Signs of the times: Washington attorney William LeBow, who principally handled FCC matters, and lobbyist Victor Cabral lost their jobs in the recent staff cutbacks by NBC Universal in its Washington office. At the NAB, six people have lost their jobs, including lobbyist and Executive Vice President Douglas Wiley (CD April 7 p12) and five vacant positions will not be filled, according to confirmed reports. The NAB declined to comment. On the other side of the picture, Barbara Cochran, retiring this spring as president of the Radio-TV News Directors Association, is reported to be the front-runner to become dean of the School of Communications at the University of California, Berkeley. A source said “she scored very high in her Berkeley interviews.”
President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the FCC has extensive investments in Internet companies and has advised a wide array of publicly and privately held firms, according to his financial records filed last month. Julius Genachowski has had investmentsApril 7, 2009 in several dozen Web firms, said the report, a copy of which we obtained from the federal Office of Government Ethics.
Former FCC International Bureau Chief Peter Cowhey becomes senior counselor to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk … Douglas Wiley has left the NAB, where he was an executive vice president … Elected to NAB radio board: Dave Hoxeng, ADX Communications; Julie Koehn, WLEN(FM) Adrian, Mich.; Dana Withers, Dana Communications; Jerry Hanszen, Hanszen Communications; Monte Loos, Duhamel Broadcasting; Mike Novak, Educational Media Foundation … Anthony Cole, ex-Discovery Communications, named ABC network’s vice president, West Coast broadcasting operations and engineering … Michel Bonamy promoted by Vivendi to executive vice president, investor relations … Gaude Lydia Paez, ex-Veoh Networks, named Fox Broadcasting’s vice president of corporate communications … Bernard Stolar, ex- Google, hired by mobile search company GetFugu as CEO.
Congressional telecom staffers bring long experience to table as the 111th Congress gets underway at a time when communications issues are a growing priority. The Senate and House Commerce Committees have new leadership for the full committee and communications subcommittees, with the Senate subcommittee reconvening after a hiatus of three years. Changes at the top level of the Commerce Committees, as well as new committee members, mean some changes in titles among key staffers. But most of those involve staffers who are often familiar to the telecom and media industries.
Former House Commerce Committee member Jim Slattery returns to Wiley Rein to lead its Public Policy Group… Optimum Lightpath names John Macario, ex-Savatar, senior vice president, product strategy and management… Arris promotes Dan Whalen to senior vice president, sales…Rob Williams, ex-Clear Channel, and Drew Hilles, ex-Google, launch Goom Radio Internet radio service as CEO and chief sales officer, respectively… George Kliavkoff, ex-Hulu.com, becomes Hearst Corp. executive vice president, entertainment and syndication.
The FCC should “take a good hard look” at its mission statement, Acting Chairman Michael Copps said Tuesday at the FCBA summit on the 75th anniversary of the Communications Act and the agency. The commission has sometimes “strayed pretty far” from serving the public interest, he said. “Too often we spend our days refereeing disputes between powerful interests, with consumers and other non-traditional stakeholders pretty much left outside the loop of discussion and decision.”
The FCC should keep an “open mind” on spectrum allocation because the U.S. has parceled out frequencies less efficiently many other countries, said EchoStar Chairman Charles Ergen. He said Tuesday he’s “excited” about getting new FCC members because that leads to “new ideas.” Broadcasters may use too much spectrum, he said, and TV stations and cable networks are becoming more readily available a la carte online.
David Gross, ex-U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, joins Wiley Rein as partner March 16… Jennifer Manner, ex-Skyterra, joins Entertainment Software Association as senior vice president, government affairs… Rob Wilk, ex-Yahoo, becomes vice president, ad sales, for mobile search service ChaCha… Cox promotes Raj Beri to vice president, wireless product operations; Dane Dickie, ex Hughes Telematics, becomes director, wireless product development… Verizon promotes Fran Shammo to president, Verizon Business, March 1, succeeding John Killian, moving up to chief financial officer… New executive committee members of Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council: Franck Journoud, Business Software Alliance; Tiffany Jones, Symantec, also elected treasurer. Re-elected officers: Robert Dix, Juniper Networks, chairman; Cheri McGuire, Microsoft, vice chairman; Liesyl Franz, ITAA, secretary.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Tuesday welcomed the expected nomination of Julius Genachowski to become the chairman of the FCC. The nomination of the Obama campaign insider is expected to be announced Wednesday or Thursday, probably with that of a federal chief technology officer, said a person familiar with transition planning. Genachowski “has the experience and credentials to successfully reinvigorate the FCC as Chair,” Rockefeller said.
Upped to partners at Wiley Rein: Jessica Rosenthal, handling broadcast transactions; Robert Scheffel, in intellectual property practice; New of counsel: Robert Benton, international telecommunications and environment & safety groups.