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The Bloomberg radio and audio operation looks to be prospering these days.

Radio program syndicator Key Networks has announced that Bloomberg Radio has “hit a major benchmark in affiliate growth, with over 400 stations now carrying its business and consumer news programming.” That, according to Key, is a 25% growth rate since last October.

[Read: How Bloomberg Radio Put Remote Mixing Into Action]

Bloomberg Radio features news reports for stations along with specialty, targeted content such as “Bloomberg Money Minutes,” “Black Business Report,” “Green Business Report,” “Bloomberg Business of Sports,” and “The Luxury Report.”

In other Bloomberg news, Bloomberg Media has announced a multiyear agreement to co-produce and distribute more than a dozen new original podcasts. Also, iHeartMedia will distribute Bloomberg Media’s current slate of over 20 podcasts through its iHeartPodcast Network.

The post Bloomberg Makes Audio Moves appeared first on Radio World.

Virtually delivered Upfront presentations are in full swing, in lieu of the annual cocktail-fueled prance and dance across midtown Manhattan.

Among the media companies making their pitch to media buyers and CMOs on Tuesday was Univision Communications, with an entirely new C-Suite continuing a theme shared earlier this year in a “get to know you” session for the ad-buying community: Grow with Us.

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TORONTO — It’s been a very notable first half of 2021 for Bell Media, which enjoys a cozy relationship with U.S.-based audio media giant iHeartMedia. In February, it gained a lot of attention for a substantial reduction in force at its radio division, with heritage Anglophone News/Talk AM in Montréal following major shifts at its Windsor, Ontario, operations that reach Detroit listeners. Then came the news that several TV leaders exited, including the man in charge of programming for Canada’s largest commercial broadcast network, CTV, and its associated CTV2 network and owned-and-operated TV channels.

The job cuts followed the late December 2020 arrival of a national Adult Contemporary radio brand, Move Radio.

Now, another national radio brand has emerged from Bell media.

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On Sept. 25, 2017,  a new AM radio station licensed for broadcast at 1490 MHz in Santa Clara, Utah — and an associated FM translator it sought in the FCC’s recent Auction 99 — traded hands.

Now, those properties and a second FM translator are heading to a new owner.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The NAB Leadership Foundation has revealed the 2020 Broadcast Leadership Training (BLT) class, which has graduated following the completion of the executive MBA-style program.

The BLT program teaches the fundamentals of purchasing, owning and operating radio and television stations to senior-level broadcast executives, particularly women and people of color, who aspire to advance as group executives or station owners.

Typically comprising ten in-person weekend sessions held in Washington, D.C., the program schedule and curriculum were altered to an online model and extended due to the pandemic.

“I am thrilled to see this class of talented broadcasters join the ranks of industry leaders who have grown from this program,” NAB Foundation President Michelle Duke said. “The tenacity and resolve shown to adapt and continue in the toughest circumstances demonstrates their commitment to excellence and success. We look forward to watching as they achieve new career heights and positively impact the broadcast industry.”

Diane Sutter, who is the BLT program founder and dean and President/CEO of ShootingStar Broadcasting, added, “We are so pleased to have the talented BLT Class of 2020 finally join our graduates. Despite the challenge of the pandemic, many in the class were promoted and one of the graduates was able to buy her first radio station. We are immensely proud of how this class rose to the occasion and look forward to watching as they continue to grow their careers.”

With this class, 344 participants have graduated from the program.

The 2020 Broadcast Leadership Training Class graduates are:

• Adam Chase, Vice President / General Manager, KXXV-TV/The E.W. Scripps Company
• Sue Diviney, Vice President, Finance, WTTG-TV Fox 5/WDCA-TV Fox 5 Plus
• Bob Ellis, Vice President / General Manager, WJXT-TV/The Local Station
• Kevin “Big Redd” Felder, Nationally syndicated radio host, “The Big Redd Radio Show”
• Kevin Ferrara, Director of Operations, Magis Media
• Tery Garras, Market Manager, KXLY-TV/Morgan Murphy Media
• Estevan Gonzales, Owner & General Manager, KSWV Radio
• Kristie Gonzales, President & General Manager, KVUE-TV/Tegna
• Jeff Holub, VP & General Manager, WHNS-TV FOX Carolina/Meredith Corporation
• Kathi Kolar, Owner & General Manager, KHBT, Open Roads Media LLC
• Jinny Laderer, Founder & President Emerita, vCreative
• Jaleigh Long, Vice President & Market Manager, Cox Media Group Atlanta Radio
• Josh Morgan, Vice President & General Manager, WREX-TV/Quincy Media, Inc.
• Brittney Quarles, General Sales Manager, Urban One
• Antonio Roman, Regional President, Eastern Region, Univision Communications
• Andrea Stahlman, News Director, WLKY-TV/Hearst Television
• A.J. Vaughan, Partner Success Manager, Futuri Media
• Melanie Webb, Vice President, Sales Operations, TEGNA
• Tregg White, Vice President / General Manager, KGUN-TV/The E.W. Scripps Company

