Goldstein Exits Saga, Launches Digital Company.

3-26-2015

Saga Communications announced on Thursday afternoon that Executive Vice President and Group Program Director Steve Goldstein has exited the company. Goldstein has held the EVP & Group PD position with Saga since 1988 and has been  with the company since its inception in 1986. Chairman, President and CEO of Saga Communications, Edward K. Christian, thanked Goldstein for his many contributions over his 28-year career with Saga. To assist with his transition from the company, Goldstein has agreed to serve as a consultant to Saga. Goldstein is foucusing his attention on his new company, Amplifi Media. Radio Ink exclusive audio interview below.

Commenting on his departure, Mr. Goldstein noted in the press release announcing his exit, "Saga has been a remarkable home for 28 years. We have built some terrific brands and grown top talent. Best of all has been working with a wonderfully gifted staff. While I will miss them and Ed Christian, I am pleased to continue with Saga in a consulting capacity and am excited to move on to a more entrepreneurial role with my own company where I will be focusing on digital on-demand audio."

The Focus on audio Goldstein mentioned is the formation of the new compay Amplifi Media. Amplifi will focus on the podcast and audio on demand sector. Goldstein noted on the new company, "The top of the iTunes podcast chart is dominated by NPR and affiliates. They have done a tremendous job but there is a world of mainstream topics yet to be explored for on-demand-audio. That's where Amplifi will live."

Goldstein continued, "As connected cars, Bluetooth, and smartphones converge, time-shifted audio will grow exponentially. People will listen to content at a time and place of their choosing, just as is occurring rapidly in the television industry with Netflix, DVRs, and on-demand video."

(3/27/2015 3:31:01 PM)
Good idea, but he needs a PR coach... sounded bored and disinterested. Soon, you may need to convince a VC for cash, or talent to work for you...polish up.

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Emmis First Company To Show Big Revenue Gains

4-4-14

CFO Pat Walsh called it, "A triumphant period for the company." Radio has been reporting flat to low single-digit growth quarter after quarter. Was Thursday the first of many positive earnings reports or a one-hit wonder? Emmis showed strong top-line revenue gains that could bode very well for the industry if these double-digit growth numbers are reported by others when they check in with Wall Street in the coming weeks.

Emmis' radio revenues for the fourth fiscal quarter (January to March 2014) were up 11 percent from $29.1 million to $32.4 million. Excluding 98.7FM in New York, which is being programmed by ESPN pursuant to an LMA, radio net revenues were up 12 percent. These results outperformed Emmis? local radio markets in which revenue growth improved 4 percent during the quarter.

For the full year, radio net revenues were $145.4 million, compared to $138.6 million in the prior year, an increase of 5 percent. These results also outperformed Emmis? local radio markets in which revenue growth improved 3 percent for the year.

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Mancow And TRN Part Company

1-16-14

Talk Radio Networks has announced Erich ?Mancow? Muller is moving on to multiple new ventures, from cable TV projects to the syndication of his nationally acclaimed radio show. Mancow said, ?I have enjoyed my time with Mark, TRN-FM, and the TRN-FM team immensely. I now move on to exciting projects on TV and radio. I deeply appreciate everyone that has helped me to get to where I am today.?

TRN CEO Mark Masters said, ?We have enjoyed working with such a massive talent all of these years, but Dial Global/Westwood One?s failure to pay their part, for a long period of time, on the joint venture agreement we had with them for the Mancow Show, made it impossible for us to extend the term of our agreement with Mancow. He is a brilliant talent, and a good friend ? a true class act ? he will be missed here by all.?

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Insurance Company Off the Hook for Hefty Legal Fee

9-5-13

Entercom's Insurance Company does not have to pay over $800,000 in legal fees for former part-time morning show assistant Mathew Carter, according to Courthouse News Service. Back in 2007 Jennifer Strange died of water intoxication after participating in a "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest at KDND-FM. Carter was handing contestants the water.  

Strange drank 1.5 gallons of water during the morning-show stunt. Her family sued Entercom Sacramento and several of its employees. A jury eventually awarded the family more than $16.5 million in damages.

Strange's family eventually dismissed Carter from the suit. However, during his defense he opted to hire his own attorney rather than one provided by Entercom's insurance company. He racked up over $800,000 in legal fees and submitted a bill for that amount. A Sacramento County judge found that Carter's rejection of the insurance company attorney "was not reasonable and therefore costs and fees incurred by Carter to defend himself were not 'necessary expenditures'" under labor code.

