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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
Christian to investors: It’s the economy, stupid. From the view of one of radio’s longest-running CEOs, 2015 is starting off a lot like 2014 did. Saga Communications’ Ed Christian sees “a calm river of business, with no apparent rapids or rocks just yet.” The company is pacing down 0.5%-1% for the first quarter, not unlike where the industry stood this time last year. But with 2016 election talk already heating up, Christian suggested “things could be changing near the end of 2015, hopefully for the better.” Political brought $22.2 million in radio revenue for Saga during 2014’s fourth quarter, which helped its net radio revenue grow 6.5% to $30.5 million. Quoting financial columnists and cracking jokes (“Saga in 2015 will be offering only antibiotic-free commercials”), Christian asked investors on yesterday’s results calls to step back and view broadcasting through a wider angle lens. “Certainly 2014 wasn’t a jump up and shout-out year,” he noted. But it also wasn’t a great year for other industries. It was the ninth straight year where the U.S. economy grew less than 3%, he noted. New business formations are at a 35-year low. Despite falling gas prices, retail was down in the first two months of this year. “And yet with all this negative information, broadcasting is up or flat,” Christian said. “Like it or not, that’s a win and a vote of confidence for what we do for our advertisers. Radio and TV advertising works and it offers a great return on investment.” Christian said radio and TV get unfairly slammed as “outdated and outmoded” from pundits who fail to see the correlation between the economy and broadcasting’s performance. Salem says radio’s in a ‘turf war’ with digital. Could lower gas prices and an improving job market finally be having an impact on marketers? The jury’s still out, but over the past few weeks Salem president of broadcast media Dave Santrella says he’s seen an uptick in spot spending from clients ranging from Home Depot to regional car dealer associations. “That may be a result of what they feel looks like an improving economy,” he said during a conference call with analysts. It may not be enough to save the quarter. Salem Media Group estimates revenue will decline 1% to 3% during the first quarter. That follows a flat fourth quarter for its radio division as year-end revenue grew to $266.5 million for the company overall. On a larger scale, Santrella sees a “turf war” going on for ad dollars pitting radio against digital media. Nowhere was that more evident during Q4 than with the political ad category. CEO Ed Atsinger thinks the evidence is clear those dollars shifted to digital with a 39% drop in political spending compared to when the last mid-term election occurred in 2010. “Radio and TV audiences are holding up very well, some of the dollars are not,” Atsinger said. He said Salem sales teams are working to figure out how to play up radio’s strengths in ways the web can’t duplicate for candidates. “We are back to the drawing boards, working on proposals that play to those strengths, and we hope that we can get some of those dollars back,” he said. Slower pace of business puts new pressure on expenses. With first quarter business weaker than a year ago, Salem Media Group has laid off a number of employees. “We are concerned about the fact that we had little organic revenue growth,” CEO Ed Atsinger said on a conference call with analysts. The layoffs follow other cost-cutting measures that began late last year. CFO Evan Masyr said in recent weeks the Christian broadcaster realized it needed to “go a little deeper and little further” and that led to the downsizing. No headcount was given, and it’s not clear how many of the layoffs came in radio, digital or publishing. And the company is still advertising for new general manager and general sales manager candidates. “We are getting as aggressive as we can on the expense side,” Masyr explained yesterday. Salem projects it will save $2.5 million this year with all the cutbacks that have been made. The company has rapidly expanded its digital business — it attributes 18% of 2014 revenue to digital — but executives rejected the notion that radio will simply become a cash machine to pay for online growth. “We are not satisfied with just keeping flat station operating income,” Masyr said.