This year’s program sponsors include Beasley Broadcast Group, Cox Media Group, Fox TV Stations, Futuri, Graham Media Group, Gray Television, Hearst Television, Legend Communications, Meredith, Morgan Murphy Media, NAB, Nielsen Foundation, Quincy Media, Scripps, TEGNA and Univision Communications.

To some broadcast industry observers, it seems that nearly every day a new transaction is reported by RBR+TVBR, a non-secular, non-profit buyer is grabbing a radio station.

Is it our imagination, or have broadcast ministries taken advantage of the pandemic by going on a buying binge?

Jon Yinger, President and CEO of The Christian Broadcasting System and Broadcast Properties LLC, shares his perspective on access to capital, and the strategic purchases religious groups are able to do today compared to a decade ago.

“It’s time to pick up a dream purchase,” Yinger says in this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Jon Yinger” on Spreaker.

For the last seven years, he has served as the Senior Executive Producer of ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”

Now, he’s joining Sean Compton in taking on a leadership role at Nexstar Media Group‘s still-growing NewsNation operation.

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How do you celebrate completing your master’s degree in organization development?

By posing with an FM combiner, of course!

This pic of Rob Bertrand, senior director of technology for WAMU(FM) in Washington, encompasses not one but two ambitious projects. “For me this photo symbolizes a major turning point in my personal journey as an engineer, a leader and as a person.”

I spotted the pic on social media so I asked him about it.

When Bertrand joined WAMU five years ago, he says, he figured he might pursue an MBA at American University, which owns the big public radio station. But after discussing it with a colleague in the IT department, he opted for an MSOD, Master of Science in Organization Development.

“She told me how many tech folks she knew who had gone through this renowned program at AU and found it to be transformational in how they led technical change in their organizations,” he told me in an email.

That program aims to help professionals turn into leaders. “Over the course of the two years, I met many engineers and former engineers who had grown frustrated with their technical feats not taking deeper root within their organizations. They (and I) found that the greatest challenge in a successful technical implementation was not just getting the technology right, which of course is essential; the real challenge was leading a change process within the organization that was actually embraced by people.”

Bertrand said the MSOD program “will forever inform who I am as an engineer and as a leader.”

That’s one accomplishment, but juggling it while bringing to fruition a complex master antenna project in his first few years at AU was the second.

You can read all about that project in our earlier article, but suffice it to say that the planning, design and construction work of that job fully overlapped his degree work.

“I was able to use what I was learning in the classroom throughout that project. In the end, it was those skills and not my technical background that made it possible to complete this enormously complex project within the boundaries of a university operation, on a tower surrounded by a university campus in an affluent enclave of our nation’s capital.”

Bertrand had envisioned being able to receive his diploma and then take a photo with the combiner. “It was my way of making sense of doing these two things simultaneously. And then COVID happened.” When AU finally held a belated ceremony, he finally got to take his photo.

Congrats, Rob, from those of us who celebrate lifelong learning.

The post Bertrand Combines Tech With Leadership appeared first on Radio World.

The latest call sign actions report is out.

The Federal Communications Commission issues these regularly. In addition to helping managers keep an eye on the competition, the periodic summaries of recent call sign changes are fun for us radio geeks who love to share the history of various letter combinations and station names.

Just a sampling from the latest report: Audacy (formerly Entercom) changed the calls for FM station KAMP in Los Angeles to KNOU. According to RadioInsight.com, the station recently rebranded from CHR-formatted “Amp 97.1” to “97.1 Now, LA’s Party Station.”

