Idaho Radio News Etc.

Let’s pretend you bought stock in the three major Boise radio companies when this site started in September 2003.

Citadel. Clear Channel. Journal. Which one would be worth the most money?

Citadel was worth $18.85 per share. A share of Clear Channel stock went for $17.93. Journal stood at $16.45.

Today? Citadel: one cent. Journal $4.09. Clear Channel: $39.48.

Journal’s dropped by nearly two-thirds. Citadel’s stock is worthless. But Clear Channel? You would have more than doubled your money.

Go figure.

The Journal stations are going all out this year for Toys for Tots – the annual program of the US Marine Corps.  The two television and four radio outlets are all helping get the word out and bring in toy donations.

Also:

KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River is hosting the annual “Concert for Cause” concert at the Knitting Factory tonight. John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting is performing to benefit the Canyon County Community Clinic. A live & silent auction is also being held

KJOT/J-105 hosted a Hell’s Belles show on the 11th, and a portion of proceeds went to Boise Rock School

KTHI/107.1 K-Hits is auctioning off a Fiesta Bowl football to benefit Make-A-Wish.

Revenue for Journal Communications pulled back in the 3rd quarter – though the company did see a profit. Profit dipped 23 percent – but they think things will get a bit better in the all-important 4th quarter.

“We are looking ahead to next year when we hope we will see improved business conditions for our customers, a recovery in the ad spend in our core markets, as well as the lift that additional political and Olympics spending will provide,” Chief Executive Steven Smith said on a conference call.

Here’s the story

The Associated Press reports Journal Communications has agreed to sell KCID-AM and KGEM-AM. The buyer is listed as Salt and Light Radio — the same group that purchased KDJQ last year, before the deal with owner Rob Coombs fell through.

The surprise here might be the small price tag: Just $950,000 for both frequencies.

This will be the second shift in Journal’s Boise concentration of assets this year, after the acquisition of KNIN-TV. Journal will now be made up of KIVI-TV, KNIN-TV, KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River, KTHI/107.1 K-Hits, KJOT/J-105 and KQXR/100.3 The X.

This will mark the separation of two pairs of long-time assets — KCID-AM and KTHI-FM used to share call letters, and KJOT-FM and KGEM-AM were also paired as an AM/FM combo dating back to the 1980s.

In March, we noted that Citadel Broadcasting’s stock scraped the bottom of the barrel — costing just $0.02. It popped up to about 4 cents a share later that week — which led me to ask if you’d take the bet and put $1,000 into the stock – taking home about 20,000 shares.

If you’d made that bet – you’d be… in the exact same position. The stock ended the day at $0.043 — just more than four cents per share. The stock has not traded higher than 13 cents.

Related: Journal Communications is currently trading at $1.10 – up quite a bit from the March low of $0.39.

Journal Broadcast Group once streamed four of its six Boise stations on the Interwebs – but now the only station to provide its audio over the Internet is KRVB/94.9 The River. KJOT, KQXR and KTHI are now only available for those people with one of those old-school radios.

Journal Communications announced it will cut salaries for all non-union employees by six percent.

“There is a high probability that this environment will continue for at least the balance of 2009,” CEO Steven Smith said in a letter intercepted by the AP. “As we manage for the long-term success of the company, we must identify constructive ways to continue to reduce costs.”

But to somewhat soften the blow of the six percent cut, JC will give all employees an extra ten days off this year. Those days will technically be paid, albeit at the lower pay rate. Ten days works out to be about 4% of total work days – so it’s not an even trade… but it certainly isn’t nothing.

Journal says it hopes to restore pay in 2010. Shares jumped almost 60% on the news.

JBG is now the third Boise groups to cut salaries. In February, Citadel cut pay by 5% and Peak made a 10% cut.

