Radio News

“There should be no rules on how many stations you can own in a market." That was a key statement made by one leading radio company CEO Thursday at the 34th Annual TV & Radio Financial Summit, held by S&P Global Market Intelligence. What do other owners of AM and FM stations think about this?

"Alexa, enable Impact Radio." With this one simple instruction, smart homes in Idaho's biggest market that have an Amazon Echo device can now easily listen to any of Impact Radio Group's Boise, Idaho stations.

On Monday, a silent FM radio station based at a major Mountain West university officially traded hands, with the most prolific buyer set to bring this 2kw facility back to life. Before that can happen, however, the seller has agreed to a civil penalty to resolve a series of violations regarding FCC rules on public inspection files, EAS and station logs. It could have been worse.

Nearly fifteen years after Univision Communications predecessor Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. completed its acquisition of five Simmons Media stations in the Albuquerque, N. Mex., market — giving it entry into one of the nation's top Hispanic DMAs, Univision is selling the four stations it still owns to a major regional player. Kalil & Co. is the exclusive broker in this headline-making transaction.

Are advertisers still cool on AM and FM radio stations? Do they consider radio's ROI delivery a relic of the past, when radios such the one pictured ruled the nightstand in one's home bedroom? MAGNA Global's Advertising Forecasts Spring Update, released today, suggests that's the case.

In an announcement made this morning, the dominant audience measurement company and the national radio advertising and syndication division of the nation's No. 2 radio broadcast company have reached a deal that brings a new dimension to the Nielsen Marketing Cloud.

The former Market Manager and GM for BiCoastal Media's Medford, Ore., station group is heading up Interstate 5 straight to Exit 299A, and a single-story office park located within walking distance of The Old Spaghetti Factory. Once there, he'll take over as VP/Market Manager for Entercom's Portland, Ore., cluster.

A 45-year radio industry veteran who serves as president of Mercury Capital Partners has agreed to pay $2.3 million for a trio of AM radio stations serving some of the nation's biggest markets. In a deal filed with the FCC on Monday, the Charlie Banta-led Universal Stations LLC is the buyer. The seller is tied to Banta, making this deal a bit of a reorganization.

A Class A FM serving the growing Casa Grande, Ariz., area and nearby San Tan Valley portion of the Phoenix DMA has been sold by Univision Communications. Who's the owner? None other than the prolific buyer led by a man named Mike Novak. Who's the broker? Kalil & Co., representing the seller.

There's a stagecoach that's rolled in with some new radio spots, and the delivery is big enough to land a major financial institution into the latest Media Monitors Radio Spot Ten report.

A silent FM radio station on the campus of a major university along the Wasatch Front will soon be brought back to life. That’s thanks to a transaction that sees one of the most prolific buyers in recent months adding yet another station to its stable of noncomms. In other TRANSACTIONS TODAY from RBR+TVBR: Greg Davis adds to his Atlanta-area stable with this deal involving a MARTA rail station parking lot.

The nation's No. 1 owner of broadcast radio stations is again extending a somewhat complex series of private offers to its bondholders— exchange offers and consent solicitations for each issue of existing notes originally set to expire on April 14. Why? Discussions with note holders regarding the terms of the exchange offers are still ongoing. What does this mean for iHeart?

As per the terms of a $150M strategic investment offer made on May 8 by KKR to Pandora, any end of a proposed injection of funds in the streaming audio company from KKR would involve a termination fee. A closer look at Sirius XM's investment in Pandora clearly shows that Sirius XM is eating the fee, and immediately matching KKR's offer ... and more.

Simple math makes for easy guidance affirmation. With a huge $480 million cash infusion from Sirius XM replacing a $150 million strategic investment offer from KKR made May 8, Pandora stands firm with its guidance for the current quarter and for the full year as offered during its Q1 2017 conference call.

In late April, the Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones — Mexico's equivalent of the FCC — said sí to new regulations that require all smartphone manufacturers to enable the chip that allows every headset to receive FM radio signals. This makes the nation the first on planet Earth to require everyone from Samsung to Apple to bring local FM signals to one's mobile device. Will the USA be the last nation to take such action?