September 2007 Archive
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October 2007
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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 August comment - Could technological development kill off broadcast media as we know them? Recent surveys on demographic and listening changes make us gloomier than 18 months ago.
RNW July comment -Looks at regulation in other countries in the light of attacks on the idea of reintroducing the Fairness Doctrine in the US and concludes that other factors are much more important in affecting effective freedom of speech.
RNW June comment - Boycotts and pork or a business approach. We suggest that a single royalty rate for digital - or analogue - audio is nonsense and that the system should be changed to provide tiered charges and a choice of collection agencies.
2007-09-30: Last week saw no major issues raised by the regulators with the main point we noted relating to comments made at the NAB Radio Show by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Kevin J. Martin about the US satellite radio merger, the satellite radio companies' supply of equipment that caused interference and their alleged siting of repeater towers in incorrect locations (See RNW Sep 28) rather than regulator decisions as such.
In general there was a steady flow of radio-related postings but not on major issues although in Australia there was a move forward on digital radio with a call by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for comments on its plans to issue digital multiplex licences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (three multiplexes each) and Adelaide, Hobart and Perth (two multiplex each - See RNW Sep 28).
The ACMA also posted details of a further cash-for-comment decision relating to John Laws and Sydney 2UE where it has agreed additional compliance measures to be taken (See RNW Sep 27).
In other decisions the ACMA has proposed the lifting of additional licence conditions it imposed on Darwin community radio service, Radio Larrakia in 1998 when the licence was allocated to Radio Larrakia Association.
These required it to include Top End Aboriginal Bush Broadcasting Association and Larrakia Nation on its board and sub-committees and to open membership to all Darwin residents.
Radio Larrakia has now submitted a proposed constitution and requested that ACMA revoke the additional licence conditions and Acting ACMA Chair Lyn Maddock said the Authority considered that in terms of the goal of ensuring that "that Radio Larrakia met the existing and perceived future needs of the broader indigenous community in Darwin" the proposed constitution was a "more efficient and effective method of ensuring representation."
The AMCA has asked for submissions on the matter, to be received by October 4, before taking any final decision.
In New South Wales the Authority is not renewing the licence community radio broadcasting licence held by Armidale Community Radio Co-Operative Ltd since 1976. This licence expires on October 3 and is the only community service for the area: The ACMA says it has invited the licensee to apply for a temporary community broadcasting licence to start from the day after the licence expires but the frequency may have to be shared with other temporary broadcasters.
Maddock commented that the "'ACMA has significant concerns about whether the licensee's service meets the needs of the general community in the Armidale licence area, and also that the licensee has not satisfactorily identified and monitored the community's needs."
In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) gave Astral Media the go-ahead to become Canada's largest radio broadcaster with 83 stations in eight provinces through the takeover of Standard Radio's stations and also approved the Rogers Media purchase of CHUM's Citytv stations whose disposal it had required to approve the CTVGlobemedia (CTVgm) acquisition of CHUM (See RNW Sep 29).
The CRTC also posted corrections to some fairly minor errors in previous postings and approved a new 49 watts FM transmitter at Sioux Lookout to broadcast the programming of CKQV-FM, Vermilion Bay, Ontario
There were no radio decisions from Ireland although the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has now posted its General Advertising Code ( a 44 page 506 KB) PDF on its website.
Iin the UK, Ofcom also had a fairly quiet week although it did post its latest Broadcasting Bulletin in which it upheld no radio complaints (See RNW Sep 26).
In the US, as noted the issues of the satellite radio merger came up again in addition to which it has extended from October 1 and 16 respectively to October 22 and November 1 respectively the deadlines for filing comments and reply comments on its media ownership studies.
The FCC also issued or proposed a number of penalties including (in descending order of amount):
USD 7,000 notice of apparent liability for forfeiture (NALF) to Robert J. & Katherine M. Bohn, licensees of KCNQ-FM, Kernville, California for failure to file licence renewal in time and continued operation after expiry of the licence. It also renewed the licence
*USD 7,000 notice of apparent liability for forfeiture (NALF) to Robert J. & Katherine M. Bohn, licensees of KVLI-FM, Lake Isabella, California for failure to file licence renewal in time and continued operation after expiry of the licence. It also renewed the licence
*USD 7,000 notice of apparent liability for forfeiture (NALF) to Robert J. & Katherine M. Bohn, licensees of KQAB-AM, Lake Isabella, California for failure to file licence renewal in time and continued operation after expiry of the licence. It also renewed the licence.
USD 750 notice of apparent liability for forfeiture (NALF) to Home Town Communications, Inc, licensee of low power FM KWSP-LP, Kerrville, Texas for failure to file licence renewal in time. It also renewed the licence
USD 250 notice of apparent liability for forfeiture (NALF) to KSUN Community Radio, licensee of low power FM KSBP-LP, Parachute, Colorado for failure to file licence renewal in time and continued operation after expiry of the licence USD 250 each for the late-filing and the two periods of unauthorized operation. It also renewed the licence
In a number of licence decisions it took the following actions
Arizona:
*Denied objections and renewed the licence of The Hopi Foundation's non-commercial educational station KUYI-FM, Hotevilla. The objection was made on the grounds that the licensee had engaged in discriminatory hiring and management practices and failed to broadcast issue-responsive programming and renewed the licence. The licensee pointed out that the station has fewer than five employees and therefore is not subject to the Commission's Equal Employment Opportunity recruitment requirements and also said no evidence was provided of its alleged bias.
Florida:
*Granted with conditions an application to assign the licenses of Station WEWC-AM, Callahan, to Norsan Consulting and Management, Inc. The licence was held by of Circle Broadcasting of America, Inc. whose President, Director, and 55 percent stockholder Nestor C. Miranda was sentenced to jail for conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering, a conviction he is appealing.
The station is being sold for less than its full value because of debts it has and the conditions prohibit Nestor C. Miranda without advance notice and prior Commission consent from holding or acquiring an attributable interest in any Commission authorization or application; require that the proceeds of the sale be distributed to various listed creditors and that no payment be made to Eleonora Miranda or Amanda Miranda until these creditors' claims have been satisfied in full.
New Jersey:
*Denied objections and granted licence renewal of Millennium Central New Jersey License Holdco, LLC.'s WKXW-FM, Trenton. The objection was made on the basis the station had broadcast defamatory statements about the Executive Director of the Monroe Township Municipal Utilities Authority, and aired a series of … false and irresponsible allegations regarding the quality of drinking water in Jackson Township" but the FCC pointed out that its remit did not cover programming issues of this kind.
Previous ACMA:
Previous BCI:
Previous CRTC:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Maddock:
Previous Ofcom:
ACMA web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2007-09-30: Radio One Inc. is being sued by its former Indiana controller who says she was fired because of her race after she raised concerns about fraud and payola in relation to the company's financial statements.
The Indiana Business Journal reports that Denise Redding, who is black, says she was fired three months after she reported to Radio One officials that she would not sign off on the company's financial statements because she could not certify that they were valid and accurate and told Radio One's local vice president of finance, Deborah Cowen, that Radio One's local general manager, Chuck Williams, had inflated revenue reports resulting in first-quarter revenue that was not accurately reported.
She also says her review of the company's financial records convinced her Williams "may have committed payola violations and actionable fraud." Redding adds that she received positive performance reviews at Radio One until shortly after April 2006, at which time her first-quarter bonus was cut and she was fired a few months later purportedly for inadequate performance on an internal Sarbanes-Oxley review. She alleges that Williams "accorded more favourable treatment to similarly situated employees who are male and/or non-African-American."
The Journal says Williams, who is white and joined Radio One as vice president and local general manager in 2005, referred questions to corporate counsel and that an attorney with the firm that represents the company told it there was "no merit to Ms. Redding's allegations, and we believe the litigation process will reveal that."
Redding's attorney said she was seeking at least USD 82,000 in back pay, plus damages for lost benefits and emotional distress and added that they were looking forward to a "a jury trial" although he added that he didn't rule out the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
RNW comment: The Journal report says the lawsuit does not make a clear connection between Redding's accusations and payola and its report also does not seem to indicate a clear cut case that the dismissal was linked to race or sex. There would appear to be an element of throwing as much mud as possible and we wonder how far this may be directed to gaining an out-of-court payment rather than a case of specific detail being listed to go to trial.
Previous Radio One Inc:
Indiana Business Journal report:
2007-09-29: Astral Media Inc. has now been given the formal go-ahead by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to become Canada's largest radio broadcaster with 83 stations in eight provinces through the takeover of Standard Radio's stations.
