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August 19, 1998
THEY WANT THE AIRWAVES
full story online at Wired
When a federal judge denied a group of broadcasting enthusiasts the right to an
impromptu public forum on the importance of pirate radio on Friday, a group of the
rebuffed DJs staged a small protest to air their concerns.
After arriving in front of the federal building to the trumpeting of a conch shell,
California micro-radio activist Stephen Dunifer spelled out his concerns before about
30 people.
"The National Association of Broadcasters and the [Federal Communications
Commission] are guilty of grand theft larceny -- stealing the public airwaves,"
declared Dunifer.
"They're making us ask for a diminishing slice of the pie -- that's ridiculous,"
he said. "It's time we took the whole pie shop back -- and the rest of the bakery
too."
FCC TOUTING FLORIDA SHUTDOWNS
full story online at FCC Site
The FCC, in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service, seized radio equipment
by court order from 15 unlicensed
broadcast stations in the Miami, Florida, metropolitan area. Of the 15 seizures,
13 of those occurred within a five day
period, from July 27 through July 31, 1998.
CUMULUS BUYS 25 STATIONS
full story online at Excite News and Excite News
Cumulus Media Inc., the nation's fourth largest radio broadcaster, announced that
it has completed the previously announced acquisition of 25 radio stations (15 FM
and 10 AM) in Rochester, MN and four other markets in Southern Minnesota and Northern
Iowa from James Ingstad for $42.5 million.
Cumulus also announced that it will expand its operations in Montgomery, Alabama
from four radio stations to seven.
FCC CRITICAL OF POLICY!
full story online at Broadcasting and Cable
Regulation Federal Communications Commissioners, Susan Ness and Gloria Tristani,
"don't like the way FCC officials are adding up radio stations for the purposes
of enforcing local ownership limits."
Last week, the commissioners' charged regulators with using inconsistent formulas
to first determine market size in the radio industry and then determine how many
commonly owned stations exist within a market.
"Our current broadcast ownership rules stumble on one of the critical steps
in any meaningful competitive analysis: a clear definition of the scope of the 'market'
in question," the commissioners said. "The end result is that there
can be no meaningful assessment of market concentration, because there is no consistent
definition of the relevant market."
RADIO FREE OXON HILL
full story online at Washington Post
For years Steven Franco found little pleasure in the drudgery of inventories and
cash register reconciliations. But in 1994, he discovered a way to boost business
and keep himself engaged: He started playing music and pushing products over the
store's ceiling speakers, creating in-store "radio."
Franco loved it. Customers recognized his voice. Sales shot up. He wanted more. He
dreamed of taking his station outside the walls of Discount Mart.
So he went shopping -- for a transmitter and antenna. That was four years ago, before
'WDIS' went big-time, before you could hear his voice booming clearly up to the Washington
Monument, seven miles northwest of Discount Mart.
Last week, two men from the Federal Communications Commission paid a visit to Franco,
who had launched his station without a license or even so much as a phone call to
the FCC. The men were very serious. They intend to silence WDIS.
JUDGE DENIES SHUTDOWN REQUEST
from Lewanee Daily Telegram
Radio broadcasts continue at "Radio Free Lenawee," after a federal judge
in U.S. District Court in Detroit threw out a government request to shut down the
station.
U.S. District Court Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. dismissed the governmentís complaint
against the Rev. Rick Strawcutter.
The Federal Communications Commission, saying the low-power station is illegal, sought
confiscation of his broadcasting equipment.
"It appears to be a victory for us," said Strawcutterís attorney, Patrick
M. Edwards of Detroit. "Weíre very satisfied with the judgeís opinion,"
Strawcutter said.
"We want to get to the First Amendment question that the FCC is violating First
Amendment rights of microbroadcasters by refusing to issue licenses to them,"
Edwards said. "The FCC is doing everything they can to avoid that issue."
RADIO, AIRCRAFT MIX SIGNALS
full story online at Ottawa Citizen
Aircraft makers in the United States and radio stations in Canada are on a collision
course over who rules the airwaves they both use.
In October, 19 Canadian radio stations will broadcast with a new digital signal that
promises CD-quality sound and no "dead" spots near tall buildings.
