The bears keep head-butting the radio stocks.

Maybe the market should’ve observed Columbus Day – or heck, anybody’s holiday – to break some of last week’s momentum of worldwide negativity about stocks. The Dow was down another 1.35% and the S&P slipped 1.65% yesterday. Radio stocks weren’t immune, with Entercom the only pure-play radio stock to gain, up nearly 3% (22 cents) to $8.30 a share. But Emmis dropped 3% while Spanish Broadcasting System was pounded for a 13% loss, down 49 cents to $3.07 a share. That’s the lowest closing price for “SBSA” since May 2013. Radio One’s thinly-traded “ROIA” lost nearly 4%. And to follow Cumulus further, it shed another 2% on Monday, down seven cents to another new 52-week low of $3.04. The last time “CMLS” traded in that range, it was the Spring of 2013. CEO Lew Dickey has scheduled his third-quarter conference call for November 10 – making Cumulus one of the very last publicly-traded radio companies to report in this cycle. With that late date, Lew’s not exactly craving attention. Meanwhile, this Tom Taylor NOW Newsletter will keep covering not only the publicly-traded operators, but some of the key private groups, too. That series starts up again soon.

Specifically, in Tampa and Charlotte, where CBS has been preserving some heritage call letters from other markets. The WHFS calls associated with alternative rock in the Washington DC/Baltimore corridor for literally decades are currently stickered onto two low-performing all-sports stations in Tampa – “98.7 the Fan” WHFS-FM and CBS Sports Radio Net sister WHFS at 1010. Surely CBS will want to hang onto those, and they really don’t add anything to the stations’ identities in Tampa. Beasley also probably wouldn’t care if CBS lifted the WBCN calls from an all-sports station at 1660 AM in Charlotte. For decades, the WBCN calls meant something pretty magnificent in the Boston market, and CBS will want to keep control of them. Expect both WBCN and WHFS to be hung on some inconspicuous stations elsewhere in the CBS empire – and Beasley will apply for new calls in those markets. And along with giving up, say, WHFS-FM in Tampa, will Beasley at some point blow up the expensive all-sports format and try something else? The Fan did a 0.6 share with age 6+ AQH in the latest Nielsen PPMs for September. AM sister WHFS did a 0.1 share. Of course, Bubba the Love Sponge is still available in his home market of Tampa, and Beasley uses him down in Ft. Myers-Naples. That could make the closings on these station swaps in Tampa, Charlotte, Miami and Philly even more interesting.

Does Radio Disney have buyers for O&Os in New York, Houston and Cleveland?

The buyer for Disney's 50,000-watt WQEW New York (1560) appears to be Family Radio – yes, the same not-for-profit Family Radio founded long ago by Harold Camping, and the same outfit that last year sold then-WFME Newark (94.7) to Cumulus. That station became the first country “Nash,” and Cumulus paid $40 million to get it. Cumulus also swapped away a Class A Westchester County FM at 106.3, which Family Radio turned into the new WFME. But the Christian broadcaster continued to search for a better replacement for 94.7, and this NOW Newsletter hears that it’s found it – in Radio Disney East Coast flagship WQEW. Price is in the neighborhood of $12 million, which would demonstrate that despite other station selloffs, Family Radio intends to keep spreading its gospel. Remember that it has continued to own a New York-market TV station, so it would have an AM, a suburban FM, and the TV outlet. WQEW is a legitimate 50,000-watter, with different directional patterns day and night. The August 14 NOW told you that “to focus on IP and satellite delivery, Radio Disney will shed all but one of its remaining O&Os” – 23 in all. But our question of a couple of months ago still stands – How much of a haircut is Disney prepared to take? Just before the Great Recession hit in early 2007, Disney paid the New York Times Company $40 million for WQEW. The re-sale price now appears to be less than a third that, around $12 million.