Lakefront Communications in Milwaukee turned AM station WJYI into WJOI. The station has an interesting call sign history, and its Wikipedia listing indicates that the WJYI call letters and those of co-owned WJOI in Norfolk, Virginia, swapped last month.

And low-power FMs aren’t left out of the action. In Lufkin, Texas, V.E. Leach Ministries renames KEOE as KOWJ.

Read the latest report.

The post Here Are the Latest Call Sign Changes appeared first on Radio World.

“Craft or crap, that’s our creative challenge. Technology enables both.”

That’s a quote from revered Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard. And, it is one that the radio ad veterans and founders of Oink Ink are taking to heart.

In an effort to see that “craft” wins, they’ve just launched a digital audio creative agency.

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MIAMI — For the last several years, U.S. Hispanics who have opted to watch the National Football League’s championship telecast en Español could turn to a cable TV channel.

For Super Bowl LVI, a big change is in the works for NFL fans, thanks to NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. El gran juego will air on broadcast TV for the first time.

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With its shares at their highest price since June 29, 2015, Townsquare Media is once again setting the tone for the entire radio industry with respect to long-term growth opportunities steeped in local digital, accompanied by traditional broadcast radio advertising.

Why then did the company reveal in a SEC filing that one of its board members on Friday — one who chairs the Compensation Committee — resign?

The explanation is a simple one.

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In a move the company says will “further accelerate its leadership” in the over-the-top (OTT) space, The E.W. Scripps Co. is collaborating with a digital Goliath to bring its OTT ad offerings to local businesses.

At the same time, Scripps has selected its preferred sell-side platform for Connected TV.

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LOS ANGELES — He was the toast of NATPE 2020, with a syndicated daily talk show picking up affiliates left and right. Then came COVID-19, and a controversy surrounding comments deemed anti-Semitic made by the veteran talent on a podcast, which he has since repented for.

With his syndicated morning show back on his flagship FM in Southern California and Debmar-Mercury gearing up a fall 2021 delayed debut of his TV show, Nick Cannon is ready for a big decade ahead.

On October 9 and 10, he’ll be a key figure at the live-and-in person NAB Show in Las Vegas — another sign that the media industry’s biggest annual gathering remains a go.

Cannon on Tuesday (5/18) was confirmed for two NAB Show events, just as brokers, PR professionals and tech companies committing to booths begin to make their final decisions on whether or not to start making travel plans.

As far as the NAB is concerned, the answer is yes.

Cannon will appear on Saturday, October 9, during the NAB’s Sales and Management Television Exchange (SMTE). There, he will discuss his long-running career in TV. On October 10, he will appear during an NAB Show Main Stage celebrity session.

This also affirms the NAB’s commitment to shifting sessions one day earlier than in the past, with key events starting Sunday rather than on a Monday.

The NAB Show’s full dates are October 9–13, 2021.

Cannon produces and hosts his daily radio show, “Nick Cannon Radio,” and weekend show “Cannon’s Countdown,” both syndicated nationally by Skyview Networks, as well as “Power Mornings with Nick Cannon” on Meruelo Media-owned KPWR-FM (Power 106) in Los Angeles.

“Nick Cannon,” a daytime talk show set for national syndication from Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, will launch in fall 2021 with a slew of affiliates already committed from one year ago.

Additionally, Cannon currently serves as the executive producer and host of FOX’s “The Masked Singer.”

He began his career in television as a teenager on Nickelodeon’s sketch-comedy show “All That.” Cannon is also known for his work as creator, host and executive producer of MTV’s sketch comedy show “Nick Cannon Presents: Wild ‘N Out,” which recently aired its 15th season.

“Nick Cannon has entertained millions with his unique brand of humor and gregarious personality throughout his three-decade career,” NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith said. “We are excited to hear how his business acuity and industry experience have guided his success in radio, television, film and music as we welcome attendees back for the 2021 NAB Show.”

Nick Cannon also serves as the label head and music business curator of Ncredible Entertainment, where he has helped discover and develop award-winning talent such as H.E.R. and Kehlani. In 2009, he was named chairman of the TeenNick network and became the youngest television chairman in history.

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group (AMG) is welcoming a former WarnerMedia executive just hours after it was confirmed that the AT&T arm will be spun off and merged into Discovery Inc. in 2022.

