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Gordon Smith sent a video message about the elections to NAB members. Click to view.

Gordon Smith, a former Republican senator and now the president/CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, says it is “decisive” that Joe Biden won the U.S. electoral vote. Smith issued a statement this weekend praising Biden for “his patriotic love for his country and of his good heart for all his countrymen.”

This would normally be considered a fairly routine post-election compliment from a former Senate colleague, but it stands out in the 2020 political climate.

Smith, a Republican, issued his statement even though Trump has not conceded and has issued numerous legal challenges to the Biden win.

In a similar vein, former President George W. Bush on Sunday described the election as “fundamentally fair.”

Smith acknowledged Trump’s rights to judicial review of election results but said, “It is time to acknowledge the election of Joe Biden and to allow him the chance to bind our nation back together.”

Here is the text of Smith’s statement:

“It has been clear for days now that Joe Biden has been on track to win the popular vote in his run for the presidency. It is decisive that today he has surpassed the threshold of 270 electoral college votes. NAB congratulates Joe Biden on becoming president-elect of the United States of America.

“I was privileged to serve beside President-elect Joe Biden during my two terms as a Republican Senator from Oregon. I know Joe. I know his patriotic love for his country and of his good heart for all his countrymen.

“Working together on the Foreign Relations Committee, we routinely bridged the partisan divide to achieve important legislative accomplishments.

“And, during a time of personal tragedy for my family, when we lost our son Garrett, Joe was a source of support and solace. Because he too knew the pain of losing a child, he gave to me a steady, brotherly shoulder to lean on. Joe is a healer, the consoler-in-chief our nation has elected.

“With due respect to President Trump’s rights to judicial review of election results, it is time to acknowledge the election of Joe Biden and to allow him the chance to bind our nation back together.”

He posed a video message for NAB members regarding the elections. He highlighted the large turnout and the role of broadcasters in the process.

The post Gordon Smith Says Biden Won appeared first on Radio World.

Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's proceeding by David Goldman, on behalf of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.; Audrey L. Allison, on behalf of The Boeing Company; Jennifer A. Manner, on behalf of EchoStar Satellite Services, LLC and Hughes Network Services, LLC; Mike Safyan, on behalf of Planet Labs Inc.; Ananda Martin, on behalf of Spire Global, Inc.; Elisabeth Neasmith, on behalf of Telesat Canada; and Julie Zoller, et al., on behalf of Kuiper Systems, Inc.

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As required by the National Defense Authorization Act, the FCC Submits its Fifth Semi-Annual Report to Congress on Submissions by U.S.-Based Foreign Media Outlets

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The Federal Communications Commission will allow more foreign investment in iHeartMedia — up to 100%, subject to certain conditions.

“We find that the public interest would not be served by prohibiting foreign investment in iHeart, the owner of over 850 radio broadcast station licenses, in excess of the 25% benchmark set forth in … the [Communications] Act,” wrote Albert Shuldiner, chief of the Audio Division of the Media Bureau.

The FCC has the discretion to allow higher levels of foreign investment in a broadcaster’s U.S. parent company. iHeart asked to be allowed to exceed the 25% cap because, in coming out of bankruptcy last year, it issued new stock and special warrants but was required to seek approval to exceed 25% so that foreign investors could use their warrants to buy stock.

[Read: Cumulus Gets Thumbs up on Foreign Ownership Petition]

A 2016 commission order made it easier for U.S. broadcasters to seek this type of outcome. Since then, the FCC has eased or waived the 25% cap in several cases. iHeart’s role as the country’s largest radio station owner makes it notable, but the FCC recently also gave a similar ruling in favor of Cumulus Media.

“The FCC’s decision will enable holders of iHeartMedia warrants to have those warrants exchanged into Class A or Class B shares of iHeartMedia common stock,” the company stated. It said the ruling “will afford iHeartMedia flexibility to accommodate increased foreign investment that may result from share purchases by the public.”

The nine-page ruling includes a summary of the role and investment structures of the specific companies concerned: PIMCO Group and Invesco Group. iHeart had estimated that if their warrants were fully exercised, its foreign equity interests would be about 64% and foreign voting interests around 70.5%. iHeart emphasized that the investments mostly involve U.S. subsidiaries of businesses based in Germany and Bermuda, two close allies and trade partners.

In its petition, iHeart also argued that lifting the cap would serve the public interest by enabling it to better compete, incentivizing foreign investment and encouraging reciprocal opportunities for U.S. companies elsewhere.

The company will still have to obtain FCC approval for any new or additional foreign entity to control more than 5% (or more than 10% for certain institutional investors).

The commission rejected an argument by one petitioner that this outcome would put national security at risk. The FCC said the Departments of Justice, Defense and Homeland Security signed off, as long as iHeart abides by commitments it made to DOJ including designating a Security Officer who is a U.S. citizen and certain reporting requirements.

 

The post FCC Gives iHeart a Foreign Ownership Privilege appeared first on Radio World.

David Field

Group owner Entercom’s third quarter investor report delivered on Nov. 6 wasn’t the ad revenue disaster of the previous quarter, but it shows any kind of robust economic recovery will take time.

Entercom said its third quarter net revenue was $268.5 million. That’s an increase of 53% compared to the second quarter of 2020. However, that is a dip of 30% when compared to the third quarter of 2019, according to the financial report.

One promising sign for the publicly traded broadcaster is its monthly revenue improvement trend when compared to one year ago: July was down 36%, August down 32% and September was down 25%.

