFBT-FM, Vancouver.
*Vista Radio Ltd.'s CFFM-FM, Williams Lake.
New Brunswick:
* The Joy FM Network Inc's CIXN-FM, Fredericton.
Ontario:
*Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation's CKYC-FM, Owen Sound.
*Blackburn Radio Inc.'s CHYR-FM, Leamington.
*Burlingham Communications Inc.'s CIWV-FM, Hamilton / Burlington.
*CHCD Inc.'s CHCD-FM, Simcoe.
*1158556 Ontario Ltd.'s CHIM-FM, Timmins, and its transmitters CHIM-FM-1, North Bay; CHIM-FM-2, Iroquois Falls; CHIM-FM-3, Kirkland Lake; CHIM-FM-4. New Liskeard; CHIM-FM-5, Red Deer; CHIM-FM-6, Sault Ste Marie; CHIM-FM-7, Elliot Lake; CHIM-FM-8, Wawa; CHIM-FM-9, Chapleau; CHIM-FM-10, Kapuskasing;
*CHUM Limited's CIMX-FM, Windsor.
*CIRC Radio Inc.'s CIRV-FM, Toronto.
*Eternacom Inc.'s CJTK-FM, Sudbury.
*Fairchild Radio Group Ltd.'s CHKT-AM, Richmond Hill.
*Larche Communications Inc.'s CICZ-FM, Midland.
*Newcap Inc.'s CJUK-FM, Thunder Bay.
*Pineridge Broadcasting Inc.'s CKSG-FM, Cobourg.
*Rogers Broadcasting Limited's CKGB-FM, Timmins.
*Trafalgar Broadcasting Limited's CJMR-AM, Mississauga.
Quebec:
*CFMB Limited's CFMB-AM. Québec.
*Communications CHIC's CHIC-FM, Rouyn-Noranda.
*Radio Plus B.M.D. inc.'s CJAN-FM, Asbestos.
Saskatchewan:
*Golden West Broadcasting's CHSN-AM, Estevan.
*629112 Saskatchewan Ltd.'s CJWW-AM, Saskatoon.
*Northwestern Radio Partnership's CJNB-AM, North Battleford.
Yukon Territory:
*Klondike Broadcasting Company Limited's CKRW-AM, Whitehorse and its transmitters VF2063,
Faro; VF2143, Watson Lake; VF2266, Carcross; VF2267, Carmacks; VF2269, Haines Junction; VF2268, Mayo; and VF2270, Teslin.
The CRTC also notes an applications, with a deadline for interventions or comments of June 29, from Slocan Valley T.V. Society to renew the licence of the radiocommunication distribution undertaking (RDU) serving Passmore, British Columbia, and distributing, in non-encrypted mode, the programs of CFMI-FM, New Westminster, British Columbia and CISN-FM, Edmonton, Alberta; and from Norwesto Communications Ltd. to add a 49-watts FM transmitter at Sioux Lookout to broadcast the programming of CKQV-FM, Vermilion Bay, Ontario.
In Ireland, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has acceded to a request from Emap to waive the moratorium that would have prevented it selling Today FM, which was re-awarded its licence for ten years on 2006, for two years from its award and also to the sale of the majority shareholding in the Waterford City and County service, WLR FM, and the south-east regional youth service, Beat FM, to Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) Limited. (See RNW May 24). Earlier it awarded the country's new Midlands/North-East Regional licence in principle to i Radio North East & Midlands Limited (See RNW May 23).
In the UK, Ofcom has published its Communications Market 2007 report detailing the state of Britain's communications industry (See below for summary of the radio section).
It also updated details of its award of Community Radio Fund grants for 2006-07, noting that Chelmsford Calling, which had been awarded a grant of GBP 6,000 (USD 11,900), will not be able to take up the offer as it is closing and Voice of Africa, which had been awarded GBP 30,000 (USD 59,500) would not be able to get on air within the required timeframe.
Accordingly it made grants to two stations that had previously been put on its standby list - Radio Asian Fever, which gets GBP 18,600 (USD 36,900) for a fundraising officer and Revival Radio, Cumbernauld, which gets the same amount for a production manager.
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it is to hold an Open Commission Meeting on Thursday with an agenda mainly concerning Public Safety & Homeland Security items
In Texas the FCC modified the license of Station KYVA-FM, Channel 279C0, Grants, New Mexico, to specify Church Rock as the community of license, dismissing collective counter-proposals from Sierra H. Broadcasting, Inc., licensee KNRJ-FM, Payson, Arizona, Sanpete County Broadcasting Co., Marathon Media Group, LLC, College Creek Broadcasting, LLC; and Sky Media, LLC. and from Smoke and Mirrors, LLC, College Creek Broadcasting, LLC, and Desert Sky Media, LLC.
