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TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015

Ratings: Radio Stable, While TV Stumbles. A MoffetNathanson analysis of Nielsen data comparing May 2014 to May 2015 offered good news and bad news to the media industry, and radio understandably wanted to hear the good news first—its ratings have remained remarkably stable year-over-year. During that same period, however, broadcast TV ratings fell by double-digit percentages. The analysis shows average commercial audience ratings for broadcast TV networks dropped 14% during total day, from 4.2 million persons 18-49 to 3.6 million. It further found a 16% decline for broadcast TV in primetime, from 7.596 million in May 2014 to 6.368 million in May 2015. The TV audiences reported by Nielsen are C3 ratings, which include average commercial audiences up to three days after airing. Meanwhile, cable networks posted an average 6% year-over-year ratings decrease for total day (11.336 million to 10.706 million) and a 7% primetime dip (19.552 million to 18.232 million) during the same time frame. Radio suffered no such tumble. From May 2014 to May 2015, radio’s total day Average Quarter Rating in Nielsen’s 48 PPM markets was down only a tenth, for a 1% drop from an 8.0 in May 2014 to a 7.9 in May 2015. Cumulus Media is using the data as part of its sales presentation to clients and prospects. The bottom line, according to chief marketing officer Pierre Bouvard: “TV is falling off a cliff, while radio is stable.”

Station News Departments Maintain Power of One. A new survey by the Radio Television Digital News Association shows that the typical (median) radio news operation had a full-time staff of one last year. That’s been true—and unchanged—for more than 20 years, although the overall percentage of stations that increased staff in 2014 rose. Radio news remains highly centralized, with the typical news director overseeing stories on an average of 2.4 stations with a median of 2. All told, almost 8 in 10 (79.4%) multi-station local groups operate with a centralized newsroom. The RTNDA put a new question in this year’s survey, asking whether the radio news director was a full-time station employee. At almost 30% of the stations (28.6%), the answer was no. The percentage of stations that increased staff in 2014—a number that rose by 4 points—matched the drop in the percentage that cut staff last year. And, the bigger the newsroom and the bigger the market, the more likely that the station added news staff. Over 30% of the biggest newsrooms and newsrooms in the biggest markets expect to add staff this year. Stations in the Midwest are the least likely to expect to add staff. All told, television newsroom employment increased by 1.1% in the past year, with 300 new positions added. That puts total TV news staffing at 27,600, the third-highest total on record.

New Hacker Target: RDS Systems. Stations taking steps to thwart hackers got a new reminder of the importance of securing multiple platforms Sunday night. Hackers gained control of the RDS feed for Radio One rhythmic CHR “97.9 FM The Box” KBXX, Houston and transmitted a racial slur to listeners via the RDS display. The incident occurred at around 9:20 pm, the company said in a statement, adding that station engineers quickly addressed the situation. According to KHOU-TV, listeners tweeted images that showed RDS-equipped radios displaying the N-word in place of where the artist

[email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 and song title would normally appear. The message remained in place for four songs, a listener told KPRC-TV. KBXX also responded on Twitter, creating the hashtag #NoPlaceForHate. “Our mission to inform, inspire and entertain our listeners will not be compromised by haters,” Radio One said in a statement. Cyberattacks like this and the takeover earlier this month of a Terre Haute, IN rock station serve as yet another reminder that stations—and all media companies—are vulnerable to attacks. The FCC has called on stations to beef up security voluntarily, before the federal government mandates actions.

