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On July 27, the FCC will conduct an auction of AM and FM broadcast construction permits.

What do individuals or groups seeking to participate need to know? Filing requirements, along with minimum opening bids, upfront payment information and other procedures are now known.

Oh, and the auction is comprised of more than 100 new FM CPs, and four AM stations serving the St. Louis market that replace a now-defunct quartet.

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With the FCC’s announcement that it will conduct an auction of some 136 vacant non-reserved band allotments in the FM broadcast service, the Media Bureau is putting a freeze on FM minor change applications.

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The Federal Communications Commission has announced the deadlines for public comment on its proposed changes to the Emergency Alert System and the Wireless Emergency Alerts system.

As we reported earlier, the commission, prompted by Congress, has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking and a related notice of inquiry.

The NPRM’s new rules would ensure that mobile devices cannot opt out of receiving WEA alerts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; adopt additional requirements for State Emergency Communications Committees and state EAS plans; establish a false alert reporting system for certain government entities; and require the repeating of certain EAS messages.

Comments in PS docket numbers 15-91 and 15-94 are due April 20 and replies are due May 4. They can be filed in the FCC’s online comment system.

The separate notice of inquiry seeks comment on the feasibility of updating EAS to enable or improve alerts through the Internet, including from streaming services. Comments on that are due May 14, and replies are due June 14.

[“FCC Will Explore EAS on the Internet”]

The post FCC Sets Comment Deadlines in EAS NPRM appeared first on Radio World.

iHeartMedia named Charlie Thomas as area president for its Mid-North area, comprising six markets and 29 stations.

“As area president, Thomas will be responsible for overseeing programming, advertising and operations across the Mid-North area, including the Bismarck, Dickinson, Minot, Grand Forks and North Dakota markets, with the addition of the Eau Claire and Rochester markets,” the company stated.

[Read: iHeart Promotes Latham in Florida]

He will report to Shosh Abromovich, division president for iHeartMedia.

Abromovich was quoted in the announcement saying, “His proven leadership helped the North Dakota area be among the top performers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Thomas has been area president for the company in North Dakota, market president for Bismarck and area president for Grand Folks.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post iHeart Picks Thomas in Mid-North appeared first on Radio World.

April 1 began in a rather ordinary way, even as mild April Fools’ pranks were seen at such radio stations as WBEN-FM in Philadelphia, which sped up its music so it could offer the most songs on the radio.

Then, with little warning, the 11am Eastern hour saw the arrival of a 20-page document that was far from a joke: The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Third Circuit appeals court’s remand of the FCC’s 2017 cross-ownership rule rewrite.

On Twitter, former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai reacted, after posting a video of birthday boy Jimmy Cliff singing “The Harder They Come.” How prophetic. Weeks after stepping aside with the transition in power at the White House, Pai was victorious.

The acting Chairwoman of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, also had something to say about the Supreme Court ruling. She struck a somber tone, illustrating just how divided the Commission is on media “modernization.”

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The Terre Haute, Ind., market, which largely includes nearby Paris, Ill., is the home of a non-commercial group of religious stations presently operated by Word Power Inc.

On March 16, this group signed off on an agreement that would assign its two AMs, two FMs, two FM translators and one FM translator construction permit to a new licensee.

American Hope Communications is agreeing to acquire the following properties from Word Power Inc.:

• WPFR-FM 93.7 in Clinton, Ind., a Class A
• WPFR-AM 1480 in Terre Haute, a Class B with 5kw daytime from 3 towers and 1kw nighttime from 4 towers
• WKZI-AM 800 in Clinton, Ind., a 250-watt Class B from 1 tower
• WLHW-FM 91.5 in Clinton, Ind., a 6kw Class A
• W234CK at 94.7 MHz in Casey, Ill., W300DD at 107.9 MHz in Greenup, Ill., and CP W292FT in Terre Haute

The deal is valued at $179,000. A $35,800 escrow deposit has been made.

The buyer is led by Richard Wheeler, who is represented by Jeffrey Southmayd of Palm Coast, Fla. He’s the President of Countryside Broadcasting, which owns and operates WJLY-FM 88.3 in Ramsey, Ill. The deal suggests WJLY’s mission of serving South Central Illinois with the word of God could be widening to Terre Haute.

American Hope will assume Word Power’s lease agreement with Paul Ford for real estate used for a radio transmission tower, satellite dish receiver, and “appurtenant equipment.”

I have a better understanding of the DTS AutoStage hybrid radio platform after interviewing Joe D’Angelo, Xperi’s senior vice president radio, in a joint webcast about the company’s automotive technology initiatives. 

That webcast, “The Future of Radio in the Car,” is available on demand, and I hope you can watch it given the expanded role Xperi hopes to play in how radio is delivered and consumed around the world. 

