Radio News

The nation's No. 1 owner of radio stations in July 2019 filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling with the FCC stating that its OK for 100% foreign investment would serve the public interest. Now, the FCC has set a pleading cycle, allowing the public to say whether or not what iHeart wants is really in the public's interest.

The individual who has been Vice President of Sales for Entercom Communications' Buffalo-Niagara Falls cluster since 2012 has been promoted to the role of SVP/Market Manager. The naming of J. Timothy Holly to the role comes following an investigation by the FCC's Media Bureau into political programming practices at three of Entercom's stations in the Western New York hub.

Investors and observers alike have been scrutinizing Entercom Communications and when it will start to see big dividends from its Reverse Morris Trust-fueled merger with CBS Radio. It appears that time has finally come, given the strong Q4 2019 results and positive outlook for 2020 offered by the company. Are investors convinced?

As RBR+TVBR first reported Friday, an expected surge in spending from the Mike Bloomberg for President campaign is something Cumulus Media CEO Mary Berner is looking forward to. A Townsquare Media cluster is also now airing many spots from the Democratic presidential hopeful. It appears radio's Bloomberg-powered big bucks are finally arriving, the latest Spot Ten Radio report shows.

Friday marked the final day of CRS 2020, and among the featured presentations was one that delved into "exclusive research findings" conducted by Futuri Media and the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications that sheds some light on who lists Country as their favorite music format -- of seven options presented to them.

Thanks to its footprint, Cumulus Media's top executives are convinced that its own March Madness -- one that sees a flood of political dollars from the Mike Bloomberg for President campaign -- will greatly assist in achieving a Q1 2020 profit. Another free-spending candidate has also added to Cumulus' bottom line, while Bloomberg's spots are airing on another company's stations in N.Y.

An Order of Dismissal of the license renewals, Chapter 7 asset liquidation plan and Construction Permit application for a new FM translator in Highland, Ill., has been issued by the Commission's Administrative Law Judge. The decision essentially supplies the nails for the coffin the Commission has constructed for all of the assets of Entertainment Media Trust in St. Louis.

After 12 days of a mandatory quarantine aboard Princess Cruises' Diamond Princess cruise liner, one of the owners of an AM radio station with an FM translator offering hyperlocal programming to Los Angeles County communities including Valencia and Newhall contracted the novel Coronavirus COVID-19 while in flight to California. He is quickly recovering in an Omaha hospital.

The top two executives in the iHeartMedia C-Suite will be participating in one of the biggest institutional investor events on the West Coast, hosted by Morgan Stanley in San Francisco on March 4.

The High Plains Radio Network in recent years has received attention for growing its stable of radio stations. Now, it is a seller, with two Asset Purchase Agreements filed at the FCC on Tuesday -- just one business day after the company led by Monte Spearman spun an AM, FM, and FM translator to a broadcast ministry.

In June 2010, American University in Washington, D.C., expanded its reach by acquiring a 50kw Class B facility with a signal covering the entire Delmarva Peninsula, home to the Salisbury-Ocean City, Md., market. The station served as a repeater of its market-leading NPR Member station in D.C. Now, it is parting ways with it.

Throughout his career, Richards/Lerma Creative Director Aldo Quevedo has been motivated by his passion for big ideas and innovation. Now, he says in a Q&A appearing in an Argentine marketing and advertising industry publication that Radio is the one media that has evolved the most. What does that mean for marketers and for radio broadcasting companies?

Four SEC filings made last week by private investment firms paint a vivid picture of who presently holds big chunks of Cumulus Media stock. Among the groups taking a position is Boston-based Eaton Vance Management.

There's much mudslinging and overly biased language flowing to the media from Irving Azoff's Global Music Rights. There's also some choice words, and accusatory statements, flowing from the Radio Music License Committee. It's all over royalty payments, and GMR's antitrust lawsuit filed in California by the RMLC. Are both sides victors in a Thursday ruling?

A 10kw daytimer serving Spanish-speaking Latinos behind the "Redwood Curtain" didn't paid its Commission regulatory fees in full during 2007 or 2008. It also apparently failed to pay its FCC fees in full between 2012 and 2016. Now, the FCC has ordered the licensee to pay up.