In Emmis Restructuring, Pat Walsh Hands Off CFO Role. Emmis Communications is freeing up nine-year company vet Pat Walsh from his finance role to give him more latitude to run the company. As newly named president and chief operating officer, Walsh hands off CFO responsibilities to Ryan Hornaday, a 16-year Emmis vet, who has been promoted to executive VP/CFO/treasurer. Walsh, who joined in 2006 as chief financial officer, added the COO title in December 2008 during the depths of the recession. In that time, he developed a new operating strategy and a divestiture plan to de-leverage the company. During his tenure, Emmis enjoyed a five-year streak of outperforming its markets until the company’s most recent fiscal quarter, which ended May 31. Walsh’s move beyond finance and into operations has allowed CEO and chairman Jeff Smulyan to devote more time to the industry’s NextRadio initiative. “In my new role, I look forward to working with my colleagues at Emmis and throughout the radio industry to find innovative ways to deliver growth in the coming years,” Walsh said in a statement. Before joining Emmis, Walsh was CFO at HD Radio developer iBiquity Digital, worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company and served in a variety of finance roles at General Motors and Deloitte. His promotion paves the way for Hornaday’s entrance into the executive ranks. Before arriving at Emmis in 1999, Hornaday spent three years in the audit practice of Arthur Andersen in Indianapolis. Emmis has also upped Christopher Rickenbach to VP of finance/assistant treasurer. “These moves are a natural evolution in our leadership process, allowing Ryan to take on additional responsibility for leading our finance team, thereby enabling Pat to build on his impressive track record operating our business,” chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said in a statement. iHeart Continues to Discover Snapchat Potential. The new Snapchat Discover feature allows any company—provided they come to believe in its potential—to broaden its efforts to connect the Snapchat audience and extend its brand to another platform (or in this case, to be featured within a platform). And iHeartMedia is one company that has given the tool a more central place in an aggressive digital strategy. The company is launching a channel on Snapchat Discover— the photo and video sharing app’s content feature—and on the new iHeartRadio channel, Snapchat users can access iHeart’s short-form videos, photos and articles about music, artists and behind-the-scenes happenings. The effort furthers iHeart’s existing Snapchat offerings, which include stories, series of short videos and photos at special events and by on- air talent and musicians that link together to form a series, and Snapchat “snaps,” or individual photos or videos. Snapchat content is valued for its immediacy—some content vanishes after seconds, while other stories disappear after 24 hours— and because it is a direct connection to younger consumers. Already, iHeart has tapped it to connect with users and hype big events, such as the recent iHeartRadio Music Awards, when the company used the tool to get the audience, artists and host Ryan Seacrest to add photos to a Snapchat story, which it said generated more than 600 million views. That followed a New Year’s Eve campaign where Snapchat users submitted photos and videos and iHeart displayed them on a digital billboard in New York City’s Times Square. In addition, artists and on-air talent also frequently “take over” the iHeart Snapchat account as guest posters. “We’re always looking for new and exciting ways to connect fans with the artists they love and to bring iHeartRadio’s signature events directly to music fans even when they can’t be in the audience,” iHeart’s Vanessa Adamo, senior VP of entertainment enterprises said in a statement.

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AdLarge Will Rep AP’s On-Demand News Product. Broadening the reach of its breaking news audio service, the Associated Press will allow affiliate stations to host on-demand audio on their websites and mobile applications with updates every hour around the clock. The news service has partnered with rep firm AdLarge Media to handle national ad sales for the new product. The AP made the leap into on-demand audio in December when it announced a collaboration with PodcastOne to insert real-time one-minute newscasts into its on-demand podcasts. Since then, AP audio has become available on all podcast platforms via technology platform provider AudioBoom. Now AP’s radio affiliates are able to add the on-demand audio service to their websites and mobile platforms. “This venture not only delivers our content to listeners anytime they want it, it also opens the door for advertisers to reach their target consumers when they are most engaged,” Fernando Ferre, AP’s VP of business development, said in a statement.

NPR One App Data—Start Clean, Stay Local. Radio is venturing further into making spoken word content available on-demand, and lessons from the first several months of National Public Radio’s NPR One app may offer a few guideposts. One top takeaway: Stories with short intros that quickly get to the point are less likely to be skipped. NPR found news stories with intros of 22 seconds or shorter that start with a sharp, clean, topical declaration about the top idea were less likely to be skipped than those that began with a time peg such as “Today on Capitol Hill.” NPR One managing director Sara Sarasohn tells The Pub, a podcast from Current, that the finding offers “something to think about as you’re writing intros.” The NPR One app uses the phone’s GPS functionality to serve up local and national news while giving users the ability to personalize what they hear and potentially skip stories. Tracking that data has given NPR valuable insights. “For us, as people who make the craft of radio, getting this kind of information about how people listen to it is brand-new and a little scary, but also priceless,” Sarasohn says. NPR says the app has provided a new sense of what listeners consider local, one that goes beyond their NPR station to include affiliates in the city where they grew up. “The way that we need to think about this is...how are we going to give people what they consider to be local and not what we consider to be the local that they should be getting,” Sarasohn said.

McGraw Hill Financial Buys SNL Kagan. SNL Financial, parent to SNL Kagan, is being acquired by McGraw Hill Financial for $2.225 billion in cash, the companies announced early Monday. The purchase will allow McGraw Hill to add Kagan Financial’s expertise in areas such as real estate and media to its own Capital IQ platform. For McGraw Hill, this will mean tying SNL with its own best-known business, the Standard and Poor’s Ratings Service. A spokesperson says McGraw Hill has established an integration team to examine questions like whether to fold SNL into Capital IQ and to “build a longer term plan that allows our combined businesses to deliver enhanced value and capabilities to clients.” For now, it’s business as usual, the spokesperson said, and no staff reductions are planned. “We’re impressed with the people of SNL and we’re excited about the opportunities ahead.” SNL Kagan sponsors the annual TV and Radio Finance Summit and it has an ongoing influence in many media—appraising the strengths and weaknesses of various sectors— especially in radio, which Kagan monitors aggressively. In April, for example, Kagan reported the total value of first- quarter radio transactions was $147.8 million, and in 2013, it noted radio stocks’ bullish prices compared to the general S&P 500; it also remarked on radio’s return to more average returns later. Kagan Media and Entertainment Index has a broad following, as does the company’s ranking of the top station brokers. Headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, SNL has about 3,000 employees based in 10 countries.

