Weekly Spots

POSTED: August 9, 2010

(White Plains, NY) August 9, 2010 – According to Arbitron, Houston, TX is the 6th largest radio market with a population of 4,815,700.

• Houston was founded on August 30, 1836 by brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou.
• The city was incorporated on June 5, 1837 and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston. Yes, Texas was its own country once.
• Houston is the largest city (square miles) within the state of Texas, and known as "the energy capital of the world." With headquarters of some of the major players in energy and fuel: BP, Cabot Oil, Citgo, Conoco Phillips, Frontier Oil, Halliburton, Marathon Oil, Pennzoil and Shell’s US headquarters.
• Houston has more than sixty colleges, universities and other degree-granting institutions. The University of Houston has more than 36,000 students from 130 countries.
• Houston has teams for nearly every major professional sport. The Houston Astros (MLB), Houston Texans (NFL), Houston Rockets (NBA), Houston Dynamo (MLS), Houston Aeros (AHL), Houston Wranglers (WTT), Houston Takers (ABA), Houston Energy (IWFL), Houston Leones (PDL), and the H-Town Texas Cyclones (NWFA). Sports have always been important to the city of Houston.
• Some famous people from Houston, Texas include: actresses Hilary and Hailey Duff; film director Wes Anderson; actress Jennifer Garner; singer Beyonce Knowles; actor Dennis Quaid, and founder of Dell Computers, Michael Dell.

HOUSTON SPOT TEN

The #1 radio advertiser in Houston last week was GALLERY FURNITURE with 855 spots. Coming in #2, was VERIZON with 801 ads, while CHASE was #3, up from #67, with 635 commercials. SPENCE DIAMONDS shined at #4 with 609 spots and AUTOZONE hit #5 with 542 spots. WAL-MART was #6 airing 537 spots, while MCDONALD’S was #7 running 508 spots. WELLS FARGO jumped to #8 with 460 ads and BUD LIGHT was #9 with 451 commercials. Coming in #10 was TOYOTA with 443 spots.

CREDIT COUNSELING SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In the USA last week, CREDITANSWERS was #1 in this category with 5,621 ads. CONSUMER DEBT ADVOCATE was #2 with 3,895 spots, while CREDITGUARD OF AMERICA was #3 airing 2,992 commercials. CREDIT CARD RELIEF was #4 with 2,941 ads and CONSOLIDATED CREDIT COUNSELING SERVICES was #5 running 2,926 spots. DEBT FREE STIMULUS was #6 with 2,360 ads, while FREEDOM DEBT RELIEF was #7 airing 2,133 spots. AMERICAN DEBT ASSOCIATES jumped #19 to #8 with 1,857 ads and NATIONAL DEBT ASSOCIATES was #9 with 1,699 spots. RELION GROUP was #10 with 1,507 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

#1 again was GEICO with 34,657 spots. VERIZON was #2 with 30,291 ads, while THE HOME DEPOT was #3 airing 24,085 announcements. MCDONALD’S was #4 with 23,948 and AUTOZONE was #5 with 23,855 spots.

Posted: August 9, 2010

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company headquartered in Foster City, California. Visa connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to use digital currency instead of cash and checks.

In 1958 Bank of America launched the BankAmericard in Fresno, Calif., with an innovative “revolving credit” feature. By 1973, NBI launched the first electronic authorization system, followed a year later by an electronic clearing and settlement system, the precursor to VisaNet. In 1976, BankAmericard changed its name to Visa — a simple, memorable name that is pronounced the same in every language — and adopts the blue-and-gold flag.

In 1983, building on their “anytime, anywhere” promise, Visa launched a global ATM network, providing 24-hour cash access to cardholders across the world and contributing to the convenience of modern business and leisure travel.

By 1997, Visa’s annual global total volume reached $1 trillion, a significant milestone for the payments industry. Then in 2001, they hit the $2 trillion mark.

2007 Visa announced the completion of the company’s corporate reorganization, creating a new global corporation called Visa Inc. Then in 2008, Visa completed the largest initial public offering in U.S. history and began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “V.”

In 2008, Visa launched its first-ever global advertising campaign, “More people go with Visa.”

Last year Visa, Inc grew by 10.3% in sales and had revenues of $6.91 billion with a net income of $2.35 billion. They have 5,700 employees.

Visa ran 130,351 spots on the Local Cable Media Monitors tracks. After a slow beginning of the year, they cranked it up in April with 17,053 spots, then to 15,203 in May; jumping to 22,713 in June. The July numbers were only 2,454 on Cable.

On Radio, they were hot last August with 26,327, 22,200 in September, 16,031 in October; then back up in November with 32,928 ads. The rest of the last 12 months have been light on radio. They haven’t gotten up past the 10,000 mark this year and only running 135,644 ads in the last 12 months on radio.

