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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. It doesn’t look like the situation is going to get any better any time soon, as both carmakers have intimated that they will be cutting back their summer ad schedules. This will undoubtedly have a ripple effect on local card dealers since, as one put it, “Why should I spend money on advertising when I don’t have anything to advertise?”
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. At the beginning of the week, a station owned by the Zimmer Brothers in Joplin, MO, KZRG, managed to fire off a tornado warning about 20 minutes before the thing hit. Stations in Alabama and Florida are putting aside their bitter football rivalry to organize “Gators Lifting the Tide,” to collect supplies for Alabama Disaster Relief. In Springfield, MO, KQRA has mounted a “Stuff A Truck” promotion to collect supplies for nearby Joplin. Through it all, stations are promoting donations to the American Red Cross, which remains a pivotal agency for relief efforts in all afflicted areas.
 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. The NAB gives the National Radio Award to a single broadcaster every year, often to those who have served as the chair of the Radio Board or the Joint Board of the NAB. SMRN and its publisher congratulate Steve for this honor, well deserved for Steve’s tireless efforts on behalf of our industry.
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. The unnamed miscreant’s signal was allegedly interfering with FAA signals at Logan Airport and with a licensed FM station in Boston.
 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. Schultz’s television bosses were quick to respond by suspending him for a week, saying, “Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” So, on Wednesday night, Schultz issued a brief apology and then shuffled out the door to begin his week in the penalty box. As for Ms. Ingraham’s response, according to a story in the New York Daily News, “Laura Ingraham is taking the high road and accepting Schultz’s apology.” On her own radio show, Ingraham said, “Stuff is always said about me. I thought so little about it, I didn’t even mention it.”
 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. They have reported to the SEC that their user base is now over 90 million, of whom 34 million are “active users.”
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.” The service, built by David Robertson, who was involved in the development of the original MP3 standard, offers apps for iPhones (“Airband”), Android (“MP3Tunes”), and Windows Phone 7 (“Locker Player”). Check it out at www.dar.fm. |