John Buckholtz, most recently Vice President of Advertising Sales for Warner Media/Warner Bros. Domestic Television — where he also held earlier positions as Vice President of Station Sales and Director of Sales — since 1997 — will hold the title of VP/Ad Sales for AMG Global Syndication.

He will will focus on advertising sales, brand sponsorships, and revenue partnerships for all of AMG’s Entertainment Studios television series programming and content.

The Entertainment Studios programming portfolio comprises nearly 70 television shows.

Buckholtz, who will be based in New York, reports to AMG Global Syndication President of Ad Sales Darren Galatt.

Prior to Warner Media, Buckholtz worked for MTM Television Distribution (a division of Mary Tyler Moore Enterprises) as Vice President of Sales — where he also held the previous positions of Vice President of Northeast Sales and Midwest Manager.

“I am thrilled to have John Buckholtz on the Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios sales team,” Galatt said. “John is an excellent sales executive who has enormous experience and vast relationships throughout the advertising community. John’s passion and sales talent will help us achieve greater market share.”

Radio broadcast engineering was easy when I started full-time back in the 1960s. Everything was analog, and audio transformers were real problem-solvers when it came to hum from ground loops.

Then came active balanced circuits, which did not have audio artifacts created by iron-core audio transformers. That change cleaned up audio a bit, but it was all still analog. There was no such thing as digital anything back then!

The big problems in that era were cartridge tape machines that needed constant maintenance to keep the tape heads clean. Tape head alignment was important to keep high-frequency audio response as good as the mechanics could allow for moving magnetic tape through a machine. Advances on how to do that were the stuff of NAB presentations, with each manufacturer trying to outdo the others.

Reel-to-reel tape machines had similar problems. It was analog technology. All of that went by the wayside when storing audio moved over to digital in the 1980s.

Now we are converting analog studios with digital audio storage into fully digital studios. Stations have one by one converted and haven’t looked back.

I asked a couple of my industry colleagues to share their reflections about “A” and “D.”

Contract engineer Jim Offerdahl of Offerdahl Broadcast Service in Fosston, Minn., told me, “I grew up in a world with analog telephones, radios and televisions. My earliest experiences in radio broadcast facilities were analog. As time marched on, more and more equipment became digital. First it was satellite receivers, then audio storage.”

Offerdahl says there are many analog-only facilities still being used, and he’ll continue to maintain them as long as they are serving their users.

“New facilities today are a mix of analog and digital. A client that is only adding a small studio for production or is replacing an analog console usually remains analog. A client that is doing a total redo from top to bottom will likely build an all-digital facility.”

He remembers working with wiring earlier in his career. “Cables were either cloth- or lead-wrapped. I recently rebuilt a transmitter facility that was constructed in the 1930s. The original wiring was a mix of both. Wire lacing was an art back then using waxed string.”

[“The Real World of AoIP,” a Radio World ebook]

When Offerdahl entered the business a couple of decades ago, the standard was to terminate wires in each studio on either terminal strips or punch blocks. “I rebuilt several facilities that were all-analog using punch blocks with cross connects,” he recalls.

“Then in the late 2000s, I helped complete a build utilizing an AES3 audio distribution system that was a hybrid analog/digital facility. That told me digital audio distribution was the next big thing.”

As the years progressed, he constructed more digital facilities.

“Recently I embraced the StudioHub standard of wiring using Cat-5 cables and StudioHub adapters. I now wonder why I was not doing that earlier.

“Even more recently I constructed some new all-digital facilities using Livewire AoIP architecture. No more punch blocks, just patch panels with Keystone jacks. No more cross connects, just mouse clicks.”

Offerdahl suspects that for as long as he is in the industry there will still be analog work to do. “But more and more of it is moving to the digital world.”

Doug Thompson is a contract engineer with Intellitech Engineering Services in Osceola, Wis.

“If I were asked to build an analog studio today, I would have to recommend the client reconsider that decision,” he said.

“Analog certainly presents some apparent advantages over digital, especially if the client is familiar and comfortable with analog equipment. They may have a station that uses many types of analog equipment (consoles, switchers, distribution amplifiers and such) and may not want to change what they have invested many hours in learning how to operate and maintain.

“But if they would stop and consider how much of their plant is already ‘digital,’ it may actually surprise them. The satellite receiver, possibly their STL link, their telephone system, then certainly the internet and automation systems are all digital now.”

He notes that digital systems are efficient to install and operate, and can offer greater flexibility.

