the HOT List

The digital divide between Americans with and without access to modern broadband networks has narrowed substantially, according to the draft 2019 Broadband Deployment Report, which was circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to his fellow commissioners today.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, warns that moving to terminate or even sunset the consent decrees without first working with Congress and his committee would be highly detrimental -- even to Radio.

With a water crisis engulfing the Dayton, Ohio area from Valentine's Day afternoon through Friday morning, the powers that be waited until 1pm to deliver the region perhaps its second-most important story of the day: A majority interest in Cox Media Group is being taken by Apollo Global Management.

One year on from the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Florida, the Parents Television Council is calling on Ajit Pai to conduct a review of the 1998 Report and Order establishing the V-chip, TV content ratings system, and the Parental Guidelines Oversight Monitoring Board.

One highly regarded broker is praising Cumulus for getting a $103.5 million deal with the operator of the K-LOVE Christian Pop noncommercial network done. At the same time, one industry observer is simply dumbstruck. Meanwhile, FCC documents show the deal has been in the works for weeks.

As many radio industry executives gather Wednesday in Nashville for the 50th Country Radio Seminar (CRS), all eyes have suddenly turned to New York -- and the market's Country station. That's because Cumulus is selling WNSH and has a deal in place with Entercom. There's more: Cumulus is spinning six more stations — including two crown jewels in the former ABC Radio — to EMF.

Radio industry leaders and executives from across the U.S. are paying tribute to the man behind Gleason Media Services, owner of radio stations in Maine. Gleason died Saturday at his home in Auburn, Maine, at the age of 71.

According to the latest NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study, that answer could very likely be "no." In fact, nearly half of respondents indicate that they've had problems when asking smart speakers to play one of their favorite AM or FM stations. What else did Carolyn Gilbert, NuVoodoo President/CEO, uncover?

Here's something many RBR+TVBR readers won't like to read. The VAB’s latest Left To Your Own Devices quarterly report is out, and it includes new information showing how TV drives greater engagement and consumer action than radio by comparing “time spent” and second-screen behaviors between the two media.

In November 2013, the Digity LLC acquisition of NextMedia resulted in the placement of two Class As into a trust administered by Elliot Evers. Those stations were picked up by a company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2018 and is now shedding the Class As serving an area near Chicago.

Some 50 years ago, the Apollo program was just five months away from the launch of Apollo 11 -- the rocket that placed the first humans on the moon. It now appears a different kind of Apollo launch is in the works, and 14 TV stations in such markets as Orlando are to be spun. When will official word arrive?

Gray Television has reached an agreement with United Communications to acquire its three TV stations for a total purchase price of $45 million. This involves a full-power and low-power station in far northern New York State and a CBS/FOX affiliate in Minnesota.

What would you do if the owner of a rival radio station acquired an option on the transmitter site of your station in a bid to force a sale or, even worse, the shutdown of a sputtering AM station that's recently gone silent? In the case of one New York station owner, a sale was the option.

A just-released study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in association with two European universities, offers a glimmer of hope for television industry C-Suiters who may wonder if time-shifting by TV consumers is resulting in the viewing of fewer commercials.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai opened his remarks at the National Association of Tower Erectors annual conference with chatter about his beloved Kansas City Chiefs and their absence from "the Super Bowl LIII snoozefest." But, what he said about FCC's post-Spectrum Auction repack process is perhaps a bigger cheer inducer.