When it comes to Ed Stolz, one thing’s for certain: nothing’s simple.
And, with respect to the ultimate transfer of control of three of his former FM radio stations, there’s a new rub in a saga that has entangled the court-appointed receiver of Stolz’s ex-properties and the non-profit broadcast ministry poised to assume ownership of the trio.
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The unique capabilities of its management team to build and scale its digital business.
A “Digital First” strategy and plans to grow digital revenue to $250 million within three years.
Why its interactive arm was able to accelerate subscriber growth during a pandemic.
Those are just some of the topics Noble Capital Markets Senior Research Analyst Michael Kupinski addresses in an exclusive interview with Townsquare Media CEO Bill Wilson.
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Borrell’s 2021 Local Advertiser survey has just wrapped up.
And, as has traditionally been seen by the research shop, each week across the summer will see the release of a particular finding of note.
With some 3,657 local ad buyers and agencies polled in 2021, Borrell’s first takeaway is yet another wakeup call for broadcast TV: “video” is no longer TV’s exclusive domain.
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With the discussion heavy on closing the digital divide and general thoughts on an incubator program to encourage women and minorities to become a radio or TV station owner, no less than six former FCC Commissioners participated Monday in a live Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) symposium.
Their appearance came as the MMTC is welcoming a new Policy Counsel to its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
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It went on the air on October 30, 1938. In April 1994, it was spun to the Indianapolis-based company founded by Jeff Smulyan.
Now, in a sign of the times, Emmis Communications is preparing to transition the remaining listeners of a Class B AM with 50kw during daylight hours and 10kw after dark to a pair of 250-watt FM translators fed from the HD2 signal of a13,500-watt FM sibling.
Thus marks the impending end of the former WIBC-AM 1070 as a Sports Talker under different call letters. What does the future hold for this facility?
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MIAMI — The executives selected to drive Univision Holdings Inc.’s next phase of transformation and “execute the vision for the future combined company of Televisa-Univision” once the multinational mega-merger closes have been revealed by Univision CEO Wade Davis.
It paints the picture of Televisa-Univision’s C-Suite following the close of the transaction, expected to close later this year.
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C-Suite executives selected to drive Univision Holdings Inc.’s next phase of transformation and “execute the vision for the future combined company of Televisa-Univision” aren’t the only changes in the works once the multinational mega-merger closes later this autumn.
Univision Television Networks Group President Luis Silberwasser has finalized the new structure of its Entertainment, Sports and News divisions.
The big takeaway: the News President is stepping down.
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The network is not even 11 months old, and it now boasts triple the amount of programming it had at launch.
Now, as autumn readies its arrival, the winds are blowing in two more high-profile telejournalists at NewsNation — the Nexstar Media Group-owned cable TV operation overseen by President of Networks Sean Compton and, since mid-May, President of News Michael Corn.
One of the new faces at the network formerly known as WGN America will take a time slot given two weeks ago to another program, which will shift to a different time slot come late September.
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DISH has selected its primary network services partner for its mobile virtual network operator, or “MVNO,” customers, inking an agreement with billions of dollars in value.
It’s with AT&T, and it is a 10-year agreement, according to a SEC filing made by DISH. “DISH has agreed to pay AT&T at least $5 billion over the course of the ten-year term of the NSA, subject to certain terms and conditions,” the filing states. Neither the length of the agreement nor its value were offered by DISH in an announcement distributed early Monday (7/19).
The deal will allow DISH to provide current and future customers of its retail wireless brands, including Boost Mobile, Ting Mobile and Republic Wireless, access to coverage and connectivity on AT&T’s wireless network, in addition to the new DISH 5G network.
The agreement, DISH says, accelerates its expansion of retail wireless distribution to rural markets where DISH provides satellite TV services.
AT&T is also providing transport and roaming services as part of the agreement, to support DISH’s 5G network.
DISH makes it clear that it is committed to providing competition in the wireless market as the nation’s fourth facilities-based carrier. As such, DISH reiterated that it will continue to build out what it calls “the nation’s first cloud-native, OpenRAN-based 5G network reaching over 70% of the population” by 2023.
“Teaming with AT&T on this long-term partnership will allow us to better compete in the retail wireless market and quickly respond to changes in our customers’ evolving connectivity needs as we build our own first-of-its kind 5G network,” said John Swieringa, DISH COO and Group President of Retail Wireless. “The agreement provides enhanced coverage and service for our Boost, Ting and Republic customers, giving them access to the best connectivity on the market today via voice, messaging, data and nationwide roaming on AT&T’s vast network, as well as DISH’s 5G network.”
DIRECTV BONDS OFFERED TO AID AT&T SEPARATION
The partnership between AT&T and DISH comes as AT&T takes another step toward the spin-off of Dish Network’s lone competitor, DirecTV.
