Radio ,Radio advertising news. trends, strategies & stats for

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IM

ZFrom the Publishers of Radio Business Report Inc., 17 Years

Volume 4, Issue 7 July 2000

Hello, Goodbye

A conversation

with Traug Keller

and David Kantorby Carl Marcucci

t.

Traug Keller: Taking the reins of ABCRNWe guessed it first: (RBR corn 6/19): Former ABC Radio Networks EVP Sales andMarketing Traug Keller was chosen 6/20 to head the Network as its President,replacing Lyn Andrews (RBR 6/5, p.3). His new management was alsoar nuanced, as promoted by ABC Radio President John Hare were DarrylBrown (EVP/GM) and Jennifer Purtan (SW Sales).

Keller, who joined the organization in 1994 as VP, Eastern Sales, nowoversees all programming (including Radio Disney and ESPN Radio), affiliatereiatims, engineering, finance, research and Internet functions. He, his wifeConnie and three children are relocating from the NYC area to ABCRN's DallasH. ' I'm thrilled. I view this as one of the most dynamic and exciting places tobe ir the radio business. My first tour of duty, going over the differentdepalments over the next 30-90 days is to make sure that we kind of narrowar.d simplify our goals," Keller tells AdBiz. "The long term view is how do wemake our programming relevant in the brave new world of Internet, broadbandcoming, wireless to the car and whatever else is out there seven years from now.That I view as the biggest challenge."

Cant on AB4

1998

1999

2000

AgencyPerspective

Total Radio agency:A riff from RaffPage AB5

PersonalityProfileWestwood One sDon GenronimoPage AB10

48,309

48,93056,634

NetworkRadiosellout

67,455

76,666

79,467

Febru&ryMarch

April

97,638

105,726

113,891

RBR/Miller Kaplan MarketSell Out percentage report

Summer levels offInventory demand has, after a long period ofyear -on -year growth, begun to level o'f. Thatputs radio on a high plateau, if stations havebeen able to hold the line on pricing. "Sincethe summer of '99 was a hot summer for radiodemand, we're seeing a continuation for thisyear." says George Nadel Rivin of Mill Dr,Kaplan. Arase & Co. "The August ni.mberslook especially promising since August of1999 was a strong month."-JM

90.787.2

15 -Jun

68.0

I72.5

1

19)9 20)0

61.5 57.6

July Aug.

R-Aadthd3i2July 2000, Volume 4, Issue 7

Executive Editor Jack Messmer

Senior Editor Dave Seyler

Senor Editor Cad MarcucciAssociate Editor Karen MaxcyAssociate Editor Elisabeth Derewitz

Creative/Production Director Ronald GreeneVP Administration Cathy Carnegie

FCC Research Consultant Mona Wargo

Administrative Assistant April Olson

Publisher Jim CarnegieVP/GM, Associate Publisher Ken Lee

General Sales Manager John Neff

Account Executive Susanna Pritchett

Editorial/Advertising Offices6208-B Old Franconia Road

Alexandria, VA 22310Or

PO Box 782Springfield, VA 22150

Main Phone: 703/719-9500Editorial Fax 703/719-7910Sales Fax: 703/719-9509Subscription Phone: 703/719-7721Subscription Fax: 703/719-7725

Advertising Sales InformationKen Lee Phone 703/719-9500John Neff Fax: 703/719-9509Sean Drasher

Publisher:Editorial:Sales:

Email Addresses

JCRBR@aol.comRadiobiz@aol.com

KenLeeRBR@aol.comJohnNRBR@aol.com

SPritch28@aol.com

02000 Radio Business Report, Inc.Material may not be

reproduced without permission.Printed in USA.

Subscription: $120 per year

RBR Famil of Products

E :111M :Vlif I It till Ill,

creaBusiness Re'o

RADIO BUSINESS REPORT

Mid -Week News Brief

Source Guideand Directory

Tb,' 411-Rmlio Yearbook

Ad Stats

Guru raises ad spending forecastRadio has made a believer out of Bob Coen, Sr. VP & Director of Forecasting at UniversalMcCann. In the mid -year update of his ad spending outlook, the closely watched forecasterincreased his 2000 projections for most media, but raised his radio projection the most -both atthe local (to 12%) and national (to 15%) levels.

"Back in December we expected that the many special millennium -year events would provideextra acceleration to the degree that advertising outpaced the US economy this year. The year2000 census added millions of dollars of extra advertising expenditures in the opening quarterof this year and primary election contests involved exceptionally high advertising outlays," Coensaid in his 6/27 "Insider's Report." "This is even before the main contests that will start in the latesummer and early fall months, just about the time the Summer Olympics telecasts are aired fromAustralia in September."

While others have been warning of a drop-off in dot -corn advertising, Coen sees just theopposite: "Despite some losses in stock market prices for a number of high-tech marketers, theiradvertising activities have not slowed; in fact the importance of advertising has continued to riseas they rush to build their share of on-line commerce."

Based on Coen's projections, it looks like radio is having some success in taking business awayfrom newspapers at the local level. While the newspaper industry's effort to reassert itself as anational advertising medium is making some inroads, Coen has lowered his expectations for printat the local level -now forecasting a 5% gain, rather than 6%. His local TV projection held at 8.500but radio shot up three full percentage points to 12%.

"Retailers are presently holding down their advertising outlays by switching from display ad.,in newspapers to less costly pre-prints, with much of the savings going into radio," Coenexplained.-JM

Bob Coen's Advertising Forecast($ in millions)

Ad spending 2000 forecast 2000 forecast 2000 ad revenuesNational gain as of 12/99 gain as of 6/00 forecast as of 6/00

Big 4 TV nets 9.0% 12.0%Spot TV 8.0% 9.0%Cable TV 15.0% 20.0%Syndication TV 8.0% 9.0%Radio (net & spot) 8.0% 15.0%Magazines 7.5% 7.5%Newspapers 8.0% 12.0%Direct mail 7.0% 8.0%Yellow pages 8.0% 7.0%Internet 75.0% 75.0%

Other national media 8.0% 10.5%

Total National 9.1% 11.1%

Local

NewspapersTV

RadioYellow pagesOther local media

Total Local

Grand Total

6.0% 5.0%8.5% 8.5%

9.0% 12.0%6.0% 5.5%7.1% oOcI'0

7.1% 7.0%

8.3% 9.4%

Source: Universal McCann "Insider's Report." 12/99 & 6/00

$ 5,636$ 11,445

$9,000$3,128

$4,553$12,290

$7,121$44,715

$2,125$ 3,395$28,469

$141,877

$42,304$13.758

$14,847$ 11.253$11,606

$93,768

$235,645

more Stats on AB13

AB2 July '00 AdBiz

Rick Dees wakes up the

ENTIRE FAMILY in the

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A18-49

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TEENS

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And ranked #1 in cumein all demographics on

To wake up families in your market, call your Premiere Radio representative at 818-377-5300 PremiereRadio.com

Here, Traug answers some frank questions about his new role:

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What are your main goals for ABC RadioNetworks?Building on our current distribution, program-ming and ad sales. We have very focused andessential goals with concentration in thesethree areas.

