LA Radio: Nielsen Ends Univision Investigation

NielsenAudio has concluded its investigation into inaccurate ratings in the Los Angeles radio market, but stopped short of sanctioning Univision Communications for alleged unethical conduct by a former station executive, according to The LA Times.

Last month, Nielsen discovered that a high-ranking Univision Radio programming executive at the company's Los Angeles station, KSCA 101.9 FM, had access to several of Nielsen's portable people meter devices that pick up audio signals. Nielsen uses data transmitted from the devices to determine which radio stations have the most listeners.

It is a violation of Nielsen rules for a station employee to have access to the devices. Univision quickly fired the executive and announced more rigorous ethics training sessions for its employees. No other station executives were reprimanded.

Nielsen notified radio stations on Wednesday that despite the problems it found with two households that were removed from its sample audience in Los Angeles, the agency would not go back and reissue the ratings for last year or the first quarter of 2014.

The ratings agency said its review found that the only dramatic swings in ratings were for KSCA, the Univision station.

"The analysis revealed that significant differences in the estimates from April 2013 to March 2014 were isolated primarily to a single [Univision] station ... and that there were minimal differences in the estimates for the overwhelming majority of other stations in the market," Nielsen said in a memo sent to L.A. radio stations that was reviewed by The Times.

For the other stations, "we found that 98.8% of the records had less than a 5% difference between the originally published" data.

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DC Radio: Ashley Nickels Joins WRQX For Evenings

Ashley Nickels

Cumulus has announced that Ashley Nickels has signed on to do the night show at WRQX 107.3 FM.

Nickels heads eastward from Sacramento, where she most recently did Nights at KDND. Nickels grew up in Las Vegas and began her radio odyssey at her hometown station, Top40 KLUC. After graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism & Media Studies, she moved to Sacramento to do nights at 107.9 The End.

Gillette, WRQX Program Director, said: ““Ashley is the archetypal “night jock” for the Millennial generation. She doesn’t just live, eat and drink the lifestyle, she is the lifestyle. Ashley is the enigmatic embodiment of what the audience craves today: A dynamic entertainer wrapped in a self-effacing BFF that will do shots with you till closing and then help you Uber home.”

Nickels said: “"While I will miss the amazing family I have here at 107.9 The End, I am honored and more than ecstatic to work for Gillette and with all of the ever expanding 107.3 WRQX team! Mike McVay and everyone at Cumulus have been so hospitable and welcoming that I’m overwhelmed. I can't wait to rock out on the night show in D.C.…and of course babysit my two fave girls, Sasha and Malia, when their dad has to work."

Augusta Radio: WGAC Host Threatened Via Facebook

Austin Rhodes

A teenager has been  accused of threatening Austin Rhodes from The Austin Rhodes Show on Facebook, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said.

The teen was arrested for terroristic threats.

The WGAC 580 AM / 95.1 FM radio host called the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office around 11 p.m. Sunday night and told deputies someone threatened him on a Facebook thread.

Rhodes told deputies he saw and printed out a post that said The Austin Rhodes Show would "be dead," a report showed. Rhodes also told deputies he received a private message saying "You a dead man." The person threatened to "come get" Rhodes while mentioning his wife.

The 16-year-old suspect is now at the Regional Youth Detention Center, the Sheriff's Office said.

New Affiliates Pick-Up 'America's Morning Show'

Cumulus announces that “America’s Morning Show” hosted by Blair Garner launched on an additional four Cumulus stations this week.

The stations are:

• NASH FM 92.3, San Francisco (KSJO)
• NASH FM 100.1, Columbia, MO (KBBM)
• NASH FM 93.7, Wilkes-Barre, PA (WSJR)
• NASH FM 96.5, Savannah, GA (WJCL)

“America’s Morning Show” with Blair Garner features a daily mix of Country hits, in-studio interviews with Country music’s biggest stars and news about the Country lifestyle. The show originates from the NASH-FM campus in Nashville, TN, before a studio audience with frequent broadcasts from NASH studios throughout the country. The NASH campus is also home to popular programs, "NASH Nights Live”, "American Country Countdown” with Kix Brooks and "Kickin' It with Kix."

Host Blair Garner is joined daily by co-hosts Terri Clark and Chuck Wicks, with HLN anchor Robin Meade anchoring news updates and Erika Grace Powell sharing the latest updates on the Country music news. The all-star cast is heard Monday through Friday on 26 stations across the U.S. including New York (WNSH,) San Francisco (KSJO,) New Orleans (WRKN,) Detroit (WDRQ,) Charleston (WIWF,) and Cincinnati (WNNF).

