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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014

Streamlining is helping FCC speed-up its license renewals. The Federal Communications Commission is crediting an expedited review of complaints by the Enforcement Bureau for speeding up decision-making at the agency. The result, according to FCC special counsel Diane Cornell, is the Media Bureau has granted more than 950 license renewals during the past several months. It is part of a wider review of procedures which the top aide to chairman Tom Wheeler says is streamlining the agency’s processes. “We have had several working groups as well as staff throughout the Commission focusing on new approaches to simplify how we do business, with the goal of improving the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of the Commission’s work,” Cornell writes in a blog post. It’s an effort that has seen over 1,500 dormant proceedings closed this year, including an additional 751 over the past few months. The commissioners have been voting on groups of non-controversial items at their monthly meeting, the so-called consent agenda, which has finalized more than five dozen bureau-level decisions this year. The FCC also created a “rocket docket” – which accelerates applications set for review – and streamlined internal coordination efforts, Cornell says.

CMA survey: Radio is top music discovery platform. Nearly eight in ten fans (78%) use AM/FM radio to listen to music, beating all other platforms by a country mile, including YouTube (45%), CDs (43%), digital music libraries (34%), streaming apps (33%), AM/FM radio streams and satellite radio (21% each) and cable TV channels (20%). So says a new survey conducted for the Country Music Association by Ipsos Research of country fans who discovered a new song or artist within the past seven days. Radio also came in first as the most used platform by a four-to-one margin over anything else and was the top music discovery platform (43%), ahead of YouTube and music streaming apps (tied at 13%). The research turned up strong awareness for music streaming services. While YouTube and Pandora dominate usage at 48% and 41%, respectively, iTunes Radio (20%) and iHeartRadio (19%) placed third and fourth. IHeartRadio scored higher among 35-54 year-olds (26%). The survey was fielded from July 25-30 among respondents who said they consistently listen to country music and have discovered a song or artist (new or old) they hadn’t heard before within seven days of taking the survey.

Survey: Discovery via streaming more likely to lead to music sales. One goal of the Country Music Association study of music discovery platforms was to learn more about the relationship between discovery and subsequent actions, like researching an artist or song or making a music purchase. Half of those who said they discovered a song or artist within the past seven days said they researched their music discovery immediately, mainly via YouTube or Google. Older releases garnered higher NEWS INSIDE >> levels of follow-up action (58%) than a new artist (51%) or a new release (49%). The STUNT FORMATS SET number that said they purchased a song after discovering it for the first time were lower STAGE IN TAMPA & but still significant: 29% for an older song, 17% for a new artist and 20% for a new NORFOLK release. Discovering music on digital platforms, such as streaming apps and YouTube,

[email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014 was more likely than AM/FM radio to lead to further engagement with the song, such as using Google or Shazam to find it or sharing it on social media. Half of those who discovered a song on a streaming app and 57% who first learned about it on YouTube researched it afterwards, compared to one third for AM/FM radio. It’s worth pointing out that taking action on a musical discovery while listening to AM/FM radio in the car, where most radio listening takes place, isn’t as simple as searching for it online while using a connected mobile device or PC. The study also showed that digital discovery was more likely to lead to an early purchase. New artist discovery was linked more to streaming apps and TV compared to radio, which drove more new release discovery.

Stunt formats set the stage for new launches in Tampa and Norfolk. Will Tampa listeners start the New Year with a new home for soft and easy favorites? Or blazin’ hip- hop and R&B? Beasley Broadcast Group is letting listeners in on the decision-making for the new direction for one of the stations it recently acquired from CBS Radio. After dumping sports and going all-, WHFS-FM, Sarasota-Bradenton (98.7) is polling listeners online for where the format wheel should land come January 5th. Listeners can sample and vote on a ballot of 14 format options. Beasley is casting a wide net with everything from the increasingly popular classic hip-hop format (“98.7 The Skool”) to classic rock (“The Arrow”) to (“The Cow”). There are also music montages for CHR, , soft AC, active rock, gospel, urban and alternative. In the meantime, the station is programming an all-over-the-road mix that runs the gamut from Daft Punk to Donna Summer to the Irish Rovers. Beasley closed on WHFS in early December as part of a multimarket swap with CBS Radio. The new format’s arrival date coincides with the day that Bubba the Love Sponge Clem is indicating he’ll return to the Tampa airwaves, where he made his biggest mark in radio. Beasley also airs Clem’s show in Ft. Myers. In other post- Christmas stunting, iHeatMedia has launched Missy FM on the former home of urban AC “Kiss FM” WKSA, Norfolk (92.1). Voiced by Missy Elliott, the female rap superstar who hails from nearby Portsmouth, the station plans to introduce its new format on Monday.

