Local General Motors Corp. dealers reacted with relief tinged with optimism Monday as the once-mighty automaker filed for bankruptcy reorganization.

After months of speculation about the filing and how customers would react, several dealers said they hoped that GM could now move through bankruptcy reorganization as quickly as Chrysler has.

“This is not something I ever hoped for.  But it’s been talked about so long.  I’m relieved it’s here and hopeful we can get through it quickly,” said Mike Castrucci, of Mike Castrucci Chevrolet in Milford.

Rob Riggsbee, president of Inside Media Inc., an Anderson Township media buying and planning agency, said he has heard that some dealerships around the state were seeing increased foot traffic from customers looking for “fire-sale” prices.

Castrucci said traffic is typically slow on the first of the month, and Monday was no exception.  But, he said, “May was the best month we’ve had so far this year.”

Mike Hirlinger, of Hirlinger Chevrolet in West Harrison, Ind., said his showroom also saw an uptick in business on Monday.

“We delivered two new cars on Saturday and three more today.  This definitely wasn’t a fire sale,” he said, but customers and sales people closing deals before end-of-the-month rebates and incentives expire.

“We’re still selling cars, but it takes more convincing” of customers leery about what GM’s bankruptcy means, said Kim Borcherding, president of Borcherding Buick Pontiac GMC at the Kings Auto Mall in Deerfield Township.

As she watched President Barack Obama’s televised remarks Monday in a showroom devoid of customers, Borcherding said, “As painful as closings and layoffs are, it’s what the world and marketplace require right now.”

Chris MacConnell of Thomson MacConnell Cadillac in Walnut Hills, said, “General Motors is still going to be here, and we’re going to be here as we have for 56 years.”

After hearing about bankruptcy for months, MacConnell said, “I think people are kind of numb to it.”  He said customers have come to understand that bankruptcy reorganization doesn’t mean GM will be out of business, and the government’s willingness to stand behind GM warranties has reassured them.

“We had a flurry of activity on Saturday,” he said.

Thomson MacConnell said May was the best sales month it has seen in months.

“I’m sure there will be bumps along the way, but in the long run, I’m optimistic,” MacConnell said.  With fewer brands after reorganization, GM will have more resources to devote to those that remain, such as Cadillac, he said.

Copyright (c) The Cincinnati Enquier.  All rights reserved.  Reproduced with the permission of the Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.

By Mike Boyer

The big unknown in the unprecedented decisions by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to shrink their national dealer networks by about a third is how consumers will respond.

The fear is that consumers already squeezed by the recession could be leery of stepping into any GM or Chrysler dealerships to buy a new car.

“It is likely that consumer perceptions toward the Chrysler and GM lines will decrease further and consumer confidence will dip lower,” said Rob Riggsbee, president of Inside Media Inc., a Anderson Township media buying and consulting firm.

Jack Nerad, executive editorial director for Kelley Blue Book, which tracks new and used car values, said Chrysler has already seen erosion in market share as bankruptcy talk heated up around the company.  And he said the same is true for GM, which is facing a deadline at the end of the month to clear several hurdles in its restructuring or likely be forced to seek bankruptcy protection.

Chrysler, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 30 as part of a government backed plan to sell most of its assets to Italian car maker Fiat, has notified nearly 800 of its 3,200 dealers, including seven Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, that it plans to terminate their franchise agreements next month, if the bankruptcy court approves.

GM has put 1,100 of its 6,000 U.S. dealers on notice it plans to terminate their franchises by the end of 2010 as part of a broader plan to eliminate up to 2,600 dealers.

Nerad said fewer dealerships means less convenience for car buyers and customers seeking service, which could influence buying decisions even for loyal GM and Chrysler owners.

“Many long-standing relationships with dealerships will be disrupted,” he said.

What impact the dealer cuts will have on new vehicle prices also isn’t clear.

The seven area Chrysler dealerships to be terminated hold about a quarter of the new vehicles listed by 15 area Chrysler dealers.

Chrysler has shutdown production while it’s in bankruptcy to help reduce inventories.  The said it hopes remaining dealers will buy inventory from those it is closing.

