the HOT List

A man in Illinois has initiated a putative class action lawsuit against Spanish Broadcasting System for something that has nothing to do with what he heard on one of its radio stations or saw on its nationally distributed Mega TV platform. Rather, Adam Bugbee claims he received unsolicited text messages to his cell phone from SBS, even though he's on a national Do Not Call registry.

If it weren't for the valiant efforts of every member of Houston's broadcast media community, the sixth-largest market in the U.S. would be at a tremendous information loss. It speaks volumes of why local radio and TV matter, and this message should be sent to Madison Avenue today.

Severe devastation at TEGNA's CBS affiliate in Houston, KHOU-11, due to Hurricane Harvey has forced it to use Houston Public Media's studios — and assistance from TEGNA stations in Denver and Dallas — in order to continue broadcasting as catastrophic weather conditions only worsened through mid-morning on Monday.

Eight days ago, two key members of Spanish Broadcasting System's Board of Directors abruptly tendered their resignations. While neither Gary Stone nor Alan Miller were willing to give additional details of their departure from the SBS board, one insider who is very close to the matter willingly shared with RBR+TVBR what's going on behind the scenes at this Miami-based media company controlled by Chairman/CEO Raul Alarcon Jr. Simply put: It's him against a new group of preferred shareholders, and things could be getting bloody very soon.

It's awfully quiet out there in Deal City and Transactions Town. What gives? According to one key industry observer, everybody's waiting ... and eyeing the radio business' three biggies. This insider also sheds some light on the overall atmosphere for buyers and sellers, and if any talk about Townsquare Media selling stations is just folly.

Thomas, who first rose to fame at WAPE in Jacksonville and was later the first morning host at KPWR "Power 106" in Los Angeles, died Thursday at the age of 69. Thomas, who received an Emmy Award for his work on "Murphy Brown" and was most recently in "Ray Donovan," was suffering from cancer.

Attention, 2017 Radio Show attendees: You have the opportunity to learn in-person about the latest technologies influencing radio broadcasting companies and those in the C-Suite. It simply involves attending a 9am session on Sept. 6 in Austin, Tex. It follows a free webinar set for Tuesday afternoon that you can still sign up for today.

Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media Co. have jointly fired back at the many entities opposed to their merger, formally putting its words into writing via an Opposition to Petitions to Deny the deal filed late Tuesday (8/22) with the FCC.

From Mar-a-Lago to the shores of Maui, DirecTV subscribers could soon be missing a local broadcast station from their lineup. That's because Raycom Media's 65 television stations in some 44 markets across the U.S. are locked in the latest dispute over a new retransmission fee agreement, which is needed by midnight Sept. 1 in order to avoid the DBS provider from engaging in a "blackout."

Two weeks after 14-year company veteran Adam Symson took the reins as President/CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company, he's already putting his stamp on the media operation previously led by the now-retired Rich Boehne. 

In a transaction brokered by Kalil & Co., the NBC affiliate serving the Redwood Coast some 4 1/2 hours north of San Francisco is trading hands. The buyer owns the crosstown CBS affiliate, and that's now on the market.

Are broadcasters "abusing outdated rules to boost their bottom lines" and the main culprits behind the "blackout" of local broadcast TV channels on MVPDs and such DBS providers as DISH Network? That's what the American Television Alliance (ATVA) thinks, and this provides needed background as to why it is expressing concern with the FCC regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media, and why it met Thursday with the FCC to discuss ATSC 3.0 rollout.

Some media companies say they are all about serving the communities in which their stations are located. One company, with stations in small cities located across New York State, South Carolina, and Florida's Panhandle, is all about community. If not, this operator's very name would be a misnomer. In this exclusive RBR+TVBR INFOCUS report, we peek inside the studios and offices of a cluster of stations owned by a company that's all about being loyally local.

In an impassioned statement released late Friday, Univision President/CEO Randy Falco expressed pride in the multicultural America "we live in and our making." He then turned to the recent racially motivated events in Charlottesville, Va., by turning to the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall before noting, "The current insanity threatens to spiral out of control and has to stop. Leadership is needed."

On Wednesday (8/16), representatives from two key broadcast media multicultural advocacy organizations, a big D.C. law firm, a major Christian-themed broadcaster and a Black-owned broadcaster based in Alabama held court with one of the most influential individuals in Washington, D.C. That person is FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. What did they discuss? We now know.