ABC News will launch with 1,000 affiliate stations. As ABC News breaks away from to chart a new solo course on January 1, the network says it has signed more than 1,000 affiliate stations for its ABC News, ABC Digital and ABC Air Power products. Of that number, ABC says 200 are new affiliates and many have signed up for more than one ABC service. In a note to news division staffers, ABC News president James Goldston said the company has surpassed its goals for signing new affiliates. “Not only have we retained many key affiliates, but we have added several of the most iconic, most-respected and most-listened to stations in America,” Goldston said, including news WTOP-FM Washington (103.5), Tribune news-talk “Radio 720” WGN, and iHeartMedia talk KFI, Los Angeles (640). ABC Radio says it has signed distribution agreements for its programming to be heard globally through Armed Forces Radio and across via Canadian Press. and Saga Communications have signed up for its ABC Digital service and the network says it has signed “hundreds” of affiliates for the ABC Air Power entertainment and music service. The network has been pounding the pavement for affiliates since August, when it announced it would no longer align with Westwood One, choosing instead to go it alone as part of a reinvigorated ABC Radio. The stakes for clearances rose higher when Cumulus said it would launch a new CNN-based white label news product via Westwood One. Cumulus owns about a third of current ABC News affiliates, including the big news and talk stations in New York (WABC), Los Angeles (KABC), Chicago (WLS) and San Francisco (KGO).

With an eye on podcasting, WideOrbit buys Castfire. In another deal designed to grow its reach into digital media, ad management provider WideOrbit has acquired Castfire, which makes technology for managing and monetizing on-demand content such as podcasts. WideOrbit says it plans to integrate Castfire’s video and audio publishing platform with Abacast Clarity, the streaming audio services platform it bought in June. WideOrbit CEO Eric Mathewson says the Castfire purchase

[email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014 makes good strategic sense in light of growing consumer interest in podcasts and other on-demand content. Combining Castfire with the Abacast Clarity system, he says, will help audio and video broadcasters, streaming radio services and podcasters drive revenue from both on-demand content and live streams. The goal is to build an on-demand content management system with the ability to dynamically target and insert ads based on device type, geography, dayparting and other parameters. While its ad trafficking systems are more common in TV than radio, Wide Orbit software manages more than $30 billion in ad spending a year. The San Francisco-based company is betting big on using its ad trafficking infrastructure to transition broadcasters and online publishers to new ways of distributing content and driving new revenue. This year alone it shelled out more than $50 million buying and developing digital ad transaction technology.

Ad agencies reject lower viewability threshold for digital advertising. Ad agencies say temporary guidelines calling for 70% of online ad impressions to be viewable aren’t acceptable and that advertisers should only have to pay for the part of their online campaign that consumers can actually see. In a letter to members, the agency trade group the 4A’s rejected a call by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) that recommended that measured impressions in digital campaigns be held to a 70% viewability threshold in 2015. “Running a campaign and paying for 30% of the ads not being viewable isn’t acceptable to us or our clients,” Todd Gordon, EVP of media buying agency Magna Global, told . The ability of online ads to be seen by consumers has received greater scrutiny among advertisers, who worry about paying for ads that aren’t seen when they’re placed further down a screen than people scroll, for example. The IAB earlier said it’s unreasonable to expect every ad impression served in a digital campaign to be viewable to all consumers. In a position paper, the trade group labeled 2015 a “year of transition” and called on online advertising stakeholders to work together to reach 100% viewability throughout the digital advertising ecosystem. The IAB defines viewability as at least half of each ad being in view on a user’s computer screen for a minimum of one second, two seconds for video ads.

