'Buckets of Money' Radio Host Accused of Fraud

Raymond J. Lucia Sr.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday fined a radio personality and his financial advice firm $300,000 for spreading misleading information about his signature "Buckets of Money" investment strategy.

According to Reuters, the SEC administrative law judge in the case also barred San Diego-based syndicated radio host Raymond J. Lucia Sr. from associating with other advisers, brokers and dealers, and revoked his eponymous firm's investment adviser registration.

Lucia, who hosts investing seminars and the nationally syndicated "Ray Lucia Show" on weekdays, has long promoted his retirement-focused financial strategy, which calls for retirees to spend money from "buckets" of safer assets like Treasury bonds before tapping riskier investments, to give those assets more time to grow.

The SEC judge, Cameron Elliot, said slideshows employed by Lucia failed to use actual historical data, like adviser fees and dividend rates for real estate investment trusts (REITs) he recommended, to show how fictional portfolios following his advice performed in past bear markets.

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Report: WOR Places Bid to Air Yankees Baseball

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, which owns WOR 710 AM, has made a recent bid in excess of the $14 million currently paid by CBS for the rights to the Yankees’ broadcasts, sources told The NYPost.

CBS, which owns WFAN 660 AM/ 101.9 FM as well as WCBS 880 AM, has owned the Yankees rights since 2002.   It seems unlikely CBS will let the rights go without a fight.

If Clear Channel grabs the Yankees, it would mean the Mets are alive with both WFAN, the franchise’s radio home since the station went on the air in 1987, and ESPN. The team, which receives between $6 million and $7 million a year under its current deal, could even find itself the object of a bidding war.

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The Future Of News

During recent convention of the American Society of News Editors, Tom Rosenstiel of the American Press Institute made a presentation on What the Audience is Telling us About the Future of News.

Highlighted were the many ways the relationship of the media and the audience has changed.

Sirius XM Radio Surpasses 25M Subscribers

Sirius XM Radio said Tuesday that it added 715,000 net new subscribers in the second quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to more than 25 million as of mid-year.

The satellite radio firm controlled by John Malone's Liberty Media said that was a new quarterly record for the time since the Sirius-XM merger, according to THR.

In comparison, Netflix ended the first quarter with 29.17 million U.S. subscribers, and cable giant 

Comcast reported 21.94 million video and 51.9 million total customers.

"Strong automotive sales helped drive 15 percent growth in net additions over the second quarter of 2012 and set a post-merger record for quarterly net subscriber additions," the company said.

Sirius XM also raised its full-year guidance for total net subscriber additions to 1.5 million from 1.4 million previously.

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Jon Bon Jovi Donates $1M For Sandy Relief

Bon Jovi, Gov. Christie

Jon Bon Jovi has donated $1million to the Governor’s Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.

During an appearance in Bon Jovi’s hometown of Sayreville at Borough Hall,  the rock singer made a presentation to Governor Chris Christie, Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O’Brien and the Fund’s chair, First Lady Mary Pat Christie, according to the WKXW NJ101-5 website.

“Natural disasters spare no one. But you can’t imagine the devastation, destruction and despair until Mother Nature takes aim at your hometown,” said Bon Jovi, whose Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation has worked with local and state officials in helping Sayreville residents recover from the Superstorm.

“This incredibly generous donation from Bon Jovi to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund will go a long way in the rebuilding process,” said Governor Christie. “From day one, Jon has been one of the most visible faces for Sandy recovery here in his hometown of Sayreville and throughout the entire state. On behalf of a grateful people, I thank Jon and Bon Jovi for all of the great work they’ve done for New Jersey.”

Sick Bay: Elton John Cancels Concert Dates

Elton John

Sir Elton John faces surgery soon for appendicitis that has derailed his European tour, a spokesman for the singer said Tuesday.

According to CNN, the 66-year-old John was diagnosed with "appendix abscess surrounding retrocaecal appendicitis" after falling ill during the tour, publicist Gary Farrow said in a written statement.

The surgery will be performed in the United Kingdom in "the coming weeks" after he undergoes an intensive course of antibiotics and "doctors can be confident they have sufficiently reduced toxins within the inflamed appendicitis site," Farrow said.

The remaining shows in his tour have been canceled, including Friday's headline show at London's Hyde Park, he said. The concert will still happen with Ray Davies, Elvis Costello, Gabrielle Aplin and Nick Lowe performing.

