Cumulus Can't Discount Listeners In Citadel Deal

Cumulus Media's official announcement of its agreement to swallow up WLS-AM and FM parent Citadel Broadcasting said the cash-and-stock deal valued Citadel at approximately $2.4 billion, including assumed debt.

Citadel's announcement said it was valued in the deal at approximately $2.5 billion, based on a calculation of the worth of Cumulus shares.

But Phil Rosenthal at The Chicago Tribune writes one thing each company's outline of the transaction and its anticipated benefits had in common, however, is that neither mentioned "listeners."

Moody's Investors Service, the credit rating outfit, likes the deal. To pick up Citadel, which emerged from reorganization in June, Cumulus has lined up $500 million in equity investment commitments from Crestview Partners and Macquarie Capital and about $3 billion in debt financing.

A notion Moody's advanced in a note is that acquisitions enable radio to grow amid increasing competition from the Internet, satellite pay-radio and other formats. Then there's the $50 million or more in savings Cumulus says it thinks it can squeeze from synergies as a result of the deal, although it offered no details.

Rosenthal wonders if those synergies come at the expense of live local programs, as past consolidation often has, and listeners no longer feel connected to the stations in the same way, how much savings is there really?

WLS-AM 890 conceivably could simply open a spigot and run national programs all day. But the station has carved a niche in the Chicago market, and its brand is now as tied to Don and Roma Wade in the mornings and Roe Conn and Richard Roeper in the afternoons and their Chicago-centric view of the world as it is to Rush Limbaugh's syndicated show in middays, if not more so.

That might not show up in a spreadsheet for investors. The Federal Communications Commission, in reviewing the deal, is more likely to note that there is Cumulus and Citadel overlap in markets such as Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco, and there may be reasons to disallow combining the holdings in Harrisburg, Pa., and Nashville, Tenn.

But, frankly, amid increasing competition from the Internet, satellite pay-radio and other formats, the ability of listeners to identify a station as uniquely their own is not to be taken lightly.

Read more here.

Grandy's Contract Keeps Him Off DC Air 'til May 2012

Listeners in the nation’s capital might be hearing again from Fred Grandy, the former “Love Boat” star and ex-congressman who left his radio show last week after a fallout with management allegedly over some on-air Islam remarks.

But it might take awhile, according to posting at foxnation.com.

Catherine Mann-Grandy, Fred’s wife, told FoxNews.com that his contract does not expire until May 2012 and that he can’t do any radio shows in the Washington, D.C., region for another year. She also said WMAL, the radio station where Grandy was a host since 2003, is making it “very difficult” for her husband to sever his relationship with the company.

Read more here.

Glenn Beck Gets Slot at WILM Wilmington

Clear Channel GM says move not influenced by Philly affiliation drop

1450 AM WILM  is adding controversial conservative talk show host Glenn Beck to nine to noon  line-up, while moving long-time morning host John Watson to the 9 p.m. to midnight slot. The move becomes effective on Monday, according to Doug Rainey at mydailybiz.com.

Clear Channel Delaware General Manager Chris Walus said the move by the AM radio station was a business decision. " It's something we do in the radio business," he said. He said the switch was driven by the fact that the line-up of Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity is considered to be the strongest in talk radio. Limbaugh and Hannity occupy the afternoon time slots for WILM.

Walus said the decision was not tied to a move by a Philadelphia station to drop Beck and Hannity from their line-up, although he added that the decision would be a plus for WILM. WILM's daytime signal does reach some western portions of the Philadelphia area, including the area around the airport.

Moving Watson to the 9 a.m. to midnight time slot would allow the host to hear from more callers on his talk show, according to Walus, who added that the station is committed to having a diversity of opinion. He claimed that Watson sometimes has trouble getting enough callers in his current time slot. Talk shows in smaller markets often have a small group of callers who check in daily. In larger markets, callers are often limited to once or twice a week.

Read more here.

The Sunday Funny

Frank Caliendo on Letterman Show 2006.

Radio Broadcaster Talks About Japan Earthquake

The Saturday Aircheck

Scoped airchecks of 98 WCAU-FM from February 23 - 27, 1982 featuring Glenn Kalina, Terry "Motor Mouth" Young, Bob Garrett, Todd Parker.

This was the top station in Philly back then and this crew had a hold on
teenagers with a huge following.

Today the station is Classic Hits WOGL.

Obama: No Sense Defunding Public Broadcasting

"These aren't really budget items; these are political statements"

President Obama defended public broadcasting from cuts on Friday, emphasizing that defunding networks like NPR and PBS would do little to rein in spending, according to a story by Michael O'Brien at thehill.com.

As Republicans in Congress hope to defund government assistance to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn supports NPR and PBS stations, Obama said the cuts make little sense.

