Media Info Bureau

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.

Fifty years ago, on July 15, 1968, longtime Boston radio industry figure Clark Smidt had the pleasure of signing on a 3kw FM radio station operated by the University of Hartford. Today, he recalls many of his experiences since then while assessing the present state of radio in New England in this special column penned for the Media Information Bureau.

A research firm created "to focus specifically on the intersection of technology and entertainment" has just released the latest findings from an annual study tracking the TV sources consumers consider their "go-to" viewing platform. The results, according to Hub Entertainment Research? Multiplatform use is continuing to rise, and there's a steady move away from live TV as a default source. We've got a "famous" RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION on this to share.

What do you do when your sales reps fail to meet their quotas or fail to meet your expectations? Uncovering the root cause and applying the right solution is critical, expert sales trainer Barrett Riddleberger notes in his latest Media Information Bureau column. His advice could spark your sales team's performance just in time for the busy holiday season.

The NAB on Thursday was one of the first groups to offer a comment on the party-line approval of an NPRM that will likely set in motion reforms to the FCC's "KidVid" rules. Now, NAB EVP/Legal and Regulatory Affairs Rick Kaplan has spoken up, and he's practically praised the FCC for proposed legislation that appears to have little opposition.

As many broadcast television executives will note, interactive TV is more common than ever. As such, individual consumers have more input than ever when it comes to the things they enjoy watching — and highly dislike. That said, advertisers have rushed to respond to this personalization trend, and noted media ecologist Jack Myers warns "the days when mass reach is king are rapidly coming to a close." What does this mean for you?

Featured Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner is infatuated with government "complexification." We're sure it's not in our dictionary, but it is a fitting word Benner uses to describe something so confusing, you will end up sending a check to the U.S. Treasury out of sheer frustration and lack of comprehension. In this column, Benner tackles the FCC's efforts to improve EEO compliance.

Profit — it's the No. 1 goal of every radio and TV advertiser, and of every radio and TV station owner. But, what if you've just relaunched a radio station? There's certainly been some thought into the execution of the format change, and the expectation of what will come in 12 months ... right? If that's not happened, perhaps these "10 critical steps" from Simon Manwaring can help bring riches to your newly launched product.

On Thursday RBR+TVBR offered commentary from Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson on how the biggest problem with TV and radio spots may be content-related. Today, Jeffrey Hedquist offers his thoughts on how to make an audio commercial bring greater ROI for the advertiser. "If your commercials sound like commercials," he says, "listeners will probably ignore them."

Among the news stories that caught Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson's attention on Thursday morning was a report out of the U.K. involving Channel 4, a major commercial broadcaster. It held a "summer upfront" on the Fourth of July, and the channel is trying out "a new linear ad format," The Wall Street Journal reports. Marketers may be salivating, but our editor argues that there's nothing wrong with the :30 or :60 — except the content.

The latest installment from featured Media Information Bureau featured columnist Ken Benner is all about the money. Specifically, Benner has combed through all of the Alternative FCC Compliance Certification Inspections he and his wife conducted over a 15-year period. The amount of dollars that broadcasters didn't have to pay to the Federal Communications Commission, as a result of a forfeiture, is staggering.

Cavell Martz's Gary Cavell and Garvey Schubert Barer attorney Erwin Krasnow both believe potential owners can learn a lot by being observant when walking around a station. Here are some great pieces of advice, in an encore Media Information Bureau column you don't want to miss.

Another day, another gunfire-fueled tragedy. This time, the murder of five staffers of a newspaper in Annapolis, Md., hit home for RBR+TVBR's Editor-in-Chief. Numb and not yet ready to deal with the mourning yet again of victims of gun violence, he tuned to a Class A FM serving Maryland's state capital just before 10am Friday. "Radio provided the perfect way to grieve and soothe the soul," our editor writes.