The deal is expected to complete on October 29 and involved the acquisition of most of Standard Radio's assets including its 52 radio stations in 29 provinces, IMS, a national advertising sales company; Sound Source Networks, a leading radio content service provider offering a comprehensive range of targeted programming; and two television stations located in northern British Columbia - for CAD 1.08 billion (Then USD 950 million, now USD 1.09 billion as the dollar has fallen significantly in value): It did not include assets such as the Sirius Canada Holdings that were retained by the Slaight family, Standard's owners (See RNW Apr 14).
The CRTC has also approved Rogers Media Inc's. CAD 375 million (Now USD 377 million but USD 352 million at the time of the deal's announcement) purchase of CHUM's Citytv stations whose disposal it had required to approve the CTVGlobemedia (CTVgm) acquisition of CHUM.
Originally CTVGlobemedia (formerly Bell Globemedia Inc.) had agreed to sell its A-Channel stations and certain specialty channels to Rogers Media to gain approval of the deal but the CRTC had not required this and the Citytv sale agreement replaced the previous agreement (See RNW Jun 14).
The deal gave CTVgm, which had no radio holdings, 14 AM and 20 FM radio stations from the CHUM stable (See RNW Jun 9).
Previous Astral:
Previous CRTC:
Previous CTVGlobemedia:
Previous Rogers Media:
2007-09-29: In more UK radio results The Local Radio Company says the second half of the year is proving very encouraging and it expects like-for-like revenues to be up 7.5% year-on-year.
Executive Chairman Richard Wheatly said the steps the company had "taken to improve the performance of our network of local radio operations have begun to take effect" and added, "We are looking forward to next year with a renewed sense of optimism. We believe that our strategy to focus on the local radio market in the UK is absolutely right and that the fundamental strength of our local radio proposition will create value for shareholders in the future."
Previous Local Radio Company:
Previous Wheatly:
2007-09-29: Entercom's WWL-AM, New Orleans, took three Marconi Radio Awards in the 2007 awards just announced. The full list of awards, announced at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show hosted by talk radio personality Glenn Beck of Premiere Radio Networks, was:
Station awards:
WWL-AM - Legendary Station; News/Talk Station of the Year; and Medium Market Station of the Year.
WBEB-FM Philadelphia - AC Station of the Year.
WVAQ-FM, Morgantown, West Virginia - CHR Station of the Year
WGN-AM, Chicago - Major Market Station of the Year.
WIVK-FM, Knoxville, Tennessee - Country Station of the Year.
KSTP-FM, Minneapolis - Large Market Station of the Year.
WWSW-FM, Pittsburgh - Oldies Station of the Year.
WAXX-FM, Eau Claire, Wisconsin - Small Market Station of the Year.
KLTY-FM, Dallas - Religious Station of the Year.
WMMR-FM, Philadelphia - Rock Station of the Year.
KLVE-FM, Los Angeles - Spanish Station of the Year.
KTCK-AM, Dallas - Sports Station of the Year.
WHUR-FM, Washington, DC - Urban Station of the Year.
Personality Awards:
Sean Hannity, ABC Radio Networks Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year.
Big Boy, KPWR-FM Burbank, California - Major Market Personality of the Year.
Chuck Collier, WGAR-FM Cleveland, Ohio - Large Market Personality of the Year.
Van & Bonnie, WHO-AM, Des Moines, Iowa - Medium Market Personality of the Year.
Mike McNamara, KNOX-AM Grand Forks, North Dakota - Small Market Personality of the Year.
Rafael Pulido, WOJO-FM, Chicago - Spanish Format Personality of the Year.
Previous Entercom:
Previous Marconi Awards:
2007-09-28: US National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) President and CEO David K. Rehr unveiled what the association terms an "unprecedented, comprehensive marketing campaign to reposition radio for a vibrant and successful future" during his keynote address at the opening of the NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday.
The "'Radio 2020" initiative is a co-operative venture between NAB, the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), and the HD Digital Radio Alliance and in a news release NAB says to prepare for the initiative the groups "oversaw an in-depth research project -- analysing hundreds of reports, interviewing scores of radio stakeholders, fielding a dozen focus group sessions and conducting telephone research with over 5,000 consumers."
NAB says the initiative will not only address radio's greatest challenges, but will also guide us on how to explore our greatest opportunities" and added that the research showed nearly all participants said they rely heavily on radio and added, "Radio's value lies in the fact that it's accessible -- it's everywhere and portable. It's the one medium where everyone can freely and easily connect to a diverse world of entertainment and information, anywhere and everywhere."
In his speech Rehr said, "As we near commercial radio's 100th anniversary in 2020, this initiative will be our roadmap to building radio's future. Where we go from here is being packaged into a cohesive, branded program that NAB and our partners - RAB and the HD Radio Alliance - will champion. Radio 2020 will not only address our greatest challenges, but will also guide us on how to explore our greatest opportunities."
He then went on to refer to key initiatives included trying to ensure that radio signals are "available on every gadget, everywhere" and that radio reacts to what consumers want.
Rehr also said the medium needed to "do a better job of informing listeners about the great variety that radio already provides" and added, "We must remind the public why they value radio to re-ignite their passion for it. Think about this: You don't have to be wealthy to own a radio. In fact, you can buy one for a buck. You don't have a subscription fee with radio. And, you don't have to be stationary to listen to radio - it's in your car, MP3 player or headphones. What listeners love most, and what radio must promote, is how accessible, ubiquitous and easy to use radio is."
Rehr then went on to comment on legislative and regulatory issues affecting radio - concentrating on the issues that he termed "The attempt to impose a performance tax on radio"; "Efforts by Sirius and XM Satellite Radio to become a government sanctioned monopoly"; and "The Copyright Royalty Board's terrible decision on Internet royalty rates."
Regarding the first, a reference to attempts by the recording companies to gain performance royalties for music aired by terrestrial radio, Rehr commented that what was being spoken was a "government-mandated levy on radio" and said "By every definition, this is a tax."
Rehr then went on to attack the idea of a satellite radio merger - allowing what he termed a government sanctioned monopoly - and the Copyright Royalty Board rate increase for Internet streams.
RNW comment: By any normal definition we would suggest that Rehr is any or all of naïve, dishonest or ignorant as his argument concerning performance royalties for radio - the practice in most of the world is that they are paid - would logically remove copyright from the statute books. What is in fact at issue regarding this is how fair a bargain the practice of allowing radio a pass on the basis of "free play for free promotion" can be considered and what Rehr is trying to do is to upend the idea of a free market in favour of government determination of how business is conducted. Rehr's arguments in terms of the current situation may be sound in terms of the bargain making sense for both broadcasters and radio companies but his approach cannot be justified in principle and government control is an area about which there should be great caution.
On the issue of copyright royalty rates the principles are the same as should apply to all copyright, the striking of a suitable balance in the public interest so as to provide incentives for creation and at the same time not stifle it. The logic is clear- radio should pay as should others but the rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board need to strike the correct balance and it is arguable that they do not.
The NAB Radio Show was also attended by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Kevin J. Martin who at the annual "FCC" breakfast commented on issues concerning the satellite broadcasters that had been raised by NAB in the past.
Regarding the merger he re-iterated past comments about a "high threshold" that the satellite companies had to pass to show that a merger would be beneficial for consumers. He also commented about possible fines on the two companies in relation to sales of receivers that generated interference and were withdrawn from the market (See RNW ) and also about siting of terrestrial repeaters by the companies at unauthorized locations.
Previous FCC:
Previous Martin:
Previous NAB:
Previous Rehr:
2007-09-28: SMG has delayed its autumn (Fall) flotation of Virgin Radio and appointed Virgin Radio's non-executive chairman, former Chrysalis chief executive Richard Huntingford, as executive chairman as executive chairman.
Huntingford takes up his role on Monday and his appointment is one of three made this week: David Connolly, former vice chairman of ad agency Starcom and former Ofcom contract rights renewal adjudicator, becomes its commercial director and earlier it had announced that David Lloyd, the former LBC managing director who was amongst five former Chrysalis executives dropped by new owner Global Radio (See RNW Sep 14) has been appointed as its programme director.
The role had been retained by Paul Jackson when he became Virgin chief executive who resigned to take over as managing director of G-Cap's London station, Capital (See RNW Sep 1), and is currently working out his notice. In addition Andy Grumbridge, formerly of Channel 4, recently joined the management team as Head of New Media (See RNW Jul 5).
