Media Info Bureau

Let’s just put it out there with a strong statement: No station should ever be bought unless it has been subjected to a rigorous due diligence process. As communications transaction expert Erwin Krasnow explains, there is a great deal at risk in this type of transaction, and no stone should be left unturned before signing on the dotted line. But Krasnow does much more than that – he explains how in with this comprehensive three-part series.

Whenever I facilitate a brainstorm session for an organization, I follow a rule of having all the participants in the room scribble down every single idea they can think of within the first 5-10 minutes – and then throw them all away.

NAB’s Dennis Wharton has had a front row seat and a role as a participant in the constant action in Washington between broadcasters, Congress and the FCC, first as a reporter and for the past many years as the leader of the NAB’s communications team. Here’s his battlefield report from the front lines for television, radio and broadcasters in general.

The final and 10th point is the fact that it is time to put it all together. What do you stand for and believe in each and every day you are out there working your hardest?

This exploration of the cable tastes of older television fans brings to a close our encyclopedic look at the cable tastes of broadcast audiences on both the radio and television sides of the fence. Come with us as we dig into the massive database of Prosper Insights and Analytics one more time to discover just where the youngest audiences are going. We think you’ll find the information both fascinating and useful.

Here is the final group of radio charts in our massive hunt for radio fans when they’re surfing channels on the local cable system. We’ve looked at young and middle-aged audiences for both radio and television and next week we’ll check out older TV fans. To do this, we tap into the massive database of Prosper Insights and Analytics to do this. We think you’ll find the information both fascinating and useful.

In early 2009, CBS Radio changed FM Talk-formatted KLSX in Los Angeles to the CHR format that is now KAMP, and so I took my

Recently, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reported that digital ad revenues in the US reached $36.6 billion in 2012. As online publishers continue to lure advertisers to the Web and the public's appetite for all things Internet lingers on, one might think that marketing dollars are better spent online. However, digital advertising isn’t the only piece of the customer path puzzle; for many advertisers, the returns on online ad units continue to trail those of traditional broadcast buys. Yet brands are asking hard questions about TV campaigns: “Is TV right for us? Should we shift our ad spend to the Web?” Advertising and media agencies need to be ready to answer these questions with concrete data that reflects the full context of every customer touchpoint. This includes online assets as well as offline ones, such as direct mail, radio and, of course, television.

MMTC President David Honig has been on the beat trying to increase the diversity of ownership in the communications industry going all the way back to 1971, and believes the effort must continue until there is nothing short of “full participation.” Here’s a look at his multi-faceted and practical approach to reaching that goal.

How do you sell? We all are “idea sellers” now. None of us try to sell on price. There’s not a rep I know in the country that tells people they sell on low CPP’s or a high frequency. So the truth is we are more similar than ever before. We are all becoming more creative, social media savvy, and providing that extra push for customer service.

Get ready for installment number four of this six-parter following the broadcast audience to their cable channels of choice. Today we tap into the massive database of Prosper Insights and Analytics to discover just where the middle audiences are going. We think you’ll find the information both fascinating and useful Included in this study are the top 30 basic cable offerings for the overall 18+ operation, followed by every channel that has the support of at least 20% of a given format group.

If a broadcaster owns multiple stations in a market, it usually will dispose of all of those stations when it comes time to sell. That is not always the case, however. On occasion, one of the stations will be an underperforming station that the broadcaster wishes to jettison. In other cases, the broadcaster may be over the ownership cap in that market and wishes to dispose of the station that places the broadcaster over the limit. In still other cases, the broadcaster may have an opportunity to “trade up” and to obtain a higher powered station only if it is able to sell a lower powered station.

The streaming music services business is getting a lot of attention—and competition—lately with new and upcoming entrants like Apples iTunes Radio; Google’s All Access Music and MySpace’s My Radio. To get and keep subscribers, advertisers and social media buzz, each service is trying to offer the most music and features possible. We’re taking a look at that today with Jim Cady, Slacker CEO. The company was founded in 2004 by Celite Milbrandt and Dennis Mudd who launched it in March 2007. Dennis was the former CEO of MusicMatch, which was purchased by Yahoo Music and is now known as Yahoo! Music Radio. Cady is the former CEO of Rio.

One of the most-read observers of the business of broadcasting these days is Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker. We’ve given her a chance to pull back from her usual in-depth analysis of individual companies and comment on the broadcasting business in general. Among other things, she addresses the primary difference between the immediate futures of television and radio, and offers a hint as to who is most influencing her own media consumption.