Radio News

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS)'s probability of default rating (PDR). The downgrade came following the company's announcement that there was an event of default under the company's note indenture following note maturity on April 15.

With a flurry of activity focused on TV industry tech advancements, Emmis Communications Chairman/CEO Jeff Smulyan and Paul Brenner, President of Emmis' wholly owned TagStation, held court with key radio industry trade journalists and top Congressional aides alike as the two unveiled several new advancements for both the NextRadio app and TagStation's audience measurement tool, the Dial Report.

Radio One, the media company focused on African American consumers, has closed on a new senior secured credit facility. The 2017 Credit Facility provides for $350 million in term loan borrowings, all of which was advanced and outstanding on the date of the April 18 closing of the transaction, Radio One said in an SEC filing late Friday.

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC on Friday released its official report on the Sept. 28, 2016 Nationwide EAS Test. Was it a success?

In last week’s Media Monitors Radio Spot Ten report, GEICO was back on top at No. 1 with 42,579 spots. The Home Depot held steady at No. 2 with 38,299 ads while iHeartRadio rose to No. 3 with 35,277 commercials.

Is it plausible that an FM translator's alleged interference of an FM signal is "invalid" and entitled to no consideration? The operator of KXEG-AM 1280 in the Phoenix market and its K241CS, at 96.1 MHz, believes so. It has evidence suggesting the station making the complaints -- KSWG-FM 96.3 in Wickenburg, Ariz. -- is operating with unauthorized facilities.

A day and a half after Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) belatedly released its Q4 and FY2016 earnings data, key company executives -- minus Raúl Alarcón Jr., SBS's Chairman/CEO and top shareholder -- provided additional insight into the company's performance during the last three months of 2016.

From El Monumental to Ushuaia, users of Android-powered smartphones now have the ability to listen to live and local FM radio stations through their hand-held device. Thank NextRadio for bringing consumers in another Latin American nation -- Argentina -- the technology.

An unofficial glimpse into the financial performance of the nation's No. 1 owner of AM and FM radio stations was presented to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday (4/20), and no matter how you look at it — GAAP or non-GAAP — it's a downbeat start to 2017 for iHeartMedia. There's more: The company says "there will be substantial doubt" as to its ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following the end of Q1 2017.

In November 2016, RBR + TVBR reported that Radio One had acquired an FM translator and planned to ship it to Richmond, where it would be used to rebroadcast WXGI-AM 950. There was one slight issue: WXGI was Richmond’s “ESPN Radio” affiliate and controlled by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s Red Zebra Broadcasting. That problem has now been resolved, as Radio One is acquiring WXGI along with an FM in the D.C. suburbs from Red Zebra.

Nielsen is formally adopting Gracenote IDs as the standard content identifier across its audience measurement solutions. Standardization of Gracenote IDs within Nielsen's measurement products will tie together all related media and power more effective cross platform buying and planning.

The FCC unanimously approved its April Open Meeting Consent Agenda on Thursday. Up for consideration were an item involving a now-defunct low power TV station and a CP for an FM in Washington State.

Thomas Sydnor, a Visiting Fellow with AEI’s Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy, thinks so. In this Media Information Bureau column that's a must-read for every C-Suite executive in the radio industry, Sydnor believes such legislation is in the "legal, national, and economic interests of the U.S."

Just after 6pm Eastern on Wednesday (4/19), Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) at long last revealed its Q4 and FY2016 financial results. The company had a strong Q4. But, it may not be enough: Along with the results came a recapitalization strategy and the revelation that the sale of non-core assets is in the works.

A Puerto Rico-based operator of a trio of AM synchronous boosters has lost his appeal to the FCC to keep what the Commission has authorized as test operations on the air. Here's what the Commission had to say in rejecting a request to extend a "test" of these boosters for another six months.