No va? Free FM is stuck in the repair shop
Labels: CBS Radio, Free FM, Humor, JV and Elvis, No Va, NYC radio, Post-Imus, Radio, Ratings, Revenue, Suspension
Since its launch 16 months ago, Free FM has spent more time in the repair shop than out on the open road.
Firings, content train wrecks, show suspensions, schedule changes, weak ratings, weak revenues...
Is Free FM running out of gas?
In branding, words often contain more than one meaning. Take the word "Nova". Chevy thought it sounded good for a line of small-muscle sport cars back in the 70s. Of course, as the well-worn urban legend goes, the "Nova" became "No Va"...a "Doesn't Go" joke. Soon after, sales dropped and Chevy stopped producing the car.
CBS Radio is facing their own "Nova" problem trying to find life after Howard Stern. 
Or, at least they're getting very familiar with the phrase "Don't Go There".
When Stern left in late-December 2005, CBS (then known as Infinity Broadcasting) installed a new "Hot Talk on FM" format in its major markets across the nation that formerly broadcast Stern's morning show.
In a not-so-subtle move countering satellite radio (Stern's orbital home for the past 16 months), CBS decided to name the new format "Free FM".
Hot talk on satellite radio = you pay.
Hot talk on traditional radio = it's free radio. Or, Free FM.
Get it?
Get the difference? The advantage? The Free-dom?
Nope, me neither. Nor have millions of radio listeners in NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago and other markets.
The problem with naming the new national format "Free FM" in this post-9/11 traumatized society is that America is not feeling quite so free. Rather, among the Homeland Security warning lights, anthrax dustings, relentless White House manipulation scandals, a no-end-in-sight War on Terror, wardrobe malfunctions, celebrity meltdowns (physical, verbal and mental), global warming doom-gloom, likely $4-a-gallon gasoline...all the way to Imus ho's, Virginia Tech slayings and Karl Rove's screams at Sheryl Crow, America's mood feels less than free lately.
America seems more obsessed with Fear (on Fox) than with Free (on FM or elsewhere) right now.
Formerly known as WXRK K-Rock for 30 years, WFNY in New York City became the flagship for Free FM post-Stern.
The ratings? (mired at a 1.2 Arbitron rating 12+ all persons).
The revenue? (from $50.8 million in revenue 2005 down to $18.7 million in 2006).
Imagine the costs to operate, advertise and manage...
One thing Free FM was supposed to represent was "free speech", "free attitude", "free humor". Not just "free" from subscription fees; free for wild, open, surprising, unexpected content. Something capitalizing on the "extreme" culture and attitude trend. And that is how it has been promoted. How Free FM has tried to position itself.
Yes, Free FM has its funny moments of comedy, Idol Watching and train wreck radio as well as serious topics, too. And it does have its fans as Free FM pokes fun at popular culture. I usually listen everyday during the week and I'd call myself a fan, not that Arbitron counts me in the ratings.
What Free FM often seems to be, though, is a "No Go". No Va. Post-Imus, it's an easy target for uncontrollable controversy. Just today, more jock suspensions were handed out for midday show "The Doghouse with JV & Elvis", with the show apparently crossing a racial line over some Asian jokes.
Now, how is that line defined again...?
Although JV apologized for the incident and said at the conclusion of today's show that "if this is my last show, at least I got to say what needed to be said"...their real feelings were posted on their blog, with this "censorship" jpeg:
How do their fans feel about this? Read their comments here and here...or watch this clip of Hannity & Colmes as they discuss the subject.
What exactly does Free Radio mean anyway? Is it Free when the audience knows there are FCC regulations, corporate restrictions and advertiser considerations?
Isn't this why Stern left for Sirius?
As a brand, what does Free FM really mean? Especially when the audience knows there are "costs"?
Will new CBS Radio President Dan Mason keep the Free FM experiment going...or will he simply say, "No va"? Can Free FM get repaired? Can he get it up and running?
posted by Unknown @ Monday, April 23, 2007,
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CanCon Acquisitions: Astral Officially Buys Standard Radio in Canada
Labels: Astral Media, BBM, Canada, Consolidation, Media Trend Watching, Mergers and Acquisitions, Radio Group, Ratings, Standard Radio, Super-sizing
Fresh from this week's Spring 2007 Canadian radio ratings (pdf) from BBM, Astral Media announced their purchase of Standard Radio has been officially accepted and approved by both companies.
The transaction is still subject to customary conditions, including a review by the Competition Bureau and the approval of the CRTC. If fully approved by the government, its expected to finally close and trade hands in early 2008. Once done, it would create a new owner for the title of Largest Radio Broadcasting Group in Canada.
The big get bigger and the super-sizing radio trend of the past year continues in Canada (although not in the same way as it's been lately in the U.S.).
