Bank buys naming rights to Wisconsin radio newsroom

Critics say the practice calls into question journalistic integrity.
By Martin MillerTimes Staff WriterDecember 15, 2005

In a move that has drawn fire from some journalism organizations, a Wisconsin radio station has agreed to join the ranks of everything from college football bowl games to public school scoreboards by selling the naming rights of its newsroom to a business.Beginning Jan. 1, the WIBA-FM newsroom in Madison, Wis., will become known as the Amcore Bank News Center. The station is one of more than 1,200 owned by the nation's largest radio broadcaster, San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications. The Society of Professional Journalists is urging Clear Channel to stop the practice immediately, arguing that it calls into question the integrity of a news operation. "The only thing a news organization has is its credibility," David Carlson, president of SPJ, one of the nation's largest journalism organization, said in a statement. "When that's lost, listeners, viewers and readers will not be far behind."Corporate sponsorship is not new in journalism. About a half-century ago, major news outlets such as NBC news routinely carried the names and logos of businesses with their newscasts.Phone calls to WIBA-FM and to Clear Channel headquarters were not returned.However, a Clear Channel executive in Madison told reporters there that the new name would not influence news coverage. "This simply means they get a 'name branding' with the description of the news center on air," Jeff Tyler, vice president of Clear Channel Radio-Madison, told the Wisconsin State Journal."What listeners will hear on air is something like, 'Now from the Amcore Bank News Center, here's WIBA's Jennifer Miller.' "

NPR’s Chanukah stories wend their way from radio to print

Friday December 9, 2005
by dan pinestaff writer
At National Public Radio, they call it a “driveway moment.” That’s when a story is so compelling, listeners remain in their cars, parked in the driveway, spellbound until the end.
For 14 years, Jewish NPR fans have considered the annual holiday special “Hanukkah Lights” a golden “driveway moment” opportunity.
Whether personal memoir, fairy tale or modern fiction, the stories read on “Hanukkah Lights” brings out the best in contemporary Jewish writers.
Now, 16 stories from the show have been collected and released in a fully-illustrated holiday gift book called “Hanukkah Lights: Stories of the Season.” Writers like Anne Roiphe, Peter S. Beagle, Harlan Ellison, Kinky Friedman and Elie Weisel contributed. NPR icon Susan Stamberg, along with “Hanukkah Lights” co-host Murray Horowitz, both wrote introductory essays as well.
Though most Chanukah books are geared towards children, this one targets adults, says David Brown, an editor with Melcher Media, the book’s publisher.
“These are all great writers. I was happy with how solid and varied the stories were,” Brown says from his New York office.
Some are about family, some are reinterpretations of the Chanukah story, like science fiction writer Harlan Ellison’s time traveler’s tale. Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer describes a childhood encounter with her Ladino-speaking grandmother, while Myra Goldberg recalls being one of the only Jewish kids in her elementary school and being asked to sing Chanukah songs for the holiday pageant.
Given that the stories premiered as spoken-word pieces read aloud on the radio, it was a no-brainer to include a bonus CD of writers reading their work. The voices of Ariel Dorfman, Daniel Mark Epstein, Kinky Friedman and Leslea Newman are featured. Leave it to the mercurial Friedman to inject OPEC and the Electric Matzoball disco in his short story.
A lifelong NPR fan, San Mateo native Brown loved working on the project. Brown grew up going to Temple Beth Jacob in Redwood City (his parents Al and Diane Brown are still members). He remembers fondly the temple’s annual Chanukah parties, though he says for his family, the holiday was more a homebound affair.
“Most of the eight nights it was the four of us,” he recalls. “My sister and I would fight over who got to light the candles.”
Brown went on to earn a degree in English from U.C. Berkeley and relocate to New York in 1993. His career as an editor includes stints at the New Yorker, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Metropolis Magazine and others. He also wrote “Inventing Modern America,” a 2001 book that profiled 35 American inventors.
His “Hanukkah Lights” assignment took a year to complete but, as he says, “My job was pretty simple: Make the selection, bring in the illustrator and make a good-looking book.”
With a total of more than 40 stories written for the NPR series over the years, Brown thinks a follow-up volume of “Hanukkah Lights” is a distinct possibility.
Says Brown: “There isn’t much like it on the market.”
“Hanukkah Lights: Stories of the Season” (128 pages, Melcher Media, $19.95).