I will continue moving the organizationahead as we proceed with our strong perfor-mance in customer service-making sure thatour people in affiliate relations stay on theroad, seeing our customers, getting to knowtheir operations and always staying focused onwhat drives our affiliates' businesses.

What are ABC Radio Networks' strengthsand weaknesses?Our strengths are our products. ABC NewsRadio is second to none, receiving more awardsin the past four years than all our competitioncombined. Amidst all of the industry consoli-dation, a great news product is a tremendousand powerful asset.

Our talent also leads radio through compel-ling, energetic and personal connections withaudiences. From Tom Joyner, to Doug Banks.to Paul Harvey. to Bob Kingsley, DickBartley and Bob Brinker, our hosts andpersonalities interact with listeners, buildingloyalty and community through their abilitiesto entertain, and through their insights andgreat perspectives on daily life.

Our weakness is that we have not been ahuge radio consolidator, and therefore wehave less control over our distribution. All thatmeans is that we must strive to maintainexcellence in programming, content and cus-tomer service.

How do you plan on preparing ABC RadioNetworks to work content and sales into thebroadband and wireless Internet media?We are reviewing all our options. It's importantthat we first serve our radio affiliates. Broad-band and wireless offer future distributionopportunities and allow us to deliver ourcontent to places and people heretofore un-available.

Tell us about your radio history.I am a radiophile, and have been all my life. Istarted out at The New York Times, but my heartwas always with radio. And when an oppor-tunity arose at The New York Times' classicalstation WQXR, I jumped at it. I became localsales manager and then moved on as AccountExecutive at CBS Radio Networks. After sev-eral years, I was appointed as Director ofEastern Sales at CBS Radio, where I serveduntil I joined ABC Radio Networks as VicePresident of Eastern Sales. When Lyn Andrews

took on her role as President, I took responsi-bility for all ad sales and marketing.

Working with the tremendous talent andcaliber of professionals at ABC Radio has been agreat privilege, and I am very charged by theenergy, creativity and quality of the entire group.

What are your thoughts on Radar 65?Radar 65 was a mixed bag for us. ABC RadioNetworks' limited inventory, Young Adult, FN1and News -Talk all increased very well. Wesuffered some erosion with our line networks.but these results were expected. I've been inthis business long enough to know that oneRadar doesn't indicate a trend.

How are upfronts looking?The upfronts marketplace for 2001 looks quitestrong. We have had several inquiries andhave several big deals working. The freneticcharacter of TV upfronts has definitely spilledover to radio, and we're stronger than we'veever been.

How are you preparing for the combinedentity of AMFM and Premiere?We are looking forward to competing. Theyhave great product and they have great people.and I also look forward to growing the net-work radio pool with them.

David Kantor:taking stock and moving onDavid !Cantor, after being appointed Presi-dent of ABC Radio Networks in early '96 andthen given the direction of launching a newnetwork-AMFM Radio Networks in late '97-is leaving (RBR 6/26, p.2) after the ClearChannel-AMFM merger to do his own thing.Kantor worked a strategy that delivered 60,1listeners to the network -38% of itunduplicated-which translated to adding fur-ther appeal to network advertising. That newaudience suddenly filled in the holes that putnetwork radio on a reach par with cable andnetwork TV. Let's face it-both AMFMRN andPremiere Radio Networks' new RADAR -ratednetworks brought new advertisers to the biz.

While David will end up staying a consult-ant to Premiere into early next year, he'sembarking on new and different career agen-das. Here, David tells us about it.

How does it feel to be truly on your own?It feels great. I think it's an exciting time in ourbusiness. Not only has consolidation led to lotsof opportunities for the big companies likeClear Channel and Infinity or the networks like

continued on AB 14

AB4 July '00 AdBlz

AdStats

Gen X media habitsInterep's study of Gen Xers, "The Evolution of X/Adult 18-34 Consum-ers," shows that the group is among the heaviest users of radio and on-line services. While Generation X is defined as those born between1965-1978 (which comprises 19% of the U.S. population or 52.3M), forpurposes of this study, it is broadly defined as those who are between18-34 (64M). The Gen X segment is a good reflection of the changingdemographic of the U.S. It is the most diversifed adult generation ofwhich 66% are non -Hispanic White, 13% are Black, 16% are Hispanic,5% are Asian and 1% other. Radio reaches 94% of Gen Xers and radioformats with the highest concentration of this group include: CHR( index 207), AOR (index 198) and Modem Rock (index 195). -KM

Likelihood of Heavy Media Consumption (Quintile I Usage)

Radio On-line Magazine Cable Television Newspaper

House ads nearly 20% of online advertisingThere's nothing like tooting one's own horn to draw attention to one'swebsite. The latest monthly AdRelevance Intelligent Report released byAdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix (0: MMXI), shows that almost20% of web advertising are house ads. This despite a 65% increase inthe number of web advertisers since January 2000.

Charlie Buchwalter, VP/Media Research, AdRelevance, says thatalmost $26M of potential online ad space goes unsold every week. Headds, "It's important to note, however, that this house advertisingphenomenon is not equally spread across all sites. Portals, communitysites and search engines are able to sell a higher percentage of theirinventory than a variety of smaller, more vertical website genres." WillHodgman, President, AdRelevance and Chief Marketing Officer, MediaMetrix, says the information from the monthly reports can help mediabuyers determine inventory levels of websites and gain leverage innegotiating buys. Key findings after monitoring 500 highest traffickedad -supported sites between January and April 2000 are highlightedbelow. -KM

179 online companies devoted more than 1% of their inventory tohouse advertising House advertising accounted for more than 17B online ad impressionsout of a total of 92B impressions Few companies are extensive users of house advertising: 63 sites carryover 20% house ads and only 15 sites in genres such as kids and family,games, and movies and television, run greater than 50% house ads Compared to other website genres, vertical sites such as online employmentcompanies lead the pack when it comes to running house ads. Approxi-mately 45% of all online ad inventory on employment sites is devoted tohouse advertisements, while portals run an average of 12% house ads

Regional differences in media usageInterep's study of regional differences in media usage shows that thereare geographical pockets of heavy users of different media. For radio,the West Central region showed a slightly elevated concentration ofheavy users, but generally, all indices for heavy usage fell between thestatistical "neutral" range of 90-110. However, there were clear differ-ences in radio format preference in different regions of the country. Forexample, the Northeast showed a preference for Modern Rock, thePacific for Jazz/NAC and the Southwest for Urban. -KM