The FCC enforcement bureau also issued radio-related penalties or Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NALs) totalling approaching USD 50,000: In descending order of amount they included
USD 10,000 forfeiture to New Relampago Car Service Corp. in Brooklyn, NY for operating a base station and mobile units on the frequency 35.08 MHz without the required license.
USD 10,000 forfeiture to Mobile Car Service Inc. in Brooklyn, NY for operating a base station on the frequency 35.18 MHz and mobile units on the frequency 34.94 MHz without the required license.
USD 8,000 forfeiture to Fun Media Group, licensee of WAFN-FM, Arab, Alabama, for failure to clean and repaint its antenna structure to maintain good visibility. The FCC initially issued an NAL of USD 10,000 to which Fun Media had responded seeking cancellation on the basis that the tower met the painting requirements and on the grounds that the penalty would cause financial hardship and the FCC had reduced the penalty to USD 8,000. Fun Media had then filed for reconsideration but this was rejected and then applied for review and sought reversal of the order. The FCC said nothing provided by Fun Media warranted overturning the order and confirmed the forfeiture.
USD 7,000 NAL for failure to file timely renewal application and unauthorized operation to Hendrix College, licensee of KHDX-FM, Conway, Arkansas. The licence was renewed.
USD 4,200 forfeiture to Sandhill Media Group, LLC, licensee of KSPZ -AM (KSPZ (formerly KUPI-, Ammon, Idaho for Sandhill for failing to enclose the KSPZ antenna towers within effective locked fences or other enclosures.
Initially the FCC issued an NAL for USD 7,000 and Sandhill had argued for reduction on various grounds: The FCC cut the penalty to USD 5,600 on the basis of based on Sandhill's good faith efforts to repair the individual fences surrounding the two antenna towers and then to USD 4,200 on the basis of a history of compliance.
USD 4,000 NAL to Charles River Broadcasting, licensee of WFCC-FM, Chatham, Massachusetts, for failing to retain required documentation in the WFCC-FM public inspection file. The breach came to light during an application for renewal of the station licence, which was granted.
USD 3,000 forfeiture to Infinity Radio Operations, Inc. , the then licensee of WBLK-FM-, Buffalo, for broadcasting a telephone conversation without prior permission of the other party to the conversation. It had originally levied a base-amount penalty of USD 4,000 but Infinity, which did not deny the breach, had called for reduction or cancellation on the basis of a reference to a prior breach - the forfeiture order was unpaid and not finalized - at another Infinity station to rebut Infinity's claim that this was an isolated incident. The FCC refused the claim on this basis but did reduce the penalty to USD 3,000 because of action taken by Infinity, which had prior to the FCC investigation suspended the host concerned without pay and reiterated its written policy to all station employees against airing or recording telephone conversations without permission.
USD 1,500 NAL for failure to file timely renewal application to H&H Broadcasting Corporation, licensee of KLBA-FM, Albia, Iowa. The licence was renewed.
USD 1,500 NAL for failure to file timely renewal application to Burnet Bible College, licensee of low power KFGG-LP, Marble Falls, Texas. The licence was renewed.
USD 250 forfeiture to Gla-Mar Broadcasting, LLC, licensee of KBZB-FM, Pioche, Nevada, for failing to ensure the operational readiness of the KBZB-FM Emergency Alert System . The FCC had issued an NAL of USD 8,000 and Gla-Mar's had argued for cancellation on the basis that it was in the process of ordering new EAS equipment prior to the inspection by the San Francisco Office and its inability to pay. The FCC only accepted the latter argument but reduced the penalty to USD 259.
The FCC also issued an amendment of its rules clarifying corrective action to be taken by AM stations when encountering difficulties in the operation of a station's AM directional antenna.
Previous BCI:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Ofcom:
BCI web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2007-05-27: UK media regulator Ofcom has published its Communications Market 2007 report - available in PDF form in a number of sections on its website.
The Radio report notes that by April this year the UK had 310 licensed local commercial radio stations and a further three nation-wide stations on top of which it is considering advertising up to two new FM commercial radio licences in 2007 for coverage of most of mid- and North
Wales, subject to gaining international agreement for the use of the required frequencies).
