by Tom Taylor | tom@in3media.com | 609.883.3321
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
A man with a cause
 FCC Chairman Genachowski says “the policy fight over net neutrality will be a ‘Jungleland’ out there.”
If you caught the Bruce Springsteen reference, you might enjoy – or cringe from – the 16 other song titles that Julius Genachowski crams into yesterday’s speech to the Future of Music Coalition. What’s interesting, beyond all the tortured puns using “Badlands” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, is that the Chairman spends his entire time in front of the Future of Music Coalition talking about…the Internet. Not performance royalty, or radio-music industry relations, or streaming rates or any of that stuff. He’s really, really staying focused on net neutrality, as he has been since we started hearing from the Obama camp that he was their choice for Chairman. Here’s the kernel of yesterdays FOMC prepared remarks – “with a free and open Internet, you don’t have to have big-time star-power leverage over record labels, publishing companies, commercial radio stations, or particular retailers to get your music to the public.” There are forces (such as cable giant Comcast) that want the ability to charge some big customers money in exchange for providing them faster access, or giving some content preference over others. That’s what the net neutrality fight is about – and it’s one of D.C.’s biggest fights. Read the Genachowski comments.
  Pittsburgh’s future black news/talk station will be on WPYT at 660.
Eddie Edwards Sr. made the expected announcement that he’s buying a station specifically to do an African-American-targeted format. What was unexpected was the station – Alex Langer’s daytimer at 660. WPYT is currently airing a mix of talk and standards from its Philadelphia sister station and doesn’t make any noise in the Pittsburgh ratings. But its 1.4-kw daytime signal covers the core of the metro just fine, as you can see from the red circle on the map at Radio-Locator.com. That’s the 2.5 mV/m contour and it should cover lots of Pittsburghers when Edwards debuts his news/talk format in early 2010. The station is licensed to Wilkinsburg, PA and Langer has systematically upgraded it over the years, from the days when it was a 250-watter. Edwards didn’t announce a purchase price in yesterday’s press conference covered by the Post-Gazette. The Pittsburgh Board of Radio-Info.com quickly noticed the paper's online account of the deal and is talking about it now. 
 Detroit is Amp’d up with a new CBS CHR.
It all came down as expected – no bizarre flips of former smooth jazz WVMV (98.7) to all-polka. We thought it would go a CHR named “Amp” and that’s the way it happened yesterday during morning drive. Programmer and CBS format captain Dom Theodore says “This station is all about the hits, and we intend to build the next powerhouse Top 40 on a number of integrated platforms.” And he really says it all there – #1, the musical target (more mainstream than Clear Channel’s rhythmic Channel 95.5 WKQI?) and #2, the new media angle (everything they could think of, from an active website to Facebook and Twitter posts). The smooth jazz format is demoted to the HD-2 channel of 98.7 – which is apparently keeping its WVMV calls, at least for now. The Michiguide site’s Mike Austerman notes some other demotions and changes. Local smooth jazz personalities Alexander Zonjic and Sandy Kovach are off, though Sandy will now do overnights at classic hits sister WOMC (104.3). While former WVMV PD Tom Sleeker is shuffled out. I spotted at least three different threads about the disappearance of smooth jazz on WVMV and the new CHR showdown, on the Detroit Board of Radio-Info.com.
Shhh...Radio stocks had major gains on Monday.
If you owned the proverbial "basket" of radio stocks going into Monday, you had a lovely day, percentage-wise. In fact Entercom was the biggest percentage gainer on the entire New York Stock Exchange - up 17%, behind a gain of 95 cents to close at $6.40. That's just a paper clip away from its 52-week high of $6.55. But "ETM" wasn't the only radio stock earning an "up" arrow. On the Nasdaq, Radio One jumped 45%, up 54 cents to $1.74. Saga rose 61 cents to $12.91. Entravision grew 30 cents to $2.14. Cumulus rose 51 cents to close at $2.39. Salem picked up 28 cents to $2.60. Is it optimism about third quarter earnings? Is it a pickup on Entercom CEO David Field's bullish comments about the months to come? Partly a reaction to analyst Marci Ryvicker's report that "radio continues to get marginally better week to week in terms of demand, but not necessarily pricing"? One former group head tells me these last three months of 2009 will be critical - but especially December. October 2008 was when the economy really sank and radio revenue entered a lower ring of hell. But late-minute political spending helped shield some budgets, through early November. Now, if radio can post decent-looking numbers against those beaten-down comps, it's at least a start - a start toward getting more respect on Wall Street for the stocks.
