R&R Convention 2001 Pulls Out All The Stops!

By Ron Rodrigues
R&R Editor-In-Chief

Neither the challenges of consolidation nor an uncertain economy were enough to deter more than 2,000 radio and record professionals from gathering in Los Angeles last week to see a former President, a couple of comeback superstar rockers and a host of other marquee celebrities at R&R Convention 2001. The convention’s agenda served as a unique bridge between the generations of professionals who showed up. Witness The Guess Who — originators of Lenny Kravitz’s biggest hit, “American Woman” — sounding as if it were 1970 all over again when they performed at an opening-night showcase. And there was Rick Dees — the CHR morning fixture who began his KIIS/Los Angeles tenure two decades ago.

But the star attraction was the 42nd President of the United States. The Century Plaza ballroom was packed with an SRO crowd of 1,800 to hear Bill Clinton thank the radio industry for entertaining him as a youth and helping him win presidential elections.

Clinton’s wide-ranging address included remarks about the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996 that overhauled the radio industry and a variety of other issues, focusing mostly on the United States’ role in the modern world.

Clinton’s speech was flanked by performances by Shelby Lynne and Stevie Nicks. Nicks’ appearance sparked a memorable moment: When R&R Publisher/CEO Erica Farber led a Q&A with Clinton, she noted that Clinton was a big Fleetwood Mac fan and asked, “When were you first exposed to Stevie Nicks?” The audience responded to the double entendre with a rumble of laughs. Clinton protested, “I’ve never been exposed to Stevie Nicks!” The comment was received with wild applause.



‘Radio Is A Community Institution’
Former President Clinton brings convention
crowd to it feet

By Joe Howard
R&R Washington Bureau
jhoward@rronline.com

A raucous standing ovation greeted former President William Jefferson Clinton as he strode onstage to deliver the keynote address at R&R Convention 2001, proving that interest in him hasn't waned since he left the White House. Clinton lived up to the enthusiastic reception by touching on subjects important to the crowd, delivering a speech that included stories of how radio played a vital role in his life from childhood through his political career, including his presidency.

Once the initial reception quieted, a voice from the audience cried out to Clinton, "We miss you," leading to laughter and yet another ovation. Early in his address, Clinton reached out to the crowd by describing how his life has changed since his presidency ended. "I don't get my news from top-secret CIA briefings anymore," he said. "I have to listen to the radio." That statement, of course, prompted even more applause.

Clinton described radio as "a community institution" and talked of how it played an important role in his life from early on. Clinton listed Lum & Abner and Harry Caray as his favorite radio personalities as a child, adding that he listened to Caray broadcasting baseball games while doing his homework.

Clinton said radio also played an important role in his early political career, as he often visited stations to answer listeners' questions. "I don't know how I would have begun my political career if it hadn't been for radio. I would travel around from small town to small town in Arkansas and always go in the radio station and have a conversation with whoever was running the programming that day. Very often we'd let people call in. There were always a lot of people who called in. I would get supported and attacked. It was really an instrument of community debate."

Clinton also spoke of the weekly radio addresses he delivered during his two presidential terms, speaking specifically about his last. "Over eight years, every Saturday, I was able to go on the radio and talk to Americans about the great crises and challenges and opportunities and crimes and tragedies that we faced. This year, the day appointed for the inauguration of a new president fell on a Saturday, and that meant I got to deliver one last radio address" — a fact he said gave him "one big dose of good cheer."

When it comes to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, however, the democrat's outlook is different. Clinton admitted to having "mixed feelings" about the Act, which passed during his tenure as President. "I felt it would do more good than harm, so I signed it," Clinton said of the controversial Act, but added he has misgivings about the level of consolidation it has caused. "There's been a little more consolidation than some us wanted when we were fighting for the bill."

While he acknowledged that multiple ownership in markets makes it easier to sell ad packages targeting different demographics, he said the effect of deregulation in radio markets offers "unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, economic incentives for big companies to buy up local stations."

Despite his feelings about the level of consolidation, he believes radio stations still do a good job of taking care of their listeners. "It's obvious to me that many of them, whether they are individually owned or owned by conglomerates, still work diligently to serve communities."

Achievement Awards

Access Hollywood’s Pat O’Brien and Nancy O’Dell were on hand to present the fourth annual R&R Industry Achievement Awards in the National categories. Infinity’s John Gehron was honored as Group Executive Of The Year, beating out such notables as Entercom’s David Field, Radio One’s Alfred Liggins, Clear Channel’s Randy Michaels, Emmis’ Doyle Rose and Citadel’s Larry Wilson. The awards are voted on by R&R’s subscribers and the ballots are counted by the certified public accounting firm Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co. Complete list of Winners

National Station of the Year awards were awarded to KROQ/Los Angeles (markets 1-25), KISS/San Antonio (26-100) and WPST/Trenton, NJ (101+), while National GM of the Year honors were bestowed upon Emmis/New York’s Judy Ellis (1-25), Infinity/Hartford’s Suzanne McDonald (26-100) and Clear Channel/Corvallis & Albany, OR (101+). Other national awards were given to Howard Stern for Syndicated Personality/Show of the Year — Stern has won this award every year it has been presented — and KROQ/L.A.’s Amy Stevens for Marketing/Promotion Director of the Year.

On the record side, DreamWorks’ nine awards were the most won by any label inone year in the history of the awards. The label won the Gold Label of the Year categories in formats as diverse as Urban, CHR, Rock and Alternative. In the Platinum category, Interscope/Geffen/A&M picked up eight awards, including BrendaRomano’s honor as Senior Promotion Executive of the Year. (R&R designates labels owned by the entertainment conglomerates as “Platinum” and the rest as “Gold.”



