by Tom Taylor | tom@in3media.com | 609.883.3321

Monday, June 21st, 2010

More than a tweak in New York

Emmis begins to re-image “New York’s Rock Experience” WRXP. Music makeover next?

Prediction here is that Emmis will de-emphasize the older stuff and rock out more. And that it will quit trying to play a musical game of “Twister”, touching all kinds of sub-genres of rock. The “Experience” tag was gone as of late last week and now it’s just “Rock 101.9 ’RXP.” Emmis shelves heritage smooth jazz WQCD in February 2008 and this may be another case like 93.9 in Los Angeles, where Emmis may wish it could hit the “rewind” button and retrieve a previous format. You can speculate about where Emmis as a company would be today if it hadn’t blown up L.A.’s country KZLA (93.9) to do rhythmic AC. That frequency is now LMA’d out to Mexico’s Grupo Radio Centro, which at least guarantees it a $7 million payment every year. But surely keeping country KZLA would’ve been a better position. 3,000 miles away in New York, Emmis might want a "do over” on killing off smooth jazz. WRXP has a large cume of 2 million to 2.2 million. But its low Time Spent Listening is keeping it down around 20th place with age 6+ AQH shares. While Clear Channel’s classic rock “Q104.3” WAXQ is tied for fifth place and pulls a cume that’s 50% larger, in the latest May PPMs. In specific demos, WRXP is 17th with adults 25-54, while WAXQ is fourth. With 25-54 men, WRXP is 11th, while Q104.3 is second behind all-sports “Fan” WFAN. With 18-49 men, WRXP is 10th. The changes at 101.9 are the talk of the town on the New York Board of Radio-Info.com.

We’ve seen it in Atlanta with HD-2-based and translator-simulcast alternative “99X.” In Washington, D.C. with the bluegrass/Americana HD-2 service of WAMU, and in Kansas City with rock-formatted "The Dam", up to a 1.4 share in the May PPMs. And now in Salt Lake City, where Clear Channel spied an opening for classic country after KKAT went to the "K-Love" contemporary Christian format. So it installed classic country on the HD-2 channel of AC KJMY, and simulcast it on an FM translator at 99.1. The stations in Atlanta, Washington, Kansas City and SLC all show in the Arbitron PPM rankers as HD-2 signals (Arbitron doesn’t list FM translators by themselves). But assuredly, their appearances in the ratings are due to the extra heft of the translator, which is receivable on any standard FM radio. To flip the logic - so far, we haven’t seen any HD-2 stations that depended solely on their digital signal “make the book."

Apple’s patent application shows its interest in searching and tagging digital radio data.

But note - this isn't limited to the HD Radio technology as it's been developed by iBiquity. And TRI notes that this patent filing also covers analog radio with RDS digital data - not just digital radio audio from iBiquity or others. With its patent application for "Digital Radio Tagging Using an RF Tuner Accessory", Apple is looking to give you the ability to search through stations and their digital data. The application says it would let a handheld device “scan all stations, or only for stations delivering high-quality digital audio content.” The Apple Insider says there would need to be an actual radio receiver either internally or externally to acquire the audio and data for this potential new device. If it were external, it would transmit data wirelessly. You wouldn't have to plug the device into a USB port in a car. And data could be shared with an appropriately-equipped sound system in a vehicle. The HD Radio Board of Radio-Info.com (under “Next Generation Radio”) has fostered a lively discussion about HD Radio, Apple’s potential to compete as well as cooperate with it, and plenty more.

The CRTC began allowing the testing of the U.S.-produced iBiquity HD Radio system in late 2006, seven years after Canada's introduction of Europe’s so-called “out-of-band” solution. The Eureka 147 L-Band technology was probably doomed to failure in Canada because of its total incompatibility with the U.S. system – and the fact that so many Canadians live relatively close to the U.S. border. There was no way that automakers were ever going to build a Ford or Chevy equipped just for the Canadian market. (iBiquity could tell you how many years it takes to convince receiver and car manufacturers to buy into a new system, and how you have to incentivize them.) Last week the CRTC granted the request of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to revoke the licenses of its CBME-DR-1, CBM-DR-1, CBF-DR-1 and CBFX-DR-1, all in Montreal. The Canadian government’s original late-1990s decision to spurn the iBiquity system was probably driven by politics and a sense of Canada going it alone as much as anything else. Now the real world forces its own verdict, and European DAB is fading fast in Canada.

Two months after Sporting News Radio agreed to move its operations to Houston’s KGOW, the station cuts the GM position.

