99XWatch.org

Done Deal

It appears that Cumulus' purchase of Susquehanna Media (and therefore 99X) is complete. 

Susquehanna Media Co., the nation's largest closely held radio operator by revenue, has agreed to sell its radio assets to a group led by Cumulus Media Inc. for $1.2 billion, Cumulus announced Monday--from CNN/Reuters.

One interesting tidbit is that this deal could be the precursor to reuniting Zippy with Radio Disney (ABC Radio.)

The radio deal could signal a rise in merger activity in that sector, potentially jump-starting stock prices, according to the Journal. One prize many radio companies have their eyes on is ... radio assets, including ABC Radio.
...
Susquehanna's private structure may make it easier to enter into a "reverse Morris Trust" -- a transaction in which Disney would spin off its stations into another radio company, with Disney shareholders holding at least half of the new company, the Journal reported.

Could this mean an I-8-Paste reunion?

 

Disclosure

In the interest of disclosure:  I won a pass to today's Death Cab for Cutie Live X.   While I'm not sure what my threshold for corruption is, I'm relatively certain that this freebie did not meet that threshold.   Death Cab managed exactly four songs, the forth being played while their manager packed up their gear.

Happy Anniversary 99X, Sort Of

99X's thirteenth anniversary was yesterday.  Yet this anniversary comes on the heels of the "worst overall [12+] ratings book in [99X's] 13-year history," according to Rodney Ho, radio writer for the AJC.  99X as a station ranks 19th in 12+ numbers and 26th(!) in time spent listening(TSL).  davefm has taken many of 99X's older, they-just-don't-make-music-like-they-used-to-in-1993* listeners. The Buzz has taken many of its younger, SliPKnoT-understands-my-exurban-anger listeners. Framarren are doing a pretty artful job of programming, but the reality is that few cities can support two, let alone three alt-rock stations*, and 99X is no longer the only game in town. Infinity and Clear Channel, go figure, seem to prefer that their station be Atlanta's one alt-rock station as evidenced by the fact that they are willing to spend money on advertising. 

Still, things couldn't be much better for the 99X morning show. 

As one Atlanta radio insider put it:  "No matter how good a morning show's ratings are they mean nothing if you aren't outperforming the station. Case in point: Bandy and Bailey. They had very respectable numbers. Unfortunately they weren't better than Kicks' numbers as a whole. Result: They were canned on Friday."  Among adults 18-34 this summer, 99X was ranked 9th; TJ&L were ranked 5th (2nd non-ethnic.)  Among males 18-34, the station was ranked 5th; TJ&L were ranked 3rd (1st non-ethnic.)

The increased clout created by the summer book, does not seem to be lost on Toucher who has been joking on the air about program directors across the country listening to The Headmaster Dies  bit (31MB MP3).  Jimmy says on the air he's been listening to a lot of old show tapes lately,  "as April 4th [presumably his contract expiration date] quickly approaches."  Toucher's contract expires in one year.  In a rant, not at all reminiscent of Howard Stern, Toucher complained that "I'm gonna go somewhere else.  I'm gonna go to another market because I want to be treated with some respect."

Yet, perhaps this will not be necessary.  Cumulus Media president/CEO and probably-soon-to-be Toucher's boss, Lew Dickey has in interviews has said that FM Talk is the next big thing.  Infinity is hoping that "Free FM" will stem their own bleeding from the loss of Howard Stern.  Given the relatively small amount of music the TJ&L Show plays, it's not difficult to picture some version of the show heading up an FM Talk format station.  Given its direction in the ratings, it's not difficult to picture 99X becoming that station.

I am a big fan of 99X's programming, and I sincerely hope that I'm wrong and 99X will continue to bring new music to Atlanta radio for another thirteen years.  Summer 2005 was only one book, and Arbitron is notoriously volatile.  That being said, things change.

* These are also known as too-stupid-to-figure-out-an-Ipod listeners.
** Update 10/28/2005 11:29 AM   A radio-info poster was kind enough to correct me that davefm is not Alt-Rock.  After further research, I have learned davefm's format is "Adult Hits".  Apparently the definition of "Adult Hits" is Alt Rock from 1993, with Sting played 30 times a day.

151 Days Later, Toucher Talks about Ralph Reed

151 Days after 99XWatch.org issued a challenge to Fred Toucher to "speak [his] mind" about Georgia Lt. Governor Candidate Ralph Reed, Toucher offered his opinion of Mr. Reed.

