SiriusXM Wants Listeners To Keep 2015 Resolutions

12-30-14

The Satellite radio company is offering up channels of special programming to help listeners with their 2015 resolutions, including Joel & Victoria Osteen on living a hopeful life, Alexa von Tobel on getting out of debt, NYU Langone Medical Center doctors on reaching wellness goals, Entertainment Weekly Radio on making the most of your pop culture time, Randi Zuckerberg on mastering tech and social media, The Wharton School with advice on kick-starting your business or career, and Jenny McCarthy and "The Moms" on being the best parent you can be in 2015. "Resolution Radio" programming starts Thursday.

Doctor Radio powered by NYU Langone Medical Center (SiriusXM channel 81)
? "Rehabilitative Medicine" - Host Jonathan Whiteson assists listeners to "kick the habit" with smoking cessation strategies. Monday, January 5
? "Primary Care Medicine" - Dr. Marina Kurian will discuss finding the right exercise routine to get in shape in 2015. Wednesday, January 7
? "Doctor Radio Reports" - Perri Peltz, veteran journalist, documentary filmmaker, and public health advocate, will host "Resolution Solutions" exploring a variety of health and wellness goals for 2015. Thursday, January 8
? "Nutrition and Exercise" - Samantha Heller, registered dietician, certified nutritionist, and exercise physiologist presents healthy eating strategies to aid listeners in achieving weight loss goals. Friday, January 9

Joel Osteen Radio (SiriusXM channel 128) 
? "A Night of Hope" - Joel Osteen welcomes 2015 with "A Night of Hope" live from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. Friday, January 2 at 8 p.m. ET.
? "Joel Osteen Live" - Join Joel Osteen as he shares inspiration and insights on how to have a closer walk with God throughout the New Year. Monday, January 5
? "Victoria Osteen Live" - Victoria Osteen shares tips on being the best you can be for your family in 2015. Wednesday, January 7

Business Radio powered by Wharton (SiriusXM channel 111)
? On New Year's Day, business, career, and finance experts share their best advice for improving your professional and business life in 2015. Thursday, January 1
? "Knowledge @ Wharton" - Host Dan Loney is joined by financial planner Eric Brotman for a conversation about financial resolutions. Monday, January 5
? "Your Money" - Will cover the psychology behind making resolutions to "get out of debt." Tuesday, January 6
? "Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg" - Randi Zuckerberg will assist listeners resolving to be better with technology and social media. Wednesday, January 7

SiriusXM Stars (SiriusXM channel 109)
? Celebrity host and parenting author Jenny McCarthy is joined by "The Moms," Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein, to talk about being the best parent you can be in 2015. Monday, January 5
? SiriusXM host and author Jenny Hutt will provide advice to listeners looking to lose weight in 2015. From apps to help listeners monitor their calories to the latest workouts, Jenny will kick off 2015 with a guide to getting the weight off and keeping it off. Wednesday, January 7
? "Financially Fearless with Alexa von Tobel" - The Learnvest CEO takes listener questions about getting out of debt and saving more money in 2015. Thursday, January 8

Entertainment Weekly Radio (SiriusXM channel 105)
? If your resolution is to get up-to-speed with the latest TV shows, movies, books, and music, join "EW Morning Live" for a discussion about what you should be watching, reading, and listening to in 2015. Monday, January 5

Road Dog Trucking (SiriusXM channel 146)
? For truck drivers, "Freewheelin' with Meredith Ochs and Chris T." will explore the many ways you can accomplish your health, financial, and educational goals without ever leaving your truck. Tuesday, January 6

OutQ (SiriusXM 106)
? For the LGBT community, on "Derek & Romaine," SiriusXM host Romaine Patterson encourages listeners to get involved in charities, advocacy groups, and community-service projects.  Tuesday, January 6

Kids Place Live (SiriusXM channel 78)
? Hosts Kenny Curtis and Absolutely Mindy help families set goals to spend more quality time together by sharing ideas to make the most of your time with the kids. Friday, January 9

(12/29/2014 9:47:47 PM)
Jeeeezuz! How sad is this story? Literally, 90% of this stuff could be replaced with "get off your fat ass America and use common sense." Greatest country in the world???

