Radio+Television Business Report

NEW YORK — What could be Gordon Smith‘s final public appearance as President/CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters was met with a standing ovation and words of praise from the heads of Beasley Media Group and Hearst Television as the former Oregon Senator prepares to enter retirement at years end.

Smith, the NAB’s head since November 2009, received the Radio Ink Lifetime Achievement Award at Forecast 2021, held Tuesday at the Harvard Club.

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The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation has elected leaders at iHeartMedia, Cox Media Group and Allen Media Group to serve on its Board of Directors in accordance with Leadership Foundation bylaws.

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NEW YORK — When it comes to Washington, D.C., activities of significance to broadcast media, there is perhaps no bigger topic of conversation today than the nominations from President Biden of Jessica Rosenworcel to serve as the full Chairman of the FCC and the selection as a Democratic nominee for FCC Commissioner of Gigi Sohn.

Sohn’s chances of winning a seat on the Commission is vitally important, and a Forecast 2022 session tackled the subject.

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SEATTLE — FEMA and Bonneville International Corp.‘s Seattle radio stations are preparing to unveil an “all-hazards upgrade” to what is considered to be the “Primary Entry Point” facility at one of the market’s leading spoken word radio stations.

Bonneville News/Talker KIRO-AM will light up its PEP Transmitter site on Friday (11/19).

The modernization to the emergency studio increases KIRO-AM’s resiliency to continue broadcasting under all conditions, including natural disasters and acts of terrorism.

The facility is one of 77 across the country that serve as a National Public Warning System Primary Entry Point (PEP) station, participating with FEMA to provide emergency alert and warning information to the public before, during and after incidents and disasters.

KIRO-AM is the 14th station in the country to work with FEMA to complete the all-hazards
upgrade, which includes increased sheltering capabilities, expanded broadcast capacity, and
sustainable power generation for all types of hazardous events.

Friday’s event, which begins at 11am Pacific, includes official remarks, a Q&A session, a tour of the facility, and live demonstration at the KIRO-AM PEP station emergency studio.

Bonneville International President Darrell Brown will be joined by local dignitaries and staff at the event.

He’s been VP and Director of Sales and Marketing for The CW Seattle since 2017 and, for three years before that, the station’s Local Sales Manager. He joined the station in 2012.

Now, this nearly decade-long station veteran has been promoted to VP/Station Manager for the CBS News and Stations property serving the biggest market in the Pacific Northwest.

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Audacy has welcomed Jeff Gonsales as Senior Vice President and Market Manager of its Minneapolis market.

In this role, Gonsales will oversee the market’s portfolio of stations, which includes 830 WCCO (WCCO-AM), 104.1 JACK FM (KZJK-FM) and 102.9 The Wolf (KMNB-FM), effective December 6.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jeff Gonsales to oversee our Minneapolis market and the operations of our three stations,” said Rachel Williamson, Regional President at Audacy. “Throughout his tenure in the Twin Cities, Jeff has built a strong reputation as a leader with integrity who cares about his people and his business partners. We trust that invaluable quality coupled with his rich experience in this area will set Audacy Minneapolis up for continued growth and success under his leadership.”

Gonsales commented,  “After starting my radio career at 830 WCCO, I look forward to returning to move this group of local favorites forward in the digital audio world.”

Gonsales joins Audacy after spending the last 18 years with Hubbard Radio in St. Paul, including the last ten years as Director of Sales, managing top line revenue budgets for Hubbard Radio Twin Cities and Hubbard Interactive. He joined Hubbard in 2003 as General Sales Manager/Director of New Business Development. Prior to that, Gonsales was the Regional Director of Business Development for Clear Channel Radio from 1999 to 2004. He launched his radio career in 1996 as a merchandising account executive for WCCO Radio.

In 15 days, Meredith Corporation will cease to exist as a Des Moines-based multimedia company, with its merger with Gray Television now on track for a December 1 closing following what is a largely ceremonial November 30 Meredith shareholder vote.

Already, Gray is making leadership moves at the stations it is acquiring in the transaction. The shifts impact incoming and current assets, and more were revealed on Tuesday (11/16).

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One has nearly four decades of experience in radio, most recently as Vice President of Programming for WABC-AM 770 in New York.

The other has been the afternoon drive producer since August 2010 and a part of the station’s team since its birth nearly 12 years ago.

Both are now Brand Managers at Audacy Inc. stations serving Pittsburgh.

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NEW YORK — Is investment in a publicly traded broadcast media company a wise one? Has Wall Street responded to the much-heralded benefits of NEXTGEN TV and the potential nontraditional revenue growth tied to the new ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast standard?

