Industry News

Until now, consumers of Cumulus Media-owned radio stations that wished to stream any of the company’s AMs or FMs needed to do so via two commonly used apps.

As of today, the third widely used live audio streaming app has added all of Cumulus’ broadcast stations to its platform.

Audacy and Cumulus on Wednesday announced a content distribution partnership. This  brings Cumulus’ 413 radio stations and portfolio of podcasts to the Audacy digital platform, with access via the Audacy smartphone app and its Radio.com predecessor app available for WDVD-FM in Detroit; KRUZ-FM in Santa Barbara, Calif., and other Cumulus stations during the noon hour, Eastern time.

The Audacy.com website was still in the process of being updated as of this writing.

“We’re delighted with this opportunity to expand listeners’ ability to discover and connect with our stations and podcasts through the Audacy app,” said Cumulus Media SVP/Digital Operations and Business Development Larry Linietsky. “This partnership is in sync with our strategy of distributing our content through multiple platforms to make it available anywhere and anytime people want to enjoy it.”

Cumulus stations have been available via both the TuneIn and iHeartRadio apps.

“The addition of Cumulus’s expansive portfolio of leading radio stations enhances and bolsters Audacy’s position as the fastest growing digital platform for radio listeners,” said Audacy VP of Business Development Corey Podolsky. “Audacy looks forward to building on this initial partnership with Cumulus and will continue to develop new and innovative ways to super serve our listeners.”

The Sept. 15 issue of Radio World was sent to the printer before the announcement that the in-person NAB Show has been cancelled.

So in this issue you will find references to some sessions that had been planned for the convention.

But there are plenty of good stories to check out, including a look at the 75-year history of the Broadcast Engineering & IT Conference; the impact of drones in radio broadcast technology; John Bisset’s Workbench column; and plenty more.

Read it here.

The post Inside the Sept. 15 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

It’s official. And, a formal announcement was released at 10:15am Eastern on Wednesday (9/15).

The National Association of Broadcasters won’t be moving forward with the NAB Show, a move that also cancels the co-located Sales and Management Television Exchange and the Radio Show, co-produced by the NAB and the Radio Advertising Bureau.

The NAB made the news public via Twitter shortly after 10am Eastern. State Broadcasters Associations’ received an email from the association sharing the news earlier in the day.

Making the announcement to the “NAB Show community” was Chris Brown, the NAB’s EVP/Managing Director of Global Connections and Events.

“For more than a year we have worked tirelessly to bring our industry together safely in Las Vegas at NAB Show,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant has presented unexpected and insurmountable challenges for our global community. As we have always kept the best interest and safety of the industry as our priority, it has become apparent in the face of these challenges that we can no longer effectively host NAB Show or our co-located events in person.”

Brown continued, “We will not move forward with a show that delivers anything less than the excellence our community has come to expect and deserves from us.”

And, while there is disappointment in having to cancel the NAB Show — which was to begin in just 24 days — Brown says the organization “looks forward to converging at the 2022 NAB Show, April 23-27, 2022, to reignite our passion for our business and focus on a bright future ahead.”

LAST-MINUTE UNWIND

With just 24 days to go before the Sales and Management Television Exchange was to begin ahead of the NAB Show in Las Vegas, the organization has called off the conference. The decision comes following participation pullouts from such major exhibitors as Brainstorm, Ross Video, Panasonic and Canon.

Yet, as of Monday, companies actively working with broadcast radio and TV stations such as Marketron, Dielectric, GatesAir and ENCO, were eagerly preparing their booths and setting up meetings both on-site and off-site. The latest RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast featuring Marketron SVP of Product Jimshade Chaudhari, distributed Tuesday, offered much discussion on what the company had in the works for NAB Show attendees.

Now, Marketron — and many others — are now scrambling to unwind hotel reservations and airline tickets.

Will there be a virtual offering of any kind in lieu of the Las Vegas affair?

“Stay tuned for details regarding virtual options for accessing select 2021 NAB Show content through NAB Amplify,” Brown said.

The NAB Show is off. The National Association of Broadcasters will not hold its in-person event in Las Vegas next month after all.

Succumbing in the end to effects of the pandemic on the nation’s business, the NAB announced today that the 2021 NAB Show won’t happen.

This comes in the wake of several major exhibitor pullouts at the end of last week.

Until now, the convention organizers had pushed determinedly ahead, hoping to avoid having to go another calendar year without their signature convention. They’d put health precautions in place that included a planned requirement for proof of vaccination.

The announcement also was made on Twitter and in an email to the show community from NAB executive Chris Brown.

“As we have always kept the best interest and safety of the industry as our priority, it has become apparent in the face of these challenges that we can no longer effectively host NAB Show or our co-located events, the Radio Show and Sales and Management Television Exchange, in person,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant has presented unexpected and insurmountable challenges for our global community.”

The announcement indicated that details were pending regarding virtual versions of some of the show content.

The co-located Audio Engineering Society show also is cancelled, an NAB spokesperson told Radio World.

COVID-19 cases had surged again in recent weeks in parts of the country. Though some smaller industry meetings have taken place in person in the past month or two, the Delta variant has thrown some major event plans into disarray.

Just yesterday, registration opened for CES 2022 in Las Vegas in January. The 2022 NAB Show is scheduled for April.