But Nerad said with most dealers already deeply discounting new car prices because of weak sales, it’s unlikely that further steep price cuts are on the horizon.

“We might get to fire-sale pricing, but we aren’t there now,” he said.

GM, like Chrysler said it needs fewer but stronger dealerships to remain competitive.  Unlike Chrysler, it didn’t disclose which dealerships were put on notice.  There are 43 GM dealers in the Greater Cincinnati and Norther Kentucky region, but it isn’t clear how many were notified.  GM left it up to individual dealers to decide whether they want to make public that information.  Most aren’t expected to disclose it, for fear it could hurt their business.

“These guys are competitors, but they’re also my friends.  It’s a tragic situation,” said long-time GM dealer Bob Pulte in Lebanon, who said he wasn’t commenting further.

Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president of sales service and marketing, said the dealers who got termination notices were poorer performers “who were in danger of going out of business anyway.”

He said the dealers put on notice represented only 7 percent of GM’s total sales last year.

Estimates are the Chrysler and GM dealer cuts could eliminate more than 140,000 jobs at dealerships nationally.  The seven Chrysler dealerships in Greater Cincinnati employ more than 200.

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By Mike Boyer

A number of area Chrysler and General Motors dealers are on pins and needles as they await word Thursday and Friday on which of their number will be retained by the automakers.

Chrysler, which filed for bankruptcy protection on April 30, is expected to disclose Thursday morning the names of up to 800 of its 3,200 dealers nationally that it doesn’t plan to support after emerging from bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, GM, facing a June 1 bankruptcy deadline from the federal government, on Friday is expected to notify up to 1,200 dealers it won’t renew their franchises because they don’t meet the financial, sales or customer satisfaction requirements, according to a GM spokeswoman.

“Customers come in and ask: Are you going to still be here?  I can’t say, but I suspect I’m not going to be,” said Chuck Smith, owner Hamilton-Fairfield Dodge-Jeep on Ohio 4 in Hamilton.

Smith hasn’t been told anything by Chrysler but he believes his dealership, which employs about 15, will be targeted for closing because it’s in an older location in a small city.

He’s been outspoken about how he believes Chrysler and the Obama Administration have conspired, using the bankruptcy law, to cut dealer numbers.  The automakers say they want fewer dealerships so that those that remain are more profitable.

Rob Riggsbee, president of Anderson Township-based Inside Media Inc., a media research and buying agency, said which dealerships will be cut remains a tightly guarded secret.

What’s also unclear, he said, is how the dealership closings will affect local car markets.

One fear, he said, is that Chrysler won’t repurchase new vehicles held by the dealerships.  That could lead to a flood of new cars in to local car auctions driving down the price of all Chrysler vehicles, he said.

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By Mike Boyer

With the sun shining and temperatures in the 80s, Monday should have been a perfect day for John Hugentober to take his classic 1968 Pontiac TransAm convertible for a spin.

But Monday turned out to be “a very sad day for Pontiac enthusiasts,” said Hugentober, a 44-year-old Lebanon resident who owns four Pontiacs and is vice president of the Southern Ohio Buckeye Chapter of Pontiac Oakland Club International.

Struggling to survive in the worst auto market in a quarter century, General Motors Corp. Monday unveiled a massive restructuring plan that would eliminate its 83-year-old Pontiac brand and terminate another 21,000 jobs by next year while turning over ownership of most of GM to the U.S. government and the United Auto Workers union.

The plan, GM’s latest attempt to avoid a bankruptcy filing by June 1, also included an offer to swap $27 billion in debt for stock and accelerated plans to reduce its U.S. dealer network from 6,246 to 3,605 by the end of next year.

In a conference call Monday, GM said it would notify dealerships that will be closed in the next 30 days.  But because of their location, sales performance and customer service scores, several local dealers contacted said they don’t expect to be on the closing list.

There are 48 GM dealers in the 15-county Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region, according to the company’s Web site.  Fourteen are Buick/Pontiac/GMC stores.

