Friday, November 20, 2015

POLITICAL BLOW-BACK POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF EXECUTIVE SALARIES DISCLOSURE


On Wednesday (11/17) the public media trade publication of-record – Current – published a detailed report about salaries and other compensation for many top public media executives [link]. Almost as soon as the digital ink dried, observers began speculating that the compensation data may fuel another round of CPB bashing in Congress. 

A typical reaction to the Current article warns that high executive salaries may discourage listeners and viewers from pledging:

If this list goes viral, I can envision a substantial - and justifiable - public backlash. Don't many Pub Radio stations tell their listeners at Pledge Time "we need your $50 to keep the lights on"? Many might now say - justifiably - that you need the $50 to help pay your GM their $400K salary...

The salaries play into the narrative that public broadcasting is doing so well it doesn’t need taxpayer money or CPB.  In 2011 former Senator and current Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

When presidents of government-funded broadcasting are making more than the president of the United States, it's time to get the government out of public broadcasting.
This mantra has replaced the alleged “liberal bias” as a way to argue against public funding of public media.


EDITORIAL COMMENT: On the list below you will see names you recognize because of their excellent work at local stations.  With very few exceptions, the executives on the Current list are appropriately paid. Some need a raise, for instance, Wally Smith at WPPB, Southampton, Long Island.
 
There is no doubt the info published in Current will go viral and it should. It is the public’s right to know when tax dollars and public institutions are involved.  I salute reporter Ben Mook for his work on this and other topics. Current has emerged from years of sleepwalking to become a vital mirror and conscientious voice about how public media operates.

Last April we reported on salaries for public and religious broadcasters [link]. That post went viral – over 4,000 page views so far. I reported some of the same salaries but Current’s list is larger. 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CURRENT LIST

This is an abridged version.  You can see the complete  list (81 names)  at [link]:

ST
STATION
MARKET
EXECUTIVE
NAME
AMOUNT
TAX YEAR
AZ
KJZZ
Phoenix
Jim Paluzzi
$141,466
2014
CA
KCET-TV
Los Angeles
Al Jerome
$186,916
2013
CA
KCRW
Los Angeles
Jennifer Ferro
$311,523
2013
CA
KDFC
San Francisco
Bill Lueth
$255,852
2013
CA
KUSC
Los Angeles
Brenda Barnes
$226,012
2013
CA
KPCC
Los Angeles
Bill Davis
$441,535
2013
CA
KSJV
Fresno
Hugo Morales
$125,925
2013
CO
KCFR
Denver
Max Wycisk
$234,057
2012
MI
WUOM
Ann Arbor
Steve Schram
$229,500
2014
MO
KWMU
St. Louis
Tim Eby
$140,709
2013
NC
WUNC
Chapel Hill
Connie Walker
$150,014
2014
NY
WNYC
New York
Laura Walker
$790,115
2013
NY
WPPB
Long Island
Wally Smith
$36,000
2013
OR
KOPB
Portland
Steve Bass
$394,921
2013
PA
WXPN
Philadelphia
Roger LaMay
$234,000
2013
PA
WYEP
Pittsburgh
Abby Goldstein
$112,166
2013
PA
WHYY TV/FM
Philadelphia
William Marrazzo
$580,080
2013
WA
KPLU
Tacoma
Joey Cohn
$125,000
2014
WA
KEXP
Seattle
Tom Mara
$197,232
2013

Thursday, November 19, 2015

PACIFICA CONSIDERING BANKRUPTCY


The Daily Californian is reporting [link] that the Board of Directors of the Pacifica Foundation met in a closed-door session on Thursday 11/12 to discuss plans to deal with a likely default. The Board asked its attorneys to present scenarios for debt reorganization including voluntary bankruptcy. 

The Board also asked the lawyers for sources of quick cash such as selling of the Berkeley office — which serves as the national office — and the sale of broadcasting rights for programming in Pacifica’s archives.

Pacifica’s debts exceed $3,000,000.  Pacifica distributed this summary chart, which I cannot verify is accurate, earlier this year: 



Keep in mind that these debts are only for Pacifica’s national organization.  It does not include the debts of individual stations.

Other recent developments include:

• According to Board meeting notes, every Pacifica station, with the exception of KPFA, Berkeley, is loosing money and requires financial support from the national organization. KPFA has also lent other stations hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2015.
• A nasty and litigious fight has broken out between the Pacifica’s national office and local stations over the fate of a $400,000 bequest made in February 2015.

• KPFK, Los Angeles, laid off employees and cut pay for remaining staff by 50% earlier this fall.

• WBAI, New York, owes the owners of the Empire State Building over a million dollars for its transmitter site. The past due rent payments may jeopardize WBAI’s plan to move its transmitter to the new World Trade Center.

• Pacifica is being audited by the California Attorney General. The AG’s office cites numerous discrepancies and the failure to provide required financial reports.
LEASING WBAI BEING DISCUSSED AGAIN
One money making scheme being discussed is to lease WBAI’s signal.  Because 99.5 FM is a commercial frequency leasing to a for-profit company might be an option.

Pacifica distributed a Request for Proposals to lease WBAI in 2013.  The response was tepid because the proposed lease stipulated that Pacifica would continue to approve programming on the station. The only serious proposals came from WFMU’s Ken Freedman and former Pacifica Executive Director Dan Coughlin.

PACIFICA’S FATAL FLAW: FAILED GOVERNANCE

The defenders of Pacifica say everything is a conspiracy against them. But these are self-inflicted wounds. Community broadcasters should know that stations who use the Pacifica model of governance are doomed to the same shameful fate as Pacifica today.

A comment on a KPFK listener blog sums it up nicely:

The very simple truth is that this is an institution that long ago ceased to matter to anyone or anything other than itself, which outlived itself and continues to exist, barely, as a refuge for its staffers from the real world, a zombie refuge of sorts – and no one cares, or listens, with good reason.

