Beasley VP/Programming Jeff Sanders Heads to Wilks

According to http://news.radio-online.com

Beasley Broadcast Group VP/Programming Jeff Sanders exits after nine years to take similar duties with Wilks Broadcasting, a company he has consulted for almost 15 years. Sanders also served as PD of Beasley's Alternative WXNR-FM/Greenville-New Bern. He will continue to consult WXNR and co-owned Alternative WSFM-FM (Surf 98.3)/Wilmington, NC. (12-18-06)

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Group Has "Letter Of Intent" to Buy Air America

According to http://news.radio-online.com Douglas Kreeger, an initial investor and former Air America Radio CEO, told the New York Times on Friday that there is "a signed letter of intent" for a new group to take over the network, and that he is "likely" to be a part. Additionally, former AAR board chairman, Terence F. Kelly, will likely take the lead equity position. Kelly told the newspaper that the investor group included a new "strategic media partner" and both men declined to speculate when the deal would be complete. (12-18-06)

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Pinnacle Lists Top Testing Songs Of 2006

According to http://allaccess.com Which are PINNACLE MEDIA WORLDWIDE's top-testing songs of 2006? The company's released its list for ten different formats, and the number ones include:

Hot AC: "Let's Get It Started," BLACK EYED PEAS
AC: "Complicated," AVRIL LAVIGNE
Classic Rock: "Another Brick In The Wall," PINK FLOYD
Country: "Live Like You Were Dying," TIM MCGRAW
Active Rock-Alternative: "Come As You Are," NIRVANA
European Pop: "My Favourite Game," THE CARDIGANS
European Adult: "Ma Baker," BONEY M
Classic Hits: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking FOr," U2
Variety: "Another One Bites The Dust," QUEEN
Oldies: "Oh Pretty Woman," ROY ORBISON
OnlineTRACKER: "Chasing Cars," SNOW PATROL

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Mediabase Year-End Charts Show Top Songs, Labels For 2006

According to http://allaccess.com MEDIABASE has released its year-end charts featuring the most played songs of 2006 and the label chart share champions for the year.

The winners, as determined by the industry-leading airplay monitoring service:

LABEL CHART SHARE LEADERS:

Overall: ISLAND DEF JAM
Top 40: ISLAND DEF JAM
Rhythmic: ATLANTIC
Urban: ATLANTIC
Urban AC: RCA MUSIC GROUP
Country: ARISTA NASHVILLE
Smooth Jazz: RENDEZVOUS
AC: RCA MUSIC GROUP
Hot AC: ISLAND DEF JAM
Rock: UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC
Active Rock: UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC
Alternative: INTERSCOPE
Triple A: COLUMBIA

TOP SONGS:

Overall: MARY J. BLIGE/Be Without You (Geffen)
Top 40: NATASHA BEDINGFIELD/Unwritten (Epic)
Rhythmic: CASSIE/Me & U (Next Selection/Bad Boy/Atlantic)
Urban: MARY J. BLIGE/Be Without You (Geffen)
Urban AC: ANTHONY HAMILTON/Can?t Let Go (So So Def/Arista/Zomba)
Country: RASCAL FLATTS/What Hurts The Most (Lyric Street)
Smooth Jazz: PAUL BROWN/Winelight (GRP/VMG)
AC: JAMES BLUNT/You?re Beautiful (Custard/Atlantic)
Hot AC: FRAY/Over My Head (Cable Car) (Epic)
Rock: SHINEDOWN/Save Me (Atlantic)
Active Rock: THREE DAYS GRACE/Animal I Have Become (Jive/Zomba)
Alternative: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS/Dani California (Warner Bros.)
Triple A: JACK JOHNSON/Upside Down (Brushfire/Universal Republic)

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Wilks Broadcast Makes Cuts in New Kansas City Group

Following Wilks Broadcast Group's takeover of CBS Radio's Kansas City group on Friday (12-1), Rusty Walker exits 9am-1pm at Country KFKF-FM, as does night talent Tim Peters. MD/midday host Tony Stevens is now doing 9am-2pm. Newsman Randy Birch and morning producer Jim Daniels also exit.

At co-owned AC KCKC-FM (Star 102) night talent Mike O'Brien is also out along with sister Hot AC KMXV-FM (Mix 93.3) Promotions Director Neal Dunker. Country KBEQ-FM, Shotgun Jaxon exits afternoons and is replaced by TJ McEntire. Ronnie Phillips shifts from nights to middays. (12-04-06)

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Tribune Delays Sale Decision

In Tuesday (11/28/06) All Access Net News Reports TRIBUNE CO. is going to take a little more time to decide on the sale of the company. The company issued a statement TUESDAY credited to WILLIAM A. OSBORN, Chairman of the independent committee reviewing offers for the company, that read, "We are committed to a complete review process that will yield maximum value for all TRIBUNE shareholders. We anticipate a final recommendation to the full board during the first quarter of 2007."