GM said Monday it would stop making Saturns and Hummers this year, moving up its scrapping of the brands.  There are five local Saturn dealers and one Hummer dealer.  The company also plans to divest or close the Swedish carmaker Saab, which has three local dealers, by year’s end.

The Pontiac brand, once a symbol of Detroit muscle cars, has a loyal following in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.  Pontiac Firebird sports cars were produced along side Chevrolet Camaros at the former GM Norwood assembly plant, which closed in 1987.

“A lot of people around here have been born and raised around Pontiacs,” said Kim Borcherding of Borcherding Pontiac Buick GMC at Kings Auto Mall in Deerfield Township, a Pontiac dealer since the early 1980s.

GM had hoped to retain Pontiac as a niche brand.  But under government pressure to make deeper cuts, it concluded it couldn’t continue to support the brand.  As distasteful as GM cutbacks are, area dealers say they’re necessary if GM is to survive.

“I hate to see Pontiac go away,” said Mark Sweeney, owner of the Buick Pontiac GMC dealership in Columbia Township.  “But I’m glad they’ve made a decision one way or another, so we can get this behind us.”

Sweeney said the uncertainty over GM’s fate isn’t helping car sales.  “Hopefully, this will allow GM to concentrate on products they do well,” he said.

He and other Pontiac dealers say GM will be introducing new models such as the Buick Lacrosse and GMC Terrain crossover this year to appeal to Pontiac buyers.

Sweeney, who like other GM dealers has invested in new showrooms in recent years to sell multiple brands, said Pontiac – despite some sleek new models, like the Vibe and Solstice sports car aimed at younger buyers – hasn’t done well against its foreign competition.

Borcherding thinks the Pontiac is a residual victim of the nation’s credit crunch.  Pontiac was traditionally a big part of GM’s leasing business, but when the crunch forced GM to scale back on leasing, Pontiac sales suffered.

Inside Media Inc., an Anderson Township media research and buying agency which tracks auto sales for its clients, said that Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area Pontiac sales were down 35 percent in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008.  By contrast, first-quarter 2009 sales were down 41 percent decline for truck-heavy GMC and 22 percent for Buick.

The 45-member area Pontiac-Oakland chapter annually holds a car show at Bill DeLord’s Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac and GMC dealership in Lebanon.  This year the event is slated for Sept. 13.

Hugentober, who fell in love with Pontiacs when a neighbor ran his GTO up and down the street in Cheviot in the early 1980s, said what makes Pontiacs special is their combination of styling and performance.

He thinks GM missed an opportunity to take advantage of the retro-styling craze a few years ago to reintroduce the GTO as Ford did with the Mustang.

The demise of the brand won’t have much effect on classic Pontiac muscle car lovers who disdain the current models as “jelly beans.  They all look like jelly beans,” said Hugentober.  Aftermarket parts for older models are readily available, he said.

DeLord said recent changes in the Pontiac lineup have helped the brand.  “I sold two G8 sedans on Saturday, one to a fellow who was also looking at a BMW 5-series,” he said.

“Pontiac was an icon for GM,” DeLord said.  “It’s hard to see an icon go away.”

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By John Eckberg

HSR Business to Business LLC has a new name – GyroHSR – and a new global footprint

The Sharonville-based company, which started as a three-man advertising agency in a house in Hamilton, has merged with Gyro International Ltd. of London to create a global giant.

The international integrated marketing agency will have 17 offices worldwide and annual revenues of $100 million.

Terms of the deal were not released but Segal said both companies shared a major investor, which smoothed the way for the merger.

The North American headquarters remains in Sharonville, said Rick Segal, chief executive North American/global practice leader.  The digital and business-to-business groups will also remain there.

“We are an integrated marketing agency dedicated to creating powerful ideas that build deep, meaningful relationships,” Segal said.  “Cincinnati will become a very important center in this large global company.”

Focusing solely on business-to-business commerce, the company will offer direct marketing, digital development, public relations, media and relationship marketing to client companies.

The company has 17 offices in 15 cities in nine countries across Europe, North America and the Middle East.  GyroHSR employs 600 people.

