Nielsen Releases PPMs For DC, Boston, 10 Additional Markets

Nielsen released the second batch of June 2015 PPM data Wednesday for the following markets:

   7  Washington DC

  10  Boston

  11  Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood 

  12  Detroit

  13  Seattle-Tacoma

  14  Phoenix

  16  Minneapolis-St. Paul

  17  San Diego

  18  Denver-Boulder

  19  Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearweater

  21  Baltimore

  22  St. Louis 

Click Here for Topline numbers for subscribing Nielsen Stations.

2015 Sounds Like A Classic Hits Summer

Coming off an uptrend in May, classic hits furtherer strengthened  its ratings position in Nielsen’s June survey in multiple markets.

Inside Radio cites:

• In St. Louis, iHeartMedia’s KLOU (103.3) has ousted perennial leader “News Talk 1120” KMOX from the top spot, with a 9.0-11.2 6+ ratings tear. That’s nearly double the 6.0 share KLOU had one year earlier and almost certainly a PPM record for the station.  
• Detroit’s love affair with classic hits heated up in June, with CBS Radio’s WOMC (104.3) trending 7.0-7.3 among listeners aged 6+ to unseat Tigers flagship “97.1 The Ticket” WXYT-FM (8.4-7.1). 
• Minneapolis, too, is riding the growing classic hits tide.  iHeartMedia’s “Kool 108” KQQL moved 8.1-8.5, pulling into a first place tie with CHR kingpin KDWB (8.7-8.5).   
• Classic hits continued its perch at the top in Boston, where Greater Media’s WROR (7.7-7.2)  kept a 1.2 share lead over country sister WKLB-FM (5.9-6.0). 
• In Philly the format is No. 2 in 6+ and No. 1 in 12+ on CBS Radio’s WOGL (98.1).  
• The format gained ground in Seattle where iHeartMedia’s “95.7 The Jet” KJR-FM padded its ratings by a full share (3.9-4.9).  

June could be setting classic hits up for another hot summer. Last year the format quietly grew its total audience share by 10% during the summer months.

Emmis Reports 'Challenging' 1Q 2015

Emmis Communications Corporation today announced results for its first fiscal quarter ending May 31, 2015.

Emmis' radio net revenues for the first fiscal quarter were down 5.3%, from $45.0 million to $42.6 million. Per Miller Kaplan reporting, which excludes barter revenues and syndication revenues,

• Emmis' stations were down 6.0% compared to local radio market revenues down 4.9% during the fiscal quarter.  
• Publishing net revenues were up 5.8% in the first fiscal quarter, driven by strong growth at Los Angeles, Texas Monthly and Atlanta.

For the first fiscal quarter, operating income was $7.6 million, compared to $6.6 million for the same quarter of the prior year.  Emmis' station operating income for the first fiscal quarter was $13.6 million, compared to $13.3 million for the same quarter of the prior year.

Jeff Smulyan

"While this was a challenging quarter, we are encouraged by what we see looking forward," said Jeff Smulyan, President & CEO of Emmis.  "Our Q2 radio revenues are pacing up low single digits, we had a record-setting Summer Jam concert in New York, and ratings are bouncing back in Los Angeles after some expected turbulence.

"The Emmis (EMMS)-created, industry-led initiative to make FM broadcast radio available on smartphones and tablets, NextRadio®, has incredible momentum," Smulyan continued. "The announcement last week that NextRadio is now available for download in the Amazon App Store is the first in what we hope will be a series of positive announcements.  I couldn't be more thrilled with the way our industry has come together to support NextRadio.

"Last Friday's decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in our preferred stock case was particularly gratifying," added Smulyan. "We always knew that we had complied with Indiana's unique corporate law, and were very pleased that the court agreed."

Philly Radio: Tony Bruno, Josh Innes Show Toast At WIP

Tony Bruno, Josh Innes

On Tuesday, new ratings confirmed that Sportsradio WIP 94.1 FM’s “Innes and Bruno Show,” co-hosted by Josh Innes and Tony Bruno, is a hit among listeners, topping the much-coveted Men 25-54 demographic during the spring ratings period.

But, according to philly.com,  the success apparently wasn’t enough for Bruno, who announced he is leaving the show immediately and retiring from radio.

“The format and industry in general no longer provide me joy and satisfaction, even after reaching number one in p.m. drive in record time in my hometown,” Bruno said in a statement posted on his website.

According to insiders at CBS Radio's WIP, Bruno's decision came as a complete shock, and has led to speculation among listners that a frustrated Bruno had enough of Innes’ style of radio.

“I did not quit in haste because I “hated” or couldn’t work with Josh Innes,” Bruno said, noting in an email to management that he’s not angry in any way, shape or form.