WDET listeners say they'll miss the music

Others happy to have old shows, more news from NPR
BY BRIAN McCOLLUM Detroit FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER
December 14, 2005
Tuesday brought big changes to public radio station WDET-FM (101.9). As part of a major schedule overhaul, general manager Michael Coleman replaced several of the station's signature music shows with syndicated programming from National Public Radio.
Listener reactions Tuesday were often intense and covered a wide range of opinion. But one common thread was clear: Detroit is passionate about public radio.
Here's what some had to say:
"It's really a tough loss. I'll bet the fund-raising goes down next time. I just can't believe the idea that the music lovers don't contribute a lot to this station. But maybe this is a good thing in disguise, because I'm going to have to do some research and look for some alternatives."
-- Bob Dombrowski, Grosse Ile
"I believe NPR offers the highest quality, most objective news programming in the world. I have been a committed listener of WDET for over a decade. When the format shifted in September 2004, I didn't stop contributing to public radio. I just shifted my dollars to 91.7, the Ann Arbor NPR affiliate (WUOM-FM). ... While Detroit music is important and shouldn't be ignored, I consider NPR programming essential to being an informed person. Therefore, I support the changes to the station."
-- Chris LaDuke, Detroit
"NPR remains an elitist outfit which only covers stories which reflect Western cultural themes, unless of course there is some nasty and graphic global nightmare in a Third World country. NPR's staff and programming does not reflect the diversity of the country. NPR's hosts are usually white with a token spiking of African-American insights. Asian and Hispanic Americans' contributions remain invisible. ...
"The promise of more news and NPR's middle-of-the-road syndicated programming is a prescription for afternoon naps and channel surfing.
"Hopefully, the new management at WDET will wake up from its blind loyalty to survey-driven programming and restore its alternative-theme local programming. Those who have supported WDET for years deserve what they pay for, not the predictable and boring syndicated programming of NPR."
-- Greg Thrasher, Birmingham
"It was great music all day. You already get enough politics if you listen to the news in the morning. ... This was cool because you had people (on the air) who seemed like family, part of the local woodwork. I guess we'll have to make the best of it."
-- Dave Collins, Berkley
"I'm happy for the change. I missed many of the regular talk programs that were dumped after the last format change. ... I have always liked WDET and was disgruntled after all the changes (in 2004), and I found myself tuning in less and less. ...
"Even though I don't really care for 'Folks Like Us' or 'The Arkansas Traveler,' I'm sure that there are as many people happy about their return as I was about 'Fresh Air' and 'Car Talk.' Kudos to Michael Coleman and his courage to return WDET to the way it was. Expect a pledge from across the river in the spring."
-- Andrew Foot, Windsor