Pete & Joe may not be in the top time period on KJOT/J-105 any longer… but they will hold down the longest timeslot on a local station. The pair now host from 1pm to 7pm – a whopping six hours (or a full quarter of the broadcast day). Kristine (mostly) voicetracks from 10am until 1pm, and Dale Larsen holds court on the pre-recorded computer machine from 7pm to midnight.

Two Boise Journal Broadcast Group stations are no longer streaming online: KJOT/J-105 and KTHI/107.1 K-Hits.

Why? This from the Pete & Joe Show Facebook page:

Sorry folks, no live stream for now. That unfortunatly [sic] had to be given the ol’ heave ho due to the economy.

KQXR/100.3 The X and KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River still have live streams — and to my knowledge the AM stations never offered that feature (or websites at all really).

Journal Communications saw revenue fall in the fourth quarter of 08 — down 9%.  The company lost a stunning $223 million – which compares with a profit of $9.5 in the same quarter of 2007.

Publishing – down 10% (to $60 million)

Radio – down 7.7% (to $19.7 million)

TV – down 5.5% (to $33.4 million, despite an extra $6 million in political revenue)

“The overall economic environment and continued deterioration of advertising expenditures in Journal markets impacted our business in the fourth quarter causing lower revenue across all segments,” said CEO Steven Smith. “Fourth quarter total publishing revenue was off just over 10% and total broadcast revenue was off just over 6%. Overall Journal Communications revenue decreased 9.0% in the quarter and 6.5% in 2008. To date in the first quarter, we continue to see revenue declines across all of our businesses,” he added.

Citadel and Peak continue to battle it out for the top spot in the market – with Citadel raking in a total of 27 share points 12+ in the book – or an average of a 4.5 share per station.

Peak notched a 24.9 share or 4.15 per station.

Journal continues to fade, with an 18.9 total – or 3.15 share per station.

Impact is still far back in the pack with a 7.6 total, which averages out to 1.9 share points per stations..

From spring, Peak, Citadel and Journal all lost ground. Impact gained – increase from a 5.2 to a 7.6.  However, they also have one more frequency in the market – but they also lifted KTMB from a 0 to KPDA’s 1.9

Top Journal executives snagged a series of stock bonuses last week – valued at $400,00. CEO Steven Smith (right), president Douglas Kiel, EVP Elizabeth Brenner, VP Kenneth Kozminski and CFO Andre Fernandez will divvy up 180,000 shares of JRN stock according to Milwaukee Business Journal.

The options will vest in two years, as long as the execs are still with the company.

The company’s stock is currently worth $2.32 – but started 2008 at $8.94. If the managers can fight their way back to the $8.94 level – the stock options would be worth $1.6 million.

A Journal rep told Inside Radio the bonuses were needed to keep the execs through “current media industry and macro-economic challenges, as well as the longer-term evolution of the media industry.”

Journal has been steadily laying off workers – with cuts from the newspaper and a company-wide reduction in force last summer.

KNIN won’t be joining the Journal Broadcast Group.

The Federal Communications Commission turned down Banks Broadcasting’s request to declare KNIN as a “failing station.” This makes Journal Broadcast Group’s bid to buy the station and combine it with KIVI Channel 6 impossible. For that matter, it means KNIN won’t be merged into any other Boise TV station for the time being, either.

Ironically, it was KNIN’s success — or at least lack of failure — that scuttled the deal. A station has to have three years of negative cash flow to get a “failing station waiver,” which allows an exception to rules that would generally block two co-owned stations in a market the size of Boise.

The accounting method used in filings by current station owner Banks Broadcasting & hopeful future owner Journal was rejected by the commission. Instead of actual cash flow, Banks submitted “free cash flow.”

The difference? Free cash flow includes money spent on items not directly related to station operations. Banks included capital expenditures in their formula – but the FCC says it uses the operating cash flow model, meaning the capital expenditures aren’t included. KNIN spent $320,000 on capital improvements from 2005-2007.