Top Three Radio Formats by Share\11:11-0 #1: \ CNN 01.1%

1. News/Talk2. Urban3. Spanish

18.6%12.7%11.5%

Metro #2: Los AngelesI Spanish2. News/Talk3. Urban

24.5%13.9%11.2%

Metro #3: Chicago1. News, Talk2. Urban3. Spanish

25.7%13.1%

7.7%

Metro #4: San FranciscoI. News/Talk

2. Urban3. Spanish

17..%13.3%6.7%

Metro #5: Philadelphia1. Urban2. News/Talk3. AOR

16.8%16.2%

9.5%

Mulni 11.111.1s I Ut-tll1. Urban2. Country3. News/Talk

Metro tt-: I)tttvtit1. News/Talk2. Urban3. AC

18.0%17.6%7.6%

Metro #8: Boston1. News/Talk2. CHR3. AC

1. Urban2. News/Talk3. Country

17.3%11.9%8.8%

22.8%15.2%6.1%

Metro #10: Houston1. Urban 16.4%2. Spanish 15.0%3. Country 11.0%

Source: Interep Research Format Shares - Persons 12+ - Mon -Sun 6A -12M Based on Fall 1999Arbitron Metro AQH Station Shares

July 00 AdBiz AB5

AgencyPerspective

Franklin Raft, Director, Raff Radio, didn't think it was right for radio to wait in the wings, tobe used only when TV was cast aside for it. In 1998, Raff and his college friend (both met at YaleUniversity's WYBC-FM) Tom Jameson, Creative Director, launched the agency that was fullybacked by client investments. With experience in radio management, sales and also as an on -air talent, Raff says that devoting his time to selling radio and helping his clients became a life -affirming choice for him. Along with a growing list of local and national clients, Raff Radio hasbeen doing more consulting for new audio content and radio -related technology ventures. In thisAgency Perspective, Raff focuses on employing radio creatively and centrally, and how contentwill ensure the centrality of radio.

How did Raff Radio start?After several years in local radio, I saw theneed for an advertising agency that championsradio and specializes in it. Radio is an after-thought with most agencies. Few put their bestpeople on radio. I saw the opportunity for aradiocentric agency that captures the power ofradio by mixing hot creative audio with dy-namic media buying. In creative work forclients and agencies, in buying, and inconsultancy, Raff Radio is focused on radiolike a laser.

Wbat do you mean by "radiocentric"?We use radio as the primary medium fordelivery of sales messages. Our methodologywas developed after studying the classic prob-lem of spraying, paying, and praying. Toomany businesses spend too few dollars on toomany media and get miserable results: dimin-ished frequency, lousy recall, hopeless track-ing efforts, and poor performance overall.

Radio broadcasters have traditionally gonealong with this-happy to receive table scrapsof any media mix. In the end, however, thismeans less money for radio. Desperate forresults, clients and their agencies focus moredollars on media that offer instant accountabil-ity such as print coupons and direct mail. It'snot unusual for an unfocused, creatively bar-ren media campaign to reach 80% of its targetthrough radio, but rarely with enough fre-quency or creative intensity to make an im-pact. So, for the sake of meeting some anxiousreps' monthly sales goal, radio itself loses aclient, or an agency, or an industry, forever.

Tben bow do you makeradio accountable?We help our clients understand that radio'seffectiveness is not measured in short-termresults. The practical application of this mutualunderstanding is that we only buy annuals.Within those annuals, we start by airing spotsin given custom daypart windows (i.e. 2-4PMor 3-4PM for 35-54 soccer moms) at least fivetimes weekly, Monday -Friday, on a maximumof stations to reduce duplication, for at leasta year. News/Talk, Talk/Sports, and Reli-gious format buying enables us to aligndayparting with formatting.

These listeners also tend to be uncannilyresponsive, which can be as important asresults to new clients. Custom day -partingcombined with tightly windowed news/traf-fic/weather billboards and sponsorships-horizontality-has proven a very effective wayto blanket markets on a thrifty budget.

ABA July '00 AdBiz

Horizontality lets us use the predictability andconsistency of radio listening to our advantagewhen buying and scheduling, which in turnhelps us get away from overemphasizing (andover -extrapolating) CPP, come, and AQH val-ues. These numbers are essential of course,but we focus on sending Judy a message everyday at the same time, right as she goes to pickBilly up from soccer.

This approach fosters warm, qualitativeinformation based relationships with our reps,makes responsible scheduling and planningt hat much easier, and helps clients get over thebuzzwords and really understand how radioworks. They know it works when they startseeing a lot more of Judy and her money.Which is to say that the only responsible wayto track radio's effectiveness is to track thegross sales figures of the advertiser. That said,I believe creative is everything. Everything.

What are the hallmarksof great radio creative?Anything that is memorable, penetrating, andpersuasive is good. There is no formula forsuccess. A unique selling proposition is ex-actly that, unique. Philosophically, our cre-ative is unfettered. Liberated. We create spotsto wake the mind and heart, and our approachis highly unconventional. We don't cut spots,we craft suggestive images. We apply visualconcepts to audio; we think as cinematogra-phers of the mind. We shoot sound, then takefootage to production.

As producers, we think visually and speakof the sound -field and the landscape of a spot.As copywriters we are conflict-theorists-webelieve in the collision of powerful words-thesis and antithesis, to synthesis in the mindof the listener. We believe in calculated injec-tions of thick, rippling silence. We believe thatour listeners are intelligent.

We employ a rich tapestry of voices, generallyprofessional method actors rather than the usualgamut of voice-over talent. Despite the time ittakes to train a serious actor in large -diaphragminic technique, we feel the product is worth it.And we like "method" because there's a lan-guage to it which we know and which getsresults. Good actors see copy as a script whosesoul must be uncovered and expressed. Onerecommendation I'd give medium -market pro-duction directors-the overworked heroes ofthe radio industry-is to use your local theatricaltalent. The results are often stunning.

Outside of agency and consultancy work,what other projects are at hand?We are completing a national study that mea-sures the relationship between the automationof radio stations and the erosion of radiolistening shares. In essence, we are studying, in

a rigorous and objective manner, whether thecurrent trend of consolidation in radio manage-ment serves the long-term interests of themedium. The quality of local content in manycases-its non-existence-is emerging as a majorconsumer issue that affects the future prospectsof local broadcasters. Our study entails preciseanalyses of ratings, financial and market perfor-mance of broadcasters nationwide. We expectto publish in the fourth quarter.

We are very concerned about the future ofthe local radio industry. The impact of satelliteradio and wireless Internet broadcasting willbe profound. I have in my head images ofrusty, abandoned FM towers on the hilltops, ascene perhaps only a few years away. Becauseof the furious pace of technological changeand shifting consumer attitudes, it's possiblethat towers, frequencies, licenses, facilitiesnow worth hundreds of millions of dollars maybe worth little to nothing in the near future.

What changes do you predict?We think national satellite radio will have atremendous impact on the listening public.Will millions of Americansagree to pay for what hashitherto been free for thesake of improved content?Probably. The conventionalwisdom in the seventies wasthat subscription cable TVprogramming would be a fail-ure. Over -the -air TV broad-casters scoffed at the ideathat Americans would payfor what had once been free.Well, Americans happily didpay, and that's why CNN andESPN changed the face of TVand eroded traditional network audience shares.

Nick Negroponte of MIT's Media Lab wasright years ago when he predicted the move-ment of wireless media to wired and wiredmedia to wireless, but I doubt he anticipatedthe quickness of these technology -drivenswitchbacks. Take the Internet for example. Inseven years, a majority of American homeshave gone online.

