Radio & Television Business Report

It's a unit of a publicly traded diversified holding company known as Innovate Inc., and with Thursday's release of that entity's first quarter earnings came an up-close look at the financial health of low-power TV-focused licensee HC2 Broadcasting. Just how is HC2, a "Spectrum" segment, performing for Innovate's investors?

Declines in the traditional ad marketplace fueled dollar dips in the first quarter of 2026 that went beyond Urban One's own forecasts, with Digital revenue sliding by 33.6% due to a variety of factors — including marketer "DEI"-influenced pullbacks.

Adjusted EBITDA was negative. Yet, a swing from a Q1 2025 net loss to net income in the first three months of 2026 was seen from Beasley Media Group.  What's the key message for shareholders including Mario Gabelli and his GAMCO Investors? 

As we conclude the first half of 2026, broadcast media’s sales leaders had plenty of challenges. Two key analysts chimed in with their thoughts as Omnicom Media Intelligence offered fresh insights on the matter, and the details are included in RBR+TVBR's just-released Summer 2026 magazine.

Less than two weeks after Allen Media Group closed on the sale of a group of broadcast television stations to Gray Media for $171 million, Byron Allen's Allen Family Digital LLC has reached an agreement to acquire the parent of internet content hubs HuffPost and Tasty — BuzzFeed Inc.

It had been the home of “The Fanatic,” offering a Sports Talk format under owner CRC Broadcasting. Today, the facility is silent and now en route to a new owner: Ken Brentlinger. It's a deal that involves the seller's bankruptcy, and a buyer whose LPFM Broadcasting acquired a trio of Arizona FM translators in 2019.

What does radio need to do right now to best position itself for 2030? The closing session at the Hispanic Radio Conference isn’t framing that as a hypothetical. The urgency is real, and the answers will require innovation and collaboration in equal measure.

“The best time to make changes is when you are doing well,” says Joel Oxley. “And because I’m flipping 65, I’ve decided it’s time for me to hang up my cleats and retire and move on to the next thing, next chapter of my life.” Thus, he's set to conclude a 28-year run with WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C.

The forthcoming global national radio news service from the owner of WABC Radio has revealed when it will debut. And, its timing is designed to coincide with the conclusion of the CBS News Radio service.

The FIFA World Cup returns to America this summer for the first time since 1994, and FOX Sports and iHeartMedia have aligned for English-language audio coverage of all 2026 matches, kicking off with the opening match on June 11 through the final on July 19.

Just how did the purveyor of Christian-themed and conservative secular spoken word content that announced late Tuesday that it's going private perform during the first three months of 2026? A lower net loss was seen, however net revenue dipped. It was a big cut in operating expenses that soften the weak quarter.

On April 29, FCC Media Bureau Video Division Chief David J. Brown gave the green light to an exchange of broadcast television stations between Scripps and Gray, dismissing objections from cable TV industry advocacy groups over the deal. That transaction has now closed.

Does the FCC have a "non-discretionary obligation" to act on an Application for Review filed on March 4, 2025 by an advocacy group that believes a FOX Television Stations property in Philadelphia aired false and misleading information during newscasts at the height of 2020 U.S. Presidential Election results debate?

How can Americans keep fully informed when it comes to the news, ensuring what they receive is accurate, free of bias and untainted by Artificial Intelligence? It's getting harder, Pew Research Center says. That's why it invited respondents to participate in a new story that asked in their own words what they think it means to be "a good news consumer."

The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation selected a manufacturer of residential fire and life safety products who in March teamed up with Hearst Media Production Group to launch a new original series airing weekend mornings on ABC stations nationwide as this year's Corporate Leadership Award honoree.

Liberty Mutual Insurance, which has been a standout auto insurance category advertiser at Radio and Television across the last year, will be honored as the 2026 Radio Marketer of the Year at the 35th annual Radio Mercury Awards.