The new broadcasts by CBC, CHUM, CFRB and just about every other station in Toronto
will use frequencies around 1.5 gigahertz.
At the same time, U.S. aircraft makers are using delicate sensors to test each new
airplane they build, sending data on the plane's safety to technicians on the ground.
These transmissions are also at frequencies around 1.5 gigahertz.
Oops.
JACOR DROPS 8 STATIONS
full story online at Yahoo Business News
also online at CBS Marketwatch
Jacor Communications Inc. smoothed the way for its $620 million deal to buy Nationwide
Communications Inc. by agreeing to sell or swap eight stations to maintain competition
in Cleveland, Columbus and San Diego.
FCC TO AUCTION AIRWAVES
full story online at Yahoo News
What a great idea: auction airwaves to the highest bidder. The rich get richer and
have more control and the public, the rightful owners of the airwaves, get jacked
once again.
Contested commercial radio licenses will be auctioned off to the highest bidder,
the Federal Communications Commission decided.
The commission concluded that using auctions "would be fairer and more efficient"
than the long-standing but time-consuming practice of having competing companies
make their case for a license at hearings.
Congress, in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, gave the FCC the option of choosing
how to resolve certain license disputes filed to the commission before July 1, 1997.
Those disputes involve 130 licenses and 500 competing applicants.
The FCC put off to a later date deciding how to handle contested noncommercial licenses.
FCC CONTINUES CRACKDOWN
from Oakland Press
With pirate radio broadcaster Stephen Dunifer's Free Radio Berkeley off the air
because of a judge's order, more unlicensed radio stations are filling the void and
almost as quickly are being raided by federal agents.
Two broadcasters going by the name of The Covert Broadcasting System were in the
middle of their own show Sunday night when they had to sign off abruptly.
"Got to go, the FCC is here," Berkeley broadcaster "Peanuts"
announced to hundreds of listeners.
Two sports utility vehicles with high-powered spotlights bore down on their secret
location in the Berkeley hills.
PROFIT AND PUBLIC AIRWAVES
A very nicely done 2-part story regarding the public airwaves and the utter control
of huge mega-media corporations was published by the Anchorage Press. Read this story.
Part 1 and Part 2.
Is Anchorage getting what it wants out of radio? Over the past year, the city
has heard a lot of pirates take to the air: DJ Mike spinning hip-hop on KBZZ from
Muldoon, Free Radio Spenard sneaking onto the airwaves and Glacier City Radio boldly
staking its 24-hour-a-day claim down in Girdwood for half a year.
Why did pirates (none of whom are broadcasting now) pop up on the dial with such
frequency? Critics point toward one answer: huge corporations in Anchorage that own
multiple stations stifle programming diversity and provide little community service.
MICHIGAN MICROS GET ACTIVE
The MMWC intends to either join or file a class action lawsuit such as 98 Civ. 2680
(MBM) out of NY filed by Steal This Radio.
A benefit show will kick off October 10th at JD's in Mt. Clemens, 810-465-5154. This
is a 3 stage place with tons of bands, doors open at 2:00pm 'til 2:00am - $6 door
- all ages welcome 'till 9:30pm (18 and over after 9:30pm) with proceeds to benefit
local 'Micro - Power' radio stations legal fees and take the offensive with a class
action lawsuit to change FCC regulations.
We need your help... If you know of anyone involved with the NY lawsuit, please contact
us. http://www.flash.net/~pavdogs/mmwc.htm
August 4, 1998
CAPSTAR BUYS UP TRIATHLON
full story online at Wichita Business Journal
Triathlon Broadcasting Co., owner of six Wichita radio stations, has agreed to
an acquisition by Capstar Broadcasting Corp. in a deal valued at $190 million.
"This is the most frustrating thing I think has ever happened to the radio industry,"
said Bonnie Copp, owner of Copp Media Services, a Wichita media buying firm. "You've
got one company that literally controls the business."
What Copp fears most are higher advertising rates. She said those rates have already
risen dramatically -- specifically at Triathlon stations -- within the past few years
and she believes they could further increase.
"I don't think it's good for anybody," she said.