It’s probably not Family Radio, though it’s possible another Christian broadcaster is in the hunt. Radio Disney’s Houston O&O (owned-and-operated) station is top-of-the-dial KMIC at 1590. It runs 5,000 watts fulltime, non-directional days and directional at night. Disney bought then-KYOK in 1999 for $6 million. As part of its acquisition binge, Disney purchased its Cleveland O&O in 1998, paying $3.9 million for then-WMIH at 1260. These days it runs 10,000 watts daytime/5,000 watts at night as WWMK. You wonder about a buyer like Ed Atsinger at Salem Communications looking at either the Cleveland signal and/or Houston – perhaps for duty as a Spanish Christian station, or an all-business format. If New York, Houston and Cleveland truly have buyers, that leaves 20 other Radio Disney O&Os in places like Chicago (WRDZ La Grange at 1300), San Francisco (KMKY Oakland at 1310), Dallas (KMKI Plano at 620), Philadelphia (WWJZ Mt. Holly at 640), Atlanta (WDWD at 590) and Boston (WMKI at 1260). When we look back on all the deals, we’ll have a pretty good litmus test about AM station values in major and medium markets – thanks to that lovable Mickey Mouse.

Cumulus could wind up paying even more than $40 million for the original “Nash.”

Cumulus really hankers to upgrade the New Jersey-based signal for Nash 94.7 WNSH Newark, to cover the market better, especially north of New York City and out on Long Island. It agreed to an interesting condition last year – if it’s able to relocate the Nash transmitter within any of the five boroughs of New York City as a Class A or Class B1 signal within the next five years, Cumulus will pay Family Radio an additional $8.5 million. If it’s able to do even better than that, upping it to a full Class B, it would pay Family an extra $10 million, on top of the $40 million it’s already put in the collection plate. Such clauses aren’t unheard-of, but perhaps Family Radio will pray hard for the engineering success of “Nash.”

It’s been building up for some time, over the months that Bill Livek-guided Rentrak has chipped away at Nielsen’s customer base. The two companies don’t provide the identical products, but Rentrak’s been able to present its mix of research and consumer information as a more up-to-date product than Nielsen. But on a Friday morning call ostensibly about the software glitch that benefited the ABC-TV network, Nielsen’s global president Steve Hasker dropped some bombs on Rentrak. As the New York Post reports, Hasker said Rentrak doesn’t let “the facts get in the way of a good press release.” Ouch. Hasker pointed out that Rentrak’s research products aren’t accredited by the Media Rating Council. Then he went for its research methodology, saying Rentrak has “been asked to stop using the phrase ‘census-like data’...they have no demographic information, and they can’t measure digital or tablets.” Rentrak’s Bill Livek responds that they’re working on their MRC status and says Nielsen is “building samples...[while] we’re building big data” for its clients to use. Last week Rentrak bought the U.S. television measurement business of Kantar Media from WPP, and it’s been signing up agencies and TV stations and groups. But if Steve Hasker and perhaps others at Nielsen continue to vent their frustration, this could become a more public, and less polite, battle between two determined companies.

Andrea Tantaros and Talk Radio Network settle her year-old lawsuit.

TRN signed Fox News personality Tantaros after Laura Ingraham left, but last October 10, she sued for back salary, seeking a list of all of her affiliates and advertisers, and alleging breach of contract. TRN’s counter-filing blamed an unnamed “third party” (Fox News?) for “misleading” her. Tantaros said she was reacting to the Fall 2013 exit of much of the staff at Oregon-based TRN, including her own executive producer (October 14, 2013 NOW Newsletter). The papers from the lawsuit revealed that Tantaros wouldn’t start seeing money from her revenue split until after the first $1 million, so she would certainly be motivated to see a strong sales effort at TRN. So nearly a year later, after an amended complaint and a plethora of legal filings, we learn that the two sides have settled. That happened a month ago, based on the September 9 court filing where a federal judge in New Jersey dismissed the case “with prejudice.” That means it can’t be refiled. As usual, we don’t know the terms, just that “this matter [has] been revolved to the mutual satisfaction of all parties.” Each side (Tantaros and her Astero LLC, and Mark Masters-run TRN) bears its own legal costs. The TRN website here lists talent such as Sam Sorbo and Jerry Doyle. But no Andrea Tantaros.

