All Articles Tagged "black radio"
Arbitron Sale To Nielsen Could Be Good News For Urban Radio
Wavebreakmedia /Shutterstock
The recent announcement by international media measurement firm Nielsen that it will buy radio ratings and media research company Arbitron is being met with cautious optimism by black radio and multicultural media institutions.
“Nielsen’s acquisition of Arbitron is welcome news for multicultural entrepreneurs, programmers and audiences,” David Honig, president of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council told Target Market News. “Nielsen has unparalleled expertise in accurately measuring multicultural viewership… it’s reassuring that the leading audience measurement company has such an outstanding record of accurately and thoroughly measuring multicultural populations across several technologies.”
Added Jim Winston, executive director of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, “We are concerned that such mergers often result in rate increases to customers, and we would not want to see that happen. We are cautiously optimistic that this will be very good news for the television and radio industries.”
In the past, urban radio has been at odds with the way Arbitron calculates multicultural listenership. In fact, the disputes even hit the halls of Congress. Due to challenges over its rating gathering methods by the PPM Coalition (made up of Black and Hispanic broadcasters), Arbitron testified to Congress in 2007 about its measurement techniques and the under-counting of minority listeners. Even The Media Ratings Council was unsatisfied with Arbitron’s methods and declined to certify Arbitron’s methods in all of its markets.
“Arbitron has found itself in a number of long standing legal disputes over its sampling of Black and Hispanic audiences. These grievances came to a head when the ratings measurement company introduced its Personal People Meter and once high-rated Urban stations fell from dominance in major markets,” reports Target Market News.
A fight even ensued in the courtroom when the Attorneys General of New York and New Jersey filed a lawsuit in 2008 against Arbitron’s measurement of Black and Hispanic listeners. A settlement was reached: Arbitron paid $260,000 for fraud and illegality, $100,000 to minority trade associations to support minority radio, and $25,000 for an ad campaign promoting minority radio. The Attorneys General of Florida and California also brought suits against the company, which too were settled.
Nielsen, on the other hand, has expanded its efforts of reporting minority ratings. According to Target Market News, “It has created external advisory councils representing communities of color, instituted a minority supplier development initiative, and reached out to Black, Hispanic and Asian consumers through numerous public relations efforts.”
Radio Play: Radio One Increases Investment in Tom Joyner´s Reach Media
Photo by Terrence Jennings/Picture Group via AP IMAGES
Veteran businesswoman Cathy Hughes knows a good deal when she sees one. Hughes’ Radio One has just announced an increased partnership with Tom Joyner’s Reach Media. Radio One’s Syndication One Urban programming now combined with the Reach Media line-up, which includes Tom Joyner, Rickey Smiley, Russ Parr, Yolanda Adams, Reverend Al Sharpton, Warren Ballentine and CoCo Brother, will make it the leading black network radio company. The new programming will start in 2013.
Previously, Radio One acquired a 53 percent stake in Reach Media. Under the new deal, reports EUR, Radio One will increase its ownership stake in Reach Media to 80 percent.
“Radio One has a commitment to be the leader in radio and online programming with compelling entertainment and information for the African-American audience. Combining our assets under Reach Media offers an incredibly broad platform for affiliate stations and advertisers to connect with our loyal audience,” said Radio One CEO and President, Alfred Liggins, in a statement.
The move could help strengthen the state of black radio, which has been on life support for the last few years. Several large, long-running radio networks have fallen, such as New York’s WRKS (98.7 KISS-FM), which after 31 years on the air merged with rival WBLS and ceased operations. Radio One too has seen its fair share of station closings and the selling off of stations.
There is even a coalition of black radio advocates pushing for the FCC to step in to aid the survival of black radio, reports Radio Survivor. “Media consolidation has made it harder for people of color to own radio outlets,” they wrote in a letter to the FCC chairman in June 2012. “African Americans own just 3 percent of all full-power commercial radio stations. And many urban radio stations that purport to serve black audiences air little local programming and are seldom responsive to the needs of their communities.”
How often do you listen to black radio?
Black Radio Continues Decline: Two Stations Merge in New York
by R. Asmerom
Black radio has been slowly shrinking in the United States, and today, two legendary Black stations, WBLS (107.5 FM) and WRKS (98.7 FM, Kiss-FM), announced that they will merge to become one. Due to the struggles of the stations and their parent companies, Disney was able to buy 98.7 Kiss-FM in a $96 million dollar deal, and has leased its frequency to ESPN radio. The historical Black-owned company Inner City Broadcasting, which experienced financial decline, recently sold off WBLS to YMF Partners.
According to New York Daily News, each station averaged about 1 million listeners per week. But ratings may soon be affected by programming as the merger will mean that popular syndicated hosts Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden will not be carried. However, Steve Harvey’s popular morning show will continue to be broadcast.