TRIBUNE, which owns one radio property, Talk WGN-A/CHICAGO, is under pressure from shareholders to sell all or part of the embattled company. Chairman DENNIS FITZSIMONS says that the sale process "has generated strong interest from a number of parties."

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R&B/Hip-Hop: Did It Take Justin To Bring TempoBack?

According to Edison Research http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2006/11/rbhiphop_did_it.php

For most of this decade, R&B/Hip-Hop radio has lived with a dearth of uptempo R&B product. There are mass-appeal rap records with an R&B feel. There are legitimate R&B ballad hits, more at some times than others, but true uptempo R&B hits (even with a rap included) are a mere trickle. There's a Mary J. Blige "Family Affair" here, an Usher "Caught Up" or "Yeah" there. But it's been nearly a decade since the last period where songs such as Brandy & Monica's "The Boy Is Mine" or Next's "Too Close" were a regular fixture in the top 10, not the exception to the rule.

The tempo shortage has many different sources. Rap itself is a mid-to-downtempo genre these days, which influences the type of tracks being offered to all acts. The Mainstream R&B artists of the type who might still be inclined to make an uptempo record are often already exiled to Urban AC (so you have to credit Brian McKnight for trying to stay contemporary on his recent "Used To Be My Girl").

But mostly, R&B's tempo shortage stems from the early '90s, when many programmers first started to believe that rap and ballads were the source of the true hits at the format, while uptempo R&B provided balance at best. With labels releasing fewer albums and fewer singles from a given project, there is less willingness to use up what could be an artist's only shot on a record that might not generate immediate reaction.

With Mainstream Top 40 gaining traction these days, you have to wonder if some of its strength is coming from having uptempo, radio-friendly rhythmic music when R&B has little of its own.

And yet, when "Check On It" by Beyonce or "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario Winans do emerge, those songs become not just durable research monsters for R&B radio, but also multi-format hits, confirming that the demand for such product still exists. And with Mainstream Top 40 gaining traction these days, you have to wonder if some of its strength is coming from having uptempo, radio-friendly rhythmic music when R&B has little of its own.

That brings us to Justin Timberlake and his reverse crossover from Top 40 to R&B/Hip-Hop stations. At this writing, "My Love" has just cracked the Top 5 at R&B/Hip-Hop radio. The previous single, "SexyBack" got to No. 21. In New York, there was a period when the songs between them were getting more than 110 spins a week on WWPR (Power 105) and on WQHT (Hot 97), with "My Love" is in power rotation at both. (Hot backed "My Love" down to only 50 spins this week, and "SexyBack" has finally run its course at both stations.)

That sort of pop-to-R&B crossover was common until the late-'80s. Putting Hall & Oates and George Michael aside, it's been long forgotten just how much pure pop product used to get at least a smattering of R&B airplay. In the Frankie Crocker-influenced early '80s, Joan Jett's "I Love Rock And Roll," Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart," and John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" all played on at least one of New York's Urban stations. Even REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling" made Billboard's Hot R&B singles chart in the mid-'80s. When dance music re-emerged in the mid-'80s, acts like Expose' got their first exposure on stations like WRKS New York, because there was nowhere else to go.

Then the first Churban stations popped up and stations like WRKS decided to better define themselves by ceding the pop and dance music. There might have been an occasional R&B artist like Lisa Stansfield who just happened to be white, but the search for the right pop crossover, so much a calling card for PDs like Crocker or Sonny Joe White in the early '80s--pretty much ground to a halt. And once there was an additional format between R&B and Top 40, the reverse crossovers were the songs that came from Rhythmic Top 40--songs that are often "pop" mostly by dint of which record label department worked them first. Akon currently has two uptempo hits at Rhythmic Top 40 but his "I Wanna Love You" is only becoming a solid R&B radio hit now while "Smack That" is still sitting below the top 40.

That Timberlake crossed over faster than Akon can be traced back to the mid-'90s resurgence of teen pop. R&B vocal groups like Boyz II Men had famously broad appeal. As it turned out, so did the pop acts influenced by them. Ten year olds don't care much about format distinctions and when acts like the Spice Girls or Backstreet Boys did autograph sessions or listener events in their early days, the crowds were integrated.