SMG today reported half-year revenues for continuing operations (its TV division) marginally down - from GBP 57.9 million (USD 117.6 million) to GBP 55.6 million (USD 113 million) with statutory operating profit down from GBP 9 million (USD 18.3 million) a year earlier to USD 2.3 million (USD 4.7 million) and a statutory loss after tax of GBP 7.1 million (USD 14.4 million) compared to a 2006 profit of GBP 3.7 million profit (USD 7.3 million). It adds that its loss for the period on discontinued operations amounted to GBP 34.5 million ( USD 70.1 million ) compared to a 2006 profit of GBP 2.6 million (USD 5.3 million) with a total loss attributable to equity holders of GBP 41.6 million ( USD 84.5 million) compared to a 2006 profit of GBP 6.3 million ( USD ).
In divisional terms it reported TV results as above; Outdoor -concerning whose sale that it announced in August for up to GBP 62 million ( USD 126 million) it is calling an Extraordinary General Meeting on October 15 - revenues up 3.6% to GBP 11.5 million ( USD 23.4 million) but with operating profit halved to GBP 800,000 ( USD 1.625 million) ; radio revenues up 9% to GBP 12.1 million ( USD 24.6 million) with operating profit up 25% to GBP 2. 5 million ( USD 5.1 million); and cinema advertising revenues up 9.4% to GBP 9.3 million ( USD 18.9 million) and operating loss flat at GBP 300,000 ( USD 609,000).
SMG said its board was satisfied with the outcome - the business fetched more than had been offered during its disposal process that it suspended in April.
Regarding radio it commented that there was a strong team to drive the business forward, adding that its IPO (Initial Public Offering) or trade sale was to go ahead but had been postponed from autumn (fall).
"The board," it added "is pursuing the realisation of full value for Virgin Radio. An IPO remains an option that we will continue to explore, however, the current sentiment in equity markets has meant a revision of the timetable. We have also had significant interest from a number of parties to buy Virgin Radio and we will concentrate on moving this divestment process forward.
It noted that the division had "a strong half year, having outperformed the radio market; achieved its best performance in RAJAR's in hours and audience reach in 3 years; and is leading the field in digital listening with 20.5% of its audience being digital listeners against the industry average of 12.8%.
For the year to date, SMG says its TV and radio divisions were outperforming their respective markets with STV airtime up 5% for the third quarter, down 3% for the first nine months and down 5% for October; radio up 13% in the quarter and 10% for the first nine months with October up 8%; Cinema up 8% for the quarter and 9% for the first nine months and up 62% for October whilst outdoor was down 5% in the quarter, flat for the year so far and up 1% in October.
GCap Media and Emap reported their half-year results on Thursday and GCap shares ended the day down 3.1% after an initial surge on an upbeat update that showed like-for-like revenues in the first half up around 4% up year-on-year whilst those of Emap ended up 3.5% although its update showed revenues for the continuing group, adjusted for disposals and closures, likely to be up 1% year-on-year with underlying revenues down by the same amount.
GCap shares started the day at 212.5 pence and then moved between 200.50 pence and 214.00 pence before ending at 205.75 pence after the update that showed its radio advertising revenue has performed in line with the market. GCap noted that the year-on-year comparisons for the second quarter, when like-for-like revenues were up 6% were boosted because last year's revenues were depressed by the World Cup.
GCap has also announced that it is ending the contract with independent production company Somethin' Else to produce the Sunday afternoon chart show Hit 40 UK. It will take the show in-house from the beginning of the next year and expects to make some cost savings.
Capital DJ Lucio will continue to host the show, which is broadcast on 118 commercial stations around the country, and it will be overseen by the GCap programme director for content and digital, Pete Simmons.
Somethin' Else still retains the contract to produce commercial radio dance chart, Fresh 40, but there will be greater involvement from Kiss parent Emap.
Emap, meanwhile, in its update said trading continues to be encouraging and the Group remains on track to deliver against expectations for the full year.
First-half (to the end of this month) overall continuing group revenues it said are expected to be up 1% (down 1% underlying) with B2B up 5% in total and underlying; radio up 2% in total and underlying; and consumer magazines down 8% overall and down 7% underlying.
Emap notes that the radio figures excluding its Republic of Ireland stations are expected to be flat with London stations down 5% and its Big City network up 2%: It has agreed a sale of the Republic of Ireland stations for around GBP 135 million ( USD 270 million) and has also raised some GBP 123 million (USD 246 million) through the sale of its French B2B exhibition business, our consumer magazines business in Australia, and 50% of its TV business to a joint venture with Channel 4.
Emap also says that its board "continues to be encouraged "with the progress of the review of its group structure and "remains focused on examining all options to maximise shareholder value, including a possible sale or de-merger of some or all of the constituent parts of the Group."
Executive Chairman Alun Cathcart commented, "Overall, trading is in line with our expectations. The consumer magazine market remains challenging, although indications for the second half are more encouraging. There is real momentum in our B2B activities and tangible signs of improvement in Radio. We remain focused on examining all options to maximise shareholder value and are encouraged with the progress of the review."
Previous Cathcart:
Previous Emap:
Previous GCap Media:
Previous Huntingford:
Previous Jackson:
Previous SMG (Virgin Owner):
2007-09-28: The Bush administration is to ask the US Supreme Court to re-instate penalties for fleeting indecency in broadcasts following a 2-1 majority decision by 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down the Federal Communications Commission (FCC ) policy on the matter (See RNW Jun 5).
FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin, announcing that U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement will seek Supreme Court review of the decision, said he was "pleased that the solicitor general will be seeking Supreme Court review of the 2nd Circuit's decision" and added,"I continue to support the commission's efforts to protect families from indecent language on television and radio when children are likely to be in the audience."
The Court had sent the matter, which related to decisions concerning the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards back to the FCC for further consideration, leading Martin to comment at the time, "Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said the use of the words 'fuck' and 'shit' by Cher and Nicole Richie was not indecent. I completely disagree with the Court's ruling and am disappointed for American families. I find it hard to believe that the New York court would tell American families that "shit" and "fuck" are fine to say on broadcast television during the hours when children are most likely to be in the audience. "
He then continued, "The court even says the Commission is 'divorced from reality.' It is the New York court, not the Commission, that is divorced from reality in concluding that the word 'fuck' does not invoke a sexual connotation."
Previous FCC:
Previous Martin:
2007-09-28: The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has launched a consultation on proposals to make available three multiplex transmitter licences in each city for digital radio services in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and two multiplex licences each for Adelaide, Hobart and Perth.
The plans are in draft radio proposals for multiplex licences that would provide for the digital transmission of existing wide-coverage national, commercial and community radio services and detail the number and categories of multiplex transmitter licences proposed for issue as well as the transmission frequencies and associated technical data for the main transmission sites.
Acting ACMA Chair Lyn Maddock said the release was "an important step toward the introduction of digital radio services in Australia, which are on track for a 1 January 2009 start" and added, "These digital radio channel plans will enable the radio industry and audio product manufacturers to start their planning for the introduction of digital radio with some degree of certainty."
Previous ACMA:
Previous Maddock:
2007-09-27: The HD Digital Radio Alliance has followed the release by Paragon Media of a March survey that showed under half of Americans were aware of iBiquity's HD radio with the results of a later survey - a phone survey conducted this month by Critical Mass Media - that says 77% of Americans were in fact aware of HD. It also said that nearly a third were interested in HD.
It also attacked the Paragon study, which was conducted online, as "unreliable" and its President and CEO Peter Ferrara said in a news release, "This study clearly shows the significant momentum HD Radio continues to build on a real-time basis. Programming variety, less talk and fewer interruptions are helping to drive awareness and interest as a whole. Although, we still have work to do in increasing consumer awareness and interest, HD Radio has clearly grown exponentially the past year."
The survey release came as the Alliance and Ford announced that the automobile company is to make HD available as a dealer-installed option on almost all of its 2008 model year vehicles from Ford, Lincoln and Mercury.
The announcement makes Ford the first automaker to offer HD so widely: Ford also said that HD will be available immediately as a dealer-installed option on new, pre-owned and currently-owned vehicles.
RNW comment: It may well be that the last six months has seen significant increase in the awareness of HD and accounts for the discrepancy in the two surveys but we are sceptical about what the 77% figure means and the Alliance as far as we can see has posted only the details it sees positive for it about the methodology and questions asked in the latest survey.
If the Alliance is correct there will be a major increase in HD purchases by the end of the year and the proof will be there: If on the other hand very few receivers are purchased during the holiday season, the surveys are irrelevant as regards the success of the technology.