You might expect that a couple of NPR veterans might turn to an online mechanism like Kickstarter to find money, but Technical.ly Brooklyn says nope, they seem to be doing it the old-fashioned way. Their goal is raise in $1.5 million in debt, and they’re two-thirds of the way there. Note that they’re raising debt and not selling equity – so Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber are being careful about preserving ownership, and avoiding the potential trap of selling off much of their equity here in the company’s early stages. At the time of their SEC filing American Podcasting Corp. had sold $675,000 in debt, but Lieber tells Technical.ly Brooklyn that they’re now past the $1 million mark. He and Blumberg may be raising debt the old-fashioned way, but they’re documenting the process in an episode of public radio’s “This American Life.”

Retailers relish holidays like Columbus Day, even if most of us have only a tenuous connection to Genoa-born Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain. National retail chain Macy’s bought 21,234 ads on national radio last week, as tracked by Media Monitors. That was enough to rocket it (like one of those Macy’s fireworks displays) from #100 the previous week to #7 on last week’s list of national advertisers. National drugstore chains Walgreens (#15 to #6) and RiteAid (#59 to #8) may also have been tagging onto Columbus Day – and Halloween, which comes up in two weeks. No change at the #1 and #2 spots with GEICO insurance and Home Depot.

Why did Connoisseur re-license southern Connecticut’s classic rock “Fox” WFOX (95.9) from Norwalk to Southport? Scott Fybush’s New England Radio Watch suggests a logical explanation – “It’s about Nielsen Audio markets: the move will take WFOX out of the Stamford-Norwalk market and into New Haven with sister stations WPLR (99.1) and WEZN (99.9).” More about Fybush’s NERW at his website here.

Ireland’s RTE to drop long-wave broadcasting in two weeks, reasoning that 98% of its potential listeners have other options. But the Irish Times editorializes that “The Irish in the UK, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, will have a vital link with home permanently severed.” They’re used to tuning in to long-wave, or radio frequencies below that of the usual AM band, and for many of them, substitutes like Internet delivery or the UK’s DAB-carried stations aren’t going to work, given their lack of technical sophistication. Besides, the Irish Times says Ireland’s own digital radio alternative DAB “has no reach in either Britain or the North.” Ireland’s RTE turned off its medium-wave – AM – transmitters in 2008.

Latest Summer-book Nielsen ratings from the diary markets –

Charleston, SC – All hail “Chuck.” That’s Apex-owned variety hits “101.7 Chuck FM” Chuck FM, whose name plays on the city name of Charleston. Chuck posts his best 12+ AQH share since the Winter 2011 book, up from a 4.2 share in the Winter of this year to a 4.6 in the Spring book and now a 6.0. That’s strong enough to take third place. Just ahead of Chuck is Cumulus urban “Z93” WWWZ (8.7-8.6-8.8), with its best book since Spring 2012. In second place is Apex-owned urban AC “Star” WXST (9.9-7.8-8.4). Then comes Chuck, followed by iHeart’s fourth-ranked country WEZL (6.6-6.0-5.7). It’s just a guitar pick ahead of Cumulus urban AC “Magic 101.7” WMGL, 4.2-4.6-5.6. Strong book for Cumulus top 40 “95SX” WSSX,” 5.1-4.6-5.4. Apex-owned hot AC “Mix 96” WMXZ is likewise feeling the sea breezes, up 3.0-2.7-3.8. Apex runs an urban format named “The Box” fed by the HD2 signal of WMXZ and heard mostly on a translator. The Box held 1.2-1.7-1.8. But this is an off-book for iHeart’s talk WSCC, 4.2-4.7-3.5, which is back to the level of last Fall. Cumulus-owned talk WTMA is down, 1.6-1.6-1.0, as is Kirkman’s talk WQSC, 0.6-1.2-0.4.