"I think it's going to be important for us to have a conversation after we get the short-term budget done, about how do we really tackle the problem in a comprehensive way," Obama said at a press conference on Friday.

"And that means not just going after Head Start or Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That's not where the money is," he added.

Republicans included in their continuing resolution to fund government the rest of this year provisions that would severely cut support for public broadcasting. Calls to defund those networks have only intensified after a conservative activist's video emerged this week showing a former NPR executive referring to the Tea Party movement in harsh terms.

Democrats, in turn, have accused Republicans of trying to defund "Sesame Street," the popular children's program on PBS.

Obama, commenting earlier in his press conference on the spending fight in Congress, urged lawmakers to steer clear of including political statements — like defunding CPB — as part of their measure to fund government the rest of this fiscal year.

"These aren't really budget items; these are political statements," Obama said.
Read more here.

NYTimes.com Adds Recommendations Feature

NYTimes.com has added another layer of personalization with its Recommendations feature, which creates a customized list of recommended reading, pointing users to additional Times content of interest based on what the user has recently read on NYTimes.com.

"With a Web site as broad and deep as NYTimes.com, we are always looking for new ways to help our readers find news of interest beyond the sections they read most," said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group and general manager, NYTimes.com. in a news release.

"NYTimes Recommendations offers a personalized view of The Times, and it gives our readers another reason to spend more time with our world-class journalism."

A personalized Recommendations dashboard (nytimes.com/recommendations) gives registered users an overview of their NYTimes.com reading history, including the number of articles read in the past month, lists of most-read sections and topics, and links to recent reading. The user must be logged in to view his Recommendations dashboard, and it is visible only to that user.

NYTimes Recommendations are also incorporated into article pages with a new Recommended for You tab appearing in the Most Popular module. Registered, logged-in users will see 10 recommendations under the tab.

Users who are not logged in to NYTimes.com will see a limited selection of recommendations - on the Recommendations page and under the Recommended for You tab on article pages - based on recent reading history.

For additional information about NYTimes Recommendations, read the FAQ.

Memphis Personality 'Bad Dog' Passes

Loses battle with leukemia

Longtime Rock 103, 102.7 FM WEGR radio personality John "Bad Dog" McCormack died shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday at Methodist University Hospital after he was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit in critical condition earlier in the day, according to Michael Lollar at the Commercial Appeal in Memphis.

McCormack, 55, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009 and underwent a bone marrow transplant. He had relapsed and had been re-admitted to the hospital before his condition worsened Thursday.

His WEGR-FM radio partner Tim Spencer posted a message from McCormack on the station's website. He said the words were written by McCormack to be published in the event of his death:

"I have gone to be with God, and he is holding me tightly and I am surrounded by many of the Ronald McDonald House kids. Do not say you have lost a friend. One is only lost when you don't know where they are. You know where I am.

"I thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers. I love all of you and that will never go away . . . None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, make every day great, be the spiritual leader of your family. May peace be with you. Your friend, Bad Dog."

McCormack had been on the air with Spencer Wednesday as part of their new afternoon program, "Bad Dog and Tim."

Read more here.

Another NPR Sting Video Released

Senior Director of NPR Betsy Liley says she may be able to shield from a govt audit $5m donation from a reporter posing as a donor from Muslim Brotherhood front group.

Liley was placed on administrative leave, along with Ron Schiller, on Tuesday, after the first video was released.

RI Governor Breaks Talk Radio Silence

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee ended his talk radio silence appearing on the Dan Yorke Show Thursday afternoon on 630 AM WPRO, Providence.

The appearance marked his first visit to WPRO since the Governor declared a talk radio ban at the inception of his administration.



"I was driving on the Wampanoag Trail and I thought I'd come in and get my chops busted", the Governor joked upon his arrival.

Mr. Chafee insists the ban, that drew national attention, was meant to allow his administration time to get its feet on the ground in preparing this year's budget. He called the characterization of his administration's silence a miscommunication which he took responsibility for.

The Governor also said his comments calling for advertisers to pull their ads from talk radio were not directed at WPRO, but rather at national programs.

Read more here.

NPR Funding Feud Is Talk of The Nation

Ron Schiller may have done more harm to NPR than the tea party ever could, according to Aaron Barnhart of The Kansas City Star.

Schiller, the NPR executive caught speaking all too freely in a hidden-camera sting, not only lost his current job but the one at the Aspen Institute he’d lined up for later this year. That was his punishment for saying that members of the tea party were “white, Middle America, gun-toting” and “pretty scary.”

But Schiller also let slip that, in his view, NPR would be better off without federal funds.

Was he right?

