Top Story
Are PPM Problems Costing Radio One?
On the earnings call yesterday Radio One executives made it clear that part of the revenue issues they were having in four markets were directly related to Arbitron's PPM. Last night Radio One Radio President Barry Mayo confirmed to Radio Ink "Absolutely, there is a direct connection between the impact of PPM on our ratings in our Midwest markets and our revenue declines in those markets." The markets are Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Indianapolis. And, according to Radio One Indy took a 50% ratings hit.
Industry
Sponsored by
Radio One Falls Short of Expectations.
Sometimes when you put your neck on the line, things don't always work out the way you had hoped. In Mid March Radio One's Alfred Liggins predicted single digit growth for his company in Q1. Thursday Liggins had to inform investors that didn't happen. Problem one: a Tsunami. The natural disaster in Japan has taken yet another radio company to the financial woodshed. Overall net revenue for radio was down 1.5% for Radio One and Liggins told analysts and investors "we definitely underperformed our peers. It's disappointing but this is a short-term disruption."
Tom Joyner... The Brand Saves The Day For Radio One
Radio One owns 53.5% of Reach Media, which is the brainchild of Tom Joyner. Reach is home to The Tom Joyner Morning Show, BlackAmericaWeb.com and The Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage among other properties. In all Reach Media touches an audience of more than 8 million people in over 100 markets and has over 1.5 million registered online users at BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Convergence Begins in 5 Days. Very Few Seats Remain.
Radio Ink's Convergence 11 is less than one week away at the Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View, CA. This year in addition to a full slate of cutting-edge panels and career-advancing network opportunities we have an unprecedented and stellar lineup of keynote speakers. Are you registered?
LimeWire To Pay Lables $105 Million
LimeWire founder Mark Gorton and his file-sharing company have agreed to pay four record labels for damages as their court case came to an end. Gorton's lawyers agreed on a settlement of $105 Million Thursday. Chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America Mitch Bainwol said "We are pleased to have reached a large monetary settlement following the court's finding that both LimeWire and its founder Mark Gorton are personally liable for copyright infringement."
Today’s Hottest Wi-Fi Radio Devices
are lots of Wi-Fi desktop radios that you can place virtually anywhere and listen to Internet radio stations from all around the world, any genre you want at any time of the day. If you really want to, you can also grab many AM/FM stations in the US that simulcast online . . . so it’s an all-in-one solution for free streaming content, minus the cost of the device, of course! These devices tap into the web to retrieve content from all over the world via a simple Wi-Fi signal in the home or office.
Steve Harvey Sets $100K Goal For Tornado And Flood Victims
On Monday The Steve Harvey Morning Show will host the “Neighbors Helping Neighbors Overcome Disasters” radio fundraiser, in the wake of the Alabama and Mississippi River areas that have suffered devastating losses from tornadoes and flooding. Partnering with the American Red Cross to accept donations, the morning show is hosting the special program during its broadcast 6 – 10 AM EST with special guests, to offer support and urge listeners to raise funds all day long as families in the disaster-stricken regions start the long road to recovery and rebuilding in the South.
KXNT (CBS) Las Vegas Gets New PD
Andrew Paul will take the reigns as the new programmer on May 23rd for 100.5-FM/840-AM NewsRadio KXNT. Paul comes to Las Vegas (market #33) from Boise (market #100) where he's been Program Director of KBOI-AM and All-Sports KTIK-AM/FM since 2002. Prior to Boise, Paul was Program Director at 610 KNML "The Sports Animal" in Albuquerque and hosted a talk show on News Radio 770 KKOB.
Westwood One's Dennis Miller Adds Alabama Affiliate. Approaches 300.
Dennis Miller is the subject of the May 16th Radio Ink cover story as he approaches 300 affiliates. The entertainment talk program is syndicated by Westwood One which is now focusing entirely on programming after selling off its traffic division to Clear Channel. Miller has just added WJRW-AM Grand Rapids, MI and WUSD-FM Dothan, AL. To read more about Miller's 4 years on the radio subscribe to the Radio Ink print edition.
Westergren On Cover of Radio Ink Magazine
In the Radio Ink issue now on the street, Pandora creator Tim Westergren discusses the privacy issue, traditional radio and "personalized radio" among many other topics in our exclusive interview. Here's a quote from the issue as Westergren differentiates over-the-air radio from Internet radio. "Unlike traditional radio stations that broadcast the same content at the same time to all of their listeners, we enable each of our listeners to create up to 100 personalized stations."
The Truth About How Clear Channel Let Me Go
Five years ago George Toulas was on sabatical when he received a call from John Hogan. Hogan needed someone to run the Clear Channel Miami cluster. Toulas needed to know if he still had his fastball. Having worked in radio as far back as the Chancellor and AM/FM days Toulas was no spring chicken. Add to that, time away from the business and it's understandable why anyone would wonder if they still had what it takes to succeed in this stress-filled sales-driven business. The icing on the cake no doubt was the pressure and high expectations of being part of radio's biggest company. Toulas quickly learned his fastball was fine, the Miami market excelled under his leadership and sales took off.
Neil Part 2. On Dereg. On The Web. On History.
About a week ago John Dickey of Cumulus said the government should continue to loosen up ownership limits, that companies should be able to own more stations than they're currently allowed to operate. For 25 years Bob Neil has been part of the broadcasting industry, most recently as Executive Vice President for Cox, until announcing his retirement this week. During that time he witnessed regulation and deregulation. Now, with one foot out the door, and a chance to reflect on arguably the one piece of legislation that transformed the industry, we asked Neil if deregulation was a good thing or a bad thing.