Jimmy:  My wife works for Ralph Reed who's got his own issues right now so she's...like her nerves are pretty frayed while his [unintelligible]...

Toucher:  [crosstalk] Ralph Reed was a partier though man.  As much as I hate the guy, he wanted to gamble baby! I like gambling in Atlanta.

Jimmy:  Well that's the thing is that they're all worried that this is going to cost them the election, all these gambling accusations. And I'm like hey, I've got news for ya, people dig gambling. I think it makes him cooler.

Toucher:  Yeah, I mean...

Jimmy:  [crosstalk] I'm not even kidding.  I think for a lot of people, it makes him more cool.

Toucher:  For someone who's the head of the Christian Coalition and the epitome of everything I hate in politics, yeah, gambling's pretty neato.

Jimmy:  People dig gambling.

Toucher:  Yeah, but now I hate ya and all the Christians hate ya too!

Jimmy:  The Christians will always find a way to excuse the behavior of someone they like.  So they'll find a way around it.

While I think a discussion of Ralph Reed's hyprocricy in lobbying on behalf of gambling interests is interesting, perhaps, as Bill Shipp suggests (registration required,) some other questions might make for interesting discussion:

• What duties did Reed perform for the Enron Corp. that allowed him to rake in $300,000 from the company just before it collapsed into disgrace and bankruptcy? ...
• Why did Reed once write a column for the UGA campus newspaper, The Red and Black, attacking Mahatma Gandhi as "the ninny of the 20th century," and then suddenly leave the paper amidst charges of plagiarism?
• Precisely what was Reed's job as an intern for Lt. Gov. Zell Miller when Miller was leading the charge for the Equal Rights Amendment and other liberal causes in Georgia?

Pot's DJ Calls Kettle Black

This morning's 9:00 hour News Pile contained a story with the lead in : "Today's lesson: Don't cross Christian broadcasting."

Maynard High School's radio frequency, 91.7 FM, is being seized by a network of Christian broadcasting stations that the Federal Communications Commission has ruled is a better use of the public airwaves.

The story inspired Toucher to (correctly) criticize the FCC and argue that this decision was an example of the FCC " buckl[ing] to Christian conservatives."  Yet ironically (and probably unbeknownst to Toucher) a similar phenomenon has been happening in our own back yard.  In this case, the FCC was buckling  to a "conservative company" with political influence. 

On FredToucher.com(registration required) a poster by the screen name of TDOGG related the following story:

My brother is the Chief Engineer at Southern Poly Tech's radio station (WGHR) in Marietta, GA.
...
Their frequency got pulled by....and get this...Q100, [99X's] partner station.  Q100 claimed that my brother's station was bleeding over their frequency...honestly, you couldn't hear his station OFF-CAMPUS. They have a pic of them with a portable radio NEXT TO THE WGHR antenna...tuned into Q100 and there was no bleed through.  But because Q100 is a [class C (commercial)] and WGHR is a [class D (non-profit)], Q100 had the ability to protest...and shockingly, Q100 won and their frequency was pulled! 
...And in a subsquent post...
[A] LARGE corp bumped off a SMALL college radio station.  This LARGE corp happens to be a sister station of 99x and the SMALL college station is actually in the ATL area.  I was curious if the change in these variables changes Toucher's point of view, since the 'bully', in this scenario, signs his checks.

The details of this are chronicled on the WGHR website and wikipedia.

Interestingly, Q100 announced that it will be "upping its power at 5:15 p.m. Friday [October 21, 2005]."

Ultimately, the airwaves are owned by the pubic, and any influence which causes the FCC to act in any way, other than in the public interest is undue.  Thanks to TDOGG, proprietor of www.stopstickers.com, for his contribution to this story.

Updated on 10/20/2005 11:24am to correct punctuation, to add wikipedia link, and to add Radio Talk link.
Updated on 10/20/2005 12:06pm to correct and amplify TDOGG quote regarding FCC License Classes. 

News Pile Failed to Report Whitehouse Lied about Staging of Teleconference

In the 6:40 AM News Pile on Friday had a story about the Associated Press report that "Bush Teleconference With Soldiers [was] Staged:"

Leslie:  Critics were saying, you know, the event was more of a stage show than hard news. But, uh, in his defense, they said that they wanted to let the soldiers know in advance what the questions were so they would be prepared to answer them.