Garner said: “"I love my Country. We love our country. That’s what binds us together from hometown to hometown — our mutual, shared love of all things Country. With America’s Morning Show, we celebrate those shared values. It’s who we are, and it’s how we live our lives. We feel so blessed, and so grateful to bring these four new hometowns into the fold.”

Westwood One Taps Misti Douglas For Country Syndication

Misti Douglas

Cumulus Media and Westwood One has announced s that Misti Douglas has been named Manager, Country Syndication Affiliiate Sales.

 In her new position, Douglas will develop and manage Westwood One Country radio syndication partnerships for NASH Nights Live with Shawn Parr, Kickin’ It with Kix Brooks Overnights, the newly announced NASH Icons, American Country Countdown, Lia, Big Time with Whitney Allen, America’s Opry Weekend, Country Gold with Randy Owen and Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton.

Douglas joins Westwood One from All Access Music Group, where she was Assistant Country Editor. A 17-year radio veteran, Douglas previously held promotions, programming and on-air positions at radio stations in markets including Nashville; Anchorage, AK; Daytona Beach, FL; Bloomington, IN; and Flagstaff, AZ. She also held marketing positions with NorthStar Studios and Willis Entertainment television and video production companies and Paige Capo/Paige Musical Products.

Dennis Green, Senior Vice President, Affiliate Sales for Westwood One said: “It’s a pleasure to have Misti join our growing affiliate sales team for country programming. Misti’s knowledge of the industry and the Country space will be a major boost as we bring NASH and all of our Country products to the marketplace from coast to coast.”

Douglas said: “I am very excited to work with Donny Walker, Dennis Green, and the entire Westwood One team. Westwood One has a plethora of established successful programs and features that enable every radio station to create a customized and unique sound. That variety, along with the continued expansion of the company and its commitment to quality broadcasting, makes this an amazing opportunity."

Houston Radio: Michael Harris, KCOH Feud Ends

Michael Harris

The legal dispute between Houston radio host Michael Harris and his on-again-off-again boss, KCOH 1230 AM president Jesse Dunn, has been resolved, according to The Houston Chronicle.

Harris County judges in June and this month signed orders ending the fraud lawsuit Harris filed against Dunn and the station last October.

The lawsuit accused Dunn of making false representations to induce Harris to secure personal lines of credit totaling $130,000 for the station and to back $38,000 in financing for radio equipment as well as misuse of funds. Dunn and his lawyer denied wrongdoing.

Harris parted ways with KCOH last September, ending a 38-year run.

Then, last month, Harris revived his long-running "Person to Person" weekday morning talk show on KCOH - signaling a repaired breach between the two men.

Billing itself as the state's oldest black-formatted station, KCOH signed on in 1953 and moved to its iconic "looking-glass" studio in Third Ward in 1963. In late 2012, the station's former owners sold the 1430 signal. Dunn debuted the new KCOH on 1230 AM in March 2013.

Fort Wayne Radio: Talker Pat White Back On-Air

Pat White, who  has hosted Fort Wayne radio talk shows on and off since 1990, is slated to return Saturday on WLYV, 1450-AM – a station with a long and varied history that now bills itself as “the Patriot” and promises listeners “intelligent” talk.

The News-Sentinel reports that could be a not-too-subtle reference to WOWO, the city's talk-radio leader and the station that unceremoniously dumped White in 2014 after 14 years on the air? White won't say for certain, but makes it clear he still intends to do the show his way – a style WOWO executives insisted wasn't entirely compatible with the station's lineup of more-political syndicated programs hosted by the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

“We'll be doing a local issues show, like a week in review,” said the 67-year-old Air Force veteran whose show will air Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. but could be expanded to weekdays should ratings and other considerations fall into place. “I want to talk to people in the news, with something going on. When you tune in to Limbaugh or Glenn Beck, they're very political and Pat Miller (who replaced him as host of WOWO's afternoon drive-time show) is very religious.

“I try to stay away from that; it's not what I do. When you are very political, you can turn off part of your audience. I have an opinion, but I hope to encourage discourse.”

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Austin Radio: Pirates Fined $15K By FCC

The Olenicks

A pair of longtime activists are facing a $15,000 fine for operating a pirate radio station in Austin.

According to The Austin Chronicle, in August 2013, agents from the FCC Enforcement Bureau's Houston office responded to a complaint that an unlicensed station was operating at 90.1 MHz in Austin. Tracing the source of the signal wasn't exactly difficult. The antenna was attached to an almost 50-foot tower anchored to an apartment building owned by Walter Olenick and Rae Nadler-Olenick. Outside, a car registered to Nadler-Olenick was plastered with a bumper sticker reading "Liberty 90.1FM."