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“We’d like to see that grow, and that’s why we’re being aggressive on the cost cuts.” It’s why he said Salem has also recently invested millions of dollars to buy three Radio Disney AMs. “The opportunities are big,” Atsinger said, urging investors not to look at radio revenue on its own. “You really have to couple it all up with digital, with print, with everything we’re doing because it’s all integrated,” he said. Scripps has a good idea where it will cut post-Journal merger. E. W. Scripps and Journal Communications shareholders will cast their votes on a proposed merger today. Ahead of the vote, executives said they still expect to find $35 million in cost savings when the companies combine and each spins out its print operations into a new unit. “We’ve validated those numbers and feel very good about the synergies,” CFO Tim Wesolowski told the Deutsche Bank Media Conference. Since first announcing the merger last autumn, the companies haven’t detailed where the savings will be found, however. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne said once a deal actually closes, often times that list can change. “You find other opportunities you didn’t think of, or sometimes rethink some of what you looked at initially,” he said. Both companies have been mum on whether payroll reductions will be part of the plan. With the print division being spun out on its own, there may be fewer staff cuts than is typical in a merger. Boehne said he expects to see the deal finalized “very early” in the second quarter. Radio and webcasters lobby Capitol Hill to keep consent decrees. It’s not often an industry goes to Washington and asks Congress to do nothing. But that’s the message broadcasters are essentially delivering as talk grows louder about reworking the decades-old consent decrees under which ASCAP and BMI royalty rates are set. Nearly as unusual, webcasters agree. “Those consent decrees have proven to work more or less over a period that now spans more than 70 years,” Bonneville VP Mike Dowdle said during a Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing yesterday. Without that framework, he said ASCAP and BMI would have “unfettered ability to extract above- market prices and terms” from radio stations. But the performance rights organizations think what was created in the 1940s hasn’t kept pace with today’s digital world. ASCAP president Beth Matthews said while she could foresee an “eventual sunset,” her members are only seeking “a few discrete changes” for now, like taking the decision-making out of a federal judge’s hands. “We are not asking to terminate the consent decree,” she told lawmakers. That’s because music publishers Mike Dowdle are threatening to leave the rights groups, a trend that if allowed to continue could mean radio stations would one day need to not only ink deals with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, but also individual music publishers. “If they resign, collective licensing will collapse,” Williams warned. That’s another reason why Dowdle said the current consent decrees are better for broadcasters. Dealing with each publisher wouldn’t just be unwieldy, but also expensive. “Let me be clear, broadcasters would cease operations without the ability to clear these rights, and the consent decrees are critical to that end,” he said. Market power is key to what DOJ or Congress decides. Given how much market power the performance rights organizations and music publishers hold, it’s no coincidence that yesterday’s hearing on how songwriter royalties are set and collected was held before the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee. Bonneville VP Mike Dowdle told lawmakers that the dire warnings being sounded should be a clarion call for Congress and the Department of Justice, which is reviewing the current effectiveness of the consent decrees that govern performance rights organizations. “The very fact that music publishers can make a threat that scares ASCAP and BMI should raise a lot of eyebrows,” Dowdle said. He thinks it suggests there might actually be a need for a second set of consent decrees over the publishers. The strongest case for the status quo came not from broadcast radio, but Pandora, which has been trying to strike deals directly with music publishers for the past two years only to have its efforts stymied. Pandora VP Chris Harrison told lawmakers that four federal judges have turned up “the same types of egregious anticompetitive conduct that gave rise to the original consent decrees 70 years ago.” The webcaster proposes an independent database be created so all music users can determine who holds the rights to which songs. While broadcast radio is pushing to keep the status quo, Harrison said Pandora would be “open to sensible modifications” to the consent decrees. But if the consent decrees are altered and transparency isn’t improved, Dowdle said radio could be forced
[email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 to negotiate with companies without knowing how many of its songs stations even play. “That’s what we’ll be faced with — a gun to our head and no market power,” he said. Big Boy leans on big guests, social media to market new L.A. radio home. The arrival of Big Boy on iHeartMedia urban upstart “Real 92.3” KRRL has set the stage for a Los Angeles hip-hop radio duel of epic proportion. After 20 years on trendsetting Emmis rhythmic CHR “Power 106 KPWR, the morning man is leveraging marquee guests and social media to get the nearly 1 million listeners who cumed him on “Power” to follow him down the dial. Monday’s debut featured Kendrick Lamar freestyling over the Notorious B.I.G.’s “The What” and spilling about his forthcoming album. Snoop Dogg spent over an hour on the show yesterday, live-rapping his signature “Gin and Juice” and premiering his new single, “Peaches N Cream,” which played every hour on iHeart urban, rhythmic CHR and urban AC stations. The Game, George Lopez, Big Sean, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre and others are booked to appear on the show in its first 10 days. A new track by DJ Quik about the personality’s L.A. radio return is part of the on-air fanfare, boasting lines like “Big Boy and radio, it was meant to be.” The station-promoted #BigBoyMoved hashtag was the top trending topic on Twitter in the L.A. market by 9am Monday. But back in Big Boy’s old neighborhood, no one’s ready to roll over and play dead. Without missing a beat, “Power 106” launched a new show of its own, “The Cruz Show,” built around personality J Cruz with music mixes by DJ E-Man. KPWR’s new show is giving away $1,000 an hour, along with tickets to the sold out J Cole concert and Disneyland four-packs. Programmatic radio ad platform Jelli sweetens web interface. Broadcast radio’s first programmatic advertising platform is getting a reboot. Tech company Jelli has redesigned the web interface for its RadioDash supply-side platform that automates broadcast radio advertising. The company says the refresh will give participating broadcasters more transparency about what ads ran when and where and other reporting and analytics. Jelli says the release of RadioDash 3.0 will give participating stations “real-time data about programmatic ad campaigns at their fingertips.” A broadcaster could log into the personalized web dashboard to view data about the campaigns running on their stations, traffic Jelli’s programmatic ads, and track performance of the campaigns. Station operators could view and listen to all Jelli-served ads that played on their station and hear the audio content that played before and after the ad. Another feature shows a weekly view of what should play compared to what has played. A daypart compliance feature gives a station manager the ability to see traffic instructions for each ad campaign compared directly next to the daypart. Jelli CEO Mike Dougherty says the new dashboard gives audio publishers access to the same tools and analytics as programmatic advertisers. He predicts $1 billion of radio billings will be handled programmatically by 2018.