PPM Update

Arbitron VP/Radio Programming Services Bob Michaels revealed at a Saturday session that the company intends to roll out the Portable People Meter in the top 100 DMAs within the next 10 years. Michaels stressed that Arbitron will let the industry decide the actual pace of the rollout, and that in any economy a long-term schedule is subject to change. When asked about PPM usage in smaller markets, Michaels told R&R, “The diary, we think, is working very well now. What we do in smaller markets, where it’s working now, is another issue.” He said the cost of PPM installation, the desire of national advertisers to reach small markets and the effectiveness of the current ratings system are key issues that will ultimately determine whether smaller markets will receive the PPM.

Michaels also revealed the music-testing capabilities of the PPM. He showed data that could perhaps replace current methods of analyzing listener preferences on a track-by-track basis.



LIFEbeat Beat

KROQ/Los Angeles VP/Programming Kevin Weatherly was the special guest Thursday when industry organization LIFEbeat held its annual breakfast, for the first time at R&R Convention 2001. The event raised more than $100,000 for LIFEbeat’s aggressive efforts to fight AIDS, which Weatherly pointed out was first discovered by a doctor 20 years ago.

Weatherly complemented his speech with video footage of his visit to the Carl Bean House, a facility for people living with AIDS, and urged attendees to get involved in helping raise public awareness of the illness since the number of infections continues to escalate. R&R’s Farber and Universal Records Sr. VP/Rhythmic Promotion Valerie DeLong co-chaired the event.

Later in the day Jacobs Media held its Alternative & Rock Summit. Sharon Lee, co-President of market researcher Look-Look.com, revealed the reasons why radio is not a coveted brand to the 14-30 demo: formats that are “incongruous” with the demo’s musical tastes; predictable music; uninspiring DJs; and lack of attractive destination programs. Company research found radio ranked a distant second to word-of-mouth — 32.5% to 19.4% — when it came to 14-30- year-olds learning about new music.

Even more startling was the finding about the demo’s favorite kinds of stations. Topping the list was “Don’t listen to radio/no good stations” (17.8%), followed by Alternative/Modern Rock (17%), Hip Hop/Rap (15.2%) and Top 40/Pop (9.1%). Lee countered that there is “a huge opportunity for the industry” despite such feelings toward radio, citing radio’s powerful distribution and relatively high scores when it came to influencing music consumption.



Nothing But ‘Net

“To stream or not to stream?” was the question debated at a similarly titled Thursday session. But the answer wasn’t that simple. “For a freelance performer, exposure is how they get paid,” AFTRA’s Mathis Dunn said. The union wants the talent who voice commercials to get paid extra when their ads are streamed, but attorney David Helfant pointed out, “This issue is not so much howmuch the rate will be, but if there will be one.”

Clear Channel Interactive Kevin Mayer said that broadcasters first have to determine if there is a business in streaming. “We need to make money,” he noted. “A lot of people had unrealistic expectations of how this business would unfold.”

The consensus at a separate Internet session, “Using Your Website to Create Listener Loyalty,” was that radio station websites should be run like the radio stations they represent. According to Clear Channel Interactive’s John Duncan, the first step in attracting web users is to “know who they are and turn every stone possible to communicate with them.”

LMiV VP/Affiliate Relations Terri Simpson said her company tries to create websites that are “digital media properties” rather than online brochures. “We are creating lifestyle portals that are very rich and very deep in content,” Simpson said. Direct Marketing Results’ Tripp Eldridge stressed the ability to use permission marketing and obtain one’s valid e-mail address as ways to build a station’s marketing database.



‘The Quiet Companies’

Emmis’ Doyle Rose, Bonneville’s Bruce Reese, Journal’s Carl Gardner and Saga’s Steve Goldstein turned out for a Friday afternoon Hot AC session and discussed how their smaller but prominent companies have coped with consolidation. Emmis “really made an effort to keep things the way they were” before the boom, Rose said. Reese echoed that point, saying his company strives to “do the things we used to do and have a healthy bottom line.”

Of how the landscape is developing, Gardner said, “We’re just beginning to see who the companies are, and their true colors will start to emerge.” Saga’s Steve Goldstein stressed the importance of keeping a station’s local focus: “Saga’s focus is on Main Street, not on Wall Street.”

R&R’s July 5 issue will go in-depth on the all of the format sessions, but here are a few points of interest:

• A standing-room-only crowd gathered Friday morning to hear CNN’s Larry King interview legendary KIIS-FM/Los Angeles morning man and Premiere Radio Networks’ syndicated personality Rick Dees.

• CHR held its first ever Rate-A-Record session, while a Rock session went a step further and added a “Rate-A-Wine” event. Meanwhile, Capitol recording artist Dave Navarro, formerly of Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers, was a panelist on the Alternative Rate-A-Record session.

• Legendary songwriter-producer and 14-time Grammy winner David Foster was interviewed by R&R AC Editor Mike Kinosian at a Friday session. While attendees may have expected to hear just Foster, they were treated to surprise visit by Virgin artist Boz Scaggs.

• Original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood, who now hosts afternoons on KXPK/Denver and also stars on United Stations’ Absolutely ’80s show, chatted with Kinosian about the resurgence of ’80s music and the arrival of ’80s stations. But she dismissed the notion of making a comeback as a VJ: “I’ve outgrown that.”


CONVENTION PHOTOGRAPHY BY LESTER COHEN AND ELON SCHOENHOLZ