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

SoundExchange Wants You to Pay More

10-10-14

As John Garziglia points out in the previous story, broadcasters are now paying $0.0023 per performance, with a minimum of $500 per year. In its filing with the Copyright Royalty Board SoundExchange proposes the rate, beginning in 2016, should be $0.0025 per performance and escalate up every year, or be 55% of revenue, whichever is greater. The NAB is fighting to lower the rates. Most broadcasters say they are not making any money on streaming today and higher rates could force them to abandon streaming altogether.

SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe says, ?Digital radio services, and the revenue they generate, have become a critical part of the music ecosystem. For more and more consumers, streaming is becoming the preferred path to access music, and webcasting rates must reflect this market and economic reality. SoundExchange is guided by a single principle ? all creators deserve fair compensation, whenever and wherever their music is used. We will continue fighting to ensure this happens.?

Here's a chart of what SoundExchange proposes:
2016  - $0.0025 or 55%
2017  - $0.0026 or 55%
2018  - $0.0027 or 55%
2019  - $0.0028 or 55%
2020 -  $0.0029 or 55%

Take a look at the SoundExchange filing HERE

(10/10/2014 10:23:37 AM)
It's not just the Sound Exchange. Everybody wants you to pay more for everything everywhere. Grab every penny you've got and to hell with you.
(10/10/2014 9:28:56 AM)
SoundExchange wants majority ownership of our streaming operation at 55% of the revenue. At this point, that's 55% of the hole in a donut for us. It wasn't clear whether that 55% was for streaming or all over-the-air revenues. If they want our over-the-air revenue, we'd best give them a quick course in Radio Management!

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Tennessee Wants Hannity

2-11-14

On Monday Tennessee state lawmakers approved a resolution inviting Sean Hannity and ?other like-minded New Yorkers? to move to Tennessee. The resolution, which was approved 73-22, was written by Republican Andy Holt who said, Hannity should move to Tennessee because New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ?made inflammatory and insulting remarks about conservatives? in his state. The resolution includes points about the state's low taxes, Republican supermajority, good fishing and attractions.

View the original article here

Liberty Wants Full Ownership of Sirius

1-6-13

Liberty took majority ownership of Sirius XM one year ago and is now taking steps toward full ownership. Shareholders of Sirius XM would convert their common stock into 0.076 of a new share of Liberty, immediately following a 2:1 distribution of a new Liberty Series C common stock to all Series A and B shareholders. The proposed exchange ratio values Sirius shares at approximately $3.68 per share based on Friday closing prices of Liberty?s Series A shares.

Liberty Chairman John Malone said, "The proposed transaction is an important step in the growth of both companies. It will enable us to focus our energies on the pursuit of new opportunities across the expanded portfolio of Liberty?s businesses and to optimize our capital structure to produce the maximum possible returns to all shareholders.?

Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said, "Our proposal will allow Sirius public shareholders to convert from a non-controlling stake in a subsidiary into a direct equity position in Liberty, the parent company. Sirius shareholders will continue to participate in Sirius? future prospects along with Liberty?s broader portfolio of businesses and opportunities. We believe the combined company will have better access to capital and all of Liberty?s shareholders ? both its current shareholders and the Sirius shareholders who become Liberty shareholders as a result of the proposed transaction ? will enjoy enhanced liquidity as shareholders of a $27 billion market capitalization company.?

View the original article here

CBS Sports Network Wants Boomer and Carton

9-26-13

That's the TV side of things, as the number of interested parties increases for the New York City based WFAN Morning Show. According to the Daily News, CBS Sports Network is serious about acquiring the TV rights to the morning show. The YES Network and MSG are also interested. MSG, where the show can be viewed now, has the right to match any bid. The Daily News says, "CBSSN?s interest in ?The Boomer and Carton Show? simulcast has everything to do with network suits trying to beef up ? and bring some buzz ? to the programming lineup of the lightly watched national cable sports network."

