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.”
By Rob Dumke and Adam R Jacobson
It was offered as an exclusive to The Wall Street Journal early Thursday (5/27).
And, iHeartMedia-owned Premiere Networks confirmed all of the information in the story as true — ahead of an official announcement scheduled for release at 3pm Eastern.
That’s now happened, allowing all who cover the media industry to say for themselves that a successor offering to the deceased Rush Limbaugh‘s syndicated Talk radio program has been finalized.
Taking on the noon-3pm time slot that is presently the home of freshly produced episodes of The Rush Limbaugh Show that rely on archived commentary to reflect today’s headlines are Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
“We couldn’t be happier to have Clay and Buck — two incredibly talented personalities from our Premiere family — at the helm of this new program,” said Julie Talbott, President of Premiere Networks. “Rush Limbaugh is irreplaceable, but we’re confident they will continue his legacy by delivering their own brand of intelligent, informed and entertaining talk radio, while providing our partners with a powerful platform to connect with their consumers.”
In an interview with WSJ, Talbott insisted that Travis and Sexton are not replacing Limbaugh. Rather, their arrival is “an evolution of the show with fresh voices—those that grew up on Rush an admired him.”
Travis is 42 and is a lawyer, TV analyst and sports journalist. He is the founder of the sports website Outkick.com and has been hosting Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis and Wins & Losses With Clay Travis on Premiere-distributed Fox Sports Radio.
He will be paired with Sexton, who is 39 years old and a former CIA offer and a New York City Police Department Counter-terrorism expert. More importantly, he is the host of The Buck Sexton Show on Premiere Networks and was a frequent guest host on Limbaugh’s program.
Sexton currently holds the 6pm hour on iHeartMedia’s Talk WOR-AM 710 in New York.
This will change on June 21, when The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show debuts. Interestingly, the Fox Sports host gets top billing over the Talk host.
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton“I’ve loved spending the past six years building ‘Outkick The Coverage’ into one of the most-listened-to sports talk shows in the country, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to join Buck Sexton as we launch this new program in the most coveted timeslot in the talk format,” Travis said. “While no one will ever replace Rush Limbaugh, Buck and I are excited to continue advancing the causes he held dear, most importantly American exceptionalism, a fervent
embrace of capitalism, and a belief in a robust marketplace of ideas. At a time of rabid cancel culture and toxic identity politics, we will be the voice for many who feel scared to say what they
think for fear of the censorious online mob. We can’t wait to get started.”
Sexton added, “I could not be more thrilled – and am deeply humbled – by the opportunity to host this new program with my co-host. We think it’s important to carry on the
tradition of Rush Limbaugh and bring truth to the masses. One thing I can promise all EIB
listeners out there: we’re with them and we will always fight for them with the show Clay and I do every day.”
By Rob Dumke
Over the Top (OTT) provider Gamut, which is owned by Cox Media Group, has appointed Soo Jin Oh as its President.
For the past eight months, Oh has served as Co-Chief Operating Officer at CMG.
And, she’s been with CMG for four years, during which time Oh has been “a driving force at Gamut,” CMG Executive Chairman Steve Pruett said. “As a passionate and respected visionary, she brings a level of unmatched energy, diligence and entrepreneurial leadership to every role she takes on. She has a proven track record of fortifying organizational capabilities that delivers enhanced revenues and customer value, and I am thrilled that we can, once again, tap internal talent for such a critical leadership position.”
Oh commented, “I am excited to take the helm at Gamut, the leading local OTT company with the best-in-class product and the most talented team in the industry. Since Gamut’s inception, our team has rallied around always doing what’s right by each other and our customers with an unwavering commitment to excellent service and performance.”
From our “Who’s Buying What” page:
KSKA(FM) in Anchorage, Alaska, is getting a new transmitter as part of an upgrade and HD Radio activation project.
Nautel reports that it shipped a GV40-HD transmitter on Wednesday.
“This GV Series transmitter combined with Nautel’s HD MultiCast+ Importer/Exporter box will enable KSKA to start broadcasting in HD,” the company stated.
The noncommercial educational station broadcasts with 100 kW at 91.1 MHz and is part of Alaska Public Media.
A view of the inside rear is shown below.
Send info for “Who’s Buying What” to radioworld@futurenet.com.
The post New Transmitter Is Headed to KSKA(FM) appeared first on Radio World.
On May 17, African American-centric media company and casino owner Urban One entered into an Open Market Sale Agreement with Jefferies LLC.
This opens the door to a Class D share offering, the company tells the SEC.
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Gordon Smith, the outgoing CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, is the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Leadership Award.
The formal presentation of the honor to the former Republican U.S. Senator from Oregon is set for Radio’s Financial Summit: Forecast 2022, scheduled for November 16 at the Harvard Club in New York.
The announcement was made by Deborah Parenti, EVP/Publisher of Radio + Television Business Report.
“No one could be more deserving of this recognition than Gordon Smith,” Parenti said. “His advocacy and statesmanship over the past twelve years have won many admirers throughout the industry as well as on the Beltway. He has charted a course that will continue to positively impact the industry for years to come.”