ANTITRUST STORM CLOUDS OVER CUMULUS
full story online at Milwaukee Business Journal
Cumulus Media is rolling into Grand Junction, Colo., and station owners there
don't think it's fair.
The problem, as they see it, is that the mammoth Milwaukee radio group plans to operate
six radio stations in this western Colorado market of about 100,000. The six stations
Cumulus has agreed to buy attract an estimated 58 percent of the radio audience in
Grand Junction and an estimated 61 percent of the advertising dollars.
"They'll definitely control the market," said Brad Leggett, owner, general
manager and morning show host at classic rock station KSTR-FM.
Leggett also worries that Cumulus' takeover of the six stations, as with group takeovers
of markets across the country, will mean a loss of "localism." He predicts
the cornerstones of small to medium-market radio -- local announcers, community involvement
and charity events -- will be eliminated.
"It's really screwing up the radio business," said Leggett.
In at least two of the 34 markets where Cumulus has agreements to buy stations --
Grand Junction and Dubuque, Iowa -- competitors have filed antitrust complaints with
the U.S. Justice Department.
R&R STORY ON RADIO
full story online at RROnline
When the radio industry began campaigning for further deregulation
a few years back, it argued that listeners would benefit through increased format
choices. But several small but vocal consumer advocate groups say consolidation has
actually resulted in less diverse and more vanilla radio programming, with the industry's
major group heads making a claim of more format and programming diversity today than
radio has ever known.
"Everybody's really fed up with the state of radio, the repetitiveness,"
said Jeremy Wilker, who co-founded Americans for Radio Diversity (ARD). "The
people who write to us say: 'I'm listening to my CD player all the time now; I can't
stand radio anymore'; 'I wish we had a college station'; or 'I wish we had a community
station.'"
Gigi Sohn, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Media Access Project, calls
this phenomenon the "homogenization" of radio, with everything "sounding
the same" from "city to city" -- the same 10 songs, the same formats,
etc.
CNN STORY ON 'ONE-HIT WONDERS'
full story online at CNN
Pop music history is littered with one-hit wonders. But one-hit wonders were generally
just one aspect of the business. While acts such as Kajagoogoo and Mouth & MacNeil
may make momentary spurts up the charts, the heart of the business has always centered
on the development of career artists who are embraced by fans for a series of albums.
The fear now, though, is that the one-hit wonders are becoming the rule rather than
the exception.
Throughout the record business, executives complain that economic pressures
created by the recent spate of corporate mergers and consolidations of radio-station
ownership have led to mandates that programmers get immediate results with their
ratings. Stations can't afford the luxury of championing artists just because they
believe in them or want to build a relationship with them for the future.
At the same time, the increased dependence of radio management on audience research
that relies solely on a quick response to song snippets has led to an emphasis on
the most immediately catchy songs.
BLACKOUT ON THE DIAL?
full story online at American Journalism Review
The June issue of American Journalism Review features a rather lengthy article on
radio and news coverage -- and it's steady decline in the age of consolidation and
focus "on the bottom line." Check it out.
July 28, 1998
CAPSTAR BUYS TRIATHLON
full story online at Yahoo News
full story online at Spokane Net
Capstar Broadcasting Corp. said it will buy Triathlon Broadcasting Co. for $190
million, adding 32 radio stations in six mid-size markets to the 300 it already controls.
Triathlon operates radio stations in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States.
CAPSTAR BUYS NEBRASKA STATIONS
full story online at Nebraska Web and Excite News
A radio conglomerate that already owns the most stations in the
country has agreed to buy eight Nebraska radio properties, including 96 KX in Lincoln,
KFAB in Omaha and the firm that broadcasts Husker sports.
Capstar Broadcasting Corp. of Austin, Texas, announced Friday it plans to buy all
32 radio stations owned by Triathlon Broadcasting for $190 million, including $60
million in debt.
CAPSTAR BUYS WXLE
full story online at Capital District Business Review
One of the last sisterless stations in the Albany- Schenectady- Troy market is
about to be adopted into a very large family.
Six-year-old Schenectady station WXLE, 104.5 FM will become part of Atlantic Star
Broadcasting, the East Coast division of Austin, Texas-based Capstar Broadcasting
Corp., by the end of the year. The company has agreed to pay current owner Foley
Broadcasting L.P. $2.6 million in cash for the 5,000-watt station.