The post NAB Show Is Cancelled After All appeared first on Radio World.

“Person-level measurement” is a desire not only for those charged with media buying and planning, executing creative and overseeing the marketing efforts for goods and services across a multitude of categories, but it’s also an increasingly wanted data point for broadcast media.

That’s part of the reason why the VAB, among other organizations, is less than satisfied with the existing measurement tools available to TV.

Comscore has been working hard to satisfy this dissatisfied group of media and marketing professionals. On Wednesday (9/15), it revealed that it has “invented” what it calls “the next generation of personification methodology created to bring person-level measurement to its video products.”

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Broadcast business software developer Marketron has a new tool available for radio and TV ad sales personnel, REV.

The company describes REV as a “sales growth platform.”

It adds, “Unifying the entire sales process on a single platform, Marketron REV streamlines customer, proposal, and order management processes so that sellers can focus more time and energy on selling.”

REV offers an integrated customer relations management section, . “An optimizer feature automatically places spots based on customizable cost efficiency or even placement settings” and “advanced algorithms drive dynamic pricing directly from existing traffic systems, allowing Marketron REV to set spot prices automatically that maximize revenue based on current fill rates, timelines, and other key factors.”

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Marketron Senior Vice President of Product Jimshade Chaudhari said, “Because the platform eliminates redundancies, automates administrative tasks, and empowers broadcasters to price inventory more accurately, sellers no longer have that swivel chair experience.”

According to a release REV should also be compatible with other sales platforms.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

Info: www.marketron.com

The post Marketron Introduces REV appeared first on Radio World.

SiriusXM is considering shutting down one of the two satellite radio infrastructures that created the combined company, according to the website TheDesk.net.

It quotes remarks by SiriusXM Pandora Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Witz at an investor conference this week.

She said the company is rolling out its new satellite technology and considering plans to shut off one of its older satellite radio platforms.

The website notes that the company is focused on rolling out its 360L system in cars and that once it reaches a certain critical mass, the company will be better positioned to streamline.

It said Witz didn’t specify which of the two platforms SiriusXM was considering for shutdown, but it lays out reasons that the Sirius platform is the one that eventually would be more likely to be shut down.

Read the article.

The post SiriusXM Weighs Possible System Streamlining appeared first on Radio World.

Most of us have heard the occasional announcement on a non-commercial educational radio station that may have blurred the lines between an underwriting acknowledgement and a commercial advertisement. While most NCE broadcasters no doubt embrace the FCC’s rules on underwriting announcements, some seemingly believe the boundaries are open to interpretation.

Now a LPFM is paying a price for apparently going over the line.

WAWL(LP), licensed to Tri-Cities Broadcasting Foundation in Grand Haven, Mich., has agreed to pay a fine for airing commercial advertising intended to be for underwriting purposes. WAWL operates under a noncommercial educational license. The FCC in a consent decree says the LPFM will pay a $17,500 penalty and that its license would be renewed for a shorter term than usual to ensure ongoing compliance.

A petition to deny WAWL’s license renewal application was filed by WGHN(FM), a competitor in Grand Haven. The commercial station submitted 24 examples of what it called commercials running on the noncom educational LPFM. WGHN Inc. officials wrote: “The content of those announcements appear to advertise rather than simply identify the named sponsor.”

Wendy Hart, vice president of WGHN, wrote that the LPFM “airs spots, ostensibly acknowledging donors, but the content of which sounds virtually identical to commercial advertisements.” The announcements it recorded were for a range of businesses including funeral homes, restaurants and convenience stores.

WGHN also claimed WAWL failed to broadcast educational programming, but the FCC rejected WGHN’s claims on that count and declined to deny license renewal.

“We have negotiated the consent decree adopted herein, in which the licensee acknowledges that it has violated the Underwriting Laws, agrees to make a civil penalty payment to the United States Treasury in the amount of $17,500, and agrees to adopt a compliance plan to prevent further violations of the Underwriting Laws,” the commission staff wrote, adding that after reviewing the record, they thought it best to grant only a short-term renewal to October of 2024.

It appears the broadcasters involved are well acquainted. Eric Kaelin, a former general manager of WGHN, launched WAWL in 2014, according to a report in the Grand Haven Tribune. Kaelin currently serves as president of Tri-Cities Broadcasting Foundation.

For LPFMs wondering where the line is on this issue, consulting group REC Networks has the following advise on its website: “Non-commercial educational stations are not to operate as a profit-making business. This means that NCE stations are unable to carry commercials which promote a business that may have donated (or underwritten) the station. While NCE stations are unable to air commercials, they are permitted to identify for-profit businesses that support the station by announcing their name, contact information and even a non-promotional description of the business.”

The post LPFM Is Fined $17,500 for Airing Commercials appeared first on Radio World.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has just announced $1.3 million in grants to expand the “Urban Alternative” public radio format to three noncommercial broadcast radio operations.

This will bring the number of markets with the unique format, which combines Hip-Hop and R&B music with public radio’s emphasis on local engagement, to seven.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

He’s held he role of Director of Political Advertising for Hearst Television since 2019 and for some four years has been Director of Sales for politically influential WMUR-9 in Manchester, N.H.

Now, he’s been promoted to the newly created position of Corporate Director of Sales.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)