Smith joined the NAB as its President/CEO in November 2009. Under his leadership, NAB saw its New York show grow as the Radio Show evolved to a co-production with the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).
Aside from his time on Capitol Hill, Smith served as a senior advisor in the Washington offices of Covington & Burling LLP.
His successor is the NAB’s Chief Operating Officer, Curtis LeGeyt. He will take over on Jan. 1, 2022. Smith will transition to a 36-month advisory and advocacy role at the end of 2021, as previously reported.
Smith joins a list of previous honorees that includes Ralph Guild, Lowry Mays, Gary Fries, Eddie Fritts, Bill Burton, Dan Mason, Peter Smyth, Cathy Hughes, Bruce Reese, Dick Clark, Frances Preston, George Beasley, and Jeff Smulyan.
More information and registration for “Forecast 2022” can be found Here.
Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has outlined the agenda for the agency’s June 17 Open Commission Meeting.
While radio and TV broadcasting leaders have had little of late to be mindful of, there is a matter involving low-power radio stations that may be worthy of your attention.
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In mid-March, a Dallas-based entertainment and e-sports company founded in 2007 snagged a multimillion-dollar investment from one of broadcast television’s biggest owner groups, Gray Television.
In this InFOCUS Podcast, that company’s CEO, Adam Rymer, answers key questions many including our editor-in-chief has, about eSports and its future, in particular for those on Wall Street seeking a real revenue driver for an industry seeking ways to combat declining traditional ad revenues.
It’s all here, in this fresh audio offering presented by dot.FM.
Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Adam Rymer, Envy Gaming” on Spreaker.
Global pay TV revenues for 138 countries have been placed under the microscope by Research and Markets, a British market intelligence shop.
What does their findings show, with respect to growth trends? On a worldwide level, revenue increases stopped five years ago.
While that’s distressing enough, the dip comes as the number of pay TV subscribers rose by 15 million during the same period.
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June is Microphone Month here at Radio World. This is one in a series of interviews with people who work in and around radio about the kinds of mics they love and why.
Ira Wilner is owner/engineer of Wilner Associates and the chief engineer of Monadnock Broadcasting Group and Saga Communications of New England.
Radio World: What are your choices for microphones?
Ira Wilner: The range of answers is very wide depending upon the situation. We engineers have very personal biases when it comes to studio mics. My favorite for on-the-street interviews was the EV 655C, a long omnidirectional stick mic made by Electro-Voice. It had a very large three-pin connector, precursor to the more diminutive XLR. It sounded really good when connected to a Nagra tape deck.
The Electro-Voice 635 is a small dynamic that works quite well in the field as a handheld mic mostly because it’s so rugged. Back in the last century EV warrantied it for life! They’d replace it even if you dropped it into a lake or down a waterfall and couldn’t retrieve it. Hammering nails with it was not too unusual.
Shure SM81My personal “go to” mic for recording musical events indoors and outdoors has always been the Shure SM81 electret condenser mic. I’ve used them in all sorts of inclement weather where the talent was uncomfortably cold or hot, in rain in bright baking sun and the mics have always worked well.
For studio voice I’ve always liked the Neumann U 87, but it’s a difficult mic to use. I’ve also used the same mic for location concert recording. For noisy locations the EV-666 used to be a workhorse along with the RCA 77-DX ribbon mic made famous by “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.
For most radio jock use, I prefer the EV RE20. Easy to talk into and fairly insensitive to room acoustics. I’ve found the lower-cost RE320 to be good for most of the voices at my Saga stations. The RE27ND with higher output and more mid high peaking sounds a bit closer to a condenser mic.
Likely the best dynamic studio mic is a moderately priced Neumann BCM 705. Moderate only by Neumann standards. Some folks prefer the Sennheiser MD-421 for its fairly bright response. I find it a bit grating. But then I’m spoiled by pricy German condenser mics.
Then for sports and other events there are a bunch of headworn boom mics to choose from!
RW: What advice would you want to impart to someone learning how to shop for mics?
Wilner: First and foremost, don’t assume you can fix bad room acoustics and poor mic choice with mic processor equalization. That’s a Band-Aid approach.
Second, expensive condenser mics are typically poor choices for radio studio announce mics, even though they have the best sonic quality.
Third, consider different mics for different voices, male versus female.
Fourth, microphone sound and ease of use can be quite subjective. If possible demo the mic in the actual space it’ll be used.
Fifth, pay attention to the mic mounting structure. Not only can it conduct undesirable noise from the furniture, it can somewhat alter the mic sound itself. Use a good shockmount. And secure it with a boom arm or stand that has well-damped hardware.
Sixth, use audio cable designed for microphone signals, which are very low energy. Excessive capacitance will roll off the highs. Wire designed for permanent in-wall installation, where it’ll never be wiggled, will likely be microphonic! True mic cable is more flexible; does not use foil shield, which is likely to fracture; and is not microphonic, won’t generate an electrical signal when touched or wiggled.
Finally, a mic is only as good as the electronics it’s attached to. You can really screw up the sound if the pre-amp is mediocre and the gain structure from mic to final processor in the air chain is improperly set.
Read more of our recent coverage of microphones.
The post My Favorite Mics: Ira Wilner appeared first on Radio World.
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