FCC opens comment period for online contest rules. Broadcasters and the public now have an opportunity to weigh in on a proposal that would give stations the option of posting contest rules online, rather than having to spell them out in detail on the air. The FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register December 19. That makes the comment filing deadline February 17, 2015 with reply comments due by March 19, 2015. The Media Bureau’s proposal would give radio and TV operators the option of posting contest rules on station websites or any other public site. The caveat is that every time the contest is mentioned on-air, listeners must be given the URL address to see the complete set of rules. The current rules have been in place since 1976 and Media Bureau chief Bill Lake said the goal is “to modernize” the contest rules “in a way that reflects how the public accesses and consumes information in the 21st century.”

Macy’s ruled radio the week before Christmas. Leading up to the Christmas holiday, the color of radio advertising was bright red as Macy’s took the airwaves by storm, airing 51,805 spots, making it the biggest volume advertiser for the week of December 22-28. Macy’s wasn’t the only retailer in the Media Monitors top 10 for the week. JC Penney ran 23,568 spots on radio, good for No. 10. Car insurance provider Geico came in second with 45,574, while iHeartRadio remained at No. 3 airing 31,073 spots. The Home Depot slipped to No. 4, running 30,167 spots and Pay-Per-View lunged from No. 39 to No. 5 with 26,223 commercials. Rounding out the top 10 were True Car (26,076), Discover (25,959), the Department of Transportation (24,266), JC Penney and MetroPCS (22,995).

China gets a taste of U.S. radio. As part of a cultural exchange program, Chicago’s WFMT will begin airing a weekly classical music show on a radio station in China. The Shanghai East Radio Company’s “Shanghai Classical 94.7 FM” will become the first Chinese radio station to regularly air programming produced in the United States. WFMT Radio Network general manager Steve Robinson calls it “an hour” for his team, pointing out there’s a big audience in China for

[email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 3 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014 classical music. “This cultural exchange is a first and we’re delighted to be part of it,” he says. It’s estimated “Shanghai Classical 94.7 FM” – the country’s only classical radio station -- has an audience of 1.5 million listeners in the greater Shanghai area. The two-hour Friday evening programs will showcase the work of the philharmonic orchestras in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, each of which welcomed the opportunity to get regular exposure in China. And unlike other , classical music is unlikely to run into trouble with China’s strict censorship controls that keep most other western programming from breaking into the world’s largest media market. The agreement between the two radio networks will also see WFMT producers head to China next April to produce a series of classical programs that will be heard on American and European affiliates. The shows are being underwritten by the global healthcare company Abbott Laboratories, which operates in China.

Inside Radio News Ticker… Maffei renews with Liberty Media… Greg Maffei has struck a deal to continue as chief executive at Liberty Media, which holds a majority stake in SiriusXM Radio. Maffei reached a deal with the media company just days before his previous contract was set to expire, according to Bloomberg. The new agreement keeps him in place through 2019.... Judge denies Cumulus request to toss discrimination lawsuit…. A jury will hear the case brought by former Birmingham market manager Bill Thomas against , alleging the company improperly dismissed him in February 2012. A federal judge has denied a request by Cumulus to toss the employment discrimination suit, according to AL.com. Thomas says he was fired six days after he alerted management that he was had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Cumulus says his ouster was the result of a reorganization that consolidated positions and replaced Thomas with a regional VP overseeing stations in both Birmingham and Huntsville.... Omaha ‘man’s up’ with new rocker… A pair of FM translators are turning up the testosterone on a new rock station in Omaha. Using the slogan “Man Up,” iHeartMedia has launched “Rock 94.9” on K235CD (94.9) and K272FE (102.3) with 10,000 songs in a row. Fed by the HD-2 channel of CHR sister “96.1 Kiss-FM” KISO, the new station competes with Journal Broadcast Group rocker “Z-92” KEZO. Listen HERE... Albany adult alternative yields to sports… Move over Dave Matthews and make room for Drew Brees. Pamal Broadcasting will drop adult alternative from “104.9 The Peak” WZMR, Albany, NY and flip it to sports on January 12, according to the Daily Gazette. The change will net a fourth sports station for New York State’s Capital Region, joining iHeartMedia’s “Fox AM 980” WOFX, Townsquare Media’s “ESPN - The Team” WTMM (104.5) and Empire Broadcasting’s “Sports 1240” WPTR. WZMR will affiliate with CBS Sports Radio, currently heard on WPTR... Report: Howell leaving mornings at Chicago’s WIND… Veteran Chicago morning host Big John Howell has turned down an offer to remain with Salem talk “AM 560 The Answer” WIND, according to Chicago media blogger Robert Feder. Howell is reportedly mulling a morning drive offer from Cumulus Media talk WLS (890) and is in discussions with other Windy City stations. Before joining WIND in 2006, Howell spent 17 year at CBS Radio’s country “US 99.5” WUSN.

