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800.275.2840 MORE NEWS» insideradio.com THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015 Liggins: ‘Programmatic is absolutely coming.’ Like it or not, programmatic selling is unavoidable. That’s the conclusion of Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins, acknowledging the risk to pricing. “Right now we do remnant business,” he reminded analysts. “And to the extent you can automate that process cost out of the system and you can have your sellers focused on the more high value clients of that, you are getting better rates and doing bigger campaigns.” Liggins said he’s already met with Katz Media Group about the rep firm’s Expressway programmatic platform set to launch next year. He said one of the more interesting uses for the machine-to-machine based buying will be as advertisers pre-load ads set to be triggered by certain events or weather. But like many executives, Liggins also conceded where it all goes remains to be seen. “Programmatic is absolutely coming, and so we just have to figure out how to play the best hand out of it,” he said. If nothing else, CFO Peter Thompson predicts it will make radio easier to buy, measure, and calculate its ROI for marketers. “Then you end up fishing in a bigger pool and competing for more digital dollars,” he said. Google brings voice commands to some streaming audio apps. Changing the station just got easier for Android users of TuneIn. The online radio aggregator has integrated with the voice search service Ok Google. Using voice commands, TuneIn users can bark commands to their Android phone, rather than tapping. To start a voice action or search, users say “Ok Google,” followed by their request, like “play KROQ on TuneIn.” TuneIn says the voice action functionality works from any screen on the device. “Whether you need to change the station while driving, find the basketball game broadcast, or want to listen to a new podcast while cooking dinner, try out these activities with no taps,” the company says in a blog post. Google has also integrated its voice search technology with NPR One and music recognition app Shazam. Rather than having to pull out a phone and open the Shazam app manually to identify a song playing on the radio or another source, Android users with the Shazam app installed can ask their mobile phone to Shazam it. Also as part of an expanded Google-Shazam partnership, Android recognizes “Shazam” as a command within the Android operating system. When users ask their devices to “Shazam,” “recognize,” or “name” a “song,” “track,” or “tune,” the app will launch, and the song can be saved to a playlist for later listening. Univision’s Randy Falco says auto is the category to watch. The World Cup is one year’s win, another’s negative number. The same is often true with political advertising. The combination only exacerbated an otherwise soft ad market, and in the end Univision says its radio business declined 7.4% during the first three months of the year. Overall, Univision reports its total revenue was up 0.6% to $624.7 million during the first quarter as a 1.6% increase at its television business more than offset radio’s decline. “What you are seeing right now is that there are some real cyclical issues in the marketplace,” Univision CEO Randy Falco told analysts on a conference call. “There are some economic pressures that are affecting many of our clients.” He said it’s particularly surprising to see carmakers tap the brakes on spending after automotive has been a strong ad category in recent years. “It is an important indicator and is something everybody should keep their eyes on,” Falco said. EVP and interim-CFO Peter Lori told analysts that Univision’s radio and local television business remains challenged in the second quarter with revenue currently pacing down high single digits as a result of weak spending in categories such as automotive and retail. It’s also the quarter with the biggest World Cup impact. While it makes for difficult comparisons, it is a safe bet the company doesn’t mind, considering Univision booked $174 million in World Cup-related ad sales last year. Radio One moves forward with multiplatform plans. Radio One’s quest to fashion itself after Univision’s Hispanic- centric business model and become a multiplatform media company targeting African Americans has taken a step forward. [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015 It’s closed on the $550 million deal to buy out Comcast’s 47% stake i n the TV One cable TV channel. “Instead of debating with advertisers the merits o f television versus digital, versus radio, versus syndicated radio or events, we aim t o deliver it all,” CEO Alfred Liggins said Friday on a conference call. While radio’s share of company revenue will continue to shrink, like at its Hispanic counterpart, Radio One sees its 54 radio station platform remaining part of the strategy. “One of the reasons I think TV One is successful is we use our radio platform almost on an hourly basis every day,” Liggins said. “I think it helps to grow our brand. In a market where you are seeing other networks trend down significantly, we are trending up.” It’s a strategy that’s helped excite investors — Radio One’s stock jumped 6% on Friday — and will help the company deal with the “headwinds” that it is facing in the radio business. Radio One warns of down second quarter. First quarter revenues at Radio One declined 4.8% to $105.8 million, driven in large part by a $6 million decrease at its Reach Media syndication unit caused by a change in the timing of the annual Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage. Radio One says revenue from its radio broadcasting segment decreased 9.4% for the quarter, mainly due to declines in its four largest markets. Local (-7.9%) and national (-7.2%) sales were both weak during the quarter. And while automotive (+4%) and health care (+6%) increased, they were offset by big cutbacks in cellular (-35%) and grocery (-26%) spending. CEO Alfred Liggins sees slight improvements in second quarter, but the number is still written in red. The company’s core radio business is pacing down mid-single digits after what CFO Peter Thompson said was a “soft” April as revenue fell 6.5% compared to a year ago. “Audio still very important,” Liggins told analysts. “It’s just that there i s much more competition across all traditional mediums to share advertising dollars.” Traditional media is taking the hit, he said, and no one’s sure where things will level out. “But our job is to do the very best that we can in a tough market and get back to grabbing market share and then figure out other ways to insulate ourselves and diversify ourselves,” Liggins said. Revenue at its internet business decreased 10.9% and Thompson said that led to some staff downsizing. “I think it’s fair to say we set that up in anticipation of revenue coming in faster and higher, and growth has been somewhat less than we would hope,” he explained. TV One posted a 10% increase in ad revenue and a 21% boost in affiliate fees. Emmis’ lenders green-light L.A. defense plan. Emmis’ stock soared 9% on Friday after announcing it had reached a deal with its lenders giving it a bit of breathing room as it faces off with a new challenger in the Los Angeles market. For a price, the lenders won’t require Emmis to cut its debt as quickly as detailed in the original agreement. By giving the company more leeway into early 2017, Emmis says it will be able to relocate its cash to defending “Power 106” KPWR, which picked up a rival as iHeartMedia signed-on urban “Real 92.3” KRRL and lured away KPWR morning host, Kurt “Big Boy” Alexander. In a presentation to investors last month, Emmis said it plans to increase KPWR’s marketing and promotional spending from $300,000 to $950,000 to stay in step with KRRL, which iHeartMedia has pledge to spend $1 million to promote in the L.A. market. Emmis said it has also locked in several air personalities and signed KPWR program director Jimmy Steal to a new contract to keep anyone else from following Big Boy out the door. Townsquare Media fights to keep Waterloo FM trio. Did an informal green light at the FCC suddenly turn red for Townsquare Media? The company is strongly hinting that the regulatory rug got pulled out from under it in Waterloo, IA. That’s where the agency has ordered it to sell three FMs by November 14. It began in 2012 when Townsquare acquired CHR “Q-92.3” KKHQ-FM, classic rock KCRR (97.7) and country “K-98.5” KOEL-FM as part of a swap with Cumulus Media that resurrected the Waterloo Nielsen market. It had existed for all but 14 months during the past 42 years, but the market’s disappearance meant that Townsquare’s Cedar Rapids cluster, 50 miles away, was oversized. The FCC gave the company two years to sell. After the Waterloo market was revived it petitioned the FCC to reclaim the FMs [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015 from a trust. But the FCC rejected the move. Now in a petition for reconsideration, Townsquare says its plan was hinged on statements made by Audio Division staffers who signaled it would approve the re-patriotization, similar to maneuvers made in the past by Cumulus and iHeartMedia.