Media Info Bureau

For the first five years he conducted Alternative FCC Compliance Certification inspections, 90% of the questions Ken Benner was asked pertained to FCC-required public files. As he notes in this exclusive Media Information Bureau column, some 90% of the radio station personnel he worked with "had virtually no idea of what was required or where to turn to become compliant."

"Have you ever wondered how radio, television and other media outlets decide what shows to broadcast or to cancel?" That's the opening pitch in a letter randomly received last week at a Florida household from Nielsen. Here's the scoop on how the nation's dominant audience measurement company seeks PPM panelists.

The world has never been more connected, and U.S. audiences have never had as many options to access content as they do these days. In short, consumers in the U.S. seem like they can’t get enough content, and the possibilities for marketers to reach them, while fragmented, is an opportunity that is just too good to pass on. That's the key takeaway from the Q1 2018 Nielsen Total Audience Report.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is now but a memory. By the way, France was the victor. When all was said and done, MediaRadar took a deep dive into the TV ad trends during the entire month-long tournament. The takeaway: Advertisers were highly active with Telemundo, a big winner in the global soccer tournament.

The FCC today selected a new Chief Economist, and in doing so chose a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute — the think-tank that directed the FCC's transition following the 2016 presidential election. Another prominent figure at the AEI is Roslyn Layton, who writes in this column about the importance of the Commission's mid-band spectrum strategy.

Featured Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner has been "very fortunate" to have met "many awesome people" in the broadcast industry during his 50 years of inspection services for AM and FM stations. Today, Benner pays tribute to seven individuals who he calls "America's Finest Broadcast People."

Patrick Communications Managing Partner Larry Patrick is in the news today for his brokerage firm's representation of the buyer of a trio of radio stations from Alpha Media. As that deal was being finalized, Patrick took a moment while at his part-time Wyoming home prior to a trip to Washington, D.C., to collect his thoughts on a radio industry combatant many not often thing of. Could you be a guilty party?

Not convinced that the "vMVPD" is more than disrupting the ways consumers receive television programming? Check out this data just in from S&P Global Market Intelligence research arm Kagan: Revenue growth of nearly $5 billion is anticipated between now and 2022 for virtual multichannel services.

In this Media Information Bureau encore presentation, we chat with Lauren L. Darr, President of LOI International, on many landmark examples that range in price and difficulty. For Darr, Landmarks are only limited by one’s imagination.

The FCC's Media Bureau on Monday released a Public Notice that one media broker believes is highly important for every radio industry C-Suite executive to read. Specifically, the Media Bureau is now seeking comment on "THE STATUS OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKETPLACE FOR DELIVERY OF AUDIO PROGRAMMING." What does that mean? Here's the scoop.

Washington's favorite acerbic octogenarian from Arizona is back with another fun column that asks the questions few are willing to voice in public. In this Media Information Bureau column, Ken Benner gifts RBR+TVBR Members with this fact: "Have you recently pulled up the FCC website? If not, please do it now. The first most prominent item that pops up includes how to file a complaint."

Larry Patrick, Managing Partner of Patrick Communications, is one of the nation's foremost media brokers. With this week's sale of WBEB-FM in Philadelphia by Jerry Lee Radio, thoughts flooded his mind about other stations in a similar situation. Call them orphans, "sole station owners who cannot sell to anyone," Patrick says. Here's what he says to say on the matter.

Last week, the FCC proposed changes to its rules governing children’s programming. "While the proposal is not as sexy as internet regulation, it is an important and overdue step toward updating the law to reflect the realities of the modern video marketplace," says Daniel Lyons, a visiting fellow at a D.C. think tank with lots of FCC sway.

On average, more than 25% of Americans say they listen to terrestrial radio several times a day, whereas 15% listen to the radio online. That bit of encouraging news comes from the just-released Dimension study from Kantar Media. The research was conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12, 2017. We have your first look at this revealing data.

What's the state of TV Media Sales? AdMall's 8th annual white paper on the subject is out, and it finds that the state of the industry is good year over year. But, there's a lot of room for improvement. How so? Some 44% of managers failed to meet their sales goal in 2017.