Previous Ferrara:
Previous HD Digital Radio Alliance:
Previous iBiquity:
2007-09-27: GCap Media has set noon on November 29th as the launch date for its Xfm South Wales station that will broadcast from the same Cardiff site as sister station Red Dragon FM. Around GBP 1 million ( USD 2 million) is to be spent on the station launch and announcements are to be made soon on its planned DJ line-up..
It won the licence in May and has already been involved in event sponsorship in the region including the sponsorship of Festival24 that it has taken over from Red Dragon and Xfm managing director, Nick Davidson said that the launch would be "followed up within days by one of the biggest music events the area has ever seen - Winter Wonderland."
Xfm is already on FM in London, Manchester and Scotland and is also available nationally in the UK through digital TV platforms and the internet and is also on digital multiplexes covering most major cities in the UK.
Previous GCap Media:
2007-09-27: The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has wrapped up the latest saga of the cash-for-comment that broke in 1999 when a number of Australia's best-known talk hosts were found to have been presenting material as editorial concerning companies by whom they were being paid.
This led to various rule changes including requirements for disclosure of financial interests and notice to the regulator of any commercial agreements within 14 days of them being made.
The latest case concerns an agreement between John Laws, morning host for Southern Cross Broadcasting's Sydney 2UE, and communications company Telstra: 2UE had posted details on the station web site but failed to provide written notification to ACMA.
The breach arose in relation to discussion on Laws programme in August 2006 about the Telstra T3 share offer and the ACMA notes that the privatization was discussed in detail on six occasions during the programme but Laws did not make a disclosure announcement.
ACMA has now accepted an enforceable undertaking from 2UE that requires the licensee to have its compliance with the Compliance Program Standard and the enforceable undertaking externally audited every six months, and to report the results of these audits to ACMA. The licensee must also report six-monthly on its compliance with the notification provisions in the Disclosure Standard: In addition the licensee has undertaken to monitor each broadcast of The John Laws Morning Show to ensure the required disclosure announcements are made, and if not, the licensee will cause one to be broadcast as soon as possible during the program and report to ACMA within 72 hours. The licensee has also undertaken to appoint an external person to audit and report to ACMA fortnightly on its compliance with the disclosure announcement provisions in relation to The John Laws Morning Show.
Previous ACMA:
Previous Laws:
Previous Southern Cross:
2007-09-26: Clear Channel shareholders have approved the USD 19.5 billion buy-out of the company by a private equity group led by T.H. Lee Partners, L.P. and Bain Capital Partners, LLC. that had offered USD 39.20 per share (with an option to exchange some shares for a share in the new company subject to aggregate and individual caps) - with additional consideration if the deal closes after December 31.
Clear Channel said in a news release that more than 73% of votes outstanding and entitled to vote at a special shareholders meeting held on Tuesday were cast in favour and adds that preliminary tabulation indicates that approximately 98% of the shares voted were cast in favour.
No details have been released of how many shareholders opted to exchange part of their holding for shares in the new company.
Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays said the board was "pleased with the outcome" and added that they looked forward to completing the transaction "as quickly as possible."
Previous Clear Channel:
Previous Mark Mays:
2007-09-26: HD radio has hit the 1,500 station mark with the addition of Clear Channel's WROV-FM, Roanoke, Virginia (The Rock of Virginia) according to iBiquity Digital Corporation but despite the hype a survey from Paragon Media Strategies indicates that most Americans were still unaware of the technology six months ago..
Among 707 respondents to an online survey it conducted in March this year only 42% said they had heard of HD, less than half the 85% who had heard of Internet Radio and 87% who had heard of satellite radio.
There was also ignorance about what HD was - 32% of respondents said that Sirius and XM were examples of HD - although 72% said they thought a special receiver was needed and 59% said it was untrue that all radio stations "broadcast in HD". Women had heard of HD far less than men - 59% of males said they had heard of HD and 35% that they had not whilst only 26% of women said they had heard of HD compared to 63% who had not.
In response to further questions - after Paragon had given a description of HD that included statements that it carried no subscription fees, could double or triple the number of stations available, and improve quality significantly - 62% said they would be interested in purchasing an HD receiver but the interest was very dependant on price. When the price was put at USD 200 the percentage who said they would be "somewhat" or "Very likely" to purchase an HD receiver was 36% but it jumped to 81% when the price was put at USD 40.
The poll would appear to have been self-selective with a bias in favour of HD - 34 people amongst those who responded owned an HD receiver (4.7%, which would if scaled up mean millions of receivers rather than thousands sold nationally in the US).
Of those who did own a receiver 61% said they got better audio quality [RNW comment - a check of various technical sites indicates that in fact a high quality FM signal and reception equipment will in fact deliver better audio], 13% appreciated extra channels and 9% cited fewer or no commercials as a main reason for listening to an HD station.
Previous iBiquity:
Previous Paragon:
2007-09-26: Jones MediaAmerica retained top rank ranking in the RADAR 94 (Radio's All Dimension Audience Research) Radio Network Audience rankings just released by Arbitron and covering the period from June 29, 2006 - June 27, 2007.
Its new MAI Adult Power was No 1 - previously it had been Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network - followed by the ABC Daytime Direction Network that it finally pushed out of top spot in the RADAR 93 survey and the Westwood WON I Network. Premiere's top network, the Premiere Morning Drive Network was seventh, up a rank from the previous survey.
It was followed by the ABC Daytime Direction Network that it finally pushed out of top spot in the RADAR 93 survey and the Westwood WON I Network. Premiere's top network, the Premiere Morning Drive Network was seventh, up a rank from the previous survey.
There were no rank changes in the overall top five networks in the survey, which were:
There were no rank changes in the overall top five networks in the survey, which were:
1 - Jones MAI Adult Power, which lost 23,000 listeners compared with predecessor, the Jones MediaAmerica TWC Radio Network - to end with an average audience of 6.646 million and an AQH unchanged at 2.7.
2 - ABC Daytime Direction Network, which lost 156,000 listeners to end with an average audience of 6.445 million and an AQH unchanged at 2.6
3 - Westwood WON I Network, which lost 489,000 listeners to end with an average audience of 5.712 million and an AQH down from 2.5 to 2.3.
4 - Dial Global Complete FM Network, which lost 118,000 listeners to end with an average audience of 5.532 million and an AQH down from 2.2 to 2.1.
5 - ABC Prime Access Radio Network, which lost 111,000 listeners to end with an average audience of 5.144 million and an AQH down from 2.1 to 2.0.
Previous Arbitron:
Previous Citadel (Formerly Disney)/ABC, America:
Previous Dial-Global:
Previous Jones MediaAmerica:
Previous Premiere Networks:
Previous RADAR:
Previous RADAR ratings (RADAR 93):
Previous Westwood One:
2007-09-26: UK media regulator Ofcom upholds no radio complaints in its latest Broadcast Bulletin that upheld standards complaints concerning four TV items and gave details of another TV standard complaint not upheld and also partly upheld a TV Fairness and Privacy Complaint and gave details of three other such complaints not upheld.
Ofcom also listed without details 104 complaints against 84 TV items and 11 radio complaints against 11 items that it did not uphold or were considered out of its remit: This compares with 149 TV complaints involving 120 items and 22 radio complaints involving 21 items that were out of its remit or not upheld in the previous bulletin.
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Ofcom Complaints Bulletin:
2007-09-25: Clear Channel shareholders are due to vote today on the company's plan to sell itself off to a private equity consortium led by from Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, a vote that has been delayed four times but is expected to gain approval.
Since the first vote was postponed in March as it became clear it was likely to be rejected (See RNW Mar 15) capital markets have become tougher, primarily because of the sub-prime mortgage problems in the US: This may affect the new owners who need to dispose of assets to reduce debt.
Clear Channel is selling off 448 radio stations in smaller markets and its TV stations and some of those sales have already run into problems, particularly the largest sale, that of 187 stations to Frequency Licence LLC., a USD 453 million deal (See RNW Aug 23).
This could lead to additional asset sales such as outdoor operations outside the US and even then the markets currently appear tough for the new owners to return to the public markets.
Previous Clear Channel:
2007-09-25: DAB digital radio will be available nearly six out of ten UK households by 2011 according to latest projections from the UK Digital Radio Development Bureau (UK DRDB) which says the figure will be 21% by the end of this year, when there will be around 6.6 million receivers in households; 30% by the end of 2008; 40% in 2009, 50% in 2010, and 58.5% by the end of 2011.
It comments that sales success will continue in domestic systems including clock radios where there is already significant growth and that by the end of next year digital receiver sales will account for nearly 90% of the total sales of domestic portables by value and 70% by volume and around 70% by value and 40% by volume of personal stereos with its share of audio systems rising to around 32% by value and 27% by volume.
