Media Info Bureau

We've shopped in their stores, including the unique outpost in the Columbus Circle Station of the New York City Subway. We've seen their advertising ... or have we? In November 2021, Lush Cosmetics voluntarily ceased its activity across four major social media platforms.  Why? There's a reason, and it perhaps presents an opportunity for broadcast media.

Recognized "Zoom expert" and veteran public relations executive Rosemary Ravinal found her throat to be a bit raspy and her voice hoarse following a week of illness. As a public speaker and coach, that's a liability. In this column, Ravinal decided to turn lemons to lemonade and use it as a learning moment.

As successive generations of young adults in the United States cope with rising student debt and housing costs, multigenerational living is increasingly providing a respite from the storm. That's the key finding of new data from Pew Research Center that finds 25% of U.S. adults ages 25 to 34 resided in a multigenerational family household in 2021 — up from 9% in 1971.

Does the FCC have the power to adopt “new regulatory fee categories” on non-licensees that nonetheless “benefit” from the FCC’s regulatory efforts? Non-partisan Washington think tank TechFreedom says no, and it voiced its opinion in Reply Comments filed earlier this week with the Commission in opposition to its FY2022 regulatory fee proposal, which the NAB is vociferously against for their substantial rate hike.

Media and tech companies, brands, and advertisers yearn to connect with the elusive Gen Z audience and the generation coming up – Generation Alpha. But knowing exactly how to engage these audiences can be challenging on many levels, especially as there’s so much misinformation and assumptions about how these young people interact with media and content, says Horowitz Research's Adriana Waterston.

"Have you checked your executive presence lately?" asks veteran public relations executive and "Zoom expert" Rosemary Ravinal. As she sees it, "the elusive quality of executive presence is considered by management experts as a make-or-break factor in high-powered positions and promotions. It combines charisma, confidence, and decisiveness with appearance, demeanor and communication skills which together boost positive perceptions of the individual’s competence and credibility."

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce "is sitting idly" on H.R. 7783—a bill that would extend the FCC's authority to conduct radio spectrum auctions, says AEI nonresident senior fellow Mark Jamison. This authority is scheduled to expire on September 30. In this column, Jamison urges Congress to act quickly, as radio spectrum auctions "have improved efficiency and brought money into the U.S. Treasury without raising consumer prices."

The subject line in a new SiriusXM marketing campaign reads as follows: "Don't waste your time with AM/FM radio." Really? We don't think so, and every radio station in North America needs to be aware of the war the home of Howard Stern seeks to wage against an industry devoted to serving every community to which it is licensed. SiriusXM doesn't do that — period.

Election 2022-related advertising dollars are starting to flow to local TV. As activity continues to heat up, Broadbeam Media has examined political local TV spending trends and predictions. What does it have to share? 

Even as the delivery mechanism has evolved to mobile, smart speakers and connected car, TuneIn's Kevin Straley believes "it is still a magical experience when a listener connects with the voice coming out of the speakers." And, it is his view that this experience is made even stronger by the fact that Sports Radio "can bridge where we are now with where we used to be, physically and emotionally."

On July 1, RBR+TVBR informed its readers about the sudden closure of South Texas Radio, which operated the lone locally focused English-language and Spanish-language radio stations serving the Texas communities of Eagle Rock and Uvalde, the site of a recent school shooting. While these broadcast stations are silenced, a local internet radio operator shares that his three-year-old operation stands tall — now as the lone voice of a grieving community.

The last two decades have seen the country grow continuously older. Since 2000, the national median age – the point at which one-half the population is older and one-half younger – has increased by 3.4 years, with the largest single-year gain of 0.3 years coming in 2021, bringing it to 38.8 years. This newly released 2021 Population Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau could have long-term implications on the programming your radio and television stations choose.

What does the future viewing experience look like? That was the subject of a globally delivered webinar presented on Wednesday by the data analytics and media research company.

A guest appearance on a podcast is a highly effective way to grow your brand, assert your expertise and share your big ideas, says veteran PR professional and "Zoom expert" Rosemary Ravinal. She offers ways "to be the perfect guest and rock the podcast every time" in this new column.

It's being hyped as "latest major milestone in NBCUniversal’s efforts to shape the future of measurement." The media company's Executive VP for Measurement and Impact, former longtime Nielsen figure Kelly Abcarian, shared details on Tuesday of a new certification for emotion and ad quality within the NBCU measurement framework.