Please check the NJBA Website this time next week to see the Schedule of Events and to download the registration form. Note: All registrations will be handled at the NJBA office.  Additional information will be provided in next week's newsletter.  Our presenters include Sean Luce, who trains over 5000 sales and management professionals each year (see related story below) and Revenue Development Resources' Michael Mahone, formerly of RAB. The Conference will also include a legislative and regulatory roundtable with our Chief Legal Counsel, John Garziglia, Esq., and executive sessions with FEMA, DHS, NJSP and FCC officials highlighting EAS and Cap Compliance for owners, general managers and engineers. Get a great room at Caesars at a great rate by going to our website www.njba.com and clicking on "events" to make room reservations at the very special NJBA rate before May 26th.

A reminder: The Best of the Best entries are due Thursday, May 19th!

The Star Ledger's Chris Megerian (State House Bureau) reports "In the song by the rapper Common, she is Assata Shakur, a black activist framed by the police. But to the New Jersey State Police, she is still Joanne Chesimard, a killer convicted of slaying one of their own in 1973. She later escaped from prison and has been living in Cuba for nearly three decades. That controversy flared again Wednesday with the White House's invitation for Common to attend a poetry event Wednesday night. A state senator and state police union leader criticized the invitation because of Common's "A Song for Assata," which was released on a 2000 album. The lyrics portray Chesimard - who later took the name Assata Shakur - as a victim searching for freedom. It's a version of the story sharply at odds with the official account, which says Chesimard and fellow black nationalists opened fire on troopers during a motor vehicle stop on the New Jersey Turnpike in Middlesex County. Trooper Werner Foerster was killed and Trooper James Harper was wounded. Chesimard's brother-in-law was also killed." "President Obama must apologize to the New Jersey State Police for inviting a rap singer who praises the assassin of a New Jersey state trooper to the White House," Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, said in a statement. David Jones, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, the union that represents rank-and-file troopers, also criticized the lyrics. "The young people who read this stuff, hear this stuff, are getting a very dangerous and deadly message," he told NBC. Authorities have a $1 million bounty on Chesimard, and the FBI and state police each have an officer assigned to her case. "We cannot dictate who is invited to the White House, but we will always view Joanne Chesimard as a fugitive who killed one of our own," said acting Maj. Gerald Lewis, a state police spokesman. "We will continue our pursuit of her until she is brought to justice." There is no question where the NJBA stands on an issue like this, and that is with our brave and dedicated State Troopers and all law enforcement. Anything that would besmirch their integrity or dishonor their service is appalling.

Millennium Radio New Jersey ("Millennium") announced this week that it has reached an agreement in principal for a sale to an investor group led by certain funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.  Subject to receiving required regulatory approvals, certain Oaktree managed funds plan to recapitalize the Company in order to strengthen its balance sheet and position it for continued growth. "We are pleased to partner with Oaktree to substantially strengthen our capital structure," said Bill Saurer, President and CEO. "Following the acquisition, we will benefit from a strong financial position and solid cash flow, giving us the flexibility to continue to invest in our operations and execute our strategy.  This transaction will preserve Millennium's unique voice in the State of New Jersey and enhance our ability to fully benefit from the rebound in the nation's advertising industry." Mr. Saurer, who is the Chairman of the NJBA, has been a very active and strong Chairman, supporting our organization in many ways. Millennium Radio New Jersey is a privately held radio broadcasting company which owns and operates eleven radio stations (eight FM and three AM) in the state of New Jersey. Between May 2001 and December 2004, Millennium capitalized on a unique opportunity to acquire radio station assets across the state of New Jersey via five key transactions. Over the course of nine years, Millennium Radio has built a collection of quality media assets that today cannot be replicated. Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. is a premier global alternative and non-traditional investment manager with $85 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2011.  The firm emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and risk-controlled approach to investments in distressed debt, high yield bonds, convertible securities, senior loans, corporate control (including power opportunities), real estate, emerging market equities and mezzanine finance.  Oaktree was founded in 1995 by a group of principals who have worked together since the mid-1980s.  Headquartered in Los Angeles, the firm has approximately 615 employees and offices in 13 cities worldwide.

Last year, Borgata's Dave Coskey won the NJBA's Charity iPad raffle AND HELPED TO RAISE OVER $2000 for the Broadcasters Foundation of America at our Conference in Atlantic City. Now, Dave is leaving the casino business -to manage the five A.C. radio stations just bought by George Miller's Longport Media. The Press of Atlantic City says most of Coskey's background has been in marketing and promotion, though he was involved in WIP, Philadelphia personality Howard Eskin's onetime syndication. Coskey was also Executive VP of the NBA Philadelphia 76ers and was once VP of marketing for the Trump Plaza Hotel Casino. He tells the paper "It's pretty cool for me to be a part of the stations I grew up listening to." The cluster includes classic hits "Kool 98.3" WTKU and classic rock "Shark 103.7" WMGM, and South Jersey's Big Talker WOND 1400. The NJBA wishes both Dave and Longport Media the very best and welcomes him to our NJBA family!