While local radio broadcasters argue aboutthe impact of satellite radio, the era of wirelessInternet is fast approaching. Satellite radiomay be a paper tiger in comparison. WirelessInternet offers potentially millions of free pro-granuning choices customized by listenersthemselves. Furthermore, the choices will bedelivered to us on our computers, pocketorganizers, cell phones, and in our cars. Internetcompanies and telcos are working overtime toprovide broadband, streaming, wireless Internetservices in major metros. Alabama's Q -PC isalready installing car computers that are ready

for wireless Internet. Metricom is launching128-kbps always -on mobile Internet access inSan Diego and Atlanta this summer, whichmeans wireless Internet digital audio qualitywill rival FM stereo.

So again, the image of those rusty FMtowers flashes in my mind and I feel asudden chill.

How, in your view, canradio respond to these changes?Radio industry bigwigs have spent inordinateamounts of time and money fighting satelliteradio, LPFM, and digital radio. In this era ofincreasingly limitless bandwidth, these protec-tionist efforts are misplaced. We must not godown as the Marie Antoinette of the commu-nications industry. The invasion is at hand, andin this age of limitless media choices, our bestdefense is superior content. We must bite thebullet and think of radio programming asaudio content.

The key issue for both terrestrial stationslooking to retain their listeners and new tech-nology stations looking to find an audience is

content. The sharpest musicprogrammers, for instance, arekeeping an eye on how newtechnology can help them de-termine what their listeners wantto hear. One of our clients,NOYSE.com, has developed away to optimize radio program-ming using an intemet-basedreal-time demographic pollingsystem that monitors all listen-ing media. Basically, it's a con-tent -enhancing appliance, asaw -sharpener.

In terms of content, we mustalso recognize the long-term costs of radiohaving inadvertently abandoned its role as acultivator of talent. Dan Rather, Don Imus,Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern all camefrom local radio, and developed their talentsin a ziggurat whose broad, small -market foun-dation we have nearly demolished. If radiooperators continue their lemming -like stam-pede toward all -syndicated content, wherewill we find the next generation of talent thatwill keep radio growing and thriving?

It is superior audio content-advertisingand otherwise-that will secure radio's statusas a first -rank vehicle for advertising, infor-mation, and entertainment, no matter thephysics of the actual delivery medium. Thechanges occurring in communications media,frankly, can be an unprecedented asset forradio. As an agency, we aim to help ourclients understand and use that asset, torealize the full potential of audio, and radio,content.

July '00 AdBiz AB7

Personality profile

Don Geronimoon the "Don & Mike Show"

By Carl Marcucci

Don Geronimo and Mike O'Meara havehosted "The Don & Mike Show from Wash-ington DC's WJFK-FM since 1991. After someincredible ratings, Westwood One picked theshow up for syndication 6/93. Now on 50affiliates (the highest count to date), the twoshare the broadcast weekly from WJFK andNew York's newest talker, WNEW-FM.

While it's hard to really "encapsulate" theshow in words, one thing is for sure: it's neverdull and always entertaining. No doubt, theshow leans Male-these two actually havetheir flatulence sponsored (it's not pretty aftercertain meals). From bringing blacklights intorestrooms and describing in gory detail what

regular light can't pick up, to creating a soapopera around a disliked Washington radiocritic, there's always something new and unex-pected. Here. Don talks about his high ratingsphenomenon.

What's it like to finallyget cleared in NY at WNEW?It's very exciting to finally get cleared in NYC.Obviously, for any syndicated show there islittle chance of real success without being onin NY. LA or Chicago. We've waited a long timefor our shot, and it appears to have been worththe wait. WNEW is the right station at the righttime for us. Aside from fantastic phone re-

sponse, the trends have been encouraging(we're up to a mighty 1.3). Of course, whenwe're used to pulling much bigger numbersthan that elsewhere it sure seems tiny. Butwhen you consider we've only been on threemonths, and the station was pulling a .04 whenwe started, it's going in the right direction.

Tell us bow theDon & Mike Sbow came about.I had been doing radio for 12 years when Ihooked up with Mike O'Meara in 1985. I'dalready worked my way up the Top 40 foodchain, working at WLS-AM and WBBM-FM Chi-cago, KIIS-FM LA, 99X NY, WDRQ-FM Detroit,WPGC-FM Washington and WBZZ-FM Pitts-burgh (to name a few). In 1983 I got morningdrive at B-96 in Chicago. At that point I started towant to grow as a personality, and started a fight

that would continue for years with various PDsover the number of records played per hour. In1984 I was fed up with the daily arguments withB-96 PD Buddy Scott, and my wife finally gotpregnant. She had been with me through everymove prior (this August we'll have been married20 years) and she requested that when our babywas born, whatever market we went to, wewould stay. Forever (or until our unborn babywas through high school). Being as we wereboth originally from the DC area and had familythere, I quit at B-96 and accepted the afternoonslot at WAVA-FM/Washington-with the thoughtthey'd let me do a personality -oriented afternoonshow. That lasted four months, until I got movedto morning drive.

At that time, Mike was doing contractedproduction at WAVA and had come in duringmy afternoon show to contribute voices. Ifound an immediate rapport with him, andsuggested to management he join me when Imade the move to AM drive in December of1985. Since then, we have fought the good fighttogether, against various PDs over content andrecords until 1991 when we walked off. It wasthen that Ken Stevens [now Infinity RegionalMgr.] from WJFK called with the offer to do allTalk in PM drive. It made sense for him, as wewere beating Howard Stern, and he neededsomething to fill out his then struggling lineupon WJFK, which was Classic Rock. So he killedtwo birds with one stone-he got rid of compe-tition for Stem, and started a new format in DC.

How did you both get started in radio?I started in radio when I was 14, hangingaround WINX-AM in Rockville, Maryland. Iwas a real radiophile from the age of eight,always knew it was what I wanted to do. Mike

ABB July '00 AdBiz

started later in life, working in college radio,then he programmed a few stations (includingCountry!) before he realized his calling at thattime was in his incredible voice talents andstarted doing full time production.

What are yourfeelings on PDs and GMs atTalk stations? What would you do differ-ently if you held one of those titles?fly thoughts on GMs and PDs at most Talkstations are the same as when I worked in Top40 radio...they don't have a clue about goingin a room and having passion for what you do.With that passion comes the occasional mis-take. At least in the "Hot Talk" type formats,most of these guys want the benefits that comewith the show, but none of the bad bags thatcrop up as well. Which is why we have beenso fortunate to work for the team of KenStevens and Jeremy Coleman [WNEW PD].Aside from the legalities of doing our show(FCC rules, lawsuits, etc.) they have been thebest we could ask for. Because they stay thehell out of the way! That is the sign of a securemanagement team. Why hire us, pay us well,and then stand over us with a whip while wetry to do the job you asked us to do? Theydon't. We have the luxury of having a GM andPD, but not having a GM and PD.

