Wednesday's Radio & Media News - March 6, 2013

Michael Smerconish Moving from Terrestrial Radio to SiriusXM Michael Smerconish is leaving terrestrial radio and moving to SiriusXM. The satcaster announces that "it will now be the exclusive radio home to veteran Talk radio host Michael Smerconish, who is a nationally syndicated radio host, MSNBC contributor, bestselling author and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist." On April 15, "The Michael Smerconish Program" will end on terrestrial radio, including Smerconish's longtime home of Talk WPHT-AM, Philadelphia, and air on SiriusXM in an expanded format that "builds on Smerconish’s spirited discussions of government, politics, and current events without predictable left/right bias." Smerconish is currently heard on over 80 affiliates nationwide. Says Smerconish, "I am ecstatic to join SiriusXM, which I see as the dynamic future of radio broadcasting. I look forward to talking with SiriusXM's diverse, national audience, delivering a program that transcends the polarization that exists not only in Washington but in the media and country at large. It's time to take the national conversation to a higher plane, and I invite listeners nationwide with views that don't stack up neatly in any ideological box the way we’re told they should to join." "Michael Smerconish is one of the most compelling, entertaining and powerful voices in talk radio who places personal conviction over political agenda and we welcome him to satellite radio," said Scott Greenstein, President/Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM. "Now, on SiriusXM, we can’t wait to see what he does with the freedom of our unrestricted, uncensored, truly national platform and our engaged audience. We welcome his many current fans and look forward to new fans discovering Michael on SiriusXM." The new show will air weekdays from 9am-12noon ET exclusively on SiriusXM POTUS channel 124, "SiriusXM's non-partisan channel dedicated to the Politics of the United States." The Michael Smerconish Program will replay evenings from 6-9:00pm ET, and will be available on SiriusXM On Demand for subscribers listening via the SiriusXM Internet Radio App for smartphones and other mobile devices or online at siriusxm.com. Chris Neupert Promoted to '101 ESPN' St. Louis Program Director Hubbard "101 ESPN" WXOS-FM, St. Louis, promotes Chris "Hoss" Neupert to Program Director, effective March 18. Neupert, who joined the St. Louis Sports Talk station in 2009, replaces Kent Sterling, who is moving back to Indianapolis. Neupert previously served as Assistant PD, and Executive Producer and Director of St. Louis Rams Radio Operations. Prior to joining WXOS-FM, Neupert spent 12 years as Director of Operations and Program Director at "590 The Fan" KFNS-AM, Wood River, Illinois, which serves the St. Louis, Missouri, market. Hubbard Radio St. Louis VP and Market Manager John Kijowski tells us, "Chris Neupert is a versatile player who has added to the entire 101ESPN team over the course of the past four years, first as the head of Rams Radio operations and then as the Assistant Program Director for the station. His proven leadership and ability to communicate effectively with the entire 101ESPN staff -- along with St. Louis' professional sports teams and executives, and the station's clients and partners -- make him an invaluable asset to our station." Liz Hernandez Joining 'Valentine in the Morning' Hot AC "104.3 MYfm" KBIG-FM, Los Angeles, is adding entertainment personality Liz Hernandez as co-host of "Valentine in the Morning" beginning Monday (March 11). Hernandez, we're told, will share her "unique perspective on daily entertainment news during the show." She will also continue serving as a correspondent for E! News and host of their "E! News Now" as she joins the morning show on the Clear Channel L.A. station. "I'm thrilled to be working with Valentine in the Morning on 104.3 MYfm," says Hernandez. "I’m beyond excited to reconnect with Los Angeles as I've missed talking with this great city on the radio every day." Valentine tells us, "Liz is in touch with the celebrity driven world and has her finger on the pulse of what’s happening in Hollywood. Liz will be an amazing addition to our morning show team and we’re all looking forward to her unique perspective." And says "104.3 MYfm" Program Director Andrew Jeffries, "This must have been the longest search for a co-host ever. Finding quality takes time and Liz Hernandez is the perfect addition to join our team. She is a natural entertainer and knows how to create meaningful connections with both listeners and celebrity guests." Candy O'Terry 'Magic'ally Wakes Up in Boston AC "Magic 106.7" WMJX-FM, Boston, promotes Assistant PD and afternoon host Candy O'Terry to morning show co-host, alongside Mike Addams. O'Terry will step down from her APD duties and afternoon drive shift to focus on mornings. "Candy has played an instrumental role in Magic's success over the years, and she has worked hard to earn this much deserved opportunity," says Greater Media Boston Director of Programming Cadillac Jack McCartney. "Both through the genuine connections she has made with our listeners, and her natural ability to be a premiere ambassador for the radio station, I know Candy's deep passion for the Magic brand will continue to benefit us greatly in mornings with Mike Adams, as we