the HOT List

Has your station fallen victim to one of the biggest reasons listeners tune out? No, it's not a lousy hit record from a superstar that's one big "stiff." Rather, as guest Media Information Bureau columnist Stuart Dornfield notes, it's likely your commercials. Let's face it: Many radio spots stink. Here is some advice on how to remedy that problem.

The FCC has approved the first-ever wireless "power-at-a-distance" charging technology. The "WattUp" from Energous could allow multiple devices to be recharged up to three feet away, regardless of manufacturer. This could mean added audio and video consumption opportunities for your station's streams, and we spoke with a former FCC Chairman and Emmis head Jeff Smulyan for their reaction.

It's shaping up to be a bruising end to 2017 for several publicly traded media companies. Yet, with three days to go before the start of 2018 trading on Wall Street, two prominent radio broadcasting companies' shares stand out amid a sea of red-colored trading activity. One company sees its shares now worth mere pennies in value. Another radio company has also seen its stock plummet to never-before-seen lows.

In 1990, a low-power TV station designed to improve the signal coverage of a full-power station located to the north of Houston made its debut. Over the years, it has faithfully served as a simulcast partner for what is today Ion Media-owned KPXB-49 in the nation's eighth-largest DMA. Now, with the FCC's spectrum auction concluded and repacking underway, as well as the voluntary rollout of ATSC 3.0 next-gen digital TV broadcasts, Ion has decided it no longer needs the LPTV. 

No, it's not a Net Neutrality UFC match at Capital One Arena. Rather, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will be the center of attention at a Jan. 18 event at NAB headquarters in Washington, D.C. focused on the important role of broadcasters in emergencies.

In the last few months, allegations of sexual misconduct have spread rapidly from industry to industry, with fresh stories surfacing on almost a daily basis. We haven’t yet seen the magnitude to which these stories will impact the standards to which our society will hold brands. Could the radio industry be impacted in the coming weeks? Is there more fallout in local TV? It is likely that those standards are only going to get higher, says Media Information Bureau guest columnist Deb Gabor.

Nearly a week after Reuters learned of the details, the FCC on Thursday (12/21) made it official: Sinclair Broadcast Group has been handed a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture for the apparent failure to make required disclosures in connection with sponsored programming that aired on its stations more than 1,700 times.

As RBR+TVBR continues its look back at 2017 and peek into what will make headlines in the next 12 months, we reviewed the total number of broadcast radio and TV transactions seen since January. Given all of the talk about what the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai would do for the deal-making market, was 2017 a disappointment for brokers? Here's what Robert Heymann, Chicago-based Director for Media Services Group has to say about that.

There's a "FANG" (or "GAFA" to much of Silicon Valley) that's captured the attention of marketers, advertisers, and Wall Street analysts. The acronym represents the four big Goliaths of the digital universe: Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (or, more accurately, parent Alphabet). Just how significant these companies are in the scope of total U.S. advertising dollars was punctuated by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)'s Q2 2017 report. The takeaway: Digital advertising grew at a much higher clip than TV did in Q2.

How did television advertising fare in Q3? The latest edition of the Standard Media Index (SMI), released Wednesday, tackled that question by comparing Q3 2017 to the same three-month period in 2015 and 2014, rather than against a time period that include the Summer Olympic Games. SMI's conclusion: There's a decline that's not just related to the lack of Olympic ad dollars.

If you're getting your television channels from AT&T U-Verse and live in either Chattanooga, Tenn., or Reno, Nev., you're missing out on one of your local stations. Effective 2pm Pacific on Tuesday, the CBS affiliate in Silver State's second city and the NBC affiliate serving River City were removed from U-Verse lineups in the respective markets. Why? It's the result of yet another impasse over a new retransmission fee agreement.

A bitter labor battle between SAG-AFTRA and Hispanic media company Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) impacting its two FM radio stations in Los Angeles has ended. The two parties have reached a settlement, and SAG-AFTRA values it at nearly a half-million dollars

This ain't no Hispanic reboot of The Love Boat. There's a new prime-time reality series set to debut Jan. 7 at 8pm Eastern on Univision Communications' flagship Univision network. While it is set to offer Spanish speakers a "big surprise," the biggest surprise for broadcast TV's C-Suite is perhaps the level of product integration and branding opportunities Univision is delivering for its partner on the show. What can you learn from this unique extra ROI partnership?

In a major move that brings the company formerly known as Gannett into "America's Finest City," TEGNA is acquiring not only CBS affiliate KFMB-8 in San Diego but also a News/Talk and Adult Hits radio combo from Midwest Television.

If you're a broadcast media company looking for a creative new way to bring additional ROI to an advertiser, check out what Univision Communications just did. With one click on a smartphone, thanks to an inaudible trigger, a consumer can redeem online or in-store a product offer tied to the corresponding content they've heard on the radio or have seen on the TV.