the HOT List

"Today we said goodbye to the legendary KGO." That's the startling announcement that came on Thursday morning from the storied news and information station serving the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market for 80 years. A pre-recorded loop began playing in the middle of regular programming. It likely won't stop until Monday, when "810 AM begins a new era."

On July 12, a Federal Appeals Court vacated a FCC order mandating disclosures for foreign government-sponsored programming. It was a victory for advocacy groups such as the NAB, MMTC and NABOB, which teamed up to challenge the rules. Now, the Commission is starting all over again in its quest to "strengthen the process for identifying foreign governmental entities."

As the FCC considers a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would green-light program origination from FM boosters — key to "ZoneCasting" — a Republican House Member from South Carolina has been joined by 12 colleagues who are taking the fight to stop the GeoBroadcast Solutions technology from lift off straight to Jessica Rosenworcel herself.

Respected media business reporter Sara Fischer of Axios is gaining attention of her own for a "scoop" posted Tuesday morning to the digital media news organization's website — Audacy Corp. has, according to Fischer, hired bankers to explore the sale of Cadence13, a podcasting arm.

Like many professional organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted its operating budget and its ability to generate significant revenue. Now, the group that ended its relationship with the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and will now hold its annual January conference in The Bahamas will be filing a court petition to restructure its business affairs.

Thanks to strong cash flow for the second consecutive quarter, one of the nation's largest broadcast television station owners has opted to reduce its outstanding debt once again.

As expected, the nation's biggest broadcast television station owner has completed its acquisition of a majority interest in the television network that counts among its over-the-air distribution points KTLA-5 in Los Angeles. With the transaction's closing a new President of The CW Network has been named by Nexstar Media Group. Mark Pedowitz is exiting.

It was a weekend of frustration for sports fans and those who simply wanted to watch an ABC Owned Station, if they were a Dish subscriber. A retransmission consent dispute erupted. By Monday, the dispute was over thanks to a handshake agreement.

In July, Lourdes Ubieta exited "Radio Mambí" amid fears the incoming owner — Latino Media Network — would dismantle the station's longtime conservative Spanish-language talk programming. These worries stem from a LMN funding source, George Soros, who is known for liberal causes. On Monday, Ubieta will be back on Miami radio, thanks to Audacy.

FOX News Media’s free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) weather channel has expanded its distribution by bringing the offering to a MVPD. This comes after it was recently added to the Amazon Freevee no-cost video streaming service.

It started off as a Generation Z and Millennial-focused news and information offering distributed strictly in the “over the top” (OTT) space. Then, it morphed into a MVPD-distributed cable channel. In autumn 2021, it headed to free-to-air television as a “DigiNet.” Yet, come New Year's Day 2023, Newsy will be no more. It's getting a new name.

The Fort Myers-Naples region has been devastated by Hurricane Ian, with reports of limited access to local news coverage and WINK-TV going dark before 5pm Wednesday due to severe flooding that led the news team to evacuate to the second floor of the low-rise building. As of Thursday afternoon, WINK-TV was dark, with the staff evacuated overnight by a fire/rescue team.

In the wake of "a historically strong 2021," U.S. media owner advertising revenues grew by 11% in the first half of 2022. Now, the not so rosy news from MAGNA: The continued economic slowdown and "the lack of major cyclical events" led MAGNA to lower its 2023 growth forecast somewhat significantly.

It bills itself as "The World's Radio Station" and can be heard on a dedicated SiriusXM channel. Its newscasts can be heard on public radio stations across the U.S. And, there are the 24/7 broadcasts heard globally. Soon, this service will get a change, as the BBC World Service is proposing to stop radio services in 10 languages — including Chinese.

MWC Las Vegas began on Wednesday morning in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The affair, which is perhaps the largest in the world focused on the growth of 5G and technology, devoted time to such topics as the metaverse. That said, advanced connectivity is being deployed across entertainment, and it will impact broadcast media in the coming years.