Radio News

A Dec. 1 announcement that was widely ignored by the broadcast media trade press caught the attention of RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson. Why? Because this news, from Sirius XM, deals with something radio stations across the U.S. should have been doing for the last 25 years. It's another reason why broadcast radio still has a long way to go to be as local as industry leaders proclaim it to be.

There's a whole lot of movement going on in the Seattle-Tacoma area, but we're not talking about earthquakes. With format changes impacting country music fans and iHeartMedia grabbing two FMs and an AM, the hub of the Pacific Northwest has witnessed a lot of shake up at its AMs and FMs. Now, country music fans in the northern portion of the metro area are set to lose a "Q." Thank Amador Bustos for that forthcoming change.

DuCoty will retire from his role as Chief Operating Officer of radio broadcast company NRG Media after the first of the year. But, he won’t disappear entirely at NRG.

A Class C0 facility serving the St. George, Utah area and nearby Zion National Park has officially changed hands. Kalil & Co. Inc. was the exclusive broker for this transaction, which was consummated in March 2015 and has finally gotten Commission approval.

The purpose of an FM translator station is to rebroadcast programming originating from an AM radio station, a fully-licensed FM radio station that needs "fill-in" coverage, or an HD multicast station seeking an audience on the traditional 88-108 MHz band. A Wisconsin operator didn't quite follow those rules, and the Commission has handed it a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forefeiture for not doing so. The good news is that the owner has been given the OK for the translator's license renewal.

Hot on the heels of Entercom's new advertising campaign touting radio's benefits to the nation's leading marketers and advertising decision-makers, Nielsen Audio has revealed some key new details about radio consumption from its second-quarter 2017 Nielsen Total Audience Report. The key finding from the dominant audience measurement company? Time Spent Listening, or "TSL," still matters for the radio industry C-Suite, as radio listeners spend 58% of their tune-in time with their favorite station.

With Nov. 29's Closing Bell on Wall Street, shares finished at 9 cents, sliding 42% from last Tuesday. Then came word that a Chapter 11 restructuring plan was the path Cumulus planned to take, with court approval, to erase some $1 billion in debt. This plan would see the company's publicly traded shares reduced to zero -- despite continued trading under the "CMLSQ" symbol.  While shareholders could lose out, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Cumulus' probability of default rating ahead of withdrawing the ratings on account of the bankruptcy filing.

Don't think for a minute that David Field isn't the right de-facto leader for bringing renewed vigor to the radio industry. The Entercom President/CEO has given Chief Marketing Officer Ruth Gaviria the green light to a huge initiative designed to get the attention of the very people that can help propel AM and FM stations to new heights: Chief Marketing Officers for the nation's biggest companies.

After many years as a Country station and a little more than two weeks in to an all-Christmas presentation, Entercom on Monday officially switched KMPS-FM 94.1 in Seattle-Tacoma to Soft Adult Contemporary programming. With the change, one air personality will shift over to the Entercom station that it wants as Seattle's dominant country music source. Hubbard Radio will try to stop that from happening.

A 35-year radio industry executive who has held such roles as EVP/Operations for Chancellor Broadcasting and the company it became, AMFM Inc.; as the EVP for Salem Media Group; and as EVP/Operations for iHeartMedia's Miami-Fort Lauderdale station group while the company was still known as Clear Channel is returning to the Sunshine State.

Back on Feb. 13, Pandora Media shares were trading at $13.58. Since then, the company has struggled to grow at the same levels it did just five years ago. On Friday, on heavier than average volume, "P" plunged by more than 4% to come very close to its all-time low of $4.57. That low was achieved on Nov. 6.

A U.S. Magistrate Judge has recommended that the presiding District Judge in a Philadelphia-based federal court dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed in November 2016 by the Radio Music Licensing Committee (RMLC) against the Irving Azoff-led Global Music Rights (GMR) music licensing organization. Why was the case recommended for dismissal? The Court agreed with GMR that the Keystone State court has no jurisdiction in the matter.

Details of a debt-for-equity proposal awarding its lenders 87.5% equity in a recapitalized iHeart and 87.5% of iHeart’s 89.5% direct ownership in Clear Channel Outdoor presented to iHeartMedia's lenders by the company surfaced today in an SEC filing. There was a counter proposal from lenders, too, and they want a much sweeter deal. The lenders also want an option for a pre-packaged Chapter 11 filing.

If Cumulus' Chapter 11 reorganization is affirmed by U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, shareholder value would be wiped out. Could that impact individuals' 401(k) retirement accounts? We took a look at the top Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) that include Cumulus stock. Here's what we found.