L.A.’s Latino 96.3 Jumps from No. 18 to No.2

Los Angeles-based Spanish Broadcasting System’s (SBS) hurban KXOL (Latino 96.3) jumped from 2.0-4.2 in the first round of Arbitron ratings, Billboard Radio Monitor reports. The station moved from No. 18 to a tie for No. 2 with rival Univision’s Romantica KLVE.

Verizon Thinking Big with Fios TV

Phone company Verizon, one of the four remaining offspring of Ma Bell, is offering its new, fiber-optic network-based Fios TV service to deliver TV programming and internet access to combat the competitive threat of cable companies, reports CNET (via MarketingVox). Verizon is trying make the Fios TV service not only highly interactive but also reliable and user-friendly - since customers satisfied with Fios would likely use Verizon for telephone and broadband access as well.

WPP Shuts Down Red Cell

WPP Group is unraveling Red Cell, the multifarious assortment of agencies it tried to knit together in 2001 into a worldwide network in hopes of duplicating the global coverage of the likes of Ogilvy & Mather, JWT and Young & Rubicam, reports the New York Post (via MarketingVox), making some interesting observations about the inability of agencies to deliver the synergies they’re supposed to in large holding companies. The move follows Coca-Cola shifting creative duties on its North American ad account for its namesake brand to independent Wieden + Kennedy from WPP’s Berlin Cameron/Red Cell without a review.

Red Cell did not live up to expectations, writes the Post, becoming instead WPP’s repository for some 65 agencies that didn’t fit elsewhere - or with each other, having no culture or vision in common. Moreover, more clients are nowadays apparently looking for a big idea rather than a big network.

Friday Night Ratings Trouble Media Buyers

Buyers hope Fridays don’t
become ‘another Saturday night’

Friday night TV ratings have been so poor that industry speculation has it that the networks may consider making Fridays a night for repeat programming rather than original programming, as they did with Saturday nights in recent years, Mediaweek reports. Through the first two weeks of the season, only CBS and ABC had cumulative 18-49 ratings above a 2.0. NBC managed a cumulative 2.0 through the third week by replacing a new drama, Inconceivable, with a repeat of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Across the six networks, the cumulative average was a 1.8 in the 18-49 demo, throughout the first three weeks.

Detroit Billboards Going Fast During Super Bowl Months

Detroit billboards are going fast during the time of the Super Bowl, writes the Billings Gazette. Viacom Outdoor has already sold about 75 percent of its 2,000 billboards in metro Detroit for Super Bowl season. The game is slated for Feb. 5.

‘Weakening Trend’ in October & November

The current pacing data for October and November national spot sales may suggest a “weakening trend” in revenues for those months, but the better-than-expected gains in September suggest an evening out to the general trends for third and fourth quarters, according to Billboard Radio Monitor.

‘Hold for Pickup’ Saves Retailers 15-30 Percent in Shipping

The U.S. Postal Service has teamed with APX Logistics to offer retailers a new program, Hold for Pickup, DM News reports. The program, which lets consumers pick up packages at their local post office, promises cost savings of 15 to 30 percent per package, compared with the cost to ship a package by UPS or FedEx.

‘ER’ Finally Falls to ‘Without a Trace’

For the last two Thursdays, CBS’s Without a Trace beat out NBC’s ER among adults 18-49, Media Life reports. Two Thursdays ago was the first time ever - in their four-year battle for the 10 p.m. timeslot - that Trace bested the 12-year-old emergency room drama.

Last Thursday, Without a Trace averaged a 6.7 Nielsen overnight rating, compared to ER’s 6.1.

‘People’ Number-One on AdAge A-List

AdAge has named People the top magazine on its “A List,” the subjective listing of best magazines for the year, the New York Post reports. It won the top slot for “first anticipating then foreshadowing and these days still flourishing in a celebrity sector that’s beginning to look downright imperial in its expansion,” said AdAge.

Gays, Lesbians Watch ‘Queer Eye,’ ‘South Park,’ ‘Golden Girls’

A new study from Simmons on the media consumption of the gay and lesbian population suggests that many preconceived notions about this demographic are incorrect, writes Media Life. While it’s true that gays favor premium cable channels, consistent with stereotypes, they are also apparently big fans of Comedy Central’s South Park, for example.