Ask Press Communications about the damage being done to its signal from a LPFM (See story below) Now, the FCC is seeking comments on how Low Power FM stations affect full-power stations, in audience and revenue as part of its implementation of the Local Community Radio Act passed by Congress in January. The Commission knows that 100-watt non-commercial FMs aren't selling commercials, and that commercial stations derive ad revenue from their audience ratings (which might be affected by LPFMs that could "siphon advertising dollars away" via sponsorships and underwriting). It's also looking for guidance about whether it should be doing "predictive judgments" about on future Low Power FMs, instead of just the impact from current facilities. There's also a question about the "appropriate geographic areas" to be compared, since 100-watt stations have a smaller footprint than their commercial cousins. One thing the FCC's not looking at is signal interference. The Local Community Radio Act already requires it to order an LPFM to suspend operations within one business day of receiving a complaint from a station on a second-adjacent (but not third-adjacent) channel.

There has been a debate over whether or not there should also be FM radio chips in cell phones as well. In 2006, Congress passed the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act, requiring phone carriers that choose to participate to activate PLAN technology by April 2012.  Nearly five years later, and without any mention of FM chips in cell phones, PLAN was announced by the New York Mayor, The FCC Chairman and wireless phone company officials. As the tornadoes swept over Alabama and other states it was clear radio played a huge part helping people survive and recover. A lot of phones already have the FM chips in them but few people know that and cell companies are not really telling consumers. There's been a huge push by the radio industry to educate the public about the chips. Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan told Radio Ink yesterday that "we are going to start rolling out a lot of publicity about the FM chips. They are becoming ubiquitous all over the world. "NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton issued the following statement in response to the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) unveiled today in New York. The PLAN initiative will allow customers with an enabled mobile device to receive geographically-targeted messages alerting them of threats to safety.  "We're pleased that cellphone carriers plan to live up to their promise to Congress five years ago to implement an emergency alert messaging system. However, when a cellular network goes down, customers will still be unable to access these 90-character warnings. As was evidenced in Alabama and other parts of the South just two weeks ago, there is no communications system that matches the life-saving immediacy of a local broadcast signal."  One local broadcaster says not so fast: "The administration continues to set an anti-broadcaster tone" and calls it "a slap in the face of broadcasters everywhere, especially in the contexts of current events, when broadcasters were praised during the recent weather disasters in Alabama." He says, "emergency alerts of all kinds need to be given", and Uncle Sam shouldn't ignore broadcasters. Get ready: Big Brother will now be texting you soon! 

Peter Smyth gets an academic honor and the chance to speak to business school graduates about radio and the media business in general. The Greater Media Chairman/CEO will speak at the Suffolk University Sawyer Business School graduate student commencement ceremony May 21 in Boston - and then accept an Honorary Doctor of Commerce degree.

Press-owned WKMK, Eatontown shares the 106.3 frequency with the moved-in translator that Clear Channel's using for its new signal in midtown Manhattan. Clear Channel doesn't actually own the 100-watt signal that used to be just 1-watt at 106.5. But they've got a deal to simulcast an HD-2 channel on it and have been rotating through various formats from iHeartRadio since last week. Here's what "Thunder Country" is saying about the supposed interloper - "We are aware that many of our listeners in the counties of Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Union, Bergen, Essex, Hudson as well as Staten Island, Brooklyn, Long Island and Lower Manhattan are experiencing interference with our Thunder 106.3 signal...We have become aware that a New York radio station is sending out a signal that is on the same frequency. The FCC was contacted about the interference and the translator has been turned off. QuickNews understands that meetings in NYC between Press & the translator folks will take place soon to resolve this matter.

Meredith Attwell Baker is leaving her five-year term on the FCC with three years to go, which creates work for the Obama White House (they must find a Republican nominee who's acceptable to the GOP). The timing doesn't look particularly good, since the FCC just approved Comcast's gobble-up of NBC Universal. Baker herself didn't say where she'd be going after she leaves the Portals on June 3. But the NAB was quick to congratulate her on her new gig as Senior VP of Government Affairs at Comcast. Baker, the daughter-in-law of Reagan and Bush 41 advisor Jim Baker, spent seven years in government service. She served at the NTIA policy office for much of George W. Bush's presidency, and she was chosen by incoming President Obama to take one of the two Republican seats on the FCC. At NTIA, Baker oversaw the $40 voucher program related to the DTV switchover. She opposed FCC Chairman Genachowski's vision of net neutrality re: broadband - an issue dear to the heart of Comcast, which doesn't want government regulation there. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be the commencement speaker for Seton Hall University. The Republican governor is a 1987 graduate of the Seton Hall Law School. The commencement will be held Monday at the Izod Center in East Rutherford. Full disclosure, NJBA Prez Paul Rotella is an alum of the University (1980) and the Law School, Class of 1983. The private Catholic university is located in South Orange and has an undergraduate of enrollment of 5,200.

We are the Trade Association for the Radio and TV Stations in the State of New Jersey.  We conduct educational seminars, conferences, broadcast training activities, federal rules and compliance procedures and are the New Jersey broadcasters voice at the Capitol both in Trenton and Washington. The organization was founded in 1946 by several major New Jersey radio stations and has since grown to Radio and TV stations in the state and many Radio and TV stations in neighboring New York City and Philadelphia.

QuickNews is provided for general information purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal or tax advice pertaining to any specific factual situation.  Legal and tax related decisions should be made only after proper consultation with a legal professional of your choosing.