“I installed an analog system into two studios a few years ago. The client wanted to re-use their consoles, distribution amplifiers and switchers. It made sense to them not to buy new equipment to replace what they already had that was still serviceable,” he said.

“Well, it took me about three weeks to lay out, design the wiring charts, install and wire the many equipment connectors, work the RF out of the system — there was a co-located AM transmitter — and test everything. I even had the help of another engineer for a week of that time.”

The system worked well and sounded good afterward, he said; the client was happy with the result.

“A few weeks later they asked if I could add some inputs to the automation system. I did so, which required modifying the wiring charts, pulling a few more pairs of wire, adding connectors and setting the levels. It all worked fine and only took me about eight hours of work. A few weeks later they wanted me to add another satellite receiver. Same process and it took maybe 6 hours this time.”

Two months later, Thompson was hired by another station to replace a talk studio by installing a digital IP-based system.

“Another engineer and I began at 5 p.m. on Friday tearing out the furniture, carpet and wall covering. New carpet and furniture were installed. We wired the IP-based console and peripheral equipment including microphones with arms, headphone amplifiers, PCs and installed an IP-based phone system.”

They had the system operating by 3 p.m. on Sunday by working 10-hour days.

“We did take a few hours beforehand to prep the digital system software. The project worked. Later, when asked to add another source to a console, it took about 15 minutes via the PC-based tools provided by the manufacturer of the system.”

He notes that the digital option cost more up front. “But the labor costs for the installation and ongoing changes, which always happen, were far less than the analog.”

Also, some changes and upgrades can be done on a digital system from off-site, which came in handy during recent COVID shutdowns.

“I think it is obvious why I would recommend a digital system over analog today,” Thompsons aid. “It is less costly overall, as well as being easier to maintain and upgrade.

“Digital is very flexible because there are far more features for the operators that are usually built right into the base product. It can be operated remotely for voice tracking from home, allows single operator broadcasting from sporting events or remotes and integrates well with other related systems such as automation, phones and the internet.”

Sure, he said, the users must learn a new system; but the consoles look and work a lot like the old analog consoles, plus they offer many nice features to make things simpler for the user. “In addition, digital systems are much easier to maintain and expand, certainly from my perspective.”

Thompson said he doesn’t expect to build any more analog studios in the future — unless, he said, he decides to volunteer at a broadcasting museum.

Mark Persons, WØMH, is a Life Member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and one of only 10 people to receive its John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement.

What do you see as the major benefits of “working with digital”? Write to radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

The post Analog Veterans in the Digital World appeared first on Radio World.

A veteran radio programming pro has just been named Director of Development for the company that says it invested online research for radio in the 1990s.

Taking the role at TroyResearch is Fletcher Keyes.

It marks a reunion of sorts for Keyes, who will be paired with company President Jonathan Little.

The two worked together in Madison, Wisc., radio, at WZEE-FM (Z104), WMMM (Triple M) and WOLX-FM in Baraboo.

Keyes said, “I’m a radio person ready to help radio with tools that make a difference.
I was a Troy customer for many years. I liked it so much, I joined the company!”

Little remarked, “It’s great to have another person who knows and loves radio joining
my team. Fletch has been a ratings winner as a morning jock and program director and
he knows research. He shares my commitment to helping radio be the best it can be.”

Now in its third decade, TroyResearch provides comprehensive music testing and
perceptual studies for radio and a sales generating tool, the Brand Awareness Study, for radio, television, digital and print.

SummitMedia, the owner of radio stations in such markets as Honolulu and Birmingham, Alabama, has appointed a VP of Engineering.

He is a radio veteran with more than 30 years of engineering experience and was Chief Engineer for the company.

Earning the job is Tom Scott. He’ll manage engineering for all of SummitMedia’s markets, which also include Greenville-Spartanburg; Knoxville; Louisville; Omaha; Richmond; Springfield, Mo.; Wichita; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

“We are delighted for Tom to direct all Engineering efforts for SummitMedia,” said SummitMedia CEO Carl Parmer. “It is certainly a well deserved promotion. His depth
of knowledge and strategic vision will be invaluable to us as we continue to innovate
and evolve the technical side of our business.”

He succeeds Dennis Sloatman, who has retired.

Scott has previously served as a Chief Engineer for Cox Media Group and iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel.