Study: Radio Still King Of In-Car Media

September 15, 2011: Despite increasing competition, radio is still the leading choice for information and entertainment in the car, according to "The Road Ahead," a new study from Arbitron, Edison Research, and Scarborough Research. The study, introduced at the Radio Show in Chicago, looked at consumers' use of 16 different in-car media and entertainment choices, and found that 85 percent of all drivers or passengers reported using AM/FM radio in the car, well ahead of CD players, in second place with 68 percent. AM/FM reaches nearly 90 percent of adults ages 25-54 in the car.

Arbitron SVP/Marketing Bill Rose said, "AM/FM radio has remained strong in a much more complex in-car media landscape and continues to be the first choice of consumers for in-car entertainment and information."

AM/FM also dominates in-car time, with 64 percent, while CD players take 21 percent of in-car listening time. All other devices combined add up to 15 percent.

Digital options like satellite radio and iPods connected to a car stereo "remain rather small," but are "growing and very well loved by those who use them." One in four people 18 and up have used and iPod or other MP3 player to listen to audio in the car, but 55 percent of 18-24s have done so. Six percent of people 18 and up have listened to Pandora via a cellphone in the car, compared to 20 percent of 18-24s.

Telematics services, which allow data sharing between a vehicle and information and entertainment networks, is attracting a "high level of interest," says the study. "More than 60 percent say they are interested in accident response features, stolen-vehicle recovery systems, parked-vehicle tampering alerts, and remote unlocking capability."

There's also interest in in-car media applications, such as pause, rewind, and replay for radio in the car and built-in wireless Internet.

"We are at the dawn of another wave of in-car media and entertainment options," Edison Research President Larry Rosin said. "In 2003 we looked at the in-car environment just as iPods, GPS, and satellite radio were starting, and these devices have now become more widely used. Today telematics and other in-car media options are bringing new capabilities that have captured substantial interest among consumers."

For the study, 1,505 people 18 and up were interviewed in July 2011. The interviewees were previous Scarborough Research respondents, chosen at random from a national sample.

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Great Showing At 2011 Radio Show

In 2010 The NAB and RAB held their first joint Radio show after years and years of throwing around the idea. In that first year attendance was 1,785. Thursday the two groups announced the 2011 attendance was up 24% to 2,206. And Radio Ink's very unscientific poll of attendees (we asked as many people as we could) was very positive.

Attendees enjoyed the breakout sessions and the vendors said foot traffic around their booths was strong. There were many positive comments about Bob Pittman's pro-radio speech, the keynote from Eddie Combs of Sears, Neil Golden at McDonalds and the wealth of information from the session featuring representatives from Allstate and Walgreens. No doubt, attendees love hearing from advertisers and how their stations can better serve their needs. The 2012 Radio show will be held in Dallas.

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2011 NAB Marconi Award Winners Announced

Winners of the 2011 National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Radio Awards were announced Thursday night at the annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show held at the Radio Show in Chicago, Illinois. The show was hosted by Elvis Duran from Z100 in New York who is also syndicated by the Premiere Radio Networks. Established in 1989 and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi, the NAB Marconi Radio Awards are given to radio stations and outstanding on-air personalities to recognize excellence in radio. Here are the winners: 

Legendary Station
WTOP-FM Washington, D.C.

AC Station of the Year
WMGX-FM South Portland, ME
Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year
Ryan Seacrest, Premiere Networks
CHR Station of the Year
KPWR FM Los Angeles, CA

Major Market Station of the Year
WBEB-FM Philadelphia, PA
Country Station of the Year
KYGO-FM Denver, CO
Large Market Station of the Year
WCCO-AM Minneapolis, MN

News/Talk Station of the Year
WSB-AM Atlanta, GA
Medium Market Station of the Year
WDEL-AM Wilmington, DE
Oldies Station of the Year
WOMC-FM Detroit, MI
Small Market Station of the Year
WLEN-FM Adrian, MI
Religious Station of the Year
KNOM-AM Nome, AK
Major Market Personality of the Year
Kevin and Bean, KROQ-FM Los Angeles, CA
Rock Station of the Year
WAPL-FM Green Bay, WI
Large Market Personality of the Year
Dave Ryan, KDWB-FM Minneapolis, MN

Spanish Station of the Year
KLVE-FM Los Angeles, CA
Medium Market Personality of the Year
Van and Bonnie, WHO-AM Des Moines, IA

Sports Station of the Year
WBZ-FM Boston, MA
Small Market Personality of the Year
Dennis Jon Bailey and Diane Douglas, WIKY-FM, Evansville, IN
Urban Station of the Year
WHUR-FM Washington, D.C.
Spanish Format Personality of the Year
Edgar "Shoboy" Sotelo, KMVK-FM Dallas, TX

Marconi finalists were selected by a task force of broadcasters, and the winners were voted on by the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Selection Academy. The votes were tabulated by an independent firm.