We have total freedom to do the show theway we see fit. Of course, it's easier for themwith the success we've had at WJFK (#1 Adults25-54, 29 out of 32 books over eight years), buteven when we first started they had the samerestraint. When they do tell me to do or not dosomething, I concur, because I know it'simportant. Because they don't come to mewith every little piddly CompuNet call thatcomes across their desk. It's sad more manage-ment types don't feel secure enough to let thetalent just do their jobs. I certainly don't harpon them about billing, or the numbers on therest of the station. Because it's not my job!Likewise for them. Of course, the GMs and PDsat some of our affiliate stations are anothermatter. I just ignore them.

What do you do outside of thestudio to promote the show?CBS stands for Cheap Broadcasting System.There isn't (and will never be) outside promo-tion for any CBS -FM Talk show or station. Theyexplained that to us when we were hired.Their thought is, "if you're so good, you don'tneed TV or outdoor to promote your show."And they have been proven right. If a show iscompelling and different while being enter-taining people will find it. So we make per-sonal appearances every month, both in DCand in outside markets. They are called "LasVegas Style Shows," and we go to an arena ornightclub and put on a stage show. It's the

oldest radio rule I know of, and it's still relevant.You've got to get out and meet people. We doit every month. We've played an arena inSacramento with 5,000 people and a bar inHagerstown, MD with 700 people. People arepeople everywhere and they want to meet us.So we do it, at least one show per month.

How can GMs and PDswork with your show on a local basis?GMs and PDs from affiliate stations can workwith our show via promotions. We give awayprizes from many markets, from Portland ME,to Portland OR. They also can bring us to theirmarkets for our shows. And local events areemailed or faxed to us, and if they arerelevant, we go with them. But the basic rulewhen someone picks up our show is this:Push the button and go away. You don't haveto babysit us.

How is your show so differentfrom the others out there?Our show is drastically different because it'sreal. A large part of the show is our lives-whatwe are doing, where we are going. My wife ison the show virtually daily, and my teenage sonalso makes occasional call -ins. Mike's wife hasalso recently called the show, and even withouther actually participating, his life experiencesare also a large part of the show. That's some-thing no other show can duplicate, since it's ourreal lives being played out on the air. Good orbad, that's where it happens. And people canrelate to that, because everyone has ups anddowns in their own lives. Our show is alsodifferent because we treat people who partici-pate (via phone or in studio) the same way-real. If someone is a dick, we tell them. Thereis no phony radio politeness on our show. Wenever go out of our way to be hostile to a caller,but if he or she deserves it, they'll get it. And thatis an attitude not heard on any other show. Wetreat jerks the way most people would love totreat jerks who come into their workplace.

Our show is real funny because it's real. Noscript, no writers. And because the chemistryMike and I have is real. We are good buddies,and that translates over the air, especiallywhen you compare it to the fake chemistrybetween most radio teams/morning zoos. WhenI start a sentence, he can finish it, and viceversa. Our show is like an oasis from the over -researched, under -entertained pile of crap thatis radio today. A big part of any given show wedo is to pull back the curtain to show howradio is a fmed up business, like any other.Everyone at our station is fair on -air game,from receptionists to salespeople. They allcome on the air. As do Ken & Jeremy, when-ever there is a sticky programming issue.That's where some of our best radio happens,

having real arguments with management. Whatworking person can't relate to that?

The Radio Wars-tell usabout some of the past pranks.Most of our best radio wars are behind us.Back when he worked mornings, we wouldsend Elliott and Woodside black roses whenthe book came out. One time we sent themluggage, because we were sure they'd be firedand have to move soon. One war that hascontinued even through our switch to PMdrive has been against Jack Diamond ofWRQX-FM Washington. He's simply the big-gest phony I've ever heard on the radio. Sowhen we go at him, it's all the way. About ayear ago, he actually fired back and had theballs to say something about us on his morningshow. We spent the entire next show (that'sthe luxury in these wars we have-the DJ's canonly talk a few seconds before they have to doweather or traffic or play a Celine Dionrecord, so as not to break format. We, on theother hand, can and will go an entire showbusting one guy's balls) goofing on him. Lis-teners started calling in with their stories, andI bluffed him by saying I had a dreadful secretfrom his past I would reveal unless he calledus right then, and apologized on the air, on ourshow. Sure enough, he was listening, and hedid. What an idiot! We now use that apologyas a bumper, reminding any other "DJ's" thatwhen they battle us, they'll lose.

Why is the Don & Mike Sbowa good choice for advertisers?The Don and Mike show is a great choice foradvertisers because we deliver. Specifically,adults-the demos that make you money.From Washington to Wichita, from Bakersfieldto Baltimore, from Greenville to Green Bay weare *1 in all male demos (18-34, 18-49, 25-54,25-49). Plus, our 25-54 Adults is equally killer.Those are the demos advertisers want. We arenot one of those shows that advertised itself bysaying, "in Tucson, ratings are up 67%!" be-cause 67% of nothing is still pretty damn closeto nothing. We deliver real numbers. Ourshares range from 10's to 20's-no B.S. CallWestwood One and ask for a ratings package.

On WJFK-FM in Washington, DC our lineupincludes Howard Stern, G. Gordon Liddy, theSports Junkies and Redskins play-by-play. Ourshow is the number one biller on the station. Ourshow gets the highest rate-more than AM drive.That's why our show is good for advertisers.Egars.com recently signed on to sponsor our on -air farts (whenever someone cuts one, they geta five second read) and got over one million hitsto their web site in two weeks. As far as the adcommunity is concerned, our show is about thetwo R's. Ratings and revenues. We deliver.

July '00 AdBiz AB9

RadioNews

Bobby Lawrence leaving ClearChannelClear Channel Radio EVP Bobby Lawrenceannounced he is leaving the company effective6/30 to explore "several opportunities" in radiooutside of the company. The recent appoint-ment of AMFM's Kenny O'Keefe (RBR 5/29,p.2) to the Clear Channel Radio President/COO position, post -merger, is a possible impe-tus for the resignation. However, Bobby sayshe wants more of a challenge: "my heart is inthe still -developing, more challenging radiosituations. There's another chapter in radioconsolidation out there, and I plan to be a partof it."-CM

Hundreds seek LPFMsA total of 722 applications for LPFM stationshave been posted in the FCCs database (as of6/22) from the filing window earlier this month.A random scan by RBR editors finds that manyare badly flawed. Many of the applicationshave been filed by individuals, even thoughthe FCC won't allow individuals to be LPFMlicensees.

Since they couldn't check off that they werean educational institution or non-profit corpo-ration, most of the individuals checked thatthey were proposing a public safety radioservice. One problem: That's a category re-served for government entities. Other applica-tions are missing details in their engineeringspecifications. One didn't even list a proposedfrequency. There were also well -crafted appli-cations from non-profit organizations and col-leges, including technical exhibits from expe-rienced communications engineers.

We haven't had a chance to analyze all 722LPFM applications (and don't expect to), butRBR has analyzed every application filed forthe District of Columbia. Using the FCC'sonline software, we determined that not asingle one of the four DC LPFM applications isgrantable under the FCC's rules. Those pro-posed for 89.7, 94.3 and 96.9 mHz are improp-erly shortspaced to other stations (even withthe controversial FCC decision to allow LPFMsto stomp on third -adjacent channels). A stationproposed for 104.5 mHz appears to meettechnical specs at its proposed transmitterlocation. On closer examination, it turns outthat the location is near Middleburg, VA andthat the LPFM wouldn't put any signal at allover its purported city of license, Washington,DC. Also, Virginia was not in the list of statesfor which applications were accepted in thefirst LPFM window.

