Industry News

Your RF site is more than a transmitter and a tower. It’s an entire ecosystem!

Radio World’s latest free ebook helps you to make sure it is running efficiently, safely and profitably.

Workbench legend John Bisset shares some of the best tips from years of helping readers maintain their sites. Paul Tinkle helps non-engineers understand what to watch for when they visit a site.

Peter Burk explains how a remote control system can help you improve routine maintenance and reduce emergency calls. Buc Fitch lays out a philosophy for clean reliable power.

Sean Edwards helps you identify trouble spots in your antenna system. Josh Bohn explores options for site connectivity.

The folks at Fluke list 10 dumb things people do when testing electricity. And award-winning engineer Jeff Welton opens up his famous bag of tips ‘n tricks!

Read it here.

The post Mission-Critical: Maintaining Your Transmitter Site appeared first on Radio World.

Newly released research finds that the total market value of digital content will grow by 105% over the next five years.

This value, says Juniper Research, takes into account pay-per-download revenue, in-app content spend, subscription revenue and ad spend over digital content.

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LISTEN. LEARN. PROFIT.

That’s the first thing you see when you visit Hala Taha‘s website.

Hala is the host of the Young and Profiting Podcast and the CEO of YAP Media. She started both brands as a side hustle, scaling to $1M in revenue and 30 employees before quitting her day job.

And, at the How to Make Real Money Podcasting virtual conference in July, Hala’s going to teach you how to turn your side hustle into a profitable business, too.

Hala has never been afraid to smash through the lanes and make her own path. She began her career in radio as an interim producer at WQHT-FM “Hot 97” in New York on The Angie Martinez Show, while pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Pouring her heart and soul into the success of the show, Hala decided to drop out of college and work full time for the radio station — for free.

After being rejected from her dream job at Hot 97 and later starring in an MTV reality show only to have the TV network pull the plug right before airing — Hala knew it was time to invest her time and talent in a brand she would own herself. She was tired of the gatekeepers telling her no.

She launched the Young and Profiting Podcast as a side hustle, to teach people how to be financially wise and have a more successful life. She grew to be one of the biggest influencers and podcasters on Linkedin. And then she decided she would scale and offer what she built for herself to others, and the social media and podcast agency YAP Media was born.

Today, Hala has graced the cover of Podcast Magazine and the Young and Profiting Podcast continuously ranks as a #1 Education podcast across all apps. YAP Media has several high-end clients and over 40 employees, around the world and will generate $2M in revenue in its first year.

When Radio Ink Editor Ed Ryan interviews Hala on July 15, she’ll share all of her secrets to success. What drives her? How did she turn her side hustle into a profitable business? She’ll explain how she thrived on rejection and used it as a stepping stone to success. And, she’ll tell you how you can make money podcasting.

A nice collection of comments on microphones in the May 26 issue! But I have a comment about the quote in the first piece that “No radio station ratings have ever been tied to the mic used in the studio.”

I wholeheartedly disagree. If you ask a listener, they’re not going to flat out tell you that they love a station’s compressor, particular jingle, studio, microphone or one particular recording. They only know what they hear, and it’s generally without being analytical.

Whatever that mystique is that makes one station sound better than another certainly contributes to why the station is a favorite.

Every element is a little percentage point towards making a station number one. And it’s like dominoes. You break the chain and the result will disproportionately affect the outcome.

[Visit the Reader’s Forum for More Letters and Comments]

As they say, “The chain is only as strong as the weakest link.” The secret of being a number one station is doing all those little percentages the right way; but with the microphone it’s a lot more than 1%. It’s the product that the listener hears upon which they make their preference judgments.

Comparing the quality of the air sound to the budget of whether you can use the microphone as a hammer and evaluating the choice of what to purchase is just plain outrageous.

I am often reminded of the quote by Ken Levine, a former DJ with us at a couple of L.A. stations and writer, director and producer of “M*A*S*H,” “Frasier” and “Cheers”: “Enough is a feast to an idiot.” And that’s exactly the mid ground “rollover and play dead” mentality of stations that just sound mediocre. It is super easy to beat them in the ratings because I maintain that the listener most certainly can tell the difference.

Of course personality factors into it as well, but put the same personality on a station that is superior in these other elements we are discussing, and it’s a slam dunk that they will have an edge. No details and listeners don’t really ever know why — except “It just sounds better.”

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Yes, Mics Matter in Ratings appeared first on Radio World.

LOS ANGELES — He stayed on with the company following its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and transition from LBI Media.

Now, Estrella Media‘s VP of PR and Corporate Affairs is moving on.

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There’s a new platform available now to athletes and celebrities who wish to build their personal brands on the stage — and on camera, too.

It comes from television production and strategic marketing firm BrandStar.

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With its stock in a comfort zone following a run-up to $100.34 on March 22 from $36.60 to start 2021, ViacomCBS’ Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend for its Class A and Class B Common Stock.

There’s also another dividend for its 5.75% Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock.

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By Rob Dumke

U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta (Ohio) have just paid a trip to the White House.

Why? To talk about the “American Broadband Act” — a topic broadcasting executives may wish to pay more attention to, given the rapid growth of streaming audio and Connected TV/OTT platforms.

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By Rob Dumke

A Class D AM radio station licensed to serve a city just west of State College, Pa., is being sold.

The seller? A licensee that in January 2020 purchased this property. He’s now selling it for a slight loss.

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By Rob Dumke and Adam R Jacobson

On February 17, the world lost Rush Limbaugh. It took more than three months for iHeartMedia-owned Premiere Networks to announce the eventual successor offering to The Rush Limbaugh Show, and that won’t arrive for more than three weeks.

For some non-iHeartRadio affiliates, including those owned by Cox Media Group, sticking with programs built around archived audio clips of the late Limbaugh wasn’t something they desired. This led to CMG-owned WOKV-FM in Jacksonville moving market veteran Mark Kaye to Limbaugh’s old slot.

Now, CMG has made a move at its flagship News/Talk property in Atlanta that can be replicated at other stations across the U.S., should it wish to defect from Premiere.

Erick Erickson, the midday host at WSB-FM 95.5 in Atlanta, is heading into national syndication.

And, it will be ready 20 days before the debut of The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, the heir to Limbaugh’s talk radio throne.

The Erick Erickson Show will take the Noon-3pm Eastern slot, starting June 1.

Erickson has already been self-syndicating across Georgia.

“We’re excited to announce this partnership,” said CMG SVP of Radio Rob Babin. “Erick has performed successfully for many years on 95.5 WSB Radio, and no doubt, he’ll make an impact as the Erick Erickson show expands.”

Erickson added, “I’ve been working towards this for a very long time, and I appreciate my long relationship with CMG. We look forward to continued success at 95.5 WSB and many new affiliates across the country.”