As well as commercial stations the UK has 46 BBC local or nations-based analogue radio services, 40 of them in England and of the commercial stations 244 (79%) are in England, 39 (13%) in Scotland, 17 (5%) in Wales and 10 (3%) in Northern Ireland.
Throughout most of the UK listeners can receive five BBC network analogue services and three commercial national services on top of which listeners in England can also access an average of 6.1 local stations per head; listeners in Scotland listeners can receive an average of 5.5 stations - two of them the two national BBC stations, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal; in Wales 4.5 including BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru; and in Northern Ireland the north-west area is also served by BBC Radio Foyle and Radio Ulster in addition to an average of 2.1 local commercial stations
Regarding DAB digital radio, the installation of new transmitters have been installed by both the BBC and Digital One national multiplex operators over the past year plus those scheduled for 2007, should put the medium on target to reach 90% of the UK population.
In commercial terms, total revenue from local commercial radio advertising and sponsorship in England in 2006 totalled GBP 379 million (USD 752 million ), including the revenues of the three national commercial stations Classic FM, TalkSPORT and Virgin 1215. This was 82.8% of the GBP 506 million (USD 1.004 billion) UK total with Scotland next with revenues of GBP 49 million (USD 97.2 million - 10.6% of the local commercial total) then Wales with GBP 19 million (USD 37.7 million - 4.1% of the total) and Northern Ireland with GBP 11 million (USD 21.8 million - 2.4%).
In ownership terms, the top three groups (in station number terms) in England - GCap, The Local Radio Company and Emap - hold 47% of station licences; in Scotland the top three - Emap, GMG and UTV have 49%; in Wales the top three - GCap, Town and Country and UTV- have 76% and in Northern Ireland the top three - Northern Media, Emap and the CN Group - have 90%.
In listening terms, average weekly listening to radio is 23.5 hours and the medium reaches 90% of the population. Regional figures show heaviest listening in Wales with an average 24.7 hours a week although reach is lower - only 88.4%.
Next is England with 23.4 hours and a 90.6% reach then Scotland with 23.2 hours (89.4% reach) then Northern Ireland with 23 hours (90.7% reach).
In audience share terms, local commercial radio is most popular in Scotland, where it attracted a 43% share of audience listening, compared to 32% in England, 27% in Wales and 24% in Northern
Ireland.
Listening to local BBC radio is highest in Northern Ireland at 27%; three times more than in Scotland (9%) and also substantially higher than the 11% share of local BBC radio in England and 14% in Wales.
Networked BBC radio was most popular in England and in Wales where it attracted just under half of all listening, at 45% and 46% of audience share respectively. In Northern Ireland just over a quarter of all listening was to the BBC network stations, behind Scotland (36%).
Overall listening to the BBC stations accounted for 62% of listening in Wales, higher than in Scotland (45%), England (55%) and Northern Ireland (54%). Meanwhile, listening to the UK-wide commercial stations Classic FM, Virgin and TalkSPORT, was similar across the nations ranging from 10-12% of listening.
Previous Ofcom:
2007-05-27: The Walt Disney Company says that it has now set June 6 as the record date for the previously announced spin-off of its ABC Radio Business - to be merged with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citadel Broadcasting with an expected merger date of June 12 (See RNW May 26).
Under the scheme Disney shareholders of record at the close of business on June 6 will receive shares of Disney's wholly-owned subsidiary, ABC Radio Holdings, Inc., subject to the consummation of the spin-off and merger: Prior to the spin-off, Disney will transfer to ABC Radio Holdings the ABC Radio Business, which includes 22 large-market radio stations and the ABC Radio Network but not Disney's ESPN Radio and Radio Disney networks and station businesses.
All shares in ABC Radio Holdings will be distributed to Disney shareholders on a pro rata basis by means of a share dividend - the exact number is to be determined and is currently expected to be approximately 0.0766 shares of ABC Radio Holdings common stock for each share of Disney common stock.
Immediately following the spin-off, ABC Radio Holdings will merge with the wholly-owned subsidiary of Citadel Broadcasting and Disney shareholders will each receive one full share of Citadel common stock, par value one cent per share, in exchange for each full share of ABC Radio Holdings common stock received in the spin-off with a cash payment to be made in lieu of fractional shares.
Previous Disney:
2007-05-26: Citadel Broadcasting Corporation has declared a provisional special cash distribution of USD 2.46 a share in preparation for the merger of a wholly-owned subsidiary with ABC Radio Holdings, Inc.
The distribution is subject to consummation of the merger, closing of which is expected on June 12, and Citadel says it anticipates that the record date for the special distribution will be June 8.