BroadcastEUROPE.com launches with BroadcastAMERICAAggregating a variety of European streaming radio stations, BroadcastAMERICA.com'sBroadcastEUROPE.com has launched 6/26. Already in discussions with stations in a dozencountries, the site expects 100 European stations by year's end. So far, Scottish and Britishsoccer events, JazzRadio in Berlin, Top 40 Atlantic 252 in Britain and Munich's HIT -FM andMIX -FM are up and streaming. BroadcastEUROPE has opened offices in Berlin and OldenbrugGermany and Glasgow, Scotland.-CM

Now the FCC's staff has to sort out thelegitimate applications and determine whetherany are mutually exclusive. Those which haveno competitors should be the first to get CPs,so the first LPFMs could be on the air beforethe Fall leaves hit the ground.

When the second window for LPFM filingopens up in late August, the FCC better beready. This time wannabe broadcasters inConnecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Min-nesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire,Virginia, Wyoming and Puerto Rico get theirchance to enter the world of LPFM.-JM, ED

Sirius launches first satelliteSirius Satellite Radio (O:SIRI) announced thesuccessful launch of the first of three satellitesin its upcoming 100 -channel direct -to -car sat-ellite service from Kazakhstan. "Sirius -1" liftedoff 6/30 at 6:08 PM ET, successfully estab-lished a communications link at 8:33 anddeployed all solar panels by 11:55PM. Siriusplans to launch the other two satellites byNovember.

Competitor XM Satellite Radio's (O:XMSR)CEO Hugh Panero, while yet to launch a bird,was optimistic of the launch: "Today's launchreinforces the bright future for our industryand validates the confidence shown in thesegment by Wall Street, our investors andstrategic partners."

XM plans to offer its service roughly at thesame time as Sirius: early next year.-CM

Mega announces FM debutdates in DCMega Communications, which O&Os 20 Span-ish language radio stations along the EastCoast, debuted Washington, DC's first FMHispanic format 7/1. WPLC-FM, licensed tosuburban Warrenton, VA kicked off at noonwith a Spanish AC, "Amor." WPLC was pur-chased from First Virginia Communicationsfor $5.25M. Mega's WNNY-AM Rockville, MDwill simulcast the signal for residents in DC'snorthern suburbs. The Amor format currentlyairs on Mega's WZHF-AM Arlington, VA, butwill turn off 7/4 as part of a sale to Arthur Liu'sMulticultural Radio.

Mega will also debut its Top -40 Hispanic"Mega" format on WMJS-FM 92.7 PrinceFrederick, MD (also suburban DC) in earlyAugust. It will be simulcasting Mega's existingWBZS-AM Alexandria, VA. Mega also airs aRegional Mexican format in DC on WKDL-AMSilver Spring, MD.-CM

Lyn Andrews moves to the netNot long after leaving her post as president catABC Radio Networks (RBR 6/5, p.3), LynAndrews has taken the same position atHealtheon/WebMD's consumer division. Shewill oversee the website and WebMD Televi-sion. Former ABC EVP Sales and MarketingTraug Keller was appointed President ofABCRN 6/20.-CM

Pickering apart the FCCRep. Chip Pickering (R -MS) is at it again. TheFCC is once again the target, and limiting theirpower is the objective. The Telecommunica-tions Subcommittee passed Pickering's Tele-communications Merger Review Act of 2000(HR 4019) which gives the FCC 90 days todecide on mergers. The four amendments to thebill not only limit the FCC's lobbying practices,but also hold the Commission directly respon-sible for proving why mergers are denied orapproved. The bill was forwarded to the fullCommerce Committee for a vote.

To add salt to the wound, the full Houseadopted an amendment to another bill that cutsthe FCC's appropriations for next year. Rep.Cliff Stearns (R -FL) introduced the amend-ment, which reduces the budget for the Officeof Media Relations from $1.1M to $640K.-ED

More test stations for USADRNews from the American Radio ManufacturersAssociation (ARMA) convention in Baltimore:USA Digital Radio's next round of field testingwill include the following stations for the nexttwo months: WILC-AM Laurel, MD, WTOP-AMWashington, DC, WCBS-AM New York, KABC-AM and KLLC-FM San Francisco and WRIF-FMand WWJ-AM Detroit. A Los Angeles station issoon to be announced.

AB1O July '00 AdBiz

RadioNews

USADR's "EASE" program for early adopterstations now has 500 stations from 109 ownersin 105 Arbitron-rated markets. EASE helpsstations find the right solutions for upgradingto IBOC DAB broadcasting. Jeff Detweiler,USADR Broadcast Business Rollout Manager,tells RBR he will be key to the EASE program.-We are basically going to be visiting the radiostations. We are doing meetings with the groupsinitially, hitting as many people as possible, butit will ultimately get down to working on astation by station basis. My role is pretty muchputting the right people with the right radiostation, `Nautel's got a solution for you, Harrishas a solution for you on this'."-CM

WXTB questionsFCC indecency guidelinesThe FCC wants its money. Clear Channel(N:CCU) is still refusing to pay a pair of finestotalling $30K imposed for indecent materialbroadcast on WXTB-FM Tampa, during thetime when the station was owned by Jacor.Clear Channel wants the FCC to explain whatwas indecent about the broadcast, "Bubba, theLove Sponge," before they pay the hefty fine.WXTB said that indecent material might nothave been broadcast if the Commission's guide-lines were clearer to begin with. The Commis-sion acknowledged that there is a need formore precise guidelines, but said there wasample precedent to demand the paymentanyway. -ED

FCC database still fraught withproblemsThe new FCC AM and FM databases (Consoli-dated Database System-CDBS) are apparentlystill having problems and are currently notaccepting new applications-each for differ-ent reasons. The databases have been labeledas "fraught" with problems.

There was a freeze on AMs for a couple ofyears which was lifted in the last week inanuary. "It was extended because they hadfiling problems. There is a freeze now on FMthat began last month," says RadioSoft Presi-dent Peter Moncure. "You can't apply for anew FM or AM station-except LPFMs andthey have 722 of them. You can apply forminor changes only."

Communications Attorney David Tillotsontells RBR when asking the Commission whenall of this will be fixed, "We get very vagueanswers. It seems very obvious that theChairman's desire to do Low -Power FM hastaken staff resources off of the idea of process-ing full service."