Jimmy:  And I don't have a problem with the fact that the, you know, they're making a big deal about the fact that the soldiers knew what the questions were going to be or whatever, ok fine, you know, I understand that. But I mean, it's still a big publicity stunt. 

Toucher: [unintelligble]

Jimmy:  They're not going to get anybody up there who's going to say anything other than tow the company line.

Yet what Leslie failed to report is that Whithouse Press Secretary Scott McClellan had previously denied that the officers' "comments to the president [were] pre-screened."

Thanks to Chris from Kennesaw for his contribution to this post.

Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss

According to the New York Times, Susquehanna is ready to sell: 

Susquehanna Media, the nation's largest privately owned radio broadcaster, is near a deal to sell its group of radio stations to investors including Cumulus Media, the Blackstone Group and Bain Capital for more than $1 billion, executives involved in the talks said...For the investor group led by Cumulus, the radio deal gives it new stations within its midsize market base...Cumulus, based in Atlanta, is the second-largest radio broadcasting company in the nation based on the number of stations owned or operated; it owns 310 stations in 61 markets.

So who is Cumulus Media?  According to a profile from The Center for Public Integrity: 

Virtually all of the major radio broadcast companies have taken advantage of the 1996 law that loosened limits on how many stations a single company can own to grow bigger. But Cumulus Media is the only major broadcaster that actually formed because of that controversial piece of legislation. Now the second-largest radio station owner in the United States by number of stations (ninth by total revenue), Cumulus is following the same corporate strategy as radio kingpin Clear Channel Communications Inc.: buy as many stations in each market as possible, cut costs and raise revenue. The strategy seems to be working, as the company has continued to scoop up stations...
Cumulus continues to expand despite concerns that the company has used its stations to punish artists whose politics don’t agree with those of its management. Cumulus briefly banned the Dixie Chicks from its play list for their criticism of President Bush and the war in Iraq in 2003. Dickey told a U.S. Senate panel the Chicks were pulled from the air because of a “groundswell of negative reaction by our listeners against the band and we had never seen anything like it before.

While Republican Political contributions out number Democratic contributions 4 to 1, it should be noted that Cumulus' political spending seems to be significantly less than Clear Channel's or for that matter Susquehanna's. 

Something Good

You can tell it's not going to be your typical TJ&L show when the six o'clock hour News Pile has a story that includes Toucher and Leslie "Two words for ya Jimmy:  Money Laundering" Fram schooling Jimmy on the finer points of Tom Delay's corruption.  Despite the fact that Baron managed to plead ignorance while simultaneously suggesting that Delay is being prosecuted for partisan reasons (he's not), Toucher kept the facts straight by observing that with every new charge [Delay] shuts up a little more.  Thanks to 99XWatch.org reader Chris from Kennesaw for his contribution.

In the seven o'clock News Pile, Jimmy correctly placed the blame on Republicans for the sad fact that medicinal marijuana is illegal:  "It's always the people who claim to be from the party of less government that want to regulate how you live your life."  While Toucher gave back a little ground  when he pandered to a caller with a "Libertarians Rule" diatribe, he deserves credit for his observation that "[Chief Justice John] Roberts might be a little more moderate than this broad [Harriet Miers] whose never even been a judge they want to put on."

The piece de resistance occurred In the nine o'clock News Pile when Toucher, apparently referring to my Tuesday post, gave an oblique shout-out to 99XWatch.org. 

TJ&L's New Bosses?

Bidders on Susquehanna Media's 33 radio stations include Citadel Broadcasting Corp., Atlanta based Cumulus Media, and a management group headed by former Susquehanna CEO Peter Brubaker.   Sale of Susquehanna Could Come Soon.

For Second Day, No News Pile on Miers Nomination

Perhaps they're waiting for SCOTUS scholar Jimmy Baron to return. Maybe Leslie can't figure out how to pronounce Miers (It's MY-ers). Perhaps Toucher is trying to reconcile his views regarding civil liberties and religion with his desire to pander to the right by supporting a "born-again" Christian who is "on the extreme end of the antichoice movement." (Registration required.)  Whatever the reason, for each of the last two days, there has been no discussion on Harriet Miers' nomination to the supreme court.