KAB TRANSMITTER Vol. 49 No. 1 January 29, 2010 Chairman s Message: Joe Jindra, KNCK / KCKS I am honored to serve as your Chairman for 2010 and welcome your input on ways we can continue to provide great service through the KAB. Are you seizing the various opportunities the KAB offers your radio or TV stations? Our radio station owes the KAB a big thank you for offering a seminar in Topeka when the current EEO rules were implemented by the FCC. Like many broadcast folks I have far more creative abilities than organizational skills. However, the person presenting the seminar must have scared the living daylights out of me because I have file folders more than an inch thick for each year the program has been in place. Fast forward to a couple of years ago when we had the privilege of being selected by the FCC to have an EEO audit, fortunately we passed the audit. The documentation I collected as a result of attending the KAB seminar proved to be very beneficial to our legal firm in preparing our response. As we start a new year, now s a good time to make a commitment to seize the various opportunities the KAB offers. The major event is the annual convention each fall providing informative programs and time to network with fellow TV and radio broadcasters. Each spring KAB offers the Student Seminar and Sports Seminar. Modern technology enables the KAB to offer quarterly webinars eliminating both windshield time and travel expenses. Your paid membership gives you access to two legal hotlines; Mike Merriman in Topeka for Kansas media law questions and Washington, D.C., attorney David Oxenford for general FCC questions. I ve talked with each one multiple times in the last year, have you? The KAB offers a multitude of opportunities to improve your business. Make it a point to get maximum return on your membership investment in 2010. I close this month s column with an editorial comment about the current EEO regulations enacted during the Michael Powell chairmanship of the FCC. Industry press reports at the time said FCC officials believed the regulations were needed because broadcasting was a good old boy network with limited opportunities for outsiders to break into the business. I find it ironic who Michael Powell s father is..former Secretary of State Collin Powell. Surely a good old boy network had nothing to do with that appointment, did it? No way! The Voice of Business Must Be Heard in Kansas As the Kansas legislature tackles the deficit it faces, they will discuss many options being offered by a variety of groups. These will range from more government cuts to increases in taxes. A number of business related associations have been informally meeting to make sure we have constructive ideas to offer as well. As part of that effort, we felt it was important that legislators understand the other taxes and government mandated costs our respective businesses face. This past week, the group presented our own State of the State: The Business Report to each legislator. Below is the excerpt I wrote on 1
behalf of the KAB. If you would like to read the entire report, it is on the legislative page of our website http://www.kab.net/legislative/default.aspx There are nearly 300 Radio and Television stations located in Kansas or whose designated market includes Kansas, that send free over the air signals to their local communities. They provide essential news and severe weather information, broadcast high school sports and activities, and give valuable free air time in support of community organizations and projects. In 2009, their business suffered like most others in some cases down 20-25% over 2008. Furloughs, hiring freezes and every other cost cutting measure was attempted, but employee lay-offs were inevitable. Despite the worst economic slowdown in decades, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) increased their regulatory fees for broadcasters by 10% as well as proposing several regulatory changes that will increase costs for all stations. Television stations completed the transition to digital broadcasting in 2009, after spending a combined 30 million dollars in equipment upgrades to meet the mandate set out by Congress. It will be a while before Kansas stations realize any additional revenue from this substantial capital commitment. Radio stations are facing Congressional action that would assess a Performance Tax to be paid to record companies for playing their music. All broadcasters currently pay the composers of music and for 70 years have given the artists free promotion by playing their songs which increases their album/cd sales. Based on the current proposal, the National Association of Broadcasters estimates Kansas broadcasters would pay annual taxes of 11 million dollars! At that point, there are only two options for owners stop playing music and only program talk. Or eliminate jobs. Unemployment Tax As I stated in an email last week, your Kansas unemployment tax for 2010 may have increased significantly. We are hearing stories of 200% - 1000%. Committees in both houses are hearing from the state Department of Labor and affected businesses as they struggle with a solution to this crisis. Our Immediate Past Chair Joan Barrett of KWCH TV, appeared before the House Commerce Committee to share the impact it had on her operation. She joined a number of other small businesses enlightening legislators on the negative impact it is having. There is still no bill to correct this, but I m certain one will be coming soon to hopefully give some additional months to pay this year and change the way it is calculated in the future. Supreme Court Gives Companies the OK to Buy Campaign Ads The Supreme Court ruled last week that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on business efforts to influence federal campaigns. By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said companies can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to produce and run their own campaign ads. Critics of the stricter limits have argued that they amounted to an unconstitutional restraint of free speech, and the court majority agreed. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states. (Kansas does not limit state contributions from unions or corporations.) It leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions. The case does not affect political action committees, which mushroomed after post-watergate laws set 2