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Pittman: "There's Nothing Wrong With This Business"

It would have been an interesting sight to see if Bob Pittman gave his presentation side-by-side with Marci Ryvicker from Wells Fargo (see next story). The two seem to be telling two very different stories about the radio industry. Clear Channel's Bob Pittman had nothing but good news for Radio Show attendees, backed up with graphs, pie charts and a lot of cheerleading for the industry that he said he would defend vigorously if anyone tried to talk radio down. Pittman says "the consumer loves radio, radio is a companion, nearly everyone uses radio. This is not a product in trouble."

Pittman gave the crowd a lesson how to market the entire Radio industry and said he has never been around an industry that's runs itself down like radio does. And, of course, everyone knows he's right. Radio stations talk trash about other stations in the market. Radio reps talk bad about other sellers to advertisers. And, in the end that hurts the business and becomes part of why we continue to get 7 or 8% of the overall revenue pie. Pittman says Radio is not about towers and transmitters. "Our business is a brand. Radio is not selling a bunch of spots. It's about renting the relationships we have with our listeners to our clients."

So why do we underperform in the revenue department? Pittman says "we need to sell the medium. We need to tell our story. There is no good reason why we don't have more. Our fair share of the revenue pie is more than double what we have now. We're talking to people who have already decided what we're going to get. We just fight over that pie. We need to tell the story ourselves." Pittman also says advertisers get more bang for their buck with radio than they can with television. "Is TV more effective than radio? It's not even close. Radio reaches the influencers. Radio can do what TV does for a lower price." This coming from a guy who worked at MTV when it was first starting up.

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Fisher House Honors Clear Channel Radio

September 15, 2011: Clear Channel Radio has been presented with the Fisher House Foundation's Patriot Award in recognition of CCR's ongoing support of the group, which provides temporary housing for the families of service members needing medical care. Clear Channel Radio has raised more than $1 million for Fisher House over the past two years through PSAs, remote broadcasts from Fisher House structures, interviews, and website content.

"All of us at Clear Channel are proud of our commitment to the Fisher House and the many military families they serve," said Clear Channel Radio SVP Clay Hunnicutt. "Though we are a network of 850 radio stations across the United States, we pride ourselves on our local involvement. It is important to us that we're strong community partners in each of the 150 markets where our stations are located.  Our partnership with the Fisher House allows Clear Channel to make a difference in the lives of veteran families who live, work and play in our station?s neighborhoods"

Fisher House Chairman/CEO Ken Fisher said, "We're grateful to Clear Channel for the work they've done on behalf of our military families."

In the image above (l-r): Hunnicutt and Fisher.

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DAR.fm Recordings Now Available on Phones and Tablets

DAR.fm founder Michael Robertson says, "We're opening up DAR.fm so that all personal recordings can be downloaded directly to smart phones, tablets and PCs making radio listening even more convenient because consumers can move recordings wherever they like." Currently 5231 radio stations (4817- AM/FM and 414 international/net only) are in the DAR.fm system and 16,394 unique radio shows are available for download. Previously recordings in DAR.fm (like recordings in your typical DVR) could only be streamed requiring a full time network connection to play recordings.

All accounts at DAR.fm will have new functionality to automatically downloaded their recordings to iPad/iPhone/Android/Blackberry devices. Recordings are directly moved from DAR.fm service to their devices without a PC involved and can be scheduled to happen at a predetermined time each day. Recordings are downloaded and stored to local memory where they can be played with typical 30 sec skip buttons found in DVRs. To see how this works on iPad/iPhone see this video: http://dar.fm/ipad

Downloads can happen over wifi or 3G helping users avoid data caps, spotty coverage or even no 3G service at all. Configuration options in the smart phone software can predetermine times of the day when wifi is likely available. Similarly, options allow for downloads to only happen as wifi is available for example at work or home to avoid 3G usage entirely.

Downloading is free for one show/series. If users want to record more series then that is available for $39.95/year to record up to 10 shows/series. See: http://dar.fm/premium

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FCC Approves Cumulus-Citadel Merger

September 14, 2011: The FCC has granted its approval to the merger of Cumulus Media and Citadel Broadcasting, as expected. Citadel and Cumulus made the deal in March and got Department of Justice approval earlier this week. Citadel shareholder are scheduled to vote on the merger tomorrow.

In the order issued today, the FCC's Media Bureau notes that the transfer of control will put 228 current Citadel stations under the control of Cumlus Media. Per the order, a total of 14 stations must be divested, six  to comply with commission ownership rules, and another eight because the transfer of control "will terminate the licensees' abilty to maintain certain grandfathered ownership interests" in seven markets.

The applications filed by the parties for a transfer of control also included applications to assign 14 stations to a divestiture trust for future sale, and the FCC has made divestiture "prior to or simultaneous with" the completion of the merger a condition of its approval. The trust is "required to take commercially reasonable efforts to effectuate a sale of the stations without delay." The Department of Justice, which announced yesterday that it had completed its antitrust review of the merger, required the sale of three stations -- two in Harrisburg, aligning with the FCC's requirements, and an additional station in Flint, MI.

The markets where stations will be spun to meet FCC and DJO requirements are Nashville; Long Island; Dallas; Kansas City; Harrisburg; Montgomery; Fayetteville, AR; Macon and Savannah, GA; Columbus, MS; Myrtle Beach, SC; and Flint, MI.

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