After discovering the source, the FCC sent the Olenicks a warning letter in early Septem­ber. The Olenicks replied shortly after, offering no denial that they owned the building or that an unlicensed radio station was operating on the premises. However, the couple shot back that the agents did not have "permission or consent to enter" the apartment building. According to the FCC filing, the Olenicks stated that the agency lacked jurisdiction in Texas. The letter "also implied that they do not consider themselves subject to the laws of the United States, because they stated they expect any future communications to come from the International Bureau only after a 'treaty' to which they are 'signators' is signed."

Such contrarian views are not uncommon for the Olenicks. The pair frequently appear during Citizens Communication at City Council to rail against the dangers of fluoridation in municipal water. But the FCC had less patience than City Hall. In April 2014, the FCC blasted the pair with a $10,000 fine for operating 90.1 without authorization. An additional $5,000 was added because the Olenicks failed to cease operations after the initial warnings.

The 90.1FM frequency has aired New World Order warnings for more than a decade, earning it the nickname "Alex Jones Radio."

The Olenicks were served their own Forfeit­ure Order in early June 2014 and were given a 30-day deadline to pay the fine before possible further Justice Department action.

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WY Radio: Former Host Awaits Sex Abuse Sentencing

A former Laramie radio host awaits sentencing July 14 after changing his plea to guilty on a charge of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree, according to the Laramie Boomerang.

57-year-old Lance Cook originally entered a not guilty plea on a charge stemming from allegations that he sexually abused a girl under the age of 13.  Cooks changed his plea to guilty in February.

The girl making allegations against Cook said he sexually assaulted her over a period of three years, from 2009-2011, according to District Court felony information documents.

The alleged victim and her brother used to go with their mother to her place of employment, KIMX 96.7 FM, where Cook was also employed, according to the documents, which include an affidavit of probable cause.

She said Cook would request that she come alone into his booth and sit on his lap. While she played with the computer, Cook would touch her inappropriately, according to the girl’s statement as given to a Laramie Police Department officer in the documents.

The girl said this took place almost every time she visited the radio station over a period of three years. She also reported Cook making sexual remarks and forcing her to kiss him, according to the affidavit.

CCM+E Names Hispanic Ad Expert

Liz Sarachek Blacker

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment has announced that U.S. Hispanic advertising expert, Liz Sarachek Blacker, will join the company as Executive Vice President of Hispanic Strategy and Sales, effective August 4, 2014.

In this new position, Blacker will develop and advance the company's overall strategy to engage and activate the Hispanic audience across all platforms. She will focus on driving revenue in the category, working with multi-cultural agencies to create custom campaigns for advertisers that leverage Clear Channel's unmatched reach with the Hispanic community. Blacker will also work closely with Clear Channel's National Programming Platforms team to create products, content and live events that focus on engaging and monetizing the Hispanic audience.

Blacker joins Clear Channel from Terra USA, where she has served as Chief Revenue Officer since 2011. During her time at Terra she was responsible for sales and revenue across multiple platforms, working with both the US Hispanic and Latin American media markets.

Leaked Britney Song Painful Without Auto-Tune

UPATE 12N 7/10/2014:  The video is no longer available, due to copyright claim.

Earlier posting...

No one ever thought Britney Spears' songs were untouched in the recording studio, but the singer's voice without Auto-Tune is even worse than we could have imagined.

On July 2, the unedited vocal version of Spears' track "Alien," off her most recent album, "Britney Jean," leaked — and it ain't pretty.

The video has picked up so much steam online that the song's producer, William Orbit, posted a statement to Facebook explaining that the track is from a vocal warm-up session, not a final take.

July 10 In Radio History

In 1856…Nicola Tesla was born.

Nikola Tesla

Tesla was a Serbian American  inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Tesla's theories on the possibility of the transmission by radio waves go back as far as lectures and demonstrations in 1893 in St. Louis, Missouri, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the National Electric Light Association.  Tesla's demonstrations and principles were written about widely through various media outlets.  Many devices such as the Tesla Coil were used in the further development of radio.

Tesla's radio wave experiments in 1896 were conducted in Gerlach Hotel (later renamed The Radio Wave building), where he resided.

In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat—which he dubbed "teleautomaton"—to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden.  The crowd that witnessed the demonstration made outrageous claims about the workings of the boat, such as magic, telepathy, and being piloted by a trained monkey hidden inside.  Tesla tried to sell his idea to the U.S. military as a type of radio-controlled torpedo, but they showed little interest.   Remote radio control remained a novelty until World War I and afterward, when a number of countries used it in military programs.   Tesla took the opportunity to further demonstrate "Teleautomatics" in an address to a meeting of the Commercial Club in Chicago, whilst he was travelling to Colorado Springs, on 13 May 1899.