HSR co-founder Segal also becomes GyroHSR’s global practice leader for business-to-business.

HSR had grown to become an international force and this next step was inevitable, said Robert K. Riggsbee, founder of Inside Media, an Anderson Township-based media strategy and buying firm.

“They have a global reputation,” said Riggsbee.  “Their expertise is reaching out through digital and other strategies for client businesses to other businesses via one-to-one marketing channels.”

Gyro clients include American Express, Audi, First Data, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Hobart Corp., John Deere, Johns Manville, Nokia Siemens Networks, Pitney Bowes, Shell, Sony, T-Mobile, USG and Virgin Atlantic.

The former HSR lists as clients John Deere, Nucor Steel, Motorola, Pitney Bowes and Potash Corp.

Companies in Brazil, India, China and Russia will be the focus of the GyroHSR in the months and years to come, Segal said.

“We started out as a three-man shop in the back of a house on Dayton Street in Hamilton,” Segal said.  “This is a very big career milestone for me personally and a huge career milestone for everybody here.”

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By Mike Boyer

Region’s dealers like support for warranties

President Barack Obama’s “tough love” approach with General Motors and Chrysler got favorable reviews Monday from Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky dealers.

While disappointed that the president’s task force rejected the automakers’ restructuring plans, dealers said they were encouraged by Obama’s commitment to the industry and his willingness for the government to stand behind manufacturers’ warranties if they are forced to seek bankruptcy reorganization.

“General Motors isn’t going away, but it will be different most likely,” said Bob Pulte, a longtime Chevrolet dealer in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, auto industry analyst James Rubenstein, professor of geography at Miami University in Oxford, said he’s encouraged that Obama views the problem as the equivalent of a natural disaster – and that the president realizes that there’s more at stake than just GM and Chrysler.

Rubenstein said a collapse of GM and Chrysler would ripple beyond them and their 140,000 U.S. workers to hundreds of the 3,500 automotive supply plants, mainly in the Midwest, that supply parts to all automakers.

Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry Monday, bluntly rejecting turnaround plans by GM and Chrysler, demanding fresh concessions for long-term federal aid and raising the possibility of quick bankruptcy for either ailing auto giant.

To reassure consumers that their U.S.-made purchases will be protected even if the companies don’t survive, Obama took the extraordinary step of announcing that the government will back new car warranties issued by both GM and Chrysler.

In a decision that surprised lawmakers and analysts with its toughness, the president said at the White House that “we cannot continue to excuse poor decisions” and “cannot make the survival of our auto industry dependent on an unending flow of taxpayer dollars.”

The administration may use bankruptcy to “help them restructure quickly and emerge stronger,” he said.

Chrysler, judged by the administration as too small to survive, got 30 days’ worth of money to complete a partnership with Italy’s Fiat SpA or some other automaker.

GM got assurances of 60 days’ worth of federal financing to try and revise its turnaround plan under new management with heavy government participation.   That would involve concessions from its union workers and bondholders.

The administration engineered the ouster of longtime CEO Rick Wagoner over the weekend, an indication of its deep involvement in an industry that once stood as a symbol of American capitalism.

Fritz Henderson, GM’s president and chief operating officer, becomes CEO.  GM also will replace most of its board and must increase its reliance on fuel-efficient vehicles, under findings of the auto task force, headed by former investment banker Steven Rattner.

Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli is keeping his position.

While some car dealers fear that consumers won’t buy cars of companies in bankruptcy, Bob Reichert, whose Kenwood Dealer Group includes both GM, Saturn and Chrysler franchises, said the government’s willingness to stand behind warranties should allay those concerns.

“Bankruptcy isn’t the end of the world,” Reichert said.

He also was encouraged by Obama’s efforts to spur car sales by endorsing the so-called auto-scrappage tax credit, giving an up to $10,000 tax credit to car buyers who trade in an older model for a new fuel-efficient one.

Pulte and Reichert said their dealeships are seeing an uptick in sales.