DTS AutoStage, formerly called DTS Connected Radio, is intended to help stations compete in the dashboard with “pure play” services like Spotify and satellite. 

“DTS AutoStage is really a global connected car platform that enables broadcast radio to collaborate around delivering services to automakers in a direct response to the challenge posed by Big Tech in the car,” he told me.

“We’ve all seen how Big Tech is coming in, they’re taking over the dashboard, they’re taking over audio services. DTS AutoStage is a global response that puts broadcast radio in control of the platform to design new interactive services, to expand functionality, to engage their customers.” 

Further, he said, it is free, requiring no capital investment from broadcasters.

Consumers get enhanced content discovery, with “now playing,” live presets and a live guide, voice interaction and expanded visual imagery. D’Angelo calls it “a whole different user experience for broadcast radio.” The emphasis is on helping consumers discover local broadcasts carried by on-air signals.

Xperi’s recent merger with TiVo accelerated developments; TiVo knows about aggregating content with metadata, so it brought useful resources to a similar task involving music metadata.

The first mass market vehicle launch was in the Mercedes S-Class, a car with no fewer than five screens where occupants can consume radio and radio metadata.

Images at left show how DTS AutoStage and HD Radio display in a Daimler S-Class vehicle.

“Daimler was very interested in launching hybrid radio, where you take advantage of broadcast radio content and you enhance it with IP-delivered metadata, you enable interaction with radio stations and in some cases provide high-resolution images,” D’Angelo said.

“But they wanted a service that was available and consistent in all the countries where they sell the majority of their vehicles.” He said Xperi spent two years aggregating content from broadcasters, technology platforms and service providers, and now aggregates content from 47,000 stations in 48 countries, with an eventual goal of 75,000 stations and 68 countries.

Watch the webcast and let me know what you think. I’m at radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Xperi Has Big Ambitions for DTS AutoStage appeared first on Radio World.

By Joshua Dudley
Podcast Business Journal

CNN Audio has announced the upcoming podcast launch of Behind The Desk: The Story of Late Night.

The podcast will explore the history of late-night television from its beginnings to its present.

Hosted by CNN contributor and former New York Times media reporter Bill Carter, the podcast, produced by CNN Audio and Cream Productions, will release its first two episodes on April 22 on all podcast platforms, with subsequent episodes released every Thursday.

The trailer is available here.

“I’ve covered late-night TV for a long time, long enough to know it’s filled with fascinating personalities, big moments, big laughs, all kinds of conflicts, characters, craziness and compelling stories,” said Carter, author of the New York Times bestseller The Late Shift. “In our docuseries and our accompanying podcast, we’re going to take a deep dive into all of that–and have a lot of fun doing it.”

The series is a companion to the just-announced CNN Original Series, The Story of Late Night that will air on Sunday nights.

The FCC this summer will conduct an auction of some 136 vacant non-reserved band allotments in the FM broadcast service, adding a small group of stations to the cancelled Auction 106 that had been set for March 2020.

Where are these FMs?

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In 2010, radio industry veteran Lee Abrams, co-founder and CEO of V-Satcast (described as “a hybrid broadcast/broadband OTT multicast streaming platform with original highly differentiated branded programming channel”) penned the following RBR + TVBR Intelligence Brief.

In this Classic RBR+TVBR Media Information Bureau column, Abrams discusses how selling a new idea internally is often harder than the execution itself.

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The Federal Communications Commission published a document in the Federal Register of March 25, 2021, concerning a petition for rulemaking filed by WLUK Licensee, LLC (Licensee) requesting the substitution of channel 18 for channel 12 at Green Bay, Wisconsin in the DTV Table of Allotments. The document contained the incorrect call sign in the summary section.

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Announces procedures, deadlines, and minimum opening bid amounts for the upcoming auction of AM and FM Broadcast construction permits

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A new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate is designed to boost minority participation in the telecommunications industry.

The NATE: Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association commends the introduction of the IMPACT Act, or the Improving Minority Participation and Careers in Telecommunications Act. The bill was introduced by Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.); Tim Scott (R-S.C.); and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who is ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, in late March.

The act is designed to help address the telecommunications industry’s workforce by establishing a federal grant to promote the development of telecommunications education and job-training programs at minority institutions.

[Read: NATE Welcomes Telecom Workforce Bill]

The bill proposes to award $100 million in grants to certain institutions of higher learning to educate and train students to participate in the telecom workforce.

The entities that are principally eligible for grants under the legislation will be historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), tribal colleges and universities (TCU) and minority-serving institutions. The legislation dictates that these schools would be required to partner with members of the industry or an organization with experience providing workforce training to the telecom industry. The goal is to develop programs to ensure that students have the skills needed for the workforce.

