the HOT List

From his days 50 years ago as a Top 40 DJ in Pittsburgh to his hire at KFBK-AM in Sacramento to replace Morton Downey Jr., the radio career of Rush Limbaugh was replete with disappointment, rebirth and tremendous success. Now, the world is pausing to remember Limbaugh, who has lost his battle with lung cancer.

Scripps – which sold its podcast company Stitcher in October and nearly doubled its return on that investment – was an early entrant into podcasting and digital audio. The Triton divestiture reflects Scripps’ consistent invest-for-growth strategy that capitalizes on emerging media marketplaces to unlock shareholder value.

She's been singled out by her new boss for her "extensive knowledge and experience" in the Atlanta market, along with her "winning attitude and impressive accomplishments." That's what Debora Collura, GM of WGCL-46 and WPCH-17 "Peachtree TV", has to say about the stations' new Director of Sales.

The Sunshine State is about to send a big thunderstorm in the direction of Facebook, Alphabet Inc., Amazon and other big tech companies that have sucked ad dollars away from broadcast media. Proposed legislation supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis would increase data privacy and security "and uphold the rights of Floridians over major technology companies."

By the end of March 2020, IHRT had shriveled to $4.87 per share. Questions about iHeart's ability to see profits amid a flurry of pandemic-fueled advertising cancellations and "hold for now" calls arose. An early June rally fizzled just one month later. Then came Election Day 2020. Since then, iHeart shares haven't stopped growing.

Even as shares dipped to nearly $50 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic's stay-at-home restriction period, there was an underlying belief that Nexstar Media Group would rebound at some point. That point is now. Nexstar shares begin Tuesday's trading on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market at a record high.

The coronavirus pandemic-led macroeconomic downturn, to little surprise, impacted the Zacks Broadcast Radio and Television industry portfolio in a negative way. Furthermore, the increased rate of cord-cutting casts a shadow on the industry’s prospects. Nevertheless, one broadcast TV company stands out as one with a stock to buy.

Educational Media Foundation's quest to have a presence in nearly every U.S. radio market has been one of Radio's big headlines of the last five years. Now, EMF is ensuring its presence in two key Midwest locales.

In early November 2020, the Pai Commission gave its blessing to iHeartMedia's request to increase its foreign ownership concentration to 100%, should it ever choose to go that route. While that's not likely, the nation's No. 1 audio media company has now gone "Global," in a way.

Here's something you may find weird: The time spent watching television increased across 2020. Yet, eMarketer analysis finds, viewership "plummeted" last year. The data suggest television was punished by COVID-19 in very much the same way broadcast Radio was.

A division of FOX Entertainment paving an advertiser-based video-on-demand (AVOD) platform for the company is expanding its news content. To accomplish this, it is partnering with four broadcast TV station ownership groups, which have agreed to provide live local news feeds.

A comment period has begun for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would modify the FCC's rules governing the operation of FM booster stations by radio broadcasters. While the company behind ZoneCasting says it "marks the beginning of an active debate on innovation in the radio industry," the NAB couldn't be more opposed to the plan.

The first of the fourth quarter and full-year 2020 earnings reports from the radio broadcasting industry quietly arrived on Wednesday morning, as Beasley shared its fiscal report card for the final three months of last year. How did the company perform? Its earnings per share shattered the analysts' consensus estimate by eighteen cents.

The Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio (MIW) Group has just released its 2020 Annual Gender Analysis study. It tracks the career progress of women in radio broadcasting rising to the ranks of management. "Even with the unpredictability of 2020, you will still see glimmers of hope within the findings," they say.

Two months ago, it appeared that a fresh retransmission consent arrangement keeping Hearst stations from "neighboring designated market areas" where citizens desired the station more than a closer, albeit out of state, choice was reached with Comcast. Now, the Xfinity parent says "some TV stations" from neighboring markets will "soon no longer be available."