Radio & Television Business Report

A station associated with News-Press & Gazette's Gulf-California Broadcast Company for decades is assessing the damage caused by a fire that prompted "News Channel 3" to abandon its early-morning newscast on Thursday just minutes before going live on the air. 

Effective January 1, the NAB will bring its Government Relations and Legal teams together. This is the result of the coming departure of its 14-year Chief Legal Officer. His role will be absorbed by a Chief Advocacy Officer, someone Curtis LeGeyt calls "a trusted leader and a skilled strategist who knows how to turn broadcasters’ priorities into results."

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the FCC of a Fourth Circuit order that would have forced the Carr Commission to release a formal ruling on a controversial public notice Democrats assert added political action committees to the "lowest unit rate" qualifier list.

It will likely be years, not months, before TEGNA's assets can be fully integrated into parent Nexstar Media Group's holdings as litigation seeking an unwind of a merger DirecTV and a coalition of state Attorneys General led by California's Rob Bonta contest continues. This explains the swift addition of "top sales roles" under Patrick Paolini.

It's an agreement finalized one month ago, and it sees the sale of three TV signals in Ohio to an organization widely known as the home for NPR shows, classical music, and "Folk Alley." Paperwork detailing the merger of Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio with Ideastream has just arrived at the FCC. 

He owned GAP Broadcasting from 2007 until selling his 100+ stable of stations to Townsquare Media, which he joined as a Senior VP. Today, he's widely known as the CEO of YEA Networks, syndicator of "The Kidd Kraddick Show," among other shows. Now, George Laughlin is investing in radio stations of his own again.

In 2014, the York Revolution minor-league professional baseball team bought an AM radio station that today uses its companion FM translator to broadcast as "Sports Radio 98.9." Now, the licensee is reorganizing, and it is thanks to its decision to load the bases, if you will, by grabbing three properties from Forever Media.

A 3kw Class A FM and its 1kw Class D daytime-only AM sibling serving a small North Carolina city due north of Durham are being transferred to the estate of its now-deceased owner. This puts, for now, the stations in the hands of his widow, Margaret Bradsher.

It is a transaction that sees Tucson-based Kalil & Co. serve as the exclusive broker, and it will give the Sage Weil-led Civic Media a bigger group of radio stations — and an expanded presence in the Midwest that goes beyond Wisconsin.

Through the new agreement, Native Voice One, a division of Anchorage-based Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, will be able to continue to deliver public radio programs and topical specials to more than 200 stations, many of which are located in tribal and rural communities.

In February, the woman chosen to succeed LaFontaine Oliver as New York Public Radio‘s President/CEO was revealed. Now, the parent of WNYC Radio and Classical WQXR is seeking her replacement.

The company behind The Heartland Network and the Heartland+ app; Retro TV; and the recently launched Hasbro Legends digital multicast channel is teaming up with a social media platform to co-develop and produce original content for distribution across all of Get After It Media's linear and digital offerings.

It's another sign that Nexstar Media Group won't be assuming control of the NBC affiliate in the South's biggest market, its in-market sibling or the CBS affiliate serving nearby Macon, Ga., anytime soon.  TEGNA has appointed a new President/GM for the three properties, and he's inbound from Florida.

The "2026 State of Local News" report from the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University counts 238 U.S. counties as "news deserts." That is up 26 from last year and the largest single-year jump in Medill’s research. In the past year, 170 newspapers closed or merged, nearly three a week.

The next phase of FOX Advertising's agentic advertising platform, powered by FOX AdStudio, has ramped up, with five agency and technology partners signed on for live campaigns and commercial linear media transactions.

On October 1, a New York venue served as a hub of discovery and insight into the future of the sports media business. "In The Arena," co-hosted by "Substack for sports" platform Puck and media-focused Wall Street financial house MoffettNathanson, addressed one key question of particular interest.