This Week in
Small Market Radio
STATIONS REPORT SEVERE AUTO CUTS. Operators with whom we have spoken report a sharp downturn in automotive business from the manufacturers and dealers of Toyota and Honda vehicles. Manufacturing capacity in Japan has been decimated due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
RADIO’S ROLE. As so often happens, radio has played a central role in recovering from the natural disasters that have struck the Southeast, Midwest and New England in recent days.
 SMALL MARKET LEADER HONORED. Steve Newberry, owner of Commonwealth Broadcasting, Glasgow, KY, is the recipient of this year’s NAB National Radio Award, to be presented at the Radio Show in Chicago in September.
PIRACY CRACKDOWN CONTINUES. A Boston illegal broadcaster operating “Datz Hits Radio 99.7” has been shut down by the FCC. Federal officials seized the pirate’s equipment from a Boston-area residence earlier this month.
 THIS WEEK IN MULTIMEDIA TALKERS 1: YOU KIDS STOP ARGUING. MSNBC TV and Premiere radio host Ed Schultz firmly planted his loafer in his talker last week when he called conservative radio/TV host Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut” and a “talk slut” because of her criticism of President Obama’s visit to tornado-torn Joplin, MO.
 THIS WEEK IN MULTIMEDIA TALKERS 2: BECK ROLLS HIS OWN. Recently-released Glenn Beck, whose Fox TV program was canceled not for soft ratings but for a lack of advertiser support, is starting his own cable channel, GBTV.com, with the slogan, “The truth lives here” (trademark pending).
CBS CHIEF RESURRECTS CLASSIC PROGRAMMING RULE. Dan Mason, president of CBS Radio, issued a memo to the industry advocating the identification of the music we play. Mr. Mason’s missive is on page 6 of this week's issue.
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC MEDIA CUTS 1: FLORIDA EDITION. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has eliminated all funding for public radio and television—a total of $4.5 million that state public broadcasters are scrambling furiously to replace.
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC MEDIA CUTS 2: WISCONSIN EDITION. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has proposed a budget that cuts about $600,000—about 8%—from the budget of the state’s Educational Communications Board, which operates Wisconsin’s 28 public radio stations, along with translators, live streams and television.
THIS WEEK IN TECHNOLOGY 1: PANDORA SKYROCKETS ON THE EVE OF IPO. The online music service reports sales of $51 million for February-April of this year, a 136% increase.
THIS WEEK IN TECHNOLOGY 2: NEW STREAMING AGGREGATOR DRAWS RAVE REVIEWS. A new service, DAR.fm, searches all shows on all the terrestrial radio stations that stream, and then will, in the words of David Pogue writing in the New York Times, “search, sort, slice and dice those listings any way you want: by genre, radio station, by search phrase.” |
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