The kicker? KNIN made money in 2007 according to the FCC – a total of $61,891 in operating cash flow. As I reported, KNIN said it lost $63,455 in 2007. The FCC said they spent $124,945 on capital. Simple math gives you a profit of $61k before capital expenditures.

“Accordingly, we find that the applicants have not met this prong of the failing station waiver standard, and we will therefore deny the waiver request. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, That the request for a “failing station” waiver of the television duopoly rule, Section 73.3555(b)(2), to permit Journal to own and operate both KNIN and KIVI, IS DENIED.”

Mashing KIVI and KNIN into one entity would have meant layoffs in the Boise media industry, so folks at KNIN are understandably relieved.

One of two things would have to happen before KNIN would be able to merge with any other local station. Either the FCC would have to change the rules — or KNIN would have to fail this year, next year and in 2010… meaning a merger couldn’t happen until 2011.

Traffic Assistant – Part Time

Shift:
Part time, 25-29 hours per week.

Education:
High school diploma. College degree a plus.

Skills:
Excellent written and verbal communication skills required; strong problem solving abilities; high work ethics and standards; ability to meet deadlines and detail orientation; must possess working knowledge of broadcast traffic software and computer applications; ability to manage multiple tasks.

Experience:
Broadcast traffic experience required; Marketron RadioTraffic software experience preferred. Wide Orbit TV software experience would be a plus.

Duties:
Working/reconciling daily logs. Managing sports/sports logs. Completing network affidavits. Other duties assigned by management.

Journal Broadcast Group is an equal opportunity employer.

Attention: Paula Jensen
5257 Fairview Avenue
Suite 260
Boise, Idaho 83706

Halftime of the BSU-ISU tilt had a little Boise radio free-for-all, with Journal Boise General Manager Bob Rosenthal doing a wonderful tribute to Citadel morning show veteran Paul J. Schneider, with Peak Broadcasting’s KIDO-AM doing…. something else.

Schneider and his family appeared at the 50-yard-line to accept a tribute from the school. Since Rosenthal is still the stadium announcer for the games, he got the honor of toasting the Citadel employee. KIDO was doing the usual half-time fare, and passed on the opportunity to have one competitor talk about another competitor on its air.

I spent a bit of time listening to both pre-game shows, but it appears Peak’s got the advantage – if nothing else it has access to coaches and players, and has a location just a few feet from the west-side gates, whereas KBOI is across the street at Baja Fresh – and only has access to Statesman reporters. Having Paul J. is a big asset, but is it enough?

Man I should start charing for these…
Read the rest of this entry »

Journal Broadcast Group’s stations had a tough book. The group has one station in the top 10 – perennial winner 107.1 K-Hits with a strong 6.7.

The rest of the stations are in the doldrums.

- KJOT/J-105 down 12% from last year to 3.3
- KQXR/100.3 The X lost a third of its audience for a 3.1
- KRVB/Idaho’s 94.9 The River went up slightly from spring ‘07, but only notched at 2.6

And as a commenter noted, Impact’s automated, unstaffed KSRV/96.1 Bob FM outranked those three stations – despite management upheaval and a fairly weak overall presentation.

I won’t beat this point into the ground, but “Rick” left this comment that I felt should be elevated:

While I agree with Don that Rocky and Roxx are awesome, I think the thing that sets Journal Broadcast Group apart is that it is a strong TEAM. It’s not just Rocky spending hours on a phone line or Rochelle’s Myspace work and all of the live in-studio mixes she does. Today for example, we have a big remote with J105 and Jason, a remote tech is not only setting up everything, including two inflate-ables, running the PA and Marti, etc. But he has taken it upon himself to be the “J-Bird” and run around being the mascot. No one asked him to do it. It’s close to triple digits out there! Or, Rocky going to the Knitting Factory to make certain a live “Sound Check” on the X goes off smoothly. And Shannon, the Journal Receptionist. I don’t have to tell any of you who have been in the business for a while what a thankless job that is. But she always is cheerful, answers the callers questions, appeases them, etc. And Kristine Simoni, Promotions Director-Goddess(she also came to Journal from KF95) Not only does she handle promotions for all the Radio and now, doing the same for KIVI TV, she also is the Mid-morning voice of J105! Or Jeff Hoffert, The Lead KIVI TV Engineer, who will go up and work on an FM Transmitter and thinks it’s cool that he is getting to learn about radio and goes over and above the call almost on a daily basis. Lastly, the guy that holds the whole thing together and frankly, I don’t know how he does it. Well, yes I do. He trusts the rest of us to do our jobs…

Thanks, Bob. It’s been a great ride!