In other UK radio business, Clear Channel has revealed in an SEC filing that it has awarded 265,000 restricted shares to the founding Mays family as part of its remuneration for 2006.: Based on latest offer of USD 39.20 per share from a private equity group led by Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.; the shares would be worth just below USD 10.4 million.
Previous Citadel:
Previous Clear Channel:
2007-05-26: Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin has told shareholders at the company's annual meeting that he was as disappointed as they were by the company's stock price but then added that compared to rival XM "We suck less". He also said he had not sold any of his own holding of around USD 20 million in Sirius stock.
Sirius stock, which opened 2006 at USD 6.81, was down to USD 2.90 at the end of the week whilst that of XM was down from USD 27.47 at the start of 2006 to USD 11.80 - Karmazin, ever the salesman, compared the share price over the period from September 2004 since when Sirius shares have risen by 8% and those of XM fell by 61%).
At the meeting Karmazin acknowledged that there was an uphill struggle going on to get the Sirius takeover of XM approved. He blamed the weak stock performance on a negative view of the satellite radio business on Wall Street despite the progress both companies had made towards profitability and also defended the USD 500 million deal signed with Howard Stern, saying he had earned the money.
Previous Karmazin:
Previous Sirius:
Houston Chronicle/AP report:
2007-05-26: SMG Chairman Richard Findlay told shareholders at the company's annual meeting on Friday that trading was in line with expectations that, as previously stated had been varied with TV advertising revenues in the period to June down 7% compared to 9% for ITV as a whole whilst Virgin Radio revenues were up 8% with particularly strong online revenue growth and its Pearl and Dean cinema advertising division reported revenues up 7% and its outdoor division Primesight recording an 8% revenue increase.
Regarding the last three Findlay said the company had "terminated the sale process of Primesight for the time being and are re-energising the sale of Pearl & Dean" whilst it had announced an Initial Public Offering for Virgin Radio.
"We believe a flotation of Virgin Radio," he added, "will create a strong and clearly focussed radio business, with a powerful brand and will provide an attractive pure play investment opportunity. Once completed, it will leave SMG with a stronger balance sheet on which to move forward and rebuild shareholder value."
Also holding its annual meeting was UTV whose chairman, John B. McGuckian said the company's "diversification into radio passed an important milestone in 2006 with radio revenues at 54% of total group revenue for the first time overtaking television revenue at 37%."
"UTV Radio," he added, "is now a significant player in both Ireland and Great Britain and the development of this part of our business continues to be a key focus of our corporate strategy."
McGuckian said operating profits for 2006 were broadly flat with increased profits from radio operations offset by reduced revenue in its television division and start-up losses at new radio stations in Edinburgh and Belfast.
Regarding this year, he said UTV expected to outperform the industry overall for the first six months of the year to the end of June in both radio and TV with radio revenues to be broadly flat compared to an industry decline of 2% and TV to record a revenue decline of 1% compared to around 10% for the ITV network.
UTV's Irish radio division expects a 2% increase to record revenues although the rise is smaller than forecast with strong national sales growth being offset by what UTV thinks will be a short-term weakness in local sales whilst its new media division expects revenues to be up by 15%
Overall said McGuckian the company "mitigated the effects of the significant decline in television in 2006 and, through outperformance in both that division and in radio, continues to progress well in difficult market conditions. This outperformance leaves us well-placed to take advantage of any improvement in the market."
The markets reacted positively to SMG with its shared ending the day up 1.6% at 62.5 pence whilst those of UTV were down just under 1% to 428 pence.
Previous Findlay:
Previous McGuckian:
Previous SMG:
Previous UTV:
2007-05-26: The Internet Radio Equality Act that would vacate the US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision that increased Internet streaming royalty rates threefold to twelve-fold over the next five years has now gained the support of 100 members of the House of Representatives.
Under the bill the royalty rate from 2006-2010 would be set at the 7.5% of revenue level currently paid by satellite radio services and the standard used to set rates in royalty arbitrations would be aligned with that applied to satellite radio.
Welcoming the support, Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the SaveNetRadio lobbying group, said, "Members of Congress are hearing loudly and clearly the passionate voices of webcasters, music fans and artists who have marched on Capitol Hill with their feet, their calls and their letters. Reaching 100 cosponsors in three legislative weeks is extraordinary, and is a major milestone for tens of thousands of webcasters, millions of Internet Radio listeners, and thousands of artists invested in the future of Internet radio."
