Radio News

Some 30 days after it went dark, a directional two-pattern 5kw AM with a rich history in Pittsburgh is ready to be brought back to life. Handling the resuscitation efforts is the owner of a multicultural Class D daytimer with an FM translator covering the city's eastern suburbs. Thus, the "new" KQV may be hard to understand for some Three Rivers residents.

Here's the good news for Sirius XM shareholders: Subscriber, advertising and equipment revenue all climbed for the satellite radio company in Q4. Unfortunately, those gains couldn't offset a gain in revenue share and royalty payments—a key contributor to a fourth-loss that was in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts.

A successful privately owned radio broadcasting company active across some of Idaho's biggest markets is sporting a new name. The change for what had been Locally Owned Radio LLC comes as the result of an official "handing of the keys" to a new management team for the Twin Falls, Idaho market, where these stations compete against Townsquare Media.

The owner of a Class C2 FM station serving the Oregon coast from Coos Bay has decided it no longer wants to beam one of its signals from its lighthouse. An asset purchase agreement has been signed and filed with the FCC that sees Lighthouse Radio Group sell this facility, which just changed its call letters, to a local entity headed by an individual recognized in 2012 by Radio INK magazine as being among the top 12 broadcast Directors of Sales in the U.S. 

The man who helped put one of the most successful independently owned CHR/Pop radio stations on the air has died following an automobile accident in which he was driving in the wrong direction on an interstate highway in eastern Iowa.

Is Emmis in the final stages of repositioning itself as a digital company, focusing on TagStation and NextRadio instead of radio stations? One top media broker has his thoughts. A source close to the matter says he's wrong about one of this broker's assertions.

An individual with four decades of experience in Urban radio has formed a broadcast company with a very specific intention. It wants to purchase a radio station, located in a medium-sized market in the northeastern part of the U.S. This radio industry figure owned an FM in The First State for 17 years, and is intent on being an independent owner once again.

A deal has been reached between the NAB and music rights organizations ASCAP and BMI that resolves broadcast concerns with the Music Modernization Act.

The finalists for the prestigious 2018 Medallas de Cortez, the only awards dedicated to recognizing the very best in Hispanic radio, have been revealed by Radio INK, host of the 2018 Hispanic Radio Conference. The Medallas de Cortez awards are named in honor of Raoul Cortez, founder of the first Spanish-language radio station in the United States, KCOR/San Antonio, in 1946. Winners will be announced at the ceremony on Tuesday, March 13 as part of the Hispanic Radio Conference, March 13-14 at the Intercontinental at Doral in Miami.

Spanish Broadcasting System, the owner of the Mega TV operation and a host of Spanish-language radio stations across the U.S., wants FCC approval to exceed the foreign ownership benchmark. Through attorney Meredith Senter of D.C. communications practice Lerman Senter PLLC, a Petition for Declaratory Ruling was filed on behalf of SBS on Dec. 4, 2017. Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey has now spoken. SBS needs to say more for her to issue a decision. So do dissident shareholders, who may include foreign owners SBS had been unaware of until being sued by them.

NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Metheny has taken his call for the activation of FM chips in all Apple iPhone handsets to Congress. Metheny appeared as one of three witnesses at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing held this morning focused on the policy concerns surrounding the use — and effectiveness — of Emergency Alert Systems. For Metheny, FM chips in smartphones is just a start: Next Gen TV, known as ATSC 3.0, has the potential to wake up sleeping devices and save lives.

What's next for the 34 radio stations The E.W. Scripps Co. picked up from Journal Communications in its 2015 merger, making Scripps a bigger broadcast TV entity in the process? The possible future for these properties is already the top discussion topic in the media brokerage community. A look at the most recent past could provide a fuller look at these now-available stations for potential buyers.

Disruption, conflict, crisis, loss of revenue, combatting or conforming to digital media, bad attitudes, apathy and Band-Aid solutions. These are some of the most significant concerns for broadcast operations to date, notes Media Information Bureau columnist Kelly Orchard. In this column, Orchard helps busy executives answer one question they probably haven't had time to even think about.

Efforts spearheaded by music industry lobbyists to introduce legislation on Capitol Hill that would increase music licensing fees have largely fizzled since the start of the 115th Congress. A bi-partisan group of senators led by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch and Tennessee GOP senator Lamar Alexander hope that anti-royalty sentiment will change, thanks to their introduction today of a law they say would be "the most significant change in music licensing laws in decades." The NAB has already spoken up about the senators' bill, and it's concerned but pleased. We have an RBR+TVBR Observation to share.

Tech company Triton Digital and Edison Research announced Monday that the results of the 2018 U.S. Infinite Dial will be broadcast via Facebook Live on Thursday, March 8 at 2pm EST. Infinite Dial studies consumer behaviors related to media and technology in America.