Radio News

Rumors were rampant on Wednesday night that Entercom Communications would be making an announcement of some sort on Thursday morning. What was the news? Entercom is selling its Country station in Philadelphia to Beasley Broadcast Group, its one-time owner. Entercom won't be dropping in station count in the City of Brotherly Love however: It is acquiring ​​Jerry Lee's stand-alone AC.

A legend in the Delaware Valley, John DeBella joined Philadelphia's WMGK-FM in March 2002 under Greater Media ownership. In Februrary, DeBella and employer Beasley Broadcast Group were slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit by a former co-host. Named as a co-defendant was iHeart-owned Total Traffic & Weather Network. On Friday, a settlement was reached.

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.

In this latest Hispanic Radio Podcast, Radio + Television Business Report Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson has a candid conversation with a Latina consumer of both English-language and Spanish-language radio in Miami. She's an immigrant and has her favorite stations, which she listens to both in the car and at home. What does she like? Listen now and learn!

Townsquare Media has filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission that reflect the radio and local digital media company's desire to initiate a tender offer valued at precisely $76,472,805.50. It involves a proposal to exchange eligible options for replacement options.

Six weeks after the two top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee urged its Republican leadership to reschedule a FCC Oversight Hearing originally scheduled for February 16, action has finally been taken.

Like a 45 RPM record, there's only so many revolutions before the grooves end. After 45 years in the broadcast media industry, the VP/GM of such stations as "Movin 92.5," "Warm 106.9," and "98.9 The Bull" is concluding his career in radio.

There's a Class C 64kw FM facility serving the Seattle-Tacoma region's Hispanic audience by providing regional Mexican programming. It's a big stick, hence its moniker: "La Gran D." But, this station is licensed to Elma, Washington and uses a tower well to the southwest of downtown Seattle. The result: Signal holes in the metropolitan area. This issue has just been resolved in a big way, as the station is now the latest licensee of Maxxcasting technology.

Here's a new bit of data, courtesy of Borrell Associates, that will certainly jump start your week: Traditional media is more popular with small and medium-sized business owners than some of the most commonly used forms of digital media. This includes AM and FM radio, advertisers say.

The finalists for the 2018 NAB Marconi Radio Awards, honoring radio stations and on-air personalities for excellence in broadcasting, have been revealed. While the winners will be announced September 27 at the 2018 Radio Show in Orlando, Cox Media Group is already in the driver's seat.

Three groups have made it known that they aren't too keen with the rapid expansion of FM translators — often coming at the expense, as they see it, of community-oriented LPFMs. As such, they've been waging a fight against the latest round of translator applications. On Friday, the FCC addressed the objectors' Petition for Reconsideration for all pending translator applications — 994 of them in total. All but one were tossed.

Ed Stolz is widely known in the radio industry as the man who continues to seek to negate the sale of a radio station in Sacramento to Entercom consummated more than 20 years ago. Now, he's under a federal court order to pay ASCAP license fees over several years for three of his radio stations.

Entercom sure is getting a lot of attention from Wall Street and financial houses across North America, thanks to its merger with CBS Radio. But, is that all good? Gregory Vousvounis, a full time investor mainly focused on U.S. equities, writes for Seeking Alpha that Entercom "will be a multi-bagger" over the next three to five years. That depends on a few things, including prayers.

Emmis Communications just completed the first three months of its 2019 fiscal year as a smaller company than one year ago. As such, it's difficult to compare the company's total net revenue to last year; it was down 35.7%. How, then, did Emmis fare in Q1 2019? While the results were promising, they weren't terrific—especially in the automotive category.

If only all legislation was so easy to approve on Capitol Hill. In under 10 minutes' time, the House Energy & Commerce Committee unanimously passed H.R. 5709, legislation that will greatly strengthen the FCC Enforcement Bureau's ability to find unlicensed radio broadcasters and silence them for good.