Why did Nielsen buy eXelate? It’s not just radio that’s gearing up for the arrival of programmatic buying. So is Nielsen. EVP Megan Clarken says the company’s just-announced eXelate purchase will allow Nielsen to bring different data sets together inside programmatic systems. “We see it as an incredibly important infrastructure play,” Clarken told the Deutsche Bank Media Conference in Palm Beach, FL. She said the eXelate technology will allow Nielsen to produce audience data segments, such as consumers’ online purchase intent, household demographics and behavior, which can be fed into a programmatic system. “It’s something we’ve always done but we’ve provided planning tools way up stream,” Clarken said. “With the world moving toward programming and real-time buys, we need to make that data available into the buying platforms in a timely matter to push those segments into buying platforms.” Saga hints at acquisition opportunities. After selling three state radio networks last year, Saga Communications may find itself at the deal table again this year — as a buyer. “We are seeing some interesting opportunities,” CEO Ed Christian told investors during the company’s results call yesterday. “After all these years of getting a huge rush from buying translators, we are actually seeing some real buying opportunities and these are in markets which we have previously defined as fitting our acquisitions parameters.” To date, the company has bought 40 translators of which “more than a dozen” are fed by HD Radio multicast programming to create what Saga calls “metro stations.” But Christian is now kicking the tires on some full-signaled radio stations to flesh out its portfolio. With $23 million in cash on hand and modest debt, the company is in a strong position to make acquisitions. But Christian said it’s only interested in purchases that make sense strategically and structurally. “We don’t jeopardize our cash on bragging rights,” he said.
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Christian format was radio’s sleeper hit of 2014. Finding God had its earthly rewards, so to speak, as Christian radio saw the largest spike in ratings in 2014. That’s according to an analysis by Harker Research. It found 69% of Christian-formatted stations showed ratings gains between the end of 2013 and 2014. Looked at another way, Harker says Christian stations had better than two-to-one odds to post growth last year. The other big ratings gainers in 2014 were adult hits (+63%), classic hits (+60%) and all-news (+59%). Showing less growth were the young-skewing hot AC (+46%), CHR (+45%) and rhythmic CHR (+37%) stations in those formats were less likely to post year-over-year growth. Two formats — classic rock and urban AC — were 50/50 with half the stations in those formats posting gains, while the other half declined. Harker based its winners and losers list on ratings from October, November and December from each year. The firm ranked formats by the percentage of stations that gained share, with the top format having the highest percentage of stations ahead of where they were one year earlier. Harker says its methodology better accounts for the impact of major markets compared to Nielsen’s year-end analysis, which relies on format shares from PPM markets only. New contract for Emmis’ Rick Cummings. Emmis president of radio programming Rick Cummings has signed a new two-year contract that will keep him at the company through March 2017. Cummings, 62, has been with Emmis since 1981 when he joined the company as the first program director of WENS-FM, Indianapolis. He later programmed two urban radio powerhouses — New York’s “Hot 97” WQHT and “Power 106” KPWR in Los Angeles — as well as the country’s first all-sports station “The Fan” WFAN, New York. In 2002 Cummings was named president of Emmis’ radio division, and then in 2008 he transitioned to president of programming. His new agreement with the company calls for Cummings to earn a base $485,000 salary.