  The CBS synergy for Tim McGraw’s new album covers CBS Radio, CBS.com and Letterman.
“Letterman” is the linchpin here, with the country superstar putting on an exclusive “Live at Letterman” webcast concert from the Ed Sullivan Theater next Monday, as soon as he and his band finish taping that night’s “Late Show.” The webcast will be a project of CBS Interactive Music Group and will be streamed on the Late Show part of CBS.com – but also live on 11 CBS-owned country stations such as WUSN, Chicago (99.5), WYCD, Detroit (also 99.5) and “K-Frog” KFRG, San Bernardino (95.1). McGraw will be doing two Letterman appearances that week (October 12 and Friday, October 16) – and I’m sure you’ll be hearing plenty about those on the CBS country radio stations. CBS previously did Ed Sullivan Theater concerts with Pearl Jam, Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney - who played on the above-the-street marquee space, for a little of that “band on the run” action he’s always liked. Of course CBS patriarch Sumner Redstone could've wrung even more synergy out of the Tim McGraw project if he hadn't split up Viacom, leaving the CMT country cable channel inside the new Viacom family.
The FCC gets hung up on changing its annual ownership report, Form 323.
Result – it doesn’t have to be filed by the previously-announced date of November 1. Seems the Commission tried to get a little fancy, and asked licensees for so much data that it got flagged by the OMB’s Paperwork Reduction Act. So the revised form it sought approval for hasn’t been okayed yet – and the Media Bureau is suspending the filing requirement for now. But the Chairman and the Commissioners are still intent on assembling a much fuller picture of who really owns U.S. media licenses, to better formulate policy about diversity and ownership. So the delay is only temporary. Don’t doubt that the revised form will take more time to fill out than the old one. And starting in two years, licensees won’t have much time to get it cranked out, since the data for the November 1 filing date will have to be current as of just one month previous, October 1. But at least things will be calmer this Fall. And the data for the revised form – whenever it’s eventually approved and due – can be current as of November 1. Read the FCC’s Order.
 There will be “around-the-clock Olympic updates, three times per hour.” Also live play-by-play of the USA and Gold Medal Games for ice hockey. Live coverage of figure skating, speed skating, skiing and more. Plus a nightly wrap up show from Vancouver. Gary Schonfeld says they’re again proud to be NBC’s “official radio partner” for the Olympics. The Games are closer than you think – February 12-28. And unlike the 2006 Winter games in Turin, Italy (five hours ahead of the Eastern time zone in the U.S.), Vancouver’s in the Pacific time zone. Speaking of Westwood – one T-R-I reader asks “Where’s Marv Albert? He did the first NFL game of the season on a Thursday, and then the first two Monday Night games. But not the last two.”
 Rafe Gomez and his new audiobook about jobseekers (“What’s In It For Me?”) are on a nice rocket-ride.
Thanks to Rafe for calling to share what’s happened since the story about his book in the September 15 T-R-I Newsletter. He says WCBS, New York anchor Pat Farnak (who reads T-R-I) called him and did a three-part series on News Radio 880 to help job applicants see the process from the other side of the desk. Then somebody at New York’s NY1 cable news channel caught one of Farnak’s reports and interviewed Rafe for NY1. Then somebody at Fox News heard that, and Rafe may be showing up on Fox & Friends. Rafe, who created the syndicated “RockMixx and has done on-camera work for QVC, calls himself the “Rehirement Expert”, and he’s at RehirementCoach@gmail.com.
 In Ludington, Michigan – “always listen to your Mom” has worked for Pat Martin for 10 years.
You may know Pat as a broadcast equipment broker and consultant, but for the last ten years (exactly) he’s owned and run WMOM (102.7), a station he put on the air from scratch. How do you do that and survive, in a town of 8,000 people and a trading area of maybe 70,000? You keep it local-local-local, and you really watch your costs, from Day 1. Pat tells me “We built the whole station for $25,000, thanks to an older transmitter and an existing transmitter site…we just didn’t get sucked into a lot of costs.” He learned the formula from Kevin Fitzgerald, an early partner in Elmira – “he started with one station and now he owns numerous stations and translators. He’s a genius." Pat says "The #1 secret to everything we’ve done at Mom over the last decade is to limit expenses. I didn’t have office furniture when we started. People who were laughing then may be out of the business today.” The other ingredient (local-local-local) came from another piece of early advice Pat learned at Richmond's WLEE from Bob Paiva – “the key to winning stations in small and medium markets is to find out what every worthy cause is, then go out and lead the community.” Pat says “WMOM has raised $250,000 for the library, a skateboard park, Red Cross, and other under-funded community agencies. We just had our tenth ‘Lake Jump’, like the Polar Bear club thing, and we do it on the first day of Spring.” Then there’s news – “we’ve got news every hour, from 5:55am to 5:55pm. And we do a lot of PSAs.” So did Pat ever do the Lake Jump himself? “Only once.”