[Pacifica] came to define itself simply as a voice of political advocacy. Listenership dropped. Its advocacy became more strident. Listenership dropped further. Quack health cures came to be used as fund-raising ‘premiums’ in what was clearly infomercial snake-oil fashion.


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

ON THE AUCTION BLOCK: THE MOST EXPENSIVE FM TRANSLATOR IN THE NATION


If you need proof that there is a gold rush in FM translators consider the pending auction of W248CG FM 97.5, Jersey City, NJ. Industry speculation puts the value north of $5,000,000.  The most paid for an FM translator to date is $3.5 million for W292DV – 106.3 FM broadcasting from the heart of Manhattan sold for $3,500,000 in December 2014.

Manhattan is also the target coverage area for W248CG FM 97.5:


 
101 Hudson Building
 The transmitter is licensed to broadcast at 110-watts from the 101 Hudson Building, until recently the tallest building in New Jersey. According to the online auction company [link], the 97.5 signal covers more than four million potential listeners in Manhattan, Brooklyn and several suburban counties west of the Hudson River.

"THE LAST NYC OPPORTUNITY"
Promotion from the auction company says 97.5 is “the last opportunity for a substantial new commercial or noncommercial FM translator in the New York market…a unique opportunity to add an important voice by enhancing an HD2, HD3 or HD4 signal from any New York FM station, or to repeat any of a number of NYC market AM stations.”
A [link] is provided listing the NYC commercial, noncommercial, AM and FM stations that can be repeated on 97.5. According to local reports, 97.5 began repeating WFUV on October 14, 2015.
Chuck Singleton, GM of WFUV commented: “We don't own it, Ken. We authorized the owner, Ted Schober, to simulcast FUV for the short term.”
Bidding on 97.5 will open on November 30, 2015 and last for two weeks. Buyers must pay an additional 4% the auction company.  The FCC must also approve the sale.
THE GOLD RUSH WINNERS: TED & CAROL SCHOBER

The mastermind and owner of W248CG FM 97.5 is City Commons, LLC [link], operated by New Jersey contract engineer Edward (“Ted”) Schober and his wife Carol Schober. According to the City Commons website, the mission of the company is: to engage and inform people about what is important to them where they are, and whoever they are.

Ted Schober is a consulting engineer with little broadcasting experience. According to his bio [link], most of his previous work has been with the military and local governments.

Schober applied for the translator in 2014 and the FCC granted it in October 2015. 


UNUSUAL CONTRACT CAVEAT

I love to read fine-print contractual caveats and this one has a doozy. The lease agreement with the owner of the 101 Hudson Building requires the translator to decrease power or suspend operations if people will be entering the penthouse roof and might venture within 2 meters of the W248CG antenna.

101 Hudson Building Penthouse




Tuesday, November 17, 2015

WHAT IS THE FATE OF KPLU’S TRANSLATORS AFTER THE SALE TO KUOW?


Respected media consultant and reporter Tom Taylor [link] has been providing excellent coverage of the sale of KPLU to KUOW. He brought up an important question about the sale: What is the fate of KLPU’s 7 FM translators and 11 repeaters?
KUOW FREQUENCIES

KUOW has three translators and repeaters itself but it will likely take advantage of the superior coverage provided by some of KPLU’s signals. KUOW GM Caryn Mathes told the Seattle weekly paper The Stranger:

“We'll put the content that was on KUOW-FM/94.9…we'll now spread that out and put it on some of those 11 frequencies that KPLU has. We'll take their 11, our three, and look at the map and reapportion what content goes on which of those fifteen, and try to get full service to everybody in the area.”
KPLU FREQUENCIES

KUOW’s new excess of FM translators creates the possibility that some signals may be leased or sold to commercial broadcasters for considerable financial gain. FM translators can repeat either commercial and noncom stations. This might create a windfall for KUOW.

TRANSLATOR VALUE CASE STUDY: K-BUD IN DENVER

We have been reporting on Denver’s pot-rock station K-BUD FM/AM and the recent sale of FM signal, an FM translator at 94.1 to iHeartMedia for $950,000. Marco Broadcasting, owners of K-BUD held the license for only six months.  They are walking away with over $100,000 in cash.

Noncommercial broadcasters should be aware that 94.1 began as a noncom repeater.  Along the way speculators changed it to a commercial repeater. Because the demand for FM signals is so great, and sale prices are so high, it is tempting for other noncom translator owners to cash in now while demand is hot.  Here is the timeline of translator K231BQ.

• MARCH 2004

FCC grants a Construction Permit to Douglas Johnson from Colorado Springs for K231BQ to repeat noncommercial KTLF-FM on 92.1 FM serving Estes Park, Colorado.

• 2004 – 2014

Operated as a noncommercial translator for KTLF.

• FEBRUARY 2014

Sold to for-profit broadcaster Victor Michael for $550,000. Michael also owns KDCO-AM, Golden.

• MARCH 2014

Victor Michael granted change of city of license to Golden, Colorado with a new frequency (94.1) and new coverage area including metro Denver.

• APRIL 2015

Victor Michael sells 94.1 (K231BQ) and 1550 AM to Marc Paskin d/b/a Marco Broadcasting for $850,000. Then, K-BUD debuts as Denver’s first pot-rock station.

OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 2015

Marco Broadcasting sells 94.1 to iHeartMedia for $950,000. 94.1 now repeats KOA-FM.

• Marco Broadcasting sells 1550 AM to Chuck Lontine, a retired Denver investment banker and broadcasting entrepreneur, for $25,000. Lontine will repeat 1550 AM programming on FM translator K245AD which will become 96.9 The Cloud [link] in early 2016.