the HOT List

Gray Media shares, which trade on the NYSE, torpedoed ahead by more than 20% in value in midday trading as investors celebrated total Q1 2025 revenue finishing above the high end of its guidance. Debt reduction and a decline in broadcast operating expenses were also highlights singled out by the broadcast TV group.

“Nexstar delivered solid first quarter Net Revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted Free Cash Flow, driven by record first quarter distribution revenue and disciplined expense management." That's the official assessment from Nexstar Media Group leader Perry Sook, who calls deregulation his top priority.

"Sinclair delivered solid financial results in a challenging first quarter environment." That's the overall assessment of the first three months of 2025 from a fiscal standpoint from Chris Ripley, President/CEO of broadcast TV station ownership group and Dielectric parent Sinclair Inc.

The parent of ESPN and ABC Owned Stations on Wednesday released its fiscal Q2 2025 results, and there was year-over-year growth. The gains were highly welcomed for investors, which helped catapult The Walt Disney Co.'s stock by upward of 10% in morning trading on the NYSE.

The nation's single-biggest owner of broadcast TV stations, which controls WGN Radio, NewsNation and The CW Network, has appointed an individual with experience at TEGNA who will be tasked with overseeing the day-to-day broadcast operations of its O&Os and TV properties operated via shared services agreements.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr discussed his first 100 days leading the FCC on Monday in a 20-minute "Fireside Chat" at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., during which he directly addressed the agency's controversial probe into "news distortion" conducted by Paramount Global-owned CBS.

For weeks, media brokers and industry observers have been awaiting news on a transaction that many believed would be announced one month ago, as radio business leaders gathered in Las Vegas for the 2025 NAB Show. Now, rumors have become reality: Jeff Warshaw has secured the financing needed to move forward with his Connoisseur Media's acquisition of Alpha Media.

The company with majority ownership held by Soros Fund Management is saying goodbye to its five-year Chief Technology Officer, one of its more visible top-tier leaders in recent years. It's the latest move in a wholesale reshaping of Audacy's executive suite since the departures of David Field and Rich Schmaeling.

Nathan Simington and his new Chief of Staff, Adam Wax, have joined together for an opinion piece for an online news organization in which they emphatically support the FCC's investigations into CBS over alleged "news distortion." At the same time, Wax and Simington want big changes to "reverse compensation."

Radio Ink and Radio + Television Business Report are proud to announce that Cox Media Group Executive Vice President and Head of Radio Rob Babin and Nexstar Networks President Sean Compton will serve as co-chairs for Forecast 2026. The event is scheduled for November 12 at the Harvard Club in New York.

Graham Holdings Company, the diversified publicly traded business that is parent to Graham Media Group, this week released its Q1 2025 earnings report. How did the broadcast TV division, led by Catherine Badalamente, do?  Revenue was on the decline in the first three months of this year.

While digital dollars are on the rise, macroeconomic issues continue to cloud Cumulus Media's P&L sheet while the end of a partnership with The Daily Wire — producer of "The Ben Shapiro Show" and founded by the conservative talk host a decade ago — also impacted the bottom line.

It was the first item on a lengthy agenda that also considered17 bills ranging from "fog observations and geographic forecasting" to the Deploying American Blockchains Act. Now, it's very clear that there'll be no blocking the advancement of President Trump's nomination of Olivia Trusty to serve as a FCC Commissioner.

Charlie Grisham has become one of the nation's most outspoken advocates for local television consumption and advertising. Now he has a message for skittish local businesses: 'Big Tech' is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising, so they should follow their lead because local TV works. 

He's been the head of the television advertising advocacy group known colloquially as TVB since January 2010, and has been a key advocate of linear television across the last 15 years in an era where digital advertising growth continues to accelerate. At the end of 2025, Steve Lanzano will officially retire as President/CEO.