As the reverberations from the undercover operation continued Wednesday with the resignation of NPR’s chief executive, Vivian Schiller, those comments by Ron Schiller (no relation) restarted the debate over whether the government should be in the media business.

“This disturbing video makes clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR,” Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, declared in an e-mail to the online site Daily Caller.

If Cantor gets his way, and the odds are long, taxpayer dollars would be cut off from not only NPR but all other public media, including radio and TV stations. The cuts are part of the continuing budget resolution that Cantor and other Republican leaders have authored.

In response, stations such as Kansas City’s KCUR-FM have for weeks been barraging listeners with on-air announcements about the possible imminent demise of public broadcasting. The announcements urge people to visit a website that highlights the benefits of nonprofit journalism, arts programming and other content that are the specialty of public media.

Read more here.

Also Must Read:

TIME:  The NPR-Elitist-Funding Battle: Mostly, Not About NPR or Elites

AOL Confirms Layoffs

Changes in editorial focus
Just days after closing its deal with the Huffington Post, AOL has confirmed that it will lay off hundreds of staffers.

A company spokesperson told Don Reisinger of CNET in a phone interview today that 200 people will be laid off in the U.S. The majority of those employees will come from the editorial side of AOL's operation, while the remaining employees are in other divisions. In addition, AOL will layoff 700 people in India. Approximately 300 of those people, however, will move to other companies and continue working on AOL support functions, like finance and operations.

The layoffs at AOL were prompted by the company's recent acquisition of the Huffington Post for $315 million. Earlier this week, AOL closed the deal and officially integrated the publication with AOL Media and AOL Local to create the Huffington Post Media Group. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington heads up that division as president and editor in chief.

In the acquisition, AOL took on the publication's staffers, leading AOL to make room by laying off some of its employees.

Looking ahead, AOL plans on expanding its editorial staff, the spokesperson said. However, in doing so, it will start moving away from a reliance on freelance journalists and hire more in-house editorial employees.
Read more here.

Goodbye Jack, Hello Eddie and Bobo

Chicago radio personalities Ed Volkman and Joe Bohannon are returning to WJMK-FM (104.3), which is switching its format, according to Lewis Lazare Media & Marketing Columnist at suntimes.com.

At 1:04 p.m. Monday, CBS Radio Chicago’s WJMK-FM (104.3) will switch to a new format featuring classic hits from the 1960s, ‘70’s and ‘80s that management believes will improve the station’s ratings. The well-known radio duo are returning to the CBS Radio Chicago fold to anchor WJMK’s new morning show from 5:30 to 10 a.m.

Eddie and Jobo, as they are more familiarly known, were famously dumped from CBS Radio Chicago’s Top 40 WBBM-FM (96.3) three years ago to cut costs when the economic downturn hit the radio industry hard. The duo also had outgrown B-96’s core 18- to 34-year-old audience demo.

At the time of their exit from WBBM-FM Volkman and Bohannon were part of the city’s elite corps of so-called “million dollar mouths” — on-air talent that earned a million dollars or more a year for their services.

CBS Radio Chicago market manager Rod Zimmerman wouldn’t discuss terms of WJMK’s deal with Volkman and Bohannon, but their new salaries are believed to be considerably less than a million dollars a year.

Joining Eddie and Jobo at WJMK will be Bo Reynolds, another former WBBM-FM jock who had a show there from 1987 to 1990. Reynolds will anchor afternoon drive from 3 p.m to 8 p.m.

Another WBBM-FM alumnus, Gary Spears will host mid-days on the WJMK from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting March 21. Broadway Bill Lee, a talent from New York, will fill in until Spears starts. Spears was on air at B96 from 1982 to 1984 and again from 1990 to 1994. Zimmerman said another host will be named soon to anchor WJMK’s evening show starting at 8 p.m.

Read more here.

Orlando Murder Trial Big Event For HLN

When it comes to Casey Anthony trial coverage, Scot Safon will be one of the most important figures determining what viewers see, according to  Hal 'The TV Guy' Boedeker at orlandosentinel.com.

Safon is executive vice president of HLN. He oversees the channel whose Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell have devoted many hours to the case of the Orlando mother accused of first-degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee.

Safon also oversees “In Session,” which will provide pool coverage of the trial and airs on truTV.

“We oversee the cameras in the courtroom,” Safon said. “When there’s a major trial that has cameras in the courtroom it becomes a big initiative for us. In mid-May, two trials that we’re very focused on, Casey Anthony and Conrad Murray, will be happening simultaneously. We didn’t expect that.”

Viewers can expect expanded daily coverage from HLN when the Anthony trial starts in May, although Safon wasn’t ready to share details. But he did say HLN will move between the Anthony case and the trial of Murray, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in singer Michael Jackson’s death.

Boedeker talked to Safon Wednesday.

Read more here.