Read more at New York Daily News
Radio Station Worships New Trinity: Holy Hip Hop
(Albany Herald) — Danny Wilson and his silent partner in Light Media Holdings Inc., one of seven publicly-traded African-American-owned companies in the country, believe they are ahead of the radio curve thanks to “holy hip-hop.” And their business plan has nothing to do with Batman. Light Media Holdings completed the purchase of local urban radio station WZBN Power 105.5 on June 1, and four days later the new owners flipped the switch and became the first 24-hour “holy hip-hop and contemporary gospel” terrestrial radio station in America. Under the new moniker Power 105.5 The King, General Manager Wilson, Operations Manager Jammin’ Jay and Sales Manager Kynard McCray are bringing metro Albany radio audiences hip-hop beats with a gospel message. “I’d say the initial response (to the format change) has been overwhelmingly positive, from our audience and advertisers,” Wilson said. “In fact, the music sounds so similar (to what was played at Power 105.5 in the past), a lot of people haven’t even noticed the change.
Magic Johnson Relieves Goldman Sachs of Some Debt
(Radio-Info.com) — Inner City Broadcasting’s debt will be changing hands, says TheDeal.com, so Goldman Sachs can finally take it off the books. Inner City’s controlling Sutton family played hardball during the 2009 financial crisis, when Goldman and GE Capital were squeezing ICBC over $230 million in debt. Politicians got involved, and Goldman and GE backed off. Now Goldman finds a solution to holding the delinquent debt – it sells it to Magic Johnson Enterprises and Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies.
Catherine Hughes on the Rise of Radio One
(SBA.gov) — Among the largest African-American owned and operated media corporations in the United States, Radio One was started by Catherine L. Hughes in 1980. Radio One owns and/or operates 53 radio stations located in 16 urban markets in the United States. The company One received investments totaling $9.5 million from SBA-licensed SBICs in the late 1990s. Hughes also received an SBA-guaranteed 7(a) loan for $600,000 in 1980.
6 African-American Institutions That Have Lasted Over Time
In this age of abbreviated attention spans, instant obsolescence, digital romance, and satellite telephones, there are still some things that deserve to be tucked away in a category of old favorites — things that have the patina of age that are as beloved now as they were years ago. These favorite “things” (social organizations, businesses, institutions, etc.) have persisted over the years because we turn to them again and again as they continue to satisfy us, renew us, or simply “take us back” to places we want to go. Here are a few of our oldest and favorite things:
E.E. Ward Moving & Storage Co.
In a sense, John T. Ward started his moving business in the 1840s—by transporting slaves, according to one writer. Four decades later, in 1881, with a team of horses, a wagon and two helpers, John and his son, William, officially established the Ward Transfer Line, a moving business in Columbus, OH. Eight years later, another Ward son, Edgar Earl, took control of the company, renaming it E.E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company. In 1921, the company finally stopped using horses and turned to motorized equipment.
The company is no longer under the control of the Ward family. In 2001, Eldon Ward, the last Ward family member to own the business, sold it to Brian Brooks and Otto Beatty III. The company, which employs up to 50 people at peak moving times of the year, provides moving and storage services for households and businesses, including international and corporate relocations. Today, the 130-year-old company is recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce as one of the oldest black-owned business in the nation.
WHUR Helps Howard Students Help Others in U.S., Haiti
(Afro) — WHUR 96.3 FM and Howard University will host a 12-hour radiothon from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 6, to help send hundreds of Howard University students to cities across the United States and possibly Haiti to provide critical services to those in need. The “Helping Hands” radiothon asks listeners to phone in, drop by the radio station or to go online to make a contribution so students can travel to Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Atlanta and here in the Washington to help families struggling with a variety of issues. Plans are under way to send a small cadre of students to help families in Haiti who are still reeling from last year’s devastating earthquake.
Michael Baisden’s Copyright Lawsuit Headed to Court
(The Root) — Author and nationally syndicated broadcast personality Michael Baisden is headed to court over a copyright-infringement lawsuit. Documents filed in the lawsuit allege that I’m Ready Productions, Inc., Image Entertainment, Inc., ALW Entertainment, Inc., Je’Caryous Johnson and Gary Guidry conspired to tour a stage play without Baisden’s permission and sold DVDs based on Baisden’s best-selling novels, The Maintenance Man and Men Cry in the Dark, in violation of federal copyright laws. The lawsuit alleges that the men conspired to use Baisden’s image and likeness to promote the DVDs without Baisden’s consent.
American Urban Radio Networks and SupeRadio Ink Deal
(The Network Journal) — The coming year may play out big for America´s largest black-owned radio network company. Earlier this month, American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) announced a major partnership with SupeRadio, which is one of the largest syndicators and providers of radio programming in the country. Under the deal, AURN will represent SupeRadio´s urban product and services to the advertising industry. SupeRadio already has a foothold in the urban entertainment world. Some of its most popular programs include: “Back Spin Weekend “with Spinderella (of Salt N’ Pepa fame) and “Kissing After Dark” with Lenny Green.