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Show Prep Company Launches Radio's Social Network

10-15-2012

Wise Brother Media says Studio Think Tank (http://www.studiothinktank.com/) is a social network they built specifically for radio professionals. CEO Johnny Vega says, ?For the last two years, we?ve been working on completely revolutionizing the way radio professionals connect. Our goal was to build a full-scale social network just for the radio industry that would offer real-time idea sharing, killer content and powerful networking tools. It truly is unlike anything that has ever existed in radio."

COO Bryan Crain says, ?With the recent changes in the radio industry, there are thousands of very creative radio professionals who are constrained by the limitations of a PPM-era mentality.  We built Studio Think Tank so these radio pros would have a place to flex their creative muscles in a productive and purposeful way."

Studio Think Tank is Wise Brother Media?s first venture outside of traditional radio show prep. Wise Brother Media has produced The Complete Sheet and Delicious Audio show prep services since 1996 and 2004, respectively.

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Bob Moody Starts His Own Consulting Company

7-23-2012

Moody is calling his new full-service consulting company Real Local Radio Group. He says it will offer local content coaching and a wide variety of essential Country programming services to help stations build strong local market brands. ?As listener choices multiply, quality local content becomes even more important as a way to make your station profitable, but there is a generation of broadcasters who never learned those skills.  We teach proven recipes for local programming and show your staff where to find the ingredients.?

Bob?s weekly national playlist recommendations and music reviews are available for free at http://www.reallocalradio.com/  Client stations also receive customized playlists and an additional confidential weekly music memo. Moody has been a member of the board of directors of the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music, and the Country Radio Broadcasters.  He was inducted into the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame in 2007 and has been recognized as one of Country radio's most influential programmers by Country Aircheck magazine. He is also a Country Music Radio Hall of Fame member.

Reach out to Bob via e-mail Bob@RealLocalRadio.com

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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

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Salem Board Member Makes Loan to Company

5-29-2012

Salem entered into a binding letter of intent with board member Roland Hinz for up to $6 million. The revolving line of credit is unsecured. And, according to an SEC filing the money may be used to repurchase a portion of Salem?s outstanding senior secured notes. The Salem board concluded terms of the line of credit with Hinz were more favorable to Salem as compared to terms of lines of credit available from unaffiliated third parties. Salem also entered into a new business loan agreement with First California bank. The loan is an unsecured, ten million dollar, fixed-term loan with a maturity date of June 15, 2014.

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Townsquare Now 7th-Largest Radio Company By Revenue

It hasn't taken Steven Price long to steer Townsqaure Media toward the top of the radio revenue charts. In just under two years, the private company backed by Oaktree Capital has experienced phenomenal station - and revenue - growth, rivaled only by Cumulus. For the first year, Price kept Townsquare very much under the radar, shunning publicity while picking up some of radio's broken pieces and standing them back up. Townsquare now has 244 stations in small markets all over the United States; only Cumulus and Clear Channel have more. And perhaps, if Clear Channel were in a financial position to shed some of its smaller market stations, Townsquare would have more. It has more Oaktree money to spend and it's no secret the company is continually looking to grow. Tomorrow, Townsquare will celebrate its second birthday and, with its recent 55-station pickup from Cumulus, will do so as the 7th-largest radio company by revenue at approximately $240 million. As we reported in the 2011 "40 Most Powerful People In Radio" issue last July, (where Price debuted at number 17), Townsquare was ranked 12th in revenue with $133 million. At $240 million, Townsquare now generates more revenue than the radio assets of Radio One, Hubbard, Greater Media Salem, and Emmis, all of whom were ahead of it only 10 months ago, according to 2011 BIA numbers. And just an FYI: The 2012 "40 Most Powerful People In Radio" issue is only two months away. According to our calculations based on public financial documents, research, information from analysts, and other estimates provided to us over the past few weeks, here is how radio's top 10 companies are now aligned in terms of revenue (these numbers are our best guesstimates involving radio assets only):1) Clear Channel - 2.88 billion
2) CBS - $1.34 billion
3) Cumulus - $1.14 billion
4) Entercom - $383 million
5) Cox - $375 million
6) Univision $323 million
7) Townsquare $240 million
8) Radio One - $221 million
9) Hubbard $182 million
10) Salem - $179 million

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Entravision COO Quits But Will Consult Company

Entravision Communications says Philip Wilkinson will be resigning from his position as President and Chief Operating Officer on May 31st.  Wilkinson will stay on as an Entravision board member and has entered into a consulting agreement under which he will continue to advise the company on its strategic and operating plans.

