NJBA Weekly Newsletter, Friday, June 27, 2008

Rutgers Drops Johnson

Bruce Johnson, the voice of Rutgers Men’s Basketball for 24 seasons, has been dropped as play by play announcer. Johnson, also the program director for WCTC-AM, New Brunswick, will be replaced by Chris Carlin, a New York Metropolitan sports personality who is the play-by-play announcer for Rutgers football.  Carlin will also serve as the voice of Rutgers University men's basketball.   

Broadcasters Have Full Regulatory Plate

With the summer season upon us, Congress is heading home for recess and it gets mighty hot and humid in DC.  Broadcasters will be faced with a full plate of new regulations. At the top of the list, the record company’s performance tax. NAB and State Associations have ended the fight for this year by getting more than half the house (219 co-sponsors) on a resolution to defeat the tax. The latest signatory is Congressman Rob Andrews.

Other major items pending:

Form 395B. This form will require all broadcasting companies to report the number of minorities and woman they employ. The FCC claims it wants the information for statistical purposes only; however, by requiring stations to supply the details, the FCC opens up the way for so called community and public interest groups to subject stations to challenges, at license renewal time and subjects broadcasters to blackmail.

Localism:  Twenty years ago, the FCC eliminated many reporting requirements and other rules as unnecessary paperwork burdens for broadcasters. The Commission is now suggesting that all of these old rules be brought back and that would encourage localism.  How and why more paperwork encourages localism is beyond the ability for QuickNews to understand.

Cross ownership: This time it’s Congress, who wants to repeal an FCC loosening of the ownership rules in the top 20 markets. If Congress gets its way, there will not be any ownership of TV, Radio and Newspapers in the same market, regardless of the number of competitors presently in the market. Of course, the DTV transition is coming.  Have a happy summer!

 Philadelphia’s Jerry Lee Offers Free Radio Creative

Jerry Lee, owner of WBEB-FM, has organized all of the Philadelphia Radio Stations, in an alliance, that will meet with advertisers on behalf of every station in the market.  Lee’s offer is free creative and free testing of the creative for effectiveness. Lee will offer advertisers a better spot on the radio than they presently have on TV, will pay to have it produced and researched. Lee says, “he plans to use the latest scientific testing methods never before used to test radio commercials.” This should result in some switching of TV advertisers to radio.

 Broadcasters Ask For Digital Power Upgrade

Eighteen broadcasters and the four largest manufacturers of radio transmission equipment have filed a joint request with the FCC to allow digital broadcasts at 10 % of analog power, up from 1%.

 Remember to keep your Alternate Broadcast Inspection (ABIP) up-to-date.