TV is more consistent, but light. In February they ran 6,048 spots with a total of only 29,612 in the last 12 months.

POSTED: August 9, 2010

General Motors, also known as GM, is the global automaker headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. GM manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries. In 2009, GM employed about 209,000 people.

In 2008, 8.35 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.

General Motors (GM) was founded on September 27, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick, controlled by William C. Durant. It acquired Oldsmobile later that year.

In 1909 Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland (later known as Pontiac) and several others. In 1909, General Motors acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck.

Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers' trust because of the large amount of debt taken on in its acquisitions coupled with a collapse in new vehicle sales.

A few years later, Durant started the Chevrolet Motor car company and through this he secretly purchased a controlling interest in GM. Durant took back control of the company after one of the most dramatic proxy wars in American business history.

GM’s unprecedented growth of GM would last into the early 1980 when it employed 349,000 workers and 150 assembly plants. They are a bit leaner today. About a year ago, GM took $50 billion from the US government to stay afloat.

Things are looking up. In July, sales of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac jumped 25% to 199,432 vehicles.

The Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge (who would later found their own car company). Henry's first attempt under his name was the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, which later became the Cadillac Motor Company August 22, 1902.

During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one to survive the Great Depression.

As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

In the recent bailout frenzy of a year ago, Ford decided not to take any of the money offered by the Federal Government, which helped their image with consumers.

Ford announced in July Ford’s sales of cars increased to 170,411 from 165,279 a year earlier. Sales of Ford-brand vehicles rose 8.1 percent, while their Lincoln brand decreased.

They are traded under on the NYSE under the letter F. They are showing revenues of $118.31 billion with net income of $2.72 billion. They have 198,000 employees.

Chrysler Group LLC is an automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925.

The company was founded by Walter Chrysler (1875–1940) on June 6, 1925 when the Maxwell Motor Company (est. 1904) was re-organized into the Chrysler Corporation. Walter Chrysler had originally arrived at the ailing Maxwell-Chalmers company in the early 1920s, having been hired to take over and overhaul the company's troubled operations.

Then in January 1924, after getting rid of the Chalmers brand, Walter Chrysler launched the well-received Chrysler automobile. The Chrysler was a 6-cylinder automobile, designed to provide customers with an advanced, well-engineered car, but at a more affordable price.

The original 1924 Chrysler included a carburetor air filter, high compression engine, full pressure lubrication, and an oil filter, at a time when most autos came without these features.

Following the introduction of the Chrysler, the Maxwell was dropped after its 1925 model. The company then incorporated under the Chrysler name.

Among the innovations in its early years would be the first practical mass-produced four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a system nearly completely engineered by Chrysler with patents assigned to Lockheed, and rubber engine mounts to reduce vibration. Chrysler also developed a road wheel with a ridged rim, designed to keep a deflated tire from flying off the wheel. This safety wheel was eventually adopted by the auto industry worldwide.

In 1998, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were purchased by German-based Daimler-Benz AG, creating the combined entity DaimlerChrysler AG. Under DaimlerChrysler, the company was named DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC, with its U.S. operations generally referred to as the "Chrysler Group".

On May 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced the sale of 80.1% of Chrysler Group to American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., therefore being known as Chrysler LLC, although Daimler (renamed as Daimler AG) continued to hold a 19.9% stake.

On April 30, 2009, Chrysler LLC filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and announced a plan for a partnership with Italian automaker Fiat.

On June 10, 2009, the sale of most of Chrysler assets to "New Chrysler", formally known as Chrysler Group LLC was completed. The federal government financed the deal with US$6.6 billion in financing.

According to a company press release, July 2010, sales increased by 5% to 93,313 vehicles from 88,900 in the same month last year. This is their fourth straight month they increased in sales.

On Cable, Chrysler aired only 22% of the spots of the big three. GM is out performing with 1,271.323 spots in the last 12 months, while Chrysler only ran 274,685 spots. Ford ran 765,144. Chrysler’s biggest month on Cable was November with 47,153 ads and Ford over delivered last August with 79,616 and just ran 73,031 in July of this year. GM hit their high on Cable last December with 163,218, but has been over 100,000 ads since May of this year.

On Radio, GM is running hot again with 1,299,661 spots while Chrysler and Ford are fighting it out for #2. Chrysler ran 961,540 spots and Ford came up 3rd with 930,232 spots. GM ran 146,812 spots in July; Chrysler ran 71,468 spots in July, while Ford cleared 103,602 ads in July on Radio.

GM was #1 on the stations Media Monitors follows with 852,506 commercials in the last 12 months, while Ford played 749,478 spots in the last 12 months. Chrysler came up 3rd on TV with 523,690.

Posted: August 9, 2010

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