Journal Communications acquired all sorts of stuff when it bought KFXJ nearly a decade ago. Equipment, a transmitter, the frequency and a small handful of employees.

Two of those folks – Rochelle Smith and Rockwell Smith (no relation) are still with the company, and each has proved themselves to be among the best things to come along with the purchase of KF-95. While The River bears little resemblance to the old KF-95, both Rochelle and Rocky continue to keep that independent, listener-focused spirit alive.

I was reminded of why Journal is so lucky by Rocky’s comment on the KGEM audio problem. He explains all the things he and Journal do for customers that are unhappy with hearing original hits (or more recently – oldies). As is noted with the recent KIGO example – the station could easily say “it is Qwest’s problem” and clam up, but instead they jump through hoops to make people happy.

As for the “other” R. Smith – Rochelle is often hailed for her extra work. Much of the station’s online effort, including the MySpace page with all the audio goodies is her doing.

You can buy a frequency, dump everything and try to rebuild it from the ground – but finding good people and hanging on to them (no matter if you hire them from the Internet or get them in a multi-million dollar acquisition) is what makes a radio company unique.

(PS: I wanted to put an old KF95 logo on this entry [the one with the music staff and the quarter notes], but I can’t find one. If you can send me a digital version of the logo, I’d appreciate it!)

Yesterday I couldn’t track down the FCC application for Journal’s purchase of KNIN, so the post I wrote was an educated guess. Now that I have that application in hand – we have a better idea of what exactly JBG is pitching to the FCC.

Why KNIN is failing:

• KNIN had a 3.6% audience share in 2005, 3.675% in 2006 and 3.65% in 2007 (Nielsen ratings, average Feb/May/July/Nov books)
• KNIN is losing money. 2004: $469,278 – 2005: $396,950 – 2006: $5,341,435 – 2007: $63,455.
• The station doesn’t have the money to upgrade its master control to digital
• KNIN has no translator stations (unlike KTVB, KBCI, KIVI and KTRV) to help cover rural areas

JBG/Banks also has to prove there is no other acceptable buyer:

• An agent solicited offers for out-of-market bids for the station, and only got one offer – 56% lower than the station’s appraised value
• Banks turned to local buyers, which would presumably be Belo (KTVB), Journal (KIVI), Block (KTRV) and Fisher (KBCI). They received two offers – though it isn’t clear which organization tendered the other offer.
• The $8 million purchase price is less than investments put toward KNIN, which Banks says is more than $15 million

The deal must serve the local interest:

• KNIN will start a 30 minute daily newscast Monday-Friday
• KIVI is a “community leader,” involved in many events – which KNIN would become part of as well
• JBG is upgrading KIVI’s master control to digital, and KNIN would be combined into that facility
• KNIN would provide weather and traffic alerts
• JBG will revamp KNIN’s website to “improve communications between the station and local Boise residents”
• JBG will keep KIVI as an ABC station, and KNIN as an affiliate of The CW

And a few more details:

• JBG agrees to comply with the WARN Act. WARN requires employers to notify employees of sizable layoffs in advance under certain circumstances
• KNIN doesn’t own any property, and leases its downtown facility and its Deer Point site

UPDATE: More on this story here.

The question on many of the media-involved folks around town lately is this:

How is Journal going to get FCC approval to buy KNIN?