Radio is at the center of a perfect storm of technological threats

By Derek Caney
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The radio industry could find itself at the kids' table in the media banquet hall, as new technology threatens the business, advertising executives said this week at the Reuters Media and Advertising Summit.
Satellite radio, digital music players and the Internet are slowly encroaching on traditional radio's stronghold on local entertainment and advertising. Plus, radio ads themselves are less memorable and creative, these executives said.
"Radio is at the center of a perfect storm of technological threats," said David Verklin, chief executive of media buying agency Carat Americas. "It has to reinvent itself."
He noted that Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPod and other music players like it have given listeners the ability to listen to what they want when they want.
Satellite radio services such as XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) are offering more channels, many commercial free, for a monthly subscription.
Finally, the third threat he saw was over-commercialization. "To some listeners, radio is a little bit of content in a sea of ads."
Radio revenue growth has been slowing since 2003, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau. Prior to 2001, the industry logged four consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth.
To address these concerns, Clear Channel Communications Inc. (CCU.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the top U.S. radio company, said last month that 95 percent of its 1,200 stations would be upgraded to digital by 2007. If successful, the company could offer free programing rivaling that of the satellite radio industry.
"Why would you pay for something you get for free?" asked John Hogan, CEO of Clear Channel's radio business, echoing a mantra throughout the radio industry.
Television executives said similar things in the 1970s, when cable TV was a fledgling business. Cable and satellite TV services now serve about 81 percent of U.S. homes.
And satellite radio is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on programing exclusive to its medium, the biggest chunk of which is Sirius' five-year $500 million package to lure shock jock Howard Stern away from Viacom Inc.'s (VIAb.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Infinity radio unit.
"There is a genuine question whether people are going to want to pay $12 a month for (Howard Stern)," said Les Moonves, co-chief operating officer of Viacom.
One of the key problems radio faces, ad executives said, is the dearth of creative commercials. "Radio is seen as the poorest cousin of all the creative canvases," said David Droga, outgoing chief creative officer of Publicis Groupe's (PUBP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) Publicis Worldwide, who is building his own creative shop.
"But to me, radio is a fantastic canvas," Droga said. "It's theater of the mind." Still, he said good radio ads are "few and far between."
Clear Channel, for its part, is betting that by cutting advertising on its stations, it will increase its listenership and raise the value of the remaining ad inventory.
The strategy, which Clear Channel dubs "less is more," drove radio revenue down for the last three consecutive quarters, but Hogan remains positive.
"We think the early returns are extraordinarily promising," he said. "We knew there would be a financial cost to this."
Indeed, while Clear Channel's shares have fallen 1.4 percent in the last year, it has outperformed the S&P Media Index, which has fallen 11 percent.
But even as it shores up its own business model, Internet firms such as Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) are striking at the radio industry's lifeblood -- local advertising -- by offering services like restaurant recommendations, movie times and other features.
"There's over $100 billion of local advertising dollars that are spent on newspapers, radio, television stations, and yellow pages," said David Sanderson, head of consulting firm Bain & Co.'s media practice. "Where will those dollars migrate in the future?"
One possible destination is Clear Channel, which this year hired an AOL executive to craft an online strategy.
Sanderson added, "These business models will go through dramatic change in 10 years."

Media will be extinct soon, public radio host says

Journalist Bob Garfield explains how technology affects the industry

Sean Bueter Staff Reporter
November 30, 2005
The media is in a period of rapid change, and according to at least one journalist, it’s headed for an apocalypse.
Author and National Public Radio host Bob Garfield gave a presentation at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Tuesday night on the media and their inner workings as they address the problems of the future.
Garfield, a veteran journalist and commentator, co-hosts “On The Media” for NPR and is author of the book “The Chaos Scenario.”
Almost 300 people packed Cardinal Hall to hear Garfield’s presentation, which focused on the effects that new technology and new media outlets have on what he called “the old media model.” Garfield said he believed it would take time for the industry to change from the current model, but that change seems inevitable.
Garfield’s idea of a “chaos scenario” says that the media as it exists is headed for extinction due to a fragmented audience and a significant loss of advertising dollars. He said he believed that the corporate media giants currently in operation will give way to less expensive outlets. As advertisers look for new outlets to spend their money, small specialized operations will become the dominant forces in media, he said.
Garfield said there is already evidence of this new media in the expanding realm of citizen journalism.
“The collapse of the old media model will unleash vast forces, and much of it will be coming at you,” he said, “but there’s nothing especially orderly about the media’s new world order.”
While Garfield said profits were important in media’s evolution, he said he thought audience interest was the driving force behind the change.
Paul Ranieri, director of Ball State’s Freshman Connections program, said he was pleased with Garfield’s presentation, the final for the program this year.
“He touched on a lot of issues,” Ranieri said. “He gave everyone a lot to think about tonight.”