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Townsquare Extends Free Beer & Hot Wings Deal

Townsquare Media Grand Rapids has announced a multi-year contract extension between 97.9 WGRD and the Free Beer & Hot Wings MorningShow.

The new contract keeps the morning show on its flagship station in Grand Rapids through 2018, according to mlive.com

The show, hosted by Gregg "Free Beer" Daniels, Chris "Hot Wings" Michels, and Eric Zane, began full syndication in 2004 and now is heard on radio stations in 25 states.

The show has won the Michigan Association of Broadcasters award for Best Morning Broadcast Personality/Radio Team several times and also has guest hosted the nationally syndicated Dan Patrick Show.

In a statement, Townsquare Grand Rapids Vice President/General Manager, Russ Hines said, "Gregg, Chris and Eric continue to entertain and grow their audience every day and amuse their listeners with quality humorous content. Their decision to stay in West Michigan and continue to raise their families here is another indication of what makes Grand Rapids special.”

The members of the show said they were “thrilled” to extend their relationship with Townsquare and called Grand Rapids the “bedrock for our syndication.”

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Study: Radio Shows Poorly As News Source

Television is the main place Americans say they turn to for news about current events (55%), leading the Internet, at 21%. Nine percent say newspapers or other print publications are their main news source, followed by radio, at 6%, according to a new Gallup study.

These results are based on a Gallup poll of 2,048 national adults conducted June 20-24, in which Americans were asked to say, unaided, what they consider to be their main source of news about U.S. and global events.

More than half the references to television are general, with 26% simply saying they watch television or TV news, 4% saying they watch local TV news, and 2% saying they watch the "evening news." The two leading 24-hour cable news channels -- Fox News and CNN -- are named by 8% and 7%, respectively. However, no other specific channel -- including MSNBC, PBS, BBC, and all of the U.S. broadcast networks that once dominated the news landscape -- is mentioned by more than 1% of Americans.

As a measure of U.S. adults' perception of their primary news source, the question provides insights into the importance of various types of media and news outlets as information sources to the public. It is not meant to indicate the total reach each news outlet has in the population, nor do the results necessarily correspond with television ratings data.

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Lee Abrams Wants To Remake News

Lee Abrams left Tribune amid a serious uproar less than three years ago, but the radio entrepreneur is back, according to adage.com, with a project that is perhaps the most ambitious undertaking thus far in a career that includes major roles in the creation of both Radio Disney and XM Radio.

XM, Abrams said, "wasn't really the place to reinvent news and information," and nor was Tribune. "They went through all the bankruptcy and craziness" while he was there, he said frankly. "We thought we'd do it without layers and layers of history and conference rooms full of people who were going to question it."

So he and his partner Steve Saslow have formed a newsroom staffed by more than 100 folks from local television stations around the country and created a user interface that can be accessed online, on mobile and on tablets. They're calling the new product TouchVision and they're hoping to expand to television as well. They're pitching stations with spare spectrum on their digital subchannel frequencies—a cheap but ever-more-popular piece of broadcast real estate.

WATCH PROMOTIONAL VIDEO: Click Here.

For those who've spent a while watching television news, a question arises: Why bother reinventing it at all? Why not let it migrate onto the Web? Abrams is quick with an answer: "You could drive a truck through the potential for news among 18-44s," he said.

"You have TMZ, and it's great, and then you have Fox News and so forth and that's great, too—very successful. There's a new opportunity to reach the mainstream Americans who find TMZ amusing but kind of dumb, and the [older-skewing] stuff kind of boring. We're looking for a way to find an audience for whom there's nothing really directly servicing their needs."

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Ron Paul Launching Media Channel

Former US congressman Ron Paul has announced the launch of a new media network this summer, adding that to a growing list of projects announced since his retirement, including an upcoming book on American education.

According to rt.com, the imminent launch of The Ron PaulChannel is in response to the coordination between news outlets and government sources.

From a promotional video: 

“The lying and conniving and collusion between those that give us our news and information and the government, this is going to change." 

“FINALLY a media network dedicated to liberty, peace, prosperity, and the celebration of all the values that you and I share.”

The new channel aims to provide “breaking news stories, interviews with influential headliners and hard hitting reporting.”

Paul, himself a regular fixture on the media circuit during his decades in congress, appears to be capitalizing on his following as an outspoken libertarian in the launch of the new channel.