Tom Gill, a Florence Chevrolet dealer who features a “Buy American” theme in his advertising, said he was disappointed Obama didn’t accept the automakers’ restructuring plan but pleased with his endorsement of the domestic industry.

“It’s an awesome sign he believes in our auto industry,” he said.

The possibility of a bankruptcy reorganization at either GM or Chrysler “isn’t good news for their local auto dealerships,” said Rob Riggsbee, president of Inside Media Inc., a Newtown media research and buying agency.  A bankruptcy filing could accelerate the consolidation under way among smaller local dealerships, many of them long-held family franchises, he said.

Still, Rubenstein said, it’s unclear whether the president’s “carrot and stick” approach will work.

“He’s trying to walk a fine line between a bailout and a tough-love approach,” Rubenstein said.

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By Dan Monk

Developer Kubicki also plans $1.2M Berkeley face-lift

The new owner of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals plans to add more than 500 employees as its Forest Park call center in the next three years as it relaunches the troubled company.

Pristine Bay LLC, an investment affiliate of local real estate developer Chuck Kubicki, last month paid more than $4 million for Berkeley’s assets.  Kubicki, whose Cincinnati United Contractors Inc. is Berkeley’s landlord, said he plans to invest $1.2 million to renovate the company’s Waycross Road headquarters.

Kubicki also wants to boost brands that languished while company executives were prosecuted on federal fund charges.  He plans to rename the company and retool its advertising strategies by June.  And he’s extending options to several members of its current management team, who could buy up to 75 percent of the company in the next few years.  The options are tied to the new company hitting its performance goals, which include doubling revenue to $120 million by 2011.

“They’re overachievers,” Kubicki said of Pristine Bay’s management group.  “They didn’t even know if they’d have jobs at the end of this, yet here they were putting in 12-hour days.  It’s all about attitude.”

Berkeley is a distributor of dietary supplements, including the male sexual-enhancement pill Enzyte, known for its TV pitchman “Smilin’ Bob.”  At its peak, it employed more than 1,500 and generated annual sales of more than $200 million.  But its marketing practices led to a federal fraud investigation.  Founder Steven Warshak and several other executives were convicted of fraud, money laundering or conspiracy in February.  Then came a September bankruptcy filing and a court-ordered auction of Berkeley’s assets in with Kubicki was the only bidder.

By the end of 2008, annual sales had fallen to $29 million.  Employment dipped to 167.

Kubicki became intimately acquainted with the firm because he was one of four people appointed by Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur Spiegel to oversee its operations.  There, he worked with attorney Richard Nelson to ensure it wasn’t hiding assets or engaging in deceptive marketing.

“It was looked at very carefully for its compliance with federal regulations, not just criminal statutes but Federal Trade Commission regulations,” said Nelson, who later became the trusteee in Berkeley’s bankruptcy case.  “It appeared to be doing the right things.”

Kubicki said the new management team established compliance procedures that dramatically reduced customer complaints.  It saw fewer than 100 in the last two years, he said, compared with 4,000 in 2004.

Room to grow

Kubicki said Berkeley has plenty of growth potential, with up to a dozen products it hasn’t been able to market effectively.  Those include the energy supplement Altovis and Avlimil, an herbal remedy for hormonal imbalance in women.  Kubicki said these generated more than $40 million in annual revenue before the fraud probe began.

Kubicki expects to retain Newtown-based Inside Media to devise marketing strategies, supplementing its TV-heavy ad campaigns with online efforts.

“Because they have really focused on direct-response cable messaging, they’ve not really explored all the potential digital markets that a lot of their key competitors are using,” said Inside Media owner Rob Riggsbee.  “The opportunity for significantly increasing their brand and generating new sales channels is just off the charts.”

Forest Park officials are working tax breaks that could be worth up to $140,000 over seven years, said Economic Development Director Paul Brehm.

“That’s our primary office corridor.  The goal has always been to make sure that building remains a productive asset for the community,” he said.

Kubicki said the new jobs at Berkeley will average pay of $16 per hour.