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MEL: "SiriusXM is The Largest Radio Company in World"

4-4-2012

In a rare interview, SiriusXM CEO Mel Karmazin sat down with Jeff Bercovici of Forbes magazine, where Karmazin not only told Bercovici Sirius is now the largest radio company in the world, he told him, ?I think I?m one of the most underpaid executives in the history of executive payment." Karmazin has earned more than $37 million since he took the job in November 2004 and may make about $125 million when he exercises stock ­options. The stock price when he took the job was $9. Right now it's about $2.

Forbes also points out the growth in the company since Karmazin took over: "Sirius had 660,000 subscribers when Karmazin signed on; today it has 22 million. Fewer than one in five new cars came equipped with a satellite radio then; now two out of three do. Sirius was bleeding at the rate of $670 million a year; this year it expects to generate free cash flow of $700 million and is closing in on $1 billion in Ebitda. Its annual revenues have zoomed from $67 million to $3 billion."

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Radio Vet Creates Hot Clock Company.

1-26-2012

David Darling voiced his first radio commercial when he was 4 years old. His dad was in the radio business for 40 years working at stations such as WTRY, WMCA, WIND and WHK so there was in the family DNA for Darling to get into radio as well. He started out at the high school radio station where he caught the radio bug. His first paid position was in Houston Texas and ever since he's been working his way through the ranks of radio. Today he works for Salem in Dallas. In addition to his radio gig, Darling is an entrepreneur. He saw a need for a product in the radio industry, he figured out how to create that product and now he's selling it all over the world through his company DLD Media. We asked him how it all got started.

How did you start DLD media?
Over the years when we would have a local show come on the station, the Sales Department would ask for a Program Clock (or Hot Clock) for their potential advertisers.  I always had to ask our graphics person to draw something up - and after several days of waiting, it was usually incorrect.  It wasn't their fault, they just knew how to work the graphics software, but didn't have a grasp on programming.  I looked around for some software that would create a hot clock, but really couldn't find what I was looking for, so in 2008 I set out to create my own software from the perspective of a radio programmer.

Developing software is not simple. How did you get into that?
The first thing I had to do was find someone who I could partner with that understood software programming code. So after posting a few ads, I finally found the person I felt comfortable with.  Now the hard part - conveying to a programmer what you are trying to accomplish from a radio perspective and have him translate that into software. This process took about a year of testing, working and re-working at nights and on weekends.  In addition, I took some college classes to better understand the coding process.  But finally, I felt that we had developed a workable piece of software that accomplished the goal - 
The Broadcast Clock Creator.

- Are you finding there is a need for this product? Where and from whom?
I first started to use The Broadcast Clock Creator at my office. I would create clocks for our local shows and give to the Sales Department to use on presentations.  After being asked several times "Hey, how did you make this", I realized that I could market this.  So I created a website, studied up on low-cost marketing techniques and search engine optimization, and over time I began to see the sales grow.  I would ask for feedback from users, then take the money from the sales to modify the software with these suggestions.  I'm now up to the newly released 3rd version of The Broadcast Clock Creator - which in addition to allowing the user to print a clock, export to PDF or image file - there is also a paperless version that is displayed on your desktop in real time.  I have found this new desktop version to be especially helpful for fill in hosts.  The host can have the hot clock in front of them on their desktop and it displays the current segment you are in, how long until the next segment, etc. in real time.  The Broadcast Clock Creator has been translated into several languages (by people, not computer) and the response has been positive from around the world. Probably the most unique purchase has been from the Ugandan government which has purchased several copies.  I have also found that non-broadcasters have been purchasing the software as an easy way to create pie charts, which I thought was interesting.

- What is the pricing structure, the delivery method, installation, service, etc. And how can people get in touch with you for more information?
The price for The Broadcast Clock Creator is only $19.95 - which not only makes the software accessible to radio professionals, but also college students who may be studying communications or part-time broadcasters looking to gain experience.  All sales are online and you can purchase the software at http://www.broadcastclockcreator.com.  Once you pay through PayPal, you will receive a unique download link for the software to install on your PC (no Mac version - yet).  I usually try to respond to emails as soon as possible if anyone has installation or usage questions.  For more information, simply fill   out the contact form at the website.

