the HOT List

The News Director at Circle City's affiliate of The CW Network in Indianapolis, Al Carl, has announced that the first TV journalist dedicated exclusively "to covering stories affecting Indiana’s diverse population" has been hired.

What are the current and future trends in the radio industry? Fred Jacobs led a panel session that opened a FCC Media Bureau symposium in Washington that touched on many of the Forecast 2020 topics and discussion hot points with a blue-ribbon panel of industry leaders.

When it comes to exclusive radio industry gatherings, there's perhaps nothing that comes close to Forecast 2020, Radio's Financial Summit. This year's event, held Wednesday at the Harvard Club in Midtown Manhattan, didn't disappoint. Here are some highlights of the no-press event.

Tuesday was set to be a wildly busy day for the House Energy & Commerce Committee. No less than 18 bills were on the docket for markup. The goal was a bit overambitious. The full Committee markup reconvened Wednesday with the "Television Viewer Protection Act" up for review, and a bipartisan agreement was reached ahead of its unanimous Committee OK.

Six months ago, HC2 Station Group became the owner of WJFB-44 in Nashville. The company wanted to make sure it got mandatory coverage across all TV service platforms in the Music City. So, it filed a Must-Carry complaint against DirecTV. Now, it has given up the fight.

In the 1970s, he was GM of "The Big 8". The 1980s saw him in a key role at Greater Media. The first half of the 1990s saw him as the owner of a radio broadcasting company that in 1996 would cash out with its sale to Infinity Broadcasting. Today, the media world is paying its respects to the late Herb McCord.

Head's up, over-the-air television broadcasters: After Dec. 17, you will no longer be able to amend existing or file new quarterly children's television programming reports. Notification from the FCC's Media Bureau came late Friday.

For nearly three years, this woman has served as the key individual responsible for human resources strategy at Nielsen. On Thursday, she tendered her resignation, an SEC filing states. She's heading over to work with Bob Bakish, taking a position at what's to become ViacomCBS.

It's been an interesting week for Entercom. In Miami, four air personalities were let go as part of budget reassessments at the company's South Florida radio stations. Then came the reassignment of the company's Washington, D.C. market manager. Now, Entercom has confirmed that a change in command at its Chicago stations is underway.

Are business owners trapped in a digital and social advertising bubble, "a frenzy of marketing activity with little thought to fundamental marketing principle or ROI?" For the GM of a division of Learfield/IMG College, the answer is yes. Shane Nichols tackles the subject in a new book he calls "a definitive guide" to finding OTA radio and TV value.

The "Television Viewer Protection Act" has taken one small step forward in getting a full vote in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The affirmative vote came despite calls from retiring House E&C minority leader Greg Walden to allow STELAR to sunset as scheduled at year's end.

Yes, Viacom's fiscal Q4 results saw year-over-year declines in both Earnings Per Share and for its consolidated revenue. But, the company that will soon reunite with CBS Corporation by effectively gobbling it not long after after Thanksgiving Day beat the Street in both key performance categories. As such, shares of Viacom's publicly traded Class B shares were up 1.9% on Thursday.

Comscore shares soared on Wednesday -- a residual effect from the installation of a new CEO and, perhaps, a positive shout-out from the nation's No. 1 owner of broadcast TV stations during that company's Q3 earnings call. Indeed, Nexstar could be indirectly responsible for a 23% surge in SCOR's value.

While one may pity the President and acting CEO of CBS for "only" serving under Bob Bakish as Chairman/CEO of what will become the CBS business unit within ViacomCBS, they need only look at the huge financial windfall Ianniello will be receiving for his loyalty to NAI -- and for turning his back on disgraced former CBS CEO Les Moonves.

It may be a Federal holiday, but U.S. stock markets were open on Veterans Day. As such, Cumulus Media decided to release its Q3 results immediately after the Closing Bell on the postal and bank holiday. How did the company fare for the three months ending September 30? Adjusted EBITDA fell, while net income went up.