Akron – Rubber City Radio’s country WQMX (4.8-7.7-8.1) is #1 among the stations we can see. (Remember Nielsen’s “subscriber only” policy, so we view only the shares of stations that subscribe.) The apparent #2 station is Rubber City Radio’s rock WONE-FM, 5.4-5.6-5.9. Third is Media-Com’s talk WNIR-FM, 6.4-6.8-5.4. Fourth place is iHeart’s top 40 WKDD, 3.5-3.9-3.5. Next is Rubber City Radio’s talk WAKR (2.2-2.3-1.5), followed by iHeart’s WHLO (0.9-0.8-0.8). And in fact, you’ve just read all the stations that appear in the book – just six sets of call letters, with none of the spill-in stations from Cleveland, for example.

Monterey – 19 straight #1 finishes for iHeart’s rhythmic KDON, 9.3-8.2-8.9. But the thing that really stands out in this Summer survey is the strength of the Spanish stations. #2 is Entravision’s regional Mexican “Radio Tricolor” KLOK-FM, 4.9-4.9-6.3. Mapleton’s AC KWAV is third, 4.5-3.6-5.2. But then come two more Spanish-language stations – iHeart’s Spanish variety hits “La Preciosa” KPRC-FM, 1.9-3.0-4.4 and Entravision’s own entry in that format category, “Jose” KSES, 3.0-3.4-4.2. Add those Spanish station plus Entravision’s Spanish Christian KMBX (a 0.8 share), and the Spanish-language share in this book is 15.7. Saul Levine’s Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters is a fairly new player here, and its classical “K-Mozart” KMZT-FM/KNRY and a companion translator goes from a 0.4 share in the Spring to a 1.1. Levine’s recently-acquired KBOQ is off 1.8-1.5-1.0. Levine flipped it from AC to classic hits as “Q103.9” just after Labor Day, and Nielsen’s Summer survey ran from June 19 through September 10. So KBOQ’s drop to a 1-share belongs to the previous AC format. Country KYZZ, another new Levine project, moves from a 0.7 in the Spring to a 0.5 now. We always put out the hog-call for Mapleton’s alt-country/alternative KPIG, and it’s a tad stronger this time, 4.5-2.6-3.2.

Syracuse – Country “B104.7” WBBS makes it 60 straight victories, going back 15 years to the previous century. So far this year, it’s traveled 12.4-13.3-12.1. In second place is Cumulus top 40 “93Q” WNTQ, 7.1-7.8-8.9. Third is iHeart’s top 40 “Hot 107.9” WWHT, 7.3-7.5-7.1, followed by the market’s leading talk station, iHeart’s WSYR-AM/FM (6.3-6.9-5.3). Fifth is sister AC “Y94” WYYY, flat (5.8-5.2-5.2). Wolf-owned country WOLF-FM achieves the highest share for either the Wolf itself or the 105.1 frequency, 2.6-2.9-4.2. Note that the subscriber-only policy means we’re not seeing Syracuse non-subscribers like Galaxy’s classic rock “TK99” WTKW.

Houston’s all-Beyonce stunt at 92.1 yields a classic hip-hop station named “Boom 92.1.” Beyonce Knowles is a Houston native and Radio One’s hoping that it can tap into the kind of music she grew up listening to in Houston – Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott and the rapper/entrepreneur who became her husband, Jay-Z. If CBS does have the legal rights to “Boom” in the U.S., it hasn’t asserted them yet – and Radio One’s former “News 92.1” KROI is now “Boom 92.1.” Check it out here. Boom is designed to complement Radio One’s existing urban “Box” KBXX (97.9) and urban AC “Majic 102.9” KMJQ – and to help Radio One fend off iHeart’s urban “93.7 the Beat” KQBT. Radio One calls Boom “the first major market throwback hip-hop station of its kind in the country.” Southern California-market KDAY Redondo Beach (93.5) and same-frequency KDEY Ontario, now owned by Alex Meruelo, have certainly plowed some of the same ground.