Reachout to David HERE

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What Radio Can Learn From The Ford Motor Company

1-23-2012

Every year after visiting CES I come away even more impressed with The Ford Motor Company.
They hired current President and CEO Alan Mullaly in 2006 and they have continued to invigorate the car industry with their innovation and respect for the consumer. The Ford company always manages to create a ?buzz? at CES. For example this year they displayed their EVOS concept- a cloud connected vehicle that syncs the car to your office or home. So what lessons can radio take from the Ford Experience:

1) Fresh perspective is critical to success
Since Mullaly?s arrival they have benefited from his outside the car industry thinking(he came from Boeing). He didn?t approach the challenge by approaching everything from the status quo. They set a course that ultimately has caused others in the industry to follow. They have transformed from a car company to a technology company that happens to make cars. By transforming their own brand they?ve helped transform an entire industry. Radio managers sometimes need to step away from our inside the business thinking and take a fresh perspective on seizing opportunities.

2) Innovation encouragement makes a brand stand out.
Ford has made a habit of opening app development up to developers outside their company. By recognizing that open-source software is a collaborative community they?ve made their brand stand out in the pack. At CES 2012 Ford announced that ?Roximity?(a location aware daily deal notification service)was the winner of the Ford Sync App Developer Challenge. They showed Roximity?s smartphone app at the show as part of their display after announcing the contest in November.

The app provides real time deals and specials relevant to a users location. Ford?s goal is to forge an open collaborative bond with the wireless and consumer electronics industry as well as the app developer communities. Radio needs to find more ways to encourage innovation inside our buildings and beyond.

3) Let the consumers drive the experience.
By talking to their customers Ford is consistently able to get feedback that presents them with new opportunities to enhance their identity. I would venture a good guess the new Ford Energi which will go up against the Prius is an idea born out of customer feedback. Ford knows the importance of the customer experience and how it needs to stack up with customer expectation. By staying in sync with the listener experience radio can build upon it?s connection with a local market.

4) Capture a ?buzz? from something already hot in technology
Apple lead the way with ?Siri? the voice command system for the IPhone 4S and Ford has taken voice commands to the next level for their Sync Applink system. Ford drivers can fire up their own radio station thru the use of voice control to create the ultimate listening experience. By staying connected to what?s hot radio can be a greater top of mind medium.

5) Everybody on the team is on the bus and a brand ambassador
The Ford team that I experienced at CES has complete and passionate buy-in. From set-up crew to key engineers and designers to PR crew everyone acts as a Ford Brand Ambassador. Does your team at your radio station feel like it can be your best brand ambassador on the street?

Buzz Knight is the Vice President of Program Development for Greater Media and he can be reached at bknight@greatermediaboston.com. Knight was named among ?Best Programmers? by Radio Ink Magazine in 2007 and 2010. He has served on the programming subcommittee of the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB) and is currently a member of the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) COLRAM Committee.

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(AUDIO) New Company Gives Salespeople Exactly What They've Been Looking For

12-14-2011

Part of radio's problem has always been that we can never be totally sure an ad we played drove a specific consumer to purchase a specific product. Sure we try to produce anecdotal survey information or ask an advertiser if sales increased month over month. But how many times have you heard the story of a consumer who purchased a product after hearing a TV ad yet the ads only ran on radio. Serial entrepreneur Tom Burgess (pictured), with VC backing, has launched a company that gives radio salespeople specific data that shows advertisers exactly how many consumers respond to an ad. It's the information salespeople have always wanted, solid proof that radio advertising works. Of course the ad still has to be well produced and the offer from the advertiser has to move the consumer to action.

Here's how the new technology works. When an ad runs on your station, if the listener is interested in the product he or she interacts with that ad, for example by sending a text or short code. The offer or discount made in the ad is automatically added to the consumers credit card once your listener goes shopping. It's an instant rebate, without the mailing, without any paper to fill out and without any coupon scanning. It's the listener interacting with the ad.

Burgess has solidified relationships with all the major banks and credit card companies. Nothing needs to be done by anyone at the checkout counter. Once the campaign is over linkablenetworks provides you with the data of how the campaign worked, which you can then show the advertiser. Private information such as credit card information is never shared. You can take that data to the advertiser and say 50 people or 100 people or 1,000 responded directly to your ad this week. Of course, this also puts a little pressure on you to make sure the ads are well done, make a great offer and move people to action.

Bain is a financial backer of the 2-year old company. And, just an FYI, there is no cost to you to use the technology.

