Radio+Television Business Report

A three-hour educational and informational programming block airing Sunday mornings on a digital multicast channel operated by Weigel Broadcasting in association with CBS Television Stations is coming to fruition, thanks to a programming deal that will bring a host unscripted series to the TV offering come January 5.

While it was known that the current House Energy & Commerce Chair, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, wouldn't be in the role as she decided not to seek reelection, who would succeed her wasn't entire known. That changed late Monday afternoon, putting a Kentucky GOP House Member in a key position impacting the FCC.

With a combined engineering and production team, working with event producer FILM 45 on behalf of the New York Road Runners group that stages the annual 26.2-mile affair proved to be successful once again this year for CP Communications and its Red Tent Streaming subsidiary.

He was formerly a VP of Broadcast Operations for Townsquare media, overseeing the technical operations of some 349 radio stations across 74 markets. Now, he is the Director of Product Development at Wheatstone Corporation.

With veteran media broker Ed Henson serving as the exclusive representative in this freshly finalized deal, a Kentucky-based licensee has agreed to sell its FM radio station to a regional broadcast operation with its headquarters in Jackson, Ohio.

TV viewership in the November interval was impacted primarily by sports, the presidential election and live streaming, all of which drove peak shares of TV for viewing categories each in separate weeks this month.

Despite the growing buzz around podcasts and spoken-word content, music remains the dominant draw for US listeners, accounting for 74% of their average daily audio time - and even while it sits on a razor-thin margin, radio is the top platform to listen to music.

A new era began for the all-News radio station serving Los Angeles, Orange County and all of Southern California once owned by CBS Radio and today a spoken word brand under the Audacy Inc. umbrella.

Two significant lineup changes are on the way for the Salem Radio Network and its sibling Salem News Channel offering. And, the moves are directly tied to the inauguration and return to the White House of President Trump.

An AM radio station licensed for 11kw during daylight hours from three towers and 700 watts at night via 2 towers is being sold by a Vietnamese media entrepreneur, along with two FM translators linked to this North Texas facility.

The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten reports for both broadcast television and cable have been released by the iHeartMedia-based ad tracker service, and for the week ending December 8, one of the "GAFAN" giants is — by far — the No. 1 brand by play count at Spot Cable.

Top performing U.S. companies in customer experience leverage values-based empathy, personalization, AI, and other innovative technologies to gain a competitive edge. That's the key finding from a just-released report from KPMG focused on the customer experience in the U.S.

The voice of broadcasters Inside the Beltway wants the FCC's retroactive application of an extension to a waiver that negates a rule requiring broadcasters to provide an aural representation of visual, non-textual emergency information — such as radar maps or other graphics — on a secondary audio stream.

NATPE Global has put its plans in motion to create a "NATPE Honors Awards Gala," described as "a new celebration recognizing trailblazing individuals whose creativity and visionary leadership are reshaping the entertainment industry."

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, believes taxpayer funding of "partisan government broadcasting" networks should be put to a stop. That's why he has introduced the "No Propaganda Act." But, is it more symbolic than a true threat to NPR, given the "Lame Duck" Congressional session that will conclude in one month?

It was the talk of the global ad world across Sunday and Monday, thanks to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Ahead of the Opening Bell for U.S. financial markets, official word came from the two companies that are giants in the marketing and creative space. A stock-for-stock transaction will make the deal happen.

How good was this year for U.S. media, inclusive of digital and social outlets? The non-cyclical growth rate was the best seen since 1999 when one excludes the post-pandemic rebound of 2021.

The critical decisions broadcasters make in the next year will shape the industry's future. An essential conversation on the subject will be had in a webinar featuring the founder and CEO of Futuri, and the SVP/Chief Revenue Officer of Sinclair Inc. that has shifted to mid-February and will now include Sinclair's CMO.

Madison and Wall media advertising expert Brian Wieser has great things to share about the remainder of 2024. "[Y]et again the industry produced a dramatic outperformance versus our (and, frankly, anyone else’s reasonable) expectations," he concludes. But, the end of the rainbow that was the past 12 months will be followed by gloomy skies for ad dollars, Wieser shares.

A News/Talk radio station with a rare set of "W" call letters west of the Mississippi River and its FM sibling offering Country music to a portion of Oklahoma are being sold.  The buyer is a local partnership between Darrel Dye and Bill Coleman.