Industry News

The CEO of Townsquare Media will be presenting on behalf of the local media company at NobleCon17 – Noble Capital Markets‘ 17th annual investor conference.

Bill Wilson will take the spotlight at approximately 4:30pm Eastern on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

And, he’ll have a virtual podium, as the COVID-19 pandemic has led Noble to hold an online-only affair accessible at no cost by visiting www.noblecon17.com.

Additionally, a high-definition, video webcast of the presentation will be available from Jan. 20 on the equity investor relations section of Townsquare’s website.

The webcast will be archived for 90 days following the event.

Townsquare Media shares concluded Monday’s trading at $7.21 and were down 2 cents with seven minutes remaining in trading on Jan. 12.

On November 30, 2016, DirecTV gave birth to a virtual MVPD designed to provide a “skinny bundle” to consumers who weren’t interested in a costly monthly subscription plan. Branded as DirecTV NOW, it didn’t require a contract.

At first, consumers seemed to like the vMVPD. Then came a name change to AT&T TV NOW, and a decline in subscribers following a summer 2018 peak.

Now, AT&T TV NOW packages ‘”are no longer available for new customers.”

There’s no official notice — just a marketing note informing consumers that AT&T TV NOW has merged with AT&T TV.

While no new customers are being accepted, current AT&T TV NOW customers will continue to have access. However, there’s no indication for how long.

The move comes as industry chatter persists that AT&T will eventually sell DirecTV to Dish, creating a DBS scenario akin to the satellite radio arena, where Sirius and XM merged to establish a financially viable operation.

Meanwhile, the U-Verse platform AT&T operated in the TV space prior to its merger with DirecTV is still being phased out.

The end of AT&T TV NOW follows the end of Sony PlayStation Vue, a “skinny bundle” that had been a feature tied to the popular video game console.

Crossings TV can be found over the air on low-power TV station KBTV-8 in Sacramento; on Comcast Xfinity systems in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco and Seattle-Tacoma; and on Charter Spectrum systems in Los Angeles in New York — some of the nation’s biggest Asian American population centers.

Why did Frank Washington (pictured, below), founder and CEO of the Sacramento-based channel, and COO Daniel Sakaya, each decide to focus their careers and attention to the build-out of a television channel that offers a variety of programming targeting all of these different groups?

They share this, and more, in a fresh InFOCUS podcast presented by DOT.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Crossings TV” on Spreaker.

The National Association of Broadcasters now is taking entries for its Crystal Radio Awards.

The awards honor community service efforts by radio stations in 2020.

Stations should submit entries via NAB’s new member platform, My NAB, describing their community service efforts for the past calendar year.

The deadline for submissions is Jan. 31; finalists will be announced in February.

Entry information is available here.

Last year’s recipients were AM station WSGW in Saginaw, Mich., and FM stations KRMG Tulsa, KUBL Salt Lake City, WDNS Bowling Green, WKRQ Cincinnati, KRWM Seattle, KVTY Lewiston, WHUR Washington, WREW Cincinnati and WSUN Tampa Bay.

The post NAB Crystal Radio Entries Are Open appeared first on Radio World.

The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) is extending the deadline to submit entries for the 46th Annual Gracie Awards at the regular rate.

The new deadline date for the regular rate is January 21.

But, AWMF is also offering “a further extended deadline” of January 28, although this will come at an additional cost.

The Gracie Awards, presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, celebrate programming and individual achievement by, for and about women in television, radio and digital media. Submissions from all facets of media are encouraged.

A SALUTE TO FIELD REPORTERS

Journalists have continued to work tirelessly on the front lines to provide coverage of the unprecedented events in the first two weeks of 2021, AWMF says.

“Due to the bravery of these storytellers and the timeliness of this important coverage, AWMF has added 10 new categories specifically dedicated to January 2021 Frontline Special Reports for on-air talent and programming in television, radio and digital media,” it says.

A full list of the new categories can be found here.

“We know the circumstances of the past year led to delivering content to audiences in ways we never expected, which is why we are more committed than ever to honoring the remarkable work that has been created by, for and about women,” says Becky Brooks, AWMF’s executive director. “As our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Gracie Awards enable the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation to deliver on its promise of furthering the connection, education and recognition of women in media, even during turbulent times.”

The Gracie Awards Gala, previously scheduled for May 2021, has been postponed to September 20.

The Gracie Awards Luncheon, previously scheduled for June, has been postponed to July 21.

The 2021 Gracie Awards entry eligibility air dates for the traditional categories are from January 1-December 31, 2020. New Categories are exclusive to January of 2021. Entry details, including pricing and updated categories, can be viewed at https://allwomeninmedia.org/gracies/call-for-entries/.

The application to judge content for The Gracie Awards is available until January 22. Learn more about Gracies judging and view the application at https://allwomeninmedia.org/gracies/judging/.

A Florida AM radio station is now on the air full-time with all-digital transmission, committing its 1470 signal strictly to listeners who have digital receivers.

Neal Ardman told Radio World that WMGG switched on its new Nautel transmitter, purchased for this purpose, on Tuesday morning. The station has an FM translator that continues to serve analog listeners at 96.1. The station airs Spanish-language programming.

If all-digital HD Radio technology for AM takes off in the United States, WMGG’s move would be seen as an important milestone.