2007-05-25: CBS Radio, which under new CEO Dan Mason had already dropped the Free-FM name in Baltimore, Chicago and Dallas and moved the format onto an AM frequency in San Francisco, has now dumped Free FM in New York in favour of a return for the K-Rock contemporary rock format.
The move - at 17:00 ET on Thursday - was preceded with stunting on air immediately following the end of the "Opie and Anthony Show": The station aired an audio collage including clips from TV shows, vintage New York Commercials and references "Today at five" and "You're not allowed to talk anymore" whilst the web site went to a countdown clock that at 17:00 flipped to a redirect to a new K-Rock site.
Gone in the move are most of the hosts - only Opie and Anthony are mentioned on the new website, which under station info carries the line "92.3 K-Rock is one of New York's favourite radio stations and available everywhere streaming online for free. 92.3 K-Rock is also the terrestrial home of The Opie and Anthony Show. Given the ratings of Free FM, which was introduced as a replacement to K-Rock, Howard Stern's long-time home, during former CEO Joel Hollander's reign to try and retain the younger male demographic when Howard Stern left for Sirius but which in the Winter ratings had only a 1.3% audience share, the term favourite would seem to have either a different meaning in CBS and most dictionaries or is an expression of hope.
Amongst those out are PD John Mainelli, and hosts Nick DiPaolo, Leslie "The RadioChick" Gold, and "Ron and Fez".
Gold, on her site commented, "Today the news isn't good, Chick fans. They blew up the station, and there won't be much talking on it anymore."
She then continued on her blog, "Its Toast! …Free FM in NY has flipped formats to music. That's how it goes in radio, one day your [you're!] employed, the next day you aren't. I was told the decision to flip was a result of low revenues, a series of many poor management decisions made over many months, and a post-Imus environment that doesn't allow talk shows like the ones on Free FM to do what they need to do to get ratings...that is talk about race, sex and other potentially offensive and provocative material. I'm not telling you this, this is what I was told..."
The new K-Rock it to take back the WXRK call sign that had been parked in Cleveland by CBS with the calls in Cleveland to be changed to WKRI.
K-Rock version 2 was introduced by Tom Chiusano, the long-time VP and general manager of K-Rock 1, who began, "I'm the general manager of.... What am I the general manager of today? We're halfway through the year, and it looks like 2007 will be the year of the radio apology… I want to apologize to you, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, for letting K-Rock be taken away. Fortunately for me, that screw-up didn't cost me my job. All day, we've been saying, 'Today at 5' -- and it wasn't in reference to my tee time, which, if I don't stop talking, I'm going to miss. So, like you, I'm tired of all this talking, so I'm going to shut up now."
The station is currently without DJs - its first song was Nirvana's "All Apologies" and the playlist includes Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Guns N' Roses, Metallica and Led Zeppelin - but CBS is said to be looking for talent along with a new PD.
Previous CBS:
Previous Gold (Radio Chick):
Previous Mason:
K-Rock web site:
Radio Chick web site:
2007-05-25: Responding to an objection by the satellite radio companies to a Freedom of Information Act it has made for information on them, the US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) saying there is a compelling public interest" in having access to information with a direct bearing on the pending XM/Sirius Merger Application".
The NAB request was for information related to the satellite radio companies' violations of FCC rules governing FM modulators and terrestrial repeaters and the letter says the records are needed to shed light on the scope, nature, and degree" of the violations.
NAB has accused investigation of the satellite companies a number of times, particularly in reference to their use of repeaters that did not meet their licence terms, to FM modulators that produced interference and to plans that it alleges the companies have to introduce local advertising and the companies have admitted publicly to various breaches.
The NAB has also welcomed a letter sent by Wisconsin Democrat Senator Herb Kohl, who is chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, the US Justice Department and FCC saying that a merger of the satellite companies would hit consumers, breach antitrust laws and should be rejected by regulators.
Commenting on the letter, NAB EVP Dennis Wharton said, "XM and Sirius are fierce competitors in the finite market of satellite radio. It defies logic to think that their request for a government-sanctioned monopoly would be beneficial to consumers."
Previous NAB:
Previous Sirius:
Previous Wharton
Previous XM:
2007-05-25: Roberts Radio and Frontier Silicon are to introduce a DAB/FM plug-in radio for iPods in the UK in late autumn with a planned retail price of around GBP 50 (USD 100).
The device will potentially boost on-the-move listening to radio significantly as more than 13 million iPods have been sold in the UK. When the radio is in DAB mode, the device will display the station name.