Listeners Help Support Popular Host After Accident. Popular Spokane morning cohost Ken Hopkins is getting much needed financial help from listeners after a tragic bicycle accident left him paralyzed from the chest down. The accident involving Hopkins, program director and part of the “Dave, Ken and Molly in the Mornings” show on hot AC KZZU (92.9), occurred July 13, and a gofundme page is raising money to help defray treatment costs. Hopkins recalls all of the ride but for its final seconds. “Those last ten seconds resulted in a life-altering moment,” he said in a statement. “As of now, I

[email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 3 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 am left without the use of my legs and have no feeling from my mid-chest down. I do have full use of my arms, hands, and neck muscles. I am hopeful for the return of other functions once the damages heal and the swelling returns to normal.” Brian Paul, VP of Radio Morgan Murphy Stations, owner of KZZU, says Hopkins has been with the station for over 30 years. “He started as an intern with the former KREM before it changed call letters in 1984. It’s the only station Ken has ever worked for.” Hopkins is extremely popular in the market. The original online donation goal of $20,000 was reached, so Hopkins’ friends increased the gofundme page goal to $50,000 Monday afternoon. Despite extensive injuries, Hopkins remains positive, saying “I consider myself very lucky to be surrounded by positive people, with support from my family, my radio family and my friends inside and outside of the Spokane area.” Paul added that Hopkins can return to the show as soon as doctors give the okay. “We really don’t have a timetable, but as soon as his doctors let him participate in the show, we’ll arrange whatever is needed so he can return.” To donate, visit http://www.gofundme.com/3b8zccyrc.

Pittsburgh AM Files to Go Dark at Night. A AM station has asked the FCC to allow it to power off at night and broadcast as a daytime-only station. In a request for special temporary authority from the FCC, Pentecostal Temple Development Corp. says gospel WGBN (1360) operates from different sites during the day and at night and is unable to operate from its night-time site “due to Internet problems.” Licensed to McKeesport, WGBN currently runs at 5,000 watts during the day, and 1,000 watts at night. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the station has had difficulties ever since it was donated by Pittsburgh broadcaster Tony Renda to Pentecostal Temple Development Corp., which is led by former Pittsburgh TV newsman Bishop Loran Mann. Last year it asked the commission if it could go silent, saying it couldn’t operate from either site due to “computer problems.” Before Renda donated the station, it was known as “AM NewsTalk 1360” WMNY. Mann flipped the call letters with the former WGBN (1150) that he already owned and began simulcasting its gospel format on both stations.

Broadcast Vet Takes New-School Approach to Radio. Longtime broadcaster Skip Finley is developing a new radio station on Martha’s Vineyard in partnership with the local high school. The venture for the former executive of American Urban Radio Networks, Carter Broadcast Group and Inner City Broadcasting is focused more on helping educate a new crop of broadcasters than on filling a gaping market hole. In September, Finley will debut a low-power, FM station broadcast from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. The station will be part of the school’s technical skills program, which trains students for jobs after graduation. Finley says he is bullish on radio and wants to share his experience with students. “People still listen to the radio,” Finley told the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette. “It might be a traditional medium, but it’s certainly not dead.” Finley currently works as the marketing and sales director for the Vineyard Gazette Media Group, which includes the Vineyard Gazette newspaper. According to the newspaper, Finley has been looking for some time to start a low-power station. To begin, the station will air reggae music, except for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when it will switch to holiday-themed music. Finley says the reggae format will appeal to the island’s “average guys working outside,” according to the newspaper. For the first year, the station will be run with students as an extracurricular club, and, eventually, plans call for it to be part of the high school’s continuing education program. To fit into that program, Finley and the school will need to hire a coordinator to develop and administer a curriculum.

Richmond Now Even Bigger On Country. Richmond suddenly has become a very crowded country radio market. A fourth station in the format launched Monday morning via HD Radio-fed translator W253BI. The iHeartMedia entry—“Big 98.5”— bowed with the now customary 10,000 songs in a row, commercial-free. Positioned as “Richmond’s new country,” it competes with Summit Media’s “K-95” WKHK, which nosedived 8.1-4.6 among listeners 12+ in Nielsen’s spring survey. “Big” also goes up against a pair of Alpha Media stations: “98.9 The Wolf” WLFV (2.2-2.1) and classic country “93.1 Hank FM” WWLB (2.1-1.7). Alpha simulcasts “The Wolf” on WARV-FM at 100.3 in Petersburg. “Big 98.5” is letting the music do the talking for now, with lots of artist IDs and produced bumpers touting slogans such as, “It’s simple, big is better” and “Big means big names and big hits.” iHeart had been using the Glen Allen-licensed translator to rebroadcast news/talk WRVA (1140). — Get more news, people moves and insider extras @ www.insideradio.com. —

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