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GET MORE NEWS & UPDATES @ INSIDERADIO.COM >> FRANK SAXE [email protected] >> PAUL HEINE [email protected] (800) 275-2840 Wednesday, March 27, 2013 THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO Targeting the youngest listeners, Disney finds advertisers still like radio. Recent research from Arbitron shows teen demos are listening more to radio, taking another bite into the perception that young people are abandoning radio for digital options. If Radio Disney has its way, it will be the warm-up act for the industry. And national advertisers are increasingly embracing their family-friendly format. Nearly half of the network’s sales come in as part of large, multimillion dollar cross- platform deals the Disney media organization strikes with major advertisers. “The biggest deals that we do as a Disney media organization are the cross-platform deals, and those tend to include three or four platforms and radio, TV and digital are usually in there,” EVP of Disney media sales and marketing Rita Ferro says. As Radio Disney has evolved into a more mainstream (albeit sanitized) CHR format, it has attracted more listening from parents — especially moms. Disney research shows that 60% of kids listen with an adult, and that’s helped sell the radio platform. “It’s a great fit for many packaged goods,” Ferro says, but the network also pulls in dollars from automakers, insurance companies and movie studios. Many are looking for the brand halo that surrounds all things Disney. Disney doesn’t release revenue for any of its divisions, but Ferro says its ad sales have “never been better” and its fiscal 2012 was a “good year.” While Radio Disney also gets a slice of radio spending, it also reaches beyond the typical broadcast allocation. “Many times we’re funded out of marketing or promotional budgets that extend beyond what a traditional radio buy would be,” Ferro says. It’s a platform that pulls advertisers that typically only spend on television into radio, like toy company MGA Rita Ferro Entertainment. It signed as a sponsor for the upcoming Radio Disney Music Awards to promote its Bratz doll brand. “What Radio Disney is good at is being a bridge to the different social media that kids-based companies have to be a part of — so when their local digital assets are linked to our own, it exponentially expands the reach,” MGA spokesman Steve Syatt says. For local stations, thousands of live events are the draw. While national advertisers are embracing Radio Disney for its ability to reach families, local activation in their key markets is proving to be the sweet spot for local affiliates. The company’s 31 stations do more than 5,000 live events each year — an average that translates into three remotes per week for a typical station, ranging from fairs to concerts to in-mall appearances. “There’s nothing like being able to walk into a national advertiser and say we’re going activate their buys across key local markets,” EVP of Disney media sales and marketing Rita Ferro says. For toy maker MGA Entertainment, it’s the live events that make their Radio Disney buys look more attractive from an ROI perspective than a campaign of just :30-second spots. “I don’t think anyone looks at the numbers when you’re doing that kind of buy,” spokesman Steve Syatt says. “What Radio Disney offers is they work very hard creating promotional opportunities to connect the advertiser with the consumer, and they do a very good job of that locally in markets that are important to us.” Unlike a traditional radio remote, Ferro says they have to ensure a “duality of events,” to not only get the kids in the crowd but convince moms and dads there’s something there for them too. It’s that connection that marketers seek out. While the Walt Disney Company sold off its ABC Radio portfolio in 2006, it continues to hold onto the Radio Disney group of mostly AMs. While many in radio have wondered if they’d eventually leave the space altogether, Ferro says the company sees radio as a “daily touch point” with kids and families. As for potential of selling- off the radio group she adds, “We wouldn’t be investing in it if it wasn’t a good business for us.” news INSIDE >> Auto ad rebound in “later innings,” says analyst. As go auto sales, so goes automobile >>Translator sale price advertising. That’s why Nomura Research analyst Michael Nathanson believes the big gains draws objection in car advertising are coming to an end. That’s a shift from the trend over the past several MORE NEWS >> INSIDERADIO.COM PAGE 1 NEWS Wednesday, March 27, 2013 years as car sales ramped-up after the recession and carmakers’ marketing dollars jumped double-digits. “Now that we have returned back to average [car sale] levels, we believe the catch-up growth driven by the auto category is in the later innings,” Nathanson writes in a new report to clients. He points to data from Kantar Media which calculates local auto spending jumped 10% last year with a much smaller 2% increase in national auto ad spending — which the prior year had been up 7.8%. Yet for the time being, Nathanson still thinks automakers will continue to put more into marketing as more cars are driven off lots. “We expect auto advertising to remain in the mid-single-digit growth range as monthly unit sales approach a more normalized level,” he says. A projected 6.5% increase in car advertising dollars for 2013 will be led by 8% growth in local and 5% growth in national. And Nomura estimates 2013 auto sales will total 15.1 million, up from 14.5 million last year, which Nathanson concludes will “provide a steady base for auto advertising this year.” The radio industry gets fewer dollars from manufacturers than local dealers, who were last to increase their ad budgets coming out of the recession. That may ultimately help shelter the radio industry from the slowdown longer than television. The Radio Advertising Bureau says the auto category was up 8% last year, which was actually a bigger uptick from the 5% increase posted in 2011. Kantar pegs overall auto spending on network radio at $108 million last year, up 16.1% from the prior year — the biggest gain among any media sector. Local radio grew at a still-substantial 7.2% rate, the firm says. Entercom streamlines management, putting Weezie Kramer over its station group. In a move that makes Weezie Kramer one of the highest-ranking women in radio, Entercom has promoted the regional president to the newly-created position of station group president. The move puts Kramer over all of the company’s 121 stations. “The time has come to align our station group under a single operational leader to drive stronger organizational cohesiveness and effectiveness,” CEO David Field says. Since 2000, Kramer has served as a member of Entercom’s operating committee and has been responsible for operations in ten markets, including Boston, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Providence, Springfield, Madison and Norfolk. She also spearheaded what the company says have been its “reinvention efforts” as she focused on developing future growth. In her new role, Kramer will chair the company’s operating committee with regional presidents Michael Doyle and Deborah Kane now reporting to her. Field says having a trio of regional presidents has worked for several years, but he now believes a more streamlined structure will be more efficient. “In elevating Weezie to this role, we will enhance our coordination and clarity and drive faster decision-making,” Weezie Kramer Field explains. Kramer has been at Entercom since 2000. Prior to that, she spent five years as a general manager at CBS Radio. Active in the Radio Advertising Bureau, she was the first woman to chair the RAB Board. Report: Lumia to activate FM on two Windows Phones. Microsoft has made FM an optional feature on its new Windows Phone 8 and so far no manufacturer has opted to turn it on. But that’s reportedly about to change. The tech website TheVerge. com is reporting Lumia will support FM radio on two handsets coming to the market. Others could follow. Sources tell the tech publication that in the coming months, Microsoft will release several software updates that would reintroduce FM radio to the new handset. Microsoft previously featured FM as a built-in standard feature on the Windows Phone 7. The tech giant didn’t respond to a request for comment on the report. But a company spokeswoman told Inside Radio last week that for the time being, an FM tuner is “an optional component” in the hardware specs , which means that manufacturers can decide whether or not to include the function. Despite objections, FCC clears Miami move-in. Lincoln Financial Media’s $13 million plan to bring its “790 The Ticket” WAXY to the Miami FM dial will come to fruition. The FCC has rejected a petition to block a plan to change the city of license of WAXY-FM (104.3) from Miramar, FL to Islamorada, FL — inside the Miami market. When LFM announced it was buying what was previously AC WEAT-FM from Dean Goodman last August, management called the deal “an exceptional strategic opportunity” for its sports brand. The deal would require Alex Media to change the frequency of a station it had won at MORE NEWS >> INSIDERADIO.COM PAGE 2 NEWS Wednesday, March 27, 2013 auction from 104.5 FM to 93.5 FM — something the company had already sought out, due to Federal Aviation Administration compliance issues.

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