The introduction was welcomed by both the BBC and UK commercial radio with Jenny Abramsky, Director of BBC Audio & Music commenting, "One of the key challenges for the radio industry is how to ensure that radio is included in every device. I am delighted that the first ever DAB/FM plug-in for iPods will be launched later this year bringing radio to our audiences where they want and when they want it."
GCap Media chief executive Ralph Bernard added, "We recognise the importance of putting radio into new devices and of keeping the medium relevant for a new generation of listeners. Adding radio to mobile phones and MP3 players means the size of the radio receiver market can double overnight, leading to more opportunities to listen to radio than ever before. So, it is important for radio's digital future that we are available to consumers via market leading devices like the iPod."
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2007-05-25: XM Satellite Radio, which lost service to many customers this week due to a software glitch (See RNW May 22) has said it will give customers who request it a two-day credit. The problem affected its XM3 satellite, which services its network of repeaters and XM says many customers were unaffected and that its satellites had worked. Streams on the Internet were unaffected.
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2007-05-24: The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has acceded to a request from Emap to waive the moratorium that would have prevented it selling Today FM, which was re-awarded its licence for ten years on 2006, for two years from its award.
The BCI noted in making the decision that there was no other applicant for the licence and that Emap, which has put its Irish radio stations up for sale, had kept local management for the stations since it acquired them.
Commenting on the decision BCI Chief Executive Michael O'Keeffe said, "The Commission's two-year moratorium on the sale of a commercial radio licence contains within it an overriding flexibility which enables the Board to consider particular and unique circumstances, as was the case on this occasion. It is important to note that the decision reached by the Commission is without prejudice to its rights and obligations regarding any proposed ownership and control changes that may be received in respect of the Today FM service."
The BCI also announced its agreement in principle to the sale of the majority shareholding in the Waterford City and County service, WLR FM, and the south-east regional youth service, Beat FM, to Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) Limited.
TCH will take control of 75% of both services, with Des Whelan, Chief Executive of WLR FM and a Director of Beat FM, holding the remaining 25%.
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2007-05-24: Australian Broadcasting Corporation Managing Director Mark Scott has announced the appointment of Hanh Tran, Executive Producer of Vietnamese content for the station, as the new Chief Executive of Radio Australia.
Hahn, who originally went to Australia in the late seventies as a Colombo Plan student and studied forestry at the Australian National University and media at the University of Canberra, was previously - from 1997 to 2001, Head of the BBC World Service's Vietnamese Service and from 1993-1996 he was executive producer of Radio Australia's Vietnam Program Unit.
Making the announcement, Scott said, "I am delighted that from a very strong field of internal and external applicants that the next person to lead Radio Australia has come from our own team of managers and executive producers… [Tran] will bring a wealth of expertise in radio and digital media that will contribute to enhancing the services provided by Radio Australia, while exploring opportunities to expand the service into new markets."
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2007-05-24: Arbitron has announced that it has signed a five-year renewal contract for its services for Cox Radio's stations in 18 markets.
The new agreement will provide Cox Radio with Portable People Meter ratings services when the technology is commercialized in the eight Cox Radio markets in Arbitron's previously announced PPM rollout plan: Houston, New York (Nassau-Suffolk), Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, San Antonio, Orlando and Jacksonville.
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2007-05-24: UK media regulator Ofcom in its latest broadcast bulletin has upheld three standards complaints against radio, involving Radio XM; GCap Media's SGR, Colchester; and UKRD's Star Radio in Cambridge.
All of the complaints involved advertising or sponsorship and that against XL resulted concerned a complaint that a programme involving a homeopathic practitioner who is regular contributor amounted to promotion of his practice and that he advertised his services to promote his infertility treatment and suggested he could help in selecting a baby's sex.
The station said they felt they had complied with codes and that the homeopath's contribution was "designed to provide information to their listeners and not a programme designed to promote his services, although they did concede that a proportion of the broadcast was used to mention his practice and telephone numbers" and also confirmed that his practice was advertised on the station.
Ofcom noted that the homeopath's practice and contact details were promoted and ruled that "references to the contributor's practice went beyond what was editorially justified" and thus breached its Code.
In the case of GCap's SGR, a complainant considered that a "Quiz of the Week" on the station's breakfast show amounted to a disguised advertisement for the store that provided the prizes and GCap, whilst saying that after reviewing the material it fully appreciated Ofcom's concerns, insisted that at no point had the programme's editorial independence been compromised.