“We are particularly excited that this is a bipartisan proposal that appropriately recognizes the critical importance of promoting educational and employment opportunities in the telecommunications field, which is so essential to the nation’s economy, competitiveness, security and vital communications capabilities,” said Todd Schlekeway, NATE president and CEO. “This legislation, if passed, can play a major role in developing a pipeline of future workers that is an integral part of NATE’s workforce development strategic plan.”

When the announcement was made, Sen. Wicker said that the bill aims to create a trained workforce to fill the thousands of vacant jobs that are needed to deploy broadband networks. Unfortunately, demand outstrips qualified candidates. “[W]e do not have a trained workforce to fill [these jobs],” Wicker said.  “HBCUs and TCUs can help fill these jobs by providing career-specific opportunities for students. The IMPACT Act would support these institutions in developing telecommunications-related career building programs that will help bridge the digital divide.”

The IMPACT Act would:

• Create the Telecommunications Workforce Training Grant Program, which the NTIA would use to award $100 million in grants to HBCUs/TCUs/minority-serving institutions to develop telecommunications job-training programs that would educate and train students to participate in the telecommunications workforce;
• Require schools to apply for grants in order to partner with industry (or an organization with experience providing workforce training to the telecommunications industry) to develop these programs, to ensure students have the skills they need for the workforce;
• Allow schools to use the grants to hire and train faculty, design and develop the curriculum, pay for costs associated with instruction, fund internships and apprenticeships, and recruit and support students;
• Require schools to include a plan to increase female participation in the program;
• Require that NTIA award at least 30% of the grant funds to HBCUs and another 30% to TCUs to ensure equitable distribution of funds; and
• Require reporting to ensure schools use funds as required, that they are training students appropriately, and that students are securing employment in the telecommunications industry.

 

The post Bill Aims to Boost Minority Involvement in Telecom Space appeared first on Radio World.

Photo: Getty Images Nigel Killeen

A long-awaited decision from the U.S. Supreme Court says the FCC acted properly when it moved to eliminate some radio and TV ownership rules. The court’s unanimous decision released today is a victory for the FCC and a defeat for groups that worry further consolidation will decrease ownership opportunities for women and minorities.

The FCC released new media ownership rules in 2017 to abolish the newspaper/broadcast and radio/TV cross ownership rules, and relax several local TV ownership regulations. The FCC concluded the three rules were no longer necessary to promote competition, localism, or viewpoint diversity and would not harm minority or female ownership.

[Read: Supremes to Hear Broadcast Dereg Case]

Prometheus Radio Project and several other public interest groups petitioned for the courts to intervene arguing the FCC’s decision to repeal or modify the three rules was arbitrary or capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and rested on flawed data.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia agreed with Prometheus and vacated the FCC’s 2017 order. Today’s Supreme Court ruling reverses the judgment of the Third Circuit.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh delivered the unanimous 9–0 opinion of the court citing the Communications Act of 1934 and the broad authority it grants the FCC to regulate broadcast media in the public interest. The FCC is directed to review its media ownership rules every four years and repeal or modify rules that no longer serve the public interest.

The Supreme Court found: “The APA’s arbitrary-and-capricious standard requires that agency action be reasonable and reasonably explained. Judicial review under that standard is deferential, and a court may not substitute its own policy judgment for that of the agency. A court simply ensures that the agency has acted within a zone of reasonableness and, in particular, has reasonably considered the relevant issues and reasonably explained the decision.”

The Supreme Court agrees that the FCC concluded correctly after examining data that repealing the two cross-ownership rules and modifying the Local Television Ownership Rule would “deliver on the commission’s promise to adopt broadcast ownership rules that reflect the present, not the past.”

The FCC order “was reasonable and reasonably explained,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Kavanaugh’s written opinion concluded: “In light of the sparse record on minority and female ownership and the FCC’s findings with respect to competition, localism, and viewpoint diversity, we cannot say that the agency’s decision to repeal or modify the ownership rules fell outside the zone of reasonableness for purposes of the APA.”

The Supreme Court in its ruling noted the Third Circuit has repeatedly rejected the FCC’s efforts to modify its ownership rules for the last 17 years.

“As a result, those three ownership rules exist in substantially the same form today as they did in 2002,” the SCOTUS opinion stated.

The FCC contends that rapidly evolving technology and dawning of new media outlets — particularly cable and internet — has rapidly transformed how Americans obtain news and consume media, rendering some rules obsolete. The FCC contends that permitting efficient combinations among radio, TV and newspaper outlets would actually benefit consumers.

 

The post Supreme Court Rules on Media Ownership Question appeared first on Radio World.