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800.275.2840 MORE NEWS» insideradio.com THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014 Study uncovers big opportunity for radio to tap email marketing budgets. There’s good news for broadcasters that have built monetizable listener email databases. A survey of nearly 400 marketers conducted by email marketing services provider StrongView shows continued reliance on email marketing for 2015. More than nine in ten (93%) marketers report their email marketing budget is either staying the same or increasing for the 2014-2015 holiday shopping season. According to StrongView, email marketing remains the top target for increased investment in 2015. In terms of overall marketing budgets, 54% of brands will see an increase and a third of those will be increasing it by more than 10% over 2014. While it may be considered slightly old school, email was already the radio industry’s second fastest growing digital channel in 2014, according to Borrell Associates, up 40% to $89 million. Should it continue at its current rate, it will surpass streaming audio as radio’s second biggest producer of digital dollars. “Email is one of the larger opportunities for radio, if not the largest,” Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell says. Stations have used loyalty programs and contests to build robust email databases. The next step is segmenting them to learn more about the individuals on the list to deliver more targeted audiences for advertisers. Real-time marketing is the latest trend email marketers are exploiting. It allows individual personalization based on an opener’s location, weather, temperature or device type to build real-time context. But getting the basics right comes first. Nearly one-third (32%) of consumers say email marketing messages are too small to read and interact with on mobile, according to the Relevancy Group. EAS wake-up call: NAB wants FCC to convene group to look for fixes. The crew at “The Bobby Bones Show” may’ve expected the industry to lay into them for their errant activation of the Emergency Alert System in late-October. Instead, broadcasters are pointing to the incident as a wakeup call for what needs to be fixed. The National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to support an industry-led effort to address the concerns. “While the October 24th case was an isolated incident caused by someone with little familiarity with EAS, the next situation could involve a more purposeful, malicious breach,” NAB warns in a filing with the Commission, adding, “The potential for mischief is substantial.” The solutions being floated to keep a similar situation from happening again include changing the format of the activation codes to include the year, and the establishment of more uniform standards across the various manufacturers of EAS equipment. “Broadcasters have strong, market-based incentives to adopt cybersecurity measures to ensure reliable, resilient service,” the trade group says in a filing with the Commission. Because the improper alert was beamed by a syndicated show, the impact was felt in several markets. It was also tagged with a presidential code, which under FCC rules, requires stations to interrupt regular programming to air such messages immediately. So the NAB is asking the FCC to refrain from issuing a fine against stations that “passively” retransmitted the October 24 alert. Meanwhile, AT&T says the false alert disrupted its U-verse television service in 10 markets including Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville where the Bones show is based. Is it time for a return of the Red Envelope? It sat in the control room for decades NEWS INSIDE >> during the Cold War era — a red envelope which contained codes to validate national activations by the President. The ease at which a fake alert with those codes spread SOUTH CAROLINA across numerous cities has some calling for the envelope’s return. The Broadcast OWNER DONATES HIS Warning Working Group, a group of EAS experts from radio and television engineering ENTIRE CLUSTER [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014 circles, believes a “virtual red envelope” could use EAS servers to distribute a short validation code. A non-match would trigger an alarm that would require a manual review of the alert message before it is broadcast to the public. The National Association of Broadcasters hasn’t taken a position on the idea, but says it at least deserves a closer look. The Working Group also thinks the FCC should standardize how EAS equipment responds to all events in the future. “We know this will not be an easy, painless nor inexpensive process,” the group says. It also suggests that the FCC adopt a requirement that television or cable EAS equipment no longer be set off by radio, and vice versa. The tech community believes broadcasters need to do more to educate corporate and air staff to help prevent similar mistakes in the future. “The opposite will make things worse,” the group warns. It suggests the FCC look at whether it’s appropriate to put pressure on YouTube to take down any video or audio clips that contain EAS tones. Senate confirms O’Rielly to new FCC term. As lawmakers race to gavel out the 113th Congress into history, the U.S. Senate last night gave some stability to the Federal Communications Commission. It voted to nominate Republican commissioner Mike O’Reilly to a new term. The former Capitol Hill staffer had been serving out the term of former commissioner Robert McDowell since being sworn-in last November. The vote came without a fresh confirmation hearing. O’Reilly says he is “exceptionally honored” to be confirmed to a new term, writing on Twitter that there is “much work ahead” for him at the FCC. One radio item that he’s been pushing for has recently been jumpstarted as the agency advanced a rulemaking that would allow stations to post contest rules online. O’Reilly has also signaled he’s skeptical of some current media ownership limitations. Some broadcasters hope that means he’ll lobby for further relaxing regulations as the 2014 quadrennial ownership proceeding takes shape. New York translator sold for $3.5 million. In the latest example of how lucrative translator deal-making has become, the second-highest price tag for a signal has just been agreed upon. Chicago real estate investor John Bridge will buy the translator W292DV at 106.3 FM in New York from Michael and Tammy Celenza for $3.5 million. The signal will relay an HD subchannel from suburban WVIP (93.5), according to a filing with the FCC. The translator has had a bumpy existence. A move to Times Square was blocked by Press Communications, which said it caused interference on co-channel country “Thunder 106.3” WKMK in the adjacent Monmouth-Ocean, NJ market. Covering a potential audience of 1.034 million people, the translator is now licensed to an apartment building in Queens with 25 watts. But the seller has applied to drop down to four watts and move to the nearby 50-story Citibank building. “This has been a long and winding road, maybe what you would expect to drop a translator into the most densely populated market in the country,” Hoffman Schutz Media president Dave Schutz says. “Perhaps the buyer feels that with a foothold atop the highest New York City structure east of Manhattan, it will be a beachhead for future power increases that will build its population base.” That could explain why Bridge is paying $3.50 per person covered by its 60dBu contour signal — a hefty price for a secondary service. There’s no word on what Bridge plans for the translator’s format, but earlier this year Bridge paid $1 million for a Chicago translator at 103.9 FM and last week soft-launched the smooth jazz station “The Groove” with holiday music. A formal launch will come after Christmas. The sale becomes radio’s second-biggest FM translator sale in history, with only a $4.6 million deal filed in July by Elroy Smith’s Integrity Radio Communications for a Chicago signal topping it. Ervin Broadcasting to donate all of its Greenville-Spartanburg stations. A year after former South Carolina Circuit Court judge and gubernatorial candidate Tom Ervin took over a trio of stations in the Greenville-Spartanburg market he’s donating the cluster to The Power Foundation. “It is a miracle that this could happen,” Foundation president John McClure tells the Independent Mail. Staffers were told this week that “Classic Hits 103.1” WRIX-FM and WANS (1280) as well as the now-silent daytimer WRIX (1020) will be transferred to the religious broadcaster. Ervin tells the paper his decision to donate the stations is in the “best interest of the community and the stations.” The deal reportedly came together quickly with Ervin and McClure beginning their discussions just a month ago. “I’ve been in radio for 20 years and I’ve seen some crazy stuff but this is the weirdest,” general manager Aly Haley tells the newspaper. [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014 FTC goes after auto dealers for ads with rapid-fire disclosures. The Federal Trade Commission has gone after two dozen auto dealer groups with more than two dozen retail stores across five states for, among other advertising violations, airing radio commercials with rapid-fire disclosures. The FTC says the violations amount to deceptive advertising related to the terms it offered for buying or leasing a car. Billion Auto, a chain of 20 family-owned automobile dealerships in Iowa, Montana, and South Dakota, and a family-controlled advertising company, Nichols Media, will pay a $360,000 fine to settle the FTC’s charges.