continue to evolve and grow our product for our very large and loyal listener base in Boston." Born in New York City and raised in Connecticut, O'Terry came to Boston for Boston College where she received an honors degree in English. In 1990 she attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and quickly accepted a job as secretary to the Program Director at "Magic 106.7" says her station bio. "For the past 22 years, Candy O has worked her way up the ranks to become the station's Assistant Program Director and is now the co-host of Morning Magic with Mike Addams." Michael Josephs Joins Townsquare Senior Management Michael Josephs has joined Townsquare Media Group's senior management team as SVP of Corporate Strategy and Development. "We are thrilled to have Michael join the Townsquare Media team and oversee our continued expansion into new products and sectors," says Townsquare Chairman and CEO Steven Price. "Michael has a strong track record of success in the mergers and acquisitions sector and will greatly increase our Company's bandwidth to explore opportunities." According to Townsquare's official announcement, Josephs was most recently a Managing Director at MESA Securities, an investment bank solely focused on the media and entertainment industry. While at MESA, he sourced and led advisory and financing opportunities for early and growth stage clients. Prior to MESA, he spent ten years at Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch executing M&A and financing transactions for large capitalization media and entertainment companies. "I am very excited to be joining Townsquare Media," says Josephs. "After years of advising companies, I am delighted to be joining this smart, dynamic and motivated team that has already accomplished so much. I look forward to exploring opportunities to diversify the business and achieving the ultimate strategic vision on a local and national level." NYC's WBAI-FM Says It's Fighting to Survive 'Transmitter Fund Launched to Keep Radical Radio Atop the Empire State Building' 'WBAI-FM, Pacifica Radio Since 1960, Tries to Survive Hurricane Sandy Forced Move' The Pacifica Foundation has launched an emergency campaign to keep WBAI-FM, New York, on the air, by raising funds for the rent owed to keep its transmitter on top of the Empire State Building. Pacifica says it needs to raise $500,000 to prevent the shutdown of its operations with a loss of its lofty transmitter site. Says a news release, "The iconic non-profit public radio station WBAI 99.5 FM has launched an emergency campaign appeal to raise half a million dollars in March and stop the possible shutdown of its operations and the loss of its transmitter atop the Empire State Building. The campaign titled 'The Transmitter Fund' aims to raise the funds needed to bring current the transmitter tower rent, which fell drastically behind in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. If sufficient funds are not raised in time, the station will lose its transmitter and may never go back on the air in New York City again. You can donate immediately by going to 'The Transmitter Fund.' WBAI 99.5 FM was already struggling with escalating rent costs and, like most non-profits, with declining revenue as a result of the economic downturn of 2008. Hurricane Sandy forced WBAI from its broadcast facilities in lower Manhattan. Confronted with this situation, the staff and volunteers came together as never before, moving the station out of its former home in just a matter of weeks. WBAI 99.5 FM, part of the Pacifica network, is the only alternative listener supported, non-commercial public radio station in New York City. It takes no underwriting or commercials and is subject to no censorship or sponsorship pressure." "WBAI has served its listeners since 1960 with all of the major progressive, socially conscious, culturally important and revolutionary voices of the last half century and today. Every political and cultural icon and social movement from Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Abbie Hoffman, William F. Buckley, Angela Davis, Michael Moore and Chris Hedges to Iran-Contra, anti-fracking and the Occupy Movement have been on our airwaves," says Interim Executive Director Summer Reese. "Saving this radio station, with its incredibly strong signal, is important not just to public radio listeners in the tri-state area, but to the integrity of a free society which requires a free press and alternatives to mainstream corporate media outlets. The future of WBAI is actually bright, so long as we are able to overcome the present crisis. We are actively negotiating the purchase of a building, which will give us a permanent home that we own and significantly reduce our fixed costs on an ongoing basis," says Reese, "but first we have to save our transmitter and stay on the air." Arbiton Radio Listeners Commute Times Study: NY & DC Areas Have Longest Commutes of All Arbitron Radio Metros Commuters in the suburban radio markets surrounding New York and Washington DC spend the most time getting to their jobs each workday, according to a newly released Arbitron analysis of commuting data from the 2007–2011 U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, using Fall 2012 Arbitron Metro definitions. Commuters in Sussex, NJ, suffer the most compared to their workday compatriots in the rest of the Arbitron radio Metros. Sussex