the first limits on contributions by individuals to candidates. Corporations, unions and others may create PACs to contribute directly to candidates, but they must be funded with voluntary contributions from employees, members and other individuals, not by corporate or union treasuries. Congressional Action SHVERA: Congress has until February 28 to get this legislation passed. Although it is not a perfect bill for broadcasters, the good news is that there is no change to the designated markets (DMA) and retransmission was left untouched. The bill also orders the FCC to study the DMA system and to review the standards for unserved homes which currently is can a home receive an over the air signal with a roof top mounted antenna? That s language that satellite companies are using to apply for rights to provide an out of market signal. TV stations found out during the transition that homes within a few miles of the transmitter couldn t receive signals with their set top antennas. Performance Tax: We still stand at 254 House co sponsors and 27 Senate co sponsors of the Resolution opposing the tax. According to NAB lobbyists there has been little if any discussion in Congress about the proposed legislation and none has been offered as amendments to other bills. There is a feeling that the radio industry may be resigned to trying to get broadcasters to negotiate. What has been a legislative battle could soon become a PR battle. Spectrum Although the FCC Chair has said there is no intention of reallocating TV spectrum to the wireless industry, it has been one of the options apparently discussed by the FCC folks charged with issuing a report on the future of broadband to Congress. It was originally to be presented February 17 but they have requested an extension to March 17. While waiting to see what that report says, there have been two bills marked up on the House side. HR 3125 requires the FCC and the NTIA to take an inventory of spectrum use by federal and nonfederal users. HR 3019 is designed to improve the process of reallocation of spectrum from federal government uses to commercial uses. Shank Running for NAB Board Cliff C. Shank, a life long Kansas broadcaster and President & General Manager of Ad Astra per Aspera Broadcasting, Inc. is running for the District 12 N.A.B. board seat. Cliff is the past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, a member of the K.A.B. Hall of Fame and recipient of the K.A.B. Distinguished Service Award. Cliff has announced his candidacy for the 2010 Kansas and Missouri, District 12, Board of Directors position with the National Association of Broadcasters. The election will be held from March 2 - March 22, 2010. Longtime KC Anchor Passes Away Wendall Anschutz lost a long battle with throat cancer earlier this month. He was 71. Anschutz spent 35 years at KCTV, known for most of that time by the call letters KCMO, working up to the anchor chair from a reporting post. Anschutz and Ann Peterson began as co-anchors in 1979 and stayed together on the air for 22 years, forming one of the TV industry s most durable anchor teams. He suffered a stroke in 1989, but returned to work and did not retire from the newsroom until 2001. Anschutz was a native of Russell, Kansas and a graduate of the University of Kansas. 3
Important Reporting Dates for 2010 As you know broadcasters have numerous regulations that include periodic reports to the FCC and other organizations. You can find a listing off these on our website courtesy of David Oxenford at http://www.kab.net/legalandregulatory/default.aspx Political Broadcast Webinar Held Nearly 30 Radio and TV stations participated in the KAB webinar presented by David Oxenford. The hour and a half session covered all aspects of campaign ad rules including lowest unit rate, public file, and reasonable access. If you were unable to participate or you want to review it, you can go the website and download the slides as well as the Political Broadcasting Guide. http://www.kab.net/legalandregulatory/default.aspx FCC Fines For Tower Lights Being Out 1 Day In a recent decision, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau ruled that a tower owner should pay a fine for a single day where the required tower lights were not operational, and where no required monitoring of the tower to discover such outage was taking place. On top of the penalty for the non-working lights, the FCC also fined the owner for the failure to report a change in ownership of the tower. The total fine in the case was $4000 (reduced from an initial fine of $13,000 because of the tower owner's past record of compliance). As with any FCC fine, while the fine was for one day of tower light outage, there was more to the story. The FCC inspected the tower after receiving a complaint stating that the lights were out on a day that was almost a month before the inspection - indicating that the outage may have been in place for far longer than the one day revealed by the FCC inspection. The tower owner admitted that the person who was supposed to conduct the required daily inspection of the tower lights had moved from the area in which the tower was located, and the owner did not know exactly when that occurred. The owner did not get someone new to do the inspection until after the FCC inspection. (you can read more on this and other subjects on David Oxenford s blog http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/ 4
