Radio News

The final three months of 2017 resulted in mixed results for Christian and conservative-focused Salem Media Group. The first three months of 2018 on Wall Street for the Southern California-based company haven't exactly been mixed. In fact, they've been decisively dismal, with Salem shares falling to another five-year low in Thursday's trading on Wall Street.

Stockholders of Townsquare Media on Tuesday were invited to attend the local broadcast and digital media company's annual meeting, scheduled for May 14 at 9am at the company's Greenwich, Conn., headquarters. The invitation came from Steven Price, former CEO and now Executive Chairman of the company's board of directors. Attendees can submit questions during the annual meeting. They need not ask about Price's salary, or that of other top executives: That information was provided to them in a filing Townsquare has made with the SEC.

Expecting that Form 10-K filing for the 2017 fiscal year for iHeartMedia, the No. 1 owner of radio stations in the U.S.? You're going to have to wait a little bit for the company to submit the report to the Securities & Exchange Commission. The delay has nothing to do with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy organization, or with anything involving the company's operations in this hemisphere of planet Earth. 

Are the marketers and advertisers that the Executive Director of the Culture Marketing Council (CMC) speaks to every day aware of the power of Hispanic radio? Are they actively using Spanish-language radio stations to reach an important consumer segment? Those are two of the key questions posed to Horacio Gavilán by RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson in this latest Hispanic Radio Podcast.

ABC Radio and Skyview Networks are further aligning their resources in a move that is intended "to identify, develop and syndicate talent and programs to broadcast radio." ABC Radio will assess talent syndication opportunities for both music and news/talk formats and provide affiliate sales, while Phoenix-based Skyview will handle national sales and distribution.

For a generation of Southern Nevada residents, Stephens Media LLC is known as the former owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. There's another company, named Stephens Media Group, that is about to become the better-known of the similarly named entities. It just grabbed 14 radio stations in Washington State, and will now have a stable of 41 properties — including its four FMs in its home market of Tulsa.

More than 100 radio spots and campaigns have made it to the finals of the 2018 Radio Mercury Awards, which honor outstanding radio created by advertising agencies, production companies, radio stations and students. We've got the complete list of nominees.

A new industry-wide campaign from the Broadcasters Foundation of America has been launched as part of an expanded effort designed "to ensure that broadcasters in acute need know they can apply for aid" from the only charity devoted exclusively to providing financial assistance in times of illness, accident or natural disaster.

David Earl Hoxeng has emerged as a formidable operator in a mid-sized Gulf Coast market. In a deal filed with the FCC on Monday, his company has agreed to acquire a Class D facility branded as "Northwest Florida's Talk Radio." This will be paired with an expanded-band AM with an FM translator serving this market, and a 100kw Class C1 Country station. It follows the assumption of control by Hoxeng's company of this facility in December 2017, via a Time Brokerage Agreement with a financially stressed seller.

Thirteen months ago, the sale of an AM station that uses a six-tower array to reach Arkansas' largest metropolitan area seemed assured. However, that deal never happened. In August, the facility went dark. Now, a sale is moving forward — to a different party, a Form 314 filing made with the Commission on Monday reveals.

Thanks to a partnership with programming provider Fútbol de Primera, founded by famed soccer commentator Andres Cantor, radio stations in 16 markets owned by Entravision Communications will air 53 of the 64 total matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The deal includes all quarter-finals, semi-finals, third place and final matches.

Bishop Cheen, that is. Cheen has made a name for himself as a veteran broadcast media analyst on Wall Street, and is presently an appraisal consultant for SNL Kagan. If a federal bankruptcy court judge in New York says yes, he'll also be an expert witness for Cumulus Media in its Chapter 11 reorganization petition.

If Duncan's American Radio were to see a Roseanne-like reboot in 2018, there's one chapter that may be larger than any others: Chapter 11. The fourth radio broadcasting company to seek federal bankruptcy protection since Jan. 1 made its move on Tuesday (3/27) in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. This company's stations, however, are located outside of Chicago.

The first quarter of 2018 effectively concluded Thursday, as U.S. financial markets are closed today in observance of Good Friday and the start of Passover. RBR+TVBR reviewed the first quarter performance for several companies' stocks. For Salem Media Group, the picture is clear — Q1 wasn't so hot. 

Along Strawberry Plains Pike on the east side of the Holston River sits a dormant 10kw Class D daytimer that until recently was the home of a Sports format powered by SB Nation Radio. It is one step closer to returning to the air, as the station is being traded to an entity wholly controlled by John Pirkle.