CYNTHIA TURNER’S
CYNOPSIS

04/09/04

Good morning.  It’s Friday, April 9, 2004, and this is your first early morning briefing. 

The FCC has proposed a $495,000 fine against Clear Channel for “apparently willfully broadcasting indecent material” on an edition of The Howard Stern Stern show last April.  That accounts for 18 separate violations at $27,500 each. (Perhaps a good thing they were fined now, and not later should the $500,000 per violation bill is passed). In statement from John Hogan, President/CEO, Clear Channel:  “Mr. Stern’s show has created a great liability for us and other broadcasters who air it.  The Congress and the FCC are even beginning to look at revoking station licenses. That’s a risk we’re just not willing to take.”  Clear Channel also announced its decision to take Stern’s show off the air permanently on six of its stations: WBGG-GM/Ft. Lauderdale; WTKS-FM/Cocoa Beach, FL; WTFX-FM/Louisville; WNVE-FM/Honeoye Falls, NY; KIOZ-FM/San Diego; and WXDX-FM/Pittsburgh.  Additionally, the FCC has initiated an investigation that could result in further fines being thrown at Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting Corp. In support of the FCC proposal, Commission Michael Copps said in a statement, “Today’s decision is a step forward towards imposing meaningful fines.  For the first time, the Commission assesses a fine against more than a single utterance, rather than counting an entire program as one utterance.  In addition, the Commission makes clear that its indecency enforcement will address not only the station that is the subject of a complaint, but also any other station that aired the same programming.”  On Stern’s website, he issued a statement which reads in part : “This is not a surprise. This is a follow up to the McCarthy type ‘witch hunt’ of the administration and the activities of this group of Presidential appointees in the FCC …. They [the FCC members] are expressing and imposing their opinions and rights to tell us all who and what we may listen to and watch and how governmental interference into our rights and free speech takes place in the US.”  The Howard Stern Show, syndicated by Viacom Inc., is also carried on 18 Infinity Broadcasting stations

Howard Stern isn’t the only one in the hot seat.  Mancow’s Morning Madness airing on WKQX/Chicago, a Emmis Radio License Corporation station, was also nailed with a fine, admittedly less stressful, $14,000. According to the FCC, the radio station “repeatedly aired indecent material” during Mancow’s show.  Emmis argued the complaints received by the FCC about five separate incidents, did not include enough information to support the commission’s findings. Commissioner Copps dissented from this decision, not for the decision to fine, but for the minute amount of the fine he says will be written off as the ‘cost of doing business.’  Commission Copps:  “Our enforcement actions should send a message that licensees cannot ignore their responsibility to serve the public interest and to protect children.  The Commission’s action today fails to do so.”

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of Mar 22-28, 2004 ranked by HH Rtg
Wheel of Fortune (King World)                 8.7 AA  
Jeopardy (King World)                   7.3 AA
Seinfeld (Sony)                         6.3 AA / 7.8 GAA
Oprah (King World)                      6.1 AA / 6.2 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  5.8 AA / 7.0 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    5.2 AA / 5.9 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       4.9 AA / 5.0 GAA
Dr. Phil (King World)                   4.8 AA / 4.9 GAA
Judge Judy (Paramount)          4.8 AA / 7.0 GAA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)  4.0 AA / 5.2 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of Mar 22-28, 2004 ranked by A18-49
Seinfeld (Sony)                         4.3 AA / 5.3 GAA
Friends (Warner Bros.)                  4.0 AA / 4.8 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King World)    2.8 AA / 3.1 GAA
That 70’s Show (Carsey-Werner)  2.8 AA / 3.8 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King World)           2.7 AA
Oprah (King World)                      2.5 AA / 2.5 GAA
Entertainment Tonight (Paramount)       2.3 AA / 2.3 GAA
Jeopardy (King World)                   2.3 AA
King of the Hill (20th)                 2.1 AA / 2.3 GAA
Will & Grace (Warner Bros.)             2.0 AA / 2.4 GAA
Source Nielsen Media Research

Fox did it again on Wednesday – another check in the win column.  For the night Fox drew a 7.7/22 A18-49 according to Nielsen Media Research – far and away ahead of #2 ABC 4.2/12, as well as NBC 3.3/9, CBS 2.7/7, WB 1.1/3, UPN 0.8/2.  At 8pm American Idol was again huge with a 8.6/27 (10.8/35 W18-34), more than tripling the demo share of the closest competitor (ABC 2.4/8).  At 9p Fox’s debut of its newest reality series The Swan took center stage with a 6.8/18.  At the same hour, ABC debuted its newest The Bachelor which in its first hour delivered a 4.2/11, climbing to a 6.0/16 winning the 10p hour. CBS and NBC each delivered a 9 share from 9-10p.  At 10pm following The Bachelor was a repeat of Law & Order (4.5/12) and 48 Hours (2.9/8).

Peter Bogdanovich will direct Hustle, ESPN‘s next original movie based on the findings of Major League Baseball’s Dowd Report chronicling the gambling life of Pete Rose during the mid-to-late 1980s.  Hustle will begin filming on May 17th in Toronto and will premiere Sept. 25th at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week of Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2004
UNIV    Mariana de la Noche (Tue 8p)            21.0 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Mariana de la Noche (Mon 8p)            19.9 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Mariana de la Noche (Wed 8p)            19.0 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Amar Otra Vez (Tue 7p)                  18.4 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV    Mariana de la Noche (Thu 8p)            18.3 NHTI HH Rtg
Source  Nielsen Media Research
Note  NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes

Top 5 Broadcast English Language Primetime Programs in Hispanic TV Homes for the week of Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2004
Fox     American Idol (Tue 8p)          8.9 NHTI HH Rtg
Fox     American Idol (Wed 830p)        7.8 NHTI HH Rtg
UPN     WWE Smackdown (Thu 8p)  7.2 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC     Fear Factor (Mon 8p)            6.6 NHTI HH Rtg
Fox     Simpsons (Sun 830p)             6.4 NHTI HH Rtg
Source  Nielsen Media Research
Note  NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes

African American television homes in the US represent 12,870,000 households.  Here are the rankings for the week of  Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2004 – highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
FOX     American Idol (Tue 8p)                  19.3 HH Rtg
UPN     Girlfriends (Mon 9p)                    17.5 HH Rtg
UPN     Half & Half (Mon 930p)                  17.1 HH Rtg
UPN     Eve (Mon 830p)                          15.8 HH Rtg
FOX     American Idol (Wed 830p)                            14.9 HH Rtg
ABC     My Wife & Kids (Wed 8p)                 14.3 HH Rtg
UPN     All of Us       (Tue 8:30p)                     13.7 HH Rtg
CBS     NCAA Basketball Championship (Sat 850p)12.9 HH Rtg
ABC     My Wife & Kids (Wed 830p)               12.6 HH Rtg
CBS     CSI (Thur 9p)                           12.2 HH Rtg
Source Nielsen Media Research

Could be a quite day – many people are out due to the holiday.  So if you find yourself with nothing to do, check out this particularly weird, and oddly disturbing, website from Burger King called The Subservient Chicken.  http://www.subservientchicken.com/ You type in the command, and the chicken does it.

FastChannel Network named Dean McCausland as CFO.  FastChannel Network is a Boston-based asset management company that creates, delivers and manages digital advertising assets through 3 integrated channels, CreativeChannel, TrafficChannel and MediaAssetChannel.

Glenn Adilman has been named VP/Network Development at Sony Pictures Television (SPT). Glenn will share responsibility in developing scripted programming for both comedy and drama for the broadcast network marketplace.  He reports to Jamie Erlicht, SVP/Development, Broadcast Network Programming for SPT.

Lifetime Entertainment Services named Catherine Moran as VP/Marketing.  Catherine is responsible for leading and managing the Lifetime brand across consumer marketing, affiliate distribution and national advertising sales.  She is based in New York.

Wednesday, April 7, 2004. Fast Affiliate Household Ratings for all Networks. Fast affiliate numbers which reflect time period data, not program data, and can change slightly once the finals come in, particularly for LIVE programming (i.e. Football). Source Nielsen Media Research. Time Period Averages Only. [p] = Premiere; [o] = Original; [r] = Repeat

FOX     10.5/17 American Idol 11.9/21, The Swan [p] 9.2/14

NBC     6.8/11  The Apprentice [r] 3.5/6, Law & Order [r] 7.6/12, Law & Order [r] 9.4/15

CBS     6.4/11  60 Minutes II 6.4/11, The King of Queens 6.5/10, The King of Queens 5.9/9, 48 Hours 6.6/11

ABC     6.4/11  My Wife and Kids [r] 4.7/8, My Wife and Kids [r] 4.6/8, The Bachelor [p] 7.3/12

WB      1.9/3   Smallville [r] 1.8/3, Smallville 2.1/3

UPN     1.2/2   Enterprise [r] 1.3/2, Enterprise [r] 1.2/2

A18-49  FOX 7.7/22, ABC 4.2/12, NBC 3.3/9, CBS 2.7/7, WB 1.1/3, UPN 0.8/2

Friday Fun Fact: The shoestring was invented in England in 1790. Prior to this time, all shoes were fastened with buckles. (Boy, you can’t get this kind of stuff just anywhere)

The History Channel presents This Day in History: 
In 1939, more than 75,000 people gather at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, to hear a concert by famed African-American contralto Marian Anderson. The high-profile concert was arranged after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall because she was black.

Answer to yesterday’s Trivia Question:  If you’re looking for the big picture, this is the vehicle for you. It moves along at 35 mph, and has been around since 1925.   It’s been seen by literally billions of people on TV over the years, and is always fun to see in person, though a little high-falutin’ for my taste.  What vehicle is this? THE GOODYEAR BLIMP   Kudos to:  Perry Casciato-KYW, WSPG/Philadelphia; Gary Stein-Good Morning America/NY; Diane Streckfuss-ARF/NY; Christine Sciacca-The Weather Channel /NY; Sharon Roseman-Echostar/Englewood; Barb Throm-Smart Media/St. Louis; Al Kuenn-MediaChoice/Phoenix; Bob Quigley-KJZZ/Salt Lake City; Rob Maresca-Rocket Branding and Strategic Services/LA; Sophia Stevens-Buena Vista Television/LA; Atheria-Wheel of Fortune/Culver City; Scott Freeman-Bunim Murray Prods/Van Nuys.

Today’s Trivia Question:  Who is Francine Lawrence?   (click here to respond to the trivia question and please be sure to include with your answer your name, company, city and time zone. Only the second four correct responses from each time zone will be listed in tomorrow’s kudo list.)

Later — Cyn

Cynthia Turner’s Cynopsis
04/08/04
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WHAT’S ON TONIGHT:  Friday, APRIL 9,  2004

COURT TV:       Forensic Fridays
ABC             George Lopez, The Big House, Hope & Faith, Life with Bonnie, The DA
CBS             Joan of Arcadia [r], JAG [r], The District [r]
FOX             Totally Outrageous Behavior, The World’s Craziest Videos, Forever Eden
NBC             Dateline NBC, Third Watch
PAX             Making of the Passion, PAX TV Movie: Thomas
UPN             Movie: Double Take
WB              Reba [r], What I Like About You [r], Grounded for Life [r], The Help
TELE            Prisonera, El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV            Mariana de la Noche, Bajo la Misma Piel, Casos de la Vida Real: Edicion Especial