Neither Mass Media Bureau Chief RoyStewart nor Audio Services Chief Linda Blairreturned calls asking for comment.-CM

Japanese listening habits-notso foreign after allArbitron snooped around in Japan late lastyear and found out that when it comes tomedia habits, the Japanese aren't all that differ-ent from Americans. Earlier this month, TheNational Association of Commercial Broad-casters in Japan (NAB J) presented the study"Media Targeting 2000-Japan" to more than1,000 broadcasters, advertisers and agencies inTokyo and Osaka. 1,697 Japanese age 12-69were asked about their use of major media.Organized into 124 consumer categories in-cluding gender, occupation and key socioeco-nomic attributes, Arbitron found that about70% of Japanese listen to radio during theweek. Also mirroring American trends, about74% of Japanese in -car commuters listen to theradio (80% of Americans do). Brad Bedford.VP/Asian Marketing, Arbitron, said that Japa-nese broadcasters commissioned the surveyto enhance the reputation of Japanese radio indelivering consumers for advertisers and agen-cies.-KM

CD unveils wireless webfunctionalityConneXus Corp.'s "'CD," a CD buying toollinking for listeners (RBR 4/10, p.4), haslaunched its wireless Internet application. Al-lowing music identification on wireless webdevices, users of PalmPilot VII organizers andthose with Wireless Application Protocol(WAP)-enabled phones select the city, radiofrequency and time and are instantly shownthe song and performing artist was aired atthat time on that radio station. Users candownload the application from the(www.starcd.com) website.

'CD's regular phone service lets listenersfind out the title, artist and album name of asong just heard on the radio. If they want tobuy the CD, pressing a number on the keypadsends it directly to their home.

'CD is currently offered in Philadelphia, SanFrancisco and San Jose and plans to offer theservice in all top 30 markets later this year.-CM

3COM buys Kerbango radio;RCA to distributeIn a deal worth $80M, 3COM (O:COMS) hasbought (6/27) the Kerbango standalone Internetradio line and Kerbango Tuning Service(www.kerbango.com). With the Kerbango ra-dio, no PC is needed-just plug in the phoneline, DST, etc. Kerhango employs 30 people

and is located in Cupertino, CA.In a separate but related announcement,

Thomson Multimedia signed a letter of intentwith Kerbango to brand and distribute an RCA -branded Internet radio with Kerbango's tech-nology. Kerbango's CEO Jon Fitch takes theVP/GM slot of 3COM's Internet Audio Divi-sion.-CM

Blue Chip joinsBroadcastURBAN.comBlue Chip Broadcasting has signed (6/26) withBroadcastAMERICA's BroadcastURBAN.com tooffer its nine Urban -formatted stations to thenetwork of Urban sites. Blue Chip's other ninestations-including Oldies, CHR, Talk, NACand Country-will be offered on theBroadcastAMERICA site. The deal bringsBroadcastURBAN's station roster above the100 mark. BroadcastURBAN streams Urban,Hip -Hop, R&B, Jazz, Gospel and Reggae.-CM

Campaign 2000: Bloomberggives five; Tristani weighs inI lot on the heels of ex -President JimmyCarter's request for free airtime for candidatediscourse (RBR 6/19 p. 2), Bloomberg L.P. hascommitted five minutes each night for 30 daysbefore the general election for focus on theissues. Most of the coverage will be on theeconomic positions of the candidates, in theform of debates or interviews. The program-ming will be provided to all of Bloomberg'saffiliates. "A component of any comprehen-sive campaign reform aimed at removing theinfluence of special interests, must be a com-mitment by broadcasters to cover candidatesin depth," said Michael Bloomberg, CEO andFounder of Bloomberg L.P.-ED

Lowry and Lou go one-on-oneThe man who made CNN a player in financialreporting, Lou Dobbs, has been booked foran interview gig at the NAB Radio Show. He'lldo a one-on-one with Lowry Mays, founderand CEO of Clear Channel Communications.Including pending acquisitions and divesti-tures, Mays' empire now includes 910 radiostations, give or take a dozen, plus lots of othermedia ventures. With any luck, he might breakthe thousand -station mark by the September20-23 convention in San Francisco.

Dobbs, meanwhile, is preparing for a returnto radio (he got his start at KBLU-AM Yuma,AZ). United Stations Radio Network will debut"The Lou Dobbs/NBC Financial Report" thissummer. Dobbs left CNN last year to becomethe founder and CEO of SPACE.com, whichhas nothing to do with Wall Street and every-thing to do with the great beyond.-JM

July '00 AdBiz AB11

AdNews

New patented feature on AdOutlet.comWith more spot inventory available for sale on AdOutlet.com, theompany is introducing the Advertising Distribution System (ADSTM) to

help buyers better organize their search and purchase of listedinventory.

ADS also helps media companies channel manage their inventory byallowing them to control what kind of inventory they want seen bydifferent clients. Before, buyers would have to click on the medium theywere interested in and scroll through the list of available spots in thatmedium. Alan Masarek, Chairman/CEO, illustrates, "The (previous)system is like if you went to the Library of Congress and there wasn'tDewey Decimal System and you have to go through every book. Thereis a limitation to how many books you can have there because you justget exhausted going through them." But because AdOutlet's list ofinventory has grown rapidly, Masarek says the company saw the needto have a search engine to narrow buyer's search queries.

The old system had sort mechanisms but lacked the specificity ofADS's new funtionality. Where previously you could sort by measure-ment (CPM) or alphabetically, buyers now can specify demos, geo-graphic location, flighting dates and dayparts, submit the search, andAdOutlet returns with real avails that can fulfill that plan. Masarek adds,"This is a level of functionality which is one, unique, two, the onlysolution that addresses the problems created for media buyers andsellers with fragmentation. Media is incredibly fragmented-there ismore to evaluate by buyers and it is more difficult to sell." AdOutlet isalso licensing ADS to media companies who may want to use theplatform to bring their own buyers to their inventory.

AURN reconfigures two newnetworks to debut in next RADAR bookAmerican Urban Radio Networks has reconfigured its network andcreated two new ones to debut in the upcoming RADAR 66. NamedAmerican Urban Pinnacle Network and American Urban RenaissanceNetwork, ay Williams, President, AURN,believes that the two new networks willhelp AURN continue to grow its radioaudience and also to improve its opera-tions. Pinnacle and Renaissance, Williamsexplains, are direct results of analyses ofthe network's audience building and af-filiate expansion efforts. So far, Williamssays that advertisers and agencies havebeen very complimentary of this develop-ment.

Jerry Lopes, President, Program Op-erations and Affiliations, adds that Pin-nacle and Renaissance put AURN in thedominant position to serve the African

Jay Williams

American consumer whichbodes well for those advertisers trying to reach that group. Of the two,Pinnacle is the lesser unit network. Lopes explains, "The Pinnaclenetwork affords us the opportunity which heretofore was unavailableat AURN, and that is the ability to provide quality program services toaffiliate radio station with lesser unit commitments." Lopes concludesthat the network stands to gain additional affiliates, especially fromthose stations who don't want to commit to too many units.-KM

Grand prize of $100,000 goes to DDB ChicagoDDB Chicago took home the Radio -Mercury Awards Grand Prize of$100,000 for "Heroes/Footlong Hot Dog Inventor," created for Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light. The winning commercial was developed by JohnImmesoete, Writer (also one of the Creative Directors); Bryan Sweeney,Producer; and additional Creative Directors, Bill Cimino and MarkGross.