View the original article here

Sirius Wants Chair at Dashboard Table

5-1-13

New CEO James Meyer says he's reprioritizing resources at SiriusXM with an eye on the connected Dashboard. He says embedded connectivity is giving automakers a lot of options and its very important SiriusXM participate in the rollout of that technology. "We are moving a lot of our resources toward making that goal happen." Meyer said a lot has been said about the threat to SiriusXM from streaming. "That also gives us opportunity. In-car apps will provide initial integration."

Meyer also said the biggest threat to SiriusXM is terrestrial radio. "The music only business is going to be a tough business." SiriusXM is getting ready to launch two new channels, Comedy Central Radio and Entertainment Weekly Radio. "Music, news, sports, comedy, niche programming...a broad away of content is what we offer, no music only." 

More than 9,000 auto dealers now offer a free trial to SiriusXM when they sell a used car and Meyer says within a few years he expects more used cars to be sold with the service than new cars. Meyer says by the end of 2017 there should be 100 million cars on the road with SiriusXM and within ten years that number will be 150 million.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Honig Wants FCC to Delay Ownership Decision

2-24-2013

Minority Media and Telecommunications Council President David Honig told TVNewsCheck he's planning to formally ask the FCC to hold off on a vote on its media ownership review proposals for at least a couple of months, while an MMTC-sponsored study looks into what impact FCC crossownership rules have on minority ownership. BIA Kelsey is conducting the study for the MMTC.

TVNewsCheck writes, "As part of the FCC?s media ownership rule review, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed to create a presumption in favor of a TV-newspaper merger in the top 20 markets, but only if there would be eight major media outlets remaining, and the deal did not involve a station that ranks among the top four in the ratings. There would be a presumption against TV-newspaper mergers that didn?t meet those criteria. The crossownership prohibitions generally bar common ownership of a daily newspaper and a TV or radio station in the same market. Also under the Genachowski proposal, the bar on radio-newspaper crossownership would be axed."

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

NY Lawmaker Wants Radio To Pay

8-20-2012

Monday afternoon, Congressman Jerrold Nadler circulated a discussion draft of the Interim Fairness in Radio Starts Today (FIRST) Act. The proposed legislation is a step toward a law requiring radio stations to pay a fee directly to artists for playing their music. This would be in addition to fees radio stations already pay to BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. Nadler said, "The lack of a performance royalty for terrestrial radio airplay is a significant inequity and grossly unfair. Terrestrial radio companies have built into their businesses an exemption from paying a performance right." Nadler has not specified what the fee should be nor does he have any co-sponsors at this time.

Radio has long held the position that there is a lot of value for an artist to get their music played on radio, in that it leads to consumers buying their music. A recent Nielson study confirmed that consumers still choose radio when seeking out new music. A representative from Nadler's office told Radio Ink today that there was "some mutual benefit." But added, "Radio wouldn't have anything to play without the songs."

Representative Nadler also said, "It is a violation of fundamental principles of intellectual property that artists would be denied the right to control their own creations, as is the case now with sound recordings over broadcast radio.  The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have a performance right for sound recordings over terrestrial radio."

(8/20/2012 7:29:47 PM)
This will happen in some form- it's just a matter of when. What is the argument for not paying for the product that you use and leverage to sell advertising against?

The "promotional" argument is invalid, as there are a myriad of radio services that pay for the product that they "promote" and use to leverage audience and advertising. What is the fundamental difference?

The artist would continue to be discovered and consumed- with or without radio. Radio is nothing without the artist.

(8/20/2012 5:23:40 PM)
Radio is no friend to the vast majority of artists as the playlists are so arbitrarily shorted.
I wonder, meanwhile, what might happen should the artists form a group that gains an injunction against those stations who refuse to pay for the exact product they are using to identify and promote their own interests.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

CMG Wants Out of Six Radio Markets

Cox Media Group (CMG) is realigning its broadcast portfolio to focus on larger markets, cross-media collaboration, and heightened impact in fewer markets. As part of this realignment, CMG will be adding four new TV stations in two markets ? Jacksonville, Fla. and Tulsa, Okla. ? to its broadcast group from Newport Television. Following receipt of regulatory approvals, the company will take ownership of three of the new stations and will provide operating services to the fourth. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter. The new stations will provide opportunities for collaboration with CMG?s other businesses in those markets.