DIRECTV Entertainment Holdings LLC, a wholly owned AT&T subsidiary, on Monday revealed a proposed offering of $3.1 billion aggregate principal amount of Senior Secured Notes due 2027 by DIRECTV Financing and DIRECTV Financing co-Obligator.
The timing of pricing of the Notes is subject to market conditions.
Net proceeds will go toward the completion of DIRECTV’s separation from AT&T, and will trim debt owed to AT&T by the DBS provider.
TPG Capital is taking a 30% stake in DIRECTV, which AT&T acquired in 2015. Since then, it has largely phased out its own U-Verse video services.
Future Plc, the parent of Radio World, announced the appointment of Cindy Davis as content and brand director of AV Technology.
Since 2015, she has been a contributing editor to Future’s AV Technology (AVT) magazine, writing features and its Manager’s Guide series, as well as contributing articles to sister publications Systems Contractor News (SCN) and Sound & Video Contractor (SVC). In 2016, she helped launch the AV/IT Summit. She also developed and moderates the New Era AV/IT webcast series.
As the principal of CustomMedia.Co, Davis created multiplatform content for AVT, SCN, SVC and consumer electronics publications TWICE and Residential Systems.
The announcement was made by Carmel King, vice president of the company’s B2B Tech Group.
Davis is former publisher and editor-in-chief of Electronic House. From 2009 to present, as principal of CustomMedia.Co, she developed content for associations such as IEEE Standards Association and AVIXA, for Future and for numerous AV/IT companies.
The post Future Names Davis Content/Brand Director of AVT appeared first on Radio World.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Indianapolis-based WFYI Public Media, the entity that runs the market’s NPR and PBS member stations, respectively, has been given the green light to lead a public media initiative “designed to instill journalism practices that meaningfully address local information needs through active listening and engagement.”
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Stories of advertising success abound across the radio industry — if you know what you’re doing. That’s one assessment from Veritonic, a marketing company that tracks trends in audio and identified 10 brands that “got audio right” in the first half of 2021.
Thankfully for the industry, there continues to be an increased focus on audio marketing, the company said in a recent blog post — despite the changes wrought by the pandemic. Podcasts, for one, have held their worth throughout the pandemic; according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, podcast advertising revenue is expected to exceed $1 billion this year and $2 billion by 2023.
Veritonic compiled a list of the top 10 podcast advertisers, noted for at least one creative attribute, be it aesthetically appealing audio, a humorous spot or successfully persuasive ad.
Top 10 Podcast Advertisers
Salesforce
chiliPAD
Zander Insurance
TD Ameritrade
Fundrise
Mini
NetSuite
Cash App
Hyundai
Parade
The software as a service company Salesforce, for example, jumped from the number eight spot in 2020 to number one in 2021 due to its ability to consistently create ads with strong recall. Other companies like the cool bedding company chiliPAD saw its advertisements score well because of the emotional attributes they built into their advertising, including a sense of familiarity and the jovial conversational tone between its podcast hosts.
Veritonic also ranked the top 10 radio advertisers for the first half of 2021. The industry can expect to see a 10% increase over the course of 2021, something the company calls a “considerable rebound” after the setbacks that were wrought by the pandemic.
Top 10 Radio Advertisers
Owning
Brakes Plus
CuriosityStream
Pennzoil
Little Caesars
LinkedIn
Roman
Cabinet Discounters
Sit ’n Sleep
PNC Bank
Companies with strong advertisements included Little Caesars, which uses humor and sonic branding (think of that “Pizza–Pizza” tune) to set itself apart from the competition. Other strong advertisers include LinkedIn and Pennzoil, which both enticed listeners with offers for free deals and promotions.
In its blog, Veritonic also reiterated the success that advertisers are having with sonic branding. It pointed to a recent study that found that consumers were more consistently able to identify a brand when the name of that brand was tied to an audio melody.
A weekly rating of audio advertisements are searchable on the Veritonic website including sample clips and a description of the audio scoring system that the company uses.
The post Brands that Cracked the Advertising Code in 2021 appeared first on Radio World.
Over the last 24 years our little local radio station grew from serving a single city to having a network of 13 radio stations with studios in five cities.
Whether we were doing a live remote down at a local car dealership or trying to air live content from another city, it always involved having an operator in a local studio monitor levels and turn channels on or off on the board.
Then COVID hit, and addressing concerns that had lingered for a very long time became urgent. Fortunately, we had been researching options that would afford multiple personnel the flexibility to monitor, operate and execute full control of the network from any remote location.
[Read more Radio World articles about audio consoles and mixers]
Remote control of on-air programming has been around a long time, so that was no issue. Remote operation of control room mixers has been around a little while, and remained an option. But to truly give full control of the entire radio station (and network) to all our on-air staff consecutively narrowed things down to only a few options.
We wanted the ability to “do radio” without a “physical radio station.”
One of them was a clear winner. We took the leap and ordered the Axia iQs virtual mixing console. In a nutshell, the iQs is a 1RU computer that is routed to a central switch. It utilizes as many xNode Livewire digital network interface units that you may require, each capable of four inputs and four outputs of digital or analog audio signals along with GPIO options all routed to the switch.
