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Britney Does the Mideast by Beth Lubove 
OutFront Britney Does the Mideast Seth Lubove, Forbes.com, 07.26.04 While U.S. soldiers battle Iraqi insurgents, there's another insurgency on the airwaves. Norman Pattiz, 61, didn't need to take on this aggravation. As founder and now chairman of the $570 million (expected 2004 sales) Westwood One (nyse: WON - news - people ) radio programming empire, he could afford to retire early and enjoy more Los Angeles Lakers games in his $2,000-per-game seats next to his beloved home team's bench. Or he could relax at his Beverly Hills mansion or tool around in his powder-blue Bentley convertible. Instead, he chose to earn as little as $20,000 a year as a member of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, the semiautonomous federal agency that oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other U.S. broadcasting outlets charged with spreading the American word. Now he's become one of the most controversial characters in the Middle East since Saddam Hussein was toppled. Pattiz's two biggest creations--the $30 million (startup cost) Radio Sawa and the $107 million Alhurra satellite television network--have been alternately described as unqualified successes and as fiascos that have further set back American relations with the Middle East. He's been accused of seeking to personally profit from the taxpayer-funded ventures, either by having a hand in the outside companies that do the ratings research or by seeking to privatize them (he denies both accusations). He's even blamed for contributing to the slow death of the VOA, America's flagship overseas communications tool since 1942. "They think I'm the Antichrist," Pattiz sighs. "It's about protecting the status quo and jobs within the federal system." After Bill Clinton appointed him to the Broadcasting Board in 2000, Pattiz set about applying his commercial, ratings-driven radio expertise to the U.S.' broadcasting operations. Even before the World Trade Center attacks he focused on the Middle East, where the VOA squeaked over a weak shortwave signal that pulled in less than 2% of the potential audience. Pattiz imposed a new mind-set: Get the audience first and their minds will follow. He replaced the VOA's Arabic service in 2002 with Sawa, which uses powerful FM signals to squeeze brief news reports in between "upbeat" bubblegum music from the likes of Britney Spears and her Mideast counterparts. He followed that last February with the launch of the slickly produced Alhurra, which offers NBA Inside Stuff, Inside the Actors Studio and soft features about "luxury" travel, among the usual talking heads and news reports. The result, according to Pattiz's research: Alhurra is penetrating 29% of the satellite-equipped households in the region, while Sawa has a 38% average listenership in 20 Mideast countries. Congress and the Bush Administration are big fans, but Pattiz's moves have riled the VOA rank and file. A recent petition signed by some 500 VOA staffers singles out Pattiz for "dismantling the nation's radio beacon--the VOA--piece by piece" and demands that Congress conduct an "immediate inquiry" into the Broadcasting Board's "serious attacks" on the VOA. "You've got kids listening to pop music, and guess what? They hate us even worse," complains Timothy Shamble, a VOA production specialist and union leader. "The mullahs say it's a good thing to strap dynamite around your waist and blow people up. Britney Spears won't convince them not to do it." Pattiz's critics can forget about any changes in the strategy, says an enamored Kenneth Tomlinson, a confidant of Bush adviser Karl Rove and chairman of the Broadcasting Board as well as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Defiant, too, Pattiz shuttles between Washington and Hollywood, where he's tapping studio bosses for more content for Sawa and Alhurra. "Listen, this is fun," he smiles, climbing into his Bentley. |