He is asking the Ohio Department of Development for Job Creation Tax Credits and other assistance.  If state officials can’t offer an attractive package of economic incentives, Kubicki is willing to move the operation to Eastgate or Northern Kentucky.

“We hope to stay in Forest Park,” he said.  “But it’s a call center.  It can … go anyplace.”

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By John Eckberg

Decline could mean shrinking roster of dealerships

Car sales plummeted in 2008 compared to 2007, and some analysts think that the year to come will be even worse as consumers worry about unemployment and a real estate market in shambles.

When consumer confidence sinks, big-ticket buys such as news cars head south.

“We’re all wearing life jackets right now,” said Robert K. Riggsbee, president of Inside Media, a Newtown-based media research, planning and buying agency that works with dealer groups in Cincinnati, Columbus and elsewhere in the Midwest.  “It was a brutal year for new-car and new-truck sales.  Now, it’s survival of the fittest.”

End-of-the-year results from the U.S. auto industry Monday were bleak, as sales of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. fell by 23 percent and 21 percent, respectively, in 2008.

Ford sales dropped 32 percent in December compared in December 2007; GM fell 31 percent for same span.

“Buy American” apparently resonated in December, though.  Toyota sales dropped 37 percent, and Honda sales fell 35 percent compared to December 2007; both are based in Japan.

Overall, the auto Web site Edmunds.com predicted that sales for all of 2008 will total just over 13 million, down 18 percent from 2007 and the lowest level since 1992.

The continued slide in auto sales might mean 20 to 30 dealerships in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are likely to close their doors permanently, said auto analyst Todd Turner, president of Car Concepts, based in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

“The Big Three brands for quite some time have been over-dealered – more dealers than they need to have,” Turner said.  “Nationwide, Chevrolet has 4,000 dealers.  Compare that to Toyota with 1,400 dealers.  That is a huge imbalance.”

One automaker, Hyundai Motor America, is trying to woo skittish buyers by promising to let them return cars free for up to a year if they lose their jobs and can’t make the payments.

The “Hyundai Assurance Program” applies to customers stricken by misfortune outside their control, such as losing their job, becoming disabled or losing their driver’s license for medical reasons.  It covers depreciation up to $7,500.

Richard S. Joseph, director of the Joseph Auto Group, a collection of 15 dealerships locally, said there was a noticeable uptick in showroom traffic and sales in the last two weeks of December, thanks to pent-up demand and manufacturer incentives.  Otherwise, in the last quarter of 2008, sales were rocky, he said.

“I think the election sidetracked purchases.  There was glum economic news and lots of uncertainty about many domestic manufacturers,” he said.

Mike Castrucci, president of Mike Castrucci Automotive, said his Mike Castrucci Ford Lincoln Mercury of Alexandria bucked the national trend as new-vehicle sales were only off by 5 percent.

“We experienced exceptional growth in 2007 and to have only dropped our volume by 5 percent – as far as I’m concerned, that’s a win,” Castrucci said, without giving sales figures.

Economic stimulus programs, low fuel prices and a stable stock market could bring rising consumer confidence and growth by the second half of 2009, he said.

“I’m optimistic,” Castrucci said.  “I’ve always said that Cincinnati doesn’t see the highs and doesn’t see the lows of the rest of the nation.”

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By Dan Monk

The Cincinnati Reds will brief advertisers next week on a new ratings study that shows more people are listening to Reds radio broadcasts than previously thought.

“It’s about 40 percent more,” said Mason Meyer, manager of custom and sports research for Arbitron Inc.  “Over the course of a season it’s a pretty big difference.”

The Reds commissioned the study because they were convinced Arbitron’s system of ratings diaries wasn’t the best way to measure baseball audiences.  That’s because they don’t measure listening patterns in real time and results are reported by three-hour segments – which often don’t match the actual game broadcast.  So, the Reds hired Arbitron to find fault with its own research.  And it did.

Arbitron randomly surveyed more than 1,000 people, zeroing in on those who said they listened to Red games.  They found out that the average game draws 81,400 listeners, up from the previous estimate of 58,000 in Arbitron’s spring and summer ratings books.

