Friday, February 10, 2006

Goldberg & Malakoff Have Done It!

In 2002, the NJBA Board of Directors allocated $150,000 for investment purposes. These funds were given to a stockbroker to be invested.  After one year, under management of the account, lost 1/3 of its value, down to $98,000. NJBA President Phil Roberts changed to the private investment group of Goldberg-Malakoff, located at Merrill Lynch. Last week the investment fund moved passed the $150,000 mark. The fund is up 31.2% since the take over with an annual growth rate of 12.3%. This increase is greater than S&P and Lehman Bros aggregate bond rates for the same period. Our new investment guys have been doing a great job, recouping all or lost funds. A of last week, the funds were moving ahead into positive territory. Congrats to Bobby and Stu. 

Good News From The FCC

The Feds just announced the latest list of stations to undergo an FCC Audit for compliance with the commissions EEO requirements.  No New Jersey Radio or TV stations are on that list. EEO1Source, the EEO recordkeeping program owned by NJBA and several other state associations has now announced an improvement. Because the Commission is requesting random audits, we have developed an audit module. If in the next round of FCC Audits, you are selected, be ready with this audit module. Just the press of a button on your computer will generate the necessary FCC paperwork for the audit with no extra station work needed. If you do not have it, call Debbie to get it today and be ready for tomorrow. 

House Passes Reconciliation Bill

President Bush is expected to sign the new budget reconciliation passed by the House. The Senate passed it earlier. The bill contains a February 2009 hard date for the return of the analog spectrum for TV stations. By that date, a TV station either has gone digital or has gone off the air. The bill also contains $1.5 billion dollars to assist consumers without digital sets to purchase a converter to down convert the digital signal to analog so it can be viewed on a non-digital receiver. Language that would have allowed the Cable industry to alter the HDTV signal was stricken from the legislation. It’s a total victory for TV Broadcasters. Next on Capitol Hill is the fight for must carry for all digital broadcast signals by the cable companies. Cable wants to carry only the main signal and Broadcasters want all free channels carried. Cable says it’s a question of bandwidth. They are disingenuous. It takes the same amount of space on the cable to carry the main signal as it does to carry all of the signals. 

Less Attendees, More Income

RAB 2006 had less attendees than the year before; however, because of an increase in registration fees and more exhibitors, they walked away with more money. Reasons cited for less attendees, the change of dates and the change of location caused by Hurricane Katrina. Next Year the meeting will again come to Dallas but not at the airport. The meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency Reunion Tower on February 8-11, 2007. 

Check your Alternate Inspection Contract now to make sure it’s up to date. If it's not, call NJBA to schedule a new inspection.   

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