The latest weekly Nielsen BDS airplay charts are now on Radio-Info.com.
They cover just about every musical format on the radio – from the new #1 on the CHR/Top 40 National Airplay chart (Kings of Leon “Use Somebody”) to the new #1 in country radio (“American Ride” by Toby Keith). They were just updated yesterday, and you can check ’em all out online at Radio-Info.com’s Programming/Formats & Charts section – here.
 Four CBS stations launch their part of the Last.fm “Discover” service.
That was yesterday at noon, which should pump up awareness of and usage of the CBS-owned music-discovery service. That’s if they promote it on-air and online, and I suspect there will be a push. Discover is featured on the HD-2 channels of WWFS, New York (102.7) and KCBS-FM, Los Angeles (93.1), and the HD-3 channels of WXRT, Chicago (93.1) and “Live 105” KITS, San Francisco. Speaking of that -
 Ross On Radio #33 –
Our Sean Ross hopped on the Last.fm “Discover” HD-2 channel of New York’s “Fresh” WWFS the instant the clock hit “noon”, and he’s delighted to deliver a “First Listen" to the service. Sean also dissects "A Power Pig at 20" and the "Missing magic" of hip-hop. That's a reference to the deceased Mr. Magic, who ushered in the era of mix shows on urban stations starting at New York's WBLS in 1983. If you crave cutting-edge analysis about programming and music, don’t miss today’s Ross On Radio #33 coming by email. If you’re not getting ROR every Tuesday and Thursday – at no charge – just go here.
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» Wheeling and Dealing
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Saga’s future FM translator in Des Moines is getting a nice upgrade by the seller. That’s California’s Horizon Christian Fellowship, and the NorthPine.com site notes that Ames, Iowa-licensed K260AM at 99.9 has been granted a construction permit to raise its power substantially, from 3 watts to 250. And it will have those 250 watts from the market’s main Alleman tower. Saga tells the FCC it will use the translator to re-broadcast its hot AC “Star 102.5” KSTZ.
In Kentucky, a two-year-old LMA of two FMs from Randy Michaels turns into a purchase. In September 2007, Jonathan Smith’s Lincoln Garrard Broadcasting signed an LMA-with purchase option with Michaels’ Radioactive LLC for two FM construction permits that Michaels won in FCC auctions. Those are now known as country/rock “Choice 101.9” WKFC, North Corbin and “Lincoln County’s Local Radio” WPBK, Crab Orchard. Both stations have been moved and upgraded since they were in the auction. Smith paid $100,000 for the original option, and now $760,000 as he exercises the purchase option. Jay Meyers of BMT (Broadcast Management and Technology) is handling this and other deals for Radioactive LLC, and he anticipates a closing on this pair in late March 2010.
» Sound Bites
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"The World's Smallest HD Radio Tuner"? The HD Radio Board of Radio-Info.com says the new JVC unit will work with in-car audio systems. Check the link to the JVC site and pictures, plus commentary, on the Board thread.
MasterCard is a big radio user. Rival Discover Card? Not so much. Media Monitors’ “competitive faceoff” analyzing ad spending over the last 12 months shows MasterCard running 63,391 radio ads to 16,608 for Discover. That same ratio holds roughly for TV and cable. But the startling thing is the spending pattern for newspapers – these giants between them bought exactly 10 ads in the preceding 12 months, with MasterCard responsible for all ten. Changing the subject – MM’s most recent Spot 10 national chart of weekly national ads shows the top three unchanged – Geico, Home Depot, and the non-revenue HD Radio Alliance campaign. Nice to see that Ford Lincoln Mercury is up from #9 to #5. More here.
Ian Camfield, who once jocked in the U.S. at New York’s “K-Rock”, hosts a new syndicated “London Calling” program for Premiere Radio Networks. He’s well qualified to do that, as the U.K. native who’s now repatriated to the other side of the pond as the “breakfast presenter” at xfm London. The two-hour weekend “London Calling” debuts this weekend, featuring established acts like Coldplay, Radiohead and Amy Winehouse, classics like the Stones and the Beatles, and up-and-comers. Redefined Media is producing “Calling” from, yes, London.