Those are just some of the questions addressed by an all-star panel of financial analysts, joined by one veteran media broker, at a Forecast 2022 morning session.

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NEW YORK — “A meeting is only as good as the results it inspires and/or achieves.”

Those are the words of Streamline Publishing President and Publisher Deborah Parenti as she welcomed a capacity in-person crowd of the broadcast media industry’s top leaders at Forecast 2022, held at the Harvard Club in midtown Manhattan.

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Marketron has brought to market the first three connectors within its new Marketron Integration Suite.

Connectors for Salesforce, HubSpot, and NetSuite “simplify” and automate the sharing of data between Marketron’s traffic systems and the three platforms.

“Streamlining the exchange of data between CRM and accounting platforms, these connectors reduce data silos, eliminate duplication and normalization issues, improve data accuracy, and enable greater efficiency and agility across sales, traffic, and billing operations,” the broadcast technology company says.

“Our connectors with Salesforce, HubSpot, and NetSuite allow Marketron customers to begin sharing data with these platforms quickly and easily without involvement of development teams,” noted Marketron VP of Professional Services and Presales Greg
Aimone. “Using these prebuilt integrations with leading third-party platforms, customers can quickly start reaping the benefits of increased automation, broader visibility across key business tools, and complete data access.”

Marketron will work with customers to customize existing connectors as needed and build additional connectors by request, the company says. Additionally, Marketron plans to bring dozens, and eventually hundreds, of connectors “into a broad ecosystem of business tools and platforms.’

One will oversee markets in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. The other will oversee markets in Missouri, Minnesota and select locales in Iowa.

Each now hold the title of Regional Vice Presidents at Alpha Media.

Brian Foster will take Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan, while Tuttle will handle the other markets for the Portland, Ore.-based radio broadcasting company.

They each report to COO Larry Bastida.

Bastida commented, “Throughout our extensive search to fill the Regional President position, it became clear that Brian and Les could play crucial roles. In recent weeks, the added collaboration from these three has enhanced the discussion as the company gains momentum going into 2022.”

Foster has worked in the Chicago market as General Sales Manager and Market Manager for the last twenty years. In addition, Foster served as Vice President of NM360 Digital from 2008 to 2015. During that time, Foster was named to the “Top 40 Under 40” list by Radio Ink magazine.

Over the past eleven years, Tuttle has been Market Manager for Alpha Media in the Missouri market of Moberly-Farmington-Festus, comprised of eight radio stations, two information portals, and all digital marketing services.

The appointments follow the recent naming as a Regional President of Zoe Burdine-Fly.

NEW YORK — Take an Uber or Lyft across one of the Five Boroughs, and there’s a good chance you’ll get a driver tuned to WPAT “Amor 93.1” or WSKQ “Mega 97.9” — FM radio properties that command the lion’s share of the Spanish-speaking audience in the New York market.

The properties are just some of the audio properties that make Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) one of the broadcast media industry’s biggest comeback companies. In Q3, radio revenue and adjusted OIBDA again exceeded 2019 pre-pandemic levels, the company announced late Monday (11/15).

“Our third quarter results evidenced continued solid financial performance as we again delivered double digit growth in both net revenue and adjusted OIBDA, driven by the strong growth of our radio business,” said Raúl Alarcón Jr., Chairman/CEO of SBS.

It was the second quarter in a row that SBS’s radio revenue exceeded 2019 levels. “Our radio operating margins again led the industry, and we expect continued peak operating efficiency as we roll out our previously pandemic-postponed schedule of projected sold-out sponsored concerts in the New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas and Puerto Rico markets in the coming months,” Alarcón said.

Despite a 38% drop in television division revenue, to $3.02 million from $4.87 million, radio division net revenue surged to $35.94 million from $25.08 million.

This led SBS to shift to net income of $846,000 ($0.11 per share), compared to a net loss of $4.46 million (-$0.61 per share). Operating income increased to $9.21 million, from $6.58 million. Overall net revenue including $485,000 of political advertising climbed to $38.96 million, from $29.96 million in Q3 2020, when some $2.06 million in political ad dollars were seen.

With SBS President/COO Albert Rodriguez in attendance at Forecast 2022 at the Harvard Club on Tuesday, SBS will have its quarterly earnings call for analysts and shareholders on Thursday.

Europe’s leading exhibition and conference for broadband, television and online business executives is readying for “a brilliant comeback” from a COVID-19 pandemic pause.

Get ready for ANGA COM, scheduled for May 10-12, 2022 in Cologne, Germany.

Stand booking is already open and a Call for Participation for the technology program is available online at www.angacom.de.

Key topics of ANGA COM 2022 include FTTH, DOCSIS 4.0, 10G, Wifi, Fixed Mobile Convergence, Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Services, OTT, AppTV, Video Streaming, Smart City and Smart Home.