For clock radios it says the figure will be more than 50% by value and 27% by volume and it adds that figures for overall sales could increase significantly if DAB finds a good foothold in new form factors such as MP3/MP4 devices, adaptors, docking stations and, especially, mobile phones.
DRDB chief executive, Ian Dickens commented of the last, "A number of manufacturers are already starting to see the value of adding DAB digital radio to some of these new form factors. While it is important to continue to see successful growth in traditional radio products, DAB's longer-term future lies in the penetration of these new products, along with in-car and mobile phones. Over the coming months, the DRDB will be changing its shape and focus to ensure that radio moves swiftly down this road."
Previous Dickens:
Previous DRDB:
2007-09-25: Arbitron, pushing its Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings technology has posted details of presentation prepared in conjunction with ROI Media Solutions that it says provides "compelling insights for targeting and reaching the Black consumer."
Arbitron presented data from its "Urban Radio in the PPM World" at Interep's 9th "Power of Urban Radio Event" last week and says Urban Radio is the only radio format to effectively and efficiently reach the African-American consumer.
In all, it says, radio reaches 97% of all Blacks 12 and older in the US each week and three-quarters of these listeners spend most of their listening time with Urban radio.
Arbitron quotes Radio One, Inc. president and CEO Alfred C. Liggins, III, as saying, "Electronic measurement is providing compelling evidence about the power of Urban radio to reach and engage the African-American consumer. It is also demonstrating the 'working persons' advantage that Urban radio offers marketers who want to reach the brand conscious and brand loyal African-American consumer."
Interep EO and vice-chairman David Kennedy added, "No other medium engages, captivates and motivates the African-American community like Urban Radio. It always has, and this study makes clear that it still does -- in a powerful way."
Previous Arbitron:
Arbitron -ROI presentation (1.5MB PDF):
2007-09-25: UBC Media has announced that its commercial sales division has been awarded the contract to sell commercial radio's popular chart show formats, the A-List and Fresh 40, adding to a portfolio of Network Drive, Sky News Radio Network and Entertainment News.
UBC adds that it is to integrate the A-List, Fresh 40 and Entertainment News networks into a "Lifestyle and Entertainment" team that will form a dedicated "Entertainment and Lifestyle" sales unit selling a combination of our existing Entertainment News Network and "the charts".
With the addition, UBC says it can now deliver a weekly audience of 19 million adults and CEO Simon Cole said the contracts were "significant" wins, adding "Combining our Entertainment News network with A-List and Fresh 40 provides advertisers with a great opportunity to reach over 11 million adults within compelling and exciting programming."
Previous UBC:
Previous Cole:
2007-09-24: This week we start our look at print comment on radio with a view of a digital future from the New York Times on a topic we feel has had insufficient consideration because it is highly technical.
The topic is software-defined radio and the article was written in terms of mobile devices rather than radio but there are potential applications for radio use. Entitled "Software That Fills a Cell phone Gap", Michael Fitzgerald's report looked at work done by Vanu Bose - son of Bose Corporation founder Amar Bose - whose Vanu Inc. has been doing work for the military on software-based radio with the aim of allowing its various radio systems to intercommunicate but whose work is becoming practicable for commercial purposes as manufacturing technology has cut chip prices.
Various companies including Motorola and Ericsson use software-defined radio in some equipment and Vanu has developed equipment that will allow base stations for mobile communications to switch automatically between the G.S.M. standard that is used by most of the world and the C.D.M.A. standard, (code division multiple access) system used in the United States by Verizon amongst others.
The article does not mention radio use as such but we felt it worthy of note since various digital radio receiver manufacturers in Europe are also using the idea so as to allow for future upgrades and changes of equipment: It also has the potential to also allow automatic switching of data between spectrum by both transmitters and receivers, thus allowing even more information to be packed into digital transmissions than the DAB or US HD in-band on-channel digital radio systems permit since in theory at least, the technology can spot where spectrum is unused within various parts of a number of channels.
The concern of course is that, suitable though the idea may be for less demanding voice audio, there may be a temptation to pack in even more into a music radio signal and - despite the publicity about superior audio quality - digital radio signals to date do not actually provide better audio than well set-up FM, just get rid of some of the annoyances of interference and signal loss.
In other words it may be yet another way in which quality gets degraded as has already happened with DAB broadcasts in the UK - and that we feel should be in people's minds well before development goes ahead.
Next another area where "quality" in the broader sense would appear to be affected by financial considerations that are sometimes hidden rather than made clear. The topic here is the use of radio programmes to promote a product or service rather than advertising the products and services.
In "Brought to you by …" Laura Smitherman in the Baltimore Sun looks at the use of shows, which are in fact advertisements, to promote stock purchases and other investments.
"As radio stations confront stagnant advertising revenue, " writes Smitherman, "many sell blocks of time to stockbrokers, doctors, lawyers, mortgage brokers and other entrepreneurs who produce their own gabfests intended to promote a product or service. It's a departure from the traditional format in which talk jocks are paid to draw listeners to the station, which sells time for commercial breaks."
She notes the similarity to "infomercials" on TV and in print and says those behind the idea consider the programmes an effective and inexpensive way to advertise and also point out that shows must carry disclaimers at the beginning and end, explaining who paid for the program.
Consumer advocates on the other hand want more regulatory oversight and contend that listeners may not understand that the programs are an advertising pitch, or think that they are getting unbiased advice. According to them writes Smitherman "The shows blur the lines between independent talk shows and ads, critics say, and disclaimers might not be heard by the casual listener tuning in for a short commute or break."
Smitherman then cites a Baltimore case where Ferris Baker Watts Inc. stockbroker Brian J. Kelly recently pulled the show he paid to put on Baltimore's WBIS-AM after regulators barred him from the securities profession this summer on the basis that he bilked a client who invested money with him after hearing his radio program. Kelly has denied the allegations.
At the heart of the dispute is how far there is clarity and Smitherman quotes Linda Sherry, director of national priorities at Consumer Action, as saying, "You don't really know what you've tuned into. That's the problem with radio" whilst James Weitzman of Nations Radio LLC, which owns WBIS, said that claims about products or services are "signs easily recognized by consumers" that they are listening to a sponsored show and not editorial content from the station."
The more highly-rated stations indicates Smitherman avoid sponsored shows and she quotes Edward C. Kiernan, general manager of Baltimore's top-rated talk station WBAL-AM, as saying, "We're not doing that kind of stuff. We've had many people come to us with real estate and business shows, and we decided not to be in that business. You're basically turning the radio station over to someone else, and you kind of don't know what's going to happen."
Frank Saxe, senior editor of the trade journal Inside Radio, commented on the attitudes of stations taking the business - they "sort of hold their nose and take the revenue" - and the reason for the business - he says radio is attractive to advertisers because it's harder to differentiate the commercial from the regular programming and, therefore, listeners are less likely to turn the channel and adds, "The reason there are so many of these shows on the radio is because it actually works."
After detailing more examples of sponsored programming Smitherman goes on to note that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)has moved away from action over radio content whilst the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which polices deceptive advertising, is more likely to build cases against the advertisers than the radio or TV station, or publisher.
She quotes Lesley Fair, an attorney with the agency, as saying the FTC not only pursues cases concerning false claims but also advertisements intended to trick consumers into thinking they are watching or hearing a news or entertainment show as opposed to a commercial, commenting, "When companies buy time and appear to be an independent radio program peppered with tough questions when it's really scripted as an ad, that raises concerns from the FTC's point of view .Underlying our law is a presumption that listeners listen to news programming with a slightly different set of ears than they would advertising."
RNW comment: Since the material concerned is being aired as programming it seems to us the licensees should in fact have considerable responsibility for monitoring what goes on their airwaves and should have liability if there is a pattern of allowing to air material that is in breach of the law. We would suggest a variation on the three-strikes law - a warning in the first case where there is action (as opposed to just a warning) against an advertiser by the FTC; a regulation that would allow a considerable fine - say ten times the amount paid to air the programming concerned for a second offence and any subsequent offences; and if there is a third offence within three years automatic termination of the licence. We suspect the industry would then self-police itself fairly effectively after a first offence and very effectively after a second one.
Next a brief mention of praise for US talk radio - or rather a smallish part of it - from an Op-Ed in the Washington Post. It's by Eugene Robinson on the case of the "Jena 6" and, as well as a brief summary of the story of the lenient treatment of white students compared to the severe treatment of the black students involved - Robinson also notes that the story remained almost unknown nationally for months.
The reason that changed, was, says Robinson, a combination of bloggers and black talk radio.