Houston veteran Richard Topper ends a three-year run at all-sports KGOW (1560), with the Houston Chronicle reporting his frame of mind – “I’ve loved the last three years. It’s been an adventure, and I’m looking forward to the next adventure.” Before KGOW, Topper had been the sales manager at CBS Radio’s all-sports KILT (610). Owner David Gow says “as we look at the diverse initiatives we are undertaking, we just decided to go in a different direction.” Gow’s own compass change occurred when several investors in KGOW owner Gow Communications took a majority stake in Mission Media Group. That’s the Clancy Woods-led outfit that’s doing syndication under the Sporting News Radio banner. Back on April 29, Gow Communications said SRN would be moving its network operations center to KGOW, so the two companies could “share infrastructure and people, broadening their access to on-air talent and capturing cost savings.” No word if the GM position at the station is part of that. But Topper won’t be replaced.

Consumers will want their discounts delivered digitally, says Eric Straus of the new “10LocalCoupons.com.”

Eric helped many stations attack newspaper classified sections when he founded RegionalHelpWanted.com – and now he’s got the mail-delivered coupon business in his sights. He’s using much the same business model, encouraging multiple media properties (radio, TV, cable) to cooperate in building a united local-market coupon site that can be “dominant.” He tells TRI his pitch is simple – “wouldn’t you rather have a smaller piece of a bigger pie?” The concept is to challenge the lucrative Val-Pak and other franchises that pull a Borrell-estimated $37 billion a year. RegionalHelpWanted and other sites did that kind of damage to newspaper help-wanted sections, and Eric tells me that just as the real estate and directory business have gone digital, so will coupons. And think about it – a local business may not hire for months at a time, and you don’t buy a house very often. But shopping? Using coupons? That’s weekly. It’s why Straus says “local businesses spend more on direct mail advertising than on radio, TV and cable combined.” He believes “that’s a revenue stream that broadcasters should own.” After all – radio’s reaching more than 90% of Americans and it might as well use its own airwaves to give local businesses a faster and more targeted way to reach their customers.

Eric Straus knows it won’t happen immediately, and his new 10LocalCoupons.com lets you either print the coupons you select each week (using the old-fashioned paper way), or send them to your smart phone. Eventually, more local businesses will feel comfortable with the digital coupon. The whole process begins with a local advertiser, often one who’s too small or niche to be on the radio, building his or her coupon. Consumers hear the radio ads (a commitment of 24 :30s per week for participating stations) and check out the local coupon site. They sign up to get ten weekly coupons either by email or SMS text-messaging. Onetime radio group owner Straus built RegionalHelpWanted.com into a complementary business that eventually spread to 330 markets. In early 2008 he and his 25 partners sold it plus dating site Cupid.com to Warburg Pincus-backed OnTargetJobs.com for what this TRI Newsletter reported was as much as $80 million (February 11, 2008 TRI). Now he’s back with many of the same folks (the same CFO and CTO), and about the same number of investors. One new face on the operating team is former Clear Channel and Vehix.com exec Tom Sly. (RHP startup exec Bill Cloutier remains with the company’s new owners, OnTargetJobs.) 10LocalCoupons expects to go live July 6 in Raleigh, Rochester, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Utica, Toledo, Boise, Portland (Maine), Eugene, Reno and about ten other markets. The beta website is here.

Clear Channel’s KFYI, Phoenix is cleared on one J.D. Hayworth-related complaint, still faces another.

The Federal Election Commission finally rules on a December 2009 complaint and says that airing Hayworth’s PM drive show on talk KFYI (550) wasn’t an illegal corporate “in-kind” contribution to his campaign – because, basically, he wasn’t a candidate yet. The complaint was lodged by former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, whom the Arizona Republic calls “a longtime ally of incumbent Senator John McCain.” Hayworth’s a former House member who wants McCain’s job and hopes to wrest the Republican nomination away from the five-term incumbent in the September primary. Now the Federal Election Commission says neither KFYI nor the Hayworth campaign acted inappropriately. But there’s a second complaint, this one filed by the McCain campaign itself, and it's sitting at the FCC. Hayworth (a TV newsman before he ran for Congress) offers some insight into what happened between him and Clear Channel. He says that it was the Grant Woods complaint that caused Clear Channel to ask him to leave. And that KFYI paid off his contract. The McCain campaign says “the fact that [former] Congressman Hayworth entered the race after leaving the radio is proof that he intended to run all along, and was using his show as a campaign platform.”