The new stations include:
WAWS-TV (Fox) and WTEV-TV (CBS) in Jacksonville
KOKI-TV (Fox) and KMYT-TV (MyNetwork) in Tulsa

As part of its strategy and after careful consideration, CMG will be selling its radio locations in Birmingham, Ala.; Greenville, S.C.; Hawaii; Louisville, Ky.; Richmond, Va.; and Southern Connecticut, as well as television stations in four markets El Paso, Texas; Johnstown, Pa.; Reno, Nev.; and Steubenville, Ohio.

?This simplified structure will enable CMG to capitalize on continued growth and synergies, while retaining its size financially,? said CMG President Doug Franklin. ?All of our media outlets, regardless of size, are valuable, profitable brands with strong futures thanks to the hard work and dedication of our talented professionals who serve their audiences, advertisers and communities. We thank the leaders and employees in the locations we?re selling for their outstanding contributions to this company over the years and the valuable service they will continue to provide their respective communities.?

Leadership Realignment to Fit New Media Portfolio
Simultaneously, CMG is realigning its leadership structure to fit its new portfolio. This new structure will provide even more focus on the specific media platforms (newspaper, radio, TV), while continuing to drive collaboration and growth. As a result, former Group VP Kim Guthrie is CMG?s new Senior Vice President responsible for radio markets, and former Austin American-Statesman Publisher Jane Williams is the company?s new Senior Vice President responsible for TV markets, both reporting to Bill Hoffman, EVP over broadcast. Additional leadership changes effective immediately include:

- Former Group VP Rich Reis is now VP and GM of Digital Operations reporting to EVP Neil Johnston.
- Former Group VP Ben Reed is now VP and Market Manager of Atlanta radio reporting to Kim Guthrie. Ben succeeds Dan Kearney, who is now VP and Market Manager of Miami radio. Kearney succeeds Jerry Rushin, who is retiring from the company later this month.
- Former Group VP Jay O?Connor, as previously announced, is the new VP and GM at KIRO TV in Seattle.
- Additionally, EVP Mike Joseph continues to oversee CMG?s newspaper operations and CMG Ohio. The company will announce the new publisher of the Austin American-Statesman in the near future.

Franklin said, ?Our new business realignment enables us to simplify our structure and continue our strategic initiatives of driving cash flow, extending our strong local brands into digital, and continuing the development of our talented people. We will also continue to bolster our core portfolio with new, high-growth initiatives that focus on emerging advertising and scalable content.?

Cox?s media properties for sale include:
Birmingham (WAGG-AM, WBHJ-FM, WBHK-FM, WENN-AM, WZZK-FM, WZNN-FM, WBPT-FM, and CMG?s contract rights for WALJ-FM)
Greenville (WJMZ-FM/HD3, WHZT-FM)
Hawaii (KRTR-AM/FM, KPHW-FM, KCCN-FM, KINE-FM, KKNE-AM)
Louisville (WRKA-FM, WVEZ-FM, WSFR-FM, WQNU-FM)
Richmond (WHTI-FM, WKHK-FM, WKLR-FM, WURV-FM)
Southern Connecticut ((WPLR-FM, WEZN-FM, WFOX-FM, and CMG?s contract rights for WYBC-FM)
El Paso (KFOX-TV) (Fox affiliate)
Johnstown (WJAC-TV) (NBC affiliate)
Reno (KRXI-TV and CMG?s option and other contract rights for KAME-TV) (Fox affiliate)
Steubenville (WTOV-TV) (NBC affiliate)

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Malone Wants to Spin-Off Sirius XM

7-13-2012

Bloomberg reports Liberty CEO John Malone said yesterday, ?If I?m in control, I like to have separate companies, run independently, with public shareholders investing in that business,? Malone told reporters gathered in Sun Valley, Idaho, for an Allen & Co. conference. ?There is no question eventually Sirius will be an independent company. The question is, in what time frame and in what circumstances??