commuters spend an average of slightly more than 37 minutes getting to work; Fredericksburg, VA, is number two, also at slightly more than 37 minutes. Arbitron compiled average commuting times for employed residents of its 275 radio Metros using the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey from 2007-2011, providing radio stations with average commuting data for their specific radio market. "Since 84 percent of all drivers or passengers report use of AM/FM radio in-car, Arbitron also analyzed which formats were top in morning drive and how much time is spent listening to the radio during morning drive (Monday-Friday 6AM-10AM) in an average week," says the report. The Top 5 markets by average travel time to work were: Sussex, NJ, where the top formatted station is AC; In Fredericksburg, Virginia, the #2 market for commuting, Country is the top format; New York was ranked third, with News as the top format; Frederick, Maryland, ranks fourth, with Country as the #1 market format; Washington DC, ranked fifth where News Talk is the top format. While the New York and Washington DC Metros are among the top five for commute time, their morning drive Time Spent Listening is not on par with the other three leading commute time markets. While the New York and Washington DC Metros are among the top five Metros for commute time, their morning drive Time Spent Listening is not on par with the other three leading commute time markets. "One possible reason," says Arbitron, "these two markets are also the leading markets for public transportation. In New York, 31.6 percent take public transportation to work; in Washington DC, 14.7 percent. Without a dashboard radio to accompany their commute, many bus and subway commuters aren't available to contribute to the morning drive Time Spent Listening." To view a full list of all 275 markets, visit www.arbitron.com/study/commute_times. Mark Kassof: 'Car Wars - The Big Challenge' Radio general managers, group executives and owners consider Internet access in cars to be the biggest competitive threat to traditional, broadcast radio, according to additional info from a recent survey from Mark Kassof and Company. "Keep in mind that these were responses volunteered by radio execs -- top-of-mind, unaided. When we delve deeper, in-car internet looms much larger," writes Kassof. He tells us that 41% of the radio execs name in-car Internet access as "a big threat" to the future viability of traditional radio -- more than double that of Pandora, and second of seven tested at 18%. Another 42% consider in-car Internet to be "a small threat." That, notes Kassof, means a total of 83% of radio execs consider the Internet's dashboard challenge as a threat to traditional radio. He concludes his latest report: "What this all means is: Even if you’re optimistic about radio’s future, you know it’s facing a tough battle. And that battle will be on wheels." Earlier this week, Kassof reported that a majority of radio general managers, group executives and owners say they are optimistic about the future of traditional, terrestrial radio, according to the new research. When asked whether they are optimistic or pessimistic about the future viability of traditional radio, 69% reported themselves optimistic, versus 17% who say they're pessimistic, and 14% who don't know or are unsure of radio's future. Among those who are optimistic, 50% give radio's local connection and service as the reason why, far more than any other reason. The research findings are based on 104 online surveys of radio station general managers, group executives and owners in the U.S. and Canada, conducted February 20-28. More details on the new "Listener Think" study can be found at Kassof.com. Clear Channel and Entertainment One (eOne) Sign Agreement to Share Digital and Broadcast Radio Revenue with Artists Clear Channel Media and Entertainment and Entertainment One (eOne) today announced an agreement to share revenue from digital and terrestrial radio. eOne Music produces, distributes, licenses and promotes "some of the world's top music" across a range of genres including rock, rap, classical and country. The label's diverse music library boasts more than 45,000 tracks from artists including DJ Drama, Faith Evans, Pop Evil, Jake Miller, Black Label Society, Joe Budden, and many others. Since its inception, eOne Music has charted more than 100 albums on Billboard's Independent Chart, more than any other American independent label. "eOne and Clear Channel both passionately believe that ensuring a thriving and diverse music industry requires creative thinking, and the willingness to knock down barriers," says One Music CEO Michael Koch. "This agreement is great for us and for Clear Channel, but ultimately the fans and artists benefit most." Says Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman, "Innovative partnerships like this support a robust and sustainable model for our industry, where artists, fans, labels, distributors, radio and fans all prosper. In eOne, we have found a partner with an extraordinary range of successful music who understands this and the immense value terrestrial and digital radio provide to artists, labels, and the industry at large." Like Clear Channel's recent agreements with six other record labels, says the announcement, "the arrangement will help build out a sustainable digital radio industry." Clear