the HOT List

The 10 winners of the 39th annual NAB Crystal Radio Awards have been announced at the 2026 NAB State Leadership Conference, being held at the Salamander in Southwest Washington. The honorees include a heritage Class B Rocker one can tune to here, even thought it is licensed to Baltimore.

Tysons, Va.-headquartered TEGNA made the declaration as part of its distribution of its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 results, which saw the company led by CEO Mike Steib achieve or exceed all previously announced full-year guidance.

The New Jersey Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives that got the ball rolling on the still-stalled AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act has teamed up with a Republican from West Texas in introducing legislation that would "ensure greater transparency and accountability" in the FCC's license review process.

For more than a decade, a Scranton TV station has served as a prime example of what a company can do to operate a station it cannot legally purchase due to the FCC's national TV ownership reach cap. Now, Sinclair is taking the step to make this station an O&O, prompted by expected FCC deregulation.

With likely rule "modernization" thanks to the return of President Trump to the White House and the leadership of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, The E.W. Scripps Co. has disclosed that it wants to reacquire the properties — assuming it can secure Commission waivers ahead of any rule change.

With revenue and adjusted EBITDA exceeding expectations, Gray Media is more than satisfied with its fiscal prowess during the final three months of 2025 as it propels into this year with renewed vigor and a hopeful outlook on "the likelihood of local ownership reform that would help level the playing field for our industry."

How did the company that started 30 years ago with a single station in Wilkes Barre-Scranton perform in the final three months of 2025? It beat Wall Street forecasts on revenue but swung to a net loss, as adjusted EBITDA and adjusted Free Cash Flow fell sharply.

"Marketplace Developments" are also a key component of a new Media Bureau docket that suggests exclusivity agreements with non-FCC regulated subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services could harm consumers. A comment window commences March 27, and could be of benefit to NAB members.

Investors in The E.W. Scripps Co. may be pleased with the expense discipline and reduced restructuring costs seen in the final three months of last year. This helped Scripps achieve Q4 '25 revenue that sailed past the consensus estimate. Unfortunately, that couldn't stop the company from registering a net loss. 

For the head of Sinclair Inc., the final three months surpassed the company's expectations, with total revenue coming in higher than it originally anticipated.  That's important to note, as the broadcast TV station owner's comps to a political dollar-fueled Q4 2024 make deciphering the fourth quarter 2025 a bit tricky.

A pair of Urban One FM stations have become the target of a veteran singer and songwriter, on the grounds that an on-air personality, Urban One's local management and the publicly traded company's executive leadership are all responsible for the airing of defamatory statements.

Radio + Television Business Report's Winter 2026 magazine is a digital PDF in flipbook format, making it easy to read on the web browser and device of your choice. You can download it for on-demand reading, too, as this 32-page publication is full of stories you'll want to go back to and share with your team.

Even as WROV-FM is iHeartMedia's top-rated station in Roanoke-Lynchburg, the company filed a minor change application with the FCC proposing a city of license change. The Media Bureau's response? Amend your application, and then we'll consider the ask.

It is a broadcast TV station aligned with MyNetworkTV that was sold by Cox Media Group to Imagicomm Communications in August 2022 and, subsequently, to Todd Parkin-led Rincon Broadcasting Group in July 2025. Now, less than one year later, Parkin is selling this Tulsa TV property.

The Howard Stirk Holdings-owned NBC affiliate serving Flint, Mich.; a property serving Traverse City, Mich., owned by Cunningham Broadcasting; and the Deerfield Media-owned ABC affiliate serving Rochester, N.Y., are each on track to become Sinclair-owned properties, thanks to a fresh FCC decision.