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RAIN 3/16: BIA/Kelsey reports $439 million in local radio online revenue for 2011

Media analyst predicts continued steady growth for local radio, TV in 2012
Paul Maloney
March 16, 2012 - 12:00pm

BIA/Kelsey says today that local radio 2011 online revenue was up more than 15%, to $439 million (for comparison, local television's online revenues grew even more). And they're predicting "a steady year of online growth" for local radio and television alike.

The data will appear in BIA/Kelsey's new Investing In Television and Investing In Radio publications. BIA/Kelsey credits local media's "assets" ("from valuable local content, to cross-promotional opportunities between on and off-air, and a trained sales staff that understands the local market and the advertiser community") which enable stations to "expand their position in their local markets from solely an over-the-air media source to a local media company that can provide access to local audiences in different, effective ways for their advertiser clients."

Read the company's press release here.

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Executives from Cox, Pandora, Triton, Stitcher to appear at RAIN Vegas conference
Michael Schmitt
March 16, 2012 - 12:00pm

Doug SterneRAIN Summit West 2012's roster is now made up of more than 35 industry experts and today we're delighted to announce four more, including executives from Pandora, Cox Media Group, Stitcher and Triton Digital.

Pandora VP of Audio Sales Doug Sterne (pictured right) will speak as part of our "How Many, How Much?" panel. In addition to driving audio sales at Pandora, Sterne is in charge of the Pandora Audio Lab, a testing ground for optimizing audio creative and determining best practices for optimizing advertiser results. Before joining Pandora, Sterne was VP of Sales at Clear Channel Online Music and Radio and VP of Infinity Radio (CBS).

Sandhi KozsuchJoining the "Connected Dashboard" discussion is Sandhi Kozsuch (pictured left), Director of Strategic Industry Initiatives for Cox Media Group. He leads the company’s development of Mobile DTV, IPTV/OTT, and Digital Radio Datacasting. Kozsuch also serves on the Board and Executive Committee of Pearl LLC, and is the Chairman of the Pearl Technology Committee.

Noah ShanokRAIN Summit West 2012 will also feature Noah Shanok (pictured right), CEO and co-founder of Stitcher (a service that's like Pandora for news and talk radio). Shanok will speak as part of the "Innovating the News/Talk Format Online" panel. He was also the founding VP of Sales for StubHub, an online ticket marketplace that sold to eBay in January 2007.

Mike BeckerMike Becker (pictured left), Triton Digital's COO of Applications & Services Division, will join the panel "It's Who You Know." Becker has over 17 years of experience in technology and marketing. Prior to joining Triton, he was a founder and COO of Enticent, a leading SaaS provider of loyalty marketing and audience relationship management tools for media companies.

Other speakers set to appear at RAIN Summit West 2012 include DAR.fm's Michael Roberston, Spotify's Jon Mitchell, TAG Strategic's Ted Cohen and many others. ESPN SVP of Production/Business Divisions Traug Keller will keynote the conference.

RAIN Summit West 2012RAIN Summit West will take place on Sunday, April 15 at the former Las Vegas Hilton, now called the LVH -- Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. It will conclude with the always-anticipated tradition of the poolside RAIN Reader Cocktail Party.

The Summit is an official “Co-Located Education Program” of the NAB Show. Registration includes access to the NAB Show Exhibit Hall and a catered box lunch. RAIN registrants can save $100 on NAB/RAB Radio Show registration.

For registration and sponsorship information, visit kurthanson.com/rainsummitwest.

Other RAIN Summits are planned for later this year in Dallas (at the RAB/NAB Radio Show) on September 18th, in Minneapolis (at the Conclave) on July 20, and in Berlin, Germany on October 5th.

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Internet and telecommunications giant Bell Canada buys Astral Media for $3.38 billion
Michael Schmitt
March 16, 2012 - 12:00pm

AstralBell Canada -- the provider of Internet, mobile phone, TV and home phone services -- has acquired Astra Media for $3.38 billion (Canadian dollars).

In February Astral launched a new on-demand web music service, offering "niche format channels" and "personalized streaming music" (more coverage here).

Astral is also Canada's largest radio company, controlling 84 stations in 50 markets. Bell owns 33 stations. Radio Intelligence has more coverage here.

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Limbaugh takes to Twitter to "mobilize army"
Paul Maloney
March 16, 2012 - 12:00pm

Radio talker Rush Limbaugh announced during his show yesterday that he's begun actively Tweeting as a way to counter what his partisans characterize as attacks by groups looking to discourage companies from advertising on his show.

He said yesterday (as Politico reports), "there’s an army out there that wants to be mobilized, and so, I figured, use Twitter for it. I’m just going to put some things on Twitter that you can help us circulate. It’s that simple you just retweet them.”

A staff writer at The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf, warns that speaking to the Twitterverse is quite different than being on the radio: "Stripped of the ideological bubble that helps protect him, the medium at which he most excels, and the inhibitions that people seem to lack most on Twitter, I am convinced that Limbaugh's worst ideas will lose even more than is now the case."

Read Politico here; and The Atlantic here.

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