CHANCELLOR BUYS PUERTO RICO STATIONS
full story online at Yahoo Business
Chancellor Media Corporation announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement
to purchase the privately- held companies comprising Primedia Broadcast Group, Inc.
which owns and operates eight FM radio stations in Puerto Rico. The purchase consideration
is approximately $75 million.
The Puerto Rico market, which for the first time is being covered by Arbitron this
year, is expected to rank as the 11th largest radio market in the U.S.
"Chancellor's commitment to growth will provide a great deal of opportunity
and support for our managers and employees as well as new opportunities
for the advertisers we serve."
July 22, 1998
FCC AGENTS GUARD AIR
full story online at Nando.net
Nando.net recently published this piece glorifying the job of FCC agents. A very
interesting article, especially with the emphasized quote below:
The FCC does not keep precise figures on complaints about airwave interference
because most cases are detected and resolved with a few phone calls between the FCC
and radio operators. What's more, improvements in consumer equipment have helped
slash inadvertent interference from faulty appliances and other common household
electronic devices.
But serious incidents of airwave interference still exceed 500 a a year and have
become so commonplace that Kennard said he is considering asking Congress for
permission to give broadcasters the authority to go to court on their own and shut
down unlicensed operators without tying up the resources of the FCC.
FCC GETS CONVICTION
full story online at St. Petersburg Times
The country's first convicted radio pirate was sentenced Tuesday to probation
and house arrest, despite a federal prosecutor's warning that leniency would send
a message to a nationwide network of unlicensed microbroadcasters.
Lonnie Kobres, 54, of Lutz received three years' probation, six months' house arrest
and a $7,500 fine from U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams, who rejected the notion
of making an example of him.
Thanks to shrinking technology prices, microbroadcasters can generate an FM radio
signal with as little as $500 worth of equipment. But seeking a license from the
Federal Communications Commission can require an investment of $100,000 or more.
As unlicensed stations have proliferated, the FCC has received complaints from the
corporate-owned licensed ones, represented by the National Association of Broadcasters.
[note: the NAB is now the largest spender of lobbying money, surpassing
even the NRA]
"There is sort of a war going on between the big corporations and us ordinary
people," Kobres told the judge.
GRASSROOTS NEWS NETWORK ARTICLE
The Daily Texan ran a nice story on the GNN conference
in Austin, Texas. It would probably be worthwhile to read it. (hint hint). It is
also online in our "Library" of archived articles.
July 12, 1998
USA TODAY REPORT ON RADIO
full story online at USA Today
You may want to read a recent a USA Today story on radio consolidation. The story
is decent and covers several angles (including a quote from ARD).
TV ratings and telephone services generated most of the heat when Congress passed
the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996. But in a surprise turn, the most dramatic
changes have come to radio.
A USA TODAY analysis of government and industry data on station ownership shows radio
is undergoing an unprecedented wave of consolidation, taking it from a kitchen-table
culture of mom-and-pop business to one at home in the boardrooms of the nation's
largest companies.
In fact, never before has radio, historically one of the USA's most regulated industries,
seen so much change.
HICKS EMPIRE EXPANDS
full story online at NY Post
True to their vows, the Hicks brothers are building a television-radio-billboard
company capable of taking on CBS.
Tom Hicks and his younger brother Steve, who control Dallas buyout firm Hicks, Muse
Tate & Furst, yesterday said they are folding their television stations into
Chancellor Media Corp., a radio station group which the Hicks are transforming into
a budding multimedia company.
In a stock deal valued at $1.72 billion, the Hicks firm yesterday shifted the 12
TV stations it controlled through its LIN Television Corp. into the umbrella of Chancellor.
Until recently, Chancellor operated just radio stations but has acquired a major
billboard company and will now enter television for the first time, pending regulatory
approval.
Chancellor, the nation's second-largest radio group behind CBS, intends to offer
advertisers a full range of media - radio, TV and billboards.