Bonus rules get tougher for Emmis executives. Emmis Communications had already taken steps to make its executive bonuses more closely tied to the company’s financial performance. Now its board has moved even further in that direction. Under the new bonus plan, 80% of executive bonuses will be tied to hitting specific quarterly earnings targets. How much is paid will depend on whether that goal is achieved. The revised plan also says that no quarterly bonus will be paid if less than 95% of the quarterly goal is achieved. The move is in line with a trend that’s gained traction in recent years to more tie executive bonuses to performance. FCC fine-tuning EAS alerts. The FCC’s review of the Emergency Alert System is pressing forward, and its final report appears likely to include the creation of several new event codes to help sharpen when or where an alert is sent. According to agency filings, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau held a conference call last month with several technology companies about the proposal. The National Weather Service made the request, which the equipment manufacturers say can easily be implemented with routine software updates to EAS equipment. While there’d be little or no expense associated with the move, the companies suggest the FCC give broadcasters enough time — even as much as nine months — to update EAS software. The Bureau has said it plans to hold a second national EAS test at some point in 2015, but no date has been set. Beasley joins growing list of companies taking radio to the streets. The street life of Las Vegas is like no other city in America. Away from the strip in Downtown’s Container Park shopping center, Beasley Media Group will bring a bit of showbiz to a grittier area that’s better known for hipster locals than tourists. Beasley is building radio studios that can be used for live broadcasts. The location sits next to an existing stage that’s already been the site of several free community concerts. “We envision bringing and supporting live events at the Downtown Container Park,” market manager Tom Humm says. “In radio, it’s all about the community.” Construction began in February and work is expected to be completed next month. The deal came together at the hands of “News Talk AM 720” KDWN personalities Dave Carney and Chad Forster, who already had a relationship with Container Park. “They originally approached us and the Park about this concept and from there it all came to fruition,” says director of sales Cory Cuddeback. Their D&C Entertainment will oversee the studio and help plan various events that will put it to use. Beasley enlisted Cox Business as the studio’s sponsor, with its executive saying the company sees the project as part of the revitalization of Downtown Las Vegas.
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Back from the dead AM springs to life. AM radio may be struggling, but a survival tale hails from central Pennsylvania where a group of Carlisle, PA broadcasters rallied to save a beloved local station. Now WHYL (960) is back on the air after more than a year of radio silence, once again spinning records from the American songbook. Harold Swidler, Eric Swidler, and Terri Warshawsky bought what was at the time a silent and bankrupt station for $30,000 last year. Eric Swidler tells The Sentinel newspaper that they decided they wanted to essentially rebuild the station from the ground up and give it a new lease on life because WHYL’s unique spin on the adult standards format was a big part of the community. “Not only is it very important to bring it all back because of that heritage, we want to fulfill the needs of the people,” he says. The trio also owns country “Red 102.3” WCAT-FM and “Country Gold 1000” WIOO in the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle market. Among the first two personalities on WHYL are longtime air personality Larry Flood and the mayor of Carlisle, Kirk Wilson. Swidler says the response has been positive. “These are favorites that these folks have grown up with,” he says. Inside Radio News Ticker…Viacom boss isn’t chasing CBS…CEO Les Moonves says CBS has no plans to reunite with its corporate cousin Viacom — not that it’s desired. “We have no intention of buying CBS,” Viacom chief Philippe Dauman told the Deutsche Bank Media Conference this week. Speculation making the rounds on Wall Street has been the two companies may look to reverse a 2006 split. Moonves has said several times it’s not in the cards for CBS. And now Dauman, who’s seen as a rival to take over Sumner Redstone’s media empire, agrees…Pandora to offer ad-free day pass…Targeting consumers who may want a day of commercial-free music for a party or BBQ, Pandora will later this year launch a 24-hour pass. The plans were disclosed at the company’s annual investor day as a way to go after consumers who may not be interested in the five dollar monthly Pandora One subscription. While the exact pricing hasn’t been determined, a power point slide last week suggested it might be offered for as little as 99-cents. No word on when Pandora will start offering the day passes…Abernethy joining Entercom…Radio One regional VP Doug Abernethy will leave the company at the end of the month for a corporate position at Entercom. Houston-based Abernethy currently oversees five radio stations in Houston and Dallas for Radio One, which he joined 11 years ago from Cox Media Group…Nest’s next move may be audio…The company that’s best known for mobile phone-controlled thermostats reportedly has its eyes (and ears) set on audio. TechCrunch reports Nest is looking to expand its business into mobile-controlled audio devices and speakers as part of its expansion into the so-called internet of things. What they’re calling Nest Audio appears to be in the very early stages. The Google subsidiary is currently staffing up its audio engineering team, saying it looks to develop hardware and software that “can support delightful user experiences and innovative features”...People Moves...IHeartMedia announces new program directors in Minneapolis; Syracuse; Albany, GA. Read the latest People Moves HERE.