According to All Access.com this morning:"ASTRAL MEDIA makes it official and announces a definitive agreement to buy STANDARD RADIO for C$1.08 billion (C$880 million cash and the rest in Astral Class A non-voting shares). Astral adds 52 stations across Canada in the deal, plus INTEGRATED MEDIA SALES, SOUND SOURCE NETWORKS, STANDARD INTERACTIVE, and CBC affiliates CFTK-TV/TERRACE, BC and CJDC-TV/DAWSON CREEK, BC. The companies had earlier announced that Astral had entered into exclusive negotiations to buy Standard."
More importantly, it expands Astral Media beyond just its French-language radio properties, absorbing Standard's national English-radio market presence...and placing Astral Media (in combination with Standard) in a new multi-media head-to-head competitive Battle of the Titans with Corus Entertainment -- which will get bumped in status to 2nd-largest radio group of owned properties in Canada.
Next move?
Correction: Although Standard Radio did sell off its Standard Interactive division in the Astral Media acqusition, apparently Standard's President/CEO Gary Slaight is keeping some key brands.
The Globe and Mail reports Standard will be holding onto its Iceberg Radio assets (as well as its stake in Sirius Canada) and not sell Iceberg in the Astral Media acquistion. (thanks for the tip, Captain Phil!)
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, April 12, 2007,
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Arbitron slowly is getting digital
Labels: Arbitron, Digital, In-mall, Mall Radio Network, PPM, Project Apollo, Radio, Ratings
NYSE-listed Arbitron is slowly embracing digital.
Two and a half years ago, I met with Arbitron to talk about radio's need to get digital and break away clean from the old diary system.
At the time, Arbitron was still in test mode for their new portable "personal people meter" (PPM) and not getting much positive industry response.
Keep in mind...Arbitron has been "developing" its PPM device since the mid-90s. What's been developed and successfully launched since? (Hmmm, let's see, the iPod, Google, YouTube, digital cable TV, mp3s, Colbert Report, wikis, MySpace, Firefox, etc.)
I stressed the importance for Arbitron to position the change just like a system software change, as Apple has done when it changed from System 9 to Mas OS X or Microsoft has done with Windows (98 to ME to XP to Vista).
People understand digital system operating software updates. Especially media people. However, change is hard even when it is necessary. Arbitron felt it had many "masters" to serve (radio, advertisers, media buyers, agencies, investors...and Wall Street shareholders), requiring them inch forward cautiously and carefully to ensure the investment was wise.
This easing-in process succeeded creating one thing perceptually: a lack of confidence. Being a ratings recall company, Arbitron knows the value of perception.
I was thanked for my time...and watched very little change (at least publicly) in more than 2 years.
Today, Arbitron is still trying to gradually introduce the PPM...with some success in select test markets (such as Houston and Philadelphia) as shown for consulting Fly-Ins and web seminars. But lack of confidence still reigns...despite all parties' acknowledging the shift to digital ratings is essential.
Does Arbitron need some Stuart Smalley "Daily Affirmation" lessons?
In related PPM rollout news, another part of my conversation with Arbitron on digital ratings was about measuring In-Mall Advertising consumption, where moving, static and video ad boards emit digital code RF signals right along with code-embedded radio stations and other media and then measured by PPM devices worn by mall shoppers.
On Monday, Arbitron announced their first public test results for what they call their Mall Radio Network ratings system, showing great promise. Glad to see the results -- the Jointblog agrees this is a valuable new digital opportunity for media.
It's a new product the radio industry should to better understand the value of PPM -- whether from Arbitron or from some MediaAudit smartphone.
Electronic digital media is everywhere and capable to measuring real-time audience traffic and usage than the old diary recall system. Considering radio is a $20 billion advertising revenue industry, digital ratings system will provide more accountability and tranparency...with added confidence in radio's value, to boot.
Meanwhile, the on-going trial LLC digital ratings PPM partnership between Arbitron (radio's gold standard for ratings) and The Nielsen Company (the gold standard for non-radio media ratings) called "Project Apollo" continues to saunter along with renewed energy.
What is Project Apollo?Project Apollo is a national marketing research service that collects multimedia and purchase information from a common sample of consumers in order to measure the return on investment for marketing efforts, promising to enable advertisers and media planners to know radio customers as brand buyers as well as consumers of media in a very strategic and actionable way, to help make media spending more effective and productive.
Move it all forward faster....the digital revolution is well underway.
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, February 28, 2007,
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Stern, Ratings, CES, MacWorld Expo: Not Just Another Day in Mediaville
Labels: Apple, CBS Radio, CES, HD Radio, innovation, Jointblog, MacWorld, Media, Media Trend Watching, Net Neutrality, Radio, Ratings, Satellite, Sirius, Stern, Steve Jobs
January 9th turned out to be quite the media day.
Howard Stern started off the day celebrating one year satcasting his radio show on Sirius radio, complete with omelet bar and plenty of bagels for Artie Lange.
Stern's one-year impact? Certainly a major contributer to Sirius subscriber gains of more than 2.8 million new listeners. Which explains Stern's huge stock reward announced today worth an estimated $83 million.