“In fact, I feel at peace knowing what I'm doing is right,” Bruno wrote in the email. “I totally understand that my radio career in Philadelphia is over and can live with that. I have no desire to look for another radio or TV job.”

While the two may never have actually fought, sources at WIP say the pair were never really close, a fact Innes alluded to on the air when he said, "We didn’t talk a ton, maybe we didn’t prep enough."

Bruno’s surprise resignation caps off days of speculation over his absence from the show and the cadre of fill-in hosts asked to take his place.

Philly Radio: Josh Innes Rants About 'The Suits'

Josh Innes

More drama at WIP-FM.

Josh Innes, an afternoon show host on Philadelphia's Sportsradio WIP 94.1 FM, appartently lost his cool on the air Wednesday and stormed off the airwaves, according to nj.com.

A show transcript from Crossing Broad indicated that Innes claimed to be "muzzled" because of "people that wear suits."

"I'm embarrassed that I can't come on the radio and tell you what I know or what's out there, but I can't," read Innes' show transcript.

Then the radio personality threatened to leave the show.

Following the explosion, the station ran an extra-long commercial break, even playing music as filler.

Report: Ad Tax Still In Play

The advertising tax deduction is still in play as part of comprehensive tax reform. But this round, it’s only one of six options for squeezing more tax dollars out of the business community, according to Kathryn Bachman from her Katy On The Hill blog.

The six options were offered in the business income tax report, one of five bipartisan reports produced by working groups on the Senate finance committee. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) headed up the business tax working group.

The report recognizes that there are business and economic implication connected with each of the options. But the report also notes that amortizing advertising expenditures would result in additional tax revenue for the federal government of $169 billion over 10 years – a juicy number that’s hard to ignore.

Bachman notes it’s not clear that any of the options will become actual proposals, but Dan Jaffe, executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, said it is still important for advertisers to keep the pressure on lawmakers.

“Making advertising more expensive would undermine a leading engine of the economy. Our data shows in every congressional district, advertising is a major source of jobs and major source of economic activity. We’re 19 percent of the GDP in the US,” Jaffe said.

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Rough Day For Tech

Wednesday was a rough day for tech. The nation's biggest airline, its oldest stock exchange, and its most prominent business newspaper all suffered technology problems that upended service for parts of the day.

And to make things creepy, hacker group Anonymous tweeted late Tuesday: "Wonder if tomorrow is going to be bad for Wall Street...We can only hope."

First, a "router issue" at United suspended all of the company's flights for nearly two hours, leading to 800 flights delays and 60 cancellations. Then at 11.32 a "configuration issue" at the NY Stock Exchange halted trading.

In the midst of that, The Wall Street Journal's website, wsj.com, had "technical difficulties' that sent readers to a temporary site while the paper worked to fix it.

TRNS reports for United, it was the second major technical issue in two months. On 2 June, the airline had to halt all takeoffs in the U.S. because of what it described as computer automation issues. It took the NYSE until 3"10 pm - just over three and a half hours - to resume trading.

WH spox Josh Earnest said President Obama was briefed by WH counterterrorism and homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and chief of staff Denis McDonough. "There is no indication at this point that there is malicious activity involved," Earnest said

FBI director James Comey, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the agency had been in touch with all three organizations. "We do not see any indication of a cyber breach or a cyber attack," Comey said. Bloomberg reports today that the NYSE shutdown was likely caused by a software update.

Official: Randy Goodman New Sony-Nashville CEO

Randy Goodman

Sony Music Entertainment today announced that Randy Goodman has been appointed Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Sony Music Nashville.

In this role, Goodman will be responsible for overseeing all of Sony Music Nashville operations, including Arista Nashville, Columbia Nashville and RCA Nashville, as well as Provident Music Group, one of the world’s leading Christian music companies. He is based in Nashville and reports to Doug Morris, CEO, Sony Music Entertainment.

Stated Morris, “Randy Goodman is a highly respected member of the Nashville community with a proven track record of success in developing hit artists. We are very happy to have him leading our business in Nashville and welcome him to the Sony Music family.”

Remarked Goodman, “Having started my career at RCA Records Nashville, now a cornerstone of Sony Music, this is a homecoming for me, and I couldn’t be happier or more honored to be entrusted to lead this great group. And getting to work with an icon of the business, Doug Morris and his team, makes this opportunity all the more exciting. I’m thankful to Doug for his belief in me and to Julie Swidler for her dedication and commitment to me and Nashville during this transition.”