"…I'm quite sure there would have been no busloads of protesters descending on Jena if the cause hadn't been taken up by a radio personality best known for R-rated banter about sex and relationships," he writes.
"Michael Baisden, whose afternoon drive-time show "Love, Lust & Lies" is heard in urban markets across the country, launched a crusade on behalf of the "Jena 6" -- a group of black students, ages 15 to 17 when they allegedly beat up a white schoolmate and who still face adult charges of aggravated battery that could send them to prison for up to 20 years. The hours that Baisden normally would have spent in risqué repartee with 'grown and sexy' callers about romance or infidelity were devoted instead to the Jena case.
"The obvious issue was one of equal justice: Either treat the whole series of incidents as a mere disciplinary problem for the high school to handle, or treat it as a criminal matter. Just don't have one standard of justice for whites and another, much harsher standard for blacks.
"The cause was then taken up by other black radio hosts -- Tom Joyner, whose morning drive-time show has enormous reach; Steve Harvey, the comedian whose morning show usually covers the same "Does he really love me?" territory as does Baisden's; the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose show, as you might expect, was already heavy on politics and activism."
And later:"It's fair to say that without black radio, the case of the Jena 6 probably never would have become a significant national story -- and certainly never would have sparked one of the biggest civil rights protests in decades… Black radio is one of the places where all the varied segments of black America still come together. It's a true community medium, even if what we still call "the black community" is, for most purposes, best thought of as plural."
RNW comment: Although Robinson does not raise the point, the issue brought up at the Chicago media ownership hearing held by the FCC last Thursday about ownership of media by non-white groups would seem very relevant to this (See RNW Licence News Sep 23).
Next listening suggestions and first a significant radio anniversary, the 40th for the launch of BBC "numbers" radio - or put in another way the end for pirate radio ships, the BBC Home Service, Light Programme and Third Programme and the start for BBC Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus the start of BBC local radio with the launch of BBC Radio Leicester - on an "experimental basis.BBC Radio 2 marks the anniversary next Saturday at 19:00 GMT with "Stand By For Switching... ...The Soundscape of 1967", hosted by Tony Blackburn, who was the first voice on Radio 1.
Blackburn is also back on Radio 1 - co-hosting the breakfast show from 06:00 to 09:00 GMT with current breakfast host Chris Moyles - the following day when it marks the anniversary
BBC Radio 3's anniversary celebrations include next Saturday in the 14:00 GMT "World Routes" slot highlights of the station's landmark 1987 concert series Music of the Royal Courts, including Uighur music from China and a retelling of the Malian epic Sunjata by veteran griot Djely Madi Sissoko.
Before that on Friday "Jazz Library" at 21:30 GMT was the first of two "Radio 3 at 40" programmes in which Alyn Shipton selects commercially issued jazz CDs that started life as broadcasts on Radio 3 itself.
BBC Radio 4 programmes on the Sunday also include two that mark the anniversary - "4 at Forty" at 18:15 GMT in which Eddie Mair presents a celebration of 40 years of Radio 4 and a special edition of "This Is Your Life" in the following slot in which Stephen Fry and Matt Lucas host an irreverent romp through the station's broadcasting history.
In non-anniversary mode, drama from the corporation includes last Sunday's "Drama on 3", a production of Christopher Marlowe's 1604 classic "Doctor Faustus" about a man who defies the authority of God by selling his soul to the Devil in return for 24 years of knowledge and power on Earth and from later that evening in the "Words & Music" slot came "Faust", a sequence of music and poetry concerning the German legend of Faust.
Sticking with Radio 4 we then suggest last Friday's "US Comics Confidential" in which American stand-up comics talk about their life and work - this edition featured an interview with Robert Klein
Also from Radio 4 we suggest the three part "Bullying.com" (10:00 GMT today, tomorrow and Wednesday) in which Penny Marshall looks at cyber bullying of children - and tomorrow's "The Choice" (08:0GMT) in which Michael Buerk interviews American journalist Laura Blumenfeld, who tracked down the Palestinian who shot her father
RNW note: We hope to update suggestions further this evening GMT .
Previous Columnists:
Baltimore Sun - Smitherman:
New York Times - Fitzgerald:
Washington Post - Robinson:
2007-09-24: An expected sale by Columbia Union College of Takoma Park of the school's radio station for which one bidder was reported to be prepared to pay more than USD 25 million has been nixed by the school's board of trustees according to the Washington Post.
The paper says the managers of 23,500-watt Christian-music station WGTS-FM had planned to take its DJs off the air after the trustees met to consider approval of a bid from public broadcasting company American Public Media Group but the trustees emerged from a day meeting to announce the decision not to sell.
They issued a statement saying they had voted "to rescind the action to enter into negotiations to sell the radio station license" leaving, says the paper, the would-be buyer stunned and the station staffers jubilant.
Station General manager John Konrad was quoted as saying, "The Lord performed a miracle today, and we give Him all the praise and thanks for what happened …[WGTS] is God's radio station and always has been."
The paper says American Public Media wanted to concert the station to a news and public affairs format and saw an opening in the local market through the September 20 demise of Washington Post Radio that had been produced by the paper in conjunction with owner Bonneville International (See RNW Aug 29).
The paper notes that the school, operated by the Silver Spring-based Seventh-day Adventist Church, had considered a deal to pay down about USD 5 million in debts and to fatten its endowment of USD 4 million. It quotes American Public Media as saying it was "disappointed" by Columbia Union's decision, and hoped it would someday reconsider.
Washington Post report:
2007-09-23: Last week, apart from hearings into media ownership and the diversity of voices in media regulation in the US and Canada respectively, was a very quiet one for the regulators as far as radio was concerned.
There were no radio postings from Australia and only a few from Canada where the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) held a hearing on the diversity of voices in Canadian Media. That meeting was told by CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein that he is sceptical about industry claims that consolidations increased the programming choices available to Canadians (See RNW Sep 18).
Other radio-related postings included one decision, a rejection of an application by 101056012 Saskatchewan Ltd. to add a 43.3 watts low-power FM transmitter at Melville, Saskatchewan, to broadcast the programming of low-power Specialty Christian music station CJJC-FM, Yorkton. This would have extended CJJC's service area beyond that of its current licence.
The application was opposed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and Walsh Investments Inc. and Yorkton Broadcasting Company Limited, partners in GX Radio Partnership, licensee of CJGX-AM and CFGW-FM, Yorkton. They argued that the new transmitter would have a significant impact on the existing stations in the Yorkton market and the CAB additionally submitted that the application represented a step in a "back door" approach using multiple low-power transmitters to expand the licensee's coverage area in order to create what would in effect be a full commercial radio station.
The licensee said the proposed transmitter would allow the churches of Melville to broadcast information related to their community events and their organizations and would extend CJJC-FM's unique Christian music programming to Melville residents and argued that this would have very little impact on the Yorkton and Melville markets.
The CRTC noted that the licensee made no arguments to the effect that it was not adequately serving Yorkton given its existing technical parameters, nor did it indicate any financial difficulties necessitating an expansion of its service to encompass a greater population and rejected the application.
The CRTC also posted a public notice that included the following radio-related applications:
Manitoba:
*Application by Newcap Radio Manitoba Inc. to relocate the transmitter of CHNK-FM, Winnipeg, increase its antenna height and increase the station's power of from 1,300 watts to 55,000 watts. Newcap says listeners are having difficulty tuning in CHNK-FM with any regularity and therefore more often than not are tuning it out.
Quebec:
*Application by Communications CHIC to increase the power of French-language specialty commercial station CHIC-FM, Rouyn-Noranda, from 50 watts to 300 watts. The Commission notes that this would change the station's status from an unprotected low-power service to a regular Class A service.
In Ireland the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) posted just one radio-related notice, the signing of a ten-year community sound broadcasting contract with Inishowen Community Radio Limited (See RNW Sep 18).
In the UK, Ofcom posted one radio notice, its reasons for the award of four community licences earlier this month (See RNW Licence News Sep 16).
In all four cases it noted experience in running stations under Restricted Service Licences plus active support within the communities involved.
In the US the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday held the fifth of its six planned hearings on media ownership: As with other hearings this one, in Chicago, heard concerns about media consolidations with specific emphasis in this hearing on minority ownership issues (See RNW Sep 22).
All the Commissioners attended and their opening statements showed some movement in emphasis in some cases. FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin in his comments referred to arguments made at previous hearings that "the impact of the media consolidation that has already occurred has had several negative impacts."