Here's our interview with Burgess who explains in more detail how the technology works.
Read more about Linkablenetworks.com HERE

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John Tesh Continues to Grow His Company

John Tesh's Teshmedia Group has secured the trademarks for 3 more categories in their 'Intelligence for....' family of marks. 'Intelligence for Your Health,' 'Intelligence for Your Pets' and 'Intelligence for Your Love Life' have been added to Tesh's core brand of 'Intelligence for Your Life.' Currently, the 'Intelligence for Your Life' mark represents the company's syndicated radio program (8.2 million listeners) and the company's product line that includes a collection of high fiber/high protein healthy snack bars and Tesh's self-help books.

Tesh said "We have had tremendous success with the core brand and now we are reacting to our listeners' requests for more category-specific content and products. Intelligence for Your- Health, Pets and Love Life will become stand alone content-rich websites with products designed around the 'Intelligence' we have gathered in the 10 years since we launched the radio show. As host of the largest independently syndicated radio show in North America, ?Intelligence for Your Life with John Tesh,? he reaches more than 8.2 million avid listeners a week on over 300 radio stations across the U.S, Canada and the U.K.

Through a solid career that spans more than 25 years, John Tesh is celebrated worldwide as a respected figure in entertainment and broadcasting.  Since his early days co-hosting the hit television show, Entertainment Tonight, Tesh has branched out to become a successful recording and touring artist, a best-selling author and humanitarian.  As a recording artist, Tesh has sold over seven million albums and DVDs, has had a string of number one radio hits, earned two Grammy nominations, produced seven hit PBS music specials and performs for over 200,000 live concert fans each year.

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Arbitron Teams With Belgium Internet Company

Arbitron is continuing to work on an online ratings solution that both traditional radio stations and pure-play Internet companies can use to measure listeners in. Yesterday, the company announced it had formed a partnership with AdsWizz out of Belgium. The company provides server-based ad serving and measurement solutions.

 Arbitron's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Sean Creamer said "AdsWizz will process the server-based, streaming log files exclusively for our planned digital radio service. This collaboration is designed to help us to realize our vision for providing standard reporting metrics for over the air and digital streaming audiences on behalf of our current radio broadcast customers and for digital music services. We are currently working with both our radio station clients and the digital service providers to develop the first report deliverables."

Check out the company HERE

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Tracy Gilliam Starts Her Own Company

Sales and management veteran Tracy Gilliam has launched a sales consultancy business. It's called TopLine Matters and its based out of Washington D.C. Gilliam says the launch includes more than 30 clients including radio stations owned by NRG, Hubbard and Cumulus Media. In addition, her company consults The Caf? Mocha Radio Show and Listener Driven Radio (LDR).

Gilliam has 20 years experience in the radio industry including on-air, sales, and executive-level management positions. Her sales management experience includes National Sales Manager at KMOX-AM in St. Louis, Market Manager for Clear Channel Radio in Omaha, and General Sales Manager for heritage classic hits station KRTH-FM in Los Angeles. Since 2008, Gilliam has operated TTG Media Research in Washington DC serving as a sales consultant to stations in large, medium and small markets.

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Timeless Cool, Eastlan And Tacher Company Expand

Kent Phillips, Mark Follett and Bert Hambleton have decided to invest in Timeless Cool and have created a new entity called Timelss Cool Custom Programming (TCCP) which will continue to syndicate the AC format Timeless Cool, via satellite and as MOHD (music on hard drive). It will also now provide Country, Hot AC, and Classic Hits formats as Phillips merges his consulting company into the new company.

TCCP?s emphasis is on providing radio companies with researched custom formats and customer service and support. In addition to Kent Phillips consulting both Hot AC & Country formats, Rob Moore will continue to program Cool AC and veteran programmer Jay Kelly will handle Classic Hits. Moore, the creator of Timeless Cool AC as well as The Breeze format in 1987, is a multi-award winning Program Director for stations in Minneapolis and New Orleans. Jay Kelly has spent the last sixteen years programming Entercom's KBSG and Clear Channel's KJR, both legendary oldies stations in Seattle.

In addition to the investment to create TCCP, the new organization is investing in Mike Gould?s Eastlan Ratings. The trio believes in Eastlan?s phone-survey methodology, larger sampling and their more economical pricing structure in a tough economy for broadcasters. This investment will add affiliates and enhance the use of cell-phone sampling making Eastlan the new industry standard in non-PPM markets. TCCP also plans to invest in the use of barter, in situations where stations qualify, to provide more options for broadcasters to pay for ratings.

