Orlando Radio: iHeartMedia Is 1-2-3

iHeartMedia stations, guided by OM Chris Kampmeier, continue on a roll as three of its stations ranked 1-2-3 in the April PPMs (6+ Total Week AQH) released Wednesday by Nielsen.

But that's not all. Consider iHR places:

• 4 stations Top 5 18-34
• 4 stations Top 5 18-49
• 3 stations Top 5 25-54
• 25-54: 3 stations Top 5 in Morning Drive
• 25-54: 4 stations Top 5 in PM Drive

Looking at Market Shares by Cluster; iHR's eight stations increased its lead over Cox Media's seven stations: 31.9 to 25.6.

iHR's Tropical WRUM 100.3 FM (steady at 8.0) continues to celebrate it's tenth aniversary racking up another #1 performance. Clustermate Top40 WXXL 106.7 FM is #2 after moving up 6.4—6.7 and iHR's AC WMGF 107.7 FM increased almost a full share (5.3—6.2) to claim the #3 spot.

CBS Radio's Classic Hits WOCL 105.9 FM SunnyFM had a nice spike 4.7—5.9 to come in at #4 and Cox Media' Classic Hits WMMO 98.9 FM rounded-out the Top 5, despite losing some share 6.2—5.8.

25-54: WXXL...WRUM...WCFB...WTKS...WOCL

18-34: WXXL...WRUM...WPYO tied WJRR..WMGF

18-49: WXXL...WRUM...WMGF...WTKS...WOCL

Cume: WXXL-FM 556,200...WMGF-FM 517,100...WOMX-FM 431,900...WMMO-FM 402,100...WJHM-FM 377,500

Johnny's House ensemble

Top 5 Morning Shows (25-54 M-F 6a-10a)

1 WXXL Johnny's House

2 WTKS Monsters In The Morning

3 WCFB Steve Harvey

4 WPOZ Ellis & Tyler tied WMMO

Note: JVC's Country newcomer WOTW 103.1 FM The Wolf lost ground in its battle with Cox Media's heritage Country WWKA 92.3 FM. During April WWKA lost share 5.1—4.8 and WOTW was down 0.9—0.7 (6+ TW AQH).  WOTW launched with 10,000 Song In A Row in mid-December and added Bubba the Love Sponge as its morning show in mid-January. After a two month lackluster performance, WOTW dropped Bubba for the syndicated America's Morning Show from NASH-FM. In its first report card, AMS lost ground: Bubba had a 1.0 Share (6+ M-F AQH) in March and AMS garnered 0.4 during April.

Market observers are also surprised by WWKA's April performance. K92 is down 25-54 5.5—3.9 and dropped in rank from #5 to 13...Women 25-54: K92 is down 6.4—5.0 and dropped in rank from #3 to #8. WOTW is also down with Women 25-54.

Nielsen Releases PPM Data Fopr 12-More Markets

Nielsen released the third batch of April PPM data on Wednesday for the following markets:

 23  Portland OR

 24  Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill

 25  Pittsburgh

 27  Sacramento

 28  San Antonio

 29  Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo

 30  Cincinnati

 31  Cleveland  

 32  Las Vegas

 33  Orlando

 34  Kansas City

 37  Columbus OH

To view the Topline numbers for Nielsen subscribers: Click Here.

Rdio Introduces Rdio-Select For Mobile Users

Rdio today introduces Rdio Select – a first-of-its-kind $3.99 subscription tier for mobile users that features a unique combination of ad-free streaming radio and the ability to select up to 25 new songs a day on demand. Subscribers can keep 25 songs at a time for as long as they want, and replace them with up to 25 new songs every day.

Rdio Select also includes unlimited access to ad-free streaming radio with unlimited skips and high quality audio at 320 kbps. This is an enhanced way to enjoy music inspired by specific artists, albums or songs as well as stations carefully curated personally by artists, labels and our programming team. In addition, Rdio exclusively offers a completely personalized station called You FM™ that is customized based on your specific listening history.

Rdio Select works on IOS and Android phones, as well as a range of other connected devices such as Chromecast, Roku, and Sonos. For a limited time, Rdio Select is available for a 60-day free trial.

Anthony Bay

This unique combination of ad-free streaming radio and on demand music downloads is available for less than $50 annually – roughly the same amount consumers spend per year on music.

“We’re excited to reach a new group of price sensitive music subscribers with Rdio Select and have designed the service to appeal to a wide audience,” said Rdio CEO Anthony Bay. “Rdio Select joins our free tier of ad-supported Internet radio and our premium Rdio Unlimited package. We remain committed to offering customized streaming options tuned to different listening audiences that includes the free listening experience. We believe in a free tier that is fair to artists, labels, and consumers alike."