R&B radio didn't usually acknowledge Top 40's teen acts; (WGCI Chicago made a brief, heavily publicized attempt to play the Backstreet Boys, but they were the exception.) But finally, toward the end of their hitmaking streaks, acts like 'N Sync and Britney Spears got a handful of R&B spins by working with producers like the Neptunes until, ultimately, Timberlake's "Cry Me A River" became a No. 11 R&B hit. Since then, there hasn't been a lot of reverse crossover, but there have been a few notable ones: Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" getting to No. 10 last year; Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" getting to No. 25 earlier in 2006.

It has always made sense for R&B programmers to look for the right crossovers--not as a way of expanding the base, but to acknowledge that there are pop records that appeal to the base. But one also can't help but wonder if "SexyBack," "Promiscuous" and "My Love" are finding a home at R&B/Hip-Hop now because there's so little other medium-to-up R&B product that fills that need. After all, the genre's high-profile producers are spending a lot of their time working with pop acts. And "SexyBack" had the advantage of already being a radio hit and coming from an established artist--even if it built its story elsewhere.

Some labels do seem to see the opportunity in the current tempo shortage. The ads for Universal's new Taio Cruz single, "I Just Wanna Know," allude to filling a hole at radio, for instance. And the kickoff single from this Fantasia album is uptempo, not the ballad that led last time. And as with all the years that Mainstream Top 40 suffered from a lack of uptempo, center-lane product, there are still songs to play when PDs are willing to go looking for it. Until now, the only question was whether listeners missed tempo. Now that we have some guidance on that score, one can only hope that R&B acts with tempo, different sounding records or both have the same shot.

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Air America Radio Gets 1-Week Extension to Find Buyer

According to http://news.radio-online.com

Air America Radio has received a one-week extension to find a buyer. Company attorney Tracy Klestadt told a bankruptcy hearing today that the liberal talk network was in "advanced negotiations with a few parties" about a sale. AAR filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after discussions with one of its creditors reached an impasse.

Under its financing agreement, the company had until Wednesday, November 22 to find a buyer, but Klestadt told the court that AAR's lender had informally agreed to extend the deadline by a week. He declined to say who the potential buyers are. Even so, the netw

ork has managed to remained on the air. (11-20-06)

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Peak Buys CBS Radio's Fresno Cluster for $90 Million

According to http://news.radio-online.com

Peak Broadcasting has agreed to acquire CBS Radio's 7-station group in Fresno for $90 million in cash. Peak intends to begin programming the stations under a Time Brokerage Agreement (TBA) in December. This marks the first acquisition for the recently formed partnership of Peak Broadcasting and Duff, Ackerman & Goodrich, a San Francisco-based investment firm.

Included in the deal are Variety Hits KFJK-FM (105.9), News/Talk KFPT-AM (790), KMGV-FM (97.9), News/Talk KMJ-AM (580), Oldies KOQO-FM (101.9), Country KSKS-FM (93.7) and CHR KWYE-FM (101.1). All of the stations have full market coverage.

Peak Broadcasting CEO Todd Lawley commented, "We are very pleased to announce Peak's first acquisition. To acquire these significant radio stations in fast growing Central California is the first step towards building a new generation of radio operations. Through technology, focus, and creativity, Peak will take advantage of every platform that these fine brands offer."

Following the closing, Peak Broadcasting will re-locate its corporate offices and operations to Fresno. Kalil & Co. acted as the exclusive broker for this transaction. (11-16-06)

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Clear Channel to Sell 448 Radio Outlets, Entire TV Group

According to http://news.radio-online.com  Clear Channel plans to sell 448 of its 1,150 radio stations in 90 markets, all located outside the top 100 media markets, as well as the company's 42-station television group. Collectively, these properties contributed less than 10 percent of the company's revenues last year. The TV outlets on the block are located in 24 small and mid-sized markets.

"Our decision to divest these broadcast properties was reached as a result of the ongoing optimization of our diverse portfolio of media assets," said CEO Mark Mays. "These are profitable and well-managed properties in excellent markets. We believe that the sale of these stations will allow us to position our business to provide even greater value to our listeners and shareholders."

In an e-mail sent to the stations on the block, Clear Channel Radio President/CEO John Hogan wrote: "The decision to sell the stations in your market was not made quickly or easily nor is it a reflection on the efforts and performance of you and your team. It is a business decision that we believe will result in a better operating opportunity for your stations and is in keeping with the strategic direction of Clear Channel Radio."

The sale of these assets is not contingent on the closing of the company's merger agreement announced today. (11-16-06)

Read Blogs and get list of stations to be sold http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/clear-channel-accepts-185-billion-takeover-bid/

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