Management Tools
Radio Wayne Award to Honor The Great Stu Olds
Radio Ink has changed the name of one of the Radio Wayne awards to honor the late Katz Media Group President and CEO Stu Olds who passed away in 2010. The National Sales Manager award will now be called the Radio Ink/Stu Olds National Sales Manager Award. Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads commented "Stu Olds set a high standard for the radio business and his passing was a great loss to our industry. Naming this award after Stu is our little way of helping to keep his standards and his memory alive."
Tornado Coverage
Sponsored by
Chris Coleman Thanks Radio For Helping.
As you know we've been following the story of Cox Radio employee Chris Coleman. Chris lost his home, and nearly his family, when a tornado toppled his house while he was on the air in Birmingham. His family had just practiced a tornado drill the morning the twister ripped through the house crumpling it into a million little pieces. Coleman's wife and daughters had raced to the basement where they were found unharmed by a family member after the weather cleared. Many of you have sent in donations to help Chris and his family and he contacted us to get out his words of appreciation.
Video Shows How Radio Was Quick to Help Tornado Victims
The Cox Media Group Radio Stations in Birmingham, Alabama banded together to collect supplies from their listeners and donate those items to the people hit by the April 2011 tornado's that blew through the state. The group produced this video which shows a lot of the damage and how the community is coming together to rebuild.
Joyner Goes To Alabama To Help
"The Tom Joyner Morning Show" will be in Birmingham today broadcasting live from the studios of Cox radio station WBHK-FM. Joyner told Radio Ink when he hit the ground yesterday the devastation from the tornadoes was incredible but the attitude of the people was uplifting. "From the first tour of Pratt City in Birmingham, we saw public buildings and private homes in various stages of destruction: tarps over rooftops, windows blown out and entire structures blown away with nothing more than front steps leading up to where a house once stood. In some cases, a house sustained very little damage while directly across the street a church looked like a giant just stomped the roof until it met the floor. And yet, the biggest impression was the spirit of this community's people: loving and helping."
Tornado Help From Radio Continues. Nashville Helps Huntsville.
Today from 6AM to 7PM the Cumulus stations in Nashville will be collecting items for tornado relief. From flashlights to baby wipes to pet food, the stations located at 10 Music Circle East will be the drop-off location for listeners. All the items collected will help supplement the disaster relief that is already in place and will be delivered courtesy of R&D Trucking in Indian Mound, Tenn. and Woodlawn Paparock Travel Center in Clarksville, Ky. Everything will be delivered to Huntsville, Alabama.
Cox Getting Deserved Kudos For Tornado Coverage
Last week we told you about how Clear Channel and Citadel were super serving their local communities after tornadoes killed hundreds in Alabama and other states. There is more to tell you from our radio brothers as we here more good news related to the coverage, this time about the Cox Radio cluster in Birmingham. Cox Birmingham Market Manager David DuBose tells Radio Ink "we know we saved a lot of folks."
Citadel Supporting Neighbors.
Citadel Birmingham has now filled 10 semi-trucks full of emergency supplies and delivered them to the hardest hit by recent tornadoes. The Citadel staff has been working around the clock since the tornadoes hit, more than 50 Citadel employees in Birmingham gave up their entire weekend to help more than 200 listener volunteers sort and load trucks. Thousands of listeners have dropped off supplies non-stop for four days.
Radio At It's Best....Once Again.
With power out, no television and no Internet, local radio in Birmingham, Alabama and other small markets came to the rescue once again. And for those of you disgruntled former radio dinosaurs who continue to mock the NAB and Radio Ink who are behind the chip in cell phone idea, this one's for you. Using their battery operated radios and their iHeartradio app local residents were kept apprised of the situation and are now doing the same trying to pick up the pieces as over 1 million people in the area were without power.
Convergence Technology
Sponsored by
Why I attend Convergence.
Radio Ink's Convergence 2011 begins in one week and rather than us telling you over and over again why you should attend, we figured we'd ask someone who's attended the show in the past and will be joining us again this year. Bryce Wilson is the webmaster and director of digital operations for Curtis Media in Raleigh. Wilson says he attends Convergence to "stay on top of the ever-changing world of digital media and traditional media, and their merging into one new technology. The digital world is moving so fast...faster than tranditional radio people are used to dealing with."
Radio Ink
Radio Ink Launches "I Want FM"
Perhaps the example of what took place in Tyler Texas last night is a great example of why radio stations across America should get behind the push to have FM chips installed in cell phones. Public safety is one of the reasons the NAB is making a push to install the chips. Yesterday, Radio Ink publisher Eric Rhoads wrote an editorial about the chips and debuted a new commercial we are hoping radio stations can use to help educate the public.
Mighty Red II: New Features Never Before On ANY Radio
Radio Ink debuts the Mighty Red II, bringing back the little HD radio with mighty HD sound. New features on the Mighty Red II include Artist Experience -- cover art, artist info, and more -- onscreen ads that can be synced with audio, Live Pause, and song and ad Bookmarking. It's a great gift for clients to show them what's really possible with HD Radio. Click the headline to order now.
Get The PastBlast iPad App
PastBlast, the new iPad app from Radio Ink is available now in the Apple App Store. Historical audio, photos, and more from every era of radio's history, with navigation through a beautiful, fully equipped retro radio studio. Click the headline to see it, or get it here.
Updated: Radio Pros Available
The economy is slowly turning around, and broadcasters are beginning to hire again. Put your name in front of the industry with a free listing in Radio Pros Available. And we'll be happy to post your aircheck or demo, or a link to your website. Click the headline to learn more.