Numerous leading technology vendors have already confirmed their stand bookings for the exhibition, including ASTRA, ASTRO Strobel, AVM, Berthold Sichert, BTV Multimedia, CommScope, DCT DELTA, Deutsche Glasfaser, Emtelle, gabo, Ocilion IPTV Technologies, Technetix, Vodafone and WISI Communications.

The broadband industry is facing a new spirit of optimism. Even after the pandemic – or precisely because of last year’s experience – the expansion of broadband networks is at the top of the agenda everywhere in Europe. In Germany, for example, with its more than 40 million households, network operators and a steadily growing number of international investors have announced an investment of many billions.

Event organizers says ANGA COM will take place at a date that allows sufficient lead time, given the dates of CES 2022 and the NAB Show, in mid-April in Las Vegas.

Legal and company travel restrictions are expected to be lifted by Spring 2022 at the latest, even with a current surge in COVID-19 cases across several German states.

Solid State Logic has confirmed that it will feature its new System T TE1 and TE2 Tempest Engines at IBC 2021, scheduled for December 3-6 at RAI Amsterdam.

The company’s new System T V3.1 software introduces pay-as-you-go licensing, while delivering enhanced third party device control on top of advanced AoIP routing technology at its core.

The new System T V3.1 software release enables operators using the new TE1 and TE2 Tempest Engines to flexibly scale processing capabilities according to their specific broadcast production requirements. Software licenses for five different processing packs, defined by the total number of mono All-Paths equivalent channels supported, from 85 to 800, are available to users as perpetual or short-term, time-based rental upgrades.

The new TE1 Tempest Engine supports Processing Pack 1 (140 paths) or 2 (256 paths) while the TE2 engine supports all five packs, from 140 to 800 paths at 48 kHz or 85 to 500 paths at 96 kHz. The TE1 is equivalent to the original T25 engine for System T, which offered a maximum of 256 paths, while the TE2 matches the previous 800-path T80 engine. The two new engines and five processing packs expand beyond those configurations to offer a wider variety of channel path capacities that align with a broader range of applications and budgets.

Additionally, the System T V3.1 software provides alerts and warnings as any processing pack license nears its expiration. The new SSL licensing platform enables users to retrieve licenses as required and seamlessly add them to their console systems.

The infrastructure supporting live productions is gradually changing from mainly SDI Video to IP networks. That’s a result of more computer-generated content, new IP cameras and other NDI or IP sources become commonplace.

As such, there’s a need to integrate a mix of SDI, HDMI and IP Video sources.

Broadcast Pix has responded.

It’s brought to market a new integrated production product, “MX Solution.”

The MX Hybrid features:

• 8 Network/IP + 3 SDI (HD/4K) + 1 HDMI/SDI/Analog inputs
• 4 (2 SDI + 2 NDI) Program and Aux assignable outputs
• 6 Keyers with DVEs and chromakey
• Remote “Browser-Based” and “Easy-To-Operate” User Interfaces
• GuestPix remote guest integration
• Integrated Chat and Intercom
• Enhanced macros to automate repetitive tasks and ensure consistency of production
• Built-in streaming, recording and audio mixing
• Hardware that fully supports 1080p/60 and 4K

“We are very pleased to announce MX Hybrid, the latest product in our range of easy-to-use live production solutions,” said Graham Sharp, CEO at Broadcast Pix. “The feature rich, future proof and flexible MX Hybrid will serve the production needs of government, broadcast, live events, and visual radio users – well into the future with its hybrid input configuration and video format agnostic support. We are offering competitive upgrades to existing users and coupled with our customer support packages, we are fulfilling our vow never to leave any customer behind.”

The MX Hybrid is now available to order for $19,995 MSRP and will begin shipping in late 2021.

Marketing analytics company LeadsRx’s LeadsRx Attribution product now supports multi-touch attribution (MTA) for national television commercials — including live, broadcast, and dual-feed cable programming.

The enhancement, says LeadsRx, “leads to greater accuracy in attribution results, which means buyers of TV advertising can better optimize their budgets and earn higher return on ad spend (ROAS).”

The new LeadsRx capability is available to provide support for national television spot logs that take into consideration the complexities of national advertising. The system automatically adjusts the time commercials air according to the type of feed, time zones, and daylight savings time considerations.

“Accurately measuring the impact of national television advertising has been a pain point for some time due to the existence of dual feeds,” said Adam Ortman, VP of Growth & Innovation at Generator Media + Analytics. “With this new methodology, LeadsRx is now able to better inform clients and help optimize their national TV ad budgets by providing a truer picture of TV’s impact across the country.”

