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ftm Radio Page - January 8, 2010

Local Media Groans and Adapts
Radio Subasio Local media gets short changed in almost every way. Advertisers and other funders ignore them. Politicians and measurement services can’t find them. Odd, though, audiences get excited about them.

 

 

 

 

Follow the bouncing show host
There’s always the satellite

BBC talk show host Jonathan Ross has left the building. His days as BBC radio and TV entertainer are over, he announced, via the Press Association.

There was much doubt Ross found himself in difficult contract negotiations. Reportedly the BBC’s highest paid at nearly £6 million a year, he has been dancing with fate since the infamous ‘Sachsgate’ incident. (See background here) Ross took a short suspension and his partner in the radio show Russell Brand left the country.

BBC critics aimed at Ross and every other on-air personality for their occasional antics and huge pay deals. Contractually unable to deflect the lightening bolts, General Director Mark Thompson may have been quite willing to sacrifice Ross, who clearly had the support of a particular audience. Ross’s PR agent floated a story a few days earlier that he’d take less money. In today’s statement Ross said money wasn’t the issue. That’s probably true;  the BBC hadn’t even started contract talks.

Ross will find a broadcast home, most UK media observers agree. He’s been a hot property and bidding will be interesting, to say the least. Any deal with commercial broadcasters – yes, expect more than one – will likely require more hours for healthy compensation. But he’s also more than 20 years in the spotlight.

In some respects, Jonathan Ross is as close as possible to being the UK’s answer (oh, my) to the original American shock-jock Howard Stern. Moments of brilliance, which everybody remembers, are easily eclipsed by years of puerile tastelessness.

Howard (How-Weird), once the darling of New York radio, took a deal for US$100 million a year to ply his trade on satellite radio. That contract, too, is about to expire at a time when broadcast CEO’s only pay that kind of money to themselves. And nobody talks about Howard any more, a fate worse than death. So it’s up (literally) to the man with the satellite covering the UK. Ross jumped, alright; probably into thin air. (JMH)

Political network subsidy renewed
Less is, well, better than nothing

News radio network channel Radio Radicale will continue to benefit from an Italian government subsidy, reports giornaleradio (January 7). The channel faced dire consequences when the previous agreement expired in December.

Radio Radicale is and has been unique in the Italian media landscape, a full-time, independently financed political news channel. Based in Rome, the channel can be heard throughout much of Italy. (See previous article on local radio in Rome)

The agreement reached with the Italian Ministry of Economic Development provides €9.9 million a year for two years. The previous subsidy gave the channel €10 million per year for three years. (JMH)

Hungarian license renewal ruled ‘unlawful’
Winner takes nothing

A Budapest Municipal Court ruled “unlawful” the controversial national radio license tender that stripped two long-standing broadcasters of licenses. (January 5).  The result, however, remains unclear. The Court also refused to take away the licenses awarded in the contested tender.

Danubius Radio owner Accession Mezzanine Capital brought the case before the Budapest Municipal Court against Hungarian media regulator ORTT. Danubius Radio’s national radio license was not renewed in favor of a politically connected applicant, which the litigant claimed was, under current license requirements, unqualified. The Court also suggested in its oral decision that ORTT board members aligned with two political parties should have abstained from participating in the licensing decision. Slager Radio, owned by Emmis International, will have their day in the same court-room in two weeks. (see earlier report here)

Among Hungarian media observers there is universal agreement that neither Danubius Radio nor Slager Radio will return to the airwaves, legal jeopardy for the succeeding applicants being overwhelming. More likely is a compensation award, in effect paid by Hungarian taxpayers, to be determined under appeal. (JMH)

Radio host murdered in shootout
Wouldn’t stop writing

Bullets finally took the life of controversial radio show host and journalist Bobby (Boris) Tsankov in front of his lawyer’s office in Sofia. (January 5). Police say two men opened fire on Tsankov, his lawyer and a bodyguard. Tsankov was struck several times and died on the scene.

Apparently the bodyguard got off several shots because hours later two men appeared at a Sofia hospital with gunshot wounds. The lawyer and bodyguard were also shot. The shooting took place about 1230 local time. By late afternoon several reputedly well-known crime figures had been arrested.

Last November Tsankov was confronted by local drug-dealer Stefan Bonev, also known as The Jacket, according to Darik News. Bonev warned Tsankov to “stop writing” about a local mobster. Bonev was arrested but later released.

Tsankov was 31 years old. Over the years he appeared on Radio +, Radio 7 and others. He recently wrote a ‘tell-all’ book about the Bulgarian underworld. He survived a bombing in 2006 and a shooting in 2004.

Tsankov's exploits - colorful, to say the least - would make a great movie if somebody were brave enough to write it. (JMH)

 

 

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