In Portland – “K103” KKCW is another demonstration of the muscle of some big-cumeing AC stations under PPM measurement. Of course you can’t directly compare ratings from the PPM and the earlier diary era. But ratings savant Chris Huff can’t help observing that “in its 25 years on the air in the diary era, K103 topped a 9-share (age 12+ AQH share) on just one occasion. Now since the arrival of PPM, the station’s only had two months below a 10-share (age 6+ AQH share), and it has been #1 for seven out of nine meter books so far." The actual three-month trend for Clear Channel’s K103 - 10.9-9.6-10.0. Portland's #2 station may surprise you. It’s public radio news-talker KOPB, at a 7.2 for May. Top five stations with adults 25-54 – AC “K103” KKCW, classic rock KGON, classic hits “Brew” KFBW, “Oldies 106.7” KLTH and country KWJJ.

Sacramento – “This is the third #1 finish for rock KRXQ in nine PPM surveys”, says Chris Huff. “In the diary era, KRXQ had exactly zero #1 finishes”, a reminder that PPM can also be kind to male-leaning formats like rock. #2 news/talker KFBK has held a rock-steady cume since the March book, but its share has slipped 8.6-8.2-7.7. Country KNCI will be cheered by its 4.6-4.7-5.4 jump, as will CHR KSFM (4.2-4.7-5.1). Top five stations 25-54 – rock KRXQ, with a major lead over #2 classic rock “Eagle” KSEG. Then there’s hot AC “My 92.5” KGBY, CHR “End” KDND and Spanish classic hits “Jose” KXSE.

Cincinnati – “Big One” WLW “keeps alive the longest winning streak among the top 50 markets”, going back to the Winter 2000 diary book, says Chris Huff. He says “talk WLW’s 12.8 share (up from an 11.9 in April) is its highest of the PPM era.” Country “B105” WUBE improves 7.2-7.3-7.9 since the March book, while Clear Channel’s other talk station, WKRC, grows to third place with a 5.6-5.8-6.5 trend. Top five 25-54s – Talk WLW, country “B105” WUBE, hot AC “Q102” WKRQ, 80s-based “Rewind” WREW and rock WEBN.

Cleveland – “Cleveland’s Greatest Hits” WMJI stays at the pinnacle, 9.6-8.7-8.5 since the March book. Converted smooth jazz WNWV, now doing adult alternative as “V107.3”, pulls up 1.2-1.3-1.8. Top stations 25-54 – Talk WTAM, soft AC WDOK, classic rock WNCX, urban AC WZAK and hot AC WQAL.

Salt Lake City – Bonneville is used to being #1 in its home market – but with news/talk KSL-AM/FM, not soft AC “FM 100.3” KSFI. Here’s the three-month trend on KSFI – 6.4-7.0-8.3. While KSL slips 9.2-8.8-7.7. Simmons-owned alternative “X96” KXRK improves 5.0-5.0-5.9, now comfortably holding third place. Top stations 25-54 – soft AC “FM 100” KSFI, alternative “X96” KXRK, news/talk KSL, country “Bull” KUBL and CHR KZHT.

San Antonio – Chris Huff says “Like clockwork, classic hits KONO-AM/FM and country Y100 KCYY have traded the #1 title in each of the last five months.” This time, the victor is KONO (9.2-6.9-7.7), while Y100 goes 9.0-7.0-6.8. In fact, both country FMs are down, with KAJA off 8.0-6.4-6.2. Third place goes to classic hits “Jack” KJXK, just ahead of KAJA at a 6.3. Top finishers 25-54 – classic hits KONO, “Jack” KJXK, country Y100 KCYY, regional Mexican KROM, and country KAJA.

Kansas City – K.C. is another market like Sacramento, where a rocker wins the blue ribbon. But KQRC’s margin over classic rock “Fox” KCFX is much thinner than the top-rated rocker in Sacramento. Here’s the KQRC trendline since March – 7.6-7.6-7.1. Fox – 5.7-7.1-6.8. Top five 25-54 – Rock KQRC, classic rock “Fox” KCFX, CHR “Mix” KMXV, oldies KCMO-FM and urban KPRS.

Las Vegas – Spanish classic hits “La Preciosa” KWID, owned by Lotus, returns to the top with a 6.9-7.9 move, strong enough to top classic hits KKLZ (7.0-6.3). Lotus-owned rocker KOMP jumps 3.3-4.4. Top five 25-54 – “La Preciosa” KWID, hot AC “Mix” KMXB, rock KOMP, classic hits KKLZ and rhythmic “Hot 97.5” KVEG.