“Over the course of a season, 611,000 people said they’ve tuned in a Reds game,” said Meyer.  “That’s 39 percent of the market.  That’s a lot of people.”

More than 65 percent of listeners say they listen whether the Reds win or lose.  And when they tune in, 77 percent listen for three innings or more.

The Reds also got some demographic data from the study.  The survey shows 40 percent of listeners are women.  More than 46 percent of all listeners are college graduates, and 41 percent make more than $75,000 a year.

“It confirms what we felt all along.  In terms of radio real estate, we have the beachfront property,” said Bill Reinberger, vice president of corporate sales for the team.

Reinberger said the Reds will not use the study to drive up advertising rates for game broadcasts, but he hopes it will convince media partners that they’re getting value from their sponsorships.

“I think it’s going to win back a lot of the skeptics,” said Rob Riggsbee, owner of Inside Media in Newtown.  The veteran local media buyer described Arbitron’s ratings diaries as “an inadequate tool for gauging audiences” of sporting events.

Riggsbee said the problem will be solved by 2010, when Arbitron launches its Portable People Meter service here.  The PPM is worn like a pager and detects hidden audio tones transmitted by radio stations, allowing real-time audience tracking.

“I’d rather have a real rating and then negotiate a better deal from that,” Riggsbee said.  “If the ratings are lower but they’re not accurate, it throws your whole media plan out of whack.”

Reinberger said net revenue from radio broadcasts is up more than 20 percent since the team altered its rights agreement with WLW-AM 700 last November.  The Reds traded a guaranteed rights fee, estimated at $4 million, for the right to sell most of its own air time.

Under owner Bob Castellini, the Reds have made big investments in its broadcast operation, including the installation of a radio studio at Great American Ball Park for interviews and radio features distributed to affiliates.  The Reds added eight new stations to its network of broadcast affiliates last year, bringing the total number of stations airing Reds games to 54.  That’s down from the Big Red Machine days, when it had 110 broadcast affiliates.  But Reinberger says he can prove that radio affiliates are growing ticket sales, with 19,500 seats filled by radio promotions in Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville and elsewhere.

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By Mike Boyer

Auto industry analyst and Miami University professor James Rubenstein says bankruptcy reorganization would be a short-term solution for U.S. automakers if Congress decides against a $25 billion bailout or other rescue measures.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization would lead to eventually liquidating General Motors, said Rubenstein.

“All it would do is punish the unions, shareholders and management,” Rubenstein said Monday as prospects were dimming for enactment of a bailout for the faltering auto industry before year’s end.  Congressional Democrats and the Bush administration seemed headed for a stalemate.

If GM filed bankruptcy, he said, “Buyers would probably disappear completely because nobody would want to buy their cars.”

Rubenstein said he thinks the current Congress will enact only a limited bailout plan to get the U.S. auto companies into early next year, when President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress will have to deal with the issue again.

Robert K. Riggsbee, president of Inside Media Inc., a Newtown-based media research, planning and buying agency said even with a bailout of GM, Ford and Chrysler, some local auto-dealer franchises are not going to make it.

“Smaller dealerships without scale of economy, they’ll be the first to feel the impact,” he said.  “It’s going to be survival of the fittest.”

If a bailout fails, he predicted 25 percent of the region’s new car and truck dealerships would go out of business.

Rob Reichert, president of Kenwood Dealer Group said a GM collapse would certainly dent sales.  But only two of its 14 dealerships are GM stores, so the company would be able to manage the crisis, he added.

Chris MacConnell of Thomson MacConnell Cadillac has already crunched some numbers on the worst-case scenario.

Sales of used cars, its servicing business and other parts of the car business it has diversified into will keep the GM dealer going even if the automaker collapses, he said.

David Wyler, president of Jeff Wyler Automotive Family, said a GM collapse would be devastating for the nation, but his company would survive through sales of the other brands it offers.  The Wyler group sells GM cars at three of its locations but also sell cars made by seven other manufacturers.

If GM went out of business, “I’d sell a lot more Hondas and Toyotas,” Wyler said.

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