Incorporating national television ads within analytics, such as MTA, is difficult due to the complexities of television. Commercials air at different times throughout the U.S. depending on whether ads are shown during live events (such as sports, concerts, etc.), on broadcast networks (such as the big three of ABC, CBS, and NBC), or on cable networks.

Adding to the complexity is the fact that some cable networks are shown live across the country, while others are aired twice a day (“dual-feed cable”), time zones are different, and some states (e.g., Arizona and Hawaii) do not switch to Daylight Savings Time.

National advertisers must take an analytic approach to understanding how various ad mediums are performing both as individual channels as well as in combination with other channels. The complexity surrounding national TV advertising compounds the issue of accurately measuring advertising effectiveness for brands that advertise across the country. The examples in this Nielsen Feed Pattern Guide shows just how confusing it can be to understand broadcast and dual-feed cable programming air times.

“By offering this solution, LeadsRx is using analytics to help national television advertisers and agencies representing advertisers to lower customer acquisition costs, increase customer lifetime value, and spot and eliminate wasted ad spend,” said AJ Brown, CEO and co-founder of LeadsRx. “Our customers have been clamoring for this kind of solution, and our team has worked hard to provide an MTA solution offering this capability.”

There is no extra charge to add the new feature, LeadsRx notes.

MadHive, described as “the enterprise software platform that powers modern media,” has a new Chief Product Officer.

Craig Berlingo will lead product strategy and development for MadHive’s suite of customizable ad tech software.

Prior to joining MadHive, Berlingo recently served as Head of Product at Telaria, where he grew the video exchange business from zero to $300+ million per year in gross revenue and oversaw the platform’s adoption by top tier publishers and partners such as Hulu, Sling, A&E, Cheddar, Pluto.tv, Adobe, Google, and The Trade Desk.

“There’s no question that advertising has reached an inflection point,” said Adam Helfgott, CEO at MadHive. “New policies from tech giants, a shifting regulatory environment, and the fragmentation of consumer attention across more devices and channels than ever are causing the entire industry to rethink how we target and measure advertising. Craig’s experience building billion dollar ad tech businesses will allow us to further accelerate our rapid growth trajectory as we push the industry forward.”

MadHive got its start helping the nation’s largest broadcasters transition to streaming. The company’s infrastructure-as-a-service offering currently powers local OTT reach extension for major broadcasters including Fox. The full-stack solution provides customizable tools to manage the entire campaign lifecycle, from the industry’s most accurate audience forecasting and targeting to cross-screen attribution against its proprietary OTT-first device graph. This holistic approach has led to adoption with agencies and DTC brands aiming to target more precise audiences beyond social media.

“MadHive has established itself as a leader in digital TV, with its end-to-end platform now powering efforts for both broadcasters and brands,” said Berlingo. “I’m looking forward to joining the team at this exciting time in the company’s growth, as we continue to scale the software that further simplifies how media is bought, sold, and measured across all devices and screens.”

Reaching over 2.7 million people each week, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) is one of Australia’s most diverse entertainment companies, with audio and visual brands and content reaching Australians through radio, television and digital properties.

When it came time to build and flip the switch on a Network Operations Center for Commercial Radio, the first in Australia, SCA selected a U.S.-headquartered provider of resource management software to make it happen.

Specifically, SCA selected Xytech to deploy its flagship MediaPulse system for the operations center.

“Although we are still in the development process, there has already been a significant level of support from Xytech,” said Ben Fransman, Network Operations Manager at SCA. “Fully understanding the nature of our business, the team has been extremely helpful in outlining our goals for MediaPulse and working with us on addressing the complexities associated with this project.”

Southern Cross Austereo upgraded from ScheduALL to MediaPulse. This, Xytech says, was done to better provide stakeholders the ability to create bookings. The resource management solutions provided by Xytech’s MediaPulse “was exactly what we were looking for,” Fransman says.

The Network Operations Centre will manage work orders as well as confirm the booking and create the connection based on date, time and project collateral, including talent interviews, remote guests and cameras.

This is one of the first installed MediaPulse systems in Australia since the ScheduALL acquisition, said Greg Dolan of Xytech. “Everyone at Xytech is really excited to see the confidence Ben and his team have placed in us and MediaPulse,” he said. “Our Managing Director in Australia, Tanya Kelly was really instrumental in this transaction, and I know she’ll be a great partner to Sothern Cross for years to come.”

Closing is on target for December 1. Yet, Gray Television has wasted no time in announcing that “several” of its current local-level general managers will assume leadership positions at broadcast TV stations it is poised to acquire from Meredith Corporation and retain after the National Media arm is spun off to Barry Diller’s IAC.

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