Ofcom, ruling that there had been a breach of two rules, noted that in September last year a breach of one of them by the station had been recorded. It said it had considered whether further action was needed but in light of action taken by the broadcaster, including an undertaking to put in place specific training along with a best practice guidelines scheme to ensure compliance in future, it felt no further action was necessary on this occasion.
In the Cambridge case two complaints were made against UKRD's Star Radio. One concerned an edition of its 15 minute extended news programme "Star Reports" that included a pre-recorded introduction and interview with the Managing Director of an overseas property company that was considered by the complainant to be a glorified "plug" for the station and on another occasion had
The second compliant concerned the station's "Music To Make You Feel Good " programme that included an item that had featured an interview with an employee of a garage and had given full details of how to get to the garage and also details of a launch event for a new car. The complainant said the item was presented as editorial when it was "clearly an extended advertisement for the garage…"
UKRD had acknowledged weakness in understanding Code requirements by station staff and said it had met station management to emphasise the Code obligations they needed to follow and had also put systems in place across its whole group to avoid recurrence.
Ofcom noted that two codes were breached and also the measures taken to address the failures and opted on this basis to take no further action although it warned that it would take any further similar compliance failures extremely seriously.
As well as the radio complaints upheld, Ofcom upheld five standards complaints against TV and gave details of another not upheld and two more that ere considered resolved through action taken by the broadcaster and also gave details of a TV fairness and privacy complaint that was not upheld (The matter involved 40 complaints on behalf of a German who had been in the SS and more than half of the bulletin was taken up with details of the comprehensive rebuttal of the matters complained of.
The numbers compare with one radio complaints concerning sponsorship upheld in the previous bulletin along with details of a fairness complaints made in this bulletin.
In addition, the bulletin also lists with no details a further 270 TV complaints involving 222 items and 30 radio complaints involving 30 items that it were out of its remit or not upheld. The totals compare with 242 TV complaints involving 171 items and 22 radio complaints involving 20 items that it were out of its remit or not upheld in its previous bulletin.
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2007-05-23: Sound Exchange, the body that collects royalties from US users of recordings and that has come under pressure over massively-increased new rates put forward by the Copyright Royalty Board, has thrown a bone to small webcasters by offering to extend most of the terms of the Small Webcaster Settlement Act that in 2002 set lower rates for small Internet stations to 2010.
SoundExchange says the offer has been made as a "direct response to a request from the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property to "initiate good faith private negotiations with small commercial and non-commercial webcasters with the shared goal of ensuring their continued operations and viability."
The Subcommittee's request was sent to SoundExchange last week in a letter co-signed by Representatives Howard L. Berman (California Democrat) and Howard Coble (North Carolina Republican) and in a release SoundExchange Executive Director John Simson commented, "Although the rates revised by the CRB are fair and based on the value of music in the
marketplace, there's a sense in the music community and in Congress that small
webcasters need more time to develop their businesses. Artists and labels are offering a below-market rate to subsidize small webcasters because Congress has made it clear that this is a policy it desires to advance, at least for the next few years."
It adds that as suggested it is proposing to keep payments based on a percentage of revenues with the same rates as before - 10% of gross revenues up to USD 250,000 and 12% above that. The proposal also includes a revenue and usage cap but these were not specified.
Michael Huppe, General Counsel of SoundExchange, said the offer "is not about displacing the Judges' correct analysis of the market, but rather about extending for a limited time the below-market rates that these small businesses received several years ago. We have heard the concerns of Congress and we are responding."
Simson added that SoundExchange has particular concern about "the lack of compliance by most small webcasters" and continued, "The artists and labels are acting in good faith today, giving small webcasters a break. In return they expect the integrity of their music and their copyrights to be respected. That includes proper tracking and reporting of how their music is used, and that they are properly compensated."
The new rates have come under attack not only from many webcasters, who say they would be put out of business, but also from the US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) whose Radio Board accepted a resolution saying that it "recognizes that the new streaming rates established by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) will cause significant harm to broadcasters that stream over the Internet" and continues, "The radio board supports a comprehensive approach to addressing the CRB rate determination, including legislation that vacates the CRB decision and establishes an interim royalty rate structure."
RNW comment: This seems to us to be an offer that contains very significant omissions, in particular those of the revenue caps proposed. If made very low, the offer may take some political pressure off SoundExchange but will in practical terms be almost worthless in terms of most streams.
