Media Miscellany Channel 5 surges, Clear Channel grows, and alternative weeklies balk. arely have I seen a press release this loud. "WMC's 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts thrive," it says. "While the competition's dive!" Under fire lately from critics over newsroom turnover and sensationalized news coverage, the research department at WMC-TV Channel 5 appears in no mood to mince words about their victory in the May ratings sweep, which ended last week. The Nielsen numbers tell the story. Channel 5's ratings were up at 5 and 6 p.m. over last May and steady at 10 p.m. WREG-TV Channel 3's were down in all three slots. WPTY-TV Channel 24 remained a distant third, losing ground at 5 and 10 and holding steady at 6 p.m. "I am very proud of the Action News Team," WMC news director Peggy Phillip said in a separate faxed statement. "The ratings win reflects Channel 5's commitment to be the Mid-South's number one choice for news and weather. This is a team of hard-working, dedicated professionals whose coverage of the Hot Springs boat disaster, the CCA prison break, the tobacco lawsuit settlement, and the deadly Oklahoma tornadoes was unparalleled. We are honored that viewers noticed and we will continue to work hard in the future to keep their trust." On a related note, 41 winners -- out of a possible 63 -- claimed prizes in Channel 5's sweeps-long $1,000 Cash Giveaway, which ended Monday. Radio Activity Clear Channel Communications recently announced that it will acquire another Memphis-area radio station, WYLT-FM 94.9, which the San Antonio-based company plans to purchase from the estate of Albert L. Crain for $1.1 million. WYLT, which currently has a Christian format, is licensed to Byhalia, Mississippi, and has studios in Collierville. "We don't know ultimately what we're going to do with it except use it to complement our current portfolio and continue to serve the Byhalia community and the Memphis community," says Bruce Demps, under whose management the station will fall. Demps is general manager of Clear Channel's Memphis urban stations: WDIA-AM 1070, KWAM-AM 990, WHRK-FM "K 97," and KJMS-FM "Smooth 101." Clear Channel's latest acquisition continues a local trend that has seen more broadcasters purchasing signals in surrounding areas and making them viable in the Memphis market. Flinn's KXHT-FM "Hot 107," which is licensed to Marion, Arkansas, and Barnstable's WRBO-FM "Soul Classics 103.5," licensed to Como, Mississippi, are a few recent examples. The new deal will have to be approved by federal regulators, and, on the face of it, could run into trouble. Clear Channel already owns seven stations in Memphis, the regulatory limit for a market this size. The FCC, however, can grant waivers to such limits at its discretion. Wait and See The results of a de facto referendum over the weekend about whether or not papers owned by companies that also publish daily newspapers should be allowed to belong to a trade organization for alternative weeklies were, well, unclear. At its annual meeting in Memphis, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies began termination proceedings against seven of its members, all of which were recently bought by daily publishing companies. Votes were taken on six of the papers and all fell short of the two-thirds necessary to terminate their memberships. Debate was more heated, however, about the seventh, the Hartford Advocate, which was recently bought by Times Mirror, the company that also owns its daily competition, the Hartford Courant. But the Advocate is still an AAN member, at least for now. Its termination was tabled before it could be taken to a vote. Taking the Fourth? The moral of the story is that relationships are important. The story is that WMC has officially announced that it will be moving its Star Spangled Celebration from Tom Lee Park to Shelby Farms. Meanwhile, Fox 13 has moved into WMC's spot downtown with its own Fourth of July event. As reported in the Flyer, WMC began looking at moving the Celebration from Tom Lee Park to Shelby Farms after the city refused to pay for services it once donated, citing a 1998 ordinance that was passed in the wake of the KKK semi-riot at the courthouse that year. Well before WMC made its Celebration move official, however, other organizations began eyeing downtown. One result is Fourth on Beale, a Performa Entertainment/WHBQ Fox 13 collaboration. Fox 13 general manager D'Artagnan Bebel says he was contacted by Performa CEO John Elkington to help put on the July 4th event, which will feature a parade, an outdoor concert in Handy Park, and fireworks. Fox 13 was an obvious partner for Performa, as Bebel points out, because Elkington is married to Fox 13 newswoman Valerie Calhoun. Other media sponsors for Fourth on Beale include WRBO-FM "Soul Classics 103.5" and the entertainment weekly Dateline Memphis. -- Susan Ellis