» Arbitrons May PPMs back to top » 23. Portland - 2,106,200 27. Sacramento - 1,839,800 28. Cincinnati - 1,790,300 29. Cleveland - 1,763,700 30. Salt Lake City - 1,735,700 31. San Antonio - 1,698,300 32. Kansas City - 1,607,500 33. Las Vegas - 1,574,500 Click on the city to review recently released Arbitron ratings. View a complete list of Arbitron markets here.

» Buzzing on the Boards back to top » Are San Diego faves Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw coming back to the airwaves, at last? Somebody on the San Diego Board of Radio-Info.com picks up a Tweet from SDRadio hinting about a re-appearance of the onetime KGB (101.5) morning show somewhere else, on July 12. See where the conversation leads. The NFL Raiders once played in Los Angeles and they've got a fan base there - enough for all-sports KLAA (830) to add the 2010-2011 schedule. Syndicator Compass Media Networks owns both the local and national rights to the Raiders, now playing back up north in Oakland, and the Los Angeles Board of Radio-Info.com detects the recent addition of the Raiders on the KLAA website. Interestingly, KLAA says "any games that conflict with Angels Baseball games will run on 710 ESPN." That's Disney's KSPN in Los Angeles, with which the Angels and KLAA have a carriage and sales deal. Arte Moreno is a principal in both the ownership group behind the Angels and KLAA radio. Somebody on the L.A. Board says "it sucks [the Raiders] won't be on the FM dial" - because they used to clear on then-talk KLSX (97.1), now CHR "Amp" KAMP-FM. » Sound Bites back to top » Former WTKS, Orlando jock Shannon Burke is out of jail and primed to return to the radio in July, he tells the Orlando Sentinel – and just like before, he’ll be doing middays. We don't know the station, but it won't be Clear Channel's 'Real Radio" WTKS, which canned him. Burke has actually finished jail terms in two different cases – four months in Seminole jail and then a month at the Orange County jail near Orlando where he was mostly in solitary. Last year Burke fired a gun during a domestic disturbance, and the bullet grazed his wife’s head and hit her dog. Both he and his wife now say it was an accident and that it’s not a case of domestic violence. He tells the paper “It was a drunken idiot handling a gun.” He’s doing three meetings a week of Alcoholics Anonymous – and the Orlando Board of Radio awaits his return. “Chicago Radio Online” is Kurt Hanson’s latest Internet radio project, this one aimed at those who love Chicago personalities and crave a Chicago focus. Many Internet music channels don’t do much with personality, but Kurt has sought out Tommy Edwards, Clark Weber, Fred Winston, Mitch Michaels, Danae Alexander, Doug Dahlgren, Linda Marshall, Scotty Brink and former AccuRadio colleague Rick O’Dell (now with the over-the-air Channel 6 audio smooth jazzer WLFM-LP, 87.7). The musical choices at Chicago Radio Online are Chicago’s Best Oldies, Chicago’s Adult Hits Mix, Chicago’s Love Songs, Chicago’s Real Oldies Channel, Chitown Smooth Jazz, Classic Hits Chicago and Classic Rock Chicago. Robert Feder at Vocalo.org has the lowdown on AccuRadio’s Kurt Hanson. Affluent consumers are more likely to be listening in PM drive and morning drive, says The Media Audit. The headline lists “PM drive” first because adults with at least $150,000 in household income are 30% more likely than the average adult to be listening between 3pm and 7pm. It works out to 55.6% of “affluent household” adults listening to the radio on a typical day, compared to 42.9% for the overall demo. In morning drive, 59.4% of “affluents” listen between 5am and 10am, compared with 46.4% of all adults, making them 28% more likely to be found during the five hours of morning drive. Affluents are going to be found in slightly greater percentages in mornings, but they out-index even further in PM drive. The Media Audit says in its latest monthly newsletter that “nearly 9% of U.S. consumers earn more than $150,000 in household income”, across the 80 markets that Houston-based TMA measures. The three most-listened-to-formats for that group are news/talk, public radio and CHR. More from Media Audit, including trends in Summer movie attendance, theme park attendance and boat ownership, in the June newsletter here. In the UK, Wales would get a new national radio service from Real Radio, if the government’s Ofcom regulator approves. GMG Radio is already operating Real Radio South Wales and is preparing to launch the station for North and Mid Wales. It’s asking Ofcom for permission to change the license condition for South Wales and (says the Radio Today publication) let it shift from broadcasting “regional information” to “information about Wales.” There’s a DAB angle here, since GMG would have to put the new Welsh national service on the DAB platforms for wide availability. » Faces on the Radio back to top » Rush Limbaugh will be talking golf tomorrow night on the Golf Channel’s “Golf in America” series, which the cable service describes as “inspirational.” Rush will be seen much more frequently