The $5,000 award for the Best Station -Produced went to KIEV Radio,Glendale, CA, for its "Say Ahhh" spot for Brazos Country Foods. A totalof 12 prizes and 13 trophies were awarded for the top radio commercialsof 1999 from the general, Hispanic and station -produced categories atthe luncheon ceremony held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York6/14.-KM

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GRAND PRIZEReceiving the Grand Prize are (1 to r): Jim Thompson, CEO, Craven -Thompson Communications and Co-chairman of the Radio -MercuryAwards; Bill Cimino, Creative Director, Bob Winter, Producer andJohn Immesoete, Writer and Creative Director, all of DDB Chicago;and Gary Fries, President/CEO, RAB and Co-chairman of theAwards.

$5,000 AWARD FOR BEST STATION PRODUCED COMMERCIALScott Herman (left), VP/GM of All News 1010 WINS, New York anda member of the Radio -Mercury Awards Board of Directors pre-sented the prize and trophy to Blaine Parker (center), Writer andCreative Director and Bob Holiday (right), Producer, both of KIEVRadio.

AB12 July '00 AdBiz

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continued from AB 4

Westwood One and Premiere-AMFM, but it's,I think, creating holes for lots of opportunitiestor entrepreneurs. I hope to get involved insome of those opportunities.

What is the opportunity you will be work-ing with Tom Joyner on?Tom announced that he was going to launch/develop a portal for the African Americancommunity. I think the timing is perfect. Notonly will this be, as Tom puts it, an AOL forAfrican Americans in terms of information, butone of the main interests in Tom is to eliminatethe divide that exists in the computer access inthe African American home. So, one of thethings we're going to be working on is gettingequipment and access to the net-easily ac-cessible by people who may not have other-wise been able to afford to do it.

What do you think your role is going to beand your term as a consultant to Premiereand when does that begin for you?The consultancy will officially begin after themerger. I have the utmost respect for Kraig[Kitchin] and think that if anyone can bringthese two organizations together it's him. Ihope that Kraig will come to me and bounceideas off me and ask my input on strategy orhow to do something or personnel issues orask my assistance in going and talking toadvertisers since I have a close relationshipthere. It's really going to be his call.

What are all the areas youmight want to throw your bat into?Definitely working directly with talent to de-velop their ancillary businesses. Like withTomJoyner, developing not only the Internetbut eventually television and maybe live enter-tainment aspects of the Tom Joyner brand. I'dlike to do that with some other talent, too. A lotof radio talent has successfully gone acrossmedia to do projects like Howard or Rush orI )r. Laura with her television show. But thereare a lot of talent out there that have thecapability to do it and just haven't takenadvantage of it yet.

I will probably get involved with someother Internet businesses that are unrelated toradio. I've been contacted by quite a few andwhether it is sitting on their board or justproviding a strategic assistance, I will probablydo that. I'd like to continue my role with ScottGinsburg and Matt Devine on sitting on theDGIT board and actually hope to find someother boards at small or medium sized compa-nies that would like to get me involved. And( hen, I'm looking at some projects. My kids,my older two kids are getting through college

now. Some ideas they have on launchingbusinesses. I might get involved with that.

Will you be doing anything with advertis-ers you've made relationships with?There's been some interest on the part of adver-tisers for me to be involved with them on the partof their planning and buying radio in general. Iprobably would not look to do that until after Iwas done with my consulting with AMFM. But,long term, there's a vantage point to bring to theadvertisers about the strength of radio that theydon't always see not working in the medium.

Wby did you choose the consulting rolewith Premiere?I really learned growing AMFM Radio Net-works that I loved the entrepreneurial aspectand the building aspect. And that what I don'treally love is the administrative/managementaspect of it. I love creating the vision andmoving towards that vision. I think, too oftenentrepreneurs linger too long after their com-panies have taken on a life of their own. Oneof the things that I've always tried to do is toget out before I become "useless." I think thereare paradigm shifts going on every day and I'dlike to be involved in the next paradigm shift.Some of that's the Internet. Some of that is thetalent. I'm always liking a new challenge.Whereas I ran ABC, which resembled in thosedays, a lot like what Premiere-AMFM RadioNetworks will resemble after the merger. Ithought it was something I would rather not do.I actually have so much confidence in Kraig thatI didn't feel I had to be around to do it.

What were you going to do with the roadshow to agencies in July?Right now within the company, we're workingon what the inventory will look like next yearfor Premiere-AMFM Radio Networks combined.This year is pretty much locked in stone. TheAMFM Networks will sell as they have andPremiere will, but will move to a transition.Once that's been decided, in the next 30 to 45days then Kraig and I together will go out andpresent that along with the combined Pre-miere-AMFM advertising sales forces to themajor agencies and advertisers in the market-place to make sure they understand what'sgoing forward. One of the successes of AMFMwas that we went out and communicatedclearly what we felt we were doing and whatwe were or were not promising to advertisersin the marketplace.

What are your thoughtson the latest Radar 65?I think, what it showed was consistency andstability. If you really look, overall networkradio stayed almost to the rating point exactly

what it was the last one, which was almost tothe rating point as the one before. What itshows is that after consolidation, pretty mucheverything has leveled out in terms of who'saffiliating with what and how they are clearing,etc. It's nice to see that our inventory is prettystable going forward.

Being in the network biz as long as youhave, what sort of changes have you seen?What can the network biz expect down theroad?We've all seen consolidation. That's clearlybeen the giant earthquake that has affected allof our businesses and has had many rippleeffects. [Network] consolidation [went from]many players at one time to two players,Westwood One and ABC, and now has ex-panded again to include Premiere-AMFM,[which] I think is significant too.

Down the road I think network business isvery healthy and going to grow dramatically.If you really look out there, radio has asignificant opportunity to grow its nationalbusiness. Whether it be spot or network, itclearly has a huge upside out there to take thatmoney away from broadcast and cable TV.

In addition to that, one of the things that hasbeen my goal has been to have the industryimprove upon its standards and accountabilityto the advertising community over the last fewyears by setting our standards higher than theyhave ever been in network radio. The othernetworks, Premiere probably being the leader,have moved to that. I think what it has done israised the confidence level on the part ofadvertisers in network radio, which has obvi-ously increased the amount of budgets to it.

How do you think the radio broadcastingnetwork model is going to change downthe road wben we have Internet broad-casting everywhere with census -qualityaccountability?I think that clearly radio is going to be a part ofthat. Radio isn't just radio anymore, it's audiodelivery. There is no question Clear Channelhas done their deal with XM and all the radiocompanies are gearing up to be on the Internetand putting out product there. There are clearlytwo distinct markets you're talking about indifferent ways in which advertisers market theirproducts. One is to have broad reach at certaintimes during day with a certain frequency, butthey're more interested in reaching as manypeople as possible. Procter and Gamble doesn'tjust sell coffee to one person. They have thewhole US universe to sell coffee to. Then, thereare going to be other products where clearlythere is a narrower, definable consumer mar-ketplace where a targeted ad would makesense, and they'll take advantage of those.

AB14 July '00 AdBiz

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