Guest Column By Shawn Wheat, News Director, KSOK Radio Arkansas City The industry is changing day in and day out. Analysts are coming up with new ideas every day, and we all try to keep up with the newest trends - but what are we forgetting? Our listeners! Don t get me wrong, we can keep up with those trends, but we can t forget about our product and our listeners. What is our product? For some, its music. For others its talk. While I am not an expert in broadcasting (yet), I have learned that when I stand back and look at things, I find out what listeners really want. YOU! We need to get back to traditional thinking for the most part. In talking with my friend Cathy Carrier on air, she would tell us stories of how her father, Cecil Carrier, would know everyone in the greater Cowley County area, because he took the time to get out and talk to the people, listen to the people, and be one of those people. Folks would even call the radio station to confirm those stories because they were one of those who had the chance to meet the great man. We have made it a point to think local while not sacrificing our product. By being productive in our community and involving our community in our everyday broadcasts, we have seen a return of listeners in large numbers. News stories don t always have to be the latest headline from radio online or premier prep. Yes, use them, but after you have already talked about your community. Yes, I m sure you re saying we do remotes, we host events. Those are all great, but what about the stuff that someone is not paying for? What about that community social, or that high school basketball game, or a church event? At these great events, take the time to stick your hand out and say, Hey, I m (Insert your name here). There is the chance that person does not even know you, but it opens the door to introduce not only yourself, but your great station. Invite them to listen to your station which opens another door. When they tune in, they might like you, and god forbid, keep listening to you. They know who you are, and they can connect with you on a completely different level. When you go to the grocery story, wear your station branded clothing. Let people know who you are, and what you do, and then listen to them. That brings me to my last point. Shop local. Stay local. Forget shopping online. When you do, you open more doors for potential advertising. Then it turns into the theme song for Cheers - where everyone knows your name. Sure, it may cost you a couple extra bucks to shop at your local stores instead of online, but you re also investing in the people who help you keep your job, and it gives you the ability to talk about them on a higher level when they do advertise. You can t meet everyone, and you can t give up all your time. So meet who you can and give what time you have available, and it will pay off in the end. Be a part of your community, and make the community a part of you and your station. KAB Board of Directors Spotlight Each month we will highlight a member of the KAB Board so you can get to know these terrific broadcasters who volunteer their time to steer the KAB. This month it is Monte Miller of Rocking M Radio Monte grew up in a Kansas media family as his parents owned The Belleville Telescope weekly newspaper. His grandfather was A. Q. Miller, Sr. the first to own the Telescope and for whom the school of journalism and mass communications at Kansas State University is named. 5
Following graduation from Kansas State and overseas military service Monte and his wife Doris embarked on careers in media which began at The Telescope in Belleville, KS, then Tracy (CA) Press, and later several West Coast daily newspapers. They returned in the 1970s to buy and manage weekly newspapers around Lawrence, KS. In the 1980s they added broadcast to their operations by applying for a construction permit and building a full power commercial television station KMCI-TV 38 to serve Lawrence, Kansas City and Topeka. In 2000 the Millers sold KMCI-TV to Scripps Howard Broadcasting owner of KSHB-TV41 (NBC) in Kansas City. Following the sale of the television station they moved to Manhattan. After several years of retirement they re-entered the Kansas media business by forming Rocking M Radio, Inc with their son Christopher. Monte is president of RMR while Doris is secretary-treasurer, handles programming and directs business operations. In 2007 they purchased fourteen western Kansas radio stations owned by NRG Media LLC of Cedar Rapids, IA. In 2008, they built three new FM stations, one in Salina, one in Hays and one in Cimarron near Dodge City. This past year they added one AM and two FM stations with the purchase of Melia Communications, Inc. of Goodland. In 2008, Christopher moved from Phoenix to Manhattan to become vice-president and RMR sales manager. Quinn Miller, their other son continues to live in Lawrence and works for Rocking M Radio, Inc. in the area of graphic design, promotions and operations. If you have anything you would like to place in the newsletter send it to kent@kab.net 6