Read the entire article in Bloomberg HERE

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Noory Wants Listeners to Shape Up.

7-6-2012

Premiere's Coast to Coast host George Noory is challenging his audience to ?shape up? and lose 15 million pounds. Noory announced that he will dedicate the first hour of his program each Thursday in July to encouraging his millions of late-night listeners to improve their health, shed excess pounds and help fight weight-related diseases.  As part of the effort, he?ll welcome special guests to give advice on nutrition, weight loss and health benefits.

View the original article here

Reuters: Seacrest Wants Dick Clark's Company

Reuters is reporting that the 37 year old "is considering a bid" to buy Dick Clark Productions. When Clark passed Seacrest said Dick Clark was a mentor to him. You may remembers that in January, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners invested $300 million in Seacrest to help him grow his empire. Clear Channel also has a piece of the Secrest action, with a minority stake in his company. Here's the Reuters LINK to the story

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Congressional Committee Wants to Know More About "The Future of Audio"

5-30-2012

It's being delivered through your phone. It's being delivered through your tablet. It's being delivered through your newly redesigned vehicle dashboard. It's being delivered by transmitters, the Internet and wirelessly. The explosion of how audio is delivered to consumers has now caught the attention of the federal government. Congressman Greg Walden has called a hearing for Wednesday, June 6th to discuss the issue before his Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

Walden's office says witnesses will be announced soon, possibly today, and are by invitation only. We wondered for example, will Pandora, Sirius or auto manufacturers be part of the witness list. Walden's office would not give details last night other than to say more information about the focus of the hearing will be released this morning.

We can tell you that Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan has been invited before the committee to discuss the FM Chip for cell phones on behalf of the broadcast industry. However, it's our understanding that is not the only topic on the agenda before the committee. The hearing will be held Wednesday morning at 10:15 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

ESPN.com Wants to Sell Only Viewable Ads

5-15-2012

According to a report in AdWeek, ESPN is teaming with Horizon Media and RealVu for the campaign. RealVu says it is able to gauge how many ads in a particular campaign are viewable, or ads actually appearing on a user's screen long enough to be seen. Right now web ads are requested from a server and recorded when a user has simply visited a page. The IAB and others have been pushing the industry to move toward viewable impressions as a standard. Look for ESPN.com to test several campaigns.

Read the entire AdWeek piece HERE

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Liberty Wants Larger Stake in Sirius XM

5-8-2012

Following a rejection from the FCC, Liberty Media's John Malone is taking steps to gain more control of Sirius XM by purchasing more shares. The FCC declared Liberty's request for de facto control of Sirius XM incomplete. On Tuesday, Liberty said it will purchase 302 million shares which would raise it's stake to over 45%. Currently Liberty has a 40% stake in Sirius XM.

On the topic of taking defacto control of Sirius XM, Liberty's chief executive Greg Maffei said, "As far as de facto control, my layman's understanding would be we have a certain series of rights by contract with SiriusXM. To be able to fully exercise those rights freely, we need to have de facto control approved by the FCC. And as far as changing our application, I think there are host of things, actions we might take including this action we have taken, which will have bearing on our application and we'll weigh those, as we said, over the next 30 days and decide how to amend."

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SOCIAL) Nobody Wants To Read Your Boring Social Posts

April 25, 2012

True confession time. I've always been more interested in talk radio than music radio. I could never get around the basic truth that an Usher song on my station doesn't sound any different or better than the same Usher song my competition could play. The only place I could see an opportunity to differentiate my morning show from the rest, and seize the competitive advantage, was during the talk breaks. It always worked.
Why did it work? Because that's where human-to-human connections are made over our airwaves. I never knew a song, liner, or sweeper to make a human-to-human connection with anybody. What I said, whether I made listeners laugh, cry, or think, bonded them to us. So much so that they were loyal to us. Remember listener loyalty? They were giving it to us back when we were earning it.

So now an inner-industry debate is raging about whether or not talk radio is connecting with people too much, tapping into their emotions too much, relating to them too much. The message has gone out, "Hey you talk radio hosts, maybe you better pull back and tone it down." Are you kidding me? Now you want to take the one format left where human beings are the product, and where the results for the format are strong, and make it less compelling?