In 1900, Tesla was granted patents for a "system of transmitting electrical energy" and "an electrical transmitter." When Guglielmo Marconi made his famous first-ever transatlantic radio transmission in 1901, Tesla quipped that it was done with 17 Tesla patents. This was the beginning of years of patent battles over radio with Tesla's patents being upheld in 1903, followed by a reverse decision in favor of Marconi in 1904. In 1943, a Supreme Court of the United States decision restored the prior patents of Tesla, Oliver Lodge, and John Stone.  The court declared that their decision had no bearing on Marconi's claim as the first to achieve radio transmission, just that since Marconi's claim to certain patents were questionable, he could not claim infringement on those same patents  (there are claims the high court was trying to nullify a World War I claim against the U.S. government by the Marconi Company via simply restoring Tesla's prior patent).

In 1933…the first police radio system was put into operation in Eastchester Township, New York


In 1950…After 15 years as a radio favorite, "Your Hit Parade" started a nine-year run on television – the first eight years on NBC, the last year on CBS – while continuing on radio until 1955.

   
                    
In 1954…Radio station WINS in New York City hired disc jockey Alan Freed from WJW in Cleveland, where he had helped popularize, if not invent, the term "rock 'n' roll." 

In  1962…Telstar 1 launched. Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. 

The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. 

Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, fax images and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 was launched May 7, 1963. 

Telstar 1 and 2, though no longer functional, are still in orbit as of October 2013.

In 1965...the Rolling Stones got their first Number One U.S. hit with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

LA Radio: Nielsen Decides Against Further PPM Re-Issues

Nielsen has announced that there is no need PPM ratings for the past year in the Los Angeles market.  The decision followed an impact analysis caused by the presence of a media-affiliated household during the April 2014 survey period.

Nielsen officials say the findings of the analysis were so insignificant a full-year re-issue would be not necessary.

In a prepared statement, Nilesen said:

"Subsequent to last month's delay and reissue of Los Angeles PPM Radio data, NIELSEN has conducted an impact analysis extending back over the past year to examine the impact of the media-affiliated household that was recently removed from the panel. After comparing the audience estimates without this home in the panel to those we originally published which included the household, we have decided not to reissue currency Los Angeles data for any prior report periods. 

"Our analysis revealed that any significant differences in the estimates over the past year were isolated primarily to a single station (the station associated with the media-affiliated household) and that there were minimal differences in the estimates for the overwhelming majority of other stations in the market. We have concluded that a reissue of prior currency data would be of limited commercial benefit to customers and would result in further disruption to the marketplace. 

"Nilesen is committed to upholding the highest standards of data integrity and acts swiftly to meet those standards. We have taken a number of actions to minimize the risk of reoccurrence and to strengthen our measures to ensure that panelists are complying properly in all markets. Nielsen will also be launching an education and awareness campaign with the broadcast industry to remind them of our panel security and media affiliation guidelines."

FCC Call Letter Actions For June 2014

Emmis Reports 1Q Radio Revenue Up 22 Percent

Emmis Communications Corporation today announced results for its first fiscal quarter ending May 31, 2014.

Emmis' radio net revenues for the first fiscal quarter were up 22%, from $36.9 million to $45.0 million. This includes reported revenue from New York's WBLS 107.5 FM and WLIB 1190 AM, which Emmis began operating pursuant to a Local Marketing Agreement on March 1, 2014.

On a pro forma basis, assuming results for WBLS and WLIB were included in the same quarter of the prior year, radio revenues would have been flat. Per Miller Kaplan reporting, which excludes barter revenues and syndication revenues, Emmis' stations were up 1.6% compared to local radio market revenues down 5.5% during the fiscal quarter.

For the first fiscal quarter, operating income was $6.6 million, compared to $7.0 million for the same quarter of the prior year.  Emmis' station operating income for the first fiscal quarter was $13.4 million, compared to $13.1 million for the same quarter of the prior year.

Jeff Smulyan

"While our markets continue to be tested, our stations and employees have risen to the challenge and continue to outperform our markets," Jeff Smulyan, President & CEO of Emmis said.

"We continue to believe NextRadio, the Emmis-led industry initiative to make FM broadcast radio available on smartphones and tablets, is a game-changer for the radio industry and will reignite growth. We have spent the last year building out the NextRadio ecosystem, and now we are entering a critical phase to build consumer awareness.  I'm proud of our team for its continuing focus on innovation and operational excellence."