"First," he said, "they argued that consolidation has limited the number of channels available to minorities and new entrants. Second, they argued that it has made it more difficult for independent programmers. And third, they argued that it has made it easier for large media companies to advertise products by integrating them into programs without notice."
He then continued, "Regardless of whether the Commission makes any changes to its ownership rules, these are important issues that the Commission should address."
Martin argued in favour of easing barriers to entry into broadcasting by allowing "small and independently-owned businesses" to lease spectrum from existing stations since digital broadcasting allowed the possibility of additional channels. [RNW note: We did not see any mention that existing broadcasters should in fact keep spectrum sufficient for transmission of their existing services with the additional channels being made available for additional services from newcomers, something that would presumably upset the existing media owners but could be argued as more in the wider public interest than the solution Martin suggests and could still be done within a market framework].
His fellow Republican Deborah Taylor Tate in her statement referred to new technology and highlighted comments made to her by students about sources for their information in which it became clear that "blogs represent a growing sector of America's news information sources."
"Today, " she commented, the Internet enables individuals of any age to be writers, editors, and publishers of news…Whether in small towns or major media markets , people today, especially the I-Generation, continue to have access to more news and information outlets than ever before not just here in the United Stats but globally."
[RNW comment: Tate's views in our estimation generally seem to be at the level of a not particularly perceptive ten-year old. This comment is no exception since although sources have proliferated the day still contains 24-hours and people do not have time available to absorb all the information available from the Internet and check how accurate it is. Thus comment and bigotry seem to proliferate as people choose sources that fit their prejudices but collated primary sources for information - the function fulfilled by local newspapers and broadcasters in the past - have not proliferated and effectively what has happened in many places is that there has been a decrease in coverage of local news and an increase in reliance on just two sources, the AP and Reuters services. This is not to decry the value of a blog but there are millions out there and very few have any substantial readership. Availability does not necessarily mean people are better informed.).
The remarks from the third Republican on the FCC, Commissioner Robert M. McDowell were bland and raised straightforward and obvious questions about the purpose of the hearings.
Statements from the Democrat commissioners had rather more bite. Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein said of Chicago that it had "one of the most racially ethnically diverse communities in America" and continued, "It is outrageous that Chicago, with all its diversity, has the lowest proportion of minority radio ownership of the nation's 22 largest markets. Roughly two-thirds of the people in the city are black and Hispanic, and over half are women. But they collectively own just six percent of TV and radio stations in the Chicago market."
"The founding charter of the FCC," said Adelstein "requires us to promote the public interest. It requires us to take affirmative steps to prevent discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, and nationality. It also requires us to take affirmative steps to promote diversity of ownership because, in America, ownership is the key to having your voice heard… In a rare moment of candour before I joined, the FCC itself acknowledged that, as a result of our system of awarding broadcast licenses in the 1940s and 1950s, no persons of colour won a competitive hearing until 1975."
He then said the FCC rather than taking "regulatory steps to promote diversity of ownership, we have taken steps to specifically undermine it."
"Opportunities to promote small, female, and minority-owned businesses were cast aside, as the Commission repealed the only remaining policy specifically aimed at fostering diversity," he said. "As Senator Barack Obama said, 'We promoted the concept of consolidation over diversity.' The result of this consolidation is not only a lack of ownership diversity, it is also a lack of programming diversity. And again, people of colour are the biggest losers. We see the constant stereotyping of African-American and Latino men and women by multinational corporations that have no real connection to the needs of the community… We now need a comprehensive response to the lack of diversity in programming and ownership. We need to develop policies that engage the minority as owners of the media, not just as consumers or sharecroppers. We need to turn our legacy around."
His fellow Democrat Michael J Copps also highlighted the ethnic make-up of Chicago and of broadcast station ownership in the market, saying after he had noted how under-represented minorities were in ownership "So is it any wonder why the depictions of minorities in our media are so often distorted? Why their issues get scant coverage? Why their contributions to the good things happening in America are so seldom even mentioned on the air? Let's be frank: ownership matters. Truth be told, ownership rules. Unless and until we do something to increase minority ownership and minorities in top broadcast jobs, our communications sectors will continue to under-serve the great Promise of America. "
Copps blamed consolidation for many of the problems, saying, "I believe there are many broadcasters who want to serve the public interest. Some are doing good jobs and I recognize and applaud them. But I'm worried that in this era of huge consolidated media-with a few broadcasting giants owning so many properties-it's harder for these folks to be captains of their own fates. More and more they are captives to the unforgiving expectations of Wall Street and Madison Avenue. In the process local coverage has diminished, the news has been dumbed down, and diverse local and regional cultures have been subsumed to homogenized, nationalized programming fare. Too often it doesn't reflect who we really are and it doesn't give us the information and understanding we need to sustain our civic dialogue. The bargain that America made with commercial broadcasters-that they could use the airwaves and make a good living from that use, but in return they would be stewards of the public interest-that bargain has gotten wildly out of whack in too many places. "
The FCC was also involved in a few enforcement actions including the confirmation of a USD 12,000 penalty on Delta Radio Greenville, LLC., licensee of WROX-AM, Clarksdale, Mississippi, for failure to maintain operational Emergency Alert System ("EAS") equipment and its failure to enclose an antenna tower with radio frequency potential at the base within an effective locked fence.
Delta had argued for reduction or cancellation on the grounds of financial hardship and also that the violations were not wilful because the owner, who had moved from Mississippi in 2004, was unaware of them and relied on employees to manage the station. The FCC rejected this and after examining documentation provided also rejected the financial arguments and confirmed the full penalty.
In Texas it reduced a proposed USD 7,000 penalty issued to Donald Winton of Corpus Christi for failure to make his CB radio station available for inspection to USD 225.
It rejected arguments justifying the refusal on the grounds that dogs in Winton's house might bite the FCC agent but reduced the penalty on financial grounds on the basis of tax returns provided.
In Colorado it rejected a petition to deny award of a licence for a non-commercial educational FM in Strasburg, to the Mary V. Harris Foundation. There had been three mutually exclusive applications and Harris was awarded the licence under the commission's points system but JPI Radio, Inc., which was involved in one of the competing bids, argued that Harris had not disclosed additional interests to the commission.
The Commission noted that the information had been disclosed before the petition to deny was filed and confirmed the licence award.
Previous Adelstein:
Previous BCI:
Previous CRTC:
Previous Copps:
Previous FCC:
Previous Licence News:
Previous Martin:
Previous McDowell:
Previous Ofcom:
Previous Tate:
BCI web site:
CRTC web site:
FCC web site:
Ofcom web site:
2007-09-22: SoundExchange, the body charged with collecting performance royalties, is accused of being deceptive in its spin on small webcasters agreeing to deals over internet streaming rates with some going close to accusing it of downright dishonesty.
SoundExchange had described settlements by 24 small webcasters in a news release under the headline "Small Webcasters Embrace SoundExchange Offer on Discounted Rate" as "significant numbers" signing agreements (See RNW Sept 19 ), a news release described by Kurt Hanson of RAIN as having "crossed the line, I believe, into disingenuousness-bordering-on-dishonesty."
Hanson added, "The truth is that most small webcasters didn't take the deal because there are supposed to be active negotiations going on at this moment between SoundExchange and the Small Commercial Webcasters (as represented by David Oxenford)!" and said of Sound Exchange's actions, "In this entire escapade, SoundExchange is trying to confuse Congress and the press by conflating the Small Commercial Webcasters (upper case) group that participated in the CRB with "small webcasters" (which could be tiny, one-person, part-time hobbyists). It's a disappointing and dirty trick. Hopefully it didn't work."
Oxenford in a posting on Broadcastlawblog makes it clear that "Contrary to what many press reports have stated, this is not a settlement with Small Commercial Webcasters" and continued to say of the offer, ". Essentially, this is the same offer that SoundExchange made in May, which was rejected by many independent webcasters as being insufficient to allow for the hoped for growth of these companies, and insufficient to encourage investment in these companies."
"Commercial webcasters, including those that participated in the Copyright Royalty Board proceeding," he continued, "rejected that offer and instead have sought to negotiate a settlement with SoundExchange that would meet their needs. Instead of reaching a true settlement with these companies that had participated throughout the CRB proceeding and now have an appeal pending before the Court of Appeals, SoundExchange instead announced that their unilateral proposal was accepted by 24 unnamed webcasters. Thus, rather than negotiating a settlement, if anything this announcement shows that SoundExchange has not been willing to negotiate - as it has not moved substantively off the proposal they announced over 4 months ago.
