Washington Beat

Giving radio and TV station owners more oomph and "empowering local voices" are two of the big takeaways from the National Association of Broadcasters as the advocacy group for over-the-air media assesses its chief accomplishments of the past year.

Iconic former FCC Chairman and Wiley Law founder Richard E. "Dick" Wiley will step down on January 31 as Chair of The Media Institute's Board of Trustees, completing a three-decade run in the role. We know who his successor will be.

He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia in 2009 and before joining the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. Now this Tar Heel is the FCC's Chief Economist.

The Copyright Royalty Judges have confirmed that they've started three proceedings that will eventually determine "reasonable rates and terms" for the use of sound recordings — including how much satellite radio service provider Sirius XM and public broadcasting entities will be asked to fork over between 2028 and 2032.

After 58 years of service to the American public, the Board of Directors has formally voted to dissolve the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The decision follows Congress’s decision to rescind all federal funding at the behest of President Trump.

A 5G leader that was formed and purpose-built to "rapidly deliver secure, high-performance 5G and 6G commercial technologies that integrate mission-focused AI and machine-learning capabilities" to meet the federal government's is welcoming a former FCC Commissioner as a Director.

A key Democratic U.S. Senator, along with two colleagues in the upper body of Congress and three House of Representatives Members, have written to the Acting Bureau Chief of the FCC and Chairman Brendan Carr urging them to greatly consider all of the factors tied to Nexstar's proposed TEGNA deal.

While Anna M. Gómez has had her priorities, including bipartisan goals that should unite the FCC, the past 10 months has see the Commission take "a markedly different approach" — one the lone Democratic votemaker at the agency is highly critical of. This includes likely thawing of media ownership caps.

The former President/CEO of the Media Financial Management Association and its Broadcast Cable Credit Association subsidiary has been named Executive Director of the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF).

The Enforcement Bureau on Friday issued the final Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) audit letters for 2025, sent to randomly selected multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Some 27 local franchises must comply with the request.

He served as a Republican-aligned FCC Commissioner until First Amendment concerns over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act cost him his job, with President Trump effectively replacing him with Nate Simington. Now, Mike O'Rielly has resurfaced at The Media Institute as its incoming head.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday confirmed the launch of a new Democratic Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy that will convene throughout 2026. The commission is tasked with developing policy expertise in partnership with the innovation community, relevant stakeholders and committees of jurisdiction.

A media lawyer based at a top Washington, D.C. communications-focused law firm and the woman who serves as Chief Communications Officer of Beasley Media Group have been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Media Institute.

He was a Democrat who served as a Commissioner on the FCC until departing earlier this year. Now, he has resurfaced at a entity that has little to do with grain elevators and anything depicted in the classic film Footloose.  That's because Grain Management is a private investment firm.

There's something more than pupusas, Mojarra Frita and baleadas attracting Latinos who travel U.S. 60 near Busch Gardens and the sprawling Yorktown Naval Weapons Station to the north of Newport News, Va. You can't find it on the menu, but one could certainly find it on an FM radio earlier this year.