the HOT List

That's the question Frank DiPietro of financial advising blog The Motley Fool sought to answer. In a comprehensive review of the streaming audio company's financial health, DiPietro put on his thinking cap and wondered if Pandora Media is better off without a merger with its much-discussed potential suitor, Sirius XM Holdings.

Four years after his last appearance at the American Cable Association's just-concluded ACA Summit, Ajit Pai was pleased to be back -- this time as FCC Chairman. ACA President Matthew Polka was even more pleased with Pai, in particular on his efforts regarding rural broadband expansion and infrastructure investment.

A 25-year Democratic Congressional veteran representing parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn and the Chair of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology have served notice that a bi-partisan push to create a "radio tax" has just begun. The NAB chimed in, and we've got a RBR + TVBR OBSERVATION on the hot-button issue of performance royalties for radio.

IPG Mediabrands' MAGNA has released its 2017 advertising forecast for U.S. media, and domestic ad spend is expected to grow by 3.7% this year. But, to little surprise, it is digital ad sales that will power this growth. Meanwhile, it believes radio advertising will continue to struggle in 2017 due to weakening pricing power.

U.S. financial markets enjoyed a strong Thursday session on Wall Street, as two media companies continued to see another day full of growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average improved 69.17, to 20,728.49. The Nasdaq Composite was up 16.80, to 5,914.34.

Roughly 12 months after it began, the FCC's first-ever broadcast incentive auction is over. Bidding in the assignment phase of the forward auction concluded on Wednesday, and this marks the end of the auction's final phase.

"While we need to look at raising the overall ownership caps within a market, there is little reason to maintain the subcaps." Those words were among the biggest delivered Tuesday afternoon by Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, who opened the Hispanic Radio Conference with a declaration that the ownership of eight FMs in a market is something he's willing to allow.

Public relations and marketing agency Ketchum has expanded its audience insights offering with a body of shoppers that it has identified and named GenZennial. What is a "GenZennial"? Perhaps the better question is, "What does this mean for a media property that relies on this segment of consumers for ratings and revenue?"

To the surprise of no one in the radio industry, Hubbard Radio's all-News WTOP-FM 103.5 in Washington, D.C. is the No. 1-billing radio station in 2016, according to just-released data from BIA/Kelsey. But, what did the nation's top 10 billing radio stations look like last year? Click here for the answer.

If it wasn't for digital advertising revenue, the radio industry would be flat as a pancake. That's the key headline from BIA/Kelsey's 2017 Investing In Radio report, released March 28. Online radio dollars are set to bring the industry another 0.9% in total local ad dollars in 2017, putting radio's total share of the total local advertising pie at 10.5%.

Gray Television would like some more, please. The owner and operator of 100 television stations across 54 markets on Monday announced that it is proposing—subject to market and other conditions—to add on millions of dollars to its existing term loan under its current senior facility.

In a message appearing on its TV station websites Sunday morning (3/26), Raycom Media has reached an agreement that ends its retransmission fee impasse...

If rumors are true, the Chicago radio market as defined by Nielsen Audio is about to say goodbye to a county in Wisconsin and hello to a county in Indiana.

Can't find anything to watch on DirecTV? Before turning it off, there may be something you wouldn't mind listening to, and iHeartRadio is now there to fulfill that need.

A big majority of U.S. voters are against the elimination of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a result of defunding proposed in the Federal budget submitted to Congress by President Trump. That's according to a just-released Quinnipiac University Poll released Friday.