Until now — beyond various test projects involving the National Association of Broadcasters and others — only one AM station in the country, Hubbard’s WWFD outside of Washington, D.C., has been using the technology consistently. It did so under special temporary authority while expressing the intent to retain it permanently. A second in Indiana, WIOE, experimented with it for several months last year but then turned it off for the time being.

But WMGG is believed to be the first station to take the step since the Federal Communications Commission said it would allow AM owners to deploy all-digital under normal operational rules rather than under an STA.

WMGG is a Class B station in Egypt Lake, near Tampa, airing a directional signal via a diplexed array. It has 2.8 kW power by day and 800 watts at night.

Ardman said the station had been testing the all-digital mode at night until throwing the switch this morning full-time. He expressed excitement about the digital quality and the lack of noise in areas where the signal usually fights noise sources.

The station has changed its legal IDs but so far has not done additional marketing or branding.

Among reasons for making the switch, he said, is the receiver penetration of HD Radio in cars in the market, which he said was in the 30% range and growing. Ardman said he expects that over time, major broadcast groups in the country will come to embrace the all-digital format.

A Radio World interview with Ardman will be featured in a ebook later this month about what’s next with all-digital on AM in the United States.

Under the recent FCC order, all-digital operation is allowed both day and night. There’s a 30-day waiting period before converting to all-digital “so that transitioning AM stations can provide adequate notice to the commission, consumers and other potentially affected stations.”

Digital stations still must participate in the national Emergency Alert System.

[Read more “Takeaways From the Digital Radio Order,” October 2020]

The post WMGG Has Turned on All-Digital AM appeared first on Radio World.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is accepting entries for the 34th annual NAB Crystal Radio Awards, honoring outstanding community service efforts undertaken by radio stations throughout 2020.

Winners will receive national recognition for their community service work during a special awards presentation hosted by NAB in spring 2021.

Established in 1987, the NAB Crystal Radio Awards nationally recognize local radio stations for their year-round commitment to serving communities. A panel of judges representing the broadcast industry and community service organizations will review applications and select 50 finalists and 10 winners.

Stations must submit an online entry through NAB’s new member platform, My NAB, describing their community service efforts for the 2020 calendar year.

The deadline for entry submissions is January 31. Finalists will be announced in February.

Entry information is available here or by contacting Tobi Hall.

The biggest licensee of radio stations in the U.S. has completed an exchange of warrants into shares of its Class A or Class B common stock.

Here’s what this means for iHeartMedia.

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The audio media giant on Friday announced that it had completed an exchange of iHeartMedia Warrants into shares of iHeartMedia Class A Common Stock, the company’s publicly traded shares, or Class B Common Stock.

This means that the total shares of Class A common stock jump from 65 million as of Dec. 31, 2020 to 110 million, following the exchange.

At the same time, the number of Class B shares rise from 7 million to 29 million.

How many warrants are outstanding? The exchange reduces the amount from 75 million to 7 million.

The exchange was authorized by a FCC Declaratory Ruling approving an increase in iHeartMedia’s authorized aggregate foreign ownership from 25% to 100%.

But, some shares of Class B Common Stock and Warrants were not converted into Class A Common Stock “due to current regulatory restrictions applicable to certain shareholders.”

That’s only a matter of time: iHeart expects additional conversions of Class B Common Stock and Warrants into Class A Common Stock to transpire in the near future.

Holders of iHeartMedia Warrants that were not issued stock in the exchange and have not otherwise sought to exercise their Warrants can request the exercise of their Warrants for shares of Common Stock by contacting the Computershare Call Center at 800-736-3001 within the United States, or at 781-575-3100 outside of the United States. Holders of iHeartMedia Warrants that were issued stock in the exchange can obtain updated account information from Computershare by logging into their Computershare accounts or by calling the numbers above.

PASADENA, CALIF. — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded the parent of the primary NPR spoken word station serving the Los Angeles market with a hefty 24-month grant designed to boost the level of content created expressly for younger and “underserved” audiences.

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Southern California Public Radio has received a half-million-dollar boost for its LAist Studios division.

LAist Studios is SCPR’s podcast development and production arm. The money is a two-year grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to advance the growth of the division and its “mission of addressing the content needs of young and underserved audiences.”

[Visit the Radio World Calendar]

LAist Studios launched in 2019 and aims to “go beyond the surface to reflect the rich cultural landscape of Los Angeles and embrace the diverse voices of the region’s community.” Its shows include “The Big One,” “Servant of Pod,” “Hollywood, the Sequel,” “California City,” “California Love,” and “Norco ’80.”

SCPR noted that “California Love” made Apple’s Favorite Podcasts of 2020 list, and Spotify named it one of the Top Podcasts of 2020. “California Love” has also garnered several awards from Adweek and Bello Collective.

CPB and SCPR said Latino audiences make up nearly half of the Southern California region. “The funding will support staffing and help LAist Studios empower up-and-coming content creators by giving them the tools to develop shows and engage diverse young audiences,” according to a press release.

The announcement was made by CPB Senior Vice President, Radio, Journalism and CSG Services Kathy Merritt and SCPR Chief Content Officer Kristen Muller.

The post LAist Studios Gets $500K CPB Grant appeared first on Radio World.