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Tampa Radio: Mason Dixon, Q105 Extend Deal

Tampa Radio icon Mason Dixon has re-upped with CBS Radio WRBQQ105 for morning drive.

Dixon has been a fixture on Tampa Bay radio for four decades on Q105 which is now observing 40-years of playing Tampa’s Greatest Hits.

A very excited CBS Radio Tampa Bay SVP/Market Manager Ben Hill added, "We're very excited to have signed Mason Dixon this week to a new contract. He's a Tampa Bay icon and Q105 is certainly glad to have him continue with his consistently top rated morning show."

Dixon is also well regarded in Tampa for his many charitable activities like the Mason Dixon Christmas Wish Fund, a non-profit that provides area families in need with financial assistance, children's toys and other services.

Dixon commented to RAMP, "Hey, and let's face it, if I couldn't get numbers and make 'em money I'd be out to pasture like so many who used to light up the airwaves through the years... plus, I can't give it up before Scott Shannon does."

Pandora Competing In Local Radio Markets

Pandora Media Inc. recently opened its first sales office in Boston as the Internet music streaming company is aggressively competing with local radio stations for advertising dollars.

According to boston.com, Pandora has 29 sales offices in major markets such as Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, and plans more this year, in an effort to boost revenue and pay the artist royalties that run into the millions of dollars each year.

Pandora’s free service lets users create customized channels based on musical tastes. Despite being the largest music streaming service in the United States and adding listeners, Pandora is losing money — a lot of money. Last year, it posted a net loss of $38 million.

Being in Boston could help lower those losses, if the company can convince longtime radio advertisers such as car dealers or furniture sellers that advertising on an Internet station is more effective than marketing over the airwaves.

So far, local radio executives don’t appear to be too worried about Pandora showing up on their turf to compete for a share of the local advertising market valued around $15 billion.

“Pandora doesn’t compete directly with broadcast radio nationally or locally because it’s not radio in the real sense of the word,” said Tim Castelli, president of national sales for Clear Channel Communications Inc., which owns several stations in Boston.

“Pandora is a play-list creator, which means it can’t deliver what makes radio — the rich personal and interactive experience that radio brings its listeners,” he said.

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Talk Show Podcasts Keep It Local

Don Vonderheide

Dan Vonderheide has always been a radio guy. He worked in media, on-air and behind the scenes, since he first landed a show as a high school student in Madison, Ind.

But earlier this year, according to courier-journal.com, the 41-year-old was laid off from his job as digital sales manager for Cox Media Group. Around the same time, Vonderheide attended a course for entrepreneurs at Nucleus, the University of Louisville’s business incubator.

And for the past month, he has been presiding over his own media property, Louisville.am, from a small recording studio at the back of an office suite. There, he produces talk shows with local hosts on Louisville-centric topics like restaurants and sports.

Vonderheide sees Louisville.am as offering on-demand talk programming of an equivalent level of quality to local radio stations and, with distribution on the Internet, a potentially boundless audience.

In many ways, Vonderheide’s job isn’t so different from what a radio station manager does. First, he has chosen the hosts of the shows carefully. “Not just anybody can have a podcast (on Louisville.am),” he said. “You have to have a personality, you have to have passion about the topic, and you have to have deep knowledge.”

He selected five local bloggers who he believed would be able to make compelling podcasts — and who would bring their blogs’ substantial audiences with them.

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Boston Radio: Ortiz F-Bomb Gets FCC Complaints

Following the Boston Marathon bombings, David Ortiz went on live TV before a Red Sox game and used an expletive. Many people were offended and let their complaints known to the FCC.

Mut & Merloni on WEEI 93.7 FM talked about some of the best complaints.

Watch this at WEEI

Lauryn Hill Starts Prison Sentence

Lauryn Hill

Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill began serving a three-month prison sentence in Connecticut on Monday for failing to pay about $1 million in taxes over the past decade.

Hill reported to federal prison in Danbury, said Ed Ross, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons, according to THR.  Inmates at the minimum security prison live in open dormitory-style living quarters and are expected to work jobs such as maintenance, food service or landscaping.

Hill, who started singing with the Fugees as a teenager in the 1990s before releasing her multiplatinum 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, pleaded guilty last year in New Jersey to failing to pay taxes on more than $1.8 million earned from 2005 to 2007. Her sentencing also took into account unpaid state and federal taxes in 2008 and 2009 that brought the total earnings to about $2.3 million.

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