WLW’s Jim Scott caps 54-year career. Camera crews and reporters from Cincinnati’s media outlets crammed the studios of iHeartMedia talk WLW (700) on Tuesday to capture the big announcement: morning host Jim Scott is retiring after 31 years with the station and 47 in the market. His last day on the air will be April 3. “47 years of waking up the Tri-State has been such a privilege,” Scott said. “I’m looking forward to saying thank you on the air till my favorite day of the year: Opening Day,” Other than a brief stint at WNBC, New York, Scott has worked in the Cincinnati market since 1968. First at WSAI (1360), and then at WLW. For that work he received the 2002 Marconi Award for Large Market Radio Personality of the Year. IHeartMedia has announced that WLW personality Mike McConnell will succeed Scott beginning April 6. McConnell worked in middays at WLW for 24 years (1986-2010) before leaving for a job at Tribune’s news-talk “Radio 720” WGN, Chicago from 2010 to 2013. He returned to WLW last year as an on-air host.
NFL passes the buck to former radio flagship. The National Football League has asked New York Supreme Court Judge Timothy Drury to remove it from a lawsuit filed by the team’s Buffalo Jills cheerleaders demanding back pay. The Buffalo News reports the NFL says the Jills weren’t League employees, pointing out former play-by-play outlet “97 Rock” WGRF actually managed the cheerleaders in an unusual setup for a radio flagship. The cheerleaders have alleged they were forced to make appearances but weren’t compensated for about 840 hours of unpaid work per year, a violation of state labor laws. WGRF is now owned by Cumulus Media, which inherited the suit when it bought the station as part of its 2011 Citadel buyout.
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MARKET MANAGER - COLORADO qualFINANCIAL SHOW HOST Cumulus-Colorado Springs is searching for an exceptional Market MULTIMEDIA SPECIALIST Manager to guide our 6 well positioned and impactful stations. The Simply Money Media group is successful candidate will have a history of leading high performance expanding and growing! We’re sales teams, coaching good to great, and attracting sales all-stars. looking for an individual with a Here’s your opportunity to join our growing company and become an financial background who can integral part of our stellar team in Colorado Springs by contributing tell compelling and meaningful to their continued success. Not many better places to live and work money stories to the consumer. than in the beautiful landscape of Colorado. This person will know how Inquiries will be held in to be memorable and be a the strictest confidence: strong advocate for the target [email protected] consumer. This person will know Equal Opportunity Employer how to make money simple and easy to understand. OPERATIONS MANAGER Digity LLC continues to grow and needs the best The winning candidate will be Operations Managers in the country! featured on television, online video, radio, audio podcasts and If you are an experienced, strategic, creative, organized brand manager in print. Comfort in all video, with a can-do attitude, we want to talk to you. Applicants must be audio and digital disciplines are proficient in identifying new air talent, earns the respect of high profile a must. This position is based in morning teams, is excited about social/digital/events and develops Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters of ideas that are sellable not because he/she has to, but because he/ Simply Money. she understands a full integration with sales is the key to success. The perfect candidate knows how to strategically program for ratings for both PPM/diary markets and is a leader who is ready to take on corporate responsibilities as well as manage a cluster of stations.
Qualified candidates will have at least five years of proven success as a Email resume and demo to: programmer, preferably in a PPM market. Candidates must be strategic Darryl Parks and analytical but also must possess creativity and the instinct to win. SVP, Simply Money Media OM must be proficient with RCS Selector, Adobe Audition, PPM Analysis [email protected] Tool, Social Media platforms, Audio Vault, PD Advantage and Media (513) 469-7500 Monitors. Find a full list of qualifications and responsibilities in our ad at insideradio.com. Send resume to: [email protected]. EOE Equal Opportunity Employer
GM and GSM CANDIDATES We seek innovative, dynamic sales motivators who will thrive in high-profile markets. If you are:
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