Oxenford then noted that those who had signed "must be entities that don't expect to grow their revenues to $1.25 million, or grow audiences that reach the 5,000,000 tuning hour limit at which, under the SoundExchange-imposed agreement, the webcaster needs to start paying at the full CRB-imposed royalty rate" and that the agreements only cover music from SoundExchange members, thus excluding music from many independents for which the full rates would apply.
He said the deal would do away with independent webcasters and left with "an industry essentially made up of hobbyists and big companies that subsidize their webcasting with their other lines of business - essentially crushing the hopes of those who saw the Internet as a way to build an independent radio business."
Savenetradio.org took a similar line, commenting in a news release signed by a number of webcasters, "The latest take-it-or-leave-it 'offer' made by SoundExchange on behalf of the recording industry has done nothing to further negotiations with webcasters, and a mere 24 small webcasters have felt they had no choice but to give in to the record labels demands,"
It described the business implications in the same terms as Oxenford adding, "We have asked for a reasonable, long term solution, not one that is subject to increase at the whim of the record industry every five years. 2010 is little more than 2 years away, and it would be difficult for any business owner to accurately forecast profits and build a successful business model with a huge expense variable looming in the future."
It continued, "Although several of the webcasters listed below are currently involved in direct negotiations with Sound Exchange, the process remains exceedingly slow and increasingly unpromising. In the continuing absence of a genuine offer that would allow internet radio to continue to be the vital medium for new music discovery, we implore our listeners and fans of Internet radio to continue to urge your legislative representatives to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act."
RNW comment: We expressed scepticism from out outset and the more that comes out the more it would seem that releases from SoundExchange, like those from NAB, should immediately be consigned to a "dubious at best" file with further checks being made before they are considered of any value - except maybe by the politicians and others whom they are bribing (whoops - supporting and assisting with election expenses).
Previous SoundExchange:
Broadcastlawblog - Oxenford comments:
RAIN (Hanson comments in Sep 20th edition):
2007-09-22: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) public hearing on media ownership in Chicago on Thursday evening heard calls for more minority ownership of media and less consolidation.
It also heard that cross-ownership was benefiting Chicago as far as WGN-AM was concerned with the station vice president and general manager Tom Langmyer highlighting its local programming and saying that if divestiture were forced on it - its owner Tribune Company needs temporary FCC waivers on its ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets in Chicago and four other markets in order to move ahead with its plan to go private - the station would probably be bought by a conglomerate that would air some syndicated programming.
A report in the Tribune cited comments made by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin earlier in the day in a meeting with the paper's editorial board in which he acknowledged the strain the Internet was putting on newspapers and quoted him as saying, "The Tribune transaction raises many of the issues that are teed up in relation to newspaper cross-ownership rules. Many of the properties that Tribune owns date back to that original cross-ownership here in Chicago, [and] there have been many positive aspects of that cross-ownership, as demonstrated by the ability to try to have other outlets for the news, which has been very important in trying to sustain the investment in news-gathering that's occurred."
Some 250 people attended the meeting and in his opening statements Rainbow PUSH chairman Martin L. King noted the disproportionately low number of minority owned media. In the US he said minorities constitute 33% of the population, but only 7.7% of radio and 3.26% of television ownership but in Chicago minorities constitute two thirds of the city's population, but had only 5% of its media ownership.
Melody Spann Cooper, a hearing panellist, is the only black female media owner in the city of Chicago- she owns RLL 1450 AM and operates WVON 1690 AM, a Black talk radio station: She defended her lease deal with radio conglomerate Clear Channel that made WVON-AM 1690 a 24-hour station and upped its wattage to 10,000 from 1,000 as a way to have greater impact but she has also noted the problems, with broadcast prices so high, in growing minority businesses.
Previous FCC:
Previous Martin:
Chicago Tribune Report:
2007-09-22: Local radio website have made significant gains over the past year according to the Media Audit, which has posted preliminary findings from a new report to be released at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) conference later this month.
The survey, conducted in 88 US radio markets and conducted between fall 2006 through spring 2007, measures adults who visited a local radio web site in the past 30 days. It will reveal top ranking individual station sites and analysis of aggregated results for individual radio groups for the markets that were measured.
The preliminary results rank Clear Channel Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as the top local radio web site and also show the heaviest users of the Internet to be adults who listen to Public Radio, Sports, and Modern Rock-formatted stations.
According to the study, 52.7% of Public Radio listeners are heavy internet users, spending 430 or more minutes in a typical week online; listeners to Sports radio ranked second in the survey with
50.7% who are heavy internet users; and third are, followed Modern Rock listeners, 49.7% of whom are heavy internet users. The figures compare with 39.1% of all US adults.
The results indicate that formats that attract wealthier or male listeners rather than younger ones contrary to the expectations of the Media Audit whose president Bob Jordan said they expected to see younger-oriented formats dominating the list for top radio website visitors.
Previous Jordan:
Previous Media Audit:
2007-09-21: Greater Media's scheduled Thursday launch of a WTKK -FM morning drive time show hosted by Howie Carr, the former Entercom WRKO-AM afternoon drive host, was cancelled on Thursday following a ruling by Suffolk Superior Court judge Allan van Gestel that WRKO was entitled to exercise the "right-to-match" provision in Carr's contract with WRKO, which gives the station the right to meet a competing salary offer within 180 days from any radio or TV station within WRKO's coverage area.
The morning slot at WTTK was formerly filled by "Imus in the Morning" until Don Imus was fired and his show cancelled. Carr agreed to move to the slot under a five-year USD 7 million deal but was then told that Entercom was exercising the provision and he reacted by going to court to claim that the clause was not enforceable under state law (See RNW Jul 12).
Carr's contract expired September 19 and his attorney Bret Cohen, argued that the both right-to-match and non-compete clauses in Carr's WRKO contract are illegal and unenforceable under state law.
The judge agreed regarding the non-compete clause but said the "right-to-match" provision is valid and enforceable although he emphasized that he was not ruling that Carr is forced to remain with WRKO: Entercom has said its matching offer ties him to the station until 2012.
The Boston Herald quoted Carr spokeswoman Nancy Sterling as saying, "While we would like to have achieved a complete victory in court, we are gratified that the decision leaves open the opportunity for Howie to work at the place of his choosing. Not only did the court find unlawful a portion of Entercom's employment agreement, but the court adopted our argument that Howie cannot be forced to work for a particular radio station. Howie looks forward to taking some well-deserved time off from one of his three careers and to joining WTKK in the very near future."
WTTK said in a statement, "At this point, Howie Carr has failed to obtain the ruling from the court that was a condition of him coming to work for us. The court's decision left many questions unanswered. We are disappointed that Howie will not be on WTKK (today), but we are hopeful that he will be a part of the Greater Media family in the very near future."
Previous Entercom:
Previous Greater Media:
Boston Herald story:
2007-09-21: BBC 6-Music head of programmes Ric Blaxill, who has been "on leave" since September 6, has resigned following revelations about fictional competition winners being named on the station and the firing of 6-Music producer Leona McCambridge, for gross misconduct following revelations that BBC staff regularly posed as winners on the Liz Kershaw show.
She is the first person to be dismissed following revelations about faking competition winners and the broadcast as if they were live of programmes that had been recorded and thus listeners had no chance of winning: In some cases there were no competitions or prizes and the callers were members of the programme team or their friends.
The broadcasting union BECTU, which is representing McCambridge in her appeal against the decision, said she had been made "a sacrificial lamb" and the UK Telegraph quoted BECTU assistant general secretary Luke Crawley as saying, "It appears that Indians are being sacked rather than chiefs. It is pretty clear that she did not make up the policy. It was pointed out to her that if she tried to rock the boat, her career would be over. How can the BBC blame someone who does not draw up the policies?"
Crawley added that to sack her "for gross misconduct is incredibly harsh" and noted, "There's no question of financial deception where someone has reaped financial gain from their actions."
The BBC Trust, which on Wednesday was briefed in a report from Director-General Mark Thompson about various breaches of the corporation's editorial standards, on Thursday issued a statement saying it was "is very concerned by any serious editorial breach, especially where it involves audience deception" and added, "These breaches, and other matters where competitions have not been run in a manner which is wholly fair, suggest that in certain parts of the BBC a culture has developed where knowledge of and/or adherence to the BBC Editorial Guidelines and external regulation is inadequate and this is resulting in standards not being met which the BBC and the public expect of its content producers. The Trust is clear that these cases arose not because of an individual's desire for personal gain but because of some programme-makers' misguided belief that these decisions were in the interest of the programme and that that was more important than honesty and fairness to the audience. Had the BBC Editorial Guidelines already in place been complied with none of these breaches would have occurred."
Thompson said in a release that also detail