Cumulus airing free spots for ‘The Interview.’ Capitalizing on the season’s biggest news story, Cumulus Media’s five stations are airing free commercials for “The Interview.” It’s not like the Sony Pictures movie, which was yanked from theaters after threats from a group of hackers, needs a big push. The buddy comedy has racked up more than $15 million in online sales in its first four days of release. The no-charge spots are running once a daypart through New Year’s Day. Stations airing the spots include AC “Warm 98” WRRM, classic hits WGRR (103.5), classic rock “” WOFX-FM (92.5), country “94-1 FM” WNNF and “96 Rock” WFTK-FM. The five stations are also running an editorial in support of the film’s release. In it, station employees talk about America’s free speech rights and explain how the commercials are airing for free “as a tribute and a show of support for those who, for generations, have fought for this freedom that we enjoy.” In a statement, market manager Dave Crowl says the company supports Sony’s decision. “As a tribute to the generations of Americans and their families who have fought to preserve our rights, we thought this is the least we could do,” Crowl said. — Get more news, people moves and insider extras @ www.insideradio.com. —

[email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 4 CLASSIFIEDS insideradio.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014 qual EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY IN COLUMBUS SALES - NEW YORK FOR THE RIGHT CANDIDATE Salem Radio in New York is Wilks Broadcasting in Columbus Ohio is seeking a sales leader to looking for a dynamic individual be our DOS/GSM. Our cluster includes heritage Classic Rock WLVQ. to join the sales team for AM 970 The Answer and You need to be a street warrior as this in an active sales role where the legendary WMCA 570, you lead by example and personal revenue generation. The successful New York’s Christian Talk. candidate is willing and eager to maintain and grow their own list in Compensation is commensurate addition to leading a talented team. In addition you must be performance- with degree of experience driven and results-oriented, with excellent communication, analytical, and skills. This is a fabulous organizational, leadership skills and a strong work ethic. career opportunity for the right individual with one of the finest This opening includes competitive broadcasting compensation and benefits packages. companies in America. Media experience a must. Note DOS/GSM in the subject line when sending resume to: [email protected]. No phone calls/recruiters please. All correspondence will be held in the strictest of confidence. Wilks Broadcast-Columbus, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT RADIO SALES Email cover letter and resume to: [email protected]. OR MANAGEMENT PRO? Salem Media is an Equal PLACE YOUR JOB OPENING HERE! Opportunity Employer. EMAIL: [email protected] qual SALES MANAGER qual GM - MATTOON.CHARLESTON, IL CALIFORNIA

If you have a reason to be in the South Central Illinois area, and It’s warm and sunny if you are a “selling manager”, Cromwell Radio Group has a great today in Southern position for you. Growing area, college town on interstate. Not a California! turn-around. Performing wonderfully. Need the right GM with solid Riverside/San Bernardino’s business and digital knowledge to keep it that way and growing. We All Pro Broadcasting Alt Rock have three FMs, two being the most listened to Country and CHR X1039 (KCXX) is looking for stations in the region. Great community involvement. an aggressive, high energy sales leader with a proven This is a position where you can track record to lead our sales make a difference and see it. It department. Must possess is not a position for “ratings or excellent organizational and time management skills along transactional” selling GM. It’s a with a “can do” attitude. “roll your sleeves up, get the job Candidates must be self done, serve the community and motivated, self disciplined, be a leader” position which is a great communicator and always appreciated in smaller markets. Base plus bonus and good a positive leader. benefits for the right person. Current 11 year GM leaving on great Please contact VP/GM terms for a position she can not pass up and we support her. Bill McNulty at: [email protected]. Candidate must be involved in the community and be able to lead by No calls, please. example. E-mail resume and cover letter to: All Pro Broadcasting is an [email protected]. E.O.E. Equal Opportunity employer.

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