Industry News

Actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan — a five-time Grammy-nominated comedian, actor, writer and producer and contributor to CBS Sunday Morning — will entertain NAB Show attendees with a special Sunday afternoon performance.

Gaffigan will play a key role in the formal opening of the 2021 NAB Show, the first convention and expo from the National Association of Broadcasters since April 2019. He will offer a live comedy performance at the NAB Show Sunday Kick Off scheduled for 4:15pm Pacific on October 10.

“After a difficult year and unfortunate hiatus for NAB Show, we look forward to celebrating the opening of the show floor with the ever talented and hilarious Jim Gaffigan,” said NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith, who will preside over his final NAB Show in his role, as he is retiring at year’s end. “His notoriously fun and entertaining performance is ideal for this momentous occasion as we reunite and reengage in Las Vegas.”

Gaffigan’s performance will be exclusively open to attendees of NAB Show and co-located events.

With a deadline fast approaching, the State of Alaska was pressed with an urgent situation. More than a dozen TV translator stations needed to drop their analog transmissions. But, that wouldn’t be possible, putting the licenses and viewers at risk.

The FCC listened, and agreed with the state.

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Your favorite radio stations without commercial interruptions.

That’s the brand promise of Auddia, the developer of a proprietary AI platform for audio and innovative technologies for podcasts that is now reinventing how consumers engage with audio.

It’s the subject of the latest InFOCUS Podcast, distributed ahead of a major announcement from the Boulder, Colo.-based technology company. Auddia, not to be confused with Audacy (formerly Entercom), says it’s achieved “a major advancement” in its proprietary technology at the core of its Artificial Intelligence engine.

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iHeartMedia station WOOD(FM) in central western Michigan is off the air due to a fire at its transmitter facility.

According to the Michigan Association of Broadcasters the station in Grand Rapids/Muskegon suffered a lightning strike during a severe thunderstorm and the signal “may be down for a week.”

MAB posted this image, which was taken by iHeart’s Market President Tim Feagan.

The WOOD website says its signal at 106.9 is down and “is currently being worked on.” It pointed listeners to WOOD Radio at 1300 on the AM band, its website or the iHeartRadio app.

The post Fire Is Not Good for WOOD appeared first on Radio World.

Last week, the FCC adopted an Order of Reconsideration that rejected a pair of petitions seeking reconsideration of the Commission’s Low Power FM (LPFM) Technical Rules Order.

The Order adopted rule changes designed to “improve the LPFM service and provide LPFM stations with greater flexibility,” the Commission notes. Importantly, the Order rejected a proposal to increase maximum Effective Radiated Power to 250 watts.

It appears a new petition for rulemaking seeking a LPFM power increase has surfaced. And, the NAB has already voiced its opposition to the request.

FOR MEMBERS ONLY: We’ve got a RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION to share on this subject. The NAB should be pleased with what we believe … sort of.

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Global media ad sales platform maker Matrix has named a new Chief Operations Officer.

The Pittsburgh-based company says she will be “instrumental in helping execute the company’s global growth strategy, expanding their solutions portfolio into existing and new market verticals.”

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As RBR+TVBR first reported on Tuesday (6/22) a deal has been struck that will send two of its FM radio properties serving the Delmarva region to the owner of the local CBS, NBC, Telemundo and FOX affiliates, giving it a total of 7 radio stations across the area.

Now, RBR+TVBR has confirmed that Adams Media Group, led by Ron Stone, will be exiting the Eastern Shore of Maryland and southern Delaware altogether.

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One is a heritage Class B FM Rocker that gained national notoriety in the early 1990s thanks to the “Don and Mike” program and today serves as the Delmarva region’s home of the Cox Media Group-syndicated offering The Billy Madison Show in morning drive.

The other station is a Class B1 FM Classic Rocker, with the Townsquare Media-syndicated Free Beer and Hot Wings morning program as its anchor.

Both stations are being sold by the Ron Stone-led Adams Radio Group. Who’s the buyer of these rockin’ radio properties?

Look no further than the CBS television affiliate serving Salisbury and Ocean City, Md., which is taking advantage of “modernized” FCC media cross-ownership rules.

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Its stock price continues to surge. Hundreds of Talk stations have now transitioned from Rush Limbaugh to a new offering from the company’s Premiere Networks. Its music stations continue to dominate key markets across the U.S.

Things have never appeared to be better at iHeartMedia. With momentum fueling the nation’s biggest licensee of radio stations, a voluntary prepayment of term loan facilities and a repricing of an incremental term loan have come.

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Tom Birch is the President of North Carolina-based Lakes Media LLC and an industry veteran who come July 5 will beta test an innovative subscription app that is being hyped up as a potential game-changer for the radio industry.

It allows for commercial-free subscription based listening of broadcast radio stations.

Who would pay for what is available for free, even if the commercials are deleted? And, does that keep local radio local? Those are just some of the questions we asked Birch about Auddia in the latest RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM!

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Tom Birch” on Spreaker.