A 30-year industry veteran and a Nashville native, Goodman’s extensive career includes 16 years with RCA Records. During that time he served as Executive Vice President/General Manager of the RCA Label Group in Nashville, the forerunner of what is now Sony Music Nashville. Over the course of his career at RCA he also previously spent five years as Senior Vice President/Marketing worldwide for RCA in New York prior to returning to Nashville.

While at RCA, he worked with such superstars as Waylon Jennings, Alabama, Dave Matthews Band, Martina McBride, Clint Black, Keith Whitley, and The Judds.

In 1997, Goodman opened Lyric Street Records for the Walt Disney Co., overseeing the label as President through 2010 and enjoying multi-Platinum success with Rascal Flatts and SHeDAISY, as well as Platinum-sellers Aaron Tippin and American Idol finalist Josh Gracin.

Sony Music-Nashville also announced Ken Robold will take over as EVP/COO and Steve Hodges is the new EVP/Promo and Artist Development.  All will take their new positions on Monday, July 13.

Trump Calls Anderson Cooper's Questions "Pathetic"

Donald Trump did not appreciate Anderson Cooper's line of questions surrounding the construction crew he hired to build his Trump Tower in Manhattan.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the presidential hopeful appeared as a guest on Wednesday's Anderson Cooper 360º, where the CNN host asked about a court case that Trump settled in 1999 surrounding 200 illegal Polish immigrants alleging they were paid less than minimum wage back for their work back in 1975.

"I hired a contractor," Trump replied about the Trump Tower construction crew. "Anderson, I hire a contractor. The contractor then hires the subcontractor. They have people. I don't know — I don't remember, that was so many years ago, 35 years ago they said we had some illegal immigrants."

Trump did not appreciate it when Cooper continued to question him about why he wouldn't have known if the workers were illegal immigrants.

"Anderson, when you have to go back 35 years to tell me about something, I think that's pretty pathetic, to be honest with you," Trump said. He added that a recent Washington Post story about illegal immigrants being hired to build his latest Washington, D.C. hotel was not credible because it did not name its sources.


Cooper also asked Trump how much money his comments about Mexican immigrants in his presidential campaign speech have cost him, but Trump declined to cite an exact figure.

"It's a lot of money," Trump admitted. "But fortunately, I am very rich. It doesn't matter to me."

Keith Olbermann OUT At ESPN...Again

Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann, who rejoined the sports network in August 2013, won't be renewing his deal to anchor his ESPN2 program.

The news follows a THR report on July 1, noting that ESPN management floated an ultimately unworkable caveat: that Olbermann cease engaging in commentary.

"Keith is a tremendous talent who has consistently done timely, entertaining and thought-provoking work since returning to ESPN," the network said in a statement.

"While the show’s content was distinctive and extremely high quality, we ultimately made a business decision to move in another direction. We wish Keith nothing but the best and trust that his skill and ability will lead him to another promising endeavor.”

Network executives also floated the idea of having Olbermann take his show to the network's headquarters in Bristol or to the Los Angeles facility rather than the ABC News Times Square studio in New York that ESPN leases for Olbermann - a move that would save ESPN $40 million at a time when the sports leader is feeling a financial pinch from its Disney corporate parents.

ESPN president John Skipper has been given a mandate to cut $100 million from the network's budget next year and $250 million in 2017.

ESPN also has officially abandoned a previously announced plan to have the ESPN radio program Mike & Mike move to the same New York studio where Olbermann is produced.

Olbermann's exit will follow that of Bill Simmons, who left the network in May after Skipper declined to offer him an extension on his $5 million annual contract.

Looking back over his history:

• Olbermann was forced out from his first gig at ESPN in 1997 after he made disparaging remarks about the network. 
• He was pushed out of MSNBC in 2010 after it was revealed that he'd made donations to political campaigns. 
• He was fired from Current TV in 2012 for what the network called "breaches of his contract, including the failure to show up at work, sabotaging the network and attack Current and its executives."

Study: College Students More Willing To Pay For Music Streaming

Click to Enlarge

College students are more willing to pay for music streaming services than non-students, according to a Monmouth University analysis of MusicWatch Inc.’s Annual Music Study, which surveyed 5000 Americans 13 and over, including over 700 college students.

The study revealed that 3 out of 4 college students (77 percent) found some feature that would motivate them to pay for a premium music streaming service compared to 46 percent of overall streaming users.

Broad accessibility, ease-of-use, getting music they want right away and music discovery are key benefits students see from free or ad-supported music streaming. However, they would be more likely to convert to premium services if it was harder to get their music from free services, if the paid services offered more choices or if music wasn’t available from the free versions until later. Bundling the subscription fees with their mobile bills was also cited as an incentive to upgrade to a paid service, and the study also showed that free trials are a key lever in moving students from free to paid subscriptions.