Radio Ink talked to syndicated talker Neal Boortz about the coming "less impactful" movement in talk radio, led by Mike Huckabee and Mike Smerconish. Boortz, with characteristic candor, says, "[Smerconish] is not compelling or exciting. The listeners are not going to react with overwhelming enthusiasm to somebody like that. It can be a liberal, a libertarian, or a conservative. If [listeners] are entertained, they are going to tune in." It blows my panties off that radio managers still actually have to be told things like that?but apparently they do.

What's this got to do with social media? Well, the exact same thing applies to your Facebook posts, your Tweets, your Pinterest pins, your YouTube videos, whatever. Your social communities look to you to entertain them. Your radio station is most likely in the position of being the primary, if not lone, source of locally generated entertainment. Even if you're not allowed to entertain on the air anymore, how dare you bore the living hell out of your social audience with one "who cares?" post after another?

Boortz also stated his feeling that syndication is destroying the supply of good local talk show hosts. "The talent pool is very shallow." Shallow? The talent pool is a dry lakebed. Not because there aren't any amazingly creative people out there who could put on a great show, but because radio managers won't give them the mic. After all, they might (shudder) interest somebody! 

So if the on-air talent pool is shallow, how's your social content talent pool doing? Did you know you even needed a social content talent pool? If you don't have social content talent, then who's doing your posts? And what are they posting? Is it interesting and entertaining to your fans? Are they engaging with it? Are you stirring up reactions on your social streams or do you keep it nice and "toned down"?

You have amazing assets. You have a radio signal that's free and easy to get. You have multiple social streams. And you have an established brand your local audience samples heavily and repeatedly in search of entertainment. If you're putting up boring, marketing-heavy posts and tweets, you're betraying both your brand and the people who are trying to like you.

Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog The Stiles Files and follow him @mikestiles.

(4/27/2012 12:15:50 AM)
Mike puts another one out of the yard and into a parked attendant.
Indeed, whoever said "If you tell a person something long enough, they'll believe it." was both a liar and a fool.
The stations promoting the online position of: "This is us digging us and so should you." are wasting resources and tiring the rest of us out.
(4/26/2012 8:42:09 AM)
Spot on Mike. Great points about communication.
In my "live" in person workshops I have learned it is the stories that engage and make the content stick. With social media we have discovered the same thing...ENGAGE...ENGAGE...ENGAGE. Come on Radio People, listen to Mike, he speaks the truth.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

NAB Wants More Deregulation

The NAB has filed comments with the FCC that may not sit well with some radio owners who believe deregulation has resulted in less localism. The comments filed by the NAB call for more relaxed rules than those currently on the books at the FCC. "The existing local radio ownership rules are not necessary to promote the commission's goals of competition, diversity or localism. Recent developments in the audio marketplace have made it competitive by any metric, but certainly in comparison to the less competitive and less diverse marketplace that existed when Congress enacted the restrictions in 1996." The NAB goes on to say that the competition in the audio marketplace has rendered the current ownership restrictions obsolete.

In addition, the NAB comments filed yesterday say that the local radio ownership restrictions are likely inhibiting localism. "As shown by a 2010 government accountability study, radio programming decisions are locally-made, based on the interests and preferences of local listeners, and are not determined by ownership structures. In other words, the current local radio ownership restrictions are unnecessary because, even in their absence, local radio stations will do what they have always done - respond to local listeners. Studies in fact have shown that local restrictions are more likely to inhibit localism than foster it."

You can read the entire NAB document HERE.
The Radio comments begin on page 41 of the document
And, please do leave your thoughts an comments below.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

NAB Wants FCC Commissioners Confirmed.

You may have read that some politicians may attempt to block President Obama's two nominations to the FCC. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley vowed to hold up the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Paiunless unless he got some answers about a company called LightSquared. The FCC has refused to give Grassley any information. Yesterday, NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committe urging Congress to confirm the nominations.