CHANCELLOR BUYS LIN TV FOR $1.6B
full story online at CNNfn
full story online at ABC News
full story online at Yahoo News
Chancellor Media Corp., the second-largest radio broadcaster in the U.S., said
it has agreed to buy LIN Television Corp. for stock and debt valued at approximately
$1.5 billion.
Chancellor owns and operates 108 radio stations in the United States. LIN, which
owns and operates 12 network-affiliated television stations, is the 22nd-largest
TV broadcaster in the U.S.
Last month, Chancellor acquired outdoor billboard advertiser Martin Media L.P.
"Our goal is to [develop] a multimedia strategy where we build radio, build
TV, build outdoor [advertising] in individual markets," Marcus said. "We
want to offer advertisers the widest range of options available."
Marcus shrugged off any notions that the deal could be derailed by heavy federal
antitrust scrutiny, pointing out there are no regulations regarding owning companies
in the different medium.
"You can own just so much radio in a market, so much TV, and there's no practical
limit on outdoor [advertising] at this point," he said.
CHANCELLOR BUYS INTO GRUPO RADIO
full story online at CBS Marketwatch
Chancellor Media said it will acquire a 50 percent stake in Grupo Radio Centro,
Mexico's largest radio group, for $237 million.
In a press release, Chancellor, one of the two giant radio arms of Dallas buyout
firm Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, said it and Grupo Radio will "jointly
pursue opportunities in the U.S. Spanish-language radio market."
Grupo Radio owns six FM and six AM radio stations, and acts as the national sales
representative and provides programming for a network of more than 90 radio station
affiliates in 57 cities throughout Mexico.
TRIAL FINALLY SET FOR DISNEY vs CBC
full story online at CBS Marketwatch
A trial date of Aug. 31 has been set in Children's Broadcasting's lawsuit against
Disney and ABC Radio Networks. In a press release, Children's Broadcasting said a
U.S. District Court in Minneapolis will hear its claim that Disney and ABC deliberately
failed to sell advertising and recruit affiliates for Children's now defunct AAHS
World Radio network, as called for in a 1995 sales and marketing pact.
"They not only failed to honor their side of what was supposed to be a strategic
alliance with Children's," the company said of Disney, "but ... improperly
used what they learned from the partnership to launch their own children's radio
service." Radio Disney is now heard in a number of major U.S. markets. The suit
was originally filed in 1996. Children's is asking for both injunctive relief and
unspecified monetary damages.
CUMULUS ACQUIRES 16 STATIONS
full story online at Yahoo Business
Cumulus Media Inc. announced the closing of three acquisitions involving 16 radio
stations in four markets for a total purchase price of approximately $65 million.
The cities involved are Chattanooga, TN; Montgomery, AL; Marion-Carbondale, IL and
Odessa-Midland, TX.
STATION MERGER ON HOLD
full story online at Ohio Business Journal
A proposed Erie, PA radio station merger is on hold pending a U.S. Justice Department
investigation into whether it would illegally dominate the market, a Federal Communication
Commission spokesman said.
Spokesman Stuart Bedell said the Justice Department's interest has caused the FCC
to postpone approval of the proposed merger.
Under the proposal, a new company to be named Media One Group-Erie would own one
AM and four FM stations in the Erie market. Two of the stations are now owned by
Rambaldo Communications of North East -- WRKT-FM and WRTS-FM -- and three are owned
by Media One Group -- WXKC-FM, WXTA-FM and WRIE-AM.
FCC rules bar a single entity from owning more than half the stations in a given
market. Whether the venture would be legal depends on how the Erie market is defined.
RADIO PIRATE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS
full story online at Bergen
A federal judge has put Sal Anthony out of the pirate radio business permanently,
ruling that the former operator of Howell's Oldies 104.7 station can't go back on
the air without a license.
Last week's decision by U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden also forfeits most
of the radio station's equipment to the government, which shut the unlicensed station
down in September, after a month of operation.
With no appeal planned, the ruling closes the case. Anthony -- the professional name
of Sayreville resident Salvatore A. DeRogatis Jr. -- paints the battle as a struggle
for control of the airwaves, pitting the corporate fat cats who can afford thousands
of dollars for radio licenses against people like himself -- "microbroadcasters"
who want to serve their local communities.
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