Once set up, you have a virtual mixer that you can operate from a touchscreen monitor in a traditional radio studio, or from a laptop in your house, or from a cellphone on your boat. At your disposal are all of the capabilities of a large-scale studio (or network of studios), and you are able to configure and control them from anywhere.
The xNodes have a proven track record of reliability, but having a small one-rack unit replace a four-foot radio console with 300 wires attached to it was a bit of a stretch. And to think that the only cable attached to this “virtual console” was a single about the width of a straw.
Removing the miles of cables running to our studio and replacing a $20,000 18-fader digital console with a touchscreen monitor took a little faith. Especially when we were told that we were the first station in Canada to do so.
We anticipated a steep learning curve and were prepared to spend a month converting our main studio, four sister studios and 13 broadcast locations. But the engineers at Telos Alliance have made this system so user-friendly that we were using it within seven days of installation.
Axia has made this system user-definable and expandable. iQs has our staff amazed at its simplicity, our engineer thrilled with its flexibility and our accountant happy as a clam with the price.
Radio World User Reports are testimonial articles intended to help readers understand why a colleague chose a particular product to solve a technical situation.
Info: Cam Eicher at The Telos Alliance at 1-216-241-7225 or www.telosalliance.com.
The post User Report: KFM Takes Leap of Faith With Virtual Mixing appeared first on Radio World.
The FCC’s Media Bureau is extending comment and reply deadlines for the update of the 2018 Quadrennial Review.
Originally set July 1, for Aug. 2 (comments) and Aug. 30, (reply), the new deadlines are now Sept. 2 (comments) and Oct. 1 (reply).
[Read: FCC Wants More Input Before Finishing Rule Review]
On July 12, the FCC was petitioned by Common Cause, Free Press, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, and the National Association of Broadcasters for the extension. The groups suggested the dates accepted.
According to the FCC, “The Joint Filers explain that, as more than two years have passed since the original comment cycle in this proceeding was completed, there have been many economic and legal developments in the media industry in that time. The Joint Filers state that they and other interested parties need additional time to address the many complex economic and legal issues through research, updates to previously filed material, and new information.”
[Read: Further Relaxation of Ownership Seems Unlikely]
The Media Bureau said that while it doesn’t normally grant extensions, “an extension should enable interested parties to present more complete and thoughtful comments to the commission, we agree with the joint filers that both the parties commenting in the proceeding and the commission should benefit and that the extension should not disadvantage any party.”
The post FCC Media Bureau Extends Deadlines for 2018 Quadrennial Review appeared first on Radio World.
Marking the company’s 25th anniversary, RME has launched the Fireface UCX II, featuring 40 I/O channels in a compact half-rack size.
The unit offers up to 20 recording and 20 playback channels, SteadyClock FS, built-in parametric EQ, USB direct recording and full standalone functionality.
[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]
The Fireface UCX II houses two mic/line preamps in XLR combo configuration on the front panel, along with two digitally controlled line/instrument inputs, followed by a headphone jack, various control buttons, a display, and the main volume knob. At the rear is a set of 10 analog balanced line inputs and outputs, MIDI I/O, ADAT I/O, AES/EBU and S/PDIF I/O, USB 2.0 as well as a switchable Word Clock I/O.
The onboard digital DURec (Direct USB Recording) functionality allows any input or output of the Fireface UCX II to be recorded directly to a USB storage device. This means DURec uses the integrated DSP which provides standalone operation without the need for a computer.
SteadyClock FS on the unit is the latest clock and jitter rejection technology from RME. Based on a femtosecond clock, SteadyClock FS reportedly reduces jitter when converting from and to analog over digital formats.
The unit also comes with the TotalMix FX DSP mixer offering routing and monitoring options, as well as the DIGICheck analyzer allowing it to measure and analyze the digital data feed in both directions.
Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.
Info: www.rme-usa.com and U.S. distributor www.synthax.com
The post RME Launches Fireface UCX II USB Audio Interface appeared first on Radio World.
Acoustical design in podcast and webcast studios is the topic of an upcoming online presentation by the AES NY Section.
It will be presented by Sam Berkow of SIA Acoustics, a division of Robert Derector Associates, and hosted by David Bialik.
“When considering setting up a podcasting studio, equipment selection is often the first, second and third consideration. However, to achieve high-quality sound, the acoustics of the space should also be considered,” the organizers wrote in an event summary.
“We will discuss the design issues of smaller studios. Issues of room acoustics, acoustic isolation and ambient noise levels all should be part of the planning for a pod/webcasting facility. Practical solutions for addressing these issues will be presented.”
It will be shown on the AES NY Facebook page on Wednesday July 28 at 3 p.m. Eastern, and is open to anyone to watch.
The post Berkow to Speak About Designing Podcast Spaces appeared first on Radio World.
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