"The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) strongly encourages the Senate Commerce Committee to act promptly on these nominations and ensure that the FCC has a full complement of Commissioners next year and beyond, a time during which the agency will be making major decisions that will impact radio and television broadcasters and the entire telecommunications industry. You have worked closely with Jessica and Ajit, so you already know that they are highly qualified, knowledgeable and thoughtful public servants. We believe that these attributes and their combined years of experience - both at the FCC and in Congress - will be of significant value to the Commission. With the Senate's approval, NAB and our nation's broadcasters look forward to working with Jessica and Ajit for many years to come."

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

What if Your Talent Wants Out of His Contract?

In our "Ask The Attorney" segment we always try to come up with a question that have a real possibility of taking place at your station. This question came to us as a result of what's going on in Birmingham where Cumulus is battling with Paul Finebaum who has a signed contract but has filed a lawsuit against Cumulus. The interesting part of the Birmingham story is Finebaum is still on the air with Cumulus.

What should General Managers be aware of if one of their talents (under contract) decides to challenge the contract he signed by filing a lawsuit against them?

John Garziglia says:
If radio stations could operate without egotistical, big-headed, narcissistic air talent, it would make our business so much easier.  But, that is not generally the case, at least not as long as DJ-on-a-computer-chip ?Denise? sounds more like R2D2 than girl (she is sort of virtually attractive, however).  But back to the question at hand which concerns a falling out between contractual air talent and the radio station. 

If the radio station is being sued by the air talent, then either the air talent wants to be relieved of his or her obligations for continuing services under the contract, or the radio station failed to pay the compensation stated or otherwise failed to uphold its obligations and promises under the contract.  Hopefully, the radio station was well represented in its drafting of the contract. Every employment contract lawsuit is fact-specific and state-law specific.  There is no way to make general observations about such a lawsuit.

There are FCC rule-related and general observations that can be made about an air talent lawsuit situation.  While it may be obvious, the radio station is liable for everything that goes over the air emanating from the disgruntled air talent.  There are a variety of ways that air talent can create FCC and legal issues ? indecency, contest rule violations, payola, station ID, EAS, copyright infringement, and a general liability of the radio station for libel and slander. 

While an air talent who wants to leave his or her employment and is suing to do so would presumably not give the radio station legal reasons for his or her termination under the contract and a possible counter-suit, it all depends upon the integrity of the air talent and the desire of the air talent for continuing employment in our industry. 

High-profile experienced air talent will not likely jeopardize their career and their contractual claims by engaging in conduct that is a breach of the contract or radio station policy.  But, if an adverse situation does arise, it does not hurt to remind even experienced air talent what is required by the contract and radio station policy.  At this point, the radio station will have its counsel assisting in the defense of the lawsuit so that counsel should be fully consulted on any such issues arising. 

And looking to the future, once the lawsuit is resolved, it serves the radio station well to recap exactly what happened to lead to a lawsuit situation between the air talent and the radio station in the first instance, and what provisions in the radio station?s employment contract with air talent can be strengthened to attempt to avoid a lawsuit in the future.  Or, if a lawsuit is filed by disgruntled air talent who wishes to prematurely leave for greener grass, how the radio station might possibly be put into a better legal position the next time such litigation is filed by air talent wishing to walk. 

(9/22/2011 9:52:01 PM)
"If radio stations could operate without egotistical, big-headed, narcissistic air talent, it would make our business so much easier."

Interesting.

I've always felt the same way about management.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Dickey Wants to Compete With Groupon

That's what the Cumulus CEO tells the Wall Street Journal. "We see this deal as giving us scale in the local arena. We'll have 2,000 local sellers in 120 cities that all have relationships with key vendors." Cumulus' daily deals program called SweetJack started back in April in Atlanta and now Cumulus is expanding it out to to Dallas and Houston. It rolls out into 18 more markets over the next several months.

Dickey tells the paper "DJ's can promote Sweetjack deals on air without using ad inventory. If, for example, SweetJack members receive an offer for unlimited popcorn at an Atlanta Hawks NBA game, the next day "our morning guys can talk about how full they are."

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here