The Monmouth University analysis was conducted by Joe Rapolla, chair of the Music and Theater Arts Department and director of its popular Music Industry Program.

“The data shows that price isn’t necessarily the barrier,” Rapolla said. “However, given that many students are satisfied with the music they can get from the free, ad-supported options, and so many have come to rely on video streaming services to get their music, the value-proposition of premium streaming services becomes imperative to communicate. Free is a price point that needs to strategically and carefully co-exist with other price points.”

Despite the perception that college students might only be streaming music, the study showed that they are actually engaging in a variety of ways. Yes, they stream, but they also listen to CDs or their collection of digital downloads. One in five full-time college students bought a CD last year, and 25 percent are still buying paid downloads.

Westwood One Releases Findings of New Nielsen Study

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Pierre Bouvard, Chief Marketing Officer for Cumulus and Westwood One, Wednesday released never-before-seen Nielsen research about Westwood One's exclusive NFL coverage.

The results demonstrate the powerful depth and reach of Westwood One's NFL broadcast.

The study highlights are in Pierre's new blog post.

Key takeaways:

• Over the course of a pre-game, game, and post-game, the NFL broadcast accumulates reach as new listeners tune in.
• Over the course of the season, the NFL broadcast significantly accumulates new listeners.
• The NFL on Westwood One reaches one out of five men 18-49 in America! The NFL on Westwood One reaches one out of four men 35-64.

Springfield MO Radio: KTTS Moves Cash Williams To Afternoons

Scripps Country powerhouse KTTS 94.7 FM in Springfield, MO has announced the promotion of Cash Williams from evening host to PM Drive.

He replaces Curly Clark, who recently retired from KTTS after 27-years.

KTTS PD Mark Grantin said, "Cash is one of the hardest working, likable, skilled air talents I've been around. He has an extremely high ceiling, and he's a local boy done good."

Meanwhile Grantin will continue handling PD and MD duties for KTTS for the foreseeable future.

KTTS 94.7 FM (98 Kw) Red=Local coverage Area

Entercom Adds Jeff Miller As SmartReach-Digital VP/GM

Jeff Miller

Entercom Communications has announced Jeff Miller has been hired as Vice-President/General Manager of SmartReach Digital. SmartReach provides Entercom’s local and regional clients with a broad range of digital marketing solutions, products and services.

In making the announcement, Michael Doyle, Regional President of Entercom, said, “We are excited to find an executive with Jeff’s talent and experience available to help us continue to build our market-leading portfolio of digital products and services. Our focus is on helping local advertisers understand the power of combining the unmatched reach of radio with the best available digital advertising tools to generate outstanding results. Jeff provides us with cutting-edge thinking on both the product development and sales execution sides of the digital business.”

Miller spent seven years with ReachLocal, most recently as Senior Director of Sales for Virtual Markets. He has an extensive track record of building and retaining high-performance sales teams across the country.

“I am excited by the opportunity to join a company like Entercom that is committed to providing best-in-class tools and service to small and medium businesses across the United States,” Miller commented. “The combination of the great reach of radio with the expertise of SmartReach Digital provides an unprecedented opportunity to grow local revenue and get results for our clients.”

ATT U-Verse Adds iHeartRadio

AT&T U-verse and iHeartMedia launched iHeartRadio, the all-in-one digital music and streaming radio service, for U-verse TV customers. The addition of iHeartRadio to AT&T U-verse marks the first live streaming radio application available on U-verse TV.

By tuning to channel 532/1532, customers can:

• Search for radio stations based on genre, location or keyword
• Select from thousands of live radio stations from across the country
• Get personalized "For You" recommendations based on listening habits, location and musical preferences
• Quickly access “My Stations,” a list of saved favorites and recently listened-to stations

AT&T and iHeartMedia plan to add additional features to the app later this year, including custom stations created from a library of more than 20 million songs and 800,000 artists, song lyrics, artist biographies, stations "Perfect For" any mood or activity and thousands of podcasts.

“Personalization is one of the key features of AT&T U-verse TV, so a highly-customizable app like iHeartRadio is a natural fit,” said GW Shaw, vice president of U-verse and Video Products, AT&T. “We’re excited to bring iHeartRadio and its extensive offerings to our U-verse customers.”

"Our integration with AT&T U-verse is one in a long line of successful AT&T/iHeartRadio collaborations," said Michele Laven, President of Business Development and Partnerships at iHeartMedia. "We strive to ensure our listeners are able to seamlessly access their favorite radio stations everywhere they are, across all platforms, 24-7, whether that's on their TV through U-verse, on their mobile phone or in their car."