Fast Track
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/18/2003 8:00:00 PM
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Items:
Powell Gets It From Right and Left NAB Salutes Stations News Noted Robert Stack, 84, Passes Away Corrections Ouch! |
Powell Gets It From Right and Left
Even the GOP-friendly National Rifle Association is coming out against media deregulation because, it says, one likely result is that antigun media companies will gain more outlets. And for ideological balance, women representing a peace organization disrupted an FCC meeting last week, also protesting dereg.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre last week asked members to call on the FCC to stop its planned relaxation of broadcast ownership rules. "DO THIS TODAY for the sake of your Second Amendment rights," an NRA bulletin urges (emphasis NRA's).
The NRA asserts that strict limits are needed to prevent "gun-hating giants like AOL Time Warner, Viacom/CBS and Disney/ABC from silencing your NRA when we've needed to take our message directly to the American people."
At the FCC, women representing the peace movement Global Exchangewore pink slips meant for Chairman Michael Powell. The slips weren't the paper kind but the undergarment variety with the words "You're Fired" written on them. They charged Powell with "betrayal of the public interest." Eventually, security escorted the women out.
NAB Salutes Stations
The NAB has named the winners of its fifth annual Service to America Awards for community service. The award for overall excellence goes to WGAL-TV Lancaster, Pa. The Children's TV awards go to KVIA-TV El Paso, Texas (small market); WAVY-TV Portsmouth, Va. (medium market); and WLTV(TV) Miami (large market).
Partnership Awards for broadcaster/corporate/community partnerships go to WCVB-TV Boston and United Way of Massachusetts Bay/Keyspan Energy Delivery (TV) and KDWB-FM Minneapolis and University Pediatrics Foundation.
The Friend in Need Awards, one each for TV and radio, are for "service in the face of natural disasters and other potentially life-threatening situations." This year's winners are WAFF-TV Huntsville, Ala., And WWZZ-FM/WWVZ-FM Arlington, Va. The awards will be given out at the Service to America summit June 9 in Washington.
News Noted
Ad spending on network, cable and syndicated TV was down 5% for the first quarter of 2003, compared with first quarter 2002. That's according to just-released preliminary figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The biggest gainer among all media was Hispanic TV, where ad spending was up 15%. ...
Thanks to the acquisition of 16 new TV stations in 2002, Atlanta-based Gray Television posted a 107% increase in broadcasting revenues for first quarter 2003 to $52.6 million, with those new stations accounting for $27.5 million of the total. Without the new acquisitions, however, broadcasting revenue was up just 1%.
Robert Stack, 84, Passes Away
Robert Stack, who had starring roles in The Untouchables and Unsolved Mysteries, died May 15 in Los Angeles. He had recently undergone radiation treatment for prostate cancer, but his wife said he died of heart failure. He was 84.
Corrections
In the May 12 Market Focus on Youngstown, Ohio, the No. 1 Evening Newscast was incorrectly reported. WFMJ and WKBN tied for the top spot with a 13 rating/24 share Monday-Friday average.
The Top 25 Media Companies list in the May 12, 2003, issue erroneously characterizes one of the investments of the New York Times Co. The company is a minority investor in New England Sports Ventures and 50%-owner of DTC (Discovery Times Channel), but those two companies are otherwise unrelated.
Media industry layoffs totaled 2,244 in April. A May 12 story reported that correctly, but a chart carried an incorrect number.
Ouch!
John Walsh, host of NBC Enterprises talker The John Walsh Show has put new meaning in the term "sweeps stunt." Walsh broke his ankle in three places after falling off a skateboard May 8 for an "Amazing Kids with Incredible Talents" segment.
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