Another initial investment is being made into the Tacher Company, a Bellevue, WA based national sales representation firm. TCCP sees a need for smaller and medium size markets to have better access to both regional and national advertising dollars. Tacher, which started as a northwest regional rep over 40 years ago currently represents more than 300 radio stations. Tacher has recently opened offices in Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta to broaden its national footprint. This investment will allow Tacher to open additional offices to help expand their station client base across the country.

Visit our Website: www.timelesscoolcustomprogramming.com

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Alabama Sports Talker Sues Citadel, The Company He's Working For.

This is a strange one folks. And it's a big enough issue for Citadel that COO Judy Ellis made a trip to Alabama to address the matter so you can bet Lew Dickey and company keeping at least one eye on this one. Popular sports talker Paul Finebaum has filed a lawsuit against Citadel, the company he is currently working for. The Paul Finebaum Show airs from 2-9 p.m. weekdays on WJOX-FM. People in the market tell Radio Ink Finebaum is claiming Citadel is not paying him according to the contract both sides signed. The Birmingham Business Journal is reporting the dollar amount in question is $75,000. Finebaum's contract takes him through 2013, however, there's also word he does not have a non-compete. It makes you wonder if there's a possibility he may want to jump to another station and if he can proved he's not getting paid he can declare the contract invalid.

But what makes this issue even more wacky is that the details of the case were sealed by a judge and that move is highly unusual. Atlanta employment law litigator for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice Bill Long told Radio Ink "I know the federal judges here are loathe to have cases filed under seal, have set up Draconian procedures that have to be met to allow sealing, and usually, in civil cases, only allow it when trade secret type information is involved." Thursday afternoon, a federal judge ordered the case be made public, but the contents of the court filing remain under seal. Attorneys have until noon Friday to redact portions of the filing before the public can get a look. We contacted Finebaum's attorney Russ Campbell who said "Although the Judge has lifted the seal, we are not likely to have a comment in the near future. We will do our talking in the context of the litigation."

Another weird element in this story is that Finebaum and the WJOX-FM General Manager Bill Thomas are fiends, which may explain the lack of  non-compete. Thomas sent us a statement last night. ?Citadel has a positive and productive relationship with Paul. Our relationship will not change because of his legal filings. I personally have considered him a friend since the 1980?s, bringing him to WERC in the 1990?s, advising him during his negotiations with Citadel in 2007, and then joining him at Citadel in 2010 on his recommendation. I feel very confident that the actions of Citadel and its employees with respect to Paul have been appropriate, and I expect that to be demonstrated if his lawsuit continues. Paul is an important part of the best sports talk line-up in the South and we look forward to him fulfilling his contract with Citadel through January 2013. ?We are very mindful of the fact that radio is a locally focused business, and we remain committed to serving our local listeners and advertisers by bringing them the most popular radio personalities in the area, including Paul. The last two football seasons in Alabama have brought WJOX-FM a lot of national attention, and the season that starts next week should  be no exception. We look forward to continuing our long and mutually beneficial relationship with Paul and expanding the Paul Finebaum Radio  Network.?

Citadel Corporate directed us to their attorney James Mitchell who did not return an e-mail last night.

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Arbitron Spends $11.7 Million For Analytics Company

As we reported earlier this week Arbitron was making noise about a possible service to rate online listening. Yesterday the company announced it has purchased Finland based Zokem, a mobile measurement and analytics company. Zokem says it provides "passive on-device metering which allows us to interpret people?s needs, opinions and trends as they emerge in daily life." Zokem was launched 3 years ago and is based in Otaniemi, Finland, the company employs currently 25 people. Zokem founder and CEO Hannu Verkasalo (pictured) will continue to run the company, however it will now be called Arbitron Mobile.

Zokem says it has a patented mobile measurement system based on real-time information on user behavior and context, ultimately interpreting everything that people do in life. "With one simple mobile application, you may find out which apps get the most face time from the global mobile audience, or what are the top markets and contexts for different service categories. Zokem allows you to benchmark your mobile service offering against your competition, carry out technical measurements, such as signal strengths, track consumer behavior and opinions, measure your mobile ad campaigns, and lots more."

Zokem was launched 3 years ago and is based in Otaniemi, Finland, the company employs currently 25 people. Zokem founder and CEO Hannu Verkasalo (pictured) will continue to run the company, however it will now be called Arbitron Mobile. The purchase price was approximately $11.7 million in cash with possible additional incremental cash payments through 2014 of up to $12 million based on future financial performance.

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