bury the lede

Chelli Leaving Inside INdiana Business

Ryan Chelli, director of interactive media and market development for Inside INdiana Business, is leaving to take a position with the Community Health Network Foundation. He writes:

"An incredible opportunity was presented to me, and I have accepted a new position with the Community Health Network Foundation to serve as the Director of Marketing and Philanthropic Communications. As a member of the senior leadership team, I will help create and implement strategic marketing and eBusiness programs that will increase philanthropic support for the Community Health Network Foundation and position it as the region's premier healthcare foundation.

"For 4.5 wonderful years, I have had the honor to work with Gerry Dick and his highly-talented team. I have been privileged to be a part of a well-respected company that has changed the way Indiana business news is generated and distributed. I'll miss working with those of you who have assisted in making the organization successful and making my job unbelievably enjoyable. This was a difficult decision to make, and I leave the company with wonderful friendships with Gerry and my co-workers, who will ensure your needs are met during my transition.

"My last day at Inside INdiana Business will be January 4th, and I will assume my new responsibilities with the Community Health Network Foundation on January 14th."

Kravitz To Start WIBC Gig Next Month

Rumor confirmed:

"Bob Kravitz has spent seven years as The Star's sports columnist, doing occasional radio appearances and offering opinions on WTHR-13, the newspaper's newsgathering partner. Starting next month, his schedule will get busier.

"Beginning Jan. 7, when WIBC launches WFNI-1070 AM -- which will be known as '1070 The Fan' -- Kravitz will co-host a sports talk show from 3-6 p.m. each weekday.

"Kravitz's duties at The Star will be unchanged.

"His radio co-host will be Eddie White, a former vice president of Team Properties and Sports Marketing for the Adidas group.

"'Nobody has more connections in the sports world than Eddie, and nobody has more opinions about local and national sports than I do,' Kravitz said."

Rob Schneider Leaving The Star

Veteran Indy Star reporter Rob Schneider is heading out after 33 years at the paper:

Joyce Rickards
12/18/2007 04:18 PM
To: StarNewsroom
Subject: Fw: Announcement An announcement from Pam Fine:   

Rob Schneider is bidding the Star farewell after 33 years. Rob, who everyone knows as a wonderful writer and human being has decided it's time to walk through some new corridors on the way to his desk. He will be working for the IU School of Social Work penning stories about students, profs and alums for a variety of school-related publications. Rob started at the Star as a police reporter, which was de rigeur for all young reporters, and worked his way through a variety of beats. He's covered a huge number of important stories for the paper including everything from Hurricane Andrew to the death of Julia Carson. Please join me in wishing Rob well. He's finishing out his notice while on vacation, at his request, but we'll figure out how to fete him so he gets our well wishes in person... --Pam

FCC Overturns Ownership Ban

Let the ownership fun begin:

"The Federal Communications Commission in a party-line, 3-2 vote, agreed today to overturn a 32-year-old ban and allow broadcasters in the nation's 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper.

"FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was joined by his two Republican colleagues in favor of the proposal, while the commission's two Democrats voted against it.

"Martin pushed the vote through despite intense pressure from House and Senate members on Capitol Hill to delay it. The chairman, however, has the support of the White House, which has pledged to turn back any congressional action that seeks to undo the agency vote."

The Best Snow Shot Ever

There's snow on the way this weekend.

This is obviously a big deal in the media world, even though it happens every winter, and the stories are always the same. We've got snow plows! School closings! Sledding kids! Last-minute grocery shopping!

All that aside, someone recently told yours truly that there are certain spots around town to which television photographers race to stake out the best footage of blowing and drifting white stuff.

Inquiring minds would love to know the best destinations.

Congrats Are In Order!

Indiana Daily Insight reports some exciting news for a former Indiana journalist who's now an investigative producer at CNN:

"A Hoosier was responsible for a financial and business reporting Emmy Award bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences this week on CNN for 'Outstanding Coverage of a Current Business News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast.' CNN was recognized for 'Keeping Them Honest: Hidden Spending,' a report which appeared during Anderson Cooper 360' that examined the more 32,000+ requests for congressional earmarks placed by House and Senate members this year. The Academy cited investigative correspondent Drew Griffin and senior investigative producer Kathleen Johnston, the latter a former WTHR-TV investigative producer and city-county reporter (back in the day!) for the Indianapolis News."

This Thread Is Open For Business

Someone asked for it, so here it is: an open thread for you to talk about whatever media-related things are on your mind.

If you'd feel more comfortable passing something along via e-mail, you can always contact yours truly at burythelede@yahoo.com.

Enjoy!

Market Share

In his column this morning, the Star's John Ketzenberger offers this take on the state of affairs at Emmis Communications -- and across the radio industry -- right now:

"The slumping share price is the key factor in any outcome. Emmis isn't alone -- all radio station operators are struggling.

"News that a new way of measuring audience may hit stations with an urban format such as Emmis especially hard. Emmis has the leading urban stations in New York and Los Angeles.

"But Emmis shares are so low that one analyst privately marveled that the entire company's stock market value is likely much less than the value of its urban-format New York station. It's hard to finance a stock buyback when the collateral -- stock -- is so low. Smulyan need look no further than attempts to take radio chains Clear Channel and Cumulus private for examples.

"If the radio market doesn't improve -- and there are scant signs that is about to happen -- it's likely Emmis will look much different at this time next year."

WKLU Changes Its Tunes

UPDATE: The Star's David Lindquist fills in some of the details on the WKLU format switch here.

"'Oldies 101.9' debuted Tuesday with mainstream hits from the 1960s and 1970s. Station owner Russ Oasis says listeners will hear an assortment of songs from acts such as the Beatles, Eagles, Supremes and Fleetwood Mac.

"Oasis attracted attention on the local radio scene when he paid $6.2 million for WKLU in 2004 and debuted its classic rock format with no commercial interruptions.

"'We did so well out of the box that everybody in the world jumped in after us -- splitting that pie,' Oasis says.

"Conceding that WFBQ-FM (94.7) has been the dominant local station in classic rock for decades, Oasis says a 2006 tweaking of WJJK-FM (104.5) from its multi-format 'Jack' concept to classic-rock 'Jack' hurt WKLU.

"'It's been eating away at us,' Oasis said. 'We've gone from No. 3 among listeners ages 25 to 54 to around 10th among listeners 25 to 54. That's what caused us to make the change.'

"WKLU presently stops music once an hour for a commercial break, and Oasis says two breaks per hour is a future possibility."

More news from the radio world: The fiercely anti-corporate folks over at WKLU (101.9 FM) abruptly changed the station's format this morning from classic rock hits to hits of the '60s and '70s. There's clearly some overlap between the two eras, but some artists and genres have gone missing.

By one insider's count, that's four formatting/station moves this quarter, not counting the impending frequency flip at WIBC.

Kravitz To Host Sports Talk On WIBC?

Rumor has it that the next host of afternoon sports talk on WIBC will be a familiar and popular local name: the Indy Star's Bob Kravitz. The show will start in January.

Word on the street is that the station will promote Kravitz and the show as doing "sports talk the right way for the first time ever in Indianapolis."

Them's fighting words. Your thoughts?