starting in Spring 2011, when he becomes the latest celebrity to be taught (and perhaps humbled) by famed golf instructor Hank Haney. Haney used to be the swing coach for Tiger Woods and his two previous subjects on “The Haney Project” were former NBA star (and famously bad golfer) Charles Barkley, and comedian Ray Romano. Rush will start working with Haney this Fall. Michael Keck knows it takes about 90 minutes to drive from Madison to Milwaukee on I-94 – and it’s a drive he’ll be doing frequently, now that he’s adding responsibility for Entercom's Madison cluster to the Milwaukee market manager duties he assumed in January. Keck once ran the Madison cluster (oldies WOLX/94.9, adult alternative “Triple M” WMMM/105.5 and classic hits “Charlie 105.1” WCHY). That was before he tried the outdoor industry, with Adams Outdoor and Clear Channel Outdoor. The Madison job is coming vacant for Entercom regional prez Weezie Kramer because Cris Ohr is leaving radio to take the Chief Operating Officer job at Chicago-based charity Bare Necessities. Its mission is to work with pediatric cancer. Tod Tucker is out as ops manager of Renda's pair of music stations in Tulsa - CHR "K-Hits" KHTT (106.9) and the recently-converted classic hits "Bob FM" KBEZ (92.9). An Oklahoma-Board poster at Radio-Info.com picks up the posting from Tod's Facebook page - "no longer with KHITS and Bob-FM. Email me at RadioTodKHTT@yahoo.com. It was a great 8+ years and I wish them much success." More on the Oklahoma Board. Diana Smith is the new Sales Manager and Advertising Executive for “The Weekly Pop 20 with Ann Duran”, in charge of all sales and advertising for the two-hour show. The syndicator says it’s running regularly on 33 stations, including clearances in Seattle and Cincinnati. Co-creator Casey Mac says “As a self-syndicated production, we need someone with the knowledge and experience of a veteran sales executive such as Diana", who’s done sales in major markets for 25 years. Don DeRosa once reigned as the “Emperor DeRosa” at Utica’s WRUN, and he played roles from PD to GM to general manager in the upstate New York radio scene around Syracuse, Utica and Albany. The CNYRadio.com site says Don bought the Fulton-licensed 1300 AM in 2002 and took it country as WAMF, doing mornings himself. But tragedy struck the next year when a fire struck the shopping center where the station was located. The studios were destroyed. DeRosa died Saturday afternoon, and arrangements are still pending Jack Neff has died at 87, after a remarkable career in radio – as the guy who sometimes helped engineer President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” to the nation, as a founder of BE (Broadcast Electronics), and later as the owner of the DataWorld. That company created coverage maps and also generated technical data that was relied on by many companies in the days before the FCC’s online Consolidated Database. Jack retired after selling DataWorld to Tom Buono at BIA in the early 1990s. » Classifieds back to top » Need Station Manager for Newsweek Top Ten Place To Live If you’re loaded with energy, management/people skills, and sales ability and you’ve always wanted to live in an area like Wisconsin’s Northwoods and lake country, Heartland Communications Group would like to talk with you. You must be able to personally sell and grow small market radio station revenue. This job provides salary, benefits and incentives. Please email Jim Coursolle, Heartland CEO, your contact info, resume, sales track record verification and references to: jim@radiocoursolle.com. An EEO employer. For those that KNOW great opportunities still exist. NextMedia Chicago’s Joliet/Aurora market has a General Manager position open, and we want someone whose glass is “more than half full!” You would be working and living in a great area, Naperville is consistently in Money Magazine’s top 5 places to raise a family. In addition, Will County over the last 10 years has been one of the fastest growing Counties in America, the school systems are among the best in the country and you are just 40 minutes from Chicago. When you combine a great place to live, five well established radio stations and a seasoned staff, you get a unique opportunity to expand on a solid foundation of success. We want a leader, someone who will use a steady hand to steer this successful market to even greater heights. NextMedia prides itself in its “ala carte approach;” we give you the tools and let you create a plan to win. This position is open immediately and will make a great home for the qualified candidate. If you can teach others while learning every day, we want to talk. If you can lead by example, we want you out front. If you do not see the exciting days that lay ahead as long as we have the courage to execute, this is not for you. NextMedia prides itself on being an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applications will be treated with strict confidentiality. Please apply by sending a cover letter and resume to Jeffrey Dinetz, Chief Operating Officer, at jdinetz@nextmediagroup.com.