[Read: Entercom and FanDuel Ink Partnership]

Entercom has been aggressively trimming costs since the beginning of the pandemic and cut station expenses in the quarter by 16% compared to 2019 totals to $228.1 million. That cost-cutting couldn’t help Entercom stem an operating loss of nearly $300,000 for the third quarter compared to income of $79.5 million in Q3 2019.

Entercom’s President and CEO David Field said during the investor call on Friday the company will continue to focus on reducing costs to be better positioned for economic recovery post-pandemic. “For example, we are planning to reduce the size of our studio locations significantly to reflect expected post-pandemic work structures. And anticipate significantly reducing the $70 million we currently spend on studio leases over the next several years.”

He continued: “In addition, we have significantly reduced the staffing and scope of our promotions department and discontinued some of the legacy practices, which have diminishing value given the rapid adoption of our digital, social and other technologies.”

Booked fourth quarter ad revenue for Entercom, Field says, already exceeds the $268.6 million in revenue from the third quarter. Some of that is attributable to political advertising which “rose significantly in October,” he said.

Friday’s financial disclosure shows the broadcaster’s digital and podcasting revenues were up 41% year-over-year to $47.3 million in the third quarter. Field said: “We continue to build and transform Entercom into a leading multiplatform audio content and entertainment company with scaled audience reach, robust data, analytics and attribution capabilities.”

Field said podcast downloads was up 27% compared to Q3 2019. The company has just over 26 million monthly average podcast users.

The broadcaster’s net debt as of Sept. 30 was $1.63 billion, which is down $66 million from the end of 2019, according to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Much of the erosion in ad spending in 2020 brought on by the pandemic can be attributed to two factors, less volume and lower pricing, Field said. “There’s no question we took a hit on pricing. We did a lot of things to support our local advertisers who were hurting. But inventory has tightened up and we have seen an improvement in pricing.”

Coinciding with Friday’s investor call Entercom announced a station swap with Urban One that gives Entercom FM stations in Philadelphia and St. Louis and an AM station in Washington. In exchange Urban One will gain Entercom’s cluster of radio stations in Charlotte, N.C. The deal was an “even trade with no other financial considerations,” Field said on Friday’s investor call.

In addition, Entercom recently announced a partnership with FanDuel designating the sports betting company as “the official sportsbook partner” of Entercom. Field called the agreement “the largest advertising deal in radio history,” without specifying any dollar figures.

“Unfortunately, we are not at liberty to share those (numbers), but I will say that FanDuel will be one of our largest advertisers,” Field said. “And we expect the amount of their advertising to grow over the six years of the deal as we see more states open to legalize mobile gambling, including New York.”

 

The post Entercom Filing Shows Ad Revenue Trending Up appeared first on Radio World.

The big multi-station swap that was just announced by Entercom and Urban One will bring change in four major media markets.

Among the impacts, Entercom’s iconic KYW(AM) in Philly now gets a big FM presence, while the company enhances its position in three big markets, but departs a fourth.

Meanwhile Urban One becomes an even bigger player in Charlotte than it already is, and reduces its debt.

Entercom CEO David Field on Friday described it as an “even trade with no other financial considerations.”

The FCC must approve all this; the deal is expected to close early next year. But Urban One and Entercom will begin operating the stations later this month under a Local Marketing Agreement.

Entercom gets St. Louis urban contemporary station WHHL(FM); Philadelphia urban station WPHI(FM); and Washington, D.C., station WTEM(AM) “The Team 980,” flagship of the Washington NFL team. Entercom also takes the intellectual property of St. Louis  adult urban contemporary WFUN(FM) “The Lou,” which will move to another frequency.

Entercom already has multiple other stations in each of these markets.

In Philly, Entercom will use WPHI to carry “KYW Newsradio” programming on FM at 103.9, in addition to KYW’s 1060 AM signal. In the announcement, Senior VP & Market Manager DavidYadgaroff made oblique reference to a common woe of AM operators when he talked about expanding KYW’s reach and enhancing the listener experience “on the crystal-clear FM dial.”

It is the second expansion of a major Entercom AM news format to the FM dial in a few weeks, following the recent move in Pittsburgh to expand KDKA to FM.

But the deal also means Entercom lets go of another notable news talk station, because …

Urban One is really powering up in Charlotte, N.C., where it currently has three stations. Now it adds these from Entercom: news/talker WBT(AM/FM), adult contemporary station WLNK(FM) and sports station WFNZ(AM) and its FM translator at 102.5.

President/CEO Alfred Liggins said in a release: “By adding three best-in-class general market formats (adult contemporary, sports, news and talk) to our existing cluster of stations — WPZS(FM), WOSF(FM), and WONC(FM) — that super-serve the Black and Urban consumer, Urban One will be a dominant player across all segments of the growing Charlotte market. The ability to build scale with a complete market offering in multiple genres is what makes this deal so exciting.”

Although money isn’t changing hands, Liggins said the deal also helps the company “continue our strategy of de-leveraging the business.”

At Nielsen Audio, the Washington market is ranked No. 7, Philly is 9, Charlotte is 23 and St. Louis is 24.

 

 

The post Entercom-Urban One Deal Shakes Up Four Markets appeared first on Radio World.

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Grants Petition for Declaratory Ruling Filed by iHeartMedia, Inc

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Issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $3000 to South Central Oklahoma Christian Broadcasting Inc. for failure to timely file a license renewal application for Station KOUI(FM), Louisville, MS

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KMTP's Petition for Reconsideration is based on carriage election procedures that are no longer in effect