On Radio: Fisher tuning in on TV -- at expense of radio?
By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE P-I REPORTER
posted at 5.58 pm April 30

Fisher Communications Inc. executives told Wednesday's annual shareholders meeting they believe the Seattle-based broadcasting company has great brands and great opportunities to add to its portfolio.

Left unanswered, though, is this question: Will radio be a part of that future?

About the only mention radio got during management presentations was a chart showing radio's margins with and without the financial impact of Seattle Mariners broadcasts. This is the last year for Fisher's six-season contract to carry Mariners games on KOMO-AM/1000, and lately Fisher has made several mentions of how the cost of those broadcasts is cutting into its margins for radio.

Instead, most of the emphasis was on the TV side, where Fisher has been investing in new markets (it recently bought two stations in Bakersfield, Calif.) and new audiences (through development of Spanish-language stations).

Fisher hopes to generate more revenue by collecting more in retransmission fees paid by cable, satellite and telecom companies, and by developing new ventures such as digital TV subchannels and Web sites.

Fisher operates eight radio stations, three of them in Seattle (KPLZ-FM/101.5, KOMO-AM and KVI-AM/570). The remaining five are in small markets, a segment in which Fisher has been unwinding its position. It also has 13 full-power and eight low-power TV stations.

One other important asset for Fisher: its longtime holding of Safeco stock. It sold some of that position last year to pay for the Bakersfield deal, but it still holds 2.3 million Safeco shares. With last week's announcement that Safeco will be bought for $66.60 a share by Liberty Mutual, Fisher could collect about $157 million (less taxes). "We have the ability to consider many growth opportunities," said Chief Executive Colleen Brown, adding that the company hasn't decided yet how it will deploy the proceeds.

But some large shareholders are unhappy with the way the company has been managed. They expressed that unhappiness by withholding votes for management-nominated board candidates and voting against an equity incentive plan they said would excessively dilute existing shareholders. While board candidates were re-elected with about 4.2 million shares apiece, each also had nearly 3 million shares voted against (in the form of "withhold" ballots). The equity incentive plan passed barely, 52 percent to 48 percent.

Brown said the company has made progress in cutting its debt load, selling off assets that don't offer growth potential, and boosting revenue and cash flow. But the stock price, which closed in trading Wednesday at $32.86 a share and was above $50 a share last year, doesn't reflect that, she said, which she blamed on the depressed market for media companies generally.

"We recognize there is great value in our stock," she said.

"But the market does not," an investor retorted.

Although it is itself a media company, Fisher did not permit reporters to attend its annual meeting this year (although it has in past years), one of the very few publicly traded companies to have such a policy. It did offer a Web stream of the annual meeting, which worked sporadically. Executives weren't available for comment on the meeting or plans for radio.

Fisher also announced first-quarter results Wednesday, with a loss of $1.1 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with a loss of $1.2 million, or 14 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 10 percent to $37.7 million, mainly from the contribution of the Bakersfield stations.

In other radio notes:


*KEXP-FM/90.3 launches a new series of minidocumentaries Thursday with a 10-part feature on "Music Revolutionaries." The documentaries, each three to six minutes in length, can be heard at 3 p.m. Thursdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays.


*Entercom has launched a new nighttime program on its country stations called "2ndshift," hosted by Alan Kabel. It airs locally 7 p.m.-midnight on KKWF-FM/100.7.


*The Metropolitan Opera performs Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio" at 10:30 a.m. on KING-FM/98.1.


*"Audioasis" on KEXP-FM presents live performances by Skullbot and Lords of the North from the High Dive in Fremont beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.


*Jim Wilke's "Jazz Northwest" at 1 p.m. Sunday on KPLU-FM/88.5 features Gerald Wilson leading the Festival All-Star Big Band at Centrum's Jazz Port Townsend.


*KPLU-FM celebrates the release of its latest "School of Jazz" CD with a live studio session featuring members of the Stadium High School Jazz Band with trumpeter Lance Buller, at 12:20 p.m. Tuesday.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.