Rdio Select features include:

• On Demand: Download 25 songs and replace them up to once per day 
• Ad-free Stations: Listen to Rdio’s expansive range of feature-rich streaming radio stations including curated and personalized stations without the interruption of ads
• Unlimited Forward Song Skips: Skip through songs in Rdio’s streaming radio stations as often as you like
• High-quality sound: Enjoy music at a pristine 320 kbps
• Playlists: Rdio will create and continuously update multiple 10-song playlists that will be genre and mood-focused, including playlists curated by artists and influencers, so that Select listeners can easily update their 25 downloads with new tracks 

Rdio now offers listeners the following customized plans to choose from, ensuring all audiences have access to a service that fits their lifestyle:

• Rdio, free ad-supported streaming radio (with limited skips), currently on mobile and connected devices, and coming to web this year in place of ad-supported on demand
• Rdio Select, $3.99/month for mobile access to a combination of ad-free streaming radio and 25 downloads on demand at a time, refreshable up to once per day   
• Rdio Unlimited, $9.99/month for unlimited songs on demand and ad-free streaming radio with unlimited skips
• Rdio Unlimited Family, ranging from $14.99/month for two Rdio Unlimited accounts to $29.99/month for five Rdio Unlimited accounts

RAB Cuts Revenue Reports To Twice Yearly

Yet another media industry trade organization is cutting back on its publication of industry-wide data.
The Radio Advertising Bureau revealed that it will no longer publish quarterly reports detailing ad revenues for publicly traded radio broadcasters.

Instead, according to Mediapost, it will publish reports twice a year, with a report covering the first half of the year published in August, and a second report on the second half of the year published in the first few months of the new year.

The RAB portrayed the decision as a move to bring it in line with other media and marketing trade organizations. It’s not clear whether the biannual reports, based on data collected by Miller Kaplan, will still break down radio ad revenues by major categories.

Previously, the quarterly reports provided separate figures for categories including spot, national, digital and off-air. The latter category including things like event sponsorships, experiential marketing, merchandising and related businesses.

The announcement follows a particularly weak quarter for the radio business, as reflected in the quarterly results from a number of big broadcast groups. The list of broadcasters announcing revenue declines over the last few weeks includes Cumulus, down 7%; Saga, down 1.2%; Radio One, down 4.8%; and Beasley, down 10.3%. Emmis and Entercom were both basically flat compared to the first quarter of 2014, and only iHeartMedia saw radio revenues increase, with a 4.1% gain.

Analysis: OnLine Spot Load Decreased During 1Q 2015

XAPPmedia has released the Internet Radio Ad Load Report for Q1 2015.

This is the second edition in a continuing series. In February they released an analysis of Internet radio ad load (i.e. the amount of listening time per hour consumed by advertisements) during the 2014 holiday season. The Q1 analysis includes the addition of a fifth Internet radio publisher and more extensive consideration of advertiser concentration among the publishers.

Ad Load declined between Q4 2014 and Q1 2015 by an average of 23-26 seconds per listening hour. That is nearly the equivalent of removing one ad per Internet radio listening hour. We attribute the decline to two phenomena:

• A natural reduction in advertiser spending after the holiday season
• A rise in Internet radio listening meant ads were spread across more listening hours

Despite the Ad Load decline, more advertisers were identified in Q1 than in Q4. Total unique advertisers identified rose from 75 to 165. The rise is in part explained by an additional month of ad tracking, but the growth exceeded expectations. The Internet radio advertiser base appears to be getting both larger and more diverse. Advertisers are no doubt interested in Internet radio’s extensive reach with mobile consumers.

The Internet Radio Ad Load Report now has five months of listening data so broader trends are starting to come into focus. Our hope is that the Ad Load Reports will become useful industry resources that shed light on the growing ad-supported streaming music listening experience. Thirteen charts are embedded in sixteen pages of analysis including:

• Ad Load by Quarter, Month and Publisher
• Ad Units Per Hour by Quarter, Month and Publisher
• Time to First Ad (TTFA) and First Ad Distribution by Time from Session Start
• Total Advertisers Categorized by National and Local Focus
• Advertiser Concentration by Publisher

Report: Connected-Cars Growing Faster Than Overall Market

Click to Enlarge

The connected car is already on the market and generating significant revenue for car makers and tech companies.

By 2020, BI Intelligence estimates that 75% of cars shipped globally will be built with the necessary hardware to allow people to stream music, look up movie times, be alerted of traffic and weather conditions, and even power driving-assistance services such as self-parking.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we take a deep dive into the connected-car market. We size the market for connected cars, determine the average selling price and how it will decline over time, and assess different manufacturers' approaches.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• The connected-car market is growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 45% — 10 times as fast as the overall car market. B-I expects that 75% of the estimated 92 million cars shipped globally in 2020 will be built with internet-connection hardware. 
• But of the 220 million total connected cars on the road globally in 2020, B-I estimates consumers will activate connected services in only 88 million of these vehicles.
• Connected-car vehicle prices are out of reach for most car buyers, but they will drop significantly in the next few years. The high average selling price of $55,000 is driven by the fact that connected-car shipments tilt toward the luxury category. 
• Connected-car technology is now split between approaches that put the internet connection in the car and those relying on a secondary device. Embedded connections don't require a phone's data plan to operate, and consumers and carmakers gain access to a wider variety of features and data.
• Embedded connections will win, in part because they offer two clear advantages to carmakers. They allow auto companies to collect data on cars' performance and send updates and patches to cars remotely, avoiding recalls related to the car's software.