We still think that the best way forward may yet be for the webcasters to apply market practices - the theory of the rates set after all is that they are those for a willing buyer and seller - and agree deals with small labels at rates and with conditions - such as promotion and direct sales of music - that both sides can agree as fair. The opposite side of this deal would be to keep down to an absolute minimum the use and mention of music from those sticking with SoundExchange. We suspect that such a deal would greatly benefit all but the most prominent artists and could lead to a substantial secondary form of musical distribution that would increase diversity. It might, of course, also put some of the majors out of business but we can't really feel much sympathy for them in view of the unimaginative way they have reacted over the years to technological change
It is, after all, something that is already happening for many orchestras who have had to set up their own recording and distribution as the recording companies moved away from the commitment to classical.
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2007-05-23: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has given Rogers Broadcasting Limited the go-ahead for a new commercial-free national pay audio service, Rogers Pay Audio, that will be comprised of some 30 audio channels in a number of formats.
Following objections to Roger's initial proposal for a service of which 60%-70% of the proposed service's audio content would consist of pop, rock, dance and easy listening music, 5%-10% of oldies music, 5%-10% of ethnic music, 5%-10% of programming directed to children, and 15% of specialty music, including classical, world beat and jazz and that would have a Canadian content level that would mirror the Canadian content requirements set out in section 2.2 of the Radio Regulations, 1986, Rogers has amended its proposal.
It is now saying that - in line with the general requirement for pay audio services to have a minimum of 35% weekly Canadian musical selections - its service will ensure that a minimum of 35% of the musical selections broadcast each week on the proposed undertaking's Canadian-produced pay audio channels, considered together, will be Canadian selections.
Rogers also now proposes that a minimum of 25% of all its Canadian-produced pay audio channels, other than those consisting entirely of instrumental music or of music entirely in languages other than English or French, would devote each week a minimum of 65% of vocal music selections from category 2, as defined in the Radio Regulations, to musical selections in the French language; and that at no time would subscribers be offered a service where foreign-produced channels predominate and a maximum of one non-Canadian pay audio channel would be packaged or linked with each Canadian-produced pay audio channel.
In addition in relation to a request for permission to broadcast spoken word programming, Rogers says that spoken word programming would be limited to programming directed to children and to segments identifying musical selections or promoting the service and it has also amended its targets for Canadian Content Development contributions to bring them in line with the current policy with a contribution of 4% of gross annual revenues, half of which would be devoted to funding Canadian Music Week to support music education programs and emerging artist showcases.
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2007-05-23: UK media group Emap has announced revenues for the year for its continuing business to the end of March up 4% to GBP 884 (USD 1.745 billion) although it said underlying revenues were down 1% as was group operating profit of GBP 203 million (USD 400 million) - underlying profit was up 1%.
Group chairman and acting chief executive Alun Cathcart, who took on a dual role following the departure of chief executive Tom Moloney this month (See RNW May 1) insisted there were no plans for a break-up, saying that on the contrary they believed there were "enormous opportunities" for the company as a group and adding that the numbers were against it.
"We are going to keep the group together," he said. "Yes, we're going to carry on, and no, there have been no approaches of any kind, it's just speculation."
In a statement Cathcart commented, "The 2007 financial year has been a period of transition for the Group against a background of challenging trading conditions and a changing consumer environment. Despite this, we have delivered 4% revenue growth from our continuing business…
Our strategy is to migrate resources onto faster growth platforms and to develop new business models based on content, community and commerce. We will vigorously pursue this strategy which will mean increasing our digital activities, investing behind our growth assets and increased international exposure."
Last year Emap sold Emap France for GBP 380 million (then USD 720 million), returning GBP 2875 million (then USD 540 million) in cash to shareholders and has also started the process of selling its radio stations in the Republic of Ireland and also set up strategic reviews of its Australian consumer magazines business and French exhibition business "Agor": It says it is now to focus on "faster growth platforms" with B2B information and events remaining a priority when it comes to investment and acquisitions and internationally will increase its focus "in faster growth geographies where we can build scale."
For the total group, including Emap France for part of the year, Emap revenues were down 13% to GBP 1,003 million (USD 1, 98 billion) - underlying revenues were down 1%; operating profit was down 1% to GBP 203 million (USD 400 million) - up 2% underlying; pre-tax profit was down 13% to GBP 193 million (USD 381 million) with Earnings per Share down 7% to 60.7 pence and dividend per share down 3% to 30 pence.
Emap said that within the figures "B2B information products all showed strong growth" and added, "Cannes Lions had another good year and our portfolio of businesses in the Middle East under the MEED brand also grew strongly. We have seen strong performances from all our women's wee