Stern's also much happier censoring himself instead of being verbally shackled by the FCC, allowing him to deliver radio that is "free-form, free-flowing, one big party." Stern's satellite success has brought Sirius plenty of new sat radio listeners and, according to Mel Karmazin, $300 million more than Wall Street originally forecast for Stern's first year. But, Newsday asks, at what cost?
Whatever. The King of All Media is better than ever.
And CBS Radio was left reeling, as explained by the NY Daily News. Today's Fall ratings book results began rolling out today; the Stern-escape effect still shows.
Meanwhile, looks like HD Radio may be benefiting due to Stern's move to satellite radio. According to Forbes.com, the major disruption in morning radio habits once Stern left forced listeners to consider new options. Some went to Sirius or XM or just another terrestrial radio station. But, now that prices have dropped and more formats have been made available, some radio listeners are beginning to check out HD Radio, including at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Will HD Radio (now with 1,200 stations available and increasing) eventually challenge satellite radio's position?
Speaking of new electronics...
The annual MacWorld Expo trumped the CES getting all news outlets talking while also giving Steven Jobs some TV time on ABC's World News with Charlie Gibson. ABC News got two-minutes alone using the brand new Apple iPhone, which won't be released for sale until June.
That hasn't stopped iPhone envy, impressing fans with the sleek design which promises to "reinvent the phone". Many are thrilled with this latest example showing the genius of Apple design.
Although Cisco apparently isn't too happy.
Jobs countered previous speculation suggesting iTunes sales were slowing down. In fact, he says, iTunes has now sold more than two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store, making it the world's most popular online digital media store.
And now, AppleTV (or iTV) will be coming to a living room near you, too.
Speaking of mobile phones, Yahoo! inked new Mobile 2.0 distribution deals with a variety of wireless providers for its newly enhanced mobile product Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0, as well as a newly launched mobile search platform, dubbed oneSearch.
Lastly, fresh-back-in-session Congress led by the Democrats formerly introduced a new Net Neutrality bill, which is good news for all media trend watchers.
Lots of media news with potential long-term impact. Wonder what the new media landscape will look like one year from now?
posted by Unknown @ Tuesday, January 09, 2007,
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Katie Couric Legs (Waist, Biceps, etc.) Still Searchable (But Is It Really Newsworthy?)
Labels: Biceps, CBS News, Fetish, Katie Couric, Legs, photoshopping, Ratings
The last week of August is traditionally a slow one...the last chance to stretch out before summer ends, the kids get back to school and everyone gets refocused on work. However, while more American soldiers died in Iraq and Afganistan, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina passed, a mass grave was found in Iraq and enriched uranium was found at a facility in Iran while its President gave the cold shoulder to the UN, we as a nation just couldn't get enough of Katie's waistline.
As the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "news is a terrible thing to waist". Maybe, CBS News hopes, Katie's waist is a great thing for ratings, even if she prefers the untouched real her since there is "more to love".
How revolutionary for a news anchor! Such gravitas; Dateline's Stone Phillips would approve.
The photoshopped publicity photo used to continue the hype of Katie Couric's arrival tonight as new steward (or, is that stewardess?) of the CBS Evening News spread like wild-fire across the Internet last week and was talk show fodder on talk radio everywhere. Yes, Katie's arrival puts some sparks and new thinking into network news: first solo female anchor; simultaneous broadcasting on TV, radio and streamed on the net (plus available for podcast); and major interview coups in her first week (Bush, Clinton, Cronkite, Guiliani, Bill Maher, even Rush Limbaugh). Even so, how does this hype merit higher news value than real news?
Amazingly, since the announcement of Couric's departure from NBC's Today show last Spring, Katie Couric has consistently remained hot with online search. 5 months ago, the Jointblog posted an article stating Katie Couric's legs are apparently searchable and newsworthy. Since then, "katie couric", "katie couric legs" and "katie couric's legs" have been among the hottest search phrases bringing readers to the Jointblog because the article places in the Top 5 of all the major search engines (in some cases, #1 or #2). In addition, it places highly for "katie couric biceps" and other body parts. For the month of August, 42% of the Jointblog's keyword phrase analysis of users finding us through search engines involved Katie Couric's legs.
This fascination over all things Katie either makes CBS brilliant as its captures populist demand...or sets it up for performance expectations Katie will never be able to meet. The big question: will CBS show enough of her legs? Will they encourage wardrobe malfunctions when she interviews Justin Timberlake? Will the CBS Eye give us a better view at 6:30pm eastern?
After Debut Update (9/7/06): According to Mediaweek.com, CBS News scored its best ratings in 7 Years with Couric as the new host.Although one day of overnight data does not a hit or miss make, Katie Couric was amply sampled as the new anchor of The CBS Evening News last night. The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric averaged a whopping 9.1 rating/17 share in the overnight markets, according to Nielsen Media Research data, more than doubling the household rating from the year-ago time period average (4.5/9 in September 2005)
posted by Unknown @ Tuesday, September 05, 2006,
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