Channel's agreement with eOne follows several recent, similar agreements, including Big Machine Label Group, Glassnote Entertainment Group, DashGo, rpm Entertainment, Robbins Entertainment, and Naxos. YouTube Reportedly 'Looks to Disrupt Spotify, Pandora, Others' YouTube is reportedly looking to disrupt Spotify, Pandora, and others streaming music services. "In what appears to be a clone of Spotify's streaming music model, Google-owned only video power player, YouTube, will make a play for eardrums," reports Forbes. "Operating on an ad-supported or paid subscription model, the streaming music product has been in the works and rumors have been swirling," says the published report which is being widely quoted by other reports. "Now that Apple's iTunes, Amazon.com and Google's YouTube are all in the streaming game, recording and entertainment companies could secure higher prices for their content than they have with Spotify, according to GigaOM reporter Jeff John Roberts." Meanwhile, PCMag, citing Fortune, reports that "Google-owned YouTube will run its music service separately from Google Music, where users can buy and store tracks via Google Play. Instead, YouTube's future offering will allow anyone to listen to tracks for free, though subscription options for ad-free listening are likely." Google declined to comment directly on the report. "While we don't comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we're looking at that," the company said. Recently, as we reported, the NPD Group found that the increased use of free music streaming services led to a significant decline in illegal P2P music file sharing last year. FrontFour Again Urging Fisher to Sell Broadcast Assets Fisher Communications is again being urged to sell off its business. That again comes from dissident shareholder FrontFour Capital. According to an SEC filing, FrontFour says that it sent a letter to the Fisher Board in December "expressing, among other things, its concerns with [Fisher's] poor capital allocation decisions" and urging the company to "make a public announcement that it will seek strategic alternatives and work towards a sale of the Issuer." FrontFour also says in its filing that the letter "stated that if the Board continues down the current path without regard to its shareholders’ interests," it would "push for additional change at the Board level at the next annual meeting of shareholders." FrontFour Capital gained four seats on Fisher's board after the dissident investment group fought the company in 2011. It has been pushing Fisher to sell off its assets to maximize shareholder value. Fisher has announced it would consider selling its radio and television assets as part of a wide array of strategic alternatives, after selling Fisher Plaza. That announcement came before FrontFour launched its new battle with the company, although based on the SEC filing appears to have come after the December letter from the dissident shareholder. And Now Andrew Z Is Suing Cumulus When last we left Andrew Zepeda, the former "Star 105" WWWM-FM, Toledo, morning host was served with a "cease and desist" order from Cumulus Media for relaunching his show using a smartphone app, claiming that violates a non-compete agreement with his former station. But Zepeda said he would ignore the C&D order. Now come reports that "Andrew Z" is suing Cumulus claiming he was wrongfully terminated and that Cumulus has wrongfully ordered him to stop streaming live and recorded content on the Internet. He contends that Internet radio is not the same as a commercial radio station and therefore does not violate the “non-compete” clause in his contract that was in effect while he was employed by Cumulus and for six months after. Zepeda, 43, filed a complaint in Lucas County Common Pleas Court against Cumulus Broadcasting LLC of Toledo, reports ToledoBlade.com. Zepeda was fired December 26 – five days after he was sentenced in Wood County Common Pleas Court to 30 days in jail and placed on probation for five years for theft, complicity to breaking and entering, and failure to remit sales tax. The charges stemmed from a pizzeria he had operated. And now back to our regularly scheduled show. Remote News Service Partners with Talk Shows USA Remote News Service joins with radio industry vet Skip Joeckel's Talk Shows USA. RNS is a custom local news provider for radio stations, and the new deal marks something of an added direction for the service, but not what the headline seems to indicate. "I've know Skip for a number of years and even though the service RNS provides isn't a talk show, we're excited to have RNS introduced to all of the stations that Skip works with," says RNS President Leslie Lotto. Talk Shows USA President Skip Joeckel adds, "Radio has had to make sacrifices and cuts, but just because they've had to make those cuts -- especially in the newsroom -- doesn't mean they can't provide local newscasts to their listeners. Since 2007 RNS has been providing newscasts to stations all across the country. Not cookie-cutter newscasts, but newscasts that are designed by the stations RNS serves. In these tough times, it's a great economical way to provide news, sports and weather." Talk Shows USA currently syndicates "The Money Pit Home Improvement Show" - "Cigar Dave" - "Gun Talk" - "Free Talk Live" - "Doctor's Orders" - "The Small Business Advocate" and "The Career Clinic."