Pink Floyd specialty show goes into syndication, after nearly 15 years in the Burlington, VT market. Craig Bailey is the host and producer of “Floydian Slip”, and he did nearly 700 shows for WCPV (101.3), until it changed musical approaches in June. Craig says he’s got “Slip” running on “Wizard” WIZN (106.7) and also netcaster WBKM.org. More info here.
The first-ever Talk Show Boot Camp, November 13-14 in Atlanta, offers “3 for 2” registration. Though TSBC’s phrasing it this way – “Register two or more by November 1, bring an extra person free.” Speakers include (alphabetically) David Bernstein, Phil Boyce, Valerie Geller, Michael Harrison, Gabe Hobbs, Brian Jennings, Kipper McGee and Greg Moceri, plus the Saturday luncheon guest, Atlanta’s own Neal Boortz.
The correct Summer BBM top line ratings for Calgary are now posted on the consortium’s website, and they now display the age 12+ AQH shares that match what rock consultant Dave Lange reported to T-R-I yesterday – rock CJAY has a 7.5, not a 4.0. “Energy” CKCE went from a 3.4 to a 2.6 – not a 7.5. The BBM’s re-posting for Calgary is here, and thanks to T-R-I reader Phil Kallsen for the email about the online correction at BBM.
» Faces on the Radio
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Mike Tierney is Boston’s newest VP of Broadcast Operations, at adult alternative WFNX (101.7), the radio arm of the Mindich family’s multi-media Phoenix operation. Tierney’s programmed in New York and Seattle and was a VP of music programming at VH1.
Tim Spence is going to concentrate on programming just one sports station in Denver, instead of two. That creates an opening, says Lincoln Financial Media’s Bob Call, at “Fan” KKFN-FM (104.3). Tim’s been stretching to do both stations, and will henceforth focus his energies solely on “ESPN Radio 1600” KEPN. Lincoln Financial Media’s John Dimick has girded his loins for the expected flurry of resumes, to John.Dimick@LincolnFinancialMedia.com.
“The Regular Guys” at Cumulus Media Partners’ adult alternative WNNX in Atlanta (100.5) just began simulcasting their morning show on step-sister WROK-FM, Macon (105.5).
 Elvis is added not only to Las Vegas radio, but to San Francisco, says the San Fran Board of Radio-Info.com. We knew that former WXRK, New York jock Elvis has been recruited to work for Ed Stolz' recently-acquired "104.3 Now FM" KFRH, Las Vegas. Now the Board says he'll also be heard on even more recently-acquired "Rev FM" KREV. That's the former "Energy 92.7" KNGY. The San Francisco Board thread is here.
Joe Ianniello took over as CFO of CBS Corporation when Fred Reynolds retired, right on schedule. Now the company informs the SEC about his new contract and paycheck. He’ll stay through July 2013 and will be paid a base salary of $1.5 million, plus incentives and bonuses. Joe was promoted from Senior VP/Chief Development Officer/Treasurer to EVP and Chief Financial Officer in June. The filing indicates he made over $2.5 million in salary and other compensation from CBS in 2008.
Mark Sullivan relocates from Cumulus Media’s Atlanta HQ to Nashville, as the senior VP and market manager. He takes over the duties of Mike Kanak, who's now running the CBS cluster in Tampa. Sullivan’s previous jobs with Cumulus included being a regional director of sales, and market manager in Florence, SC. The Cumulus station group in Nashville includes country “Wolf” WSM-FM (95.5).
George Miles is retiring as chief executive of Pittsburgh public radio/TV broadcaster WQED Multimedia. This is a very orderly transition, because he’s giving a one-year notice and won’t depart until September 30, 2010. Current EVP and general manager Deborah Acklin steps up to become Chief Operating Officer and will take a seat on the board. She started in commercial broadcasting at KDKA-TV and joined WQED as an executive producer. WQED-FM (89.3) is a mix of classical music and news.
Lisa Adams has worked in Portland, Oregon (as the PD of KXJM for CBS) and worked in programming in Seattle. Now she’s joining the Peak Broadcasting team in Boise, as the hard-working on-air PD of two stations and their related streams and online presences. The stations are “WOW Country 104.3” KAWO and AC “Lite FM 107.9” KXLT.
 Gary Stevens gets the voiceover credit for the NAB Radio Show video paying tribute to National Radio Award Winner Ed Christian for Saga. Hadn’t mentioned that before, and somebody ought to tell you. Stevens – the onetime WMCA, New York “Good Guy” jock and later head of the Doubleday radio group and then longtime media broker – sounds as good as ever, I’m here to tell you.
Radio-Info.com - #1 among all radio news websites. Source: Compete.com. |
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