JBG currently owns the highest concentration of media assets in the market (although not by revenue or audience measurements – only based on sheer number of signals). It owns KJOT/J-105, KQXR/100.3 The X, KTHI/107.1 K-Hits, KRVB/94.9 The River, KGEM/1140 AM and KCID/1490 AM on the radio dial, as well as KIVI/Today’s Channel 6 on TV. The company also owns KSAW in Twin Falls – although the TF market is separate.

Adding KNIN/Channel 9 would increase that concentration even more. In fact, it would be in violation of the Federal Communications Commission’s “Eight Voices” rule. This applies to TV broadcasters, both commercial and non-commercial – but only includes full power signals.

The current voices are:
KBCI-2/Fisher Communications, KAID-4/Idaho State Board of Education, KIVI-6/Journal Broadcast Group, KTVB-7/Belo Corp., KNIN-9/Banks Broadcasting, KTRV-12/Block Communications.

Currently the market has six voices. The FCC says a market must have eight remaining after a merger. So how’s this plane going to fly? Journal is likely seeking a waiver under the “failing station” clause of the FCC’s current rules. JBG would have to prove several things for KNIN:

- It has an audience share of 4% or lower
- The station has had negative cash flow for the past three years
- The merger will produce “public interest benefits… where the applicant demonstrates that the tangible and verifiable public interest benefits of the merger outweigh any harm to competition and diversity”
- That JBG is “the only reasonably available candidate willing and able to acquire and operate the station; selling the station to an out-of-market buyer would result in an artificially depressed price”

So JBG’s buying a failing station? $8 million for a station that doesn’t make money??

Synergy. And for the employees of KNIN, the synergy won’t likely seem like a good thing. The station will probably unload most of its staff and combine job functions with KIVI.

Journal just did this exact same thing with CW station KWBA in Tucson, AZ, combining it with ABC affiliate KGUN.

“We are persuaded that KWBA is failing to such an extent that its ability to be a viable voice in the Tucson market is severely hampered,” the FCC concluded, “placing it at a competitive disadvantage.”

JBG told the FCC that it would add a 30-minute newscast on KWBA – which would not be at all surprising for KNIN as well.

(Editor’s note: If KTRV or KBCI were buying KNIN I probably wouldn’t be writing this – but since JBG owns radio stations, and this issue directly applies to those stations in this market, I’m liberally bending the no-TV rule.)

Journal Communications, which owns six Boise radio stations, one TV station (and has a deal for another) is cutting 10% of its staff from the Journal-Sentinel in Milwaukee. The cuts will be complete by the end of the year.

Journal Broadcast Group is adding to its Boise portfolio. The owner of KIVI Channel 6 is buying KNIN Channel 9 for $8 million. Story here

UPDATE: Fun with Photoshop!

Journal Communications reported results for May – with an 8.4 decline in revenue from the same month a year ago. The drop was fueled by a 14.2% drop at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which is seeing classifieds advertising dry up. The broadcast segment (TV and radio) fell 5.9% – while the radio subset dropped 4.1%. Radio revenues in Boise, Witchita, Springfield, MO and Tucson were cited as “soft.”

We’ll take our annual look at the contents of local EEO files later this week – but it is always interesting to see which stations are in compliance of the requirements. The EEO files must be posted on station website by June 1.

KIZN – Posted
KZMG – Posted
KRVB – Posted
KSRV – Not posted, out of compliance
KKGL – Posted
KQFC – Posted
KWEI – Not posted, out of compliance
KTMB – Posted
KQXR – Posted
KQLZ – No website, exempt
KDBI – No website (?)
KSAS – Posted
KAWO – Not posted, out of compliance
KJOT – Broken link, out of compliance
KCIX – Posted
KQTA – No website (?)
KTHI – Broken link, out of compliance
KXLT – Posted
KIDO – Posted
KFXD – Posted
KBOI – Posted
KTIK – Posted
KCID – Not posted, out of compliance
KGEM – No website, exempt