Nielsen Releases Total Audience Infographic

Click to Enlarge

Nielsen has released an Infographic which shows how consumers are engaging with media across a spectrum of devices, comprising the Total Audience Media Universe.

Trade Groups Ask Appeals Court To Stay 'Net Neutrality'

Cable and telecom trade associations asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the FCC’s move to reclassify the Internet as a Title II telecommunications service, a regulatory maneuver to give the agency authority to impose robust net neutrality rules, according to Variety.

The FCC’s rules — passed in a 3-2 vote in February — go into effect on June 12.

But Internet service providers are asking the D.C. Circuit to set aside the FCC’s effort to reclassify before that date. They are not seeking a stay on net neutrality rules that prohibit ISPs from blocking or throttling content, or from engaging in paid prioritization. Nevertheless, there is some question as to whether the FCC would have the legal footing to implement those rules without reclassification.

The National Cable and Telecommunications Assn., USTelecom, CTIA-the Wireless Assn., AT&T, the American Cable Assn., CenturyLink and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Assn. insist that broadband service is still an information service and not a utility-like common carrier, and they call the FCC’s actions “independently unlawful.” They contend that the agency “abandoned its own longstanding classification decisions without grappling with either its prior legal conclusions and factual findings or the billions of dollars invested in reliance on prior policy.”

In their brief, the groups also characterize the FCC’s efforts to have some oversight over so-called interconnection agreements — like one that Netflix reached with Comcast last year — as regulatory overreach.

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Report: Pandora Still Dominates Music Streaming

According to CivicScience polling conducted in April 2015, which focused on active users—those who used one of the streaming platforms “every day,” “a few times a week,” and “a few times a month”—Spotify’s audience skews much younger than Pandora’s. nearly two-thirds of US Spotify users were between the ages of 13 and 29, with 18- to 24-year-olds accounting for the largest share. In comparison, 45% of Pandora listeners were between 13 and 29, and 35- to 44-year-olds accounted for the largest share of users here.

eMarketer reports no matter their age, Pandora listeners polled by CivicScience appeared to be much more loyal to the service than Spotify users. Nearly half (48%) of Spotify users used Pandora at least a few times a month, but just 17% of Pandora users said the same about Spotify.

Pandora listeners were also more frequent users. Nearly three in 10 used the service at least monthly, with about a third in that group using it every day. Meanwhile, just 11% of Spotify listeners turned up the volume on the platform at least a few times each month.

Pandora usage is still far more common than Spotify use. Edison Research and Triton Digital found in February 2015 that 27% of US consumers listened to Pandora, vs. 7% who used Spotify.

NBC News Producer Survives Philly Train Derailment

'Nightly News' producer Janell Richards was on the Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia and she described her harrowing ordeal with Lester Holt.

Report: Nets Urged To Update ISIS Footage

Senior Obama administration officials are urging television networks to update their footage of the radical militant group.

Politico is reporting senior State Department and Pentagon officials have begun contacting television network reporters to ask them to stop using “B-roll” — stock footage that appears on screen while reporters and commentators talk — showing ISIL at the peak of its strength last summer.

“We are urging broadcasters to avoid using the familiar B-roll that we’ve all seen before, file footage of ISIL convoys operating in broad daylight, moving in large formations with guns out, looking to wreak havoc,” said Emily Horne, spokeswoman for retired Gen. John Allen, the State Department’s special envoy leading the international coalition against ISIL.

“It’s inaccurate — that’s no longer how ISIL moves,” Horne said. “A lot of that footage is from last summer before we began tactical strikes.”

U.S. officials say ISIL fighters can no longer congregate in daylight or move in large convoys that are easily spotted — and struck — from above.

A more accurate image, said Col. Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, would be “one Toyota speeding down the road by itself at night with its headlights off.”

Horne suggested alternate imagery, including footage of U.S. troops training Iraqi security forces and video of strikes against ISIL targets.

The officials were quick to add that they are sympathetic to the challenge of collecting fresh footage in Iraq and Syria given the extreme danger to reporters there. But they noted that some of the B-roll in use now is drawn directly from ISIL-made propaganda videos.

ISIS has played the needs of television “like a fiddle,” Warren said.

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S-F Radio: KISQ-FM Personality Is MLB's Only Female PA Voice

Renel Brooks-Moon

Baseball has always been a huge part of Renel Brooks-Moon's life.

As a young girl growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, her parents Nathaniel and Juanita planned family outings around San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics home games. Yet, she tells NBC News,  never in her wildest dreams did Brooks-Moon envision she would one day be announcing baseball games for the San Francisco Giants.

Fifteen years ago, Brooks-Moon created her own baseball legacy when she was named the public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants. Although she had already established herself as one of the Bay Area's most popular on-air radio personalities, with a morning show on iHR's  KISQ 98.1 KISS-FM, and a career spanning over 25 years, becoming the only black female PA announcer in Major League Baseball, was, she says, "a dream come true."


"My grandfather was a big fan of Negro League baseball and taught my mom how to score games, and she in turn taught me," Brooks-Moon says. "But to be in the PA booth actually announcing the games, is amazing. For me, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about being a trailblazer, for lack of a better word."

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