Louisville’s “Easy Rock 105.1” WESI converts to classic hits for new owner Alpha Media, ditching the soft AC format that lasted not quite two years. Alpha picked up Shepherdsville-licensed Class A WESI earlier this year long with the rest of the Main Line Broadcasting stations. Now it’s got 105.1 doing classic hits with new requested calls of WGHL, per the website here. SummitMedia’s “107.7 the Eagle” WSFR is the incumbent in the format, trending 3.0-4.8-4.4 in the last three Nielsen books with age 12+ AQH. “Easy Rock” drove a lower track, going 1.7-1.2-1.6.

One of the new FMs assigned to Taos, New Mexico will be classic rock “Thunder” KTRZ (105.5). Darren Cordova of DMC Broadcasting continues to build his group by participating in FCC auctions, and he paid $31,000 for the construction permit that lets him build a new Class A licensed to Taos, where he owns stations such as variety hits KKIT (95.9) and talk KVOT (1340). The Taos News reveals Cordova’s format plans for 105.5 – it will be on-air by November 1 doing classic rock as “Thunder.” No format announced for the other construction permit DMC is holding, for a new Class C0 (C-zero) facility at 106.5 licensed to Springer, east of Taos. But we do have call letters and a slogan – KNMF, for New Mexico’s Front Range. Building in the history-rich country around Taos carries special requirements. DMC had to hire an archeologist to conduct research around its intended site, and it can now tell the FCC that “there are no historic properties in the area….and the proposed site is in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act review process.” Native Americans were building their own facilities in New Mexico centuries before tourists and radio station engineers arrived in Taos.

Orlando gains another gospel signal, with Black Media Works putting “Rejoice 103.7” on its recently-modified translator facility licensed to Eatonville. That’s northwest of Orlando, and the call sign is W279CO, rebroadcasting Florida Broadcasters-owned WRMQ at 1140, which must be why they’re calling the new Rejoice “Orlando’s original gospel station.” Radio Insight reports the translator hookup with WRMQ, and observes that the other gospel station on the FM dial is Central Florida Educational Foundation’s “G106.3.” That’s a translator fed by the HD3 signal of the foundation’s contemporary Christian “Z88.3” WPOZ.

Steve Davis is rewarded for his four years guiding Washington DC’s hot AC “94.7 Fresh FM” WIAD with a promotion to Vice President of programming for the entire cluster. He’s been the ops manager there and also the hands-on guy at urban WPGC (95.5).

Nick DeGregorio has worked on the affiliate relations side of the syndication business for United Stations, Westwood One and Sun BGI – and now he’s at L.A.-based Benztown. He’ll specialize in marketing Benztown’s custom imaging, production libraries, jingles and voiceover lines, as well as long-form shows such as Hot Mix and the Todd N Tyler Radio Empire. Nick reports to Benztown VP of Sales & Operations Masa Patterson.

A prayer for healing - Joe Mule (“myew-LAY”), now COO of Low Country Radio, says "Once, I was the production director at a station and part of my job description was compiling all the Sunday morning shows onto a single tape. We had a nice preacher-lady with a 15-minute show, and she used to send us her tape on a 'tails-out' reel. One time, while rewinding her tape, I heard a terrible noise. When I checked, I saw that she had spliced a break in the tape back together using a staple. Yes, a staple. Needless to say, the tape deck needed repair after the staple scraped the heads. I'll never forget the phone call I had to make, to explain the benefits of using the right kind of tape to splice, rather than a staple." Does that bring back your own can’t-make-this-up memory of radio? Email “You Can’t Make This Up” – Tom@RTK-Media.com.

Back from Columbus Day, mentally? The FCC, the Postal Service and all the other holiday-observing agencies are now back from the weekend, and it should be a busy day. Got a news tip to share? Email Tom@RTK-Media.com (and please don’t just hit “reply” to this newsletter). Want to reach our highly-engaged readership? Contact Kristy Scott - Kristy@RTK-media.com or phone 818-591-6815. See you back first thing tomorrow - Tom