Radio News

With the late 2019 sale of a parcel of land housing the broadcast towers of two AM radio stations owned by Beasley Media Group, the company took the facilities silent. It was assumed that they'd be left for dead, but that turns out to be incorrect. One of the silent facilities and its FM translator have just been spun.

A pair of FMs serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul market with Alternative and Hip-Hop, respectively, are being sold. The buyer? Chalk up another purchase for Educational Media Foundation, the No. 2 licensee of stations behind only iHeartMedia.

It was adopted by the FCC on November 20. However, it was released today, and representatives of Black-owned broadcasters are cheering. So is GeoBroadcast Solutions. That's because the Commission is now seeking comments to proceed with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to enable FM booster geo-targeting capabilities.

Better late than never. Nearly three weeks after most broadcast media companies released their respective third quarter 2020 earnings reports, Miami-based Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) posted a brief numbers-filled P&L statement on its corporate website late Monday. How did SBS do? Sequential growth is the story, just as it is for other radio station owners. 

Will 2021 provide some light to the end of the pandemic? Will the Biden Administration change the landscape for the media business, especially radio? What might be on the horizon for radio as an investment? If the Forecast 2020 annual investment panel gave you pause for thoughtful consideration, this year's will have you pondering the future in overdrive.

With 1kw from 1 tower in Southwest Denver, an AM branded as Mile High Sports has served as the home for Colorado State Rams athletics and for the recently launched Bet R Network. Now, Mile High Sports' over-the-air coverage is in question, as the AM and the FM translator it has used for the past five years have been sold to separate buyers.

On May 6, the transition of Cox Media Group to new ownership, with Apollo Global Management taking a big stake in what is today a reconstituted company, saw the departure of Kim Guthrie as President/CEO. Other high-profile members of the CMG family also exited over the following weeks. Now, after three decades with Cox, its EVP of Radio is retiring.

Ajit Pai's legacy at the Commission could stand on a Supreme Court decision on the FCC's "modernization" effort that would deregulate local media rules for broadcast radio and TV station owners. Whether the rule change stands, or SCOTUS sides with the Third Circuit in a rule remand, begins just 24 hours before Pai's final day as FCC Chairman.

In this exclusive commentary, programmer/consultant-turned-licensee Clark Smidt notes that, as Radio celebrates its centennial, it came of age in a similarly problematic pandemic. While much has changed, there's one commonality that very much matters more than a century later.

Radio's Financial Summit, Forecast, has always been about predicting the future with data points and trends. This year, Forecast LIVE will present a series featuring candid responses by radio industry leaders to this question: "How has COVID-19 changed your approach to inventing the future and what resulting new opportunities do you plan to continue post pandemic?"

Bob Pittman and Rich Bressler will be starting the final month of 2020 with not one, but two, big appearance at key institutional investor conferences. That's because it is now known that the December 1 2020 Wells Fargo TMT Summit won't be the only event iHeartMedia's CEO and COO/CFO, respectively, will be presenting its growth story.

In the summer of 1982, Dave Crowl could be found at WLVQ-FM in Columbus, Ohio, as General Manager. He was six years into a 44-year career as a successful radio broadcasting leader. It will conclude at the end of this year, his current employer, Cumulus Media, has revealed.

With its publicly traded shares heading toward a delisting from the OTC Pink sheet and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting its full abilities to generate strong free cash flow across its radio stations, Miami-based Spanish Broadcasting System will release its third quarter 2020 results on Monday.

The U.S. is entering the eighth month of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that’s led to a variety of shifts in media management that largely involve remote work needs. What sort of role has Veritone Inc. played in aiding this transition, whether temporary or permanent, post-pandemic? We get the answer and more in this latest InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM. LISTEN HERE

The Copyright Royalty Judges have approved a cost of living adjustment to the royalty rate that noncommercial radio stations at certain colleges, universities, and other educational institutions not affiliated with National Public Radio must pay for the use in 2021 of published nondramatic musical compositions in the SESAC repertory.